Monthly Archive for August, 2007

Free Wi-fi

The secret is outI’m not sure how I feel about the con­cept of free wi-​fi in coffee shops and bars – sure, we all like “free”, and I’m always care­ful to order refills and tip the baris­tas copi­ously. But, it can be impos­si­ble to get a table, because of wi-​fi squatters.

This after­noon, I’m sit­ting at Fall Cafe in our new neigh­bor­hood, and look­ing around at the other tables – each with a laptop – and I see a lot of empty cups – these people have been sit­ting here for hours. As you can see from the new sig­nage in the window (left), this cafe believes that free wi-​fi brings in cus­tomers. But I wonder if some people won’t become frus­trated with the squat­ters, and go else­where for their coffee?

Con­tinue read­ing ‘Free Wi-fi’

August 21, 2007 » Tags: , . » 0 Comments

First Week in Carroll Gardens

We arrived last Wednes­day, and unpack­ing is an ongo­ing project. We sold, gave away, or threw out most of our “big stuff”, so this move is not only about a new space, but also a lot of new pur­chases. A lot of the stuff we got rid of was from our col­lege days, and had also already made it through our fire.

Room & Board sofaI’m most excited about our new sofa, which Lisa bought from Room & Board in SoHo. Thanks to Jason and Liz for tip­ping us off to this place – we loved every­thing we saw there. Their fur­ni­ture man­ages to be very modern with­out look­ing uncom­fort­able or annoy­ing. (Of course, we real­ized later that we chose the same sofa as the Yovanoff-​De Mase home… but hey, good taste is good taste, right?

Con­tinue read­ing ‘First Week in Car­roll Gardens’

August 21, 2007 » Tags: , , , , . » 0 Comments

Free IKEA Sofa in Cambridge

Hi – one big piece of fur­ni­ture left before our move Wednes­day. It’s an IKEA sofa/couch:

IKEA Sofa

Con­tinue read­ing ‘Free IKEA Sofa in Cambridge’

August 13, 2007 » Tags: , . » 0 Comments

“No Reservations”

Went to the Common today to see a total chick flick: No Reser­va­tions [NY Times Review], star­ring Cather­ine Zeta-​Jones and Aaron Eck­hart. I fig­ured, hey, I’ve got lots of expired AMC The­aters gift cer­tifi­cates sit­ting around that have to be accepted in Mass­a­chu­setts by law, and I’ve got time… why not?

This film is a quiet, under­stated emo­tional tri­umph. Sure, we all love to watch Mrs. Dou­glas mope around the screen in a cute Chef’s outfit, and who doesn’t like Aaron Eck­hart every moment he’s on screen? The dude made Thank You for Smok­ing watch­able, so he has talent.

But I was really sur­prised by the down­beat, slow pace of the film. Abi­gail Bres­lin breaks your heart, as a recently orphaned pre-​tween forced to move in with her emo­tion­ally imma­ture Man­hat­tan­ite Aunt. Still, she finds the energy to scheme and guilt her stunted Aunt into falling in love with the goofy sous-​chef that wears Crocs… Did I men­tion that Eck­hart wears freak­ing Crocs in this film?

But, I really focused on little Bres­lin – every­one knows her from the absurd, hacky Little Miss Sun­shine – but that’s too bad. She’s oddly affect­ing in this film, and her char­ac­ter is much more rooted in reality.

8/10

August 10, 2007 » Tags: . » 0 Comments

Kittens

To think that I feel guilty when our little ones’ dishes are empty, and they meow at me:

The single most effed up thing I’ve seen today.

August 10, 2007 » Tags: . » 0 Comments

Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Is Is”

New YYYThe new Yeah Yeah Yeahs EP Is Is is out, and it kind of reminds me why they were worth lis­ten­ing to in the first place.

From Pitchfork:

Each aspect of her (Karen O’s) stage iden­tity finds equal expres­sion on these songs, which only makes them sound more imme­di­ate and affect­ing. In fact, Is Is may be their most instantly acces­si­ble release, which is not a crit­i­cal dig but just a way of saying it finds a good bal­ance between alien­at­ing and invit­ing, between song and performance.

It was pro­duced by Aus­tralian Nick Launay (who recorded Gang of Four, Killing Joke, and Public Image Ltd). Not too shabby.

8/10 – iTunes

August 2, 2007 » Tags: . » 0 Comments

Ravenclaw

RavenclawAccord­ing to The Harry Potter Sort­ing Hat Per­son­al­ity Test, I’m a Raven­claw – but just barely:

Raven­claw 75, Huf­flepuff 73, Slytherin 68, Gryffindor 65

But, Lisa took the test for me, and is con­vinced that I’m quite Slytherin:

Slytherin 85, Gryffindor 62, Raven­claw 61, Huf­flepuff 38

One of us has a per­cep­tion prob­lem, at least when it comes to me! What house are you?

August 1, 2007 » Tags: . » 0 Comments