Completely Beauty: Biophilia, Bjork at NY Hall of Science
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Bjork and the Choir from her home country, Iceland performing Biophilia: Live at NY Hall of Science, Queens, NY
It’s our 4th concerts of Bjork. I feel blessed to go see her. Her Freedom and Beauty Completely Shakes Me. Her Fearless and Honest Voice Makes Me Cry. She is Way WAY Ahead of Where We Are at Right Now. I Completely Admire and Am Deeply Impressed. She makes me feel Humble. Her Intellectually Genius Musicality. Her Desire and Curiosity to know Technology. Her Restless Research.
She Rocks My World. Now She Rocks the Universe.
It happens to be Gael’s Favorite Museum. Flushing, Queens.
At the venue. Architectural details remind me of Casa Milla and Sagrada Familia of Gaudi in Barcelona.
Bjork’s one of the most beloved instrument, Harp. The opening lines of ”Pagan Poetry” and her new song , “Moon” all starts with Harp.
Bjork singing to “Hang”. A new generation instrument that makes this sort of softly vibrating and echoing a monk’s Bell like sound. It makes peaceful and unbelievably beautiful sound.
Bjork is my Hope for the Future.
MASS MoCA, MA
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MASS MoCA, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams town, MA
Just passed Martin Luther King Jr’s long weekend was a perfect time for us to finally visit MASS MoCA up in MA ( about 3 1/2 hour car ride from NYC). Emiliano has been talking about to visit up there and we have been looking up their website admiring amazing space of Museum which once has been industrial factory buildings occupying 13 acres of ground in North Adams town. Most of you must have visited DIA Beacon and MASS MoCA plays Art in similar setting but in much much bigger scale in their 26 industrial buildings with soaring sky high ceilings and envious grand scale of countless windows that allow beautiful natural lighting for the most important and prominent Art of our time.
We have planned to spend a night in the town to cover entire museum as traveling takes up quite a time. Early Saturday morning, with a small bag packed with couple things, we are ready to hit the road!
Getting out of NY state, it definitely gets colder and we were happy like little kids to see snow on the road! It has been unusually warm winter for us.
So beautiful…!
The parking lot is located right in the museum sight. ( when it gets this cold, BRrrrrrrrr, it’s helpful! 15 degrees F!) We are approaching to the main entrance.
Loving this simple Positive-Negative entrance sign.
The first installation Art, Geometric Death by Federico Diaz greets you right outside of the main entrance. The Snow adds extra effect.
Read about the Site Installation. Click here. And Do not touch this!
Gael and MASS MoCA!
Day 1. Gael was over the moon visiting Kid Space first. There’s ” Under the Water” exhibition and a work shop area.
PVC pipes, Garbage cans and more.
Gael, a Boy and the Ocean.
And now, Get Creative!
8 legged underwater creature. 7 more to go!
Woooooo, A scary Underwater Monster!
Emi’s super awesome Abstract mask and/or a hat. I see 2 eyes, a nose and a mouth. LOVE !
Gael’s spaceship!
Gael having fun! Ahhh so much fun. We All are having fun!!!
Day 2. The Workers exhibition on the ground floor. I definitely liked this exhibition, especially short films and documentaries speaking about social problems, economies in different Geographies in the Blue Collar point of view such as a great interview at street Bazaar in Armenia and Garment workers in LA. Is this world not fair? Do workers get treated fairly? The whole thing got me a chill.
A mini screen of collection of films on Blue Collars. These include my all time favorites, “Dancer in the Dark” starring Bjork ( I remember balling in Angelika movie theater watching Dancer in the Dark carrying Gael in my tummy..) and ” Red Desert” by Antonioni. Each film was numbered and had designated numbered headset for audio. Each film was repeating about 10 minute screening of same clips.
A must see. This film got me feeling all embarrassed that I am in Apparel business for the first time. This is a documentary film following real group of garment workers at Sweat Shops who were hired by the third party contractors who did production for ” Forever 21″. People. You need to ask when things are way too cheap. You know somebody is paying for that price either that is in physical labor form or that is in trashed pride and dignity for selves. Or both.
