Wednesday, December 19, 2007
eyes
ps. This Dizzee Rascal video totally obliterates the hip-hop fascination with "abercrombie & fitch" preppie/wasp culture. Rappers in Polo shirts? Popping Cris? Kanye got an orchestra.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
[from Knives Don't Have Your Back; Last Gang]
HEALTH: "Heaven" (fan video)
Original film directed by Werner Herzog; edit by Eggcity
[from HEALTH; Lovepump United]
HEALTH: "Heaven" (fan video)
Original film directed by Werner Herzog; edit by Eggcity
[from HEALTH; Lovepump United]
Monday, December 10, 2007
Restaraunt wrap-up
Heathers, East Village Bar (506 E 13th St) okay, crowded with hipsters. You will not sit down.
Kamui Den, Japanese Restaurant (186 Avenue A) not too impressive. Forgettable food. Affordable, but japanese hot pot is far inferior to, say, mongolian. BYOB.
Lake Side Lounge, East Village Bar (162 Avenue B) Absolutely fantastic, if only for the amazing jukebox full of old school soul & blues. You can sit down. "Dive" feeling.
Tarallucci E Vino, Union Square Italian restaurant (15 E 18th St). Quite good, unassuming. The have one of my favorite wines, a Basque wine called something like Txaomene Txianese.
Son Cubano Cuban restaraunt in meat packing district (405 W 14th St). Overpriced food in the meatpacking district? How odd. Okay, the food was quite tasty.
Ballet Hispanico Awesome. Not ballet. Natalia Alonso in particular was a sheer pleasure to watch. Why do only old people go to see dance? Because it's $44 a seat?
The Oyster Bar in grand central station is still great fun. Not cheap though.
Megu was a disappointment. Overpriced, decadent, smug atmosphere. The decor is like being in the villian's lair of a Bond movie. The food ranged from decent to great, but not worth the hype. The sushi in particular was sub-par. As a former apprentice sushi chef, I can say that the technique was horrid.
Da Silvano, Italian restaurant in West Village (260 6th Ave). Okay, I don't think I would go back.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Springtime by Pierre Auguste Cot (detail)
This evening I visited Peter Schmidt (the painter who did the cover for Tiger Mountain and Evening Star, and with whom I published Oblique Strategies). He has just returned from a holiday in Madeira, and we look at the 12 watercolours he made there. The last three of the series are quite exceptionally beautiful - a tiny road winds down the side of an almost vertical mountain whose peak is lost in the clouds.
Peter describes his walk from the top of the mountain, and says it was frightening since there were man-sized rocks fallen on the road. We discuss the idea of fear as an aid to perception. I describe an experience I had in Scotland recently where I climbed a very steep hill at twilight - absentmindedly not paying much attention to where I was going - and came to a halt, breathless and exhausted, on a small plateau near the summit. For the first time I looked to see where I was.
The plateau was covered with dead ferns, which glowed a brilliant fiery orange in the dusk. I was tired enough not to try to reduce the experience to words and concepts, so I just stood open-mouthed for some minutes.
This was an instance of exhaustion as an aid to perception - presumably the conscious mind resigns this continual obsession with classification and the attendant reassurance at times like this, and so the quality of the experience is unfiltered.
From an interview with Brian Eno.
What helps me clarify my perception most is being lulled: taking a long shower, a highway drive, being tired, etc.
nice youtube.
Monday, December 03, 2007
Sunday, December 02, 2007
