Artfishman.com

Contrasty Rooftops

2009-05-27T19:41:00.001-04:00

Contrasty Rooftops, originally uploaded by artfishman.

Parched Ditmars

2009-05-25T20:54:00.001-04:00

Parched Ditmars, originally uploaded by artfishman.

Astoria Blooms

2009-05-24T18:31:00.001-04:00

Astoria Blooms, originally uploaded by artfishman.

At Flushing Meadows

2009-05-23T11:20:00.001-04:00

New York State Pavillion, originally uploaded by artfishman.

With my new 17-55 in hand

2009-05-22T20:04:00.001-04:00

IMG_6268, originally uploaded by artfishman.

I have received one of the best birthday gifts, a 17-55 IS USM 2.8. This image isn't at all special but beautifully sharp.

Untitled

2009-05-01T14:08:00.002-04:00

Untitled, originally uploaded by artfishman.

One of the commenters on flickr got it right ... there is something very bittersweet (symphony by Verve) about this. A complete accident; I did not wait for him to look straight at me, I just snapped and lo and behold, the viewfinder had a little gem.

Chair amid the forest

2008-09-28T11:29:00.004-04:00

From LIC

2008-09-23T09:05:00.005-04:00

Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ85U

2008-09-13T07:55:00.011-04:00

How did I survive all these years without a 1080p experience?! This Panasonic 42" Plasma set recently landed on our door step and has been a joy ever since. HDMI cables are expensive at major retailers so buy on-line only. I also got a mini-DVI to DVI and hooked up my iMac to marvel at 1920x1080 resolution. Picture calibration settings are difficult to find on-line so after tinkering for a bit, I've set mine to :

Picture mode : Cinema
Picture : +90
Brightness : +58
Color : +50
Tint : 0
Sharpness : +65
Color temp : Normal
Color mgmt. : On
Video NR : Off
MPEG NR : Off

At first, it was difficult to appreciate the quality of the picture because intially Time Warner stuck me with a low-quality HD box. After replacing it with a Scientific Atlanta DVR (Explorer 8300 HDC) things have become exponentially better.

Getting an HD capable DVR along with a quality HD Plasma set is a true time-killer so beware.

Mio MOOV 300

2008-09-06T10:20:00.004-04:00

MOOV 300 isn't a complete failure but not very good as a GPS either. As many of my buys, this was an impulsive purchase with little supporting research. The objective was to get a robust device for as little money as possible. At first, MOOV felt like a much better alternative to Garmin's army of gizmos: much bigger screen than that of Pilots or cheap Nuvis, far better looking maps, easier destination input.

Here is what makes this a "do not buy" ... The touchscreen sensitivity is horrendous and you'll find yourself taking corrective action countless times. Performance-wise the device is frustratingly sluggish and at times may take a second or two to respond to your input. In terms of guidance, only one of the voices will speak the street names and that voice happens to be quite annoying. In Boston, where things are admittedly confusing, Mio has gotten us lost several times. Also, what annoys me is the very late reminder to get off a road or complete lack of reassurance provided by similar devices. If I just entered a road, I want to hear that I did and when I'll be getting off. In short, MOOV isn't very good ... consider Garmin, TomTom or Magellan.

Dim Sum at Ping's

2008-09-01T19:25:00.004-04:00

A friend recommended this Dim Sum place to us and we've been looking forward to this experience for some time. I've tried Dim Sum once in Chinatown; by the way here is the definition:

Dim sum is the name for a Chinese cuisine which involves a wide range of light dishes served alongside Chinese tea. It is usually served in the mornings until noon time at Chinese restaurants and at specialty dim sum eateries where typical dishes are available throughout the day.

Ping's is located at 8302 Queens Blvd slightly outside of the element common to Flushing & Chinatown but once you enter the place, you'll be sure to find it authentic. The staff moves quickly to accommodate aggressive traffic so we were welcomed seated in a rush. During the first round pass we were ignored, but things improved and staff tried to help us choose even with their limited English. The place doesn't seem friendly to the outsiders but the quality and variety of food are worth it.

