July Summarized
Nothing says "second week in August" like posting my final July wrap-up. Here's what I was up to when I wasn't in Chicago or at a rock festival in Chicago or in Utah.
I can't remember if I told you I went to Katz for a hot dog on the 4th of July. Fact: It was the second time in my 13 years living in New York to set foot inside Katz and my first time buying something/eating there. It was a fine hot dog, no bigger than a Grey's Papaya dog, but yeah, I'd say tastier.
Look at this, the Second Avenue Subway really is coming. This is the cover across the new side to the 63rd Street subway platform.
You may have wondered if I went to the Martin Creed show at the Park Avenue Armory. Why yes, of course I did.
This is just what the Armory looks like all the time
And here's the most famous thing about the show: The room full of great big balloons. So many balloons! Such a strong latex smell! So hard to get a correct exposure!
Everyone knows about the balloons at the Creed show but from there it gets weirder. There's a room where the lights flash on and off while the door opens and closes slowly on its own--in fact, slow openings and closings are a recurring element of the show. Out in the main hall there's a giant curtain that opens and closes slowly on its own. But in the great big gigantic parade room they've got the biggest opening and closing. Up on this gigantic screen they play videos of the camera slowly zooming in on still figures who then open their mouths (slowly) to reveal mysterious gunk or goo. And then, even more slowly and less frequently, the door way down at the other end of the room opens up to the street and sunlight outside. Art!
Off to the side from there there was a gallery of smaller video installations of things like dogs walking around, passages getting highlighted, and, uhm, people throwing up (not pictured)?
Throughout the rest of the Armory it was harder to tell Creed's art from what was already in the museum, but there was this white grand piano that slammed its own lids open and shut. Which you can't tell from the photo. But that's what it did.
Let's talk about visitors? Scott came for a conference and stayed with me for a week while I was gone the whole time working, but we had some good 12:30am meals. He's down with dollar slices and up for Baconator fries.
And I managed to get back from Utah just in time to catch Jessica at the tail end of her New York trip. So good to see Jessica, hard to believe it had been ten years!
Last Saturday of the month I met up with Mary and Kim at the Metrograph to see Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. After that we grabbed some lunch at Mission Chinese...pro-tip: Place is EMPTY at 1pm on a Saturday and I gave my old neighborhood a little bit of a walking-around.
And, in conclusion, two creations I am proud of for July: this roasted vegetable salad and my BB8 watercolor.
