Impermanent Bliss
Cool exhibit alert! I’ll have a guide up with plenty to do this First Friday, but I thought I’d feature one that really caught my eye a day early:
Art in the Age is a cool gallery/store/performance space in Old City. It’s named for an essay (Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction) by a German cultural theorist. The mission and common theme behind each artist is to “bring integrity back to art in the spaces of everyday life.”
In Impermanent Bliss, mixed-media works by Eric Amling, Kirkland Bray and Matt LaFleur examine the fluctuating nature of memory and its effects on our ongoing sense of self and place. By manipulating and transforming man-made artifacts, the artists press the viewer to reexamine the identities of the familiar. We should be approaching our own memories with the same scrutiny that these works demand, as memory often distorts the places, events and emotional states of our past.
Check out some work from the artists:
Kirkland Bray
Matt Lafleur
Eric Amling
Eric Amling’s uses printed matter to create new forms of present space in motion through collage. He is the author two books, Twin Vapor and Split Level Igloo, and his collage and written works have appeared on albums by Dr. Dog and the Bowerbirds. Matt LaFleur’s paintings evoke an imaginative environment filled with cabins burgeoning spectrums of color and contrast. He currently lives and works in Taborton, NY. Kirkland Bray’s recent paintings explore a series of elevated forms of construction on found surfaces of wood and canvas. He has exhibited on both coasts, and co-owns the leather goods brand BillyKirk.
Impermanent Bliss: Examining the Fluid State of Memory
Mixed Media Works by Eric Amling, Kirkland Bray and Matt LaFleur
November 6-29, 2009
Opening: Friday, November 6th, 6-8 pm
Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
116 N. 3rd Street, Philadelphia
Phil-box hats
Show your allegiance with a hat that’s dapper.
The pillbox is an unconventional enough silhouette that it’s only available on New Era’s Japanese site, which of course leads to your standard crazy-ass incomprehensible Babelfish translation:
To 1985, it is the design which [pitsutsubagupairetsu] has worn with the tournament. Size is the same standard as the usual FITTED cap, but it turns out even at the same size by comparison with 59FIFTY from the form and/or with it becomes the fitting impression of doing.
It took like twenty minutes of thinking about something else entirely for my subconscious to equate “pitsutsubagupairetsu” with “Pittsburgh Pirates” and “kupazutaun” with “Cooperstown.” So with some googling (because despite my recent enthusiasm for the Phillies, I’m fundamentally sports-illiterate) I have determined that this pillbox-type shape is based on the style of the 1977-1986 Pittsburgh Pirates hats, which… I guess I had expected it to be more in the WW1 date range. When I imagine someone wearing a hat of that shape, they also have a waxed mustache and are sepia-toned. (If you’re interested in that sort of thing, btw, Bianca did a post on the evolution of the Phillies uniform a while back.)
The pillbox-esque hats (which are available for a few other teams, too) are ￥5,250, which is about… $57.50? Damn you, tanking exchange rates!
And one more Phillies-related thing today, from the dudes at chwuny, because god knows we have a thing for homemade-ass bootleg t-shirts and last night’s game was pretty awesome. This one’s for you, Chase Utley:
Yeah, that’s Giant Utley; in his spare time he enjoys throwing cars, telling people that he’s 15 feet… AROUND and complaining about this chick who’s kind of crazy but who’s the only one who really gets him, you know?
What To Do This HALLOWEEN
Philly loves a good party, and this isn’t news to anyone in the 215. But first — how about those champs?! Last night clearly wasn’t our favorite of more recent games, but we have some comin’ up this weekend and will be cheering in our seats! Go team!
Also, in lieu of a potential SEPTA strike, be sure to plan your weekend in carpools, bicycles and on foot. FYI: The regional rails will still be running, but will be packed and only accepting riders who purchased tickets in advance.
Thriller @ Society Hill Dance Academy Lauren tipped me off about learning to dance like the undead. There is a Thriller Dance Class happening in Philly tonight! “Join the folks at Society Hill Dance Academy to learn the infamous Thriller moves. Feel free to dress the part and get ready to break a sweat. Why? No one’s gonna save you from the beast about to strike. Friday at the Society Hill Dance Academy at 409 S. 2nd Street. Creep on over by 8:30pm.
