paris postcard: true love

@ pa design

2 bis, rue fléchier

75009 paris

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© anita aguilar

postcards (adios, for now)

last summer, on the occasion of my birthday, my sister, my friend z, and i took a train north for my first ever visit to dia: beacon.
it was a drizzly, green day.



there are wonderful works on view there--my favorites, by fred sandback, robert smithson, richard serra, and michael heizer are part of the "long-term" collection.

there was also an installation by zoe leonard, "you see i am here after all," a collection of some four thousand vintage postcards of niagara falls that essentially chronicles "our" sense of that natural wonder over the course of the last hundred or so years. the postcards are "evidence" but also a vehicle for perpetuating its iconic, mythic, cliched status. you can read more here, if you'd like...

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the most charming part of the exhibit (for me) were the actual messages on the cards:

hello! i wonder what you are doing tonight.
lovingly, nellie

i come on the afternoon train.
anna

please let me know if you have any turkey eggs for me and how many.
truly, jennie hammer

will return wednesday evening, will look like a boiled lobster.
sincerely,
elizabeth

annie skillens and i are together. a very enjoyable journey. no accidents.
l. pearl

great. but everybody are robbers. they would steal the pennies, etc.
"dutch"

i saved more messages (but alas, they are long gone, with my old phone).

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the postcard has always been one of my favorite collectibles--whether i'm traveling, or visiting a museum, or just browsing at shop here in the city. i buy multiples of cards i like-- one clean card for me to keep, other clean cards to share with my sister or my cousin jojo, and still others to send...

sometimes my best intentions to write and send them, especially when i'm traveling, go unrealized. time and days get away from me. maybe i spend too much time trying to craft a thoughtful and "perfectly" worded message. and, sometimes if i actually write them, i'll forget the stamp or better yet, not be able to find a mailbox! so the cards come home with me. there have been a few times, feeling totally inept and defeated, i have just kept them or tossed them away...

but i'm resolving with this trip to buenos aires, to write and send, write and send, because postcards can really be perfect expressions of sentiment--brief, heartfelt, unexpected--and i would argue just as nice to write as to receive. with so many opportunities (facebook, twitter, IM) to say what's on the mind, always something so clever and funny and smart, it seems the most novel thing to say would be an honest i'm thinking of you. i miss you. i wish you were here. or something like that.

we'll see how i do...

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as always, thanks for visiting the blog. i'll be back in a week or so, with new tango shoes and hopefully a few good photos to share.
in the meantime, check out the work of the people i adore, permalinked on the sidebar, but especially:
sheena925...see her latest, lovely creation
jojo aguilar...finally--new drawings up this month
film snobs...shutter island review!
jess hullett (she's got something yummy for you for st. patrick's day. check it out on phoebetv--new episode on monday. maybe tuesday... haa)
and
my maximum favorite writer, steve tignor, blogging brilliantly from the bnp paribas open in indian wells. the tournament actually became one of my favorites because of the way he's written about it--always so keen, so fun. i was almost sorry that i planned this trip during such an amazing tennis week (i might try to catch a little of it while i'm away) but the blog will make it seem like i'm not missing a beat (or ball). i have come to rely on his eyes and ears and mind and heart (yes, i said heart. you can't be a great writer without that) to enlighten me and enliven the world around the sport i love, other things too. and i've never been let down.

be well, and enjoy the week.

postcard: food tour, tokyo stopover

i've been to tokyo 4 times--4 stopovers on the way to and from the philippines. in terms of total hours, i don't think i've stayed a day. but at least during our trip this year there was enough time between flights to wander around the gate. my dad was keen on having "japanese noodle soup" and while i wasn't terribly hungry, i had a feeling the next leg of our flight would not come with a proper meal. and let's face it. it's just not like me to refuse a meal, especially on the road.

we stopped at the casual asian cafe�@bowl bowl.

