Those who have been following the love story of Danny and Annie Perasas on Morning Edition, will be sad to hear that Danny died on February 24, 2006. His funeral is in Bay Ridge today.

I just visited Rare Device’s on-line shop and I plan to make a trip up to the South Slope store (open Wednesday through Sunday) at 453 Seventh Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets. The web site looks fantabulous and I saw just the thing for a friend’s 40th birthday present: a gorgeous necklace designed by the shop’s owner, Rena Tom.

A razor blade necklace by Brooklyn-based Analogous Jewelry also jumped out at me. Here are some details about Rena and her very cool shop. And don’t forget to check out Rena’s blog. That’s how I found the shop in the first place.

What is Rare Device?

If you are an English major or an English teacher, you know that ‘Rare
Device’ is from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan. (If you are
a true bookworm, you know that Ray Bradbury took a stab at that phrase
too.)

Rare Device is, simply, good stuff for you and your home. Rena
Tom, the proprietress, has been designing jewelry on the West and East
coast for a couple of years, selling to stores and directly to happy
customers at shows. She was so inspired by all of the fabulous,
creative designers she met along the way, both in person and online,
that she decided she had to share her discoveries, and she opened Rare
Device in October 2005.

The studio/storefront is a place to promote these designers as well as
her own work. Every object in the store has its own story, and has been
chosen because it is either handmade, well-designed, useful, beautiful
or all of the above. The aesthetic is modern and quirky while remaining
warm and inviting.

Who’s in charge here?

Rena Tom has lived her entire life
in California until very recently. She has a background in both liberal
arts and engineering, not being put to very good use these days.
Previously, Rena was involved in the Internet world before deciding to
be crafty for a living. She used to own a ’67 Mustang Fastback and a
Kelsey printing press but has traded them in for snow boots and a
Metrocard. She loves fonts, ice cream, balls of yarn, broadband
wireless, grainy Holga photos, fancy chocolate bars, rickety
rollercoasters and abundant sunshine.

453 7th Avenue (between 15th and 16th Street)
Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York 11215
Hours: Wed – Sat, noon to 7pm; Sun, noon to 6pm

Last February Central Park was awash in orange curtains.  Remember? I wrote this back then.

What was it about The Gates that kept bringing 9/11 to mind?

The color for one thing. Christo and Jeanne Claude’s choice of hue
was both an acknowledgement and a joyful defiance of the city’s
perpetual orange alert.

One friend said the plastic orange structures reminded her of the
twin towers. And the way everyone kept looking up at the fabric
recalled those nightmare September days when everyone was looking up at
the sky.

Someone else said that when The Gates are dismantled, it will be
like life after September 11th. The way we still see the twin towers in
their absence; ghost images in the skyline of what once was and will
always be.

The Gates united our city in much the same way that 9/11 did. But
this time we weren’t joined in grief, fear, and confusion. The Gates
were about joy, about the meaning of art, about being alive.

It was a carefree walk in the park for our neighbors and friends.
And for that The Gates was worth every penny Christo and Jeanne-Claude
spent on them.

Did I mention that Grace of the blog Design Sponge (d*s) made it into NEW YORK MAGAZINE’S list of peopel to watch in 2006? I thought that was pretty cool (Who says blogging isn’t the happening thing?)  also  learned on Rare Device, that Grace has a piece in  NEW YORK HOME MAGAZINE about Park Slope style. Check it out if you can find the mag (details to come).

I just visited D*S for the first time in a while and I see that she’s done a total rehab/redesign of her site and she’s really moving and shaking. I really like her new logo.

If you’re interested in decor, design, furniture, and all that kind of stuff, you’ve got to know about Design Sponge. Here’s her news on what’s been going on over there.

Things
have been crazy at d*s lately and i wanted to thank all of you for your
support, emails and tolerance of the numerous coding snags we’ve had
trying to get the new site up (my coder and designer are saints for
putting up with me through this). i’m talking with another coder
tomorrow morning to try and get this thing up and running, so in the
meantime, i wanted to give you a sneak peek into what’s coming on
monday (new look or not):

• d*s mini trends!:
  this little sponge likes to window shop new trends, so why not share my
  finds with everyone? this column will be a weekly look into micro
  trends cropping up in the industry and examples (with links!) of how to
  bring each look into your home. the first trend article will set sail next monday…
• sponged!:
  links to the latest and greatest on the design world (including
  magazine, newspaper and design articles that are must reads for the
  week)
• ask d*s!: i get so many emails during
  the day asking for shopping suggestions, so i’m going to share the
  results with readers twice a week so we can all benefit from a little
  spongey research
• d*s reader recs!: you guys
  know your stuff so now d*s readers can take advantage of our design
  savvy audience by sending in a picture of their own home for advice on
  paint colors, furniture arranging, furniture, etc. send in YOUR photo now for next week (subject: reader rec)! once or twice a week depending on demand)

As a psychotherapy groupie, I’ve always enjoyed the essays of Adam Phillips, a psychoanalyst and the author, most recently, of "Going Sane: Maps of Happiness." His earlier work: On Kissing, Tickling and Being Bored; Essays on the Unexamined Life" is worth a read. This piece appeared on Sunday’s OpEd page. needless to say, it caught my eye.   

