I’m thinking Freddie Mercury would’ve approved…

I love me some Muppet rock-n-roll.

You down with Bert, Ernie? (yeah, you know me)

I try to limit my gangsta rap intake to once per decade, but this just cracked me up:


[found via KK1820 on twitter]

Very superstitious

I scheduled a maintenance appointment for the server at work today and everyone was freaking out because it is Friday The Thirteenth. My normally sensible co-workers appear to throw logic out the window when it comes to old wives' tales. I was temped to bring in a ladder, a broken mirror and The Lounging Party just to freak them out some more (because why have one black cat when you can have two?). At least with The Lounging Party there would be entertainment while the entire computer system is down.

{The Lounging Party, doing what they do best}

Very superstitious
Writing's on the wall
Very superstitious
Ladders bout' to fall
Thirteen month old baby
Broke the lookin' glass
Seven years of bad luck
The good things in your past


When you believe in things
That you don't understand
Then you suffer
Superstition ain't the way


PS - is Spring here yet?


Sorry for the long absence, I was caught up in the whirlwind of preparation for the Two Ladies' wedding, and then in the aftermath of having neglected the rest of my life. Things are almost back to normal and I will be visiting you all and commenting soon.

And we take requests

My British agent, Sas of Sas' Magical Mystery Tour, has demanded that my band stop procrastinating and get our butts in the studio to finish our album (that's like a CD, for you young 'uns).



You, too can be a Jane Austen-quoting, Toddlers and Tiaras*-influenced Eastern European electronic klezmer rock star:

1. Go to Wikipedia. Hit 'random'. The first Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2. Go to Quotations Page and select 'random quotations'. The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.
3. Go to Flickr and click on 'explore the last seven days'. Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover. I used the third picture down, since the third picture across was a cute little ladybug, flittering across a daisy, and my band is Eastern European electronic klezmer rock, not The Carpenters.
4. Use Picnik (or photoshop or whatever) to put it all together; I used my new favorite toy, Picasa. Then tell us about your album.
5. Comment with the link to your album

*seriously, why else is this child wearing this outfit?

For the record (ha ha, no pun intended, and for you kiddos, a "record" is also like a CD):

• Albota is a commune in Arges County, in southern central Romania.
• "Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way." is from Emma, by my girl Jane Austen.
• The photo is by NoSha.

When your band makes its album cover, don't forget to put your link in the comments!

I heart you

Yup, that's exactly what you think it is. Happy Valentines Day.

By the talented Thomas Cheng

Now I ain't sayin' she a gold digger

Research firm Prince & Associates Inc. carried out a survey of 191 men and women with a net worth of at least $20 million. More than 80 percent of the men said they planned to give lower “allowances” to their mistresses, and almost as many would offer fewer gifts.

In tough economic times, the incentive to become a kept lover may increase. After all, other ways of making easy money are looking less certain by the day.

“I foresee a growing desire on the part of many people -- male and female -- to be kept,” Prince said in an e-mailed response to questions (by Bloomberg.com, not by me). “A bad economy like the one we’re experiencing will only make the good life ever more attractive.”

More ridiculousness here.

Bath & Body Works has it in for me

Every time I find a scent I love at Bath & Body Works, they go and discontinue it. Every time. First it was Honey Almond - wonderful, not too food-y smelling. Then it was Fresh Ginger Lime, which was really refreshing in summer. Then it was Rice Flower & Shea, which was light and smelled great layered with almost any perfume, and now it's Brown Sugar & Fig.

I asked two different sales associates why they discontinued certain flavors and not others and got two different answers: 1) "They didn't sell well enough" (understandable. Hard to believe because they are delicious scents, but whatever) and 2) "We discontinue some to encourage you to buy others".

Huh?

You are discontinuing (yet again) a product that made me like you in the first place so you can force me to try something you think I should like better? I trudge all the way to the mall specifically to buy this specific product (okay, and maybe some shoes, and Sephora is just across the way, but I digress) and you think taking it away is going to make me more loyal? The basic principle of the law of supply and demand is that there is some supply to begin with.

Thank goodness for the "fond farewell" section of the BBW website, even if you have to dig on their site to get to it.

I Miss The Muppet Show

It would make this recession so much easier if The Muppet Show was on again, don't you agree?

Robin, the Red-Eyed Reindeer

Rudolph, with your nose so bright, won't you be my eye tonight?

Actually, I don't need Rudy, as I've been sporting a nice red eyeball since Friday, along with what I thought was a Christmas Day Cold but the nice doctor tells me was a sinus infection with a side of pink eye. I'm sure I picked up these germs while Christmas shopping at the fifth gate of hell mall on Christmas Eve eve. I've never been sick over the holidays before, and it bites. I had big plans -- Big Plans, I tell you -- for these two weeks. Visiting with faraway friends in town for the holidays, visiting with local friends that I haven't seen in weeks, closet cleaning, magazine purging, dinner party-throwing. Not to mention the BF is a teacher and this is one of the few times during the year that he has time off and I my work schedule allows me to take time off to match.

