The real deal, a bit of a rant. January 30, 2009

If you google “what to do when laid off” you get all sorts of really upbeat, positive advice. A lot of “get out there and network”, “figure out what you really want to do”, “get unemployment insurance”, “ask about severance”, etc etc etc. The first one is obvious and annoying, the second one suggests you weren’t doing what you really wanted to do (true in many cases) but also sounds like once you figure that out you can easily get that job, and the third and fourth ones, well, NO KIDDING. Really, I should get unemployment? Because that hadn’t occurred to me….

Losing your job sucks; it is a blow to your ego, your wallet, your plan. I prefer reading about the humorous side of being unemployed, like, how to take advantage of your Big Vacation, the fastest ways to blow your severance, and what I would really love is if someone made a great list of the top 10 ways to waste time, be city-specific please.  All these articles you find focus on the obvious steps to take, which annoys me. That is why I like this post, from US News, which is actually a shortened version of this article in New York Magazine.

The title is What Laid-Off Looks Like, by Liz Wolgemuth. It gives the following bullet pointed list of some of the not-so-positive aspects of being laid-off. So, rather than tell you to “List all the people you know”, it tells you about the actual difficulties and annoying little “challenges” of being laid off. For instance:

• Bad habits kick in: A 24-year-old former recruiter spent his severance at a bar and finds it hard to get out of his boxers.
• Pride inhibits the job hunt. Says a former newspaper editor: “I’m trying to get myself into the right people’s in-boxes, but I don’t want to be a wretch who reeks of desperation.”
• Spouses can take the news hard.

When you are laid off life is not a series of silver linings like some pretend it  is — “thank god you don’t work for him/her aymore…”,  ”that job ran you ragged anyway…”. No, it is more a series of ups and downs, good days and bad. One day you might have a ton of energy and a lot of ideas, but the next you just might find yourself sitting atop a pile of laundry that seems just too big a chore to get done.

Give me more of the real stories please, because all of this “advice” is depressing.

Weekend to do list January 30, 2009

For those of you who will be around Brooklyn tomorrow looking for something weird to do, check out Idiotarod, a take on the famous Alaskan dog-sled race.                       Photo Credit: Jeremy M. Lange for The New York Times Costumed people and shopping carts replace dogs and sleds. Take a look at the website for more info. I won’t be able to cheer anyone on because I will be skiing (woohoo!!) but I’d love to hear how crazy it was! If you are looking for a cultural activinty a little less strange, visit the MoMA for the exhibit “Pipilotti Rist: Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters)”  which is closing on Feb. 2. I personally can’t wait to see this on Sunday.  An excerpt about the exhibit from the website: “Pipilotti Rist’s lush multimedia installations playfully and provocatively merge fantasy and reality. MoMA commissioned the Swiss artist to create a monumental site-specific installation that immerses the Museum’s Marron Atrium in twenty-five-foot-high moving images. Visitors will be able to experience the work while walking through the space or sitting upon a sculptural seating island designed by the artist.” Have a great weekend everyone!

Good things happen sometimes. January 30, 2009

As I have said in previous posts, as an RLO you have bad days – days where you just feel like things are never going to get any better. It seemed that Wednesday was one of those days, because, if you read my post from that day, it started off pretty badly, and I was kind of miserable. However, the thing to remember is that as an RLO, it would be hard for things to really get so much worse than they already are, and really, the only place to go is up. Sometimes I forget this, but then I get little reminders that things can only get better. By the time 8pm rolled around on Wednesday a few good things happened. One, the appointment I missed had been rescheduled. Two, a review I wrote was posted on NYArt Beat.  I hope to write more soon (check out their site for reviews on NY arts events).  Three, it looks like I am on the board of a little performing arts organization. So, bad day turned good, and I went to bed a happy girl. Especially because I was skiing the next day!

My dad and I went to Mt. Snow yesterday and had a blast. There was no one there, and the snow was like being out west – what?! Powder, on the east Coast?! Yes, and it was awesome. We only had one near-death experience, and it was because we took a wrong turn and ended up on the freestyle terrain park. We had to dodge jumps, pipes, and rails, not to mention all the skiiers and snowboarders throwing themselves at the mountains mercy in the name of a trick.

    (photos by Michael Piniewski) 

Actually, it wasn’t so bad, the snow in there was amazing, and we skiied down a half pipe. I had never done that before! I think my dad got a big kick out of it, too.

