New Yorkers

When you live in New York, you see celebrities all the time. You'll see the governor on the beach and Jon Stewart buying cat food at the supermarket. It's just part of life and New Yorkers don't care.
Celebrities are just people and one thing the 24 hour news cycle pontificates, is that people in the public eye are just as flawed as the rest of us (Emily has a post on a similar subject, which you can find at: www.emilyshur.com/blog).
However I am not immune and just like Jesse Taylor Ferguson I have a crush on Alec Baldwin.
I was tickled to see Alec Baldwin walk into the restaurant I was eating at last night (the man knows his restaurants!). When The Hunt for Red October came out I probably saw it 10 times. While Brad Pitt has faded from my radar, Alec Balwin maintains a steady position. The man is funny, witty, handsome (I like a manly belly), has one of the best voices, is a proud and outspoken New Yorker and - drum roll please- a vegetarian. He seems to just get better with age.
What's not to love?


another reason to heart Alec Baldwin (watch to the end) courtesy FIGHTBACKPAC.COM

Saturday This & That (Accents)

Via Kottke.org I came across footage of subway ride across the Brooklyn Bridge from 1899. Cool. See it, by clicking here.

Because I don't have television, I sometimes miss out on things as they happen. But the other side of that coin is that I can watch things int heir entirety at my own pace after they come out on DVD. The husband and I are working ourselves through The Wire currently. How come is seems that it is easier for English actors to do passable American accents than the other way around? Brit Dominik West in The Wire does a pretty good job. Before I knew he was English, I just assumed he was American.I noticed a slight hint of something in his cadence. But wrote it off to a regional accent. My husband thought it was traces of an overcome child hood speech impediment.
Maybe the answer is that since America is such a diverse immigrant nation that is also physically large, one could argue there is no such thing as a non-American accent. Ergo doing an American accent is easier. However most voice recognition systems don't seem to see things my way.

I don't sound exactly like a native English speaker. Some people hear it, others don't. It is more pronounced when I am tired.
Most people cannot tell by my accent where I am originally from. That is because most assume that an accent only indicates one location/culture/country. And I grew up in many places.
Sometimes when people ask, I toy with the idea of saying I am Amish or Canadian. I think I could get away with both.
If you click here, you can see Brit Dominik West do a fake English Accent as his American character James McNulty.

Thursday This & That

I have been looking at Stella McCartney's Lucky Spot, a chandelier in the shape of a horse, made out of crystals. Casa Sugar has a picture. Vogue has a profile in this month's issue with images of vegetarian designers's idyllic country estate with photographs by Bruce Weber.
Ryan McGinley has a new series titled Life Adjustment Center. I have been enjoying reading A Cup of Jo. I particularly applaud her post on breastfeeding in public. And speaking of women & their bodies, I also read Ariel Kaminer's article A Hidden Minefield at New York Pregnancy Centers.

City Postcards

The City ©Nina Buesing Corvallo