Monday, March 31, 2008
Happy Birthday, Thomas!
A warm salute to my pal Thomas, who marks this milestone in the glow of love and in the sweet autumnal light of Buenos Aires... Yesterday was the birthday of his boyfriend Vagner. Feliz Anniversario, Vaniguinho!
Good Day Sunshine
Distilled happiness! That's what I offer you via today's Song/Video of the Week, 'Good Day' by the melodic delightful quintet from Ann Arbor known as Tally Hall (pictured left).
'Good Day,' like the Beatles on Abbey Road, is several complementary songs that shift and shimmy through 3 1/2 joyous minutes.
Just listen and watch!
Their album, recorded and released in 2005 on a shoestring budget, gets its proper major label debut this week on Atlantic Records.
Thank you John Wiske for digging up this gem.
Another great Tally Hall song and video is 'Banana Man':
Cartoon du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Sunday, March 30, 2008
New Under The Sun
Today David and I visited the New Museum in the Lower East Side, on Bowery and Stanton, and we were not disappoint. It's a big space for unfettered, imaginative postmodern art with seven spacious, high-ceilinged levels and shiny metallic surfaces outside. Here's a sneak peak...
The museum's exterior of metallic building blocks shined brightly in the cold winter sun...
Looking out the front window through plastic fractionation (possibly an invented word)....
Multi-colored glass wall-hanging suggests balloons, piñatas, molecules... it hangs over the ground floor café..
A gaggle of color adorns a cafe chair on the ground floor - the museum only permits photos here and on the seventh floor roof deck...
Cartoon du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Saturday, March 29, 2008
I am one happy camper today, as I've discovered that my computer can, basically, read aloud for me!This should greatly alleviate my eye strain and provide a major boost both personally and professionally.
Thank you, Apple®!
More good news: I'm feeling much better....
The Food Journey: Here, There, and Everywhere
My good-friend and ex, Brian, is fond of saying that I'm on the road so often that 'he can't keep up with my traveling ass.' I'm starting to feel the same way about blogging my own culinary adventures... This is a catch up session of deserving food I haven't had time to post about...
Look at this delicious Fish With Ginger and Rice that David cooked up for us on the icy night of the Super Furry Animals concert (see February 2 post)...
A few weeks, in the Dominican Republic, I had this hearty and flavorful Dominican Fish Soup... The hotel restaurant at Sofitel was palatial but darkly lid - with my flash, this soup looks like a microbe under a microscope...
Same Dominican hotel restaurant, main dish, no flash. Chicken With Herbs served in a savory tomato-based broth bath.... In the background, a delicate mound of fluffy rice with a soft, barely discernable kiss of butter....
This is your close-up, Dominican Rice... Smile for the camera...
Before the St Vincent concert on February 29, I dined at Havana Cafe with David and Alex and friends. I had a Tamal, Thin Beef Steak With Onions, and Yellow Rice with Red Beans...
Cartoon du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Friday, March 28, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Happy Birthday, Celia!
Celia and I have been friends for almost 20 years - We worked together when I was living in Argentina 1988-89... I was totally fascinated (still am) with anything Argentine, and Celia was a great resource for my incessant questions. : - ) When I'm in Buenos Aires for business we usually meet for tea in the sumptuous lobby of my hotel...
Cartoon du Jour:
this entry's permalink
From Here We Photo Sublime - From SP to the DR....
I owe Celia a Happy Birthday post, but that must wait until later. Miles to go before I sleep... work-crunched, results-deprived, run-down, I am a plethora of hyphenated noun and verb participial adjectival phrases...
Karen's and Donna's Indonesian Devil - wall adornment, Sunset Park....
Dominicans... Will they wait forever?
Santo Domingo: Under construction... sort of...
this entry's permalink
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Hey there - I'm sick again, arggh, virus/bug/throat thing I bravely fought off for two weeks... It's also a major crunch week at work... and I've run out of pre-written posts! Enjoy the cartoon, anyway. :-)
this entry's permalink
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The South Rises Again
This week's Song/Video of the Week, 'Adios,' is a wistful, but sharp and envigorating delight by Argentine rock legend Gustavo Cerati from his wonderful 'Ahi Vamos' album.
Cerati, in case you don't know, was the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of Soda Stereo, by far the most influential and popular rock band in the Spanish-speaking world from their formation in 1983 to their breakup in 1997.
