Sharing Space

So I'm currently sitting in my favorite coffee shop, the Lotus Club on the Lower East Side.

It's nothing fancy, but I love it because it is one of the first places I frequented in my neighborhood, and unfortunately places of this kind are becoming extinct (thanks largely to high rents that apparently only Starbucks can afford).

It's an easy-going sort of place. The coffee is not great, but it's cheap and mellow. During the day, it's a laptop-o-rama since they have free wireless. And at night it turns into a sort of dive bar with cheap drinks, the way a lot of places in this neighborhood used to be.

The problem, though, with a place like this can attract some really annoying people. Take the couple next to me. (and by "next to me" I mean at my table) Now granted, I'm at a table for four, but that's ok during the day since it's not busy and there are lots of empty tables around. And this table is near a plug for the trusty ol' computer. The guy was meandering around, and I thought he was looking for a plug-- you sort of start to recognize that wanting glare people get when they're looking for juice.

In a small fit of neighborly goodness, I offered him a seat at my table.

Big Mistake. Give someone an inch and they take a mile.

Not only did he not have a computer, he has a friend who has since joined him (she's here now rustling her newspaper every three seconds or so) and a penchant for singing along to the radio.

You know, buddy, I like Cat Stevens just as much as the next guy, but you're not in your shower. You're in public. And if you don't know all the words to Whiter Shade of Pale, it is NOT ok to just hum along. I have headphones in my ears and I can hear you still.

Ew. Now he's biting his nails. Fleetwood Mac just came on, apparently he likes this one too. Oh, there goes a finger in the nose. I have to go home.

Superhero Photo Series

Photographer Dulce Pincon has put together a series of photographs of immigrant workers dressed up as superheroes while doing their jobs. He lists where they are originally from and how much money they send home. It's either a really interesting view of pop-culture-meets-harsh-reality or as sad and strange as seeing a grown man dressed up as a hot dog to hand out coupons on the street for the hot dog shop.

See the whole series here.

Maybe if we just split the country into TWO countries...

Is it too late to have a do-over on the civil war? It's not just the North vs. the South these days, though. It's people like this guy vs. people like me. It's Religious America vs. Non-Religious America. It's Educated America vs. Non-Educated America. It's Puritanical Control Freak Zealots vs. people who are trying to live a life, maybe not a perfect one, but a life nonetheless. Evolution vs. Creationism.

I don't like to discuss politics here, but I found the following article terrifying solely on the fact that someone this "conservative" not only exists, but has enough political backing to run for president. But I take solace in the fact that, well... he's not gonna come close to winning.

He's not, right?

Kansas Senator Announces Bid for Presidency
By RACHEL L. SWARNS

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 — Declaring himself a proud conservative before a crowd of cheering supporters waving American flags, Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, on Saturday announced his candidacy for president.

Mr. Brownback, an evangelical Protestant turned Roman Catholic and a former Kansas agriculture secretary, said he would focus on reviving faith and families in America; combating abortion, poverty and wasteful government spending; opposing same-sex marriage; and revamping Social Security and the federal tax system.

“The last thing we need in America is to take God out of our public lives and institutions,” Mr. Brownback said during his speech in Topeka, Kan. “We need to embrace our nation’s motto, ‘In God we trust,’ and not be ashamed of it.

“To walk away from the Almighty is to embrace decline for a nation,” he said. “To embrace him leads to renewal, for individuals and for nations.”

Mr. Brownback acknowledged that he would be one of the lesser-known candidates in what is expected to be a crowded field of Republican presidential hopefuls, including Senator John McCain of Arizona and Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York.

With his opposition to abortion, embryonic stem-cell research and same-sex marriage, Mr. Brownback hopes to establish himself as the dominant conservative in the race. The American Conservative Union, which hails him as one of “the best of the best” in the Senate, gave him a 100 percent conservative rating in its most recent survey of Congress.

(the full article appears here in the New York Times)

One Hundred Percent Conservative. Think he has any meth-buying or gay-prostitute-soliciting in his past like another proud conservative we know?

Just One More Reason the Japanese are Better Than Everyone

This is amazing, and perhaps inspired by this guy.

If you've never seen this before and have some time to kill (love you, YouTube!), search on YouTube for "David Elsewhere". The man is made of pure jello.

New Ground

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had been working on a podcast for nytheatre.com, the website I've been writing reviews for since I think sometime around 2001 or so.

The podcast is finished and you can listen to it here.

I think my voice sounds a little too formal and it's clear that I was reading straight from the page, but I'm cutting myself a little slack since it was my first try. Let me know what you think!

This Crazy City

Yesterday I saw a dog that was wearing nicer shoes than me.

Yes. A dog. Me in sneakers, the dog in leather boots. Dog. Leather Boots.

Seriously, are you kidding me?

And it wasn't even one of those small yappy dogs. I can almost understand when you're dropping like $400/pound on a yappy, then you're gonna want to protect the precious pads.

But no.

This was a big dog, a dog that looks like he could kick some serious ass at the dog run. If, that is, he is allowed to get his shoes dirty. The boots made this respectable dog look like a sissy. And the niceness of his shoes made me feel like a class-A slouch.

I bet the dog has a nicer apartment than me, too. And clearly he has a steady job that covers his costs, but then again how much can it really cost to keep a pooch in kibble and... well, I bet those boots might set you back a bit...

A dog. In boots. Christ.

One More Vote for 100% Cotton

Wow. Just came across this crazy story. No more polyester pants for this lady. And the cell phone stays in my purse!

Kind of makes me pine for a landline...

2007, Two Weeks In

Hey, so sorry I have been on an unexpected hiatus from this sweet little blog. I've actually been really busy getting things rolling, and it's been largely focused on the internet.

As I mentioned before, my friend Ed and I have started work on this new theater company, Cardium Mechanicum. I hosted a reading of four of Ed's plays last week at my apartment. Yep, that's right, we squeezed 15 people in this joint, fed 'em up on soup, boozed 'em up on wine, and had a pretty good time hearing Ed's great work aloud. We're not quite sure of the next step, but we're moving forward... in some direction or another...

We've also been working on ways to get work out that isn't necessarily theater. You can see a little bit of what's begun if you go to the cardium site and click on the crush project. Again, w're not quite sure what shape that's going to take just yet, but with Will's help, I'm slowly learning some basic web design and collaborating with a bunch of actors on the recordings that will soon be posted.

What else? Well, last weekend, I went out to Long Island City and sat in on a rehearsal of Force, a trilogy of plays written and directed by a friend of mine from college. I was covering her show for a podcast that I recorded and edited (largely all by myself-- I'm turning into a little bit of a tech geek!) for nytheatre.com, the website for which I write reviews. The podcast should be up on the site by the end of the week. It's only 15 minutes or so long, but if it didn't take me all GD day to edit it! It's the first one I've really done, so my guess is that it will get easier somewhere on down the line... I hope!

I've also started a new acting class, which I haven't done in a while, I've reviewed a couple of plays, I've been sent out on a few auditions and have booked a couple of voiceover gigs.

We're only a couple of weeks into the year and I think I need a vacation!