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So I was in Walgreens on Friday and this Twist Magazine cover caught my eye. "Hahahaha" I thought. "The cover has Ashton, Justin, and Orlando and says "Are these guys really in love?" and it makes it look like they mean they're in love with each other!" So I bought it because it was funny.
Walking home, I thought "How dumb were the editors, not to notic-- oh. wait. The editors weren't dumb."
The editors were geniuses for making a cover that can be appreciated both sincerely (by the little girls who make up their demo) and ironically (bye suckers like me who would otherwise never buy their magazine.)
So basically, I just bought the publishing equivalent of an Urban Outfitters pseudo-vintage "New Jersey is for lovers" tshirt. Great.
My two favorite words: "Open Bar."
I must say one tiny thing about last night: never has anyone more deserved the universal adoration she gets as much as Sarah Lewitinn. To know her is to love her. She is the personification of nice people finishing first and she makes everyone she knows feel good about the world. Okay, done. (Sorry. I can't help it, I'm under her Love Spell.) Have a great weekend!
I interviewed my favorite NYC band, Asobi Seksu, for Earlash.com. If you want to see why I love them, they have a show at Rothko on Wednesday.
Friday night, me and Stiff left a party and hailed a cab on Second Avenue. When we got in, the driver asked us if we were having a good time and if he could put on his "favorite song." We said yes and he started playing this LOUD song that sounded like a cross between Bollywood and Reggae. We were driving along and Stiff suddenly looks over at me and says
"I think the driver is on ecstasy!"
So I look, and he's wearing DARK SUNGLASSES (this is at 2 in the morning) and attempting to pour bottled water in his mouth but it's running down his face and shirt. And he's sort of dancing to the music as he's driving. So we turn on Houston and the song begins for the second time and the car is shaking. He's stopping HARD at every light and driving like a total maniac. The girl in the song is singing a line over and over that sounds like "Do it on my face" and Stiff and I are freaking out about the way he's driving.
So the driver misses the turn off Houston, and instead of going around, he BACKS ALL THE WAY UP in the middle of Houston street with cars speeding towards us and going around!
Finally, we get to my corner and we're so conditioned that we actually still PAY AND TIP HIM normally. As soon as we open the doors and I have one foot on terra firma, I say "Sir, are you on ecstasy?"
"Yes, yes I am!" he shouts, gleefully. "It is Friday night and everyone is out but I do not get to go out."
As he drove away, we caught the number on the cab and said it over and over, but after grabbing beer at the deli, we realize we've both forgotten it. For the rest of the night we make jokes about "It's Friday night and people are out but I do not get to go out BECAUSE I HAVE TO TAKE PEOPLE'S LIVES INTO MY HANDS." We also worried that the front page of the next day's Post might say something like "Ecstasy Butcher Cabbie Mows Down Family of Five On LES; Drunk Passengers Could Have Saved Them But Got Beer Instead."
No fair! (Photo by Brian Battjer, natch.)
The irony of Bryan being a "Date My Friend" subject is the fact that he created and runs a dating website called Love In War.com. This very morning on the subway I was flipping through the new issue of Jane Magazine, and there on page 48 was a picture of Bryan and a little thing about his site (entitled "Like A Hot Version of Debate Team"). I took this as a sign that it was time for me to post this!
I met Bryan through my friend (and designer of this site) Ben Chappel. The first conversation I ever had with Bryan was a rather drunken argument in which he played the conservative and I played the liberal. We were basically way too inebriated to have a political conversation in the State of New York, but we attempted to anyway.
Since then, I've become a big fan of Bryan. I like to joke with him that he looks like he'd be an asshole (if he was an actor, he'd get the Stef role, not the Blaine role) but he's SUCH, I mean SUCH a nice guy.
If you're a girl interested in Bryan, don't email ME, email HIM at info@loveinwar.com! Here's the interview:
Bryan, the first time I met you, we had an extremely drunken argument about abortion in the back room at Lit. Have you come to your senses on a woman’s right to choose yet?
Jeez Lindsay, why don't you just name this "alienate my friends?" To sum this up for everyone who wasn't there for that conversation, I never said I was against a woman's right to choose. I consider that a very important right and nothing I would ever like to see taken away. I did say, however, that if someone is against abortion, for religious or other reasons, they shouldn't be mocked or regarded as "crazy", "stupid," "ignorant" or anything else that takes away from the legitimacy of their point of view. This is one of those impossibly tough issues where no one can say which side is "right." While I am decidedly pro-choice, there are valid reasons why one might come to a different conclusion.
