Long Lost Twins?

One is a comedian, the other is more into drama. But BOTH are actresses- Tara Summers and Nicole Parker. Can you guess which is which?


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The one on the left is Nicole Parker, currently on MADtv. The one on the right is Tara Summers, currently on the hit show Boston Legal.
(I don't know, this resemblance struck me while I was watching the season premiere of Boston Legal last night.

Manhattan Living More Risky

Living in Manhattan now requires an adventurous side.

Last Thursday, the Office for Metropolitan Architecture unveiled a stunning new concept for an apartment in Lower Manhattan. Titled 23 East 22nd Street, the building extends out into the street!

And just this past Monday, Herzog & de Meuron (most recently of the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing) released 56 Leonard, with an upper half that resembles the result of play blocks stacked wildly by a child.

>>>After Reading, vote here for your favorite.
>>>If you're interested: New York Magazine: One’s Huge, the Other’s Crazy (but which is which?!...maybe both)

Great Day to Take Transit

For me, at least. I arrived at my bus stop and waited only a few minutes for the bus to come. Stepped on at 8:26, took the F in Jamaica then E and stepped off the 6 train in the Lower East Side at 9:36. Total travel time: 1:10. (Recently, it has been taking a lot longer due to "track improvements" for "Some Manhattan-bound trains run local from 71-Continental Avs to 21 St-Queensbridge" which oddly does not affect the E and does not have any construction lights to show for it.) [Service Changes PDF:35KB]

On my way home, a R train was arriving right when I stepped onto the concourse/platform and I got on at 4:04. At Union Square, I transferred to an arriving Q train for a quick trip to 34th St, then for the F, which arrived as soon as I walked down the irreparable escalator. Stepped off the train after only 40 minutes! As I finished climbing the stairs out of the station, a bus was already waiting...with another pulling in several seconds later! 22 minutes after I alighted from the train, I stepped off the quick driving bus (when I turned my head to say, "Thank you," to the driver, he said, "You're welcome. Have a nice day," before I could even start.) Total travel time: 1:02! Unbelievable! (It usually takes 1:20, and a lot more waits)

Guess I was lucky today! I just hope I haven't angered the "subway gods."

Also, Second Avenue Sagas has taken a much deeper look at what was and became of the "1939 IND Second System," a plan by the city of New York to expand the subway system by an additional 100 track miles, potentially relieving today's packed subway cars and improving mass transit for everyone. (And potentially discouraging Robert Moses.)
Read about it here: Second Avenue Sagas: Dreaming of the Second System: Where the subways should go

A Perk to Being a Lehman Brothers Employee

I found a group that was trying to make light of the recent bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. I boarded a subway car this morning and caught an A-Capella group singing the Beach Boys' Barbara Ann. As the train came to a stop at the next station and they finished the song, one of the members said to the onboard passengers, "You can purchase a copy of our CD for only $9.99, but if you have a Lehman Brothers' ID card, we'll give you 2 for $10." Many riders, including myself, smiled. (They were obviously not employees of LB.)

>>>Patrick.net: Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy filing...all those billions and millions of unsecured funds, oh my! (PDF file - 445KB)
>>>ABC News: As Wall Street tumbles, the world quakes

Naming the Subway

Second Avenue Sagas presented a collection of research ranging from the New York Times to the Waterfront Preservation Alliance of Greenpoint and Williamsburg on why the New York City Subway has so many stations with the same names and why some tell you that it's West 4th when there is only one station with that street number.

>>>Second Avenue Sagas: What’s in a name?