How's the Earth Fare?

It's Earth Day today, and as good a time as any to show off some pictures from the Earth Fair that was held at St. John's University this week before Easter break. They had a bunch of cool pieces of art on display that incorporated bits of trash and repurposed it to make it into something beautiful. Tin can lanterns and chains of milk jugs hung from posts, making a kind of drum music on the Great Lawn. This piece above, a globe with painted bottles affixed to it, really caught my eye. I suggested they have an auction to raise funds for charity with these pieces, mostly because I really wanted to own that bottle sculpture.

There weren't a lot of people milling through the fair due to the rain, even though they had speakers and announcements going through a bullhorn all around campus. Emily toughed out the weather to talk to people about the importance of pollinators. She chatted about bee extinctions and cocaine addicted bats excitedly despite the cold drizzle.

Erin was handing out basil, marjoram and chive plants in halved cans for people to take home for free. She agreed to pose with my newly liberated basil plant which I've named John Cleese.

Face It

Hes been here before, but I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned how consistently awesome Tom looks in front of a camera. It's not even that he pulls faces - although he can definitely pull some great ones - hes expressive all the time. Some people just have faces that hold interesting feelings and have lines that always work. You can train yourself to be like this, spend a lot of time looking in a mirror and seeing what your face can do, trying to look expressive in conversation. It's a skill that can definitely be acquired, but some people just do it naturally. I like to think of these people all being in the same club: The Cool Face Club.

Tom is definitely in the Cool Face Club.

Here is a sequence of faces he made Skype-ing to a friend:

Len(d)s

Went on an adventure to Brooklyn last week to hand off an old lens to an old friend. Was pretty cool, seeing Roxanne in her new digs. Got to see Pratt and the surrounding sketch area. It's the sort of place you hear stuff about but don't see very often - hipster central. Bastions of craft and care next to untended lots and packed apartments. It's the kind of thing I'd rather show than tell, which means I'll probably be taking a trip back sometime soon.

Besides art, the real reason I want to go back is because of some biscuits I had while there. Roxanne took me to a place called Maggie Browne, and before we even got there the biscuits had been talked of with a kind of holy reverence. When they finally arrived, I almost didn't want to eat them because that would mean I could no longer smell them. I got over it though, and they disappeared before any pictures could be taken. I forget the rest of the meal - I think I had a fried fish po boy and Roxanne had some fried egg jalapeño on top of grits thing that I wound up finishing.

But those biscuits..

Rabbit Run!

Had a blast at Chinese New Years Parade this past Sunday. First time going to it at all, and I was amazed at how many people pack into the tiny streets. Streets that, frankly, are hard to navigate with a normal amount of foot traffic.



Packed ten deep on streets, a lot of times all I could do was hold my camera straight up and hope it caught something worthwhile. It worked well enough here I think.



This group on the fire escape had the best view of the whole parade. As it went past them, they'd let off the screw-operated confetti guns onto the cheering people below.

The dragon dance follows circuitous paths, reminiscent of a winding river. It's so fluid it makes you forget that it's ten people hoisting poles underneath some canvas and not a real dragon.

The best bits were the people, especially the children, dressed in their best and cheering in celebration.

Cold Fusion

Will need a lot of energy in the coming days, weeks, months. Lofty goals of travel and exploration. Alaska is pretty far. Hoping I can find enough fun work to pay my way there.

If you want a photographer for anything, feel free to contact me via e-mail

January-ists

Had a good time braving the "wintry mix" during the walk home after the Decemberists show last night. Was a really amazing show in the awesomely interior-d Beacon Theatre.

The walk home was lovely; it looked like diamonds falling from the sky and it was coming down heavily enough to not turn instantly into city slush. A Grey's Papaya nearby was the perfect vantage point to watch passersby with Mary over sugary fruit drinks.

On the way home, we had an impromptu photo shoot in a busy train station. Mary is very good at posing for impromptu photo shoots when she isn't unconsciously making 'crazy eyes'. Shes studying history with an eye towards costume design for stage productions, has a bag that is a rubber chicken and may be the Kwisatz Haderach.

The City Around