Trick or Treat Sale You read the banner, kids! On Saturday there will be a giant sale: Everything in-store at Grasshopper Boutique on Walnut Street is on sale! But one day only– check their blog for updates.
Titan and The Fireflys Exhibit Emily G tipped me off about this exhibit and it really sounds boss. The Titan and The Fireflys is an awesome exhibit in Fishtown, by local artist Jason Hackenwerths, and it opens today. What makes me so excited? His main medium isn’t paint, paper or fiber…. it’s balloons! The giant 3-d sculptures are completely fascinating in the pictures– I’m dying to know what they look like in person! More details here.
Making Time Halloween Freakout Talk about the ultimate costume rager– when is the last time you went to Making Time and We got this email from R5 Productions reminding us all about their Halloween Part– err, “freakout.”
This costume rager seems to have ditched Transit for a new warehouse space (2424 Studios) and will be featuring Simian Mobile Disco, all you can drink. The Making Time DJ’s will be spinning and the Phillies game will be projected on a giant wall with full audio. The party starts at 9pm at 2424 E. York Street (Fishtown) and more details can be found here.
Trick Or Treat at the Kimmel Center This sounds adorable. Read more on Uwishunu.
FreshMeltWater Hallowe’en Teeshirt Launch Surely you’ve heard of FreshMeltWater before: They’re located in the NoLibs, make some pretty sweet tees you may have seen around town, and are totally in on a Halloween throwdown to launch their new tees! Details here.
Fright of Fancy Dance Party @ Fabric Horse Our favorite quirky NoLibs boutique is bringing it. And by it, we mean a party with music, boozin’ and a ton of bad-ass fanny packs. More details here.
Hand Turkey Crafts @ Tattooed Mom’s Usher in November at Tmom’s on South Street! The Sunday after Halloween is really only about relaxing, anyway. There will be a craft-up featuring a fav we all did in elementary school: hand turkeys! Have a beer and get crafty before the game.
Philly fall colors
Oh, one more thing: we’ve got a Philly girl in the semifinals of the Apartment Therapy Fall Colors contest. Right now her studio is a mere few votes behind some guy from L.A., whose West-Elm-colored stripes I am not a huge fan of, anyway. Click on the picture to see the two spaces and vote!
Tie or Die: Who Wore It Best?
Ladies and gentlemen: I’ve found a website that will change your lives. Or your opinion on the term “business casual.” PWstyle has a serious blog crush, and it’s on the boys of Tie or Die: Who Wore It Best? Two local Mad Men, Jon Fruman and Ryan Brown of 160over90, have half-windsor‘d their way into our hearts by way of a friendly office competition.
So, how did it all start? The boys told me “the contest itself was sparked by some facebook boasting about having enough ties to wear a different one every day for a month” and developed from there. With that, we were impressed—considering most young professional men barely have enough boxers to get through a week, let alone enough formal accessories to last a month.
The rules clearly state that a different tie must be worn each day for the month of October. When asked if some competitive shopping was sparred, I was pleasantly surprised that the duo already owned most of their neckwear! It turns out that they both previously worked for banks and, as a result, had sharp business casual wardrobes and already knew how to dress like classy you-know-what’ers.
PWstyle: Ryan, we are north of the Mason-Dixon line and easily an hour south-east of the only place in this state that would allow regular equestrian travel. Where the hell did you find a bolo-tie?! Can we have it?Ryan: I inherited three bolo ties from my grandfather a few years back. Apparently, when you’re in your 80’s, it doesn’t matter if you were raised in Philadelphia – you can still get away with a bolo tie. (And he said we could have one.)
PWstyle: Are you both aware that many celebrities and politicians have tie lines– seriously!– including Rush Limbaugh? Would you wear any or do you think they are all totally lame?
Jon: Rush Limbaugh? No. Sean John? Maybe. R-Kelly? Absolutely.PWstyle: If your favorite tie was a band, who would it be, and why?
