Urban Sucker

Chasms

2012-02-13T15:00:00.004-05:00

A chasm of time has passed since I updated this blog. Entire lifetimes, it seems.

It is now 2012. My father has passed away. I have returned to New Orleans.

Today, I am terribly lovesick for the past. It's ridiculous; I find myself almost driven to tears by it, like I used to when I was a younger woman, when I felt love tear at me like a bird of prey. I haven't been in deep, serious love in many, many years. It was so painful. But so unutterably joyful too. I feel a pinch of it today--enough to redden my cheeks and to plant a bed of violets in my gut and feel them blooming inside me with a flutter and a spark.

Mama's got the lovesick blues.

Makes Me Really Like People

2009-05-01T18:12:00.001-04:00

Sweet thing of the day: http://www.tweenbots.com/

People helped this robot find its way across NYC.

Karate Kids!

2009-04-19T18:54:00.003-04:00

I wouldn't want to meet any of these kids in a dark alley. Especially that little blonde chick. She has hate in her eyes.

Love Me!

2009-04-19T18:53:00.003-04:00

Isn't that how we all feel?

Somebody's Sick of You

2009-04-19T18:53:00.002-04:00

And your shit...

Public School Ruined My Life

2009-04-19T18:50:00.003-04:00

And the actual basement of a public school in Williamsburg. WTF happened down there? And why was it just LEFT like that?

Housewife Hatin'

2009-04-19T18:47:00.004-04:00

Catching up on a bunch of old graffiti photos I took ages ago and just haven't put up. So some are from xmas time, even.

The Housewives of Orange County got some choice treatment from NYC subway scribblers.

Defacing Models

2009-04-19T18:33:00.003-04:00

A fun subway pasttime.

Hipster Hatin'

2009-04-19T18:31:00.001-04:00

photo courtesy of ChristyLove

Madonna Cover

2009-04-09T09:24:00.000-04:00

I love the Flaming Lips even more after hearing this.

India Moments

2009-03-28T15:07:00.007-04:00

There are some India photos here. I'm still editing it, so forgive the weird orientations.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9070520@N06/sets/72157614022909103/

There's so much to tell. I've been back for about a month and am just now coming down off of the high. Honestly, I can't wait to leave again, to go somewhere else, to keep moving.

I learned a lot of things about myself through the challenges I faced there. Through not trusting myself I was reminded to trust myself. Trust that stray zombie cows will not corner you to eat you. Trust that stray temple dogs will only growl at you if you cover your hair and eyes. Trust that the temple monkeys are only looking for snacks. Trust that the temple keeper only wants your American money because he collects it. Trust that his smile is true. Trust that your chakras are ok. Trust you won't be run over by that auto. Trust that not EVERYONE is out to scam you. Trust that some even want to help; some may even become your friends. Trust that you won't pee all over yourself while squatting over that toilet. Trust that you will be safe, even happy. Trust that even when you worry there's no love to be found, it's right here all the time.

Shreveport Science Museum

2009-03-28T14:58:00.005-04:00

I visted the science museum in Shreveport, Louisiana, with my step niece and nephew a while back. Here are photos from our electrifying adventure.

India

2009-02-03T08:02:00.002-05:00

I'm sad to say, I haven't been able to upload any photos of this trip just yet, but let me tell you a little about it while I steal a few moments at this internet cafe.

Wow, India is, as you would expect, pretty amazing. The first day I was walking around thinking I was just in a dream. I couldn't believe I was here. My friend Juen and I just kept looking at each other with wide eyes. Also, we hadn't slept in what felt like two days.

We're here for my friend and coworker's wedding. Babu is doing a totally old-school arranged marriage. He hasn't even met his fiance yet. But he is taking care of us as if we were royalty. The company we work with in Chennai has the most AMAZING guys working there. I was already excited to meet the people who'd been building all of my pages at work, but I never would have guessed how incredibly patient, hospitable and charming they were. They're shepherding us through their country in a way we couldn't ever pay for. What kind, kind people and we are really going to miss them when we leave Pondicherry!