But enough whining. In between coughing fits, cabin fever (from which Meg & Mo have been so good about trying to rescue me), daily chats with Mumsie, and The Lounging Party's favorite activity (cat-naps), I've had lots of time to catch up on reading. Two books, a dozen magazines, the daily paper from cover to cover, and blogland. My Google Reader was overflowing with long-unread posts -- some of you are prolific and I've been really bad about keeping up.

Thanks to the miracle of modern medicine I am feeling better and am hoping to make a brief cough-free, red-eye-free appearance at a New Year's Eve party and then cram some fun times (and perhaps some of that closet-cleaning) into what's left of my vacation. Wishing you all a fabulous New Year's!

(photo from ABC)

She spends in a week what you make in a year

{Marie Douglas-David, soon-to-be-ex-hubby George David, and actress Julie Delpy at The 10th Anniversary of Green Cross International and Global Green Founded by Mikhail Gorbachev. MGDavidJDelpy_101104, originally uploaded by Global Green USA.}

Currently duking it out in Hartford Superior Court and on the front pages of the Hartford Courant are the Davids, one of America's uber-rich couples, he the former CEO of United Technologies, she a countess and former Wall Street type who apparently spends more in a week than what some people make in a year.

Click here to see what she spends it on. No really. Click.

I have a hard time wrapping my head around those types of numbers as weekly discretionary expenses. I know that there are people out there who are far more wealthy than 99.9% of the rest of us, and I know that in a divorce there is a little fudging of numbers going on, I just wonder if I was ever that rich would my lifestyle escalate to one where I spent that kind of money on clothes, hair, facials, flowers etc., every week. Every. Week. Oh, sure, in the beginning there would definitely be a shopping spree and lots of travel, but I don't think I could keep it up. There've been too many instances in my life (as a newlywed, as a new divorcee, etc.) where I had to be super-frugal, and even get a second job, just to make ends meet. I'm not saying I would maintain my current lifestyle 100%. I just don't think I could spend four grand a month on my hair.

What about you? Would you be all Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous?

When you wish upon a bone

{Silver Wishbone Necklace from MissAshleyLu's Etsy Shop}

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving! May your day be filled with good food, good company and good fortune. Don't fight over the white meat and leave room for dessert, because someone slaved over that pie crust and you don't want to disappoint them. Skip the football game and go for a walk; your heart (and waist) will thank you. Make some little kid's day by cleaning off the wishbone and breaking it with them.

This year I am thankful for my family; my BF; my BFF; friends who get up at the crack of dark to go walking with me (and are willing accomplices in so much else); that I have a job that pays well (even though I am ready to jump out the window these days), a nice apartment, a good car, a warm coat, etc.; all of you who keep stopping by even though my crazy life has meant sporadic posting lately; and that the cats did not have a hairball on the white duvet cover today. Yet.

I'm wishing for my government to stop bailing out big businesses with my tax dollars, for an end to the war in Iraq and a swift conclusion to the escalating activity in Afghanistan, for there to be less hunger in the world, less suffering, more hope. Oh, and that the exiled African diplomat who keeps emailing me will finally come through with my millions.

What are you thankful for this year? What are you wishing for on your wishbone?

Vodka and Chex Mix. It's what's for dinner

Martini, originally uploaded by Sgt. Gooch.

It was that kind of day today.

You've just got to want it

When Sarah Palin first came on the scene folks said she resembled the lovely and talented Tina Fey with her updo and trendy glasses. Well, turnabout is fair play (sorry about the commercial at the beginning).

Snap, crackle and random pop culture

Hey kiddos, sorry for neglecting my space here, work keeps getting in the way of my social life, both real and virtual. Post-Labor Day may be back to school for us Northern Hemisphere types, but for me it is also the kick-off to our busiest event season of the year. My posts may become a bit sporadic at times; bear with me.

So here's a few random pop culture bits that have made it through the fog of my brain these days. First, Victoria Beckham got a new haircut. Now here's a celeb who is famous (currently) just for being famous (and fashionable). But a haircut as news? Hmph. I admit I watched the one and only episode of her "Posh and Becks come to the US" reality show. It was a fascinating train wreck, I couldn't look away. Far more entertaining than most of the reality drivel on tv.

{Gosh Posh, keep your head girl. photo from UK Telegraph}

Her head is just not connected to her body. Note how the pasty English girl is more tan than the hot Latino girl. And she is just too skinny. Posh, a grape is not lunch, go eat a hamburger for cryin' out loud.

Who watched Fringe the other night?