Blogger hosting my blog

2008-09-01T16:41:00.007-04:00

I've moved on again and selected Blogger as my blogging platform. Here is a brief outline of the present and the past:

Blogger.com is free and loaded with features. You can even point your domain here by using CNAME. 1 Gig is a gift from google, but the next step up to 10 Gigs isn't expensive and will set you back $20. Tons of templates are available and you can put up a great looking site in no time.

MobileMe (what used to be .Mac) was a disappointment. This service had a very rocky launch and offered little of value. In short, you get to interlink static HTML pages with the help of quirky and limited tools like iWeb & RapidWeaver.

Wordpress was trully terrific. This is an open-source blogging platform with a mind-boggling feature set. It is realiable, extensible (via a very clean plugin architecture) and straight-forward. Being a powerhouse is both an advantage and a disadvantage ... I didn't want to manage this beast, but a group of folks might.

Sennheiser PX 100

2008-06-06T16:13:00.001-04:00

Sennheiser PX 100 is inexpensive and a far better alternative to BOSE In-Ear or On-Ear. This German set delivers fantastic fidelity sound in a tiny package, however, it isn’t as polished as its more expensive counterparts. Cloth and leather details feel cheap but given the price and the sound quality, one can’t complain.

iPhone Life

2008-06-01T01:28:00.001-04:00

The iPhone is the best mobile device I have ever owned. I grew tired of all past devices within 2-3 months; the iPhone has been going strong for six months. I won’t dwell on the positives (outlined elsewhere in far more detail than I can provide) but here are some things I found irritating:

3.5mm jack which forces you to shell out $20 for a decent TTY adapter because the standard iPhone headphones suck.
The ever-so gorgeous screen gets easily stained and requires constant wiping. Want a fix? Buy the $20 anti-glare crystal film set.
EDGE is painful and more so when you have a decent browser that downloads the pages completely. At least the blackberry browsers slim down the page (i.e. Opera)
Ziphone is fun but most apps don’t have the Apple pizzazz and are extremely unstable. iPhone users are in dire need of new apps and surely they’re coming!
Having experienced push email on my blackberry pearl, iPhone polling for email sucks. I am very excited that push email and syncing are coming via .Mac.

Book Review: Shaping Things

2007-02-05T16:02:00.001-05:00

I recently decided to plow through several Technoculture texts among which Shaping Things is considered to be the most baffling and intriguing. Written by a futurist, Bruce Sterling, this book deals with SPIMES:
Manufactured objects whose informational support is so overwhelmingly extensive and rich that they can be regarded as material instantiations of an immaterial system.
This little pamphlet is just over 150 pages long but will keep you thoroughly entertained and sufficiently confused. It’s a good stimulant for one’s atrophied imagination and an ambitious attempt to predict the technological advancement of the next 100 years.

Book Review: Rainbows End

2007-01-28T19:13:00.001-05:00

Vernor Vinge’s latest book Rainbows End is an annoying thing to read. If you check out Amazon’s customer reviews you’ll get a sense that even the hard core SciFi crowd is disappointed. However the most information-packed review came from MIT’s Technology Review. In this little article I learned that Vinge is a computer science professor and the great mac daddy of the concept of social singularity.

Vinge proposed that technological progress would soon accelerate to a spike of such intense change that on the other side of it, humanity would be unrecognizable. On this subject, there are several fascinating books which I am presently reading and already recommending: The Singularity Is Near and Shaping Things.

In short, the story is about very near future, 2025. The singularity has taken place and technology has exponentially advanced. Most people depend on their “wearables”, computers embedded into human bodies for non-stop access to information. Several parallel stories develop:

Robert Gu, once a poet and a professor, comes out of Alzheimer’s seemingly unscathed. He is faced with a changed world and has to go back to high school to catch up. His little granddaughter Miri is the ubergeek of her time and concentrates on helping her grandfather overcome the difficulties of getting used to new technology.

Bob Gu, the son of the professor is a modern day NSA-equivalent high ranking official. His wife Alice works there too. Get it? Bob, Alice? In the world of data encryption, these are often marked as 2 nodes exchanging encrypted information. In the book there is even an Eve (like the Eve’s dropper).

Modern day books are being scanned from libraries but in the process of being scanned books are destroyed by a shredder. Robert Gu and his friends try to stop the process. There are plenty of allusions to Google here. While Google isn’t physically destroying books, it does so by scanning them. Given convenient reading devices, will we continue using libraries or physical books?

