Semi-Retirement
I've finally made the difficult decision to put my blog in semi-retirement. I've not been able to give it the attention I would like since I've started graduate school. My work load and schedule here get more and more hectic. Despite the fact that I've had several post ideas over the last couple of weeks, I simply don't have time to sit down and write them.
This blog has been been a wonderful outlet for me over the past two years, giving me confidence in my writing abilities, providing a creative focus, and connecting me to lots of new friends and fellow bloggers. I will miss it. But I'm not burying it forever. I'm sure there will be the occasional blog post I just have to get off my chest and will need a place to go with it, so check back from time to time just in case. But for now--thanks for reading!
Labels: Blogging
To Facebook or Not to Facebook
There is enormous pressure on me lately to join Facebook. Truthfully, I've been avoiding the trend for a year now which seems requisite for actors these days. My friend Tom who teaches acting at a university claims it's a great way to keep up with his students. His students are undergrads. And honestly, I always thought Facebook was a place where teenage girls post pictures of their boyfriend du jour, destroy the reputations of other teenage girls and flaunt their popularity by how many "friends" they have. But apparently I'm wrong. The only two members of my graduate program who are not on Facebook are myself and our most senior member who is 57 years old. I'm starting to feel a little out of the loop on some things. In fact, our program itself even has its own Facebook page which I have never seen. But here's an example of why I'm hesitant to join:
A couple of months ago my friend Tom called me and said "Do you remember Steve So-and-So?" (not his real name). "Uh...yeah," says I. Steve So-and-So was a guy I dated for a month or two back in 1993 when Tom and I were roommates together in our first apartment in New York. "Well," says Tom, "He found me on Facebook and remembered I was your roommate...he says hi." Now you see--THAT'S why I don't want to join Facebook. I don't want to hear from Steve S0-and-So. Or anyone else from my past I just as soon not ever run into again. On top of that I hear it's highly addictive. I watched an episode of Bravo's
Flipping Out where a guy got fired for checking his Facebook page 150 times in three hours. I don't need that kind of distraction right now. But I may just cave to the peer pressure. Stay tuned.
Labels: Blogging
Never Discuss Politics
I've been a bad, bad blogger. A week has gone by without a post from me. Outside of the Countdown to Grad School To Do list which is occupying much of my time and the summer sunshine beckoning outside, all the post ideas I've had lately are political in nature and Scott always warns me not to do political posts "it polarizes people". But then he's a nice mid-western boy who doesn't like to make waves and...well...I'm not.
I had to resist the urge to write a post about my shock and disappointment over Obama aligning himself with the right on four separate issues--all in one week! I wondered who this man was that Republicans claim has "the most liberal voting record" in the Senate. That frustration resulted in a group email to my family. We're all fierce liberals (and Obama supporters) so I thought they might either try to help me understand it or empathize with my feelings. Besides, we often do this in my family--the emails have been flying back and forth since Primary season began. Anyway, a
NY Times op-ed piece by Gail Collins helped me understand where Obama was coming from and at least validated my feelings of confusion and disappointment as it was the number one most emailed item of the day that day, indicating that many other people out there share my feelings.
And this week's hot topic is that stupid New Yorker magazine cover. Honestly, I get the satire, but I think it was in very poor taste and only fans the flames of the right wing lunacy. As my sister Janet stated in her family group email "What's insane is that we have to battle our own team of liberals--this is an easy win for us finally and now we have dopes on our own team causing headaches." Further illustrating the New Yorker's failed attempt at satire, my brother Peter added "If you need to explain your joke, it usually is not funny." Here, here!
Finally, the thing that really drives me nuts in the mainstream media is the time wasted on stories like the New Yorker flap or politicizing the most ridiculous things imaginable. For example, I heard a story on the news the other day hypothesizing who animals would vote for in the presidential election if they could. Supposedly they would vote for McCain because he owns a whole gaggle of pets while Obama owns none. So guess what I got today? An email from an animal-loving friend requesting that I sign
an online petition to urge Senator Obama to adopt a homeless dog. (Hi, Traci!) Frankly, I think Obama would make a lousy pet owner considering his grueling campaign schedule and what will hopefully be a grueling presidential schedule but I'm sure his girls would love it. Anyway, I signed the petition because I love Traci.
