It’s Cardigan Sweater Time

Fashion and style are often very similar to things like Eastern philosophy or tech gadgetry or film history. We say that because these are all things that it’s good to know a little bit about but often the more knowledge you acquire the less interesting the whole thing is.

So we’ve found that we’re not writing much about style lately. Nor are we reading other style blogs as often as we used to. We’ll still thumb through Esquire once in a while but there’s really nothing new under the sun, is there? But a picture is worth a thousand words so we’re going to let this picture do the talking for us today.

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Let it be a big fuck off to New York Fashion Week. Let it be a big fuck off to people with a ton of money who like to show off on the internet. Let it be a big fuck off to days of 96° temperatures with 80% humidity. And most of all let it be a big fuck off to anyone who still has ideas about the cardigan sweater being some kind of stuffy grandpa garment mostly suitable for Mr. Rogers and Bill Cosby.

The cardigan doesn’t seem to get much respect or attention from the men of Baltimore, and that’s a shame. It’s one of those things that can be picked up cheaply or invested in, and can be dressed up or down in so many ways that it can literally go anywhere.

Since today is the first full day of Fall we’re going to be embracing the cardigan in all its sweatery glory, starting with our lightest one and moving on to rocking our big, thick shawl collared one by about Halloween. And anybody who makes a ‘wont you be my neighbor’ crack can get a big fuck off.

E.T. Screening @ Patterson Park Tonight

Something happened after Hampdenfest. It hit us that all of a sudden the Summer was over. Like for real over. It’s starting to get dark a bit earlier and the air conditioners are about to come out of the windows. We’re wearing cardigans. And one of our favorite Baltimore pastimes, Summer outdoor movie season is officially over.

Well, almost over. This year Summer movies are stretching into Fall as the Friends of Patterson Park and Verde are presenting two upcoming features in the park extension at Ellwood Ave and Bank St. On October 4 they’ll be showing Muppets Take Manhattan and tonight’s selection is ET.

ET is pretty much a rock-solid, can’t-miss, foolproof choice for an event like this. It’s one of those classics like Goonies or Gremlins or the Princess Bride that’s great for kids but equally enjoyable for adults. We haven’t seen it since we were a wee young Chop going to the dollar movies at North Point, so we’re excited to see how it’s held up.

But really they could screen just about anything and we’d show up to watch it, because in a lot of ways the worst thing about Summer outdoor movie season is the ‘Summer’ part. Summer is gross. There are mosquitoes. There’s humidity. You’re already sweaty by the time you arrive. The heat saps the appetite and you end up having Natty Boh for dinner. Gross.

So tonight we’ll bring a blanket without feeling like wool is too heavy and awful to sit on. We’ll even bring a sweater. We’ll bring a date and actually be able to sit close because it’s not 90 degrees out at 10 pm. Hell, we’ll probably even bring a jug of cider and some pumpkin fritters and peach tarts cause we’re spending all day today going apple picking and doing Fall stuff.

But do not be jealous of the Chop’s pumpkin flavored things. Because tonight’s screening is sponsored by Canton’s Verde (#7 in the power rankings) there will be expedited pizza ordering available on site. That’s a pretty clever idea. Show up at 7:30, order up a pie, and have it ready by the time the movie starts.

Truly, the only thing greater than Summer outdoor movie season is Fall outdoor movie season.

(feature image via Universal Pictures)

A Band Called Death Screening @ The Charles Tonight

You’ve probably heard of A Band Called Death by now. The Movie, we mean. Although to have heard of the movie is to have heard of the band. It’s kind of right there in the name.

Anyway, after being made last year A Band Called Death was one of those movies that wasn’t bankable enough to go to wide release, but apparently too good to be ignored. So it made the rounds of festivals and got great reviews from critics and audiences and is now available in popular services like Netflix (DVD only) and iTunes.

