What not to eat on the subway

This morning’s In the Papers made me laugh when Pat pointed out a follow-up story (sorry, I forget which paper) relating to that Spaghetti Incident story. (You’ve probably seen the dumb video by now, but if you haven’t, a woman was eating spaghetti out of a Styrofoam container on the subway recently; a fellow passenger called her an “animal” for eating on the train, and the pasta-slurping passenger got up in her grill, leading to a fisticuffs. An aside: bonus points to Pat for the Guns n’ Roses reference, whether intentional or not.)

Anyway, the follow-up story concerned a woman who was caught eating CURRIED SHARK on the subway. Many things went through my mind after reading this: Where did she get that? Ew! Or maybe, yum! And then I thought of the people who do something even more offensive.

While it may sound gross to sit next to a lady eating a plate of steaming hot fish on the subway, at least the people sharing the train with her could move away, and they probably didn’t have to ride the train for that long. But it’s a different story when you’re stuck in an office and some grade-A moron uses the office microwave to reheat fish. People, this is is so very wrong on so many levels.

Anyway, it sounded like the story was insinuating that the MTA is considering some sort of rule banning eating on the train. I will be annoyed if even one dollar of taxpayer money is spent contemplating or enforcing this rule. I take the subway twice a day every day, and it just doesn’t happen that often. Or if it does, I don’t even notice it, which makes it a non-issue.

Anyway, I’m outta here for a few days, headed to Arizona for a wedding. Happy rest of the week everybody!

Haircut 100

This morning on NY1 Pat Kiernan noted that there has been a bizarre pattern of crimes taking place in barber shops and hair salons this week. I actually hadn't realized that two of the incidents were separate because I was getting them mixed up in my head. Anyway, there was the Bensonhurst barbershop shooting earlier this week, followed by the Stamford, CT incident in which a guy got arrested mid-haircut (leading the Post to hilariously describe his half-done do as a "half-fro"). Then there was the horrifying story of the man who murdered his hairstylist wife in broad daylight while she was working in a Manhattan salon.

I'm actually scheduled to get my hair cut in about two hours. Should I be worried?!

The cause of the world's problems is...Spiderman?

Once again I have totally failed to blog/tweet NY1 happenings in any kind of regular way. I had a horrendous work deadline, then promptly came down with strep throat when it was over. I’ve spent this past week catching up from that.

In any case, the news cycle rolls on. Congrats to NY1 for getting a hot scoop this week: They broke the story about Julie Taymor leaving the hugely troubled Spiderman production. I had to laugh at one of the dumb person on the street interviews accompanying Vivian Lee's story. One woman declared that the amount of money that has been spent on the critically panned show is disgraceful and could have been better spent on feeding the homeless and taking care of NYC, etc. I guess she didn’t realize Spiderman is a private, commercial enterprise and not a government-funded art project. I mean, that song-and-dance number about Arachne shopping for shoes sounded truly atrocious, but I’m not blaming the producers for the world’s social ills. They’ve messed up enough things on their own; no need to assign more blame.

What else has happened-oh yes, Chezza wrote a book! Seems Chezza-my inexplicable nickname for NY1 anchor Cheryl Wills-did some digging on her ancestry to find out more about her father, who passed away many years ago; turns out she’s the descendant of Civil War veteran Sandy Wills. The resulting book, “Die Free,” was just published. Congrats to Cheryl for this achievement.

And finally—this is old news by now, but I learned something fascinating during my hours of watching Ny1 the week that I was being a shut-in with strep throat. Pat Kiernan doesn’t drink coffee! Tea either, for that matter. How on earth does he handle the morning shift? I for one would be a basket case. I just developed a WHOLE NEW respect for PK. That is pretty intense.

OK-over and out for now.

Jesus, what a weekend.

It may be a good thing I'm nursing another cold, because between the stabbing spree in Brooklyn and the ensuing subway chaos, it has been a pretty excellent weekend to stay in.

One person who did NOT decide to stay in (yuk yuk yuk) is little Jack MacKenzie Clark, whose proud papa is none other than NY1's Roger Clark. Congrats to Roger and mom!

