My Brownie Husband

Tina Fey hosted SNL this weekend and it was one of the best shows of the season.  Not only did she bring back Sarah Palin and do a killer routine on Weekend Update about Jesse James' hookers, she also starred in and probably wrote one of the best SNL fake ads I've seen in a while.  It's for the Brownie Husband and it is hysterical.  I possibly laughed a little more than the average viewer as I had just baked some brownies earlier in the evening.  But, just for the the record, I didn't curl up to them on the sofa or bring them to bed.  OMG--that last scene is a riot!

Behind The Scenes @ GLEE

The GLEE kids were on Oprah this week, singing and dancing and being incredibly talented and totally adorkable.  Oprah put together a great little behind the scenes segment on the show, showing the cast going through their dance moves, singing and wardrobe.  They all look like they are having a blast...like they're living in some sorta cotinuous MGM-heyday flashback.  They even dropped a little spoiler in the clip....Kurt joins the Cheerios!  


Season 1.2 starts up in just 4.5 days (next Tuesday night on FOX at 9, to be exact).  My own informal GLEE club will be gathering 'round the flatscreen....no HULU or iTunes for GLEE.  You have to watch it live and preferably with a crowd of enthusiastic gay men who work in the arts. :)  Can't wait!

Chat Roulette--The Song

Well...it didn't take long for someone to do a parody song of ChatRoulette, the face-to-face networking site that has been taking the Internet by storm over the past few months.  This spot-on take on the ChatRoulette phenomenon comes from Hank Green, the brother of fellow teen author John Green and the co-creator the their site nerdfighters.com.  So enjoy this comical musical interlude....and beware the pantless. Next!

Donut of The Weak

As many of you know, I have a weakness for donuts.  And when I am really feeling the craving for warm, sugary, deep fried dough, I head to the Donut Pub.  Despite its name, the Pub does not sell beer or any other alocholic beverages.  But it does have a long bar which stretches the length of the joint, with old fashion spinning stools like you would have found at the Woolworth's lunch counter.  


A trip to the Donut Pub is something of a time warp.  It opened in the 1960s' and, despite a renovation in 2005 that brought it out of the 70's, it still has its old-timey charm.  It's open 24 hours and harbors some real New York characters.  When I first started going there in the early 90's, there was often an interesting mix of club kids and nuns on any given night (there was a convent nearby that has since relocated).  Now, like all of Manhattan, things have blanded out a bit.  But the donuts are still amazing.  


They have all the favorites from my childhood: chocolate w/sprinkles, cinnamon dusted, even crullers and the amazing creme-filled delight.  There are even some industrial sized brownies and muffins too as well as a black and white cookie that gets raves.  You can also have lunch sitting at the bar for under 10 dollars--an amazing feat on the border of Chelsea and the Village. The pub is located at 203 W. 14th Street, just west of Seventh Ave....now and hopefully forever.

Coney Island Comeback

So forget Easter...the true sign of spring happened this weekend as the world-famous Cyclone roller coaster opened for the 2010 season.  The NY Times City Critic columnist took a ride and declared it as frightening and awe inspiring as ever as the coaster enters is 83rd year of scaring the crap out of riders from around the world.  


However, this years' opening was different.  The clacking and rattling sounds of the steel and wooden coaster are now accompanied by the slam-bang and beep-beep of construction activity as the rebuilding of Coney is underway.  In less than 2 months, the new "Luna Park" will open; an entertainment complex with 19 new rides and attractions on the site of the old Astroland.  The photo above is a computer rendering of the park's new Surf Avenue entrance.  In 2011, Phase 2 of the project will unleash two brand new roller coasters on the Stilwell avenue lot which has been empty for a couple years now.  


All this is great news for Coney which was on verge of extinction just a couple years ago under the misguided condo/hotel redevelopment plans of Thor Equities.  You can read about the new Coney on the on the new Luna Park blog, which also has some pictures of the rides coming this summer. Opening day is set for May 29th.

Happy Peepster

Peeps, those sugary, quasi-marshmallowy, neon-colored treats, are slowly but surely usurping the tired old Easter Bunny as the kitschy symbol of Easter.  As you can see by this pic, spotted on Facebook over the weekend, they are trying to take even Jesus himself out of the picture.  

