NEW TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES FILM?

So the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Turtles in a half shell--Turtle POWER!) had quite an impact on my formative years as a youth. I was obsessed with the cartoon, the comics, the movie, the soundtrack to the movie (Go ninja, go ninja, go ninja, GO!), the toys, and the video games. When not doing homework, I would spend a-many times drawing these fierce, but hilarious turtles. Of course, each turtle I drew had a 14-pack and 6 biceps. 'Roids ya'll! One of my fondest memories from my childhood is playing as Donatello--because we all know that he rocks and is teh best--in the four-person arcade version at Chuck-E-Cheese. Yea, you know the one I'm talking about. I was such a good little kid for the marketing machine behind the TMNT phenomenon. A good chunk of my time was concerned with attempting to scheme my way into getting as many ninja turtle action figure and accessories as I could. Unfortunately, I never did get that sweet blimp the turtles could float around in and as a result, I would always walk through the toy aisle forlornly. Pathetic I know, but give me a break, I was 17.

With this history, I'm a little stoked to say the least at the news of a new TMNT movie coming out next year. I'm surprised that it got greenlit here in the 21st century, but maybe the studio is banking on nostalgia to drive guys into the theater (I don't see too many chicks being eager for this movie to come out--except for these girls). I don't know, but check out the trailer.

Who was your favorite turtle in a half shell?

HOME MADE FRAP

Home made frappucino action!

What's up with my bald spot? Haha.

The frapuccino artist herself is unsure of her creation.

LAST NIGHT'S PARTY

Went to a kind of a major party last night at The Delancey thrown by a couple of Kzar's friends. We pre-gamed with a bit of improvised margarita action in Kzar's apartment.

Made by mixologist Cyrus, it wasn't quite a margarita, but it was pretty dang tasty--contrary to my expression.

I'm explaining that I'm just not the biggest fan of tequila after too many heavy bouts with it during my freshman year (The tequila won, I lost).

Cy loves his fruity margaritas.

Two cheers for Kzar

In the cab ride, Cyrus delivered an unprompted polemic about women and mustaches.

Group photo.  Aww.

Cyrus offered to by Cristina a drink and instead, she vaguely replied with a list of liquors that she likes. Cyrus returned with this triple shot. Haha.

The roommates of E. 50th Street apartment reunited!

Lauren, one of the party organizers, shows off her bag of "dares" handed out to people as a way to encourage people to talk to strangers. I stayed in the corner with my dare and talked to Cy and Kzar.

Kzar's sister Mariya and her friend. Right after this photo was taken, big brother Kzar doing his brotherly duties, warned Mariya about the dangers of smoking. Truth.

Munira and her dare.

Mmmm. Overpriced drinks in plastic cups. Classy!

And after a few drinks, a dancing Cy!

Patrick talking shit about people with Cristina.  These two people totally heart Brooklyn.

Chillin' with one of Cristina's friends whom I met a long time ago.

Me and Cy.

At Delancey, if you buy sophisticated drinks (Vodka tonic doesn't count) and wear a skinny tie, they give you a real glass.

Mariya gets a bit belligerent when she's had a few. Look at her expression!

There's a lot of teeth going on in this photo.

Hot and sweaty (and in Cy's case, sneering).

Drinking since  7 combined with the heat overwhelmes Cy and he eventually decides to take a little "nap."  A bouncer later walked by and gave him a poke to see if he was still alive.  A brother can't sleep in peace anywhere.

A violent jump.

Leaving the bar to get some grub.

See I told you--belligerent Mariya.

Cy likes his fries.

Cy also really, really, really likes his ketchup.

The End.

SHAMU WATCH #6

In an unprecedented development, the Shamu essay dropped out of the top 3 on the New York Times Most Emailed List.  Shamu is clinging on with its fin at the number 4 spot, currently.  Is this the beginning of the end?

Stay tuned.

In related news, it's good to see Maureen Dowd be relevant again with a Bruce Willis in  the Sixth Sense like comeback...although I have no idea what she wrote because I don't freakin' have Times Select.

