December 28, 2005

Thank God 2005 is almost over. This year has been a personal worst for me and um... mankind in general? Floods, tsunamis, lots of death, loss, terrorism, tradgedy, fighting, what-have-you. I say good fucking riddance...

Jim's brother got sick and was hospitalized over Christmas. And even though we are all 100% certain that he is going to be fine and make a full recovery, he certainly could use a round of good thoughts and prayers his way. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor on his actual brain stem. Pretty scary stuff - so y'all gotta share the love.

Anyway, if I said I was gonna get in touch with you while in Beantown and didn't, now you know why.

In lighter news Jay got engaged, Alexi got engaged, and Noreen got herself a brand new Powerbook G4.

Fuck you, New York City mass transit.** Now both Jim and I can work at home at the same time. The modern world - amazing isn't it?

**The aforementioned comment regarding NYC transit is not to be interpretted as anti-union, but rather anti-subway-no-worky.

Anyway this is what we did in Boston: drank, fought with friends, posed for pictures, saw movies, read books, went on walks and ate too much.

Books that I got a chance to read over the holiday include A Home at the End of the World and Oracle Night, which were both very satisfying. Mysteries of Pittsburgh? A little too art-faggy for me. But you know, I hear that's what the kids are into now. And back in the eighties when the book was written obviously.

Is it totally un-PC to call something "art-faggy"? I only recently found out that "midget" is considered to be some sort of slur. And at the same time, it has become such an integral part of my vocab it has been hard to lose.

Anyhoo, I also read some sex memoir called I'm No Saint which was surprisingly dull, trite and offensive for a tell all smut fest.

We saw Brokeback Mountain, which was amazing and poignant and a great love story. But we saw it with my mom, who is not my first choice to watch hot guys get it on with. We rented The 40 Year Old Virgin, and March of the Penguins. The first was awesomely dirty and funny and the second was sooooooooo cute and sad!

Gay penguins.

Ok, so we did get our asses out one night to Liz's to yankee swap us some presents:

And we had a delightful xmas dinner at home with friends and loved ones.

This particular shot illustrates the old adage...My family can beat up your family.

And yeah , my brother is currently channeling Rick Rubin

December 19, 2005

Ohmygod...this is a cute overload.

Ok, many dissapointments in one weekend. Let us begin with The Moscow Cat Theatre. I really have few words that could explain this bizarro, unfortunate, Eastern-European clown tradgedy. While all cats are naturally entertaining, Russian clowns are not. At one point, in some sort of dream-sequence (at least I think it was) large green aliens danced around holding up big foam hands. It was such over-the-top lunacy, that the guy sitting next to me actually gasped. He seemed to have been dragged to the show that night, showing no interest in the cats at all, instead typing on his blackberry the whole time. When he looked up gasped and said "Oh my god!" I lost it and broke into hysterics. Many people were laughing. We were not laughing with them...we were laughing at them.

I don't wanna dis the cats, cos I loved them and they all preformed very well and are very special little creatures, but good god, I think the only thing that could have helped me sit through that show would have been forty tabs of tweety bird acid.

Then we dropped by the Craftacular at Warsaw on Saturday. Way too hot, too crowded...couldn't wait to make for the door. We did see two ex-Tower records employees from Boston who had a cute booth full of really quality stuff (that would set them apart from at least 50% of the other crafts there), so that was fun. But yeah, someone's gotta learn to lay out a floor plan for these things that makes people comfortable hanging around and actually shopping.

Looking for the most statistically average person in the US?

"The average American drives a car (eight years old, no vanity plates) and owns a home (permanent, freestanding, occupied by 2.62 people, with a washing machine, a dryer, an outdoor grill, and a private lawn requiring forty hours a year of mowing). He lives within fifty miles of the town where he grew up, has a listed phone number, and is regularly in bed before midnight."

And the average New Yorker? "along with not owning a home or a car, the average New Yorker would be single (56.6 per cent), live in a building that has more than ten units (53.9 per cent) and that was built before 1960 (67.2 per cent), and have been born in a different state (50.5 per cent)."

Read the rest (its short!)

Cecily's dad is name-checked in this other article from the New Yorker. He is one of two professional NYC tour guides they asked to compare the cityscape in the new game True Crime: New York City to the actual city streets.

Ok, if you sent me an email and I have not answered, I apologize. I've had very little access to a computer for the past two weeks. Shocking, I know. This trend should continue through to the end of December when I am back in Brooklyn.

We're off to Boston today. Hopefully we will get there with the strike and all. No doubt the trip will be ugly.

Just a reminder, these people make good blueberry beer.

Happy Holidays!

December 12, 2005

I found out today that I have tendinitis in my wrist, not carpal tunnel. Which I guess would make most people happy...But not me. I'm pissed. The way to help tendinitis is to stop using the inflamed tendon. But I can't use a computer without inflaming this bitch and I use computers all day every day. All I wanted was a magic cure. I didn't care what form it was in, I was ready for pills, shots, an operation...and then the doctor told me to stop using it and take advil. Oh and he suggested physical therapy...I'm shuddering at the thought. It totally sucks.

