Bachelor Party pix party

I just uploaded pictures from my bachelor party in the Catskills .. they can be found approximately right here:

pictures I may or probably-may-not-have posted

did i ever post the pics of my old place?  284 Mulberry btwn Prince & Houston?  like I said I was going to do when I moved in there?   maybe I did.  maybe I didn't... and so:

Kory in IMDB . com now .. and what else he's been doing

well, there's not a lot of detail in the listing (yet) but it seems I'm now listed on IMDB (Internet Movie DataBase).

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3062517/

I need to get them to correct the listing 'cause i was actually "on set dresser / buyer" .. in pre- and production stages (not post-production. odd 'cause why would anyone be 'buying' during post-production? (after the movie's been shot) I think the production office people didn't quite understand job titles 'cause for the first week of production they had me listed on the call sheets as an 'on set buyer' ... which makes even less sense. As in.. would I be buying things that are "on set" already??)

Also.. I know I've been pretty negligent in keeping the journal updated on what I've been doing lately (aside from wedding & honeymoon & bachelor party planning) ... I currently have three shows that I worked on, on tv right now (Stylista, Legally Blonde and Everyday Baking) ... so here's a snippet from my latest resume update a list of everything I've worked on since I made the career switch:

Sonora Films: cooking show TV pilot episode: 'Men-U' - Set Dresser

Interesting Monster - Michael Jordan clothing line season launch - Set Dresser
Interesting Monster - photo shoot: Harper Collins, book cover - Set Dresser
Project East/West A - Feature Film: Achchamundu! Achchamundu! - On Set Dresser / Buyer
Two Cities Productions - TV series: Stylista - with Tyra Banks - Set Dresser
Take It Over - TV series: Legally Blonde - Art Dept Production Assistant
Humble TV - commercials: Honey Bunches of Oats - Set Dresser / Carpenter / PA
N.Y.P.S. - print ad: Macy's President's Day sale - Set Dresser / Art Dept PA
N.Y.P.S. - commercials: David's Bridal - Art Dept Production Assistant
N.Y.P.S. - commercials: Macy's Christmas - Art Dept Production Assistant
N.Y.P.S. - commercials: Home Shopping Network - Set Dresser / Art Dept PA
Interesting Monster - stage: Now and Then, Guggenheim Museum - Set Dresser
N.Y.P.S. - commercials: Macy's Christmas - Art Dept Production Assistant
Martha Stewart TV series: Everyday Baking - Culinary PA / Asst Food Buyer
N.Y.P.S. - commercials: Macy's thanksgiving commercials - Shopper / Art Dept PA
Day O Productions - commercials: Honda - Production Assistant
N.Y.P.S. - commercials: Weight Watchers - Art Dept Production Assistant
N.Y.P.S. - commercials: Macy's One Day Sale - Shopper / Art Dept PA
Smuggler Films - commercials: Verizon broadband - Art Dept PA
Left/Right Prod's - Court TV pilot: Young and Reckless - Set Dresser / Art Dept PA

work delays talk of work ... no more

It seems I wrote this on 3/3/08 but didn't post it. .. . . . . . (?)

Ahh, work.

.... where to begin?

---This not-writing-often-then-cramming-all-recent-happenings-summary into a few paragraphs is self defeating from a motivational standpoint.... as in, the longer i dont write, the less I want to write...

...and so, I never know where to start when I haven't ..started in so long..

and SO... into the fire:

---I'm working. again. finally. It had been since December 18th that I'd had a steady (or unsteady) production job. Granted, the Istanbul trip put a 10 day blackout period for potential jobs I could take so... praise be for the Unemployment Insurance that carried me through the winter (traditionally, very rough on the production world.. most production co's shut down for the winter). The writer's strike also seems to have put the kaibosh on our industry's employment capabilities [whistle - gratuitious use of the word "Kaibosh" - 15 yard penalty - First Down!]

---A friend from my Macy's jobs hooked me up with the job.. Basically, on this job I'm driving the "art cube" around NY & NJ, picking up and dropping of various set related needs to and from renal and supply houses, stores, etc.. and taking them to our three locations.

---The show, you ask? What is it? Hmm. I need to ask my production coordinator just what our confidentiality agreement covers but basically, it's a reality tv show wherein 10 ladies are living together and competing to be the next lead in a popular Broadway musical ...adaptation of a movie. I'm sure the confidentiality thing covers only the results of the show.. ie, who's been eliminated from week to week, who wins, etc... but I want to make sure before I name the show. [[ I can safely add now that the show is Legally Blonde, currently being aired on MTV ]]

---How is it? the work? It's actually quite awesome. When I first started this job, I was a little disappointed that I was the only Art Dept PA in an Art Dept full of set dressers (I'm trying to move into doing just set dressing as that's what I really want to do and the pay is almost double) but as the day's pass by, I'm realizing that I actually have it pretty sweet .. I'm out and about all day, driving around, listening to the radio or cd's and now, I'm on a laptop, parking and 'borrowing' local wifi connections. I've also been getting released at 6 or 6:30, where the set dressers are staying till 8 or 9 or 10 each night. Word has it, everyone's jealous of my off-set freedom.

