Kelsy's Travels with Camera

A visual recap of my 2011 travels:

Ah Niagara:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelsyc/sets/72157628249146555/

Shuffle Off to Buffalo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelsyc/sets/72157628213223083/

Disarming Taiwan:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelsyc/sets/72157627483614485/

Time Travel to Hong Kong:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelsyc/sets/72157627483836411/

The Independent Conch Republic (aka Key West):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelsyc/sets/72157628191440739/

Milwaukee, Cream City:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelsyc/sets/72157627406187040/

Central Mexico, Where the Colorful Things Are:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelsyc/sets/72157627045521640/

Wise words from NYC's Mayor on Marriage Equality

June 24, 2011:

STATEMENT OF MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG ON STATE SENATE PASSAGE OF MARRIAGE EQUALITY LEGISLATION

“Today’s passage in the New York State Senate of legislation recognizing the right of couples to marry regardless of their gender is a historic triumph for equality and freedom. New York has always been a leader in movements to extend freedom and equality to people who had been denied full membership in the American family. By welcoming all people – no matter where they are from, what faith or philosophy they follow, or whom they love – New York became the strongest, most dynamic city in the world. And today, we are even stronger than we were yesterday.

“In recent weeks, I have had many conversations with our State Senators. I emphasized that not only is marriage equality consistent with bedrock American principles, but it is also consistent with bedrock Republican Party principles of liberty and freedom – and the Republicans who stood up today for those principles will long be remembered for their courage, foresight, and wisdom. In fact, 10 or 20 or 30 years from now, I believe they will look back at this vote as one of their finest, proudest moments.

“I want to thank the Senators for graciously taking the time to talk with me over the past few weeks, and for approaching this issue so thoughtfully and honestly. Based on my conversations with senators, I was fully convinced that if we could get a bill to the floor for a vote, we would have marriage equality in New York State. So I want to thank Majority Leader Skelos for allowing democracy to work – and allowing the will of the people to be done. And I especially want to thank Senators McDonald, Alesi, Saland and Grisanti for having the courage of their convictions and bringing this historic change to New York.

“The passage of this bill is the culmination of a decades-long struggle for equality by gay and lesbian New Yorkers. Although there are too many people to acknowledge and thank, I want to express special appreciation to Governor Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Silver for their leadership, and to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has been a tireless and passionate advocate for gay and lesbian rights for many years. Together, we have taken the next big step on our national journey toward a more perfect union.”

"Reality Check" premiere party - April 7

Dear Friends, Supporters & Collaborators,

After months of post-production and all of your gracious support and patience as we move through the process....

We are happy to invite you to a private premiere screening
of our new short film "Reality Check"!
Sneak Peek: http://www.youtube.com/kelsycc#p/a/u/0/d4FqwUqtPiI

Thursday, April 7th
Party at 6pm, Screening at 7:30pm

Fontana's New York City
105 Eldridge St.

Chinatown/Lower East Side, (b/t Broome & Grand)
Subway: B,D to Grand; F to Delancey
Cash bar. We'll provide light appetizers because we love you.

It's been a fun and exciting project and we're so proud of the final product, which was completed with the help of our many contributors and collaborators.

We hope you can join us!

Kelsy & Lauren
Over/Under Productions
www.overunderpresents.com <http://www.overunderpresents.com>

I'm officially an LLC!

I incorporated and all I got was this crummy paperwork... But at least it's super cool to be official!  And have a pretty website to go with it, well, and a new short movie we're wrapping production on this weekend.

That's me in the red. I feel this is my most directorly stance.

Making a movie takes money... good thing mine is a charity!

Party info for July 29th!  or please contribute (tax-deductible!) at http://www.indiegogo.com/Reality-Check

Learning the meaning of 'crowdsourcing'

It's a new term in the artist's lexicon: Crowdsourcing.  It means gathering the steam of many as source of assistance. In this case, it means my co-producer Lauren LoGiudice and I are trying to have an actual budget for our upcoming short film shoot. It borders on nerve-racking, but hopefully will end up entirely promising....

see more about "Reality Check" on Facebook or at www.overunderpresents.com...

My new short film is complete - please check out the trailer!

Great news: My latest movie is complete!  

You can now view a trailer of "Yes and No" on its IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1663233/ and on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeL9Iz02lMo

And as one project ends...another begins. Lauren and I are in pre-production for our next comedy short, “Reality Check,” for which we are planning a midsummer fundraiser that we hope will allow for early August production.  Check out “Current Projects” on our new website for more: www.overunderpresents.com 

Please let us know if you're interested in being part of the filmmaking or funding party!

Now doesn't this seem intriguing....

