Urban kvetch- dog fashion

Dressing your dog. Okay, you know when you buy clothing for yourself, you want to make sure you have the right style for your body, the right color for your skin, the right fabric, that feels good on you? What about your dog? Shouldn't you use those same skills and considerations when dressing your loved 4 legged companion. What color hair/fur does your dog have? Is one full color? More than one? What's the pattern of color? I'll use Chelsea for example. She is black and white. That means earth tones are a no no. forget about green, brown. She looks best in black, red, white, yellow (combined with dark colors). Contrast is needed. Now for style. She has a cute figure and is low to the ground. Don't want to put something on her that has long front legs that she will trip on. She has floppy ears which I keep short. She looks great in turtlenecks. Pretty sexy on her. Her black shearling coat is a head turner and she loves this coat. The soft fur about her body feels so smooth and warm. Her red Japanese, tightly fitting kimono is an elegant outfit for a special evening event. Like her HBO premiere party. Also, don't ignore the collar and leash. They should be coordinated in addition to functional.
I know you all must think I have lost my marbles but I've been noticing walking on the trendy streets of the NYC how poorly dressed and coordinated so many dogs are who are attached to well groomed humans. Let's just say, in my house Chelsea is better dressed than I am. I do not even have a Shearling coat. Hell, she deserves it.
Have a great day! xoxoGayel

Juno

Just saw Juno and it rocks. Diablo Cody spoke afterwards. She is one hot, smart, young and I mean young talented lady. It's a must see.

Thanksgiving.. all I can say is I'm thankful it passed. Took a cruise. No, it's not my kind of vacation but it is the vacation of choice for the rest of the Kirschenbaum clan. Mom said, "Do if for me." Now that Dad is dead, I felt this was one battle not worth fighting especially when she told me we would have a balcony and I could disappear and write. Sounds okay, even if you hate being trapped on a giant moving Las Vegas style hotel. There is always a place to escape to be alone and take your computer and get some work done. Wrong. The outlets were all European, no adaptor on the ship and they informed that even if I had an adaptor passengers were not allowed to use the electricity in the public rooms explaining it was an electrcial issue and only for the vacuum cleaners. Go figure. Oddly enough, we had a fire on the ship. This is not an every day occurrence. First for me and most of the crew and passengers. I did remind my fellow sailors how the Titanic was one of my favorite movies. The fire broke out in the laundry room at three in the morning and code, announcing... Code Bravo, 1, laundry was repeated over and over the PA system in everyone's room. It was hard to believe how many people slept thru this even in my group. I ran out to check what was going on and even after being fed the party line, "All is okay, please go back to your cabin, mam" I found a guy with a walkie-talkie in a red t-shirt, part of the crew who spilled the beans. There was a fire in the laundry room and they were working on containing it. More and more passengers came out of their rooms, most woken up and some carrying bags with their documents and some with their life jackets ready to get on the lifeboat. Eventually, an announcement was made in several languages explaining what was going on. What concerned me was the use of the word, containing, not put out, but they were containing the fire. That was just the tip of the iceberg, no pun intended.

Coincidentally , this was the same day a ship in the north did hit an iceberg and all had to abandon the ship. What followed next was the surprise engagement of my niece to her lovely boyfriend. They have "issues" and I know until those are worked out they won't be walking down the aisle. Sure hope they manage. And last but not least, the step mother, latest wife of my brother decided to lash out at me. Mind you her son had been acting up the entire cruise, temper tantrums... When she was done cursing, she finished it off with, "I'm not done with you." I can't write this stuff. The end of the evening we kissed and made up. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I want to thank my family for all the material they have given me. Love to you all!!

Florida

Today is the funeral for my Uncle Sonny, my mother's brother. He got melanoma and it spread all over. It took less than two months for him to pass. I have been on the phone with him, working to arrange his care. He resisted hospice and finally agreed to go last Tuesday. I think he had no idea what hospice care is like, particularly down here in Boca Raton. It's like a beautiful resort. He probably thought it was going to be like a depressing nursing home. I spoke to him on Tuesday and he seemed to be relaxed, knowing he was no longer at home alone barely able to walk and having accidents. He was surprised by how beautiful the hospice center was. He said he would wait for me for come down on Friday but he couldn't wait. He passed away the day before I arrive. Sonny and his wife Ruth (she died 2 years ago), never had children. They tried and she had a few miscarriages. We, my brothers and I, were like their chldren. Throughout the years, Sonny was my family confident. When I had problems with my family he was the person I could speak to and share my struggles with and he always was a good ear and understood me. He was knowledgeable about everything and in the last years we enjoyed bashing Bush together. I will miss him and my mother more so. My mother and Sonny became close friends in the recent year after they both became widowed. I worry about her; she is now totally alone family wise ...only one left of her generation. I told her this is the first time in her life that she doesn't have to answer to anyone (like my father) and she doesn't have to take care of anyone (like my uncle). This is the time that my mom and I get closer. I need to keep her young (she is in her 80s) and travel, do things she couldn't before. Okay, all, need to prepare to go. We will be celebrating Uncle Sonny's life later.
Chelsea is here, too. She is spending lots of time sleeping. Love to you all.

June already

Hi all... I hope your summer is going well. Chelsea has taken a three week holiday without me. She is up in New Hampshire with her friends. Out in the country, lots of grass to run around on and bear to spy on. She left me behind to hold the fort and keep business moving along. I have to admit I wish I was up there. Ready for some nature. The shot below is taken right near where we live. Lucky to be across from the river. Keep July 25th open if you are in NYC and want to see MY NOSE film. Check out screenings for the exact info. Have a great day!!

