January 2009 Archives

We've been in a holding pattern for the past few weeks, hence the missing lists and posts. The big giant economic crisis finally found our little hideout in Bridgehampton, and unfortunately, we are feeling it. Difficult times have resulted in even more painful decisions… so we are thinning ourselves out… becoming a little leaner.. and meaner. Taking the empty void of time to realign, focus on the reality of it all… get back to basics. It is prudent, in days like this, to pare back. Everything, including this bloggedy blog needs to be evaluated…. and so be it. A morph may be what we need to sustain… but regardless of what reamerges…

Wanting to come back strong means that we will.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pause may refer to a rest, hesitation, or temporary stop.

Pause may also refer to:

• Rest (music) or fermata; also specifically the whole rest in French usage
• The break key on computer keyboards
• A requested breakpoint during computer program execution
• Pause (album), an album by Four Tet
• A 1990 song by rap group Run-D.M.C.
• Pause or pausa in linguistics is the end of an utterance.
• A 1964 film by Andy Warhol

Are we finished yet?

I was looking for the visual… and thanks to The Wavy Rule, I didn’t have to go far… http://emdashes.com/2009/01/presenting-a-steinberg-to-kick.php

Okay, okay – so we are skipping a few weeks… does anyone really care what happened over the “Holidays”?

1. David the Designer is moving on… good thinking…
2. Allergic to cats? Well… how do you think your Cat feels?….
3. Clocks.
4. Envelope liners make us a little weak too…
5. I signed up for Twitter – even though I don’t understand it… codename: bwdstudio
6. The Kitchn’s Top 2008 Food News…
7. Branding… in a recession… just a few thoughts…
8. Ikea Groceries… Gag-me-with-a-well fabricated spoon…
9. Could you give up coffee? Or better yet – who brews? [We get ours on the outside - tastes better when someone else makes it]…
10. AND… Jeff Koons defeats Louis XIV Descendant… Art for art’s sake is the name of the game.

Cheers!

A few weeks back we mentioned the various filmings that were taking place in our Hampton neighborhoods… there were explosions and mysterious goings-on behind white sheets being held up by large men with headsets. Well… all for not, it appears that Royal Pains, staring Mark Feuerstein, is being picked up by the USA Network…. and THANK GOODNESS — with the economy down and financial schemes becoming so unfashionable as of late — we were worried that the Hamptons rep of unbridaled selfishness and gluteny would suffer. At least we can count on a realistic prime time series to keep up appearances.

When I was 3 or 4 years old, my parents and I lived in Cocoa Beach, FL. Considering my age at the time, my memories are slight — although I can tell you that the ones I do have — they overflow with awesomeness. There we were… living only a few short blocks from the beach… I was care-free, obviously, and from what I remember — the weather was constantly pristine. Playing in the surf was my due diligence, and I walked tall each and everyday.

Keeping in mind that it was the late 70′s and kids were not yet required to wear iridescent headgear for surf play, I would tend to stay in the shallow areas… Every once in a while, however – CRASH, boom, swallow…. tumbling summer-salts, little heart pounding, little ears filling with salt and sand… bathing suit pulling every which way until SPIT – shot out and head up – - what just happened? There’s one of my parents picking me up —- that wave was HUGE!

Needless to say, 2008 was very similar to this memory on all fronts — through popular culture observances to personally & professionally….

Often times feeling 3 or 4 years old.
Often times, happily playing in the surf… then… without warning… SLAM, smack, all twisted up and gurgling for reason.

It wasn’t that my back was turned… I just didn’t think the wave was that big. It wasn’t that I was unaware of the possibilities, I just didn’t think it was possible.

For whatever each and every 2008 experience is worth — lessons learned, friends reclaimed, enemies made, monies gained, monies lost, exposure, darkness, health, ill, love, and many many laughs. 2008 was a doosy.

Wow. Thanks for the many (surprising) inquiries… Here is the growing list of blogs that we peruse, discuss and often times actually read… on an almost daily basis – in true for the birds style… how obvious is it that we need to get a life?