JetBlue special Long Beach Pride flight

Check out photos from the first-ever "JetPride" event, as shot by yours truly: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jetblue/sets/72157623956194747/

 

India - land of way too much racket!

India. Oh lordy.
 

Benefit March 22 for Dublin LGBT Theatre Fest!

check it.

http://dublinbenefit.blogspot.com/

Website, Redux

My website is officially relaunched, folks!  come see it and tell me what you think if you please....
 http://www.kelsychauvin.com   (designed by Aaron Howard, Seattle)

The Screenshot I Thought I'd Never See - Who Dat?!

On January 25th I was so excited the Saints were going to the Super Bowl I never even considered they might win. But then....what the??  Who IS Dat?? That's right kids -- on Sunday, February 7th, the voodoo curse that my mom once thought was suppressing the victorious Saints was lifted!  And here's the screenshot from that night....


Gumbo and hurricanes (the beverage) for everyone!

And if you missed Drew Brees on Ellen, it's worth a look if only to see his undies.

The New Orleans Saints and Divine Intervention

Yesterday there was a shift in the cosmos.
The New Orleans Saints, invented in 1967, a team whose only consistency was in last-minute losses, won the NFC Conference title and IS GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL.

Again: the SUPER BOWL.  The SAINTS.

Holy fried oyster poboys ya'll!

There is no doubt in my mind that divine forces were deeply at work in the Superdome on January 24, 2010.  Simple proof was that Brett Favre, the opposing star QB, was about ready to throw the final touchdown in the last few seconds of the game. He threw an interception. There was overtime. There was a field goal. There was a miracle.

Where the Saints are, otherworldly forces are always at work.

From what I hear, Bourbon Street ran out of liquor last night, fireworks and assorted hooting kept my parents awake, the whole of southern Louisiana called in sick to work, and Walmart sold out of Saints swag faster than Budweiser tallboy halfracks before a hurricane.

So suddenly this fleur-de-lis tattoo I've had on my forearm since 2005 is team spirit....

GO SAINTS!

I found a new Final Cut Motion function today, and it has the perfect name. I sought out the function to use it, but instead I found verbal gold. "Random Fade Out. "

The U.S. Postal Service as a reflection of U.S. Government

I am freshly back from the post office down the street. The line was long as usual for window service, so I went to the automated postage machine, only to find on the final screen that the printer was broken. I added myself to the window line with all the other suckers who occasionally are forced to use U.S. mail.

There were about a dozen of us in the switchback line while one clerk staffed a window, casually chatting with someone about Express Mail and money orders and I think the weather and possibly what's upcoming on the next Big Brother season.

Then the Woman in Pink came out. She's a fairly frightening woman - older, grey dreadlocks, always in the same pink cardigan when she comes out for her patrols. She circled us cattle stuck in the line, peering at our parcels before shouting "I can help people with pickups only - anybody got a pickup?"  Silence, then someone shouted "How about stamps?"  Her reply was "I answered that with the first thing I said."

It struck me how much the Postal Service is a reflection of our American government:

-Lines are always so long and service so cold, we just get used to it.
-The word "apathy" comes to mind every 10 seconds or so while in those lines.
-Customers continually commisserate, gossip, look and re-look at their parcels, sigh with pain.
-There are 25 signs posted per square foot in the post office, but nary a one answers my question. Hence, "Get in the line."
-Upon reaching the window, it's a crap shoot. They may be out of stamps, out of change, out of receipt printer toner, computer's down, or generally unsure what would be the best way to have my parcel reach its destination - so may as well send it priority.
-The word "hopeless" replaces "apathy."

And in the end, it took me two lines and 12 minutes to mail a "package" (NOT an envelope because it's 6x9" and rigid thankyou) for 78 cents.  Next time I'm using the pony express.

Film production company official: We have a logo!

It's a big day for Over/Under Productions!

New Logo by illustrator Jason Basse -- feedback welcome...

Random quotation marks

Someone please tell me why the quote marks are necessary on this sorry little bathroom sign? What would possess even a non-native-English speaker to arbitrarily throw quotation marks into this sign?  I'll Accept The Random Capitalizations (which, as if by chance, are almost all correct if this were a headline), but even putting my "grammarian side to the side," there's no reason for "quote marks on this sign."  I don't even have a theory as to why the typist "would consider" or "even bother."  Your Thoughts Are Welcome.

Goverthing: Is it real, or is it Memorex?

