Meta-Blogging

Just read an article about Cory Arcangel in the New Yorker, who has a new video game/bowling/interactive exhibit at the Whitney. I normally don't care one way or the other about "hot, new artists" in the New York area -- do you? -- but this guy has a couple of funny Internet pranks/jokes/art/&tc that I like.

One part of his website automatically updates and logs every Twitter account that says "follow my other Twitter."

Another is a meta-blog, Sorry I Haven't Posted, that collects blog posts from people who blog about not blogging. Hilarious!

In What a Misunderstanding!, Arcangel captions every week's New Yorker cartoon with that phrase. Also pretty hilarious.

He's done a lot of other ridiculous projects, too, like locating the center of gravity for Starbucks in Manhattan; stripping Super Mario Bros. of all its code except for the clouds and then projecting them on a blank wall; instructions on how to trick people into thinking you have an iPhone (change your email signature so that it says, "Sent from my iPhone"); creating a Neil Patrick Harris-centered search engine (called Dooogle.com); and posting home movies of his old "band" he had with his sister ("Insectiside").

I kind of like it! Snarky, lowbrow stuff is beginning to feel like a dime a dozen these days ("these days"), but I get a kick out of it nonetheless (he even makes a video satirizing LOLcats... how's that for meta-Internet post-modern irony?).

And if you want to know where this guy stands, his stuff has been shown at the MoMA, the Tate Modern, the Whitney, and tons of other absurdly high-profile places. I have no idea how art functions!

Here's a picture of his "Clouds" exhibit:

Weekend with Billbug

Hooray for weekends off!

My psyche is warming up with the weather. I may be rolling along carelessly and quickly by the time summer runs out (hopefully in Switzerland! A vacation plan is in the works...), but then again I've always been on a seasonal/trimonthly cycle. (Every three months I reach a low point then have an epiphany... don't you?? I'm due for one right about now.)

I biked to the Fort Greene Brooklyn Flea on Saturday -- which I may have mentioned in an earlier post, it's quite worthy of double mention -- and did all sorts of liberal Brooklyn things, like sign up for renewable energy, chug homemade hibiscus tea, and absentmindedly look through worthless "antiques" as if I were going to buy something (I did). It's a pretty good time, and makes me feel a little proud, too -- I'd say about half of the vendors are young, creative, ambitious locals who just want to make a living frying chai tea cinnamon buns or painting stationery with beet juice, goddammit. I like the energy.

But Bill wasn't a part of that. I met him and some others afterwards at Hibino, a pretty standard-looking sushi place in Brooklyn Heights that has definitely above-the-standard sushi and tofu (homemade! delectable like flan). Our night ended with rude Brooklyn bartenders and Ren & Stimpy.

Most of Sunday was devoted to the Museum of the Moving Image, one of the most successfully interactive and visually exciting museums I've ever been to -- and it's in Queens! You can make your own stop-animation films, mix and edit soundtracks, look through old cameras, play video games. There are short films and experimental media exhibits playing on loop everywhere. 3D glasses were definitely involved. There is a "Jim Henson's Fantastic World" exhibit coming up in July, with this picture as the advertisement:

Yes.

...

It's pretty great having vistors. I feel like I should get out of the city more on the weekends -- remember that lofty goal to get to Chicago? -- but there's always so much to do here -- and if there isn't, I'd just as well stay in my neighborhood, go on a bike ride or a jog along the East River, and fall asleep in the park reading and munching on baklava (I haven't done that). I love sharing my neighborhood and my experience here with anyone who cares to listen -- it was Bill's first time in Queens!

Having friends over also makes me feel at home, in an odd way. I remember in France, inviting my friend Danny over to my apartment for the first time got me so jazzed; I felt like I was bringing someone into my little personal nest that had formerly never felt the rhythms of the outside world, and I think it did me a world of good.

The Knife

Best dance song I've heard in ages. With a mesmerizing video to boot!

Major Purchases

Making less money than a cheesemonger but spending it like "real person." Oh well! These are some things well-spent.

Books. Emily, Megan and I stopped at Powerhouse Arena in DUMBO yesterday, a publishing house-cum-bookstore-cum-art exhibit on Water Street where Spike Lee happened to be signing stuff. (!!!) I spent a full day's wages on books I've been meaning to buy for ages: The Pale King, by David Foster Wallace (unfinished and published posthumously...); A Gate at the Stairs, by Lorrie Moore; and Here is New York, by E.B. White. I also bought a pull-out poster book of old maps of New York as a joint gift for myself and Don; heck, we need something on our bare white walls besides that bamboo bowl.

