More illustration that I've fallen in love with.

These are by Seiko Omori. The 3D girls look a little stoned, but they're so charming and sweet. And then the 2D ones are more like fashion illustration--so edgy and cool with their dash of anime style. I love that Omori utilizes two diametrically opposite styles, but they somehow still feel cohesive together. I think it's the rosy cheeks and faraway glances that do it.




(This is my favorite 2D one. I think I may have to print it onto transfer paper and make a purse or tee-shirt out of it.)

(Love those pouty lips!)

P.S. Sorry for so many image dumps lately! I just can't help but share it when I find illustrations I like (being a wannabe-illustrator myself and all). Plus, it helps me to remember them for my own projects and stuff :]

pretty pictures

I have become completely addicted to the Drawn! blog. Yesterday they posted a link to illustrator Justin White's site, Jublin. He's had seven tee-shirt designs printed over at Threadless.com and has some deliciously demented illustrations on his site. The guy has a real talent for exaggerated facial expressions and melding the cute and grotesque. He's like an American, male version of Junko Mizuno (only my favorite illustrator EVER).

And here is my favorite of Jublin's work on his site:



It's so twisted!... And pink!

more stuff found on the Drawn! blog

Los Campesinos music videos:



It sort of bothers me how the animation in the one above only seems to match the music during the chorus, but it's still cool nonetheless.

I like this one even MORE:



Disco war!

The colors are so bright and fun! And obviously I'm a fan of the anti-war sentiment, but I also just really like the animation. The illustration is childlike, but still moves so fluidly. Love it!

happy holidays, etc

Found these on Drawn! The Illustration and Drawing Blog:

(M. Ward's Chinese Translation)


(My First Crush)

Awwww

!!!

Oh my god tonight's Simpsons episode had Alan Moore, Art Spiegelman, and Dan Clowes! And they called themselves the "League of Extraordinary Freelancers"! Genius!

This may give the Homerpalooza one (featuring none other than the Smashing Pumpkins) a run for its money as the best Simpsons episode ever.

new article at zingmagazine.com

http://www.zingmagazine.com/drupal/node/447 or you can read it below


Censorship Exhibit at the Brecht Forum
By Leah Hansen

Thursday, November 8 saw the opening of “Censorship: An Exhibition Benefiting Artists in Distress” at the Brecht Forum. The reception featured plenty of food and drinks, live performances, and a raucous crowd the filled every inch of the relatively small gallery space. The featured artists hail from countries around the world and utilize an array of mediums, including drawing, painting, photography, video, and performance. The only thing missing was context.

No artist’s statement or biography appeared; no overall explanation of the show’s goal was on view. The press release for the exhibition, which can be found at freedimensional.org, explains that a few of the artists have faced political repercussions as a result of their controversial work, but nowhere at the actual show can one read which artists were censored and which are simply responding to the idea of censorship.

This creates a modicum of confusion. Though quite striking, Melissa Murray’s “Bag,” a four-foot graphite drawing of a nude woman in profile, sitting on the ground wearing a plastic grocery bag like a hat, doesn’t necessarily address censorship. Yes, nudity is frequently under attack by censors, but in this case, the woman’s arms and legs obscure any “offensive” parts. Moving on, one arrives at Sarah Valeri’s stunning painting, “Bright”. The 30-inch canvas features a lithe, androgynous child curled in a fetal position on a swamp bank. In the foreground, a dog with a frog riding on its back swims by; lily pads float around them. The painting’s sea of blue, green, lavender, and cream swirl gently together, and, coupled with the child’s morose expression, evokes serenity and sadness. But, again, one wonders how it relates to the show’s theme.

The pieces with clear ties to censorship cover emotions ranging from rage to hope to humor. Particularly humorous are the pieces by photographer “BKLYN Paul,” who attended the opening naked. In “Spring Street,” the artist appears naked and smirking in front of graffiti-covered wall that creates a stark contrast to his unclothed body. On the left, an amateur photographer is caught snapping Paul’s photo with a little digital camera and a woman on the right turns toward us with a big grin. Paul’s “Subway Series” consists of three photos of a friend riding the subway naked. Only one other rider watches with a scowl, while everyone else is clearly laughing. The laughter captured in these photos emphasizes the ridiculousness of the attempts by the FCC and conservatives to fine and jail people for even accidental flashes nudity. Meanwhile, no one in these photos appears harmed or scarred by seeing a naked man on the streets of New York.

Collages by Issa Nyaphaga and Bara Diokhane evoke potent anger at the lack of artistic freedom in their homelands, Cameroon and Senegal. Mel Smothers’ two Mao portraits (of the Andy Warhol variety), painted over with ethereal birds in flight, impart a sense of hope for the future.

While the exhibition is successful as a showcase of eclectic art, it fails to maintain a cohesive message about censorship. Background information on the art and artists is especially important in this context, as artists face the FCC crackdown on “obscene” television and radio programming, and the current administration’s attempts to repeal basic rights in the name of “combating terrorism.” Without an explanation tying this work together, it’s just a mish-mash of art—impressive art, but a mish-mash nonetheless.

“Censorship: An Exhibition Benefiting Artists in Distress” will be on display at the Brecht Forum, located at 451 West Street between Bank and Bethune Streets, through December 6. There will also be a closing celebration held on Friday, November 30 from 7 to 10 p.m., featuring live music and dance. For more information, visit brechtforum.org or call 212-242-4201.

aww

Cutest OverheardinNewYork post ever:

Girl: I'll have a dozen bagels.
Bagel guy: I can't pass up on this opportunity. I have to tell you that you're really cute.
Girl: [Blushes.]
Bagel guy: Do you know what the difference between cute and not cute is?
Girl: ... Nooo, what?
Bagel guy: Three bagels. [Hands girl 15 bagels.]

--Jumbo Bagels, 57th & 2nd

Bette Midler's Hulaween

New article written by yours truly on the zingmagazine website:

http://www.zingmagazine.com/drupal/node/435

It's accompanied by photographs by the extremely talented (and my former room mate) Marta Fodor, more of whose work can be found at www.martafodor.com

She and I covered the "red carpet" at Hulaween, but there were only a couple of real celebrities who walked it. Seeing paparazzi up close was quite enlightening, though. The paps are CRAZY!! They were shoving each other out of the way and stealing other people's spots, and the guy next to us was saying all these nasty comments about the other photographers and even the people walking the red carpet. There's no need for that kind of behavior--it's not like this was the Oscars!

meh

I saw a homeless guy fall onto the train tracks this morning. Two guys immediately pulled him out, and there wasn't a train coming, luckily. The man was obviously mentally handicapped and seemed really out of it. He was yelling gibberish and lying there sort of slowly wiggling his arms and legs once the two guys pulled him back onto the platform. It was kind of a scary thing to see. You have to wonder what would have happened to the guy had he fallen in when it wasn't rush hour and full of people. I know people like to say that some homeless are that way by choice, or are just addicted to drugs (so it's their own fault [?]), but what about people like this one? He probably has no family or anyone to take care of him. And yes, there are services out there to help the homeless, but how is someone like this supposed to take advantage of them, much less even take the initiative to seek them out?

It's just really sad to see. I mean, what can you do for someone like that? Throwing change at him won't exactly help anything, even if your heart IS in the right place for doing so. I hope the police or paramedics or whoever that got there after I was gone got the guy to a shelter or something.

!

Stephen Colbert is speaking at Barnes & Noble Union Square tomorrow FOR FREE!!! Who's going?? Leah's going!!

SO EXCITED!!!

