I've moved to www.cabdriverstellmeimpretty.com
I hope you will move there too.
4.23.2008
4.08.2008
Move
This move is moving slowly. So I think I'll still post here. But start thinking about reading this at www.cabdriverstellmeimpretty.com, because that will have to happen soon.
My "mover" is a genius. I forgot to ask him if I can tell you who he is, but I will do that soon-ish too. You should hire him. He solves tech problems like there's no tomorrow.
My "mover" is a genius. I forgot to ask him if I can tell you who he is, but I will do that soon-ish too. You should hire him. He solves tech problems like there's no tomorrow.
4.03.2008
4.02.2008
3.28.2008
3.27.2008
Not Pretty
I've no new taxi story but I did spend $628.29 at the pharmacy today. And not on makeup. On four prescriptions. Apparently my insurance deductible resets every year. And not on the calendar year. This is a note so that I am not so stupidly shocked when it happens again.
P.S. I met the deductible, so one of the prescriptions was actually at its normal low co-pay price! And it still added up like that.
P.P.S. Note: no one wants to read this, I know. But with a shock like this, I couldn't afford a taxi anywhere, obviously.
P.S. I met the deductible, so one of the prescriptions was actually at its normal low co-pay price! And it still added up like that.
P.P.S. Note: no one wants to read this, I know. But with a shock like this, I couldn't afford a taxi anywhere, obviously.
3.26.2008
For Sale
I'm so glad you love the gray nail polish. It will be for sale soon. Photos and details to follow. Write to me at cabdriverstellme(at)gmail(dot)com to reserve your bottle.
3.20.2008
3.19.2008
"Newspaper boxes" Or, "who made this art and why is it still so clean?"
On Grand Street near Ludlow. I wonder if they're new, because they are still pristine. When I worked at the Voice I was always amazed that we had to pay fines if our boxes were defaced. I guess it makes sense, since the Voice owned them, but still, it seemed crazy, because all newspaper boxes are so often destroyed by graffiti and garbage.
3.18.2008
3.17.2008
On The Anxiety Of Writing About Photography
I've been asked to write for Jen Bekman's Hey, Hot Shot! blog. So I'll be writing about photography again soon!
3.13.2008
On The Anxiety Of Photography
"Photography can be a neurotic’s worst nightmare. At least if the neurotic thinks about it, and the neurotic does. He thinks too much. The photographer/neurotic gets caught between his desire and his intellect, and therein lies the nightmare. It’s not that desire and the intellect don’t go together, they do."
— From Too Drunk to Fuck (On the Anxiety of Photography), by Mark Wyse
3.12.2008
MySpace Can't Possibly Own Credit/Copyright To Your Profile Photos, Can They?
It's bad enough that the Times relied on MySpace as the main source for their latest scoop on the Spitzer scandal, but to give MySpace a photo credit for each shot taken from the prostitute's page?!
MySpace does not own the photos uploaded to it. Though this doesn't seem like a mistake the NYT wouldn't make. Now I'm curious. I'm going to look into this.
MySpace does not own the photos uploaded to it. Though this doesn't seem like a mistake the NYT wouldn't make. Now I'm curious. I'm going to look into this.
3.11.2008
3.05.2008
5M26
"This is my first day," he said with a bravado that barely masked his fear.
"I mean, you're not my first. I go to college. I've been driving for, like, a long time. All day."
"How many fares have you had?" I asked.
"A lot," he said. "Uh, three."
"It's still early," I said.
"Okay, fine, fine, I've only had one. I mean none. No others. You're the one. The only one. You're my first."
He then told me that he loves live music and asked if he could put on some songs for me. I was listening to my ipod, but I nodded.
He played a song that repeated something about "baby, don't you rush, girl, we got the whole night" and a 50 Cent tune that seems to be titled A Little Bit.
Subtle.
"I mean, you're not my first. I go to college. I've been driving for, like, a long time. All day."
"How many fares have you had?" I asked.
"A lot," he said. "Uh, three."
"It's still early," I said.
"Okay, fine, fine, I've only had one. I mean none. No others. You're the one. The only one. You're my first."
He then told me that he loves live music and asked if he could put on some songs for me. I was listening to my ipod, but I nodded.
He played a song that repeated something about "baby, don't you rush, girl, we got the whole night" and a 50 Cent tune that seems to be titled A Little Bit.
