Iron Chef Michael Symon Tells Us What's New on the Food Network Next Month

I could sit and watch the Food Network all day long. Between that and HGTV, I always have something interesting to watch.

Next month, the Food Network is introducing a brand new show, Food Feuds, hosted by Iron Chef Michael Symon. In this video, Chef Symon gives us a sneak peek at his new show, the new season of The Next Iron Chef and more... love him!

Mashable & 92Y Social Good Summit (#socialgood)

This afternoon, I had the pleasure of attending the Mashable & 92Y 2010 Social Good Summit.

I missed the first session, which featured guest speakers Howard Buffett, Geena Davis and Soledad O'Brien, but I did make it to the second. Doc Hendley's story was particularly interesting: a former bartender who founded the Wine to Water organization, which provides clean drinking water to impoverished regions all over the world, funded by the proceeds of the sale of wine. He had no experience in philanthropy or fundraising - he was just a regular guy who had a great idea on how to provide something that most of us take for granted - water that won't make you sick.

Actor Edward Norton spoke about Crowdrise, a social fundraising/volunteering organization he founded. Soon after his talk ended, a large number of people exited the event, and missed what turned out to be the most entertaining part of the day: Mashable founder Pete Cashmore interviewing Ted Turner.

I knew Ted Turner was a bit eccentric, but his comments were friggan priceless (and made a lot of sense, for the most part). If I didn't have HORRIBLE AT&T mobile service I would have tweeted everything he said as he spoke. Since I do have AT&T and it DOESN'T WORK IN MANHATTAN, I'm going from memory here, but some of the more memorable comments were:
"we don't need armed forces here"
"war is obsolete"
"I don't wanna bomb anybody. Do you wanna bomb anybody?"
"all you with your twitter, or twinkle, or whatever"
"print itself is going to fade away"
"I don't like media that talks about who's dating who"
"I was a scrapper. We scrapped"
"We sweated every payroll in our first seven years" (re the first years of CNN)
"I had a guy have a heart attack in my office. I've never seen anyone have a heart attack before. I said 'you don't look so good', he said 'I don't feel so good' and that was it. We called the ambulance, then I yelled for someone to find me a new chief finance officer."
"There are over seven billion people in the world. When I was born there were two billion, and that was only 70 yrs ago. Well... 72."

In all, a great event that made you think, laugh and feel inspired. If you're inspired to DO something, check out the UN's Millenium Goals and find a cause that inspires you: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/getinvolved.shtml


taken from the back of the auditoreum

National Weather Service Confirms that a Tornado hit Brooklyn

The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado hit Brooklyn, NY near Park Slope on Thursday evening.

Up on Prospect Park West, it just seemed like a brief, powerful thunderstorm passing through at approx 5pm. I saw a few trees down in Prospect Park later that night and the next day, but no major damage up here. Yesterday, I went down to 7th Ave and was shocked: trees uprooted, branches strewn across the sidestreets and sidewalks and several cars were completely destroyed.

HGTV to Give Away $1.5 Million NYC Apartment

I'm a little bit obsessed with HGTV's House Hunters, so I find myself watching the network a lot.

This week, HGTV launched it's annual Dream Home giveaway. In the past I haven't been too excited by this (New Mexico? no thanks). BUT this time they're giving away a $1.5 million apartment in Manhattan! It's downtown on Washington St -- check out the video and enter today (or don't, so my chances of winning will improve).

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger -- A Review

I'm not one of those people who loved The Time Traveler's Wife. I couldn't buy into the idea of accidental time travel, and I didn't identify with any of the characters in the book. In fact, I downright disliked them all.

Based on this, it is surprising that I decided to read Audrey Niffenegger's second novel, Her Fearful Symmetry.

It was passed on to me by my co-worker, who couldn't get into it and decided to give up on it. Since the premise dealt with a ghost rather than a time traveler, I decided to give it a shot. Bad decision.

(if you don't want spoilers, stop reading)

The book begins with a British woman in a London hospital dying of cancer. Her name is ELSPATH. I should have stopped reading based on that pretentious, absurd name alone. I didn't. Elspath soon dies, and leaves her flat and a sizeable amount of money to her American nieces living in Chicago, the twin daughters of Elspath's sister Edie, whom she hasn't seen in 20 years. In her will, she stipulates that the girls must live in the flat for an entire year before being allowed to sell it, and their parents are never allowed to set foot in the place.