The Stephen T. Colbert Award for the Literary Excellence

Stephen Colbert's new book, "I am America (And So Can You)" is HILARIOUS. I'm only about a third of the way through it so far, but it's been making me laugh out loud (literally--I'm not being hyperbolic [is that a word?]). I've been chuckling on every subway ride I've taken for the past few days. The whole thing is written in the same style as the way he talks on The Colbert Report. He seems serious, but you know it's a joke because the things he says (writes? dictates?) are just so abdurd. The book really is the television show in bound form. There are even little snarky notes written in the margins, which is reminiscent of his "The Word" segment from the show. The entire thing is split into chapters on issues that affect America today ("family, "old people" [hee-hee], "religion," etc.), and consists of Steve giving his opinion (which we're ordered to all follow) on each of the topics. I'm currently in the religion chapter, and just HAD to post this one line from his section on Shinto:

"...a whole bunch of magical beings based in different parts of nature? That's not a religion, that's Pokemon."

HA!!

Oh Stephen Colbert, you are just too much...

He's doing a talk and signing books next Tuesday (Oct. 23) at the 92nd Street Y. I thought t was free, but I just looked it up, and it actually costs $35 and is SOLD OUT!!! The L Magazine did not say it cost anything OR that you had to reserve tickets in its listing! LAME!!! Though a "limited number of tickets may be available an hour before curtain," so I think I'm gonna try to get in anyways.

mini review

One of the people I met at the Haystack Arts Camp alerted me to an exhibit currently displayed at SUNY Stonybrook called “No se sabe más: No more is know: Anonymity and the murders of women in Ciudad Juárez.” The show features work influenced by and in reaction to the hundreds of serial mutilations, murders, and disappearances of women and girls that have been going on for the last 15 years in Cuidad Juarez, a Mexican city near El Paso, Texas. I stumble upon an article about these murders once every couple years or so, and it just keeps getting worse. The Mexican government does almost nothing to solve or prevent these crimes, and the few suspects they do catch are tortured until they confess (or die), leaving serious doubt as to whether they’re actually guilty. (Confessions given under torture are almost always false, since the person being tortured will usually do anything to make it stop.) I won’t be able to get over to Stonybrook in person, but the exhibit’s website has a photograph of each piece in it, as well as a deeper explanation of this situation, so here’s a little mini-review. I hope this exhibit will teach some new people about this horrible phenomenon. The longer it goes ignored, the longer it’s going to go on.



The 13 female artists of this show each have one piece pictured on the website. Some are also accompanied by an artist’s statement or explanation of the item. Unfortunately, some have neither, and some have a more general artist’s statement, rather than an explanation of how the piece ties into the theme. The general statements almost take away from the idea behind the exhibition, as they seem self-indulgent in comparison to the heartfelt words written on the murderous situation in Mexico.

There’s also quite a wide variation in skill level. Some of the art just looks amateurish compared to the better pieces. Marisa Cornejo Kasterine’s watercolor drawing features a roughly hewn girl diving head first out the backseat door of a moving van, with five male figures seated inside the vehicle. The background consists of brown and yellow scribbles for the road, and flat red with a layer of yellow forked trees for the space behind the van. The artist’s explanation is a short treatise on the artist’s nightly dreams, which this piece is presumably based on, though it doesn’t outright say so. How, then, does this fit in with the theme? A personal statement unrelated to the exhibition’s inspiration just seems out of place. In addition, the drawing itself is unimpressive in its child-like quality. It’s a purely two dimensional drawing: no depth, no shadow, and simple line rendering of the figures and vehicle, right down to the horizontal lines trailing the van to indicate motion.

Kasterine’s drawing fits in neither with the exhibit’s theme, nor with the skill level in the more accomplished pieces, such as Jain Hutzell’s sinewy carved wooden sculpture. Her upright log has subtle flows that vaguely resemble a human body and a stretching hand near its top, as if it’s reaching out for help.

Erica Arce’s ceramic sculpture, however, is by far the standout piece of the show. It’s a ceramic, mutant human torso painted cream with dusty gray in the corners and cracks. The gray corners and allover scratchy texture make it look dirty and beat-up. The figure’s head, back of the neck, and back of the shoulders are jaggedly broken off, and its arms clutch its belly at the base of the elongated torso. A split down the figure’s center, and a bloody red stain at the broken edge of the shoulders, make it all the more disturbing. I only wish the online photo were bigger, so I could get a better look at the details and the shreds of clay scattered at its base (I can’t tell what they are from the photo). Overall, the figure evokes pain, sadness, and serious abuse. It sympathizes with the mutilated and murdered women of Cuidad Juarez. Taken in a broader context, the figure can be seen as representing the women across the globe who are maltreated and killed every day while their government and society do nothing to stop it and the rest of the world remains ignorant or apathetic.

I wish the website included bigger and more photos, and it’d be nice if media were listed with each piece. At the very least, they ought to list the titles of the pieces pictured online. But I guess the website really isn’t the focus; the idea is to GO to the show.

For those who ARE able to go to Stonybrook, the exhibit is located in the Student Acitivity Center Gallery, which is open Tuesday through Friday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and will be on display through November 2. Website is http://studentaffairs.stonybrook.edu/sacgallery.

gross

So I know this is totally old, but it's so messed up that I had to post about it. I was surfing around dlisted.com and found a post from this past February about a London restaurant, Bumpkin, which was offering free meals to size zero models with a BMI under 18 if they presented their model card. Bumpkin only gave free food to size zero models--no size one fatties allowed!

Are you KIDDING ME??? These are women who choose not to eat! Even though I doubt any models who are that skinny would even take advantage of the offer, it's still ridiculous. Why are models being rewarded for being morbidly thin?? I've also (sadly) been watching the new season of America's Next Top Model, and the judges called the one girl who's not skin and bones (she's maybe a size 7/8) "almost plus size." WHAT??? I used to really like high fashion (not that I can afford it, but it's still fun to follow it), but it's gotten to the point where I just can't stand anything remotely related to the world of high fashion anymore. The New York Times Style Magazine, which has become my main source of fashion reading, drives me insane--every article is written in this pompous, pretentious tone of voice, as if owning ridiculously overpriced clothes is the true mark of success in life. Most women's magazines do the same thing, as well as presenting a new "must-have" list every few months. And god forbid that a "fashionista" wear something from (gasp!) last season. How important can any of these clothes be if no one wants to wear them again three months down the road??

And this obsession with thinness is completely out of control. While walking down the street with a male friend recently, we passed a really tall, ridiculously skinny blonde girl wearing a short black dress, and my friend made some comment about how hot she was. I said, "Are you kidding
me?! She has no boobs or butt!" and he responded by saying that she looks good that way because she's so tall or something. Then some random guy behind us was like, "Yeah, man!" and the two of them laughed it up about their shared observation. I don't understand how a woman in her 20s having the body of a twelve year old boy is attractive or, more importantly, healthy. And these designers who claim that clothes "just look better" on thin women are ridiculous. How many designers are that thin? Where do they buy their clothes? (P.S. If you make clothes to fit someone that thin, then, yes, it is going to look better on a skinny-minny. It's no different than plus-size clothes looking better on plus-size women. It's not that clothes in general look better on super-skinny women, it's that everyone looks better in clothes that are designed for their specific body type! Sheesh!)

And this restaurant thing--why don't they give free food to people who don't eat because they legitimately can't? There is rampant starvation around the world and they're donating food to people who choose not to eat, to the point that some of them are actually dying. Disgusting. It's gotten to the point that I just don't understand how anyone can embrace or enjoy high fashion anymore. Designers suing cheap chain retailers for copying their admittedly unoriginal designs (http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0739,yaeger,77905,15.html), aestheticizing morbid thinness, and the exclusivity and whole annoying aura of self-importance in the fashion industry... it just disgusts me. I can't even enjoy Betsy Johnson and Vivienne Westwood anymore, and I've loved their clothes since forever.

