The Space Race

Projects

2012-01-25T14:23:00.000-05:00

Sometime in the last few months I started way too many projects to actually be able to finish all of them. I've been spending the past few weeks trying to organize them all and finish some. I'm gonna go print a couple pages to be able to bind the last two copies of Brendan's book and Jess and I are on a schedule to finish our new book by the end of April. Hopefully we can stick to it. I've been putting everything together on the computer and I made this cover mock up, hopefully we'll be able to figure out a version that has less white space.

We're still trying to figure out how we're gonna put it together because color printing is so expensive and it takes so long to bind them by hand but we'll probably do at least a few that way so that we have copies to show people by springtime.

Gelatin Silver Photographs

2011-12-24T23:22:00.002-05:00

My friend Eric took these gelatin silver photographs of me a couple days ago. He has a set up to develop them built into a suitcase so that it's portable but we did it in his apartment. The photographs are on 4x5 glass plates and are even more crisp and clear than these scans. Also, the dark parts on the scans are actually clear on the glass plates, the scans are done with a black background. The light parts on these scans look dark when the plate is held up to light and the image is then negative.

The photographs have to be developed within a few minutes of the plate being exposed and the images slowly appear on the plate, cloudy at first but within a few minutes they clear up a lot.

To prepare the plates he starts with some egg white glue on the edges to keep the image from peeling away later. He then puts on a layer of a combination of cotton and ether to help the silver stick to the plate. Next, the silver is put on inside a dark box because this is the light sensitive chemical. The camera he uses is from the 70's and is about a 1' cube, though it can expand more since it has bellows. Once the plate is exposed he pours the developer on by hand and then stops the development with water. The whole process takes about 15 minutes. The boomerang shaped hole in the second image is a place that didn't get any of the cotton-ether bonding agent so the light sensitive chemicals didn't stick.

The texture of my skin in the images is because the silver shows some of the ultra-violet spectrum that is invisible to the human eye so you can see under the first layer of skin.

Adventure Club #2: Staten Island

2011-12-20T12:42:00.000-05:00

Adventure Club #2 went to Staten Island's Sea View Hospital which is in the middle of the Staten Island Greenbelt that Erik and I visited last month. My co-adventurists this time were Eric (not Erik!) and Valentina who were both carrying film cameras with light meters and manual focus so their pictures will probably turn out better than mine did. It was a rare sandal weather December day so we took advantage of that and went the long way through "Blood Root Valley" which was great since it's almost far enough away from anything to feel like you're in a real forest.
There are about 10 abandoned buildings which are all eerily similar. Inside there was a lot of debris and rotting away ceilings. The buildings were brick and seemed to be pretty old but there were certain things like a concrete staircase that we thought had to be from the 50's or 60's. I've read that this part of the hospital was used until the 70's so maybe they were renovated right before they were closed.One of the coolest things that we found was a big pile of metal trash outside of one of the buildings. It was interesting to see how well a lot of it had held up being outside for who knows how long.

Adventure Club #1: Flatbush

2011-12-19T12:50:00.001-05:00

A couple weeks ago my friend Allison and I went out to Flatbush to check out the houses where my grandparents grew up and try to find some graves at Holy Cross Cemetary. We found the houses pretty easily, on the left is my Grandma's house on Beverly Road and on the right is the building my Grandpa lived in on New York Avenue.Next we went down the street to the cemetery. When we told them we were looking for somebody with an Irish name from the 30's or 40's they said we might be there a while but we were able to find some likely candidates pretty quickly. However! When we got to the grave-spot there was nothing there but a tree. The person who was supposed to be buried there is John Drum my great-great-great(?) grandfather.

The neighborhood has changed a lot since the 40's, it's mostly West Indian now, we went to a local supermarket and I got some hot sauce for my hot sauce collection. Tomorrow I'll post some more pictures from my adventure last week to Staten Island!

Thanksgiving Pie Experiment

2011-12-01T15:44:00.001-05:00

A couple days before Thanksgiving I saw some Persimmons in one of the grocery stores across Queens Blvd near the library. I had been trying to think of something interesting to make to bring to the potluck Thanksgiving that Lesley and I were going to go to at our friend Maggie's house.

I went home and investigated Persimmon pie and it turns out that the internet recipe community is pretty split between two versions. The first I call "Pumpkin Pie Style" where the persimmons are pureed, the filling has milk and eggs in it, and there is no top crust. The second, "Apple Pie Style" uses sliced persimmon, sugar, corn starch and lemon juice in the filling.

I decided to make a Pumpkin Pie Style Persimmon Pie for the "Wendsgiving" dinner I was going to at my friend Brendan and Jennette's house and an Apple Pie Style Persimmon Pie for real Thanksgiving at Maggie's house because I could make that one vegan.

Both turned out great although I didn't end up with enough filling for the Apple Style Pie (I used 4 persimmons for each pie but I should have used more for that one).

Staten Island Adventure

2011-11-20T14:08:00.001-05:00

Erik was visiting last week and we decided to try to get out of the city but it turns out we didn't even have to! We grabbed some samosas and ginger-mango chutney in Jackson Heights on the way down to the Staten Island Ferry and were quickly rolling along the Staten Island Railroad to the New Dorp Station. After eventually figuring out which direction we were facing we made it to High Rock Park which ran right into Latourette Park. We found a series of winding trails marked by painted squares on trees. It was probably one of the last warm days of the year so I even got to wear sandals.

The middle of Latourette Park is supposedly one of the most isolated spots in New York City, a mile from any building! I'd believe it because we didn't even get all the way through before we had to turn back because of the daylight. On the way back we saw the Scooby Doo Van!

#N17

2011-11-17T19:02:00.001-05:00

Heading toward the Brooklyn Bridge where Katie Miles is directing traffic. Hope it doesn't collapse because there are thousands of people here!

Rhode Island

2011-10-27T13:59:00.000-04:00

I went to Rhode Island two weekends ago with my friend Eric. His uncle has a big party every year where they make a whole bunch of apple cider. It was great but even better was the cider! It was really cool to get out of the city by car since I never did that when I lived here before. We also got a chance to go to the beach and throw some rocks.

Travelin Songs

2011-10-20T10:11:00.001-04:00

Me and Rebecca made a record over the last year! Together we are called Western Gulls and the record is called Travelin Songs. Rosie drew the birds on the cover. I also made a new website so it wouldn't just be my name, you can listen to "Travelin Songs" and more here: http://realgoodrecordings.bandcamp.com/!

Occupy Times Square

2011-10-16T01:48:00.001-04:00

Occupy everything.

October is the busiest month!

2011-10-13T13:04:00.004-04:00

October has been very busy so far with lots of visitors. More to come at the end of the month too! When Mariah was here we went to both the Met and the Natural History Museum. Here she is on the left at the Met with some armor, in the middle with me on the roof of the Met.

I had somehow never been to the Natural History Museum before but it was great. We saw things like this ox? Later Christina and I occupied Wall Street

Then on Monday night Becca and I went to go see Jens Lekman and the next day we visited the Unisphere in Flushing!

Rego Park: Real Good

2011-09-18T11:48:00.001-04:00

Here are some pictures of my new neighborhood Rego Park, it's kind of far into Queens and because of that it's kind of weird, two blocks in one direction feels like some city in another country with fruit stands spilling out into the street and every store sign in a different language, two blocks in the other direction and you're at the mall. I'm doing some reading about New York and I discovered that Rego Park was designed by the Real Good Corporation, hence "ReGo".