Secret Agencies of several countries are involved in an operation around a bio lab at the same University where the afore mentioned library stands. YGBM (you gotta believe me) is a mind control kind of technology. It’s escape into evil hands would be devastating to the world where everyone is constantly hooked up.

The book is absolutely dull. The language is as good as that of a soap opera written by the likes of Daniel Steel. The underlying philosophical questions are enormously trite: the virtual and digital vs. physical and analog.

While reading the book, I felt as though I was watching trash like SPY Kids. Mom & Dad (secret agents), their daughter (futuristic technology prodigy) and her Grandpa & Grandma collectively save the world. This all feels like a family movie … Was this story once a screenplay? Did Hollywood pass and it just became a book instead?

Master and Margarita (mini-series)

2006-05-23T02:56:00.000-04:00

Supple and impressionable minds of Russia’s youth easily fall prey to Mikhail Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita – and well they should, they’re in good hands. It’s also natural to surrender to a cinematographic production of Bulgakov’s Heart Of a Dog with venerable Sir Yevstigneyev, darling of Russia’s theatre and film.

Today, I’ll be throwing jabs (swinging at the air so to speak) at Mr. Vladimir Bortko, the man who directed the afore mentioned movie. “Once a success, twice a success. Ухнем!”, thought Mr. Bortko and hastily began filming one of the most complex works of Soviet fiction.

A little more about our director if you please … he is, bless his soul, the creator of garbage like “Бандитский Петербург/Criminal Petersburg” (both Baron & Advokat) and “Улицы разбитых фонарей/Streets of Broken Lanterns”. Soon after Soviet regime was put to rest, folks became highly interested in soap operas (called mini-series, for effect). Particularly what captivated the audience was “da gangsta life”, the Russian mob. Mr. Bortko toiled for over three years to quench the mob’s thirst for rubbish and, by the by, was a natural at it. Vulgarity of it all must have been gnawing at him for years but escaping vulgarity when you regularly concoct it, isn’t easy.

His first attempt, Dostoevsky’s Idiot (mini-series), wasn’t a success. His second, Master and Margarita (mini-series again), an absolute disaster. There is virtually no screenplay, the whole thing, in lump, is thrown onto the screen. Bortko, claims to have aspired for completeness and exactness but, dear fellow, movies aren’t books, they aren’t complete. Film scenes must be carefully selected to provide maximum possible “entertainment” value (unless you’re shooting for a visual masterpiece). Films, especially when they are long and shot in a meager year, can’t embody a written work. Films are visual things and the art of creating them involves a detachment from words, a craft altogether different from that of a writer.

Casting, in this mini-series, is astoundingly poor. When choosing a person to play the dimwit Bezdomny, you must take great care not to cast an actual dimwit (forgive me Mr. Galkin, you’re in line of fire). When choosing voluptuous Margarita, you shouldn’t really choose your investor’s dull daughter (Mrs. Kovalchuk, it’s just my wild guess, pray do not take it too personally). Aleksandr Galibin, apparently the Master, is at best trite but at worst just a hack. There are very rare moments when events come alive and they do so because of Basilashvili and Abdulov. Even so, at their best moments in the film, Basilashvili is a drying fruit and Abdulov, hmm, Abdulov … well he’s just naturally charming and that’s all.

I mentioned that the whole ordeal was pointlessly long but what’s more depressing is the lack of funds with which the thing was shot. When Tarkovsky shot with his abysmally minimal cash reserves, he was inventive, he minimized the emphasis of superficial visual effects or found miraculous, natural substitutes. Master and Margarita should, in the least, be done in a visually stunning way or should not be done at all. Mr. Bortko’s work was cheap, poorly planned, poorly cast, poorly directed, poorly filmed and hence offensive to Mr. Bulgakov and to his countless admirers.

More and more, I feel that Russia’s cinema is in a sorry state, staining wonderful works of literature with its vaudevilles made by chronic dilettantes.