On a more positive note, here's today's moment of surreality: Last night, I walked through Abingdon Square Park on my way to The Spotted Pig, and there were three clusters of three massive gourds (maybe 16 inches long and 9 inch diameter at the widest part) in the bushes in the center of the square. It was dark and I didn't get that good of a look, so I don't know if they were real or not, but it was still pretty random. And if they were real, then that is some serious genetic modification going on.

the end of (another) hiatus

So it's been another crazy ridiculous couple of months, and blogging has ONCE AGAIN taken a back seat to the rest of life. I have been simultaneously searching for a job and a new apartment.

After sending out about 30 resumes with no response whatsoever, I got an interview and was hired about a month ago as a proofreader for a real estate marketing company. They don't really do marketing in the traditional sense here. When a building or piece of property goes up for sale, the seller hires a brokerage company, and the broker hires us to create an "offering memorandum," which is a book with anywhere from 30 to 150 pages full of information on the property, and is intended to convince potential buyers to purchase it. So, really, I would say this is more of a graphic design firm, it's just that they only design one thing.

Then I spent about a month trying to find an apartment. October 1st is probably the worst possible move-in date. Returning college students snatch up everything good in September, and then no one's moving out in October, so there's very little to choose from, especially if you have a low budget. But I did manage to find a nice place right in Williamsburg (only a block from the Lorimer L stop!) a week before the lease ended in my old place. It's a really cute, fairly big place in a fun neighborhood. It's around the corner from the Alligator Lounge, only one of the best bars ever, so designated because you get a free pizza with every beer you buy--and it's a good-sized pizza too, none of this "personal pan" nonsense.

However, even though I'm pretty much settled into both my job and new apartment, I still won't be updating this regularly for a bit longer, as internet is not yet installed at home. I am going to try to start a new, short feature that I can update here while I wait for internet at home, though.

So here's the plan: Every day, I see something surreal or funny or just smile-inducing (most often on the subway), so I'm going to start writing down all these little moments here for all to enjoy.

Moment numero uno:

9:15 a.m., L train: A young (maybe 21-22?) guy gets on the train wearing a too-small tuxedo with a bubblegum pink bowtie. (Who wears a tuxedo at 9:15 in the morning?? And with a bowtie--a pink bowtie--no less? Fantastic.)

Moments later, same train: I spotted a billboard for a palm computer, upon which someone had scribbled "GO HOME, GET A LIFE, AND STOP CHECKING YOUR EMAIL!" I could be really pretentious here, and claim it as a cry against our constant need to be plugged in at all times, but I'm more reminded of a postcard in the first "Post Secret" (postsecret.blogspot.com) book that says, "I hate billboards so much that I have started to vandalize them." Made me smile, in any case. Sometimes I really wish I had a camera in my cell phone so I could document these things visually. Pulling out my big, wonky digital camera is too conspicuous.

back in business

I have been a very, very bad little blogger lately. Actually, I've been an absent blogger, really. Working on the thesis and being out of town took serious priority. But grad school is officially over, I'm back in NYC, and it's time to return to this poor, neglected blog.

First, a short recap of my time spent at the Haystack Arts Camp in Deer Isle, ME. I was there for two weeks, met some really nice people, and got to do lots of art. Also, the food was shockingly good. I expected it to be gross vegan tofu nonsense every day, but there was a huge variety, and LOTS of yummy baked goods for dessert at lunch and dinner. I learned lithography, and made three sets of prints during the first week. I pretty much just took it easy and hung out during the second week, instead of doing more lithos. I needed a vacation. Plus there was only one printing press and eight students, and everybody snatched up the time slots before I could sign up for any, unless I wanted to do it at 3 in the morning (no thanks).

Lithography, by the way, is done by taking a flat limestone, and drawing on it with grease-based pencils or ink. Then you coat the whole thing in gum arabic and do some stuff with caustic chemicals (like lithotine, acetone, and my personal favorite, nitric acid!). You eventually roll grease-based ink onto the stone. The places you drew absorb the ink, and the rest of it absorbs water. So you coat the stone with a thin film of water when you're ready to print, and roll grease-based ink over the entire stone's surface. The drawing absorbs the ink, and the naked parts repel the ink ('cuz it's oil and water--get it?), then you run it through the press and the image goes onto a piece of paper. FUN!!

Here are the three lithos I made and the photos they're based on:

This photo was taken in the print studio at Haystack,
using my Mac's built-in camera set to "comic book effect."

Here is the actual print. I painted the eyes blue
with watercolor and acrylic paint.


This one was printed on this sheer cream paper called
chin colle, which is then affixed to the white paper.


This is Joe's cat, Clark. The photo was taken by a friend of his
who I do not know, but is a super talented photographer.


This paper is dark tan in real life, but my scanner didn't really do it justice.


This is a photo of Joe from a year ago, of which I fiddled with the contrast.



This one was printed on really lovely light blue paper, but again, the scanner didn't pick it up so well. Also, the margins are way bigger in real life, but my scanner can only do eight and a half by 11 inch-size paper.

Since getting back, I've been attending my usual galleries and art activities. I saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3, which was surprisingly good. It got pretty bad reviews as I recall, but I thought it was way better than number two. It was a bit confusing, what with all the new characters who were only in it for a few minutes, and three hours was too long, but in general it was still really enjoyable. Johnny Depp was as fantastic as always, and Keith Richards was a nice addition.

I saw the Simpsons movie on its opening night as well, which was awsome. Honestly, I was really expecting it to be lame. The show itself is nowhere near as good as it was a decade ago. A couple peple I know complained that it was just an hour and a half long episode, but to that I say, then it's the best episode they've made in years. Seriously. The whole theatre was laughing out loud through the whole thing. It had just the right amount of classic Simpsons silliness and jabs at pop culture and politics.

I also went to the Rubin Museum Friday night, which I'd never even heard of before Joe pointed it out to me. It focuses on Himalayan art. It's got six floors of art and a swanky bar on the first floor. On Fridays it's free after 7 p.m. and open until 10. And if you buy a drink (of any price), you can see their Friday night movie for free. It currently houses three exhibits: "What is it?" on the second floor (through Oct. 28), "Wutaishan: Pilgrimage to Five Peak Mountain" on the third (through Oct. 16), and "The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama" on the fourth and fifth (through Sept. 3).

"What is it?" was separated into four sections covering "Where is it made?", "Why is it made?", "How is it made?", and "What is going on?". The art on display was all kinds of stuff--sculpture, paintings, embroidery--that mostly consisted of large scenes and/or minute detail. Then all the pieces had long explanations that answered the question of whichever section it was in. I got kind of tired of reading so much text after a while because it was making me pay less attention to the art itself. So I eventually just stopped reading and spent my time staring up close at each piece. Everything was stunningly beautiful. The colors in the paintings on fabric were shockingly bright and the statues and sculptures had some of the most impressively minute detail I've ever seen. And of the text that I did read (which was a lot), it was really fascinating. It explained the roles of the deities pictured, and the symbolism of repeated imagery, and the process that goes into some of the common mediums and processes.

