dec 3, day 5 - chelsea market

dec 3, day 5
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

after seeing the puryear exhibit, we quickly walked through the show of drawings by seurat that traced the development of his pointilist process from early drawings. we then only had time to walk through the exhibit of contemporary photography before hopping on the subway and heading to chelsea market for lunch and a little shopping. we ate at the green table, which was healthy and environmentally sound, but surprisingly bland. we also picked up some goodies from amy's bread, fat witch & a cupcake place.

dec 3, day 5

dec 3, day 5
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

martin puryear makes finely crafted wood sculptures that would be at home in a natural history museum. they have features that give the suggestion of function in some past time or familiarity to functional objects. i enjoyed walking around them and peering up at them as they disappeared into the brightness of the skylighted ceilings. in addition to being curiously familiar, they must have required some engineering to appear at times to float or hang delicately and weightlessly.

dec 3, day 5 - moma

dec 3, day 5
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

among the features at the museum of modern art, were the dynamic video wall with content culled from the art archives as well as current shows of the museum and a large exhibit of works by martin puryear. the former, which welcomes visitors into the lobby, was developed by imaginary forces to be automated but updateable by museum staff.

sussman prejza holiday party 07

sussman prejza holiday party 07
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

not sure why people decided this year to have their holiday parties on a school night. both softmirage & sussman/prejza did. the food was fantastic, and the couscous was darn good just as nicole, who helped organize the even, had heard. i loved the interior design. the low lighting made it difficult to take a lot of photos without blinding people. one wall had these colorful blocks of carpeting on the wall, and these brightly colored lamps with stripes. the side we sat on consisted of cozy booths along a backlit wall separated by these metal walls with cutouts of camels. the walls on either end of the room were white dimensional eastern motif'd bas relief walls - hard to describe.

i was under the weather so wasn't terribly social, but glad that mike dragged me out.

naples gourmet grocer

naples gourmet grocer
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

we found this little gourmet grocer in the same shopping complex as kitchen outfitters, which is next to where liscat, a yarn shop, used to be, and went inside looking for potential xmas gifts. they had some yummy things, so we stayed for lunch. had the best blt - super smokey. mike had a veggie sandwich.

bjork at nokia theater

bjork at nokia theater
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

ok, so the name of the game is timing, which i have nil. not very good at it. it's minutes later that a somewhat witty response will pop into my head after someone says something. so it is with this blog. i don't know how anyone could follow it. these blogs are suppose to be in the moment, but i can't find the time to even put these things up in a timely manner. so like my jumbled head, here it is.

...

mike & i almost forgot about this show. it's been a couple of years since bjork toured, and it seems it will be a couple more before she returns. her shows usually sell out quickly, so it was great we were able to get tickets.

bjork and the show had a lot of energy, and we had a blast. she's a great performer, and awed us not only with her singing, but also with the lighting effects. after every song, she said "gracias" or "thank you" in her cute accented voice.

softmirage xmas party 07

softmirage xmas party 07
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

softmirage had their holiday party at kimera, a restaurant in irvine, on december 13. we had a good time. i was a little hung over the next day to prove it. i think ours was the rowdiest table. we had a few drinks after dinner & a dance before taking off.

dec 2, day 4 - interactive installation

dec 2, day 4
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

this interactive installation sponsored by target was the main reason we braved the cold & wet & tourists to visit rockefeller center. highly entertaining it was, especially watching people trying to figure out what the hell was up. a camera tracks the movements of people as you enter the room, and corresponding color rectangles follow your movements. there's also sound and the occasional and random explosion of color & light.

dec 2, day 4 - anthropologie

dec 2, day 4
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

here is one of the lovely windows at anthropologie.

