Nice place and excellent food.

Vamos viendo, el trabajo de Gordon Matta se oriento hacia un quehacer experimental dentro de las artes visuales, trabajo con residuos, performances, instalaciones, fotografías, cortes de edificos, películas de cine, video, dibujos y textos.

Dentro de sus principales obras destacan:

• FOOD (1971):

Restaurant abierto en pleno SoHo, que buscaba integrar a la gente en el arte. En este espacio la comida se preparaba bajo el concepto de performance, cada domingo un artista diseñaba y preparaba la comida.

• Anarquitectura

Grupo interdisciplinario de artistas que buscaba investigar y reflexionar de ideas y espacios que la arquitectura no considera, como por ejemplo los vanos existentes entre dos casas contiguas. "El sentido amplio de las cosas no está siempre donde creemos que está".

• Splitting

División de una vivienda con una brecha de 2 cms. de ancho que atravesaba todas las superficies estructurales para dejar pasar la luz.

• "Cuttings"

Transformaciones de edificios mediante cortes o extracciones de fragmentos, que consiguen mostrar la cara oculta de éstos, crear nuevos espacios y ofrecer diversas lecturas acerca del la arquitectura y el arte. Cabe señalar que ninguno de ellos queda hoy en pie.
Dentro de su obra destaca una importante producción de dibujos, bocetos para proyectos arquitectónicos así como también visionarias propuestas, los dibujos "cortados", en los cuales exploraba el "corte" como técnica de dibujo, o los "Photoglyphs" (secuencias fotográficas de graffitis en los trenes de Nueva York) y una decena de producciones cinematográficas experimentales completa la obra de uno de los artistas conceptuales más importantes de la segunda mitad del siglo XX interesados por revisar la noción de utopía.Realizó collages de fotos y peliculas en el subterráneo de la ciudad, le interesaba investigar zonas que nunca vemos en el cotidiano, para llevar la "Luz a las entrañas de la ciudad".

Sus obras tuvieron la permanencia de lo instantaneo, ya que de ellas solo quedan sus registros fotográficos y videos, pues sus intervenciones siempre fueron hechas en casas y edificios a punto de ser demolidos.

La obra de Gordon Matta fue, segun las palabras del propio Frank Gery una de las bases inspiradoras de su estilo de arquitectura.

"El Arte es una transgresión, es la forma "sensitivamente recional" de buscar nuevas posibilidades de reflexión en torno a la sociedad, la cultura traducido en una forma plástica".

Bibliografia:

• Vivienda y Decoración. El Mercurio. 13 de Julio del 2002. Nº314.
• art-contemporain
• the-artists.org
• moma

Okay, a quick check of Google has told me that someone named Peter Kay plays Geraldine.  I'm glad I got that settled.

Yesterday's Visit to Hastings
Lori, Hannah, and I took the train to Hastings yesterday.  We stopped seven miles north of Hastings at Battle.  Battle is the name of the village that takes its name from the Battle of Hastings that occurred there in 1066.  On October 14, 1066, William of Normandy defeated King Harold Godwinson and the English army in the last successful invasion of these isles.  It was quite by accident that we just happened to go down there on the Saturday of the anniversary of the invasion, but it was fortuitous as we got to see a reenactment of the battle.

Interestingly, William the Conqueror (as he was known after his success at Hastings) ordered the building of an abbey to honor the dead of the battle.  Remains of it are still there.  It is said that he ordered the high altar of the church to be build on the very spot where the unfortunate King Harold took an arrow right in the eye and into the brain.   Because there was no government sponsored healthcare in the United Kingdom at the time, he died.  And, since we know where the high altar once stood, we know where Harold fell and there is a marker there.  I thought about lying on the spot and having Hannah snap my photograph while I held a toy arrow over one eye, but decided the English might not like it.

As it turns out, the English still boo William and the Normans during the reenactment.  They have not quite gotten over all of that in spite of the fact that the Normans largely made Great Britain what it is.  I sort of have a soft spot for William since I too am a Norman.  My paternal grandmother's surname was Norman, so I figure William and I must be related some way.  The name Norman comes from north man or norseman.  Those Vikings that came to that part of France created what became Normandy.

Sunday Morning
We went to church at Wembley Park today.  The building was absolutely packed.  Every seat was taken -- it was great.  After worship, Lori and I went to eat lunch with Mike and Debbie Kirksey.  Mike is a graduate of Harding who works for Endeavour Corporation.  He splits his time between Houston and London.  Last Thursday, he spoke to our global business class about what it takes to successfully integrate into a different culture when one's job takes one there.

