I am 2 Dozen Years Old Today!

I got carded...again.
It's funnier when the dude selling you the ticket is younger than you.

Regular dozens, not baker's. Yay! It's my year as a work horse of society! (So is Obama, so double YAAAAAAY!!) Here are my birthday horoscopes (or as I like to say "horrorscope"):

am New York
Help support your partner this year, and she or he will come up with your structure. You need one, because you're going into full creative mode. You need someone to feed you when you forget. Be kind or this won't work out.

The New York Post
Disruptions of one sort or another are likely over the coming 12 months but according to your birthday chart you are in need of a change, so it's not really a cause for concern. You will find you have reserves of courage you never knew existed. [++]

NY Daily News
Happy birthday, Pisces! You have a colorful and sometimes eccentric personality. You adore being mysterious and can be a dreamer. This year, make a concerted effort to pinpoint your goals. Make a long-range plan for the year and adhere to it — with focus, you can achieve a great deal. This is also a great year for concentrating on your home and domestic life. [++++]

Eh, I buy them.

Plussssss...

Hot shit, I'm part of the cult!!

Museum of Arts & Design

New favorite art museum! I'm the kind of museum goer that likes to look hard and fast. I tend not to look at things too long, and like to read description blurbs of the pieces that catch my attention or am left clueless by. MAD's location is easy to get to at 2 Columbus Circle (A/B/C/D/1 Columbus Circle), and with 5 floors of exhibition space, there's just enough objects/installations to experience without you feeling overwhelmed (like MOMA) or wondering why you paid $10+ to look at a few things that you don't consider well executed "art" (personal op, open to interpretation). There are also three artist studios (with rotating resident artists) that are open to the viewing public, which I found to be very welcoming and accessible.

C'mon, they have Devorah Sperber piece! Visit!!

Must see: Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary [to April 19, 2009] (There's a piece by Joe Lewis III, the dean of my alma mater, School of Art & Design, NYSCC, Alfred University)

Interact: STUDIO SUNDAYS, Intergenerational Programs, every Sunday 2-4PM (There are so many kids!)

http://madmuseum.org
http://www.madblog.org

Catwalk Tragedy NYC 2009

Adam was on assignment, photographing the event for his friend Jenny's online magazine Auxiliary Magazine. I knew I couldn't pass up the opportunity to witness the madness when he said, "It's a goth [well, Jenny calls it "alternative lifestyle"] fashion show...but it's like a beauty pageant show too." And then he mentioned men's fashion and I couldn't stop thinking of high school goth kids and I was sold.

We ended up standing for more than four hours at the end of the catwalk. When Marlo Marquise walked onstage, we knew the competition was over.

Check out Adam's photo of Marlo

The show definitely had a schedule, but when you put alcohol, technical difficulties, and people with big personalities together, there a lot of non-event time to be passed. And when drinks are $10 a pop, you just stand and stare at people.

Knowing only what Adam told me about the show, I imagined a catwalk fashion show made up of exquisite models with several changes of hair, clothing, and make-up, where the judges were to choose the models who best represented their looks. In reality, I felt like we were watching an adult high school talent show. The show fell apart during the "talent" portion. The audience was restless and started throwing shit, the other DJ was distracted by two girls who were fawning over him, and nearly all the judges were drunk and dismissive of the contestants who weren't doing something "sexy".

Some "highlights"(?):

• A male contestant walked onstage shirtless and handed the DJ a small jar of mayo and walked backstage. [What an artist, no one understands!!]
  
• While a contestant recited some deep poetry, a drunk judge said, "What is going on?! Can someone tell me what's happening?"
  
• One dude ran out dressed like Hulk Hogan, complete with a large American flag, gnarly mustache, and rip-able shirt and did the whole Hulk Hogan pre-match thing. [It was awesome. So out of place!]
  
• One girl made her costume out of electronic circuit boards. The concept was great but the execution was just awful. She got onstage, stood there and madly tapped on the buttons of a toddler toy that was situated next to her crotch to make weird sounds (aka electronic music) while the MC and DJ jabbed their microphones to the small speakers at her side. This lasted for 5 LONG minutes.
  
• The Merc came out in a black head to toe LATEX onesy and took off this underwear (without undressing) and threw it into the crowd.
  
  
  This is The Merc.
  
• AND the most obvious of all was the DJ's pants pitched a tent during all the sexy girl acts. I reckon it was more uncomfortable for him than all of us.

All in all, I had a great time! Personal bests were Voltaire the MC (please read his 12.30.08 post), and Suicide City who played an amazing, back-flipping set. (I want to see them play again!)

Snark Alert

David Denby, film critic for The New Yorker and author of Snark: It's Mean, It's Personal, and It's Ruining Our Conversation, takes issue with the prevalence of snarkiness in the internet age.

