simplysevan

mama project twenty-twelve.

2012-02-17T22:57:00.000-05:00

And in a complete one-eighty from last year's MaMa Project visual identity, and even from my own graphic style, I present to you my latest — and possibly most laborious — poster design.

I was originally very resistant to the idea of deviating from my typically Illustrator-heavy and more or less minimalist style because I am trying to put together a portfolio that shows some sort of consistency between my works, but in hindsight, this probably gives me points in terms of breadth. Or at least I hope it does. There are still a few minor things that are bothering me that could be improved, but after ten (or more?) hours of nonstop painting and blending on my tablet, I don't think I can touch this again for a while — and I definitely shouldn't. I've got architecture projects to birth!

All that design process stuff being said, if you happen to be in New York City / Upper West Side next weekend, you should definitely check out Unearthed! The conceptual basis of this dance work is formed on the idea of humans embracing their primitive, animalistic nature and breaking free of the restrictive daily grind that winds us all up to be machines. (The choreographer, Marie Janicek, puts it much more eloquently in the event description). Tickets are $5 for Columbia students, $10 for the general public, and can be purchased here.

experiments in blind photography.

2012-02-17T22:39:00.000-05:00

People used to love my Corbusier-inspired spectacles, but they seem to REALLY dig my new frames. So I can expect at least one person to unceremoniously pull them off my face at the bar without even asking, suspecting them to be the latest hipster accessory, and get their greasy fingerprints all over my vision. Yes, I actually cannot see anything more than two inches away from my face, like I already told you. And if this is your way of flirting with me, it's not cute, and it's definitely not original. I get really on edge when I cannot see what's going on, but — rant over.

I remember the day when I first discovered I had to get glasses —four eyes? social suicide! — I was one devastated nine-year-old. When I put my nerdy, wire frame Harry Potter spectacles on for the first time, I could not believe that this is how people actually saw things. I had been ignorantly content in my world, where everything was soft around the edges. Twelve years later (and with a much deteriorated vision), I can say with certainty that a world with clearly defined lines and colors beats the otherwise impressionistic landscape I live in, but I do miss one thing: the way lights glowed and flickered.

So over Winter Break, I took my glasses off, put my camera on manual focus, and shot the Christmas lights twinkling around our house. I discovered that even with my impaired vision, I could gauge the focus of the lens and still take clear, in-focus shots (Cool, right!? Humans are really quite adaptable creatures). But what I wanted to capture was how I really saw:

But, of course, I also had to play with the lights, too.

well-done.

2011-12-11T19:54:00.001-05:00

I was really impressed that I had heard all of the songs in this mash-up — I'm usually out of the loop when it comes to popular music, but now there's Spotify!

latest&greatest.

2011-11-25T14:23:00.001-05:00

I would like to begin by apologizing to anyone out there who happens to actually read / follow my blog for my lengthy hiatus. There comes a point where one has to make the choice between living life and blogging about it — and I suppose, when it comes down to it, you can't blog about it if you haven't been living it.

This semester has been, for lack of a better word, fruitful. A bit boring and slow at times, but never bad (not really the description you would expect for someone's senior year of college). From it has developed my current tagline: I'm a full-time student with seven part-time jobs. It sounds awful, but it's what happens when you actually take advantage of every opportunity that interests you (read: I really need some dollah billz to my wallet). Unfortunately, though, the things I do create minimal income. For example, my favorite piece of graphic design work that I have done so far:

featured!

2011-09-28T01:51:00.000-04:00

SPECTRUM, the Columbia Spectator's blog, did a feature on student bloggers last week — and simplysevan was included [although this is old news at this point, I thought I would still share since it was exciting]! And thanks, Adrienne, for tipping the author. Also, while we're on the subject of SPECTRUM and belated annoucements, my poster for the homecoming game fair made an appearance on the blog last Fall [as did Yanyi's Genderfuck poster!].

flashback to perceptions studio.

2011-09-27T13:46:00.001-04:00

I just posted on Design-Calendar about Madeline Shwartzman's book launch last week. I was bartending/photographing at both launches and had a spectacular time! Not to mention that the book is pretty mind-blowingly amazing, so you all should definitely check it out.

Here's a re-post of the original publication:

On almost any given night in Chelsea you can stumble upon a number of gallery show openings, featuring everything and everyone from the ultra-familiar Warhol to a contemporary conceptual photographer you’ve probably never heard of. But what might make discovering a hidden gem in the art world is to find a party to go along with it — now that’s the icing on the cake.

Although it wasn’t quite by chance that we found ourselves at Eyebeam Art + Technology Center last Thursday, the night was nevertheless quintessentially New York. The atelier was teeming for the U.S. launch of Madeline Schwartzman’s new book, See Yourself Sensing: Redefining Human Perception. The book is the first to survey and present over 100 projects by artists, architects and technologists that explore the relationship between design and perception at the intimate scale of the human body.Pages from the book were projected on the back wall of the atelier space, revealing a sampling of the fascinating images it contains: Haus-Rucker-Co’s Mind Expander (1967), Diller + Scofidio’s Braincoat (2002), and Hyungkoo Lee’s The Objectuals series (2007) to name a few. To the right, what looked like a human-sized sandwich bag hung from the ceiling. We later discovered that it was much more than that when Belgian artist Lawrence Malstaf took off his shirt and shoes, and stepped in between the two layers of PVC. Within a minute, he was vacuum-packed between the two transparent layers, suspended in mid-air. Malstaf performed Shrink (1995) twice for the evening’s audience, getting a loud round of applause as he stepped out of the plastic, still breathing and completely unphased by the experience.

When the lights went off an hour after the launch party was scheduled to end, there were still a few stragglers unwilling for the night to come to an end.

good eats.

2011-09-24T23:16:00.000-04:00

Dinner Edition
Lemon Chicken with Red Pepper

Pans make cooking incredibly easy. You can make fajitas in a pan, or toast, or marsala sauce, even stew (made a really good one using a recipe I found in a magazine but didn't document it — I will next time for sure)! Recently, I decided to make lemon chicken with red pepper. I had about a pound of boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the freezer that needed to be used before going bad, a couple of lemons my family had mailed me in a care package (I know, weird, but they were off the tree in our garden!), and and as always, a lot of spices on the ready. All I had to do was buy a red pepper, which was meant to be the "healthy" vegetable part the meal. Good thing I only used a quarter of it...

1. the marinade : I squeezed four small lemons (which turned out to be way too many; I would try three next time), then added two to three crushed garlic cloves, fresh ground pepper and rosemary to taste — all in a bowl. I then added the chicken (already defrosting through the morning) and let it marinate for twenty minutes in the refrigerator. In the meantime, I diced a quarter of a red pepper.

2. get cooking! : I heated up the pan, added olive oil, and grilled the peppers for about three minutes (well, I don't actually know, I'm making that number up). Then I added the chicken and grilled each side until it looked white all the way through. Finally, I added the marinade, put a lid/cover on the pan, and let it simmer on medium heat for at least ten minutes. Simmering the chicken in the marinade is important because it guarantees tenderness.

3. presentation : You don't have to go to a fancy restaurant to have your food served in an aesthetically pleasing arrangement. I lined up the chicken pieces on my plate, poured the remainder of the marinade from the pan onto them (although if you're really picky, I would suggest not using a blue plate; blue plate plus yellow marinade makes for a greenish tinge), then spooned the peppers on top. Voilà! And yes, I did eat it all by myself; my roommates had already had dinner and I'm basically carnivorous.

...

2011-08-03T04:18:00.000-04:00

"The history of the modern movement has been one of a long-standing flirtation with technology; but the marriage never seems to have consummated. The emphasis of the discipline for some time has lain with the visual manipulation of the formal and symbolic elements of building. One feels that invisibility of structural function has been intuitively recognized, but increasingly sidetracked aesthetically into the creation of spatial effects: the ambiguity of inside/outside in the glass wall, the dematerialization through the use of glass at corners (as in the Gropius Faguswerke), the reflections in the great curtain walls (like the United Nations Building), the feeling of lightness given to massive concrete structure by mounting the whole structure on pilotis. This has given us the very great architecture whose individual works are superbly poetic evocations of certain aspects of machine technology. But such emphasis may in fact operate negatively because we so manifestly require real technological solutions to minimal shelter needs." -- John McHale, R. Buckminster Fuller, New York 1962

Not much has changed since this book was published. In my classes, the vocabulary is still the same; the obsession with the abstract, with spatial deconstruction has not passed. And it is all superbly poetic, true. But the rational and effective design philosophy of Buckminster Fuller -- call it technical, if you will -- is literally nonexistent in my undergraduate curriculum. Is it wise for the liberal arts to focus so much on how to think that it completely eliminates the how to do? The "art and science of generalized and anticipatory design competence" (Fuller, emphasis added) should not be disregarded. Architecture can be poetic, but it should also be polemic. It should address basic human needs, like housing, in the form of comprehensively designed solutions. Attempts at such solutions do exist today in the form of Earthship Biotecture, for instance, but unless such practices are widely adopted and aggressively applied*, scattered sustainable houses make absolutely no dent in the international lack of housing stock.

In 1927, Fuller predicted that 2,000,000,000 (that's two billion) new homes would be required in the world in the next eighty years (by 2007). He was not far off. In 2008, an estimated one billion people lived in urban slums, a number that is expected to double by 2030 due to unprecedented worldwide population growth almost solely concentrated in urban centers. Moreover, that number does not include the number of people who are homeless or living in substandard housing that is not part of a recognized slum. Whether Fuller's plans are ever implemented or not, can a solution truly exist for a problem as prevalent as this. Perhaps, with ingenuous design and socioeconomic policy reform... but for now, too many young architects (but not all, not all) are preoccupied with creating spatial wonderlands that are outside life's universal context.

