I'm learning to be a NEW YORKER by learning to jaywalk. I feel accomplished when I can cross the street without getting hit by a cab (this afternoon, a cab almost hit me). Now, I just have to jaywalk with finese.

So far my first impressions follow the cliche, "I LOVE NY!"

This church is located in the Financial District of New York. It is a couple of blocks away from Wall Street. Some very famous people have been buried here, Robert Fulton (the inventor of the Steamboat) and Alexander Hamilton. Also, the tourguide mentioned that historians could learn medical statistics in a graveyard. In the 19th Century, most of the women were buried after childbirth, many people died of cholera, and the median ages of men and women who died.

Also, after the World Trade Center attacks, a pool debris (7 to 8 inches) covered the graveyard. They had to call professionals to vaccuum this debris. The infamous sycamore tree that used to be planted in the graveyard at St. Paul's Chapel is on exhibit at Trinity. St. Paul's Chapel is located across the World Trade Center, and this sycamore tree saved the chapel from destruction when the Twin Towers fell. The scraps were taken to an artist, who in turn created a sculpture of the tree. The trunk exhibited at Trinity will go back to its resting place sometime next week.

More on St. Paul's Chapel later...

I went to the Federal Reserve Bank because I lost my tour group and thought they would be there. They weren't. Luckily, I was able to see a gold coin exhibit. They wouldn't let me take photos in side, and they wouldn't let me take photos outside, but I did anyway (of the outside). York and Sawyer, architects of the Federal Reserve Bank, modeled the bank after the Florentine palaces in Italy (limestone and iron).

Apparently, I read FDR stopped the press on the 1933 Double Eagle Twenty Dollar Gold Coin because he didn't want Americans to depend heavily on gold. So he did, but I think one or two was produced. It disappeared, but was found in the King of Egypts coin collection. He was subpeonaed, and it was back in the American Government's hands. Again, it disappeared for decades until 1996. Somebody found it in a jeweler's shop in New York. He told the Feds that Egyptian King sold it to him. Then the American Government gave it to Sotheby's, and it was auctioned at $7.6 million dollars. I wish I owned that coin. Anyway, it is on exhibit in the basement of the Federal Reserve Bank. There are also rare, beautiful coins from Italy, Greece, and China. The subtlety of design in the coins, bills, and bank notes is displayed graphically and typographically. They even show the process of manufacturing the coins and explain the problems (i.e. counterfeit) in a video. It is definitely worth seeing. I plan to go back and see the other tour. The guard told me the coin, bill, and bank note collection is worth approximately $50 million dollars. The vaults hold approximately $300 billion of gold.

St. Paul's Chapel sits across the street from Ground Zero. There was a sycamore tree that protected the chapel from the 9/11 attacks. That tree is in Trinity Church, but is scheduled to be transfered here. George Washington used to sit in that chair.

There was a cool store called "West Elm." It's reasonably priced. I have never seen one in Los Angeles. Later, I found out that William Sonoma owns it. Anyway, it's a cool store. I like this one lamp. They should open one in L.A.

Across the street from "West Elm" is "Angel Street Thrift Store." I walked in and found a cool book about Alfred Hitchcock for $3.00, but didn't have cash on me (and I would feel stupid charging $3.00 to my credit card). Anyway, I went back, and it was GONE. Anyway, it's a cool store. There are vintage designer pieces, ranging $25, $70 and $90. There were some lamps that I liked, but they were $400. At least the money goes to a good cause, substance abuse and mental health.

Both are on 17th Street.

I strolled down East Village and SOHO, specifically Mulberry Street, and came across a designer sample sale. I met some NYU Alumni from the Stern School, and they are opening a store, "Pinky Otto," on 9th and 2nd Avenue, 307 E. 9th Street. I got this elephant keychain. They sell one of a kind sweaters, skirts. One of the owner is a designer who graduated from Pratt.

Further down Mulberry Street is Little Italy. There going to have a big festival next weekend I'm told. Anyway, here are some photos.

If I were a Location Scout looking for a place to shoot a "coming of age" film, I would do it here. It even looks the studios could shoot "Madeleine" here. Doesn't it look a bit French?

That's the Empire State Building, in Red, White & Blue, taken from Greenwich Village. I tried not moving the camera, but it looks like my camera takes drugs.

These photos are dedicated to my political activist friend Gregory Lowe. He gave me an NRDC (National Resources Defense Council) bag that promotes saving whales. Anyway, I think he would really fit here in New York. Supposedly there's a protest at Union Square every weekend.

This club is located between Greenwich Village and Alphabet City (on Bowery). It was founded in 1973. In the 70's, it was a venue for country music, but in the mid-70's, punk rock took over. Some infamous bands that played here are Blondie, Patti Smith Group, Talking Heads, and The Ramones. Anyway, they are recently being evicted and there's even a website trying to save it. Here's the link...

http://www.savecbgb.org/

Cooper Union is an academic institution as well as an exhibition space. They use the money from their exhibits to subsidize their students' education. All students who attend Cooper Union have a FULL SCHOLARSHIP, so you could imagine how competitive that school must be. They offer only three degrees: Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Bachelor of Engineering. For more information, log onto: http://www.cooper.edu/. They also have a library, which I have yet to visit. I heard there permanent design collection is extraordinary.

I guess this would be self-explanatory, but the reason why this section is called "Alphabet City" is because most of the streets are one-letter streets (e.g. A Street). St. Mark's Street is a cool street. They have unique shops and restaurants. They have a wood store, but not like Home Depot sells lumber, it's very high-end.

I heard the "2nd Ave Deli" is good. The type they used in their signage looks Hebrew. . .pretty cool.

This is a pretty cool conference, and worth every penny. Unfortunately, I was barred from taking any photos, but check out their site, if you're interested in design. The conference encompassed Print, Fashion, Computational, Architectural, Illustration, Graffiti art/design and more. It was held at the Lincoln Center.

Here's there link:
http://www.semipermanent.com/newyork

Twin Towers Light Memorial

Gold Bars
The Apprentice Game
Trump Business Card Holders

How much bling is too much BLING?

I went to a cool restaurant, emulating a generic French cafe, called "Pastis." Busy, busy, busy, but worth the wait.

We had lunch at the "Burger Joint" located in Le Parker Meridian on 56th Street, and walked to this gallery on 57th. Pretty Cool.

I love this store. We peeked in because of my toy design class.

The Wave... We spent about 45 minutes trying to ride this gracefully. I burned a lot of calories in just 5 minutes.

I went to this Adidas exhibit, which was to give me the "ultimate" experience of making me feel like I'm one with the "in" crowd. When I first arrived to the address 267 Canal Street, I walked into 2 stores, and asked about the Adidas exhibit. This Chinese man, who couldn't speak English told me to follow him, so I did. He walked through the store to the back, and crossed the street and into another entrance to a basement. I started to feel that this wasn't legit, and was wondering if this was a place where they sold fake Adidas. But then, at the end of the hallway, I saw this colorful videotracking projection and a ultra-contemporary sculpture that had Adidas stamped all over it. The experience was pretty effective in making me feel pretty "cool" that I knew about this event, and "special" that I was part of this covert operation. The tennis shoe line emulate printmaking business model, where some shoes are limited edition, and the same went for the athletic jackets. There were some commercial to underground grafitti artists tagging shoes, and popular artists like "Fafi, a French grafitti lady artist. "Fever 1," a dancer, hired for this 2-week event, pitched a great story/sale.

What's going on here? I tried to track this story in the news and couldn't find it. It looked like a fire, but I didn't see any smoke.

I stand corrected with the Alexander Hamilton fact. My friend, Ben Wilkes, emailed me the corrected information: "Hamilton was never President. Delegate to the Constitutional Convention, Secretary of the Treasury (I knew those). Wikipedia remind us he was lead author of the Federalist Papers, too.

Thanks, Ben.

This is not a Halloween costume...

He is the "moustache man" that works at the Java Lava Cafe. If you're tired of Starbucks, mosey to Waverly and Mercer Streets (293 Mercer), which is behind the Tisch building. Cheap coffee with NYU discounts.

Important Update for OJ lovers:

A small carton of Tropicana orange juice costs $2.00 at All About Food, but it costs only $1.25...go figure

My friend Tim recently invided me to dine at the Palladium, one of the many dining halls at NYU. Next semester we plan on buying meal plans, and reviewing the food at different dining halls. It is pretty inexpensive if you get a meal plan ($8 w/o a meal plan), which comes out to be $5 for all-you-can-eat buffet and drinks are free if they are not bottled. That's how much the cheapest salad costs in New York during lunch. Even Trader Joe has pricey salad.

Upside:
low cost
all-you-can-eat
balanced meals (vegetable, meat, bread, milk/cheese)
variety (entree, main course, dessert, breakfast for dinner like IHOP)
flexible hours
sustainable practices (no paper plates, plastic cups nor utensils used)
you don't have to worry about doing the dishes

Downside:
friends that don't eat dorm food are the majority
younger crowd (so if you're a grad student, you might feel uncomfortable)
not open past 11 pm

We had three rounds of food. The first two were good for me. If you dine at the Palladium, eat the grilled meats (which are not over seasoned), and if you have salad, I do NOT recommend the balsamic vinegar (it too is overseasoned). I do recommend the vinegar and oil and firm tofu. Leafy greens are fresh, and they constantly stock the salad bar. Tim (who is below) had what he thought was chocolate mousse, but then after taking a bite, realized it was chocolate cake. HA!

Those dudes are stressed out, I guess, taking a break.

At the Rockefeller Center...

This is Ivanka Trump at the LAX airport Tuesday, January 16, 2007, waiting in the security line at approximatelt 7:30 am. I am happy to report that she didn't receive any preferential treatment. She's really tall, and took off her 3-inch stilettos, and gracefully tippy-toed through. Very stylish, wearing a camel coat, and violet alligator bag. She noticed us noticing her, and I even joked, "You're FIRED!" A former graduate at Wharton, she helps her dad host The Apprentice in Los Angeles this season. So far, I've watched two episodes, and the tasks were pretty silly. I like that the winning project manager can sit in the board room for the elimination. I also like what Ivanka has to offer to the show. Hopefully, the tasks get more challenging, but so far it makes Los Angeles look like the Diva Drama Queen of Soap Operas.

