RollieCool

More "Period" Videos

2009-04-22T00:37:00.003-04:00

Here is another "period" video in the style of a 1950's PSA/Instructional video about the do's and don'ts of Facebook relationships.

In Ye Olden Days

2009-03-31T23:27:00.002-04:00

Its a little known fact, but Google has actually been around for some time. This old Google query card was recently found in the NYC public research library at Bryant Park. The card was sent to a master office in California, there the request was passed on to a panel made up of a representative from each UC school. Each member of the panel would then go back to their team at each individual university and search for related material in their libraries. As shown on the bottom of the card, google needed a full month before results would come back. What would people do with their time? Thanks to the internet Google has been able to flourish and the turn around time has been shortened to a few miliseconds, but the process is still the same (just more grad students researching). But seriously, this is a really neat imagining of a google from a bygone era of typewriters, snail mail, and the Dharma Initiative.

Kuler

2009-03-30T23:25:00.003-04:00

Hello, I have figured out how to expand the size of the blog, so hopefully videos and pictures wont be cut off too badly anymore! Ive become increasingly interested in experimental social and graphic design technologies. For instance, Twitter, mostly pointless and annoying, but very interesting in the case of QC where web comic characters can now interact in a new medium. The picture below is a screen shot from adobe's new experimental website Kuler. Basically you create 5 panel color themes that people then rate. The themes can also be downloaded for use in adobe creative products. The theme creator is where the technology really shines. Centered on a base color you can pick settings such as complementary and triad to space out your panel dots on a color wheel. You can even use an uploaded photo instead of a color wheel, allowing one to easily choose accent or theme colors when working on a website or making anything in an adobe program. Under each color are the number settings for each type of color profile (CYMK, RGB, etc). While I dont fully understand the true potential of this program, just from the interface alone, I can tell that the users will find millions of new uses for this ingenious site. So go check it out and spend hours playing around untill you find the color sceme that fits you. I know that one day I will use this website to figure out the color scheme of my apartment, a different color for every room, or more likely a different color for each of my four walls.

Kudos to You Stella

2009-03-30T22:59:00.004-04:00

Stella Artois (Buds, artesian belgian brewery), is spending their money well in the financial crunch. There PR firm has decided to create a series of short french cinema style movies, based on big time movies like Die Hard and Eight Mile, and TV shows like 24.

8 Kilométers

Dial Hard

24 hrs

Makes me want to go out and play with a camera and take a french cinema course!

Excellent

2009-02-25T03:05:00.003-05:00

The latest XKCD, excellence. Makes me consider getting a Kindle. Click the picture for the full comic.

More Brilliance

2009-02-04T04:38:00.002-05:00

Sorry, having fun with the whole video thing. Here is another example of the incredible talent in the Passion Paris design firm. Check out the japaneese pop-up-bookie style!

Le End of Le World

2009-02-04T04:11:00.005-05:00

So I think I have figured out how to embed videos! Anyhows, I came across this great short film about 2012 being the end of the world and the ways in which it just might be finished off. Its by a french firm so it has an endearing french accent and a great 50's horror movie feel to it. To check out more of their films including the amazingly cool, sometimes 3-D spagetti river, exotic water buffalo, blue man meldy, abyss falling into something more music video for Bjorks Wanderlust, then click here.

If Saul Bass did the opening to Starwars

2009-01-29T00:31:00.001-05:00

Saul Bass, the iconic designer of the Hitchcock movie look had a style that defined a movie mood. The Vertigo poster is one of his more famous works. His unique look emits the glow of the late 50's and early 60's that makes up the fascinating world of Mad Men. The music for the little title sequence below is the perfect complement to the video for a back the the Mad Men era break.

Amazing New Media Technology

2008-12-11T09:13:00.000-05:00

More procrastinating finds. With most of the computers today being sold with cameras integrated some companies have started using full advantage. When viewed through a certain website a symbol on a page can call up a full 3D digital model on the screen. The model moves which ever way you move the paper, giving you tactical control to see the model at which ever angle you want. This site is in german, but it has a video showing the process of making one of these adds.

Eames Shell Chair Production

2008-12-08T18:29:00.000-05:00

Finals have been consuming all my time hence the lack of posts, and I will finish up Barcelona and Paris after I'm done with finals. On a quick study break I found this great video that shows the process of making an Eames shell chair. The film is a great 70's period piece and the soundtrack is a great jazz score.

La Pedrera Part 1 of 3: The Facade and Roof

2008-12-01T13:08:00.000-05:00

This is the outside of La Pedrera the Gaudi museum and apartment building. The top two floors and roof are museum and the rest is either residential or retail space. Gaudi's twisted art nouveau style is on display with the organic bay windows. Notice the nature inspired wrought iron work for the railings.

The iron work continues here on the main gate with curved art nouveau shapes and symmetry.

Heres a look at the building from the line to get into the museum. I love the mix between the straight lines of the stones being put together and the flowing curves that are carved around them.

This is one of the two interior courtyards. They were not in the original building but Gaudi added them to bring light into all of the rooms in the apartments. He was a champion of bringing in as much natural light as possible and therefore a hero of mine.

Here is another one of the courtyard, I just liked how the sky came out on this one.

This is the courtyard from the roof down. You will notice that the shades are metal hurricane style shades. An odd choice I thought.

This is the rooftop sculpture garden on La Pedrera. For the most part these are the chimneys, exhaust pipes and water towers that are disguised under Gaudi's odd perceptions.

This is one of the mosaic covered water towers. I suppose all of the swirly lightness was supposed to look like clouds, to me it looked like a cool whip commercial or Marvel soft serve.

The chimneys almost look like roman legions.

Some of the chimneys were covered in green glass, or staying with the theme, green sprinkles.

The lighting was great as the sun was setting, there were also great views of this section of the city from the roof. On the corners of the roof there were little caves that you could hide in incase of rain.

Other Things on Mount Juic

2008-12-01T12:43:00.000-05:00

Some other things we saw on Mount Juic, here is an old palace that is not one of the cities art museums.

It has an highly decorative and elaborate fountain system that leads from the street level up the mountain (there are more outside escalators too but they are hiding behind the trees).

Here is a view of Barcelona from the steps of the above palace. In the middle is the Magic Fountains. Unfortunately we missed the show but they supposedly give the Bellagio fountains a run for their money.

Here is the 92 olympic stadium. The day before this was the ending point for a marathon that was run through the city. They were cleaning it so we couldn't go down onto the field but it was a massive stadium.

On the other side of the mountain by the castle you can see the brilliant planning that went into Barcelona. The industrial harbor area is completely hidden from the main city by Mount Juic. There is no residential area on this side of the mountain but it looks like a complete city of its own.

Surprisingly Fun Slides

2008-12-01T11:27:00.000-05:00

On the way from the top of Mount Juic to the Olympic Stadium, we stumbled across a pair of fairly long super fun slides. It had been so long since any of us had been on such good slides that we spent a good twenty minutes here going up and down.

Mount Juic Gardens

2008-11-29T13:33:00.000-05:00

On the way up Mount Juic or the Mountain of the Jew (didn't get the story behind the name) there are beautiful gardens. Here are the steps with lily ponds that cascade down the slope. Quite the serene spot.

Guell Park

2008-11-29T12:42:00.001-05:00

Guell Park is the park up in the hills of Barcelona that Gaudi designed. It is a breathtaking blend of nature and the man made. There is a surreal feeling of being in the blended wilderness while in this park. Most of the Park has beautiful trails that overlook the city. Above is a section of the worlds largest bench. It is made of tile and there are beautiful mosaics all along it. There is a dirt plaza surrounded by the bench where people can mingle and perform.

Here is a close up of the tiled bench. It looks really uncomfortable, but on the contrary its comparable to the comfort of an Eames chair. I later learned at the Gaudi museum that Gaudi studied the human body and designed this bench to match the curve of the spine.

Here is a hall that looks like a wave crashing over into the pillars of the left. All of the curves and round features gave a very easy flowing feel through the park.

In somewhat of a juxtaposition there is a hall of pillars under the plaza of dirt that is surrounded by the bench. Each of the pillars acts as a hollow funnel of rainwater from the plaza down to the fountains below.

The wave hall that you saw before has many pillars, the outside of each has some type of pattern or sculpture on the out facing side. Each and every one is unique, this one looks like Aunt Jemima. Unfortunately there was no syrup to be found.

Here is a whole series of pillars, click on the photo to see the patterns and sculptures close up.

Notice the swirling spiraled pillars in the top peer of this out look. It is incredible how organic Gaudi was able to make stone work look.

Here is the famous mosaic lizard fountain that is fed by reclaimed rain water from the dirt plaza.

Along the main staircase the walls are covered with tiles of beautiful mosaic patterns. Below the lizard is this fountain that reminds the visitors of the importance and beauty of nature.

At the lower entrance of the park the gates are flanked by two houses that are of the late nineteenth century gingerbread style. One houses the gift shop and the other houses the park offices. Guell Park is a must for anyone visiting Barcelona.

Huge City

2008-11-29T12:32:00.000-05:00

Click on this picture to make it bigger, you can see a lot of what I have written about and you can see about one third of the city. The right of the two main streets you can see is Las Ramblas, where the market is as well as a fun place to walk with lots of people. On the left is the water utilities building. In the middle center is La Sagrada Familia. Further in the back you can see the two largest buildings in spain that are along the water front. This picture was taken from high up in Guell Park.

Brilliant

2008-11-29T12:25:00.000-05:00

We were in Barcelona at the end of october and it was in the high seventies. I cannot imagine the heat in the summer. Since Barcelona is very hilly the city has been nice enough to provide escalators for the weary masses to make the pilgrimage up to Guell Park to see more of Gaudi's brilliance.

