Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Hanukkah with Hot Sauce suitably Saucy
Mommy Claus came for Christmas and we decided that since it was also Hanukkah we would check out a comedy show at the Upright Citizens Brigade called "Hanukkah with Hot Sauce." For $10 bucks we were pretty sure we couldn't lose, especially since we are the kind of nerds that enjoy dissecting why things didn't work and why they weren't funny. So we headed down to the basement stage, roughly arranged as theater in a three-quarters round. Right away three cute Jewish dudes popped out in brightly colored pants (bonobos apparently, who knew). One of them actually had his real mother and grandmother on stage making latkes. Boy did they smell good- and taste great too! It was a pretty funny show. It had a higher concentration of wit than boy jokes- like Hanukkah songs, drunken mumblings and randomness- so it was quite enjoyable. The highlight for me was when a fake Mario Batali took a sip of Manishevitz and then sprayed it all over the audience in disgust. "Like a spoonful of sugar!" Quite funny, well paced, and visually appealing :)
Monday, December 15, 2008
Media Musings moves to Harlem
Goodbye Brooklyn! I will miss your stellar views, delicious tamales and generous square footage. Hello Harlem! I love your effortless express commute, tiny efficient dishwasher, and kitty friendly digs. Enjoy the photos of our apartment-in-progress.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Brandy!
I just saw the singer Brandy in my office lobby. She had a four person posse, was decked out in black lace up boots and a giant Gucci purse and chatting away on her cell. She waved hello to someone in our building and then took the elevator up to the press offices. :)
Monday, December 8, 2008
Pal Joey: Chicago wannabe
Last week I went to see the musical Pal Joey at Studio 54. With the $20 youth Hiptix tickets there was little to lose. The main draw for me was Stockard Channing, who sang her young rebellious heart out in Grease. Ah, the memories! Ms. Channing was quite a scene stealer, milking every possible laugh from the wobbly script. However, the soulful crooner from the Grease days was gone. Instead she spoke-sang all her songs, which is never something I like. If it's a musical, sing please! Don't put a little melody behind your speaking voice, arg. The hands down best part of the musical was the suprise of Martha Plimpton as Gladys. She sang a magnicifent song called Zip that made up for the weakness of the rest of the play. All in all, I have to admit that it was an enjoyable night. It was simply fun to go out to Broadway (new york, new york!) and see all the song and dance. Plus there was a great free party afterwards!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Hair returns!
http://www.hairbroadway.com/
The fabulous show will start a new run in February and this time you can buy tickets like regular. I will always treasure my free and fabulous Central Park experience but for all of those who missed out the first time, don't make the same mistake again!
The fabulous show will start a new run in February and this time you can buy tickets like regular. I will always treasure my free and fabulous Central Park experience but for all of those who missed out the first time, don't make the same mistake again!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Iron Chef Surprise
It was another New York Moment. I was wandering around the NYC streets as I often do when I'm bored and walked by the Union Square Barnes and Noble. They had a sign in the window that said "Mario Batali, discussion and book signing at 7pm." I looked at my watch. 6:59pm. Woot! So I went up to the fourth floor, grabbed one of the few seats left and listened to the charming Iron Chef describe how he makes the perfect Thanksgiving turkey (let's just say its a four day process). It was also neat because his show "Spain: On the Road" with Gwyenth Paltrow airs on 13/WNET and I was just watching it earlier that day while doing the copying. I also went to Otto, one of Batali's cheaper restaurants and it was quite good. The olive oil gelato was intersting and tasty. So, thank's NYC! If only I could meet Ramsey, sigh.
Side note: I swear I saw Laura Linney on the way to work today but she's already on my celeb list so it doesn't count.
Side note: I swear I saw Laura Linney on the way to work today but she's already on my celeb list so it doesn't count.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Christina vs Britney, again
They're back! After taking long breaks, the blond mouseketeers have emerged in sync (no pun intended) and ready to do radio battle. So between their last records both pop divas have married and had babies- yet Christina has flown way under the radar while Britney has become a popwreck in front of all America. Now Brit is back, apparently unscathed and still as wildly popular. Why? Why when Christina outdoes her as an artist? The two might actually be equal vocalists, but Britney has always preferred a highly stylized talk-sing or baby-sing method over Christina's power ballads.
But Britney always has been and always will be about image and story. Her success is atributable to her various personas and the way she is involved with a manipulation of narrative. Her trajectory: the start as an innocent southern belle catapulted to fame in the ultimate American dream, then her toxic love story complete with two babies, then the decent into craziness where fame took its toll, and then the triumphant comeback (still in progress). The girl knows how to follow a cliched storyline and milk it for all its worth.
Listening to her new album Circus, I couldn't help but wonder what her sons will think in twenty years when they begin to understand her as a pop singer instead of Mom. Now that'll be good TV.
But Britney always has been and always will be about image and story. Her success is atributable to her various personas and the way she is involved with a manipulation of narrative. Her trajectory: the start as an innocent southern belle catapulted to fame in the ultimate American dream, then her toxic love story complete with two babies, then the decent into craziness where fame took its toll, and then the triumphant comeback (still in progress). The girl knows how to follow a cliched storyline and milk it for all its worth.
Listening to her new album Circus, I couldn't help but wonder what her sons will think in twenty years when they begin to understand her as a pop singer instead of Mom. Now that'll be good TV.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
wow...wait, we won??!?!?!!!
Last night I watched the election results with a small group of dedicated liberals. We were all on our second (or third) beer when suddenly, out of the stinking pit of nonsensical time filling bs and way to early to be accurate projections on the red and blues, the title "OBAMA WINS" appeared across the screen. Could it be that easy? Could he simply win without recounts, hanging chads, corrupt officials or inefficient voting delays? Could it be as sweet as a landslide?? Yes.
The atmosphere in NYC was electric. People were screaming and hollering in the subways and on the streets. Giving high fives to strangers. Honking non stop. Banging pans on the roof. Setting off fireworks. There is hope now. As Bob the Builder says: "Can we fix it? Yes we can!" As a recovering cynic, I say- 8 years of change?
The atmosphere in NYC was electric. People were screaming and hollering in the subways and on the streets. Giving high fives to strangers. Honking non stop. Banging pans on the roof. Setting off fireworks. There is hope now. As Bob the Builder says: "Can we fix it? Yes we can!" As a recovering cynic, I say- 8 years of change?
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
On Grey's Lesbian Axe
I've been watching Grey's again primarily because I heart Callie (played by Sara Ramirez). Although her previous storylines with George have been unbelievable, I still like the character. It's always delicious to me when a side character gets pulled central because they are just too interesting for the writers to leave alone (Joss Whedon was fond of this tactic). Callie is fat and yummy and sexy and smart...and maybe a tiny bit of a coward. She's easy to identify with and root for and she's not a part of the clique, and so has an interesting pov.
Callie's psuedo-lesbian relationship with Erica Hahn (played by Brooke Smith) was undoubtedly the most interesting relationship on the show. Even though it never really developed into a real relationship, the hint of it was ten times more interesting than all of the recycled heterosexual unions. I like the hard, fierce, smart women on Greys- Erica and Christina are the first level of intelligence and no-nonsense, then there is Bailey and Callie who both absolutely know what they are doing but also can access their emotions more easily. Izzy and Mer are boring now. Their craziness has peaked and waned.
As I was saying, I was watching Grey's for Callie. And then they fired Brooke Smith after she was amazing (look up the "glasses" speech, it was a fine piece of writing and acting)! It is so disappointing to see the freshest, most untraveled plotline axed before it had a chance to shine. Why do something new? Let's break up Mer and Der again...and again...and again.
I say it is a bad move for a dying show to cut off its only bit of originality so far this season.
Callie's psuedo-lesbian relationship with Erica Hahn (played by Brooke Smith) was undoubtedly the most interesting relationship on the show. Even though it never really developed into a real relationship, the hint of it was ten times more interesting than all of the recycled heterosexual unions. I like the hard, fierce, smart women on Greys- Erica and Christina are the first level of intelligence and no-nonsense, then there is Bailey and Callie who both absolutely know what they are doing but also can access their emotions more easily. Izzy and Mer are boring now. Their craziness has peaked and waned.
As I was saying, I was watching Grey's for Callie. And then they fired Brooke Smith after she was amazing (look up the "glasses" speech, it was a fine piece of writing and acting)! It is so disappointing to see the freshest, most untraveled plotline axed before it had a chance to shine. Why do something new? Let's break up Mer and Der again...and again...and again.
I say it is a bad move for a dying show to cut off its only bit of originality so far this season.
It's time to BARACK the vote
I voted today. It was a painless process really. I got two hours off from work so I woke up at my regular time, walked over to the local PS, got in line and voted in about 20 minutes. Sunset Park had a steady and slightly disorganized presence. The volunteers were a bit ruffled but were able to coral everybody in and out of the voting booth. I have to say the old voting machines are pleasurably physical. It's very satisfying to pull and push levers and see a little X mark the spot. In my dreams it would have been Hillary with an X next to her name, but as long as Obama can pull this off I will be a happy girl.
Feeling in a civil service mood and with an hour to kill, I made my way to the Manhattan DMV Express office and traded in my Texas license (from when I was seventeen or eighteen!) which expires this year on my birthday for a NYS one. A final transition. I was impressed by all the bureaucratic efficiency. Nothing to complain about really.
Now it's time to wait. and bite my nails. time to barack and roll!
Feeling in a civil service mood and with an hour to kill, I made my way to the Manhattan DMV Express office and traded in my Texas license (from when I was seventeen or eighteen!) which expires this year on my birthday for a NYS one. A final transition. I was impressed by all the bureaucratic efficiency. Nothing to complain about really.
Now it's time to wait. and bite my nails. time to barack and roll!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Halloween
I had the good luck to watch the NYC Village Halloween parade from the rooftop of a friend's apartment on 6th Avenue only feet away from the West 4th stop. We climbed out his kitchen window, up the fire escape and a scary ladder and clambered on to the roof. The parade was pretty cool- a writhing mass of drunken costumed crazy New Yorkers. Just about as opposite from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade as you can get. There were some neat costumes- a group of pizza slices that came together to make a whole pizza, the required Jedi and Storm Troopers, a fantastically accurate Juno & Co. Overall, not as many Jokers or Palins as I was expecting. Instead there were an awful lot of bananas.
Halloween is a madhouse in the city. It's a carnivalesque highly politically and socially charged moment only restrained by the very prominent police presence (because the party was on 6th avenue, we had to have someone from the apartment come get us and escort us to the door. the police had barricaded the entire block). To me, it felt only a bit short of an Obama rally what with the political floats and costumes- lots of get rid of george bush signs/costumes. It's also widly unorganized which also makes it very Village-y. People in homemade costumes dance down the street and the occasional shoddy but enthusiastic float comes by, punctuated by local bands. Fun night!
