so much modern time

2003-02-18T12:27:00.000-05:00

last transmission on the midnight radio

bon voyage, blogspot.

we are back to our old digs now.

2003-02-17T00:31:00.000-05:00

snow!!!

evelyn, mindy and i went to flea market for dinner, where we indulged in wine and delicious french food. i had trout with roasted almonds. it was delicious. afterwards we decided that we were still hungry and went to cafe orlin for latkes and tea. then we headed over to jenny's cafe for edamame, but they were closed! so we went to teany, but alas, they were closed as well.

it is snowing in new york. this is a severe understatement. it is gusting snow everywhere. the streets are hushed. cars are barely moving. we loved it. we jumped into fresh snow banks. we sang "singin' in the snow." we went up to the roof of my building and made snow angels and had a snowball fight. we pushed snow over the ledge of the roof. all snow, all the time.

according to the forecast, this is only the beginning. i'm looking forward to even more snow tomorrow.

2003-02-16T17:37:00.000-05:00

homer simpson

lately i am either perpetually hungry or completely lacking in appetite.

yesterday, sammi and i made more shrimp pasta at about six. we had two servings each. i took a nap, then i cleaned for a bit. by midnight i was hungry again and i had mushroom toast and a pear.

today we went for dim sum. i had a little bit of everything plus practically an entire plate of clams. it was a lot of food. still, i was hungry afterwards. three hours later, i could really go for wonton noodles and a hot dog with fries. and more clams. plus some calamari, followed by sole with lemon sauce and spinach. a thick soup would be nice. ten don (tempura over rice) too. i could eat all of this in one sitting. i need to be let loose in a buffet with multi-culti cuisine.

one should practice restraint, but if you're never full, how can you not eat?

this is coming after a week when i lived on practically nothing and didn't care. that's probably why i'm so hungry now. i have a high metabolism where i get hungry approximately every two hours, but this is ridiculous. one should not be hungry immediately after eating a meal.

2003-02-15T23:12:00.000-05:00

The anti-war protest today in New York City was amazing. I know I overuse that word quite a bit, but I can't think of any other way to describe it. There were people everywhere with banners and placards. Because the permit for a march had been denied, what essentially ended up happening were a lot of feeder marches. The whole city was on the march. Sammi and I cabbed it up to our meeting spot--we were late meeting our friends because I overslept!--and we had to get off ten streets away because the traffic was not moving anywhere. On the way up we saw our neighborhood represented in a long feeder march: The Lower East Side Against War.

Our cab driver asked us, "Do you really think you can stop Bush? I don't think so." Being snarky, I replied, "Well, that's why we're going, and you're not." For me, going to this protest was not necessarily about making a direct change, but simply to show support. To not be apathetic. To take a personal stand.

The streets immediately near the rally site were blocked off, so we had to keep walking north before we could head east. At first there was enough room for one car lane, but as we walked further and further to find a street that wasn't barricated off, the march took over the streets. It was a very diverse crowd. Most of the people were ordinary folks. I saw young Hispanics, grandmothers, punks, a Japanese contigent.

For the most part, as far as I could see at least, most of the protestors and the police were patient with each other. Every so often someone would suggest that the crowd storm a barricade, but mostly people shouted, "Whose streets? Our streets!" so that we could move onto the next block. We were all concerned with being counted in the overall rally, since there was such a complex assembly of barricades and blocked streets that parts of the crowd were cut off from others for blocks.

The best sign that I saw equated Bush, Cheney, Powell, and Rumsfield with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. There was also a sign for "Party People For Peace." I don't know about you, but that's a position I can definitely get behind.

If we can have this much interest, this much energy, for the next election, then we can REALLY make a change. (Of course I'm saying this hypocritically, as I haven't even bothered to get my citizenship since I turned 18 and became eligible for citizenship.)

Let's hear it for the anti-war movement: U.S., Britain Reworking Iraq Resolution

More accounts:

nyc.indymedia.org
--running account of the day
--gallery

New York Times
--From New York to Melbourne, Protest Against War on Iraq
--Wide Range of Ages, Races and Parties Unite on Iraq
--Reminiscent of the 60's; Mainstream to the Core
--In Word, Song and Sign, an Emphatic No to Invasion of Iraq

I Love Everything Boards
--So let's talk about the protest (international accounts)

BBC
--In pictures: World rallies against war

2003-02-14T13:56:00.000-05:00

I think everyone I know is sick and tired of me talking about this, but it can't hurt to say it again.

The World Says No to War: Anti-War Rally this Saturday at Noon!

Saturday, February 15th
New York City
Assemble at noon
First Avenue stretching north from 49th Street

The New York protest has NOT been cancelled. The march was denied a permit, but the demonstration is still going to go on.

more info:
--united for peace
--indymedia (has information on what to do if you are arrested or searched)
--new york demonstration
--protests around the world

village voice:
--don't fence them in
--when peace is a threat
--cornered! marching in a melancholy time

the guardian (uk):
--10 million join world protest rallies
--can the march change anything?
--coverage of the anti-war movement

2003-02-14T12:12:00.000-05:00

Ask

Shyness is nice, and
Shyness can stop you
From doing all the things in life
You'd like to

Shyness is nice, and
Shyness can stop you
From doing all the things in life
You'd like to

So, if there's something you'd like to try
If there's something you'd like to try
ASK ME - I WON'T SAY "NO" - HOW COULD I ?

Coyness is nice, and
Coyness can stop you
From saying all the things in
Life you'd like to

So, if there's something you'd like to try
If there's something you'd like to try
ASK ME - I WON'T SAY "NO" - HOW COULD I ?

Spending warm Summer days indoors
Writing frightening verse
To a buck-toothed girl in Luxembourg

ASK ME, ASK ME, ASK ME
ASK ME, ASK ME, ASK ME

Because if it's not Love
Then it's the Bomb, the Bomb, the Bomb, the Bomb, the Bomb, the Bomb, the Bomb
That will bring us together

Nature is a language - can't you read ?
Nature is a language - can't you read ?

SO ... ASK ME, ASK ME, ASK ME
ASK ME, ASK ME, ASK ME

Because if it's not Love
Then it's the Bomb, the Bomb, the Bomb, the Bomb, the Bomb, the Bomb, the Bomb
That will bring us together

If it's not Love
Then it's the Bomb
Then it's the Bomb
That will bring us together

SO ... ASK ME, ASK ME, ASK ME
ASK ME, ASK ME, ASK ME
Oh, la ...

And...would you like to marry me, and would you like to buy the ring?

Happy Singles Awareness Day, darlings!

While I'm here I just want to say that I LOVE YOU, FRANK O'HARA. That is all, thank you.

2003-02-11T13:34:00.000-05:00

Inexplicable

Right now, I want to run up to a guy and scream, "Show us your tits!" at him. It's been a few weeks since I last said this to someone.

I don't know why I want to do this.

I suspect I'm disturbed.

We know who should stay far, far away.

2003-02-11T00:23:00.000-05:00

The mysterious package

In my mailbox today there was a small and mysterious envelope. I didn't recognize the handwriting. The stamp declared the envelope as hailing from England, but there was no return address.

There was a short note sealing the little envelope: "Hey Fiona, Hope you enjoy this! Best wishes, S..." The rest of the signature was illegible.

Who would send me a small something from England?

Although he was the most likely culprit, it wasn't PJ because it wasn't his handwriting.

Was it Stella? But she was studying in Versailles and we hadn't talked since she had left.

Joanna? But she had studied in Amsterdam and hadn't mentioned a trip to London.

I opened up the package. I was still mystified. There was only a little Real Tuesday Weld EP with a Quicktime animation. I didn't think there was someone who knew me so well that they would send me a Tuesday Weld E.P. from England.

It took me five minutes to remember that when I had e-mailed The Real Tuesday Weld way back in November, he had asked if I wanted to receive the Tuesday Weld holiday greeting. Of course I did. Here it was.

Thanks ever so much, Stephen! It's great!

2003-02-10T21:51:00.000-05:00

Joe Millionaire is hilarious. I wish I'd seen this from the beginning. There are even little porno flick subtitles. *cries*

The butler rules this bitch!

2003-02-10T17:01:00.000-05:00

can i just say that i love both of my sisters very much? because they are cute and fuzzy and they always make me laugh with their silliness.

hmmm, i just made them sound like a bunch of stuffed animals. to be honest i think that's what they actually are. stuffed animals pretending to be humans!

still, i have the best sisters in the world.

2003-02-10T13:33:00.000-05:00

Yesterday B and I made shrimp and vegetable pasta with a butter sauce and accentuated with paprika. (This is a great combination.) We steamed the veggies in chicken broth and lemon juice. The whole dish unbelievably good.

We learned how to peel and devein shrimp. It was not as hard as I thought. However, chopping off shrimp heads and then slitting their little bodies and pulling out the vein is not exactly what one could call "a good time."

For Friday I'm thinking of attempting stuffed clams. All I think about is food nowadays!

Maybe tomorrow I will attempt to make okonomiyaki with shrimp.

2003-02-10T11:23:00.000-05:00

(entry before this was deleted, but I didn't republish! okay so i'm a stupid bitter old broad.)

i just read that neil tennant and boy george got in a fight in a bathroom over eminem. oh. my. god. does that not conjure up some HIGHLY disturbing images, or what?

does any one remember the website that had unsent letters* every day? it was kind of like bittersweet.org (if anyone remembers that wonderful website). why doesn't anyone do things like this any more, these wonderful conceptual writing sites? there used to be several unsent letters sites, bittersweet.org (small bittersweet moments), the five minutes to midnight site (about the five minutes before the world ended), stories about songs, and the best one of all, crush.nu. the glassdog network used to have a whole bunch of these, but now the network is gone as well. nowadays there's the ticketstubs project. are there any more that i'm not aware of?

*addendum: i found it! sothere.com

2003-02-09T14:45:00.000-05:00

doki doki

b and i watched whisper of the heart and downed screwdrivers. i have a gigantic headache. somebody kill me now. please.

change of party plans. instead of doing it on the 22nd, we're going to have a singles awareness day party on the 14th. yay. we'll still have another party later...i mean if certain parties can't make it there is just no point in having a party!

2003-02-09T04:43:00.000-05:00

moon-river.com, which was my first domain, is now the home of the moon river rv resort.

