man, that's fraiche!

selby

2009-06-27T17:43:00.012-04:00

Some of my favorite images from The Selby. I'm not going to say anything about the pictures. You need to go to the site and find them for yourself! Think of it as an online museum of hipsters and trend-setters homes. I think you'll be quite entertained. :D
Enjoy....

THESELBY

power schmower!

2009-06-17T01:21:00.006-04:00

"Nothing external to you, has any power over you"

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

it's funny how easily we just hand over the power over ourselves to other people. nobody has the right to govern how you feel, how you see yourself, we should never allow someone to make you feel less than what we are worth and we're all worth far more than rubies and diamonds! If you remember this little quote you can take control of your life if you're in a shitty situation or see yourself going down a path that will eventually lead to a shitty situation. DON'T LET ANYONE HAVE THAT KIND OF POWER OVER YOU!

that is all.

the emperors magnificent clothes!

2009-06-16T02:55:00.017-04:00

wow, i took a major hiatus from my baby blog and i feel sooo bad for being so neglectful. I was super busy then got sick and then met a boy and have been in la-la-land with butterflies in my stomach for the past few days but i'm back and i swear i'll never neglect my baby ever again! now onto my new blog!

so a couple days ago we went to see VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR and it was AMAZING!!!!! you'll come to see AMAZING!!!! is one of my favorite things to say (unfortunately in my head as i'm typing it i'm screaming it out and it sounds like Oprah announcing one of her guests "Kelly Clarksooooooonnnnn!!!!!") ::shake it off!:: so, i was like, i have to blog about this, the movie was wonderful! it's such a cool thing to see behind the scenes and get such a candid look at one of the last great minds in high fashion. as with anything i do i like to read up on it and get to know a little bit more of what i'm talking about so i don't sound like a foolio (it's bad enough i seldom capitalize and type like one). well, i got so deep into the life of Valentino and Giancarlo Giammetti (his business partner and at one time boyfriend) that i sort of forgot about the blog i wanted to do and just kept reading and reading anything i could find on them. what a great story, they met in the Via Veneto in Rome, Italy back in 1960. it's a sweet story one i don't really feel like reiterating right now but check out the link. it's a lovely story and one that got me started on reading more about them. well, anyways, they love that they have for each other is a sweet thing and makes for a great movie. THE LAST EMPEROR is based on the 45th anniversary of Valentino designing and they do this big two day gala in Rome where there's a retrospective of 200 of his favorite designs, a fashion show and two humongous galas designed by the amazing Dante Ferretti and you start to see another narrative bubbling up with the interference of the corporation that had bought a controlling interest of Valentino's label :\ it's a beautiful movie filled with gorgeous clothes, tempers flaring up, outrageous parties, flying acrobats in Valentino Gowns flying over the ruins in Rome. just a total feast for the eyes and quite a bit to make you laugh and definitely cry. it's the first movie i've ever gone to where at the end everyone gave a standing ovation. once this movie goes to a theater near you definitely go see it!

a world of fire!

