winter a-go-go

i've got the day off today! woo hoo!

whenever i have a day off, pretty much the first thing i'll do is flick on the tv and see what's on tap on TCM. if i'm lucky, it's film noir day or myrna loy's birthday or they will program an entire day of melodramas from the 40s and 50s.

today, my little feet hit the cold floor at right around the usual time (8:30) and i tip-toed over to the tube, hit # 82 on the remote, and saw that "winter a-go-go" was on.

crap.

i'd never heard of it.

the tv guide said something about 1965, richard benedict, and kids at a ski lodge.

clearly it's b-movie day.

drat.

i just wasn't in the mood!

not 3 seconds later, they're heavy into a dance number, a dude and a bunch gals in very tight, very colorful pants, sweeping, dusting, shimmying and shaking their pretty asses around this "ski lodge." (they were the cleaning crew.) go-go dancing with brooms and dust rags! so silly. and so MY LIFE.

(put some music on, and i am a dancing fool. true story. and consequently, it takes me twice as long to get anything done--cook, clean, get dressed for work, wrap christmas presents, paint my apartment. i just can't help it.)

anyway, the next few minutes of the film were fairly awful, so off went the tv and my own dance party started up.

and it's gonna go on all day, while i bake a bermudian rum cake, and some other sweet treats for tomorrow's new year's party. we'll see how long the neighbors can put up with prince.

a note or two about the film:

tag line: "ski buffs and ski babes on the go-go in the snow-snow." wow.

it features beverly adams, who made uncredited appearances in a couple of elvis movies (roustabout and girl happy -- a fave! shelley fabares, so cute), and married vidal sasson...she's BEVERLY SASSOON!!!( "ooh la la sassoon!")

the film also starred william wellman, jr., who seems to have built a fairly successful tv career, and whose dad directed carole lombard in "nothing sacred," her only color film appearance...

street chic and hollywood glam

photo via the sartorialist, may 2007.

"on the street.....pixie, sodermalm stockholm."

posted may 11 at 8:00 am.

when i'm too too distracted or brain-numbed to read (or write), i troll design blogs and fashion sites for inspiration--not so much for fashion inspiration (while i do love looking at how the gals on street chic and the sartorialist combine colors, choose accessories, layer upon layer, that kind of unstudied chic or high style is not something i am apt [read: able] to mimic) but for pure, romantic, creative jolts.

the actual photos are glorious for light and color. i love that some are charmingly posed, others discreetly snapped...

it's lovely escapism.

i can imagine the kiss of an autumn breeze in paris...

the sartorialist via style.com september 30, 2008

or happily growing old in milan...

via the sartorialist, style.com, september 25, 2008.

i can witness "a moment"...

via the sartorialist at style.com, september 27, 2008.

i look at the backgrounds, the locations, and am reminded of my trip to france earlier this year and some of the things i loved: luxurious afternoons and evenings in outdoor cafes... blue-grey sky enriched by triumphant afternoon sun...mopeds and cool architecture... trees...windy strolls about the eiffel tower...crepes...

and sometimes from these blogs, i can uncover something new.

last week, i noticed the teaser for a post called "depression era beauties" that featured a famous george hurrell glamour shot of of jean harlow, and when i clicked through the accompanying slideshow, i fell in love with these photos of my favorite actresses:

myrna loy

carole lombard

i looked at the credits to note the names of the photographers, and found that more than a few were from the collection of john kobal. and i wondered, who is he?

it turns out he was a writer, film historian and the premier collector of hollywood film photography. if you read the bio on his foundation's website, you'll see he's basically a film superfan, who smartly amassed movie memorabilia, surely believing that others would share his obsession, and their preservation would be of eventual value to film historians and photographers.

there is a "made in hollywood" exhibition, featuring 90 vintage prints by some of the most important film photographers from the 1930s-60s that will open in may 2009, at the knoxville museum of art in knoxville, TN.

for a bit more context, check out this la times piece, first published in august 2008, when the exhibit opened in santa barbara.

exhibition "travel details" here.

and for a peek at photos from the accompanying book, "the glamour of the gods," visit newsweek's gallery.

i saw "the big picture"...

on boston.com, and i was so riveted by these photos of our president-elect, i burned my dinner.

it was hard to pick a favorite, so i chose two...

i love yellow. ("yellow is the color of sunshine. it's associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy.")

taken during a campaign event at colorado state university, october 26, 2008 in fort collins, colorado.

photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

and i think this is just a fantastic moment...

taken at ebenezer baptist church, after the announcement that obama would be the next president of the united states.

