Dadaism

In front of Marcel Duchamp's To Be Looked At (from the Other Side of the Glass) with One Eye, Close To, for Almost an Hour at MoMA.



Or am I behind it?

The Week in Review

I have been 25 for a week now, and what a week it has been.

Friday

Meredith (who had surprised me the day before by taking an earlier flight than expected) and I journeyed to Beacon, NY where we visited Dia:Beacon, explored Main Street, and ate at Homespun Foods.

Saturday

I met up with pals for a delicious brunch at DuMont. It was a great first day of spring; I had made little seed packet party favors, and was given tulips by both Meng & Kashmira. After eggs benedict, a handful of us went to PS 1. The best thing thing there was Leandro Erlich's swimming pool. Afterward we headed back to Brooklyn for a neighborhood promenade. We eventually ended up at our old haunt, Brooklyn Ale House, where sadly, the free bagel brunch was not happening. But there were plenty of peanuts.

Sunday

The day began with brunch, my favorite meal, at Enid's, followed by a routine stop-in at Spoonbill & Sugartown and Catbird. On the way home, we decided to brave the moody proprietor of Cheeks to pick up a dozen cupcakes. Later that evening we met up with the old museum gang for bowling (and the aforementioned cupcakes) at The Gutter. Even though I lost, I bowled a strike for the last two frames, so that was pretty sweet.

Monday

We met up for brunch with a couple of Meredith's pals at Clinton Street Baking Company. We shoe-shopped unsuccessfully. We had a Sprout photo shoot.

Tuesday
We went to hear Heather Armstrong (aka dooce) read from her new book at B&N and dreamt of one day being Internet moguls, too. Then we saw Sunshine Cleaning at the Landmark Sunshine.

Wednesday
Double trouble. We met Megha for delicious food in Prospect Heights: Mexican at at Chavella's and ice cream at Blue Marble. I think my dreams came true when I saw they offered banana chip. Then we headed to trivia night at Pete's Candy Store with Meredith's pal, Katie. We placed 7th (out of about 16, not too shabby) and learned what a philtrum is.

Thursday

Dinner at Westville East, where we enjoyed brussell sprouts, beets, artichoke hearts, plantains, and many more vegetable delights.

Friday
Today we had brunch at Shopsin's with James. They have macaroni and cheese pancakes, and they're delicious. After we checked out Economy Candy, we walked up to Union Square to catch a matinee showing of A Haunting in Connecticut. The theater was full of rowdy high schoolers, but the ectoplasm was cool. Now we're about to head up up uptown for a sleep over at Stiggy's. Fun fun fun.

A Smattering of Vacation Delights

School's out here in the city of dreams, which means that all three of my regular jobs weren't happening, and instead, I spent the week with Ms. Emma. We had a grand old time. Here are some of the things that happened:

We went to one of the Met's family programs, which turned out to be about Greco-Roman art. Coincidentally, we had spent the previous afternoon sketching gods and goddesses from her D'Aulaires book, so she was well prepared and eager to answer questions. When the educator mentioned the riddle of the Sphinx, Emma knew both the question (what walks on four feet in the morning, two feet in the afternoon, and three feet at night?) and the answer (a human).

We had planned to go to the Central Park Zoo in hopes of catching a sea lion feeding, but abandoned our plan while waiting for the bus because it was much too cold and windy. Instead, we headed for an old standby-- Museum of the Moving Image. I ran into lots of old pals, Emma and her brother made some awesome stop-motion animation, and we all watched Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers.

We played with Sprout. She and Emma got along famously. Emma pet her and brushed her and whispered, "Hello my name is Emma, I'm not sure what I smell like to you..." They ran with each other up and down the block, which had the benefit of tiring them both out. Sprout inspired Emma to start a dog spa, and she already came up with the first treatment, "Shih Tzu Shiatsu."

We had a playdate with a lovely child, who unfortunately came as a package deal with her insufferable mother. This lady shared with me her unsolicited thoughts on race ("If my child dated a black man, I wouldn't mind if he was like Obama"), pop culture ("Britney Spears is an example of what happens when you give white trash money"), Perego versus Maclaren strollers & iPhones versus Blackberrys (both an excuse to mention the dollar amounts she paid) and my personal favorite, foreign policy ("I know you're not supposed to support genocide, but I'm this close to saying-- just blow the Middle East up!" and "We can't negiotiate with terroists, because they want everyone to be like them... and I don't want to wear a burka"). Needless to say, it was difficult and upsetting to be around this pathetic lady, but I took a cue from Emma, who earlier that day had proclaimed, "patience is my best virtue."

The Tale of the Mystery Portraits

What's better than a charming small town museum? A charming small town museum mystery. I recently stumbled across the website for the Museums of Old York in Maine, which looks like a real gem. When I saw the category on their page labeled "Library Mysteries!" (the exclamation point is theirs, not mine) I obviously clicked it, and found this call for help:
I can't solve Old York's portrait mystery, but perhaps one of Reappropriate This's 48 unique visitors can.