eww this is just wrong...




But funny! lol
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Stats From Redbook, March 2005:

38% of men keep their eyes open while kissing.

Only 30% of women do.

New York City's Golden Gates
By TaraMetBlog

The greatest city on earth has another reason to brag with the unveiling of The Gates, a long-awaited public art project by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. But despite its popularity, some visitors feel the $21 million installation is not art at all. Whether a work of art or spectacle, the orange flags strung like a ribbon throughout Central Park are drawing in visitors by the subway load.

According to the Central Park Conservancy, which sells official Gates merchandise at the Park's entrance on 59th Street, 10 to 20 million people are expected to visit the park during the 16 days that The Gates are on display.

"February is the slowest month for tourism in the city and the exhibit has already brought an unexpected number to the park, which is usually dead in the winter," said Central Park Conservancy staff member, Chris Trimbull, 25. She adds that, "I think it's more popular than anyone had realized."

Before The Gates opened, a mere 200,000 visitors were but the day after Mayor Michael Bloomberg kicked off the unfurling of 1,089,882 square feet of orange fabric, attendance had already hit 700,000 people.

Despite temperatures falling below freezing, last Friday thousands of people milled about, strolling beneath streaming saffron fabric along 23 miles of park paths.

Standing 16 feet high, The Gates attracted the young, elderly, tourists and students alike, who took photographs, held hands and observed the temporary display.

New York's AM news station 1010 WINS recently conducted an online web poll asking if The Gates are art or a joke. Out of 1298 respondents, 65% said joke.

(read more)

Also for those who are not able to go to the park, here is a photo album of the pictures that I took, enjoy:

The Gates

New York Magazine: Curtain Up

La Cage aux Folles
I just saw La Cage on Broadway. For those who don't know the film Birdcage was based on this musical spectacular. The best thing about seeing the musical though is that it focuses more on the gay burlesque show, so it feels like you are getting two shows for the price of one.

Playing the Robin Williams role is Daniel Davis, who was Niles the butler in TV's The Nanny. He did a great job and sang wonderfully. I admit I was pretty excited to see him, since I always liked him on The Nanny.

As the other leading man or lady, is Gary Breach who's performance could rival Nathan Lane's. When he was sing La Cage in his french accent I kept thinking of Lumiere the candle stick in Beauty in the Beast singing Be My Guest. Good thing I whispered that to my family otherwise they wouldn't have believed me later that I had guessed right, because during intermission we read in the PlayBill that Gary had created the role of Lumiere and is the voice of the Disney cartoon.

The outrageous costumes and dance numbers were amazing. People actually gasped and crossed their legs when the men would bend in ways a man so shouldn't, especially in this one ballet scene. I have to admit the men in drag looked really good and I was jealous of their amazing legs, some could rival Tina Turner's.

I was not too impressed with the father in law character, I guess because I kept thinking of the great job Gene Hackman did in the movie.

One of the songs featured in the Musial was the fun song that Ru Paul had remade, "I am what I am." I knew his version so I was not aware that it was in La Cage first back when it first debuted in the mid 80s. I'm now playing his version because it's been in my head ever since I left the Marquis Theater.

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Valentine's Day with Tony Danza
I had been trying to get tickets to Tony Danza's morning talk show since it premiered in September. I grew up watching Who's The Boss each week and Taxi reruns and have always loved him, maybe because he is Italiano like me.

Anyway, I couldn't get tickets because the show was always filled. But a couple months ago I noticed on ABC's site it said, "Attention Single Women in NY." I clicked on the link and it asked if I'd like to attend a special Valentine's taping of The Tony Danza Show. I entered my name and forgot all about it. Then a few weeks ago I received a call on my cell phone asking if I still wanted to go to a taping. I said sure, but asked what I had to do? I was afraid they would be setting me up on TV or something. It turns out the audience is going to be full of single women, and single men are gonna come out and give us gifts. So, I wasn't going to say no to a taping AND free gifts. The intern on the phone also mentioned we might all be going out to lunch with Tony afterward! How cool is that?

So me and my girlfriend went to the live taping Valentine's Day morning. We were told that we had to wear red or pink.

