The Roomorama Blog

Reported: Obese have right to 2 airline seats

The high court declined to hear an appeal by Canadian airlines of a decision by the Canadian Transportation Agency that people who are “functionally disabled by obesity” deserve to have two seats for one fare.

Other considered blog headlines.

• Is being fat the new gay? 
• Do obese people also have a right to 2 in-flight meals?
• Should obesity treshold be measured by BMI or absolute size?
• Slowly, the world adjusts to bigger people. The gym is not the solution. 

Headline: You tried to mug me outside of Whole Foods - w4m - 24 (Lower East Side)

Text: 

I was putting away my money, although I had little left since I had just bought a loaf of bread, popcorn, water and tomato sauce at Whole Foods, when we met. You were pretty big and I am pretty little. you smashed my tomato sauce when you saw how little cash I had on me, and someone thought we were fighting. Somehow i haven’t been able to stop thinking about what it would be like to fight with you over something REAL, like whos turn it was to take out the trash, feed our dog Cracker, or steal parking tickets off of peoples cars on our street…hoping you might feel the same way. Tell me what kind of weapon your fine ass was toting so I know it’s you…

I don’t know about you, but a real good mugging gets me really hot. A big man, some splashing tomato sauce, and a fine ass toting weapon spells fun fun fun…

[Photo: Daily Intel]

I know my news, damn it. Secretary of State, “team of rivals”, capable diplomat, transition team, blah blah blah. Can we stop and think for a moment?! LOOK AT THAT PHOTO! UNTAG IMMEDIATELY! 

Bam the Man looks like he could appear in a face anatomy class — “Look students, the face folds longitudinally. ” Or as a visual aid for an Asian mum’s advice to her daughter — “No smile so big. Make face wrinkle. No husband want.”

Hilary? V for Vendetta mask with double chin add-on. The face can fold laterally too.

Note: This was a post OFFERING her services. Full post: 

Hello, 
I have 15 years of transcription experience. I transcribe from digital audio files, CD-Roms and standard cassettes and DVDs. 

I offer references upon request, and price negotiation. Confidentiality is guaranteed. 

I look forward to hearing about your project. 
Thank you. 

Linda 212-475-XXXX

FAIL! 15 years, typed a lot. Never proofread. “Not my job”, Linda says.

So many things have happened since we last spoke — Obama has been elected president, and some other stuff that I’m sure is important.

When I first saw the photo of Bam the Man (pronounced “Baam” the “Maan”, rhymes with the “baack” in Arnold’s “I’ll be back”, sounds more reggae than “Alabama”) striding out of the waters, I hope gawker would jump on it and make its “Obama: the James Bond of our generation?” kind of meaningless but attention grabbing headlines. Oh my apologies, I love Gawker — their headlines are great! 

That photo is HOT. I felt a tingle: it started from my big toe, rose up the insides of my thigh, curiously skipped around my groin region, travelling instead up my left buttock cheek, recentering on my spine, shot straight up my bad posture, formed a little eddy on my jugular vein, and finally inched up, circled my left ear, making concentric circles inward, and finally nestling into my inner ear. It sounded like heaven.

Frizzy hair? Check. Over-proportioned nose? Check. Incredibly full eye-brows? Check. Incredible sense of style? Check. 

See, no one needs to use the equine reference for things to click.

Sarah Jessica Parker’s sisters in Paris! Found by the ever sharp Sartorialist

Windows Vista Business is charging a premium for the option to use its older counterpart?

By releasing a sub-par, annoyingly difficult to use, and fat program that is the Vista, Microsoft may have just come up with the most counter-intuitive genius strategic business choice ever. They basically charge a premium for the XP now by introducing a “computer virus” to our computers - the Vista. Now they can charge the price of the Vista PLUS $99 to use the XP as we knew it.

Nestled in the east village, at the corner of 13th St and Avenue B, lies our favorite cafe. As anyone who lives in a big city knows, there are just too many cafes to choose from, and adopting one as “home”, to announce to your friends as your favorite, is a complex task requiring checklists, multiple visits, many deep breaths, and a library of books to test at each cozy corner in the cafe. Some cafes are great for the NYTimes Sunday section (large tables), some for textbooks and note-taking (bright and with square-end tables), and others for regular “cozy-ing up with a good book and a cup of coffee” (soft, warm lighting and tables made of weathered wood).

You get all of that at B-Cup because they have segmented areas for each of your moods. We also like the zany painting on the glass. We like the cozy areas, free Wifi, killer pastries, and amazing coffee. But you can find all of that at many places. What really did it for us were the barristers:

Ohad on the left looks like ____ (for reader to free associate; provide creative interpretation of his look in comments), and Omer on the right looks like a really good boy. And this is important because we feel very safe in their cafe. Seriously, do down to B-cup and order something from these dudes: They are friendly, warm, and helpful (we always ask to refill our water bottles).