Its Gaudy not Gaudy

2008-11-23T12:43:00.000-05:00

So this is la Sagrada Familia, one of Gaudi's greatest works. Its a massive church that has been under construction for about 150 years and will continue to be under construction for a while longer. Once completed there will be about fourteen spires with the largest being a little taller then the empire state building. Gaudi was a master of blending art and nature, his design is a brand of art nouveau. As you can see above, the at a little under half the final height the front facade is very impressive, even with all the cranes and construction about.

Along the front their are little look out balconies that really put the massive size of this project into perspective.

Here is the main theme of the front facade, the tree of life. (or a Christmas tree?) From this branch there is a network of intertwining branches that run down the front of the church, there are lots of animals and lifelike people in scenes of merryment. All very nature oriented and organically carved into the stone.

Along the side of the church which is much more sober than the main front the spires are toped by baskets full of fruits. Good for family sangria (get it, get it?)

Here is the opposite facade of La Sagrada Familia. It is the complete opposite of its more famous other half. This side is much more sober, somber and straight laced. It shows scenes from the later part of Jesus' life.

Here you can see that the nature is gone, the lines are more straight and its entirely inorganic.

The one nice thing about this facade is that all of the figures are cubist sculpture which is pretty neat. There is an interesting juxtaposition between the flow of the capes and the boxy figures.

Here is cubist Jesus that hangs at the top of the cubist side of La Sagrada Familia.

Utilities Buildings in Barcelona

2008-11-13T13:15:00.000-05:00

This gleaming glass structure is the natural gas company in Barcelona. It almost looks like a glacier made out of glass, I love all the different angles used. It would be incredible to see the view from one of the offices above.

Another great utilities building is the water utility building. Its shaped like a giant cucumber and at night it has a crazy lighting system that makes it glow red and blue in different patterns. The coolest thing about it is that the whole lighting system uses an absurdly efficient hydro dynamic power system, To light the whole outside of the building it takes as much power as it does to run a refrigerator.

Barcelona Medical School

2008-11-13T13:11:00.001-05:00

This beautiful building, called the wheel off cheese by the locals is the medical school of Barcelona. The hospital is directly to the left, so its sort of a medical complex. The wood slat exterior is neat looking and it also provides some wind and sun protection on all of the balconies around the building.

Day at the Beach

2008-11-13T12:53:00.000-05:00

On the first day in Barcelona we did the best thing we could have done, we took advantage of the balmy weather and spent the afternoon at the beach. The beach in Barcelona is beautiful, completely fake but beautiful. Barcelona didn't have any beaches until the 92 olympics when they decided, a beach would be a nice place for people to spend time. The Mediterranean is incredibly blue.

We got chorizo sandwiches at the local shop.

This was the view looking up as I was laying on the beach. As you can see in the picture above, the beach was not very crowded so the waves put me right to sleep for a couple of hours, it was very relaxing.

Part of setting up these beaches for the 92 olympics was the inclusion of art all along the beach. This is a shimmering bronze fish. Behind it there are the two largest buildings in Barcelona. The one on the left is The Arts hotel, one of the most expensive, it also has a casino. On the right is a office building.

This is a interesting off centered piece along the beach.

At the end of the harbor they capped the wave breakers off with a pile of huge concrete blocks. it gave a really cool effect of blending manmade and natural elements.

Market in Barcelona

2008-11-13T11:34:00.000-05:00

The fresh food market in Barcelona is made up of hundreds of little stalls that have all different kinds of food. Its right in the middle of Las Ramblas and its covered almost European railroad station style. The meat stalls like the one above, have multitudes of chorizos, legs of iberian ham (cured legs of ham similar to prosciutto), and tons of sliced salamis.

The fruit juice stalls have one euro containers of pure deliciosity. They mix all different fruits together. My favorites were pineapple-coconut and mango-coconut.

Tons of fresh fruit, yummy figs.

Beautiful fresh seafood, most of which I had not scene in a good three months, a very welcome sight.

Stands devoted to salt cured and oil cured fishes.

All sorts of cheeses on display ay the cheese stalls. I had a nice and smokey, smoked (surprise) Iberian cheese.

Some of the stalls only sold a single type of mushroom.

An eggery using ostrich eggs as price signs.

They even have chocolate shops!

Many of the stall spaces are taken up by these small petit restaurants that have bar seating all around.

I had to splurge on a slice of the iberian ham in the middle. At 149 euros a kilo, a slice ran about four euros and was well worth it. It was a melt in your mouth mix of muscle and fat that was salty and delectable. The market is a must check out for anyone going to Barcelona.

Dunkin'Cofee

2008-11-13T11:31:00.000-05:00

Apparently in non obese countries like Spain, the stress is on the coffee not the doughnuts!

Absurdly Cool Italian Loft Furniture

2008-11-10T07:40:00.000-05:00

This Italian furniture company Tumideispa makes these incredible sets of loft furniture. Their other furniture is neat too but the loft sets blow me away. The set above, Compisizione 559, is my favorite. Bed, work space and walk in closet, doesn't get any better than that. The best part of these sets is that most if not all have lofted work spaces, lots of them also have an elevated walkway as well. The storage space that these units allocate is astronomical. It has now become my plan to have one of these one day, or at least to build my own based on the same principles. In my mind, I'm seeing a complex tree house type of network connected by bridges and swings in a warehouse loft on the west side, each room can have a different theme and crazy lighting! But alas, something tells me this will be an unrealized plan for a very long time.

Election Night Fun

2008-11-09T07:14:00.000-05:00

Given the vast importance of this past election, mixed with the zealotry of crazy liberal NYU students and the fact that this was most of our first presidential elections the NYU bubble in Prague was full of election spirit. We were notified of two bars that were going to stay open all night to show the election. The first was The Globe, a British ex-pats bar that was packed solid the entire night. The second one was the not-as-packed, but still crowded "sportbar." I went to this one, it had a big projection screen in the back as you can see above. Wolf Blitzer was at least nine feet tall. Aside from the crowd of NYU students there were four obnoxious Czech students in there Palin 2012 and overall red uniforms, as well as a single old member of the green party who was screaming something about Nader, I think. It was actually a lot of fun to watch in this way, every time a new set of polls would close, the whole room started counting down and there were screams of joy with each state that voted for Obama and ominous boos for McCain. I was pretty blown away by the lead that Obama had, I was very worried that McCain would have been right on his heals the entire night. By around 3:30 (Czech time) and my third beer I headed back to my dorm to learn that Obama had both Pennsylvania and Ohio! Then I was just a matter of staying up till Florida was secured, but no need, he was announced as President. I have to say that the people in charge of Obama's campaign are brilliant. For the web integration alone they are brilliant. They did more for Obama and voting than P-diddy ever did. The website was a beautiful display of ease, form, and function. And its good to know, now that the campaign is over Obama will continue with this strategy, he just started up his new website from the election on. It was a pretty unique experience spending this election in Prague. I can safely say that in the travel I have been doing that Obama is the best thing that ever could have happened for our overseas relations, it practically erases all the bad reputation we gained under W. In my Modern Dissent class we were discussing some of the potential outcomes of this election. Our professor, who was a leader of the Velvet Revolution, and one of the worlds best journalists, was telling us that his contacts (high ups in Arabic nations) feel that Obama's election is Osama's death sentence. They feel that America showing that they can democratically elect a minority will pull the power out from under the extremists and will actually promote democracy as a system that works and is fair. Either way I do not envy Obama, he will surely have the most difficult presidency yet. He must be perfect and make all the right moves, there is too much riding on his shoulders to do otherwise.

Paella in Barcelona

2008-11-03T07:20:00.000-05:00

Some amazingly delicious Paella we got on the first night in Barcelona. It was the best Paella I have ever had. The restaurant had a great outdoor eating area where we could hear the waves. This meal with a few pitchers of sangria was a great way to start my vacation in Barcelona.

Bond, James Bond

2008-11-03T04:03:00.000-05:00

With the release of the new movie a few days away in the Czech Republic and a few weeks away in America there is Bond excitement all around. The Bond marketing strategy is probably one of the most incredible forces in entertainment. In the past five or so years, they have managed to make Christmas into a week long Bond-fest with the "007 days of Christmas." Every time they come out with a new movie, the entire collection of bond movies is put into a new box set, and they sell! The temptation is overwhelming, even though I have every single bond film on DVD, a little part of me cant help but want the shiny, neat new box set that even includes the very last film to come out. Now with Blue-Ray becoming the next media standard, they have started releasing Blue-Ray volumes of three movies at slightly less than sixty dollars. But the marketing genius does not stop there, they have there product placements of high end luxury goods. In Paris, the Omega watch store has a huge banner of Daniel Craig behind the showcase. In Prague the Sony Ericsson store has the Quantum of Solace logo with a conversation quoted in Czech, but there is still the unmistakable, "Bond, James Bond." Brand consistency is a key, "Quantum of Solace" is one of the only movie posters that I have scene that is the same in every country, this is mostly due to the 007 that diagonally lines up in the movie poster. Swatch has recently teamed up with Bond for a brilliant series of Bond villain watches. There are twenty-two in total, one for each movie, and they hit the full range of Swatch watches, from the plastic, glow in the dark "Live and Let Die" shamen watch to the Folex, gold plated "Gold Finger" watch. One of my personal favorites is the "Thunderball" watch which was also one of my favorite Bond movies growing up. The Bond movies also have a unique tie into pop culture through their theme songs. They usually feature some of the most popular artists of the time, for example, Duran Duran in the eighties and for "The Quantum of Solace" Jack White and Alicia Keys perform the first Bond Duet. I'm only scratching the surface of the marketing behemoth that is Bond, but I bet the strategies will get more creative and more elaborate with each new movie that comes out.

OCD-ing Out My Suitcase

2008-10-23T16:51:00.000-04:00

So in preparation to go to Barcelona for four days and then Paris for four days I have to pack my overnight bag. I was debating whether to do the flat pack or the roll method. As you can see I opted for the roll method, I figure it will just be easier to grab a pack of clothes and change. Just thought I would share the above picture to those who know me, I am just as surprised as you are that my bag is packed this neatly.

