Welcome to the Big Apple Blog Festival (BABF), a representative roundup of this week’s posts by NYC bloggers.
The Big Apple Blog Festival likes to go on tour … if you don’t like what we covered here, and if you have a NYC blog or you blog about NYC and would like to host an upcoming BABF, let us know … The next BABF, on January 30, 2006, will be hosted by A Guy In New York … Last week’s Big Apple Blog Festival was hosted by Harleys, Cars, Girls & Guitars …

RELATIONSHIPS

• The Apiary says if you’re “tired of sauntering aimlessly around the Big Apple going food cart to food cart without any real life plan” or “meeting people on eHarmony who won’t shut up about their stupid decaying ovaries’ .. “Then it’s time to join The Apiary Odyssey Club.” …
• The Anonymous Blogger says “All the dating services I know of are run by women. How come men don’t run dating services?” … what about eHarmony? … see previous …
• Clareified links to a post about which she says, “This is the best reason I’ve seen yet to get married.” … and has a good joke: “Friendship Between Women: A woman didn’t come home one night. The next day she told her husband that she had slept over at a girlfriend’s house. The man called his wife’s 10 best friends. None of them knew anything about it.” .. you’ll have to click to see “Friendship Between Men” …
• Ragged Thots discusses “a man at work rushes to the aid of his wife who seems to be endangered by strangers that may or may not have been drinking. What should be his reward? How about suspending him from work!” …
• Daily Lunch thinks it’s a positive sign that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Bashar al-Assad met in Damascus in a “defiant show of solidarity” …
  

  POLITICS

• Asymmetrical Information hopes the Supreme Court overturns Roe “just so that we can all shut the hell up about abortion for a while” … or take it up at the state level where it should have been decided in the first place …
• Liberteaser says “Congressman Gary Miller (R, CA), who helped ‘secure’ $1.28 million of federal funds as an ‘earmark’ in legislation” is a “thief, and he ought to be removed from Congress and prosecuted” …
• The Corsair says we can count on “Hillary versus Gore — Centrist versus Civil Libertarian-Progressive” in 2008 …
• Atlas Shrugs updates “You have Two Cows” with some new ones …
• Jewschool says Jack Abramoff is “A Failure As A Jew” …
  Quixotic Optimism wonders if Abramoff is a “Heartless swindler or spineless Republican lackey?” …

• As I Please opines that “the argument that Democrats didn’t take money directly from Abramoff is a silly semantic argument. Here we have a Senator in Washington State feeding at a trough replenished often by tribes in California, Michigan, Mississippi and Louisiana” …
• Jossip asks “Politicians, comedians, everyone, do us a favor. Stop tarnishing the eloquent Dr. Martin Luther King Jr with your mind-numbing, nonsensical speeches that try to prove you’re one of the people.” … sounds good to us …
• Ace of Spades “just KNEW Bush was going to win” in 1992 … “Oh well. Youthful optimism.” …
• Kesher Talk has a report with pics of a protest and counter protest with “Protest Warrior to protest a protest against military recruiters” “by the Youth and Countermilitarism Program of the War Resisters’ League” (which has this as the only entry on its site’s calendar: “1 AUGUST 2005: Calendar launched. This calendar will be updated frequently by the WRL Youth and Countermilitarism Project team.”) …
• The Daily Gotham says “Brooklyn politics is a complicated mess.” … and believes “A political machine can be a good thing, even though they tend almost unavoidably towards corruption.” …
  

  WAR

• Gone Underground agrees with “This Letter of Apology” written by Lieutenant General Chuck Pitman, USMC, Retired … “I am sorry that most Arabs and Muslims have to live in squalor under savage dictatorship” … “I am sorry that Muslim extremists have killed more Arabs than any other group” …
• Alarming News points out that “most spiritual quests don’t usually end with the seeker taking up arms against his own countrymen but that’s neither here nor there to Dad Lindh. John Walker Lindh committed the most obvious form of treason.” …
  

