Bubbly at Barclays

I went to see Michael Buble last night at the Barclays Center. The show was great. Mikey was excellent and quite funny. If the music think hadn't worked out, he could have gone into comedy. (Watch his skits on SNL if you want to see his work, particularly his skit with Jon Hamm.) The woman sitting next to me cried when he sang his first song that, I think, was "Try a Little Tenderness." The crowd was diverse, all ages, all races, and everyone seemed to be having a good time. Other than the chick who kept putting her foot in my back (and stopped when I told her I didn't pay $130 to have her foot in my back all night), the evening was good. I wish my iPhone pics had come out better. I should have brought my digital camera. Oh, well. Rock on, Bubbles!

So Bad It's Good

I was listening to former Spice Girl Emma Bunton's version of "Crickets Sing for Anna Maria" on You Tube last week and songs by Spice Girl Geri Halliwell popped up in the sidebar. I found myself listening to Geri's song "Look at Me" and thinking how great the song would be if Geri could actually sing. "Look at Me" is a good song and if it had a good singer, it'd be a great song. It's upbeat and catchy and the video is in a black and white La Dolce Vita mode. Too bad Ginger Spice can barely carry a tune. (The bridge is especially painful to listen to.) Still, "Look at Me" is so bad it's good. The same goes for "Nasty Girl" by Vanity 6. Vanity can't sing worth a damn, but "Nasty Girl" still rocks. The beat alone makes it worth it to sit through her heavy breathing that passes as singing. "Nasty Girl" is a classic now and maybe the same will be said for "Look at Me" in another ten or twenty years.

Yikes!

I just read about delays on the F train last night. People were stuck for hours. All I can say is I'm glad it wasn't me. I take the F daily to and from work but managed to avoid this disaster. You never know when there will be trouble on the rails, but I have to say, since I've been living in New York, I haven't really had a major problem on the subways. The worst situation I was in was when the trains were shut down due to Hurricane/Super Storm Sandy last year. When there was no train service between Brooklyn and Manhattan, my commute was difficult, but not terrible. I feel particularly bad for the folks trying to commute into Grand Central via Metro North. I read the current fleet of diesel trains can only accommodate about 30% of the normal daily commuters. What are the other 70% supposed to do? Everyone doesn't have the option of working from home. What a mess. I really am surprised that this kind of thing doesn't happen more often honestly. Sometimes it seems like the infrastructure around here is held together with duct tape and Popsicle sticks. Repairs only seem to get made when something goes wrong. But when you have a transit system that never stops, it's hard to do routine maintenance without taking the entire line out of service and inconveniencing the public. It's a vicious circle.

Change is Afoot!

With the welcome of fall, we close the door on another summer.  Change is afoot! Goodbye sandals, hello covered-toe shoes and boots...but not yet. The weather in New York has been really wonderful these past few days. Sunny and comfortable during the day, and nice and cool at night. Unfortunately, the days are getting shorter and I dread waking up and coming home in the dark, but I'm hoping for a quiet fall that doesn't have another Hurricane Sandy repeat in its forecast. It was last October (Halloween weekend, I believe) when the storm rolled into town. It's hard to believe that was almost a year ago. Time flies. But, in the meantime, I intend to enjoy the good weather we're having.

In other news, I read Jon Hamm has to have surgery to remove a polyp from his throat. Poor Hamm! I hope the surgery goes well. I love him with that wolfman beard, by the way. I know many folks don't care for it because he doesn't look like Don Draper, but I, for one, am a fan. That beard suits him. I wish they'd let Don Draper go full wolfman on "Mad Men" but I know they won't, not unless Don became a hobo or something and I don't see that happening.

Fare Beaters

I took Amtrak to Philadelphia today for my book club meeting and totally watched two fare beaters hop on the train at the Newark Airport station and hide in the bathrooms until New York.  A clever plan, if you think about it because it's such a short ride from the airport into New York, so the guys didn't have to hide out in the toilets for long. Still, Amtrak needs to clamp down on that kind of thing. You want to ride, pay for a ticket!

Tossed Out

I just read an article about a couple who was asked to leave an Applebee's restaurant because their kids were unruly.  The police were called, probably because the couple chose to argue with the restaurant staff and they (the staff) thought the situation might get out of control.  I think the call to police might have been excessive on the part of the restaurant, but I'm fully in agreement with tossing these folks and their kids out.  According to what I read, the kids (two little boys) were running around the restaurant harassing other customers.  If you can't control your kids, get a babysitter and leave them at home.  Really.  Your lack of parental skills shouldn't impact my dinner. 

And speaking of bad kids, some suburban teens trashed an ex-football player's house in New York and when he posted their antics online (after the kids had already posted this stuff themselves), some of the kids parents had the nerve to threaten the football player with a lawsuit for posting pictures of their kids.  Huh?  Your kids trashed and vandalized this man's house and you're mad because he put their bad behavior on display?  Mind you, the bad behavior that they'd already put on display themselves.  These parents ought to be ashamed of themselves.  Rather than threatening lawsuits, they need to be ponying up some cash to help this man repair is damaged home. 

Washcloths

I saw an story on Gawker today about the cultural differences between washcloth and non-washcloth users.  There is a cultural divide, people.  I've always used a washcloth.  I grew up in a household where my parents were washcloth users.  I assumed most people used them.  I was wrong.  Black Americans, like myself, seem to favor them, but white Americans do not.  I remember being in Brazil and having a hard time getting washcloths from the housekeeper.  Clearly, the Brazilians aren't fans either.  Go figure.  A lot of the debate on Gawker from the non-washcloth users centered around the cleanliness of the cloths.  If you use a washcloth, you then WASH the washcloth.  The key is to keep clean washcloths in circulation, folks!  And there's no sharing of washcloths.  There also is a washcloth for your face and a washcloth for your body.  You can buy a multipack at Target for under $5 and when they get grungy, just throw them out and buy some new ones. 

I always wondered why I'd see more washcloths than towels at places like Bed, Bath, and Beyond and now I know it's because a lot of folks just buy towels and skip the washcloths.  Interesting.   To each his own, I guess.