Read My Pins at the MAD

Got over to Museum of Art and Design recently to see Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection.

Great fun... This exhibit features more than 200 pins, many of which Secretary Albright wore to communicate a message or a mood during her diplomatic tenure. The exhibition examines the collection for its relevance to world events as well as the changeable ability of jewelry to communicate style and make a political as well as fashion statement.

As some MAD Museum literature states: One of her most original pieces is a pin made for her specifically on the occasion of Brooching It Diplomatically. The silver brooch shows the head of Lady Liberty with two watch faces for eyes, one of which is upside down-allowing both her and her visitor to see when it is time for an appointment to end. As demonstrated in this clever work, Read My Pins explores Albright's ongoing impact on the field of jewelry design and collecting.

Exhibit runs til January 31, 2010.

A Pretty for Me Monday

Chita Rivera from the Hollywood Palace TV show, 1968.

Who Struck John?

* The expression "Who Struck John?" popped in my head a few hours ago... My parents would use it as in: "Don't give me that 'Who Struck John'" Meaning: nonsense, I guess... I googled around and seems the expression is a Baltimore area regionalism. Oh Hon, it figures.

* PC World magazine is recommending Bing as a search engine. I tried a Bing search for myself and was actually impressed with the good, clean, streamlined results. No doubt Microsoft will mess up this heralded new search engine soon. They mess everything up.

* Had a nice Chef Salad at Route 66 with Danny today. Managed to escape with enough leftovers of rolled beef, ham, cheese and turkey to become a featured dish in a bag lunch this coming work week. When did I become this little old person who scoops up doggy bags? (Confession: I take butter, jelly and those crispy breadstick crackers sometimes, too).

* Keith's curry posts all last week on the Sturdy Soapbox have me hankering for some Tikka Masala or Tandoori soon.

* Where, Where, Where  DOES the time go?? It's after 1:30 pm, already? Days off go by waaaay too quick.

* Money matters: I've decided that each of my family members will get three gifts from me this Christmas. Three. That's all. Also, been convincing friends that we shouldn't exchange gifts this year either... A shared meal is just as nice... (Plus, I can escape with enough crackers and butter to make another meal!! LOL)

Print Matters

I don't like sitting in front of a computer screen very long... I get antsy... Usually my computer screen time is spent putting forth my own content... Blog posts, tweets, comments on others' posts, updates, etc...

So I like having a paper or magazine in my hand to catch up on reading when I get a bit of time to do so... Over eggs, or a decaff, or a limonada...

If Katie Couric ever asked me, I could tell her that I subscribe to and read regularly: The New York Times, Time Out New York, PC World, Men's Health, and New York Magazine.

Was upset to hear that the Washington Blade went under recently... I grew up reading it in the 70's in Baltimore, where it was widely available in Gay Bars for free, and included Baltimore area news and events, too... Plus DC was a short 45 minute drive down the parkway. It still is, LOL. Anyway, the staff of that weekly (or was it bi-weekly?) grabbed the bull by the horns in time to start their own new website... See DC Agenda.

In this economy, many businesses are in trouble. But... print media is in real trouble...

The New York Times apparently has fired all their fact checkers... This gem of theatrical trivia escaped when they went to print based on an actress's boasting. With Terri White claiming she once had a Tony nomination. Um, I would think you pretty much have to verify anything an actress tells you about her credits, no? It'd be a "necessity" (pun intended)... (And where was the press agent in that mess? Which wound up being repeated on a local TV interview, too... But I digress.)

Meanwhile, Playgirl has given up print just in time for all these flirty Levi Johnston nudies to leak around the Internets (sic)... What's with the towel, and "the hand"?? Enough with the Gypsy Rose Lee tease... I ask you: Where's the Beef?? (Or the sausage in this case. LOL).

Gay glossy Metro Source is out boasting their 20th Anniversary season... No easy feat. Though their abrupt staff changes over a year ago have left the editorial content lacking. But, it's all about the ads for them, anyway...

If someone made a portable reader that worked really well, I might actually make that leap... Save the trees, and all... But right now, the Kindle and Sony readers are lacking in anything beyond straight prose...

Kirk Cameron is Ridiculous

Apostrophically Speaking

How to use an apostrophe...

The site sez Charles' and Charles's are both acceptable...

Learn something new every day...

Wednesday's Word: Tiff

tiff, noun

Definition: a non-physical fight or argument between two people who have a strong established friendship, or relationship; a disagreement where two people aren't talking

Usage: "P and B had a little tiff last week..."