Subtle.
3.04.2008
The Office
My first post on Personal Days (the blog of the book by Ed Park) is up. It's about David W. Dunlap's The Office as Architectural Touchstone from Sunday's New York Times.
The Bell Labs campus is near my parents' house. I've always wanted to visit. I don't think you're allowed in.
The Bell Labs campus is near my parents' house. I've always wanted to visit. I don't think you're allowed in.
3.02.2008
Reblog
I haven't switched this blog to Tumblr yet, although as soon as I find someone who knows how to do it, I will. (If you know how or want to do it for me, e-mail, please.) For now, just pretend that I've reblogged this awesome photo below. I love it.
prettystandard:
prettystandard:
The slow demise of the DUMBO snowman colony
2.29.2008
Black Cab Sessions
The Black Cab Sessions (here, Spoon and Saint Vincent). I love these and their motto: "One song, one take, one cab." It might be my second-favorite foreign indie rock video series, after The Take Away Shows.
It's time I started my trope, interviews conducted during cab rides. Soon...
It's time I started my trope, interviews conducted during cab rides. Soon...
2.27.2008
Our Blog Could Be Your Life
How is it possible that every article about Quarterlife isn't titled "Our Blog Could Be Your Life?"
A Nexis search reveals that it hasn't been used even once.
A Nexis search reveals that it hasn't been used even once.
2.26.2008
Links, Some
- Something about how I would definitely fall down these stairs.
- Something about In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, the anniversary. And Anne Frank.
- Something about The Echo Park Time Travel Mart.
- Something about liking New Jersey Turnpike tolls.
- Something about I recently discovered and now sort of love this blog.
2.25.2008
HP73? 73HZ?
I'm loathe to leave his number, even as I indict him here.
(Also, I didn't take a receipt, so my recall of the number is sketchy.)
Maybe if he wasn't driving around New York with a trunk full of porn, I wouldn't have reason to write about him.
His car was clean.
He helped me with my suitcase.
He ignored my histrionic cell-phone call.
But he kept them in a big, clear trash bag.
Trashy.
(Also, I didn't take a receipt, so my recall of the number is sketchy.)
Maybe if he wasn't driving around New York with a trunk full of porn, I wouldn't have reason to write about him.
His car was clean.
He helped me with my suitcase.
He ignored my histrionic cell-phone call.
But he kept them in a big, clear trash bag.
Trashy.
2.22.2008
2.21.2008
Things, Some
- Something about festival dailies.
- Something about frozen dumplings.
- Something about that stranger, leaning against the doors for the entire ride, writing alternating lines in blue pen and in black pen in a tiny notebook, and never messing up, and balancing.
- Something about Botox and sweating.
- Something about where they keep the carts at night and when it's cold.
- Something about this being the block where I lost you.
- Something about the bakery staying open for one more holiday's haul.
2.20.2008
Things I Don't Understand And Definitely Am Not Going To Talk About
- Things I don't understand and definitely am going to talk about.
- Everything.
2.15.2008
2.14.2008
Away Message
My away message had a link to this blog.
This is what I found when I returned to the computer:
bonniesnow: Jennifer, are you dating a cab driver?!
bonniesnow: I don't understand.
bonniesnow: Why don't you tell me about these things?!
bonniesnow: It's okay if you're dating a cab driver.
bonniesnow: We should talk.
bonniesnow: It's not okay if you're dating a cab driver. It's WEIRD!!!
bonniesnow: Just because a boy tells you that you're pretty doesn't mean that you have to go out with him.
bonniesnow: I tell you that you're pretty.
bonniesnow: I think you should call me.
This is what I found when I returned to the computer:
bonniesnow: Jennifer, are you dating a cab driver?!
bonniesnow: I don't understand.
bonniesnow: Why don't you tell me about these things?!
bonniesnow: It's okay if you're dating a cab driver.
bonniesnow: We should talk.
bonniesnow: It's not okay if you're dating a cab driver. It's WEIRD!!!
bonniesnow: Just because a boy tells you that you're pretty doesn't mean that you have to go out with him.
bonniesnow: I tell you that you're pretty.
bonniesnow: I think you should call me.
2.13.2008
2.12.2008
Backseat Shooter: 2C68
There was a kite and a beach and a family and a fight and there was a cab, and it was out of place, and it made them laugh. A little.
