Nutcracker

Left: The fountain outside Lincoln Center.

Since returning to the US in 2nd grade, I have seen George Balanchine's Nutcracker by the NYCB company every Christmas. That's 14 times. I can pick out the most minute changes they make each year (this year, the little girls at the dinner party got red corsages, all the other years, they've been green with little colored flowers).

Originally a story by Russian author E.T.A. Hoffmann, Nußknacker und Mausekönig (1816), it was turned into a Russian Ballet with score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. How very interesting. Now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense that Russians are good at ballet. They have to spend more of their time indoors b/c of the snow, they have to keep warm b/c of the cold by working out, and they historically are very poor, hence lots of starved ballerinas to choose from.

It is family tradition to go out for dinner and see the ballet, and none of us get truly into the Christmas mood until we've seen a crazed Dr. Drossemier, the pom-pom's quiver on the balenerina's hands in the snow scene, watched the chocolate do their Spanish dance thing, and rated the coffee's abs for the year. Then we're good to go.

This year, I had an especially hard time focusing on the Sugar Plum fairy because her fairyman, or what ever you call male fairies, had a very large erm... package. Honestly, as the music played I was making up naughty & very funny lyrics in my head (some of them even rhymed!), very hard to concentrate. The picture to the right doesn't give him justice.

My favorite was Dewdrop and the Flowers, because I like they're longer tutu's with so many shades of pink. Actually, my fav are the two lead Flowers, because they get to wear purple. Very cool.

Prior to the show, we went to Shun Lee Cafe. We've tried Shun Lee Palace, but seeing that the fam rarely does Dim Sum (never in fact), we thought it'd be fun. It was. Lots of vegi & crab dumplings for me! And those sesame balls are to die for. Every light was a paper mache cast of an animal with whtie xmass lights inside. To the right is a python hanging down into the room.

Please Note: I did not take any of these dance pictures myself, all ripped from ballerina websites. Without sources. My profs would be so disappointed.

Niki, A Tribute

This is what I woke up to this morning. Below is footage of her attempting to leap into the flames last night (wait for my narration):

And yes, one more photo:

Summit NJ:Festive Tour

Brought to you with narration by me and my mom. Yes, I know we're crazy.

Hilarious Photo!

Seen in a photographer's window. Don't the baby and dog have similar eyes? I know I'm a horrible person for making fun of not-so-cute offspring but alas, I really couldn't help this one.

Bum at Regal Cinema

Me and "S" (he's paranoid about being mentioned online, in anything, so this is me respecting his privacy) went to see Juno last night at Regal Cinema, Union Square. Quite possibly the most ghetto theater in NYC. After settling in and previews had started rolling, a man scooted into the roll behind us. And then it smelled REALLY BAD.
When I say REALLY BAD, i mean like a huge waff of uncleaned horse stable. But I figured, if the guy paid for a ticket, you can't complain. Then I looked behind me, the blond to his left was terrified and climbing over the seat in our row. The couple on his right left the theater, b/c there weren't any more seats together.
I thought, "he's probably homeless" but figured it was quite moving that he decided to spend his pan handling money on a film about a knocked up 16 yr old. But then I turned around to notice he was asleep. The whole paying $12 for a movie and instead just enjoying a warm nap didn't add up. So I told "S" to go complain. Always a gentleman, he did.
Regal Cinema staff returned, only to ask to see his ticket. He mummbled to them, never showed a ticket, and ignored their polite asking him to leave. They said they'd have to call the police.
What happened next? NOTHING. He stayed for the entire movie, smelling bad enough to actually have a large effect on mine, and other people's experiences. Stupid ass Regal Cinema didn't have the decency to actually get him out of there. Until after the movie, when an employee with "Security" on the back of his shirt, woke him up and escorted him out.

As you can see, he was a very small man. And moved extremely slowly.


So slowly, I have trouble figuring out how the ticket collector (pictured below) didn't notice him crawling by. Yes, he really is wearing a G-Unit sweatshirt. It's nice to know Regal Cinemas is "down" like that, letting employees express their personal style, especially when it involves celebrating gun culture, pushing drugs, and objectifying women.

I complained, and the manager did give me a free ticket. I honestly thought of trying to milk him for two, but I didn't. When I asked why this happened, the guy said they were understaffed at the ticket collecting point. This guy was collecting tickets from 9:30 to about 11:45 when I left, perhaps never having a break. Apparently, they were also too understaffed to get the paper towels into the dispensers, they just lay them on the counter. Cause that makes so much more sense when they get knocked over on the wet counter.

In short, don't go to Regal Cinemas unless you want a bad experience. And to wait about 20 minutes for popcorn because only two people work the entire concession stand.

Pay the Poor for Good Behavior

Bloomberg's plan has apparently been a hit this semester in certain NYC public schools, where families get paid for ensuring their kids go to school, have Dr checkups, and partake in standardized tests. I can't find the NY Times article I read a couple days ago (Sunday?), but here is some other info on it program:

NY Post's breakdown of paying the poor.
New York Times article from March 2007.

I think it's great that Bloomberg is revamping NYC public schools, supporting pay bonuses for teachers who's students kick ass on standardized tests, and for firing bad ones (shout out to my HS sophomore history teacher). But paying people to do things that are a priviledges we reveive as American citizens (education, free library)? I'm not so convinced.

"The Poor" (which I think is a very negative/unspecific term for who recieves these benefits receive:
-$50 for signing up for a FREE library card
-$150 for having a full time job. If you're a parent, shouldn't that be expected for the sake of your kids?

I have friends with mountains of student debt who work about 30 hours a week to pay their own rent. Why don't private funds delivered via Bloomberg answer their calls? They don't have full time jobs and those student loans can cost a ton more than a kid does for a year. They could end up as prostitutes on the street if the government doesn't come to rescue them!

