Le Scandal, Dave Attell, and Love Actually

This weekend I saw Le Scandal, a vaudville/burlesque show, which sounded like it would be cool but it was not. These were side shows. There was a magician who was horrible. There was a sword swallower, which is sort of amazing, except after swallowing some swords she wandered around the room with cymbals on her fingers. There were a few people who apparently felt it was entertainment to expose a nipple. They weren't even young or attractive. The singing was less than professional. The best part was the juggler, who was talented and funny, but really it was a typical busker (street performer) stuff -- juggling pins, knives, fire, on a unicycle, you know. Not worth it. You've been warned.

I also went back to Gotham Comedy Club, which was hilarious the other times I went, but this time was just entertaining. The headliner was Dave Attell, who had that show Insomniac which I hated because it was all about smoking, getting drunk, taking drugs, having orgies, and hurting animals. Some of the other comics had good stuff (and all were famous); one guy did lots of jokes like, "Women aren't that attracted to me. Maybe because I have the body of a midget. I keep it in the trunk of my car."

Yesterday I saw Love Actually for a second time. I was struck by the way people getting together was portrayed, as a nervous, tentative, almost giddy thing, not the suave confident sweep-her-off-her-feet that women in my experience seem to say they want. In the movie, that was true of the Prime Minster, the porn stars, and the little kid alike. What do you think, is that your vision of romantic, or is it the Brad Pitt/Tom Cruise/George Clooney way with the strong, dominating thing?

Cheap Yums

In London -- I think it was Covent Garden -- I came across a falafel place called Maoz that was great and cheap, so much so that I came back looking for again on other days, stuffing my falafel to ridiculous proportions in the salad/topping bar while looking for the chain's US locations that alas did not exist. I thought, someone should open this in the US. Well, that someone was not me. Today I stumbled upon their first place opening at Union Square. Like Ashkara, it streaks to glory on the back of that yummy topping bar, but it beats out my heretofore favored Manhattan falafel by edging ahead on the falafel balls themselves. I'd taken to getting falafel sandwiches without the falafel balls at Ashkara, but here you get a big, yummy package for just $4.50.

That was dinner. I knew an Indian once and asked him to recommend an Indian restaurant, and he picked Rajbhog. The other day I was reading TimeOutNY's list of the city's top 100 cheap places to eat, and the same name came up, even though it's way out in Queens. Well, Jackson Heights is just a fifteen minute walk from my home, so I took the plunge into this little India and tried Rajbhog. Which I like saying: Rajbhog. Rajbhog. Rajbhog. It's the fast-food kind of place where you pay for your food at the counter and sit down, except that everyone is Indian and the TV screen has a Bollywood movie going. Unlike most Indian places, it is modern and not ethnic-hole-in-the-wall-looking. I have never swooned over Indian food, and today was no different, but it was really quite yummy. I had yellow dhal with what I'm pretty sure is loofah (絲瓜 "silk melon"), and I tried some karela (苦瓜 "bitter melon" -- it's friggin' bitter, why would anyone eat that stuff!)... they had regular stuff too, like eggplant, okra, and spinach, but all veg. Lunch was just $4, same as the subway ticket there and back. Plus they have free wireless internet, so I could make it my local(ish) Starbucks.

Blarg

This friend of mine told me not to blog about them... dammit, wait, does this count?

...Sorry.

Unfaithful Turkey

A Durex international survey found that Turks are the least faithful to their partners while Israelis are the least likely to stray. On average, around the world, one-in-five people has affairs. Of course, the survey may just as well be a measure of varying levels of honesty in the different countries. [Source: The Economist]

Though not listed here, Japan came in at 21% (and Taiwan at 15%), but considering that country's reputation for perversion, Japan stands out in another way. The Durex poll placed Japan last among 41 for frequency of sex with 45 times a year, about half that of second-to-last Hong Kong and compared with a global average of 103. A Japan Family Planning Association survey found that 40% of Japanese age 16-49 -- including 35% of married couples -- have not had sex in the past month. Japan came last in a 29-country study of sexual satisfaction that was published by the University of Chicago last year, with a mere 26% of lovers expressing satisfaction in bed. [Source: Taipei Times]

Heroes season finale

If you haven't seen it, then skip this post. If you have -- why did Nathan have to save Peter? Doesn't Peter know how to fly himself?

There were lots of other things wrong with this disappointing finale. Like, what was Sylar waiting for before killing Ando? And, with all of Peter's powers, why was he punching Sylar? And why doesn't Hiro just stop time and then do whatever he wants to Sylar, rather than letting Sylar fight back? And so on.