(ap photo/pouya dianat, atlanta journal & constitution)

RMS, R.I.P.

on monday, the department that i have been proud to work for and with for the last 21 months, was dissolved as part of a company-wide cutback. extraordinary people have lost their jobs.

i will miss laughing and lunching and brainstorming and bitching and whining and woohooing...

and the shouting and the stress and the silliness...

and participating in, and bearing witness to, all manner of hilariously inappropriate behavior.

as you can see from the video, which features several of our team members, we had a hell of a lot of fun.

i am lucky to have had them in my every day life.

and now, my heart hurts.

"paradiso" found!

i decided to be a sommelier for halloween (i went home, changed into a fresh white shirt, and opened a bottle of spicy mallorcan red...)

and then i parked myself on the couch to watch cinema paradiso.

friends of mine have raved about the film for years--that i'd love it, that it would be one of my favorite movies of all time. i think it's part of the reason i passed on seeing it until now. all that buildup--could the film live up to it?

and then there's the crying. everyone cried, but my sister is my barometer (i cry watching little house on the prairie; she rarely tears up), and not only is cinema paradiso one of her favorite movies, she bawled. i was sure to be a wreck. and i just haven't been in the mood for that.

well...i DID love it! and i held up throughout (a few tears here and there), but with the final scene came the flood. jacques perrin watching that kissing montage--how he shifts in his seat... his hands..and his eyes, rimmed with tears that you can see a-glimmer in the dark--with that sweet, haunting morricone soundtrack soaring ...it might be one of my all-time favorite film scenes.

here it is (starting at 4:51):



you tube video via foreign classics

************

i spent most of this morning thinking about the movie and wanting perspective from past reviews. I pulled two favorite books off my shelf (pauline kael's "for keeps," and anthony lane's "nobody's perfect) and was surprised and sorry that neither volume featured a review of the film.

so i googled. vincent canby pretty well hated it back in 1990 (nytimes subscribers can login to read it). (i wonder if his opinion changed at all after that?) but also on the times site was a brief clyde haberman piece about writer/director giuseppe tornatore. it's a nice little primer about the sicilian native and the early history of the film (written before the oscar win). the bits about the italian film industry are dated, but it still makes me wonder what movie-going has been like in sicily in recent years?

*****

i loved the dozens of film clips within cinema paradiso, but this one left the deepest, happiest impression:




youtube video courtesy of jack11anbar

that is silvana mangano lip synching to flo sandon's rendition of "el negro zumbon" for the film "anna", but the moves are all hers. i love.

and, as if i needed another reason to love her, i found out that mangano's performance in the "earthy" drama riso amaro inspired one of the most hilarious i love lucy episodes (lucy prepares for an audition to star in the "earthy" italian film " bitter grapes" by spending the day crushing grapes).

here is lucy in the wine vat:



youtube video via krunk4theking

i am officially obsessed.

a final bit of trivia: silvana mangano also happens to be the grandmother of food network's toothy, yet comely giada de laurentiis.

music to get laid (off) to

it's been a tough year for our department (as it has been most everyone, everywhere), and we've been worrying and whispering about potential layoffs for months. i've been alternately losing sleep and humming "que sera, sera," thinking about possible next steps, but really always hoping--most earnestly--that i wouldn't need to take them.

for the first time last week, the rumors became disturbingly focused: cuts would come within the week.

sigh...

waiting for the other shoe to drop/the sky to fall/insert any "disaster" cliche here is no fun.

how to cope? i've been running (speedwork and hillwork to ensure just enough tiredness for a good night's sleep) and crying every chance i get. ok, not really crying. (not yet anyway.)

everyone has a song (or six or twenty-six) that provide mind-easing, soul-soothing comfort, for whatever ails them, yes?

