Hockney-esque

We went to the LACMA the other day and saw the Hockney exhibit as well as five Klimts,including the one that sold for 135m! I'm a bit grouchy with Maria Altmann for selling Adele I the minute she laid her hands on her, but... what are you going to do? The Hockney portraits were really cool, and we practiced taking some Hockney shots ourselves.

news

I'm in LA visiting my sista and my brother-in-law. The bad news is I have a really bad cold, but I guess the good news is they have HBO On Demand, and my sister, like me, has the capacity to watch hour after hour of television. Hello, Big Love. Other good news is that I had a good interview last week, but the bad news is I didn't get the job. Well, I feel my nyquil kicking in so I'm going to lie down...

skater boiz

So, from my rather nifty perch at the Art Institute (right behind the lion), where I volunteer, I see hundreds of young men whatdoyoucallit? skating, roller.. no, skateboarding down the Michigan Avenue at various levels of competency. Mostly what looked like poor to terrible levels (I saw a lot of crashes) - but what fun they were having! Crazy sight. And like, I could smell them. And it was hot today. I could smell them with a plate glass window and 30 feet between us. I detest the smell of "boy".

Last night our very special one, our little Kaya (oh, how I love her!) SCRATCHED for the FIRST TIME her special scratching post. Mike and I went totally bat shit and started praising her and picking her up and kissing her and poured out her whole can of treats for her to eat. We scared her so much she'll probably never scratch it again. You know what sucks about cats? You can hardly buy them anything. Buying cute outfits, I figure, is like, the reason most people have kids. It's one of the reasons I intend to one day get a ridiculous little dog so I can buy it ridiculous little outfits.

Investigate this!

What's this I hear about Karl Rove sliding off the hook? I wonder whose grandma spent a week in the trunk of a car before that happened? I suppose Republicans think this is another big "win", just like killing Zarqawi (which, BTW, the Daily Show has been doing some good bits on lately.)

In other news, there's been a dramatic change in MY most trusted advisor - here are some before shots of him. Mike donated his hair to an awesome program called Locks of Love. Very soon, some little girl will be wearing Mike's hair - that makes me feel all fuzzy inside.

Andersonville Rocks

One of the advantages of my neighborhood is the annual Midsommar Fest, which I really think is the best fest in all of Chicago. I mean, you're likely to get shot at Taste of Chicago, but at Midsommar, the worst you'll encounter is a poor reel in lederhosen. It's really the lederhosen that separates Midsommar from all the other fests. That and the tres cool, dog-owning, baby carriage pushing, lesbian vibe. I love Andersonville, and really can't imagine living anywhere else in Chicago, but please oh please, can't you stay out? It's getting hard to park on the weekends. Find your own cool neighborhood, loser. hee! Well, if you are visiting, I've placed some books outside for a giveaway and registered them through bookcrossing.com, which is a really cool website and program, you should check it out. Its occurring to me that someone might interpret my personality based on the books I'm getting rid of. There's CS Lewis's Mere Christianity, the Pope's book, some book by Mitchner called the Covenant that neither one of us will claim and have no intention of reading and a bunch of books by Carl Hiaasen. The casual passerby might assume I hate Florida and have given up on organized religion. Actually, I guess that's mostly true, but mostly I'm trying to declutter. (bands pictured are Bumpus and Funkadesi - they were great!)

Devil's Lake

Last weekend we went camping at Devil's Lake - it was really fun, and by far the best park I've been to for camping and hiking in the midwest. This picture of Mike's feet was taken while the rest of us stood far back, shouting at him to come back from the edge. When I downloaded this picture, I got mad, but I have to admit it's a great shot, and, it turns out he didn't fall to his death after all, so it worked out ok.

Love Song

I saw Love Song at the Steppenwolf this week - it was mostly boring, although it had an amazing set. Lately the shows I've seen at the Steppenwolf have better sets than they do plays. The last stinko I saw was The Well-Appointed Room which had the most amazing set I've ever seen. It had an actual Herman Miller Eames lounger. Do you have any idea how much those cost? Oh, I should very much like to have one of those chairs one day. Anywho - I don't think I'm going to renew my subscription to the Steppenwolf next season, not only because I won't be able to score my sweet student discount, but because the lineup looks terrible. Anne Frank's Diary? Give me a break!