Some Zany Pics from MVY...

Here are some pictures of me and my lovers in Martha's Vineyard:




I have just inherited this outfit from David




Dave and Paul fry up some Tilapia and Veggies for the crew








Happy Ending!

Guest Contributions

Over the last few weeks, as the blog has started to pick up, I've developed the idea of asking a few of my "in tune," spiritually sound, and rebelliously souled friends to contribute: in any medium, attributed or anonymous.

This is the first of the series:

Sometimes I look at what happens and think, "what the fuck, man,
we are really hurting each others' feelings..."


Thanks to our anonymous contributor... this is certainly a message to ponder.

Random Thoughts for 12/10

Here is a fun game to play:
Required: Two silly hipsters
1.) Go Out in L.A. (Split up party going)
2.) Count American Apparel Pieces
3.) Do Coke!!!!!
Whoever counts the most pieces wins and then everyone does coke again!!!!!

or... check out Cobrasnake: http://thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos.html

HAIL TO THE CHIEF!!!

Drew Gilpin Faust... thank Jesus/A shtik naches!!! If I'd had to endure any Summersing during my matriculation I might've gone stark raving mad. But NEVER FEAR, looks like Blacks and Jews at Harvard have got a few good reasons to think that Drew is Down!

1.) Middle Income Financial Aid Initiative
2.) The Return of Hip Hop Culture scholar, Marcyliena Morgan, and her husband Lawrence Bobo.
3.) September's Denunciation of the UCU's "boycott" (AKA BLATANT DISCRIMINATION) of Israeli Scholars!

JEWS AND BLACKS, LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR OUR GIRL!!!!

SPOTTED

TF wearing day of the week socks... Taste for Irony:10 pts... As Evidence as why under 40 yr olds should not grade: Truly Grim.

Social Analysis 12/6 - Liberal Invitation Strategy

My progressive education at Bank Street was indeed a hyper-charmed, over-idealized version of what an Electric Kool Aid aficionado sees of the world... of course there is no way that I should have expected that the values I learned there (fairness, honesty, kindness) would apply in the real world. But one value which I refuse to abandon is the Liberal Invitation Strategy.

What you are about to read, perhaps will sound like the losers lament. Yet I think the honest man will find truth in it, the kind man will find warmth in it, the loyal man will find intrinsic value in it, and the moral man will find necessity in it.

Over the course of the last few busy birthday weeks and with holiday parties coming up, I would like to believe that my peers would find rationale in such a strategy, the essence of which is to truthfully identify and maximize moral content of any social gathering by an honest assessment of attendees. The politics of who is invited to the party, who is not, who is invited to the dinner pre-party or finals club after party, who was invited to the official pre game and who was the host of the unofficial pre game all detract from the celebratory nature of birthdays as well as the holiday season. Indeed, I am fed up with the petty nature that invitation and oversight have taken at my school and in my life. However, the capitalistic conventions of competition which are immediately instilled within every Harvard student upon their first walk through the gates of Harvard, have led to a false knowledge and concept of what is to be (in a moral sense) done. But what if each interaction was based on honesty rather than competition? What if we eliminated the tendency towards pre judgment on the basis of social currency? The "means" is a society in which we invite (let invite mean engage in open exchange in formal as well as informal settings) liberally, thereby maximizing socialization, and thereby, increasing the chances for optimal socialization (the surprise of finding that someone can be more of a friend than you thought them to be capable of).

The Nature of the Theory:
- The Liberal Invitation Strategy is a social strategy whereby in the course of compiling an invitation list, one incorporates those who may have seemed like less obvious choices (2nd, 3rd, or even 4th rung accomplices), includes friends of friends, and when appropriate enemies
- The logic in inviting enemies is that a true enemy's attendance will expose their tendency towards ill willed and disgraceful behavior
- The proof of invitation standard is that anyone who would be offended by not receiving an invitation should be invited, this can only be subjugated if the host/hostess would be offended by the invitee in question attending.

