AS PROMISED: Well, I've ended my self-imposed blogging exile and am ready to start up again. I'm not sure if I'll have as much to say as often as I did before, but I'll give it a whirl. THE BLACKOUT happened, y'all know that. I was on 42nd & 3rd when the lights went out. I did what any self respecting New Yorker would do when work suddenly ends -I hit the bars. My friends Brendan, Peter & I moseyed over to McFadden's & got a little sauced. I then proceeded to walk up to Columbus circle in the hopes of finding a bike rental place so I could pedal up to my flat on 98th. No luck finding a bike store that was renting, but I did manage to hop onto the back of a flatbed tractor trailer, (with about 50 other like-minded individuals) proceeded to enjoy an open-air ride straight up Amsterdam and got dropped off on my doorstep. Good times and good will abounded on that day -the natives will be singing about it for years to come. SAW AMERICAN SPLENDOR this weekend. A good movie with a sense of humor and a fine cast of character actors. You know them: the thespians that would never headline a bill anywhere else but in a boutique film. Giamatti was excellent, as usual, but I felt the movie went on a tad too long. I got restless near the end and a ten minute trim would have been perfect. Fascinating how it tied into Crumb -the man and the movie -which I found unwatcheable. MY EXTENDED BROOD INCREASED this month with the addition of another nephew in Israel, bringing the total number of short, loud people who call me Uncle Yaakov to fifteen. I think I need to take a second job just to afford gifts for all of them. I'M SO PROUD that my GF is hooked on Family Guy. Stewie cracks her up.