I “heart” Dan Goodsell of Tick Tock Toys for posting an amazing archive of not only vintage cereal boxes but food packaging, gum card art, premiums and oodles of other wonderful retro bits and pieces from sillier, sweeter, goofier times. (1950s-1970s). You may also be interested in his artwork and his blog.

Got some spare moments between reading blogs, lunch, several coffee breaks, and actual work? Google video is my vote for today’s time waster. The Best of Google Video site provides a list for you but if you’re a DIY kind of person, you may want to go to the source and find your own.

Mostly disappointed with the buildings going up in the neighborhood, I thought the condos going up on Luquer Street (between Smith and Court) to be acceptable and could see myself living there. And then I saw the prices! $1,095,000.00 for a 1 bedroom, 2 bath? Holy Jeebus! Granted, that’s the most expensive unit and you can get a 2 bedroom, 1 bath for $650,000.00 - but even that still seems ridiculous to me for this end of Carroll Gardens. Don’t get me wrong, I love all of Carroll Gardens and would gladly move from my Union Street apartment to Luquer (closer to work!) but I think I’d rather spend my 1 mil on a brownstone.

191 Luquer Street condo open house - January 28

Went to brand new Thai eatery Em (278 Smith) last night — the joint that not only replaced the inscrutably named Three Bow Thais, but also blanketed the surrounding area with them cute, rectangle-shaped menus. Worth going to or just Thai-erd? The Kubrick-meets-veiny-alien-growths-from-Spielberg’s-”War of the Worlds” decor is certainly unusual and the food was…solid.

We started off with the yummy Taro Veggie Parcel, which gets extra points for referring to itself as a “parcel.” I then commenced to slurping loudly on an above-average Thai ice tea and tried to figure out what to order. Em has an impressively diverse and interesting menu — one that offers loads more than your average Thai restaurant. Eventually, I went for the Chaing Mai Noodles, the wife called out for the kingly Rama Chicken.

The truth of the matter is I enjoyed my food — a lightly fried nest of noodles resting atop a (too) light curry sauce — more in theory than in actual delivery. It was well made and fun to eat, but just wasn’t the full-bodied taste sensation I was looking for. The Rama Chicken was ok. It was disappointingly covered in that weird, mildly terrifying sauce/glaze that you find in a lot of restaurants these days, and like my meal was much, much too sweet.

That all said, the service was genuinely pleasant, and it’s certainly worth a reprise to try something new! different! and exciting! Maybe what we had just isn’t their forte, right? (crosses fingers…)

Here is a great little video clip from Futureworld (the sequel to Westworld).

p.s: this movie has the best “worst” dream sequence. (more on that from Andrew in his review…)

In other Westworld news - Rumor has it that a new version of this CLASSIC film will be produced in 2007. Why oh why do they have to go and remake perfectly good movies? Have we not learned anything from Psycho, Planet of the Apes and Charlie & Chocolate Factory (to mention a few)? Where are the new ideas? C’mon people.

Rumor has it (overheard at Frank’s Luncheonette this morning - so I can not confirm the facts) the Carroll Court Pharmacy on the corner of Carroll Street and Court will be replaced by a Chase Bank. The rumored monthly rent$x/MONTH!!!!! Did I hear that right? That’s a lot of ATM fees.

(hear-say rumored amount deleted)

Me and the old lady headed out for a cheap, quick bite when my unsatiable penchant for noodles led us to kind-of-new fancypants eatery Taku at 116 Smith. The atmosphere/decor is a little chilly and it’s a bit pricey, but service was great and the food was Asian fusion-licious.

We jumped into the fray by splitting the highly impressive and mouth-watering Wings appetizer. These little snacklings were fried to perfection and swimming in a spicy, not-too-heavy sauce. A refreshing cucumber dip was provdied for, you know, dipping.

For dinner I had the moist and tasty Yuzu Chicken — …not noodles for those keeping score… — which also involved Chinese broccoli and Japanese sweet potatoes. That one public administrator-type guy on Iron Chef would probably dish about this dish, “the flavor is odd, but bold and sincere.” Or something. For dessert I went for the citrus parfait, which while impressive in theory, didn’t really overwhelm with taste power. I can see it hitting the spot when the weather gets warmer, though.

