Ordinarily, you wouldn't expect to find a lot of similarities between Sag Harbor and Brooklyn. But while reading an Op-Ed piece in Saturday's New York Times by Jennifer Egan (author of the novel The Keep), about the proposed Atlantic Yards development in Brooklyn, I was surprised at just how many parallels exist between Brooklyn's struggle with that project, and our own issues   more »

I once worked for a company that wasted a lot of time in meetings. It wasn't that the meetings themselves were a bad idea, it was just that the meetings never seemed to achieve the intended results. Ultimately, the company hired a consultant, who, after observing one of our meetings for about fifteen minutes, told us why our meetings failed. ...   more »

Usually when I ask my readers (all three of you) to do something, it's for the benefit of the Sag Hampton community in one way or another, whether it's a reminder to attend a meeting, or an entreaty to write to our public officials about the issue du jour. But this post...this is shamless family promotion. Don't let that stop you, though...please read on.

Sag Hampton native, Alec Cohen and two of his friends and fellow students at the Art Institute of Portland, Uli Beutter and Kurt Nishimura, created a short film to enter in the Tropicana "Fresh Take on Portland" short film competition. From among many entries, their film was selected as one of the three finalists in the competition. Now you can help determine the grand prize winner by viewing the three short films and voting for the one you think is best. (Hint: it's named Splash.)

Here's a link to the films and voting:  http://www.freshfilms-portland.com/voting

Each film is less than two minutes long, and is themed around the quintessential Portland (Oregon) morning.

Why should you vote? Well, for one thing you'll be helping three young and talented filmmakers get a little closer to their dream with the help of the contest's $10,000 first prize. If that's not enough, do it 'cause you like this blog. You do like the blog, don't you?

Voting starts today, Friday, February 16, 2007 and continues until midnight Thursday, February 22, 2007. You can vote once each day for each e-mail address you have. Now you know what to do. So, what are you still doing here?  Click on the link above and vote (for Splash)!

If you like Splash, and I'm sure you will, you can see more of Alec, Uli and Kurt's work at their website, Sandymontana.com
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Currently listening to: Twin Cinema by The New Pornographers

No sooner had I posted the story about the proposed ski-resort in Riverhead, than the whole thing started to unravel.  Anthony of the Ozone blog drew my attention to this Newsday article, (thanks Anthony) in which the paper quotes Riverhead Town Supervisor Phil Cardinale as saying, "I would expect him to be chairman, because that's how he signs his letters," ...   more »

File this under "Development/Crazy." My jaw is on the floor. Could this be for real? The blog Ozone quotes from the Long Island Traveler-Watchman (part of the Independent chain of newspapers) that a 500 ft. tall ski resort is planned for Riverhead, and that Riverhead's supervisor Phil Cardinale is already salivating over the prospect. The Traveler-Watchman quotes Cardinale as saying, ...   more »

Our house sits on a half-acre lot, in a neighborhood of half-acre lots located just south of the Village line. It's a modest neighborhood by Sag Hampton standards. It's not in the historic district, in fact the neighborhood is so not historic that it didn't even exist before 1987, give or take a year. Before then it was just woods. ...   more »