Sunday Afternoon -- The Ghost Map
Today's weather was incredible.  It was sunny and 72 degrees in London today.  I had planned to come back to the flat, grade papers and prepare for class.  However, after walking to lunch and then walking back to the train station after lunch, I knew grading papers and class prep would have to wait until later in the evening.  I just hated to waste that much good weather in England in the fall.

So, I did something that most folks would find a bit strange.

A couple of years ago, I read a book called The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson.  It is a book that chronicles a cholera outbreak that devastated a part of London in 1854.  The Ghost Map refers to a map that was made by Dr. John Snow who was trying desperately to determine what exactly was causing the plague.  A copy of his map is included in the book and at the book's website.  What Snow finally determined was that the public water pumps scattered every few blocks were causing the outbreak.

Well as it turns out, this area discussed in the book is within a very short walking distance of where I am now living.  Given that the building I live in is a late 17th century building, there may very well have been people living in this very building who were impacted by the cholera outbreak.

The map prepared by Snow gives the locations of these water pumps that were the cause of so much misery.  When reading the book, I thought how I would like to go explore these places should I ever get the chance and today I got the chance.  I took off down Oxford Street and turned south onto Berwick Street and soon came to Broadwick Street (which in 1854 was called Broad Street).  Near the intersection of Broadwick Street and Lexington Street stood the Broad Street pump about one hundred and fifty years ago.  People from all over the neighborhood would come there to get their drinking water, never knowing they were taking millions and millions of cholera bacteria home with them every time they left the pump.

There were several other pumps scattered around as well and I enjoyed taking my 1850s map and tracking them down using current and former street names.  To the northwest of the Broad Street pump was another one.  I walked over to pinpoint the location of that pump as well.  I could not help but chuckle when I saw the name of the establishment that marked the spot of one of the pumps.  Bloww (even if it is with two w's) is somehow appropriate as a modern day monument to a 19th century cholera infecting water pump.

However, the biggest treat was something about which I had almost forgotten.  As I mentioned before, John Snow was the doctor who made the ghost map in an attempt to track down the cause of the outbreak.  When I discovered the site of the Broad Street pump (which, at least according to my memory, was the most notorious of the pumps), I found there now stands a pub.  No doubt most of the patrons of that pub walk in there every day and never know that their watering hole is named for a man who had his ideas of contagion dismissed, but who was convinced, in spite of the ridicule of his contemporaries, he knew the source of the disease.  For it was this Dr. Snow who showed that cholera was caused by germs and not "foul air" as the leading scientists of the day believed.  It was also this Dr. Snow whose study convinced London authorities to quit pumping water from the sewage-polluted sections of the Thames into peoples' homes.  You can also thank him when you do not have to simply grit your teeth during any surgical procedures because he was one of the first to actively explore the use of anesthesia.  And, since he personally used chloroform on Queen Victoria when she gave birth to the last of her nine children, women can thank him for the latter development of the well-loved "saddle-block" as his doping of Queen Victoria led to the acceptance of anesthesia during childbirth.  For all of these things, take a little side detour off of touristy Oxford Street and head south toward Broadwick Street.  For it is there, on the very site of that Broad Street pump, where you will find a fine pub appropriately called the John Snow.

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E invece è "Sonica" ad aprire il sabba, pezzi di un noise che ora si è trasformato, ha cambiato identità. Marlene dopo Uno e Paolo Conte, si è levigata, è diventata più tonda e morbida. Ma sa ancora graffiare, e sorprendere, con la tagliente cover di di "Come Together".

Marlene ci porta per mano nel suo universo di poesia elettrica, di sesso oscuro e lacrime. Poi si ferma e ci sussurra nell'orecchio "La canzone che scrivo per te": Skin non c'è ma il pubblico del Soho non la fa rimpiangere. Palpiti intensi, parte "Musa". "La lira di Narciso", "111", e poi "Nuotando nell'aria", solo per immaginarti, per immaginare la nostra signora Marlene che, odora di sangue e incenso.

"Here comes the sun", "Lieve", come uno schiaffo della propria amata.

Ronzio, distorsione, saluti, mani, spinte, sudore, ronzio, distorsione, applausi, sudore, ronzio, distorsione, rullata, saluti, ronzio, luci. Off.

Il concerto dei Marlene Kuntz di venerdì 10 ottobre, ha inaugurato la stagione musicale al Soho di Salerno, organizzata dalla Satori Comunicazioni. Prossimo appuntamento: venerdì 24 ottobre con gli ebolitani A Toys Orchestra. Per la lista completa visita la sezione concerti di Campania Rock.