Donald's probably thankful that Ivanka didn't turn out like Paris Hilton.

The other celebrity I saw when I moved to New York about a year and a half ago was James Cameron, the director of the Titanic.

I found this broken street light on Astor place on the way to St. Mark's place. Can you imagine the sound of the crash when the head of this light hit the ground? Maybe someone crashed into it when they tried to parallel park. Anyway, notice the scale of this light. When you see a street lamp, it looks a lot smaller than when the head is at arm's length.

It's been so cold lately. Being from California, I am getting used to this weather. It snowed on Wednesday briefly, and today, the high was mid-50's.

Pylones is a unique gift shop in SOHO, located on Spring Street, close to the 6 subway stop. I saw a very cute watch that had some carps printed on the band (reasonably priced $12-$14). Floral printed scissors and screen-printed and letterpress-printed cards.

An innovative way of playing polo without horses. In a park near Chinatown on Broome and Forsythe, groups gather to play polo. Pretty cool.

...at the Maritime Hotel in Chelsea, right across the street from the Chelsea market.

I went to this party in Chelsea, and they had the most innovative party game, which was pretty intimidating and addicting simultaneously. So the hosts made these darts with nails and paper cones that you put into this metal rod, and blow. On the target side, they rounded up several yellow marshmallow peeps, which was later replaced by a lit candle (you have to put out the flame), and finally an M&M, to provide challenges for the more advanced player.

At first it seems pretty intimidating because of the "what if you miss?" factor. But after you blow, you and the dart hits the cardboard/particle board area, you start getting the hang of it. After about 5 times, you start getting addicted.

Here's a tip from Rives :
Hold the rod like a cue stick.

Let Veronica distract you with weird sounds, produced from her native Mexican tongue, and you will hit one of those bunnies.

I always pass by this lighting store that sells a variety of chandeliers when I go to the Dumpling House on Elderidge and Grand. This photo is for Jane, who is designing a modular chandelier that would be affordable for all people.

Greg has an interesting thesis project as well, which allows commuters to leave voicemail messages according to the license plate number of the car. I'm not sure if iPLATEu can relieve road ragers or make love connections, it's a hoot. I think Greg should go to Los Angeles with this because of the famed LA traffic (now they won't be bored).

Seriously, save this number on your mobile phones, and try it:
888- iPLATEu
1-888-475-2838 (for Blackberry Pearl owners)
I'm not sure if it's in Beta testing, but I'm going to try it in Los Angeles.

[IMAGE CREDIT: Gregory Beliczynski/ITP/TISCH]

Here's a preview of the ultraORB by James N. Sears and his father Ron Sears. It's a dual-axis rotating display creates color visualizations of models in 3D space, using persistence of vision.

A rotating 320 tri-color LEDs about two axes simultaneously under the control of sixteen microcontrollers, creates a fully volumetric display that can display arbitrary models within the three dimensional volume of an 11" sphere.

It will be at the ITP Spring Show, this Tuesday and Wednesday night at 721 Broadway.

I saw this dog wearing sunglasses on Wall Street. This is the first time I've ever seen this trend. How decadent...

I did, yesterday, when I had to replace a watch battery. I saw this guy painstakingly embed diamonds into a watchband with some type of petrol on the back of his hand. In the same basement, you could design your own ring by sketching it, or improvise preselected molds.

This guy is cleaning some gold chains with a very high temperature steamer.

Fadi is the jewelery designer that designed my friend's and his wife's rings.

Dormar Jewelry
55 West 47th Street
New York, NY 10036
Talk to Fadi in lower level booth #550 or Albert in middle level booth #20

It took 5 minutes to change the battery and pretty reasonably priced too.

First the Mud Truck, then the Hillal Trucks, Juice Truck, a sushi restaurant, the 24 hour diner "Gold Street Cafe" that mimmicks The Standard Hotel's diner in Downtown, Los Angeles, and now this...

I believe that this image is of a Tiffany's store. Slowly, residentials are populating these units with young, hip students, and more places are stay open later. On the corner of the street South of Wall Street, Andre Balazs is also constructing a series of residential lofts, and boy do the ceiling look high and spacious. In the past two years, Wall Street has changed. It no longer looks like a ghost town.

Long live Downtown!

About a couple of weeks, we went to a Karaoke/No-re-bang place in Koreatown on 32nd street. Somewhere, up two flights of stairs after we ate dinner at a Korean B.B.Q. place that uses wood charcoal on their table ovens. It's on the North side of 32nd Street. Some tips: take blk/wht photos so you look like rock stars in Rolling Stones magazine, and have a list of songs ready.

What's a No-re-bang? In Korean, it means "singing room." You can rent a private room, order food and drinks and sing your hearts out. These photos were taken by David Sleight.

The videos sometime tell a different story.

By the way, fans of Cher, we couldn't find any songs by her in their book.

Just went to South Street Seaport Saturday night. Lots of shopping during the day, and a couple of museums, plus TKTS is there if you want to buy Broadway tickets. Bodies: The Exhibition is on. On Saturday nights, there is Salsa dancing. I'm not sure if it's every Saturday night (during the summer), but it's definitely free.

...more information tomorrow. This may look like an episode of Jerry Seinfeld, but this place really exists in New York City.

Hint: Kind of like East Egg

Of old Police cars including the original BatMobile.

to the Princeton Club in NY (Midtown). I heard about this place from David Bamford. I went to an NYU party there. The scene looked like an episode from Seinfeld. I was told that inside the men's restroom, there was a jar of combs, but they didn't have these jars in the women's (sigh... maybe it's because we're better groomed). The literature on the coffee table seem conservative with a couple of copies of The New York Post.

Facebook Meetup was organized by Amit Gupta, who wrote the Amazin' Wishlist application, and is founder of the startup Photojojo. Also a special guest showed up at the first NY meetup.

Recognize this face?

Mark Zuckerberg showed up in New York because of his sister's graduation.

I saw a couple of ITPers there. A holler out to Jadie and Cat! Two out of 4 females including myself. More about what I thought at this link: http://nyu.facebook.com/profile.php?id=835967.

I'm very proud of our Kermit Soufflé.

Grand Central Terminal

Seven decades of films use New York City backdrops. You can watch the movies on the Turner channel. This exhibit is based on the book Celluloid Skyline.

Angelos told me that a lot of graffiti artists use Priority Mail labels as free stickers to promote their craft. Maybe that's why I have to wait in line at the post office twice.

Photo taken close to Plan B bar in East Village.

This restaurant is a little pricier, but definitely worth it. Actually, the breakfast prices are similar to that of New York's brunch spots. Parking near the beach is always an issue in Santa Monica, but I recommend parking at the restaurant, and stroll over to the pier afterwards.

Lemon ricotta pancakes with berries:

Poached eggs over corned beef hash:

Mushroom omelette with potatoes:

Ham omelette with potatoes:

By the way, I'm talking about the cafe downstairs because they serve breakfast.

Shutters is 5 minutes away from the pier. There's a mini-amusement park there. The ferris wheel is highly recommended if you like shooting photographs.

The merry-go-round rides are a buck a piece. A lot kids have parties here.

Then you must get your fortune told by Madam Estrella. Only a quarter, but beware because sometimes she will tell you your misfortunes as well.

LACMA is the acronym for Los Angeles County Museum of Art. After 5pm, the museum is free, and they close at 8pm. On Sunday afternoons, they play live Latin jazz music. Currently on exhibition is Dan Flavin's works with fluorescent lighting. Anyway, Renzo Piano (they also considered Rem Koolhaas) is redesigning this museum.

I like this kinetic sculpture by George Rickey titled Four Lines Oblique Gyratory—Square made out of stainless steel.

A couple of minutes away from LACMA is the tar pit. Scientists have found a lot of fossils (Ice Age Era, 10,000-40,000 years ago) here. The Page Museum exhibits them.

Is Vegas possible to do in a day and a half? I say so. We stayed at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino. Mystère by Cirque du Soleil is a MUST! Live music, talented acrobats, interactive and comedic performances, beautiful set and costume design. Need I say more? Also, check out the restaurant Isla and/or Phó (I like bypassing the buffets).

Mystère by Cirque du Soleil

Pork Tamales:

Salmon with some unique slaw:

Medium-cooked pork with pumpkin seed mole:

Seafood (red snapper, crab meat, and shrimp) enchilada:

Definitely, ask for a room with a view to the Strip. The higher, the better. Here are some photos of the city that never sleeps (or Sin City).

The last time I visited Caesar's Palace was when they were remodeling this portion of the Casino, where all the high end shops are located. Btw, take a tram from Treasure Island to the Mirage, and exit and walk over, 5 minutes.

I have never seen curvy escalators before:

A must see, talking statues and laser show:

They also remodeled the Mirage. I didn't remember the garden and Beatles-themed decor before. There are lots of fake deli's out here derived from New York and Los Angeles (Carnegie Deli, Stage Deli, and Canter's Deli).

NOTE: The Cirque du Soleil is playing at many casinos (Caesars Palace, Mirage, and Treasure Island). All of the shows are slightly different. I HIGHLY recommend the one at Treasure Island!

The tigers still lives there. You can also see dolphins for another $15.

Driving back, stop at the Whiskey Pete's, Buffalo Bill's and Primm Valley Casino. You can take the monorail from one casino to the others (crosses the I-15). There is an outlet there, more amusement type rides, and more gambling. These casinos mimic Old Vegas (e.g. getting prime rib for $6.95 or steak and eggs for $3.95). The new Vegas no longer offers deals like this. Also, the Primm exhibits Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow Artifacts.

This is a 12 oz. prime rib, and is served with salad. I would suggest sharing.

It's really tough to do a food tour in L.A. because you have to drive from point to point, whereas in New York, you're a hop, skip, and away from the next eatery.

Anyway, here's a great Greek place I used to go to during my undergrad called Papa Cristos. It's on Normandie and Pico, and there's parking in the back. I recommend the spanakopita, a spinach pie, the grilled baby octopus, and the Greek coffee.

If you want to eat somewhere scenic and reasonably priced, drive up on Pacific Coast Highway, and just past Pepperdine University, and on the right side is Malibu Seafood. Be careful not to speed there. A lot of cops hide around the bend. Fish tacos (I think they use Mahi Mahi) and fish and chips are highly recommended. Skip the ceviche. The mussels were pretty good. There is outdoor patio seating (informal), and you'll see a lot of surfers eat lunch there.

