My Urban Miracle

There are some days when I HATE living in New York. The noise, the crowds, the rudeness can really get to me sometimes. Just when I get fed up with city life and make a vow to move to a commune in Minnesota to grow my own food and live life off the grid, something happens. I usually refer to these moments as urban miracles. They are usually something that can only happen here in the big city. My fave urban miracle is the celebrity sighting. It can really catch you off guard- which is the beauty of it. Now some of the people on this particular list I have met as in been introdued to and shaken their hands. Some of them I have passed on the street. Either way, I think celeb sightings are fun, fun , fun! These never happened to me in O-Town. Here is my list of

11 Celebrities The LL has "Sighted" In NYC

1. Harrison Ford- the mother of all celeb sightings
2. Katie Couric- she really is nice!
3. Gary Oldman- coolest sighting
4. Sting
   
5. Ed Harris
6. Paula Cole
7. Liev Schreiber
8. Tommy Tune
9. David Arquette
10. Dana Ivey
11. Bobby Cannavale
    

The Play's The Thing

This is the second version of this list. A few years ago I sat down and made the first version. I have done many jobs in the theater- costumer, painter, props crew, actor, director, asst. stage manager. The shows on my list have all these varied jobs attached to them. There are 2 shows I can't seem to remember but as soon as I think of them I will add them to the list of:

44 Shows I've Worked On During My Theatrical Career

1. Ten Nights In A Barroom
2. Grease
3. Steel Magnolias
4. You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown
5. Bye Bye Birdie
6. Makin' It
7. Happy Stuff 4
8. A Month In The Country
9. The Learned Ladies
10. Goldberg Street
11. 1776
12. Will Rogers' Follies
13. West Side Story
14. Carousel
15. Damn Yankees
16. Cabaret
17. Musical Comedy Murders of 1940's
18. Geography Of A Horse Dreamer
19. Blue Window
20. Hold Me
21. Orpheus Descending
22. The Lady From Maxims
23. Anything Goes
24. Beyond Therapy
25. Much Ado About Nothing
26. The Sisters Rosensweig
27. Dancing At Lughnasa
28. Madam Butterfly
29. Beatrice And Benedict
30. A Dream Play
31. Just Say No
32. The Bear
33. The Proposal
34. The Vagina Monologues
35. The Richie Byrne Show Episode 1
36. The Richie Byrne Show Episode 2
37. Blood Brothers
38. The Foreigner
39. Agnes Of God
40. The Glass Menagerie
41. You Can't Take It With You
42. Shelter
43. Measure For Measure
44. Chicago
    

By Request

Well, I managed to piss off some of the loyal readers last week with the list in praise of being 20. There are, in fact, some down sides to being young in a socitey that worships youth. That is right you heard it here first- being young is not all it is cracked up to be. Here is my list of

10 Crappy Things About Being 20

1) You can't legally drink yet. So close yet so far away.
2) You dread the question "Can I see your ID?". I usually like to hear that one!
3) Your parents still have some kind of say in your life cause they still are supporting you.
4) You have no concept of consequences or are still in the early stages of learning about the meaning of the word consequence.
5) You are one of those people who doesn't look where they are going (be it walking, driving, ect)
6) You really don't know a thing but you think you've got things all figured out. At least at thirty I know I don't know anything.
7) You are a ways off from knowing the joys of marriage and children.
8) You think petty things are important like who pissed on the frat house lawn and how to get revenge.
9) Death comes as a great shock to you at this point in your life. At thirty I am at a place where I realized that everyone dies and that is how the universe works.
10) You can't afford the finer things in life unless you are a teen heiress.

Oh No You Didn't!

I recently read that Donald Trump Jr. is expecting his first child with his (first) wife. When asked about child care he said "Trumps don't do diapers." That got me to thinking. At first I was thinking many many expletives. Then I started to think about things with the Trump men. There are actually a number of things they should not do, diapers being the least of them. Here is my list of

6 Things Trumps Shouldn't Do
1) Wear that awful hairstyle!
2) Get in public feuds for publicity. Let's face it The Apprentice is on its last legs and a fight with Rosie O'Donnell is not going to save it.
3) Make comments about dating your daughter if she wasn't your daughter. Gross!
4) Marry trophy wives.
5) Put another tacky building up, marring the New York City skyline.
6) Use the word classy in every other sentence. Using the word classy to much is tacky.

Listing The Lists

I have to admit it. I am not the only person into lists. I have come to find that people have a strange relationship with lists. They either love them or hate them. In my love of the list, here are some websites that I have come across that I think are fun. Can you guess which one is the favorite of the LL?

