Tuesday, June 24, 2008

WE'VE MOVED TO WWW.ANNIEQUICK.COM/BLOG


I got a new place at www.anniequick.com/blog. It's the same blog with a new address. Kind of like I'm a Mr. Softee truck and I just rolled down the street.


Speaking of which, wouldn't it be cool to be a Mr. Softee driver for just a few hours? You could drive around and operate the soft ice cream machine, and you could give excited children sugary treats and then drive away! And best of all, you could quit just before you had to blow your brains out because of too much Turkey in the Straw.

Please come see me at my new location.

Friday, June 20, 2008

HOME DEPOT=PARADISE

I've lived most my life (with the exception of the first few years) in non-suburban settings. First, redwood forest, then NYC. Because of this I have mostly been left out of superstore shopping of any kind. So, I was overjoyed to walk around Home Depot in Mission Viejo (where I'm staying for a few days) to do some research for my impending installation build. THEY HAVE EVERYTHING! YOU CAN BUY IT ALL AND PUT IT IN YOUR CAR AND DRIVE IT HOME! Brilliant.

Do all people feel the same surge of joy that I do when they walk into the Depot? I hope so. It's a lovely rush.

I know some will say that hey, you have a Depot in Manhattan. Yeah, it's just not the same thing. It's small, understocked, and the Depot People won't tell you where anything is.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

THE INSTALLATION: WHERE WE STAND

I am going to begin work early next week on building the bulk of my installation. I have recruited my dad to help: he's engineering the structures of the trees and buildings. We are going to convert my sister's 1st grade classroom in Phoenix into a Central Park workshop. I'm excited to use tools for a few weeks. I love to build.

The one piece I've been working on (at home) is stuffed into a box and put into the care of the USPO for a few days:




The whole thing fit rather nicely into a Fresh Direct box, minus cupcakes and ladder, of course.

Next thing we work on is the Tea Tree. Oh joy--the tree will make you tea! I can't wait to see it.


I'm also looking forward to the indoor Great Lawn. I've always wanted to roll sod out on a floor. I'm drooling just thinking about it.

Monday, June 16, 2008

THE MOVIE

My friend and webmaster Ray pointed out to me that there's not a hell of a lot of explanation about this movie I'm up to my eyeballs in editing right now. It's on the site, but there's nothing about it, see?

OK. Here goes:

This is a movie about magical people who live in Central Park. These people keep nature from taking over--they kind of allow for NYC to exist. There used to be a lot of them, but now there are just a handful. They operate below the radar, but are well known (unofficially) to the Parks Department.

Our movie is from the perspective of one 16 year old member of their ranks, Verna:


Verna is pretty much a normal 16 year old, except that she has very little contact with the world outside of Central Park, except for those regulars whom she's befriended. She is in love with this gardener (actually a summer landscaping intern), Mike:

Verna is forbidden by the Grandmother to have liaisons with people who are not Park People. Mike does not qualify because he doesn't live in the park.

Here is the Grandmother:

She's a tough one. In fact, she's one of the reasons that there are so few of the Park People left--she regularly kicks people out for not following rules. One such person was Verna's aunt who left well before Verna was born. Unknown to Verna is the fact that this aunt had a daughter who is drawn to the park, but knows nothing about her inheritance. She and Verna strike up an acquaintance.

This is Ruth:


There are a few other characters who come in and out. I'll tell you about them at another time...

Sunday, June 15, 2008

WEEKLY BLOOM: I STAND CORRECTED

It's pretty lame of me to think that nothing is blooming in Arizona right now. Of course the desert plants are all going to flower at some point--why not now? Here's proof, courtesy of Mark and Chanelle.

Chanelle pointed me to her flikr site which has plenty of pix of blooming AZ. Great pix on this site.
photo by iamchanelle

This is a Palo Verde. I have seen them, but never in bloom. This is a very cool tree that looks like it was designed by Dr. Seuss--something I appreciate very much.

And Mark kindly set me straight with a few photos...
The Saguaro, of course, has beeyootiful flowers.

Ironwood flowers. (Olneya Testosa).

And Arizona Thistles (Cirsium arizonicum) which Mark says is the hip hangout for hummingbirds these days.



Friday, June 13, 2008

WEEKLY BLOOM: PART DEUX

I realize I already had a weekly bloom this week, but I'm going to Arizona on Tuesday (for almost a month), and I don't know if there's anything blooming there at this time of year. If I were a flowering plant I wouldn't want to bloom when it's 100 degrees or more every day. Just sayin'.

