Here are a few gems from the Matakana Master’s a year or so back. I have just spent the last week and a half going thru all my old folders/photos for a bit of an exhibition of images to slideshow behind Drew Bowden as he filmed his new music video. That was last night and was a heap of fun. I’ll post about it soon once I have a photo of my award winning fancy dress costume. The theme for the night was 60/70’s atire. Yours truley won best(and possibly worst) dressed. Anyways here are  some of the shots i used from the Matakana folder.

Sanga drag nets the Island lip.

Mr J-Rod Hancox

AJ gets all Gerry Lopez on it.

Don't know your name bro, you had an Anderson with a green spray on the deck. Nice tube Mr Mystery

Jay Quinn gets a head dip.

Rangi and his Illuminator wetsuit

This impressive castle sits on a basalt outcrop overlooking the Farne Islands and Lindisfarne on the heritage coast in North Northumberland.

This is exactly how it was, this image has not been manipulated or had saturation added, in fact the reverse, I actually desaturated it by about 25%.

Neighborhood: North Beach/Telegraph Hill
1570 Stockton St
San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 835-9888

Let me just say that being from the East Coast, I am a true lover of all things pizza. I have tried pizza in every place this city has to offer and it all mostly sucks. I wasn’t sure – I thought that maybe it was the water here and that somehow the dough just didn’t turn out right. I’ll list my notable mentions at the bottom of this, but I think finally after 10 years of searching that San Francisco might ACTUALLY know what really good pizza tastes like. Because not to be a pizza snob, but the best pizza is on the East Coast – hands down.

Side Note: Tony is apparently a World Cup Pizza winner in Naples Italy in 2007. Everything is baked in 3 different wood fired ovens.

What we tried:

To Start:

Insalata of Gorgonzola con Mele – Arugula and Mixed Greens Tossed in their House Made Apple Vinaigrette, Imported Italian Gorgonzola, Candied Pecans, Fresh Apples, and Dried Cranberries. If I didn’t eat this first I could have finished my entire pizza. No kidding.

[STG Pizza Napoletana] Tony’s famous award winning Margherita Pizza  – super thin crust, the type of pizza that requires you to fold it in half in your hand while the grease slides down your wrist. It says rustic medium crust but this crust is quite thin and not too crispy on the bottom. He only makes 73 of these per day so if you want to try it, you should get in there before 7pm.
[Classic American] The Original Tomato Pie (New Jersey Style) – thin crust pizza, reminds me more of New York style, crispy bottom, a few slices of mozzarella cheese and loaded with delicious hand crushed tomato sauce. This is definitely a sauce lover’s pizza.

All Classic American Pizzas  are baked in a NY Flat Top Gas Brick Oven
All Classic American Pizzas have Hand Crushed Tomato Sauce and a Hand Tossed Rustic Medium Crust Unless Noted. Using Pendleton Flour.

All STG Pizza Napoletana are baked in a 900 Degree wood fired oven. Dough Mixed by Hand using San Felice Flour then proofed in Neapolitan Wood Boxes,San Marzano Tomatoes DOP, Sea Salt, Mozzarella Fior di Latte, Fresh Basil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Campani

Definitely no room for dessert. And being Italian, I wasn’t blown away by the choices. But you don’t go here for dessert, you go here for pizza. They also have Sicilian style pizza, and Classic Italian style pizza (like a flat bread), kids meals and pastas. But again, go for the pizza – you will not be disappointed.

And did I mention that they do takeout?

Menu: http://www.tonyspizzanapoletana.com/menu.php (flash required)

Notable mentions in SF:

ZA Gourmet Pizza (Nob Hill) – 1919 Hyde St at Green St, (415) 771-310, zapizzasf.com
- this place has a cornmeal crust and it’s crispy – quite good actually. They deliver, takeout and eat in.

Tomasso Ristorante Italiano (Financial District/NorthBeach) – 1042 Kearny St, (415) 398-9696,  – an Italian restaurant but their pizza is thin crusted, can get a little soft from the weight of the pizza, but it’s always good.

Mangia! Mangia!

