hey, anonymous commenter?

Cat got ya tongue? You drew a personality profile for me that was a total zero. And now you clammed up? Hoisted on your own petard? Get back. I miss ya. Ya see, that old tired and stale 'c' word doesn't daunt ME. I am an old battleax. But, get back and try harder. Ya never know what comment you might make that could send me running for the smelling salts. Freak.

hey, anonymous commenter?

I opened comments. Where'd ya go? Oh, wait! You saw the "digest" and realized your script and personality profile you created for me was not correct? LMAO...
I probably do more in a week than you do in months. AND I probably have triple more friends. AND I had the same job for almost 35 years. Bite me! Get back! Wanna be interviewed? LOL

Happy Birthday, Nelson Mandela!

Big Brother 11

Big Brother has to be the biggest and most asinine show ever aired on network television. It'a a game of human dominoes. "He goes, then she goes, then he goes, then you may go." That is what the show has morphed into after season 1, when the viewers decided who was evicted. When the viewers made that decision, it was about the interactions of people living in a house without this unending discussion of game and alliance strategy. I said it before, and I will say it again: Bill Paley would be spinning in is grave if he knew how his once named "Tiffany" network had deterioriated.

And over at TWoP, members are discussing the show as if they were on the Warren Commission. No, that analogy is not right. But, I wil leave it in because I think it is sort of funny.

And the moderator, TWoP Mars, is putting big black bars through what I assume is egregious commentary. Well, I will give him/her? this. He/she seems a bit less angry and nasty than that Miss Alli. She really had a bitter edge. She thrived on her dopey power at TWoP. She was always scolding me for putting a comment in the wrong thread. Whatever happened to her?

All those mods must have discussed my banning. I know they did. How do I know? Barnes once made a comment at my blog and revealed my TWoP login name. She could only know that if they all had been well aware of my TWoP ban rants and researched my TWoP history. So let me wave to any of them who may still read this blog. I hope they read the "digest." Any mods want to be interviewed for that blog? LMAO.

Three Shorts

(Atlantic City boardwalk)

"Rube and Mandy at Coney Island" (1903)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WComm4hr6gg

"What Happened on Twenty-third Street, New York City" (1901)
with A.C. Abadie and Florence Georgie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1DKrHN10zc

"Luna Park" (1903)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygOO0i1_jR4&feature=related

Oh, what times they were!

Good-bye, Diesel Wall

This was the Diesel Wall as it was painted in the spring of 2008.



This is what was going on at that wall this afternoon. They are painting over it... buh-bye pretty wall.

Third Cemetery of the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue, Shearith Israel

Third Cemetery of the Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue, Shearith Israel, is located on 21st Street in Manhattan, right off 6th Avenue. In it are graves which date back to 1829. I had to stick my camera through the iron gate to get a few photos.

I sometimes pass this cemetary at night. Sometimes, long after darkness has fallen, I wait... almost expecting some apparition to appear in the moonlight.

July 4, 2009

I watched the Macy's fireworks high up on the 44th floor of a Manhattan building. As the crowd gathered, the sun set and revealed a technicolor sunset, rich with deep orange tones. Then, all of a sudden the fireworks began and we were so high up, they were eye level and seemed close enough to touch. The night was perfect... as the full moon created just the right touch in the evening sky.

manhattan phone booths

check out this great site:

Scouting NY

then read this article in today's NY Post: CITY'S OLDEN 'RINGS', LAST PHONE BOOTHS

TWoP and me

I am back at TWoP and posting there like an energizer bunny. BTW, check out marjorie-digest, please. It brings new meaning to my life, which prior to the launch was empty and pathetic. Now, it is rich and full.

"Stunning," my review

SPOILER ALERT
I went to see this play with great anticipation after reading the glowing review by David Cote, in "Time Out New York."

"Stunning" is about a married couple who lives on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn. The protagonists are a 40ish Ike who is married to a 16 year-old Lily, who is a Syrian Jew. And there are a few other assorted characters who are supporting players in Ike and Lily's sterile and immaculate home. They exist in an attempt to bring high drama and comedy, thereby complicating the marriage.