Halloween is a madhouse in the city. It's a carnivalesque highly politically and socially charged moment only restrained by the very prominent police presence (because the party was on 6th avenue, we had to have someone from the apartment come get us and escort us to the door. the police had barricaded the entire block). To me, it felt only a bit short of an Obama rally what with the political floats and costumes- lots of get rid of george bush signs/costumes. It's also widly unorganized which also makes it very Village-y. People in homemade costumes dance down the street and the occasional shoddy but enthusiastic float comes by, punctuated by local bands. Fun night!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
90210 the original quote
Brenda to Kelly on her outfit: "It's not hippie witch, it's Twin Peaks and it so in!"
Friday, October 24, 2008
Trashed at the Guggenheim
What do you get when you mix a 23 year old, an open bar and an art musuem? Trashed at the Guggenheim! Last night I used my connection to up and coming artist Jessica Mandrick to get into a VIP reception for the opening of the new Gugg exhibit anyspacewhatever. I threw back a few too many glasses of champagne and by the time I finally started winding my way up those blindingly white rings, I was more than timpsy. NYC discovery: the Gugg drunk is perhaps a better experience than the Gugg sober. Suddenly all the pithy writings on the walls, the upside down words, the maze like exhibit and the starry skylight seemed really intense and a complete disorientation of the patriarchial hegemony. And--who knew--this particular exhibit features an ironic mini-coffee bar sponsered by Illy. Ironic lattes are sure tasty! Just be glad I didn't pass out on the ultra modern bed at the very top, which apparently rents out at night as a legit hotel.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
diet pepsi max
quick review: i got handed one of these for free on the street by a gang of pepsi promoters. supposedly its MAX because it has ginseng, woot. anyways still tastes like airplane pepsi. they never have coke on planes!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Sex and the City, together in an Absolut World
I just watched the sex and the city movie. It was a hot mess, just like the television show. There are of course the pleasures of viewing their outrageous clothing and indulging in the fantasy of New York as a haven for pretty rich white girls where the biggest problem (no pun intended) is the skittishness of a super rich groom.
That said, I liked Carrie's long depression and the shot of her staring at herself in the mirror sans makeup. I like that Samantha decided that she'd rather work on herself than stay in a relationship. I like the long sequence of Carrie rushing to Miranda's side for a girls only New Year's Eve. I liked seeing Jennifer Hudson sway her way into their white washed world. I liked that Miranda forgave Steve.
What I didn't like: all the weird cat fighting and post-feminist bull. For example, the comments on Samantha's "gut," the sniping on Miranda's pubic hair, the reason why Charlotte had to have a biological child, the class/race/body issues of Jennifer Hudson as the assistant or marker for "real" women (think Dove ads), and of course ONCE AGAIN the requisite reuniting of Big and Carrie in a heterosexual resolution. My god, can we still believe in Big???? After everything??? I didn't like it in the series finale and I certainly didn't buy it here. The whole Big=THE ONE forumla is a dead dead horse. Like I said, a hot mess.
This all reminded me of an Absolut ad I saw on the street a few days ago. It said "In an Absolut world" and had a photoshopped picture of a NYC subway stop with the 2nd Avenue line on it. The 2nd avenue line has supposedly been in progress for years and years and will be completed in...who knows. This ad was specifically targeting the people walking by (it was around 20th and park, I beleive) and referring to their NYC identity as a way to sell them a sympathetic brand. To me, Sex and the City lives in this Absolut World where the 2nd ave subway does exist, huge Village apartments are available for writers, drinking five cosmos in one night doesnt make you an alcholoic, fashion is paramount, affordable, and justifiable and most importantly, at the end of the night the prince is there to rescue you. In an Absolut world...
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Freebies
One of the best things about living in the Big Apple is the freebies. It is a simple fact that New Yorkers can be bribed to spread buzz and a nice freebie will grab their attention. Today I was on my way to work when I turned a random corner and four women dressed in purple dresses and black cardigans, with their hair in styled buns, offered me coffee and biscotti. The only catch was that each item was branded with the name of a television show premiering this weekend "the Starter Wife." There I go: I just generated my own buzz. Wahoo.
By far the best Freebie I ever got in NYC was free tickets to Hair in Central Park. This freebie was generated by NYC's cultural arts and was purely non-profit and high quality. It's a perk of living in a cultural mecca. The second best Freebie was the Facebook party with Ziggy Marley and Ben&Jerry. Mmm...good.
Other freebies I can remember:
1) endless cans of Monster that make me go on a crazy sugar high and then crash. the monster truck is constantly zooming around manhattan and i should just say no from now on. quanitity>>>quality
2) hummus and pita in Union Square. can't remember the brand, sorry you failed even though i had it twice now
3) DVD of Dexter season 2 premiere. times square. now I watch Dexter. Great show.
4) Snapple, coke, coffee, lots of beverages
5) pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks on Halloween in the village near the parade. NICE!
6) lots of free crappy tote bags with brand names. i am fond of my bright blue one that advertises a hatha yoga place in Union Square that I've never been to.
7) facebook mints & the facebook party
8) Jeep chapstick. i have no idea why
9) flowers. some hippie love day i think
10) mustard pretzels. ahh the smelly breath
11) and who can forget the vacuum sealer! now that was really random
gotta love it!
By far the best Freebie I ever got in NYC was free tickets to Hair in Central Park. This freebie was generated by NYC's cultural arts and was purely non-profit and high quality. It's a perk of living in a cultural mecca. The second best Freebie was the Facebook party with Ziggy Marley and Ben&Jerry. Mmm...good.
Other freebies I can remember:
1) endless cans of Monster that make me go on a crazy sugar high and then crash. the monster truck is constantly zooming around manhattan and i should just say no from now on. quanitity>>>quality
2) hummus and pita in Union Square. can't remember the brand, sorry you failed even though i had it twice now
3) DVD of Dexter season 2 premiere. times square. now I watch Dexter. Great show.
4) Snapple, coke, coffee, lots of beverages
5) pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks on Halloween in the village near the parade. NICE!
6) lots of free crappy tote bags with brand names. i am fond of my bright blue one that advertises a hatha yoga place in Union Square that I've never been to.
7) facebook mints & the facebook party
8) Jeep chapstick. i have no idea why
9) flowers. some hippie love day i think
10) mustard pretzels. ahh the smelly breath
11) and who can forget the vacuum sealer! now that was really random
gotta love it!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Little Miss Sunshine
I went to the Antropologie near Union Square on Sunday for a bit of therapeutic window shopping. And then a burst of sunshine! Yes Little Miss Sunshine Abigail Breslin was there shopping with a small entourage of friends/family. Everyone was very politely telling her how much they admired her and she smiled and said thank you. She was much more fashionably dressed than your average pre-teen...but then she is a movie star, so the leather boots and jacket kind of worked. Anyway, it brought sunshine to my day!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Finally, facebook pays off
Last night I went to the Facebook Advertising week party. Why was I there? Good question. Cong's company invited her and she managed to sneak me in. Anyways, it was a total blast. First of all, I have catered at many, many parties. And at some point you get really tired of being the one working while everyone else is having fun. Well, some parties are a snooze fest and you couldn't care less. But this one was fun :) First of all, there were about three bars loaded with bartenders so getting the mediocre drinks really wasnt that hard. (I'm still waiting to be invited to a party that serves lavendar martinis and passion fruit mojitoes like GP does, but the wait goes on). There was also unlimited free Ben and Jerrys. Ohhh the stuffed goodness. But the best part was the free performance by Ziggy Marley. What a treat. I also got some Facebook mints- does this mean they are encouraging face to face interaction rather than cyber? And the photobooth was cool too. They zapped our pictures and printed them out in the old fashion way and then they appeared on Facebook the next day. Nice move! All in all, a Unique New York experience and quite a blast.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Just look at the picture!
Yes that's right, ya'll, I saw Indiana Jones! I was six feet away from Han Solo! I stalked Harrison Ford! The scene: a catered dinner in Connecticut fundraising for the National Wildlife and Fish and Game and Hunting with Guns foundation or whatnot. But Indy was there :) That's how all the waiters referred to him. He was very middle aged looking, with a white scruffly beard, big glasses and a blue sweater. Ah, Indy!
Friday, September 19, 2008
The Depressing Duchess
On Thursday I went to see the Duchess courtesy one of NYC's Free Flicks programs. The Duchess was basically a Lifetime domestic abuse made-for-tv movie with some lush scenery and sumptuous costuming thrown in to dress it up for the Oscars. One notable exception- where as most Lifetime/WE movies try to leave the viewer with an uplifting message or maybe an image 
of the trodden down wife finally escaping, the Duchess was two hours of Kiera Knigthly being battered around in every which way. Every time she approached a long awaited tantrum or the aristocratic version of a "frak you!" she backed off and submitted. Which made for one hell of a depressing and disturbing movie.
The only good thing about the movie is the pretty poster, which was free.
of the trodden down wife finally escaping, the Duchess was two hours of Kiera Knigthly being battered around in every which way. Every time she approached a long awaited tantrum or the aristocratic version of a "frak you!" she backed off and submitted. Which made for one hell of a depressing and disturbing movie.The only good thing about the movie is the pretty poster, which was free.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Concerts in NYC
I've been to a few concerts in New York and generally I enjoy them. Kate Nash and Missy Higgins actually rocked my socks off. They were amazing. And for anywhere from $20 to $35 bucks, concerts are a fairly cheap way to enjoy the NYC arts. Plays are a little risky- they could easily be terrible, Broadway is an investment not to be entered into lightly, dance can only hold my attention so long...but concerts! these are the songs I listen to on my ipod, the songs I know I will like.
The drawbacks are horrible opening bands (vontrap family slideshow or whatnot, thanks Kate Nash) but opening bands can be great too, like the sexy multi-talented Brit boys of Mumford & Sons. Another drawback is late hours and short sets. Laura Marling, that melancholy pixie, left the stage and all her cheering fans behind before with only around 40 minutes of music. For $20 I should at least get an hour! (ie Kate and Missy both went over an hour).
All of these bring me to the list of meals under $5 (inspired by trying to find dinner before the concert) in order from low to high prices:
1. Unnamed Pizza Place in Astor Place: $2.75 gets you two big cheesy slices and 1 coke
2. Fried Dumpling: $3 dollars gets you 4 steamed pork buns, 5 fried dumplings and 1 coconut juice
3. Mamoon's Falafel, also in Astor Place: $3.25 gets you one vegetable laden falafal sandwhich and a mango juice
4. Rico's Tacos in Sunset Park: $5 gets you three roasted pollo asado tacos and 1 horchata, a delicious milky coconut drink (or alternately, for $1.25 a pop an assortment of delish tamales)
Yay, now you don't have to go to McDonalds!!!