South India is beautiful and tropical and lush. We landed in Chennai, which is a gritty place that doesn't offer much for the Western traveler. My friend Juen said she'd read it referred to as the "Detroit of India." We agree. We did have the singular experience of walking through these city streets at 3 am, a once-in-a-lifetime experience that we NEVER would have had without Babu there. The streets were populated with stray men and boys walking late, just hanging out, a lot of loose dogs, and cows. Then we had our first auto ride! (The three-wheeled, bright yellow autorickshaws that maneuver the traffic wildly and recklessly.) Wow. One of the most amazing things, though, was watching the city unfold as the hours went by. Early morning was dark, and quiet, but still populated. Morning slowly begins, and the incessant honking starts in the streets. Shops open, the streets flood with everything that moves: people walking, bicycles, scooters, motorcycles, autos, taxis, trucks, dogs, cows--everything and everyone shares the road. No one walks on the sidewalk. No one pays attention to lane divisions. There are hardly any streetlights to speak of. Hence the incessant honking. It gets louder and busier as the sun goes down. The auto rides are wilder, the neon lights come on, the Bollywood tunes emerge from shops. Then slowly, the streets fold up again.

The city is a living entity, and the traffic is truly its pulse. You can sense the life of the city through the flow of its traffic. It's a community event. The drivers honk incessantly as they round the bend to alert anyone coming the other way. It seems rude at first, but when you think of it, it's really rather neighborly. They're always communicating.

Truthfully, we experienced this traffic flow more in Pondicherry. But that's another story I'll have to tell at another internet cafe...!

"I Love Myself..."

2009-01-11T09:44:00.004-05:00

Hatin' on Elvis

2009-01-11T09:42:00.002-05:00

Rolf's: Magical Christmas Wonderland

2008-12-15T23:33:00.005-05:00

My friend Christy introduced me to an amazing place last night: Rolf's on 3rd Ave. at about 22nd. This place really is magical at Xmas time--not that I've ever been there at any other time--but before I say anymore, I'll just show you the land of dolls watching over you with Brooke Shields eyebrows and Austro-Germanic steins filled with European beer served by Indian bartenders.

Post-Birthday "Poop"

2008-12-12T06:16:00.006-05:00

I miss posting graffiti it was the whole inspiration for this blog. So here's some more. Graffiti using the word "poop" always makes me laugh. It's so juvenile, and so opposite of all of the posturing one has to do in New York at times. It just breaks it down. I get so uptight about the posturing, but it's just a part of the game, a part of life here. Sometimes that's one of the reasons I feel like I have to leave this place. But the thing is, there are a few things I still have to do here. You know how your gut tells you you're not done yet, even though you feel like you should have been done years ago? Mainly, I think I've just been lazy and sad (one feeding the other) lately and not opening my eyes to see, so I've been lost. Time is passing and I'm getting older, and still have yet to do much I'm proud of. I'm working on it, it just hasn't come to fruition yet. For some of us it takes longer. I guess I just have to honor how long it's taking me.

I just turned 37 on Tuesday, and was having a conversation about failure with a friend the other day. And when you take the argument that you're a failure to it's logical end, you generally end up realizing you're not a failure at all, really, you're usually right in the middle of doing the things you set out to do, you're in the thick of making that success you long for. The main thing I want to try to remember is that I came from a very different kind of place. I mean, I grew up in a trailer park. For real. And here I am, trailer trash all growed up, having published only a couple of poems, but having gotten into a respectable MFA program, making a decent living in new media, having had at least a couple of big love loves in my life, blessed with interesting and kind friends and family, surviving in a machine of a city that can really chew you up, and finding at least a little happiness along the way. No, I don't have a tenured spot somewhere or a book deal, or scads of money, and I'm not out saving the world or traveling everywhere I'd like to go, but I have done well at trivia, hammed it up at karaoke and had a few good kisses in my time, and (the elephant in my head and virtual room here, if I'm honest) am no longer under the heavy thumb of poverty, and, well, that's a poopload to be thankful for. Happy birthday to me, if I do say so myself.

Doogie Howser, speaker of truth!

2008-12-05T17:10:00.001-05:00

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

I'm a little late catching on to this, but it's so awesome, I had to put it up.

Getting Ready for Tamil!

2008-11-28T14:05:00.002-05:00

I'm heading to my friend's wedding in South India in February, and this is helping me out.

I'm Thankful for Mexican Wrestlers and Mariachi Bands

2008-11-27T13:13:00.004-05:00

This video is fun! I just saw a ton of mariachi bands last night, so the fashion perked me up here. I have some lame video of it that I'll put up in another post.

