Ms.SANCOCHE AND RMR in JAMAICA fi Christmas

Jerk at Scotchies

2011-12-24T06:17:00.001-08:00

Bess... by far the bess! The most delicious jerk you can find in Jamaica. This is Scotchies in St Ann's Bay.

Christmas in Jamaica me say

2011-12-24T06:00:00.001-08:00

Dreevay around Tobago

2011-03-11T17:17:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, we did a tour of Tobago - by accident, of course. It was my brilliant idea: Let's go to Parletuvier for lobster! Sounds great. So Richard and I set off on our trek to Parletuvier - neither one of us particularly clear on how to get there, but in possession of what turned out to be a very dodgy map. Needless to say, we took the long way! But in so doing we rediscovered (and for me, discovered) parts of Tobago we'd long forgotten, like the enormous silk cotton tree in Moriah, and the fort at Plymouth.

Oh - we in fact discovered, on arriving in Parletuvier after driving for 3 hours, that the lobster lady, Miss Jemma, was to be found in Speyside - on the other side of the island! We did make it there in the end, and the lobster with oodles of garlic butter was so worth it!

Here are some of the photos we took.

Richard's photos from Pigeon Point

2011-03-11T17:11:00.001-08:00

Richard has been playing around with an instamatic camera setting on my i-pod. He's been able to capture some gorgeous images. These ones are from Pigeon Point today.

A tiny bit of beach on the way to Pigeon Point

2011-03-11T16:18:00.000-08:00

Over the course of my life, I must have driven down the road to Pigeon Point hundreds of times. You know, the beach facilities are quite a way in, and you have to pass by various little stalls selling sarongs and carved calabashes. Never, at least I don't think so, have I stopped at the beautiful stretch of beach that leads up to Pigeon Point - the part that's free!

Richard and I have been in Tobago for the best part of a week now, and in an attempt to reverse a terrible mistake we made by heading over to Store Bay on Ash Wednesday (all hundreds of people, boom boxes and girls wining on the beach included) I looked across the bay and saw an almost empty stretch of beach. I told Richard that's where we should go. And so we did.

Well, behold a pristine little beach, with a shallow reef so it's relatively calm, lots of trees you can sit under for shade, and almost the best part - it was quiet and near!

Here are some of the pictures I snapped there today.

Zooming through the Met.

2010-12-05T09:23:00.000-08:00

We were on holiday. And when I'm on holiday I completely reject any attempts to make plans that require sticking to a schedule and a time. So, Marlon spent a day drifting around Manhattan with Richard and I. First we hit the AIGA: the professional association for design where there was an exhibit of new design and on the second floor, Milton Glaser's work. There were also some very comfortable couches there, so we ended up having one of those long talks about dreams and hopes.

Then the plan was to spend several hours in the Met. But lunch, chatting and drifting got in the way, so we arrived at the Met with an hour and change to spare.

One of my favourite places at the Met is the Temple of Dendur. the temple is housed in a huge glass conservatory, and it's surrounded by water. Harry and Sally dreevayed through it in "when Harry Met Sally", and I visit that room everytime I go to the Met. The problem is, I never make it to anywhere else in the museum. Museum back always prevails, and that feeling of needing to escape no matter what! takes over.

So on this trip, I zoomed Richard and Marlon through the Temple room (made easier by the fact that most of it was protected by velvet ropes - there must have been a party planned for that night) and headed over to the Modern art section. To get there, where passed Roman history, as well as an incredible room displaying the art of Oceania - really spectacular. And of course, the Modern Art didn't disappoint. My favourites were the collection of Georgia O'Keefes (which, till then, I'd only seen in books) as well as some sensational Warhols.

The High Line!

2010-11-14T07:50:00.000-08:00

The weather in New York is freakishly beautiful and warm right now. So, without getting too morose about climate change and that fact that it's been 16 degrees in November, Richard and I have been doing lots of outdoors things since we got to New York. And on Friday, we went to the High Line Park.

High Line is the repurposed H-line - a train line built in the 1930s to lift freight traffic off the streets of Manhattan. Starting way over on the West Side, just below Chelsea, the line runs above ground. It's been out of use for years, and could have just remained a derelict junk pile or been demolished. But in 1999, a group of concerned citizens formed "Friends of the High Line", which lobbied for protection of the historic line. The resulting High Line Park, is a collaboration between the group, the city of New York and some brilliant architects.

