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February 28, 2006

This is One Classy Ass

Posted by Charlie at 02:06 PM | Comments (0)

Charging My Batteries

But before I could say anything, she suddenly asked me to hold her.

"Why?" I asked, caught off guard.

"To charge my batteries," she said.

"Charge your batteries?"

"My body has run out of electricity. I haven't been able to sleep for days now. The minute I get to sleep I wake up, and then I can't get back to sleep. I can't think. When I get like that, somebody has to charge my batteries. Otherwise, I can't go on living. It's true."

~Takashi Murakami, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, 1997

Posted by Charlie at 01:05 AM | Comments (2)

February 26, 2006

Weekend Roundup

Worked. Slept. Watched more episodes of Drawn Together. Cooked Thai fried rice. Worked. Slept. Attended beautiful loft party in Billysburg. Danced with beautiful hags and their fags. Drank. Stole huge bag of treats at said party and passed out candy to people on street outside. Went to Metropolitan post-party. Danced. Stumbled home. Woke up with a huge hangover and three bags of groceries at my feet. Detoxed. Worked. Watched more episodes of Drawn Together. Let the cat in. Worked.

Posted by Charlie at 07:25 PM | Comments (0)

February 24, 2006

A Room With A View

Posted by Charlie at 10:29 PM | Comments (0)

Two Weeks in a Row

Wow, he must really like me if he keeps coming back.

Posted by Charlie at 10:24 PM | Comments (1)

Break Time

I feel a spontaneous plane ticket purchase coming on.

Posted by Charlie at 08:56 AM | Comments (0)

February 22, 2006

Sofa Hunting

I'd like something understated, something that doesn't pop out at you when you walk into a room, but is inviting all the same. Clean lines, steel frame, steel legs. That's all I want.

The Ondo by Rene Holten, 2003.

The Isobel by Michiel van der Kley, 2003.

The Bono by Diplomat UK, 2004

Posted by Charlie at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)

February 21, 2006

Of Clean Butts and Such

After one interesting conversation over dinner last night I've been thinking more about getting a colonic. Colon hydrotherapy, as it's known more officially, stimulates peristalsis, breaks down hardened fecal matter, and purge parasites from your system. In other words, they stick a tube up your poop chute and you get to watch as fifteen gallons of water flushes out what remains of last year's Thanksgiving dinner. Where do I sign up!

An advantage to living in a big city in New York is all the choices of spas and centers that offer it. Should I go to Paul Labrecque? Great Jones Spa offers colonics with aromatherapy-infused hot-towel massages, which sounds like a good deal to me. Or maybe Artisan Spa, with their complimentary tea bar? The choices are almost limitless.

It's not that my colon is in dire need of a cleaning (although probably so since I've never had a colonic before) so much as I'm just curious as to how the process works.

More to come...

Posted by Charlie at 10:11 PM | Comments (1)

February 19, 2006

A Morning Visitor

I'm chillin' at home on a chilly Sunday morning, doin' wurk and kickin' it back with the roomie krew. Everything looks so nice outside, but one step out the door and your bones feel it: The Noreaster Chill. The cold is so thick and heavy it's like walking into a brick wall. The wind gets knocked out of you, and even if you're wearing six layers of clothing (like I did last night), it's still several layers too few. Which is why I'm wisely staying in today and enjoying the comforts of leeching off some poor sap's wireless network while downing brown rice tea. Maxim came over today, and I let him in for a bit to warm up. I like having company.

Posted by Charlie at 01:52 PM | Comments (4)

February 18, 2006

Designer Dumbbells

Wanna work out in style? For those who are truly design-conscious, Henriette Melchiorsen's one-kilo dumbbell keeps your body as well as your design palate fit and healthy. Looks good during a workout as well as on a coffee table.

Posted by Charlie at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)

I Heart Decibel

Friday night, and once again I found myself downing a lychee martini at Decibel, my favorite sake dive bar in the East Village. The staff can be pretentious and rude, and the lines can go spilling out the door, but I like the vibe here. It's very Japanese by way of Shinjuku Ni-Chome but without the gay men.

Posted by Charlie at 03:58 PM | Comments (0)

February 17, 2006

Bourgeois Conventions Bore Me

It's a bit chilly outside, but other than that, it feels like springtime has arrived, albeit a bit early. I took a personal day today, and used the free time to catch up on some much-needed work for various clients. It feels weird... the clouds that came in during last week's blizzard have lifted, as have my sorrow. I feel so happy all of a sudden! My Alu Bed is here, the Barneys sale is rockin' and I'm making every attempt to go there everyday, and I have an entire list of things to do in March. CAPITALl!!!

Posted by Charlie at 03:23 PM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2006

Exercising My Wallet

The Barneys Warehouse Sale starts today; don't expect to see me anywhere else for the next two weeks.

Posted by Charlie at 12:26 PM | Comments (0)

February 14, 2006

Pillow Talk

Posted by Charlie at 12:31 AM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2006

Transience

Snowfall is always beautiful, but only on the first day. The transient nature in all of us is reflected best in this. In a brief moment of reminiscence I find myself missing my friends back at home. I don't have a support system here, yet.