Soda's work married unusual and haunting melodies, rock energy, and unstopable creative ambition.
Visionaries, Soda continually evolved musically, but always imbued their music with languid, poetic, self-analytic and uniquely Argentine sensibility.Here's clip for 'Adios':
And here's Gustavo in Soda Stereo with the stunning 'Cuando Pase El Temblor (When I Stop Shaking),' the Inca-flute-inflected new wave mid-tempo delight that made the group a household word in Argentina for people of all ages...
Gustavo Cerati in 1985 with his erstwhile Soda band-mates Charly Alberti and Zeta Bosio. Dig the funky new wave hairdos...
Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Monday, March 24, 2008
Under Arizona Skies
I am no longer.. It was nice to see my family. Got back late last night, and a challenging week awaits me. I'm about 90% better, but that last 10% is a steep climb.... This is the gate to Mom's neighborhood in Gilbert, east of Phoenix.
Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Arizona Spring
Mom's first rose of the season! Cut fresh and displayed in that beautiful bluish glass vase we purchased near Venice, during our February 2003 family Europe trip. I'm flying home tonight.
Cartoon du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Art on the Go: Dominican AAirport AArt
I'm still in Arizona with my family. Here's some art from the American Airlines business lounge at the Santo Domingo airport...
Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Friday, March 21, 2008
I'm in Arizona with my family, and my mother's computer be 'illin... So posting will be sparser than I had planned. Enjoy this humorous video. Happy weekend!
My Big Gay Ice Cream Sandwich:
Cartoon du Jour:
this entry's permalink
My Big Gay Ice Cream Sandwich:
Cartoon du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Inside Pamper Palace
...let the pampering begin...
A peek into the secret, fabulous world of Nickel... and this is the way we primp primp primp, in the merry old land of Oz....
the bed of oblivion, the sink of solace...
...through flourescent blue corridors...
seats in the shadowy solitude, a pair of fixtures. I, too, hope to become a Nickel fixture. : - )
...through the looking glass....
Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Suddenly Gay
Here's a great 1930s movie moment, from the side-splitting 'Bringing Up Baby.' Thanks to Jesse's Thursday post for the inspiration...
this entry's permalink
SOTW: Endearingly Off-Kilter
They're pseudo-hip-damaged, studiedly wry and quirky - they channel indie, pop, and minimalist electronica and straddle these genres, often seamlessly.They are Hot Chip, a band of five British lads who are both musicians and performance artists.
This week's song/video of the week, "Ready For The Floor," really comes to life about 45 seconds in, with colorful flourishes and subtly catchy hooks.
Despite the band members' DJ backgrounds, dance roots and pedigree, their live shows are known for memorable musicianship.
The Chipsters often deconstruct their songs and riff them into startling reinventions.
I like their pretty turquoise and brown album cover, left.
Enjoy the edgy video for 'Ready For The Floor', presented below.
Here they are, in deep blue light, all the way live, performing the new album's title track, 'Made In The Dark.'
Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Monday, March 17, 2008
Not everything!
Let's Get Visual, Visual...
How many of you got that musical joke? From here we photo sublime:
Morning in Bogotá, people going about their business... This was taken from a taxi, a practice espoused by Thomas.
I-bama, U-bama, We-bama...
Genia (pronounced HEN-ya) on the Wiskes' terrace, making paw prints in the morning snow...
NYC subway car with faux-wood paneling:
Colombian retail.... (get away from meeeeee?)
Woman, Santo Domingo...
Winter as seen from a MetroNorth train...
Cartoon du Jour: A-MEN!
this entry's permalink
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Hey there... I got ill last night with a bad stomach bug. My 8am attempt to drug myself back to sleep was quite successful, since it's nearly 12:30pm and I just woke up...
So I'm about to shower and meet Christi for lunch - hey, I've got to eat anyway... Sunset Park, where visited Karen & Donna last night, and attended their house party has two faces... the left face looks like the retail chaos of my former home, Jackson Heights, and the right face exudes the brownstone elegance of nearby Park Slope..
this entry's permalink
Shorn!
..meet my magician, my secret weapon: Sasha...
Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
I once bought a book about clutter, which is now part of the clutter in my bookshelves... One great suggestion I found therein: if you're holding on to something, say a torn t-shirt or a giant rock, because of a memory, take a picture of it, keep the memory, and throw it away. And that's what I did with this hopelessly bulky stuffed lobster I got five years back while vacationing in Maine with Erik...