One of my Favorite Czech Dishes Yet

2008-10-22T15:52:00.001-04:00

The picture above is a slight variation that I had in Olomouc made with gniocci. The original dish consists of potato dumplings, sour kraut and pieces of bacon. They put a generous amount of pepper on as well. Its a real hardy, very flavorful dish, it also goes great with a nice glass of pivo.

Super Cheap, Super Cool Decorating

2008-10-22T09:32:00.000-04:00

I am completely inspired by Charlie Kratzer's work in the basement of his south Lexington home. He painted all of the walls a creme color and then used ten dollars worth of sharpies to create this incredible space. Here is a full view around the room. I love the imperfections and hand drawn look, no straight lines or realistic pictures. I am seriously considering something like this for my room when I get back. If I can get myself together to pull this off, its going to be a mix of the library look and the squares in between the two sections of library. Perhaps some other designs that I'll think up between now and then.

A Political Plea Cookout!

2008-10-21T15:05:00.000-04:00

So heres a brief political break down of what is happening in Old Town Square in these pictures. The Czechs have a two step election system. The current party in power is a conservative, rightest party, who is throwing the party (haha). No one particularly likes them, and everyone thinks that there leader Mr. Klaus is a racist idiot. (He threatened the social democrats that he was going to show them a kristallnacht of their own and he used a famous hitler line against them, just to keep it straight he didn't say this about the jews, but still a bit scary) Anyhows, in the first wave of elections they were bombed, surprise! So in order to gain a few more votes before the second set of elections the conservative party decided to throw this crazy party in old town square, there was tons of bands and professional dancers and speeches from the candidates and the president himself. Normally I really wouldn't care about Czech politics, we have our own problems, buuuuuut I got an excellent free dinner out of it!

It was an all you could eat and drink extravaganza. Firstly lets deal with this picture above. They had an army of grill masters prepping the kielbasa troops. The kielbasa was amazing, it was slightly smoked, so it had a great garlicy, highly seasoned flavor, but it was still really juicy since it was not completely smoke cured. They were also cooked over charcoals so there was char blackened goodness all over them. Once I got my kielbasa, I moved on over to the condiment table. I decided on traditional eastern European preparation, I grabbed a big slice of a rye/sourdough mix spread on lots of white horseradish and mustard and then sandwiched the kielbasa in between, it was perfect. Now to get a drink. There were two carts of all you can drink Gambrinus. I felt bad for the poor girl who was pouring beer in the picture below, it looked like she had been pouring a constant stream of beer the whole night. Gambrinus is the third of the three great beers of Prague. It is the least expensive of the three as well. Gambrinus is a very creamy beer that goes great with kielbasa, but then again what beer wouldn't. Once I had my beer it was time for the second course, Goulash. (it was a free diner, I was going to stuff myself) Even though this was mass made Czech tax money goulash it was some of the best I have had yet. The broth was incredible, it was so spicy, with lots of pepper and other spices that make a soup warm and wonderful. There were also huge chunks of deliciously fatty beef. It was apparent that they had been stewing all day as they melted in my mouth. The goulash was literally steeped in the mouthwatering fat of these beef chunks. I could not have asked for a better free dinner from the quickly slipping out of power political party. Maybe the new party will throw a delicious Old Town Square party too! If only US politics were this gastronomically generous the US would be a much better place.

Cool Car on the Way to School

2008-10-21T14:44:00.001-04:00

Across the street from the metro stop by school is a cuban restaurant and smoking room. Out front they have this beautiful car that looks like it belongs cruising through Havana. It's a massive behemoth of a car that takes up most of the store front. The back of the car has distinct features that reminds me of a scowling old face. The red and black combination makes it look almost like the old style bat mobile.

Nice Night

2008-10-21T14:11:00.000-04:00

For a change it decided to be a nice and balmy 65 degrees tonight. I was walking around for my architecture class and the sky was displaying a whole range of blues that were really beautiful. So I took a picture to share.

Medovina

2008-10-21T09:16:00.000-04:00

While in Olomouc (yet another Czech town) we went to a local wine bar. Olomouc is in Moravia so there is a strong pride in wine and wine bars. We ordered a massive cheese platter that had particularly good blue cheese and young feta among many others. I ordered medovina, or honey wine, to drink. To make honey wine, they add honey to the wine before the fermentation process begins. The result is a slightly sweet wine with a really flavorful kick. Usually it is served warm, and many times there are different flavors that they infuse into the medovina. Since they were out of cinnamon I was given the house flavor, monastery. It was perfect for a cold night, the nice kick of the fermented honey sends a warming wave right through you.

The Bone Church at Kutna Hora

2008-10-21T08:45:00.000-04:00

One of the main attractions of Kutna Hora (a city about an hour outside of Prague) was the bone church. Some crazy monk decided to use the remains of 40,000 people to decorate the space. Each and every bone was cleaned and bleached. The picture above is the crest of the Schwarzenberg Family, the family that ruled the surrounding area. The skull on the bottom right with a bone stuck in its eye represents the Turks who were defeated in this territory by the forces of the Schwarzenberg family.

All arch ways and many parts of the walls were decorated by patterns of bones hung on strings, almost like the popcorn strings that go around Christmas trees.

This was the grand chandelier in the center of the bone church. It contains at least one of every single bone in the human body.

Originally the church was filled with six of these "bone pyramids", today there are only four. There are layers of what looks like leg and arm bones, skulls are used almost as a decorative piping and as the roof. These pyramids were constructed by stacking only, they are not bound in any way.

You can look through the arches in the pyramids, its just a tad scary.

The ones that are not lit from the inside are even scarier. This one almost looked like the skulls were riding a conveyer belt out from the depths of the darkness.

On one side of the main chapel, there was this figure of jesus looking down on you. It looks like it was made in the same style of the claymation figures in Pee-Wee's Playhouse.

On either side of the entrance there is a massive bone chalice. While it was appropriate timing to go visit, this bone church is not a Halloween ploy, its open all year round!

Mad Men

2008-10-20T19:52:00.001-04:00

I have recently discovered the greatness that is Mad Men. The show is consuming and great to watch. The style is one of my favorites. I love the slim suits, skinny ties, and super cool chairs and couches, not to mention that a five bedroom apartment in the city cost thirty-two thousand (I have to start working on a time machine). This graphic designer Dyna Moe put together these swank desktop backgrounds in the style of the Mad Men era.

I love this one, it looks like a restaurant place mat but it has Sally serving the drinks. The worlds youngest bar tender.

One day, I too will have an office and not allow anyone to wear shoes!

This was the designed that kicked them all off, it was originally an idea for a Christmas card.

Main Prague Train Station

2008-10-13T14:26:00.000-04:00

Its funny, this is exactly how I would picture an eastern European train station. It has the beautiful european arched glass structure. But since it is eastern Europe it is tinged in the history of communism. The glass panels were either tinted brown or a slight blue and there was an overall greyish ora to the place. No matter what the european train station prevailed. It felt exotic to be under that grand canopy and to be traveling by train.

Banksy's Pet Shop and Charcoal Grill

2008-10-13T12:38:00.000-04:00

This is one of the things I really wish I was in New York for. Banksy the famous street artist has set up a twisted installation piece in Greenwich Village. He put together this hilarious take on a pet store/restaurant that has some unusual inhabitants. A few things of note, (I have scene in pictures) the panther coat in the front window, the self dipping chicken nuggets (above), the severely aged Tweety Bird, the "getting ready to go out" rabbit, the fish sticks in their natural habitat (the fish tank), and the wall of caged sausages of all different varieties. I'm pretty sure that this installation is only around until the end of the month, so go check it out if you are in the city! Hopefully this is the first of many Banksy installations in the city, I think that this one in particular was a grand fantastical and whimsical feat and I look forward to what ever he is going to do next.

Budweiser Budvar

2008-10-13T06:37:00.001-04:00

So which came first? This looks like a Czechization of Budweiser beer. In fact the story is the other way around. Of the three main Czech beers Budweiser Budvar is the only brewery that is still completely run by the Czechs (Pilsner Urquell is owned by SAB Miller, and Staropramen is owned in part by other another European brewery). The founder of American Budweiser toured the Czech area and basically stole the Budweiser brand from the Czechs. Subsequently they have been in lawsuits ever since. So as not to get confused, the Czech brand is called Czech Budvar in the U.S.. It's a nice beer, more hoppy then the Pilsner or the Staropramen, so the flavor has a nice little kick to it.

Czech Construction Sites (Death Traps)

2008-10-12T22:07:00.001-04:00

This was the street that our hotel was on in Brno. They were in the middle of completely ripping it up. The most bizarre part was that the street was completely open to walk through. They did have some fencing off but there were large gaps between the fences so they were completely ineffective. For example in the picture below, the hole is blocked off but there is a four foot gap in between the fences so that anyone can go through. In Prague too, they don't bother to block off construction sites. We once walked by a newly built structure, the inside was wide open, i'm sure there were tons of squatters inside. A little bit of light was shed on this odd bit of culture by one of the RA's who explained to us that in the Czech Republic people are not sue-crazy and there are hardly any lawsuits, very much unlike the culture I am used to in NYC where people sue for splinters and hangnails.

Czech Condiments

2008-10-12T20:59:00.000-04:00

Just like everything else in a restaurant (bread, water, etc), unless you go to a high end restaurant, you have to pay extra for everything. This includes condiments. Luckily most places have Heinz, the Czech brands are not that great. A single packet can cost up to fifteen crowns, which is a little under a dollar! The upside is that they have these nifty blister packages that you can see in the above picture.

