Food for thought.

I've never told a lie I didn't first believe myself.

Girl Talk's new album "All Day" available for free

Mixologist Gregg Gillis otherwise known as Girl Talk has been working on his follow-up to his 2008 album "Feed the Animals" all summer long. And it dropped today. You can download it as one seamless track - the zeitgeist of feel-good anthems - or as separate mp3s. All for the glorious price of free.

via DCist

I've seen him live several times and he always puts on a great show - it's one big sweaty dance party. Go! He already announced some upcoming tour dates. The man has a gift for mixing genres and creating party-starting mash-ups that were meant for hip-shaking. "All Day" is a collection of gems - the love child of every popular song featuring samples from Lady Gaga, Phoenix, Beyonce, Ludacris, Notorious B.I.G., Belinda Carlisle, Cream, Willow Smith and more.

If you're interested in the breakdown and the identification of all of the samples, check out this neat website.

Photo Essay - The Downtown Collection

via Flickr

 Tucked away on the third floor of 70 Washington Square is the Fales Library – home to volumes of rare books and manuscript materials. One of its many gems is the Downtown Collection. It was established in 1994 by the sociable and savvy Marvin Taylor, the director of Fales Library and Special Collections at New York University.

The Downtown Collection documents the New York art scene from 1975 to the present. At the time, art forms of all kinds were produced: music, literature, performance, theater, film, dance, photography and more. The Downtown Collection gathers all of these outputs and preserves the artistic products of cultural movements. The continuously growing collection contains printed items from punk magazines to posters, from the diary of Patti Smith to the papers of Richard Hell.

Currently, “A Sanctuary for the Arts: Judson Memorial Church and the Avant-Garde, 1954-1977” is on exhibit through January 7, 2011. It collects the creative jewels from Judson Memorial Church’s basement; you’ll find a balled up flag from the People’s Flag Show and footage from Carolee Schneemann’s Meat Joy. In this performance piece, you’ll witness bodies being dragged around and sculpted, dead chickens and fish being shoved down underwear and in people’s mouths.

 

As Taylor put it, the Downtown Collection contains the things “that never made it uptown.”

 And so, I leave you with a do-it-yourself protest song. After all, DIY is the mantra of punk music.

Cute overload.

All I want to do tonight is play with this dog, drink tea and be little spoon.
Maybe then I would feel a little better.

Four Loko's last hurrah?

On November 11, 198B Orchard Street was home to a Four Loko event. Restaurant Xiao Ye was the first bar in New York to sell Four Loko.

The beverage is 12 percent alcohol - the equivalent of six cans of beer, a few cups of coffee and last night's mistakes.

via The Observer

The "blackout in a can" drink has been controversial - linked to hospitalizations and death. And according to the New York Times, the company that makes Four Loko is going to stop sending shipments to New York State by Friday.

Looks like people need to start stockpiling.

Election Day 2010 on the LES

“Who am I supposed to vote for? Andrew Cuomo and who else?”

A tall twenty-something man with black-rimmed glasses is speed-walking and speaking urgently into his phone. I follow him past black iron gates plastered with white signs that say “VOTE HERE” in 4 different languages.

 Unfortunately, I don’t follow politics as closely as I should. I could understand the stranger’s confusion on General Election Day. And I was apprehensive about going to the polling site – was I going to get kicked out? Would anyone speak to me? I didn’t know what I was going to find.

We arrive at poll site M0319: 189 Allen Street. A 17-story public housing development called the Rafael Hernandez Houses. 

From 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., people trickle in the room with its cinder block walls and tile floors. There are a handful of students. Others are dressed in work clothes, suits and clattering heels. Sometimes there were only three or four people in the room; other times the room was filled with dozens.

There are a few tables arranged around the room with a couple of people at each one. In the center of the space are makeshift tables with compartments; they are equipped with lighting and sheets of paper that outlined the voting process. It seemed simple enough. Get your ballot. Mark your ballot. Scan your ballot?

And then I saw the new polling machines. No more lever machines. In the corner of the room sat 3 black machines and 1 gray one for those with disabilities.

Well, it seemed that people were coming out to vote or working the sites for different reasons. Lewis Chio, 21, and Koey Chio, 23, were part-time workers who needed the money. Student Peter Valdez, 19, who goes to Hunter, wanted to “keep the general ideal of the democrats in power.” Kristina Wels, 36, director of Caedmon School, was passionate about gay marriage and economy issues.

But it seemed that everyone I spoke to approved of the new polling system. Or at least saw its potential.

“The changes are great,” Poll Inspector Juan Ayala, 24, said. “The money you’re going to save when one of these break? Easy. It’s a computer you can reset and reprogram. When the old machines broke, you had to send it in because nobody on site could fix it. They took up so much room. And now it’s just simpler. Younger people, our generation, find it easier. Older people might not, but at the same time, they have to catch up.”

Milagros Abreu, 55, said she found it to be surprisingly easy. National Grid employee Feisal Ahmad, 33, also appreciated the quickened process. Wels thought it was about time they had a new voting procedure.

But she thinks the issue that probably has to be addressed more than anything is actually getting people to come out and vote.

“I can imagine people who work the night shift who can’t make it,” said Wels. “Or those who have more than 1 kid. I talked to a few mothers at my school and they wished they could vote, but they have 3 kids or they have to pick them up from soccer practice, and it’s just too hard. If you could do it at home, it would be a much more fair distribution of who is actually voting in the election.”

But until then, it seems that voters and workers hope the new system doesn't prevent anyone from coming out to vote.

“Older people might be more apprehensive to go out – some might hear ‘technology’ and forget it,” said Valdez. “Hopefully they’ll get used to it. If you feel any sort of responsibility or at any point wanted something to change, you would bring it about by voting.”

“Technology might just seem a little hectic at first, but by next September, everyone will have it down,” Poll Coordinator Janet Guzman, 65, said. “They have to. It’s more than important to vote. You have a voice, and without the voice, things would never change.”

Halloween costumes are too stressful.

My neuroscience professor originally scheduled an exam the day after Halloween. Thanks to all things wonderful in the world, a fire alarm was set off this past Wednesday and she decided to move the test date.

Oh, bloody hell. That means I need to cobble together a costume now. And "in various states of inebriation" isn't an appropriate answer to "What are you going to be for Halloween?"

I thought about doing it up like Bowie like the cover of Aladdin Sane.

via CD Universe

Or Bjork in a swan dress.

via stuff.co.nz

But my dear friend Kenneth Drake said, "Twrenty dollars says someone asks if you're dressed as Margaret Cho."

Not having that. Luckily, a brilliant costume idea struck me at work yesterday. I've decided I am, indeed, a genius. My friend Adam and I are keeping it a surprise. Pictures to follow.

Happy almost Halloween everyone!

Let the debauchery begin. Party it up at the Cake Shop and swing by the Seward Park Cooperative’s Halloween party/carnival during the day. And pick up that mask - join Joonbug for its Masquerade Ball for free vodka and lots of potential for celebrity sightings.

Cheers.