The Pleasure of My Company
I've always been impressed with Steve Martin, the Renaissance man. We all know he can do comedy and act, and he even wrote the witty film Bowfinger too. A few years ago, I saw his paintings at The Belagio in Vegas and have been reading his witty articles in The New Yorker for years. But now I'm also enamored with his books. Granted they are not adventure and plot driven but they are insightful and I love getting lost in his words and writing style.

In his first novella, Shopgirl, I was amazed at how well he understood women. I was like, guys know that about us? lol. Although I must warn new readers, at times throughout the book I also felt depressed like the heroine was.

Last month I read his second book, The Pleasure of My Company, which has now been released on paperback. It's about a male character and his OCD obsessions and his struggle to overcome them. Again it is Martin's commentaries on society and people are what is really interesting.

The following description really impressed me, I'd love to be described and analyzed so thoroughly by another person. But then again I might not like what I hear ;)

"I see something that describes her more clearly. It occurs in the pauses in her speech when her eyes fix on an air spot roughly waist-high and she seems to be in a trance. And then suddenly it's as if her mind races, trying to catch up to real time, and she continues right where she left off. If you saw her in these moments, you might think she was collecting her thoughts in order to go forward. But I see it another way: her mind is being overwhelmed by two processes that must simultaneously proceed at full steam. One is to deal with and live in the present world. The other is to re-experience and mourn something that happened long ago. It is as though her lightness pulls her toward heaven, but the extra gravity around her keeps her earthbound."

I'm ready for my close up Mr. Demille
I just got back from hosting another TED-TV episode for Manhattan Cable TV. I had hosted the wild Greenwich Village parade for them in October.

This time it was for the 8th Annual Timmy Awards, which are awards given to up and coming talent featured in the magazine Talent In Motion. There was a fashion show and some musical performances.

The segment airs on Sunday, April 10th, 7:30 p.m. Manhattan Cable TV, channel 56 on Time Warner Cable. Channel 108 or 111 for RCN Cable.

I have no broadcast journalism training so I learned a lot from the Oct taping by just throwing myself into the deep end. So this time I think I did a better job. I did not dart my eyes away when the camera went close-up or ended my smile too soon.

It's difficult trying to interview someone on the fly or deliver the little intro spots off the top of my head, while also remember those annoying things, like facing the camera and not the person I'm talking to, smile, etc.

I think I'll stick to print and blogging.

Teri, euthanasia and my sister
I try not to have my blog be political and for the most part I keep it fluffy and stick to non heated issues. But I?d like to briefly talk about Teri Schiavo, after all she is currently the #1 blogged about person right now.

I feel for everyone involved in this case, Teri, her husband and her parents. I do believe that it is a personal decision and that it should be up to the family as well. I?ve held my tongue on the subject even when my fellow grad students were discussing the issue in class. One student commented that Teri?s husband obviously does not love her anymore. But if that was the case he would have taken the money that was offered from the anti-euthanasia people and let his wife continue as is.

Some feel that it?s not right to take life into your own hands and that taking Teri off the machines goes against God?s natural plan. But there is nothing natural about having machines breathe for you. Fifty years ago Teri would have died naturally by now--modern technology is what is keeping her alive. If her family allowed the media?s cameras to show Teri's current condition with her laboriously breathing in her hospital bed and photos of her bruised body, then there is no way you could think that this is natural. Not that starving the poor girl is any more humane, urghh its just a hard case because we have no idea what SHE wants.

Let?s go back 23 years, when my mother was pregnant with me (although she didn?t know it) and my sister Serina (isn?t that a beautiful name?) who was three years old. One autumn day she chased her dog Toto across the street in front of her house and was hit by a careless driver. Going through what no parent should, my mom saw her daughter lying lifeless underneath a car.

When I was 11 and taking a bath with my mom, she pulled me into her arms and told me she could still see Serina?s little feet when her body was lifted onto the stretcher and brought into an ambulance. Desperately holding one another, we both cried as my mom went into real detail for the first time about Serina?s death. The doctors said she was brain dead and would never truly be ?alive? again; she would only be a vegetable and would never breathe on her own. After a month of my parents living in the hospital, watching their daughter being poked with needles every couple of hours, and seeing her chest being lifted off the bed as the machines pumped air into her tiny lungs every couple of seconds, they realized as desperately as they wanted their child alive and always with them, they could not stand to see her exist like this. With a priest in the room, my parents turned off her machines and my mother gathered her child into her arms one last time, like she did to me in the tub that day, while she told me of how Serina?s skin turned blue and how her baby was finally able to rest peacefully and not simply existing in a comatose state for the rest of her days.

This was obviously not an easy decision on their part, nor anyone forced into a situation like this one. So, it seems the only way to have your beliefs be carried out in an event like this is by writing instructions in a living will for your family. I know several people who have done so already.

Live Wire Article: "NYU Students Prepare for Death" by Jennifer Richards

Stat: A woman's risk of untimely death increases by four times in the three years following the loss of a child (Newsweek)

It's that time again!
If you thought Cadbury Cream Eggs, DING! We are on the same page.

Because one of my favorite things about Easter time are Cadbury Cream Eggs. The original ones, not the carmel ones because let's face it they are just an egg shaped Rolo. And why buy the chocolate-chocolate ones when you can just get a chocolate bar
to begin with. You cannot, however, buy the glorious cream ones in any other form.

In college my friends would buy them for me knowing how I love them so. Since they are only on sale once a year, I horde these tasty cream eggs, but then sometimes I wait to long to eat them and the chocolate goes stale :( My own fault. They also sell mini cadbury eggs now too, but BEWARE they are not as good, go for the normal size.

When I lived in London for six months I was in Cadbury heaven since they sell the treats all year long as well as the whole Cadbury line. But then when Cadbury was the only option, I started to miss Hershey's. Thus, I'll never be satisfied on either side of the pond ;)

A Native New Yorker
When I was growing up, my Studio 54-dancing single mother would play the song "Native New Yorker" by the musical group Odyssey. Both of us being born in New York it was appropriate. Recently I downloaded the song to my iPod and last week when I was on the subway I really listened to the lyrics for the first time and they are depressing! Despite the upbeat disco sound the lyrics are proud but also cynical.
Below are the lyrics and I uploaded the song to my server, click HERE to play. Enjoy!

Runnin' pretty, New York City girl
Twenty-five, thirty-five
Hello, baby, New York City girl

You grew up ridin' the subways, running with people
Up in Harlem, down on Broadway
You're no tramp, but you're no lady, talkin' that street talk
You're the heart and soul of New York City

And love, love is just a passing word
It's the thought that you had in a taxi cab that got left on the curb
When he dropped you off and he stated firm

Oh, oh, oh [Oh, oh, oh]
You're a native New Yorker
You should know the score by now
You're a native New Yorker

New York girl, ooh, ooh, ooh

Music plays, everyone's dancin'
closer and closer
Makin' friends and findin' lovers
There you are lost in the shadows,
searchin' for someone
To set you free from New York City

And, whoa, where did all those yesterdays go?
When you still believed love could really be like a Broadway show
You are the star, win the applause

Oh, oh, oh [Oh, oh, oh]
You're a native New Yorker
No one opens the door
For a native New Yorker

You're a native New Yorker
You should know the score by now
You're a native New Yorker

What you waitin' for, no one opens the door
[You're a native New Yorker]
For a native, for a native New Yorker
--

Want another free mp3s?
Check out this old post for Tori Alamaze's, Don't Ya!

and go HERE for Nitty's Nasty Girl MP3