Killing Time

Another week, no word on the job situation. Le sigh. So, I have been trying to find ways to kill time while I wait. Most days I have hung out in my room, sleeping late and reading. A strange lethargy has overcome me; perhaps it is the heat, which until today was gawdawful. I did do a few things interesting things during the week, however.

Monday afternoon I went over to Old Town Alexandria, which, as the name suggests, is the old section of Alexandria, Virginia, that is just across the Potomac from DC. It dates to colonial times, and boasts that it was the childhood home to one Robert E. Lee, of Confederate general fame. So there's that.

The town is as you might expect. A lot of old buildings that, architecturally, date to probably the 1700s or the early 1800s, obviously since refurbished and repurposed. But other than its oldness, it is pretty similar to a lot of cutesy, upscale small town main drags: several chain upscale boutique-like stores, such as Francesca's Collection, or Chico's. Mixed in with, of course, a lot of independent, small business boutique stores. And coffee shops. And independent cafes. And the obligatory Starbucks (or five). In all it is a pleasant enough town; I enjoyed it because (big surprise) of the old buildings and historical nature of the place.

I wandered around for a while, taking pictures. It was real, real warm. And humid. God I hate humidity. I stopped into a coffee shop/gelato place to get some water, and gelato due to said aforementioned heat. I had a very interesting kind of gelato, which was a "chili chocolate." As you might expect, the flavor was a standard chocolate flavor, with some kind of chili powder in it. It was good, but also a strange sensation of each spoonful being simultaneously cold and hot. The cold hit first, almost immediately followed by the heat at the back of the throat. I liked it, although they might have gone a bit heavy on the chili powder. Not because of the heat level, but because I could kind of taste a raw chili flavor, like one finds in, well, a bowl of chili. So it was kind of weird to taste that along with chocolate. But it was good. The place is called Killer E.S.P., and is located at 1012 King Street, Alexandria. If you are in town, it is worth a stop.

Pictures or it didn't happen:

View of King Street, the main drag through Old Town Alexandria

Alexandria's city hall. They don't really "do" subtle around here

Old colonial mansion, apparently repurposed as the home of the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation. Classy*.

The thing about DC and the immediate outlying areas, is that it is somewhat culturally deceptive. Yeah, it's the South. But you don't really hear people with a Southern drawl, or if there is one, it isn't that pronounced. And DC itself is fairly cosmopolitan. The whole area kind of has a typical, almost vaguely European feel. One can tend to forget that one is technically south of the Mason-Dixon line. You want to think, "yeah OK, but Virginia isn't *really* the South. It's a blue state, c'mon."

Aaaaand then something like this happens:

"The Marshall House stood upon this site, and within the building on the early morning of May 24, 1961, James W. Jackson was killed by Federal soldiers while defending his property and personal rights, stated in the verdict of the coroners jury. He was the first Martyr to the cause of Southern Independence. The Justice of history does not permit his name to be forgotten. Not in the excitement of battle, but cooly, and for a great principle, he laid down his life, an example to all, in defence of his home and the sacred soil of his native state, VIRGINIA. Erected by the sons and daughters of Confederate soldiers." So... that happened

Old Town Alexandria can be reached by public transportation on the Yellow Line of the DC Metro, at the King Street-Old Town stop.

The other thing of some interest that I did this week was go to the National Zoo, located in the Cleveland Park neighborhood. Run by the Smithsonian Institute, it is another attraction in the area that is my favorite price of free. I didn't get there until around 3:00PM in the afternoon, and my god was it hot and humid. I was like dying. And about 15 minutes after I arrived, I got trapped in the gift shop for 45 minutes while they shuffled everyone off of the main road through the zoo, and didn't let us leave our designated spot until a (very) large truck was finished transporting a new Asian elephant to the elephant enclosure (truck and elephant were complete with their own motorcade and police escort. Must have been one damn important elephant). I alas did not get to see said elephant, save for one part of its trunk that was sticking out of the back window. Anyway, below are some of the better pictures that I took for the day there, because if you know one thing about me, it's that I love animals.

Entrance to National Zoo from Connecticut Avenue

Some gazelle and other Savannah-based antelopish creatures

Zebras

Cheetahs hanging out in the shade. It's a hard-knock life...

ZOMG Panda!

IT'S SO FLUFFY I'M GUNNA DIE!

OMNOMNOM

I do like parrots. They are very pretty birds, so colorful

Who can? Toucan! ...K I'll stop now

Hooty-hoot!