In short, as long as my tax dollars aren't going towards paying people to do things that I believe to be basic parenting responsibilities, rock on Bloomberg. But it's not my job to pay parents to raise their kids.

My Boyfriend

My boyfriend is extremely romantic. He sends me flowers, cute cards, and wishes me luck before every big test, meeting, whatever. I am so very fortunate.Here is his xmass card. Complete with little westie dogs. I have a little obsession with westies, and poodles, so it was crazy that yesterday while searching the internet I found this:

Behold, the Westie Poo. Half westie, half poodle, the best of both worlds.

Hipsters & Humbolt St

Saturday night I headed out to Brooklyn's Graham stop via L Train, otherwise known as the hipster school bus. I swear, I've never seen as many skinny scarves, over sized hats, black leggings, and scrunched down boots in a 51 ft by 8 ft area. This is Humbolt St on my way home around midnight (I returned to keep studying for my math final on Monday).

My purpose was Lisa's holiday party to which my roommate wouldn't let me wear a red and green ensamble because it was too cheesy. And definitely not cool enough. I met some nice guys from sunny side and her old co-worker from Orens Daily Roast.

I truly appreciated Lisa's snacks; especially her little vegan ginger snaps. Very yummy.

I Took A Walk

First I went to Andrew's Diner for some pancakes and enjoyed the NY Times.

Then I walked along Pearl Street and found this old bit of brick building, being held up by a huge steel wall behind it. And a garage entrance under it. The surrounding lot is currently vacant.

Then I spent some quality time feeling festive on Wall St.

Followed by an uplifting moment in Trinity Church, where Wall St meets B'way.

Then I strolled over to a sunny Ground Zero, via Century 21's Cordlandt, and walked home via Maiden with a stop in Borders.

Xmass Lights in NJ

Mom shows off her handy work with the lights and garland. Isn't it beautiful?

American Greetings Marketing2Race

It's a smart idea, and I never noticed it before visiting Duane Reade today, but apparently American Greetings has been marketing cards toward specific ethnic groups for years (I found corporate news from 2001 as earliest documentation). This line is called "In Rhythm," and celebrates Black History Month which I just learned is January.

American Greetings has another line geared towards African Americans called Baobab Tree. A Baobab is what Raffiki lived in in The Lion King, I think; from Madagascar, it has a really fat trunk (swollen with water) with disproportionately smaller branches. Before 1995, the line was called was called Black Impressions (source).

They also have many lines in Spanish, obviously geared towards hispanics called Spanish Soft Touch, Momentos de Inspiracion, intuiciones, Karlitos Koala, and Design Studio ... En Espano.

Now on some level, I must admit I'm a bit jealous. I checked many of the cards, and most of them have cartoons or images, although I'd estimate about 1.5/10 have a white person. So if I'm looking for a card and want a person in it that looks somewhat like me, I have to shuffle through all the cards because there isn't a designated section for Caucasian cards. Perhaps it the line could be called "Fantasy Suburbia" or "English Oak."

That being said, I applaud AG on working their overpriced pieces of paper into niche markets. (Did you know cards can cost like $5?!). But why have they lost so much steam online? Their website has no spanish speaking option; their are no In Rhythm oriented e-cards, and when I searched for "Baobob" tree it asked me if i meant "boob."

Does this mean AG thinks the minorities they are courting in stores don't have enough weight to justify an online presence among what feels like hundreds (thousands?) of e cards?

People With Aids Plaza

Last night I was walking home from the 6 train at Brooklyn Bridge and look what I found. It's located between Beekman Street and Spruce Street on Park Row's park side.

NYC Birds Are STD Free

Good to know Petco on Union Square is protecting me from STD's! Oh sorry, I mean "STI" (I=Infection).

Matilda is Sexually Active!

Matilda saying goodbye via slobber kiss to a Cliff Street resident after spending the night. Then heading out for the Fulton Street subway.




These have been many sightings at NYU's Cliff Street dorm of Mara Wilson, or "Matilda" from the movie based off of Roald Dahl's book. She got into my elevator with a scrawny looking sophomore guy, but I didn't even know it was her because she wore a hood. In the elevator.

Even weirder, my opening elevator door interrupted their make out session, then they stood on opposite sides of the elevator. She got signed out by the guard, and followed by another sloppy kiss outside before she trundled away.

Perhaps what's oddest about her, is how un-pretty she is. As me and Steeners walked outside, she told me it was the Matilda girl, and my response was "she was kind of not good looking!" to which Steeners responded "that's what everyone is saying!"

50 Things to Know About Film Production

The following list was created by Tisch School of the Arts (NYU) Professor Maureen Ryan. You can find her email here.