Richard and I were in bliss - the beautiful day and glowing autumn light, the pampas grasses and yellowing leaves, the incredible urban design and re-purposing of an unused site.

EDWIDGE DANTICAT READING AT McNALLY JACKSON BOOKS

2010-11-12T06:44:00.000-08:00

In CREATE DANGEROUSLY: The Immigrant Artist at Work, Edwidge Danticat draws on her Haitian background, experiences as an author and comments from colleagues in art, literature, photography, and journalism, to address these and other important questions:

• What is it to be an artist?
• What is it to be an immigrant?
• What is it to be both—working outside of your homeland and creating art, literature, film, photography that strives to bring specific truths to the world?
• What is it to be simultaneously celebrated for drawing attention to human rights issues and vilified for revealing the worst about your homeland?

THE LEGO STORE / LEG GODT/ PLAY WELL

2010-11-12T06:32:00.000-08:00

all the lego you could ever need

ROCKEFELLER PLAZA

2010-11-12T06:23:00.000-08:00

The big Christmas Tree goes up Today!

5th then 6th and trekking

2010-11-12T06:10:00.000-08:00

way cool store...

I knew Richard would love Pylones! For years, Saffrey has been giving me strange and wonderful things like graters that look like fancy ladies and nail clippers that have insect wings on them! It's a visual delight - full of things you don't really need but HAVE to have!

A WALK IN CENTRAL PARK

2010-11-12T05:49:00.001-08:00

Autumn in New York. Before we left Trinidad, I wondered if there would be any leaves left on the trees in New York. When I lived in England, I always got depressed when autumn arrived, as it meant that winter was right around the corner. But the beauty of autumn has won me over.

Our walk through Central Park in the sun was full of incredible colour and shapes. Richard and I sat on a bench and turned our faces towards the heavens to imbibe the sun. And people who walked passed us were doing the same. We smiled at each other in shared recognition of that special moment. Have a look at the glorious trees!

a wonderful day, wonderful weather...good times.

Saturday Dreevay with Sharon in Cabbagetown and Kensington Market

2010-09-13T20:47:00.000-07:00

Sharon and I had a good ole dreevay around the place on Saturday. There was a beautiful art and craft market in Cabbagetown with delicious jams and jellies; Sharon's favourite was the shortbread. We then headed across town to the groovy Kensington Market.

Mobiles and garden art/ ornaments/ sculptures.

Packages of yummy shortbread!

Not sure what I make of this - some sort of post-apocalyptic, hippie thing!

Gorgeous jars of pickles line the walls of the Grilled Cheese restaurant in Kensington Market.

Some sort of mobile skateboarder convention.

Wandering around on Queen Street

2010-09-10T20:12:00.000-07:00

I walked into a fairly dodgy part of town - there were drunk skaters staggering about the place and I knew I had to hot-foot it out of there. But luckily, I found myself on West Queen Street, where I took these photos.

Ontario Museum of Art

Rickshaw!

The CN tower and Streetcar cables

The Market Incubator Group.

2010-09-09T05:37:00.000-07:00

We're at the University of Toronto, and we've been working hard!!

Day 2 - At Uof T

2010-09-07T20:15:00.000-07:00

So I was in pretty intense workshop sessions all day today. But when we wrapped up it was a balmy afternoon, so I went walking around a bit. The thing that I like - which I have to admit I used to hate - is that Toronto is pretty orderly, and your average Joe seems to do the right thing. It's really relaxing when compared to the chaotic and aggressive living back in Trinidad. Here are some of today's photos.

Gorgeous buildings at Uof T

Ivy

The CN Tower off in the distance

Freshers week!

First day in Toronto!

2010-09-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

I'm here in Toronto for intensive training workshops for pitching and networking in this industry. But of course, I can't help but do a little site-seeing and some tasting. So here's what I did/ discovered today.

Brazil day at Dundas square.

Delicious bruchetta!

Trinidadian playwright, Tony Hall.

Me outside the Mac store at the Eaton Centre.

Batman on Yonge.

Home again.

2010-01-25T13:41:00.000-08:00

I told Richard - I love being away, and then I love coming home. And so it is now. Home again, after our holiday. Tired (I need another holiday!) but so pleased that we did the things we did. We ate new food, saw new places, walked through a forest of bare trees which was coated in glistening white snow, and lay on a bench beneath a blazing blue sky. We drove, navigated and sang to Fleetwood Mac and James Taylor. We stood in freezing Time Square, hugging each other for warmth, counting in 2010 together. Not bad at all.