We didn’t catch screening for this. But we are going to watch it. You should too.
Then wonderful Sol Lewitt: A wall drawing Retrospective on the multiple floors. The exhibition runs through year 2033!
These pictures don’t do the justice to capture the vibrancy of these amazing colors!
I love this one so much. High shine black and Matt finished Black. A massive wall and soft glare of surrounding. It’s so cool!
OK, I’ll stop here . The Scale and amount of Wall drawings are huge and heavy weight.
Gael meditating in front of Penelope Umbrico’s wok. An avid collector of images through which she identifies strange phenomena and trends in online visual culture. Suns From Flickr assembles hundreds of photographs of sunsets found on Flickr. Each sunset, depicting a fleeting moment in time, becomes a timeless and universal pictorial structure. People with Suns from Flickr, her new work in Memery, looks at the online response to Suns From Flickr, presenting pictures that viewers have taken in front of the work as it has been shown in various international settings.
I do quite like it!
Now we are moving onto ” Mango Tourists” from Nari Ward: Sub Mirage Lignum.
They look like a gigantic rubber band balls from the distance, but these are strips of industrial foams, mango seeds and found objects.
Nu Colossus.
Something So beautiful about this.
Cold but beautiful MASS MoCA
What an amazing Space!
A Beautiful and creative place where you can have fun and learn. MASS MoCA offers concerts, dances, dance parties, Art performance, theater, films and many others through out the year. We will go back when weather gets warmer as surrounding areas also offer fun festivals and concerts. With loved ones and kids. You will have fun no matter what!
LOvE Art!
Merry and Bright
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Lady Gaga at Barney’s Uptown
Saturdays Surf NYC, Soho
Ginger Bread people and the home at Mulberry, NYC
Fresh off the mail from Philadelphia. Home baked cookies just arrived from Emi’s client Fina. So Fab. Thank You Fina!
A pre Christmas surprise for me from Emi and Gael. A little yet Sexy and Mega Mighty IPod Nano. And Extra Love.
And the favorite, Beanfield for my run and plus 1000 artists. Emi, You ROCK!
December 17 SNL hosted by Jimmy Fallon and a musical guest, Michael Buble
Gael Holiday shopping in a matching hat and a warm sweater.
Best Holiday Cheap and Cheerful eat at Christina’s Restaurant, Green Point, Brooklyn
Feeling cosy watching Emi and Gael… And those sweaters…!
At home!
Be Merry, Bright and Happy!
LOvE NYC!
Inspiration & Expression: De Kooning
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Much anticipated De Kooning Exhibit at MoMa, NYC
LOvE ART!
A la Cuisine!, Morimoto, NYC
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Gael and Emiliano, just about to step into Morimoto, NYC
It’s Emi’s Birthday and this time we decided to go to Morimoto for some great food to celebrate! It’s our very first time being at Morimoto and we are bit excite and but also nervous because we really would not like an Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto’s restaurant being disappointing. So many of these foodie places we find over rated. Not that great at the end…
Oh Chef, Please, you better be Awesome!!!
Chef’s cook books greet you the second you walk into the restaurant.
We get seated in one of the smaller section of the restaurant. Not so open, but then also quite intimate. We are quite happy so far. And the drink and main menu.
This is the very first dish of 7course tasting menu both Emi and I had chosen. All the On trays sound excellent in good range of fish and meat. There’s also a list of Sushi and Sashimi, but we pretty much knew we would go for the Chef’s choice 7 course tasting menu: Morimoto Omakase, a multi course tasting menu to allow you to experience the essence of Morimoto’s Cuisine. This first dish is ” Toro Tartar” on a bamboo plate over a sheet of banana leaf underneath with 6 small portion of garnish that were unbelievably flavorful. This plate is a size of any guy’s palm, so the portion is small but then perfect as a starter and it was absolutely satisfying with gorgeous flavors. THANK YOU CHEF!
You will scrape off bit of tartar with this stainless steel flat spoon sort of, then also steal bit of any garnish then dip the whole thing in the light Dashi in a small bowl that came together. It’s amazing.