In alphabetic order because that’s the way we play…

• 27East.com http://www.27east.com 
• A List Apart http://www.alistapart.com
• A Luxury Travel Blog http://www.aluxurytravelblog.com
• A Scientist in the Kitchen http://ascientistinthekitchen.net
• Ace Jet 170 http://acejet170.typepad.com
• Allergies http://www.allergizer.com
• Allergy Haven http://allergyhaven.wordpress.com
• AllergyKids Blog http://allergykids.wordpress.com
• Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America’s http://www.healthcentral.com
• AttentionMax http://www.attentionmax.com
• canvas conversations http://www.canvasli.com/blog
• Cognitive Daily http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily
• coochicoos http://www.coochicoos.com
• Cosmic Variance http://cosmicvariance.com
• davidthedesigner http://www.davidthedesigner.com
• Design*Sponge http://www.designspongeonline.com
• droolicious http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/droolicious
• dwellings and décor http://wowwomensworldblog.com/rachel
• Emdashes http://emdashes.com
• Eye blog http://blog.eyemagazine.com
• gladwell.com http://gladwell.typepad.com/gladwellcom
• globorati http://www.globorati.com
• Graphic Journey Blog http://mikedempsey.typepad.com/graphic_journey_blog
• Gridskipper http://gridskipper.com
• Guest of a Guest @ Hamptons http://hamptons.guestofaguest.com
• Hamptons Real Estate Blog http://thehamptons.wordpress.com
• Jaunted – The Pop Culture Travel Guide http://Jaunted.com
• Kitchen Coach’s Blog by Cassie Clark http://kitchencoach.wordpress.com
• kottke.org http://www.kottke.org/remainder/index.rdf
• Language Log http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/index.rdf
• languagehat.com http://www.languagehat.com/index.rdf
• Letters to LoveLiza http://letterstoloveliza.wordpress.com
• LI Biz Blog http://libizblog.wordpress.com
• Lifehacker http://lifehacker.com/index.xml
• MAKE Magazine http://www.makezine.com/blog/index.xml
• manystuff.org — Graphic Design daily selection http://www.manystuff.org
• Marginal Revolution http://www.marginalrevolution.com
• mediabistro.com: UnBeige http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige
• Mighty Girl http://mightygirl.com
• National Geographic News http://news.nationalgeographic.com
• nesting http://www.cookiemag.com/magazine/blogs/nesting
• News at Nature – Articles published Today http://www.nature.com/news
• Nigel Hollis http://www.mb-blog.com/wp-feed.php
• Noisy Decent Graphics http://noisydecentgraphics.com
• Not Eating Out in New York http://noteatingoutinny.com
• not martha http://notmartha.com
• NPR Topics: Arts & Entertainment http://www.npr.org/rss/rss.php?id=1008
• NPR: This I Believe Podcast http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=4538138
• Oh Joy! http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogs/Otkg
• ohdeedoh http://feeds.feedburner.com/apartmenttherapy/ohdeedoh
• paper+cup http://papercupdesign.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
• passion for eating http://passionforeating.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
• passive-aggressive (and just plain aggressive) notes http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/feed/
• Penny Arcade http://www.penny-arcade.com/rss.xml
• PVRblog http://www.pvrblog.com/pvr/index.rdf
• Re-Nest http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/atom.xml
• RealClimate http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/feed/atom/
• Sag Hampton http://feeds.feedburner.com/SagHampton
• Salon http://feeds.salon.com/salon/index
• Scientific American http://www.sciam.com/xml/sciam.xml
• Seed Magazine: Magazine http://seedmagazine.com/news/magazine.xml
• Serious Eats http://feeds.feedburner.com/seriouseatsfeaturesvideos
• Seth’s Blog http://feeds.feedburner.com/typepad/sethsmainblog
• Suburban Bliss:: Birth Control Via The Written Word http://feeds.feedburner.com/suburbanbliss
• TED | TEDBlog http://tedblog.typepad.com/tedblog/atom.xml
• The Butcher Blog http://thebutcherblog.com/?feed=rss2
• the johnson banks thought for the week http://www.johnsonbanks.co.uk/thoughtfortheweek/rss.php
• The Kitchn http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/atom.xml
• The Martha Blog http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheMarthaBlog
• The New Yorker http://feeds.newyorker.com/services/rss/feeds/everything.xml
• The Perrin Post Travel Blog: Conde Nast Traveler on Concierge.com http://feeds.concierge.com/perrinpost
• The Rude Hamptons – Tales of People Behaving Badly In Long Island’s Summer Playground http://therudehamptons.com/feed/
• veryGEORGE!.com http://verygeorge.com/feed/
• We Made This http://feeds.feedburner.com/wemadethisblog

Thoughts on 2008 and ideas for 2009 are being drafted offline … hope to finish before 2010. One observation is that everything/one … EVERYTHING/ONE (with the exception of a few flawless loved ones) … needs to either be updated or changed entirely.

Meanwhile, having taken some time off to enjoy/stress out/enjoy/not sleep/nurse a deadly sinus infection… I opened up my google reader this morning to find over 3,000 unread blogs. This looks nice compared to the 4 month stack of unread ArtinAmericas/Gothams/CommunicationArts/InStyles/EdibleEastEnds/EdibleManhattans/Seeds/Canvasas/Hows/ArchitecturalDigests/HamptonsMags/ArtNews/Gastronomys/NYTimesMags/DansPapers/HC&Gs/Ws/ESPNMags/WonderTimes/Prints/Parentings/Esquires/GQs/ArtonPapers/NewYorkers/Wine Spectators… Time to cut back perhaps?