What more can I say?
Ugly Women are Progressives: Call it ART February 18, 2008
Anyone who knows me knows I’ve been into the contemporary art scene for going on 20 years. As a New Yorker, and an art lover, I have seen more than my share of both good and bad art, things that have made me see the world in a new way, things that have made me angry, things that have made me want to go out and rededicate myself to social justice, things that have made me laugh, things that have made me sick, things that were ridiculous and silly and stupid and thoughtful and idiotic and worthwhile and worthless. I’ve seen Karen Finley rub chocolate all over her naked body and call it ART; I’ve seen a guy slap meat onto his face and call it ART; I’ve seen a guy spray hairspray onto cockroaches and light them on fire and call it ART; I’ve seen a guy pull a skateboard on a string tied to his penis and call it ART; and on and on. But now that the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) has been slashed and burned–particularly when it comes to funding individual artists–artists have been forced to seek more commercial means of support (and perhaps this is a telling reflection of our time). One such venue/avenue is politics. Another is religion. Yet another is entertainment. Then there are those rare and shiny artists whose glimmering intellect and searing insight encompass all of these, and more… I give you Glen Beck…
Cure for Hiccups: Pterodactyls February 14, 2008
Do you ever get hiccups so violent that your head jerks back on your neck and you suck in air so hard you swear you will swallow your own face? Well I do. Who knows why? And though I’m not one to be easily embarrassed by body functions, there are some times and places where hiccupping loudly and violently like some cartoon drunk just won’t do. I’ve never been one of those people who can’t get rid of their hiccups (I once met a woman who said her uncle had been hiccupping without stopping for over forty years. Hiccupping: “Kill me. Kill me now.” No doubt). A scoop of peanut butter usually works well for me. But what to do in those times when out and about with no easy access to peanut butter? This happened to me twice in the last week. Loud, violent hiccups, walking down the street or driving in the car… No peanut butter. What I found—quite by accident—was that if I said the word: pterodactyl, my hiccups went away. The first time this worked I was amused by the idea. But when it worked a SECOND time I was amazed and thought for sure I had stumbled upon something remarkable.
Now I suppose if I were a scientist I would procure a grant to do research on what might be going on with this (my brain gets focused on pronouncing the somewhat difficult to pronounce word correctly and so resets my autonomic nervous system or whatever it is in charge of making hiccups—and I’m able to breath normally again). But I’m not a scientist. Instead, I invite you, dear readers, to try this remedy and see if it works for you. I’m curious if pterodactyl is just my secret hiccup word, or if it works for everyone
The Devil Made Me Do It Website Party! February 10, 2008
It’s Coming….
Website!
Please join me for the official LAUNCH PARTY.
VIRTUAL PARTY DETAILS:
Where: Thedevilmademedoitclothing.com
When: Monday, February 11
Time: 12:00 noon (US Eastern Standard Time) until…
What’s this, a party online? Yup. Here’s how it works: On Monday, February 11, I’ll send you a reminder email in the morning with the official web address. Then, at 12:00 noon, I’ll post a welcome party page on my blog (right here! which you can also reach through the new website by clicking on SHIZAM! At the bottom of the page.) On the blog, you’ll see a party page posting announcing that the party has begun! Please enjoy the virtual libations and leave me a comment on this page. Say hello, tell me what you think about the new site. And of course, take a look around the new site. I’ll be sitting at my computer and will mix and mingle with whoever shows up.
DOOR PRIZES: I’ll give $10 off any The Devil Made Me Do It clothing item to the first 5 people who post a comment on the party page after I post it at noon. I will also give away at least one$50 gift certificate (good toward a The Devil Made Me Do It purchase) to a commenter chosen at random. If I get loads and loads of people at the party all commenting and mingling, I’ll give away MORE $50 gift certificates. So please invite everyone you know who might be interested in my clothing.
Hope to see you there!
And if you can’t make the party, please stop by to check out the website when you can.
FIRSTS February 6, 2008
Last Thursday, while The Husband was away on business, The Boy and I decided to spend the day downtown. We rode the Metro (The Boy LOVES riding the Metro) down to Gallery Place and enjoyed some delicious Thai food (The Boy LOVES fried rice), then walked around a bit. Things were going so well that I decided I’d take The Boy to a movie. The Boy has never been to the theater to see a movie before, so it was a big step. He’s gotten to the point where he can sit through an entire feature length film (current favs include “Happy Feet” and most of “The Jungle Book”), and for a couple of months I’d been thinking he might be ready for his first theater experience. So, I decided we’d go for it. If he didn’t like something, we could always leave.
Once inside, there were some problems. It was early afternoon and the movie we went to see (Alvin and the Chipmunks–yuk, but that’s all there was to see) had been playing awhile, so there weren’t any people in the theater. I thought that might be a good thing, but it only made him feel like we were alone in the big, mostly dark theater. The next issue was that the sound level of the previews was so loud that he began crying and had to jam his fists into his ears. I couldn’t blame him. It was loud. Even to my old ears. So we stuffed his ears with tissue and that helped. Next, he was a bit worried about the theater getting “very dark” (as opposed to the mostly dark of the previews). Especially since the theater was empty. Luckily, a woman with two small girls about The Boy’s age came in and sat nearby. That helped. It also helped to sit on my lap for awhile and hold my hand. The last real bump came when they showed no less that NINE movie previews. Each time a new preview would come on, The Boy would get really excited thinking the movie had started, only to find that it was over within minutes. And this went on and on and on. Honestly, who needs 25 minutes of previews? The next problem was really my fault, in that “Alvin and the Chipmunks” wasn’t really age appropriate. Although many of The Boy’s friends had already seen it, it’s rated PG and not really a toddler film. Not that it was objectionable, per se; it was just not really THAT interesting to a 3-½ year old (I’ll cut this explanation short because it–like the movie–is not very interesting). My bad.
The good news is, overall, The Boy enjoyed his first theater experience, and was very excited to tell his father that we’d been in theater number 4 (he’s all about numbers these days).
So, this was a first.
But the REAL first that I want to share is this: Later that night, while I was getting dinner ready, The Boy got up on his stool, grabbed the teakettle, took it over to the sink and filled it with water, took it back to the stove, then asked me to turn on the water. “I’m making you a cup of tea,” he announced. Wow, I thought. Look at this kid go. Who knew a 3-½ year old could be so capable? Until I had one, I never would have guessed.
But it didn’t stop there. He went into the other room, got my tea mug, RINSED IT OUT! Then got into the tea drawer, selected a bag of nice after dinner tea and put it into the mug. I poured the boiling water. Then The Boy dunked the tea bag for a while. When he judged it was ready he threw the teabag into the trash, then got out some honey, squeezed it into the tea… And stirred. Lastly, he put the cap on and handed it to me. “Here’s your tea, Momma,” he said proudly. I thanked him profusely and with utter amazement. If this weren’t enough, he then asked me, “Do you know why I put honey in your tea, Momma?” “No, why?” I said. “Because I love you and you’re sweet and I wanted you to have something sweet.”
OH MY GOD! At that moment, all the times I had wanted to tear my hair out of my skull in the last 3 ½ years immediately evaporated. Gone. All that was left was pure joy and my complete and total love for this amazing little person.
Ode to the iPod February 4, 2008
I’m behind the curve in saying this, but The Husband bought me an iPod shuffle for Christmas and I LOVE it. It’s so tiny and portable I can wear it running or whatever sporty thing I may be doing. It really makes me happy to listen to my fav music for an hour while pumping the endorphins.
TIP: iPod not so good in the pool.
