Buster Better Not Be Holding Out On Me...

"The work shown here was completed in 15 minutes on bathroom wallpaper by Monty, a Persian belonging to Mrs. Nora Scrotes of Chicago.
Mrs. Scrotes feels sure that the work was directly influenced by Monty being washed and having his knots removed the day before. Not only does Monty find the experience unpleasant, but on this occasion Mrs. Scrotes had to take an extended call from her elderly mother when she was halfway through the final rinse and was therefore unable to restrain the cat from attempting to dry itself by rolling in its litter box."

This is a sample of an art critic's take on a piece of feline art. There is actually a Museum of Non Primate Art.(http://www.monpa.com/wcp/)

I discovered this a few years ago after watching a documentary on PBS about elephant art and their process. Feline art is the most popular and lucrative of all non primate art with some pieces selling upwards of $15,000. There is also a really great book called Why Cat's Paint and Another called Why Cat's Dance. I am not a nut about this stuff but find it so amusing that people actually believe that cats or any animal is doing this as a form of creative expression and not just playing. I'm not convinced but the books are hilarious.

http://www.amazon.com/Why-Cats-Paint-Theory-Aesthetics/dp/0898156122/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product/104-5789190-6023944

My New Daily Addiction

http://deansden.net/portlandfiction/

Origional. Daily. Fiction.

Edited by Mr. Doug Dean

Yes Tanya, you read that correctly.

Hot Mess

Homegirl is.

She was at onetime my inspiration to hit the gym and now look at her… The thing is that I really liked her and didn’t hide it either. I was flipping through a CD book the other day looking for something and came upon the “Britney page” with …Baby one more time and Opps I did it again and Britney. Yes, I have them and I listened to them during her hayday. My favorite song from her first was “Born to Make You Happy” and loved the other more upbeat numbers from the following two. Sure there was total crap like “Email my Heart” and her cover of “The Beat Goes On” but there were some catchy gems in there. I know most people wouldn’t think of me as a Britney fan but I like pop music, even bubblegum pop. She was fresh and cute and a lot of fun. I was too young to be into Debbie Gibson, The Bangles, or Tiffany and I came of age during the grunge era where it was practically a crime to be a girly girl until Clueless and No Doubt came along. It was finally ok to wear lipstick shades aside from brown.

My heart goes out to the girl. Lord knows I had a train wreck period of my life but I didn’t have the world watching me make all those mistakes. I can’t imagine what hole I would have dug myself in if I had an infinite amount of cash and a team of people around me to pick up all that I let fall to the wayside. Her song “Lucky” foreshadowed this kind of apparent loneliness and isolation. Make fun of me if you must but I don’t think she will ever really recover from this and that makes me a little sad.

Whatev.

Ask and Ye Shall Recieve

Here is a picture of the cats waiting up for me late one Saturday night. Louis (Clay's cat) is on the left and B. Bud is on the right.

Their eyes glow like that all the time.

Video: Cute kitty paws the piano*

*Thanks Autumn

Gone Fishing

Ahhhh, finally springtime has come to Fishtown. I am generally enamored with my little neighborhood but it is especially lovely this time of year. Sure F-town has its problems like any other place such as cars that just stop in the middle of the street so some goon can come over and talk to the driver for five minutes while you sit behind them looking at the several open spots around where fucktard could just pullover to have his conversation with the aforementioned white trash who hailed him down. But all of that seems less aggravating when the buds on the trees start blooming around the dilapidated factories.

When the temperature peaks above 65 degrees the general happy mood of the population rivals the communal elation that is only felt during the colder months following an Eagles win. The pizza trucks now have the Mr. Softee trucks following suit keeping all well fed as everyone moves their business outdoors. Old men hold court on the front stoops to the people in fold out chairs sipping white zin and Miller Lite in 227 style.

In the winter pajama pants as outerwear is de rigueur among the teenage girls but as the days get longer they trade them in for short shorts and halter tops. They display these risqué fashions as they gossip and flirt on the Church steps across from my house. This style of dress and the seasonal extended hours of the beer depot is my freakonomics theory for all the new fishbabies that seem to be abundant come the late winter.

With the opening of 3 new restaurants and several new shops La Ville de Poissons is inching its way to becoming not just a hot real estate market but a really cool place to be.

