The Wait Is Over--GLEE on Fox Tonite!

OK all you Gleeks out there....tonite is the night. After a four months long wait, Fox's awesome musical comedy series GLEE airs it's second episode at 9pm this evening. Yay! Things to look forward to: another pregnancy, musical numbers, more gayness for Kurt, and more musical numbers. Did I mention the show has musical numbers! :)

If you haven't seen it yet, below is a short preview of what to expect...a lil' Kanye via high school. Also, there's a newly released "directors cut" of the pilot episode available on Hulu. I just watched it to catch-up for tonite and there is some fun additional material that was cut out to make it fit in it's TV time slot.

Woman Jailed For Wearing Pants

In Sudan, it is not only illegal for women to wear pants but the punishment is 40 lashes. You read that right....40 lashes from a plastic whip. A public flogging for pants. Unbelievable.

Lubna Hussein was recently arrested along with some friends who were meeting for lunch, all dressed in loose fitting women's trousers. They were deemed to be prostitutes, arrested and lashed. Except, that is, for Lubna, who plead not guilty. Her trial concluded on Monday and CNN is now reporting that after refusing to pay a fine, she was jailed.

Curiously, there has been no word on all this from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is famous for sporting pants almost exclusively. You would think the outspoken Clinton would have something to say or do regarding this arcane, misogynistic law. Let's just hope that, with all this international attention, Lubna won't be in jail for long.

The Cyclone & The Last Days Of Summerrrrrr!!!!

Last night, I headed out to Coney Island for my annual summertime ride on the Cyclone. Though Coney is going through a rough transition right now where more is being torn down than built up, the Cyclone remains standing and continues to be the most awesome roller coaster on the planet. The picture above of me and my brother and my good friend Mark Sam plummeting down the first hill just about says it all.

If you're looking for end of summer fun, I'd encourage you to ride out to the end of the F, R or Q lines and take a spin on this 80-year old master class of a coaster. And, if you happen to go out tonite, they are having a Full-Moon Special! You get two dollars off the price of admission if you're dressed as a vampire or werewolf. Since the coaster is a little pricey at $8 bucks a pop ($5 for immediate re-rides!), it could be worth the effort and fangs. If you can't make it there today, the coasters is open weekends in September til the 20th.

What's In A Font

Apparently a lot. Recently, I have received requests on FB to join a group angry about Ikea's change of font, from Futura to Verdana. When I first received this, I was somewhat puzzled. I like Ikea as much as the next budget-conscious New Yorker but I didn't know the depth of love their font style had generated amongst the design cognoscenti. There were impassioned comments and posts on how the new font (a Microsoft creation btw) is meant for the web, not print and how its definitely not meant to be blowup to billboard size.

TIME magazine has a nice summary of all the brouhaha. The thing that bothers me about the whole thing is not so much the aesthetic issue but the financial one. I mean, whose bright idea was it to change their corporate font, something that clearly will cost the company millions of dollars, in the midst of the Great Recession? I thought Ikea was supposed to be all Swedish and frugal and smart. Though their website boasts "new lower prices", I fear that this massive change will begin to show up in the price of a Ribba and that would make truly me an unhappy Ikea customer.

Essential Accessory For The Coffee Shop Writer

As a writer who spends a lot of time working in coffee joints, this invention (featured today on LifeHacker) looks to be a work of inspired genius. I usually put my messenger bag over my laptop...or put the laptop back in the bag. But any thief knows that a messenger bag is generally used for carrying a laptop. So this is a much craftier disguise. It is, however, a bit pricey at $86. But, as the folks at LH suggest, how hard could it be to just make your own, right?

I Heard A Rumor...

I don't often post about politics here but this was too juicy to ignore; South Carolina's Republican Lt. Governor is reported to be gay. Now I'm all for gay public officials, but have some exceptions when they're closeted Christian right-wingers pushing religious legislation to issue state license plates that say "Believe" on them. Come on, Mary!

In a blog entry by outing expert Mike Rogers that was posted yesterday, he writes that he has confirmed through independent sources that Andre Bauer has slept with men on more than a few occasions. If you're wondering who Rogers is, he was featured in Kirby Dick's excellent movie about gay closeted politicians, Outrage. He is angry and feisty but he does seem to have his facts in order. There has been no statement from the Bauer's office regarding the "outing". But his official state portrait says it all. Total gayface, right?

