1: Note that on the previous blog entry, I commented on the fact that blog spammers are stupid. Then a blog spammer came and commented. Luckily, he wasn't the Viagra guy. Or the Life Insurance Guy. But strangely, he linked to The I.A..
2: NBC's Coupling sucks. I said it then, and I'll repeat it. Please note that the time stamp on my blog entry (which I did not edit, swear to God) precedes the time stamp on the CNN article.
3: What's worse than having to go to a meeting on the first of your two days off? Getting called by work later that evening to be told that you have to come in for a meeting on the second of the two days off as well. For all you M-F, 9-5'ers out there, I'll translate this into terms of YOUR schedule so you can see just exactly how annoying it is. If I worked M-F 9-5, and these meetings were at the same relative position in that schedule as they are in my personal schedule, I'd be going in to work at 8:00am on Saturday AND Sunday this weekend. Whoop dee fucking doo.
4: Two guys kissed on "It's All Relative" on ABC tonight. Yay! And it's a really funny show, to boot. Much better than NBC's Coupling. Then again, the Discover Channel special on watching paint dry is better than NBC's Coupling. It's a shame - because the BBC version really is hysterical.
1: I am really fed up with the idiots who think it's OK to post spam as a "comment" on a blog.
2: I hate when I have a staff meeting at work on my day off.
3: I think it makes even less sense when I call work to make sure the meeting is on or off and they keep me on hold for 5 minutes when a simple "Yes" or "No" would do.
4: Hooray for porn.
5: The American version of "Coupling" sucks. The BBC version is, by contrast, extremely funny.
6: I'm going to the opera again tonight. But tonight's the first time at the Met this season. Woo hoo!
My schedule has me a bit overwrought right now -- and my compulsive desire to knit when I get home at night is not helping. I went to bed at 3:30ish last night and just got up a bit ago -- which seems like it would be 7 hours of sleep -- but just does not feel like enough. I'm looking forward to Thursday, when I don't have work and I don't have any appointments (until 5:45pm) and I can just sleep without having to fear that the alarm clock will soon buzz at me.
Luckily, we had someone new start at work, so that should help with the stress.
But that still leaves room for wanting a nap today. And I'm not going to get one.
Grr.
I am so fed up with there being a parade on Fifth Avenue practically every Sunday (and certain Mondays, including today!).
Who are all these people and what are they really parading for? I don't understand why all these ethnic groups from all over the world need to have parades here in New York.
Maybe it makes me grumpy and a little bit racist sometimes, but if you're proud to be Puerto Rican, why don't you have a parade in San Juan? If you're proud to be German, why don't you have a parade in Dusseldorf? You're blocking our useful Avenue.
And this Columbus Day bullshit has really got my goat. Evidently, the Spanish people and the Italian people both lay claim to Christopher Columbus and they both want to celebrate the fact that he found our land. But they don't want to celebrate at the same time as the others. So we have to have a Hispanic Columbus Day parade on Sunday, and ANOTHER, non-Hispanic Columbus Day parade on Monday. Jesus Christ.
I have a special view towards griping about these parades because I work in a hotel on 5th Avenue. Our guests are always inconvenienced by the parades, traffic is always terrible, and you have to assume that there's a negative impact for most of the Fifth Avenue stores. I doubt that Louis Vuitton or Gucci or Prada post good sales volumes on the day of the Puetro Rican parade. Now, if they were just open early the morning of the Gay Pride Parade...
But seriously, here's the stupidest thing about most of these parades. Parades are supposed to be, in my version of the world, a spectator event. But have you seen some of these parades here in NYC? There'll be like 4 people watching on one block -- and about 4000 at that exact same second who are put out by the traffic, by the fact that the cops won't let them cross the street, all sorts of bullshit like that.
So here's what I propose: In order for a parade permit to be granted for the following year, you have to have at least four times as many dedicated spectactors for your parade as you have participants. Otherwise, no Avenue for you! We'd end up with about two or three parades a year, tops.
And that's more than enough.
I am so fed up with there being a parade on Fifth Avenue practically every Sunday (and certain Mondays, including today!).
Who are all these people and what are they really parading for? I don't understand why all these ethnic groups from all over the world need to have parades here in New York.
Maybe it makes me grumpy and a little bit racist sometimes, but if you're proud to be Puerto Rican, why don't you have a parade in San Juan? If you're proud to be German, why don't you have a parade in Dusseldorf? You're blocking our useful Avenue.
And this Columbus Day bullshit has really got my goat. Evidently, the Spanish people and the Italian people both lay claim to Christopher Columbus and they both want to celebrate the fact that he found our land. But they don't want to celebrate at the same time as the others. So we have to have a Hispanic Columbus Day parade on Sunday, and ANOTHER, non-Hispanic Columbus Day parade on Monday. Jesus Christ.
I have a special view towards griping about these parades because I work in a hotel on 5th Avenue. Our guests are always inconvenienced by the parades, traffic is always terrible, and you have to assume that there's a negative impact for most of the Fifth Avenue stores. I doubt that Louis Vuitton or Gucci or Prada post good sales volumes on the day of the Puetro Rican parade. Now, if they were just open early the morning of the Gay Pride Parade...
But seriously, here's the stupidest thing about most of these parades. Parades are supposed to be, in my version of the world, a spectator event. But have you seen some of these parades here in NYC? There'll be like 4 people watching on one block -- and about 4000 at that exact same second who are put out by the traffic, by the fact that the cops won't let them cross the street, all sorts of bullshit like that.