Which Breakfast Club character were you in high school?
I probably wanted to seen as Bender, but everyone probably thought of me as Brian. Kind of timid, emotional and a little geeky. I was a nice guy, but probably a dork, as far as high-school politics go. Also, coincidentally enough, Brian was the only one, if I remember correctly, that doesn’t get to make out at the end of the movie. Yup, just like high school!
Would you rather never have sex again, or eat nothing but cat food for the rest of your life?
That's tough. Could I still, um, have sex with myself? I dunno, this question seems kinda dumb, how could I really just live on cat food for the rest of my life? I suppose I'd give up the sex if the alternative were to be violently ill 3 times a day. If the bad food option were something more realistic, like all-you-can-eat buffet from the Sizzler, I'd take the sex.
What fictional movie character is most your type of girl?
Phoebe Cates, Fast Times At Ridgemont High. We've all seen this, right? Don't need to explain.
Who was your first crush?
Hmmm. probably this girl, Lisa, from the 4th grade. I really liked her, but she thought I was annoying or something. Very typical, I guess, but I remember this new kid moved into town and was in our class. He was a punk, definitely more street-wise than myself - 4th grade style, mind you - but he let me tag along with him. Eventually, he ended up "going out" with Lisa. You know, nice-girl/bad-boy situation. I was kinda hurt. I'm sure she still regrets picking that other guy.
Tell me about your website.
My site is called Love In War. Currently there's a web-based personals service and a line of t-shirts that are being sold by a bunch of stores in NYC, Philly and D.C and L.A. Both are political, but very offbeat. I'm a huge political junky, but I get so tired of the typical left/right, yer evil/yer stupid tone that dominates political discourse today, so I wanted to do something different. I want to do politics with more of a pop-culture sensibility, and it's not so much about one side being right and the other side being wrong, so much as it is about being irreverent, fun and not taking yourself so seriously. More specifically, the dating site is for people who are politically aware or active. It's very new and small, but we'll see. I wanted to build a new place where people would be drawn because they have some sort of politically sensibility and can express it, but also be playful, sexy and sassy at the same time. The t-shirt line is basically ironic political t's. They're political, but they don't really say anything. It's all really, really new and it's just getting going, so we'll see…
Have you ever wanted to post a Craig’s List missed connection about anyone? Who was it?
I did, once. I was going to my friend's house on Staten Island for Easter this year and this really cute girl got on the bus. She was in the front, I was in the back and not feeling particularly brave, so it seemed like a lost cause. When she got off the bus I waved at her through the window and she smiled and waved back. I was pretty excited and posted a MC the next day. I never heard from her. While fun, I think MCs are kinda dangerous. In the past, I had the nerve to approach that girl, but with Craig's List, I just sorta sat back and was like, "no big deal, I'll post something tomorrow," instead of just taking a chance right there.
You read books. Any recommendations?
Whenever this is asked I always say "Ladies Man," by Richard Price. It's about 2 hellish weeks in the life of a guy after he's just broken up with his girlfriend, set in Taxi Driver-era NYC. It's the ultimate male confessional book. Ladies if you want to see how the male mind works, particularly when his romantic world isn't going well, read this book. High Fidelity was child's play compared to this.
Last night, I went to a BUST Magazine party and guess who was there? My hero, Tina Fey!! And then guess what happened? One of my fave comedians, Todd Barry, totally offered to introduce me to Tina! And then guess what happened? I chickened out, citing "the David Cross incidents of 2001 and 2002" (in which David Cross met, yet neglected to fall immediately in love with, me) as precedent. I do want to meet Tina someday, but I want to have accomplished something first so she'll think I'm cool and stuff.
Blah blah blah, YAY!*
*(credit for the general subject, and verbatim ending, of this post, should go to someone I asked for advice this morning.)
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Tuesday was two anniversaries for me - my 4 year anniversary of moving to New York from Tallahassee, Florida, and the 1 year anniversary of this particular website. So Tuesday night I watched "Manhattan" and wallowed in nostalgia for my first days in New York. Here are some self-indulgent little links that concern both anniversaries:
(From the old blog)
*The Boys On the Corner (New to the city, getting used to catcallers)
*The Porn Detectives (My days at Talk Magazine)
*People I've Kissed (The most popular thing I've ever written, and something that was apparently a good idea, since GQ bought it and it's since been, ahem, in the words of one recent email,"given an uncredited homage." Note: the kissing number has more than doubled since then, as New York turned me into a serial kisser.)
*(old-design) Lindsayism.com Favorites
*Highdeas
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