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Agent X Activities: Edie's Debut

Edie is coming of age. It's sweet, tender, and magical to witness her delicate transformation from shivering puppy to shivering dog. Agent X and N., the parents of Edie, have of late noticed a gleam in her eye and a spring in her step. Yes, it's time to explore the world beyond the nest. I am deeply honored that I was invited to witness one of Edie's very first ventures into a big, scary world - the dog run.

Washington Square Park features two dog runs admist the drug dealers and drum circles - a dog run for big dogs and a dog run for little dogs. I was a little apprehensive about releasing Edie into the little dog run because some of those dogs were NOT very little, but Agent X and N. stoically put Edie on the ground and watched as she took her tentative first steps.

They are good parents. While they kept a watchful eye on Edie, they refused to give her quarter when she wanted to hide on her parents' laps. As we all might remember from our first days of Pre-K, socializing is scary. But she did great! She gradually loosened up and started approaching some of the other, bigger dogs (and, face it, every dog is bigger than her).

After she had charmed everyone in there, it was time to go home.

Can you EVEN stand it?

Agent X Update

It's been a while since I've shared Agent X news, and that's largely because he has a new baby. To see the full skiznat on Edie, go here: Dogster. I'm so jealous of Edie's life that I really cannot write any more about it today.

Berlin aventuren!

My friend and soon to be super-famous director, Josh Marston, just got back from the Berlin Film Festival, where his film, the devastating "Maria Full of Grace" won the Silver Bear for Best Actress and Alfred Bauer Prize for Best First Film!

That's great and all, but what's best is that women from all around the world are aching for just one kiss from his strawberry lips. I'm not lying. Yea, Josh!

Agent X Redux

Agent X has had an uncanny ability to find himself in the midst of the Freedom Tower festivities. Last night at a belated birthday celebration at Wallse, the exquisite West Village Austrian/German eatery, Agent X and his friends sighted David Childs, the second architect of the soon-to-be eyesore, the Freedom Tower. Childs and his dinner companion didn't appear to be in quite as festive a mood as Liebeskind and his dinner companions were on Sunday night, but with the media blitz that he had this week, he was probably in a mellow mood.

In other news, blowhard architecture critic for the New York Times, Herbert Muschamp, is insisting that New York deserves better than the Liebekind/Childs collaboration, even though he admits that it could be worse. He's campaigning for greater abstraction and less "figurative symbolism", a la Brancusi's "The Bird".
Huh. Not bad.

I'm going to be OTR (on the road, obvs.) for the next few weeks, so posting may be sporadic, even though you'll always be in my heart.

Agent X Activities: My Love Don't Cost A Thing

Agent X treated Sock to lunch yesterday at Sarabeth's in the Whitney Museum (What? Did you think we actually worked?).

Chicken Pot Pie and Crab Cakes. I think the Chicken Pot Pie, a "Twenty-Year Classic" as described in the menu, was really the best choice. It was very wine-y, which might explain Agent X's largesse.

We were there to see and discuss the John Currin exhibit, filled with buxom, long-limbed women and a biting, though not un-warm, subtext.

While we were both delighted by the exhibit, Agent X acknowledged that it was "upsetting" that Currin, as talented and accomplished as he is, was born as recently as 1962. We have a lot of catching up to do. And you know what else about Currin? He cute.

Agent X, and I'm not just saying this because he bought me lunch, I'm not!, is quickly becoming a very valuable associate. Not only is he responsible for bringing "Diver" to the MOMA (see below), not only is he the co-father of Edie, he also has this very significant update to the Freedom Tower story:

"A little scoop on the Liebeskind announcement. N. and I were having dinner
with my sister at a Korean restaurant on 32nd St. on Sunday night and who
should arrive with a large party, including his wife, but the very same
black-turtlenecked, bespectacled Mr. Liebeskind. He and his party, who
seemed to consist primarily of architectural underlings (I say that based on
the way they were dressed, the way they deferred to him, etc.), were in a
VERY VERY celebratory mood, ordering bottles of champagne (Moet Chandon) and
soju (Korean saki). Perhaps they were celebrating the final melding of their
"creative genius" with that of the other architects. Or, perhaps they were
just psyched to meet Katie and Matt...."

Agent X, *sigh*, is there anything he can't do?

The Scoop

The New York Times published a story today about the Museum of Modern Art's recent acquisition of a Jasper Johns drawing, "Diver", worth "well over $10 million." The Times says that "Diver" is "widely considered to be one of the most important works on paper of the 20th century" -- a major coup for the MOMA.

Well, the New York Times is okay when it comes to news and all, but only SOCK can bring you the story behind the story. I have landed a coveted interview with Agent X, the museum official chosen to oversee the pick-up of the drawing in L.A. and its safe transport to the museum.

This hair-raising mission took place over the course of three and a half days of non-stop driving in an 18-wheeler across the country with two "professional" drivers - a married couple by the name of Ted and Alicia. According to Agent X (as he asked me to call him), he "would not have been surprised to hear that Ted was plucked right off the Bowery". He also acknowledged that Ted "had an odor about his person."

As soon as he got in the truck, Agent X headed towards the back of the cab, through a green vinyl curtain yellowed from the endless cartons of Dorals that Ted and Alicia smoked. In the back of the cab, Agent X sat on the bed and started to take in his surroundings. There was a little cooking area, and also a bathroom that appeared to house a shower and a toilet in the same spot. Apparently, Ted and Alicia stored food in their bed. Agent X spotted a pack of bacon sticking out from under the sheets, as well as "cookies" and "candy".

Agent X, who never went to the back of the cab again, attempted to engage Alicia and Ted in a conversation about art. He learned that Alicia has a painting of wolves in the snow that she "really likes."

Urban Cycling: A Tale of Two Cities

One of the first things I do every day (after coffee, NYT, and mentally slandering Katie Couric) is look at the top-notch website, The Morning News (www.themorningnews.org). Here's a screen grab from today's edition:

Obviously, I clicked on the link about cycling in the city, and what should pop up but a brilliant article by my long-time, well-travelled, dirty-martini-drinking pal, Kristi Cameron!

Read it and weep, brethren:
Urban Cycling: A Tale of Two Cities | Urban Journal | Metropolis Magazine