Some things Ive been thinking about...

Halloween Masks!

Ive decided this year...as part of my Halloween spirit- to make halloween masks. I stumbled upon the paper mache molds at The Artist Supply Store in central. They are hand-painted with acrylic, designs, characters etc....I am selling them for $10.00 each. After two nights of bringing them to work with me, my co-workers and customers gobbled them up so I only have 3 left! I think I may just keep producing them and start a mask business.

Enjoy!

Maine Marathon, October 2nd

Tomorrow morning I will be running my first half marathon at the Maine Marathon in Portland! My friend Eric and I will be driving up at 5am along with our zip lock bags of nuts and chocolate chips. Im deciding whether to eat a bagel for breakfast or a fried egg. Bianca tells me bagel.

This is actually a big deal for me, as I am realizing the closer I get to the race. I have been training for it, and now I feel myself needing to mentally prepare as well. I will blog about the race after. I am excited and nervous and anxious all at the same time. As this new year begins with Rosh Hashanna just having passed and Yom Kippur next week, I feel great that I will start this year off on a good note, by completing the challenge of running my first half marathon.

Wish me luck!
Eleanor

Lupe Fiasco at House of Blues 9/12/11

On Monday night, my friend Eric and I went to the Lupe Fiasco concert at House of Blues. We began at Jerry Remy's...a classic Boston sports bahh, where the Patriots were heading off their season in Florida against the...Florida....football .....team?
Anyway, I really love being in the Fenway region, especially when Boston teams are playing and energy is high. We skipped on down to the show and found our spots in the back of the hall, behind the sound board. Ive seen a number of shows at House of Blues, and have always opted for the crammed-in-the-middle-and-can barely-move- spots down in front of the stage. We stood way in back this time, where we could see the whole stage and all of the performers, instead of just flailing arms and the huge, sweaty heads of the people in front of us.

Lupe Fiasco is from Chicago, signed with Atlantic records in 2005 and produces/performs hip-hop. At 29, he can put on a great high-energy show,; his stage presence felt more like a 23 year old. The set was really good, and although a lot of the songs sounded the same, they were all performed really well. Sarah Green was Lupe's badass backup singer, who-throughout the whole show remained animated and alive...and super badass. I would have liked to hear her voice better; "Daydream" is one of my favorite Lupe songs because of Jill Scott's crazy female solo in the middle, but I was disappointed when they performed it because I could barely here her. Some highlights in the set were "The Show Goes On, Superstar...in which the whole crowd joined in a monstrous chorus..., Superstar, Kick Push and and a bunch more from his album, "Lasers"

Instead of a DJ, which is what one might expect at a Lupe Fiasco concert, he had a full band- keys, bass, guitar, drums, three backup singers and a violinist. I liked how he involved his band during the show; many times he walked up to the guitar and bass players and danced along side them or mimicked their moves. At one point about halfway through the concert, Lupe made the crowd go silent and introduced the violinist (a Berklee Grad.) He proceeded to jump into the center of the stage and break out into an amazing hip hop solo. I captured some of it on video, but you will have to please excuse my language. It was so beautiful and I got really excited. Gosh, I love strings in hip hop (also Check out Miri Ben Ari, another really awesome hip hop violinist).

As the show went on, you could tell Lupe became more comfortable with his audience, and began joking around...particularly with an older woman in the front row--who just so happened to have been Fiasco's flight attendant on one of his trips. The rest of the show was sprinkled with his remarks to her-reminding her to hook him up with free plane tickets.

All-in-all, Fiasco was Fantastico and being there reminded me that I JUST LOVE hip-hop shows. I went to see Talib Kweli a few months ago at Paradise, which was smaller, but really really good. and before that, the almighty Miss Lauryn Hill in Atlantic City- a show I will never forget (see earlier post).
And so we all left, flooding onto Landsdowne street, me, shaking my ass like Rihanna and contemplating the start of my rapping career.

Cheers!