NYC Century. I'm wussing out and not doing the whole century -- but I am doing a half! The registration was a little pricey, but all the money goes to Transportation Alternatives, a cycling/walking/public transit organization that has some serious clout in New York. Every year, they arrange the NYC Century, which is apparently the only all-urban century in the United States (it's also a tour, not a race -- thank god). They're also the organizers of the Tour de Bronx (in October) and the Tour de Queens (in July), both of which I am definitely doing.

Music. My ticket to go see Animal Collective at Prospect Park wasn't ridiculously expensive, but certainly counts as a serious investment for me. Though there is lots of excellent free music around in the summer (MoMA P.S. 1 Warm-Ups are starting soon! Andrew Bird in Brooklyn! Classical music in Central Park!), I am making an unwise promise to myself not to be a miser when it comes to seeing and hearing quality art. Anyone with me?

Da Fam

Easter and Mother's Day: the Smuckers do Brooklyn.

 Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

Emily's feet 

DUMBO 

Megan's new do @ Brooklyn Bridge Park

Water Street 

Dazed and confused at brunch 

Cool! 

Pretty day :-)

Oxford

The last few weeks have probably been the most stressful of my entire life (Paris with Grandma comes in close second). Something about starting a new job, getting negative comments about your schoolwork, and having the cat defecate on everything you own just doesn't add up to a rosy spring solstice. Living with someone else doesn't make things easier, either, especially when you're too burned out to talk and too proud to say something's wrong and too depressed after realizing that you're not talking to someone you love because you're proud and mad and want to throw the cat out the window, is really the problem.

But the Wizard's behavior has since improved, I'm settled in at the new job, and this paper is really not going to get any better than it is, so why worry?

This new gig at Oxford is pretty funny. I feel like I'm fooling them, somehow, having come from the gutters of the restaurant industry with no prior knowledge of publishing. I suppose they see some value in what I'm doing, since I haven't been reprimanded for anything yet -- it's mostly administrative stuff that nonetheless feels worthwhile since it all feeds into the same path of bookmaking, which is a pretty neat process no matter how you look at it. Plus, my schedule -- 8am to 4pm -- makes me feel like I'm back in high school, with a whole half day's worth of sunlight ahead of me.

I might be past this season's major stress hump, but my creativity is jammed and I don't feel particularly inspired by much; this will improve as I adjust, I know. I just need to finish this paper!

The Itch

I went to my first Couchsurfing event last night -- nearly every large city has them, and they're a good way for travelers to find temporary buddies or (as in my case) locals to find other like-minded Couchhosts. You have your fair share of leadership-type almost-weirdos -- usually older men, approaching forty, very active in the community -- as well as perpetual travelers, first-time travelers, trying-to-get-a-visa travelers, and generally quite interesting people.

The New York City group meets up every Tuesday at the Life Cafe, in the East Village (apparently where RENT was written); there is also a meetup in Union Square on Thursday nights, regular Brooklyn meetups in the Williamsburgh area, and sometimes vegetarian/vegan events. The pointlessness of these meetings is purposely lost on everyone -- meeting up for the sake of meeting up -- which makes them interesting; everyone comes with a "who cares?" kind of attitude, tells their story, listens to yours, and leaves, maybe making plans with someone, or maybe never seeing them again for the rest of their life.

I might go to more events, or try out different ones in other parts of the city; there's something depressingly circular about retelling your own story so many times. It echoes the perpetual traveler-type people, whose voyages I envy but not their lifestyle: getting cheap, quick jobs just to make more money to travel; no roots of any kind; always searching for a temporary friend, just someone for the sake of someone. I once heard a story of a man who had been WWOOFing for forty years, making a little money here and there, just enough to get from one place to the next. Something about the truly global citizen makes me a little sad.

This is not to say I oppose the organization or the nature of travel itself, not by any means. I think once I start my new job (March 28th!) and have weekends off, I'll re-open my doors to the Couchsurfing world once again. It's also nice to just make friends -- I met a girl from Tasmania last night who's in New York with her mom for two months, so hopefully we're going to do some city exploring together while she's here.

This weekends off thing -- I'm planning on using up my vacation days here and there to allow myself some semi-serious weekend trips. Friends to visit is obviouslyfirst on my map; after that, I'm entertaining the idea of visiting Cleveland, Montreal, the Hudson Valley (camping!); maybe doing that circular Long Island-Connecticut-NYC trip involving the North Fork Ferry (a vineyard trip, perhaps?). I'm aware that these options are rather lame (Niagara Falls, maybe??) but I'd like to see as much of what's in my immediate vicinity while I can. (Before the onset of 2012, obviously.)

Any other suggestions??