Boo!



New York Voters: Lookie Here

Hey New York Voters: So, you don't know which district you are in?? Lookie here: http://nymap.elections.state.ny.us/nysboe/

Hey New York Voters: Don't understand the city charter amendments that will appear on the back of the ballot on Tuesday? Lookie here:  http://www.nyccfb.info/public/voter-guide/general_2010/ballotProposal.aspx

Hey New York Voters: Wonder what the New York Times thinks about those revisions?? Lookie here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/opinion/30sat4.html Though I dion't know if I agree with their view on this...

Hey New York Voters: Wanna make a statement with your vote in the election on Tuesday??? Be sure to vote for your candidates on the Working Families Party line... Here's the WFP endorsements...

Sweets for the Sweet?

No doubt that some people will think of Halloween as an entire weekend this year...

With Sunday being the 31st, no doubt that the revelers will be off the hook starting tonight and carrying on through the wee small hours on Monday morning...

Not me... Have never been one to get all dolled up or in monster drag for all this flagrant narcissism... (I prefer a sneakier kind! LOL)

And... Candy?? Not so much...

Liquid candy?? Um... Those days are past...

But still: Happy Halloween to the rest of you... I want you to enjoy the madness...

I'll be pretty much locked tight inside in my crypt til it's all over...

But... Happy  Friday!

Thoisday in New Yoirk

The holiday catalogs have started to arrive... I get very few of these kinds of things as I do most of my ordering online these days...

But I REALLY don't like being reminded of the holidays this early...

Christmas advertising shouldn't even be allowed until Thanksgiving Day...

Shoppers should be focussing on Election Day instead...

Hopefully all New Yorkers will remember to turn over the new paper ballot to complete the amendment against Bloomberg and Christine Quinn's infamous term limit debacle... Even the Mayor is sheepishly supporting it now... Talk about riding the horse in the direction it's going... Boo to Bloomberg and Shame on Quinn... I can't wait for both to leave office...

Andrew Cuomo is the only choice for Governor. Frankly, I don't like him or trust him... But there we are...

And as for the rest of the country... God Bless Us everyone...

Vintage Bette

Welcome to Munchkinland

Took yesterday off to go the doctor...

They converted to a new computerized system at the clinic where my doctor "resides" and it took 3 hours to get through the procedures... Mostly clerical hurry up and wait stuff that I can't bear...

Diagnosis: Frustration! Remedy: Serenity prayer...

I'm shrinking down to 6 feet and 1/2 inches... I was once 6'2, but truthfully that included my "big hair" back in my youth... At this rate, I'll be able to be able to be cast as a munchkin in a remake of the Wizard of Oz in 2030.

Weight? 184! Excellent... And I have a good Body Mass Index of 24. The high end of normal. But, I'll take it!...

You wanna check your own BMI? Go here.

Waiting on all the routine blood results...

Set the Tone: Be Kind

"I expect to pass through this world but once. Therefore, any good that I can do, or any kindness that I can show, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again."
-- Stephen Grellett

Sunday Morning Reporting

It's been cool lately! Love that!!

But a warm spell is predicted... Ugh... Well warm means 70's and not 90's... So it'll be ok...

Meeting some dear friends from Boca for breakfast... BillY Boy makes the best blueberry pancakes... Chelsea Clinton lives down the hall...

NYTimes had a preponderance of pieces in today's paper twisting the likely election outcome in Republicans into something good for the country... Ahem... That Obama will finally have an "enemy" to target... That only works if he "mans up" as the Tea Partiers call it... But if he sits around hoping GOP'ers will compromise, he's pathologically hopeless. The audacity of hopelessness...

Just sent a couple of postcards the old fashioned way... Well not completely cuz the stamps are pre-adhesive... Denied me the joy of licking...

Speaking of licking... Was one year ago, yesterday, that my doggy died... No plans for a new one. Actually... lately, I can't even imagine it...

Was a busy day yesterday of meetings with friends, commitments, and a workshop by Dr. Alan Downs, the author of The Velvet Rage... Looking forward to his next book... Peter Pan is in the title, and it's due next Fall... Although when I cornered him at the wrap serving tray, he acknowledged that his Velvet Rage workbook is seemingly caught in a velvet fog...

Where in the World??

Have a Great Weekend!

A busy weekend planned on this end...

I'm Not a Witch: The Music Video

Android Geekdom

Back to this topic of Android and Mobile Broadband and Jailbreaking, Rooting and Tethering... Seems things are completely in flux on all of this at the moment... And so, I'm not gonna do anything for a spell...

