Posing Not Nude

Joe, my friend at work I’ve become close with, told me about an art project his boyfriend Jarod is currently working on: sketching the set of 22 tarot cards. My ears perked up when he asked if I’d like to pose for one of the tarot cards, as he and Cindy have already done so (with Joe as the Joker and Cindy as the Priestess.) I even volunteered to pose topless if necessary for artistic purposes. (Ok ok I knew my boobs will never look this way again when I’m 50 and they’re sagging.)

We met on a Sunday early afternoon, and after Joe treated us to brunch at a 50’s diner, we walked over to the studio in Soho. Jarod decided against the Empress card he originally envisioned for me. Instead, I’d pose as the Lust/Strength card as depicted by Beauty and the Beast. I’d play the Beauty (shut up!) and the kitschy goat devil necklace they found in Chinatown would play the Beast. I stripped down to next to nothing in my pink frilly Victoria’s Secret lingerie (sponsored by my bridal shower 3 years ago which I’ve finally put to good use.) The always accommodating Joe even provided a DVD player and two DVD’s for me to choose – Madonna’s Girly Tour and a teeny bopper horror movie Jeepers Creepers.

As I lied on the couch in a very comfortable position, after about 20 minutes or so, I wanted to die. No matter what position you’re in, if you have to hold still for a long stretch of time, your body cannot help but tremble and wish to move just even half a millimeter. I turned out to be not so good of a model as I must have moved a thousand times. Every time Jarod looked down at his sketch to draw me, I quickly moved just a little bit to give my muscles a tiny break from the torture. Of course Joe had to call me out and yelled, “Stop moving Evan! You’re as bad as me!” In the end, my self-imposed two-hour long torture was definitely well worth the lovely drawing Jarod was able to miraculously achieve for his art project.

Broadway Shows

No visit to Manhattan is complete unless you see a Broadway show or two. I will never forget my first, Phantom of the Opera. Not only did it capture my heart ten years ago, it mesmerized me so much that it turned me into a fan of all musicals and plays. Now that I'm here again, I saw Avenue Q and The 25th Annual Putnam County's Spelling Bee and here are my reviews:

Avenue Q: This musical is like a light-hearted Rent with raunchy humor where the main characters are puppets. Set in NYC on fictitious Avenue Q, it's a good storyline and especially fitting for us twentysomethings trying to find ourselves while struggling to pay the bills. With songs like "Everyone's a little bit racist," it sheds light on racial stereotypes and touches upon other contemporary topics like homophobia and one-night stands with sarcastic humor and shocking vulgarity (naked puppets having sex on stage) - just the way I like it. When they sang "I wish I could go back to college," we almost had a tear in our eyes because the song truly captured our post graduation sentiments working in the real world. Here are some sample lyrics: "I wish I could go back to college. Life was so simple back then. What would I give to go back and live in a dorm with a meal plan again...I wanna go back to my room and find a message in dry-erase pen on the door!...I wish I could just drop a class...Or get into a play...Or change my major...Or fuck my T.A..." Doesn't that just tug at your heartstrings? On that note, I give it a two furry thumbs up.

Spelling Bee: With cracks on Scooter Libby and Pres. Bush and songs about erections, this laugh-til-your-stomach-hurts spelling bee should be rated PG-13. At the beginning of the "competition," the host calls out by name 4 members of the audience to be contestants. (Sidenote: My friend Andrea was one of the chosen ones when she saw the show a couple years ago. How fab!) You are not only the audience of a Broadway show, but you also become the audience of a spelling bee competition where you get to see inside those little geeks' minds as they take turns asking for a definition or word origin before spelling each word. You also get Darrell Hammond from SNL as a surprising part of the cast who, not surprisingly, has some of the funniest lines on the show. A two thumbs U-P!