1. Feed your crew every 6 hours.
2. Never assume anything.
3. Always hire the best crew you can afford.
4. Everone wants to be a part of something. This is often more important than money to the right person.
5. Leave the Attitude at home.
6. If you don't know something, ask.
7. There are only so many hours of daylight in a given day. PLan accordingly.
8. Delegate to competent people.
9. Work hard on set. Work harder off the set to create a balanced life.
10. When everone is doing their job and working towards the same goal, anything is possible.
11. Love what you do, it's too hard otherwise.
12. Explaining what you have planned to all the crew members. They'll buy into it at the beginning of the day adn everything will be easier, better, smoother.
13. Be curious. You can't know everything, so ask for advice/help.
14. Treat your crews well and they'll recommend you for jobs.
15. Talk to your crew if you might have to delay lunch, or else face meal penalties.
16. Gaffer's tape can repain anything. (cars, appliances, rental equipment, but not a broken heart)
17. Negotiation is a conversation. Everyone needs to keep their self-respect and feel they are being considered.
18. Always record 60 seconds of Room Tone before moving to the next set.
19. Pre-production is everything.
20. No yelling! Ever!
21. Mutual respect is the only way.
22. Decency trumps talent every time.
23. Return phone calls within 24 hours.
24. Email whenever possible or you don't need an answer immediately.
25. No animals or children on set - if at all possible.
26. It always takes longer than you think. Schedule accordingly.
27. Craft service is the last bastion of civility.
28. Every action has a consequence that affects so many others.
29. The Golden Rule rules!
30. If you get behind in teh schedule, figure out what you can lose, or find more money for overtime.
31. Figure out teh director's "throughline" - it will make your life a lot easier.
32. Pad your budget.
33. Never say "no" to the director or a crew person. Always say "let's see"; this way, they know they've been heard and never feel shut down.
34. Listen AND look.
35. Build it all up. Wait for it to fall apart. Then build it all up again.
36. Do what's best for the project, not your wgo or some other agenda. It keeps it all simple and "clean".
37. Don't put the chocolate out on the craft service table until after lunch.
38. Hang out at the back of the Grip Truck if you want to know what really is happening on set.
39. Casting is 90% of the work.
40. Change your shoes after lunch. Your feet will thank you.
41. Figure otu your own strengths and weaknesses and then hire others to fill out your areas of weakness.
42. Always watch and listen to audio playback a few takes into the shoot.
43. If there is one bad apple, get rid of it.
44. There are no problems, only solutions.
45. Always actualize the budget after ti's compelte. It gives you a wealth of information.
46. Pay all outstanding invoices in less than 30 days.
47. Don't always go with the lower price - there's more than just money to consider.
48. Get a good caterer. it makes for a happy and productive crew.
49. Inspire others to join the cause by your own example.
50. You can only have 2 out of the 3, pick which ones you need: FAST, CHEAP, or GOOD.

Linkbait

Linkbait is content you make for your webpage in the hopes that other people will link to it. This will create link juice and boost your website’s organic rank. This content can be video, images, blog posts, newspaper articles, anything that catches people’s eye and creates traffic to the designated webpage.

Web communities including Stumble Upon, Reddit, Digg, and Del.icio.us are dedicated to sharing quality content with other members via user submissions, followed by voting. Content with the most votes gets the most attention and voilà! Your link bait has gone viral.

Another option for creating link bait is submitting relevant content to popular blogs. For example, last week Avi snapped a couple low resolution images on his iPhone of a new public toilet being constructed in Madison Square Park. Nothing special, just a couple of guys placing finishing touches on a little hut to pee in. The commuter then submitted the images to curbed.com, a popular blog about real estate in NYC. Curbed posted it, with a link to Avi’s website promediacorp.com. Then New York Magazine caught wind of it, and also posted it on their site too. Now, promediacorp.com is basking in the glory of inlinks & a high CTR, all from a couple toilet pictures.

Another strong example of link bait is myheritage.com, a sleepy site that created a fun celebrity look a-like tool. They made the tool into a facebook application and myspace add on, creating a lots of links back to them.

Some tips for creating viral content:
1. Write a “Tops” list. Everyone loves a tops list. Some interesting ones I’ve seen today include “Top 10 Worst Fast Food Advertising Campaigns” or “10 Great Gaming Inventions in 2008.”
2. Network your web community connections, don’t abuse them. As you gain a rap for submitting exciting content, you can add more “big time” friends who will actually remember you for quality, people who are top Diggers or Stumblers, etc; they will further spread the word.
3. If it’s just clicks you’re after, you don’t necessarily need content related to your original webpage. Toilets and SEO won’t sleep together, but they got the job done for promediacorp.com's clicks.
4. SE Roundtable reminds us to rock the RSS feed, “all sites should sport a little organce button if they want to spread the word” says Debra Mastaler.

Interview with the Janitor

Last night my prof said he had a special guest for our final class. It was the guy who keeps the 6th floor clean, and it was a life changing experience. I will never forget Eric's talk, for as long as I live. Stay tuned, b/c i'll write about it tonight.

My Wish for Viral Videos

Lots of youtube videos have little websites printed on, as the material plays (see "darejunkies.com" in Club N video below). but wouldn't it be great if those little web addresses could actually link to the pages? I have very little idea how this would actually be done, but i would like to make it.

Pole Dancers at "Club N"

A couple of NYU graduates just trying to get by, these girls wanted to win darejunkies.com's dare for best public pole dance for $10,000. Needless to say, they did. Aren't NYU graduates talented? And so resourceful.



And this is the article Daily News published today.

Sex, Money, Pets

"Sex, Money, Pets, these are the reasons people move" - I will xplain later.

Review: The Namesake

Herald & Kumar's Kal Penn gets serious as Gogol Ganguli, a 1st generation Indian American, dancing between his parent's Bengali roots and assimilating into a north east American lifestyle.

Some may say it's a bit of a drag, but I actually found it fast paced for narrating the life story of two generations of a family. His name, Gogol, is his family's pet name for him, and as Gogol spends more time with his white friends, at Yale, and as an architect in Soho, he assumes his formal name Nikhil. Even his uber yuppy girlfriends calls him "Nik." But after some dramatic family events, he ends up with a nice Bengali intellectual; they marry, but just because she's indian doesn't mean she's going to be a perfect house wife, and they split.

In my mind, his mother is the other significant character. She moves to Queens after meeting her husband for a few days; she yearns for her warm homeland, finding the people here cold. Luckily, her husband is very supportive as she struggles to adapt to her new life. As the family grows, she continues to be the voice of "well back in India..."; but with good reason, and instead of rolling eyes, I ended up sympathizing with her.

