Punk Smurf pens a bilingual blog

Autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire draws 18-foot mural of New York City from memory after 20 minute helicopter ride.

Unfortunately, when I was visiting NYC last year it wasn’t there - or else I would have tracked this down! Read about Alison Nelson’s Chocolate Bar here.

Isn’t that picture just positively drool inducing?!

You’ve probably seen it or heard about it since it’s all over the news: the reported 63% to 34% victory by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sparked turmoil and rioting within Iran. Personally, I was surprised by the big difference as I had expected both candidates to get about half of all the votes, and that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared himself the winner nonetheless. The latter happened. I don’t know if Mahmoud Ahmadinejad really got the majority (whatever the actual majority of votes is) but if young people went out of their way to vote for reformist opponent, Mirhossein Mousavi, and are now crying fraud on the outcome of the elections (risking severe beatings by the police), it makes me wonder. Supporters of defeated moderate Mirhossein Mousavi are being arrested. That makes me wonder even more. Hearing that It’s obvious the younger generation want change, and I hope for them it’s gonna come soon.

Talking about elections; it seemed the majority of Europeans voted right. Whether it’s due to the economic crisis or something else, I don’t think it’s alright. (I voted left.) Read about the Dutch elections from a Canadian point of view.

A Catholic woman is suing a gay couple after her son got placed into their care when she was unfit to take care of him herself. The reason for suing couldn’t be lamer than that; if the couple was deemed unfit, I don’t think her kid would be placed in their care in the first place.

Floating belly up in the Pacific, this is the body of a giant blue whale - killed by a passing ship. (How on earth could you NOT notice running over or bumping into something large as that?!)

The body was found by researchers from Oregon State University in the Santa Barbara Channel off the coast of California. How sad is that?

Chastity Bono, the 40-year-old daughter of Cher and the late Sonny Bono announced her decision earlier this week to undergo a sex change. Chastity will be known as “Chaz” from now on.

Bono’s publicist said, “Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity. He is proud of his decision and grateful for the support and respect that has already been shown by loved ones. It is Chaz’s hope that his choice to transition will open the hearts and minds of the public regarding this issue, just as his coming out did nearly 20 years ago.”

Read the entire statement on GLAAD.

Kudos to Chaz for coming out as trans; it takes courage to do that. I’m sure he’ll be turned into a spokesperson because he’s famous. (But I think he already knows that.) The good thing is that it might pave the way for other trans people.

A women’s prison in Virginia is - apparently - separating lesbian inmates from straight inmates. Based on appearance. How dumb is that?

The Ausiello Files reported that Stephanie March is staying a little longer on SVU - woo-hoo! While the length of her commitment has yet to be finalized, March’s Alex Cabot will assume ADA duties for only part of the season, as producers have cast a wide net to search for other ADA types as well. NBC had no comment. I’m stoked!

The school censoring a sixth-grade student’s presentation of gay rights activist Harvey Milk has been forced to apologise. Right on!

Towleroad.com offers two views from the High Line Park I blogged about earlier this week. Check them out here.

The ever gracious Terry Moore talked to Publishers Weekly about Echo, his up and coming Strangers in Paradise omnibus, and other works. Read about it here.

Built on top of an old elevated railroad, the first section of the High Line is officially open to the public, capping off a decade of planning and three years of construction. The park opened a day early in an attempt to alleviate some of tomorrow’s expected crowds. Workers were up all night putting the finishing touches on the sunken overlook portion of the rail bed. Now that people are already profiting and getting married on the damn thing, we can start obsessively speculating about the opening of phase two—currently slated for 2010.

China made headlines with their first sex theme park. BUT before it’s even finished it sounds as if it’s not going to open at all…

Jon Stewart nails it with his “moral combat”. He rocks!

Comic artist Terry Moore decided to go ahead with the omnibus after all. I tried to resist temptation, but finally caved in and pre-ordered. My wallet is now emptier than empty… So, I hope it’s going to be worth every penny. (It is according to my friend Michael.)

On a totally unrelated note: London-based tailor Sir Tom Baker has been trying to go “viral” with an ad for his tailoring services for weeks now. Unfortunately, the video hasn’t been spreading the way he had hoped as it seems to get a lot of attention from queer ladies. I wonder why that is. Can you figure out why?