"Wutaishan: Pilgrimage to Five Peak Mountain" wasn't nearly as interesting. It focused on Manjushri, the Bodhisattva of wisdom, who lives on Mount Wutaishan. Joe and I kind of breezed through this part to get to "The Missing Peace," which was fantastic! It consisted of art inspired by or featuring the Dalai Lama, created by people all over the world. It covered pretty much every genre of art: photography, painting, video, installation, ceramics, sculpture... And there was a really wide variation in genders and nationalities among the artists, which is unusual (but much-welcomed) for contemporary art in a museum setting. One of my favorite pieces was this small participatory installation of a shelf holding a number of spools of golden thread. Museum-goers are instructed to stand in front of the shelf and pull the thread out to arm's length, then let it drop to the floor. One and a half spools were empty and there was a big pile of the thread clustered in one spot. I wish I'd written down the piece's explanation (and its title and author for that matter) because I'm gong to bastardize it really horribly here, but the idea is that the many arms' lengths of thread represent, like, joining hands all across the world. I think I'm inadvertently trivializing it with my crummy explanation, but I assure you, it was moving.

As for the overall feel, The Rubin is one of the best organized museums I've ever been to. The pieces on the walls are sufficiently spread out that you never feel overwhelmed, but close enough that the place hardly feels empty. Floating columns and display cases are placed so that they don't obstruct your walking path. The whole place was really clean and displays looked consistent throughout. The lighting was perfect, the air-conditioning was comfortable, the crowds were minimal (it is in a pretty off-the-beaten-path location), I could go on for a while here. Plus--hello!--open till 10 on Fridays with free admission and a free movie? I will definitely be going back in the near future.

new computer!

So my computer decided to completely die on me a few days ago. In hysterics, I called my parents and my mother suggested that I come home and use our computer here, and we would either take mine to get fixed or get a new one. Considering that my computer was five years old, it was pointless to pump more money into getting it fixed (remember the internet connection [or should I say lack thereof] fiasco that cost me $250?). So today we traipsed on over to the Apple store and they bought me my graduation present early. I am now the proud owner of a Macbook Pro! Hooray! I am a Mac virgin no longer. It's so lovely and functional. So I took a bunch of creeeeepy photos of myself in the lovely glaring glow of the screen with its built-in camera. Enjoy the slide show!

sucks

Kurt Vonnegut died.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/books/12vonnegut.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp

I am more upset by this than I would have expected.

Why is it so upsetting when someone you admire dies, even when you're completely removed from his realm of existence? I don't know. I need to go to the library right now and read some more of his books.

P.S. http://www.qwantz.com/index.pl?comic=973 (People familiar with either his work or the NYT article will get it.)

Ireland in photos

The tattoo! I love it I love it I love it!

So lush! This is in Konnemara.

A cemetary on Inis More.

The (sort of) mystery fortress on Inis More (note the beautiful weather).

Me standing atop the 300 foot cliff at the fortress.

The pathway of the solitary hike I took at Coole Lake (so beautiful).

Cool chandelier in Dublin Castle.

Cool floor in Saint Patrick's Cathedral.

My first Guinness (but not my last!).

The pre-St. Paddy's Day percussion band.

here comes a long one!

Ireland Spring Break part deux:

So "Julius Caesar" was okay. The acting left a little to be desired, but not because it was "bad," it just didn't fit the characters quite right. Brutus, for example, seemed too defeatist. It was like "You want me to kill Caesar, Cassius? You mean my best friend in the world, that Caesar? Oh, um... okay. Why not?" Blah. The costumes and sets were mesmerizing, though. The costumes culled from all different eras, which I read as representing a number of different war eras. WWI helmets, Greco-Roman armor, samurai armor, etc. And somehow it all mixed together cohesively.

Wednesday we went to Trinity College, where we saw the Book of Kells. I didn't find it terribly fascinating, actually. The campus was lovely, though. We also went to Dublin Castle, which was interesting because it's still used for meetings and dinners with politicians now. I took a short look in the Chester Beatty Library, which had Catholic, Islamic, and Hindu and Buddhist art on display. I only had time to see a little of it, though, as we had to move on to Saint Patrick's Cathedral. The cathedral's stained glass windows were less than impressive, but it had some really lovely patterns on the floor tiles to make up for that.

Thursday was the Dublin Writers' Museum, which was a snorefest unless you're really into your Irish literature, which I confess I've read very little of. In the afternoon we went to Kilmainham Jail, which I found absolutely fascinating. For one thing, I instantly recognized the big hall from pictures in books on Foucault, who I love. It was a panopticon, which is when the guards can see all the prisoners at all times, but the prisoners can't see them, so they never know if they're being watched or not. The jail was also fascinating because that's where the course of Irish history completely changed. They executed the leaders of the 1916 rebellion (against the British), which rallied the rest of Ireland to the rebellion's cause. Nearby the jail was the Irish Museum of Modern Art, which was kind of disappointing. It was a really dinky collection.

Friday had a lecture with a Californian woman, Karen Fricker, who moved to Ireland to write about theatre. I'm so jealous of her bravery. I love traveling, and would never turn down an oppurtunity to go abroad for a month (or two or three...), but I don't think I could just pick up and move permanently. Later I took a meandering walk around by myself, and checked out the George's Street Arcade and whatever other quirky shops I chanced upon. I found a percussion band made up of handicapped people, which I really enjoyed. Then that afternoon, I got my tattoo! It is beautiful. It came out perfect. I really couldn't be happier with it. See the next entry for photos. I just love it! The travel tattoos are officially underway. And I'll be in France in July for my cousin's wedding, so I'll finally be able to get the swirly fleur de lis that I've wanted for a while now.

Saturday was probably the most fun-filled day of the trip, as it was Saint Patrick's Day! A bunch of us watched the parade in the morning. It was weird. It was more like a Mardi Gras parade, with dragons and animals and other non-Irish-themed floats. In the afternoon, some of us went to a pub to watch the Six Nations rugby tournament, which was fantastic! Picture this: drinking Guinness in a pub in Ireland, while watching rugby, surrounded by tipsy, boisterous (oftentimes singing) natives, on St. Patrick's Day. So much fun!

Hooray Ireland!

Change of subject: Today in NYC was ansolutely gorgeous. Rachel, Marta, and I went to "Indwelling," the women-centric photography show Marta was part of. The theme of the exhibit was women's bodies, and how they see themselves. Some of the stuff was a tad amateurish (a photo of a chubby girl's back with sharpie writing on it saying stuff like "love handles"), but most of it was gorgeous and extremely professional. Marta's photo was actually probably my favorite. It was a sepia-toned 24x20 Polaroid of a naked girl sitting in profile with her knees up to her chest, with lilies sitting on her lap and lilies and almonds placed at her feet. It was really delicate and beautiful-looking.

After the show, the three of us went to "Fabulous Fannie's," a vintage eyeglass frame shop. They had TONS of frames to choose from, but I still couldn't quite find what I wanted. I want a big old black plastic really nerdy-looking pair. But my head is tiny, so it's a struggle to find ones that actually look right.

It was such a nice day that I decided to walk nearly all the way home. I went from the East Village, to the Williamsburg Bridge, then crossed the bridge and walked about half of the rest of the way back to my place, then hopped on the subway once I got to the stop I wanted. It was probably about four miles in all. And I took lots of pictures of quirky stuff on the way. God, I love weekends in the city.

spring break!

So I'm in Dublin, in an internet cafe. We arrived in Galway Saturday, 8 a.m. Irish time. I spent the day wandering around town seeing what was what. At night we saw the play, ''Leaves.'' I thought it was okay, but everyone else seemed to think it was great. It was about a family whose daughter tried to commit suicide. She was sent to a hospital of sorts, and the play focuses on her return home, and the effects on the rest of the family. I thought the end wrapped up too neatly. The mother and suicidal daughter had a breakthrough one night, and in the next scene it's a few months later, the daughter is leaving for college, and everyone is happy and back to normal. Sure.

On Sunday we took a bus tour of what I presume was the ''countryside'' on a windy, rainy day. The weather was totally tolerable, though, as the scenery was beautiful. We had dinner in a quasi-French restaurant, the highlight of which was the raspberry tart I had for dessert. Yum.