In short: 4/5 Stars.

Review: Moonstruck

Me & Steeners knew not what to expect from this movie, both recalling only ever seeing Cher in that film where she has the ugly faced kid. Moonstruck is about a widow in Little Italy/Brooklyn engaged to a pathetic but sweet hearted man; he asks her to invite his family outcasted brother to the wedding while he is gone to Italy, she falls in love with the little brother.

Things I learned: before all her plastic surgery, Cher was actually quite beautiful. Nicolas Cage, even with a wooden hand, is extremely hot.

The plot seemed to us like an play, there was plenty of symbolism about the moon, a small cast, and other family members also struggeling with their romantic relationships. Cher and & mother, Olympia Dukakis, were so believable Steeners wondered if maybe that is her real mom. My favorite part was that Nicolas Cage loved the opera, personally I've never been and don't really care (although ballet is a different story), but it was extremely romantic.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

My Dad is NOT My Date

It's always happened, but sometimes I feel more acutely aware of the situation. Normal circumstances are:

1. Nice restaurant
2. Dinner table of only one sex
3. Polite waiters who don't say anything

My sister had a squash tournament on Friday at L.A. Fitness. While she finished up reffing a match, Dad and I ran out in search of a place for dinner.

Down the block we found East River Cafe, a great mellow spot with a piano player and older 35 to 65 crowed. As I followed my dad to a table, I looked up to see an older woman staring me down as she spoke. Her eyebrows raised a tad, and she kept speaking to her dinner companion. We crosser her line of vision and her companion then had the view of us. The younger woman eyed me as I sat, then responded to the older woman.

Then there was the office dinner party happening next to our table, with all the men at the back end of the long table. As I sat at a table (for four people! My sister and mom weren't even there yet), all of the men's eyes looked to Dad, and then to each other, and then muttered a little something before continuing to chug their beverages.

I'm sure someone reading this is thinking, you're paranoid as heck and then add some odd bit about Freud. But in NY, there really are 50 year olds courting women in their 20's, and it freaks me out that people think that about me! I would never go over 10ish years, and I certainly have never gone under 5yrs older. Personally, I think 5 to 7 yrs is the perfect different, but that's a whole other post.

New Booties

As you can tell, I have new ski booties from the experts at Sure Foot at 69th St and 3rd Ave. No better boot makers exist, I do believe.

The process of selecting and making my boots took 2 hours in total; it began with multiple foot scans, analysis of my ski level/style and what shell I should use, moved into building my pads, then they put me on a ramp and shot foam through the boot's pads via tubes to make it meld to my feet, and ended with shaving off 2mm at my left toe b/c it was a bit close.

Needless to say, they are a beautiful baby blue (or maybe periwinkle, i haven't decided), and fit like a glove. I am SO excited to try them out. An east coast ski weekend is now desperately needed!
Below: a picture of a cute boot for the little skiers hitting up the slopes.

Drugs & Utah University

Learn about drugs from mice, without hurting any real mice! Credit for finding this site goes to Scott in the office.

Dressage Riding at it's Best

This amazing & beautiful & I highly doubt any of my readers (aka 10 to 20 close friends) will have the patience to watch the entire thing but it's great:



Reminds me of the Lipizzan horses I first saw perform as a little girl when on a family holiday in Spain. Last fall 2006 I was fortunate enough to see them again at Wemberly Park's mini stadium for a second time, with my mom in tow. Even the Queen came, and we all had to stand up when she entered, which I found rather silly.

Not that I'm tooting my country's horn but...Americans did rescue the Lipizzan horses from Hitler & Co. in World War II. I've read they even had special stable bunkers for when bombs were dropped.

$20

Two very interesting facts about $20:

First, there's a conspiracy theory which I believe someone with way too much time made up.

Secondly, there used to be a $20 coin! Minted from 1838 to 1933, these one ounce gold coins were finally recalled in 1933 to be melted down. Now they go for about $100 on eBay. But I haven't figured out why the government melted them in the first place.

My Class's Critque

I just had my website critiqued in class. I don't want to post a link here b/c it's got a bit too much personal info for right now, but let me say: one of my classmate is an ass hole. A couple guys had suggestions and they were nice about them, but there's this one guy who tells everyone how their site "doesn't work" for him. He said my site:

1) looks like a template I got from yahoo (I made it all myself, thank you very much)
2) the flowers create a springtime theme which is very stereotypical
3) my selected fonts stink and don't coordinate
4) my rollover states, which were shade below the fonted button, were boring

What a little ___ (you know what). I can't wait to critique his page. I'm all up for critique, but at least say one nice thing before ripping a person's entire work apart.

Vegan Reviews

I've tried tempeh tonight, according to the package it's Indonesian. According to me, it taste like yuckyness. Gross. I chopped it up to fry (2nd image) with some soy sauce and nothing can help the bark like taste tempeh exudes.
Below, on the plus side, is Trader Joe's microwavable Pad Thai. It's so good, I can't believe it only costs $2.99, because I could order the same thing from Lemon Grass Grill for $9.00 and it wouldn't taste any differently. I love Trader Joe's, so must cheaper than shitty Jubilee down town here in the financial district.

My Daemon!

This is my daemon, Aenad, and he's a tiger! I'm happy because last time I took this quiz over the summer I had this ugly little monkey thing. Cal got this cute little sexy looking kitty, I was a bit jealous. But now I have a big, fluffy, lovable tiger with stripes, who can run really fast (or "pad" along), and has very sharp teeth. But still very huggable, look at those gentle eyes. My only problem is that my profile says I'm "shy" and "outgoing", I would have to agree with only the latter.

