porcupines & pomegranates

open spaces

2007-08-28T18:56:00.000-07:00

i brought my pair of roller skates with me to new york. they're black with blue wheels and i love them. for the record, i have roller blades but i feel silly and awkward in them. they're just not cool. anyway, on saturday morning i went on an adventure to find a small, quiet park, that a co-worker told me about. a place where i could skate.

that place was the carl schultz park near 86th and york. it had a path that ran alongside the water which was great but when i got there i found out that the path was tiled and bumpy. perfect for runners but a disaster for someone on skates. so i walked along the water and took some pictures. here's a tug boat.

on sunday, i woke up early with the intent of going to central park to skate. so i packed my sunglasses, a hat, water and my camera with the hopes of taking pictures while skating... instead, i found that it's easier to walk and sit by the ducks.

here's what i learned about skating in central park: when joggers and kids on tricylcles are passing you it's time to take your skates in to get the wheels adjusted so that you can go faster. i also learned that i really need to get a back pack. trying to balance my bag while watching out for cyclists on the road is not exactly relaxing. so after a while i went home and made plans to go to another park in the afternoon. this time to meet my friend cigarette and listen to music.

cigarette was running late so i waited for her at 59th and lex. i avoided getting a hot dog and going into h&m. phew! when she arrived we grabbed a slice of pizza and took the yellow line to the broadway exit. we walked 5 blocks in the wrong direction, then walked 15 blocks towards the water. we found a green field with a random assortment of art. this field was called socrates park.

the fiery furnaces were playing. we both wondered what the green reindeer with a ladder meant. i have to admit it's kind of festive.

i like this installation with the sign.

without knowing much about the piece it made me stop and remember what happened to the people of new orleans. watching the father hold his son reminded me of the tragedy. it also made me grateful for my own family who i miss terribly but who i'll get to see very soon.

that's all for now.

just like noah

2007-08-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

since the weather called for severe thunderstorms we all headed out to central park summerstage last friday to see paul van dyk. this is the vip section, courtesy of t*star, who will forever be known as the p.i.m.p.

between the flooding, dancing and continuous supply of free beer and wine, picture taking was nearly impossible, but we loved every moment. here's a picture at the edge of the vip section looking out at the crowd. the harder that it rained the more that they screamed with glee.

i tried to get a picture of paul here but he was just out of sight from this angle so here's a picture of red-rain-parka guy.

here's the obligatory shoe shot, clockwise from top left: antonio's yellow suede pumas that were obliterated by the rain; tb's cons looking bright and new; my new, black flat boots that kept my feet nice and dry; emmanuelle's bare foot (because she wore a cute pair or pointy toe pumps that were not meant for rainy day dancing); and margueritte's wellies (so chic!).

look! the back of paul!

by the time night fell it was pure chaos, silliness with friends and great music. pvd's set made me feel all spine-tingly. he's an amazing dj. it was great to hear him live again. thanks t*star!

nice dream

2007-08-14T18:17:00.000-07:00

images of people sleeping on the train
by emmanuelle
(who borrowed my camera
after the daft punk show)

he triggered the whole thing
looking so damn sweet

she bought a t-shirt
i like the pink against black

a whole bunch of sleepy heads

this is my favorite shot

zebra headband: the beginning or the middle of a trend?

busted! the guy in stripes wakes up
is that a shoulder pad sewn into the black t-shirt?

i love how she's holding her blackberry
at any moment she's ready to text

they were too cute
he smiled the whole time emmanuelle took photos

hmm... these 2 look familiar

the end

intergalactic

2007-08-12T17:37:00.000-07:00

last week i wondered if my gravitational pull was off.

at 9:18 a.m. on an empty sidewalk, a random person would appear and bump into me. on the subway i was knocked by briefcases. walking briskly through subway platforms hands with heavy watches snapped my wrist as i walked past. this happens sometimes.

my gravitational force brings good stuff too. last week it brought vip tickets. i mentioned daft punk but then i needed to sleep the long weekend off to recover so i haven't written about the rest.

so since i've slept,
who would you pull into your gravitational force?

a. mike d
b. mca
c. ad-roc
d. mixmaster mike
e. ____________

you know where this is going, don't you?

central park summerstage.
the one,
and only,
BEASTIE BOYS!

