Books

My favorite place to chill besides my apartment, is usually a bookstore. Ever since i could read, i've always found myself drawn to bookstores as a place to feel relaxed. Its quiet, and cool and nobody hassles you. My favorite thing is when a bookstore has a table of similar books (design,art, architecture,etc) and you just mill around it flipping through the pages. Over the past few years i have tried to get the same feeling in my apartment with this 1950s chrome sided table. Stacks of my current favorite books and magazines cover the table for me to stand over and browse. As new ones come in, older ones get moved to the bookshelves. One day hopefully, this will be a bigger setup with more books

Sydney Pollack RIP

Legendary director/actor/producer Sydney Pollack died of cancer today, in California. Always really liked his directing, but it was his under-rated acting that really wowed me. His character in Woody Allen's HUSBANDS AND WIVES was hysterical, and his character in Kubrick's EYES WIDE SHUT was just plain scary. Also the movie he directed about the architect Frank Gehry, SKETCHES OF FRANK GEHRY, really showed off his own personality and a different dimension as a film maker.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

I love Woody Allen and I love Barcelona, but I despise Scarlett Johansson (as an actress anyhow). I guess two out of three ain't bad. Anyway, I am really excited about this upcoming film. I'm not sure if this is the official trailer, but it looks pretty amazing to me. I just wish Woody would stop using Scarlett as his leading lady.

Lazy Weekend

Beautiful NYC weather this Memorial Day weekend. Just relaxing. New discovery was LE BARRICOU restaurant in Brooklyn. Had a delicious brunch here Saturday afternoon. Inexpensive, delicious and no attitude. Nice French bistro a short walk from le apartment. Also checked out the french film, ROMAN DE GARE, at the Angelika. The city seemed empty this weekend, and the theater was the same, which is how I like it. Intriguing film with great acting and a few twists. Also, picked up this great Kate Moss t-shirt put out by FUCT, featuring photo by Shawn Mortensen. BBQ at Fette Sau for dinner tonite, and the weekend is almost complete. Hopefully just lay in the park tomorrow and read.

The Family

Currently reading THE FAMILY, by Ed Sanders. This book came out in 1971 and is a great companion piece to HELTER SKELTER. Written with a more "hippie" point of view than Vincent Bugliosi's book, alot of people don't like it as much. Ed Sanders lived with "family" members and really puts together an interesting timeline of Charles Manson and the events of 1969. The used copy I picked up is from 1972, and came with a swastika pencilled in on Charlie's forehead.

Tamra Davis cooking show

Tamra Davis is Beastie Boy Mike D's wife. As well as being a succesful movie/video director, and mother of two, she has a web cooking show that I have been obsessed with lately. It shows her cooking for family and friends in various locations, like on vacation out west, the Hamptons, their homes, etc...Nothing all that exciting, but they are really into healthy living, and the show is oddly both entertaining and relaxing. It would be even better for those who have kids, I would guess. Mike D does make a few guest appearances.

http://www.tamradaviscookingshow.com/

The Whitney

Was at the Whitney Museum today to see the Robert Mapplethorpe Polaroids show and to also catch the Biennial . They are very strict about no photos, no strollers, no this, no that, and you have to leave an I.D. for a audio tour player. Jeez. Anyway, the Mapplethorpe show was great, very "mature" with not the usual men in leather masks and such. The Biennial show had some hits and misses, and besides the Rita Ackerman stuff and seeing the Jeff Koons Hoover vacuum cleaner piece on display, nothing bowled me over. No pics of the art, just some rainy day shots of the museum.

Planet Joe

With the weather trying to warm up, my musical tastes tend to run toward a more California vibe, so I've been listening to alot of Black Flag lately. To help me get more into the summer/Cali mood, I read PLANET JOE, by Joe Cole, Black Flag roadie (and best friend of Henry Rollins), who was murdered in 1991. I love this book; a diary of being on the road with a band, and the insanity and the loneliness that comes with it. Reading THIS book, GET IN THE VAN, and the Rollins bio, TURNED ON, really gives you a good idea how it was touring with Black Flag, I suppose. Now if only Greg Ginn would write something about BF. Embarrassingly, my favorite Sonic Youth song is JC, and I only recently figured out it was about Joe Cole. Oh well, only 16 years late.