  BOOKS and LITERARY TYPES

• Dawn Eden has a quote from G.K. Chesterton about literary style and believes it applies to Christopher Hitchens and Andrew Sullivan …
• New York Brain Terrain notes that Julian Barnes, author of “The Lemon Table,” will be in town from the 26th through the 31st …
• Miscellaneous Objections has pics of “two fellow commuters …reading James Frey’s lie-tacular tome, ‘A Hundred Thousand Or So Medium-Sized Pieces.’“… we like this plot summary of Frey’s book by “hllib” on Amazon the best: “Spoiled rich kid with tough-guy attitude and severe alcoholism/crack addiction has his parents pay for a stay at the exclusive Hazelden clinic in Minnesota. Goes in a busted-up, addicted idiot. Comes out a semi-repaired, sober jerk” …
  

  SINGING, DANCING, ACTING

• About Last Night has his weekly list “of recommended Broadway and off-Broadway shows” …. he clearly doesn’t have a teenage daughter or Wicked would be on the list …
• My Urban Kvetch reports “the princess of pop’s hailing the Hindus” … and she’s off on a Caribbean cruise …
• Downtown Dancer wonders, was “Alison Chase Fired From Pilobolus?” … follow the Update link at the bottom …
• Fisher-Price My First Opera Blog is thinking of changing the name of his blog because he’s “feeling a little guilty about the number of searches I see that lead someone to this tarty little blog that clearly was looking for a Fisher Price toy” .. how about “My Second Opera Blog” … 
• Night After Night believes “a gloomy, wet, steel-gray evening in Manhattan [is] a perfect day to listen to La Cieca’s wonderful Birgit Nilsson podcasts, as well as the searing renditions of Hindemith, Mendelssohn, Dvorak and Shostakovich violin concerti found in a Brilliant Classics box set of radio recordings by David Oistrakh.” … on gloomy days we prefer Cab Calloway’s “A Chicken Ain’t Nothin’ But A Bird” and “Everybody Eats When They Come To My House” … we admit it: the Birgit Nilsson podcasts are worth listening to …
• An Unamplified Voice … “the unique quality of opera — what, I believe, guarantees its market life as a niche luxury for as long as companies remain true thereto — is what can’t be so reproduced and extended: the costly, laborious, and very human live presentness of operatic performance.” …
• Cinema Strikes Back declares that “If a Stephen Chow sci-fi film is anything as wild as his lone horror outing in “Out of the Dark“… then I need to fly to Hong Kong opening day to see it!” …
  

  TV

• Cake Or Death? “can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen kids projectile vomit upon seeing commercials for cereals high in sugar. And the number of recorded cases where a toddler will spontaneously explode into a giant ball of fat when watching an ad for Fruit Roll-Ups is astounding” …
• The Tin Man joined a gym and likes the elliptical … because he can watch TV while using it …
• blog NYC says “The only reason to watch American Idol is the auditions” … and has a link to a, like, like, an orange, like, bimbo … Simon Cowell: “You’re 16, and it is the most strange look, make up tan I have ever seen in my life” …
  

  FOOD and DRINK

• Englishman in New York got together with NYC nosh “to find a good meal for three including wine, tax and tip for $20 total.” … next he should talk with Twenty Bucks a Day …
• New York’s Sixth reminds us that the Hudson Restaurant Week begins today … “meals starting at $15 for lunch and $30 for dinners” …
• A Brooklyn Life is “in a good mood, and I think it’s due to the copious amount of Boylan’s sodas I consume. All of Boylan’s sodas are good, but I’m a seltzer girl myself, and I’m convinced I have never tasted a better seltzer.” …
• A Guy In New York had the weekly roundup of NYC restaurant reviews … and a reminder about Winter Restaurant Week in NYC …
  

  MONEY

• rion.nu has pics of 20 Exchange Place in Wall Street … “Its rich facade of bronzed depictions glorify both historic and modern transportation vehicles of the era. These are surrounded by elements of nature, as well as two allegorical figures to represent the balances of banking: abundance and prudence.” …
• Dead Programmer’s Cafe took “29 1/2 lb of coins in a Strand bag” to the bank … what was the $ value? ….
• dailyheights.com has a new definition for millionaire: “anyone who won’t think twice about plunking down a record-breaking (for Brooklyn, at least) $1000+ per square foot for a condo” … what if it’s a really tiny condo? …
  