Pop-up Gymnastics Concert

Today I was walking down Magazine into central square; I had just come from from a meeting.. my mind was racing all over the place with anxiety about my day when all of a sudden two tiny voices popped over a garden fence. "Do you want to see a gymnastics concert?" I swiveled to my left, where two girls--probably 9 or 10 years old were jumping excitedly in their yard- bare foot and decked in floral summer shorts and pink tanks. "Yeah!" I said excitedly and surprised. They proceeded to hustle to the end of the yard and stood in ballet-like stances, preparing for their stage entrance. They giggled as they tried not to look at each other then with exaggerated and serious faces they nodded and began their routine. All of a sudden they were doing cartwheels, back turns, swivels, pivots and flips in front of my eyes, bending into synchronized bridges and crawling under each other. I couldn't help but laugh out loud at what I had just run into. My very own private gymnastics concert. It got me thinking of when I was younger and would choreograph dances with friends--we would set up the living room with a curtain and lights and perform similar concerts. We had so much fun!

These two friends had obviously spent all day creating and practicing their routine and they were having such careless and innocent fun. I was reminded of the unabashed energy of being young and how, as adults we can-at heart, enjoy being a child again. In fact, I might even say that as adults with more responsibilities- we MUST abandon our adult minds sometimes to once again love life like a child.

At the end of their stellar performance, the two girls bowed and smiled proudly at each other. I clapped and complimented their work. I gave them a dollar each to pursue their gymnastics careers. I was on my way to continue my days activities--only now my mind feels lighter and I have a delighted smile on my face.

Alien Invasion in Boston!

Did anyone else think we were being invaded by aliens a couple nights ago in Boston? I swear to god, ufo's were descending on our little city. I was walking through the Financial district, back from the waterfront with a friend when all of a sudden, a noise...way too similar to that of the sound effects in a multi-level computer game...encroached upon us from above. At first, I considered some sort of news helicopter. Then it came a second time and I thought it was a really BIG news story. Then it came again. and again. and again. At this point, people were huddled in crowds on street corners looking up at these steel, insect-looking motherships that were verrryyy slowly hovering directly above. What made things more dramatic- was the fact that we were standing ***smack -dab at the ground of Boston's most concentrated center of sky scrapers. So these alien jets appeared to literally be weaving in and out of John Hancock, State Street and the Prudential center.

Eventually by the time we got to Park Street, the aliens had finished their descent. No more noises were heard. The next day, I found out that aliens HAD NOT invaded Boston. It was a boring military test. (loud snore). I was mildly upset, as I was hoping tell my kids at school about my alien adventures. Coincidentally, this week at Build-It-Yourself, Marshall-my co-worker and I are teaching a workshop on how to design animated alien creatures and cartoon characters. Our mission this past week was to "Design digital artifacts that will make aliens want to be friends with our world". I have included a collection of the kids' work. I am really proud of what they came up with. And so after my alien encounter a few nights ago, I am CONVINCED that their artifacts have successfully attracted Aliens from the outside. Good Job kids...A++ for everyone.

***Where the hell did the expression "Smack-Dab" come from??

Thought of You- Ryan Woodward Animated Illustration

This is an absolutely beautiful animation directed and animated by Ryan Woodward. As a workshop leader at Build It Yourself, I teach kids how to create expressive illustrations, cartoons and animations for computer games and other animated projects. Cedrick, my fellow workshop leader found this animation and I think it is an impressive example of a simple 2D illustration coming to life to tell a story. I literally felt like my body melted when I watched this... Im interested in what you think. Read more about his work here...
http://conteanimated.com/