But even Thomas, the self-proclaimed 'king of de-cluttering,' saved this Bugs Bunny doll, a replica of his inseparable childhood companion...Thomas is now on a bus with his boyfriend Vagner, somewhere between São Paulo and Buenos Aires, a distance of 1,056 as the crow flies. But Brazilian buses do not fly like crows. In addition, Thomas planned a detour over to romantic, spectacular Iguazu Falls on the westernmost edge of the Brazil-Argentina border, not far from Paraguay...
I spent both of my honeymoons at Iguazu, which was lovely both times, though I think it best to choose a different destination assuming, as I am, that I get 'third-time lucky...'
Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Saturday, March 15, 2008
The Food Journey: Return to Cornwall Bridge
Another weekend, another impressive feast-a-thon at the Wiskes up in Cornwall Bridge, CT, prepared by Paul the Kitchen Wizard assisted by his wife Paula while I drank wine and watched...
The appetizer, salmon with capers, dill, lemon, onion, and toasted bread wedges, came courtesy of Maria Eugenia, Paula's niece, who I last saw 17 years ago when she was below drinking age. I'm of Jewish extraction, but I'm the first to admit that smoked salmon is done infinitely better by the Gentiles... : - )
The meal kicked-off with Portobello Mushrooms Stuffed with Homemade Bread Crumbs, Chorizos, and Herbs & Spices... Sautéed and then baked, most of the mushrooms were topped with cheese, but Paul kindly left my portion cheese-free... : - )
The salad was a wonder of julienned ingredients in a subtly tasty dressing. With the table set for nine, Paula wisely suggested doubling the quantity of salad during the production phase. : - )
The Main Event! Marinated, Herbed Beef Tenderloin and Chorizo...
Mashed-Potato-Filled Potato Skins made a classy accompaniment:
Bird's Eye View of the Feast.. That's Maria Eugenia with her oldest son, Tomás. Look at the pretty and colorful napkins and place settings...
The banquet continued well into the next day... For our breakfast pleasure, an original omelette with sinful quantities of bacon and sausage...
Also, home-made breakfast biscuits - these contained garlic, which adds a nice kick, though I shouldn't have used the plum preserves.. Fruit and garlic don't marry well...
Finally, the master chef, hard at work mashing and seasoning the potatoes...
Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Friday, March 14, 2008
On Screen: Don't Touch The Axe!
That's the original title of Jacques Rivette's 'Duchess of Langeais,' the Balzac-based film now playing in NYC that I saw with Steve N on Saturday at IFC Center in Greenwich Village.It's about the attraction between an early 19th century war hero and a flirtatious married duchess. While the movie is not short (2h 10m) or action-packed, it is memorable visually, emotionally, and thematically.
Visually: whoa! I remember Bernard Pivot, the French intellectual talk show host, liked to ask filmmakers whether, if born in the 19th century, they would have been a novelist or a painter. Rivette is decidedly in the latter category.
On to the 5 Parameters!
1. Four Words That Encapsule: "Repressing Passion Benefits Nobody"2. Haiku (5/7/5):
"Playing with fire
a girl gets woefully burned;
I say 'Just do it!'"
3. Oblique Commentary: a) Why the original title, 'Don't Touch The Axe?' Its mention in the film went over my head but the NYT's Manohla Dargis points out in her rave review that risking having your neck chopped was very palpable to Balzac's noble French reading public just 20-30 years after Robespierre.. b) Guillaume Depardieu, son of Gerard... can really act! The only other time I saw him was naked, when he was 20-ish back in 1992's 'All The Mornings of the World,' and my overall reaction to his performance was the same as that of my French friend Denis: 'he has a nice ass.' He's also starting to look like his Dad did at age 35 when he first gained international attention (though Depardieu père was famous at home very young.)
4. Insight: Rivette must - and does - weave quite a spell to engage you through two hours of cat-and-mouse sexual attraction that leads nowhere. How to do it? First, you cast very talented, beguiling lead actors (Depardieu and Jeanne Balibar, pictured here) and give them a psychosexual dynamic that feels very modern but is believable in period. Three parts Balzac, one part Edward Albee? or David Cronenberg? Second, every frame of this film is visually stunning - you're mostly indoors in lush, palatial early 19th century French homes, and the period wardrobe is, like the decor, pure eye candy. Outdoors, you're on and around a castle/cloister imposingly perched on Spanish seaside cliffs in abundant sunshine. Translation: you're practically getting a European vacation here for $11 admission. The outdoor scenes bracket the movie, which is about 80% flashback.