or am i merely insane?

well, i've been listening to "crying"--track 2 on tv on the radio's "dear science" album--obsessively, morning to night.

i am digging the whole album, but "crying" is THE ONE, hooked me from the first funky cymbal shimmer. i was in car last weekend with my mom, driving to trader joe's, and i popped it into the cd player for a first listen. poor mom was mid-sentence (something about butternut squash soup?) when i interrupted her--"ooh, i like this, let's hear it again...ooh, ok! i love it! one more time! again!!"

i can't get enough of the funked out bass line, the falsetto and the horns (there's something sort of "fine young cannibals" about it. and prince, of course). it's groovy and hot and yearning. and it's actually sort of apropos (hold your breath through late breaking disasters...got you cryyyyying, cryyying, oh whyyyyin', oh my my my).

it's irresistible. i HAVE to dance and feel good when i hear it.

i think it just might be enough to keep me from crying in the coming days.

(but i welcome more music therapy suggestions...)

(youtube video, courtesy of naughtysauce)

claxography

natalie wood in nyc, photographed by william claxton, in 1961.

william claxton, whose stills of the west coast jazz scene in the 1950s are some of the most intimate and acclaimed, and whose portraits of chet baker chronicled and hastened the musician's ascent to stardom, died today at the age of 80.


i'm familiar with some of claxton's work (any half-decent poster or postcard shop in the city offers this image for sale in one form or another; who hasn't seen this one of sinatra? and this shot was known to me long before chet baker was) but i knew little about the man himself, or the breadth of his career.

and so today, i did some reading...

i learned from the nytimes' obit that he first became known for photographing his subjects, like sonny rollins, in "unorthodox" outdoor settings.

the la times' more anecdotal tribute (a too-amazing-to-imagine encounter with charlie parker) will pique the interest of fledgling photographers and jazz aficionados, and includes claxton's musings on the similarities between jazz and photography ("They're alike in their improvisation and their spontaneousness. They happen at the same moment that you're hearing something and you're seeing something, and you record it and it's frozen forever").

i was most surprised to find out that he was the art director at motor trend magazine for more than a decade. but after reading of his passion for sports cars, race cars, and motorcycles, which he shared with another of his oft-photographed subjects, steve mcqueen, it made perfect sense.

part of claxton's talent--and some might call this an art--was his ability to engender the trust of his subjects, by getting to know them, and letting them know him. and he promised not to portray them in a negative way. he was, in his own words, "dedicated to beauty" and he knew how to find it in his subjects.

these days, when photos can be and are so readily manipulated, and we, as a culture, delight in catching celebrities (and non-celebrities!) at their most compromised (and i can't say i'm immune to this phenomenon myself), and intimacy is often mistaken for being merely exposed, claxton's work takes on even more significance. his commitment to the expression of beauty, real intimacy, and honesty through photography is something that, hopefully, never gets lost.

for more on william claxton's fascinating life and work, and to hear "claxton on claxton," visit his site.

no more funny business!

rafa puts an ice bag on his head in the heat during his match against viktor troicki of serbia at the us open tennis tournament on august 30, 2008, nyc. photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images via tennis.com

day 8 of the us open will be day 1 of live tennis for me. and i am not messing around.

i spent the day waiting for them to post the order of play (cheers! nadal plays querrey at around 1pm!), catching up on some of the better us open reports in the ny times (favorite line: Tipsarevic, who appears as if he could be the love child of Salma Hayek and Sam Waterston, is a voracious reader who regularly quotes the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky...) and napping (because tomorrow is going to be good, long day).

i also had a little 3-way going here at the apt: i had the tv broadcast (on cbs and usa), usopen radio, AND live scoring on usopen.com going simultaneously for a good part of the afternoon.