*I do know that Michael Reynolds and Buckminster Fuller have very different ideas about how sustainable housing should be built -- local mobilization sourcing materials from around the site (manual labour and garbage) versus energy-efficient prefabrication using industrial materials (machinery and technology) -- but that is a discussion for another day.

good eats.

2011-07-23T16:02:00.001-04:00

Breakfast Edition

My favorite meal of the day, without a doubt, is breakfast. And I don't mean the bowl of cereal I typically inhale before rushing off to work. When done properly, breakfast -- or brunch -- really gets the day started right. Eating a nice breakfast [that I make myself] makes me feel accomplished, and instead of leaving the house feeling bitter about having woken up so early, I leave the house ready to take on whatever comes my way. So sleep a little earlier to wake up a little earlier and treat yourself to a nice omelette or croissants with fruit -- I recommend from experience, brunch today was phenomenal.

1. Eggs over-easy, some citrus, half an avocado, and a glass of nice, cold milk.

2. Trader Joe's Crescent Rolls. Preheat oven to 350º and bake for 12 - 15 minutes.

good eats.

2011-07-17T10:54:00.002-04:00

Lunch/Dinner Edition

Pasta is probably the most versatile, low-budget ingredient a college student can have in the kitchen. Not only is there a plethora of pasta recipes available online, you can probably toss in just about anything in with your pasta to make it a meal. My favorite type of pasta is fusilli; it's aesthetically pleasing and fills you up nicely! These set of photos show solutions to the no sauce problem (the second was more successful than the first). Perhaps I am the only one who thinks pasta is good even without sauce... but too much plain pasta just makes you feel awful by the end of it.

1. Pasta fusilli with tomato - carrot - olive "sauce" seasoned with oregano, salt&pepper in tuscan-seasoned olive oil I found in the kitchen (I had a jar of marinara that wouldn't open so I had to improvise), garnished with chives. I boiled the carrots in the same water that I used to boil the pasta to make them soft, then pan-fried them along with the tomatoes and olives in a pan. It would have been better if I did have some actual sauce...

2. Pasta fusilli seasoned with oregano, salt&pepper and lemon juice in olive oil with avocado, tomato and mozzarella cheese on the side.

spotify.

2011-07-15T23:52:00.001-04:00

It's finally here! -- well, almost. I signed up for a beta invite even though I had been using Spotify all throughout my stay in Madrid. I'm just not ready to pay $4.99 a month for music that is more or less freely available (read: I'm broke).

Sign up for your beta invite here.

...

2011-07-09T02:02:00.001-04:00

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry
--the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids' flutter which says

we are for each other:then
laugh,leaning back in my arms
for life's not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis

- e. e. cummings

good eats.

2011-07-09T01:33:00.004-04:00

Dinner Edition

In at attempt to document and share my summer cooking experiments, I have decided to write 'good eats' posts with photos and recipes. What's great about a lot of the dishes I end up making is that I usually try to use whatever is sitting around in the fridge or pantry (you know, from those grocery trips you make when you suddenly feel inspired on the way home from work and then forget about all the things you bought, except the cookies) -- and, it goes to show, college students don't have to subsist on instant noodle!

1. The first is a collaborative creation with my wonderful friend/roommate Esther, and we only used ingredients we already had: chicken legs, potatoes, onions, broccoli, and mushrooms. We chopped everything up (except the chicken) and put it in a lasagna dish. We seasoned it with salt, pepper, paprika and parsley flakes, drizzled it with olive oil, and added some water to the dish to help the chicken cook since there was no sauce. The only thing I would suggest [that we did not do] is to boil the sliced potatoes before roasting them because we were really hungry and they took a bit longer than expected to be done. Point being, you can literally put whatever you happen to have in a lasagna dish (as long as they taste good together) and make yourself a fancy dinner. Preheat oven to 400º F, roast for forty minutes or until the chicken is done.

2. I happened upon the second recipe on this wonderful site, but it requires just a bit more effort than the first one because the ingredients may not be as readily available. You can find the recipe here, but you do not at all have to follow it precisely for the dish to be a success. I bought a few packets of boneless, skinless chicken -- I made it for a small dinner party of ten people; I substituted the apricot preserves with Bonne Maman raspberry-apricot preserves I had bought to eat on toast for breakfast [but never did]; used balsamic vinaigrette instead of white, and dried strawberries instead of dried plums. And I am sure almost any variety of fruit products can be used for this to your liking. Still a success! Again, preheat oven to 400º F, roast for forty minutes or until the chicken is done.

...

2011-06-29T09:20:00.000-04:00

1. My return to the city has been busy, to put it in the most boring and nondescript term.
2. I have already lived in two New York City neighborhoods this summer; third move soon.
3. Although I was resenting it at first, going to LA for the holiday is going to feel great.
4. Can I call myself a jetsetter yet?
5. Writing this is my break from reviewing for my anthropology final exam.

I know I am quite behind on updating my blog; I still have photos and stories to post from my travels abroad, reviews of summer concerts, recipes for new delicious eats... all coming soon, promise!

back in business.

2011-06-16T12:50:00.003-04:00

After a many months-long fruitless search-and-apply process, I finally was offered an internship! My first day at Novità Communications was Monday, and I am pleased to say that I will also be writing for their blog, Design-Calendar. Design-Calendar is a resource for professionals in the architecture and design industries; its main purpose is to share event information so that we all know what's going on in the busy world of design. We also share reviews about events we've been to or are looking forward to going to -- it's perfect if you want to be in the know.

Read my first post here, and remember to subscribe to the blog!

remixitup.

2011-06-02T15:13:00.000-04:00

#spanishrevolution

2011-05-24T06:34:00.002-04:00

L.A. - New York - Madrid

(elegí el video de Londres porque explica unas ideas más importantes de la #spanishrevolution)

Yo no puedo decir que sé tanto sobre la política, pero después de vivir en Madrid por casi cinco meses sí puedo decir que estoy más consciente sobre todo que está sucediendo en el mundo. Seguro que algunos de mis amigos españoles tenían más interés en la política y la economía de mi propio país que yo, y esto me dio tanta vergüenza. Y decidí estar más informada y educada sobre todo, siguiendo las redes de noticias desde varios países (que ya tenía en mi twitter pero casi nunca usaba) -- pensando, formulando opiniones...

Un fósforo puede causar una explosión. Ya es la hora para cambio. Empezamos con Egipto y aquí estamos, en todos los lados del mundo -- luchando, gritando, en algunos lugares, muriendo. La voz de la revolución española y las revoluciones del Medio Oriente tienen significado fuera de los paises del orígen porque expresan algo que es sin denominación, sin fronteras políticas o religiosas: justicia es una idea universal. Ahora, espero la revolución americano...

P.d. No debemos tener miedo de lo que va a pasar en los años que vienen. Parece que estamos acercando la tercer guerra mundial -- y no me sorprendería si esto sí acaba con violencia -- pero al fin esto movimiento hacia el caos es imposible parar y además, es necesario para obtener la tablula rasa que mucho necesitamos.

...

2011-04-26T16:29:00.001-04:00

"The innate dynamism of the modern economy, and of the culture that grows from this economy, annihilates everything that it creates – physical environments, social institutions, metaphysical ideas, artistic visions, moral values – in order to create more, to go on endlessly creating the world anew. This drive draws all men and women into its orbit, and forces us all to grapple with the question of what is essential, what is meaningful, what is real in the maelstrom in which we move and live." - Marshall Berman, All That Is Solid Melts Into Air

vivienda.

2011-03-29T15:55:00.001-04:00

Después de sufrir mucho estrés por el problema de encontrar un grupo de amigas con quienes querría vivir, ¡ahora tengo uno de los apartamentos con las vistas mejores en la universidad! Vamos a vivir en la decimoquinta planta desde donde podemos ver la belleza de la ciudad -- hay ventanas orientadas hacia el este y el sur. El semestre pasado viví en la decimocuarta planta y la vista de la salida del sol era muy impresionante. ¡Todas estamos muy emocionadas!

hear me rORCHESIS.

2011-03-26T19:48:00.002-04:00

This is my latest poster/pr image commission for Orchesis. Everything was designed in Illustrator except for the background -- the tree trunks -- which were done in Photoshop. I drew the dancer dressed in a lion costume à la Where the Wild Things Are using the trackpad of my laptop, which was almost as difficult as drawing the 1920s flapper girl for the Glass House Rocks poster. It would be quite nice to have access to a tablet right now... If you are in the New York City area, you should go to the show! The Orchesis dancers are all so beautiful and the choreography is fantastic. // Una nueva cartel que hice para mi grupo de baile en Nueva York. Dibujé la persona llevando la disfraz del león usando el trackpad de mi ordenador -- ¡fue muy dificil!

las fallas en valencia.

2011-03-26T19:06:00.002-04:00

| 19 marzo 2011 |

1 - 2: el desfile en el Pont de San Josep, falleros
3: una falla infantil
4: falleros pequeños y muy bonitos
5. las flores en la Plaza de la Virgen
6. la cúpula de la Real Basílica de la Virgen de los Desamparados
7. espectáculo de fuegos artificiales antes de la quema
8. la quema de la falla con esqueletos

Max y yo salimos de la Estación del Sur de Autobuses a las siete de la mañana el sábado, nosotros dos muy cansados y un poco enfermos. Pero ¿qué pudieramos hacer? Max compró los billetes hace mucho tiempo y ¡no queríamos perder la oportunidad a ver las Fallas!