Can't Think Anything Clever For a Title

I thought I’d share a couple of my favorite YouTube videos with ya to help ease you back into the work week. Mondays are tough especially if you can’t get outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. That is if the weather is nice in your part of the country like it is here in Philadelphia today.

I had never seen a Kirsten Dunst impression before but this is pretty great.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=c5zhxiPPRNY

You might have to log in because of “adult content” but it isn’t really that dirty but some might find it a little disturbing. And this isn’t a joke, you can actually buy this.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3ujPWDpC2PI

I Went To The Coolest College Ever

Yes, my beloved alma matter has an online store. Of course it does, I went there, I love to shop so it makes perfect sense. Just look at this student center and our crazy theatre! This school is pretty insane... in a wonderful way.

Now this store doesn’t sell the fleece blankets, mugs, and t-shirt crap but beautiful amazing things created by the ridiculously talented students that attend.

It’s fun to browse around and take a look at what the students are creating. Maybe you’ll find something nice to give your mom on Mother’s Day. This will become your new favorite online shopping destination! Check it out.

shopscadonline.com.

100% of the proceeds will help feed starving art students

Alec Baldwin is The New Tom Sizemore

Listen to this voicemail Alec Baldwin left on his daughter Ireland’s phone.

Holy shit! What a freak! I haven't heard such a scary voicemail since the ones Tom Sizemore left Heidi Fleiss.

CLICK HERE

Courtesy of TMZ

I thought it was a bird but it was just a paper bag...

Remember grab bags? I loved them. When I swam competitively I remember Speedo would have bathing suit grab bags. You would get the bag with your size and there would be some random patterned suit in it. I preferred it over picking my own suit. I was buying my own surprise. Tunes, a CD store in Marlton, New Jersey had CD grab bags and in High School I would go there and buy one and there would be 3 crappy CDs in there by people I had never heard of. I always took them home, listened to them, and more often than not, sold them back to the store using that money to purchase another grab bag and the cycle continued.

I am currently compiling an easy breezy spring mix for y’all but I can’t seem to get it just right so it might take me a couple more weeks. In the meantime I am going to do my own grab bag CD offer. Post or email me and I will burn you a few random CDs and send them in a stapled brown paper bag just like a real old fashion grab bag. How can you pass up an offer like that? I am really going to mix it up so you may get Stevie Nicks with Judas Priest and maybe some Uncle Tupelo thrown in there too. Who knows what I will come up with?!

O Captain, My Captain!

Last May I said I was going to complete Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass by the end of summer. I made it to page 24. This May I will take another stab at it. It is a classic for Christ’s sake. Bill Clinton gave a first edition copy to Monica Lewinsky. I should read it.

I made the same promise about Norman Mailer's The Executioner’s Song in the Fall. I didn’t even finish the preface. Did you ever see a copy of that book? I didn’t either until I received it in the mail packed in a shoebox. It is (and I am not exaggerating) over 4” thick. It is just sitting there on my shelf just taunting me.

Attention Frat Boys and Sorority Girls Everywhere!

Dave Matthews band is coming to town August 7th. Does anybody listen to them anymore? Are they putting out new stuff? Am I the only person in my age group who does not own one of their albums? Am I the only person who has never been to one of their shows? I am a girl and shouldn’t all girls have/had a crush on him? Maybe it is because I never went through a hippie or surfer phase...

Is something wrong with me?

Wait, don’t answer that.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39670

Don't Burn This Bush

Fashion Cares.

And so does Lauren Bush. The President’s niece has been working with the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) for years making trips to 3rd world countries and raising money for the organization. Before you roll your eyes, think about what you have done lately to help feed starving children. Exactly.

She doesn’t just look like a Ralph Lauren model, she is one. Conveniently she is also dating Ralph Lauren’s son David Lauren so if she gets married she will be Lauren Lauren. Pretty cool huh? Anyway one of my favorite and socially conscious (and fashion!) magazines Marie Claire teamed up with Lauren and the WFP to design a shirt and a tote bag that everyone reading this should buy.