The drawbacks are horrible opening bands (vontrap family slideshow or whatnot, thanks Kate Nash) but opening bands can be great too, like the sexy multi-talented Brit boys of Mumford & Sons. Another drawback is late hours and short sets. Laura Marling, that melancholy pixie, left the stage and all her cheering fans behind before with only around 40 minutes of music. For $20 I should at least get an hour! (ie Kate and Missy both went over an hour).
All of these bring me to the list of meals under $5 (inspired by trying to find dinner before the concert) in order from low to high prices:
1. Unnamed Pizza Place in Astor Place: $2.75 gets you two big cheesy slices and 1 coke
2. Fried Dumpling: $3 dollars gets you 4 steamed pork buns, 5 fried dumplings and 1 coconut juice
3. Mamoon's Falafel, also in Astor Place: $3.25 gets you one vegetable laden falafal sandwhich and a mango juice
4. Rico's Tacos in Sunset Park: $5 gets you three roasted pollo asado tacos and 1 horchata, a delicious milky coconut drink (or alternately, for $1.25 a pop an assortment of delish tamales)
Yay, now you don't have to go to McDonalds!!!
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
on 90210
1) they have the original series streaming on the CBS website! take that Netflix!
2) for some reason I am much more familiar with Melrose Place than 90210. Maybe that's because my babysitter preferred MP.
3)My recent media focus has been Tori Spelling. I read her book (quite entertaining) and enjoy her reality show. Even the hideously named So NoTORIous was well written and acted. Tori is interesting to me because she has such a weird life- what should have been a dream come true (the millionaire television producing father) turned out to be a lesson in dysfunction. I like her because she's funny and not the conventional beauty and because she has had a very unique life and luckily wishes to tell all of us about it!
4)the new 90210 was utterly wooden without any of the camp of the previous version. Come on, if you are going to do teen drama, at least do it a bit tongue in cheek!
2) for some reason I am much more familiar with Melrose Place than 90210. Maybe that's because my babysitter preferred MP.
3)My recent media focus has been Tori Spelling. I read her book (quite entertaining) and enjoy her reality show. Even the hideously named So NoTORIous was well written and acted. Tori is interesting to me because she has such a weird life- what should have been a dream come true (the millionaire television producing father) turned out to be a lesson in dysfunction. I like her because she's funny and not the conventional beauty and because she has had a very unique life and luckily wishes to tell all of us about it!
4)the new 90210 was utterly wooden without any of the camp of the previous version. Come on, if you are going to do teen drama, at least do it a bit tongue in cheek!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
dreams can come true...
It is rumored that there might be a VERONICA MARS MOVIE! This is unbelievably exciting. It'll take a few years at least, but the mere thought has set me all a-jitter.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Manufactured Desire
The thing about New York...is fashion. It's not really an industry in Austin or Swarthmore- both of these places share a sort of anti-consumerist green fashion. But NYC is home to Project Runway and the Bryant Park fashion shows, SoHo and Chelsea. There is an Uptown style and a Downtown style and of course the Williamsburg hipster scene.
And what this does to me is make me want things that I don't really want. Like a Chanel purse or (another) Coach purse. A Tiffany necklace. An entirely black wardrobe. A UWS apartment. Four inch heels. Huge chunky necklaces. It's just that the women you walking down the street are so in tune! The majority of female New Yorkers pay attention to fashion and try to stay on the ball or even ahead of the curve. And it seems like such hard work!
The subtext to all this fashion is status. Like peacocks, fashion is way of displaying fine plumage. There are two kinds of status that are the most obvious for me to read on the streets: "cool" punkness or wealth. Those who want to be read as cool have a sort of Olsen Twins grunge look but it's still incredibly expensive grunge. Then their are the clean, manicure females who have obnoxious ugly Louis Vuitton bags.
And then there are things I find myself wanting despite every brain cell in my head. Like a Chanel purse, the trademark of the ultimate clique girl, Lauren Conrad.
I pretty much hate everything she stands for but I want her purse? Some part of me wants the "look at me" aspect of owning such a status symbol. Maybe its like having six pack abs for a guy. But I don't want the Vuitton purse, which I associate with Jessica Simpson (hello, chicken of the sea). Whatever. Right now I'll just poke around and see if their are any good fakes. Now that's a fashion statement I can live with.
Friday, August 15, 2008
notes on life
1) this is my 101th post!
2) I disapprove of the New Yorker habit of watering side walks. Really, concrete doesn't need water to grow.
3) If you walk through the flower district in Chelsea on your way to work (like I do) then NYC smells like lilacs
4) apparently you can write off your cable and internet bills if you work at a television station. I'll have to look into that.
2) I disapprove of the New Yorker habit of watering side walks. Really, concrete doesn't need water to grow.
3) If you walk through the flower district in Chelsea on your way to work (like I do) then NYC smells like lilacs
4) apparently you can write off your cable and internet bills if you work at a television station. I'll have to look into that.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Beijing 08
why are the girls on the US gymnastic team wearing scrunchies? scrunchies!!! get with the times, girls. and while you're at it, could you stop with the plucked eyebrow dark blond clone look? its a bit scary.
okay so im not so much into the sports side of the olympics. so sue me.
major shout out to my man:
http://en.beijing2008.cn/spirit/pastgames/halloffame/v/n214046860.shtml
okay so im not so much into the sports side of the olympics. so sue me.
major shout out to my man:
Pieter van den Hoogenband!!!
the official HOTTIE Of the Olympics. I've loved this guy since Atlanta 1996- ya'll that's more than a decade! I was 11 when I first fell in love.http://en.beijing2008.cn/spirit/pastgames/halloffame/v/n214046860.shtml
Friday, August 8, 2008
HAIR!!!!!!!!!! long beautiful hair...
Last night I went to see Hair in Central Park. Talk about a NYC experience! Hair is very much about NYC and a bunch of it takes place in the park. It was neat how they used the space: the stage was merely a half moon of cropped grass surrounded by a curved fence which was also used as stage space- the actors were continuously hopping on stage from behind the fence or going back over the fence, or perching on the fence and surveying the audience. It was a reference to Central Park right beyond the stage and the fact that the show was free and open to the public, embodying the hippie ideals of the time.
On the free side, the show was ridiculously easy to get into. I joined the Virtual Line the night before at midnight (which means I clicked a button) and wa-la! I went to pick up my tickets that next day. So it was a bit hilarious to hear the people behind me talking about how they spent the night in the park or got there at 5 am to wait in line for 6 hours for tickets.
Now the show was fantastic. The songs were unbelievably harmonized and full of energy. The leads, especially the girl who sang "Aquarius," were rocking it out of their souls. Berger was sexy sexy and Claude was genius genius. Chrissy sold "Frank Mills" to the audience in a way that stole the show. It was quite touching to hear a girl in the subway after the show singing "But unfortunately, I lost his address...": I thought Mom would have loved that moment when one her favorite songs becomes popular again. Only Shelia was a bit weak and I found her rendition of "Easy to Be Hard" lacking in heartbreak and soul- it was too much of a ballad.
In the second half, the plot got left behind and Hair entered a drug induced haze of random snatches of song, which was enjoyable to a degree. I got treated to the gems "Black Boys/White Boys" and "What a Piece of Work is Man" but other wise there was a major loss of editorial discipline, which I suppose is expected. But it ended on a great bang with "Let the Sunshine In" when the cast invited the audience to come dance on stage.
What an awesome experience! Thank you New York and Hair! :)
On the free side, the show was ridiculously easy to get into. I joined the Virtual Line the night before at midnight (which means I clicked a button) and wa-la! I went to pick up my tickets that next day. So it was a bit hilarious to hear the people behind me talking about how they spent the night in the park or got there at 5 am to wait in line for 6 hours for tickets.
Now the show was fantastic. The songs were unbelievably harmonized and full of energy. The leads, especially the girl who sang "Aquarius," were rocking it out of their souls. Berger was sexy sexy and Claude was genius genius. Chrissy sold "Frank Mills" to the audience in a way that stole the show. It was quite touching to hear a girl in the subway after the show singing "But unfortunately, I lost his address...": I thought Mom would have loved that moment when one her favorite songs becomes popular again. Only Shelia was a bit weak and I found her rendition of "Easy to Be Hard" lacking in heartbreak and soul- it was too much of a ballad.
In the second half, the plot got left behind and Hair entered a drug induced haze of random snatches of song, which was enjoyable to a degree. I got treated to the gems "Black Boys/White Boys" and "What a Piece of Work is Man" but other wise there was a major loss of editorial discipline, which I suppose is expected. But it ended on a great bang with "Let the Sunshine In" when the cast invited the audience to come dance on stage.
What an awesome experience! Thank you New York and Hair! :)
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Sci-mance
Recently I read two interesting books- The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegge and The Host by Stephenie Meyer. Both are science fiction by female writers featuring a Love meets Sci-Fi approach. They are both novels that focus on a heterosexual romance as the main tension and make this trite approach more compelling by interweaving science fiction (for Time Traveler, obviously it was a time traveling male lead, for The Host it was an alien female protag). Now, if we wanted to be really simple we could imagine this new/revived/niche brand of books as
the romance novel + the science fiction novel= sci-mance
OR
a traditionally female genre + a traditionally male oriented genre
both with lower class/taste associations (trashy paperbacks, either one) but with enormous fan cultures. This hybrid breed of rom-sci or the scimance could possibly be linked with the success of Lost, as Brilliant Brandy points out. or Battlestar Galactica, a futuristic melodrama. I enjoyed Lost a lot more when it focused on the emotional relationships of the survivors and less on weird smoke monsters. But it's an interesting clash of two gender associated genres.
It brings to mind Buffy, but I think there's a gender difference between magic/fantasy and science fiction. Which is the reason I'm not going to talk too much about Meyer's Twilight Saga. The vampire myth is very much still rooted in the gothic romance rather than the futuristic science stuff I'm talking about here.
But back to my original point: TTW vs Host. My problem with the Time Traveler's "wife" was that it wasn't really about wife/Clare at all. Once again, we have a woman waiting while the action goes on around her. She really does nothing at all, has no growth, makes no interesting choices. Now, I did not hate the book. I actually give it a B+ for originality and trying to give equal shares to both Henry (the typical male action-maker, who travels constantly through time) and Clare (the literal "stay at home" or "stay in time" wife). But did the sci-fi stuff save it from presenting a sort of traditional Peter Pan-esque tale of courtship? No. At the end, Clare is clearly a version of Wendy, old and wrinkled, waiting at the window for Pan to visit her before she dies. She has chosen to grow up and old, to give up hectic age defying maneuvers and the chaos of constant action seeking.
