Bigger Bullshit?: Band Breakups or Celeb Marriages

there are at least two deadly  or "til death" rites that groups put themselves though which aren't necessary and probably won't last: marriages, especially celebrity marriages, and famous band breakups. why the hell  are these two events such major  news? how often do celebs marry then divorce in  an average of what, 2 years tops? how many times do bands "break up" only to reunite for that "one last tour"? 


of course it's a lot of  economics. power celebs get together to make power couples to increase their income, gain more notoriety, enhance their careers etc. eventually  they realize how ridiculous marriage is for them: their schedules, traveling, possibilities with infidelities etc, they move one.


 bands break up to again increase their notoriety, increase their sales.   they  reunite several times to give that tour and increase the price that concert goers somehow want to pay, long after the band has reached their peak live. they stay apart until it's lucrative enough to re form. would you be surprised if the whole deal is planned? 


 what the state should do is legalize betting on every detail of  these breaks   like Vegas does for the Super Bowl. you can bet about anything relating to the break ups and band reunites.


 from when,  where the next tour will open,  will they make a lame inconsequential album, how long will they stay together before the "next break up". 


for celebs: will they  "marry" again (usually to other people). did the couple cheat on each other (Hopefully with other celebs), ,who will be their next hook ups, (again hopefully other celebs).


now if we're talking fictional bullshit, again related to death: there's the death of a comic book character. see how long that one lasts (Superman, Captain America, Electra, Green Arrow etc.) again again notoriety, sales, and you know they're not really going to kill off a character that sells. 

Empty Sky: World Trade Center tribute

for better or worse, I didn't personally know anyone who died in the World Trade Center towers. I was living in NYC at the time of the collapse and a lot of us had "friends of friends" that did unfortunately perish. But again personally I didn't know anyone who died there. I did however mourn their loss a good deal, especially around the time of the tragedy: the 6 month anniversary, 1 year later  etc. 


However I did personally know and love the Trade Center itself. SInce I was young it was a center of interest for a kid like me. it was the location of the  ultimate scene of a King Kong flick back then. also it was a theatre for the famous "HUman Fly": George Willig, who scaled the side of a tower and was fined $1.10, a penny for every floor.


 Whenever my family made a trip near NYC, I loved to see the skyline from wherever you could see it, no matter the distance. I  loved to visit the towers, see the views, learn about them. 


Years later I was to become an actual  tour guide in NYC, where I  passed by and noted the towers regularly to everyone I could. Over the years and mainly because of the job, I learned more about them, and the great achievements that they went through:  human achievement, technological, architectural etc:

• the Center was a city within itself, where up to around 50,000 people would be employed on weekdays. . How many cities around the world don't have nearly that many people living within them? And the greatest fear that I and many had on the infamous Sept 11 was that so many more would be dead since the Center could hold so many. Not to belittle those that were killed, but it seems like a great miracle to me that the toll was relatively low. 
• an incredible 200,000 visitors per day on average. 
• It was literally on top of the one of the greatest financial centers in the world. A soaring symbol of capitalism, architecture, achievement and more. 
• It was possibly  the location of the  site of  furthest viewing in the world: on a very clear day, one could see around 55 miles away. Possibly 2 states away to Penn. An incredible view: I don't think even mountains like Everest boast that far a look. 
• the most stories of any building for decades: 110
• tallest building in the world when it was first built: over 1300 feet tall. 
• from what I read, highest inhabitable floors of any building for decades, higher than Sears
• one of the most beautiful restaurants in a city with some of the most beautiful restaurants on Earth: Windows on hte World. highest grossing restaurant in U.S. 
• one of, if not the largest office complex on Earth
• quarter mile height, 1 acre of space per floor, in the 70s.  had it' own zip code. 
• huge amount of construction, excavation, material which was used to actually build a whole new neighborhood: Battery Park City
• housing some of the great architectural influence of Le Courbusier and Yamasaki. 

When someone or something passes from me that was close to me, I like to note a lot of the positive  aspects that it had when alive. To me, the Center was very much alive from when I was a child up through its death, and that's why I have written about it. Please do not assume that because I am writing about steel and frame, that I elevate it above the souls of those that died then. If I had a choice, I would have the lives of all of those who perished saved, with  the towers falling down. But I think that we could mourn the loss of both. 

Moving On?

not as much time. full time job. blog paying pennies. 


move on: more possible projects, films, broadcast? tv?


 if had more time would write more. if it paid more also.


 need to express myself more to more. move on? 

