Clocking in

Somehow I ended up with two clocks by my bed IN A ONE ROOM APARTMENT. Crazy, right? 

TWO bedside clocks

Here's how it happened:
I need an electrical clock to set my alarm to, to wake me up every morning. The one I have is a thousand years old, I like it because the numbers are VERY BIG. I can look over when I'm half asleep and actually see what time it is through the haze of slumber. Now, I would put that clock on the little shelf Steve, my architect, designed for my bedside but it doesn't fit there. The outlet is below the shelf, so it would be hard to access and see (a design flaw, sorry Steve). So I ended up putting the clock on a little wooden table on the other side of the bed (I sleep on the right side of the bed anyway so this makes even more sense). 

The digital alarm clock

But then I needed a clock in the main room, one I could glance at for the time. Why not glance at the digital clock? BECAUSE YOU CAN'T SEE IT FROM ANYWHERE IN THE ROOM, especially when sitting in the living area, the bed and linens block it. AARGH. Then I had a brainstorm. I had an extra wall clock stuck in a drawer that I wasn't using. It was in the guest bedroom of the old apartment and I never had a use for it. Well, now I did! It fit perfectly in the bedside niche (and looks great there too). So now whenever I need to know the time I have easy access. Problem solved. And that's the story of how I ended up with two bedside clocks. Time flies when you're having fun...

The niche clock

Perfect fit

"Trainwreck" on Sutton Place

My friend Rick loaned me a bunch of DVD Academy Awards screeners last week. He's a director in the DGA. I watched "Trainwreck" last night, the comedy with Amy Schumer and John Hader. It's a mixed bag of laughs and pathos. But there was one scene in a 'happy montage' that stood out, a shot that purposely mimics the famous scene in Woody Allen's "Manhattan" of Diane Keaton and Allen sitting on a Sutton Place bench overlooking the 59th Street Bridge. Schumer and Hader are falling in love and this moment is meant to show their flowering romance, but with a raunchy twist. As they're sitting there in the lovely twilight glow she proceeds to lean over and give him a blow job! Touch pearls! It made me laugh out loud. So another Hollywood film immortalizes our picturesque nabe.

The "Trainwreck" before the head

A murder on "Sutton Place"

My friend Ron texted me today and asked "Did you see that crazy gay murder in your neighborhood?" I knew nothing about it, so he went on to text me the sordid story:

"Ok, so the hottie on the right was "adopted" by a "celebrity jeweler to the stars" on the left."



"Met him at a health club and now he calls him his son and he lives in a separate apartment in the same building, The Grand Sutton at 418 East 59th Street."



"So the "son", who now has the older guy's name, was partying with a few people he brought back from a club...
THIS hottie went to the apartment to party and ended up stabbed to death 12 times by the "son" and his friend."



"They tried to burn his body and ended up dumping it in New Jersey. The older daddy was not there and apparently doesn't know anything about it. The "son" and his friend are in custody. Seems like maybe they were all doing drugs and they hit on this guy and he wasn't into it." (Here is where I have to say I love when Ron tells a story, he's a writer and nobody does it better).

You can read all of the seamy details from the tabloids here and here.

Now, I love a good Manhattan murder mystery as much as anybody. And if "Law and Order" were still on the air this would be prime fodder for one of their 'ripped from the headlines' stories. But I have just one quibble: 59th Street AIN'T Sutton Place. You can put lipstick on a pig and it's still a pig. Just because you name the building "The Grand Sutton" doesn't mean it's the real Sutton Place. I know that building. It's one of those nondescript glass behemoths erected in the '70s or '80s. No architectural interest. Nothing to write home about.

To paraphrase the late great Susan Hayward in "Valley of the Dolls", one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies, "Sutton Place doesn't go for booze and dope!"

"Sutton Place doesn't go for booze and dope!"

The brave little toaster

I've been needing a new toaster since I moved into this apartment last December. But money's been tight and decided I could live without one for a while. Then yesterday I found an American Express gift card that I remembered had some money left on it, I didn't know exactly how much though. I decided to make a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond and just take a peek at the toasters, maybe there'd be one on sale. I found the one I liked best, a Cuisinart stainless steel model. It was $49, more than I wanted to spend but I figured I go to the check-out and present the gift card. If there was enough money left on it then it was a sign that I was meant to have this appliance. Sure enough, the cashier rang up the purchase and I had just enough! The toaster was mine :) After one of the shittiest weeks on record I needed a little good news.
I think the little toaster looks good in the kitchen tucked in with all my cutting boards and bigger utensils. The stainless matches the oven too.

Too close for comfort

It's been a very sad week.
The election has put a damper on everything and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it...the implications for all of us are yet to unfold, we'll just have to see what happens. And pray this country can hold it together.
This much I do know: I am very close to the eye of the storm. When I went to vote this week, it was the first time since I've moved to this neighborhood. My voting place is a high school on 56th Street and 2nd Avenue just two blocks away. When I got there the lines were wrapping around the block and there was an unbelievable cortege of press, cameras, and police. Then it all made sense. This is where That Candidate was going to come vote. See, his golden tower is just a few blocks away. I voted, it took forever, but had to leave to make an appointment. Sure enough, he showed up with his wife to vote a couple of hours later and was greeted with boos and shouts of "New York hates you!" (Thank God for New Yorkers).
But now that the dust is settling on this very unnerving election, I realize that his properties could be--God forbid--major targets for terrorism...and my building in close proximity by just a few blocks. If I sound skittish, I am. Oh, what scary times we live in...

11.8.16

Autumn on Sutton Place

Snapped a beautiful picture of my favorite neighborhood park this morning on this Election Eve day.
Is it the calm before the political storm??

Ya gotta have heart (and art)

The most recent addition to The Beautiful Wreck is a piece of artwork I created, a piece of sculpture I placed on the coffee table. It's an oversized depiction of the human heart, the medium is paper maché.





I'd say it's about 90% accurate based on photos and models I researched on the web. Some liberties were taken with the colors for effect. It took a few weeks due to the long process of sculpting each section then having to let it dry, but I'm quite proud and happy with the results. In some ways it reminds me of the Mexican Bingo card ("Loteria"), the heart ("El Corazon").



It's Dali meets Claus Oldenberg with a dash of George Segal thrown in. It's the right touch of oddness that the apartment needs.