Gary Panter

Went to see the artist Gary Panter speak tonight at the Strand bookstore. If you don't know who he is, Gary Panter is the mastermind behind the Pee Wees Playhouse design, as well as lots of other great art, dating back to the 70s. He created the character Jimbo, appeared in Slash magazine in LA, and has done numerous album covers. He has a humongous new book out and did a slide presentation, showing some of that work, with amusing anecdotes and insider information. Meeting him was a pleasure and he doodled a little drawing on an old gallery opening envelope I dug up from 1989. This guy really is a living legend, and his book looks like a couple of phone books piled on top of each other. Heavy duty stuff for a heavy hitter in the art world ( at least in my book).

40 Bond (revisited)

Passed this amazing building again and had to post another picture. I
still think it looks like piles of bones. Actually testing my mobile blogging skills. Seems to work.

Frontier(s)

One of my favorite Saturday evening activities is to see a movie by myself. I know it sounds pathetic, but it really relaxes me because I can see whatever I want, avoiding any drama. My favorite place to see my Saturday evening flick, is the Village East Cinema on 2nd Ave. It usually gets foreign and independents after Angelika, but alot of times it gets low budget horror films nobody else shows. Tonite I saw FRONTIER(S), a kind of French Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but with a family of neo-nazis instead of Leatherface. This was a really vicious little French production with gallons of blood and high tension situations. Great crowd too; fat guys with pony-tails wearing Friday the 13th t-shirts, really hoopin' and hollerin'. The guy behind me left two empty Budweiser quarts by his seat when he left. All in all, a nice evening for nerds like us.

The New Apartment

Been eyeing this book for a little while and finally picked it up (used but in good condition). THE NEW APARTMENT by Montse Borras goes into about 60 small spaces and shows you how these people live. Each chapter is labeled something like "Studio on Thompson st" or "Mini loft in Rome". I believe several different photographers took the photos, which look awesome. Total "interiors porn" for those like me. Can't wait to relax with this one over the weekend.

Jeff Koons

Sometime in 2006 I purchased this skateboard deck from Supreme, called MONKEY TRAIN, featuring the art of Jeff Koons. Being a fan of his, I figured that this was a bargain at around $60.00 to own a piece of his work done on a deck. There were 3 different versions, but I was too cheap to pick up all 3. On April 26th, the auction house Phillips De Pury & Company held an auction of modern toys, furniture, and art. This skateboard deck was labeled LOT 116 and was expected to go for $1000-$1500. When I checked the results of the auction a few days later, I found that it had gone for $4000. Jeff Koons is now the highest paid living artist in the world, recently overtaking Damien Hirst. I suppose the more money his major works go for, the higher his smaller stuff will go for as well. Thank God I didn't take the plastic off of mine...I never know when I'll need to cash out.

The Universe of Keith Haring

What a privilege to attend the Tribeca Film Festival screening of THE UNIVERSE OF KEITH HARING, yesterday morning, in the presence of the Haring Family. AND on his 50th birthday. Wow, what a great film, really getting inside his life in his own voice and from the people who knew him best. I've read most of the books on Keith Haring, but this shed some new light on how he lived his life, and his positive attitude. Inspiring. Keith's mom and family were there, as well as his old roommate, Kenny Scharf, and it was really a special event to have on the anniversary of his B-Day.

Bananas

Picked up this beautiful original 1971 BANANAS one sheet last week, because it really shows the artistic quality movie posters had years ago. They just don't make that many great movie posters anymore; ones that have real artistic value. I mean, how can you top a Jack Davis painting of Woody Allen holding a banana and a machine gun. Absolute Classic! I used to take my time at the movies, looking and studying the posters and the artwork. Nowadays, I'm rushing to get a seat and stuff, not paying much attention to the "coming soon" posters. Maybe its my fault, but it's rare when a poster catches my attention. Maybe I should slow down and try to seek out good posters at the theater, since I used to really enjoy finding a great one.

Brooklyn Modern

Recently picked up this new book, BROOKLYN MODERN by Diana Lind with photos by Yoko Inoue, put out by Rizzoli . This is a big book of architecture and interiors from houses and apartments throughout Brooklyn. This is my cup of tea, being I'm a furniture fanatic, a Brooklyn resident, as well as a person who loves checking out other peoples spaces. Great photos of fellow Brooklynites dwellings decked out in some modern furniture and stuff. Almost as good as one of my favorites, BOHEMIAN MODERN by Barbara Bestor, which is really the book I look at every week it seems. Too bad that book is all L.A. dwellings. Brooklyn is definitely on its way up though.

Justice

I've lost my taste for most electronic music over the past few years, but this video is some scary stuff. But I've always been a fan of "troubled teen" movies and videos. Best video all year. Will keep an eye on this director, Romain- Gavras. The song is "STRESS".