Monday, December 10, 2007
Change
Today I started my new job. It is so good to be back in New York City after so many years. The commute will take some getting used to but like everything else I will settle in time.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Burqa Beauty
I'm too busy to write my own stories unfortunately so have to amuse you with other peoples:(
Afghan models reveal the beauty under the burqa
By Jon Hemming Sun Sep 30, 9:03 PM ET
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A model strutting the catwalk is hardly revolutionary in most countries, but Afghan television's answer to "America's Next Top Model" is breaking boundaries and revealing the beauty under the burqa.
Nearly six years after the overthrow of the strict Islamist Taliban government, almost all women in deeply conservative Afghanistan still only appear in public wafting past in the burqa's pale blue, their dark eyes only occasionally visible behind the bars of its grille.
But in the relatively liberal northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, a local television station has started to show a different image of Afghan women with an extremely low-budget take on the hit "America's Next Top Model," a reality TV show in which judges choose prospective models from a group of contestants over several weeks.
"I was really enthusiastic to make this program because I wanted the girls to present the clothes and themselves," said Sosan Soltani, the 18-year-old director of the program.
"Afghanistan is free and these girls are the future of this country," she said.
Four girls in brightly colored traditional costumes with baggy pants and long loose-fitting shawls and headscarves strode down the impromptu catwalk decked out in traditional Afghan rugs. Seemingly less confident than their Western counterparts, they avoided the gaze of the all-male film crew and press.
A quick change later, the same four appeared in camouflage combat trousers, sneakers and embroidered smocks. Then came denim jeans, open-toed sandals and colorful lightweight jackets.
None of this would be at all risque in the West, but in Afghanistan, such attire can spark outrage, especially when broadcast on television.
"According to Sharia law, Islam is absolutely against this," said Afghan Muslim cleric Abdul Raouf. "Not only is it banned by Islamic Sharia law, but if we apply Sharia law and to take this issue to justice, these girls should be punished."
"A STEP FORWARD"
More than 10 other models due to take part in the program failed to turn up after hearing that members of the international press would be present, fearing the wider broadcast of the show could lead to trouble for them, their friends said.
Those who did brave the possible backlash were determined.
"It is a great idea I think for Afghan girls, to encourage them to go a step forward," said 19-year-old model Katayoun Timour.
"We know that in Afghan society 90 percent of people think it is not good, that it's absolutely wrong," she said of the program. "We had objections from people, but I tell them it is not something bad, they should see it in a positive way."
But on the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif, it was hard to find anyone who objected to the program, especially among the young.
"It is a good program," said 28-year-old shopkeeper Ahmad Sear. "People watch and like it, especially women are interested in this program -- through this program and the clothes they wear, they might be able to develop their country."
"Young people are interested in fashion and the program introduces new clothes to them," said businessman Ahmad Nasir. "It also complies with Afghan culture, so it's fine."
But asked if he looked more at the clothes or the girls, he replied with a smile: "The girls of course." Then added, "the clothes are important though."
Model Timour said she wanted the outside world to see a different image of Afghan women.
"I have seen outside Afghanistan they have a different kind of idea about women in Afghanistan -- they think they are always wearing the burqa and sitting at home but it is not like that," she said. "Girls in Afghanistan are beautiful."
Afghan models reveal the beauty under the burqa
By Jon Hemming Sun Sep 30, 9:03 PM ET
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A model strutting the catwalk is hardly revolutionary in most countries, but Afghan television's answer to "America's Next Top Model" is breaking boundaries and revealing the beauty under the burqa.
Nearly six years after the overthrow of the strict Islamist Taliban government, almost all women in deeply conservative Afghanistan still only appear in public wafting past in the burqa's pale blue, their dark eyes only occasionally visible behind the bars of its grille.
But in the relatively liberal northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, a local television station has started to show a different image of Afghan women with an extremely low-budget take on the hit "America's Next Top Model," a reality TV show in which judges choose prospective models from a group of contestants over several weeks.
"I was really enthusiastic to make this program because I wanted the girls to present the clothes and themselves," said Sosan Soltani, the 18-year-old director of the program.
"Afghanistan is free and these girls are the future of this country," she said.
Four girls in brightly colored traditional costumes with baggy pants and long loose-fitting shawls and headscarves strode down the impromptu catwalk decked out in traditional Afghan rugs. Seemingly less confident than their Western counterparts, they avoided the gaze of the all-male film crew and press.
A quick change later, the same four appeared in camouflage combat trousers, sneakers and embroidered smocks. Then came denim jeans, open-toed sandals and colorful lightweight jackets.
None of this would be at all risque in the West, but in Afghanistan, such attire can spark outrage, especially when broadcast on television.
"According to Sharia law, Islam is absolutely against this," said Afghan Muslim cleric Abdul Raouf. "Not only is it banned by Islamic Sharia law, but if we apply Sharia law and to take this issue to justice, these girls should be punished."
"A STEP FORWARD"
More than 10 other models due to take part in the program failed to turn up after hearing that members of the international press would be present, fearing the wider broadcast of the show could lead to trouble for them, their friends said.
Those who did brave the possible backlash were determined.
"It is a great idea I think for Afghan girls, to encourage them to go a step forward," said 19-year-old model Katayoun Timour.
"We know that in Afghan society 90 percent of people think it is not good, that it's absolutely wrong," she said of the program. "We had objections from people, but I tell them it is not something bad, they should see it in a positive way."
But on the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif, it was hard to find anyone who objected to the program, especially among the young.
"It is a good program," said 28-year-old shopkeeper Ahmad Sear. "People watch and like it, especially women are interested in this program -- through this program and the clothes they wear, they might be able to develop their country."
"Young people are interested in fashion and the program introduces new clothes to them," said businessman Ahmad Nasir. "It also complies with Afghan culture, so it's fine."
But asked if he looked more at the clothes or the girls, he replied with a smile: "The girls of course." Then added, "the clothes are important though."
Model Timour said she wanted the outside world to see a different image of Afghan women.
"I have seen outside Afghanistan they have a different kind of idea about women in Afghanistan -- they think they are always wearing the burqa and sitting at home but it is not like that," she said. "Girls in Afghanistan are beautiful."
Friday, September 07, 2007
My boyfriend rocks
I finally noticed that he told the hanger on, the leach, the mooch, the noose, etc etc etc to stop taking credit for his hard work. Heh heh.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Don't feed the humans
This story is hilarious ahahaha. Personally I think Knightley is over rated and the thinks too much of her horsey self.
Keira Knightley: pin-up or put down?
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 31/08/2007
The Atonement star may be a modern screen idol, but her looks have unleashed a battle of the sexes. Jasper Gerard and Becky Pugh fight their corners
Jasper Gerard: A textbook English Beauty
Since Kate Moss porked out a bit, celebrity magazines have been forced to find other young lovelies to illustrate those summer staples headlined: "Fears grow for dangerously thin [fill in the latest name here]".
The woman they often settle on is Keira Knightley, normally shown across a double page in a tiny bikini, looking "dangerously thin". This is accompanied by a "think" piece, invariably by a woman who is less thin, bewailing "whatever happened to the fuller figure all men secretly adore?" Hmm.
Alas, such photos of "painfully thin" Keira do not repel me as they surely should; indeed, even after studying a Knightley "painfully thin" photo for hours, I'm forced to conclude - against my better self - "Nope, I still wouldn't feed her."
Keira Knightley: what's not to like? You see, The Terrible Truth Which Responsible People Are Not Meant To Acknowledge is that most men under 40 like women to look a bit peckish.
In zoos, signs declare "don't feed the animals"; in Hollywood, they don't feed the humans. And that's the deal: we pay stars oodles and drool over them. In return, we get to eat all the Custard Creams.
An editor of another newspaper asked me to write a somewhat counter-intuitive piece recently on why I was apparently driven into a frenzy by photos of Beth Ditto, a veritable walking EU grain mountain of a singer. And lovely though she surely is, and far be it from me to turn down work, I gave up: I didn't, quite literally, have the stomach for it.
You see, the tastes of many men of a certain age were honed by early shots of a "painfully thin" Moss in those heroin-chic days. Older men spluttered; younger ones never recovered.
Now, teenagers who grew up with Knightley's tomboy beauty in Pirates of the Caribbean will never lust after those old-style Page Three girls who looked like they were attached to a pair of giant milk urns.
But Knightley's sexiness springs from far more than her Norfolk-esque flatness, a "flaw" she is the first to joke about. Any youngish guy who says he doesn't find her attractive must a) never have met her or b) be Graham Norton.
I first interviewed her after she had starred in the 2002 remake of Doctor Zhivago. I ambled along with scant enthusiasm: young actresses tend to give good photo but dreary quote. Yet I was spellbound, and not exclusively by her physical charms.
Even calibrating for the obvious truth that we consider beautiful people fascinating and hilarious, she was enormous fun.
