February 21, 2005: Chester Garfield is frontin'

Given the new found glory of having President's Day off (cheap? no? maybe we should have a protest), it was determined at some point that something monumental should be done.
And this was determined by me, nearly a week before hand. So you can understand the sort of expectations I had set for myself and anyone I came in contact with.

For the sake of brevity, I will address this 72 hour capsule of fun first in short form, then in its entirety (keeping in mind it is not yet the holiday itself, so there is still a whole nother day to electorally kick it)

The first, another video from the star-studded film duo. Before you criticize, I suggest you watch for Dave's blog, who intends to address various facets of its awesomeness. I would only direct you, as hilariously pointed out by Erica H, towards a moment towards the end where I magically personify my father (in appearance and gait). czech it out
President's Day (mpeg video, 20 mb)

The rest of this weekend will be presented after the jump because I feel it is too large to clutter the main page. And I understand that you, the internet, are an impatient fellow, so I offer you this (which may or may not be the only picture of me featured....?!?)

I can promise you hasidic magic school bus scrawls, hipster malls, presidential assassination/sex mash ups, and lotz more

that picture was taken late on friday, at Wo Hop, one of the more caucasian-frequented restaurants in Chinatown, but none the less still good. in my mind, should the Chinese wednesday crew ever have an opportunity to just like eat chinatown, I could die content (though I was spiteful of the group at the time, admittedly)

intially in the week, Dave J, Madeline, (Monica?) and I had grandiose plans to go to Boston, Washington D.C. or Cape Cod were all considered, but later abandoned due to lack of effort/funds. So the destination was then narrowed to Montauk. But then around 4 a.m. sunday morning, this was scrapped in favor of brooklyn. Foreign cities => long island => another borough. but I was determined (watch the video!) to have fun

there are three gates to this mythic city, two shown here are the brooklyn and manhattan bridges. it was not clear which would hold the key to the

temple of groom, but it seems like a bridge named after the intended destination is likely to send us in the right direction (yes, we were mapless carmen sandiego).

obviously we had to relish in manhattan while we could

but it was time to leave. brooklyn is unique because so many different microcosms exist within a relatively small space. I feel like I have told the story of me in Brooklyn, literally making one wrong turn and going from art galleries to the projects, many times. the idea was to go as far as we could into the belly of the beast, searching for the ideal meal. it should be noted that I feel like nearly every "journey" that I am a part of is usually food related

we passed by urban neighborhoods, empty streets, discarded trash, Kennedy Fried Chicken, we had jarritos, we saw the coolest kid in the world from my French Class, and finally we delved into Williamsburg.

williamsburg is interesting because it is part orthodox jew part hipster. the jewish part is the most concentrated representation of a religion that I have ever seen (I have never been to the middle east though). we decided their garb is pretty emo.
then we entered hipstertown! williamsburg is like the more street version of the village, where we live. did you know that there is a hipster mall? a hipster mall? the world is devouring itself inside-out, like a warner brothers cartoon character.

we eventually found a suitable restaurant, not of any specific food genre, but it had tater tots (spare me napoleon dynamite, these have been good since elementary school). after walking an estimated 7 miles, this meal could have been vomit-baguette and it would have been the best meal EVER. it is cliché, but there is nothing better than extended physical work for making food taste delicious.
also, in post-facto but pre honor of presidents day, for some reason we thought it clever to combine names of assassinators of presidents/famous people with sexual terms. I'm sure you have way more clever ones, ours were relatively bad (yet awesome?) such as sirhan sirhandjob. its like the animals game but tougher

if you are blurring your eyes at this point and watch the OC, read this
everyone remember Marissa? How could you not? Her name is the new way of referring to drinking without purpose, and her face is so ambivalently, expressively delightful. well I ask you, what would be better than, say, Marissa + Motivational Math Posters????

I love New York

then this evening it was snowing. I don't know what prompts me to take pictures and compel myself to play in the snow EVERY time it snows, but I would feel like a dingleberry if I don't. so fun was had, this time sans Dave, plus Rachel, with Madeline.

snow angels

and

it was asserted that some people under the guidance of my camera are not presented in a good light. I argued that it is all up to the subject, and we at combatrhino know well how to practice our picture face

I hope you have stayed with me, but I certainly don't mind if you haven't. I am unaccustomed to this long form. love me still