(sigh)

last wednesday afternoon an IM appeared from emmanuelle. some of her music friends had an extra ticket. i was so happy i could have wept. i packed up at work and hopped on the 1 to meet her. we stopped at a deli, bought a mushroom quiche and a mozzarella, tomato, basil sandwich. then we walked over to summerstage.

summerstage is gorgeous when the sun starts to set.

i love going there to see shows. the people who work there are charming. emmanuelle's friends had a box so we were served wine all evening. it felt very bourgeois and spoiled. i loved every moment.

and i love the beastie boys. i've grown up listening to them. i could be having the worst day and one of their songs will come on the radio and the next thing you know i'm singing along.

everyone sang that night. everyone knew the lyrics. they have that affect on people.

so which beastie boy is your favorite?
for me it's simple: mike d.

robot power

2007-08-11T08:07:00.000-07:00

i want a pyramid that lights up.

at one point in the show margueritte stopped dancing and said, "i want to be daft punk for halloween."

we met two girls on the subway. they offered emmanuelle and i glitter. asked us how many times we've seen the robots from france. people travel from all over to see them. now i'll be one of them. secretly building my own pyramid.

i heart nyc - part one

2007-08-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

(in order of first appearance)

1. the boombox guy, near dekalb, brooklyn

are boomboxes anti-technology or a sign of good times? on friday morning, after seeing booka shade at studio b, the boombox guy came around. every time i'm in brooklyn he appears. i usually hear him first and then stop whatever i'm doing to stare. he makes me miss my roller skates. i almost picked the $1.50 egg, cheese and tomato sandwich on a roll with salt & pepper from the corner deli instead of boombox guy, but i have to hand it to a guy that loves music so much he shares it with everyone.

2. abc carpet and home, broadway and 19th

this store makes you wish you had a lot of money. hand-made chandeliers, 1200-count sheets, modern furniture, grandma couches from the 40s, cloth from tibet, whatever you're into it's probably here. six perfectly art directed floors of the most beautiful things.

3. soup dumplings, pell and broadway

don't they look squishy? the waiter showed us how to eat them. first scoop one up in your soup spoon. poke a tiny hole in the dumpling so that the broth drains out. suck up the juice and devour. joe's shanghai.

4. blonde redhead, mccarren park pool

if i were in a band i'd want to sound like blonde redhead. i hope someday to hear them in a small, enclosed place like the troubadour, so that i can feel the sound waves hit my skin without any escape. when kazu sat on her horse chair and played the keyboards i wished earthshine was with me. i stood close to the front of the stage and not a single person pushed or jostled me. is it brooklyn or mccarren park pool? either way that's cool.

5. bunny ears

it goes without saying that bunny ears are cool. who doesn't look cute with bunny ears? number 5 is dedicated to my nephew who at 2 months old already knows how to send me a card. on the cover was a self-portrait of him in his bunny ear hat. i can't wait until he's old enough for a boombox and a guitar.

geek love

2007-08-02T12:57:00.000-07:00

i can officially say that i've been to the world's largest t.g.i. friday's. i went with some friends at work yesterday for lunch. we were actually looking for a thai place that promised to be shangri-la once you got past the tacky facade but we couldn't find it... so as we continued to push through the times square tourist hell it occurred to us that it might be amusing and silly to actually soak up the whole tourist thing and eat at tgif.

i have so say, that the waitress gave us a great table. my 2 friends were super cute too because they made me sit by the window since i was a tgif virgin. this was our view. taxi cabs and midwesterners.

comfortable in my geekiness i then ordered the top chef sandwich. remember the portobello one from the woman that fought all the time with the foam guy? CLASSIC.

they really need to add more mushroom to this sammy. poor, sad little portobello, lost in the bread.

after lunch we went to duane reade to buy a detergent stick. while we were standing in the check out line i spied one of those cheesy watch displays that spin around so i took a look and found the coolest watch EVER!

there it is, posing with my moofia milk, a genuine casio calculator watch! it multiplies, adds and divides. it has an alarm AND it's waterproof. it's so big that it takes up my whole wrist. oh, memories of eighth grade. the checkout clerk at duane reade had to unlock 3 bolts to take this watch out of the case... it's that special.

to continue with my tourist journey, after work i went to a yankees game with my friend the professor, who was in the big apple for work. the professor is like a giant human bear that pushes boundaries with the exuberance of a frat guy but is also syrupy sweet.

we had great seats. the yankees kicked butt so the crowd was relaxed and happy. we sat and watched home run after home run.

somewhere around the 7th inning he started talking about how we were on a date.... it was awkward. have you ever been on a date and not known it's a date? i'm not saying that i didn't know that the professor liked me but we've had a pact that revolves around friendship for quite a while now. anyway, i didn't take a picture of his shoes. they were regular running shoes. that's all for now.