So most everyone knows I have been completely bummed as of late. Basically because I have freely announced it to anyone who will listen. I have sent emails to people that began, "Please convince me the world is not an evil place..."

Seriously, I'm like a 13 year old girl suddenly. I think the world is out to get me and I cry at commercials. This past weekend was the first anniversary of my father's death and the whole thing was a lot more heavy than I thought it would be. Add to that the holidays and a string of what could kindly be referred to as bad luck and you have me this year.

Anyhoo. I did go to see X last Friday. And they fucking rocked, so I guess there is peace in one tiny sliver of the universe.

Saturday LW threw a brunch, and it was awesome. Daytime drinking - I wonder why I do not partake more often? Sarah was in town and Cecily brought her new baby Beatrix to the city while Noah and Amy showed up with the milk-drunk Darby.

First things first....Cecily showed up in this sick Gwen Stefani L.A.M.B. collection plaid cape. I took photos of the tag...yup, the tag...And Georgetti said something along the lines of "Please tell me you are not gonna post that." My nature being that of defiance, I'm not just posting the tag, here is a shot of the lining AND the tag:

Next, I know this is not a beautiful photo of either Noah or Amy but I have to post. Why? Noah is not flipping me the bird in this shot. Has fatherhood finally mellowed the middle-finger-man?

Now the rest:

Passing babies around all day = good clean fun.

December 4, 2005

More on bedbugs... this time in the NY Times. If you think that these bugs went out with the bubonic plague, think again. Not only are they back but they are next to impossible to get rid of if you get them. It's becoming an ever more common site to see relatively nice furniture out on the curb on which someone has scrawled "bedbugs" all over. Scares the shit outta me every time.

Anne was here this weekend and we managed to hit up Lamb & Jaffys upon her arrival. We are becoming regulars there, cos good food and BYOB is a no-miss combination. Besides that we didn't go out much this weekend. It finally became winter here, with the temperature dropping from the unseasonable 60's to somewhere around 30 with....I don't even want to say it...snow. Sigh...Winter sucks.

When Liz was here the other week she had this awesome bag from Brooklyn Industries that I felt compelled to buy as well and steal a little of her bag's spotlight. They didn't have the cute pink and grey striped one that she had, so I had to get a camoflauge print with pink trim. The bag itself is just the perfect size for holding everything. Brooklyn Industries has it on their website, and they don't have either of the prints that we bought, so feel free to order away.

Last Saturday a bunch of us went to Coco66 and had a new wave dance party. Recommended highly. I stole these two shots off of LW to illustrate the drama and grace that were brought to the dance. I am shocked we were not kicked out of the place.

Bust magainze's Holiday Craftacular is on December 17th from 12 noon to 12 midnight at the Warsaw. (thanks Kate)

This link, care of Jen, will provide you numerous hours trying to identify all the band art within.

The Comedians of Comedy is funny.

It amazes me that more and more dire information comes in every day regarding global warming and the greenhouse effect, yet nothing changes. The price of gas and oil and the inevitable effects of those rising prices on all of our goods and services sucks. But in the long run, a little less reliancy on these energy sources would probably be a good step in not only making us less dependent upon the middle east but making it so that we're not able to do as much damage as we have on the planet.

Yeah, I know, that's not a news flash, you hear it all the time... yeah its completely reasonable as far as theories go. So why are people still buying Hummers? And how come our government does not suggest we tighten our belts and reign it in while we are fighting a war? How come the assholes we live amongst don't know enough to do this on their own?

For real, didn't that used to be the way? Like when you read stories about the first and second world wars when people were only allowed to purchase a certain amount of sugar or meat? Or when women drew lines up the back of their legs, because they didn't have pantyhose (ok, that connection is still shaky for me...they couldn't spare the nylon? what did they need the nylon for?) The point is, you never hear that shit now.

Now you have this huge seperation from what our military is involved in and how people run their lives at home. Its crazy to me that we could have people serving our country and dying for it and that there is just no obvious connection to our day to day lives.

Ok, I'm off my rambling, incoherent soapbox. It was just a long prelude to saying: Christopher Walken for President 2008!

Here are 18 tricks to teach your body...and that sounds much dirtier than it actually is.

Let me give you a little more health advice...a workout a day could add 4 years to your life.

And I would like to congratulate Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck on the birth of their baby and point out one important fact. I called that name. Yes, I have been planning on naming the baby girl I have not yet had Violet. I have been carrying that name around with me since the 90's. So if the time ever comes, no I am not a copy cat. I had it first.

Taking apart myspace profiles.

Who's afraid of Google? Everyone.

Oh! Here' a useful link. IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response and this guy compiled a list of code breakers to help you quickly get to a human when you are trying to call a company and don't want to talk with a computer.

There's a new Strokes album due out in January. Complete with an MTV banned/censored video you can catch on the director's site. Or read an interview for now.

Here’s a trailer for The Shining that makes it look like the feel-good movie of the decade and one for Big that makes it look like a chilling horror flick.

November is right here.