Of course, when in L.A., stop in K-Town to get Korean barbecue. The last time we were there, we ate at a place called Tahoe Barbecue, formerly Wilshire Barbecue. We wanted to see if we could beat the deal there ($15, all you can eat beef or chicken). This time we went to Cho San Galbi, located on Olympic and Western. It was pretty good, but pricier than Tahoe Barbecue. The meat tastes about the same, but I actually like Tahoe better. Anyway, they cook your meat on your table (I mean "you" cook your meat).

On Hollywood and Highland, there is an outdoor mall with high-end stores, but in the patio, they have a free jazz concert. If you pay for the hor'dourves (various cheese slices, dried fruits, and nuts), cost $10, you can get free wine (we got two glasses).

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Right next to the patio is the Kodak theater. I really liked these environmental graphic designs that display by year, the Academy Awards Best Picture winners.

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Of course, there's always some filming/taping. This looks like an infomercial, but I could be wrong.

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And then there is the legendary Mann's Chinese Theater.

You could feel like any movie star, even Steven Segal.

If you like sour and spicey flavors, I would recommend trying authentic Mexican candies. You can get them at any carniceria (meat market). Most of these candies will make you salivate.

1) Saladitos. These are dried plums, usually either salted or spiced with chili powder. They taste good if you squeeze orange juice or lime juice on them.

2) I'm really not sure what this is called, but this is nutty and sweet tasting.

3) I think this is called "pulpita," but I think I may be wrong. There are two versions of this Tamarind-flavored candy. One is more pulpier with dried plums, and then there is the sugar version of this (the texture is more gritty).

4) I've never had these before, but these really blow my mind. They taste like watermelon gum drops rolled in chili, salt and lime. They are chewier them gum drops (texture is similar to Mike and Ike candies).

5) This is lime, chili and salt powder that you sprinkle on other snacks. It kind of reminds me of an extreme sour version of fun dip candy where you get that sweet stick and dip it into various fruit flavored tart powder).

6) These are suckers that remind you of the L.A. street vendors that sell papaya and mango on a stick dipped in lime juice and chili powder. The two flavors are mango and watermelon with chili powder and lime juice flavors. I remember the corn-shaped and mango-shaped version of these candies. These candies are shaped like a foot. I'm really not sure why, but it's funny. Anyway, I recently gave one of my co-workers this, and he kept on drooling on my desk literally.

The next time I go back to L.A. I think I'm going to do a tour of street vendors. In addition to the papaya and mango slices, some vendors sell grilled corn on sticks doused with mayonnaise, lime, chili, sprinkled with Mexican cheese, tamales, and hot dogs wrapped with bacon. You can find most of them on Western Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard.

Of course I couldn't resist a nerdy observation. These kids seem pretty engaged in this interactive, video-sensing game. There are a couple of lines of instruction, but they seem to get how to earn points. I think this game in particular was sponsored by Outback restaurants, but I could be wrong. I think there is some marketing going on.

I'm back in New York.

Anyway, I spotted this brilliant marketing campaign, probably for The Simpson's movie coming out this summer. The 7-Eleven store on 42nd Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues) has undergone a transformation for this month. Kwik-E-Mart is the fictional convenience store of The Simpsons. The ads in the store are mostly of fictional products in The Simpson's and the characters look like they're shopping. Needless to say, this store was crowded! So many people buying Slurpees.

They're selling collector type bobble heads and t-shirts, so if you're a fan, run to the store. If not, maybe you could sell them on Ebay.

So on 49th St. station going downtownI saw this ad for a rap CD (Ludacris, Jay-Z, et. al.) and there is a headphone jack where you can plug in to listen. It's strategically placed on the photo of the CD player. I didn't plug in yet.

Thomas Jefferson made several copies of the Declaration of Independence, and one of these copies is on exhibition at the New York Public Library. And it's free to see it (I ♥ NY). It will be on exhibition to the 5th of August. I might go today.

About three months ago, I watched a special on PBS about the preservation of the original because it was written on pig skin, which is not archival at all. The government spent approximately $5 million on the design and construction of the vault for this document (the show covers this process). There's even some humor. At one point, someone suggested to put tiny silicon pebbles to in several cavities of the case to secure it from moisture, but that notion was rejected over and over again. Anyway, it's worth watching.

Here's a piece of Berlin Wall in Battery Park...

Glimpse of Statue of Liberty...

Great Shanghai restaurant across from this spot if you like spicy hot soup. Sit by the window so you can watch all the people on the tour and Fung Wah buses.

Just saw this notice on an ex-cellphone business. Apparently they duct taped the summons/complaint on the door, so I read some of it. These people were hosting a game of Mahjong and charged the players a fee. Judging by the store's location and signage, most of the players seemed to be Chinese, except for the undercover officer, who seem to be of Latin descent. Just thought it was strange they would be caught, but then again New York isn't Vegas.

Beautiful sidewalk art on 5th Avenue and 8th Street in Manhattan, close to Washington Square Park.

Contact information:
Hani
917-673-4843

And this is why I ♥ NY.

EMC's spinoff VMware [VMW] went public today in the NYSE. Said to have opened at $29 and closed at $51.

http://losangeleschronicle.blogspot.com

I started reading my sister's blog, and I really love it. She's so deftly honest. Anyway, good stock tips (except Altria which was formerly "Philip Morris," but they are known to higher dividends, and Ebay) and random minutia that "microwave popcorn" linked to lung cancer. I first heard about this 15 months ago from Nick's parents, but didn't know the chemical that caused it (diacetyl). I can't believe that those popcorn manufacturers (Orville Redenbacher's and Act II brands) are going to remove that chemical by the end of this year. HOW ABOUT RECALL NOW?!? I really think they should get fined for waiting that long.

Anyway, she's from Los Angeles, so some of the advice might be helpful to those that live there.

to the Ground Zero site. I just watched "Building on Ground Zero" on Nova, and then visited the site. For more photos, please visit my flickr site. If you need higher resolution version of any of the photos, don't hesitate to email me through my flickr account.

Only in New York will sell every seat to the movie Helvetica. There was an ITP "designers" reunion at 8:20 pm last night. The movie was great in exhibiting pro-Helvetica and anti-Helvetica sentiments. Liked how the movie presented the historical and cultural contexts of helvetica and graphic design in general. Super designers from the older and current generations gave their two cents. In the end, the director, Gary Hustwit and type designer Tobias Frere-Jones made a special appearance. The director was down-to-earth and honest. He admitted that he was approached to direct a movie on the font Times New Roman. I really liked the movie, and would probably watch it again to see David Carson, who will make a special appearance today. I was a big fan of his work in Ray Gun magazine.

If you go, do pick up an "I hate Helvetica" or "I love Helvetica" pin.

Gary Hustwit and type designer Tobias Frere-Jones
Photo Credit: Lia Bulaong

Jane and Tim in this photo, among other ITPers that went, Pollie, Dmitri, Dan, Ahn (Mang), and Lia. It was really great to see them.

Well, it's about time. I was looking for the 2 train at the 14th street station and came across these signs via the L. A copy of D.C.'s wonderful subway system, these signs tell you when the train will arrive and in what direction. This is really useful because when you're standing around waiting for a device, be it an elevator or train, 3 seconds can sometimes feel like 3 minutes. I really hate elevators that don't indicate what floor they're on, which is useful information of whether I should stand and wait or just use the stairs. I remember Tom's first pComp assignment (2005), and our group (Matthew Burton and Cory Forsyth, both very cerebral) proposed to improve the subway system. Ahhh, brings back memories of passing surveys around to subway riders at the Union Square station.

Only saw these on the "L" train.

I would recommend this place to anyone, even for more adventurous travelers. This place is truly a paradise, and less touristy than most of the other destinations I've been to. I would recommend renting a four-wheel drive instead of taking tours because you can visit a lot of "off-site" historical places. I recommend this book [Hawaii The Big Island Revealed published by Wizard] if you visit, very straightforward and honest about Hawaii's history, and was temporarily banned in the 60's. Also, directions in this book are really specific, perfect for taking the car off the road. The Big Island is totally worth the 10-hour flight. I had the best sushi, mahi mahi, and mangoes I've ever had out there. Now I see why Mark Twain visited this Hawaii. Also, be careful if you go snorkeling. The waves can get pretty choppy.

For more photos, click here.

This was one of my favorite sites in Hawaii. We almost missed it. We only wish we could've stayed to see the stars. It looks a bit futuristic and science fiction-like. If you go up, take a 45 minute break to get acclimated to the climate and pressure. This is suppose to be one of the tallest mountains in the world if you include sea level, 14,000 feet high. This is as close to the clouds as you can get without the window seat in an airplane.

For more photos, click here.

Well, reserve online. This system is like the Zip car, but for parking spaces instead of cars. Found the ad for this on the subway. Not sure if it's mobile-compatible. The video demonstration is helpful, and be aware of fee for oversized vehicles, which I don't think in included in the initial search results. The subway ad promotes theater parking, $10 for up to 10 hours, so maybe look for parking in midtown around 42nd street.

Here's the link: http://weparknewyork.com

For more photos, check out my Flickr account.

Touch screens and credit card machines implemented in New York cabs. This system allows you to see your route, watch the news, and pay the fare with your credit card with pre-calculated options for tip (nice option for people who have to write this expense as a tax-deduction instead of collecting receipts).

For more photos, click here.

The Municipal Art Soviet of New York
457 Madison Avenue at 51st Street
September 25, 2007 - January 5, 2008

Digitally mastered and playing at the theater. This movie was one of my favorite science fiction films. This theater is super cool. Each stall of the bathroom has it's own sink (Ladies' room). I am tempted to see "Enchanted," the 3D and live action version of Snow White. Okay, maybe not, I just watched the previews.

Theater is packed, if you like complete silence, watch it on a weekday. Pretty awesome in the theater. They probably had to fix this movie to renew their copyright.

Selling hot dogs for charity (not sure what charity). Couldn't really find the line to buy a hot dog, but if you want to go, they're on the corner of 6th Avenue and 48th Street, right in front of the Fox Building. Other celebrities include Gene Simmons, Tito Ortiz, Lennox Lewis, and Vincent Pastore (Sal from The Sopranos).