Where to next, I wonder?

ROCKSTONE & BOOTHEEL at REAL ART WAYS

2010-01-18T06:22:00.000-08:00

Mariel had her first US screening of her film The Solitary Alchemist at Real Art Ways 17.01.10. Here are some pics from her Q&A and of course the Rockstone and Bootheel Exhibit. www.realartways.org

Ye Olde Pepper Candy Companie, America's Oldest Candy Company

2010-01-17T07:25:00.000-08:00

The company dates back to 1806, when an English woman named Spencer was shipped wrecked and ended up in Salem. When her neighbors learned that Mrs. Spencer knew how to make candy they all got together and purchased for her a barrel of sugar. Her first candy was the "Salem Gibralter," said to be the first candy made and sold commercially in America and carried around the world by sea captains and their crew.

She originally sold her candy on the steps of the First Church but as the candies popularity grew she started selling to the surrounding towns by horse and wagon.
When Mrs. Spencer died her son carried on the business until about 1830. Her son decided to return to England and the company was then sold to a John William Pepper. John Pepper added Black Jack (an all natural stick candy made from black strap molasses).
http://newenglandphotos.blogspot.com/2006/11/ye-olde-pepper-candy-companie-americas.html

Chocolate Cashew Turtle

It's great!!! So great that Oprah features it on her website.

BLACK CATS...

2010-01-17T07:20:00.001-08:00

seem to be the norm in SALEM. We saw black cats everywhere.

THE HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES

2010-01-17T07:10:00.001-08:00

(rmr)

One of the early traders and merchants in Salem, Captain John Turner owned a number of ships and made his fortune in the Barbados trade. He built his house, later to become famous as the House of the Seven Gables, near his wharf. The house remained in his family for three generations and underwent many renovations.

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Witch House
The building that would come to be known as the Witch House was purchased in an unfinished state by Jonathan Corwin, heir to one of the largest Puritan fortunes in New England, in 1675. Grander than most homes in Salem at the time, the house boasted three steep gables, a deep porch, and wide, triple-casement windows. Corwin was a merchant by trade, but it was in his role as local magistrate that gives lasting renown to the house: the Witch House is the only remaining house in Salem directly tied to the 1692 Witch Trials.

The Author of the Scarlett Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne was born here.

THE HOUSES OF SALEM

2010-01-17T06:45:00.000-08:00

DERBY HOUSE SALEM (rmr)

Before the Rockefellers, the Van Burens, the Kennedy’s, before the Johnson Family made their fortune off hair products and way before bill Gates and Oprah, there was Richard Derby. A merchant and fleet owner, Derby was America’s first millionaire and this was his house.

It’s the oldest brick house still standing in Salem, and one of the earliest examples of Georgian Colonial Architecture in America. The house was built in 1762.

SALEM, MA

2010-01-17T06:37:00.001-08:00

"Salem with a little under eight thousand inhabitants, was the sixth city in the United States in 1790. Her appearance was more antique than even that of Boston, and her reek of the salt water, that almost surrounded her, yet more pronounced. For half a mile along the harbor front, subtended by the long finger of Derby Wharf, ran Derby Street, the residential and business center of the town. On one side were the houses of the gentry, Derbys and Princes, and Crownshields, goodly gambrel or hip-roofed brick and wooden mansions dating from the middle of the century, standing well back with tidy gardens in front. Opposite were the wharves, separated from the street by counting rooms, warehouses, ship-chandlers' stores, pump-makers' shops, sailmakers' lofts; all against a background of spars, rigging, and furled or brailed-up sails. Crowded within three hundred yards of Derby street, peeping between the merchants' mansions and over their garden walls like small boys behind a police cordon, were some eighteen or nineteen hundred buildings, including dwellings of pre-witch-craft days, with overhanging upper stories, peaked gables, small-paned windows, and hand-rifted clapboards black with age." (www.salemweb.com)

The Friendship of Salem (rmr)

CAMBRIDGE, MA

2010-01-15T07:05:00.001-08:00

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ROAD TRIP TO MA

2010-01-14T08:42:00.000-08:00

Google maps rock.

I have to say it was a great ride out of the city and onto the open highway.
Mariel was driving and I was navigating. Yeah... a couple of geeks on the open road.

We rented a Jeep SUV(we were geting a yellow corvette from the Hertz lady but Mariel said nooooo). Not bad though. Brand new and no GPS. So we mapped out everything off the iPOD and got rolling. Had a great soundtrack too. We were on Sirius satellite radio "Bridge". That's the one with the dog logo.