I even found myself asking - in that hideously lascivious way of the perspiring older hack - if she had a boyfriend. To which she slapped me on the knee and reminded me she was only 17, and I instantly felt rather ashamed.
Next time I saw her was on a train and I looked up to see her sitting opposite me: disguised in ordinary clothes but unmistakeable.
I was about to shout out a greeting, blowing her disguise to the entire carriage, when she moved a finger to her delectable lips, motioning me to "shh". She smiled, and nothing was said. A review of her role in her new film Atonement accused her of lacking "passion", but that surely misses her appeal.
She is perfect for elegant, period pieces where emotion lies in what is unspoken. If you like your cinematic sex unsubtle, watch Sharon Stone. Knightley attracts because she isn't brassy and upfront.
She is demure, her mischievous sexuality all the more intriguing for hiding beneath a veneer of cut-glass restraint and her loveliness so very English.
Becky Pugh: An unemotive plank of wood
When I look at Keira Knightley I do not see the subtly sexy siren that so many men drool over - I see a mediocre actress who wears a permanent pout. She may be beautiful, demure and successful but to me she is just a pretty plank of wood (albeit one that came briefly to life in her Oscar-nominated role as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice).
Planks of wood are not sexy. Sexiness is about joie de vivre, and Keira has none. And no, this isn't about her being terribly thin. I don't mind that she is extremely slender, even if it does set a tiresome standard for us lesser mortals. It's just that being that skinny makes it look as though she forgoes the most pleasurable things in life, like food.
Something vital is missing. Where's the oomph in Keira? Where is the sparkle? There is no glint in her eye, no liberating quirkiness with which either sex can fall in love. She should pose less and laugh more; cheer up and chill out.
Perhaps it's because she works too hard.
"I really don't have time for much," she says. "You have to take the work while it's there because it won't be there for ever. I might as well enjoy it now." Exactly! I'd like to see her doing just that.
She gets her roles because the camera adores her perfect face and because she is reliable, giving a wide berth to the hedonistic lifestyle of so many of her contemporaries. In my view she certainly doesn't get them on the strength of her ability to act.
Lots of men fancy Keira, my boyfriend included. He once told me: "I want to sleep with her, but sometimes she looks too thin." Empire magazine once voted her the sexiest movie actress of all time.
Lots of women are bewitched by her. They think she lights up the screen. They watch her rigid, passionless performances and love her unconditionally. Not me. I just want to shake her.
I'm not averse to a pin-up; I have a fair few girl-crushes myself. In fact there are legions of women I love so much that I'd like to be them (Kate Moss in her pre-Pete days, Jade Jagger, Natalie Portman), but I do not want to be Keira Knightley.
Her flaws are not to be overlooked - she is amazingly quick to point them out herself. Her seemingly radiant skin is prone to acne. Her abs are only to-die-for if you like the washboard stomach of a teenage boy.
She lacks an innate sense of style - all those beanies and bovver boots are deeply unsexy. Dressed by stylists in Chanel couture, she is a knock-out. Dressed by herself, she completely misses the mark.
And as for that infuriating pout… I've examined Keira's face in repose a couple of times and concluded that her mouth is normal, entirely pout-free. So why pout? It makes her look sullen at best, deranged at worst.
Finally, and call me bitchy if you must, below that staggering visage lurks a minuscule pair of breasts and a shapeless pair of pins. In a still shot her face is as breathtakingly beautiful as a work of art, but there is a lifelessness about her that I just don't see as sexy.
I understand a man wanting a photograph of Keira on his wall - but not him wanting her in his bed. An unemotive plank of wood.
The Telegraph
Keira Knightley: pin-up or put down?
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 31/08/2007
The Atonement star may be a modern screen idol, but her looks have unleashed a battle of the sexes. Jasper Gerard and Becky Pugh fight their corners
Jasper Gerard: A textbook English Beauty
Since Kate Moss porked out a bit, celebrity magazines have been forced to find other young lovelies to illustrate those summer staples headlined: "Fears grow for dangerously thin [fill in the latest name here]".
The woman they often settle on is Keira Knightley, normally shown across a double page in a tiny bikini, looking "dangerously thin". This is accompanied by a "think" piece, invariably by a woman who is less thin, bewailing "whatever happened to the fuller figure all men secretly adore?" Hmm.
Alas, such photos of "painfully thin" Keira do not repel me as they surely should; indeed, even after studying a Knightley "painfully thin" photo for hours, I'm forced to conclude - against my better self - "Nope, I still wouldn't feed her."
Keira Knightley: what's not to like? You see, The Terrible Truth Which Responsible People Are Not Meant To Acknowledge is that most men under 40 like women to look a bit peckish.
In zoos, signs declare "don't feed the animals"; in Hollywood, they don't feed the humans. And that's the deal: we pay stars oodles and drool over them. In return, we get to eat all the Custard Creams.
An editor of another newspaper asked me to write a somewhat counter-intuitive piece recently on why I was apparently driven into a frenzy by photos of Beth Ditto, a veritable walking EU grain mountain of a singer. And lovely though she surely is, and far be it from me to turn down work, I gave up: I didn't, quite literally, have the stomach for it.
You see, the tastes of many men of a certain age were honed by early shots of a "painfully thin" Moss in those heroin-chic days. Older men spluttered; younger ones never recovered.
Now, teenagers who grew up with Knightley's tomboy beauty in Pirates of the Caribbean will never lust after those old-style Page Three girls who looked like they were attached to a pair of giant milk urns.
But Knightley's sexiness springs from far more than her Norfolk-esque flatness, a "flaw" she is the first to joke about. Any youngish guy who says he doesn't find her attractive must a) never have met her or b) be Graham Norton.
I first interviewed her after she had starred in the 2002 remake of Doctor Zhivago. I ambled along with scant enthusiasm: young actresses tend to give good photo but dreary quote. Yet I was spellbound, and not exclusively by her physical charms.
Even calibrating for the obvious truth that we consider beautiful people fascinating and hilarious, she was enormous fun.
I even found myself asking - in that hideously lascivious way of the perspiring older hack - if she had a boyfriend. To which she slapped me on the knee and reminded me she was only 17, and I instantly felt rather ashamed.
Next time I saw her was on a train and I looked up to see her sitting opposite me: disguised in ordinary clothes but unmistakeable.
I was about to shout out a greeting, blowing her disguise to the entire carriage, when she moved a finger to her delectable lips, motioning me to "shh". She smiled, and nothing was said. A review of her role in her new film Atonement accused her of lacking "passion", but that surely misses her appeal.
She is perfect for elegant, period pieces where emotion lies in what is unspoken. If you like your cinematic sex unsubtle, watch Sharon Stone. Knightley attracts because she isn't brassy and upfront.
She is demure, her mischievous sexuality all the more intriguing for hiding beneath a veneer of cut-glass restraint and her loveliness so very English.
Becky Pugh: An unemotive plank of wood
When I look at Keira Knightley I do not see the subtly sexy siren that so many men drool over - I see a mediocre actress who wears a permanent pout. She may be beautiful, demure and successful but to me she is just a pretty plank of wood (albeit one that came briefly to life in her Oscar-nominated role as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice).
Planks of wood are not sexy. Sexiness is about joie de vivre, and Keira has none. And no, this isn't about her being terribly thin. I don't mind that she is extremely slender, even if it does set a tiresome standard for us lesser mortals. It's just that being that skinny makes it look as though she forgoes the most pleasurable things in life, like food.
Something vital is missing. Where's the oomph in Keira? Where is the sparkle? There is no glint in her eye, no liberating quirkiness with which either sex can fall in love. She should pose less and laugh more; cheer up and chill out.
Perhaps it's because she works too hard.
"I really don't have time for much," she says. "You have to take the work while it's there because it won't be there for ever. I might as well enjoy it now." Exactly! I'd like to see her doing just that.
She gets her roles because the camera adores her perfect face and because she is reliable, giving a wide berth to the hedonistic lifestyle of so many of her contemporaries. In my view she certainly doesn't get them on the strength of her ability to act.
Lots of men fancy Keira, my boyfriend included. He once told me: "I want to sleep with her, but sometimes she looks too thin." Empire magazine once voted her the sexiest movie actress of all time.
Lots of women are bewitched by her. They think she lights up the screen. They watch her rigid, passionless performances and love her unconditionally. Not me. I just want to shake her.
I'm not averse to a pin-up; I have a fair few girl-crushes myself. In fact there are legions of women I love so much that I'd like to be them (Kate Moss in her pre-Pete days, Jade Jagger, Natalie Portman), but I do not want to be Keira Knightley.
Her flaws are not to be overlooked - she is amazingly quick to point them out herself. Her seemingly radiant skin is prone to acne. Her abs are only to-die-for if you like the washboard stomach of a teenage boy.
She lacks an innate sense of style - all those beanies and bovver boots are deeply unsexy. Dressed by stylists in Chanel couture, she is a knock-out. Dressed by herself, she completely misses the mark.
