Magic Jewball

The set-up: while I was doing all that research on the two Talk Talk posts, I repeatedly came upon mentions of the No Doubt version of It’s My Life but I tried hard not to think about it or remember how it went because a. I dislike No Doubt b. I dislike remakes of songs that were already great and c. it was hard enough to erase it from my brain the first time around in 2003. So not only have I not heard it since then, I have been pretty good at forgetting it now.

Fast forward to tonight/this morning, when, as is my habit, I’m up during the wee hours and am hungry. So I started to make peanut-sesame noodles since I had all the ingredients… except I didn’t, which I discovered midway through and too far along to go back. So I ran out to the bodega on the corner in my skater shorts and Local H t-shirt, where, naturally, I was the only one there and thus had the full attention of the grocer. After about 30 seconds of scanning the racks, the song on the sound system ended, I heard a syncopated beat, and then – you know what comes next – Gwen Stefani started singing It’s My Life. I actually burst out laughing right in the middle of the store before remembering that the elderly Korean grocer was looking right at me. He was utterly expressionless and impassive. I guess this is far from the weirdest thing he sees at 3am.

In conclusion, I lead a dull life and you can’t escape No Doubt.

And no, there will not be a music link!

Today, for work (I know I don’t mention it a lot, but I have a part-time job!) I was sent on an errand to put up posters at other area Ed schools. My last stop was NYU, a school that it never occurred to me to attend, I think because I still associate it with people I knew who wanted to spend college hanging out. PS, I now wish I had spent college hanging out. I know this is a weird thing to say, but the last time I was at NYU or its environs had to be at least fifteen years ago. How strange is it to not have seen a major area of the city in which you live in a decade and a half? But I think I’ve been resisting going down there because, as you may have heard, the area has changed a bit since I used to get my hair cut and shop down there with the other 80′s Goths. But it’s sort of like that Thing in your fridge that you keep avoiding because it’s been in there too long, and the longer you wait, the moldier it gets. I knew the area was getting more and more mallified. I heard, naturally, about the K-Mart and the Starbucks.

~shiver~

I could get all grandma on you and tell you about all the cool clothing shops and record stores that looked like your basement, only with vibrant-colored-haired people blowing smoke in your face as you perused the…. records, but I’m sure you’ve heard it all before. But that’s how it is to me eternally. So I knew it would be hard but I was unprepared for the lump in my throat and tears at the edges of my eyes as I passed the Chipotles and Au Bon Pains. It’s not that I didn’t expect it, I just liked that the last image of it that I had in my head was back when those stores in which I used to discover fun things with my friends dominated the landscape. So now that it’s over, I plan on deleting all those images from my brain’s computer. But I have two take aways from this day.

a. On the way home, I kept hearing this sung phrase in my head, “it’s a clear cut case.” Then I remembered a song that I hadn’t thought of in years and years. What odd piece of seeing the Village again shook this loose? Who knows! But it’s below, should you want to hear the song that got dislodged.

b. There are still great record stores in the Village and elsewhere. This Saturday is Record Store Day. Should you not be an observant Jew, please head over to your local record store and find some incredible releases special for this day. Or you could go anytime! To find your local participating record store, check out the Record Store Day Website. Odds are, these days, no one will blow smoke in your face.

c. I’m never going back there again. I know, that’s three, but I’ve begun deleting and can’t remember where I am.

While I have no news, the world zooms on and other people do. My friend Meaddows is doing an awesome thing and helping to organize a local event to support 350.org in their global Candlelight Vigil for Climate Change. It’s on a Friday night so some of my more Jewey friends may not be able to make it, but for the rest of you, it’s on the evening of Friday, December 11th in New York City, from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. on the Hudson River at West 26th Street.

They say….

People all over the world will unite tonight to raise awareness about climate change, send a message to world leaders, and be part of the solution. Join us and be one of them.

Please see this flyer (pdf) or get info from 365.org here and be there or be dead from climate change!

Title comes from the first song by Depeche Mode not about freaky sex or religion.
Depeche Mode – The Landscape Is Changing

Earlier today, I responded to a Tweet by the creators of my favorite podcast, NPR’s Planet Money, about why people walk in the bike lanes when there are “perfectly good” sidewalks to walk on. They posted a picture on the associated blog post of Times Square to illustrate it (we have lots and lots of new, green bike lanes here). I already answered them with my opinion but I really needed more than 140 characters. Especially after I had to navigate the Columbus Circle area this afternoon on my way to to Best Buy. (Please don’t think I am a fan of Best Buy, I was buying competitive product from their stock of 20 CD’s).