On the left is my building "Walden Terrace". On the right two of the markets close to my house. There about ten markets within about a five minute walk (actually probably more like 20 markets) but they each seem to have a specialty so I end up going to a lot of them for different things. Also not for away is the mall and Queens Boulevard which is 12 lanes of crazy:

Back in New York

2011-09-08T22:38:00.002-04:00

I've been back in NYC for about a week now, I live in Queens now, it's kind of far away from a lot of things but my apartment is nice and it's a new place to explore. I've had one day of work so far, it was just a meeting and things will start more on Monday. Emily came to visit over Labor Day weekend, we did a whole bunch of stuff and it was nice too see the city again with her. Here are some pictures from the first day she was here when we went to Coney Island I took the one of her she took the one of me. Her visit inspired me to do some sort of "take yourself on a tour" book so I'll probably post from illustrations I'm working on for that soon.

Eve's bike trip pix

2011-08-26T04:12:00.003-04:00

Here are a couple of pictures from Eve's camera from the bike trip. Also I put the rest of my pictures and her pictures on flickr.

Bike Trip Pictures

2011-08-22T02:31:00.008-04:00

We just made it back to Hilo after riding from Punalu'u Beach over Volcano. It took us six hours to ride the 30 miles (and 4000 feet) up the volcano but only one and a half rainy hours to ride the 30 miles back down to Hilo. Other than that the weather was nice for the whole trip and we didn't regret not bringing sleeping bags! Here are some pictuers from the trip:

Eve after the first 100 miles and climbing a hill.

My bike coming down to Punalu'u and the first campsite near Waimea.

Bike Trip

2011-08-20T22:26:00.001-04:00

It is day 3 of the trip and we are about 3/4 of the way around the island. Right now we are at the southern most restaurant in the US and tonight we are going to ride 10 more miles to Punalu'u to camp on the beach. From there it is about 60 miles back to Hilo with the biggest climb yet of 3900 feet over Volcano National Park.

In Hilo!

2011-08-16T21:51:00.001-04:00

I've been in Hilo for 5 days now! It still seems like I just got here. I flew in on Friday afternoon, Martin and Eve picked me up at the airport and we immediately jumped in the ocean! We walked to downtown Hilo that night and the next day they had a goodbye party for Martin who is leaving for grad school in the mainland in 2 weeks. Sunday we went to a black sand beach near Puna and then Martin and I went to the Mauna Kea observatory visitors center where he volunteers and I got to be a first time volunteer setting up telescopes. Yesterday Martin and I took a long hike around Hilo to Rainbow Falls then to Boiling Pots then to some caves that I forget the name of. Eve and I are still trying to figure out the logistics for our bike trip around the island including getting me a bike! I keep forgetting my camera so I haven't taken any pictures except this cell phone picture from the hike yesterday.

Hawaii Tomorrow

2011-08-12T00:12:00.003-04:00

I'm going to Hawaii tomorrow, I think it's going to take most of the day to get there since I have a layover in Honolulu before I get to Hilo. I'm excited to go from the second rainiest city in the US to the rainiest according to Martin. I just tried to look that up and it seems like it isn't accurate at all but it's good enough for me.

Mt. St. Helens Lava Tubes

2011-07-27T12:01:00.006-04:00

Last weekend Zelda, Rosie, Tommy and I went to Mt. St. Helens to climb through the Ape Cave lava tube and to run around in the sun. We left on Saturday afternoon so we could beat the crowds at the lava tubes. We camped on the side of the road in the National Forest and then in the morning I ran up a quarter mile to the base camp for people who are summiting St. Helens. We ate breakfast, went to the lava tubes and climbed through only meeting a few people along the way but when we came out the parking lot was packed, it seems like everyone was just behind us. After that we split a watermelon, went on walk through a lava forest and then found a lake to swim in. I climbed on a log and paddled it pretty far into the lake. Coming home we got stuck in traffic but it was still great. Here's some pictures:

The view of the top of St. Helens, and everyone eating breakfast.

In the cave!

Coming out of the cave.

Afterwards at the lake.

Bone House Pix

2011-07-12T03:52:00.006-04:00

Bone House living room and Tommy learning to fix a flat tire.

Emily giving Eric a haircut and Eric in his Geo.

Last weekend Emily and I went to Discovery Park and sat on the beach waiting for the sun to come out from behind a cloud. It was nice even though the sun stayed behind the cloud. It was clear so you could see Mt. Rainer, it's in the background in this picture.

We have this cool balcony, here's Brandon, Bean, Eric, Emily and Tommy doing their Beatles impression. A long time ago Emily started to make a Settlers of Catan game and Becca, Eric, Rosie, Tommy and I finished it over the weekend. This picture is of the end of our first game. I think we need to make a few more land tiles but other than that it's great.

Friday Night Hike

2011-07-09T22:56:00.001-04:00

Yesterday Eric, Jen, Scott and I went to go visit Marcus in North Bend for his birthday. It was my first time going out of Seattle except for one short trip to Belleview. We got there late but we still did a short hike up Little Si. It was my first time hiking in sandals and it felt really different but good. The muscles in my feet got a real workout. At the top of the mountain I yelled 'Happy birthday Bon' and I think she heard it because we were so high up. I have lots of pictures to put up from the end of the house but I haven't had time to do it yet. Maybe soon!

Bone House

2011-07-01T23:35:00.001-04:00

Goodbye Yellow House! It was a lot of work getting it all out but we did it and now we're at the new house! It's at 75th and 9th so it's a little shorter ride to work and it's on a nice weird block across from a weird maybe abandoned industrial building. It's weird to see all the same stuff in a new house.

Things that happened recently

2011-06-19T16:38:00.009-04:00

Becca and I recorded a little bit while I was in San Francisco but unfortunately I got sick and we didn't get much that we liked down. I think she is going to come visit Seattle in about a week but everything will be really busy around then, hopefully we get a chance to do a few songs.

It's gonna be crazy because we are getting ready to move out of the Yellow House. I started taking down the wall made of crates in my room today, it's really sturdy and soundproof so it's cool to see how it looks inside:

I have been having a lot of bike problems recently. A few weeks ago my front derailer broke but I never used the big cog in the front very much so I just took it off. I also got a few flat tires in a row and had to replace the tube because the valve stem was broken and then on Friday I broke a spoke on my way home. I got a new spoke yesterday and got the freewheel off to put it on. I trued my wheel somewhat but some of the spokes are frozen and so I can't get it as true as I would like. I'm riding about 70 miles a week just coming to and from work so probably I should be checking everything out more often so I don't have as many problems.

Also, Emily's Final Line show was last week, I forgot to bring my camera but here is a picture that was in her school newsletter, that is her display on the right. She is done with school now for the summer and got her apparel design degree.

Travelin' Songs

2011-05-20T00:45:00.002-04:00

I haven't had anything to post for a while because I've been pretty busy working at Luna and working on other projects. My friend Brendan's book that I'm working on to publish through Phone Booth Press is almost done being edited so hopefully that will come out soon. Also Jessica and I are maybe planning to try to work together in July on The Borough of Blackwell so that it can also come out soon.

I'm also working on a record with my friend Becca. I hopefully will be able to finish it before I move out of the Yellow House in June. We are going to record vocals while I'm in San Francisco next week for Mariah's graduation. Here is a demo of one of the songs we wrote that we recorded back in January:

Becca and Pat - No Lookin' Back by Patrick Weaver

We don't have a name for our band yet so I guess we'll have to come up with that before we put anything out too!

Sunny Day Weekend

2011-05-02T11:59:00.006-04:00

I had a really busy weekend and it was sunny the whole time! On Friday night Rosie and I went to go see tune-yards all the way downtown. It was really great and we were both surprised at how excited everyone was. Then early on Saturday morning Emily helped me move into the yellow house. We ran a few errands and then it was shaping up to be a really nice day so we biked with Tommy down to a park by my old house and met up with Eric.

Then we decided to go get pizza and while we were waiting for Rosie, Jen and Bean to meet up with us we went to my old house for one last ride on the quad-bike. We rode it around the top of the hill a few times, past a bunch of kids at a birthday party (?) a few times, they were really excited about it. Riding it around puts everyone that sees you in a good mood, everyone just seems to love it. Then we rode down the hill a little bit to Pizza Pi where everyone else was.