Why, you ask? No, not to support George W and Co. but because 100% of the proceeds support the WFP. Made from American Apparel organic cotton (a good company but headed by total perv Dov Charney) one t-shirt purchase will feed 100 kids at school for a day. Buy the tote and you will feed one school child for a year. The good karma from buying the tote will be three fold (remember its organic and made by employees who have fair pay and health benefits too) as you can use it to carry your groceries to reduce waste.

You can find them at www.amazon.com/FEED & www.marieclaire.com

They make great gifts too so good luck coming up with a reason not to buy one.

A Very Special Treat

If this doesn't make you smile then there is something seriously wrong with you.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2023227471

Thanks Janeen!

C'mon Get Happy!

Ok, so I have been a little glum this week but who can blame me? The weather, the Virginia Tech shootings (you know I was crying about that at work when I first read it), and I had a shitty board meeting where people nit picked my minutes which pissed me off cos I got suckered into being the Secretary because nobody else would do it. Monday was also one of those days when I didn’t like my outfit. It made me look like an elf (which is how I think I look in pictures most of the time) and I was uncomfortable. My skirt kept twisting around, the crotch of my tights kept moving south, my bra straps were too loose, and my slip on shoes were falling off when I walked.

Luckily I know how to remedy these occasional mood slumps the old fashioned way. First indulge, but make sure you don’t do it alone. I had a few glasses of wine and a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup at Jones the other night. Yum. I have very kind and witty friends too so that helps.

Once that is out of my system I have some no fail cures for the mean reds:

1. My pineapple smoothie. The point of making this is moot if you do not drink it out of the pineapple. Get yourself a pineapple corer at a kitchen store and it will be like your new paring knife. Its that important. Empty out the pinapple and throw the fruit into the blender with some soy milk, mixed berries, honey, or whatever you may have around the house. I like to make mine with a vanilla Ensure (the old people drink) and some ice. Blend to desired consistency then pour back into the hollowed out pineapple and enjoy. I also recommend that you drink this while watching Muriel’s Wedding. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry and you’ll fall in love with Toni Collette all over again.

2. Mini Tramp, everyone should have one. I like to watch taped episodes of the Golden Girls or Designing Women while I bounce my troubles away.

3. Working out. I am a pilates girl at heart but when I am blue I mix it up a bit like I did this week by taking an intense hour and a half yoga class where I practiced my headstands and crow (see pic. I am really good at it I can even do a pushup in this pose. Its pretty impressive). Even if you suck at yoga you will leave with this feeling of accomplishment that you showed up and completed something that is good for you. Like the feeling you get when you finally quit smoking for good.

2. Catch up on correspondence. Everybody loves to get fun stuff in the mail and it makes you feel good to know you are going to make someone happy when they get home from work.

3. Finally, get a good nights sleep. I know when your depressed you just want to lay on your couch and watch Comedy Central till the wee hours of the morning but resist this temptation. It will only make you tired and cranky the next day at work, not cheerful and refreshed.

Try a few of these and I assure you that you will go from Franny Glass to Pollyanna in no time.

If none of this works, give me a call and we will figure it out together.

Aren't We Aging Well?

Since I am on the birthday topic today I vow to not spend my special day curled up in fetal position bawling this August 20th. I am going to deal with creeping up on 30 like a big girl. There will be a party. I will get a facial, a salt scrub and a mani/pedi. I will wear a new dress and a feel good about being becoming older and wiser.

Dar sang:
"I'm so glad that you finally made it here,"
"You thought nobody cared, but I did, I could tell,"
And "This is your year," and "It always starts here,"And oh "You're aging well."

This picture is from my 21st birthday party after dinner at Juarez where I consumed a Margarita as big as my head. This was taken in the kitchen of my apartment after and I honestly do not remember the names of these people but I know I worked with them at the Olde Pink House.

Clearly I had a good time.

That was the last birthday I ever did anything or let anybody do anything for it.

They Say It's Your Birthday...

I'd like wish a big Happy Birthday to my friend Leslie who is turning the big 2-7! I'll be at Jones after my NCT bored meeting to help you celebrate with comfort food and retro cocktails.

