SNL Parody "The Cape"

Here's the latest SNL parody I edited. Directed by Rhys Thomas. Compositing by Adam Epstein.

Bad Joke of the Day

Q: What did the cannibal do after he dumped his girlfriend?



A: He wiped his butt!

Hahahaha. Thanks to Risa for this amazing bad joke!

Fun with Balloons

It all started off so simply. Brent and I took our friend Matt Sheehy out for a drink to celebrate the completion of his amazing solo album. Afterward, we popped into my office to play a little table tennis. The office was a bit trashed because we had hosted an annual Halloween extravaganza earlier that day, and the remnants of candy wrappers, balloons, and confetti still littered the corners of the immense atrium. Amidst the chaos of the party, the ping pong balls must have been stashed away, and we could only find a single ball that had a crack along the seam, causing pitiful and irregular bounces. If it hadn't been for this crappy ball, we might not have embarked on any of the following adventures.

We searched around the atrium for lose ping pong balls, and during the search, Brent came upon a helium balloon that was sitting gently on the ground, having just too little helium left to stay afloat. Matt and Brent wondered what would happen if we could create a balloon that was at equilibrium with the air around it. Would it hover? Since this balloon was just slightly too heavy to float, matt began slowly removing weight from the balloon. First we took off a bit of string. Then we removed the entire string. It was still too heavy. Next we removed a piece of plastic that was holding the string onto the balloon. The balloon still did not hover. Finally, Matt carefully cut off the rolled up ring of rubber from the bottom of the balloon, and BINGO! We had a balloon that was almost exactly in equilibrium with the air around it.

Brent demonstrates the beautiful hovering nature of our balloon!

We took the balloon outside and began a 2 hour experiment, testing our magical hovering balloon's properties! We found it is great for attracting strangers to interact with (and even better at attracting dirty looks from hipsters that think they are too cool to play with balloons, until they realize it is actually a super cool hovering balloon, in which case they still give you dirty looks because they weren't smart enough to invent it themselves).

Matt discovered you could balance the hovering balloon on the side of your head like a seal!

We also discovered you could wave your arms around the balloon (raver-dance style) and keep it afloat for a very long time! You could also put it on your back and walk quickly, and it would kind of stick to your back and walk with you.

We didn't want our wonderful night of balloon magic to end. Matt said he wished for an entire room full of hovering balloons. Imagine what fun we could have! But alas, it got very late, and we had to call it a night.

A few days later, we came home to find Brent's house filled with balloons! Our housemates Jeff and Risa had attended a birthday party for Jeff's Dad, and they must have had a lot of balloons left over. There were balloons everywhere! There were balloons in the bathroom, under each towel on the towel rack, balloons in all of the cupboards and dishwasher. There was even a balloon that popped out of the trash can! Jeff and Risa had decorated a lot of the balloons with pictures and messages (example: The balloon hidden under my towel in the bathroom said "peek-a-boo" on it). Brent and I were shocked at the coincidence! Suddenly our lives were intersecting with magical balloon experiences left and right.

Remembering Matt's wish to have a room full of balloons, I took this photo of Brent and emailed it to Matt so he could see what Jeff and Risa did.

Since Jeff and Risa were already asleep by the time we got home and discovered the balloons, Brent decided that we should prank them back. We gathered as many balloons as we could find and tied them together in an elaborate balloon wall. We used Brent's "pimp cane" from his Halloween costume (he was Roy of Siegfried + Roy, and I was the white tiger that attacked him) as the base, and knotted the balloons together at every intersection, so that it would be difficult to walk through them.


Then we placed the balloon wall in front of Jeff and Risa's door, so that they would be smacked in the face with their own balloons when they woke up in the morning. Mu Ah Ha Ha (evil laugh).



Luckily, we woke up before Jeff and Risa, and I managed to set up my camera in time to film the outcome of the prank...


Hooray! It turned out so great. Until Risa asked "Where did you guys get all the helium from?"

Whhhhaaaaaaa? Brent and I looked at each other, confused. "Wait, you guys didn't fill the house with balloons to prank us?" we asked Jeff and Risa. "No! We thought you filled the house with balloons to prank us." They replied. OMG. A magical elf had been in our house and filled it with balloons. Who could have done such a thing????

wait for it.......


Of COURSE! It was Matt Sheehy!


Matt fessed up, and sent this picture from the afternoon, when he planted the best surprise ever. But he was not alone. Matt made Brent and I guess who his co-conspirators were in the great balloon prank of 2010. I smelled Ramona Falls bass player, Dave Lowensohn all over it. Brent guessed Seth and Ali. We were both right. We are so lucky to have such incredible friends!

