A Child Of Atom

I just came across the website of photographer Bill Sullivan who photographs sequences of people in the context of the same situation, or device, and then does large scale installations of the photographic series. One of those series is New Yorkers coming through the turnstyles at the entrance of the subways. All of his subject were photographed without their knowledge, as he stood by his tripod and pretended to read a magazine! Viewing them in sequence, as he has them laid out on his website really is an amazing experience, and the array of faces and expressions that he captures is amazing. One note of interest in this series is how dated some of the subjects look. The series is dated 2004, but some of these people are wearing fashions straight out of the 70's! So much for being the most fashionable city in the world.

Okay... Google has this service, it allows you to search images as well as just words, right? With me so far? When you search something you can just click "Images" right there at the top of the page.



And then you'll get pictures of what you searched for. So, if you arrived here with the search term "atom drawings" or "atom sketches" or "atom pictures" you might want to try that instead, maybe?

Here, I'll even do it for you the first time. Click here.

You're welcome.

For once my vaunted powers of coincidence have actually worked in my favor! As you know, earlier this month I opened two shows. One of them was written and composed by a couple of friends of mine who had worked with me at a summerstock for the past two years. I had seen this show there and encouraged one of the theatres that I work with frequently in the city to consider it for their season this year. Back when it was all arranged my friends had considered coming out to see the production, but time being what it was, and the unfortunate holiday timing of the opening I figured that it wasn't going to happen.

Skip ahead to this week. One of the actors had a small incident with a costume article that meant it needed to be replaced. I had shopped for it earlier in the week and headed down to the theatre this morning to deliver it so that I could see it on her and determine if it needed any quick alterations, or what-not. When I arrived I discovered my friends, the authors, standing in the lobby! They had decided to take a last minute flight to NYC and in their rush to pack forgot an address book that would've contained my number. Without that ripped shirt I never would've known that they had come in. I stayed and watched the show, my first time seeing it with an audience, and then we all had a quick lunch. (It's children's theatre and they were going back for the second show in the afternoon.) It was awesome to see the show with the kids, to see what they reacted to, and how worried for the characters they seemed, and doubly so since I was able to see it with my friends!

This weekend Kid Flash and I decided that we were on vacation. We both agreed no email, no phones (cell for me, land for him, can you believe he doesn't have a cell?), no outside world. I was coming off a three week tear of constant work (and I do mean constant, there were several 24 hour days), and he's about to start a new semester of school, so we both feel like we need a break.

After a week of debate and perusing last minute travel packages we both decided that neither of us wanted to make a decision. It basically came down to that, sad to say. So we chose to stay in the NYC and be tourists in our own city. This included checking online before every meal to see how the restaurant was rated and reviewed, and visiting stores that we normally wouldn't. In some cases it worked out fantastically (go to Sarabeth's and get the pumpkin waffles, yum!) and in other cases not so much (what is the attraction to FAO Schwartz?). We visited the Museum of Natural History so that I could see the Planetarium, which I had never been to, saw Pan's Labyrinth had some great sushi and Korean food, and visited Toy Tokyo and the 80th street flea market.

Monday was a highlight though. We hopped on a Metro North train and headed upstate to visit Dia: Beacon. Dia is a collection of modern art, comprised mainly of over sized sculptures and installations from the last 4 years of art. The highlights included Richard Serra's "Torqued Ellipse" series which includes 4 gigantic steel ellipses that fill the room they occupy. Each giant steel wall can be walked around, and in some cases through and between and being in close proximity to them is the only available way to experience them. This often means passing between the sculpture and the walls of the room in only 3 or 4 feet of space. The shapes of the walls and the twisted (torqued) cylinders can only be experienced from within the sculptures themselves. It's really quite amazing. Like most modern art some of the other galleries are hit or miss, but I'd definitely recommend a visit if you have a day or so. The trip up is about an hour and the galleries took about 4 hours to properly visit.

It was great weekend of not being pressured by the real world, and experiencing New York as a tourist (sort of... we avoided Times Square and several other annoyingly tourist congested areas). Now, back to the work.

Continuing my style themed 12 of 12 entries I decided that for this month's that I'd stick to panorama style shots. (This is all based on a project started by Chad Darnell.)

Okay... I've spent nearly every day since the New Year... working. And working. And.... working. In the past two weeks I've opened two shows. I designed both the set and the costumes for both shows. That's the equivalent of 4 shows worth of work.

One of the things that this means is that I've spent an inordinate amount of time in the various Salvation Army thrifts around town. One of the peculiar things about thrifting in New York City is that you have to know your neighborhoods in order to find what you are looking for. If you want men's clothing then 21st street is the best location for you (it's the closest to the gay neighborhood). If you need clothing for larger sized people you'll have to leave Manhattan, (I've never found a dress over a size 12 at a Manhattan thrift). If you are looking for anything that is actually vintage avoid the thrifts closest to NYU or SVA, (all the students will have bought the good stuff already). My favorite Manhattan thrift though is 46th street at 10th Ave, they ALWAYS have some highly surprising items. Because of their proximity to the fashion district they seem to get a lot of leftover samples from designers. Last week I bought 6 pair of pink opera gloves, just in case I ever need them. This week I've seen a dozen plaid girl's jumpers in various sizes and colors, (which I was dieing to use but it didn't fit either show, dammit!) and my favorite: several dozen powder blue floor length t-shirt dresses with open backs. Again... how can I use this in a show? Why am I not currently designing something that calls for this?! This week it also seems that someone with a collection of 70's polyester print shirts is cleaning their closet. THIS I could use. I bought several for my shows and a couple for myself as well. A great boon to my design.

