Money as a motivator? Not so much.

From the TED talks, (Technology, Entertainment, & Design for those who aren't fans yet), Dan Pink talks about money & motivation, illuminating a new path for solving problems of the 21st century - problems that require serious thought and creativity to solve. He tells us something most P&C kids already know: the promise of financial reward is a lousy motivator for creative problem solving. But, hey, check out the talk - totally worth watching.

Urine Nordstrom!

A urinal in a Natick, MA Nordstrom store: perfectly clean and white. Except... what's that? A tiny black dot above the drain?



Closer examination reveals this odd little dot is actually a tiny cartoon bumble bee.



My first thought: OMG! Let's pee on it! Which, apparently, is exactly what is intended. The urinals in Amsterdam airport have had little fly graphics on their urinals for a while now, and many sites on the internet quote a source as saying it has reduced spillage by 80%. (Pity the scientist collecting pee from the floor to measure it.)

These Sloan urinals are also flushless - no clean, fresh drinking water wasted to push your asparagus-smelling excretions to the sewer! The Sloan website explains how they work: a replaceable cartridge and seal allows urine to pass to the sewer but prevents any odor from coming out. It seems to work: these urinals didn't smell like anything at all, and there wasn't a urinal cake in sight.

And they're green! Each urinal saves between 15,000 and 45,000 gallons of water every year.

Check out sloanvalve.com for a fun animation explaining how they work.

Oh, and this whole thing got started when I saw a tie I liked and almost pissed my pants when I saw the Nordstrom price tag: $135.

Say What?

"She got an ass that could swallow up a G-string
n up top yeah two bee stings
and I'm beastin
off the Riesling"



Wondering if Kanye is aware he bascially just described himself as a rapper drinking fizzy fruity German white wine attracted to a woman with a massive ass and no tits? Just wondering.

Pomp Off

"Everybody makes mistakes but I feel alright when I come undone."

In case you care here is the official video that has disabled embedding

Throwback

This bitch is the issshhhh!

The Bizz

Woodstock met the Hamptons this past weekend at Sir Ivan Wilzig’s Castle in Watermill, New York.

As soon I arrived on the estate and walked through the iron-gate leading to the castle, the picturesque event began. To the right of the entrance, we were greeted with a grand four-story projection screen of Sir Ivan’s performance. To the left, massive faux white daisies lined the walkway. Dozens of white linen sheets and heart-shaped pillow-hassocks scattered the ground. Black lights, psychedelic outfits and a steaming u-shaped infinity pool added to the ambience.















Even though Sir Ivan is the son of the late Siggi B. Wilzig, a self-made millionaire and oil tycoon, CASTLESTOCK raised money for The Peaceman Foundation, an organization Sir Ivan began to combat hate crime and assist sufferers of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Siggi B. Wilzig was a Holocaust survivor who spent two years in Auschwitz and Mauthausen death camps where sixty relatives were murdered. Penniless, he immigrated to the United States and built a banking empire. Although never officially diagnosed with PTSD, he suffered symptoms.

Now, Sir Ivan, dressed from head-to-toe in white and sporting a long cape, serenaded guests with the first single off his new ‘60s inspired album, I Am Peaceman.





-Lori Bizzoco
(Additional Photos: Jakes van der Watt)

Throwback

European Fashion

Okay, so during my stay in London and my short jaunt to Madrid, I've noticed two ridiculous trends. I have to say, there is one I like, I'll make it more clear as I go along.
The mullet, I've heard about it still being big in Europe, I've even heard that there are some places where it never went out of style, but seriously the amount of mullets I've seen, especially in Spain, was outstanding. I stared each time, lo sientos.

The next is parachute pants, or salwar kameez pants for us brown people, or hammer pants for anyone still stuck in the late 80s or who thinks the early 90s is cool (por que????)

Anyway, all these people wear them, the crotch is really low on most of them, some of them don't look so bad when it's a little more in line with natural body shape, but the one cool thing about it is everyone looks equally frumpy (I'm kind of a big fan of the frump.)

So... basically, europeans are weird, but I'm sure in about a year we'll be copying them here in "the states". Bahh...
Miss you America,
Kastoory

Lost & Found

World of Wonders

When it's about 100 degrees in your apartment, the best thing to do is daydream about winter ice palaces, like this one at the top of Jungfrau Mountain in Switzerland.

HEATH LEDGER IS STILL ALIVE

... I mean... lives on!

Check out the recently released trailer for THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS starring Heath Ledger.

Not to spit on his grave or anything, but I'll be going for Tom Waits as The Devil.

THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS - TRAILER
by SFLTV

Bring It Back!

As the only white kid in torn blue Converse interning at St. Vincent's Hospital the summer after I lost my virginity at 14, I was thrilled by hot hood stories.  My Co-interns stage whispered sexy stories to me at lunch time.  Having just discovered the delights my dick could bring me, I loved listening to lewd tales in public locations. My favorite about a high schooler in the Bronx who came to school on E, jumped up on her math teacher's desk and started "finger poppin herself all over da place."  Adding to my love for the term was its cameo in "Welcome To The Dollhouse" it was an easy thing to say (and do) to not feel emasculated by filing papers at the same healing institution where my mom worked.  A wet daydream of escape.

Finger Popping.  Bring it back?

-Royal

World of Wonders

From the Toy Museum in Prague, Czech Republic, the second largest toy museum in the world.





-M

The Bizz

The granddaddy of lines merged with newcomer lace at Wednesday night’s launch party for the Jennifer Berghaus Private Collection, hosted by Louise Kerz Hirschfeld at the Townhouse of her late husband and great American caricaturist, Al.





Having just met Jennifer a few days before the event, I was immediately drawn to her energy and passion. She was wearing one of her signature black lace dresses with underlying silk camisole. As I watched how relaxed she looked in the outfit’s material, my own stitches felt uptight. “It doesn’t wrinkle,” Jennifer read my mind. Being a mom with a one-year-old, the idea of a sophisticated ready-to-wear design spoke volumes about her values.



We chatted about her upbringing in South Africa and she chuckled about coming to the United States via Club Med Martinique in the ‘80s, where she met Kenneth Cole and moved to L.A. to become the West Coast representative for Candies, his father’s shoe brand. Jennifer launched her own handbag and jewelry line a few years later, but it was at a time when retail stores were going bankrupt. She changed careers, moved to New York, worked as an art dealer and made the city her home.



Jennifer’s life changed a year ago as she was walking down Madison Avenue wearing one of her newly designed lace tops. Two women on the street who wanted to know where she bought the blouse stopped her. In Jennifer’s quick-witted, half-joking voice, she explained that the top was from her private collection. When they continued to prompt her about the available colors, cost and where they could order one she took their information and said she’d be in touch.

I admired her collection is still being manufactured in New York. “I don’t want to sacrifice quality,” she said. “And, keeping the production local will allow me to give back to a city that has given me so much.”

At last night’s event, mannequins outfitted in capes, lace, silk and caftans graced multiple rooms throughout the Townhouse and outside garden. However, the modelesque statues weren’t the only ones highlighting the designer’s outfits. A few of the younger guests wore colored versions of her collection, demonstrating that her designs really do transcend body type and age.





The Al Hirschfeld Townhouse was the perfect venue for Jennifer to unveil her designs. The elegantly chic black and cream laced dresses integrated harmoniously among the artists’ archives of work.



The Jennifer Berghaus Private Collection can be found at Blue Tree NYC, 1283 Madison Ave.

- Lori Bizzoco

Pomp Off

We here at Pomp realized in order to Pomp Off into your weekends we need to provide you with a soundtrack:



We'd love to hear what Pomps you Off too...

Spotlight

Go mack this tomorrow (ew she looks like a young version of my mom)

Chug Bug

Take me on a Joyride with bottles!!!

Teenage Women in Their Thirties

Just making the mark this June, I am now officially a "TWIT", but at least I'm not a teenage woman approaching thirty. This Australian article tries to paint independent women holding to their freedom and youth as a positive, but their obviously derogatory acronym might give away the political sentiment, which is of course, personal. Women in Japan choosing to stay single had a similar nickname when I lived in Tokyo five years ago, some play on an insect (read parasite). The focus here is on youth, and whether it's a SATC (outdated and non-existent) Manolos fantasy or berry picking, playing in the sand and wearing flip-flops (as one friend commented when I first posted this article on Facebook), the point is, as it always is in Third Wave Feminism-that we get to choose! Choices, choices,choices is the footnote for those not acquainted with contemporary women's lib.I opt to live my life as an adventure without deadlines, and I also choose babies, when the time is right. But what would the true male equivalent be, the stud to our slut? A "Peter Pan" as the article says? An over-thirty and very youthful pal suggested DOUCHE. Dudes only understand childish habits, eternally.