All photo taken by Andrew Famiano with his iPhone.

Before it gets cold (October 28th was the date they listed on their site), check out the scene on the rooftop at The Met. They have a bar, and some art that make you wonder how they were transported to the rooftop.

They are also having an amazing exhibition on tapestries, Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor In some of the pieces, you can see the process of sketch paintings to these enormous tapestries. This exhibition ends on January 6, 2008.

Attention, all ITPers, you must see this exhibit if you like electronics, lighting, and/or physical computing. Ingo Maurer uses some new materials that have been exhibited at the Material Connexion. Two of my favorite pieces are his uses of conductive film to create an LED light table/bench and flexible circuit board to create light patterns on wall paper.

If you like designing or using solderless breadboards, go to this exhibit, it'll give you many ideas on how to layout your electronic components. If you like industrial design, go to this exhibit to be inspired by his use of materials and play with physics (specifically the tornado piece that has a magnet) and optical illusions (love the hologram light bulbs).

The printed and digital materials about this exhibit doesn't even convey the fraction of this experience. If you like magic, go to this exhibit.

I tried this new hand dryer in the women's restroom at the AMC theaters on 42nd street. The sign read that this was economical (didn't use that much heat) and hygienic (and I'm guessing that you don't have to press the button to turn it on, clearly for people with OCD, but then what do they do when they touch the door handle?)

In East Village, close to the West 4th St. stop, I discovered where Willa Cather and Richard Wright wrote their books. The sign reads:

Willa Cather, author of My Antonia, wrote her first novel, Alexander's Bridge, here in 1912. Richard Wright, author of Native Son, wrote his autobiography, Black Boy here in 1945.

Last year, a performer was turning 40 years old that day was involved in a crazy Evel Kenievel-like stunt. He rode his skateboard and gained momentum to jump over 25 trash barrels (mid-air), and landed on his skateboard. I wish I had my camera back then. Hopefully, I can catch a repeat performance this year.

In the meantime, there were a set of brothers (a guy and his two twin brothers) are performing some fun stunts and comedy routine in Washington Square. They had the most successful act in collecting money, they had almost everyone involved and engaged. They would reward people who offered bigger donations and created a competitive atmosphere rewarding the donors by giving props to their countries (aimed at tourists). Well this year, this guy ran over and jumped over five people and aimed through his brother's arms.

Visit Economy Candy in Lower East Side. One of the oldest candy store, they carry a variety of candies, including salted licorice (located behind the counter). I got hooked on salted licorice when Tom Igoe introduced them to us at the "ITP Arduino Surface Mount Soldering Party." They also sell giant PEZ candies for $18.00 and really cute sophisticated designs of Hello Kitty and My Melody Pez holders (they have clear heads). I was surprised to see old cigarette packaged bubble gum and Lemonheads.

108 Rivington Street
New York, NY 10002

I was in search of a new dry cleaner because several places were going to charge me $16.00 to just dry clean my coat. I found this site on Citysearch, and just tried Flat Rate Cleaners about a week ago, and they are legit. Everything you want to dryclean is $4.99, except for leather and comforters. But that includes coats, long coats, sweaters, etc. (more details on their site). Shirts laundered just $2.99 for ladies and I think it's cheaper for men. You can specify how much starch (options for light, medium, and heavy). It really does take 24 hours, doesn't matter how many items you submit, and they pick it up and deliver free of charge. They picked my bag up later than I thought, but my items were delivered on Saturday. I was skeptical too, but now I'm going to use them. They were recently on Daily Candy and Daily News.

I had 2 long sweaters, 3 long/heavy coats, 3 blazers, 1 pair of pants dry cleaned, and 2 shirts laundered and pressed for $45.90. CHEAP!!!

I was able to attend this (part I) forum on Propaganda Then and Now: What Orwell Did and Didn't Know at the New York Public Library. Among the panelists were Konstanty Gerbert, Masha Gessen, Jack Miles and George Soros. Orville Schell was the moderator, who authored What Orwell Didn't Know: Propaganda and the New Face of American Politics (released November 5, 2007). I was a little disappointed that George Soros didn't sign my book. However, I enjoyed his presentation on cognition, perception in periphery versus subconscious, and the danger of "News-speak," a term that Orwell uses, and bringing truth back to the news. There were some interesting questions were asked like "thoughts on strategizing propaganda used in financial markets." I often wonder about that when I read news stories about "the price of oil barrels." Anyway, I wish I went to the other talks forums: "deceiving images, the science of manipulation (part 2)" and "solutions, the future of political landscape (part 3). Will post my notes on my wiki.

Kind of a peculiar note, they were broadcasting this on Second Life.

Looking for nurseries in New York City. Well, I found several on 28th Street. They're pretty reasonably priced and there are a variety of species than the typical ones sold at Home Depot and Gristedes Market. We bought three from Chad (I believe the second nursery from McDonald's). He really knew the species and genus, which species thrive in sunlight and low light, and was informative on care for each plant. We bought a succulent plant, called "Panda," a "Buddha" plant, and a "Peace Lily." The more color a plant has, the more sunlight it needs.

Chad in this photo.

The MUJI store opened on Friday, and there were lines outside the store to get into the store, and lines in the store to purchase. There were lots of containers and little knick-knacks, office supplies, furniture and clothes. A lot of the stuff is over my price point. I almost bought this whiteboard, until I found that it cost $40. What I find handy is the plastic case for business cards. I would skip the line, and just go to the MoMA store a block and a half away.

As for the CB2 store, they sell contemporary furniture and house ware for slightly less than parent company Crate and Barrel.

Just in time for the holidays...

On my way to the 4 train on Lexington and 42nd Street, I walked through Helmsley tunnel, and saw these ads. Interesting how they piece together four parts, and it's run on some pulley system. Didn't see it run though (weekend?) but it may not be animate anyway.

with interesting forms. These images are for Ron Sears, who is an artist in Jerseyville Illinois, and works with metal. The first sculpture reminds me of David Smith's works.

Urban Center Books, The Municipal Art Society of New York

I found this design bookstore that covers just about every design book or magazine, even if you're searching for something so obscure. This reminds me of Hennessy and Ingalls (design/architecture/art/photography bookstore in Los Angeles, located at one of the cross streets of Third Street Promenade). I stumbled upon this bookstore, while I visited the Jane Jacobs exhibition (457 Madison Avenue at 51st Street). Clay Shirky's Network Effects class introduced Jane Jacob's book The Death and Life of Great American Cities. The exhibit is amazing, which I'll probably post later, but to give you a hint, Jane Jacobs is the New York version of Eleanor Roosevelt.

This store has books on different materials (glass, metal, concrete, building structure, lightweight/mobile), typologies (medical, offices, healthcare, restaurants, retail, pools/spas, sports/leisure, high rise), construction (concrete, wood, facades), sustainability, architecture, photography, typography, urban planning, foreign (books from Japan, Germany, etc). I asked if this store is permanent, and it is. They just have longer hours during the Jane Jacobs exhibition.

Here are some sample books:

It's THAT difficult to find pillows, believe it or not...

Just recently, I had to shop for pillows, so I bought four from Macy's that were branded Ralph Lauren. I must say these pillows were awful. Every morning I would wake up, and all four were on the floor. I was going to return them, but couldn't find the receipt because I probably threw it away, intending to keep these pillows.

I visited Macy's web site to search for information on their return policy. Low and behold, they have a fabulous one. All you have to do is go to their store, and they scan your credit card and your item to find the transaction. So you, don't need a receipt. The downside of shopping in-store is that they don't have the variety that you see on the web or customer reviews, although when I was reading the reviews, all the products seem to be positive, even for the styrofoam-like pillows from RL, which seem suspect. They were also having a promotion that if you write a review, you win a $1000 gift card:

First there was spin in the news, and now there is spin in reviews
So I decided to login and write a review. First of all, it seems that ANYONE can login or sign up to write a review. The problem is that people who didn't buy a product can review it anyway, which to me seems like, either the brands can hire people to write positive reviews about their own products, or people who want to win that $1000 gift card are trying to increase their chances of winning it. The difference in Amazon reviews is that you can only review a book after you purchase it. Of course there are some authors out there that promote themselves by buying their own book and writing a positive review about themselves under a different screen name. I tried cross-referencing products from Macy's, Overstock.com, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Linens-N-Things, and Costco to Amazon's reviews, but this was extremely difficult because some of the brands sell the same product under different names and change the product just slightly to appease their retailers (e.g. thread count, fill power, "ecodown," feathers, etc.) Some manufacturers trademark their process or design, so you don't even know what they're really selling (e.g. confusing illustrations) or what the product is named at say Macy's versus Linens N Things (e.g. "The Hotel Collection" or "Hotel Down Pillow"), which look similar except for the label on the bottom right corner and the price. Case in point: Kaboodle (a shopping community where people recommend and discover new things), and although I was able to find some pillows, most recommendations seem to be about self-promotion (e.g. Designer recommends their designed pillows) and targeted at the youth market, where sleep is less important.

Early on, I had Googled "nytimes, pillow, review," and wasn't able to find any articles, but when I changed my search from "nytimes, pillow, recommendations," I was lucky enough to find this review by the New York Times (2004). Ms. Joyce Cohen wrote about the same frustrations in shopping for a pillow that I had. I ended up going with DownFactory.com because of the owner's knowledge that was stated in the review and that's what Ms. Cohen ended up going with. I will later post if Ms. Cohen's review is current. I checked every link mentioned in her review, and most are current except for this site, idfb.org (acronym for International Down and Feather Bureau, but is now a parked site).

I was also convinced with DownFactory because their designs were used in a couple of Olympics and because they've been in business since in 1932.

ADDENDUM:
Okay, I just received two pillows, and was kind of worried about them, when I saw it arrive in a small box.

Luckily, they have a warranty that when a pillow is squeezed, it can only be reduced to 20% of their former size.

So far, they are comfy.

Common Cents

Common Cents Penny Harvest grew from one child’s desire to feed the homeless...

Reminds me of the movie, Pay It Forward. This is probably the most successful installation I've seen, where people collectively donate to the pool. Every person that walked by must have thrown change into this pool of pennies. Since 1991, this organization has raised at least $5.9 million since 1991. 71 million pennies weigh at least 2 tons and is worth at least $711,000.00. There are some prized if you can guess how many pennies are in the pool.

