I met Sarah from Sad and Beautiful World in Coney Island today for the Mermaid Parade.  We walked around in the extreme heat and took photos… and ate hot dogs.  I was a total dweeb because I wore a preppy, button-down shirt… to the beach.  I think I am turning into my father, who used to wear a suit and tie to a baseball game.   This time, I blame YOU.  You’re the ones who told me I should dress better in New York than Los Angeles.  I’m lucky I haven’t bought a Nehru jacket.  I would have fainted from a heat stroke.

But, for some reason, the girls at the beach, many who were wearing the shells for bikini tops lke Ariel from the Little Mermaid, seemed to dig the button-down shirt look I was wearing!  Perhaps it was better than the tight Speedos that some of the other men were wearing.   Brooklyn men are NOT shy.

Hi, Sarah!

If it’s fourth of July, that means in Brooklyn it’s time for Nathan’s Famous July Fourth International Hot Dog Eating Contest.  Can anyone unseat four-time winner Takeru Kobayahsi of Japan, who last year ate 53 1/2 hot dogs in twelve minutes?

Here are last year’s onlookers just seconds before Norwegian-born Steinar Andersen’s unsuccessful (and rather unpleasant) attempt to eat his 42nd hot dog.