It’s official — my novel, Better Homes and
Husbands has been purchased by NBC for development as a television series.
I’m writing to each of you to share my good news and also to express my
appreciation to you. In some way, each one of you helped and supported me as I
was writing and then promoting my first book. Maybe you came to a reading or
helped arrrange one in your city, wrote me a blurb or review, bought the book
early, had me to your book group, recommended my book to a friend or gave it as
a gift. Some of you taught me, gave book parties, came to readings over and
over, helped me refine my writing when it was in process, told me not to quit
when writing seemed like a really, really bad idea. It wasn’t a short journey to
this point.

 

The story of the deal: Meryl Poster, former head of production
at Miramax, picked up my paperback in a New York bookstore to read over
Christmas vacation. She loved it, and in her new role as development consultant
at NBC-Universal, decided to purchase the rights for a television series. In
January, she tracked down my number and called me at home.

 

I wish I could write you each individually, but I
am lucky to have a lot of wonderful people in my life. If it were not for
each one of you, that book never would have been written, never made it to
paperback, never been there for my producer to pick up and read. So thank
you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

 

We’re in winter-bonding mode these days. Too cold to go out, we’re spending winter evenings in our newly arranged* pint-sized living room watching television. The green leather couch is the most coveted spot, obviously. Next is the big red ultra-suede red chair. After that it’s the cool vintage chrome chair we bought at a stoop sale 15 years ago for $2.50. We had vintage style cushions made for it at "Economy Foam" on East Houston Street (black vinyl with red piping).

A very wholesome family scene I might add.

This is the family that banished television in 2000. Hepcat couldn’t take it anymore — the noise, the distraction, the destruction of the juvenile mind. So he cut the cord. Literally and put one set in the basement. We had another television that we used for video rentals, which didn’t have an antenna or cable. So without cable, the TV was basically useless as a television.

Since Christmas, the television is BACK. I’m not sure why. Teen Spirit wanted to watch "House." Then OSFO and I started watching "The O.C." on Thursay nights. Saturday morning cartoons meant Hepcat and I could sleep late again and…

The next thing you know, we’re watching "American Idol" on Tuesday AND Wednesday. We balance that with regular viewings of "Bleak House" on Masterpiece Theater on Sunday nights with Gillian Armstrong (of the X-Files). It’s an incredible adaption of the great Dickens’s masterpiece, by the way.

It’s interesting to be part of the culture again via the television. We were real losers in the "water cooler" conversation department for a few years there. The fact that we didn’t have offices to go to is another matter. We didn’t see  "Sex and the City," "The Sopranos," "American Idol," and more. We’d attach the hidden antenna on for presidential debates, conventions, and the Oscars. But we also missed a lot.

Since last week we’ve been glued to the winter Olympics. Hepcat loves the downhill racers, OSFO is into the skaters and we all enjoy the speed skaters.

So mid-February, our living room is the place to be. Last night, after the Olympics, we turned to the atrocious and lusciously 1970’s Barbara Streisand version of "A Star is Born." That said, I must put in a good word for Kris Kristopherson’s performance. Teen Spirit, IM-ing with his laptop in his lap on the red chair, thought the film was pretty awful.

After Barbara’s wreck of "A Star is Born" channel 13 showed the original, original version written by Dorothy Parker with Janet Gaynor (made before the Judy Garland version). It was wonderful. But I was too exhausted to make it past the part where the Esther character meets Norman Maine…

It was 1:15 and I was very, very sleepy from a night in front of the television.

*The newly arranged living room: We walled off one third of the room for Hepcat’s desk, his computer, photography, and digital printing equipment. Now he has an at-home office (and an office in Manhattan) and his stuff is out of sight. The living room is smaller by one third and much, much cozier and cleaner.

The Brooklyn Papers is offering FREE HOME DELIVERY IN BROOKLYN OF THE PARK SLOPE PAPER.

That means you don’t have to go to Key Food, the Ninth Street Y, Cousin Johns, Ozzies, or any of the other places where you can find The Park Slope Paper in order to read my weekly SMARTMOM column.

All you have to do is e-mail circulation@brooklynpapers.com and give them the following info:

YES, I WANT MY PARK SLOPE PAPER

Name:
Address:
What part of Brooklyn do you live in?
Do you live in an apartment or a private home?
How many units?
email:
Phone number:

That’s all you have to do to get a free home-delivered copy of The Park Slope Paper. They have a web site and you can download a PDF of every issue (but that’s a pain).  They may even have an archive.