What's most interesting about all this is that Bauer might have to step-in to replace the infamous cheater Mark Sanford in case he resigns as governor or is impeached. Hmmm--I wonder which one South Carolina citizens will loathe more? The homosexual or the philanderer. Tough choice....

California Burning

There are some serious wildfires roaring through the Valley out in LA. My friend Yuri sent me this apocalyptic photo of the view from the ocean. The top pic, which looks like a surrealist painting, is from the TIMES roundup of the wildfires. Finally, there's also this video which is a time lapse of the fire set to the music of Grizzly Bear.

Time Lapse Test: Station Fire from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.

The LIRR Turns 175 But Doesn't Look A Day Over 160

If you ever want to amaze your friends at a cocktail party, ask them how old the Long Island Railroad is. Most people will date it to the post-War housing boom and you'll get something in the range of 50 years...maybe even less if you ask a young man on Fire Island. Well, the astounding and true answer is that it's 175 years old as of this year. And the reason it's so damn old is pretty interesting.

The LIRR was originally set up not as a commuter railroad but as a freight and passenger route from Brooklyn to Boston, via a ferry at Greenport. Back in 1834, Long Island was just a bunch of farms and fishing communities....the idea of commuting was nearly 100 years off. But Brooklyn was the second largest city in America and there was no bridge/tunnel routes to get from there to Manhattan or Connecticut or anywhere north. So a rail route was devised to cut straight through LI as opposed to going up the Connecticut coast which would have been a longer, more indirect route. And thus the LIRR was born as a train to get to Boston. Who knew, right?

Something other interesting facts; the railroad was founded only 9 years after the concept of a railroad was created, it is the oldest surviving US railroad under its original charter, and it's currently the largest commuter railroad in the country with over 700 miles of track. To read more about it (as they used to say on CBS), check out the LIRR 175th anniversary webpage, which has some fun informational videos too. There is also an exhibit about the way the LIRR shaped the Island currently up at the NYC Transit Museum, one of my favorite non-touristy tourist spots, located in downtown Brooklyn.

Finally, to celebrate their quartoseptcentennial the LIRR are giving away birthday gifts too...you can enter a monthly drawing for Long Island-related freebies, like a free night at the Sag Harbor Inn. So you go LIRR....keep on railing!

On The Rocks With A Twist

There was an article in yesterday's NY TIMES dining section about not cocktails but ice. That's right, ice is the new black when it comes to fancy drinking. The main focus of the article is a Japanese mix-master Kazuo Uyeda (pictured) who has created his own particular style of mixing called the "Hard Shake". It sounds exciting, right...but does it make a better cocktail? The article calls in some scientific experts to meausure the temperature of drinks hard shaken or stirred and the results are surprising. That's science for you!

Earlier in the week, I went out for fancy birthday cocktails at Pegu Club on Houston. They were doing some hard shaking there and the results were intense...as was the price at $13 per drink. I recommend the Old Fashioned, which was as billed. There was a lovely mint julepy thing too that smelled like a fresh cut lawn in Atlanta. Overall, this place was a nice treat and lovely to go on any night other than Friday or Saturday where reseverations are necesssary.

The Male Chastity Belt

OK ladies--do you have a husband whose commitment is not exactly monogamous? Do you want to keep that man in line? Well now you CAN--with the Male Chastity Belt!!! Alright--I know this sounds like I'm doing an SNL-style commercial spoof but this is actually a real product that apparently is selling to women desperate for a solution to their hubby's dalliances. Or maybe they're just getting it for good kinky fun.

The most popular model seems to be the CB-2000, priced from $70 up to $200, for the designer line (pictured above). It's made of plastic so it won't set of airport sensors...perfect for those long business trips! Knowing the male anatomy quite intimately, I'm not quite sure how these things will really stay on. And, if you were determined enough, I'm thinking it would be easy to snip that tiny little lock anyway? But then your wife would find out and if she's spent this much money on a cage for your penis, she is bound to be super-pissed.

My favorite part of their website though was the page with the heading "Why?" Well, they have quite an answer. It's all about how the chastity belt puts "you" (the wife that is) back in control of your relationship now that you literally hold the one and only key to your husband's sexual satisfaction. Here's an choice excerpt: " Kiss him passionately, tease him, deny his sexual pleasure as long as possible. The results of this denial will be extraordinary!" Yeah, the results might also be 1st degree murder.

Below is a YouTube video I found of another crazy-looking chastity device. This one is made of stainless steel and has a diamond in the tip. I'm guessing the diamond is meant to show how much you care. Awwwww....