Oh My Mapplethorpe

Today Sheebs and I went to the Guggenheim to check out the "Robert Mapplethorpe and the Classical Tradition" exhibit. Pretty good stuff, especially if you love graphic male nudity. Okay, it's more than that... Comparing Mapplethorpe's photography (something I know little about) to Italian Mannerist painting (something of which I have an understanding) was the most interesting part for me. Now that I've demonstrated some pretension, I can move on. After the museum, we strolled down 3rd Ave and ate at Gobo, a vegetarian restaurant. Perusing the menu, I determined the veggie burger and yucca fries would be my best bet for a meal both filling and cheap. I must admit, I'm intrigued by the veggie burger now. After eating the burger, the food sat peacefully in my stomach. It wasn't like last time I ate a hamburger when I felt like the meat I had just swallowed was going to act like an unwanted houseguest, overstaying its visit in my small intestine. Maybe I'd make a good vegetarian, but chicken fingers dipped in honey mustard sauce taste too damn good.

Do Yourself a Favor...Anniemal

I would have recommended this earlier, but my blog didn't exist. By the way, today is my blog's one week birthday! I still haven't told too many people about it, but I think the blog is going to stick around. Formal grand announcement possible this week. Keep eyes peeled.

Back to Annie...In a few short minutes, Annie became my favorite Norweigian pop princess. Roman introduced me to the song "Heartbeat." Very nice, but nothing I want to write home to grandma telling her, YoU HAvE tO LIsTEn To ThIS!!!! The album's other tracks (Helpless for Love, Annimal) appeal to me more. I just stole, err...shared seven albums last week, but Anniemal still plays in my head.

Mama, I'm Comin' Home

Yeah! I purchased my flight for my Wisconsin Northwoods/Minneapolis week of fun. I'll be flying out on August 22nd and returning August 29th. I'm most excited to hang out at Pine Point County Park located on majestic Lake Holcombe. Okay, I don't know how majestic it is, but it's a lake the Kent family has enjoyed for three generations. My grandparents camped there with my dad when he was a kid. We frequently camped there as I was growing up, and now I tell friends it's the best place to camp in Chippewa County. I took a group of skeptical friends to Lake Holcombe in high school. We participated in the usual "Look at us! We’re so cool because we're smoking cigarettes" bit. We must have scored beer because I remember choreographing an interpretive dance to Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" where members of the camping party emerged from the shadows and walked slowly toward the campfire. You know, today that sounds less like interpretive dance and more like devil worship. Skinny-dipping to R.E.M.'s "Nightswimming"-that was pretty cool too. Anyway, we had a lot of fun and I'm sure the Minneapolis friends version will be just as fun. Things I will do on this camping trip: 1) Eat bacon fried in a pan over a gas stove, 2) play truth or dare and discover Nate's sordid past, and 3) drink a case of Leinie's Red.

Me so Moral

Today I went to the post office to mail a book/gift to friend Anne. Or should I say Anne, M.A.? I bought an envelope to ship the book and used a twenty dollar bill for the $1.49 purchase. The cashier gave me $28.51 back in change. And it's not like she gave me an extra ten dollar bill. She gave me ten singles! I had a wallet packed with a ten dollar bill and eighteen singles. It was nice that I had to make that extra effort in shutting my wallet. Kind of like those hand exercisers that don't really exercise anything meaningful. So I addressed the envelope, and returned to the window. Having paid for the postage, I was left with a moral dilemma, Dr. Laura style. Pocket it? Fess up? I mean, there's a lot that one can buy with $10. I could go out and buy some expensive ice cream with Godiva chocolate bits, something I would never normally buy. I could go to the Phoenix for tomorrow's dollar beer blast and buy five beers (gotta tip!). Even a shirt from H&M can cost less than 10 bucks! Well damn my elementary parochial school education! I alerted the cashier of her error and she apologized with embarrassment. I decided to take a chance on karma today, so something big and exciting should fall into my lap pretty soon.

The World is Flat

I just completed Thomas Friedman's latest, "The World is Flat" in which he describes the new flat world in which we now live. By flat, he means to say that the playing field among the world's population has grown thanks to advances in technology. About a half hour later, my own world became flattened. I received a phone call from Kyle (above) who lives in Paris. Turns out Franz who has been studying in Paris this summer was over for a visit and they decided to give me a call. We eventually moved the conversation over to Skype, a program that allows two users to use their computers as phones. Best part about Skype, it's free. Then Megan, my favorite West Bender turned Parisienne, dropped by to visit. Kyle turned on his webcam so I could see everyone. And there we all were, four UW alumni, veterans of the Spring 2000 Semester in Paris having an old fashioned, digitalized transcontinential jam session.

My Favorite Park

Central Park, Prospect Park, Washington Square Park, Battery Park, Gramercy Park. New York's got some famous parks. Central's good for people watching. Prospect's good for flying a kite (or spotting Jennifer Connelly). Washington Square has some good street performers. But none of these are my favorite park. Empire Fulton Ferry State Park is. I've developed this routine every Sunday for the past four weeks. Every week I grab a chicken salad sandwich and Mountain Dew in DUMBO, walk to this park hoping to find a shaded picnic table, then start reading. Sometimes I'll sit on a bench facing the water. It's difficult though because I'm always spotting something more interesting. One Sunday, I saw what looked like an America's Next Top Model photoshoot. Another Sunday found a school group encouraging anyone to join them in some double dutch jump roping. A skywriting school was seen practicing spelling words in smoky letters across the sky. I guess I like this park because it's small enough that I can see everyone in the park. And it's always just people relaxing by lazily napping on the grass, taking a picture of their kid, or the occasional dance troupe practicing a plie against the railing. Of course, the view of downtown is thrown in your face. The beautifully constructed Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg bridges are there too. Even the passing water traffic of Circle Line tourist boats amuses me. I suppose I like the park because it allows me to be so close to the city, without actually having to be in the craziness of it all.

Do Yourself a Favor...The Whitest Kids U' Know

The Whitest Kids U' Know perform great, free sketch comedy at Pianos in the Lower East Side most Sundays. They're all hot too. Here's a sample of my favorite video clip, the Hitler rap.