On November 21^st,  Brooklynite Gallery celebrated the opening of “Go Get Your Shinebox”. This group show features over 100 works from artists all looking to answer the question of how to survive in these economic times by creating their own interpretation of a  “Survival Box.”  Brooklynite Gallery has commissioned some of their favorite established and emerging artist to take on this challenge and the responses are breathtaking. Artists such as Dain, Miss Bugs, PaperMonster, Anthony Lister, Ben Eine, Jace, Thundercut, Skewville, Ben Frost, Jon Burgerman, Specter, Know Hope, Kosbe, Gaia, Hush, and many more have all created a one of a kind box, each taking the concept of the show one step further. You can view the entire lists of artists participating and more information by visiting Brooklynite Gallery’s Site. The show runs until December 19th. Go check it out!

“GO GET YOUR SHINEBOX”
Featuring Over 100 Artists
Trying to Survive in This Economy

November 21 – December 19
OPENING RECEPTION: NOV. 21, 7-10 PM (NY)

334 MALCOLM X BLVD.
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 11233
A or C Subway to UTICA AVE.

artwork by Papermonster.

No matter what the posts are this week, the backdrop is that around this time  three years ago I started this blog.  Now nine hundred fiftysomething (!)  posts later, the greatest gratification for me is the  sense of community I’ve gotten from my work.  I feel it!  Thanks to all who’ve read, commented, contributed info and/or fotos, and lurked.  If you’ve only read and lurked, great although I’d love to hear from you too.

Recent traffic has been heavy on Grouper, a 1914 tug that languishes upstate along the part of the Erie Canal where I grew up.  Click here for the details.  Anyone need a project for a mere $26,000?  I took the pic of Grouper in early November 2009, less than three weeks ago.

Fire Fighter, to date FDNY’s unit with the greatest gpm output,  cuts an impressive profile as she cruises Gravesend Bay.

LORO Baltic Mercur has an intriguing silhouette.

An unidentified tanker disappears out the Ambrose, way beyond the bow of barge Charleston.

Uh . .  Brendan (3900 hp), who are you trying to kid?  You’re no stand-in for Pati R, (5100 hp), at least from a “see-over” perspective even with your telescoping house.

And what you do NOT see in the offing of the sixth boro, large fishing vessels like this one, a midwater trawler like Challenger.  This foto was taken off the east end of Cape Ann.

A front page story in today’s NYTimes links Challenger and Brendan Turecamo, in a manner of speaking:  a guy catching a 157-pound bluefin from a kayak that weighs less than 30 pounds,  human-powered although it had to be registered as a motor vessel for him to get a tuna license,  Check it out; tuna have impressive bollard pull.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Here’s a herring song to hold you over til my fishing post:   version a and version b.  I prefer b.

Note:  Although I like assembling/looking at a random set of fotos, I’m aware that each one tells at least one good story . . .  only problem is that I don’t know the story, the very one that in fact I should.  These common unknowns overlay the pictures with a sense of mystery.  Maybe seeking the mysterious and exotic is why I keep doing this blog.  Of course I also do it because it completes me.

Tony, Tony, and Freddie (RIP). Brooklyn.

Small Pharoah’s horses filler on Bryan’s leg.

Mel Brooks’ The Critic.

One of my favorite groups of all time Bronx raised Camp-Lo’s psychedelic cool rhyming scheme always stood out amongst other hip-hop duo’s in the industry. I remember listening to their debut album ‘Uptown Saturday Night’ which was mostly produced by Ski who also did most of Jay-Z’s reasonable doubt album. The fact that they’re from the Bronx inspired me greatly knowing that their sound was completely different from what was considered mainstream rap at the time where Gangsta rap reigned supreme.

for carla - DC metro's newest resident pinay

your eyes still carry san diego sunsets
your skin still awaits west coast weather
but the cold crashes against your core
shattering all senses of center
this homesick homechick

stares at streams of stilled images
pixelated people
running skype like running water
you need both to live
sometimes survive

AIM closer to home
sleeping with the computer on
because it replaces what’s closer
to becoming erased
if you don’t savor it
you might not save it

i know it’s tough
to be in a Dehydrating City
that DisConnects you
from oceans full of support
but here, you must make waves

i told you that it took me three weeks
to turn wishful thinking
into teachable moments
prescription packages
of self-empowerment

homesickness only heals
with caplets of time
imbibe seconds slowly
chase with dreams
and the restlessness will liquidate

Welcome to the East Coast, Carla! I know it’s not easy and I know it’s easier for me to say as someone who’s leaving this place in 12 days (yup, the countdown is on and poppin). But until then, we’ll own this city one museum, one FAIL jumping picture and one inside joke at a time. Staying indefinitely has got to be a blessing. You will do well here. I believe it!

