mopa

yesterday on a beautiful chilly Sunday in San Diego



i went for a walk at the Balboa Park



to finally become member of the
MOPA
the Museum Of Photographic Arts



I got the membership for a year
and now i can go in & out of the museum free
also i am invited to special events and presentations
and to this cool event on Thursdays called
Pop Thursdays
that combines cult film screening
music, interactive photography projects, and even drinks...

one very interesting exhibition i saw yesterday was
Writing with Light
it shows the work of young students
who were presented with works of literature
fiction and non-fictions and then
expressed their thoughts by photos
a very interesting connection between
literature and photography

i saw some really interesting photos
you wouldn't believe these are young authors!

and also i was able to visit the old classic
to see some Paul Strand little prints
and some always impressive Ansel Adams

and them rushed out of there to practice
my experimental photography
see here below what i call
urban fingers trapped on a small dirty car



and hopefully with all these wonderful photos
whooshing by my head
i might be able to work again in my abandoned
23hq photo page!
i do miss my friends there and playing with my picts
but there are just so little hours in one day!
this has for sure become one busy Herbst

Saturday, morning und orange

Samstag, was kommt auf den Tisch?



& this morning orangy
[$2.99 endures]
closer too

Friday, orangy night

the end of the week
a sunset came by
i walked to the market
this little new flower crossed my path
a $2.99 chance of happiness
or at least of an orange smile



the newest guest
tomorrow to plant
and lazy distracted
a noisy orange feeling
and i grab
a big orange book
tonight

my imaginary life

Helvetica

last night i watched this rather interesting documentary
about the typeface Helvetica



the films introduces a lot graphic design and typography talk
but also a lot of interesting points on global visual culture
and how we recycle the visuals presented to us every day

the documentary balances between beautiful photography
of New York City, Amsterdam, Berlin, Zürich, London
and Münchenstein, Switzerland, where Helvetica was born
and dynamic urban shots presenting the stellar Helvetica



all structured in between interviews
with an endless list of graphic designers, typographists,
and other graphic gurus

one thing that i think keeps this films so alive
is that is a little controversial
the filmmaker Gary Hustwit
interviews both
Helvetica advocates and Helvetica adversaries
Helvetica users and Helvetica haters

yes! a typography can have enemies
but then you'll have to watch the documentary
don't want to spoil it for you
just recommend it
ah! cool music too

a bright new day for Americans

USA has a new elected president

and today it feels and breaths around here
like the long-asleep American dream
has resurrected again!

election day (part II)

so here waiting for the results of this rainy election day



after about 6 months of dryness in San Diego
today finally rained
not very helpful for Elections day
but great for our city

it was encouraging to see people
running to the polling place even under the rain
and to see NO on Prop 8 supporters holding
banners under colorful umbrellas

also praise to the supporters of
YES on Prop 2
against animal cruelty

here the latest results


and those always interesting numbers



and good idea of Starbucks to give
free coffee away to voters!
of course i had to get mine

election day

it's a little over 7am
so the polls are officially open
and i am getting ready
to vote too

this will be my 2nd time voting
for president of this big country
[i am mexican but born american]

and i am thrilled to participate
in what people are already calling
the most important election on
the history of this country

just hope that peace
reigns over the decisions
made on this country today

and my vote again goes for
Obama and a soundly
NO on Prop 8

good luck USA!

Halloween 08

Halloween came again
days of pumpkins
horror films
and sugary treats



a quiet evening for me
a little warm here in hell
but look!
another pumpkin here
the '4734'



next to the 4734 is an little artifact made out of a pumpkin too
an Argentinian Yerba Mate drinking cup
the 'straw' is made out of metal (silver, i think?)
talking about art made out of pumpkins
as for misses 4734
once opened showed was no cooking material
it was a little old for that so, so...



so a 'modernist' mini Jack-O-Lantern became


my carved pumpkin, Jack-O-Lantern - day 1

and Turner Classic Movies selections for the night
Horror films based on books by H.P. Lovecraft
a long time preferred author of mine

The Shuttered Room (from 1967)



Die, Monster, Die! (from 1965)
(the original name of the book
was "The color of out of space"
a delightfully creepy reading



so with devilish horns
and an old dried Jack-O-Pumpkin
after a couple of days


my carved pumpkin, Jack-O-Lantern - day 3 (premature aging?)

i spent a sugary scary night
have a good Halloween too
and let the witches and ghosts
go merry around you

tomorrow and Sunday
will be for me to celebrate the mexican
Día De Muertos

& those elections coming so close...

the California general election
and gotta read all these propositions
i have brief ideas about some
but...



thankfully for presidential election
i have my mind fixed
i am with

Barack Obama





i think these Obama's poster
series by Obey Giant taste
dunno, transcendental?

Die schöne Melancholie des Sonntag

since a was young girl
i remember feeling this little
empty space in my stomach
every Sunday night
the idea that the fun part of the week
was coming to an end, i guess

and since then i've found little cures for this

Die schöne Melancholie des Sonntag
the beautiful Sunday's melancholy
la hermosa melancolía de Domingo



i've been to movies to forget or
when there's a new Simpsons on Sunday
that's my breaking point
but also a good early evening walk
will suffice for the mini-closing of the weekend
celebrating my own way of saying to this week
curtains downs
and welcome a new week ahead

and here what i saw
around 17.15 Uhr

Friday, Ikea

as my 8" analon non-stick skillet
is almost never big enough
for a decent stir-fry
i went to Ikea last night
[ah, always pleasant there]



to buy the planned 11" wok with lid
here he is



already used twice this morning
steaming sweet potatoes
and the ah! long-awaited stir-fry which i just
munched now accompanied of some crunchy brown rice