5. Link: Metacritic summary of reviews give it a 73 average from 13 reviewers. That's a 'B' grade, whereas I'd give it a 'B+.' It got a 100 grade - A+ - from both NYT and LA Times!
The trailer for 'Duchess' below is a good one - it gives you a small taste, whets your appetite but gives away nothing...
Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The 35,000 Foot Critic:
Ambitions - Japan's MacBeth, Algeria's Revolt
En route to Colombia, I saw two mid-20th-century world film classics. The first was Akira Kurosawa's 'Throne of Blood,' based on MacBeth, which makes it much easier to follow than many Japanese historical action films. The second was Gillo Pontecorvo's masterful 'Battle of Algiers', highly political recreation of Algeria's struggle for independence, including Algerian terrorism and French repression.
Throne of Blood:
1. Four Words That Encapsule:
'MacBeth in a Kimono'
2. Haikus: (5/7/5)
'Soldiers would be wise
to ignore spirits and wives
stoking ambition'
'Scotland and Japan,
share allegorical truth:
crime just doesn't pay'
At left, the famous 'arrow scene,' where our MacBeth-figure's entire battalion turns on him, brutally, with scores of bows and arrows... What an ignoble end..
Here's our antihero with his disturbing Japanese Lady MacBeth Döppelgänger...
Trailer for 'Throne of Blood:'
The Battle of Algiers:
1. Four Words That Encapsule:'Independence: The Algerian Version'
2. Haikus (5/7/5):
'Of course we agree..
colony: bad, freedom: good;
what a bumpy ride...'
'Grainy like footage
victor-written history
packs powerful punch'
'More often than not
truth falls somewhere in between
a story's two sides'.
'Battle of Algiers,' an Algerian-Italian co-production filmed in French, won universal critical acclaim (Venice grand prize and 3 Oscar nominations.
Most impressively, the black-and-white opus looks like historical footage even though every single shot was recreated, including protest marches, terrrorist incidents, raids, interrogations, and executions.
Much loved by the world's left-leaning intelligentsia, the film was banned in France for 5 years, and all torture scenes were cut from its American and British releases.
The film's most jarring aspect is that it shows terrorist acts as a necessary part of liberation struggle, even when the victims are children. That was hard to swallow.. More effective and reasonable were the national strikes that brought all activity in Algeria to a halt for days - including in the posh French neighborhoods where Algerian help do all the household work.
Here, angry (and cute) Algerian youths hit the streets:
Trailer for 'Battle of Algiers:'
Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
Horrors! I loved having a dry cleaner in my building, but.. Beleaguered by sprialing rent increases, he was forced to close his doors. 'This is our last time,' he told me. I've heard those words before... : - ) Below, paradise shuttered...
I shuddered at the impending inconvenience. For a while, the dry cleaner was scrambling to find a nearby location and keep his clients. He couldn't find one, so he sent us two blocks away to his brother-in-law on 21st St near 8th Ave. The service there is equally good. Whew!
Last morning I noticed this sign. My old dry cleaner did find a new place, a mile away in Greenwich Village. Starting from scratch is also hard to do...
Travel Boy Meets His Match
My Thursday business dinner guest, Joe Bormann from Fitch Ratings, bowled me over when I realized that he, too, tracks his business trips in an Excel spreadsheet. He has certainly surpassed my 113 lifetime foreign trips. He's also outdistanced my Latin by-country visits (he's been in Mexico 33 times vs by 27, in Brazil 28 times vs my 22). He were are at Buddakhan, with and without glasses...
Cartoon du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Here I am, right now, at the office. Chaos reigns both at work and at home - the former, by choice of vocation; the latter, by choice of renovation.
I've also been a bit sick since yesterday morn, and I'm making earnest efforts to sleep/fight it off... I never stopped appreciating the ten weeks of wellness that followed my holiday ear debacle... Wellness is a wonderful thing - I'm a wellness enthusiast...
this entry's permalink
SOTW: Alive, and Kicking Butt
Welcome to this week's specially-themed installment Song/Video of the Week...Our kick-off song is the B-52s' groovy new 'Funplex'....