Villanofun Reunion

I know I have been MIA lately but I have a good excuse. The biggest being the 1st Annual Philadelphia Book Festival coming up and I have been reading up a storm to get ready for it. My mind is crammed with all this fiction it is the only thing I can really think about other then the basics. I don't think you want to hear about all the books I have been reading right lately. I will probably spotlight some in my next "suggested reading" post. There are a few authors who are going to be there (and Patti Smith!!!) whose books I have been meaning to read and since now they are coming to town I figured I’d get on that so I can prepare my questions for them and feel confidant when I ask them to sign my book. Yes, I am a major nerd. I know that and I have made peace with it.

The other reason is that last Wednesday I was in New York for my best friend Tanya’s birthday party at the Time Lounge in the Time Hotel a few blocks from where she works at Wenner Media or something like that. Her building’s security rivals the Pentagon’s and maybe because it is next to Radio City Music Hall but there were three checkpoints before I made it to the second floor. T and I had a crash gossip session and she loaded me up with all the free magazines I could handle. Isn't she a peach? BTW if you are into magazines then this was the party to be at. Magazine people everywhere. They are like a society or something.

The thing is when I looked back on the Evite RSVP list when I received my email reminder I had a mini panic attack. There on the list was my old Villanova roommate and several friends from when I attended Nova for two years. These are some fabulous people but I have some deep complicated feelings about that time in my life. I am working through the sense of failure and inadequacy that leaving left me with even though I do not regret the decision. I also hate that I essentially lost touch with them. It kills me to have people disappear from my life. Anybody I cared about at one time I can’t let go entirely. I always want to know what they are doing and what they are about. I had another Colleen dropout from this winter and even that makes me a little sad. All of this Villanova stuff I am working through in therapy and I think coming to terms with a lot of stuff and unloading some serious baggage. Baby steps.

Well, I had a fabulous time. I did. I loved talking to all my old friends and fell right into it. I am still not over my issues related to Villanova and the hardest part is that I don’t know why I even have them. Why I went there and why I left all makes sense to me but when I think back on it I remember how miserable I was and how bad I felt about myself. I listened to a lot of Tom Waits during those years… I am starting tear up a little (what is my problem? If you know please enlighten me) so I am done talking about it for now.

Tanya, Happy Birthday and I love you very much but am still recovering from when whoever it was who thought it would be fun to pick me up, throw me over their shoulder and run with me through a crowded block after I had several cocktails. Upside-down with the bouncing pavement below as the only thing I could see put the fear of God in me.

The picture is from Freshman year and that is me (everyone’s favorite girl) on the left, next is Kristen, Tanya's roommate who I am told lives in Brooklyn with her boyfriend, Tanya center, and my roommate Carolyn on the right. I don't know why we are flipping off the camera but I am sure we had our reasons.

Conor, Buck Up And Be A Man

Today the new Bright Eyes album Cassadaga hit stores and I promptly picked up a copy at the FYE that moved into the first floor of my building. I first started listening to him in 2000 with Fevers and Mirrors and enjoyed it so much I bought everything else he put out I could find the next day. I liked him. He was confused, angry, young, romantically challenged and drank too much. Sound like someone you know? He also had this desperation in his voice that sounded as if he felt like he losing control and I latched my own 20 year old little-girl-lost pain onto it. That kind of vulnerability drew in art students everywhere and carrying that demographic his popularity grew along with the budding Omaha music scene. To prepare for this purchase I went to Borders and perused their music magazine section for reviews and the obligatory PR interview rounds. I sat for a while and read around 6 pieces in which several said in some way or another how “we watched Conor Oberst grow up in front of us” but I am going to go against the grain on this idea hoping it won’t compromise any favorable sentiment I still have for him.

The idea I am debating is that Oberst never really did grow up. The rest of us did but this Manboy is still nauseatingly fragile (he even looks like he would get his ass kicked in a "take it outside" fight with a MaryKate Olsen) although every time I have seen him in concert he has this cool detachment that doesn’t match the tone of his lyrics. I am not going to lie, I liked I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning. A lot. There is time and place for his music because it is good and satisfying. Although I have not listened to Cassadaga yet I doubt that there is little departure from the rest of his efforts. I am starting to wonder if Conor his just suffering from some kind of stunted adolescence or is it a gimmick? With the sales from his last two albums and the projected sales from Cassadaga, we are buying it. Hook, line, and sinker.

Eat Your Daily Candy

Things you and your boy almost created in your dorm room: a fake ID, a banana bong, a baby.
Shocker: You failed. (No follow-through.)