HUMAN SPACE INVADERS

This is too cool.  Using people and stop-motion filming in a movie theater, some creative people made this recreation of the classic arcade game, Space Invader. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reQ_Laq2O2o]

SECRETS AIRED IN TIMES SQUARE

To advertise its "Secret" branded deoderant for women, Proctor and Gamble have been soliciting "secrets" from people, sent via web or text message, and these koan like messages are displayed in Times Square.  You can also view them on the website.  Reading people's "secrets" made me feel pretty damn sane.  Here's a sample:

IM STILL A VIRGIN AND IM 42.  [Caps for emphasis.  Damn.  Get this person laid already.]

I dated a brother and sister separately and secretly.  [This person needs to meet new people.]

I have a birthmark that looks like Bill Clinton.  [Hot.]

I was so depressed I ate 19 donuts.  [Britney Spears in the house, yo!]

I got a facelift and I continue to deny it to my friends. [Trust me, all your friends know and talk about it behind your back, Michael Jackson.]

My two children do not know they are from a previous marriage.  [This family is going to have a SWEET Thanksgiving someday.]

I won the lottery and never told my family.  ["Trust me mom, I just FOUND this Rolex at the zoo.]

I never graduated from college but my parents think I did.  [This will be a Seth Cohen plotline in The OC a couple years from now.]

See, don't you feel refreshingly normal and good about your life?

STUY TOWN AND PC VILLAGE: FOR SALE?

One of the remaining bastions of affordable housing in Manhattan might be reduced to yet another playground for the rich, trust-fundy, or finance-affiliated.  MetLife announced that it might sell Stuyvesant Town and its coterminous counterpart Peter Cooper Village.  Of course, MetLife stocks rose following this announcement.  I've said it often, but I'll say it again: real estate, particularly in Manhattan, is ridiculous. Why is Peter Cooper so famous?  The man invented Jell-O for god's sake.  JELL-O.  Without him, we would have never had Bill Cosby in those ads shrilling for that gelatin goodness...or jello shots, for that matter.

TAYLOR HICKS ATTENDS YANKEE GAME

Winning American Idol really does make you famous--so famous that I'm sitting here, using up my precious brain cells and not-so-precious time to write about someone writing about seeing American Idol winner Taylor Hicks at Yankee Stadium:

As we settled in our seats and got over the fact that we paid $8.00 for a beer (for the mathematically inclined, that’s approximately a 1,039% mark-up over the national average price of a single beer in a six-pack) we noticed that there was a commotion going on to our left. We look over to see what’s going on and it seems there is a crowd gathering around a very old man sitting five seats away. Finally the crowd disperses and it’s none other than Taylor Hicks! And he’s there with Seth Green! (Ed. Note: It was not Seth Green, it was in fact Elliott Yamin, the third place finisher in “American Idol.” He was, however, the first place finisher in the “Eating Dippin’ Dots Out Of A Mini Helmet Bowl” race.)

For anyone out there who is wondering what Taylor Hicks looks like close up, here is the best description I can give: old. I’m not kidding when I say that this man is lying about his age.

The man looked like he was 40-years-old after the magic of make-up, stylist, and soft-focus TV cameras.  In real life he probably looks like this:

MODEL JESSICA MICHIBATA TRIGGERS INTRABLOG WARFARE.

The hippest kids on the West Coast and fellow wordpresser, Kev and Moye platonically share a blog. And on their blog, they are currently engaged in a raging flame war betweem themselves over whether hapa model Jessica Michibata is attractive, whose appellation Kevin has designated as simply "Hot Girl."

Jessica has a blog herself where she primarily posts candid photos of herself partying, hanging out and (this one's for Nick and Kaizar) occasionally hitting the stripper pole. Kevin added her to his blogroll under the title "Hot Girl." I added her to my blogroll, because she seems like an interesting person to talk to about Al Gore's new documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

Moye is decidedly anti-Jessica. To Moye, "hot girl" is simply a hot mess. On the other hand, Kevin is obsessively pro-Jessica. Moye is convinced Kevin is blind. Kevin is convinced Moye is blind. I say, can we leave the optically-challenged and visually-impaired out of this debate?

What do I think? I think we're all beautiful, each and every one of us.