While waiting for the train to come back into the city we met a woman named Pearl. She had all her ski stuff with her too, so we started talking, and it turned out that she had just started skiing after a 25 year break 5 years ago, when she was 78! She is now 83 years old, though you would never guess that in a million years, and she skis all winter long at all the best mountains, oh yeah, and she loves joining in ski races. This woman is my inspiration. I hope to be just like her one day (a long time from now). Funny side note, she thought I was a teenager. I’m not, but glad to know those expensive facial creams are doing their jobs.

I’m hoping to make this a weekly thing with my dad. We can call it “Ski Thursdays”, because I like to name things. He is retired, and I’m, uh, available these days, so we should take advantage of the time, don’t you think? If only they offered recession tickets to help out with the $70 lift ticket (ouch!). Anyway, I am hitting the slopes again on Saturday. Not a bad week after all!

Oh, sad day… January 28, 2009

Read the sad, sad news about my favorite publication over at A Cup Of Jo

What to obsess over now?

Can I call a do-over? January 28, 2009

Ever have one of those days, where nothing goes right? I feel like every now and then this city reminds me that it is bigger and stronger than me and can kick my ass whenever it wants. Like today. My morning was spent running around in the rain, slush and snow with cold, wet feet from one wrong train to the next  trying to make several appointments (I succeeded with one and failed with another). Then, while standing next to one of the fish shops on Canal Street, one of my least favorite places to be, I had a minor meltdown causing one of the guys in the shop to ask me to move, which I did gladly, given the smell. One cab ride later (I was NOT dealing with any more trains at that point) I landed back in my apartment, where I probably should have been all morning. I never should have gotten out of bed today.

Luckily, I am going home to my parents house tonight (yes, more trains) and will feel much better after a home cooked meal and some wine. Or pizza and beer. I don’t care, I just need some parent-time. I am off to the slopes tomorrow for my first ski trip of the season with my dad. If anything will make me feel better, it will be flying down a mountain during the week, when everyone else is working. RLO’s get perks too, you know….

The Weekly Picks January 28, 2009

Last week was the first of the series, The Weekly Picks. For those of you who don’t know about this yet, I will be picking three works of art each work that are affordable and I will try to cover different styles and mediums. Everyone should enjoy original artwork, and this might help you find some new arts resources or help you determine your preferred aesthetic. each Wednesday you can check back here for three new picks. This weeks picks focus on photography, though I won’t always have three images in the same medium. I spent a lot of time looking around because I wanted to offer three images in different price ranges, but that still fall under the “affordable” umbrella.

The first pick is by photographer Christian Chaize

You can purchase it from 20×200.com

Praia Piquinia

04/08/07 16h04

Digital C-print

14″x11″    $50

Ed. of 500    

24″x20″   $500

Ed. of 50      

40″x30″   $2,000

Ed. of 2        

This is a paraphrase from the website:

Christian Chaize, a self-taught artist, lives and works in Lyon, France.  Chaize became obsessed with a small stretch of coastline in southern Portugal while vacationing in the summer of 2004. It gave new life to his work, eventually resulting in a one-person show in Lyon, 2008. Two museum exhibitions (Sines and Lisbon) are scheduled for 2009. He continues to photograph in Portugal exploring the ineffable draw of its inviting and mysterious landscape.

I love this image for very simple reasons. One, I love the saturation of the light, it practically whitewashes the sand. The umbrellas pop out like flowers growing where one would least expect it. Something about this makes feels aged, like an old postcard. It seems the people at this beach know of this secret place, this little alcove of perfection, that I want to visit. Spoiler alert:  This piece is going to appear in Domino Magazine in February, and I guarantee it will sell out after that, so if you like it, now is the time to buy it. I bought this the other day and I can’t wait to receive it!! 

 

The next pick is by Jennifer O’Keeffe

You can purchase this from thebeholder.com

 Bedroom

C-print

20″ x 16″ $500

Ed. of 5  

Paraphrase from the site:

The ongoing project, “Stanislaus” began as a documentary project of a real location, but soon became a fictional place in the artists imagination. This portfolio of photographs depicts the collision between the imagined Stanislaus and the real place. “The project has morphed into an elaborate form of play–resembling the production of a fictional film rather than a documentary”. Despite its somber tone, Bedroom is an intersection of stories that leaves its subjects open to revision and possibility. “For there is not only discomfort and unrest in transition, but playfulness, reinvention, a blurring of boundaries and new hybrid forms”.