this may seem like overkill, but tv tennis commentary for this grand slam being what it is, desperate times call for serious plan-bs and -cs. i couldn't bear tracy austin as a player (the pinafores, the bounce-bounce-bouncing on her tippy-toes, the nervous hand-blowing) and i'm even less enamored of her as a commentator. her voice is as tense as she used to appear on court, and she is far more defensive in the booth. between her, and mary carillo (channeling ann curry--why does everything have to be oh-so dramatic? ) and the joyless jim courier, i had no choice but to hit the mute button on the tv, and tune into the radio broadcast on the site. (way back in june, when i was trying to protect myself from martina navratilova's endless, ruinous monotone wimbledon commentary, i figured out that i could, thanks to dvr, properly sync radio wimbledon with the live tv broadcast. and that allowed me to enjoy andrew cotter, and virginia wade's poetic style (“ivanovic is this beautiful statuesque figure of a player, but she is being beaten below the knees…that net is taunting her today…it spared her against dechy") and the refreshing, uninhibited enthusiasm of andrew castle, and john lloyd, and others. there was one line, so insightful and apt, i'll never forget it: "nadal is very much like the tide, isn't he, he just keeps coming at you." i will have to find my notes to see who came up with that one...)

and yet, even as i was happy to have the us open radio broadcast available, it still didn't solve the matter of all the compelling matches that weren't being covered, on tv OR on the radio. explain how we were made to suffer through yet another listless lindsay davenport match on friday night, when robredo was playing safin, and moya was playing tsonga? and today, no robredo v. tsonga? and those are just the matches i took special interest in. there were many other hard fought, top-flight tennis battles for avid tennis fans. thankfully, those of us who wanted a little more could indulge in more ways than one.

news!

untitled (me) by matias aguilar.

i've been inconsistent with posts, but i don't want any more time to pass before i call attention to a couple of very cool sites:

zovig's callastyle site: you can find out more about her, and her image consulting business. there's also a link to her truly fashion -"inspired" blog -- she'll have you contemplating style, and help you confidently embrace your own.

matias' photography site: humor and melancholy. evocative stillness. vintage and modern. gritty. reflective. those words come to my mind when i see his photos. take a look, take some time. see if you agree. perhaps you'll have more, better words to describe them.

in the end, i hope you'll enjoy them as much as i do.

visit his blog to see who's influencing and inspiring him.

he took these photos of me a few years ago, in what will forever be one of my favorite places--my old studio on jane street. he captured a couple of "moods," which i very much appreciate.

untitled (me). by matias aguilar.

golden!!!

photo by al tielemans/si, via si.com

photo by al tielemans/si, via si.com

photo by bob rosato/si, via si.com

complete si ladies individual all-around competition photo gallery here...

nastia, girl!

photo: vladimir rys/bongarts, via getty images and the nytimes.com

i've managed to miss a lot of the olympics--between seeing "the dark knight", hearing accordion bands, going to hip-hop birthday parties...and work...and being sick (and under dr's orders to go to to bed early)--and despite near 24/7 coverage on a zillion nbc channels.

but i am definitely carving a few hours over the next handful of days to watch nastia liukin and the other female gymnasts, for the women's team final (tonight), the individual all-around competition on thursday night, and the individual events on sunday-tuesday (aug 17-19).

i'm not going to make any predictions--and here's an obvious observation: shawn johnson seemed impervious to the pressure and nerves that affected everyone else during the qualifying--but i'm going to be rooting hard for nastia liukin. before an ankle injury in '06, that required surgery and kept her out for basically all of 2007, she was women's gymnastics. there are a lot of powerful gymnasts in the world and they all perform tricks that defy our vision of what the body can (and should?) do, but none have her exquisite lines. (photos below taken at the 2008 olympic trials, via liukin's website.)

liukin will compete in the individual all-around, and the event finals for beam, floor, and bars, so you'll have many chances to see for yourself. here's the schedule....

enjoy!

she and him...are pretty fantastic

cameras flashed like strobe lights from moment she and him took the stage. and zooey deschanel looked a little overwhelmed.


she--angel-faced, in a silver-sequined, vintage halter dress--is a slip of a thing. from my vantage point (not close), i could clearly see her ribcage, and it was a little alarming. i wanted to offer her one of those empanadas that they sell at the venue. were it not for the generous bouffant, and the colossal white flower on her headband, how very small she would have looked on stage...

