holy cow. they really are buying the whole city.

in a perfect world:
a) no one at work would talk to you until at least 11:30 a.m. on monday mornings.
b) bagels would have very very few calories, and do wonders for your metabolism.
c) checking the balance of my 401k would be a pleasurable experience

remember my post from a couple days ago where i said "right now, we're lucky if whatever good clubs we have left don't get shut down"? i'm sure you do.

by far, my favorite club of all time was a club that once once named "vinyl", which is now known as arc. it was a club that was run with the philosophy that if you weren't there for the music, you were going to be bored out of your skull, because there was no glitz, glamor, or leonardo dicaprio sightseeing to distract you. this is where i had the priviledge of hearing my favorite dj of all time spin for a crowd of dancers like we were just hanging out in his living room. danny fed off of the crowd, the crowd fed off of danny, and as a result the vibe was incredible and the music was light years ahead of what every other dj was doing.

then, other clubs closed, management changed, a new crowd rushed in and the old crowd cowered in the corner in shock. tremendous renovations were done, door policy changed, the price of admission increased, and the club took on a new name. now that we've gotten used to all of that, it's announced that body and soul, a sunday afternoon party that is by far the most respected and popular party in new york city, is leaving arc. apparently it's not profitable enough for the new management, even though the club is packed to the gills every sunday (albeit for a lower door fee than is charged on friday and saturday nights).

to put it plainly, house music sucks in 2002. the hard but soulful, dark but sexy, tribal and techy sound that danny created has spawned thousands of similar sounding records that are at best boring and at worst absolutely depressing. new york, which used to be considered the creative center of house music, has only a couple parties worth the price of admission. it's a music that's found itself too strongly associated with the drug ecstacy, something that's become all too obvious by the zombie nation of kids stumbling about on the dance floors of the city.

i love house music because, when it's done right, it's the most uplifting, emotional, and creative stuff you can find anywhere. which is why this has all become so frustrating. everyone's waiting for something new to happen, even though there's no hope in sight.

i've done a tremendous amount of wonderful things in my life, but the greatest thing by far has been putting a site meter on my blog. i get to see how many people view my page (more than i expected), where they're from (all over the world! yahoo!) and how they got there. seeing how people get to my page brings me tremendous joy sometimes. someone typed in "naked wwe stars" and somehow got me (do you think he was looking for the guy or girl wrestlers?), then yesterday someone found my page by typing "girl ass about back" at msn.com. i rule!

note to self: never, ever, move to liberty, missouri.

i got the nigerian scam letter in my inbox a couple months ago, and all i replied with was "you better not send me any of this garbage ever again." this lady was a bit more cunning and creative, and deserving our first "wbsg hero of the day" award. yo go, girl!

there's been some really good songs on woxy lately. i hate to admit it, but i really miss napster and audio galaxy.

well, i'm glad they're finally talking about rebuilding downtown. we really need something to boost some spirits around here, and perhaps more importantly, keep the tourists from gawking at the hole. basically, the economy around here is not going to get much better until we get all of that office space back. maybe they'll build something really nifty in the basement, like a four dimensional roller coaster!

now, this is amazing, a photo album of the old palladium/arena club, which closed just before i entered my hardcore clubbing days, and has since been torn down to make way for new super-duper nyu dorms. sadly, i can't imagine anyone that would invest the time and money into creating such a lavish establishment in this post-giuliani era. right now, we're lucky if whatever good clubs we have left don't get shut down.

okay, now this is something to make you shake your head: devote a web page to begging others to help you out of debt. the sad part is, people seem to be actually sending her money. i don't feel sorry for someone who bit more than they could chew buying one of those god awful burberry handbags ("yay! it's the same boring plad pattern everyone else has!")

wbsg realizes that coming back to work on monday morning.... well, it just plain sucks. so, to brighten your spirits, here's a web page dedicated to new jersey guidos. check the photo gallery, yo!

here's something for the investors out there.

here's an interesting article on low-carb diets. while i think the atkins diet is absolutely attrocious, i know that a high carb diet isn't good either. i've noticed over the past few years that i can eat a huge bowl of pasta and not feel full at all, just really thirsty. however, i think the message that needs to be conveyed the most is "everything in moderation". basically we eat too much and do too little. my stomach shrank while i was in spain, and it's made a huge difference since i've come back here (my morning bagel now makes me feel full, while before it hardly made a dent). also, don't forget to eat your veggies! (and no, potatoes don't count)

ever have a classic tv show pop in your head and you begin to obsessively wish that there was a cable network devoted to showing repeats of it? you know you have. this week it's solid gold for me. apparently i'm not the only one with fond memories of this fine, fine show as there's a page dedicated entirely to the solid gold dancers. who do you like better, darcel or pam?

i'm one of those silly new yorkers who never goes to the theater, but i saw topdog/underdog last night and i enjoyed it very much. maybe it didn't quite live up to all they hype, but mos def was great.

the heat... my god, the heat! i think i'm melting today. ny1 says it's 95 degrees today, but it feels like, i don't know... two thousand degrees. when i went out for brunch today, it became apparent that my street is by far the warmest street in the world. i'm definitely going to the movies today.

next time you find yourself at a high-brow party sipping a dry martini, try incorporating these into conversation. people will love you and fetch olives for you.

rolling stone mag will be changing soon, which really doesn't bother me much, since i haven't bothered to read it in a while anyway. what really pains me is to see the way spin magazine has fallen from grace. what used to be a truly entertaining magazine now tries to convince me that jay-z is the most important artist in music today. wha...evah.

here's a decent article about the whole amtrak thing. i quite like amtrak's northeastern service and i think it would be a shame to lose it. do we really want to have to default to greyhound for mass transit to other cities? ewwww!

this is really cool, mapping nyc bloggers by subway stop. i'm very proud to say that my neighborhood is well represented. go bergen st, woo hoo!!!

shine get! you really gotta wonder how such a phrase would be appealing to the consumerist desires of a foreign country, but hey, if it works, it works.

courtesy of what the f&*k is this; some quotes from irc channels. some of these are pretty good.

now pc owners can enjoy a kick-ass, compact, and oh so stylish mp3 player thanks to xplay.

guilty pleasure of the past week was watching innocent and clueless people get hit by light objects. i was at my niece's high school graduation wednesday when one overly-eager student threw up his cap a few minutes before everyone was supposed to. the cap started flying directly towards another student's head, and when it finally bounced off her cap (the whole thing seemed to unfold in slow motion), watching her expression of "oh my god! what just happened!" was just priceless. then yesterday at the pride parade, some drag queen on one of the floats was throwing out leis to the crowd of onlookers. of course people are jumping and grabbing for these things like they're hundred dollar bills, but one little lei happens to fly over the crowd and hit some guy, in the face, as he's just trying to walk down the sidewalk. am i evil?

today's snapple cap wisdom: the bullfrog is the only animal that never sleeps. so, if you splice bullfrog dna with dinosaur dna, will the resulting clone sleep? ask dr. stupid!