Jack Johnson

The singer, not the boxer. My Mp3 player looooves Jack Johnson. During shuffle it inserts him almost every other song. What's that about? There is so much to choose from, why him? Ideas anyone?

Free, Gorgeous Art!

There is a free Pol Turgeon (above) exhibit at the Society of Illustrators which was really well curated and just beautiful - really provocative and thoughtful. I encourage you to go!

Someone Else's Joy

Sometimes your greatest joy is being witness to someone else's joy. And so it was that I went to Harbor Yard Arena so see WWE Extreme Championship Wrestling and Smackdown. Because what kind of birthday present do you get for the guy who doesn't really want much? The one and only thing he really, really wants but wouldn't even hint at.

His joy and excitement was palpable. He was so damn happy.

A warning, though:

If you would like to keep your hearing, if you you have post traumatic stress disorder, if you feel even vaguely uncomfortable with racist stereotypes, if you have an aversion to seeing grown men wearing man panties, you might wanna skip a visit to WWE Live.

For the uninitiated, above is Jeff Hardy and Triple H executing a suplex.

WWE is like religious circus. There are rituals, calls and responses, hand gestures, music, special names for each of the characters, and a very definite codified system of beliefs and behaviors. There are founding fathers and mothers, to whom tribute is paid. There is smiting, banishment, betrayal, transcendance, and redemption. There are glow sticks. Also, there are incredible acrobatics, gymnastics, cages and costumes. (And like I said, lots of man panties).

Hey - wonder if Krishna Das and Sharon Salzberg wanna tag team against, say, The Undertaker and R-Truth? That I would go see.

Big Delicious Dosa

I went to Jackson Heights with N and P on Sunday. I've known N for years and she is a great girl (post on her Yoga teaching practice coming soon). I don't get to spend much time with P, so it was nice to see her. We were walking down 74th Street in a freezing wind when we heard some awesome Indian dance music. P ducked into the store, chatted with the guys behind the counter, and got 2 CDs. I am so impressed by her ease and ability to to operate like that. I can be intimidated and tend to shy away from those experiences, but thanks, P, for showing me how easy it is!

Scary Monkey

Sorry about the quality of this pic. It is a...uh...sculpture? A nick-nack? A rendering of de-evolution? It is about the size of a small toaster and had a gold-colored title plate on it: "The Mirella Collection." Clearly, the being on the left is a furious monkey. The being on the right is also a monkey (according to Heidi), a girl monkey to be specific - you can see her voluptuous breasts. There were no parallel indications on the other one. Lefty is fishing - I couldn't capture the fish at the end of the line without compromising the view of her/his face.

So here's my question: who walks into this store (in Woodside) and says, in all sincerity, "I want that!" Oh...the same people who buy this. Ok, that makes sense.

By the way, in the display case directly underneath this object d' arte was a box of condoms. Party size.

Lying Liars Who Lie

Seriously, why bother? Unless it's like, "tell us where your children are so we can kill them", what's the point? And that's all I have to say about that topic.

Shrine at 138th and Alexander

St. Jerome School in the Bronx has this amazing shrine to Nuestra Señora de Guadelupe. It's just a beautiful little grotto in the middle of Mott Haven.