Apparently, my T-Mobile carrier is supposed to release legal tethering pricing options next month... A new company called Clear has popped up with stores all over town selling wireless broadband (Price wars?)...

And so maybe by the end of the year dust will settle and things will be clearer... Also seems they are FINALLY gonna update my smartphone Motorola Cliq to the latest version of Android (2.1) in the next month... (They promised me that was imminent last Spring when I bought it).

I ALMOST signed up for a mobile broadband two year plan over the weekend... Glad I didn't... Let the dust settle...

A 22 year old kid I know, knows a LOT about all this Android stuff... And has tuned me into some insider websites like TMOnews.com... So now, I'm following them on Twitter and I'm an informed Android/ Mobile Broadband geek too!!

So Cool...

Sunday?!?!?!

It's Sunday already??? You gotta be kidding me...

Right Off the Top of My Head

Right off  the top of my head was today's haircut... Oh my the baldspot is becoming more and more apparent... Hard to believe I once I had thick golden curls... LOL

Orange Listerine is the best stuff. None of the generic versions capture that zingy bite. Perfection.

Had to send that Virgin Mobile modem back. Connection times were ridiculously slow. Still in search of a mobile option for my laptop that doesn't cost an arm and a leg... And allows unfettered speeds and unlimited use? Have sort of ruled out jailbreaking and tethering cuz the carriers are wise to it and 5 or 10mb happens too quick... Any ideas, anyone?

Finally starting to feel Autumnal around here... That pic above was from Autumn from almost 20 years ago, I reckon. I seem to recall it was taken in Baltimore in the early 1990's... Sheesh...

I don't know how to organize photos in the Microsoft Windows photo app... Damnit! EVERYTHING has a learning curve!

I can attest: Scan Cafe' is a brilliant way to scan all your treasured photos and to have them digitally altered to look magnificent... I have a whole slew of hundreds of them that I'll be uploading to FaceBook and Flickr eventually... Read their FAQ, everything they say is true... Their service is amazing... AMAZING, I say!! The images are much enhanced...

Dr Oz shows have been very good lately... I watch em like college lectures and often have to take notes... Wish he wasn't so damned women oriented though... He talks about soy and hormones from a woman's perspective, but doesn't explain the advice for men... Stuff like that makes it annoying...

I'm completely fed up with politics right now.... US politics is one big mess... New York state politics are off the charts... I can't even watch the Sunday talk shows lately... Delete, delete, delete...

Am spending this whole entire Saturday basically doing computer and housekeeping chores... Am making great headway though... But always amazed at how stuff backs up during the work week(s)...

Now, about that bald spot...

Mae West Trivia in Hell's Kitchen

Can't vouch for the authenticity of this information...

But I stumbled on all this fun Hell's Kitchen Mae West trivia while Googling around for a friend...

See Mae West Blog for more...:

There's so much MAE WEST history on certain blocks in her hometown that there ought to be a signpost or two.

• • What is it, for instance, about West 47th Street? Not only does this block have numerous sites with an intriguing back-story, it is also notable for its links to Mae West and Sophie Tucker. In honor of Mae’s upcoming birthday, here is a self-guided tour of West 47th in midtown Manhattan.

• • 412 West 47th: Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant launched The New Yorker here in 1925, a weekly that often reviewed the shows Mae West and Sophie Tucker were in.
• • 345 West 47th: The New York City Police Department's 16th Precinct sent a Black Maria to haul in Mae West after undercover officers raided her play "Sex" in February 1927. This scene was repeated after the cops raided Mae's gay play "Pleasure Man" in October 1928. Mae West had to arrange bail from West 47th Street.
• • 339 West 47th: Actors Temple [Congregation Ezrath Israel] was founded in 1917 and became a spiritual home for Jews working on Broadway such as Sophie Tucker, Jack Benny, Edgar G. Robinson, Red Buttons, Shelley Winters, The Three Stooges, and other vaudevillians who were also colleagues of Mae West.

• • 261 — 265 West 47th: The Biltmore Theatre was raided when Mae's gay play "Pleasure Man" had its opening night here in October 1928.

• • 1580 Broadway at West 47th: In the 1920s it was the Palais Royale, with the Moulin Rouge in the basement. Then from 1936 to 1940 it was the Cotton Club's post-Harlem home, featuring stars like Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, all of whom worked with Mae West. From 1942 to 1969, it was the Latin Quarter nightclub (run by Lou Walters, Barbara Walters' father). During the 1950s, both Sophie Tucker and Mae West were booked here.