Misses in the City

Although I've enjoyed just about every restaurant or social outing I've been to in the past couple months, there have been a few misses. Two weekends ago my friend Shesha visited from DC, and when you have a guest for the entire weekend, you have to cater to their whims - even when it's going to some bar to watch the Sopranos finale - a show neither one of us follows. Yep, Shesha thought it'd be a great idea to find a bar showing the finale like they do sporting events. So after dinner, we wandered over to Little Italy - and surprise surprise - found a bar where the Sopranos shot some restaurant scenes and was showing the finale for a mere 20 bucks. 20 bucks! Despite my violent protest, Shesha made me pay the $20 entrance fee to go in to the bar AND it was too crowded for both of us to have seats (which we had to carry the chairs into the bar ourselves). So she sat the first half of the show and when my legs got too tired from standing for 45 minutes, I made her give me her seat. On top of that nonsense, the show ended with a blank screen which everyone thought was a glitch in the cablebox. Funny thing is I canceled my HBO/Cinemax package after my first month here because I wasn't home enough to justify paying the $20 additional fee (oh the irony!)

Then this past weekend my other friends were visiting from DC. And although I was sick with a fever and had swollen lymph nodes on my neck, Sylvia called me a hypochondriac and made me come out to Buddakhan (9th Ave. and 16th St.) for dinner at 11:45. Again, catering to my out of town friends, I dragged myself out of bed against my better judgment. Although it was great catching up with Sylvia, Kyung and Nathan, the restaurant itself was nothing to write home about. The decor was exquisite but the food was nothing more than a glorified P.F. Chang's (which as we know is just glorified Chinese food - but at least we're actually full when we leave Pak Foo's. Yea I'm totally making up what P.F. stands for but it sounds about right.) Like anything in the city, portions are inversely related to price. When you have to pay $44 for peking duck (which you can get in Chinatown for $8), you are still left hungry and could easily go for pizza after your three-course meal.

Speaking of misses, my fever still hasn't gone away so I missed work (which as a contractor is very expensive to do) as well as my salsa lesson last night. I had tickets to see Erasure and Cyndi Lauper which I also missed. Being sick SUCKS in so many ways!

80's Baby!!!

For those of us who spent our formative years in the 80’s, New Wave was unmistakably the heart of our musical identity as a generation. We grew up in an era that brought us the birth of MTV when it actually played music videos rather than an array of trashy reality shows that are in constant rotation today. When I heard that the tribute bands of Depeche Mode and The Cure will be playing at the Canal Room (W. Broadway on Canal) on Wednesday night, I was so excited to relive the 80’s New Wave Rave with my friend Kevin – also a big fan of aforementioned bands and 80’s music.

Unfortunately Kevin had a work charity function to attend and wasn’t able to make it until 9. Since the show started at 8, I didn’t want to go alone or miss the first hour so I decided to skip the event and moped around in my PJs instead watching the season finale of One Tree Hill. At 9:15 Kevin called and said “I’m here and they haven’t even started yet. Get your ass out of your PJ’s and come now!” I’ve never changed so fast and was in a cab and at the lounge in 10 minutes.

Blasphemous Rumours (Depeche Mode’s tribute band) was the opening act and had only performed one song by the time I got there. They sounded a lot like the real band and completed their look with nut-hugging costumes. The middle age chubby lead singer (I snagged a pic with him) even did the signature spin while playing People are People. After countless familiar songs, they ended their act with the band’s popular Just Can't Get Enough and Enjoy the Silence which the crowd went wild for.

Then The Cured (obviously tribute to The Cure) came on stage and looked every bit the part. They got The Cure DOWN with the crazy hair, pale skin, black eyeliner, and smudged lipstick. They opened with a dead-on rendition of Just Like Heaven - the lead singer even had all the mannerisms of Robert Smith. We were front row and center singing and dancing along to Friday I’m in Love, Lullaby (which I thought was from The Crow soundtrack but later found out it was Burn which they did not play), Love Song, and many more I can’t remember (sorry I’m not a true Cure fan like the guy next to me who knew every word to every song). When they ended their show with The Forest, a song I did not know, I was severely disappointed they did not play Pictures of You which everyone also kept screaming for. As predicted, they got back on stage and performed my favorite Cure song. Kev and I left soon after with feelings of euphoria and nostalgia, wishing it was 1987 all over again. I got in the cab and sadly returned home to 2007.

