Pound Sign

New York City, pop culture, art and nightlife. Because nobody else is blogging about those things.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Take it easy baby, make it last-make it last all night!

This is one of those weeks where everything that I've taken on has arrived all at once, like a wave crashing on the beach (and for one desperate moment there, he crept back in her memory...wait, what was I saying?).

Anyway, I've found myself (by surprise) in the middle of the interview process for an intense new job, the same week as the final line-up of artists for my curatorial project is due, along with the text for the press release, along with a grant narrative for the freelance development gig that I really probably shouldn't have taken on, and Exotic World stuff, and the build-up to the November installment of What's My Line, which is tonight! I thought that the show was pretty much all set, and then I got a message last night from a contestant saying that he had eaten bad shrimp and was down for the count with food poisoning, and had to cancel. Ugh. So, a last minute scramble to figure that out...seriously this is all really eating into the time I try to dedicate every week to drinking beer and watching Tivo'ed America's Funniest Home Videos.

Frankly, I was wigging out a bit. And then, this morning I stopped on the way to the bus and grabbed the Village Voice, and What's My Line has a terrific listing. And then this afternoon we were listed in Gawker's To Do list. We also had a great listing in Time Out this week and the work we've been putting into building awareness of the show as a fun part of the City's pop culture nightscape is coming together. And it all reminded me about how much fun it is to do this show every month, with people I love, and have people come out and see it. It's all worth the effort. Seriously, take on that independent creative project you've been wanting to do; it's worth the late nights and the weeks when you don't really know how you're going to get it all done and still make it to your desk less then an hour late every morning.

Also, come out and see the show tonight! Parkside Lounge. 8:00.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Hey, remember how well that Noid balloon went over?

Also, in the Childhood Officially Over Department:

This year, Macy's is replacing the Charlie Brown and Kermit the Frog balloons with, wait for it...Pikachu and the Energizer Bunny. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

I'm writing this from the LimoLiner bus on the way to Boston. It was delayed enough that I had time for two 8 dollar Coronas in the Hilton bar...connection is slow. Ok, getting off.

There are some advantages to working on Central Park West.

Right outside the door of my building on 77th Street, they're inflating Macy's Thanksgiving Parade balloons!

I just stood on our steps and watched the crew blowing up giant Scooby-Doo, scrambling around under his container netting as he unwrinkles and takes bulbous shape.

Meanwhile, right next to me with Scoob rising Gulliver-like in the background, a one-man-mobile-uplink-unit (well, a guy with a digital videocamera and a tripod) was recording an on-the-spot report for the, uh, what does his mike say? The "Regional News Network." He struggled comically with his 3 lines, attempting the report over and over again, and over again: "Here's where the magic happens...three, two, one...here's where the magic...three, two, one...here's where the magic happens, these...three...two...one...."

Awesome, they're unrolling giant Dora the Explorer!

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

"Hulk lost another 60 pounds on Atkins. He's starting to look like Frankenstein."

This has been a rough week for my rapidly declining opinion of my day job, and this was a tough morning. While glumly eating lunch at my desk I clicked on a random link in someone's livejournal post and found myself at The Sneeze, a blog/online zine out of LA that proves that there are good things about LA. I found myself trying to contain laughter with the sound of fake coughing, shoulders shaking, hoping that my office mates wouldn't think I'd finally broken down in sobs. Seriously, it literally brightened my day; I'll let you all explore it the way I did, so you can discover for yourself the smarmy Captain Avenger, and Cathy's projectile sweating, the secrets of the Fedex logo, the man who died to become Booberry, Apple Yo's, the Dublin Mudslide and why "cookies are the tits of food." But I'll start you off where everyone should start off.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

There's a certain something in the air today. Is that...hope?

We bolstered ourselves with a few after-work rounds at P&G (a great Upper West Side dive bar that we didn't pick by accident, but out of a pre-nostalgia, since it's destined to close when it's lease runs out, despite being at that spot since FDR was in the White House). Then, headed home to hit the couch for a long night of watching the results come in. After a long bout of hopelessness since '04, I'd starting reading the politico blogs again in the past weeks, started to feel that maybe things were turning around. And then, last night, the Democrats actually fucking did it! I can't believe it. I never thought I'd be so excited to look forward to 2 years of deadlock and vetoes! And, our first female speaker of the house, which as Jen observed last night, finally gets us on the way to catching up with countries like Liberia. And the citizens of South Dakota voted down the most direct challenge to Roe v. Wade in its history!

Is that, really...yes, it is! Hope in the air. Just a little.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

This is two years old.

It's still funny.

Why, yes I am at my desk and don't feel like working. Why do you ask?