Not, in fact, an ostrich, but rather an emu

Flamingos: inspiring tragic American lawn "art" since 1950

Something about this sign just struck me as patently ridiculous/absurd

This was kind of cool: from the plaque next to it, "Pennsylvania Station Eagle. Adolph A. Weinman, 'Knoxville Marble' Limestone, 1910. A gift from the Pennsylvania Railroad to the Smithsonian Institution for the National Zoological Park, 1965. For years, this eagle watched over New York commuters from the facade of Pennsylvania Station. When the old station was demolished in 1963 [a tragedy, IMO] for the construction of Madison Square Garden, there was much demand to preserve the sculptures and architectural features. Today, of the 22 original eagles, only 14 are known to exist." And apparently the Smithsonian got one, and it is chilling in the Zoo. Ah, New York. I miss New York

Some kind of stunted horse. It looked like a donkey, but apparently was not

Orangutan: out of f***s to give

Why alligators and related species are the most terrifying, ever. Those beady little eyes above the water, always still and watching

Kind of hard to see, but that is the head of a lion. That liked to roar. A lot.

Not going to lie, I am one of those people who thinks it would be totally badass to have wolf for a pet

The National Zoo is located at 3001 Connecticut Avenue, NW. It is accessible via either the Woodley Park-Zoo or Cleveland Park Metro stops, both on the red line. The grounds of the zoo are open 6:00AM-8:00PM, the special exhibit houses (for example, the ape house) are open 10:00AM-6:00PM. Cafes, gift shops, and the visitor center are all open 9:00AM-5:00PM. During the winter months (November-March), the grounds close at 6:00PM and the exhibit houses close at 4:30PM. All other hours are the same.

*It is probably actually a good thing that they research mesothelioma. It's just that every time I see "mesothelioma," I can't help but think of those sketchy TV lawyer commercials about hiring a personal injury lawyer for mesothelioma claims.

Escaping the Heat in a Concrete Jungle

Who knew standing around looking at art all afternoon could be so tiring?

So, in case you haven't been following the news, out here on the East Coast (and apparently Chicago, too), it has been freakishly hot. All the time. To the tune of, it will still be 88 degrees F at 10:00pm. Today, it probably was hitting near 100 degrees F. I knew this in advance, so made the executive decision to have an "indoor" day today. And by "indoor," I mean "indoor" with lots and lots of air conditioning.

As is par for the course on the weekends, I got a late start-- around 11am. This was made later by the fact that I had to make an unplanned trip to the Apple store in SoHo, because last night to my delight I found that my Mac charger had completely crapped out and I had to get a new one. All I have to say is, thank god for Apple Care extended warranty. Saved me $70 on a new charger. The trip to the Apple store did start the day off on a weird note: the guy behind the counter remembered me from four years ago. Apparently, this guy had briefly been in my freshman year French class, before he dropped the class. But I guess he remembered me, because apparently when we had talked at some point during French, it came out that we were both from the San Francisco Bay Area, and we both worked out at the same health club, Courtside. So, it's a small world after all. What are the odds? Shoutout to RB at the SoHo Apple store: I am dutifully impressed with the longevity of your memory, because I definitely did not remember this at all. But then, my memory is sort of like that blue fish in Finding Nemo. So... that happened.

So, to escape the heat, I spent most of the afternoon in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, aka the MoMA. Throughout my art history studies (and really, before that due just to its aesthetic qualities), aside from ancient art and society, I have always found modern art, from post-impressionism onwards, to be very compelling, and so much more interesting than a lot of the artistic styles that came before it. So I was really excited to go to the preeminent museum in America for modern and contemporary art. And, even though I was only able to be there for three hours, I got to see a surprising amount. I didn't get to see the photography section, or any of the special exhibits. And I didn't go to the fourth floor, which houses modern art from post-impressionism until roughly the World War II period. Since I have seen a lot of works from those eras, I wanted to see more pieces from the mid-20th century onwards, as I feel like these periods are kind of given the shaft in a lot of major museums that have to house artworks representing the span of centuries. So, I had not been exposed to them as much.

