The New Idea...

Well, ive decided that once a week is a pretty good rate to post on the diary photoblog, but what if i just get a quick idea and want to write bit more, instead of constantly putting up pictures? That's why i began this. This week is comiing, but i got very excited about my new video, take a peek. It will evole, worry not. If you can't see that, then have this highly compressed piece of crap.

Dinners And Dinners And Munch, Oh My…

I hit up the stop motion cinematography one more time for the Judas movie on Friday, and I once again cannot show you the products of that labor. But I could not help myself, on Wednesday, when Jenna and I found ourselves bored, we went at it. So check it out. Oh, and we had some trouble choosing the music, so you can decide which is better. Oh, and if it feels like it ends too soon, that’s cause it does, Jenna stripped all the way down, but censored me from showing even the black barred version. Here, have an unrelated picked.

Jenna then surprised me with her beautiful painting, which is now a proud addition to my sparse wall.

Friday, Lauren was having a not quite going away diner party, so Jenna and I gladly came along to the trendy MD-50. A big surprise was Kelechi, Ogo’s little brother in for the night.

And Lauren’s drink, which almost punched me in the face.

The place had French portions, which the waitress thoroughly explained.

While Rod gave her a slightly drunken hard time about. But it was St. Patty’s, so who can blame him.

Thanks, Lauren, for such a beautiful meal.

Oh, and thank you, waitress, for putting up with a sort of annoying group.

Saturday, I slept all day. I was tired from running around the Drew campus taking pictures. But at night, it was Mer Lyn’s birthday. Happy 25th!

Jenna and I chilled it in the corner.

Met kinda crazy guy Robert.

Talked to the ive-been-drinking-since-one Drew.

Cursively waved to Briony.

Caught a glimpse of the cool embroidered jacket.

Then missed the elder and younger Lyns, as they were locked in a room. But I did catch Melinda. (I failed my pokemon directive to catch ‘em all.)

Sunday, we hit the MoMA for a well deserved Munch exhibit.

No photos allowed so we had to do it sneaky. But I dug his washed out post impressionistic style.

The scream, of course, but beyond too,

Randomly saw Sandra, also getting a Munch injection.

I love the new MoMA level action.

We also hit the Arab in West Diaspora artists exhibit with a major highlight being the garden of earthly delights.

And this painting I could not snap, but luckily appeared in the brochure.

Then a quickie delicious dinner a Spice.

And Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, which I thought was just cool. Dave, is basically the man, so down to earth. And it was great to see the Fugees back together, if even for just two songs.

Monday, I went to Josh’s place and met up with Simon and Andreas.

And went to a grand old dinner at Scalipotina, or something like that.

We met up with two Jesses and Andreas sister, who’s name I never caught.

My yellowfin tuna was scrumptuos.

Thank you gracious hosts.

There, we’re all caught up.

Art, Video And More, Art…

Wow, what a crazy week. Started if off being a a 2nd Unit Director for my bosses movie, On The Road With Judas. Me, direct you say? Why yes, I was asked to do a quick Quicktime type of thing, like my eurotrip or the like. I can’t quite show it to you just yet, but guess who I got to shoot: None other than Aaron Ruel of Napolean Dynamite fame.

And Eddie Kaye Thomas, from being inside Stiffler’s bearer.

How cool is that? Anyway, it looks kinda like this.

That was Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday I tried to help Nick encode. It took us three hours to keep what he had already done.

Friday I went to one Rich Boatti’s Birthday party. He’s now the president of the Fordham Law Democrats. Holy shnikies, who would ever elect rich for anything/

Colin was there.

As was Ebin, who I had not seen a while.

Alex kept it cool.

Ximena gave me the flirt look.

Kelly remembered this same type of thing happening back at seder time last year.

And the moose kept it real.

Saturday, Jenna and I hit the Rauchenberg Combine Restrospective at the Met. Damn! That man could combine like nobody else! No photos allowed so I had to be extra sneaky.

Love the pheasant.

And the goat.

Here was Jennas favorites.

And mine.

What a beautiful day at the Met.

And a great meal at Elios.