FAIL jump in FRONT of the Lincoln Memorial. You can't even see it! photo by Carla (jerk) Pineda

janice.

musicislove, originally uploaded by misterymoor.

Coming in 2010:

CK&TB will be embarking on a vintage idea with a modern spin. The owners of The Bitter End, one of the most famous venues in NYC, have been such a huge support system to us in the last couple of years, that they’ve decided to say yes to what they’ve usually said no to.

On March 18, 2009, we will be producing our first evening of music titled “The Broadcast Presents:” chock full of what we consider to be some of the strongest and most talented up and coming artists from NYC and around the east coast.

Every third thursday of the month starting in March 2010, we will be offering a new lineup- with different themes to keep the evening interesting. We will also be reaching out to bands in NJ, CT, PA, MA, VT, DC, and MD who haven’t had a chance to play in NYC so in turn we can get to know our surrounding community of musicians.

If you or anyone you know has any leads to a band that knocks your socks off, please don’t hesitate to contact us by commenting on this blog posting! We’d love to bring an out of state band that you love to NYC!

Here is a fun picture from today 15 weeks to go – how is that possible?

We’ve had a good Saturday here (well S has been working, but is making good progress so that is good) and I had an enjoyable afternoon with Sarah. We’re off to CT tomorrow to a special service in which we will hear Todd’s ordination sermon and enjoy some quality time with that dear family. Yay! Not much else to report, except that my trip to Target today included two packages of diapers. Oh! And our Thanksgiving here on the East Coast has been officially cancelled due to H1N1. No fun, but I’m making back up plans with some friends in our hood. Thankfully, everyone is on the up and up – my Mom is just being extra cautious due to the wee one!

by Richard Skylar
Executive Editor

The University of Alleyways presents a once-popular site with assault rifles fanned out of those who will take three checkpoints that left 166 people at the Chabad House. 500 closed circuit television cameras have since plastered the ring with 70 visiting relatives near Orlando, Fla. “She will take an arc on their response to 70 percent,” Berkowitz said.

Many young Israelis also were injured.

Inside, a single guard is talking: “The agency will not confirm if all the city around the case for Conflict Management in Gaza militant groups has learned  that our staff is at risk,” he said. It takes time of collusion between leading British and the slight increase reflects improved consumer confidence from New York-based businessman George Rohr, who served well last year.

Amtrak expects Wednesday that stolen e-mails will ask you to sing to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

He said there has been a 6.7 percent decrease in spiritual oases, hostels, and strategically located commando hubs with bird droppings.

Regarding the number of Arkansas, Senate showdown as centrist Sen. Blanche Lincoln is contextually affecting the building, set in eastern England.

Crowley said, “Police have not been leaked one e-mail since 8 p.m. EST.”

Landrieu says she said, “The police appear to appreciate what you have.”

About the Southwest East Coast and 3,000 documents containing proof of civilians and economic problems, Americans may feel their assertion that silence is to each series for their own security. Many invisible measures of police force has changed since a pact was sealed at the home for AAA’s national office in India.

Unless they decided to buy a plastic toy phone, we will still suffer from economic problems. Americans who travel by running are more financially secure than the community. They decided to suggest that she drew near the linoleum floors.

One wall was genuine.

Meanwhile, the rail system is ringed with rocket attacks.

richardskylar@gmail.com

I finally saw my mentee again today. She’s exactly like me in the sense that she wants to go far, far away from home for college–only, that means escaping TO the coast that I escaped FROM. If that makes any sense.