Wrap a shell script into OS X Bundle

2006-03-21T11:29:00.002-05:00

A shell script can be easily wrapped into OS X bundle so that you can simply double click on an icon and this will effectively run the script. All you have to do is create the following directory structure:

MyBundle.app/
MyBundle.app/Contents/
MyBundle.app/Contents/MacOS/
MyBundle.app/Contents/MacOS/MyBundle

Notice MyBundle in MacOS directory has to be the same as MyBundle.app minus the .app (this is a very simply and limited method). You can now double click on MyBundle.app to run MyBundle script.

If you want to be a little more fancy you can even assign an icon to this bundle. Create MyBundle.app/Contents/Resources directory and drop .icns file in there. Create a file MyBundle.app/Contents/Info.plist and in it you can specify the icon file name. Below is an example of a .plist that will launch MyBundle application (CFBundleExecutable) and uses MyIcons.icns in Resources (CFBundleIconFile). Note that .icns extension isn’t there.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC “-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN” “http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd”>
<plist version=”1.0″>
<dict>
<key>CFBundleExecutable</key>
<string>MyBundle</string>
<key>CFBundleIconFile</key>
<string>MyIcons</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Now, after you’ve done all that, there is even an easier way … Open your terminal, go to File -> Save As. Here you can specify “Execute this command” or basically the path to your script.
P.S. You can always bundle your .jar apps with Jar Bundler included with XCode Tools.

Subversion on OS X Quickly

2006-03-01T14:36:00.001-05:00

Go to subversion.tigris.com. In “Downloads” section you may want to follow Fink way of doing things, however, I chose the latest binary build from Metissan. The installer will dump the binaries into /usr/local/bin. Become root and edit PATH in /etc/profile to include the svn install path. Create your repository (i.e. svnadmin create /SvnRepo). In your newly created repository edit conf/passwd to include usernames and passwords of your preference:

[users] user=password

Edit your svnserve.conf to look like:

[general] anon-access = none auth-access = write password-db = passwd

Now you’ll likely want svnserve to host your repo via default port 3690; to do this simply execute: svnserve -d --root /SvnRepo In order to run svnserve automatically on startup, you’ll have to jump one more hoop. Become root and create the following directory : /Library/StartupItems/svn Here, create StartupParameters.plist and svn files. Give svn file 750 permissions. Edit StartupParameters.plist to look like:


{
  Description = "Subversion";
  Provides = ("Subversion Server");
  Requires = ("Resolver");
  Preference = "Late";
  Message =
  {
    start = "Starting Subversion";
    stop  = "Stopping Subversion";
  };
}

And here is a lazy example of what svn might look like:


#!/bin/sh
##
# Svnserve
##
. /etc/rc.common

StartService ()
{
  ConsoleMessage "Starting Svnserve"
  /usr/local/bin/svnserve -d --root /Users/artem/Repo
}

StopService ()
{
  ConsoleMessage "Stopping Svnserve"
}

RestartService ()
{
  ConsoleMessage "Restarting Svnserve"
}
RunService "$1"

Ok, now you can restart. When you’re back up you’ll want a decent client. Don’t fall prey to SCPlugin. At the time of writing this post, SCPlugin is but an awkward attempt at mimicking Tortoise. OS X still lacks SVN client variety but things like svnX and Subclipse should suffice.

Eat, Sleep, Work, Consume, Die

2005-11-10T19:04:00.000-05:00

Tony Long’s article in Wired shouldn’t astound anyone; it’s a very old and immensely complex thought expressed far better in dedicated philosophical works. Mr. Long writes about consumerism and how it erases our individuality rendering us slaves to corporations. Tony sprinkles a little Technology dust into the potion and this, I suppose, makes him different. He is astounded by the notion that technology does not make our lives more efficient but rather turns us into more efficient consumers. Instead of screaming “rebel and free yourself from capitalist shackles”, Tony tones it down a bit and says “walk in a meadow or woo a lover or write a song”. Just recently an Economist convinced me that wooing a lover or writing a song is consumption as well. Wealth is generated by mere exchange of goods and is purely mental. We partake in an exchange because we believe this exchange benefits us. If I buy a car, I am convinced I am buying a convenience while the car maker is convinced they are getting money; we’re both happy (perhaps not equally but happy nonetheless). There is also the diamond/water principle where supply and demand dictate how much and what we want/need to consume (in the desert diamonds will matter little when traded for scarce water needed for survival). If we rebel about consumerist nature, then what shall we consume instead? Ideas? If that makes you happy then certainly, but remember you’re still just a consumer. If you prefer to produce goods or ideas, then you’ll need to consume first and then rely on other consumers to gobble up your stuff. If you’re producing ideas then you will be happy with the following exchange: you will receive others’ attention and appreciation, you will enjoy fame (also possibly money) while they will receive the product of your intellect.  Lastly, should we consume to enrich our individuality or should we consume to better our collective? We are willingly a member of a capitalist society … are we not expected to enthusiastically feed the money-making machine?

