Saturday, March 06, 2004
Waiting For A Signal Or A Sound, Pt. 2
Burning The Candle At Least At One End... Just learned that TV On The Radio, one of my very favorite new groups, is playing Tuesday night at 8:30pm in Park Slope, at Southpaw, with Coco Rosie. Quoting the critics, TVOTR "mixes post-punk, electronic and other atmoshperic elements in such a creative way," "have rich melancholy vocals," and "don't sound like any other band out there" They are also visual artists. I know it's a weeknight (I rise at 6am), but I really want to see them... I'd go alone anyway, but does anyone want to come along? Most of you have one song by them, "Young Liars" on my New Year's gift CD. (If you don't, let me know!) Two more postings follow, including great photos. Read on:Fathoming The Unfathomable...
Last night at Film Forum, I saw two unusually, beautifully filmed documentaries about 9/11. No cliches, commentary, flaming jet planes, or horror here. Just the numbing, otherwordly physical and emotional hellscape left in the wake of a catastrophe. In "The First 24 Hours" a handheld camera roams through the dust and debris, following the rescuers, and capturing poignantly incongruent details, such as the remains of a gym, and exhausted firemen sleeping on the floor of a convenience store. 
Then, "Collateral Damages" introduces you to a handful of surviving firemen working at Ground Zero, who feel very familiar, immediate, and palpable. They open up to us about coping, about trying to making sense of it all. Read the review. Feast Your Eyes...
...on these wonderful photos taken from some of my favorite photoblogs. The artists are: Pixpopuli, Mused Pixelflake, A Beat Experience, Myopic, Low Resolution, Ziboy, and Chromogenic. All of these are consistently delightful.
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Friday, March 05, 2004
The 10 Minute Post
Rainy Days and Fridays are a soft landing into a hopefully interesting weekend. I got several ideas from Flavorpill, a great site that sifts through mounds of listings to come up with 15-20 great suggestions per week, sorted by day and art form.
You won't see that much on this blog about Election 2004. It's well covered elsewhere, and I want this blog to be stimulating and entertaining, not nerve-wracking : - )
For great photos of Time Warner Center and other NY curiosities, check out Thomas's (sp?) blog. Should've thought of that yesterday. You'll see one very twisted alarm box.
Later, dawgs
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Thursday, March 04, 2004
Pals-heimer Disease And Other Puzzlements
Today I visited the majestic 21st-century mallspace that is Time Warner Center. I like it. It upgrades Columbus Circle from an uneven potpourri to a world-class crossing-of-the-ways. Expansive glass vistas, impossibly high ceilings and supersized stores all contribute to a sense of space, light, and grandeur. In lieu of a food court, there's a Whole Foods Market set up with the ultimate hot and cold food bar. For a tour, click here and/or here, because I decided to picture instead Oak Alley Plantation in Louisiana bayou country, a 98F highlight of my summer cross-country wanderings.On my links bar (left), you see Today's Brand New Word, a brilliant site that I check daily for newly minted phrases for our time. Here's a real gem of a expression:
Palsheimer's Disease (n) affliction which causes a person to let a great pal drift from the mind, as a result of the passage of time, lack of time, relocation, a new 'friendscape' (field of acquaintances) and/or changed values.
Boing Boing - A Roundup Of Worthwhile Links: An 80s music industry monster tells all, scientists get a clue about acupuncture, how life has changed (or hasn't) for the Afghan kid in Osama, and 2 acclaimed new 9/11 documentaries I may see this weekend.
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Cry Me A River : - )
This week's ONION is laugh-out-loud funny from beginning to end. Lead stories are "Jesus Demands Creative Control Over Next Movie" and "Bush To Make Up Missed National Guard Service This Weekend!" Also, awesome responses in the "person on the street" interview about Haiti. Not to be missed... but sorry about their annoying pop-ups : - ( 
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Wednesday, March 03, 2004
My Milkshake
Now That's A Skyscraper! While Ground Zero reconstruction plans drag on forever, a few blocks eastward visionary architect Santiago Calavatra hopes to erect a daring, 835-foot colossus of stacked cubes, in which function most certainly follows form!
Rime Of The Ancient Technology (and other fun stuff) I learned today that I can't sync my Palm Pilot to my work computer - my employer's hard and software are 5 years behind Palm's current release... (Ancient Mariner fans click here) Today's worthwhile links roundup includes food to eat at a bris (circumcision), the Vermont town that wants to secede and join New Hampshire, and some marriage amendments we can really use, along these lines:
Amendment XXIX- No in-law shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the nonblood-related relative.
The Powerful Head Of The Mafia! This is the Brazilian title for "The Godfather" chosen by Paramount's Brazilian subsidiary, in an apparent effort to leave Brazilians with no doubt as to the subject matter of that film classic. : - ) Brazil's odd translations of American film titles are legendary. Here are some recent oddities:- from Mystic River to Of Little Boys and Wolves
- from Lost In Translation to Encounters and Misencounters
- from Chepear By The Dozen to Twelve Is Too Much
- from Along Came Polly to I Want To Stay With Polly
- from The Human Stain to Revelations
- from Big Fish to Big Fish and His Marvelous Stories
- from Rebecca to Rebecca, An Unforgettable Woman
- from The Cat In The Hat to The Cat
- from Freaky Friday to Very Crazy Friday
Sometimes, titles get gratuitously longer..
