Michael Buble - Just havn't Met You Yet

....what's happening to me! ? I'm loving middle of the road top 40 pop songs by people like Michael Buble???!

Train - Hey Soul Sister

I spent the last 2 days listening to top 40 radio and loved it. In NYC WPLJ is the leader in that catagory...2 of the songs I liked best are this one by Train and Michael Buble's "Just havn't met you yet" My critical self battles with my emotional self and guess who wins....

One touch

I guess what these last few entries are about is how do you turn a heartfelt expression in zeroes and ones, how do you communicate a genuine desire to open up and connect with another person online? I know I've done it, I've written things which have gotten tremendous response from people, I guess just writing from a point of view where I'm very focused and present, stressing an interest in a person's attitude more than just how their list of stats add up. It's a challenge, but it's pretty interesting, amazing really when you can genuinely connect with a stranger. We all want to, I think.

This Used to Be The Future

In my online browsing I've recently run across the first guy I ever met online. I remember how exciting it was to get together with this guy. Bill had left for Boston the day before and had given me his old computer (my first) and the names of a few websites to check out. I guess that meant we had an open relationship...

Well, when I met this guy "A" I couldnt believe it, he was like a dream come true, he had all the physical attributes that turn me on in a guy and we immediatly got naked and got busy, and got off, we cleaned up and said our goodbyes and that was that. That first experience was just so foreign and immediate that I'll never forget it. But now I've seen this guy online, I know it's him because he is using some of the same pictures as 10 years ago, and he is saying all these things like "I'm not here to improve my typing" and "c'mon guys get real!" and using as this language that suggests this guy is feeling burned and jaded, he still looks hot as hell and he has hit me up to get together and as much as I like his pics, old and new....I think I'd rather not mess with the memory.

Radio Activity

When I think about the phenomenon of emotions being communicated digitally I always think of Kraftwerk. It's fascinating how, in the course of a brief online exchange, you can really pick up some idea of what a person is like emotionally, their generosity and willingness to open up a bit and things like that which go beyond a mere list of stats.

It seems like for some people all of this multi-tasking and cutting and pasting the same list of stats and questions leads to a huge amount of frustration. I can see why, I know that when I sit down and write a few sentences in response to a posting where I really address the specifics, I usually get a really good response back, something that's infinately more interesting than the worst possible response you might get such as these few words..."Pic for pic, into?" I couldn't imagine wanting to meet that person no matter how hot his photos are.

NRBQ Ridin In My Car

I never really paid attention to these guys before but I heard the new version of this by She and Him, zoey Deschanel's recording project and fell in love with it...maybe you will too..

Greyson Chance Singing Paparazzi

This kid is really inventive, I love this!

The Creditors

I gave a painting to the BAM benefit auction and in return I got 2 tickets to this play....It was about an ex-husband and current husband meeting and becoming friends. The current didn't know that the ex was his wife's ex, he just thought he was some stranger who befriended him and was giving him some good manly advice on his marriage, when in fact the ex was trying to sabotage this relationship to get back at his ex wife for the pain this split had caused him. It was fascinating and tragic and evil and at first I thought of what a monster this ex is, how unreal he seemed, no one could be that evil I thought.

Then I thought of my own relationships and how people have done things to me that I found unfathomable and then I thought a bit more about some of the mean things I've done to others. Bottom line is, we all have the capacity to hurt one another and none of us take the pain of being hurt by someone we loved very well, basically, alls fair in love and war.

Seeing this had a kind of cathartic effect on me

You can read a review of the orig production in London here

One Madison Park

I walked past this building last night and was struck by how it interacts with its neighbors. This is just a reflection of the met life building but it reminds me of some of the buildings I saw in Shanghai that have video screens built into them.

I had incorrectly identified this building as being by Rem Koolhaas, I was wrong, It's actually by Cetra/Ruddy but it will be playing the straight man to Rem Koolhaas' Lou Costello Building, sneakily rising up behind it on 22nd street. There is an excellent article about these architectural relationships by James Gardner in the New York Sun, you can read that here..

Walter Van Bierendonck

This was a fashion show recently held in CA> Where Belgian designer Walter van Bierendonck recruited models from the local bear community....It reminded me of the time me and Bill were in london when we were still boyfriends. We met this guy Geoff at the Hoist and ended up having a 3 way with him...it was a blast and we saw him a few more times during the course of the weekend and at one point we were walking about London and Geoff grabbed a copy of the face and showed us a "Bear" fashion shoot and there was Geoff, on the pages of one of the coolest magfazines in London. We had bagged a model from the Face for our first 3 way ! Woo hoo! Geoff turned out to be a great guy, he was in NYC last week and we had a beer and caught up a bit....Life is so cool that way

Richard Haines does Cilla Black

My friend Richard Haines aka Designerman, has been doing these drawings of 1960's pop icons lately, you can see more on his blog "What I saw Today" here

The downside to oversharing..

