Two of These Things Just Don't Belong....

This is an offical photo of President Obama, Michelle Obama, Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, his wife, and their two daughters...who aspire to be Wednesday Addams apparently.....Que Horror!

Snorting at the Swine Flu

It seems the mass hysteria that is the swine flu has hit a fever pitch. Healthcare workers, myself included, are being mandated/forced/bullied into receiving the swine flu vaccine. A vaccine that is still in clinical trials. The idea of forcing people to be injected with a brand new vaccine, whose side effects have yet to be seen, is abhorrent and a total violation of civil rights. They (and by they I mean certain gov't agencies that shall remain nameless) are treating this flu like its the Bubonic Plague, when it is in fact less deadly than the regular flu. As of September 10th, 593 people have died of the swine flu, compared to the 36,000 people that die of the regular flu every year. These numbers do not support the need for a pandemic panic. Webster's Dictionary defines a pandemic as "occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population". Yes, the disease has been detected in different countries (probably only because they have been meticulously looking for it...or planting it...), but it has in no way affected a large percentage of the population.
The gov't has ordered 195 million doses of the vaccine; 45 million should be ready by mid-October. So if everyone can't be vaccinated at once, who decides who the guinea pigs are that get vaccinated first? Also, once vaccinated, it takes 5 weeks to develop immunity. So there's a chance you could get the swine flu anyway...so now you've just been injected with God knows what for nothing. My immune system has done a hell of a job keeping me alive so far and I have no interest in insulting it by succumbing to an unnecessary vaccine.
(As I uncover more info on this topic, I will post it...stay tuned)

Straight From The Horse's Mouth...I Mean Ass--More Douchebaggery from Kanye West

This will be the first of many Kanye bashing blogs to come as this man is the definition of all that is wrong in this world. We've seen him throw a bitchfit over not winning a MTV VMA....c'mon its a silver moonman, not a Nobel Prize-get over it. I have shoes worth more than that piece of tin. Then there was the whole "George Bush doesn't care about black people" debaucle. However, tonight's shenanigans at the VMA's was the ultimate display of douchebag. Sweet little Taylor Swift was accepting her award for Best Female Video, when the Lord of the Douches himself appeared out of thin air and grabbed her microphone. A shocked Taylor could do nothing but stand by as Kanye bitched that Beyonce's "Single Ladies" video was the best video ever made, blah, blah, blah. Not sure if he's aware, but Beyonce's video is heavily inspired by/copied from "Mexican Breakfast", choreograped by Bob Fosse and performed by the legendary Gwen Verdon (see clip below and you will see the parallels). So shut your mouth Kanye---but that must be hard to do with your foot always stuck in there.....

Here's a clip of Kanye in action....


And the original "Single Ladies" dance...

And this is why I love Kathy Griffin..

Times must be tough for Kid...

You think you know, but you have no idea....

It is very interesting to see how we are perceived by others, and how off others perceptions can be. Apparently, some people think I am boring, lame, a square, and my personal favorite, an old lady...just because I don't like to drink and party like a sailor in a whorehouse. The funny part of all this is that compared to these people, my life is quite fascinating and fabulous. I just don't feel the need to tell the general public everything I do (this isn't Twitter)---so because I don't inform, I don't live life in their opinion. There is more to life than booze and stupid decisions that you will regret later....grow up people!!! And to let you know just how great and interesting my life is, here are a few fun facts about me:

--I have seen the two remaining Beatles in concert.
--I have seen every one of my favorite artists in concert--a pricey habit, but worth every penny.
--I auditioned for a reality show.
--I have been to almost every state in the US.
--I auditioned for a movie when I was younger...Scarlett Johannsen stole my career lol
--I've been on the field and in the dugout at Fenway Park (ok I know its against my religion to partake in anything Red Sox related, but its a classic ballpark)
--I was an extra in a movie with Jack Nicholson...how awesome is that!
--I got moved up to the FRONT ROW at an Aerosmith concert
--I've saved someone's life...albeit inadvertently.
--Rudy Giuliani told me he liked my Yankees shirt when he came to my school in the 8th grade--for one day, I was the cool girl in school.
--I've met quite a few famous people, and have yet to be wowed by any of them.
--I am related to Dee Snider of Twisted Sister (through marriage but it still counts!)
--People stop me all the time to tell me I look like Sandra Bullock.
--I can dance circles around you...if the mood strikes me.
--I do a great version of Tom Jones' "Delilah".
--I was on set for my friend Annette's music video.
--I was at the last game ever played at Shea Stadium.

and the best is yet to come.....

