Paraphernalia

Listen please - let me tell something to your face

I'm tempted to start a "WTF" category for this one. I'm not even sure how to describe her to you. Lady Raptastic is a character unlike any other. I'm currently obsessed with her podcasts. They make me laugh out loud.

The podcasts are on her site, her myspace page, and iTunes. There are also videos on YouTube.

And don't forget to stop by Da Breakup Song site. You put in the person's name and then pick 2 things (like bad breath and talks too much) and your friend receives a link with their personalized break up song.

Here's a little video as an introduction. Hello!

Black is Back

Part Five : Rising from the Ashes

"No posing bitches!" warns the flier for tonights grand opening party for mr. black's new den of debaucherous dancing.

As my last installment in my week dedicated to This American Life I'm going to tell you an abbreviated story of the little night club that could.

Those of you seriously loyal readers might remember when I first posted about mr. black in march of 2006 shortly after they opened and months before they became THE place to be on friday nights in Manhattan. Or maybe you remember when I posted about how I took a picture that led to a legendary tradition that has resulted in at least 1 award for NYC Nightlife Personality of the Year.

Since we last checked in, there is good news, then bad news, then more good news.

Good news part 1 - mr. black recorded their dj sets and posted them as podcasts. (You can subscibe through iTunes like other podcasts, including TAL) Many of the sets are amazing. Sammy Jo is generally a good bet. The most recent DJ Sveta is possibly my new fave as is the DJ Vienna Sausage. But there are so many more I really can't list them. Great for working out or getting ready to go out. I wish every club did this!

Bad news - On January 1st of this year, I woke up very hungover and very early to head home to Austin for my brother's wedding. As I was leaving the apartment and slowly making my way to the airport, the night before spent partying at mr. black started to come back to me in flashes. "Oh my god I made out with a trannie!" "Oh my god I did a line of coke off the embankment in the lounge!" "Oh my god we hailed a stretch limo home!" (this was all good news, here comes the bad). So, was it any surprise that there was a sting/raid operation at mr. black about a month ago where they arrested every single employee and a few of the patrons and effectively shut down the club for good? Not really.

Good news part 2 - You can't keep a good bitch down. mr. stuart black, the owner, was tossed lemons and made some dirty lemonade. He said,"Oh yeah! well that place was too crowded anyway, over it." and went and found a new, 2 floor location that is having the grand opening tonight.

I'm so there.

Let there be Lights, Camera, Action!

Part Four

In 2007 (a.k.a. this year) Showtime joined in the fun and produced a This American Life series for t.v. There were 6 shows, I missed all of them because I had yet to discover the radio show. They aren't on demand. The DVD is not out yet, but is available to save on Netflix. You can purchase each of the episodes for $1.99 from like 6 different places. I've read great reviews so I'll be excited to see them when Netflix sees fit to send them. I also read that the show had been renewed so we can expect a 2nd season; which means that the 1st season will probably be on demand before the 2nd season starts. Woot. Woot.

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain

Part Two

Ira Glass does not have a particularly soothing voice. Nor is it necessarily autoritative, comforting, or pleasing. If anything, he comes across as arrogant, "annoying" according to Michael, and at times almost whiney. Think of Michael Musto or Woody Allen. I thought he was gay, but apparently he's very much hetero. None of this ever stopped him from being on the radio.

Ira Glass is the host of "This American Life", the theme for the week here at Paraphernalia. He has spent more than 30 years working in Public Radio. He has been doing TAL since 1995. After listening to quite a few of the shows, I was interested in who this guy was, what he looked like, where he came from. The more I read about him or listen to him outside of the program, the less I like him. But I don't have to like him because I love what he does and it's not like I have to spend time with him in person.

This is an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry on Ira :

For a time, he dated cartoonist Lynda Barry and moved to Chicago in 1989 to be with her. He called Barry his "little ghetto girl" and she does not remember the relationship fondly. Barry is quoted in a 1998 Chicago Reader article as saying of Glass, "I went out with him. It was the worst thing I ever did. When we broke up he gave me a watch and said I was boring and shallow, and I wasn't enough in the moment for him, and it was over." In the same article, Glass is quoted on his feelings about their breakup: "I was an idiot. I was in the wrong. About the breakup... About so many things with her. Anything bad she says about me I can confirm."

We live, we learn.

There is a 4 part series interview with Ira on YouTube about his ideas on storeytelling that is interesting.

This American Blog

Part One : Orientation

I'm trying something new this week. I want to introduce those of you not yet aquainted with my favorite podcast to "This American Life".
In the spirit of the show, I'm going to do so in 5 chapters. Today I'll give you the general idea and post one of my fave episodes here for you to download.
The rest of the week will cover other aspects including the host Ira Glass, the t.v. show and tangents I've discovered along the way.

For those of you new to "This American Life", it's a weekly radio broadcast from Chicago Public Radio, hosted by Ira Glass. The program has a different theme each week and follows human interest stories in a documentary style. Sometimes the entire podcast is on one person, sometimes there are multiple chapters on different aspects of the themes.

I'm posting one of my favorite episodes, Twentieth Century Man, here for you're downloading pleasure. You may also listen to it streaming online through this link if that is what you prefer. It is the story of a man named Keith Aldrich who transformed himself nearly every decade from the 40's through the 80's, including a new city, a new profession, a new philosophy and new families. He had 9 kids through all these reincarnations and the kids had limited interaction with each other and obviously very different relationships with their father. The story is told by one of his daughters who got in touch with and interviewed the other kids. Enjoy.