Gorky night
Nighttime at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, featuring the work of Arshile Gorky through Jan. 10, 2010. From the museum’s Web site: Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective celebrates the extraordinary life and work of Arshile Gorky (about 1902–1948), a seminal figure in the movement toward abstraction that transformed American art. This exhibition, which includes about 178 works of art, surveys Gorky’s entire career from the early 1920s until his death by suicide in 1948. The retrospective includes paintings, sculpture, prints, and drawings — some of which are being shown for the first time — and reveals Gorky’s development as an artist and the evolution of his singular visual vocabulary and mature painting style.
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Tags: abstraction, arshile gorky, Philadelphia, philadelphia museum of art, rocky steps
Ambitious cat
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Tags: cats, great blue heron, humor, manayunk, Philadelphia
Parade of Rockys


A horde of robed “Rockys” gathers around their hero Sunday morning at the top of the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps made famous in the “Rocky” movies. They were among more than 200 people who answered a call to take part in a Parade of 1,000 Rockys, which led from the LOVE statue near Philadelphia City Hall, up the Ben Franklin Parkway to the museum steps. The event, designed to promote the release of a boxed set of the movies on Blu-ray, included a look-alike contest, cheesesteak-eating contest, music by the Irish-American String Band, and other Rockycentric activities.
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Tags: cheesesteaks, humor, irish-american string band, parade, parade of rockys, Philadelphia, philadelphia museum of art, Rocky, rocky balboa
Kline, for the plaintiff

Philadelphia attorney Tom Kline questions his “client” in a mock trial held Nov. 5, 2009, during a benefit for the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania in the grand ballroom of the Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue. Also taking part as a jury member was Nancy Giles (left), commentator on the Sunday Morning program on CBS. More photos from the fundraiser here. The jury heard the case of a food-service worker with AIDS who lost her job because she cut her finger in the kitchen — a case based on real-life cases handled by the AIDS Law Project.
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Tags: AIDS Law Project, AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania, CBS Sunday Morning, fundraiser, Kline & Specter, Nancy Giles
2 types of baseball fans


A good-natured Yankees fan submits to an assault of silly string late in Game 3 at Citizens Bank Park on Oct. 31, 2009. A couple of adults in Section 109 goaded a kid about 10 years old to shoot the string at a pair of Yankees fans several rows down. The kid cooperated with conspiratorial glee, but instead of showing irritation, the two fans laughed and adopted a bring-it-on attitude, perhaps influenced by their team’s imminent victory. The Yankees won, 8-5.
The Yankees fans’ response was a happy counterpoint to the foul temper shown in the second inning by a Phillies fan seated in Section 110. When five Yankee fans seated behind him started hooting for their team — and one of them had an especially piercing scream — the Phillies fan stood up, beer in hand, and began a loud and vicious tirade against this small group. He screamed that they were in HIS house and he wasn’t going to tolerate their screaming while they were in HIS house.
This guy was trembling with rage. He was dressed in a Phillies jersey, a street-tough leanness to him, and as he stood there screaming he seemed to be a nanosecond away from violence. It was scary.
The Yankees fans made barely a peep the rest of the game.
What someone needed to tell that Phillie thug was that it isn’t just HIS house. The ballpark is the house of every other fan, too, and fortunately the vast majority of fans are not of his ilk, loud and visible as his ilk is.
The silly string Yankees fans had class; the Phillies fan was an example of why the city’s reputation is what it is around the country.
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Tags: fans, humor, Phillies, sportsmanship, World Series, yankees
Queasy pumpkin
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Tags: halloween, humor, jack-o-lantern
Steppin’ out, Halloween style
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Tags: halloween, humor, narberth, parade
Halloween show of farce

Halloween decorating thrives in city and suburb, but people who don’t stray outside the urban limits might be surprised to see the competitive yard decor in rural areas. The canvas is bigger; a witch on a front door doesn’t fly far in making a holiday statement. But if you can incorporate a little off-color humor AND a harvest theme — well, you’ve earned some local buzz. This cheeky display is north of Bloomsburg in Columbia County, Pa.
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Tags: columbia county, halloween, harvest, humor, mooning, PA, pennsylvania, pumpkins, rural, scarecrow
Pandemic phever
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Tags: baseball, humor, pennant, Philadelphia, Phillies, playoffs, World Series
Ach, du lieber

Hot-air balloon landings come with a degree of randomness that sometimes produces curious juxtapositions, as was the case on Oct. 9 when a balloon depicting Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate found itself sharing roadside space with a giant chipmunk. My 3-minute show of Balloon Fiesta launches, landings and nighttime glowing is here.
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Tags: albuquerque, balloon fiesta, balloons, brandenburg gate, hot air balloons, new mexico






