May 15, 2008
Recent Acquisitions of Things That Hold Liquids (wherein I also talk about pee)
Bone china teapot and teacups on the cheap (20%off!) at Muji. Months ago I went off coffee and adopted hot tea. You want to know the result? I have to pee quite often.
Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Inc. travel mug. I recently had some family in town, we visited Rockefeller Center, I asked, "Who wants Dwight Shrute bobble heads?", and the result was me buying this mug along with the season 1 DVD of 30 Rock. I keep this mug at work and drink tea from it. I put my name on it with permanent marker because I've had mugs stolen at work, including my beloved WNYC mug that I got for my charitable donation to public radio. This stealing of things, along with the pee-on-the-seat phenomenon that unfailingly occurs despite the twice-daily cleaned bathrooms that also offer paper seatcover dispensers, demonstrates that you may be able to give someone a top-tier MBA but, sometimes, it won't change the fact that they were raised by wolves.
April 15, 2008
Listen Missy blog post lifecycle: 2.5 months to compile, 3 days to script
I don't know if I have been magnetically repelled from the internet, incredibly lazy, or just slow, but I've been trying to get this post up since Sunday. Here we go!
The New York Giants ticker tape parade. Actually, no, that's just part of the line-up on the parade route some 3-4 hours prior. Ticker tape has obviously been made obsolete by technology and so, I am told, shredded paper now gets thrown from buildings. But do the windows from those buildings actually open anymore? Doesn't that seem kind of frightening, to know you could fall out of a 40th story window? And then get crushed by a speeding cab?
Times New Viking at Bowery Ballroom. They opened for the sold-out Super Furry Animals but I came for TNV and left after their too-brief 30-minute set. I know, I know. Sorry SFA fans. It was a school night.
My new bicycle, now a couple of months old. It's a small frame for my small legs. Recently when I was riding for pleasure to Prospect Park, I had a sensation I hadn't felt since I was young: complete freedom (from agendas, time frames, destinations, chores, and boredom). When I was a kid I would go for bike rides by myself to clear my kid head or to be by myself for awhile or to just ride by Matt Murray's house. I wish Matt Murray lived on 3rd Street.
My new bookshelves, with some lighting that I turned on for this photo and not since. Whereas in the past there was a subway theme to my iPhone photos, this time around there is a "My New" theme. That theme will end following this batch because I am not made of money.
Oh wait. Here's a subway photo. I had a car to myself, at the reasonable hour of ~9pm on the 4/5 line, as I eased on back to Brooklyn.
I didn't initially remember what this photo was, as it looks like I am capturing motion. It's actually stacked wood in the window of the (now open) Urban Outfitters a block from my apartment. I wonder how business is doing? I would think members of my neighborhood had outgrown Urban Outfitters. (Full confession: I recently bought a pair of pants there.)
Dirty Projectors at Williamsburg Hall of Music, which has a nearly identical layout as the Bowery Ballroom. The DP's have an unusual, dare I say experimental sound. Very compositional, some interesting vocals and polyrhythm. Kind of high-fiber music. I saw Kip from TVotR there; my friend Gerry told me that he saw Kip on the subway reading the Times business section.
Cunningham studio, waiting for class. That's the day's teacher, Daniel, one of the company dancers and part of the rotating cadre of studio teachers, caught in a perfect Cunningham attitude tilt. (That's not "attitude" as in, Patti LaBelle. It's a French ballet term.) Once, I was fixating on his calves and I wasn't paying attention to the combination he was demonstrating. Not paying attention in that class spells trouble, fast. (The woman sitting there--I don't know her story, if she's a former dancer or someone who lives in the neighborhood. I do know that she takes the intermediate class regularly and appears to be in her 70's.)
You know what else I have been fixating on? Singing (out loud) a weird song whenever I'm riding back home from Manhattan. A few examples: "Let's Groove" by Earth, Wind, and Fire (I hear the brass instruments in my head plain as day); "Take Me Home Tonight" by Eddie Money (I sing the Ronnie Spector part deliberately like a troll); "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" by the Andrews Sisters ("A root, a toot, a toodlie-a-da-toot he blows it eight to the bar"); and a brand new arrangement of "Do You Know The Muffin Man?" (think Cat Power cover).
Where was I?
Last Thursday we had our first very warm day of the year. In the morning, we had some wild, San Francisco-like fog hanging over the water. I only had my crappy iPhone camera on me.
