Get a Whiff of Me!

This evening a friend of mine had a little get together at his apartment... hosted by Olympia Dukakis! The whole celebrity magnet thing is just getting seriously out of hand! And no, BebeMoche, I will not conjure up your suggestion, thank you. (Could you have found a worse picture of him?) Here's what happened. A friend of mine is writing a musical set to go up in the New York Musical Theater Festival this fall. The party was a little food and wine get together, complete with live entertainment, to introduce the work to potential backers. The BF and I had both been invited, since the writer is the BF's writing partner. However, the BF has been sluggish all day and weepy in the way that guys can be when they get sick. However, he'd already spoken with our friend and told him that we'd help with the party. I pretty much spent the evening pouring drinks rather than chatting with Olympia, but still, it was a good evening. My friend was very appreciative and everyone knew that I was a volunteering guest, I met some cool people, listened to an amazing performace of some of the songs from the musical, ate some yummy food... all in all, I had a lot of fun.

Question...

Is there really any difference between The Onion and Weekly World News? (I mean aside from the fact that The Onion is distributed for free.) The stories in Weekly World News are just as crazy as anything in The Onion, and vice versa. We all know that those who write for The Onion are presenting something satirical. How about the people at Weekly World News? Are they presenting a joke or do they think they're pulling the wool over fools' eyes? Are they? Do people who buy Weekly World News think it's "true"? Or do they buy it ironically? Have I just been an arrogant asshole for years, seeing Weekly World News at the grocery store and thinking that people who by it are a bunch of sad, stupid fools? Have I completely misjudged the sophistication and urbanity of the American public? Weekly World News just might be the real BlackPeopleLoveUs.com. Of course, come to think of it, when you read the letters sent to BlackPeopleLoveUs, there are plenty of people who don't get the irony there, too.

Last Summer in Paris...

We'd rented a centrally located apartment and were catching up with friends, enjoying the city and food, relaxing and detaching from the stress of our New York lives, all that. One day I headed over to the Louvre, intending to collect some photos to use in my classes. I had a bit of a problem, however, with the tourists. It seemed that every time I turned around there were other people getting into my pictures! Check out this one, for example! I've concealed the identity of those involved, on the off chance that they might be people who might visit this site by chance. But seriously, how can I use this for my class?

Day out with the BF and Lu

Today was a bit of a laid back day. There was the trip to see the friend's apartment, the Chris Noth sighting at Trader Joe's, and entertainment provided by the BF. We were passing by J&R and I stopped everyone to tell them the following. About two months ago I met up with some friends who were visiting from San Francisco. We'd gone to Vlada and had had a good time. The space was nice, the crowd was whatever, Allison Mack from Smallville was there. Lord knows, she's not a big girl, but for some reason she looked like she had a belly. She was also a bit sloshed and was so gushy about her brand new best friend. Anyhow, I hopped the subway back home but, of course, the lines were all fucked up. I ended up walking back home from the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall station. Still, it was a nice evening so I didn't mind walking the extra five, ten minutes. As I passed by the J&R electronics store, I saw something brown and squirmy in the window. Yes, it was a large, large rat on the guard's podium, sniffing at the first aid kit and the phone. Personally, I kind of like rats and this one had personality. As I snapped a couple of pictures with my phone it sniffed at me through the window, tried to climb the phone's cord and tried to get into the first aid kit. My photo shoot made a couple stop to watch as well. Anyhow, flash forward to today... I was telling the BF and Lu and showing them the pictures when the BF decided that the folks who work at J&R had to know. He grabbed my phone, marched into the store and accosted the first employee he encountered. We watched through the window as he showed it to the first one, who called over others, pointed to the place where the picture was taken, called over others, and others... the entire staff must have seen them. When the BF finally emerged we asked what they had said. "They want us to bring prints," was the answer. They'll have to wait until tomorrow, but you can see it today. Ladies and gents, I give you the J&R rat!

Still not a boy blog!

The BF pointed out that my inclusion of the Chris Noth story had the potential to keep this blog on Boy-Watch status. But c'mon... as attractive as he may be, Mr. Noth is no "boy." And I wasn't pointlessly drooling over him. I had an encounter and I thought it merited blogging because of the overall context of recently frequent celebrity sightings.


But I must say that Mr. Noth looks very good. Lu and the BF thought so as well.

BuddyCrocker = Celeb Magnet!