With that, I'm off to gobble some more Sudafed and return to my inviting couch.

Craig's Lust

Oh, Craig's List. My favorite story of yesterday/today--which Pat noted on "In the Papers" has actually played itself out quite quickly--is the one about upstate Congressman Christopher Lee, who sent a shirtless photo of himself to some gal he met on Craig's List (Lee is very married). Tthe photo makes me think of that disgusting commercial that frequently runs on NY1 (the ad is some supplement for older dudes) showing disturbingly buff 50- and 60-somethings bragging about their ripped bods and hanging out with way younger chicks. It makes me gag pretty much every time.

Also on in the papers-Chritsine Quinn has never been inside a Wal Mart. That actually takes some doing. I wish I could say the same! Maybe she just really, really never leaves NYC.

Elsewhere on NY1 this morning: I am not normally the biggest fan of Neil Rosen--I think he's frequently too soft on mediocre movies--but I enjoyed his scathing review of "Just Go with It," Jennifer Aniston's latest atrocity. He variously described it as "awful," "pathetic," "embarrassing" and "excruciating", practically yelled at Jennifer Aniston to stop doing these movies and concluded that he couldn't wait for it to end. But how do you really feel, Neil?

And finally--yesterday I got a very nice tweet from none other than Jamie Shupak saying she liked the idea of a NY1 and thanking me for the mentions--"the nice ones, anyway." I went back and read what I'd written and realized it was rather mixed and not altogether flattering. Needless to say, I'm slightly embarrassed! I often write without thinking that anyone is ever going to read this, let alone the people I'm writing about, though I do try to keep the tone of this thing light and make it clear that I am generally writing from the perspective of a fan. I don't want to be a serially vicious anonymous blogger. So if I've hurt anyone's feelings, I apologize. That said, I will still poke fun on occasion. Who can resist roasting the likes of Dan Eaton and George Whipple?*

*I'm sure both are very nice people.

Who is Pat's office spouse?

This morning’s “In the Papers” was particularly entertaining; there were several segments I wanted to highlight, but I was putting on my face and not in front of the computer so I’ll just pick a couple from memory.

Pat highlighted an article (I forget which paper) about what to get this Valentine’s Day for your “office spouse.” The article noted that the office spouse is not someone you’re having an affair with but rather someone who acts as a confidant, etc (but again, no sex).

I do not have one—one spouse is enough, thank you—but it got me wondering whom Pat’s might be. An easy guess would be Jamie Shupak, given their flirty a.m. banter, but I suspect there’s more of a mentor/mentee relationship there. Another good guess would be one of the finance hotties, Annika Pergament or Diane King, since they both cover finance and Pat has a certain affinity for that beat given his days as a CNNfn reporter.

But when you really think about it—my money’s on Roger Clark.

Another article Pat highlighted, in the Village Voice, chronicled the common problem of single women in New York and the oft-heard lament that there are not enough marriageable men in New York. The author controversially concludes that the women are the problem, not the men.

I haven’t read the article but, as a gal who didn’t get married until age 35, I certainly sympathize with these women and would probably reject that conclusion. But who knows—it was only after I left London to go back to New York that I found love. (I thought for sure my sarcastic sense of humor would go over like gangbusters with the English gents, but it turns out they don’t like redheads. Information that would have been useful to know BEFORE I moved over there!)

With that-happy Wednesday.

More jobs at NY1

To apply for the job openings below, go to www.timewarnercable.com/careers and fill in the requisition number.


1. NY1 News – Video Journalist - Politics, Requisition # 124961BR

2. NY1 News – Transit Reporter, Requisition # 125594BR

3. NY1 News – Associate Producer - Creative Services , Requisition # 125452BR
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1. YNN Albany – Producer, Requisition # 125266BR

2. YNN Albany – Producer, Requisition # 125524BR

3. YNN Buffalo – News Assistant, Requisition # 125050BR

4. YNN Buffalo – Video Journalist / Reporter, Requisition # 125504BR