So this band, Noah and the Whale, was recommended to me by LastFM, who thought I'd like them based on my loved tracks. LastFM, so thoughtful.

I really need to visit Mexico. Magic, man, magic. It's in Mexican blood, in the literature, in the water. Time for some español lessons. Escuchar, fools!

Oh yeah, Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Cougar Time

2008-11-26T14:58:00.004-05:00

So I was talking to my mom about dating, and how most people available are quite a bit younger than I am because most people my age are married and having kids. She said, "They call them cougars. You might be a cougar."

OK, then. Mother-approved. Guess it's cougar time.

NYC Moments

2008-11-19T16:56:00.004-05:00

I was walking to a connecting train at the 14th St. station and was walking behind a middle-aged man and his two teenage sons. He was instructing them to sing along with him (I assume for their performance in the station), and he broke out into the falsetto chorus of "More Than a Woman" by the Bee Gees. Repeatedly.

Sometimes I am in love with this city and everybody in it.

Crybaby Time

2008-11-07T11:32:00.003-05:00

Life has been wonderfully busy lately and filled with good things like lollipops and rainbows. I'm also getting used to a new phone with a new camera, so hopefully the next few subway graffiti photos I post will be gorgeous. :)

Unfortunately, I didn't get an awesome new iPhone, but I did get a phone that has a whole darn keyboard on it. Unfortunately, the damn thing can't simply tell me when and where a movie is playing, like my last, less fancy phone, could. Ah well. You make concessions.

I just had to comment, though, on the fact that I am, for the first time in my life, actually PROUD to be an American. Tuesday night, I was out among hoards of other screaming, crying, proud Americans, who lit fireworks in the street and woo-hooed out their windows at the top of their lungs. New York City partied like it was 1999--work tomorrow be damned. And I woke up and floated through the day feeling like the night before I had just met and hooked up with the person I was going to marry.

Foux de Fa Fa

2008-09-29T16:34:00.002-04:00

Though I'm no big fan of Flight of the Conchords, I heart this "video," and the song, actually. Aye-ah! I would be ok if my life were like a big, fake '60s French stereotype for a few days.

I need to improve!

2008-09-22T23:35:00.003-04:00

visited 28 states (56%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

I stole this idea from Gren.

I need to travel a lot more before I die! My world travel is S-A-D. Good thing it's on my list!

visited 9 states (4%)
Create your own visited map of The World

Cyclerament

2008-09-22T23:18:00.002-04:00

Bedford Ave., a few blocks from my house.

This made me laugh

2008-09-22T23:14:00.003-04:00

Because I'm bored with dead animal art. Isn't that kind of just another form of the readymade? Bleh.

Helvetica Exhibit at MoMa

2008-09-22T23:11:00.003-04:00

From, like, last year. I'm trying to get the images off my cell phone!

PS: If you've never seen the documentary Helvetica, Netflix it! Especially if you dig on typography.

Just another Friday Night at the Abbey

2008-09-22T23:06:00.002-04:00

Friday night playing pool at the Abbey on Driggs in Williamsburg. I forgot how much I love this bar. An unpretentious bartender. In Williamsburg? Playing Mexican wrestler/alien movies? Sweet Jesus, thank you!

Too Precious

2008-09-22T22:55:00.000-04:00

Atom Smasher Turned on Today!

2008-09-10T07:51:00.006-04:00

The huge Large Hadron Collider was turned on this morning in Switzerland, and will be smashing subatomic particles together with mindblowing force next month. This sucker is so powerful, it takes a month to rev up. People are afraid of black holes, and have protested the machine, since they think it'll blow us into oblivion. As long as this technology doesn't make for more retarded weaponry to carry out mass murder like the atomic bomb, I'm cool. I'm actually not "cool"--I'm really excited to see what they find!

I wonder if we can expect really weird things to start happening in the next few months. Evidences of other dimensions and shit like that. Wow. I think it's fascinating and beyond exciting! I wonder if they'll get evidence to scientifically prove string theory. I'm on the edge of my seat! Totes neat! I kinda feel like a kid at Christmas, and these other dimensions are Santa Clause. But real.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94422852

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94439915

Shitty Flash intros are to animated gifs as ______ is to what?

