CSS Show @ Webster Hall

CSS had a great show at Webster Hall this past Thursday, but the after-party was even better!  The band threw down some sick beats during their DJ set.  Check out the photos below of Anna and I working on some tectonick moves and Rob and I breaking out a new form of dance soon to be known as "The Owen."

The virtual exhibit that I have been working on this summer was launched this past Thursday.  I haven't written much about my internship except for the post about the PSA, but interning at the WPA was a wonderful experience.

I'm heading home to Chicago tonight.  I'll be there for just the right amount of time to chill with my former marching-band-member, turned gynecologist and of course, my family.

On deck:  road trip to Maine with Dad; Niagara Falls pit stop!

http://turningthepage.wpadc.org

Enjoy.

At my internship we have been working on a PSA-style video to promote the WPA's Art File Online.  The video is finally finished.  Have a look...you might see a certain someone.

I was walking home in the rain the other day, and I saw this sad looking tree lying in a patch of grass.  For some reason, I wanted it.  I just wanted to take it home with me.  I picked it up, balanced it on my shoulder and trekked home in the rain with the wet tree.

I put it out in the sun for a couple of days to dry it out.  Now it's in my room.  I have a fucking tree in my room.  Her name is Sylvia.

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I am so thrilled with the way my firework photos turned out!  Enjoy.

Question of the Day

I was sittin' in the park today and got lost in my thoughts.  My favorite that I came up with is:

IF YOU BLEED IN SPACE, WILL YOUR BLOOD STAY BLUE BECAUSE THERE IS NO OXYGEN?

I asked some peeps my question.  Here are some of the answers that I received:

Chad:  Yes, and I think your oxygenated blood stays red

Tim:  Ask an astronaut who cuts himself to feel

Ali:  Good question--I believe it will stay blue

Laura:  Don't people explode in space?  Maybe they explode blue

Theo:  Hold on let me check...uh eh um, it's red.  I'm in the space ship and if I go outside I'm keeping my suit on.

Grif:  If you aren't married by the time you're 22 1/2 will you marry me?

Molly:  I'd say yes

Olga:  It's red before it leaves your body so it will still be red but it won't run or drip, it'll just float in space like a little red ball

Hank:  I don't think you would bleed.  More importantly, though, the color of your blood depends on the light so you really need to find out what the wavelength if of light in space at a given time of day, and correspond that to the electromagnetic spectrum.

Emily:  I'll ask my camper with asperger's...he's wicked smart

Grif (second time around):  If your skin is exposed in space, you've got bigger problems than bleeding

Katie:  Email NASA

I'm pretty sure that I saved DC at least 50 dollars on fire truck petrol today.  Here's the story:  I went to Starbucks, got a drink, and sat down at the counter.  I started to read the Metro section of the Washington Post, but I couldn't focus on it.  I'd like to say it was because of the terrible choice of the front-page story, "Giving Creativity a Lot of Wiggle Room," but my distraction was caused by something else.  Through the window, I watched different people continually go up to a garbage can, lean over it and look in.  I couldn't figure out what might have been attracting everybody who walked by...in fact, it was really strange to watch.  Soon enough I saw, what appeared to be, that mirage-like vision of rising heat.  I thought, "holy shit, fire!"  I jumped out of my seat, went outside, and like everybody else, peered over the side of the garbage can.  Sure enough, little flames were crackling at the bottom.  Unlike everybody else, though, I decided to fucking do something about it.  I ran back into Starbucks, told the people what was up, and asked for a bucket of water.  By the time I got back to the garbage can (about 40 seconds later), the garbage bag had completely melted and the flames were rising over the lid.  Luckily, that one bucket of water did the job.

I don't even want to think about what would have happened if that fire had kept on blazing.  I am certainly not trying to flatter myself, but I was really disheartened by the fact that everyone who saw the fire, went up to it and then walked away.  Nobody did anything...

I learned a valuable lesson yesterday.

Before I go into it, I should give a quick update of my life post-Florence.  I came back to the states in great head-space.  I spent about a month at home getting sun burnt, painting, and spending time with my family.  Re-entry proved to be an interesting factor during that time, but I'll save that for another post.  Now I am in DC for the summer.  I have an internship at the Washington Project for the Arts (see link @ left).  I love my job, the people I work with, the location, and of course, the art.

