Why must people make airports MORE difficult?

Now, who's the real idiot here?

My new love

My current obsession, on the fantastic recommendation of my friend Lisa, is the TV show Veronica Mars. I'm currently halfway through Season 1 and am utterly hooked. Lisa told me to give it until at least the third episode, but I was enthralled after about 10 mins.

It's like a cooler, hipper version of Nancy Drew, another obsession I had as a kid. I think I read about 100 of the "new" Nancy Drew books between ages 10 and 13.

It's just a well-written, funny, smart, brilliantly woven show about a teenager who happens to be a detective on the sly. But it's got the rich-suburb setting that we all love in our teen dramas these days (see "The OC," "Laguna Beach," etc. But come, on, we know it all started with "90210").

Anyway, highly recommended if you like anything remotely intriguing and sassy, without having to be all Law and Order or CSI gruesome - a little more fun than that.

Fabu-bet!

I opened a new mascara this morning, since my old L'Oreal Voluminous got the funk smell, and needed to be tossed. So I went back to a tube I had previously purchased, Revlon's Fabulash. You know, with Halle Berry in that lame commercial?

Regardless of the lameness of the commercial, I'm astounded once again at how much I love this mascara. It does everything I want it to without clumping, and looking natural, but better. It lengthens, and lushes, which is what I want my mascara to do. And at $7 a tube (or so), it can't be beat.

I love expensive mascaras. Lancome has THE BEST. But I, unlike many people, actually toss mine after the allotted three or so months (or funky smell). So I stick to drugstore brands instead of tossing $20 with the tube.

If you're looking for a good cheapie tube, go Fabulash. Try to ignore the commercial.

And wedding pics and more to come on Seattle in my next post...

Some entertaining TSA reading

On the eve of my cross-country flight to Seattle for Becky's wedding, I was checking out the TSA website for allowable items. I actually flew to Detroit the day the plot unfurled in London, so am no stranger to now having to check my bags because I'm a girl, and I need girly shit like lipgloss, mascara, hair gels, lotion, and etc.

Some of the stuff on this list is pretty hilarious for the sheer reason it got its own separate billing. But as I always say, there are specifics because someone has attempted before. Why else are there directions on shampoo bottles?

Read the full list here.

My favorite - swords and sabers can be checked, but not carried on. Huh.

And note that Transformers get their own distinction - product placement at its finest. I wonder how much their manufacturer paid to have them on that list?

Bacony McBaconson

Imagine my joy and surprise when this email popped into my inbox yesterday:

Ham it Up
BY RIMA SUQI
One of New York's greatest food advantages is the presence of skilled, trained-by-apprenticeship butchers in every neighborhood. Here, and starting on page 62, we show some of their handiwork, along with their preferred cooking methods. Pictured, bacon made from Schaller & Weber's hickory-smoked pork. Head cutter Conrad Krische advises ordering it cut thick—a quarter of an inch—and cooking it in a frying pan over medium heat, which achieves a crispy edge and a tender, chewy center. It's the use of hickory pork, rather than apple pork, that gives its bacon the edge. "The best piece will taste smoky and salty, not sweet," he says. One pound of smoked slab bacon, $6.99; 1654 Second Ave., nr. 86th St.; 212-879-3047).

New York Mag promoting the love of Bacon (it's so good, it gets capitalization!). Magnificent!

Remember

Even five years later, the morning of September 11 is still pretty vivid, especially since I am working in the same office building that I was that morning. Today is similar to then - a beautiful fall day, although a little cloudier, and little cooler.

I remarked a short time ago to my dad that I can't believe that everything that morning transpired in about 2 hours. It was probably the longest two hours, and the longest day, of my life.

As I become increasingly bitter and hostile to New York and what it has become to me, I think back in remembrance of a time when it was the best place to be, and to a time, when, even after we'd been attacked and the island was in shambles, I could imagine being nowhere else. Therefore, I will always consider myself a New Yorker, even though I didn't grow up here, and won't grow old here.

Never forget.

Frivolous Lawsuits

Yet another reason I hate Oprah, and why the book industry is fucked (from Publishers Lunch):


Frey Settlement Deal is Close
Following a rumor report from Radar recently, the NYT also says that Random House and James Frey are close to settling class action suits brought over the merchandising of A MILLION LITTLE PIECES as nonfiction. While Random House's standard policy has always allowed for refunds to consumers who buy directly from their site, and via booksellers with purchase receipt, the settlement as reported by "a person familiar with the negotiations" would be much simpler (and more generous) for consumers. They would simply need to submit a selected page or piece of packaging from the book or audio packaging to qualify, along with a standardized "sworn statement that they would not have bought the book if they knew that certain facts had been embroidered or changed." By this account, Frey and Random House's liability would be capped at a maximum of $2.35 million, including paying all the lawyers, cash refunds, and some kind of charitable donation. (You'll remember that Frey has insisted that, even before his lies were exposed, he was already donating 15 percent of his earnings to treatment centers, though the donations have never been documented.) Frey's lawyer Derek Meyer tells the NYT, "We worked with Random House on whether to resolve these lawsuits and the desire to move on became a powerful incentive to resolve what are otherwise very weak cases." In this case, "move n" could be a synonym for "get paid," since Random House has withheld Frey's big seven-figure Oprah windfall royalty check pending disposition of the lawsuits.


So where does one draw the line? Lawsuits like this show the ignorance of the vast majority of Americans, and are part of the reason why everything is so expensive. Anytime Sony gets hit with a class action lawsuit, and everyone who bought a defunct Discman gets their 40 cents in settlement, then the cost of Discmans go up. Is it really worth the 40 cents?

Why, CNN, why?!

Why does CNN taunt me with this hairy monstrosity on the home page?

Snug as a bug in a rug

Wow, I just might have to purchase this. Again, as most of my favorite things are classified, the simplicity is the brilliance in this. And you look boss wearing it.