2.08.2008
Reading In Cabs With...
"We can never make proper goodbyes. It was your last ride in a Checker cab, and you had no warning. It was the last time you were going to have Lake Tung Ting shrimp in that entirely suspect Chinese restaurant, and you had no idea. If you had known, perhaps you would have stepped behind the counter and shaken everyone's hand, pulled out the disposable camera and issued posing instructions. But you had no idea."
Colson Whitehead, The Colossus of New York,also, New York Times Magazine.
(I'm not sure I know how to write about this essay without being corny. It's super-sentimental, and perhaps overwrought, and I hadn't read it in years — although I'd read it about a million times since I first saw it in the NYT Magazine — when I saw the book, Colussus of New York, in a store recently, and turned right to it, and it definitely made me cry. And so, because it made me cry in the middle of Bookcourt, and because it's still one of my favorite pieces of writing about New York, and because it meets the key criteria of "Reading In Cabs With," i.e. it mentions a taxi, that's why it's here.)
2.07.2008
What's So Funny About Brooklyn?
Ed Park will be at the Brooklyn Public Library tonight. He will read from the forthcoming/awesome Personal Days.
Ed Park is what's so funny about Brooklyn. Even though he does not live here. Perhaps this will be discussed at the event.
Ed Park is what's so funny about Brooklyn. Even though he does not live here. Perhaps this will be discussed at the event.
2.04.2008
2.01.2008
1.31.2008
You Are Trying To Break My Heart
Apparently, “3N23” stands for "I am trying to hit that girl as she crosses Delancey."
Not “hit on.”
Hit.
Not “hit on.”
Hit.
1.30.2008
You Give Girls A Bad Name
"Do you like me more than dinner?" she asked.
(I should mention: they were clearly on a first date.)
His response, "Dinner as a concept, or this dinner?"
Then, and without hesitation, she started to cry.
He waited what I thought was an appropriate amount of time (two minutes), he put down some money, presumably for the check, and he left.
She sat, still, at the table, and cried.
He doubled back, and handed her a twenty-dollar bill, "For your cab home."
(I should mention: they were clearly on a first date.)
His response, "Dinner as a concept, or this dinner?"
Then, and without hesitation, she started to cry.
He waited what I thought was an appropriate amount of time (two minutes), he put down some money, presumably for the check, and he left.
She sat, still, at the table, and cried.
He doubled back, and handed her a twenty-dollar bill, "For your cab home."
1.29.2008
GL41
GL41?
IL4G?
(sigh)
I've forgotten your number.
But you were sweet, hipster cab driver.
And that song by that band, that has the line about cabs --
do you play it for all the girls?
IL4G?
(sigh)
I've forgotten your number.
But you were sweet, hipster cab driver.
And that song by that band, that has the line about cabs --
do you play it for all the girls?
1.25.2008
First Tear To The Table
I could win this competition. I've practiced, unintentionally, my whole life. I think the video, an outtake from an old issue of Wholphin, is sort of beautiful. (Better than the film they intended to make/the one they included on the actual disk.)
1.23.2008
Gray Nail Polish
I made this nail polish shade in a cab. I first used it on the subway. Nina gave herself a manicure, with it, at Sunny's, a bar in Red Hook, on Saturday night. LZP took the photo. We have a new business.
1.22.2008
This Thing = That Thing
I think I've mentioned that Indexed is one of my favorite blogs. I still can't pick a favorite of Jessica Hagy's aphoristic venn diagrams, but soon there will be a book. Well-designed, sometimes hilarious, sweet, smart, and simple.
1.21.2008
Cheaters. Also, Champions.
The Cheaters Cup is now in the possession of The Fightin' Caziques — Morgan Clendaniel and Gideon Friedman — the winners of 826NYC's Scrabble For Cheaters tournament. They hold the title and the trophy until next year.
More on all the cheaters later at www.826nyc.org.
1.18.2008
You Can Buy Your Way Out Of Bad Letters
Time Out New York's article about Scrabble For Cheaters is out now.
Melena Ryzik give us a sweet shout out in today's New York Times Urban Eye.
The Brooklyn Papers misquoted me, pretty severely. Sigh.
Sign-ups are closed. Sponsor a team. The smackdown is soon.