...When the non-invitation is a mere oversight and the invitee is of no real or genuine consequence either way, why not choose the polite route? [This of course is different in the case of limited resources to be distributed amongst invitees]

- All natural choices (people whom are in one's natural realm of friends or whom according to allegiance "deserve" invitation over others) should always be included (out of touch friends and less "popular" or "politically sound" friends are often the most vulnerable to this sort of invitational negligence and often the most offended)

...Excluding natural choices on the basis of politics is never a flattering reflection on the host or hostess. It perpetuates the cult "fad of bitchiness" which in my perspective has become particularly passe (circa Tina Fey's "Mean Girls")

When choosing whom to include and whom not to include, we often cheapen the aspects of inclusion and exclusion to the value of one list, one evening or one individual, but lack of caring who is hurt by our actions is a particularly vile and often offhanded contribution to a youth culture in which the values of honesty and kindness are rotting before us.

Although perhaps my own inviting skills have not been soundly tested, I will self reify my judgment on this particularly grim aspect of socialization based on its visceral nature: My mother would have never allowed me to behave in such a way. I wonder what my peers would say if they based their behavior on such a principle.


The maxim to leave with is: With chance of social conflagration, just pass out the invitation!
or perhaps, just...
"be nice!"

Meka + Ush

Now - there are many of us in the world who have our suspicions about Usher and his new wife Tameka... there are far fewer, yet far more vocal individuals in the blogosphere who believe we are allowed to comment on them. Here goes:

In Essence, Tameka says:
“We (black women) don’t like ourselves. If I were Hispanic, Usher would have the sexiest wife alive. If I were mixed, he’d have the sexiest wife alive. But he has a black girl, and it’s like, ‘She’s horrible and she’s ugly!’ “OK, maybe I don’t fit the cookie-cutter standard - 25 and a size two - but this is who he loves."

Now certainly I agree with Tameka's comments on black females. Indeed, black women are probably one of the most self hating populations in the US. And how could we not be? With consistent pressure to raise and nurture one of the most confounding demographics in the world, with almost zero recognition politically, professionally, or even sexually, with no kind of remorse from the status quo which perpetuates these feelings of inadequacy, sure, the Black woman is bound to utter every now and again, "Gosh, I hate being me, or " Gosh, it is tough being a black woman."

But sometimes, this is just not the case. Ugly permeates all different sorts of people all around the world. And so does good lookingness. Now I am not going to say that I think that she is completely unfortunate. I think she is a quite well groomed young lady, I can obviously appreciate a bomb ass weave, and she's got a vibrant smile which is still the best attribute anyone can have. There are, however, downsides. Is Tameka moderately manish? Yeah, I don't think anyone could deny that. And certainly, she's got some pretty big jugs, although they may or may not be attributed to her pretty big statue over all. Now that is just flat out honest.

It's not that I feel Tameka should be denied the right to feel beautiful, because I honestly think that every woman does. But I don't think that making a blanket statement about black women and their attractiveness is effective to that end. Tameka isn't unattractive because she's black. She just so happens to be black as well as unattractive, which is an altogether different existence.

It's a bitch eat bitch world out there. Weaves, makeup, pumps, spanx, forever 21, herve leger... whatever you need to do to get on top of your game, do it. But don't drag us all down... we're not trying to convince people that we're not pretty because we're black.

Point is: ugly is to the bone. it's not a melanin thang. and if it is to some, their loss.

[Photo via Getty Images.]

Posting on HAAAAARVARD.

I am going to start posting about life at Harvard. I really feel like my life is becoming fast absorbed by this lifeless entity, and that I have the responsibility to communicate its foibles and fabulosity.

Here are a few thoughts on my mind:

- Why is nobody at Harvard real(Too many initials to implicate)?
- Who knew what we were missing over at the Fly?
- Will anybody in my blocking group get laid soon?
- Will more than 1000 students vote for the UC presidents?
- I love Miss Natasha Alford and Mr. Steven McDonald.

... but mostly,
- What will the repercussions of my staying at home instead of going to all of my classes be? How many times are you allowed to say you are sick? What if you actually are? And, isn't Harvard putting too much faith in the maturity of 22 - 30 yr olds to grade me fairly?

So annoyed and so over it...but still well dressed.

Here is the thing...

I started vintage Frogskins... I did it before everyone. I have documentation. This picture was taken in mid-July...



Now these crazy girls? Not cool.

The Nanny Diaries is a good movie kind of .

