The final piece of the pie was knocked down last week and now the unfettered view of Arthur Ashe Stadium remains. It is sort of like one of those comedy sight gags where someone lifts their hat, only to reveal yet another hat. Enjoy the new view--I guess.

I'm working on a project with a colleague, working up a presentation about a particular chess opening played by none other than Bobby Fischer. In the presentation we thought a bit of humor might be nice so we served up a rework of an old Russian chess joke. The gag goes that old Boris played chess every day with his childhood pal Ivan. One day, Ivan passed away and Boris was very sad, as he had no one to play chess with. While he was in the middle of playing out an old game from a chess book, Ivan appears from the great beyond. Boris is surprised, but not enough to prevent him from asking a question. "Ivan" he asked, "Is there chess in heaven?" Ivan told him that all the greats were up there, playing fantastic chess in tournament after tournament, but, he explained not all the news as good, so he said, "Boris, you'll be able to play chess too!" "What is so bad about that." replied Boris. "Your scheduled to play Fischer with the black pieces this Thursday."

As you can see, there isn't too much left of ol' Shea stadium now. Is there a week left? It seems as if there is a bit of a slow down, considering the wrecking crew brought down segments as big as this in a day over the last few weeks. Perhaps they are standing on ceremony. Who knows? Thats all for now.

Here is an illustration I did for INX. It is about the fires decimating Australia. I think you have to be careful with sketches like this so close to the event. People can be pretty tetchy, when human lives are lost in the incident. The kangaroo is the penultimate symbol for Australia. Here I attempted to evoke a sense of stunned disbelief in the marsupial, where the pouch, representing safety, is consumed in flame. Not a happy image to be sure, but apt, I hope.

Here is a little illustration I did for the National Law Journal. The story was a little dense, so I had to take a few wacks at the ball before I hit upon an idea that fit the bill. I'm pretty happy with it though. As it turned out, later that evening, which was last night, I attended a lecture that was to be ostensibly a talk on the history, current state and future of Op-Ed illustration at the New York Times. It was not what I had hoped for as it mostly centered on the "ground breaking work" of the speakers present. Meanwhile, in the audience, a group of INX artists (who do the best Op Ed work available today IMHO) sat wondering where the lecture was going. As it turned out, it was little more than a tupperware party wherein the lecturers hawked their books after the event. Disappointment. Dinner afterwards at John's Pizzeria in our my old upper East Side neighborhood was definitely a highlight. BTW: John's pizzeria is a highly recommended eatery between 1st & York Avenues at 408 East 64th Street. Hands down the best thin crust pie in the city.

Here is a little moleskin sketchpad that is making the rounds within the illustration department. Below is my contribution made with with pen and ink. I used my old Gillott steel nibs and Higgin's eternal India ink. A bit of fun to make.

Couldn't resist the pun, but looks as if were at the last couple of weeks for Shea stadium. There was an interview with a bunch of old-time fans who had little to say about the new Citi field stadium taking it's place.

Feb. 1 and Shea is coming down. Emerging--from behind--is Arthur Ashe Stadium the Unisphere (to the left) along with the World Fair Grounds. Can't be 100 percent sure, but I think the view is improving. Shea pretty much dominated the landscape. Last I read, there will be parking lot put in place of were Shea presently sits to accommodate the Met's Citifeild Stadium crowd.