Take me on a trip I'd like to go someday.. take me to New York I'd love to see L.A......

Brooklyn Book Festival

Pretty soon the weather will be cold as crap and I will not be a happy camper. But until then, might as well take advantage of the sunshine before it disappears and stays in California.

Last week I hauled my ass to the Brooklyn Book Festival at the Brooklyn Borough Hall and Plaza, also where the Brooklyn Public Library is (left). Booths and booths of book publishers lined the plaza and aside from it being a ridiculously humid/hot day, the turnout was enormous. Storytellers, poets, columnists, and authors gave readings and interviews (what the people on the stairs are watching) and there were over 70 other small programs-- for example:

10:15 a.m. Verbal Catalysts- Urban Word NYC's top teen poets present individual and group poems fresh off their success at the National Teen Poetry Slam in Washington D.C.

or 1:00 p.m. Out of Place- 3 writers on the exciting, disconcerting, and sometimes dangerous experience of being out of place. Featuring David Rakoff, Moustafa Bayoumi, and Rivka Galchen.

At the National Book Foundation booth, one book, "All I Did was Ask" by Terry Gross caught my eye. "It's free," the guy said.
"Sweeeeeet."

United Nations Panel Discussion

On Thursday I had the opportunity to go to the U.N. and watch a panel discussion called "Green Business is Good Business," a discussion put on by the U.S. Mission to the U.N.

I also had a bomb-ass chicken gyro at one of New York's many Halal food stands before I went. Yumm..
Anyway, I'm not going to bore you with the details (even though I did take copious notes) so I'll just say that the whole thing centered around mainly two topics: 1) What are corporations today doing to reduce their carbon footprint and other environmental impacts and 2) What technologies are emerging to help solve the problem of diminishing natural resources?

It was moderated by Brian Dumaine (editorial director of small business in Fortune Magazine) and comprised of Tod Arbogast (Dell's Director of Sustainability), Michael Moran (VP of Goldman Sach's Global Market Institute), Glenn Prickett (Senior VP pf the NGP Conservation International), and Andrew Winston (co-author of Green to Gold). All white men.

All in all, really enjoyed the discussion even though I felt the answers most of them gave were far too general and didn't take into consideration the other 500 million difficulties of obtaining greener supply chains and products.

Film: Yang Ban Xi

Wednesday I went to one of the Asia Society's film events--this time around they're films made about China's cultural revolution. The one I saw was called Yang Ban Xi: The 8 Model Works--basically a film about the campy communist propaganda musicals made in the 1960s which were directed by Mao's wife, Jiang Qing. Traditional Chinese opera was banned because there were far too many capitalist (black) elements-- too many themes privileging the rich, landowning class and not enough praise for the workers, the farmers, and the soldiers. So these popular musicals became the only form of theatrical/filmic entertainment for some years. Really really interesting film.

The Guggenheim and The German American Steuben Parade of NYC

I decided to take advantage of my nifty museum pass yesterday and so went to the Solomon R. Guggenheim museum in the Upper East Side. It was originally called "The Museum of Non-Objective Painting," and aimed to showcase avant-garde art by early modernists. (I just can't escape avant garde no matter where I go) From the street, the building looks like a "white ribbon, curled into a cylindrical stack." The building was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1940s who claimed that his museum would make the nearby Metropolitan Museum of Art look like a "Protestant barn."
They had a pretty cool Louise Bourgeois exhibit -- a French sculptor, tapestry maker, and avant garde artist who, in a word, was nuts. She had these exhibits called "Cells" which were supposed to be glimpses into her childhood memory from France (unsurprisingly she had a disturbing and traumatic childhood). They were literally wooden doors propped up to encircle a "room" in which she hung old night dresses and undergarments on real pieces of bone among other objects like babies being suffocated by orbs and nonrepresentational objects that look like both phalluses and breasts. Pretty sweet.

Outside on 5th avenue, the party was just getting started with the Steuben Parade of NYC. I have never seen so many German Americans in my life, much less so much German flag waving. There was even a Miss German American competition. The procession was lively and wound its way to Central park. Police blocked off all side streets leading up to 5th. Apparently its quite a big thing. Reminds me of when I met Chris in Germany and I learned all of 2 German words: "excuse me" and "thank you." Quite useful. These old coots to the right are singing some German song about the Rhineland. They were pretty jolly.

I thought this picture (left) was just funny.

Clubbing in Soho: Club 205 and The White Rabbit

New Yorkers start partying late. And by late, I mean meet up time is 12:00-12:30. There is also no end time. Last time when I went clubbing at Stay I didn't get home until 4:30. This time was much the same. I think California should close bars/clubs at 3:00 instead of 2:00. It would make everyone happier.

So we (Van and I) met up with some old Berkeley alum (one or two of which Van knew in college) and we headed down to Soho for some good old fashioned fun. Everyone was super nice and super down to earth. Miguel, featured here, is a photographer who works at the International Photography Center. He also has on a spiffy vest.

Behind him is Mohan, who's working at his cousin's club, Drom, doing event planning and such. There were also a few other people there but I'm lazy and don't feel like describing them. The cool thing is that a lot of them live in Bushwick (yay Bushwick!) so we'll probably be seeing more of them in the future.

Club 205 felt like it was going to burst at the seams because all that techno/house music was seriously hardcore. Although the decor was pretty fantastic-- there was basically literature (poems, quotes, book passages, love advice etc) written all over the walls-- the music after a while was not. So we headed to The White Rabbit, a club that was owned by the cousin of one of the other guys in our group. There, the music was so much better-- hip hop, reggaeton, pop, and dance. I sincerely missed Zowie when they played Paper Planes.

I got the worst come ons last night. The best one: "Hey.... I really like your glasses..."

You can't see in the picture but I am wearing my new shiny red shoes!!

Arrived home exhausted but had a great time.