I am telling you: I am on FIRE! Today, the BF and I head up with our friend Lu to see her newly renovated apartment. It's fantastic, two full walls of exposed brick, two fire places, windows up the yin yang, they did a beautiful job in the bathrooms and the kitchen's going to be amazing... very, very nice. Afterwards, we headed over to Trader Joe's to stock up. It wasn't nearly as insane as you'd expect but still a healthy amount of people there. I get in line as the BF continues to pick up stuff from around the store and who should push his cart into line behind me, looking very good in khakis, an off white polo (with a carelessly turned collar) and ray bans, telling me that he was crazy to come to Trader Joe's on a Saturday?




You know, maybe this is my mutant power! Maybe I should start using this in a more directed manner... you know, like concentrating on Bin Laden so that I call in the Feds and get the reward money... or maybe I could summon Elvis and prove to everyone that he's really dead (or alive)... I mean, this has to have a useful application, right?

And with this, it's over.

From here on, this ceases to be a boy-blog.

How could you not consider him some serious hunkage?

I mean, even with the silly hair, he still looks good.

Tell me she's not about to melt the flesh off his face with her super-seering eye rays of death!

File under WTF

How stupid/drunk do you have to be so that you don't know how the cell phone ended up lodged in your throat?

JitteryCrocker...

Okay, I've been blogging about celebs and all sorts of BS because I've totally had my head in the sand. Because, holy fuck! all this that's happening between Israel and Hezbollah is some scary-ass shit! Israel thinks that it's got the international green light for war? We're rushing bomb deliveries to Israel? And now, the rest of the Arab world is rushing to support Hezbollah? Alfredo! Do I have a right to the stain in my shorts over this alignment of forces against one another? Doesn't this all look very, very bad?

Must... be... strong!

Tomorrow Miami Vice opens. However, I refuse to go see a movie simply because the star is absolutely smokin' hot. Maybe I'll go see Scoop instead.

He just might be too hot to handle...

It's an interesting theory and one which curiously fits into our nation's sexaschizophrenia.

No Celebrity Sightings Today.

Ho hum. Looks like my streak is over. sigh.

Check this out!

Matrix Ping Pong.

Thank you, David!

More stalking.

Guess who I saw this afternoon, walking up Park Ave. South, looking like she needs a sandwich and dressed just like Cammie D in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle?

addendum to the Colin Farrell sighting

I feel compelled to note, having seen Mr. Farrell on The Today Show this morning and having learned that he went through rehab recently, that he wasn't dropping off the wagon. Let the record show that he was drinking coffee... or maybe tea. Whatever it was was in a coffee cup. So unless he was drinking Bailey's or something, he was staying strong.

By the way, in no way am I a starfucker. I think it's owing to something my Dad said to me when I was very young. When I was less than eight, my family drove down to Disneyland. I don't remember much about the trip but I guess had fun. My Dad always loved to tell this story that I had been so mesmerized by everything that I didn't eat all day. This was a concern since you know how kids get cranky if they don't eat. Anyhow, late in the day we went to the burger place in Tomorrowland and I was really excited about getting the burger and my parents were relieved that they were finally about to get some food in me. I was just on the verge of taking my first bite out of the burger when the floor opened up and a band rose up playing dance music. I was so amazed I ate nothing. But that's not the point. The thing I do remember about the day is being on Tom Sawyer Island and seeing McLean Stevenson.

M*A*S*H was in its first seasons and was the Friends of its time.

I recognized him from the television and watched as people mobbed him and his family. I remember him looking very exasperated and trying to move along but there were too many people for him to get anywhere. My father said to me, "That poor man. He just wants to have a good time with his family and nobody will let him just because of the job he has." That really stuck with me, seeing the celebrity as just another person and someone who probably wants to be left alone. Since then, I've seen numerous famous people, spoken with some of them, and have never really cared.

However, something is different about seeing Colin Farrell. Once I got home and found out that he was going to be on Letterman, I wanted to watch it. Once I found out that he was going to be on this morning, I wanted to watch that. I saw the clip from the movie and the thought ran through my head, "I think I might go see that." Then I realized, Colin Farrell must be demonspawn! He must have some Faustian deal with Satan which lures mere mortals to spend money which eventually ends up in his pockets! Either that or he has some sort of extra-terrestrial pheremones which spark the expense response and makes regular humans want to spend money which eventually ends up in his pockets! No, wait! I bet he's worked some gypsy curse which bewitches the rest of us into spending money which eventually ends up in his pockets! I mean, it can't be me. I'm not impressed by how yummy-cute he is or how charming he is when he's talking to Matt Lauer or how naughty he is. It must be that he's a demonic, alien gypsy-boy!

