May 2013
9 posts
PictureBox 40% Off Sale Final Days
pictureboxinc:
Until Tuesday take 40% off all books on the PictureBox site with coupon code MAY. Spend your weekend shopping!
This includes our book, so…DO IT.
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Wow. How Beautiful...and F***ed Up
I’ve had the pleasure of touring gay erotica master Gengoroh Tagame through Toronto and New York City with the help of many friends this past week. I won’t name everyone (I’m slightly lazy, totally inconsiderate), but on our way to New York, Chip Kidd did a MAJOR last-minute favor for us in housing Tagame, after we discovered his original reservation at La Maison de Flea Bag...
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The Comics Reporter Interviewed Me. →
Find me in Toronto and New York City gallavanting the next couple of weeks.
April 2013
8 posts
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Bits
I was recently told that despite my live-in boyfriend being six years my senior, my building mates secretly call me the “cradle robber.” I presume this is because I have a subscription to Cigar Aficionado and he has a subscription to the Pizza-Bagel-of-the-Month-Club.
I watched the UFC Championship match a few days ago on TV and was heartened to hear them announce the names of the...
They're All So Beautiful →
http://theyreallsobeautiful.com
This is where I’m doing most of my writing/editing these days. Follow me there why donchya.
Pick Me Up Before You Go-oh
Two real conversations from last night.
Stranger on Delancey St. subway platform at 3am: Do you know what hipster fashion is?
Me: (Convinced he is going to push me in the tracks if I take him seriously) Excuse me?
Stranger: Hipster fashion. You have that look. You have hipster style.
Me: (offended) Thaaaanksssss ?
(Train arrives)
Stranger: Do you mind if I sit next to you? (As he sits down right next to me.) So what kind of things are you into?
Me: (Dismissively) Same things as everyone else.
Stranger: Well is there anything you like that might be different or special?
Me: (Considering saying something so outrageous he leaves me alone but decide I'll just have this conversation with him) Comics? (Which I figured might just be outrageous enough.)
Stranger: Oh yeah? Like what kind?
Me: All kinds.
Stranger: Like what is your favorite comic book ever?
Me: (Thinking of something he might look into later; relishing my role here as a shepherd to a promised land of cartoons) JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. (Laughing to myself as I picture him looking JoJo up later)
Stranger: Do you have favorite shows? TV shows?
Me: (With exaggerated sarcasm) oh, I LOVE TV!
Stranger: (really excited) Yeah I'm really into TV too!
Me: What's your favorite show?
Stranger: I like shows like "Once Upon a Time."
Me: (dead-eyed smile) Right....
--
Well-dressed Stranger in basement lounge bathroom corridor at the toney TriBeCa Grand Hotel: (To women's bathroom attendant in hotel uniform, through open entrance) Say, where are you from?
Bathroom Attendant who clearly doesn't understand: Men's room over there.
Stranger: (slower) Where are you from?
Attendant: Yes. Over there.
Stranger: China?
Attendant: Yes. OK.
Stranger: I knew it. I only know "ni hao" in Chinese. Oh wait and also "xie xie."
Me: (staring at stranger, baffled) Excuse me.
Stranger: Oh I'm sorry I wasn't trying to go into the ladies room or anything.
Me: (or anything)
Creative Immigrants
The AP Manual recently gave a fuck about the phrase “Illegal Immigrants.” In a nutshell: actions are illegal, not people. Let’s use different phraseology.
The same can probably be argued for calling someone a creative. It’s an adjective not a noun… right?
And so, it’s kind of hilarious to me that the Harvard Business Review came up with these tips on managing...
The best thing on the internet I am looking at... →
March 2013
5 posts
PS: Thanks for the positive comments, y’all. inre: NYC commuter rant. I can’t respond to them directly for some reason but it is also Friday afternoon and my brain is halfway out the door.
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Bits-Advertisements
1. Living Social just sent me a deal for a discounted dinner theater admission to…. MEDIEVAL TIMES. Living Social does know I am a 33 year old woman.
2. Saw a version of this ad on TV—which does not know I am a 33 year old woman—last night, wherein a boy of about 12 was asked what he liked most about the monster truck show and he responded:
The fighting chicks.
Take that,...
A NYC Commuter's Ecosystem
Hate is a strong word but it’s not strong enough when you commute in and out of midtown Manhattan on a bicycle. I mean seriously… I don’t know who I want to hate-punch in the face more:
A. The oblivious FIT fashion marketing business major with her straight blond hair in a high ponytail bobbing perfectly in time to her Nazi Werhmacht knee-high boots, marching up the green lane...
February 2013
19 posts
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RIP Donald Richie.
Donald Richie has passed away. I can’t think of a greater loss for Japanese Lit/Film/Cultural studies, and the message boards agree. Thought I’d share this modest address, as I rarely gasp at news of a passing. Richie gave access to a lot of the discourse I enjoyed at grad school, gave me the tools to sell film tropes for Vertical, and introduced Tagame’s work to Chip when the...
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Port Authority Midtown Tango
(The last post was a preamble to this one.)
Last night I went to the gym and then flavor-rewarded myself with White Castle. I did both to break the fever of depression and guess what? It fucking worked.
I had never been to White Castle before but have obviously read the ads and seen the movie. Doesn’t take much convincing for me to eat sliders made of dog food and lead paint when I’m...
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Lower East Side Tango
Nothing clever. Just a couple anecdotes about shitty food service.
Part 1: At a Lower East Side barbecue restaurant.
Host: Hi, how many? Colleague: 4. Host: Sit anywhere you like.
[The place is empty. We are served water, and handed some menus.]
Host: Can I get you guys some drinks? Me: Actually I think we’re ready to order. (Looking at colleagues for approval. They nod.) Host:...
How to be poor. I mean, a writer.
1. Move to New York City.
I know this sounds counterintuitive. “Move to the most expensive city in the US, you say?” Yes. Living in New York, you will be forced to bargain, conserve and work hard to make shitty money. Also, because the weather sucks 11/12 months of the year (New Yorkers, don’t you even dare give me this “Fall in Central Park is unbeatable” bullshit....
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Orphans of Feminism: AKB48
Last week, an original member of the Japanese girl band AKB48, Minami Minegishi, published a video of herself shaving her head in contrition for breaking one of the band’s house rules: NO DATING. The 20-year-old “child star” sobs for the camera, begging not to be kicked out. Her apology was viewed by millions before being taken down. Fans and cultural critics were outraged. AKB48...
Making fun of Obama skeet-shooting is like making fun of Obama bowling, which is like making fun of Obama for being white, which is like making fun of Obama for being black, which is like making fun of Obama for trying to blend in, which is like making fun of Obama for trying, which is mean.
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January 2013
13 posts
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Comedy Bits.
People get so excited when a DJ spins radio hits. They’re like “whoa I haven’t heard this a million times a day in so long. I don’t remember hating it or wishing someone would just shoot that radio DJ in the face after playing it for the tenth time in one car commute. At all! Yeah, this song really takes me back.”
Some woman offered to sing me a song at my birthday...
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I haven’t started “Girls” yet, but I’m as annoyed by the hater-backlash as I am upset by its supposed problems depicting Race/Gender/Class etc. I HAVE seen the original UK version of “Shameless,” however, and loved it. I think anyone who grew up in a “complex” and babysat for neighbors that were almost your age, will empathize with the show’s...
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“Alice: How long is forever?
White Rabbit: Sometimes, just one second.”
– Lewis Carrol (via sickeninglypretty) 