Finally, my new bed. My first night in it, I slept for 9 and 1/2 uninterrupted hours. The day prior, I dropped my old box spring on my foot.
March 30, 2008
Brother, can you spare a dime?
Manhattan Bridge. There's plenty of fencing to prevent your jumping.
As I mentioned below, only half-jokingly, I'm starting to realize the effects of aging. Last year my skin started to reveal its true self. This past year, I've found it's more difficult to recover from things--my back feels tighter, I bruise more easily. Next year I expect my beloved metabolism will implode, but I've got nine full months before my next birthday happens. In the latest twist, I slept wrong exactly one week ago and my neck is still working itself in and out of pain. The other night my friend Bob called my Frankenstein for my inability to isolate my head when turning to the left. But enough about my physical complaints, let's talk financials!
This morning as I was waking up, I started to realize--scratch that, I actually mean "stopped denying"--that my mattress has lost its youthfulness. I'm good to it; I rotate it and flip it at regular intervals. But it is now ten years old and feels a little lopsided. And who knows if this back and neck business has anything to do with the mattress. I've also been painting over, 3-4 times now to match my changing decorating tastes, the cheap IKEA headboard I've had for nearly as long. (That reminds me: I've decided to go gray. Not hair--none yet! I mean my bedroom wall. In December I painted it an aqua color that I've grown to detest.) I think it's time for the whole thing to go.
I've been looking at a new bed frame and a memory foam mattress at Room & Board, although I'm not necessarily settled on that particular retailer or that type of mattress. When it's all said and done, this'll probably set me back more than $2K. R&B does not haul away old mattresses, and in looking for people who do that kind of thing...let's just say it's not cheap. Are there no good deals to be had in New York City?
Anyway, I am kind of excited about owning a brand new bed. I do love to sleep!
March 20, 2008
And in other photography...
Imprecise composition
This weekend my friend Josh invited me to accompany him on an eyeglasses-buying errand, I was told because of my good taste but more likely for my outspoken opinions on matters aesthetic. (One might even go so far as to call me a snob.) Naturally, I was agreeable to the exercise. Two vintage eyewear stores, one meal, one missed Film Forum screening, and several hours later, he was growing frustrated while I was growing bored. I hung out the open window at Moscot with my Holga and took a shot of Orchard Street, while he finally settled on a replacement for his striking and rare--but broken--tortoise-rimmed Ray-Ban Malcom X's with a pair of tortoise-rimmed Henry K's. **
The lesson here is that it is hard to let go of the past, especially when the past seems so entangled with one's sense of identity. But we change and it's almost always for the better.
On a related note, I am aging. More than a half-life of wear and tear has increasingly aggravated my noisy right knee. (I should add that yoga? Not always the solution to what ails you. It's what kicked off this whole mess several years ago.) My orthopedist basically said to stop dancing. I basically told him to shove it. (Not exactly. I just nodded gravely and said, "No" on the inside. Then I cried on the subway. Now I'm over it and still dancing.) Since then I started physical therapy, which turns out to be one of the best things I've ever done for myself. The good news: all meniscus and ligaments are intact and my problem is one of mild muscular imbalance. And sometimes, you really just need someone to strap themselves to your thigh and work out that hip socket.
** Those would be Henry Kissingers.
March 08, 2008
Success!
Down Under the Manhattan Bridge.
I've been meaning to scan that photo all week--it was my first successful print, removing dust from the negative, centering the print properly on the paper, exposing it correctly and dodging appropriately (a technique to bring out detail in the dark areas). Now if only I could've gotten the scan to turn out as nicely as the print.
Today was one of the crappiest weather days in recent memory. I should have used the free time to take my laptop to get fixed--some keys are still sticking now a couple of weeks after my clumsy paws knocked over a bottle of beer, despite following up with an isopropyl alcohol bath. ( By 'bath', I mean just that; I poured a bottle of it on my keyboard. On purpose.) Instead, I decided to go to the beach, on this unlikeliest of beach days. There were at least three other photographers there, including one person shooting with a trashbag-covered large format camera.
Then I came home and made some tea and watched multiple episodes of Northern Exposure. Haven't really moved since.
By the way, Astroland opens next weekend already.
March 01, 2008
The Old School Way
My very first darkroom print. 8 seconds at f/8 with a #3 filter. Shot on Tri-X 400 with a 28mm lens at f/2.8, developed in Diafine.