Encontramos el espíritu de la Fallas antes que entrar el centro; un desfile de familias vestidas en ropa tradicional nos pasó en el Pont de San Josep (Puente de San José -- muchos de los signos están en valenciano). Habían muchos desfiles como así y pensamos que cada barrio o región en Valencia tenía su propio grupo/desfile... Pasamos el día andando por la ciudad para conocer los edificios importantes, para aprender la historia de Valencia tanto que podíamos sin una guía. Vimos la mascleta, un gran espectáculo de fuegos artificiales en la Plaza de Ayuntamiento; había un multidud enorme y no podíamos mover. Pero conocí a algunas valencianos muy amables y charlamos hasta que empezó el espectáculo. También aprendimos mucho de las opiniones de los valencianos por las fallas porque fueron de temas sarcásticos y críticos. Por ejemplo, había una sobre Zapatero y las nuevas reglas de velocidad máxima; también demostraba Zapatero jugando ping pong con el líder de PP sobre España.

Durante el día encontramos otros amigos: Dorian, Emilio y sus compañeros del piso, entre otros. Juntos comimos paella y tapas, fuimos de compras en una tienda que vende cosas artesanas (yo compré joyería), intentamos a ver tantas fallas que podíamos y al fin elegimos una para ver su quema. Esperamos más que una hora a media para la quema -- pensamos que fueron a quemarla a la medianoche pero no la quemaron hasta una y media. ¡Pero fue fenomenal, una vista maravillosa!

Emilio tuvo petardos que tiramos en las calles, pero lo más gracioso fue cuando Dorian tiró un petardo en una esquina donde habían tres hombres haciendo pis y ¡corrieron como ratas! Pero después do todas estas cosas divertidas, estaba muy cansada. Max y yo regresamos a la estación de autobuses a las cinco para esperar a nuestro autobús que llegarare a las nueve. Tenía mucho frío en el suelo de la estación y empecé a tiritar mucho. Por eso fuimos a la cafetería para tomar un café, comer algo y calentarnos. Sentía mejor y me quedé dormido en una silla en la cafetería hasta nuestra hora de vuelta.

the harvest company of natural goods.

2011-03-25T18:47:00.003-04:00

photo via // google.com

For when you are missing Morningside Heights. This little cafetería near the Rubén Dario metro station is the closest thing to Community Food & Juice that I have discovered in Madrid. After several months of greasy and fattening [but delicious] foods, my body was craving something fresh and light. I ordered a tri-color pasta salad [well, I was also very hungry] with black olives, corn, roasted peppers, cherry tomatoes, and a pesto vinaigrette dressing. Good food, decent prices, and they even had an incense burning, which made the place smell amazing. I want to return when the weather is nicer to sit out on the terrace because it is located right next to a bridge under which there is a water fall [I love the sound of running/falling water] and a few modern sculptures.

"From the Earth to You Since 1924"

Castellana, 40

915 765 704

[seminario] noticias y series.

2011-03-22T16:49:00.002-04:00

Claro que los medios de comunicación perpetúan los estereotipos sobre diferentes personas, países, temas... que mucho de lo que pensamos sobre lo que existe y está pasando en el mudo es un resultado de lo que vemos en las series, las pelís, etcétera. Las noticias tampoco están cien por ciento justos, y nos muestran las imagenes más típicas y más faciles para aprender -- para consumir.

Últimamente, las noticias españolas han hablado sobre los Estados Unidos en el contexto de noticias de otros países: la revolución en Libya y la devastación de Japón. Y yo emfatizé otros porque el estereotipo de que quiero hablar es lo que los Estados Unidos simepre toma parte de todo lo que ocurre en el mundo. Las noticias mencionan que uno de las preguntas más grandes es lo que va a hacer el EEUU para intervenir en Libya, o ayudar a Japón. Pues, sabemos que este estereotipo es más una verdad. Que sí, el EEUU siempre tiene que hacer algo para ayudar o castigar los otros países del mundo. Pero además que ser un verdad, la participación del EEUU en la política mundial es por una parte para satisfechar la presión de defender su imagen estereopida. La verdad es que estoy de la opinión que (y sé que es una expresión un poco asquerosa) el EEUU ya tiene sus dedos en bastante culos... (y aquí no hablo de Japón, claro).

Al mismo tiempo, España está perpetuando sus mismos estereotipos por sus series. Para seminario (y por mi propio interés -- ¡aye qué guapo es Duque! -- sí, lo dije) estoy viendo la serie Sin tetas no hay paraíso. Por ver esta serie, si no supiera nada de la cultura española, creería que todos los hombres son misóginos hijos de puta, y las mujeres débiles, que haría cualquier cosa por dinero o sexo. Que para los hombres españoles, proteger el orgullo es más importante que estar lógico -- por ejemplo, Jésus, que juga seis mil euros en una carrera. O "La Roca," que quiere matar Catalina porque ella no acuesta con él. Y las mujeres españolas, pues, no tienen ninguna opción además de ser putas para ganar dinero. Jessica más o menos transforma todas sus amigas a "novias" de traficantes de cocaína, y su madre no puede decir nada a ella sobre su "trabajo" porque ella paga para todo. Y Catalina quiere ser la mujer que Duque va a gustar, que significa que necesita dejar a ser una niña, obtener tetas y llevar ropa cachonda. ¡Qué bien representación de mujeres! -_-

Y necesito contar que además de todo esto, el primer capítulo de la serie empieza con el asesinato de una mujer por cortar la garganta. Eso no es el único asesinato en lo primeros capítulos... hay un montón del uso de drogas y alcohol, imagenes de mujeres desnudas, etcétera aunque la serie está designada para espectadores de la edad 13+. Sí hay muchos series en los Estados Unidos que contienen imagenes maduras pero tipicamente están designadas para espectadores mayores, o no es tan obvio... al menos que yo sepa (no veo mucho tele).

it's all ok...?

2011-03-21T18:49:00.001-04:00

I stumbled upon Garance Doré's mini-series of blog entries titled My First Times... of how I found my calling, if indeed it has been found. After a few summer jobs that defied economic laws, a college party that lasted four years, and that first job I got because of a pair of boots, I had decided to face my fears and try myself at being an illustrator. My dream, vs reality. But wait, reality kept coming on...

And now perhaps I should stop being afraid (read: whining) about the possibility of living in a box on a grimy street in New York City -- or worse, moving back in with the family -- and start being proactive, take life day by day doing the best I can, go with the flow, and have faith that eventually everything will work out. Eventually.

I think the eventually part is what scares me more than the idea of never. If we know that something is never going to happen, we make adjustments, adapt in order to move on to a new path. But with eventually, there's always that lingering hope that some day it's all going to work out, and until then you just have to settle. A New York Times opinion piece writes, "The millions of young people who cannot get jobs ... are in danger of losing their faith in the future. They are indefinitely postponing the life they wanted and prepared for; all that matters is finding rent money." Indeed, my peers and I are at a point in our lives where we can only live in two extreme states: immersing ourselves fully in the present and enjoying every moment of it without thought of consequences, or applying all our energies into doing things that will secure our future, but without guarantees.

Being abroad, I am in an uncomfortable split between these two extreme states. I want to travel around Spain and Europe, meet people, become so much a part of the culture that people I meet won't be able to guess that I am from the States. I want to dance all night, sleep in past noon, and wake up without that guilty feeling of having wasted time because I could have done something "more productive." But I have spent more days than I would have liked sitting in my room on a beautiful, sunny day pouring over classes I can potentially take over the summer (and how to pay for them at over a thousand dollars a credit), searching for internships, sending out cover letters and résumés that go without response, worrying about my GPA and grad school for architecture, and napping not to rest but to avoid all the disappointment.

It is quite difficult to find balance. If I found balance, I would be content.

(Dear Universe, this is a plea.)

día nuevo, intento nuevo.

2011-03-21T13:07:00.002-04:00

Estoy intentando a ser una modelo para United Colors of Benetton:

Haz clic AQUÍ y "like" mi perfil, por favor, para mejorar la posibilidad que me eligan.

los abrazos rotos.

2011-03-08T10:58:00.001-05:00

Quería que la no tenía subtítulos porque los me están destrayendo de entender el diálogo sin leerlo. Hoy, miré una parte -- megavideo solamente deja mirar por 72 minutos cada vez -- y ya la me gusta muchísimo.

um fim de semana em portugal.

2011-02-28T20:59:00.005-05:00

| Lisboa - Cascais - Sintra |

Eu não tinho visto tanta beleza antes. Eram paisajens surreais. Podia respirar. O cheiro do mar e os peixes. Mesmo o doce ar saturado. A areia estava quente, o solo, úmido. Eu não deixado a cidade por um longo tempo e este fim de semana percebi que não sou uma pessoa da cidade.

