Cyndi Lauper is planning on opening a shelter for homeless LGBT (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgenders) in New York City. She plans on naming it "True Colors" after Lauper's hit single from the 1980's. Construction of the facility begins Thursday at West 154th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Manhattan. According to Zap2It 40 percent of the homeless are LGBT people. Lauper says the residents of the shelter will pay rent based on income and have access to job assistance as well as social programs to help get them back on their feet. Many young LGBTs even lose support of their loved ones at home, winding up on the streets only to then be subjected to mistreatment and violent acts against them. I remember watching a documentary on "bridge kids". This is the term given to gay teens who hung out on the bridge, I do not remember what bridge it was, in New York City. At night these kids would usually have sex for food or money or temporary shelter with whomever was willing to pay. Kids as young as 12 were out there doing this. They did it to survive. Their families disowned them ad kicked them out because of their sexuality and they were left to fend for themselves. As we know young LGBT men and women are easy targets for many people, whether they know it or not. I hope that this is successful and spawns off into many more shelters across the nation. I applaud Cydni for this and I am going to give her 2 Digits Up. Good Luck.
Are you ready for a hurricane? Well by the time it gets to you it will probably be a strong tropical depression. So far 2 million, maybe even more, have been told to evacuate their homes and head for safer land, more inland. While I understand the safety precautions I do think that in the end the storm will not be nearly as bad as people think. I am from Florida and every year they tell us to prepare for hurricane season. People buy tons of food and water and other supplies and by the time hurricane season is over, we have heard about maybe 10 named storms and none of them have hit us. I would say 1 out of every 60 storms actually do some sort of damage, usually minor, to the state of Florida, but we still take precautions. Hurricanes can be dangerous, but not all turn out to be Andrew or Katrina, most fizzle and pop before they reach us, or they go to Mexico. So all of you Northeasterners do not fear this storm, be safe though and if a big storm does happen, stay calm, always stay calm, and no looting please. I am giving the Northeast a Digit Up. I do believe that you will be able to tough this out for sure.
It seems like there is a shoe battle between Christian Louboutin and YSL(Yves Saint Laurent). The battle is over Louboutin's signature red bottom soles which Louboution claims is theirs and theirs alone, thoug I have seen a plenty of knockoffs on some bargain brand shoes... A Manhattan Federal judge nixed a permanent injunction against footwear rival Yves Saint Laurent that would have prevented the French couturier from selling scarlet-soled shoes as part of its 2011 cruise collection. The judge made it clear that even though Louboutin had trademarked the red sole in 2008, he'd have trouble proving that the vivid soles were legally his and his alone to use. YSL says it has featured red soles all the way back to the 1970s. They even said the idea of red soles is "copied from King Louis XIV's red-heeled dancing shoes or Dorothy's famous ruby slippers in 'The Wizard of Oz." Back in April, Louboutin sued Yves Saint Laurent, charging the fashion house ripped off his famous red-sole trademark. Louboutin declared that he pioneered the eye-catching sole in 1992 when he first put red nail polish on the bottom of one pair, per the lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court.The judge wrote, "Because in the fashion industry color serves ornamental and aesthetic functions vital to robust competition, the court finds that Louboutin is unlikely to be able to prove that its red outsole brand is entitled to trademark protection, even if it has gained enough public recognition in the market to have acquired secondary meaning." Louboutin sells about 240,000 pairs each year in the United States alone, with revenues of about $135 million a year. I find this somewhat funny. Whenever someone thinks of red soles you automatically think of Louboutins, unless you do not know fashion. If you look at the 2 shoes together one is bright red and the other is scarlet red. Though I understand the fight, I do not think Louboutin has anything to worry about at all. I am giving them a Digit Don for losing and for fighting a pointless fight.
