Comfortably Numb

Pink Floyd via Scissor Sisters

It's a time-honored tradition for New York bands: Make it big in England while you plug away in anonymity in the States. THE STROKES and the YEAH YEAH YEAHS were the most recent beneficiaries of the British hype machine—now, it's the SCISSOR SISTERS. The quintet have been spending the better part of the year overseas, most of it in the Queen's country, where they are bona fide rock stars. They had a Top 10 single with their campy cover of Pink Floyd's 'Comfortably Numb,' earlier this year, and then this month their debut album hit the No. 1 spot on the British charts.

Last Sunday the Scissors Sisters had a 'release' party of their U.S. album at Mass, Paul (the man) Ferrer gave me a copy of it and it's the only album I have been listening to since.

Hello?
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone home?
Come on, now.
I hear you're feeling down.
Well I can ease your pain,
Get you on your feet again.
Relax.
I need some information first.
Just the basic facts,
Can you show me where it hurts?
There is no pain, you are receding.
A distant ship's smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I can't hear what you're sayin'.
When I was a child I had a fever.
My hands felt just like two balloons.
Now I got that feeling once again.
I can't explain, you would not understand.
This is not how I am.
I have become comfortably numb.

Raindrop

[daily dose of imagery]

Satellite Of Love

Lou Reed

Satellite Of Love 2004 was the track of this year’s Miami Winter Music Conference and a DMC Buzz chart #1, and widely tipped to become this year’s 'Lazy'.

Everything old is new again: Lou Reed was the soundtrack of the time I spent in Konstanz, Germany, 20 years ago... Remember, Mr. LV? (BTW, the White Label Remix is the best!)

Satellite's gone
way up to Mars
Soon it will be filled
with parking cars

I watch it for a little while
I love to watch things on TV

Satellite of love
satellite of love
Satellite of love
satellite of

I've been told that you've been bold
with Harry, Mark and John
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday to Thursday
with Harry, Mark and John

Satellite's gone
up to the skies
Things like that drive me
out of my mind

blah blah blah

The year is 2004: "Murder puts spotlight on Brazil's slave trade"

"That curious moment when your membership in the audience lapses and your own private personality resumes."

BATMAN BEGINS

Nuclear and other 99 most often mispronounced words.

Outside the box. The MIT Car designed by Frank O. Gehry and General Motors.

She spoke to me

inspired by mr. df

"I think the country will evolve."
Teresa Heinz Kerry: America Will Accept Gay Marriage.
"When reporters in San Francisco asked her position on gay marriage this week, she predicted, 'I think with time and without a lot of politicization of this, we'll get there'"

AND that's the approach that will win this issue over: leave it alone for the next two years. The sky has not fallen. And it will not. And, two years from now, the institution of marriage will not have been destroyed.

and she spoke to me

Teresa Heinz Kerry's Remarks to the Democratic National Convention
"Tonight, as I have done throughout this campaign, I would like to speak to you from the heart.

Y a todos los Hispanos, y los Latinos; a tous les Franco Americains, a tutti Italiani; a toda a familia Portuguesa e Brasileira; and to all the continental Africans living in this country, and to all the new Americans in our country: I invite you to join in our conversation, and together with us work towards the noblest purpose of all: a free, good and democratic society."

hchamp

gets married on top of Tank Hill in San Francisco and is now honeymooning in Paris.

Highlights and noteworthy policy points from John Edwards' acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention last night

via low culture

OK, he is asking for it.

ueber-mich thinks he is hot.
Via wow.

the future is so bright, i gotta wear shades.

There's a special hell reserved for people who do something stupid. Your mind traces and retraces the moment you did what you can never take back, no matter how much you will it. If only you could reverse history by replaying the scene in your mind, over and over again. Each time you give the story a different ending, and each time you realize the ending will never change. How many times did Bill Clinton think how it might have been: No, Monica, absolutely not. I'm a married man, I'm twice your age, and I'm the president of the United States. How many people before me, how many after, have rued a carelessly whispered word, an indiscreet letter, a confession in a moment of passion or tenderness?
Selena Keller in Loose Lips

This is how I have been living my life in the last few months. Stuck in my own personal hell, a merry-go-round of self-flagellation.

When does the 'reflecting' ends and 'moving on' begin???

Right now! I hope.