El jueves fui a Lisboa [por avión] con Dorian, Jaron y Jodi. Llegamos al aeropuerto de Lisboa en la tarde y sacamos un autobus al centro sin saber seguramente a cual parada necesitamos bajar del bus. Usando el portugués que sé (una paréntesis: los portugueses no pueden entenderme cuando hablo portugués pero los brasileños, sí) – y con el ayudo de una chica española que está estudiando en Lisboa – bajamos en la parada Rossio que es el centro de la ciudad y caminamos por Rua de Prata por unos minutoas hasta llegamos a nuestro hostal, Lisbon Lounge Hostel, que es un hostal muy excelente y muy guay. Los dormitorios son muy limpios (aunque nos quedamos en uno con ocho camas) y los recepcionistas son muy amables. Hay desayuno gratis y se puede apuntarse para la cena diaria por 9€ – ¡comida muy deliciosa cocinada por el chef del hostal!

La primera noche fuimos al Barrio Alto que está la área donde están todos los bares y un montón de gente. No había visto un botellón como así, las calles llena de gente bebiendo litros de cerveza, casi sin espacio para caminar. Jodi y yo conocimos un grupo de chicos portugueses muy amables que están estudiando farmacía y ellos nos enseñaron el barrio. Uno de los hablaba inglés y español muy bien, pero claro que hablamos en español.

El próximo día, juntamos a un grupo para hacer un paseo por la ciudad con una guía del hostal. Andamos por las partes más históricos y vimos la catedral Santa Maria Maior de Lisboa, el Castelo de São Jorge y el Ponte 25 de Abril [desde lejos]. Andamos por todos los barrios incluyendo Chiado, Baixa y la Praça do Comércio. Sacamos muchas fotos, comimos platos tradicionales, conocimos otros estudiantes de erasmus de Istanbul, Italia, Brasil y los Estados Unidos... compramos una botella de absinto y la noche pasó muy feliz en el hostal...

El sábado nos levantamos temprano para hacer nuestro gran exploración de Cascais y Sintra. Tomamos el tren para ir a Cascais y cuando llegamos allí, fue muy bien tiempo. Queríamos andar bicicletas – se puede "alquilar" una bici grátis por unas horas – pero no había dejado ninguna cuando se las pedimos al señor en el kiosk. Entonces, fuimos andando por la ruta justo al lado de la playa y exploramos la naturaleza: calas, arbustos, vistas y al fin de la ruta, la gran Boca do Infierno donde las olas son gigantescas. Después de almorzar, regresamos a la playa al inicio de la ruta, tomamos el sol y disfrutamos el mar por una hora antes que salimos para ir a nuestro segundo destino: Sintra.

Después de una poca confusión sobre la línea que debíamos tomar (que yo arreglé por hablar portugués con un señor viejo que nos dirigó), llegamos a Sintra en cuarenta minutos y ya no había sol. Hacía frío cuando bajamos del autobus y las chicas del grupo no querían explorar el pueblo. Jodi, Gabi y Erin sentaron y se quedaron en una pasteleria para tomar café. Yo también tenía frío porque estuve llevando shorts pero no quería quedarme al dentro de un edificio después de viajar mucho para ver la naturalez y la architectura histórica de Sintra. Y después de caminar con prisa por unos minutos, ya no tenía frío. Entonces, Dorian, Jaron y yo intentamos a subir la montaña para ver el Castelo dos Mouros que está en la cima. Subimos 2 km, a veces por el bosque, pero al fin no llegamos al castillo porque empezó a ponerse el sol y no había bastante luz para continuar nuestra ruta. Sin querer regresamos a la estación del tren – las chicas ya habían salido.

En poco tiempo llegamos por la última vez al hostal, cenamos y celebramos el éxito de nuestras adventuras en Portugal con nuestros nuevos amigos y mucho cerveza aunque teníamos que despertarnos temprano la próxima mañana para ir a la Estação do Oriente y regresar a Madrid.

Querría conocerle más a Portugal...

¿crees en el futuro?

2011-02-28T09:35:00.001-05:00

via // Jules Bakshi y Nick Bakshi

[seminario] comunicación y lenguaje.

2011-02-27T20:54:00.001-05:00

¡Vive el idioma! Estoy tratando a vivir el idioma en Madrid, y en las últimas semanas, he tenido mucho éxito. Conocí a muchos estudiantes españoles que me están ayudando a ser una hispanohablante fluente por corregir mis errores de gramática y de vocabulario cuando hablamos, aunque ya dicen que hablo muy bien y casi sin acento. Además, en una fiesta este finde pasado, un chico estuvo engañado y pensó que yo era una española -- ¡y eso me hace muy feliz!
A pesar de todo lo positivo, no es siempre tanto fácil a comunicar efectivamente con españoles especialmente cuando usan frases colloquiales o hacen bromas que yo no entiendo por las referencias. O cuando yo uso palabras y frases que aprendí en la escuela secundaria que tienen un sentido diferente en España (o no tienen ningún sentido porque las traduzco de frases colloquiales en inglés). Por ejemplo, desde que comenzó a aprender español, uso la frase "intercambio de lenguas" para significar una práctica de dos idiomas diferentes. Hace solamente unas semanas que mi amigo Carlos rió un montón cuando usé la frase ("Sí vamos a quedar, ¡que quiero hacer un intercambio de lenguas!") y me dijó que la significa -- literalmente -- un intercambio físico de lenguas, un beso apasionado. ¡Qué vergüenza!
Y a veces, quiero abrazar en vez de dar dos besos (claro, después de conocer una persona por un tiempo). Me gusta mucho la proximidad y la intimidad de un abrazo entre amigos buenos...

2011-02-20T14:42:00.001-05:00

potential travel plans:

2011-02-16T20:56:00.006-05:00

PRETTY CITIES.

I am currently trying to plan spring break and it is turning out to be quite difficult. I do think that I have found some pretty fantastic locations but I don't really have a good grasp of how much all this is going to cost. And I cannot decide how many days I should stay in each city. The problem is that even if I want to make a day trip out of one location, for instance, it only takes 1.5 hours to get to the next one so I would end up getting there at a very unreasonable hour. This makes it necessary to stay in a hostel or hotel for at least one night at each location, raising the price tag on the trip. But I am in Europe and who knows when I will have the good fortune to return, so it is definitely worth it. The itinerary I have in mind: Madrid > Barcelona (2 - 3 nights) > Narbonne (1 -2 nights) > Marseille > (1 night) > Nice (1 night) > Milano (2 nights) > Roma (3 - 4 nights). Or perhaps, instead of going directly from Milano to Roma, I could travel down the peninsula by train making stops in Venezia, Pisa, and Firenze. I mean, I do have 2.5 weeks at my disposal: a coastal trip from one peninsula to another. ¡Qué guay!

diseño y proceso.

2011-02-12T18:18:00.007-05:00

Eso es el cartel para un show de baile de que mi amiga, Caroline Walthall, es la coreógrafo. Esta vez era la primera que uso mis propias fotografías en una publicidad. El proseso era interesante y muy divertido. Para empezar, Cassie (mi modelo) y yo fuimos a un "sitio secreto" para sacar fotos de diferentes poses que representan la idea de inequilibrio. Las poses y la calidad de las fotos no fueron las mejores pero los efectos de luz eran muy chulos. Después de nuestra sesión de fotos, yo fui a Casa de América para ver la exposición allí y descubrí el jardín del edificio. Saqué unas fotos y las mostré a Caroline y Marie, y ellas les encanta el sitio. Por eso, como ya escrité, Cassie y yo fuimos al jardín para sacar las fotos finales. No pude sacar más que 40 fotos -- un guardia de seguridad nos dijo que no podemos subir/sentar en las escaleras ni la fuente y si quisiéramos hacer una sesión de fotos así necesitaríamos autorización. Agradecidamente, ya tenía algunas fotos que son perfectos para el cartel, una que ya puse en la bitácora ayer y también usé para el diseño final. Después de todo eso, conocimos algunas mujeres mayores que empezaron hablar con nosotros y durante la conversación dijeron que Franco era bueno para españa y que debemos ir a una conferencia sobre generaciones y memoria de la represión franquista el mismo tarde. Nos dieron la lista de programa de actividades del Ateneo de Madrid, y nos despidieron. Era una encuentra interesante... y un día productivo.

historias encontradas.

2011-02-12T15:56:00.002-05:00

Ángela y Paco, hijos de Ángela y Miguel Ángel, frente a la puerta de Corte Inglés con los Reyes Magos. La foto se encontró Ángela en un libro.

segovia.

2011-02-08T09:14:00.002-05:00

| 5 febrero 2011 |

1. Acueducto
2. Segovia Catedral
3. vista desde el Torre de Juan II
4. Iglesia de San Esteban
5. una mjuer mayor en la calle cerca del Alcázar
6. fachadas con patrones

vivir como así:

2011-02-07T16:48:00.005-05:00

Ayer descubrí:

1. la música de Gentle Music Men, que ahora me encanta
2. CANADA, una productora ubicada en Barcelona

Si pueda, trabajaría por un grupo creativo como CANADA. Me gustan muchísimo los temas de sus proyectos, el estético y la representación de sus conceptos que son raros pero bellos. Opino que demuestran un alto nivel de creatividad. Me gustaría la oportunidad de hacer un proyecto de vídeo que no es de género de 'stop-motion' (porque lo ya he hecho). Si estuvieren ubicada en Madrid, trataría hacer una práctica con ellos...

Ahora pensando mucho en dos cosas: hacer un trabajo de voluntario (si es posible) en el Museo Reina Sofía O ser una fotografo para tillate.com (no he visto ningunos fotografos en las discotecas que son mujeres), que también es un trabajo voluntario. Pero ¡no sé! Necesito ganar dinero en alguna manera y un trabajo voluntario, pues, es trabajo gratis.

