So, I caught Gnarls Barkley at the Nokia Theater last night in a “secret concert.” Secret in that tickets were not for sale, but rather freely available if you managed to get an email with a voucher redeemable at the new Nokia store.

Anyway, although I’m not a huge fan of the band, they did a great set that kicked off with them being introduced by none other than David Bowie. Seeing him on stage reminded me that I had actually seen him play live before and had completely forgotten about it. I’ll have to revisit both my Bowie collection and that Gnarls album because Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo kicked some ass up there. Unfortunately, I would have taken a ton of pictures, but since Nokia had some “top secret” phones out for people to preview before their release early next year, no cameras were allowed.

I should remember to hide my camera better next time I’m going to a concert.

That was the plan anyway. I’ve had a bottle of authentic absinthe (smuggled in from Europe) for a while, but never tried it, so when I heard there was a show also called Absinthe at the traveling Speigeltent that had recently set up a temporary camp under the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge, I figured it was now or never.

To make a long story short, absinthe doesn’t taste very good (though I will try it again), however Absinthe was a real treat. The show was kind of a mix of vaudeville, gymnastics, sultry singers, hoolahoopers and a half-naked guy in a bathtub all done on a tiny, tiny stage in the middle of a very cozy tentish structure.

This week is their last week in New York it would seem, however I should remember to swing back around to have a beer in their beer garden under the bridge before they pack up if only for the excellent view.

Yesterday, I picked up my woman from work at Rockefeler Center and thought to take a photo of Anish Kapoor’s “Mirror” installation.

Of course, due to my loathing of plowing through the tourists to get a great shot, all I managed was the one you see here taken from her office.

I’ll have to remember to swing back around there and take one from the Sak’s side of the street.

I picked up a new Nikon D80 last Saturday and have taken thousands of photos since. (Most of them terrible.) The camera is an amazingly intuitive joy to use. Everything just works amazingly. Additionally, the Nikkor 24-85mm lens I picked up for it is really amazing. This being my first Digital SLR, I’m unbelievably happy with the ultra-crisp shots it manages to create.

Since I’m now trying my hand at photography, I’ve added a photos section to the sidebar that links to Flickr. Now if only I can remember to RTFM or at least learn the first thing about real photography.

Ok, I actually had to research this a little because it’s been so long since it happened that I had forgotten some details. Anyway, the Sunday before last, I managed for the first time to check out a US Open match (or professional tennis for that matter) between Serena Williams and Amelie Mauresmo.

I was amazed by how much of a little tennis village they’ve created out there in Queens and how many people went there just for the village only to watch the matches on the giant screens outside the actual courts.

As for the game itself, luckily, I had great seats (I need to remember what they were) and amazing weather. The match was fast and fun to watch. Since it’s been ages since I played tennis as a kid, it took a second to remember things like break points and such, but none of that mattered because just watching the whole thing was enjoyable enough. I must admit I was rooting for Serena, because when she played well she seemed unstoppable… the problem was she didn’t play well very often and lost miserably in the end.

The second match of the evening with the men was also enjoyable, though I was amazed by how much the stadium cleared out after the women, who only get about half the prize money of the men.

While I’m trying to remember things about my trip to the US Open, I shouldn’t forget about the sexy ball girl outfits.

(I stitched that image together mysef using a bunch of shots I took. Check out a larger version!)

So, I had the pleasure of being invited to my friend Jay and his new wife Sacha’s wedding up in Connecticut last weekend.

It was a truly amazing event including more than 300 people, a Russian Orthodox ceremony complete with levetating crowns and walking in circles, something like a 10 piece funk band that was excellent at whipping the guests up into a dancing frenzy, exceptional food including oysters and filet minon, unbelievable surroundings in the woods of Connecticut, and, much to my enjoyment, bottomless Veuve Clicquot.

I should remember their anniversary is September 3rd.

So, I’m definitely pushing the extents of my memory by not recording this sooner, but last Friday I had the pleasure of hitting up The 4th Annual New York Burlesque Festival that kicked off with a night of all sorts of barely there shenanigans at Studio B on the north end of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

To be honest, I’m usually ready for a variety of levels of quality at any burlesque event due to the wide range of people who decide they, for whatever reasons, want to entertain others by removing their clothes in unusually elaborate fashion… but last Friday saw things go from mediocre to amazing to decent to indecent to down-right I-can’t-belive-I’m-watching-this freak show!

When we first got there, the first act we saw was a semi-annoying snore of barely choreographed girls in white afro wigs. It seemed like the night would see us leaving early for some other locale, but the next few acts entertained and of course the blue bunny is always a welcome master of ceremonies. Then things took a bizarre turn when a troupe from Boston performed some over-the-top, goth, interpretive dance thing that included a guy dressed in a full body home-made albino gecko outfit complete with paper-mache head. Luckily, we stuck around because soon afterwards we were rewarded with an amazing, but traditional, high-energy act involving perfectly placed feather fans and Brazilian music.

The most memorable part of the night turned out not to be such an exquisite one however. In fact it was such a bizarre performance that featured one… uhm… person of indeterminable gender, plenty of bare… uhm… bits, and a large liquor bottle being at first gripped and then lifted through unconventional methods only to be drank from afterwards… that… uhh… I sometimes think it would be better if I had never seen such a feat. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), I had to leave town for the long weekend and missed the other nights of the shows, but there’s always next year.

Next time I just hope I remember to look away rather than allow myself to be emotionally scared for life.

One highlight I should note is Gigi La Femme. She danced between acts and was amazing. I should remember to catch Gigi’s dancing again some time.

Image via Jen McC on Flickr

You know, I’ve always gravitated towards cartoons and the cast of characters that inhabit them. Sure, at the beginning it was lots of Looney Tunes, Scooby Doo, Tom and Jerry, and the like. But then one morning while flipping channels waiting for Pole Position to come on, I came across Robotech on spanish TV and I was hooked on anime.

Anyway, despite the years of spending more time with foriegn animation, occasionally something comes along to remind me of the time I spent lying on my stomach on the floor inches from the tv watching Looney Tunes. Earlier this year, artist Michael Paulus did a series of 22 illustrations imagining what the skeletal structure of cartoons would really look like and now Hyungkoo Lee has gone even further by creating actual cartoon character skeletons out of resin, aluminum sticks, stainless steel wires, springs, and oil paint. Not only is it truly amazing, it also displays the odd underlying freakishness of children and things they gravitate towards.

I should try to remember that cartoon characters can be real!

Via Veer, NOTCOT.ORG, ResonTence, Talk About Design, BagelTurf, Observations of Life on Mars, and just about everyone else.