Medieval Bar in Brno

2008-10-12T20:19:00.000-04:00

While on our trip to Brno a few weeks ago we went to a medieval bar! We intended to go for the mead, which they were out of, but we did have grog. Grog is warm Czech rum with lemon. The bar itself was really neat. It was in an old romanesque basement so basically it was a really long stone arch.

There were authentic iron work grates over the air shafts. Also, the brick leads me to believe that this is not the original stone work but that it was probably redone in the last fifty or so years (Very recent for Czech standards).

Some nights they have fire-breathing, the night that we were there they had a three way knight fight. These three guys battled up and down the length of the bar in full armor. There was one point where one knight ran from the other room and unleashed a mighty ax swing onto the back of one of the other knights, it was really loud.

There were little coats of arms all over the bar.

And animal skins. I'm pretty sure this one was a wolf. The benches were even covered with piles of furs instead of cushions.

Most of the lighting was from candles, it gave the bar a really great atmosphere and very warm lighting.

This is the second half of the bar. It is all communal tables, next to us were some Swedes who kept to them selfs.

This is one of the private rooms in the front of the bar. Check out the cascades of melted wax on the right wall.

Fascinating Font Caricatures

2008-10-12T19:59:00.000-04:00

In desperate attempts to further procrastinate and push off writing a midterm essay, I came across these amazing font caricatures. It took me a minute or looking before I made out that they were entirely made of font characters. I wonder what fonts they used exactly, I'm not sure whether it is the font itself or the placement that makes it look so flowing and natural, almost like a Al Hirschfeld sketch. The most intriguing aspect of these figures are the small details like the buttons, the shoes, and the hair, the fact that they could make the hair seem so natural and curly is what really impresses me.

Cool Czech Jobs

2008-10-08T16:19:00.000-04:00

One of the coolest jobs to have in the Czech Republic would be a tow truck/crane game operator. In Prague if your meter runs out then they call in the crane game. They attach a boot to each wheel and then they lift it straight up out of the spot. They have a whole bunch of levers that control different functions. Once over the flatbed, they spin the car around until it faces forward and then lower it down onto the truck. These operators must be amazing at carnival crane games.

Kofola (A Post on the Epic Soda Quest Front)

2008-10-06T14:49:00.000-04:00

I thought that Kofola was just a generic Czech brand cola so I have not tried it yet, I was very wrong! Its got a crazy complex flavor. It has accents of cola, but seems more to be a herb infused soda. At first there is a strong citrus burst. This intense citrus explosion caramelizes into a slightly sour (but very pleasant) licorice flavor. At this point there is a creamy fade out of flavor while hints of cumin, cinnamon (the combination of these last two remind me of a dark, incense infused tea shop), and sour apple surge to a crisp finish. One of the best features of this soda is that you can taste the seltzer, meaning that it is not overly sweet or syrupy. Great advances were made today on the Epic Soda Quest!

Autumn Festival

2008-10-05T14:14:00.000-04:00

About two weeks ago there was an Autumn Festival down at the local square. It was nice and quaint, there were lots of little stands that had local goods and food. The main attraction were the stands above, burchak stands. Burchak is young wine, it is made from young grapes and is the primary step in the wine making process so it is sweet and a bit bubbly.

There were candle stands.

Lots of homemade scarfs and sweaters.

Here are chimney cakes. its dough wrapped onto a metal tube and then rolled through cinnamon sugar, or cinnamon and nuts. then coated with some butter and rolled over a fire to bake. They are delicious and are starting to show up in NYC at street fairs.

This is a Honey Wine stand. They served it hot and cold, the hot honey wine was great on a cold day.

I have no idea what this was but it looked traditional. First they made fresh, what seemed to be Czech tortillas. They then spread a herb butter on and added lots of different herbs spices and spreads. The smell was amazing.

I opted for some Czech kielbasa. One of the local wineries had a huge wood burning grill that smelled like the perfect winter fire, it gave the kielbasa a great double smoked flavor.

Out of know where came a traditional Czech band and flag throwers. The had traditional czech costumes too. The flags were spun around their bodies and then they soared about fifty feet up into the air. Czech festivals are fun!

Puppets

2008-10-05T13:51:00.000-04:00

There is a authentic, old looking marionette shop in Lesser town that has these moving puppet contraptions. I don't think that they work anymore, but I think that you put a euro in and a little scene plays out, just like in the first Shrek!

St. Stephen's Cathedral

2008-10-04T21:19:00.000-04:00

While in Vienna, in between a few museums, I went to check out the main cathedral in Vienna, St. Stephen's. It has a massive gothic spire tower that is one of the most ornate and decorated that I have ever seen.

The roof itself, I think is pretty ugly, but it is impressive that it is tiled in a way that creates a giant mosaic.

Check out the vaulting of the roof, as well as the columns running through the cathedral.

The stained glass was nothing compared to St. Vitus, or any other cathedral I have seen.

Each of the columns had ornate stories and figures that were sculpted onto the column itself.

Some of the chapels were in the center of the cathedral instead of off to the sides.

The organ, was one of the more impressive features of the cathedral, this was only the center piece, there are one on each side of this centerpiece.

One of the columns toward the back of the cathedral had a stone staircase which led up to a stone pulpit. We even took a tour of the catacombs. They had rooms full of bones and a huge pit of plague victim bones. Since Vienna was the capital of the Hapsburg empire, there was a room full of Hapsburg bodies, and another room full of Hapsburg organs in jars., these jars were many times sent all over europe so that different countries can say that they have some parts of the Hapsburgs.

Rosh Hashanah Dinner and Latkas

2008-10-04T20:37:00.000-04:00

I decided it was necessary to make a homemade meal for Rosh Hashanah, because its not quite the same without. Above and below you can see the vegies. A nice colorful mixture of onions, carrots and broccoli. They were just sauteed with some olive oil and garlic. Then there were the potatoes which were covered in garlic and a spice mix made primarily of cumin. On the right is some of the main dish, honey/apricot/balsamic chicken (sweet for a new year). The glaze caramelized really nicely and left the inside of the chicken nice and moist.

It's nice when vegies look and taste good!

Here was the dinner spread, in the two trays were my pride and joy, potato and noodle kugel. I have never appreciated a food processor more then after making the potato kugel. I had to wash all the potatoes, peel them with a knife (the kitchen didn't have a peeler), then grate them on the finest setting. After the potatoes were grated I had to do the same to the onions. Once those were mixed together with some flour and eggs I put it in the oven to bake. The noodle kugel was made by mixing together cooked noodles with a mixture of butter, sugar, raisins, apples and eggs, and like the noodle kugel baked in the oven. They came out perfect, its really nice to have comfort food while away!

Speaking of comfort food, today I decided to make latkas with the left over potatoes. Grinding them up this time was an easier task since they were ground to bigger strips and the skins were left on. The onions only had to be finely chopped too. I added the flour and eggs (I'm starting to detect a pattern in Jewish cooking) and fried them up and salted them. They got all crispy and browned and was an excellent finish to the week!

MUMOK (Vienna's Museum of Modern Art)

2008-09-29T11:03:00.000-04:00

One of the many museums I visited in Vienna was the MUMOK (full title above). It was a really great museum in the conglomeration of museums that make up MuseumsQuartier. The building itself if a piece of modern art. I started out on the top floor (their permanent collection) and then worked my way down to the bottom. On the way encountering, "Bad Painting, Good Art" an exhibit about artist who purposely used "bad" painting techniques to make a statement. And the other exhibit was "Mind Expanders", an exhibit about protest art, and all different kinds of city planing/inflatable/instillation art.

Piet Mondrian, Composition with Double Line and Blue (unfinished). While I do not usually like Mondrian's paintings, I did enjoy this one. Perhaps because it was "unfinished", as you can see in the second photo the boxes were not filled in to the edges, it gave it a raw, exposed feeling which appealed to me.

Alexej Jawlensky, Pink Vetch. It does not really come through in the photo, but in person there is an incredibly warm colored amber light that comes from the painting, I also liked the more abstract brushstrokes.

Oto Gutfreund, Viki. The style of this sculpture reminds me of a style of animation that is used in Japan.

Richard Gerstl, The Schönberg Family. Gerstl painting above has the ability to draw you in. I kept looking at this painting from different distances and angles. It had an effect similar to the pointillism used in George Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte.

Eric Olson, Optochromy H. This was one of my favorite pieces in the museum. It was made of two pieces of laser etched glass, which gives it a polarized quality. As you can see in the bottom photo, from the side they look like two pieces of tinted glass, but as you across the front, the two pieces line up to form two blue rectangles and the rest is blacked out. There are a million different ways of percieving this piece since it changes as you move across it.

These are some posters that were created by Viennese design firms.

Paul Klee, Scarecrow.

Francis Picabia, Portrait of a Woman. This is the first photo of the "Bad Painting, Good Art" exhibit. The portrait it self was nothing special to me, what really intrigued me was the "finish" over it. You may have to zoom in order to really see it, but it seems as if after Picabia finished the portrait he covered the whole painting with a fine coat of wax and then baked it so that it all beaded up, the reason she looks part leopard.

Neil Jenny, Girl and Doll and Man and Mirage. I liked the simplicity of this series. Also, note how the figure was sketched out roughly in pencil in the close up of the man.

Francis Picabia, Maternity. There was an intense warmth that came from the mothers shawl, especially in contrast to the midnight blue in the background.

Francis Picabia, Nude in Front of a Landscape

André Butzer, Pluton. This looked like some take on Steamboat Willie era Mickey Mouse.

Werner Büttner, On Evil VI.

Julian Schnabel, Painting without Mercy. This one was a really neat mixed media piece. Schnabel covered the canvas with whole and broken plates, bowls. and pottery before painting.

John Currin, Thanksgiving.

Hans Hollein, Architecture Pill. This is where the "Mind Expanders" exhibit started. I took a picture of this one because I would like to take an architecture pill and be really good at designing buildings!

