Can you Wish Upon a Fading Moon?

Is it Christmas time yet?

For those of you who were lucky enough to catch this months earlier Lunar eclipse, it was a definate amazing sight. I took a few pictures that came out pretty cool - I even broke out my old 35mm film camera and snapped a few photos. But what I really wanted to do was snap a whole bunch of shots with with my very much desired Sony Alpha Camera. Desperately *WANT* this new toy... unfortunately I dont *NEED* it, and have been convinced back to sanity by Ray, and a few others.

Ahhh... Materialism

So I leave you with a few shots of what I was able to take with Wayne's camera, since mine totally SUX'd !!! (do note either Saturn or Venus at the top of the shot as a small pinpoint of light)

Its the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!

Well I apologize for the long lapse in posts... I know its been a while, much like a sighting of the .. well, Great Pumpkin.

Life gets busy with small things and other distractions to boot. So here in a jumble - I give you a jumble of February recaps (in 2 part posts -dated for my Mom' Bday & our wonderful Leap year!)

Katsucon !!! : Well if you've never been to a geek convention - an anime convention rates somewhere between a war gaming convention and a comic book convention. Though I've never been to the holy grails of any of these I was missing part of the trifecta of geek Cons. SO on Saturday on a sunny Wintry day in mid February, I head off with Amanda and Denise (The Big "D" -right ) to the Omni Shoreham and ... get a .....ummm eye full (the she demon thing pictured below is typical).

Needless to say - I miss my anime - but mostly because there is so much stuff released now - and a majority is high priced junk - that you don't get good series anymore (like Gundam, Cowboy BeBop, Gunsmith Cats, Neon genesis, Macross etc.....). I did discover a few neat series - short lived as they are in Gunslinger Girls (eerily haunting and amazingly drawn), Afro Samurai (voiced by THE man - Sam Jackson) and saw a visually stunning & bizarre and supercool movie, that I *MUST* see again called Paprika.

I also picked up a few neat knickknack's, learned what Yaoi was, and saw an eye full of fun, sexy and plain - shouldn't be worn costumes...... The girls want to go to Otacon in August... I'll think about that one. More pictures are --->Here<---

Thankfully, to offset the geekness of Saturday, the next day was followed up by an impressive Belgian beer festival over at Max's on Broadway in Fell's Point neighborhood in Baltimore. Too many beers were tasted - and next year I need to retain (or get a copy of) the beer guide & our notes. They had in INSANE amount of those beers all on tap and even their standard tap list is impressive. We were also lucky to be with Max's regulars Kevin & Viraj(pictured above with Cat & Random dude) and scored, via Max's generosity a Deleruim Tremens glasses (right) - although I attempted to fight Viraj for the large Chimay glass, he took it home. But he deserved it - A big THANKs to those two fella for pointing this out!

Put this one on the calender for next year for sure!

It's Business time !

"When it's with me you only need two minutes because I'm so intense. Two minutes in heaven is better than one minute in heaven. You tell me you want some more. Well, I'm not surprised, but I am quite sleepy."

Somehow I thought of The first song I ever heard of The Flight of The Conchords (of which Jon introduced me to) as an appropriate intro to the Amazing Show that is The Sex Workers Art Show (SWAS) that has been traveling the country and was at the Rock & Roll Hotel last night.

Never had I seen such a LARGE packed house at that place. Packed in almost like sardines.

It had an almost a through the looking glass appeal when I first saw the adverts, a very definite curiosity. But then the show really manages to give the industry a voice, add a faces and a name to this anonymous and often exploited labor force but managed to maintain a light and highly entertaining mood. It was an eye opener to hear that the industry nets more than the 3 of 4 of the major sports combined (Football, Basketball & Hockey), and as Annie Oakley the shows Hostess/MC said that much like our burgers and food we like “prefer our products to remain anonymous.” , including sex......

There were 8 performers overall:

Kirk Read who grew up in small town, VA read/preformed his letter to Rick Hilton (heir to the Hilton Fortune maybe?) which included complaints such as no light colored comforters (stain too easily) and installing dimmers (allows for better mood lighting for his clientèle). But more poignant was his description of his night with his client - (not the dirty details - except for the comforter bit)

Dirty Martini was next who did a "patriotic" burlesque bit with a comment on America's love of money..... and basically where we can stick it (or in this case find it) - mouth, underwear, boobs and butt - Yep a string of nothing "butt" cash from there - hilarious AND disturbing!