Let this story be a reminder that an openness to the unexpected possibilities in life can often lead to the most fun and rewarding, although unplanned, experiences. If we had found a normal ping pong ball, then none of these amazingly fun balloon adventures would have ever happened. Thank you, universe.

Brent Knopf Leaves Menomena

Today Menomena finally announced that Brent Knopf will no longer be a part of the trio. After years of tirelessly fighting to reconcile the ideas of three brilliant, talented, and strong-willed artists, Brent finally threw in the towel today to pursue less heartbreaking creative endeavors. Menomena has made no secret of the tumultuous recording process that resulted in 2010's incredible Mines. Even though the push and pull of conflicting personalities and working styles translated into fiercely original music, it did not seem like a healthy or sustainable collaborative environment for any of the people involved. It is sad to see a founding member of such a unique band move on, but I hope that the personnel change will help ease the tension that has been building within the crystalline structure of Menomena over the past 10 years. I wish Brent, Danny, and Justin all the best in their individual and collective pursuits.


Fans of Brent's will be pleased to know that he has finished producing an AMAZING solo album for Ramona Falls' guitarist, Matt Sheehy. Matt is hoping to release this album in early 2011 (band name and album title are still a secret at this point), and if you are a fan of Ramona Falls, I can guarantee you will enjoy this record. It has absolutely blown me away.


Brent is currently in the studio producing the second album for South African band Dear Reader. This currently untitled album will be released in late 2011 on Souterrain Transmissions in Europe. I haven't heard most of the songs yet, but the few I have heard are sounding beautiful.

If producing 3 albums in the last year isn't enough Knopf for you, Brent has also begun preliminary work on a new Ramona Falls album!! RF played a new song (presumably from the forthcoming album) called "Brevony" at their sold out New Years Eve show at Mississippi Studios, in Portland, OR. It was a monster rocker, and left the crowd dazzled and dancing. It is hard to believe this song was originally submitted for Mines and didn't make the cut! Another forthcoming RF song (and Mines reject) "Bowling", might just be the best song that Brent has ever created.

Although it is sad that incredible songs like "Rose", "Monkey's Back", "Wet & Rusting", "Evil Bee", and "Killemall" will never again be performed with Brent's unique and haunting voice in the lead, I hope that Menomena will continue to tour and make excellent music without him. I am hopeful that Menomena and Brent can both thrive in their individual creative spaces, and produce twice as much breathtakingly original material as before!

Bad Joke of the Day

Q: Why does Snoop Dogg always carry an umbrella?


A: Fo' Drizzle

Thanks to Matt Sheehy for this awesomely bad joke.

HanUKkah

I spent most of Hanukkah on tour with Brent in the U.K! Ironically, most of my photos involve Christmas decorations, since Hanukkah adornments were surprisingly rare.

I arrived in London and had a few hours for sightseeing on my own. I came across this amazing window display in a fancy shoppe in Soho. They created 3 Dimensional versions of classic paintings, but displayed them within a frame. It created a really interesting, surreal effect as you walked by the windows (peripherally, you would think that you're seeing a flat painting, but the perspective kept changing). Here are a couple of my favorites...



I wandered over to Trafalgar Square, where they were in the process of decorating for the holidays.

Pieces for a giant menorah lay scattered in the foreground, while a crane helps put up an enormous Xmas tree in the background.

I'm not sure if this massive ship in a bottle was special for the holidays or not, but it was really cool!

There was a transit strike the day I arrived in London, so I walked about 5 miles with my suitcase and backpack to meet up with Brent at the venue in Brixton. It was interesting to check out a less touristy part of London, and totally worth it for the chance to see Brent's handsome face! When I arrived at the venue, I discovered the worst potato chip flavor of all time...


Menomena opened for the National at the O2 Academy to a sold out crowd that night. I got to watch their set from the wings of the stage. Sufjan Stevens was in London for some reason and made a guest appearance on stage with the National. I was SO excited when he showed up at the after party, too, but was too shy to talk to him {kicking myself}. Oh well. We'll just have to talk Michigan/Brooklyn next time, Sufjan.


The next day Menomena was headlining their own show in London, so that gave us some free time to explore the city in the morning. Brent and I met up with our friend Naima, and explored Covent Gardens. It was really cute and fun. Then Brent and I split off to meet up with our friend Chris for coffee. We opted to skip the Starbucks, and instead go to the seemingly local Costa Coffee shop. It wasn't until our friend Chris arrived that we learned that Costa is the Starbucks of Europe (even though there are also regular Starbucks in the UK). It's hard not to be a stupid American when you're in a foreign country!

Even though we were thousands of miles from home, we still managed to see a familiar face at the coffee shop...

Mark Hamilton (husband of my friend Andrea, father of Scarlett, and bass player extraordinaire in Ash.)