But The Host was cool. I think that's exactly the right word. I enjoyed it so much, both academically and on an escapist level. It's about a breed of aliens that take over the bodies of whoever they invade. For example, they might live in seaweed on oceanic planet or in the bodies of dolphins or humans. In this case, it was a female alien named Wanderer who took over a human female body. This female presence was the protagonist- it was her journey, she was the different one, and it was her story. Her male romantic figure sort of followed her about and provided interest to the story. This is not a "great" novel: it is very fun pulp fiction, in a Veronica/Buffy way. The sci-fi frame was a great way to explore what it means to be human, to have a soul, to have different ideas about living- and dual personalities!
Point being, The Host was refreshing in the way it actually let a female be the true protagonist. It is a love story, and a science fiction novel, but it is also a book that sets the stage for a female figure to go on a voyage of self discovery.
So the scimance has a new mission:
To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no woman has gone before.
the romance novel + the science fiction novel= sci-mance
OR
a traditionally female genre + a traditionally male oriented genre
both with lower class/taste associations (trashy paperbacks, either one) but with enormous fan cultures. This hybrid breed of rom-sci or the scimance could possibly be linked with the success of Lost, as Brilliant Brandy points out. or Battlestar Galactica, a futuristic melodrama. I enjoyed Lost a lot more when it focused on the emotional relationships of the survivors and less on weird smoke monsters. But it's an interesting clash of two gender associated genres.
It brings to mind Buffy, but I think there's a gender difference between magic/fantasy and science fiction. Which is the reason I'm not going to talk too much about Meyer's Twilight Saga. The vampire myth is very much still rooted in the gothic romance rather than the futuristic science stuff I'm talking about here.
But back to my original point: TTW vs Host. My problem with the Time Traveler's "wife" was that it wasn't really about wife/Clare at all. Once again, we have a woman waiting while the action goes on around her. She really does nothing at all, has no growth, makes no interesting choices. Now, I did not hate the book. I actually give it a B+ for originality and trying to give equal shares to both Henry (the typical male action-maker, who travels constantly through time) and Clare (the literal "stay at home" or "stay in time" wife). But did the sci-fi stuff save it from presenting a sort of traditional Peter Pan-esque tale of courtship? No. At the end, Clare is clearly a version of Wendy, old and wrinkled, waiting at the window for Pan to visit her before she dies. She has chosen to grow up and old, to give up hectic age defying maneuvers and the chaos of constant action seeking.
But The Host was cool. I think that's exactly the right word. I enjoyed it so much, both academically and on an escapist level. It's about a breed of aliens that take over the bodies of whoever they invade. For example, they might live in seaweed on oceanic planet or in the bodies of dolphins or humans. In this case, it was a female alien named Wanderer who took over a human female body. This female presence was the protagonist- it was her journey, she was the different one, and it was her story. Her male romantic figure sort of followed her about and provided interest to the story. This is not a "great" novel: it is very fun pulp fiction, in a Veronica/Buffy way. The sci-fi frame was a great way to explore what it means to be human, to have a soul, to have different ideas about living- and dual personalities!
Point being, The Host was refreshing in the way it actually let a female be the true protagonist. It is a love story, and a science fiction novel, but it is also a book that sets the stage for a female figure to go on a voyage of self discovery.
So the scimance has a new mission:
To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no woman has gone before.
Friday, August 1, 2008
it's an August Rush
Today is August 1st. It's been exactly one year since I got on a plane and flew into adulthood, and I have to admit, that although there has been some turbulence, it was a pretty smooth flight! Ok, enough of the metaphors. Last night I went to a Missy Higgins concert. Today I got my first paycheck for my job at a...gasp...television station! (like its actually related to my major, OMG!)
But a year in New York...searching for a job, swimming in Sunset's Park free pool, realizing that drinks were $10 a pop, catering at venues I could never get in to on my own, the endless interviews over and over and over, the great friends, the delicious tamales, the beautiful parks and places to get lost in, walking until I have blisters and then doing it again the next week, becoming an Anthropolgie stalker, finding Times and Herald Squares annoying, sleepovers and restaurant week dinners, cheesy over the top plays that I love, strolling over the BK bridge with an amazing view of Manhattan lit up at night...it's been one hell of year. But now I seem to have all my little ducks in a row and am sort of waiting for the sky to cave in. Life can't really be this good, can it?
But a year in New York...searching for a job, swimming in Sunset's Park free pool, realizing that drinks were $10 a pop, catering at venues I could never get in to on my own, the endless interviews over and over and over, the great friends, the delicious tamales, the beautiful parks and places to get lost in, walking until I have blisters and then doing it again the next week, becoming an Anthropolgie stalker, finding Times and Herald Squares annoying, sleepovers and restaurant week dinners, cheesy over the top plays that I love, strolling over the BK bridge with an amazing view of Manhattan lit up at night...it's been one hell of year. But now I seem to have all my little ducks in a row and am sort of waiting for the sky to cave in. Life can't really be this good, can it?
Thursday, July 24, 2008
how does pop culture invade your vocabulary?
for example, i always say "doh!" when something goes wrong or i drop something and "yoink" when i take something from someone. this are totally stolen from the simpsons.
i also say "frak" all the time which is originally from Battlestar Galactica (it's their future curse word) but I picked it up from Veronica Mars and she picked it up after she went to a BG conference. So it's one big media loop.
i also say "frak" all the time which is originally from Battlestar Galactica (it's their future curse word) but I picked it up from Veronica Mars and she picked it up after she went to a BG conference. So it's one big media loop.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Tontreal
I had a very weird dream last night. Spain and Canada formed an alliance to start some genetic testing. Basically, they were going to do experiments on babies. So Canada decided that the experimental babies would be marked by having "Tontreal" as their birth place on their birth certificate. ie, Montreal and Toronto. Tontreal was repeated over and over in this dream. Maybe about combining different places I feel I belong to?
Dreams are interesting, huh
Dreams are interesting, huh
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Swatties are HIGH-larious
I was watching Last Comic Standing, a show I always thoroughly enjoy, when I started laughing really hard at these two beyond queer guys who were playing straight Jesus freaks. And then I realized they sounded familiar. I searched my gmail and realized that the duo was a group called God's Pottery and that they are Swatties. I had received a few emails earlier promoting them from the Swarthmore NYC digest. Anyway, they are by far one of the funniest groups on the show. Their schtick is to pretend to be positive, Jesus loving do gooders. So for the Yo-Momma jokes they did all good jokes, like "your momma is so terrific that she got elected mayor...by a landslide!" Please check out their website godspottery.com because they are simply hilarious.
Here's a bit from their website:
"Their first song was entitled, simply, "Jesus." After an overwhelmingly positive response, Jeremiah and Gideon returned the next Sunday with a follow-up tune, "Jesus Jesus." The next week, they played "Jesus Jesus Jesus." As the crowds swelled and word started to spread, it became clear to the boys that they were on to something big."
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
A foot in the door
Today was my first day at Channel 13. It was interesting, invigorating and quite exciting. I can't tell you how weird it is to wake up in the morning glad to go to work. A near year of instability has made me really treasure this three month opportunity to not think about making enough money. Plus I got a cute id card!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The hyper-Real World aka "Mexi-loco"
The Real World Hollywood went to Cancun and then they went to Playa del Carmen. Watching this episode was like revisiting all the tourist-infested Americanized and drunken bits of Mexico that my friends and I tried so desperately to stay away from. I was amazed how two different groups of friends could go the same places and have opposite experiences. At my end: the free beaches, historical day trips (tulum, etc), the 30 cent taco places and Playa Walmart (with a mole bar, mmm), the great cheap hostels with interesting peeps, the long public bus rides and inner city experiences. For the Hollywooders: four star hotels that look like the Marriot, private tourist only beaches, swimming with dolphins, cruise rides and fire dancing! All included a way of avoiding the Mexico in Mexico and going for (baja)California with an accent. Well some MTVs never change.
Monday, June 30, 2008
The Tudors: Sexy and Geeky
My newest obsession is Showtime's The Tudors, a drama focusing on the life and loves of Henry VIII. The show is sleekly stylized and richly historical. It's fun to watch the soap opera melodrama, the well groomed bodies (ie all the medieval guys sport razor cut, ruffled, and slightly gelled hair) in glorious costume and surprise, surprise...actual historical depth! The show delights in those little history in-jokes that one would only get if you had some knowledge of the time period. One of the jokes was King Henry telling Thomas More that he wasn't a saint with the "yet" winkingly implied. And of course the show plays upon the history we do know: all about how Henry divorced, annulled and beheaded his wives. So I watch poor Anne Boleyn do her thing all the while knowing she's going to the axe, but also give birth to one of the most famous and influential women in history (who also has her own television series, The Virgin Queen). I like my melodrama with a smart edge, so I'm enjoying the tudors.
PS Also a good show for both genders. Lots of fighting and political stuff (and boobies) for the boys, and emotional drama and setting for the girls (plus JRM's dreamy blues)
PS Also a good show for both genders. Lots of fighting and political stuff (and boobies) for the boys, and emotional drama and setting for the girls (plus JRM's dreamy blues)
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Big Love
More boutique HBO! Big Love is a show about Bill Henderson, a business man in Utah with three wives. The strength of the show lies in its negotiation of the main characters' polygamy. Or to be more precise, the reason I watch Big Love is for the compelling female line up. There's Jeanne Tripplehorn (Barb), Chloe Sevigny (Nicki), Ginnifer Goodwin (Margene), Amanda Seyfried (Sarah), Daveigh Chase (Rhonda), and Tina Marjorino (Heather). HBO, and cable in general, seems to be a space where women can have more complex and interesting roles (I'm thinking Sex and the City, The L Word, all for starters). And just more roles in general!
One thing I do that would probably drive the entire production team crazy is I fast forward through all the boring scenes with Bill and Roman, the two male head honchos. Hey, pissing contests are so over and done, trite trite. Big Love is interesting because of the way it treads between vulnerability and danger and focuses this through family relations (aka melodrama, yay!). Rhonda and Alby are perfect examples. These "compound" folks, or conservative Mormons, certainly have a scary tinge of fanaticism and power hunger. But they also come across as questioners, searching for a balance they sense is missing.
Why else would I watch a show where the characters pray and talk about following the faith? It sounds like an immediate turn off. But part of the attraction is hinted at in the title: Love. And its not surprising that the first show is about the sexual relationship between Bill and his wives. When you introduce characters who are flawed, lusty, vulnerable, and insecure- you create real people that are easy to care about. They have everyday problems just like the sitcom couples, except it happens to be tripled. The fact that they have to hide who they are also creates an instant tension that sucked me in. In a way, they appeal to the liberal ideal of "who the hell cares who you go to bed with" be it men, women, both or plural. Of course, the show carefully delineates the "good" polygamists from the "bad" ones- read the crazy, compound dwelling, marriage forcing and child marriage fanatics. But by the end of the first season these lines are already blurring.