---How are the people? What's an average day like? Wow, you sure do ask a lot of questions, but ok. The people are great.. absolutely. Everyone's been really nice, mellow, competent and ... fun to work with... there's often a few ...difficult cogs to the production machine, but not on this show. A typical day starts with picking up the truck ( ) at 11th Ave & 45th, heading up to the "hotel" location (where the top floor restaurant has been turned into the girls' apartment), either loading up some stuff into the truck to take to the "rehearsal" spot (where the girls audition, practice, etc) or the "theater" (where the elimination contests will take place before the judges) or heading out to various supply houses to pick up things for those locations. I bounce around between Manhattan, Brooklyn, New Jersey, Queens, the Bronx and all points in between ... which are uhmm.. basically, the bridges and tunnels.

---Which certainly deserve a paragraph unto itself. In addition to a thousand intra-city traffic laws, trucks are not allowed in the Holland tunnel (just heading into Manhattan, it's ok leaving), they're not allowed on the West Side Highway (above 57th), the Brooklyn Bridge, the FDR, the lower roadways of half a dozen other bridges and basically, pretty much every where you'd want to go. And so, the Lincoln tunnel, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges become your friends. The 59th St bridge is your secret lover allowing you quick access to Queens (what?! eyew). 2nd Avenue and 10th Avenue are good whereas Canal and 5th Avenue are baaad. You quickly learn to pay attention to a sea of street signs you never noticed before doing these jobs and the secret world of shortcuts and traffic blackholes becomes a language you learn, out of necessity, on the job. You discover that all other drivers are, without exception, morons - except for the ones who aren't (ie. the ones who let you make that hard right turn in front of them or anyone who waves 'thanks' at you). Pedestrians, drivers, bikers, handsome cab drivers with their sad looking horses, cops and trashmen, delivery guys and office workers - we're all unboundedly selfish when it comes to getting around this town. Selfish in protecting our valuable time, our spot in traffic, our right to take advantage of the crosswalk lag time between our green light ending and the waiting finally traffic honking 'cause we're delaying their perfect green-light-getaway. Cab drivers "stop right here!" - in the middle of the road, and everyone has to wait. Waiting and rushing, jockeying and occasionally, being that nice guy who waves in the frustrated driver just trying to enter the flow - it's 'traffic' multiplied by New York city attitude, making it logically ordered, chaotically frustrating and the truest test of patience and zen I may have ever endured.

---A quick aside: as I'm typing this from out in front of the "theater" (from which they've rented a few additional floors upstairs for the .. uh.. the "casting office" supposedly from which the musical was "already cast") ... It's 18 degrees out. We've unloaded a truck full of furniture for the "casting office" not 30 minutes prior. Five set dressers and our production designer worked to set it up quickly and now.. I'm looking in my side view mirror at a camera crew of maybe 10 people (2 to 3 cameras, I cant tell for sure) run around and crouch for good angles as the "girls", all in completely non-winter clothes, come running up to the theater (in high heels mostly), smiles on their faces, their laughter visible (tho not quite making it to me, thank you NPR). Two have mini-skirts on. Repeat: mini-skirts. Repeat: 18 degrees. Not counting the wind, which is, in fact, quite breezy. It hurts, the cold.. mostly on exposed skin but your thighs experience a chill that just makes you want to punch the cold in it's stupid fu##ing face, just 'cause you're that pissed off at it. ... Ok. The girls are inside, everyone can again relax ... and get the hell back inside.

---Ok. that's it for now. I suppose a strategy for writing more often is to not write a million pages each time I set out to write, so... let's give that a shot.

[[ unfortunate post script: I was hired on as the one Art Department PA (production assistant) while the guy who got me on to the job, and the rest of my workmates were all "set dressers" - which is now the job title I most often have and what I enjoy the most. I took the Art Dept PA job 'cause that's all they had left available and I needed the work. Long story short.. Local Union 52 entered into successful negotiations with MTV and ended up "walking on" all of the set dressers only (not me since I was the Art Dept PA) ... into their union. As in, everyone I worked with on the job is now in the union. A task that takes some people 10 or more years, some people never get in (some people take the test a dozen times and never get in). Alas.. it was not my time for the union. hopefully soon ]]

Wedding registry

As if you, in your most omniscient state, somehow did not know we were getting married (here, by the way .. more details here by the way again)...

