Category: General

wal-mart gives up on manhattan

~ jamie ~ Leave a comment

from the ny times this morning: wal-mart has given up efforts to locate a store in manhattan

it’s a free country and they are free to try to build in manhattan if they can.

and it’s a free country and manhattanites can do everything in their power to stop them.

and i’m glad they did. i hate frigging wal-mart. one of the things i love about new york is that there are so many mom-and-pop and local chain stores, and it’s easy to spend money knowing that money will stay in the local economy. you could live your whole life here and practically never spend money in the local outlet of a national chain. i don’t need wal-mart coming in and ushering those locals out of business.

especially with morons like lee scott in charge of the company:

During the questioning, Mr. Scott repeatedly referred to New York, but after the meeting a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Mona Williams, called to say that Mr. Scott was referring to only Manhattan, not the entire city.

hey mr. scott, you freakin’ idiot. news flash. new york has five boroughs.

later in the article is this choice nugget:

Speaking about what he sees as snobbish elites in New York and across the country, Mr. Scott added, “You have people who are just better than us and don’t want a Wal-Mart in their community.”

not better, mr. scott. probably just better informed.

hacking john mccain

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apparently john mccain doesn’t quite get how those internets work, with all the tubes and whatnot.

or at least his staff doesn’t.

turns out that they stole their my space page design, and linked back to the original page for their artwork. which meant that the poor original designer had to foot the bill for the bandwidth for the images every time someone hit john mccain’s my space page.

but, it gets better. that also means that, if you substitute a new image on your server, it will magically appear on john mccain’s my space page.

which the designer did. you can see the results here.

for those of you too lazy to click through, here’s what the image says:

Dear Supporters,

Today I announce that I have reversed my position and come out in full support of gay marriage…particularly marriage between passionate females.

John

ok, so i could do without the straight-boy take on hot lesbian sex.

but you have to admit, this is brilliant.

hopefully mccain’s staff has learned their lesson.

everything’s coming to a grinding halt

~ jamie ~ 2 Comments

bonus points to me for the lyrical reference to the cure. the mood i’m in, be glad i didn’t quote “sinking”.

we made such good headway with buying the coop apartment. we found a place we liked. we made an offer and it was accepted.

stop.

full stop.

we’ve been waiting for a week and a half now, with no word from the owner, who needs to sign the papers so we can get going on the mortgage. apparently he’s in korea and can’t be contacted. and his relative, who is living in the apartment and has power of attorney, isn’t signing until he talks to him, or something like that.

the waiting. my god, the waiting.

we really like the apartment, and we think the price is fair to both sides.

but something’s gotta give. soon.

daylight savings time, and the mac

~ jamie ~ 1 Comment

you just lost an hour, if you’ve forgotten.

at work, it’s a major headache. microsoft somehow botched the transition to the new congress-improved version of daylight savings time. so we have to go back and reschedule outlook appointments for a certain time period, because microsoft couldn’t figure out the transition. and everyone who booked conference rooms for meetings may lose those conference rooms, because the time didn’t move properly, so someone else may have booked the room for the time slot they needed, in the interim.

among other glitches. geez louise, those guys are idiots.

at home, i have a mac. got up this morning, the time was displayed properly in all applications, and everything just worked.

tell me again why you don’t use a mac?

update: in addition to all the other issues, after the microsoft “fix” of outlook, all of my “all-day” appointments (the reminders at the top of each day) now span two days. microsoft is truly an idiotic company.

me, a homo-wner?

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should, of course, be homeowner. but i wanted to drive the lame joke to its breaking point.

yes, kirk and i are thinking about buying a coop. seriously thinking, to the point of realigning our finances to put things in motion, and looking at places.

now, let’s get this straight. i didn’t suddenly win the lottery. i can’t afford to buy in manhattan–not even in inwood, where we live now. so we’re looking in riverdale, which is just over the harlem river in the bronx. a very nice old neighborhood, with lots of affordable places, and not more than 15 additional minutes commute away from where we are now.

more to come as the story develops.

jello biafra at the knitting factory

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my god, what a show.

i’ve seen some amazing spoken word performances in my life. henry rollins. utah phillips. hunter s. thompson. jim carroll.

nothing compares to jello biafra, i have to say. although all those other guys come close, in their own way, jello edges into the lead due to sheer stamina.

onstage at 8:45 PM. one fifteen minute break, two and one-half hours into the show. offstage just after 1:00 AM. by my count that’s four continuous hours of dialogue.