So far Penny Harvests have hit 5 states, including NY, Colorado, Florida, Tennessee, and Washington.

You can even vote on which cause you want the Penny Harvest to donate to:

They are so good and designing there windows. I believe part of the reason is because of they integrate a narrative in their display (e.g. santa letters in the pocket of the sweater), and the other reason is their unique (e.g. balls of yarn) and resourceful use of materials (e.g. straws and empty, plastic, water jugs).

I saw a lecture by Ms Sparacino at the Center for Architecture. Her presentation, ‘Interactive Media Environments & Architectural Machines’ uses sensors and camera-tracking to make physical spaces interactive.

She worked with a lot of famous architects, and was responsible for creating the technology infamous in the scene from Minority Report. More about her work on my design conferences wiki/notes and my Flick'r account.

Pretty cool fabricated form...

Nice information graphics:

I just flew on Virgin America, and was pretty impressed with their cool technology. They have a new media system catered to the youth and the hipsters.

1. There safety video is an amusing animation, which is slightly sarcastic in humor, fun to watch, even twice (JFK<>LAX).

2. While some airlines have customizable screens, what is really refreshing is that you're not limited to the conventional channels like CNN, which is also offered. You can watch some indie shows, like Current TV, clips from Boing Boing or cable shows Dexter and The Tudors.

3. Another option is to buy a movie. You have a choice from the new releases, indie and foreign films. I didn't see a lot of people use this feature because they were either watching a movie on their laptops or iPods. The people sitting next to me brought their own portable DVD player and headphone jack splitter.

4. Not that I'm a parent or anything, but if you are, and you're worried about your kids watching violent or explicitly sexual content (e.g. while watching Top Model, VH1 broadcasted some lengthy ads that may be sexually explicit, Rock of Love), you can control that here.

5. You can order food with your credit card. While some airlines encourage their passengers to bring exact change or have their passengers wait while the flight attendants find change, Virgin America has a system where you can order food and pay with your credit card. This is such a convenience. The other nice thing about this display is that you can watch continue to watch your show, while you select your food. I would say to order early because when I tried to order potato chips during the latter half of the flight, they were all out (dynamic/real-time tracking). I watched a lot of people use this feature.

6. This system records what shows and songs you listen to, so let's say if you dozed, and wanted to continue watching the shows, you can easily find them here.

7. Interesting controller. One side has the controllers, similar to a remote, just in case people are timid with the touch screen interface. The side of the controller has a magnetic scanner for your credit card, and the back is a full key pad to facilitate chatting between seats, and browsing the internet (not yet working). The keypad feels slightly awkward to type on because of it's elongated shape, and you have to hold down the blue button while simultaneously typing the symbol (I wasn't used to this because my BlackBerry shift button stays put).

8. Another cool feature is the chat between seats. At first, I really didn't understand why anyone would use this because one of the journalist on Current TV boast about meeting that cute dude in aisle 8. And actually the journalist tried several times getting people to chat with her. When I tried the chat room, and I was the only one there. On the flight back, I happen to bump into a friend of mine who was sitting in a different row, and we chatted for awhile. I don't think there is a way of chatting while simultaneously watching a show, but anyway it's a novel feature.

9. I'm not sure if this is a feature yet (multi-player), but it would've been cool to be able to play a game with my friend. I tried playing the clown game three times, but then had to reboot it 3x as well (at least they use Linux). The only thing that I thought was awkward about the game controller is the way you have to press the red button to "start" and the green button to "escape." Other than that, it looks pretty slick.

10. Last but not least, Virgin America promoting cool brands like Google, and Method soap (found in the bathroom). Also, their design of icons have that "web 2.0" aesthetic.

For more larger resolution pix, checkout my Flickr site later. Btw, you can only check in one bag, any additional bags cost $10, which is still relatively cheap, even for an oversized weirdly-shape package.

All I can say is that if you visit Los Angeles, take advantage of the cheap prices in fruit. Just 89 cents per pound for oranges and grapefruit, and my favorite, the Asian pear, fairly inexpensive, compared to 2 oranges for $1.29 or more in New York. Also, I was able to buy a watermelon and kiwi, fruits out of season in other climates.

If you are a geek, techie or nerd, Fry's is a place to visit. They have branches all over Los Angeles, but the ones that I like to visit is the one in Burbank and Manhattan. Before heading to Fry's, check out the last page of the business section or top news section of the Los Angeles Times, most deals are published there. They sell heat guns, solder tips, capacitors, kits, tv's, computers, cameras, and the list goes on. They partner up with Outpost.com, but their web deals are not as good as visiting the store.

I bought a lot of cables and surge protectors from their this holiday, but Circuit City was more competitive with prices. I was able to purchase an HP PC (360 GB hard drive, 2 GB ram, etc.) and 19 inch monitor for $480 before taxes, which is a steal.

I don't remember seeing a Yahoo! headquarters across from Fry's. Anyway, this is off of the 5 freeway, and very close to the Burbank airport.

These two homes always deck their lawns for the holidays. Both in Hancock Park vicinity.

Visit Pinz in Studio City. Jerry's Deli is close-by. Atmosphere is kind of club-like and fun. New technology and video displays.

Aluminum cans, bottle caps, and cardboard are materials that Barney's Department Store used in their display to encourage people to recycle.

I was pretty impressed with how progressive ABC network was with their broadcast of the New Hampshire Debates. In an effort to get the youth involved, they integrated Facebook into their program. At first, I thought it was because Microsoft owned NBC that they were involved with Facebook, but I don't think they own ABC. Nevertheless, I watched both parties address issues. My only criticism was that the moderators should have asked the same questions to all candidates of both parties, even though their intention was to bring up questions that posed weaknesses to each of the parties. Anyway, it was interesting to watch the Facebook polls on television, a convergence with traditional media with the web.

For some reason, I thought Ron Paul presented the strongest arguments, and I thought Mitt Romney appeared superficial. I agreed with Bill Richardson's strong stance on Pakistan, and second Hillary Clinton's views on foreign policy. In any case, my vote will probably go to the candidate who best addresses the national health care issue, and issues that affect aging Baby Boomers. That's because my mom is paying ~$800.00 per month for insurance, which seems pretty excessive.

Found these in San Francisco, and I wish New York public waste baskets looked like this. This was in a residential neighborhood, so the recycle cavity probably wouldn't overfill as it would in New York. Anyway, I really liked the design of it, function and form.

When I was in San Francisco, I just wanted to do the offbeat and non-conventional tourist activities like visit the fortune cookie factory, the Exploratorium, and Audium (found in Fodor's under off-beat activities).

Audium is a theatre of sound-sculptured space.

I'm going to attempt to describe this experience. You walk into this space and take a seat with 40 other people. And the light dims to complete darkness, and Stan Shaff, who is the composer, plays random sounds of various objects and environment, and electronic sounds that scatter throughout the space through 136 speakers. It reminds me of when you're laying on the beach, and you can hear the sounds of the surroundings around you (i.e. kids playing, conversations, crashing waves, the water guy selling water, etc.)

Anyway, it was a one of a kind experience, and I would recommend it to anyone. Also after, check out the Stan's setup. They look analog with a lot of knobs, which is pretty cool for any electronics guru or techie. Also, after the performance, there's a Q&A session with Stan.

Audium
1616 Bush Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
Friday and Saturday, starts at 8:30pm
BUT get there at 8:00pm (there's free coffee in the lounge so you can chat with your friends), they don't take anyone who's late.
Admission: $15

Compositions and Performace by Stan Shaff
Equipment Design by Doug McEachern

This is probably one of the best Sichuan restaurants I've tried. The other Sichuan place that I love is in New York, and their specialty is hot pot. It's on Canal Street. Anyway, if you like spicy, then Sichuan restaurants are probably your best bet. Some friends of ours took us to this place (thanks Shumin and Tao), located in Millbrae, one of the last stops on the Bart (Millbrae) in San Francisco. It's in between San Fran and Silicon Valley. They have starters like boiled peanuts and pickled cabbage. My favorite was probably the cold noodles. I've tried them in Sichuan restaurants in New York, but they're missing a flavor. This restaurant (I think) adds sesame oil because it has a slight nutty flavor. The other dishes I loved were the beef and tripe, fish and shrimp. Anyway all of it was really good.

Classic Sichuan
148 El Camino Real
Millbrae, CA 94030
Tel. 650.692.3388

Dolores Park has an amazing view of the city skyline of San Francisco. Even though it's cold, people still layout in the park. I read that sometimes they call it Dolores Beach because people sunbathe there. I found the Pirate Store (sister store to the Super Hero Supply Store in New York) a couple of blocks from this park. They were closed, but I believe they may have a secret tutoring center as well. Kudos.

Shots of the closed Pirate Store...

I took this photo of a house that had a slide. If I were 7, I would want to live there. Actually at the top, to the right of the slide was a wet suit, so maybe it's still being used.

This is probably one of my top 10 burrito places. It was also voted "Citybest," and it's super cheap. This burrito feeds two and costs ~$7.00. I tried to photograph the plastic utensil to give you sense of scale of how big the burrito is. You can look the address on Citysearch, but it's on Mission Street. Take the F, and when you see a Safeway, get off that stop.

Mangarosa
Italian and Brazilian Fusion Cuisine
1548 Stockton Street
San Francisco, CA 94133

I recommend the pumpkin, shrimp and rice dish. Don't eat dessert there because there's a fabulous gelato place right across the street called Probuzione Propria.

This is a burger chain, so I'm not really sure if they franchise out of the city, but if you're in SF, I highly recommend trying their garlic fries.

I was fortunate to visit this home that has a fabulous view. I love these purple skies.

Also at Kshitij, Nick Sears exhibited UltraOrb, which was his thesis project:

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Globe4D exhibited was this globe where you can move through a fourth dimension, time. Makes learning about climate change engaging.

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Pyromania is a really amazing Israeli dancing team that uses fire in their acts.

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Jimmy Wales (one of the most influential people) of Wikipedia introduced the Wikia.

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Magician Jason Latimer performed some unique tricks using laser technology.

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Astrophysicist, Professor and Author of The Physics of Star Trek, Lawrence Krauss. Interesting theories that challenge some of Einstein's theories.

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Dr. Eric Drexler, an expert in the field of nanotechnology, encourage the use of sensors and computing in materials (i.e. roads that are composed of solar panels).

