Remembering The Train To The Plane

Before the sleek, hit-tech AirTrain service to JFK started a few years ago, there was a experimental service called "Train To The Plane" which was basically a super-express A train that ran from midtown to JFK. It ended in 1990 so I never got to take it, though I remember the signs for it on the A platform at W. 4th Street. In honor of today's pre-Thanksgiving national day of travel, my favorite subway blog Second Avenue Sagas has a piece remembering the "Train To The Plane" along with this video of it's catchy commercial. The new AirTrain is certainly much better but damn, that old one had a catchy jingle!

The Sound of Music Turns 50

There's a nice bit of history on the Times Artsbeat blog this week about The Sound Of Music turning 50.It has some cool details about the original Broadway production that opened half-a-century ago, namely that the top ticket price top was $5. Wow. No wonder there were so many more shows and people seeing them back then. Anyway, the nostalgia is alive!

But Tell Us Martha...What Do You Really Think

Martha Stewart pulls no punches when asked recently on the red carpet what she thinks about Sarah Palin. This makes all those David Letterman jokes seem pretty tame because, you know, Martha is NOT joking. She is not even smiling.

PROM MESS is Popular for 2009

This is something I meant to post back in July but it got lost in the rush of summer...and my near-miss book banning. Anyway, my first novel, A REALLY NICE PROM MESS was named by the ALA (American Library Assocation) as one of its Popular Paperbacks of 2009!

Each year, YA librarians from around the country nominate their favorite books and the vote on the best of the year. They created four categories for YA books and I'm in "Journey>Destination" which is described as books where the journey and the lessons learned on it are greater than the destination.

It's a great honor to be recognized by librarians especially because you know they read a helluva lot of books. :) Also, I loved the one sentence synopsis they gave of the book too: "Cameron and his boyfriend’s night to remember: puke in the fish tank is only the beginning." Who knew that puke scene would be so memorable?

What Sarah Wore

With Sarah Palin bursting back into the national consciousness... again!...there's been a lot of talk about the former VP candidate. Amidst all this gossip and she-said/he-said, the only interesting bit of real news this week was an article in today's TIMES which explores in fascinating detail her infamous wardrobe.

In an article titled, "Only Palin's Stylist Knows For Sure" reporter Lauren Lipton interviews the mysterious corporate stylist who created Palin's look. Until now, her identity has been hidden...even in Sarah's new book, the woman's name was left out. Now she is revealed to be Lisa Kline, a 47 year old Manhattan woman who styles female executives and news anchors for a living.

Kline got the call to style Sarah on the Friday afternoon before Labor Day setting in motion a frenzied three-day shopping spree to dress up the Republican's second-lady in waiting. Then, arriving in Minneapolis for the convention, the GOP realized that the whole Palin family needed a makeover, which lead to a 7am tear through Neiman's to outfit the 8 Alaskans for their convention appearance. From a production standpoint, this woman did a remarkable job as, no matter what you think of Sarah and her clan, they looked good! And the price tag of $150K was due mainly to the huge last minute rush involved as it was a holiday weekend and Kline, who often works directly with designers, had to go retail.

Anyway, this is an interesting story-behind-the-story narrative of an event that some people think now cost the John McCain the White House. I think that may be pushing it a little. Afterall, there were a few things Ms. Palin said that spoke a little louder than her designer duds.

Mika is Golden

Mika is this super skinny infectious rocker from London who is just awesome! I've been a fan of his song "Grace Kelly" for almost a year now with countless repeats on my iTunes as it's so damn catchy. Well now he has a new song out this fall "We Are Golden" with a most amazing video of him prancing about a colorful teenagers bedroom (his perhaps?) wearing a pair of tennis shorts and glittery running shoes. Yes--he's that fabulous. The pictures above were screengrabs compiled by those shirtless connoisseurs at Square Hippies. I can't embed the video for some reason but it's on the YouTube and fun fun fun. Watch-repeat-and then run around your own room working it! :)

That Geek From Big Bang Theory Is Kinda Cute

If you've ever watched BIG BANG THEORY, CBS's nerdy version of FRIENDS, the geekiest of all the grad school geeks is an adorkable skinny dude named Sheldon. Played by actor Jim Parsons in true Niles-style, he's actually supposed to be straight but reads very gay and, of course, is kinda cute too. Like the erstwhile nerd poster boys from the early-aughts DJ Qualls, Parsons continues the American tradition of skinny nerds with balloonish heads. He's almost a real life Charlie Brown. The sweet loser you just want to make a winner, you know?

Anyway, he was recently on The Tonight Show, looking quite slick in a suit while discussing Barbies too. Awwww. I always thought he was kinda cute on BIG BANG but, all Hollywooded-out for Conan, he was borderline hot. Hair/makeup can do wonders...even for a geeky guy.

Breakfast All The Time

I love cereal almost as much as donuts. And even though I've switched to whole grain goodness and don't eat the crazy sugary kid stuff anymore, I'm still secretly fond of it.

Over the weekend, I posted this old photo on my Facebook and got some interesting responses and queries. Some friends wanted to know where this delicious looking cereal treat is available. Unfortunately, it's not...it was only on the market for about a year, from 1964-1965. In fact, some boxes of this stuff have sold on eBay for as high as $2000!

I found all this info at a wonderful website called mrbreakfast.com, which has a whole section devoted to cereal. The Cereal Project, as it's called, has an incredibly comprehensive listing of cereal over the last 40 plus years. You can also vote on the Top 100 Cereals of all time and there are even some coupons available for free cereal.

You can even watch old TV commercials for extinct cereals like Vanilly Crunch, a 70's incarnation of Cap'N Crunch that I loved. Basically, the idea was to create a cereal that tasted like vanilla cupcake batter. Ah...the cereals of my youth.

The End Of The '00s

We're barely half-way through November and already the inevitable wrap-ups of the first decade of the 21st century are starting to appear. Yes, it's the end of the '00s and the list making has begun: the best, worst, first, last, memorable, forgettable fill-in-the-blanks of the last ten years.

Newsweek.com has an extensive 20/10 project on their website if you're ready to take a trip down recent-memory lane. Most of it was pretty boilerplate (i.e., 9/11 most memorable date) but there were a couple sections I found interesting.

The first was Worst Predictions, like Greydon Carter declaring the end of irony after 9/11...remember that? Or the media's assertion that Barack Obama didn't have a chance against the Clinton machine? There's also a list of Accidental Celebrities, including Playgirl cover boy Levi Johnston. This is good stuff! Definitely worth checking out as the onslaught of '00s nostalgia begins. Brace yourself.

The BEST Showrooms From The 1970's

The TARGET chain of department stores is always getting credit for being stylish and sharp in terms of design for it's vivid ads and corporate styling. However, the exterior of most TARGETS have a tendencey to look the same...big red-brick boxes.

Way back in the wacky 70's, there was a chain of catalog stores called BEST that prospered in the mid-Atlantic region and was known for its unusual storefronts. The founder of the company, Sydney Lewis, had an avid interest in art and architecture and hired the revolutionary SITE firm for one of BEST's first showrooms, pictured here.. Called the "Indeterminate Facade", the company's Houston location made a crumbling, post-apocalyptic statement that TARGET would never dare.

This is BEST's most famous facade but there were others, which you can check out here on the SITE website. They company had a decade-long collaboration with the firm which turned out some really stunning work. Unfortunately, BEST went bankrupt in the mid-80's and their visually shocking showrooms are only a memory today. The one in Houston was intact for more than 10 years after BEST folded. But recently a new tenant sliced off the "indeterminate" top of the facade and now it's just another big white box on a Houston highway.