Jane of SeaOfShoes showed us her vintage necklace from Tulsa. Yeah, nice. But I am not looking at the necklace.

We are usually excited about all press mentions, like this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, and this one. With every press mention, we flagrantly post the link on our Facebook status messages, send out BCCed emails to all our friends and acquiantances, leave the URL on every single IM program on our desktop, google our company name again to check if the article propped us to front page holy-land, start all conversations mentioning the article, tell all strangers and waiters, smile a lot more, and hire an airplane to write out the URL with smoke in the Manhattan sky. What can I say, nothing says “we rock!” more credibly than having someone else say it. 

But this time, we are a little more sheepish about spreadin’ the good word. We were recently featured by the very smart Jim Hopkinson of Wired magazine in a podcast interview. Don’t get me wrong: it’s a great interview, Jim was a great interviewer, and I felt we made a good case for Roomorama and it’s relevance today. But I still can’t decide if listening to the playback of my voice or listening to fingernails drawn across a blackboard for an hour straight will drive me to deranged self-mutilation faster.

As Obama went into the nitty-gritty of his health care plan, I found my brain slowly shutting down, leaving ample brainRAM to observe the visuals on screen. I noticed all the other men using those reaction dials where going into slumber as well, as indicated by the flat green line in the picture above; while the women got all wet over the idea of universal healthcare, or whatevs Obama was pandering on screen. 

Why? Do women just like the idea of details being pounded out? Or are women more inclined to worry about their health in the future? Or perhaps women in households plan the families healthcare and insurance needs?

Elizabeth Peyton at The New Museum. The Roomorama team had to check it out. Well, yes, the Roomorama kids are arty and cultured.

But also because only start-up people know that business inspiration starts from within. And the start-up soul is best nourished through art, and “spaces”. And nothing says “spaces” like a good ‘ol museum with modern art. Check out the sunlight through the facade grillzz — so chiaroscuro we couldn’t stop giggling. And hee hee hee we did, all the way through the cavernous space-age halls. 

Also called SOFA 08. A convention going on from 11/6/08 to 11/9/08 in Chicago.

I stared at their website for like 5 minutes. I thought about the name. I thought about all the strange objects on the site. On and on, line after line, I kept thinking of the best way to talk about this convention. I contemplated talking about how the name was probably democratically voted amongst 50 board members. I tinkered with an opening line exploring the difference between “Functional Art”, art, and furniture; and “Sculpture Objects”, sculpture, and objects. I considered an essay on the abusive use of the word “international” in societies, clubs and events: How really does “the international expositions” differ from “the expositions”? Does the word serve to conjure images of Discovery Channel, openness, and non-insularity? I don’t know. I really don’t know. I decided it was best to leave it to the About Us section, which I reproduce here: 

SOFA CHICAGO, the largest and longest continually-running art fair in Chicago, is a mainstay in its cultural and social calendar. Mary Daniels, senior arts writer, The Chicago Tribune, wrote, “New art forms never before seen and rich artisan traditions come together in a synergistic explosion of creativity at SOFA CHICAGO… A sense of discovery and surprise always permeates this show, one of the most anticipated cultural events in this city.” Jim Yood, critic and historian, Art + Auction and Chicago Public Radio/WBEZ-FM, said, “SOFA’s high-end, cutting-edge mix clearly has global appeal. It’s a really wonderful art fair.”

Wow.

Only one thing we really care about: Check out our Chicago listings to find a place to stay. Don’t stay in a hotel–rent a room on Roomorama.

And save your money for some high-end, cutting-edge never seen before international sculpture objects or functional art inspired by rich artisan traditions that have come together in a synergistic explosion of creativity. *phew* *wipes sweat off brow*

A politcal ad started playing on TV and like most political ads, it takes at least 5 seconds before you can tell if its an Obama or McCain ad. It’s confusing because they quote and reference the opponent all the time and I need to pay attention to the black and white colors to know if “lowering taxes for households earning less than $250K” is supposed to be a good or bad thing. If Obama is highly saturated and in slow motion, its an Obama ad. If the picture is fuzzy and his face shot in a discolored close-up, then it’s probably a McCain ad.

With the ad tonight, it started with the usual confusing gibberish comparing the tax stances of both political parties, and because the narration sounded like McCain speaking, with his slightly nasal, high-pitched voice with a hint of a lisp, I thought it was a McCain ad. But it turned out to be an Obama ad, narrated by McCain sounding guy. 

Psychology? Perking the ears of McCain voters, then BAM! support Obama? Classic bait and switch? Or plain old coincidence picked up by desperate media people looking to over read every breath and face twitch?   

Dear Governor Palin,

We support you and really want to help with your subsequent interviews. Here, allow us to recommend two websites that we personally have found really useful over the years:

1. Google
2. Wikipedia 

You may want to check them out. 

Sincerely, 
Roomorama