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Robogarage exhibited robots that move almost as smooth as humans.

A little irony. This photograph was taken in India.

Textile design in India is pretty beautiful. Most of the pashmina scarves were woven with a loom, and which had a lot of intricate details and complex color schemes. You can also see this in traditional saris. This vendor was gracious enough to wait for us to finish our tour of the museum.

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Jewerly design

I was really impressed with this bracelet, which I couldn't zoom in close enough. The bracelets are made of interlocking miniature U-shaped gold rings that have ruby gems embedded on the ends. When looking at it, you're not sure where the designer started. Also, the bracelet looks hand-crafted.

These are pear-shaped, multi-faceted cut, Indian topaz earrings.

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Loved the motif on this silver box.

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Engraved sculptures made out of precious woods and stones. One of these sculptures had a heavy sandalwood scent because it was carved out of sandalwood. Some are carved crystals, ivory and jade.

I've ever stayed at. The Hyatt Hotel in Kolkata/Calcutta offers excellent service, but the interior design and design is beautiful. Integrates many materials and textures in one space, which is so seamless. Everything works. Found out that this hotel was designed by a firm in Florida.

This were elegant lanterns. Light emits through the carved wood.

Ambient lighting changes from day to night. During the day, soft light illuminates to emulate sunlight. At night, the soft light changes color to blue. Recessed blue LED's in the floor.

Also recessed wall lighting...

Texture using layers of glass...

I like the stainless steel, transparent bowls holding the colorful fruit, which is used for decorative purposes.

This a display for a bar, which has may wines and books backlit.

Landscape architecture and pools design.

Textured walls with abstract art.

and hotel lobby...

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This might be cheesy, but I may take this idea and line the inside walls of my vase with tropical leaves.

I attended this conference because of Bill Buxton and Sigi Moeslinger, and was amazed with their presentations. I was also impressed with Malcolm McCullough, who teaches at the University of Michigan, and spoke of his research with culture and ubiquitous computing.

I also enjoyed a presentation on "fieldwork and sketching" from a Ph.D. candidate, who interned at Intel, Matt Jones who founded Dopplr, Regine DeBatty from "We Make Money Not Art," Alan Cooper ("An Insurgency of Quality") as well as another one of his rep who talked about his processes in design, and Dan Brown, who lectured on Concept Models. I hope to put my notes, but it might take a long time to transcribe. In the meantime, please check out my flickr photos.

Go see it, it's probably one of the best Broadway shows. I love the production design and more importantly the story (a prequel to the Wizard of Oz). I only wish I thought of the story first. It's about the good and bad witches, but there is an interesting spin on who is the heroine.

My only caveat is to buy tickets that cost a little more. We sat in the balcony, so I can see the tape and markings of where the actresses/actors have to stand.

I've seen so far is KÀ. One of Nick's clients recommended this show, and it is fantastic. I've seen Mystère, which was impressive, but KÀ is probably the best I've seen so far. The stage rotates, so the dancers look like they are climbing a wall while dancing at the same time. The set design, and tech is amazing (which took approximately 2 years to develop), but what makes KÀ better that some of the other shows is the story. It kind of has a manga look, and it's a story about a brother and sister who are separated. This is the newest of the Cirque Du Soleil shows, and is playing at the MGM Grand. I also recommend getting the documentary, which isn't sol on Amazon. It's about the making and production of this show.

This will probably be the next one I see. I hear it's in water. Btw, we saw poker pros Daniel Negreanu (@ Bellagio) and Phil Ivy (@ The Mirage).

I would skip the Mirage (since they're renovating), and stay at the Flamingo. If you get a gold card, you can bypass the long registration line (probably about a 20-minute wait) and get a free upgrade to their spacious suite on the highest floor, which had a view (approximately ~600 square feet).

We paid $150 for this room, and it came with a king-size bed, and a queen-sized sofa bed. The redesign reminds me of the Standard Hotel in Los Angeles, where you would have a unique experience. For instance, the neon pink lighting in the bathroom. There's even a television embedded in the bathroom mirror, so if you want to take a bath while watching your favorite movie, you can do so here.

There were two flat screen televisions (rarely used) and an empty refrigerator for cake or BYOB (for college students on spring break). Prior to staying here, we stayed at the Mirage, and incurred a $40 charge just for opening and closing the fridge 5 times, and we didn't drink anything. We just used it to store our cake. Anyway, I really like how their rooms are catered for the youth, and how they thought very hard about who would stay there. I can visualize a bachelor party or spring break, f-u-n!

My friend just took me to a speakeasy bar, which is a term they used during Prohibition.

We went one that was a hot dog joint, where you make reservations for the bar in the telephone booth. Inside is really classy, and the menus are have white leather covers. You can get sophisticated drinks that mix various alcoholic spirits with egg whites.

All the drinks are pretty good. If you order food, there's a selection of tater tots and hot dogs served on plastic plates. We shared a hot dog with a kim chee topping (sounds gross, but it is pretty tasty).

Check out the rules in the glamorous bathroom (mirrored mosaic).

is where to get reasonably priced frames in New York...

I was hesitant to try this place that I found on Citysearch, but after reading 15 positive 5-star reviews, I decided to take a chance and try it.

When I first met Mr. Shah, he had a lot of questions about the layout, but I left it in his creative hands. He did a fantastic job, and even when I had a quiver of doubt, he still accommodated my worries by emailing me photos of the comp. We were very satisfied with his works.

269 West 36th Street
New York, NY 10018
Phone: (212) 869-7040

For $3.00, you can charge your phone for 30 minutes. Found this kiosk/vending machine at the airport in Vegas. I've seen free chargers at LAX advertised by Samsung or Sony. Owned by the company renting out luggage carts.

So eager to not wait in line, we were escorted to the non-traditional security line. The way this machine works is that it blows air at you, and explosive debris/residue is also blown off. Never seen this before, but it's at the Las Vegas airport.

At 34th Street where the N train runs, there is an interactive musical installation (green). If you wave your hands over certain parts, it plays music.

This is a pretty amazing exhibition, just by sheer scale of each piece was a delight to walk around and experience. My favorite piece(s) were the clay figures of peasants during Communist China. I also liked all the gunpowder drawings. I wonder how long it took to perfect.

I just recently watched Spamalot. I think I probably watched a couple of Monty Python movies in my life, and wasn't privvy to the storyline. Anyway, this was okay. Clay Aiken plays Sir Robin, and there were some lines relevant to American Idol and ex-governor Spitzer to make it more current. The set design wasn't as sophisticated as some of the other musicals and Broadway shows I've watched, and the atmosphere was like watching a high-school play because the humor appealed to a grand group of high schoolers (sitting next to us) that were hee-hawing at every boob and camel-toe joke.

But in the end, my overall opinion was that I like it, probably because of the "Find Your Grail" medley, some snarky bits, and it's originality. I would definitely watch this before seeing Wicked, and/or KA. I watched this after, so my expectations were higher.

This is the first time I have ever been to Comicon. It was crowded and pretty fun. There are a lot of kids dressed in character, you get to see the latest games, and see how marketers promote these blockbuster movies coming out this summer (will talk about these later). I even saw a Christie's booth (?!?), but most of the exhibitors are from publishing, gaming, toy, and film industries.

merits her own post.

I'm not sure who the artist is of this painting, but it's probably one of my favorite illustrations of her. Found in Comicon at Javitz this year.

She was my favorite character while growing up. I think every girl wanted to be her. They marketed Wonder Woman underoos when I was in grade school, which was the tank and bikini underwear that made you feel like a super hero, or Diana Prince. Anyway, a movie is in production, and slated to be released in 2009, but I wonder, who will play Wonder Woman? Lynda Carter played her in the 70's. Heard through the grapevine that either Catherine Zeta-Jones or Angelina Jolie would play her. I don't think Angelina Jolie should play her, since she's already Lara Croft in Tomb Raider. And Catherine Zeta-Jones should've played Elektra instead of Jennifer Garner. Anyway, we're do for a heroine blockbuster movie soon! Crossing my fingers.

So in November, a group of us were playing poker in the lobby of our building. Along came this 16-year old who asked to join us. He was playing very aggressively, and beat out all of us. Later that evening, he claimed that playing Magic was the reason why, since all the "battles" he was involved in forced him to read the state of the opponent with speed. Of course we had no idea what this game was, and what it entailed. It's beyond trading pogs or baseball games. There are a complex set of rules with characters, and you go to these underground places (think Rounders), and play real people with real cards a game similar to the card game "war." So this kid went upstairs to retrieve his duffle bag of card characters, protected in vinyl, organized neatly in a binder. As he gave us a demo and explained the cost of each card, I could make the connection of him playing poker to Magic. Some cards are word $150, and can range into the thousands. When I asked him about the honor system of purchasing some cards online, like Ebay, he said he never bought any counterfeit cards. Some cards, like the older edition which prove to be more valuable, can look Photoshopped, since they don't have a special seal or watermark on it. Interesting... maybe this community believes in integrity, which is what he mentioned several times throughout the night. These cards are made out of paper, but I think the value of the card is determined by the illustrator and character.

Anyway, I saw this game again at Comicon, and other copycats, including Call of Duty and World of Warcraft are following suit.

There were some people who dressed like their favorite characters. I guess everyone wants to be a super hero/heroine. Anime costumes were more popular. Some of these I know, but some of these I don't know.

A couple of Japanese companies were promoting Victorian fashion.

Interesting exhibitors at Comicon...

Record/audition your scream at the Spiderman booth.

Get an autograph by your favorite comic illustrator at DC Comics (though I saw a guy bring in a case of comic books to sign, so the line may take awhile).

Try out My Beating Heart at Android8, which is designed by ITP alum Yury Gitman. It is strangely meditative. I ended up buying one to test. Reminds me of MIT robotic seals. Android8 has other cool toys and characters that are new.

So many people visiting this booth selling LED-lit samurai swords and ninja stars.

Play video games.

Win prizes (there was a really long line for this).

Find a job at TokyoPop. They were interviewing and reviewing portfolios of illustrators and writers.

Watch this guy finish this illustration.