Lucky for you, a Georgia Tech student and his girlfriend didn’t pull out early — they succeeded in creating Boomshine, the highly addictive computer game they built in just one day in their college digs.

How does it work? Well, technically, we have no idea, but here’s how you play: The screen is filled with a varying number of colorful dots. With a click of your mouse, you create an orb, which expands, ensnaring the dots. When your orb hits a dot, that dot expands and swallows up other dots. The goal is to create a chain reaction, by which you encase as many colored dots as possible.

As you move up in levels, you must join up more and more of the infuriating dots until at last you throw your stinking computer out the window.
Complicated? Nope. It’s procrastination 101.

k2xl.com

Really Think About This One

What would you rather do/have happen:


Murder someone



Or



Accidentally kill someone

??

God Help The Working Girl

About twenty minutes this prominent Philadelphia lawyer (who’s name I won’t mention, that’s tacky) came into our office with a chip on his shoulder and a bone to pick with me. I won’t go into the issue but I wouldn’t give him what he wanted and because of that this self important prick wanted to meet with me and bitch me out until I gave in. Of course I am not some kind of fucking Bureaucrat so I most likely would have accommodated to somebody who was nice to me or at least sweet talked me at the time but because he was such an ass I was not going to budge an inch. I knew he was coming in so I briefed my boss on the situation and begged him not to let him have his way because then I will look like an fool and this douche will always think he can get around me. Mark agreed.

So Mr. Ass Hole came in like a bat outta hell yelling at me and wanted to speak to Mark in his office. This is an old building so I can hear what people saying if I stand close to the door (as I often do). He suddenly was all calm talking “man to man”* with Marky complaining about me and heard him say “building manager Barbie out there…” Fucking hilarious!

Suddenly I really like this guy.

*If you think this is some kind of mysogenistic issue (which I am on the fence about) you may enjoy http://www.blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/

Hope Your Easter Eggs Were Organic & From Free Range/Cage Free Chickens!

I realized that I had forgotten to wish everybody a Happy Easter. Or Passover (the Jewish Easter).

Keep those warm pastel Easter feelings all year round by checking out http://www.dailybunny.com/

Its what Jesus would do.

Bad Brains Straight from Spokane

Today I’d like to talk a little bit about my friend and musical touchstone, Tom Jenner. About three years ago I ordered a Lyle Lovett’s The Road To Ensensda on Amazon but when it came Pontiac was in the case. Although Pontiac is his classic album and I think everyone should own it, I already had it. I wrote that in a little note, packed it in with the CD and mailed it off to one Tom Jenner in Spokane, Washington. A week later the mailman brought me a package with not only my Ensenada CD but also two burned Townes Van Zandt CDs! He also included a little note apologizing for the mix up and wanted to make up for with the Van Zandt albums suggesting that if I like Lyle I should get to know his influences. This began a CD trade that has lasted for years with no end in sight. This is how I got started mailing out music to people all the time.

Tom and I have bonded over artists that we love and introduce each other to ones we think the other will enjoy or that we think are culturally significant. This Friday when I got home, still riding high from my Paul Rudd sighting, I found a package including a Bad Brains bootleg and an early Robert Earl Keen demo (I am already fans of both but these rarities are a real treat). See, that’s the thing, we are both constantly craving new music and are always open to being turned onto somebody or something new. There are a few exceptions of course. We both agree that Ska and Reggae are not only overrated but repetitive in lyrics and melody. Neither of us wears our musical tasted on our sleeves and we mutually dislike any type of music that requires a type of dress or commitment to a scene. At the same time while we hold onto these ideas we are hoping someone will come along and show us how wrong we are. I felt this way about Bluegrass but Tom opened this door to a whole genre for me and changed my mind. I turned him onto WXPN and now he listens to it as he works from home as a CPA and small business consultant. He also writes a music column for a small independent weekly in Spokane and occasionally sends me clippings of show reviews of artists I like.

Our relationship is entirely based on music. We have never met and we do not know what the other looks like although sometimes Tom will include pictures of his two adorable young sons with my CDs. We also correspond solely by mail as I think email will ruin it and also make it kinda weird since Tom is married and luckily Amanda is totally cool with his little music penpal in Philadelphia.