Sunday was sunny again! The weather predictions were saying it would be 100° but it didn't get quite that high. I think at one point I saw a thermometer that said 87 but I'm not sure. Emily and I went to the park again, this time to Gasworks park where there a bunch of old metal structures. There were tons of people out there for fun in the sun.

Now it's rainy again but I think that it should be getting sunnier and sunnier which is all the more great because of how long the days are.

Sandals

2011-04-22T22:39:00.004-04:00

It's been a busy week because I started working at my friends' sandal company! They make sandals for 'barefoot' running. Their website is here: http://lunasandals.com/

Most of the sandals are just a piece of rubber, sometimes a leather footbed and a lace, elastic, leather or hemp. They look like this:

I am moving into the Yellow house on May 1st and my new housemate Tommy also is working at Luna, by the start of the summer I hope to be able to beat him and his car to work on my bike! Next week the sun will come up for the first time before 6am and it's already going down after 8! It's great!

826 Seattle

2011-04-13T15:48:00.004-04:00

I started volunteering this week at 826 Seattle which is a part of the same organization as 826 Valencia in San Francisco. The location in San Francisco is a combination pirate supply store and youth writing center, the location in Seattle is a combination space travel supply store and youth writing center. Yesterday I volunteered with the Mr. Geoduck field trip where a class of, this week 2nd graders, come in and collaboratively write a book that we then publish. All in 2 hours and each kid gets to take home a book.

Yesterday I was part of the team that was putting together the books and then I was in charge of putting them in the binding machine which was fun. Next week is spring break so there's no field trip but the week after I'll be doing it again. I also got trained yesterday to volunteer to work in the store. The store sells everything you'd need (except for maybe a rocket ship and fuel I guess) to plan your very own adventure to the moon. Let me know if you need anything! All the proceeds from the store go to support the writing programs that go on in the back.

Also here is a picture of a dinosaur garden Rosie and I found last week:

Biking Around Town

2011-03-21T21:44:00.008-04:00

Over the past few weeks I keep thinking of things to write on the blog about but by the time I get around to writing about them I never seem to remember exactly what I wanted to say. My parents did get me a new camera for 'christmas' last week so I will probably be posting more pictures now that I have that. Also I have made a goal to get myself to start doing more activity like things which always leads to crafty blog posts.

Today I told my grandma I'd write about how I have been biking around more than ever here. I made this map, on the left, of my most common route: from my house, on the right, to the yellow house:

Because I would rather not pay for the bus I have been biking everywhere I have to go. My house is in a very central location so I can get pretty much anywhere North of downtown Seattle in less than 45 minutes which is not too bad. I had my first flat tire of the year this morning so I patched the tube and put the tire back on (with a little strong finger help from Emily) and was on my way!

I have also been working on a few other things like a website for my friend Rosie, right now it is at rosiewilsonbriggs.blogspot.com but soon to be rosiewilsonbriggs.com I think. Also I have been working with my friend Brendan on a book he wrote that we might publish soon and with Jessica on our next children's book.

February

2011-02-21T17:18:00.002-05:00

Hey, it seems like February is almost over, the weather has been getting nicer here but maybe this week we're in for some more cold and maybe snow? I am moved into my new house which is nice. I have a job interview on Wednesday for a position with a bike non-profit but it is only part time so I am still looking for other things. Tomorrow I will bike down to Pike Place and turn in a resume there.

Last week Bonnie came and visited me at the Yellow house and we took a long bus ride together to crazy land. We had fun all day.

On Saturday I went down to Portland with my friend Emily for the day to go to a very very large fabric store there. They had pretty much every fabric ever. I wish that we had gotten the wackiest print there so that Emily could make some scrubs for Rosie to wear to work at her new vet assistant job but I didn't think of it until right now!

Seattle

2011-02-04T13:56:00.000-05:00

Hey! I moved to Seattle, I've been planning on writing this blog post for a while now but I keep having a hard time thinking of exactly what to write so maybe I will just keep it short. I am living with my friends Rosie, Emily, Eric, Tommy, Allison, Jen, Bean, and Zelda until I move into a new house on the 15th. The new house is in the U-District which feels kind of silly but it seems like a nice house.

I have been having fun and looking for a job but no luck there yet. Also I made this cake for Mariah's Birthday!

Backyard Update

2011-01-23T19:01:00.006-05:00

We got the rest of the backyard dug up and we even fixed the fence today!

Before and after. In the hole behind the kale and cabbage we planted potatoes a few weeks ago, hopefully they will come up soon:

The garlic and lettuce is growing up but the spinach might need some extra encouragement:

We took a lot of the ivy out but it's hard to get all of it. Three weeks ago and today:

New Pictures

2011-01-08T22:30:00.005-05:00

I finally got my pictures from the last part of the trip developed! Here are a couple and the rest are on flickr.

Me at the Utah Capitol Building, and Erik inside the potato museum.

Me in front of the Potato Museum.

House Project

2011-01-07T01:51:00.004-05:00

Earlier this week Bonnie and I went to the library to work on her research project on our house. We found the water company records of when the water pipes were first connected to the house and were able to cross reference this with Fire Insurance Company maps to determine when our house was built! 1923, how about that, it is the second oldest house on the block. We are the house 150 feet South of Estero on the records on the left here.

Garden Project

2011-01-03T20:42:00.004-05:00

Bonnie and I have been working in the backyard the past few weeks trying to make a small garden. So far we are just working in the area around the perimeter of the yard which has gotten pretty overgrown the last few years. Bonnie started along the north side of the yard with a few small plots and later I started clearing ivy along the west side of the yard. Now we are clearing all of the dirt and ivy in between those two areas so almost half of the yard perimeter area is clear.

Here are some pictures taken today from the house of Bonnie working on her original plots:

Here are pictures of the space where I cleared a lot of ivy and another part of the yard showing what it used to look like:

LA

2010-12-26T20:50:00.004-05:00

We are now in Palos Verdes visiting my mom's parents after 3 days in Beaumont with grandma Theresa. While we were in Beaumont Bonnie and I went on a hike with my dad and his brother Dale to the Morongo Wilderness Preserve. Here is a picture of Bon and me that Dale took while we were on the hike.

We are going back to San Francisco on the 29th and it is supposed to start raining again in the middle of the week so hopefully our flight doesn't get delayed again like it did coming down!

Family Vacation

2010-12-21T23:36:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow we are flying to LAX to visit the grandparents. We will first drive to Beaumont to visit Grandma Theresa and spend Christmas with her, then we will drive to Palos Verdes on the 26th to spend my mom's parents' wedding anniversary with them. I think it will be their 79th anniversary, give or take a few.

Seattle, again.

2010-12-17T15:24:00.004-05:00

I went back to Seattle last weekend to visit with my friends at the Yellow House. It was a real good time. Among other things we: got me a library card, made footprint reindeer decorations, made a gingerbread house, got a pizza, ate burritos, put up christmas lights, and made a cake. I am in San Francisco for a week until we all fly down to LA for a week. Here is a picture of Rosie putting up lights that my friend Emily took:

No One Was Like Vermeer

2010-12-09T03:14:00.002-05:00

I came back from Santa Cruz! Only without my bike helmet. I went to Jonathan Richman at the Great American Music Hall with friends Andrey and Elizabeth. It was a good show, a bit sillier than last February in Brooklyn, more dancing less sing-a-longs. I think that one thing that was the same is that both times he didn't even get all the way off the stage before he came back for the encore.

Then I went to the MOMA with Bon yesterday, we saw the 75th Anniversary exhibit and then we walked around some other stuff. It was the once a month free day but it wasn't that crowded except for the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibit which I also saw in New York during the summer. We briefly walked into the wine exhibit but decided we were in over our heads. Bon said, "Are you gonna blog about this?" I said, "No." Then I said, "Yes." Then Bon said, "Blog."