And as for that infuriating pout… I've examined Keira's face in repose a couple of times and concluded that her mouth is normal, entirely pout-free. So why pout? It makes her look sullen at best, deranged at worst.
Finally, and call me bitchy if you must, below that staggering visage lurks a minuscule pair of breasts and a shapeless pair of pins. In a still shot her face is as breathtakingly beautiful as a work of art, but there is a lifelessness about her that I just don't see as sexy.
I understand a man wanting a photograph of Keira on his wall - but not him wanting her in his bed. An unemotive plank of wood.
The Telegraph
Sunday, August 19, 2007
My family
I spent the entire afternoon today with my nephew and niece. My nephew is the most fearless and playful child I have ever come across, and, he is a comedian. At two and a half years old, he donned his painting smock, pulled a pair of diapers over his head and started playing his colourful toy saxophone.
A, my beautiful little baby. My niece at a week old is the spitting image of my dad and his mother. My sister-in-law today said that Lillian's eyes are grey and that she would love for them to stay that way. I don't think she knows that my grandmother's eyes were grey, I don't think she realises that her daughter is the mirror image of me when i was a baby. It is an odd thing indeed to hold a tiny being in your arms that is a replica of you yet not of you, an image of a loved one that you will never see again. Such a conflict of emotions, such pain yet joy. God does indeed work in strange ways.
Jonathan held his cup today, handed it to me and said it was leaking. I took it from him and sure enough it was. And then I realise that he said leaking. Two and a half years old, where the heck did he hear about leaking, and knowing what it meant.
These are my brother's children, I love them so. If I love my nephew and niece this way, what does it feel like to love one's child? Since I held my brother's daughter in my arms a week ago, I have been plagued with memories of my childhood, of my brothers, of trying my darndess to be their champion. I wonder if they remember the times I put them first because I was so worried that something would happen to them and that I wouldn't be there to protect them. Ah, my brothers, they are both grown men, but I still see them as my little brothers. And still see us playing hide and seek, walking home together after school, and sitting around my mom as she read to us from the big book of fairy tales.
Our family is not the same because my dad is gone. But it has grown, for we are now plus three, one sister-in-law and two beautiful children. If only my dad was here.
A, my beautiful little baby. My niece at a week old is the spitting image of my dad and his mother. My sister-in-law today said that Lillian's eyes are grey and that she would love for them to stay that way. I don't think she knows that my grandmother's eyes were grey, I don't think she realises that her daughter is the mirror image of me when i was a baby. It is an odd thing indeed to hold a tiny being in your arms that is a replica of you yet not of you, an image of a loved one that you will never see again. Such a conflict of emotions, such pain yet joy. God does indeed work in strange ways.
Jonathan held his cup today, handed it to me and said it was leaking. I took it from him and sure enough it was. And then I realise that he said leaking. Two and a half years old, where the heck did he hear about leaking, and knowing what it meant.
These are my brother's children, I love them so. If I love my nephew and niece this way, what does it feel like to love one's child? Since I held my brother's daughter in my arms a week ago, I have been plagued with memories of my childhood, of my brothers, of trying my darndess to be their champion. I wonder if they remember the times I put them first because I was so worried that something would happen to them and that I wouldn't be there to protect them. Ah, my brothers, they are both grown men, but I still see them as my little brothers. And still see us playing hide and seek, walking home together after school, and sitting around my mom as she read to us from the big book of fairy tales.
Our family is not the same because my dad is gone. But it has grown, for we are now plus three, one sister-in-law and two beautiful children. If only my dad was here.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Lillian
Today I am the proud aunt of a brand new niece. She is six pounds of perfection and is the spitting image of my paternal grandmother. My nephew Jonathan looks more like his mother's side of the family so I'm very happy that my niece looks like our side of the family.
I've told my boyfriend many times that I want one, and I think he's finally coming around. yaeh.
I've told my boyfriend many times that I want one, and I think he's finally coming around. yaeh.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Edith Piaf ~ Non, je ne regrette rien
Beautiful woman, beautiful voice with a tragic life.Her voice is so soulful it hurts to listen to her. It is hard to image that the painful words that flow tells about her life. I sobbed through Le Vie En Rose as the hours told of the highs and lows that was her life. How very sad. So gifted, but life and her genes played a nasty trick on her, like her father and her mother she was an alcoholic at an early age.
I have never questioned Piaf’s background but the early part of the movie mentioned that she was raised partially by her maternal grandmother Aicha. AHA! Aicha is the name of my grandmother’s sister and it sure as hell isn’t a French name. And Piaf’s features were the same as my mother-in-law’s and so many of my friends. And what do you know, the great French icon was half AlgerianJ who loved an Algerian man Marcel Cerdan – wait, did the French say he was French???
Give us back Piaf and while you’re at it give us back Zizou too. Keep the Chebs.
I have never questioned Piaf’s background but the early part of the movie mentioned that she was raised partially by her maternal grandmother Aicha. AHA! Aicha is the name of my grandmother’s sister and it sure as hell isn’t a French name. And Piaf’s features were the same as my mother-in-law’s and so many of my friends. And what do you know, the great French icon was half AlgerianJ who loved an Algerian man Marcel Cerdan – wait, did the French say he was French???
Give us back Piaf and while you’re at it give us back Zizou too. Keep the Chebs.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
In memory of my father
Had my father lived, yesterday we would have celebrated his 56th birthday. Almost one year later I thought it would have been a little easier to deal with. But I think we are all still having a hard time. My mom lost her best friend and her partner. My brothers lost their father and their tool time buddy. I lost my dad.
Thinking about it, I probably have a harder time coming to terms with my dad’s death that my brothers. My younger brother has his family and his son to distract him from everything. My older brother is with my mom and my grandmother now lives with them. I am only the one that is truly alone, well expect for my thoughts.
I remember when I was a about eight or nine years old and we were living in Suriname. I remember praying for my mom and dad to not outlive me. It was a heart breaking thought at that age and many nights I would fall asleep crying at the thought of my parents dying. Except for the random nights when my mom would hear me.
The last year of his life was the best year. He wanted to move to Florida so they sold their house here and they moved. He puttered around the new house, and the yard. Looking around the house his touch is everyone. Anything that was broken he fixed. I remember my mom saying that we should be careful with everything because my dad wasn’t there to fix anything anymore.
On weekends he went fishing with my uncles and would stop by and visit with my grandmother [mom’s mom] for hours. He liked his job and the people that he worked with. He was enjoying learning how to use a computer. And most of all he loved his grandson to pieces.
Everyone that knew him liked him, none had anything bad to say about him – in life or in death. My aunts and uncles, cousins and neighbours. Even folks from the old country, from so many many years ago.
One of the saddest memories I have is of my nephew who was about 16 months old when my dad was in the hospital. He thought that my uncle – dad’s brother – was dad, and kept looking at him and pointing outside repeating the words “walk, walk”. My brother and his family had visited a few months prior and my dad had walked my nephew around for hours. Poor Johnny, he was probably wondering why his grandpa wasn’t paying attention to him that time.
I miss my dad. I try not to think about him because when I do I miss him so terribly. I am sad that he is not here to grow old with my mom, to watch my nephew grow up. That he will never see me married or hold my child in his arms.
So many things, it was his time to go. His memory and name will live on in me and my brothers, and my mom.
Thinking about it, I probably have a harder time coming to terms with my dad’s death that my brothers. My younger brother has his family and his son to distract him from everything. My older brother is with my mom and my grandmother now lives with them. I am only the one that is truly alone, well expect for my thoughts.
I remember when I was a about eight or nine years old and we were living in Suriname. I remember praying for my mom and dad to not outlive me. It was a heart breaking thought at that age and many nights I would fall asleep crying at the thought of my parents dying. Except for the random nights when my mom would hear me.
The last year of his life was the best year. He wanted to move to Florida so they sold their house here and they moved. He puttered around the new house, and the yard. Looking around the house his touch is everyone. Anything that was broken he fixed. I remember my mom saying that we should be careful with everything because my dad wasn’t there to fix anything anymore.
On weekends he went fishing with my uncles and would stop by and visit with my grandmother [mom’s mom] for hours. He liked his job and the people that he worked with. He was enjoying learning how to use a computer. And most of all he loved his grandson to pieces.
Everyone that knew him liked him, none had anything bad to say about him – in life or in death. My aunts and uncles, cousins and neighbours. Even folks from the old country, from so many many years ago.
One of the saddest memories I have is of my nephew who was about 16 months old when my dad was in the hospital. He thought that my uncle – dad’s brother – was dad, and kept looking at him and pointing outside repeating the words “walk, walk”. My brother and his family had visited a few months prior and my dad had walked my nephew around for hours. Poor Johnny, he was probably wondering why his grandpa wasn’t paying attention to him that time.