A band like Death will naturally mean a lot of different things to many different people. Get more than 2 people to talk about them and the inevitable disagreements will start as soon as you try to describe their music in even the most cursory way. Is it punk? Not really. Is it proto-punk? Yeah, we’ll go with that. Was it influential? Nope. It could have been hugely influential except that no one actually heard it in time to be influenced.

What does it mean? Well, hell if we know. As far as we’re concerned it doesn’t even have to mean anything. But if it does mean something then maybe it’ll be revealed to us when we go see it tonight at the Charles (9 pm). If you really want to divine what Death means then maybe give their record a spin and see what it says to you.

(feature image via Drafthouse Films)

Erin Fitzpatrick: Portraits @ Metro Gallery Tonight

Our first exposure to the work of Baltimore artist Erin Fitzpatrick was almost 4 years ago, when we attended her Baltimore Portrait opening at UB.

It was an impressive show and we were certainly won over as a fan, but since then we’ve been mainly limited to keeping up with her work through her website fitzbomb.com. Of course, when it comes to something like fine arts there’s a whole world of difference between seeing an image of something online and seeing actual pieces hanging in a gallery, so we’re very excited for tonight’s opening at the Metro, simply called Erin Fitzpatrick: Portraits, which runs through October 19.

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While Fitzpatrick has been ‘collecting’ the portraits of Baltimoreans since 2008 and has more than 150 to her credit, this exhibit will focus exclusively on recent works. A quick look back at some older works reveals the artist’s progress at a glance.

As she told the Chop recently ” “This show represents a transition into the next phase of my portraits. I’m not as concerned with the specific identity of the subject as I was in the past; in many of the paintings heads are turned, eyes are covered with sunglasses, and figures are nearly dressed in costume.”

It’s an interesting distinction. And we should know. After all quasi-anonymity is a daily concern here at ye olde Baltimore Chop Blog. Looking a subject squarely in the eye for a portrait, and even going so far to attach a full name to the work can lead the viewer to speculate quite a bit about that subject’s inner life. To make even slight changes like adding some oversized sunglasses and dropping the full name in favor of a title like ‘girl with hat’ has a way of saying to the viewer ‘Yeah, I have a story, but I’m not telling you just yet.’

Fitzpatrick has a story too, although for now she’s still in the middle of it. As she went on to say in a recent chat “Moving forward I want to use the figure more and more as a vessel for the exploration of the formal qualities of painting, line, shape, color, composition, etc. It’s all part of my ultimate daydream to be known as a great painter and not just a portrait artist. Ha, although maybe that distinction isn’t so important outside of my own head.”

Tonight begins another chapter in that story from 7-10 pm, complete with food from B Bistro and music from DJ Adam Gonzo. See you there.

The Chop Goes to the Babe Ruth Museum

One of the benefits we were promised we could enjoy when we bought Orioles season tickets this year was free admission to the Babe Ruth Birthplace and museum downtown. We’re also entitled to other freebies like ballpark tours and admission to the Sports Legends Museum, but so far we haven’t taken advantage of these.

Until this week. We finally decided to get around to visiting the Babe Ruth Museum and it’s a pretty neat little spot. When we think of downtown and the Inner Harbor a lot of Baltimoreans tend to think of the Science Center costing $17 for exhibits that haven’t changed in 30 years or the Aquarium’s ridiculously high $35 adult admission (gotta finance those expansions somehow) but not everything is exorbitantly expensive.

A few weeks ago we went to the Top of the World observation deck on a whim and were pleasantly surprised to learn that it only costs $5 to hang out up there as long as you want. Likewise the Ruth museum is a pretty meager $6 for adults, which is a great deal.

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Comprising the original Ruth family home, as well as a museum built into the adjoining rowhouses the museum is an interesting way to kill an hour and a great pre-game activity before Orioles home games. After seeing the way the Poe House was shut down due to lack of interest we think it’s even more important to get out and support things like this if you haven’t seen them, or like us, hadn’t seen them since you were a kid.