Avram's journal

cthulhia was in town, so we met for brunch and robot lobsters.

Brunch was gonna be at Viselka’s, till I noticed that right across the street was a Max Brenner’s! A chocolate-themed restaurant! Who could pass that up? I’d been meaning to go ever since I first noticed their Union Square location opening up, but hadn’t gotten around to it. So, inside for breakfasts, and even the eggs come with a side of bread and little dishes of butter and spreadable chocolate. And of course, astonishingly delicious hot chocolate for drinking, served in miniature toilet bowls. They’re called “hug mugs”, handleless mugs that you’re supposed to cup with both hands, but jeez, look at the thing! Cthulhia wanted me to write “R Mutt” on mine with a Sharpie.

Then it was off to the Cooper-Hewitt for the Design Life Now exhibit. This was a bit overwhelming — so much stuff! Inkjet-printed silks, electronic slow glass, political cartoons, interactive light-piping floor tiles, and of course the robot lobster. Which I was a bit disappointed by, since it was just sitting still in a case, with a video playing to show it moving.

I managed not to forget today’s Sketchcrawl, even if I did get there a bit late. I mostly sketched solo at the museum, hooking up with the rest of the group near the main entrance (where I snapped this photo of a long-dead brontosaur about to trample me) just before we left in search of cafés. We wound up splitting the group, with half a dozen of us getting Vietnamese food and actually learning each other’s names. The we rejoined and went down to the West Village, where we found a spot where we could hang for a while and drink beverages and draw.

It was a mostly animation crowd, with a few folks from Blue Sky Studios up in Westchester, and lots of ex-SVA people. I’d forgotten how good it feels to hang out and draw with other artists.


( Actual drawings behind this link )

You’d think I’d spend more time at museums, what with having my days free and being able to pay virtually nothing for admission, but I somehow rarely get around to it. Today I went to the Met to get my sketch on.

( Museum sketchery )

Afterward I hung out at Ground for a bit. James and I got to talking about how South Park is the kind of thing Aristophanes would be writing if he were around today, and James said that the Mr Hankey song (“He loves me, I love you, therefore vicariously he loves you”) was like the doctrine of Apostolic Succession. And really, after that, what can you say?