Barack Obama

v-

curious... this post starts out about an american politician then ends with an sidebar about a study about whites in BRITAIN... is that confusingly misleading or more of a tangent? or is it his (...) multicultural origins that ties in the statistic about britain's whites and their black friends?

your curious friend,
mrdw

well,

it's about the fact that, openly or not, his biggest asset is the fact he is black and how everybody thinks it is soooo cool - and are very careful bringing it up.

the white in britain thing is not only a british phenomenon. it's universal. the fact the study was done there means little. it could be in brazil for all it matters.

'some of my best friends are black' or gay or jew... it just stresses how forced the 'integration' is...

The book cover.

"Courtroom studies show that appearance, along with other elements of charisma, help us make judgments, Deluca argues. If a defendant 'is esthetically pleasing and comports in a very self-confident manner, is very articulate, even if they are guilty, the jury will usually vote in their favor if the opposite party is less charismatic, less pleasing' in appearance."

Lonely in New York.

"Had anyone else ever been this lonely in New York?

I didn’t stay low for long. Looking at the buildings and lights rising over the dark of the East River made me feel bigger than my problems. The skyline reminded me of the way music looks in a mixing program on a computer. In Pro Tools, songs are shown as waves. Loud parts of a song are high peaks; quiet parts are valleys. Manhattan looked like that, peaks and valleys, a song thirteen miles long.

I tried to hum the buildings, remembering the parts of the city I couldn’t see. The song opens very quietly, in the park at the Battery, but then gets Nirvana-huge with Wall Street’s distortion and noise. Then it fades quickly, but only to build up to the climax of midtown. There you come to the Empire State Building, huge and orchestrated: grand piano, drums, and acoustic bass. Still heading uptown, it gets a little quieter, with another loud moment for the Citibank building (that building is definitely a synthesizer solo). Once you pass midtown, the song begins to fade, all the way to Inwood.

The skyline was a song played at the biggest concert in the world."

Sorry, it's not my turn to give a shit.

If only being a person of color in politics weren't so extraordinary

but it is...

Barack Obama: How the son of a Kenyan economist became an Illinois Everyman.

and, as a sidebar: 90% of whites have few or no black friends.

What Do You Think?

The 9/11 Panel Report: I read the whole report cover to cover. Turns out it was terrorists.

KITTY DO CACA

"I did get into one big premiere—for Catwoman, that lugubrious furball in which a mousy, as it were, woman dresses like a big pussy to save the world from the side effects of beauty cream usage! It would be a powerful feminist message if HALLE BERRY weren't half naked and also indulging in a vicious catfight (ooh, I made another funny) with the film's other strong female. Add to the mix a flitty gay character who runs around screeching 'Hello!' and you'll be looking for the nearest litter box."

Penn Plaza

Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)

"The Clintons may be polarizing figures and prime Republican fund-raising targets in red-state America, but this week they are homecoming heroes, packing parties with rooms full of old backers, new book readers and - just possibly - Democratic voters who hope some day to give Mrs. Clinton the family's third term."

Speeches to the Democratic National Convention on Monday Night via The New York Times.

Al Gore
"I’m going to be candid with you. I had hoped to be back here this week under different circumstances, running for re-election. But you know the old saying: you win some, you lose some. And then there’s that little-known third category."

Jimmy Carter
"Today our dominant international challenge is to restore the greatness of America based on telling the truth, a commitment to peace, and respect for civil liberties at home and basic human rights around the world."

Hillary Clinton
"Every day now as a mother, as a senator, as an American, I worry about whether we are acting as wisely as we can to protect our country and our people."

Bill Clinton
"We Americans must choose for president -- we've got to choose for president between two strong men who both love their country but who have very different world views: our nominee, John Kerry, who favors shared responsibility, shared opportunity, and more global cooperation, and their president and their party in Congress who favor concentrated wealth and power, leaving people to fend for themselves, and more unilateral action."

Video of Bill and Hillary's speeches at the DNC.

You say you want a revolution...

Apple and Motorola announce mobile iTunes: New phones will play music from the iTunes Music Store.

More at The Cult of Mac Blog

"Apple, in turn, could see the reach of its technology vastly extended. So far Apple has sold 4 million iPods. But by the end of this year analysts expect there will be 1.5 billion mobile phone users around the globe." Forbes.com: Ringing And Singing

Friends With Privileges

Your cut-and-keep guide to being a good fuck buddy.