My first reaction was that the actors seem to be playing stereotypical caricatures of their roles. Now, this may be the problem of the direction, but I do know that an actor in both drama and comedy must come from a place of truth. There was never any moment that I believed Cristen Milioti as Lily. She is working so hard at "being 16," that she seems silly and false in her efforts. And she uses a cloying whiny voice as a device to appear young. On stage, she appears absurd. She makes wide-eyed facial expressions to the point where she seemed like Sarah Silverman doing a character as part of some comedy club stage shtik. And the voice she uses is almost offensive. I did not believe for a minute that Lily's husband would be with her.

And when the play sharply turns direction and expects the audience to believe Lily would have the confidence to fall in love with Blanche, I was surprised. Blanche would never have wasted her time with such a foolish Lily.

Charlayne Woodard, as Blanche, is an amazing actor. She did bring nuances of believable emotion to the stage. So did Danny Mastrogiorgio, who played Ike. His performance was chilling in parts and he has a very strong stage presence. He reminded me at times of a menacing Eric Roberts.

Jeanine Serrales, as Shelly, also seems a caricature of a personna. She is so mean and nasty and loud that she chews up the scenery. She is trying too hard to "be funny"... and in comedy, that is a mistake.

The end was dramatic... but again not believable. And also at the end, the character of Lily just seems to have gone totally insane.

Well, it is what it is. It is "satisfactory" if you do not analyze it and watch it like it is comprised of performances in a scene study class. And the first scene? Get a grip, ladies. You are on stage, not on Mad TV.

please visit marjorie-digest

thank-you

where are they now?

This was my fourth grade class at PS 33 in 1986. The next year, when they were in the fifth grade, these students were chosen by Eugene M. Lang for his "I Have a Dream" college scholarship program.

Over twenty years later... I am wondering: "Where are they now?"

well?

Did you go over to marjorie-digest? So nu? How come no anonymous comments about my "empty and pathetic" life? Go over there and GET BUSY! I miss ya, darlin'! I do, I do! Oh! I disabled anonymous comments.... Ay! There's the rub! Did ya head explode?

"hold it!"

"I think you're going to like this picture." That was the opening line to the Bob Cummings show. And here are a few photos of me, taken earlier today in my building's lobby.

"Only in New York, kids, only in New York"

Yesterday, I was walking over to Whole Foods and as I got closer I could hear screams and see the students (who had just been dismissed from the school up the street) running and laughing and screaming louder. One student was banging the sidewalk with a cardboard tube.

I approached and asked what the commotion was all about. One student screamed again and laughed and pointed: "It's a rat over there." I went into the store and informed security. A few workers left armed with equipment to trap the rat.

About 15 minutes later, I exited the store and asked one of the students who was still standing around: "Did they catch the rat?" Without missing a beat, she replied, "Yes. The guy from Whole Foods got it and took it over there across the street. This lady told him to give it to her. He asked her why she wanted it. She said, none of your business. It was in a bag and he gave it to her and she put it in her pocketbook and walked away."

"Only in New York, kids, only in New York."

please visit marjorie-digest

I have up new interviews with: the Wegman dogs, Billy Cunningham, and an entry about "the interview that got away." Shall I open comments? Perhaps...

a visit to the High Line Park

In NYC, there is a brand new elevated park. It is the only elevated park in the country. It was built on the old railroad tracks. I went over there today and took a walk though the gardens. As Cindy Adams says in her sign off, "Only in New York, kids, only in New York."

new at the "digest"

Please go to marjorie-digest to read a new interview and the story of the interview that got away.

Jacob and Gertie's son, Ruby

Here is some more about my family: my father's first cousin, Ruby Lazarus...
Ruby

He was also mentioned in Ed Reid's 1969 book, "The Grim Reapers."
He died in 1991.

