Tiny's done gone upscale on us

Why don't people tell me these things? Why do you people keep me out of the loop? On my way to St Mark's Bookshop Sunday, I stopped by the legendary Tiny's Giant Sandwich Shop for some sammy.

Except it's closed. The shutter was down and that familiar sign is gone. What the fuck? It couldn't have gone out of business, could it? Damn gentrifiers! (In a somewhat related development, the phone line at Mugajee, one of my favorite delivery joints, has been disconnected with no explanation to be found)

Distraught and confused, I rode my bicycle in a circle for the next 15 minutes until I looked closer at the shutter and read "Tiny's has moved to 129 Rivington". Oh. (Update: I lie. I was told before.)

129 Rivington happened to be just two doors down from the old location but oh, what a difference. For one, the new space is much, much bigger, which is great since the old location was way too cramped for the amount of traffic it got. And as you can tell from the photograph above, they actually have a decor. To top it off, there's table service! Of course, the best part is that Tiny's new location challenges Schiller's Liquor Bar for the supremacy of the Rivington/Norfolk intersection.

A part of me misses the hole-in-the-wall atmosphere of the old loc. A huge part of me. The polished look of the new place is going to take some getting used to (though I already like it better than the transformation at Kossar's) and they don't have any kind of signage outside yet. But I do appreciate that the prices have stayed the same and I can eat on a table that's bigger than my thumb.

So when you're naming an SUV, you're thinking tough and rugged, like Denali, Yukon and... Tribeca?

Because, you know, nothing says "roughing it" like the unforgiving cobblestone streets of the 013.

The people behind The Wedding Crashers (or "one big Budweiser commercial" as referred to by, wait for it, a Budweiser exec) invite you to Crash the Trailer.

I only link to this piece because "Turd Blossom" doesn't appear in headlines nearly enough.

Senator Arlen Specter's proposal for the perfect candidate to replace Sandra Day O'Connor: Sandra Day O'Connor.

Update: okay, not really. Specter was suggesting O'Connor to replace Rehnquist as Chief Justice. Still, it's nice to see a moderate Republican with a functioning spine.

I'd like to teach the world to fuck off