It's My Dog's World: I Just Live In It

Welcome Modern Fabulous and Ten Zen Seconds Readers

A happy Sunday post Cinco de Mayo howdy to some new visitors to It's My Dog's World: the readers of ModFab and the participants in Ten Zen Seconds.  In my technological heaven, you all are mixing it up, discussing possible Tony winners AND deep breathing, with Barbara Stanwyck presiding over it all.

Where I Am When I'm Not Here

I've mostly been spending my time and my energy here, at the dog book blog.  Why? Because I've had a nice burst of radio this week.  I LOVE being on the radio.  I love talking on the phone.  And I love talking to DJs who are concerned pet owners, including a DJ whose dog is eighteen years old.

And I hope I help.  I really do.  I was looking at a video of Faith when we first got her, and I noticed two things: our apartment was much neater back then (mostly because I hadn't moved in with Jeff yet), and Faith was...jiggly and out of breath.  I think we were so thrilled to have a dog, we just thought the good folks of Hoboken were jealous when they pointed out that Faith's belly lagged a little behind her.   "Hello, Mr. Chubby!" one of the guys on the corner called out.  Grrr. But he was right, and eventually, when we got the wakeup call--a serious injury--we did something about it, and got a happy ending. She will always be curvaceous, but now you can see her hourglass figure!  And her stamina is fantastic.  And when we are not exhausted, that is a good thing.

In some more good dog fitness news, I just learned that a nearby animal hospital (featured in an episode of QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY!) is opening a spa/swim/rehab center...right down the road from a Target.  Life is good.

On Being Bicoastal: Or, My Never-Ending Brooklyn Nostalgia

TypePad is featuring "Only The Blog Knows Brooklyn," and...it's making me homesick.  I lived in Brooklyn for 19 years, mostly in Park Slope, which this blog features, including the Armory, which I lived across the street from, and is being...lordy, lordy, gentrified/renovated/perhaps even turned into a sports center! 

When I was a Brooklynite, the Armory went through lots of changes.  It stopped being a training center for reservists.  I think I saw that last gasp...or at least, the last few tokes of grass the reservists used to take during their breaks on my street.

Then, it was a homeless shelter, protested mightily at first because the shelter was promoted as a place for women and children, but the first residents appeared to be men.  The protest was particularly Park Slopian...the protesters didn't reject the shelter entirely, but they did want to know why the homeless men had been moved in without any apparent announcement.  Later on, it went back to being a shelter for women.   Remarkable gardens sprouted on the Armory's front lawn, tended, I believe, by the residents.

Then, the Armory developed a little side business, serving various filmmakers as a set and prop facility.  From my window, I could see the prop crew making fake gold bricks for the Woody Harrelson's vehicle "The Money Train,"  stacked higher and higher on a fold-out table perched on one of the loading docks.  Later on, much less happily, the movie "Meet Joe Black" moved into the Armory, only to discover that the HVAC and electrical were woefully below par for, you know, cinematic production.     This was during the Rudy years, and I heard rumbles that the Armory needed renovations that he wasn't willing to pay for.   I think he was too busy suing the Brooklyn Museum that year. 

After the movie began shooting, the Armory was suddenly encircled with brutally noisy generators.  I worked at home at the time, and when I think of those days, all I can hear is a gigantic mechanical roar.  I never saw Brad Pitt, but I heard, frequently, that Anthony Hopkins was just a regular guy.  Park Slope being Park Slope, there was picketing.  Moviemaking being moviemaking, the shooting continued until it was done.  I've worked in the film business, and I generally root for movies to succeed, knowing how hard it is to even make a bad one.  But I do  have to say, I felt a certain amount of glee as "Meet Joe Black" tanked.   But I am glad to hear that the Armory might be returned to a certain kind of community glory.