2003-02-08T01:59:00.000-05:00

Dude, where's my Marr?

What's wrong with Kilby? Morrissey practically had an entire show to himself but Johnny Marr gets bumped off until next week for an extended interview with Heidi Fleiss?

Dude.

2003-02-07T12:47:00.000-05:00

dance dance dance to the radio

the morning news has a terrific photo series on new york.

oooh i am loving the new pet shop boys album disco 3. it's uber-electroy and dancetastic. give me psb that i can dance to, i couldn't stand that subpar rock that was on release. the best song on this is a cover of an obscure bobby o song, try it (i'm in love with a married man). that's quite saucy of el tennant. we like, we like. go to virgin, it is $8.99 there since for some reason it's being marketed as an EP though there are 10 tracks.

in the bourgeoise-ness of my life, i dithered between buying a lomo camera or something else at bloomie's. i opted for something else, that something else being makeup, clothing, shoes. okay, i dig the camera mucho and was *this* close to splurging my entire $150 gift cert and more on it, but when will i ever get a three digit gift cert to bloomie's again? i could buy a $110 designer thong or something equally wasteful! bloomie's + gift cert has this effect on me where i end up thinking, "hmmm...that $89 shirt wasn't too expensive..."

get this, i must have been doing some transgender shopping because the camera was located in a little electronics store known as "the men's store." as though dames don't masturbate over electronic toys. *ahem*

some miracle for men was sniffed; mathieu kassovitz, your advertising has WORKED! ended up with some old lady sunglasses. felt horribly capitalist and went home to scrub it off in the ungentrified section of the l.e.s. that's right, don't be fooled by the gift cards i got, i'm still, i'm still fifi from the block.

completely unrelated: is it possible to implode with happiness?

2003-02-07T01:50:00.000-05:00

PSA

~~this is a public service announcement. february 22nd. chez fiammi. evite to be sent out soon. keep it open, or we will dub thee "cockfarmer" forever.~~

this is on hold. un moment.

2003-02-06T12:57:00.000-05:00

CONGRATULATIONS to Kristina for getting into USC for grad school!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We raise our cups of tea in your honour! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Go forth and conquer the Japan field!!!

2003-02-06T11:07:00.000-05:00

there is something wrong with the comments. they come and go, as women talking of michelangelo may. deal.

2003-02-05T13:46:00.000-05:00

musical questions survey:

1) green eyes, blue eyes, or grey eyes? (new order, temptation)
2) who is on your side: keats and yeats or wilde? (smiths, cemetry gates)
3) ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn't have fallen in love with? (buzzcocks)
4) is there life on mars? (david bowie)
5) are you one of god's better people? (robbie williams)

2003-02-03T23:32:00.001-05:00

home of the brash, outrageous and free

i hate it when a book does not live up to its content. i thought the age of sacred terror was surely an account of the spanish inquisition. i don't know why, i was just convinced that it would be, probably because i'm looking for a good general overview of the inquisition. the title is most excellent. well, the book is not about the spanish inquisition, and i am mightily disappointed.

this is for people who are wondering about my voicemail message ("you've reached fiona at liverpool 9-3822"): the romance of exchange names and the telephone exchange name project.

phil spector arrested for murder in alhambra...damn that's weird, i had no idea that he was so close by to where i live in california. on a mildly related note, when i was reading genie: a scientific tragedy by russ rymer, about a girl who was strapped to a chair for the first thirteen years of her life, rymer spent a few pages describing the area where she lived: golden west blvd in temple city, about a five, ten minute walk from my house. rather disturbing. heads up to lise and kristina on genie, there's a lot about genie's language acquisition and linguistics (but i'm sure both of you already knew about her).

take that is from manchester? i had no idea. manchester, you really do have a lot to answer for. vote for your favourite mancunians here. (via braquage) my top 5 list--not that i'm going to send it in because i'm one lazy mofo--would be:

1) new order
2) the smiths
3) buzzcocks
4) robbie williams or morrissey
5) doves or electronic (okay i'm cheating like mad)

okay, i really should shut up about all of the following: manchester, music, new order, the smiths, morrissey. of course, if i did stop, i would have to resort to talking about my real life...yawn. my real life can be summed up with the following: fiona goes to work, fiona goes to concerts, fiona sees movies, fiona stalks people, fiona is bored.

2003-02-03T23:32:00.000-05:00

hunting for the big white whale

when i got back from a loveloev meeting, betsy and sammi were shrieking. they are having a fight, methinks? no, they were screaming because they had just seen el mo outside of teany. he was taking down lights. so we booked it over so that we could be served tea by the Great Bald One. alas, teany was "closed for renovations," but there was moby bobbing in front of the tea canisters. he was indeed short and pasty, sporting a light green shirt and his usual glasses. perhaps he wanted to have tea and a vegan sandwich with his "new order were joy division" poster. WHO KNOWS WHAT LURKS IN THE MIND OF THE MO?!

earlier, sammi, b, and laura went to a party at the apt of a spin editor. her apartment, quoth the sam, was "huge" but more importantly, she had beautiful posters of morrissey, the pet shop boys and new order. i must meet this person.

i seemed to have missed out on rather a lot tonight.

2003-02-03T11:07:00.000-05:00

murder on the dancefloor
music: mint royale - don't falter

(wrote this yesterday)

i had a lovely weekend. saturday night sammi and i went to tiswas with laura. we saw elefant, the inevitable breakups and the stills. i enjoyed elefant the most: the lead singer has a voice between bowie and bono and their music is uber early new order-esque. the camera had mucho concert action, may post once i get my photoblog up and running. i'm rather pleased with the photos, i'm finally figuring out what all the manual controls can really do. what i hate, though, is that one cannot adjust certain things at the same time, which entirely defeats the purpose of manual controls. bah.

after the stills, it turned into 1985 all over again, with the smiths, depeche mode, the cure, and new order all over the place. there was one new order song every hour. we danced our way through a crowd of mod hipsters with too trendy for you tees and pouty lips. felt shamefully trendy in a sort of tisch way, yet could not leave because i knew the minute i did, a new order song would come on (and yes, blue monday came on as we left).

BARABAS!

today secret twin meeting time. loua and i went over to poor recovering evelyn and somehow it turned into the secret twin sitcom starring us with guest appearances by evelyn's roommates and roommates' friends. madness! then sammi and ben joined us at lobster king house where we had s six-course meal with seafood soup, shrimp with mayonnaise, lobster with minced pork and scallions, scallops and squid over snap beans, shiitake and buttom mushrooms over bok choy, and clams in black bean sauce. we died. you would have thought that we had never seen food before in our life. it was actually pretty cheap, too because it was a set meal specifically for chinese new year's.

loua and ben split THE LOBSTER BRAIN. i was SO impressed. i have never seen a non-chinese person do this before. personally, i don't care for brains myself, there's a certain taste to brains that is just a bit too weird for me. kind of bitter and sour and the texture is a little too mushy. major major props to louisa and ben for eating the lobster brain!

i still love everybody. *mwah!* in fact i have not stopped smiling since friday. hush, stop teasing me, you would smile too if everything in your world was perfect. i wish i could bottle up my happiness and give it to everyone else, because i love everybody and they deserve some additional happiness.

Five Reasons to Love Neil Gaiman:

1) He wrote Bush/Saddam slash.
2) He wrote Smeagol/Gollum slash.
3) His journal is highly amusing.
4) He is just one cool motherfucker.
5) Oh yeah, he wrote that little comic book series "The Sandman" that I adore in a scary beyond all reason sort of way.

I'm terza rima, and I talk and smile.
Where others lock their rhymes and thoughts away
I let mine out, and chatter all the while.

I'm rarely on my own - a wasted day
Is any day that's spent without a friend,
With nothing much to do or hear or say.

I like to be with people, and depend
On company for being entertained;
Which seems a good solution, in the end.

What Poetry Form Are You?

2003-02-03T01:55:00.000-05:00

I don't really want to blog about my reaction to the Columbia explosion, so this will have to suffice.

With strength and pride
in spite of everything and swimming
against the tide
to obstinately hope of winning...

'Good-bye', shake hands
like you did everything correctly
to wipe away the tears
No more pain, no fear
No sorrow or dying
No waiting or crying
These former things have passed away
Another life begins today

(with apologies to the pet shop boys for cutting and pasting random parts of their song)

2003-02-02T06:10:00.000-05:00

this is the kind of conversation i have with pj.

Holly atTiffanys: pish posh
FAdotNet: pish TOSH
Holly atTiffanys: PISH POSH
FAdotNet: no, pish TOSH
Holly atTiffanys: POSH POSH POSH POSH
FAdotNet: TOSH TOSH TOSH TOSH
Holly atTiffanys: POSH POSH POSH POSH POSH
Holly atTiffanys: >:o
FAdotNet: my dot refuses to be completely round
FAdotNet: grrrr
Holly atTiffanys: it hates you because you say tosh
FAdotNet: well I'll just make a new one that likes me because I say tosh
Holly atTiffanys: HA!
Holly atTiffanys: no dots like to hear tosh
Holly atTiffanys: i know this
Holly atTiffanys: a dot told me so
FAdotNet: all dots are liars
Holly atTiffanys: they are not!
FAdotNet: they are dotty
Holly atTiffanys: they are dotty but they are not LIARS!
FAdotNet: and cannot distinguish between a lie and the truth
Holly atTiffanys: hush, don't say that, the dot will hear you!
Holly atTiffanys: then it will really hate you!
Holly atTiffanys: AND EAT YOUR CARD!!!!

2003-02-01T15:25:00.000-05:00

oh it's the first time, oh it's the first time...

this is a beautiful essay about new order and temptation, and it sums up everything that i ever felt about the song.

"Temptation is the sound of adolescence and all it entails. It's the happy, dumb accident when everything goes right and you think you're invincible. It's the sound of you going to a party, gening horrendously drunk and being as funny as you really think you are, walking home the girl you always dreamed about, then waking up the following moming and not having a hangover. Sure, this sounds impossible. By the time you're thirty you doubt it ever really happened. But it did. Maybe only once, but it happens to everyone at some point, and deep down the memory stays with you. It's so fresh at the time that you just luxuriate in it. You know it can't last for ever, deep down at the back of your mind, but you push those thoughts away and celebrate the now, and bang the drum and chant."