I miss my dad. I try not to think about him because when I do I miss him so terribly. I am sad that he is not here to grow old with my mom, to watch my nephew grow up. That he will never see me married or hold my child in his arms.
So many things, it was his time to go. His memory and name will live on in me and my brothers, and my mom.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Sixteen days and counting
The mornings are the most difficult. When I am at that moment between sleep and wake; when I am still in that dreamlike state. And then reality sets in. He hasn’t called in over three weeks. He is not going to call now because his pride is most important to him.
Oh how the time flew. The good and the bad alike. The thoughts just strolling through my head, sometimes running. The only reason why there are so many memories is because after every argument I picked up the phone.
Because my pride didn’t matter. I had none when it came to him. After all, there is no pride in love - no shame and no ego. At least not on my part.
But now I know, if I hadn’t picked up the phone so many times before, three months it would have been instead of three years.
Three years of my life I will never get back, more scars on an already scarred soul. Many hopes crushed, dreams unfulfilled. Many empty I love yous. Manipulative soul.
Ah psychic is this the happy time you saw for me this month.
How disappointing. No “I’m sorry your dad is not here” on father’s day, sixteen days and counting. As each day goes by I am less and less important. And soon I become a distance memory, nothingness.
Oh how the time flew. The good and the bad alike. The thoughts just strolling through my head, sometimes running. The only reason why there are so many memories is because after every argument I picked up the phone.
Because my pride didn’t matter. I had none when it came to him. After all, there is no pride in love - no shame and no ego. At least not on my part.
But now I know, if I hadn’t picked up the phone so many times before, three months it would have been instead of three years.
Three years of my life I will never get back, more scars on an already scarred soul. Many hopes crushed, dreams unfulfilled. Many empty I love yous. Manipulative soul.
Ah psychic is this the happy time you saw for me this month.
How disappointing. No “I’m sorry your dad is not here” on father’s day, sixteen days and counting. As each day goes by I am less and less important. And soon I become a distance memory, nothingness.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Puerto Rico
I just found this CD with pictures from 2001 from my friend Jennifer's wedding. This was by far one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever been to. It was small, only about 50 people and took place in the garden of the resort. My friend Jen is still the most beautiful bride ever.
With my BFF Gina at Jen's wedding in PR in 2001. A shame the rest are in print, such a beautiful wedding.
With my BFF Gina at Jen's wedding in PR in 2001. A shame the rest are in print, such a beautiful wedding.
YIPPPES, I was sooo thin.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Life's Good
After moaning and groaning for about two months I finally had more responsibilities added to my plate. So now in addition to managing all primary research, I am also responsible for TV and movie product placements and any ad-hoc print advertising opportunities that come up. Not too shabby at all.
I am swamped at work, school is kicking my ass. Last weekend I bought my first set of oils and am in the middle of creating my very first oil painting. Interestingly enough it’s not as difficult as I thought it would be, acrylics seems to a little harder.
You know, of the past few years I had forgotten how much I loved Maynard. I think its now almost 10 years ago that I drove about a hundred miles to Hartford to see him. Okay, so I didn’t exactly drive out there to see him, more like Trent. But it was love at first sight and even now when I hear him I can still see the darkness that surrounded him and become enveloped by that feeling.
Responsible work, fun hobbies, f**cking awesome music, new kick-ass wheels. I feel like breaking out the stratocaster. Summer has only just begun but life's good. Like being on the beach with an icy margarita.
I am swamped at work, school is kicking my ass. Last weekend I bought my first set of oils and am in the middle of creating my very first oil painting. Interestingly enough it’s not as difficult as I thought it would be, acrylics seems to a little harder.
You know, of the past few years I had forgotten how much I loved Maynard. I think its now almost 10 years ago that I drove about a hundred miles to Hartford to see him. Okay, so I didn’t exactly drive out there to see him, more like Trent. But it was love at first sight and even now when I hear him I can still see the darkness that surrounded him and become enveloped by that feeling.
Responsible work, fun hobbies, f**cking awesome music, new kick-ass wheels. I feel like breaking out the stratocaster. Summer has only just begun but life's good. Like being on the beach with an icy margarita.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Her legacy
Sylvia Plath was a great American author who committed suicide in 1963 at the age of thirty. She lived a troubled life having attempted suicide once before without success. Plath was a prolific writer that started writing at a very early age. Her first poem was published when she was only eight years old and while at college she wrote over four hundred poems. This was while she was still a teenager and later she went on to write many books and poems. It is said that her turbulent life influenced her work. This paper will examine one of her works “Daddy” and how much of her life is reflected in this poem as well as any other external forces that played a part as well.
The poem “Daddy” was published in 1966 in a book of poems by Sylvia Plath titled “Ariel”. It is a very dark poem in which Plath vents her rage at her father and then at her husband. She talks about killing her father and that he died before she could kill him herself. She went on to compare him to the Nazis and herself to the Jews. It would be easy to say that she truly hated him, but, it is also that she idolized him, put him on a pedestal and was deeply angry and hurt that he died so early in her life leaving her without the love and nurturing of a father figure.
But in reading Rough Magic: a biography of Sylvia Plath and The Bell Jar, there is no suggestion that Plath’s father abused her. If anything, he neglected her since he worked numerous hours as an etymologist and a college professor. The neglect and the fact that he died when she was young, severed any type of bond that she may have developed with him. She didn’t think of his death a natural end, but thought of it more as him leaving her in the world to fend for herself. His death changed her life drastically as her mother who couldn’t fend for herself and her two children uprooted the family and moved in with her parents in another town. It seems that this added to Plath’s feeling of abandonment by her father, as he not only left her, his death also disrupted her life.
This feeling persisted. At thirty years old she wrote the poem “Daddy”. Her age is evident in the line “For thirty years” (4) and the entire contents of the poem shows that she held strong to the belief that her father neglected her. It is also evident in her reading of the poem in a recording for BBC in 1962. One could almost hear the pain, sorrow and anger in her voice. When she read “Ghastly statue with one grey toe, Big as a Frisco seal, And a head in the freakish Atlantic” (9-11), I thought she was going to burst into tears.
Because of Plath’s early loss of her father and the lacked of a father figure in her life, she sought to fill the void by finding a man that she thought was just like him “I made a model of you” (64) and “I said I do, I do” (67). The man she refers to in her poem is poet Ted Hughes whom she married in 1957.
It was by no means a happy union. Plath’s feeling of desertion by her father created a deep void in her life and as such, it made her cling to her husband with a need for his undivided attention. Throughout her marriage she suffered from bouts of depression as well uncontrollable jealousy and rage.
But her jealousy which was driven by suspicion that her husband was cheating on her was not unfounded as she later learned that he was betraying her with another woman. How devastated she must have been. First her father left her, choosing death over her and then her husband choosing another woman over her. It her mind it must have seemed a repeat of her father’s death all over again. To be abandonment by yet another man whom she looked to for love, support and nurturing. Instead abused her trust and love with what must have seemed the ultimate betrayal.
And then one day she had had enough. She sealed off the kitchen, stuck her head in the oven and turned on the gas. That was how author Sylvia Plath died, by taking her own life. Plath had attempted suicide once before which she talks about in the poem “Daddy” when she said “At twenty I tried to die” (58).
The first man in her life, her father, was the reason for her attempted suicide when she was twenty years old. Her suicide was brought about because of her husband’s desertion and her resulting sense of hopelessness and despair. It seems that the men in her life were control figures. They controlled her thoughts and in the end her life. It is a strange thought indeed that through her suffering she produced such brilliant work and that if she was successful in her first suicide attempt the world would have suffered the loss of a great writer.
While Plath did not achieve any fame throughout her lifetime, she is now referred to as a feminist poet and is often referred to as a great American author. Her work is studied in not only universities in the United Stated but also around the world with heavy emphasis on the poem “Daddy”.
When reading “Daddy” my main thought was about the author’s relationship with the power figures in her life, her father and her husband. But, there is more to the poem than that, for “Daddy” because of its Holocaust imagery is one of the poems in Holocaust Poetry by Hilda Schiff.
The life of Sylvia Plath was far too short and turbulent, filled with loss and betrayal. She poured all of this into her writing and when she passed away, she not only left her life story but a legacy of creativity and survival, not through the flesh, but through the pen. The works that she left behind has made a mark on many and will undoubtedly continue to do so in the future.
The poem “Daddy” was published in 1966 in a book of poems by Sylvia Plath titled “Ariel”. It is a very dark poem in which Plath vents her rage at her father and then at her husband. She talks about killing her father and that he died before she could kill him herself. She went on to compare him to the Nazis and herself to the Jews. It would be easy to say that she truly hated him, but, it is also that she idolized him, put him on a pedestal and was deeply angry and hurt that he died so early in her life leaving her without the love and nurturing of a father figure.
