taking it back (megapost)

as in, I’m taking it back over two weeks now. Recaps are kinda frequent around these parts, because sometimes activities – life – take over to the extent that there just isn’t enough time to sum it all up. Hell sometimes there’s barely enough time to sleep!

Things have definitely slowed down a bit now, and all for the best, I need a little rest. But it’s been a good run the past 15 or so days:

Halloween

I think I might prefer the grounds upon which Guy Fawkes Night is celebrated – coupled with an aversion to the commodity nature of so many American holidays – but of course Halloween is guaranteed to be a pretty fun fucking time! Especially in a city like New York City, where it is that one time of the year where it really seems quite natural to be riding the subway with a zombie or someone with an arrow through their head.

At my home we hosted the Hunter MFA annual dance party for the second year running, and it was a complete blowout!

Me? I followed through with my plans and fabricated an outfit which commented on desires of the male form, inspired by guerilla (text-less glossy posters showing a chiseled male with a notable package) and overt (newspaper back-cover spreads commanding “Meet Clint”) advertising campaigns throughout SoHo and the city at large promoting male underwear. For one night I was Clint Mauro, the Armani Exchange underwear model. Consisting of digital prints mounted on cardboard and fastened with zip ties, my outfit became an exo-skeleton of sorts that also greatly improved my dance moves!

(photos of me by Sarah Glidden – thanks Sarah!)

The morning after it was apparent the party was a complete and utter and total resounding success!!

GTA IV billboard followup

removed.

The next day was pretty slow and boring at work, and then became extremely excited with the appearance of none other than Jane, who was the model for the Grand Theft Auto 4 building-billboard nearby, which I photo-tracked on my Flickr account and garnered quite a bit of traffic on this here blog as well.

Do you notice the resemblance?

It turns out some of Jane’s colleagues caught wind of my Flickr photos and forwarded them to her. She got in touch and mentioned wanting to visit the billboard. I suggested an introduction! Jane and I exchanged our stories: mine more in-depth about the evolution of the billboard; hers about the game title and the mechanisms of advertising and the process of one’s image from photography via illustration to massive advertising campaign!

I supplied the lollypop!

Performa07 opening

Later that night I attended the Performa07 opening at the Guggenheim with my matey Chen, which launched with a one-night only performance by Francesco Vezzoli. Contrary to what others had to say about the event organizing, not all hope was lost. Sure the line wrapped around the corner and nearly halfway to the next Avenue, and sure there was a fiasco surrounding the ticket issue, but eventually all punters made it inside and got to ‘view’ the performance in one way or another:

While some people got dugout-class chairs in the rotunda, and others got to stand along the signature spiral ramp, I still think I had one of the best seats in the house! Sent to one of the Gugg’s theatres, we didn’t get to see the ‘live’ performance but rather to watch it on two quad-split projection screens, with a model – someone by the name of Cate Blanchett or other – sitting on stage the entire time, who eventually got up and left to close out the performance, being video-tracked as she circled down the entire Guggenheim spiral ramp, to interrupt the scene and ask the cast what do they want, what is the truth?

The screen setup was spectacular, and between eight available screens it routinely switched between an array of around fourteen different shots or angles, constantly putting into question one’s perspective, placement and reading of the characters, their storied environment and interaction with each other. Remarkable!

A Psychic Vacuum

If you missed this one, you might possibly have missed the most important public art exhibition this year, anywhere! I’m referring to Mike Nelson’s Creative Time project that turned a dilapidated warehouse space right smack at the Delancey St and Essex St intersection, we’re talking the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge here, into a total apocalyptic fallout space, where you could only traverse by opening doors and passing through, sometimes getting caught in a labyrinth of similar paths and turns, and one encountered small shrines and references to war in the form of carcasses or the passing – almost absence – of time in the form of some old, old calendars.

The last room, which you had to encounter in order to exit back onto the street, was completely exhilarating. I actually laughed, quite heartily, when I entered: a giant warehouse room filled with tons and tons and tons of sand. I mean shit-tons! How did all this sand get here? This? This is what awaits the end? Oh man, talk about hitting the final nail on the coffin! I still laugh at the thought of that room, full of sand!

(nearly finished)

on the set with Law & Order

Two Mondays ago started early, at 6:30am – like I said, little time to sleep! – on set with the crew of NBC’s Law & Order. Nearly a 16-hour gig, they were doing a shoot at Location One, as their script called for an art gallery, so I was their facilities manager for the day. This was an amazing bunch of people, and the crew totaled easily around 60 people. And they all fit their roles perfectly: the actors were self-involved; the producers made influential decisions on the fly; the electricians were the biggest, nerdiest, thickest-glasses-wearing ones around! I got to see some pretty unique hardware, and it was pretty amazing to see how a shot gets made and furthermore to imagine how it will all be stitched together later for television! And thankfully they did their work when they did, as that night the Writers Guild of America strike went into full-swing, and within a day they were reportedly picketing the Law & Order set (which could have potentially made me a scab for crossing the picket line to open the facility!).

Fat Lipstick and the World Famous Bob

the Fat Lipstick film series opened with the screening of (breathe) Terrifying Girls’ High School: Lynch Law Classroom. Perhaps it rolls off the tongue easier in Japanese: Kyôfu joshikôkô: bôkô rinchi kyôshitsu. A steamy and raunchy film that was probably the perfect touch to welcome in the deep autumn chill of November, involving multiple girl-gangs whose members all had some brilliant cognomens like pipe-crusher or the-boss-with-the-cross; and corrupt politicians and high-school administrators and the multiple parties looking to expose them through blackmail, debauchery and group sex! All the while managing to throw in a comment or two about the American bombing of Japanese port cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I can’t think of a comparable American film to be honest, they definitely have something totally unique with this one!

Oh, and did I mention we were offered an exclusive performance by the World Famous Bob:

A performance you won’t see repeated ever again. As you can assess from the snapshot, if you missed it you missed it!

freeDimensional and Censorship opening

Closing out the run, if you missed the opening for Censorship organized by freeDimensional then you may very well have missed the best opening of the week! If not for the work – which was itself pretty spot-on – then for the party, you missed a great party! Complete with Censored ale, naked people (in that not-so-invasive sort of fashion, but somehow sensible), a raffle and a sound troupe that seemed to follow me from room to room as the evening progressed! And the crowd was really great, supportive and best-of-all willing to dance!

Additional asides:

The Altman Building

let me just say if you get a chance to attend an event at the Altman Building on W 18th Street @ 6th Ave, then go! It’s a gorgeous building. Expansive, open, bricked ceiling, huge riveted beams, a spectacular place for any type of event!

Helicopter chase

Oh and then there was that night that began with some typical NYPD undercover-but-not-so-undercover vehicles creeping up and down our block for some time, before eventually the helicopter showed up and a pursuit of some sort ensued. That was exciting.

Old feet, new shoes

Some new shoes were in order, as my last pair developed a sizable hole on the right sole which I didn’t find out about until I stepped into a puddle of murky water – fun fun. And as it turns out my feet have grown a full shoe size in the past year.

Closing

So all that and then some. I hope this post will keep y’all busy for a while. I know it sure kept me busy.