but as always i end up with
some extra unplanned product
so this time the
extra-not-on-the-shopping-list-completely-unnecessary
product is



the BUSIG tray

but i just couldn't resist the elephants
and the colors, or the idea of elephants
with flowers and patterns on their bodies
or the little elephants
dunno, but it reminded me of a Beatles song
one of the silly ones they made (wink)
and oh well
it's an Ikea weakness heh heh

the little refugee

again tonight
little time set aside
and write here about
an outdated date
'cause tonight i write not
about today's date
but about Monday's

too tired to work
took a Monday off
just sat around and watch old Horror movies



1st I watched a very young Humphrey Bogart
he was the infamous Doctor X
in The Return of Doctor X (1939)
a lip-less pale make-up doctor with a
stroke of white hair, and glasses
who holds & strokes a
little white rabbit
and runs experiments with synthetic blood
mmm? even though, he's not the main character in the film
and this was his 1st and last appearance on a horror film
still rather recommendable film
little quirky, but it was just 1939!
better plot and script and surely grammar
than we get in many now-a-days films

and then I watched this exquisite suspense movie
a ghostly woman in white, but not quite a ghost story
but a great thriller
The Woman in White (1948)



this wonderful film was based on an epistolary novel by
Wilkie Collins
and it is considered the 1st official and precursor
of the genre of mystery novels!
now I am looking for the book...

so Monday was and
I did lost of seating around
and movie-watching
and TV-picture taking



as for this Wednesday
I wish it was Monday again

[random* notes on old-film watching]
and the moral of the post
just now & then, take a day off
and watch some old films
but truly old
something before the 60's

I feel old-films truly detach you from reality
there are no cell phones ringing on the films
they didn't existed yet
and everybody smokes, apparently lung cancer
wasn't 'invented' yet either
they drank whiskey at 10am
and true men wore hats
but also knew when to take them off
and women ran with very high-heels
without getting their hair messed-up
while
hiding from fictitious monsters or
very real gangsters

and if the film is in black & white
even better!
you get to exercise your imagination
and color yourself the film
you get to decide if that pale shade of gray
on the heroin's dress
is either a light blue or a soft orange

old films are the only cinematic art
that i can think of as the closest thing as reading a book
is it rather refreshing!

go and rent an old film
you'll learn so much!

* as if the rest of this blog is not random

der Calabaza day

Kürbis Tag!
pumpkin day
día de la calabaza



as it comes the pumpkin season
decided to cook a little one



once baked, can be used for soup,
pies, bread, or...



as i ate it this morning
just warmed up sprinkled with sugar & cinammon
accompanied with a glass of cold milk



ah better than any sophisticated dessert



i will try to bake more this October
too bad i don't remember the kind of pumpkin it was

ohne Namen Kürbis!
[oder? Frage: wie man sagt auf Deutsch?
ohne Namen oder kein Name?]
nameless pumpkin
calabaza sin nombre

meine neue Brille
my new glasses
mis lentes nuevos

antony and the johnsons, los angeles

LA Philharmonic Orchestra tunning up before the show

last Tuesday
we drove straight from work
San Diego to Los Angeles

2 hours of freeway, for
Antony and the Johnsons playing with
the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
at the Walt Disney Music Hall

we arrive early enough and
walked a couple of miles around
Downtown Los Angeles
a mixture of old skyscrapers
historical buildings
with spanish signs of mexican businesses
all besides Little Tokyo

we had dinner in this little japanese place
were i had some Udon soup with wild vegetables
the noodles were green
and the wild vegetables fresh and still crisp
my friends drank warm sake and oh
we were ready for the show

Antony's performance was intimate and somehow
mystical, the opening track with a repetitive mood
accompanied by humming violins
put the audience deep into a trance
just a sample of the next glorious 90 minutes
Antony's voice is close to perfection
and then with the LA Philharmonic, ah!
and in that venue, magical architecture
and wonderful interiors as well



photos were forbidden, so i just snatched
the one of the orchestra
but if you are ever in LA, visit the place!
and with this is the second time
that I step inside one of mister Frank O. Gehry buildings
the 1st one was in Herford, Germany
at the MARTa Herford museum

as for Antony and The Johnsons
even if i know the magic of that night
cannot be easily repeated
i surely hope to see them again
and here a another point of view
of the experience
the review by my friend perro
who was with me there
the other companion as photographed here
both, mister conner und sr. perro
as they walk downtown LA
their bottom-line
"it was awesome"
i have to agree



and yes, it was a full moon
accompanying us on the 2hrs of way back
it all worthed

monday autumn

as we walked today
my friend said:
"today is a full-on autumn day"

winds strong
dry branches and traces of nature
along the streets
no more greens but turning into
deep yellows, shallow oranges and
when staring at one's feet
grass drawing patterns powered by the wind

a dusty dry autumn sepiaish monday
santa winds blow
taste not quite nightmares
not quite good dreams
on one's top layer of skin

electricity in the air
nothing, one hopes

while here a candid photo of my kitchen
where the heart of my little house lives
the heat, the smells, the laboratory
of my daily life



and a smile, most nervous
than candid is that one

another October
monday night

san diego asian film festival

today i went to the
9th san diego asian film festival

a very enjoyable event



with samples of other sorts of art
a little painting exhibition





and live music



and a little lounge area



and even the bathrooms were a neat little surprise
paper butterflies flied on the walls
to match the theme of the festival



i watched a selection of short films
All in the Family
all themes of functional and rather disfunctional
families and relationships
they were OK, some better
some a little weird and well...
but it was interesting to listen
to the young directors talking about their films
after the presentation

I am now curious about a couple of full features films



the event was very nicely organized
a pretty, chilly, and sunny afternoon at Hazard Center
finally feels like October around here