OK Go!

Rainy Saturday Afternoon At Work

It's a work crunch weekend, ahead of my three-day calamity of a Mexican conference. Just had a nice brunch at Bright Food Shop with my ex Brian and his boyfriend Joe, who came to town to see Kelly in Julius Caesar.

Menzel : - )

Not as catchy as "Bennifer," I guess... Hey there. Last day in the office before Mexico Trip, and I'll definitely be working this weekend. On the plus, Bart's invited me to a play reading in Brooklyn tomorrow night featuring Meryl Streep (pictured left). My ex Brian is in town to catch his brother-in-law Kelly in Julius Caesar with Denzel Washington, which I saw Wednesday (see yesterday's post). Coincidence: Both Meryl and Denzel have won two academy awards, one for a lead role, the other for a supporting role and - their last movie appearance was together, in "The Manchurian Candidate."

Elsewhere: Peter digs up some 19th century NYC history, while Thomas, in Brazil, shows off his tan. : - ) Here's a little Long Island humor:

Who Made The Salad?

Old 70s TV commercial reference there. What a thrill to see my pal Kelly Au Coin sharing a Broadway stage with Denzel Washington, playing Octavius Caesar to his Brutus in "Julius Caesar." It was a slightly surreal sensation, and Denzel seemed very life-sized, not the larger-than-life icon of the silver screen. He can certainly act, and he infused Brutus with brooding sobriety, and perhaps not enough passion to interprety a revolutionary zealot. Denzel's co-leads were far stronger - Colm Fiore as Cassius and Oz's Eamon Walker as Marc Anthony. Kelly was splendid as the cool, assured, emporer-in-waiting Octavius. The production itself was better than the reviews suggested - I liked the contemporary trappings (a mix of urban decay and Baghdad-esque debris) and the use of modern body language and intonation to get us quickly to the meaning of the dialogue while preserving Shakespeare's 17th century poetry intact. Too often watching Shakespeare I miss the meaning because the words fly faster than I can decode and absorb them - which is quite a statement given how many languages I understand.

Awful-ville

OK, maybe that's a little harsh. Critics consider Alphaville, Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 sci-fi/detective French new wave film a bona fide classic, but I felt lost, alienated, and distinctly unentertained. Sketchy plot, wooden dialogue, and stylized characters. It is good cinematography, turning 1960s Paris into a black-and-white dystopia. But it's way, way too artsy for casual entertainment. It was clearly made in an era when attention spans were longer and free time was abundant. But, still, I did enjoy Alan Resnais's "Hiroshima Mon Amour" and "Last Year At Marienbad," and even Godard's own "Breathless" - all of these were also poetic, artsy, and meandering. The difference is that they had heart - and characters that I cared about.

I'm still struggling with a mountain of work, ringing phones, impending deadlines, and severe eye strain. I'm planning a conference in Mexico next week, on a shoestring. I'll be there from Monday to Friday - It will be my 20th trip to Mexico, the first time I'll have been to any country 20 times. It will also be my 47th trip to Latin America, and my 88th foreign trip overall.

Cartoon:

I Can See Your House From Here!

Want to see your Mom's roof in Kalamazoo, MI? How about your Aunt Gertie's fire escape in Walla Walla, WA? Thanks to the miracle of Google Maps and satellite images, you can literally see a aerial snapshot of any house, street, or block in the US and Canada! Read about it in Newsweek. Or, go right to Google Maps (google.com/maps) and check it out! You can literally arrow your way across the United States by satellite, like a low-flying slow-motion airplane window seat. You can switch back and forth between a map and an image of the same location at any magnification level. In short: it's pretty nifty! Alas, I can't download or post these maps, or even copy the link. I'd have to show you personally on your PC. The image at left is a satellite map of Boston taken from a university, not from Google.

Cartoon:

April Shower Change Of Pace

Meanwhile, Back In Cote D'Ivoire...

Most unusual is this Circular Mosque in Korhogo, Ivory Coast, pictured far left. Mosques typically face Mecca, but this one has no front side. Next, the pointy circular structures of a Wizard's House, also in Korhogo, Ivory Coast, where many 'magic' ceremonies are performed.. View the whole Ivory Coast Gallery.. I'm running so far behind today. It's so beautiful out, sun-drenched and gleaming, and today a delicious and brisk 55F, after yesterday's heady highs in the mid-80s....

See Thomas get messy....

Bleak Africa-Themed Political Cartoon (are there any non-bleak ones?):

MOMA-arkable

Saturday afternoon my guests and I checked out the vast glass-scapes and high ceilings of MOMA's new, improved, user-friendly building. Here's BBC's picture slide show of it. Three years in the making, and well worthing waiting for, I'm happy to report. Frankly, it's blocked out the memory of the old building, but I'd hazard a guess that exhibition space is probably doubled. Current exhibits include UBS's fabulous modern art collection and a multimedia look at reclaimed public spaces around the world. The ceilings are higher, and, alas, so is the admission, now $20 a head. No skin off my back for the moment, but isn't art supposed to be accessible to everyone?

