There’s No “mike2010.com” . . . Does That Mean That He Won’t Run For Governor?

If Bush ramps up the terror threat level whenever a political disaster strikes, does Bloomberg similarly hype the presidential talk whenever he needs to stay relevant? Got a critical congestion pricing vote Thursday? Unveil mike2008.com today:

Mayor Bloomberg insists he’s not running for President, but he has put a provocatively named mike2008.com Web site on the Internet.

It links directly to Bloomberg’s recently relaunched personal Web site, mikebloomberg.com, where Hizzoner keeps the public posted on the causes he’s supported in business, philanthropy and government.

Bloomberg spokesman Robert Lawson said the mayor’s use of mike2008.com has no connection to speculation he may run for President next year.

“The Web administrators control a number of Bloomberg-specific [addresses] to prevent cyber-squatters and redirect users to mikebloomberg.com,” Lawson said.

Other Web addresses — such as mbloomberg.com, michaelbloomberg.com and mike2007.com — also link to the mayor’s site.

Lawson said the mayor decided to link all those addresses because he wanted to make sure anyone looking for information about him got to his site.

. . .

The mayor is scheduled to travel to St. Louis today to speak at the National Urban League, an organization that will hear from the leading Democratic presidential candidates on Friday.

alt.fetish.filipinanannies, Or, If Gentleman’s Agreement Were Set On The Upper West Side

The fact that they’re completely flouting immigration law is not nearly the worst part of it:

“There’s kind of a mutually agreed unspoken agreement among mothers that all the normal rules about racism are off when you’re talking about nannies,” said one book editor in her early 30’s who asked not to be identified because her Filipina nanny is illegal. “People talk about ethnicity in a way they never would at any other time. Even people who are very aware of not making racial stereotypes will put that on hold when talking to other mothers.”

“Part of it is just a shorthand way of saying what you’re looking for, and what qualities you’d like to instill in your children,” the book editor continued. “Before I knew that Tibetan nannies were a status thing, a friend’s friend was telling me that they were the very best. You hear that Filipina nannies are the best because they have a history of being caretakers in the Philippines. You hear that Caribbean nannies are a bit tough, so they’re good if you have an unruly child with discipline issues.”

Lucy Kaylin, the executive editor of Marie Claire and author of The Perfect Stranger: The Truth About Mothers and Nannies, explained that many mothers are simply grasping at anything in the arsenal that might help them make what is at base a very emotional decision.

“As a good liberal, I certainly recoil at the labeling of people based on where they come from,” Ms. Kaylin said. “But among the mommy ranks it is strongly felt that you can make these distinctions. Some of the more common stereotypes that you hear are that Filipina nannies are deferential and quiet, whereas Caribbean nannies might be more inclined to be assertive about how the child should be dealt with. You hear that Latina nannies are very affectionate, and that English nannies and German nannies will run a tight ship.”

“When it comes to this high-risk critical juncture in your life as a family, you find people talking in terms that they would never normally use in polite society,” Ms. Kaylin continued. “Mothers caught in the grip of the nanny search can get a bit crazy. You’re desperate for clarity and information, and you find yourself poking around in realms of your psyche that you thought were well sealed off.”

Though much — some say most — nanny-hiring in the New York area is done illegally, the directors of Manhattan’s nanny-placement agencies are quick to point out that requesting a nanny from a particular nation or ethnic group runs afoul of U.S. anti-discrimination laws.

Joan Friedman, who has run the A Choice Nanny placement agency with her husband since 1991, said that she frequently hears requests from families for a nanny from a particular ethnic group.

“I don’t think people are trying to discriminate,” Ms. Friedman said. “I think it’s a simple lack of education about what the laws are in terms of discrimination. It’s funny. I’ll get a call from a family one day saying, ‘Please get us a Filipina nanny no matter what.’ And then the next day I’ll get a call saying, ‘We’ll take anything but a Filipina nanny.'”

We’re All Craving Something More, Better/A Triple Play Package Just Might Be In Store, Get Her!

Oh man, I hope their friends ride them about this:

You’re watching a Seinfeld rerun, or the late-night news on the WB. Cut to commercial. “Woke up this morning/ Cable’s triple play in my head . . .” It sounds familiar, doesn’t it? There’s a pretty girl on your TV, dancing and singing in a huge, loft-like space, wind blowing through her dark hair, glossy lips shining, sequins flashing. You’ve seen her before. But where? And that catchy pop-ska beat — it’s all so familiar. “One simple connection/ One low price all on one bill . . .” Wait, here comes the hook! “I want it all! Yeah, I want it all!” And the band sings, “1.800.OKCable, Cable’s got it all.” Now you’ve got it. It’s the 1.800.OKCable band!

Is this a real band? Can they be serious? It is. They are.

The band is called Future 86, and the 1.800.OKCable commercial on which they sing has been driving New Yorkers batty for months.

Future 86’s road to local TV saturation began five years ago, when guitarist Larry Nimmo, from Queens, and drummer Armand Minassian, of New Jersey, put an ad out in The Village Voice. They wanted to start a rock band and they needed a singer. Spunky Courtney Samborsky, then a student at the musical theater program at New York University, answered the call.

The band didn’t want to change the world or reinvent rock music. They just wanted to play some shows and get the people dancing. So they plugged away at local nightspots, working up a handful of 80’s covers and a few originals that they’d try to squeeze in when the bar manager wasn’t looking. They changed band names a few times — first they were Eve’s Design, then Pretty Suicides — until they finally settled on Future 86 after seeing signs for the prospective interstate highway en route to gigs. They recorded two albums on small budgets and sold them online, in between sets and at some local record stores.