I have an audiotape that was transposed for me from three very old records. It was made by a sound specialist who works at Lincoln Center. The records were created by my father for his parents during a stopover in St. Louis as he headed to the Aleutian Islands during WWII. In one of the recordings my father mentions Ruby, who was with him in St. Louis as he also waited to be shipped out.

take a detour

Take a detour over to marjorie-digest. I have up some interesting interviews and many more are soon to be posted. My days in retirement are so full I hardly have time to eat.
Today, I got tickets for three Broadway shows, including the play that President Obama and Michelle Obama saw last week: (Joe Turner's Come and Gone). I am glad I got a ticket for that since it is closing on June 14th.
I saw the Teddy Roosevelt House, the Louis Armstrong House, the Valentina exhibit at the Museum of the City of NY and I saw the Lois Wright "Grey Gardens" exhibit at the National Arts Club. I took a backstage tour of Carnegie Hall, and a tour of the Waldorf Astoria. I love being retired.

Women of Washington Square, the tour

Today, I went on this tour with The Transition Network. We saw the homes of Eleanor Roosevelt, Emma Lazarus, Edith Wharton, Ida Tarbell, Dawn Powell, and Mabel Dodge. This was a walking tour organized by The Transition Network as part of the "Explore NYC" series. And while I was not able to interview these interesting women whose homes we saw on the walking tour, I learned much about them from our guide, Jane, who said:

"Greenwich Village is renowned for the extraordinary women who’ve lived in this historic area over the decades....Eleanor Roosevelt, Emma Lazarus, Edith Wharton...to name just a few. On this hour-long walking tour we’ll see where these women, and other notable feminists, lived and worked and we’ll talk about their lives."

These are some of the photos I took along the walk.

letters, we get letters....

After I retired, I wrote many pieces on education that were published in "Letters" in the "New York Sun."

Here's one:

"The Stepford Teachers"

I will add more when they are located online.

updates

In today's Philadelphia Inquirer, there is an article about Jerry Torre going to see the musical "Grey Gardens." You can read it here and then go to marjorie-digest to read my interview with Jerry Torre.

BTW, if any of the dudes who banned me at forums want to be interviewed for the "digest," please E-mail me. lmao...

please visit the digest

Please read my interview with Robert Siegel, the writet of "The Wrestler." It appears in the month of May. Also, please read my interview with Jerry, the Marble Faun. He was in the documentary "Grey Gardens."

more, more more

Please go to: marjorie-digest.blogspot.com to read my interviews with Mary Engel and Eva Deutsch Costabel.

new entry at "the digest"

Please go to marjorie-digest to read my interview with Howard Feller.

stay tuned

Please stay tuned to marjorie-digest. I have interviews coming up with so many interesting and creative people. I just booked a doozy. 'Tis it not amazing how a delusional retired teacher with an empty pathetic life can go from zero to a hundred and find activity? Gotta give me credit...
Maybe the interviews are all in my daft head? Ya think? Nah....

In the coming weeks, many of my friends will give credibility to this new hobby of mine. Should I enable comments? LOL
I do more in one week than my anonymous commenter does in a year.... right LL? I should join that "kook watch," lol

"anonymous" comments, say wah?

What kind of coward visits a blog and leaves insults in "anonymous" comments? lmao... If I say something, I sign my name. Also, what kind of fool draws a personality profile based on nonsense from a blog? The idiot calls my life "empty and pathetic" and I probably do more in one week than this anonymous jerk does in a year. How do I know? You have to be pretty pathetic to leave at a blog anonymous comments that are designed to insult a total stranger. And you have to be such a loser to constantly think using that tired and played out "c" word would have any impact.

Go read "marjorie-digest." I have five interviews I am preparing soon to be posted. Does the anonymous poster feel thwarted that comments are disabled? Awwwwww. And not to worry. I have printed every comment that the jerk has sent. They all arrive in E-mails for moderation. And they include the internet path details. For identification ya know. An IP address is included in the E-mails I receive. Ya know. It's harassment (ya know) to keep attempting to denigrate. I would follow-up... if it actually did not provide a form of exceedingly low level entertainment for my readers. Yep. I really do have readers. Ya know. Hairflip.

Blog restraining order. Keep back 20 blogs. lmao.