[seminario] ruta tres:

2011-02-05T21:35:00.010-05:00

El viernes fuimos al barrio Vallecas para nuestra exploración fuera de la almendra. Justo que salí de la boca de metro, noté una persona que estaba hablando ruso y otro que estaba hablando chino. No sé, pero Vallecas me parece un barrio de inmigrantes y la gente menos afluente de Madrid. Las calles están más sucios que las en el centro, a veces más anchas sino otras veces muy estrechas. Más o menos todos los edificios son de ladrillo y en unos partes hay grupos de edificios grandes que tienen el mismo diseño aburrido, como los 'projects' en Nueva York. Pueden ser edificios de viviendo pública. No hay nada majestuoso o clásico a ver en la Avenida de la Albufera en que caminamos hasta el metro Pacífico que está casi dentro de la almendra. Allí se puede ver el contraste entre la arquitectura del suburbio y del centro. Es más metropolitan, llena de gente y tiendas con nombres conocidos.

El Parque de Cerro del Tío Pío es un lugar interesante. Pienso que lo menos es tan antiguo como el barrio, y que estaba incluido en el plano urbano del barrio. Pero no tiene ninguna jardinería ni muchas árboles; solamente vale pasar tiempo allí para ver la vista de Madrid de la altura de las colinas (Emilio sugirió que hacemos un picnic allí cuando el tiempo mejora). Sin embargo, el día que fuimos hay mucha calina en el aire y la vista estaba un pelín borrosa.

¿Y el estadio de fútbol que está allí? Pues, no lo noté. Pero hice un busqueda de google y descubrí que se llama Vallecas Teresa Rivero y que pertenece al equipo Vallecas Rayo de Madrid de Segunda División.

...

2011-02-05T20:41:00.000-05:00

"Porque Madrid no es nada especial, no tiene un gran río, ni apenas rascacielos, no tiene ruinas, ni playa, ni mar. Pero tiene la gente, el rincón inesperado, la animación constante, la variedad. Vale la pena levantarse temprano por una vez para vivir un día la vida de Madrid."

...

2011-02-02T20:31:00.005-05:00

"It's not the idea which is the art, more the way somebody handles the idea that makes the art."

Design competition, here I come. Thank you, designboom.

200 años redeseñados.

2011-02-02T15:46:00.006-05:00

Hay algunas temas, algunas cosas o obras de arte, gráfico, etcétera que no se puede traducir de un medio de representación a otro. Las obras de la exposición, 200 Años Re-Deseñados, que "conmemora el Bicentenario de la independencia de América Latina mostrando algunos de sus cruciales momentos políticos, sociales y culturales interpretados ahora por ilustradores, diseñadores gráficos y artistas visuales," son mejor representadas en un libro (o en las calles -- serían obras de street art muy interesantes) que en las paredes de Casa de América. Hay que leer mucho para aprender las ideas de cada obra; las salas son demasiado vacía; la exposición es aburrida. Nadie estuvo aquí más que yo. Pero claro que si pongan las obras, diseños, propaganda, texto y ideas en un libro, sería un libro que quería comprar.

[seminario] la situación alimentaria:

2011-02-02T15:45:00.001-05:00

Estoy un poco preocupada con las normas de la conservación de los alimentos aquí. No sé si somos hipersensibles sobre el salud en los Estados Unidos porque mucho de la alimentación en Nueva York (por ejemplo) es importada de otros lugares y necesitamos prestar muchísima atención en conservarlos... Puede ser las cosas siguientes solamente ocurren en la casa que yo vivo, sino aquí, ponen los sobrantes en el refrigerador sin cubrirlas; también, hay demasiado humidificación en lo; el lavaplatos es súcio porque no enjuagan los platos suficientemente antes de ponerlos en la máquina; y dejan la margarina/mantequilla en la mesa por la noche. No puedo decir que mi cuarto es la más ordenada o que siempre lavo mis platos justo después de comer o mi alimentación nunca va podrida en el refrigerador (a veces olvido que tengo sobrantes, etcétera), pero no me gusta el olor mezcla de muchas comidas diferentes que olo cada vez que abro la puerta del refrigerador... Pues, al fin, la comida que mi abuela de la casa cocina es buena.

gráfico.

2011-01-30T19:30:00.004-05:00

Estoy en Madrid pero ¡todavía estoy trabajando para neoyorquinos! Es que a mí me gusta este trabajo... y a veces me pagan los grupos. En el mes pasado también diseñé los logos para CU Inter-Greek Council y uno evento que todavía está secreto que va a ocurrir en abril. ¡El diseño para este evento estaré en las camisetas! Mi próximo proyecto es re-diseñar el logo para Barnard Student Government Association y ellos van a utilizarlo en todos sus documentos oficiales.

this calls for jésus.

2011-01-25T16:02:00.002-05:00

As an architecture student, I have begrudgingly become a friend of caffeine. So much so that last semester I even went from caffeine-infused drinks (hello, grande coffee with three shots of espresso and ten spoonfuls of sugar) to the pure magic of No-Doz, once a day -- twice, if desperate times called for desperate measures (I do try my best to be a balanced individual). But I look at this and my hands get jittery and all I can think is Heart attack! Heart attack! JesuCristo, salva mi alma! And save our bodies, too. Did we not learn anything from Supersize Me?

[seminario] primera impresión de madrid:

2011-01-21T10:36:00.009-05:00

La verdad es que esta vez no es mi primera impresión de Madrid. La primavera pasada, pasé una semana un poco turística en el Centro, y en esta semana me enamoré de Madrid; decidé que quería regresar, y ahora estoy aquí de nuevo.

Pero sí, esta vez noto algunas cosas que me interesan que no noté antes: que los cables de electricidad son desterrados, que los títolos de las películas americanos muchas veces están traducidos incorrectamente, que la mano de Fátima (khamsa) es un símbolo frecuente a pesar de que históricamente los españoles han perseguido los musulmanes/arabes y judios, que los españoles no les gusta cambiar sus hábitos, que las mujeres viejas son muy chismosas (anoche, para la recepción de bienvenido a Middlebury, llevé zapatos con talcones muy altas. Estuvé en la esquina de la calle Alcalá y observé dos mujeres viejas que obviamente estuvieron hablando de mi. Por eso, les pregunté cómo llegar a la calle Barquillo...), que es típico beber alcohol o cerveza durante el día, que no hay mucho variedad en la comida madrileña, que la ciudad es la más moderna que yo he visto (¡Vaya al edificio de correos en la Plaza de Cíbeles!), que los padres no tratan controlar totalmente las vidas de sus hijos (puede ser que esto es soló el caso de mi familia española), que hay muchisima gente en las calles durante todas las horas de todas las edades y yo no puedo entender eso (¿Los jóvenes no van a escuela, los otros no trabajan?), que la moda es una mezcla entre lo bien vestido que el Sartorialist le gusta, y una fusión del punk de los años noventas y las gafabastas, que la gente le gusta ir de compras más que los neoyorquinos/estadounidenses (pues, durante las rebajas todo el mundo le gusta ir de compras, ¿no?), que el espíritu de la Movida del fin del siglo XX todavía existe y define la cultura madrileña, que quiero mudarme aquí porque el estílo de vida es más similar a la mía que el estílo de vida en Nueva York o Los Ángeles (¡La siesta es lo mejor del mundo!).

sobre madrid:

2011-01-19T15:13:00.002-05:00

Pongamos que hablo de Madrid...

Allá donde se cruzan los caminos,
donde el mar no se puede concebir,
donde regresa siempre el fugitivo,
pongamos que hablo de Madrid.

Donde el deseo viaja en ascensores
un agujero queda para mí
que me dejo la vida en sus rincones,
pongamos que hablo de Madrid.

Las niñas ya no quieren ser princesas
y a los niños les da por perseguir
el mar dentro de un vaso de ginebra,
pongamos que hablo de Madrid.

Los pájaros visitan al psiquiatra,
las estrellas se olvidan de salir,
la muerte pasa en ambulancias blancas,
pongamos que hablo de Madrid.

El sol es una estufa de butano,
la vida un metro a punto de partir,
hay una jeringuilla en el lavabo,
pongamos que hablo de Madrid.

Cuando la muerte venga a visitarme
no me despiertes, déjame dormir,
aquí he vivido, aquí quiero quedarme,
pongamos que hablo de Madrid.

via // fuckyeahmadrid.tumblr.com,
pero es una canción de Joaquín Sabina

quiero ver esta película // quero ver este filme:

2011-01-16T19:09:00.005-05:00

Pero necesito subtítulos porque no puedo entender cuando los viejos hablan...

DOMUSae. Espacios para la cultura.

