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BOSTON

As the Met and the Getty bid millions for Matisses and Goyas, one Massachusetts museum has had no trouble acquiring artwork for its permanent collection.

Since 1993, the Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) in Dedham, Mass. has amassed a collection of over 300 terrible pieces of art.

Highlights include “Reclining Nude”—which bears an uncanny resemblance to a chili pepper crossed with a tampon, dyed blue, and gently twisted, over a black and red background—and “Head from Hell,” in which a terror-faced ladydemon attempts to fellate a virile god as he stretches out by Hell’s shore.

Permanent Acting Interim Director and Founder Louise Sacco says MOBA’s “basic mission is to spread the enjoyment of bad art.”

“We want to get people to a point where you can look at something, and say ‘that’s really bad, and I love it,’” says Sacco.

She estimates that between 100 and 300 people, both local and foreign, visit the museum, including “a lot of Swedes.”

Slated for June is a tribute to a recent Museum of Fine Arts show of David Hockney portraits. MOBA will in turn feature “hackneyed portraits.”

Not only is MOBA free, it is also easily accessible: take the Orange Line out to Forest Hills, hop on the Dedham Mall bus to the end of the line, and MOBA is just a five minute walk away. For more info, check out www.museumofbadart.org.



NEW YORK

Along with sticky heat and unattractive, shirtless joggers, summer in New York brings baseball saturation. Neutrality is unacceptable: anyone who “just roots for New York teams!” is viewed with derision by Yankee and Met fans alike, and lifelong friendships between supporters of different clubs are put on hold during the Subway Series. Living in the midst of two armed camps, a non-New Yorker might assume that a trip to Shea or to the House that Ruth Built is the only way to take in a ballgame. And given the price of tickets and concessions in the big league parks, even a mediocre seat could end up costing 100 dollars or more.

Fortunately, New York City boasts not one, but two minor league ball clubs—the Brooklyn Cyclones and the Staten Island Yankees. An easy ride on the D, F, or Q to Coney Island will bring a true fan to Keyspan Park, and great seats at Cyclone games cost less than 20 dollars. Though they lack big names and major league celebrity, the Cyclones field young, earnest players to give the crowd their money’s worth. Keyspan Park offers the chance to break the monotony of a summer of i-banking with a real New York ballgame, and for a fraction of what the Mets and Yankees charge.



WASHINGTON, D.C.

If you’re fed up with black-suited d-bags on the Hill, get some non-lobbyist-tainted air along the Capital Crescent Trail from its start in Georgetown to Bethesda, Md. for a weekend bike ride (14 miles there and back).

Make your way to Georgetown by foot or by bus—there’s no subway in gentrified G-town, but the Metro’s new Circulator express bus takes you right to Wisconsin Ave. and M St. for $1.00, or try the Georgetown Metro Connection bus from the Foggy Bottom or Dupont Circle Metro stops, also a buck.

Head to Big Wheel Bikes just below M St. at 33 St. (1034 33 St. NW, (202) 337-0254) and rent a bike for the day ($35.00). The trail is paved; nothing fancy required.

Start the trail at the end of K St. in Georgetown, following the river’s humid but shady banks. Take an old rail bridge over the C&O canal and towpath (which, for the more adventurous, goes the 184.5 miles to John Brown’s stakeout, Harper’s Ferry W.Va.). After the DC/Maryland line, cut behind the backyards of suburban DC’s swankier ’hoods, and you’ll quickly find yourself at a Honda dealership smack dab in the middle of Bethesda.

Dodge oncoming traffic, and if you’ve saved up your internship stipend, wipe off the sweat stains and try out Mon Ami Gabi (7239 Woodmont Ave., (301) 654-1234), where you can sample the buttery country style paté or indulge in a juicy steak sandwich & frites. Lunches go for about $30.00, dinners $60.00.

You could go for some of the less upscale dining spots, but after a week of fetching coffee for the junior senator from Idaho, you deserve it.