Robert Siegel, writer of "The Wrestler"

Please go to marjorie-digest to read my interview with Robert Siegel, the writer of "The Wrestler" and the writer/director of the soon to be released "Big Fan."

marjorie-digest, the interviews

In an effort to make my life less "empty and pathetic," I launched a new blog: www.marjorie-digest.blogspot.com
Check it out!

Please go to: www.marjorie-digest.blogspot.com and visit my brand new blog. It is my interviews with NYC personalities... and in the coming weeks and months it will feature interviews with filmmakers, authors, artists, and interesting creative people who I admire.

goody, bans!

Here are some more recent bans:

banned in the diner on 13th Street for cutting wind during luncheon
banned in the carpet store for yelling at a woman whose dog was on a long leash (a trip hazard)
banned from the ice cream store for complaining about people who put their feet up on the computer keyboards
banned from a department store for singing "Tip Toe Through The Tulips" at the Estee Lauder counter
banned from a shoe store for wearing socks with holes
banned from a salon for laughing at a jerk talking on her cellphone during her shampoo
banned at another salon for laughing at another fool texting during her shampoo

So many bans: so little time

Please go to marjorie-digest for some interviews in places where I have not yet been banned.

the "c" word?

Ouch! lmao. Can you imagine some pathetic bored person who comes to this blog and constantly drops that dopey "c" word in an attempt to insult me?

Roses are red and violets are blue,
Dopey fool? Try calling me something new!

The lame brain doesn't even "get it!" I once replied, "My students called me worse names" and the jerk took that literally!! and said, "So your students hated you as much as everyone else."

Can we all say: IQ check?

Get lost! Stop coming here if you think i am such a "train wreck." Go play with your peers at some internet TV forum where this idiotic snark goes on all day...

alas, poor me!

In a comment in the entry below, I was called "nature's error." The photo below of me should confirm that opinion, rofl. I love to validate and enable the weak minds of anonymous internet commenters who come to this blog to insult me!!! They are so thick-headed they STILL don't get that I love it! I reply to them and they become my charity work. Then, I make them a tax deduction. I always close comments to thwart the dopey vitriol, and then I miss it so much I open comments. I lick my chops when they fly in. Time shall tell regarding comment status....

the "droolers"

A guy receives in an E-mail a photo of another guy's cousin at a party. He replies, "I'm drooling." (I guess she was a va voom) A woman shows up for a dance audition and after she leaves one choreographer remarks, "I was drooling."

What asses. What complete fools. They "drool" over the hot babes who arrive in photos and for auditions. Suppose an old fat tub of shit arrived for a job interview? How would they respond after she left? Would they groan, "I vomited?"

These idiots see everything in terms of the visual. They really hate women who are not visually stimulating. They do not respect them and have no use for them. They see their whole world as limited to cultivating the "hot babes."

Well, all "hot babes" get old... if they live. If they age fat, they need less juvaderm and botox as they grow older. If they age skinny, their necks are a nightmare. They need more fillers than my 40 year old pillow.

The "droolers." They drool! "I am drooling," is their mantra. "I was drooling" is their knee-jerk reaction to "pretty" women with good bodies. They are pathetic.

Here's a poem for them:
Roses are red and violets are blue... did you drool today? I am glad you had something to do.

A short story: Years ago, I asked a guy in the library how to locate a book. He basically gave me a disinterested look and ignored my question. I walked behind a shelf and applied some bright red lipstick. I returned and apparently he did not even realize I was the same woman. I asked a similar question and his face lit up and he walked me over to the area where my book was waiting.
I told him I had just asked that question and wondered why he had ignored me the first time. He replied, "That was you?" I said, "Yes it was. Now take a hike, putz. Schmucks like you are never on my radar." I then pullled out a tissue from my handbag and removed my lipstick and handed him the tissue. "A souvenir," I said. "You look so different," he exclaimed.

Which beings me to another story. In about 1974, I returned at night for parent/teacher conferences without make-up. A student arrived to the classroom with his mother. They looked around the room for the teacher. I saw their confusion and said "I am here. I'ts MIss Levine." Without missing a beat, my student replied, "No offense, Miss Levine. But, this is an excellent disguise."

boo!

