My Top Ten September Obsessions

I've realized that I always focus on the more negative and morbid things that life has to offer, so I've decided to consciously attempt to find the brighter side of life...frivolous, random and most of all fun! So, here's my September Top Ten List of distractions from reality:

10. Arrested Development
I was one of the fools who never bothered watching this golden nugget of a show while it was on television, thus leading to it's inevitable cancellation...but tonight my friend put it on hulu, and before I knew it, it was almost 3:00 am, and we were 5 episodes in...I could spend the rest of my life watching the Bluths and die a happy woman!

Narrator: Then mistaking a group of garishly dressed men for pirates, Tobias boarded a van full of homosexuals.




9.Seagram's Seltzer mixed with Minute Maid Pomegranate Berry Energy Drink
I wanted to slow down on the soda and excess sugar, so I started drinking seltzer with a splash of cranberry & a lime wedge at work...when I wanted to do the same in my regular life, I discovered this little treat instead. Not only is it delicious, but it quenches my thirst, while it keeps me from falling asleep...I also realized it has less sugar than cranberry juice, and I'm saving about $3.00 a day on Starbucks...can't beat it!

8.Harefield Road, 769 Metropolitan Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

The place is amazing...an older mixed crowd, great atmosphere, and an outdoor patio where smoking and drinking is not verboten...what more do I need to say.

7.Cheap Concerts
Thanks to a very generous friend of mine, I was able to go and see the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Teenage Bottlerocket & The Flatliners at Irving Plaza a few weeks ago, and what an amazing show it was...I got punched in the face, and I loved it! Here's some footage I found on youtube...it's not the best, but it's actually very accurate as far as energy and what I was able to see of the stage.



I got inspired to research other cheap upcoming shows, and came up with a pretty interesting list:
Vampire Weekend 9/15, 9/16 or 9/17 @ Radio City
Bruce in the USA 9/25 @ Williamsburg Music Hall
James 9/28 @ Webster Hall
Gaslight Anthem 9/30 @ Radio City
Muse 10/23 or 10/24 @ Nassau
...OK Go 10/29 @ Terminal 5
Matt & Kim 10/26 @ Webster Hall
Florence and the Machine 11/02 @ Terminal 5
Indigo Girls 11/05 @ Wellmont Theater
Wizard Rock Festival 11/21 @ Williamsburg Music Hall

6.Mad Men
This show is amazing!!!! Sundays are my favorite days! I don't understand the slip in ratings...this season is by far the best, and each episode is better than the last. In fact, Episode 407, "The Suitcase" should definitely earn both Jon Hamm and Elisabeth Moss Emmys, they were unbelievable the entire episode, but this scene below was absolutely mind blowing!



5.Funny Movies
When I'm feeling terrible, which, let's face it, is quite often, nothing makes me feel better faster, than being in a dark movie theater with good friends, watching a hilariously funny movie...this past week was a rough one, and we actually saw 2! I highly recommend both Going the Distance and the Other Guys if you need to change your attitude...and screw what the critics say...they're both hysterical!




4.Fairground Attraction
In case you didn't happen to hear of them on 120 minutes or on your random late 80's European vacation, they're a Scottish acoustic pop band led by vocalist Eddi Reader, that had a platinum selling album on the UK Charts with The First of a Million Kisses...some of their more popular songs include "Perfect" and "Find My Love"...they make me happy, enough said!



3.Tarot Cards
I've been having a fun time every other night, around 1:30 am, reading and rereading my own cards...the trick is to keep shuffling until you get a spread that tells you something you want to hear...even if it's something you didn't previously consider it just needs to make you happy...if there's a Tower or a Ten of Swords in sight...start over!



