Snow Leopard For All!

Oops - Amazon sent me the family pack by mistake. I call this a Win-Win-Win-Win-Win!

iPhone Auto Correct FAIL

So I am wicked Pissarro excited to go to Charleston in a few hours to stay with David this weekend! You can tell Apple is not based in Boston. Who doesn't know the word "Pissa?"

OMB it is gonna be MINT!

Amazing. GRACE.

So I've seen some pretty great concerts in my thirty plus years. The highlights are all the times I saw Blossom Dearie, when Sarah and I saw Dolly Parton at Irving Plaza in Summer 2002, the Blind Boys of Alabama that same year, and the half-dozen times I've seen my chum Carolyn Mark.

Lemme tell you, last night's Grace Jones show at Hammerstein Ballroom is up there, and worth all nine thousand pennies or whatever I paid. I've seen all those lazy-a$$ new kids out there who have their dirty hair and just slouch over their guitars and play their records without even looking up. Not our gal.

Not all the pictures I took were so exciting, but I did a web-trawl this morning over coffee and found some goodies. I think we now have all seven or eight costume changes documented.

For starters, she did the opening song completely under a silk cloak.

Then she popped out wearing what was a cross between her Andy Warhol graffiti outfit of yore, a skeleton suit, and My Little Pony...


A few songs later she put on this glitter outfit for a few numbers - which threw off some pretty fun sparkles when the strobes hit it.

Then what else would you wear for La Vie En Rose, but this fun one? Eat your coeur out, Edith Piaf.

And really, what else would you wear for "My Jamaican Guy," but a Jamaican Flag Costume? I think this was right after she called out her friend "Miss M," aka Bette Midler, who was in the audience. I looked around but she wasn't up at stage right in front of the speaker with me.

"Corporate Cannibals?" This of course:

I was excited to see Grace show her pun side when she danced with a mannequin of herself for "I've Seen That Face Before."

My personal favorite was this costume for "Hurricane" - she sang it while walking into a wind machine with this satin parachute trailing behind.

There were a few more songs and costume changes, then it was time for the encore.

You know when Grace busts out the symbols and the confetti you're dancing to "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "Slave To The Rhythm."

My ears are still ringing, but they do that anyway. And it was worth it.

Pitching A Text

One thing I like to do is look on the internet.

A new favorite website of mine is this one here - which is not safe for work, nor is the content appropriate for this blog. It's about pitching tents, and I don't mean the kind for kitties.


Fortunately, there's another funny site out there that is totally appropriate for here. Texts From Last Night is exactly what it sounds like. Some may be phonies, but I think most are real. The only identifying characteristic is the area code. Here are some of my favorites.


I like this next one because it reminds me of Peter Cetera's "Glory Of Love" from Karate Kid II.
This person has some plural issues.
This sounds like a GREAT one night stand.
Here's some trouble with the law.
and more...

Someone has a sad life:


And really? My favorite.
Keep 'em coming, internet!

227 in 5

THIS is fantastic.

It's the 227 pilot episode boiled down to 5 minutes. There's more of these "Minisodes" here.




"The way you and Sandra get along, you won't even have a canoe!"

I mean, really, who has 22 minutes free anymore? And how many full eps of My Two Dads are worth the time?

A Case Of Mitchell

Recently, my friend Brian tumbled about how easy it is to download an artist's entire discography. He was lamenting, as I do, how this changes the music experience for the Kids These Days.

Specifically, he was talking about snagging the entirety of Joni Mitchell's ouevre in one go. I think it's a crying shame, as I learned about Blue and later Court & Spark and later still Hejira, all three of which I enjoyed immensely as full albums, from start to finish. Now, of course these had all been out for years before my music appreciation awakening happened, but you didn't buy more than one album at a time, at least not on a college student's budget.

One good thing I'll say about the internet and music is that you can risk free - if maybe not so legally - sample some of those horrible tribute albums they do. I'm still a purchaser of the ones for causes - and am glad for the tracks off this month's Dark Was The Night and War Child comps that I bought.

Speaking of Mitchell, I swiped an album of covers of hers that wasn't to benefit anything, and judging by the crummy track list I wasn't so excited until I heard this lovely version of "Carey" by Miss Cyndi Lauper. Is it better than JM's? Nope. Is it pretty great in its own right? Yep.


Thanks, Internet. You too, Cyndi.

Sorry, Old People

Remember Rabbit Ears? And turning the dial for UHF and VHF?



Hee hee. Sorry, old lady.

The Penguin Suit To Beat All Penguin Suits

WHAT a little cutie Pierre is.


Pierre first came to my attention this summer, when Sarah shared his story at Cape Cod Club.

Pierre is not just another pretty Penguin Face. He's a 25 year old African Penguin who lives at the California Academy of Arts & Sciences. Yep, that's right, the same CAS that Sarah and I visited back in November.

Well, a few years back the CAS was closed for its big renovations, and Pierre and all his chums were moved to a temporary facility. Sadly, Pierre didn't adjust so well, and his nervousness at the new digs manifested itself with bald patches all over. Now, you may recall from Penguin Class that their waterproof feathers are what keep them warm and buoyont in the pool, so this was more than an aesthetic problem for our buddy - he wouldn't be able to play any of regular Penguin Games, which clearly wouldn't do.

So what happened? Well, some nice lady who worked with him called some nice company, and they created a one-of-a-kind wetsuit for the little buddy!

He used the wet suit for a few months, and lo and behold he calmed down and all his feathers came back!

I just think this is just the sweetest story I've ever heard. God Bless you, little penguin buddy!

Can You Hear Me Now?

I simply don't understand the technology. The Past was a confusing time.



Can anyone explain to me what Jean Harlow was doing? Why the pneumatic tube? Is this a Cuba thing?