But in reading Rough Magic: a biography of Sylvia Plath and The Bell Jar, there is no suggestion that Plath’s father abused her. If anything, he neglected her since he worked numerous hours as an etymologist and a college professor. The neglect and the fact that he died when she was young, severed any type of bond that she may have developed with him. She didn’t think of his death a natural end, but thought of it more as him leaving her in the world to fend for herself. His death changed her life drastically as her mother who couldn’t fend for herself and her two children uprooted the family and moved in with her parents in another town. It seems that this added to Plath’s feeling of abandonment by her father, as he not only left her, his death also disrupted her life.
This feeling persisted. At thirty years old she wrote the poem “Daddy”. Her age is evident in the line “For thirty years” (4) and the entire contents of the poem shows that she held strong to the belief that her father neglected her. It is also evident in her reading of the poem in a recording for BBC in 1962. One could almost hear the pain, sorrow and anger in her voice. When she read “Ghastly statue with one grey toe, Big as a Frisco seal, And a head in the freakish Atlantic” (9-11), I thought she was going to burst into tears.
Because of Plath’s early loss of her father and the lacked of a father figure in her life, she sought to fill the void by finding a man that she thought was just like him “I made a model of you” (64) and “I said I do, I do” (67). The man she refers to in her poem is poet Ted Hughes whom she married in 1957.
It was by no means a happy union. Plath’s feeling of desertion by her father created a deep void in her life and as such, it made her cling to her husband with a need for his undivided attention. Throughout her marriage she suffered from bouts of depression as well uncontrollable jealousy and rage.
But her jealousy which was driven by suspicion that her husband was cheating on her was not unfounded as she later learned that he was betraying her with another woman. How devastated she must have been. First her father left her, choosing death over her and then her husband choosing another woman over her. It her mind it must have seemed a repeat of her father’s death all over again. To be abandonment by yet another man whom she looked to for love, support and nurturing. Instead abused her trust and love with what must have seemed the ultimate betrayal.
And then one day she had had enough. She sealed off the kitchen, stuck her head in the oven and turned on the gas. That was how author Sylvia Plath died, by taking her own life. Plath had attempted suicide once before which she talks about in the poem “Daddy” when she said “At twenty I tried to die” (58).
The first man in her life, her father, was the reason for her attempted suicide when she was twenty years old. Her suicide was brought about because of her husband’s desertion and her resulting sense of hopelessness and despair. It seems that the men in her life were control figures. They controlled her thoughts and in the end her life. It is a strange thought indeed that through her suffering she produced such brilliant work and that if she was successful in her first suicide attempt the world would have suffered the loss of a great writer.
While Plath did not achieve any fame throughout her lifetime, she is now referred to as a feminist poet and is often referred to as a great American author. Her work is studied in not only universities in the United Stated but also around the world with heavy emphasis on the poem “Daddy”.
When reading “Daddy” my main thought was about the author’s relationship with the power figures in her life, her father and her husband. But, there is more to the poem than that, for “Daddy” because of its Holocaust imagery is one of the poems in Holocaust Poetry by Hilda Schiff.
The life of Sylvia Plath was far too short and turbulent, filled with loss and betrayal. She poured all of this into her writing and when she passed away, she not only left her life story but a legacy of creativity and survival, not through the flesh, but through the pen. The works that she left behind has made a mark on many and will undoubtedly continue to do so in the future.
Sylvia Plath
I have developed a slight obsession with author/poet Sylvia Plath since I read her poem "Daddy" for one of my classes. I recently saw the movie Sylvia which didn't do justice to the woman and I think painted Ted Hughes in rose colours. I wonder who wrote the script, hmmm.
Daddy
by: Sylvia Plath
You do not do, you do not do
You do not do, you do not do
Any more, black shoe
In which I have lived like a foot
For thirty years, poor and white,
Barely daring to breathe or Achoo.
Daddy, I have had to kill you.
You died before I had time--
Marble-heavy, a bag full of God,
Ghastly statue with one gray toe
Big as a Frisco seal
And a head in the freakish Atlantic
Where it pours bean green over blue
In the waters off beautiful Nauset.
I used to pray to recover you.
Ach, du.
In the German tongue, in the Polish town
Scraped flat by the roller
Of wars, wars, wars.
But the name of the town is common.
My Polack friend
Says there are a dozen or two.
So I never could tell where you
Put your foot, your root,
I never could talk to you.
The tongue stuck in my jaw.
It stuck in a barb wire snare.
Ich, ich, ich, ich,
I could hardly speak.
I thought every German was you.
And the language obscene
An engine, an engine
Chuffing me off like a Jew.
A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen.
I began to talk like a Jew.
I think I may well be a Jew.
The snows of the Tyrol, the clear beer of Vienna
Are not very pure or true.
With my gipsy ancestress and my weird luck
And my Taroc pack and my Taroc pack
I may be a bit of a Jew.
I have always been scared of you,
With your Luftwaffe, your gobbledygoo.
And your neat mustache
And your Aryan eye, bright blue.
Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You--
Not God but a swastika
So black no sky could squeak through.
Every woman adores a Fascist,
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you.
You stand at the blackboard, daddy,
In the picture I have of you,
A cleft in your chin instead of your foot
But no less a devil for that, no not
Any less the black man who
Bit my pretty red heart in two.
I was ten when they buried you.
At twenty I tried to die
And get back, back, back to you.
I thought even the bones would do.
But they pulled me out of the sack,
And they stuck me together with glue.
And then I knew what to do.
I made a model of you,
A man in black with a Meinkampf look
And a love of the rack and the screw.
And I said I do, I do.
So daddy, I'm finally through.
The black telephone's off at the root,
The voices just can't worm through.
If I've killed one man, I've killed two--
The vampire who said he was you
And drank my blood for a year,
Seven years, if you want to know.
Daddy, you can lie back now.
There's a stake in your fat black heart
And the villagers never liked you.
They are dancing and stamping on you.
They always knew it was you.
Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Beautiful Savannah
Many years ago I read "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". It had everything that one could hope to find in a dime novel and then some. I was completely captivated by the story and fell in love with Savannah. I visited shortly after and it was exactly as Berendt described. Breath taking and unlike anything I could have imaged in the United States. These are pictures from a few weeks ago when I my boyfriend and I drove through.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Surrealist building
Give us a swirl 
Is there such a thing as a surrealist building? Of course - although it may not keep the rain out. Jonathan Glancey lists his favourite weird and wonderful designs
Is there such a thing as a surrealist building? Of course - although it may not keep the rain out. Jonathan Glancey lists his favourite weird and wonderful designs
Surrealism was concerned with the unconscious, with dreams, with personal and political liberation, socially, sexually, psychologically. While it is possible to dream strange, swirling, madcap forms of liberating architecture, it is difficult, if not impossible, to realise such forms in the waking day. This didn't stop surrealists from trying - although only one architect, Romanian-born Frederick Kiesler, ever declared himself a member of the surrealist movement. He had great plans, yet built very little.
One of the high points of "surrealist architecture" was a Paris flat designed in 1930 for the wealthy art collector Charles de Beistegui; it was designed by none other than Le Corbusier, he of the famous dictum "the house is a machine for living in". Although the apartment is mostly what you would expect of Le Corbusier, it featured a surrealist roof garden complete with a false fireplace, incongruous living-room furniture and a mirror. The "carpet" of this living room was a lawn, and the Eiffel Tower popped up over the parapet. Today, you might well say: so what? Yet at the time, this sort of thing was just not done.
Cecil Beaton decorated the top floor of his Wiltshire country house, Ashcombe, with Jean Cocteau sconces in the form of human arms reaching out from the wall, and papier-mache versions of Victorian chairs. Champion of surrealism Edward James did his colourful thing at Monkton House, his West Sussex hunting lodge, with its dog-print stair-carpet, breathing wall, Dalà furniture and screaming colours. Yet perhaps the best surrealist architecture was in films; best of all in the sets by Christian Berard for Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête (1946).
The greatest work of surreal architecture wasn't actually by a card-carrying surrealist but by a French rural postman, Ferdinand Cheval, who built a dream-like structure with his own hands, stone by stone. While surrealists pontificated and analysed their dreams in Freudian terms, Cheval made his come true. Edward James did something of the same in the Mexican jungle, yet his jungle folly, although a delight, is knowing and contrived; in this sense alone, it is very different from Cheval's truly surreal creation.
Of course, many of the great surreal moments architecture has to offer were created without the help of the surrealists. Witness what happens when rain falls through the great "oculus" in the dome of the Pantheon in Rome: it disappears into a great decorative brass drain. It is beautiful to watch, and quite surreal. When US structural engineers investigated the enormous domed hall Albert Speer had designed for Germania (as Berlin rebuilt for Hitler, post-victory, was to be called), they found that, when the building was full of chanting crowds, clouds would form from their breath in the underside of the dome, and a light rain would fall. How Wagnerian. How surreal.
