I'm feeling so bloggy today! Blogalicious.

Last weekend, Dustin and I went to the Whitney Museum for the much-hyped Biennial. (We just love museums, as you can tell from the last several entries.) On the way we saw some lovely signs of spring, that reemerging nymph of sun and blossom.

So we got to the Whitney, which was not on 90th and 5th as I had fervently insisted,
but instead was 75th and... something. It has a really cool ceiling.
... which was probably the most interesting thing we saw in the whole museum, with the possible exception of this statue in their permanent collection:
It was remarkably difficult to take illegal pictures, because their guards were, like, non-English-speaking ogres of museum law enforcement. I managed a couple of my favorites.

... which included a hi-LA-rious fake trailer of a new rendition of "Caligula," starring the likes of Helen Mirren, Benecio Del Toro, Courtney Love, and the "incomparable Milla Jovovich."
Most of the show was a load of crap. Pardon my language, Mom, I know you don't like that word. But the show was truly so mediocre that, besides a few saving pieces, it was... dare I say... BAD ART. But then again, who am I to judge?

So afterwards we made our way to Klong (which is becoming a post-museum tradition) and I finally went to the ladies' room, which was beautiful and difficult to capture digitally.

Last night I traveled afar, beneath the water and over a bridge, then walked for what seemed like ages (8 blocks) just to see my favorite Queens queens, Kerri and Shannon, to watch "America's Next Top Model." It was SUCH a good episode. On my way home, in the subway station, there was this grotty old thing. It looked like art to me (better art than at the freaking Whitney Biennial, that's for sure). Ah, and today I went to a sound mixing session at Audio Engine. It was so nice out that I walked. I noticed that our lovely Flatiron building, which for several months now has had its snout shielded in scaffolding, has been unsheathed. I sighed happily.
Oh, it was sooooo nice out! The sunlight was just right, caressing the sides of buildings near Union Square.Audio Engine had a great ladies' room as well. Hm. Maybe it doesn't quite translate.

Happy Spring, everyone.

Wrap parties just so totally rule, dude.

Last Friday JJ's movie had a wrap party at old P.S. and a bunch of grips and prop masters whom we didn't know came over to par-tay!

Ben claimed to not want his photo taken. I had to wrassle him into frame.

And this is the abhorrant hairstylist who, when I was an extra in the movie, told me that my hair was so bad that I should shave it all off. With not even a trace of sarcasm. She didn't pick up the sarcasm in my smile at the wrap party.
That's all for now. Happy freakin' Tuesday. It's getting warmer out!!!!!

Fashion Psychic

As you know, earlier this week Sarra and I wore equally dazzling outfits (well, Sarra's was slightly more beautiful).

Then, a couple of days later, Madeleine and I wore our matching gray pinstripe pants. Aren't we adorable?And finally, today, Mitch and I both wore our semi-matching free Vans.
My coworkers and I are just so fashionable, don't you agree?

Remembering Matt.

Last night I was bored, watching TV at work, going through my camera phone to assign photos to various phone numbers. Everyone was in their appropriate place: Tom was at Tom's number, Grandma was at Grandma's number. Then I arrived at this picture:

Instinctively I went to assign it to his number, and I stopped in my tracks. My heart felt like it was being held in a tight fist. Not only did it not matter where I assigned his picture because I would never get to call him again, but his cell phone number was altogether obsolete. I looked at the last picture I ever took of him, a few months before he died, with his soft, sloping, kind eyes and gentle, humble smile, and realized I would never hear my phone ringing and pick it up to find that picture on the display.
Oftentimes on the subway I'll hear a trumpet player on the platform. The doors open for just a few moments at a station, and a few bars of music, brought to life by the distinctive tone and aural texture of a trumpet, float in, and whatever I was saying or doing is rendered meaningless. This happened a couple of months ago when I was with Dustin, and right in the middle of a sentence I started crying uncontrollably. I think of him playing alongside my stepdad in Arizona, or playing at parties when the birthday cake came out, or playing "Lullaby" at my cousin Amy's baby shower. I remember he said just before he died that he felt restless, couldn't sleep at night, and would play scales for hours by moonlight. He said it comforted him, soothed him. I can scarcely hear the sound of a trumpet without it bringing tears, just remembering how wonderful he was and how much I miss hearing his horn.

Ebony and Ivory

Today's photos....
A calla lilly for Mom

(Digital Macro photography for Dad)

Georgia O'Keefe-ish, dontcha think?


and miscellaneous: Sarra and I both wore brightly colored shirts today... I thought we looked pretty, which you can only sort of tell from this pic. We were just missing a bright greener... but probably everybody's bright green shirts are in the laundry.
Happy Freakin' Tuesday. It's still cold out.

The only day I wear green instead of red

Happy St. Patty's Day To Ya! You know I got my green on!

New York: When it's good, it's THE BEST.

This sunny Saturday I forgot my camera during my adventures around this once-again beautiful city, as the town came alive once again with the rise of the temperature (70 degrees!!!) and the people emerged from their apartments and brownstones like worms from a dampened log. Some things I would have photographed to share with you:
1) A lanky, thin man wearing a pinstripe suit, fedora, and handlebar mustache (not unlike the one I kiss nightly) and bright, sharp blue eyes.
2) A banjo player
3) A mime
4) Art sales flourishing along Museum Mile
5) Kids eating ice cream
I cannot conceivably count the number of times I sighed audibly in contentment (at least 7 times while walking along Central Park), nor can I count the number of little smiling babies I saw, nor the the amount of involuntary, almost secret smiles on the faces of people emerging from winter - including the one on my own face.
However, on Sunday I remembered my camera as Dustin and I attended the Armory Show, an annual gathering of about 150 art galleries from all over the world showing samples of their collections. We were there for about 4 hours and felt rushed. It was amazing. Plus, we saw Matt Dillon; I was looking at one collection and turned to look for Dustin and suddenly he was just standing three inches from my face, looking at me with that furrowed-eyebrow thing he does. Not as tall as you would think; but I guess that's the case with most celebrities, models excluded.
Some memorable items:

This exhibit (Raymond Pettibon) was where we saw Matt Dillon:
Look at the size of this face!! And the mustache!!!
I found that I'm not the only collagist (collage-ist?) in this world. This one was absolutely amazing (wall-sized), by Gabi Trinkaus:
And this collage wasn't half-bad either, though none of it could hold a candle to the Rauschenberg exhibit we saw the day before:

This one was really cool because it had an intentional glare. I kept trying to take pictures of it and finally was like, Oh. It's supposed to be that way.


We saw some amazing textures.
Oh-so-clever art:

Even light installations:

With a gallery representative who looked less than thrilled by the whole experience:
For a full run-down (accompanied by music), you can check out the Quicktime that Dustin made of his photos of that day:

http://ps260.com/elfollador/Armory06.mp4

To see the pics individually you can just scroll through the timeline.
And finally, when we left, here was some good old New York subway art:

We ended the night with a mad dash to catch the M-50 bus, the energy expenditure of which sapped our exhausted art-loving bodies. We had a nice li'l dinner at the Thai restaurant Klong, which never fails to satisfy.
Happy Art Weekend!!

Sweeping the clouds away?

Despite the mildness of this winter, I'm anxious for spring. Here are some pictures taken on sunny days.

This is the new face of Equinox Gyms, and I really think he's doing a great job. Here's to you, Equinox Dude.

And here is a faded, scrappy sign outside of a French restaurant across the street:

And from the inside of the ladies' bathroom at P.S. 260, where the shadows just do whatever they please.