• • 1568 Broadway at West 47th: Doubletree Guest Suites Times Square Hotel, built in 1991 as the Embassy Suites to a Fox & Fowle design, envelopes the old Palace Theater, built in 1913 by Kirchoff & Rose. During its heyday it was every vaudevillian's dream to play The Palace. Among those who made it were Sophie Tucker, W.C. Fields, Fanny Brice, Will Rogers, Eddie Cantor, Bob Hope, the Marx Brothers, and Mae West (accompanied by pianist Harry Richman), who starred here in 1922.

• • 707 Seventh Avenue at West 47th: "Introduced with great success by Mae West" announced the song sheet for "Cuddle Up and Cling to Me," with lyrics by Stanley Murphy [1875 — 1919] and music by Henry I. Marshall, which was newly distributed in 1912 by Charles K. Harris. The celebrated composer and music publisher from Chicago was now running his Manhattan operation from the Columbia Theatre Building at 707 Seventh Avenue.

• • West 47th Street's Diamond District: This block ranks with Antwerp, Belgium, and Ramat Gan, Israel, as one of world’s major diamond trading centers. Sophie Tucker's success as an entertainment headliner financed a personal treasure chest of gems at a time when performers wore their own jewelry onstage. Mae West's love of sparklers inspired her most successful stage play "Diamond Lil." Pick any scene in the 1933 motion picture "She Done Him Wrong" (based on the play) and watch those solitaires and brilliants flash onscreen.

Friday

ZZZZZ

I'm You

Saturday Night Live spoof of Christine O'Donnell advertisement.

Thanks to Wondermann.

Three Day Weekends Rock!

Man oh man, I love these three day weekends...

Makes me envious of my friends on reduced workweek part-time schedules... Are you reading this Lisa??

So, it's back to work for me on Tuesday.... But I'm exceedingly grateful to have a job... Don't misunderstand me...

In the New York Governor's race... Carl Palladino is the gift that keeps on giving to Andrew Cuomo... Latest are Carl's anti-gay rants... He's clearly insane...

I DO want to see "Let Me In"... But don't know when I'll get there... Smart theater chains would keep a vampire picture running through Halloween, yes??

Virgin Mobile sold me a modem for my notebook computer... And it works fine, I guess... But the service is HORRENDOUS... Signal so sooo sloooow, you could walk across town to the server yourself with the data... Of course finding a way to get a refund for this piece of useless crap will not be easy.... Companies don't make such detachment and refund processes easy... Sprint (who owns Virgin) really should be ASHAMED of themselves...

Did you read Would the City Shut You Down?? A scary piece on what might happen if the city health inspectors visited your humble abode for inspection?... Oh... My... God!... I'm surely an F... But a happy one...

I currently weigh 188. 185 would be better... But I'll take it... Celebrated with a Goodburger run Monday morning. It's was a three day weekend... And it was Cheat Day...

Discovered that the day after big sporting events, local grocery stores have leftover fresh fruit platters... For $3, I've had adundant fresh fruits for several days since the Yankees clinched their division the other night... Go Yanks! ...Will keep that fruity tip in mind for the future... Still have fresh grapes in the fridge and pineapple chunks in the freezer...

The Liberace Museum is closing. I went there once... It was disgusting actually... Lady Gaga should buy it...

Thoughts and prayer for Lucy... A sixteen-year old Westie who was having a bad weekend... She's had a great life. And I hjope she isn't suffering... And much love to Wendolina as she makes a lot of decisions...

Very scary article in today's NYTimes on the latest wave of Internet insecurity... Scary stuff... Roger, are you reading??

Naughty t-shirt spotted on a slickly dressed twent-something black dude: "If you lick them, they will come"... LOL

Set The Tone: Relax and Have Fun

"You're never going to get to any final place. And so, we want to remind you to relax and start having fun on the way".
-- Abraham

(Thanks to Lady Donothing)

10-10-10

10-10-10.

Enjoy your day.

Make a wish at 10:10am and 10:10pm

See what happens...

Here's what it means. And thanks to Keith for alerting me to this auspicious day. Quite frankly, I may have been oblivious...

The Timeless Words and Music of Noël Coward

Caught last night's Cabaret Convention concert/show at the Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater...

Personally, I abhor competitions for the arts... The peer group things (Drama Desk, and Manhattan Association of Cabaret Awards) are bad enough...

