Rothko-esque

I've always been a big fan of Mark Rothko, and last month viewed the small exhibit (in addition to the permanent collection) of his work at the National Gallery of Art in D.C. I took this photo on the airplane on my way to Hawaii... it just made me think of him.

My excuse for everything.

Check this out.

This explains a lot about my siblings and I.

Or, well, this, too.

Da plane! Da plane!

I landed on the island of Kauai today. It's late (I seem to adjust to time changes eastbound quite well), and the waves are loudly crashing at our back porch. Reminds me of Vietnam. Only not as cheap.
ha.

Post script: Do my references to Fantasy Island age me?

Theme Building

Cool pics of the Theme Building, where the Encounter restaurant is located. Image by Janie Fitzgerald, Axis Images.

Eat like the Jetsons

It's not quite the Jetsons, but sure looks like it. The Encounter is located in the landmark Theme Building at LAX airport and has surprisingly good grub for an airport venue... the chef is trained in France!

7000 Feet Below Zero

Well, we were at 7000 feet, and the temperatures were well below zero... wind chill surely had us in the negative teens or negative twenties as we were jumping away at Olympic Park. On Tuesday, the noon high was -4. We were forced to scrape ice off the inside of the car -- condensation from breathing. When we pulled into the garage, the fog rolled out. The sunny spots on the black asphalt steamed in the winter freeze.
Oh, I'm not complaining. Just looking forward to Friday in Hawaii.

On Air

I happen to love flying. I don't mean traveling. The actual flying part, I enjoy it.

Today we flew over the Grand Canyon. It ranks at the top of the "cool things I've seen from an airplane" list. Among others, seeing the aurora borealis (northern lights) -- I mean, swimming in the lights from our plane -- on my nighttime departure from Anchorage, Alaska; seeing the Space Shuttle in flight while I myself was in flight en route to Orlando; and seeing Niagra Falls from above on a return flight from Asia.

I also revel in the take off. Perhaps this is its own disorder? Mr. Garwood suggested I might have "restless feet syndrome."

Flight Plan.

My upcoming schedule:
Nov 24 to Nov 30: Orlando, FL
Nov 30 to Dec 1: Arlington, VA
Dec 1 to Dec 3: Santa Monica, CA
Dec 3 to Dec 8: Park City, UT
Dec 8 to Dec 16: Santa Monica, CA
Dec 16 to Jan 2: Kapaa', Kauai, HI
Jan 3 to Jan 6: Arlington, VA
Jan 6 to May-ish: Monteleone, Umbria, Italy
Post May: TBD

la dolce vita

This is where I'm moving in January. Four hundred years old, four stories, on the main piazza of a cobblestone village in Umbria. Views from the terraces and fireplace. One baker, two butchers, a grocer, two restaurants, and a pizzeria.

Nice.

People are REAL nice.

I got a free Motorola Razr phone at the T-mobile store today.

Opera on the Mall

After an interesting lunch at the American Indian Museum, Mike and Eileen and I took up on free Opera on the mall; a simulcast of Porgy & Bess on a gorgeous autumn day with the Capitol in the background. We didn't get through it all, though, since we were also off to see "I Am Cuba" -- a Soviet propaganda piece brought to the U.S. by Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorcese in the '90s.

No Conspiracy

Lots of color printers leave behind a series of yellow dots, indicating the time, date, and serial number -- making documents traceable. Interesting.

Air Addiction

I am addicted to flight. Lucky me scored a free trip to Hawaii using frequent flyer miles to go with Mike and Lori and family. Well, you know, two weeks in Hawaii grew to two weeks in Hawaii AND two weeks in Santa Monica since frequent flyer miles let you do a free stopover. Why not add a vacation to my vacation, I thought?

After a dozen flights and 18 months of vacation, I finally got a job at the end of August. Sure, I didn't work more than ten days before I took off to New York. A week later I flew to Columbus. Just back from that, I masterminded my December plans to spend two lovely sunny winter weeks in Santa Monica before going to Hawaii for the holidays, to return January 2nd to the east coast. The idea is that I'll return to Washington, grab my things, and get up to NYC to set down my roots someplace and pick up some work.

The problem with planning a one month vacation is that I can't plan more vacations. Or so I thought. I just booked a six day trip in the middle of my vacation to go to the lovely resort town of Park City, Utah to visit old friends Lori and Ori (who refer to themselves as L'Ori). A vacation within a vacation within a vacation. Now, where to next?

You would think

...that I worked for Google.

I just love this.

Kindness.

After about ten minutes of waiting at the bus stop this morning, I thought I might like to get my SmarTrip card out to be ready for the tardy bus. Then I realized like a numbnut that I left my wallet and keys at home. The guy that waits at the stop with me most mornings handed me the buck and a quarter it costs to get on the bus. Within seconds, the bus came.

"How'll you get through the day?" he asked. "Here, take this $20."
"Oh, I'll be fine," I say.
But he shoved it my way and I accepted, offering to pay him back the next morning.
That was nice, don't you think?

Google Moon - Lunar Landing Sites

Well, it's not Mars, but it IS outer space.

Zoom in for close up shots of the moon's surface just as you do on Google Earth... While you might not find a nice cafe, you certainly will find plenty of cheese.

Tis the season for film

"The DC Shorts Film Festival presents our second annual showcase of short films from around the world, highlighting those from the burgeoning DC film community, followed by discussions with the filmmakers."

I'm going to see a screening at the Landmark E Street Theater where my friend Dan's short is playing during Screening 3. Check it out.

RESFEST 2005

RESFEST 2005 is on beginning Thursday in New York City.

