Got some more pearls of wisdom from Bruce Mau's An Incomplete Manifesto for Growth... Mau, who colloborates with Rem Koolhaus, has a few good generalizations for human and beast alike that go beyond architecture...
Speaking of the arts - I woke up this morning and read an arcticle in Index Magazine about the artists MacDermott and MacGough, who have been living in period detail to the point of driving horse-drawn buggy's and living w/out electricity. They are truly 1900-House and it amazes me that they manage to keep this up. I suppose if you are really in tune with a particular time period, you can withstand anything (doing laundry for 5 days as opposed to 2 hours)... I think it also takes someone who is meticulously neat (MacDermott remarks on how he can't get anyone to do an authentic starch anymore and how Gosford park didn't get "the laundry right".) Me personally - I am a child of the times: messy, disposable, all over the place. I guess my post-modern squalor is the future... Too much trash, and not alot of durable products... I thought about this earlier last night as I wandered around the aisles of RITE-AID. How much crap do we honestly buy? Oh well, I've got to go recycle...

And speak of lost in cultural translation (from yesterday) - hell if I know what's going on in this cute cartoon...

AHHHHH!!! Scary! Avert you're eyes!!! Beware of the W-under Bulge!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Seriously though - Goertzel get's her hair cut by the Wunderbulge's creator, so watch out - I might just start packing (Sound of people screaming NOOOO! in unison.)

Hmmmm... Stranger's "Last Day's" Column again raised the ugly argument Is the name and thematic design concept of the hot new nightclub Chop Suey insulting to Chinese people? As someone with an intense Asian culture fetish and double dose of cultural sensitivity training up the wazoo, I feel compelled to comment - "uhhhh, well... errrr. Guess you'll have to ask someone who is Chinese"... They do raise a good point that the name derives itself from the dish that was served to oppressed migrant workers, however at the same time, the place isn't an offensive characterization of Chinese people (like say, Abercrombie's offensive "coolie" shirts that were yanked off the site about a month ago)... I often worry that my own attraction to Asian culture borders on 19th century exoticism, often coming off as the creepy caucasian asiaphile that you see in the corner of some bar leering at the culture... Or not. I don't know. Is it morally acceptable to covet a particular culture's furniture? My friend Dana decorated her house with Chinese paper accents on the light and socket covers. Turns out that the pretty paper is actually called "Hell Money" - and is burned at Chinese funerals. Oh. Oops. The Chinese man that explained this wasn't offended - in fact, he was amused. I guess this at the end of the spectrum of cultural misunderstandings, this is mild. Chop Suey falls just left of the middle of the Spectrum, harmless and unintentional, but could be offensive if framed alot differently. It's much like the time in a Japanese department store that sought to promote the Christmas holiday. They decorated the store with much panache, everything letter perfect - right down to the lifesize statue of Santa hanging from a Crucifix just over the store's escalator.
In any case - where was I?
Oh yeah --- in the general scheme of things, arguments like this are incredibly trivial and silly.

Still somewhat sick -- but recovering. Although, Issiah tried to kill me tonight on doing supersets (where you are doing back to back sets of weights, very little rest time). It was the kind of sets where I contort my face and make sounds like I'm being choked, and cough and sputter and start tearing up... So I skipped cardio as a result (I've such little energy right now, I can barely move)...

Shameless plug - but I just got the coolest lamp from Target today. It was a steal at $6! It got me thinking about how well Target has done in terms of marketing minimalism to the masses, and some of the more progressive ideas they've developed. I'm salivating just at the concept of their QBits Modular Furniture System. You simply buy pieces to create desks, tables, etc. Truly innovative in going against rigid mass production... Of course, my buy-in with Target, along with everyone is else is that they do hype themselves pretty well. Stephen Sprouses "Punk Rock Americana" is an interesting lesson in merchandising (do a Louis Vitton bag, then do a beach towel) -- as well as fostering public opinion (who's gonna argue with the American flag?)... In any case, I've not actually set foot in a real Target since the 90's, believe it or not... So perhaps (as usual) I do not really know what the hell I'm talking about...

In any case - Just read a scary article, and to all my friends in the big apple - be careful!! If it get's too much in NYC, go hide out in the Hamptons (that's where you're supposed to go, right?) -- or the new Prada store, but avoid the lower part, Ian says it's Stinky and Stale....

Sick or allergy? You be the judge. I've a head full of gunk, and have been wheezing and sneezing like crazy. I so wanted to call in sick - but i decided that I was borderline at best, and probably would sit around sniffling and thinking about an escape plan to come home and nap. I better actually try to go to bed at a decent hour (like now) - speaking of sleep, nightmares after watching Buffy, etc this looks hella creepy doesn't it???... Like some Hunky of Chucky kind of budget horror movie? G'nite...

OMG!!!! Our very own Ginger quoted in the NYTimes!!! I feel famous just to know you, G-Spice!! I had the Times scattered all over my apartment -- and of course, avoided the business section (I've enough depressing, dirty laundry as it is around my apartment, thank you!) -- but I had no idea that there would be Ms Thing, getting press time on the same page that features a freakish Jeffb holding a giant Picachu... Keep up the media dish, doll --- and don't settle until you get a good cry on Oprah or your own clothing line at Macy's.
Speaking of retail - so I really did go to a tupperware party last night, or rather - a Pampered Chef party. Cheryl threw it and had us over for sangria and product demo's... I never thought I would ever attend something like that, or if I did - it would be part of an installation performance piece... but in any case, my running joke of the evening was my lack of cooking skills and how I burnt water. The saleswoman knew me to be a lost cause when I finally relented and bought star shaped ice trays. I figure they will make my Long Islands more festive this summer.
Aside from that - it's been a very odd, uneven, last 48 hours - I kept getting the feeling today that I myself was the subject of a dogme-style movie written by Todd Solenz, and there's an audience laughing somewhere at my pratfalls and pathetic attempts to be a compassionate human being.
Or is it just me?

Found out which Buffy bad guy I would be... These quizzes are sillier than Cosmo, but what the hay. Guess I should be flattered i'm more the sexy bleach bad boy type than the nerds or creatures with odd appendages. Speaking of charming Brit' lothario stereotypes, Beate and I went to go see About a Boy, the latest Nick Hornby adaptation starring Hugh Grant as a vain, immature bachelor who eventually learns about "family"... It was really good - seemed to be subtle in its character transformation and kept the character plots on track. (Ian, you read the book? How did this match up?)...
In any case - I think I've a Tupperware party I have to run to...
Oddly enough.