The rapper Talib Kweli at Occupy Wall Street.

Last night, Talib Kweli stopped by Zuccotti Park for a rhyme. "Here with the 99 percent," Mr. Kweli tweeted. At the protest, he used the human mic to amplify a short speech. "They want to know what the end game is?"

"THEY WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE END GAME IS," echoed the crowd.

"This is the end game."

"THIS IS THE END GAME."

The protest at Occupy Wall Street is drawing random acts of celebrity from Richard Simmons to Susan Sarandon to Lupe Fiasco and Immortal Technique. Yesterday, actress Justine Bateman and musician Ted Leo were there. On Wednesday's march, Mike Meyers attempted to blend into the crowd. On Tuesday, the reclusive Jeff Magnum from Neutral Milk Hotel appeared.

Unlike the bars and clubs one might normally stalk for celebrity sightings, the protest is easily accessible and there's no cover charge, no dress code and free coffee to sustain you as you wait for Alec Baldwin to put his money where his tweets are and show up in person. Perhaps this is why we've seen an influx of Texans and Japanese tourists of late.

Talib Kweli Addressing Occupy Wall Street from Colin Jones on Vimeo.

Her name is Katie Wang. She’s a former Star-Ledger reporter who covered Cory Booker, enterprisingly, in Newark.

Her name started popping up on Avella mayoral press releases around the time Richard Simmons compared Avella's lips to those of Julia Roberts.

Avella is running the angry-outer-borough-guy campaign that Anthony Weiner was planning to run. But he’s largely been written off as an unknown quantity with a dedicated but very small base of support.

The immediate campaign goal, it seems, is simply to stop being ignored. Good luck, Katie.

That's what Richard Simmons, the exercise guru, said at a press conference outside City Hall just now.

I'm not prepared to vouch for the accuracy of that statement, but either way, it could help give Avella's mayoral campaign some much-needed attention.

"Uhm, I guess," I say.

"What the heck is going on with you?"

That is the $64,000 question folks. In about a month's time I have gone from fairly motivated exercise and diet wise to completely, totally full-on binge crazy. I don't mean binge as in binge and purge...that I can't handle. I just mean cupcakes, BLT's, french fries, big soft street pretzels, sugary cereals, bagels with lox...ok, I'll stop now. Let's just say its bad...very bad.

I have three months left until my wedding and 20 pounds to lose. I know, I know...I hear the chorus of "that might be a bit too lofty a goal, Erica." "You should really focus on one to two pounds a week...your wedding is just one day and you really want to set your sights on getting healthy for life," I imagine all of the health freak know-it-alls saying. Right...yeah...thanks, everyone.

I KNOW my wedding is just one day and I DO want to get back in shape and stay that way long after the wedding, but let's get real folks: this one day is pretty much my red carpet, "thanks to the academy" shining star moment and I'll be damned if I'm standing up in front of all of our friends and family with too much junk in my trunk.

Now I just need a gameplan...and a big one. My former stores of internal motivation are gone with the wind, and it's crunch time. I need a former military drill seargant trainer to take pity on me. Or Jenny Craig to call and say "we're sort of over the whole Kirstie Alley thing...would you like to be our new spokesperson?" Or a health-focused personal chef to move-in with us and cook all of my meals in exchange for witty banter and beer money.

Richard Simmons, are you out there???

According to an ABC 20/20 that aired at the beginning of April, 57,000 people will undergo non-cosmetic weight-reduction surgery this year at a cost per person of $20,000 (insurance companies will usually pay). This same riveting 20/20 segment profiled the Roselle family of New Jersey, which has collectively lost an ankle-crunching 800 pounds. How fab is that?!

Talking of linguini-lovin' Italians, I can't help thinking that old Luciano Pavarotti would be the perfect candidate for this operation. The roly-poly vocal legend clearly has a hard time staying away from the osso buco . A few staples in the right place will not only prolong his life, they might even slow his precipitous vocal decline. After the recent cancellation of Mr. Pavarotti's farewell performance at the Met, vocal coach Gildo Dinunzio told the New York Post of a "terrible catarrh" (translation: mucus!) which was surrounding the tenor's vocal chords. Sounds like somebody has been inhaling more than his fair share of the ricotta.

Hey, Luciano, you dairy-cravin' icon! For God's sake, give Dr. Daniel Herron at Mount Sinai a call at 212-241-3699. He's performed over 300 gastric-bypass operations (have you done that many Traviata s, signor ?) and will have you in and out in two days. Moreover, he guarantees that you will lose at least half your excess weight in the first year.

But what happens if you binge? Urban myths are already circulating about people popping their staples and sending all manner of international cuisine flying into their body cavities. According to Dr. Herron, that's just nonsense. "If people eat more than their new pouch can hold," he said, sounding a bit harried as he conscientiously rushed from one bowel to the next, "they will simply throw up."

People might even mistake you for a glamorous bulimic!

Further reading: Dr. Louis Flancbaum of St. Luke's-Roosevelt has just published The Doctor's Guide to Weight Loss Surgery . More than 15 of his patients-who have collectively lost more than a ton -are attending his book party (low-fat, kosher hors d'oeuvres only).

By the by, this week Staples office supply-one of the great unsung pick-up locations for earnest, self-employed professionals in Manhattan-has a mouthwatering special on those extra-long-reach staplers: You can score a chic chrome 12-incher for $29.45. Bon appetit !