Flea Circus

Popped in the flea market on 25th St. yesterday half-heartedly in search of mounted fish and blue dresses. Came up empty-hand in both areas but still had a fun time snapping pictures (please excuse any blurriness; most of these were taken with my cellular telephone).


Freeze! NYPD!


I don't know what's worse, the empty blackened eye-sockets or the wire wound around it's neck...


As the granddaughter of a noted family doctor, I had my fair share of strange 'doctor/patient' themed gifts. Luckily, I missed this one.


Blue dog...


I don't know. Maybe I'm seeing things but this image just looks a bit un-wholesome to me.


Enough said.

One booth had these great wood pieces, designed, carved and painted by David Kirk before he hit it big in children's book industry. Each was signed and dated. If I happen upon them again, I might just pick one up as a gift for the new children's library my mom will be moving into.


These two caught my eye first. Opening the drawer would trigger the eyes and teeth to move.


Great bank. The eyes and mouth would open when you pulled on a bone at his feet. Coins go in his mouth. Try this on your own dog to get the some expression.


If I had more money, this might have come home with me. But, alas, spending was limited. First of two purchases...


I know what you're thinking, how 'Sex in the City' of me. I've never successfully sat through an entire episode of that drivel. My second purchase was a bit less superfluous.


The illustrations by Wallace Goldsmith were what caught my eye first. The writing is fun to boot.


Most pages are printed on watermarked paper, too, which makes for a nice effect.


The End.

When it rains, it pours...

... both literally and metaphorically this week.

As of last week, I had little to no paying work and my first 'personal project' since college had been shot down rather abruptly (want to know more, buy me a drink or better yet, some ice cream).

This week? Working on a new music video for They Might Be Giants AND starting up a new 'personal project' - a video to a song by the Handsome Family that will combine actors and foam-latex puppets of singing food! What could be better? Having a new job on top of it!*

Sadly, this tea-cup ride of a week has resulted in a rather lame week of blogs. At this point, my brain must be about the consistency of Cream o' Wheat. All I can offer is a nostalgic entry - Japan's weather patterns as seen from my apartment.


Rain. More specifically, the morning after a tsunami. Note the overflowing fish pond and it's distinct similarity to my life these last few days.


Snow.


And fog. Japan's weather's as x-treme as their owls.



*watching the Phillies win against the Yankees Sunday was pretty nice too.

Jack of all ______

Back in college, when I thought I knew it all I had an 'argument' with another student whose primary concern throughout school was learning all he possibly could about modeling, texturing and lighting in 3D. I said something to him like "I'd rather be a jack-of-all-trades than a one-trick-pony."

The whole 'argument' stemmed entirely from the fact that I was taking an extra Computer Animation course to learn Maya. He decided this was something like me waving a flag of surrender since I was considered one of the 'experimental' animators. So, today when I came across some work I'd done recently at 8 Hats High, I thought I'd post it here as proof I can at least model in Maya.


Unfortunately, since the Computer Crash of '09, I don't have a copy of Maya anymore so I can't render out an image of the finished character, hood, feathers, feet and all. He looks something like this chap here in the lower left-hand corner.


So who won the argument? The 'jack-of-all-trades' or 'one-trick-pony'?

I'd like to think I did but in hindsight, either is fine. Each is just better suited to different situations. He's doing great and I'd like to think I'm doing pretty good, too.

Brought to you by the letter...

B!


No, G!


Maybe S... ?


The best thing about Japanese schoolchildren is that they'll do anything the big weird-looking gaijin tells them to do.


Don't all you teachers out there wish you could get your students to do this?

The O.C.

No Peter Gallagher here, just Armand Assante, his alpaca farm down the street and the cornfield Jacko burned down to make a music video (more about this in future blogs)...

Been a bit longer than I would have liked between posts, but it's been a rough couple of days. For now, all I will say is I headed home to Warwick this week to see my folks and help prepare for the huge garage sale they're holding this weekend.


Home sweet home!

Aside from the seemingly endless task of pricing and tagging antiques, toys, clothing, film equipment and African artifacts (not to mention all the buffalo body parts), I got to catch a movie with the gang at 8 Hats High and swing by the Orange County Fair Grounds, a place I've been meaning to document in this blog for months now.


Orange County's version of the World's Fair in it's heyday, the Fair Grounds have since fallen into 'Nascar Knock-off' disrepute. With the exception of the occasional county fair, touring circus or race-car derby, the grounds are deserted.


Fortunately, most of the fair's oddities are viewable from the roadside. This old windmill greets you at the entrance.


The lighting is actually my favorite part of the past present. Each one is unique and sprouts from the ground like forgotten scenery to some modernist's set.


Next to grab your eye is the statuary, like this giant prize cattle's portrait immortalized at one of the side entrances.


This one might just run you off the road. Überraschen!

And if you thought they couldn't possibly top this hailing politically-incorrect monstrosity, Weird Al Yankovic will be playing the OC Fair Grounds in 2010!

Who, what, where, when and, honestly, why?!?

So, last night I had this brilliant idea -

Wait. Let me back up a little. I'm a fan of Doctor Who. Not a big fan, but I do have my phone's ring-tone set to play the sound of an arriving Tardis and if someone shoots me a text, the Daleks warn me. Mind you, I started with the old series; it's not just the 'fantastic'-ness of the 9th Doctor that got me in to it.


So, back to my great idea. For a while now I've been meaning to take up knitting... again (I did years ago as a Girl Scout). So, I figured what better way to get back into it than knitting- you guessed it! The 4th Doctor's infamous scarf!


Then I thought, "Wait! I should document this in some kind of journal!" followed by "Wait! I should try selling these!" and concluded with, "Wait! I should just make a website!" So, I dreamed up a domain name and went to register it only to find...

www.doctorwhoscarf.com

Not to mention the dozens of other related websites you'll find if you do a Google search for 'fourth doctor scarf'. Apparently, there are bigger nerds out there than me.

*Almost everything above is a lie, aside from the website, my obsession with Doctor Who and my years knitting as a Girl Scout. Those are, fortunately or unfortunately, very real.

Short Fuse

WARNING: This blog has nothing to do with being short tempered or that film starring Art Garfunkel (more about that in future posts).

It does have to do with my good friend Stephanie Yuhas' film screening, Show Us Your Shorts, held at the Pour House last night. The size of the crowd below is deceiving, taken well before the screenings actually started. An hour into screening, the place was completely packed.


Honestly, I don't like going to these things. I don't really like straining to hear or be heard especially when I'm trying to hold a conversation with someone I may potentially work with in the future. But, it's a necessary evil. What got me there? The fact that Stephanie is, hands down, one of the most incredible folks that I know and she supports me, so I in turn...


All in all, though, it was a good time. Got to meet some new people, chat with a few people I knew but didn't really feel like I 'knew', and of course, run into some weird folks that will do nothing but add to my collection of "I met this dude once..." stories. And what art gathering would be complete without the typical doodle in the sketchbook?


I've been contemplating sending my cat out to work in one of the local delis.

As far as the films go, it was a mixed bag. Some angst-ridden student films, some surprisingly professional-looking shorts, a fair amount of fun animation and a few shorts where the audience's reaction was more entertaining than what was actually onscreen.


This one involved a dog eating a baby I believe. Best part of the evening?


My outfit.


Seriously. I won a rubber chicken as one of only two folks who actually wore shorts to the event despite the fact that it stated it on the poster.