Here's what's in bloom:

COLUMBINE (Aquielegia)


COREOPSIS (Coreopsis lancelota, also called TICKWEED)


WOODLAND STRAWBERRY (Fragaria vesca)

Did you know that strawberries of any sort (as well as blackberries and raspberries) are very closely related to the rose? Also tree fruits like peaches, plums, almonds, cherries and apricots, though they're a little farther away in the family tree. Next time you see a fruit tree, look at how much the blossoms resemble small, opened roses.

Being a plant geek, I'm very exited about this thing I just found--It's a Bloom Clock. People write in to say what they see blooming. I want to participate, but I can't find one for this year, sadly.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

NATURE IS SCARY

BUMMER

A couple nights ago we had a mini hurricane. When I went out yesterday I saw this unfortunate vehicle on 110th Street.

Here's another nature story: I have watched these two grow up from tiny goslings (not to be confused with my sometime drummer Jake Geesling).


I was able to get up real close to them for a couple minute photo shoot. But sure enough, mom and dad came waddling over eventually. They don't want their offspring getting big heads. I understand.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

EGG IN TREE


Yarn cones + nest + teeny cupcake= awesome.

Here' s a photo of what I have done of the tree part--you can just make out the cupcake nest at the tippy-top. Eventually it will have several nests--about enough for a dozen cupcakes.

I was hoping to make the frosting robin's egg blue, but the blue cupcakes didn't show up enough from the tree. Were I a real bird that would be a good thing--a little camouflage never hurt anyone. But my goal is for people to see the cupcakes and eat them all up. They have to be visible, see?

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

BIRDS ARE GENIUSES


I tried a lot of different ways to make this nest. It was my idea that I'd use no glue--that I'd attach twigs together with back pressure. When I realized that was not working I tried sewing them together with thread--also not happening. Did you know it was so hard to make a nest? Well, it is. It's hard and time consuming.

In the end I caved and bought a nice can of spray glue. Even this was not without its difficulty--the sticks stuck to my hand more than to each other. It's actually not coming off my hands any time soon, nor the spatula I used to detach the poor nest from the plate I constructed it on. I may have to throw the spatula away or just use it in nest making evermore.

All this to say: I don't know how they do it. This is really a sorry nest--it wouldn't keep any eggs warm for a second. . And I had tweezers, a spatula, spray glue and needle and thread to help me, not to mention advice from a nice lady at Michaels. It looks simple, but it aint.

I read that the American Goldfinch makes its nest so snug that it can hold water. The American Goldfinch are geniuses!

This nest is going into my Yarn Tree and will soon house some teeny cupcakes with robin's egg blue frosting.

My tree is nearing completion. My joy is great. I still think i have around 100 cones to go, though. Turns out, making a tree is pretty time consuming too, almost as time consuming as growing one.

Monday, June 9, 2008

WEEKLY BLOOM: MY FAILULRE AS A GROWER


My nice landlady bought me this pepper plant kit as a thank you for taking care of her giant, deaf, white cat. It's real cool--you put the soil pellets in water, then you push the pepper seeds into the soil and viola: cute little sprouts that grow real fast for 4 days. I was overjoyed. Rapturous. But, the pepper plants seem sad now, and not growing for over a week no matter what I do. Can I be a plant lover who can't grow plants?

JalapeƱos (Capsicum annuum) are supposed to be relatively easy to grow. I guess if you have actual land to put them in...not sure they're suited for apartment life, but who is?

I should get some regular old houseplants now that my plant-eating cat is gone. It'll be the first time in my adult life that I can have plants who aren't someone's personal salad and/or napping ground.

Working hard on my Tree. Have to get this thing all done before I go to AZ for the rest of the installation build. I'm really looking forward to that, though I'm not looking forward to Phoenix's oven-like temperatures. If anyone says "but it's a dry heat" again I'm going to punch them. It doesn't matter how dry 120 degrees is. I must admit that NYC ain't no party in the weather department right now either...it's hot and soupy. Go outside for a few minutes and you feel like you've been dipped in honey. A few minutes later you feel deep-fried.

I'm not really complaining though. I'm over the hump of NYC humidity really bothering me. I was spoiled by a childhood in rural Central California...most of the year it's 50-70 degrees. It's so beautiful all the time there that no work gets done, ever. I guess bad weather is good for production. Yeah, NYC has only two weeks of good weather in the Fall. That's why we have so many type A personalities tap-tap-tapping away all year. Thank God for bad weather.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

DAY JOBS & ETC

BROOKE HOGAN INTRODUCES ANTI CHAPS

One of my excellent friends hooked me up with a funny day job for a bit: I'm on a shoot with Hulk Hogan's daughter--it's something having to do with Mr. Hulk's VH1 reality show. Ain't never worked on a reality show before. I'm sure it will be alternately pain and pleasure and by pleasure I mean that awesome feeling you get when you think "well, how did I get here?"