and every damn minute was compelling.

you got some “greatest hits” (loved the imitation of his weirdly swedish high school geometry teacher), but also an awful lot of extemporaneous conversation, mostly about iraq. it’s tough to say what was the best, or what was wonderful, because of the sheer volume of ideas. the best i could do was to take away a general feeling of reflection and renewed commitment and enthusiasm for doing the right thing again.

it was an affirmation, too. i’m doing the right thing in a lot of ways. giving back a significant portion of my income to microloans via finca. registered to vote, and actually voting, and actually voting in all the odd primaries and local races. and just generally giving a shit.

i admire people like jello biafra, and larry kramer, and all the other people who can keep that fire burning intensely for so long. the normal human tendency is to soften with age, become more conservative with age, compromise with age.

seeing someone like jello biafra gives me hope that everything might not be completely lost. thank god he’s still fighting the good fight.

dinner at mocca espresso lounge–loved the food (fried halloumi cheese, veggie burgers, tilapia, house-made cheesecake), great service, excellent italian sodas and espresso martinis. worth stopping by if you are in the area.

what i wanted to do

~ jamie ~ 2 Comments

coming to work this morning, i made the usual trek from subway to building. it’s all underground, and the entrance to my building is a revolving door in the lower level concourse of rockefeller center.

i’m assuming you know how a revolving door works. you push, and walk forward, and the door spins.

unless, of course, you are the type of person who doesn’t push the door.

the type of person that doesn’t do your part.

here’s how that works. it’s a busy door, and there’s someone ahead of you pushing, and there’s usually someone behind you pushing, and so you just stand there and walk forward, and let someone else do all the work. there’s a possibility that if there’s no one behind you, the door could stop revolving and you’d be stuck. and then you’d have to push, or stand there until someone behind you pushed.

and that’s what happened this morning. this woman just walked in the door in her slot without pushing, the person in front of her pushed the door, and she depended on me to push from behind so that she wouldn’t have to.

call me picky, but i think that behavior like this is indicative of a deep personality flaw. whoever she was, i’d bet she carries that attitude over into her everyday dealings, and that wouldn’t be pretty.

i so wanted to not push the door, and leave her standing there. but i’m a basically nice guy, and so i pushed.

maybe i shouldn’t have.

the meat tray, part 2

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nearly two years ago i wrote about my joy in receiving an enormous tray of meat as a prize in a raffle.

kirk and i were in reading, pennsylvania visiting his parents, and returned to the scene of the crime. the local fire company has an occasional sunday breakfast as a fundraiser. it features salted mackerel (can’t say i’m a fan of salty fishy breakfasts) but they have normal breakfast food as well.

and they sell chances for meat trays, a dollar a chance.

it was my first time returning since winning my original meat tray. i bought my one dollar ticket.

and in a room of at least a hundred people, i’ll be damned if i didn’t win the meat tray again. i’m two for two in the meat tray prize department. can’t get much better than that. what are the odds? at least 100-to-1 for winning each one. and lightning striking twice? pretty cool.

so sitting in my fridge, i have sausage, hamburger, pork chops, chicken, and steak. some of it is destined for the freezer, of course.

i think that eating meat must be my destiny.

justin bond and the monks

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sunday and monday, i attended back to back theatrical events that showcased the variety of opportunities for fun in new york city.

on monday night, i was at joe’s pub for the inaugural talk show with justin bond. justin bond is the performer who portrays kiki of kiki and herb, who i write about all the freaking time. his guests were michael musto the gossip writer, jay brannan from shortbus, and jane adams, an actress who most recently starred in “little children”.

it got off to a bit of a slow start but got progressively more interesting and hilarious as the evening wore on. the highlight? most definitely justin’s performance of “god hates fags”, a song he got off a (who knew?) anti gay “christian” website.

don’t get me started.

anyway, here’s the clip in all its glory, straight from you tube:

jay brannan also sang a song, but it’s not up on you tube yet. it was called (i think) “half a boyfriend”–he has a gorgeous voice and plays impeccable guitar. someone sign this kid up!

we’re going back next week as well–it’s john cameron mitchell from hedwig and shortbus, debbie harry from (of course) blondie, and someone else whose name escapes me. well worth the $20 + two drinks to see.

sunday night, at the polar opposite of the spectrum, we saw the gyuto monks from tibet at town hall. not what i would have picked for myself, but kirk wanted to go so i went too. and it was marvelous.

they do this deep-throated guttural chanting that sounds like three notes at once. and when you get twenty of them doing it at once, and throw in some native instruments like drums and bugle-y horns and steel drum-y things, you get a very unusual and surprisingly calming sound.

i loved it.

not as much as i loved justin bond, but still. two great nights in a row. can’t ask for more than that.

we have wii, and you can too

~ jamie ~ 2 Comments

i couldn’t stand it any more. i’ve been wanting a wii for months, and my hit-and-miss approach to various nyc stores wasn’t working. and i wasn’t about to pay the ebay premium for a console. so i visited the nintendo store in rockefeller plaza on friday, and asked how to go about getting one.