Today I mailed out two CDs from local Philly bands The Teeth and Dr. Dog, both of whom I am convinced are going to hit it big time any day now. I also included a note suggesting he visit my blog since I often talk about music and I know he will check it out.

Hi Tom! Once you are done listening to these bands you will no longer think the City of Brotherly Love peaked in 1776! Say hi to Amanda and the boys for me!

Music is for everyone and we share the love.

Wet Hot American Friday!

I got a late start this morning as today is Good Friday and I have the day off. I got up around 8:30 and shuffled downstairs to eat an Amy’s Tofu Pocket and watched the 2nd half of Hoffa on AMC before getting dressed and getting my ass downtown for my 10:15 appointment with my psychiatrist. Dr. K has been in Europe for the past couple of weeks and we have a lot of catching up to do. I always like a hot beverage when I go so I swing by Starbucks in the Bellevue and as I come into the lobby from the Broad Street entrance I see this really cute guy coming towards me. We make some solid eye contact as I think to myself “did I go to college with this him or work with him somewhere” and as soon as he gets close enough to me I put it together, it’s Paul Fucking Rudd! There was that awkward “who goes in front of who thing” that happens when two people get to the line at the same time (we are like, totally n’sync) but I end up in front of him. He orders a tall black coffee and when I heard his voice I almost wanted to pick him up and swing him around. Seriously, even though I am wearing Frye boots today the man barely comes up to my chin. Great hair and amazing skin.

I had to stop myself from asking if his flannel shirt is a nod to the crispy Philadelphia weather, or is he just trying to stay warm in front of the Starbucks juice fridge.

Who Am I? Who Am I?

I kind of feel as though this blog should have a purpose, but I don't think if I had one it would not be true to myself as I have yet to find my purpose. Instead I decided that this will just be an open email to all my friends and foes (if any of them read this, please let me know so I don't talk shit about you).

I also decided that I would not post pictures of myself but I thought I should at least put up one. This is a rare make-up free picture (probably why I am covering my face) taken by my girl Kate in Atlanta. I may post more in the future but really, who needs to see picutures of yours truely. Momma said I have a face for blogging and there are much more interesting images out there anyway.

Another Grace Kelly?

Today I was a little bored and procrastinating so decided to finally look over the grant applications for the New Century Trust of which I am on the board. I had met with the director of Arts In Motion, Eric Haeker who is very passionate and is deeply committed to the evolution of classical music as well as the improving the lives of under privileged youth in Philly. Great guy, a little intense, and that is saying something coming from me as I can be pretty intense. I’m a Leo, what can I say? He showed me his studio to give an informal presentation of what AIM does and I even got to make my own music and burn it onto a CD. Very cool, but uncomfortable with people kissing my ass.

Las week he CCd me the applications, proposal, budgets and so on for his organization as well as the ones for Youth Empowerment Services (he is a grant writer as well and felt that their organization was in line with our mission). I basically just skimmed over the cover letters when I received them but today I thought I would open all the attachments before I met with the Grant Committee Chairwoman this evening for cocktails at the Union League (fancy and so grownup). For some reason she loves me and always wants to take me to events to discuss Trust business. I am on the Executive Committee now so now there is more work involved for me. Since both organizations were so nice to me as well as being worthy causes I thought I would really put in a good word for both of them.

I started with Arts In Motion proposal for a program they wanted to have at Girl’s High here in Philly where only 50% of the students reach graduation day. Sad, I know. Well, Eric was going into the school and its history and then I noticed something very odd about the list of some of their graduates…

Girls’ High: This school continues to leave its mark on history. Selected graduates are below:
• C. Delores Tucker - Civil rights activist, first African American Secretary of State in PA (1971-77)
• Constance Clayton - First woman and first African American superintendent of Phila. schools
• Shirley Franklin - First woman mayor of Atlanta, GA
• Judith Rodin - First woman president of the University of Pennsylvania
• Virginia Knauer - Economic advisor to three U.S. Presidents
• Hon. Dolores Korman Sloviter – first female Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit)
• Susan Mines - Queen of Leichtenstein
• Hon. Lisa Richette - Judge, writer, child welfare activist
• Hon. Frederica Massiah-Jackson - Judge, educator
• Jessie Redmon Fauset - Harlem Renaissance writer
• Barbara Clementine Harris - First woman bishop in the Anglican church, civil rights activist
• Marcia Greenberger - Founder and Co-President of the National Women's Law Center

Queen of Leichtenstein? Seriously?