paper clips

2007-07-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

on saturday i ventured out to sheep meadow to meet D who was visiting new york. we walked through the park without any idea of where we were going, catching up on stories. (D and i dated for three months last year and although he is adorable, tall and a penniless writer as i like to call him, it didn't quite work out, but there isn't any animosity between us.) as we made our way to the upper west side D suggested that we go to the natural history museum which is perfect in a way because the first time that we ever went out we went here...

at the natural history we hunted for the squid and the whale. we found lots of stuffed animal scenes, dinosaurs and even something like a giant death star but we didn't find the squid and the whale. so yesterday i looked on flickr to see what it looked like...

SCARY!!

i like this squid and whale by octopus...

much better

afterwards we went to the dead poet to grab some beers and a basket of french fries.

and then we walked back through the park where i took a picture of D's shoes because he's shy and dislikes having his photo taken...

and then we had some wine, danced to untitled.

roof tops and platforms

2007-07-26T12:23:00.001-07:00

last night i met emmanuelle and margueritte at balthazar for drinks before we went to some work-related party. balthazar has lovely lighting and lots of energy. we ran into emmanuelle's sister and brother-in-law who were absolutely adorable.

after a glass of wine we ran off to the work-related party where emmanuelle ran around and talked to everyone while margueritte and i scarfed down handfuls of spring rolls, washing them down with syrupy pomegranate martinis, which seemed like a good idea last night (but not so good today). since there was a lot of "hey, what do you do? can you get me a job?" smoozing going on inside we went to the roof top for some fresh air and i amused myself by taking a
few pics.

and then, at about the time that the young punks were beginning to get tiresome, we left for the subway...

which was quiet...

until i turned to my right...

oh, hellllooooo!

after a few martinis my opening line was: "hi. can i take a picture of your tattoos?"

(i know, shameless.)

the best view in new york

2007-07-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

on my second day in new york, emmanuelle took me to a party at a place that had the best views of new york... last week we went back there so i had a chance to take some pics...

looking over the edge felt like falling off the face of the earth.

we were right off union square

and we met some cool people.
this is dickey in his tribe called quest t-shirt.

this is what the view looked like at dusk

and there were more pictures from inside... emmanuelle played drums, we all drank wine and then wandered off to taxis and home... i'm hidden somewhere in the flash...

coney island sirens

2007-07-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

yesterday, at the siren music festival on coney island, i saw one of the greatest live music performances, but before i jump right to the best part, let me walk you through my day...

after taking the Q line all the way to the end, the first thing that i saw was nathan's, as in the place that holds the famous hot dog eating contest every fourth of july.

the first band that i saw was elvis perkins in dearland. they sounded thoughtful and flowy which to me means really good. they also played the harmonica. i love it when bands play the harmonica. the pic here isn't very good but they remind me of billy crudup's style in jesus' son which is also a very cool, hot thing...

now for a fashion break. don't you just love these 2 in their shorts? her belt, his visor, their shoes... it's just perfect.

after elvis perkins ended i walked the coney island boardwalk in search of the main stage. i was stopped by a guy who introduced himself as eric and asked if he could take my picture for the village voice. he looked cool and had a professional camera but before i could think about it some drunk, shirtless, beefy-lunk-head on the boardwalk started shouting: "oh, yeah! way to go eric! yeah! that's a good one! you want to take her picture! yeah!"

so i thought maybe eric was doing some sort of prank on me because the shirtless drunk knew his name so they must have been secret-lunk-head friends, right?

but the lunk went away and eric convinced me that he didn't know that guy. in fact he asked me a few times, "is that guy your boyfriend?"

so i let him take my picture. i was worried that maybe i looked tacky in that amusement park way so that's why he asked me. after all, i was on coney island. that morning i threw on my indy plaid shirt, black shorts and a black sun hat, so the only thing that i could think of was perhaps i looked too pale.

he gave me his card in case i wanted a copy of the photo. i should have taken a picture of him but i wasn't thinking clearly because as i left he said: "phew, i really thought that guy was your boyfriend." i looked at his site this morning. he's the real deal.

so after that adventure, i found the main stage and checked out the noisettes for a bit, but i wanted to get back to the smaller stage because lavender diamond were about to perform.

lavender diamond are charming, sweet, hopeful and ironic. check out the news section on their site to get an idea of the type of stuff that becky, the singer, talks about on the stage. today she was talking about building an eco-friendly amusement park. they're like a breath of fresh air. go see them.

after lavender diamond played i moved up to the front of the stage, right by the barricade, even though i had no idea who was up next. a girl came out and set up a set of drums and a guy set up some keyboards. and then they played...