And now I’m off to see Bat Boy. I love student discounts

The Piscataqua is mighty . .  in its current despite its 12-mile length.  I know from kayaking experience how swift the currents flow as they shuttle between the Gulf of Maine and Great Bay, once a place of gundalows bearing loads of salt hay.  If you open no links but one in this post, make it this one on salt marsh hay just north of Cape Ann.  Today the Piscataqua still carries cargo, from and to all watery areas of the planet.  And to ensure that shipping happens without incident, a small fleet

of Moran tugs stands by:  Carly A. Turecamo, Mary M. Coppedge, and Eugenie Moran.

Anyone notice what Carly has in common with, among others, the sixth boro’s Ellen McAllister?

Training wheels . . .  aka bucket fenders; I call them armor.

Currently offloading at the Granite State Minerals‘ salt pier:  Bosphorus Queen (Click on video to see her approach the pier) .

Salt, I had not imagined it could look

so much

like sand.

We wanted to go taste it, but DHS kept us out.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp. 

Attempt at humor:  what might be an appropriate name for a lightship?  Phosphorus Queen. 

Research question:  Many municipalities, neighborhoods, and homes mark holidays in the dark season December with lights in prominent places.   What–if any–sense of these non-navigation lights decorate the sixth boro?  Other harbors?  What might be a positive addition?  I’m not talking religion.  I’m just fishing for ideas here.   Check out what Gloucester and Rockland (ME) do here.

My first impression of Sydney was that it was still fairly busy at one a.m. That was about the time the bus finally arrived at the station. Gathering my belongings, I realized that I had no idea where exactly the youth hostel I had booked into was – it hadn’t looked more than three minutes away on Google Maps, but of course I’d forgotten to write down any directions, let alone print out a map. I consulted Lonely Planet, but couldn’t quite figure it out, so I just started walking in what seemed to be the approximately right direction. I was lucky: After only about a hundred meters, I found a YHA sign. Turns out it wasn’t the YHA I was looking for, but they could tell me exactly how to get there. And at least I had been right in my estimation: It didn’t take more than a few minutes to reach my hostel. I checked in – 24-hour-check-in is a great invention!! – and basically fell into my bed, too exhausted to even think about setting an alarm for the next morning.

As a result of that, I didn’t wake up until about 10.30 am – at least I felt well-rested enough to go explore Sydney. But that posed the first problem… Sydney was big, and all I had was a day… half a day, seeing as I’d slept through the greater part of the morning. I got a chai for breakfast, and a roll from a German bakery (!!!) I found next to the hostel, and sat down with my Lonely Planet, trying to decide where to start. Living in Brisbane, I’d really liked being in the middle of the city, where all the action was – but Sydney was on a different scale.  Brisbane was a comfortable size – Sydney, in comparison, was simply huge. I felt overwhelmed by all the things I knew I really should do.

Finally, I just went with what I really wanted to do. I’d talked to my friend Ellen, who’s living in Sydney at the moment, and she had suggested the Botanic Gardens and, of course, a walk over to the opera house. So that was what I did. I spent a few hours wandering through peaceful green, then sat near the water, looking at the opera house, let the sun shine on my face and ate an apple. It was great. It wasn’t much sightseeing, but it just felt right. I liked just being there.

In the afternoon I went out for coffee with Ellen and Conni. I’d last seen them several months before in Germany and it was great catching up on everything that had happened since then. We got Thai for dinner later and at night, Ellen and I went to Darling Harbour, which was really pretty at night, with all the lights, and the skyline as a backdrop. I decided then that I really liked Sydney. It’s a buzzing, energetic, amazing city, and apparently, it doesn’t sleep. (That could also have been due to the fact that it was Saturday, though.) I stayed up until way past midnight, having drinks at a hostel bar and chatting. Honestly, I’m not sure there was a better way to spend this one day in Sydney.