Today after work, everyone at the office (by everyone, I mean the 3 people that work there) including myself, went back to art-o-matic, a huge art event that took place from May 9-June 15.  The show was coming to a close, and we had to pack up some of our things that were over there and bring them back to the office.  Mid-way through packing up the car, we realized that one of us had accidentally locked the keys in the car.  For some, panic ensued because there were places to be and people to see.  For others, this was a period of amusement and ultimately hilarity.

As we stood outside holding up our cell phones to the car doors in an attempt to send remote control car key waves to unlock the vehicle, the weather did a 180.  The weather that was once picture perfect, lemonade-stand-worthy, rapidly turned into a cliched Dorothy-in-Kansas storm.  And then, all of a sudden the immediate area that I was in, turned into this surreal, Michel Gondry "science of sleep" like montage...

The sky changed to an erie greenish-grey, releasing raindrops that fell ever so lightly, they looked like snow flakes falling during a quiet winter night / artists mopily trudged slowly in and out of the rain packing up their cars with their artwork that didn't sell / a vibrantly colored, double-arched rainbow appeared over a gigantic construction site / thick black clouds of smoke from a fire rose up over the elevated train tracks / while 4 people surrounding a silver mini van, each at a different window, peered in to catch a glimpse of the keys that would take them home.

It was after this sudden shift in weather and chain of surreal events that made me realize my mistake:  i left my camera in the car.  the locked car.

Lesson learned:  bring camera everywhere.  always.

I was standing in line waiting to check out at a department store a couple of days ago, when low-and-behold, the woman standing in front of me was sporting a purse with a 3-dimensional squirrel on it.  Of course, I managed to snap the shot, but even more impressive was the fact that I gave it a nice little petting.

Thoughts on bag:  borders between being totally awesome and totally lame...I'll have to get back to you on that one.

Gotcha, ya little shit

The subject matter of the two photos that I posted on May 28th might not be all that easy to identify because I did not include much context within the frame.  The photos capture the steal beams of a section of a bridge against the backdrop of the sky.  I like these photos for many reasons and when I was thinking about them, I realized that in a way, these photos suggest a social change and maybe even a dilemma:  looking up.  I hate to make generalizations but, nobody does it anymore; nobody looks up!  Sure, you can go the route of "we're busy Americans, we live a fast-paced lifestyle, and we don't have enough time to appreciate our surroundings because we are too busy thinking about what to order at Starbucks," but I would also like to take another approach to this dilemma:  height.  I live in large city with a beautiful skyline of architectural wonder.  Yet, I just came back from a 5-month stay in Florence, where the tallest occupied building is probably only about 4 stories.  In Italy, before, during, and after the Renaissance, architecture has always been a highly respected form of art that represents the genius of the architect and the reflection of society.  I think this idea flows into the present as well, but the significant increase in height of present day structures completely inhibits the warm, intimate feeling one gets with the buildings that were constructed at eye-level or a little higher like in Florence.  I am not trying to say that the current appreciation of architecture has diminished, but the increased height of buildings and skyscrapers makes it much more challenging to get an idea of the structure as a whole.

I took the Chicago River Architecture tour the other day and with all of this jibber-jabber in mind, I got some cool shots of some of the buildings that are near or that line the river.  Enjoy.

(wherever you live in the world, take 30 seconds out of your day to look UP at the building you are walking by.  It might be worth it.)

It's a given that food quality is the most essential aspect of dining out, but I have always been in the school of thought that the atmosphere and overall interior decor of an eating establishment can make or break the dining experience.

At Bentwood Tavern in New Buffalo, Michigan, I experienced ribs that had more fat than meat, fries that were too salty, coleslaw with cilantro (!?), and lemonade that was diluted with ice.  Yet, this disappointing meal was countered by the pleasingly elegant, yet simple modern interior of the restaurant (pictured above), which in turn made my meal significantly more enjoyable.

One of the coolest celebrity snapshots that I've seen in a long time.

(Eric Gaillard for Reuters)  click to enlarge.