newyorkette

Astroland. (Polaroid by carolita johnson)

Take a book, bring a sweater, and get on the subway (D, F, N, Q) to the newly renovated Stillwell Avenue. Options for the long ride include getting on your knees on the seats and looking out the window while singing “chim-chimeree” and looking for Smoky the Bear on the rooftops (my mother’s ploy for keeping us busy when we were kids — “Ooh, look, it’s Smokey the Bear!” “Where? Where?”), or sleeping upright in your seat once you’ve finished the paper or tired of your book. When you wake up (but do try not to fall asleep before you get a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty in the distance), get off the train and go straight to Nathan’s where, whether you’re on a diet or not, you must have a hearty meal of a hot dog and those nice thick fries complete with little red plastic pitchfork.

Make sure to finish the fries, each fry is like a little radiator that will keep you warmer that much longer. Get back outside while you’re still hot. It may be spring, but it’s the seaside, and it’s colder there.

It hasn’t been the same for me since the carousel closed (hopefully it will be back, since Bloomberg bought it at auction last year), and it will never be the same after this year: Astroland has been sold and is opening for its last season this Sunday, April 1st.

If you’re feeling extra-hardy, take a walk along the boardwalk to Brighton Beach and have some vodka or a hot meal at my favorite varyniki place: Varenichnaya (or “Bapehuku,” as I used to think it was calledl!)

Gothamist: Astroland gets ready for last opening.

(This is a custom cartoon drawn for the event’s invitation and the poster you’ll see in the pictures below.) Click on the image to see a larger version.

Well, the hiatus was interrupted by a day and a quarter in San Francisco this past week, on a cartoonist booking for Bloomingdales’ launch of the Nike/Cole Haan shoe line! I’d prepared a bunch of shoe-themed cartoons to draw in case I wasn’t actually asked to draw portraits, but was delivered of that plan within five minutes (phew! Doing twenty cartoon portraits is far easier and more fun than drawing twenty custom cartoons! ). So, two and a half hours of portraits were punctuated by some rather nice cocktails and some delicious little hors d’oeuvres, all to the beat of a DJ who played Prince enough to make it cool. (Note that the difference between caricatures and what I do is that I draw people as they would look in one of my cartoons. Usually more attractive than a caricature!)

Here are some pictures! (Click on the images to see larger versions on flickr.com)

This lady wanted me to draw her with a thought bubble in which she’s dreaming about a new handbag.

These three are actually San Francisco branch versions of Conde Nast employees — like the Bizarro version of their New York homologues: younger, or perhaps less New Yorked out, more innocent? I think they all requested that I make their noses look smaller!

(Seems to be an obsession in SF — I noticed a lot of people I drew had the same nose!)
(And eyes, for that matter! Californians in general are more laid back socially than their New York counterparts, and, oddly enough, they seem to need the features of their face to be as unassuming as their personalities… I guess this is a rather benign, and even generous impulse, but still a little disconcerting to a mutt like me! I kept remembering that episode of the Twilight Zone, where everyone was beautiful by law.)

And here is Ben Milligan from The New Yorker (who arranged the whole trip and made sure I got there on time and in one piece). Thanks, Ben!

And thanks to Cole Haan for the free Nike Air/Cole Haan shoes! Very cute! See their link for more info about their state of the art heels (and flats, like I wore).

(Sold — and then unsold — cartoon by carolita johnson.)

The story behind this cartoon is that it was not actually rejected! It was bought. Then it was un-bought. Why? The cartoon fact-checkers found a very similar cartoon in their archives by Charles Addams (from 1978), “nearly identical,” they said. But I haven’t seen it. In fact, I’ve searched all over the internet, but haven’t found it. Anyone? If you know where it is, I’d love to see it. In any case, I’ve been told to take comfort in the old adage, “great minds think alike.”

I might add that this cartoon was inspired by a true story.

This is the second cartoon that turned out to be nearly identical to another cartoonist’s cartoon. The first time was four years ago, and I forget who the cartoonist was, but it was a 1937 cartoon showing a man counting sheep that have fallen from exhaustion and are snoozing wherever they’ve landed on the other side of the fence. I guess there’s a reason we TNY cartoonists all come together! When we do nearly identical cartoons, I guess it means we’re all cut from the same cloth! (The same, crazy, itchy cloth!)

Let this be a lesson to everyone out there who thinks anyone has ever “stolen” their cartoon idea! Get over it!

Now, back to my chores!

UPDATE: the author of Jesus & Mo has kindly taken the time to search The Complete New Yorker in order to find the Addams cartoon in question! Here it is!
FURTHER UPDATE: I gave my cartoon to my exterminator this Saturday, which made him very happy. I just consider it giving back to my community. (I told him the story behind it, as well, which didn’t stop him from wanting it!)

(This is where Carolita was from 22 feb to 26 feb 2006, Beaver Creek, for the Humor on the Slopes event!)

Humor on the Slopes (or “HOTS”) was a lot of fun in spite of my altitude sickness! Not to be discouraged, I discovered other activities that I could enjoy to the fullest while undergoing the acclimatizing process: the jacuzzi, snow shoes, and the chair lifts. I took many, many rides on the chair lifts just for the fun of it. Went snowshoe-ing once, but found I was still breathless and had to cut it short. Was glad to see the Aspen Pines, even so.

I certainly enjoyed Colorado hospitality along with the likes of fellow TNY cartoonists Harry Bliss, Drew Dernavich, Matt Diffee, Mort Gerberg, and C. Covert Darbyshire. Enjoyed cartooning, theological debate, the Oscars, and the snow with them! The New Yorker team (sent to make sure we actually did our jobs, no doubt!) were top flight, and without them I’d never have known where to go next! Thanks Tracy, Lisa, Ed, Janine, Sean, Melissa, and that other guy (whose name I forgot to ask! but he’s swell!). Also, thanks to Sharon Fialke for suggesting me for the gig! Have I forgotten anyone? If so, it’s only because they’re no longer around me to remind me of everything!

And of course, a huge thank you to all the folks at Beaver Creek!

Please note:
Newyorkette is on a temporary hiatus, which started on Feb 21st, when her beautiful but ailing computer had to go to the shop (namely, the wonderful world of Tekserve) for repairs. Reunited with her computer since last night, Newyorkette must nevertheless now take care of both her corporate taxes (yes, newyorkette was silly enough to incorporate, for no apparent reason) and personal income taxes, with no distractions. Poor Newyorkette!
Newyorkette has no head for numbers, not even the ones she doesn’t have to add up. Numbers give her a stomachache, no doubt due to the abuse she took for being bad at math when she was a child. (Newyorkette’s parents are not to blame, however, since they didn’t know any better and, sadly, are nearly as bad at handling their money as their offspring are. Their come-uppance will come when their children have no resources to take care of them in their old age! Poor newyorkette’s parents!)

Newyorkette will be back as soon as business is taken care of! (Or at least till she files for a corporate tax extension). Or unless she begins using this blog as a procrastinatory device…

More photos from Beaver Creek here.