What does one say about "The Nanny Diaries?
1.) "Gosh, nanny... good thing you'll never leave me."
or
2.) "Good thing we did that acid before we came to see this"
or, as I chose:
"wrong... wrong... wrong... great jacket."

As I walked into the theater five minutes late, Scarlett Johansson's delightfully husky voice was informing the audience that she was the Rolls Royce of babysitters... she was white, young, college educated, etc. This was just one of the myriad inaccuracies that irked me throughout the course of the movie. There really isn't a Rolls Royce of babysitters. Sure, Hampton Domestics would disagree... and I'm sure a few families in Palm Beach would disagree as well... but for the most part as a formerly nannied individual, as well as a friend of other formerly nannied individuals I would say the ideal nanny is more often west Indian, nurturing, large bosomed, in her 40's... and CERTAINLY not as sensual looking as Ms. Johansson (remember now, the LADIES choose the nannies).

Sure, the Weinstein namesake packs a powerful punch when it comes to promoting romantic comedies... but his lack of interest in accuracy easily compromises the integrity of the film... especially to yours truly, a Post Nannied New Yorker. It was an L.A. Jew perspective of a N.Y. Wasp... and although I'm typically the last to defend the over enfranchised, I certainly did not see this as a fair portrayal (See the following list of inaccurate/overblown/ poorly written/ unfair depictions)
- No mother prohibits her child from going to the West Side, where there are such irresistible staples such as H&H bagels, Barney Greengrass, etc.
- Nobody restricts their child to museums for fun
- The X's were certainly more of a Palm Beach/Hampton's breed... Massachusetts vacationing is far more low key than the rest of the lifestyle led one to believe
- Nobody calls their Nanny, Nanny. The Nanny is an integral part of a child's upbringing, more often referred to by an Anglicization of her name.

The movie turned out to be an audience participation for me... I would jeer at the inaccuracies... or even answer questions that the characters ask about N.Y.C. culture: When Grayer doesn't get into Collegiate, Giamatti says something along the lines of "what the hell are we going to do now?" Any P.N.N.Y. knows that the answer to that is Buckley.

Speaking of Paul Giamatti, I was freaking terrified by the red hair, blue contact makeover. He also gained a fair amount of weight... I don't know if that was on purpose. The point, though is, is that while watching his portrayal of Mr. X, I realized that he had reached a level of acting where the thespian needs to pull back. After achieving many acting accolades, Giamatti has become TOO good an actor... I mean, I thought he was FLAT OUT CREEPY. And now, because he acted as a creep so well, I no longer enjoy his acting.

Laura Linney was surprising. I certainly was surprised by how naturally her haughtiness came, however, was disappointed at frequent junctions where her superior acting was over shadowed by a rambling script, causing her character's strength to suffer at the hand of the script's weaknesses.

Linney and Giamatti were very obviously the acting chops of the film. Next to that Scarlett Johansson's pseudo acting perishes. It was, at times, incredibly awkward to watch. Every time that I sit down to watch a movie with her in it, I think to myself, "maybe now I will see why people like her." I think I saw it: Lips, Hips, Hair. She oozes sensuality, and has one of the ultimate sexy voices of our time. But as in the case of other famous occasionally blond bombshells, sensuality does not a thespian make. In fact, her poor acting makes me nothing but resentful of a Hollywood that charges 10 bones per ticket, sells sex over scripts, and still trusts the opinion of Woody Allen's oversexed casting decisions. But she is purrrrty!

Alicia Keyes should sing. And only that.

There were times where the charming tale is synthesized with a moment of directing genius. One such moment that I recall is when Laura Linney asks Scarlett Johansson's character if a racy negligee that she has found in the laundry is hers. It was a tense moment as Linney fought back her tears and made her voice and eyes say one thing and her words another. The camera then shoots a profile of Linney in the shadows of the doorway half speaking to the poorly wallpapered walls of nanny's room and half way speaking to a befuddled looking Johansson. Laura Linney had the challenging task of having to act through several layers of Botox... KUDOS!

Indeed, The Nanny Diaries is worth seeing. Its like going out at night to look for shooting stars... Sure for the most part your just waiting to see one, but then one appears. In this film it is more often in the form of a deeply moving two minute section, a clever line, or a fantastic outfit. But I would have gone if just for the outfits!

