Goodbye, Anti-Sacred and Profane Writing Machine
After a long battle with cancer, PW staff writer, Guardian columnist, punk-rock novelist, NME gadfly, gender-twisting rebel comedian and poet Steven Wells has gone on to other things. Well, not really. According to Steven, there’s no such thing as the afterlife, and if there is, I guarantee he’s really, really pissed off right now. I can just picture him at St. Peter’s Gates, saying, “Fuck me! This shit actually exists?”
We’ll all miss Steven so much, and I’ll say more about that later. For now, I’m wishing the best to all family and friends who are hurting. That’s what Steven really cared about in the end, though he was very passionately annoyed by knitting, as well.
Steven was often told he was anti-American. I loved his passion, and he cracked us the fuck up every day. This video was part of a series he did for PW called Steven Wells’ America, in which he took sacred cows and basically grilled them for dinner. Below, he reflects on the religiosity of an America that voted for Bush a second time (Steven was a staunch atheist). Toward the end he smiles a bit, so you know that he knows he’s being ridiculous. And that’s part of what was so cute about Steven — he’d rant, but then laugh at himself.
Liz | 10:41 AM | BIG PHARMA, Funny or Offensive?, GLBT, Song of the Day, alternative treatments, anxiety, celebrities, children, cute fix, depression, hospitals / hospitalization, media, meds, military, philadelphia, phobias, politics, random, religion, suicide, violence
Cute Fix: Squealing at 3:32
The whole thing is unbearably cute, but after all that silence …
Liz | 12:25 PM | cute fix
Ezra Rowe Hendler
I just want to welcome a new friend to the world, United States, New York, NY, in May 2009. We’re going to be buddies. True, he’s only, um, a day old right now, but I already project into the future and see us engaged in any number of buttery-filter vignettes: me watching him ride his first carousel; his trembling lip as he lets go of a balloon; his little licks of ice cream and the rainbow sprinkle that gets caught on his nose; the first time he says, “Auntie Liz … ”
He was born yesterday (not so smart, this kid) courtesy of the agony of my friend Nina Rowe, who I always pay tribute to because she hung in with me through many years of my own agony (including many boring phone calls). Her husband, Glenn Hendler, was also thoroughly involved in the childbearing situation.
I won’t post photos of Ezra yet because he’s barely alive, and thus I can’t ask if he wants to be semi-semi-famous. But I love him already. Congratulations to Nina and Glenn! You have reproduced, and quite well, at that. Good show.
Cute Fix: Lazy Bunny
One of my favorite songs and one of my favorite animals.
Liz | 12:38 PM | cute fix
Exercise and Depression: This Makes Me Sad
On HuffPost Karen Leland, author of Time Management in an Instant, interviewed a fitness instructor for tips on how to get people to get around the key obstacle of not having enough time to exercise. I was so excited; now I would have the key to solving the problem! Here’s the result of the interview:
Q: What is one way you help your clients get around the time obstacle?
A: By far, the easiest way to get around the time obstacle is to make your exercise the first thing you do each day. Pencil it in and schedule which mornings (i.e. Monday, Wednesday and Friday) you are going to workout. Then you need to schedule everything else around it - dropping off the kids, your hobbies etc.Q: But what if mornings don’t work?
A: If you just can’t make mornings work, find a way to schedule it at other times. Plan for a trainer to come to your house, ride your bike to work, take a walk at lunchtime, sign up for a group exercise class in the afternoon or end of the day. The next time you take the kids to swim class, don’t just watch them take their lessons, use this as your time to workout. The time part is more manageable if you put down exactly when you are going to exercise.
Wait, that didn’t help me at all. Shit. But maybe it helps you, so voila! Now you have answers.
Liz | 11:23 AM | alternative treatments, cute fix
Nightmares Do Come True
Don't let me blow away
Pretty much every night I have a dream that something horrible has happened to Hannah (pictured above), my sweet Chihuahua. Turns out, I have reason to worry. From ABC News:
Bystanders at a Detroit-area flea market were stunned this weekend when high winds from a passing storm picked up a couple’s Chihuahua puppy and blew her out of sight.
After two days of searching and consulting with a pet psychic, Tinkerbell was found almost a mile away in the woods dirty but unharmed. …
“We were shocked when we found her,” Dorothy Utley, 72, told The Detroit News. “You don’t know how happy we were. We love her so much.”
It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a … Flying Chihuahua?
Liz | 2:09 PM | cute fix, hospitals / hospitalization, media, philadelphia, random, violence
Monday Morning Cute Fix: I Can’t Stop Watching This
Liz | 10:08 AM | cute fix
Amazing Animal Feats!
Last night I went to the laundry room in my apartment building, and when I got back, I saw this note posted on my door:
My Chihuahua never ceases to amaze me. She seems really dim, but it’s all an act. I guess she had to chew the bottom of the paper to get it out of the notebook.
Liz | 12:03 PM | cute fix
Ode to Popcorn. Rest in Peace, Little One.
Last night I had to put Popcorn, my beloved hamster, to sleep. He had an abdominal mass and the vet felt he couldn’t be saved. I cried and cried, but was embarrassed to cry over a hamster. But he wasn’t just a hamster. He was my friend. He had all kinds of funny habits. Here are some:
1. When he was ready to wake up and be held, he’d climb on top of his wooden house and assume his boxer stance. He’d stare out at the bars until someone noticed him. Then I’d scoop him up and he’d crawl into a special position in my cupped hand and that’s when I’d give him lots of kisses. And he’d close his eyes while I did so.
2. When I put him down on the table and scratched his back, he’d stand still to get maximum scratching. He loved having his back scratched.
3. If he was put on the kitchen counter, he’d run straight behind the bread basket, where he’d thrown himself onto his back and wriggle and flip his body all around, like a little otter. He liked it even better if you shook the basket while he did this.
4. If he was put on a different part of the kitchen counter, he’d run straight behind the TV, and if someone tickled him with the remote, he’d turn on his back, thrust his legs into the air, and delightedly wiggle around. Sometimes he’d just stand there and look for the remote, in case we forgot.
5. He loved yogurt chips, green beans, carrots, lettuce, mini croissants, pear, mealworms and just about anything else you offered. He often crammed his cheek pouches full of food and then he’d deposit it in different places in his cage, as hamsters do. Once he put the entirety of his bedding in his face, and I had to pull it out. He was mad at me.
6. He was very particular about having at least a few pieces of food in his wheel. He liked to run in his wheel with food pellets in there. If I took the food out to stop the incessant clicking sound, he’d get out, find a pellet, and put it back in. So there.
7. No matter the time of day or how tired he was, if he heard the crinkle of a bag, he’d stumble out of his little wooden house with his eyes half-shut, and beg for food, still asleep. Before his illness, he was quite a little fatty.
8. Sometimes he escaped and ran under the washer, where there’d be lots of clawing and scratching noises. Then he’d smell some pear, and come out.
9. He ran like the devil in his ball, but if he wanted to come out, he’d follow me around and then sit on my feet till I took him out.
10. He jumped off tables, countertops, beds, pillows — he was fearless and unbreakable. Until last night. I’ll miss him.
Liz | 10:05 AM | cute fix