2.Catskill Mountain Moccasins
I have been dreaming about these damn boots for over a year...since the last time we went to the Renaissance Faire in Tuxedo, NY...and I still can't afford them...AAARRRGGHH!!! They're handmade and custom molded to your foot, and are guaranteed for life...they're also gorgeous and you get to design your own- you pick the color, style, height, leather, buttons, trim, you name it! They start at around $450 & they just go up from there...the ones I want are around $1,500...maybe someday I'll win the lottery...



http://www.catskillmoccasins.com/

1.Scratch Offs
Speaking of the lottery, nothing puts a bigger smile on my face than a winning scratch off...I especially love Cashword, Bingo and any variation thereof...but to be honest, even the losers make me feel better...for those brief moments when you're selecting the ticket, when you're picking out the right coin to scratch it off with, when you're imagining how you'll tell your parents that they can quit their jobs...for those momnets, you're filled with hope...hope of a better life and hope that you can change things in a drastic way...so even if you lose, you've sparked something inside that stays lit a little longer than you expected, and that feels amazing...

A Fascinating Vintage Find for Cruise Ship Afficianados

SS Homeric Souvenir Coasters & Leather Pouch
$32.00 Mint Condition


Home Lines S.S. Homeric at her New York pier on February 15, 1969 just before sailing to Nassau. Another former Matson liner, built in 1931 as Mariposa for the U.S. West Coast – Pacific service.

SS HOMERIC IN THE 1960's

Cruising the Past: History of Home Line’s SS HOMERIC: Originally the SS Mariposa. She was a luxury ocean liner launched in 1931; one of four ships in the Matson Lines “White Fleet” which included SS Monterey, SS Malolo and SS Lurline.


Princess Margaret boarding the SS Homeric , Tilbury, Essex, 1962.

In World War II she served the United States as a fast troop carrier, bringing supplies and support forces to distant shores as well as rescuing persons stranded in foreign countries by the outbreak of war.

In 1947 the ship was mothballed for six years at Bethlehem-Alameda Shipyard in Alameda, California. Her engines were overhauled by Todd San Francisco Division. Home Lines bought her and renamed her SS Homeric, sailing her to Trieste for reconstruction to allow 1243 passengers: 147 First Class and 1,096 tourist class. Gross register tonnage increased to 18,563.



SS HOMERIC

Total length increased to 641 feet (195.5 meters). Home Lines operated her beginning 24 January 1955 for liner service between ports in the north Atlantic. In 1964 she replaced the SS Italia to steam on the regular run between New York and Nassau, Bahamas, though she in turn was shortly replaced by SS Oceanic. SS Homeric was reassigned to intra-Caribbean cruises.

In 1973, a major fire destroyed much of her galley and restaurant and she was scrapped in Taiwan in 1974.[10] During the ship breaking process, her sister ship Ellinis (ex-Lurline) suffered major engine damage on a cruise to Japan; Chandris Lines was able to purchase one of the Mariposa engines from the ship breakers.

Something To Think About...

Sometimes you don't really know how lonely you are, until you're in the middle of a really good beer pong match....and then it hits you....when it's over, wether you win or lose, you'll be going home by yourself, to hang out with your cats and dogs...and truth is, the drunker you are, the worst it feels.

Since No One's Listening

I've come to the conclusion that there is some kind of safety and security in the idea of writing a blog that nobody reads. It creates this interesting dichotomy...like screaming at the top of your lungs in the middle of the Sahara...sometimes you just need to make noise, even if there's no one to hear you.

In a world where everyone uses facebook and twitter to feel relevant, I get some odd comfort in the fact that I'm still as anonymous as I was before the internet.

Local Culture by an International Photo Journalist

Dear Friends,

It is with great pleasure that the Cultural Association of the Molise Region in America, Universitas Civium Oratino, invites you to the opening of--
Tony Vaccaro: A Retrospective.

The BBC’s The Genius of Photography series called Vaccaro “the greatest combat photographer of WW II.” Celebrating a career spanning six decades, Vaccaro transitioned from serving as America’s first wartime photo journalist to photographing some of the twentieth century’s most notable cultural icons including Sophia Loren, Frank Lloyd Wright, Georgia O’Keefe, to name just a few. This exciting retrospective is not to be missed! We are particularly proud to sponsor this exhibit not only because of the extraordinary quality of his photographs (as you can see from the photo of a young Sophia Loren in the attached flyer) but also because Tony’s roots are from Bonefro, a city in Molise, Italy.

