Buster Larkin makes his move...

I've always wanted to be a porn star and now Yahoo has done it for me. Yesterday I got the following e-mail (verbatim):

We're making some changes that will affect your Yahoo! profile. After April 9, 2008, mature content will not be permitted within Yahoo! Profiles.

In accordance with this new policy, users will no longer be able to designate an "adult profile," and mature content will be removed.

The profile for your Yahoo! ID is marked "adult." The picture associated with this profile will be removed and deleted on April 9, 2008.

We encourage you to upload a new profile photo on that date that complies with the Yahoo! Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. Please take a moment to review our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines.

Thank you,

The Yahoo! Profiles Team

When I established my Yahoo account I deliberately designated it an "adult" account so as not to be bothered by the rank-and-file teener; although said designation can be easily circumvented (like there is an honor code among those little thieves!) Anyway, the above is the photo in question and I would really like to meet the person on this Profiles Team who has deemed it unworthy. If this photo is considered the least bit risque it makes me proud and, using this provocative photo, I am now forever to be known as Buster Larkin, the porn star I've always wanted to be!

It's all about the Peeps!

These are Peeps






This is your brain on Peeps



Any questions?

A Rumination on the Pickle Sickle

The hype is saying that this is a popular snack treat in Texas, and is growing in popularity nationally, but I think that’s a bit hard to swallow, even for a claim from The Lone Star State. That it’s providing unexpected health benefits for “kids, adults and seniors alike” seems an odd piece of advertising since I pretty much lump seniors in the “adult” category but that, of course, is a personal assessment and only corroborates my reputation as a sour puss. The Pickle Sickle is made not from just the brine left over from pickling, although the liquid is certainly part of it, but is produced by also “pressing” pickles which, I guess, is self explanatory. Eating instructions are explicit: after freezing overnight you should cut a slit in the top of the packaging and suck out the juice.

This product might be a nice accompaniment to the canned cheeseburger illustrated in a previous blog. I will continue to search for that elusive cardboard box of wine to top off this perfect meal.

Rent Rant

Rent is closing on June 1 after almost 12 impressive years. It’s history is legend and it’s popularity undisputed so I thought I’d try to catch it before it disappeared forever. Or, rather, until the next revival ten or 12 years down the pyke. Last night I proved to myself, yet again, that I am two or three generations past being able to appreciate a rock musical. Well, let me put it another way, I am beyond wanting to have my eardrums smashed to bits for no reason at all. There is some beautiful music in Rent but the sucker is miked to death and the decibel level almost totally precluded my understanding any of the lyrics. This must have been just as true 12 years ago, no? Did everybody rush out and buy the tape to brush up on it? Or, like opera (also a problem for me), was the sound itself enough? Whatever, I found myself unmoved by the story, unsympathetic to the milieu portrayed (the East Village in the 1990’s), and straining to understand what was going on. Maybe the original cast just had better diction. I don’t think I caught one word said, or sung, by the actor playing Roger and that’s a shame because obviously what he said, and sang, moved the plot along. It seems like most of the audience knew the show by heart so they didn’t care; but I don’t think that’s fair to newbies.

The performers were youthful, lively and professional; in fact, Karmine Alers was wonderful as the volatile Mimi. However, knowing the plot is based on La Boheme, I was totally thrown when she sprang from her deathbed, just as perky as ever…the miracle of drugs I guess.

From what I’ve heard from friends and acquaintances Rent was a defining work of art in their lives, a musical for the ages. Just not mine.

...and not a drop to drink.

1,729 feet of neon tubing and 3,390 light bulbs later and you have “Electric Fountain,” a 35-foot-high modern sculpture by British artists Sue Webster and Tim Noble. It has been plopped down in Rockefeller Center where the once and future holiday trees annually stand; this season’s tree a miracle of woodchips presumably now being put to good use elsewhere. The tree is gone, as is the holiday, but this is a welcome sight nonetheless; as time mulches on.
The lights of the sculpture “run” in a pattern emulating the flow of water and, although a bit reminiscent of Disney's parade-of-lights, there’s nuttin’ wrong with that to darken even this jaded eye. The flow of lights look best in the early evening as the skies darken but it’s still impressive in the light of day. Like on this year’s holiday tree the bulbs are of the new LED type and we are told (incessantly) they use about 70% less energy than tungsten bulbs; so we can be pleased with ourselves on that score. The fountain, however, will “flow” from 6:00 a.m. to midnight every day through April 4th so that Con Edison bill is one at which one should not sneeze.