Yesterday (Monday) was incredible. We went to the Aran Islands, and took a ferry to Inis More, the biggest island. Though I thought I was going to die of seasickness on the boat ride over, it was well worth it. The weather was impeccably gorgeous, and the island was absolutely stunning. We hiked up to this fort that overlooked a 300-foot cliff. What a view. The water was bright green and the cliffs on either side of us were sheer drops. Some of us braved the height and lay down right at the edge to peer over, myself included. And, again, I can't even begin to describe how impeccable the weather was. Blue sky, sun, and zero clouds for the majority of the day. We were so lucky. I also bought a really cute hand-made knit hat. At night some of us went to a pub-ish restaurant, then followed that up with an hour or so of traditional Irish folk music in another pub. What a great end to a superb day.

Today we drove to Dublin, stopping on the way at Coole Park, where I took a solitary hike through the woods. This was definitely the most gorgeous forest I've ever seen. There were old stone walls all over the place. Trees were covered in ivy, and everything was covered in bright green moss. It was serene.

Tonight we're going to see Shakespeare's ''Julius Caesar'' at the Abbey Theatre. It should be good. We have to review it, though, so that means I can't go out tonight. Damn. I'm really looking forward to some serious nightlife now that my jet lag is finally all worn off.

Oh yeah, last thing: I set up an appointment today to get another tattoo! My quest to get tattooed in every foreign country I visit (not counting Canada) is on its way! So exciting!

wha-huh?

I just saw a commercial for a new show on Court TV called "Till Death Do Us Part." It's about marriages that end badly, like with one spouse murdering the other. And it's hosted by John Waters.

wtf?! Who comes up with this stuff?

Anyhoo, I saw The Thermals at Studio B in Brooklyn last night. I was introduced to them about a week ago, so I'd only listened to three or four songs before the show. They're pretty much your standard indie-punk, but are really catchy and fun. Plus they were so good live. People in the crowd were really into it, with singing along and stage diving even though it was a small indoor place and the audience was really only thick enough for diving in a radius of ten feet from the stage. The band was all smiles; they seemed really happy to be there, which makes concerts so much more enjoyable. Also the bassist was totally darling. She was wearing a white eyelet babydoll dress and her curly hair was all flopping in her eyes. So cute.

Here are their websites:
http://myspace.com/thethermals
http://www.subpop.com/artists/the_thermals

it's about damn time

Readers may have noticed an usually large gap in time between the last entry and this one. It's not because I'm not going to lots of galleries and events (au contraire! I've done more in two months of NYC life than I did all last semester in The 'Cuse.), it's not because I'm too busy, it's not even because I'm too lazy... It's because my wireless internet simply refused to work in my apartment (though my room mates have no trouble connecting and I have no trouble connecting everywhere else other than my own home). So I've gone without a regular internet diet for nearly two months now. Marta (the Hungarian room mate) allows me the use of her computer anytime I want, but I try not to take advantage of her kindness, so all computer activity has been reduced to the bare minimum. Today it occured to me that the semester is nearly half over and I'm nowhere near halfway done with the research and work required of the numerous papers that must be finished within mere months. So I sucked it up and called 1-800-geek-squad. It took five hours to figure out the problem and fix it. And that's at a rate of $98 an hour. So let me say this:

I highly, highly recommend 1-800-geek-squad. The guy was very professional, really nice, and extremely polite (he asked permission to use the bathroom like three times). I didn't feel at all skeeved out by letting this stranger into my home. He explained what he was doing periodically, so I know he wasn't just fooling around to charge me more. And then he only charged me for two and a half hours' worth of work. I was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown, because I was thinking I would have to pay $500 just to get my internet working. That amount of money could pay for half a new computer! But no, I only had to pay $250. Plus he fixed my spyware detector and ended up cleaning up the whole computer, so now it runs faster too. $250 is a whole lotta money for me, but compared to the potential $500, I feel like it was totally worth it. I feel so much less stressed out now that I have internet. I can finally really get serious with my schoolwork. There's also a 100% guarantee, so if the internet somehow craps out again, Geek Squad will come right back and re-do it for free.

On to the art! I've been attending so much stuff lately that I don't even remember it all. But here are some highlights:

Kai Kuhne show during fashion week. Hugely fat fur mini-dresses, a knit one-piece bodysuit with jodhpurs, and a fat feathered mini-dress that made the model look like a slutty Big Bird. Scary.

Many, many art galleries in SoHo and Chelsea, including free brunch at Max Protetch last weekend. I was actually less than impressed by the gallery space itself (or even the current artwork), but far be it for me to complain about free food and art. I also followed it up with a trip to the Chelsea Art Museum, whose "The Food Show: The Hungry Eye" and "Dangerous Beauty" were deliciously clever (a floor made of scales in front of a CGI video of a scary-skinny runway model strutting her stuff, par example; or the bulimic family of dollhouse toys all vomiting into little toilets with the baby barfing into a training potty). P.S. They carried zingmagazine in their gift shop!

The Fountain Art Fair. A two dollar donation got you free drinks, a decent DJ, and a one-inch button featuring an illustration of-what else?-Duchamp's groundbreaking piece, "The Fountain." I fell in love with these pictures that were harsh black outlines of a mushroom cloud over top of a delicate pencil drawing of a big old rose. The flowers were so subtle that you didn't even notice it's a rose until you took a really good look. But they were so skillfully drawn that at first I thought it was a very light black and white photo. And the nuclear bomb over a rose? I know it's a bit of a cliche, but the mushroom cloud was very graphic and cool looking and that image is totally appropriate for the current political climate.

The zingmagazine release party! So much fun! To read about all the specific preparations I took part in, you'll have to mosy on over to the anonymous intern blog, but the party itself was fantastic. Trendy people + musical chairs + pinatas filled with condoms featuring photos of art on their wrappers + more pinatas filled with artist-related candy (paintbrushes, crayons, and cigarettes-so cute, no?) = a rolicking good time. Hopefully photos of the event will be up on the website soon. I can't wait for the new issue to finally get to the U.S. (it's being printed in Singapore currently). I love my internship.

Assuming my computer feels like behaving itself from now on, many more entries are on their way!

P.S. Ireland in a week!!

it's been a while

So many changes in the past few weeks!

I moved into my new apartment in Queens. It is awsome. The rooms are big and airy and my two room mates are extremely nice. I started my internship with zingmagazine as well, which I'm loving. I'm mostly doing secretarial things, like googling phone numbers, but I also get to do some fun stuff, such as play with Photoshop and InDesign all day. I've spent a lot of time finding articles online about zing, which I then lay out in InDesign all pretty-like. They keep copies of all the articles they find to show to potential advertisers and stuff, to demonstrate that they have a lot of circulation, I guess.

We're also getting ready for the release party that's happening February 25, as the next issue comes out in March, so I've been helping with some of the preparations. There's going to be a pinata filled with condoms at the party (along with a bunch of other silly stuff--I can't wait!), and we're going to put pictures of some artists and/or their art on the wrappers. So I spent the better part of one day googling the artists and making little pictures in Photoshop to put on the wrappers. That was really fun. I'm so glad I took magazine editing last semester, 'cuz I've been using my newfound Photoshop and InDesign skills left and right (and apparently I'm the only intern who knows how to use them--go me!).