We were going to work in the garden today but it rained all day instead. Maybe we will tomorrow. I am going to plant squash everywhere.

Bon and Pat have fun all day long.

2010-12-04T02:28:00.002-05:00

I have been in San Francisco for a while now. Things that I have done are clean the room (mostly), fix the computer, ride the bike to West Portal, go to Mariah's choir concert, get burritos (2). I am going to Santa Cruz tomorrow to visit Stef, we're gonna have a great time but I can't stay long because I have to be back Sunady night to go see Jonathan Richman at the Great American Music Hall!

We made it

2010-11-19T20:17:00.003-05:00

We arrived in San Francisco late last night after a long rainy drive from Portland. It is nice to be back in the city but unfortunately the rain followed us down the coast. Erik is here for a couple days and then he will keep driving down to Ventura County. I am excited to be in SF for a little while and see how different it is. I already don't understand how to ride the bus.

Seattle

2010-11-17T01:04:00.001-05:00

We have been hanging out in Seattle for the last week with our friend Rosie and her friends at the Yellow House. Tomorrow we are gonna drive down to Olympia to pick up some of Bonnie's stuff and then to Portland to stay with my friend Amanda.

Idaho and new pictures

2010-11-08T14:42:00.006-05:00

We are in Northern Idaho, in Dover which is near Sandpoint on Lake Pend Oreille. It has been raining on and off mostly on but only a drizzle, sometimes more. Because we crossed into the Pacific Time Zone on Daylight Savings Day we are frequently very confused as to the time. Tomorrow I think, or the next day we will drive to Seattle if the weather is nice. I have some more pictures now, they are all on flickr but here are a few:

Christina in Big Bend, TX and everyone in White Sands, NM:

In Albuquerque, NM:

Christina outside her new house in Santa Fe:

Yellowstone

2010-11-05T17:28:00.001-04:00

We are in Yellowstone today but we will only be able to stay for one day because they are expecting snow on Sunday and we don't want to get caught in a storm. Because the days are so short (10 hours of light/8 hours of sunshine) we won't be able to hike in anywhere tonight so we will stay at the campground at Mammoth. It has been very cold, the ranger at the Old Faithful visitor's center said it was 20° last night here. At our campsite on Phelps lake in Grand Teton our water had a sheet of ice on top in the morning but when we got back to the truck the other gallons of water were frozen solid. Because it has been so cold and there is snow on its way we will drive all the way to Erik's family's house in northern Idaho tomorrow to clean off and warm up.

Wyoming and Grand Teton

2010-11-04T15:17:00.001-04:00

We slept last night near the eastern border of Idaho and drove into Wyoming this morning. As we climbed into the mountains out of Alpine, WY the temperature dropped to 31 degrees but it is supposed to clear up later today and be clear through the weekend. Right now we are in Jackson, WY and after lunch we will drive into Grand Teton Nat. Park and probably spend a day there. Tomorrow we will continue on to Yellowstone and hopefully the weather stays good for a couple days.

Congratulationss Giants!

2010-11-02T12:42:00.002-04:00

We spent most of yesterday in Arches National Park, which should really be renamed Photography National Park. We saw the most photographed arch in America and it looked exactly like the photographs! We were getting AM 700 out of Salt Lake City for most of the game but then lost reception in the 9th inning, but somehow it came back for the last batter and we heard the end of the game!

Utah

2010-11-01T15:54:00.001-04:00

We are in Moab, Utah today on our way to Arches National Park. We decided to cut the corner of Colorado and drive into Utah last night. We camped in a free BLM campground full of mostly climbers. The campground was in a steep canyon and we climbed up some of the sides to some petroglyphs. Tomorrow we will probably drive North to Salt Lake City then to Idaho or Wyoming.

Colorado

2010-10-31T13:57:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween! We left Santa Fe yesterday evening after moving Christina into her new house. We only got about an hour and a half down the road before it got dark but we found a nice campground on a reservoir in Northern New Mexico just in time. This morning we crossed into Colorado and we are now in Pagosa Springs. We will probably drive through most of Colorado today and maybe camp near Grand Junction. There are no big cities in Western Colorado so hopefully we'll be close enough to Salt Lake City to get radio reception tonight for the Giants game.

Santa Fe

2010-10-27T15:48:00.002-04:00

We are still in Santa Fe, the weather is cold! Two days ago we took a drive up to Taos and it lightly snowed on us. The first day of winter! We will probably be here for a couple more days while Christina looks for a place to live or decides whether or not to stay. Santa Fe seems nice but there don't seem to be very many young people around.

Next Erik and I will try to drive to Seattle, we're not sure how cold it is out there. The roads into Yellowstone close on November 8th so we hope to get there before then, but they also might close earlier if the weather is bad. The route we thought about will take us through every state in the West except for Arizona and Nevada, which is exciting!

Santa Fe and Albuquerque

2010-10-23T14:50:00.006-04:00

Update: Pictures are actually up now. And on all of them are on Flickr.

We didn't drive all the way to Santa Fe in one night, we found a nice campground almost by accident in Cibola National Forest and spent a rainy night there. The storm had cleared in the morning and we go to Santa Fe early on Thursday. We explored downtown Santa Fe a bit and walked around the New Mexico Capitol Building. Later we went over to my friend Zoe's house where we are staying and fell asleep early camping style.

After celebrating the Yankees loss to Texas last night we drove to Albuquerque today to bring Jess to the airport so she could go back to work. The car feels empty with only three people and three people's stuff in it. Now we'll hang around Santa Fe for a while and hopefully go on an outing with Zoe tomorrow on her day off. We're thinking Taos or Los Alamos.

I got my camera developed today, here are some pictures, more on the sidebar, the rest I'll put on flickr when I can (I got 2 old ones from NOLA up before I ran out of library time).

A storm approaches in White Sands!

2010-10-20T21:37:00.001-04:00

We are being chased out of White Sands by a thunder storm. We're not sure where we're going to go yet, we'll drive North until we get out of the storm or all the way to Santa Fe tonight where we have a dry place to stay.

White Sands

2010-10-20T18:19:00.001-04:00

We are in White Sands National Monument tonight and will be camping among the dunes. The sand is very fine and looks like snow on the ground. We have a short hike in tonight so we won't be able to listen to the Giants beat the Phillies but we are tuned in to AM 1380 out of El Paso now and hoping that the Rangers can come back against the Yankees.

UFOs tonight

2010-10-19T00:28:00.001-04:00

We are camping tonight near Marfa, TX watching the mysterious Marfa lights. Theories of what causes the lights range from swamp gas to the ghosts of pioneers but the most common explanation is aliens! Tonight will probably be our last night not only in Texas but also our last in the central time zone. It is much colder here than it was the last few days in Big Bend, I don't know if that is because we are 100 miles north now or only because the weather is changing.

Big Bend

2010-10-16T12:32:00.001-04:00

We are in Big Bend National Park. On Thursday night we camped at the south-eastern end of the park at Gravel Pit Campground (which really deserves a better name) near Rio Grande Village. Last night we camped farther up into the mountains at Pine Canyon Campground. From there we took a short hike into Pine Canyon where the desert gave way to a forest (with a few cactuses). Tonight we will hike into a campsite at Chisos Basin and tomorrow we will drive to the other end of the park near Castolon.

¡Bienvenidos a Mexico!

2010-10-13T12:21:00.001-04:00

After camping last night near Del Rio at Amistad National Recreation Area we took a side trip today on foot into Mexico. The border crossing was very desolate and only a few cars passed us as we walked over the dam. It was Jess and Erik's first time in Mexico and we didn't have to show our passports on either side which was strange. Now we drive further into West Texas and will stop tonight in Marathon.

Christina faces her fears at THE ALAMO!

2010-10-11T17:35:00.001-04:00

We left Austin today and headed straight for San Antonio to visit the Alamo. After that we somehow ended up at the world's worst grocery store and then tried to get out of San Antonio as fast as possible. The city reminds me of El Paso and seemed very empty and bleak. The sprawl is enormous and somehow still seems empty. Tonight we will stay at Lost Maples State Park where we are supposed to see spectacular foliage.

