Plugs

Here are some quick non-food-related plugs for the non-food-related spirit in all of us.

(1) Yet again, I was given free tickets to Broadway Shows by a marketing firm to the astonishment of my friends and loved ones. “You got these tickets HOW?” they asked, as I allowed them to escort me to each of these productions. [And the seats have been amazing. It’s good to be the king!] The productions in question were: “The History Boys” and “The Wedding Singer.” Lucky for me, both of these shows provided a truly great evening: especially “The History Boys” which takes a simple premise–smart British kids and the teachers who try to shape them–and explodes it into three raucous hours that literally FLY by. Some of the themes in the play are slightly taboo for American audiences (particularly the light-hearted groping of young boys by their teachers) but who cares about the immorality when you’re having such a good time? And as far as “The Wedding Singer” goes, if you love 80s nostalgia you’ll love this show.

(2) This second plug comes COMPLETELY unsolicited, but I’ve been meaning to make it for a long time. When I got my book deal at Bantam/Dell, my editor–a great guy named Phillip Rappaport–gave me an advance copy of the book he’d just finished working on, “Apartment Therapy” based on the much beloved design blog Apartment Therapy. Well, for the first few weeks I was a bit too buzzed about my own deal to sit down and read it but eventually sit down and read it I did and I LOVED It. (Again, this plug is TOTALLY unsolicited so this gushiness is authentic.) Actually, that parenthetical is unnecessary because all my friends will attest to the fact that over the weeks I was reading this book I became obsessed with design and how one’s apartment echoes their psychological well-being. “The flow of your apartment is all wrong!” I told my friend Mark. “It’s got a bowling alley set-up so all the energy rushes in.” (Yes, he rolled his eyes.) But over the weeks I worked through the book, my apartment started getting spiffier and spiffier. I got rid of all my ugly CD cases and put the CDs into books, I built two new bookshelves and organized the disaster zones next to my desk. I bought a vacuum and vacuumed up all the nasty cat hair that Lolita sheds. I organized my kitchen and my closets, I bought earth-friendly soaps and detergents. I am, essentially, a new man. And now that the book’s in print–Congratulations, Maxwell!–I finally get to plug it to you guys. I say: go to Amazon right away by clicking this picture:

Or go to the book’s blog and buy it through another link. Either way, it’s so reasonably priced and so handy to carry around (it’s a convenient little paperback) you have no reason not to buy it. Why not change your life by changing your apartment? I was a heroin addict in heels before this book and now I’m a pipe-smoking billionaire. Need I say more? Go get it.