Jungle Woman of the Jungle Ad

Here's an unofficial poster for the play I am rehearsing for right now. It's shaping up rather nicely. So save those dates!

Freedom of '76

I love this video. An oldy but goody. A Spike Jonze-directed video of Ween doing their ode to The City of Brotherly Love. How can you miss?

And who of us has not at one time, in some drunken stupor, contemplated stealing that damn Liberty Bell?

The Roominghouse Madrigals

Rent in the New York area has increased 25% in the last five months. My brother talked to a landlord today in our continuing search for a place to live and he confessed that his properities are nowhere near worth what he is charging. But that is the going rate and it keeps climbing. He said that this was not a renter's market but a landlord's market. I read an article recently that said vacancies are "hovering around 0%".

When I first moved to this section of Brooklyn, I was paying $1300 for a pretty sizable 2 bedroom. If that place were on the market now it would fetch $1600 or more a month. Most apartments in this area are going for $2100 or more.

Another problem is the need for outstanding credit in order to even be considered a a renter, something that neither my brother nor I have. I know mine's not that great but the only balance I am carrying is my student loans. My brother's credit for some reason is terrible and we've been shown the door more than a few times when looking for a place.

I am too old to be dependent on my parents. But I am constantly told I need a guarantor to cosign the lease on a new apartment. Unfortunately for me I started a new job and that doesn't help matters. Never mind the fact that I make more now. I haven't been there long enough, so it counts against me.

So I am seriously considering putting my things in storage and renting a room by the week in a roominghouse until I find a place. Maybe I can help find bodies buried in the backyard.

Ooo, the excitement!

More Error Than Trial

Most of what I've learned about computers comes from constantly fucking things up.

Today, as I was trying clean the cache on my computer and generally make it run smoother, I deleted the System kernal extension and irreparably damaged everything. After much more "fucking around", trying to repair the problem, I ended up having to do an Archive and Install of the operating system. This is probably the third or fourth time I've done this.

I'm a jackass.

But i'm learning what NOT to do in the future. Perhaps in a few more years I'll know what I'm doing. By then I will have bought a brand new G5 a week before Apple introduces a G6. Cuz that's the way I roll.

"Bummer man, that's a bummer."

I found myself half-way through Gilbert Hernandez' new graphic novel Sloth, thinking to myself, "This is fantastic! I want to option the rights to this thing and make it into a film." It felt very Lynchian at times and it seemed to be building to an amazing catharsis. Having lived through a coma myself, I was particularly taken by the nonchalant treatment of it as something that "just sorta happened" but, regardless, has completely altered the characters' lives in subtle ways. I completely identified!

Then suddenly there is a body-switch/parallel universe thing straight out of Lost Highway, and now I'm completely hooked. I start to get giddy and excitedly flip through the pages.

And then...pfft!

The story peters out in the third act and fizzles and loses its momentum, I feel. I was so bummed by the ending I almost felt like returning it. And that so rarely happens to me. I am pretty accepting of everything I read or watch and don't invest too heavily in any work of art to the point where I get upset if it fails to live up to my expectations.

But the first two thirds were great!

"Eighty percent of success is showing up"*

I'd like to congratulate fellow Party Haller, Chris Sullivan, on finally getting a piece, "Your Flight, Three Years From Now", published by McSweeney's. They still haven't accepted anything of mine, but then, I'm not the writer he is, so I'm glad to see they still have standards!

(I've just realized this is the second post in a row where I've sung the praises of Mr. Sullivan. You owe me a beer next time we go to Reservoir, bitch.)

*quote from Woody Allen, who, as far as I know, hasn't had anything in McSweeney's either.

Party Hall's On Notice

Party Hall For Rent are currently putting together a new show to be performed in the coming months. You should go! If for no other reason than to witness "The Calamari Sketch", a wonderfully sick little gem from Chris Sullivan's twisted mind. (I had not been to a group "meeting" in several months and this was the first new sketch I was presented with when I met up with the other Hall members last Saturday. Perverse. Unsettling. And in terribly bad taste. What comedy is all about.)

And yes, I do sport the porn 'stache again. But this time it is for a role in a play. Though, I have to say, I am growing to like it. It has completely made me persona non grata. I walk the streets and get disapproving looks from people all the time now.