At SCAD We Called Comic Book Majors "Sequential Art" Majors

I read this on my friend Stean Wilborn's blog. The best rant I have come across in a while and thought I would share it with you. Hope that's ok Stean.

I AM TOTALLY WIPING MY @$$ WITH MARVEL COMICS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Joe Quesada is the absolute worst editor in chief in the history of comics. Looks like the brand is going to go to the pooper like his orignal, creator owned comic....what was it? It doesn't matter because if it was any good folks would remember it.
Killing off Captain America is the most F'd up thing ever done in the history of the medium. He was pretty much the toughest character in that universe. He's pretty much the only one who could beat anybody hands down in a fair fight, not to mention the only one with enough heart to not puss out and use some sort of device or super/mutated power.
Looks like there will be more Spiderman and X-Men/Wolverine titles for those band wagon jumping "I only read the spoon fed overrated popular stuff" tittybabies now that Cap's gone.
I am thoroughly pissed off!
...freakin' impotent rage!!!

Eat Your Vegtables , Read Your Books

Another list of books I recently read that I think you may enjoy:

Housekeeping vs. Dirt – Nick Hornby
Nick Hornby is the premier author for disillusioned men in their 20’s and 30’s. He is the writer of bestsellers made into movies such as About A Boy, Fever Pitch, and High Fidelity. I picked up this one, his most recent, at Joseph Fox last week and read it in one sitting. It is a book about books he read and it is entertaining as hell. As a finalist for The National Book Critics Circle for Criticism, Nick is a gifted critic as well as a beloved novelist. In this book he covers books by authors ranging from Voltaire to Motley Crue .

Heartburn – Nora Ephron
Ok, I mentioned her twice recently so I felt I should suggest something of hers. Nora is known for her sharp wit and compassionate humor. This is a novel based on the breakup of her own marriage and it is a beautiful, heartbreaking book. If you want something lighter of hers read her new one I Feel Bad About My Neck. It’s hilarious.

Inventing a Nation – Gore Vidal
Everybody should read at least one book by him and this is a good one. He is a national treasure.

I Like You - Sandol Stoddard and Jacqueline Chwast
A novelty book that is so good. If you read this without feeling something then you need to take a trip to Oz and get yourself a heart stat. I keep my copy in my sock drawer until I find someone special enough to give it to.

On Bullshit - Harry G. Frankfurt
An essay in a cute little book by a Princeton philosophy professor that is a good, quick read. One reviewer said: This compact little book, as pungent as the phenomenon it explores, attempts to articulate a theory of this contemporary scourge--what it is, what it does, and why there's so much of it. The result is entertaining and enlightening in almost equal measure. It can't be denied; part of the book's charm is the puerile pleasure of reading classic academic discourse punctuated at regular intervals by the word "bullshit." More pertinent is Frankfurt's focus on intentions--the practice of bullshit, rather than its end result.

If you check any of them out drop me a line and we can discuss.

Speaking of Albert Brooks...

Watch Looking For Comedy In A Muslim World.

It's like the movie equivalent of Ecstacy. You will want to start hugging everybody and telling them how much you love them.

Calvin Loves Alice And I Love Calvin

Last night I got to thinking (uh oh) about what was wrong with me in the most self indulgent way. I am always teetering on embracing or despising my single status. I like being single, don’t get me wrong, but I begin to wonder if that is the way I am forever ment to be and more importantly if that it is my fault.

When I feel insecure about this I like to think about Diane Keaton who has never been married or even proposed to. I think there is something not right with a world where someone as beautiful, smart, and funny does not have hoards of men of all ages lined up around the block just to see her. In the movie Something’s Gotta Give they poorly explored this idea by casting her opposite Jack Nicholson who essentially played the same character as he did in Terms of Endearment. Amanda Peet plays her daughter (or herself) as the pretty, vapid, and terribly uninteresting girl clinging to an older more established man to give her the credibility that she is just too ordinary and uninspired to earn herself. Just because she has brown hair that doesn’t mean she is smart (read an interview with Ms. Peet and you may think the pages got stuck together with a Paris Hilton profile). In short, she plays the stereotypical “girlfriend” role and that is a bad, but far to frequently accurate stereotype. The movie is shit. Despite how the story plays out, when the cameras stop rolling the Jack will go back to the Lara Flynn Boyles waifs of Hollywood and Diane will be, well fabulous Diane.