-A. Pinsker

Windmill

Windmill
Epcot Starfields
Release Date: September 15
Label: Friendly Fire Recordings
File Under: exuberant, wildly imaginative chamber pop

Sometimes, a single memory can sum up a pivotal moment in life, or even life itself. For Windmill, aka the London-based Matthew Thomas Dillon, a childhood trip to Florida's EPCOT Center provided the inspiration for his entire second album, a record about "embracing the perfect moments in life and recognizing the sadness of everything passing in the moment of our death." Epcot Starfields Epcot Starfields was recorded in solitude, in a tiny bedroom with the lights dimmed, in a process Dillon describes as being "on the boundaries of madness," but sounds like it comes from a much a bigger, uncharted place, a fact that is reflected in the album's sweeping strings, cascading pianos, lush production, and Dillon's unmistakably unique vocal warble.

Listen for yourself: "Big Boom"

Ice Bear

This is like '80s AirGermany on Post Punk crack

Some Kind of Wonderful

John Hughes died of a heart attack at age 59 while visiting family in Manhattan this past Thursday, and while the writer-director’s been out of Hollywood since the mid-90s, his legacy is as vital as a pair of underpants. Girls’ underpants.

I’m a little more than a generation shy of the Shermer High kids Hughes wrote about in several of his best movies, but I reveled in all of it, watching them so many times that each line’s tattooed to my brain.

Only a couple grown-ups have been able to spot-on show high school for all it is: pimply, unrequited and cripplingly, painfully, I-would-shit-twice-and-die awkward, but something you cannot wait to experience (until of course, you do). Even when some of his fodder devolved into boyhood fantasy like creating a Kelly LeBrock by putting bras on your head and Penthouse clippings into the floppy drive, the trials and tribulations that Weird Science’s young protagonists Gary and Wyatt overcome in their struggle to get cute girlfriends and vanquish the tyranny of Wyatt’s total shithead brother, Chet, are still totally relatable.



Growing up, Hughes’ muse Molly Ringwald was the freckle-faced queen of my universe. I imitated the way she bit her lip when I was feeling pensive (what a seven year-old has to feel pensive about, I can’t really say). I begged Mom for a pair of slouchy suede boots like the ones Claire wore in The Breakfast Club, and when she shot me down, I just wore hers, even though they were way too big. Oh, and the dance. The dance! Still my go-to move.



And then there were the boys. Sure, Sixteen Candles’ dreamboat Jake Ryan is perfect. Every time “If You Were Here” by the Thompson Twins bubbles up and Jake’s there waiting for Samantha in his little striped sweater vest and little red Corvette, I squeal like a little ninny. But my heart belongs to Phil “Duckie” Dale, Molly Ringwald’s heartsick best bud in the Hughes-penned tribute to poor girls with poorer sewing skills, Pretty in Pink. All I’ve ever wanted was a nerdy boy with scuffed white creepers and an Otis Redding fetish to be totally enamored of me while I constructed boxy, unflattering prom get-ups in New Order-tracked montages. I would never ever dream of ditching him for drippy, dish-water Blaine (“Blaine?!?! Blaine?!?!? That’s not a name! That’s a major appliance!”). In Hughes' original screenplay, Andie’s supposed to choose the Duckman, but studio heads pressured him to change the ending, prompting Hughes to retaliate with his next screenplay, Some Kind of Wonderful. And so Duckie ended up with Kristy Swanson instead. I cry foul.



Along with creating characters you wanted to be or be with, Hughes is also responsible with many of the zingers that pepper the American lexicon. Well, mine at least. Living in New York, not a week goes by that I don’t find an appropriate time to shout “Nice manners, babe!” In our current Apatow-dominated comedy scope, most jokes involve dicks, balls or a combination of the two. Now, I worship at the church of Apatow, and he’s definitely one of the other guys responsible for accurately portraying high school with Freaks and Geeks, but Hughes showed you could be just PG-13 filthy and still be funny as shit. Sure, there’s been criticism for Hughes’ films being whiter than a Chicago Christmas, and his one non-white character, Sixteen Candles’ Long Duk Dong, is borderline offensive, but you know what? Fuck it. I want to thank Hughes for introducing me to the Donger. He’s really bitchin’.

–Megan Metzger

Adventures In NYC : Jonathan Levine Gallery 8/9/09

I've never been to a bad show at the Jonathan Levine Gallery. That having been said, the summer group show Beach Blanket Bingo is particularly great. I won't go in to detail about every piece I liked, I'll just wind up listing every artist at the show. I will say that the Beatrix Potter-inspired graf squirrels observed by the police owl perched atop a security camera was my top favorite. Go check it out!