This was the soundtrack of the trip (when we turned on the radio that is...): Urgent/ Foreigner, Time in a Bottle /Jim Croce, The Beatles/Let it Be, Piano Man/Billy Joel, Joe Rafferty/Baker Street, Bill Withers/Ain't No Sunshine, Elton John/DAniel, Landslides/Fleetwood Mac, Human League, Tears for Fears, Drifting Away/Doobie Brothers, Dreamweaver, Everybody's talking/Nilsson. It was fun. Total Time NY to Cambridge MA 4.40mins with two rest stops and some gawking. (rmr)

It was perhaps the perfect drive.

When Richard and I arrived at the Hertz centre in Manhattan, it was with the understanding that we were to collect a Hyundai accent for our trip to Boston and Connecticut. I'd made the booking on line, and being the budget traveller that I am, had decided we should go for the economy car. Imagine our surprise and delight when instead of the tiny accent, we were offered a comfortable (and very stable-looking) Jeep.

Richard and I had searched our route on google maps and written out a 28-point list of directions that would take us from Rachel's apartment in Harlem, to Christina's house in Roslindale - just outside of Boston. We were heading up there for a Memorial in honour of my father. The university at which he used to teach - Lesley - would be celebrating his contributions as a writer and teacher of writing.

Leaving Manhattan was simple enough. It only took a minute or two to get used to driving on the right side of the road. And our directions seemed to be spot-on.

Within a few minutes, we were heading north along the banks of the Hudson River - miles of bare trees to our right, the cold and quiet Hudson on our left. White snow glistened and sparkled on the banks and fields, and we drove past frozen lakes that were like magic to me. Although I've lived through many winters in England, I've never really experienced the expanses of frozen water that we drove past.

I threatened to start singing, and Richard turned on the radio! He found exactly the right music - mellow and easy to listen to: familiar but not distracting. And we sang, or sometimes just sat in a sort of quiet elation at this perfect moment that lasted for hours. Until we got to Boston and got lost! Alas... such is life. But I'm certain to never forget that drive.

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Guggenheim on the last day

2010-01-14T08:26:00.000-08:00

Picture of the Day

2010-01-14T08:23:00.001-08:00

Leaving New York (rmr)

Last Day in New York

2010-01-14T08:10:00.001-08:00

IRISH PUB UPPER WESTSIDE

2010-01-08T16:16:00.001-08:00

CENTRAL PARK WEST

2010-01-08T16:12:00.000-08:00

I couldn't believe the icicles - just hanging out on the rocks of Central Park. I squealed with delight to see them. I think Richard was generally amused, having lived in Toronto and seen far worse than that. I'm definitely a tropical blossom, unaccustomed to such sights!

AMNH: Hayden Planetarium

2010-01-08T16:04:00.000-08:00

We visited the Hayden Planetarium and say the show Journeyto the Stars. Definitely an awesome experience. Click this link for a preview of what we saw. http://www.amnh.org/rose/spaceshow/journey/

My weight on the Sun 3476 lbs

American Museum of Natural History

2010-01-08T15:50:00.000-08:00

The African Continent Dioramas

JET STREAM OVER MANHATTAN

2010-01-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

Photo by MB and colour correction by RMR.

DRUMMERS ON THE SUBWAY

2010-01-07T19:18:00.000-08:00

HARLEM

2010-01-07T19:03:00.001-08:00

A Harlem traffic triangle has been transformed into a public art project, with a memorial honoring the abolitionist Harriet Tubman.

The 15-foot, bronze sculpture, titled ``Swing Low,'' includes portraits of Underground Railroad users on Tubman's skirt, some inspired by miniature West African masks. Tiles around the base depict events in Tubman's life and traditional quilting patterns.

Plantings native to New York and Tubman's native Maryland represent the terrain of the Underground Railroad.