Weddings and Marriage: YOur Loved Ones

as much as i've written against weddings and marriage, ultimately, when  a loved one is going thru with it, i suppose your views don't matter for that time, person etc. 


if ur a good one for them, you put your effort out towards them to make it a special day, the best possible. that's what you're supposed to do.


 and, expect the same in return someday. even if marriage is a light year a way, eh? .


 and enjoy the party too i guess.


 maybe i'm going back on my words but again the day is theirs, not mine, this time.


 though i guess i keep the details to a minimum to keep myself from being too annoyed: e.g. looking at the registries, all the gifts, so many bought already, is a labor. 

Disappearing Act

i've said for a while that a man alone at a bar is maybe as  close to a human gets to  being invisible.

•  seemingly no friends, 
• people see him as a lonesome loser 
• women want to follow, go with the trends, go with a "proven winner", so they avoid him 
• groups will literally push him around., out of his seat etc
• less talking, more drinking, more likely to move to a problem drinker? 

 the only ones who care are  the ones who wants his money: the bartenders/waiters. and this is compounded more at a strip joint. lots of men alone there. 


but,  the older one gets, , the more one disappears? 

•  not as many will hire, entry level etc? 
• less attractive,  less relationships? 
• hence less likely to have kids.
•  less people care: friends and family have moved on with their individual families, parents are getting older and can't care  as much.
•  mid life crises are not as appealing as coming of age stories? 

Poison April, the Cruellest Foolish month

i should get a 9-5 job, something steady, like civil service. plan on becoming married. have 2 kids.  become a Christian. get a house in the suburbs. golf. with my male friends.  drive a car. mow my lawn. 

Bobby "2 Note" Deniro

as Dorothy Parker said about Katherine Hepburn one night, all he goes all the way from A to B 

Charlie's not buying his sell out 

Risky Business

how's it hangin'

so one has lived for how long, just surviving, hanging on, tightrope walking. 


one hits a rough slide that even he can't get out of.


but should he build on what was before? 


risk, take off, in maybe even riskier behavior since the "easier" way didn't go thru? 


the "easier" route didn't pan out, so go back to the "risky" route? since it's panned out more in the past? 


even if that means going back to a life he really doesn't want
which will be very hard in some ways. 
but seemingly necessary. 


letting go not much from now.


steps forward, steps backward.  

Ridi, Pagliaccio

Add caption

you're "successful", have "means", read: have  money, you make people laugh, you're witty, urbane, a ladies' man


you're poor, without "means', 'unsucessful', you make people laugh, you're a clown, a joke, a loser 

Living Large in the Village

one lives here? 

used to be that it was an affordable place for up and coming, unknown artists to live, in a starving artist lifestyle,  where they could  express their art. now it's completely non affordable   for all but only the most famous and/or wealthy artists to live an extravagant  lifestyle and sell out more of their celebrity cache  so they can afford it all.   

Mardi Gras=Halloween?

Carnival

i think a lot of us remember when Halloween was a kid holiday, adults didn't do much for it even when it fell on the weekends. eventually it "blossomed"  into a holiday of an adult nite equivalent to Vegas in psychological terms, where "what happens that night, stays in the past",  you go as you aren't, you could dress sluttier as a woman etc. 


i figure that Mardi gras/Fat tu/ Carnival could develop into something like that as well. days, or a night, for adults  to let loose, party like hell,  wear masks, beads whatever. kind of another "amateur night' in mid week like New years.  it's still more local in New Orleans, Rio, but seems to be growing. i remember a few years ago there didn't seem to be anything going on for it in NYC. now there's a list of events. 


also it's several days. you can party on fri, sat, fat tues. again i'm surprised that bars, beer companies etc haven't taken advantage of this more. or neighborhoods like Little Brazils. 

What's Wrong with the Oscars?

American idol

i know i've said some of these before but they deserve to be thrown out there in a gasp of breath against the big wind of the Oscars: 

• many yearly  awards (this goes for many different awards) go to lifetime achievements: they;ll ignore an actor, director etc for their entire achievement filled career (Scorsese, Paul Newman) and finally give her/him a consolation prize some day, for something not nearly on their  level of achievement from years ago
• segregation now, today, forever: there are no differences in skills between actors, actresses etc. notice there's not best female director, best male costumer etc? 
• hype rules: rarely does the less hyped person, film etc lose much. they'll win other awards first, have their "Oscar buzz", win again.. i couldn't believe when Brokeback Mountain lost, one of the few examples to go against the usual rule
• impressionists have won recently a lot. you do a good impression, you get an award. ask Jamie Fox. past trends: whores for women, retarded folk for men, sick folk for women. Holocaust films used to score well too. 
• how many of these 'artists' looking forward to these awards ignore these obvious points which shoot down so much of their (them, the awards, art's)  integrity? 