We're registered at

Crate and Barrel

and at:

Amazon.com
and at:
Bed Bath and Beyond
and at:
Macy's

enter in Dayani in Registry search fields to find us.

Istanbul photos, 2008

the slideshow below moves a little fast - you can mouse over it and pause-and-play at your own speed or you can double click on the slideshow to bring up the pictures as thumbnails that you can view however you like.

I wrote the following postcard (and a variation of it) and then liked it so much I didn't want to just mail it off and not remember what I said so I umm.. photocopied it ... so I could transcribe it here:

Merhaba from Istanbul -

Wow. It's a different world here. Mosques & minarets, towers & tall apartments, restaraunts & cafes, kitties & more kitties, stray dogs - but mostly kitties - everywhere. Trams & trains & busses and ferries upon ferries crossing the Bosphorous, dodging small and large fishing and commercial vessels, large tankers, cruise ships - with seagulls everywhere. Not just over water but the city itself. A strange hyper-Europe with Middle East backdrop - or maybe it's the other way around. Our first flat overlooks it all. Ok, not all, but a lot. Four of the 'main' mosques, markets, the Bosphorous & Galata tower from our bedroom. 7 flights of stairs but worth it (once you're up the stairs at least). Yesterday was sightseeing at mosques & Topkapi Palace and then dinner & coffees with Esra's "auntie", shopping on Istiklal Cad and walking, walking and more. Today we ferry to meet up with Esra's cousin & later her mom, dad & more Aunts & Uncles. Thursday we do the hamam (steam/bathhouses) and Saturday is the big engagement dinner. Looking out at the view now, I'm amazed I can write anything at all - there is so much richness of detail, So much to see and hear everywhere. Muzzeyin's call out prayer 5x a day which only adds to the other-worldliness of it all,

Until next time (when we're all here together!)

Kory & Esra

Bits of Tid

As if wedding planning weren't enough, Esra and I are gearing up for our move in together .. to Brooklyn no less. very exciting. almost 5 years in Manhattan has steeled up the it-might-be-possible-for-me-to-not-live-in-the-nexus-of-the-universe nerves. more on that later obviously..
UPDATE: We sign a lease tomorrow! for a place almost exactly here, in North Middle [Park] Slope, Brooklyn. I'm not sure if the neighborhood-naming-police will allow me to call it North Middle Slope (NoMiSlo .. or NoMiPaSlo) or not but hey, that's where it is. [the g-map shows it closer to 4th Ave, it's actually the same distance from 5th Ave instead]

Esra, Matt, Karen, Brian and I went to see Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black (of The State, Stella [possibly my favorite tv show ever, only 6 episodes, rent it], Wet Hot American Summer, etc, etc, etc) do stand up in Williamsburg. Hi[hhh]-laaaar[e]-e-ous ... see 'em in your town if you've ever been a fan of ... laughing.

Granted, I'm no activist / lobbyist so no thanks to me, but I've been waiting 4.5 years for NY to institute a plastic bag recycling program. thank you NY city council!

More reasons to love Michael Showalter more than life itself (or somewhere near that amount), sorry Pats fans, but it's true. walking off the field before the game was over only proved it.

Holiday photos, 2007

mouse over the pics for captions / descriptions... and ... cash back frequent flyer bonus discount coupons!!

the Martha Stewart show I worked on, Everyday Baking, is airing on your television!

Tune in to the premiere of “Everyday Baking from Everyday Food” starting Sunday, January 6, 2008 on PBS. The new, half-hour program, hosted by John Barricelli, features easy and delicious baking recipes for cookies, cakes, pies, tarts and more - all from the pages of Everyday Food.

--------Check your local listings for air dates.

honestly, if you like baking, the chef dude makes some freakin' amazing desserts you might want to try. And I can safely answer 'Yes' to the question "are the things they make on set really delicious?".

2007 Year End round-ups

Things and things that I haven't talked about (maybe?) -

- Esra and I are going to Istanbul.. Jan 13 - 23rd. very exciting. her mom's side of the family lives there and.. as her dad, mom and brother (and cousins) will be joining us, and as Esra and family have planned an 'engagement dinner' of sorts at Fenerbahçe Club

- Many pictures of Istanbul to come... ala the kick-arse camera we bought with christmas money (for 1/2 the amazon price, wooo!)