A Knight to Remember

Before I was sidelined by surgery, I had purchased tickets to see the legendary Paul McCartney at Citi Field. I was not about to let anything stop me from going to this concert, including intermittent stabbing pains. Or rain for that matter. It had been raining all day, but luckily it had become just a fine hair-frizzing mist by the time Paul hit the stage (which was at 9pm, contrary to the 6:30 start time on the ticket--glad I was aware of this before I went so I arrived at 8). 9:00 arrives, Paul comes out, the crowd goes nuts, and a familiar scent hits the air...ah to be at a rock concert! Despite being a rock legend and a freakin' Beatle, Paul was so humbled by the crowd and had a "you're all here for me?" attitude all night. Completely refreshing and adorable. He spoke to the crowd a lot, in his cute little accent, which made me want to run onstage and pinch his cheeks and ask him to come over and play Rock Band. I was a little unsure about the setlist, as he played a lot of his solo stuff aside from Beatles and Wings music. But he somehow managed to balance the unfamiliar and familiar in such a way that you didn't need to get up for a bathroom break during the songs you didn't know. He sang over 30 songs and sounded just as good as the record on every one. I was truly blown away by him. I have now seen the two remaining Beatles live in concert and I consider it a privilege to say I saw Paul McCartney at Citi Field!
SETLIST: Drive My Car / Jet / Only Mama Knows / Flaming Pie / Got To Get You Into My Life / Let Me Roll It/Purple Haze / Highway / The Long and Winding Road / My Love / Blackbird / Here Today / Dance Tonight / Calico Skies / Mrs. Vanderbilt / Eleanor Rigby / Sing the Changes / Band on the Run / Back in the U.S.S.R. / I’m Down / Something / I’ve Got a Feeling / Paperback Writer / A Day in the Life/Give Peace a Chance / Let It Be / Live and Let Die / Hey Jude // ENCORES: Day Tripper / Lady Madonna / I Saw Her Standing There / Yesterday / Helter Skelter / Get Back / Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band/The End

Murphy's Law Lives On!

It's been awhile since my last post....had a lot of stuff going on, including getting ready for my Mom's wedding. To keep things interesting, as I like to do, my body decided to rage against me and develop appendicitis. Not the most horrible thing in the world, but the timing could not have been worse--this happened two days before the wedding. Yes, I know I'm fortunate it didn't happen during the wedding, or rupture while I was dancing, but I was still a little afraid to break the news to the bride! I felt bad to draw the focus away from my mother, as every bride deserves the full spotlight, but my body had other ideas. I was lucky to be seen and operated on in the hospital I work at, so it was VIP all the way. So after about 36 hours in the hospital I headed home to start my recuperation. As minimally invasive as my surgery was, man did I hurt the next day (and for three days after, the pain was pretty intense). I'm not big on taking pain meds because I'd rather be aware of what is going on in my body. However, to get through the wedding day, I had to rely on my new friend Percocet. I'm so grateful that they did the job, and didn't make me sleepy, paranoid, loopy, etc. I made it through the day, from start to finish (no naps!), and the wedding was beautiful! Congrats to the happy couple!

Today is a special day....

The incomparable Gary Busey turned 65 today....awesome!

Not The "Same Old Song and Dance"....

