Out and About

Brooklyn:
What a wonderful day it was in Brooklyn this Monday! Jojo and Dave's new apartment is so mignon! Joanna and I walked around and went for lunch at a place called Montparnasse and had a delectable French onion soup and then shared a chicken and ratatouille crepe. We also visited the amazing Co-op. What beautiful produce and cheese they had there! We lazily concluded the afternoon baking cookies in the new apartment.


Grand Army Plaza Arch, Brooklyn.

Mandarin:
Sunday night I met up with Teresa and Raul to have a drink at Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the Timer Warner Building at Columbus Circle. The prices are steep, but the view and the ambiance is spectacular. I recommend spluring to treat yourself.


Mandarin Oriental Lounge

Mini-stories

For those of us who suffer from moments of "ADD" I recommend this compelation of super-short stories. It's like a quick fix that will keep you focused enough to read and appreciate the wonderfully selected 2,000 or so words in each story.

Taking a look Back: Hottentot Venus

I recently finished, "AFRICAN QUEEN: The Real Life of the Hottentot Venus". This book chronicles the life of Saartjie Baartman a South African Khosian woman taken from her home in the Cape Colony of South Africa to London. Under the supervision and care of the unlikable tag-team of Hendrick Caesars (her black South African master) and a military doctor (Alexander Dunlop) she was exploited in almost every way imaginable. The book has its flaws, like some of the gaping historical holes about her personal life, and its lack of analysis of the general European public who viewed her spectacle in Picadilly, but nonetheless the book uncovered for me an interesting story that I was ignorant to until I came across this book.


A caricature of the Saartjie Baartman from the early 19th century


Saartjie Baartman died in France. When Nelson Mandela became President in 1994 he requested that her remains be repatriated to South Africa. In 2002 the French government agreed to send her remains back.


Saartjie's grave near the Gamtoos River

Tourist time

I've lived in Manhattan for just over a year and have failed to visit many of the classic tourist stops. In order to change that, I went to the MoMA last week to poke around. I have highlighted the three best parts of the museum.

1. OMA in Beijing: China Central Television Headquarters by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren
November 15, 2006–February 26, 2007



I thought this was a curious insalation to find at the MoMA. What I liked so much was the focus on one building combined art, architecture. economics, community and aestetics. Spring break 2008 Beijing!

2. Brice Marden: A Retrospective of Paintings and Drawings
October 29, 2006–January 15, 2007



Crazy colors, crazy lines...let's take a closer look not only at the art, but at everything around it?

3. Rossellini on Paper
November 15, 2006–April 9, 2007



Makes me want to become a Private Investigator! I'd like to see this one again.

Palabra del dia

sosiego
(masculine)
1. (quietud) peace, calm
2. (serenidad) calm, serenity

*This is one of my favorite Spanish words, it is second to pupitre (desk).

Word of the day

neoteric
–adjective
1. modern; new; recent.
–noun
2. a new or modern writer, thinker, etc.

The start of something more

It's Sunday night and I am desperately holding on to the end of the weekend and winter vacation by creating my own blog. This blog is intended to be a personal dairy open to anyone interested in reading about my ventures in life and making positive comments about what's happening. I hope to have a word of the day in Spanish and English. Let's see what happens. Enjoy!