Captain Zorikh's New Haircut!

Well, my hair was not as long as it is in this video, but I feel that I might as well share it with you, ans I have just gotten my summer haircut.

Panhandling act needs work

So I was sitting on the subway, reading a comic book with a Captain Marvel in it, when one of NYC's ubiquitous Subway Panhandlers entered. He was a short, middle-aged man loudly mumbling something about how he was starving and just needed five dollars for "a cheeseburger and a Pepsi-Cola."

Now, I will happily give money to an entertainer on the street or in the subway if I truly enjoy them, but I am not in a financial position to donate to everyone who walks through a subway car with their hand out, and this guy did not seem entirely kosher (meat & cheese notwithstanding).

He was very loudly and annoyingly moaning about how hungry he was, so I offered him a Nutter-Butter I happened to have in my bag. He said he couldn't eat sugar.

BUSTED!

I pointed out that he was asking for a Pepsi-Cola. Pepsi has sugar in it! He stammered out "I...I meant Diet Pepsi! Diet Pepsi!" I continued to point out the fallacy in his pitch. and told him to take a hike. He beat it out of that subway car in the next stop.

EPILOGUE:

A few weeks later I saw the same guy in the same subway line. He was still loudly mumbling/moaning about being hungry and needing money. I asked him if he ever got his burger and Pepsi-Cola, then loudly remembered that he didn't eat sugar. He beat it off of that subway car right quick.

Captain Zorikh's Movie Madness today!

The third bi-monthly screening party at Otto's Shrunken Head returns!

Horizontal lightning

I saw a bolt of lightning that was perfectly horizontal. It was up almost long enough to get a camera and shoot it, but not quite.

But for one letter...

One of my favorite former features of the Village Voice's former sports section was "Uni Watch." It now has its own blog, bless 'em, and they found a picture that but for one letter, could have had my name on it:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3572/3557691739_da17d5068b_o.jpg

Good fortune cookie.

"The right choice saves time."

Would that I was wise enoughto make the right choices in many part of my life. The choice to forge ahead and not dawdle, the choice to get to work and not procrastinate, but those are the obvious ones.

The choice to go with one party over another in the making of my movie, the choice to gather the parties together for conference, these would have saved loads of time and givien me the opportunity to get money sooner, maybe even not lose a particular job.

Live and learn.

About Times Square

When I was younger than I am now, I used to go to or through Times Square a lot. It was on my way to the Harlem Children's Theater Company when I was a member there, it was where I could see bad movies cheap (double features like "Warriors of the Wasteland" and Sword of the Barbarians" for three bucks, or rarities like "Laserblast" paired with "Warriors of the Lost World"), it was where I could get a cheap pizza or gyro sandwich, where I had a choice of movie theaters to see first-run features at, where locally owned business sold a variety of merchandise, from souvenirs to martial arts supplies, and where one could really get a sense of glorious seediness of New York City. It was also where I could get adult entertainment products before I was legally an adult.

That has all changed now. All the porn shops have been closed, most of the movie theaters torn down or converted to stage theaters or something else, national chains and multi-national corporations have taken over the district, and brand new towers have turned what used to be a shallow bowl into a narrow canyon. As if this was something that needed to happen.

All I have to say about that is...

I'm glad there's a Hershey's store. I never knew where I would get a Hershey Bar in this town.

I'm glad there's an M&M's store. I never knew where I would get any M&M's in this town.

I'm glad there's a Red Lobster. I never knew where I would get seafood in this town.

I'm glad there's an Olive Garden. I never knew where I would get Italian food in this town.

I'm glad there's the AMC Empire and the Regal E-Walk. I never knew where I would see a movie in this town before them.

Just a thought.