Every summer, I go see Aerosmith (my favorite band) with my friend Lauren--this year was no different as concerts are recession-proof in my book. Unfortunately, they always seem to play at Jones Beach Theater, which is the world's worst venue, acoustically speaking. And its an outdoor theater, so bad hair is always a guarantee. Well this year, a tremendously scary storm came through the area, delaying the concert. The 7:30 start time became 9pm. So we had some time to kill and hit the concession stand to buy a 20oz. bottle of Coke--for 7 dollars!!!! Are you serious??? By the way, this place must be run by Mormons, because it is a DRY venue. So the opening act ZZ Top went on at 9pm and played for an hour--not my kind of music, but they were good, however an hour was way too long to listen to them. I was falling asleep. Aerosmith finally took the stage at 10:45pm!!!! As a huge fan, I hate to say this, but the show was lackluster. I think the rain delay had sucked the life out of the crowd, and the lack of alcohol wasn't helping the situation. Steven Tyler's voice seemed to be going in and out, and the setlist was old school. I dig their old stuff but I think the crowd would've preferred to hear their later hit records. The show felt rushed (maybe because of the delay?), and Joe Perry neglected to remove his shirt after his "Draw The Line" guitar solo---a bummer for me. (Yes I find him attractive--don't ask!) They only played for an hour and 15 mins. which wasn't much longer than their opening act played, so i felt gypped. My pics came out pretty well considering I had third level seats.
Hi to Frances and Scott and their future rocker!!! Great seeing you guys at the show!


Setlist:

Train Kept A Rollin'

Cryin'

Love In An Elevator

Walkin' The Dog

Dream On

Combination

Toys In The Attic

Uncle Salty

Adam's Apple

Walk This Way

Big 10 Inch Record

Sweet Emotion

No More, No More

Round And Round

You See Me Cryin'

Draw The Line

Encore:

Guitar Hero Joe

Come Together

Jay-Z's not so surprise appearance at Beyonce's MSG show

Fierceness At Its Finest---Beyonce at MSG

I had the pleasure of catching Beyonce's "I Am.." show at MSG Monday night---and let me tell you, calling it a "show" does not do it justice! Miss Knowles, or should I say Mrs. Carter, performed her fabulous booty off for two hours--singing, dancing, working the audience, even doing aerial moves. She did all this while rocking costumes that are definitely a drag queens dream come true. The show started out with "Crazy In Love"---and you know who made a cameo...Jay-Z! (God, I love living in New York) I've been to a bunch of concerts at the Garden, but I have never felt it shake the way it did when he came out. The place went absolutely nuts. I have no idea what he said/rapped because it was THAT loud. I believe he did a verse from "Give It To Me" and changed the lyrics-what he changed them to is beyond me though. Beyonce did every hit she's ever had, including those with Destiny's Child--brought me back to high school! She did a lot of songs from her new album, I guess to keep with the Sasha Fierce theme. At one point they played a clip of her singing and dancing as a little girl, as she danced along onstage--definitely a highlight for me, as I used to be that little girl that would dance and sing for anyone who would listen! One of the funniest parts of the show had to be when Beyonce talked to a guy in the audience who happened to be very gay and very close to passing out because B was talking to him. She asked him his name and I think he said something like Leshawn, but I'm not sure because he was shrieking--she proceeded to sing his name as "Say My Name" started and he LOST it--hilarious. Then she wiped her sweat with a towel and gave it to him and I'm pretty sure his heart stopped on the spot. Classic--love my gays and their enthusiasm!
I took a bunch of pics, which I have posted for your viewing pleasure--I tried to include at least one of each outfit!!! Overall, it was a fantastic show--she sounds amazing live and looks incredible (I'm considering cutting my hair off and getting a Beyonce weave--her hair was flawless despite being flipped around for two hours!) She is a true superstar and a great performer and will probably take after Tina Turner and still be bringing the house down at 60!

Flying the not so friendly skies....

I had the pleasure of experiencing a three hour flight delay the other day and decided to use this time to observe the human behavior around me. Let me start by saying that there was an engine issue with our plane, so needless to say I was more than happy to wait for a new plane to arrive. However, most of my fellow passengers were not. The bitching and moaning that went down was ridiculous. And since this is Queens, the bitching and moaning occurred in quite a few languages and accents. I guess impatience transcends any language barriers. I learned several things about people during this time:

-people will complain til they are blue in the face if they think they can get something free in the end (in this case a free ticket)

-when someone is upset, they will voice their frustrations at a very high volume, in hopes that someone will agree and support their complaint cause

-children and flight delays don't mix

-old people always seem to be in a rush for some odd reason

-if someone is smelly or obnoxious, chances are they will be sitting near me on the plane

-apparently, some people are above checking their luggage and love shoving their bags that don't fit into the overhead, therefore slowing the rest of us up. I think they should have airlines that have no overhead compartments!!!