...on a side note...i managed to stay healthy all year, even while in wintry new york, but i think the stress of last minute shopping did me in. i started getting sniffly & developing a scratchy throat yesterday. i downed a couple of airborne concoctions as well as vitamin c, and it seems like for the most part, it's not going into full-blown flu, but i was so tired today from not sleeping much last night. it really wasn't helping my trying to make sense and program with actionscript and xml today....

dec 2, day 4 - rockefeller center

dec 2, day 4
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

the image of a huge xmas tree, the gold sculpture and atlas holding up the world, all at rockefeller center, are trite as i've seen them i don't know how many times on tv, but the huge tree with all the sparkly lights is quite nice in person. i guess the chaotic experience epitomizes the holidays--trying to enjoy the sparkles without all of the usual cliches. we did go up to the top of the roc, which was mostly misty & cloudy with low visibility. for some reason, i thought going at night would be less crowded than during the day. i'm not sure where i got that idea. maybe i thought because it was cold & wet, most people would be inside. boy was i wrong.

dec 2, day 4 - aquavit cont'd

dec 2, day 4
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

oh, prior to dessert, they brought us this melon and yogurt cream parfait. we were so stuffed. after dessert, they gave us a tray of petits fours that included real swedish fish, a chocolate covered apricot, some panna cotta-like custard stack & biscotti. i had little nibbles but couldn't eat much else. on top of that, they sent us home with homemade ginger snaps, which were excellent. you could taste the butter and ginger. yum!

dec 2, day 4 - aquavit lobster roll

dec 2, day 4
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

for the first course, i had the lobster roll, which was sprinkled with trout roe and bacon bits and had fresh lobster meat and pickled apples inside. mike had a wild mushroom salad. both were great. for the second course, i had the coconut saffron salsify noodles. until aquavit, i had never tasted or heard of salsify, which is a flowering plant that is part of the Asteracae family, commonly considered a weed. aside from the texture, they really did look like noodles, and were quite nice. mike had the rare seared tuna & scallop with asparagus and ginger braised carrots. for dessert, i had a pot de creme (soooo good) and a small scoop of coconut sorbet, and mike had this rich chocolate fudge cake thing with homemade chili marshmallows.

dec 2, day 4 - aquavit

dec 2, day 4
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

one of the best places that i have eaten in new york and anywhere else i have been is aquavit. i thoroughly enjoyed the experience, including the great service, low but not too low lighting, clean but comfortable interiors, and of course the delicious food.

having arrived early for our dinner reservation, we went to the lounge area next to the bar to partake of their aquavits. from the latin aqua vitae, meaning "water of life", an aquavit is a Scandinavian drink distilled from potatoes or grain that is 40% alcohol and often flavored with herbs. i had a cocktail made from lychee flavored aquavit, lychee, kalamansi lime juice. mike had a grapefruit lemongrass mojito made with grapefruit lemongrass aquavit. both were really good. i could drink those all night, but of course, i'd be in bed with a headache all the next day.

the chef sent a little tasting in a spoon for us that i can't remember what except that it was awesome and tasted like pork, but i think it was a more exotic meat like boar. i thought that was the amuse bouche until they sent that out...this tiny stack of salmon, trout caviar on a creamy eggy disc and a small dollop of egg dressing. mmm....

dec 2, day 4 - magic

dec 2, day 4
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i'm not one for the touristy and crowded streets, but i couldn't help but get caught up in the ornate window displays put up for the season. they were life-sized dioramas full of mystery and magic. they really go all out on some of them. it's amazing.

and i loved the igloo made of plastic milk cartons in one of the anthropologie windows.

dec 2, day 4 - ny continues

dec 2, day 4
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

the holidays are kicking my ass. with only have a few more shopping days, and still a few people left on my list, i'm wondering how the time flew. at least i was prudent to nix my ideas for any xmas gifts however much i would have wanted to do it. now would be a good time to start knitting for next year.

you have to understand that i have a large family, and that only includes those on my mother's side that i have been in regular contact with. there are the grandparents, their eight children--my seven aunts and uncles, plus respective spouses, cousins, my brothers...oh the list is long...the get-togethers are fun and festive, but holiday shopping is challenging, as i tend to get neurotic about wanting to give something that people will like and/or use.

but back to my trip to ny....

dec 2, day 4, began with snow. i don't think i was prepared for it, but it was exciting. even though i didn't grow up with snow, quite the opposite, there were still north american associations of snow with the holidays that i was happy to experience.