5 Great Listy Sites

1) Best Lists
2) List of Ideas
3) Blah Blah List
4) Grocery Lists
5) Forbes List

Name That Band

In my former life I worked in the music business. It was a fun job and I really enjoyed it. My boss was an old school music junkie. Any person that came through the door for a job interview was immediately asked their Top 5 Albums of All Time. One of our favorite past times was to come up with fun band names. I think this is a requirement for all music types. Here is my current list (it changes all the time) of

13 Band Names I Would Use Right Now

1) The Vain Feminists
2) Tons Of Buns
3) The Flab Five
4) Hot Damn
5) Edgar Allen Poe
6) Quagmire
7) Boy
8) The Awakening
9) The Hair Pies
10) Adventures in Babysitting
11) Stop The Whining
12) Chasing Pigeons
13) Mrs. Mean Lady

Twenty is the new, well, 20!

Today is Vivi's 20th birthday. Happy Birthday Vivi!!! Now, you might not think that turning 20 is very exciting. You STILL can't drink and you can already buy cigarettes, porn and lottery tickets. Well, cheer up! There are still a lot of great things about turning 20. Many people my age would love to be 20 again. Those who say they wouldn't didn't do 20 right in the first place! Anyhow, here is my list for you

15 Great Things About Being 20

1) Turnign the big 2-0 is better than turning the big 3-0.
2) Only 1 year until you are 21!
3) You're almost half way done with school.
4) At 20, having neices and nephews is WAY better than having your own kids. You get to give neices and nephews back.
5) You don't have to pay rent yet!
6) Shopping at places like Forever 21 and A & F is still OK. I get dirty looks in those stores.
7) You can sleep in on the weekends.
8) There is nothing stopping you from pursuing all of your artistic endeavors.
9) Most of the mistakes you make at this point in your life are erasable. Except if you do something in front of a camera- video or otherwise. It will end up all over the internet or sold to Girls Gone Wild. I guess that is one of those good things about being 30! I didn't have to worry about that shit in college. Thank God!!!!!!
10) You can still be trendy without looking silly.
11) MTV shows are still watchable.
12) Checking the 18-24 box on a form is better than checking a 30-35 box. Yuck!
13) Kiss those teen years good bye!
14) Think of this birthday as saving up for all the fun you'll have on your birthday next year.
15) Eating crap is still just fine and hasn't caught up to you yet.

Play List

Due to my recent internet celebrity status, my management team has come to me with a really fun request. Apple has asked me to contribute to the celebrity playlist to the I Tunes store. How exciting!

Listy-loo Celebrity Playlist for I Tunes

1) Waiting In Vain- Bob Marley & The Wailers I am not a huge reggae fan but I could listen to this song all day.
2) Naked As We Came- Iron & Wine The lyrics are so great. This is like several conversations I have had.
3) Let's Stay Together- Al Greene You don't get much more soulful than this one. Little known fact- Al Greene is now a preacher in Memphis. His wife found out he was cheating on him and poured hot bacon grease in his lap. He found Christ shortly after.
4) Superstition- Stevie Wonder This is one of those songs where when I hear the first few bars, I am up on my feet and crankin it as loud as it can go. Such funky funk!
5) Underneath It All- No Doubt This is the closest thing Jay-Bee and I have to a "song" for us. I love Gwen and No Doubt has put out some fun stuff.
6) Casmir Pulaski Day- Sufjan Stevens The best song I have heard about death in a long time. I can really tie several life experiences to the lyrics in this song.
7) Time Bomb- Old 97's Rock -n- roll still lives in this song. I want to join a band when I listen to this song.
8) Don't Make Me Come To Vegas- Tori Amos It was really hard for me to pick one Tori song since I love her so much. But this one is a little more recent and the melody is awesome and the lyrics are super good.
9) Maps- Yeah Yeah Yeahs Proof that simple can be so much better. They are only drums, guitar and voice. It's awesome.
10) Forget About It- Allison Krauss & Union Station There is no one in the music industry that is like Allison Krauss. I just think she's got a good thing going on.
11) Our Love Is Here To Stay- Ella Fitzgerald I danced to this at my wedding. No one and I mean NO ONE can compare to Ella when it comes to vocals.
12) Cheers Darlin'- Damien Rice The ultimate break up song. I don't know if there is a video for this song or not but I have directed one in my head for this.
13) I Still Haven't Found What I'm Lookin' For- U2 The classic song for my generation. There is a reason that this band has been around for 30 years and this is it.
14) Island In The Sun- Weezer When I moved to NYC, I drove up here with one CD in the U haul. One CD for 1200 miles. Just one. This is the only song that I can still listen to from that CD.

It's So Bad . . .I Love It!

