March 22, 2006

Giggleworthy News

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND—Lead singer and guitarist for pop band Franz Ferdinand, Alexander Kapranos, is in critical condition today after being shot by a man identified as the bassist for rock group Gavrilo Princip. "We ask fans to cooperate with Interpol to find the assailant, and call upon British Sea Power, Snow Patrol, and The Postal Service for help," drummer Paul Thompson told music magazine NME Monday.
as "reported" by The Onion.

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March 21, 2006

Secret to Happiness?

Received the oddest email the other day:
From: Neateye
Sent: Mon 3/20/2006 5:27 PM
To: Awreye
Subject: Gouranga

Call out Gouranga be happy!
Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga...
That which brings the highest happiness
Wha? Somehow this crept through my junk mail filter. An email advising me about how to achieve happiness stands out from my usual spam about penis enlargment, free iPods and receiving a mysterious US$20 M inheritance from a dead relative in Africa.

A little research revealed the origins of this bizarre email.

My boss thinks I should try it. Maybe tomorrow.

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March 20, 2006

Ramblings About Race, CSA and Then Some

Almost forgot to post, saw C.S.A.: Confederate States of America several days ago. It's a satirical mockumentary about post-Civil War America in some alternate universe where the Union lost and the Confederacy won. An alternate America where slave-based economy flourished in America, people of color were kept enslaved or herded into reservations. An alternate America with a show called "Runaways" (think: "COPS" except about escaped slaves, not criminals) complete with a hilarious banjo-filled take on the theme song. After 60 minutes of the mock doc complete with mock commercials, I wanted to throw up my hands and scream "I get it! I get that you're using humor to illustrate how the USA in some ways has progressed very little in terms of racial equality!" The fake doc idea is a little tired and heavy-handed, but effective.

Audience was receptive to the film. Glancing around, the audience seemed like it was completely White (liberals, my guess based on the neighborhood) save five people of color, including me. People were laughing (uneasily in my case, suspiciously too easily for some audience members). But given the neighborhood and the target audience of C.S.A., I doubt that the film really communicated anything that the audience didn't already know prior to the screening. I don't know if this film will penetrate other parts of America as well.

During the pre-movie dinner, I recounted something that a friend said which set off my "wait, did i just hear some racist/stereotype bs coming out of your mouth?!" meter a few days ago. My face sort of froze at the time as I was surprised to hear this statement from someone I've known for years. I made excuses for her in my head -- she made a simple, ignorant assumption about me based on my race, I can understand how she came to this incorrect conclusion, she doesn't intend to be offensive, I am building this into a big deal out of nothing.

But it bothered me enought to consult my fellow friends of color -- was my meter off or dead-on? My dinner companion immediately snapped that yes, such a statement is unacceptable. Even if it's not overtly in your face racist, she still made an ignorant and unacceptable assumption about you based on your skin color. Consulted another foc, who was aghast that I didn't give her a verbal slapdown (and then some) immediately. Basically my meter is calibrated fine. I just need to work on my reaction time.

Dammit -- I used to be way better about turning such moments into "let me, as your friendly person of color, educate you how your statement is complete bs" when I as younger. My American Politics prof is right, as we get older, we get more complacent. Need to reconnect with my old poli activism contacts and get fired up again. Seeing C.S.A. helped raise my awareness of how complacent I've become in the past few years. I've become wrapped up in work etc., that all my political ideals sort of fell by the wayside. Attended a party a few weeks ago and ran into my old activist co-workers, some of whom seemed a bit surprised to see how far I've drifted professionally away from my non-profit activist days.

Woah, this post has rambled a bit...basic points: immediately call bs on your friends who set off your racist statement meter, teach them how their statement is total crap if not for their enlightenment but for their safety so repeating that statement doesn't get them a beat-down from an enraged poc, C.S.A. is worth the price of admission (no matter how tiresome the structure).

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March 19, 2006

Packing Music

Cibo Matto
Beck
Marit Bergman
Fiery Furnaces - especially "Chris Michaels"
Love Is All - "Busy Doing Nothing" (just that one song)
keeps the energy high and packing vibe flowing.

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Steel Wool Sucks

This must be some kind of record -- I've managed to cut my hands in three different places in a space of four days. Keep forgetting to wear gloves when working on the apartment; picking wiry bits of steel wool out of a cut is not fun.

To the people who have asked for an update on the status of the apartment: utilities finally turned on after convincing Con Ed I wasn't the previous tenent who owed them $ and stole electricity from them. Walls painted due to the help of some great volunteers. Scrubbed years of grime from cabinets and you don't want to know where. Still need to harrass building management about several minor issues, but apartment is in move-in condition now!

