Daily Archives: February 12, 2011

29 posts

Spirituality Corner

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This is the first in what I hope will be an ongoing series of spiritual quotes and themes I’d like to share and invite comments on.


People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough.
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It never was between you and them anyway.

CORRECTION (thanks to Bad Karma):

Mother Theresa didn’t write this, but she did have it hanging on the wall of her children’s home in Calcutta.

To give credit where it is due, it was written by Kent M. Keith, and it is both from a poem and a book titled “The Paradoxical Commandments.”

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Bestow your New York City wisdom upon me

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Do you live in New York City? Did you live there in the past? Were you born there, or did you move there from another part of the country once you reached adulthood? If any of those things sound like you, I need your assistance in the small matter of my impending move from Atlanta.

I’ve been to New York City plenty of times, I have some friends who live there and I’m moving with my job, so I’ve got a lot of the basics of a major move covered. I’d like to live in the East Village or another neighborhood with other people in my age range. I’m 25, single, female and can pay $1100-$1300 per month for my part of the rent. I anticipate having a roommate, of course.

I like to go out to eat and drink and I don’t mind living in a noisy area, so long as it’s reasonably safe. I don’t have an office to which I’ll need to commute, so while close subway accessibility would be great, it wouldn’t necessarily be as important for me as for someone who needs to get somewhere on a schedule in the morning.

So tell me about your favorite neighborhoods. If I move to the East Village, how far is too far into Alphabet City? Am I going to hate it for the first six months? Am I going to miss singing at the top of my lungs in my car as much as I think I’m going to? Because I really think I’m going to miss that. Any advice for savvy subway riding?

If I’ve left anything out, tell me. I appreciate any and all feedback that you can give me, it’s invaluable.

Your Favorite Nick Cage Movie Was Probably a Long Time Ago

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I liked Cage in Raising Arizona. That’s about it. But The Wicker Man is a new low. Unless overacting is a good thing. But it isn’t.

Here are the best scenes – watch for yourself. See if you can hold in your snark. I bet you can’t.

A great thing about the internet, however, is that nothing abysmal goes unpunished. Look! Extracted entertainment value!

And of course, a remix.

Nick, Nick. If you’ve let yourself go, how is it you are still here?

An Evening Thread Has Opened: S. A. T.U.R. D.A.Y. NIGHT!

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I’m putting this up because there isn’t one.  And because there isn’t one I don’t have an appropriate place to say “Whatever.  I fucking hate life for no good reason sometimes, and I feel lazy, and I wish my wife were here, although if she were I’d be bummed I hadn’t done the cleaning I wanted to do today, because this place is a mess.”  And maybe you also wanted to say something like that and wanted an open thread to say it in. Continue reading →

100-Word Movie Review: No Strings Attached

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You already know how this will end. And begin. And arc. What is surprising about this “romantic” “comedy” is the number of talented actors who agreed to appear as supporting players in this drivel: Kevin Kline, Lake Bell, Mindy Kaling, a bearded Cary Elwes, Greta Gerwig. If Kutcher’s only task was to look appealing, since acting is clearly out, this movie came about ten years too late in his “career.” Portman infuses a clunky script with some verve, but not enough to overcome a storyline in which making a period mix for an adult woman is considered charming. PMS is more fun.

Singer Black Madam Allegedly Kills Patient: Butt Surgery Gone Bad

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Philadephia-area police have launched a manhunt, as it were, for a transgendered self-proclaimed musical visionary calling herself Back Madam. The singer, whose real name is Padge-Victoria Windslowe, and who does underground plastic surgery on the side, is charged in the murder of 20-year-old British student and medical tourist Claudia Aderotimi. She died Tuesday morning after undergoing the procedure performed by Windslowe at a suburban Philadelphia  Hampton Inn. This is why you don’t get a hip-hop singer to perform your surgeries or get a skateboarder to fly your airplanes.

The British woman flew to Philadelphia for silicone injections designed to improve and enhance the shape of her buttocks. According to police, Aderotimi began complaining of chest pains shortly after the injections and was taken to a nearby hospital where she died of acute liver failure several hours later.

On a website used by Black Madam to promote her surgical skills, a previous patient said the singer-slash-surgeon would make your ass look like an apple “and everyone wants their ass to look like an apple.”

According to Britain’s Daily Mail, Aderotimi wanted to improve her buttocks because she hoped to appear in more hip-hop music videos.

Black Madam’s website contains a rambling, mostly incoherent biography which includes the statement “I want so bad to do the right thing, however, when I hit my knees at times, it just doesn’t seem like the creator hears me…thus I am tortured to make these tough decisions when it comes to the comforts of my life here on earth or glory after death.”

Police searched Windslowe’s apartment for a number of items that could be used in a medical procedure, including silicone, bandages and, of course, Krazy Glue.

Suddenly I Understand What Makes Slowmo So Gratuitiously Awesome

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Meet Tom Guilmette. He’s a skilled and passionate videographer. And he just made my day.

Locking himself in Vegas hotel room for an all-nighter with a Phantom Flex high speed digital cinema camera capable of 2,564 FPS, he transformed the ordinary and mundane into a spectacle of whimsy and awesomeness. See for yourself.

We’ve all seen slowmo before, but there is something about this simple act of taking everyday items (loose change, a glass of water, a dropped cell phone, a bed, a showerhead) in an unassuming space (hotel rooms blow) that triggers a thought: We are all surrounded by little bits of amazing. It’s how we look at it that either delights or bores us.

[Tom Guilmette on Vimeo via Engadget]

They’re all gonna laugh at me

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Earlier this week, I wrote about my somewhat random decision to reactivate one of my dating profiles.

Am I currently one of the featured profiles on the site? Yes.

Am I receiving so many responses that I haven’t had time to reply to them all? No.

Have the messages/flirts I’ve sent been responded to with hot n’ heavy promises of a good time? No.

Thus, my results are pretty much mirroring the experiences I’ve encountered previously. That made me sad, but then thanks to the fabulous Miss Anita Manbadly, I shrugged off the negative feelings and decided to have fun.

What came out of that? Why, this funtastic video that I’ve added to my profile!

Who is Planteater?!? from Random Citizen on Vimeo.

Also, I now laugh at profiles. Not in a bitter way, but more in a “Wow, you really think you’re better than me?” sort of way. Here I am contacting you to chat you up, but I’m not good enough? Fool, you’re on a dating site!

My favorites are the ones by older guys who are on a site where most of the females are a good decade or two younger. Oh yeah, Daddy, you go ahead and ignore someone who’s actually interested in older men for those 20-somethings who don’t want to deal with your saggy balls.

So, I may not have boys beating down my door anytime soon, I’m choosing to see this as another learning experience instead of feeling completely sorry for myself.

I’ll still scowl at those fucking lucky trolls in love, though.

The Whole Gritty City

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Some of you might remember PoBoyNation mentioning the film The Whole Gritty City back at the other place.  The independent filmmakers are trying to finish their documentary on the experiences of three New Orleans marching bands and the kids band leaders are trying to keep off the streets in the wake of Katrina, but have run short of funds. Watch the trailer and donate here to help them out if you are as moved as I was.