Urban Dictionary:

1. Combination of "snide" and "remark". Sarcastic comment(s).
   Also snarky (adj.) and snarkily (adv.)
   
   "Your boundless ineptitude is astounding," she snarkily declared.
   
   
2. Verbal ingenuineness that is brief, subtle, yet quite stabbing. Snark is often marked by deep creativity & use of psychological attack. It employs coldbloodedness and is best served unprovoked. Snark can contain hidden complimentary meaning under a mean face, but it hurts more than it strengthens.

I've noticed that I have been a victim of some recent snark. I don't know what to make of it because I have an acquaintance level relationship with this person. Was the snarky comment meant to hurt me? Am I supposed to feel bad? If the answer is "yes", then I'm confused because I just feel sorry that that person can't confront the situation and instead goes for snark. (Ultimately looking pitifully scornful and immature.)

I have to admit that when I'm among friends, we embrace snark as a means to joke around. (But hey, isn't THAT snark? Not entirely so because we're not directing it to others. We're fake-snarky to each other.) To an outsider, we may sound like jerks, but if you really listen to how we're feeding off each others' joking snarks, it's quite obvious that we're mocking our snarky-selves.

Maybe I'm getting it all wrong(?) because the comment wasn't even sophisticated enough to be snark. Or maybe I just love saying snark. Snark. Snark. SNARK!! I ♥ SNARK!

Dude, school costs a lot

Outside Brooklyn College Library

Like almost everyone else this past fall, I was engrossed in U.S. politics. I not only listened to Brian Lehrer religiously each morning, subscribed to the New Yorker (by becoming a WNYC member), and read Best American Political Writing 2008 (well, I have a few articles left), but I even picked up a freelance gig illustrating for my friend Mike R.'s political column, The NYLean. (Website coming up soon!) So meeting up with Mike (who lives in my neighborhood and went to JHS with me) never takes a few minutes because we talk A LOT. Mike=politics, political science, government. Me=social welfare, social-economic class stratification, cultural capital.

All this talk with change thick in the air made me think, "Dude, if I want to make a "change", like in social matters, what should I do?" Mike answered, (upon overhearing my thought) "Sorry to say, but you have to go into politics. Government makes policies that affect society." (Agree or disagree, this was within our conversation.) After a few exchanges with me grimacing and not wanting to get into Politics politics, he suggested that I go into sociology—that is, take a couple of sociology classes at Brooklyn College (where he is a grad AND an adjunct) and see if I like them. If I do, go for grad school.

So I did. Well, I'm doing that.

---

Three weeks ago, I went to my first day of class. Physically, I went on a whim. I say "physically" because without an ID, instructor permission, or having even paid for ANYTHING, I just went to my classes every M/T/W/Th evening.

Today was the last day to add/drop classes. I'm not even a proper student. I'm not yet because I have to pay for the classes, which is what this post is really about (sort of, I'm getting there): Since I have a BFA, I have to take these two sociology classes in order to be admitted into the BC sociology grad program. Cool, but as a "non-degree seeking student taking an undergraduate course", each credit costs $250...which means that my two classes cost $2000. Oh snaps.

Photobucket.com really stepped up their graphics department... Yeah.

Okay, so the point is that if I saw how much these classes cost a couple of months ago, I would've just said "Fuck it, art forever baby." But since I took the liberty to "try" out the classes for nearly a month and found it surprisingly easy to enroll AND add classes all in one day, I'm very happy that the circumstances did not let the money issue deter me from even trying out the classes.

To put the money issue into perspective:

Undergraduate tuition comparison: New York University (private) vs. CUNY Brooklyn College (public)

You (as well as I) can argue each school's credentials, culture etc., but as a post-undergraduate art school kid who already had the whole going away for 4 years to college deal, it's really what you make of your experiences and interactions on campus and in class. (Plus, I'm paying full out my own pocket this time and from now on. Thanks Mom and Dad!!)

FOTC @ the Gutter

Awww... I miss the Gutter. Good Summer08 memories.

Stupid Economy

Four people got laid off on Thursday. I saw it coming. My bosses said everyone else is safe and that if the company gets more work, they'd be the first ones to be called back. I thought I would be okay with it, but I felt quite sad. Everyone's not each others' best friends at work, but the studio just seemed more quiet and less cheery. Plus, it didn't help that while the bosses were talking beside my table, no one thought to tap me on the shoulder while I had my headphones BLASTING. Eh.

I think I'm so AHHHHHH!!! about the economy because I listen to NPR (Talk of the Nation) and WNYC (The Brian Lehrer Show) almost daily. They make everything sound so scary, (not in a FoxNews kind of way) but that's how our economic state is right now. Excellent audio journalism though! ;) Listen on your comp or get the podcasts! [NPR: Planet Money is also a gem...and they always have interesting music choices.]

P.S. I got my annual cold this week. I was miserable.

My parents came back from Malaysia+Thailand and all I got was a t-shirt.