Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from Tom, Marvin and the ladies of the far West Village

Sushi & Sodmy (all in one night)

Two great tastes that taste great together?

On Saturday night Marvin and I met up with Laura (a friend from college) and her boyfriend to hit up the all you can eat sushi dinner at the (always fantastic) Yuka and a showing of the new off-broadway show Sodom: The Musical

I think the Sodom show deserves a mention on the blog for three reasons -

1. It had the cop from the Village people as one of the supporting actors (playing God no less)
2. It's the only show I've ever seen that mentions fisting (twice!)
3. The musical accompaniment for the show was a bad drag queen ("He looks like your Uncle Bob in a tired dress" as Marvin would say) playing a casio keyboard.

Only in New York.

Edit - I re-read my post (and accompanying comment) and realized that it probably came across as much nastier than I intended to be. I very much enjoyed the intentional camp factor of the show (as well as the musical accompaniment) and recommend it for an interesting evening of theater.

Eating Out

Since the day I moved into my current apartment in Chelsea I've often passed a building flying the Spanish flag and frequented by large, cigar smoking Spanish speaking men. I never quite knew what it was until Marvin sent me this review from the New York Times. Apparently, the building houses La Nacional- a gathering spot/restaurant for Spanish ex patriots that supposedly had the best paella in New York.

Marvin and I are always up for trying a new restaurant so we decided to check it out (and invited Rich to join us). About half way through the meal Marvin started to look a little nervous --- later explaining that he thought he had seen a LARGE RAT run from one corner of the dining room to the other. Marvin's sighting was confirmed when one of the Spanish men exclaimed "Mira! Rattone!" and called over the waitress.

The worst part of the whole experience was that when Marvin voiced his complaint over our rodent companions the waitress pretended (badly) that this was the first time she had heard of something like this --- the woman literally walked over to the corner where the rat had ran earlier - took a quick look and shrugged her shoulders.

Needless to say this restaurant has been put on our dining black list - and is the first restaurant to be blacklisted with distinction.


The following evening I went from fur to feathers when I visited The Peking Duck House in Chinatown with my coworkers.



I'm not a vegetarian by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd like to believe that the meat I eat originated in the supermarket -- needless to say, I did not like the fact that everything I was served at the Peking Duck House HAD A FACE.

I'm sure people who enjoy more authentic Chinese cuisine would have loved this restaurant, but the presentation was a bit too "real" for my tastes.

From Fish to Foul everything seemed to be looking at me - but at least at this restaurant all the animals around were of the dead kind.

Marvin Is The Rosa Parks of Chelsea

Marvin and I were walking home the other night when we saw a cab driver almost mow down a bicyclist in the middle of an intersection in Chelsea. The bicyclist was visibly shaken and shouted at the cab driver to watch where he was going. The cab driver then proceeded to stop his car in the middle of the intersection and start screaming at the cyclist - calling him a "fucking faggot" about 5x in a matter of 30 seconds.

Before I could even react I saw Marvin shaking his finger at the cab driver and telling him to watch who he calls a faggot -
next thing I know this small man is gesturing that he's going to fight Marvin in the middle of the intersection.

At this point two women from Long Island start complaining that they need to get to a party and quickly get into the cab in question and speed off toward midtown.

It was like something out of an after school special.

Like a well trained New Yorker Marvin pulls out his cell phone and dials 311 to make a complaint. Marvin somehow remembered the cab number and it seems the driver will now be charged with a variety of offenses. I'm sure there will be a follow up blog post when Marvin goes to the cabbie's hearing.

I'm not sure why people who would never think of making a racial slur see no problem with the anti-gay ones -- and I really don't understand when a member of a minority group uses a slur against another minority group.

The moral of the story is that if you're a bigot cabbie with poor driving skills I'd advise you to avoid Chelsea. Marvin will put you in your place.

He's just like Rosa Parks- only Marvin really doesn't do public transportation.

That Shit Was Bananas (B-A-N-A-N-A-S)

Halloween is long over and yet I still have no posting on the blog about it -- and a late post is better then no post, right?

This year's costume theme?
Gewn Stefani and the Harijuku Girls


After a couple of very strong drinks we put on our conway finest, armed ourselves with a portable stereo and headed down to the NYC Halloween parade.

One of our Goals of the evening was to get on TV. We were very excited to find the NY 1 Cameras around the half way point of the parade --- unfortunately there were a ton of people clamoring for a spot on television.

I was determined to get us on the air - if we had spent all this time to look ridiculous and embarrass ourselves then we were going to embarrass ourselves to the largest possible audience.

We did what any bunch of attention sluts would do - we put down our boom box - cranked "Hollaback Girl" and performed for the crowd.

The NY1 Anchor heard the crowd screaming, turned around and told us that she thought we were hysterical and needed to be on the broadcast.

Not only did we end up on TV, we ended up on the Halloween highlight reel! We were featured in a clip shown on NY 1 every 15 minutes all day on November 1st. You can see the report (entitled: From Superheroes To Super Weirdoes, This Year's Halloween Parade Took City By Storm) here. Be sure to notice the look of fear on the face of the NY1 Anchor when I attempt to dance with her.


I learned some very important lessons this Halloween:

- Pumps are not comfortable (espically conway pumps) - women deserve an award for walking in those things
- I still make a very ugly woman
- Small children, gay men and black women are were the biggest fans of our group
- Makeup is gross
- I am taking a hiatus of all things Gwen Stefani for a bit - if I hear "Hollaback Girl" one more time I will kill myself.
- Even if you are wearing a wig, women's clothing and dark sunglasses into your local pizza shop, the woman behind the counter can still tell who you are - regardless of how disguised you think you look.
- If you are going to look like an ass in public, be sure to take your friends down with you

My Confession

I REALLY like the new Madge album!


Here are the tracks, in particular order...

1. PUSH - sexy, catchy, groovy
2. Sorry
3. Hung Up
4. How High
5. Jump
6. Future Lovers
7. Get Together
8. Let It Will Be
9. Forbidden Love
10. Isaac
11. Like It Or Not
12. I Love New York - interesting music, horrendous lyrics - "I don't like cities, but I like New York - other places make me feel like a dork..." I'd take the 'American Life' rap anyday over this!

I found #1-3 all to be fantastic - #4-8 a close second -

Overall, I think the production is spot-on - hooks are 'gooey' - and the album as a whole demands that you listen again and again.

People expecting an album of 'Hung Up's may be disappointed at first with the slightly melancholy melodies. Once i got over it, I really really enjoyed it.

Jury is still out on where I would place it against her other albums - but it would definitly fall in the top 3 (along with Erotica and Ray Of Light).

And although 'someone' close to me may have provided the 'advance copy', TRUST that I'll be first on-line to purchase it on 11/15!

The video should have been a good indicator of my feelings towards the album - in just 4 minutes, the (drag) queen of pop repeatedly and gratuitously gyrates her cooch while wearing pink leotards, makes out with a 20-something latin club kid, and humps a boom box.

Now, isn't that the Madonna we all really know and love?


Edit (by Tom)-

Sarah pointed out how similar that Madonna EMA pic above looks like this:



Is she re-inventing herself as Rainbow Brite?