Emptiness

Happy Shavuot! Today, fifty days after Passover, the Torah was given to Moses at Mt. Sinai. Tradition has it that the Jews waiting at the mountain were not allowed to eat meat, so on this day we eat dairy, things like cheese blintzes and cheesecake, all of which can be made in vegan versions. It is also called the Festival of First Fruits, as it was one of the three harvest holidays on which the Israelites made pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem. So it's a good day for eating the seven fruits for which Israel is praised in the Bible: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates. I think it would be fun to eat them all, if I get a chance to get to the supermarket. Anyone want to join me? Holidays are so fun when they're all about the food.

This weekend I walked through Gramercy Park, which is the one park in Manhattan that is private, to which only the people living next to it have a key (or at least, the right to pay the steep monthly fee for a key). One of them walked me through. It's pretty. Last weekend I took a walk through Kip's Bay. I'd never been there, and there's not much there, it's pretty residential, but as a New Yorker there's something wrong with neighborhoods I've never set foot in. Apparently it used to actually be a bay, which was filled in.

For the past few weeks I have been filled with a vast emptiness, I am adrift in the sea of emptiness. Pascal once said (possibly apocryphally) that everyone has a God-shaped emptiness inside. I wonder if this is that emptiness.

My birthday is coming up soon, on June 5. So, don't forget.

Me on TV

I got a call this morning asking me to do a one-hour show on global warming along with a global warming skeptic for Manhattan's cable access channel. It did not go well. She kept telling me to stop talking about global warming solutions when we haven't established whether global warming is happening, and basically made me play token global warming person to the other guy's spiel. And then, when we were done, I kept talking with the guy about whatever, and she kept filming! I was just sitting there popping almonds in my mouth and saying that he's wrong without trying to come across well or be convincing. Well, at least I'm on TV, that must count for something...

Also, I am quoted in the cover story of the current issue of Veg News magazine, also about global warming.

Babycakes disappoints

I went to Babycakes again, where this blogger had once had the best cupcake of his life. This time I tried a chocolate cupcake, and found it dry and unappealing. Probably not because of the flavor -- maybe quality is inconsistent?

Visited someone in Hell's Kitchen whose rooftop view was spectacular. Wow, didn't know you could get such views of the city from inside the city. And, because the people own their apartments, they pay $500 a month -- actually, most live elsewhere and sublet for $2500, so they're minting money.

Away From Her

Wow, I haven't posted in a long time, and no one has said a thing. That's how much I'm loved ;)

Well, it's not for lack of stuff to write. There's no way to catch up, so let me mention that I saw 28 Weeks Later (it was adequate, but nothing special; it's one moral, hammered again and again from the very beginning: be as ruthless and show no compassion, not even to children or family members), and I saw Away From Her (it was great, but you'll be sad and teary the whole way through -- it's ultimately a love story, as a husband watches his wife descend into Alzheimer's).

Stick with me, I'll be back.

KFC sign

This is for my sister:

Foreign aid

Which country is the most generous in giving foreign aid to help needy countries? You might sometimes hear people say that U.S. gives the most, and they do give more than twice as much as any other country. However, the U.S. is way bigger and richer than these other countries, so it's not a fair comparison. As a percentage of GDP, the US is dismal, far behind Britain, France, Canada, Japan, and lots of others. Sweden tops the list at more than 1% their economy, while the U.S. weakly comes up at just 0.17%. Sad.

Cocker Cover

Since there were no comments on my last product review, my theory of "people like video" must be wrong. Ok, so no more videos from me. However, people might still like videos that don't include me, so here's one.

I've been learning a lot of guitar, including "A Little Help From My Friends". Even though it's a Beatles song, for me the song belongs to Joe Cocker, whose Woodstock performance was iconic. It's really very different from the original, even in 3/4 rather than 4/4. Which brings me to another thought I've always had about covers. Usually covers are almost identical to the original, which I think is boring. I always felt they should be entirely reimagined. This is a great example of just that. So, I figure, why not share the song with you, even if you just want to see Joe Cocker act like he's taken 6 different kinds of drugs.

Do you know any good truly original covers?

Mitt

When asked his favorite novel in an interview shown yesterday on the Fox News Channel, Mitt Romney pointed to “Battlefield Earth,” a novel by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. That book was turned into a film by John Travolta, a Scientologist.