URB 2011: the race experience

you know that scene from raiders of the lost ark--indy disappears from the ship and free-styles it over to the german submarine, the crew gives a big rally cry when they spot him, and he, soaked and stumbling a bit, does that little salute before running off to kick some more ass?

well, that's sort of what it felt like as i was finishing the last leg of the urbanathlon. i'd run about 3 miles, “stutter-stepped” a muddy tire field, climbed the steps to the promenade of arthur ashe stadium and then navigated a much longer maze of steps through citi field, crawled under a few jeeps, jumped over a couple of taxis, scaled a bus...i was cold and wet from the rain and the puddles, and a little off balance because of the crazy scene happening all around me, but still pushing toward the final obstacle, the impossible one, the rope-climb over the wall. then i heard a cheer from my other team mates (anitaaaa!) and i had just enough of my mind left to look over and wave a little and laugh--but that's it because, well, there was that wall in front of me that i need to get over. (and: no ass-kicking, as i need a boost to get up there). but i did make it over, in one piece and our team finished the urb.

post-race recovery: beer and a sausage biscuit

what a relief.

i'd been nervous the whole week--hands-sweaty, can't-sleep nervous--worried i wouldn't be strong enough on race day to finish, and that the wintry weather would be unbearable.

it was actually almost unbearable to wait in the cold without a coat. but it was also, in a funny way, a situation ripe for bonding with strangers. i didn't know anyone else who was there to start leg 3, and i didn't have friends (like some smarties, with umbrellas) hanging out there with me to make the hour pass more pleasantly, but there was a loony camaraderie as we readied ourselves to hit the course in weather that was at once "fucked up-- and awesome."

i got to start my part of the race--and finally warm-up--just before the cold became too much.

there were the other unexpected pleasures of the race: my quiet, solo jog to the starting point, from the mets-willets point subway station, down the long boardwalk toward the tennis center and around it to the south gate. the leaves had turned, but the row of trees still formed a pretty canopy in the rain. i could see the "new" court 17--a couple of months ago i was there, maxing out my tan, while making photos of one of my favorite subjects: alexandr dolgopolov. i discovered that in the off-season they rip out the seats at that court (not sure why. it seems like a lot of effort).

the unisphere glistened only from the rain drops.

i ran through an empty ashe stadium -- it was almost as empty as the last morning i was there, as francesca schiavone started her 4th round match against anastasia pavlyuchenkova.

i ran down and out again and past the deserted media center around the back toward citi field. i'm not sure if that path stays open (i don't know why it would).

i wish i'd had a camera for the view of queens and the city from the upper decks in citi field. after finally descending the stairs, we jogged right onto the field--to a maria carey tune, if you can believe it. i won't soon forget that.

we stayed off the pristine grass, and took the path from right field to first to home. i'm pretty sure i'll never do that again.

the "blue moon" girls, get their medals...

i had anticipated that it would be fun to run these venues, but didn't imagine how it would feel to experience them that way-- empty, but still alive with my own memories and imagination. the race was worth it just for that.

but it was even more worth it to be there with my friends, the ones who ran it as my teammates, and the hard core ones who took it on themselves, and others who work behind the scenes to put that whole urbanathlon together. i loved being in the VIP tent, with the free beer and the bagels and the biscuits-- but i would have been anywhere my friends were. maybe its a silly thing to infuse a crazy event like that with so much sentiment -- most people run the race with a goal to test their strength and endurance. i thought it would be a good (HARD) test for me in that way, too. but the race turned out to be secondary. the experience of it was supreme.

i think i'm ready for more in 2012.

***
photos from before sun-up and after the snowfall, if you are so inclined.

weather girls

no one expected "rain and snow" in the forecast for the urbanathlon. 
t & i had to gear up:

@ city sports, 48th street, nyc

 (the sad truth: i'm going to look way sillier than this on saturday.)

love: T-time

@the back porch

sept 21, 2011

are you game?

we are...

zovig, brittany, teresa, me at women's health magazine's are you game? event

pier 46, nyc

in the face!

the defensive stop

see a fine picture: lovely and guapo

two of my favorite people: lovely t and rafa in barcelona ....

my friends, they are so thoughtful.

lovely teresa and husband rich (aka film snobs) took a jaunt over to barcelona.

they took this for me.

LOVE!