Rocks. Unless you have been living under one for the past 28 hours then you already know that America's credit rating has been dropped by Standard & Poor's from AAA to AA+ for the 1st time in U.S. history. Though no one knows what this means for sure for America's short term future, because the markets have yet to dictate that, so far I have heard nothing too good. I find it horrible that we must wait for the markets around the world and here in NYC to dictate the nation's future. I understand how it works, 75% anyway, and I do not like it. Most say that eventually this will impact all of us who need to take out a loan for a home, car, business, etc. In normal times, in another country, a downgrade in a country's sovereign debt rating probably would force its government to pay higher interest rates to convince investors to keep buying its debt. Standard & Poor's reasoning for doing this is because they feel that the bill that was passed by congress to cut $2 trillion worth of spending over 10 years is not enough. They were looking for a minimum of $4 trillion, and they warned the government about that. Also they feel as if the political climate in D.C. is too unstable to be a safe enough bet right now. Still U.S. debt is special. Treasury debt is considered the safest investment in the world. Even after the downgrade. Investors don't doubt the U.S. government's ability to repay the $9.8 trillion it owes. So what does China think? Well they said, "The U.S. government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone." Other nations are also concerned about what this will mean for their economic situations as well. There will most likely be a special meeting among the G8 nations to talk about how to fix this issue. Honestly there is nothing that can be done int he near future. There needs to be massive cuts across the board and people will just have to be pissed off about it. New leaders will need to be selected to run certain departments in our nation before it is too late, though the S&P has already warned that we can be further downgraded in6-24 months. The "bright side" of this is that they are the only agency to downgrade us and they also gave AAA ratings to a lot of home loan agencies, and we all saw what that did to the economy. Still things need to change. Politics need to be put aside and major moves nee to be made. I doubt this will happen so I plan on converting all of my assets into cash, because eventually even gold will fall. And if you are wondering, it takes about 9-18 years for most countries to regain a AAA rating after dropping to an AA+ rating, and it has only happened 4 times. I am giving America 2 Digits Down for letting things get this bad.
The rent is too damn high! The line that brought Jimmy McMillan to our attention last year. Well it seems like Jimmy may be getting evicted from his rent controlled apartment in New York City's East Village. Jimmy McMillan, who pays $875 a month for rent, told the New York Post that his landlord wants him out because "my rent is too damn low." McMillan, now planning a run for president, says he's told his lawyer to file a counterclaim for $70,000. The case is pending in Housing Court. The owner of the building said, in court papers, that Jimmy violated his lease because the apartment is not his primary residence as required by rent controlled rules. It says he lives in Brooklyn. McMillan says that address is his office. If this is true then I would like to know how he can afford two rents in the city. Brooklyn or not, that is still two rents to pay every month. East Village is a trendy part of NYC, like Greenwich, and $875 is very low in NYC fr rent, people would kill to pay that amount, even if it is a studio, though it does not say if it is a studio or not. I am giving Jimmy McMillan a Digit Down for possibly ruining his chances at sustaining such a low rent and for complaining about high rent when his rent is LOW!
Congratulations to Derek Jeter for getting his 3000th hit. He is the 1st Yankee to do this, as a Yankee. He is the 2nd player to home run their 3000th hit. Now he is the 28th member of the 3000th hit club, and his career is not over yet. The man who caught the ball gave it back to him for free, the Yankees rewarded him with four tickets to a suite for every remaining game at Yankee Stadium this season (including any possible playoff games) plus first row Legends Suite tickets to Sunday's game. He also received an assortment of bats and jerseys, plus a meeting with Jeter. I am giving Jeter a Digit Up of course. What a classy guy.
Irony is sometimes harsh, cruel, funny or all 3. I recently read a story about a man named Philip A. Contos of Parish, N.Y. He was not a fan of New York's new helmet law which requires motorcyclist to wear a helmet when riding. He and some other motorcyclist decided to protest this law by riding their motorcycles without their helmets. Well somehow Mr. Contos hit the breaks, the bike spun out of control and he flipped over the handlebars of his 1983 Harley Davidson. His head hit the pavement and the paramedics were called. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. Though you can already see the irony in it police said that Mr. Contos would have likely survived if he had been wearing a helmet. Cruel irony, you crazy S.O.B. I am giving this a Digit Up because it is a warning to the other riders and a teaching tool as well.