Planning on visiting NYC? You might wanna check out Ace Hotel.

Artist Den has a nice photo series on Serena Ryder

First off: happy Jesus zombie day!
The “Charlie & Joey” saga (aussie soap Home & Away) continues. Actress Esther Anderson talks about in this interview. Want to know what happened after that first kiss? A YouTube user is sharing that with the rest of the world; watch it here.

I hope Charlie and Joey get a meaningful relationship. Without either turning out to be psycho, getting pregnant (with the subsequential custody battle) or killed off.

This $2 million marketing and ad campaign is aimed at out-of-towners looking to get their gay on in the one place that has more queers per square foot than all of San Francisco. It boasts gay-friendly travel packages and provides extensive information on the city’s seasoned and sometimes even unpleasant gay history. It also chronicles important gay landmarks, a calendar of events, listings for nightlife, parties, organizations, gay-friendly hotels and restaurants and tons more, and seems to strive to be the one stop spot on the web for gay NYC travelers. With the roughly 47 million people that visit New York every year, and 10% of those visitors are reportedly gay, it’s kind of surprising that NY hasn’t taken more advantage of this well-known fact until now…

Also earlier this week a woman finds a $357,959 cashier’s check and returns it. Frankly - call me crazy - I would have done the same thing.

I haven’t given in to the Twitter craze - even though I know how easy it is to stay in touch with others that way. Apparently, Serena Ryder is on Twitter…

I’m a sucker for designer stuff, and I like ogling them. OutNext.com is one of the sites I ogle at from time to time.

The following are two from the things that appealed to me:

5 Franklin Place is located in the heart of Tribeca.

With prices ranging from $959.000 to $16.000.000 for a triplex with rooftop terrace, you will have to add a nice $6.371 monthly common charges! All pricing detail here and all floor-plans here.

The 20 stories building will contain 55, one, two, three and four bedroom units that will be set up as duplex lofts on the lower floors, single-level city residents above plus three triplex penthouses each with a rooftop terrace and serviced by private internal elevators.

The building designed by Dutch architect Ben van Berkell of UNStudio, will be wrapped in a series of horizontal black metallic bands each of which ungulates as it curves around and hugs the frame of the structure. The façade is apparently a direct tribute to the original 19th century built form of cast iron that shaped lower Manhattan and the metallic surface will reflect light while highlighting the magnificence of the neighboring buildings. The master bathrooms of the upper units will feature a circular sliding wall that allows the bathroom to become part of the bedroom and share its spectacular city views.

If you decide to buy one the triplex penthouses please feel free to contact me, I am your new best friend

Blue Earth is the first solar powered full touch screen cell phone which beautifully designed by Samsung. By charging with the solar panel located on the back of the phone, users can generate enough electronic power to call anytime anywhere.

This cell phone is made from recycled plastic called PCM, which is extracted from water bottles, helping to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions in the manufacturing process. Samsung Blue Earth mobile phone and the charger are free from harmful substances such as Brominated Flame Retardants, Beryllium and Phthalate.

+ Samsung Mobile

Tuesday morning. Tweety and I were planning on what to see and do when Nuke calls. Strangely enough he didn’t get my message, but he read my E-mail. He sounds very nice over the phone. We arranged to meet in the hotel lobby the next day. Doug also called to check out the possibilities of meeting. We ended up agreeing on later that day for dinner and an improv show in Chelsea. Tweety and I had breakfast at the hotel (Raffles), and I was reminded why I never have breakfast at a hotel (unless it’s included); this one was expensive and in my opinion less than mediocre. We could’ve gotten two tasty brekkies each at another place for that kind of money. Outside it appears to be another rainy day as Tweety and I go for another shopping attempt. I finally get my pair of classic Angel brogues by John Fluevog. I’m so happy about it it’s simply ridiculous! (Ever since I saw Canadian actress Jessica Steen with the coolest pair of shoes I wanted a pair myself. When I visited Vancouver, BC, last year I somehow missed the Fluevog store…) We met with Doug at the post office at Penn Station, before walking into Chelsea. It’s obvious that Chelsea is where the boys are. We ended up at Better Burger where Tweety and I both had juicy organic beef burgers and air baked fries, and Doug a yummie looking salad. Afterwards I get a new cell phone (quad band) at Best Buy; I am content with the purchase (it certainly is cheaper than in my country). We then met up with Doug’s “hot date” (he’s got nice eyes) and went to the UCB theatre for the improve show. There’s a $5 cover charge, and that’s it. Apparently the show started at 6:30 pm and people were able to walk in and out freely. Even though Tweety and I didn’t get all the references, we both enjoyed it. After the improve we went back to Penn Station where Doug’s train’s just left and his date missed his. Tweety and I each get a donut at Dunkin’ Donuts; I remembered why I don’t eat them, Tweety didn’t like them either.

