The Greenpoint Gazette – the voice of Greenpoint – is a neighborhood newspaper in Brooklyn, NYC via Greenpoint Gazette:The Subway Bar: Drinks.

Alrighty, welcome to a new series at Vitamin C4 where we investigate and review bathroom advertisements. From the varied stickers, tags or hand written links we take a chance and roll the dice. Think of all the times you were taking a piss or poop at an establishment and stared at something that was on the wall and wondered what the hell it might be for. You tell yourself that you will look it up when you get home, but you always forget. Well, we here at Vitamin C4 will be your guide to the weird, obscure, good and bad shit that is smeared, stuck or inked on the walls of NY bathrooms.
For the first Bathroom Advertisements, we will be looking into:

http://www.1990-1997.com on the wall of The Charleston bar

This being the first review, the random link turned out to be quite a gem. Admittedly, I thought this would be a link for a band, some up-and-coming short film or local organization with a hipstery means. But, I was very surprised/pleased to find this is the site for, what I would describe as, a avant-garde digital artist Zak Loyd. With a series of audio-visual pieces, images, gifs, html links and live performances this artist’s statement is to “revisit the bliss through artifacts and memory” and to “seek internet magic”

Through a digital medium and throw-back style, Zak uses relatively out-dated tools and basic modes in this art form that remind us MS paint and intro html code can still be modern. Granted his still images seem to be the tawdry product of boredom, Zac’s Statements page, various A/V works and HTML links are rather STONEY. If I were a bigger digital art fan and stoner I could easily find myself being lost in the dozens of digital art pieces provided by this site.

This bathroom advertisement was an awesome and obscure find, and at least worth five minutes to marvel at the weird shit this kid makes.

…telling you that Cthulhu is the QED to everything.

When Sam told me I could be his +1 for the Chrome opening party the following evening, I got really excited and drunk (I was already drunk). I ran home and made these business cards at around 3 in the morning. I never ended up printing any, which is just as well because it wasn’t really that kind of party, and I didn’t converse with anyone I didn’t already know.

I got off the subway around 8 pm to find text messages from Sam, informing me that it was a mess. I asked “Good mess or bad mess?” to which he replied “Messy mess”. So far so good. I made my way into the heart of SoHo and arrived at 238 Mulberry St… holy fuck that’s a lot of people. I was really not expecting this.

Fortunately Sam & Joanie were outside waiting for me, and they found the coordinator guy Alex to let me in. Hot damn, I love it when someone grabs me and says to a bouncer, “He’s OK”. Also, I love a first-rate security setup. Giant dudes in all-black suits with completely implacable expressions on their faces. Polite but incredibly professional. I didn’t get any pictures of them because I was way too intimidated to ask if it would be OK, but one of them walked through the video after the jump (what’s a jump?).

I mainly like this one because it looks like Sam is trying to eat that dude's hat.

So I made it inside and tried to work my way toward the Free Beer Station, which was of course at the very densest part of the crowd. During that ordeal, I realize that oh shit, I actually do know someone here who isn’t “working”. Our friend Alex (different Alex, this one’s a lady) works at the Ace Hotel where all the Chrome people were staying, and she and her co-workers got invites on account of how accomodating they were. Sweet! Her sister Isabelle was in town as well.

From left: some big dude, Alex, Isabelle, guy with hat

Sam, Joanie, Alex & Isabelle might have been the only friendlies in attendance, but I also had the pleasure of seeing some other old friends.

Abby!

Lea!

Dana!

Definitely a small-world type of experience. At least, if you ignore the two to three hundred attendees who I didn’t know, which is pretty much what I did. I got several beers to bring back to base camp next to the laptop bags and just kind of watched the crowd.

This one didn't come out too well because I was trying to be kind of sneaky. The lady is wearing fishnets, booty shorts, and one of those shirts that exposes her entire bra. The gentleman is at least 20 years her senior and looks like he might have gotten lost on his way to a Phish concert. I saw them kissing.

This repurposed mechanized laundry rack is one of the major bits of flair in the store. It's pretty rad.

So yeah, this was definitely the first one of these things that I’ve been to, and it was a sight to behold. I’m trying to do a little name-droppy thing here, but I cannot for the life of me remember the guy’s name…. Anyway, he’s a skateboarder cum bike person. He was there. Also, something called a “Neck Face” was allegedly there, and overheard to remark that this was the best party he’d been to this summer. There was food at one point, but by the time I made it back that far there were just big steam trays of meatballs left. I proceeded to eat several out of an empty plastic cup, as there were also no more plates.

…And then the dancing began (the bartenders were pretty liberal with the vodka)

I’ve just been informed that the guy whose name I was trying to remember is in fact John Cardiel. John grew up in Half Moon Bay, CA and was a pro skater until he suffered a spinal cord injury while filming Tent City in Australia. After his recovery he took up cycling. It seems he was also DJ’ing the party for a time, along with DJ… “something” Love. Journalism, people. It takes a village.

Our good buddy Tyler has a new web site over at bloodonbrushes.com. As I’m sure you can see from the samples I posted, he does some pretty incredible stuff. I may not know much about art, but I definitely understand the awesomeness of grabbing a piece of wood, spraying acrylic paint all over it, drawing/pasting/painting the craziest shit you can think of on top of that, then adding a liberal dose of beards.

Tyler made me the badass penguin/sea turtle battle charge to the left in exchange for me building him his site. It’s pretty much the best thing ever. The inspiration came from a random image that sprang fully-formed into my brain, and refused to leave until I had him capture it and put it on a board. Once again, bloodonbrushes.com. You can commission him too!