2003-02-01T02:01:00.000-05:00

i am dead drunk.

this is a very happy place.

i love everybody.

i love the boy.

i love everybody.

a girl gave me a rose on the street. she said, "i think you should have this." i said okay then i went for fries.

happy is me.

i would like to thank everyone who helped me to get to this happy state...guy who bought the schnapps and whose apt we went to, george, evelyn-chu, monica, peter, jeremy, and uh.........ryan. oh the first guy's name is john. yes bob it is. okay, i love everyone here too. yay for love. all you need is alcohol and love.

2003-01-31T19:33:00.000-05:00

I LOVE EVERYBODY

2003-01-31T19:00:00.000-05:00

We are all standing in the elevator. We are bantering. Out of nowhere...

Boy: I'm so sexually frustrated!
Friend: Why don't you ask her out?
Boy: I can't with her friend here!
Friend (turns to the corner): I'll pretend I'm not here!
We reach our floor. The elevator door opens.
Me: You two are freaks.

:)

Everyone should stay away from me for the next few days because I will just grin at you and not really pay attention to what you are saying.

Also this is a different boy from the other one. I was having a crisis because the other boy likes me. I don't like him, so I just find this really funny. Yeah, it's true, girls do suck.

2003-01-30T21:52:00.000-05:00

After volunteering at the NYDV conference today, I only have this to say:

If I ever hear anyone say, "Speaking as an artist..." again, I will smack them! All so-called artists are bloody cockfarmers!

Tony Visconti will be a panelist on Saturday. Yes, THAT Tony Visconti.

2003-01-30T02:19:00.000-05:00

Neil Gaiman is a great great man.

2003-01-29T19:50:00.000-05:00

The internet at work died today. It was actually very pleasant. I was extremely productive. I drank tea from a porcelain cup and listened to the Sex Pistols but hummed New Order. It was weird.

The love list:
Who: Les Rhythmes Digitales aka Jacques Lu Cont aka Stuart Price
What: Remix of Felix Da Housecat's Silver Screen Shower Scene
Why: gorgeous intro. it's even sexier than the original AND you can do better robot dance moves. not that i need electro to do stupid robot dance moves.

2003-01-28T12:03:00.000-05:00

The Impossible Dream

There is a transition in the 2 Many DJs album when Peaches' Fuck the Pain Away slides into the Velvet Underground's I'm Waiting For the Man; this is a perfect moment in music. This is an album of excellent transitions, but that one really stands out.

According to ILM, when Michelle Branch elongates one word into several syllables and notes in Game of Love, like when she sings "Why....." this is a technical device called "melisma." So when Morrissey sings "Wilde" in Cemetry Gates, is that also melismatic?

Melisma and melismatic are my new favourite words.

Speaking of Morrissey, I woke up yesterday morning, turned on VH1 Classic, and there was a very young Tears for Fears video and then two solo Moz videos. Later, a Smiths video, a Depeche Mode video, two Pet Shop Boys videos and two David Bowie videos. If New Order videos had played, it would have been the best run of videos EVER. This channel never fails me.

Peter O'Toole is going to receive an honorary Oscar this year. As the man has been nominated seven times and never won, IT'S ABOUT FUCKING TIME. He deserved it for Lawrence of Arabia, but Gregory Peck won it for "To Kill a Nightingale"--talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place, both of those roles were career-defining. The honorary Oscar means that we will get to see an O'Toole tribute montage--but no Supergirl or High Spirits, please!--and a guarantee of at least one amusing speech.

Attempted to watch the State of the Union address but we all just got terribly angry. Thoughts that came to mind: Bush looks like a hobbit when he's shot from that angle; your policy sucks; stop giving him a standing ovation, you stupid syncophantic cunts. More analysis from Time, Salon (you have to view a Mercedes commercial to gain Premium access), and the Economist

Jae Young came over last night for Buffy but it was a rerun, so we had an orgy of BBC America. What Not to Wear is fucking hilarious. It's a show where two women take a fashion victim and make her over so that she dresses better. But they're not bitchy and really supportive, if blunt--even though the fashion victim seems pathetically grateful to be given the chance to dress the way she should. If this show makes it to America, I want all of you to swear that I can't dress worth shit so I can go on this show. You get two thousand dollars to buy new clothes! Graham Norton is even better. This is a talk show, but a much better one than Leno or Letterman. On one episode, a man talked about foot fellatio and how his girlfriend gave him ff and spat out his big toe nail. Ew! Cybill Sheperd came on and talked about her sexual misdemeanors with Elvis. Orlando Bloom came on, looking adorable and clueless, and demonstrated his action figure. Cybill put the action figure in her bosom. Orlando looked amused. It was all very very fun.

2003-01-27T17:43:00.000-05:00

i wish that people came with subtitles of the secret meanings of what they were actually saying. think of how easy life would be that way.

your mix cd isn't bad.
---> i wanna fuck you madly in a bar bathroom.

i don't really want to see that movie.
---> i hate you, i never want to see you again and i hope you die in a heap of flaming horse turds.

what's up?
---> do you want to elope to scotland and have beautiful dark-haired blue-eyed scottish-accented children?

i have tickets to david bowie and rufus wainwright! (and i do!)
---> i am better than you in every way possible.

this has been prompted, as usual, by a boy crisis that may or may not be an actual crisis.

(i have got to switch the blog to london-calling soon, i can't stand how the blog only loads when it bloody feels like it.)

2003-01-27T00:16:00.000-05:00

Barney and Hooky vs. Neil and Chris' handbags!

Did someone add me to blizg.com? Or did I add myself and I didn't even know it? I'm confused.

Who wants to go to London on February 22nd with me?

SEAN MCLUSKY'S CULTURECIDE PROMOTIONS PRESENT
presents
Return To New York
featuring
Freedom (live), Peaches, Gonzales, Taylor Savvy, New Order Vs The Pet Shop Boys (DJ Set), Kurtis Mantronik, 2 Many DJ's - Soul Wax, Arthur Baker, Erol Alkan and Sean Mclusky
at Great Eastern Hotel
Ends 2am
Saturday, February 22 at 8:00 PM
£15.00

Follow this link to buy ticket

http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/user/?region=uk&query=detail&event=50742

EXCLUSIVE CONFIRMATION BY PETER HOOK HIMSELF regarding this event

Peter Hook "Bernard and I are DJing Arthur Baker's birthday party in London, Feb 22 at the Great Eastern Hotel. New Order vs The Pet Shop Boys. We're going to kill them unless they hit us with their handbags"

2003-01-26T22:45:00.000-05:00

Charmed Lives

Every once in a while, I will google "Fiona" and find alternate Fionas. Alternate Fionas are the people that I could have been. This is like having a secret twin, except that secret twins don't have your name. One alternate Fiona was a Chinese girl from Hong Kong, living in Southern California, whose sister was Carol.

This is the ultimate alternate Fiona.

Note the layout, the domain name and the John Hannah fan status.

Isn't that scary?

(Though the one thing that I have never found in alternate Fionas is the same taste in music. The alternate Fionas tend to listen to Top 40 music. Oh well, I listen to Top 40 music of twenty years ago, so I guess I'm making up for lost time.

addendum: My two songs on loop are currently the Santana/Michelle Branch song, "Game of Love" and the instrumental version of Smilez and Southstar's "Tell Me," so never mind, I am actually a secret Top 40 lover. Time for a Top 10 of Right Now list.)

Current Top 10:

1. Johnny Marr and the Healers - Don't Think Twice
2. Santana feat. Michelle Branch - Game of Love
3. Luciano Pavarotti - Che gelida manina (from La Boheme)
4. Smilez and Southstar - Tell Me (Instrumental, the production is the best thing about this song)
5. Maaya Sakamoto - Yucca
6. Majandra Delfino - Bruises
7. Stars - This Charming Man (a Smiths cover and horribly cute, like a JPop version of the song)
8. Girlfrendo - Surprise, Surprise
9. New Order - Temptation (all the different versions of it)
10. The Smiths - Cemetry Gates ("Keats and Yates are on your side, but you lose, because weird lover Wilde is on mine" is a classic classic line.)

There is a lot of Smiths on this...

2003-01-26T19:09:00.000-05:00

Yes, we have no bananas, today...

Audrey Hepburn festival on AMC right now!

Currently playing Sabrina. Followed by the usual suspects of Audrey Hepburn films: Breakfast at Tiffany's, My Fair Lady, Roman Holiday, and surprisingly, How to Steal a Million.

2003-01-26T03:16:00.000-05:00

i am regressing.

okay, does anyone have a zip file of an older version of movable type that you would like to send to me? i cannot figure out this mysql shit for the life of me. why the hell is it involved, anyway? i don't remember it being involved in 2.0 and the world was a better place for it.

2003-01-24T15:39:00.000-05:00

A slightly esoteric joke:

Why did the incest-minded poet kill himself? He'd rather be caught dead than atop sis.

(If you don't get it, think William Cullen Bryant.)

You can keep my photo for your collection, Nino.

Today I finally paid attention to my surroundings as I was walking around. I never pay attention, I slip so easily into that wonderful place known as Fiona La La Land. As I passed by the Rainbow Room, I saw Alan Cumming. I turned and stared, I was so excited to actually see a celebrity because 1) when I'm in Fiona La La Land I wouldn't know David Bowie from a stick if he was right in front of me and 2) I never recognize anyone, proof of this is that I've been here for years and this is the first person I recognized without someone else prompting me with a "Psssst, that's..." Anyway he was hugging a woman goodbye and there was another friend of his there who caught me totally giving Alan the Eye.

2003-01-23T22:54:00.000-05:00

Photos from the Film

These are mostly crew shots, because we are a damn good-looking crew, if I may say so myself.

2003-01-23T17:28:00.000-05:00

Q & A time

1) What do you call me?
2) What song makes you think of me, and why?
3) If you could give me one present, what would it be?
4) What one thing/event do you associate with me?
5) How well do you think you know me?

(stolen from suze)

answer in the comments!

2003-01-23T12:48:00.000-05:00

Reminded by this.

The meanest thing I ever said to anyone was to my best friend at the beginning of seventh grade. For some reason she was really pissing me off. So I said to her, "I don't want to be friends with you! You're boring!" This was not true but when I'm mad and annoyed I'll deliberately say all sorts of cuntish things to piss the other person off and frankly I rather enjoy it.