Trip to Philadelphia

2005-05-01T11:58:00.000-04:00

In eleven years since my emigration, I’ve only visited two major American cities outside of New York: Washington DC and Boston. I was always very disinterested in American history; it seemed too provincial, too political and excruciatingly dull. Lately, I feel more and more like a North-Eastern American and this country’s history is naturally more appealing to me. US is temporarily holding Cris hostage and so we’re taking this opportunity to see places we always frown upon.

We had a 2–day window and Philadelphia became the most convenient destination. Cris is a resourceful little girl; she quickly found a marvelous-looking little hotel in the middle of Philly’s historic district and off we went. Two hour trip on I-95 landed us smack in the middle of the city where we comfortably parked across the hotel and made ourselves known to the maitre d’. Because our check-in time wasn’t until 3pm, we ran for a little taste of Philly. Just one block away from Morris House Hotel is one of the oldest city parks, The Washington Square, which gently led us to Independence National Historical Park (see photos). Just two blocks away from the hotel stands the Independence Hall and starts off a series of some of the oldest and historically most impressive buildings in United States. We walked past the Second and First Banks of United States which began a chain of Philly’s amusing enumeration schemes, like the First, Second, Third Churches, etc. I may be a brute but I can’t appreciate early colonial architecture due to it’s lack of detail, pompous attempts at grandness, pathetically small scale and general failure to impress. Nonetheless, I was walking on the very ground where one of the world’s greatest revolution took place, I stood in the halls where American forefathers assembled to create the most prosperous and tolerant nation. We saw the Carpenter’s Hall and City Tavern and after, walked many different and absolutely fascinating streets. Cris notably noticed how flowery the old town was; so many colors with so many scents (something that New Yorkers know well but unfortunately while seeing and smelling the city’s garbage). Old Philadelphia is absolutely clean yet the old buildings maintain a sense of slight disrepair giving a tourist the impression of age and history. We walked down to St. Peter’s church where its curator was pleasant enough to give us a private talk about Episcopal traditions and the past of the building. Our next stop was the Elfreth’s Alley, known as the oldest continuously populated street in the United States – yes, people still live there and there was even a building for sale. Then I wanted to stop by Betsy Ross’ place but this place was a rip off where they wanted a few bucks for showing us a few items old Betsy owned and sowed. We dropped by the Christ Church where you can sit in Benny Franklin’s pew and where curators uninvitedly ramble on even as we politely try to exit. Already hungry and certainly tired, we decided to finally walk by The National Constitution Center and the US Mint. We came back to Chestnut St. to once more smile at the very provincial nature of Philadelphia – The Liberty Bell is US’s overblown emblem and Philly’s most talked about attraction. Here we saw cops scream at old ladies who tried to sneak in past the separator into the grounds of The Independence Hall. The police also diligently regulated casual pedestrian traffic (3–4 people) across the Liberty Bell Center.

It was time to eat and we stopped by Jones where we were impressed by the decor and especially by spectacular food (only $40 full lunch for 2). It was time to check in to Morris House, a tender little place which I must strongly recommend to anyone who plans to stay in Philadelphia. This 1787 building is still perfectly intact (2003 renovation). Modern amenities (cable, wireless internet, sound system, TV, remote controlled AC/Heat, etc) seamlessly blend in with original furniture and well-designed old rooms. The garden inside is a little heaven. The place has the traditional screeching stairs, a grand ambiance and everything is remarkably tidy and clean. The hotel staff needs work but their slight inadequacies won’t ruin your stay – stay in this gem, it’s cheap, elegant and dreamy.