Tracy Morgan has had a lot of bad press recently. We all heard about his "hateful" comments about gays he made while doing stand-up in Nashville earlier this month. He apologized and people pretty much got over it. Now he is being thrust back into the news for more bad press. He made some more politically incorrect statements while doing stand-up in New York City over the weekend. He said, "Don't ever mess with women who have retarded kids. Them young retarded males is strong. They're strong like chimps." Ouch Tracy, ouch. I wonder how he will apologize himself out of this one... Now personally I do not care about anything he says. He is a comedian, a controversial ann an edgy comedian at that. He is no different from previous comedians before him: Eddie Murphy, Red Fox, George Carlin, Chris Rock, Bob Saget, Kathy Griffin, and this list could go on for ages. Why is Tracy getting so much flack? We, as a nation, are too sensitive, we are too touchy feely and of course we are too politically correct! It is a joke, if you do not find it funny then that is you. If you go to one of his shows then you know what to expect, and if you do not know what to expect, then do not go! Freedom of speech allows anyone to say anything, most of the time, and we may not like it, but that is what separates us from many other countries. I believe that people are confusing Tracy Morgan with the character he plays on "30 Rock". Before that show, before SNL, he was and edgy comedian from the hood. He should not have to change his formula, because in the right arenas, his formula still works. However I am going to give Tracy Morgan a Digit Down because he id something that I do not lie at all, he apologized. He apologized after the touchy feely gays and gay friendly community came down on him hard after his Nashville show. Now he may have to go through this whole process again, and ever get an earful from Sarah Palin. You said what you said and it should have ended there. If other did not like it, so be it.
In California they are building a bridge from San Francisco to Oakland. Normally this would never make news in my eyes, but this time it is. Why? The bridge is being made by the Chinese. The assembly work in California, and the pouring of the concrete road surface, will be done by Americans. But construction of the bridge decks and the materials that went into them are a Made in China affair. California officials say the state saved hundreds of millions of dollars by turning to China. The state is already in debt so saving money is important, but giving money back to American companies is more important. But this is not just a California issue. In New York City alone, Chinese companies have won contracts to help renovate the subway system, refurbish the Alexander Hamilton Bridge over the Harlem River and build a new Metro-North train platform near Yankee Stadium. As with the Bay Bridge, American union labor would carry out most of the work done on United States soil. At $7.2 billion, it will be one of the most expensive structures ever built. But California officials estimate that they will save at least $400 million by having so much of the work done in China.California issued bonds to finance the project, and will look to recoup the cost through tolls. I guess $400 million is a lot..but when you are spending $7.2 billion already, what is an extra $400 million? Not much in my eyes. It cost a lot less to make things in China for sure, especially when you look at a typical worker. Pan Zhongwang, a 55-year-old steel polisher, is a typical Zhenhua worker. He arrives at 7 a.m. and leaves at 11 p.m., often working seven days a week. He lives in a company dorm and earns about $12 a day. It sucks but we cannot compete with such low standards of living. Still I must give these States a Digit Down. Where there is a will there is a way and if they really wanted to get a deal in America, they could have done it, but they are not going to "waste" their time searching for them.
Who is Aelita Andre? Apparently she is a 4-year old "artist". The art world is going gaga over this little girl's art work, so much so that she is getting her own art show in art crazy New York City. Are you serious? She is an abstract "artist" and both of her parents "are certain that their daughter is a bona fide Abstract Expressionist painter." Of course they do, the $27,000 she just made off of three of her paintings help solidify that. This is a tad much. Abstract art, in the eyes of many, does not take much, if all, skill at all. Throw some paint, call it a day. If you want to get deep, throw some paint in anger or rage, sell it for a little more. Jackson Pollock would even wonder what the art world was thinking right now. I am a huge art fan, and I enjoy abstract art a lot, I dabble in it from time to time. I do not think that this little girls should be getting as much attention as she is right now. If she were 14, maybe. Her paintings have no meaning, no substance, just paint on a canvas. I am pretty sure she has no clue what she is doing nor does she care at all. I am giving Aelita Andre a Digit Down.
Like a flamboyant guy finally coming out of the closet, New York Rep. Anthony Weiner finally admits he sent those photos of himself to not only that one woman, but many other women before and after his marriage. Watch the video below and listen to him say whatever it is he has to say to make the situation a little, little, little bit better.