For jazz lovers, check out Birdland this month. Last night, Saxophone Summit [Ravi Coltrane/Dave Liebman/Joe Lavano/all sax players, Cecil McBee/bass, Phil Markowitz/piano, and Billy Hart/drums] played some songs from their new album Seraphic Light and some work from the late John Coltrane. As a novice to jazz music, I recommend seeing live performances, especially with more of the experimental genre.

Tickets are $40 for orchestra seats and there is a $10 minimum purchase for drinks/dinner. I was impressed with the food too (had the scallops plate and stuffed pepper with mushroom risotto).

I was fortunate enough to find this indie theater through NYU Ticket Central. I watched Reasons To Be Pretty by Neil LaBute. I've been following his works via film and theater for approximately one decade now (In The Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors, The Shape of Things). Most of his works are a little dark, but his new play that just came out actually has a sliver of a silver lining, which is a "coming of age" tale. Love his note in the program, which he expresses that he wishes he was a "braver person," and continues to sympathize and admire the protagonist, Greg. I was impressed with the cast (i.e. Piper Perabo, Thomas Sadoski, Alison Pill, Pablo Schreiber). Subscription prices are reasonable, click here for more information.

MCC Theater at
The Lucille Lortel Theatre
121 Christopher St
New York, NY 10014

Schedule:

Fifty Words
By Michael Weller
Sept 10-Oct 25, 2008

The Break of Noon
by Neil LaBute
Jan 14-Feb 28, 2009

Coraline
Based on the Novel by Neil Gaiman
May 6-June 20, 2009

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Other recommended theater picks from my friends include: Xanadu (within 2 weeks) and 39 Steps (Alfred Hitchcock).

I visited this exhibition today despite the controversy and ethical concerns of the bodies used. The admissions is quite hefty, but it was worth every penny. The most amazing part of the exhibition is the pulmonary room (i.e. arteries/veins). The technique of stripping and injecting the arteries and veins with silicon and preserving them in place with formaldehyde and water is pretty amazing. I was fascinated with the lungs because although they appear symmetrically similar in tissue, they are not. The right lung has more arteries or red vessels than the left one.

Lots of interesting facts that stuck with me...

-there are 16 muscles in the tongue
-babies have 300 bones while adults have 206
-the heart can squirt blood at least 30 feet
-there are about 60k miles of blood vessels
-the body shrinks because the bones dehydrate over years
-the kidney can filter 2 liters of blood in a minute
-one pack of cigarettes takes approximately 3 hours of your life
-eating breakfast helps memory

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My goal will be to eliminate soda out of my life and drink water. On the topic of health, New York Magazine, has a great segment on breakfast, and the page layout for cereal has a cool design. I checked the rating for a couple of cereals, and they were right on target (i.e. Whole Foods strawberry rice crispies looks tasty, but is awful--in my mind I thought it would taste like strawberry crunchberries from the Captain Crunch series without the corn puffs, but it doesn't). Love the information visualization and cultural study on what people eat for breakfast. One lady ate organic eggs with Budlight beer. Amazing!

So after a 2 years of perusing, I've finally become a Yelper. I used to use Citysearch frequently before, but one time I reviewed a restaurant, and it was rejected (and it was a good review too). I think I was trying to upload photo several times, then finally I just gave up.

In a recent trip to Miami, I was looking for a restaurant that served good ceviche, so I checked on Yelp, and found The River Oyster Bar, which met and exceeded my expectations. Instead of blogging about food, I just review them on Yelp. Also, I've been looking for recommendations on hair stylists and acupuncture, and found some very helpful tips (e.g. they don't charge tax if you pay cash, and so forth).

Just recently, a fellow Yelper invited me to an event to meet other New York Yelpers in Red Hook.

Restaurant week started yesterday in NYC. Some of the hottest restaurants in the city are offering Prix-Fixe meals at affordable prices. Lunch for $25 and Dinner for $35. You can get wine pairings for an additional $20 to $30 a person.

The best place to book reservations is through OpenTable.com. They list all the restaurants participating, and which meals. For instance, Morimoto offers only lunch. This a great way to get motivated to try something new. You will feel less anxious, and you'll be surrounded by other newbies. They give 2-3 options for appetizers, entrees and desserts, and if you're a vegetarian, do not worry (there's usually an option for non-meat-eaters). Of course you can cover more ground if you bring more friends (share samples).

So far, I've been to Thalassa (a Greek restaurant), Morimoto (Japanese Iron Chef), and Delmonico's (Steak place), and I haven't been disappointed yet. Luckily, my Greek friend forewarned me that Thalassa's specialty is pairing wines with the meals (so we don't skimp on wine there). Our server at Morimoto told us that the fish is flown from Japan four times a week, the rice they use is special, and you can tell they don't use the green powder to make the wasabi. Delmonico's is classic, and they have a dress code of "business casual," so if you want to dress up and impress your date, Delmonico's is a great excuse.

Below are some pix from Morimoto's and Thalassa. I totally forgot to take photos at Delmonico's :( And of course the cellphone doesn't do the meals justice:

Morimoto:

tuna, striped bass, salmon, yellowtail, mackerel, shrimp, red clam, eel and spicy tuna rolls (Chef Morimoto's sushi selection)

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Thalassa:

Vine ripened tomato salad with feta cheese

Grape leaves Avgolemono stuffed rice and ground veal

Colorado lamb chops with string beans

Fire roasted Lavraki with spinach risotto

Raspberry yogurt cake with Valrhona chocolate sauce

Traditional walnut cake with fresh orange flavored honey syrup

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At Delmonico's, I tried the tuna carpaccio, filet mignon, and vanilla custard. All were good... sorry no photos.

The Whole Foods on Greenwich just opened, and it's bigger than the Whole Foods on 14th Street. They sell oysters, all types of rare eggs (e.g. ostrich eggs are $39.99), and even salts (e.g. Hiwa Kai - Hawaiian Black Sea Salt and Lavendar Salt). If you can't use it on your food, you can probably use it in your bath.

There is a sushi bar as well.

I took a photo of this aspiring director. Could that be a Super 8 or 16 mm? What was he shooting? Legs? Shoes? Walking? Documentary? Live-Action?

Finally... I get to see Radiohead at All Points West, which is a music festival on the East Coast, comparable to Coachella in California. I had an opportunity to go to a Radiohead concert at the Hollywood Bowl 5 years ago (box/front row), but because I had AT&T (and the service was spotty) that I never received the calls (4x) from my friend (it was a last minute thing). Hence, I don't have an iPhone or use AT&T.

Anyway, this should be good because this May at Coachella, Prince reappropriated Radiohead's song "Creep," and some listeners took video of him, and uploaded it on YouTube. And then Prince told them to take the video down. Then Radiohead got involved, and said it was there song, and to leave it up. Well they're playing tonight and tomorrow night. Also Ben Harper is playing there as well.

In an effort to be more environmentally conscious, I've been a bag lady at work for the past five months, collecting recyclables, and bringing them home to recycle in my building. I'm skeptical that my office recycles paper and plastic bottles because a couple of times, I saw the custodial people dump the plastic bottles and recycled paper into the trash cart. So far, I've collected several plastic and glass bottles, paper bags, magazines, boxes, documents, brochures, and plastic containers.

(This week's trash)

I've been working on a project, and came to a plateau in my design process. I just recently enrolled in a jewelry design class to help me solve some of those problems. Anyway, in the first week, we learned about the properties of gold, and made an ingot. The first day was like a high school chemistry class: measuring metal components on a scale, lighting up a Bunsen-Burner-like-torch, learning what alloys are about. Depending on the properties of metals, some are softer, and some are more brittle, but one thing the professors reiterated was to be mindful of purity (we use a charcoal brick to hold the molten metal while it cools). Some jewelry designs require the brittle properties of copper, while some designs prioritize color, which also affect alloys. Some metal properties facilitate conductivity better than others. It's all terribly fascinating.

Here is the ingot I made.




The flux used is Borax, but it looks like silicone at high temperatures, and glass after it cools.

It's 11:45pm, and I can still hear people protesting on Wall Street. Earlier today, there was a rally of people not supporting this almost $1 trillion bailout. If you want to see photos, check out my Flickr account. James Nicholas Sears took these photographs. Tim McNerney was also present at this demonstration.

Bolt Bus is a new subsidiary of Greyhound bus. For just $20, you can go to Boston, Philly, and DC. It has free wi-fi and power outlets. The power was reliable, and so was the Internet (but I was able to upload about 20 photos onto Flickr—look below for photo), except for a couple of spotty places.

These buses are clean, and the drivers are smooth drivers and courteous. There was a guy running down the block, and our driver, Calvin, stopped for him still, to pick him up. There are a couple of ground rules with noise, but very reasonable. All the buses are new, and after 8 rides (one way trips), you get one for free.

Back half of line:

Front half of line:

There was a long line, but it moved fairly quickly. We met some new acquaintances. Lots of press were down on Wall Street interviewing voters (NY TImes/various foreign television networks).

BTW, if you vote, you can get a free tall coffee at Starbucks!

If you're in DC, check out the Newseum. They have some interesting exhibits going on: FBI and G-Men (from gangsters to terrorists) and Pulitzer Prize Photographs. This is a great place to take kids too (i.e. news-anchor simulation of green screen).

World Trade Center:

Berlin Wall (I heard that they had to alter the profanities on these walls for public display):

This ad is on 49th Street and 7th Avenue. It's one of the series of Dexter ads in the form of popular magazine covers. I thought it was clever. There's also one of him on Rolling Stones and Wired. To see other covers, click here.

Located on 18th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues.

I saw this on my way home. Wired Magazine, and displays and demos tech and sustainable gadgets, and is open temporarily until the end of this year. If you wanted to see Pleo (responsive toy/robotic/dinosaur), you can demo it there. I saw this portable printer by Polaroid, the size of a compact camera, that prints business card-sized photos taken with a cellphone.

Banksy, the artist/graffiti artist just had an exhibition at a pet store in Greenwich Village, which closed on Halloween. I stumbled upon it with Giana and Joo Yon, ITP Alums, who knew about it. We couldn't get in, but at least we were able to see the window displays.

This looks like a leopard resting with its chest heaving and tail moving, but it's actually a fur coat.

A hen with her chicks, except they were chicken nuggets instead.

A mother surveillance camera, with little ones in the nest.

Rabbit wearing cosmetic products that are typically tested with. The twitching rabbit's movement looked pretty smooth. Check out this video of the monkey, it looks so real.