“show up at 7am on monday morning and get in line,” i was told.

ok then. ok then.

cut to this morning. thinking that the coldest morning of the year, the day after the super bowl, might be a good time to wait in line to get a wii?

maybe a bit foolish. there was some logic. i thought there would be fewer people than usual.

boy was i wrong.

i got there at 7:15am–close enough, right? it was, i think 14 degrees, with a wind chill on top of that. and there were already 10 people in line ahead of me. some of them had been there since 5:30.

in chatting with them, though, i was assured that i was there early enough, and i’d get one.

i’ve waited in lines in freezing weather before, most notably when i bought mets tickets at shea on the first day of ticket sales. my reward that time was meeting former met ed kranepool. cold weather waiting has been good to me.

so i decided to stick it out.

it wasn’t too bad. i’d worn several layers of thermal clothing, so i was pretty warm. i thought two pairs of socks and a thick pair of shoes would be adequate, but my feet damn near froze standing on the cold concrete. i took to standing on one leg at a time, like a frigging flamingo.

and i chatted some more with the other people in line. they were young, of course, and enthusiastic, and had all kinds of advice about which games to buy and which accessories to buy and why to buy a wii and not a playstation or an xbox and all that.

the young woman in front of me was particularly interesting. she used to work in direct action for greenpeace, and so we chatted about greenpeace versus peta and their direct action methods. which ended up in a conversation about the evils of corporate america, and greedy people, and the loss of small business in new york. a pleasant conversation.

several people walking by asked us what we were in line for. her response? we’re waiting for wiis, she said. it shows a level of commitment, she said. it’s like a little community, she said. you enjoy it more when you wait for it, she said.

and then, at about 8:30, a guy walked down the line of people, handing out rolls of cash. he gave a wad to the young woman in front of me, too.

he skipped me.

“i’ll be waiting outside,” he said to them. “bring them right to me when you get them.”

oh.

sometimes, when i think i’m older and jaded and worldly and nothing can surprise me, i get surprised, and i realize that i’m not as clever as i think i am.

the doors to the nintendo store opened at 8:45. an hour and a half wait. not bad.

there were four cashiers inside, waiting to sell the small stack of wiis behind the counter. clearly the majority of the people in line (a line that by that time stretched nearly a block) were going home empty-handed.

three of those four cashiers were taking cash, from all the shills in front of me. the remaining forlorn cashier spoke, quietly, evidently not expecting a reply.

“is anyone paying with a credit card?”

no one in front of me was, so i stepped past them all, got my wii, got an extra controller and an extra nunchuk, bought an extra game called “trauma center” which looked fun, and was out of there.

i’m looking forward to playing my wii. i’ll let you know how it is.

i’m sure that all those wiis bought with cash will be eventually be enjoyed as well, when the profits are made and the premiums are paid.

i’ll bet i enjoy mine a bit more, though.

must be something in the dirty water

~ jamie ~ Leave a comment

oh, boston. i’m glad you aren’t my home. the home of public officials so stupid that they can’t tell the difference between a lite-brite and a terrorist bomb device.

basically, it was guerilla marketing in a couple of dozen cities over the past few weeks. none of the other cities were idiotic enough to think that al-qaeda was disguising their next attack on america as mooninites from aqua teen hunger force.

and so the great city of boston arrests the terrorists, i mean, the guerilla posting guys, who then give a press conference the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the beatles came to america. from cnn:

Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens were released on $2,500 bail, said Mike Rich, their attorney. The next pre-trial hearing is scheduled for March 7.

Both men were cooperative with authorities, and neither has a previous criminal record in Massachusetts, Grossman said.

In a news conference, Rich told reporters he had advised his clients not to discuss the incident. Stevens and Berdovsky took the podium and said they were taking questions only about haircuts in the 1970s.

