Thursday, May 31, 2007

Chinese bars with Chinese People

I've been going to shoot pool with Paul on Tuesdays for a few months now, getting decent at it. Still not where I want to be, or where I should be given the time I've been playing. Anyway, last Tuesday, his brothers came too and we played for a bit.

Neither of them has work in the morning, like Paul and I and they wanted to go out. So we went to a Chinese Bar in Brooklyn and met up with some of their other friends. This is the second time I've been to a Chinese bar with Paul. The last time it was a sausage fest and Paul was like "This isn't how it usually is". He means there are usually girls.

Chinese bars are very different from uh, American bars or any variety of them in that theres usually rampant illegal activities going on in them. Like underage drinking and smoking. They give every table Styrofoam cups full of some dark grey liquid for you to put your cigarette ashes in. The first time I went, I was like "what is this?". Everyone also gets a cup with 5 dices in it to play a game called Bullshit with. This is standard at all Chinese bars.

This is also a huge reason why Paul finds white people bars boring- because everyone just stands around and talks and tries to look cool. Which I won't argue with, because it's true. Chinese people like to sit and play drinking games. I won't lie, I haven't laughed so hard in a long time than when I was playing drinking games with them.

There were also these two Chinese girls with us that were friends of friends named Tina and Martina. That creeped me out. What Chinese parents name their children Tina and (especially) Martina? I'm pretty sure they aren't sisters, but maybe the Chinese equvalents to people like "Mandy" and "Sandy" types that go out with each other.

Chinese people also like to drink really shitty beer. All of them ordered Bud Lites, or Heniken Lites. I got a Corona. That's all they usuall serve at these places. Bud, Heniken and Corona. And possibly Tsing Tao. Probably Tsing Tao.

As I said before, I took Paul that one time to an American bar and ordered us some Brooklyn Lagers, and he almost threw up.

It was fun though. Will I do it again? Probably once in a blue moon.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Fun at Union Pool

5.25.07 Friday
10PM
Union Pool
Williamsburg, Brooklyn

PHOTOS ADAM AU & ASHLEY ANZALONE


Union Pool is a bar right under the BQE. It has a backyard area that is open space with a pool deck fell, with a "deck" and wooden boards. So many hipsters with black hair and bangs. And black dresses. And black flats. Uhhhh...

Jackie isn't in any of these photos because she forgot her ID and went home to get it after dinner. She met up with us later in the night, though. This was the last time we're all together and going out before Ashley leaves...


Girl in red is a hot, hot hipster




















This image pretty much sums up how I feel about last night



I'm going to miss you Ashley. A lot.

The Weekend Madness Continues

5.25.07 Friday

We all got together to go out to dinner for Ashley's last weekend in New York. We went to an Indian restaurant on Indian Row and then to Union Pool in Williamsburg.

PHOTOS ADAM AU & ASHLEY ANZALONE



Liz and Ashley












Let's Sail Around the Isle

5/24/07 Sat
8PM



The Half Moon prepares to leave

Noah works for Rocks Off! which is a group that books shows or something. I dunno, all I know is that they own boats and throw shows on them. They set sail every Thursday night around the isle of Manhattan.



Noah (why am I shouting?)

Justine, Ashley, Jackie and I met up wtih Noah at the dock on 23rd street at the East River to board the Half Moon. Since we know Noah, and he's the guy that checks people off at the gate, we all got in for free. Thanks, Noah!



That's Greenpoint behind us



A cruise around Manhattan, an ice cold beer, live bands, and tons of cute hipsters. What better way to spend a Thursday night? The main band, Apollo Sunshine, was really good too. For most of the 3 hour ride, we all just stood on the deck looking at Brooklyn and Manhattan (and hipsters, for me at least). It was a really fun night.

PHOTOS ASHLEY ANZALONE except the one with Ashley in it. That's me with Ashley's camera.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Being at Union Square for No Reason

Amelie Gilette from the Onion wrote an article about the different Whole Foods stores in Manhattan in last week's issue of the Onion. She describes the Union Square one as "always full of people for no appearant reason...kind of like Union Square".

That made me laugh because it's true. Maybe it's always full of people because there are really, really, really, really good looking hipsters there all the time. God dammit. Kind of like the Rocks Off boat cruise I went on last night. More on that later!

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Beer Garden

Here are two photos taken at the Bohemian Beer Garden in Astoria last weekend.



Oh, Jameson <3


Chicken Ramen Soup

The Onion Secret society thing was tonight. I met up with Liz and we went to eat at this Noodle Bar on 1st Ave and like 10th street(?).

Liz ordered the ramen with pork and I ordered the ramen with chicken. I think it was fresh made ramen, which was kind of strange since I am so used to instant raman. I t was ok. I wasn't that hungry and it was too salty. I'd go again, but I probably won't order the ramen.