Posted by Charlie at 10:23 PM | Comments (0)

February 12, 2006

Winter Skin

Why is it that everyone turns into a poet whenever it snows?

Posted by Charlie at 10:47 PM | Comments (0)

The Morning After

Kids in Williamsburg love to drink, and they use any and every occasion as an excuse to head out to the bars to get some of their drunk on. This mid-winter blizzard has brought out hipsters by the masses. The lines to get into Barcade and Union Pool are spilling out the door with beautiful people in fur hoodies, but I'm opting to stay inside my warm apartment and laugh with my roommates at the debacle that's happening outside.

Oh, one thing of note: the people here, while very adept at standing around pretty looking like models, cannot dance to save their lives.

Posted by Charlie at 01:20 PM | Comments (1)

February 10, 2006

Alain Mikli

Purdy Alain Mikli eyeglasses. I'm getting tired of my current half-rimmed frames... maybe it's time for a change?

Posted by Charlie at 02:38 PM | Comments (1)

The Paul Smith Way

Do you know why I'm smiling so much today? Do you? It's because I just found out that you can order Paul Smith fabric from Maharam. I can see several new pillows and possible a reupholstered couch entering my life in the foreseeable future.

Posted by Charlie at 01:20 PM | Comments (1)

I Heart Dan Savage

Back when I was in college, I had a very brief desire to go into journalism. I went to see Dan Savage speak about it, and although he gave a very wonderful and insightful speech about the world of news media, I left the room with my mind changed.

Anyway, here is an op-ed piece that he did for the New York Times recently, which concerns two controversal movies as of late: "Brokeback Mountain" and "End of the Spear." He pretty much spells out why I never really did want to see "Brokeback" in the first place. Can anyone say it more candidly? I don't think so.

Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Ex-Gay Cowboys
By Dan Savage

FIRST, a little of that full disclosure stuff: I have not actually seen "Brokeback Mountain" or "End of the Spear," both of which I'm going to discuss here.

But since when did not seeing a film prevent anyone from sharing his or her strong opinions about it? Before the posters for "Brokeback Mountain" were even printed, everyone from the blogger Mickey Kaus to the Concerned Women for America to gay men all over the country had already said a lot about the film. (Their opinions were, respectively, con, con and pro.)

So, let's get to it: Remember when straight actors who played gay were the ones taking a professional risk? Those days are over. Shortly after Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, both straight, received Oscar nominations for playing gay cowboys in "Brokeback Mountain," conservative Christians were upset when they learned that a gay actor, Chad Allen, was playing a straight missionary in "End of the Spear."

"End of the Spear" tells what happened after five American missionaries were murdered in 1956 by a tribe in Ecuador. Instead of seeking retribution, the missionaries' families reached out to the tribe, forgave the killers and eventually converted them to Christianity. An evangelical film company, Every Tribe Entertainment, brought the story to the screen. In a glowing review, Marcus Yoars, a film critic for Focus on the Family, noted that the "martyrdom" of the slain missionaries has "inspired thousands if not millions of Christians." But after conservatives took a closer look at the cast list, the protests began. Many felt Chad Allen's presence in the film negated any positive message.

The pastors claim they're worried about what will happen when their children rush home from the movies, Google Chad Allen's name, and discover that he's a "gay activist." ("Gay activist" is a term evangelicals apply to any homosexual who isn't a gay doormat.) They needn't be too concerned. Straight boys who have unsupervised access to the Internet aren't Googling the names of middle-aged male actors gay or straight — not when Paris Hilton's sex tapes are still out there.

Frankly, I can't help but be perplexed by the criticisms of Mr. Allen from the Christian right. After all, isn't playing straight what evangelicals have been urging gay men to do?

That's precisely what Jack and Ennis attempt to do in "Brokeback Mountain" — at least, according to people I know who have actually seen the film. These gay cowboys try, as best they can, to quit one another. They marry women, start families. But their wives are crushed when they realize their husbands don't, and can't, ever really love them. "Brokeback Mountain" makes clear that it would have been better for all concerned if Jack and Ennis had lived in a world where they could simply be together.

That world didn't exist when Jack and Ennis were pitching tents together, but it does now — even in the American West. Today, the tiny and stable percentage of men who are gay are free to live openly, and those who want to settle down and start families can do so without having to deceive some poor, unsuspecting woman.

Straight audiences are watching and loving "Brokeback Mountain" — that's troubling to evangelical Christians who have invested a decade and millions of dollars promoting the notion that gay men can be converted to heterosexuality, or become "ex-gay." It is, they insist, an ex-gay movement, although I've never met a gay man who was moved to join it.

This "movement" demands more from gay men than simply playing straight. Once a man can really pass as ex-gay — once he's got some Dockers, an expired gym membership and a bad haircut — he's supposed to become, in effect, an ex-gay missionary, reaching out to the hostile gay tribes in such inhospitable places as Chelsea and West Hollywood.

