Shook the Spot

PASSAGES IN TODAY'S THURSDAY STYLES

It is, isn't it . . .

Practically everyone and everything now has a nickname, it seems, whether they like it or not. Starbucks is Fourbucks, Anderson Cooper is the Coop, and Mandisa, the big-voiced contestant voted off "American Idol" last week, is Mandiva. That President Bush has a penchant for nicknames has only made them more prevalent. It is an abbreviated world.

But the medium is the message . . .

The desire to be taller, amazonian, seems to fit with a society that likes things pumped up — lips and S.U.V.'s, for example — but that is only a conjecture. A lot of women, in truth, don't need a McLuhan-like explanation of why they want the new shoes.

Keep in mind that she actually has a stepchild . . .

There are pros and cons to having stepchildren. One of the cons is that you get to relive all the terrifying insecurities of high school over and over and over again. It's one thing if your own progeny think you're uncool: you're the parent; you're supposed to be uncool. But we stepparents have only our status as potentially cool people to warm us at night.

A fair description . . .

Simon is short and stubbled with close-cropped gray hair. His biceps were ringed with skull tattoos and his eyes ringed with traces of mascara. He was wearing a ragged Sex Pistols T-shirt from at least 30 years ago.

And a bonus passage, from the relatively tame Metro section today . . .

But perhaps the most ardent and surprising opponent of the [pornographic video] shop [in Nyack, New York] has been the actor Stephen Baldwin, a resident of nearby Grand View. Mr. Baldwin, who has starred in racy R-rated films but became a born-again Christian after 9/11, stood outside the future shop last January and took photographs of some of its workers. He has vowed to stand outside the shop every day and take pictures of its patrons as well, so he can identify them and publish their names in local newspaper advertisements.

Mr. Baldwin acknowledged that the business had a right to operate, but said the location was unacceptable because it sits at the center of a main thoroughfare, with bus stops along the street, a hospital around the corner, and a middle school within walking distance.

"If the only defense I have is to photograph the patrons, then that's what I have to do," Mr. Baldwin said at a recent Village Hall meeting. "I want to do what I need to do to protect my family and the citizens of Nyack."

NYACK!!!