After settling in, we went across town to Rittenhouse Square. The new city is thoroughly unimpressive however according to Cris still feels European, with wider sidewalks relaxed atmosphere and thorough cleanliness. Rittenhouse is a snazzy place with expensive cafes and shebang hotels yet nothing worth writing about. Around and about the square are many churches and synagogues but again nothing to rave about (perhaps we were already too tired to pay attention). As soon as the soon faded, Philly became a ghost town. People disappeared and everything appeared eerie. We thought about visiting the University District and descended down to the Metro station (the most scary stop in Philly); there was a long walkway ahead of us with a big, drunk friendly black guy who put his hand around my shoulder and began explaining how we would go about getting where we wanted to go, we decided not to follow his suggestion and zoomed back up. What’s left to see? Hmmm … not much. We circled the City Hall, then went to the Pennsylvania Convention Center where a big old train station was remodelled to host events. Cris and I complained to each other like little girls about our foot pain and agreed to head back to our hotel. Before going to our room we had drinks at Washington Square lounge (“A garden with ivy-covered walls, a chic indoor lounge and three striking dining rooms, each with high ceilings and views overlooking the lush garden.”) and then cosily settled in to watch The Apprentice . I kept complaining some more, now about my hungry stomach, it was time to see Philly night life.

What Philly night life?! Some dude told us that South Street is happenin. South Street is a dump with very uncool weirdos nursing their coke overdoses while stumbling unto each other. There was not a single decent restaurant open at 11pm. We no longer felt like we were in something that is called “city”. Persistent little munchkins that we are, we plowed to 2nd Street where you can indeed have some peace at Cuba Libre. This joint guarantees phenomenal food … “Libre’s vibrant atmosphere is filled with authentic Cuban flavor – from the re-creation of a Havana street in 1940s Cuba to the contemporary Cuban cousine”, the check arrives in a Cuban cigar box and a restless but somehow very suave host constantly makes sure you’re very happy with your food and the ambiance.

Long Thursday was gone … on Friday we wanted to see Dali’s exposition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. When we arrived a Russian lady asked us if we have any spare tickets. When I idiotically asked her “can’t we buy some at the museum?” she gave me look representing an internal question “are you completely numbnuts?”. Dali sold out until the May 16th (the extension date) and we felt like fools for not purchasing the tickets on-line and well in advance. In shame we still decided to see the museum where I got my fix of modern and impressionist art. Plenty of wonderful portraits by the Flemish and generally healthy selections of Matisse, Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Sargent and many more.

We headed back to NY, met friends at a lounge and went to sleep.

Apple Matters

2005-03-09T18:21:00.003-05:00

Two months ago I proclaimed that I switched back to my DELL, however omitted to mention that 2 weeks later I went back to my Powerbook. I am often confused and rapidly change my mind about technology and things otherwise. Brand me a flip-flopper and slap me silly but … I enjoy switching from one extreme to another and passionately defend my almost random choices.

After using my Powerbook for five months, I find myself very attached to it and have not yet encountered an incident where I cannot solve some sort of incompatibility. If my job was to take away my machine, I would most likely purchase an expensive Powerbook with my own money.

Apple has received very good rap in the recent months primarily to it’s good sales of iPods and Powerbooks. Now, their cute shiny technology has to be backed up by some serious business decisions and I fear they will thoroughly screw up (again). Clearly, Real, Napster and Microsoft will stage a bloody fight for domination of on-line music sales and collectively trample all over their little gay brother (no matter how intelligent and cute he is). All jokes aside, how can anyone seriously think that a major giant like Microsoft, with vast experience in vanquishing competition, will allow Apple to step on their toes? Apple must urgently team up with other giants for massive fight that’s coming (let’s exclude HP iPod collaborative out this, because, seriously, it’s a joke). If three of the biggest PC makers are wooing Jobs to let them license OS X, take this opportunity and run! OS X is based on NeXT which has been ported to run on x86; it’s been rumored that Apple is considering porting their OS however they want to stay true to their loyal base - what hogwash! Port and expand as quickly as you can while the buzz is out.