While Emi and I are tasting Omakase, Gael’s having a hot stone bowl Yellow Tail Buri. A sort of Korean Dolsot Bibimbap but with Morimoto’s twist. No chili paste here. Fresh Shiso leafes and delicate and light sweet soy based sauce adds quite powerful flavor to this super fresh Yellow Tail Sashimi over the rice. There are some Japanese mountain veggies and toasted nori and raw egg to be all mixed together. The serving staff who was helping was friendly and casual.
Our turn again for the second course. The Yellow tail Crudo with Pea shoots, Mushroom and sesame infused warm olive oil and drop of soy and yuzu. It’s a perfection. It’s just so delicious. The first and the second courses were our two favorite. I can probably have this everyday.
The third dish. OK. Just OK. This one we didn’t care for much. We actually didn’t need this at all. It’s sort of ” Veggie” dish with dipping sauce idea. The anchovy reduction was just all right and veggie were not substantial enough. I would’ve rather not had this at all or maybe would’ve liked something very simple and refreshing salad like. Chef, Please don’t let us down for the rest..!
The fourth one. A fresh oyster accompanied by Foie Gras and warm drizzle of delicate Teriyaki sauce. This one was quite lovely. Emi liked this much more than I did perhaps. Still the first and the second course is lingering on the tip of my tongue….!
Too busy eating and chatting, forgot to take a snap of Course 5, a plate of assorted 6 piece Sushi. They were bit small at bite size with impeccable freshness. They were excellent!
Now the On tray, course 6. Surf and Turf. A lobster tail over a slightly fried sweet potato sticks and lightly seared Korean style marinated Yagyu beef accompanied by whipped up lemon mousse. DELICIOUS!!! It was quite satisfying as portion wise and the lobster tail was perfectly cooked tenderly with amazing seasoning and the beef just melts in your mouth… This On tray made our quite pricy Omakase experience all worth it!
The Lobster tail on the front and the Yagyu beef on the back.
The last course, Dessert. A cup of Sweet potato flan/custard sort of. With a soy stick, poached pear slices, black berry and dollop of cream fresh and an edible flower on the side.. The Soy stick I didn’t go for. I don’t know why. I love the potato flan! Ahh, It also had passion fruit syrup over the flan!
Thank you Chef Morimoto for a great experience! It was quite amazing!
and Happy Happy Birthday to you Emi! Thank You and Gael for everything we have together!
and….LOvE, NYC!
Boom Boom Room, Standard Hotel, NYC
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A Beautiful grand view of Boom Boom Room, Standard Hotel, NYC
It’s a day before Thanksgiving weekend, Emi and I had met up in the city late afternoon to kick off our official Mental Holiday clock in our spirit! Let’s have a drink! So where is the perfect place to do it? Absolutely the Boom Boom Room at Standard Hotel!
It was then the Empire state building to steal the best view of Manhattan, then Brooklyn prominent looking over the East river admiring soaring Twin Towers then the little door open to the balcony outside next to the DJ Booth on the second floor of Tin Cup in Williamsburg for the Drop Dead Gorgeous Brooklyn Bridge in your face with undeniably amazing entire Manhattan’s skyscraper…. Then now, I would not hesitate for a second to call out loud the Boom Boom Room is definitely the Sexiest and Most elegant place to enjoy 360 degree of gorgeous Cityscape of Manhattan…!!
You just have to be there.
Hot Hostesses greeting us at Boom Boom Room. Tall, beautiful, lanky and friendly..!
Entering.
If I write up a recipe of Boom Boom Room itself it would be something like this: 1 part of James Bond, 1 part of Tom Ford, 1 part of Rainbow room, and a splash of lemon and 1 big solid Square Ice cube. Do not Shake. Just Stir! Very Elegant. Nothing trendy here.
Here’s my drink. ” Lady Lavender” with St. Germain. Nothing sweet or sour either. Just perfect and just an elegant smile of quiet lavender…
And a just right amount of nibbles to accompany my Lady Lavender and Emi’s manly Negroni.