but oh, what a voice. a strong, clear, capable instrument. if she were ever so inclined, she could make the transition from indie pop darling/cute, quirky songstress, to convincing chanteuse. some years from now, i would love to hear her ooohs-ing through a cabaret set at some swanky nightclub.

as for him--his voice is used as kind of an oddity on the recording. i sort of love that, of course. but on stage, he sings a true "second voice" and does it well. with his sexy guitar stylings, he just might be a more compelling presence than her. he can play with real abandon, and some of my favorite moments of the night were the amazed, joyful smiles she gave him whenever he did.


she's an undoubtedly adorable, but timid tambourine player--i kept wishing she'd just go wild with the thing. i kept thinking--this is the gal that wants to play janis joplin? she could do it, of course, i think she has the voice in her, but the stage showmanship would require real acting.

all of that said, i loved the show! i really did. they sound very true to the record. the only somewhat disappointing rendition? "sweet darlin'" --they sang it like "camptown races." part of the magic of that song is "the build" toward the end. but they started so fast, too fast, there was nowhere to go with it, but off stage. and so they went...(but came back for their encore).

here are a few videos. you get the gist of how "true" they sounded, i think. terminal 5 was not "camera friendly" in any sense. this was all I could get.

and jojo, these are especially for you...

black hole


you really got a hold on me


this is not a test


a new zooey tune

looking forward...and back, a bit...

so so cute!
Originally uploaded by ata08

i've never been keen on learning to knit, but seeing pip-squeak chapeau etc.'s exquisite and adorable collection at the brooklyn designs show a couple of months ago got me thinking it might be the perfect winter 2008 activity...

but it will be a long, long...long time before i can create hats and shawls and scarves of a quality to match theirs, so i might have to invest in a few items.

i heard there's a sale on some of their spring items, through august 10. i might wait til the fall, but swoon away at the full collection here, or at a store near you...

be warned: it may lead to winter longings...

the news about the sale had me remembering the fun day i had with teresa, zovig, and a "man called mate." reminisce a bit with me here.

*****
links to favorites from the show:

the corian and walnut table by françois chambard, of UM.

i also fell a little bit in love with the gentleman/designer, colgate, also of UM. i'm guessing he designed these colgate chairs. i could have chatted with him all day...

the osomoto gateway table …beautiful wood top.

the constellation dining table by palo samko . walnut slabs, with watch gears that make up the “constellation.” stunning.

and

lola’s lounge chair from laidman fabrication.

mad men and a funny lady

tomorrow, one or more of my friends at work is going to ask me what i did this weekend.
and when i tell them about my sunday, and the fact that i spent nearly every hour of it inside my little apartment, i will feel not a hint of embarrassment.

why?

it's a very humid 91 degrees out.
and
there's a MAD MEN MARATHON on AMC.
why leave home?

it's impossible to escape the buzz and the acclaim (16 emmy nominations...), so don't bother.
don't try to resist it.
just hunker down with the complete season 1 dvd set.
try to pick the top 5 of 500 lines worth repeating, if only for the kick of letting them slip from your lips...(that sandwich is making me sad...i bet daily friendship with that bottle attracts more people to advertising than any salary you could dream of...)
let all of the sexy, stylish intrigue waft over you like a million smoke rings...
and let the smell of it stick to you until season 2 premieres next sunday, at 10pm.

photo via http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/

***

a couple of years ago, at a get together with my younger cousins, i very reluctantly joined them to watch the dvd of best friends. i cringed through the first several scenes, until anna faris delivered the line, "god, i want to lick your skin off." i almost spit up my coca-cola. she plays a britney-jessica-ashley "musician" type with the kind of ridiculous gusto a role like that deserves. ever since then, she's been on my list of favorite funny ladies (with judy greer).

behold, she's featured in this week's nytimes sunday magazine, with several other "funny faces."

love her. she's like a super-hot nellie oleson? in any case, super hot.

anna faris photographed by ruven afanador

one last (but certainly not least) thing: ms. faris is wearing a ring (left hand, 4th finger) by philip crangi, an amazing jewelry designer that my sister has studied with. she's always spoken glowingly of him, and i've become a huge fan...

you may have seen him featured in a recent gap ad , or heard that he's been collaborating with vera wang for a line of jewelry for her spring 2008 and (upcoming) fall 2008 collections.

the nytimes photo doesn't allow you to appreciate his work (understatement of the day?), so check out some of his designs at barneys....and of course, on his website, philipcrangi.com.

sweet darlin' !

sweet darlin'
come hold me
just a little bit longer now
sweet darlin'
come hold me
just a little bit longer now

(my new favorite song! i can't stop dancing, singing and handclapping...)