...or strangely shortened...
...or just inexplicably altered...
if you like these, I can make it a regular feature...
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Spring Springs Eternal...
It's great to be home... ...when Spring is in the air... Highs in the mid-60s! 11 1/2 hours of light, with sunset at 5:50pm and civil twilight until 6:17pm! I'm rested again, and am re-tracing my steps, pondering how I could actually enjoy a bit of London with better planning of future mini-trips...
Today is a major work crunch. But I'll post tonight with all manner of tidbits and lore. Below is some 'graphic' entertainment.
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Tuesday, March 02, 2004
Virtual Norwegian Summer
When In Oslo… Today I will be awake for 22 hours, the length of a summer’s day in Oslo. Up at 6:30am London time, will hop on the 8pm flight to New York here, and arrive home at 11:30pm New York time, assuming no flight, luggage, or taxi mishaps. Powered by Starbucks Latte. Management meetings went extremely well.
250 Bishopsgate, ABN-AMRO’s London headquarters, is a marvel of post-modern architecture, pictured at right. It’s all about glass panes set off at interesting angles, high ceilings, and trading floors where the sun indeed shines. Extra-wide escalators and transparent elevators add a note of whimsy, like something out of a Jacques Tati film. The atmosphere in London’s City (financial district) is several degrees less tense than that of Wall Street and Park Avenue. For a quick tour of City architecture, click here.
For years my NY business address was 270 Park Avenue, a black modernist pillbox where Darth Vader would feel right at home (pictured left). I much prefer Chase Manhattan Plaza downtown, Rockefeller’s shiny white 60-story vision, with its welcoming plaza and modern art centerpieces: Dubuffet’s 25-foot cartoon cutout and Noguchi’s circular sunken garden (pictures below).
I see New York is enjoying sunny, warm weather, must take a Central Park walk this weekend, or maybe go to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.
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Monday, March 01, 2004
Crumpets, Jet Lag, and Iron Ore
Well here I am on ABN AMRO's London trading floor, a gypsy parked at a vacationer's work station, busily researching Brazilian mining and chemical companies on paper and online. Traders and salespeople are jabbering in Russian, Turkish, and English all around me. My sleep-deprived body is fueled by latte and crumpets. But my concentration level is high. It's cold, but sunny. I had a lovely taxi ride along the Thames, watching Trafalgar Square and St. Paul's Cathedral zip by as I listened to Derek and the Dominoes, courtesy of my friend Thomas.
Below are some photographs of Brazil's Carajas iron ore mining complex in the Amazon. Latin Americans started making steel during World War II, when they suddenly couldn't buy it from the US since we needed it to make ammunition, tanks, and planes. Facing massive shortages, the Latins began to develop their huge iron ore wealth forward into steel production. I hope you find this as fascinating as I do.
Probably no theater tonight... I need to be well-rested for my management meetings tomorrow. But I'll try to see a play in New York this weekend.
Yesterday I drifted into personal territory. Is this a diary? Is this a travelogue? Do I just share what I find interesting and fun, or do I pour my heart out too? Questions, Questions. I always shied away from keeping a diary, life always seemed to messy to record. But now I understand everybody's life is messy, and if noone were willing to paint life in all its messy glory, we would be deprived of much great literature, music, and theater. More on this theme later... Toodle-loo
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Sunday, February 29, 2004
Where It's C-C-Cold
20F and Jet Lagged in Olde London Towne... But I can't say I don't have an interesting life. I slept 6 hours in a very comfortable American Business Class reclining chair, landed at 12:30pm, got to my hotel at 1:30pm, fell asleep, got up just in time to walk around chilly but stately Mayfair and watch the pretty red sunset.
Sunday is 'dark night' in London's theater district, meaning closed. Tomorrow evening, if I'm free of work obligations, I might try and see a revival of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes." Or maybe something more meaty if I'm rested.
Mount Street Gardens is a little treasure of a secluded park I found on my stroll. Surrounded by an banquet of beautiful row house façades with cute chimneys and gables, loveliness in red and white brick. With stubble, a cold nose, and no mittens, I wandered through listening to Donna Leon's "Night In Venice" Inspector Brunetti mystery, on CD, in Swedish of course : - )
Was feeling very lonely yesterday. Definitely need to find a boyfriend this year, if Allah wills it : - ) I'm even jealous of people whose lifestyle and location accomodate owning a dog. For the first time, my mind opened to that idea, how lovely it would be to have a barking bundle of joy that needed and loved me. My building is full of barking bundles of joy. My sister has Petey. Brian has Fiedel. I have a sweet, but decidedly silent gallery of Teddy bears.
Well, enjoy the Oscars tonight my friends. It's a 2am here, and I will be in blissful slumber...
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