But the ones where they have an actual contest of head to head competitors hits me as beyond disgusting...

...Especially when these things pretend to not be rigged... When it's soooo obvious that they so surely were... As was the one that was held at a venerable Gramercy Park arts club a few months ago to screen "winning contestants" for last night's concert show...

The 21st New York Cabaret Convention featured a Noël Coward theme...

I'm rarely a fan of nights devoted to a single composer, anyway. Things invariably get samey... Although a Cole Porter or Irving Berlin night might present more diverse options... The Coward theme presented an overkill of arch intellect and exhaustive wittiness. Too much for back-to-back consumption and digestion, IMHO.

The evening's finest purveyors?? Well, let's see...

Steve Ross, of course... Pulls off Coward with quintessentially sophisticated aplomb in both voice and ivory...

Christine Ebersole soared with her compelling charisma... (Although her plugging her own album on Amazon.com seemed tacky and unbecoming. No doubt Mr. Coward would have a biting and brilliant aside at such American tackiness)...

Sidney Myer's Piccolo Marina was a brilliant example of Coward's sophistication and dry wit presented in a well timed and thoughtful rendition that the audience enthusiastically applauded... Noel Coward music is more about the lyric than the melody... Always was...

Simon Green was effective, winning and sharp... And evidently ever so British...

(Elaine Stritch was on the bill and advertising, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure how she could appear here and still make it to her Broadway call time at A Little Night Music in Friday Night traffic unless it was gonna be by helicopter... No surprise she did not appear...)

Then this Noël Coward Cabaret Award (a result of competition co-sponsored by The Mabel Mercer Foundation and The Noël Coward Foundation) was presented with a cash prize and well framed  gargantuan certificate (I hope she doesn't live in a studio apartment) to a grateful and extremely youthful  Jennifer Sheehan...

Cabaret impressario Donald Smith tipped his pompous hand, at one point, when he acknowledged in narration that the award was aimed at the 'Up and Coming' young cabaret star... If *that* were the initial criteria, then why were some seasoned pros included?... And then denied the prize?... If it's for the kids, then only have kids compete... Duh.

The ageism seemed especially strange for two organizations that rely so heavily on blue hairs and blue bloods of a certain age... And the youth criteria was apparently unclear to the contestants and audience at the actual competition several months ago...

My suggestion: Two awards of equal value: an up-and-comer, and a seasoned pro... Of course, the wording would have to be improved upon... Especially if we're discussing a Mr. Coward...

But, really? Throw out all the pretentious award nonsense altogether...

Yes, I'm all for young performers being supported in order to keep these songbooks alive... But not at the expense of putting them up against their elders and then declaring later:... "Oh well, this was for the youngsters all along anyway"... There's got to be a better way...

I would suggest The Mabel Mercer Foundation distance itself from similar stunts in the future...

I believe Mr. Coward would have found the whole exercise distasteful... Quite. Sniff. Sniff.

Happy Three Day Weekend!

It's a three day weekend here in the states. 

Some think it's for the sometimes controversial Columbus Day...

But those of in the know know it's a three day weekend in honor of Postal Lady's birthday on Sunday!!

Happy Birthday, Postal Lady!!

Happy Columbus Day to those of you who are not in the know...

Music Break: Dog Days Are Over

Florence and the Machine. Dog Days Are Over.

Thanks to Greg.

Feminine Wiles at Fountain Gallery

Got over to Fountain Gallery to see Gary Brent Hilsen's terrific new works in an exhibit titled Feminine Wiles. September 10 - October 27, 2010.

Trained in fashion design and illustration, Detroit-born Gary is primarily a self-taught painter. He holds a B.A. degree in liberal arts from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, and he first came to New York in the 1980s with an eye toward working in costume design. While he took classes at Fashion Institute of Technology, several galleries sold his work. He returned to Michigan and came back to New York in 2000. Gary's paint application technique gives his acrylic paintings the texture of watercolor or oil, mediums in which he also works. He is legally blind but continues to paint and he is inspired by listening to music as he works.

Fountain Gallery is the premier venue in New York City representing artists with mental illness. The gallery sells original artworks and collaborates with a wide network of artists, curators, and cultural institutions. Embracing artists who are both emerging and established, trained and self-taught, Fountain Gallery cultivates artistic growth and makes a vital contribution to the New York arts community.

If you can't make it to Hell's Kitchen to see this impressive collection of stylized creations... Check out Feminine Wiles online. All works are for sale and details are online...

