Perfume commercials as a general rule tend to be ridiculous and Versace’s advertisement for their new fragrance EROS is no exception. Do I care? Not when the model looks like this.
Struggling to get into the holiday spirit? Perhaps you need to ignore conventional wisdom and tradition to make you crack a smile and feel jolly again. Fortunately, Boston has two great programs running right now which you should check out: Rudolph the Red Necked Reindeer and The Slutcracker are not to be missed.
Ryan Landry and his cast of misfits otherwise known as the Gold Dust Orphans are receiving rave reviews for their show, which opened last month in the Fenwayand runs through December 23rd (Thursday – Sunday). Tickets are $35 for general admission and $45 for reserved seating. You may purchase your tickets here.
ALSO…
The Slutcraker is a home-grown holiday spectacular that has a very naughty twist to the Christmas classic, The Nutcracker. Tickets are on sale for this bawdy production, which is currently running at the Somerville Theatre. Tickets are $25 and may be purchased here.
Still unsure? Read my write up from last year.
Photo from New York Times
I thought I’d acknowledge the tragedy in Connecticut today; 27 murdered in cold blood – 20 of them children between the ages of 5-10. Sadly Sandy Hook Elementary School now joins the ranks of Columbine, Red Lake High School, and Virginia Tech – forever associated with this unthinkable tragedy. The fact that the victims were so young, the fact that Christmas is around the corner, the fact that I feel this was avoidable if we had stronger gun laws consumes me and was all I could talk about at work today.
I’m trying to reconcile those feelings with a Tweet I just read from the National Rifle Association, proudly proclaiming that more than 1.7 million Americans liked their facebook page to show their support for the nation’s largest gun lobbying group.
Photo from New York Times
There are many reasons to be proud of the United States. Our obsession with guns is not one of them and my heart breaks for all those directly impacted. I have no ties to anyone in that school and I’m shaken to my core. Sadly there is no recourse and more shootings will likely follow in the new year since Americans stubbornly refuse to support gun control.
There seem to be holiday parties seem nearly every night now and on Wednesday night several parties had me dashing around town. Below are photos from the Hump Day Holiday Party Sean Williams (a.k.a. BostonMo on Twitter) hosted to gather toys for children in Boston.
Later that evening I headed over to the Mitchell Gold 12.12.12. party to celebrate the opening of their newly expanded flagship store in the South End. DJ Lady Bunny had great music playing all night and the crowd of several hundred attendees seemed to enjoy the party. I know I did. Below are just a few photos from the party. 
Thanks to all those who were patient enough to pose. Apologies if your photo was not included.
I like to call this photograph “Decisions, Decisions…“
Work this week and next has taken on a new sense of urgency as everyone prepares to go away for the holidays. My company officially closes for the year on Friday, December 21st at 2PM an will not reopen until January 2nd.
This is an unofficial perk that my employer has provided each year since I joined the firm and one that I enjoy. However, to off-set the time out and away the workload becomes insane.
Since I work from home, most of my meetings come in the form of calls. Today I did something I rarely do – I had two phone calls at the same time; careful use of the mute button is essential in this situation. I think I would have gotten away with it too had I not inadvertently taken the wrong phone off mute and responded. While my answer was very intuitive it had absolutely nothing to do with the PR call and left the web-strategy team on the other call scratching their heads wondering why I was not responding. B-U-S-T-E-D 
I love this…
Many of you may have taken to the treadmill in an attempt to outrun all of those holiday treats and cocktails. The battle against belly fat has begun, and many of you may be asking yourself should I focus on cardio or strength training? Which will be more effective for me?
According to Wayne Westcott, Ph.D, cardio burns 10-12 calories a minute while strength training burns around 8 calories a minute. However, consider the following:
We counsel clients to incorporate both cardio and strength training as part of a balanced work out regimen. Hours on the treadmill are not needed. Generally with proper rest intervals during strength training you can finish your work out in 40 minutes, and reserve 20 minutes for cardio. As you go to the gym through the holiday season, keep in mind the benefits of strength training.
Irreverent, definitely. And that only adds to the appeal of this new calendar featuring very handsome Romanian men dressed as Orthodox clergy. Not really something I’m likely to post in my house, but I’m sure they will sell quite a few of these. More information about the calendar may be found on their website, www.orthodox-calendar.com.
I last featured items from Sky Mall in October in my post Sky Mall holiday edition. While flying home from Brazil I couldn’t help but continue to peruse this bizarre catalog and thought I’d add the Upright Sleeper to the growing list of odd items for sale.
I’m not sure which I find more strange – the actual product or the model they chose who has a the horrible haircut; when I was a kid this is what we referred to as a “bowl cut”.
Honorable mention for freakish garb you may purchase on Sky Mall and wear goes to the spandex power mesh posture support called The Cincher for women. The catalog write up encourages buyers to wear this contraption over their clothes; I couldn’t make this crap up. 
A male patient is lying in bed in the hospital, wearing an oxygen mask over his mouth and nose. A young student nurse appears and gives him a partial sponge bath. “Nurse,”‘ he mumbles from behind the mask, “are my testicles black?”
Embarrassed, the young nurse replies, “I don’t know, Sir. I’m only
here to wash your upper body and feet.”
He struggles to ask again, “Nurse, please check for me. Are my testicles black?” Concerned that he might elevate his blood pressure and heart rate from worrying about his testicles, she overcomes her embarrassment and pulls back the covers. She raises his gown, holds his manhood in one hand and his testicles gently in the other.
She looks very closely and says, “There’s nothing wrong with them,
Sir. They look fine.”
The man slowly pulls off his oxygen mask, smiles at her, and says
very slowly, “Thank you very much. That was wonderful. Now listen
very, very closely: Are – my – test – results – back?”
It has been awhile since I’ve included a hump day post, but when I saw this photo on Damien’s blog, 2 cents worth down under, last month I knew I wanted to share this.
Not feeling the Christmas spirit? Irritated by the incessant Christmas music and tacky displays in the mall? Then forget those boring big box retailers and national chains and head out with friends tonight to shop for the holidays in the South End.
More information here, www.SouthEnders.com.
BosGuy 