Which led us to Poker at Althea and MattSam’s

I tripled up early on with a lucky straight that hit (I was semibluffing, cause I had the draw and middle pair) off Thayer and Harris. Then I slowly lost and lost until I hit two pair kings and jacks to Matt’s Kings. He called my all in, even though the ace was on the board. Harris didn’t believe I had trip twos, either and gave me more ammunition. Then I got poclet aces, had Matt nicely hooked on the line, and the board goes and gets a straight! What the F. Then the end began. I get pocket Queens, raise Althea’s two to six, and the board gets an Ace. I fold, wisely, althea had Ace King, but she got lucky. A few hands later, Althea and I dance again, I get top pair with 9s and raise four which she calls way to quick, and an ace hits. Instead of cashing out with fity, its thirty.

But Jenna made it, finally, so it was all good.

Then a magical extra twenty was found. Im pretty sure it was mine and Derek’s now, but it caused quite a commotion.

Which brings us to Sunday, and The Armory Show. I had never heard of it, but it’s a yearly throwdown of New Art of The World. Yes, 146 Galleries trying to strut their stuff. Jenna and I were not ready for the fucking size of it.

So much to see. This.

And This

And This.

Of fuck it, here, look at it all.

I also saw Kevin Lotery, of Cate fame, who now works at the Guggenheim.

What a fucking week.

The Sated Week…

Wow, this was busy week. Much too much went down. So lets get to it. Sunday, I had dinner with my Cousin Stickney.

He owed me a Birthday dinner, so we went to Carmines, where the portions are preposterous. The food was expensive, one of the caveats of the meal, trying to make my uncle spend some of his cash. Just look at this steak.

Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday, I had the honor of serving my civic duty. I had the fate of a man in my hands. Yes, I went to jury duty. And I got my camera past security, but chickened out on the money court shot. Here, enjoy the jury room.

And the sandwich that the city of New York bought me.

And I enjoyed Chinatown.

But beware of Jury duty. And not for the waiting and annoyance, but for the responsibility. I kept joking, “im doling out the justice,” but sending someone to jail hit me heavy. I do think he was guilty, but damn, it still hurt. Look at me upon walking out of the courthouse.

Enough with the down notes, Wednesday was also the Cate New York Reception, always a fun look back in time. We started off with Rich Pan in the elevator.

Drew Skelton partied it up.

Ogo Ravi and Murray kept it real.

Lauren acted surprised, but she knew what was coming.

Rodrigo just kept it smoof.

Bilick still has that charming smile.

The Married Couple had to represent.

Ji-Sun even remembered who I was.

Georgia and Nathan are still and item.

Cally has moved back into the city, earning her masters.

While Ally teaches 7th grade rugrats.

Biggest surprise of the evening, the all star Ms Omaley.

I only had five seconds with Stebbins, but at least I got the pict.

The younger Collins did not look amused.

But she did have the gall to have a Cate bag.

Later, we went to Murray’s.

And reminisced on the old days, Texans invading young arab countries and such.

Friday, we rocked it. Jenna, her friend Jennifer and I got tickets to the Strokes and The Eagles of Deathmetal. Jennifer met us at the office.

And away we went.

It fucking Rocked!

Its that simple, it was just a fucking awesome show.

I mean, my girl could not stop dancing.

The whole place was going wild.

Just a rockin’ good time.

Saturday, Jenna and I decided to be extras in JJs movie, “On The Road With Judas.” The set was crazy.

Ben and JJ framing the action.

I even made it on to the set.

And a cool set it was.

Jenna and I were supposed to be nerds. She was the hot one, can you tell?

The hairgirl accentuated my nerdidness.

While Ronan and Palla kept the shit produced.

Jason rocked the suspenders to become the white Erckel, or Werckel.

Even the director’s family got in on the fun for a bit.

Set days are long and boring for extras, so I took a nap.

And checked out how the dp looks at things.

Lunch came and went.

Jason changed but kept the Werckel look.

What a set.

Slotnick was having fun.

Jen kept decorating and adding production value.

The propmaster dove right in.

Annie had dressed us so nerdy.