Now I am not saying I am Diane Keaton (although I see a lot of myself in Annie Hall, I don’t know if others would agree) but I wonder is she is haunted by the same sense of inadequacy that I am from time to time. I wonder if she sits around feeling ugly and weird when she faces dissapointments in her life. Well, I don't usually feel ugly but I am weird and much of it may be a result of never being in a relationship too long. For example, if I was spending all my free time with a boyfriend I doubt I would have went to that Sidda Yoga cult retreat chanting on mats and praising a guru instead of practicing my downward dog and sun salutations which is what I thought I signed up for. I probably would have been talked out of my weeklong brown rice fast or the whole six months when I went Macrobiotic. If I had a boyfriend at Villanova would I have left to find something better and more exciting for me? Would I have flown to Miami for the weekend at the spur of the moment by myself last winter without telling a soul because I felt I needed some sunshine, change of scenery, and solitude? Maybe I would have felt complacent in my professional life and not pushed so hard for promotions and raises. I doubt I would have even bought my house.

This past winter I was at a David Berkeley show at WXPN and I ran into a friend of a friend and her live-in boyfriend. She was asking me about my house and job as we were talking about music and such. Her boyfriend was a nice guy but did not hide his distain for the performers subsequently making the show less enjoyable for us. Why on earth was he even there, I wondered. Why didn’t she just go by herself and not have to listen to his incessant bitching or have to apologize for wanting to be there and then thank him for coming along. Fuck that shit. Later in the evening between sets he asked me where my boyfriend was. I told him I didn’t have one to which he said “I thought you said you bought a house?” I should have been mad but instead I felt as thought I was just punched in the gut. All the equity in the world couldn’t help me from feeling so small. The cheese stands alone.

The main problem that I seem to run into is that people get bored of me after three months. Everybody tells me it is them and not me (of course they do, they are my friends and they love me) but the evidence speaks volumes. I can’t change and don’t really want to, I don’t think… Am I failing or is the universe sparing me from limiting my bizarre personal growth until I find someone like Albert Brooks or writer Calvin Trillin(?), both of whom I adore for their humor and kindness. Calvin Trillin dedicated everything he wrote to his wife Alice (who was an amazing individual and pictured with Calvin above) and referenced her in his writing so much that I once read a quote given by their friend Nora Ephron that went something like "any woman who reads Calvin's books or articles is going to be cursed wondering everytime they are with a man, if he can love her as Calvin loves Alice." As a Trillin fan I think I fall into that group.


In the meantime I am been building a little life of my own that isn’t to shabby but I am impatient. Not to find someone but to know if I ever will. I would like to get on with my life if I resign myself to the idea that this is always how it will be.

If that is the case I guess I better start shopping for a few more cats…

I Am a Little Nuts. Like You Don't Know That Already

I am notoriously fickle about men. I like someone one day, don’t the next, and then back to liking him again, same old story over and over. Keeping in this tradition I decided to add a new spin since I was under the impression that this time would be different. I was wrong, dead wrong. On the upside I think I learned something from this past week:

If you are at a restaurant and see a guy you think is cute, do not have the waiter give him your number if you don’t expect him to call and don’t really want him to either. You may get what seems like a million calls from him wanting to go out with you. Go figure. Doing this is essentially fucking with the guy's head and that is never a nice thing to do.

I would advise people to learn from my mistake but I doubt most people would make it.

Speaking of nuts; I read up on coconut oil/butter and it is ridiculously good for you and has many uses. You can buy it at health store such as the Vitamin Shoppe and it come in solid form but it melts at a very low heat. It has a light flavor so the coconut is not overwhelming and can be used in cooking and baking as a canola/butter substitute. Cats love it so give them a little to aid in their digestion and make their fur soft and shiny. This will do the same for your hair if you eat it. It is also a great moisturizer for your skin. I used it to shave my legs this weekend and it made my legs super soft. Try it today!