Gotham Gal

Halloween

At this point, I am no longer allowed to participate in the trick or treating.  Oh well.  But, the kids still get dressed up which I love.  Tonight and tomorrow night Fred and I are actually going to costume parties which is something we have never done before.  Pictures coming. 

Josh has had some great outfits over the years.  James Bond, Bob Dylan, Austin Powers...all recorded in the photo albums.  This year is a true winner.  The picture tells it all.

Fashion the Vote

I love this concept.  Zac Posen, fashion designer extraordinaire, created a website called Fashion the Vote.  He wants to know what people are wearing on election day.  People should certainly dress for this momentous occasion.  If you send Zac a picture on election day, he will post it.  Love that!!

New Museum

I am a little late to the party checking out the New Museum on the Bowery.  The museum is only open Wednesday- Sunday.   There was a lot written, mostly negative, when the museum first opened.  Basically that they had someone missed the boat on the collection they opened with.  Now I get to look at the place as the chatter has died down.

My guess is the concept was to build this "downtown" museum and create something very different than the other cultural institutions in town.  They might have looked to what has worked and why in places that have been standing for years and years.  The elevator is large and green but then there are others in a different location.  The floors where the exhibits are shown have high ceilings that are a strange height.  Also, the walls are very white and the floor layout is like a donut.  I sort of felt like I was in the white room from Clockwork Orange. 

I saw the Elizabeth Peyton exhibit.  Peytons works are basically paintings of popular culture characters from Kurt Cobain to Marc Jacobs to Lady Diana.  She grew up in NYC and started to paint her close circle of friends.  I was really looking forward to seeing the work.  I am a fan of portrait type painting.  There is something about the old style concept mixed together with the modern.  Think of Eric Fischl as one extreme and then Alex Katz on the other.  There have been times when people have sent me jpegs of work and my reaction to them was stronger than seeing them in person.  I felt the same way about Peytons work.  The work, at least to me, didn't strike me any better than a really good college artist.  Just didn't see the genius behind the work.

The other exhibit was of Mary Heilmann.  She was a potter who became influenced by other sculptors such as David Smith and Donald Judd.  She then began to paint abstract paintings.  Squares, circles, triangles, etc.  It am making it sound trivial but to me it was.  I am not sure I saw the genius here either. 

Maybe it had to do with my mood.  Maybe it had to do with the stark white antiseptic spaces that I guess are supposed to be chic, maybe it had to do with the curator.  I found both exhibits akin to walking into a gallery that has work hanging up that is priced so ridiculously for art that isn't so great and you wonder who drank the kool-aid first....the artist or the curator?

The Ten Bells

Image via WikipediaThe Ten Bells opened a few weeks ago on Broome Street right off of Orchard on the LES.  Opened and run by a 2 men from Paris.  At least there were 2 of them behind the bar last night and they appeared to be the owners.  A nice addition to the neighborhood.

Ten Bells is more of a wine bar.   A large wrap around bar fills the room and then a few high tables with stools make up for the other space.  Very communal.  A great vibe.  Good music, low lights and beaten up wooden seats.  Chalk boards hang on the walls with too many wines to count.  Also a variety of noshes and the announcement of a pig roast on Sunday nights. 

We had a smorgasbord of snacks.  I might have to give up red wine drinking though.  My sleep patterns are destroyed on red wine.  Alas because I do love it so.  We had a few cheeses that were served with toasted raisin bread coated in honey, duck pate (it wasn't exactly a pate) served in a glass container, grilled sliced chorizo, tuna tartare and salmon tartare.  Everything was tasty.  I always love going to a wine bar and just drinking and noshing.  One of my favorite activities. 

The Ten Bells is definitely a place where you could sit yourself down for hours, enjoy yourself, close your eyes and check out for awhile.  These days, that is very desirable. 

Bansky

A few weeks ago as I was driving down 7th Avenue I noticed a new pet shop.  It struck me as strange but just chalked it up to a new store.  It happens all the time.  Places come and go but generally pet shops aren't in such prime locations in the west village when there happens to already be quite a few.

My friend told me about the pop-up show by Banksy, the British graffiti artist on 7th Avenue in the pet shop and charcoal grill.  Aha.  That made more sense.  I have been meaning to get over since and finally did it today.  Unfortunately, the show comes down tomorrow.

Banksy's work is brilliant.  I am not a huge fan of graffiti art but this is a whole different thing.  The guy is seriously talented.  His drawings of rats and clever images drawn around areas of London make you want to cut the wall and put it in a frame to bring home and hang on your wall. 

The pop-up store is a funny slant on a pet store.  Bird cages with hot dogs and bologna, a rabbit sitting in front of a make-up mirror getting primped, a chimp hanging out in front of a tv watching chimp movies, a tiger in the window with the tail flipping up and down and then you realize it is a fur coat.  Just clever.

Banksy is a cross between Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst combined with tagging, Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat.  Brilliant.

Attached is a drawing he did on Wooster Street in Soho. 

Minimester

Every year our kids HS has a minimester.  3 days that take a break from the regular school grind.  The options are varied and fun.  Each class is an intensive 3 day event.  For the 3 days, 8th graders participate so it gives them a glimpse of HS life and an opportunity to meet a variety of different kids.  On the last day, everyone presents what they did. 