All in all, waiting around these people complaining made me want to tell them that if they didn't want to wait, they were more than welcome to board our first plane....

And this is how I now prefer to travel....

The Tony Blog...

No, this blog isn't about Tony Danza (sorry to disappoint), its about my favorite awards show of the year, the Tonys! I look forward to the amazing live performances and the witty, albeit corny, Broadway repartee. The show started off with a bang--literally. After Poison performed with the cast of Rock of Ages, Bret Michaels walked right into a piece of the set that was coming down from the ceiling. I don't know what happened but he hit it hard enough to get knocked out for sure! Liza Minelli was her usual, um, entertaining self. She must keep the pharmaceutical industry in business. Neil Patrick Harris hosted---he's so freaking adorable I can't take it. His bf is a lucky man! Watching the Tonys makes me want to be on Broadway. I couldn't think of a more fulfilling job in the world (for me personally). And think of all the fabulous gay guys I would meet!
PS---Liza Minelli wears Ed Hardy??? who knew! Gotta love crazy!

And the point is?????

I signed up on Twitter a few weeks ago just to see what all the fuss is about. And apparently, the fuss is about NOTHING! I realized I have absolutely no interest in the minutia of other people's lives. Nor do I feel the need to share mine. I am however, fascinated by celebrities and their Twitter obsession. Why do they think we care what they are doing, or who they are talking to? Well, amazingly, a lot of people do! Most mainstream celebs have almost 1 million followers each! That's insane to me. What is also very strange is how celebs basically tell people everywhere they are during the course of the day---this site must be a stalkers paradise! Wait til the first celeb gets attacked, etc. and they find out its because they posted their whereabouts on Twitter--then maybe people will wake up and see how ridiculous this site is. For those of you that enjoy it, rock on--but I will be deleting my account!

Idol chatter

I've been wanting to blog about American Idol for awhile now, but decided to wait until it was over. Why you ask? Because the finale is the best part!!! I love how they pull the most random group of artists out of the woodwork to sing with these kids who were probably in utero when these people had hits. However, these classic artists are right up my alley. I have now decided that I need to be on this show just so I can have the chance to perform with MY idols. This year was like a playlist on my Ipod---Cyndi Lauper, KISS, Lionel Richie, and...wait for it....Queen! If I ever got the chance to perform with Queen, I would lose my shit! My ultimate rock 'n' roll fantasy is singing with Aerosmith, but Queen is iconic in my world. I grew up listening to them and was amazed by Freddie Mercury even as a kid. His killer voice and stage presence still gives me chills. After seeing Adam sing with them last night, I nominate him as Queen's lead singer. Mercury is irreplaceable, but I think Adam has the chops to do him justice. And let's talk about Adam's outfits. I love it--his glam rock fabulousness is very entertaining. Kris is a good singer, but compared to Adam, he is like a choir boy. I initially was anti-Adam, because I felt Idol was curving the show in his favor. They gave him the best production, usually put him last, and never said a bad thing about him. I felt this was unfair to the others. I also didn't appreciate Katy Perry's blatant display of support for him (she had his name embroidered on her cape during her Idol performance)-I felt the Idol producers should never have allowed that. But in the end, Kris won--here's to the underdog! And here's to Adam's future as a kick-ass glam rocker and MAC spokesman! (I wish Adam wore this outfit for the finale--it would've really kicked things up!)

Workout update.....

Today I finally did the Kim Kardashian Ultimate Butt Body Sculpt dvd. And let me tell you, it was no joke! I'm already in pain, and I'm not looking forward to getting out of bed tomorrow morning. The routine moved quickly, which I liked. (I'm not into exercising at all, so the sooner its over, the better!) And I like that Kim seems to be a little lazy about it, which I can relate to. She doesn't pretend to be some over-caffeinated, bouncy aerobics instructor who I want to slap in the face. So I actually do recommend it to anyone who was considering buying it (or downloading it illegally). I think guys would enjoy watching it too---for obvious reasons...