The twins, Julia and Valentina, are 20 year-old thrice college droputs. They spend their time dressing exactly alike, sharing a room in their parent's house and sleeping in the same bed. You read all of that correctly.

Since they have nothing better to do and their parents don't try to stop them, they pick up and move to London on their 21st birthday. They make this trip dressed head to toe in matching, entirely white outfits, and hold hands walking through the airport.

Upon arrival, they learn from their aunt's lawyer/will executor that Elspath's lover Robert lives in the same building and will be available should they have any questions. Robert is an intellectual who spends his days hiding from the girls, writing his thesis and giving tours at the local cemetery (also the focus of the thesis). Once again, Niffenegger's "leading man" is a bookish, pale brunette with little glasses. HOT, right? Thoughout the book, Robert seems to have no friends/family but for the elderly people he works with at the cemetery and the obsessive-compulsive crossword-puzzle writer who lives in the third apartment in the building.

Long story short: Elspath's soul is trapped in the apartment, and she haunts the girls, but eventually they communicate daily, play games, and co-habitate. Robert alternates between falling for Valentina and trying to communicate with the dead. Julia spends her days obsessed with her sister, insisting that they dress alike, sleep together, not go to school and generally refrain from having any healthy relationship with anyone but each other (and their dead aunt, the ghost, of course). Valentina spends her days having panic & asthma attacks in the subway, swooning over Robert, distancing herself from Julia, fixating on her dead aunt and adopting a stray cat. Because OF COURSE in a book like this, they're all cat people.

If the characters weren't such absolutely useless losers, the story itself may have been somewhat enjoyable, but once again I found it impossible to like any of them. It wasn't even the situations they were in that were the least believeable - it was the characters themselves. 21 year-old women dressing exactly alike everywhere they go and sleeping in the same bed, and we're supposed to buy that this is 'normal' because they're twins? Bullshit.

I think my problem isn't the book itself - it's the author. She sticks to a template:
-- an unrealistic premise
-- set in/partly in Chicago
-- destined-to-fail love story between a beautiful woman and a brown-haired, Lennon-glasses-wearing bookworm of a man
-- and of course, cats

I disdain it, and this time I'm not going to give Niffenegger's writing another chance. And really, what kind of asshole uses a photo like that for their publicity shot? The kind of asshole that wrote this book, that's who.

Lessons Learned from BlogHer

On Friday, I had the pleasure of experiencing my very first BlogHer conference.

I am not very diligent about posting on this blog. I tend to write whenever I have time and just need a place to vent. I thought that most bloggers were in this category, but after listening to the panel speakers at BlogHer, I felt like a total underachiever. These women are not just writing for fun. They're making their blog their business. They are marketing themselves as a brand, and their opinions are generating a revenue stream. I don't how many of them have a regular job, but it sounds like many of them don't need 'day jobs' anymore...

Not sure how long this will last, but for now I'm inspired to write more often and pay more attention to this blog. Thanks for the inspiration BlogHer, and for the introduction to the Pillsbury Doughboy, of course.

LeBron to Make his Announcement in Greenwich. Knicks fans Rejoice!

LeBron James will announce his team choice tonight at 9pm on ESPN, live from the Boys & Girls Club of.... GREENWICH, CT.

Not only is Greenwich about a half hour away from Madison Square Garden, it is also the hometown of Allan Houston and an 18 minute drive to the Knicks training facility in Greenburgh, NY.

Is there really any doubt left that LeBron will choose the Knicks? I can't help but think the latest rumors about Miami are just an effort to throw people off and avoid asking the obvious question: why would he make the announcement from Greenwich if he WASN'T going to the Knicks? There are Boys & Girls Clubs all over the country, and if he was really looking for a 'neutral' site, why would he choose a suburb of NYC?

Sorry Cleveland, he's Big Apple bound. And like so many other NYC athletes, I'm sure he'll be shopping for Greenwich real estate soon too! Welcome, LeBron. I hope to see you on the Avenue real soon...