The sculpture by Alison Saar was commissioned through New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs

MOMA: JASPER JOHNS

2010-01-07T18:50:00.000-08:00

"One night I dreamed that I painted a large American flag," Johns said, "and the next morning I got up and I went out and bought the materials to begin it." Those materials included three canvases that he mounted on plywood, strips of newspaper, and encaustic paint—a mixture of pigment and molten wax that has formed a quivering surface of lumps and smears. The legible newspaper scraps beneath the tactile surface—some dating from 1955 and 1956, when Johns repaired the painting—lend the timeless, public icon historical specificity. While this image is something "the mind already knows," Johns acknowledged, its execution complicates the representation and invites close inspection. A critic of the time encapsulated this painting's ambivalence by asking, "Is this a flag or a painting?"(m0ma)

MOMA: AVEDON

2010-01-07T18:42:00.001-08:00

MOMA RANDOM

2010-01-07T18:28:00.000-08:00

MOMA: THE NEW TYPOGRAPHY

2010-01-07T10:37:00.000-08:00

In the 1920s and 1930s, the so-called New Typography movement brought graphics and information design to the forefront of the artistic avant-garde in Central Europe. Rejecting traditional arrangement of type in symmetrical columns, modernist designers organized the printed page or poster as a blank field in which blocks of type and illustration (frequently photomontage) could be arranged in harmonious, strikingly asymmetrical compositions. Taking his lead from currents in Soviet Russia and at the Weimar Bauhaus, the designer Jan Tschichold codified the movement with accessible guidelines in his landmark book Die Neue Typographie (1928). Almost overnight, typographers and printers adapted this way of working for a huge range of printed matter, from business cards and brochures to magazines, books, and advertisements. This installation of posters and numerous small-scale works is drawn from MoMA’s rich collection of Soviet Russian, German, Dutch, and Czechoslovakian graphics. They represent material from Tschichold’s own collection, which supported his teaching and publication from around 1927 to 1937. (moma)

MOMA'S MESSAGE 1944 - 56

2010-01-07T10:30:00.000-08:00

What was good design?

At mid-century MoMA played a leading role in the definition and dissemination of so-called Good Design, a concept that took shape in the 1930s and emerged with new relevance in the decades following World War II. This installation presents selections from MoMA's design collection that illuminate the primary values of Good Design as promoted (and disputed) by museums, design councils, and department stores. Iconic pieces by designers like Charles and Ray Eames and Hans Wegner are shown alongside more unexpected items, such as a hunting bow and a plumb bob, as well as everyday objects including an iron, a hamper, a rake, a cheese slicer, and Tupperware. (moma)

MOMA: Monet large Water Lilies paintings

2010-01-07T10:18:00.000-08:00

In this triptych Monet depicted his Japanese-style pond covered with water lilies, at center, shimmering with reflections of clouds overhead. The water's surface fills the expansive composition so that conventional clues to the artist's—and the viewer's—vantage point are eliminated. Monet wished for the paintings to encompass the viewer: in his designs for the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris, he specified that the Water Lily canvases be displayed on curved walls.

The aim of his large Water Lilies paintings, Monet said, was to supply "the illusion of an endless whole, of water without horizon or bank." While his garden in Giverny, his water-lily pond, and the sky above are the subjects of this monumental triptych, his representation of them can be seen to verge toward abstraction. In the attempt to capture the constantly changing qualities of natural light and color, spatial cues all but dissolve; above and below, near and far, water and sky all commingle. In his enveloping, large-scale canvases Monet sought to create "the refuge of a peaceful meditation in the center of a flowering aquarium." (moma)

MOMA: GABRIEL OROZCO Samurai Tree Invariants

2010-01-07T10:10:00.000-08:00

The artist developed the geometric patterns in this series from his long–standing interest in the game of chess. Starting with an offhand drawing of circular forms, Orozco formulated a set of rules for their colors, which evolve and expand outward based on the L–shaped move a knight makes on a chessboard. The Samurai of the title is Orozco’s term for the knight chess piece.

The animation represents hundreds of manipulations of the chess move and is the basis of the print series. Orozco selected 672 "frames" from that animation to be produced as digital prints. The installation of the prints provides an alternative way of experiencing the variations: all at once, rather than frame by frame. (moma)

MORE MOMA: AND NOW FOR THE GOOD STUFF!!!