Today, with the help of powerful computers and materials that allow plenty of bending and twisting, we can make buildings that are more adventurous than ever. Look at what Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid and others have done. But imagination is something separate from materials and the limits (and even the possibilities) of new technologies; throughout the centuries, architects have been able to play surreal games that outdid the surrealists of the interwar years of the 20th century. In any case, Ferdinand Cheval, the postman who left school at 13, out-surrealed the lot of them.
1 Experience Music Project
From the air, this museum of music history - set up by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and collector of Jimi Hendrix memorabilia - looks like a Fender Stratocaster guitar seen through DalÃ's eyes. Distorted and bent, the roofscape, too, is something like a floppy Dalà wristwatch. As if to prove just how hard it is to realise surreal architecture (and this is about as surreal as it gets), this Frank Gehry design, in Seattle, Washington, has not gone down well with US critics. Herbert Muschamps said it was like "something that crawled out of the sea, rolled over, and died". Crawled out of the sea? The surrealists would have loved that.
From the air, this museum of music history - set up by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and collector of Jimi Hendrix memorabilia - looks like a Fender Stratocaster guitar seen through DalÃ's eyes. Distorted and bent, the roofscape, too, is something like a floppy Dalà wristwatch. As if to prove just how hard it is to realise surreal architecture (and this is about as surreal as it gets), this Frank Gehry design, in Seattle, Washington, has not gone down well with US critics. Herbert Muschamps said it was like "something that crawled out of the sea, rolled over, and died". Crawled out of the sea? The surrealists would have loved that.
2 Palais Idéal
A village postman from the remote Drome province of southern France, Ferdinand Cheval (1836-1924) spent 33 years creating an "ideal palace" from stones gathered on his daily 32km round. Poorly educated and with no knowledge of architecture, he shaped his surreal palace from daydreams, without help.
Considered a madman by fellow locals (whose descendents live off his legacy today, the palace being a big tourist attraction), Cheval was hailed by artists and intellectuals, from Breton and the surrealists to Picasso. Here was - and is - a work of wholly spontaneous surrealist art, a man's dreams turned into a gloriously abstract work of architecture.The Palais Idéal is overwhelmingly bizarre, its handmade architecture drawing its inspiration from what appear to be sources as diverse as Khmer temples, Swiss chalets, Neuschwanstein castle in Bavaria and Hindu shrines - despite Cheval's lack of learning, books or photographs. Some of the palace looks as if Gaudà had a hand in it, and the petrified fountain could easily be by DalÃ. Today, Cheval's lifelong work is a national monument.
3 Einstein Tower
Opened in 1924, this curious, boot-like building in Potsdam, Germany, was designed to test Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. A telescope in the observatory caught cosmic rays that were reflected by mirrors to the "spectrographic" equipment in the basement. Erich Mendelsohn (1887-1953) was the architect. Fascinated by the cosmos, he made dreamlike sketches of fantastic buildings that owe nothing to conventional architectural logic or to constraints imposed by existing materials. The architect, who worked in Britain, Palestine and the US, said he designed the tower out of some unknown urge emanating from "the mystique around Einstein's universe".
Opened in 1924, this curious, boot-like building in Potsdam, Germany, was designed to test Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. A telescope in the observatory caught cosmic rays that were reflected by mirrors to the "spectrographic" equipment in the basement. Erich Mendelsohn (1887-1953) was the architect. Fascinated by the cosmos, he made dreamlike sketches of fantastic buildings that owe nothing to conventional architectural logic or to constraints imposed by existing materials. The architect, who worked in Britain, Palestine and the US, said he designed the tower out of some unknown urge emanating from "the mystique around Einstein's universe".
Originally, he had imagined the Einstein Tower as a building made of just one super-elastic material - a form of modern concrete that didn't exist when he did his first drawings. In the end, he had to make do with bricks rendered in stucco. His masterpiece was fully restored in 1999 - not, happily, as a museum, but as a working laboratory, although there is an open day once a month.
4 Endless House
Imagine a voluptuously shaped, womb-like house on stilts, with curved walls indistinguishable from floors and ceilings; with sand, pebble, wood, grass and tile floors; with bathing pools instead of baths; with coloured lenses and mirrors bringing light into organically shaped rooms. This was Frederick Kiesler's 1959 vision of the Endless House, never built - it was far too surreal for that - yet worked on in intriguing drawings until the architect's death in 1965. It remains a house of endless speculation and possibilities.
Imagine a voluptuously shaped, womb-like house on stilts, with curved walls indistinguishable from floors and ceilings; with sand, pebble, wood, grass and tile floors; with bathing pools instead of baths; with coloured lenses and mirrors bringing light into organically shaped rooms. This was Frederick Kiesler's 1959 vision of the Endless House, never built - it was far too surreal for that - yet worked on in intriguing drawings until the architect's death in 1965. It remains a house of endless speculation and possibilities.
Kiesler, born in Romania in 1890, emigrated to New York in 1926. In trying to build the surreal, he was always unlikely to receive many commissions for real buildings. One of his few, the Film Guild Cinema in New York, has been demolished.
He made his living designing opera sets, exhibition stands and, with Armand P Bartos, the extraordinary Shrine of the Book, built in Jerusalem in 1965 to house the Dead Sea Scrolls. This haunting, surreal building offers a glimpse of the world he might have created if someone had commissioned the Endless House for real. The drawings still exist. Any takers?
5 Surrealist Architecture
This is the name of a painting by DalÃ, c1932, that hangs in the Kunstmuseum, Basle. What's it got to do with architecture, you may well ask. But perhaps it makes its point perfectly well: surrealist architecture cannot really exist; it's beyond reality. So it could look like this, a typical Dalà swirling thing, with some fried eggs emerging from the top. If this could be built, it would be a lot more interesting than most contemporary "iconic" architecture.
6 Las Pozas
This is the dream-like city, without a purpose, that the British champion of surrealism, Edward James, built from 1949 until his death in 1984. Situated in Mexico's San Luis Potosà state, it rises, writhes, and twists around nine artificial pools (or "pozas") between trees festooned with parrots. It appears to exist as much in the imagination as it does in reality.
Work on Las Pozas was most intense between 1962 and 1979, with some 150 craftsmen and labourers busy in the jungle. Flamingos, monkeys, parrots, turtles and crocodiles arrived during these years. Electricity, too; in the evenings, the whole spectacle can be lit up by coloured lights. Its layout is labyrinthine. Visitors can find themselves walking into a house that turns into a cave, or climbing a spiral stair that leads nowhere, except high into the sky. The three dozen or so structures were meant to be, in James's mind at least, stylised and everlasting flowers.
"Edward James is crazier than all the surrealists put together," Dalà said. "They pretend, but he is the real thing." 
7 Casa Milà rooftop
The Casa Milà is no longer the apartment block it was built as, but the headquarters of an arts foundation. The good thing about this, for visitors to Barcelona, is that it is now easy to join a queue and tour Antoni GaudÃ's extraordinary "organic" building. Everyone seems to love its dreamlike roofscape, where chimneys and ventilation shafts twist and turn above parapets. Each has its own character, each seems alive.
Gaudà (1852-1926) was a major inspiration for the surrealists, but their concerns were not his. Although his imagination was febrile and his architectural forms extraordinary and all but surreal, he saw himself as an inheritor of the gothic tradition brought into the modern age. His structures are like man-made plants; no wonder Dalà and Edward James loved them.
8 The Cabinet of Dr Caligari
his bizarre silent horror film, premiered in Berlin in 1920, has long been described as a masterpiece of German expressionist cinema, but its crazily angled, cartoon-like sets are the stuff of surrealism, too. It shows a nightmare world, brilliantly realised architecturally by set designers and art directors for director Robert Wiene. In the 1980s, London architect David Connor designed a flat for a member of Adam and the Ants in the guise of a Dr Caligari set, complete with sloping floors and walls.
9 Dream of Venus pavilion
DalÃ's pink, coral-like pavilion was a highlight of the 1939 New York World's Fair. Venus, a topless model wreathed in flowers and lying on a rococo-style bed, was surrounded by her "dream"; this was composed of topless models swimming in water tanks around her, some milking a cow wrapped in bandages, others tapping away at typewriters that floated in seaweed-like strands. Lobsters lay cooking on underwater coals, while bottles of champagne littered the seabed. The pavilion was entered, once tickets had been bought from a fish-like booth, through a spread-leg archway (very Freudian) leading to halls covered in writhing female sculptures and a ceiling of upturned umbrellas.
DalÃ's extended trip to New York made him famous - and surreally wealthy. Though it has been demolished, the pink pavilion survives in photographs.
10 Scottish Parliament building
This great and controversial Edinburgh masterwork by Enric Miralles (1955-2000) is nothing like a conventional parliament building. No wonder, cost aside, so many people were suspicious and unkind about the design; it boasts shades of Gaudà and his contemporary Josep Maria Jujol, overtones of Russian constructivism, and hints of something else altogether: a tendril-like architecture that snakes from townscape to landscape. Scots will say the only thing surreal about the building is its mind-blowing price, hopelessly over-budget, and there are plenty of detractors hoping for leaks and other flaws. They deserve a concrete box.