My Tortured Relationship with Beyonce Knowles and the Cultural Zeitgeist at Large.

Oh coming of age in a digital world... What are the tests, the hurdles that we must overcome? For me, one large hurdle is coming to terms with Ms. Beyonce Knowles her influence on media.

Beyonce is an interesting case study in Artist Responsibility.

I read this this morning...
http://www.bossip.com/2791/columnist-compares-beyonce-roboho-comment-to-don-imus/
and frankly didn't think that the "Roboho" accusations were too far off... Columnist Jasmyne A. Cannick is apparently quite upset at the racial aspect (a racial aspect which I do not see as relevant) of this accusation. However, black artists being held to a higher standard of morality is nothing new. I am relieved that someone actually did call Beyonce a "hoe" because I would rather have it be clear that this sort of behavior is not innate to our people.



On the topic of Beyonce and all other black entertainers. Was anybody else incredibly offended by the comparison of Diana Ross and Beyonce laden in the camera shots and statements at the 2007 BET Awards? A true diva doesn't need to shimmy nearly as much as Beyonce... in fact, Ms. Ross set a respectful and relatively tame image.

Sure, its may not be fair that Beyonce is held to a higher standard than someone like Christina Aguilera or Shakira, but as I have learned this year, works by black artists are inherently racial. There is no separating Beyonce's womanhood from her black womanhood: they are intersectional. Do i think it is fair? Absolutely not. Do I hold Beyonce to a higher standard because she is one of the few black women who is fortunate to have some modicum of influence over society? Absolutely yes. If you can't handle the heat stay out of the game; and if you lack artistic responsibility, stay out of the biz.

I just want a little more singing and a little less gyrating and I don't think that is too much to ask. I just want to be able to watch a video without cringing a bit.

Degrassi Hip

I always thought I would move to LA for a while so I never got too tough for my own good. I think a moderate dosage of brain damage is appropriate in my opinion.

Then I saw this: http://thecobrasnake.com/partyphotos/n/index.html

Fuck me. Are those Degrassi kids cooler than me? Might as well give up now. Might as well just use those old dumb ass clips to hold on to my leather gloves... na mean? Give up now, Pap. Just give up.

On Demand TV means no recent posts

Sincerest apologies to my three fans. Updates are hard... especially with no pictures... so I will have the London/Paris updates sometime near the end of this week. I love you all.

Paul Whang is a Film Genius and Many Other Kinky and Delicate Things.

Mr. Paul Whang was accepted into a Parisian school for film study. He will be there this summer. He is a genius. He was the first one to show me "French Babies with Learning Disabilities." He is a genius of film and fashion. I tried to suck some of his brains out through his left ear with a straw... but his brain noodles are very tight because he doesn't do drugs (thanks to Rachel Leigh Cook's convincing piece, "This is Your Brain... on Drugs"). I called it.

Rehab? YES, YES YES!

Amy Winehouse's song "Rehab" is the least responsible artistic contribution that I have seen in recent years. Additionally, it is too kitschy. I will further explicate these claims:

1.) Kitsch: This pseudo blues re- creation is simply not good. Sure, Christina Aguilera was able to get away with "Candyman," that doesn't mean that the key to a pop hit is to transport to another era and defy one's perceived racial limitations. Am I gonna have to deal with another Joss Stone every three years? A Soulful British white girl shocks music industry by managing to have a modicum of soul. OLD NEWS!!!


2.) Artistic Irresponsibility: In an age where rehab is trendy, did Winehouse think she could cash in by making a rebellion against this trendiness? I don't think this gig has been blaring over at Promises!!! Typically when someone suggests that one should go to rehab, they're within reason. When they try to make you go to rehab, you certainly shouldn't just reactively deny their help. Perhaps I would have taken more kindly to Miss Winehouse, had she sang:

"They try to make me go to rehab,
i carefully considered the option.
I don't have 70 days.
So i opted for an AA program that was more convenient for my schedule and lifestyle,
thanks for your help
alcoholism is bad"




But no such luck. I suggest that Miss Winehouse get some help, especially now that the world has endorsed and made profitable her obvious problem with denial.

The Worst Thing on Earth...

I think that nobody should be random. It's the worst thing on earth. I'd rather be tacky.