2010-01-07T09:41:00.001-08:00

Abstract Painting Ad Reinhardt (American, 1913-1967)

In the last ten years of his life, Reinhardt focused solely on square, black paintings. In his unpublished writings, the artist indicates that these pictures relate aesthetically to monotonal Chinese paintings rather than Western painting's concepts of light and dark. These canvases are intentionally enigmatic, painted to resist interpretation and to represent the beginning of a new way of seeing and thinking about art. In 1961, Reinhardt described them thus:

A square (neutral, shapeless) canvas, five feet wide, five feet high, as high as a man, as wide as a man's outstretched arms (not large, not small, sizeless), trisected (no composition), one horizontal form negating one vertical form (formless, no top, no bottom, directionless), three (more or less) dark (lightless) no–contrasting (colorless) colors, brushwork brushed out to remove brushwork, a matte, flat, free–hand, painted surface (glossless, textureless, non–linear, no hard-edge, no soft edge) which does not reflect its surroundings—a pure, abstract, non–objective, timeless, spaceless, changeless, relationless, disinterested painting—an object that is self–conscious (no unconsciousness) ideal, transcendent, aware of no thing but art (absolutely no anti–art). (moma)

Filzanzug (Felt Suit) Joseph Beuys (German, 1921-1986)

(1970). Multiple of felt, Overall: 69 7/8 x 28 1/8 x 5 5/16" (177.5 x 71.5 x 13.5 cm) (irreg.) a: 31 1/2 (from top of collar to bottom of right sleeve) x 27" variable (elbow to elbow); b: 44 3/4 (along right left outer seam) x 23 1/2" variable (from bottom of left pant leg to bottom of right pant leg)
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Reducing painting to the bare minimum (white paint, a square, and metal fastenings) Ryman pursues infinite subtle variations. Here he has applied oil pastel to the textured and slightly translucent surface of sandblasted plexiglass. The visible fastenings together with the ruled pencil lines expose the typically hidden apparatus that holds paintings to the wall. In making this work and the others on view here, Ryman was much more interested in what he calls the “how” of painting—the physical object itself—than the “what”—the image, the story, the symbolism” that convey meaning outside the work. (m0ma)

This is the first of thirty–nine "monuments" to the Russian artist Vladimir Tatlin (1885–1953) that Flavin created between 1964 and 1990. The stepped arrangement of white fluorescent tubes evokes Tatlin’s colossal Monument to the Third International (1920), a soaring tower intended to support Lenin’s Plan for Monumental Propaganda. Tatlin's ambitious but unrealized project to unite art and technology was of particular interest to Flavin. Although the utopian goals of the Russian Constructivists were never fulfilled, their art and philosophy were of great interest to artists of the 1960s. (m0ma)

Yes those are bricks and that's a giant rubberband on the wall at the back.

MOMA POP ART

2010-01-07T09:05:00.000-08:00

Tom Wesselmann, Still Life #30, April 1963. Oil, enamel and synthetic polymer paint on composition board with collage of printed advertisements, plastic flowers, refrigerator door, plastic replicas of 7-Up bottles, glazed and framed color reproduction, and stamped metal.(moma)

Marisol, LBJ 1967
Moma Teen Audio on the piece. Hear what patrons think of LBJ.

Lichtenstein found sources for many of his early paintings in comic books. The source for this work is "Run for Love!" published by DC Comics in 1962. In the original illustration, the drowning girl's boyfriend appears in the background, clinging to a capsized boat. Lichtenstein cropped the image dramatically, showing the girl alone, encircled by a threatening wave. He shortened the caption from "I don't care if I have a cramp!" to the ambiguous "I don't care!" and changed the boyfriend's name she calls out from Mal to Brad. In addition to appropriating the melodramatic content of comics, Lichtenstein manually simulated the Benday dots used in the mechanical reproduction of images. (moma)

When Warhol first exhibited these thirty–two canvases in 1962, each one simultaneously hung from the wall like a painting and rested on a shelf like groceries in a store. The number of canvases corresponds to the varieties of soup then sold by the Campbell Soup Company. Warhol assigned a different flavor to each painting, referring to a product list supplied by Campbell's. There is no evidence that Warhol envisioned the canvases in a particular sequence. Here, they are arranged in rows that reflect the chronological order in which they were introduced, beginning with "Tomato" in the upper left, which debuted in 1897. (moma)

MAX BRENNER'S CHOCOLATE BAR

2010-01-05T15:13:00.001-08:00

If you look closely at the menu, you'll see one of the hot chocolates is made with cocoa from Trinidad!

The mug is called a 'hug' - you're meant to cup it in both of your hands and get comfy - which Richard and I did!

Talk about indulgence!!! Have you ever seen a chocolate pizza?

We just happened upon the place after we left the Strand and bought tickets to see AVATAR in 3d (that was something!). We had about an hour to kill and it was freezing cold - the kind of cold that makes your teeth hurt! The restaurant was glowing gold and yellow and was irresistible.