Beach Blanket Bingo - A Summer Mixer
Group exhibition featuring work by over 30 artists

August 5, 2009 through August 22, 2009

Jonathan LeVine Gallery

529 West 20th Street, 9th floor
New York, NY 10011

HOURS
Tuesday through Saturday, 11am to 6pm

Parting Gift

I am: somewhere different, jetlagged, not sure where I will sleep tonight, comfortable in my cousins house, helping set up for the wedding, blowing balloons, making giftbags, lighting candles, talking to new people, re-appropriating my british accent, trying to appropriate a scottish brogue, telling foreigners about Pomp, smiling at everyone, eating red and green grapes, wearing a sweatshirt and blogging in the midst of madness.
There are: tents, cousins, indian dresses - red and gold and green and silver - a white wedding dress and designer bridesmaid dresses, people I don't know who become family within minutes, split level house with one whole wall of glass looking out onto a swooping back porch and a rambling yard, covered now in white tents.
I want: everyone to be pleased and happy. To read scary books and listen to music while watching the grass grow long. Earl grey and pubs and fish and chips, and houses by the sea, and hurricanes trapped inside best friends. To listen to this song...




-Kastoory

Throwback

RT Sincerely, John Hughes

This blog-entry is being re-tweeted and facebook walled like mad. There is a reason for this - yes we all loved a John Hughes movie or all of them, but this is a first-hand account of how fucking rad he was, really really rad. Check it out and your life will be richer for it. Kinda like how my life is richer because of watching Planes Trains and Automobiles every Thanksgiving with my fam. Even when I'm away from them we watch it together in spirit.

Conversation w/ Company of We

CC: My partner Jayzel Samonte and I started together. He is from Los Angeles and I am from Florida--though having been here for almost 10 years I cross my fingers I can call myself a proper New Yorker. Anyway, west and east--company of we. *wink wink*

I design a women’s wear line, Christopher Deane which I started about 9 years ago and Jayzel has been forever jilted by the fact that while he is dating a designer he never gets any of the clothing perks that so often go to the women in my life--though to be fair I have made him a jacket or two.

JS: I worked very hard for that jacket.



CC: We both love fashion and have always wanted to do a project together. He has a great sense about men's clothes, color and marketing--He works at Arnell and has just finished his first book sleepy/ambitious.

JS: Our first campaign was inspired by ee cummings—he always had a wit with words and punctuation—the beauty and uniqueness of his prose stems from resourcefulness and respect. He never really resorted to indulgent devices. He was genius: unique but accessible. This captures what we want to do with men's fashion. Individualize attire without making it about spectacle. We have very independent style aesthetics, as we combined our wardrobes we captured an edgy, very breezy west coast look. Sophisticated yet playful.



CC: We're both relatively thin, and we were so tired of paying a premium for clothes that fit, for clothes that had more thought behind the cut, or for clothes that had a wink about them. We thought, there is nothing these other contemporary designers are doing differently except making huge mark ups- and I've always come to understand this with my two other lines- the cost of something is contingent on may aspects- from the stylist at the shoot for the fancy advertising campaign to the brick and mortar store that you pay an exorbitant lease on. Having done a lot of shopping on line we wanted to create a site where there we no 300 dollar shorts and 1000 blazers. We worked together on designing a site filled with lots of stuff under a 100 dollars that was often difficult to find in the market. Simple clothes with great/inventive details that we really see people wearing and
living in.

Anyone Out There?

Eclipse countdown in 26 Min....25......24......

The Bizz

The first time I met Sue was at her Secrets of Getting Published seminar. I was writing my memoir, Single to Baby, when two people mentioned her name in three days. I've never turned my back on a coincidence. I waddled my seven-month pregnant belly up six flights of stairs to attend the six-hour class. I was hooked on Sue's energy.

Susan Shapiro's wonderful and witty break-out novel, Speed Shrinking, is the story of self-help guru, Julia Goodman, a sugar addict who consoles herself with cupcakes when her therapist and best friend both move out of town. As her weight increases prior to a national television interview, Julia realizes that she can’t coat her feelings in frosting forever. She embarks on a mission to find a new therapist by speed meeting 8 shrinks in 8 days.

At the book launch at Knickerbocker Bar and Grill, karma met counseling. The room was filled with super-charged writers, therapists, students, agents and sugar addicts. The highlight of the evening was a three-minute speed shrinking event where guests had the opportunity to sit down with seven real self-help gurus to get advice, the power of "showing not telling" in action.








When it was time to begin the event, I whirled around to see which expert was sitting near me and found Dr. Diana Kirschner, author of Love in 90 Days. I confessed I found love in less than 60.

