I knew that Ray Nagin had announced a deal with Nickelodeon to redevelop the Six Flags theme park that’s lain abandoned in New Orleans East since Hurricane Katrina rolled through nearly four years ago.

What I did not know was that there’d been a photo op at the announcement:

I can only presume that by this time next year, C. Ray will be comfortably ensconced under the sea, living in an upside-down pineapple with his new paramour. Or possibly alone, ensconced in some very heavy footwear. Either way.

[WWL]

Half of me thinks this is crazy. Another half of me thinks it’s nice that someone’s envisioned New Orleans’ architectural landscape in a wacko, high-on-life, rich-from-petroleum, bring-in-the-Bangladeshi-slave-girls kind of way. And a third, nonexistent half of me thinks that the residents of One River Place are probably already pissed that someone bothered to imagine this Tron-style tenement:

Rebuilding New Orleans is an ongoing effort and pitching into the concept-zone is the New Orleans Arcology Habitat or NOAH. Since the details on this structure are in-depth and plenty, lets plunge into them right away. NOAH proposes to be a habitat for 40,000 residents who can benefit from the planned residential units, school system, commercial, retail, hotels, casinos, parking, and public works facilities.

NOAH is based upon the following preliminary program outline.

1. Residential Units / Rental and Condominium; 20,000 units @ average 1100 Sq ft
2. Three Hotels; Average 200 rooms plus associated services
3. Time Share Units; 1500 units @ average 1100 sq ft
4. Three Casino Facilities
5. Commercial Space / Rental and Condominiums; 500,000 sq ft
6. Commercial Space / Retail; 500,000 sq ft
7. Parking Garage / within foundation; 8,000 cars
8. Cultural Facilities; 100,000 sq ft
9. Public Works; 50,000 sq ft / includes storage
10. District School System; 100,000 sq ft
11. District Administrative Office; 50,000 sq ft
12. District Health Care Facility; 20,000 sq ft

Estimated Total Square Footage : 30 million

Location/Site Specific: In reviewing all the options and possible sites for NOAH, the most logical location is on the Mississippi riverfront and adjacent to the Central Business District.

Oh: and it goes on.

No, that title isn’t more random word associations. It’s a real vagina bike taxi. I mean, duh:

[Momlogic via JV]

Seriously, you need to see that full-size:

[via CTRL+W33D]

[via Towleroad]

I asked for an explanation of this photo of Adam Lambert:

Constant Reader Jerome was kind enough to provide it:

Adam Lambert was making a special appearance at the Cass County, Iowa county fair, in-between the flower-arranging competition and the hog-calling contest. Then, again, perhaps he wasn’t really scheduled to perform; he might’ve just been late for one event or early for the other.

Anyway, little Morrie Stubbs (to differentiate from “big” Morrie Stubbs who passed last November after suffocating in the baler) was hired as a part-time gaffer for the “main stage” at the fair. Actually, the Cass county fairgrounds only has one stage that is basically plywood over some footed two by fours covered with Missy Evans’ old kitchen linoleum, but it sounds so much better calling it “main”. So Morrie, who has very close contact with sheep, has a bit of a fixation with eyelashes, being that sheep are renowned for that “come hither” look in many rural areas, and it is due to their beautiful eyelashes.

(Be still, my heart ! Could you even begin to resist this?!)

Anyway, Morrie immediately noticed Adam’s gorgeous eyelashes and walked over to him to comment on his wonderful eyes, asking him if anyone in his family was raising sheep. Adam had to explain that his lashes were due to a new product, a prescription drug that brings lashes to their lushest, bestest length. (Adam has a way with words.)

Morrie just had to take a closer look himself, and someone snapped the shot.

Unfortunately the encounter did not have a happy ending, because when Morrie continued his admiration of Lambert, he mistakenly told him that his eyes were prettier than those of any sheep he had ever seen. Lambert was not amused.

So we must remember, as Adam would say, “Entitlement is not sexy”.

http://www.warprecords.com/dancefloordale/mediaplayer.swf
Directed by Eric Wareheim (Tim & Eric) in association with Warp Records and Warp Films. The track is ‘Parisian Goldfish’ by Flying Lotus, from the album Los Angeles. [via DanceFloorDale via Mitch]

I admit it: I’m biased. Dorian Rush and I have been friends for iforgethowlong. At least ten years, and we’ve worked together for nine of them. She’s the only actor to have appeared in every one of our shows, and she is undeniably brilliant. She can play serious, she can play comic, she can play a sublime concoction of the two, and, yes, she can sing like nobody’s business. Lord, yes she can.

Now, Dorian has done a Janis Joplin show before. A couple of years before the storm, she did a musical tribute thingamajig — sort of a cabaret in which Dorian (as Dorian) performed some of Joplin’s best-known songs. It was a great performance, mostly because Dorian can nail that sound, that gritty rock/blues sound, like no one I know. However, the story of Janis herself didn’t really engage me — but then, I’m not a Joplin fan.

So when Dorian said she wanted to do a similar show, I thought, “Well, that’s good. at least it’ll draw the Joplin devotees.” But then she said she intended to personify Janis, tell the story from Janis’ perspective, and she sent me a script. Two pages in, and I was hooked. Somehow, she’d managed to pull me in to a story that I was predisposed to hate, or at least not care about. I knew then that something was up.

I was meant to see a rehearsal, but the night I dropped by the theatre, it took her musicians a while to set up, so by the time they were ready to roll, I had to leave. I saw it cold Friday night, last night — opening night.

It was brilliant.

It was FUCKING brilliant.

It was omigod hold freaking crap where the hell did this come from, how did she get in that woman’s head, how did she build that story, and oh, that voice BRILLIANT.

I had zero to do with it, but I am so, so, so very proud.

If you have the chance: I’m not kidding, drop whatever the hell you’re doing and go see the show. It’s one weekend only, tonight and tomorrow, that’s it. Click here for ticket info and such. You will be very, very, very glad you did.

P.S. This is not a paid advertisement. I have nada to gain from this. Dorian put all this together on her own. It’s just that goddamn good.