(and thanks!)

read a good poem: love song

richard, teresa, and kevin, at the corner bookstore, madison ave, nyc. the word on the street is that scenes from "the princes of tides" were filmed here.

cheers to my friend, mr. kevin c. fitzpatrick on the occasion of the publication of his 3rd book: the lost algonquin round table. The book is a collection of writings (including previously unpublished works) from 16 members of the round table, including robert benchley, alexander woollcott (who inspired the haughty, creepy "waldo lydecker" character in the noir masterpiece, laura) and one ms. dorothy parker.

you can purchase the lost algonquin roundtable and kevin's other book, a journey into dorothy parker's new york, on amazon...

***
here's a little ms. parker for you and me:

love song

suppose we two were cast away
on some deserted strand.
where in the breeze
the palm trees sway--
a sunlit wonderland:
where never human footstep fell
where tropic love-birds woo.
like eve and adam we could dwell,
in paradise, for two.
would you, i wonder, tire of me
as sunny days went by,
and would you welcome joyously,
a steamer?...so would i.

suppose we sought bucolic ways
and led the simple life
away--as runs the happy phrase--
from cities' toil and strife.
there you and i could live alone,
and share our hopes and fears,
a small-town darby and his joan,
we'd face the quiet years.
i wonder would you ever learn
my charms could pall on you,
and would you let your fancy turn
to others? ...i would too.

between us two (suppose once more)
had rolled the boundary deep;
you journeyed to a foreign shore,
and left me here to weep.
i wonder if you'd be the same,
though we were far apart,
and if you'd always bear my name
engraved upon your heart.
or would you bask in other smiles,
and, charmed by novelty,
forget the one so many miles
away?...that goes for me.

--dorothy parker (1921)
from "the lost algonquin round table
copyright © 2009 edited by nat benchley and kevin c. fitzpatrick

***

more of my friends:

richard and teresa, aka film snobs

cheers!

the wedding party

i shot my first wedding last saturday--a friend's wedding. a loving and low-key affair in upstate new york.

i'd been keyed up for weeks, a little ball of nerves.

but it was fantastic. who knew that someone else's wedding day would be one of the happiest days of my life?

i am sort of vexed by the shots i missed and could have done better. but i suppose that's just the way it goes and how i'll improve...

of the 2700+ that i shot, a few stood out to me as favorites from the moment they were taken:

i had nothing to do with this. we were contemplating a wide shot...and then into the frame comes flying the maid of honor (she's too hot to be a "matron"...) my lovely friend, teresa. completely unexpected and one hundred percent fun. just like her. and that photo inspired this one:

for obvious adorability, there is this one...

and this one...



sweet...

best pictures...

"i think you should date miss yum yum"

before meeting with the oscar party club yesterday for brunch at the smith, i sat on the no. 6 train and quickly filled out my "official" oscar ballot. i would have done just as well to tack the thing to my wall and toss darts (and i am pretty terrible dart player). i'd only seen three of the nominated films (slumdog, benji button, and the changeling), and my favorite film from last year, gran torino, was shut out by the academy entirely. i had a little word-of-mouth to go on, but it wasn't going to serve me well enough. the other oscar party members had seen nearly everything, and whatever they hadn't seen (maybe only the animated shorts?) they did their homework on.

i couldn't bring much to the brunch conversation, except a few shrugs, some laughs. during one discussion of glaring academy omissions and snubs (benicio del toro for che--part 1, was a big one) teresa said, "and, bruce springsteen for the wrestler..." and i said, "WHAT?! bruce springsteen was in the wrestler?!!" HA! i thought maybe bruce was going the way of tom waits? wrong, wrong, wrong. i am surprised they didn't boot my ass from the table. (ah, that's what i love about the oscar party members--they are very keen on and about film, but they don't close off the circle if you haven't quite kept up. i always leave their company wanting to know and see more...)

i had actually thought about skipping yesterday's oscar telecast since i hadn't felt invested in any of the outcomes. but after our brunch together, i had all of this intel--stories about danny boyle, sean penn, mickey rourke, and melissa leo. all of a sudden, i cared.