Emily is learning about Jewish Russian immigration to NYC.  Today she is at Brighton Beach at a Russian restaurant and went to a Jewish museum and watched Fiddler on the Roof.   Jessica, on the other hand, decided to teach a class with her friend.  They are seniors and wanted to do something that they would both enjoy.  They decided on fall food.  Right up my alley.

On Wednesday morning, 15 kids (that is how many signed up for the class) went to the Greenmarket in Union Square to meet with Rick Field from Ricks Picks.  Afterward, they took a bus upstate to go apple picking.  Today, they baked.

Jessica offered up our kitchen and 15 kids showed up at 930 to begin.  Apple and pumpkin pies, apple muffins, apple butter, pumpkin bread, caramel apples, apple muffins, apple squash soup, apple crisp and applesauce.  A serious fest.  I was really impressed with the group.  A total community effort.  They also did a fantastic job cleaning.

I loved it.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

 My friend recommended this book.  She has never been wrong with what I would like.  She was spot on with this book.  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was a delight. 

The book is written through a series of letters set in Guernsey (The Channel Islands) and London.  An author, Juliet, from London decides to write a book about the cast of characters who were completely in the dark about what happened during WWII in London while Germany had taken over their island.  Juliet creates friendships with the people on the island through a series of letters until she finally decides to go and visit. 

Juliet takes it all in.  The people, the separation of their children through the war, the book club that was created through the war and the authors they read.  Some of the stories are tragic yet most are funny and engaging.   I intimately knew the characters once the book ended.

It was just a wonderful feel good novel that has a lot to offer. 

Philippe de Montebello

I paid homage to Philippe de Montebello today.  I went to see the collection that had been acquired at the Met over the past 3 decades that Montebello oversaw the museum.  It was well worth the journey.

Most exhibits are curated with one idea in mind so rarely do you get an opportunity to see a Jasper Johns next to a hand carved cameo from the 1700's next to a guitar next to a cabinet from the 1800's next to a Picasso.  Jewelery and guns too.  The breadth of pieces accumulated gives an amateur (such as myself) some insight into how much is covered and collected at the Met.  Impressive is an understatement. 

Each piece has an informative history in regards to why the Met added it to their collection and who is attached to the donation or the purchase next to it. 

So many fantastic pieces from art to sculpture.  I kept wondering when I will ever have the opportunity to see many of these pieces again.  Some could easily end up in the basement for decades until someone comes along looking to curate the times of early French history dedicated to furniture.  Beyond cool.

There were a few highlights for me.  There was a piece of Armor that was made for a 5 year old.  Think 1712.  The details are magnificent.  Tiny gold pieces surrounding the armor which all appears to be coats of arms.  Very powerful.  I imagined a young kid running around in this.  A cabinet that had been crafted in the late 1800's inlaid with silver sculptures that made my jaw drop.  An elegant evening gown from Madame Gris that had been donated by Mrs. Oscar de la Renta.  White jersey so elegantly draped and made in 1965 yet you could literally put it on today.  Not only is the dress timeless it is eternally quintessentially modern.  A Jasper Johns from the flag series which is monochromatic and one of the first.  Photography too.  Richard Avedon's classic picture of Marilyn Monroe and even a photo from the African photographer Seydou Keita.  On a side note, I saw a Keita about 5 years ago that I wanted of a large man in a white tribal gown with a little boy on his knee.  Not expensive. I loved it.  Fred couldn't commit.  Alas, woulda coulda.  Now the Met even has his work. 

I found the exhibit really moving.  I might even consider going back.  Actually, I have to go back.

Going to India

You need to get a visa to visit India.  When we went to Brazil we needed a visa too.  Brazil's visa lasts for 10 years and for India there are a variety of choices.  We opted for the six month which is all we need which is the shortest amount of time you can get. 

Never quite got the visa thing but have always thought it was just a process to charge everyone entering the country something and forcing you just to go the extra mile to come.  Regardless, I did it.

Getting the Brazilian visa was far from seamless but India was a piece of cake.  The information is online, you fill out all the information, get a bar code, make an appointment and show up.  All incredibly impressive. 

I went up to east 53rd street today with my information in hand.  One for everyone including passport pics and our passports.  Stamp, stamp and then a text on my phone to tell me the visas are ready for pick up. 

Gotta love that.

The League for the Hard of Hearing

Tonight was the annual event for the League for the Hard of Hearing. First off, it is a great organization. Our friends have been involved for years and we are happy to support them because the League really makes an impact on peoples lives.  I am glad they planned to have this event and sent out all the invites way before the world came tumbling down. 

The event is basically the same every year but I like it.  Many restaurants come and the guests get to sample while they mill around and talk to people.  This year, for the first time, Little Owl had a table.  I spoke to Joey (chef and owner) for awhile.  Ends up that his brother is deaf in one ear.  Freak accident, his brother popped his ear drum at 35 with a Qtip.  Anyway, he was doing his part by giving back to the organization.  Not sure if his brother has visited the organization but I was talking to the woman that runs the League and she was telling me a variety of things that they could do to help Joey's brother. 

The League is more than just helping people who are born with serious hearing problems.  As we all get older and have spent years at concerts with our ears humming for days, most of us will suffer from hearing issues.  The League is the first place to go.  They are the experts.

Unfortunately for us, after having been gone all weekend, we could only stay about 45 minutes or our kids would have disowned us.  But from the looks of it, the event was going to be another success this year.