What we drank was easily the most indulgent thing we've had so far - the most decadent hot chocolate you could possibly imagine! Richard's was a thick Italian hot chocolate with hints of vanilla. I promise you you could almost stand a spoon in it, it was that thick!

I had a simpler, dark hot chocolate that was quite perfect - with the heart-shaped design in my froth.

It's on Broadway and 13th Street, and I suspect we're gonna go back!

Store window gallery space 10th & Broadway

2010-01-05T15:02:00.000-08:00

This exhibit of four or more windows is entitled ' Great Black Hornet's Nest Underneath My Kitchen Table 2009 by Jennifer Gustavson

CENTRAL PARK

2010-01-05T14:53:00.000-08:00

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING

2010-01-05T09:29:00.001-08:00

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THE STRAND BOOKSTORE

2010-01-05T08:58:00.000-08:00

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18 miles of books.

This is just about my favourite bookstore in Manhattan. And I was very excited to share it with Richard. It's on the corner of 12th Street and Broadway, and like the caption says, it boasts 18 miles of books! The books are all discounted (some, heavily) and there's an incredible range of subjects and genres. However (and it was our second such encounter of the day) the staff are that particular breed of snooty Manhattan intelligentsia - no-doubt very knowledgeable about books, but covetous of their knowledge and ridiculously condescending. But the books are worth the staff minefield!(mb)

TWO CHURCHES

2010-01-05T08:35:00.001-08:00

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Church on 10th and Broadway

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Orthodox church off Cooper Square

STICKERZ

2010-01-05T08:20:00.000-08:00

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Haven't seen much sticker art around NYC.
Here are a few of the ones I did manage to find.

Cooper Square

2010-01-05T08:10:00.000-08:00

Original Cooper Union(rmr)

New Cooper Union(rmr)

Cooper Square (rmr)

PORTO RICO IMPORTING CO.

2010-01-05T08:06:00.000-08:00

Quality since 1907 (rmr)

No cellphones in the store (rmr)

A WALK ON ST. MARK'S

2010-01-05T07:32:00.000-08:00

Cool van (rmr)

Galeria de La Vega (rmr)

Artist James De La Vega has crafted his mystique here. He's a character. The artist hero of Spanish Harlem is known for his drawings and depictions of his mother as different people...
Elvis, Frida Khalo, Che, Castro, Martin Luther King, Marilyn Manson and others.

He's also known for writing these phrases in chalk all over NYC...'Become Your Dream' and 'Don't Let idiots ruin your day.' (RMR)

Although Richard really liked de La Vega's work, I wasn't that impressed. He was in the gallery while we were there, and I could see from the photos on the walls that he probably spends a lot of time in there. He's obviously relatively successful and has crafted a mystique that's worked well for him. But I suspect that he's now become a bit of a caricature - no longer artist, but personality. I'd be surprised if he could find the willpower to do something different as an artist, because he's trapped in the persona he's created. Also, while some of the work was genuinely interesting and exploratory - a lot of it was just blatantly commercial, which irritated me. I don't think that the words artist and struggling need to always go together, but to be so absolutely chasing the dollar seemed disingenuous to me. (MB)

Physical Graffiti Vintage Clothing (mb)

The Cube Astor Place (rmr)

14th Street A,C,E platform sculptures

2010-01-05T07:15:00.000-08:00

Life Underground by Tom Otterness bronze sculptures created in 2000 poke fun at New Yorkers and the obsession with money. The characters are reminiscent of the Monopoly man of the 30s.
They are allover the station trying to do different things.

TIMES SQUARE & BROADWAY

2010-01-03T16:58:00.001-08:00

SPARE SOME CHANGE?

2010-01-03T16:52:00.001-08:00

Entertainment in 42nd Street Subway Station

2010-01-03T16:22:00.000-08:00

(rmr)
Meet the 'Meetles'. They're a Beatles cover band.
They have a CD on sale for $10. They sounded pretty good.

(rmr)
It's a crying shame I couldn't get a better picture of this young lady. Her name is Annette Taylor. She was doing some Whitney Houston, Cissy Houston, Dionne Warwick...she could really sing. According to a guy named Chuck who saw her out there and asked why she was out there in the first place..."She's just doing her thing cause that's what she do". Her CD is available on CDBabies.com for $10.

(rmr)
Then there was this brother... Spray painted Gold. Head to toe. He didn't sing. Didn't have no CD. He just sort of stood there. Like a statue. Doing his thing. Which was nothing actually.