…saying: “Don’t fuck with my whip.”

…saying: “Keep livin’ the dream, dude.”

‘ENDINGS, CLOSURE & COMFORT’
Greetings again! Welcome to the second addition of ‘What were they thinking?’ (WWTT?) where I discuss the best, the worst and the ‘why did they do that?’ of the new comics released this week and read by me.
[*This review contains spoilers*]

THE GOOD:
This week’s theme for comics was last issues and variant covers. With Marvel and DC having both released a series of oddly expensive variant covers and reprints, all eyes were affixed of three series enders. First was G. Willow Wilson & M. K. Perker’s AIR (DC/Vertigo), as well as John Ostrander & Jan Duursema’s Star Wars Legacy (Dark Horse) and lastly Brian K. Vaughn & Tony Harris’ Ex Machina (DC/Wildstorm). While I did not read Air or SWL because I am unfamiliar with those stories I did dig deep into the final pages of Ex Machina. With any good narrative, it’s always hard to see it come to an end. The sensation of turning the last page and knowing nothing more is to come of these characters, or the fear of disappointment that it will end in shite (*cough* The Sopranos *cough*). But reading the last issue of Ex Machina was amazing. With a brilliant start and finish to the issue, I felt satisfied with the closure – even after the dark path it had you walk. Brian K. Vaughn created, with the characters, the most appropriate and necessary resolutions for the characters in order for Mitchell Hundred to move on and find his own closure and the closure of the book.

THE BAD/WWTT?:
It may come as a bit of a shocker, but I was not a huge fan of this weeks comic: Brightest Day #8 (DC) that is penned by Geoff Johns & Peter Tomasi and an amazing team of artists. While I loved the Blackest Night arc, Brightest Day has done very little to keep my eyes glued to the pages the same way its predecessor had. Finding the most redeeming and interesting aspect of the arc being Deadman, with Aquaman in a close second, I was saddened to see a lack of his story and our fishy friend not appearing at all. Furthermore, (spoiler alert) I was already on the snore and bore with the Hawkman/Hawkgirl story, but this weeks issue increased my dislike for it even more with the big reveal that the Queen of Nth City is Hawkgirl’s mother? What were they thinking?

THE PICK OF THE WEEK!!!:
This read was, in my opinion, the best read of the week. Personally still affected by the events of The X-Men: Second Coming arc, and the loss of so many characters that I held close to my nerdy heart, Jason Aaron & Davide Gianfelice’s Wolverine: Weapon X #16 provided a one-shot that x-readers needed. It’s old news now, but in the Second Coming arc Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler died, along with many others, while protecting Hope – the mutant messiah. Having been brought to tears by his death, and later the eulogy/funeral issue, I couldn’t help but read on that Wagner’s best friend (Wolverine) was having the most difficult and emotional time with this loss. This special issue took Logan on task to deliver by hand a piano to a mountain top church in Venezuela via Nightcrawler’s last will and testimony. While on this long and rugged journey Wolverine thought back onto the history the two had shared in an attempt to find closure and comfort that his friend is in a better place. In the end, Logan finds his peace with Kurt’s death, and most importantly – so does the reader.

Last night Ethan and I went to Hotsy Totsy’s Dr. Who burlesque show. As an avid Dr. Who fan (I carry around a sonic screwdriver in my bag everyday) and have very little experience with proper burlesque shows, I was not sure what to expect – more-so, how they would combine the two.

This show, as advertised here, was recommened by a friend of ours, Mykle Hoban, that instructed us to attend. The venue was in the basement of The Delancy located in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Small, dark and limited seating, Ethan and I got a beer and found the most comfortable standing area.
A woman danced half naked to warm up the crowd and then the host, Cherry Pitz, started. With a big red wig and a high pitched voice she was interrupted by The Doctor, who resembled Tennant, and gave the audience a wonderful introduction as to who and what The Doctor is. The highlights of this were the references he threw to those there for the The Doctor. Yes, he even said “Wibbly wobbly”. Another amusing part was when The Doctor (as the 10th) used the 11th Doctor’s sonic screwdriver – this error in continuity was noted with a scream here-and-there from audience members.
He ran off the stage with his gorgeous red-haired companion and the show continued. The first dancer performed, Cherry returned to the stage to present the next dance and The Doctor is found back on stage. This would be the format for the rest of the show with the narrative that a alien poop monster (my kinda monster, right?) that had escaped from space prison.
The dancers were lovely, of course. The high lights of the burlesque dancers:
1) The second dancer walked up to the stage naked and covered in chains, tape over her mouth and nipples, with what sounded like Sunn O))) playing. Once on stage she used a slow twisting dance to remove the chains from her body. When she was unbound from the shackles she removed the tape and spit out blood. It was so awesome and brutal. Ethan and I did not see this one coming. (Note: if pictures or videos were allowed, there would be one here)

2) During the intermission I met The Doctor, discovered several other attendees had also brought their sonic screwdrivers and once I returned to the basement I watched as one of the performers was dancing to a remix of the Dr. Who theme song. She later danced to “Human Fly” by The Cramps – which has forever been a fantasy of mine to watch (TMI?).

3) We got to see The Doctor’s companion get naked. AND – the only thing that can stop the alien poop monster was Cherry Pitz’s boobs – naked dancing followed.

All in all, it was a great experience. In a nutshell, it was a burlesque show intended to introduce Dr. Who fans to burlesque, and burlesque lovers to Dr. Who. I would even consider going to another event preformed by this group of gals.

… telling you to be careful while riding your bike in Manhattan.