LA: obsessions (part 1)

drinks
Originally uploaded by ata08

when i travel--whether it's for a couple of weeks or a few days, for work or pleasure--i tend come happily home with a few obsessions.

my recent stay in LA yielded:

1) watermelon juice.

our company put us up at the standard hotel, on sunset (roll eyes, insert guffaw here). i know what you're thinking. whose idea was that? i have no comment, except to say, not mine. though, i never did object. in the end, the curiosity didn't kill me, it just left me perplexed.

is there a scene there? i have serious doubts. whatever was happening there, or hoped to happen there, i wanted no part of, unless it was happening, or hoping to happen, in the kitchen.

our work schedule basically resulted in our eating our way up and down and around the 24/7 restaurant menu. overall, the offerings were pretty strong.

i loved the greek yogurt (i'd never liked or understood greek yogurt) with berries and granola, the grilled shrimp salad, as well as an altogether different and not so healthy shrimp salad with a dill-y dressing on toast; the fries, the beet salad with goat cheese and mache, the pancakes (with 7-up in the batter) , the sorbets (coconut, green apple and apricot flavors were bright, happy endings to my meals)..."the standard benedict" (poached eggs on roast beef with a horseradish sauce) was fine too , except for the ill-advised decision to serve it on baguette slices. (that's just wrong. you shouldn't have to work so hard to cut your breakfast into bite-sized pieces.) the coffee was nice and brave, and served in a white ceramic cup of perfect size and heft.

but the thing i left there obsessed with? freshly -squeezed watermelon juice. it has a wonderful matte sweetness. it doesn't offer the bold, sugar shock of a cranberry/cranapple juice, nor does it have the burst of sweet sunshine that you get in the best freshly squeezed orange juice. it's not cloying like mango juice, or flat like carrot. it's a watery puree, a touch sweet, and just a little bit grassy--there's a bit o' white rind in there.

it's different... it will probably take you a few seconds to decide if you really like it. i decided i did. i love the color too. i wish i could carry that color with me wherever i go.

2) indie radio.

i love the radio, but i don't love the radio in ny. i can't actually get it in my apartment. but i hear enough of it in the car. i love singing along to lite hits and occasional classic rock anthems or r & b classics and disco (oh, the disco!), and i've definitely gone through stages when top 40 didn't completely offend me (i am quite susceptible pop music. i like "hooks"). and those of you who know me, know that i am far from EDGY. but good god, even i know this town could do with a little local indie radio. and nothing you have to "tinker with the knob" (i have an old clock radio) to find. something prominently on the dial.

so i don't have much to judge "indie 103.1" against, but my mornings and evenings were spent with santogold, mgmt, death cab, spoon, a healthy dose of depeche mode, the cure, and early U2. AND we all celebrated morrissey's birthday (may 22, people!!!). all that, and surf reports to boot! fun times!! why must they end?!

actually they don't have to....listen live here...

3) jessica smith

i met jessica at the photo shoot-she's one of our models! she's got amazing energy, and she exudes a true sweetness. we became fast friends. i can't wait for the photos we took of her to hit the newsstands and for the video to be posted on the website. you'll see how lovely she is, and you'll admire her perfect form.

if you're lucky enough to live in southern california and are an equinox member (or if you're planning to visit), i highly recommend taking her class.

the lovely miss jessica invited me to take her cardio sculpt class. and all i can say is: ass-kicking! as in, it's a fun workout that kicks ass, but she/it also kicked my ass (i struggled to keep up and i was sore for 3 days). but it felt great. if i could only get her to move back to ny, this old ass o' mine would be kickin.

but she is the instructor/star of the abs diet for women DVD, which i own, and that will do, for now...