2009-06-04T14:16:00.009-04:00

So back in January when I moved out here to Atlanta I started getting more active on twitter. One of my first "followers" was @fuegomundo a soon to be opened South American wood fire grill restaurant opening just 5 miles north of me in Sandy Springs. I was excited to have a follower and since I hadn't seen too many South American Style restaurants around my area of Atlanta except for those super expensive Brazilian steakhouses which are yummy but more like a couple times a year restaurant than anything else. I was super excited about this future restaurant. Well, over the course of these past five months they've been tweeting the progress of their restaurant, sharing pictures of the construction, sneak peek of the menus, etc, etc. and tomorrow, June 5th is going to be their grand opening! Tuesday, I along with probably about 25 other lucky Atlantians got to go to Fuego Mundo for a private tasting! Super fun and hella yummy! I got there and met Todd , the guy I've been tweeting back and forth with for the past few months on Fuego Mundo's twitter page. I sat down and the introduction began, we were there to taste whatever we wanted on the menu and give our feedback and critiques after we got to nosh on some amazingly yummy food. While we were waiting to order our food I got to meet the people I was sitting with LaTasha and her mother were the first two people I had met that day, really nice, also from California which was tripping me out because not only were they also from California, they lived in the Inland Empire where I lived probably half of my life up until moving here! Well, back to the food, they have a great variety and it's all super healthy. Everything is cooked on a wood fire grill which is right in the middle of the restaurant so you can see them cooking your food which is a very cool idea! (entertainment while you wait), So the way you order your food is you choose an entree then a side category, they have "the latin" which has rice, black beans and sweet plantains, "the american" which has grilled corn and a choice of roasted red potatoes (heaven!) or fries and last but not least is "the health-nut" which has quinoa, black beans and baked plantains. I ordered the Honey Citrus Pepper Salmon with the Health Nut side. All I could say was YUM!!!! the salmon was super fresh, everything was just right! you could taste all the flavors in the marinade on the salmon but it didn't overpower the dish which is perfection to me. it came with a side of grilled onions which i pretty much just scooped up and inhaled within a couple bites and I also had a house sangria which Masha, one of the owners, makes from scratch. I was able to get a couple of the secrets for it out of her but not everything, I am definitely going to try her techniques along with mine and think I will end up with thee perfect sangria for the summer. For dessert LaTasha, her mother and I split their Chocolate Lovers Cake and a slice of the Mango Pie. uh, sorry to repeat myself but YUM!!!!! me, not being a chocolate lover had to hold back and remember that I was sharing the cake with two other people, it was so moist and thick and the frosting was thee yummiest fudge frosting i've ever had. the mango pie was like biting into a mango, my mouth watered a little, i got that fuzzy feeling in my mouth that i get when i eat a mango and it wasn't super sweet, just the zing of mango which was perfect. All in all I really think this restaurant is going to flourish. they've got a great staff, the owners are very personable and walked around and talked to all of us and seemed very nice. the food is amazing and they're filling a hole in Atlanta that needed to be filled. good, healthy, filling, tasty inexpensive food fast but in a cozy setting. Oh! one more thing, I really liked that on each table there's a "service request" sign you just pop up on top of your number holder at any time and that lets them know you need something and someone goes over to your table and helps you out. Which in my honest opinion is ingenious! No more server coming to your table every two minutes asking how each one of your bites is :D

(fuego mundo steak)

(steak skewers with yucca fries!)

(this is the salmon dish i had....YUMMERS!)

(outdoor seating)

(my sangria)

(this is the cooking area in the middle of the restaurant)

(detail of number holder)

(mango pie. sorry, couldn't help myself! it's that good)

Another cool thing about the restaurant is that they will have a rotating collection of artwork from local artists. This months artwork is from the late David Hleap. I recorded the info for him but it came out really fuzzy so I don't have much information on him or the names of these paintings.....guess you'll have to go to Fuego Mundo to find out for yourself! ;)

As we were all getting up to stretch and get ready to leave I had met Taryn P. who is a real cool chick and just so happens to also have a mutual interest in music and politics and come to find out we have mutual friends! So Fuego Mundo is also a great place to meet new people. If you're near Atlanta/Sandy Springs you definitely need to get your patookas over there and get hooked.

Ethpanya!

2009-06-02T01:29:00.020-04:00

So I was thinking about some of the amazing architecture found in Spain today and had a Eureka! moment and decided that is what I'd do my next blog on but as I was snooping around looking for pictures of some of this awesome shtuff I started thinking about some of my favorite wines (mostly from Spain), thinking about yummy cheeses (also mostly from Spain) and then tapas came to mind, and Spanish ham! So this blog has now evolved into all things Ethpanya! (I really hope you get the joke...) Anywho, on to the architecture!

This is the Basque Health Department (El Departamento de Sanidad y Osakidetza) building in Bilbao, Spain. Done by Coll-Barreu Arquitectos. The exterior is actually a glass shell configured with irregular angles that generate multiple reflections visible from the inside changing its appearance depending on the point of view, the hour and the season. The architects describe it as “a very effective mechanism for the integration of urban vitality in the interior of the building. The city is perceived like a multidirectional system of moving vectors.” The façade is also a double skin that responds to energy saving requirements, allowing the abolition of traditional air-conditioning systems and false ceilings, insulating heat, reducing noise and letting in precious natural light.

(interior of Basque Health Dept. bldg)
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I'm sure we all know what this one is...in case you don't here's a hint...(Guggenheim, Bilbao). This building is what made me realize that when I was going to F.I.D.M. studying fashion design that I was majoring in the wrong field (yes, I'm that old. I was in college when this opened to the public :\) The Guggenheim sits on the Nervion River in Bilbao, Spain with a humongous Spider "Maman" by Louise Bourgeois (I had the chance to see her exhibit at MOCA in LA before I moved to hotlanta!) and was designed by Mr. Frank Owen Gehry. The thought that was put into the design is awesome (can you tell I like that word?) Gehry stated that the randomness of the curves were designed to catch the light and since it is located in a port town it is intended to resemble a ship and the reflective titanium panels are meant to resemble fish scales, echoing organic life like the fish in the Nervion River.