The World Famous *BOB*, was easily the most endearing. A down to earth girl from a teeny town in Cali, she recounted how she fled in a Camaro with her gay hairdresser friend to L.A. to become a dime-a-dance girl, who then turned into a self-proclaimed “worst dominatrix ever” turned performance artist. Bob (she renamed herself after The Cure front man Robert Smith) performed an neat striptease to the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey!

Erin Markey showed off her hilarious wit, as well as her pole dancing and singing chops, as she captivated us with the story of her journey from college grad to Chuck E. Cheese reject to an amateur stripper with the stage name “Bridget.”

Lorelei Lee, a porn performer read from her fiction work (didn't catch the title)

Mistress Keva turned a could a been LNS'er into her submissive pony boy in a dominatrix show, and gave him a Cantonese name and made him whimper on command. She spoke of how she exploits Asian stereotypes and fetishes with her clients, pretending to say dirty things in Cantonese when actually she’s asking how much the yellow purse costs or Happy New Year. The finale of her act was - even though no nudity was involved, used a very life like prosthetic and was Quite Shocking, even to me!

Author Chris Kraus read a story about her days as a topless dancer in New York City. It felt out of touch with the rest of the show somehow. Something from another era.

The night ended with fireworks - literally - with the performance of Krylon Superstar (pictured above), who hammed it up with the audience then sang and danced to a patriotic anthem with the words “F*** Bush” taped to his chest. He finished with a "flourish" by placing a sparkler in his butt and lighting it to the shock and applause of the audience. LIKE OMG! once you have Anal Sparklers - how can you top that!

The evening was capped off by us actually getting to meet & talk to the World Famous *BOB* in person ("Bob like a girl, Jan like a guy" - direct quote from her on our introduction.) yeah even though Krylon was fun - we got to meet & talk to "her" - *BOB* is sooo down to earth. She is NYC, (and surprisingly had never been to DC before), and who knows - it could be well worth it to visit her burlesque show on my next trip up there!

Seen in DC... ..

A friend of mine saw the strangests of things in DC last night. Projected - Yes I said PROJECTED - onto the Washington Monument - facing the Lincoln Memorial, the words "HELL OR HIGH WATER".

I have tried finding out what this was art? demomstration? Can it be confirmed and not just a trick of my freinds eyes driving down Independence Avenue? Well, a bad mock up of what it might look like is included....

As for me, I'll continue the search for answers...

Update: My friend - a thoroughly Rotten Rabi, found the source: Greenpeace !

Here's the link; and what I presume is a picture of what it looked like, though I have no confirmation.

Is there a Doctor in the House?

Yes it is the last Hurrah of the Good Doctor Dremo's Taphouse. And although I only knew it for a short 4 years of its 14+ years long existance - it was still the best Dive bar in town.

It (and the Taco Hell next door) are being replaced by condo's. We don't know know the future fo the business (if they relocate) but it was fun while it lasted.


Thank you Dremos.

The Future Sure Looks Bright !

GO !

Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind (TML for short) is an amazing set of ever rotating plays put together by a group from Chicago called the NeoFuturists. Based on my friend Stefanie's recommendation I went to see this after missing catching it during last summers Capital Fringe Festival ( I think i ended up seeing A Romeo & Juliette - suicide prevention play) . This is a neat perspective to convene VERY short plays into one hour - specifically 3- plays, one hour. For each performance the audience chooses the order and the Neo-Futurists create a non-illusory collage of the comic, tragic, political, personal and experimental all while embracing chance, change and possibly a little chaos.

Now as some have already made some notes on this (near bottom), I wont be overly repetitive. Other than a few of my favorites listed:

Moonlit Theatre Presents: Apollo 11 Lunar landing - Definitely "Moon" lit.... just imagine where the flag on the moon is planted...

The simple and eventually cancelled - United Airlines Flightplay 15

Night of the Wild Tortilla Throwers - where else can you throw tortillas anonymously BACK at the stage?