we didn't leave until late because i was so tired from lack of sleep and walking all over, so didn't make it to cooper union in the morning as i had hoped. instead, we went to lunch at a vegetarian restaurant, candle 79, which had nice interiors, but whose food was not especially memorable. i forget what a challenge it can be to find flavorful vegetarian food. i love the native foods near my work and greens in san francisco.

then we went to the whitney, which i've been dying to go to, to see the kara walker exhibit. i think i first saw kara walker's work in texas, then again on art 21. this particular exhibit was extensive, including videos, writings and sketches. there's an edge to her work that makes you realize what a prickly subject racism is to think about. i often find myself stereotyping and subject to the typical racist judgments without meaning to. it's hard to escape racism, and i think the work shows this difficulty.

we had an early reservation at aquavit, but having some time to kill after the museum, we went to midtown to check out the glass cube that is the apple store.

ack ack ack ack ack....

what a frustrating day. ok, so it's not even half a day, but it's starting out badly. one of the cats--and i'm worried it's henry who has health issues--puked in the middle of the floor, which i guess is better than in the middle of the duvet--what he did last night. henry jumped down from the window, and AGAIN managed to land right on the power button of the power strip, turning my computer off. luckily, nothing was damaged. i'm very paranoid, since my computer crashed a couple years ago rendering my hard drive almost irrecoverable (what was finally recovered for a mere $1000 were a bunch of corrupted photoshop files).

AND henry won't friggin' eat the prescription wet cat food, which is better for his kidney failure than the dried food. he walks by, sniffs, and turns his nose up. i have spoiled the little bugger. when i was all ready to go do the zillion things i have to do today, including a scheduled photo shoot at the studio to re-photograph one of my pieces for my final portfolio due on thurs, i discover that i have a flat tire. i think i got it parking out front because i drove home last night fine. i'm so glad i have roadside assistance. i couldn't figure for the life of me where i put the contact info. i guess it was good i was home to look it up on the internet. i'm not sure what i would have done otherwise....paid for it i guess.

so now i sit...waiting...shoot. i need to go pick up a box from uhaul to package my art piece to send to the foundry art center in missouri. i haven't even received the parts i ordered to fix the piece. and i think i may not have the right power supply to replace the old one...i may have to send as is....

dec 1, day 3: dinner in brooklyn

liz, clyde & ingrid
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

then we returned to brooklyn to spend some time with my cousin liz, her girlfriend ingrid, and my neice clyde. they were excited to have me take some photos of them for a holiday card, which i happily obliged. i have to say that it is very difficult to photograph a baby in low lighting with two other people such that all are looking at the camera and hopefully smiling, and no one is blurry. i don't like using flash as it tends to blow out the image, and i like the warmth of available lighting.

a friend of theirs had gotten clyde a holiday dress, and she looks quite doll-like in some of them, although i found ingrid's comment true and funny that clyde looked like a man in a dress. maybe not a man, but there is a resemblance to alfred hitchcock.

it took us longer than expected to get back to brooklyn, so by the time we came over, clyde had eaten, and was already tired by the end of our little photo shoot, and had to be put to bed. my cousin made fish & swiss chard, which was lovely, and it was nice to interact outside the usual chaotic and large family gatherings.

dec 1, day 3: IAC Building

dec 1, day 3
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

after seeing the do ho suh installation, we walked over to see the IAC building designed by architect frank gehry featuring a large media wall of animations inspired by the associations with the company's various online presences. the offices were closed, so we weren't able to go inside, but peeked through the windows where we wouldn't be bothered taking photos.

dec 1, day 3: do ho suh

dec 1, day 3
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

after walking around a bit in grand central station, we took the subway, then a bus to chelsea to see the work of do ho suh, a korean artist, at the lehmann maupin gallery. suh's work deals with identity with respect to the individual versus the collective. here, he has casted semi-translucent human figures in various colors of orange, yellow, red and installed them in the shape of a cyclone. it appears as if each rests upon the shoulder of another. looks like a lot of work to get it just right.