Kind of "Lost" meets "X Files", courtesy of "Lost" creator JJ Abrams (early X Files, when it was about aliens and creepy, not later X Files when it got all weird and paranoid). Interestingly, the music sounds like they are using the same composer and/or some of the same music as Lost. There's even a big menacing corporation performing its own experiments. Yes, there was a kind of superhero-finds-the-antidote-in-the-lab moment, complete with swelling brass orchestral theme. Which was preceded by a rooftop chase scene a la Bourne Ultimatum. The ending was also a bit too tidy; let's see what the next episodes bring.

{Project Runway Season 4 Finale, from Bravotv.com}

Lastly, Remember the Fab Assistant Kelly? One of her college gal pals is photog Stephen Meisel's neice (I know! How cool is that?) and gets to work backstage as some kind of assistant at the Project Runway fashion show today (I know! How cool is that?). So she (and the rest of the anointed ones) will know who the final four are (they always let the 4th one show, to keep the real final three a mystery), even though on last night's episode they were down to only the final six. I'm a bit jealous...

PS - "The Women" opens today. Between the long version of the trailer and advance reviews I'm a bit concerned that it may not live up to my expectations. Let's hope it was the victim of a tired and bored studio marketing exec (as so many movie trailers are) and that it's not as trite as it seems. The original 1939 version was not exactly deep, mind you, but I fear this version may be too shallow....

A diva's work is never done

Sorry for the long absence folks, I've been busy with the installation of my self-portait series...

Opening my boutique...

and getting my photo taken for Russian Vogue.

Actually my life is nowhere near this glamorous and I've just been busy with work stuff and haven't had time to post anything interesting.

Addictive photo fun by PhotoFunia.

Shall we dance?

{RFC_5025, originally uploaded by robcuni.com.}

When I first saw this picture on the Flickr homepage (under "Everyone's Uploads") I thought it was a dance studio or a very fancy karate or exercise studio. Then I realized that the contraptions in front of the "paneled" wall were not pilates torture devices but garage door tracks. It's a garage. With chandeliers. And a tin ceiling. And checkered floor that would make Fifi Flowers swoon.

Don't you just love Flickr?

Time for Vacation

Robin at A Little Bird Told Me turned me on to this nifty Wordle widget that takes the most-used words from your blog postings and amalgamates them into this cool visual word cloud. Given that "time" "work" and "paper" show up so much in mine, I think its a sure sign that I need a vacation.

You put your left foot in...

I had a really stressful and busy week at work last week (huge project, plus juggling multiple little projects, Kelly the fab assistant out with lyme disease, insane condo board meeting, and no time to post or to catch up on reading all your fabulous posts), and this video cheered me a little. Except for the part about how I can't dance like that.

Cigars and Ice Cream

I have this amusing (to me) habit of editing people's grocery lists. If I'm at their house and their grocery list is on the fridge or counter, I will secretly add two items, "cigars" and "ice cream". I will try to copy their handwriting as much as possible. I do not stick around to see if they notice. I have been caught only once.

Diana's post at Please Sir yesterday sends you to {this is glamorous} which in turn sends you to artist Frances Trombly, who has recreated everyday objects out of fabric and yarn, including a Publix grocery receipt. This reminded me (a) I love the internet and (b) of this book Milk Eggs Vodka, which I once stood laughing over in Borders for way too long (without buying, sorry Bill Keaggy). Bill has collected hundreds of discarded shopping lists and assembled them into a
sometimes sad ("if enough money, buy chips"), often humorous ("squirt gun, hot peppers, bee trap, pie pans") but always fascinating snapshot of how random our collective needs are (and how bad our collective spelling is). The more incongruous the list of items, the more you have to wonder about who was buying them and why. He even wrote a Short Story About Life Based on Other People's Grocery Lists (note, you have to hover your mouse over the lists to get the advance arrows). Here are a few of the many lists he features in the book:

{My grandma used to recycle old envelopes and reuse them for phone messages and shopping lists. To my knowledge she never used the credit card payment form though. You know, the one with the credit card account number on it and your full address? Not too bright Mr. Coffee and Beer...}

{Note the second line "if you buy more rice I'll punch you!" I'm thinking one spouse writes the list and the other spouse is bad shopper...}

{I've been there sister.}

Since he is still collecting lists, there are hundreds more on his website, but so far none of them say "cigars" and "ice cream". Yet.

My birthday is a national holiday in Canada*

{Day 74: Birthday Cupcake, originally uploaded by • Sandra •.}

Well, maybe not this year, but quite a few times in my life, Victoria Day, a Canadian holiday celebrating Britain's longest-reigning monarch, has fallen on May 23.

I feel this is fitting for two reasons: it befits my royal demeanor, and it is a reason in some countries* to take the day off. I myself am taking the day off today and I suggest you do the same. Perhaps if we all take the day off, the government will recognize what an important day May 23 is, and acknowledge it with official decrees, parades, fireworks and some form of economic stimulus.

Cupcakes for everyone!

*Victoria Day is also celebrated in Scotland and the Cayman Islands. In case you were wondering.