My astrological sign is Gemini- the twins. That means I have a kind of "dual sided" personality. I am both yin and yang. I am a bitch with a heart of gold, I guess. One of my favorite examples of this quality is my movie behavior. I love movies and I crave good ones. I like nothing more than watching a good story with great actors that is beautifully shot. Now the opposite of this is my need to watch a handful of crappy movies if I pass them while channel surfing. Here is the thing, I have to watch these movies until they're over! I wish I could hate these

10 Crappy Movies I Love to Watch
1) Grease 2- an abomination against the movie musical that I can sing every note to!
2) Just One Of The Guys- a bad 80's classic, complete with gratuitous nudity.
3) Clifford- I thought this was so funny but it is a movie a lot of people hate.
4) Something's Gotta Give- This isn't bad per say but I am about 30 years too young to like this one as much as I do.
5) Fools Rush In- just your average cheesy romantic comedy but I always watch it on TBS.
6 ) Die Hard 3- My favorite action movie series. This one is the best of the three.
7) Spice World- what a piece of crap! But it is a fun peice of crap!
8) Teen Witch- another 80's holdover.
9) The Pirate Movie- If you are a theater geek, you should see this movie. It is a remake (sort of) of The Pirates Of Penzance. So fun and reminds me of being 8.
10) Showgirls- I had to have this one on here, it is everyone's fave bad movie. I also remember that after this movie GIna Gershon was so upset that everyone thought she was a joke and couldn't act and blah blah blah. Gee Gina, I can't imagine why anyone would think you suck.

I can talk!

I am learning that the way human beings learn language is very interesting. A few weeks ago Thud could only say a handful of words. In the last two weeks things have really picked up! In fact the other day we had a conversation. It went like this verbatem:

Thud: No mama!
Mama: Did you just say no to me?
Thud: Maybe

I have been thinking a lot about what is causing this acceleration in his language development. We've been going to a playgroup and there are mostly girls there. They are all ahead of Thud with talking by leaps and bounds. Maybe it's peer pressure. Perhaps it's Elmo. Yes, I have been letting my kid watch Sesame Street. The cardinal sin of all parental sins, which is funny cause most kids watch TV. Her eis my list of

7 Words My Kid Has Picked Up In The Last 2 Weeks:
1) No
2) Baby
3) Hi
4) Juice
5) Cup
6) Prune (which really comes out pune)
7) Pee-pee (as in pee-pee the bodily function)

It's Easy!

As I Sit here writing my blog on the super-duper Gmail platform, I am giving technology a thought. It grows by leaps and bounds in smaller and smaller incriments of time. The I-Phone is now the hot item on everyone's list. It isn't even out yet. Doesn't matter. Apple stock is still climbing through the roof.

I am feeling my age today. Now when I think of things like this, I think "They didn't have such and such 5 years ago or when I did that." So today my list is

7 Technological Items That Weren't Around 6 Years* Ago

1. Wireless Internet
2. Cell Phones As PDAs/ Internet surfers
3. GPS
4. XBox 360 Live
5. Digital Cameras
6. Tivo/ DVR
7. MP3 Players

* indicates date of move to New York City as 5/25/01

A Warm Winter

Here in the Northeast,it has been unseasonably warm so far this winter. Some say global warming, some say El Nino. I say bring it on. There have been some pluses to a warm winter so far. Here is my list of

6 Good Things About Warm Winter Weather

1) Not having to get ot my bulky wool coat.
2) More time for the playground/park.
3) I don't feel like a raisin from head to toe. They usually blast the heat in my building and I end up feeling dry all winter all over.
4) My ears don't hurt as much.
5) Waiting for the subway at an outside platform is much more bearable.
6) No slush . . .I like snow but I hate it when it is half way melted. It's like walking around in a giant slurpee!

Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves

2007 has already proven to be the Year of the Woman with one simple act yesterday. Nancy Pelosi was sworn in as the first female Speaker of the House. I have to admit I cried a little. The last few months have ushered in several firsts for women: MIT has a female president and now Katie Couric anchors the CBS Evening News. However there is still much work to be done! Here is my list of

7 Firsts For Women in 2007

1) Female Presidential Candidate (front runner)
2) Best Director Oscar Winner (that's right- there's NEVER been one!)
3) Roman Catholic Priest
4) Director, National Hurricane Center
5) Mayor of New York City ( I know it isn't an election year but isn't it about time?)
6) Winner, Indianapolis 500
7) Talk Show Host- of a major network late night show

Happy 2007, y'all!

For those of you who do not know me personally, I can be a few things: pushy, bossy, and bitchy. In an effort to celebrate these traits, I have decided to go a different route this year with resolutions. Instead of making resoultions for myself, I have made them for everyone else! If you think someone needs a resolution this year, let meknow. I will be more than happy to add them to the list.

1) Mom- quit smoking.It's not funny anymore.Oh wait, it was never funny.
2) Neighbors- stop playing and singing awful opera music all hours of the day and night. This goes for all of you (there is more than 1 opera singer in my bldg.).
3) Michellephant- start up the blog again!!!
4) Thud- off the pacifiers for you, baby.
5) Jay Bee- less time on the message boards.
6) Bro- get a job and keep it.
7) McC- keep in touch with people. Seroiusly.