When a reporter accused them of not taking the situation seriously, Stevens responded, “We’re taking it very seriously.” Asked another question about the case, Stevens reiterated they were answering questions only about hair and accused the reporter of not taking him and Berdovsky seriously.

Reporters did not relent and as they continued, Berdovsky disregarded their queries, saying, “That’s not a hair question. I’m sorry.”

now that’s some classic stuff. john lennon would be proud.

update: here’s the video

58% of americans are complacent, selfish idiots

~ jamie ~ Leave a comment

that’s one way to look at the results of this poll, which compares the reactions of americans to their counterparts in other countries.

from the article:

People in Latin America were most worried while U.S. citizens were least concerned with just 42 percent rating global warming “very serious.”

The United States emits about a quarter of all greenhouse gases, the biggest emitter ahead of China, Russia and India.

Thirteen percent of U.S. citizens said they had never heard or read anything about global warming, the survey said.

how sad is that? 58 percent of americans don’t think global warming is a very serious problem. and 13 percent of americans have never even heard of it.

the story isn’t perfect. i’d like to know how many americans rated it a “serious” problem as opposed to “very serious”. still, we have a long way to go in this country to catch up to the awareness level of other countries.

on the other hand, as i’ve said many times, the earth ain’t going nowhere, and life on earth ain’t going nowhere either. the virus known as people might, though.

la casserole–18th arrondisement, paris

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this is the restaturant where kirk and i sang, ate, drank, socialized, and had an enormously good time until 5am. here are the pictures:

« click on thumbnails to view pictures »

“cerf”, a.k.a.
rudolph

huge filet
of beef

liquid
refreshment

la casserole
food fest

birthday
cake

birthday
cake

la casserole
food fest

la casserole
food fest

la casserole
food fest

la casserole
food fest

la casserole
food fest

more details to come!

i’m still here

~ jamie ~ Leave a comment

i know, it’s been a while. it’s been quite a month.

first, my group of five people at my place of employment was cut to two. just my boss and me. so, as you can imagine, i’ve been quite busy at work, which spills over into quite busy at home.

you get the picture.

and then kirk and i were gone for a week and a half on vacation. paris and strasbourg. lovely, fun, and too many stories. i had the night of my life at la casserole in the 18th arrondisement of paris. i’ll tell you all about that. suffice it to say that i had an 8pm dinner reservation, and left at 5am. the next morning.

lots of pictures, lots of stories. lots to tell.

we’ll get caught up.

on the use of “happy holidays”

~ jamie ~ 1 Comment

a lot of people think this phrase is a politically correct copout.

i don’t agree.

i’m a christian. you are not. or maybe you are. how the hell do i know? saying “happy holidays” is just being sensitive of other people’s beliefs, and doesn’t assume that everyone believes the way you do.

more importantly, i’d argue that saying “happy holidays” promotes the concept that god reveals himself, herself, or itself through many religions and traditions, all of which can be a conduit to truth and peace. that’s what i believe, anyway.

so my use of “happy holidays’ is, in a sense, much more spiritual than just saying “merry christmas”. and spirituality is what religion should be about, right?

so there.

i was told on the phone the other day by someone, “happy holidays, if you celebrate one”.

now that’s going too far.

dreamgirls tickets obtained

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i went early to pick up my $25 dreamgirls tickets. i thought maybe if i picked them up early i’d get better seats.

swiped my credit card, the tickets print out. row lll (that’s three l, the letter that comes after k) seats 17 and 19.

i ask the usher where the seats are.

she points to the sign.

row lll–last row.

seats 17 and 19–the last seats in the row.

that’s right. my $25 + $25 + $2 service charge = $52 bought me the worst seats in the biggest movie theater in manhattan. guess going early didn’t help. although the theater is sold out through thursday, i think, so i should be glad i have tickets at all, right?

woo hoo. this movie had better be good.

today is “reveal your blog crush” day

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at least according to this website, it is.

from the site:

So, I’ve been asked what technically IS a Blog Crush? It’d likely include some, if not all, of the following:
A) You can’t wait to read what they post next.
B) You want to be friends with them.
C) You think they are the cat’s meow. Meow!
D) You might find them attractive- physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, whatever floats your boat.
E) If you met them in person, blushing might occur.

i guess that, in that case, my blog crush is fake steve jobs. i think that counts. even though he’s fake, someone writes it. so i guess technically i have a crush on the real author of “fake steve jobs”. except not really. i have a crush on the fake persona of the real person.

this is just too complicated.

what’s going on

~ jamie ~ 1 Comment

tis the season, and all that. lots of fun stuff coming up:

» dreamgirls tickets on monday. we got them at the ziegfeld, which is the best movie theater in manhattan. great popcorn, enormous auditorium, huge screen and great sound, red velvet curtains, serious patrons. and, for special engagements like this, reserved seating. the tickets were $25 each, but they are treating it like an old-fashioned road show movie. you get a special program, and they have all the costumes and memorabilia in the lobby for you to look at. plus, it’s one of only three theaters in the country showing the movie, and the only one in new york. so, expensive, but exclusive too. i can hardly wait.

