Thursday Eye Candy: Paco, the Old Navy Dog, with Some Chick Named Olivia Wilde

Spotted from the Imnotsayin office window today: Paco, the winner of this summer's Old Navy "Search for the New Magic". The official spokesdog for the clothing mega-retailer was spotted dragging former O.C. hottie Olivia Wilde and her husband, filmmaker, flamenco guitarist, and Italian Prince (they have royalty?) Tao Ruspoli down a sketchy dead-end, where he exposed himself (NSFW) while urinating in public. Old Navy could not be reached for comment.

The famous threesome were in Williamsburg, Brooklyn where Wilde is filming an episode of Paul Haggis' (Writer of Oscar-Winning "Crash") The Black Donnellys for NBC.

More Photos on Flickr

Zune Preview Party: Moore's Law Meets Cheeseburgers

Imnotsayin's lovely and well-connected GF received an invite to Microsoft's fancy preview party for their shiny new iPod-aspiring Zune player, which means while you were home cheering election results, we were in nerd nervana at a west side loft.

The party was suitably funktastic: lots of video projections, color gobos, the requisite freight-elevator entrance, and Norwegian hipsters 120 Days rocking the house. We got a personal demo of the device itself from a likeable kid who was on the Zune design team.

The music player is similar in size to the latest-gen iPods, but a noticable amount lighter, and - more significantly - sports a huge 3-inch color LCD that dominates the device's face, making video-watching much more attractive than on Apple's player.

But Zune's biggest play (based on the marketing campaign at least) comes from its ability to wirelessly share music with other Zunes. All Zune models ship with a built-in wi-fi transceiver. Much like the Nintendo DS (and horny 20-year-olds), the units seek out other nearby Zunes, showing a real-time list of who else is in range. Nearby Zuners can send you actual song files, which can be played up to three times within 72 hours. After that, the DRM genie goes back in the bottle, but the song information remains stored - and readily available for paid download from the Zune online music store.

All the marketing materials play on the 'music is social' theme; for once, Microsoft is fronting an original idea - one that should at least turn some heads. My long-time music-player-fantasy killer-app is NOT built into Zune, though: direct wireless access to the online music store, allowing you to buy that great track you just heard in the club, before the fifth tequila shot erases all recollection of the evening. Maybe just as well...

But the party's biggest breakthrough had to be the one inch tall bacon cheeseburger micro-editions served up by the catering staff. Really: burger patty, cheddar, bacon, even a tiny hamburger bun with poppy seeds - everything downsized to a two finger, one-bite package that means pocket Happy Meals and nanotech Whoppers can only be a Chinese New Year or two away!

Previously: Microsoft Gets All Hip and Underground
Zune Homepage

Monday Eye Candy: Lake North 6th

The Edge Under Stop Work Order

Meanwhile, next door at Douglaston's 'The Edge' (soon to be down-named "Northside Towers", we suspect), a Stop Work Order appeared last week - . Inotsayin readers will recall that the developer drove a series of test piles early this summer, then packed up the pile driver and hasn't been seen since.

Imnotsayin almost missed the posting: it's tacked up facing the dead end of North 5th, where only lunching Northside Piers contractors would likely notice it.

In reality, the Department of Buildings order is not that significant - the developer let the demolition and fence permits run out. Curiously, Douglaston's website still says "construction will commence by the spring of 2006."

Yet its an inauspicious start for an ambitious project. One wonders if some developers aren't cooling their heels, waiting to see if the real estate bubble will burst before they sink any more steel - or funding - in the ground.

Palmer's Dock, er, Northside Piers Takes Shape

In a fury of men and equipment, the first of Northside Williamsburg's waterfront (NOWA, anyone?) highrises is beginning to take shape.

After months of pile-driving, the first two of twenty-nine floors can be seen rising alongside the Austin Nichols warehouse (which, BTW, has seen suspiciously-little activity in the past few months, given its owners ambitious condo-ization plans).

Imnotsayin was away much of last month, and missed the moment when the gritty and accurate "Palmer's Dock" project was redesignated the much tonier and cautiously milk-toast "Northside Piers". Did anyone witness the renaming? Did focus groups find the word "dock" a bit fishy and barnacle-crusted for their $800-a-month-maintenance liking?

Palmer, we miss ya - and we hardly knew ya.

East River State Park Open House

The long-awaited East River State Park on the Northside Williamsburg waterfront hosted a very unofficial "open house" on Saturday. It was the one of several hopeful signs - another sign being, like, literally, an interpretive sign added to the park fence - along with placement of a large trailer that will serve as (temporary?) park offices.

What actually began as a cleanup party organized by State Parks officials, morphed into an informal preview as several dozen neighbors wandered in (and were welcomed by park management) to look around and see the progress up close.

Given that the park is meant to be a historically-significant reclaimed brownfield site, and not Bryant Park East, the place is perfect for the neighborhood. A decent amount of greenspace, an amazing view of midtown, and lots of concrete ledges for slacking, skating, creating mozaic art - doing all things hipster and art-tastic.

Imnotsayin overheard a pair of (slightly long-in-the-tooth) skaters surveying the huge concrete pad that served as an informal skatepark in the park's former overgrown and off-limits life, looking for - and finding intact - a concrete rail they used to grind. Like an old married couple rediscovering their initials in the oak tree from their youth, they kicked it - found it solid - and dreamed of sunny days to come.

More ERSP preview photos here