Two gifts for me from me

I just bought Jason Schmidt's "Artists" and Joel Sternfeld's reprinted version of "American Prospects" from Amazon. I've wanted these two books for a while now and decided that today is the day to splurge on inspiration. I'm psyched!

(image via Amazon)

I spotted the seals!

I've seen the Central Park Zoo seals two mornings in a row. Both of them! It's gotta be good luck!

Danny Seo's house is for sale

Green guru, Danny Seo's sweet Bucks County, PA bungalow is for sale. Check out the slide show.

(photos via Prudential)

Bamboo towels from cb2

I totally need a new bath towel. CB2 is slated to open in Soho sometime soon so I will go and check out their bamboo/ cotton blend towels. They are supposed to be soft and super absorbent.

(image from CB2)

Hairstyle files

If you ever need some ideas for hairstyles, Japanese website Rasysa has tons of photos and ideas. It's all in Japanese but you can figure it out.

Places I've been

I found this create your own visited countries map site, I'm totally digging it.




I haven't been to too many places in the States, hence the need for a road trip. Click to create your own visited states map.

Conversation with Stephen Shore

Jorg Colberg's conversation with Stephen Shore is an interesting read. The bit on editing is particularly interesting to me right now as I've been working on my website.

Beirut- the band

My friend Teresa saw Beirut last week when they had a secret show before the start of their tour. She came to work raving about it and made me listen to their music via their site. I'm going to see them with some co-workers in Central Park after work tomorrow. It should be fun!

Couch Surfing

You know all those road trips I've been wanting to take? They would be really feasible if I were part of the Couch Surfing network that was written about in this NYTimes article last week.

Enjoying my outdoors

I've come to realize that I am lucky to be living in New York City and working at a great institution that's next to Central Park. I found this map the other day and I've used the upper jogging track around the reservoir twice so far this week. Using part of my lunch hour to jog is quite an enlightenment! Thanks Paul for the inspiration.

(Map from Central Park 2000)

Saravana Bhavan Dosa Hut

Saravana Bhavan Dosa Hut is an amazing South Indian restaurant on Lexington and 27th St. that my friend Paul suggested. I'm always weary about trying Indian food- I love it but have had plenty of awful Indian meals (esp. in the 6th St. region). I went last night with Geoff. This one is amazing! I had dosa and shared a special platter which was really GOOD. So many different spices and flavors. I already want to go back.

20x200 by Jen Bekman

I read about Jen Bekman's new project 20x200 in Dwell magazine. The deal: you can puchase a limited edition (200) small print for $20, making the collecting of photographs and prints quite affordable. There are also slightly larger prints in an edition of 20 for $200 each, and the largest size is in an edition of 2 for $2000. It's an interesting price structure, I wonder if it will catch on like tiny showcase where everything is sold out as soon as it gets announced.

Framed wallpaper

I spotted this photo on Decor8 a couple of days ago and I love the idea of framing the Cole and Son's Cow Parsley wallpaper. This yellow is so lovely, it would go well in my room... I also think the pompoms on the pillows are fab.

(image from Decor8)

Revised Photo

This revised photo is via Meera, I love how Domingo is a bit bigger than us and so casual chic!

Ciao Bella!

We had brunch on Sunday at Schiller's on the LES. Meera found a nice pair of boots that she's sporting in the photo below. Domingo, Gabriella, Liu, Meera, and I went to MOMA to see the JoAnn Verburg show and the prints on display that are part of the permanent collection. They were both good shows. We went back downtown and got some sorbetto at Ciao Bella. So fantastic! We are lucky Meera.

Gallery hopping

Pylypchuk at Friedrich Petzel

SMALL THINGS

On Sat I went gallery hopping with Meera and Rylan. On of the first shows we saw was Jonathan Pylypchuk at Friedrich Petzel. Charming work. We stopped by Sonnabend to see Candida Hoffer's large scale interiors. Rylan and Meera both went crazy over Kohei Yoshiyuki's show at Yossi Milo. It is a must-see show. And you know what? The Larry Clark show at Luhring Augustine is pretty good- I was surprised. Dutch photographer Wijnanda Deroo's "Interiors" are worth a look-see at Robert Mann. Laura Letinsky's "To Say It Isn't So" show at Yancey Richardson was great. I like still life paintings but haven't seen too many good still life photographs. I like hers. We stopped by Bespoke Gallery to check out my friend Reuben's new photos on the "Work of Joe Webb". We ended with the "Lisette Modell and her Successors" show at Aperture Foundation. It was a big show and slightly overwhelming at the end of a long afternoon of picture viewing. We met up with the rest of the gang across town at Joe's "Weekend without Makeup" show curated by Jeffrey Walkowiak at PS122 where he showed an excellent video piece.