2011-01-16T18:34:00.007-05:00

Una exposición que enfoca en edificios culturales como bibliotecas, museos, y archivos nacionales. Está muy buen organizada: una introducción breve, y después más información en cada sala. Vaya si esté en Madrid.

madrid, los días finales del "orientation":

2011-01-14T10:33:00.007-05:00

Cassie y yo regresamos al Parque de Buen Retiro para dibujar al miércoles. Después, reunimos con en grupo de los estudiantes del Sede Prim y fuimos a una discotéca para disfrutarnos. Ayer y hoy yo no hice mucho... ayer asistí una gira de los edificios más conocidos en Madrid con una profesora de Sede Prim, y hoy soló descansándome. Sin embargo, necesito escribir unas cartas y ensayos para aplicaciones de "internship" -- o como se dicen aquí, práctica -- para el verano. Quiero trabajar en unos de los museos en Nueva York en el campo de diseño de exhibiciones.

madrid, día dos:

2011-01-11T20:23:00.009-05:00

Hoy, nosotros (Cassie, Connor, y yo -- nosotros son estudiantes de Sede Prim y Cassie también es de Barnard) caminamos por todas partes. Empecemos desde la Puerta del Sol sin dirección específica y vamos hasta el Museo Nacional del Prado y el Parque de Buen Retiro. Después, nos perdimos un poco en las calles cuando buscamos el Palacio Real, pero al fin lo encontramos. Durante nuestra exploración de la ciudad caminamos por el edificio de la Real Academia Española, una sesión de fotos de moda, la Plaza Mayor, el Mercado de San Miguel, La Basílica de San Francisco el Grande, la Catedral de la Almudena, y muchos otros edificios, plazas, y monumentos históricos que los nombres no sé. También pasamos por el Museo del Palacio Real y vimos una exposición temporal organizada por el Museo del Prado que se títula Pintura de los Reinos. Identidades compartidas en el mundo hispánico. Era muy interesante y bien organizada. Terminamos nuestra exploración en El Corte Inglés -- ¡mis pies me mataban! Tome la línea del Metro incorrecta para ir a la casa porque estaba muy cansada, y necesitaba cambiar en Argüelles para tomar la línea 4 para Alfonso XIII.

Mañana, a la noche, quiero encontrar la Taberna Alhambra y La Tía Cebolla para comer tapas...

¡bienvenida!

2011-01-10T16:03:00.007-05:00

¡Mi habitación nuevo!

Also, while trying to figure out the key/lock situation of my building door, I asked a nice old lady-resident for assistance. She turned out to be pretty drunk and could not understand what I was asking her. At 5 PM. Ah, siesta.

it's always the case:

2010-12-22T20:07:00.002-05:00

I miss my view.

2010-12-22T19:52:00.003-05:00

It was beautiful even when the weather was ugly.

mickey avalon.

2010-12-14T03:26:00.005-05:00

| 2 December 2010 |The show was not a pleasant experience, needless to say; I was surrounded by freshmen who thought it was OK to smoke in a school auditorium, and I didn't understand a word Mickey was saying. I actually didn't even know he had other songs besides "My Dick" and "Jane Fonda." But his dancers were entertaining and I got a few good shots from my crappy location. The second one looks kind of pop art-esque.

i scream ice cream:

2010-11-29T20:21:00.004-05:00

This reminded me very much of Rachael's ice cream shop for the climate project; all that's missing is some scenes of someone devouring the ice cream. And now, I am craving summer.

new sunday tradition:

2010-11-23T02:09:00.006-05:00

Sunday evening could have been disastrous for a number of reasons. Instead, it involved roasted Mediterranean chicken at Deluxe, a necessary dinner-break-from-studio to catch up with some dear souls, followed by lavender mint tea and a shot of Patrón on the house at SIP. Need I explain why I will be returning to SIP with Isabella Serrani every Sunday henceforth? I believe this is the start of a beautiful friendship with our new favorite bartender (although I must admit that it's impossible to top Chanel at 1020), and my new favorite college "tradition." It's a shame that the semester is over in just a few weeks...

...

2010-11-18T18:12:00.006-05:00

"Every morning upon awakening, I experience a supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dalí."

Perhaps if we all had a little bit more faith in ourselves, things would go our way more often. I recently have become very discouraged by minor details and it's put me in a slump that I am finding hard to pull out of. If I, too, experienced supreme pleasure in the fact that I am I and need not be anything else, who knows what I could achieve...

a nap,

2010-11-15T05:42:00.002-05:00

wool coat warm with laser-cut chipboard
like the fireplace chimney smoke blanket:
fifty degrees in california.

hair cool with the unexpected sweet spring breeze
like the memory of a long-ago summer:
fifty degrees in new york.

too short,

down by the shORCHESIS.

2010-11-13T21:10:00.006-05:00

These are my favorite shots from the show on 13 November 2010. I also designed the PR image!

2010-11-04T00:25:00.005-04:00

b+c archsleep

p.s. obsessed with the runaway film.

2010-10-29T02:38:00.007-04:00

1. the color palette is delectable.
2. vanessa beecroft is written ALL OVER THIS.
3. fawns, sheep, rabbits: Kanye West as Hipster Primitive? (as defined by Mark Greif)
4. ballerinas are the most beautiful human beings on the planet.
5. new studio must-listen.

get up and fight!

2010-10-29T02:20:00.004-04:00

My friend Qudoe from La Crescenta, California is going national with his clothing line, Common People. I absolutely love the shirt I bought from his Fall 2010 collection, and you can get your own shirt to love, too!

Wear[e] COPE.

a critical history of the hipster.

2010-10-29T00:14:00.001-04:00

What Was the Hipster? by Mark Greif for New York Magazine.

An interesting exploration of the evolution of the hipster. I still do not think, however, that 'hipster' can be defined. Hipster culture is just too [ironically] mainstream and varied in levels of intensity to be anything but ambiguous. Perhaps, then, ambiguity is the defining factor.

the most beautiful poem I have ever read.

2010-10-25T19:34:00.003-04:00

"Versos sencillos" por José Martí

Yo soy un hombre sincero
De donde crece la palma,
Y antes de morirme quiero
Echar mis versos del alma.

Yo vengo de todas partes,
Y hacia todas partes voy:
Arte soy entre las artes,
En los montes, monte soy.

Yo sé los nombres extraños
De las yerbas y las flores,
Y de mortales engaños,
Y de sublimes dolores.

Yo he visto en la noche oscura
Llover sobre mi cabeza
Los rayos de lumbre pura
De la divina belleza.

Alas nacer vi en los hombros
De las mujeres hermosas:
Y salir de los escombros,
Volando las mariposas.

He visto vivir a un hombre
Con el puñal al costado,
Sin decir jamás el nombre
De aquella que lo ha matado.

Rápida, como un reflejo,
Dos veces vi el alma, dos:
Cuando murió el pobre viejo,
Cuando ella me dijo adiós.

Temblé una vez —en la reja,
A la entrada de la viña,—
Cuando la bárbara abeja
Picó en la frente a mi niña.

Gocé una vez, de tal suerte
Que gocé cual nunca:—cuando
La sentencia de mi muerte
Leyó el alcalde llorando.

Oigo un suspiro, a través
De las tierras y la mar,
Y no es un suspiro,—es
Que mi hijo va a despertar.

Si dicen que del joyero
Tome la joya mejor,
Tomo a un amigo sincero
Y pongo a un lado el amor.

Yo he visto al águila herida
Volar al azul sereno,
Y morir en su guarida
La vibora del veneno.

Yo sé bien que cuando el mundo
Cede, lívido, al descanso,
Sobre el silencio profundo
Murmura el arroyo manso.

Yo he puesto la mano osada,
De horror y júbilo yerta,
Sobre la estrella apagada
Que cayó frente a mi puerta.

Oculto en mi pecho bravo
La pena que me lo hiere:
El hijo de un pueblo esclavo
Vive por él, calla y muere.

Todo es hermoso y constante,
Todo es música y razón,
Y todo, como el diamante,
Antes que luz es carbón.

Yo sé que el necio se entierra
Con gran lujo y con gran llanto.
Y que no hay fruta en la tierra
Como la del camposanto.

Callo, y entiendo, y me quito
La pompa del rimador:
Cuelgo de un árbol marchito
Mi muceta de doctor.

translation (although it does not do the poem justice)

from a facebook status:

2010-10-24T20:41:00.001-04:00

"It is a precondition of being a conformist that the conformist not know that he is merely conforming." -Al-Ghazali, medieval Islamic scholar; first recorded hipster.

spring/summer '11.

2010-10-24T01:53:00.005-04:00

I was looking through The Sartorialist Blog recently for some autumn fashion inspiration (although it's basically winter temperature sans snow in NYC right now), and the spring/summer '11 runway looks caught my attention. My favorites:

...

2010-10-19T01:04:00.006-04:00

One quote that will define the next two days, and one that should define much of our lives:

"Looked dead, didn't I? [...] When I woke up, I went on what the movie advertisements refer to as a roaring rampage of revenge. I roared, and I rampaged. And I got bloody satisfaction."

Few Words From the Bride, Kill Bill Volume 2

I will roar, and rampage, and I will dominate my studio midterm pinup. Not exactly an act of revenge, but if my efforts are fruitful, I most definitely will be bloody satisfied.

"Hay que tener los ojos muy abiertos para ver las cosas como son; aun más abiertas para verlas otras de lo que son; más abiertos todavía para verlas mejores de lo que son. Yo os aconsejo la vision vigilante, porque vuestra misión es ver e imaginar despiertos…"

Juan de Maneira

Translation: Your eyes must be very open to perceive things as they are; they must be even more so to see them differently from what they are; and still more open to see them as better than what they are. I advise you all to have a vigilant vision, because your mission is to see and imagine in wakefulness...

...

