Thanks to the help of my friend Andy Diller, I now have my Netflix queue and recent rental history up on the blog for all to enjoy. Not that I actually think anyone will be impressed, or even interested, in what I’m watching. Also, I just want to state for the record that all of the girly movies on the list, like Blue Crush and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton are Ana’s picks, not mine.

To see these movies and other, more high-minded fare, scroll down the page, past the big clock and my new weather pixie, Renee Chenault-Fattah. The movie listings are on the right hand side, and the links take you right to the Nexflix website.

Many thanks to Andy for engineering this feat of web wizardry. Somehow the list will continuously update itself courtesy of a little script running on Andy’s server. Magic you might say? Well, you’d be right.

As a one-song fan of OutKast and an occassional cat enthusiast, when I saw this little clip, “Hey Ma!” on GMA, I couldn’t resist the temptation to post it. Just be warned: One lyric, “Hey I’ve got the kitty … Oh, I’ve got the kitty … And I put it in the toilet for a ba-a-ath,” will have you humming for days, often to the looks of confusion and disgust from co-workers.

On today’s Good Morning America, there was a piece about sex bracelets, bendable pieces of plastic (aka jelly bracelets) that are apparently used to communicate a sexual code amongst grade schoolers. It works something like this: 13-year-old girl wears red bracelet to class; boy snaps bracelet; girl has to give boy lap dance. I’m thinking, Come on, that would never happen. But then they have on a nine-year-old, and she starts talking about how her girlfriends do indeed French kiss if their red bracelets are snapped. (Note to girl: Officially, red means lap dance.)

Here’s a breakdown of the bracelet code:

Black: sexual intercourse
Blue: blow job (alternate meaning: lap dance)
Green: cunnilingus (alternate meaning: outdoor sex, hug)
Clear: whatever you want (alternate meaning: hug)
Orange: kiss
Yellow: hug (alternate meaning: analingus)
Red: lap dance (alternate meaning: French kiss, oral sex)
Purple: anal sex (alternate meaning: holding hands, doggy style)
Silver: fisting
White: flash your tits (alternate meaning: gay kiss, French kiss)
Pink: flashing
Gold glitter: make out
Brown: toss my salad, i.e., analingus
Glow in the dark: using sex toys, e.g. vibrators, dildos, etc.

According to Snopes, the story is only part true, falling into the “undetermined” category — but not, unequivocally, into the “false” camp.

I thought I had it tough when I was living in a shoebox-size apartment on Perry Street, in New York. But after reading an article about the uberwealthy tenants of 173/176 Perry, the two condo towers designed by bad ass-architect Richard Meier, it’s clear that, by comparison, I had it good. The story, titled “Faulty Towers,” was in the June issue of Vanity Fair, and it’s about the travails of the numerous celebrities–Calvin Klein, Martha Stewart, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman–who plunked down ridiculous fortunes to live in the buildings, only to have their lofty expectations squashed. The never-ending series of problems includes leaks, heating malfunctions, water damage, a street-bound gunman shooting out windows, and actor/director Vincent Gallow being an all-around nag. I couldn’t get a link for the story (damn you and your print-only mags, Conde Nast!), but there’s a brief recap here. One disaster, detailed in the story, happened when a rainstorm caused Martha Stewart’s duplex to flood, and the ensuing water damage ruined rosewood floors on numerous apartments below. It’s almost enough to make you feel sorry for her–as if you didn’t already.

–The finished product. Well, sort of.

I remember going by the towers on my morning runs to the WTC, when I was living on Perry, but back then they were just dusty construction sites, hardly deserving mongo condo price tags, much less human inhabitants. Well, I gather that not much has changed. The lobbies are still in disarray, covered in white soot, and being trampled by contractors. I only have one question: Why pay $6 million for a floor in a sterile glass fortress when you can get a whole row home–say, for example, the brownstone that poses as Carrie’s home on “Sex and the City,” just a couple blocks down Perry–for less cash money? Explain that to me.

–How I remember 173/176 Perry Street, right before it was completed–er, opened to residents–in 2002.

It’s times like this that I’m proud to be a Vermonter. Or at least to make the false claim that I was born in Vermont, and not some smarmy Jersey suburb. (Note: I don’t use this line much anymore, as I’m not dating now and therefore have only an occasional need to impress girls and look brawny.) In today’s New York Times, there was an article about how, with the imminent arrival of seven new Wal-Mart superstores, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has named Vermont on its annual list of endangered sites. Not just a few covered bridges and steepled churches, mind you. The whole damn state!

But seriously, Vermont, do you really think you can stop Wal-Mart? I mean, this company makes McDonald’s look like a champion of small-town America and civic responsibility. You can protest or sue, like cities in Illinois and Florida are doing. Or you can take it to the voters, like Inglewood, California, did. But the bottom line is that the big-box retailers will invade, one way or the other. However, maybe, just maybe, it’s possible to get them to scale back and play fair with the local community, as they have in Rutland, Vt.

–It’s a little hard to see, but the Rutland Wal-Mart (the anchor store of this shopping center, located right above the parking lot) is actually well integrated into the downtown. The town’s main shopping street goes right by the store and the car-park, and they effectively feed off each other. See the National Resource’s Defense Council case study.