Goodbye Austin

2010-10-10T22:28:00.003-04:00

We're leaving Austin tomorrow morning! We might go first to San Antonio to see the Alamo, maybe not! Tuesday night in Del Rio? Wednesday night at La Loma Del Chivo again makin' papercreate for a day or two! Then off to Big Bend, hopefully we'll see a dinosaur!

Packing up

2010-10-07T12:03:00.003-04:00

We are packing up at Belton Lake and heading back into Austin today. Tonight we will stay with my friend Alissa and tomorrow night we will go back to Joe's house for one more night. Yesterday after two days at Owl Creek Park we decided to check out the other free campground at Belton Lake, Iron Bridge Park. Unfortunately there wasn't much shade and the lake was more of a muddy river at that point so we decided to go back to Owl Creek after a trip into Temple. The Goodwill in Temple didn't have the amazing selection of tapes that the last one did but Erik did get a new hat.

Lake Belton Camping

2010-10-04T19:22:00.001-04:00

Last night after leaving Austin we stopped near Georgetown, TX at a campground on Lake Georgetown but today we drove a little bit further up I-35 to Belton Lake which is just west of Temple. This lake has better swimming (as long as the gars don't get you) and has lots of shady oak trees. Erik is just taking a walk, knife and tongs in hand to forage some prickly pear cactus to put in our monday night red beans and rice. We will stay here tomorrow night also and maybe wednesday. On the drive here we stopped by a thrift store and picked up a bunch of 50¢ tapes!

Today we are graduate students

2010-10-02T17:36:00.001-04:00

We are in Austin staying with our friend Joe who is a comparative literature grad student at UT. He is participating in a conference this weekend and we attended a panel this morning where he presented a paper. Now we are on our way back to campus for the closing talk of the conference. We will stay with Joe again tonight and tomorrow afternoon leave for a few day long camping trip at a lake west of Temple, TX. After that we will come back to Austin for a few days before we start driving west again.

Texas!

2010-10-01T13:26:00.001-04:00

We are in Texas. Last night we stayed in Big Thicket National Preserve as planned but we got a late start so we didn't get to camp by the river as it was dark when we arrived. Today we will drive to Austin and stay with our friend Joe. Hopefully today will be the last of the long drives and we will take it easy after Austin.

Leaving Tomorrow!

2010-09-29T22:51:00.002-04:00

Everything (almost) is all packed up and we're leaving tomorrow. We have a few stops around the city to make (cassette tape store, snow balls) and then hopefully before it gets to late we're outta here! We're gonna stay in East Texas, very close to where I was when I wrote this post, in Big Thicket National Wilderness Preserve. Then it's on to Austin where will we stay for about a week. Hopefully we can fit all our stuff in the truck!

Swamp

2010-09-27T19:22:00.005-04:00

Erik and I took one last trip to the swamp over the weekend to test out Erik's camera, here are some of the pictures he took. We are all packing up the apartment and planning to leave on Thursday morning for Austin either on Saturday or sometime next week depending on how long we want to take getting there. Hopefully everything fits in the truck!

While Erik took this first picture of the swamp I dropped my sunglasses into it (the swamp). Fortunately the water is not very deep and I was able to retrieve them.

Camera Pictures

2010-09-20T20:12:00.004-04:00

I got my disposable camera pictures developed. I got prints made this time but I found out that most places I can just get negatives made for only a few dollars so I started experimenting with taking digital pictures of the negatives. If I want clearer versions I can always scan them too but I like how these turned out also. Here are a few, you can see the rest on flickr.

Me and Bowen, Maggie and Lesley at my goodbye party:

Christina in the backyard, Pam at work on my last day in NY:

Me and Erik in Jackson, MS at the capitol building:

September

2010-09-12T13:25:00.003-04:00

We have about three weeks left in New Orleans before Erik and Christina's lease is up and we head out. Now that I have finished recording New Morning I hope to be able to finish writing and recording another record before we leave. I'm excited becuase it's probably only gonna be guitar, it's fun to record many tracks with all kinds of instruments but at a certain point it gets really tiring playing all the tracks on a song. If you haven't listened to New Morning yet the best song is probably "Sign on the Window" so at least give that one a listen.

Erik is driving his car back to California at the end of the month and Christina and I are going to go with him at least part of the way, we are going to take our time camping along the way and hopefully make it up to South Dakota and Idaho.

I also need to finish writing at least the words of my new book by the time we leave and hopefully lay it out so I can figure out where illustrations would go. This is all a lot to do because our friends Zach and Martin are coming to visit next week and my friend C.J. is coming to visit his brother right after! Busy days!

This must be the day when all of my dreams come true

2010-09-04T01:38:00.004-04:00

Haven't written anything for a while, sorry about that! I would like to feel confident in my ability to write something compelling and coherent but since my camera broke I feel like nothing is quite blog-worthy. At first when it stopped working I said to myself, "Good! Now I will write about things instead of just putting a bunch of pictures of stuff," but . . . I'm still scared to bore anyone with a giant block of text.

Today we drove across Lake Pontchartrain to Mandeville and then rode our bikes a few miles over to the Abita brewery and we took the free tour. There is a rail-to-trail bike path that runs along the north shore and it was surprisingly nice to ride a bike on a path with neither traffic nor potholes. Any street in New Orleans is a pretty bumpy ride so it was a nice to be able to ride a few miles without getting all rattled around.

Before going on the causeway I was really excited about it for some reason but it turned out to be pretty boring. It's almost 24 miles long and you can't see one side from the other at least on a semi cloudy day like today.

My new record which is a cover of Bob Dylan's album New Morning is done but we haven't taken the picture for the cover yet so it will probably come out sometime next week depending on how the photo shoot goes.

Rollercoaster Fever Ride

2010-08-20T01:09:00.000-04:00

It was probably too much to ask to try to hit the ground running when I got to New Orleans, I guess my body decided I need a break. I'm on my way to being better but I was pretty sick for a while there, the weird thing is that the whole time my fever would come and go unpredictably, one minute 98.6, wake up two hours later from a nap 102.3!

Around Tuesday I decided I just had to start pretending I was better because laying around waiting didn't seem to be doing anything. I think the walk to go get a snowball, trampoline badminton and nighttime swimming the last few days really did more than all those days of trying to sleep.

Made It To New Orleans

2010-08-14T19:02:00.001-04:00

I flew into New Orleans on Wednesday night and E & C picked me up at the airport. It's been a busy two days, last night we went down to the Quarter and today we took a drive out to Bayou St. John and saw some alligators.

Checklist

2010-08-08T19:12:00.001-04:00

I have a one way ticket to New Orleans on Wednesday night. I've been super busy getting everything done, I shipped my bike to San Francisco last week, I went to the beach (twice!), I moved out of my apartment into a temporary Andrea-shaped vacancy at my friends Pam and Naomi's house, but there's still so much to do -- bind books, ship books, read (library) books. It's hard trying to fit everything in but it's nice knowing that by Wednesday night it won't matter what I got done or not.

My camera seems to be broken. On the first trip to the beach it started displaying "lens error" which I've read a little about and seems to be the dying gasp of many a digital camera. Right now it's resting on the floor of my room and maybe it will decide to start working again but in the meantime I got a disposable camera which I have been taking a picture a day with and I am pretty excited about.

My friends Darcy and Becca were here at the end of July, along with Darcy's brother Eddie and his girlfriend Laurel from Philadelphia for the weekend. Then my friend Nathan was here at the beginning of August.

Here's a picture Nathan took of Me and Chuck in the store, click on it to see Nathan's other pictures from NY, Philly, France, Armenia...

Once I get to New Orleans I've got plans to finish a children's book I've been working on for a while, record a cover of Bob Dylan's album New Morning and record another album inspired by New Morning.