2010-10-15T17:13:00.003-04:00

"These 'off worlds' -- to use the terminology of Blade Runner -- are often imagineered as replica Southern Californias. Thus, 'Beverley Hills' does not only exist in the 90210 zip code; it is also, with Utopia and Dreamland, a suburb of Cairo, an affluent private city whose 'inhabitants can keep their distance from the sight and severity of poverty and violence and political Islam which is seemingly permeating the localities.' Likewise, 'Orange County' is a gated estate of sprawling million-dollar California-style homes, designed by a Newport Beach architect and with Martha Stewart décor, on the northern outskirts of Beijing. (As the suburb's developer explained to an American reporter: 'People in the United States may think of Orange County as a place, but in China, people feel it is a brand name, something like Giorgio Armani.) Long Beach -- which the New York Times designated as 'the epicenter of faux L.A. in China' -- is also north of Beijing, astride a new six-lane super-highway. Palm Springs, meanwhile, is a heavily guarded enclave in Hong Kong where affluent residents can 'play tennis and stroll through the theme park, where Disney comic strip characters are surrounded by mock Greek columns and neo-classical pavilions.' Urban theorist Laura Ruggeri contrasts the expansive imported California lifestyles of residents in their large semi-detached homes with the living conditions of their Filipino maids, who sleep in chicken-coop-like sheds on the rooftops. [...] Lippo Karawaci in the Tangerang district, west of Jakarta, doesn't have an American name but is otherwise a copy of a West Coast suburb, boasting a more or less self-sufficient infrastructure with hospital, shopping mall, cinemas, sport and golf club, restaurant, and university. It also contains internally gated areas known locally as 'totally protected zones.'"

-- Planet of Slums

urbanization of poverty.

2010-10-14T05:37:00.013-04:00

Ever since taking Modern Housing, I had the idea that I did not really want to be the next Koolhaas of architecture (although that would be freakin' awesome) but rather get into infrastructure planning/implementation and housing rehabilitation in urban Third World cities. Saying that automatically sounds like it requires master plans and oversized housing projects that are doomed to failure, but I really do believe that there are ways to renew -- at the risk of sounding like a speculator -- blighted areas without gentrification and massive urban upheaval. Although the problem of slum dwellings is a large-scale one, and there is no one perfect solution that is guaranteed to work, any renewal program must be developed and implemented on a small scale. Within the fabric of these widespread slums there exist so many tiny nuances that must be carefully studied, understood, and taken into consideration before any sort of plan is made.

There are over one billion people living in slums or inadequate housing in the world today. Many of these slums exist on the immediate peripheries of urban cities and not in the rural countrysides. In fact, much of the slums that exist today are a result of rapid urbanization paired with inverse industrialization and a stagnant economy.Morra da Providencia, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilKibera Slum, Nairobi, KenyaGecekondu neighborhood, Ankara, TurkeyBantar Gebang, Bekasi, JakartaMumbia, Maharashtra, India
I am writing a research paper on this topic, particularly the favelas in Brazil, for my Eminent Domain and Neighborhood Change class, but I don't really know if I can wrap my mind around the innumerable complexities. Can architecture really solve (or at least attempt to intervene on) a problem that is highly social and closely tied with politics and the economy?

never let me go.

2010-10-02T02:40:00.006-04:00

I cried through one and a half hours of this one hour forty-five minute long film. Absolutely beautiful. Now I MUST read the book, but school is currently dominating every waking and sleeping moment of my life. I am even dreaming architecture: my iPhone was able to draw sections of my program for me.

...

2010-09-28T21:13:00.003-04:00

We live in the age of the city. The city is everything to us -- it consumes us, and for that reason we glorify it."

-- Onookome Okome

...

2010-09-27T22:49:00.005-04:00

momentary.

I got at once a whiff of rose water and butter popcorn,
and it was the sultriest olfactory tease I'd ever known.

except bakery at four a.m.,
and his musk.

attended:

2010-09-26T10:34:00.010-04:00

Koolhaas is such a kool kat.

bathroom culture.

2010-09-25T01:02:00.005-04:00

I was at ADP last night with Génesis (one of my suite mates) and a few other Society members, and we briefly had a discussion about the cleanliness of New York City bathrooms, using toilet seat covers, the potential of getting and spreading germs... but I had never thought about the number of potential activities that can go on in a bathroom stall until I happened upon this music video. Not only does it get you thinking about bathroom culture, but it is also very damn well made.

I thought the Inquisition was over and art was about freedom.

2010-09-23T01:56:00.008-04:00

Apparently there has been a battle raging -- well, a heated debate ongoing -- over the fall of the artistic nude in online art communities (I particularly am referring to deviantART, which I visited today after a months-long hiatus to post a few new photographs). The artistic nude as an art form, so as far as I have come to know and understand it, is meant to celebrate the human body in all its sensuality, elegance, power, frailty, even eroticism in a manner which is effortful yet seemingly effortless, aesthetically pleasing, and overall considerably decent regardless of its depiction of potentially offensive body parts. (For instance, a nude model for a live drawing class would not be penalized for indecent exposure, but someone sticking their butt out a car window, would.) deviantART has, since its inception, provided a subcategory labeled Artistic Nude exactly for such celebration. The problem as it seems, however, is that there is no regulatory control over whether the images posted are truly artistic nudes, or just plain nude. And so, the forum has been riddled with point-and-shoot/camera phone shots of dicks, tits, and pussies -- so crudely titled. Since I had been away from deviantART for so long, this problem was brought to my attention via an article written by a frustrated community member, which attempts to delineate the differences between nude and artistic nude, and provides evidence that supports and strengthens his simple argument: amateur porn is NOT art (which, for the record, I totally agree). But what really caught my attention was a comment -- the title of this post -- that suggests that regulating what can be posted and what cannot, or clarifying/strengthening the guidelines for what is appropriate to post, would be an invasion of creative freedom. So before any sort of appropriate response or rebuttal can be given to this claim, certain philosophical (perhaps even physcolognical or sociological?) questions must be answered:

1. What is creativity, or what determines if something is creative or not? Can it be argued that creativity can only be measured proportional to the creative capacity of an individual's mind? -- so that, something that I, an artist/architect/self-proclaimed creative person thinks is not creative or deserving of artistic merit can be considered so by someone who only has novel ideas/visions once in a blue moon? Maybe some of these people suddenly had an epiphany about photographing their genitalia; or perhaps they saw Takahashi Murakamis's figures and decided that all things over-sexual are art.

But even Murakami has received criticism for his work: "Does Murakami’s work amount to genuine cultural critique – or even some new cultural paradigm – or is it simply kitsch repackaged for the fine art market (ala Jeff Koons’ over-hyped work)?" via // www.okgreat.com

2. Once the first question is answered, then we arrive at this: political philosophy. What is freedom - creative freedom - the First Amendment, and to what extent should the idealistic ideas behind terms as grandiose as freedom be exercised and protected? What would be more democratic: allowing vulgar images to infiltrate and offend the artistic nude world in the name of freedom of expression, or limiting them because the majority voice of the people says so?

I hope to answer these questions over the course of my liberal arts education, but for now, my stance is -- without strong argumentation -- that the posting of such photographs should be monitored/filtered/not allowed, and people who wish to expose themselves to the world in such a way should be redirected to the proper forums. Not to be misunderstood, I have nothing against nudity, especially since I will be nude modeling for Friday Night Sketch in the near future, but -- your hairy vagina all up on my screen? REALLY?

...

2010-09-11T21:48:00.004-04:00

often I feel my life is like my pool game:
well-planned but poorly executed.

dance party, intrepid.

2010-09-08T11:44:00.009-04:00

| 09.02.2010 |
Do you know what 2.500 people on the deck of an aircraft carrier looks like?

Location: Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum, docked on the Hudson with beautiful, unhindered views of the city and of course our favorite neighbor, New Jersey.
Entertainment: Opening act Simon Herzog, a Columbia College rising talent that DJs many local shows and parties. And main act The Hood Internet, a mash-up duo who flew in from Chicago to make our boat party the best New York City event in the history of NSOP.
Security: Besides the regular Intrepid staff, we had ex-Marines and NYPD officers. This is serious business, we don't joke around!
And of course, the people that made it all happen: the NSOP Committee and Staff, Crew Chiefs, Orientation Leaders, First-Year RAs, New Students from Barnard College, Columbia College, The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, and General Studies, and of course, generous funding from the University and the groups and businesses who placed ads in our beautiful schedule books.

rooftop party, lower east side.

2010-08-24T08:50:00.008-04:00

| 08.21.2010 |
The wondrous Esther Choi, a former fearless leader of the Talon yearbook and fantastic friend, invited me to her rooftop party this past weekend. What views, what interesting company! I met so many creative souls that I could converse, discuss, and empathize with.

One of these creative souls was Tereso Cacho, one half of Vainica Project, who is the artist behind the videos that were being projected onto the building across from the rooftop [I unfortunately did not get any good shots of that while it was happening]. It was just such an enjoyable atmosphere, and if felt so authentic New York City -- why I moved across the country to live here.

hong kong dragon boat festival, flushing.

2010-08-23T20:30:00.007-04:00

| 08.08.2010 |
Although getting to Flushing Meadows Park turned out to be quite the epic adventure [google maps misdirected us -- and our cab driver -- to the opposite end of the park], I'm glad Deborah dragged us with her to see the dragon boat races. I don't actually own a lens that zooms enough for me to have gotten good photos of the races, but it was a great location for people-watching and -shooting. And I still don't understand why there was Flamenco dancing at a Chinese festival [too many people in my way for my short self to get a good view = sadness], but it was entertaining!

dress to success.

2010-08-11T22:38:00.005-04:00

I just read this article on the [male] architect's uniform. It's a shame most architects cannot write to save their lives, though. I understand that the article is a blog post and whatnot, but please! -- commas and periods cannot be placed willy nilly wherever one feels like it as they disrupt the flow of the sentences and paragraphs (though I do not claim to use punctuation appropriately all the time considering I love em dashes and semi-colons all too much). Also, typing in all capital letters is not appropriate for any writing that spans longer than three lines, let alone an entire page of text. But, I digress.