I am urging them to get a web site so that it’s easy to read on-line.

FYI: The Park Slope Paper is the Bay Ridge Paper in Bay Ridge, The Brooklyn Heights’ Paper in the Heights, etc. etc. SMARTMOM IS IN ALL EDITIONS DISTRIBUTED THROUGHOUT THE BOROUGH OF KINGS.

Hepcat was making cackling noises over these ebay ads for view camera lenses. Why he’s looking to spend money on view camera lenses I don’t know. But that’s his business.

An incredible lens that sets the standard for WA lenses in the 4×5
format, what can be said about this lens that hasn’t been said before?
Well I’ll tell you a few things…this lens actually talks you through
great pictures..if you have trouble composing just set the shutter on
‘T’ for talk’ and swing the camera around..when the lens sees a great
picture it’ll say stop very quietly…. You have to listen closely
though!

In addition at regular intervals it will give out the winning lottery
numbers needed to take you away from your depressing and desperate
situation in life. Finally you will be able to afford the dental
surgery to fix your teeth, have hair implants….that are not on your
back/in your ears! Maybe a little liposuction and a personal trainer to
help you get in shape, your own tanning booth to take that pasty white
look away. At that point the extensive training will have to be
undergone so you sound like a pro when you go into a Starbucks and
order your morning coffee…if you don’t want your butler to make it
that is.

You’ll no longer be kept behind the velvet rope, you’ll be the one that
has it opened for you, at last you have arrived, dating starlets,
attending galas and you are livin in LA baby! I already went through
all this and have to say that its all due to this lens which as the
rules of good fortune would have it I am now obligated to pass on to
someone less fortunate than myself. Have fun bidding, destiny awaits!!!!

READ MORE HERE or HERE

To simplify matters, I’ve decided to use the same code-names on OTBKB that I use for my husband, son, and daughter  in my Brooklyn Papers column (SMARTMOM) and in my Third Street blog.

Here are some of the cast of characters:

Hepcat: My husband
Teen Spirit: My 14-year-old son.
OSFO: AKA The Oh So Feisty One, my 8-year-old daughter.
Smartmom: me
Diaper Diva: my sister
Ducky: my neice
Bro-in-law: Brother-in-law
Manhattan Granny: My mother
Groovy Grandpa: My father
MiMa Cat: My stepmother

The owner of the dog electrocuted by a so-called underground "hot spot" is reviewing his legal options. More news from NY1.

Con Ed admits it was notified by the department of transportation seven years ago to turn off the power to a street lamp that was being removed from the location where the dog was shocked, but the order was never carried out.

The power company says the location was inspected less than a month ago and no stray voltage was found. Con Ed says it believes melting snow and salt from last week’s storm helped electrify the concrete on the sidewalk in front of a Con Ed substation where Danny Kapilian’s dog Barkis was electrocuted in Park Slope on Wednesday. The dog collapsed while walking along Third Street.

On Thursday night

For those post-Valentine’s Day blahs, consider getting a massage at Frajean. They’re offering  a special in February and March: A ONE-HOUR EUROPEAN MASSAGE FOR $50.

And while you’re there, think about making a dramatic change in your hair color and cut. I did.  With the help of Stephen Lewis, stylist-extradonaire, I’ve been experimenting with my hair color over the last few months.  And it’s not just about covering the gray. It about re-invention AND differentiation from my identical twin.

(It’s taken some people five years to figure out that my twin lives in the nabe, too. People just thought I was bi-polar, unfriendly, or fickle because I only said hello 50% of the time.  So so tired of it.)

So, now I’m the blonde one. And it’s all about HIGHLIGHTS.

First I went a little blonde. Then I went a little blonder. Then too blonde – that was the other day. This morning, Stephen ran after me on Seventh Avenue between Union and Berkeley. He wanted to tone it down a bit. "It’ll only take 15 minutes, he said."  And it did only take 15 minutes or so. Plus the blow dry.

Now my hair is a little blonde with brownish highlights, some ash in the front. It’s pretty. I’m happy. He’s happy.

Frajean is well priced for a full repetoire of hair and spa services. Stephen specializes in cut, highlights, color, and special hair treatments. He uses great products and, well, he’s a good guy.