Thursday, our last day in the Big Apple. Tweety and I sleep in and check out on time. She arranged the airport shuttle transportation the previous day so we didn’t have to worry about that anymore. The only thing that bugged me a little was that we were going to be picked up from the hotel 5 (yes, that’s FIVE) hours prior to the flight. Given the fact that we need to check in 3 hours in advance, that would mean we would be in that van for two hours (picking up other passengers, too). It was such a beautiful day that after a late breakfast - at Long Wood Gournet across the street - we went to Bryant Park and relax. Tweety enjoyed the sun and watched people (we did that a lot from our breakfast place) while I updated my travel journal. I had taken my film to Duane Reade (a well known NY drugstore) to get my photographs developed, which I picked up on our way back to the hotel. I haven’t been snapping away like mad (like I usually tend to do) but the pictures I had taken all turned out fine; Tweety’s snapped a lot of pictures, too. We went online for the last time, then picked up our luggage from the cloak room and waited for the airport shuttle to pick us up. If we thought the driver of the shuttle bus who took us to the hotel was rude, this one was actually even ruder. (We didn’t tip him when we got to the airport.)

Anyhoo, we passed a lot of landmarks when we were in New York City: Empire State Building (King Kong), Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center, One Bryant Park (the city’s greenest sky scraper), Brooklyn Bridge, City Hall (we saw a newly wed couple pass by), the court houses on Center Street (with the Criminal Courthouse on 100 Center St - insert theme of Law & Order), New York Public Library, CBGB’s and Joey Ramone’s Place (I forgot to get a T-shirt), Times Square, Madison Square Garden, Penn Station, Grand Central, Chelsea Hotel, United Nations, Waldorf-Astoria, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Public Library, Grand Army Plaza (with an American version of l’Arc de Triomphe), Park Slope Food Co-op, Princeton University (in Princeton, NJ) as well as the house where Einstein once lived… I had a great time - I hope Tweety did too - and I’ve learned that traveling with company means I should let go of me being a control freak *gasp!* Thank you Tweety for pointing that out. Funny, that this side of me comes out most when I’m traveling… Or does it? Sounds like I still have some work to do.

Wednesday: Dutch Queen’s Day. I know it sounds wrong, but it’s really to celebrate the birthday of our Queen’s mom. Nuke called to inform me there’s a slight change of plans; we won’t be going to Brooklyn, but the Nuke family will travel into New York City and we’d meet them in the lobby later. Too bad he won’t be able to show me his comic store… Maybe next time? Nuke suggested we check out Rockefeller Center and an attraction called Top of the Rock, but on our way to Rockefeller Center Tweety and I passed a Borders and a Barnes & Noble. And guess what. I had to go in. (And we never made it to Rockefeller Center – we did walked by it before.) I did find some organic skin products in another store which, according to Tweety, are good buys. And talking about skin, mine seemed to get more irritated and redder by the day and I know it’s due to the wall to wall carpeting and the mattress. It may sound weird, but one word: mites. I’m allergic to them, and combine that with the fact that we can’t really open the window to let fresh air in (we tried it, until we found out firsthand our room was somewhere above some greasy food place).