-Lori Vadala Bizzoco

Economics and Health Reform for DUMMIES

So chances are that the recession is over, or on it's way out (like Madonna). But, we won't be feeling the effects of the national economy righting itself for a while, this recession good bye party can't even be planned yet. This is because a) more companies are realizing they can run more efficiently with less people. b) that means the economic growth won't actually result in more jobs for a while.
(First off, I'm taking the recession is over! cue from Newsweek author, Daniel Gross.)
My friend D, blogger for Atlas Obscura and my favorite, Curious Expeditions explains why in simplistic terms. He says that because of lack of jobs, a lot of new companies and businesses are starting up. After a couple of years when these companies are solvent and financially able, they will be the ones offering new jobs to the growing number of unemployed.
He then went on to make the argument that Health Reform would also save the country tons of money, (I mean in weight, it would be tons, of gold bars or coins, like that vault Scrooge McDuck used to swim in). And it would ensure new companies the ability to offer healthcare to employees without having to go bankrupt in the process.
I guess, through all of this, all my initial thoughts are re-affirmed. And I just want to know the other side of the story... how are health insurance companies helping the economy? How are new businesses supposed to make it without any reform? What corrupt monopolies will pop up next to R us in the A? Where is Teddy Roosevelt's big stick when you need it most? (Those last two sentences probably shouldn't be put together, but que cera.)
-Kastoory
PS: answers would be mondo apreesh-iated, especially answers that lead to more questions.

Lights, Camera, Blood!

Being a mummy/vampire/rocker extra at Seaview, a partially abandoned Staten Island hospital, around 1938 the largest tuberculosis center brought back my dreams of being on the silver screen. Though rightfully eclipsed by former Jets girl star Jenn Sterger, I had fun pouring fake blood all over my face, dancing with a bottle of Tequila as a toilet papered Tutankhamen and gorging on Gabagool. The supposedly haunted institute was glowing and green during the day, but after sunset, sinister shadows skittered between trees. Luckily, I was too busy shooting one last take getting down to Lil Wayne in the background of a make out scene to be scared shitless. Here's the trailer for "Tortures of the Damned."



-Royal

The Bizz

After attending this week’s New York City Premiere of Julie & Julia, I couldn’t wait to dish about this new foodie, chick-flick. I’m still salivating and it’s not from recipes.



Julie & Julia is a love story about two women living a half century apart. Julia Child, an American in France who couldn’t boil an egg and Julie Powell a secretary in Queens who never even ate one. Powell commits to making all 524 recipes from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year’s time. The result is an aspiring memoirist’s dream; writer-director-producer, Nora Ephron, melds the lives of these two women.




My evening started on the red carpet of the Ziegfeld Theatre chatting with Deborah Rush, Julia Child’s best friend Avis in the film. When I asked Rush how her real life story paralleled the movie, she said her relationship with Streep, similar to Julia and Avis, goes back a very long time. She also admitted that like Avis, she can mix up a good martini.

Aside from the cast, other charaters at the Premiere included: Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray, Anthony Bourdain, Bob Balaban, Patricia Clarkson, The Zagats, Frances Sternhagen, Steve Buscemi, Gayle King, Yoko Ono, Barbara Walters and Jaslene Gonzalez.

Although I’ve attended comedy premieres in the past, I still find myself giddily uncomfortable. A sudden outburst from my belly or an uncontrollable snort always pops up unexpectedly, traveling through the aisles. Laughter is a compliment but mine always seems to echo more at a premiere than when I’m at my neighborhood Lowe’s.

The after-party at the Metropolitan Club was where I really had the chance to let loose. Although there was plenty of space for everyone to eat and drink comfortably, I decided that my body should rest directly in front of the seat marked “Reserved for Chris Messina” who plays Eric Powell, Julie’s husband in the film. Can we say that I was a bit exhausted after being up since 6:00 a.m. with my one-year-old daughter and spending two and a half hours standing on the red carpet and another two watching the film? Nevertheless, a lovely woman with a growing little belly (which I later discovered is Messina’s newest addition in the fall) embraced me in child chatter and saved me from embarrassment as Chris politely excused himself to sit down. The next encounter was with Julie Powell who looked happy and mesmerized by the attention. Julie met Amy Adams less than two weeks ago. When I asked how she felt about Amy playing her, she was surprised because “Amy is so little.” Given 524 recipes in 365 days, Julie makes a smart point.




I did what I had been waiting to do all night. I ran to the food stations and ate and ate and ate. Crumbs Bake Shop, is like the devil riding on my hips and thighs (with utmost respect). I didn’t devour one cupcake, I devoured two, Peanut Butter and Oreo, respectively. At the end of the day, it’s all about the Butter. Bon Appetite.

- Lori Vadala Bizzoco