This spring, they got a call from Jennifer Brooke, cofounder of Forever Films, a Long Island–based production company. She was looking for a local band — nothin’ fancy — to sing on a commercial for 1.800.OKCable, a company that packages Internet, TV and phone service together. They weren’t selling out the Garden, but still . . . !

After trawling MySpace for talent, Ms. Brooke and her partner, Beatrice Alda, discovered Future 86 (among about a dozen other bands). They particularly liked the song “I Want It All,” which with a few minor tweaks could easily be transposed to the thematic needs of an 1.8OO.OKCable ad campaign. And the little-known group would probably work for cheap — or even free.

. . .

In due time, the lyrics Woke up this morning/No sunshine on my head became Woke up this morning/Cable’s Triple Play in my head. And Woke up this morning/Couldn’t wait to get out of bed became Craving TV and Internet and Phone/Is what I said. “You’re watching Future 86 but they happen to be talking about cable,” Ms. Brooke said.

Public response, however, has not been so enthusiastic. It seems some people resent getting a catchy song stuck in their heads after repeated, unsolicited airings, especially when that catchy song is about something as mundane as cable TV and Internet service.

. . .

The band seemed slightly perplexed by the sometimes harsh reaction to their music. “Don’t these guys have anything better to do?” wondered Mr. Minassian, the drummer.

Ms. Samborsky specifically defended the artistic integrity of “I Want It All” — which, like most of the band’s original material, she wrote with Mr. Nimmo. “Everyone is searching for something that means something to them,” she said vaguely. “We’re all craving something more, better.”

The Pick Up (A Gallon Of Non-Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone Milk) Scene At Your Local Whole Foods

Like WNYC’s attempts to cash in on its wonky, somewhat female-overloaded Soterios Johnson-loving unattached demographic, the new Whole Foods on Houston is hosting events for, er, thin-slicing singles:

Over samples of aged Gouda and amid aisles of extra-virgin olive oil, New Yorkers shopping at Whole Foods Bowery are turning the grocery into a thriving pick-up scene. The gelato bar, the upstairs café, the chilled, private cheese room, and long checkout lines are where flirting is most rampant in the 71,000-square-foot store that opened last March, Whole Foods employees said.

. . .

While many pick-up lines fall flat, single shoppers said the floodlit aisles provide a “safer” space to start up conversations with strangers than most bars in the neighborhood. Peeking into each other’s grocery carts, they said, could also be more revealing of a person’s lifestyle choices than an online profile on a social networking or dating Web site.

“I’m really health conscious,” a 28-year-old singer in the band edible red, Collette McLafferty, said. “I want to date health conscious people, and that could be why Whole Foods seems like a good place to meet people.”

After chatting with an attractive man at Whole Foods two nights ago but forgetting his name, Ms. McLafferty, who lives on the Lower East Side, posted a message on Craigslist looking to reconnect with him.

“He had dark, curly brown hair, blue eyes, he was well built, probably about 5-feet-10,” she said. She is waiting for a response to her posting, she said. Ms. McLafferty, who said she has often been approached by shoppers who comment on the tattoo of a dragon around her upper arm, added that flirting was easy at Whole Foods because of low expectations. “When you go out with the intention of meeting someone, you never meet anyone,” she said.

. . .

“I make eyes at people,” a 27-year-old actor who lives near South Street Seaport, Ari Rossen, said. “It’s a hip neighborhood, everyone who shops here is young, and there are plenty of things around to talk about.”

Whole Foods Bowery is actively boosting its reputation as a place for singles to meet, a spokeswoman for the store, Rebecca Ulanoff, said. In August, the store is hosting “Check Out,” a singles night co-sponsored by the Web site Gothamist.com. The store is also hoping to attract a fashion-forward, eco-friendly crowd tomorrow morning when it sells Anya Hindmarch shopping totes printed with the message: “I’m Not a Plastic Bag.”

I guess the singles events at the Pathmark by the Manhattan Bridge were sparsely attended?

Potential sociology dissertation topic ca. 2014: “The Rise Of The Co-Optation Of Interpersonal Relationships By Corporate Entities In The 21st Century.”

The Only People Who Can Stop Him Now Are The Preservationists

What’s the most ridiculous aspect of the Bloomberg for President hype? Is it New York City’s nationwide agenda? Is it the Genesis-like porterhouse-fueled dare myth? No, it’s the speculation that Hizzoner would reconfigure the Oval Office to accommodate his signature “bullpen” layout:

The Oval Office is among the most recognizable symbols of the American presidency, but if Mayor Bloomberg ends up in the White House, the real business of the country could get done down the hall.

If history is an indication, Mr. Bloomberg will want to reconfigure some area of the White House to make room for an open, newsroom-style office if he’s elected president. Since his days as the founder and CEO of the information technology company Bloomberg L.P., the mayor has opted to forgo a private corner office to work in a “bullpen” surrounded by his top lieutenants and aides. Starting today, Mr. Bloomberg’s bullpen is moving to the city’s emergency command center in Brooklyn for two weeks while the City Hall workspace gets an electrical upgrade and a fresh coat of paint.

The rearranging of the White House furniture hinges, of course, on a lot of ifs — with the top two being if Mr. Bloomberg decides to run and if he wins. But those who have followed his career or worked in the White House say if Mr. Bloomberg does become the next commander-in-chief he will be able to find a space for his beloved bullpen at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

“He could go to the Old Executive Office [Building], which is across the alley. There’s a space on the third floor there where he could create a bullpen about the size that he has at City Hall,” a Republican strategist and former assistant to President Reagan, Edward Rollins, said.

Mr. Rollins, who worked in the White House between 1981 and 1986 with some time off for Mr. Reagan’s re-election campaign, said creating a bullpen in the West Wing would be next to impossible because it would require “knocking down the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room, and the Roosevelt Room.”