toby moment #346,099,398 - objectification of the rishonim

yesterday i blurted out to a rabbinical candidate that the Rambam was "a hottie." (!!!)

it was okay, however, because she shot back...

"he was a hottie."

i have said i hate the word "hot" or any derivations thereof used to describe other human beings, alive or of blessed memory, but that just popped out. i meant it a li'l funny but still.

in searching for an appropriate image of maimonedes i found the standard sagelike one and barely different variations...and then! one stunning illustration, "young maimonedes," by avi barzel. you can see it here in this article by mik moore on tzedakah from jewcy.com. beautiful!

lol !

it is my intention every day not to live in a world of people-as-objects, things made too simple, horrendously categorizable and categorized. on the native nyc tip, i think that when you grow up in nyc your landscape is people, imprinted on your nervous system, vibrating in your cells, a grotesque, mad, wonderful neverending landscape of faces and people moving across your map of consciousness. that being said, i want to live in a subtle and interesting world, so i hope to let go of my desire to make people into little dolls that i have on a shelf like shirley temple in her song "oh my goodness" from the 1936 film "poor little rich girl."



as ayanla vanzant says, may it be so and so it is!

wildwood, nj

i think i have to purchase this dvd. check out ruth leitman's work at www.ruthlessfilms.com.

back in da day

chukas akum, minhag shtus shel'hem, etc.

i think it was aceyalone who has the line, "i can see the history in your bone structure."

beautiful before, beautiful after.

portmanteau neologism of the day: făginity

fă•gin•i•ty (fʊh-jĭn'ĭ-tē)

n. The state or quality of having never been addressed, in earnest, as the Romanian epithet fă*, which means something along the lines of “girl,” “homegirl,” “mah girl,” “woman!” “sis, etc.” Moderately slangy, but according to various sources, like bre (popular throughout the Balkans and Turkey and which can be used like “yo,” and “dude,” etc), simply a rural expression which has come to be considered low class.

"Finally--I've lost my făginity!"

(Not to be confused with second-person singular imperative form of the Romanian verb face, [to make or do])

:-))

it took about a month. lol. :-))



collaboration

east coast antics

it's been an interesting couple of weeks. went up to the bronx to see some old friends from high school at a party, last weekend new jersey, next weekend florida, end of the month probably heading up to boston, and at some point the midatlantic is calling. my good friend is moving to baltimore so i've been thinking about it quite a bit.





i lived in baltimore from 1998 to 1999 when was attending the maryland institute college of art. i didn't feel like i fit in there; i spent a lot of time wandering the city. i always loved baltimore club, and i didn't know anyone else who did, even when i started dropping out to hang out with real maryland kids (i could take up an entire post here talking about those people). i came back to new york in 1999 crazy for it. i also wore bamboo earrings and had a wedge short-haircut. to me these things were very stylish to my own bizarre sensibility that no one i knew considered stylish but it's finally 2009 and they've been realized (and in the case of the earrings, retired) by the post-hipster massive.

i have no complaints but i always find it painful when i'm in love with something and everyone's like "you're on crack," and then they're telling me about it two years down the road.

laguardia kids were doing 80s in 1994, except with subtlety and panache! i have seen them recently in lincoln center and they look like extras from the movie 'slacker.'


"it's a madonna pap smear!"

i am very impressed. when all around you cornballs are listening to lady gaga and talking about electroclash these 17-year-olds are looking like art kids from 1991. i just want to give them a big parade with a marching band.

i give them all the props in the world because i myself could never rock that look. i had to wear dirty red high-waisted jeans growing up, and was so androgynous for such a long time, that now, even though it has caught on to such a cheerful degree, i don't partake.

i could probably manage some pastiche of patra/acid house/eurotrash/grunge though. that would be fun. :-) i'll just wear h&m basics and designate one night per month think-about-outfit night.