And The Possible Gets Larger

2010-08-02T10:36:00.001-04:00

My new record is out! As you can probably see above it's called And The Possible Gets Larger which is a quote from an unreleased Everything In Pen song. Download it/listen to it/remix it/make fun of it:

<a href="http://patrickweaver.bandcamp.com/album/and-the-possible-gets-larger">Thunder and Lightning by Patrick Weaver</a>

http://patrickweaver.bandcamp.com/

I made a few cd's but not that many, if you think you want one maybe there is already one with your name written on it!

I made this record very quickly and I don't think that I like it as much as Jonathan Richman but it was nice to be able to make something quickly and I think that it is at least pretty fun.

It has 12 songs:

1. Thunder and Lightning
2. Don't Walk That Line
3. This Show Costs Five Dollars
4. Forever
5. In Alaska
6. From Out Behind The Clouds
7. Firecracker
8. Takin Off
9. My Heart Still Beats
10. Same Make, Same Model
11. When I Walk Among The Giants
12. A Chance Like This (Just Once In A While)

Positively Bleecker Street

2010-07-18T23:28:00.000-04:00

I wrote a children's book with my friend Jess! It's called Positively Bleecker Street and is about walking down Bleecker Street and the things that happen there. The first printing was 10 copies but I think I've already gotten more requests than that so we'll probably be making some more. Naomi helped me bind the first ones today with a stab binding, which looks great. Let me know soon if you want to buy one, they cost $15.

I don't know when the next ones will exist but you can read it right now at positivelybleeckerstreet.com! (Link works now!)

Here it is in the store:

Roof Show

2010-07-06T10:23:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures form the 4th of July show on the roof, I played the "Jonathan Richman/Roadrunner/Sister Ray" medley with The Nuclears again, it was fun!

Photon Dynamo and the Shiny Pieces:

The Nuclears:

Thunder and Lightning

2010-07-05T10:04:00.000-04:00

Sorry this is all over the place but I realized people who read this by RSS would miss it on the sidebar:

Thunder Thunder Thunder

2010-07-03T09:37:00.001-04:00

I'm making a new album. I usually write the whole thing and then record it over a few days after all of the songs are written but this time I wrote and recorded one song first to be the single so that my friend Juan could make a music video for it. I'm probably gonna record the final vocal take on that tonight or tomorrow along with a "b-side" to release as a single maybe on Sunday or Monday and record the rest of the songs over the next week or so unless I decide over the weekend that half the songs aren't good enough and start over. While I was making "Jonathan Richman" I was thinking that after that I would make a "country/folk" album but once I finished "JR" that idea seemed less exciting and I began making a "60's girl group" album. After writing those songs for a while I became more excited about "rock 'n' roll". The album, which may be called "When I Walk Among The Giants" or may be called something else, is sort of a combination of all three of these ideas although some parts might not seem to fit. Also since I haven't recorded it yet it could turn out completely different. The single is called "Thunder and Lightning", watch out!

Mariah in front of stuff

2010-06-19T14:28:00.000-04:00

Family Portrait

2010-06-18T14:05:00.000-04:00

Pictures from Washington

2010-06-17T12:28:00.000-04:00

The Glorious Tacoma Dome.

Bonnie on her old bike, On the way to the graduation.

Then I got bored and started taking pictures of people's faces: Mo, Bon, Mom, Kei.

We went on a hike to some hot springs in Olympic National Park.

Then we saw Canada across the Straight of Juan De Fuca, and then Seattle.

Bonnie and Grandma

2010-06-11T19:22:00.001-04:00

Happy graduation Bonnie R. Weaver.

Bushwick Open Studios

2010-06-07T09:11:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was the annual Bushwick Open Studios. I mostly just checked out a couple buildings with a bunch of studios in them including my friend Shawn's studio where he filmed Warhol style "screen tests" BUT with a red sci-fi background. In order to do this, he uses a beam splitter and a super reflective screen that is only visible from one angle. This is what they used to use to film in front of a pre-recorded background before 'blue screens'.

Here is a picture of his studio, the projector in the foreground is projecting the pre-recorded background into the beam splitter and the camera behind that is filming the scene with subject and background. Way in the back you can see one of his amazing Star Trek inspired paintings.

The videos should be online later this week and I'll try to post them on the sidebar.

Pictures Two Weeks

2010-06-06T08:10:00.000-04:00

Coney Island Returns!

2010-06-03T08:30:00.000-04:00

Wednesday Picnic Club went to Coney Island to celebrate the beginning of summer. This time I spent longer than ten minutes, it was great.

After this some kids jumped off the pier, after that a lifeguard chased them.

Constellations

2010-06-01T12:15:00.000-04:00

Hey everybody should go listen to/download/buy/play for your best friend/sign to your record label Antarctica Takes It!'s new album Constellations.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://antarcticatakesit.bandcamp.com/album/constellations-2"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Bossa by Antarctica Takes It!&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

"Size Does Matter"

2010-05-25T10:22:00.000-04:00

On Saturday I went with my friend Lesley to a show in Chelsea curated by Shaquille O'Neill aka Shaq. It turned out to be amazing, and after we took the elevator to the 22nd floor and got an amazing view.

On the left is a picture of Lesley under a giant table, there was also a tiny elevator which moved up and down and had opening doors. On the right, Lesley reacting to the view.

Take A Picture: 5/16 - 5/22

2010-05-23T12:25:00.000-04:00

Jonathan Richman Now!

2010-05-20T14:14:00.000-04:00

"Jonathan Richman" is done! You can listen to and download it for free at Bandcamp. I'll put it up other places probably soon. If you want a real CD I am making 60, let me know! Give me your address if you want me to mail you one.

If you want a cassette tape they will probably exist eventually I will make as many as there are people who want them so let me know if you do. Also let me know if you have a tape player I could make them on!

1. New York Times
2. Dance Party
3. A State of Grace
4. Jonathan Richman
5. Does This Bus Stop at N. 8th Street?
6. Bike Parade
7. At the Marcy Stop
8. I Wanna Say
9. That Winter Feeling
10. Rock-A-Way

"New York Times" contains a sample of "Save The Country (Single Version)" by Laura Nyro, "Dance Party" contains a sample of "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" by the Supremes, "A State of Grace" contains portions of "State of Grace" by Joy Williams and a sample of "Riverboat" by Van Dyke Parks, "Jonathan Richman" contains a sample of "Satisfaction" by Otis Redding, "Bike Parade" contains a sample of "Cecelia" by Simon & Garfunkel, "Waiting at the Marcy Stop" contains a sample of "The Dog" by Rufus Thomas, "I Wanna Say" contains a sample of "Cue Fanfare" by Prefab Sprout, "That Winter Feeling" contains a sample of "Funky Drummer" by James Brown.

Thank You: Jonathan Richman, Jess, The Nuclears, Naomi, Everything In Pen, Photon Dynamo & The Shiny Pieces, Old Hat, Antarctica Takes It!, James Rabbit, Bruce Springsteen, Sam Cooke, Booker T. & The M.G.'s., everyone I sampled.

Also Naomi and I made a video for the first song, New York Times:

Music Video

2010-05-15T10:10:00.001-04:00

My friend Naomi and I are making a music video for "New York Times" here is a still from an animation we did on Thursday. Today I'm gonna go around town and get more footage.

Jonathan Richman

2010-05-12T19:36:00.001-04:00

I am making a new record, it is almost done and probably will be online sometime next week, I still need to do some mixing and make cover art. It is called "Jonathan Richman" after the singer Jonathan Richman. Here he is playing a song about the Velvet Underground and a video from the show I saw with my friend Maggie on Valentines Day:

It has 10 songs which are (in alphabetical order):

A State of Grace
Bike Parade
Dance Party
Does This Bus Stop at N. 8th Street?
I Wanna Say
Jonathan Richman
New York Times
Rock-a-way
That Winter Feeling
Waiting at the Marcy Stop

I haven't been taking pictures this week because I have been inside a lot recording and becuase it's been windy and rainy but I will start again next week.