But seriously, I do love working on bad TV. I'm not sure I can explain why...Something about having grown up with little or no TV makes this so. When I worked at TV Land I was overjoyed to watch 25 episodes of A Team. I also loved Brady Bunch, I Love Lucy, all of it really. No, I take it back; I draw the line with that awful Olson Twins/Bob Saget sitcom. You know the one.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

EVIL CAN BE CUTE

Did I tell you I'm editing a movie? I guess it's not actually a movie--it's more like a serial. It's around 16 episodes of a fairy tale about (you guessed it) Central Park. In the movie the park is filled with magical people who live there, including this girl, who is, for lack of a modern term, a Brownie, or perhaps a Pixie. This pixie does the evil bidding (mostly lurking, spying and message-carrying) for the main antagonist of the film, an old woman called The Grandmother.

Right now I'm looking for footage of the Pixie spying on the protagonist. Also--footage of the pixie running with messages all through the park. This is very entertaining because:

1) The pixie is extremely photogenic.
2) She runs in this way that is very pixie-like and makes me laugh every time.
3) The evil director (me) keeps forgetting to give her clear running directions. Sometimes when I just want her to run out of the frame, she keeps running full bore till she's a tiny dot on the horizon. Then the evil director tells her to do something else and she's totally out of earshot. Then then the evil director looks through the camera to find her. Then the Brownie-actor must run full bore back to make it to the next shot. No one is getting fat on my watch.
4) Then the evil Brownie (who is actually a super nice 15 year old kid named Johnnie Warfield) is panting and sweating. I guess that part's not funny if you're the super nice 15 year old kid, and I felt bad at the time, but man is it funny from here.

One thing that's not funny (as an editor) is watching yourself act on film. Let this be a lesson to would-be filmmakers: leave yourself out of it--you'll thank me later. I have edited out almost all of my own speaking parts so that I'm even more of a bit part then the script called for. Oh the terrible sound of your own voice! Every time I hear myself talk I start writhing around like those characters on old Star Trek.

You can see episode 1 here, btw. And soon you'll be able to see episode 5, which will act as a sort of a trailer.

Monday, June 2, 2008

SHOW REVIEW: TERMINAL REYNALDO + A RANT


Here's a belated show review from Wednesday May 22.

We played WE fest in Wilmington NC, which was nice except for a band (who shall remain nameless) who treated us worse than my band's ever been treated in all my 1000s of shows. We parked our car away from our own motel (which they were staying at too) because we thought they might vandalize it. We also had spit in our beer, my drummer's cymbals thrown on the ground, and tongue lashings about how inexperienced we are. Yeah, we're not 50; we're sorry.

Those old guys just wanted to be Rock Stars, you know? They wanted to be violent jackasses, and they succeeded; it's important to make attainable goals.

The upside is that we made a pretty good plan of what to do if someone starts throwing punches. We're not very violent; my guitar player has a peace tattoo on one arm and a love tattoo on the other. I suppose Jake (drummer) could throw a punch, but he's too nice. Oh and Dan, our bass player for the event, is a Mennonite; they do love their peace and social justice. I think I might be the most anger management member of the band, but I just had major back surgery, not to mention regular anxiety dreams about being beat up by a midget.

Anyway, I digress. What I really wanted to tell you about is a show we saw that night--our favorite out of all the bands at the festival, our almost-homies Terminal Reynaldo (Jersey City).

Austin was having palpitations when they first set up--so many toy keyboards and old-fashioned effects pedals, a Q-chord, and much etc. Gadgets everywhere!

Their show was amazing-- lines played unison on various toy instruments, a violin/sax player also sometimes chiming in (which doesn't necessarily sound pleasant in print, but was wonderful live). They had a winsome, childlike quality in every song, along with a sufficient amount of darkness to anchor everything--a Radiohead thickness with a bright strain of playfulness thrown in--very satisfying. It was fun to hear something completely new--don't you love that feeling? It happens so rarely.

Please check them out. They are going to be huge.

They are also extremely nice guys and let us play their Fischer Price keyboard in their hotel room after the show. They were a bright spot in our otherwise anxiety-filled day.

Did I mention that Jake also got harassed by a southern cop at the Waffle House that night? Inexplicably, the cop decided to call him "Baby Boy." That gives me the creep-out shivers every time I think of it. Baby Boy? AAAAAH!

In some ways, I guess I should feel good about the hubbub. We are so mild mannered. It kind of feels like we were bad-asses for once. Trouble was looking for us, finally, thank God. Now we can have our own reality show.