I guessed the identity of my two anonymous commenters and they ran like greased lightening! I knew they were TWoP connected, realized they were no longer with TWoP... and the list of suspects were placed on a short list.

So, off they ran when I outted them as the once dynamic duo who fell from grace, either voluntarily or with pink slips. Maybe they will be interviewed for my new blog....

Now THAT would be so fun!
They will be in phenomenal company. I have a list who have stepped up and have asked to be included. But this retired woman is very busy, so the process is quite slow.

"House of the Devil," a review

I go to the Tribeca Film Festival. I look forward to it every year. I have seen some films that were quite good. But, last night I saw one that was so bad I think it could replace "Plan 9 From Outer Space" as perhaps the worst film ever made. Yes, it was THAT bad.
It is sort of "When a Stranger Calls," (2006) meets "The Mephisto Waltz," (1971) with a sort of "Rosemary's Baby" (1968) shtik thrown in at the end. Good grief!
The scenes were so predictable they were good for some laughs. The babysitter's friend stops her car on a desolate road to smoke. She rolls down the window and of course, her lighter doesn't work. Then, from out of nowhere a "scary looking dude" quickly appears to light her cigarette. The stock "scary sound effect" is designed to make you jump out of your seat. Yawn.
Yes, it is THAT bad. It is so bad it is "camp."
The poor director, Ti West, seems clueless. He was there last night. "House of the Devil" was just not original. It seemed the product of a first year film student. He got lucky that his film made it to the prestigious TFF. So many talented filmmakers struggle for years and never get any chance.

By the way, the audience was so obnoxious and self-contratulatory... all hooting and hollering and applauding when their screen credits appeared. It brought 'being supportive" straight to the Twilight Zone.

query me... yeah, right

I gave up on queries. It is asking somebody else with more power to help you in your endeavors. There are so many other options that allow a writer to share his work.
There's a guy in my neighborhood who plays his guitar on a street corner. Maybe it is because he never was signed by a record company. There is an artist who displays his paintings on the sidewalk. And there are singers who are fantastic and they sing on the subway train. And this dude I know self-published his poems. Many people might consider his work mediocre at best, but seeing his work in print helped him find his smile.
I admire their creativity. They are not querying another person and waiting for another person to give them permission to share parts of themselves.
Life is short. It may be a one-shot deal.

and I miss YOU scarecrow... most of all!

Hey! Where did Wing Chun, Glark, Sars, and Miss Alli go? I miss the vitriol. I am sure they do, too. That must be hard: to have so much power and then to be like cheeses who stand alone. What happened there? I think that would make such an interesting interview. Call me, guys. We can talk over lunch at Le Sing Vert. I would of course ask you to respond to my letter to NBC/Bravo. And then I would ask you this: So how much fun were all those bans?



caption time!
the year: 2030
place: a TWoP convention in downtown Pittsburgh

question: This is a question for one of the former moderators. Can you please tell us what it was like to ban so many people?

answer: During my best year, I seriously banned at least 40 people a day. We used to laugh like crazy over those bans. I mean... we knew everybody knew we did it for the power, but the fun was in never admitting it. We could actually with straight faces tell TPTB that members were violating the rules, the dos and dont's. But we knew we were being like Beavis and Butthead over there. It was our little inside joke and it was a secret to be protected at all costs. Honestly, those years were the best years of my life. Now, all I have to look forward to are these cons. You guys are the greatest.
I heard that outside at one of the tables that old hag Marjorie is trying to sell her stuff: her letter to NBC and her page with her warnings and notes. Seriously, how old is she now? Do you guys think she knew who was leaving those comments at her blog? Nah... TOPIC! Whoa.. sorry, I had a flashback.

side height and volume

Keep sweatin' my blog. I dig the hits. My blog draws eyeballs. And I get people nuts. One kook needed smelling salts after a visit to my blog. Maybe it was my hair?

even better height

it's all about the height, and the hair here: teased to complete perfection... I was happy.

excellent height

huh

My anonymous commenter has abandoned me. Life as I knew it will never be the same.

laundry carts: so not pristine

Yikes! Good freakin' grief! The residents here have been observed going down to the laundry room in the basement and taking the laundry carts up to their apartments for the purpose of using the carts to bring their dirty laundry to the basement so they can do their wash. Other residents in the basement dump their dirty laundry into those carts and then load the washing machines with their soiled clothes piece by piece from the cart.

