A recent "parade" of (I kid you not)
fifty-six Mitzvah tanks trailed for tens of blocks thru Manhattan.
Local NYC Orthodox Judaism practitioners of Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidism rent RVs and use these Mitzvah tanks as portable educational and outreach centers; essentially, mini-synagogues.
(Listen to a ride-along on All Things Considered.)
"Everybody wants
to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant." ~ Cary Grant
Stephen Bayley, in Life’s a Pitch…, says "You are your own finest creation". His tips for making the best possible impression:
It is said that we are all three different people: the person we think
we are (the one we have invented), the person other people think we are
(the impression we make) and the person we think other people think we
are (the one we fret about). You could say it would be a lifetime’s
quest to reconcile this battling trinity into a seamless whole. Maybe,
but for the time being I am convinced that, in Kurt Vonnegut’s words
(there I go, quoting again): you are what you pretend to be.
1. The badness of a movie is directly proportional to the number of helicopters in it.
2. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight-saving time.
3. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
4. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers.
5. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is at age 11.
Although this is just a joke ad, anyone who’s had to look for a shared space in NYC realizes that this is not too far from the truth and could easily have been cut and pasted from actual listings. See for yourself – just check out a few ads from Craig’s List. It’s unbelievable what you’ll see.
When I was looking, I found anything for rent from *actual* closets to "available only on certain days" to "share a bachelor pad with me". Crazy!
ROOMMATE WANTED: SHARE MY WEST VILLAGE PAD
I have one bedroom available for rent in a two-bedroom apartment in the heart of Manhattan’s West Village. I would describe the room as cozy and the layout has a very chic "Eastern European" feel to it. There is no closet, but a twin-size bed would leave room for a small dresser. The room measures 7 feet by 7 feet with a 5-foot-high ceiling. It has no windows or electrical outlets, but boasts attractive hardwood floors.
Here’s a slide show of the 1999 peacekeeping mission I was a part of with the US Marine Corps as the Company Hospital Corpsman for Second Marine Division, Third Battalion, Eighth Marines, Lima Company.
Today I was recapping this time for a colleague at work. Her first reaction was not uncommon: "I just can’t even put that into perspective." Not surprising.
But maybe these photos can help out a bit – Enjoy!
(PS – I’m the kid in the middle.)
This was a pretty cool: Our Editing class recently needed to do a make up class during the NYU spring break, so two of our classmates volunteered the use of a Time/Life building conference room — which included a tour of their very impressive facilities. As office buildings go, it was top-notch with excellent meeting rooms for visitors and nice cafeteria; but it was their hallways that floored me.
As you step off their elevators, the greeting area is lined with all of their award-winning images eye-level; like 50 pictures. Then on the way to the conference rooms are two hallways that are lined with living history dripping from the walls. Time had a hallway solely for dedicated displays to given subjects, including: The Zapruder Film, McCarthy Era, Martin Luther King, and Muhammad Ali.
Further along, they displayed an Earth globe used for an annual cover photo, an Oscar they had been awarded, and a Wall of Fame that included their iconic photos of Gandhi, Churchill, and General MacArthur. Unreal!
Today we laid Benny to rest after six weeks of intensive care. It has been only a few hours since then, but we are still enjoying amusing and entertaining stories that have come across our minds.
Benny Goodman, 1992-2007.
I’m pretty sure the first thing everyone noticed about Benny was his unbelievable hiss! He sure had a unique ability to give you his immediate, uncensored opinion at any moment. He would often set his personal boundaries regardless of what you had to do with an incredible hiss. A hiss that could easily win national contests of hissing! But we knew his bark was worse than his bite… at least until you were bit!
To many of our friends and visitors their experience was that Benny was a bit of a psycho cat. But to us living with him, we knew him to be quite a character who didn’t let many people into his small world without paying a price.
It took him nearly a year and a half to get used to me, but it was worth it in the end. After I paid my dues I experienced a truly wonderful buddy who would follow me around the house to check out what I was doing, or chill next to me on the couch while on my laptop or watching TV. Most recently he would be up on my lap moments after I sat down and stayed for hours without budging. Eventually I would extricate myself from underneath his wide girth. He was definitely the best lap-warmer on the cold nights this past winter.
In tribute, here’s a slide show of some of our fondest photos of Benny.
If you would like to write a note or share a story, please submit in the Comments section below. Thanks.