I've been taking a photography class since January after a few years of attempts at embracing the (mostly digital but, lately, film) hobby.** Until about two weeks ago, I never knew how much fun being in the darkroom could be. When I was in graduate school my boyfriend Aaron was a photography student. While I spent hours working out math problems and writing Gauss code, he would spend sleepless nights in the darkroom, emerging at daylight, not realizing how long he'd been at it. Now I get it. What I don't get is why I didn't develop an interest in photography back then; Aaron was doing what I then thought of and even still consider as interesting abstract work, creating medium and larger scale prints of destroyed (scratched up, ripped up) Polaroids.
That said, most of my existing tastes and hobbies didn't become fully formed until I hit (at least) 30. I always was a late bloomer.
** With all the chemicals, water, and sheets of (expensive) paper, I recognize that this is not a very environmentally-friendly hobby.
February 11, 2008
Thriller
I tore my apartment upside down looking for this. I have no way of listening to it.
Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary re-issue of Michael Jackson's Thriller. For a long time, my favorite song was "Beat It". It mostly had to do with the video. There's Michael, waking up from a nap or something? Just missing those dudes at the diner and the pool hall, hoping to catch up with them and stop the rumble, but not before dancing and singing at the camera. Nowadays, I prefer "Billie Jean".
That album was ubiquitous for its entire first year--consequently, most of my memories from that time are linked to this record. For example, I remember going to a sixth-grade dance in my pastel-striped Izod sweater (I almost typed that as 'iZod'--thanks Apple!), permed mullet haircut, and grey leather jazz shoes (which I tend to see in the morning on local high school girls as they walk to school--thanks Mary-Kate Olsen!) anxiously awaiting the secret performance that my fellow sixers Tim Koehl, Jay Spivey, Davey Reed and others had planned. (I already knew what the secret was because Tim let the cat out of the bag in CCD class.) It involved "Billie Jean" and a carefully rehearsed break-dancing routine and a single white glove on Tim's hand, little white boy from rural Ohio that he was. Among us girls hanging off to the side, Kristin Barrett was embarrassed to demonstrate how far she'd come in mastering the moonwalk, which she (and, c'mon, all of us) had practiced in her socks on the linoleum kitchen floor.
There was the time several of us raced from school to Sharma Billups' house to watch the world premiere of the video for "Thriller". "World Premiere" in those days meant showing a video about 8 times an hour all day long. We would later memorize the zombie dance. In the summer, at a cheerleading day camp for girls held at the local armory/YMCA by the high school cheerleaders, I learned a pom pom routine to "P.Y.T." Now that I think about it, that last bit is kind of creepy.
I have no interest in the re-imagined re-issue, which features the likes of Kanye--whom I maintain, correctly or incorrectly, is a flash in the pan--and Fergie--Fergie? Really? It's probably better to keep "Thriller" tucked away in my memory. I'm sorry, children of today, that you have no comparable blockbuster megalith like "Thriller" or that you cannot possibly comprehend the magnitude of Michael Jackson's impact on popular culture such that a significant piece of one's childhood is defined right along side it, unapologetically cheesy as it now seems. You'll just have to take my word for it.
February 01, 2008
What's Up
I'm taking a film photography class. It's very basic right now but I'm being patient. Fundamentals are important.
Check it:
- My new favorite blog, counter critic. Makes reading about the arts fun.
- The Skandie annual movie poll is under way. Click this link, Mike D'Angelo's blog, where he is currently doing the slow reveal. His posts contain the Best Scene clips. (As of this writing, we're at the 15th--out of 20--place winners.) Here is my ballot.
- Alex Ross was on Charlie Rose. And Colbert. He did not look entirely at ease in the latter. "Do you have any rock & roll in this damn book?"
- Kurt Loder is a libertarian. (Text version.)
- TV Club at Slate: The Wire. I'm still feeling this season out--you feel me?--but my favorite moment so far was Marlo's double-take in Levy's office. "You ever find that camera?"
January 27, 2008
iPhone Update
Was it really just four posts ago that I introduced The World According to Missy: An Arbitrary Assortment of Day-in-the-Life Glimpses through the iPhone Camera? Because I've got another collection ready already.