One thing I do that would probably drive the entire production team crazy is I fast forward through all the boring scenes with Bill and Roman, the two male head honchos. Hey, pissing contests are so over and done, trite trite. Big Love is interesting because of the way it treads between vulnerability and danger and focuses this through family relations (aka melodrama, yay!). Rhonda and Alby are perfect examples. These "compound" folks, or conservative Mormons, certainly have a scary tinge of fanaticism and power hunger. But they also come across as questioners, searching for a balance they sense is missing.
Why else would I watch a show where the characters pray and talk about following the faith? It sounds like an immediate turn off. But part of the attraction is hinted at in the title: Love. And its not surprising that the first show is about the sexual relationship between Bill and his wives. When you introduce characters who are flawed, lusty, vulnerable, and insecure- you create real people that are easy to care about. They have everyday problems just like the sitcom couples, except it happens to be tripled. The fact that they have to hide who they are also creates an instant tension that sucked me in. In a way, they appeal to the liberal ideal of "who the hell cares who you go to bed with" be it men, women, both or plural. Of course, the show carefully delineates the "good" polygamists from the "bad" ones- read the crazy, compound dwelling, marriage forcing and child marriage fanatics. But by the end of the first season these lines are already blurring.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Stuck in Ft. Lauderdale...
I read Madame Bovary in its entirety, from beginning to end, in Ft. Lauderdale's airport. That might give you a small sense of how long I waited in limbo hell. It was a real test of my non-existent patience. Here's the schedule:
10:45 am Arrive at Ft. Lauderdale Airport
12:15 Flight to JFK
12:45 Flight delayed
6:05 Next flight
6:22 Flight Delayed
6:30 Board Plane
8:30 Plane goes back to gate
9:30 Plane departs Ft. Lauderdale
11:00 Put in holding pattern over Atlantic City
11:30 Plane lands
1:30 am Roll into bed
So while Flordia was fun, airport hell not so much. I read OK, People, Star, Cosmopolitan, Entertainment Weekly, and assorted decorating and cooking magazines. I paced in circles. I watched CNN. The only saving grace was when my plane got canceled, (yes out of the blue canceled) Delta gave me a business class seat on the next plane which meant seat 1C, endless coke, a full meal and a brownie!
10:45 am Arrive at Ft. Lauderdale Airport
12:15 Flight to JFK
12:45 Flight delayed
6:05 Next flight
6:22 Flight Delayed
6:30 Board Plane
8:30 Plane goes back to gate
9:30 Plane departs Ft. Lauderdale
11:00 Put in holding pattern over Atlantic City
11:30 Plane lands
1:30 am Roll into bed
So while Flordia was fun, airport hell not so much. I read OK, People, Star, Cosmopolitan, Entertainment Weekly, and assorted decorating and cooking magazines. I paced in circles. I watched CNN. The only saving grace was when my plane got canceled, (yes out of the blue canceled) Delta gave me a business class seat on the next plane which meant seat 1C, endless coke, a full meal and a brownie!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Wow, the Bachelor, wait who?
So tonight I offered coconut shrimp to...a bachelor! well, one of The Bachelors to be exact. This specimen with his shiny white teeth was Andy Baldwin:
who by the way, rejected my coconut shrimp (which was quite tasty). What he did not reject was the phone number of another caterer. yes my friends this bachelor is still a bachelor. reality tv evidently did not succeed in finding him his one true love, so he asked a fellow waiter for her phone number which he received. we shall see what happens. but it made the party fun for me. it was a fun party anyway with a lot of hipsters and hoochies and a great dj. DJ Jazzy Jeff to be exact, who worked the Fresh Prince himself, Will Smith. It really made serving mini cheeseburgers a lot more fun.
question: does andy belong on my wall? i hesitate to declare him a celeb
who by the way, rejected my coconut shrimp (which was quite tasty). What he did not reject was the phone number of another caterer. yes my friends this bachelor is still a bachelor. reality tv evidently did not succeed in finding him his one true love, so he asked a fellow waiter for her phone number which he received. we shall see what happens. but it made the party fun for me. it was a fun party anyway with a lot of hipsters and hoochies and a great dj. DJ Jazzy Jeff to be exact, who worked the Fresh Prince himself, Will Smith. It really made serving mini cheeseburgers a lot more fun.
question: does andy belong on my wall? i hesitate to declare him a celeb
Sunday, June 1, 2008
On Glen Close and Big Love
Last week I catered for a big Jazzy event. Right in the middle of our harried sweep when I was carrying two hot plates of food, I ran into Glen Close chatting away in the middle of an aisle. I was stunned for a second and then annoyed. Hello, if you've already made my celeb list I don't need to see you again, especially when I am trying to work!
I'm watching the pilot of Big Love today and I think I have to continue because...they have adopted two of my Veronica Mars favs! Yes, Amanda Seyfried (the lusty, irrepressable Lily) and Tina Majorino (oh Mac, the awesome girl tech geek, and of Napoleon Dynamite and Water World fame) appeared. I enjoy following the careers of these quirky and curvy actresses who always choose interesting roles. I look forward to aging with them and seeing them emerge as powerful actors.
I'm watching the pilot of Big Love today and I think I have to continue because...they have adopted two of my Veronica Mars favs! Yes, Amanda Seyfried (the lusty, irrepressable Lily) and Tina Majorino (oh Mac, the awesome girl tech geek, and of Napoleon Dynamite and Water World fame) appeared. I enjoy following the careers of these quirky and curvy actresses who always choose interesting roles. I look forward to aging with them and seeing them emerge as powerful actors.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
TV's Word of the Day
From Bones:
"Mawkish"
Thank you Bones for refreshing my memory and reinvigorating my SAT vocab!
"Mawkish"
| 1. | characterized by sickly sentimentality; weakly emotional; maudlin. |
| 2. | having a mildly sickening flavor; slightly nauseating. |
Thank you Bones for refreshing my memory and reinvigorating my SAT vocab!
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Lol, Grey's
Wow. This was an unexpectedly funny episode. I loved when George exclaims, "Alexandra Caroline Grey!" with such a queer flair. How can they possible write him straight now? And the whole Bailey Star Wars thing.
And the Hallmark love affair between the two sick kids was so sentimental and so sweet- I even almost teared up. Damn Grey's for still getting me with their sappy music and good acting. Beth was fantastic and heartbreaking.
So it still has some of that old magic. something about these characters and the completely unbelievable but well written stories they fall into. I think it's because the show operates as an ensemble. Yes there will always be Mer & Der, like Ross & Rachel, but they are just one story line. What captivates me are the sidelines: Izzy, Alex, George, Cally, Bailey, Christina. Their weirdness are more free to go against the traditional hero- they are the Byronic heroes, yay!
And the Hallmark love affair between the two sick kids was so sentimental and so sweet- I even almost teared up. Damn Grey's for still getting me with their sappy music and good acting. Beth was fantastic and heartbreaking.
So it still has some of that old magic. something about these characters and the completely unbelievable but well written stories they fall into. I think it's because the show operates as an ensemble. Yes there will always be Mer & Der, like Ross & Rachel, but they are just one story line. What captivates me are the sidelines: Izzy, Alex, George, Cally, Bailey, Christina. Their weirdness are more free to go against the traditional hero- they are the Byronic heroes, yay!
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Les Slightly Boring Liaisons Dangereuses
First, a shout out to the Roundabout Theatre Company. This nonprofit theater offers discounted tickets (less than $25) to all its shows for "young professionals" from 18-35 years old. This means I can afford to see Laura Linney on bway! woot. It also gets me into the theater for a price that a poor overeducated girl can afford. join hiptix today!
so...the play. yeah. well, the first half was entertaining. lots of scandalous frenchie behavior. i think jesse and i counted three ass slaps, two crotch grabbings and misc. groping in the first fifteen minutes. it was sort of all downhill after that. i mean, once the brashness of the play wears off, there's really nothing to keep you emotionally involved. i couldn't bring myself to keep caring after two hours of SAT words and flouncing about.
male nudity. multiple peni (yes i am aware that's not a word, but it's fun) waving about, although not at the same time, don't be confused. that's what kept me watching. it really grabs your attention to have the two male leads drop trou all of the sudden. and the women kept their clothes on for a change.
and yes there was sex. how does broadway to "adult" scenes? well, they were all sort of disturbing because they were performed right in front of you and they were kind of rough. and abusive. dangerous liaisons, i guess. it certainly prodded the distinction between rape and performance- what is prostitution, how much is acting or drama, or just bad taste? I don't know, but it made me think (more so than the questionable worthiness of the morality story). But maybe that's the point of the play, that the moral stuff is just thrown in at the last minute and the real fun is of course in the liaisons, the deviations from the "point," the wandering lusts and adultery to the usual punish the evil reward the good plot.
and laura linney was cool. she really has the cold biatch with a bit of vulnerability persona down to a fine art (the truman show, the nanny diaries). but i didn't really care about her either. i don't know if it was all the sex or the creepiness of the art direction but the play left me cold but entertained. an interesting experience.
so...the play. yeah. well, the first half was entertaining. lots of scandalous frenchie behavior. i think jesse and i counted three ass slaps, two crotch grabbings and misc. groping in the first fifteen minutes. it was sort of all downhill after that. i mean, once the brashness of the play wears off, there's really nothing to keep you emotionally involved. i couldn't bring myself to keep caring after two hours of SAT words and flouncing about.
male nudity. multiple peni (yes i am aware that's not a word, but it's fun) waving about, although not at the same time, don't be confused. that's what kept me watching. it really grabs your attention to have the two male leads drop trou all of the sudden. and the women kept their clothes on for a change.
and yes there was sex. how does broadway to "adult" scenes? well, they were all sort of disturbing because they were performed right in front of you and they were kind of rough. and abusive. dangerous liaisons, i guess. it certainly prodded the distinction between rape and performance- what is prostitution, how much is acting or drama, or just bad taste? I don't know, but it made me think (more so than the questionable worthiness of the morality story). But maybe that's the point of the play, that the moral stuff is just thrown in at the last minute and the real fun is of course in the liaisons, the deviations from the "point," the wandering lusts and adultery to the usual punish the evil reward the good plot.
and laura linney was cool. she really has the cold biatch with a bit of vulnerability persona down to a fine art (the truman show, the nanny diaries). but i didn't really care about her either. i don't know if it was all the sex or the creepiness of the art direction but the play left me cold but entertained. an interesting experience.
Friday, May 16, 2008
The New MEL BROOKS Musical Young Frankenstein
My grandfather's work was do do! No, they didn't include this brilliant one liner in the Broadway show, but that was basically the only fault. I loved this snappy, campy version of Young Frankenstein. The music was fun (This is What I Love About the Brain, Deep Love), the acting was good (Megan Mullaly, wowza), the humor was there (put ze candle back) and somehow it just really really worked on Bway. So thanks Mom for funding this extravagant but extremely fun outing. We also had an interesting time trying to wade through the disability mythos of the play, where there was a whole number in orthopedic shoes as well as a Marx Brothers type shadow dance.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
p.s. waaaaaa??
