Sunday, May 29, 2011

mr. frank? happy memorial day.


memorial day is one of my favorite holidays for so many reasons.

1.) imprompteques. the technical definition of an imprompteque is an impromptu barbeque. (melissa hammans is the reigning queen of the imprompteque.) trust, you will always receive ample notice, but the relaxed feel of the gathering always gave you the impression of "oh, this ol thing/these people/this beautifully displayed spread including veggie/hummus/cheese tray/spin dip? i just threw this together. (cue: laughter, hair toss, and a wine refill.)" i probably just felt that way because of the casual nature of the gathering and the warmth with which i was always received. (love you, mah.)

1a.) there was one year when the memorial day cookout at 22-19 was wild. everyone was rip-roarin' retarded, and it was amazing. i remember one james jackson, jr. just leaving because there was nothing else he could do. it was at that time i found out i booked hong kong disneyland, and i'm pretty sure all i did was scream and throw my phone. i think the next year was slightly more tame. white wine spritzers were happening (minus the tequila chaser.) there was definitely a late night conversation equating pork rinds and the smell of pullout. i won't say any names because i'd rather walk a mile on mine own lips... i digress. where was i? yes.

2.) daydrinking. please give me a cold drink (or 8) while the sun is out. there's something so exciting/naughty about drinking when you could potentially be at work, an audition, or anything that involves "business hours". i swear the sun only intensifies the intoxication and raises the alcohol content of that bud light.

3.) grilled meats. i. love. a. grilled. meat!! chicken. hamburger. steak! sign me up for a little bit of everything. professionals will marinade their chicken breasts or pre-season their beef patties to make sure their meat is "working" before it hits the grill. since my kitchen is used for storage and recycling plastic bags and take-out boxes, i'm always the guy stopping off at the grocery store en route to the party to pick up a box of burgers, some nice kraft singles, and some soft burger buns (as opposed to the hard ones!) fear not. a few dashes of lawry's, cayenne, and lemon pepper, and that boxed burger patty will taste like delicately seasoned kobe beef after it's come off of the grill. (i assure you the case of bud light i've picked up with burgers have zero effect on the taste.)

4.) weather transition. memorial day marks the beginning of summer, regardless of the temperature. growing up, public pools opened memorial day. school was almost over. now that i'm an adult, it means it's the beginning of summer in nyc. the city will be less-crowded on the weekends because those with the means to do so will be heading anywhere from fire island to the hamptons to jersey shore to provincetown to where'er. the energy changes, i break out my jean cut-offs, and my skinnier comrades in arms bust out their tanks tops and low-cut blouses. win/win, if you ask me.

in closing, i hope you celebrate memorial day in the most festive and relaxing way you can think of. i'll be in rehearsal.




(james, melissa, and me. memorial day 2k8.)

Friday, May 27, 2011

inspiration

i came across this video of my friend, sam turner, KILLING this combination. laurie ann gibson would be proud.




Tuesday, May 17, 2011

starbucks fail


my friend, steph, loves starbucks. before work, after work, mid evening, whatever. she pops into a starbucks, places her order with the cashier, cashier takes her name, barista makes the order, steph gets her drink, she goes on her way. easy enough, right? hell no. her name always gets lost in translation somewhere. steph is not a difficult name. i'd bet a few sheckles that somewhere in the starbucks training manual is a chapter on how to royally eff up a customer's name, and "steph" is the textbook example. she's been called everything under the sun, and thanks to the modern convenience of a mobile upload, she shares her daily starbucks fails with the rest of us via the facebook. she's taken her misfortunes (and our daily entertainment) and turned it into a blog called "what's my name starbucks". i'm featured in this piece of work, and once i return to nyc and my cravings for venti sweetened iced green teas increase, i'm sure i'll have more contributions to her blog. i can't wait!

http://www.whatsmynamestarbucks.blogspot.com

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

happy mother's day.

israel is starting to shape up for me, thank God. thanks to an unexpected afternoon off of rehearsal last friday, i went with a few friends to rehovot for lunch. freedom? sunny skies? real food? hell to the yes, bobby. after an amazing lunch pre-fixe at a delicious restaurant followed by some delicious dessert, we went back to our lovely youth village to gear up for our excursion.

saturday morning, we headed to masada. stunning. beautiful. amazing. mountains. desert. sunshine. farmer's tan. all of these things happened while i got to experience something that was so much larger than myself. something that was so stunning that all i could so was take picture after picture after picture and try not get frustrated with my camera. my beautiful, black canon 1400sd powershot takes amazing pictures, but there was no one she would be able to capture all the beauty i saw. check out my photo album here. we left masada, had some average lunch at the israeli equivalent of a rest stop and proceeded on the dead sea. again, no words. lowest point of the earth. salt. stunning. don't drink the water. float. live. be.

back to my pretty little powershot: i love her. so much. taking photos this weekend reminded me how much i love traveling and taking pictures. it brings me such joy to capture these stunning, amazing images for the purpose of making memories, but maybe i can expose someone to an something they might not know exists. i'd love to get a nice big boy camera and work it out. stay tuned.

speaking of a stunning image, get into my (girl)friend nikka's blog: showgirl godzilla. she's beautiful and working it out. hope you enjoy it like it do.

shalom.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

im here.

i made it to israel in one piece. we have spotty internets, so i cant upload photos the way i would like. pray for my sanity.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

peaches.

this is giving me life today. this is a performance of nina simone's "four women" from BET's black girls rock concert. get into kelly price, marsha ambrosius, jill scott, and ledisi.