2008-09-08T00:23:00.004-04:00

This is a hilarious compendium of some of the worst of the worst in Flash intro movies, according to this Urlesque site (a name I love). I have no words to describe these Christian mimes...but their intro has plenty!

http://www.urlesque.com/2008/05/13/the-webs-12-most-awesomely-bad-flash-intros

RIP, Mr. "In a World..."

2008-09-07T11:00:00.003-04:00

I just heard on NPR that the guy we ALL know by his voice saying "In a world..." in the movie trailers has passed away.

I also learned his name: Don LaFontaine.

Gustav skimmed NOLA, but left Baton Rouge gasping

2008-09-06T15:46:00.004-04:00

The news hasn't said anything. I got more from this blog than any news source. For all I could hear on WWL, the Baton Rouge area is fine. But really, to hear my mom tell it: the place is an utter wreck and people are having a very hard time. Trees are down. Electricity probably won't be back for up to 3 weeks. A curfew is still in effect. It IS improving, of course. There are of course things to be grateful for. But I'd be grateful for some information, if I could find it.

I finally got in touch with my mom after a few days of hearing nothing. My parents are not doing well. Luckily, their neighbors are generous and have a generator and my mom's store is giving them food. Also to be grateful for: their cats survived. My mom was worried about them. They are safe, another small favor, but Pop is diabetic and finding food for him has been not all that easy. And Ike might be on his way.

Still lighting candles and doing my version of prayers. If anybody reads this and knows any news, can you pass it my way? I'd be grateful. Thanks!

Fun Fact

2008-09-04T09:12:00.005-04:00

Both I and the Magnetic Fields' genius lyricist Stephen Merritt were copy editors at Spin magazine.

I met him once at a show my friend Ben was doing with his band The Isotoners. I was cool and just treated him like anyone else, even though I wanted to share the above fun fact with him. Ben even thanked me for not acting star struck.

God Bless the Old Folks at Home

2008-09-04T09:10:00.003-04:00

Thank God Gustav wasn't as bad as it threatened. But still, my parents are without power and had to evacuate their trailer near Baton Rouge. The only reason that worries me is because of my dad's health. Crossing fingers, but they seem to be ok, according to a text from my dad. Pretty lucky this time around, though. Thanking the stars.

Gustav vs. The Love of My Life

2008-08-31T00:52:00.005-04:00

I thought Katrina was bad. Gustav sounds like it could be extra scary for New Orleans.

Funny that my friend Erin was just blogging about relationships with cities and these lines are at the end of a CNN story about Gustav zeroing in on The City That Care Forgot (one that has frequently been referred to in relationship terms, throughout history and literature--Faulkner, when he was writing for the Times-Picayune and came to town at the suggestion of Sherwood Anderson, had written those New Orleans Sketches and referred to the city as a "kindly old whore"):

"Bette has the means to leave new Orleans. She and her husband could jump in their car and take off. During Katrina, she briefly relocated to Houston, and while happy she made that choice, she couldn't stay. She had to return to her city.

Like a relationship that suffers a bad break-up and is stronger after a reunion, she worries that she hasn't got the heart to leave and then return a second time.

"When you stand out there by that river and look at that levee," she said, "you are just so blessed to live here. I am in love, and so I make my choice."

I feel a spell of insomnia coming on.

Roosevelt Island

2008-08-24T09:50:00.006-04:00

Last weekend, I continued on my tour of NYC islands and visited Roosevelt Island. It felt like a big suburb in Queens, or like an offshoot of Jersey City's Newport residential area.

There's something about islands in the rivers surrounding this one big island of Manhattan--a sense of defying the impossibilities of their own existences, maybe. Roosevelt Island is so narrow--you can almost see the other side as you stand on the opposite shore. It feels like a little getaway, and at other times its history as a prison island seeps up from the soil (anarchist Emma Goldman was in prison here, and so was Billie Holiday--for prostitution!).

Before we'd even circumnavigated the entire island, we felt like we had to leave. It felt claustrophobic. Maybe the ghosts of prisoners were tapping on our shoulders, shuddering a collective, "Escape while you can!" That was a weird sensation.

The thing that struck me most was the rich juxtopositions present in the skyline: the stacks of plants visible from a grassy ballfield, for example. Industry looming in the distance, everpresent and unavoidable.

Even getting there was strange: there was a cloistered entrance that felt like a labyrinth you had to walk through to get to the bridge.