There was a squirmy hot dog in a bun, but I wasn't close enough to take that photo. To see video, check out this site.

This whole dress is made out of matches, and is on exhibition in the Scholastic building in SoHO. What is more remarkable is the designer is only 18-years-old. Her name is Lily Faget. It's really beautiful. Watch out Stella McCartney and Mark Jacobs! Or maybe she'll intern for them.

I <3 FDNY, NYPD, Coast Guards, Paramedics, et. al.

Need I say more? As a NYC-transplant, I love watching everyone pulling together collaboratively to remedy the situation. Photo above was taken by James Nicholas Sears at Battery Park, NYC. And yes, that's the tail.

At first I thought the story about birds sounded ludicrous, but when we went out there, we saw a flock of them flying around the area.

If you want to see more photos, check out my Flickr photos, we took the D700 out for a run with a Nikon 70-300m, 5.6 lens. I'm satisfied the D700 is great with low light. All photos taken by James Nicholas Sears...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thinkinggirl/sets/72157612620227474/

Geotags:

Google Maps
http://tinyurl.com/usaircrashphotolocation

Google Earth
http://jamesnsears.com/temp/photo_location.kmz

On my way to the Mayflower, I just saw Joe Biden on his way to the Inaugural Concert. The block before, I saw Bill Clinton, but didn't have time to pull out my camera... Oh well.

To see a bigger version of these photos, visit my Flickr account.

So my girlfriend, Min Batstone and her husband, Ian, fought their way through the crowds to take these photos. She said she was close to Ann Curry as well, one of my favorite journalists.

All photos were taken by Min Batstone, and can be viewed on Flickr profile. Please contact her if you would like to use them.

He waves to her directly in this photo.

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I <3 Ann Curry. This photo is also taken by Min.

I didn't get to visit this, but plan to on my next trip to DC. This LED installation was designed by Leo Villareal, an ITP Alumni, and is located at the National Gallery of Arts. I'm not sure if it's interactive, but anyway, it's a sight.

Please credit Min Batstone.

A slide from Adam Greenfield's Presentation

Adam Greenfield, who taught at ITP, and wrote the book titled Everyware also spoke at Dot Dot Dot, and now head of design direction at Nokia. He researches many ubiquitous computing systems. I can't cover everything he spoke about, but if you want to see some of his presentation slides, visit my Flickr set. Here are some of the highlights that you can look up or read about in his new book The City Is Here For You To Use:

UNStudio with Arup Engineering: Galleria West, Apgujeongdong in S. Korea

u-Cheonggyecheong: Instead of cleaning the stream, they wrapped it in media.

Tom Armitage, Making Bridges Talk: What if the London Bridge could Twitter?

u-City New Songdo: totally networked, and can track everything down to tagging soda bottles with RFID tags that can automatically credit your account even if you throw it in trash. Every action is recorded and mediated. This project is still a work-in-progress.

Massive simultaneity: The 1K Project

MITsenseable city lab/New York Talk Exchange (NYTE)

Mosaic of Singapore mall: A photo that shows a lady moving through a mall physically, but this mosaic also shows a layer of secondary information--who is on the other end of her mobile phone. We should think about cyberspace (Being on phone is like being in cyberspace) when we think about designing the physical space.

Stamen Design: Oakland Crimespotting
Think about constraints in analysis (e.g. Taxonomy of police department is already a constraint (e.g. categorizing rape).

iPhone/Flickr: Geotagging/Search urbanism, browse urbanism, make urban API. If we check the weather before we go out, we are conditioned to that networked information, hence Adam calls this a "network overlay." Contemplate how this "overlay" reflects every decision we make (i.e. real-time info).

I've also added Adam Greenfield's blog to my RSS Feeds and Google Reader.

I'm in Dublin, Ireland to document some work at the Lightwave Exhibition in the Science Gallery at Trinity College. This exhibition is trying to bridge science and art. Already, there a couple of ITPers showing their works: James N. Sears, Nurit Bar-Shai, and Lori Napolean.

Nick is showing his second design of The Orb, which now plays videos and Processing apps, and still images. Right now, Jonathan Cousin's data visualization is currently on The Orb.

Nurit Bar-Shai collaborated with other artists and MIT to show live video feeds of cellular interactions and the Northern Lights, of course separately.

Lori Napoleon created an interactive sculpture called "Scintillator." The sculpture is composed of tetrahedral shapes, and changes color when you touch it.

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Later, I will try to post photos on Flickr. Feel free to ping me if I forget.

I just went to a laser performance by Dmitry Gelfand and Evelina Domnitch. This was pretty amazing, but unfortunately I couldn't take photos. Here's a link to a video...

They have three colored high-powered lasers in red, green and blue, which is refracted and projected over a circular flat tray with soapy solution. When they manipulate the solution, beautiful textures are projected. There was a grainy texture, so I had to ask how they achieved that. They told me that they just densely packed the bubbles together, playing with the surface tension and properties, such as hydrophilic/hydrophobic surfaces of the bubble. What is seen is a visual and elegant light show, sometimes the light bubble film looked like peacock feathers. If you have an opportunity to see this show live, I highly recommend it.

The artists (from left to right) Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand.

Lêbonê Project: Lighting Africa with Off-Grid Energy
In partnership with Harvard University/Lêbonê Solutions, Professor David Edwards, Huga Van Vuuren, Ralph Borland & Richard Kirk

They can produce electricity from soil, using microbial fuel cell technology. Overnight, they were able to produce at least 5V.

This project would complement the Kennedy Violich Portable Light Project (more info here).

I'm back from Ireland, but wanted to complete blogging about these other projects:

Cell Phone Disco
By Ursula Lavrencic & Auke Touslager, Netherlands

There's a grid of red LED lights. When you use your cellphone, this grid senses the electromagnetic waves of your phone, which randomly blinks.

Laser Theremin
By Bálint Bolygó, UK

The interactive laser projector acts like a musical theremin.

Beacon
By Chris O'Shea & Cinimod Studio

Investigates machine surveillance. As you walk through this maze, beacons light up and follow you.

The Magic Torch
By Alberto Garcia Saenz & Julio Obelleiro, Spain

Use a flashlight to play games projected onto a wall.

Avio!
By Andrew Bucksbarg, USA

Polyphonic "mobispheres" which also light as the user interacts with them.

EOD04: Probing the Intangible Inaudible Invisible
By Frederik De Wilde, Belgium

Using LED lights to tracks the electric waves of a fish.

The Neuron Chamber
By Aan Rorie, Ben Carpenter, Jo Slota & David Shulman

A sculpture that acts like your brain, which shows the process of synapses.

Kosmoscope
By Tim Redfern, Ireland

Giant kaleidoscope projecting tectonic recordings into fractals.

Photo Credit: Extreme Ice Survey

I just watched this documentary on NOVA that was pretty effective in convincing me that our source of water is endanger. This group EIS, Extreme Ice Survey is surveying and documenting how fast ice is melting in Greenland, Alaska, the Alps, etc. which is our source of drinkable water. EIS plants cameras to document the ice and glacial activites. They build these shells for cameras that I think operate using power generated from solar panels to power these cameras for one year. The photography is amazing and beautiful, but the video is scary.

Visit this link, and click on "Videos" to see time-lapsed documentation.

I was lucky enough to see where the Village Independent Democrats work, and I must say it is a pretty cool space... lots of graphic eye candy. My colleague is the Vice President there. They are organizing a fundraiser soon.

I'm sure I've blogged about this before, but this specific doughnut deserves its own blog post. Doughnut Plant sells the most amazing doughnuts... seriously. You can get them at Dean & Deluca, but I say visit the plant itself in Lower East Side. Then you really get to sample all the flavors.

My favorite flavor is coconut. And this coconut doughnut is probably my favorite dessert of all time!!! When I visited Doughnut Plant a couple of weeks ago, they were all out of this flavor, so I had to go back. It is divine (texture, taste/flavor). There's a creamy filling in there that is so smooth, yummy!!! I wish they made this in a birthday cake format.

I'm wondering why when I uploaded this photo on Flickr on a Saturday night, it received 174 hits in 3 minutes. I mean, I saw a line out that restaurant, but it must be good if there was a line and it got 174 online hits within minutes. In fact, someone commented on my Flickr asking if this is the place that serves famous soup dumplings!

Anyway Joe's Shanghai is on Hell Street in NYC. Such a cool address, lol.

I first heard about Cheonggyecheon from Adam Greenfield's presentation at Dot Dot Dot. I didn't know that this project had an environmental impact. This project was called "Daylight" and costed $384 million to recover and filter streams. Since the completion of this project in 2005, "Daylight" has reduced temperature and air pollution.

Small-particle air pollution dropped to 48 micrograms per cubic meter from 74 along the corridor, and summer temperatures are now often five degrees cooler than those of nearby areas, according to data cited by city officials.

To read more about this, visit NYTimes site here.

After seeing my friend and colleague Matt Chmiel at the ITP 30th Anniversary, I couldn't get this song out of my head. Then I found the lyrics on this site Lyrics on Demand. Who knows? I might just by the ringtone there ;)

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Sclemeel (Chmiel), schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated. We're gonna do it!

Give us any chance, we'll take it.
Give us any rule, we'll break it.
We're gonna make our dreams come true.
Doin' it our way.

Nothin's gonna turn us back now,
Straight ahead and on the track now.
We're gonna make our dreams come true,
Doin' it our way.

There is nothing we won't try,
Never heard the word impossible.
This time there's no stopping us.
We're gonna do it.

On your mark, get set, and go now,
Got a dream and we just know now,
We're gonna make our dream come true.
And we'll do it our way, yes our way.
Make all our dreams come true,
And do it our way, yes our way,
Make all our dreams come true
For me and you.

This year because of the economy, I am seeing more people travel within the states. Well here are some steals if you don't have a lot of money to travel abroad for the holiday season. Here are some advantages compared to flight (e.g. you don't get pinged if you want to bring another bag, you don't have to go through all the security hassles, they are pretty lenient in canceling or rebooking rides, there are outlets so if you wanted to work you could, you can bring your own wireless card and use it on the train).

Amtrak offers these deals:

Rail pass

15-day pass (8-legs) for $389
They also offer 30-day and 45-day passes, perfect for students to travel together in the summer.