You all should take the quiz, let me know what you get! And of course, you should all also read the book The Golden Compass/Northern Lights by Philip Pullman (the first in the His Dark Materials series).

XMASS!

It's officially Christmas time because:
1) I'm feeling more broke than usual.
2) I have tons of final assignments/tests due.
2) There's snow on the ground!
3) My lobby has a christmass tree & menorah. And the Japanese maples outside has lights too!

Times Square

The brightest, Disney-esque part of Manhattan is called "Times Square." But have you ever noticed that when you say the intersection of 7th Ave and B'way out loud you pronounce it "Time Square" ?

Originally the site of a former NY militia soldier John Morin Scott, who served under George Washington, the property was bought by the Astor family, and then the New York Times built their headquarters at the downtown edge of the intersection; soon be addressed "One Times Square." Todays iconic light displays have their origins in 1904, when a local bank at 46th St and Broadway put up their first electric sign on the corner.

And apparently some plays happen around there too, but they're way out of the student budget so I only go on a TKTS ticket :-)

Cutest Post Ever

One of my favorite bloggers, who I occasionally check in on is Brooklyn Lad. This post is about his son Billy learning to go to the bathroom. Call me crazy, but I think it's cute as hell.

Prada Pumps

This office manager in my office was just given adorable black patent leather pumps. They're even Prada. It was a gift from a friendly, small dog toting, gay man who seems surprisingly down to earth.

I want my gay pal (attn: Alex W.) to drop by with designer shoes on occasion, and let me pick up his dog (attn: not your real dog, he's too heavy to hold).

All he wants for Christmas

Some guys like year long Playboy subscriptions, others a video game, event a console, but not my boyfriend. He's made his wish perfectly clear:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/28/optimus-maximus-in-minimus-sub-1000-configurations/

Second Life: Dressing Avatars for Success

As if flipping non-existent real estate and working in an virtual office weren't enough, Second Life is getting even more realistic with job placement! Employers like Verizon, HP, & Microsoft are having Second Life career fairs and interviews!

I once had a Second Life avatar, but Victoria (I honestly forget her last name) became such a huge part of my day I had to stop signing on because I needed to retain a real life.

Read Anjali Athaveley's WSJ article.

Free Rice & Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing runs wild on freerice.com . When you scroll along the bottom, you will notice that links go to click.linksynergy.com/morecrap .

Recall your SAT vocab words and donate 10 grains of rice for every correct answer!

Tofurkey Reflections

Below: the uncooked tofurkey. With stuffing underneath. A certain poodle looks on in the background.

It tasted like crap. And quite frankly, I think it looks a bit like it too. The lesson I learned is this: buy fake meat, don't try to recreate it yourself. Better yet, don't cave into the pressure to create fake meat in the first place.

Below: Out of the oven, almost on my plate. The "gravy" however, was delicious.

My Tofurkey Recipe

I'll be sure to take pictures. This recipe comes from allrecipes.com .

PREP TIME	15 Min
COOK TIME	50 Min
READY IN	3 Hrs 5 Min

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound firm tofu
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon dried savory
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (12 ounce) package dry bread stuffing mix
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup soy margarine
• 1 slice bread, cubed
• 1/2 teaspoon sage
• 2 tablespoons water
• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 1 teaspoon barbeque sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
• 1 tablespoon orange jam
• 1 teaspoon orange juice
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS

1. Drain and rinse tofu; in a food processor or blender, process tofu until smooth. Stir in salt, marjoram, savory and pepper. Line a sieve with 2 sheets of paper towel and place over an empty bowl. Place tofu in lined sieve and press against sides to form a deep well in the middle. Place 2 more sheets of paper towel over tofu and refrigerate for 2 hours.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat combine stuffing mix, 2/3 cup water and margarine. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes and fluff with a fork. To the stuffing add bread cubes, sage and 2 tablespoons water.
3. After tofu has chilled for 2 hours, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). With 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil, grease a baking sheet.
4. Remove the top layer of paper towels from the tofu. If necessary, again press tofu against the sides of the sieve to form a well. Spoon the stuffing mixture into the well and smooth the surface with a spoon. Invert the tofu mold onto prepared baking sheet. Remove the remaining paper towel layer and shape the tofu with your hands if it has cracked or lost its shape.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, prepare the glaze by combining barbecue sauce, mustard, orange jam, orange juice, sesame seeds and remaining 3 tablespoons oil. After tofu has baked for 30 minutes, brush or spoon the glaze over it. Return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes more.
7. Broil for 3 to 5 minutes, or until tofu is browned and crispy.

4 Legged Family Members

Today my sister caught this on her mobile. The beginning of my return home for Thanksgiving, just like it always is... Niki (my kitty) and Cody (my poodle) fighting it out. Actually, Cody is a peace loving fluff ball but Niki ("the little one" as my mom calls her) is "Trouble" as my dad has renamed her b/c she is just that.

Goal #4

Anyone who knows me probably knows that I'm very goal oriented. Defining the next thing I want to accomplish keeps me focused. As my roommate will attest to, I keep this up by posting note cards above my bed, around my desk, with current goals in bright marker colors.

Right now they are:

1. A's, A's, A's - I have to get A's in school. No exceptions this semester, I decided over the summer I'm too smart for a B.
2. $XX,000 - a slightly more private goal, I already know my salary for next year. My mother thinks I'm crazy, but I know I'm that valuable. (hello there future employer!)
   
3. Vocab! - I have an extremely limited vocabulary. I like to shovel this blame onto my parents because as a youth I never learned "fancy" words, my parents in turn blame the California public school system, for not inspiring their everyday lexicon. Every time I hear or read a word I don't know, I write it down and make a note card for it on my coat closet doors.
   

NEW GOAL #4: by November 20, 2008, I will have a speaking position lined up
at a SEM event.