And once you arrive, you "land" in a parking garage that houses a dusty, defunct escalator.

OMG, I'm dyyyying....!

2008-08-21T10:53:00.002-04:00

I have recently revisited one of the funniest blogs I've ever seen. I'm lucky I didn't pee my pants just now.

Visit The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks

Governor's Island

2008-08-11T21:55:00.006-04:00

As part of my project this summer, Operation Explore New York, I have been riding my bike a lot and going to cool places I've never been but always wanted to check out. One of them was Governor's Island.

My friend Erin and I had fun galavanting around this former Army barracks on an island in the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn this weekend. This place called Castle Williams once imprisoned Confederate soldiers.

Also, there was miniature golf.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Ephemera

2008-08-01T18:31:00.003-04:00

My entry for the first time in a while: a poster for the freak show at Coney Island--one of my favorite places on earth.

Mermaid Parade

2008-07-30T08:05:00.003-04:00

This happened last month. This is Donald--he's one of those awesome radical fairies and he sure knows how to dress up in nautical dream fashion.

I am an overboard castaway or something. I'm caught in a net.

Squirt the Father: Fun for the Whole Family

2008-07-13T01:00:00.007-04:00

When I was in Sioux City, we went to a cramped little junk shop a friend of my cousin's owns, and I got a kick out of this family game. I totally forgot the name, but what do you think Freud would say about it? (Question: did mom just take a handful of Valium before they played the game? She looks slightly stunned, like dad might beat her if she laughed too hard. Can't help it--this art is bursting with subtext begging to be deciphered!)

Love Conquers Bitches

2008-07-13T00:32:00.003-04:00

In case you can't read it, someone scratched out the previous talk bubble that said "I am a Bitch" and added "Life is Love!" That made me happy. Love won today.

War Crimes

2008-07-13T00:30:00.001-04:00

Ass Therapist

2008-07-13T00:28:00.001-04:00

This guy actually taught me a few classes (no lie!)

Art

2008-07-10T07:42:00.001-04:00

Olafur Elaisson show at MoMA

Got Bling?

2008-06-24T07:02:00.000-04:00

U.S.A.

2008-06-24T07:01:00.001-04:00

DO Make Me Over!

2008-06-18T18:53:00.003-04:00

As ridiculous as it is, I am featured as a model/sample on a makeover tool at my job called the Total Beauty Makeover! You can even make over dogs and cats.

Send me some redonkulous makeovers of myself--or your own self. Prize will go to best one!

Been a Long Time

2008-06-18T08:33:00.006-04:00

Again, life has gotten the better of me, and I have had trouble keeping up with the blog. I've been out of town and I have tons of good pictures to put up!

I went to Jazz Fest
I went to a family reunion in Sioux City, Iowa (Western Iowa! They didn't get flooded. Why is it that I just love places that get flooded horribly?)
I have been setting up some freelance work for myself
I'm beginning to reacquaint myself with the Jersey Shore as a singleton! The latest place I discovered: Snuffy's Clam Bar! It's also a grand place for wedding receptions!

They also have this crazy aquarium with a mysterious monkey dangling precariously above it--looks like he's about to "swim with the fishes."

And a very cozy bathroom!

My friend Christy, basking in the glory that is Snuffy's.

So, changing things, and that takes a ton of energy. Also some annoying health issues to deal with. Nothing serious, but definitely things that caused a bit of depression--which is enemy #1 on productivity! Another thing that affected my happiness: my horrible homesicknesss! This happens a lot.

Things I have been doing: more movie watching! All About Eve is my new favorite! If you've never seen it, I would describe it as Bitches Being Bitchy. Great dialogue!

Something you never see

2008-05-24T13:49:00.003-04:00

The area where ads are normally posted painted over with black. It was like this for a few days. People don't like it, so they put Post-Its on them. But they're blank Post-its.

I like the way this looks. Like an 80s fantasia...

A Real Product

2008-05-24T13:40:00.002-04:00

My friend Christy is a gardener for the New York City parks department, and they use this in the parks. Seems useful. Learn something new every day! And way to stick on a juvenile theme...

Childish Humor

2008-05-24T13:36:00.002-04:00

I like it when people graffiti like 12-year-old boys. It always makes me laugh.