I can't wait for this election to be over!
Labels: Blogging, Politics
Annual Pride Challenge
Every year Kelly Stern of
Rambling Along in Life with a Stern Point of View poses his annual Pride Challenge during the month of June. He posts an image of Gay Pride and challenges as many other bloggers as possible to post it on their blogs. The viral spreading of the image across the internet is a symbol of solidarity among gay bloggers (and some straight ones, too.) This year's image was taken by Kelly himself of the Pride flag he and his partner display outside their Virginia home. Pretty cool, isn't it?
This year Kelly has asked bloggers to include their coming out story with the picture. I don't have any earth shattering coming out story though. Majoring in theatre in college made it easy to be gay right from the onset of my adult life. I finally came out to my parents after graduation when I moved back home though. I had a wonderful relationship with my parents and I hated lying about who I was to them. To me coming out meant not lying to people I love. And I knew my parents being who they are would never stop loving me for it. I know I am truly blessed for this. There are way too many gay men and women who cannot say the same thing.
Visit Kelly's blog for a list of other bloggers participating in the Pride challenge and, as always, lots of hunky pictures of Kelly frolicking shirtless in his hot tub. Happy Pride, everyone!
Labels: Blogging, Gay Culture, Pride
Under the Weather
Sorry for my lack of blogging lately. I've been sick the last few days and haven't felt much like posting anything. Be patient. I'll be back. Promise.
Labels: Blogging
Rainy Monday Random Thoughts
Another drab rainy day here in New York (Friday was miserable, too). With little to inspire me on a day like this you're left to endure my random, unrelated thoughts as I sit here with my morning coffee.
Dunkin Donuts Coffee Rules: Scott and I remarked on the recent glut of Dunkin Donuts franchises popping up all over the city (giving Starbuck's and the new CapitalOne bank a run for their money). We noticed yesterday that there is a Dunkin' Donuts on the northbound side of Broadway between 96 and 97 Streets and another one on the southbound side between 95 and 96 Streets, because one shouldn't have to walk too far for a donut. I, for one, am doing my best to keep the new franchises in business at the expense of my waistline.
Idol Overload: Read an article in Entertainment Weekly about the somewhat less than exciting
American Idol season this year. The show has become formulaic and predictable. We know what the judges will say before they ever open their mouths, and with sites like "vote for the worst" and "dial idol" even the public has figured out how to manipulate the voting. On top of that, the buzz this morning is that David Archuletta is suffering the effects of an overindulgent stage-father.
Mr. Archuletta has been banned from the AI rehearsals and studios with the exception of the live tapings. Poor little David. But then again, maybe it will work in his favor with the voting public.
Mothers Day 2008: My sister and I hosted our traditional Mother's Day brunch/lunch down in Asbury Park. The menu included: Mixed berry yogurt with granola, a selection of cheeses and salumi, vegetable frittata, roasted asparagus wrapped with prosciutto, lamb kabobs with chick pea and cous cous salad and lemon poppy seed cake with fresh berries for desert. Someone once accused our family of being "food obsessed". Yup. We're Italian. Deal. Mom was delighted.
Schadenfreude: I admit I take secret delight in the demise of Republican politicians like
Vito Fosella of Staten Island who was recently arrested for drunk driving, revealed to have a mistress in Virginia and a secret love child--what Saturday Night Live referred to the other night as "the trifecta". Not so much when it's a Democrat. Kudos to Fosella's wife, though, for not standing by his side through the embarrassing press conferences.
Superhero: Went to see the new blockbuster hit, Iron Man, on opening weekend at the Ziegfeld here in New York. All the nerds were lined up outside the theatre ahead of time. They applauded after the new Indiana Jones trailer and exclaimed with shock and delight at the surprise scene after the final credits of Iron Man. Gotta love comic book geeks. By the way, I'm as shocked as anyone that I LOVED this movie. (I'm not usually the Superhero movei type.) I highly recommend it.
