god help us

autumn afternoon

barb had a day off, so we spent friday afternoon making pies!



10 lbs. fresh michigan peaches, $2 at the farmers' market.

incredible!

(btw, that top crust was all me . . . and i didn't even take a basket weaving course!)

live blogging guiliani's speech ON MUTE

so far
he has scared me countless OMG he's doing the stabbing pointy thing OMG HE LOOKS LIKE HE"S YELLING
ok so i had my dad turn of the sound this is so scary you guys so OMG SMUG FACE ON MODERATELY ATTRACTIVE YOUNGER REPUBLICAN LADY now they are waving red hankies (they look like jersey) in the air
before they were chanting USA USA USA USA USA and cowboy hats
ok stop with the young lady shots already more stabby finger thing now he is frowning his angry face oh god there is a live photo mural behind him of some city minneapolis? on a lake. he looks like he is floating ON THE WATER OMG

what is cindy mccain wearing and why is she holding a BABY?
process mom wants to turn on the sound....... i am going to pass out.
the red hankies are back omg. some are yellow
tennesse loves mccain hockey moms 4 mccain
now he is pointing at me, pointing up to space, back at me and now he is smiling and laughing
oh god newt.
little girl sucking thumb.
oh man he just made some lame OMG THE SOUND IS ON AND HE IS MAKING FUN OF OBAMA NOT THINKING PALINS HOMETOWN IS NOT "COSMOPOLITAIN ENOUGH"
IS HE ON CRACK?
he's pointing to the left now, people are waving sarah STOP MAKING JOKES! THEY ARE NOT FUNNY YOU ARE NOT FUNNY he's pointing at me again omg cindy mccain IN LIME GREEN holding a baby i think sarah palins baby (SHE HAD A BABY RECENTLY????)
there is the pregnant engagaed 17 year old, omg now he is pounding his fist down in the air

"LET"S ELECT MCCAIN AND PALIN AND LET"S SHAKE UP WASHINGTON" totally on crack.
god bless america omg palin is on.... omg. she doesn't believe in dinosaurs, or global warming or in a womans' right to decide what to do with her body. omg.omg. this feels like when me and carmelle set the fish pan on fire, the situation is totally OUT OF CONTROL AND A HAZARD TO EVERYTHING AROUND US.
omg

busy busy always busy

i saw the mittens


i made a basket



i started a new blog...



i missed you all LOADS

it's been quite a summah!

next stop michigan, departing a week from today.
eek!

"the Waterloo of Chinese gymnastics"

one of the NBC commentators just said that.

for the love of barb

yep, that's my mom.

totally worth it.

Months of patience finally pays off. I've been stalking this woman's office for weeks trying to get a picture of this creep-fest and today was the day. Quite a fan, this woman. The first time I saw (beheld?) it I actually had legitimate business in there and I could barely speak about the receipt or whatever that I had brought her. I thought of you guys immediately. There are pictures of Mel in his convertible, Mel holding kitties, Mel flexing his hair. Most of the Jesus paraphernalia is on the other wall but the crucifix there pretty well sums it up.

sleepless twofor -or- worst nightmare/ dream fantasy

i'll let you draw any and all correlation

OMG TWIN PEAKS

Riffing off of Derya's last post, Brian and I have been watching Season 1 of Twin Peaks on our respective computer screens all week. Ok, Brian has been watching all week, in disciplined viewing sessions, with no more than one episode viewed nightly-- I've surpassed him by watching basically the entire first season in a particularly lazy period of less than 24 hours. This is what my life has been reduced to. But I have to say it's worth it: I love the way Special Agent Cooper enjoys his pie and coffee, and the matter-of-fact way that Bobby's militaristic father talks about feelings. I love the fact that this "little town" (which, if you go by the population on the sign in the beginning of the show, is actually bigger than Spartanburg) has been so transformed by this murder, turning everyone, even high-school kids, into sleuths-- EVERYONE is trying to solve this, and everyone has their own ulterior motives for doing so. Classic drama, but complete with total Lynchian wierdness. Rachel is traveling the world, Nicholas has moved into his new home in Arizona, Derya attends conferences in New England and zips up and down the East Coast, and this is what I do, lay in bed and watch David Lynch do TV kitsch. Hmmm. Depressing, but also delicious.

