May 30, 2005
Caught Bomb the System at the Village Cinema today. You can see it too if you live in New York or LA, otherwise you are shit outta luck.
Happy Memorial Day!
May 24, 2005
So Phil Spector is in court to prove he is not a crazy homicidal maniac, and I for one think he is off to a rousing good start. Take that LAPD!
Follow up to moshing girl = hilarious. Not quite as funny, but still amusing.
May 23, 2005
The parade of unfortunate Star Wars costumes.
Guy steals self portrait of friend from Williamsburg gallery - prank results in kidnapping and jail time.
Top ten favorite words - not in the dictionary.
May 22, 2005
There's a Crunch location opening in Williamsburg. How do I know this? Cos the other day Anne and I saw three or four people in their underwear standing on the corner of Bedford and North 7th to promote the gym. I honestly cannot imagine a worse corner to be standing around in my underwear on. I think I've had nightmares like that.
So they were trying to pass out flyers to people but everyone was crossing the street to get away from them. And as a result I don't know where the gym will be. But this ad for Crunch that I saw in Time Out this month makes me have more respect for that place. Is this the first gym ad ever to feature a hot, yet non-hardbody girl?
Watched Finding Neverland this weekend and cried and cried and cried some more. Woke up this morning and my eyes were little swollen slits. Good times.
Also caught Howard Zinn: You Can't be Neutral on a Moving Train. Listening to Howard Zinn aways makes me feel so refreshed, like we really can make a difference, kumbayah, and all that kinda stuff. Really. Its like the opposite of hearing Noam Chomskey speak. Chomskey is obviously ridiculously intelligent and all about dropping the new kah-knowledge, but after I hear him speak I want to go hang myself in an empty room. Not so for Zinn. His message is that great movements come from small movements and ordinary people can change the world. Whenever another scary bible thumping Republican is voted into office I always try to calm myself with this idea by saying "the right make legislation and the left make culture." And then I don't feel as bad.
Jim bought me those new olive green low top Converse for my birthday, and I love them. Then yesterday I went on a fruitless search for pink slip on vans with skulls. I actually braved the tourist trap that is lower Broadway on a Saturday and came up empty. I ended up ordering them online.
I also randomly stopped by Andy's Cheapies to pick up a t-shirt even though I have a policy against going there. So I was buying said t-shirt and the guy who is ringing me up goes, "so did you go to the convention?" eyeing my tatoos. And I go, "No did you?" And he goes "Nah, I had to work here" and rolls his eyes. Which, of course, makes me launch into a story about how I too worked for Andy's Cheapies once.
I worked there for exactly one day when I was like twenty years old. Actually, it wasn't a full day it was more like two hours. The details are fuzzy but I remember "Andy", the owner, really trying to impress on me how much would be expected of me in terms of time and commitment (this is a shitty minimum wage vintage clothing store job, BTW) and then asking me to go down to the basement with him to fill out some forms. There he turned into a big leacherous old man and wouldn't stop pawing at me so I told him I had to make a phone call and never came back.
Then I realize that I am ranting and that this guy may actually like Andy or be Andy's son or grandson or something, so I go, "Well that was a long time ago. He's probably better now. He's probably mellowed with age."
And the guy leans over and says quietly. "He's much, much worse." Woah, scary.
In more shopping news...I'm hooked on L'Occitane products. (You pronounce it locks-it-tahn. It took me a while to get that one.)
Boy trapped in vending machine.
Three cops taser themselves. For fun.
Maurice Sendak exhibit at the Jewish Museum through August 14th.
May 21, 2005
The other day Jim told me that Apple is now integrating cameras into the Ipod. And all I could think was "why?!"
Does anyone need that technology? The digital camera and phone camera is not enough, we need to be carrying three different forms of cameras? You never wanna miss that shot I guess...What I wish Apple would develop would be a WiFi connection on my Ipod so that I could sign into the Apple store from any location and download any song I want to hear. Even better, give me XM radio or sirius so that I can hear new music and then let me download what I want.
50 fun things to do with your Ipod.
May 16, 2005
Yes, yes, yo! Fox orders up another season of Arrested Development. Lisa W. passed the info on to me knowing I was losing sleep.
And there's an update on Dave Chapelle too - apparently not on crack- just resting. Of course.
In happy news, McCarren park may get some grass.
May 15, 2005
I had a dream last night (don't stop reading this will be quick!) My friend Sarah was talking to me on some random undisclosed street and she was sad about something. She was gesticulating while she spoke, and little white birds flew up and landed on her hands, ala snow white. She felt better immediately. Somehow I haven't been able to shake the image all day. I wish that could happen to everyone when they are sad.
America's Next Top Model is down to three and my two faves are both in there - Kahlen and Naima. Yay! I will be home in front of my television Wednesday night.
I will readily admit I am obssessed with The Killers album, regardless of how lame that makes me. Somebody Told Me reminds me in some ways of Blur's Boys and Girls which in turn reminds me of Bowie's Rebel Rebel. That's a good one for your play list. Try it and you'll thank me.
