Economic Stimulus Plan marches on!!

President Barack Obama continues his unique economic stimulus plan in the east village...

Why???

Chia looks at me, perhaps wondering why we're leaving NYC.

Joe Borzotta - Craphound

I am a Craphound. A craphound for those of you unfamiliar with the term, is a person who collects alot of stuff. Not the psycho pizza boxes up to the ceiling nut, just to be clear. If you remember Liquid Lounge, you'll remember all the pop culture memorabilia decor, most of which is stored away in my attic. What am I going to do with all those lunchboxes, figures, games, pez, bobbleheads and such?? I might have to open a new place to display them! I also have thousands of comic books (in mom's house, thank God!), hammered aluminum trays and bowls, sports cards, art books, vinyl records, and a slowly growing collection of original art (other than my own). And don't suggest that I sell the stuff! How could I part with my Mr T sprinkler? or the Justin Timberlake N'Sync marionette? or the Sta-Puft Marshmallow man radio? or the can of Popeye Spinach? or Chairy? or my 1966 Batman lunchbox? How dare you?!?

I have visions of someday owning a house where I have one room that's MINE, off limits to the future wife and kids, my own Sanctum Sanctorum (comic book geek reference) and I have all this STUFF displayed, a drawing table, and a lazyboy with a TV so I can watch wrestling and UFC, and read in peace...the modern term is "Man Cave."
Craphound or not, I have reeled it in considerably. Especially with lunchboxes - they just take up too much room. HOWEVER, I finally managed to get one that I've longed for since first grade. I always got beat out on Ebay for it, but this one came up Buy It Now-- and I did, damn the consequences!!
Ladies and gentlemen, from 1968, the dometop Snoopy lunchbox!

Obama, Facebook and Chia

Worked home yesterday so I could catch the inauguration. I won't go into it because it was kind of done to death by the media, but it was pretty amazing and wonderful. I may have written this before, but I began to study Obama about 2 years ago after reading "Audacity to Hope" on a plane ride and was very impressed by his thinking and approach, so it was satisfying on many levels to see him take office. And I admit, I flipped the bird at Bush as he flew off in his bird.
Unrelated Post #1: after much cajoling and badgering I caved and joined Facebook a few days ago. The good side is that I managed to get in touch with some people that I lost contact with, particularly Shelley, who I was very good friends with during my grad year at SVA in 86-87. Also, through painter pal Lou (who described Facebook as "time suck city"!) got in touch with painter pal Linda. I did a few paintings of her, including "Claire Voyant" below. She's married w kid and living in Singapore!

The Way Back Machine also delivered me emails from high school friends! Its pretty cool so far, kinda creepy though, too. Now, I am terrrible with names, and I got a few Friend Requests from people whose name I don't recognize and they don't have a picture posted, so what do I do??
Unrelated Post #2: just found this photo of Chia and wanted to post it for no reason. My sister got her that toy because it looks like her, which it does! Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia!

Farewell to Love

Just made a fantastic purchase to combat this diabolical cold weather (how the hell do people live in No Dakota where it's like this for MONTHS at a time! My friend's sister went to college in Minnesota and had to use a device to keep the oil in the car from freezing - oil freezing??? OIL?? But I digress...), one of those winter hats like Van Gogh wore in a self -portrait, or like that guy who could fix anything wore on Hogan's Heroes. The kind with the furry lining and big ear flaps that's hipster ironically cool? Fashionable or not, it's WARM WARM WARM! Maybe people in Minnesota could use them in their engines to keep the oil from freezing.
Anyhoo, a block away from St Marks (where I got the hat) on 2nd Ave is
Loves Saves the Day, the famous pop culture memorabilia store that's been there forever. As many of you have probably heard, it's closing in a few days. I saw a piece on it on NY1, and apparently the owner's wife died about a year or so ago and they have a store in New Hope or somewhere, so he's downsizing to just that store. I have mixed feelings about LSTD - it's cool that it was there, great for the neighborhood and fun to pop in and look at the collectibles. However, it was a total tourist trap - his prices for collectibles were on the far side of astronomical. Just about anything there could be found on EBay for 25-35% of their asking price, so as a collector I could never take their pricing seriously. Nonetheless, sad to see it go - probably turn into a PinkBerry or Verizon store...feh.

News Nausea

I usually sit down to dinner and either read or watch TV, usually the news. I watch NBC News with Brian Williams, or ABC local (I think Liz Cho is abso-f'n'lutely gorgeous!). But back to the NBC Nightly News, one of the Big 3 national newscasts at 6:30pm.
Am I the only one eating during the news? If not, then I can't be the only one getting grossed out by the nasty commercials which flood the airwaves during breaks!! Try enjoying dinner when nearly every commercial is about some physical malady. During tonight's broadcast, I jotted down the following ailments and issues addressed during my meal: heartburn, overactive bladder, constipation, diarrhea, blood clots, allergy, arthritis, erectile dysfunction, closed nasal passages, male urinary/prostate issues, and scalp itch.
Bon appetit!

So I went to cardio therapy yesterday afternoon, then to Mom's for some grub and a visit. A combo of the holiday season, food poisoning, and well, mainly the holiday season, led to some serious slacking in the exercise department and I didn't do much the past three weeks. It's amazing how quickly one's conditioning falls back a few notches! I got through my normal workout at therapy but was feeling it. The thing that I have to be careful about since the surgery is that when I miss exercising and then get back to it, I feel the strain in my heart and besides the discomfort (think how your leg muscles feel when you run after not running for awhile) and concern, I get really tired. I crashed at mamasan's at about 10!! I didnt even stay up to watch the end of wrestling and I slept over 9 hours! Yikes! But no discomfort today and finished up 2 paintings at the studio. But the holidays are over, and the way I felt last night is plenty motivation to get back to the gym and therapy regularly...and the hope that I see Padhma (or is it Phadma??) from Top Chef at my gym again! Yum!
Below is a painting I have in a show at Black Maria Gallery in LA called "Feminine Perspective" and below that is one that I sort of finished today, as yet untitled.

WFMU show

Went to Maxwells in Hoboken NJ for the Glen Jones/XRay Burns WFMU live show. Brunched with pal painter Lou and BAMA Chris and saw the usual group of freaks, geeks and IBJ members.

Later when taking Chia out for a walk, I came across these 2 great signs on Ave A. From "Liberty Fries" to "Obama Fries" - God Bless America!