So here's what I propose: In order for a parade permit to be granted for the following year, you have to have at least four times as many dedicated spectactors for your parade as you have participants. Otherwise, no Avenue for you! We'd end up with about two or three parades a year, tops.
And that's more than enough.
I (almost) never leave a show at intermission.
Once, when I was working at Colorado Shakespeare Festival, I had the option of watching the second half of a really annoying production of "Coriolanus" (on which I had built props -- shields and stools, notably) or... getting in my car and driving to the bars in Denver to get laid. Shakespeare lost that night.
I was with my mom at "Phantom" last summer, and the cast was just terrible and we just said, "Fuck it," and walked out at half-time.
There's maybe one or two other times; I am not totally sure.
But this evening, I added one to the inventory.
I was at "The Magic Flute" at New York City Opera. I just couldn't get into it. The small chamber orchestra didn't carry that great in the New York State Theatre, but even so, some of the cast couldn't carry their voices over it. I also got rather perturbed at some of the tempi the conductor chose.
I found the sets boring, the cast second rate, the lighting totally uninteresting, and, to top it all off, they sang it in English. I know it used to be de rigueur for operas to be translated into the local language, but somehow, for me, I want a German opera to be in German.
Besides, "Die Sternflammender Konigin" sounds WAY better than "The Starblazing Queen," even if I didn't spell it right in German.
I am flabbergasted. No, I can understand why they ousted Gray Davis (though I probably would have voted against the recall, personally).
But I just don't get voting for Arnold.
I mean, if you're going to say that a certain governor was fiscally irresponsible and largely drew the state into an economic decline, wouldn't the logical next step be to actually vote for someone who really, thoroughly understands the dollars and cents of how a state works -- especially for people who don't get paid $10,000,000 to flex their muscles for a camera?
Then again, they're Californians so I guess I shouldn't expect much more than this.
Yes, it's my current obsession.
And I finished another project today: I was working on a scarf and it's, well... done.
If you all behave, I'll take a picture for you.
I actually just finished knitting the final (yes, second, but still... I have an extraordinary sense of completion) sleeve of the sweater I knitted for my sister.
Now I just have to get it all put together and add on a collar, and it will actually be a sweater.
Go me!
In other news, I have this observation to present:
There are lots of documentaries on TV (well, on my TiVo, at any rate), about nature and wild animals and the like. And it's so clearly about survival of the fittest, evolution, and all that good stuff.
And based on watching lions and tigers and bears eat their lunch, I ask you this:
Where the fuck do Llasha Apsos come from?
A Poem, For Laura, From George.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Oh my, lump in the bed
How I've missed you.
Roses are redder
Bluer am I
Seeing you kissed
By that charming French guy.
The dogs and the cat,
They missed you too.
Barney's still mad you dropped him,
He ate your shoe.
The distance, my dear,
Has been such a barrier
Next time you want an adventure,
Just land on a carrier.
For some inexplicable reason, I just counted how many shows I have seen so far this calendar year (Well, it's actualy "times I've gone to the theatre," as I'm counting multiple seeings of individual shows). I'm including operas, Broadway shows, off-Broadway shows, as well as theatre from my London trip. I'm not inlcuding the two concerts I saw this year (The Dixie Chicks at the Garden, and Tori Amos at Radio City).
Year to date: 45, as near as I can tell.
Minimum to year end: 55. (That means I have already purchased tickets for 10 things coming up this year. Three at City Opera, four at the Met, and three on Broadway.)
Anyone want to venture a count as to what the actual total on December 31, 2003 will be? If anyone gets it right, I'll feel compelled to come up with some sort of prize.
Please tell me how this is news. Let alone a noteworthy science project for grown-ups.
Officials Say Bush Seeks $600 Million to Hunt Iraq Arms.
Jesus Fucking Christ. I really didn't think he could get any stupider. Isn't it obvious that any weapons that Iraq had have already been destroyed or removed from Iraq? Isn't it bullshit to be spending MORE money on trying to find something that, if it actually exists, is comparable to one needle in ten thousand haystacks? Doesn't our international reputation mean anything to you? If you're going to waste more money on Iraq, which is so obviously a fucked up cause at this point, shouldn't you spend it on something useful? Like infrastructure?
Enough people have died and enough money has been wasted, and guess what? There's still not ANY concrete evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
If you're going to spend $600 million on something, spend it on schools here in the states. Spend it on AIDS or Cancer research. Spend it on global warming research so that you can realize that you really have to sign the Kyoto Treaty before the rest of the Ice Caps melt and half of the country is underwater. Spend it on alternative energy source research so that we're not relying on foreign oil. Jesus, buy everyone in the US a fucking ice cream cone.
But don't waste the money on a cause that you've already lost just because you're a narrow-sighted, narrow-minded ninny.
So it looks like my work schedule is going to change to having Friday and Saturday evenings off. This would be a wonderful change, if it actually happens. I'm trying not to get too optimistic until it actually occurs, but, well, it would be amazing.
In other news, my birthday is coming up in a month and a half, and I'm thinking of going to Las Vegas for a long weekend.
In other, other news, the opera season has begun again, and I'm going to see "Lucia" at City Opera in just 18 short hours. Yeah!