So I just got back, figuratively, from an epic weekend in NYC, celebrating the eminent union of two of my favorite people in the world, Brandon and Laurel. Now, the initial question that pops into my head when some says, oh it's a joint bachelor/bachelorette party, is, which of the couple doesn't have their own friends? In this case it was Laurel-just kidding. In this situation, with this particular couple, because they have no respect for the gender construct and have been together so long, and are so close with each others friends, they decided to do it together, destination style in the center of the universe. They rented up a an apartment in the lower east side, invited all of their loved ones (scattered around this great country), and opted to play some group bedbug roulette. Because the celebration was more than one day, and there were so many sleeping receptacles involved, it was more of a elastic group bonding experiment than anything else that might be considered organized. Needless to say, I came back loving my friends more than ever, and absolutely, can not, can not wait for this wedding.
ART!!!
So, sadly, I was not as active on the museum tip as I normally am when visiting NYC, with the hipping and the hopping, ripping and the rapping. I did manage to make it to one and got turned on to some pretty cool stuff which I will gladly share with y'all. So, because I made Pavan call in sick on that Monday, as to get some quality time in with the dude. I let Pavan pick out our museum, and, of course, he gladly selected his favorite jump, The Rubin Museum of the Himalayas. One of the exhibits going on right now (until April 11, get on it NewYorkers!), was a pretty cool collection of contemporary artists, who are influenced by Buddhist philosophy, called grain of emptiness. My favorite dude had to be this photographer/installation artist, Atta Kim. Pavan and I were lucky enough to make it to the Rubin before his Ice Sculpture of a Buddha had melted away-evidently, it started out 5 feet in height, placed on purple velvet covered pedestal in a class container. Patrons were encouraged to touch the sculpture and take the melted water home in containers for whatever purpose they saw fit (presumably for watering house plants or to be reintroduced into the universe in one way or another). What better salutation to impermanence than an ice sculpture? Anywho, I was much more into dude's photography, which included two repeated processes-long exposures or the layering or multiple images to create a new image. The long exposures, were of street scenes, shot over 8 hours- one of Indian street market, the other of Times Squares, where the foot and street traffic turns into wavy blurs relative in significance proportionally to the length of their participation in the picture. The layering pics were either portraits composed of hundreds of pictures of Tibetan Men or Women creating the prototypical representation of either subject mater; or the amalgamation of an artists works, like every Botticelli
painting ever fused into a weird color scape. Fun Stuff.
FOOD!!!
If you are ever in Woodside, Queens, you have got to stop by this amazing Thai spot, called, SriPraPhai. Some say it's the best Thai Restaurant in NYC, which basically means, it's the best Thai Restaurant in the world, right? Anyway, checked this place out after Mark and me got absolutely demolished in bowling by Kareem and Pavan. It took us 30 minutes to decide what to order, we got like five apps and 3 entrees, and finished it all. My favorite was probably a fried watercress dish,or their papaya salad, or their dumplings, which were all made to perfection. Go in a big group and taste everything. It looks like they have really nice outdoor seating, too.
MUSIC!!!
There is light at the end of the tunnel that I can almost make out with my eyes! Number 4 on my top 10 favorite albums from 2010 is Sufjan Stevens, The Age of Adz. 5 years after his critically acclaimed, Come On Feel The Illinois, little Sujan decided to flip his switch, so to speak. And give up his bread and butter-banjo and trumpet, for electronic/orchestral composition in a concept album inspired by the apocalyptic artwork of schizophrenic artist Royal Robertson. I can not get enough of Steven's sweet, sweet, voice, and this album shows it off in it's various incarnations sublimely. No camp or gimmicks, I was skeptical at first, of Sufjan going electronic, but, he aggregates noise and sound, with savant skill of Lee Perry. Lyrically, The Age of Adz, is a reconciliation of existence, mental illness/wellness, and interpersonal connections lost and found-very thoughtful and less straight forward than Steven's previous works. Either you will love it or hate, hit the link and give it a try one way or another and if you get the chance, as always, give it a listen on vinyl-it always sounds better.
3 comments:
Best blog post of all time. OF ALL TIME!
B. Rule just think it's the best because it mentions him. I, on the other hand, think it's the worst because it doesn't mention me by name or extol my awesomeness.
On a serious note, the ice sculpture is an interesting variation on the traditional Tibetan sand mandalas. Monks spend weeks constructing gorgeous mandalas with colored sand, and then, once they're done, they sweep all the sand together. Transience!
Somewhere amongst all of the detritus collected from my wayward youth is a little crack baggie filled with colored sand given to me by Buddhist Monks when I was in high school.
It occurs to me that keeping the sand sort of misses the point. Or, it says something about my general longing for fixity. At any rate, I hope you took some of that water and did something special with it. Like put it in a bong and smoke it.
I, too, had some of that sand. However, I lost it during various moves in the intervening years, which I believe is fully in keeping with the the spirit of the thing. Call it mindful inattention.
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