Poetry Is Awesome

2008-04-21T23:03:00.005-04:00

I had almost forgotten how much I love poetry and why. After applying to grad school, and getting in, but finding myself unable to currently truly afford it without putting holes in numerous pockets of numerous pants that I have yet to even own, I had almost forgotten why I was drawn to words in the first place. Especially words written in form, following ancient structures that seem to have no relevance in today's world, speaking codes. But then tonight I saw Mark Strand read in the back of a bar in Alphabet City and couldn't stop myself from grinning from ear to ear and remembering why and how it had put a spell on me all those years ago, as a teenager, as a college student, as a recent graduate--grasping and sighing dramatically over the mastery of the person's mind before me on the page, or at the podium.

And what a reader. Like slow, patient music. He let the words come soberly and strong. Punctuated and measured. The space between the words helped shape the words themselves. It was simple. It felt pure. And I dizzyingly fell in love all over again.

More than once, I thought, "I have loved your words for years now, how wonderful to hear you and see you as a human being. What courage. What hope. You were the poet laureate. But even more so, you made me see the world in a different way. You have always taken me by the hand and led me to peek over the precipice at death, at life going on without me, at myself wondering over it, and seeing it as a dream." (Ha, yes, that, exactly, more than once over the course of 30 minutes. Hyperbole, you're a good friend.)

And before Strand went on, I found a new poet's work to love: Rick Halles. He made me swoon at his imagery, lights like stars piercing hearts, leaving stains on shirts. I can't wait to read more of him for years to come.

And I left feeling (get ready for more drama): These are my people.

I must stalk the people who organized this reading. Thanks, curators of Reading Between A & B. They created a homey environment, one where I felt just fine sitting by myself for 20 minutes, smiling, listening to other people's conversations, just sitting there, feeling at home. And loving the fuck out of New York City. This is what I came for. So I finally got to the right place a few years late. I've never claimed to be prompt. I'm just glad I made it.

"The Children's Hour" -- but way less tragic

2008-04-14T23:53:00.004-04:00

...except for maybe my decorating skills, or lack thereof.

Don't know why I felt a need to take this, except that I thought my living room/bedroom in my studio apartment here looked like a child's room with all of the colors. I could think of worse things to have my room look like.

Of course I still need to kind of move in, get some real curtains, take the rest of my shit out of boxes and get off of the damn floor, and maybe get some furniture. But hey, when it costs 3 grand just to move in, you choose your battles.

"Crackers Kill"

2008-04-14T23:51:00.001-04:00

Graffiti on a poster for a new "reality" show called DEA.

Viva Argentinian Film!

2008-04-14T22:40:00.005-04:00

Below is a quote from my new favorite director, Lucrecia Martel, about her film La Niña Santa, which she described as "an erotic film about a girl who thinks she's a saint." In reality, the film is far more complex than that, and celebrates negative space. At the end, I fell in love with the movie. The tension built and...well, you should just see it. It's pretty incredible and interesting, as is this quote:

Q: Why does La Niña Santa take place during a medical convention?
"There is something between medicine and holiness that interests me. The sick bodies and the healthy bodies. The lepers of Job, where God and the Devil hide. The saints sick from saintliness and their miraculous cures. The wounds of stigmata and the concept of the Passion. The doctor of the soul. The sick so sick that they look like monsters. In ancient times the appearance of a monster, somebody physically malformed, was a sign of the divine. The monster, the one that shows, that reveals divine intentions. Monsters have mutated with time and then came the degenerate ones, those without the Arian standards, the serial killers dressed in human skin, the poor in general who represent a menace with their monstrous needs. We are a monstrous species that betrays all that is foreseeable. Generations and generations of freaks that do not allow us to give anything for granted, that should oblige us to review the laws all the time, to think again about the meaning of happiness, about the possibility of finding a sense of happiness sufficiently diverse so as not to leave anyone out, to see each newborn as an infinite mystery of possibilities. La Niña Santa is a sort of surgical story that intends to draw a line between live tissue and moral prosthesis."

Read more about her in this Telegraph interview.

There's something about her that's kind of hot. I watched a documentary after the film about how it was made, and she's great to watch work.

"'T'ain't No Sin" to Love Tom Waits

2008-04-12T13:27:00.004-04:00

I'm totally captivated by this whole meme thing my friend Dave put on his blog, so I'm totally stealing it and will do my own versions with the song titles of one of my very favorite musicians, Tom Waits. Dave did his in honor of Bob Dylan winning the Pulitzer (which is pretty freaking cool--the first time a popular musician has ever been honored), and I'm just doing it to copy him. And because I adore Tom Waits.