These moch-ups reminded of the waterfalls that were in NYC this past summer.

Hans-Rucker-Co., Yellow Heart. This artist conglomeration, had a bunch of pieces at the museum. They worked in really neat inflatable structures. Im pretty sure they even created inflatable structures for a world expo.

Hans-Rucker-Co., Air-Spa Hotel. They also had fun layover mock-ups of their structures over existing buildings.

Friederike Pezold, Mundwerk.

Maria Abramovic, Breathing in - Breathing out. I thought it was interesting how the photo was used twice to represent two different actions resulting in a different interaction (as stated in the poem) every time.

Maria Lassnig, Chair.

Valie Export, Body Sign C.

Birgit Jürgenssen, Apron. These last two were some examples of the very visual social stances of the artists. I strongly suggest visiting MUMOK if you are visiting Vienna. It had a really great mix of modern art that kept things fresh.

Zanoni & Zanoni (So Called Berthillon Competition)

2008-09-29T10:01:00.001-04:00

This is the ice cream bar at Zanoni and Zanoni, the world famous Viennese ice cream place. They had about thirty flavors which was pretty impressive. There was a nice outdoor sitting area that was heated so that it can be used all winter.

The first night (thats right, we went twice!) I stuck to some basics, pistachio and chocolate. The pistachio was good, not to sweet very creamy. The chocolate was milk chocolate, there was no dark chocolate, and it had a light flavor. These two blended very nicely which was good because they pretty much inserted the chocolate into the pistachio as you can see above.

The second night I went with mango and biscotti. This pair did not blend as well but at least the scoopers put them side by side. The mango was there in flavor, but the texture was just too light. The biscotti was warm in flavor the texture was helped out by the addition of easy to chew biscotti pieces. Down to business, while this was very good ice cream, much better than anything that I have had in the Czech Republic, this was no Berthillon. The texture was too light and airy, and there were times when the flavor was just not making it to where it should have. The chocolate was just not rich enough. Also aside from any bits that they put it, all of the ice creams have the exact same texture, something that made the ice cream boring. If you are in Vienna by all means you should go and enjoy some Zanoni and Zanoni, but if you are an ice cream lover, make sure that you travel to Paris to taste the true "best ice cream in Europe" at Berthillon.

Über Gigantic Viennese Market

2008-09-29T08:00:00.000-04:00

One of the best parts of Vienna (where I spent the weekend) was the gargantuan market that I believe is only on Saturdays. It consists of two parts, a flea-market/antiques part and a food part. The regular market has between four and five hundred stands. Stands range from piles of ten euro-cent pieces of clothing in huge piles, to antique dealers selling pocket watches for 120 euro and up. You can find everything in between as well! I was looking for a souvenir that was not something kitchy, but would be something I would enjoy and that would have a story behind it. The first thing that caught my eye was the stand that had drawers and drawers full of olde style type face. He had all different fonts and he even had image plates. I was going to get my name, but Steven is not very german. I decided to get über in two different types of font. The letters are backwards above for obvious reasons. I will have to do some printing with them when I get back.

The other object that caught my eye was this WWII (I think) medic bag. I have been looking for a messenger bag and this was perfect. It can fit some books, is very sturdy and it looks pretty cool. It was only twenty euro so for a messenger bag it was really cheap too. It smells a bit like old people and has a few stains here and there but i have some dryer sheets working their magic and ill scrub out the stains the best I can. The best part is if any one asks where I got it, I can say its a one of a kind from a viennese market!

Being that medics carried around lots of individually wrapped items, there are a ton of compartments inside the bag. Folded off to the side there are even two pouches that would be perfect for a cell phone or a mp3 player.

Now on to the food market. This section of the market was literally magical. It reminded me of the market in Harry Potter. The lane went on for at least half a mile and there were stands and shops on each side, there was not a single stand that did not make my mouth water. The pictures above and below are taken back to back in one section of the food market, I would say that this is about one fifth of the whole food market, there were a lot of turns in the path.

Some stands had all different types of dried fruits and nuts. One really interesting fruit I had never seen dried before was Kiwi (the green one).

Other stands had vast arrays of pure spices and spice mixtures that were bagged up and ready to go.

Some vendors stacked there fruits and nuts against a window making a wall of deliciosity.

There were many antipasto vendors. Each individual stuffed pepper, olive, eggplant, and so on were absolutely picture perfect. Take a close look at the stuffed pepper in the lower left hand section of the display case, look at the intricate design that makes up part of the stuffing.

Here was one of the many cheese shops. Aside from the cheese shops there were also butchers and fish shops. The butcher shops were full of thick cut steaks of all different kinds of cuts, tons of salamis and sausages, and gorgeous looking prosciutto. The fish shops had large varieties of whole fish as well as fillets. I was famished at this point as well as dehydrated since my mouth had been watering for a good half an hour so I got a gyro. It was a bit different then in the US. Instead of a pita, they serve it in a section of inch-and-a-half thick, seeded, flat bread. It was really good.

Passing bye all of the pastry shops, I could not avoid ending my meal with some authentic apple strudel. It was very warmly spiced and it had a bit of ginger in it as well. A perfect ending to a successful viennese market trip.

Berthillon

2008-09-23T16:58:00.001-04:00

After a failed attempt to visit Notre Dame, it was time to go on the one quest I needed to go in in Paris, ice cream at Berthillon. It was just as I had remembered, New Orleans style jazz on the bridge between Notre Dame and Isle St. Louis, leading up to the gorgeous green awning that caused my mouth to water. After waiting about fifteen minutes, a wait that was absolutely worth while, we were at the ice cream case. I decided to go with a scoop of apricot and two scoops of Chocolat Noir. First I went for the apricot. I could taste the puree of fresh apricots they used for the ice cream. It was a combination between biting into an apricot and the filling of a Russ and Daughters apricot hamentashen. Then onto the Chocolat Noir, it is very difficult to describe this ice cream. The texture at first is satiny smooth and incredibly light on your tongue. It is almost difficult to sense how much ice cream has been licked up due to the intense chocolate flavor and the slick texture. Just because the texture is silky smooth does not mean that it was airy. The Chocolat Noir is incredibly dense, I almost had to chew it when I took a bite from the scoop. It was such a deep chocolaty flavor that I am even now, three days later, still satiated by its chocolaty goodness. I don't even think I am going to want ice cream until I get to Vienna this weekend and try an ice cream place that I have heard gives Berthillon a run for its money, but I will decide that for myself this weekend!

Paris for the Weekend!

2008-09-22T09:55:00.000-04:00

So this past weekend, Doog was in Europe for various shows and business. He was in Paris on Saturday and Sunday, so I flew out to meet up with him. I had to get up at three in order to get to the airport but i did have this view out of my window by the time we took off, not so bad!

The rooms were not ready at the hotel, so we walked up and down Boulevard Haussmann at a antiques street fair. The weather was great, it was a bit chilly in the morning but then warmed up with the sun. I had forgotten just how much I love Paris, It is such a beautiful and intoxicating city. Much in part due to the man who the above boulevard is named after. One of the papers I am most proud of in my college career is a research paper that described the ways in which Baron George Haussmann rebuilt paris block by block, street by street, underground to far above, into the city that it is today.

We had tried to go to Notre Dame but the line was absurd. So instead we walked over to Berthillon which will be getting its own post! On the way there we passed many crepe stands all decorated with guardian bottles of Nutella. Yes that is a heavenly scent whisping up from that fresh crepe.

We then walked along the Seine. All along the Seine, there are these green vendor booths. On the right bank they contain mostly books and a few magazines. On the left bank they have books, but there is art of all kinds, old postcards, La Belle Époque era advertisements, concert posters, even painted tiles. At night all of the boxes are closed up and locked for the night. We then went to Place Voges, its right by the Jewish section of the city. There is a massive square surrounded by arcades that are populated by great cafés and art galleries. We went shopping at Xoos and Doog and Mel were on the lookout for new fashions and designs.

While walking to dinner the first night we walked into this square, it has the Ritz Carlton as well as a number of ultra luxury stores. The sky was perfect, I do not understand how anyone could feel anything but love for Paris.

One of Paris' chocolate shops. Had I not had Berthillon earlier in the day I would have drooled all over the window. For dinner we went to this great Italian restaurant. There was a self serve antipasto bar that had all types of picked herrings, stuffed vegetables, prosciutto wrapped around goat cheese, all in olive oil. For the main course I ordered a mushroom and asparagus risotto which was excellent.

We started the next day with the most amazing continental breakfast I have ever had (another post). Then we were off to the Louvre.

We saw all of the essentials, Winged Victory.

The Mona Lisa, nice colors, but very anticlimactic especially when it is opposite the massive painting below.

I have been to the Louvre before but the last time I was here I did not notice the very modern architecture used inside the museum.

For instance look at this recessed light.

This escalator hall in the Richelieu section of the museum was incredible. It was very clean and strong at the same time. The straight and boxed escalators were perfectly juxtaposed with the circle cutouts in the marble.

The two sculpture halls continued this simple yet strong theme. It made the museum feel very crisp and bright.

Even the railings for the staircase were intriguing. There were round recesses cut into the wall from which a scroll of aluminum unfurled from the bottom.

After the Louvre we walked around the Latin Quarter, St. Germain and the surrounding area. We did some heavy duty window shopping. Doog and Mel had found the jackpot of interesting design features and trends in this area.

Afterwards we went back to the hotel lounge and had a drink before I had to head back to the airport. The lounge at the Intercontinental was just as gorgeous as the rest of the building. There were warm tones in the wood, in the marble, in the chairs, and the sculpture as well.

I had my favorite, a San Bittér.

Doog and Mel had Mojitos. (and I am starting to really get into this food photography thing)

There was a trio of olives, nuts and fruit, and blue potato chips. The nuts and the chips were nothing exceptional, but the olives were bursting with flavor. They were very garlicy and had a hint of rosemary. The brineyness of the olives was very mild as well.