  LIVING IN NYC

• The Urban Grind has no sympathy for Nixzmary Brown’s “parents” …
• Bridge and Tunnel Club says “New York is the biggest, bestest city on the planet and we have the busiest Target store in the state — no, country — no! — hemisphere! Yes, one of the busiest in the Northern Hemisphere” … map …
• this is what we do now tells the “the denizens of Billyburg thinking their little enclave is some sort of bastion of cultural relevance and that any invasion of a national franchise is somehow detrimental to the very fabric of the neighborhood” to “Get over yourselves already” …
• NewYorkology has her usual great roundup of interesting things to do in NYC …
• gridskipper NY links to “a helpful comparative chart on how to tell the difference between New York and Los Angeles” …
• The People’s Cube reports that “After learning that New York City police officers have been receiving Islamic-culture training, the Big Apple’s largest street communities, the Bloods and the Crips, criticized the NYPD and Mayor Bloomberg for discriminating against the gangsta people. Furious gangsta community leaders demanded that a similar sensitivity training program be created to educate law enforcement members about the intricacies of ‘gangsta-culture,’ with its vibrant rituals, traditions, and etiquette.” …
• Lengths of comfy verdure is “not one of those people who thinks that everyone in america should speak english immediately necessarily. but if you wax eyebrows for a living, you absolutely should” … well, Yeah! … and she’s engaged …
  

  MISCELLANEOUS

• Sexless In The City has info about the “Love > Revenge” fund …
• Exit Zero likens Britain’s plans for the Middle East after WWI to “a colonial version of Star Wars 1, 2 & 3” …
  

  SPORTS

• Steve Silver predicts “It’ll be Seattle and Pittsburgh, squaring off in Detroit on February 5” …
• spinachdip nyc says it will be Denver and Carolina …
• SerandEz gives his reasons why he also believes “the Carolina Panthers will be playing the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XL” …
• Yanksfan vs. Soxfan says “for a measly 5K (or thereabouts), you can hobnob for 6 days with your favorite ex-mediocrities.” … heck, you can hobnob with Hobnob for less than that …
  

  SCHOOL / EDUCATION

• Yet another weird SF fan has the Cognitive Reflection Test and says “The really interesting fact is that the test was given to a sample of Harvard students and to a sample of ordinary Bostonians at the Boston Fourth of July celebrations. The ordinary Bostonians did better” … makes you want to turn the monitor upside down to check your answers …
• Homeschooling in New York City is “convinced that Randi Weingarten (head of the teacher’s union in NYC) is the one who doesn’t care about kids. She only cares how well the teachers have it – herself included.” …
• My Urban Kvetch reminisces about reading all the Ian Fleming books … in grade school …
• this fish needs a bicycle also reminisces … about middle school … “On my first day of middle school, I accidentally walked into the boys’ bathroom. I’ve never quite recovered from the humiliation.” … but after falling recently in front of a bunch of sixth-graders, she thought about calling her mom, “I hate middle school and I want to come home!” … if you want to know what kids talk about, drive them around … it’s like you’re not even there …
• Brain Terminal writes that “Most cars cost far less than four years at college, which now averages over $100,000 for a four-year undergraduate degree. Yet, like the car that comes with a major part missing, many colleges provide educations that are unbalanced and incomplete.” … and wonders if college professors “feel the same way when 60 Minutes or 20/20 exposes the malfeasance of other businesses that are engaged in consumer rip-offs” …
• Dave Friedman’s Soul of Wit says innumeracy is a problem with college grads … and takes Carl Bialik’s math quiz …
• tres chicas declares “80% of law students qualify for ‘most annoying human being’ status” … seems high to us …
  

  WORK

• Now What? started a new job and “nearly did a Sharon Stone to my new officemates” … I’m glad I don’t have to wear pantyhose …
• The Daily Dump says “if my [law] firm had a motto it would be ‘We sacrifice enjoyment so you don’t have to.’ Although I would probably be in charge of making it our motto, so I’d likely shorten it to ‘We sacrifice enjoyment!’” … and his “job over the past few days has been to read blog posts and (I’m smiling just thinking about it) OTHER PEOPLES’ EMAILS looking for incriminating evidence.” … he finds some …
• BuzzMachine has an interesting post about “The ghosts of newsrooms present and future” … that applies to all kinds of organizations …
  