I'm trying to write SOMETHING, ANYTHING these days, but I find I don't have the discipline. I think I used to have a work ethic. I don't know where it went. Advice, anyone?

In the meantime, check out this golden pic:

23- way to be

for our girl rachel! happy birthday boo!

!!!!!!!!!!!!

i just learned today that www.cbs.com/classics has both seasons of twin peaks (which i am at long last getting to and am in the throws of) available to watch for FREE

also available are 90210, melrose (!), family ties and THE FIRST SEASON OF THE LOVE BOAT.

but twin peaks is clearly where it's at and though the intermittent commercials are a drag, and the technology sometimes sucks it up (i can't get it to go past the first "commercial break" on season two episode four- ack!) it's still pretty awesome.

and omg david lynch = greatness. funny, odd, and terrifying, and inventive, and creepy as shit.

but i know you already knew that.
i sort of can't believe this was ever on network tv...

btw for you two who LOVE mulholland drive, the story is in part inspired by/ a continuation of twin peaks' audrey.... or at least that what the interwebs told me

Help me, I live with my mother

she is more and more like lucille bluth every day. help me. more later.

i think it would be really REALLY good with tofu too

Georgian Baked Fish with Eggplant and Pomegranate Sauce

(Tevzi Badrijanit Brotseulis Tsvenshi)

• 1 red snapper or striped bass (about 4-6 pounds)head and tail left on (we used Cod Fillets and it worked really well, i think just aslong as the fish is white flakey and mild it will work well), cleaned, rinsed and patted dry OR 1 PACKAGE FIRM TOFU
  
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed in a garlic press
• 1 cup olive oil, or more as needed
• 2 medium-sized eggplants / aubergines (abvbout 1/2 pound each), sliced 1/2 inch thick
• 3 cups fresh or bottled pomegranate juice ( we used some Odwalla bs because Super Stop and Shop didn't seem to have Pom)
  
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
  1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro

Preheat oven to 375F. Rub the fish or DRAINED, PRESSED AND SLICED TOFU with salt, pepper, the crushed garlic, and 3 tablespoons of the olive oil; place in a baking dish. Let stand for 15 minutes.

Bake the fish until opaque througout, 10 minutes for every inch of the thickness of the fish, measured at the thickest part -- 40 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size of the fish. The fish should be browned and crispy on top. (funny part of the story here is that we actually started a grease fire on the pan in the oven becuase we went for a BROIL rather than bake, and with the smoke detector freaking out i was running around muttering "OMG, OMG" Carmelle mean while was cool as a cuke, just letting it burn itself out... this is all in the middle of the Conneticuit woods HA!)

Meanwhile place the eggplant / aubergine slices in a colander and sprinkle them with 2 tablespoons of salt. Let stand for 30 minutes. Rinse the eggplant thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels.

Pour the remaining oil into a heavy skillet. If the oil is less than 1 inch deep, add more oil. (The C+D version also takes it a little easy on the oil becuae an inch of oil in a pan is terrifying)
Heat the oil over medium-high heat. Fry the eggplant slices, a few at a time, until deep golden on both sides, about 15 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

Reduce the pomegranate juice over high heat to about 1 1/3 cups, taking about 10-15 minutes. Stir in the onion, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, basil and cilantro, and season with salt. Allow the sauce to cool to a warm temperature.

Serve the dish surrounded by eggplant slices and pass the pomegranate sauce in a sauceboat.

(we just layered it in a tupperware container and poured the sauce all over. SRSLY this was SO delish I wish I had known about the wonders of Georgian food in the Spiz... i can't help but say sorry guys for not providing this fantasy of flavors)

