Noted

From the Post today:

Forget flowers, chocolate or Twitter: Mike Tyson's facial tattoo is a hot new way to woo someone.

Swinging singles are going out and having their faces painted with a temporary, Tyson-inspired "Hangover" movie tattoo -- in a gaudy effort to look like knockouts to the opposite sex.

The booze-fueled microtrend was on full display Friday night at Coyote Ugly in the East Village, where Putman Davis, 23, was having his face "champ"-stamped.

"It definitely gives you attention," he said. "Definitely a way to get people's eyes."

The pastry chef was not high when she created the cereal milk soft-serve ice cream at Momofuku Milk Bar

According to the Times:

Today, a small but influential band of cooks says both their chin-dripping, carbohydrate-heavy food and the accessible, feel-good mood in their dining rooms are influenced by the kind of herb that can get people arrested.

Call it haute stoner cuisine

.

Dude!

But not everyone partakes of the sweet, sweet bud.

The cereal milk soft-serve ice cream at Momofuku Milk Bar ... is a perfect example. A dessert based on the slightly sweet flavor of milk at the bottom of a cereal bowl particularly appeals to someone who knows both high-quality food and the cannabis-induced pleasure of a munchie session built from a late-night run to the 7-Eleven.

Christina Tosi, the pastry chef of David Chang’s empire, said she was stone-cold sober when she invented it. She was in the basement of Mr. Chang’s Ssam Bar late at night, trying to save a failed experiment in fried apple pies.

“I promise you there was no marijuana involved,” she said. “It would have made the stress of it more bearable if it was.”

[Image via]

26 years later, it's apparently cool to like Huey Lewis and the News

Trends piece in the Post!

On a night in the East Village last month, the near-empty burger joint Black Iron was gearing up for the dinner rush. “You know,” a bearded bartender remarked to his fellow servers, “I need to start the night properly.”

He cut the music and cued up a new album: “Huey Lewis & The News: Greatest Hits.” Excitement rippled through the room. There was even some whooping. For the next half hour, all conversation revolved around Huey’s guitar prowess. Apparently, it’s very hip to be square right now.

In fact, this spring, the cheesy ’80s are back in full force, with power ballads, film remakes and pink lipstick leading the way.

[Rolling Stone cover via Rolling Stone]

Noted

Via TwitPic with this message:

"Oy, the pantsless look has reached the East Village."

(Gestating) Trend alert

From the Post:

Of all the dubious fashion trends in recent memory — rompers for grown-ups, homeless chic, the cowboy boot in summer — none is more dubious and perplexing than this latest one: Looking like you forgot your pants.

It is, at the moment and among a certain subset of fashion girls, the most avant-garde mode of dress: Pairing a tailored Oxford shirt with a boyfriend blazer and $500 shoes, topped with some artfully tousled bed-head and smudged eyeliner. And off to work!

As with most ridiculous trends, it gestated on the streets of Williamsburg and the Lower East Side for a year before its embrace by the mainstream.

In any event, I'm still introducing my new top for men -- The Jennings.



Photo via.

Noted

Been so busy eating sausage-biscuits-and-gravy pizza and deep-fried mac-and-cheese, I forgot to note this Times trends piece from Thursday.

In truth this get-up was pretty much the unvarying male uniform last summer also, but this year an unexpected element has been added to the look, and that is a burgeoning potbelly one might term the Ralph Kramden.

Too pronounced to be blamed on the slouchy cut of a T-shirt, too modest in size to be termed a proper beer gut, developed too young to come under the heading of a paunch, the Ralph Kramden is everywhere to be seen lately, or at least it is in the vicinity of the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene, the McCarren Park Greenmarket and pretty much any place one is apt to encounter fans of Grizzly Bear.

What the trucker cap and wallet chain were to hipsters of a moment ago, the Kramden is to what my colleague Mike Albo refers to as the “coolios” of now. Leading with a belly is a male privilege of long standing, of course, a symbol of prosperity in most cultures and of freedom from anxieties about body image that have plagued women since Eve

.

The recession's hot sellers: running shoes, Spam, Dinty Moore, tanning products

Another recession-related trends story. (AP)

Noted

Doing yoga with your dog. (The New York Times)

[Photo: Michael Nagle for The New York Times]

Report: During the recession, candy sales are up! (Next trends piece: We're getting fatter and our teeth are rotting)

The inevitable trends story today from the Times.

The recession seems to have a sweet tooth. As unemployment has risen and 401(k)’s have shrunk, Americans, particularly adults, have been consuming growing volumes of candy, from Mary Janes and Tootsie Rolls to Gummy Bears and cheap chocolates, say candy makers, store owners and industry experts.

Theories vary on exactly why. For many, sugar lifts spirits dragged low by the languishing economy. For others, candy also provides a nostalgic reminder of better times. And not insignificantly, it is relatively cheap.

“People may indulge themselves a little bit more when times are tough,” said Jack P. Russo, an analyst with the Edward Jones retail brokerage in St. Louis. “These are low-cost items that people can afford pretty easily.”

All this means business has been brisk at Economy Candy. Anyway, has the Times already done the piece on people drinking more during the recession and eating lunch from sidewalk vendors?

Trend stories we very likely won't read

But you can...

Noted

The return of table tennis. From the Fashion & Styles section in the Times yesterday:

Grand Opening, a glass-fronted gallery space between tenement buildings on the Lower East Side, has old Chinese men playing hipsters on its table despite the language barrier. “People can communicate through their game,” the owner, Ben Smyth, 27, said.

[Photo: Rob Bennett for The New York Times]

Going away this weekend...

...or are you having, in the words of the Times, a "staycation?" As the paper notes:

It is a ridiculous word, but that hasn’t stopped the sprouting of so many Web sites with perky “I ♥ N.Y.” staycation ideas — Circle Line, a museum visit, a tenement tour and bialy on the Lower East Side.

And, admittedly, it’s a very fun word to say. Staycation. How was your staycation? My parents went on staycation, and all I got was this lousy T-shirt. Our son-in-law threw his back out on staycation.

As is so often the case, this new thing is nothing new in many parts of New York City. It’s just that it was never named by those level-headed working men and women who do not need a tarted-up pseudoword to enjoy a nice week without work.