Ryan Walters: Bad Ass Bike Messenger - yeah I'm AM Inspired to be one... I think....

Baggage (the mini series) - Damn with the Writers Strike ! this is better than TV - when your baggage stars as the main character.

The enigmatic THE CHAIR play... What do you see it? What is it? NO it's not....

And because they don't deserve to go into obscurity - as what I see will probably be Nothing like what I would see in three months from now (due to them constantly removing old plays and adding new ones), honorable mentions are:

Veterans Day: July 4th Edition - a poignant yet (politically) neutral comment on a soldiers homecoming from Iraq.

Low Stakes/High Drama - all I could think of was of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly as I saw this one a mile away - still couldnt help myself from laughing uncontrollably.

Fame - How do you make a social commentary on Columbine or Virginia Tech... Well Done Neo-Futurists, Well Done

Night of the Flying Tortillas - They figured on an interactive play, they didnt think the Audience would interact back. Yes watch for a horror movie with a similar titlle ... maybe Attack of the Giant Tortillas!

And the Self explanatory: Pastie on My Dick (alas poor Ryan Walters who had to preform this, and kudos for the imaginative use of the OTHER Dick !)

CURTAIN

Epilogue: Apparently in the flyer that you get with the title of the plays (and numbers you must call out to have them performed) There are "neo-futurist facts for the day"

I always thought Virginia had the most personalized License plates - nope its Illinois
The National Mall is 1.4 times larger than Vatican City
There are an average of 165 cans of beer in a keg

and

Topless Saleswomen are legal in Liverpool England - but only in Tropical Fish Stores

Of Sights and Lights

Over the last weeks I got to experience a couple of very different visual mediums. Both have left a very different impression on me, so we will start with the oldest, kind of..... (The rest will follow shortly)

Though I just saw it barely a week before it closes - The Ansel Adams Exhibit at the Corcoran Museum was breathtaking! And this is despite the Annie Liebowitz exhibit being closed already. I was pretty much exhausted with just one gallery as it was. Seeing this exhibit was rejuvenating. Adams was one of my inspirations for photography, and although I have never seen much of the scenery that he is famous for photographing, I have fallen in love with it dearly.



What I had forgotten (and my friend reminded me of the term), is Adam's use of negative space. So many shadows and intricacies in what initially looks just like black areas. It truly gives his work depth.

The Corcoran had a few other neat surprises one of which was a interactive photography display. Basically there was a rotating projection on the wall that would display the photos taken barely a minute before by a camera set up in the room. What you get is almost a photo booth style display on the wall - with all types of people doing everything from funny to serious to normal. In someways it reminds me of (though not as deep as) the WDYDWYD project that I gave thought to this summer (and still do). Perhaps its the spontaneity of the installation that I like - I was goofy at first - but then somehow I got a neat inspiration, and got a "RAD" picture. Almost a series if you would say.

Finally I found one of my favorite pieces of classical American sculpture as part of the permanent exhibit: Hiram Powers, The Greek Slave. The Greek Slave is a piece that attempt to use classical lines to evoke in inner strenght of will. Even though this has been translated in many different ways, including for the abolitionist movement in the 1850's, I still think that this statue is pretty powerful.

This of course despite the obviousness of what very few sculptors have been able to do ever since the golden age of Greece. Most people don't notice it off hand but notice how most marble statues have some type of pedestal that the figures lean on? Even Augustus Caesar's Statue needed a little cherub for support (below, Right). The Greeks didn't do that (though most Greek statues that have survived are really Roman replicas) for example Hiram Powers - despite being acclaimed as one of the best in his age - still used that trick. My favorite sculpture work in the WORLD happens to be one that seems to defy that gravity. Just one look (for me) of the Winged Victory (also known as the Nike; below, left) of Samothrace and I was in deep love.




























She stands against the wind - defiant pose (her head is missing), and you can - almost feel the wind against her. Unfortunately she sits in the Louvre in Paris, and I still remember when I first came upon her: Up high on a dias at the top of a grand staircase, as if she was back on that prow of the ship she was meant to be upon; the shadows on her clothing, the wind whipping at her.... A sight that no picture can do justice. I would give my right arm or leg to own her.


It will be a while before I see her again.