down conn way

Thursday, I went to visit my dear friend Carmelle while she is plugging away at her residency at the Joseph and Anni Albers foundation in glorious hyper new england setting CT. The studio space was wonderful, totally incredibly huge and well lit, and the kitchen was great, the bed comfortable, AND she's been making really great work big and small which was so nice to see.
There was a manmade pond on which we went canoeing (not just in circles) because it was a little too late and a bit too chilly to swim (story of my life this summer so far- wtf?). I saw the beaver that has been terrorizing the grounds keeper do what beavers do by lifting it's tail up at a 45 degree angle and then slapping it down on the water really hard, making it sound as if a bowling ball had plunked in. He did this a couple of times, and the last time around I was definitely startled enough to give a yelp. The pond was totally beautiful! Inky water, hyper reflective of all the various greenery around it. Apparently in the woods surrounding the foundation and the studios live deer, wild turkey, bunnies, owls, racoons, chipmunks, and squirrels. At night it gets very dark and there are strange noises. it's so completely isolated in the woods I kept thinking about that Alice Munro story from the New Yorker and got really scared, jumpy even. For dinner (eaten out on the screened in porch) Carmelle and I made a really incredible recipe involving cod, pommegranite sauce and eggplant medalions. SUPER DELISH. A Georgian recipe apparently. It was a really great visit.

I ofcourse didn't take pictures, but if you want to see some of her work, Carmelle just recently had a show at (i think ) your friend Beryls' gallery, Arielle! check out pix here.

Her work ofcourse sent me into color theory heaven which was so great in relation to the Albers stuff. srsly so rad. It was great to see what other residency opportunities exist in the world, and how the experience can be so different and also so similar.

Yesterday it took me 7 hours to drive from CT to DC during which it poured down to the point of zero visiblity twice, and Aqua J almost ran out of gas. I got an asscramp in New Jersey, was devistated by the lack of seltzer water at a rest stop in Delaware, and thought i might lose it in heavy traffic near Baltimore. It was arduous, it was epic, like covering 1/2 of the east coast in one span by oneself would be. I listened to music for some but just really got into the sounds of the road and what the different textures and accelerations sound like.

I am in DC for a bit. Processmom and DOOdad are going to Turkiye for vacation starting Monday, and i want to try and hang around in there house and try and work on stuff. Again the age old intent, treat this time like a separate residency. Though I am not so sure. Will just let the wind decide when it's time to go I guess.

Fourth of July plans kids? I am debating hiking my butt back up to NYC for SONIC YOUTH's free show and fire works, or bringing the PVD crew sparklers and bottle rockets. Or i might just sit here and needle point with fireworks on the tv. not sure, either or it will be fine and fun.

did you see Mongol yet? I was reminded the other day by someone, and then this morning by the back of a Cheerios box that THE DARK KNIGHT is coming out soon.

oh shit.

Going to Summerfest tonight...Hundreds of thousands of drunken Wisconsinites and brats. Stevie Wonder...OH MY GOD?! Eric Burden and the Animals...HOLY SHIT?!?! Gnarls Barkley...eh? They Might Be Giants...maybe? LeAnn Rimes...oh boy?
YAY

oh that khan!

I saw the movie Mongol, which is the first of three bio pics about Gengis Khan last night.

it was so totally and incredibly awesome!

the fight scenes were bloody, the music was throat singingy and awesome, it was funny and sweet, and all the people were incredible looking, and not to mention the costumes!
ETHNIC DRESS! YES! (different tribes had specific hats, different styles the best involving tiger tails {:O ! }).
i think you guys would really enjoy it, if only because Mongolia is so very beautiful with such varied landscapes and terrains. Totally cinematic! it is shot beautifully, and the cgi is tolerable.
also there is a character named Altan in the movie so maybe a viewing will make you think of me, and wonder along with Jamukha "where is Altan?"
where indeed!
try and catch it if you can, it was totes blockbustery with it's epic battles and love story, just right for summer. (BTW...)

also! today! on the way to coffee and a scone, i literally stumbled upon the annual Somerville Portuguese Parade, complete with floats, traditional dancing and national costume, marching bands, mandolin and accordian players, 1st, 2nd and 3rd parade princesses, antique cars, Elvis impersonator, and these baskets of bread and rose towers carried by women on their heads. The paraders threw candy, and frisbees to the croud (to keep!), and i ofcourse was waving and clapping and grinning like a fool from the sidewalk till the very end.
Parades are still the best thing ever! what luck to just walk right into one!

makeover!

i had a very bad dream that involved being swept up in a tornado while visiting hub-bub for the 09 crews entry show. needless to say i couldn't fall back asleep and this was something to do. i hope you like it. i was going for subtle, ghost like, classy even.