There are 2 fire places: 1 on the northeast corner and the other one on the north west corner. So swanky..!
Leaving!
Going down in an awesome elevator. A moving images of Heaven and Hell, I would call.
Lobby.
A mini ice rink outside of Standard Hotel. Genius!
The Standard Hotel, Meat Packing District, NYC
Now buying Stakes and Salad at Chelsea market in full of warm and bit tipsy Holiday Sprit after a couple delicious cocktails and much chat with my Best friend, Emiliano!
Emi, I love you so much and Happy Begin of our Holidays together!!
LOvE, NYC!
Seoul Now!
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For more, just be there!
LOvE SEOUL!!!
3 Fun places to visit in Shanghai!
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One: Xin Tian Di
Typical alley of Xin Tian Di district, Shanghai
Shikumen, the Stone gate houses on narrow alleys combining Western and Chinese element that occupied up to 60% of Shanghai housing that first appeared in 1860 now has drastically down sized to this small area called “Xin Tian Di” which means ” New heaven and Earth”. The old residential Shikumen building are now turned into beautifully designed restaurants, cafes and book stores earning a title: the very first ” Life style” center of China. As a matter fact, it’s rather romantic, quite and charming vibe rather loud and super touristy despite good amount international tourists enjoying the area eating and shopping!
Peeking into a restaurant, T8
Many of these Shikumen houses future lovely lovely window details. Never ending windows!
Then there’s this lovely open square area that houses many of outdoor and indoor seating restaurants, bars and cafes… It’s very cute and clean!
…and Lovely lush trees… I Love!
It’s bit touristy but also lovely and charming. It’s quite chilled and somehow reminds me of the film, In the mood for Love. If you are ever in Shanghai, stop by for a coffee and little shopping!
In the mood for love…
Two: Dongtai Lu Antique Market
Entrance of Dongtai Lu Antique market, Shanghai
Most of Shanghai’s old markets are gone, or converted to modern wares: clothing, watches, handbags and gadgets. But this long-running street bazaar specializing in reproduction of old antiques, crafts and traditional trinkets still abounds with atmosphere. And I have to say the real deal of this market is not actually the goods in the market, it’s the street and houses that is hosting the market around. Locals live right behind the market completely unveiling everyday life in Shanghai. Men arguing over games of cards, women gossiping amidst the constant clatter of mahjong tiles, down dusty lanes strewn with cages of singing birds and laundry drying on bamboo poles. It’s totally down to local and simply dirty but definitely interesting,
Three: Taikang Lu
Another preservation of Shikumen Architecture in Shanghai, Taikang Lu
Maybe this would be the one single best place to visit if you only had a few hours to explore Shanghai. This old Shikumen district turned to relatively low budget shopping and dinning area is filled with good mix of traditional Chinese knickknacks, local designers’ shops and plenty of small lively restaurants and cafes where you can taste Shanghainese and other international food such as Thai ( plenty of them), Japanese , French and much more. Little alley like streets are neatly packed with hole in the wall like shops to more design conscious boutiques where you can get beautiful teas and handmade scarves and such. Bright Red paper Chinese lantern definitely tells you where you are at the moment and adds bit of festivity to your good half day stroll to cover the whole district.
A cute Japanese yakiniku ( Table grill place).
Cobble stone and this herringbone stone tile are the 2 major materials covering the area.
There are many little witty touches in Taikang Lu. Maybe this is one place I felt I could read sort of what Today’s Shanghai’s Young generation is like.
Lane 248 was supposed to be bit more progressive than other alley, but honestly I didn’t find any differences here.
Somehow we were at sort of ” Food” area at this point. Cafes, restaurants, restaurants and more restaurants. This building has 2 open decks serving food semi al fresco on upper levels.
Rapidly growing Shanghai definitely shows a huge potential to become a metropolitan city yet I have surely experienced this undeniable gap between fast and fanciful materialistic growth and true culture to digest and own that material growth to a personal level. The culture that lives beneath your skin that is natural and that is real you. Right now, I see this massive bigger shell that is waiting for inner flash to grow and fill in and connect to become one, Shanghai as a true metropolitan city!