Despite not officially having moved in, I've met one of the crazy neighbors, the handymen, the building owner in the past week. Chatted with the local locksmith, who has lived in the neighborhood for decades and spilled some local gossip (Poking our heads out my window: "See that lot over there? Gonna be condos; they're laying the foundation this spring -- this neighboorhood is explodin'! And you see that huge apartment building over there? It's owned by these slumlords. The worse people lived in that building...I mean, gradually they got rid of some of 'em, it's not so bad now...)

Back to packing up my crap.

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March 13, 2006

Satur-fumes-day

I can't tell you how good it felt to add some color to my new apartment. No more white walls! No more knowing your living situation is temporary, so why bother painting (and why bother investing much time and money sprucing it up), when you'll just need to re-paint it white when you leave in a less than a year! Whipping the apartment into shape is happening slowly but surely. It'll happen more quickly once I have electricity hooked up (reasons behind why it hasn't been easy getting utilities turned on is a story for another post).

After returning to my soon-to-be-old apartment, I found an invite to friend-of-a-friend's birthday gathering waiting for me in my inbox. Really, what says happy birthday better than hookah smoking in the Village? I was already light-headed from inhaling paint fumes, so why not continue the fun?

Our late dinner at Risotteria was satisfying, but the rest of the night was just eh...I think that I needed to be drunker to develop a greater appreciation of sucking and exhaling fruity smoke. And you know those awkward parties where guests don't seem interested in partying or getting to know each other, but just showed up because they just felt obligated to the host? Yeah, I got that vibe from the guests; they seem tad absorbed either in themselves or their own cliques. A good party that does not make. Perhaps I should have made more of an effort to get people mixing? At that point, my body was running on adrenaline -- I've been awake for 17 hours, and reallyreally craved sleep. Threw in the towel early. Hobbled home in my awesome but painful Irregular Choice shoes. Washed the blood off my heels and crashed. Sleep felt so sweet.

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March 09, 2006

Apt Whip

I am spending the next few weeks whipping my new apartment into shape (it needs lots of whipping; lots of unexpected problems popping up--the latest one: my apartment's electric meter is missing. fabulous!).

My office is located in interior decorators' heaven -- I counted about 9 furniture shops, design type stores specializing in lighting fixtures, whathaveyou within 3 blocks of my workplace. But most of my apartment whipping inspiration comes from entries in this year's smallest coolest apartment contest. That site is the biggest timesuck of my day.

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Around the Corner


Spring that is. I am so ready for change. Bring it!

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March 06, 2006

The Most Decadent Birthday Cake in NYC





Looking at this makes my teeth ache.

Two Little Red Hens didn't let us down last weekend.

So good.

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Boycott Alert!

If you know me, you know that I declare personal boycotts against establishments which piss me off. My McDonald's boycott is going strong -- 3 years and counting (with one minor moment of weakness).

New boycott starting asap: Studio 97 Salon in Park Slope.

Why? What seemed to be a simple misunderstanding about appointment times escalated into bullcrap as the owner tried to wiggle out of honoring my friend and mine's joint mani-pedi appointment with some sort of illogical, complicated bullshit excuse. When she saw that we weren't buying it, she tried accusing my friend and I about lying about our mani-pedi appointment arrangements.

If she just admitted that the obvious truth that she overbooked the salon and that they were running really late, then everything would be cool. Not sure why she didn't just do this, but decided to clumsily toss accusations (hello? I could see my name in the appointment book). Perhaps she needed to save face in front of her staff and other customers? I don't know. Usually this stuff is no big deal, but the owner set off my "you are seriously pissing me off" meter when she tried making her salon's overbooking problem our fault with awkward lies.

Sigh, this boycott sucks as the other manicure and pedicure places, which I've tried, on my side of the Slope are mediocre. Not that Salon 97 is fabulous, but they were decent and close-by.

On the bright side: I just tried Iris Nails (795 Broadway) which rocked and is conveniently located near my workplace. I'm not the type to be super chatty with my manicurist (I tend to zone out during treatments), but Noli and I spent the hour babbling about our families, visiting Shanghai and Hong Kong, NYC subway system, college, all sorts of random crap. To think, I would have never tried this place if the nonsense with Studio 97 didn't happen!

There's a silver lining for everything...

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March 03, 2006

Happy Birthday, Kini

T minus 24 hours until we cut open the Two Little Red Hens cake and you debut your scandalous birthday dress.