Labels: Blogging, Idol, Politics, Pop Culture
Quadruplet Meme
So
Gavin of Why Oh Why tagged me with this meme. I haven't done one of these in a long time so I guess I'm overdue. This tag came just in the nick of time because I couldn't think of anything else to blog about today. So here goes...
Four Jobs I Have Had In My Life— Singing Waiter
— Florist
— Chorus Boy
— Gay Cliche
Four Movies I Would Watch/Have Watched Over And Over— Gone With the Wind
— Bringing Up Baby
— From Here to Eternity
— The Sound of Music
Four Places I Have Lived— Syracuse, NY
— New Jersey
— Christopher St.
— The Upper West Side
Four TV Shows That I Watch
--Designed to Sell (HGTV)
— American Idol
— The Office
— 30 Rock
Four Places I Have Visited— Tuscany
— Paducah, KY
— Malaga, Spain (Gavin's been there, too)
— St. Petersburg, Russia
Four People Who Email Me Regularly— Scott
—My Mom
—My Brother, the Obamaniac
—Alison
Favorite Food--Risotto
— Macaroni and Cheese
— Meatloaf
— cheesecake
Four Places I Would Like To Be Right Now— The Beach
— Italy
— Hawaii
— home (I’m at work)
Four Things I Am Looking Forward To This Year— The Beach
— Starting Grad School
— Getting into a gym routine and losing my winter fat (which you could have probably guessed by my favorite foods listed above. )
--A Democratic president! (Oh, please, God!)
And that's all folks--nothing too earth shattering, but maybe you found a surprise or two among my answers.
Labels: Blogging, Memes
Random Musings
I've been trying to figure out all day what to blog about, but I got nothing. So I'll just subject you to my random thoughts and musings of the day.
1. The big story over the weekend is the
Obama Sweep in Democratic primaries and caucuses. He now leads Clinton by several states but somehow still lags behind in delegates. The delegate thing is kind of making me crazy. It would be one thing to just calculate the delegates for each state proportionately by the voting percentages, but then you have to figure in super-delegates. What the hell is a super-delegate anyway? Now, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but near as I can figure out these are extra delegates reserved for Washington insiders and elected officials that somehow count more than normal voter delegates and are pledged before the actual primaries. Also super-delegates are not obligated to vote with their constituency. Something about it seems crooked to me. But then if Obama was ahead in the delegate count I'd have no problem with super-delegates. And I freely admit that.
I have to be careful though. I don't want to be categorized as an "Obamamaniac". These people are accused of having a rabid affection for the man the fervor of which could be detrimental to him in the end. There was an
Op-Ed piece about it in the NY Times today.
2. The Grammy's happened this weekend, too. Big whoop. This is an awards show I never watch mostly because I don't care about the rapper of the year or the country music album of the year and don't follow popular music much at all, so it's all Greek to me. Who is this Amy Winehouse of which you speak? Oh--but I do know that Obama won a Grammy for spoken word. The man is a brilliant speaker. I watched the Will.i.am
"Yes We Can" video today and bawled. Seriously.
Oops. Obamamaniac.
3. The hot topic on all the gay blogs today on the interwebs is the Gays' support of Hillary 2 to 1. The numbers are based on exit polls in California and New York, both states where Clinton won by a comfortable lead, one of which happens to be her home state. Gays were not polled in Illinois where Obama won the primary due probably in no small part to Chicago's sizable gay population. Hillary gave
an interview to the Washington Blade (Some of my best friends are gay!) in which she says she talks about gay issues "all the time." She also brings up the unfortunate Donnie McClurkin/Obama connection.
4. It's really freakin' cold here. 11 degrees this morning. With a wind chill of -6.
5. I was invited to the final dress rehearsal of the City Center
Encores! reading of the 1970 musical
Applause last Thursday. It starred Christine Ebersole, whom you'll recall I LOVED in Gray Gardens. She had the flu which was disappointing. I was there with a dear friend who was involved with the project so I was inclined to root for the success of it. It's not a great show though. For a passionate but unfavorable review of it, check out what the Flaming Curmudgeon has to say. His reviews are often more entertaining than the show he's reviewing. You can also read my extensive commentary in the comments section of his post.6. With the writers strike Scott and I have run out of good TV to watch, so we started DVRing some cable series which I'm totally getting hooked on:
In Treatment on HBO and
Breaking Bad on AMC.