I have lots of work to do to even make this feasible, first, I may want to start actually writing SEM related posts on a new site that doesn't mix my personal life in quite so much.

SMX London, searching for women

One observation I must mention, which didn't impress me at SMX London, was the lack of women speakers. I went to 8 sessions, each with 3 to 4 speakers and out of those 28 people (8 x 3.5) I recall 2 women.

The first was SEO Chicks Lisa Ditlefsen, which sells brilliant green SEO Chicks tshirts and did an equally brilliant Leveraging Social Media Networks presentation talking about a sleepy site called myheratige.com which went crazy viral with a celebrity lookalike widget. The second was Jane Copland of SEOmoz who, besides wearing a great lip color, had great slides for her Linkbaiting & Viral Serach Marketing Tactics presentation.

I highly doubt this lack of women (7.14% by my count) has anything to do with Chris Sherman and Danny Sullivan holding a bias against the fairer sex, but simply reflects a lack of women in SEM. At least, from my limited experince at networking events in NYC, this seems to be the case.

I intend on helping to change this trend.

SMX London, Reasons to go

1. Although the guys still look like they're computer savvy nerds, the accents make them a lot more attractive, dare I say some reach sexiness.
2. It's the only place you'll actually feel bad for Microsoft; when the main sponsor's Windows Live presentation doesn't work b/c their version of an adwords account fails to load the presenter's log in name properly.
3. They manage to suit every interest randing from a "Fundamentals Track" to "advanced Organic Track"
4. Great food. So much better than other conferences I've attended. Fancy deserts you don't want to eat b/c they look too pretty, grilled salmon with a crusty erm...crust over it, yummy noodles & tons of salad.
5. Networking - I met many a friendly face from in-house SEOer for John Deere tractors to a couple friendly women in Atlas's London office.

Plagiarism & My Sweat

I have been working on this great idea for a web series. Without disclosing details (although the name does give a preview), it's called College Bound. For my class Producing Essentials I had to select an investor, I decided upon Kaplan - a popular test prep company in the US.

After turning in 75% of the project last week, I was researching Kaplan's site over the weekend and found THIS. Check out the second half of the right hand column.

My idea was so good, it already existed. Granted, mine has a number of better features including video instead of just audio, but the principles, the selected advertiser, and even the NAME are the same!

I couldn't hold it in, so I asked to speak to my prof after class and explain the situation to her. She was incredibly understanding, and told me not to even worry about rewriting my proposal for another investor nor renaming my project! This made me very happy, because I've put a ton of work into it and lost sleep over the ordeal of being thought a plagiarist. (is that a real word?)

Then she asked me "So have you considered pitching it to them?" I looked at her all confused and said, "like, actually suggest they do it?" (my brilliant response); she went on to say I have one of her top 3 favorite ideas in the class (60 people), and that I should seriously consider shopping it around to relevant investors.

Now I may know what to do without a forth course next semester...

Final Uni Courses (Spring 2008)

I am staying on at NYU for an extra semester, so as to satisfy my parents intense need to sit in Washington Square Park and watch me graduate surrounded by leafy green & lots of other students in caps and gowns. Since I am complete with all requirements for my major and minor, I have decided to expand into some less obvious areas of study:

1. Anime - East Asian Studies (EAS) department gets together to watch series and films. I love the EAS, Neon Genisis Evangelion (tv series, never saw alternative ending movie), and that wolf princess chick wasn't half bad so I figure it'll be interesting.
2. Intro to Soviet Cinema - taugh by "the most russian man i know" according to ratemyprofessor.com, I loved the Communist films & filmed ballets from my Gender & Radicalism in Modern China course, so why not migrate to the other half of the continent? Less dragons and red, more alcohol, guns, and men with beards.
3. Intro to Painting - my first art class since high school. very excited to get my hands dirty!

Out with the Old (Emails) In with the New (Dress)

I just took 3 hours to clear out 449 emails with 232 new emails. And that's just my uni account. I'm scared to look at my work account right now. I also erased almost all of the 154 email addresses I had in my address book. I'm so wild when it comes to a Friday!

Today I went crazy running around Chelsea and the West Village trying to find a dress for this Celilidh I'm going to with Cal next Friday. All I have to say is it's navy in color, and sexy as hell while being uber conservative all at the same time. I love it. I love it!

Eric Hutchinson!

Halloween night rocked, for lack of a better way of saying it. Last minute, V was available to go to see Eric Hutchinson at the Cutting Room! In line I ran into a friend from Rubin 6th Flo' so we caught up while waiting.

Without costumes, me and V honestly looked out of place. Walking up to the venue via 5th Ave was hard b/c of the world famous Village Halloween Parade's 6th ave over spill. Walking home afterwards, we passed the McDonalds on Union Square where a shooting and stabbing would happen 30 minutes later (never a dull night!). Now I don't mind people shooting each other up if that's the only way they can communicate their anger, I truly believe it's not my place to tell them how they should act, but the moment it starts to hurt innocent bystanders it's just not fair. And how the hell do teenagers get guns? And why were they out at 1am on a school night? And where are their parents? All I know is that between trials and serving prison sentences, I can hear my tax dollars being sucked down the drain. (Thank you 50 cent & co. for glorifying the gun culture!)

Anyways...Eric dressed up a comedian from Blue Collar TV for Halloween with a little mustache which started to fall off mid-song; he would roll his upper lip along the mic as he played his guitar to keep sticking it back on. He even had a costume contest.