Later that night, Chris treated us to drinks at one of his favorite bars. Brent got the award for ordering the drink with the fanciest glass!

This glass was so fancy, that it could not even stand up without it's wooden holder, prompting the question "How many drunk people have broken this fancy glass?"

We spent the official first night of Hanukkah in Manchester. Although it was a very busy day with Menomena appearing on the BBC before the show, Brent and I managed to sneak away long enough to check out the world's coolest library... The John Rylands Library.

The library displayed many ancient books behind glass cases.

Unfortunately we didn't have very much time to explore the whole library, but I would love to go back and see what other treasures the magnificent library holds.


The 2nd night of Hanukkah, we spent in Glasgow, Scotland. This was my first time in Scotland, and we were welcomed by rolling hills covered with snow.

Brent and I visited the main square and shopping area of downtown Glasgow. We rode on my favorite carnival ride, the swinging chairs, and looked at all of the festive holiday decorations and watched people ice skate.

Our favorite decorations were across the arcades around the GOMA (Glasgow's Museum of Modern art). They draped strings of lights across the building tops to form a canopy of glowing, floating twinkles. It was so magical to walk through that space (especially with some cotton candy). Brent and I both took note of how they did it for potential future application in Brent's backyard. Wouldn't that be amazing for summer parties?



That night, Menomena played at a venue called The Arches. It was a strange, cavernous hall divided into multiple performance spaces. The ceilings consisted of high arching tunnels that created fascinating echos. I was really impressed with Fritz, Menomena's sound man and tour manager, for handling the sound so beautifully in that seemingly difficult and unusual space.





The 3rd night of Hanukkah, we visited Liverpool. We didn't have very much time to explore the Hometown of the Beatles, but we did see some crazy street lamps outside the venue.



Also, after the show we met some of the funniest dudes from the whole tour. Brent likes to draw little pictures for people who ask for autographs. One fan asked for a sexy armadillo drawing. The fan in line behind him, not to be outdone, said to Brent "I like sexy stuff, too." This prompted Brent to create my favorite autograph of all time...


The 4th night of Hanukkah was last stop on the tour, in Leeds. We got a chance to visit the vast car-free downtown shopping loop, and saw a disco ball Christmas tree!




Brent and I got to spend the 5th night of Hanukkah together in Slough (the London suburb near Heathrow where the British version of "The Office" takes place). We had dinner at the 3rd oldest Inn in London, The Ostrich, and found out after our meal that it is haunted! Check out the history page on their website to find out about all of the murders that took place there. Creepy!

The 6th-8th nights of Hanukkah I spent back home in New York, and celebrated with Brent via Skype. We lit the Menorahsaurus, as usual.

Bad Pun of the Day

Risa's Mugshot. Lol.

Bad Joke of the Day

Q: What is a pirate's favorite type of exercise?


A: Yo-ho-ho ga!

Thanks to Johnny at The Shop (my favorite new coffee shop/motorcycle garage in Brooklyn) for this bad joke!

Flying Trapeze- Back End Gazelle Catch (and alomst return)

On Tuesday, I got almost an entire class to myself at TSNY! I learned a new trick, and almost returned in on my first attempt! Thanks to Evan on lines, Nolan on board, and Eric in the catch trap.

Little Friend

While we're on the subject of furry friends, I made a new one this week in my very own apartment. While home alone, I saw a little brown dot scurrying in my peripheral vision. I flicked my head to see an adorable little mouse slowly making his way across my kitchen floor. It has been my experience in the past that once a mouse knows it's been spotted, it will run for cover immediately. This was not the case with my new little friend, who seemed unperturbed as I walked closer to him and watched him sniff the inside of my vacuum cleaner hose. This made me think he was either injured and unable to run away, or too hungry to be bothered with the threat of a giant shadowy figure looming overhead.

I grabbed a flower vase from the top of my cupboard, and crouched beside him. With a less than swift movement, I easily covered the mouse with the vase, careful to not set it atop of his fragile tail. Then I grabbed a flattened cereal box from my recycling bin, and slid it under the vase. I flipped it all over, trapping the mouse inside the vase. I grabbed a little hunk of mozzarella from my fridge and dropped it in. The mouse grabbed the cheese gratefully and began to nibble*. While he was placated, eating his cheese, I walked him down to the park and dropped him and his cheese nibblet in the grass. Goodbye little friend! I hope you have a successful life as a field mouse, rather than a house mouse!



*I realize this sentence embodies what Werner Hertzog would describe as the Disneyfication of animals. However, the look on his cute little face, coupled with the twitching of his whiskers as he gnawed through the cheesy morsel clearly expressed gratitude to me.