Thursday, February 28, 2008

Girl slits wrists at concert, dies a happy death

I think it was my friend Andrew who first introduced me to Feist about 4 years ago. I fell in love at first listen. Last year was my first time to see her in concert and I kicked myself in the head for not seeing her sooner. She was on tour with Grizzly Bear and had a tap dancer come out and do the beats for one of her songs while she strummed on her guitar. She is great live - slightly goofy and always entertaining. This year, she will be at the Hammerstein Ballroom in April with...

Hayden, also from Toronto. I first fell under his spell when I was but a youth, at the tender, impressionable age of 16. That's over 12 years ago - I'll slap myself silly. Crying guitar + gruff voice = the stuff high school angst is made of. Listen to a clip of "Assignment in Space with Rip Foster" from his album Everything I Long For (I made myself a necklace that said this, once).

Tickets are on sale now for $31 at @#*!!**#&$* Ticketmaster for April 29 and 30. Run, don't walk.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The Juan Maclean & other DFA acts at MoMA this Saturday. NEWSFLASH: I'm doing something fun for once.

Scratch that, tickets are sold out. Brooklyn Museum's Target First Saturdays? Meh.

Monday, February 25, 2008

McFetridge in L.A.


I want this in my dream home...



Which is located miles away from anyone and has a vegetable garden and many big dogs running wild.

See more of this wondrous bookcase here at Apartment Therapy.

New kicks



eBayed.

"I need boots and shoes for work."

Hence, Nike Blazers.

Works for me.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Baby it's cold outside


J. Crew's got a slew of winter (and early spring) coats on sale for over half off - got this lined in Thinsulate for $150. I really need warm weather clothes but this deal was too good to pass up. No more black coats!!

Brain explodes from cuteness



I've been a fan of 31 Corn Lane for a long time (circa the college years) because they do cute shit like this. How cute is that fragging pony? At $4.30 for shipping it's totally not worth it - I'd put that towards my own button maker. The possibilities are endless.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

I'm having an existential crisis











This is what I'm reading right now...not on purpose but it just so happens that a book I bought long ago, recommended by a friend, a book borrowed from a friend, and a book bought on a whim because of its cover, should have the same themes of desolation, solitude, pessimism and bleakness. I hope it's not a reflection of my state of mind.

Ones to watch

Young at Heart directed by Stephen Walker


Summer Palace directed by Ye Lou










CJ7 directed by Stephen Chow

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

It never stops



I will never stop buying house things. These teacups are vintage, with screenprints by Esther Derkx on them. Available at Reform School and there are also teapots, sugar pots/creamers and serving platters. I would like some very much - I think I need that $600 stimulus money now.

This past weekend we shopped til we dropped - Saturday was spent at Herald Square. We hit up the usual mall stores (barf...except Gap is the only place I can buy underwear) as well as the actual Manhattan Mall to check out Steve & Barry's. This is the only place in NY you can get Starburys. I almost got myself a pair. Everything in the damn store is $8.98 which is hilarious to me. They also carry SJP's Bitten line, which is a piece of shit - it doesn't have any kind of real "design" aesthetic to it. It looks like typical crap you can get at Wal-Mart. I mean, she being such a style icon - I would at least try to have it look...wearable.

Yesterday we were up around 5th Avenue and Rock Center. We hit up Takashimaya, that big Japanese department store, which is basically a place for rich folk to spend their money, seeing as how they have nothing better to spend it on. The housewares section was very disappointing - Pearl River has a better selection. I was expecting better-designed stuff, not typical "Asian" soy sauce bowls, etc.

I walked with a new windbreaker and 2 pairs of work pants - this is the most money I've spent on clothes for myself in a very long time.

Shopping for America - it's disgusting but count me in.

Sha na na



New music this weekend:

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog

The Magnetic Fields - Distortion

Andrew Bird - Weather Systems; Armchair Acrocypha; The Mysterious Production of Eggs

Band of Horses - Cease to Begin


And against my better judgment, Jack Johnson - Sleep Through Static.

I don't watch any music channels or listen to the radio that much so for new music I keep up by occasionally listening to NPR's with Bob Boilen. He's got a good mix of stuff (save for any hip hop) and celebrity guest djs, including John Waters (who I love) and Thom Yorke.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Weekend movies

Knight Rider How hot is this car?? It's probably the only thing this dumb resurrection has going for it. The actors - suck. The premise - sucks. And the Hoff cameo? He should stick to releasing records in Japan. The car is really sick though; I've always had a soft spot for Mustangs.

Emmanuelle Don't ask me what possessed me to get this movie. Tasteless, fake sex scenes. Basically, French expats in Thailand boning each other for the first half of the movie. Then the main character, Emmanuelle, gets "educated" by an older man on the rules of eroticism. She pretty much gets raped and gangbanged by a bunch of locals while he watches, then at the end of the movie reapplies her makeup and wraps herself in a white feather boa while looking meaningfully at the camera. WOW.

The Wicker Man I wanted to see this original version of the Nic Cage rendition. Very creepy, more weird sex scenes, and relief in knowing that I won't check out the remake. It has been named one of the top British films ever, but then again, how many great British films are there? The whole time I watched this all I felt were alternating sensations of WTF?? and OMG! It did make me want to research May Day festivals and associated pagan rituals though so at least we have that.

