Mardi Gras

Marriage is all about compromise. Last night I wanted to hit up Two Boots for Mardi Gras. Sofia snubbed my suggestion and said she would rather get a couple beers and go home to watch Gilmore Girls.

Oh great, nothing says New Orleans Party Time like Gilmore girls.

In the end I agreed, but only if I could pick the beer.

I wanted to get some Dixie Beer, which they have at Two Boots, but could only find Lone Star. I figured this was close enough. When Sofia saw me with the Lone Star she was not happy. But I told her "If we are staying in, this is what we are getting." And she consented.

See compromise. That's how it works folks.

Gilmore Girls was pretty good. Jole from Brian Jonestown Massacre was on the show again. They even played a Sonic Youth song from the Dirty album. If I was to see one Gilmore Girls, this was the one. Thanks Sofia.

More Book Posting

Mark Kurlansky's new book, The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell, comes out today. Mark, as you may know, is the master of what I like to call History-cito. I've read and thoroughly enjoyed Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World. He also wrote Salt: A World History. As soon as this newest book comes out in paperback, I am most def. gettin it.

Read Cod, it's a quick and fun read. Salt, I heard is longer and a bit more tedious.

Salt, Oyster, Cod...I'm getting hungry.

Blag

Blog is a combination word made from the two words web log.

Blag is a combination word made from the combination word blog and the word lag.

Deep!

Spring and Summer are coming, which means one thing: Stoop Sales! More importantly leftovers from stoop sales. The best leftovers are always books.

During the winter it's very hard to come across abandoned books. And that is when you have to turn to actually buying books, which blows. Luckily, there are two used book stores on our block. Yesterday we bought 4 books for $13. Excellent!

Sunday Brunch

Scottadito has a $12 brunch on the weekend. It includes an entree and unlimited champagne, mimosas and coffee. Obviously, this is the best deal in NYC. For some reason we never took advantage of this, until today.













Anthony and Christina braved the bitter cold to come to Park Slope for brunch.






























































Don't forget to watch Christina tomorrow on the Today Show 8-9am. She needs a fan base.

Oh and another thing, Ernest was going to make his triumphant return to the blog, but he canceled. His loss.
Jessica. Kristin. Give Dad a call.

Another Exciting Friday Night

Just spaghetti and Oliver Twist. Rather brilliant.

Stew Skates

Sofia has been bothering me about wanting to use the camera more. Today she begged me to go to the skatepark so she could take some photos. I begrudgingly went along with her little outing.



























































































You know it.

Great snaps Sofia. Imagine what you could do with a better subject, say Geoff Rowley. Soon Thrasher is gonna be knocking down your door.

FABULOSITY

Yesterday after work, we met Anthony and Christina at Corner Bistro for some burgers and brew.




















Corner Bistro, home of the $2.50 McSorley's and the smallest menu known to man.

This place is almost like the restaurant Brandon wanted to open, where you just order the number of meals you want. You go in, say "1 please" and they bring you a burger, fries and a coke. No substitutions. No extras. No choices.














Christina was in town shooting a segment for the Today Show. The segment is airing this Monday. The point of the segment is to hock Kimora Lee Simmons' (worst website ever) new "book," Fabulosity: What It Is and How to Get It. They used Christina, giving her a FABULOUS makeover. The whole thing is quite ridiculous, but it should be entertaining. She had a lot of funny tales from the afternoon shooting the segment.














On the way back to the subway, this creepy pug was staring out at us. I dubbed him Holy Pug: Guardian of All.

an afternoon project

Today, among other things, I decided to make banana bread.
Recipe
Measure out 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour and resift with 2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder. Set aside.
Blend until creamy 1/3 cup shortening (at room temp.) with 2/3 cup sugar and 3/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind. Beat in 1-2 beaten eggs (at room temp.) until blended then add 1 cup mashed ripe banana. Add the flour mixture to this in 3 parts, mixing well after each addition. Add 1/2 cups nuts if you want (I didn't have any so my bread is nut-less). Grease loaf pan and bake 1 hour in 350 oven. Yummy.

Perfect Day

Monday, another beautiful Brooklyn day, just look.



























The sun was so bright, my new white Rowley's were literally blinding.















One thing Brooklyn is known for (I think) is its many churches. From our rooftop you can look out across the hills of Brooklyn and see dozens of steeples. Until recently these steeples were the highest structures in all of Brooklyn. These are just two of the many you can see along 7th Ave.














