Feeling a little cranky about 'man on the street' reactions to the presidential election. The news casts seem to enjoy stringing together the most worthless soundbites from people exiting the subway or strolling the shopping mall, which in my opinion, boil down to a consensus that the candidates should 'focus on the issues' and 'be more specific'. What the fuck does that mean? And why can't the fucking voters be more specific?

it was a weird day today.

about five months ago I had an idea. I started researching sci-fi and comics and their frequent use of Manhattan as a disaster site. it was for a class project, but for a while it was more interesting to me than researching music. So I scanned comics like crazy. I stayed in taking notes on The Day After Tomorrow, Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, and many many crappier movies. I thought I was onto something. It turned out I was.

Last month I caught wind of an architecture historian named Max Page via a local weekly paper. They printed an excerpt of his book entitled The City's End: Two Centuries of Fantasies, Fears and Premonitions of New York's Destruction. It turns out he beat me to the punch.

Today I bought the book and, it's fucking beautiful. There are comics, photos, posters, movie frames, book covers, posters, cartoons, and what seems to be two-hundred plus pages of well considered text. Hurts like a bitch.

So I WAS on to something. And it's flattering to think that it's a good enough idea for print.

Does anyone have a good method for not allowing yourself to be distracted by the many wonderful offerings of the internet when you have to be on your computer to do work?

Political fact checking by the St. Petersburg Time and CQ.

PolitiFact.com

Daggum liberal media

The big four speakers at last night's RNC:

Mitt Romney: Successfully positioned himself as the most conservative man in America by painting pictures of "liberals" with big broad strokes. Talk about Reagan 2 ... See you in 2012!

Mike Huckabee: The long inspirational working class anecdotes were more than a little sickening. I too have been known to work two jobs, just like Huckabee's dad, and not want government taking my taxes for those who don't work any jobs. But the republicans had eight years to do welfare and medicaid reform and didn't really bother with it. Besides, these should be state-run to respond to local needs. Huckabee got a lot of hurrahs for bringing back the image of tax and spend democrats. But we're already used to tax and spend republicans. To that, all Obama needs to say is "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"

And is huckabee getting fat again?

Guiliani: What an ass. Where does he get off making fun of Obama's "big city cosmopolitan" ideals with a picture of New York City behind him? He also talked about 9/11 ... shocker.

Palin: Her speech was delivered well and got the house rocking, which isn't hard when everyone in the house wants so badly to like you. I didn't get much substance though. I have read today in the times that her state budget surplus is for the most part, inherited. Her high approval rating seems to be directly tied to her corruption hunt, which upon further reading is similar to McCarthyism: anyone against her will be labeled a "friend to big oil" in public. She sent everyone a budget surplus tax refund too.

The Crowd: Damn, are they ugly.

Finished the fifth season this afternoon. What a ride.

I can't imagine anyone wanting to vote for McCain. Especially when the GOPs message seems to be, "this country needs change. Obama is too inexperienced to change anything. So vote McCain." it's like, "Sick of McDonald's? Try Burger King! It's right across the street."

It's the best BBQ I've ever had. I don't know if that makes me happy or not. For the rest of my life, I may never have better bbq. What do you do when you've reached that pinnacle?

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I am so happy about this!

Turned 30. Got a new job. Got engaged. Got a new computer. Impregnated the daughter of a prominent Republican Congressman. Things are good.

I forgot how hard it is to get people to show up for stuff. While IN week 1 took place on an unseasonably warm night to a wonderful turnout, Week 2 was a different story. Thanks to the chuckms of this world (there are few if not only one) I had a couple of close peeps to share the bar with.
I invest too much emotion in the turnout (a problem I had with karaoke back in the day), so I just moped around like a stormcloud and failed to appreciate the fact that ANYONE even hauled their ass out to have some drinks. In retrospect, for anyone reading, I am really quite happy you made it.
We got a little bit of a later pop with a cavalcade of burlesque dancers showing up to liven up the room. Kayo perked up and played some choice deep house tracks. I got to finish off the night with some of my B'more remixes ... guess what? No train wrecks! woo hoo!
Anyway, we're changing IN to a monthly party. So we'll do it all again in January.

"IN" went really well, I thought. We got a good crowd, the music was great, and there were even some "celebrities" there. The club owners are psyched on it and are all about getting it moving forward, which is great because I called in all of my favors populating the first night (read: having philbot drive up from Boston, chuckm and lindaleeb out on a school night, our friend Nadja flying in early from Chicago, Donatella the owner of Anthos showing up and an appearance by the elusive Celebrity Chef Sam Talbot with his entourage). So one down ... great. Now I gotta repeat the performance.