(wasn't it entertaining, as award shows go? i loved high jackman's opening bit, especially when he'd laugh during the songs. i despise lip-syncing in part because that it ruins any hope for a great honest moment--i love when performers allow themselves to have fun. i mean, what would águas de março be without elis regina's laugh? [here, at around 2:40]. anyway, sure, parts of jackman's performance were totally cheese. but who can't use a little of that on a sunday night in february? he and anne hathaway had me giggling out loud. and i'm a little in love with james franco. his laugh just might get me through this interminable winter. i hope someone throws that short film bit on youtube soon. )

after the long good night, the oscar party club results were tallied, i fared the worst of our group (congrats, anthony!). oh, i knew i was saying goodbye to that $10 dollars the minute i handed it over with my ballot, but i feel fine about the loss. between their company, and all the films they've inspired me to see, i still feel like i came out ahead.

*****
i used to spend a fair amount of time watching movies. i still watch a lot of films on tcm, but i'm not as avid a DVD watcher as i was back in the days before netflix. call it a phase...

there was a time, if you lived in the far west village, before rents went high as the sky, you had at least three pretty great options for movie rentals, rko video (which became good restaurant), mrs. hudson's video library (which survived a flood, only to close about a year later) and kim's video (whose entire archive now lives in sicily!). my lone, loud lament about the neighborhood was that by the time i left, i couldn't rent a damn video anywhere, but i could take my dog (if i had one) to any one of three doggie hotels and spas that had opened.
it was a west village evolution that did not suit me.

netflix is a nice convenience, but it sucks the romance out of the whole affair for me. half the fun is going to the store with something in mind that you're dying to see that night--and a lot of great discoveries result when what you want isn't available. you're forced to pace around, poke around, and negotiate your plan b with your friend/friends.

i miss that.

but if i'm going to fall back in love with the movies (and make progress on this "film addicts" list, passed along from the oscar club members), i guess i'll just have kiss my romantic notions (of the dvd storefront, at least) good-bye.

***

if you want fun, reliable recommendations, visit (OC club founders) teresa and richard's blog, film snobs.

AND: look for richard--a very fine stage and screen actor--in this summer's blockbuster, public enemies. depp, bale, marion cotillard and richard short--remember his name. big things are on the horizon.

***

one final note about gran torino. when teresa came to work raving about it last fall, i thought she was referring to some throwback eastwood film from the early 70s! i knew nothing of it. without her ardour for it (and clint), i might have waited until its dvd release, or possibly skipped it altogether.

while the acting wasn't top-notch, and i hope to never hear those slurs outside of the theater (which didn't prevent me from laughing out loud at the ridiculousness, the audacity, and out and out "wrongness" of them), i left the theater knowing that gran torino would be my "best picture" for 2008.

yes--slumdog was a fantastic tale of love. i liked what it had to say about how people acquire knowledge and wisdom, and how morality and character develop. and it certainly was energetic and uplifting. but i don't know that there's been a film that has presented more fully the complexities of the asian immigrant and asian-american experience--or for that matter, even tried--until gran torino. it is so much more than a film about racism, revenge and gang-violence-- it broaches issues that i could only begin to meaningfully consider through academic study... and there was so much sad truth in how intolerance and racist attitudes are formed...how the road to true understanding can be, at times, treacherous, brutal.

but gran torino is also, at its core, optimistic--it bears the hope that we can each encounter a soul who can see past our fear and withstand our craziness, whose openness allows us see and understand things in a way we hadn't before. that's what "sue" was to that old walt kowalski. seems to me that makes it, in its own way, a story about love.

looking forward...and back, a bit...

so so cute!
Originally uploaded by ata08

i've never been keen on learning to knit, but seeing pip-squeak chapeau etc.'s exquisite and adorable collection at the brooklyn designs show a couple of months ago got me thinking it might be the perfect winter 2008 activity...

but it will be a long, long...long time before i can create hats and shawls and scarves of a quality to match theirs, so i might have to invest in a few items.

i heard there's a sale on some of their spring items, through august 10. i might wait til the fall, but swoon away at the full collection here, or at a store near you...

be warned: it may lead to winter longings...

the news about the sale had me remembering the fun day i had with teresa, zovig, and a "man called mate." reminisce a bit with me here.

*****
links to favorites from the show:

the corian and walnut table by françois chambard, of UM.

i also fell a little bit in love with the gentleman/designer, colgate, also of UM. i'm guessing he designed these colgate chairs. i could have chatted with him all day...

the osomoto gateway table …beautiful wood top.

the constellation dining table by palo samko . walnut slabs, with watch gears that make up the “constellation.” stunning.

and

lola’s lounge chair from laidman fabrication.