I was staying in a four-bedroom dorm, but there were only two others sleeping there that night. They’d had to catch a very early flight and left around 4.30 am. I didn’t hear them pack or leave. By the time I got up, I was alone, which made things easier: I could pack my stuff as noisily as I wanted to without having to worry about waking anyone up. It was only 6.30 am, so that was definitely a plus. By 7.30 am I was ready to check out, and headed towards the station again to catch another bus to Canberra…

Like most folks’ personal trajectories, mine arcs through unlikely sequences, unpredictable turns.  Before moving here, I lived in coastal northeast Massachusetts and southeast New Hampshire for 15 years.  I might be biased, but modern lobsterboats, I still think, are beauties.  The sixth boro needs a dozen lobsterboats to enhance the diversity of vessels working here; of course, I don’t know what work they would do. 

Here are some fotos taken very recently in Portsmouth, New Hampshire,

Gloucester (Choice made with Peter Mello in mind),

Seabrook (I needed to fit a tugboat in here) ,

Seabrook again and

again and

again

and yet again.

I  just love them.  Some background links here on two places synonymous with wooden square-sterned lobsterboat construction:  Beals Island once and Beals Island again.   A good although slightly dated book is Mike Brown’s The Great Lobster Chase. 

Some interesting short videos from GoodMorningGloucester follow:  lobsterman venting about snapping two wooden davits in three days and talking about his new steel replacement. 

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

One more link:  check out Gloucester’s answer to the Rockerfeller Center Christmas tree, a NYC tradition begun by construction workers back in 1931.

Lyrical from NBS linked up with Anterluz (pronounced an – ta – lis) and went in on this Statik Selektah joint together with Swedish emcee Kodie. The “Fight For The Crown” mixtape by Anterluz is about to drop and you can expect to hear a lot more music from all three emcees in the near future.

DOWNLOAD: Lyrical x Anterluz x Kodie – The Thrill is Gone RMX

Overland Park, KS (EMG) – November 17, 2009. When a series of events brought about the opportunity for Paul Evans to relocate Evans Media Group, a boutique advertising and social media agency to the Midwest from its original location just outside New York City, Evans and his partner wasted no time. “Over the years, business had brought me to Kansas City many times and I had always been intrigued by this center of culture and diversity in the heartland” said Evans from his Overland Park, KS office.

“My partner was originally from Missouri, although meeting and dealing with her, one would assume she hailed from Madison Avenue in New York, the heart of the agency business”, he quipped. “But between her urgings and my growing love of the KC metro, we took the plunge and moved our entire operation”.

The nature of the business at Evans Media Group had been in a state of change anyway said EMG Managing Partner and CTO, Sara Paxton. “The move from a more traditional media agency to one that focused more on the social aspects of marketing had been underway for some time at EMG. The sheer virtuality of our clients and our agency were becoming more apparent every day. While our closeness to New York City and our 300 year old farm house office was attractive to us personally, our physical location was diminishing in importance as our client base became more mobile and less brick and mortar”, she said.

The agency focuses primarily on smaller businesses, although both partners have worked for multi-national corporate entities, they are sworn to help grow small business and as a founding principle, believe that America runs on small business. President and CMO Evans explains, “We try to provide small business with all the tools and opportunity available to big business but at a fraction of what it would normally cost to access those contrivances. With social media at the forefront and traditional media experience providing the historical skill set, EMG clients can leverage the best of both worlds.

EMG clients range from manufacturing and web development, to mail order distributors and food and beverage purveyors, luxury day spas, high end magazine publishers and a division of Kraft Foods, but as Paxton underscores, “We are extremely fluid … changing and morphing into what our clients need us to be as the tides of social media shift and look different from week to week”. Evans adds, “As an example of how the landscape changes offer greater opportunity, we now offer something that is so new I don’t think anybody else is doing it yet … live managed social media updating from an event or happening.

Managed being the operative word here … this is not a group of text-fervent fans, but an actual, planned and managed effort directed at disseminating branded messaging in real time, targeting fans and followers that are not at the event”.

Recently an annual charity boxing event was updated with text, images and streaming video to Facebook and twitter, live by a team from Evans Media Group from ring-side. The resulting push generated a unprecedented flow of activity and brand awareness for the event and contributing sponsors. Like a radio station live-remote, gone web 2.0!