Adapted from Urban Dictionary.

Otterness to a Hell's Kitchen Playground

The New York Times is reporting that some new Tom Otterness public art is arriving soon in Hell's Kitchen:

A playground filled with the Brooklyn artist Tom Otterness’s whimsical bronze characters is being installed in what will be a two-and-a-half acre park on West 42nd Street between 11th and 12th Avenues. The space is part of two apartment complexes that will be home to some 2,200 residents and is being built by the Manhattan developer Larry A. Silverstein.


He discovered the playground through a Marlborough Gallery catalog and learned there were three. “I called the gallery and asked if any of them existed,” Mr. Silverstein said in a telephone interview.


The answer was yes, but only in private collections. So he flew to Cape Cod to visit one of them. “I fell in love with the damn thing,” Mr. Silverstein said.


The work, which measures 24.5 feet tall, 30 feet long and nearly 33 feet wide, was originally conceived in 2004 as an entry in a competition for an artwork in a public park in Milwaukee. Although Mr. Otterness didn’t win, he made the playground anyway, in an edition of six, and has been able to place three on the grounds of private homes, in Cape Cod; Palm Beach, Fla.; and Aspen, Colo. The New York park where Mr. Otterness’s playground will be permanently installed will open to the public in early spring.


“In my brain I always wanted to create anthropomorphic architecture,” Mr. Otterness said by phone. “And this is like architecture.”


His playground features 27 figures (six inches each), but it’s dominated by a giant smiling character whose legs are slides and whose head is a lookout tower.


“Kids can also look through the eyes as if waking up with a 35-foot-long body,” Mr. Otterness said.

See Carol Vogel's original piece in the New York Times.

The Fag Hag Theme Song

The Hazzard's Gay Boyfriends re-mastered!

Ring, Relax, and Bite

Another of those occasional misc rambling blog posts:

* Augusten Burroughs' diet tips from MensHealth magazine include: drink a lot of water before a meal to fill you up. "Something that should be taught in grade school", sez he. Eat anything you want: One bite for women, two bites for men. "Normal size bites. No big, cheating bites."

* Regarding remnants of Hurricane Ida (now a nasty Nor'easter)... Still nasty in Hell's Kitchen right now with a warm misty rain, but the worst downpours and winds are expected to be over.

* "The New Adventures of Old Christine" completely sucks.

* It has been fully determined and verified that Bioresolve.com is a hoax and scam... See Wikipedia, Better Business Bureau and Did Bio-resolve Take Your Money? for more information...

* Dear Connecticut: PLEASE retire self-promoting media starved Senator Joseph Lieberman at the very next opportunity. He's an embarrassing joke.

* Tim McGraw sure is waaay hotter than Phil McGraw!

* How DID Julie Halston get her Equity card?

* New curriculum program in NYC schools: If you are stuck in an elevator: "Ring, relax, and wait" See NYT.

* For more misc ramblings and free associations see my Twitter profile

Friday the 13th

I went through the whole work day completely unaware that today was Friday the 13th!

I never forgot the Friday part though...

But the 13th??

Who knew??

A Veteran's Day Wish

Peace.

Wednesday's Word: Indoorsman

indoorsman

Someone who spends considerable time in indoor pursuits, such as computing, sleeping and/or watching television.

"Todd, enjoys cold rainy days because it drives him to remain inside and become an indoorsman for the day, and to keep busy with indoor pursuits in his man cave."

Adapted from the Urban Dictionary.

Casual Tuesday

It's casual Tuesday, like casual Friday only because tomorrow Wednesday is a day off like Saturday. Albeit a more solemn day off like a Sunday. It'll Veteran's Day.

I prefer a cool crisp chill this time of year.... But this mild Tuesday is nice for a day or two... LOL.

Hoping that the weather returns to normal tomorrow so I can spend some time tending to indoor tasks... Guilt free.

De-cluttering: Stuff. Gadgets.

I never did the iTunes thang... I like my music on a disk in a seperate Bose thingie.

I also think that DVD's should be watched on a separate DVD and HD TV thing....

... A minimalist, I'm not.

There's something comforting knowing that different machines have solo tasks...

So, if my computer gets fried, I don't lose cel, music library or video library access...

Like if the Microwavee breaks, I can still use the gas stove or the electric grill.

Keep it simple. That's my credo.

A Lisa Stansfield Monday

This tune has been in my head lately...