Take A Picture Every Day: 5/2 - 5/8

2010-05-09T10:52:00.000-04:00

Big Bamboo

2010-05-04T10:39:00.001-04:00

There is a new installation on the Roof of the Met called "Big Bamboo". It is a large structure built entirely out of Bamboo and nylon cord and was built by about 12 rock climbers over the last 3 months. The artists behind the work are 48 year old twins Doug and Mike Starn. Alan, Zoe and I went on Sunday to check it out.

It has been really hot and humid the last few days, it's starting to feel like summer. Here we are inside the structure.

There were many many bamboo columns supporting the whole thing but we couldn't find many that were carrying much weight and most weren't even touching the ground.

There are timed tickets to go inside the structure on a looping pathway that somewhat resembles a rollercoaster. We didn't go inside this time but they will be expanding it through July so maybe then. It is currently 30' tall but it will grow to about 50'.

Take A Picture Every Day

2010-05-02T12:41:00.000-04:00

Inspired by my friend Mia's always amazing pictures I have a new photography project called "Take A Picture Every Day" where I take a picture every day. A lot of them aren't very good yet but I hope that they get a lot better with all the practice.

Everything In Pen

2010-04-29T23:43:00.000-04:00

My friend Elizabeth who goes by Everything In Pen when she plays music just released her first CD called Let Me Drive. I play guitar and piano on a couple of the songs. One of the songs on my last cd is a cover of one of her songs. Also I designed the cover of the album which has a picture her dad took and looks like this:

Here are some of my favorites, I play guitar and piano (and bass?) on the title track:

Let Me Drive by Everything In Pen

You or the Jehovahs by Everything In Pen

Don't Stake Your Claim by Everything In Pen

Marina Abramović and Tim Burton

2010-04-29T01:54:00.000-04:00

The Marina Abramović and Tim Burton exhibit at the MOMA have been the shows I've heard the most about recently. The response I get when I tell anyone I've been at the MOMA that day or the day before is either, "Oh, did you see the Tim Burton Exhibit?" or "Oh, did you see that exhibit with all the naked people?" The Tim Burton had a limited number of timed tickets to enter, which usually sold out, I feel like this added to the allure, it seemed like there was really something to see because unless you bought tickets early you weren't going to be able to get in (On Friday nights when the museum is free the first 1500 people in line get tickets to TB which is why I ended up seeing it).

While the Marina Abramović is all the way on the 6th floor Abramović herself is impossible to avoid. She sits in at a table inside a large box in the atrium on the second floor with an open chair opposite herself which people are invited to sit in one at a time for any length of time. She does not respond to people although I have not seen anyone do anything when they sat down except make slight facial expressions. When people get up and leave the table she puts her head down and closes her eyes. She reopens then once the next person has sat down.

The first two times I went to the MOMA while the exhibit has been running I wasn't planning on seeing anything but the Kentridge exhibit but it's very hard to walk by this performance and not stop for at least 5 minutes. The MOMA is already a strange environment becuase it is such a tourist attraction but it seems like a lot of the people who end up there don't really know what to expect. I wrote a little about this when writing about the Kentridge exhibit but it is a lot more evident along the perimeter of Abramović's box. The people who wander into the rooms at the Kentridge exhibit at least have decided to check it out but everyone who decides to take the stairs instead of the elevator has to walk by Abramović. If you listen to the passing chatter for a few minutes you'll definitely hear a few versions of: "I don't get it", "What is this?", or "I think it's a staring contest". But a lot of people also seem drawn in, maybe the performance is so mesmerizing becuase it is so much the center of attention and because there always so many people around, all focused on the same two still people but it's hard to pass by it without stopping.

The rest of the exhibit on the 6th floor is preceded by a few warning signs about "live nude performers". There are two entrances to the main part of the exhibit one, the "real" entrance" is a very narrow space between two walls with two naked people standing on either side of the opening. There is a line of people who pass through the space between the people one at a time. There are a few articles and a slide show from the NYTimes with pictures. Of course this being the only entrance/exit wouldn't work for safety reasons so there is a larger open entrance at the other end of the room. Surprisingly one of the most popular things about the exhibit seems to be gathering on the inside of the human entryway and watching people pass through.

The rest of the 6th floor part of the exhibit is images and videos of Abramović's past performances and re-creations of these performances by other people. This is where the paths of the Abramović and Tim Burton exhibit's converge in what is best described as a "Retrospectacle".

The entrance to the Tim Burton exhibit mirrors the entrance to the Abramović exhibit in a probably unintended way. After a warning about timed tickets and a ticket taker who rips off the stub on your ticket that tells you what time to enter the exhibit (6:30 for me) there is a narrow hallway with a row of televisions playing some of Burton's videos. This room serves a dual purpose as both "viewing room" and "hallway" sort of like the "human hallway" upstairs. On the 6th floor there is a MOMA employee there making sure you don't inapropriately touch the performers. On the 3rd floor there is a MOMA employee telling you, "there is no line, if you want to watch the videos stand against the wall, walk through on the left." It's a performance in the art of confusion.

Inside the Tim Burton exhibit is a mix of things ranging from pieces used in the animation of films like The Nightmare Before Christmas or a model of Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands to sketches and other images and videos Burton has created over the years. I didn't spend too much time inside, I walked around once, but there didn't seem to be too much organization to the whole thing, it was just stuff by Tim Burton. A lot of it was interesting but after hearing about "The Tim Burton Exhibit" for so long and being around so many people so excited! to be there it was more of a spectacle than a showcase.

Of course, the Abramović exhibit intentionally walks this line between showcase and spectacle but it comes off in the wrong way. As some reviews of Exit Through the Giftshop: A Banksy Film
have asked, is the performance in it's setting at the MOMA in 2010 doing more to work against itself than not? Abramović's current performance on the 2nd floor works because of it's solitariness, the retrospective on the 6th floor is too much at once. The spectacle which downstairs is kept at bay by the space around the performers and everyone's focus on the same space is lost on the 6th floor. I'm not saying that the participatory elements of the performances on the 6th floor detract from its effect but in the same way the Tim Burton exhibit loses itself in it's everythingness the spectacle of the Abramović retrospective overwhelms the interesting parts about it.

The Marina Abramović exhibit runs until May 31, the Tim Burton exhibit is now over. There is a live video feed of Abramović here when the museum is open. All images are from the MOMA Flickr. Click 'read more' to see still versions of the images. Did you catch Lou Reed in there?

Kentridge Show

2010-04-24T23:51:00.001-04:00

Friday was my third trip to the William Kentridge show at the MOMA and I finally was able to see all of it. The show is the same one that was at the SFMOMA last year, it is called "William Kentridge: Five Themes". The five themes are: Occasional and Residual Hope: Ubu and the Procession, Thick Time: Soho and Felix, Parcours D'atelier: Artist in the Studio, Sarastro and the Master's Voice: The Magic Flute, and Learning From the Absurd: The Nose.

Each theme is based around a series of videos looped in succession in one room or a few rooms or many videos played constantly in multiple projections in the same room. In the areas outside the video rooms there are "final" stills from some of the videos and other creations.

My first visit about three weeks ago I walked through all of the parts of the exhibit except "The Magic Flute" becuase it wasn't working that day. Last week I went to the exhibit for a second time and saw "Ubu and the Procession" and "Soho and Felix".

One of the highlights from these two parts of the exhibit was "Shadow Procession", a 7 minute video from 1999 which, "represents Kentridge's early experimentation with stop-motion animation". The figures in the video are made from "torn black paper". I really like the boots and the machines that seem to have no purpose.