Two new songs:
1. Freak Machine - cheezy but Eric-esque in the delivery, rock bluesish.
2. Lisa - was introduced as a song about "one of those friends who you always make the effort with, if you don't know what I'm talking about it's probably you" ; funny b/c it perfectly described an old friend of mine who, like Eric said, never would come to your house, I always had to go to her's, who never made an effort to hang out with you unless it was convenient for her, and is gets obsessed with a love interested who is a looser. Luckily, I don't have my "Lisa" in my life anymore.

The clip doesn't do Hutchinson justice, and although he looks very small in it, me and V had good seats.

Halloween & Water Taxis!

I had a fun Halloween last Wednesday. Me and Avi did such a great job working in the morning (or perhaps it was because of the beautiful weather) we just couldn't bear to sit down at our desks so outside we ventured! Just like in The Office, season 3's episode The Convict when everyone has out doors time! Not that working at Promediacorp is like a jail, or the NBC show. Anyways, I had class in the evening, so we hadn't enough time for a museum but then I thought "I've never been on a water taxi, and we are near the water..." Avi agreed, and off we hopped towards the Water Taxi terminal on 34th St.


Waiting for the boat was rather depressing. The ferry docks at this desolate turn off on the FDR with an abandoned "Water Taxi Ticket Sales" booth, even the crazy homeless man entered on cue throwing balls of trash into the east river like a basket ball hoop floated above it.

As you can tell, it was rather windy on board but really fun. Then we randomly hopped off in DUMBO and explored for a bit. After some pizza (yes, I ate some cheese) at Grimaldi's, I had class with a speaker who is terminally ill, a slight downer to my day.

Stalactite in my apt!

My face wash has a stalactite growing from it! The ones that grow from the ground are called stalagmites (hence the "g" for "ground"). Perhaps "c" is for ceiling. Who knows.

Walk Rage

I don't drive anymore for multiple reasons including
1. little brother stole my car which apparently was always "ours", but now my parents use the pronoun "his" when referring to it
2. I think my license is expired
3. Road signs aren't color coded according to route (a la 1,2,3, Central, Jubilee)

But when I did, I often experienced road rage (hard to believe, I know:-); when some one cuts you off (in your own lane!) or accelerate so you can't bleed into theirs.

Now, when I leave the station to walk home a flood of workers eager to follow my lead pour past me. And they make for a very unnerving experience of what I dub - Walk Rage. I get pissy at all the people in my way. Packs of middle schoolers walking to the Sea Port trudge slowly, tourists block traffic in both directions as they look for Broadway, and commuters push towards my station's three pathetic turnstiles (& bitchy afternoon MTA employee - the early morning shift woman is VERY nice).

I know I'm sounding selfish but honestly, they're all just in my way. And the African men just trying to make a buck selling nick-nacks on stall tables are not helping the traffic overflow at all, their damn tables take up like 1/2 the side walk in an area already suffering from construction. It's such a bother.

Vegan Update: I ate turkey last night at Alex's house b/c we were celebrating Thanksgiving. I couldn't resist, him grandma Leslie and mom made the best food, and his dad is the greatest dark meat carver of Brooklyn. If that's even a title. Also, my soy mango ice cream rocks.

Ow.

My head really hurts and I've had the worst day. Quite possibly of my whole life.

Also, I over heard a person today who was "back stabbing" me as the Mean Girls would say. Honestly, there are such idiots in NYC - a tip: if you're going to talk about someone, make sure they aren't in your ear shot.

I also have officially decided that jouranlism students are the most useless bunch of people. ALL they do is talk about the ethics of journalism in a circle of conversation that spirals on an on. Also, in this web 2.0 world we don't need half as many of them - we have bloggers (not me, professional ones) who report important information that can be read in minutes, not the next morning. I also don't like how important they think they are, like, fighting for this crazy ass noble cause when in fact they all work for biased media entities anyways.

Regina Spektor!

Me and Avi went to see Regina Spektor last night at Hammerstein Ballroom. She was amazing, and the attached clip (taken with my uber high tech 1.3 mega pix cell phone) of Hotel Song doesn't do her any justice; there was a guy beet boxing during this 1 song. Otherwise, it was only her on stage, and she played the piano/tambourine/drum/combo of 2 for most of the show. And she wore a beautiful gold glimmery baby doll dress I wish 1) I owned 2) had somewhere to wear it to. I apologize for my singing in the clip's background, which is funny to hear because really Avi was singing along most of the time.

Afterwards, we went of to the SMX Social Media conference's hotel bar across from Penn Station for some drinks and socializing.

Organic Me

The point of me leaving my hole in the sky was to go grocery shopping. For I have a new mission after reading a book called The Skinny Bitch - no more meat or dairy. Some would call this vegan, but that sounds so stuffy and all natural and quite frankly, I don't have the patience for those hippies & their all natural philosophies. I just don't want to see any more animals get killed off on my dime or abused. Hence, I am kicking "rotting flesh" as the book calls it, out of my diet. I even gave Steeners the rest of my skim milk and Life Cinnamon cerial. I purchased all organic, whole grain, and soy products. And yes, it was as much fun shopping for them as it was stacking them for this photo. I was surprised at how hard it is to find organic jam - but this one is in a berry blend, very excited to try it. I was struck with the variety of Amy's Kitchen organic products - i bought five cans of soups and chilli (vegetarian, of course) - any they're kind of expensive at $3/pop. And I didn't manage to get my tofu into the picture but it's sleeping in my fridge tonight, two chunks of it for $1. I like tofu, but have never cooked it myself (exciting thigns to look forward to this week).

You will note the erm, center piece is ah hem....an ice cream of sorts. I am most skeptical of this product, don't know what to make out of it yet - but will get back to you. Historically, i have a huge downfall for my amigos Ben and Jerry.

One funny thing was the Luna Bar, which (if you can see in the pic, top half of yellow circle) is 70% organic. WTF? So 30% of it isn't organic? But almost the entire ingredients section rants on with an "organic" in front of everything (organic toasted oats, organic soy flour). I don't get it.

