Only Important People Read C'est Trivial

I forgot I went to Chicago back in December. It was for Christmas and it was surely the coldest I've ever been in memory. It made the records.

Do you see my teeth gnashing just to stay warm?

I had never been to Chicago before I landed there and I found the place to be a nice reminiscent combination of the town I grew up in, Alexandria VA with the town I live in now. There is a lot of red brick in all three places and come to think of it, it gets pretty cold in all three as well. Colder than San Francisco, the town I've spent a lot of time in.

I had some moments. Ghostbuster moments. Remember that big marshmellow meltdown? It all happened outside the Chicago Museum of Art or something like that. We were in there seeing all kinds of once-in-a-lifetime (unless you live in Chicago) art by Picasso, VanGogh, Renoir. Pretty mind blowing. My favorite though was coming face to face with the Rothko they have there. How did he do it?





Meanwhile it was negative 100 degrees outside and so we traipsed over to the outdoor (why?) iceskating rink to watch the iceskating and listen to the scraping of metal on ice--my favorite sound. The iceskating happens right in the heart of the 2 billion dollar Millennium Park, a place that cost the citizens of Chicago more money than the amount of aid the United States gave for Tsunami Relief. But not to diminish the triumph of this park. It is modern and civic and probably best experienced in warmer weather. I managed to take some fun shots of the faces. Large buildings of faces. Winking, smiling, staring.



Unbeknownst to me was the ordinance against taking pictures of the "bean" as the locals call it. The bean is really called Cloud Gate and it is apparently illegal to take pictures of the thing because it is a copywritten piece of public art. What does that mean? The wonderful BoingBoing weighs in on the issue.

As usual my photographs are shit. However, I am able to at least dip a toe into the vast pool that is artistic creativity and acumen. See?



We also took in the Shedd Aquarium while we were there. Fun and informative though I never got to see the big show where the duck jumps over the bucket, I mean, when the dolphins do flips and whaterverelsehaveyounots.

And in case you were wondering, I did not see Oprah, did not get tickets to her show. I saw the floors that she owns inside the Water Tower but that was about it. Did I feel slighted? Yes bitches.