"MAN BURSTS INTO FLAMES AT SAN FRANCISCO PORN SHOP"
"Arson experts said it was not clear what ignited the fire but police said the man had been watching videos in a private booth when the blaze erupted."
aaaaaaaAAAAAAaaaAAAAA!
As someone who appreciates a good handful of lube and a quick jerk-off session to porn, I shudder to even imagine...!
Luckily I'm not too big into poppers (AAAAAaaaAAAAAAAAAAA)?!
Image via
I feel like a bit of an ass right now.
See, not too long ago I wrote this post about a stabbing in Carroll Gardens (which is my home neighborhood) involving a famous pizza chef and a member of a long-time resident-of-the-neighborhood family, in which I wrote that my overactive imagination wondered if the store in front of which the stabbing occurred (Joe's Superette) was a front for some other business or something as I never saw anyone go in and it didn't seem like anything went on inside. The shop looked cluttered, dirty and illogically organized from the outside (confession: I never went in. Not once! But see picture above to form your own opinions.); i.e. - it had bad "curb appeal" and whatever other trendy terms one might bandy about to ridicule a store that hasn't been made over by an interior designer, a set designer and a stylist so as to recreate that "old world" feel it already exudes authentically.
Truth is, the owner (Leo Coladonato) may just have chosen to run his business that way, or rather, he had - for years - and wasn't changing anything 'cuz apparently his food was banging and he didn't have to change anything to attract business (Learning moment: some people CAN BE SATISFIED WITH THE SIZE OF THEIR BUSINESS. Sounds like insanity, doesn't it? No plans for growth!? Certifiable.).
Anyway. Back to why I feel like an ass. Last Monday, Joe's Superette closed after gracing Smith Street at the same location for more than 50 years and Pardon Me For Asking (the Carroll Gardens neighborhood blog) gave a history of the store, its owner and the COMPLETE LACK OF UNSAVORINESS OR POTENTIAL FOR IT BEING A COVER FOR ANOTHER, ILLICIT BUSINESS...and then Leo died.
Nothing to do with me, I know, but I do feel like a bit of a douche for having spoken ill of the (now) deceased. Doesn't help me much to learn that Leo - and Joe's itself - was so well-loved and ABOVE REPROACH.
Here're some you forgot/didn't know about, Rod.
A few more (more NSFW than this), after the jump...
She posted this video of her performing a snippet of her new song to her Facebook recently and the title/timing seems right, given some think it an apt enough question owing to the work she's had done. Not quite the mental trickery of "You're So Vain", but...arresting, and fitting the whole "Who's she singing about?" thread, nonetheless?
Here's Carly back in the day as photographed by Andy Warhol.
Billionaires including Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Mayor Bloomberg and Director George Lucas have made the Giving Pledge, an effort organized by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to encourage billionaires to give more of their money to charity.
Also, Morgan Stanley is - apparently without being coerced - looking at ways to rein in executive bonuses and compensation packages. Does this herald a change in "The Street"'s philosophy?
You may wonder why I'm so anti-big salaries. Main reason: I just don't see any valid rationalization - other than that the market can bear it - for paying ANYONE, much less an athlete, $140 million. Not to play a game...to entertain. Not when there are humans still dying of starvation and want of clean water and shelter. No hour of momentary distraction from the cares of this world can justify an individual taking home so much for doing so little (I realize I am treading dangerously when it comes to talent and skill and many other unquantifiable attributes that may help towards justification. Still, does having those things mean this person is of any greater value than that one dying in the desert? I defy you to rationalize any way that he or she is.).
I am decidedly NOT laissez-faire. I understand the value of drive...the power of ambition...the need to compensate those who achieve great things by giving them something compensatory. The question is, what is compensatory? What is great? Is Michael Jordan great? Truly? How many people has he saved? How many wars has he averted? How many life and history-changing discoveries has he made?
We've lost our footing. Our assessment of value has no grounding in its "actual" value to life, to history, to the future...to our continued progress and - hopefully - happiness as a civilization.
Ok... so this didn't end up being very cheery after all?
My bad.
Maybe it's that's it's Monday, or that Brooklyn Pride this past weekend heightened my sensitivity, but this whole vuvuzela thing really IS annoying, if only because the name rhymes so easily with Venezuela...and then there's the whole blowing thing and...well...it's MONDAY for god's sake! I'm having a hard enough time focusing as it is!?
Gus says, "BEwARe! Groans ahead..."
In case you've been under a rock, or would sooner jump in the (polar) bear enclosure at the Central Park Zoo then keep up with the ongoing Bear hair-steria (which - if that IS YOUR case - you likely won't want read further), this weekend is Urban Bear Weekend here in New York City. For complete event details, visit the official website here.
Not only is it Bear Weekend here, but the Bears are modeling in San Francisco (Walter Van Beirendonck shows in San Fran, original post courtesy of BUTT. More clips of the show here.), opening their comfy and plaid home and base for their successful fashion line (Costello Tagliapietra) in Carroll Gardens (that's my 'hood, yo!) and just generally throwing their weight around (I know! I know!? I'm sorry...I couldn't resist.) seemingly everywhere you look!
It's PANDA-moan-ium! (See what I did there? Do you see?)
While we're on the subject...though neither Rod nor I self-identify as Bears, we're often lumped in the Bear category, or a Bear sub-category (Otter, Cub, Wolf, Ferret, etc.) by default (I assume it's the beards), which can be a bit sticky (Oh god! I can't stop!) - at least for me - at times. Sticky primarily in a cognitively dissonant kind of way as I'm trapped between appreciating the flattery implicit in, say...a "woof"; or between welcoming the friendship and affection of a self-identifying Bear, while - at the same time - holding generally negative beliefs about cliques, conformity and a mob mentality that (largely) inform my view of Bears (or any gay clique) as a group.
Even as I say that, I fully recognize we have to use some method, or criteria, for choosing our friends, so why begrudge those who choose based on shared anatomical characteristics?? Besides, interpreting the fact that a mass of guys have chosen friends and lovers based on similar girth and hirsuteness as a personal affront is a bit self-aggrandizing, isn't it? It really has nothing to do with me/you (e.g. - They weren't thinking, "Let's create a social circle that expressly excludes Duane.".).
In the end (no pun...THIS time.), individuals who either self-identify as Bears, or who fall into the Bear category anatomically make up some of my best friends, while others in that same group inspire within me the greatest lust/attraction I've ever known.
