I’ll post more in a little while — just got home. We were there until it ended. I would estimate there were at least 10,000 there, it might have been closer to 15-20,000. I just went to look at the NY1 and 1010 WINS web sites. The former’s top story is about a fake ticker-tape parade and other fake “Olympic” activities to promote NYC’s attempts to bring the games here. 1010 WINS’s web site has these as the top stories:

• Cop Shot in Brooklyn
• Survey: NY Congressman Support War
• Report: Mentally Ill Locked Down in Nursing Homes
• Firetrucks and Car Collide in Bronx – 12 Hurt
• Claims Adjuster Found Guilty of Damaging Home
• Campbells Recalls Mislabeled Soup
• Police in CT Arrest 3 ‘Jackass’ Wannabes
• Supreme Court Considers Taking NJ Senate Case
• Report: Derailed Air Train was Near Top Speed
• Bloomberg to Crack Down on Sidewalk Cafes
• Jogger Rape Suspect Says He Raped Another
• Mayor Heads to Colorado to Push Olympic Bid
• Record Spending in NY Governor’s Race
• Brooklyn Brothers Plead Guilty to $50M Fraud
• U.N. Shooter Denied Bail Over Flight Risk
• Parents Plead Innocent in Son’s Heroin Death
• Families Want Steel Cross to Stay at Ground Zero
• NYC, Nurses Union, Reach Deal
• Parties Lobby Supreme Court on NJ Ballot Issue

If 10,000+ people oppose a war, it’s not news. Of course, London had at least 150,000 for theirs.

I’m about to head up to Central Park for this. I hope to see some of you there. Actually, maybe I hope it’s so big that it’s hard to find anyone I know.

Read James’s account of our encounter with the “Jews hate Bush” lady.

Why are there always teddy bears at things like this? I find it sort of creepy.

This bench is in front of the grocery store where James’s brother shops.

I went to see Andy‘s show Potty Mouth last night (or is it early this morning). As we waited outside to be let in, there was an adorable little dark-haired kid playing on the sidewalk. When some air-conditioner condensation — I hope that’s what it was — started pouring off the awning above our heads, he jumped into it and got all wet. He then proceeded to try to embrace all of the gay guys in line. A future performance artist is born!

It was GREAT. I had seen part of it “in process” at Dixon Place, but that was months ago, and I think it has really come together into a fabulous raunchy, moving, hilarious piece of one-man theater. It runs through October 25. Go!

I am still so jet-lagged. I got my second wind around 2am, and went with some of my fellow bloggers/audience members to Lolita. I liked the vibe of the place — low key (and cute) bartenders, and a crowd that was about half straight and half gay. Not enough places pull that off successfully in NYC, even on the Lower East Side. There were gorgeous photographs of the abandoned buildings at Ellis Island in the back. The even had Brooklyn Weisse on tap!

Do I have to list all of the bloggers that were there and link to them here? I’m tired. The one person I hadn’t met before, at least not in “the real world”, was Mark. At one point, when Andy talked about gay men with cats, we both groaned simultaneously — getting a reaction from our performer.

For those that missed it, e.g. Glenn and Sparky, James was sick and didn’t make it either. We might go see it on October 18 at 10pm if anyone wants to join us.

Bob Crane — of Hogans Heroes fame — was a home pornographer. His son has a web site where you can get pictures, videos, etc., and he’s rather obsessed with how hung his dad was — to the point of publishing his dad’s autopsy report to prove it.

Titled Doubts set in on Afghan mission, it says that the Americans are looking increasingly like occupiers to the Afghans and themselves. The soldiers have also been given little plastic cards (they show one to the reporter) telling them what to say to the press. Via cursor.

I should be doing work, but several shows were about to close, so we went to a few Chelsea galleries this afternoon. I’m writing this while I wait for Apache to compile on a few clients’ machines — security release!

I wasn’t that excited by some of the shows, but there were a couple I would recommend going to see before they close:

• James Hyde at Brent Sikkema
  
• Group show at Paula Cooper, especially the Dan Flavin
  
• Group show at Kravets/Wehby (web site not updated in a year!), especially Kanishka Raja

As I walked home, I noticed that 17th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues certainly is gentrifying! There is a Karim Rashid store, plus an upscale hair salon, where people were waiting out front drinking sparkling water from wine glasses — glass ones, not plastic.

I love Jesus because he keep oil cheap for my SUV — spotted out in front of the Catholic Church on 10th Avenue:

Random broken window image:

Choire says it better than my still jet-lagged brain can. Go sign Michael Moore’s petition, and send some letters.

This should be the last one. These are some notes I took on the flight to New York.

• Looking around the departure lounge at the information boards for other flights, I really felt like we were rather “east” — there were flights to Pristina, Kiev, and Damascus in nearby gates.
  
• The area next to us was for a flight to Cairo. There was one Arab woman near us wearing a sweater and well-fitting camel-colored wool pants, and her son was named William. Most of the women for that flight wore head scarves.
  
• The airport bookstores have quite a bit of gay porn for sale — most stores would only have straight stuff, especially in America. They also all have special sections for books on the Nazi period. One tiny store had a fountain in the middle with fish.
  
• There were two female flight attendants – one a chubby latina and the other a black woman with a shaved head — pushing around the duty free cart. They were FABULOUS. I told them I loved them both, but I didn’t feel like buying anything. The latina suggested I buy the big box of chocolates, suitable for sharing with the crew. When I laughed, the black one asked me what I was laughing at. I said, “you laughed, so I did too.” Her response: “Good answer. It’s like the old Welcome Back Kotter show — I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing with you.”</p>