Mistakes are already being made. Little things like alienating resellers remind me of the old days. Blatantly spitting into developers’ faces is potentially unprofessional and dangerous. The hype is there, iPod is a success, folks are now buying Powerbooks and Mac Minis but the ground for Apple is evermore shaky. The company must remain hungry, humble and intelligent yet there are already visible signs of procrastination and arrogance; let’s hope stupidity won’t kick in.

Durham (Part I)

2005-02-28T14:52:00.001-05:00

England? Yes, England, you tart! Cup o’ tea, top o’ the mornin, Mary fucking Poppins England! So … in two days, off I went, acting as a liaison at a meeting I wasn’t quite prepared for. In comparison to Tarom, which I sampled a year ago, United Airlines actually offered dedicated television screens with seven channels of programming and recently released movies. The seats comfortably hugged my fat ass as I flipped through Gladwell’s Blink, which, pardon for this interruption, is a book that aims to keep clear of the self-help section but aimlessly can’t avoid it. Hours later, feeling the rapid increase of my drool’s weight, I woke up to a soft landing, gently congratulated by the captain - “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Heathrow, London. It is 7am. The current temperature is three degrees celsius with clear skies.”

Right, so, I run off the plane itching to be ripped off. Here’s the currency exchange booth, greeting me literally across the exit gate … bam … 2 American bucks for a British pound! Fully aware that I am about to overpay 11 cents on a dollar, I cheerfully join the queue behind a clueless old lady; I smile at the teller, he grins back. Lovely, I’m set, off to terminal 1 (for my connection flight) then! While transported by a very long escalator, I can’t help but think that Heathrow is perhaps the ugliest airport I’ve ever seen. Perhaps this shoddy state has been especially reserved for national flights, still I couldn’t shake off my disappointment with peeling ceilings and revolting colors of the surrounding walls. Smoker that I am, my first order of business was to purchase a 2 pound cup of Costa’s mocha and find a suitable place to light up. I was directed to a smoking area, where I found a set of thoroughly depressed and constantly coughing old men. After my cigarette, I calmed down a bit and finally began to pay closer attention to … England.

My first and most prevailing impression was that the English do indeed love their newspapers. Overwhelming majority of the people I saw at Gate 5 had their noses deeply buried in The Standard or The Sunday Times. And so there I sat thinking that my fascination with this country’s culture is not completely unfounded, thinking that the stereotypes I am familiar with are actually not stereotypes at all. It has always been my dream to visit and see first-hand what I adored for so many years.

I suppose, my fantasies about Britain have first appeared when I was 10. I remember hungrily swallowing Arthurian legends as I laid on a mattress in a remote Moldavian village. Sun peering through the vines onto pages that brought me most romantic notions of chivalry. When I studied roman and medieval history in high school, again, I became so drawn to England during the pre-Roman conquest and English history up and through the nineteenth century. To me, this was the longest lasting empire, with a mature and surpassing character, with ever-lasting traditions and most intriguing tales of the royal dynasty. I was enthralled with England through my college years when I had the opportunity to study it in more sensible terms. I was required to read tons of Shelley, Wordsworth, Yeates, Byron, Dickens, Wolf, Joyce, etc, etc. My history and theology classes pumped plenty of medieval religious writings into my head: The Church of England and the inherent reasons for the schism. On the side, I often got a laugh from Chesterfield letters to his son. All these efforts even further embellished my childhood fantasies. The dreams of England, here I am, to see the fantasy unveiled before my very eyes.

“Shite weather we’ve got” some old fart muttered, trying to make conversation I suppose. This was my first encounter with English preoccupation with weather. An hour later, as I occupied my seat on a connection flight to New Castle, I witnessed a much more savvy 15 minute dissection of oncoming snow-storms that were about to descend onto Durham. Folks were getting “texted” (english colloquial for text message) with most updated live information from their friends and relatives on location, then they would plunge into discussions on how sad it is to come back to dull North Eastern weather from the islands. Overly cheerful and sickeningly polite flight attendants would partake in the chit-chat involving otherwise quiet passengers in this spectacle. Our lively group landed in New Castle an hour later. Since the weather radically worsened, the captain went through two unsuccessful approaches, calming the passengers after each failure. The flight concluded with traditional British humor - “Ladies and gentlemen, whoever is at the front of the plane, you’ve arrived to New Castle five minutes early, for everyone else, you’re here on time”.