If anything, I hope to ask about the tattoo on his arm. I used to always look for it on Who's the Boss, but could never really see what the picture was of. I know it says "Keep On Truckin," but underneath that I think its a cartoon of a man walking? or ribbons? urghh it's been annoying me for years.

Taping Recap
OMG! It was amazing! Did anyone watch the show? I might not have gotten a car like the Oprah audience BUT we all received a free 2-night 3-day trip to Marco Island in FL! The trip is valued at $870! I have to pay taxes on it though, but big deal. I'm still in shock over the tons of free gifts that we got.

OK let me back track a bit. Our audience full of women was instructed to go outside and help film Tony's intro bit. We all had to scream "Live from New York!" This is when I saw Desperate Housewives guest, Ricardo Antonio Chavira, enter the building. He was really shy and sweet and nodded to everyone and shook my friend's hand. He looks better looking in person. The show for some reason makes him seem darker and heavier than he is.

Anyway after that we went back in the studio to watch the show. Tony did a push up contest with Ricardo and won. Since Tony won everyone in the audience won a box of Givere chocolates and EchoWomen Perfume by Davidoff--it's new.

Tony by the way looked great, in a red shirt and black pin stripe suit. He's tiny in person though. He also did little tap dancing steps during the commercial breaks for the audience. He said he learnt after an episode of Taxi had the cast pretend to tap dance, but he decided it would be fun to really learn so he did.

Also Tony announced in the beginning that all the women present would get Message Connextion bracelets, which cost $200! Everyone of course thought that was great.

During one of the commercial breaks, I was able to ask Tony about his tattoo. :) He said he no longer has it, since he had it removed. It did say Keep On Truckin though and had a Mr. Natural cartoon underneath. Thus, I was right it is a cartoon man taking wide steps.

The next guest was an animal expert, who had the cutest puppies on and a big bunny. We were all given another gift, a CD of Elvis love songs called: Love, Elvis

There was still another surprise though, over a hundred single men came out and gave each of us a bouquet of assorted colored roses.

From the calls I got after the taping, I was apparently in several of the camera shots and one close-up right after they announced the free trip. Great, so my mouth was probably open or I was screaming like a wacko. lol.

After the taping Tony took everyone on a Spirit Lunch Cruise around the Statue of Liberty. Too bad the weather was so icky out, it was sleeting when we went around the statue. While aboard I was able to take a group photo with Tony and give him a quick hug. Yay! I also met two girls that are from my town in CT but who I hadn't known and some nice guys too. My group of new friends and I went out to a bar in Chelsea when the cruise ended.

Oh by the way The Tony Danza Show has been renewed for another season.

Peer Pressure
It was weird enough going back to school for my master's degree and being with students of all ages with different careers and various undergrad degrees, but I didn't think there would still be fads or that I'd fall victim to peer pressure.

Generally everyone seems to like being different except for when it comes to what they drink. Besides the Starbucks cartons scattered on our large tables, most of the people in my 6 hour classes buy VitaminWater during our breaks. There would be a bottle next to each notebook when I got back. I felt I wasn't part of a clique or something, lol.

I managed to hold off trying the expensive flavored water during my Fall semester, mainly because I'm cheap and I don't drink too much (been dehydrated twice as a result). I was also put off by the vast selection of colored waters. Each go by funky names like Focus, Revive and Balance. What if I purchased the wrong one? And ended up with one that I didn't like and had a full bottle on my desk mocking me while I did my work. I mean, do I try the green, pink, red, blue or yellow one?

So finally outside of class, when I was grocery shopping after work I bought 3 bottles for $9.99 (yikes!) After much deliberation I chose Green Tea (Rescue), Lemon Tea (Vital-t) and Raspberry Apple (Defense). I liked them all, although the green tea a little less than the others. They are not sugary like Gatorade and not as blah as water. Also each bottle lasted me two days, again I can't consume too much liquids for some reason. However, I felt healthy drinking the vitamin water and I rarely do anything healthy.

A funny feature is that each bottle has an amusing paragraph on the label giving some little anecdote. One wrote about Golden Girls being Sex and the City 20 years later, which was a nice brief distraction from my other readings. So now I found another way to spend money like it was water ;)

Conclusion: Be a sheep like I was and try it :)