Pirates of Concord Academy

I started a new job this week. I am a workshop leader at "Build It Yourself" , a creative engineering program that hosts a series of workshops for kids ages 9-14. Today we completed a week-long Pirate Ship building workshop, in which a classroom full of 10 year old boys--primed with a mission to take back candy from evil hoarders on an island.. learned to construct pirates, sturdy ships, and other piraty objects for their ships. They even made powerpoint lab books documenting their research and refference photos. Being in that classroom every day reminded me of days I visited my mom when she was an elementary school art teacher...and the hilarious stories she told us about her kids. I must say, being with kids does feel good. The way they interact with each other is so sweet. Plus, I get to hear the most hilarious things come out of their mouths.
For instance, today, one of the hottest days so far this summer, I was hunched over a plank of wood, drilling a hole with a can opener. A small army of little boys hovered around me, watching my every move. They smelled so strongly of Banana Boat sunscreen that I thought I would pass out. Just as my hole broke through the wood, one of the boys told me that i 'sweat like his dad after a good run'.
hahaha. I wanted to take a bottle of sunscreen and squirt it in his face...but intstead I just laughed as a river of sweat slowly trickled down my face.
This group was surely a melting pot of talents---the genius kid who didnt like his partner and wanted to make his own boat, they ended up creating one of the better designed boats and even though they may never meet each other again, it was obvious they were proud and excited about what they had finished together. There was a group that didn't say a peep all week and then surprised everyone with this amazing mast head made from giant pipe cleaners and looked like an authentic chinese dragon puppet. I look around and wonder, who will they turn out to be? How much of their 10 year old personalities will stay with them as they grow into adults in the real world of pirates and treasure. Will the be bad pirates or good ones? And what will be their treasure?

So glad to be spending time in the imaginative and creative world with kids these days.
Enjoy the pictures of our pirate ship excursion in the river!

Holiday animation

Not to burst your warm bubbles of summer fun or anything... but I pulled this holiday animation of my winter treasure chest and finally finished it!

LaTosha Brown- Angels in Heaven done signed my name

Speaking of hott-ass day..while sitting in my studio, legs sticking to my chair, face dripping...I tripped and fell on this steamy little video of LaTosha Brown...and it cooled me right down...

Fun in my room

I was in my room when all of a sudden I see this little spider floating in mid-air. It really looked like it was climbing and falling in space...watch as it climbs to the top of the Empire State Building..

Island Time- Martha's Vineyard

I went to Martha's Vineyard over the weekend, and stayed at Bianca's pond house in Aquinnah. Brian, Bianca and I took the Ferry and then biked a beautiful 15 mile ride up-island to Menemsha, where we hopped on a cute bike ferry- which ended up not being so cute because it cost $5 bucks and we literally rowed 1 minute across the water and he let us off. haha the Ferry Man named his boat "gimme 5". We might have just as well swam across with our bikes on our heads..but nonetheless, "Gimme 5" got us to where we needed to go. We continued on to Bianca's adorable pond house, which sits directly on a lilly pond with lilly pads and white blossoms floating all over it. Bianca has done such a nice job with the house--earlier on in the spring they came to scrub and clean all of the winter shmutz from the walls and ceilings. Now, its all painted freshly white, with blue sheer curtains and golden mirrors everywhere. At night the bullfrogs gulped us to sleep. We showered in the outdoor shower, we peed outdoors, I shared a small space with flying bugs of all sorts...and i couldnt care less. We met a bunch of Bianca's Vineyard friends who are staying at the beachhouse across the road. We spent two days lounging on the beach, watching the nude family frolick a mile down from us. Aquinnah is such a lovely place, not overrun by tourists and very quaint. The "town center" consists of a few trinket shops and The Aquinnah Shop, a restaurant that sits atop the famous cliffs where the legendary Moshup, the Wampanoag Leader once hunted whales from the sea. It is said that the red stain on the cliffs, is the whale blood/ink from when Moshup flung the whales against the cliffs to kill them.
The vacation was a perfect way to spend two gorgeous summer days. Now back in Boston, I find myself still on Island time...not wanting to rush, traces of the vineyard sun still cover my skin. ohhh how I wish I was still sitting on the beach with a beer and soft sand covering my toesies.