While a somewhat unsettling image, Bedroom reminds me of my own adolescence. The way this girls room is decorated, the way she is looking suspisciously at the camera, reminds us that this is her space, and hers alone. My bedroom reflected who I was; it was where I thought my most profound thoughts, got lost in music and in books, and let my imagination fly. The bedroom of an adolescent is a precious thing, and O’Keeffe captures this, simultaneously inviting us into this young girls space while letting us know we are not welcome.

 

The third pick is by artist Miklos Gaál.  

Avenida Presidente Antonio Carlos, 2004

You can buy this at Aperture Foundation

Ed. size: 30    $650  

15″ X 15″

Digital C-print

By playing with focal distances, Gaál turns scenes from everyday life into strange cardboard cut-outs. His photographs, always taken from a distant and elevated viewpoint, are disturbing to look at: the fuzziness of some areas of the image creates the curious effect of miniaturization, giving viewers the impression of looking at an artificial, toy world. Only by continuing to look carefully at the image, orientated by the clearly focused areas of the picture, can viewers pass beyond this first impression and re-establish the truth. Gaál uses distance and blurriness as ways of making the represented scenes more remote and turning the tangible world into an unreal universe. As the artist states: “I photograph and am interested in small scenes and moments of everyday life: work and leisure time, the built-up environment, and so on. When looking at these kinds of subjects through unorthodox photographs, one is invited to make an interpretation of one’s own.” “For me, a surprise can reveal something previously unseen, and it can therefore change my concept of what is around me and within me. All of a sudden, you have the sense that you feel and understand something intensely.”

This photograph by Gaál alters our perception of reality. You think you are looking at a set scene, made of toys or miniatures, when really this is the result of the artists technique and shooting style. What started out feeling very childish suddenly becomes a sophisticated study on everyday life. 

That’s it for this weeks picks, hope you like them! 

Such a girl… January 27, 2009

Reading KPD’s post over at DCStriving about the lovely surprise from her husband made me want to brag about MNH. Last night he came home with adorable little flowers for me! What is it about flowers that make a girl melt? Is it simply knowing that he was thinking about you? Because to be honest, if he came home and said (which he often does) “I was thinking about you all day,”   I’m thinking, “oh really, then where are my flowers?”

Thank you, lovely husband of mine! The flowers are beautiful….

Tea, anyone? January 27, 2009

A few weeks ago I went to the Brooklyn Flea Market’s Antique Fair, and found this beautiful tea set, which put me in the mood to host a tea party. Since then, I have been looking around for other tea sets, because, as the perfect housewife, I will need a proper set to host lovely lunches and my in-laws. Of course, by proper, I mean this amazing, ridiculous and fabulous tea set by Undergrowth Design that any housewife would be lucky to have. I found it at Supermarket, and wile it is on the pricey side, it is definitely a collectors’ piece and if you are a design junkie, definitely worth the price! 

Tea pot $128.00

 

 

Blaue Blume for Undergrowth Design was first conceived by wanting to solidify the texture of lace onto ceramics to make ceramics have a softer, more textural feel.

 

 

Cup and Saucer $59.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a note about the range from the manufacturer:

Seductive tea wears guaranteed to make drinking tea a fun and glamorous affair.
The Blaue Blume range has witty and subversive messages with a girly-naughtiness and nostalgia to inspire people to feel more sexy, flirty and fun, and to enhance the seductivity of the food itself as well as opposed to traditional tea parties where you had to mind your manners.

 

Creamer $59.00

 

Serving tray $249.00

For fun… January 26, 2009

I just thought I would post this link because the videos I took didn’t come out that great. This clip on YouTube from Saturday’s QI4 party shows is Triangle Gallery at QMA transformed into a BMX rhythm section. Pretty cool to see this inside of a museum! Enjoy…

So much to see, so little time!! January 26, 2009

Lately I feel like I have been missing out on a lot of art exhibits I have wanted to go to, there is just so much happening right now! Thankfully I did get to the QMA biennial on Saturday, which is a great exhibit and one you should definitely not miss. But I really wanted to see the Eggleston exhibit at The Whitney, which sadly ended yesterday. I am really sorry to have missed it, but you can read a review of it here, at The Lil Bee.

William Eggleston, Untitled

As a photograpy student I was definitely inspired and influenced by Eggleston. I love the saturated colors, banal subject matter, and off-kilter perspective.

 

One of my new resolutions as an RLO is that once a week (at least) I will be going to museums, galleries, or some other art exhibit or performance. Upcoming shows I want to go to see are:

Pipilotti Rist: Pour Your Body Out at the MoMA, and the Mark Price exhibit at Glowlab. While I will be sure not to miss those two exhibits, I would love to hear about other shows so if you have any recommendations, send ‘em my way!