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March 01, 2006

Reality Show No

Don't think that I'll ever be part of the reality tv show (except maybe The Amazing Race -- that is one awesome show), but below are some of the more unusual audition notices which popped up in my inbox today.

CASTING: CBS's ROCK STAR (USA + Canada) -
(as if Rock Star: INXS didn't mess with enough people's minds, it's baaaaaaaaaaack!)

APPLICATIONS AND AUDITION TAPES FOR ROCK STAR: THE SERIES (working title) NOW BEING ACCEPTED BY THE CBS TELEVISION NETWORK Released by CBS

Deadline For Submissions Is Friday, March 24, 2006

CBS's ROCK STAR returns for a second season in Summer, 2006. Applications for potential singers can be found at www.CBS.com and rockstar.msn.com. ROCK STAR: THE SERIES (working title) auditions are open to men and women all over the world who are at least 21 years-old.

Open calls for ROCK STAR will take place in the following cities on the following dates (schedule is subject to change):

ROCK STAR OPEN CALL SCHEDULE:

Austin Texas - March 1st – 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM Saxon Pub 1320 S Lamar Blvd Austin, TX 78704 www.saxonpub.com

Boston, Mass. - March 3rd – 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM T.T. The Bear's Place 10 Brookline St. Cambridge, MA 02139 www.ttthebears.com

Atlanta, Georgia - March 6th – 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM Velvet Underground @ The Hard Rock Café 215 Peachtree St NE Atlanta, GA 30303 www.hardrock.com

New York, NY - March 8th – 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM Crash Mansion 199 Bowery @ Spring Street New York, NY 10002 www.crashmansion.com

Chicago, Illinois - March 11th – 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM Elbo Room 2871 N. Lincoln Ave Chicago, IL 60657 www.elboroomchicago.com

Toronto, Ontario - March 13th – 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM Horseshoe Tavern 370 Queen St. West Toronto, Ontario M5V2A2 www.horseshoetavern.com

Minneapolis, Minn. - March 16th – 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM The Cabooze 917 Cedar Ave Minneapolis, MN 55404 www.cabooze.com

Seattle, Wash. - March 18th – 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM Crocodile Café 2200 2nd Ave Seattle, WA 98121 www.thecrocodile.com

San Francisco, Calif. - March 21st – 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM Rockit Room 406 Clement St. San Francisco, CA 94118 www.rock-it-room.com

Vancouver, British Columbia - March 23rd – 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM The Roxy 932 Granville St. Vancouver, BC V6Z1L2 www.roxyvan.com

Los Angeles - March 31st – 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM Knitting Factory 7021 Hollywood Blvd Hollywood, CA 90028 www.Knittingfactory.com/kfhollywood

Singers should be prepared to sing up to three songs and may sing a cappella to track or with one instrument. Singers should be instructed to download application and bring it with them to the open call audition or send a demo tape, video tape and application to:

Rock Star: The Series 149 South Barrington Avenue Suite 525 Los Angeles, CA 90049

Deadline for submissions is March 24, 2006.

The series will be produced by Mark Burnett Productions. Mark Burnett, David Goffin (ROCK STAR: INXS, "American Idol") and Lisa Hennessy (ROCK STAR: INXS, "Eco-Challenge," "Contender") are executive producers. Conrad Riggs is co-executive producer.


CASTING: Psychics for New SCI-FI CHANNEL Show

Are you Psychic or have a strong intuition?

Have you ever known who was on the end of the phone before it rang? Can you predict events before they happen? Have you ever made contact with the dead? Maybe your family or friends think that you are psychic?

A new reality series on the Sci-Fi Network is searching for outgoing men and women of all ages and personality types who think that they may have some degree of baseline psychic ability and are eager to be trained and have their psychic skills developed.

If you want to learn more about how to audition for the series and to apply to be on the show, please go to: www.scifi.com/thegift/. Fax the completed application and a RECENT PHOTO of yourself to 310.450.3875.

PROFESSIONAL PSYCHICS* MAY NOT APPLY (applicants subject to background checks).

DEADLINE for entries is MARCH 6th, 2006. You must be available to attend final auditions in Los Angeles March 24-26, 2006, and to be a part of principal photography from April 17 – May 5.

* Anyone who has offered services as a psychic to the public for a fee.

*Compensation: $ 1800 for shoot + other prizes


CASTING: Paris Hilton's Biggest Fan!
(wait, PH has fans? what?)

If you consider yourself to be her biggest fan we want to hear from you! Send a brief paragraph and a current picture to jay.jones@tyratv.com. ***

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