photos

Astoria on a clear sunny day.

Residential brick two and three story buildings with a wide street running h through the foreground. Taken from a high angle. A bright blue sky takes up most of the top of the image.

My friend Ania sent me this photo, reminding me that this happened, and this will never not have happened.

Me, a bald white man a few years ago with a stubbly beard and glasses, slouched in a chair with one hand raised like I'm going to shake the air's hand. I'm wearing a tight white tank sleeveless undershirt. The room behind me is messy. A large black cat sits in front of me. In front of the cat is a Pathfinder roleplaying GM screen.

A majestic city skyline stands against a turbulent sky. Dark, ominous clouds loom over the silhouetted buildings, casting an eerie glow reflected in the calm waters below. The contrast between the dark clouds and the cityscape evokes a sense of awe and mystery. 🌆🌧️

Astoria is blooming.

A brownstone lined street in Astoria, Queens on a bright, cloudless day. Pink cherry blossom trees are in full bloom, casting dramatic shadows.

Let it be known that there is a well cared for cat colony on Roosevelt Island.

A cat enclosure surrounded by a fence that the cats can absolutely get past. There's trees and wood chips on the ground, and a little cat house that's just for them. There's some geese laying around too, and cats hanging out inside the house and on the roof.

A large tabby cat sitting on wood chips near trees inside a fenced enclosure. The cats can get under the fence.

Some inexplicable graffiti on Roosevelt Island. I don’t know what it means and I love it.

Graffiti on the side of a pier that looks like a postcard. Most of the text is intentionally illegible, but to phrases are clear: "Dear mom" and "I'm done!"

I spent Saturday on Roosevelt Island with friends, peeping the Cherry Blossoms and other sights. We circumnavigated the entire island, and indulged in many dumb bits. Highly recommend.

Cherry blossom trees in vibrant bloom, dark pink, on the inside of a highway ramp.

The Roosevelt Island lighthouse in the distance, with the path to it stretching in the foreground, against a stormy sky. Sculptures of Nellie Bly and reflective sphreres dot the path.

A cartoonish sculture just above the surface of the water. It's a coin with arms and legs, being dragged down by a little figure with the cash symbol for a face, coming out of a crotesque mouth. The mouth is mostly submerged in the water. A sculpture of two large red letters, "RI", against a large bridge. The letters stand for Roosevelt Island.

I was really into Disney’s Sword in the Stone as a kid. I didn’t relate to the child Arthur, I wanted to be Merlin. This says a lot.

A still from Disney’s Sword in the Stone of Merlin, a old white man with a long white beard. He wears blue robes and a pointy blue hat. He has the robes hiked up, showing pink underwear. He is water skiing.

I visited my friends Jon and Brynn over the last weekend, and was given two incredible gifts: a lush Pothos, and the Batman Forever audio cassette board game.

A shelf with an R2D2 figure on the top. Behind it is a Batman Forever board game propped against the wall. It is played with an audio cassette.

These are real. Found in a New England flea market.

A rack of magazines, the top one being a children’s book called “If you give a dog a doobie”. It pictures a cartoon dog holding a joint.

Had a fun time packaging vinyl for my friend Jon Solari’s record label. There’s something meditative about repetitive work.

A cardboard box filled with records. You can half see the cover, the soundtrack to an old B movie called Joy Sticks.

Spotted outside a coffee shop in New Bedford Massachusetts.

Graffiti on a large metal box behind a chain link fence of a cartoon boy sitting cross legged smeared in chocolate. He holds a big chocolate bar.

I found my friend’s 16mm student film I was in when I was around 17. Remember being a teenager and trying to be deep? This is that but filmed. Radiohead soundtrack. Smoking. Slow motion. Sepia. Falling. A gun. It’s all here.

An individual with long dark hair is standing with their arms outstretched and head tilted back towards the sky. Behind them is the silhouette of a leafless tree with many intertwining branches, and the image has a sepia-toned, grainy quality, suggestive of a scene from an old film.

Close-up of a person with long straight dark hair and a neutral expression. The person is directly facing the camera and the image has a monochromatic sepia tone, giving it an aged appearance reminiscent of early photography.

MJ took incredible photos of our Cat’s Cradle improv show last week. Give them a follow if you’re on Instagram!