Excuse me, I have to go spend some money now.

So we're having drinks at the Mandarin Oriental...

Mom and I, just knockin' beers back and enjoying the view when my cute-guy radar goes off. I look over, the guy looks like he's got a serious trashy streak, white button down that's a bit too open at the throat, very big and blingy, silver thingy on his wrist, ridiculous white mesh, newsie cap turned backwards. Just plain laughable. He looks a bit familiar though, even if I can't quite place him... until he, the two young women teetering on too-high heels in too-short minis, and the oversized muscle guy with the swept back, shoulder length hair all get up to leave. Then I recognize him...

Possibly best ever...

Possibly the best cake ever, made possible by BebeMoche and Cupcake Cafe.

merci beaucoup, BebeMoche!

Loved it!

Wednesday Mom and I took advantage of Restaurant Week at Butter. The space, converted from Belgo which closed years ago, is interesting but somewhat contrived. The trollop who showed us to our table was tackier than the wedding gift Liberace gave to Sigfried and Roy. However, the food was transcendant! I loved it! Mom loved it! The goat cheese tart started it off nicely, but the hanger steak with a cabrales sauce was unbelievable! The caramel chocolate mousse which finished off the meal was amazing! And all for $24.07! I love Restaurant Week!

Then, in the evening, we went to the movies.

Mom convinced the BF and me to go see The Devil Wears Prada, a movie was I expecting not to see until video/DVD or whatever. It's worth seeing for Meryl Streep alone.

Her execution of a heartless but brilliant and fabulous media queen has just the right amount of Cruella DeVille, Marie Antoinette, and Darth Vader. Stanley Tucci is fantastic, Emily Blunt is hilarious, Anne Hathaway does a fine job, but it's all about Meryl. The bohemian friends are ridiculous, happily they're barely in the movie. Unfortunately, that bland kid who plays the boyfriend with the bobble-head and bad hair is in the movie way too much. Ignore them. The movie is just fun, spectacular to watch, and has the morally uplifting ending required to warm your delicates. A very good show!

Leaving the theater, we were surprised and puzzled by a sequence of loud blasts. We soon realized, however, that there was a fireworks display going on in Battery Park City We walked over and saw them through to the end. They were really very well done and an excellent way to end the evening. Mom was especially happy since she'd missed seeing fireworks on the fourth and she felt like these were as good as any she'd seen. It was the perfect way to end the day.

Ha!

Can't blog... Mom's in town.

Evidemment...

le blogging est impossible en France!

Mom always says that it's a bad day if you don't learn something new...

And in the same spirit as that bit of wisdom I'm sharing some opportunities to help you continue to expand your horizons. I've already blogged about In Our Time on BBC Radio and Scientific American's podcast. But recently by browsing the iTunes store I discovered that UC Berkeley is offering a small number of its spring courses on a webcast page. So if you're interested in US Foreign Policy After 9/11 or maybe Animal Behavior or even Existentialism in Literature and Film, you can work your brain while commuting, while jogging, whatever. Very cool!

They also have an events page which has a number of guest speakers and other events held on campus. I really hope that, come fall, they post the Sather Lectures.

Speaking of stinking up, Thrillist proves itself pointless

The two guides to fun life that I use have been DailyCandy.com and Thrillist.com. DailyCandy, while geared primarily to women, has excellent recommendations for food, drink, and culture. They have never let me down. Thrillist, however, proves that its audience is meat-heads with money. Their latest newsletter has put to rest any doubts I might have about whether or not they will ever provide me with anything useful.

Movie night stinks up entire apartment...

It's no secret that the BF likes his movies... he's kind of a cineholic. But the latest he rented, a remake of a Sharon Stone "classic," just did not quite measure up. Stylish? Check. Well shot? Check. Believable dialogue? Ha! I've heard better written snappy banter from other cinematic masterpieces...

Sturm und Drang, fo' real!