Anyhoo, Tweety and I go back to the hotel and wait for my friends (who call in to say they were stuck in traffic). It was very nice to finally meet Nuke, Sarah and little Tirzah. They had swung by the comic shop and picked up their stock, and my first two volumes of Terry Moore’s new comic series “Echo”. I was pleasantly surprised to find out Nuke got me the special edition of vol. 1 (with the silver foil). Seriously; whoa! We walked to Bryant Park and enjoyed the nice weather. Tirzah’s one smart cookie - she takes after both her parents in that department. She told everybody she got bitten by a bird, and Sarah told Tweety and me that it scared her so much she didn’t dare putting on her PJs with dragons all over them, afraid they might bite her, too. The park is small but nice, and I point out to my friends we actually passed it a few days before on our way to our hotel and in search of a place to have dinner. We visit the New York Public Library (adjacent to the park) which is huge. And has exhibitions inside. Of course I ended up buying a book in the library store: “The Street Law Handbook – surviving sex, drugs and petty crime”. Nuke observed that it’s work related (and that there’s nothing wrong with that)… Heh.

Since Tweety and I basically skipped lunch (we had a “kosher” hot dog) we were hungry a little earlier than normal. Navigating through Little Brazil towards “Le Marais” Tweety and I noticed the similarities between this hood and a hood in Antwerp, Belgium (near Central Station) where all the little diamond shops are. Nuke tells me that some of the shop owners have families in Antwerp. There you go. He also tells me that the restaurant we were going to was one of the few ones that has tasty kosher dishes and dairy free desserts. Tweety and I both had the rotisserie chicken, and it was delicious. Tirzah and I bonded over French fries, which I found very amusing. While Tweety saved some space for dessert (a yummie chocolate cake) Nuke and I went for some Scotch. By the end of our meals we were stuffed (Tweety and I certainly were, and we were grateful for that short walk back to the hotel). Since Tirzah needed a nappy change we all went up to our room – which was in a bit of a mess since we were already packing our stuff. Tirzah got introduced to Kat Moose, aka Moose Lee, who she cuddled shortly before giving me back the stuffed animal. Thank you Nuke family for taking Tweety and me out for dinner; I think it was an excellent ending to our stay in New York City.

Thursday, our last day in the Big Apple. Tweety and I sleep in and check out on time. She arranged the airport shuttle transportation the previous day so we didn’t have to worry about that anymore. The only thing that bugged me a little was that we were going to be picked up from the hotel 5 (yes, that’s FIVE) hours prior to the flight. Given the fact that we need to check in 3 hours in advance, that would mean we would be in that van for two hours (picking up other passengers, too). It was such a beautiful day that after a late breakfast - at Long Wood Gournet across the street - we went to Bryant Park and relax. Tweety enjoyed the sun and watched people (we did that a lot from our breakfast place) while I updated my travel journal. I had taken my film to Duane Reade (a well known NY drugstore) to get my photographs developed, which I picked up on our way back to the hotel. I haven’t been snapping away like mad (like I usually tend to do) but the pictures I had taken all turned out fine; Tweety’s snapped a lot of pictures, too. We went online for the last time, then picked up our luggage from the cloak room and waited for the airport shuttle to pick us up. If we thought the driver of the shuttle bus who took us to the hotel was rude, this one was actually even ruder. (We didn’t tip him when we got to the airport.)

Anyhoo, we passed a lot of landmarks when we were in New York City: Empire State Building (King Kong), Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center, One Bryant Park (the city’s greenest sky scraper), Brooklyn Bridge, City Hall (we saw a newly wed couple pass by), the court houses on Center Street (with the Criminal Courthouse on 100 Center St - insert theme of Law & Order), New York Public Library, CBGB’s and Joey Ramone’s Place (I forgot to get a T-shirt), Times Square, Madison Square Garden, Penn Station, Grand Central, Chelsea Hotel, United Nations, Waldorf-Astoria, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Public Library, Grand Army Plaza (with an American version of l’Arc de Triomphe), Park Slope Food Co-op, Princeton University (in Princeton, NJ) as well as the house where Einstein once lived… The Debt Clock… I had a great time - I hope Tweety did too - and I’ve learned that traveling with company means I should let go of me being a control freak *gasp!* Thank you Tweety for pointing that out. Funny, that this side of me comes out most when I’m traveling… Or does it? Sounds like I still have some work to do.

