cityrag

gonna party like it's yer birthday
happy birthday to Laura, the love of our life. let the party begin baby!

(photo credit: Yahoo/REUTERS)

evil twins
A Socialites Life found this great photo of the Olsen twins, and made a clever comparison with the image of the evil twins in The Shining! The Shining Twins always reminded us the twins photo by Diane Arbus...

we like the Olsens, and Evil Twins are one of those reoccurring images that we fucking love, so this made us very happy. America's little sweethearts are getting twisted.

The Oh NO, Oh No No No, Fashion Show
here's an old idea of ours for a reality tv fashion show... a couple drag queens (or catty bitches, like us) ride around in a taxi cab and spot people making hideous fashion mistakes, and then make jokes about them and talk about what they're doing wrong. it's called the "Oh NO, Oh No No No, Fashion Show". today we saw this hilarious photo and caption on Tiger Lilly's site (that she found on Rock On Lock) and thought "now that's what we're talking about here!"...

"Oh no. Why would you even try this??? They look like talons or something. She could gut a fish with those things."

hemp pod
they look cool, but just try explaining your hemp pod’s “aroma smell” to the subway cops...

Claw hits Cali
New York graffiti artist Claw hit South Central L.A. this past week and sent us this fresh photo...

this weekend we stashed all of CityRag's graf photos into one section - check out the new NY Graffiti and Street Art category!

asian bloggers on tsumani watch
friend and reader Stef alerted us early this morning to this ongoing story: "another earthquake in Indonesia. Recommended course of action for Indian ocean coastal countries: evacuate." no Tsunami has developed as of yet but millions of people are waiting to see what happens.

watching the news on this story we became aware of the tremendous number of blogs and websites that have developed since December's tragedy. it's truly amazing, there are tons of bloggers (located in Asia) staying up into the night researching and posting info on the recent earthquake, evacuations and the area's status.

This is Not a Test has an excellent round up of links today that show the breadth and depth of blogs, websites, message boards, and communities devoted to providing up to the minute earthquake, weather and tsunami info. a truly impressive example of the way blogs are advancing the distribution and accessibility of important information around the world.

the subliminal subduction of Michael Jackson's armbands
we’re fascinated with the staple armband that Michael Jackson has worn every day to court since his trial began, and his never-ending supply of a new armband fashions. but after a couple weeks of watching this obvious symbolic statement, one has to ask… what the fuck is going on here? what message is he trying to send the jurors?...

a peak at basic armband symbolism yields some interesting answers:
1) most online dictionaries define an armband as: A band worn around the upper arm, often as identification or as a symbol of mourning or protest. a subset of this symbolism is often an element of memorializing innocent victims.

2) armbands are recognized around the world as a sign of safety and help. they’re commonly worn by medical personnel in the field, the most well known being the Red Cross armband. The Red Cross notes: “The familiar arm band symbol and Red Cross name tag signify someone you can trust, someone you can turn to.”

3) the 3rd most common use of the armband is to show prominence, leadership, achievement or honor – from Nazi and military/militia usages throughout history, to parade marshals, to the armbands worn by Thai boxers

Michael Jackson doesn’t wear armbands because he’s having fun with fashion. he’s wears this specific item of clothing every day of his trail because it carries strong psychological and cultural associations, and he's trying to subliminally convey to the jurors a message: protest of his victimization, and that he is a prominent person of honor that can be trusted.

(footnote: it feels good getting that out. it was starting to feel like we were part of some mass hypnosis that no one would say anything about those crazy armbands.)

UPDATE: in the news today: "Claiming an unnamed conspiracy against him, Michael Jackson said he is 'completely innocent'". also, a friend just phoned us that the free paper NY Metro also reflected today on MJ's armband wearing.

(photo credit: Yahoo Photos/AP/Reuters)

boys room
this graphic put together by our boy NO from odd snaps around his room has a cool NY-life vibe. it's on his site NYCguys. if you like photo's of hot naked NY boyz, click through (or if you've wondered what fucking a cake would look like.)