Around the curve of Columbus Circle near the park, I had to make my way through the following:

1. At least 15 different people holding “Bike Rental” signs. I guess they go along with the bike lanes but they seem to have proliferated overnight into an army. I have no idea if they are all one company or competing places or each one guy with a bicycle, but they are everywhere near the park. One enterprising guy had laid the sign on the sidewalk with 3 bikes “parked” against it. Fabulous.

2. At least 5 different sets of tourists stopped, looking up, looking at maps, snapping pictures, stopping to gawk at an office building and calling it a nice hotel, etc. Bottom line, not moving.

3. A woman with a Fox News mike and her cameraman interviewing a quintessential “man on the street” about the NY Post article featuring a photo of Obama and French president Sarkozy ogling a lady’s fine, fine ass at the G8. It goes without saying that a group had gathered around. Duh, there was a camera!

4. The usual sidewalk vendors of framed pictures of New York, such as a sign that said “Gay St.” (look, says the gay guy, I brought home a picture of a sign that says Gay St!), or John Lennon in his New York shirt next to a photo of the Imagine mosaic in Central Park ($2 with frame).

5. A scene out of the movie Airplane where people from at least three different charitable organizations tried to stop me and ask me for such things as “a moment of my time for the environment.” Also one from a comedy club where the guy actually addressed me by the color of my shirt. What a comedian!

I ask you, dear reader and NPR, where the hell am I supposed to walk?

NPR Planet Money Blog: Why Do People Walk In Bike Lanes?

You know, I didn’t vote for Michael Bloomberg for mayor (either time!) but after viewing yesterdays “plane crash – not” press conference, I have to hand it to him. See, after years of Giuliani and then Bloomberg, I am used to “just the facts, ma’am” type press conferences and find them quite reassuring. “Something bad happened but here are all the details so you can understand. And we’re on it, so, you know, just go on with your business. Would I sound this calm if there was anything to worry about?” This is an important thing in New York where there always seems to be some larger than life event that by all rights should worry you to death.

So the juxtaposition of that with the immediate statement of the governor (I probably would have voted against him except there was no election, he just succeeded our skanky, whore-loving last governor) was somewhat jarring. I can’t seem to find a transcript of Bloomberg’s statement, probably because it was so unsexy. In contrast, Governor Patterson’s statement is everywhere and is the dominant sound bite on both the TV and radio news (I flip around a lot). So imagine Bloomberg saying, “the plane left LaGuardia at 3-whatever and had X many people on board with Y number crew. The plane encountered a bird strike and blah blah happened. Rescue boats from yadda yadda agencies surrounded it and everyone was rescued. Everybody did an excellent job and we’ll figure out what went wrong. The end.”

Then you get Patterson immediately launching into, “There is a heroic pilot, who saved himself and approximately 154 other passengers this afternoon. We have had a miracle on 34th street, I believe we now have a miracle on the Hudson.” Oh, Jebus Crikey, don’t make me hurk. He went on to say, “”I think for all the times that we have had to appear at these press conferences in rather dismal circumstances, today, we realize how blessed this city is, and how blessed all of us are, particularly the survivors and their families. In simplicity, this is really was a potential tragedy that may become one of the most spectacular days in the history of New York City’s agencies, their coordination and the greatness of the people that worked to help the passengers, who will return home to their families.”

This sort of reminded me of the Simpsons episode (most things do but you’ve probably already noticed this) where the law-talking guy, Lionel Hutz, says to Homer Simpson, “Homer, I don’t use the word ‘hero’ very often, but you are the greatest hero in American history.” This was regarding suing an all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant. I’m not saying this wasn’t a big deal. It’s a huge deal and everyone in my office, which is in one of the buildings the plane might have crushed had it not ditched into the Hudson, were all gathered around our TV’s making stunned exclamations. That’s why you don’t have to overstate it!

Of course, I can’t vote for Bloomberg now. This time I’m mad at him for changing a law New Yorkers voted for – term limits – so he could run again. I don’t care that I didn’t actually vote in favor of that law. It’s the principle of the thing! Still, I expect him to win and hold years of matter-of-fact press conferences. What’s to worry about?

Title comes from:
Paula Abdul – Straight Up