Tuesday, February 5, 2008

*Everyday Chatter

The Sophie's Bar fan blog speculated about it and now it's official: Sophie's and Mona's have been saved! Let the drunken celebration begin. [Grub Street]

Speaking of curtain-free condo lives, an architect imagines a fantasy couple of successful sophisticates who don't mind (nay, enjoy) having a "floor-to-ceiling single pane that acts as one of the shower walls." This unfrosted glass "makes fun of prim notions of privacy" and reveals the nude showerer to the roof of a neighboring building, but who cares, because, "who’s going to be up there?” Hey, there are no other people in the world but us, right sweetie? and so the panopticon metropolis continues turning... [NY Times]

Nathaniel Rich reveals a city filled with dorms for adults, "special-interest housing, but for professionals," where it feels like it's freshman year all over again. "It was as if a new city had erupted overnight, devouring the old one in a panic of hunger." So he's glad to live in Brooklyn, which seems immune to going supermall. Of course, that's not true. Brooklyn is the next tasty morsel for that hungry new city across the river. Just wait. [NY Times]

The first review of Lipstick Jungle is in and it's not nice. It also has something to say about the city we live in: "Now New York is a frenetic but slightly bland city ... Yet the need to mythologize the place goes on, even if nothing much is happening ... the characters themselves behave like the human equivalents of the latest gimcrack designer condos." He's talking about the TV show characters, but that does apply to many people in the real post-SATC NYC. [NY Sun]

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How 'bout that? A "floor-to-ceiling single pane that acts as one of the shower walls," that "makes fun of prim notions of privacy"!

See! Didn't I tell you,Jerry? ;)