Then we went to the Onion Society secret meeting which was held at the Lazy Catfish in Williamsburg off Lorimer Street. We got their right before 7pm and I think we were the first to order us some free Jameson. Kevon, Dapo, Santi, Kevon's girlfriend Julie, and Yudah's girlfriend Pang came too. I had 2 Jameson on the rocks and 2 straight shots before they ran out. Then I half drunk dialed Colleen, Sara and Lori. I say half because I wasn't as fucked as I would have been if I didn't have those noodles in my stomach.

Ah I love Jameson because it makes me feel good and forget all my problems...

Running into People

I ran into a Junior High School friend today. I went to Go!Go!Curry again for lunch and was sitting their waiting for my food when I hear "Adam!". I was like, "this must be my imagination" and then again, "Adam!". So I turn around, and it was PEGGY LEE. She was standing behind me the entire time I was in line but I never turned around. Then she told me she found out about this place because she read about it in my blog! That's so ironic!

Hey Peggy, this is "only" the third time I've been here! I don't come here every day! I'll probably go back once more before June, though. Nice seeing you!

Monday, May 21, 2007

The Cooper Union Student Exhibition

Today the Cooper Union had its Student Exhibition (IE Senior Shows). A friend of mine (Lamare) in the Architecture school was in it. It's basically set up kind of like Alfred Senior shows, except not as organized or coherent. What I mean is, they don't place such MASSIVE importance on this one thing like Alfred does. Heck, I don't think they think of it as anything other than a "why not?" kind of deal.

Also, I don't think think it's just seniors who can put stuff in, as I know Lamare had stuff showing in previous years also. So it's basically a huge school wide "submit something" thing. Which is cool, except I couldn't tell what year the work was done in.

Got off the subway at Astor Place and immediately ran into Joann Dang so we walked in together.


lol, taped together. so shody.

I do not know much about architecture (at their level) but a few of the pieces I saw on the 7th floor were sooo badly put together, you could tell it was a rushed job. One piece have MASKING TAPE holding the foamcore together! I have a photo of it on my cell (the only photo I took) that I will post when I'm not feeling lazy. Unclean cut edges, smudges galore on a few other pieces. You would be so frowned upon if you even dared to put such travesty in an Alfred show. I guess standards are different.

Most of the work was subpar, senior work or not. Most of it didn't seem like senior work (at least I hope it wasn't). There was one piece that was really interesting though. It was suitcases stacked on the floor that had glass holes you could look into. And there were lots of neat little things in them (like little worlds) when you looked through the tiny glass holes.

What was impressive was the design stuff they had. There were a few strong pieces with solid concepts behind them. Also saw a bunch of lag heads, it was like another mini reunion. Ran into VANESSA Gursuch who's back from St Louis till Thursday. Did not expect to see her at all, but I was very happy and glad to have seen her. Also saw Nicole and Kristina when Kevon and I were getting drinks. I think Nicole is still kinda awkward about what happen between us. Whatever, it was so silly and long ago. Also ran into Sophia. A few others said they'd show up but I didn't see them. It was good to see what other art schools are doing. And no, they don't work their art students harder than Alfred, their engeineers...now that is a different story.

Oh, also ran into Richard, who is the son of one of my mom's best friends. I use to play video games with him when we were younger. He just finished his freshman year at Cooper Union in the engineering program and tells me from what he knows the artist have it the easiest there. So their you go.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Strangely Similar

Read this-

Single in the Burg: Week 1

Not unlike the situation post college!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Go! Go! Curry!

A new place called GO!GO!Curry! Opened up on 38th and 8th 2 weeks ago. It's a Japanese fast food-ish (good food fast?) chain that's obsessed with the number 5. "Go" means, or sounds similar to "5" in Japanese. I should know this, I use to take Japanese, but I don't remember. I'm sure Colleen will correct me. So they had this crazy promotion where they sold all their entrees for .55 cents for the first week. Now it's $5 until the end of May (5th month).

The "5" thing kinda gets out of hand, as their hours of operation are 10:55am-9:55pm, and every time Hideki (is that even his name) something, the Japanese Yankee (who's number is 5 or 55) hits a homer, they give out free topping cards the next day.

What they serve is basically a dish of rice with a meat of your choice over curry. They have chicken katsu, pork katsu, shrimp, and sausage. I went with Paul today and I got the chicken and he got the pork (I didn't get the pork, guyz). It was pretty good for a $5 dollar meal. But come June, a small is like $7, medium $7.50 etc. I dunno if I'd want to pay that much for lunch. Especially when all your getting is more rice over curry the larger size you go. The meat amount stays the same (its a generous portion anyway).

But for now, I'll most likely go back one more time before the $5 deal expires at the end of the month.

PS Their mascot is a huge giant Ape [for no reason?]. AWESOME.