Reunion

Domingo & Giorgio were gracious hosts for our ACA photo group reunion Friday night. It was super nice to be able to see everyone again.

Can we please have another one?

(group photo from Leslie Sheng's camera)

Daniel Traub

I read about Daniel Traub over at Conscientious a couple of weeks ago. I've been thinking about making a longer trip to Asia this winter to start a new project I've had in mind for some years now so looking at these images are encouraging.

(photos from Daniel Traub's site)

Tyler Bender books

Holly blogged about Tyler Bender's repurposed books crafted from vintage bookcovers this morning. I looked them up and fell for this one. I'm on a budget though these days so I'll just have to admire for now.

(images from Tyler Bender's etsy shop)

Tobu World Square by nao

The photography of nao on Flickr has captured my attention for a couple of months now. I like her deliberate palette. I just spotted these photos of Tobu World Square in Japan. I guess I need to make a trip to Japan now.



Doesn't this one remind you of this photo that I posted about just two days ago?

(photos belong to nao)

The Anniversary

It's a wet, gloomy day in New York City. The rain is much needed but it makes me sad. Today being the anniversay of 9/11 doesn't help much either.

Easy Rider

I just caught the Easy Rider: Road Trips through America show at Yancey Richardson before it colosed on Saturday. With several of my co-workers taking road trips this summer and seeing this show- I've really think about taking a road trip, right here, in America. For those that know me well, it's a big statement- considering that I don't really drive (hey! I grew up riding the subway), and the fact that I think travelling internationally is a better deal than travelling domestically. But maybe that's about to change...

(My favorite Joel Sternfeld images from the Easy Rider show at Yancey Richardson)

Ronnybrook Farms at Chelsea Market

Ronnybrook Farm has a store at Chelsea Market. I stopped by on Saturday and ordered a yummy ginger creme brulee ice cream cone. The store is decorated with old milk crates and has a dine-in counter that serves what looks to be great brunch selections on top of their dairy products. If you've never had thier products, go try it. I don't like milk at all but their chocolate milk is heavenly! I have to try their butter, although I have to say that I recently found Icelandic butter at wholefoods and it's been great to me. I no longer have to live without! Here's a little something from their website on "Why Ronnybrook milk is better":

It's old-fashioned whole milk. The way the cow delivers it. All our milk is pasteurized to kill off any bacteria, but our whole milk is not homogenized, allowing the cream to rise to the top. That's why we call it CreamlineTM. You can spoon the cream off for your coffee and be left with natural skim milk or shake it up for creamy whole milk. Non-homogenized milk is simply better tasting.

Non-homogenized milk is also pasteurized at lower temperatures. Ultra-pasteurization, which involves the heating of milk at high temperatures, destroys vital vitamins and enzymes such as galactase (which aids in the absorption of calcium) and lipase (which causes milk fat to self destruct after the body absorbs its fat-soluble nutrients). Ultra-pasteurized milk is simply less nutritious than regular pasteurized milk.

I have to say though that the service wasn't so happening.

Maria's new botanical portrait cyanotypes

Maria's been working on a new body of work inspired by Victorian cut paper silhouettes. Here's a peek.



(images courtesy of Maria)

I'd like to take a trip to Shartlesville, PA

My co-worker Bob recently took a road trip to Michigan. One of the places he visited was an indoor miniature village in Sharlesville, PA called Roadside America. I'm keen on taking a trip there myself and checking it out since I grew up going to a miniature world in Taiwan and photographing it. I'm fascinated by these still lifes and would like to photograph more of them. If anyone knows of any more of these types of places, please let me know. I'd also like to visit legoland in Denmark.

(photo from one of my trips to the miniature world in Taiwan)

For Like Ever

I spotted this in Domino magazine ages ago and finally got clued in as to where to purchase this poster. I think I might have to buy myself one. I love pink.

(image via Village)

There's a new iRobot

AT Chicago just posted a review of the new iRobot Roomba 560. We have one that we use in Pond Eddy and love it. I HATE to vacuum and am quite allergic so I LOVE the iRobot, even though it takes more than twice as long to vacuum a room as person would normally take. And yes it is expensive- however, I believe it's a small price to pay so as to not argue about whose turn it is to vacuum.

(image from AT Chicago)

No to powerlines along the Delaware

I got an email this morning from Pat Carullo about an issue we are dealing with at our house in Pond Eddy which is along the Delaware River.