What should really trouble evangelicals, however, is this: even if every gay man became ex-gay tomorrow, there still wouldn't be an ex-lesbian tomboy out there for every ex-gay cowboy. Instead, millions of straight women would wake up one morning to discover that they had married a Jack or an Ennis. Restaurant hostesses and receptionists at hair salons would be especially vulnerable.

Sometimes I wonder if evangelicals really believe that gay men can go straight. If they don't think Chad Allen can play straight convincingly for 108 minutes, do they honestly imagine that gay men who aren't actors can play straight for a lifetime? And if anyone reading this believes that gay men can actually become ex-gay men, I have just one question for you: Would you want your daughter to marry one?

Evangelical Christians seem sincere in their desire to help build healthy, lasting marriages. Well, if that's their goal, encouraging gay men to enter into straight marriages is a peculiar strategy. Every straight marriage that includes a gay husband is one Web-browser-history check away from an ugly divorce.

If anything, supporters of traditional marriage should want gay men out of the heterosexual marriage market entirely. And the best way to do that is to see that we're safely married off — to each other, not to your daughters. Let gay actors like Chad Allen only play it straight in the movies.

Posted by Charlie at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)

Heart Design

I have an amazing amount of respect for industrial designers/companies who put a lot of care and attention in the products that they bring to the marketplace. And while the posting of all these entries on things that I find pretty might come off as materialistic, I think Barbara Barry said it best when she "lives unabashedly for beauty and finds it (good design)a powerful and healing force." It's amazing how just the little things--by painting your bedroom two coats darker, or by using a wooden spatula instead of a plastic one, or by changing the slip cover of your sofa from cotton to wool--how these little minute details can do wonders to your overall state of being. It's not quantifiable, but it's there.

Posted by Charlie at 09:38 AM | Comments (0)

February 09, 2006

Hiropon

Awwww... shiiet. I just found out that I live about ten minutes away from Hiropon. Time to put on my stalking boots.

Posted by Charlie at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)

February 08, 2006

Death & Politics

I find it a little ironic that Coretta Scott King’s death came at a time when the Bush administration is dodging criticism about the NSA’s spying program, especially since when Martin Luther King was alive he was the target of multiple spying operations, notably by Kennedy and Hoover.

Posted by Charlie at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)

February 07, 2006

Alu Bed

In a bid to further settle myself upon this crazy city I'm finally going to purchase a bed. I hadn't gotten one before now--mainly due to laziness and the fact that I was hardly ever sleeping here--and now that I have incentive (and a sizable budget), I can rest a little easier tonight knowing that soon I will be sleeping in modern luxury. The bed in mind is the Alu by designer Luciano Bertoncini. It's low-slung, streamlined and, best of all, unlike the Twilight Sleep Sofa it ships flat for those moving-across-the-city times.

Posted by Charlie at 09:35 AM | Comments (2)

February 06, 2006

Arc Floor Lamp

What clearly is inspired by the Arco Floor Lamp, albeit about a tenth in price, the Arc Floor Lamp by CB2 is a beautifully constructed piece of lighting furniture well suited for reading or lounging or, as what I would do if I had the perfect apartment, as an unconventional chandelier over the dining table. Lovely.

Posted by Charlie at 02:00 PM

Maxim

For the past several nights now I've been receiving a visitor. I call him Maxim, and he is this cute cream-colored cat. He appeared out of nowhere one night last week, reaching a stretched paw through the opening of my bedroom window as if trying to get in. I don't open the window all the way knowing that he'll jump into my room if I do, so for the five minutes he tries to squeeze in all I can do is coo at it and touch its paw. Every night for five minutes he does this, and then he's gone. He's so adorable. I wonder if he's trying to tell me something. One day I'll let him in.

Posted by Charlie at 09:41 AM | Comments (0)

February 05, 2006

Shhhhh...

Gossip is the lowest form of discourse.

~Jacqueline Bisset

Posted by Charlie at 02:17 AM | Comments (0)

February 01, 2006

Underground Cities

Had dinner with some urban planners the other night. The topic of conversation shifted to homelessness and the transients in New York City. According to statistics, the estimated number of homeless people in New York City is at its highest ever since the surveying has begun, however many years ago. Of course, this number is most likely greatly underestimated since it would be impossible to tag every single homeless person in New York, and so a huge percentage of transients go unaccounted for.

But here's the real issue that perplexes me. Ever since I've arrived here--although not until recently have I consciously acknowledged it--I haven't seen a lot of homeless people here. In Seattle I wound encounter more panhandlers while walking down Broadway on Capitol Hill than I would in one entire month here. The neighborhoods in Manhattan have cleaned up in the past ten, twenty years, or they are currently in the process of cleaning up (read: gentrification). Times Square is now New York's take on Disney Land; the East Village now houses hipsters living off their trust funds; Hell's Kitchen is becoming the next Chelsea. And through all of this urban transformation, the surveys still state that the number of transients is at its highest.

Maybe I'm wandering in the wrong neighborhoods, but where did they go?

Posted by Charlie at 01:26 PM | Comments (1)