Anyway we didn't speak for years (until senior year of high school), but we kept carpooling together during junior high. Weird.

But I got karmic payback because my best friend after that suddenly stopped being friends with me in the beginning of high school. She found a new best friend.

2003-01-23T11:57:00.000-05:00

This is what the temperature is in New York (from the NYT):

New York, NY: P/SUNNY and 13° F (-10° C)
Humidity: 58 Barometer: 29.89 in Wind: 22 mph NNW Visibility: NA

This is what the temperature in "other locations:"

Place Conditions Temp. Hum. Pressure

Los Angeles L/FOG 57°F/13°C 86% 30.16 in.
Hong Kong PARTLY CLOUDY 62°F/17°C 64% NA.
Nanjing CLEAR 35°F/2°C 80% 102.2 kp.
London PARTLY SUNNY 44°F/7°C 61% 102.9 kp.
Tokyo MOSTLY CLOUDY 42°F/6°C 65% 99.2 kp

Why did I ever emigrate from warm and kind of sunny Hong Kong?

Speaking of emigration, completed most of my citizenship application again today. You know over the last three years I've probably filled this out five times, each time intending to actually send it in. But now I have incentive! Sammi suggested that we throw a Citizenship party when I get it. Anything for a party!

Brian Eno on America vs. Christopher Caldwell on Europe (Time Europe)

Photo essay: The Faces of AIDS in Asia (Time Asia)

2003-01-22T11:46:00.000-05:00

Time for recipes! (rather inspired by Janni's culinary explorations)

The following was given to us by Sammi's friend Havatzelet. It's an Israeli camp soup. According to both Sammi and Havatzelet, whenever they went camping in high school, they always had this soup. I'd go camping more if I was promised this soup.

Havatzelet Vegetable Soup!

1 cauliflower
2 zucchini
2 carrots
2 potatoes
1 onion
5 cubes of vegetable bouillion
freshly ground pepper, season to taste
a very big pot

Fill pot with as much water as you think you'll need (not scientific, but...eh). Boil water. In the meantime, chop up all your vegetables into small pieces. Toss them into the pot. Boil for one to one and a half hours, until vegetables are soft. Toss in bouillion and pepper at the end. Stir until dissolved.

This soup serves at least four and is extremely filling. (That's why it's an Israeli camp soup.) Serve with bread, but if you're making this for one or two, I'd advise against the bread because there will be a lot of soup. I'm also going to try this with pearl onions next time. You can really put in any kind of vegetable that you like.

You could potentially serve the soup with mushroom toast (from the B&N Quick and Easy cookbook, which is utterly brilliant and only ten dollars)

Mushrooms (I like using portabello and button)
French bread
1 stick of butter or margarine
Basil, oregano, or parsley (or all three if you want), season to taste
salt and pepper, season to taste

Slice French bread into at least 8 pieces. Stick in the broiler for 2 minutes and toast. If your broiler is like mine, one minute will be more than enough. Halfway through, turn over and toast other side. When nicely brown, take out and stick in your oven under the "warm" setting to keep it nice and toasty.

Slice mushrooms into small pieces. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Saute mushrooms for 4-5 minutes. Toss in herbs, salt, and pepper. Spoon mushrooms over bread. Serve on a warmed plate.

2003-01-22T10:30:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Laura for being nominated for a Bloggie! Go forth and vote for her!

2003-01-22T03:11:00.000-05:00

Why Johnny Marr is Amusing

1) He is utterly tiny and thus, pocketable.
2) Twenty five bucks was so worth it for the fact that Johnny periodically wiggled his bum.
2a) At one point he put his hands on his hips and again, wiggled said bum.
3) He also did nerdy Saturday Night Fever moves.
4) His singing voice is actually quite pleasant.
5) He has had the same moppy haircut since his Smiths days.
6) He put his finger in his mouth and made a popping noise during a song.
7) He played the harmonica.
8) For a forty-year-old man he is remarkably skinny. Jae Young says this is because we are used to Barney Sumner.
9) When a fan yelled, "Go back to your roots, Johnny!" as he was changing guitars for a more Johnny Marr sound, he pointed to his hair and demurred.
10) He promoted the gum that he was chewing. Jae Young hoped that he would choke on his gum since he was singing without taking the gum out.
11) Because he is Johnny Marr and when he jangles the guitar, it just brings me back to all those wonderful times I spent listening to the Smiths and being angsty (in other words, yesterday.)

2003-01-21T16:25:00.000-05:00

Do you give a fuck?

This quiz style was designed by alanna, adapted by Batfish Designs, and created by Missanthropy

What swear word are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

2003-01-21T11:34:00.000-05:00

I have decided on a new philosophy:

I hate everyone, but I love food.

This is a good philosophy.

Jae Young and I will be seeing Johnny Marr tonight! Woohoo!

There is a new resolution. It is, "I will stop saying 'dude.'" Contrary to popular belief, I did not pick up this word from years in California, but rather, hearing my friends say, "Dude, where's my car?" one too many times. It is fun to say "Dude, where's my...hobbit/banana/ice pick?" though.

2003-01-21T02:40:00.000-05:00

If I were completely stoned, I'd still find this funny!

Spiderman made me gay!!!!

You know that given half a chance I'd be gay for Tobey!

OH WAIT I'M NOT A GAY MAN IT WAS JUST A WONDERFUL DREAM THAT I HAD FOR POINT SIX SECONDS!

Damn.

2003-01-20T21:33:00.000-05:00

i hate it when you buy fruits or vegetables that have "not been chemically treated" and you realise that this is completely true because there are little dead bugs stuck to them in various positions of deadness.

2003-01-20T12:24:00.000-05:00

Does allowing a man to let you step out of the elevator or out of the door first make you a bad feminist?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Where I work, most of the people there are older, especially the men. They unfailingly allow women out of the elevator first or hold the door open for them. For example, if I'm standing in the back of the elevator, and they are standing in front of the elevator, and we are the only two people in the lift, then they will wait for me to go out first. I've tried to let the men out first, this never works because they take it as an insult. Anyway, I've tried to get around this by standing right by the elevator door so that I can jet right out without having to go through the whole thing. Usually this works, although if there is a man also standing by the door then they will hold it open and wait for me to pass through first.

This used to drive me insane in the beginning, now I've just accepted it.

One can rationalize it like this: if a woman holds open the door, then it's a gesture of being helpful and kindliness, and a man doing the same should be taken the same way. But if two women were standing in an elevator, the woman closer to the door would not wait for the other woman to get off first or hold the door unless she was clearly burdened with something.

I need Miss Manners for the post-feminist age.

2003-01-20T12:04:00.000-05:00

My friend Scott is involved in this project, highly recommended that those who can should go.

PEOPLE’S LIVES COMPANY

In Association with
The Workshop at The Neighborhood Playhouse

Presents

CRIES FOR PEACE
First-hand Accounts of Survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Holocausts

Translated by Richard L. Gage

with: Debra Kay Anderson, Taylor Bowyer, Judith Hiller, Richard Hoehler, Scott Mitchell Kelly, K.J. Steinberg, Osa Wallander, Juan Yic

Music Composed by Duncan Sheik

Costumes by Anne-Marie Allen

Directed by Mari Gorman

3 Performances:
Sunday, January 26th at 7:00 and
Mondays, January 27th and February 10th at 8:00

at The Neighborhood Playhouse
340 E. 54th St.
(bet. 1st & 2nd Aves. 6/E/V train to Lex/3rd Aves.)

RESERVATIONS: 212-330-7093 / Option 3

Suggested donation $10.00

2003-01-18T15:07:00.000-05:00

As it happens I am a bit sick. I have a slight cold from sleeping without a sweater on Thursday. My room is v. drafty and my down comforter has to be cleaned. I think that I'd be a lot worse if I wasn't chock full of anti-oxidants from the vast amount of tea I drink.

Sammi and I woke up at one and made pancakes and smoothies as planned. We were very productive. I made honeydew melon, papaya, and orange juice smoothies. It was very tasty and uber healthy. Hurrah for the blender.

It is 18 degrees, so we are staying put in our nice warm apartment. I'm supposed to attend something tonight. I don't want to but I don't want to let down the person who invited me.

2003-01-18T01:00:00.000-05:00

Baby, It's Cold Outside

It is NINE degrees right now. NINE.

My weatherbug says it is "very cold." Really. Fancy that.

The low for tonight is supposed to be ten. The temperature is actually lower than the low. At one point the wind chill was -5 degrees. It is therefore as cold as a motherfucker. I'm not leaving my apartment until it is at least 20 degrees.

Tomorrow, Sammi and I plan to wake up before noon (yeah right) and make, respectively, pancakes and smoothies. Normally we would go bunning, but with the weather in the single digits, we aren't going anywhere.

2003-01-17T18:48:00.000-05:00

To everyone that I owe correspondence, phone calls, etc, I WILL get back to you some time this weekend, I promise. Just realised that I've blown off everyone this week. This is bad!

My inbox contains 1272 e-mails and 268 of them are new. How can this be???

How do people usually organize their e-mails? I usually delete them after I reply, but sometimes, an e-mail is so good, I can't delete it! For instance I have all these classic e-mails from Jae Young and Janni regarding the history of the Smiths and New Order. This is positively educational. Reading all my old e-mails, I realise that half of them involve, "Let's do this and this." "Okay!" "What time?" etc. Really bringing back memories of the summer of Bowie.

2003-01-17T11:14:00.000-05:00

Restaurant Week

I just made reservations for Maloney and Porcelli for Restaurant Week. Restaurant Week is this twice yearly event where the plebes of New York can go to posh restaurants and pay just $20.03 for a three course lunch or $30.03 for dinner. I am thinking that I will have crabcakes with ratatouille or the shrimp and lobster tart for an appetizer, the angry shrimp linguine for an entree, and coffee creme brulee for dessert. Mmmmm...

Sammi is going to L'Absinthe. I am jealous, French food sounds darn good.

There is a restaurant called Fiamma in the West Village! It is v. expensive but Sammi and I *must* go.

Chez Fiammi goes to Fiamma, I like it.

Addendum: Just added a new reservation for Le Perigord, so I'll get French food after all. We're not sure if we're going to keep our reservation for Maloney and Porcelli, our wallets couldn't handle it! Unfortunately the lunch menu is not available, but if it's anything like the dinner menu, we will be in the ninth heaven of food.

