this little gnome...

is taking a break for labor day. have a great weekend!

boo

run, forrest, run

i've been using map my run recently - this being the year of fitness and all. i assure you, that i am not as jittery as this route would have me appear...

a-hole

i am very surprised that no one spray painted an "A" on there. c'mon, taggers, step it up.

sporty

this week, it appears my neighbors have started dealing in sports memorabilia.

oh, irene

well, we survived irene. and, in all honesty, i basically slept through it.

it goes with out saying that the disaster-fueled local tv news & weather channel coverage was out of control. that said, here was my favorite sound bite--from new jersey's governor, chris christie:

get the hell off the beaches...it's 4.30, you've maximized your tan...

way to tell it like it is, new jersey!

oh, irene (part deux)

the bad news is there's only a disney princess flashlight left...

...the good news, a plethora of devotional candles:

mutiny!

my mother sent me this snap from her garden: the gnome on the left is missing his hands; the gnome on the right holding an axe. scary!

neighborly?

i'm curious how the logistics of this request on my building's e-bulletin board...would you come down to my apartment? would i haul the bike to you when needed? i'm all for being neighborly, but this seems a little tricky.

come on, irene

hurricane! the weather channel is all a flutter with 24 hour storm coverage.

the last one i remember up here in new york was floyd - my parents' yard completely flooded - back in 1999.

and way back when i remember the aftermath of bob when we visited rhode island. my other memory of that trip was seeing hot shots, so a quick google & that must've been 1991.

reminder

as you prep for the hurricane, don't forget to do your panic buying of bread, milk & eggs for all of that french toast you'll be making.

meow

whoa - scandal - whoopi has allegedly adopted a cat!

(well, in fairness the real story is that the cat was allegedly thrown out of a car on the verrazano, the poor thing).

root toot toot

the other night - i want to say it was saturday - i watched a ridiculous basic cable movie marathon on tbs, catching anchorman: the legend of ron burgundy, yes man, nacho libre & part of the love guru back to back. (the keywords here being ridiculous & marathon.)

as such, i've had this song stuck in my head all week. and now it's probably in yours.

that sounds about right

yep, it's true, earthquake in new york today. slight, but you could totally feel it 33 stories up!

it's true

this is currently my tissue box - damn you promotional packs! it doesn't *quite* go with my new shower curtain.

(although, i do have to say that turning the boxtop into 3-D glasses is pretty ingenious).

fact

two words i cannot spell / type out for the life of me:

segment, to which i like to add a 3rd "e" for flair - segement

caterpillar, in which i frequently misplace the first "r" - catepillar

d'oh.

question

at what point did "will and jada" lose their last name?

love this

totally loving dear photograph - it's directive: take a picture of a picture from the past in the present. i find the one above particularly sweet.

funky fresh

who approved this? (reality edition)

are we that desperate for programming that there's now a reality show about tow trucks? really? who approved this, jennifer lopez?

hammer time

good to see these are comfortable, yet stylish. you can get your very own gold hammer pants here.

blackout

the anniversary of the NYC blackout was just the other day (8/14) - hard to believe it was 8(!) years ago. here's a trailer for a cute children's book based on the experience:

(thanks to Yr. Fav. Librarian for passing along!)

this week...

my computer thinks i'm spanish. gracias. donde esta paper towels?

quick question

i loved kate's paperie. but hard times and an email world does not a sustainable business make. here on the upper east side, "jam paper" has opened up in its place. i particularly like their #1 & #2 faqs.

why i feel old, part 38

lollapalooza, held the other week in chicago, is 20 years old. sigh.

i missed the first lolla, but made my father take me to scranton to see the second (red hot chili peppers, soundgarden, pearl jam, ice cube, etc). he scalped tickets, but we went early and ended up sneaking onto the grounds. later in the day, he sold the tickets back through the fence. masterful.

in subsequent years, i ended up working the shows out on randall's island. fond memories of my concert production days.

ps - yes this is a cameraphone picture of a page from people magazine

domo arigato

somehow, mr. robata just doesn't have the same ring, does it?

up the duff

well, you knew this headline was coming from the brits.

who approved this? (undergarment edition)

spanks for men? really?

these are just as bad as tighty purplies.

who approved this??

r.i.p.

i was an unabashed fan of the hair bands back in the day.

dug this out of my box of concert memorabilia - a signed "cherry pie" poster from late 1990. (or, as i specifically catalogued, 11/18/90). i believed they opened for poison at the nassau coliseum.

i have no recollection of actually asking them for nor seeing them autograph, so i'm guess maybe my father did on my behalf? (thanks, dad.)

"heaven" is still a kickin' power ballad:

goodbye, jani lane.

nice shirt!

love these

naughty words, beautifully graphically designed. you can check out more from beautifulswearwords.com

(via swiss-miss)

it was

admirable, but coco loco (art snack edition)

i love me some crafternoons. but carving busts out of oreos?

admirable creamy craft, but a little coco loco.

fingers crossed!

just plain coco loco

i've never had the desire to stick up a bank or rob a store. but i would have to imagine that i wouldn't try it with a tree branch. ah, stupid criminals.

ps - nice pun of "going out on a limb," in that second paragraph, no?

again?

yet again my computer thinks i'm german - this time a young, male, german soccer fan.

q&a

i'm fairly certain that the answer to this question is "no."

um...

how is this a good idea? d'oh.

why didn't i think of that?

a stool made from the stacks of magazines i have lying around my house?

good idea!

(via swiss-miss)

goodbye, cha cha

grease is tied with willy wonka & the chocolate factory as my all-time favorite movie. farewell to annette charles, aka cha cha digregorio, who sadly passed away. she was born to hand jive, baby.

i'm so sorry, canada

in case you hadn't seen, fabio has been having an internet duel with the old spice guy.

here, he stops by the portland tv station do plug old spice and forecast the weather. painful acting, but amusing nevertheless.

yikes!

surprisingly, the second avenue subway construction continues. i passed this monstrosity the other day. i actually looked at an apartment that faced second ave - thankfully, i passed!

ps - i'm pretty sure it's still not set to open until 2018. hopefully i'll be living in nashville or paris by then.

why i feel old, part 37

mtv turned 30 this week.

remember when they played music on music televison?

oh, the good ol' days.

can we all not agree...?

that kings of leon are the new oasis?

girl!

i'm late to the party on this one, but i am finding whitegrlproblem on twitter quite amusing. special shout-out to frequent TFAAF reader JS who referenced it the other day.

incidentally...

when i went to find the url of whitegrlproblem for the post above, my browser popped up the "white people rapping poorly" tumblr (tho, i don't recall having visited the site previously.)

check out these phat science beats below and more poor white jams here:

this one's for you, biggie...

good one, FB - usually i question your targeting, but a gnome ad is spot on.

street sleeping?

hey cleaners. it's really nice of you to put a reclined futon out front.

fun with signs

ah, yes...the battle of the office fridge. classic.