This past Friday, Anna (the very sweet and totally adorable managing editor) and I took off early to go gallery-hopping in Chelsea. We saw some fantastic photography in one gallery (that I of course failed to write down the name of, I have got to work on that). There were a whole bunch of bright, colorful portraits (about 10 by 10 inches) of children, but none of the kids were looking directly at the camera, and most weren't centered either. I thought the off-centeredness made the pictures look more natural and spontaneous. I also have a thing for off-kilter stuff in pretty much any visual art (drawings, paintings, prints, what have you). Also in the same gallery were some larger photos (like three by five feet?) of messy tables after people had finished eating. Each photo centered on a section of a table, most covered in a white or cream tablecloth, upon which might be a dessert plate with remnants of cake, or a couple pieces of silverware, some crumbs spread around or a round wine stain, etc. They were sort of voyeuristic, but lovely in their simplicity, and somehow comforting and cozy (particularly one that featured a saucer with what looked like a half-eaten slice of wedding cake left on it... so sweet).

Check out zingmagazine.blogspot.com for the anonymous intern blog.

Also! My Monday class was cancelled for the semester, so now I'm taking an art history independent study focusing on censorship in art. So now I only have to be in class in Syracuse on Wednesdays and sometimes have meetings on Tuesdays. So now I get to stay in NYC five or six days a week, instead of only four. It's wonderful. I love this city so much. I think my favorite part of the day is the subway ride into Soho from Queens, and back again. I get to watch all the neighborhoods and graffiti go by since the train is above ground. And crossing the Williamsburg Bridge feels like going home no matter which direction I'm going, whether toward the city or toward my apartment.

I feel like I'm finally doing something with my life.

immersion trip photos

A poster in the little museum in the Performing Arts Library. This picture's a bit small to really see it, but it's absolutely beautiful and kind of goth looking.


Another theatre poster. It's so pretty... God, I love art nouveau.


Some random graffiti in Chelsea that I liked. It looks like the skeleton guy is trying to escape from the wall. Cute!


This is a painting by Cecily Kahn (from the day spent gallery hopping in Chelsea) that I really loved. I think the white splatter looks like a person falling head first. But the pastel colors in the background are serene, giving the sense that the "person" is floating, not falling. Yet the black splatter is violent and forceful. So I think the "person" is dead. The whole thing feels conflicted: is it peaceful or disturbing? I'm leaning toward both. Death is a sad thing to have to deal with and accept, but it's still a natural part of life.


This is the hallway leading to the bathrooms in the Studio Museum in Harlem. How unusual. I've always loved bright red walls for some reason.


A car in desperate need of a good washing in a parking garage in Harlem. I adjusted it for the new year.


And last, but most certainly not least, me at The Daily Show!

JOY!

I got an apartment in Brooklyn! And it's beautiful! I move in Wednesday night! I still have class in Syracuse on Wednesdays, so I'll be commuting back and forth, but it's totally worth it.

I love New York City so much! I can't believe I'm finally going to be living there!

Pictures will come once I'm settled and it's decorated, etc.

still NY

I actually returned from NYC a few days ago, but here is the wrap-up anyways:

Tuesday we spent the morning workshopping, and had lunch at the Algonquin again. We didn't have anything in the afternoon, so Erica and I did some window shopping on the upper west side. I found a pair of pointy-toed flats in bright yellow for only $20, but they only came in size seven. Sad.

In the evening we went to "The Daily Show"! Jon Stewart is a tiny, tiny man. But still awsome. I was surprised that every segment was done in only one take. I figured they would stop and do stuff over if someone stumbled over their words or anything. Also, they read from a teleprompter, which I was also surprised by, since Jon Stewart seems so natural when you watch it on TV, like he's just talking straight from his head. After the show, us SU'ers were herded into a separate room to wait for Steve Bodow, the head writer we were to have dinner with. And when Steve came down to meet us, he brought Jon Stewart with him! So we got to meet him en masse. We couldn't take any pictures or get autographs or anything, which was really disappointing, but I still got be in the same room as him, so hooray! nonetheless.

Wednesday was our last day. I walked to The Strand, where I picked up a copy of the complete "Little Nemo" comics. I also stumbled upon an organic farmer's market in Union Square, and got some hot garlic jelly and jalapeno sauerkraut for my father. I also went back to the Studio Museum in Harlem to get a copy of the Africa Comics catalogue.

We returned to Syracuse around 10 p.m., to find a few inches of snow on the ground! Finally! I was so happy to finally see snow. Unfortunately it rained today and washed away any remnants of winter prettiness.

In other news, zingmagazine finally called and now I have an internship! Next weekend I'm going back to NY to check out some apartments that I found on good ole' Craig's List, then the fillowing week I'm moving there! I'll still be returning to Syracuse Mondays through Wednesdays for my two classes a week, but I'll be living in NY four days a week. Hooray hooray horray hooray!!!

I'm so happy I'm finally moving to NY.

Last review of the trip

Here is the official review I wrote about the Museum of Sex's exhibit on Japanese comics:

Working Title:
When Worlds Collide: Porn in the museum

A dark room with black walls, small windows cut into each at varying heights so that one must stand on toe or crouch down, face pressed to the hole, to see inside. A peep show? Not quite, though a look within does reveal nudity, prostitution, and all manner of graphic sexual behavior. Set a few inches into the windows of the walls are Japanese prints and drawings detailing sexual escapades dating from the Edo Period (1603-1867) all the way up to modern day’s pornographic manga (comics).

On display through March 6 at New York’s Museum of Sex, Peeping, Probing & Porn: Four Centuries of Graphic Sex in Japan provides an intimate glimpse into the evolution of sex trade and gender roles in Japan, and chronicles the country’s relationship with the western world and its own rapid modernization.

The Edo-era woodblock prints that begin the exhibit feature prostitutes in action within the brothel district. Most include startlingly detailed depictions of colorful engorged genitalia, the artists not shying away from bodily fluids and closeups of penetration. By the time Commodore Perry arrived to force the opening of Japan’s ports in 1854, scenes of rape and sex with demons and animals appeared, a reflection of the West’s invasion. Then western-style clothing shows up and women’s roles appear less victimized, the notes accompanying the pictures pointing out joyful facial expressions and consensual relationships.

Manga exploded after a WWII ban was lifted. Hentai (pornographic manga) now depicts every type of sexual activity and relationship imaginable, signaling a less repressive society in which women are no longer submissive slaves. Wide age gaps, bestiality, and gay relationships are common themes.

The exhibit’s dark walls and bright red floor, small viewing windows, and fabric screens hanging from the ceiling to divide the room into chronological sections all add up to a sense that visitors are participants in a peep show. The copious number of written explanations, however, also provide ample historical context. This mix of sexuality and intellectualism almost desexualizes the pornography, yet the graphic nature of the images keeps it firmly entrenched in masturbatory fodder, making for a uniquely paradoxical museum show.

The end is near...

Only one and a half days left of the NY trip! So sad...
Here is today's recap:

We started out workshopping our reviews. I was with Michael Kimmelman, the chief art critic for the NY Times. Crazy, right? He was fantastic. He pointed out all this stuff that needed to be tweaked in our reviews, while still somehow making me feel like I'm a halfway decent writer. And I agreed with everything he suggested. I suppose that's what happens when you spend a couple decades honing your craft: you end up knowing your shit. Hopefully I will find time to fiddle with the Kimsooja review and post it here again.

We had lunch with the critics (the other two were Alex Ross, chief music critic for The New Yorker, and Megan O'Rourke, culture editor for Slate.com). Lunch was also great, as conversation with Kimmelman came easily and we all found plenty to say. It's really inspiring to meet all these prolific people in my own field. It really gives me hope that I will one day end up with a career that I adore, though I do recognize that getting to that place will take a lot of time and hard work and putting myself out there.