And finally here is Doog working hard in high fashion! I had an absolutely terrific time in Paris. It was the perfect weekend my only plan was to get ice cream and other then that I was just walking around enjoying the city and the company, allowing Parisian culture to seep in and relax and lighten my mind!

The Létna Beer Gardens?

2008-09-22T08:33:00.000-04:00

After seeing the Giant Metronome, we searched for the Létna Beer Gardens which are somewhere on the same hill as the Metronome. After a beer and snack (Czech Latka-like things) at a stand that we thought was the beer gardens, we realized we were wrong and continued our search. As you can see it was cloudy and the temperature was dropping quickly. We did come across the Hanavsky Pavilion, which we are still not positive, is not the beer gardens at Létna. As I'm sure you are, we were also very confused. The pavilion was beautiful though. The roof especially was incredibly ornate.

They also had a patio with a terrific view.

It was cold at this point so we decided to scrap the extra pivo and go with the hot chocolate, a unanimous decision. It could have been a bit more dark chocolaty, but it most certainly hit the spot.

The Giant Metronome

2008-09-19T05:52:00.003-04:00

Across the river, there is a Giant Metronome that overlooks all of Prague. When the Czech Republic was behind the iron curtain there was an eighty meter high statue of Joseph Stalin that was destroyed in 1962. In 1991 the international artist, Vratislav Novak built this enormous metronome. It takes ten seconds for the arm to move from one side to the other and to my dismay was not a true metronome, it was powered by electricity, not counterweights. Even with this setback it was very impressive. Below is a panoramic I put together of the view of Prague from the look out.

The Lennon Wall

2008-09-19T05:52:00.002-04:00

In the Peter Sís post I showed you the pages about the Lennon Wall. On Friday I went to go see it in person. Now I can be a true Czech youth! There is very little of the original murals left, There are additions of all types from every corner of the world and in thousands of languages. There are so many different layers of art, graffiti, religious messages, political messages, complete nonsense, and above all Beatles quotes. Below are four shots from different sections of the wall. I urge you to click them and really look at the different layers and the messages and meanings that overlap.

It took me a few minutes to see all the different people that are painted all over the wall. In the picture below there is a boy in a green shirt and jeans. Below that there is a group of three kids, with an adult to their right.

This orange elephant (apparently jewish) was pretty neat. I think it is part of some viral campaign in Prague, I have seen similar ones at a few other famous spots.

Here is one of the memorials to John Lennon. It consists of a concrete bust of John Lennon next to an "Imagine" peace sign. For the most part there seems to have been some respect shown to this particular peace sign. While there is new art all within and over the structure, this peace sign is still very much intact.

On the left side of the wall there is a thin grave stone that protrudes from the wall. It was added after the death of John and has a portrait that seems slightly Hirshfeld like. Aside from the recent black righting across his face, this is another part of the wall which seems to have been shown some respect.

Saint Vitus Cathedral

2008-09-19T05:52:00.001-04:00

St. Vitus stands within the walls of Prague Castle and it can be seen from all of Prague. It is the base of the Archbishopic of the Czech Republic. There have been at least two other incarnations of this cathedral, the ruins of which can be viewed from the side of St. Vitus. The present gothic behemoth was commissioned by Charles IV (of the Charles Bridge), and the architect was Peter Parler.

All of the gargoyles are completely different, I learned that their purpose is to expel the bad spirits away from the cathedral (along with rain water).

It's very tall, and very elaborately decorated. I do not think I took a picture of the flying buttresses, but they were multi-teared and highly ornamented.

The grandiose scale of this cathedral is breathtaking. Parler used an intricate double cross vaulting method on the ceiling in order to have a continuous feel to the main body of St. Vitus.

I entered the cathedral as the sun was setting. The intense light coming through the stained glass at the entrance of the church created an ethereal atmosphere. You can see just how bright the sun was in the next picture.

I may have over done the stained glass pictures, but here are a few of the ones that came out nicely. I personally liked the contrast between the pieces that were mosaic-esque and those that used much larger sections of glass.

Here is a massive stone staircase in the middle of the Cathedral.

The organ of St. Vitus was a sight to see in its own right. You can also see another example of the double cross vaulting used in the ceiling.

The next two pictures are of some of the decorations in the chapels, in the asp of the cathedral.

This is the chapel of St. Vaclav, or as we know him Wenceslas (the one from that Christmas carol). St. Wenceslas is the patron saint of the Czech lands. He was killed by his brother for being a christian, hence the saint status. To this day his skull is kept in this chapel and on every St. Wenceslas day, the archbishop takes it out puts the royal crown on it and shows it to the people of Prague, no joke!

Great Cheap Kavárna (Coffee Shop) and Pickled Brie

2008-09-17T11:13:00.000-04:00

Over by the NYU center we found a nice cheap place to grab lunch or a drink. One of the best things about this place is that for thirty crowns you get a whole pot of tea, not just a single cup. For a little bit more you can get yucca tea with milk and honey. It smells like an intoxicating cinnamon elixir. They also have a Czech specialty, pickled brie. Its in the picture above (I forgot to take a picture before hand so it looks a little mangled). It has a great briney taste and they split it in half and stuff it with hot peppers before they begin the pickling process. They serve it with a sweet white kraut and a beet-cabbage kraut both quite delicious.

The first time I ate here I also ordered a brie and ham panini, again it was really delicious. Its a different type of panini too, it presses a triangle of bread into two smaller triangles. Yesterday I got the mushroom soup which was smokey and spicy and tasted a bit like my grandmothers mushroom soup so it was food and memories! I think I will be coming here for lunch and in between classes for some tea a snack and a warm place to read.

First Time Cooking in My Kitchen

2008-09-17T10:26:00.000-04:00

I finally went grocery shopping so that I could start making some food on my own that wasn't vietnamese ramen (so much better then chinese ramen). I bought a whole bunch of vegetables and some eggs and lots of yogurt, which is european yogurt so it is much creamier and more flavorful. Today I decided it was time to cook. So I chopped up all of the onions, peppers mushrooms and garlic. I decided to make a sauted vegetable medley that I could throw into a bunch of different things or eat on its own. I started by heating up a good amount of olive oil then throwing in the garlic and letting it brown. One this was done the kitchen smelled amazing, I also added all of the vegetables and some salt and let it all cook. It was three o'clock by now and I had not had lunch so I decided to make an omelet. I made a three egg omelet with lots of the vegetables and some smoked gouda. The picture below hardly does any justice to how the omelet actually looked. It smelled all garlicy and smokey, and it was certainly delicious!

Peter Sís

2008-09-15T16:01:00.000-04:00

About a week and a half or so ago, my friend Andrew Siwoff, through his various contacts and connections met up with Peter Sís and was so impressed by him that he suggested that he speak at the NYU center in Prague. So we spent two hours tonight listening to this incredible man as he told us very briefly about his life and just scratched the surface of telling us about what he has done. Peter grew up in communist Prague. His father was a documentarian who served in the army by going to Tibet to teach the art of documentary making. Peter became an artist and film maker. He was also an all-star DJ in the Czech Republic. He toured with The Beach Boys when they toured Prague, Brno, and Bratislava, he was the one who announced The Beach Boys at their concerts. He was sent by the Soviet government to America before the 1984 summer Olympics in L.A. to participate in a international film making project. While in the U.S. for that film he also began making a film for Bob Dylan. That year the U.S.S.R. pulled out of the Olympics and Peter decided to stay in order to finish the Bob Dylan video knowing that he might not be able to go back to Prague. After being somewhat unsuccessful in L.A., he moved to New York City because Maurice Sendak felt that Peter would have a future in children's books. Peter worked for scraps for a while but then made it big when he was commissioned to create the poster for Amadeus.

From that point on he has been very successful. He has written many children's books. Peter even has created pieces that were commissioned by NYC for the subway cars themselves as well as having created the art for the mosaics in the 86th and Lexington subway stop. Aside from being an incredible individual, Peter is an enthralling speaker. He told us captivating stories with perfect comedic timing, similar to that of Eddie Izzard. I bought his book about his life in Prague under the Iron Curtain and I have some pictures below.

This page is great, it shows all of the creative or banned activities that everyone was forced to do in hiding. Peter told us how everyone lived a double life during this time.

This was his view of the life of the western world.

Here is his memories of when The Beach Boys first came to visit. Notice the drab monotone look.

These two pages show the struggle between the youth/rebels and the communist government over the Lennon wall. This is a wall over by Lesser Town where all the bohemians gathered and discussed politics and culture. They painted a huge mural of John Lennon, hence the name the Lennon wall. The government would constantly paint the wall white, and as soon as they did the youth would paint new murals on it, and so they went back and forth.

Look closely at this map as Peter has put down the attributes of each side of the wall on to the landscapes.

He even did a little signing after. He drew this neat little sketch which, being very appropriate to the book, reminded me very much of Pink Floyd's The Wall. Listening to Peter talk was the perfect way to spend the evening. He is such a humble man, you can tell just how much he appreciates every talent and opportunity he has been given. Since he now lives outside of NYC (He was in Prague on business, a children's book conference in Copenhagen), I hope to see him speak again one day.

Mini Hood Art

2008-09-15T10:49:00.001-04:00

I was walking back from the Palladium mall today (I was looking for long johns since over the weekend the temperature has dropped to fifty and I don't know if it will go back up) when I stumbled upon this really cool art exhibit/marketing ploy for Mini Cooper. The first piece was an entire Mini Cooper straight up in the air, I think I was still taller hehehe, with a description of the exhibit in Czech. Behind it were six painted Mini Cooper roofs.

This one is clearly of a pink goat boy blowing off steam from the blow holes in his head, he was also part dolphin.

This one is of a scary hippy lady who likes to do the tango.