2003-01-16T22:07:00.000-05:00

"I love you more than a lot."

This PDF file is a transcription of the love letters of Sarita and Bir Baradhur. They are discussed in "Invitations to Love: Literacy, Love Letters, and Social Change in Nepal" by Laura Ahearn. From the description on the website, the book explores how literacy has changed the nature of marriage in Nepal. Really fascinating.

2003-01-16T11:43:00.000-05:00

The next Harry Potter novel is out on June 21! (Thanks Janie-wanie!)

Wishlist:

1. More Ginny.
2. Ron and Hermione have more tension but do not actually *do* anything about it.
3. Less formula.
4. No Dobby content.
5. Snape realises all his Robert Smith/Trent Reznor ambitions and forms rock band "Snape and the Potions."
6. Cho dies.
7. Harry and Draco get it on, become gangsters in London...oh wait, that's Snitch!
8. None of this silly Harry/Ron/Hermione love triangle that is in the films, that is just wrong wrong wrong.

There is also apparently a Harry Potter academic conference/fan convention. Time to write my paper on Harry Potter slash fandom.

Sam and I plan to throw another party in February, mainly because we need an excuse to clean the apartment. Every time we throw a party, the apartment looks much better. Weird. I will attempt to talk more, dance less, drink more, and not spill anything on my friends (I don't really remember this but Megan says it happened!).

2003-01-14T12:11:00.000-05:00

Manboobs. I love 'em.

Article on how eBay is changing academia, particularly interesting to me for the cinema studies angle.

Good lord, I've been quoted. How embarassing, I come off as a total twat.

Found Magazine: found objects galore. I came across this after looking for some archival glue for a new project I'm starting. Said project is rather Nino-esque.*

S & I watched the pilot of My So-Called Life last night. (She has the DVD set.) I cannot get over Claire Danes' hair. Sammi cannot get over the amount of plaid they wear. It was the early '90s, after all.

I was rummaging around eBay because I wanted a Polaroid Spectra 1200si - as close to a manual Poloroid instant camera as you can get - or an old Leica. Apparently in Russia there were several companies that manufactured copies of Leica cameras. They are really, really cheap. I want one. Here is a little history from an eBay auction about one of the companies, it's quite fascinating.

History:
The FED camera were produced at the Kharkov working commune which was created in 1927. It was started with a work force consisting of 150 orphaned girls and boys, the youngest of which was 13 years old. These child workers were supervised by the Ukaranian police. FED, it stands for Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky , also known as Iron Felix. A founder of the NKVD and KGB. The NKVD, stands for Narodny Komissariat Vnutrennih Del which roughly translated means Interior Ministry.

It all started in June 1932, camera production was planned based on the Leica II which was launched in Germany in April 1932. On the 26th October 1932 the first of 30 prototype Soviet Leica 1a copies was assembled. The following year 1933 was used to tool up for mass production. It must be remembered that nothing like this had ever been attempted in the Soviet Union, the economy at this time was predominantly agricultural. On the 5th November 1932 the first prototype of the planned Leica II copy appeared and was called the Pioneer. The camera consisted of more than 300 detail parts. The Optics and prototype cameras were first made at the VOOMP experimental factory in Leningrad. Production of which was halted in June 1934 after less than 500 cameras had been produced. The production was then transferred to the Geodezia factory in Moscow where it was planned to mass produce the camera which was now known as the FAG, only a 100 examples of this camera were ever produced. The events at Kharkov FED factory were now bearing fruit and the camera went into full scale production in January 1934 the camera known as the FED 1 or Fedka. By december 1934 they had produced 1800 examples. More than 700000 were to be produced between 1934 and 1955.

Historically this is the most significant Soviet camera. It is a very close copy of the Leica II it differs in some minor detail and was available at a far more realistic price. This camera was aimed at the Soviet mass market and not the elite few as the Leica is in the western imperialist world.

Socialist history in a camera! How can you resist?

*(Q: Can Fiona get through one day without making an Amelie ref? A: No.)

2003-01-13T13:04:00.000-05:00

Say it ain't so, Pete, say it ain't so!

Etiquette from the Morning News. The part about how to respond to invitations is particularly useful. I can't stand it when people have to be prompted several times to respond to an invitation. That's why we LEAVE THEM OFF THE LIST for the next party until their manners improve.

2003-01-13T04:25:00.000-05:00

Finally I get around to putting up the Man in Gray Luna Lounge photos from way back when.

Check them out here.

The vast majority of the pictures are quite awful, my camera and I are not used to taking concert photography!

2003-01-13T02:06:00.000-05:00

Thanks to the almighty Loua, I saw Majandra Delfino aka Maria from Roswell sing out at CBGB's on Saturday night. I admit, I was skeptical, not being a particular fan of the show though she was one of the best things about it. She does goth trip-hop, playing with two violinists, a violist, and a cellist (all female and utterly gorgeous) and of course the ubiquitous guy on a Mac. I've been trying to place what's so good about her music, because she's quite raw but extremely talented, musically and lyrically. (She doesn't really know how to completely develop musical passages or for that matter, end songs so that they sound like they are ending instead of simply stopping.) What makes her songs is her phrasing and her range. Her phrasing is excellent.

Loveloev held a meeting at our favourite meeting place, Alice's Tea Cup. Dante continues to be a doll. I had two lox sandwiches, one with soup and one with salad. The second one, he comped, as well as our second pot of special blend Dante tea. He rocks. The woman who owns the place recommended that we talk to another waitress there because she loves necklaces. I love becoming a regular, not only does it mean that you get comped like mad (as anyone who as gone with me to Zen One can attest), but it's always lovely to see people who are good acquaintances.

So ends the busiest week I've had in a while. There was only one day when I went straight from work to home. I worked overtime, learned how to make latkes, went to a networking meeting for independent film producers, did lots of loveloev stuff, worked the film shoot, spent lots of quality time with the secret twins outside of loveloev, made some new acquaintances, went to Lucky Cheng's (two thumbs down, please), went to a concert, did some shopping, went to a goodbye dinner for a friend of mine who is moving back to LA. I'll miss him.

At some point the PR machine for the film will have to start. And one of my photographs may be used as the cover of a CD.

This next week I only have one thing scheduled, and that for Saturday. And by God, I'm going to keep it that way.

2003-01-12T14:26:00.000-05:00

Drive the car, if you're with me
Che Guevara's drinking tea
He reads about a new device
And takes to the stage in a secret life

The extended version of PSB's Left to My Own Devices is utterly ace.

JAMES MARSTERS IS 40!!! *faint* Oh Spike, we hardly knew ye...

2003-01-11T02:43:00.000-05:00

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS!!!!

The NYDV conference at the end of this month, if you want to volunteer, let me know NOW so I can pass it on to Evelyn. This is how it works. You work the day before you attend classes. You can attend classes for Avid, Final Cut Pro, After Effects, Maya, etc., and network! Find out more from the website. Here is the list of classes.

2003-01-11T00:54:00.001-05:00

Somehow I ended up lying across the laps of two gayboys and a hot girl while we all squished inside a car. The city looks very strange that way.

Okay, I have decided to start attending weekend shoots again. The first D.P. and I pretty much left because we just could not put up with the director any more. So we were basically replaced. I went back today because the shoot was in Manhattan and to take photos for the future film website. The new Fiona is a sweet gayboy. The new D.P. is this utterly adorable boy . REALLY. There is something utterly attractive about him despite the fact that he has 1) no social skills and 2) kind of indifferent to everything in a sort of shambling way. But when he smiles, it is so cute and endearing. He is kind of Nino-esque, now that I think about it. Cute. I am so in love. Oh dear. Please let him be straight. I don't care about single, just be straight. Not that that has ever stopped me before, this whole silly straight thing. Bad. Crushing. Is. Bad. He makes me smile. This is bad. Very bad. Argh. Crushes are evil. He is going to attend something that *I* have connections to, thanks to secret twin Evelyn!

2003-01-11T00:54:00.000-05:00

where did my johnny marr = frodo entry go????

argh.

2003-01-09T00:45:00.000-05:00

Evelyn: I bet David Bowie's area is ginormous.
Sarah (makes vague groping gesture): My precioussssssssss...

Anything is funnier if you put "my precious" after it. For instance:

Bush has a new economic plan...my precious.
I'm going to the grocery store...my precious.
He's such a motherfucker...my precious.
More tea, my precious?

Yesterday was very nice. Instead of 40 e-mails at the end of the day, I had 9. Really lovely. Maybe I will do this every week. Thanks muchly to all for not taking it personally.

Yesterday's street find: one pineapple in front of a hotel. It was sitting on top of a pole, waiting for me, saying, "Fiona, you know you want to take me home with you." How could I resist such an appeal?

(this is from Tuesday)
This is a great day in my life, for I have just been spammed by The Real Tuesday Weld, who sent out an e-mail petition against the U.S. going to war.

Does anybody use Greymatter? I'm thinking of using it to update loveloev since it would give me the ability to update dynamically and create new pages easily. Any thoughts? I thought about using Moveable Type, but the commercial license is $150. Shit, anyone know of a good business software? That they would be willing to...you know...donate to the cause?

For dinner, Sammi and I made latkes and fried rice, we are the perfect Jewish-Chinese alliance. Couldn't help making up a song to our little cooking session after Sammi enthusiastically said, "This is what America is all about!" America is all about fried food, damnit. Here is the song, music from Journey On from Ragtime:

"Two latkes meeting
at the moment
in a frying pan.

One being cooked,
one going out,
LAAAATKES!"

Okay maybe you need to be us to be amused by this.

More interesting things that I have picked up off the street today: an illustrated letter from a Japanese woman, negatives of photos of candles, and a photo of doll faces. They are all sort of dirty and trampled on. The letter is especially poignant. Reiko writes to Valerie that she has enjoyed the class and hopes they will be friends forever. I want to develop the negatives, but they are very dirty and possibly undevelopable. Am contemplating some sort of decorative display of found items to stick on my wall or in the living room.