After lunch we had almost an hour and a half to kill, so I got to take a much-needed nap. Then we went to the Studio Museum in Harlem, which was having an exhibit on African comics. I was actually going to check out the exhibit last time I was in the city (about four weeks ago), but didn't have time. I also read an article about African comics in the most recent issue of Zink Magazine, which made me want to see it even more. The museum is actually closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, but they opened up just for our class for two hours today, and gave us a discussion with the director, Thelma Golden, who was wonderfully articulate and had so much to say. I only wish we'd had more time, because I wanted to read all the comics and there were a ton. Also, most of them are in French, which I can read, but it takes about three times longer than reading the same thing in English. I may actually go back Wednesday just to buy the catalogue of the comics, even though the book is ridiculously expensive. I love comics so much, and these African ones are something totally new and unique for me, so I have to have them. It's a compulsion.

We had dinner at "Sylvia's Restaurant," which is apparently a famous institution. It was certainly the best soul food I've ever had. And there was so much! It was unlimited cornbread, fried chicken, fried fish, barbeque ribs, collard greens, spicy rice, potato salad, and then banana pudding with crumbly stuff for dessert. It was SO GOOD. I definitely gorged myself silly on cornbread.

Tomorrow is our last workshop and then in the evening, WE GET TO ATTEND A TAPING OF THE DAILY SHOW!!! I am beyond excited. I adore Jon Stewart and want to marry him. Also, we get to have dinner with one of the writers. SQUEEEEEEEEE!!! So exciting!

I am going to have to be dragged kicking and screaming back to Syracuse. Yes, I love my home; yes, I love my parents; yes, I love school. But being in NY just makes everything so much easier. There is a larger variety of more art here, and being so immersed in culture makes writing about the arts come so naturally. It just flows out of me with nowhere near the amount of struggling I experience in Syracuse. I wish zing and ArtNews would hurry up and get back to me so that I'd know whether I'll be spending next semester here...

Working title: Life in Progress: Kimsooja’s fleeting photos.

Becoming a star of the art world is no easy task. One must have the right style at the right moment, and even then, fame is most often a fleeting fad. How appropriate, then, that Korean artist Kimsooja’s current photography exhibition, at the Peter Blum Gallery in Chelsea, discusses the passage of time.

A Wind Woman, on display through Jan. 13, consists of a group of large-scale color photographs (roughly three feet wide by two feet high) that are stills from her 2003 video of the same name. Kimsooja shot the video while driving in Hawaii, with the camera shutter open at length so as to capture the movement of the landscape as she passed by.

Most of the photographs have placid clouds in the background, while glimpses of what are presumably foliage and contours of the land blur horizontally in the foreground. Dark lines trespass across each photo, exposing the photographer’s movement.

While standing in front of the photos, there is a distinctive sense that the scene is passing you by, not that you’re moving past it. The pictures urge the viewer to hurry, as though time is running by. Since the movement is already captured on film, however, forever sealing it in constant motion, attempts to catch up are a waste of time.

The very first photo in the array is nearly all white, with only very pale grey blobs. The last one is all black. The white evokes birth, with the following photographs life, and the stark black presumably death. It’s a seemingly heartless way of looking at the world. You’re born, life passes you by in an instant, and then it’s over. But within each fast-paced photo, the clouds in the background remain still. The static clouds are the moments that matter enough to stick with you.

Human existence is comparative to a drop in the ocean of time. Kimsooja’s photographs resonate with this short history, and the even shorter life span of each individual. Yet they’re also optimistic, reminding us that to cherish and remember something is to keep it still despite time’s attempts to steal it away.

more NY

Time for another NYC update:

Friday we started out with a tour of the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library. Since my focus is visual arts, this resource may come in less handy for me than for some of my compatriots. It was, however, still amazing. They have archives of everything. They have newspaper clippings from what appeared to be every play that's ever been performed in the U.S. There were filmed stage shows that you could watch, all kinds of photographs and documents, costume and set notes (including fabric swatches! Be still my fabric-loving heart...). It was incredible. Unfortunately, you're only allowed to use their resources if you're doing legitimate research. So I couldn't go there just to look at costume sketches all day or watch different adaptations of Shakespeare just for fun. Sad...

We had lunch with John Rockwell, who has been a music critic, dance critic, NY Times editor, among other things in a number of fields. He was very nice, and what I could manage to overhear was interesting, but for the most part, I couldn't hear anything he was saying because the seating was all spread out. Also, the waiter was hilarious. He kept interrupting us mid-sentence when he brought out food. And when dessert came, he walked over and positively yelled "Key lime tart!" out of nowhere, with no warning. Kathleen and I cracked up.

Next we attended the ballet rehearsal (which turned out to be of "Sleeping Beauty," not "Swan Lake"). It was so neat. We got to see the director actually stop the dancers and make comments and changes. We got to see mistakes, which you never see when you attend a performance (how do they do that?). I wish we could have seen the actual performance too, though, as a comparison would have been appreciated. (Plus I love ballet.)

At night we saw part one of "The Coast of Utopia" (there are three parts). It was so good. It starred Ethan Hawke (lovely) as a pretentious philosophy (aka bullshit)-spouting Russian. I'm a bit hazy on the details, as it jumped around in time and there were a ton of characters, but I think the general gist of the plot is Ethan Hawke's character (Michael) sympathizes with the Decembrists (or maybe he is one, I'm not entirely sure...), and he wants Russia to modernize after the western world's example. At the end of the first part, he gets banished to Siberia for his "anti-government" activity. The costumes, the acting, the lighting, the set and scene changes... they were all superb. Seriously. Go see this play. All three parts if you can.

Yesterday we explored galleries in Chelsea, which made me oh so very happy. We started with Kimsooja's photographs, which I reviewed. (See above to read it, it should be the next blog post after this one.) We also saw Cecily Kahn's super bright abstract paintings, which I fell in love with, and Edgar Martins' absolutely beautiful, haunting photographs of a Portuguese beach at night. Lastly, we saw Janis Kounellis' sculptures, which I wasn't really that into. I don't know what the artist's intention was, but they all reminded me of torture chambers. There were these wire beds wrapped in strips of fabric, with the surface painted a rust color... they looked bloody to me, like someone had chopped people up on top of them. Scary.

(I'll post photos of this stuff and further comments when I get back to Syracuse. I don't have the right cord with me, so I can't transfer my pics to the computer while I'm here.)

We also had a studio visit with painter Pat Lipsky, but I wasn't that into the paintings she showed us either. I did get a look at a book of some more of her work, though, and I liked some of the stuff in the book a lot. Pat herself, however, was fantastic. I wish I could do studio visits all the time. It's fascinating to listen to artists talk about the mental and physical processes that go into creating a piece of work. I'm also a firm believer that knowing what goes into a piece of art informs your criticism by leagues. I guess as a bit of an artist myself, I just don't see how you can grasp an art form without experiencing its creation to a certain extent yourself. I don't believe that people with no artistic experience can't be critics, I just think that making art helps you appreciate it in a way that non-artists can't quite understand.

At night we attended the NY Philharmonic, which was thankfully a short performance, because I was very tired by this point. They played Beethoven's violin concerto first, with soloist Pinchas Zukerman. He was incredible. Who knew the violin could make such crazy, high pitched (yet somehow pleasing) squeals. The second piece was Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, which was absolutely phenomenal. This is the piece of music that accompanies the dinosaurs in "Fantasia." It is so chaotic, and loud, and brash, and awsome. It was just the thing to wake me up enough to go out for some chow with classmates. We ended up at a Mexaican place called Cosmic Cantina, which had yummy, but unfortunately very small, quesadillas. And then bed at about 2 a.m.

Today was our one and only free day, so I slept super late and it was glorious. I didn't do much, started out wandering around Chinatown for a bit in search of this underground mall that I went to with other people once years ago, but I couldn't find it. Lappy told me what street it was on (even which block), but after walking back and forth down the one little block, I still couldn't figure out where the hell its entrance was. It's either totally inconspicuous, or I'm just blind (or both!).

