Twenty Third & Seventh

Santa Goes Postal

This strikes us as superbly absurd.  We don't encourage violence but theft and social disruption are sometimes justified.  Like at Xmas...

from SMH

A group of 40 drunken people dressed in Santa Claus outfits went on a rampage through New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, robbing stores, assaulting security guards and urinating from highway overpasses.

The rampage, dubbed "Santarchy" by newspapers, began early yesterday afternoon when the men, wearing ill-fitting Santa costumes, threw beer bottles and urinated on cars from an overpass, said Auckland Central Police's Noreen Hegarty.

She said the men then rushed through a central city park, overturning garbage bins, throwing bottles at passing cars and spraying graffiti on office buildings.

One man climbed the mooring line of a cruise ship before being ordered down by the captain. Other Santas, objecting when the man was arrested, attacked security staff who were later treated by paramedics, Hegarty said.

The remaining Santas entered a convenience store and carried off beer and soft drinks.

"They came in, said 'Merry Christmas' and then helped themselves," store owner Changa Manakaravamaynda said.

Two security guards were treated for cuts after being struck by beer bottles, Hegarty said. Three people, including the man who climbed on the cruise ship, were arrested and charged with drunkenness and disorderly behaviour.

Alex Dyer, a spokesman for the group, said Santarchy was a worldwide movement designed to protest the commercialisation of Christmas

On encountering fame in Manhattan.

I'm still trying to recover a reality that was lost when Manhattan over-whelmed me with celebrities.  Aside from my merciless stage-dooring of particular targets, it seemed that most every trip out was going to mean seeing a celeb, perhaps even interacting with them.

Scoring an invitation to the post-Tonys ball finalised the deal on seeing the famous in the flesh.  There is a line in my beloved Sweet Charity where Charity finds herself in an exclusive nightclub [suggested to be frequented by a stylised early Factory crowd] and exclaims "I'm the only person here I never heard of"...

Staying at Hotel Chelsea added to the celebrity score, particularly for someone who was too shy to talk to Renee Ricard until invited but couldn't pick Jessica Simpson in a line-up and would only cross a road to bitch slap her.  To succintify it- I was right on target for more celebs than I might have ever guessed.  Names don't matter a lot apart from my cherished Barbara Cook who gave me so much of her time, showed such warmth and generosity and even hugged me.  Ms Cook was at three different events and stopped for me at each.  She is a remarkable woman.

I swear that I saw Sarah Jessica Parker buyng a custard cannolli on Bleecker Street.  Sitting near Burt Reynolds at the theatre is weird.  Seeing Antony of & the Jonsons doing his groceries explains his size.

Visiting Boy George at his loft / warehouse / studio...     freaky-deaky mother meakly.

And, of course, one can pay pilgrimage to Saint Katie Couric who is manifest in Rockerfeller Plaza- Patron Saint of Australian insomniacs and Manhattanophiles.  She even comes with a side order of gorgeous little Matt Lauer.

Simply seeing people who have ever only been images to me suddenly become flesh in front of me on-stage was exciting.  To be spat on by Tim Curry after so many years of Rocky Horror devotion is remarkable.  I suspect that our brains really do need to see people in person before it reaches a cognitive point that 'believes in' that person.

But that will do for name-dropping for now.  I was enchanted by this article.  A couple of extracts below or click through for a good take on what NY can be like for a non NY-er.

Artist Andy Warhol is credited with creating the concept that everyone is capable of having 15 minutes of fame. His remarks have been interpreted as meaning that the power of modern media could make a very short-lived celebrity of anybody, the popularity of television reality shows being an example.

  If you were in a store today and somebody pointed out Patty Hearst (as she looked in 1974-75), would you recognize her and recall all the details that put her on the front pages of newspapers around the world? That is assuming she was part of your era. [Damn straight I would! Patty is a Goddess and favourite 23rd and 7th badgirl.  The autographed photo above my desk would probably help with recall.  Viva Tanya!- Carrie]

More on Patty Hearst

Meet the Symbionese Liberation Army

"Death to the fascist insect that preys upon the life of the people" The motto of the Symbionese Liberation Army

Big Bird Destined For the Big House?

from: http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/Pf/0,1527,17980,00.html

The entire cult of celebrity is gloriously out of control when Big Bird Implicated in Murder is a real headline.  I'd wager that this would be another un-noted, unreported murder if it weren't for the chance to implicate a celebrity.  An imaginary celebrity, that is...

Nurse Baudrillard!  Bring my medication, my simulcra is playing up!

The body of a female jogger was found Tuesday on property belonging to actor Carroll Spinney, who plays Big Bird on the long-running children's series.