There is an interesting article in today's NY Times about the downside to sharing too much about your personal life online. I've had some bad experiences with this too, I think mostly because when you put up information or write something about how you're feeling, it's too easy for your readers to misinterpret what you're saying, or if it's a friend reading they can easily assume you're writing about them and somehow, seeing it in print can form these indelible impressions on people's brains....it's tricky stuff.
I'm sure I'll make more mistakes in this area, but I've learned some valuable lessons, and I hope to keep learning.

You can read the NYT article here...

Wild Is The Wind

It's the most amazing cool refreshing and super windy night in NYC...I love it!

Ex-Pats

It has dawned on me lately that I know a lot of Ex-pats, 2 ex boyfriends and 1 brother. My shrink says it's because I like worldly people. I talked a lot with my brother about why he prefers living in Costa Rica, I guess he has always been more of a libertarian and therefore Costa Rica suits him just fine.

My friend Eduardo, a Brazilian Ex-pat living in Budapest posted this below on his blog Megvilagosodas, you can see his blog here with the original entry in portuguese....



We are not alone

I have commented on this blog here .
You prepare a postcard confessing a secret and sent anonymously to a mailbox. The Blog is successful because readers recognize their own secrets confessed anonymously by others. Every Sunday the blog publishes a new series of postcards
Today they published one that could have been written by me.
There is a freedom I never thought I would love in moving alone to a Foreign Country.
I agree with this so I can say that this person who sent this postcard is perhaps the one that best understands how I feel about it.
And I do not know this person!

Pamplamoose Lady Gaga telephone Cover

I just discovered this band through my friend Bill. I like it but I started listening to some of their other covers (single ladies) and they start to seem rather formulaic. they seem to be a huge internet phenomenon with sharply divided opinions...I found the following on Tumblr and found it hilarious....

misseffieb:

I FUCKING HATE THAT STUPID TWEE BAND PAMPLAMOOSE

Okay?!? The internet seemed to think they were the best thing ever when they covered “Single Ladies” and then they started doing other covers with their oh-so-precious voices and instrumentation!

I know I’m the only person who thinks they’re irritating, and everyone else thinks they are geniuses for being white and singing black people songs in an ironic, saccharine tone.

LOOK HOW ADORABLE WE ARE they seem to hint, through their vacant eyes. LOOK AT HOW WE ARE SO FUCKING CUTE. THAT IS THE POINT OF OUR MUSIC WE TOOK SOMETHING UNEXPECTED BY BLACK PEOPLE AND WE ARE WHITE PEOPLE SINGING IT LIKE LITTLE ANGEL CHILDREN ISN’T THAT FUCKING ADORABLE!?? ALSO OUR NAME MEANS “GRAPEFRUIT” IN FRENCH BUT WE SPELLED IT PHONETICALLY INSTEAD OF CORRECTLY ISN’T THAT GODDAMN PRECIOUS.

I hate you, Pamplamoose.

U.S. Soldiers Remake lady Ga Ga's Telephone

This is direct from Afghanastan...your tax dollars at work!....ferosh!

Here's a excerpt from an AP piece on this

Sergeant Aaron Melcher, 24, the mastermind behind the video, introduces the clip on YouTube with the words: "Prepare yourself for a fantastical journey."

The video lives up to its billing, transforming seven soldiers into a farcical dance troupe offering a little relief from a grim war.

The stocky Melcher, who looks more suited to American football than mimicking a skinny pop star, steals the show as he grinds with abandon to the beat in a sweat-stained t-shirt and camouflage pants.

He pouts as he plays the role of Lady Gaga, and in another scene goes shirtless under a veiled hat, imitating the pop star's get-up of yellow police tape. He joins six other comrades in various makeshift costumes, featuring black underwear and two big telephone cutouts on the wall.

The backdrop to the fanciful dancing and dressing up is a spare military outpost, with plywood walls, a dart board and a rifle propped up against the wall.

Unlike Lady Gaga's raunchy "Telephone" video with Beyonce, the soldiers' version is more innocent and no one gets poisoned.

Apart from sheer silliness, the video conjures up some of the boredom and isolation felt by the troops on long tours, as well as the camaraderie forged along the way.

Melcher and his dance partners are mechanics who came to Afghanistan in August and are stationed at a remote forward operating base in western Farah province with the 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne, which is charged with training Afghan security forces.

When they are not making dance videos, the mechanics' "primary job is fixing downed vehicles and keeping them maintained," Baldanza said.

Interviewed on CBS television's morning program, Melcher said his wife was a big fan of Lady Gaga and that during a brief visit back home, he had watched the risque "Telephone" video.

He and a fellow mechanic "happened to be working on an engine in the motor pool, and we were thinking about something we could do to make some people smile back home, and I told them the Lady Gaga video was pretty hot, and we thought we'd remake it. That's what you got."

He said the overwhelming response to the amateur video has taken him and his fellow soldiers by surprise, but his commanding officers were fully behind it.

"Superiors back it up. It's a morale booster over here, sir."

Asked if the flamboyant pop star known for her bizarre costumes had spoken to the soldiers, Melcher said: "No, sir, we have not heard from Miss Lady Gaga yet. We are kind of hoping we would hear in the near future."