We salute them and other great bands of yesteryear that continue to record music that is great, but rarely heard on the radio...
These fifty-somethings rock, and are hence a great role model for yours truly...
Fasten your musical seat-belts!
Rock that lobster!
Dance this mess around!
The B-52s frolic through 'Funplex' live at Benicassim....
Depeche Mode's 'Precious' is as good as anything they've ever done..
New Order's recent 'Krafty' album is a perfect gem - the crowning touch is 'Jetstream,' featuring Anna Matronic of Scissor Sisters,,,
Fittingly, R.E.M. is back this month with their best work in seven years, 'Supernatural Superserious...'
Cartoon du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Monday, March 10, 2008
It's the end of my kitchen as we know it... and I feel fine....
My candlelight dinner farewell to construction-free living...
Oops! Last week's post on Bart & Ashley's lovely dinner failed to include Bart and Ashley... here they are! Art On My Doorstep: Karen Arm
On a recent gallery romp I came up this astronomy-and-geometry-inspired artwork by Karen Arm at PPOW gallery at 555 West 25th St. It's a great exhibit, and it's running through March 22... Some highlights below...
"Untitled Planetary Body"
"Star Field"
"Untitled Purple Swirl"
"Blue Branches Orange"
"Incense 1"
Cartoon du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Hi Mom!
I dedicate this new feature to my Mom... testing one two three... my first in a regular series of home-video posts. Today, the view from David's & Alex's apartment...
this entry's permalink
Rain poured hard yesterday, but happy I was. Hung with David (far left) & Alex, watched 'Lost,' met Steve N (near left) to 'Dutchess of Langeais' (review later ) at the IFC Center (ex-Waverly, where I foolishly took my parents to see a John Waters film on Father's Day). Then Steve & I dined at the tranquil, tasty and tasteful French Roast.The Food Journey: Bogotá Juices & Empanadas
Many hundreds of fruits are edible by humans, but how many of us regularly eat more than half a dozen kinds? To remedy this, you can fly to Colombia, or, if you can't squeeze it in to your schedule, join the Frutarian Society. I was lucky enough to be in Colombia two weeks ago:
Pictured above, I believe, are glasses of feijoa, a pulpy, decidely non-sweet fruit about the size and consistency of a kiwi. This subdued flavor and rich texture were the perfect accompaniment to the crusty, fried beef empanadas served during the afternoon break of the Colombian investor conference I hosted on February 25.
We further seasoned these scrumptuous snacks with a cold sauce that was mildly spicy but nonetheless cool and refreshing... A squeeze of lemon offset the results very nicely...
I took some feijoa juice and empanadas back to my seat at the conference table...
That morning, fruit juices served included freshly squeezed mango plus this chalky, milky-white fruit shake I never did identify... Any suggestions?
A whole cart of juicy freshness.... I passed on these cheese doo-dads that accompanied this yellow and white refreshment...
Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Saturday, March 08, 2008
I slogged six through the rain last night for dinner with Fernando and Sunil, who I've really missed! It was a happy reunion, as you can see. The venue: Nooch, a Thai-Japanese nouvelle cuisine eatery on 17th and 8th Ave. I had a Pomegranite and Ginger Martinis and a Thai (not Japanese) Bento Box.Embracing Chaos
I'm bracing myself to embrace chaos - I'm going to have my kitchen renovated, with considerable expense and short-term disruption, beginning Monday... Here's my cramped kitchen now, clearly in need of a clean-up... I'd love to cook and entertain more, and for the kitchen to be as functional and lovely as the rest of my apartment.
My target completion date is earliest April. I've hired a designer and a contractor. The latter punched holes (see below and above) through my outcroppings to confirm they were hollow - symbolic finality as this project takes on 'the aura of the inevitable.'
I dream of opening a drawer without the fear that it will collapse and/or disintegrate.. Behold:
Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Friday, March 07, 2008
My left-margin links now include 'Jesse on the Brink,' the wild adventures and commentary of Jesse Archer, Thomas' friend who wrote the terrific book 'You Can Run: Gay, Glam and Gritty Travels in South America.'
I'm Coming, Elizabeth...