We hope you will join us, and Tony,

who will be sharing anectdotes about select pieces in the exhibit,

for the Opening Reception,

which will be held on Friday, December 4th from 7:00 – 9:30 PM

at The Buzzeo Building Gallery,

31-16 36th Avenue in Long Island City, NY, 11106,

The gallery can be easily reached by subway by taking the N or W train to 36th Avenue.

"lower-middle-class-hillbilly-hipster"

Tonight when I got home, Late Night with Conan O'Brien was on television and the red headed comic was interviewing Chris Colfer who plays Kurt Hummel on Glee. Since I'm a huge fan of Glee, and also very curious about the nature of Chris's sexuality, I left it on to watch the hijinks...and boy am I thrilled that I did! How I've lived this long without knowing who Rickie Lee Jones is, is ridiculous! She performed Wild Girl from her album Balm in Gilead on tonight's show, and she was ah-may-zeeng!

I couldn't find the Conan performance without linking you to the entire show, so here's a link to a live performance on Soundcheck:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnVV9qE96fY

from BALM IN GILEAD
Wild Girl
written by Rickie Lee Jones

Wild girl, you must have been a terror

When you were young

Your mamma must have let you run,

Let you run free...But it wasn’t very nice

Eating all that sugar and spice –

What they want a girl to be

And all the things a child learns

On their way from hope to here,

The innocence, the fury, the racism

Rage and fearI don’t remember –

tell me again –

The part no one wants to hear...

Well, that’s so many peoples story,

A lot of heartache but not much glory,

But glory, the truth be told

Tomorrow you are twenty–one years old

I say Happy Birthday tomorrow to you,

Go out and get some glory,

The only game in town.

You can live your life with regret

About the things you think you did wrong,

(A lot of people do)

Or over what some one would not give,

Or you can be grateful

When you open your eyes,

The story you write, you live

Well it’s hard to be older and poor

I don’t dig it that much anymore,

But every day of my life I’m so proud I became his wife

Because I got to raise Charlotte

And Charlotte’s learning

The only game in townWild girl in a red dress

Come on, speak up, say yes

This thing that makes you beautiful

Never comes out of a jarYou are a beautiful girl

Because you reach out from your beautiful world,

That is the daughter you are

Walk right and the real world knows it

Cuz you bring it back down into the real world

Walk right up the real world knows it

You’ll bring it back down into the real world

Say take me back babyI just wanna make a dream come true –

I came here to love somebody –

I just want to make my dreams come true...

And I’m trying

Because trying is

The only game,

Live to tell the tale –

The only game in town

A little history on "the new generation of hipster"...

Rolling Stone cover featuring Rickie Lee Jones crouching in a black bra and white beret - an issue that would become the largest selling issue in the magazine's history up to that time. Her appearance - as an unknown (her debut self titled record had been released less than a month before) - on the popular and prestigious Saturday Night Live television show in April 1979 sparked an overnight sensation. Following the cover of Rolling Stone and a successful world tour, Jones secured five nominations at the 1980 Grammy Awards and won the Grammy for Best New Artist. She was also voted Best Jazz Singer by Playboy magazine's critic and reader polls. Jones was covered by Time magazine on her very first professional show, in Boston, and they dubbed her "The Duchess of Coolsville."

After moving to New York City, Jones spent the majority of 1981 working on a follow-up album, written and recorded partly in reaction to the break-up of her relationship with Tom Waits sometime between late 1979 and early 1980. The songs were written between September 1979 and June 1981 - the recording sessions finally yielded Pirates in July 1981.

Shake your hips and wave your hands - this month is just made for social fun!

Being that it's December 1, I decided to let everyone who doesn't already know, about the best free monthly horoscope on the web...Astrology Zone by Susan Miller...check it out and tell me what you think!


Official Website:
http://astrologyzone.com/