Anyway, could someone please explain how Arrested Development is on the brink of being cancelled? Can't get enough of it yourself? Try the Never Nude and Tony Wonder sites.
Meaness in girls starts as early as three. I coulda told them that.
The Take 5 bar is introduced and we're loving it. Not only is it super yummy, but they are pushing it so hard that you can find it for free all over the place. Hershey has had people handing samples out on the street, which is par the course. But they took it a step further last Monday when postal workers were giving them to anyone who would use the automated machines instead of waiting in line for a real human. Then Jim went to the store yesterday and found that they are running a special promotional price of 44 cents a bar. That's like 1980 prices!
Do parents matter? Sadly, no.
Most interesting celebrity news: Dave Chappelle in mental facility, postponing the third season of the Chappelle show even longer. And Kathy Griffin is losing her eyesight from Lasik surgery. Which is obviously very upsetting and scary. So many people I know have undergone that surgery.
BTW: The best place to find fun celebrity shots is at Pink is the New Blog.
May 8, 2005
We went to the Basquiat exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art today. It was awesome. There were pieces in there that I have never seen in books or reproduction. Surprisingly crowded for an exhibit open since April, and on Mothers Day too... The best part is that we found a bus that goes straight from our house to the museum. Joy!
May 7, 2005
We kinda bought a place here in Brooklyn. I say "kinda" cos I still don't wanna jinx myself. Basically, we put our money down, signed a contract with our lawyers then waited and waited...still waiting. We have not officially "closed" nor have we moved in (obviously). As the place is new construction there are all these sign-offs the developers need to get from the city and it has been taking forever. And in this market I know that you can't count on anything, even if they do have your money and you do have a contract. Like these closing day horror stories. I know better than to assume things will go smoothly.
So yeah, we signed off on this thing in January? Something like that. Its seems like a year ago. I don't allow myself to think about it cos the details or lack there of make me crazy. But Linda told me the other day that she walked by what will be our new place and our names were on the buzzer, so I am taking that as a positive sign.
We ended up buying in Greenpoint on the border of Williamsburg, a few blocks from McCarren Park. So obviously we have been following the decision regarding the redevelopment of the waterfront closely. Word came in last week that an ammended plan had passed.
Highlights of what people are calling the most ambitious redevelopment plan in NYC history are a waterfront esplanade, and 54 acres of parkland, including a 28-acre park with an Olympic-quality aquatic center on the river.
What does not seem so kosher - and maybe I am interpretting this wrong - is that even though developers must put aside 20 to 25 percent of their apartments for low- to moderate-income New Yorkers, they can instead pass up the tax exemption keep their buildings to under 23 or 33 stories. (Which still seems huge to me!) Basically, they get the exemption and get to build up to 40 stories if they include the affordable housing. So anyway it goes, it seems there will be tall buildings built on the waterfront. Sucks. It'll be interesting to see what the neighborhood is like 10 years from now.
Did anyone read that article Michael Rapaport wrote on Natasha Lyonne in this month's Jane magazine? Disturbing on so many levels. I'm not sure who looks like the bigger asshole.
I was working from home on Friday and I ate no less than 6 bags of these Pirate's Cannon Balls. They were the individual size, ok? I know that's a lot of cheese and rice and corn regardless, but they are so goddamn addictive.
May 1, 2005
I spent the weekend lounging around watching movies and reading books. It was the weekend of the memoir at the Crosley/Henson pad, where I read The Glass Castle, Fat Girl and Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood. Fat Girl was grim and sad and bummed me out. The Glass Castle was sad too I guess, but I really enjoyed it. It was just imminently readable.
You know its funny, because a bad memior is much more difficult to stomach than just a bad work of fiction. I was thinking that when I was cursing my way through Smashed. It was awful, but due to my hang-up about finishing books that I start I felt compelled to drill my way through. At first I was thinking that people who are still in their twenties should not be writing memoirs, but The Basketball Diaries is amazing and Jim Carroll was what, sixteen when he wrote that?
I think what I may hate is the overly psychoanalytic mumbo-jumbo that accutely emotionally aware twenty somethings seem to mix into their autobiographical work, as opposed to simply weaving a story based on their rememberences.
I also truly come to hate the authors themselves, while I read the book. Seriously, hate. I mean, you just can't bring up that bitch that wrote Prozac Nation to me, without making me angry.
Oh, I read this article on where reality show stars wash up when their respective shows are over and I learned a new word! Vainglorious. Great word. How have I never heard it?
School mistakes burrito for a gun.
Exploding toads baffle scientists.
Lather suds rub partiers the wrong way. Sounds like an Onion article, but instead its from The Harvard Crimson. And for real.
Le Tigre does a Peta commercial with a bunny.
Jim likes Patton Oswalt. Here's his blog.
Kittenwar! Oh so cute!
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