coasting, like, fersure -or- i am at america's edge

i woke up this morning and made my self drive out to coast guard beach to watch the sun rise over the open atlantic. it was incredible how many different colors the water turns with the change in light. it's something i always wanted to do, and so i did it. the ocean is constant and steady, she and all the seals in the water say hi. the cape was glorious! i ate lavender fig ice cream, pounded pomegranite seltzer, read joan didion, (how does she sum up 12 months of hard work in just one paragraph? HOW?) made my best effort at swimming in 60 degree water, and somehow got a weird cleavege tan. tomorrow i head to new bedford to fiber geek it out at the needle work and the sea symposium. and then back to the cape. apparently the only thing to do about feeling sad and missing you (which is the what over here) is to "weep it out and make art" as someone who knows more about this shit than me recently advised.
we'll see about the weeping part. i've bought fabric and embroidery thread as a start to the other.

OBAMA!

i hope you are happy...

so i am in the motherland! i am in somervile massachusetts, waking from a second night of sleeping on a king size bed that can fit at least four more comfortably ( i can sleep in any direction roll over and still be in the middle of the mattress) last night i went out for beers and basketball and baseball with some old friends from high school and was told that it sounded more like i had spent the year in "shicaaaahgo" not south carolina from the "accent" i was throwing "aaaaahrrround". i was told i sounded MIDWESTERN.
great.
talk about codependency...
apparently this is what goes on when nervously drinking beers and negotiating (omg people. omg so awkward) social interaction.
good job guys on the secret infiltration, i guess i have to work twice as hard to get back that previous nervous accent found in the gahbage, pahking lahot, and ofcourse my rum.

also the commuter rail passes close by this house so i still hear trains not quite as frequently as in the spiz, and not late at night but enough to cause me to take note and smile to myself...

today! i may play bocci in the park, visit my hs history teacher who opened a vintage shoppe in cambridge.
tonight! i want to go see larkin grimm play some venue up the street! there is also a free show at urban outfitters.
tomorrow! i will try to knit with strangers at some coffee place also up the street, eek!
this weekend! sheep and woolwork festival in western mass!
all summer! praying for ted kennedy...

but mainly i will be wishing you were here with me spewing funny confusing accents all around.

brine and arzi! more pix messages of miami pleaz! that one of bubby made my life. she is so crafty!!!! sushi? tastey? ocean? pretty? show me!

Organs or New York hates me and my organs

I put my organs out on the street. It was harder than I thought it was going to be.

Lungs at the Myrtle Avenue stop, Bushwick, Brooklyn

Uterus on 13th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenue, my first apartment
Intestines on Grand Street near the FDR
Stomach on 2nd Avenue, next to B and H Vegetarian Restaurant
Heart in Washington Square Park under a bench
Liver on Bowery across from Bowery Poetry Club
Pancreas at 53rd and 5th subway stop, where I worked for two years

It rained for two days straight once I glued them down, pounding my internal organs over and over again with tiny raindrop fists. Of course, it figures. Did I expect them to stay there unmolested? It wouldn't be New York. I came back to the Myrtle platform later that night and the lungs were already gone. It would be fitting if it were removed by an MTA worker who thought it was a bomb-- someone "saw something and said something." I got a call from Cliff today and he told me that the one across from Bowery was smashed by someone-- they cut open the organ and took the vial with the scroll. I can only imagine the fate of the other five. Either way, I have received no responses, even though I created an email for that purpose and put it at the bottom of the scrolls. New York ignores me again. How appropriate.

And yet, it was still a nice experience putting them out. I ran into the guy who I subletted from on 13th Street as I was defacing his front steps with my uterus. I went to see the Olafur Eliasson show at the MOMA, which was incredible, while sticking my pacreas to the station. I ate cabbage soup (my favorite) at B and H while installing the stomach next door. I dropped Cliff at work at the BPC and then installed the liver across the street. A very organic process, a testament to why I did the project in the first place.

For the full set of pictures check out the Organs set on my flickr: flickr.com/arielleangel

Back in The Spiz or Nothing can vanquish the tulle

I am back in the Spiz for one night only, sleeping on "my" mattress in "Nicholas's" studio. I can't tell you how strange and surreal this whole thing is. It's just emptiness up here. I am in Nicholas's room and feel none of his energy. This place is so new besides that it has none of its own energy yet-- nothing has stuck. It's very eerie. I guess when I left this place a couple weeks ago, I really left it, physically and emotionally, and now coming back-- it just feels like there shouldn't be anything to come back to or something. And there isn't, but there is, also. It's kind of like seeing the dead body of someone you used to know.

