* cababarant *

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Mijn verjaardag!

For my birthday, Kyle got me something I've been thinking on and off about since our Holland stint: a Brompton folding bike. It is so cute, and the one he gave me is orange, natch!

My Brompton bike model...

If you haven't seen one, they are really cute and weird-- they're British-designed like old-school cruisers (and steel, to boot) but they have little 18" wheels, and fold into a tidy little package, for taking on buses or trains. I saw tons of them in Holland, especially in Leiden where lots of students and university workers commute in and out of town.

Folding bikes are more common in Europe and Asia, and there seems to be a whole subculture that surrounds them. Dahon manufactures tons of them, but Brompton seems to be the undisputed king of folders, mainly because of its unique folding mechanism. Folders seem to be gaining in popularity; even Puma has a limited edition version, in collaboration with Biomega and Vexed. But the funniest one I've seen yet is this one-- the Handybike:

What are those-- stroller wheels? I almost fell over laughing when I saw this picture, imagining someone trying to ride down the bike trail with it. Total clown bike-- go Krusty!

Anyway, I should be zipping around town (or falling down) on my new Brompton. Thanks love!

Brompton website
Dahon website
Handybike website
The Folding Society UK website
Village Voice: Reinventing the Wheels
Gizmodo: The Puma Bike

posted by sheryl | 9:46 PM | comments (0)

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Tom Cruise's Death Grip!

Is he trying to break her neck? Yikes! In Dave Chappelle's words: Run bitch! Run for your life! Get help!

Photo is from the brilliant Spirit Fingers by way of Manolo-- click to see the coverage.

posted by sheryl | 9:39 PM | comments (0)

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

I'm Back!

It's been a two week hiatus due to traveling, a lack of computer access and real sketchy internet access (thanks a lot, T-Mobile!). Anyway, updates will be coming soon. We were in Vegas visiting family, and then spent a few days in New York for my friend Darren's wedding. No celebrity sightings other than a pretty lame one by Kyle-- he saw Christopher Guest looking pissy in the Great Hall at the Met. But much to our disappointment, no Amazonian Jamie Lee Curtis in sight. I told Kyle that maybe he looked pissed off because the Chanel exhibit was just a shrine to Karl Lagerfeld (pure evil!).

Speaking of the Met, we visited 5 more Vermeers-- now we've seen 12 of the complete 36 works known to exist (one of his pieces was stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, and a couple are in private collections, so I don't think anyone is going to see the complete works anytime soon).

Unfortunately no Russell Crowe sightings-- although we did walk past the Mercer Hotel, where he engaged in his phone throwing antics (no bruised and battered employees in sight-- although we were joking that I should go in there and say, "can you show me the spot where Russell beat a bitch with a phone?")

Other than that, we pretty much just ate our way through Vegas (okay how come no one told me about El Pollo Loco before?) and New York... updates are also in order for Crispy Waffle. Good times!

Some random pics:

Three of the five Vermeers at the Met. Boy, none of them stand up to Girl with the Pearl, do they?

Me with Darren (aka Brother Bear) on his big day

Me digging into a bag of frites from the frites place on 2nd Avenue and 7th. (unfortunately, disappointing, as have been all American frites I've eaten. But, the mayonnaise was grubbin!)

posted by sheryl | 6:10 PM | comments (0)

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

More Russell Crowe: Bitchimo Maximus

So in addition to throwing phones at people, Russell "The Diva" Crowe has been turning bitchier than Elton John-- this time feuding again with George Clooney. This is an ongoing catfight; I guess in February, Russell dogged GC for doing commercials, so Clooney clawed back by targeting Russell's rock band 30 Odd Foot of Grunts (tha hell? is that name about?!), with one of my favorite Clooney quotes ever:

"I'm glad he set us straight. Because Harrison, Bob [DeNiro] and I were putting a band together called Grunting For 30 Feet, and that would also fall under the heading of 'bad use of celebrity'. Thanks for the heads up."

Hee! Now Russell has decided to start up the catfight again-- this time saying that Clooney can't act. Hiss!

How you like me now??!!

posted by sheryl | 7:02 PM | comments (2)

Russell Crowe: He'll beat a bitch with a phone!

Yes, there is a new bizzy in town to take Kimora's place: Russell Crowe! I saw him on The Daily Show last week and he just looks like a guy who will fly off the handle at any moment. I guess he threw a phone at some employee at the Mercer Hotel. Damn, that's one crazy diva!

Don't get in his way, people!

CNN: Russell Crowe appears in court

posted by sheryl | 12:21 AM | comments (1)

Friday, June 03, 2005

Bon jour, French Open Finals!

One complaint about living on this side of the pond is that for a rabid tennis fan, the tennis TV coverage is really lacking compared to in Europe. I've been trying to watch the French Open, but when it's competing with Nascar and poker tournaments for airtime, guess what loses out?

Right now I'm watching the quarter-final with Rafael Nadal and DavidFerrer (Ferrer-- not to be confused with Federer, the top player in the world... how much would that suck?) I'm not sure why they are showing this match right now because it took place the other day, and in fact, Nadal, who won that match is in the middle of a semi-final match with Roger Federer. Maybe they'll show that later, after I know who won. Lame.

Anyway, I'm rooting for Nadal in that match. Why? Because 1) Federer is a tennis robot (as my sister says, built with precision Swiss parts. Hey, he's not from Basel without a reason!) and, 2) because Nadal is crazy Eurotrashy, from his mid-length hair right down to his tacky capri pajama-bottom-like pants. The only thing that would make him more Eurotrashy is if those pajama pants were made of denim. During the Australian Open, my favorite tennis writer Jon Wertheim addressed the issue of the vile capris (in response to a reader who was practically offended by them-- hee!).

Go Pajama Pants!

posted by sheryl | 7:18 PM | comments (0)