1. Are you a male or female? -- Gun Street Girl
2. Describe your self? -- Just Another Sucker on the Vine / New Coat of Paint
3. Describe your day? -- Lucky Day
4. Describe where you currently live -- In the Neighborhood
5. If you could go anywhere, where would you go -- Drunk on the Moon
6. Your best friend is -- Diamonds on My Windshield
7. Your favorite color is -- Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)
8. You know that -- I Wish I Was in New Orleans
9. What's the weather like? -- Rainbirds
10. If your life was a television show, what would it be called? -- The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)
11. What is life to you? -- Carnival
12. What is the best advice you have to give? -- Step Right Up
13. Describe your last ex? -- Invitation to the Blues
14. Your current relationship status? -- In Between Love / Bad Liver and a Broken Heart
15. What's your favorite hobby? -- (Looking For) The Heart of Saturday Night
16. When you think of your friends? -- Such a Scream
17. What do your friends think of you? -- Shiver Me Timbers
18. What does your current love interest think of you? -- The One That Got Away
19. You always travel with? -- $29
20. The best way to end a long day? -- Jockey Full of Bourbon
21. Your occupation is? -- What's (S)he Building?
22. When you grow up, you want to? -- Tango Till They're Sore
23. What does your family think of you? -- Let Me Get Up On It
24. Your favorite food is? -- Chocolate Jesus
25. You want to be remembered as? -- A Sweet Little Bullet from a Pretty Blue Gun

I wasn't made to love you--but I've learned how

2008-04-12T12:34:00.009-04:00

So, I took a hiatus. This is what was happening:

1. Went to visit parents in Baton Rouge

2. Returned

3. Got deathly ill for a couple of weeks

4. Someone got fired at work, so had to take on the work of two people

5. Had my boss take my idea of doing something in New Orleans for our website seriously (what?! I mean, what?!), so hustled my sick ass into writing up proposals and brainstorming

6. Got in touch with this nice lady (who I met through my failed attempt to return to New Orleans to rebuild houses through AmeriCorps) whose crew I want to work on with a volunteer group of massage therapists. It took us months to get in touch. And now I have all the pieces together, so now I just have to make sure we get it all done.

7. In the meantime, I was taking pictures and watching lots of movies. My fave of the bunch: Hot Fuzz.

8. Also, I've developed insomnia because of my upstairs neighbor, who I can only assume is building a loft and, apparently, dragging corpses around in their coffins day and night. Ah, New York living!

9. Subsequently, I have really been falling in love with New York. Strangely, I have now lived here as long as I've lived in New Orleans (7 years: the longest I've ever lived anywhere--that's how it became my home town). So, weird, New York is becoming home town #2. And there's something very dear about feeling "at home" in a place so inhospitable, a place where you can hear several languages on the street in just a few minutes, where you can find any food, and where people worldwide want to see. You know what else is here? People who were born and raised here: True New Yorkers. From the cop I saw yesterday who was an absolute stereotype (chubby, bristly mustache, big glasses) and SO proud to be a cop, to the young Latina girl in her Baby Phat jacket with her curled updo hair and gold hoop earrings and tight-tight jeans, speaking loudly into her cell phone, SO proud to be Latina, to even the guy sleeping in the laundry cart on the street, about a block from the theaters where Chicago and Spring Awakening are playing.

Yeah, after 7 years, I think I kinda like it here.

Big Daddy, Brooklyn

2008-04-12T12:23:00.001-04:00

Where Are the Lesbian Vampires?

2008-03-18T08:30:00.006-04:00

I couldn't believe this horribly awesome painting when I saw it in a bar in Park Slope, Brooklyn. It reminded me of those bad flesh flicks from the late '60s that were Italian and always seemed to have a lesbian vampire in them. Movies like Succubus, which I'm probably misspelling and likely has no lesbians and is not Italian. But that is how my mind has lumped all movies of that genre--all the ladies are Vampirella! Good times.

St Patrick's Day 2008, NYC

2008-03-18T08:16:00.003-04:00

I was surprised how much people dressed up and how Mardi Gras-like St. Patrick's Day was in Times Square. I mean, I've lived in NY for 7 years and never really noticed. I guess that's because I avoid Times Square, though I've worked near it over half the time I've been employed here.