And I don't care if their log line is "The Whole Nutrition Bar for Women", with the for in italics; these guys taste great and I recommend them to all. Especially because they have a little layer of icing on the top made from soy butter (how do they do that?). Be ware - the yummy Lemon Zest flavor in a bright yellow wrapping can easily be confused with the nasty tasting Dulce Leche in a mustard yellow wrapping.

Indians, those Crazy Party People

I've occasionally thought "damn, i wish i was a minority of some sort". In high school the running joke was that i was asian b/c my best friend is (shout out to Rita!), but I look very, very white. But I don't want to be Asian - I want to be South East Asian b/c when i walked out of my apartment and over to Water Street this evening - there was a 3 block long crazy-ass indian fest.

Tons of loud music (I'd been hearing it all day) and a DJ saying things like "Where are my Punjabi's at?" The food was to die for (reason 1) - my grandma makes a dish called "Mexican Holiday" with frito chips covered in beef baked beans & vegies; I had "Indian Holiday" tonight - and it was all vegetarian (reason 2)! Something like sweat potatoes over a mashed up fritter of some sort, with a white custard sauce, a thin brown sauce, and little crunchy bits on top. Plus, as we all know from Bollywood movies (reason 3) & weddings, they love to party (reason 4).

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers

I'm doing "research" for my Mogul's of the 20th Century class. Me and Drew used to watch these Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers when we were little. Every time Dad would come back from America he would bring us one. I forget the title, but my favorite one (there are 10) took place on a cruise liner.

Aww...Le Petit Puppy

Here is a little guy I saw in Le Petit Puppy on Christopher St near 6th Ave. I used to walk by it everyday on my way to class when I lived in the West Village (it usually made me late for class). Cutest part was that he was scarred to walk in the paper shavings (white glow on bottom of photo) and kept looking down at in nervously, then over to his food bowl with this inkling of hope in his eyes.

My Barnes & Nobles Library

I enjoy reading new books, the smell of the pages and the glossy covers. But my library never has these available. I want the NY Times best sellers, Oprah's newest book club book (yes, I admit it!), or some trendy little book - and 9 out of 10 times, I have to go to Barnes and Nobles, the popular bookstore chain, and purchase it.

But I have a new system! I purchase the book, make sure it's kept in perfect condition as a I read it (no sweaty fingers to bend the pages, no liquids near by), and then return it when I'm done! I am then given a gift card with the book's $ value on it, and go looking for another book.

Of course, not all books cost the same, so my gift card with a couple bux on it does fluctuate. I think of it as my library card.

Words to the Wise:
1. Magazines are non-refundable.
2. Use the receipt as your bookmark, that way you won't loose it and don't have to make an effort to find it when returning the book.
3. Try to spread out your returns among many B&N locations, so cashiers don't catch on to your scheme.

Take Your Shit & Sell It In the Hood!

LEFT: Steeners holds up a pair of XXL elastic running shorts, practically a sin. Look at the fear in her eyes.

Yesterday me and my roommate Steeners went to Target on Atlantic Avenue. We figured the place would be less ransacked on a Friday than on Sundays.

Among the required shopping (a new pot for Ed, toilet bowl brush) was new sheets for Steeners's bed. Once locating the bedding section, a near 7ft tall man walked by me yelling "Am RICH! Am so RICH!" holding a duvet on his shoulder like it were a trophy. I did one of those little snort laughs to myself and thought "you're buying a duvet in a Target man - rich people don't do 200 thread counts."

We began sheet browsing when the man came up behind Steeners and said something about how she was a fine piece of meat (honestly, I forget the exact words). Now, in NYC men hoot and holler quite a bit(I seem to be a black and hispanic favorite), this is nothing new - but when it's done in a store, and the man just stops walking and stares at my friend, I find it quite offensive.

Out from the pillow case aisle I popped and walked up to him and simply said "fuck off."

On reflection, I'm not sure this was the best thing I could have done. He looked at me and said "you don't haf to be jealous cause I wasn't lookin at choo." Obviously, he had nailed the issue on the head, I was crushed he hadn't been looking at me. But that aside, crazy man shopping in his work out clothes went on this long ass rant.

Me and Steeners turned and returned to browse the twin sheets but he wouldn't stop in this obnoxiously loud voice telling us how he's "really African, I'm from Africa." I think it's great he's proud of his family history but we weren't an interested audience.

But the best line was his exit where he told us "your lucky I'm 40 an nat 20 no mor, because ad wait fow you out-sad and follow you, an then take aawl yo shit and sell it in the hood!"

Brilliant, the last 20 years of his life has knocked enough sense into him to realize robbing people isn't appropriate. Although clearly he hasn't yet realized hollering at women isn't. What would his mother think?

Now I'm trying to remember what it's called when you write dialogue/dialog (both ways are recognized in Webster's Dictionary) the way a person sounds when they speak it. I remember a short story I read about a southern woman, and the authors was this x-slave or something who was apparently the first person to write like that. In the story she had an abusive husband, walked along a dirt road for some reason, and I think she killed her husband with a snake.

Temperatures & NJ

I flew back from London yesterday and a funny thing happened. The pilot said the temperature in Newark, NJ was 27 degrees celsius. Now, I've never really understood the conversions of temperature other than 10 C = 50 F, but I knew something was wrong at 27 C in October.


Walked out of the airport to wait for my ride back to my house (aka mommy) and it was 80 F! In October! I took of my sweater and thought "this is like Florida minus the nasty bugs and old people!"

I took a train back to the city early today and took this picture this morning of my backyard. It looks like this in the middle of July too.