The makeup girl made us not shine.

And Katie held the whole place down.

We finished with a tremendous elevator pict.

And Jenna and I ate at the quite surprisingly good Klong on St. Marks.

Delicious!

And we noticed that the star of the movie, Eddie, was plastered all over Manhattan.

Sunday, well Sunday was a continuation of my very favorite PS 260 tradition, the Office Oscar Pool.

It takes over, and I give myself ulcers trying to pick correct winners… because I know that one false step can cost you the whole banana, and how good it feels to have them open that envelope and read out your pick. Well, one decision did cost me, cinematography, but whatever kids, cause I still got second place. That usually does not add up to much, but we expanded the pool to cover more Post companies, and I took down $125 American!

Hells yeah.

Union Tax Pokes Dinner…

It seems that one Josh G. has finally made it out of old Wes and moved into the city.

Went to check out his new place on Tues. It’s got a killer f-in’ view.

Friday. Jenna did our regular thing at Pump.

And the Empire just looked stupendous.

Damn! We lost our lease.

Saturday was jam packed. It started off with a trip to my new tax man, Bobby O.

He tried to save me and Jenna some money, but we both had incorrect filings and owed Uncle Sam a bit a cash. Needless to say, this is not a sarcastic picture.

But alas, the day continued, with Wes Ring Poker, at Chez-Thayer.

Even Althea showed up (albeit late).

It went delicious. Not my first hand, where I tried to push Aaron off a his 2 dollar raise with an all in, losing everything with my pathetic King Six to his 4s in the pocket. But from then on my decision making was just right. Plus I got lucky. When I had ace king, Althea had ace queen and Derek had a pair of nines. The ace hit and I took her out, with a chunk of Derek to boot. When I got kings a bit later on, Thayer went all in short stack with ace ten, which Matt just called. Being the second biggest stack, he could hurt me the most, so I wanted to send a message that his high ace was no good, so I went all in. He had one of the only hands that would have made him call: the lovely ladies, Queens. Thayer gets his ace to stay alive, but I take all 35 of MattSams dollars to become the uber big stack. Later, I would catch Rutkoff acting too disgruntled, and would lay down a pair of kings to his pocket aces. And as the coup d’grace, I would call Matt’s river all in with king high to beat him with my queen kicker, somehow knowing it was a complete bluff. Sometimes the stars align. I left with 86 profit. Only thing, the last four times I played, its been down about 100, then up 100, then down again about 100, and now one more time up, I got learn to cut my losses. Rutkoff left with 26, the only other person to win.

Then Aaron and Claire were nice enough to invite Matt Althea and I to their house for diner. We bought some tomatoes.

Enjoyed delicious humus and grapes.

Chopped up said tomatoes.

While Aaron made the rest of the sauce and the pasta.

Althea made scrumptious from-scratch garlic bread.

A meal to remember, even though the cooking got a bit retarded at times.

And I missprayed the Mod Home made seltzer maker.

Derek and Liz showed up later.

We talked about Claire’s homemade cleaner with borax.

And we knew the night was over when Althea passed out and would not get up.

There’s no better way to end the night than with condoms on the subway home.

Cold Stop…

Its been slow. Work has been hard so I missed a bunch of stuff. Instead
of going to a green card party, I waited for two hours to post new axe
spots.   

On Friday, I mixed the spots, and reconformed them until 2am, missing
two concerts I wanted to see. Then, the worst thing a photoblogger
could face came to be: my camera broke. This is no photoshop filter,
this is my camera on high white balance. But more on that later.

Saturday, finally, a day of rest. Jenna and I went to the MOMA to see the Munch, specifically.

Jenna has a membership, and so we went for my discount ticket. We were
promptly refused because her card had expired. It really hadn’t, there
should have been an extra month tacked on because it took so long to
get here, but the line was too long at the member services to make a
stink that we just bought regular tickets. Then, when we got to the
exhibition, bam!

No entry except for members! What a fucking fiasco. So angrily, we went
to the Spanish Architecture exhibition. Which was actually kinda cool.
Those hot blooded Spaniards sure are erecting some cool ass shit. No
photos allowed so we had to sneak these in. The new flamingo center
looks amazing.