From The Guardian Unlimited
Saturday, April 07, 2007
The penis platter
Beijing's penis emporium
By Andrew Harding BBC News, Beijing
By Andrew Harding BBC News, Beijing
There are many thousands of Chinese restaurants around in the UK and everyone has their favourite dish, but only in China itself do chefs specialise in a range of slightly more unusual delicacies.
Many of the restaurant's guests are wealthy businessmen
The dish in front of me is grey and shiny. "Russian dog," says my waitress Nancy. "Big dog," I reply. "Yes," she says. "Big dog's penis..."
We are in a cosy restaurant in a dark street in Beijing but my appetite seems to have gone for a stroll outside. Nancy has brought out a whole selection of delicacies. They are draped awkwardly across a huge platter, with a crocodile carved out of a carrot as the centrepiece. Nestling beside the dog's penis are its clammy testicles, and beside that a giant salami-shaped object.
"Donkey," says Nancy. "Good for the skin..." She guides me round the penis platter. "Snake. Very potent. They have two penises each." I did not know that.
Deer-blood cocktail
"Sheep... horse... ox... seal - excellent for the circulation." She points to three dark, shrivelled lumps which look like liquorice allsorts - a special treat apparently - reindeer, from Manchuria.
The Guolizhuang restaurant claims to be China's only speciality penis emporium, and no, it is not a joke. The atmosphere is more exotic spa than boozy night-out. Nancy describes herself as a nutritionist. "We don't call them waiters here. And we don't serve much alcohol," she says. "Only common people come here to get drunk and laugh." But she does offer me a deer-blood and vodka cocktail, which I decide to skip.
Medicinal purposes
The Chinese believe that eating penis can enhance your virility 
Laughter trickles through the walls of our dining room. "Government officials," says Nancy. "Two of them upstairs. They're having the penis hotpot." Most of the restaurant's guests are either wealthy businessmen or government bureaucrats who, as Nancy puts it, have been brought here by people who want their help. What better way to secure a contract than over a steaming penis fondue. Discretion is assured as all the tables are in private rooms. The glitziest one has gold dishes.
"Some like their food served raw," says Nancy, "like sushi. But we can cook it anyway you like."
Rare order
"Not long ago, a particularly rich real estate mogul came in with four friends. All men. Women don't come here so often, and they shouldn't eat testicles," says Nancy solemnly. The men spent $5,700 (£3,000) on a particularly rare dish, something that needed to be ordered months in advance. "Tiger penis," says Nancy.
The illegal trade in tiger parts is a big problem in China. Campaigners say the species is being driven towards extinction because of its popularity as a source of traditional medicine. I mention this, delicately, to Nancy, but she insists that all her tiger supplies come from animals that have died of old age.
"Anyway, we only have one or two orders a year," she says. "So what does it taste like?" I ask.
"Oh, the same as all the others," she says blithely. And does it have any particular potency? "No. People just like to order tiger to show off how much money they have." Welcome to the People's Republic of China - tigers beware.
Sliced and pickled
"Oh yes," she adds, "the same group also ate an aborted reindeer foetus. "That is very good for your skin. And here it is..." Another "nutritionist" walks in bearing something small and red wrapped in cling film.
My appetite is heading for the airport. Still, I think, it would be rude not to try something. I am normally OK about this sort of thing. I have had fried cockroaches and sheep's eyes, so... There is a small bowl of sliced and pickled ox penis on the table.
I pick up a piece with my chopsticks and start to chew. It is cold and bland and rubbery. Nancy gives me a matronly smile. "This one," she says, "should be eaten every day."
_______________
Disfuckinggusting. What comes after animal penises, raw animal penises and aborted foetus? Disgusting.
My first painting
I'm not an artist and due to my boyfriend's laziness and delegation, I picked up a paint brush for the first time a year ago. Naturally, I gave him the first painting I painted because thanks to him I had a new hobby.
Tada... This painting actually started out with big red lips which I changed to a red circle and finally very lost and tired and annoyed I decided to change it. So there you have it, angry things such as lightning bolts hurling towards the earth. Not too shabby for my first effort no?
Old North Bridge, Minute Man National Historical Park
My boyfriend lives in Concord, MA and a few weeks ago we went to Minute Man National Historical Park so that I could take some pictures. "Situated nineteen miles from Boston alongthe old Lexington Road, Concord became the first battleground of the American Revolution, as Yankee militiamen alerted by Paul Revere, routed the British troupes at the Old North Bridge". Here are some of my pictures. It was way too cold to dawdle more. I'll take more this summer.
The first picture is of the driveway at his home. There was a family of deer walking by but unfortunately you can't see them, only the top of the snow truck.
The first picture is of the driveway at his home. There was a family of deer walking by but unfortunately you can't see them, only the top of the snow truck.
What happened to March?
What happened to March? I was that busy that I didn't poste? hum!
Updates tomorrow
Updates tomorrow
Friday, April 06, 2007
Technology and cinematoghrapy [Movie art]
Two weeks ago I saw the movie “300” at the IMAX cinema in Natick Mass. It was my first IMAX experience and it’s one that I would never forget. The line to get into the cinema was ridiculously long but it was worth the wait and the hassle.
The cinema we (my boyfriend and I) went to is at the top of a Jordans Furniture Store and right next to the cinema there is a Bose showroom. The theater was outfitted with Bose sound systems so as you can tell the sound quality was amazing. In typical Bose style, the room was small (Bose founder built the company on the belief that sound varies depending on the size of the room) and it was completely full.
When the movie started, the seats shook. I sat there thinking ‘oh man, I’m not going to be able to take this’. At one point I felt motion sickness as it felt as thought the theater was moving away from the screen. Not to mention that at times it felt as though the characters were coming out of the screen. I think during this film I imagined every scary movie that I’ve seen that took place in a cinema. But boy was it worth the experience!
As I watch “King Kong” on TV now, yes, on my new 26” LCD, heh heh, I can only imagine how amazing it would have been to see this movie on IMAX. This goes for “Pan's Labyrinth” as well which I saw a couple of months ago. But all’s well, as the next movie that plays there will be Spider Man III. I’ve already made a date and I can’t wait.
The cinema we (my boyfriend and I) went to is at the top of a Jordans Furniture Store and right next to the cinema there is a Bose showroom. The theater was outfitted with Bose sound systems so as you can tell the sound quality was amazing. In typical Bose style, the room was small (Bose founder built the company on the belief that sound varies depending on the size of the room) and it was completely full.
When the movie started, the seats shook. I sat there thinking ‘oh man, I’m not going to be able to take this’. At one point I felt motion sickness as it felt as thought the theater was moving away from the screen. Not to mention that at times it felt as though the characters were coming out of the screen. I think during this film I imagined every scary movie that I’ve seen that took place in a cinema. But boy was it worth the experience!
As I watch “King Kong” on TV now, yes, on my new 26” LCD, heh heh, I can only imagine how amazing it would have been to see this movie on IMAX. This goes for “Pan's Labyrinth” as well which I saw a couple of months ago. But all’s well, as the next movie that plays there will be Spider Man III. I’ve already made a date and I can’t wait.
Patterson Graffiti
A few weeks ago for my art class I had to document graffiti that I found on my way to and from work. Do you know that there is no such on my drive? As a matter of fact, I didn't find any in Bergen County so I took a drive out to Patterson. I didn't stop, I took pictures while I drove, constantly looking over my shoulder and has happy to speed out of there once I got what I needed. Here's some of what I found.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
It is a sad day indeed
Captain America is dead. One word to the bastards. F*#$@#(s
Comic hero Captain America diesFrom BBCCaptain America has been fighting villains for 66 yearsSuperhero Captain America has been killed off after appearing in US comic books for 66 years. The character, who appears in the Captain America comic book, was created in 1941 to build up patriotic feeling during World War II.
Co-creator Joe Simon told the New York Daily News: "It's a hell of a time for him to go, We really need him now."Publisher Marvel Entertainment has confirmed it is developing a film based on the character. Fans may not have seen the last of the character in print either, as the comic's editor-in-chief, Joe Quesada, refuses to rule out resurrecting him in the future.
The latest edition will show the superhero dying on the steps of a courthouse in New York, after he was shot by a sniper. Captain America first appeared nine months before the Pearl Harbor bombings, punching Hitler on the cover of the comic's first issue. Since then, Marvel has sold more than 200 million copies of Captain America magazine in 75 countries.Shocking event for Captain AmericaFrom CNNNEW YORK (CNN) -- He fought and triumphed over Hitler, Tojo, international Communism and a host of supervillains, but he could not dodge a sniper's bullet. Comic book hero Captain America is dead.