» kiki and herb christmas show at the bowery ballroom next wednesday. i’ve rattled on before about kiki and herb, and i won’t bore you again. but this is the event of december, if you ask me.

» we saw the radio city christmas show this past wednesday. i never miss this–i’m a sucker for the pageantry, the excess, and the splendor. great new “twelve days of christmas” tap number. plus there’s all your old favorites–the wooden soldiers, the dancing santas, the midgets blurting “christmas” from behind the little doors of the midget house, the kick line, the 3-d movie, mrs. claus singing “man with the bag”, and of course the nativity scene. and of course i get there 45 minutes early, so as not to miss a minute of the mighty wurlitzer. i’m a big pipe organ fanatic.

» finally, there’s kirk in “taming of the shrew”, part of the pied piper children’s theatre’s season. that’s not to be missed, either.

thanksgiving pictures and more

~ jamie ~ 2 Comments

here are a few pictures from our pennsylvania dutch thanksgiving goodness, from haag’s hotel:

« click on thumbnails to view pictures »

thanksgiving
food fest

thanksgiving
food fest

thanksgiving
food fest

thanksgiving
food fest

thanksgiving
food fest

thanksgiving
food fest

thanksgiving
food fest

thanksgiving
food fest

haag’s pumpkin pie

haag’s cherry pie

let me see if i can get this list right and complete. tapioca pudding. apple butter. chow chow. cope’s corn. pickles. stewed fruit. applesauce. homemade cottage cheese. sweet potatoes. pinto beans. ham. green beans. potato filling. pepper cabbage. pot pie. rolls. gravy. grilled vegetables. pie (your choice of apple, cherry, pumpkin, or shoo-fly).

oh, and turkey. it was all you can eat, $12.95. amazing place, amazing food. it’s one of my favorite places in the world to eat–the breakfasts are good too.

a couple of cuisine notes. pot pie, pennsylvania dutch style is really kind of chicken and dumplings, except the dumplings are thick noodles. shoo-fly pie is a molasses pie with a crumby topping. and cope’s corn is dried corn that has been reconstituted when cooked.

and a technical note: these pictures were taken with my new fuji finepix f30 digital camera. no flash used–this camera is amazing in low-light situations. i bought it to take food pictures on my upcoming paris trip, and this was the dry run. pretty successful, i’d say.

a week after thanksgiving, kirk dressed as hedwig for our friend george ennis’s fiftieth birthday, at the red lion pub in the village. george was the sound guy for hedwig, and has had quite an interesting life. he referred us to the jeweler who made our hedwig wedding rings, so we have a special place in our hearts for him. he sang with his band, which was a real treat. he kicks ass, vocally.

hedwig waits for the train

george ennis sings

and afterwards, one more evening at danny’s. kirk sang “my romance” from billy rose’s jumbo, and “have yourself a merry little christmas”, which is my favorite christmas song and which was a great and welcome surprise for me.

and 87-year-old oscar winner celeste holm sang with her 43-year-old opera singer husband.

only in new york, kids.

time off update

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quite a bit of time off work–last thursday through yesterday (tuesday). back at work and getting caught up, so this’ll be a quick one.

» thanksgiving dinner was excellent. i’ll post some pictures later–outstanding pennsylvania dutch food in large quantities, followed by a turkey dinner at home. yummo, as rachael ray would say.

» the closets are organized. i spent too much money on plastic containers, and put all the loose items in my closets into them. so much better.

» the christmas cards are in the mail. kirk and i do a custom card every year, and this year’s version is amazing (if i do say so myself). if you know me well enough to get a card, and you don’t get one, let me know and i’ll put you on my list. hint: this year’s card is round, shiny, metallic, and full of bits and bytes.

» kiki and herb’s christmas show is at the bowery ballroom this year. we have tickets–you should too.

more to come later. stay tuned.