more la obsessions to follow...soon...

saturday: "milk", grits and a fried egg

sunshiney saturday spent in the slope.

my lovely friend zovig and i decided to check out the takashi murakami exhibit at the brooklyn museum. it was "cuteness!" for sure. i'm not at all a fan of the louis vuitton collaboration, but those "superflat eye love" designs were quite appealing on a larger scale...i especially loved the color combinations in the "eye love" and jellyfish eyes series, on silk...it's all so much more striking on that fabric...i also liked milk, 727-727 (i actually loved all the paintings that were "sanded" ), cosmos (1998), and this daruma (i open wide my eyes but see no scenery. i fix my gaze upon my heart, 2007). the exhibition is bright and cheery and ominous and overwhelming...odd and funny and interactive...it is, to a degree, kid-friendly, if you're prepared to deal with questions about anatomical correctness/distortions. we had a little "overheard in ny" moment while standing in front of inochi (boy--maybe 7 years old: "mommy, his penis is on his stomach!" mommy: "why yes, it is..."). ha.

walking into the "vuitton exhibit/store" and taking the kooky wallpapered staircase to the floor below, which is a funhouse all its own--toys and t-shirts and other collectibles, all impeccably sorted and contained-- it struck me what a kick this show must have been to put together--and how sad it would be to have to watch all come down (show ends on july 13, btw)...

if you're as interested in behind the scenes stuff as i am, check out the terrific flickr slideshow that the museum has posted on its site...

and if you'd like a peek into the kaikai kiki studio sanctum, check out this ny sun article and its accompanying slideshow...

after the museum, zovig and i moseyed over to fifth ave...and stopped for brunch at stone park cafe. it took me about 3 seconds to decide that i wanted the hangtown fry: eggs, oysters, bacon and vermont cheddar cheese...how good does that sound?! but then...i took a longer look at the menu... i saw that they had grits, with shrimp and a fried egg. i remembered being deeply envious of the shrimp with grits at bar americain, which my sister ordered the last time we brunched together...so i changed my mind and went for the "anson mills white grits, with shrimp and fried egg."

the fact that the grits' brand name was proclaimed on the menu--as if i should recognize it--aroused my curiosity, so when i got home i did a little research. there's quite an interesting story to tell! turns out that the anson mills white grits come to us thanks to one man, glenn roberts, who was so deeply interested in the history of the south, especially its culinary history (cheers!) that he set out to revive--by organically growing, harvesting, and milling--varieties of corn, rice and wheat that were nearly extinct. he was able to find and harvest a "famous" carolina gourdseed white corn (that was "revered for its high mineral and floral characteristics, and its creamy mouthfeel"), which dated all the way back to the 1600s. this is the white corn that was milled into the grits that became my brunch!

and they really were creamy...i've only had grits a couple of time in my life (LOVE the cheddar grits at freemans...ooohhh. those are very different...toothsome...GRITTY) but this dish was nearly like a pudding. thick and rich and creamy, completely indulgent. i will admit, a little smoky, salty bacon would have livened it up. but it was very, very good.

anson mills white grits...
Originally uploaded by ata08

art and leisure...(read a good poem)

perhaps one night i will write about a friday night at a rad party downtown, where i rubbed asses and elbows with some cool cats, and was ever so elegant, all the while sipping unlimited top-shelf liquor...perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

but this friday night was more like:
a leisurely walk home from work, with a detour through the grand central marketplace, for veggies and some cajun catfish and stuffed brook trout from my favorite fishmongers (wild edibles).
then my dad stopped by for a quick chat...and then...i ran around the block to the morgan library, which is free on friday nights, from 7pm-9pm (love free admission!). i was pleased to catch “close encounters: irving penn portraits of artists and writers” (it closes tomorrow).
(i can cross 2 items off my new year's "to-do" list, as i have finally made it to the morgan musem and scandinavia house.)

i'd never visited the morgan library, so i have no sense of what it looked like prior to the renzo piano expansion. but i love the feeling of standing in the glass-enclosed central atrium--there was classical music resounding, courtesy of a cellist and violinist from the mannes college of music, and there was that wonderful, curious museum "buzz" (but without the awful crowding that's typical of most museums here, especially during "free admission" hours). there is a cafe in the central atrium, too, which is strangely not cordoned off. nevertheless, i imagine it's lovely to sip tea or a glass of wine there in afternoon.