So I pop in PS I Love You because I read the book and that momentarily overcomes my dislike of Hilary Swank's pretentious oscar wins. And the book was nicely complicated and unpredictable- we'll see what Hollywood does to that.
And who shows up on screen except for...SPIKE! As in James Marsters without platinum blond hair. Wowza, that was disorienting. Here he was hugging Lisa Kudrow!
And who shows up on screen except for...SPIKE! As in James Marsters without platinum blond hair. Wowza, that was disorienting. Here he was hugging Lisa Kudrow!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Martha's Muffins
Today I stood in line in the rain for Martha Stewart. After being shuttled through security by her hipster PAs, I was ushered into a room dominated by photos of Martha on white walls, as well as two TVs broadcasting her show. Wowza! It was the altar of Martha, we were the worshippers. But they did give us scrumptious free muffins. Now, a note on muffins: I detest blueberry muffins. Think of the stale rubbery ones with nasty fake blueberry like nuggets inside. Ugh. But these were tasty, thanks Martha! It was an interesting experience. There's only so much applauding I can do on command before I start feeling like a monkey, although the warm up guy Joey was very funny (in a queer but married sort of way). Martha was her stellar, unwrinkled self, managing the fast paced show with perfect aplomb.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Kate Nash is well bad
Which in brit speak translates to: Kate Nash is too cool for school. She rocked the concert last night. For those who are not into indie british punk/soul, she's an awesome British import. A 20 year old songster with an attitude.
My first impression of her was quite startling actually. She is a tall, strong boned girl but holds herself humbly. I immediately noticed her thick, sinewy arms and dexterous hands- the incredible potency that comes from banging on the piano with your whole body and playing the guitar like it's an extension of yourself. Her pale face was accentuated with bright red lipstick and almost tearful eyes. She was very compelling, the mixture of young, naive girl and captivating artist. She sang beautifully and accepted the audience's praise almost bashfully. But when the girl rocked out, she lost it. It was amazing to see her whole being going crazy during the "never, never" chorus of Mariella.
Because we got there early, we were very close to the stage. I took this amateur video with my camera, so forgive the quality and the heads. It was a treat to be so close and hear so well! I love being in New York with access to these cheap, wonderful concerts (although the three hours of waiting was no fun and the other people were quite pushy) but Kate made up for all of it.
My first impression of her was quite startling actually. She is a tall, strong boned girl but holds herself humbly. I immediately noticed her thick, sinewy arms and dexterous hands- the incredible potency that comes from banging on the piano with your whole body and playing the guitar like it's an extension of yourself. Her pale face was accentuated with bright red lipstick and almost tearful eyes. She was very compelling, the mixture of young, naive girl and captivating artist. She sang beautifully and accepted the audience's praise almost bashfully. But when the girl rocked out, she lost it. It was amazing to see her whole being going crazy during the "never, never" chorus of Mariella.
Because we got there early, we were very close to the stage. I took this amateur video with my camera, so forgive the quality and the heads. It was a treat to be so close and hear so well! I love being in New York with access to these cheap, wonderful concerts (although the three hours of waiting was no fun and the other people were quite pushy) but Kate made up for all of it.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
I heart nyc
Today was just one of those days where I loved being in New York. Lately the city has been gray and cold and hard. But today the sky was bright blue and the sun briefly warmed the back of my neck. Spring has made the trees on Park Avenue sprout buds and all the fancy apartment buildings plant tulips around their bits of green. And it was a good day for me.
First, I was walking through Bryant Park and with my laser eye for freebies I spotted the Starbucks tent. So then I sauntered through the park with my free cup of promotional coffee (promoting some new blend), highly sugared and milked, feeling remarkably happy with the slightly chilly breeze and the impressive gray lions.
Second, I went to an appointment at a place near Grand Central. There were pink slips of paper everywhere labeled "Set #2 -->" or "Crew -->" which caught my eye. Next thing I knew I was in the elevator with two people in obviously fake lab coats, faces heavy with makeup. Turns out they were extras for a Law & Order episode shooting in the building. Coolio!
Finally, I decided not to waste the warm, delightful afternoon and took a walk through Central Park. I was grooving to my itunes and walking along enjoying the first flush of spring when I saw a group of photographers and a small camera crew. The object of their attention was a woman in red coat chatting to a gray haired man on a bench. Yes, folks, it was Baba Wawa herself! Barbara Walters, unmistakable. I had just stumbled upon a living legend. And all without trying.
It's nice to be at the right place at the right time, every once in a while. :)
First, I was walking through Bryant Park and with my laser eye for freebies I spotted the Starbucks tent. So then I sauntered through the park with my free cup of promotional coffee (promoting some new blend), highly sugared and milked, feeling remarkably happy with the slightly chilly breeze and the impressive gray lions.
Second, I went to an appointment at a place near Grand Central. There were pink slips of paper everywhere labeled "Set #2 -->" or "Crew -->" which caught my eye. Next thing I knew I was in the elevator with two people in obviously fake lab coats, faces heavy with makeup. Turns out they were extras for a Law & Order episode shooting in the building. Coolio!
Finally, I decided not to waste the warm, delightful afternoon and took a walk through Central Park. I was grooving to my itunes and walking along enjoying the first flush of spring when I saw a group of photographers and a small camera crew. The object of their attention was a woman in red coat chatting to a gray haired man on a bench. Yes, folks, it was Baba Wawa herself! Barbara Walters, unmistakable. I had just stumbled upon a living legend. And all without trying.
It's nice to be at the right place at the right time, every once in a while. :)
Friday, April 4, 2008
B+ Borat
This movie originally turned me off, but it made such a big stink I knew I had to check it out. And what would you know- it was actually enjoyable, although punctuated by juvenile humor like naked men, sex jokes, etc. But the critique of American culture was spot on and added a necessary cutting intelligence.
Sacha Baron Cohen reminds me of all four Marx brothers rolled into one. He has the physical humor of Harpo, Groucho's ironic bit, Chico's pushiness/economic scoundrel nature, and Zeppo's odd charm (well, who really remembers Zeppo, other than his ability to play it straight). Borat is just very frenetic, which was a bit wearying.
But it did give me outright prolonged laughter!
Sacha Baron Cohen reminds me of all four Marx brothers rolled into one. He has the physical humor of Harpo, Groucho's ironic bit, Chico's pushiness/economic scoundrel nature, and Zeppo's odd charm (well, who really remembers Zeppo, other than his ability to play it straight). Borat is just very frenetic, which was a bit wearying.
But it did give me outright prolonged laughter!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
jesse fed me a rancid muffin
this really has nothing to do with my blog
but i needed to get it off my chest.
bf was unwrapping a muffin. i opened my mouth. he gave me a piece of muffin, after looking at it strangely. it was totally rancid. i spit it out and almost gagged. he laughed.
this is not fair. beware of muffins.
but i needed to get it off my chest.
bf was unwrapping a muffin. i opened my mouth. he gave me a piece of muffin, after looking at it strangely. it was totally rancid. i spit it out and almost gagged. he laughed.
this is not fair. beware of muffins.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Enchanted
I didn't want to like it, I really didn't. But disney strikes again. What can I say, I 'm a sucker for meta. But it gave me that warm disney glow along with some critical strikes! wowza
first, the disney glow: catchy songs, including a Jamaican drum beat tribute to the Little Mermaid (there was a lot from LM in it: the red head, Patrick dempsey looks a lot like Eric, the whole changing worlds thing), the amazing way they disnified NYC (where all apartments are spacious and central park is very very clean), the happy endings
the critical delights: the way Nathaniel, the evil lacky, developed self awareness; the apple represented a repression in a fairy tale world away from the good and the bad of the real world, a temptation i finally understood; the way Giselle trades in her slipper for a sword and saves the prince; how princessy was valued as a stage for little girls, but allowed to slip away for adults, who could still hold onto it in a reasonable, capitalistic way (turning fairy tale into a business endeavor); good dialogue about dating vs fairy tale failings in love
problems: typical disney plot holes- like how does the prince find out where Giselle went, why can't they just shoot her when she's in NYC, why would any New Yorker let a crazy person stay in their apartment with their kid??? not possible
so, for disney, the first A- in a long time. i would actually watch this again. i liked how it balanced self mockery with a valuing of their fairy tales- an acknowledgment/criticism of some of the misogynistic aspects with an unwavering belief in true love! don't we all wish we were ass kicking princesses...and back to buffy.
first, the disney glow: catchy songs, including a Jamaican drum beat tribute to the Little Mermaid (there was a lot from LM in it: the red head, Patrick dempsey looks a lot like Eric, the whole changing worlds thing), the amazing way they disnified NYC (where all apartments are spacious and central park is very very clean), the happy endings
the critical delights: the way Nathaniel, the evil lacky, developed self awareness; the apple represented a repression in a fairy tale world away from the good and the bad of the real world, a temptation i finally understood; the way Giselle trades in her slipper for a sword and saves the prince; how princessy was valued as a stage for little girls, but allowed to slip away for adults, who could still hold onto it in a reasonable, capitalistic way (turning fairy tale into a business endeavor); good dialogue about dating vs fairy tale failings in love
problems: typical disney plot holes- like how does the prince find out where Giselle went, why can't they just shoot her when she's in NYC, why would any New Yorker let a crazy person stay in their apartment with their kid??? not possible
so, for disney, the first A- in a long time. i would actually watch this again. i liked how it balanced self mockery with a valuing of their fairy tales- an acknowledgment/criticism of some of the misogynistic aspects with an unwavering belief in true love! don't we all wish we were ass kicking princesses...and back to buffy.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Wow, F&G is already paying off
So as ya'll (my three faithful readers) know, I've been watching Bones b/c its good and its free on Fox.com. And as I'm watching, there's something familiar about Sweets, Bones & Booth's therapist. I imdb him and find out its Sam, cute little nerd Sam, from Freaks and Geeks. That is so awesomely cool! I don't know why I have this eery talent where I can remember and recall faces, and trace the connections through media (very much aided by imdb, of course) but I can't remember by bank account number. Ah, well.
PS I have a mad crush on Seth Rogen. I fantasize about us tickling and mocking each other. LOL, I'm such a dork.
PS I have a mad crush on Seth Rogen. I fantasize about us tickling and mocking each other. LOL, I'm such a dork.
Bones
It gets a B+, a high rating from me. This underrated show has a cool sciency female heroine, Angel (from buffy, ooooo la la), and the average crime plot. Nice tension, kind of snappy dialogue, side characters I give a hoot about. overall, worth watching. and nice lack of hype. so if you have time, maybe dig in.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Lost
Juliet. I hate her. No joke. Tonight when Sun slapped her I was so happy.
Why do I hate her?