This one just confused me because it juxtaposed itself. The British flag makes sense because Britain is the birthplace of the Mini, but like I said it is a Mini not a VW Beetle, odd.

I did like this one, the colors were great and it was a little Escher-like.

I have no idea what this one is about.

I also liked the Dutch pirate, It was my favorite. Simple, but it had that nice silkscreened look to it.

Czech Soft Serve

2008-09-15T10:12:00.001-04:00

Just a general note first. My posts will most likely no longer be in chronological order, between classes taking up more time and the number of things I want to post about (about fifteen or so posts after this one to catch up on), I am going to start to put in short posts if I have a little bit of time and longer ones if I have more time. Anyway, On to the Post!

Soft serve is not so big here. Ice cream is mostly in gelato form. Right outside the Brno caves we found this amazing single serve, soft serve contraption. Cornetto Soft seems to be the biggest name in this instant soft serve area, but there is a Nestle brand that has this ice cream format as well.

The first great thing about this ice cream is that they use real waffle cones, as opposed to the wafer ones that are used for all the gelato in the Czech Republic.

Then they take a ice cream cartridge out of the freezer and load it into the top half of the ice cream press. The cone is then loaded into the cone holder at the bottom.

The cone is raised until it is right under the ice cream cartridge.

The ice cream press operator then pulls down the slot machine-esque arm to provide the jackpot, seemingly soft serve like ice cream.

As you can see the whole process is about ninety percent efficient, I think they just leave that ten percent in the cartridge for a snack later though. After the ice cream is pressed they give you the cone and toss the "empty" cartridge.

It looks a little bit like uni but it tastes very similar to the Flintstones Push Pops, that made up so much of my memories in Pennsylvania as a little kid. The texture is not quite like soft serve, but it is softer then hard ice cream. Also I tried orange, my favorite FPP flavor!

It was actually orange and cream.

Here is a shot of the ice cream press operator hard at work.

The Cubist Museum

2008-09-13T15:15:00.000-04:00

This cubist museum of Prague is not a huge museum but it is absolutely worth seeing. It occupies the three floors above the Grand Orient Cafe. This cubist mecca of Prague is exponentially impactful since both the café and the museum are housed in an incredible specimen of cubist architecture called, The House of the Black Madonna.

The Grand Orient Cafe is on the floor with the balcony in the model above, as you can see the windows are very uniquely cubist and that balcony railing is in the post for the cafe.

Even the windows on the top floor of the building are made up of interesting angles. I particularly like the way that the window panes themselves are sunken in to the full structure of the window.

The staircase alone was worth the fifty crown price of admission. It was almost disorienting walking up this staircase between the lightbulb shape of staircase and the unusual angles of the railings themselves.

One more observation about the building itself. As you can see the above roof beams continue the style of odd cubist angles. The vertical beam in the bottom photo has a corner running up the entirety of the beam.

Now on to the art! Above is "Head" by Otto Gutfreund. I love the above face, it seems very distinguished and strong.

"Tramway No. 4" by Vincenc Benes. Here is a great rendition of a Czech tram running along a cobblestone street. It is most likely set in the old city since that is where many narrow winding streets are.

"Glass and a Bottle" by Emil Filla. The two squares in the lower right hand corner of this painting caught my eye. Filla did an incredible job of capturing the grain of the wood.

"Kiss of Death" by Bohumil Kubista. The color of this painting in person is quite intense. It makes the piece feel very cold, but natural at the same time. It is also fascinating how the chest of the living person seems in a way more angular and bare then the chest of the skeleton.

"Coastal Cannons Firing at a Navy" by Bohumil Kubusta. This was my favorite piece in the museum. The more time that I spent viewing it, the more layers and meanings that emerged. This was another vibrant painting in a museum of muted colors and pencil sketches. A few things to look for that I found interesting are the ship with the three barrel canon at the top, the targeting sight at the top left, and the exploding shell on the left. There is great imagery of the new (at the time) mechanized warfare, represented by the gears and machine parts, juxtaposed with the old technologies, represented by the wooden steering wheel of a ship on the right of the painting. One more thing to take notice of is the pooling red at the bottom of the painting which clearly represents the losses of war.

There was a large wall of the same cubist font that was used extensively in The Grand Orient Cafe below the museum. The only piece of cubist furniture that grabbed my attention was the chair below. It seems to me that it was a funky cubist take on a wing chair. Not to mention that the gold and black vertical stripe made the chair a natural centerpiece to this particular floor of the museum.

The Grand Cafe Orient

2008-09-11T10:48:00.000-04:00

This is the café on the second floor of the Museum of Czech Cubism. The food wasn't incredible and it wasn't to bad. The style and architecture of this eatery is what really intrigued me! This café had cubist examples everywhere, even the font they used as seen in the picture above is in the cubist style.

Look at all of the intricate angles and the multitude of odd shapes in this chandelier alone. All of the aspects of this restaurant emitted a sense of weight which led to the café seeming heavy and very sure of itself.

Above the bar you can see that the liquor storage is a series of cubes.

Here is a close up of the wallpaper around the top half of the restaurant. It is amazing to me how a series of angles and some slight color differences can give something like wallpaper incredible texture and depth.

Even the wrought iron railing along the outside balcony is full of cubist shapes and style.

One feature that blew me away was this beautiful bar. The dark wood gave it a sturdy, classy feel. To get the full effect you would need to walk in front of it, but the angles and indents on the front of the bar give it an amazing presence. It's stance easily conveys that it is a center focal point in the café.

Disappointment, its Just Plain Old Ginger Ale

2008-09-11T09:54:00.000-04:00

I need to explain a little more about my self for you to fully understand my disappointment. When I was little I was under the impression that soda and pop were two different things. Of course I had sampled all the different kinds of soda, coke, sprite, pepsi, etc, but I had never had pop. So in my mind pop was this exotically flavored elixir of an unknown degree of carbonation. Since realizing that soda and pop are actually the same thing my desire to try pop has evolved into a quest to find epic sodas of the world. Some notable finds so far are a sangria soda from mexico and the spiced pineapple soda from the Dessert Truck in NYC. Back to the picture above, we decided to get lunch at the café in the Museum of Czech Cubism, both will have their own posts! On the menu there was a complex Czech name that was translated to Ginger Limo. I thought that I had found some ginger-lime concoction that would surely make the top list of epic sodas. They brought out this bottle of Kinley soda. At this point I still had high hopes. Side note, whenever they serve soda in Prague, they usually serve it in a olde style coke glass which is a nice touch, also they don't break if they fall. When it came to trying Kinley thats when my taste buds instantly recognized it as a plain old ginger ale no different then Canada Dry or Schweppes. My dismay only grew as I took a close look at the label and saw that is was made and bottled by Coke. I guess in the modern age of international soda conglomerates, I will have to search harder to find the epic sodas that will make it onto my list.

The Lookout Point Above Prague Castle

2008-09-09T17:18:00.000-04:00

About ten minutes up the hill from Prague Castle there is a very old monastery. It houses an extensive library and this amazing lookout point. From here you can look over the entire valley that is home to the city of Prague. The hill on the right and the slope at the bottom were once covered with grape vines that the monks harvested to make wine. Apparently their order also carved a series of tunnels into the hill in order to tap an underground river and to build secret passage ways incase they ever needed to hide away.

These buildings are part of the monastery itself. They are in a quiet courtyard off of the main street and remind me very much of a classic ivy league-esque institution of higher learning. But I will have to write more about them when I tour them.

Here is the view of the cathedral at Prague Castle from the left side of the lookout point. It is an incredible structure that I will be writing about very soon, I just have to sit down and and figure out which pictures to use!

This is the view to the right of the lookout point. That hill is called Petrin hill. It has many gardens of both the botanical and beer variety. There are lots of walkways and running paths. That tower in the picture above is a replica of the top of the Eiffel Tower. As the story goes, the first group of organized Czech travelers decided to visit Paris right after the Eiffel Tower was completed. They were so enamored by the sight of the tower that they petitioned and fought for a replica to be built in Prague. Only the very top was replicated because the height of the spot it occupies on Petrin hill and the height of the tower itself add up to the exact height of the Eiffel Tower in Paris!

Old Town Square in the Evening

2008-09-09T11:34:00.001-04:00

This is Old Town Square, the main tourist area and right next to Small Square (Male Namieste) where the NYU buildings are. I was on my way to the surprisingly nice NYU welcome dinner and the light was great so I took a picture. This is the same place where the famous astrological clock is, I will probably take a picture of that another day.

A Fancy Food Establishment?

2008-09-09T10:53:00.000-04:00

For lunch today we decided to go to this modern fancy looking lunch place around the corner from school. They mostly serve chicken and since my arrival in Prague I have seen distinguished elders, in suits and ties as well as local teenagers eating here. The restaurant above is actually owned by the gentleman below.

It's true the colonel has a huge following in Prague. Not only do they love KFC here but the KFC's are really nice, they put any establishment back home to shame! Aside from the swank modern inside, they have modern artwork and a outdoor garden in the back where you can enjoy your meal.

The menus at the front of the restaurant even make it look like they have completely upgraded the food aspect of KFC for Europe (they haven't).

The menu sports some additions such as tiramisu and yogurt with berries. These additions come at a grave cost, in the Czech Republic they have replaced the biscuit with french fries. The fact that a KFC could not have biscuits boggles my mind, but I guess thats more culture shock. Once I got my meal I was pretty disappointed by the look of my food in comparison to my experience thus far.

KFC does taste a lot different here. The regular chicken seems to have been baked instead of fried. Also I think a few of the colonels secret spices have been taken out and replaced with paprika, the national spice of the Czech Republic. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great, I can most certainly wait until I get back to America before I need KFC again, plus they don't have the bowl full off everything that KFC makes covered in gravy, so what's the point of coming back! At least they have an in store hand washing station to get the grease off of your hands when you are done eating.

