If you had a hundred fifty grand, Ecto 1 could be your winged steed, your chariot of fire. Or hey, five years at a 7% interest rate and she’s yours for a monthly payment of $2970.14. [ thanks, Jballz! ]
“Getting a shoe compliment from a woman is like having Bobby Flay come up to you at a party and tell you your seven-layer dip was incredible, like having Whitney Houston (pre-crack, of course) duck her head into your car window at a stoplight and tell you that she overheard you belting out “I Will Always Love You” and that you’ve really got something there, like having Mario Testino tap you on the shoulder when you’re posing for Myspace self-portraits in front of your bathroom mirror and saying “You’ve got a good eye, kid.”
My friend Lauren, on one of the city’s most quintessential experiences:
The creepy subway dude knows what he wants, and he will stare at it from 207th street all the way downtown. Do not be alarmed, for this is simply how the creepy subway dude shows his affection. If you scowl or pretend to fall asleep or put on dark glasses, this will only interest him more. In the most extreme cases, he will get up from where he is already sitting in a nearly empty train to sit next to you, and then turn and whisper a single, horrifically dirty sweet nothing in your ear before you get up and run out of the car. It might be 4 a.m. and you might be tired, but it’s probably a good idea to take a long, hot shower, then exfoliate and dispose of your entire outer layer of skin when you get home.
My all-time favorite: the smoothtalker who sidled up to me on the 42nd St N platform just to say, “Hey baby, you should let me fuck you in the ass.” Most creepy subway dudes will either state what they’d like to do to you outright (“I want to fuck you in the ass.”) or phrase it in the interrogative (“How about I fuck you in the ass?”), but not this one. No, he wanted the possibility to actually be considered. I didn’t, of course—I gave him my best Classic Inscrutable Asian Face and walked away as calmly as I could manage—but every time I tell this story I wonder if someone’s ever taken him up on the offer.
140+ plugins for Mail.app, listed on one page, categorized, and with capsule reviews for each.
Chowhounder’s ultimate recipe for bacon brittle. “If you’ve ever had the pleasure of having some of your pancake syrup flow onto the savory side of the plate, you might understand why hounds are crazy for the porky version of this old-fashioned confection.” I understand and wholeheartedly support this mission. [ via Serious Eats ]
How Jennifer Love Hewitt Made The Web More Usable. “Back in the day, before they became known as the internet’s premiere usability gurus, 37Signals was just another web shop, putting up brochure-ware for McCompanies riding the bubble. It wasn’t until they hired Jennifer Love Hewitt that they really refocused and began creating the kind of productivity software that makes the lives of web consultants and small business owners easier.”
Wii Sports Pack: a three pack of tennis racket, golf club and baseball bat plastic extensions for your Wiimote to make gameplay feel more realistic. Nothing for the legions of Wii bowling fans, alas.
rathergood.com shop, for all your Joel Veitch-related needs. I was expecting the usual assortment of crap tshirts but Mr Veitch has outdone himself. Not only are his shirts great but he’s gone and produced soft toys—including a spongmonkey. Brilliant!
Leslie Harpold passed away this weekend.
I was a big fan of hoopla.com for years but was too shy to ever email her to say that I did, until it got stolen out from under her. I had a friend working for NetSol at the time and pulled some strings; she never did get it back but always remembered that I tried. After that we kept touch very casually, mainly through LiveJournal, where she gave the best advice about all sorts of things and was just all around awesome. On a bitter cold day in January, when I was frustrated and hopeless, the saddest I’ve ever been, she came through for me unexpectedly with kindness and love. I don’t exaggerate when I say I don’t know where I’d be today without her.
As Kevin said, “Leslie, I’m sorry that we didn’t get to meet in person, but I’m really thankful that you were in my life, and that you shared yours with me.”
More Leslie on Flickr, LiveJournal and Vox; lots of memories from Kevin, Mike, Merlin, Kathryn, Lance, Dan, Matt and MetaFilter. Kevin’s keeping a list of the dozens upon dozens of tributes at del.icio.us/kfan/leslieharpold/.
Chicken Fried Bacon. Its inventor, Frank Sodolak of Sodolak’s Original Country Inn in Snook, TX, is my culinary hero of the year. [ via jimfl del.icio.us ]