Goverthing's jukebox, still functioning, filled with the same song by the local "Nightingale"

I experienced the 'archaeological dig' on Governors Island a few weeks back, and was completely entranced by the bizarreness of this town's reality.  Now, after a few conversations and a little research about it's authenticity, I might feel duped. I'm not sure yet.   But this quote from a NY Times article about Goverthing -- from Geert Hautekiet, the Exhibition Specialist in charge out there -- is not helping Goverthing real-dealiness: “And also, maybe, that you should never trust Belgians,” he added, smiling. “But that’s off the record.”  (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/19/arts/19archaeology.html)

Your input on this matter is welcome. I'll even keep a log of votes: Real or Memorex?

NYC has no escape. Just go for a day trip to see how everyone comes with you.

Journeys in photography

Have a look at some shots from some of my latest journeys...

www.flickr.com/photos/kelsyc

The saddest train in the world 

BAM on pink
The Wonderous Wonder Wheel

The Wonderous Wonder Wheel
The Wonderous Wonder Wheel

Thought of the Day

Why does the muse only visit me when I'm doing something else?

Compress This, Pal

He said they don’t make ’em like they used to. Only, he didn’t say it in a stereotypical–Maytag repairman way. This guy--Tomas--was a very, ahem, well-built fellow, I believe from Puerto Rico or at least Spanish-speaking Bronx.

What he really said was, “Jew know this used to be a big-dog company, Frigidaire. But they like all the rest of them. They don’t make them very good no more because…jew know, ’frigerators used to last 20, 30 years, but the big companies don’t make no money. So now you get this, and people have to go spend six, seven hundred dollars every couple of years.”

The short of it is, after 1.5 days of making some funky rattling sound off-and-on that I chose to ignore--much like I do a wanky subway conversation—the fridge died. Did I notice that every sip I took of Brita water was increasingly lukewarm? Did I bother to check on whether or not I still had the fridge’s warranty? Did I even mildly let it concern me?

It took the puddle slowly washing over the kitchen floor to provoke me, finally. I busted out Frigidaire.com and next thing you know, Tomas was on his way--a happy turn of events for 4 p.m. on the Friday of Pride weekend.

Thirty-five bucks “just for him to walk in the door” I believe was how the saucy wench on the phone put it. This is how it played out once he got here: He pulled the fridge out (appx. 5 seconds), he took off the base board on the back (appx. 7 seconds), then he tapped on the round black metal boxy thing and said, “Jew see that? That’s the compressor.”

Me: “Yeah?”

Him: “That’s not working.”

Me: “OK.”

Then a little this-and-that, followed by Him: “$250.” (Whole exchange: appx. 90 seconds)

At the very least, and bless his well-cardio’d heart, Tomas said he can replace “the compressor” tomorrow. (As for the quotes there, for all I know of the inner workings of major appliances he might as well have called it a rotator plug or johnson rod or WMD.)

So I guess it’s warm beer tonight.

Subway Seniority

The Q train was barely crowded--nobody really needed to stand.

The Q line uses the trains that have sideway seats at each window, flanked by a three-person, orange-and-yellow bench seats. Normally on this train I prefer the window seats so I can check out NY Harbor on my way over the Manhattan Bridge, but I was lucky enough to find a three-person bench with only one person on it. Curiously, he was in the middle seat. Normally, once someone occupies a seat on either side of you in those benches, the original person will slide over so there’s some elbow room.

Not so with this guy. He held his ground, wouldn’t budge, and wouldn’t spare an inch for the sake of a total stranger’s comfort. I tried to distract myself with reading but it wouldn’t take. So I spent the ride silently cursing his selfish bastardness.

Three weeks later I get onto a similarly crowded Q train, and I luck out again and nab a three-person bench for myself. Naturally, I take the end where I’m able to lean on the steel armrest--a choice that completely follows the unspoken rule of train-seating seniority. Only, it was one of the first hot days of summer, and the woman who’d just disembarked left the seat awkwardly hot. So I scooted over the hump into the middle seat and the train moves out.

Moments later a tall man comes out of nowhere and squeezes into the hot seat between me and the armrest.

Now, at this point I was in a quandary: Do I scoot over to the other end seat and make the tall, scary man sitting in the sideway seat move his pointy knees over? Do I straddle the seat-divider hump to give both me and the new guy more room, and suffer the uncomfortable divider?

I looked around to see if there were really no other seats this new guy could’ve taken--and aha! There were plenty of seats just screaming to be taken first. “He sat here just because he thought I’d scoot over. The nerve!” Then spite sank in, and from that point on I was determined not to move a muscle.

There I sat, waiting for the broad-shouldered bastard to leave so I could spread out again. I was vindicated finally when he got off the train one stop before me.

The Racket in the Hallway

When I had a day job I always wondered what went on in my building from 8am to 6pm. Now I know: Maintenance guys having fun, sometimes doing work-like stuff, and generally making a racket because they think no one's home.

I think I'll go out and give 'em a shock...