Typewriters are hot. The hottest writing tool ever. Quills? Fountain Pens? No. The clickity-click-click sound, the feeling of pushing the roll to the side to reset, the look of the words on the page. From Woody Allen to Mad Men, typewriters are strutting their stuff more than ever. I was lucky enough to see a couple of hotties at a museum. Get ready to throw some sexist jeers at these babys.
In exquisite olive green. Not trying too hard. Classic understated elegance.
A more youthful silver and green combination. Stunning. I don't know whether to type my research paper or go get a nice bottle of wine with two glasses.
Lady in Red. Fiery Gorgeous Traffic (and work) stopping red. Matching lipstick is a killer.
Be My Valentine You Qwerty Femme Fatale.
Woody’s been with the same typewriter his entire life.
Like the guy in the back of the car in Dazed & Confused, I wanna dance. Dancing has shot up the list of things I wish I could do, as evidenced below.
TOP 5 THINGS I WISH I COULD DO.
1) Dance
2) Dunk
3) Dribble
4) Play a musical instrument
5) Mack
The first time I paid attention to dance was in South Korea at the Annual R16 B-Boy Festival where breakers come from 16 nations and compete for the title of “illest freshest crew” or in Korean parlance, first prize-uh. Some of them were really good but I couldn’t get any good photos because it was insanely crowded there.
This gentleman's not lacking in confidence.
When I was in California, my favorite place by far was Venice Beach. There were a few too many druggie scumbags but that’s to be expected when people flock there from all over the country expecting hippie Shangri-la. The best experience I had there was one random afternoon when I went there just for lunch but chanced upon a really good crew doing some ridiculous routines on the boardwalk.
These guys run full speed and somehow turn in mid-air- without ever touching someone- and clear up to 9 heads. WILD!
HOPS
I’m becoming obsessed with appreciating dancing but I still can’t do it worth a lick. The second I start moving in any way that can be construed as dancing, I no longer hear the music and just keep hearing that sound when a DJ scratches the record to a halt. In Venice, the leader of the crew gave this speech that said to remember not to get caught up in drinking and smoking and that all you need to do something fun and amazing is in your body already. He really made me feel like crap. I kept thinking he was trying to butter up the parents in the crowd but maybe he was serious? Anyway, a few weeks later I came across some high school kids in San Francisco raising funds for their dance program on the street. They were about 16 or 17 and so passionate about it, it made me think I must have grown up a lot slower than other kids. All I did was play outside and prank call people. Damn. They really made me feel like I need to lose some inhibitions. And I don’t mean that in terms of dancing but just in general. If you’re feeling something, anything, you need to drop your cool and just go for it. If I told you I had an idea about two twins dancing while pretending to be rug dealers in a carpet store, what would you say? It’s been done. And it’s awesome.
CAKE! Not really a fan but ever since my birthday, I’m straight cakin’. It started with the ice cream cake my friends surprised me with on my birthday^^. I inhaled it. People ask me my favorite food and I usually don’t know the answer and they’ll say Indian or Mexican or Moroccan or Something Exotic. Well, after much thought, it’s Ice Cream Cake or Brownies. If they ever put me on the electric chair, bring me some brownies as last rights.
Jan 8th, 2011. I NEED THE CAKE.
So, 2011 kicked off as a banner year for cake. We ate the cake merrily while listening to this on a loop. Cake! Yay!
A week later, I saw this cake sitting on the counter of a luncheonette named Mama’s – and you know what I mean – and the way she looked was way beyond compare. She made me feel like a little kid for a second, she really did- when I saw her standing there. She turned around to look at me – as I was walking away- I heard her say over my shoulder- “We’ll meet again someday- on the avenue.” – Tangled Up in Bluuue…
“We’re all works in progress … we’re paintings… the oil don’t dry till we die” – Kanye West
I’VE been taking a ton of photos lately and I’ve really come to love my Nikon. I bought it a year ago in Korea and it was expensive. I felt a little buyer’s remorse since it was a total impulse buy. I had researched Canons for weeks when I went to the Bupyeong Underground with Yong, the social worker from my school and an avid photographer. He had a Canon but kept advising me to buy a Nikon based on the photos I had taken throughout my first year in Korea. His logic went “Canon looks real, Nikon looks like a painting. I like real. I think you like paintings.” I switched from Canon to Nikon based on this and the fact that my Nikon cost substantially less than a Canon. Hey, I like paintings, you know. I had the camera for my last six months in Korea and I got some awesome shots of my elementary school students and random sights here and there. As time passed, I finally learned the basic tricks of it and I especially loved the photos I got of my friends on my last night in Korea as well as the pics I snapped in Japan, Germany and Holland. I thought for some reason that I would hang up the camera when I got back stateside, but it’s been the opposite. This addiction to photography has made me constantly seek out fun and colourful scenarios to capture on camera. I haven’t been going out and drinking at all, it seems like every weekend has revolved around me getting some good photos. And I’ve been loving it. I’ve reached the point where I’m getting some photos that make me feel good, like how I feel after I write something I like. I guess it has to do with capturing something in a moment in the manner that you want to convey it. Damn, I sound like a pretentious tool right there. Oh well, I love this sh*t.
I took photos galore at the Men’s semi finals at the U.S Open last week. It was fantastic taking photos of two of my all time favorite athletes, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. I’ve said before that while writing, I’ve come to appreciate the work and effort people put into writing a movie. Likewise, photography has made me appreciate the art of a good movie shot even more, the angles, the depth and the colours. I’m ecstatic to capture one second well and it makes me marvel at directors like the Coen Brothers who sustain visual excellence for an entire 90 to 120 minutes. When I watched the Hudsucker Proxy this week, I tried to think of better shots or angles or any way to improve the movie visually and I just could not. It’s perfect. Now, add to that, perfect writing, music, acting, pacing and costume and set design. These quality movie directors are the Van Goghs and Picassos of our time. They’re extraordinary. Their paintings move.
The US Open Tennis Championships. Flushing, Queens, NY
Rafa sprinting to the baseline to kick off the matches...
Federer Vs Djokovic proved to be a classic match with Fed losing the match in 5 sets despite having two match points.