  ONLINE

• Letters from NYC has a scary story about online stalking …
• Mister Snitch! has “Rules for trolls” … we find it interesting that there are people who believe a newspaper can “censor” anyone or anything … get a clue, get a blog … and mister snitch asks, “At what point did we become obliged to put up with obnoxious houseguests?” … and has a post about “The coming collapse of income tax” …
• As I Please links to the pissing contest that took place on one of the Washington Post’s blogs also discussed by mister snitch! …
• The Politburo Diktat, commenting on the WaPo thing, says, “From my own experience, Leftie blog-comment ‘dissent’ consists largely of vile name-calling.” …
• Clublife has had problems with trolls on his blog … which is why he turned comments off …
• opinionistas is anonymous no longer … she turned her comments off, too …
• Elvira Black tells us how to get blog traffic up … “simply mention ‘pro-life,’ ‘pro-choice’ or ‘sex’ in a post, and you’ve got yourself a feeding frenzy like you wouldn’t believe.” …
• tres chicas says the cheap way to increase hits is to write: “Osama’s back in the news. I think he and Paris should date. They’re both crazy rich people who don’t care about anyone but themselves. W can be their adopted uncle, and Dick Cheney can play Grandpa.” …
• blog NYC shows us how it’s really done … “BlogBlitz: Sexiest Fetus Almost Alive is Already Wreaking Havoc” … Madonna Dearest … Angelina Jolie … Kelly Clarkson … Jennifer and Vince … Leif Garrett … Nick Nolte …
  

  PHOTOS

• Express Train has a pic from the subway station at Smith and 9th in Brooklyn, ”the highest point in the subway system, you couldn’t see the ground.’ … “It seemed like we were riding through the clouds.” … more pics from that station from Bridge and Tunnel Club …
• Theater of My Mind has a nice pic of “The view down the East River from Long Island City” … at night …
• WhatISee has a pic and links to Clifford Ross’ R1 camera and the gigapixel project … and some shots of Cafe Americain …
• Scriberoptics is “learning how to get the most out of my macro lens so that when spring, with its flowers and insects, finally does arrive, I’ll be well schooled in taking macro shots” …
• Melissa Medina at NYC Metblog is now “the building celebrity – the girl with the cursed apartment” after a pipe burst in a closet … and Dhaval Mehta works with some wierdos …
  

  ANIMALS

• Gotham Gal wonders why people take their dogs with them when they go shopping …
• 10,000 Birds looks at the factors in deciding which species to watch … and concludes that birds are the clear winner … “birding is one of the fastest growing outdoor interests in the world. This is not to say that snail watching (best not to call it ‘snailing’) lacks its own charms.” … his count is over 350 … one of my law school professors, the late Thompson G. Marsh, was an avid birder with a count of over 800 …
• Living the Scientific Life has a big roundup of bird news … including using evolutionary theory to modify the evolution “of New Zealand’s critically endangered parrot, the kakapo, Strigops habroptilus” … and links to a story about how “a gossipy parrot split up a pair of lovebirds when a computer programmer discovered that his girlfriend was having an affair when his pet parrot kept repeating her lover’s name” … birds of a feather …
  

  TRAINS, PLANES, AUTOMOBILES

• New York Hack is wondering why “the NYPD seems to think that placing two cop cars in the left lane at the beginning of the [Brooklyn] bridge will act as a deterrent to terrorism, when in fact all it does is create a long slow-moving stream of tired and angry drivers that reaches all the way up to the Williamsburg Bridge.” … and got a nice pic of the sunset “from underneath the FDR, facing the Brooklyn Bridge” …
• New York’s Sixth continues to follow the woes of the automatic parking garage in downtown Hoboken …
• Forgotten NY added Part 2 of “The Original 28. The artwork of NYC’s original subway stations” … Part 1 is here …
• Harleys, Cars, Girls & Guitars promises “a boatload of pictures” from the International Motorcycle Show at the Javits Center … shouldn’t that be “a sidecar full” or “a motorcycle trailer load” or something? …

___________________________________
The Big Apple Blog Festival is listed on the ÜberCarnival page and in Carnival News.
To nominate your favorite blog post about NYC, or if you have a NYC blog and want to see something in the next BABF … or you have a NYC-related blog and would like to host an upcoming BABF … send us a short write up and a permalink to aguyinnewyork [at] gmail.com … or use the Carnival Submit Form … see you next week …
You are free to repost the Big Apple Blog Festival so long as you leave this URL attached: BigAppleBlogFestival.com.

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