It is very interesting to read accounts of how significant a role fashion plays in our personal and professional lives, in our ability to be successful. What a person wears is not solely about portraying a certain 'look' or being up-to-date with the latest trends; fashion is not shallow, but rather an indicator of a person's ambition, professionalism, maturity, and the ability to meet or exceed expectations. I suppose it does not factor as much into the lives of college students -- but then again, don't forget to dress to success for your job and internship interviews!

orlando, florida.

2010-08-10T23:21:00.005-04:00

The universe proclaimed, "Thou shalt have the opportunity to get cavities, work on your tan, shamelessly partake in mass consumerism, and have a jolly good time." The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was an absolute I-finally-got-my-letter-from-Hogwarts moment; conquering my fear of rollercoasters was liberating and thrilling; finally returning to Disney brought back fond memories and created some new ones. Thank you, Orlando + the Altamiranos for being so good to me.

Back to work this week -- ALMOST DONE.

back in the day.

2010-08-10T10:39:00.004-04:00

I used to play this game religiously on my very first computer, the Apple Macintosh II. I wasn't even born yet when they discontinued this model. Woah.

friday night lights.

2010-07-28T23:20:00.002-04:00

Season five is so intense. And Taylor Kitsch is still a babe. I cannot believe NBC is canceling the show after the season is over. It's the only television series I can stand to watch.

galette, parte dois.

2010-07-28T22:13:00.002-04:00

Last night, Debs and I made two strawberry plum cherry galettes. And we devoured one in about ten minutes. SO GOOD. We improvised with the cherries, though, because we didn't have enough plums. Today, we had the other galette for desert after dinner with vanilla bean ice cream, which went perfectly with the tartness of the fruits (we forgot to roll them in sugar).

RECIPE
via// Kitchen Confidante; made by Deborah Robertson and Sevan Gatsby

fig honey goat cheese galette.

2010-07-27T15:38:00.006-04:00

RECIPE
via // Kitchen Confidante; made by Deborah Robertson, my fantastic suitemate

museum[s] day.

2010-07-25T22:16:00.005-04:00

Doug + Mike Starn on the Roof: Big BambúPicasso at the Metropolitan Museum of ArtJames Turell: Meeting
So. Fantastic. All of these exhibitions are a must-see. The Picasso collection was especially breathtaking; I never knew that he had such breadth, such a rich repertoire. I also want to return to Big Bambú every month or so to experience its varied iterations as it transforms throughout the span of the exhibition. I definitely would want to take a tour of it next time and climb the installation. And I am so glad I finally got to go to P.S.1 -- that place is a giant funhouse. I loved Meeting. So. Much. Definitely re-visiting this installation as well to watch the sunset.

sugar cookies.

2010-07-17T18:55:00.004-04:00

RECIPE:
3 eggs
1.5 cups of sugar
1.5 cups of vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of SECRET INGREDIENT
as much flour as needed, until it gets to a fleshy consistency

trash collection, organic art.

2010-07-17T18:30:00.007-04:00

It's no secret that Santa Monica is one of the dirtiest beaches; food wrappers and miscellaneous other things you would not want to step on are everywhere. But unless beachgoers take on the personal responsibility of not littering, I would imagine that keeping any beach pristine (especially since California is broke) would be a very difficult project. On my last trip to Santa Monica, I noticed the installation of a very simple and almost obvious trash collector: small, wooden fences.These fences use a naturally occurring phenomenon to an advantage; wind blowing east carries all the trash from the waterfront to the inland edge of the sand, where the fences catch it. With all the trash already collected, all the people who clean the beach have to do is bag the trash and place it in the nearby trashcans. I haven't read up on this, but I can imagine how much time, effort, and money is saved by using natural forces to reduce the need for human labor. What is more, the shadows cast from these fences create interesting patterns on the sand -- which was the first thing that caught my eye.

late but, shots from july fourth.

2010-07-17T18:17:00.004-04:00

These would have come out better had I had my tripod and it weren't freezing that night. Also, the electric wires are always in the way.

pedro guerra.

2010-07-17T17:46:00.005-04:00

I cannot stop listening to "El Marido de la Peluquera."

"...y abrazame fuerte
que no pueda respirar
tengo miedo de que un dia
ya no quiera bailar conmigo
nunca mas..."

making [sound]waves.

2010-07-06T03:15:00.006-04:00

I have not had much contact at all with Cody Farwell since I wrote for the Crescenta Valley Sun (now the independently published Crescenta Valley Weekly) and would hang out at Yolicious (R.I.P., the only frozen yogurt I ever really liked) to get quotes for the "Around Town" column. But I have been following his sounds, and well, it sounds like he's doing fantastic. Literally. Take a listen to one of his latest:
Plum Sugar by Snorlax [C.Farwell]

Hear what else he's up to on: last.fm // myspace // soundcloud
(I personally very much enjoy "Safari Zone.")

...

2010-07-05T22:34:00.003-04:00

"The mind forever struggles to bring itself into focus. [several days later] Worse than that even is the unrelenting suspicion that my way of making things is not art making. I struggle with this question constantly despite having the clearest answers the moment I set out to create anything. The sensation is absolutely spoiled from top to bottom with a certainty of my talentlessness. I have no way with lines, no way with the application of color, paint, a crude sense of composition – or perhaps a cowardly sense of composition – a minimal sense of humor and finally a desperate, distorted sense of self. While I find this to consistently be the case, I cannot deny the absolutely curious and surprising fact that I have created some nice works of art."

-- published artist, Frances Stark

the beautiful game.

2010-06-24T00:48:00.004-04:00

Watching football - fútbol - futebol - ֆուտբոլ - futbol - كرة القدم while working makes me feel alive.

I find it fascinating the kind of creativity that is inspired by the World Cup -- the epic quality of the commercials, and how some transcend the product they are selling to make a social, political, or inspirational statement; to pass on the images, ideas, and phrases that inspired and guided the creative/marketing team producing the videos. In a quality commercial you can actually see the hours upon hours of research, filming, editing, and re-filing until perfection is reached.

Any job can get tedious and tiresome sometimes, even the ones geared towards your interests and skills. But you just have to think, This may be the last thing I do, the last thing I produce. Today here, tomorrow gone. I just need to tell myself that from now on whenever I start feeling disinterested in my work or my studies, give it my all, just keep the energy and the muses flowing.

eat well, be well.

2010-06-20T22:58:00.008-04:00

As a high school senior, I remember Mr. Levering, my AP Economics teacher, painting a very abysmal picture of college living. He insisted that we would be living on instant ramen and our best investment would be a coffee machine because we needed to save all that money we would be spending on Starbucks for travel. I have yet to touch a Cup-O-Noodle and my best investment has been No-Doz. And real food. (Since I pay for almost everything else, I get to milk the parental units for travel expenses.) If you get a group of people to chip in and take turns cooking, you can eat well. Very well.First Fajita Friday.Chocolate dipped strawberries.Grilled salmon on spinach.Armenian food -- Ötja, jahjekh, pilaf, and grilled steak.Hamburgers in Morningside Park.Filipino food.

not new news, but.

2010-06-20T22:49:00.003-04:00

Dear Bike baby, I promise to ride you soon. We'll paint the city green, and it will be fantastically fresh. (Thank you, Brooklyn man Larry, for selling me a key into hipsterdom.)

tom cruise, risky business.

2010-06-20T22:31:00.006-04:00

"It was great the way her mind worked. No guilt, no doubts, no fear. None of my specialities. Just the shameless pursuit of immediate gratification. What a capitalist."

Why had I not watched this film before now? Hilarious. !

studio year in review.

2010-06-19T08:24:00.006-04:00

2009-2010

...

2010-06-19T08:18:00.003-04:00

"I now have become one of those sick people that has trouble enjoying things unless I'm photographing them. It's totally a disease: obsessive compulsive photography. Without a camera, my curiosity is just limited. I just can't figure out why else to do things. It's the way I experience, quantify, classify and memorize. I'm not particularly ambitious or social, but put me somewhere with a camera and I'll run, jump, crawl and climb for just one image."

-- Zachary Canepari

chewbacchanal.

2010-06-02T18:02:00.007-04:00

4.24.2010 | Kevin Barnes from of Montreal at Columbia University's annual Spring Concert.

ikea.

2010-05-31T12:28:00.005-04:00

Perhaps part of the subconscious appeal of IKEA (besides the magically low prices) is that it does not sell packaging, it sells products. Raw and unrendered -- most of their items aren't even assembled. The box tells you what is in it, how many, how big, what kind -- the consumers know exactly what they're getting. In many ways the lack of packaging is the packaging for IKEA products; it is what facilitates the marketing and selling of their products. I do not doubt, however, that the masterminds behind this favorite Swedish company of mine spent an innumerable amount of time designing this sparsity. And anyone who has ever done design knows that just picking a font is a huge project of its own. So is deciding where to put it.I oftentimes fall into the trap of buying the box rather than what is inside of it.. like buying bottled water -- what a waste of money.

But, all this is to say that I am very happy with my new kitchen and dinner ware.

return from the studio!

2010-05-30T11:30:00.002-04:00

there is a flood [of posts] coming, now that I am finally a real human being.

Madrid y Toledo, España

2010-03-26T21:32:00.007-04:00

click for many, many more