Had a lovely dinner last night at Bottino, an intimate Italian eatery nestled at W 24th & 10th Ave, in the heart of the Gallery Archipelago.

My list of Netflix Friends grows, now 8 people strong, and Neftlix has fleshed out and enhanced the Friends feature, complete with quizzes on your friends' taste.

Le Freak... C'est Chic...

Check me out on Peter's blog - a brunch photo with my visiting friends Erik & Matt.

Last night I finally saw all 66 minutes of Todd Browning's notorious 1932 film "Freaks," probably among the most controversial hours ever captured on celluloid. It's a dark, cautionary tale in which a 'normal,' beautiful female circus performer marries a circus dwarf for his money and then humiliates him. But there's a code of honor among the circus mis-shapen 'freaks', and they exact a terrible revenge. Browning used primarily real circus freaks with no acting background, achieiving a brutal realism that more than offset the flat performances. Here's a gallery of pictures and trivia from this movie. Hard to believe that this was produced by MGM, even pre-code. One extra bonus is insight into the marital, conjugal, issues faced by Siamese twins... : - )

Cartoon:

A Loung Time Coming

Monday is here, ending a lovely, sunny, interesting, and social weekend. I have fodder for a week of blog postings. Please enjoy some new work, then, from that luminary of nature/travel photography, the Ansel Adams of our time, QT Loung, who by day, works as a techie with Thomas' Dad in greater LA. Recently in Mexico, QT regales us with photos of Zacatecas (higlight below) and Guanajuato (wanna taco?) : - ) QT's link appears always on the left of my page as "Earth On Film"

Cartoon:

Freud's Playwright Pal

Sigmund Freud often marvelled at the sharp psychological insights that his close friend, the great writer Arthur Schnitzler, also a Viennese Jew (far left), unearthed in his numerous plays and short stories. Last night we enjoyed the Mint Theater's excellent revival of Schnitzler's "Lonely Way," not seen in New York for 71 years.

Difficult family relationships, sexuality, our shifting needs and desires and the betrayals and compromises these imply... this was heady and groundbreaking material in Schnitzler's 1900-1925 heyday. And yet, he was the most prolific and popular German-language playwright of his day. Of course, he drew anti-semitic ire and was banned when Hitler annexed Austria 7 years after his 1931 death. Schnitzler's short story "Traumnovelle", incidentally, was the source material for Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut."

Spot On Sunny

Pint-Sized Roommates : - )

And David leaps into the world of feline cohabitation... That's Pedro (the Lion) on the left, and Sati on the right. Sati momentarily seems to have the upper paw. Hello. world! It's very sunny here!













From this week’s Onion, my favorite feature, “What Do YOU Think?

Question: “In recent weeks, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has come under increasing fire from a number of important media and political figures. What do you think?”

Answer 1: "I heard Tom DeLay's blood was in the water and the sharks were circling him, but unfortunately, it turned out to be a metaphor."
Answer 2: "There's a big difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. Sure, he broke both, but there's a big difference."
Answer 2: "I'm telling you, if Tom DeLay would come out and say, 'Screw it, I'm just in it for the cash and the bitches,' his popularity would skyrocket. At the very least, he'd be in a Kid Rock video."
Answer 4: "Enough is enough. DeLay should do the honorable thing: take all the money he's cheated out of the American people, buy himself a nice mansion, and retire."
Answer 5: “Oh, come on. Like nobody in Congress has ever built a career out of borderline-illegal financial impropriety before. Grow up."
Answer 6: "Tom DeLay is an inspiration. His example has given me hope that my ethics violations will go ignored for years, as well."

No New Tale To Tell

Hey again, I'm just coming up from air. Intense week of work and moonlighting as a musical curator : - ) Brian's been helping me with some lovely musical finishing touches. Get ready for Aaron Spring! Looking forward to a fun long weekend - I'm taking tomorrow off, my friend Erik is visiting from Boston, and one of my new friends, Matt fm DC, is crashing with us as well.

Check out Thomas' electric shower heads from Brazil. Bzzz. And Peter's trip to a ghost town opera house. And Albuquerque's breast police. : - )

Cartoons:

Up Up With Off-Off

I, Robot-Security-and-Entertainment-Device

Just when you thought we'd left Japan in the dust... They've come up with a human-shaped, walking, dancing, multi-tasking robot for domestic use. I'm not kidding (pictured left). Actually, Japan does still lead the world in robotics...

This may be Japan's best thing since Shibuya-kei music, in which Japanese mall kids sincerely reproduce kitschy 60s and 70s adult party music that sounds much campier and more ironic then they could possibly have intended. If you'd like to hear a sample, just ask me.