In general, I appreciate feedback. I saw plenty of room for improvement, but I am sure the aforementioned livejournalers might have observations.

I was mercifully given Thursday off, which I took full advantage of. Comics were a day late because of the holiday last week, so buying comics was my one major accomplishment. I did some more party promotion as I meandered around the city, and then cashed in a free dinner I won at davidburke and donatella from having high sales at Anthos. Liz, Nadja and I were treated to an amazing five course tasting menu, champagne and a bottle of wine. Highlights included squash gnocchi with enocci mushrooms, bok choy and sezchuan (?) sauce, a seared foie gras with cherry preserves and an amazing creme brulee. There was a signature dessert of a "tree" of cheesecake lollipops with bubble gum flavored whipped cream which was fun in a childhood reminiscent sort of way, but if I never have bublegum whipped cream again, I will be okay.

Back to work today.

Let's talk about awesome, shall we? In chronological order ...

1. Thanksgiving sorta ruled. Saw the family. Ate a bunch. Talked to my sister, who is doing well. Saw my dad's new spinning studio (he has 2 now). Guitar Hero with friends back home and a copy of the new Saul Williams/Trent Reznor album "Niggy Tardust". There was plenty of driving too, and plenty of time to listen to that shit.
2. Got my phone stolen on Friday night, which killed my heavy metal bar plans. But I got a new, more awesome phone Saturday morning which flips around and transforms and stuff.
3. quigs and ravinald in town, which means I'm getting shitfaced. And guess what, I did! I was unexpectedly cut from work saturday night, so I first caught the new Richard Kelly movie Southland Tales with Liz, which strongly appealed to our uber dorkiness. After that we all (chuckm, misslizzers, lindaleeb Dawn's brother Chris and liz) went out to drink and bowl at Gutter in Brooklyn. We only managed the drinking part though. We capped it off at Last Exit where Kayo was DJing and very happy to see us. I think I DJed too, but I can't be sure.
4. Sunday kind of hurt. The only productive thing I did was get to "hard" on Guitar Hero 3. This is, sadly, a major accomplishment. Liz and I had a brunch at Vinyl, which is a rock and roll themed diner. We sat at the Kiss booth and had a really good milkshake. After watching the Patriots squeak by the Eagles, I was "dragged" out for drinks and karaoke by the LiveJournal gang.
5. I downloaded BeatportSync, which is desktop DJ shareware from Native Instruments (who make Traktor Skratch). I am gonna fuck around with it some more after I finish writng this thing, but so far, it's pretty friggin awesome. I am currently DJing my entire iTunes library.
6. Monday I was cut from work again and used the afternoon to get some fashion advice from Emma. She scored me an amazing suit and boots which I will wear to "IN" tonight.
7. Even though I wasn't there, philbot hosted karaoke last night and made me proud. He texted me for advice, and I immediately imagined him sitting in Dumbledore's office surrounded by talking portraits of MaryMary, Me, Casey, Ricky and Lisette. And Rodney ... there'd be a portrait of Rodney too.
8. I drew a cartoon of "Busface" at work, and I am still laughing about it.
9. Big ass party tonight.
That is all.

For my friends in and around the Eastern Seaboard, here's where I think I will be over this crappy mid-week holiday.

I leave for my Mom's house tomorrow afternoon around 5. Most likely on the bus. Ugh. Family dinner in Warwick, RI on Thursday, and probably catching up with a couple of high school friends. Back on the bus Friday AM to get to work on Friday by 4 PM. If you're in or around the area, call me.

Liz will be having dinner with her dad on Thursday in CT and going to her high school reunion on Friday night. My guess is that she will be back in NYC on Saturday.

I am working Friday and Saturday night until midnight or 1. I can go out afterwards though. Definitely lit karaoke on Sunday if quigs is in town.

Holy crap, a busy week.

Things are on the up and up since last Tuesday's complete nervous breakdown. I have been promoting the shit out of "IN", and positive energy seems to be flowing to and from it. Here's the flyer ... front and back.

There are reasons for this party.

1. My friends are all over New York, and most of them work in restaurants. It's almost impossible to see them all in a single month or get them all in the same place. So this party is my attempt to do so.

2. Kayo is the best lounge DJ I have ever heard. His sensitivity to the audience's wants is like supernatural clairvoyance. It's tragic that he is only playing once a week to a moderately appreciative crowd in Brooklyn. IN is my way of connecting Kayo to people and and people to him.