- I've worked on the following since I last told ya what I've worked on: Macy's, Macy's, Macy's, Dave's Bridal and, it still makes me laugh: Honey Bunches of Oats.
the Macy's were 2 commercials and 1 print ad, the Dave's Bridal was a commercial. Honey Bunches of Oats was a music video 'homage', let's say, to Flight of the Conchords and/or Tenacious D and/or the SNL Digital Shorts music video spoofs. The 'song' was "Breakfast in Bed" complete with the lines "girl, I love it when you masticate" and (referring to their bowls of cereal) "wanna make sure I dont finish before you". ya. weird to watch, for sure. mostly funny tho. And being the "hey, Kory normally does Art Dept PA work" guy, I got 'borrowed' by the Art Director often and put to much use building walls (it's someone surprising how rewarding it is to turn a box of screws and some 2x4's into solid walls in under 5 minutes). Long hours though.. 17 on one of the 3 days, 15 on another.

- Then it was my birthday, yeayyy. We went here. Also, I know it goes without saying but, it was Warren Sapp's birthday too.

- Speaking of the Raiders... I will respectfully not speak of the Raiders except to say that they are still the best team ever.  by ever, I mean next year.

Song of the Week

A true stick-in-the-header, for sure:

The Knife - Heartbeats

hmmm.... interesting... under youtube's "related" videos shows... what i do believe is actually the original version a cover of heartbeats.. by Jose Gonzales,  annnnd... now having (re)seen the video, i do remember clips of the bouncey balls bouncing down those SF hills.  check it out..  talk about MUST SEE videos... yeesh.

Song(s) of the week - making up for lost time

I still have a few rumbling around in the old noggin that need sharing, for Surely:

Architecture in Helsinki - Heart it Races

   (the video is a must for this one.. tis great, from 2:15 on needs to be seen)

Fujiya & Miyagi - Ankle Injury

this one isn't stuck in my head, but as far as videos go... this oughta be seen too

Battles - Tonto

not really a stuck-in-the-head song either but the video is freakin beautiful; great concept.

Song of the Week

in the interest of writing more than I have lately (ie. none), I'm going to start posting links to songs that get undislodgeably stuck in my head.  Until they get dislodged by the next song to stick in my head, that is.  if you dont 'get it' the first go-round, give it another listen.  there's gotta be a reason I'm groovin' on it, eh?

And so... this week's song is:   April March - Chick Habit

enjoy.....

(from the credits for Death Proof.  also from the movie But I'm A Cheerleader)

Sense of smell returns, wish to god it hadn't

Who would have thought that one would actually be disappointed by a human sense returning?

Yes. when I first moved to NY, be it allergies or genetics or even just good fortune, my sense of smell all but vanished. As in, I could smell some things, but random, totally useless smell noticings - like the newness of a roll of masking tape but not a trash can full of dog poop near the dog run in the park. Someone could say "what is that smell?!?? eyew" and my usual response would be "huh? my sense of smell kinda sucks, sorry". Conversely, someone could say "mMmMmm! what is that smell?!?!??" to which my response would usually be the same. The interesting part, came in those middle grounds, usually where someone didn't say anything at all. Then, I could sometimes smell things. I feared I was psychosomatically blocking my own sense of smell because I'd already become used to identifying myself as someone who doesn't smell things. Why would I do that? I dont know, why does anyone do anything psychosomatically? Honestly though, I tried not to question it, lest I lose my envied ability (to not have an ability).

Lately though.. I've been able to smell.. just about everything. I think. I mean, do you really know you're not smelling something if you're not smelling it? (with no one to ask if you're smelling it or not of course). And damn it.. I want my sense of not smelling back. When I moved here, I quickly realized that not smelling New York was a blessing. A profitable trade off of a lot of bad smells not smelled and just a few good smells not smelled. Now I smell that damn charcoal that heats pretzel vendors' carts, the chemicals they use to try to mask the dog run smell and rotting street trashcan trash, crowded subway cars and standing gutter water, the permanent gas cloud at Macy's perfume counters and New York's unique homeless body funk.

I had so romanticized my awesome inability to smell New York (and the hope that my other four senses would compensate, turning me into a cat like superman - moreso than I already am of course) that I really feel like .. I got stripped of a special badge and now, I have to ... sigh.. live like the rest of you. You .. smellers.

Seriously. How do you do it? it's still the best city on earth but man it stinks.

Dary and Paige Dayani wedding pictures

my brother and his .. well, now, wife, got married in south dakota. esra and i went. good times were had by all. take a look at their professionally done photos:

here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Paigedayani/Wedding
and here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Paigedayani/WeddingAlbum2

then take a look at my disposable gems of photographical fine art that took me a million billion years to upload just now:


Interestingly enough, I almost started my photos with the one
below this one. Right. not my wedding. got it.













See why I almost put this one first? Our hotness is barely irressistable. Kudos to Ms Esra for the one-armed picture taking. I've taught you well, young one.













