Friday, May 9, 2008

What Ladytron Failed to Mention about the Silent Auction

1) Sloane Crosley's hair was as shiny as ever. Her book had one bid for $15 dollars.

2) Philip Roth's signed first edition of The Plot Against America was one of the higest bid and went for around $135.

3) Everyone loves Prosciutto . Nobody likes Mortadella. Everyone enjoys free condoms.

4) Housing Works needs a new air conditioner.

-Slunchie

Thursday, May 8, 2008

You say "charity," I say "PBR"...

So I dragged my butt down to Crosby Street last night in the name of charity - Housing Works "First Words" Silent Auction and Cocktail Party. And, you know what, it was kinda fun. I thought the whole cash bar thing was gonna be a real downer, but wine was only four bucks, AND they had PBR for three. I like a place that caters to their audience. It was like being at doc holliday's - but without the smell emanating from the bathrooms. There was also free food. I guess I should have realized that there would be the usual cheese/assorted fancy meats/fruit/veggie spread, but thankfully, I had been planning to be drunkorexic for the night and didn't bother to eat beforehand, allowing me to take advantage of those adorable little cherry tomatoes.

I, of course, didn't bid on a book since, whatever. Like it's hard to get a free signed book. My office is filled with them! Oh, also, I'm poor. Slunch has no expense account kids, so those three glasses of wine I drank? Yeah, all coming straight from my pocket. So Housing Works better make good use of the $20 I spent (if anyone points out that three glasses of wine is $12, I will kill you. I also tipped and payed $10 to get in. So, really $25). I'm thinking that it's gonna be by 20 (25) bucks that finally helps doctors and scientists discover the cure for AIDS. Or, at least provide a couple packs of cigarettes to some hard-working, stressed-out smart person. And really, isn't that the most important thing?

Oh, and the most exciting part (not really, that was the relatively cheap booze), people I saw: Ron Hogan and Andy Heidel of Galleycat; Nathaniel Rich, author and son of Frank Rich; Mark Mangan, co-founder of Flavorpill; shiny-haired Sloane Crosley, author and publicist; Elizabeth Spiers, original Gawker contributor who now does other stuff that I can't remember; Alia Habib, publicity manager at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; John Freeman, former NBCC president; and tons of other people that I just plain didn't recognize but I'm sure were equally important.

And, now, as 5 pm rapidly approaches, I will pretend to do work for another 30 minutes while contemplating whether I want to drink whiskey or beer after this. That is all. Happy Thursday.

--Ladytron

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

I do not heart Jet Blue

Dear Jet Blue,

I hate you. You have ruined my morning/afternoon/period during the day when I do not have an alcoholic beverage handy. I was so looking forward to flying you to L.A. for the ever hellish BookExpo. You and your satellite TV were the bright part of my whole trip - except the free booze I would be getting at all the evening parties. And the room service I would be ordering every morning.

But now, now you send me an informal email declaring that due to "rising fuel costs," you will no longer be flying to LAX. Although you did nicely rebook me - to LONG BEACH. Yes, I know it's only another 20 miles away from my hotel. But those are 20 L.A. traffic hell miles. After which I will have to run over to the Convention Center to make sure our booth is in working order - since it never seems to be. And then, on Sunday, when I will no doubt be horribly hungover, overworked, and no longer functioning, I will have to sit again for 20 extra bumper-to-bumper miles to sit on a long-ass flight to get back to New York. And you didn't even have the courtesy to offer me a free beverage - or ten.

Oh, the betrayal. You better pray that my personal TV is in working condition - or, mark my words, there will be hell to pay.

Irritably your's,

Ladytron

Monday, May 5, 2008

So it begins...

I know I might be the last person to board this train, but I have just discovered the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. It’s not like I hadn’t heard of them (I do work in publishing), but it’s more like I barely have time to read books other than those I’m working on – reading for “fun” doesn’t really happen so much these days. However I did find a moment last week to start Twilight…and I’m hooked. As in “I might be a problem hooked" and I’ll admit, I probably like it more than I should. But what can I do?!? I’m a sucker for forbidden love, and forbidden love + vampires … sign me up!

So during our morning meeting today, Paige Sexie and I discussed my new obsession and compared notes. Instead of getting it out of my system, though, discussing the matter only fed into my need for all things Twilight and forced me to go do more “research” on the book. And by research, of course I mean Googling, looking at fan sites, etc.

And then I saw this:



Now readers, there are few things I love more than movie hype – even the worst movies (ie. Star Wars: Attack of the Clones) seem great in trailers. It's the promise of a good movie that's so exciting. So sure Twilight the movie might be really cheesy… perhaps even god awful. But will I still be first in line on opening night?... Absolutely.

Enjoy the hype!
—Babytron

Drink for charity

It's time for this week's Literary Event! I'm feeling charitable today, so instead of just posting an event that's all about gossip and booze, Slunch is going to be attending FIRST WORDS, a 10th Anniversery Celebration and Silent Auction to benefit Housing Works Bookstore Cafe. This Wednesday, $10 suggested donation, CASH bar. Yeah, I know. But come on. If you're going to spend money on booze, you might as well do it for a good cause, right?

Do tell,

The Editor