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This is part of the famed Water Fountain series by the well known photographer Mary Rzepski, [also known to a small part of the world as Sam's grandma]. But here, in this exquisite series documenting the joy of a small boy with his water, Rzepski combines an inherent and deep-in-the-bones understanding of the tension between Koon's joi de vivre and Munch's The Scream. Seldom in photographic art has the mundane and the orange blended so well.

In this photo, for example, known in the vernacular as The Inspection, Rzepski poses one of the most important, if artistically nihilistic of early-21st-century questions: will he drink, or will he just play...

The tension is ratcheted up to dizzying heights with another photo in this series, called simply 'you know the one.' With its Olympian pretensions- the young acolyte peering up at the mythical Zeus-like figure who is literally HOLDING HIM UP- the photo begs ALL the questions. While not approaching the clarity of the original print, this reproduction will have to suffice, and should give you a hint of its power. And the orange is... well, it is, isn't it.

The next needs no explanation. Note the Nobel commentary at the center. This photograph is tension with a capital M.

Rzepski is nothing if not fearless, twisting/gyrating in as close as necessary to capture that ineffable presence of the nonexistant process: yes

She even brings the young boy into the dialogue, providing a neo-realist commentary on the idea of the complicit model. We will never know whether this was planned, or just part of the general entropy. Because, after all, in the end, if nothingness equals nihilism equals nonsense equals nowhere equals the ineffable equals anarchy equals opposition to the powers that be, then all art eventually becomes linked by six degrees of separation. Rzepski refutes that argument while coiled in it. Who could ask for more.

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............SEPARATED AT BIRTH???.........................


Sam's dad recently auditioned for the role of the young Graham Chapman in the as-yet-unfilmed (luckily for Paul) biopic Gin and Tonic.

Paul's splendid audition style was written up in the New York Times as follows:

June 6, 2004, Sunday
METROPOLITAN DESK

Silly Walks? Dead Birds? Yes, It's 42nd St.

By ALAN FEUER (NYT)

The fat guy with the pheasant on his shoulder went next. He was painted red from head to toe. The pheasant was dead. The director asked his name. "Adam Bloody Knife Daggers in Your Face Forever." And what role was he trying out for?

"Any role with bloody death in it," he said.

Outside the small audition room, there was a guy in a thong with some bananas. Another man was dressed up like a horse.

The open call yesterday for the new Monty Python biopic went pretty much as expected. A few hundred would-be cast members stood in line in the rain on 42nd Street. The actors were outnumbered by the freaks.

"We've had colonels, pepper pots, lumberjacks, silly walkers, men in lingerie and a very nice midget in full armor," said David Eric Brenner, the director.

"One man came as Jesus. When I told him there's no role for Jesus, he said, 'That's all right, I forgive you, my son.'"

Mr. Brenner, 31, was sitting in the audition room casting his new film, Gin and Tonic, based on the life of Graham Chapman, the Monty Python star who died of cancer in 1989. The film, scheduled to begin production in December, has been something of a lifelong dream.

"I've been a Monty Python fan-slash-geek since I was 12 years old," he said. "I saw The Holy Grail and for the rest of my life I've been reciting lines nonstop, like, 'It's only a flesh wound,'" demonstrating his delivery.

Two years ago, Mr. Brenner reached out to a man named John Yoakum, who oversees Mr. Chapman's archives. Mr. Yoakum told him he was in possession of an unpublished memoir by Mr. Chapman. The film, based partly on this memoir, derives its name from Mr. Chapman's favorite drink.

Last month, there was an open casting call in California, where "the loonies lined up down Hollywood Boulevard," Mr. Brenner said. There were plenty yesterday in Times Square, too.

One man, Paul Smithyman, 35, stood in line with an orange rubber traffic cone and claimed to be its manager. "His name is Aristophanes; he's a method actor," Mr. Smithyman explained.

"He was in that Dustin Hoffman biopic, if you recall it. I also manage a Coke can. Now, he gets a lot of work."

Mr. Smithyman's friend, Lee Wilson, said he planned to audition by appearing very British -- which he is.

"I'm just going to go in there and stand and be British," Mr. Wilson, 36, explained. "Don't you think my stance is British? Can't you see the British look on my face?"

Mr. Brenner said that he would almost certainly cast British actors for the film's six major roles. It was a matter of authenticity, he said.

Nonetheless, most of those auditioning were Americans, if not New Yorkers. There was a student from Long Island pretending he was mute and a tax assessor from West Virginia with huge breasts of papier-mâché.

Among these oddities, Mike Ford looked abnormally normal. He was dressed in a T-shirt and a plaid pair of pants.

Was normalcy his gimmick, he was asked.

"No," he said, "when I go inside the pants come off."

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......................HAPPY FATHERS DAY..............................









Sam is a very lucky boy.

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Sam's been doing a bit of the old hide-'n-seek lately.

Here, for example, is a photo of Sam and Sonja in the park, taken from the window of our apartment.

See them? Sonja in her black coat, and Sam in his green raincoat?

Right there in the center of the photo, above the traffic light.

Look closer.

And, speaking of hiding, it can sometimes be difficult to find a place to change Sam's diaper where he can retain his modesty and be out-of-public-view. Lots of guys bathrooms still don't have changing tables in them. So I'm creating a new series: famous places where Sam has been changed. Here is the latest contribution: Sam up against the side wall of St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Regardless of where he's changed, the boy sure likes the resulting feeling of clean-'n-dry.

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A VISIT TOO QUICK AND SAM IS STILL SAYING GOODBYE...



But it was great while it lasted. Almost a week with Auntie Deb and Uncle Adrian.

The dancing was splendid.

In fact, I'm horrified that we got no photos of the dancing, of Sam going around the room and forcing each adult to stand up and join in, of our own little cruise-ship entertainment dirctor not letting anyone relax, must dance NOW, everyone with their shoes and socks OFF OFF OFF....

Until we couldn't take it anymore and collapsed laughing onto the rug.

I hope when our favorite Brits have rested up they will share a few photos and stories with us.

Until then, Elmo says come back soon.

As does the boy.



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