See? even cheesy smiling... hotness.















My dad, stealing kisses. As per usual. Daughter-in-laws are few & far between. I understand.


















Did I mention that we were in South Dakota?












Need proof? Yes, that's me with a fully automatic Uzi submachine gun. Possibly not the best picture of me to have on the internet.














And that's me with a fully automatic extra large cocktail shrimp.










Esra and my dad just after the wedding ceremony. Did i mention that these pics are horribly out of order?








For example, my dad, his gf Betty and friend Art at the reception dinner, post wedding.











Aaaannd, back to pre-wedding.












And then to the reception.












And then Dary and Esra pre-wedding. Dary had that ... suit? outfit? ..made. Incidentally, I was made to wear tuxedo shoes vs. the awesome shoes I had brought myself and I will not be letting anyone involved live that fact down, ever. Hope you like pointy pink elf shoes Dary, my wedding's in September.











Oops. again, we're post wedding (groomsmen). Please do not sing Time Warp.














If you really feel like it, you may sing a cover version of Van Halen's Jump. Any looks of pity you receive are solely your responsibility.











The view from our hotel room. South Dakota (as you will unfortunately not see from our pictures) is flatter than a flat, flat... very flat object. that is flat.










Oh goodness. Seriously. where did my lovely Esra learn to take photos? Yes, you got the tent's crossbar perfectly framed, good. Now cut off the best man's head.. great. Now wait for Kory's eyes to .. [click!]









Ok, that's a bit better.












Esra also really loves pictures of a) flower arangements. b) tables full of food c) there is no c), see a) & b)












See? I cant wait for thanksgiving.












My dad and Bette


















Honestly. Is there a better way to leave the trunk of your rental car? I think not.











Dad and I on a Circle Line tour around Manhattan.
























And Bette and Esra.












And Larry (Esra's dad) and his girlfriend, Eirlys



















































Due South. Lower Manhattan,David Bowie's apt is covered in the white building-shroud thingy. David Geffen's apt is two above that.











Due west. the Puck Building.














Due East. lots of interesting stuff obscured by haze.
















North.

















Southeast. Brooklyn and the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges not visible due to haze. Stupid haze.














Our engagement party? I think? Lookie what ring made it into the shot. : )














My lovely Esra, at the lake near Sharon, MA she grew up near.














the boardwalk out to the beach, Provincetown - Cape Cod.












Esra's mom's condo-pool.













Mystic, Connecticut. as viewed from a long way away from the actual downtown portion of Mystic.














Esra & her mom in her mom's backyard. cute as buttons, I tell you! both of them.












Rice to Riches, SOHO, NY. all things tapioca.














Hey. look, it's me on my second PA job ever. The Verizon commercial on Lake Sebago.











Kitty-boys! in a sink and beyond sink.
















Lombardi's pizza in SOHO.

















On the drive back from Cape Cod. random river side pictureness. One armed bandit anyone? Ohw yeahhh.

A NYTimes review of the Guggenheim staged reading I worked

Ouch.

the review below, that is. I, personally had a blast. My unofficial mentor to becoming a buyer/shopper / set dresser called me with a four day job that her & her new company partner had booked - high profile names would be in the show and audience (see below - I only saw Cate Blanchett who, I'm sad to say, was not as Cate-Blanchett lovely in person, Elaine Stritch who is lovely (ok, not really) and Anita Ekberg who, a google image search reveals, was freakin' wow-lovely in her day)
My job, along with my PA friend Hudson, was to go to prop houses and stores and rent or buy all the stuff we'd need for the show.. mostly, 8 chairs and the below mentioned lips couch. yes, a lips couch. it was the director's idea and judging from the review, it was the least of his problems... without further aideau, I'll let you read about the car crash, below....

PERFORMA 07 Cate Blanchett, seated, in a Pirandello play reading staged by Francesco Vezzoli.

By GUY TREBAY

Published: November 1, 2007

SLUMPED in a rolling chair behind the information desk at the Guggenheim Museum, clutching about him a vast fringed leather coat from Prada, André Leon Talley, the Vogue editor at large, emitted a theatrical moan. “Where, where, where is Cate Blanchett?” said Mr. Talley, elongating the actress’s name, not altogether sotto voce, until it became a trans-European bleat, a cry of pain.

Enlarge This Image

LINES VS. LONE Cate Blanchett at the Guggenheim.

Enlarge This Image

Ms. Blanchett, as it happened, was off in the wings, wherever they are, of the great museum, being kitted out in a John Galliano couture dress and trench coat for a star turn that, when it actually occurred, registered as a blur for many of the 800 people who’d already endured several hours of waiting.