Today I went in to discover a wall of dance pumps, several dozen pairs of about 4 different styles. I discovered that each style was labeled. The first had a name and "Robbie and Linda's Wedding." So... wedding leftovers I guessed. I looked at one of the other styles and found that they were labeled as well, but said "Robbie and Julia's Wedding." Huh. Robbie got remarried? Weird. Why would Robbie have kept all the bridesmaid's shoes from his wedding's? It wasn't until I crossed the room and found a rack full of black belts with silver studs and saw that they were all labeled with names as well that I put it all together and realized... somewhere in this thrift was a pretty large chunk, (if not all) of the costumes from "The Wedding Singer" which had just closed on Broadway over the New Year's weekend. I immediately went to the t-shirts and started digging to see if I could find the Van Halen t-shirt, but it didn't seem to be there. Of course it's possible that it hasn't been processed yet. I have to head back there tomorrow, and I'll probably look again. But really, where else but Manhattan?

Yesterday I settled in on the A train for my normal afternoon commute. I automatically scanned the car for interesting people to sketch and landed on a young lady across the aisle from me. After a few minutes of observing her I noticed a couple things: first she was not going to be still enough for me to sketch. She was very active, bouncing in conversation between her younger sister and a young man that I assume to be her boyfriend. The second thing I noticed was that she had some seriously bad teeth. They were white, and all in place, but they seemed to be too big and they stuck out at weird angles, to the point of distorting her upper lip a bit. I couldn't help but to continue looking up at her. I wanted to get a good look at what was going on in her mouth. After a few seconds she laughed deeply and opened her mouth really widely. It was then that I saw the source of everything... her canines were HUGE! About that time her boyfriend reacted to the same joke and let out a loud laugh I glanced at him and realized... so were his.

I took a second took a longer look at them. Both dressed entirely in black. Both had silver jewelry on and she was wearing a silver ankh pendent. He had long black fingernails that looked to be filed to a point. She was wearing a deep blood red lipstick. And they had fangs. Serious, dental application fangs, not the cheap plastic ones you get around Halloween. I was sitting across from two vampires.

Other than the teeth, it was subtle. They didn't look overly "goth-y." No heavy eyeliner or white face makeup. They hadn't even dyed their hair deep black. They were just... average run of the mill vampires. Nothing odd about that, right?

Dramatis Personae
Our Hero (A cute (but modest) man recovering from a staggeringly good Christmas day)
Kid Flash (Handsome, tall, runner type, boyfriend to our Hero)

The Scene
After a holiday party, in a dark apartment with the Christmas tree in the background, and a few wrapping paper scraps still scattered about.

Act 1, Scene 1
Kid Flash: There's one more present to unwrap.
Our Hero: Really? How is that possible?

Kid Flash retrieves a small Altoids tin wrapped in pink ribbon from a nearby bookshelf and hands it to Our Hero.

OH: What's this?

KF smiles slightly mysteriously as OH unwraps to discover two shiny new keys to KF's apartment.

KF: I'm not sure what it means, or if it means anything, or if it even needs to mean anything, but I thought it was time.
OH: Thank you. All it has to mean is that you're tired of waiting by the buzzer to let me in.
KF: Well... let's say it means more than that.

They kiss as the lights fade.

THE END

What an AMAZING holiday. I woke up this morning snuggled up close to Kid Flash trying to forget the lack of sleep that I had had. (We'll not discuss the live salsa band that was playing in the alley by his apartment building until nearly 4 a.m....UGH!) KF's friends quickly joined us for a breakfast of scrambled eggs with cheese, mushrooms, and sun dried tomatoes, accompanied by a killer coffee cake that is tradition in KF's family. That was followed by a leisurely day of laying about in our pj's reading children's books and having a great time. We all tried to be very patient as we waited for KF's brother and his boyfriend to arrive so that we could get to the gifts and the actual merriment. In the meantime we listened to Christmas music by Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Muppets and John Denver, and the Cocteau Twins. I introduced everyone to the joy that was the Star Wars Christmas Special and the Star Wars Christmas Album. Around 3 everyone was finally accounted for and we began the present bonanza!



I received 1) The Visible Woman 2) A Tenorikuma tea towel 3) The Visible Man 4) Some Roller Derby posters 5) A Star Wars folder, 6) The Pop-up Book of Sex (uhm... Mark? Can we discuss the reasoning behind giving me a book of heterosexual sexual positions?) 7) Wooden Spoons, 8) The Lives of Shadows 9) I Am Not Myself These Days 10) Some 70% (!!) Dark Chocolate 11) Some "Elves Gone Wild" Christmas cards 12) Four quarts of Duke's Mayonnaise (he learned pretty quick, didn't he?) 13) Rachael Ray's Comfort Foods cook book 14) The Ultimate Head Massager 15) A new Moleskine (you can always use extras) 16) Some Cosmic Glitter Glue (with space debris!) 17) Hong Kong Comics postcards, 18) My Life, by Iris Dement, 19) A bottle of Dijonaisse 20) Some Red Pepper Balsamic Vinegar Sauce 21) A Tenorikuma rolling stamper 22) A super cute plate with pink piggies on it and 23) a drawing pen.

There's also still gifts in the mail somewhere from my mom and sister, and my gift to myself, a new MacBook dual core 2.0 GHz, with 1 GB memory and an 80 GB hard drive, which should be arriving on Thursday. (Yay!! I'll finally be able to see my monitor again! And have enough memory to run CS2!)

All in all a fabulous Holiday. I hope yours was as well.