Gettin' Wiggy With It

So what's a girl to do on a rainy Thursday night in NYC? Call up a friend and go wig shopping of course! A few months ago this would've been a odd concept to me, but a friend of mine has educated me on the excitement of going out in wigs and that not all wigs look like they are Halloween wigs from Party City. Cut to me and Dawn, wig virgins that we are, going to Ricky's in Chelsea--because if you can't find good wigs in the drag capital of the world, you're out of luck. Apparently Ricky's has very stringent wig policies---you have to purchase a wig cap, you can only try on three, and you cant take any pics of the wig heads. weird. Anyway, the salesman must've enjoyed us, because he let us try on as many wigs as our little hearts desired! In the end, I kept it safe with a wig similar to my hair color, but Dawn channeled her inner Lady Gaga and went with a short blond one and a long light brown. All this wiggery worked up and appetite, so we decided to head to Cafeteria, along with Dawn's trouper of a boyfriend Greg. Poor Greg had a horrible headache so he slept in the car while we tried on wigs---he was probably grateful to have the headache actually. We enjoyed a fine meal of comfort food and yelling at each other to be heard over the dull roar that was going on in there. And I finally got some chicken and waffles, after months of searching! The chicken could've been greasier but oh well. All in all it was a great night of dress up, stuffing our faces, and laughing so hard that puking was imminent.
Luckily, Dawn was able to sneak a pic of the two creepy man wig heads they had there---I now share this creepiness with you all...

Summer in the city???

I've always wanted to live in Manhattan, but that is obviously a long term goal right now. So I'm starting to look into the idea of subletting a place for a week over the summer. My friend Annet did this last summer and had a blast-she also warned me how much money she spent doing so! So in the interest of not blowing all my money, I thought it would be fun to share a place with a few people. How cool would it be to live in the city with a bunch of fun, entertaining friends, and see how the other half lives for a week? (And by other half, I don't necessarily mean the filthy rich. I mean people lucky enough to live in the city) So I've been checking Craigslist daily and let me tell you...pickens are slim!! There are a lot of tiny, dirty, cluttered apartments out there! I found a cool looking place in Tribeca that I am definitely interested in....but its a penthouse and goes for $9500 a month (see photos)......maybe next year!

Lovin' "MotherLover"

I'm not a big JT fan, but this had me rolling...plus it was filmed in DUMBO!

Measures of success...

I spent most of today at a college graduation and it got me thinking..(because I do my best thinking when I need to focus on not being bored to tears!)...why is a diploma the conventional way of measuring "success" in our society? As someone who is NOT school oriented, its hard for me to understand the importance of a series of letters after your name. Some of the smartest people I know (and I mean MENSA smart), never attended college, or dropped out. Its such a shame that they can't even interview for certain jobs because they don't have a Bachelors degree, etc. On the other hand, I know a lot of dumb people who have a collection of degrees. To me, a degree shows that you paid a lot of money, sat through boring lectures, and wrote some papers. It is not indicative of intelligence or your ability to succeed in a career. I do give a lot of credit to people who make it through school and have the desire to go on to get a Masters, Doctorate, etc. But its not for everybody! (If they had a Masters degree in Fine Dining or Concert Attending, that may be something I'd be interested in.....)
Congrats to my Mom for getting her Masters degree today! I know how hard she's worked and how much she wanted it. Thanks to Apple for inventing the video Ipod, which did a wonderful job of entertaining me discreetly during todays lengthy festivities!

Since summer is just around the corner, I think its time to start attempting to get into bikini shape. I decided to check out the Kim Kardashian workout series (go ahead laugh--if you're not already). I figured it would be a self-esteem booster to work out with someone who has a bigger ass than me. Here are my thoughts so far...(I didn't actually do the workout-I always watch them one time to get familiar with the moves so I don't look like a spastic dork when I actually do them.)
--I think Kim is a gorgeous girl, but no one ever works out with that much makeup on.
--No one works out with a leather corset belt on either, but she explains her reason for wearing it--to remind her to keep her core tight. Yea, ok--admit it just looks good on you Kim, and thats why you're wearing it!
--Her trainer said "Look how far Kim goes down." This made me laugh...a lot.
--There's a random rack of clothing in the background--weird.
All in all, the moves look good so I'm actually looking forward to trying it. I'll let you know if its worth it....

And so it begins....

Hey all—so I’ve finally decided to start blogging. I figured that the world is finally ready to experience my randomness firsthand. More to follow…