In Treatment is right up my alley--characters in therapy sessions, very little action but extensive character development, lots of psycho-babble.
Breaking Bad on the other hand is a surprise to me. It deals with a seamy drug underworld and has a bit of violence, but I find the very human side of the situation very moving.
7. In other TV news, Scott inadvertently sent me a spoiler today on who the Project Runway final four are. I won't spill the beans, but I like (almost) all of the final contestants. They are all certainly worthy of having a spot at Fashion week.
And that is all.
Labels: Blogging, Current Events, Gay Politics, Politics, Pop Culture
What European City Do You Belong In?
Oh, why not? These things are fun. I'm posting this mostly because I like the way it turned out for me. I belong in Milan. Must be my Italian roots. Click the link below and find out where you belong.
You Belong in Milan
|
Stylish and sophisticated, you want to enjoy a truly European life - away from tourists!
Milan fits you perfectly. Great shopping, high quality food, lots of culture... with very little hype.
|
Labels: Blogging
Google Goodies
Someone in Milwaukee found my blog by Google searching "Leathermen Opera".
Yep.
That sounds about right.
Labels: Blogging
Crazy Keyword Search
Okay, I haven't done one of these for a while, but someone in Mexico found my blog by Google searching "
Patrick Dempsey is circumcised." No joke. It's odd this person should be directed here, for despite Dempsey's "dreaminess" I've never given the subject much thought.
Labels: Blogging
Excuses, Excuses--and a couple of rants.
Hello. Remember me? I know. You probably thought I’d dropped off the face of the earth leaving Judy’s funeral as my swan song on this blog thingy, but not so. As the incomparable Elaine
Stritch once slurred "I’m still here."
So just where have I been? It’s a combination of things, actually. First, things are getting busier at my day job which is totally cutting in on my time to both read all of your blogs and write my own. (I can’t be expected to do this thing for free, you know.) There have also been some personal business issues of my own which are too boring to mention here except to say they are clouding up my good brain cells and stifling my creativity. Second, after my Italian vacation an ever demanding social life has kept me away from the computer and out in the real world–"
heigh ho the glamorous life!" (That’s two Sondheim quotes so far if you’re keeping track.) Third, I’m not feeling it lately. The post ideas are just not coming. I've started to write several this week, but without any real inspiration I just end up rambling. These half-written posts linger in unpublished Blogger limbo while I lack the discipline to just sit down and "finish the hat." (And that’s THREE for a "hat" trick, ladies and gentlemen–get it? Hat trick? Okay, that one was a bit forced, but bear with me, I’m suffering from a lack of creativity here.)
And the number one reason I haven’t been posting is: My computer sucks! It’s been slow and crashing a lot lately. The hard drive is almost full of ever-important documents like memos from a job I left a year and a half ago, contracts for weddings I did three years ago, and countless bad photos which seemed like a good idea at the time thanks to the convenience of a digital camera that allows me to snap away at anything without the limitations or good judgement imposed by a roll of film. I really shouldn't complain though. This laptop has lasted me, with little incident, for three and a half years, which in computer land puts it on a technological par with the gramophone. I’m due for a new computer, I know. But I’m a technophobe and fear change. So there you have it. (FYI–during the course of writing this post, my computer crashed yet again. Thank god for automatic timed saves.)
Oh yeah! And another thing! My lousy monopoly-owned Time Warner Internet connection just cuts out for no apparent reason for anywhere from 3 minutes to up to, say, 5 hours or so. This has been an intermittent problem since the beginning but has been much worse this past week. "Every day a little death." (4!) By the way, there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. Time Warner owns all the cables in New York, so even if I choose another company (and I have–my connection is
Earthlink, but in name only) it all runs on the same lousy, Time Warner, we-don’t-give-a-damn lines and gets paid on their bill. It, too, cut out during the course of writing this post.
Anyway, that's my story. Sorry I've been away.