No cause for a Sanford-style heart attack, the film 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age' takes even more liberties with its subject than did the 1998 'Elizabeth,' of which it is the 'sequel.' That earlier film held together better dramatically - this update is carried solely by Cate Blanchett's formidable acting acumen, and by perfect sets and costumes..Even the poster is slightly cheesy: 'Elizabeth: Woman, Warrior, Queen!' I bet Blanchett could play Hillary just as well. Heck, she's convincing as Bob Dylan (see my post of Feb 1 on 'I'm Not There')
On to the 5 parameters!
1. Four Words That Encapsule: "Lavish Historical Opus Bombs"
2. Haikus (5/7/5)
a. 'a trip back in time
needs more than costumes and sets,
needs better script, plot'
b. 'eight figure budget,like the mighty Spanish fleet,
sinks without a trace'
3. Oblique Commentary: a) Elizabeth I was actually 53 when Britian defeated the Spanish Armada, but Cate Blanchett's version is forty-something, still sorting through marriage proposals in the hope of continuing the royal line... b) If 'Shakespeare in Love' occupies the same universe, than Cate Blanchett would turn into white-haired, roly-poly Judi Dench in about 10-15 years. Interesting that the two stars of the much-superior 'Notes on a Scandal' share this Elizabethan connection. Dench got an supporting Oscar for her 'Liz'... c) click this Wikipedia link for the LONG list of dramatic licenses taken by this movie..
4. Insight: This movie's almost a 'how not to make historical drama.' For films in this genre to be high-quality - and many have been - they should be long on dialogue and character - they should transport you to a time and place as a participant, not as a member of a circus audience.. 'Golden Age' is a melodramatic and over the top. Fitfully, it won one Oscar, and the right one - Best Costume Design.
5. Link: Metacritic Review Summary. Oh dear, 45 average based on 35 reviewers - this is a C-; If you really like Blanchett, as I do, that could rise to C+ or even B-...
And here's the trailer, which amply demonstrates what's good and bad about the film....
Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Just got back from a long, fun business dinner at Buddokhan, that stadium-size castle of a trendy Asian-oid restaurant. Here I am with Joe from Fitch, who I've known for years, and who was in from Chicago for two days...Someone said today there wasn't enough of me in my blog, so I'll try to be more visible...
The cavernous interior of Buddokhan. I'll save the delectable cuisine for a future 'Food Journey' installment.
this entry's permalink
Happy Birthday, Kevin!
Doesn't he look terrific? Here's Kevin at his very-far-in-advance birthday dinner at 44 1/2... (see Feb 17 post) after which we saw the terrific 'Broadway Backwards 3' (see Feb 6 post).
From Here We Photo Sublime:
NYC State of Mind...
In the Big Apple we are surrounded by the wit & wisdom of advertising & other signage.
Sub-Liminal - 'Be Kind'
Sub-Liminal - 'Running Mates'
Eighth Avenue Flotsam and Jetsam:
Not Guangdong:
Not Nizhny Novgorod:
this entry's permalink
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
The Food Journey: Classic Sunday Dinner in Bronxville
Bart and Ashley invited me up on Presidents' Day to see their new digs and enjoy a delicious belated birthday dinner..
Their home is quite lovely. And nobody sets a dinner table with greater finesse....
The main course: Chicken Schnitzel, Bacon-Wrapped and Served in Red Wine Sauce....
Accompaniments: peas, potatoes, and onion-apple sauce...
All together now:
Lovely artwork abounds on the premises...
Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Tonight Bart and I saw a superb play about a large, troubled dysfunctional family, "August: Osage County," by Tracy Letts. Each character is complex, compelling, and hard to forget. More on this show later...
this entry's permalink
SOTW: Estelle Rocks! Thank You, Kanye...
Leave it to Kanye West to launch the awesome Estelle in the US with this weeks Song/Video of the Week, 'American Boy,' essentially a duet. Estelle spins her smooth, boppy, early 80s disco-soul with faux-naif lyrics while Kanye raps love rings around the project. Enjoy their video below.Estelle Swaray, perhaps the UK's most respected hip-hop singer/songwriter/producer, was born to Senegalese-Grenadian parents. Read more about Estelle here.
Kanye West is, of course, the hip-hop artist so musical and so smart that he's won millions of listeners that don't often like hip-hop. He'd be considered an alternative artist if he wasn't a steadily chart-topping, Grammy-winning phenomenon.
