... New Yorkers, that is, in reference to "The Gates." This is probably the most absurd abuse of good steel and fabric that I've ever seen in my entire life, and I have abused a lot of steel and fabric. This tepid and vapid excuse for art has taken NYC by storm, and the hilarious thing is that New Yorkers are too obsessed with looking hip to actually say what they think about it. The American art patronizing community hasn't been this hardcore bamboozled since "Piss Jesus." Orange colored steel and fabric (goddamnit Josh its SAFFRON) yeah fuck off, its orange, multiplied manyfold and mass-produced like they rolled off the Ford plant in Detroit does not art make. You know what, I'm feeling frisky today. Give ME that $21 million. I'd be happy to make an artistic statement by erecting the Golden Arches in Niagara Square then hang shower curtains off of it... and take the other $20,990,000 and run the hell away before somebody actually catches on.

Oh, and before anybody asks me - "What is art to you then, Josh?" Art is art when I say its art... period, end of sentence. Welcome to my cynical side.

In unrelated news - The America's Cup. Who doesn't care... except, um... everybody? This would normally not register with me, but amazingly enough somebody in this quasi-sport for the obscenely rich actually HIT A WHALE WITH THEIR YACHT. Ok... somebody speed me up here. How did this whale manage to creep up on this poor, innocent unsuspecting yacht? Its not as if it could have jumped out of the bush Viet-Cong style, guns blazing, hoping to wreak massive carnage. I think some fat guy wearing ye ol' captains hat tipped back the Dom P a little too much behind the wheel. Somebody this stupid definitely merits an ending worthy of a Darwin Award.

Hi - I thought I would introduce myself and say a few things first since I've been reading and lurking for a while.

I'm Josh - I'm 26 and a Gemini. I live directly on the strip. I have a fraternal twin brother - its nice because you have a best friend for life, but its also bad because you have someone that can eternally irritate you on occasion. I have a Bachelor of Science from U.B.'s School of Management but to be honest I want to pursue something else. Perhaps a law degree - the system is set up explicitly so that lawyers can make money off of EVERYTHING, and we do live in a city where ambulance chasing is an industry unto itself, so why not? Ha.

Favorite author? Maybe Kerouac, maybe Poe, maybe Kafka. I don't have a favorite book because I love so many, but perhaps the most influential book I've read the past few years was "Siddartha" by Hermann Hesse. I HATED "Naked Lunch" to the absolute extreme - I put it down after 100 pages. In general I am into 20th/21st C. American fiction but I am open to most lit., so if you have a suggestion lemme know! Poetry is fine as well, although I think most modern poetry is boring, heartless and contrived. I love good art, and I love going to the gallery. I don't know as much about art as I do about other things, so I count on other people to help me out. :)

I'm a nice guy (the kiss of death) and I like to do things for people, but alternately if someone tries to irritate me for no reason except their own social ineptness I turn into a bastard 4-headed flame-breathing dragon. I'm old-school to the extent that I really believe in being a gentleman and not treating women like pieces of fem-flesh. I like to open doors for women. I have a very broad sense of humor, and I love all kinds of offensive and inoffensive jokes... nothing is off limits. I tend to see the glass as half-full at all times. When people are down I like to try to cheer them up. I despise political correctness.

Anyhow, hi.