Because I am having a dull day at work, Jessica sent me the following email:

"since you are bored, would you mind explaining to me the evolutionary rationale for poisonous mushrooms co-opting the looks of edible ones? thanks."

I am much to lazy to really look into this, however I have some thoughts.

1. Perhaps the non-poisonous mushrooms evolved into the poisonous ones, and since they were so very poisonous, animals learned to identify them by smell, or some other sense that humans are not aware of. So the now-extremely-poisonous mushrooms never had any reason to change their appearance.

2. Some poisonous mushrooms are red with white spots. They will kill you in a second if you so much as look at them sideways. There were a lot of them growing near my parents house (the one that burned down last summer), and I was terrified of them as a child, as though they might sneak up on me and rub themselves all over my hands or leap into my mouth before I could swat them away.

3. Perhaps it is biologically beneficial for the mushrooms to trick animals into partially eating them, so that the animals lay down right there and die and rot, thereby fertilizing the mushrooms?

If you are in possession of any information that might help clear this up, please let us know.

They've posted the 5,201 entries from the WTC Memorial competition online at last. I think it's so cool. Really, it's the best memorial the victims could have -- that many people taking the time to think about how best to remember them. Also, the proposals are really interesting to look at.

I still think that these two pieces are very beautiful, and it's a shame they were taken down.

I cut this picture out of the New Yorker a couple of weeks ago, and just found out that the artist, Loretta Lux, is having a show right now in Chelsea. She really captures a kind of stillness that I try to get in my paintings; it's hard to believe that these are photographs. I must make time to go see them.

I am so touched by this week's news stories about gay couples rushing to San Francisco and standing in line for hours to be married. I just heard a piece about it on BBC News, and my favorite line was this one, when they asked one of the recently married men what he and his husband will do if the court rules against them:

"Then we sue. And we sue and we sue and we sue and we sue until we are recognized as a legally married couple in the United States."

I couldn't agree more.

Dear friends. Thank you so much for your ongoing insistence that the picture of Sascha and I that ran in the New York Times last year was really quite cute. I'm afraid, however that the truth is out. And this asshole will be more than happy to set you straight.

Sigh.

I am having a bad day.

Fans of ironic pop cultural appreciation, look no further...Marc Thompson is your new god. Just click here.

Sascha and I went to the opening of the new Time Warner center on Columbus Circle last night. Apparently we rubbed elbows with celebrities, but since I am congenitally unable to recognize celebrities when I see them in real life, I can't really tell you much about it. It's sad, because I would quite like to ogle celebrities, but I just always see them and think "that guy looks familiar...didn't he live in my dorm?"

No, idiot, he's Tom Cruise.

A couple of things that were upsetting:

1. You're not allowed to call the new Time Warner Center a mall. Acceptable alternatives are "center" or "complex". But I must protest. If it has a J. Crew in it, it's a mall.

2. When we went into the stores, the store managers would ask in a very peppy and excited way, "how do you like our new store?!"

What the hell?

"Well, ma'am, I must say I do like it! It is every bit as nice as every other Williams Sonoma store I've ever been in! In fact, it is identical to every other Williams Sonoma store I've ever been in! I have always considered myself a fan of corporate homogeny, and I certainly commend you on doing your part!"

3. I hate rich people. And PR people.

But here are some things that were awesome:

1. There is a Whole Foods store in the basement of the mall. That is, in itself, awesome. But even more cool was that they were giving away tons and tons of free samples. And the free samples were in the part of the store where they sell whatever it was that they were giving away. So you could just wander around the store, and when you got to the cheese section, there would be a whole big spread of cheese and crackers. And in the fish section, they were making salmon and cream cheese pinwheels. Etcetera. Now, if there are two things that I love, those things would be canapes and wandering aimlessly around the supermarket. So wandering aimlessly around the supermarket eating canapes is pretty much my idea of heaven.

2. Everyone was in black tie and fancy evening dresses. Well, except for me. But I wasn't looking at me.

3. Jon Stewart was the MC for the evening, and the whole time he had the exact same expression on his face that you would have if your boss made you stand up and give a speech about some big new corporate project that you could really give a shit about. It was pretty excellent.

4. I saw Pat Kiernan!!!