WOW. they were called matt and kim and they rocked. check out their songs on myspace to get an idea of how infectious, upbeat and fast-paced they are. everyone was jumping up and down, they were smiling, we were smiling and the crowd surfers were happy.

the vip section took up the space right before the stage so matt told the crowd that they should jump the barricade.

after one of the greatest live performances i've seen, matt and kim said "thanks." they told the crowd that this was the biggest event they've ever played and they were just so happy to be there. matt told a cute story about how kim was so worried that she thought she was going to get sick in the van on the way to the performance.

thanks matt and kim. we heart you.

when robots dream of cats...

2007-07-18T20:39:00.001-07:00

the big one lit up and made noises if you didn't pay attention to him
the little one slept
i asked if they were from japan but no one knew

space

2007-07-18T20:04:00.000-07:00

i can spend all day geeking out by myself in a museum so after my adventures with mexican food i walked over to the guggenheim to check out the shapes of space exhibit.

my favorite piece was the one that the guggenheim features on the site. it's by alyson shotz and it's made out of cut plastic fresnel lens sheets and staples. according to the audio tour it was partly inspired by string theory and the movement of time. i was mesmerized by how the colors and images that are reflected through the panel change as people move on the other side.

i also really liked piotr uklanski's installation titled “dance floor.” (as a kid i was teased about liking disco and as a young adult, i spent most of my free evenings in front front of some dj or at some far-away san bernadino rave, so it’s not really a surprise that i would love a room filled with a pulsating dance floor and speakers, blasting irresistible, although obvious, dance tracks.) it was great because as you moved up through the museum, past this installation, you could still hear the music which made me smile.

horchata

2007-07-16T20:19:00.000-07:00

on saturday i went to a wine bar with emmanuelle and margueritte. the place was filled with argentinians, columbians and a guy from mexico. i sat down at the bar next to allejandro from columbia, which sparked a flurry of words from eduardo from mexico, who wanted to switch places with allejandro so that he could sit next to me, but eduardo wouldn't move... and on and on... it was a comical and fun. i would have taken pictures but i was too startled to think about my camera...

on sunday i was terribly home sick... no matter where i am though, if i happen upon some mexican food, i always think of california, so instead of moping i headed to a small restaurant that i've been meaning to try: sabor a mexico.

i tried their shrimp burrito and homemade horchata sprinkled with fresh cinnamon. it was divine! i loved their salsa too. my favorite part was listening to the owner tell me stories about living in new york and raising a family while i waited for my food. she was sweet and i was grateful for her stories.

lost without spoon

2007-07-13T14:06:00.000-07:00

i met cigarette girl in front of home depot on wednesday. it was raining and once again i was wearing open toed shoes. darn. (i really might need to buy galoshes if it keeps raining.) we met up to go to a free spoon show in rockefeller park.

i've never seen spoon play live before but i've heard from many people, my sister and cigarette girl included, how amazing spoon is live. so off we went.

the sleuth in you might wonder why the photo (above) is sunny and not rainy. first, the photo is by autumn de wilde, an amazing photographer. (tstar and i had the chance to meet autumn once and she was beyond cool.) second, let's just say that maybe the show was cancelled because of rain. or... maybe, our two heroines from california, found themselves taking a nature walk through the park because they couldn't find the show.

not finding spoon was a downer but what can you do. after being in NY for a few months i'm used to getting lost and having to change plans. the park was beautiful. at one point we found a "mini" statue of liberty, about 6 feet tall, next to a trailer that was either for construction or tourists. we each took turns posing in front of lady liberty with our arms holding up our umbrellas instead of a torch.

through the mail slot

2007-07-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

since i moved away from california i've learned that i love receiving mail from friends and family. there's something so fun and old fashioned about opening up an envelope or a box of goodies.

on tuesday night after a long day at work, feeling sweaty and gross from the subways, i found a card in my mail box from home and a bottle of wine in the fridge. my mom sent me the card and my dad left me a bottle of wine with a package of dean & deluca gummy bears.