Frajean also offers:  haircuts, wax, manicure, pedicure, make up, fruit acid exfoliation, aroma therapy massage, deep cleansing facial, Brazillian bikini wax — all that fun stuff.

They are also offering: DIVA SPA BIRTHDAY PARTIES FOR GIRLS. I know it’s not for everyone. But OSFO loves the idea of a Spa Party. Frajean will close the shop for 2-hours for ten little girls. You bring the cake, they’ll give the girls a spa good time. Call Frajean for reservations.

Frajean Salon
69 Seventh Avenue
Park Slope, Brooklyn 11217
718-622-4448
Open every day except Mondays
10 a.m. until 7 p.m. (Fridays until 8 p.m., Sundays until 6 p.m.)

They really got me on this one. Two of my favorite things: Beat Poetry and Steve Buscemi. ("He is the perfect celebrity," said I to The New York Observer).

I am so so there: Monday, February 20th at the Issue Project Room (Carroll Street between Bond and Nevins.)

Like wow big daddy. A minimum donation of $20. gets you through the door. But you can always put a little more in the donation box if you want to support Park Slope’s center for  experimental music, poetry, and performance.

An evening of readings honoring Beat Poets of the Past, with actor
Steve Buscemi and poets Anne Waldman and Bob Holman.

Acclaimed actor, writer and director Steve Buscemi recently won the
Independent Spirit Award, the New York Film Critics Award and was
nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in Ghost World directed by Terry Zwigoff.

Anne Waldman, poet, editor, performer, professor, curator, cultural
activist, carries in her genetics the lineages of the New American
Poetry, and is a considered an inheritor of the Beat (Allen Ginsberg
called her his "spiritual wife") and New York School.

Bob Holman , recently dubbed a member of the "Poetry Pantheon" by th New York Times Magazine and featured in a Henry Louis Gates, Jr. profile in The New Yorker, Bob Holman has previously been crowned, "Ringmaster of the Spoken Word"

8:00 p.m., $20 minimum donation. This event is a benefit for ISSUE PROJECT ROOM

The public school kids are off all next week. I ran this piece last year and I still feel exactly the same way. This year, Dawta has the week off. Sun, now that he’s in private school, only has two days off. Luckily we’re not going anywhere since they have different vacation schedules.

I
am bracing for next week’s school vacation. On the one hand, I love the
break from the routines of school. Dawta can sleep late and that’s a
good thing. They need the rest but we won’t will have to pull our
difficult-to-wake teen out of bed in the morning and push him out the
door. Honestly, everyone, including parents, could use a respite from
the relentless pressure of homework, school admissions, and the daily
grind.

Vacations are, theoretically, a great time to expose your children to the wonders of the
metropolis. The fantasy city vacation includes trips to Central Park to
see The Gates, the museums, Broadway shows, sights of interest, and
places they’ve never been to before (see Vacation Brainstorm below).
Congrats if (and that’s a big IF) you can get the kids on-board for such ambitious and
edifying excursions.

On the minus side, the mid-winter break is a sudden break from MY
routine and that’s tough. I like my routines and I need them. When the
kids finally get to school in the morning I sing a quiet, "Halleluah!"
Not because I don’t love being with them. It just that morning
drop-off  means I can devote myself to my work and some of the other
things in life that matter to me.

I am a private self and a public self, a family self and a single
self. All these selves manage to co-mingle rather nicely most of the
time. But vacations sometimes throw me for a loop. That’s when I need
to be all my selves at once. It’s a challenge to find time for
scintillating vacation activities, work, errands, and other
responsibilities. ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

It can be pretty schizzy and can lead to a quiet longing for my
normal routine: A counting the days until the kids get back to school
and we can all get back to what we were doing before the vacation.

Symphonic Poem: The Art of Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
Opens next week and will be on view from February 24 to August 13, 2006

The exhibition presents nearly 100 works by the celebrated African American artist, who recently received a MacArthur Foundation Fellows grant. Robinson’s colorful, mixed-media pieces are centered on cultural identity and informed by her travels to Africa and memories of the Columbus, Ohio, neighborhood where she was raised.

Of course I know where that house is. Everytime Dawta walks by she says it’s her favorite house and she wants to live there. WHY? BECAUSE SHE LOVES PINK ANYTHING.

But I didn’t want to divulge the location – that would be rude. But it seems that Curbed found out the answer to their question anyway. No help from me. So where is it? Go to Curbed to find out.