There is some testimony to our presence here. I took a shower in "Derya's" bathroom (as it was the only one with a shower curtain) and I tracked out a fragment of hot pink tulle on my soaked heel. Hers is the only apartment that has been thoroughly cleaned, I believe, but no amount of scrubbing can vanquish the tulle. The cardboard telephone that Nicholas made for the Cannon's show is sitting on his counter (off the hook) and Arin, the guy staying temporarily in Derya's apartment swears that Rachel's apartment "smells like a woman lived there." Somewhat ironically, "my" apartment is locked. I did want to go in there, and it feels strange to be locked out of it, and somewhat fitting, but it's ok. These rooms feel equally sterile at this point.

One strange thing though: Hub-Bub has a smell. It smells like newness, like fresh paint and expectations. I smelled it when I first moved in and for the first week I lived here, in this building, all alone. It characterized my first few weeks here, my first impressions, my first feelings, the excitement of escape from New York and of this new place. I did not smell it once I became accustomed to this place, once it became home, a place to deal with and sort, and I completely forgot about it after that. But coming back here, the smell is new again and it brings all the same feelings and impressions of last summer, as this summer begins anew and I am similarly displaced, embarking on a new and unfamiliar route.

I miss you guys, I really do.

Dispatch from CPS

So I'm in Chicago. My flight for London doesn't leave O'Hare until Monday afternoon, but I came into town four days early specifically so I could go to work with my friend Mike, who teaches Biology and Environmental Science to high school sophomores in Chicago Public Schools. We've only had two classes so far, but its already been quite a morning. Some exemplary pieces of dialogue:

Student: Mr. K, what are we doing today?
Mr. K: We're taking a quiz.
Student: Boy you trippin! Don't play no games!
-
Student: Mr. K, its boring.
Mr K.: You've only been in class for 4 minutes.
-
Student 1: Mr. K, I got a question to ask.
Mr. K: What is it?
Student 1: Can humans be asexual?
Student 2: Yeah, when they gay.
Student 3: No, its like the virgin Mary!
-
Pregnant student: So carbon dioxide is the stuff that gets up in your house and you die?
Mr. K: No, that's carbon MONoxide.
Pregnant student: Oh, cause I think people is getting confrused about that.
Mr. K: They're getting what?
Pregnant student: Confrused.
Mr. K: What?
Pregnant student: Confrused.
Mr. K: What?
Pregnant student: [silence]
-
Student: Mr. K got a big head!
Mr. K: I have a big head?
Student: yeah
Mr. K: You think my head is literally too big for my body.
Student: yeah
-
Student: Hey Kosko, "Ever since I can remember . . ."
Mr. K: What?
Student (slower, ala 36Mafia): "Ever since I can remember . . ."
Mr. K: I'm not popping my collar today, get back to work.
-
Mr. K: Work on your diagrams!
Student: I just pasted this.
Mr. K: You have to do more than just glue pieces of paper to another larger piece of paper.
-
Student: Mr. K, you too strict!!
-
Student: Mr. K, you a bad teacher!!
-
Mr. K: Do you think I sit home at night trying to figure out how to make you guys my friends?
-
Student: [unintelligible mumble]
Mr. K: I have no idea what you just said.
-
Student (pointing at me): Mr. K, is you two kin?
Mr. K: ALL WHITE PEOPLE ARE NOT RELATED.

---

Also, Derya, have you seen Jezebel's Sephora Spy column? I know, I know, I have serious problems. But I love this shit.

testing, testing

yes? how do you like this? tell me as i can't quite decide. type face? you guys want a serif for the body text?
tell me. color suggestions are also welcome as i am fighting serious neon urges right now.

also-

GIT READY! HERE WE GO!
(i am completely lost with out each of you)

bloggy

don't forget our old blogs!

http://arielle.hub-bub.com
http://derya.hub-bub.com
http://nicholas.hub-bub.com
http://rachel.hub-bub.com