By the time Ms. Blanchett appeared, her head swathed in tulle veils, amid flashes of theatrical lightning, not a few people were desperate to follow Mr. Talley, who rose at line three of her monologue and bolted for the door.

This all took place near midnight Saturday, as elsewhere in Manhattan Halloween revelers from foreign lands (well, New Jersey) gaily and drunkenly disported themselves while dressed as prostitutes and clowns. In the museum’s rotunda, a group of eminent actors began an earnest reading of Luigi Pirandello’s “Right You Are (If You Think You Are),” the play, in this case, not exactly utilized as such but as a prop text in a performance piece orchestrated and staged by Francesco Vezzoli, the artist and social gadfly and “bad boy” of Italian art, a person New York magazine recently said “exists at the center of the art-celebrity-fashion nexus that is, controversially, defining the art world today,” whatever that means.

Ostensibly a commentary on the nature of celebrity, the evening featured some of the celebrities Mr. Vezzoli collects, and whom he has cast in performance works like the 2005 “Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal’s ‘Caligula’” (Helen Mirren, Benicio Del Toro, Courtney Love), and this year’s “Democrazy” (Bernard-Henri Lévy and Sharon Stone as a presidential candidate and her spouse).

Saturday was the inaugural event of Performa 07, a performance-art biennial organized by the art historian RoseLee Goldberg. At a dinner held before the event at the Upper East Side town house belonging to the art dealer and socialite Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, Ms. Goldberg said that her personal litmus test for successful performance art is that it makes people weep. “That’s my measure,” she said. “If you cry.”

By that standard “Right You Are (If You Think You Are)” was a galloping success, since people had shed tears to get in, and also battled with flacks and politicked with gallery owners and bartered with friends and pleaded, of course. There were waiting lists for waiting lists. This is because the evening was to feature movie folks like Ms. Blanchett, and Ellen Burstyn and Natalie Portman (in a Prada suit and a glue-on mustache) and Peter Sarsgaard (in a real mustache) and Dianne Wiest and also, let us not forget, the 76-year-old Anita Ekberg, whose “special appearance” amounted to her perching on the pillowy lips of Salvador Dalí’s Mae West sofa, looking as remote (her nickname in 1950s Hollywood was “The Iceberg”) and disgruntled as a Pekingese.

Did the audience feel Ms. Ekberg’s evident unease? It did. Discomfort was built into the evening, as central to it as the Pirandello script, written in 1917, and which, as one critic noted, toys with how “the social role built up by one character for himself is continually destroyed by another, devaluated into a sick sham existence that outsiders accept as real only out of pity.” Put less dramatically, the play and the performance piece both concern a group of provincials speculating interminably about whether a Mrs. Ponza does or does not exist.

Anticipation and duration is always a recipe for a serious reception in New York; add a pinch of punishment and you’re made. The sentence, in this case, took the form of the 90-minute wait in the chill air to get into the museum, a common enough sight at blockbuster shows, yet one that infrequently includes socialites, celebrities and multimillionaires.

Rarely, that is, does one spot the philanthropist Anne Bass or the actress Lucy Liu on the wrong side of a velvet rope. And it is a tribute either to the women’s fortitude or Mr. Vezzoli’s currency that they hung around. Plenty of people defected, stomping off in their Louboutins and Manolos after obediently lining up in the dark for an hour.

Was this part of the grander plan? “I don’t know, I’m not sure, but it’s possible this was part of the intention,” said Miuccia Prada, a supporter of Mr. Vezzoli, who stuck it out for the show and a second-row seat alongside Uma Thurman and near Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Mary-Kate Olsen, the art dealer Marian Goodman and Ms. Liu.

Mr. Vezzoli, for his part, insisted otherwise. “We were late because of the hair extensions for Anita Ekberg,” he said. In the aged star’s silent presence, he added enigmatically, could be found the key to the work. “For me, putting Anita Ekberg on a Surrealist pedestal was my way of signing the work. I’m sorry that people had to wait, but it’s so rare to make people angry with art that that’s a form of achievement in itself, I suppose.”

At any rate, as Ms. Portman, in her role as the character Laudisi, inquired: “What can we ever know about others, who they are, why they are, how they behave? Who can finally say what is true?” Not much, to reply, very little, almost nothing, a bit and we’ll get back to you. Still, if there’s anything about celebrity culture all can agree on, it is that it’s no place to go looking for sincerity.

