oh man i love this show

"That's what Zippy's all about! It's a celebration of stupidity!" -Louis Stevens

"Bacon, it's nature's candy." -Twitty

Public vs Private Space

While wandering around downtown New Orleans taking pictures of the city, Ken mentioned an article that he had recently read about an apartment building in NYC that has all glass walls. The apartments arent separated by anything more than glass! Even the walls within the apartments are glass, including the bathroom. Now, before you get too nervous, they do have curtains or something like that to allow for some privacty. Even so, wouldnt that make you nervous? My big complaint lately has been that living with the people i work with has created some messy "they know too much about my life issues" (i love living in community by the way, i just want to gripe a bit), so imagine if i had that complaint with every person that walked by my humble residence.

Voyeurism is a big theme these days with youtube, webcams, and facebook. In fact, as much as i think it's creepy and weird, i have to admit a love for facebook... make that an addiction to facebook. But dont worry, i never bother to look at your profile ;) Is reading my blog voyeuristic? (hmm... )

i could dig deeper into the idea of voyeurism, especially since that seems to clash with the "mind your own business" culture that i live with in New Orleans, but i'll leave you to think more on the subject yourself (even if you dont know the New Orleanian culture-or maybe it's inner city culture). Or perhaps i'll just leave the discussion to the architects,

i will say that lately in my media-junkie frenzy during this little vacation at home i've found that this isnt a new subject. Not new at all.

Yesterday i watched Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. That whole movie was based on voyeurism. i think i didnt really get the ending because i was a little confused about the evidence. Either way, although the ending was optomistic, watching the movie made me feel the same way that i feel when i spend too much time on facebook: trapped in a small space, listless, and bored.

During my latest media of fix, i found some incisive wit and commentary on the subject in the strangest of places: Even Stevens. That's right, Even Stevens had an episode where Ren has a slumber party and Louis sets up cameras all over the living room so that he can charge all the guys he knows $10 to watch.

Beauty and smarts in the strangest of places eh?

Here's that article i was talking about

Thanksgiving Surprise!

Surprise!

What better way is there to spend Thanksgiving than to tell your family that you're not sure if you'll be able to make it home for the holiday and then to just show up?

Well, that's what i did. Except it turned out just a tad bit different.

i flew out of Dallas on Monday morning since we had a little staff conference in Tyler, Texas. That was my first time ever in Texas and i believe it also counted as the farthest west i've ever been in my life, unless you play some mindtricks and say that Texas counts as east and New York is actually west of Texas (but that doesnt really work does it?)

After a stop at Kennedy airport, i arrived in Buffalo and spent the time filling out a baggage claim so they would deliver my missing baggage to my home in Rochester. Then i made a trip out to Chili's with old friends. There's something to be said about getting together with people that you know and that know you. Spending time meeting people in New Orleans has been wonderful, but it's nice to lay aside the "getting to know each other for the first time" work and just pick up where you left off with people that you have a comfortable understanding with.

So now for the strange surprise. i showed up at my house a little after midnight. i wished it wasnt so late, but i figured that my family would be excited enough to see me that it wouldnt matter that i was waking them up at that hour. i rang the doorbell...

and nothing happened.

So i rang it again, and again, and again, and again. Five times total actually. No one woke up! Not mom or dad or Carole, or even the dog!

i ended up sneaking into the house (i know where we keep the keys), writing my family a note announcing my arrival, and going to bed.

My mom ended up waking me around 6:30 as she prepared for work. She opened my bedroom door which shed the hallway light all in my eyes and then got dad out of the kitchen asking if he knew that i was home. They both came into my room and were greeted with a groggy face and an incoherent Jamie.

So much for a dramatic surprise. i guess it turned out dramatic for my parents! but that's what counts isnt it.

It's good to be away from the city for a bit, i need a little break!

tires

i'm convinced that every tire in the city of New Orleans is low.