Subway Mural.

The rest of the bigger picture.

blah blah blah

iPod Etiquette

Tall Buildings: The Museum of Modern Art

Saddam's day: gardening, reading and eating muffins

More video mixes by Dan-O-Rama Productions

The city I love.

"Some people have religion, and some people have politics, and some people have art. And it makes sense to me to find salvation in any of those things, to find comfort in singing their praises. For me, finding a city I love was comfort."

Copa América Champion: Brazil tramples Argentina.

Brazil rallies to wild victory
[Image: Globo Online]

blah blah blah

Joan Crawford Mega Mix by Dan Rucks via Mark Nelson

I heart The Big Apple.

The missing link.

Two artists I have just got acquanited with: Dexter Dalwood & Bryan LeBoeuf.

Word of the day: Pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.

google circa 1960.

Laws of attraction

"Attractiveness is mostly subjective, of course, and our Brazilian friend Felipe up there is a little bit too aware of his pulchritude, thereby making him less attractive.  That's why gay guys often pine after attractive straight guys: good-looking gay guys are usually much too aware of their beauty, and since this is not considered a masculine characteristic, they come across as vain, effete and unpleasant.  There is nothing more attractive than a good-looking straight guy who is friendly and totally unaware of how gorgeous he is."

The Ethicist.

"I am a resident alien interested in politics. Obviously, I cannot vote for president, and my husband, also a foreigner, insists that I have a duty not to express my political views.
Free expression is a cornerstone of American democracy, and it's not limited to citizens. In fact, I've even heard of residents here from other countries (France) offering their thoughts (criticisms) on American political life (our quirky wars) -- and no reason why they shouldn't. We all benefit from the fullest exchange of ideas.

There are citizenship requirements for some forms of political activity -- holding office, for example. In addition, you might find it prudent, if you are ever in circumstances where citizenship seems pertinent, to be candid about your status, but doing so need not deter you from expressing your views."

i heart NY (Times)

"The tumultuous, polyglot metropolitan environment The Times occupies means 'We're less easily shocked,' and (...) the paper reflects 'a value system that recognizes the power of flexibility.'

(...) Living in New York makes a lot of people think that way, and a lot of people who think that way find their way to New York (me, for one). The Times has chosen to be an unashamed product of the city whose name it bears, a condition magnified by the been-there-done-that irony afflicting too many journalists. Articles containing the word 'postmodern' have appeared in The Times an average of four times a week this year - true fact! - and if that doesn't reflect a Manhattan sensibility, I'm Noam Chomsky."

gansevoort street

Boozed arses have no owners

There is a proverb in Brazil which translates as 'boozed arses have no owners'.

One Brazilian man has been challenging this idea in court. Luziano Costa tried to sue Jose Roberto de Oliveira for fucking him in the arse during an orgy. The court ruled there was no crime because Luziano voluntarily joined the orgy and, the judge explained, 'Orgy practices are acts that offend morality.
popbitch, online for this week only

Man finds orgy a pain in the arse
or
Cú de bêbado não tem dono.

José Roberto constrangeu Luziano Costa da Silva a permitir que com ele praticasse ato libidinoso diverso da conjunção carnal. Luziano alegou em seu depoimento que não podia oferecer nenhuma resistência pois se encontrava em estado de embriaguez e sob efeito de substância entorpecente, chegando a perder completamente os sentidos.

Após algum tempo, segundo os autos, José Roberto passou em sua residência e buscou a esposa, Ednair Alves Aurora de Assis, levou-a até uma construção próxima, no parque Las Vegas, e a obrigou a tirar suas roupas deixando-a completamente nua. Neste momento ele teria ordenado a Luziano que também tirasse suas roupas e transasse com sua mulher, afirmando que queria fazer uma 'suruba'. Conforme os autos José Roberto empurrou a esposa contra o corpo de Luziano e logo após praticou coito anal com o mesmo, aproveitando-se da situação em que ele se encontrava naquele momento.
E-Jurídico Online

my heart aches.

Someone I use to be very close to is in the New York INS Detention Site since February with no possibility of a happy outcome in the near future.

Trying to reach to him I made some CDs of the music I know he would like to listen to. They've been returned to me by the detention center as they are not allowed in: they have been used in the past by people as weapons to hurt themselves and other people.

Target Opens in NYC.