Sunset on Hudson River

Taking in Florida

while I was driving using my Treo (Palm) phone.

Life on this sunny day

It's been pretty crappy weather in NY. First nice warm, sunny day in a while. Chelsea is hanging out with her cat brother and her aunts. Lori, Chelsea's Godmother, arrived to town yesterday. We are all busy working away. Love. Decided to focus attention to this area of my life. I know you are thinking that I've been doing this and I certainly write and speak about in my films. I turned up the volume and became proactive, not waiting for Mr. Right to find me. There's been a flurry of activity.. fun times, good conversation, shared meals and experiences. And then, someone appeared. Yup, pretty exciting. Will not give details because anything could jinx it. Let's just say, so far, so good. Whatever happens happens. All I say is, if I never have another blind date in my life, I'd be really fine with that. It's time to build a life with someone. To think and care and cook for another. To laugh and cry, work and play together. You know what they say, behind every good man/woman is a woman/man. It's not like I don't enjoy my alone time, my creating time, my thinking and being time but how wonderful to know someone is there for you and vice versa. I'm so ripe for a juicy, loving, supportive, long lasting relationship. I just want to focus on one significant other. On that subject, I noticed something so common place among the men I dated through the internet. Their constant search. When ever I would go back to the online site, their they were online, too. Never enough, always looking over the shoulder of the person in front them. I'm off the internet now and really do hope I don't return. it's a great way to meet someone particularly in this day and age when we are all so busy and the chances of our paths crossing are not great. It affords us an opportunity to meet people we normally would never meet. Oh, I heard something funny. One date, in an effort to learn about my sleeping habits with a man asked me if I was a clinger or slept independent. At first, I didn't know what he meant. Then he said, full disclosure, I am independent. I asked what he meant and he explained he slept without touching. Can't be touched or vice versa. Well, I just learned some new lingo and styles. Voila, back to work! Love to you all and please write.

Review of MY NOSE

Months have passed. Okay, what's going on? MY NOSE started playing in film festivals. Remember to check http://www.myspace.com/gaylekirschenbaum.
Here's the first review it received.
THRIVE Magazine by Nancy Weber
Loyalty to our peers be damned. No way not to root for the pup in My Nose, Gayle Kirschebaum’s tragicomic short documentary about the knife-work her mother thinks will save Gayle’s life.
“I knew my biological clock was ticking. I didn’t know my nose was ticking,” says the lovely, funny, talented, single Gayle, as her mother drags her to plastic surgeons in New York and Florida. One doc, a Kabbalist, keeps staring over her head; when Gayle asks why he isn’t looking at her face, he says he’s focusing on a vision of the man who will marry her, post-op.
Mr. Husband is right there, the surgeon assures her, just waiting for her to be sculpted into an object worthy of romantic love.
Maybe it’s her mother, not her nose, who’s scaring away the fellows? I feel guilty as I write those words; I know the mistakes we mothers make in the name of love. Mrs. K., between face-lifts during the period the film was shot, believes she has benefited from cosmetic surgery, and maybe she has. If it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gosling, right?
Wrong, which is why this is a big little movie. A romp but an important romp.
As the closing credits roll, Gayle dedicates My Nose to her father, who has recently died. He lived long enough to see the film, though, and proudly extolled Gayle’s talent. He is the parent we all mean to be, the one with right-on values who encourages the child to create, and the hell with surfaces. Kirschenbaum makes clear how she hungered for such affirmation from her mother."
I suspect many viewers will share my hope that Gayle sees her mother’s participation in the film as a reflection of respect and love, an act of amends-making. Mrs. K. has to have known she was cast as the villain — this woman who dressed her infant daughter like a dolly and now would subject her to the dangers of nontrivial surgery. You want to shake her by the shoulders: How dare she reinvent her daughter’s face — she who doesn’t see her daughter? And yet there she is on the screen, energetically offering herself up as an object of scorn.

As we go to press, My Nose is starting to play festivals. You can track its progress by checking out Kirschenbaum’s Website, ww.kirschenbaumproductions.com. My Nose is distinguished by its heart, antic energy, laugh-aloud moments, willingness to discomfort, and visual integrity. It’s more than worth the detour.
After you see it, reread The Nose, by Gogol. Please. It’s been too long. Since you read Gogol, I mean.

My Space + photographs

Hi all,
A few new things to report. Firstly, I did a reading of some essays and stories I've written. Went over well and was asked if the stories are available on the web. I think I will post some of them on the site.

But I did just upload a bunch of photographs I have taken using my Treo phone. I'm fairly excited about these pix. My education and background was in art and photography and I lost all interest in creating still images until now. This phone allows me to shoot when no one knows I am shooting, allows me to capture special moments in time, moments in life. Please take a look at these pix and tell me what you think. Click on Photography at www.kirschenbaumproductions.com.

Also, I just put up a myspace.com/gaylekirschenbaum.
Okay, Chelsea is doing great. She is sleeping now but otherwise, enjoying herself. We just went to Cabrini Hospice and made our rounds. It is such rewarding work. Chelsea lights up the patients and their visitors.
Have a great day and please write!
Love, Gayle Licks, Chelsea

Theresa and Gayle

I just had to post this picture of me and my good friend, Theresa King, who is a fabulous photographer. Okay, there will be many more good times happening here, bringing great minds and people together.
Love you all,
Gayle and Chelsea

Happy New Year!

Hi all,
We just moved into a great space. A loft with huge ceilings. We had a party and it was great getting several friends and family members together. Mom has come to NY to visit with my nephew.I wish you the best in 2007!