Next day we hit Frankie’s 457 for brunch. What can I say — the place has this unfortunate sense of its own cool, but their food is real good. I had butternut squash soup, and it was delicious, damn you!

Continental
25 Third Avenue (between St. Marks Place & 9th St.)

January 18th
We go on at 9:00PM
Free!

www.greatdaycoming.com

The Vinyl Orphanage “A safe haven where forgotten and unwanted vinyl record albums find solace.”

Check out Pastor McPurvis’ Weekly mp3 Talent Show! Each week an album from one of their residents is featured and available as MP3s.

Two minutes after reading a post on Brownstoner yesterday about a filmmaker doing a documentary about Cobble Hill (and loving the comments), our studio mate and artist extraordinaire, LJ Lindhurst, sent an email saying she was going to be interviewed at the studio for a documentary. Here’s a shot of the interview in progress at 423 Smith (not even close to Cobble Hill - but she does live in Cobble Hill so I guess that counts.):

Chris Chambers shooting, LJ Lindhurst painting, old scary Republicans looking on.

The finished product will be on the Inman Stories website - soon to be turnhere.com.

You can also see her wonderful Lock paintings in person at The Xpo in Dumbo.

LJ Lindhurst, supahstar!

It’s been a slow posting week at 423smith - so I’m indulging myself with a post about my favorite movie - Ang Lee’s The Hulk. I thought that perhaps I was alone in my appreciation of the movie and love of Eric Bana’s performance - but it turns out that Stephen Spielberg and I are on the same wave length. And really, who is going to argue with Stephen Spielberg? Spielberg’s selection of Bana for Munich may not be a love letter to The Hulk - but it should be!

Since I can’t write a film review to save my life, I’ll defer to Roger Ebert, to explain how Ang Lee managed to take a seemingly simple comic book movie and turn in into a beautifully filmed drama about two damaged people. (and yes, I would agree with folks who say the effects aren’t the best - but that isn’t really what the film is about.)

Here is a video of Eric Bana talking about the movie and how Spielberg saw him in The Hulk…

And just because this is nutty - I googled “Stephen Spielberg and Eric Bana” and this is what I came up with. I have no idea what compatibility chart means but it seems like a bit of fun.

This may be old news but I just read on the BBC News website that Ricky Gervais has taken his David Brent character to Springfield USA.

Sketch © Matt Groening, The Simpsons, and Fox TV

According to the article Mr Gervais wrote the Simpson’s episode as well. Hopefully this will breathe some life back into the show - although this year hasn’t been too too bad. The episode will air sometime this spring. Being a huge Brit com and Simpson’s fan, I’m psyched for this combo.

Like a phoenix from the ashes, like the New Testament JC, like Mariah after “Mimi,” local once-thought-deceased watering hole PJ Hanley’s (corner of Court and 4th Place) has been reborn as the even more Irish-y sounding “Hanley’s Tavern,” and the wife and I paid a visit last night.

I have to admit, both of us very much enjoyed the Hanley’s experience throughout our six years in the hood, so we approached Hanley’s V.10 (supposedly it’s one of the oldest bars in NYC) like Jane Goodall would a pooping chimp: WITH EXTREME CAUTION.

Anyway, here are our findings.

Pluses:
-More space by the bar
-Quality food (seriously: I had a pasta w/sausage and peas dish, the wife had roasted chicken — both were excellent)
-More choices on the menu
-Unassuming, friendly service
-Puzzling leers from local boozers
-Puzzling greetings from local boozers
-Generous outside seating area

Minuses:
-More expensive menu
-No turkey or veggie burgers
-Goofy charm and character M.I.A.
-No suit of armor
-No Diana Ross drawing/painting

So, all in all, we were pleased to find it’s still a good place to go if, much like we are, you’re too lazy/busy to cook and are tired of overtly modern Thai restaurants and overpriced nouvelle bistros.

To most people it would make little sense for 2 people living in small Brooklyn apartment to sacrifice half of the available storage space for a Christmas village that is displayed for just 2 weeks per year. But for us the lure (and entrapment) of a subscription based Simpsons Christmas Village was too much to resist. Check out our flickr album of this year’s display.