Currently listening to Sara Bareilles (album: Little voice)

The flight to JFK Airport in New York City went smooth – and quick. It certainly helps to be in good company. It was obvious Tweety hadn’t slept much the night before, and after we switched places (I initially had a window seat) Elisabeth was out for almost two hours. She sure needed to catch up on sleep. I watched two movies, but they weren’t really interesting to me so I can’t really remember what I watched. Heh.

Once we got through customs and got our luggage we waited for a shuttle bus to take us to our hotel. The young lady who helped us was very nice, I was soon enough reminded of the fact there are plenty of rude people in the Big Apple. (No offense to all the nice people there!) The check in at the Radisson went quickly and Tweety and basically dropped our stuff before going out and explored the neighbourhood a bit. We had really bad sushi for dinner - although the chicken teriyaki was alright. Elisabeth was jetlagged and was sleeping by 8 pm, I was just slightly so, but managed to stay up watching tv till 10 pm. It became obviously clear Tweety’s never traveled this far (crossing multiple timezones) and I’m used to traveling solo. So we both had to adjust in our own ways; it certainly made for interesting dynamics.

I finished my warming up at the hotel’s gym and working out by 7:30 the next morning. Despite the early hour there were quite a few people.Good to know that. An hour later I had showered and dressed and I was ready for a light breakfast (omlette and mushrooms for me); we found a place called Long Wood Gourmet across the street that would become our regular brekkie spot during our stay. (The veggie schmear bagels are quite good, but bad for my insides.) After that we waited for Charles, our Big Apple Greeter who was going to show us around Park Slope (Brooklyn). Charles turned out a very friendly man, who could easily have been our dad (age wise) and he wondered why I chose Park Slope; most tourist want to see Manhattan. Well, I explained, since Tweety and I were already staying in Manhattan that wouldn’t be too hard to explore it by ourselves. I’d also read that Park Slope was an up and coming neighbourhood, which piqued my curiosity. Charles, who lives there showed us the hot spots and showed us how property prizes were slowly but constantly rising (a nice small 2-bedroom apartment + amenities would set me back about $1,200 a month if I recall correctly). Compared to the hustle and bustle that is Manhattan, Park Slope is a nice and quiet residential hood.

I was glad Charles explained us how the subway system works, and I was glad the man prefers walking to his destinations. New York City is a very walkable city. Me like! He also took us to Prospect Park, which is designed by Olmsted (hm… familiar last name) and Vaux – like Central Park. The Brooklyn Botanical Garden and the Brooklyn Art Museum are “next door” to the Park, as is the Public Library (which has a soundproof concert hall in its basement!) Next up was the famous Brooklyn Bridge. It was a nice and sunny day, so we had great views from the bridge and Tweety and I enjoyed our tour. Since Big Apple Greeters are volunteers and not allowed to take any money for their services I had decided to bring our guide “stroopwafels” as a little thank you gift (it doesn’t get more Dutch than that, eh?) which he appreciated very much.

Elisabeth and I ended the day with a yummie dinner at Organique (Gramercy) – which has organic bites on their menu. I don’t consider myself a health freak, but I really like eating and I do care what I put into my body. I remember visiting the USA for the first time back in 1999 and I was appalled by all the processed foods…

The next day I call my friend Doug at Princeton University. I was looking forward to seeing him (it’d been several years). He gave me directions on how to take the NJ Transit from Penn Station to Princeton Junction where he would be to pick us up. It was another sunny day and I had my Law & Order moment walking those steps of the court house on 100 Centre Street. Heh. There was an Italian couple next to Tweety and the woman was singing the Law & Order theme song as she filmed the building. Seriously! That cracked us up, though.We walked around through Chinatown and I got a haircut at one of the many salons slash barber shops on Pell Street. It actually took a moment before I realized I was seated on the men’s side. Woops. The lady did a good job (she modeled it into a faux hawk) and it was dirt cheap ($13 including a tip) so I was happy. We had a nice but simple dinner at a place called Mozarelli’s somewhere on Houston.