Much of that block is in the Park Slope Historic District, thus
leading some to think the pink was grandfathered in while others
remember it as the cause of a "vicious legal dispute in the 1980s" over
repainting it. One person comments on the "very sloppy paint job,"
while another says: "If Rubbermaid built brownstones, it would
look like this." We’d ask "Joyce’s son," but while he could likely tell
us the house number, he didn’t seem to know why the pink when asked
recently. Got any more theories?

This morning walking up Lincoln Place I saw a sad little plant, kind of a spidery looking thing with tangled vines on the snowcovered sidewalk. It was sitting on a water-blotted piece of paper that said in bright green magic marker:

I am a great plant
take me home and
take care of me.

I didn’t

Remember Prints Charming, that framing shop that was on Seventh Avenue near
Lincoln Place. Olive Vine went in there about a year now. So what happened to Prints
Charming. He reappeared in an e-mail. Note to the PRINCE: HANG IN THERE. 

I assume that is your name since that is what came up.  This is the
first time I have read your blog, and I found it most interesting, well
written and fun.  A friend of mine who reads you regularly told me your address, and she also mentioned that you had mentioned me in your blog. 

I am Jo Irwin, the owner of Prints Charming, the framing and print shop which used to operate out of a storefront on Seventh Avenue.  I wanted to let you know that I did not go out of business as I guess you assumed, but instead moved around the corner to 150 Sterling Place into the ground floor of my brownstone there.  I operate during the week and also by appointment. 

The phone number has remained the same. I would love it if you stopped by at some time if you are around.  I don't know where you live, so I don't know if it is convenient for you.  My hours are similar to the old ones - T-Sat 12-7pm, Sun 11-5 and Mon 12 - 7pm.  I'm afraid the escalation of rents made it totally unfeasible for me to continue business on Seventh Ave., and being on a side street is making it pretty difficult for me to continue business here, so it seems one can't win!  Still, I'm hanging in so far.

A Brooklyn Life is shaping up to be a most lovely blog. I enjoyed her "Crossing the BQE" series – pictures of interesting graffiti underfoot. And I loved this glittery art she saw in the Columbia Street Art Lot.

Welcome back from Mexico. Hope you get the SAND out of your SHOES.

Brownstoner has the goods on the house that Academy Award nominees
Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams have purchased in Boerum Hill.
According to the article, the Brokeback Mountain stars paid $3.5
million (AUS $4.7 million) for the four-floor house "two blocks south
of Smith Street." READ MORE AT BROWNSTONER or go to the source for the goods:
Heath’s Home is Away [Daily Telegraph (AUS)]

From New York 1:

A Manhattan judge ruled in favor of
Forest City Ratner, allowing the developer to demolish 5 buildings that
stand in the footprints of the proposed Nets Arena in Brooklyn.

Although community groups tried to stop him, the judge says Ratner
has the right to tear down 5 buildings near the Atlantic Railyards.
Ratner says they’re unsafe while plaintiff’s argued an independent
evaluation should be required.

The buildings sit on land owned by Ratner. Asbestos removal is
underway and with this victory, Ratner hopes to start demolition as
early as next week.

"It’s a relief to think that we’re very close to demolishing these
structures, which are a hazard to the people who work and live in the
adjoining buildings," said Jeffrey Braun, an attorney for Ratner.

There was a victory for the dozen community groups that banded
together against Ratner. They were able to get a lawyer removed from
the case.

David Paget, an attorney for the Empire State Development
Corporation, which is overseeing the environmental impact of the
project, once worked for Ratner. The judge agreed with the plaintiffs
calling it a conflict of interest.

"Well, obviously, we are very pleased that the court decided to
preserve, or try to improve the integrity of the process, by declaring
that you can’t have the same lawyer representing the applicant and the
agency that’s reviewing it. It was the right decision," said Jeffrey
Baker, the plaintiff’s attorney.

The Empire State Development Corporation has 45 days to find a new lawyer. All sides are considering appeals.

Ratner’s Shadow: Karl Nussbaum, Part 2 by WNYC reporter and Park Sloper, Andrea Bernstein, ran this week on WNYC. See if you can get a podcast:

Until
recently, 475 Dean Street was full of artists and musicians. It is now
empty and will be knocked down if developer Forest City Ratner gets
approval to build a basketball arena and high rise towers. Filmmaker
Karl Nussbaum was one of the residents in this six story former garment
factory. More at WNYC.org