(another view of the Guggenheim, Bilbao)
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The Alamillo Bridge done by Santiago Calatrava was actually supposed to be twin bridges but only one was ever finished. Alamillo was built when Spain chose to host expo '92 on a large deserted island in the Guadalquivir River in Seville. The thirteen pairs of cables span 600 ft. and support a beam down the middle of the road that is cantilevered out from the beam and maintains the intended image of a harp.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciences (City of Arts and Sciences) is a collection of four buildings and a walkway in the dry riverbed of what was once the River Turia in Valencia Spain. Another Santiago Calatrava masterpiece collaborated with Felix Candela. The "city" is made up by the following structures usually known by their Valencian names:

(l' hemisferic - imax theater, planetarium/laserium)

(palacio de las artes reina sofia - opera house & performing arts center)

(l'oceanografic - open air oceanographic park)

(l'umbracle - walkway/garden)

(el museu de les ciencies principe felipe - science museum)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dammit man, I'm pooped! I was going to go on and on about Gaudi architecture, Santa Maria del Mar, more Santiago Calatrava but I don't think I can go any further tonight. I shall end here and tomorrow I'll continue with wines and cheeses of Spain!

until then, adeu.
D.

p.s.
I'll take any and all help as far as blog tips are concerned.
kthx :D

uh, like a horse...

2009-05-31T00:36:00.011-04:00

so hbo has a new show. it's kinda like weeds. that is if John Holmes were starring in it! Thomas Jane (yummers!) Anne Heche and some other chick i've never heard of (Jane Adams) are starring in it and it's slated for a June 28 premiere (a day before my birthday!)

Years ago in high school, Ray Drecker (Thomas Jane) was athletic, popular and destined for success. Now, as a high school teacher and basketball coach, he's underpaid, uninsured and embittered that his wife of 20 years (Anne Heche) has left him for her dermatologist. After a fire damages the rundown Detroit home he inherited from his parents, Ray's fortunes reach an all-time low when his twin children, who had been living with him, move in with their mom and her clean-freak hubby. Lonely, run-down and at wit's end, Ray attends a local self-help class whose mantra is to identify a person "winning tool" to market for financial success. After a not-so-fulfilling encounter with a fellow attendee - an ex-flame and would-be poet named Tanya (Jane Adams) - Ray has a "eureka!" moment. With the help of Tanya, Ray resolves to take advantage of his greatest asset, in hopes of changing his fortunes in a big way.

source

Eno Henze

2009-05-30T04:21:00.018-04:00

So not much is available about Eno except that he's a German digital artist living in Berlin, and his work is amazing, typically large-scale and has an organic feel to them. I'm in total awe of his work, it's like someone threw James Nares and cheesecloth in a washer, added a couple drops of food coloring et voila! an Eno Henze piece appears!

The following pictures are from his "Human Factor" series which he's been working on since 2006 and he considers it "a collaborative process between me and the machine."

Eno Henze interviews Eno Henze

Another of his series "The Subjektbeschleuniger (subject accelerator)" mimics signatures subatomic particles leave in collision detectors such as installed at the CERN in Geneva. They kind of remind me of this Native American pottery I used to collect where they would set horse hair in the clay before they would fire the vases/pots and it would love amazing squiggly lines throughout, almost like black streaks of lightning.

...now here's some of that pottery I was talking about...

eeek! my first posting...

2009-05-30T02:11:00.003-04:00

okay, I"m all giddy inside and excited and nervous. why? i don't know, i mean, it's just a blog right? I"ve blogged for years on myspace and have had tons of journals why am I freaking out? i don't know. I need to give a major shout-out to the lovely Erin H. for getting me to start a blog and the super twins Gabby and Elizabeth who encouraged me to actually do it. Thanks ladies! oh, by the way, in case you haven't noticed, I am a very schizophrenic typer. I seldomly use correct punctuation and even more seldomly ever capitolize when I'm supposed to. okay, back to my little whatever you want to call it. so here is my first blog posting. is everyone's first post this weird and lame? i sure hope so! well, I'm going to explore this damn blogger thing. see how I can funkify my blog and hopefully you'll start to see the fruits of my labor in the near future. HAPPY WEEKEND Y'ALL!