Till then, There will be needing of plenty of learning, researching and trying to live what that is ahead of Shanghai. It was a real eye opening experience for me and also I am excite for Shanghai to face endless possibilities to reborn and to reach as a next big star.
Hello Shanghai! : Waterhouse at South Bund
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The Waterhouse at South Bund, Shanghai
“The City gets lit up after the Sunset” was the opening line of Continental air’s promotional short film for Shanghai shortly before the landing today. Full of business men on board, the Continental Air Jet was also as just as new as those skyline of rising Shanghai. Along the rapidly growing China’s economy, Gap has opened up 3 beautiful brand new stores now in China and here I am with Cynthia to visit Gap stores and learn about what people and life of Shanghai is all about! The culture, what they like to eat and wear, people adopting the new life of one of the fastest growing cities in the world!
And here let’s start with one of the best new design Shanghai is proud of : the Waterhouse.
Once a wear house space back in 1930’s has completely have re born as a swanky new modern boutique hotel by doing a quite a good job preserving most part of facade from then. Industrial cool, rustic historic charm and great portion use of wood and glass gives that cutting edge yet delivers cozy Modernism of Today.
Approaching the entrance.
The lighting art above the reception does not show well in this picture. But it says: ” You should have loved me.”
There are sort of 2 lounging areas. Right where is the reception then this open room connects to the bar area on the ground floor.
Small pockets of lounge area that is well thought through concerning privacy and openness at the same time consisting high and low of textures of materials, colors and lighting.
Looking down the Lobby from the second floor.
Each room is supposedly unique in size and layouts but in this sort of interior.
Tinted glass wall and concrete bathroom is quite zen and beautiful. Simple.
The court yard.
The roof top garden.
The restaurant on the ground floor.
For more detail, click here.
The last Slaughterhouse on Earth:1933 Shanghai
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1933 Shanghai, Shanghai
This 4 story Massive Solid concrete maze Slaughterhouse built in early twenteeth century is maybe the one single thing that’s the most inspiring architecture standing in Shanghai and even in the world. I am totally impressed.
Located in the historic Hongkou District, 1933 Shanghai (上海1933老场坊) was built amidst the vibrant urban landscape of pre-communist Shanghai. Designed originally by British architects, and built in 1933 by Chinese developers, the building was originally intended for use as a slaughterhouse but served a number of purposes over the years from medicine factory, cold storage facility, to its current incarnation as a ‘commercial hub for creative industries’. And this is the last one left such built out of 3, one in London and one in US, but they are demolished by now.
The building was commissioned by the then Shanghai Municipal Council with the high-quality cement aggregate required to support the load-bearing needs of the building was imported from the Portsmouth area of the UK. After being abandoned and falling into disrepair the building was extensive restoration in 2008. Built around a central atrium, which served as the abattoir’s workshops, each floor is connected to an outer shell by a series of interlocking ramps, bridges, and spiral staircases which were designed to control the flow of both people and cattle being processed through the building.
Here are the pics.
The facade of 1933 Shanghai, the ultimate formal Slaughterhouse.
Here to the right, the central Atrium to the right and so called ” air bridges” to transport and control cattles.
So beautiful and So haunting. Imagine all those cattles flowing up there in their deadly heavy marching…
After the RMB100 million restoration back in year 2008, the formal slaughter house became this one gigantic commercial space such as cafes, interior shop, high end restaurant and creative office spaces for many design and architect firms. It is still quite deserted ( I mean this space is Massive) but there are handful of business that are interesting.
Hmmmm.
Check out the cattle signs.
The Bull Restaurant, Shanghainese Cuisine.
There are 26 ‘air bridges’ of various widths splayed out at different angles, provoking feelings of both confusion and fascinating at how it could have been conceived.
A cool public signage.
One of many empty spaces awaiting for a right owner for a right usage.
I am inside of central atrium.
The top floor.
You can find 1933 Shanghai, otherwise known as “Old Millfun” at No. 10 Shajing Lu
(near Jiulong Lu) †(近九龙路).
Absolute Must Check out when you are in Shanghai.