Deb's Africa Trip 2009

London and Paris

Jigsaw Island

Check out Jigsaw Island, a new writing experiment from a friend.

Amsterdam

Flyer for upcoming show

Jumbo Coins

A quick practice clip of part of my manipulation routine. I shot this so I could try out the bill production at the end and see what it looks like.

Red hat

Magic Performance

A few candid snaps from my recent performance at the Northampton Senior Center's "Pot O' Luck" luncheon. I went from table to table doing close-up magic during lunch followed by a 20-mintue stage performance.

The performance went well. I had a great time, got great reactions from the audience, and a loaf of home-baked Irish soda bread. : )

"A new dawn of American leadership is at hand."

Barack Obama: "We Have a Lot of Work to Do"

Making it Count: How to Protect Your Vote & Spot Dirty Tricks

Obama Ad Uses Winking Palin

Via The Huffington Post.

Fitting

Pancakes Barbara will be ending her reign as Miss Sobriety this Saturday after dazzling the crowd with a farewell performance. Here's a few shots of Michael at a recent fitting in a breathtaking gown created for the event.

(Click on images to view full size.)

Lovely studio on 58th and 3rd

It's been three years since I moved from New York to Haydenville. No regrets -- I love love love my home here and life is good. However, I recently stumbled across the ad I created when I was looking to sublet my NYC apartment and I remembered how much I enjoyed that wacky little space.

Check out the picture below, or click here to view my advertisement with additional pics.

Sarah Palin: Flirting her way to victory

Sarah Palin's farcical debate performance lowered the standards for both female candidates and US political discourse

By Michelle Goldberg via guardian.co.uk,
Friday October 03 2008 18.30 BST

At least three times last night, Sarah Palin, the adorable, preposterous vice-presidential candidate, winked at the audience. Had a male candidate with a similar reputation for attractive vapidity made such a brazen attempt to flirt his way into the good graces of the voting public, it would have universally noted, discussed and mocked. Palin, however, has single-handedly so lowered the standards both for female candidates and American political discourse that, with her newfound ability to speak in more-or-less full sentences, she is now deemed to have performed acceptably last night.

By any normal standard, including the ones applied to male presidential candidates of either party, she did not. Early on, she made the astonishing announcement that she had no intentions of actually answering the queries put to her. "I may not answer the questions that either the moderator or you want to hear, but I'm going to talk straight to the American people and let them know my track record also," she said.

And so she preceded, with an almost surreal disregard for the subjects she was supposed to be discussing, to unleash fusillades of scripted attack lines, platitudes, lies, gibberish and grating references to her own pseudo-folksy authenticity.

It was an appalling display. ...

...It's worth reading the transcript of the encounter, where it becomes clearer how bizarre much of what she said was. Here, for example, is how she responded to Biden's comments about how the middle class has been short-changed during the Bush administration, and how McCain will continue Bush's policies:

Say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again pointing backwards again. You preferenced [sic] your whole comment with the Bush administration. Now doggone it, let's look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future. You mentioned education, and I'm glad you did. I know education you are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years, and god bless her. Her reward is in heaven, right? ... My brother, who I think is the best schoolteacher in the year, and here's a shout-out to all those third graders at Gladys Wood Elementary School, you get extra credit for watching the debate.

Read the entire article.

I Made Art!

I've had a mirror over my couch for some time. The mirror was fine but uninspiring and a little too small for the wall. I've been snooping around for an affordable large-scale art piece to put there, but any pieces bigger than 36 inches -- even from student artists are prohibitively expensive. So...I've been plotting to create something. And this weekend I did it.

The design was "inspired by" (nearly stolen from) a piece I saw hanging on the wall of an apartment featured on HGTV's Small Space Big Style. I don't know if it's a well-known artist -- if anyone recognizes the style, I'd love to know who it is.

In order to get a stretched canvas big enough, I purchased a giant, framed, cheesy print from IKEA for $50. (I think it was a photograph of yellow taxi cabs in an otherwise black and white Times Square.) It's about 3.5' x 5.5'.

I got it home and primed it with green tinted primer left over from painting my walls. On the second coat I added some off-white. After one botched attempt at using painter's tape to mask out the lines, which resulted in pulling off the primer, I decided to pencil in a few grid lines and do it freehand.

The process took quite a long time, and required a few coats of paint, a few trips to the hardware store and art shop, and a patient and helpful assistant. All told, I (we) worked on it for the better part of three days.

While the concept is certainly not mine, and the whole thing is more of a craft project than art, there is none-the-less some creativity and skill involved. The scale and composition of the maze is original, and I have to say, I really like it and am wicked proud.

I also worked on, and completed a second piece with a totally different look and inspiration. I will post about that soon. : )

asleep like cattle…

I Go Among Trees and Sit Still

I go among trees and sit still.
All my stirring becomes quiet
Around me like circles on water.
My tasks lie in their places
Where I left them, asleep like cattle…

Then what I am afraid of comes.
I live for a while in its sight.
What I fear in it leaves it,
And the fear of it leaves me.
It sings, and I hear its song.

By Wendell Berry from Sabbaths, 1987, North Point Press

Paddle Withe Pride

It was almost 4 years ago that my Dad and I paddled 27 miles down the Hudson from Nyack to Chelsea Piers to raise money for the LGBT Center in New York City. It was a great cause, a great event, and a great accomplishment.

Check out the Team Coyne Web Page to see more pictures and read a recap of the event.

Fierce Juggling Moves

(But embarrassingly bad music.)

ABC3D

ABC3D by Marion Bataille
Roaring Brook Press
October 14, 2008

Gilding the Lilly

They're quite pretty in person. They ought to be -- it took 4 hours to do. :c P

Happy Easter

Marcel Broodthaers. (Belgian, 1924-1976). White Cabinet and White Table. 1965. Painted cabinet, table, and eggshells. (Photographer by me at MOMA.)