It definitely challenged my conception of what can be called art. As an art history major, and as someone who likes and appreciates modern art for what it tries to do in each of its manifestations, I feel that I am fairly liberal and open-minded when it comes to seeing the artistic and creative value of a work that at first glance may not seem "artsy" enough. But even I think that some of the stuff was really pushing it. There was one piece that was literally a bag of cat litter propped up against the wall. I understand that it may have been trying to make a statement about the line between everyday objects and "art," and perhaps trying to study how an object's placement in say, a gallery, versus a home, changes how we view things as being or not "art." I get that. The problem is, it's already been done. It's not an original idea, it is not exposing a question not already asked. If you need proof, I refer you to R. Mutt's (a pseudonym) Fountain-- you know, that ceramic urinal that was entered into an art show as a sculpture. That is almost 100 years old. That's why I think a lot of the more contemporary stuff that was shown, was bordering on (or crossed into) non-art: the creation of the pieces didn't require "talent" as we traditionally think of it to "do" art, and this lack of "technical" value to the art was not made up for by some new question or angle to explore. A lot of it seemed re-hashed ideas from 50 years ago.

I sometimes wonder where "art" and visual culture as a discipline and practice is these days. It seems that for a long time-- certainly in the 20th century-- there were defined "movements" of artistic production, or "styles" such as abstract expressionism, or Cubism, or Surrealism. And it wasn't so much a name given to these groups after-the-fact, by historians. Rather, their members seemed self-conscious and purposeful in this creation of new styles. I don't see that as much in contemporary art. It seems a lot more to be, a lot of people doing their own thing. I sometimes do wonder what this means for the evolution of art production going forward. One area that does seem promising, is video/audio art. Of all the contemporary art from the last twenty years, the most compelling pieces were those that used video and/or sound; although, in some ways, those videos without sound-- just moving image-- were more effective and provocative. Perhaps this is where art is moving-- off of the canvas and onto the screen. Which is not surprising given how much our society is now plugged into little screens. Although, I do wonder if we won't lose something by having advancement in visual production take place digitally, rather than on a tactile, 3D surface.

After visiting the MoMA, I went and did the other thing that is quintessentially "New York," at least if you are a tourist. I went to the Empire State Building, to go to the observatory. Now, aside from the observatory, just getting up top is an experience in and of itself. They have all these roped-off lines that snake you through the 80th floor, where all the ticket offices are located. Not only do they have the ticket booth and airport-like security, but as you snake back and forth, for several minutes, you are treated to a mini-exhibit on the creation of, and pop-cultural significance surrounding, the Empire State Building. Then, as you continue to make your way through the perfect specimen of Art Deco design, you get your picture taken against a green screen, upon which they will project the background of the building and Manhattan. It's kind of like being in a line a Disneyland.

I got up the 86th floor, which is where the main observatory deck is located. I have to say that the view is stunning. It was a little hazy today, so the views weren't as clear as they could have been, but nonetheless impressive. The weird thing was, though, that I didn't feel like I was up all that high. Maybe it was from all the hype, but I expected to feel way more airborne than I did. And I do know that I was, in fact, significantly above street level, but it didn't feel that way. And ditto when I went up to the 102nd floor, where they have a mini-observatory (for an extra fee, of course), the "highest in Manhattan." Maybe it was just me, but I didn't feel like super-ridiculously-high, even though I don't think I have ever been as high as 102 floors in any other building. Anyway, below are some pictures of the view from the 86th floor, as well as one from the main entrance. Enjoy!

Lobby of the Empire State Building. Art Deco mural showing the building against a stylized map of the tri-state area

Southern view of lower Manhattan and financial district

View of the Upper East Side, with the Chrysler Building in the foreground

Partial bird's-eye view of Central Park, peaking between uptown buildings

After the Empire State building trip, I headed to dinner, and back to uptown, so I could see my boyfriend's-- and and this point, really, my friend-- perform at this place on 53rd St and 2nd Ave in Manhattan, called Tomi Jazz. Allegra is someone my boyfriend has known for a long time, and I finally got to meet her when I got to New York, as she has been living her since graduating New England Conservatory. She is a jazz singer, and quite talented. It was a nice, low-key venue, and sitting for a couple hours while listening to some mellow, pleasant music was just the perfect end to a hot day during which I spent most of my time on my feet. If you are interested in good music (which you should be), the following link is for her website: http://allegralevy.com. Below is a snapshot I took of the sign board outside the venue, advertising her gig for the evening. I am also adding her website to the list of permanent external links that I keep on this blog.

Allegra Levy at Tomi Jazz

And finally, even though it is not at all related to anything I have discussed in this post, I am including an adorable video of "Panda Dogs." I am not going to try to explain it here; the website http://www.pandadog.org/ explains it better than I ever could.

Because everyone needs some "awwwwwwww" before going to bed