Biggest Bullshit Holiday

not to seem super bitter (wink), but Valentine's wins. at least Mother and Father's day are based on real people, deeds etc. Valentine's ain't. there were a couple of St Valentines but neither had anything to do with romance, love etc. that story about one of them getting the first Valentine's card is just that. 


astronomically same deal: nothing. some bs that birds start courting is just that. 


where it's real? as usual with holidays, commercialism, like greeting cards, gifts etc. guilt. chicks expecting more rings things blings etc. the capitalism of love (redundant). 

Day Labor

or laborer... exhausted....avalanche... blizzard...guy on the side o the road...men at work...conditions, spartan..money necessary...weekend nor..early to bed etc

Trendy Exercise Bullshit

doin it right

i love it  because  it's one of those cases where something old is repackaged and marketed, becomes trendy and "everyone has to do it" and spend their money on it. 

• folks danced alone and it  became "aerobics".  a chick dances alone she's called an "interpretive dancer". a man does it he's called  a lonesome loser. 
• stretching is taken over by yoga since it's 'eastern' so it must be better than anything that the West can provide.  ( i think Penn and Teller did a whole show on it). add a probably self proclaimed "guru" and it becomes 'pilots' or  whatever. . 
• combine another "guru", aerobics and some punching and it becomes "tae box bo bovine" whatever. 
• xercise biking somehow became "spinning" and again everyone had to do it. . 

what's next, basketball becomes "hoop throw"? weight training becomes "metal handling"? swimming becomes "aquatic dynamics"? 


even "going to the gym" itself is trendy bs to me. not enough to "xercise", or even "work out".  even though there's plenty of room out- doors to exercise, and all  of these folks "going to the gym" have living spaces a lot bigger than mine do do push ups and crunches in (which often is all they need), but they have to "go to the gym." 


again come out one of my Harlem parks some night in the winter, and we'll do some working out for free:  strength, endurance, stretching. get some fresh air, health, save money. 

Nfl picks, Jan 21 2011

old rivals

still like GB though im a bit surprised they're favored. not sure if they'll beat the spread. though they've been good to me so far. 


still like the Jets to beat the spread. 


each spread's about 3.5. 

Play-off PIck OUtcome this Week

J.E.T.S

did o.k this week. right on for GB and the Jets. 


a little off for  Seattle  and Balt.  remember i said take all the underdogs, and I think Seattle and Balt missed the spread by a bit, though i said Pitt may cover (they did). so let's say i scored a bit more than 50 percent (though wouldn't come out in betting like that of course). 

Nfl picks, Jan 14 2011

shud  b some decide. games

i would bet every underdog to beat the spread. seems like pretty safe bets. 


 I think that the Patriots and Chicago will be given tougher games by the other  teams, especially the Jets.


 i don't think Atlanta is too strong and i like GB..


 Pitt may beat the spread but I kind of like Balt. 


for the record, was about 75 percent accurate last week. i make picks because i usually have a good knack for them most years. if i had the money i'd maybe bet. 


for those who don't know, bettors shoot for around  55 percent or above  to come out ahead, profit etc. 

Close as I Want to Be to a Prisoner

"that's the sight of the men,..."

working as an emergency snow laborer, the NYC  dept of Sanitation really puts you right in league it seems with chain gangs: 

• we have to wear orange vests while working with tools,  outdoors
• we take buses as trans, to and from labor sites
• we're all local upper Manhattan guys, so ethnically mixed: black, Hispanic, not much white (i have to write another blog post, "places where i've been one of the only 'whites' there"). we separate at times, probably not in a bigoted motivation, into groups:  Latin guys, black guys etc. but again it reminds you of every prison show u'v ever seen:  Latin gangs, black gangs etc. 
• every attractive chick going by seems like the greatest we've ever seen
• sanitation cops (yeah they seem to have them) are in supervision

Exhaustion

amazing how much of it you get, psychologically then physically, when you can't find a job