PSYCHOTHERAPY is having yet another identity crisis. It has manifested
itself in two recent trends in the profession in America: the first
involves trying to make therapy into more of a "hard science" by
putting a new emphasis on measurable factors; the other is a growing
belief among therapists that the standard practice of using talk
therapy to discover traumas in a patient’s past is not only unnecessary
but can be injurious.

That psychotherapists of various
orientations find themselves under pressure to prove to themselves and
to society that they are doing a hard-core science

On February 25th, Wall Street Journal wine columnists Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher invited anyone who’s been holding on to a special bottle of wine to uncork it and report on their experiences, for the seventh annual

FROM NEW YORK 1

Thousands of volunteers are expected to hit the streets Monday night for the annual count of the city’s homeless.

The count – now in its fourth year – is an effort to help the city track its progress in getting New Yorkers off the streets.

For the first time last year, all five boroughs were included in the count.

More than 2500 volunteers will scour areas like parks, streets and subway stations and record the number of homeless New Yorkers they find.

"We want to come out on a cold winter night to make sure that we’re counting the chronic homeless people who are living on our streets and to find out how many there are and where they are," said the Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Homeless Services

Once again this year volunteers will also run into some decoys, posing as homeless people to help test the accuracy of the count.

Critics, however, say the count itself is inaccurate, because it doesn’t include people living in cars, abandoned buildings, or other hidden places.

What is going on in Carroll Gardens?  Curbed seems to know

A mere 18 years after the movie’s release, Moonstruck mania continues apace in Brooklyn. By now you probably know that the famed Moonstruck house is on the market in Brooklyn Heights for $5 million. A Curbed correspondent in Carroll Gardens reports on another Cher connection:

So this bakery on Court Street near Union is closed for renovations and apparently they’re reopening in conjunction of the Cammareri Brothers, whose bakery was used in the movie "Moonstruck" (the bakery was later the Red something or other brunch spot and now it’s Naidre’s). And I’m assuming were the inspiration for Nic Cage’s last name in the movie.

READ MORE AT CURBED

FROM NEW YORK 1

Authorities are probing whether the fire ignited in the stairwell of
1033 Pacific St. is linked to three other arsons on the same
Bedford-Stuyvesant block since December.

A reward is now being offered in connection with the deadly fire.

Four people

The Spring issue of BKLYN Magazine is OUT. Some SUBSCRIBERS have already received their copies in the mail. I didn’t get mine yet but Diaper Diva did and she said it looks good. 

OH. Didn’t you know that BKLYN is now a subscription magazine? It’s also available at Brooklyn and Manhattan newstands. By Tuesday (2/28) it should be in the Seventh Avenue and Court Street Barnes and Nobles, Book Court (163 Court Street), Musicians General Store (213 Court Street, A Novel Idea Bookstore (8415 Third Avenue) and Shakespeare’s Sister (270 Court Street).

It used to be free (when it was part of the Heart of Brooklyn group). But now BKLYN is its very own thing. So you MUST SUBSCRIBE so that it can AFFORD TO BE its very own thing. And so that you can receive it four times a year. Hopefully it will be coming out even more often. Soon. 

It takes a while for a magazine to find its way and BKLYN is finding its way. And it’s starting to feel like a hip, in-the-know mag filled with great stories you want to read cover to cover. It buzzes a little and will make you laugh. It’s got important stories – politics, art, real estate, books, food and more. And I’m in there, too.

Read me in this issue. I’ve got a wordy (!) piece about a local activist in Beverley Square West who is trying to get that area landmarked, despite opposition from those who prefer red brick exteriors and don’t want the government to  tell them what they can and can’t do with their houses.

And I’ve got shorter pieces in there about Issue Project Room, Perch, and a 400 lb. bronze sculpture somewhere in Brooklyn, owned by someone in Brooklyn. Read all about it in BKLYN.

There’s other good stuff, too. David Berreby talks about his smart, thought-provoking book, "Us and Them" and helps us understand the inner tribalness in all of us. Plus "The Messiah of Eastern Parkway" and "The Race for District 11."

Good stuff in there. Read it. Subscribe. Keep me employed.

I visited Udge’s blog and found these flowers and this note. Cheer up Udge. Your flowers are so pretty.

Spring is nearly here, it’s tulip time – even if these came from a
hothouse in Holland or Egypt. I haven’t had flowers on my desk at home
for quite a while, it hasn’t seemed worthwhile with the amount of time
I’ve spent working elsewhere, but today I decided to give myself a
little present, to cheer myself up a bit.

I do need some cheering up today.