A group of six people engaged in an animated theatrical performance on a stage. Some individuals are crouched or bent over, expressing mock horror or surprise, while others stand with exaggerated gestures of fear or caution. They appear to be reacting to an unseen object or event on the right side of the stage. The stage has a plain black background and minimal props, with a single black box at the center. The actors are dressed in casual clothing and the lighting casts a blue hue over the scene.

On a sparsely decorated stage, a group of seven people appears to be engaged in a theater workshop or improvisation scene. A woman in a red plaid shirt is perched on a black box, forming a peak with her hands above her head, possibly mimicking a mountain or roof. To her left, a man is squatting with his hands on his thighs, looking towards her. On the left side of the image, five people are seated or lying on the stage, with some looking toward the woman on the box. They seem to be attentive and possibly reacting to her action. The stage is simply set with a black backdrop and stage lighting equipment visible overhead. The audience perspective is from the back of the room, with the back of an audience member's head in the foreground.

Seven individuals are actively participating in a dramatic scene on a black-box theater stage. They are gathered in a close semi-circle around a woman in the center who is crouched low to the ground, reaching out dramatically with one hand. The other performers are variously crouching or standing, with expressions and gestures of intense focus or concern directed towards the center. They are dressed in everyday casual wear, suggesting an improvisational or rehearsal setting. The stage backdrop is plain black, highlighting the actors, and the lighting casts well-defined shadows, enhancing the sense of a theatrical performance.

Getting cozy at Kinship on a rainy day. Related: show me harmful coconut water.

An open laptop on a glass table showing a Drupal navigation module ticket. There’s a hot coffee in a paper cup sitting next to it, and plants and coffee shop stuff in the background. There’s a fridge with “Harmless Coconut Water” branding on the side.

The Cat’s Cradle Ensemble’s monthly residency continues at the Player’s Theatre! Come on out if you’re in NYC. March 29th, get your tickets.

A bowl of curry yogurt chicken over rice.

I improvised a yogurt curry chicken last night. Came out pretty good!

Shakespeare is opening for us tonight.

A white board with Macbeth at 7pm and Cats Cradle at 9pm.

The manhattan Alamo has a VHS collection. The ghost of Kim’s Video poking out.

A shelf of VHS tapes, mostly obscure,B, or Japanese genre films.

A clear day view from an elevated train platform looking down a bustling urban street lined with buildings. The street is filled with cars and a few pedestrians, with patches of snow on the sides and a clear blue sky above. The city skyline is faintly visible in the distance under the soft glow of the setting or rising sun.

Astoria Boulevard from the train station.

Made a delicious lentil curry off my chef friend Kayla’s recipe.

A green bowl with a yellow lentil curry inside. There’s chopped herbs on top, and an orange yolked soft boiled egg broken on top.

My psychedelic improv team the Cat’s Cradle is playing the Player’s Theatre again March 1st at 9:30pm. Get tickets before time folds in on itself (discount automatically applied).

Image of a black box theater, with several improvisors arrayed on stage in a twisty stage picture. Titles are superimposed over the image in neon lettering. The title is “Cat’s Cradle”, followed by the date of the show, “Friday, 03/01 @ 9:30pm Players Theatre NYC” and a link to tickets at catscradleimprov.com. A quote appears at the top: “High energy, psychadelic, improv comedy”

Over the weekend I saw the Black History Month Check In Show, an evening of all black improvisation and one sketch. Such a funny show.

Six black improvisors, half women half men, dancing on a black box theater stage.

Eat at Haidilao Hot Pot in Flushing yesterday. Meal lasted ~3 hours. So damn good. I only have one photo of the food from before anything was cooked as after I was too busy stuffing my face.

Four soup bases in the center of a table, two ladles sticking out of the broth. Some peppers and crispy tofu peak out. There's a small plate of pineapple next to the soup.

Has there ever been a bigger drop in quality in album art than between the first two Danzig albums?

The first record? One of the most iconic images in hard rock.

The first danzig album cover art, featuring a black field with a demon skull emossed in white

The second record? Prank.

The second danzig album cover art, featuring a black and white photo of Danzig's hairy white chest, his hands gripping a crucifix with a demon skull on it.