i really don't know what to make of this

I like pro wrestling. If you want, we can have a talk sometime about how it's the greatest dramatic performance around. But when you have the three candidates for the highest office in the land doing this for the fanbase...

candidates laying the smackdown very awkwardly

I start to get weirded out.

P.S. Obama is almost too good at that.

Regina Spektor and the Very Good Saturday

After a somewhat jumbled plans with Marit D (who played the secretary in The American Superhero Applies for a Job and the president in Grandma + Robot = Outer Space) and some of her friends, both the weekend and the season got off to a pretty kickass start on saturday.

Kristen Baker (of Confectioners' fame) and I went to see Regina Spektor live at a tiny, tiny venue in williamsburg. She was so good! The set was short but really very excellent, and we were in the 1/4 or so of the people who turned out who actually got in to see the show.
After that, Kristen and I went for a picnic and nap in the park (well, I napped and she read to me from a pamphlet about composting, it being earth day and all). Next we went to a bar for a BBQ for a friend of Kristen's birthday. Unfortunately, it started to get cold, so everyone went to the entirely shady clothing stores around the bar and bought ridiculous but warm things to wear. Kristen and I managed to find totally not lame $5 matching sweatshirts (which will I'm sure make her boyfriend oh so jealous).
Then I broke off from the party to attend not one but two parties in the same building back in manhattan, being thrown by some work friends. After a while I started to fade, so I headed home, but along the way got pulled out by some surgeon friends to go watch the Hopkins vs. Calzaghe fight on HBO. I hung with them for a little while, then headed home to sleep.

I LOVE spring in the city. This was a perfect start.

And now a Master Mason

On Saturday, April 12, yours truly was raised to the Third Degree of Freemasonry, that of Master Mason. This puts me on the level, masonically, with everyone else - George Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the rest. Furthermore, being raised to Master Mason affords me unrestricted access to the Masonic library and to any information about freemasonry I want to know. This will be a very exciting new chapter for me!

And, on a more personal note, it's wonderful for me to be able to share this with my grandfather, even after his passing. The experiences I'm having now are ones he, too, once had, and ones he encouraged me to have - something that's always on my mind when I put on my tuxedo and gloves.

Mysterious mysteries all around!

So....long story short, Selcen and I happened to hang out again, and she wanted to find this book for the kids she nannied years ago. The book was about this young female crime-solver, sort of Nancy Drew with special effects. We found the book, and in it was a description to you, the reader, of how to find some of new york's most infamous locations and secret spots. We got excited, and we went to find out if any otfthe places mentioned in the book were real and/or as the book said them to be.

First up was Doyer's street in Chinatown, which the book said was where more people had been murdered than anywhere else in the city. Also, it had a secret tunnel underneath. We found it, and the tunnel underneath (which is now full of sketchy shops, but still not obvious) and the internet says there's some truth to the murderous claim as well for the "bloody angle," as Doyer's was known.

Next up was the Ear Inn (James Brown House), a building which, we came to find, in its long history since first being owned by an ex-slave turned revolutionary war hero, has been a brothel, a boarding house, and a smuggler's den. It is also haunted.

We didn't make it to the other places, but I'm hoping at some point to make it to a few. New York has so much cool stuff!

i didn't order snake

I've got a weird mix of spring fever and senioritis. How will I disract myself? I want to be outsiiiiiidddddddddddddeeeeeeeeeee.

In the meantime, this gentleman on the online had no choice but to draw 200 bad comics. Here they are. A few of my favorites are below.

I am eating bunny marshmallows and commenting on Art

First of all, this movie looks fantastic:
"The Fall," directed by Spike Jonze. A bit like Pan's Labyrinth meets Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

Second, I am calling shenanigans on the Jonathan Schorr Gallery. I went there for a birthday party with Erin (my de facto cooking teacher) and one of the installations, well, I was immediately struck by its similarity to the beautiful lithographs that adorn my edition of Dante's Divine Comedy. Upon closer inspection - that's exactly what they were: the "artist" had, as he stated in his description of the piece, cut the lithographs out of the book and pasted them together. That's it. How does that get you a spot in a gallery?

Maybe I'll stick some of these bunny marshmallows together and put them in a gallery.

Grupo Corpo is worth the trip, OR, Naomi and I try to hurry spring along

Selcen is a friend of mine from college who now lives in new york, and on the most recent of our rare, once-in-a-blue-moon get-togethers, we made the trip up to White Plains to catch one of the last North American performances by Grupo Corpo. The show from this Brazillian dance copmpany was really incredible, fun, and inspiring; a video preview of their show can be seen here. Enjoy!

The following day, Naomi Milstein came to brooklyn for the day - she had been nearby at a conference - and we went to the Brooklyn Botanical gardens. This choice of activity might rightly be construed as seasonal optimism - nothing is yet in bloom, and it was kind of a chilly day. But we tried, and that's what counts, right? Can it be spring now, please?

(Of course it was endlessly wonderful as always to spend time with Naomi, a dear friend for ten years this fall!)