Robert Jordan is a very snarky man, which is a little surprising since his books are sooooooo serious. Then again, most fantasy authors are snarky people. His favourite line is "Read the book." He told a guy that the answer to his question was "so obvious." He was only asked fanboy/girl-esque questions, which visibly irritated him. The Q&A began with him giving out pronounciations, the only one I wasn't sure about was Aes Sedai. Aes SeDAY sounds better than Aes SeDYE, but RJ wrote the books and Aes SeDYE it is. He said that someone has figured out who killed Asmodean from the last two books. The audience was full of my people aka geeks and freaks. It was lovely. Did not stick around to get anything signed, as I am v. poor and not really interested in reading the latest Wheel of Time book since I would have to read the entire series all over again or the latest won't make any sense. However, if the clues to who killed Asmodean are in the last two, maybe I will just read those. Asmodean was my favourite character! He wore lace at his wrists and strummed the guitar; obviously he was the wimpy emo boy of the Forsaken.

2003-01-07T21:21:00.000-05:00

Please, just for one day, leave me alone. Do not e-mail me. Do not call me. Just leave me alone so I can do what I need to do in peace.

Yes, I am that stressed.

2003-01-07T17:38:00.000-05:00

Instead of a Best films of 2002 list, here is a bitch list. Some of these I clearly set myself up for torture.

Movies That Made Me Wonder When I Would Get to Leave the Theatre and Escape Before More Brain Cells Perished

1. Moonlight Mile
2. Sweet Home Alabama
3. Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
4. Queen of the Damned
5. Punch Drunk Love
6. About Schmidt

My favourite movie that I saw this year, which will not be released until perhaps NEXT year, was Millennium Actress.

2003-01-07T11:46:00.000-05:00

This is such an awesome thread (oops, the link was wrong, has been corrected now). I heart ILX. One of these days I need to write a long dissertation about all the ways I love ILX and ILM.

For some reason I have a line from The Smiths' William It Was Really Nothing stuck in my head: "Oh, would you like to marry me? And if you like you can buy the ring." What an earworm.

The New Order box set "Retro" came out today. *sigh* Time to dish out the credit card.

JOHN Cameron Mitchell, Japhy. James Cameron is the director of Titanic. BTW, your comments are broken!

William Gibson, of all people, has a blog.

Think people are stupid and take up too much space? Time for a little genocide. There is a ranking by country. Man, this is so un-PC it's hilarious.

2003-01-06T16:25:00.000-05:00

Britney Spears to Play Sherlock Holmes. Dear Lord.

2003-01-06T13:33:00.000-05:00

how strange it is to read about something from someone else and to be able to see it from your terrace. so that is what the structure is, a new hotel. i resent it. this thing is literally in my backyard. first of all, during the summer i could not sleep past seven am without hearing the construction OR their music. once, i was playing janni's comp of new order rarities. and as i was listening from my bathroom (which is all the way on the other side of the apartment from the terrace which faces the hotel), i wondered, is this a new remix of temptation? i don't remember a remix having such a strong salsa backing track. i went back to my room and then i realised that it was coming from the construction workers and it was fucking loud. secondly, the structure is pretty tall and it is blocking the light. will i be able to sit on the terrace and read on nice summer afternoons this year? i had better, or i'm going to throw rotten eggs at the motherfuckers.

r. williams has a mad cute olive green tank, very well-designed, for sale on his website. but 27 pounds and shipping? and i want escapology. embarassing. i have the whole thing on mp3 but i want an actual album. import prices can suck my dick though.

e.f. benson and the lucia novels are on the list of books to read. society novels set in the 1920s? say no more, i'll send bunter out for copies.

2003-01-06T03:36:00.000-05:00

Thank heavens, more pervy hobbit fanciers are on the way. I can't wait to see Return of the King mainly for this scene:

Frodo-chu has been taken prisoner. He is lying in a cell, nekkid. Sam rushes to him, clasps El Fro to his bosom and wipes his tender brow. Sam scopes the action and sees the truth of large hobbit feet. Homeroticism ensues. Fangirls everywhere freak out.

If this scene is not included (IT IS IN THE BOOK DAMNIT), then I will cry.

Which Potterverse OC Are You?
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I represent the epic grandeur of the decentered self in the abyss of modernity. Even my bird-lizard is a hermeneutic fusion of the subconscious mind and the intangible Other.
My unmentioned secret: That pesky recurring nightmare about badger pudding.

Likely fate: Hufflepuff legend.

Just recently found out that Matthieu Kassovitz (aka Nino of Amelie fame) directed La Haine (Hate). He is cute and socially aware, what's not to love? An interesting thing that was mentioned in a NYT review of Amelie was that though the film is clearly a fantasy of Paris, M.K.'s presence in the film points to the lack of people of colour and the issues around race in France that Amelie attempts to literally whitewash.

The Pianist is an amazing film. Intense, unsentimental, sparing in its use of dialogue and score other than the piano scenes. It all adds up to an extremely powerful film, one that left me dazed for nearly ten minutes after. Much better than Schindler's List, but then again, I think SL is emotionally manipulative and well, a piece of Spielbergian crap. Having said all this in praise of The Pianist, you could not pay me to see it again, it is just too painful.

NOBODY has answered my question re: post-rampaging-Willow world. Shame.

2003-01-02T15:24:00.000-05:00

Good Intentions

My resolutions for this year...

1) Get my fucking citizenship so I can...
2) Go to England and stay there for at least six months or until my money runs out.
3) Apply to JET or NOVA in Japan.
4) Learn to sew and get a sewing machine so I can really make my own clothes.
5) Stop being such a worrywart.
6) Be a better friend and listener.
7) (this I stole from someone else on ILX) invest the same amount of energy into friendships as the other person- ie, spend more time/effort on loyal friends, and stop bothering with/ obsessing about non-reciprocal people.
8) Stop worrying about what other people think.
9) Take hip hop dance lessons or voice lessons.
10) Take over the world.

2003-01-02T11:18:00.000-05:00

Why does my apartment look so small? Did it shrink while I was gone?

I heard there was a highly amusing New Year's Eve party here involving cer tain parties and then some. Oh you pretty things, don't you know you're driving your mamas and papas insane!

What happens after Willow doesn't destroy the world, Buffy fans??? I'm so happy that Giles did not die. But that bint Dawn should have.

Just an FYI of the obvious sort, I'm back in New York. Since no one ever knows when I come and go except for my boss and my family. Ha!

2002-12-29T04:46:00.000-05:00

l'amour jolie

AMELIE HEARTS NINO!!!

*le sigh!*

2002-12-28T03:58:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone is having fun over the holidays. I certainly am! Vacation is ever so nice. California is warm and fuzzy. Friends and family are good. *happy sigh*

I saw the Two Towers a few days ago. I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as the first--the book version of TTT being quite the insomnia cure--but I caught myself thinking, "this is so fucking cool!" over and over again. The LOTR series really brings out the teenage fanboy in me, all I want to see are more Orcs screaming, more Orcs with their heads lopped off in creative ways, more battles and much more bloodshed. There are some breathless moments in the film, like when the army of Orcs is displayed and the full extent of the sheer hopelessness for the defenders. It is a little sad though, to see Gimli's role in the movies reduced now to comic relief. What was up with the Legolas-centric action though? SOMEONE has been paying attention to the fangirls. It was all Legolas, all the time. Best moment in the film, hands down, had to be when he freaking brushed Gimli's horse and jumped onto it with nary an effort. However, there was hardly any Frodo action! And when he is on the screen, he just looks hurt and angsty. Does Elijah Wood only have one expression in this film? Eowyn's role in the book was a lot better; she was an ass kicking babe while the Eowyn in the film spends all her time mooning after Aragorn and looking mulish. Strange, considering that Arwen's role was beefed up while Eowyn's role was reduced. It's not as good as the first film, but the first film had some moments that are without parallel in the second. Nonetheless, I can't wait to 1) see The Two Tours again and 2) see the next film next year!

Mostly I have spent these gloriously free days reading. I've read four or five books and I'm in the midst of this 700 page fantasy doorstopper which hopefully I will complete by tomorrow. Time is short, must read more.

Since I probably won't be blogging again until I return to New York, benedictions: much love to everyone, have a happy new year!

2002-12-24T00:41:00.000-05:00

Top Ten of Right Now (in no particular order) with comments:

1. Robbie Williams - Feel
My god, Robbie sounds even angstier than usual in this song. No wonder he's losing his popularity.

2. T.A.T.U. - All That She Said
It pops and rocks!

3. Barbara Lewis - Hello Stranger
I always think of this song as the theme of Miss Lonelyhearts from Rear Window.

4. Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Murder on the Dancefloor (Jewels & Stone mix)
That weird little whine in the beginning of this remix rocks my world.

5. Tomohiko Kikuta - Futsuu no Nichiyoubi ni
The opening theme for Hana Yori Dango. A good song for a lazy Sunday morning. "It's my day..."

6. Gypsy Original Cast - All I Need is the Girl
For some reason I'm obsessed with this song. Mainly because I want to be Tulsa and sing, "Harris tweed, Paris silk." And in the original cast recording, there's a part where Tulsa says, "Astaire bit!" Cannot wait for the Bernie version come next year.

7. Ragtime Original Cast - Sarah Brown Eyes
Brian Stokes Mitchell's finest moment bar none.

8. Pulp - Death Goes to the Disco
And Jarvis goes to the tailor. Love it.

9. The Smiths - The Boy With the Thorn in His Side
For a very long time, I did not particularly care for this song. I was playing it yesterday, and all of a sudden, everything clicked, the music, the Morrissey, the angst!

10. Shelley - Reproduction is Pollution
Truer words were never spoken by this incarnation of Orlando before it became Orlando.

Random: Howard Devoto is one strange chap.

How can I label you?
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Big surprise, this one. It was the Vespa answer that got me, I'm sure.

Damnit, that is exactly the haircut I want. I guess I really am a mod.

2002-12-23T11:33:00.000-05:00

Joe Strummer

Damn!

