Andy Pressman captured this historic moment in DC this morning. Received just now, but sent via iPhone around 9:31am.

Meanwhile Andrew Sloat dropped another video yesterday.

Article 2 (for BHO) from Andrew Sloat on Vimeo.

Recession and the movies. As Daily Variety will tell you, hard times equals good box office business. That’s because Hollywood assumes that during a recession you, the moviegoing public, crave escape from your misery, and that the easiest place to find that escape is at the multiplex.

But easy escape isn’t for you, right? You’re an adult, after all, an intellectual, and during hard times the last thing you need is some false sense of security. No—what you want are confrontational films. Films at whose heart lie scathing criticisms of our nihilistic, money-hungry society. Films that show how capitalism corrupts even the best of us, sullies us, and forces us, if we ever want to survive in this world, to commit reprehensible acts of evil, eventually stooping to the same base level as all the other scum on this earth, just to get ahead. Isn’t that right? I thought so. Well then, friend, here are a few choices to help you nurture all that righteous indignation. Enjoy.

“The Sweet Smell of Success” (1957, Alexander Mackendrick)
You art types might know it as the source for Christopher Wool’s painting, “Cats In Bag Bags In River,” but the film’s got another line that’s apt for anyone struggling to get by during recession time: “Watch me run a fifty meter dash with my legs cut off.” Press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) commits one morally reprehensible act after another in a bid to get in good with his boss, the all powerful gossip columnist, J J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster), but nothing he does is quite good enough. Featuring one of the best scripts of all time by legendary leftist playwright Clifford Odets, the film is one of the most clear-eyed indictments of capitalism ever printed on celluloid. With beautiful on-location cinematography in 1950s midtown-Manhattan by the great cameraman James Wong Howe.

New Visual Artists, originally uploaded by sloatie.

Holly was the start of the party last night, as Print magazine honored her and a bunch of other soon-to-be-somebodies (Holly already is a somebody, PS). Check out this set of party photos! Look carefully in mirrors and the reflection in Jay-Z’s sunglasses for some 801A surprises.

Image: Garfieldminusgarfield

Recipe courtesy of Carl. We ate it during the thrilling conclusion of Project Runway. Everyone was very happy.

A WHOLOTTALASAGNA (VEGETARIAN)
Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
1 box lasagna noodles (can be more if your pan is larger or you want more starch?)
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic minced
2 cups sliced shitaki mushrooms, sliced into thin strips
1 large eggplant, diced into 1/4 in cubes
1 large carrot, shredded (optional and annoying to shred)
1/2 cup red cooking wine (a really old bottle as long as its not vinegary works fine, it doesn’t have to be good wine)
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
24 ounces canned whole tomatoes
1 1/2 cup canned tomato sauce
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup fresh basil (half diced / half whole leaf)
1 large 16 ounce container ricotta cheese
1 1/4 cups shredded parmesan cheese
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg

Prep:
Chop all your vegetables before cooking everything. Dice all that Parsley, Basil, carrots, mushrooms, eggplant, onion etc. Also get out 2 baking sheets (with wax paper or oiled if not non-stick) for the lasagna noodles to rest on after cooking (this is really important).

You will also need a 9 x 13 or 9 x 12 pan to cook this in. It’s a WHOLOTTALASAGNA.

Directions
1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet until shimmering.

1a. As olive oil is heating also put on a really large pot of water to boil lasagna noodles.

2. Add onion, garlic, eggplant, and mushrooms to skillet. You will cook all of this for 15 – 20 minutes, or until all ingredients are soft. Make sure the eggplant gets really well cooked, as its much tastier that way.

2a. When water in the large pot is boiling dump in all the lasagna noodles into the pot.

3. Add carrot, wine, parsley, tomato sauce, and whole tomatoes to skillet with eggplant and mushrooms. I cut up tomatoes in the can with a clean pair of scissors.

3a. Follow instructions on the box for cooking the lasagna noodles, (8 – 10 minutes). When the lasagna noodles are done, drain them and take tongs or a fork and lay them all out on the baking trays, or plates. If they stay in the colander they will stick together and you will be FUCKED. Seriously.

3b. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. Add oregano, parsley, salt, pepper and a the diced fresh basil to the sauce. You can also add ‘italian seasoning’ if you are lazy. Just make sure it tastes how you like your sauce to taste and probably it should be a little bit saltier since the ricotta is pretty sweet.

5. Simmer sauce uncovered until its thick and delicious. You still want there to be some moisture, but not too much. It should take about 45 minutes to an hour in total to finish the sauce.

6. Grease the bottom of a 9 x 13″ baking dish with non-stick cooking spray, or butter if you are feeling it.

7. Sort your cheeses into bowls. Combine all of the ricotta with the the egg and a 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese. Leave the rest of the cheeses in bowls so you can layer with them.

Building the Lasagna
8. Spread about 1/4 of the sauce in the bottom of the pan. This is your base.

9. Layer 1/4 of the lasagna noodles on top of the sauce base.

10. Grab a silicone spatula and scoop 1/3 of the ricotta / egg / parmesan mixture on top of the noodles. Spread it around awkwardly. Layer remaining basil leaves on top of the cheese mixture.

11. Sprinkle 1/3 of the parmesan and 1/3 of the mozzarella on top of the ricotta mixture.

12. Now throw down 1/3rd of your chunky sauce and go back to step 9 and repeat this 2 more times.

13. You should now have a 4 layers of lasagna with a layer of sauce on top. Add the remaining noodles on top and put more sauce on top. If you have run out of sauce, grab the canned stuff you have laying around in your fridge and throw it on top.

14. Sprinkle your remaining Mozzarella and Parmesan on top of the sauce layer and cover with foil. (Some people suggest you coat the foil with more cooking spray… whatever).

15. Put it in the oven.

16. Bake for 25 minutes and then remove the foil.

17. Bake for another 25 – 30 minutes.

18. Remove from the oven and let cool for 15 minutes. It’s molten hot inside.

19. Enjoy.

Innovative individuals are doing some creative problem solving by re-thinking things we take for granted. Noah Horowitz, an NRDC engineer, took a look at the energy hogging vending machine.

There is now one soda machine for every 100 Americans! Some 3 million machines are humming away 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, using 10 times more energy than the average refrigerator (the biggest energy user in your home). Noah started looking at solutions like more efficient compressors, fans and lighting. He also rethought some of the simplest things like not having outdoor machines running all night in the middle of winter. The result is new machines that use half the energy of old ones. And when Coke and Pepsi finish phasing in the new designs, the savings will be 5 billion kilowatt hours per year!

Nothing interesting happened today at my polling place, mostly because we still have the same voting machines that we’ve had since New York became a state. (Fuck HAVA!) So instead I’ll share with you my experience from voting in the 2004 primary. (Sharpton ‘04, totally not kidding.) This is a quote from an email I wrote at the time:

Needless to say, I was beaming when I went up to the table to sign in, because I love voting, and I love the weather. A lady sitting next to the registrars exclaimed “What a nice smile! You have a smile like Kennedy. He was always smiling.”
“It’s an incredible day out!” I said. “Everyone’s smiling!”
“Kennedy had red hair too, he was always smiling.”
“Which Kennedy?”
“The Kennedy that got killed.”
“The president?”
“Yes, John Kennedy.”
“Really!?”
“You have a beautiful smile, just like Kennedy. You know, Kennedy came to my country, and I met him there.”
“Where was that?”
“Costa Rica. Then I moved to America the same week he was shot.”
“Really?!”
“Yes, it was very sad. I met him, and he shook my hand. He was a very nice man. You keep that beautiful smile, ok?”
“OK! Thanks!”