1) Because she has a such a snobby look on her face
2) she's selfish
3) she's mean- why be all Jerry Springer?
4) she's duplicitous- she lies, she cheats
5) she still does what Ben tells her to
6) she kissed Jack
I think the writers want us to flip flop on Juliet. Why else in one episode do they show us heart wrenching scenes where she cries over her lost lover, and in the next she is a rancid bitch? Juliet is like Ben in training, just as manipulative, but she leans more towards the good side of ambivalent/ambiguous. Anyway, I refuse to like her. But who is there to like this season? Sawyer is Locke's biatch, Kate is Jack's Biatch, and both Locke and Jack are whipped by Ben. so blah. Give me more info about the time travel, that's actually interesting.
Why do I hate her?
1) Because she has a such a snobby look on her face
2) she's selfish
3) she's mean- why be all Jerry Springer?
4) she's duplicitous- she lies, she cheats
5) she still does what Ben tells her to
6) she kissed Jack
I think the writers want us to flip flop on Juliet. Why else in one episode do they show us heart wrenching scenes where she cries over her lost lover, and in the next she is a rancid bitch? Juliet is like Ben in training, just as manipulative, but she leans more towards the good side of ambivalent/ambiguous. Anyway, I refuse to like her. But who is there to like this season? Sawyer is Locke's biatch, Kate is Jack's Biatch, and both Locke and Jack are whipped by Ben. so blah. Give me more info about the time travel, that's actually interesting.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Catching up
I've gone kind of crazy with the whole "I've missed seasons of good television and now i must watch them all or I will be disqualified as an actual film nerd" syndrome. I watched the first and only season of Firefly, then the last season of Buffy and I am currently watching the first season of Dexter and the first season of Freaks and Geeks.
I choose to watch most television shows for the first time on DVD (I didn't start watching Lost live until S3) because 1) they are commercial free 2) I get to watch them all in a row without the suspense and 3) i'm better able to sustain a very concentrated period of intense interest rather than a whole season/year of episodes. Therefore, I watch an entire season in a week and then move onto the next show rather than watching five or six shows simultaneously. it's me being Type A, I'm aware of that. but for shows like Lost, it can actually make more sense because you see things happen in a row without interruptions. I actually started doing it this way because I hated watching three episodes of a show and then have it be canceled. at least i know i'm going to get a whole seasons worth.
so, far both Dex and Freaks and Geeks are good. Dexter is very chilling, but a relief in a House kind of way- it's about a serial killer, or the antithesis of the sympathetic hero, so you get a break from the sentimentality. i'm watching F&G because it was apparently a cultural moment that I completely missed and is still popping up in popular culture (ie Knocked Up, Superbad, etc). and i hate being out of the loop! it's still hard to get into because it's so very, very awkward. i mean, who really wants to relive high school? not i.
I choose to watch most television shows for the first time on DVD (I didn't start watching Lost live until S3) because 1) they are commercial free 2) I get to watch them all in a row without the suspense and 3) i'm better able to sustain a very concentrated period of intense interest rather than a whole season/year of episodes. Therefore, I watch an entire season in a week and then move onto the next show rather than watching five or six shows simultaneously. it's me being Type A, I'm aware of that. but for shows like Lost, it can actually make more sense because you see things happen in a row without interruptions. I actually started doing it this way because I hated watching three episodes of a show and then have it be canceled. at least i know i'm going to get a whole seasons worth.
so, far both Dex and Freaks and Geeks are good. Dexter is very chilling, but a relief in a House kind of way- it's about a serial killer, or the antithesis of the sympathetic hero, so you get a break from the sentimentality. i'm watching F&G because it was apparently a cultural moment that I completely missed and is still popping up in popular culture (ie Knocked Up, Superbad, etc). and i hate being out of the loop! it's still hard to get into because it's so very, very awkward. i mean, who really wants to relive high school? not i.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Joss Whedon is incestuous and I'm a big nerd
I've been watching both season 7 of Buffy and the one and only season of Firefly, both creations by Joss Whedon (here i genuflect). But to make the connections I am now going to make, you have to have seen Angel, the Buffy spin off, as well, which makes me one big nerd!
River, from firefly first played an enchanted Russian ballerina on Angel (a special episode directed by Joss)
Malcolm Reynolds, from Firefly, guested on Buffy, with the same atrocious Southern accent. although in buffy he's an evil, misogynistic mockery of a priest.
Joss likes his actors!
I'm sure I'm missing other connections (hello, that's what imdb is for), its just hilarious when I'm out of episode order and Mal pops in a random Buffy episode. he he
River, from firefly first played an enchanted Russian ballerina on Angel (a special episode directed by Joss)
Malcolm Reynolds, from Firefly, guested on Buffy, with the same atrocious Southern accent. although in buffy he's an evil, misogynistic mockery of a priest.
Joss likes his actors!
I'm sure I'm missing other connections (hello, that's what imdb is for), its just hilarious when I'm out of episode order and Mal pops in a random Buffy episode. he he
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Buffy love
So i've had time recently to catch up on the last season of Buffy, ie the season of the First. And it's a little more serious and dark than usual. But the humor remains. And reminds why I love Buffy so much- no matter how complicated the plot gets, or how far it withdraws into the mysterious Buffyverse, the writers always manage to pull out the humor and a some meta commentary. this reflexiveness tames the series and reassures me, as a fan, that someone is in control and up there balancing the scales of drama and comedy. the same continues in Firefly.
like replacing "hostage" with "guestage" as Andrew says
I heart Joss Whedon
like replacing "hostage" with "guestage" as Andrew says
I heart Joss Whedon
Friday, February 22, 2008
Gordon's a No Show
I was super excited because through Craigslist I got invited to come eat lunch at the Black Pearl, where Gordon Ramsey, celebrity chef, was doing the latest Kitchen Nightmares (if unfamiliar, its on the Fox website). So I went with my posse, and we ate a very uninteresting lunch and then lingered hoping for a glimpse. No such luck.
Where are you Gordon?
PS I really enjoyed Maze.
Where are you Gordon?
PS I really enjoyed Maze.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
cosmo, meet jezebel!
i thought this was hilarious and wanted to share. find the real thing at:
http://jezebel.com/357764/ooooooh-mommy-cosmo-said-the-jay+jay-word
nothing like a good old feminist tear down of postfem culture!
sorry, nolte. i know you love the cosmo.
Across the Universe
Everyone should rent this movie right now.
Don't care if you don't like the plot. You only have to watch the first half.
It's gorgeous Beatles songs! omg, faint!
Don't care if you don't like the plot. You only have to watch the first half.
It's gorgeous Beatles songs! omg, faint!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Three course meal
Project Runway: This fluff of a show makes a perfect appetizer, teasing me with bits of drama and frothy fabric creations. I mildly care who wins, but take more delight in the pomp and circumstance, the over the top clothes/characters, and Tim Gunn walking around saying "Carry on."
Lost: remains the same, working its strong points (the tension within a single episode, the hook) and relapsing into its weaknesses (the inability to maintain a coherent overarching story). It's the meaty chunk of television that feeds my soul. Of course I want to know who the Oceanic 6 are and of course I'm digging the flash forwards. But as always, I wonder why none of the characters ever ask why!
Why, Ben, do the people from the boat want you?
Why are they here?
Why does no one ask?
Why shouldn't they leave the island?
I'm sure if they did ask why, no one would get a straight answer. But three seasons in and I still have no real idea why Ben doesn't want to leave the island and why the other's shouldn't want to be rescued. And that's not good. Ben, Ben, Ben!
Big Brother, Til Death Do Us Part: is so awesomely craptastic. it's like multiple reality shows bred and had a big squalling kissy baby. its the big plastic wrapped twinkie of television.
Lost: remains the same, working its strong points (the tension within a single episode, the hook) and relapsing into its weaknesses (the inability to maintain a coherent overarching story). It's the meaty chunk of television that feeds my soul. Of course I want to know who the Oceanic 6 are and of course I'm digging the flash forwards. But as always, I wonder why none of the characters ever ask why!
Why, Ben, do the people from the boat want you?
Why are they here?
Why does no one ask?
Why shouldn't they leave the island?
I'm sure if they did ask why, no one would get a straight answer. But three seasons in and I still have no real idea why Ben doesn't want to leave the island and why the other's shouldn't want to be rescued. And that's not good. Ben, Ben, Ben!
Big Brother, Til Death Do Us Part: is so awesomely craptastic. it's like multiple reality shows bred and had a big squalling kissy baby. its the big plastic wrapped twinkie of television.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
drum roll...
2 for 1!
Patrick Stewart
&
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Woot!
Both seen while i was catering at BAM, where Capt Picard is starring in MacBeth. Maggie and I did the double-take dance and then I pseudo-stalked her for the rest of the night. Plus there was this other guy there who was uber-gorgeous, and perhaps famous. a sort of adrien grenier/gossip girl mix. mmm.
tonight, my friends
I was catering for 10.5 hours yesterday, so quite busy. i will write about it at length tonight when i have more time. but for now, here's a teaser:
"To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before."
ha!
"To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before."
ha!
Friday, February 8, 2008
Julia Stiles!!!
This is the awkward way it went down:
Faith and I went to the 14th St YMCA to look for a bathing suit that she had lost. We walked into the dressing room and I saw three women talking. One of them looked like a well-scrubbed Julia Stiles. I said to myself, no, couldn't be. But then from behind me I heard her voice- that low pitched, news caster type of voice. JS has a very distinctive way of speaking as well. At that point I was 85% certain it was her. My heart beat a little faster.
Because here's the thing. I've seen some celebs in NYC. But I haven't really had a run in with someone I'm a real fan of. I mean a genuine I bumped into a celeb moment that gives you a little high. And that was what this was like. We made eye contact, I did a double take and she gave me this look, like not again.
So we left her in the dressing room to go talk to the security guard who suggested we look again in the dressing room. So we returned and I passed JS as she was leaving. Once she was gone I asked the woman in the dressing room if she knew JS since they had been talking. She shook her head in confusion.
We left again and this time I asked the security guard, who gladly told me that yes JS was a regular along with Robert Rodriguez (yay Austin) and Amanda Bynes (at this point Faith finally got excited).
The pic is from 10 Things I Hate About You, JS's breakthru movie with Heath Ledger. I immediately thought about Heath when I saw her. They were so cute and original too- they genuinely had that extra something that defines a movie star. whatever it is that makes someone so compelling on screen. I think its their very strong personalities. JS and Heath both have this strength in their acting which also offers a vulnerability. I also LOVED that movie. I wish Hollywood would revive the classic literature-into teen film equation like Clueless (Emma) and 10 Things (Taming of the Shrew). There was an Amanda Bynes movie doing Twelfth Night, but it was sub par.
It was genuinely cool. Today NYC is my favorite place in the world. :)
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
BB!
can i just say that one good thing has resulted from the writer's strike:
BIG BROTHER 9
FEB 12
Let the addiction begin!
oh and there is the new survivor with fans. might watch the first episode if im bored.
