Thanks to the wonderful debauched_angel I now have a DreamWidth account. I have no idea what, if anything, I'll be doing over there but we'll see. Who else is over there?

It's now 61 degrees, almost 30 degrees cooler than yesterday - whew!

The book launch was a rousing success. Of course we behind- the-scenes folks were paddling madly but fortunately it didn't show. The space was large enough for the 100 or so people who showed up as it was a large studio divided up into various smaller spaces with great flow. Until Amy told me the party was being held at Peter Max's studio I truly thought he had passed away some time ago as he was such a huge hit in the 60s and 70s but he's only 71 with a younger looking wife (who's much too thin). I actually got to talk to Melissa Leo who is small and also thin and almost unnoticeable in "civilian" life. She lives somewhere in the Catskills and is in town for the Tribeca Film Festival in which she has an entry and is a juror for a film award. The food was plentiful and delicious and vegetarian of course. This was a lesson in how to do a book launch on a shoestring as Amy got several vegetarian restaurants in town to donate some of the food and organic wine and the guacamole and hummus, which garnered many compliments, came from Costco!

I made a point to look at all the artwork. His style has changed a bit from his early days but the colors in his later work are also extremely vibrant. I played a game of which one I would like if I had the money (the prices were in the thousands) and this was my favorite. The party was supposed to last from 6:30 to 8:30 but when I left at 9 it was still going strong. All in all it was a very memorable evening. The next book event will be at one of Lilly Pulitzer's stores but thankfully they will do all the work.

Today is the day of the official book launch party of my friend Amy's book. It will be held this evening at Peter Max's studio somewhere near Lincoln Center. We are all in a tizzy doing a zillion and ten last minute things. The temperature here in NY will be 90 degrees - what a day to have a party with over 100 guests!! There will be a mix of people from humane societies, farm sanctuaries, vegans and show biz (Melissa Leo is expected to come). If I don't post for a while it will be because I'll be recuperating *g*

Way back in October '07 I wrote a post with a link to a cockatoo dancing to the Backstreet Boys. Here is one dancing to Ray Charles:


I recently caught the new "Red Dwarf" special on the internet and IMO it wasn't very special :(
I also caught up on the 6th and 7th episodes of "Law & Order:UK" which are the last to be shown until the fall. Both were rewrites of episodes of the original series (1.06 was based on "Heaven" and 1.07 was based on "Helpless") but done with a few small twists and again I must say that the British stiff upper lip has vanished - the last ep "Aleysha" was absolutely riveting and much better than the original.

Once more I found a long lost article on the web. Way back in 1997 I read an essay in the Smithsonian that so resonated with me that I never forgot it. I finally tracked it down again. May I present to you Think of all you'd miss if your reading skills weren't 'enhanced' by age by Frederica Mathewes-Green. LOL