We also checkd out some cool photography. That's Duchamp, folks.

And drawings.

Then, fun with broken camera.

As we introduced, the new model. (I was going to upgrade soon, anyway,
for some zoom action). It’s a bit thicker, but it’s quicker, can zoom,
and takes better video.

Awesome.

 

Wednesday I went down to John’s place and finally met the incredible photographer ben “the rose.”

John Mclane by John Mclane was also looking good.

And here is the first-deposit-to-homeless-charity high five.

Then, upon arrival at my house, the miracle of borrowing a housekeeper shined through. As the jetsetters winter in the Cali coast, Arcelie works miracles at my place. I highly recommend her. Look how she cuted my bed up.

But now, my bed really looks cuter.

Thursday work threw a three person birthday cupcake fiasco.

Check more on that at the PS blog.

And did I say fiasco, I meant FIASCO. Jenna and I went down to Fat Baby to see them rock the house.

Jenna got crazy enough to flash the crown, well, almost.

And then we got interviewed for some crappy webshow that isn’t even up yet. But it was nice to be nominated.

Friday I was grumpy so I didn’t go out, I just watched Jenna go.

Satruday, as the snows began to fall for the biggest blizzard in NYC history, we played poker.

I did terribly, losing seventy mostly on stupid bluffs. Then in the night-capping toruney, I made all the right moves until I didn’t call Cassens with pocket sevens, and did call him with eight nine to go out one short of the money. Ugh.

And then the snow came down and down.

Happy V Day. May all Vaginas be filled an merry.

Footage Going Away To Poker and Juice…

Wednesday, Jenna and I hit some restaurant week action at Steak Frites. I loved the rare tuna appetizer, and the, um,  steak frites.

But Jenna only ate French fries and ice cream because of some order misunderstanding and steak malfunction.

Thursday I hit the Chinatown Lounge (Nick’s Place). Look, he devised a camera entry strategy, can you find the shooting device.

I met producer Jeff.

Hung out with Art and Paul (that’s me to the right).

Nick got suave.

And most importantly, I went down there with my new ly bought terabyte drive to copy over the footage for our documentary.

Yes, Nick’s been shooting (about 20 hours to date) his and John’s misadventures and paintings, which I will cut into some sort of compelling narrative documentary, and Nick will also cut into his own art film piece.

Jane and alice showed up, just as I was leaving.

Because I had to go to the Jet Setters’ going away party. Yes, Sam and Phoebe are moving to LA for a bit to hit up pilot season. Here is my arrival at Waikiki Wallys.

Talked to the gorgeus Amelia.

Finally found my sister.

Met these two. (name unremembered)

Of course Ana-Maria.

And this couple. (name unremembered)

Better picture with the sis.

Met this girl too. (name unremembered)

Bonded with Alex.

Met, ooh, im going to go with Tai?

Sam advertised red stripe.

The punch bowls came out.

And I left 2nd St. to go all the way home uptown. I got to about 73rd when I realized that I had left my 800 dollar drive, with the 20 hours of footage in it that had just taken me 2 hours to copy at the fucking bar! This is how I felt.

But worry not, it was just where I left it. So all ends well.

Friday, Jenna went out with her girls, who stopped by the office to pose.

And pose.

And pose.

And I went to upper west side Poker.

I got great cards at the beginning, and I played well and went up. I also had some great calls, catching people in bluffs. Sean stayed steady, Jim slowly lost twenty, and Cassens, poor Cassens got f-ed nicely a bunch, culminating in Gable cracking his pocket Aces with pocket fives that hit.

Gable came late and left early about 100 up, I have never seen him lose money. Then the late night stint started. Seany, Dave and I stayed up til 5am playing. Cassens, still on tilt and getting drunker and drunker, kept trying to bluff me, and I kept catching him. This culminated on his tremendous bluff when I got pocket aces, and I took all his money on the last hand, at 4:55 in the morning. I was happy. But it felt a bit dirty playing a Cassens who was most def not in his best playing mental state.