But the lady has ample talent of her own to burn. Watch:
I love the retro, black & white feel of 'American Boy,' - this could 've been recorded in the beat-crazy underground disco summer of 1981...
Speaking of the 80s, here's '1980,' Estelle's childhood remembrance..
Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Monday, March 03, 2008
Art On My Doorstep: Sunghee Jang
From time to time I remember that I live among Manhattan's greatest concentration of galleries with all the contemporary art riches that this implies... Last week's gallery spin yielded some wonderful finds, the best of which is Sunghee Jang, a Korean-born recent grad of NY's School of Visual Art.
Jang's current exhibition at Gallery Henoch, 555 W 25th St, is a wonder to behold...
I was so taken by her paintings that I fantasized long and deep about spending on art what most Americans would spend on a small car... My favorite is this blue job on the left...
Jang's works tend to be monochromatic takes on urban settings, using reflections and shades of light to coax deep nuances from that single color. The bare settings suggest a loneliness with echoes of Edward Hopper... Jang rarely names her paintings...
... from here we go to dark orange...
....and eerie green...
...this one has an almost art-deco quality - very Hopper-esque...
This sketch-like gray number reminds me of art direction in 1920s German expressionist films like 'Dr Caligari' and 'Metropolis'
Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Good Cover
Another awesome weekend, capped by a terrific visit with my friends the Wiskes in Cornwall Bridge, CT. Good company and a decadent array of delicious food (pics forthcoming). Pictured below: covered bridges are the region's signature landmark. Thomas was sure right about memorable photos taken from moving vehicles.
this entry's permalink
Cat Haiku Hilarity
The cat haikus below made me laugh so hard! ROFL! They're not mine, they're from strangeplaces.net
But first, two photos from Friday night's St Vincent concert... I went with David, Alex, their friend Melissa, and two Jasons... St Vincent aka Annie Clark was spectacular - to hear her music, go back to the most recent Tuesday Song of the Week post...
What a confident, intelligent stage presence.. wry, understated faux-naif humor that caused much laughter when she monologued in mid-set..
This Texas transplant's voice has great clarity and occasionally slips into Billie Holiday honey and lemon drawl, served up with melodies and structures that are three parts progressive indie rock and one part Bossa Nova.... She composes for a wide array of instruments - here she is with some multi-instrumental 'stragglers' she claims to have found on the street
Warm-up act Foreign Born were surprisingly great! Melodic, diverse, clean, and clear....
On to our poetic, feline main attraction...
You never feed me.
Perhaps I’ll sleep on your face.
That will sure show you.
You must scratch me there!
Yes, above my tail!
Behold, elevator butt.
The rule for today:
Touch my tail, I shred your hand.
New rule tomorrow.
In deep sleep hear sound
cat vomit hairball somewhere
will find in morning.
Grace personified.
I leap into the window.
I meant to do that.
Blur of motion, then –
silence, me, a paper bag.
What is so funny?
You’re always typing.
Well, let’s see you ignore my
sitting on your hands.
Terrible battle.
I fought for hours. Come and see!
What’s a ‘term paper?’
Wanna go outside.
Oh, poop! Help! I got outside!
Let me back inside!
Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Last night's St. Vincent concert at Bowery Ballroom was AWESOME - pics later this week.Before that, we all had a scrumptuous dinner at Havana Chelsea, an unassuming Cuban eatery four blocks from me that I'd never given a moment's thought to...
Today I'm off to Cornwall Bridge in NW Connecticut to visit my friends the Wiskes...
Power Station
No, no, not the 80s cheese-dance-rock Duran Duran spin-off!I'm talking about a real, live, spanking-new gas-fired thermoelectric plant I toured in the Dominican Republic three weeks ago...
Here's a side view as we began our tour....
This plant, named Andres, just like my first boyfriend, has its own natural gas port, which unloads the ultra frigid (350F below zero) liquid natural gas, and pipes into to a re-gasification and storage facility, which feeds and fuels the thermoelectric generator...
Here's the pipe carrying the liquid natural gas...
Full frontal generator:
It takes a substation to move this power bounty out of the plant and into the country's transmission system - it does this mostly by stepping down the voltage...
A worker bee performing some essential function with that doo-dad..
'Do you know.. where you're going to?,' sang Diana Ross once - here's a sign that tells you, in plain Spanish..
And so ends our tour... Now, our Cartoons du Jour:
this entry's permalink