Theoretical Tuesday Theories

Saw that someone on Twitter posted that "they call it Tuesday because it feels like Two Days"... LOL.

I did read recently in a more reliable news source that Tuesday is, indeed, THE most pressure filled day of the work week... No doubt because the full weight of the work week checklists have come to bear... Hump day hasn't haven't yet... So, you psychologically feel overwhelmed and far from going over the hump to weekend peace. ...That's the theory anyway...

I kept that in mind when I set my new schedule for the Fall. Tried to have a lighter Tuesday to see if it makes the work week feel more manageable.

...I'll have to let you know...

Meanwhile, I slept 10 hours last night. Was fading at the TV at 7:30pm. It wasn't til this morning that I realized that I had completely forgeotten to take a caffeine boost late yesterday afternoon.... I should probably get off the stuff completely... But I do like coffee with breakfast, and even with decaff, you get a buzz... And then a low. And then a need...

Tried a Passion Iced Tea (no sweetener, and no caffeine) at Starbucks today and it was fine... But not really the same experience as a rich cup of Joe, iced or otherwise...

... I'll work it out...

Set the Tone: Adding up

"We are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we can from life."
- William Osler

Hell's Kitchen's First 'Hoody in the 'Hood' Kinda Sunday

Silly Me. I got up this morning. Got showered, shaved, dressed and all the way to the subway til a newstand guy pointed out today was Sunday... Not Monday...

Was this a simple mistake?? Or do I need to take the Alzheimer Smell Test. Inability to identify 10 specific odors proved to be the best predictors for Alzheimer's Disease: strawberry, smoke, soap, menthol, clove, pineapple, natural gas, lilac, lemon and leather.

I KNOW I know what leather smells like. So, I'm good...

First cool morning where a hoody was warranted. So I wore my hoody in the hood...

Paper arrived late... Another reminder to seriously explore Times Reader 2.0.

Chrome showed the most growth among browsers. Actually the only browser to show growth. like it. Quick. And the new add-ons only enhance the product. I like that it keeps my preferences for wherever I log on...

First five day work week ahead where I have to actually lkive the work and travel schedule I created for myself... Will have to see how much it wears me out... Or doesn't... The latter is my wont.

Coupla drunks at the morning diner pontificationg on the history of mankind, and mammals. Loudly. Then they went for a cigarette and came back in and tried to bribe the waitron $50 to serve them a breakfast beer. The rule is: Never on a Sunday, of course. The waitron declined, and we were all winkfully happy to see them go to their homes (though one looked homeless) and take their theories (and blankets) with them.

I'm completely reminded that the weekends are not enough time to take care of all the personal stuff between work weeks...

At least a three day weekend (Columbus Day) looms five workdays ahead...

Both the diner's waitron and the busperson vehemently assured me that they, too, have gotten completely confused about the day of the week. Considering that their combined ages don't even total my present age, I feel better now...

Abstract Expressionist New York at MoMA

MoMA's new Abstract Expressionist New York show opens tomorrow.

I saw a preview today!!

Terrific!!

More than sixty years have passed since the critic Robert Coates, writing in the New Yorker in 1946, first used the term “Abstract Expressionism” to describe the richly colored canvases of Hans Hofmann. Over the years the name has come to designate the paintings and sculptures of artists as different as Jackson Pollock and Barnett Newman, Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko, Lee Krasner and David Smith. Beginning in the 1940s, under the aegis of Director Alfred H. Barr, Jr., works by these artists began to enter the Museum’s collection. Thanks to the sustained support of the curators, the trustees, and the artists themselves, these ambitious acquisitions continued throughout the second half of the last century and produced a collection of Abstract Expressionist art of unrivaled breadth and depth.

Drawn entirely from the Museum’s vast holdings, Abstract Expressionist New York underscores the achievements of a generation that catapulted New York City to the center of the international art world during the 1950s, and left as its legacy some of the twentieth century’s greatest masterpieces.

My favorites? Jackson Pollock, Phillip Guston, Bradley Walker Tomlin, Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, Hans Hoffman, Joan Mitchell pictured at left by Kimmel The New York Times, Larry Rivers, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, and Richard Pousette-Dart and more!!

Check it out...

Welcome to October

It doesn't feel like October weather... We've been suffering between Tropical Storms all week... With warm temperatures, loads of rain, and nasty humidity the rest of the time... Although pumpkins have started to appear at the local markets... So, that's a good sign... Happy Friday!