"I use the terms 'this is surreal' and 'I hate hipsters' and 'there's no way this could be happening' every day but then last night at Target it became clear that all the other times I said it and didn't mean it it was just practice for this singularly bizarre event."

The bigger picture.

times square subway station

Krispy Kreme introduces drinkable glazed doughnut.

Once the fried dough embodiment of hot and fresh, Krispy Kreme has transformed its original glazed doughnut into a new frozen beverage for summer.

The chain introduced a new line of frozen drinks Wednesday, including frozen original kreme -- a drinkable version of the company's signature doughnut -- raspberry, latte and double chocolate.

Customers can also add coffee to the kreme and double chocolate.

Not sure where to go with this one.

1. Drinkable fried dough.
2. Add coffee to it
3. "it's like having our coffee and glazed doughnut swirled in your cup!"

But WHY? And WHO? And WHAT does it say of this country? Have we no shame?

So many levels. So many readings. And maybe not. Maybe it is just a new drink in the market and not the symbolic interpretation of the American Culture.

Lost my direction but am sure of the destination: "CNNMoney notes that a 12-ounce cup of Original Kreme has 440 calories and 70 grams of carbs. A single Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut has 220 calories and 22 grams of carbs. I currently have 44 ounces of vomit in my mouth."

Flickr

There is a lot of buzz about Flickr and I recently invited some friends to join the service (not to look at the lame pictures I had upload as a test...). X-S took me up on the suggestion:

Provincetown See Sinval's other Ptown pictures.

blah blah blah

"Ludwig, my friend, what are you having?

I am having a very bad time, Mr. Russell."

NY's Favorite Cheap Meals of the Rich and Famous and Kottke's more realistic options.

She's got her mother's face, and her daddy's respect for the media

Snobby, make up yor mind...

Papito1's SpaceBoysToys.

Las Vegas as a barometer? Las? Vegas?

This behavior assumes that Ms. Ronstadt had no right to express a political opinion from the stage. It implies - for some members of the audience at least - that there is a philosophical contract that says an artist must entertain an audience only in the ways that audience sees fit. It argues, in fact, that an artist like Ms. Ronstadt does not have the same rights as everyone else.

The NYTimes questions: Is Response to Ronstadt in Las Vegas Bad for 'Q'?

More on Ronstadt in Vegas.

Summer 2004 is green

[IMAGE]

brain damage? what are you talking about?

Right. Thanks for pointing it out: extensive damage happened on chronic users.

Light users probably get only little brain damage. Nothing wrong with a little brain damage...

20th Street, west of 5th Ave.

Your Brain on Meth.

"We expected some brain changes but didn't expect so much tissue to be destroyed." The New York Times > Science> This Is Your Brain on Meth: A 'Forest Fire' of Damage. AND The refreshingly not so subtle Geek Slut on the same issue.

Weapons of Mass Distraction

Number 3: The Cult of Celebrity and Entertainment
We're laughing and entertaining ourselves to death. While our kids watch eight hours of TV a day, and more adults vote for the next American Idol than do for the next president, our democracy is being looted by superpower corporations and other high-octane interests.

STRAIGHT SIGNALS.

"We may even be thinking too much of ourselves; that a self-respecting gay man would even want to try and get a slob like us in the sack. "

THERE'S NO GAYDAR FOR HETEROS, BUT THERE ARE STRAIGHT SIGNALS.

Standard of Perfection

Excerpts From Stewart Letter to Judge
"I was often chided for being a `perfectionist' by my competitors, peers and the press, but the way we looked at our business was that we were `teachers' and what we taught had to be based in fact, truth and `highest standards of perfection', a phrase I adopted from the American Poultry Association's handbook, The Standard of Perfection."

the way I have been feeling lately.

Penny Arcade! She might have struck a nerve.

No comments.

A lot of people ask me why I don't have the 'comments' feature on my web site and I usually answer with the link to this great post:

Is civility an endangered species in the blogosphere?

There's been a lot of chatter as of late about the civility of bloggers and the people who comment on them. A few weeks ago, Matthew Yglesias argued that bloggers had an incentive to behave badly:

The trouble is that when you write something really good, in the sense of being sober, on-point, factual, and tightly argued, your targets would do well to simply ignore you. And so they do. Maybe a person or two will recommend the story to their friends, but basically it vanished into the HTML ether. Something sloppy, offensive, over-the-top, or in some minor way inaccurate, by contrast, will provoke a flood of responses. If you're lucky, those responses will, themselves, be someone sloppy, and folks start defending you. Then you find yourself in the midst of a minor contretemps, and everyone gets more readers.

