Happy Father's Day, Dad!

GARRISON KEILLOR AND ME
Barnes & Noble, June 5, 2006

A photo I took made Gothamist's front page!

Family Home Evening with Dave Letterman

So today right after Chateau and I saw the arrest, we ran into this guy who was giving away tickets to tonight's taping of the David Letterman show. (Talk about being at the right place at the right time.) Featured this evening was film legend Robert Duvall, Irish comedian Tony Tiernan, and alt-rock pioneers Sonic Youth. The show was a lot of fun. Chateau and Mr. Letterman had a public conversation about Brazil and politics right before it began. It was awesome. After the taping we went to the back entrance to see Sonic Youth leave. I got to shake bassist Kim Gordon's hand. I remember many years ago seeing a photograph of her playing at some Tibetan Freedom Festival. She had on an ugly skirt and a bass guitar which clashed perfectly in both color and style. I remember that image having a big impact on me as a youth. It was so effortlessly gutsy. Well, tonight I'm starstruck. The show airs Friday night. Look for us in the audience.

Fight breaks out during lunch break

We saw a guy getting arrested for fighting today right outside of Ogilvy. There were probably like 15 cops there. Crazy.

The Aquabats come to church.

Remember how the Aquabats are Mormon? Well, they played a show this weekend at B.B. King's and then attended our ward for church on Sunday. Super rad!!

Finally art and sport are friends.

Have you ever seen that show "Iron Chef?" OK, cool. Now imagine bringing that same amount of competition to the modern art realm. Saturday the good folks at P.S. 1 MoMA in Long Island City, Queens did just that. It's called "Iron Artist." Two teams of artists battle to best convey a given theme in 45 minutes. We're talking commentators. We're talking judges. We're talking all out art fight. We missed the first round's topic, but that hanging snowman looks pretty cool. The second round's theme was "man's inhumanity to man." One team constructed a large box, went inside of it, and then busted through the walls in a fit of violence. The other team created a brick out of Styrofoam, attached it to two giant balloons, and then threw the whole creation at the other team's box only to have it fly away. So, um, your interpretations are as good as mine.

After checking out P.S. 1 we explored more of Long Island City. Dinner was at some Greek restaurant. Supposedly this part of Queens has the best Greek food, but as you can see Sarah was not too impressed.

Sarah

Saturday morning my friend Sarah flew in to JFK from Portland. I went to pick her up bright and early from her Red Eye flight. (I remember how horrific it was to have to find my way to a new apartment in big city with big suitcases.) So we took her stuff through the subway system and made it all the way to her uptown apartment. I should have let her sleep, but instead I made her come explore Queens with Jason and I. Sarah is quite a sport. Notice her lack of red eyes.

Chloe

This is Chloe. One day she came storming into my cubicle on accident. What can I say? It was love at first sight. Today I got to babysit her for a few minutes at my desk. I love her.

Other than that, today was a pretty regular day at work. Chat Town and I presented some non-traditional Mets ideas to our creative directors. None of them were really embraced. Instead we received the assignment to do a radio spot. This will be a good refresher course; I haven't written for radio in ages.

In other news, I ate pizza for lunch today at a pizza shop right by work. It was good. I got a haircut by a funny guy from Uzbekistan in my neighborhood. I think he did a good job. And two men were arrested today for starting the fire that burned down a huge building in Greenpoint two months ago. The building was a favorite of mine. (See post from yesterday for a picture of the building now.)

Perfectly

Last month my good friend Tiffany released her new EP "Perfectly." Tiffany and I have been friends since our Spring Valley Middle School days. Last semester I was privileged enough to have her ask me do the design for the project. It was truly a labor of love. I was so excited to get the CD in the mail last week and pop it into my laptop. If you would like a free copy of "Perfectly," go to her website here.

Tiff. It sounds great! You did a fantastic job. I'm feeling so much more classic rock in your sound these days. Also, thanks for the candy apples! They were almost as scrumptrulescent as you.

Hellos and Goodbye

This week Christina got to Ogilvy! There are now 6 BYUers working/interning at the big Og og. In addition, four new creative interns arrived from VCU and MAIP on Monday. Our playpen is almost full. (We lost our high school intern Clarke this week.)

An Apology

I seem to have gone overboard on posting in the past couple of days. I apologize. I need someone to please stop me. Seriously. Please stop me. I can't stop taking pictures.

I Heart Beatbox

Monday night I went to MoPitkins for a triple-bill celebration of hip hop and the human beatbox.

Baba Israel and Yako mix turntables, bass, didgeridoo, and vocal percussion to create what they call "Open Thought Music."

Yuri Lane performed excerpts from a beatbox play he wrote about life in Tel Aviv.

Y-Love is part of the new Jewish rapping craze. It was only a matter of time till it happened! I love the way this guy moves...not to mention his mad flow. He busts out rhymes in English, Arabic, Yiddish, Hebrew, and Aramaic.

New Castle Courthouse

See how the top part of the state of Delaware forms part of a perfect circle? We learned that they took the cupola from the town courthouse and drew a circle around it with a 30 mile radius. Crazy, huh?

New Castle, DE

New Castle used to be the capitol of Delaware. It's one very old place. (Founded in the 1651.) Mom would absolutely love its quaint streets and colonial charm. Dad would love its history. (Anniversary trip maybe?)

Commuting in Delaware

Commuting in Delaware is a joke. Look at these street lights. Do they make sense to you?

Try looking for street signs. There might as well not be any!!! If you are lucky enough to find one, it's usually a tiny little thing hiding in some corner. I blame Delaware for making me miss Jessica's reception.

Delaware

Saturday my good friend Jessica got married in Delaware. Jason and I got a rental car and drove down to celebrate with her and her family. Well. We planned to be there, but we ended up getting to the chapel just as the young couple was driving away--cans clanking and all. It was a tragic moment to say the least. We followed closely behind them in our rental minivan and finally caught up with them at a nearby intersection. Jessica and I exchanged a few words through the windows of our respective vehicles and then waved goodbye.

Next time I try to get a rental car out of the New York City and drive it to a state where there are no street signs, I'm going to give myself three extra hours.

Oh, and by the way, we did not rent a minivan on purpose. It was the only car Alamo had, so they gave it to us at an economy car price. Sweet deal.

After sulking in the back seat for 15 minutes, Jason and I looked through the Delaware guidebook I got from the library and went exploring. We found a cool mansion and a nice little creek.