3. We always go to a shitty irish pub after work ... the same damn one. Graham, the bartender, is the only reason we ever stick around. Otherwise, it sucks. It's in a basement. It's cramped. They play too much U2 way too loudly if some other local yokel hasn't taken over the jukebox with his selection of Dwight Yoakam hits. There are never any girls there. I am sick of that bar.

So I have been canvassing the town, so to speak. Digging through my contact list and hunting down everyone I know has been both tiring and rewarding. And it seems the universe has conspired to help me. I have logged countless miles walking from place to place reconnecting with old faces and in doing so, have randomly bumped into four or five other people who I forgot were still living here. It's been like a long episode of "This is your New York Life". Even if no one shows up, just seeing all these people again has been worth the effort.

I caught a stroke of luck from the Chef de Cuisine at my work, who has passed my flyer to the press. We are currently listed on the New York Magazine food blog called "Grub Street" with secret-ish details. I love it. Here's the article.

In other news, "No Country For Old Men" is a near perfect movie. I will be seeing it again.

Vince's "Zombie Proof" issue 2 came out Wednesday. It is really good so far. He and his writer are taking an interesting tack. They're creating a Zombie battling superhero team out of unlikely characters, and it's really funny. The pacing and feel of the book, however, suggests anything but.  I saw him at the bar last night and he showed me the opening sequence to issue three, which is a gorgeous fight scene that feels like a brutal "Bourne Supremacy" or "Casino Royale"  sequence.

Liz bought Guitar Hero for the Wii. I am trying desperately not to lose my life to it.

Today's newspapers were all about A-Rod's announcement of free-agency, which happened right in the middle of the 8th inning of Game 4 of the world series. I agree with all the sportswriters who are talking about his bad taste. And instead of recapping the overall sentiment of disgust shared by New York sports writers and the rest of the sports writers, I'll just comment that every single A-Rod article has noted that he has never taken a team to the World Series, and have all said, in one way or another, that this announcement was the only way he could get there. 

One of the only things I don't like about living in New York is having to watch all Boston sports games with the sound off. But last night, every bar had the sound on for game 4 of the world series, so I had to deal with the other shitty thing, having everyone in the bar root for the other non-Boston team. I wanted to just watch the game quietly at Bar Coastal, my neighborhood sports bar. I clapped to myself for good plays and winced at bad strike calss. But after sitting there for four innings listening to everyone else in the bar root for the Colorado Rockies, I knew I couldn't let another World Series win go by without a little self-indulgent celebration (in 2004 I was stuck working in Brooklyn and missed the game entirely). I took a cab over to Professor Thom's, the sox bar of livejournal entries of yore, and caught the end of the win, all the while doing rally claps and shouting at the TV screen in a way that only a bunch of other people clapping and shouting at a TV screen can make you do. I high-fived some people I don't know. It was all being filmed by someone who had no interest in the game, which briefly made me think of how ridiculous it all was. Maybe I will be in a National Geographic special about Red Sox fans.

After that I went to lit Karaoke and drank a lot with Colin. 

Thanks to philbot and chuckm, I don't have to go deep into the weekend recap, but I'll throw in my two cents.

Friday: Phil in town ... MIA ... politics ... disturbing propaganda ... heavy rain ... nachos.

Saturday: Shoe-quest ... cufflinks ... vampire movie ... nachos ... Justice ... propaganda-free entertainment ... bourbon ... biker bars ... slipped a roofie ... can't hang with the big boys.

Sunday: Vitamin Water!!!! ... Boston Wins everything!!!! ... bro-hugs for Phil  ... a bowl of chili with - guess what! - more nachos.

Go Sox!

Caught the game last night at Professor Thom's, the Red Sox bar on 2nd ave and 14th street. It was packed an hour before the game and only proceeded to get more packed. They played J Geils Band, Boston and Aerosmith for the hour of ESPN pre-game, probably because it was almost entirely about Joe Torre. It was hilariously appropriate. I don't think I will want to listen to "Freeze Frame" ever again, but last night, it was just perfect.

 I have been to bars for Red Sox playoffs before in Boston, and it's always a charged event. But seeing this place packed with Boston expats and the like, and talking to the paranoid Yankees fan smoking a cigarette who apologetically offered that he was "dragged here by his friends" made last night's game all that more exciting. People were going apeshit over every strike Beckett threw. I think Red Sox fans in New York react with the exhuberence of an oppressed class allowed to run free behind enemy lines. It's like the Puerto Rican Pride Parade except in English and with shittier music. In other words, awesome for the insiders and completely fucking obnoxious to everyone else.

It's funny that I'm writing this because anyone who might read it will probably hear the story in person tonight.  So Mary V and Dawn, this is for you. Go Sox!