Last night as the tornadoes touched down in Westchester, we watched the Drang on Project Runway. It looks like they're going to have an interesting season. They've got some really cool people in the competition, like the elegant Mom of five, the hip hopper from Atlanta, the Barbie Boy, the New Yorker chick who's already developed her own line. And they have the annoying Bond Villain and the Crack Pot who's cashed in on his 401(k) in order to return to a business that gave him a nervous break-down ten years ago... yikes! The first elimination was kind of predictable. They knocked off the sweet woman from San Francisco who didn't know how to use a sewing machine. Her garment wasn't bad, just safe. No need to cry for her, however. She's got a great education and has plenty of business experience. Something tells me that she just didn't have the right amount of experience in fashion specifically. But the guy that didn't get eliminated.. he's a freak. His outfit looked just like any of the student projects you might see in the window at FIT, but he thinks he's the most creative, the most interesting, the hottest shit ever. And this guy looks like any of the druggy burn-outs you knew from high school, with a head that sticks out of his body like a thumb, four lines of some shit tattoed on his neck, and he keeps showing up wearing this grey hoodie under a black vest. Whatever! He looks like he thinks he's on Project Runaway. He'll probably stay around for a while, lingering long after he should simply because the producers think he adds "character."

What the hell?

So it's going to rain like crazy this afternoon. No big deal, right? But a tornado watch in Jersey? I thought that I only had to worry about tornadoes when I visited my grandma in Nebraska! WTF? Don't they have it hard enough living in Jersey in the first place? Can't they catch a break?

BuddyCrocker faithful to the good, ol' US of A!

I'm here, working my butt off while Alfredo and BebeMoche galavant around the EU! (separately, of course.) I am not jealous! Really!

Stop the Presses! Hold your Horses! Just.. you know.. hold on!

What was I thinking? How could I possibly plan to go and see Rosemary's Baby on pier 54 when Wednesday is the first episode of the new season of Project Runway? Call me the biggest homo ever, but I am really looking forward to another good season of Heidi, Tim, Michael, and a bunch of over-stressed drama queens, 'cuz that's good television! Make it work, people!

BuddyCrocker's site gains kudos!

The BF says it's finally worth looking at. muthafucka.

Tomorrow night means I'm going to see

Science, hrumph!

European researchers are working on a new treatement for male infertility which basically amounts to taking stem cells and coaxing them into being sperm cells. At the moment it's had partial success in mice, although the young have turned out to have a number of health problems. Soon to come: Huxley's Hatchery and Conditioning Centres. Really, do we really need to learn another way to make more of ourselves?

Who says that haute couture isn't serious?

John Galliano of Dior has presented the following at this week's fashion shows in Paris. Call me "crazy," but some of this stuff is totally corporate... On the serious side, it's interesting, conceptually speaking.

a few more...

And just a few more...

What to do this weekend...

Hmmm... last minute getaway sounds good, but where? I'd like a complete change of scenery. Something different, exotic, yet cultural and educational. Of course! A festival in a far off land, where people, so different from you and me that they nearly live in a different reality, engage in time honored local games and society-building activities! Ah, yes! The liberal explorer in me will thrill to experience first hand a completely different culture.

Plans to See Shakespeare in the Park Thwarted by Rain and Malaise

The idea of seeing Macbeth in Central Park tonight simply did not outweigh the grim prospect of waiting for more than five hours, several of them in the morning rain, in order to pick up the free tickets. It's too bad there's not an online thing we could have done because tonight the weather is supposed to be in the 70's with low humidity with clear skies. Could it get any better than watching outdoor theater under such perfect conditions? Oh well, I still couldn't deal with the rainy line.

Besides, tomorrow night is Wallace and Grommit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit on Pier 46, so we'll get our high falutin' culture then!

Ken Lay has died.

Something tells me that he didn't go "upstairs" after he passed. Oops! I hope I'm not cursing myself by speaking ill of the dead...

Madonna's Concert Rocks!

Okay, I used to be a Madonna fan... in high school, and then I had a roommate in college who thought he was Madonna and I kind of got over her. In recent years, she's won me back. I'd never seen her in concert before the Drowned World tour but was invited by a friend so I went and discovered that Madonna is best when served live. I think I had a religious moment, or at least a civic moment, during "I Love New York." I was amazed by the athletic grace of the dancers. I was dazzled by the lights and effects. I was underwhelmed by her voice... but it was, like, the seventh show in New York City. In the end, the show was wondrous, despite her shortcomings. Loved it!

Madonna

Madonna

Sunday means I'm going to...

... and she's totally going to kick ass!

Guess where I'm going on Sunday...