this long lacquered hot dog struck me as unusual, but i suppose there is a lot of food fakery on display at eateries stateside. maybe it was the proportions that threw me?
onion rings
wrinkly and pink

this is the waiting box. rather like the square vibrating pager they give you at the outback steak house and the cheesecake factory. (and five napkin burger. and, if memory serves, the rosa mexicano on 18th street.) anyway, the kicker with this is that you have to "touch" the waiting box to the table. it's not enough to have it and hold it, or rest it on the table. the "waiting box" has to touch "home base" (the rectangular panel affixed to the table). if it's not on home base a server will walk by and place it there. and if you move it, they will put it back. it's a precision system. and then your food arrives.

miso, looking like a trippy underwater adventure.

and, one of my favorite comfort foods: a beef bowl.

this fairly straightforward beef bowl was made extraordinary by the brilliant yolk. the richest and best part of the meal.

postcard: vehicular madness 3 "look (sharapova)"

look (sharapova).
from the car. quezon city, manila. july 15, 2009.

postcard: vehicular madness 2

delivery. quezon city, philippines. july 17, 2009.

postcard: vehicular madness 1

jeepney: the passenger. batangas, philippines. july 12, 2009.

a jeepney, in batangas...july 12, 2009.

a "tricycle" i.e. a motorcycle with a sidecar...batangas, philippines. july 12, 2009.

a tricycle...packed with produce. quezon city, philippines. july 15, 2009.

postcard: family edition

my niece...

niece and nephew...photographed by andreas aguilar

niece...

sister...

me...photographed by andreas aguilar

postcard: manila airport edition

oof.

fans are compulsory. my aunt, at manila airport.

reunion.

my nieces, meeting mom.

our bags!

the truck that was used to transport our bags...

belongs to a local eggdealer...

postcard: flying the friendly skies

ready to go (and: "will your carry on fit?"). me and cousin, jason. jfk.

dolled up at narita.

well-suited pair. narita.

young american high schooler. (reading: the chosen). narita airport.

pretty gal, at asian bowl. narita.

hello, radiohead...hello, sir

i think i like radiohead.
it's sort of weird and embarrassing to admit that after all this time, yes?

a former boyfriend of mine used to play pablo honey all the time.
i loved "stop whispering." it stood out to me as having a little more guts and wanting than the other tracks?
but that--really anything resembling that plaintive sound of theirs (how else do you describe it?)--came to remind me of a rather cruel summer that he and i endured...

but that was a long time ago.

radiohead--with the usc marching band--gave my favorite performance of this year's grammy awards, and it got me thinking i'd been missing out? and then, i came into possession of a "best of radiohead" cd. i'm embarrassed to say exactly how this happened (hint: bmg).

i'm pleasantly surprised to find i can enjoy it, but also "ignore" it just enough to remain productive. that's a rare thing for me.

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i spent most of yesterday afternoon in williamsburg. i took my friend lexi to a perfume store/gallery that i love so that she could write about it for a website she freelances for.
afterwards, we walked around in the sunshine, peeked into a few stores.

i'm not a terrific shopper, but i can get my groove on in the right company. for the most part, i enjoy looking at store windows, the interior lighting, and the decor. the hipster vibe is pretty consistent in all the stores so i wouldn't say one blows my mind, but typically, amidst all the over-priced luxuries, there are knick-knacks that are either lovely or amusing.
and i really like postcards and business cards. i shouldn't collect them all, but i do.

my favorite store that we visited yesterday is called sir, a small, but judiciously stocked boutique. each garment is delicate, beautifully cut and sewn, as if they were made by hand, and utterly feminine. i think the store carries mostly sir designer joanna baum's line exclusively.

i would love them with my new haircut...

pretty things like these:

photos by sophie corra, via sirbrooklyn.com

but i actually think the name of the store is genius!

every time you answer the phone, you get to say "hello, sir..."

perfect, no?

sir...129 bedford avenue, bk, ny 11211 718.384.0700 & 360 atlantic ave, bk, ny 11217 718.643.6877