Social worker Judith Nilan was reported missing by her husband Monday after she failed to return from a run. On Tuesday, police discovered her body in a shed on Spinney's property and proceeded to charge the actor's caretaker, Scott Deojay, with kidnapping.

Officials were planning to pursue murder charges against Deojay, but as the shed where Nilan's body was found straddles the Massachusetts-Connecticut border, issues of jurisdiction were still being worked out. Another hearing in the matter was scheduled for Friday.

Police said Spinney, who plays Oscar the Grouch in addition to Big Bird, was not a suspect in the crime.

Investigators linked Deojay to Nilan's death after discovering the jogger's headband near a bloody receipt signed by the caretaker after purchasing items for Spinney.

There were skid marks near the headband and a bloody trail led to the shed, where Nilan's body was found tied up, her jogging pants pulled down and her head bloody where she appeared to have been beaten.

Police said the caretaker claimed he hit the woman with his car accidentally, then panicked. He claimed to have dragged her into his car, driven her to Spinney's property, tied her up in order to pull her into the shed, where he deposited her body.

The Massachusetts medical examiner's office was performing an autopsy to determine the cause of death and whether Nilan had been sexually assaulted.

After police questioned Deojay, he reportedly tried to hang himself in his garage, but cut himself down after his girlfriend called 911.

The caretaker was being held on $510,000 bail.

As of Thursday evening, Spinney had not commented on the case.

Only days left...

I don't know how many shopping days until christmas it is.  I'm quite happy with that.  Christmas, by and large, makes me want to vomit through my nose.

What I do know is that time is running out to vote for Living with Legends: The Hotel Chelsea Blog in the blog awards.

For your convenience, the details again.  At this family oriented time of year, 23rd and 7th says...  make your sister vote too!

FLASHBACK!

Don't forget the Blog Awards, Legends could do with a few extra mouse clicks.  We consider it acceptable to vote at least once for each of your personalities.

Did your mother vote yet?  Hmmm....?

We need as many people as are able to manage a mouse to vote for Living with Legends under the categories
World's Best Urban Arts Blog
Best NY Blog.
select 'living with legends' and click on vote.

easy click links:
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Vote in the Blog Wars!

Locusts Invade Melbourne. What Apocalypse?

Repent, repent!  The end is nigh...

³And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. ⁴They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. ⁶During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

    ⁷The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. ⁸Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. ⁹They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. ¹⁰They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. ¹¹They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.

Revelation 9.

Plague of locusts nears city
Sarah Wotherspoon
16dec05

A LOCUST plague sweeping across Victoria could reach Melbourne this weekend.

The pests, which have decimated crops in the north of the state, can travel up to 500km overnight if weather conditions are right.

The plague is Victoria's worst in 30 years and could cause up to $10 million damage to the state's agriculture industry if it reaches southern irrigation, vegetable and dairy farming areas.

Department of Primary Industries principal scientist Dr Malcolm Campbell said large swarms concentrated in Mitiamo, in the north, had begun moving into Inglewood and Marong, northwest of Bendigo.

He warned yesterday's northerly winds could push the migrating locusts into suburban back yards within days.

"We are talking about a blanket of locusts in swarms up to a few square kilometres in size," he said.

He cautioned against trying to kill them with insecticide, saying it wouldn't work.

He said plants could be protected with shade cloth, but little could be done for lawns.

There are also large swarms in Swifts Creek in Victoria's east.

Dr Campbell said the locusts would live for another four to six weeks and continue laying eggs during that time. Aerial spraying of the swarms can only be done at least 1500m away from populated areas.

"We spray and kill the majority of the adults in swarms but we cannot spray them all because some are too small.

"The reality is we can only really effectively spray in the northwest of the state and we can only target swarms in 50 per cent of areas," Dr Campbell said.

"We will not be able to kill all the adult locusts and once they move out of Mitiamo we will not be able to spray them."

He said the plague had quickly wiped out newly planted crops and essential summer pastures.

"I saw a lucerne paddock where every leaf had been stripped and every stalk of lucerne had been chopped in half," he said.

"We flew above a swarm at about 1000 feet (330m) and everything behind them was gone and everything in front of them was still there. The pasture was totally destroyed."

Victorian Farmers Federation president Simon Ramsay said the damage was immeasurable.

He said the plague had made life tougher for some farmers still recovering from drought.

"It's very demoralising. Thankfully it's only patches at the moment," he said.

"The last thing farmers -- particularly those in the Campaspe area -- want to see is a battle line of locusts coming down on top of them

from: http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/printpage/0,5481,17578504,00.html