Mihow threw a surprise birthday party for Toby, except that he showed up before all the guests. Speaking of parties, the second shot was of the table at my company holiday party. I don't know why the chopsticks are there, because what about cocktail wieners suggests chopsticks? And that candle? A battery-powered light buried in a jelly-like substance.
It's the baby again, at Enid's. He's wearing gang colors. I should create an iPhone subway series because half of my photos were subway-related. Here is one: the elevated platform of the 1 train at 125st street, on my way back downtown after paying a visit with Laura, Ezra, Hillary, and, of course, Putney.
The New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, during one of the intermissions of Jewels. The photos along the tiers are part of a rotating collection of the New York City ballet over the decades, which makes killing time before a performance and during intermissions less boring. Next, a view of a mound along the Hudson, on Metro North rail. It's a lovely ride along the Hudson line.
Within this next re-sized photo, you can barely catch a glimpse of Merce Cunningham in his wheelchair as his dancers begin to warm up before a performance at Dia:Beacon. I only recently learned that Merce continues to teach a class at his studio, and that he will begin broadcasting those classes. I have been taking (a less advanced) class there recently and it's been like learning to walk and count all over again, which is to say, I haven't had an easy time of it. Also, shhhh. I was not supposed to be taking photos. Meanwhile, another photo I was not supposed to take: inside one of the Richard Serra Torqued Ellipses. There was a rather elaborate cobweb at the top of the opening. Good luck seeing it in this photo.
Subway sleeper. See what I mean about the subway photos? For some reason, I took a photo of some of the things on my desk at work. I use that calculator for adding and subtracting, occasionally multiplying and dividing things. That's all the functionality I am required or know how to use, as I need neither to solve nor graph the differential of the arctan of anything.
Looking north from the 50's at Central Park the Uppers West and East Sides. It never gets old, people. Walking home over the Brooklyn Bridge at dusk. The good news is, the days are getting incrementally longer. Barely.
January 13, 2008
Dia:Beacon and other things
Gulls on the Hudson River, Beacon, NY
A summary of my Favorite Things Right Now:
- Yogi Tea's Bedtime tea. There's a mild licorice flavor, even though I hate licorice as well as the word "licorice" because, well, look at it. It's pronunciationally misleading like "catsup" only it has the additional flaw of making me think of "lice". But the tea is awesome! Instead of having an adult drink to wind down my day, I drink this.
- Yoga Download. I guess there are plenty of free yoga podcasts but you still have to test them out (I give them 10 minutes before I inevitably turn them off and delete them), which is annoying if you're like me and you change your clothes and lay out a space with your yoga mat prior to testing. Yoga Download offers yoga sessions that aren't free but they are inexpensive. Bonus: one of my and DC's favorite former teachers, Lisa Richards, is one of the instructors. The great thing about these sessions is that you can find a variety tailored to your tastes--morning sessions, restorative classes, 20 minutes v. 60 minutes, etc--and you can preview them before you buy. I like straight up vinyasa classes and these have matched the types of classes I've grown accustomed to. I've purchased seven of them so far.
- If yoga's not your thing, may I suggest this clip from the "20 Minute Workout". You remember that, don't you? Make sure you have the sound on. That's it, join us!
- George Antheil's wild Ballet Mécanique, the accompaniment to Fernand Léger's 1924 Futurist short film of the same name. (Watch here.) The original score was composed independently of the film and ended up being twice as long as the film. More interestingly, it was composed for player pianos. In 2006, the National Gallery featured an all-robotic performance of the piece.
- Alex Ross, whom I've been a fan of ever since I started reading his New Yorker reviews and, later, his blog, whose book The Rest is Noise is a fun read for those musically-inclined, although I feel a little ashamed that much of my ten years of private music education has escaped me. That was such a run-on non-sentence. Anyway, I'm delighted to discover there are audio samples to accompany his book.
- Dia:Beacon. I took Metro North (90 minutes one way) up there yesterday for a Merce Cunningham Dance Company Event. Why I had never gone up there sooner is now a mystery to me--this is a museum the way a museum ought to be (at least, for this type of art): staggeringly spacious, absent of any artificial lighting, arranged with a single artist per gallery. The expansiveness and austerity allow for the (mostly large-scale) works to become more dramatic. There's no photography allowed inside--and certainly not for the dance performance--but in being mere feet from Merce's dancers, I desperately wished I could've used my 85mm lens to capture the focus on their faces and the way their hands found each other during partnering moments, despite a choreography known for its full-body shapes.