A stampede away from the museum followed the performance, a select group of guests trailing Ms. Prada to a party she held for Mr. Vezzoli at the Bemelmans Bar of the Hotel Carlyle. There — as white-coated waiters passed drinks; and Salman Rushdie buttonholed the hostess; and the artist Terence Koh (a k a Asianpunkboy) held court beneath the deceptively bucolic Bemelmans mural, in which an armed rabbit stalks its innocent brethren; and Mr. Sarsgaard circulated with his girlfriend, Maggie Gyllenhaal; and Mr. Vezzoli sat in a corner looking dazed and febrile after three sleepless days — one forgot the wait, the longueurs, the pretensions of the evening, in part because the Champagne was flowing and also because Mrs. Ponza, or Cate Blanchett, had finally showed up, dressed like a ghost from a Boldini portrait, in a two-minute coup de théâtre that took place just as the evening threatened to slump to an “Inside the Actors Studio” end.

Elegant, substantial, starlike, Ms. Blanchett, as Mrs. Ponza, descended the museum ramps amid an entourage of cameras, light crews and assistants flashing strobes.

“I am whoever you believe me to be,” she said in a sonorous, cinematic Elizabethan accent. “Are you happy now?”

Engagement Party Pictures

are here: Engagement Party Pictures

Just so you can match up the names & faces with who's who, here's a run down of names and who they are to me ... / us. in no particular order (except the one I gave it, based on outright bribes paid directly to me)

Esra: she's m' lady!! (ooooEeeeeOoooo!)
Kory: that would be.. me, I think. let me check. yes. me.

Chris: 1/2 of best man(s), volleyball teammate
Jillian: his girlfriend, volleyball teammate and "my" bridesmaid
Matt: 1/2 of best man(s)
Karen: his fiance
Holly: Maid of Honor, bridesmaid
Dawn: Esra's friend, bridesmaid
Karl: Dawn's boyfriend
Marisa: 1st catskills trip-mate, my 'hero' (got me 1st of PA work)
Seth: Marisa's boyfriend
Meredith: volleyball teammate
Mike: volleyball teammate
Ash: volleyball teammate
Steven: volleyball teammate
Meredith ("Steve's meredith"): Steven's girlfriend
Clare: carpoolmate to this wedding we attended
Rich: Clare's husband, also carpoolmate
Theo: Rich & Clare's baby who'd been in utero during that wedding
Jeremy: Esra's former coworker
Rachel: Jeremy's girlfriend
Dana: Esra's former coworker, friend
Sandi: Esra's former college-mate
Alicia: Esra's Boston friend

did i miss anyone?

Freaky rooftop moment

-- last week, I was sitting on my fire escape, having a cigarette when I heard "excuse me". Odd, as I live on the 7th floor and no genies were floating nearby. A college age kid, it turned out, was on the roof of the building next to me and was asking me for a cigarette. The problem was, there's about an 8 ft gap between their roof and my fire escape so ... he wanted me to toss him the cigarette which, I started to do until I realized that I really needed to be ultra-accurate with my throw, lest this moron go plunging over the side & fall. I showed some hesitation (this is freakin' stuuupid, what the F??) to which he displayed his conviction by... crawling up on the roof ledge and ... dangling his feet over the edge of the roof, arms extended in a "ok, I'm ready to catch the cigarette you're going to throw". All I could say was "woahhh DUDE!!" still flabbergasted that this was some sort of challenge or bravery contest he was determined to show me and his friends he could win. Not only did I have to toss a cigarette (not exactly the most aerodynamic of tossables) across an eight foot gap, I had to get it between two direcTV cables coming off my roof to my apartment. As I lined up for the shot, all I could think was "if you fall and die, I am going to be sooo pissed" and "what kind of f#%ing moron dangles his damn legs over a ... ahhh F it, here goes" and yes, before I could think any more about it .. I tossed it.
-- It honestly could not have been a more perfect shot. Except that.. it hit him in the chest and bounced on his thigh and then... he nabbed it before it rolled off the edge of the roof. Knowing that my heart was about to explode from almost helping this dipsh!t end his life, I barely even heard him say "thanks man" (like it was nothing, like I'd just pointed someone on the street to the subway) and then roll back off the edge of his roof to rejoin his friends, smoke in hand.
-- No way in hell was I going to ask him if he needed a light.