GO if you want to see some innovative shorts, feature films, music videos, and amazing creative work.



Touring in:

NORTH AMERICA: New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal

EUROPE: London,Glasgow, Dublin, Bristol, Belfast, Sheffield, Nottingham, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Turin, Rome, Zurich, Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Las Palmas, Vigo, Vitoria, Valladolid, Vienna, Istanbul

SOUTH AMERICA: Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires

ASIA: Seoul, Tokyo, Kobe, Kyoto, Singapore

AUSTRALIA: Melbourne, Sydney

Craiglist will help you find your loved ones

Craigslist has set up pages for Austin, Baton Rouge, Houston, Jackson, Mobile, Montgomery, New Orleans, Pensacola, and Shreveport.

They have the following categories to help those affected by the Katrina disaster.

relief resources
missing people
temporary housing
temporary employment
missing pets
transportation/rideshare
volunteer
katrina discussion

Flying Spaghetti Monsterism

I was invited to a Noodly Appendage Party.


While I'm a faithful agnostic, I'll attend and support a few believers of Flying Spaghetti Monsterism

boating

Nothing like a day out on a boat. Even better, dinner on a boat, on the river.

of food and secret gardens

After a very bad six hour bus ride, I connected with Adam, Jon, Amanda, Jason and Neil (friends & New Orleans refugees) for a big dinner at Nha Trang on Centre Street. I was ordered to order, in the native tongue.

Saturday morning I met Kaly and David at Le Pain Quotidienne where the brioche is delish... OK, so it makes me think of those square cafeteria buns we got in our cold lunches in elementary school, but David agreed that there is something simply ephemeral about those buns. It's true.

Saturday, Nick was a great sport and wandered all over downtown Manhattan with me. Very cool walk, very good company, and very yummy snacks. Iced coffee on Houston. In search of secret gardens and park benches. Keith Haring swimming pool mural and fun rec center. New buildings. Tea and cupcakes at Podunk. Street art. Souvenir chalk (from Delavega).

After three failed restaurant choices for dinner, Peter, Kerstin, Kaly and I ended up at Blue Ribbon Bakery, one of my favorite restaurants in NYC. Since people were being nice to me all weekend, Eric treated our table to dessert. And I hadn't stepped into that place since I moved 18 months ago!

The next morning, Kurt slept in. This seemingly insignificant event threw me off course for the entire day, but in a good way. After a quick good morning to Les, Kurt, Michael and David, goodbye kisses around, I popped into Fairway Cafe for a croissant and coffee. I trekked over to meet Nick in Central Park and met a string of other nice people, James, Molly, Amy, Jane, Steve, Simon, Regina, Eloise and Cary. Sitting out on the blankets in the park is such a treat, and I gave up my intentions to visit the Cooper-Hewitt.

Off running again to meet Les, Kurt, Michael and David to do some shopping for the boys in Chelsea, then off running some more to meet Oren for dinner. A block after leaving them, I ran into Bruce, a buddy from the AIDS Rides, out walking his dog Aggie. They walked me to Union Square to meet Oren who walked me to meet Adam, Amanda, Dan and Rachel in the LES at a Japanese restaurant. I know. It doesn't really make sense. Oren and I left to go to the Dumpling Man for um...dumplings, then back to the west village (where he had a pretty large ice cream cone at Mary's Dairy on 4th).

Monday, Robert conned me into going to Brooklyn Heights. I wanted coffee. He obliged. I wanted pizza. I didn't get it. The nice streak was over. I was on a bus back to D.C.

East Meets West

...at the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C. Woodblock prints by Utagawa Hiroshige in a complete series of 53 prints depicting the Tokaido travelway. I went with Jim and Dave after a morning at the farmer's market. Note: a very large exhibit; not for the ADD.

PATRYK REBISZ

Cool work by Patryk Rebisz. I just watched "Between You and Me", rapid-fire shot on a Canon still camera.

Penn Platinums

Picasso by Penn.

Went to see the Irving Penn Platinum Prints today at the National Gallery of Art. I first saw Penn about... oh... 16 years ago at the NGA when I went to an exhibit for my high school photography class. These are platinum prints made in the '80s from images captured in the past, many in the '50s.

Also stopped in at the Dutch paintings, primarily to see the small exhibit of Jan de Bray, and enjoyed the Vermeers on permanent display. Mike and I browsed through the sculpture wing but I was more taken by the stunning new wood floors in the museum. They're stained white oak; I asked.

To view an interesting online album of Penn's work, go here and here.

to Cuong

The image below made me think of Cuong. My cousin died last night, of cancer. Nam mo a di da phat.

Beautiful Amalgamations

50 people see the sunset
Set by brevity.

If you don't know what flickr is, get out from under that rock! Neil Kandalgaonkar wrote a program that selects 50 arbitrarily chosen Flickr images that share the same tags and melds them together. The results are beautiful. We see the world the same, if we'd just soften our lines a bit.

The Soul of a Chef

If you've just finished the recommended Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, reach for The Soul of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman. I just finished it, and it makes me want to visit Per Se, Keller's new kitchen in New York City.

Hear them speak.

On August 20, James and David will be speaking at the Eva Zeisel Retrospective at the Hillwood Museum. There's a meet & greet later at 4:30 if you want to meet these talented artists.

Fresh Philanthropy

Image from FRESHFARM Markets

Mike, Eileen and I headed to the Dupont Circle Farmer's Market this morning. The market has been around since 1997 and they have a wonderful program where, at the end of the day, the farmers donate fresh food to local nonprofits and food kitchens.

Go support your local producer!