Brad DeLong concurs. Laura at Apartment 11D is similarly disgusted with bad big blogger behavior:

[A] nasty side effect of blogging is that hit counts can go to your head. Occasionally, hit counts can inflate egos creating not only the so-called pundits, but a hundred little bullies. Blogs are not soap boxes for speaking your mind, because bloggers don’t have to respond to hecklers in the audience. Blog readers don’t have the opportunity to hear responses to posts and weigh differing points of view. The heckler has been effectively silenced.

And no, Mr. CF, it does not mean that I consider my blog to be in the "upper reaches of the blogosphere." (Same way I do not agree with his bf assessment that I am part of the NY gay glitterati- eventough I am flattered.)

My stock answer to the 'no comments' policy goes like this:

"I just don't care for comments per se as they appear in most blogs. the reasons why people decide to leave them are mostly negative. or obscure at best. the main reason to have comments, to me, would be as an appendix to the post. not just a 'cool, dude'! or an war of insults.

plus ppl can always communicate directly with me via email. there is a link there.

also, my blog is kind of weird in format. i can't quite figure it out. not very personal. a magazine, if i were a magazine. and very personal at the same time: it's all me. by me for me. i would still publish it even if no one was reading it. the pleasure i get is from the act itself, not from knowing that people are reading it.

as i said, i can't quite figure it out."

If you want to comment on this, please use this.

blah blah blah

Brazilian Religion via Folha de São Paulo

Bottom-feeding TV: Fox is developing a reality series in which a young woman will try to figure out which of 16 men is actually her father.
via popbitch

Am I the last person to see the Industrious clock?

Where Do Gay and Lesbian Couples Live? Facts and Findings from The Gay and Lesbian Atlas.

Intelligence Test.

Portuguese? Preposterous. Brazilians take over web site and Americans disagree.

Great site: BugMeNot.com - Bypass Compulsory Web Registration.

cuervo

Tequila. Shots. Ugh.

The last thing I remember - clearly - was Paul trying to convince me it was a good idea (and that it was MY idea) while "Life Of Illusion" by Scumfrog played in the background. Great song, Paul.

Terrible idea...

K.

... 2. What elective surgery would you have performed on yourself if expense wasn't an object?
Lasix. Again. See answer #4.

"v-

i think the term LASIK is the more proper one... LASIX is a diuretic medication.

LASIK Defined: LASIK is is the acronym for Laser Assisted In-Situ Keratomileusis which refers to creating a flap in the cornea with a microkeratome and using a laser to reshape the underlying cornea.

your medical editor and friend,
mrdw"

I miss you, drdw.

Times Square

I spent the last week apartment-sitting for Mr. SS on 39th and 9th and had to walk thru Times Square every day to get to the subway. His block - the one where Cupcake Café is - grew on me like like a lovely case of herpes. Between the grittiness of Port Authority, they gayness of Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea, the culture of 'Broadway' and the tourism of the 'New 42nd Street', I'm tempted to name it the Most Underated New York Area. And my new favorite NY block.

Negative Capability

I’m not a tree, I’m a Bush.

NYT Magazine

"Santiago Calatrava, a Spanish genius of Parnassian accomplishments, has redesigned a sports complex that now embodies the tensile strength of athletes in their glory." [image]

"Will gobsmacked be a nonce word, passing through the language, soon to be forgotten? Or will it overcome the explosive blown away, which has long since overwhelmed flabbergasted, which describes the aghast state of a fat person?"

"The problem with a drug that makes us be good (not just feel good, like more traditional drugs) is that being good, when it comes naturally, isn't that big an achievement, morally speaking."

Build-a-Bear: that's an idea!

The Ethicist
Im the owner of a small business and am often required to take customers to lunch. As an ethical vegetarian, however, I am troubled by having to pay for and hence subsidize the slaughtering of an animal. Is there a way to suggest to customers to order vegetarian? (There are no all-vegetarian restaurants in the area.) Tom Meinhardt, Cincinnati.

You make a reasonable point.

On similar grounds, I never take my clients out to throw bricks through the windows of the town orphanage. (Mostly because I have no clients, or bricks, or town -- but still.)