dec 1, day 3: grand central station

dec 1, day 3
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

despite the tourist-infested locale, the oyster bar & restaurant at grand central station in midtown was highly recommended for the oysters on the half shell by chowhounders. mike, like many people, is not so into oysters due to the slimey, briny factor. not me. i love oysters, which are best in months ending in -er. and being decembER, we had to go for lunch.

the oysters were tasty. we shared some scallops, which were not bad, but nothing special. i had the saffron fish soup, which was a little too salty, in lieu of the clam chowder.

dec 1, day 3 - knee deep in yarn

dec 1, day 3
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

wow, prepping, uploading & organizing all these photos from our trip is very time-consuming even with the automation set up with photoshop. not sure what blogging etiquette is. generally, journal posts are chronological, but i couldn't be bothered during the trip to make posts every night. maybe that makes me a bad blogger. in any case, i am now reconstructing the highlights of our trip.

...

here i am at habu textiles in the midst of a pile of discounted yarn at habu. they don't have a lot of stock in their shop, but you can have them order what you want from japan. i was excited to find habu on sale, and it was difficult deciding what to buy, knowing that it would not be enough!

mike sat patiently watching me go through all the yarn.

nov 30, day 2 - tour of times square

nov 30, day 2
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

after the workshop, we got a tour of the signage around the bustling and crowded times square, of which the lights and media encrusted buildings rival vegas.

i like this simple subway sign.

nov 30, day 2 - moveable type

nov 30, day 2
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

this installation, created by mark hansen & ben rubin, constantly changes, culling and repurposing content from the databases of the new york times. more info here. more photos taken by me here.

nov 30, day 2 - moveable type

nov 30, day 2
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

nov 30, day 2 - moveable type

nov 30, day 2
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

nov 30, day 2 - new york times building

nov 30, day 2
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

the segd dynamic environments workshop was held in the times center part of the "new" new york times building designed by architect renzo piano.

nov 29 - day 1 - dessert

nov 29 - day 1
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

i was a little unsure about ordering the goat cheese cheesecake. i like goat cheese, but in small quantities. this was quite tasty. mike thought it was on the dry side.

nov 29 - day 1 - noodle pudding

nov 29 - day 1
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

fred, my uncle, recommended this cozy neighborhood restaurant called noodle pudding that was close to their flat where we were staying in brooklyn. the place was packed, but we did not have to wait too long. i thought my meal was delicious. the tomato sauce had absorbed the complex flavors of the pancetta. i convinced mike to order this seafood pasta, but he ended up not liking it too much because it was too fishy. i thought his dish was tasty, but definitely for a seafood lover.

nov 29 - day 1 - on our way

nov 29 - day 1
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

on our way to the big apple via virgin america

not surprisingly, i did not find time to work on any of the knitting projects i brought for the spare time i thought i would have in the evenings. do not be fooled into thinking that mike and i spent crazy new york nights saturated with martinis & lychee aquavits (ok, maybe a little of the latter). on the contrary, we have made it back well before our usual bedtime to my aunt's flat where we are staying each night exhausted from traipsing around the city exploring all the good food, fiber and high & low art whilst decoding subway maps.

it has been very nice to return each night to a very cozy and warm (and all ours!) place away from home. my aunt & her husband have a flat in brooklyn convenient to my cousin's house, that they stay at when they are here visiting. for the past year she has offered to let family members stay here when they are not here, and mike and i were excited to taker her up on her offer.

because mike had work to do, we came home for the first time this trip earlier than usual. of course, we were no less tired as we had walked all over the lower east side, soho and downtown visiting a gallery, a bustling dim sum palace, chocolate shop, ground zero, then shopping on smith st. & 5th ave in brooklyn's neighborhood of park slope, ending our day with the best pizza (according to numerous posters on chowhound) in new york at di fara. i have not been to all the pizza joints in ny, but i've had a lot of pizza, and this was darn good. i can still smell the smokey cheese from the coal-oven lingering. actually, i think we were there long enough for it to soak into my hair, which i'm not at all minding.

that's it for now. too much has happened for me to keep up with a travelogue, so i will have to go over things in more detail, along with photos, when i return. my coconut chocolate cupcake from chelsea market awaits...