DON'T CALL IT A PHONE

Asian Americans inevitably deal with racial stereotyping in the US. This commercial is clever, because it highlights the gross absurdity with which many ignorant and/or prejudiced whites in America perceive their Asian American neighbors. This distasteful situation is an obvious point to many of you reading this, but it's interesting to me to see it played out in a commercial. Other than the slight caricature of the (white) parentals portrayed in the commercial, the ad captures the sensibility and atmosphere of what it's like to be a minority youth in this country. Less so than our parents, and grandparents, and great-grandparent's generations, it's less of a taboo (of course, it's still forbidden in some families, etc) kids today to date someone of another "race" or ethnicity. Today, traditional lines of demarcation--religion, class, and race--aren't as rigid as they once were. So it's interesting to see an inter-racial white-Asian couple in this commercial.

The only problem I see is that some people aren't going to "get it" and only reaffirm their ignorance.  Anyway, I would have loved to be a fly on the wall at the ad agency that created it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwQkU7jLXRY]

SUNDAY IN CENTRAL PARK

A question that I share with Annie Lennox.

Beautiful blue sky over Central Park.

Chllin' in Central Park.  Good stuff.

Lauren taking care of business.

Another weekend over.  Have a good week, kids.

LAST NIGHT'S PARTY

Warning: Lotsa photos, so give 'em time to load up. Peace. While waiting for Cyrus at his apartment, I took me some artsy photos.

It's artsy, because it's in black and white.

See. Not so artsy.

Heaven to me is sitting on a stoop on a nice sunny day in NYC, listening to Tribe and watching the people go by.

Once in Cy's apartment, we enjoyed ourselves one...and...two...and...three cups of rum and Coke.

You can't tell by his expression here, but he is STOKED to party.

Cy is also very stoked by the Pussy Cat Dolls--so much so that he actually purchased their music video from iTunes. He's just keepin' it real.

Door mat outside of the apartment. It's funny, because if you add an extra "T" to "mat," you'd get my name. Fucking hilarious, isn't it? Isn't IT?

We had mojitos and amazing Cuban food at Cafecito on 12th and C for dinna. Highly recommend.

Lauren, representing the white contingent, shows up to join our crew.

The bathroom wall at the bar we were at. This is how you know how truly worthless a penny is.

The salsa experts doing there thang.

Kristin (about to give someone a high-five I think) and her friend (I forgot your name--Sorry!) show up at the hookah bar.

Cy intently focusing on the pipe. Look at his level of concentration.

Apparently Kristin's friend (far left) didn't get the memo that she should smile in this photo. Anyway, check out my hot recessive attached earlobe action! WOOHOO!

Now we're all on the same page in this photo, except that my gigantic hair is covering half of the photo.  [Memo to self: Haircut ASAP]

These are some of Lauren's friends who showed up briefly for a drink and a few songs before peace-ing out.

Kristin and friend getting their groove on.

After the hookah bar, we went back to the Latin scene. This wannabe Casanova attempted to dance with every girl that walked by. He finally succeeded with this girl in the photo and took full advantage of the situation. "I've got five on itttt."

This girl showed up with the girl in the previous photo. DAYAMMMM. Rubenesque girls need their lovin' too from anonymous guys in bars.

Hot and sweaty and tired.

But not so tired to jump! Haha. Lauren was at first puzzled at my request that she jump, but once she understood, she got so into it. Haha.

Lauren trying to force a levitating Cy back to the ground.

A badly timed jump. The generally reliable SD400 camera had a difficult time focusing in the dark.

Success! Dang-I just noticed that Lauren is jumping in heels. Girlfriend is gangsta.

I'm all like "I'm too fucking cool to jump."

Oh, who am I kidding?  Let's jump!

Cyrus demonstrating some serious vertical hops.  Black men can jump, it appears.

All this excitement is just too much for Lauren.

The owner of this car is really stoked to see a drunk hysterically laughing girl sitting on his car.

Finally done with jumping, we decide to head home.

Strike a pose.

Some late night poetics: Phantasmal apparition in the night.

Demonstrating what I've learned from "So You Think You Can Dance."

"Bicycle bicycle bicycle"

"I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle"

"I want to ride my bicycle"

Waiting for our food at the diner.

Um, so my BLT was awesome.

Haha.  A drunk Cy.

The End.

WOMAN WINS $21K ON 10 CENT BET

A woman placed two 10 cent bets on a horse race that paid out for her in a big way.  She won $21,584.  Like Vince Vaughn's character Trent said in Swingers, she's the "big winner tonight."  And she's also one hell of a lucky mofo too.  She placed those bets on a "superfecta," which meant that she had to not only correctly predict the winning horse, but also the three other runner-ups--in correct order of finish.  People have a hard enough of a time picking the winning horse, let alone the 'superfecta.' She then lost it all by walking over to the 5 cent slot machines.  Okay, not really, but I somehow doubt she's going to roll over her winnings into her investment portfolio.