This was my first trip to Western Europe and taking two additional trains seemed overwhelming. To my surprise, the rail system is quite simple. It took forty minutes (with a transfer) to get to Durham. Upon arrival, I realized that my trip took 14 hours and I suddenly felt fatigue.

Contrary to all signs that referred to Durham as “Durham City”, Durham isn’t a city at all. It is a small town with 30 thousand citizens and 50 thousand students. The town’s taxi system consists of about 10 people who privately operate their vehicles. While waiting for a cab at the rail station, several girls ahead of me in line, screamed “Here is Elaine’s taxi”. Unbeknownst to me, “Elaine’s Taxi” was not a company but mere woman named Elaine driving her Peugeot. It took another 20 minutes for me to secure a taxi and off I went to The Three Tuns Hotel located in the city center.

Newtown Hall

2005-01-21T17:51:00.000-05:00

It’s been two weeks since we moved out from Manhattan to Astoria, Queens. Astoria is increasingly becoming Queens’ version of SOHO with multiplying cafes, lounges, nightclubs and restaurants. As the prices in the city are skyrocketing, Gotham’s citizens are fleeing to nearby neighborhoods like Williamsburg, Park Slope and Astoria; here they are welcomed by a surge in entertainment industry and growing number of boutiques. Only thirty years ago, these neighborhoods were considered undesirable, filled with abandoned docks and factories, full of crime and ghastly surroundings. Now, a decent one-bedroom apartment will start at $1100, many groceries carry ATMs and are open 24 hours, yuppies flaunt their expensive cars and people actually flock to streets at night. It’s been a short while but Astoria still seems confused about its transforming character – it aims to resemble the Downtown but somehow can’t escape being slightly vulgar. Nonetheless, this place will flourish. The commute to midtown Manhattan lasts 15 minutes, fashionable buildings are being erected and prices are quickly rising.

Cristina and I used an agent, a pleasant Bulgarian woman who showed us lots of Greek owned apartment buildings. After 2 weeks we stumbled onto a one-bedroom place that was being renovated. We were promised absolute best quality once the apartment was completed … they came close but not quite. While on the surface, the place seems polished, it sits in a very old building with crooked walls and ceilings. We have nothing to complain about since for the money we pay, we got a very clean place with a new kitchen, bathroom and a decent size. Except for the bloody battle with our super about heating, the place is perfect.

Dave whacked my google!

2004-11-28T03:10:00.000-05:00

Having no new entries in my blogger doesn’t quite mean that I have no life; it means that I’ve lost interest in my blog. Perhaps it’s time to steal another theme and implement it - this might revitalize my interest.

My weekend was somewhat fun except a personal snafu I don’t wish to expound on. I’ve lunched at my mother’s on Thanksgiving and the food was plentiful and exceptional. I learned a little more about the controversy in Ukraine from its native citizens and thought that the whole ordeal to be terribly dull. Just now, I and Cris came back from a show called “Googlewhack Adventure” created by an Englishman called Dave Gorman. While the show may be a bit long and sometimes just a tad tedious, I would recommend it without hesitation. The intimate atmosphere of The Village Theatre lets the audience sit very closely to the narrotor who in turn flips through many projector slides that help him move on with his story. The story is witty, fresh and well paced. It’s all about a man who’s been commissioned to write a novel but isn’t in any way equipped to write one. This man is Dave. Instead of writing, Dave goofs off and discovers googlewhacks: two word search in google that produces just one result - for example … well, i can’t give an example since google will index this site and then my example won’t work. Dave recorded a funny (although not hilarious) part of his life where he takes on a dare to meet a chain of 10 googlewhacks and presented this story in a really appealing 90 minute skit. Timeout recommends it and so do I.

Lastly, I am more and more disapointed with Olive Tree (famous little joint on McDougal St). Their shawarma is fantastic but never available. Out of the last 3 times I’ve been there, I’ve only been able to eat shawarma once! The lazy cook always estimates an hour wait for the damn meat to ripen. Still, Olive Tree is a must stop for Charlie Chaplin flicks and decent late night grub.

Tomorrow, I hope to see recently opened MoMA on 53rd and 6th