But here's something you'll NEVER see in New Orleans: revelers waiting outside to have fun by getting inside. They look morose. In NOLA, those bitches would at least have beer while they're standing on the sidewalk.

And this was what it was like in one of the bars on "Irish Alley" or whatever they call it. Pogues aplenty. (Did you hear Shane McGowan is back touring with them? He's the perfection of drunkenness, bless him.)

Brooklyn Mailbox

2008-03-15T17:47:00.000-04:00

Frankenstein's SUV

2008-03-15T17:36:00.001-04:00

Say it again

2008-02-23T13:27:00.003-05:00

OK, off to Baton Rouge for a few days to see the fam. See ya when I get back!

More SoHo Graf Art

2008-02-23T13:27:00.001-05:00

In SoHo..

2008-02-23T13:22:00.000-05:00

Pretty graffiti.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Slogan

2008-02-22T11:25:00.006-05:00

I have a couple this week.

I'm of course on my Stefan Sagmeister kick this week (I'm even having dreams about him, where he tells me to not be scared to do the things I want to do. It's nice) and he has a whole new book of slogans to choose from! Here is one half of the slogan "Everybody thinks...they are right" from the inside of his show at Deitch Projects in Soho. In his lecture, he said he found that this was the reason for most conflict in the world. Good point, I think.

And then after I left his exhibit, there was this charming slogan on a telephone pole, which I hope you will appreciate.

My new desktop picture

2008-02-19T21:53:00.003-05:00

A designer called Truth (I think) put this on NYC subway cars to replace the real ones. Awesome.

Check out the lecture by Stefan Sagmeister that references this, and general happiness. I just saw Sagmeister speak tonight and am supremely inspired. I love him.
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/50

Weekly Photo Challenge: Lychnobite

2008-02-17T16:39:00.004-05:00

I'm coming in late on this--it was supposed to be posted on Friday, but I was sick this week, so please forgive my tardiness.

I searched and searched all week for a goth person on the street, or maybe a night-time subway driver who would let me take their picture, but then my friend sent me a You Tube video of The Count (my first exposure to anyone who only toiled at night), so I took a pic of that.

Check out the other entries, starting with Dave's. His has a good story.

The Freeze

2008-02-17T16:30:00.001-05:00

This is old. I took this one night when I was living in Jersey. It was a magical freeze in December. Icicles were everywhere.

It's Home

2008-02-17T16:28:00.003-05:00

My stop on the G, Bedford-Nostrand. I like the way the lines intersect in this photo.

When your train never seems to come, you think...

2008-02-12T08:34:00.000-05:00

G train, Bedford-Nostrand Stop, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn (my stop)

Dissin' the Matchmaker

2008-02-10T19:43:00.000-05:00

50th St. Stop, E Train
[In case you can't read it, it says: "I didn't know Cupid was an ugly bitch?" I guess they're asking us.]

Weekly Photo Challenge: Hazard

2008-02-09T09:45:00.000-05:00

My friend Dave and his pals have a weekly photo challenge I've decided to crash. This week's subject was "hazard." And my response--an urban duke of exactly that, but this one's all hopped up on the Lord.

Hazard: The guy who drives this car, souped up on Jesus

Anonymous Surrender

2008-02-09T09:29:00.000-05:00

Jersey City Light Rail

I thought Six Flags was a "family" park

2008-02-09T09:22:00.000-05:00

Port Authority, 42nd Street
This and Viagra covered on insurance, but no sex ed in schools and birth control pills NOT covered on insurance = now that's "family values," folks!

God Pride ain't just for the South

2008-02-09T09:16:00.000-05:00

On the street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn

I'd like to remind myself of this daily

2008-02-07T22:07:00.000-05:00

In front of a church on the Upper East Side

A little known fact...

2008-02-06T18:40:00.000-05:00

Election Day Thought

2008-02-05T18:10:00.000-05:00

Looking out for Louis

2008-02-04T15:56:00.000-05:00

G train

Subway version of Post Secret?

2008-02-04T15:54:00.001-05:00

Metropolitan stop of Brooklyn G train, Williamsburg

Enlightenment on the G Train

2008-02-04T15:33:00.000-05:00

Metropolitan stop on the Brooklyn G train, Williamsburg