Though they've been around since 1953, made by a candy company based in Lancaster, PA, the popularity of Peeps has been growing in recent years, as evidenced by the growing trend of Peep-diorama contests. Even reputable newspapers like the Washington Post now hold these annual events where they get hundreds of submissions from Peeps-crazed readers.  My favorite is this one below from the Hot Dish blog of Peeps at a peep show:

Currently, the latest in Peeps-trending seems to be cooking.  The soft little birdies and bunnies are being cooked, baked, fried and even added as toppings onto pizzas.  The food blog Serious Eats did an experiment dropping some Peeps onto a NY pie. The results are hysterical and somewhat disturbing too.

They claimed that the mix of savory and sweet tasted interesting....hmmm. I'm not sure this is what I want on my pizza.  However, a melted Peep can be delicious. A couple years ago, I was at an Easter BBQ where Peeps were roasted on an open flame. However, there was a small margin of error between the perfectly roasted Peep and a runny, chemical spill.  You had to time it just right as the unnatural makeup of Peeps, which has been thoroughly documented, is quite particular.  Or should I say Peep-ticular.

New Directors/New Films 2010

The annual survey of international cinema from 1st and 2nd time directors is wrapping up this weekend.  New Directors/New Films presents some of the newest voices in indie cinema on two gorgeous screens; the MOMA's Titus theatre and the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade.  Highlights this weekend including "Beautiful Darling", a doc on Warhol's Candy Darling, and a Russian psychological thriller which received some major awards at Berlin, "How I Ended This Summer".  The festival wraps up on Sunday with the French crie de couer "I Killed My Mother", which is a comedy about a gay boy and his mom.  French cinema with a sense of humor?  Who knew....

The Wilderness In Queens

I recently took an expedition out to far reaches of Queens for a trek through the Jamaica Wildlife Refuge. This unique 9,000 acre mix of park and coastal wetland is run by the National Park Service, which took it over in 1972 from NY City.  At the center of the Refuge, are two man-made, fresh water lakes created by none other than infamous car/bridge man Robert Moses.  There are two lengthy hiking trails that circle these lakes where you can see more than 300 species of birds, not to mention turtles and even snakes.  


Though it was a little early too see much fauna in March, there was plenty of flora and some beautiful landscapes. I've posted some pics of my adventure below.  It's amazing that this is technically New York City.  If you want to go see for yourself, it's easily accessible via the A train and bus....or a nice leisurely walk through the island town of Broad Channel.  That quirky little town will be the subject of a future post....

German Nursing Home's "Cure" For Alzheimers

A nursing home in Germany has developed an unusual solution for a serious problem; Alzheimers and dementia patients who wander away and then get lost.  One of the workers at the facility in Dusseldorf came up with an idea that sounded crazy at first but they decided to give it a shot.  


Realizing the patients would leave in search of transportation, he suggested building a fake bus stop right in front of the nursing home as a way to "catch" them.  Not only did it work, it changed the way that employees dealt with patients in general, reducing stress and increasing the patients well-being.  


I found out about this whole fascinating story on the NPR RadioLab podcast.  You can click here to hear it in its entirety or you can also subscribe to the podcast via iTunes.  

Bieber Brings Back Bubble Gum

In a modern music landscape dominated by soulful divas and hip-hop rappers, the joys of seriously old school Bubble Gum Pop are making a surprising comeback with the emergence of Justin Bieber.  This Canadian wunderteen started as a YouTube sensation but is now taking on the pop world.  

He gigged on David Letterman last week with his insanely catchy pop confection "Baby", which sounds like a song conceived in the 60's, scored in the 80's and recorded in the '00s.  It has a hook that gets stuck in your head and won't let go...in a good way, of course.  Baby, baby, baby...ooooo, ohhhhh.  It might as well be The Supremes. 

Anyway, Justin's clean-teen image, of course, has made him a hit with the tween girls.   And, like many male pop idols, he looks more like a girl than a guy....cute but not too threatening.  In his video for "Baby", a Bollywood-esque dance piece set in a bowling alley, he reminds me of the butchy Mary Stuart Masterson in "Some Kind Of Wonderful" or a very young KD Lang.  (Apparently, others have mistaken him for a lesbian as well.)  

Anyway, he's storming the USA in 2010 with this and other bubbly hits to follow.