Czech Chess

2008-09-09T10:43:00.000-04:00

Apparently in the Czech Lands there is a three player version of chess. As you can see above, you can be attacked from two fronts, but other than that it is the same rules as regular chess. There is no second place either. The first person to take another king is declared the winner.

Culture Shock!

2008-09-08T17:52:00.000-04:00

They kept telling us that we will experience culture shock after a few days here. Except for the lack of tap water in restaurants the only real culture shock is the child peeing tradition of Prague. This city could use a few of the above signs. Andrew C and I were on our way to the metro station when we turned the corner and there was a kid with his pants at his ankles peeing on a tree with this father next to him. Now if this was the first instance of this pants-around-the-ankles public urination by a small child I would not be so surprised (I suppose). But as Andrew C was telling me, he and Andrew S were walking by our building a few days ago and there was another kid with his pants dropped peeing on the family car as his parents were packing the car for the weekend. Confounded by this behavior, I later asked one of the RA's if this was normal Czech custom. She laughed and said that she never thought about it but as a child most little kids in Prague are brought by the street or a gutter to pee if they have to. I can only imagine that this comes as a result of the European way of charging for the use of a public bathroom. In New York I occasionally come across a child, or otherwise, peeing against a wall or tree but at least in NYC they make use of their flies, a tradition that should be adopted here in Prague, or they can at least find a somewhat secluded alley.

The Most Perfect Song on my Computer Right Now

2008-09-08T16:51:00.001-04:00

I have been listening to The Black Keys more and more as of late. My interaction with them has been similar to my original interaction with The White Stripes, I have been told to listen to them far too many times until I finally do and realize that its amongst the best music I have ever heard. The song Psychotic Girl is an incredible song that shows off the respect that The Black Keys have for the past and the great music they can create from it. The song starts out with a simple tune plucked out on a southern sounding guitar. As soon as drums come into play the rhythm guitar starts a goosebump raising, soul chilling, chord progression in arpeggio. The funny thing about this progression is that it reminds me very much of Mark Ronson's work. An almost eery piano line comes in right before the vocals start. The vocals pay homage to the worn, soulful voices of the blues, with certain words stretched out with a feeling of want and need. They resemble the vocals of Screamin' Jay Hawkins, but far smoother and less scratchy. A macabre gospel of soft voices make there way into the background to fill out this song, giving it a round but plushy sound. Right before the middle of the song the drums drop out allowing the vocals to shine through with the rhythm guitar keeping time. Half way through the song another guitar part comes in that has a southern twangy style distortion very similar to the distortions used on Icky Thump. This guitar sound has a solo toward the end of the song before its place is taken by the original southern guitar that began the song.

Enjoying European Café Culture

2008-09-08T09:40:00.000-04:00

After my first class of the semester, Kafka and his Contexts, I ventured over to Anagram Bookshop to buy The Golem and to start reading. What better place is there to read then at a café with a snack. So as you can see above I ordered a tea drink. It's a jasmine tea with honey, lime and fresh mint. It was really refreshing but holding true to what I have read about tea in Prague, the jasmine flavor was weak. I guess I will have to do the true café culture thing and switch to kava (coffee). I had also ordered a croissant, they were out of the ginger cinnamon strudel. But since I am still new to this picture taking thing I had forgotten to shoot away before it was gone. It was a perfect croissant though, flakey and browned on the outside and that soft almost chewyness on the inside. Overall a great place to get a snack and get some reading done.

If I Could Live in Any Czech Palace...

2008-09-07T19:03:00.001-04:00

The area surrounding Prague Castle is filled with these elaborate palaces where many state officials and dignitaries lived through Czech history. Across the street from the subject of this post and down the block from Prague Castle is a set of palaces where the film Amadeus was filmed. I instantly fell in love with the palace in the above picture. The amount of detail contained in the facade of this building is astounding.

I went with the large photos for this post but I encourage you to download these photos and look closely at the intricate reliefs and patterns in the walls. From the back to back cournucopias on top to the guardian faces in the bottom row.

The curved overhangs feature vines with leaves that are shaded.

Even the most basic design block is simple yet elegant. There is a terrific balance of light and dark in the pattern that seems to create a perpetual sunset over the front of the building.

There were no shortcuts, even the inside courtyard is filled with the same gorgeous decoration. If only it was still a home and not a museum, perhaps I would be able to hold on to an irrational desire to live here (that little hiccup will probably not stop me anyhow).

A Simple Change to Food Branding

2008-09-07T18:41:00.000-04:00

This caught my eye on the way up a street in Lesser Town (found at the end of the Charles Bridge, opposite Old Town Square). Now if Red Lobster did something as simple as changing the color of the lobster apparently they could achieve a four star rating. Quite impressive.

Look What I Found on My First Run!

2008-09-07T18:18:00.000-04:00

So, the other day I had decided to go for a run to work off a little of the superb pivo from my first week here. I have been here long enough now to have a pretty good sense of direction even with the winding narrow roads. I started Feed the Animals in my headphones and started heading down hill. After about five blocks or so I had stumbled upon the entrance to a local park, at first it looked very forrest like and steep. The steep part was correct but the forrest observation only lasted a little while. Once out of the trees I was met by the hill covered in grape vines, it was a full vineyard in the middle of a park, in the middle of the area that I live.

The vineyard is beautifly landscaped and is the perfect serene scene along the running path. The main vineyard house lies at the top of the hill surrounded by a stone terrace.

Off of the main house there is a festive and comfortable looking, open air wine bar and beer.

These picturesque vines stretch halfway across the park. When I came back to take pictures, I found a hole in the fence where they had been planting new vines. Once past the perimeter, I was able to sneak a few white grapes off the vine. They made the perfect saturday morning snack!

Czech Mounds

2008-09-03T19:53:00.001-04:00

This is a Czech candy bar called KOKO. This candy bar was alright, nothing special. Like I said it tastes pretty much like a Mounds bar, just a bit thicker and shorter.

Euro Hotdog!

2008-09-03T19:41:00.001-04:00

So this food is a slight departure from its American counterpart. And this is a real hotdog not a worst or a brat. They take something similar to a hoagy role to start. Each of the stands has a set of metal spikes that toast the role from the inside out. Then they put some ketchup or mustard in the bottom of the hoagy hole and then put the hotdog in so that there is an even amount of condiment all around. Only slightly different but still pretty cool!

A few interesting Chezch foods

2008-09-03T18:59:00.000-04:00

Dobry den,

So, for a while I will probably be talking mostly about interesting czech food that is different from the food in the US. Mostly because I am in Prague and I love food! So this post is about what it actually looks on the bag of chips, Turkey Dinner Chips. And yes, it does taste like turkey dinner! Now its not quite like Thanks Giving dinner but most certainly a turkey dinner with all the spices. The after taste is something like a chicken bullion flavor. There are more flavors in this dinner line including steak and ham.

Sanbittér

2008-07-28T23:52:00.001-04:00

So this is Sanbittér, it is delicious. It is an Italian, non-alcoholic, cherry flavored apertif (aka digestive, aka bitters). I was first introduced to this refreshing liquid while touring Senoma Valley in California. I decided to try it as part of my quest to find epic sodas of the world. I had forgotten about Sanbittér until the hot summer months when I craved its refreshing un-sweet taste. I searched high and low in Dean and Delucas, gourmet markets, and ethnic specialty shops but have only found it at one establishment in the city, Abraco on 7th street. It's a great little coffee shop with good food as well but at $2.50 a Sanbittér I wanted to find it at cost. While my searched moved away from Abraco, I took two important lessons with me. First, you cannot store Sanbittér in cold. It must be left at room temperature or it will loose its carbonation. Second, Sanbittér goes very well with a citrus. On with the search! At that point I turned where anyone turns when they cannot find something, das interweb. Very easily I was able to find these nifty ten packs at the Amazon in the gourmet section. Since then I have been enjoying and sharing the summery joy of Sanbittér. A particularly good looking use that I have found online is a delicious concoction of Sanbittér, lime and Amaretto, it would probably make a great after dinner drink!

Engraved Moleskins

2008-06-30T21:27:00.000-04:00

I've been debating whether to get one of these or not. I wouldn't really use a notebook just for everyday purposes, but i have rationalized it as ART! There engraved by a laser that burns off the outer laser of that noble and durable stuff moleskine. There are some pretty cool videos on the engraving process at the website. They have a whole line of artist inspired designs that you can choose from. The design on top is one of the artist designed ones. The other option is that you can upload a picture of whatever you want and they will engrave it onto the moleskins. Thats what I did for the second book. My parents needed a new address book so I found a picture of them that I liked and cropped it to fit the specs specified on the website, in person it looks better then in the picture. For my next purchase from the website I want to spend some time to design something of my own.

DJ BC

2008-05-08T19:46:00.000-04:00

Due to my recent infatuation with Philip Glass, and my dire procrastination from many papers and much studying, I have stumbled across DJ BC. He is crazy, my stumbling occurred when I was looking for Dr. Dog in my Itunes library. I was intrigued by the never listened to album, Glassbreak, a play off of Glass' Glassworks. In Glassbreak, DJ BC mashes Philip glass with all different kinds of hiphop. I could only name the Beastie Boys, but I recognized other songs. As for the Philip glass side of things, there were songs used from Glassworks, Mishima, Dracula, Einstein on the Beach, and my beloved Satyagraha. The full list of which songs were mixed is here. I can't imagine that it was difficult to match up the beats especially since Philips Glass's music can often be used as a clock, but it was a fun, interesting album. After listening to the album a few times I checked out his website, www.DJBC.net. It seems that at one point in time you could download all of his mixed albums, but the lawyers seemed to have made there presence clear. However, under singles you can stream many of his mixes. Some of his singles to check out are Champ in Black, any of the Promiscuous Girl mixes are great and of course the mix with my other love The White Stripes. Also the cover is really cool.