One of the most startling discoveries about Joan Rivers is that she looks ravishing in person; I expected a plastic surgery scarred woman.  Instead, I discovered that, for someone born in 1933, her body-sculpting paid-off.

All photos taken at Michael Musto’s 25th anniversary party and licensed by David Shankbone as Creative Commons 3.0 attribution.

Joan Rivers on stage, with Musto to her left and FifiBear on her right.

Michael Musto on stage with Joan Rivers looking on.

Rivers up close.

Joan Rivers enjoying the revelry.

I’ve moved around a lot in life – 33 times between 17 cities, 6 states and 3 countries.  All before I was 27.  A natural consequence is that what people consider home fascinates me.  Not just physical, but emotional attachment to a place.

It was eight years ago this month that I moved into my present home, one that in many ways has defined me.  It’s the longest I’ve ever lived at one address.  But also in those eight years a man has lived on the street outside my building in the van you see in these photos I took tonight.  Eight years in that van (that I know of).  He’s usually there year round, although last year he disappeared for about three months in the winter, the van too.

He has some kind of deal worked out with the guy who owns the brick ivy-covered building behind the van in the photo below.  An extension cord you see hanging from the bumper is the power supply that keeps the television and space heater running.  I’ve surmised that he is allowed to use the sculptor’’s bathroom.  Perhaps they are friends?  I don’t know.

For eight years I have been consumed by this man, but I’ve never spoken to him.  For eight years I’ve walked past his van-home in all sorts of weather, as I hurried to the subway station.  At night I often see the flicker of his television as I step over the cord running across the concrete.

Who is he?  Why has he lived in a van parked in the East Village for perhaps a decade?  How does he know the sculptor guy who lives in the brick building?  The questions gnaw at me.

This is this man’s home, and it’s right outside mine.

Not just Obama – this woman was also selling John McCain and Sarah Palin condoms in Union Square today.  Yes it was her: the Obamacondoms.com lady.  All images licensed Creative Commons 3.0 attribution.

Below are three shots that I think remind the viewer of two things:  the immensity of New York City; and that it exists on a series of islands.  It’s such a large city that it’s easy to forget those.

All shots taken by David Shankbone and licensed Creative Commons 3.0 attribution.  All photos taken with the Samsung Memoir cameraphone.

The famous financial district in lower downtown with the Hudson River.  Taken from Jersey City’s Exchange Place train station.

Downtown Brooklyn with the East River seen from Pier 11 in Downtown Manhattan.

The Brooklyn Bridge with the Manhattan Bridge behind it, and the South Street Seaport in the foreground, taken from Pier 11 in Downtown Manhattan.  That’s one of the historic boats docked at the seaport’s museum.

Last night was a star-studded salute to one of the main reasons people pick up the Village Voice:  Michael Musto, who has written for the newspaper for 25 years.  Pick up his new book, Fork on the Left, Knife in the Back, and you’ll be as enchanted by his acerbic wit as is the rest of New York City.

Below are photos from the celebration, all taken by David Shankbone and licensed Creative Commons 3.0 attribution.

Joan Rivers hosted the party.

Countess LuAnn de Lesseps of the Real Housewives of New York

Irina Movmyga and artist Andres Serrano

Miss Dirty Martini, Michael Urie and Michael Musto

Ronnie Spector serenading Michael Musto

Ronnie Spector of The Ronettes

Joan Rivers enjoying Murray Hill’s performance.

Michelangelo Signorile and Linda Simpson.

Michael Urie of Ugly Betty.

Robert Verdi (center) and artist Robert Richards (right)

Burlesque sensation (and Karl Lagerfeld muse) Miss Dirty Martini.

Lisa Levy and David Shankbone (both of whom fought this People’s Court case for a dog rescue)

Epiphany, Brooke Crescenti and friend.

Party-goers

Robin Byrd

Musto and Judy Garland (Tommy Femia)

More party-goers

Unlike Snowmageddon 2010, Snowicane produced a good bit of snow.  The only thing keeping this from a complete blowout was that the snow was super wet.  It froze and accumulated during the night, but by late morning it mostly turned to slush.  The sky even cracked with sun for twenty minutes (last photo), and things started melting rapidly before the storm started up again, halfhearted.

I still tell you: we New Yorkers have become wimps with the snow.  So many people stayed home, yet the city was navigable.

Photos taken with my Samsung Memoir cameraphone.  All photos are licensed Creative Commons 3.0.

Snowicane-covered cars in Alphabet City, New York, 9 a.m.

Famous Katz’s Deli, 9 a.m. Snowicane.  You’re standing on the edge of the East Village,  staring across Houston Street at perhaps the most famous edge of the Lower East Side.

Snowblower outside of Red Square apartments on Houston; across the street begins the Lower East Side.

1st Avenue and Houston (the East Village) – man (I think) walking his dog in the Snowicane.

Wall Street, 9:30 a.m.  You can see it’s getting slushy.  It was quiet, many people stayed home and almost everyone else came to work in jeans and boots, which worked well in the conditions.

Looking north out a window in a stairwell toward the city from the financial district.  Click on the photo to see the slight outlines of the buildings in the distance obscured by the downfall.

A break in the storm over Wall Street.

Scott Lamb did a pretty cool post comparing the blizzards of New York’s past with the most recent.  Evidence that all three of these blizzards have been over-hyped for my city.  Take this shot from the 1899 storm:

Scott used this photo of Little Man from my blizzard post to represent 2010; click on it below to see more blizzard shots through time:

I thought this was one of the most over-hyped blizzards ever.  It’s embarrassing how the city shut down over an average snow storm.  Below are photos–licensed Creative Commons 3.0–of “Snowmageddon 2010″ New York City (yawn) that I took with my Samsung Memoir cameraphone:

Snow plows in the East Village on the corner of 1st Avenue and Houston.

Little Man in front of our building, trying to deal with the snow.

The view overlooking Wall Street.

Looking down toward the street, financial district, Manhattan.

Looking toward City Hall.  The tall skyscraper in the distance is the still under construction 99 Church Street.

Sir Harold Evans at the Strand Bookstore in New York City to discuss his memoir, My Paper Chase: True Stories of Vanished Times.

The images on this post are licensed Creative Commons 3.0 attribution; re-use is permitted but please link back to this post with credit.

The swine flu that is now an epidemic in the United States is likely traced back to a farm in North Carolina, and its first appearance in Mexico occurred near farms owned by Smithfield Foods.   We inject dairy cows with so many hormones that women who drink regular milk are three times more likely to have twins than women who drink organic.  The pollution from factory meat growing farms accounts for a fifth of greenhouse gases; that’s more than cars.

All of this occurs while 96% of Americans believe animals deserve some legal protection from harm.  We like animals.  It doesn’t matter our politics nor our backgrounds, we all agree that animals shouldn’t suffer.

These two ideas, the need to fix and protect the environment and the desire to not have animals suffer, was the common ground that Jonathan Safran Foer sought in his new book Eating Animals.  Tonight at the Union Square Barnes & Noble he read from it, discussed those statistics above and took questions.  His desire, he said, was to highlight the consensus we have on the environment and animal suffering to find ways to make better choices.

Foer has received a good deal of media attention for re-writing Fast Food Nation and Making Kind Choices, but that’s not a criticism.  It’s Foer’s own take, and every new voice that reaches new minds gets more of society thinking about what we are doing with factory farm meat growing.

We don’t think about its effects on our health, and we don’t think about how it’s hurting our environment.  Add Foer to the growing chorus of people who say: when will the mainstream media report this issue?

The images on this post are licensed Creative Commons 3.0 attribution; re-use is permitted but please link back to this post with credit.