because the main entrance was so terrifically roomy, i was surprised by the hearty numbers in the smaller east and west galleries. but it was still relatively easy to make a little space for oneself and linger over the work.

my favorite photos from the exhibition cannot be found online (i've been searching for the past 3 hours, so far, no luck):
edward albee, photographed in new york, 1962 (my absolute favorite from the show. albee here, as mark feeney notes, is "all cigarette and eyelashes");
vladimir nabokov (chasing butterflies), northern italy, 1948;
and
joan miro and his daughter, dolores, photographed in tarragona, spain, 1948 (penn's homage to the balthus painting, joan miro and his daughter dolores).

(you can see some of the photos from the exhibition, courtesy of the nytimes; a related slideshow is hosted by men's vogue ... )

and then i dropped a load on a few "sale" books about toulouse-lautrec, bonnard and vuillard at the store (so much for my "free" night at the museum), reminders of my recent trip to paris.

i made it back home in time to watch the last four innings of game 1 of the yanks/red sox series at fenway. chien-ming wang threw a complete game, two-hitter. final score: 4-1.

rather sedate, but not too shabby a friday night, all the way around!

more on the renzo piano expansion, which was completed in 2006, here.

and lastly, tonight's poem (another from babette deutsch): "string quartet."

read a good poem: "gentle as silence"

day's end. lourdes.
Originally uploaded by ata08

"Need" from The Collected Poems of Babette Deutsch
by Babette Deutsch

What do we need for love—a midnight fire
Flinging itself by fistfuls up the chimney
In soft bright snatches? Do we need the snow,
Gentle as silence, covering the scars
Of weeks of hunger, years of shabby having?
Summer or winter? A heaven of stars? A room?
The smiling mouth, the sadness of desire
Are everywhere the same. If lovers go
Along an unknown road, they find no less
What is familiar. Let them stay at home,
And all will still be strange. This they know
Who with each heartbeat fight the fear of change.

this is the first poem by babette deutsch that i've read. found it, somewhat randomly, tonight. i was immediately drawn in.

did a little googling, and uncovered a few tidbits. i am officially fascinated:

she's a new yorker...attended barnard (like me!)...and she, along with her husband, avrahm yarmolinsky, translated pushkin's eugene onegin, one of the finest, most treasured gifts i've received, from a great love of mine...

i love the reviews of her work (not "genius," but poems show feeling and integrity...ah, genius is overrated!)...

and i rather love this remark of hers: "the poet ... like the lover ... is a person unable to reconcile what he knows with what he feels. his peculiarity is that he is under a certain compulsion to do so."

"it's more difficult than you think to make charcoal"

i can barely keep these eyes open.
but, before bed, i share a little something:

"In Favor Of One's Time" - Frank O'Hara
from "The New American Poetry 1945-1960."

The spent purpose of a perfectly marvellous
life suddenly glimmers and leaps into flame
it's more difficult than you think to make charcoal
it's also pretty hard to remember life's marvellous
but there it is guttering choking then soaring
in the mirrored room of this consciousness
it's practically a blaze of pure sensibility
and however exaggerated at least somethings going on
and the quick oxygen in the air will not go neglected
will not sulk or fall into blackness and peat

an angel flying slowly, curiously singes its wings
and you diminish for a moment out of respect
for beauty then flare up after all that's the angel
that wrestled with Jacob and loves conflict
as an athlete loves the tape, and we're off into
an immortal contest of actuality and pride
which is love assuming the consciousness of itself
as sky over all, medium of finding and founding
not just resemblance but the magnetic otherness
that that that stands erect in the the spirit's glare
and waits for the joining of an opposite force's breath

so come the winds into our lives and last
longer than despair's sharp snake, crushed before it conquered
so marvellous is not just a poet's greenish namesake
and we live outside his garden in pure tempestuous rights

9/24/59


lots more o'hara to come. perhaps after i read this?