I had Monday off and we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In honor of President's Day I present you with Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze. This is the first time I've seen it in person and I never realized it was this big. Although, Sofia and I agree, the room it is in is much too small.














This is for Tere.














Bloody Lobsterbacks!














The perfect day was only ruined by the fact that we had to work at the Food Co-op later that night.

RIP-Harold Hunter

I think Harold past away on Saturday night. He was the quintessential New York skater and one of the most entertaining in the whole game. Patrick O'dell has some photos up on his site. I only met him once, but he will be missed by many.

From Swanky to Skanky in a Few Short Hours

After sitting around all day, we made plans to meet up with Anthony for dinner and other nighttime activities.











Anthony wasn't home when we got to his place. We jumped on into the closest stale beer joint, the Macdougal St. Ale House. After ordering our brews, we looked around and noticed a distinct lack of females. Mix that with the music and the two dancing sailors gave us one impression. So if you are looking for a gay bar in the village then you might want to check out this place.














Anthony had us up for a little wine and caviar. Well, ok, no caviar.














Look at these two, ying and yang.














After dinner, Anthony took us to the very exclusive Soho House. We were totally the hottest ones there.














Especially me, I ruled the place.










And then...from Swank to Skank. We split ways with Anthony and met Cristy and Danny at Lit. It wasn't really that skanky, but when you put it up against the Soho House...well you know.













































Cristy told me to take a picture of this guy. I don't know why. Here it is Cristy.














We danced the night away. Some dude invited us to a party in DUMBO, but I couldn't get these guys to go after the bar closed. Weak.

Dude, this town sucks

For real. We're pickin our noses around here.

Look, right now I'll try to think of something to do........blank, nothing.

I don't know why so many tourists come here.

Blog Black Out

Ernest is on a momentary Media Black Out. He was caught aiding another blog. True, the blog he was helping needs a lot of help, but his disloyalty to Sofia y El Machuca can not go unpunished.

Fugazi must be listened to

I've become worried that if I don't post, this thing will die. It's not just paranoia. I've been readin' up on all this hootinany. New York magazine has a pretty good article this week on blogging (read it here). Below is an excerpt (an excerpt...an excerp...an expert) from the article:












What’s more, a blog is like a shark: If it stops moving, it dies. Without fresh postings every day—hell, every few minutes—even the most well-linked blog will quickly lose its audience. The A-listers cannot rest on their laurels. Federated Media owner John Battelle recently published a book on Google, and while on the book tour, he neglected his own well-trafficked blog (No. 81 on Technorati’s rankings) for several days. “And suddenly I was getting all these e-mails going, ‘If you don’t get your shit together, I’m out of here,’ ” he recalls. He stayed up late that night frantically adding posts. “If you start sucking,” he says, “it’s through.”

Writing about blogging on a blog has got to be some kind of "jump the shark" moment. Oh well, here is another: Fugazi. Once I drove to New Orleans by myself to see Fugazi live. This was the day after I spent all night writing a paper. Midway I had to pull over in some beat town to take a nap in a Mcdonalds parking lot. My son will be weaned on the soulful tunes of Fugazi.













Furniture has no say in life,
It was made to be used by people.
How many times have you felt like a bookcase
Sitting in living room gathering dust
Full of thought already written?

Power Trippin

Sofia is now gainfully employed. All of a sudden she's walking around the apartment giving out orders: do the dishes, make the bed, pick up your clothes, brush your teeth...man, total Power Trip!!!

Just kidding, thanks to everyone for their well wishes and prayers. They worked, Sofia was hired at the Law School today. We celebrated with Charlene at Four Faced Liar.

We discussed taxes, California, and James Joyce.

Now you know everything. Goodnight.

Big Ern!!

My favorite skaters change from time to time (besides Geoff Rowley he is always on top). I become obsessed and seek out footage of certain skaters. This week I'm diggin' Ernie Torres. Dude's sick. I wanted to post a video from DLXSF.com that they just put up. Unfortunately, my web skills are primitive, but you can find it by following this link.



This ain' it, but it's still pretty good.










Ernie just became pro and his first board series is classic, modeled after my favorite Mexican beer Tecate. Once they go on sale (CHEAPskate) I am for sure gettin one.



















I like to think Tecate is the Mexican Budweiser. I could be wrong, but that's the way it is in my head and that's the way I like it. Well, maybe not, because I am not a huge fan of Budweiser.

Valentimes

Lucky me, I've been kept prisoner in my apartment all day because Aaron took my house keys. Gotta love him.



























You get the point. Happy Valentine's Day!

¡Feliz Día de San Valentín!