Because of the size of the exhibit it was often very funny to watch people who didn't really know what to expect from it (including me on my first visit). It is pretty hard to make much sense at all from the exhibit without spending at least a few hours there (my three separate four hour Friday afternoon blocks were barely enough time to see everything). People's idea of how to behave in a museum also made watching them funny. The videos for "Ubu and the Procession" and "Soho and Felix were shown in large (15'x15'x15'?) black rooms (one for the two videos in "Ubu" and three for the nine videos in "Soho" with the projection shown on the entire wall opposite the entrance to the rooms. Most of the time there were many more people crowded around the large doorways to the video rooms than there were inside. In some of the rooms there was a single bench (these rooms were usually had the most people in them) but in some people either had to stand against the wall or sit on the floor. The crowd when I was there might have been unusual, with more people who did not really know what to expect because the three days that I went were Friday afternoons when the museum is free. It seemed like people stayed longer in the video rooms with the benches, happy to have somewhere to sit down.

"Soho and Felix" is a series of "9 Drawings for Projection" done from 1999 to 2003 which feature two characters Soho Eckstein and Felix Teitlebaum. These videos feature one of the techniques that Kentridge is most famous for which is charcoal drawings that are changed in each frame of the video. The technique is very interesting because each change in the drawing leaves behind a ghost image of itself like writing on a blackboard. Often these ghost images can add a lot to the image especially in depictions of motion. Two of my favorites of these videos are "History of the Main Complaint" and "Stereoscope". I especially like the driving scenes in "Main Complaint" (see 3:30 in the video).

The videos for both "Artist in the Studio" and "The Nose" were all playing in one room each simultaneously. In "Artist" each video was of a different length. On two walls facing each other "Seven Fragments for Georges Méliès", seven videos featuring Kentridge played in their own loops, on each wall of the room. On each end of the room a larger projection played "Journey to the Moon" and "Day for Night". The "Seven Fragments" incorporate backwards video, disrupting the cause and effect that normally exists in a linear narrative. The fact that the videos played in an endless looped added to this. I also like this one but I can't embed it. "The Nose", featuring Kentridge's most recent work complements Kentridge's staging of Dmitri Shostakovich's 1930 opera The Nose based on a 1836 story by Gogol. The videos in this part of the exhibit are an installation called "I am not me, the horse is not mine" which consists of 8 videos of the same length which play in a continuous loop. This video is taken from a slightly different set up of the exhibit but is in some ways a good example of what it feels like to be inside a room with 8 videos playing at once.

It's interesting watching what people do when they wander into a room with 8 videos playing at once. It seemed like the people crowded outside the video rooms for "Ubu" and "Soho" were trying on their best "Museum" outfits, doing their best to not get in anyone's way, to not block any views, but in "Artist" and "The Nose" the people who enter the room become part of the exhibit (more on this later this week when I write about the Tim Burton and Marina Abramović shows), many people are so mesmerized by so many different movements and lights that they hardly notice that they are standing directly between another projection and another person. It's a strange experience staying in these rooms for enough time to watch each of the videos in it's entirety, to see the crowd ebb and flow to see who stays for a long time, sits down and picks out a few videos to watch. The only problem with staying for this long in the rooms is that the same music loops the whole time, only one of the videos in "Artist" has music and the videos in "The Nose" are all the same length and are set to the same music.

My favorite part of the exhibit was "The Magic Flute" based on and featuring the Mozart opera. There were three videos in this part which played once an hour. The videos are projected onto "two animated miniature theaters" and a blackboard and feature moving robotic parts. "The Magic Flute" was out of order on my first visit, on my second visit I saw the end of the third of the videos and on my third visit I was able to see the whole thing. "The Magic Flute" contains the two longest videos in the exhibit. This video is of the blackboard section.

This room provides probably the most entertaining people watching. The two animated miniature theaters are at each end of a row of 5 benches, the blackboard is on a third side, opposite the two entrances to the room. Because many people enter the room as the previous showing is ending and see people sitting facing the last movie that played they all sit down facing the same direction as the people getting up had been sitting. HOWEVER! The first movie starts on the blackboard to the right (which only requires minimal shifting for most people) and then the next movie is on the mini theater behind them! For some reason this was really funny to me but probably isn't in my description of it. Anyway, the animations for "The Magic Flute" are really amazing, I liked the second part the best but I find it difficult to describe any of the parts of it that I liked.

Fun times at the MOMA! Soon I will write about the Tim Burton and Marina Abramović shows which were surprisingly complementary.

Blog-a-log

2010-04-23T11:24:00.000-04:00

I added a tumblr to the sidebar of the blog over there: -->
This way I can post more pictures that don't really merit a full blog post, to see any of them bigger you can click on the "tumblr" button at the top of the sidebar. Also this way I can link to other interesting things, post videos and songs easily. I'm going to the Kentridge show at the MOMA again today, I will probably post about that soon.

Taxes!

2010-04-13T22:56:00.000-04:00

New York state has so many tax forms! I never filed state taxes while living in California, not sure if I was supposed to. . . but I had to fill out a 4 page form for NY State taxes, plus two more forms that I couldn't even get at the library today so I have to go print at the store tomorrow. Another bike ride over the bridge so I can hold off on getting a metro card until Friday probably!

Here's the view from the Brooklyn Bridge last weekend:

Summertime

2010-04-07T17:15:00.000-04:00

Today is the fifth day of summer! It was so nice on Sunday that I decided it was the first day of summer, it was also Easter. Spring was short but sweet. It's 90° out today. When I took my bike out two weekends ago I realized that my brake pads, in addition to being very worn down, were dried out and disintegrating so today I walked to a bike store that I just found out about close to my house and got some new ones.

In addition to working at the bookstore I am working at the Census now. It is a strange operation and nobody at all seems to have any idea what is going on. So far they have spent more than twice as much time "training" me as I have spent actually working for them.

1 Year!

2010-03-31T14:49:00.000-04:00

So Stefanie and I left a year ago today from Santa Cruz, it all seemed so crazy on the first day. The last hill riding up to the campground in Monterey seemed like it would never end, but it actually did turn out to be one of the bigger hills on the whole trip. Also we always felt embarrassed those first few days telling people where we were going because we had come so little distance, it seemed silly to say it. Here's a picture of our bikes at the dentist, they're so clean!

Spring Is Here!

2010-03-25T18:25:00.000-04:00

Spring was here at least, last week was really sunny and I went for my first bike ride in a long time and found out that my brake pads were kind of disintegrating, makes sense I guess it's been a year and 4000 miles.

I work at the census now, I am also still working at the bookstore one or two days a week. Today was my second day of census training and next week I will start actually counting people. The training is mostly waiting and having stuff read at us but everyone seems pretty nice.

Also I got a library card which is amazing. Here is a picture of the Brooklyn Main Library:

Journey to the end of Staten Island

2010-03-18T11:12:00.000-04:00

To celebrate Naomi quitting her job we took the Staten Island Railroad all the way to the end of the line and then walked around until we found a beach. There were a lot of crazy houses a lot of which looked like boats, also for some reason everyone in Staten Island loves St. Patrick's Day! I should have taken a picture of some of the decorations but I couldn't decide which ones. The beach was kinda gross and even if it was a bit hotter I don't think we would have wanted to go swimming but it had a lot of nice shells. Tuesday and yesterday have been the first really-feels-like-spring days, it feels great!

The beach was in Tottenville at the South-West end of Staten Island.

There was a giant gazebo and a great view of New Jersey!

π Day

2010-03-15T14:25:00.000-04:00

To celebrate pi day I made a pie and so did a lot of other people, they were all delicious!

My vegan butternut squash pie, gluten free so Pam could eat it!

Andrea works on a ginger pear tart.

A few of the pies...Blueberry tart, spinach/cheese quiche, corn quiche, vegetable pot pie?

Sun Sun Sun

2010-03-09T23:14:00.000-05:00

Sun shiny Southern California, after a season in the snow feels like a million degrees, please leave the door open. Going to the airport, get ready for rain clouds.