The hillsides ring with "Free the people"
Or can I hear the echo from the days of '39?
With trenches full of poets
The ragged army, fixin' bayonets to fight the other line
Spanish bombs rock the province
I'm hearing music from another time
Spanish bombs on the Costa Brava
I'm flying in on a DC 10 tonight
Spanish songs in Andalucia, Mandolina, oh mi corazon
Spanish songs in Granada, oh mi corazon

2002-12-23T01:58:00.000-05:00

for queen and country

just spent half an hour cultivating the brits. sammi and i were inspecting the hallway and decided that it needed to be mopped. we spend a few minutes evaluating whether or not we should serve god, queen, and country by mopping the brits' side of the hallway as well. mind you, this is one in the morning. decided to mop it all. but as i am beginning to do my duty for g, q and c, alan brit and stephen brit get off the "lift" and query me on what i am doing. anyway, one thing leads to another, we inspect each others' apartments, and spend time dishing with alan brit and stephen brit while they progressively get more and more stoned. the brits are, shall we say, fond of pot. alan brit is obsessed with the time he came over with irish superbrit and made me think they were the nypd. obsessed, i tell you, because he mentioned it no less than THREE TIMES. (correction: sammi says five) stephen kept asking where we were from. the brits also say oriental when referring to asian people. okay. they thought there were four girls living in our apt. we thought there were eight brits in theirs. however, the truth is a lot less glamorous, there are only three. we bothered brian brit, who was lying on their extra futon. alan brit showed me more of brian brit than i ever wanted to see. they tried to convince us to do the following things: smoke pot, and go up on the roof. but we did not, because we were tired. after a while, the brits began to be boring, so we left.

british guys know other british guys, so we should really cultivate them. not to mention that their social ineptness is kind of endearing.

the brits are endlessly amusing.

2002-12-21T13:25:00.000-05:00

this is how tired i am: for the last few weekends, i have voluntarily wore pants.

nick hornby on comic books. "road to america," set in the algerian independence war, sounds particularly interesting.

T.A.T.U's cover of "how soon is now?" is brilliant. T.A.T.U. is a Russian pop group consisting of two girls who sing in very high pitched voices. they remind me of J-Pop artists. their main selling point seems to be that they are openly lesbian and lovers. they're a very fun group, all bouncy dance-pop-punk. the russian songs are better than the english version, and not just because of the sound of the words, but because the production work differs sometimes in the two versions. "how soon is now" and "ya sholsa s uma (aka all that she said)" are recommended.

mcalmont riffs from "this charming man!" oh, i'd love to hear mcalmont & butler covers of smiths songs! they have, after all, covered TAKE THAT!

2002-12-21T01:16:00.000-05:00

all that heaven allows

for all the old movie freaks out there, far from heaven is a dream come true. it's a pastiche of a fifties melodrama, douglas sirk style. mind you, i have never seen a douglas sirk film, but i'm about to pop written on the wind into my vcr. far from heaven looks and feels like a fifties melodrama with complete and utter sincerity, without a hint of irony as a true melodrama must. although the film is much more explicit than a film of that time would have been, it uses the way actors of that time expressed everything subtly in their eyes and gestures without saying one damn thing. the really great thing about the melodramatic sensibility is that the films are wonderfully erotic precisely because they are so repressed. julianne moore is splendid, dennis haysbert is brilliant, dennis quaid is not as annoying as he usually is but i kept picturing james mason in the role and how much better it would have been with an actor of that caliber instead. the supporting characters, most of them played by character actors, all had faces from the classic hollywood film. the score by elmer bernstein is gorgeous, really lush and evocative. todd haynes also uses colour very well, all of cathy's gorgeous and extremely well-tailored dresses against a connecticut autumn took my breath away. so good. so deeply satisfying, visually and emotionally. i wish everyone made movies like this.

between la boheme and far from heaven, this has been a very good week for melodrama.

2002-12-20T00:32:00.000-05:00

Really good news for loveloev, Evelyn sold practically every one of the necklaces to a woman she works with. Plus we have mucho orders coming our way. My god, this is really taking off. We're all in a bit of shock and stress. Whatever, I'll really freak out when we are featured in IN STYLE. I can see it now...cue the dream sequence music and the close-up/fade...

"Loveloev is a collective of three extremely stylish young women from New York: Louisa, Evelyn, and Fiona. Their quirky necklaces, originally named for their friends and movie and tv stars, are quickly becoming the hot must-have product for this season. Jennifer Aniston, Brooke Shields, and Kylie Minogue have all been seen sporting specially customized necklaces at various soirees around the city. Each necklace is hand-crafted and personalized by the collective. But if you want one, you'll have to get in line, they have orders through 2006, and word is that their next necklace will be for David Bowie, who fell in love with the necklaces his wife Iman bought. In the meantime, find them today at loveloev.com."

Shit, yeah.

Yes Bob, though I'm incredibly stressed out and my bank charged me sixty bucks because I overdrew on my checking account EVEN THOUGH I REALLY HADN'T AND IT'S A FUCKING LONG STORY, life is pretty good.

My third job is the best job of all!

2002-12-19T23:10:00.000-05:00

Who's your inner gay man?
brought to you by Quizilla

Congrats, you've got a little Rufus in you! Raised on opera and his mother's show-biz sensibility, Rufus is a master songwriter and performer. Though prone to excess and moodiness, his off-kilter sense of humor and fashion and his radiant presence make him a joy to be around. Don't be ashamed; if this still small voice speaks up within you (with a bit of a slur and a lisp), listen up! He could make you a star.

stolen from sumy!

2002-12-18T13:56:00.000-05:00

Ahhhh! David Bowie disses Kylie and Robbie! Oh David, how could ya? (On the other hand that is one most excellent pic in the article!)

I still can't get over the fact I saw Kylie!

According to Nausicaa.net, Miyazaki himself will be directing Howl's Moving Castle. The film is set to come out in Japan in the summer of 2004.

2002-12-17T23:37:00.000-05:00

Viva la vie Boheme!

La Boheme was beautiful. Our seats were great. Never again will I sit in an orchestra seat that isn't student rush, for I will not be able to afford it. It was worth every penny. We were supposed to get the British guy and the Chinese girl (okay I realise that all these people actually have names, but I am lazy), but the Chinese girl was INEXPLICABLY out, making us all very sad. Instead we got the American girl, bit of a bummer really. She won us over by the end of the show, but we were really looking forward to seeing the Chinese girl, as she and Brit guy were supposed to be the best of the couples. This pairing, Brit and American, had v. little chemistry together. Otherwise the show is most excellent, Catherine Martin's set design brilliant as always, the lighting very retro and almost sepia-toned. I don't know how they accomplished that in a live setting. The look of the show is influenced by Robert Doisneau's photograph, "The Kiss." Will have to see it again to catch the Brit guy and the Chinese girl together. Alert: Brit guy uber pocketable.

Anyway, despite our muted disappointment about the Asian girl, we got a gift from GOD aka BAZ!

KYLIE WAS AT THE SHOW.

We were right in front of her as we were heading out. Evelyn turned around and whispered, "Kylie's here!" !!! I looked around a bit but I couldn't see anyone that looked like a Green Fairy. So I got further details in Chinese and the Kylie is standing literally RIGHT behind me, when I turned around I know she saw me staring at her, because I looked her right in the eye! Oh, Calvin Klein was also at the show, but Kylie is way cooler.

La Boheme and Kylie, how perfect.

2002-12-17T11:21:00.000-05:00

i decided that i was going to stop going out so much because it's completely exhausting me, but then i realized that i couldn't actually do that until january. that is so sad. i can't believe that i am actually saying this, that i go out too much.

my hands are killing me and i literally twitch when i'm trying to sleep. i think that these are signs that i should take it easy for a while. my right hand is currently sporting an ergonomic splint and i think my other one needs it too. these things are great, i had to get one for finals last year and it forces your hands to be in ergonomic positions so the repetitive stress doesn't get too bad.

i am SO looking forward to vacation, an entire week free of New York and work, a week where i don't have to stare at the computer all day.

2002-12-16T23:10:00.000-05:00

Cookery schmookerie

For dinner, I spent hours making mushroom toast and a potato and bell pepper hash. Hours. I cut every vegetable with love. The fire alarm went off...twice. My hands are prunish from scrubbing mushrooms, potatoes, and various cooking things. They also smell like garlic. I was really, really hungry.

But.

By the time I was done, I was so tired that I only had two pieces of the toast and a bite of the hash. They both tasted damn good, but the vast majority of it is going to eaten tomorrow for lunch.

Because I'm poor, this year I decided that I would treat all my friends to a free multi-course meal cooked by yours truly. Appetizers, several entrees, dessert! At first I thought it would be a very nice idea. Now I think, what the heck am I getting into???

Send me your poor, send me your pesto recipes...

By the time she gets this, hopefully Miss V will be well on her way to being FREE OF FINALS!!!

2002-12-16T13:18:00.000-05:00

Barnes & Noble author appearances

I love Barnes & Noble author appearances. They are responsible for many wonderful things. I own signed copies of things from Tom Stoppard, Rosemary Clooney, Baz Luhrman & Catherine Martin, Arthur Miller, John Cameron Mitchell & Stephen Trask thanks to B&N.

Selected list of AAs to remind myself...hell, FERGIE's gonna be at B&N, I may go and get something signed for Jaime-chu.

Jan 06, 2003 (5th Ave & 48th St)
01:00 PM - Sarah, The Duchess Of York WHAT I NOW KNOW
SIGNING ONLY

Jan 07, 2003 (Union Square)
07:00 PM - Robert Jordan CROSSROADS OF TWILIGHT
TALK, SIGNING

Jan 22, 2003 (Chelsea)
07:00 PM - Bell Hooks ROCK MY SOUL
DISCUSSION, SIGNING

Jan 22, 2003 (Lincoln Center)
07:00 PM - Ismail Merchant MY PASSAGE FROM INDIA
DISCUSSION, SIGNING
--DAMN, a time conflict!!!

Jan 30, 2003 (Greenwich Village)
07:30 PM - 08:30 PM Tamora Pierce PROTECTOR OF THE SMALL: LADY KNIGHT
READING, DISCUSSION, SIGNING
--Incredibly exciting!

Feb 04, 2003 (US)
07:00 PM - 08:00 PM A.S. Byatt A WHISTLING WOMAN
READING, SIGNING
--Also incredibly exciting!

Feb 10, 2003 (86th & 2nd)
07:00 PM - Alan Flusser DRESSING THE MAN
DISCUSSION, SIGNING NEW YORK, NY
--This one is for PJ!

Feb 13, 2003 (US)
07:00 PM - William Gibson PATTERN RECOGNITION
DISCUSSION, SIGNING

2002-12-16T10:57:00.000-05:00

Debonair birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO everyone's favourite stylish Fred/Frank-loving Rhodes Scholar PJ!!! Many happy bowties of the day to you! (Sure it is the 16th here but it is the 17th in Singapore!)