SHAMU WATCH #5

Despite a few challenges throughout the week, the Shamu article viciously fought to remain at the top of the "most e-mailed list" at the New York Times.  As of today, Saturday, Shamu sits proudly atop that list as people still continue to e-mail that article to others. How long will Shamu remain king?  Can tomorrow's Modern Love column finally top Shamu?  Stay tuned.

MY NEW FAVORITE SHOW ON TELEVISION

The summer season has historically been considered a lull for television. I can only watch So You Think You Can Dance and the umpteenth airing of Alien vs. Predator so many times. Well, I've discovered the antidote to all the banal summer programming: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Despite the awkward title, this show--about four friends who run a bar owned by a character played by Danny DeVito--is freakin' hilarious.  Each episode involves these guys (and one gal) getting into some sort of calamitous adventure.  I highly recommend you check it out (watch a couple episodes for the characters and pace to soak in).  You can see it on FX.

SPANDEX CELEBS ASK PAPARAZZI FOR $

Check out this video of Matthew McConaughey (with Lance Armstrong and the gays number one recruit, Jake Gyllenhaal) asking the hoard of paparazzi for some money so they could buy lunch after a bicycling session. Scroll to the second video link on the page--although there's some other good stuff on there as well. I think if I could go kick it with one celeb, it'd probably be with MCon. He always seem so relaxed and chill. I don't think he was "acting" too hard in Dazed and Confused because I suspect he's sort of like that in real life. The best thing about being MCon I guess is that he gets older, and the girls stay the same age. Git-R-Done!

File this story under "Because Celebrities' Lives Are That Much More Interesting Than Ours."

BOOMING REAL ESTATE IN VIDEO!

Since no one was killed, it's okay to gawk at this surveillance video recording (Amazingly, not a YouTube clip) of the gas explosion that completely demolished the townhouse on 62nd Street.  In New York City, real estate is practically pornographic.  People obsess over it and fanatically write and blog about it.  When a studio apartment that is the size of a closet costs more than houses in most markets, the obsession--sometimes voyeuristic--with real estate in NYC is understandable.  So, for some real estate buffs, watching the building explosion must have been like watching a snuff film.

SHAMU WATCH #4

I started worrying because in the past 24 hours, the Shamu article at the Times was bumped to the third spot on the Most Emailed List.  But she's a fighta' I tell ya, a fighta'!  The Shamu article is back to the one spot! If the Da Vinci Code, Bible and Harry Potter series were all rolled into one, it'd look something like the Shamu article.  I don't know what's going to top it.

FOUR SECOND GAMES

Called "Four Second Fury," it's a collection of games that is perfect for the modern person afflicted with ADD.  Each game lasts only 4 seconds long and require only the use of the arrow buttons and the space bar on your keyboard. I'm not saying you should look at this site while at work, but it is a friday and I know you ain't got no work...and you ain't go shit to do!

To play...Click Here (Just be sure to turn off your speakers in your cubicle).

MISSED CONNECTION WITH NAT PORTMAN

My friend Kristy and I took a class on Terrorism at Columbia University taught by groovy professor Stuart Gottlieb (I knew more than a few girls in that class that had a crush on him).  Well, I was in his class in the spring semester of 2005. Today, I got an instant message from Kristy with a link that sent me to this photo with the following caption:

Attending Professor Stuart Gottlieb's 'Terrorism and Counterterrorism' class at Columbia University in promotion for 'V for Vendetta', NYC (March 6th 2006)

There is Natalie Portman standing in front of my professor!  In some way, that is the story of my life right there.  If I just took that class a year later, I would have been sitting 10 feet away from Natalie (albeit, spouting inanities).  Yea, I'm usually the dork that sits in the front row with my laptop out to take notes with.

Screw the pedagogy and world class faculty of ivory towers!  I attended Columbia and Brown to see celebrities!  I was robbed!  Instead, all I got was a very drunk and red faced mayor, Buddy Cianci, speak in my urban studies course about the 'revitalization of the water front.'