I met up with Andre and we got lunch and wandered around for a while. We eventually split, and I went to the Museum of Sex. Their exhibit on Japanese comics was really good. There was lots to read and they had a vast, vast array of pornographic Ukiyo-e (woodblock) prints and some manga. The ukiyo-e prints were really creepy. Japanese artists used to depict genitalia (especially penises) as really scary-looking. I noticed that the comics really outlined Japanese history, though, with the earliest prints picturing brothels and the sex trade, then a lot of sex with animals and demons and rape when the western world exerted its influence just before and then after Commodore Perry's arrival. Then all the characters started wearing western clothes and women's roles became less submissive and victimized

Manga was banned in WWII, so you next saw crude homemade drawings, and then post WWII saw the development of manga as we now know it. And by now manga tackles every aspect of "liberated," "deviant," or "perverse" sexuality that you can imagine. Bestiality, boys' love (yaoi), underage activity... Japanese comics have it all. I see it as a result of a much less repressive society, though the lack of repression is still debatable compared to the west, I think. But regardless, it's obviously far less repressive than the Edo Period. Manga also depicts women and men in all different societal relationships now (dominant vs. submissive, old age with a young'un etc.), which is pretty revolutionary compared to the always dominant (and often domineering) role of the man in both art and society in the past.

Okay, it is definitely time for sleep. Workshop tomorrow.

in NY once again

I've been back in NYC since last Saturday. Saturday through Tuesday morning I was just here for fun and to celebrate New Years (which was fantastic, by the way). I have been far too occupied with school stuff since meeting up with my arts journalism classmates Tuesday, so this is going to be a long entry recapping what I've done thus far. Enjoy.

Saturday I met Lappy in the city and we got dinner at a small, cute place that I can't remember the name of. The tables were chalkboards, though, so we could draw while we waited for our food. Perfect for us art kids. I hadn't seen her since I graduated, so it was wonderful to see a familiar face and catch up on our lives, etc. We walked around the city for a couple hours after that, ate some Cold Stone, then spent the night at her place in Westchester.

Sunday we slept ridiculously late and went to the city again, but split up to go to different parties. I met up with Jon and that whole crew from undergrad, and we went to a party at their friend Ann's beautiful apartment in Brooklyn. I miss those guys something awful and it was spectacular to hang out with all the people I used to see every day. I also chatted it up with some new kids, a couple of whom I exchanged e-mail addresses with. This was by far the best New Years I've ever had.

Monday evening Lappy and I returned to her house, where I read scanlations of Nana (it's a manga by Ai Yazawa) all night. The scanlations picked up about one chapter after the last chapter I'd read in Shojo Beat Magazine, so I missed a key part of the story, but everything that happened after that key point was the opposite of what I was hoping would happen. It was horribly depressing. Yazawa is a manga goddess. I find myself completely emotionally invested in her comics, even though when you get right down to it, they're basically just soap operas. Her talent for drawing expressive faces and for writing believable dialogue suck me right in.

Tuesday I went to the new MoMA (finally). I was kind of disappointed, actually. They have an incredible collection, and it's all organized on the walls really well, and I like the high ceilings. But I didn't like the floor layout at all. Instead of each floor being one meandering loop so that you can walk straight from one end to the other without missing anything, it had offshoots of rooms all over the place so that you had to retrace your steps much of the time to see everything.

In the evening, I met up with the rest of my arts journalism program and we saw the Broadway musical, "The Drowsy Chaperone." It's a play within a play. A guy talks to the audience about how much he loves this musical ("The Drowsy Chaperone") from the 30s, and when he puts the soundtrack on, the musical comes to life in his living room for the audience to see. The mini-musical was really doofy, though. It was about a famous Broadway star questioning whether she really wanted to get married (leaving her fame behind in the process) on the eve of her wedding. The "chaperone" was her consistently drunk maid of honor. Other cheesy characters are involved in the preparations, and "hilarity" ensues. The costumes and the set were gorgeous, and the "man in chair" character was amusing, but overall the whole thing was just too silly for my taste.

Yesterday we toured the New York Times offices, which was really cool. It makes me wonder if I'll ever see the inside again (from a desk, perhaps??). Lunch was spent with Jared Hohlt, culture editor at New York Magazine. He was very nice, though I must add that NY Mag never responded when I applied for an internship. Not even a polite rejection. Boo. (Not that it has anything to do with Hohlt, he was great.)

We next went to the Morgan Library & Museum, where I saw "Bob Dylan's American Journey," Saul Steinberg illustrations, and drawings by Fragonard and his contemporaries. The Dylan exhibit was so-so. It was a ton of stuff in a small, cramped area. It was interactive, in that you could listen to all his records from 1956-66 in their entirety, so that was a plus. And there were a lot of handwritten documents, including song lyrics, which was pretty amazing to see. The Steinberg stuff was pretty good, but not fantastic. The explanation printed on the wall claimed that he did set design, but there weren't any sketches or props from his designs on display. I did enjoy the drawings that were there, though. There was the classic New Yorker cover of the view of the rest of the world from NYC's perspective, and some collages he made out of self-designed rubber stamps, which I liked a lot. The Fragonard drawings were absolutely beautiful. I reviewed them for Wednesday's assignment, and will post my review after some more editing.

Then at night we saw "A Chorus Line." Most of the other AJ kids didn't seem too crazy about it, but I enjoyed it. I hadn't known anything about it ahead of time, though, and had only heard one song beforehand ("One Singular Sensation," which I didn't even know was from this show), so I think it helped that I went in with so few expectations.

Wow. Long day. Today I was exhausted.

Today we workshopped our reviews. My group was with Robert Ivy, an editor from Architectural Record Magazine. He was really helpful and encouraging. Lunch was spent with him and Eric Grode, a theatre critic at the New York Sun, copy editor at the New York Times, and an SU alumni. (Talk about accomplished.)

In the evening we had a networking party, which didn't turn out to be too successful for me. I talked to a number of people, but no visual arts people showed up, not even the couple who'd RSVP'ed. I was really hoping to meet this one woman from Phaidon Press, which is probably my favorite publisher. They put out a lot of art books, especially some absolutely beautiful collections of photography. But she didn't come.

Lastly, we went to Jazz at Lincoln Center (which is actually located at Columbus Circle), and this was incredible. The venue was gorgeous. It was a smallish club full of small tables that each had these really cool lamps that were basically gigantic eggs made of fogged glass with a lightbulb inside. I really want one. I'll have to check ebay. The ceiling had a dropped lip where it met the wall, which snaked all around the room in a wiggling shape. Then one wall was just a giant window with the most spectacular view I've ever seen inside the city, especially at night. There weren't any buildings obstructing the immediate view, but there was a wide cluster of skyscrapers further in the distance that had plenty of lights on. And I hate to admit it, but the glow around the buildings (caused by light pollution) just added to the scene. It was classic NY. Oh yeah, and the jazz was pretty good too (a quintet called "Horizon") considering I'm not much of a jazz person, but I was definitely paying more attention to the view and people watching.

And once again I am going to bed far later than I would prefer after a ridiculously busy day. Tomorrow will be a tour of the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library, a visit to "Swan Lake" rehearsal (which I am very excited about), and another play (Tom Stoppard's "The Coast of Utopia: The Voyage"), but that last event will be after getting FOUR WHOLE HOURS OF FREE TIME. Finally! I'm either going to go to the Museum of Sex, which is currently showing an exhibit on Japanese comics, will head down to St. Mark's to do some window shopping in the punk shops, or may seek out a decent tattoo shop, as I'd like to get one done while I'm here if I have time.