One thing he said was that he is not leaving his job. He should though. It is too much of a distraction and he needs to leave and go work things out with his wife of less than a year! Ironically his wife works for Hillary Clinton... Democratic circle of infidelity I suppose. Any who Weiner admitted that he sent photos to women but never had any contact with these women. If a women says that she slept with him in the near future, who are we to believe? Weiner had his chance last week when he went on pretty much every political show and said he was hacked or that the photos might be him but he did not send them and so on. I do not care much about Weiner. He is in a state that I do not live in so he does not directly affect me in any way. In a week this will all be over, if no no facts or details come out, and we will be wondering where are the jobs. Weiner does not have to resign at all because I do think that his party will force him to resign when all is said and done. Anythony Weiner is getting 2 Digits Down for lying and for possibly ruining his marriage and political career.
I was 1st turned on to Huguette Clark after this "Today Show" clip last year. Now I have read that she has passed away at the age of 104 in a New York City hospital. Though she lived a long life most of it was very private and some would say sad. In her later years 2 men controlled her estate. Her attorney Wallace Bock and her accountant Irving Kamsler. These men have been accused of possible stealing, cheating and in some way abusing Huguette. I do not know for sure if Ms. Clark was happy or not, but I would hope that in some way she was. I do hope her money goes to those who deserve it, whether it be family, friends or charity. I am sure her homes will be on the market later this year and all of her possessions sorted through and possibly auctioned off.I am giving this news a Digit Down. I just do not feel as if this woman was allowed to live the life she deserved.
Recently I watched a special on McDonald's and at that time they had the most restaurants or "restaurants" around the world with over 32,000. Well there is someone else who can claim that title now...Subway. Subway, at the end of last year, had 33,749 compared to McDonald's with only 32,737. This has been a long time coming. Though McDonald's still made $9 billion more than Subway, the tide could turn. Subway introduced the $5 foot-long a few years ago after a franchise owner started it as a weekly promo. It stuck and the chain gained more notoriety. Subway boost a healthier menu than McDonald which is becoming more of a norm than a niche. By opening restaurants in unusual locations such as an automobile showroom in California, an appliance store in Brazil, a ferry terminal in Seattle, a riverboat in Germany, a zoo in Taiwan, a Goodwill store in South Carolina, a high school in Detroit and a church in Buffalo, New York,Subway has been able to increase its rapid growth. Hopefully they will not have a stumble like McDonald's did a few years back or even worse a fall like Arby's. I am giving Subway a Digit Up because I am just not into McDonald's. I am not a kid and they can no longer lure me in with toys.
I may HAVE to move there. Why? Because it is where the industry lives. Movies and television shows are made there. New York City does it as well, but California is the state, Hollywood, and its surrounding cities, are the places whee things get made. I am not a huge fan of California, but it is okay. It is almost bankrupt and it has high taxes, insurance and real estate. I am not sure if I will enjoy living there, around people who are all pretty much the same. I do not want to become a celebrity, that is not my goal in life, but I do wan to make television interesting, new shows, possibly a movie or two. Florida is my home state, it is cool, but Miami is the location for things, and even that is limited. Miami is...Hollywood South. Who knows, maybe it will be New York City for me. They have fashion, business, and WEATHER. Rain, snow, sun, all of the things I enjoy. In California, Southern California, when it rains there is always a chance of a mudslide and a house or 6 falling down. I am getting ahead of myself, I am a few steps away from this, but it is better to plan ahead than get stressed when you finally get to that point. I am giving California a Digit...Down. This could change in the future, maybe a Digit up or 2 Down.
Google bought a New York City block, massive and major. The building is the 111 Eighth Ave. in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. Google already was a tenant in the building, but that was not good enough. They now own this 2.95 million square foot building that cost a firm $1.8 billion dollars. How did Google pay for it? With cash of course. Earlier this tear Apple bought an acre of land for $1.7 million to expand their current iTunes facility in North Carolina. The land was purchased for $6000 four years ago. That was crazy, this Google buy is smart. The building was originally developed as the headquarters of the Port Authority of New York and occupies an entire square block between Eighth and Ninth avenues and 15th and 16th Streets. It is the second largest building in New York City. I would do the same thing, but I would turn it into one massive mansion for myself, just myself. But anyway I am giving Google a Digit Up because this is just awesome.