Ryan: My favorite is a plaid fabric tie—pretty rockin’. Kind of reminds me of Daryl Hall.
Jon: My favorite is slick and dark; it’s got some soul. Very “John Oates,” if you ask me.
They seem very Wayne and Garth in their e-demeanor. A few weeks back the boys wore their Phillies garb and when asked about potential World Series ties, I was given a cryptic answer and an invite to join one of them at game four. They also both insist they pick their duds out solo for the competition (with no help from a girlfriend or mom).
“The Winner will be able to choose a full outfit of attire to be worn by The Loser on the day of The Winner’s choosing. And the Loser has to go tanning wearing only a tie and undies – so that every time he looks at himself naked in the mirror he may be reminded that he should have tried just a little bit harder.”
The last day to vote is this Friday!
Be sure to go to Tie or Die and let these kids know who wore it best.
Old City Gone Wild
That’s as of about 5:15 p.m. from Conrad, who apparently went to high school with our good friend Meg? Or something. Anyway, glad to hear your day in court also went well, buddy! Anyway!
We doubt that many among our blog readership are the type to Go Wild in that archetypical, late-night-commercial-on-Comedy-Central way, but we do figure that many of you would like to know this information for entertainment or avoidance purposes. So here:
We tracked down the locale, which would be the Buckhead Saloon, which advertises itself as “The only place in Philly that has a mechanical bull” and is on N 3rd St. between Callowhill and Spring Garden in that weird deserted area that fills up with everyone who played sports at my high school on Saturday nights.
On a related note: How strange would it be to be the, like, drunk-girl weatherman, trying to predict where the potentially topless girls of America will be drunkest tonight. Perhaps this means that the Girls Gone Wild production team thinks the Phillies are going to take Game 1?
At least, someone thinks that Philly girls are going to have above-average reason to scream WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! tonight.
Twelve angry women
Cartoon via the thing that got me through senior year of college: Married to the Sea
Actually, I remembered just now, when I was starting on my post: I DO have jury duty in like six hours. Fewer than six hours. 8:15 in the damn morning at the Criminal Justice center, 13th and Filbert. Ugh, this city cares not a whit for night-shift people.
So unless Erica and I work out some sort of laptop transfer on my lunch break (yeah, I’m a terrible blogger for not having a laptop, but the desktop sales pitch “you can’t easily drop this one on the floor and shatter it into a million pieces” just sounded so reasonable), this may have to be my post for the day.
I’ll tell you anything interesting you might want to know about jury duty when I get back. Not anything confidential, of course, although I have a hunch that attorneys will talk to me for a minute, raise an eyebrow at one another and throw me back. All I’ll be able to talk about is the magazine selection in the room for people nobody wants on a jury.
The comic DOES kind of make me want to wear something ridiculous, because although the summons stipulates business-casual dress, how many average Philadelphians do you really think are going to dress up for jury duty? Well, I’ll let you know tomorrow. G out.
Neighborhood posters from ORK
Ork posters has a design with all the Philly neighborhoods in fine letterpress style. When I first moved to the city, I made do with a fold-up map tacked to the wall in the hallway with things like “Strawberry Mansion??” and “Here there be yuppies, arrr” scrawled on it as I accumulated information. Help out the newbies and give this as a housewarming present, it’ll lead to less confusion about the difference between Kensington, Fishtown and Port Richmond.
RAAAAAUUUUUUUUUULLLLLLL!
I woke up this morning with a terrible headache, no recollection of how I got home, an ankle that at some point was bent in a way it should not have been bent, and outgoing text messages that imply that I did multiple Jager shots. I’m sure many of you had the same experience. Look for a roundup of the city’s crappiest bootleg shirts this week, when I’m slightly more able to walk, but in the meantime, here’s this one that we like:
Genetic Denim Trunk Show
Genetic Denim (based out of LA) is having a trunk show in Philly! The party takes place this Thursday at 7pm at South Moon Under (17th and Chestnut). For more details, go here. Hope to see you there!