part of what i loved about the packages was how much they both showed they knew me. my mom sent a listing of vietnamese street food locations (j'adore!) and various pescetarian recipes that i can make at home. knowing how much i hate mayonaisse , on the recipe for dilled salmon tartare she circled "1/4 cup mayonnaise" and wrote in "substitute sour cream + yogurt."

the bottle of rully 1er cru that my father left was divine...so cool and crisp. and the gummy bears! i don't normally eat gummy bears but a while back i told my father about the best gummy bears i'd ever had while i had to wait 7 hours in an airport. they were rainbow colored and from dean & deluca. when i brought them up to the counter the woman who rang me up whispered how much they cost in case i wanted to put them back. since my plane wasn't leaving until 2:30 a.m. i bit the bullet. it was worth every penny.

i heart my parents.

lost somewhere on the 1, 2 or 3

2007-07-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

lessons learned in new york:

1. never agree to meet someone on a train platform during summer when it's 91 degrees with a heat index of 105 degrees

2. text messaging is mandatory

if you prefer to risk the platform make sure that the person you're meeting has a phone that accepts text messages

otherwise you might be waiting for 1/2 an hour or so
(thankful that you have an ipod with the new interpol...

but still annoyed that half of your bodily fluids are leeching out of your pores as people push by during rush hour)

3. french bistros are a good standby for fathers visiting from cooler climates

(unless you have to walk very long blocks, then they're no fun until the second coctail arrives)

4. chambord is lovely when paired with homemade ice cream

it was 91 degrees

2007-07-09T19:18:00.000-07:00

when i left the office today and i could feel the heat rise up from the sidewalk... i appreciate all things cold. on my walk back from the subway station i thought of ice cubes and glaciers, ice cream and air conditioning.

dante's dumplings

2007-07-07T15:49:00.000-07:00

for one dollar you can feast on 5 tasty dumplings from a small chinatown kitchen although on a hot day it'll feel like eating dumplings in dante's inferno.

i've been playing tour guide this week since my father is visiting. on friday we went on a quest to find a dumpling place. first, traveling with an out-of-town guest through unknown streets on a blaringly hot day is no small feat. especially when your guest is your father (who is not a huge fan of the heat, direct sunshine or walking). by the time that we reached our destination i didn't even care that they only served one type of dumpling -- pork -- i was just happy to spy a few empty chairs at the meager counter where we could sit for a while.

the best part of the experience was eating at the counter, wiping away sweat from our brows and dipping the dumplings in hot sauce. while we were dreaming of air conditioning a woman who had ordered 50 dumplings asked the owner for some containers of hot sauce to take back to the office with her order. the owner shook her head but the woman insisted. when she continued to ask for hot sauce the owner started speaking to her in chinese knowing full well that the woman didn't speak chinese. so the woman would say "hot sauce" and the owner would shake her head and speak in long paragraphs of chinese, then the woman would say "hot sauce" and there would be more head shaking and sentences in chinese…

2007-07-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

i adore this photo of audrey hepburn. sparkly (another secret spy name) and i saw this in a hallway in columbus circle when she came out to visit me. we had so much fun! if i could i'd fly her out every weekend i would.

happy fourth

2007-07-04T21:15:00.001-07:00

subway adventures

2007-07-03T14:41:00.000-07:00

when we walked down the steps of the subway platform today we saw a group of 10 kids dressed as clowns. some had little crosses painted on their cheeks. my dad stopped to take pictures of them and they gave him a leaflet about The Bible. this is only part of the group. the clown sitting on the far left is wearing a headband with bunny ears. if i were to dress up as a clown i would rock bunny ears too.

friday night

2007-07-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

on friday night i met my friend margueritte, her boyfriend and some of her friends at barna, a spanish-style tapas place. barna was nice and open downstairs with a dj spinning in the corner and a chill vibe. by the way, margueritte is her secret spy name. we made up a secret spy name for her boyfriend too but after spending the night with those two funsters i've forgotten it.

we went to the rooftop and i took a picture because i'm still impressed by seeing so many buildings in one place. a cute english guy with cool sneaks teased me about taking a photo... you can kind of see why...

we left barna and headed to 'the bar'. that's the name of the place. nice and simple. here's a before and after to put things into context.

exhibit 1 -- before

exhibit 2 -- after

the music was great. the drinks were cheap and the bartender was great. they serve pint-sized martinis which is funny and crazy.

introduction

2007-07-02T14:14:00.000-07:00

since i've moved to new york my friends have begged me to update them on my life and adventures... so this is where i begin. here's a photo that i took in the subway station on my way home from a party in brooklyn.