Melena Ryzik give us a sweet shout out in today's New York Times Urban Eye.
The Brooklyn Papers misquoted me, pretty severely. Sigh.
Sign-ups are closed. Sponsor a team. The smackdown is soon.
1.15.2008
Annual Manual
I love Nicholas Felton's Annual Report.
I don't even know Nicholas Felton.
I got one in the mail last year and now I'm hooked. I've had no contact with him or his work in 12 months, and yet I'm excited to find out how many unique taxi routes he traveled, to see a chart of books he read sorted by first publication date, a pie chart of dishes eaten by type (wings, fins, legs, shells), clothes purchased sorted by color, geographic dispositions of the fifty most-played artists on his ipod, etc.
I wish my life was this well-designed.
I don't even know Nicholas Felton.
I got one in the mail last year and now I'm hooked. I've had no contact with him or his work in 12 months, and yet I'm excited to find out how many unique taxi routes he traveled, to see a chart of books he read sorted by first publication date, a pie chart of dishes eaten by type (wings, fins, legs, shells), clothes purchased sorted by color, geographic dispositions of the fifty most-played artists on his ipod, etc.
I wish my life was this well-designed.
1.14.2008
Scrabble for Cheaters
The New Yorker mentions it.
Daily Candy mentioned it.
Jason Kottke mentioned it.
And there's more to come in the next few days too.
So now I'll mention it.
Scrabble For Cheaters: a(nother) benefit for 826NYC.
Start a team. Or pledge money to another team. Either way, you'll support cheating, winning, words, etc.
Please.
Daily Candy mentioned it.
Jason Kottke mentioned it.
And there's more to come in the next few days too.
So now I'll mention it.
Scrabble For Cheaters: a(nother) benefit for 826NYC.
Start a team. Or pledge money to another team. Either way, you'll support cheating, winning, words, etc.
Please.
1.08.2008
The Book of Other People: A Benefit Reading
I hope you will attend.
THE BOOK OF OTHER PEOPLE:
A BENEFIT READING
826NYC & Penguin Books present an all-star reading from Zadie Smith’s newest book of new stories by contemporary authors
Hosted by ZADIE SMITH, and with readings by:
GEORGE SAUNDERS
VENDELA VIDA
and very special guest
MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL
Symphony Space
Wednesday, January 16th, 8pm
2537 Broadway (at 95th Street), New York
Tickets available at symphonyspace.org
Or by calling: 212-864-5400
826NYC and Penguin Books present a benefit reading to celebrate the release of THE BOOK OF OTHER PEOPLE, a collection of brand new stories by contemporary authors edited by Zadie Smith. ZADIE SMITH will host this special event, which will feature readings by two of the book’s contributors, GEORGE SAUNDERS, and VENDELA VIDA, plus a rare reading by actress MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL. There will be a book signing and Q & A after the reading.
All proceeds from the book and reading will benefit 826NYC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.
THE BOOK OF OTHER PEOPLE:
A BENEFIT READING
826NYC & Penguin Books present an all-star reading from Zadie Smith’s newest book of new stories by contemporary authors
Hosted by ZADIE SMITH, and with readings by:
GEORGE SAUNDERS
VENDELA VIDA
and very special guest
MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL
Symphony Space
Wednesday, January 16th, 8pm
2537 Broadway (at 95th Street), New York
Tickets available at symphonyspace.org
Or by calling: 212-864-5400
826NYC and Penguin Books present a benefit reading to celebrate the release of THE BOOK OF OTHER PEOPLE, a collection of brand new stories by contemporary authors edited by Zadie Smith. ZADIE SMITH will host this special event, which will feature readings by two of the book’s contributors, GEORGE SAUNDERS, and VENDELA VIDA, plus a rare reading by actress MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL. There will be a book signing and Q & A after the reading.
All proceeds from the book and reading will benefit 826NYC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.
1.04.2008
1.02.2008
1J79
Every time I sneezed, he passed back a tissue. Even after I answered that it wasn't necessary, that not every sneeze demands a new tissue, or even any tissue, that it was allergies, no, not to the car's leather seats, that I wasn't crying, that I wasn't contagious, that colds aren't caused by the cold weather, that I didn't wish to be dropped at an all-night pharmacy, that perhaps he should close the divider, that he wasn't my mother and so on.
1.01.2008
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