Check out part one of Peter's celebrity encounters - he's sure had more luck than I have. And part two.

Cartoon:

Meanwhile, Back In Vietnam...

...in some thatched hut, soft-shell crabs are a-cookin'... Vietnam, last bulwark of unspoiled Asian beauty, is a place I would love to visit one of these old days...

What a lovely weekend, the weather, the company, and the music. Who could ask for anything more?

I did watch "In The Mood for Love," a 2000 film set in early 1960s Hong Kong which has is 90 minutes of pure atmosphere, sensory candy, and wonderfully understated acting (see poster below cartoon). It centers on a man and a woman whose spouses are having an affair, and the platonic bond that develops between these two mid-level professionals in their crowded rooming house and antiquated offices. You can almost smell the spattering woks as your eyes drink in the colorful wardrobe and furnishings and your ears feast on Nat King Cole's lovely voice mis-prouncing some classic Spanish-language romantic songs of that era. A totally unique experience...

No Small Feat

A midget. A bereaved mother. A hotdog vendor. An abandoned rail depot. A character-driven film, episodic but succinct at 86 minutes. Sheer cinematic magic. Don't miss The Station Agent, an unusually well-acted unusual experience. The three leads are superb, especially the phenomenal Patricia Clarkson, whose performance here earned an Oscar nomination.

New York is bathed in spring sun today, with 64F and a delicious breeze. So out I go.

Later this weekend: a date, then dinner a movie with Fernando, and tomorrow, a walk through the park with David, who's in from Miami. And Erik is coming next weekend to hang and enjoy NY's numerous pleasure, including some theater and catching Ambluance Ltd. live in Williamsburgh.

Easy as 123 (stories)

123 floors, you say? Dubai is showing the classic signs of an Edifice Complex, where countries awash in new money build huge skyscrapers to claim their place on the world stage. At left, Dubai's planned Burj Dubai, at a cost of $900 million, is intended to be the world's tallest building, structure, or tower - by a wide margin - when it is finished in 2008. The developers say it will be "dozens of stories taller" than current record-holders in Taipei, Kuala Lumpur, and Chicago. They plan to keep the exact height and number of floors secret during the construction to flummox potential competitors.

Taipei 101 (below), finished in 2004, is currently the world's tallest building - at 1,670 feet it is nearly 200 feet higher than the 1,489-foot Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the 1,450-foot Sears Tower in Chicago. Here's the ranking of world's tallest buildings, from Info Please.

New York's fourth-tallest building, by the way, since 2001, is the 861-foot 72-story Trump World Tower near the UN. Trump broke a longstanding 'gentleman's agreement' among NYC developers not to eclipse the UN building with anything taller in its vicinity. For three years it was the world's tallest residential tower, recently eclipsed by the 883-foot 21st Century Tower in - you got it, Dubai...

In 2002, my Mom and I were in the world's fourth tallest building (counting the Petronas twins as one thing), the Jin Mao tower in Shanghai, 88 stories and 1,381 feet. It has a beautiful pagoda-like form (as does Taipei 101) and a spectacular view from the top.

Shanghai felt like the futuristic dreamscape stretching as far as the eye could see... There's really only one stretch of old buildings in the whole city, the "Bund" on the waterfront, built by the British.

Cartoon:

Stop, Drop & Roll... You're On Fire...

Et Tu, New York Times?

Theater critic Ben Brantley was not very kind to the new production of Julius Caesar , to its star Denzel Washington (left), or to my good friend Kelly AuCoin, who plays Octavius. But then, don't believe everything you read.... Beware the by-lines of April?

I've seen Kelly in many things, and he has been unswervingly excellent, in a wide variety of genres and roles. I may just give this Mr. Brantley a piece of my mind after seeing the show..

Blatant Laziness!

With 56 minutes left to the day (and two hours till we spring forward), I feel lazy. Hence I am stealing Thomas' cool pictuers of Rio de Janeiro's Petrobras building, the architectural Rubik's Cube that houses Brazil's state-owned oil company. Thomas is now back in Sao Paulo, btw, and has found a place to stay in the Pinheiros area.

This morning, I met Peter up at 68th St Loews to see a 3-D Imax Documentary, "Aliens of the Deep," about ocean life that's literally where the sun don't shine... Solar rays reach about a mile deep, and the ocean floor can lie as much as 5-7 miles below the surface. So what kind of life exists without photosynthesis, that core of the convential food chain? Well, the answer has to do with vents that steam piping hot black smoke chock full of nutrients to a motley and bizarre creatures that would do a special effects designer proud... Interestingly, this is the proving ground for future exploration of extraterrestrial life. The next-to-final frontier, if you will.

New York is all about torrential sheet of rain and cyclonic winds today.. Laziness is to be expected, doncha think? : - )

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Here's my Mom back in the early 1960s...

Cartoons!