After close to 60 years in print, Marvel Comics has killed off Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, one of its most famous and beloved superheroes amid an already controversial story line, "Civil War," which is pitting the heroes of Marvel's universe against one another. In the comic series, Rogers was to stand trial for defying a superhero registration law passed after a hero's tragic mistake causes a 9/11-like event. Steve Rogers eventually surrenders to police. He is later mortally wounded as he climbs the courthouse steps.
Marvel says the comic story line was intentionally written as an allegory to current real-life issues like the Patriot Act, the War on Terror and the September 11 attacks."Every child knew about 9/11," says Dan Buckley, president of Marvel Comics. "If [he] could see a TV he knew what 9/11 was. The other similarities [to] things going on are just part of storytelling."It was a violent and strange end for an American hero.
Captain America first appeared in 1941, just as the United States entered World War II. He was a symbol of American strength and resolve in fighting the Axis powers, and later Communism. As originally conceived by creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Rogers was a man born before the Great Depression in a very different America. He disappeared after the war and reappeared only recently in the Marvel timeline. For a superhero many thought perfect, it was perhaps a fatal flaw for "Cap," as he became known.
"He hasn't been living in the modern world and the world does move," says Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada. Quesada said he wanted to readers find their own meaning in Cap's end."There is a lot to be read in there. But I'm not one who is going to tell people, this is what you should read into it, because I could look into it and read several different types of messages," he told CNN.
The character's death came as a blow to co-creator Simon, the Associated Press reported."We really need him now," Simon, 93, told The AP.Still, one has to wonder: Is Captain America really dead?
Comic book characters have routinely died, only to be resurrected when necessary to storylines. Joe Quesada agrees -- but said times are different now. "There was period in comics where characters would just die and then be resurrected. And the death had very little meaning and the resurrection had very little meaning," he said. "All I ask of my writers is if you're going to kill a character off, please let that death have some meaning in the overall scope of things." Besides, he said, there are other important questions left unanswered. "What happens with the costume? And what happens to the characters that are friends and enemies of Cap?" Quesada said with a smile. " You're going to have to read the books to find out."Copyright 2007 CNN.
All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report
Comic hero Captain America diesFrom BBCCaptain America has been fighting villains for 66 yearsSuperhero Captain America has been killed off after appearing in US comic books for 66 years. The character, who appears in the Captain America comic book, was created in 1941 to build up patriotic feeling during World War II.
Co-creator Joe Simon told the New York Daily News: "It's a hell of a time for him to go, We really need him now."Publisher Marvel Entertainment has confirmed it is developing a film based on the character. Fans may not have seen the last of the character in print either, as the comic's editor-in-chief, Joe Quesada, refuses to rule out resurrecting him in the future.
The latest edition will show the superhero dying on the steps of a courthouse in New York, after he was shot by a sniper. Captain America first appeared nine months before the Pearl Harbor bombings, punching Hitler on the cover of the comic's first issue. Since then, Marvel has sold more than 200 million copies of Captain America magazine in 75 countries.Shocking event for Captain AmericaFrom CNNNEW YORK (CNN) -- He fought and triumphed over Hitler, Tojo, international Communism and a host of supervillains, but he could not dodge a sniper's bullet. Comic book hero Captain America is dead.
After close to 60 years in print, Marvel Comics has killed off Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, one of its most famous and beloved superheroes amid an already controversial story line, "Civil War," which is pitting the heroes of Marvel's universe against one another. In the comic series, Rogers was to stand trial for defying a superhero registration law passed after a hero's tragic mistake causes a 9/11-like event. Steve Rogers eventually surrenders to police. He is later mortally wounded as he climbs the courthouse steps.
Marvel says the comic story line was intentionally written as an allegory to current real-life issues like the Patriot Act, the War on Terror and the September 11 attacks."Every child knew about 9/11," says Dan Buckley, president of Marvel Comics. "If [he] could see a TV he knew what 9/11 was. The other similarities [to] things going on are just part of storytelling."It was a violent and strange end for an American hero.
Captain America first appeared in 1941, just as the United States entered World War II. He was a symbol of American strength and resolve in fighting the Axis powers, and later Communism. As originally conceived by creators Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Rogers was a man born before the Great Depression in a very different America. He disappeared after the war and reappeared only recently in the Marvel timeline. For a superhero many thought perfect, it was perhaps a fatal flaw for "Cap," as he became known.
"He hasn't been living in the modern world and the world does move," says Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada. Quesada said he wanted to readers find their own meaning in Cap's end."There is a lot to be read in there. But I'm not one who is going to tell people, this is what you should read into it, because I could look into it and read several different types of messages," he told CNN.
The character's death came as a blow to co-creator Simon, the Associated Press reported."We really need him now," Simon, 93, told The AP.Still, one has to wonder: Is Captain America really dead?
Comic book characters have routinely died, only to be resurrected when necessary to storylines. Joe Quesada agrees -- but said times are different now. "There was period in comics where characters would just die and then be resurrected. And the death had very little meaning and the resurrection had very little meaning," he said. "All I ask of my writers is if you're going to kill a character off, please let that death have some meaning in the overall scope of things." Besides, he said, there are other important questions left unanswered. "What happens with the costume? And what happens to the characters that are friends and enemies of Cap?" Quesada said with a smile. " You're going to have to read the books to find out."Copyright 2007 CNN.
All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Interesting news
Some wierd things in the news today
A Kenyan secondary school sent home 20 boys because they were not circumcised - circumcision is not obligatory for admission into the school, but a study released in December said it reduced the risk of contracting HIV/Aids. Message - get your pee pee cut, come back to school and bugger all you want.
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A report from one of Australia's most respected research bodies has shown that alcohol abuse claims the life of an Aborigine every 38 hours. Summary - No job = no money = no food + no home + can't support family = high levels of stress = substance and alcohol abuse
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Clinics offering abortions and cosmetic surgery have been banned from opening in the UK's most famous medical district. Officials said they were trying to move away from "lifestyle procedures" to become a centre of medical excellence. - I've never considered the right to choose as a lifestyle choice but if you really look at it I guess it is.
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Russia has a plan to boost birth rates in the country by introducing a new scheme this year that will allow government handouts of $9,000 [about two years income] for women with more than one child. - Hogwash if you ask me. Russia needs to educate its people about drugs, alcohol and safe sex as this is what's killing them. As a country with one of the fastest growing HIV infection rates the government should set aside funds to treat the people with HIV infections and take care of the children that are born to those with the infection instead of leaving them in clinics to die.
A Kenyan secondary school sent home 20 boys because they were not circumcised - circumcision is not obligatory for admission into the school, but a study released in December said it reduced the risk of contracting HIV/Aids. Message - get your pee pee cut, come back to school and bugger all you want.
--------------------
A report from one of Australia's most respected research bodies has shown that alcohol abuse claims the life of an Aborigine every 38 hours. Summary - No job = no money = no food + no home + can't support family = high levels of stress = substance and alcohol abuse
--------------------
Clinics offering abortions and cosmetic surgery have been banned from opening in the UK's most famous medical district. Officials said they were trying to move away from "lifestyle procedures" to become a centre of medical excellence. - I've never considered the right to choose as a lifestyle choice but if you really look at it I guess it is.
--------------------
Russia has a plan to boost birth rates in the country by introducing a new scheme this year that will allow government handouts of $9,000 [about two years income] for women with more than one child. - Hogwash if you ask me. Russia needs to educate its people about drugs, alcohol and safe sex as this is what's killing them. As a country with one of the fastest growing HIV infection rates the government should set aside funds to treat the people with HIV infections and take care of the children that are born to those with the infection instead of leaving them in clinics to die.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Henri Cartier-Bresson, the father of modern photojournalism
Today as I am reading the news I learn of yet another great photographer. While there seems to be some confusion as to when or how he died there is no confusion over the life he led.
--------------
In 1946 photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson glued the pictures which formed the basis of his first American exhibition into a scrapbook. The prints have recently been restored by the Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Cartier-Bresson his wife Retna Mohini in 1936
Famous pictures, such as this one taken in Brussels in 1932 (inset), contain some of Cartier-Bresson’s handwritten notes on the reverse. This one states simply: “One of my very first pictures.” 
Only a few actual pages of the original scrapbook have survived, and these are also reproduced in Henri Cartier-Bresson: Scrapbook published by Thames & Hudson.
Cartier-Bresson's ability to blend into his surroundings led to writer Truman Capote describing him as “dancing along the pavement like an agitated dragonfly” when he was taking pictures. (Photo: Two children taken in Italy in 1933)
Cartier-Bresson's show in New York was beset by problems. Initially it was thought he had died whilst imprisoned during the war, and then the shortage of photographic paper in Europe meant supplies had to shipped from the US.
The collection also demonstrates how Cartier-Bresson edited the sequences of photographed he'd taken in the search for the one image he would eventually choose to show publicly - here he photographed gypsies in Spain in 1933.
Source: BBC
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