MIDTOWN COMICS 40th and 7th

2010-01-03T16:06:00.000-08:00

(rmr)

(rmr)

BLACK BARBIES in Toys 'R' Us

2010-01-03T15:59:00.000-08:00

(rmr)

These below are called 'So in Style' (SIS).

(rmr)

TIMES AT NIGHT. 40th and 7th

2010-01-03T15:52:00.000-08:00

(rmr)

HARLEM NIGHT

2010-01-03T08:38:00.000-08:00

Between 116th and 117th on Frederick Douglas, Harlem, NYC. (rmr)

There's something so beautiful about a wintry sky. This was maybe just after five in the afternoon and Ricahrd and I were coming home happy and tired. It was cold, so it would have been easy to just zoom past the picture and rush home. But we didn't. We paused for a look at the wintry sky, and he took this photo. It almost reminds me of a dry season dusk - the way the lights glow on everything, and the sky is that hauting shade of blue. (MB)

THE SHOPS OF COLUMBUS CIRCLE

2010-01-03T08:29:00.001-08:00

BOTERO bottom

BOTERO woman

BOTERO man

THE ZOO

2010-01-03T08:16:00.001-08:00

FAO SCHWARZ

2010-01-03T07:53:00.000-08:00

You just can't escape them can you? Steuppps.

The muppet whatnot workshop. You design it they build it.

The Kaleidoscope room.

There's no escaping Twilight is there?

A Walk along 59th

2010-01-03T07:25:00.001-08:00

The Museum of Art and Design MAD and the MAD store.
Check out the Mia Perlman cut paper objects in the right of the photo.

The MAD Store

Lobby Installation

59th Street Subway Poster

2010-01-01T20:27:00.001-08:00

SVA poster inspired by OBAMA's inaugural address

Off the Beaten (Subway) Track

2010-01-01T20:09:00.001-08:00

"Off the Beaten (Subway) Track" at Adult Education (June 2, 2009) from OTBST on Vimeo.

Dec.31st 2009. THE BALL DROP.

2010-01-01T07:05:00.000-08:00

photo Mariel Brown

We braved the throngs of revelers making their way in from
8th ave and 56th in one degree weather to see the ball drop.
The hundreth annivesary of NYC New Year's Eve celebrations.
According to Mariel this was like a Carnival fete, with more people,
cold weather and some snow.

(all smiles) photo Mariel Brown

We finally settled in at 5oth and Broadway in between
some Trinidadians and some folks from Missouri,
whose daughter was going to turn 18 at midnight.
(The rather bubbly young lady gave us a countdown every 15mins til the ball drop.)

From our vantage point we could see the ball and the Toshiba Screen
beneath it that kept counting down the hours, as well as
different performances. We saw J-Lo in a see thru cat suit.
How the hell did she manage that in such cold weather?

photo Richard Rawlins

Did I mention it was cold?

Well it wasn't that cold at first.
One degree weather isn't cold. Of course it started snowing/sleet/light raining an there was bit of a slight breeze. We were out there from 8 p.m., so it eventually took its toll.

I like most of the crowd cuddled up and started dancing /wining/slash vibrating to the music pumping from the speaker truck behind us.

photo Richard Rawlins (no more smile)

Mariel's toes started getting numb somewhere around 10.30 p.m.
The sleet thing got a little worse and we were a little wet but determined to stick it out.

I was really cold. I was just dancing, and holding onto Mariel.

Then the weather cleared. All the umbrellas came down and
we were into the final hour. We no longer cared about the cold.
We were making good on individual promises to ourselves to experience this event.

This was to make up for Dec.31st 1999 when Mariel couldn't find her friend Alicia at this same intersection and gave up, and went home. This was for me who couldn't get a flight changed Dec. 31st 2008 and brought in the New Year with cheap wine in a plastic glass courtesy of Caribbean Airlines staff at JFK. We were here and we were doing this! We made it! WOW!

We were into the final seconds of 2009. (rmr)

10

9

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7

6

5

4

3

2

1

HAPPY

NEW YEAR. WOOHOOO, YEAH!!!

Columbus Circle NYC Dec31st.2009

2010-01-01T06:34:00.000-08:00

photo richard rawlins

photo richard rawlins

photo mariel brown

photo richard rawlins

The monument at the center, created by Italian sculptor Gaetano Russo, is the point at which distances to and from New York City are officially measured. It was erected as part of New York's 1892 commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Columbus' first voyage to the Americas.

This is where we began our trek to the Times Square ball drop. (rmr)