Martha, my brother and Macy's

seemingly, these things would have .. ok, little in common. or maybe a lot.

five weeks of Martha Stewart Everyday Baking or Everyday Food: Baking (depending on who you ask) is in the bag. It was a blast - a great learning experience, easy (as pie, ha.. ha) work, the best hours I've worked so far (8am-6pm) and I ended up with a freezer full of catering leftovers and pantry cupboards full of kitchen staples (hey, our fake set kitchen couldn't have fake set food, right? (answer: wrong, but shhhh)). Also, I managed not to gain 500 lbs working on a show that produced nothing but cakes, pies, cookies, tarts, puddings, etc, etc, etc. How you ask? take the smallest size piece of whatever's offered to you, take a bit or two out of it, throw the rest in the trash.
Everyone I worked with was great, good people, all around - comparatively at least. All productions seem to have a few folk who are consistently .. at least mildly annoying. We had one & even she wasnt that bad. We shot in a studio at 33rd & 10th which was, we found out, where MTV first started (again, another "god I love New York" moment). We ate lunch on the roof with a great view of the west side & Jersey, ships making their way up & down the Hudson. Since the show didn't have an art department perse, I was a general production PA with duties ranging from setting up breakfast & striking lunch to runs around the city in a van or cab, working on set, in the kitchen, assisting the props people - really, a little bit of everything. (oh, the first and last two days consisted of going to Norwalk, CT to get, drive and set up everything we'd need for the set, the kitchen, props, etc - a huuuge, heavy and tiring undertaking) As for the show itself, for about half the time I worked with the culinary producer on set, setting up & clearing the various desserts we made, cleaning up spills, fingerprints, the tops of jars & whatnot - pretty much everything pristine you see on a cooking show was what I made happen. Obviously, not the most difficult job in the world but whenever I thought about it, I remembered that a) I was getting paid well to do something different every day b) I used to sit in cubicle-land, wasting time surfing the net for funny cat pictures. c) I was working on a Martha Stewart show. d) I was experiencing a strange feeling I hadn't felt at a job in almost 20 years... I think it's called ... "self" .. "re ... spe ... ct?" e) I was making a lot of contacts on the show who have a lot of contacts with other culinary tv shows whom I will be hopefully working for soon.
The show will air in January, I'm told - they're in post-production now. Not on the Food Network but whatever channel shows Martha's show.

----My brother. he is getting married. yes. it's true. October 13th. just a few days from now. in South Dakota. very exciting. ok, not the South Dakota part, the wedding part. his fiance Paige is awesome, matching my brother's awesomeness so... there you go. awesome. all around. I feel like I should have more to say on the topic but when your brother is getting married, it's a bit surreal. my little brother's "all grownsed up"!

----Macy's. the next set of Macy's commercials start shooting next monday. at the same studio I worked at for the Verizon commercial (both of which are currently airing by the way.. Verizon commercials are the black guy in the verizon bucket being lowered/inserted into everyday life scenes & helping people with their problems.. the Macy's commercials are thanksgiving day sales & any other one day sale commercials you see. Until I stop doing Macy's commercials I guess, all the Macy's commercials you see will be ones I've worked on.) I'm not so much looking forward to the hours we do for Macy's (7am to 6:30 or 7pm) but I am looking forward to working/training more as a buyer / set dresser, which is what I want to move into, job-wise, in the near future. I've honestly never had as much self respecting fun and fulfillment as when I got to spend someone else's money ($2800 in two weeks) on things that the art director kept confirming were exactly what she wanted. Set dressing also proved to be incredibly rewarding as well as I often got to be a little artistic in my choices and set up of some background items (a nightstand table full of stuff or christmas package wrapping & placement, etc). There is a little bit of frustration in all this in that I want to be a buyer/set dresser now. I keep needing to remind myself that I've only been doing all of this ... what? four months?

(how are the above related? answer: macy's carries martha products, my brother will probably get a few as wedding presents)

Listicle 27.L5

yet another song and video (watch the end at least) that just. makes. me. ridiiiculously. happy.

"All children would become scientists if they weren't discouraged by influences ingraining the assumption that it was geeky or hard" - heard on NPR

something i typed 2 minutes after it happened, from when I was still at IPC: "WOW and wow. i just stood thru a tornado. dust and dirt and lower manhattan grime. oh my good god, it was SOOOO. much. fun.! it so shouldn't have been. watching tourists panic and scatter, watching street vendors chase after their wares (that part i felt really bad about, but c'mon, you saw the wind & rain coming! why didn't you pack up???). i had to shake about a half pound of sand out of my hair and pockets (and eyes)... it was like.. dirty.. non-wet snow. i got back upstairs & they said our building had swaying. wooooo! danger!!"

great e-cards for friends. when going beyond the truth is the best option.

to say this was an accident is to deny my free will and excellent stabbing-with-a-champagne-flute aim

great pics. no, i'm still not sick of them. never will be.

this is basically how i woke up this morning. except it was flapjack maniacally chasing down a fly, right on my ribs. - yesterday it was hambone's turn (in the hallway, not on me thankfully) nails on hardwood, doing the fred flintstone run-with-no-traction. cracked out eyes, front paws swiping wildly. he's black, he's fast, but something about that fat fat belly makes it seem less like ninja and more like chris farley as ninja.