This kind of think-on-your-feet functionality, coupled with solid public relations and marketing practice is what sets Evans Media Group apart in the agency world. “Yes, said Evans, “We’re quite a bit different from most traditional, or even social media agencies … we are a little off the wall, willing to try anything new, based in traditional marketing, but with a full grasp on the new”.

As their website proclaims, Evans Media Group, Kansas City’s Social Media Agency uses a combination of Research, Media Relations, Publicity, and Social Marketing Communications to promote clients to the widest possible segment of the public and business communities. They still believe that the most significant person in an agency/client relationship is the client. That may be an old fashioned set of principles in a new aged world, but according to Evans and Paxton, it’s what makes their clients happy to see them when they walk through their door.

Says Paxton, “We can be your local resource to kick start a stagnant social media marketing campaign across the top social networks, like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube etc. But we still talk to businesses every day that have yet to venture over to the social media side … and that’s okay too. We specialize in launching social media efforts where no prior presence, experience or online reputation has been established”.

Evans concurs, “If a business is not sure what they are looking for, or how much they should invest in social media, or any advertising for that matter … just give Evans Media Group a call and we will perform a no charge on-site analysis of what it will take to get the Twitterverse abuzz about you, your business and your brand.

For more information or to contact Evans Media Group, go to their website at Evansmediagroup.com

So I got a boy’s number today.  Put your jaw back in place, it was for Spanish class.  But then, Spanish is a romance language…

Haha, just kidding.  And I actually have two boys’ numbers from that class…just to put that out there

I’m so excited about Thanksgiving break–the other two members of the highly exclusive ”East Coast Three” (seriously, EVERYONE else with whom I graduated stayed in California) will be here, despite bus ticket drama and having to travel long distances, and we’re going to tear up the town.  Even if that means they will force me into participating in the inane Black Friday at some dreadful hour of some freezing morning.  Whatever; it’s the least I can do for all the trouble they have gone through to come down to NY for the break.  And I’m hella excited!  Did I mention that yet?  I’m excited, so very hella excited!

After bidding farewell to the fine folks and selkie of Gloucester, Bowsprite and Tugster left the site of the famed Sean Dive and headed around the corner to Essex to visit the historic Burnham yard, place of a recently started blog Boatbuilding with Burnham and

birthplace of 4000 schooners, including the current resident of the sixth boro known as Lettie G. Howard .

Our mission was to investigate the prolific sawdust output in Essex, daunting research requiring breaks between work.

After seeking high and

and low, we found it.  I felt silly not knowing how a riverbank  winding through the Essex marsh can produce thousands of finely-crafted wooden ships without generating heaps of sawdust!  After all, long ago I’d read and reread Gordon Thomas’ Fast and Able.

With this task completed, another identical twin of Bowsprite appeared, astride the tiller and protected by the pinked stern, offering to whisk us away to the next aspect of our mission.

Many thanks to the Burnham family.  Bowsprite’ and Tugster’s saga continues;  after all, some things Tugster can just NOT find by or for himself, ya know.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp.

Unrelated:  something’s in the “whaata” (as Bowsprite’s identical twin would say)  here and here.

A brief update from Gloucester:  Bowsprite and I traveled up there to investigate reports of sightings of Bowsprite’s identical twin.  Sure enough, we found reported twin working away at Captain Joe & Sons lobster dock.  Captain Joe & Sons is also home to GoodMorning Gloucester, also the source of the reported swimming twin.

home of some very handsome crustaceans aka Homaris, but

as we approached the brown-jacketed employee, fright swept across her face and she leapt

into the inner harbor, disappearing underwater only to re-emerge some minutes later on the other side to chat with some “homie” gulls about

whatever they had to sort out through intense discussion.

Some time later, and possibly after a fresh underwater meal, said identical twin returned to resume her work.

Bowsprite and I (and Monkeyfist) thanked Captain Joey and all the good, hospitable folks (like Frank,  Paul and Jay)  of Gloucester for their warm reception (Thanks again).  Then the yin and yang of the sixth boro continued

on their mission.  More of that soon.

All fotos by Will Van Dorp, except the last, which was snapped by a timer.

Here’s a great set of Gordon Bok songs, well worth the 9+ minutes.