Monday, May 14, 2007

My Elliott Kaysers


4 hours of freelance work = this set of cups

This is the set of cups I bought from Elliott Kayser's senior show. I have absolutely no space to put it anywhere in my house, along with all those framed prints behind it.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

something needs to change.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Senior Shows Review

Names

Note: While I tried to read all the Artist Statements when available, most of what is below can be assumed to have been written without knowing the artist intent behind the work. I feel that artwork should be able to stand by itself just by viewing it and not have to rely on an artist statement to be understood.


Senior Show weekend was a lot of fun. It was the most fun out of the last 3 visits I took up there. I expected a lot from the shows this year and for the most part they did not disappoint. There are some really dedicated and talented kids graduating this year and they had some great work.

I was especially surprised by the quality of the design shows this year. It is really hard to pull off a good design senior show because of the nature of it. The highlight of the design shows this year is, hands down Merlin by Scott Liao.

Hi Tops


Hotness

He created a shoe company called Merlin and had actual sample shoes made of his designs. They are very much "now design" and the aesthetics and colors are very "sneakerhead" but I think he executed it really well and his posters were really nicely designed.

Surprisingly, there were not many ceramics shows this year, and even less involved objects that were thrown. Most of it was hand building (and nothing to write home about either). The only people who even thew some cups that I could remember were Gabe Blain, Elliott Kayser and Corrinne. People coming to buy plates and cups will be sorely disappointed this year.

Cups
Cups by Gabe Blain


Milk and Cookies
Cups by Elliott Kayser


Gabe sold one set of cups (hesitantly) for [a lot of money for a set of cups] and Elliott's show pretty much sold out within the first hour and a half of shows. I managed to get the last set he was selling of the cowboy and horse cups (in yellow) with a base for both of them. During his show, he had tables set up and people sat down for milk and cookies using the cups from his show.

Lyla's Work
Ceramic piece in a found drawer by Lyla Goldstein


Lyla's show was also wonderful. I'm impartial to it because I helped her set up a bit, but her work is also great! Those pieces look so soft and I love the photographs she printed in the windows.

On the photography side, I found out that no one shot film for their show (maybe 1 person did, I forget). Everyone shot digital, a huge factor probably relating to the school getting a few Digital Rebels last May. When you think about how no one except Rosemary shot their show in digital last year, that's a huge adoption rate over to digital in one year. 90%/10% switch! One person even SHOT DIGITAL FOR BLACK & WHITE. That's blasphemy! I'm not going to go into the technicals of why film is still better for B&W but its pretty much agreed upon by me and a certain photog professor that it's probably due to laziness.

Yeah...
Irony much?

At least Julianne printed her work off the Design Winder (I love that printer). I didn't really find the photography work this year really that engaging. One of the better ones was Jessica Kernan's work. The idea was okay, but it really stood out because she choose to approach it differently than the other photo shows.


Gator

Sandy and Mike's show was really nicely done also. Their show was very fun to look at.

Colourful
Glass, mixed media sculpture by Sandy Yuen

Water
Julia Calabrese's show was also very interesting

Also, the epic feeling of the shows returned again! Thanks to large ambitious art works like-

House


Pink


Poles
By Bland Hoke

Matt Corsen Finnerty (I can't spell is full name) also had a large piece outside of the lobby of Harder but I didn't get a chance to take a photo of it. Bland's piece took most of the school year to plan and I think it paid off really well.

LD1
This is a metal, glass and neon piece by Gabe titled LD1. It's super heavy!

I found out that the system that they used to choose who gets in on the NYC show in Chelsea was different this year. Roger told me that the teachers nominated students and the Dean and someone else choose the shows. They are showing at Kathleen Culleen again (why, I have no idea). Will be fun to go see it in June!

All in all, a really fun weekend. Got to see a lot of people from my year I wouldn't have otherwise and it was probably my last visit to Alfred for a long time.

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Alfred Senior Show Weekend

Stars, Art

It was a lot of fun being in Alfred for Senior Shows this year. The quality of work really surpassed my expectations. There were a few very notable shows this year, and the epic feeling of the shows came back! I don't know if our shows last year had it, because I was too busy freaking out. Ok, not really, but I was too busy hosting mine to look around last year. There were a few questionable shows but for the most part, this year had a lot of top notch work.

Here's one-
Sneakas
Merlin by Scott Liao. Have to give him mad props!

I'm way too tired to write about the entire weekend, so here are some photos for now. Photos of Senior Show work on flick, and words here to follow soon. And as always, go to my flickr for the rest of the photos.

Alex and Rachel
Alex (the kid) and Rachel in Alex's apartment above Alex's (the bar)


Gabe
Gabe setting up his show


Billards
Playing pool with Colleen at GJs


Smiles All Around!
At dinner with Jackie, Lori and Sara (and others)


4 Stories Up in the Air
Evan takes me up into the air above Alfred


Glasshole Bikes!
Glasshole bikes in front of the hot shop

It's Good.
Tina and Colleen outside of the Terra Cotta coffeeshop


Alamo Girls -1
"Let's lay in the grass"