Saturday rolled around and Tweety and I headed for Penn Station a little after 10 am. I wore my Canada hoodie especially for Doug and lo and behold who was holding a similar bright red hoodie with CANADA in white lettering across the chest, when Tweety and I arrived at Princeton Junction? My friend Doug. I thought that was cute. He packed an umbrella and extra clothing, just in case the temps would drop and the weather would turn for the worse (rain was predicted for the day…) Isn’t that just sweet? Knowing he likes stroopwafels, too, I gave him the pack I brought from home. He wanted to dive right in, then thought better of it and decided to save it till later. He drove us to downtown Princeton where we walked around the street fair. However, the first thing we saw were fire trucks, and Tweety couldn’t resist taking pics of them (like she’d been taking pics of Mack trucks ever since we got to the States; we don’t have them over here. Plenty of Volvo trucks, though). And like with Charles, Elisabeth didn’t talk much. I didn’t know what to think of it initially, until it struck me that talking in English isn’t second nature to her like it is to me. Made me look like quite a chatterbox. Heh. We had fresh (straight from the oven and into our mouths) organic veggie pizza, which was absolutely yummie and we had equally delicious ice cream (I had non dairy dark chocolate, blueberries and lemon). We watched Doug’s roommate Shiu demonstrate some form of martial arts. It certainly looked fancy, but highly unpractical. I wonder what Doug’s told her about me, but he told me she wanted to meet me… Shiu invited me to come onto the mat for some hands on experience and by the time I took on the invite the sensei had something else in mind and I thought it was inappropriate to get on the mat with them. Shucks. We ended the day with dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant called Makeda in New Brunswick, NJ and it was good! The only thing I didn’t get was the fact the cook had added shrimp (!) to the meat sampler. Huh?! Tweety never had Ethiopian food before, but she liked it, too. After that wonderful meal Doug takes the NJ Transit into NYC with us; he was going to line dance. I couldn’t persuade Shiu to come with us. Tweety and I were knackered by the time we got back at the hotel.

We slept in and had an early Sunday brunch (French toast for me) before checking out the UN quarter near the hotel. The light was strange; even though it was cloudy, the day light was strangely bright to me and I put on my sun glasses. I wouldn’t display this kind of diva behaviour at home, though, but it was good to see I wasn’t the only one wearing mine. Tweety and I decide to go to Times Square to try and get tickets to Avenue Q and to find EasyEverything Internet. I’m annoyed by myself for having trouble navigating correctly. In the end we find out the EasyEverything Internet thingy isn’t there (damn you, Lonely Planet!) and the TKTS box office is closed. By the time we have dinner (at a place called Osaka, off Broadway on 8^th Ave) we’ve walked for 6 hours. (I told you NYC is very walkable.) Tweety has the veggie sushi, I have the chicken and veggie tempura, and the food’s good. Way better than the stuff we had for dinner on the evening of our arrival in New York.

MORE AVENUE Q SILLINESS HERE: clip 2 / clip 3

On Monday Tweety and I were suddenly in the middle of a film shoot – a block or two up from our hotel on Lexington. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch the movie’s title nor the names of the actors involved. It was raining for the most part of the day, and after getting tickets to Avenue Q through the hotel’s concierge Tweety and I went shopping. The tickets were more expensive than I’d anticipated and I charged them to my VISA card (a first for me, since I’m partial to paying things in cash; that way I have a better overview of the amount of money I spend) but we had seats in the orchestra pit. They were worth it; Tweety and I enjoyed it (I was singing those Avenue Q songs for the rest of the night). And who’d have thought puppet sex full puppet nudity could be that hilarious? Tweety and I know now! Afterwards Tweety was craving sugar, so I suggested she’d try a donut American Style. We walked around Times Square, but couldn’t find a Dunkin’ Donut. Ain’t that typical?

Earlier that day I managed to call my friend Nuke, but had to leave a message (that’s what the pre-recorded voice told me). Tweety and I also went online at the hotel’s business center to – finally – sent our friends and family a shout out saying we were enjoying the Big Apple. (And to delete several dozens of E-mails, too.) I E-mailed Nuke to tell him I left a message and to contact me at the hotel. I also E-mailed Doug for another –possible – meet up before Tweety and I fly back. He already put up some pictures of the street fair on Facebook, including one of him and me, and one of Tweety and me. Funny.