Saturday, Jenna and I hit Memoirs of a Geisha. It was all right, the book is so majestic and well written I knew the movie could not compare, but Rob Marshall is such a production filmmaker, that it did all right.

Then we hit this cool little coffee and sandwhich shop and both did our best pepperochino faces.

You know that moment when the sourness hits you.

Then she went out again with the girls.

Oh, what a cutie. Enjoy you superbowl, peeps.

The End of Rents, Eighty, and Apartment…

Monday was the Rents’ last day. So they took us out for dinner at Punch with the Sis.

Surprise guest was the glorious Ana Maria.

And Phoebe’s necklace.

Which I gave a whirl.

Then came Phoebe’s goodbye.

And mine. Good Bye Rents!

Tuesday John and I checked out Angus’ new place on the upper east.

We played some poker, which Angus took once I lost stupidly and John got bored.

Wednesday I made quick stop at John’s, taking what is arguably one of the best elevator picts yet (through the mirror).

And I caught my most favorite time.

Friday I got a bit depressed, so I just kinda stayed in the office killing time, while Jenna went on a date with her pal Keri.

Then they came back and Jenna and I went to see the weirdest movie ever: Live Freakly Die Freakly. A claymation retelling of the Manson Murders voiced by pop punk band members.. I fell asleep for most of it.

Saturday, poker once again returned to the upper west enclave, after a long hiatus. Everybody won except me.

And Alison, she lost like twenty, but I went down eighty. And yes, I got a bit unlucky, but mostly, I just played bad. It sucked some major hairy ass.

But the night would not end on that down note, for the quintet at 440 6th Street threw an empty nest party. Liz demonstrates the emptyness.

All the allstars showed up. Ruty, Matty, and Thayer.

The Hostess with the Leastess (amount of stuff at his place).

And Aaron busted out the big news, he just might become a homeowner. A HOMEOWNER! Jesus how old are we? I am still, to this very moment as type this, aghast, flabbergasted even.

Then Howard and Carolina gave me a free psychologist session and snapped me back to more regularness.

Claire, too, might be a homeowner. I still can’t get it through my skull.

At least Noah is still old stylish Noah.

Then more shocking news. Carolina is married! Married! I tried to take a photo of my amazement, and all 4 came out fuzzy, how annoying.

Derek then regaled me with his dealing and getting somewhat fired at Hank Azaria’s poker game.

And The Only Smith broke down his movement to bella Roma.

While the newly met Steffan and I both discoursed our love of Confederacy of Dunces, and may Lady Fortuna shine on us both.

At the end, Nat told of almost dying in Bulgaria of an appendix issue.

Matt said goodbye.

And I finally got to almost talk to Althea.

Sunday Jenna had a classic date night. We checked out Tristam Shandy, which I thought was quite good, and then had some Italian.

At La Fenice.

Not a bad way to spend a week, N'est-ce pas?

Testament To Cake And Random Play…

Wednesday we chilled it upper east.

And I got on to John’s Last will and testiment, taking the oriental
rug. I think I should have gone for the Amsterdam portrait of me, but
the rug is pretty fucking awesome.

And Friday, damn if the whole world didn’t converge on me. It was like
a convention of surprise visits. Hicks came in for one night.

So we played some pool and caught up on old itmes.

Then two kids, Stackpole and Moore came back to the old roost for pat lavin’s concert.

But I couldn’t really hang out with any of them, cause Jenna had got me Cake tickets for xmass.

And they fucking rocked. Office chaps made fun of me all day, but fuck
all of you, I like Cake. And they put on a damn good show.

Mcdonald’s afterword hit the spot.

Even though this guy was having a full on conversation with himself.

Saturday I had to work all fucking day, and it sucked, but on the way
home, quelle surprise! John Frosh, just walking on the street, on break
from France. I love NY coincidences.

Sunday more work, but I escaped to go see a play with the rents and the jet setters.

The Citizens presented “Nobody’s Lunch.” It had some good points, and
was directed very well, with good humor. Of course I snapped one of the
stars and the director.

And we ended the night with some good dessert eatins at PJ Clarks.

Nice.