BIG BROTHER 9
FEB 12
Let the addiction begin!
oh and there is the new survivor with fans. might watch the first episode if im bored.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
the soup
can i just say that i love the soup? its an amazing show all about television, with all the mocking edge i usually have to work at. i can just sit back and watch all the most absurd bits of tv.
plus i love their digs at tmz. its so snotty, b/c tmz is so much more successful.
but thank you e for the soup. although i still miss aisha.
plus i love their digs at tmz. its so snotty, b/c tmz is so much more successful.
but thank you e for the soup. although i still miss aisha.
Monday, February 4, 2008
tv bashing
recently one of my best friends started in on a long television bash. To some extent, I was surprised how it made me feel so darn angry and even queasy. actually sick to my stomach.
and of course she had some decent points- how reality shows can be devoid of real content (aka trash), how mainstream america comes home from work and spends their life in front of a tv, a simulacrum of life
but mostly it was astonishing to me how much tv is still a stigma. to her, it retains all of its passive, zombie qualities that strip the watcher of independence, life, reaction. it is still essentially feminizing, capturing and sucking lifesource from the viewers who are helpless to leave and stay enslaved on the couch, gaining pound after pound and losing brain waves
in shorts, it like the government campaign on pot. one puff and you're a mindless drug addict. a slippery slope to disaster.
what can i do about this? nothing really. i cant change her mind. i cant even defend the pleasure (the wrong pleasure, apparently, the lazy/stupid/wasteful pleasure) i get from television. the nightly family guy, the fun of american idol, the challenge of Lost, the wit and tropes of Veronica and Buffy- all this is dismissed as my inability to go outside and play like a healthy kid.
and of course she had some decent points- how reality shows can be devoid of real content (aka trash), how mainstream america comes home from work and spends their life in front of a tv, a simulacrum of life
but mostly it was astonishing to me how much tv is still a stigma. to her, it retains all of its passive, zombie qualities that strip the watcher of independence, life, reaction. it is still essentially feminizing, capturing and sucking lifesource from the viewers who are helpless to leave and stay enslaved on the couch, gaining pound after pound and losing brain waves
in shorts, it like the government campaign on pot. one puff and you're a mindless drug addict. a slippery slope to disaster.
what can i do about this? nothing really. i cant change her mind. i cant even defend the pleasure (the wrong pleasure, apparently, the lazy/stupid/wasteful pleasure) i get from television. the nightly family guy, the fun of american idol, the challenge of Lost, the wit and tropes of Veronica and Buffy- all this is dismissed as my inability to go outside and play like a healthy kid.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
linky!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0ILPnh4mOKo
Lost: the synchronizing. Heard about it from the nymag. very cool to see how fans reconstruct the Lost chaos into a coherent timeline
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MR5xv3pt7KI
Sara Bareilles- Love Song. My current fab song on repeat. I'm not going to write you a love song b/c you asked for it, la la la
also, just got a new phone today- for free! me no need fancy iberry. just need phone make calls be tech cavewoman
Lost: the synchronizing. Heard about it from the nymag. very cool to see how fans reconstruct the Lost chaos into a coherent timeline
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MR5xv3pt7KI
Sara Bareilles- Love Song. My current fab song on repeat. I'm not going to write you a love song b/c you asked for it, la la la
also, just got a new phone today- for free! me no need fancy iberry. just need phone make calls be tech cavewoman
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
willa in lit
I was reading today and finally found a character named Willa! i'm not telling you the book, that would be too easy, but it was very satisfying. I've suffered many disses over the years- at one point some characters mocked the name Wilhelmina as incredibly ugly. i dont want it to be too popular, but some recognition is nice
Monday, January 28, 2008
in response to cashmere mafia
Cashmere Mafia will aways pale in comparison to Sex and the City. That's simply the way it is. Sex and the City is the mythical "origin" of the gang of girls show. Cashmere lacks the shock value, the outrageousness, the freedom of the sex talk, the dreaminess, the tug and pull of those women's lives. I'm not here to plug SATC, it had its many problems- the wealth, the racism, the hetereosexism (best addressed in another troubled but potentially rockin' show, the L Word), the wrapped up romantic independence squashing ending. In the end of course, all these shows about women are really about men (and the awful, awful women they cheat with who are never part of the club).
so here's my dream, for the writers to cook up with all their spare time. a television show with:
ugly women
fat women
character actors!
women in the secretarial roles, assistants, nannies
working class women
feminists
sexually aggressive, husband stealing women (who do not have to be redeemed or punished!)
women of color (it doesnt go blonde, brunette, redhead, other- in which case it now seems
fashionable to substitute a chic asian woman as the acceptable diversity quota. push the boundaries, now)
older women and i'm talking 50+
women who don't want children
put them in NYC and let them live large, fashionable lives and rip the shiza out of Sex and the City and its postfeminist glitter. why does it always have to be one step forward and two steps back?
so here's my dream, for the writers to cook up with all their spare time. a television show with:
ugly women
fat women
character actors!
women in the secretarial roles, assistants, nannies
working class women
feminists
sexually aggressive, husband stealing women (who do not have to be redeemed or punished!)
women of color (it doesnt go blonde, brunette, redhead, other- in which case it now seems
fashionable to substitute a chic asian woman as the acceptable diversity quota. push the boundaries, now)
older women and i'm talking 50+
women who don't want children
put them in NYC and let them live large, fashionable lives and rip the shiza out of Sex and the City and its postfeminist glitter. why does it always have to be one step forward and two steps back?
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Miss Tex?
I've been watching Miss America the Reality Check.
Miss Texas has not once flashed across the screen. Not once. Why? Is she just too boring?
Miss Texas has not once flashed across the screen. Not once. Why? Is she just too boring?
421 Broome St
Heath Ledger's apartment. His shrine.
Sad.
I was shocked and saddened by Heath's death. Really sad. I liked him a lot. The general mourning seems to revolve around his potential, the he could have been...an era defining actor, a comforting face to watch over the next thirty years, a vessel for our mutual fantasy. The next Johnny Depp.
As my mom said, soldiers are dying in Iraq every day. Their faces flash across our evening news without notice except for those who knew them. So what's one more death? But Heath's face is familiar, its cultural property. We have seen it grin at us from giant wide screens, been enveloped in the fiction of fantasy worlds where we know Heath, we love Ennis. The fans at the shrine left notes referring to his films, like 10 Thing I love about Heath or I'll Never Quit you, Heath. This is how we relate to death: through filmic tropes. So its much easier to deal with an actor's death than a solider's- in any sort of communal way. His death ends in a moving, heart wrenching story and that's something Americans can get their minds around.
I feel it too. Because I invested in Heath. I went through a Heath phase, watched all his movies, had his face as my screensaver for months. His loss is the loss of something I connected in the swarming sea of popular culture. i picked him out of the mass to represent my niche of interests, the quirky, aching melancholy of films like Brokeback. Ang Lee. jake gylenhaal. their ourve was mine.
anyway, i will miss Heath Ledger, the actor. I don't think I can claim to miss Heath, the person, the partner, the father.
Sad.
I was shocked and saddened by Heath's death. Really sad. I liked him a lot. The general mourning seems to revolve around his potential, the he could have been...an era defining actor, a comforting face to watch over the next thirty years, a vessel for our mutual fantasy. The next Johnny Depp.
As my mom said, soldiers are dying in Iraq every day. Their faces flash across our evening news without notice except for those who knew them. So what's one more death? But Heath's face is familiar, its cultural property. We have seen it grin at us from giant wide screens, been enveloped in the fiction of fantasy worlds where we know Heath, we love Ennis. The fans at the shrine left notes referring to his films, like 10 Thing I love about Heath or I'll Never Quit you, Heath. This is how we relate to death: through filmic tropes. So its much easier to deal with an actor's death than a solider's- in any sort of communal way. His death ends in a moving, heart wrenching story and that's something Americans can get their minds around.
I feel it too. Because I invested in Heath. I went through a Heath phase, watched all his movies, had his face as my screensaver for months. His loss is the loss of something I connected in the swarming sea of popular culture. i picked him out of the mass to represent my niche of interests, the quirky, aching melancholy of films like Brokeback. Ang Lee. jake gylenhaal. their ourve was mine.
anyway, i will miss Heath Ledger, the actor. I don't think I can claim to miss Heath, the person, the partner, the father.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
I HEART MR.DARCY
According to gawker.com (i love love love that site) Colin Firth was in NYC today, spotted at 34th St and Rockafeller Plaza. Be still my heart. It is entirely possible that I could bump into Mr.Darcy any day now!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Fox y
Yay Fox! You have finally caught up with all the other networks and put your shows online. This means I will once again watch new episodes of House, Family Guy and even...The Simpsons! I have an unpredictable schedule which means I rely on network websites to watch primetime TV- cable is endlessly repetitive so I never really miss Project Runway.
So I started watching new eps of the Simpsons because I could, and there were less commercials. And it was quite interesting. Over the years I've drifted to Family Guy, b/c FG has more of an edge and is quite unpredictable. its also more crass, which i enjoy. The Simpsons cannot deny its heart of gold, the genuine sweetness between Marge and Homer which forms the core of the show.
the two episodes i watched were recent and they were interesting to me because of the play with the form. for example, one episode featured a 3-d animation in the form of a election commercial. it was a bit startling, but you could feel the animators getting bored and trying new things. i also laughed at a lot of the jokes about form- such as the below post about Nelson shouting "Ha Ha! you're medium is dying." there was also a point where the episode became a youtube video playing that familiar "would you like to watch this video again" screen.
although the content of the simpsons is a little dry and overused, the show is an excellent platform to see the shifting tides of media. after all, the simpsons movie was very successful, maybe because it came out of animations 30 minute slot and allowed us all to finally see these beloved characters up close.
So I started watching new eps of the Simpsons because I could, and there were less commercials. And it was quite interesting. Over the years I've drifted to Family Guy, b/c FG has more of an edge and is quite unpredictable. its also more crass, which i enjoy. The Simpsons cannot deny its heart of gold, the genuine sweetness between Marge and Homer which forms the core of the show.
the two episodes i watched were recent and they were interesting to me because of the play with the form. for example, one episode featured a 3-d animation in the form of a election commercial. it was a bit startling, but you could feel the animators getting bored and trying new things. i also laughed at a lot of the jokes about form- such as the below post about Nelson shouting "Ha Ha! you're medium is dying." there was also a point where the episode became a youtube video playing that familiar "would you like to watch this video again" screen.
although the content of the simpsons is a little dry and overused, the show is an excellent platform to see the shifting tides of media. after all, the simpsons movie was very successful, maybe because it came out of animations 30 minute slot and allowed us all to finally see these beloved characters up close.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
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