Dear Friend,

The federal government is facilitating mining by mountaintop-removal
and drilling in National Wildlife Refuges and powerline construction
in the Upper Delaware River National Park and other U.S. communities.

Ordinary folks and artists are working hard to protect our public
spaces and to preserve our constitutional and personal rights.
Below, please see one-minute YouTube video of the River with
powerlines installed by private company:

Upper Delaware River ARTIST STATEMENT
http://www.youtube.com/GardenArtist

Peace,
PC

Korean food fest

Yesterday was a Korean food fest for me. For lunch I had fried chicken from Unidentified Flying Chicken, a new Korean fried chicken joint I read about from the Cheap Eats issue of New York magazine a couple of weeks ago. It's also been written up by the NYTimes, which explains how Korean fried chicken is very different from American fried chicken. I got a "small" order of fried chicken wings, half in soy/ garlic sauce, and the other half spicy. Whoa! I got twelve huge wings for $8.99 with a side of pickled radishes. It was yummy but way too much food for one. I think it's better suited for sharing amongst friends with some beer in their lounge-like space downstairs.

For dinner, I met up with my sister and headed to Book Chang Dong, what was formerly Natural Tofu in Bayside, Queens. It's open 24 hours for those of you who like to have hearty late nite meals- my aunt who is in the restaurant biz hits it during the wee hours. I had my favorite dish, Kimchi tofu hotpot with pork, soon dubu chigae. For those of you who can't imagine how tofu could be special, here's an article from the NYTimes that mentions Book Chang Dong. We also ordered seafood pancake and LA Galbi (beef shor ribs)- that's why I'm extra fat oday and have good food for leftovers. I also noticed a new Korean porridge restaurant a couple doors down that reminded me of the ones my Mom and I went to in Hong Kong that my she might enjoy- next time.

(image by Jennifer S. Altman for the NYTimes- I had a horrible experience at Li Hua, where the photo was taken, once with a long wait, horrendous service, and a mix up of orders.)

Calder's Circus is in town!

I went to check out the Whitney's Summer of Love exhibit yesterday and really wasn't too interested in the show. However, I saw Alexander Calder's "Circus" that he made with bits of wire, fabric, yarn, and other materials before he became known for his mobile pieces. The Circus is a great insight to how he developed his later works. This piece is part of the Modernisms show on the 5th floor. Many of his circus pieces are on display and there is a video that shows Calder performing with his Circus. It is so charming and enchanting. I stood there and watched the video chuckling to myself. He performed with these pieces for art partrons, artists, and friends in New York and Paris. I wish I could have seen it in person, hearing Calder roar, whistle, talk in his own French and English. . .

Note: Danny Lyon will have a show that opens on Friday the 7th and Kara Walker's survey opens October 11th.

Dia: Beacon

On Sunday I took another trip with Mom to Dia: Beacon. Dia:Beacon is a museum for Dia Art Foundation's renowned collection of art from the 1960s to the present. It's located along the Hudson River in Beacon, NY, about an hour and a half north of Grand Central . Located in a former factory, the ceilings are high, there is lots of daylight shining in, and the collection is amazing. It was our first visit. I have to say that it was a totally easy get-away from the city and well worth it. We walked around town for a bit afterwards but were't too entertained. There was an excellent ice cream parlor where Mom got an amazing scoop of pistachio ice cream.

To be so close and worlds away. . .

I spent Saturday with my Mom on a little field trip. We packed some lunch and headed toward Governors Island. It was the last weekend that it's open to the public for 2007 but it will reopen again in June of 2008. For those of you unfamiliar with this island, here's an overview from the Governors Island website.

Governors Island is located in the New York Harbor, approximately one-half mile from Battery Park in Lower Manhattan and one-quarter mile from Brooklyn. The Island is 172 acres with nearly 225 buildings, considerable open space, and recreational amenities. Its waterfront offers some of the most dramatic and impressive vistas of the New York skyline and New York Harbor, including the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The northern half of the Island, consisting of approximately 92 acres, has been designated as both a National Historic Landmark District and a New York City Historic District, and features late 18th and early 19th century fortifications, pre-Civil War arsenal buildings, Victorian and Romanesque Revival housing, as well as early 20th century neo-classical architecture. Five buildings within the Historic District, including Fort Jay and Castle Williams, are individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

There is a free ferry you can catch at the Battery Maritime Building which is right next to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. We took a short, free guided tour, ate lunch, and walked around afterwards. It really felt worlds away from the city with rolling hills of green grass except for the constant helicopter traffic overhead.

(photo from the Governors Island website)