Tokyo Flashback: Canyoning...Thrilling Adventure or Suicide Attempt?

Before living in Tokyo, canyoning, like sky diving, was not something I'd consider a must do before I die. I'd never even heard of it but later found out that canyoning is like rafting; instead of everyone floating on a raft, it involves walking and swimming through fast streams, navigating through canyons and jumping off waterfalls. During one of our last weekends together before everyone headed back to their home country, my friends in Tokyo wanted to do something thrilling and this was their answer. Since my notion of a physical challenge used to be wrestling girls at a Neiman Marcus Last Call ("That Gucci bag is mine, skinny white bitch!"), the idea of canyoning did not thrill me at all. I gave it a go anyway and to my surprise, I was really glad I went through with it…and survived to tell about it.

The ten of us had to meet in the lobby of our apartment building at 8am to catch the 2-hour-long train to Minakami for our full-day canyoning tour. I almost didn’t make it as I was out the night before until 5am. When we finally arrived, we were greeted by our tour guide – an overly excited stocky white guy from New Zealand in his late 30’s with long blond dreads and sun damaged skin who speaks fluent Japanese with a New Zealand accent. After we squeezed into our wetsuits, our tour guide led us through an hour of canyons and freezing cold streams before approaching our very first jump…off a 20-feet waterfall. No joke – 20 feet and no baby waterfalls to ease us in!!! That’s almost as tall as a 3-story building – which I know may not sound so intimidating but imagine looking down a steep waterfall and realizing that seconds later you’ll be free falling and potentially plunging to your death. I was scared sh*tless but volunteered to jump second right after my friend Tommy since I wanted to get my death over with as quickly as possible. With my eyes open and my nose held shut, I took the plunge. It was one of the most, if not THE most, amazing and thrilling experiences I’ve ever had. After a few hours and more terrifying waterfall jumps, the adventure finally ended. Would I do it again? HELL NO!!! But I would highly recommend it to anyone to try it once in their lifetime.

Adidas Event

My friend Prudence asked if I wanted to work at the 2007 Adidas Urban Collection event - a roadshow held around the country that made its NYC stop last Thursday. Our pay? An Adidas T-shirt and a pair of Adidas shoes (to wear at the event) plus $100. Not bad for a night of telling people they are not on the list and sneaking in free drinks. But after promising my services from 7 to midnight after a full day of work (my day job), I realized clocking in 15 hours in one day isn't really my cup of tea. But the day before the event, Adidas decided they had budget cuts and couldn't hire me for the night after all. Well god damn it! It's one thing for ME to not want to work at the event, but it's another for THEM to tell me I can't.

My severance pay was a spot on the tres exclusive guest list (no fewer than 600) and I got to bring Karen who was visiting from Maryland. The event was held at the Adidas flagship store in Soho where I spotted Prudence running around with her Adidas T-shirt and shoes (unlike me, she did not get laid off from her one-night job). There wasn't really anything too exciting going on - no fashion show, no speakers, no cake - just free drinks. It was like going to a happy hour after work at a really busy Adidas store. Karen and I were lit by 7:30 after just 2 drinks. I guess filling up your cup with pink vodka infused with caffeine with just a splash of OJ will do that to ya. There was also a semi-celebrity spotting (model wannabe from America's Next Top Model - she wasn't even the winner). Although I did not get my T-shirt and shoes, I did walk away with free drinks and a party gift (a black and pink Adidas knapsack).

Please Hold...

So I'm going to have to take a break from blogging this week because it is my go-live week at work (I have to train users how to use the damn system). Not to mention my first day of salsa class starts tonight AND my friends are visiting from Aus and DC. But I will be back next week! In the meantime, enjoy the following photos...The first picture is from Brooklyn (I can't take credit for that picture but isn't it hilarious?) The others are proofs from the photographer at my sister's wedding (which by the way, I'm breaking all kinds of copyright laws for your viewing pleasure.) And don't mind the juxtaposition of the Shit picture with my sister's wedding pics - it's not intentional at all.