I must warn you that I am probably going to start rambling. Nine years ago today we all know what happened, it was a horrible thing and it changed the lives of all of us. I sit here today and I think about all of the current events surrounding things that pre 9/11 no one would have cared about. I have done my best not to write about the Florida pastor who wants/wanted to burn Korans or the mosque that is planning to be built near the sight of Ground Zero. I 1st of all think that they both have the right to do both things, although I do not agree with either. I think that burning the Koran would not achieve anything at all, it would just be wasted paper. I also think that building a mosque so close to Ground Zero is not a smart move. I think if they really wanted to help change their images and show New Yorkers and others that they are peaceful and whatnot, it would be best to move away from the sight that started it all and to avoided the negative publicity that they are receiving. Before 9/11 people of Middle Eastern decent were not really noticed, no more than the occasional joke here or there but they were commonly confused with Indians so who really knows. Planes would let you carry a lot more things on, pretty much anything as long as you had a good enough reason for needing it. The government did not monitor your every key stroke or phone conversation for fear of another attack. Things were truly care free and happy, but now we are in a state of fear and we do not know it. We fear people who are not like us, we fear things that did not seem normal. What has this nation become? Yes I understand the attacks were devastating and yes some change was needed, but how far are we willing to go. If there is another attack, no matter how far off in the future it may be, what will happen, Marshall Law? I am not sure. I think we need to gradually return to the care free days of pre 9/11, the better days of this country. This is not going to happen but it would be nice if it did. I am giving this all a Digit Down.
BORING! I know it was just the 1st episode but it was dull. It really just seems like one big tea party and Obama campaign put together. I swear everyone on the show is Probama and trying to show just how much they know him and because they know him that makes them something special. Well the truth is it does not, Whoomp Whooomp. So far if I had to choose a favorite one I guess it would be Catherine, the Brit with the sharp tongue, I like. The best part of this show is trying to figure out which one of these families will go broke 1st, and that would be the Salahi family again. I hope the season gets better, although the big climax was already revealed months ago, the Salahi's crash the White House, major. This show barely got green lighted anyway. If it ere not for that party crash this show would have never existed, so it does not surprise me that it is horrible. I really hope Bravo thinks long and hard about how they will improve on this show next season, there is always a 2nd season. I also hope that Bravo things even longer and harder about the future of the Housewives series. he O.C. Housewives are good, but taking a backseat to NYC, and everyone is taking a backseat to Atlanta and Jersey. I know that Bravo is considering adding Austin and then Miami to its Housewives franchise, and I do no know if that is such a good thing. Texas should have been done a couple of years ago and Miami should have been done right after the O.C. series started. Miami is sort of overexposed to us anyway, we can live without it. I am giving this a big Digit Down. Better luck next time Bravo.
Cyndi Lauper is planning on opening a shelter for homeless LGBT (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgenders) in New York City. She plans on naming it "True Colors" after Lauper's hit single from the 1980's. Construction of the facility begins Thursday at West 154th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Manhattan. According to Zap2It 40 percent of the homeless are LGBT people. Lauper says the residents of the shelter will pay rent based on income and have access to job assistance as well as social programs to help get them back on their feet. Many young LGBTs even lose support of their loved ones at home, winding up on the streets only to then be subjected to mistreatment and violent acts against them. I remember watching a documentary on "bridge kids". This is the term given to gay teens who hung out on the bridge, I do not remember what bridge it was, in New York City. At night these kids would usually have sex for food or money or temporary shelter with whomever was willing to pay. Kids as young as 12 were out there doing this. They did it to survive. Their families disowned them ad kicked them out because of their sexuality and they were left to fend for 
themselves. As we know young LGBT men and women are easy targets for many people, whether they know it or not. I hope that this is successful and spawns off into many more shelters across the nation. I applaud Cydni for this and I am going to give her 2 Digits Up. Good Luck.