Labels: Blogging, Computers, Consumerism, Corporate America
I'm It!
No, I'm not referring to
Valerie Cherish's fictitious one-time television hit "I'm It." (Pictured Left) I've been tagged for my first meme! (One question though, is it pronounced with a long "e" as in "mean" or is it the French word "même" meaning same, which seems to make sense since it's a set of questions that are the same for everyone? Just asking.)
* Post a similar post
like this one and add a link back to the person who tagged you.
* List down 5 reasons why you blog about the things you blog on your blog.
* Choose your 5 tag ‘victim’ and tag them nicely :)
* Write a comment on their blog letting them know that you tagged them. Voila!
Funny, my answers could be the same as Vinnie's (except for the part about caring if there's clean air and water in a 100 years. Not that I don't care about that! I mean, come on, who doesn't? But that's not why I blog.) Okay, so on with my answers.
Five reasons why I blog about the things on my blog:
5. To reflect the many complex and fascinating facets of my personality.
Kidding!
Well, not really--everything I blog about is a subject I'm interested in or feel passionate about. Otherwise, why bother?
4. Life in New York is unique. (Quick, say "Unique New York" 10 times fast!) I try to reflect that perspective in my posts whether it's no-nonsense opinions or talking about theatre or just posting pictures of city landmarks I love. It's life in the big city. Like my byline says.
3. It's a great place to channel my creative energy and it keeps me off the streets.
2. I have opinions about absolutely everything from who should be the next American Idol to who should be the next president. Blogging gives me a forum to post those opinions and hopefully takes the heat off my friends and family from having to listen to them unsolicited ad nauseum.
1. Finally, I blog, therefore I am.
Okay, so for this meme, I tag the following:
Go to it, boys!
Labels: Blogging
Recent Keyword Search
Okay, someone in Tyler, Texas used the following keyword search to find my blog:
How to tell if cocaine is quality product.No joke.
Labels: Blogging
Mystery Blog Post
Just so you know, I had written an absolutely delightful post about Lerner and Lowe's classic Broadway musical
Camelot for this week's Musical Moments feature. However, the post appears to be lost in cyberspace limbo. You see,
YouTube.com has a very irritating little glitch occasionally. To their credit, the good folks at YouTube have made it as easy as possible to post a video to your blog. They accommodate a variety of blog hosts and all the information for your blog is preloaded with your account registration so it literally takes one click to make a video appear on your blog. Once you make that one click a confirmation message comes up that says "This video will appear on your blog shortly." You then click "okay" and that's that. (Okay, technically that's two clicks--but still pretty easy.)
The only problem with this system is the word "shortly" in the confirmation message. Shortly. It's so vague. Shortly as in a few minutes or a few days? Apparently it can be either of these. In most cases the video will appear on your blog in a few minutes but once in a while it won't show up till a day or two later. This of course prompts you to try posting it again and again thinking it didn't take for some reason so that when it finally does show up, it will appear as many times as you tried re-posting it. Say, oh, 17 times. So this is what must have happened with the
Camelot post. It could show up any day now--four times. It's a shame, too, because it was to be the 200th Manhattan Chowder blog post, but instead this stupid post is number 200. Whoop-de-doo.
UPDATE: Okay, thanks to
Gavin (YOY) I have solved the mystery of the missing blog post. It seems the "embed" feature of the particular video I wanted to post has been disabled by FunStuff1623, the person who put it on YouTube originally. The question is why? Why, FunStuff1623, why disable the embed feature so others can't share it? There's no fun in that stuff. You misrepresent yourself.
Labels: Blogging, Musical Moments
Questions? Comments?
I've had reports from readers lately that they've had trouble posting comments on my blog. I lifted the word verification hoping that would make it easier, but apparently that hasn't made a difference. Anyway, if you've had a problem, email me at
manhattanchowder@hotmail.com. I'll see what I can do about it. Thanks.
Labels: Blogging
Creepy!
Okay. Someone just found my blog by Google searching "
leathermen executioner hanging." Weird.
Labels: Blogging, Humor
Warning
American Idol posts are coming. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Labels: Blogging