I have actually seen some of the residents' dirty laundry. One guy's boxers were covered in (redacted) stains. Another dude's socks were so dirty rigamortis had set in. Another woman's pajamas were covered in cat hair. And another woman put her dirty slippers in one of those carts. One woman laughed and said she was washing her sheets covered in diarrhea. And these carts are where I have been placing my clean laundry as it comes out all nice from the machine. Then I roll the cart over and place my clean clothes in the dryer!!

Why does everybody think it is OK to use those carts for dirty laundry? I am vomiting from these habits. I am trapped in a ken brechen world. Wake-up, Marjorie. This sure ain't the Plaza! And two words to the dudes who live here: laundry bags. You can buy one on the cheap at the Container Store.

furniture, this way please

It is mandated that all furniture arriving to my apartment building be delivered through this doorway on the side of the building. Nice! Take a good look. The sidewalk is covered with dog shit and spit. I have heard this entrance to the building called "piss alley."

I might order new carpet. The truck will double park on this street so the carpet can be taken off the truck and brought into the building. If the delivery men follow form, they will take the carpet off the truck and set it down onto the street before they lift it and carry it down this path through the basement and onto the elevator to reach my apartment on the fifth floor.
I am thinking way ahead. I better get up bright and early on that day and cover the street and sideway with heavy duty plastic. I sure do not want them putting my brand new carpet in a fresh pile of dog shit.

Residents are also instructed to move into and out of the building through this pathway. I saw a moving van parked on this street during a new resident's move into the building. They took pieces of her furniture off the truck and set the pieces on the sidewalk that you can see in this photo. They certainly could not carry all the pieces at the same time. Pedestrians passed by and spit, dogs walked past and pissed, garbage was tossed onto the sidewalk... and the furniture sat in that hot mess until it was taken upstairs. It all makes for such a nice setting. So bucolic, don't you think?

I cannot have anything delivered here ever again nor can I ever move. Not unless my stuff is airlifted onto and from the roof.

go pay a million dollars

I live in a condo in Manhattan where 2 bedroom apartments sell for over one million dollars. This is the photo I took at about midnight one night of the inside of the compactor room on my floor. It was filled with garbage after residents have been strongly directed to throw the bags down the chute or to take their refuse to the proper recycling receptacles in the basement.
And they wonder why the building has roaches and mice. Can bedbugs be far behind?

all time favorites

I am ready for my close-up!

Norma Desmond: We didn't need dialogue. We had faces!

deal with it!

When I was your age, do you think I would have wasted one good second of my time posting anonymous comments at the blog of a woman I considered an "old hag?" I was way too busy eating my hair... I was always self-involved and either at Studio 54 or Plato's Retreat. Now get back to work, you two. You are both so "yesterday." Two little nothings who were outwitted by me!

get back!

My anonymous commenter went undergound and will not resurface! The nerve! There can be few reasons for that move. The most obvious is that he felt I was onto his identity. Of course, the fool would say he stopped commenting because he got bored with my drivel. But, he loved insulting me too much for me to buy into that theory.

I was red hot when I said it was somebody connected to TWoP. But, for me to have guessed so spot on who it was probably never crossed his mind and he freaked out. The dope has seen his 15 minutes. And he is young. His sidekick is young, too. She is younger than I am and looks old enough to be my auntie. I have one word for her: Botox. As for him, I have three words: find a job.

I predict that in these economic times, TWoP will soon be dumped. Is it such a cash cow? If it was... why did the top three cheeses leave. Big mistake, Huge. When you have a good job, you don't leave to stand on an unemployment line. No matter how the site is conceptually and creatively changing direction.

I bet Gawker could dig and uncover that true story. In the meantime, get back my anonymous commenters. I am begging.

the bride and the groom

June 8th, 1941

a wedding reception and dinner at The Aperion in Brooklyn, NY... yum! derma!

an underwood, some pin-ups