I'm currently reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It's pretty bleak so far, but then again that's how he do - I first started reading him in high school. I picked up a couple of his books on a whim while at National bookstore (a national chain in the Philippines...) and forgot about him until he started blowing up recently with the film renditions. I'd suggest starting with Child of God - if you like dark humor.

Celeb spotting - after exiting Garage on 7th Ave South this past Saturday I spied designer Waris Ahluwalia (of The Darjeeling Limited and The Life Aquatic) rushing past us. In his trademark turban and wearing plaid golf pants - I wanted to stop him for a photo op but was embarrassed to bother him. Not that many would care or know who he was :(

Friday, February 15, 2008

Staring at the sun

TV on the Radio tonight at BAM Cafe - starts at 10pm and it's FREE SO FREEEEEE!

It's a 3-day weekend for me, which I haven't really been paying attention to. So it comes as a pleasant surprise. I don't have any real plans except to relax and watch DVDs. I have: Emmanuelle, The Wicker Man (the OG 1973 version) and The Kingdom disc 1 (Lars von Trier). Mostly disturbing, which I seem to be leaning towards lately.

I had a weird dream last night about a talking horse. I was trying to lead it up this bank, that I had to climb up except the front looked like a big bookshelf. The horse was scared and it could talk. So every time I tried to do it, he would try to talk me out of it. We finally did it. Cut to next scene, I'm at a buffet. I'm trying to get a plate of noodles with steamed whole shrimp (heads, tails, everything) and wondering if the horse will eat it.
Alex: Well that's a typical dream for you - it involves horses and food!

Speaking of which, I went to the eye doctor today. There were all these photos of him on horses at horse shows. Turns out he used to do showjumping as well. I can't escape it. I got a week's worth of free daily contact lens samples out of it. AND numbed eyeballs. It's the weirdest sensation to have, to be blinking over eyeballs that can't really feel anything.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Say, "Kawaii!"



I've been fiending for a new camera. First I wanted the Polaroid Night Cam. Then the Yashica Electro 35. But I decided on this little Fuji Instax Mini (the site compares it next to the Polaroid iZone).

I'm a huge Lomo.com fan but except for their LC-A, I wouldn't really buy anything else off their site. Mainly because it's expensive as hell - I found my little Fuji on eBay for $52 including shipping and one 10-pack of film. At Lomo they were selling this set for $200. I don't need the cool factor tho.


I'll be taking this, my digital cam and my LC-A to Austin with me - that's quite a camera arsenal but I'm looking forward to taking lots of photos in WARM weather. And if I really want to FOB out, check out the image to the right - there are tons of different frames available, including Winnie the Pooh, Mickey & Minnie, and Tinkerbell. Oh HELL NO.

It's a fun option for sure but I don't think I'll be using it any time soon. I also ordered a bulk pack of instant film. The quality is a lot better than Polaroid's - the thing to get now is a new scanner.

Oh boy...

Monday, February 11, 2008

Kill me now


I am a beached whale. I ate like a pig all weekend but it was pretty worth it - delicious dinner at Soba Totto, then tacos and grilled corn at La Esquina, tapas at Alta, brunch at iCi (we really need to start brunching elsewhere, which is what I was trying to do...) and then a homecooked meal of salad, soup, garlic bread and strawberries for dessert.

The Moss warehouse sale turned out to be a bust. It was basically all the junk they haven't been able to sell for the past few years. A bunch of chairs, this weird shelving system that was basically a giant block of styrofoam filled with "found" spraypainted objects - a pail, a computer monitor shell, etc. The above photo includes giant bolsters that were on sale for about $350 each, if I remember correctly.

Despite all the window shopping we did we only managed to spend money at Target when we got back to Brooklyn. We have our first houseguest coming this week so we needed more bedding. Helgard is the woman Alex stayed with in Frankfurt - she is a professor who works in Berlin and she is here giving lectures all over the country. If we ever decide to go back to Germany, at least we have someone that we know there who might be able to help us. This is looking more and more like a possibility after New York completely devours us.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Glass Menagerie

Pre-shopping online at Moss, where I hope to get house stuff tomorrow. I doubt these will be included in the warehouse sale but I love:

Two types of glass fused together (hence the different colors) Tapio Wirrkala 1968, $7380.00 kiss my ass! I love the look of these though, and they'd go with our apartment. On the hunt for something similar, in a much lesser price range please.


Angelo Mangiarotti 1985, $510.00 - I love these wine glasses. They're simple yet unlike anything I've seen before.


Stacking bowls - Michael Kramer, 2000, $250.00 - and continuing with my recent fascination with glass - these are pretty just stacked together as is. It'll be hard separating them. As if.

I used to think that when I got my own place I'd fashion it to look a little something like Willy Wonka's factory...however I'm finally realizing that it's not very grown & sexy. Not that I am either but at least my apartment can be.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Hello hello hello oh no...



So this is me, in my new apartment, in my new neighborhood.

So far, the good things:
* Olivino
* iCi
* Fort Greene Park & greenmarket
* Sputnik
* the brownstones, the history, the tree-lined streets
* multiple ways in and out...and hardly ever crowded at that
* proximity to other neighborhoods

My commute is longer but when I get home, it feels like my home. You wonder why I'm lame and stay home all the time? You try living without roommates.

Coming up this weekend:
Dinner at Soba Totto with Ryan on Friday.

Moss warehouse sale on Saturday.

Brunch with L, D, Angel & Mitya on Sunday; then on to participate in Joey de Leo's photography installation at IOI Gallery.

Football season is over. My life begins again.