So the transit strike has been averted for now. I was listening to NY1 in the morning. There were interviews about how people felt about commuting as usual. They were all relieved, duh. How is this news? It strikes me as ridiculous that the New York City media should take anything remotely related to the strike and turn it into the story. Granted a potential strike is a big deal, but I don't need to hear on the hour, every fifteen minutes about how some chap in Queens was relieved to go to work again. That is not a story, that's filler.

A war has been declared by yours truly against plastic bags. They are the enemy. I hate them. No such thing as paper or plastic here, just plastic and it's always multiples. They are used gratuitiously and thoughtlessly, the smallest thing gets a huge plastic bag. They should be taxed so people wean themselves off plastic bags. They're bad for the enviroment. They should be fucking recycled. They take up way too much space in my apartment. I can't bear to throw them out but I don't use them quickly enough to get rid of the motherfuckers. Never again will I accept a plastic bag into my home. Or even a paper bag. Yesterday I was given a huge Kate's Paperie bag for three pieces of paper. How ridiculous is that? NEVER AGAIN. I will carry around four plastic bags in my cloth bag for all my potential plastic bag needs. I already use a shopping cart for groceries, but after this, no matter what I buy, be it clothing or books or *ahem* cds, I WILL BAG THE MOTHERFUCKER MYSELF. I hate packaging, period. I hate gratuitious packaging, I hate excessive packaging. It's such a waste of materials AND ALL YOU DO IS END UP THROWING AWAY THAT SHIT ANYWAY.

Yesterday Sumy and I went shopping. We ended up at a sample sale on Orchard digging through boxes of shoes and clothing. She bought tropical kiwi coloured shoes. At the divey Chinese place where we had dinner, she stuck them on with her purple socks and gray-blue pants. I have pictures as proof. Sumy amuses me endlessly.

Speaking of divey Chinese places, I love them. The grungier it is, the better, because it's more likely to be authentic. I grew up in divey Chinese places, the kind of place that is a hole in the wall, where the tables aren't none too clean, where the chopsticks and other utensils are stuck in a container on the table with a napkin dispenser, where if there are more than five people in the restaurant you all end up sharing a table. In Hong Kong, the slightly more respectable restaurants come and go with every year, but the divey places stay for years. I have been going to the same congee place in HK for god knows how long, that place was there when I was a kid.

2002-12-14T13:58:00.000-05:00

Check out loveloev.com to see us rendered in cute form, courtesy of the almighty SUMY! YAY!!!!!!!

Speaking of Sumy, did you get my messages re: the Walter Reade? Let meknow!

2002-12-14T11:34:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to secret twin Louisa!!!

Last night Louisa and Ben had a lovely dinner party to celebrate her birthday. We had capiosas (sp?), salmon, green beans, sweet potatoes, eggnog and cheesecake! It was delish! We were all stuffed and dead drunk after a bit.

One of her friends, names will not be revealed to protect the guilty! revealed two things: 1) She saw BOB STAM in a YELLOW SPEEDO. *gasp* and 2) After seeing BOB STAM in a YELLOW SPEEDO, she had a SEX DREAM about him. Since most of us were former cinema studies students, this was horribly, horribly funny. Then we all talked about how we had all had five-minute crushes on a certain professor, aka the WEIRD AUSTRALIAN MAN, that is, until he opened his mouth.

We also watched the Muppet Family Christmas, a brilliant show with cameos from the Sesame Street gang! Truly a classic for the ages.

And we decided to name a necklace David Bowie's Ass. Mmmm...David Bowie.

2002-12-13T13:14:00.000-05:00

My friend in Japan is dating a hot black Canadian guy in Osaka.

I HAVE GOT TO GET OUT OF THIS COUNTRY!

2002-12-13T12:08:00.000-05:00

Words Can't Get Me Down

All right! This weekend's shoot has been cancelled! I can sleep this weekend after all!

Today I am feeling very...how can I put this? Hermione Granger meets Audrey Hepburn.

*sigh...never mind*

2002-12-12T13:40:00.000-05:00

"Getting into elevators with boys, that should be a song."

I'm a Gin & Tonic, discover your ALcoHoLiC personality!

Heads up, folks, Robert Jordan is supposed to be making the rounds at Barnes and Noble, Union Square, on January 7th.

I've been asked to tell people the following:

The NY Digital Video Show needs volunteers for Thursday, January 30th to Saturday, February 1st. If you're interested, contact Evelyn (or contact me and I'll forward the info to her) at evelyn@mindshareventures.com. If you volunteer, you can sit in on the classes that are being offered.

Sammi's friend Jamie McGonnigal is in a show featuring young songwriters. It's called "In the Works..." and will be playing:
The DUPLEX
61 Christopher Street (at 7th Avenue)
Thursdays in December
December 5, 12 & 19
7PM
Call 212-255-5438 for reservations

Check out more from his site, run by Sammi!

Hmmm, any other requests for promotion? Oh I know...I wasn't asked to do this but I might as well pimp them anyway, since I STALK THEM:

Man in Gray will be playing tomorrow at Acme Underground at midnight. They will have shirts (ooooh...) and maybe pins and stickers! (now that's the good shit!) This reminds me that I still have to put up the photos from the Luna Lounge gig a while back...now that london-calling is alive again it'll be much easier than dealing with NYU's wretchedly slow servers.

2002-12-11T11:59:00.000-05:00

Beautiful

Every day is so wonderful
And suddenly, it's hard to breathe
Now and then, I get insecure
From all the fame, I'm so ashamed

I am beautiful no matter what they say
Words can't bring me down
I am beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring me down
So don't you bring me down today

To all your friends, you're delirious
So consumed in all your doom
Trying hard to fill the emptiness
The piece is gone and the puzzle undone
That's the way it is

You are beautiful no matter what they say
Words won't bring you down
You are beautiful in every single way
Yes, words won't bring you down
Don't you bring me down today...

No matter what we do
(no matter what we do)
No matter what they say
(no matter what they say)
When the sun is shining through
Then the clouds won't stay

And everywhere we go
(everywhere we go)
The sun won't always shine
(sun won't always shine)
But tomorrow will find a way
All the other times

We are beautiful no matter what they say
Yes, words won't bring us down
We are beautiful no matter what they say
Yes, words can't bring us down
Don't you bring me down today

Don't you bring me down today
Don't you bring me down today

Feel the Christina Aguilera love.

2002-12-11T00:01:00.000-05:00

but if you don't mind, i don't mind...

Please e-mail me at fiona AT london-calling DOT org again, grazie ragazzi.

(the entry that was here has been deleted. i just remembered that one of the reasons that i stopped blogging was because i complained too much. i'm trying to stop that.)

2002-12-10T22:04:00.000-05:00

No, I'm no one's wife, but I love my life...and all that jazz!

The film version of Chicago is amazing. Fucking amazing. This is the ultimate accolade that I can give it--it's better than the stage version. Granted, I didn't care much for the stage version, which doesn't live up to its own cast recording, but it's rare that a film improves on the stage. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, and Richard Gere are surprisingly good with their singing and dancing. Scratch that...brilliant. You know how everyone who saw Moulin Rouge, whether they liked it or not, was blown away with Ewen McGregor's singing? The same thing here, except that you would never guess that the leads weren't trained musical theatre performers. (Well, maybe they were once upon a time, I don't know, I think Catherine Zeta-Jones must have been because she is just great.)

Hey Evelyn! WE ARE GOING TO SEE THE ASIAN GIRL AND THE BRIT GUY IN LA BOHEME!!!!

An interesting article about disco and its place in musical history.

2002-12-09T12:01:00.000-05:00

good times around the corner...

I just had a truly fabulous weekend.

On Saturday, I putzed around a bit after waking up at two in the afternoon. I met up with the B and we sauntered over to Mona Lisa for a very nice dinner. I had sole, she had pizza. Sole at Mona Lisa is wonderfully inexpensive; I'm definitely going back there just for that. Then we made a pit stop at the Mercury Lounge to pick up tickets for Future Bible Heroes, but they weren't selling tickets just yet, so we trekked over to Wild Lily East. The lady who worked there was a hardcore teaista, she had us smell the leaves and gave us feedback on our picks. "That's a good tea. That one, it's...okay." We had the Buddha's Finger and the Jasmine Pearl, both excellent and wonderful.

And we ran into Sarwat, because no weekend is complete without running into her.

Sammi joined us for Future Bible Heroes, which was extremely fun. Except for the part where it was so hot and unventilated that I almost fainted, but otherwise, it was a good show. Claudia Gonson and Stephin Merritt were hilarious; Claudia would take a sip of her drink, ramble, then remember she had to sing a song. Most of the songs they did were a lot less synthy than they are on the albums, but Chris Ewen was having fun plunking away at the piano. B has pictures of Stephin. He looks like Kevin Spacey, methinks.

On Sunday it was Sumy-chu's birthday! We went to Joe's Shanghai and I met Hali, and of course I know Jae Young and Claire already. We had an orgy of food, including delicious soup dumplings, eggplant in garlic sauce, sauteed green beans with pork, and crispy skin duckling. It was great and we all had a lot of fun! I gave her an Elmo card that was meant for a three-year-old, I couldn't help it because it was so bright and colourful and utterly Sumilicious that I had to get it for her even though the birthday was off by a few years. Okay, try twenty.

I had to leave the party early because I was meeting up with Louisa and Evelyn for a business meeting for loveloev.com. We went to Alice's Tea Cup and we also had a great time. Our waiter was so nice. His name is Dante, and when he found out that we made necklaces, he wanted one too. You can see a picture of him modeling one of them on the site. He made us a custom tea, a combination of white tea and peppermint, and I forget what else, it was so nice.

Lots of friends, lots of tea, lots of good food, lots of good times were had...after a weekend like that, I am just profoundly happy.

I want to throw an informal holiday party of hot drinks, baked goods, and friends, but I don't think it will happen because everyone, including myself, is too busy. But let me know if you're interested...frankly I think it would be so cute and terribly fun and oh so incestuous if it was a bloggista holiday party. :)

2002-12-08T23:59:00.000-05:00

she's not actually three, you know...

Before the day closes, a happy birthday to Sumy, one of the coolest people that I know, and certainly the best artist!