Luigi Ferraro

il myspace di Satori Comunicazioni

clicca su ogni foto per visualizzare

Let me just start by saying that it's really effing difficult.  It's like that first year of college, for people who didn't immediately join 8 campus clubs.  You just kind of look around, knowing you should be having a blast, but feeling like your options are a.) walking around alone or b.) renting season 5 of 24 ... again.  

And I'm not just talking about meeting people in a romantic sense, though that'd be nice too.  I mean, I hate to say it, but my stint at the Scary Pub was really the best social facilitator I've had so far.  I got a date out of that, a few nights in other pubs with people, and even that house party. But, alas, that job was just not worth the social perks.  

So, here's the deal.  I'm not content experiencing London sans new friends.  I'm a very social person and I like to meet new people and have little adventures, since adventurous things tend to happen to me once I've put myself into the ballgame.  And yeah ... a hookup or two wouldn't be bad either.

So today, being on a budget and all, I discovered London is Free, a website dedicated to things I can do without dishing out a ton of dough, because let's face it, this city is seriously expensive.  I've drifted automatically to the film events, specifically the short film showcase that's listed, but there are some other things I want to check out too.  Specifically, that book club in SoHo with the Vaudeville theme ... that sounds fantastically insane.  I'm hoping straights are welcome, regardless of the clear theming.  

So, soon, I'll be able to review a few free events here on the Meet-People-Meter, which I will soon devise.  If the package my mom supposedly mailed me over a week ago would arrive, I could even take some pictures, since it includes my recently-repaired digital picturebox.  

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My friend Dawn is a woman of extravagant gestures. She makes a decent living as a graphic designer and has made some good real estate investments, but she's not rolling in it, per se. Yet she never buys cheap. Once or twice a year, she will set out to do her clothes shopping, and it's never an inexpensive expedition. I have to admire her for this, because we probably spend the same amount of money on shopping each year, but my closet is crammed with all sorts of impulsive purchases. Hers is filled only with items she adores passionately, and there's a high tariff for the right to hang in her closet. Let's just say she knows true love when she sees it. Meanwhile, I'm thinking every toad could be a prince.

Dawn does her research thoroughly and she often knows exactly what it is that she's looking for long before she ever sets foot in a store. Well, she had set her sites on the shoe shown above and nothing was going to stop her.

If you are ever going to stride into Prada's flagship Soho store, you want to do it with Dawn. She has the diva presence down pat, being 100% Trinidian princess, and in no time she had three store employees entranced and running through the boutique trying to find those shoes. She had the ad---the problem was they didn't have the shoe yet. They tried to persuade her that there were other shoes that were just as good, but no other shoe would do. I picked up a floor model, turned it over, and gasped: $1000. Although I've certainly run up that sort of receipt, I could not even begin to imagine spending it on one pair of shoes.

As it turned out they had one pair, a sample that was on the floor mannaquin. Well, it may not happen at H&M, but you can bet your bootie that when you are plopping down a grand, those shoes were off the mannequin in no time flat. Problem: They were samples, not made to be worn, and the heel architecture was wobbly. Dawn was distraught in a very funny and charming way---she's the sort of person who can say the most outrageous things and get away with it.

Suddenly, the manager appeared with a pair in the most gorgeous sky blue. "And when exactly were you planning to bring those out?" Dawn demanded. He sheepishly said that they were sitting on a high shelf, as a display. To all of our relief, they were perfect. Sale made. Now, I know why I never got a sales person to so much as raise an eyebrow at me in Prada. I could never stomach paying the price of admission, but for Dawn the joy that these shoes would give her was priceless (she was already imagining the openings and galas that they would attend together)

And I can tell you that if you want every clerk in every pricey boutique in Soho grovelling at your feet, just try walking around with a super-sized Prada shopping bag. For me, THAT was priceless.

I'm finding that all reviews are dualistic. Not the swordfighting kind (although that does relate here) but you are always reviewing both the place, and the event that you experience within it.
I saw Spamalot at the Palace theatre on Tuesday and I was deeply impressed with the play and had very positive feelings about the venue.
I always buy the cheapest tickets for plays - have probably never spent more than 20 pounds and that was for Chicago and it was crap. Simple maths. A 70 pound ticket is not seven times better than a ten pound ticket, maybe twice as good, but that just strikes me as a bad deal.
Admitadly I have strained my ears and neck throughout performances so it was with some approbation that I booked £12.50 tickets and invited friends to an evening at the theatre.
Exiting slightly sake sauced from a roast duck mortury, we swaggered into the ticket both and received the enormous news that our seats had been upgraded from the outer cosmos to the middle of the dress circle. I had organised these tickets as a repayment of kindness to a few friends and my apparant generosity was now happily positioning me in credit.
Staff were friendly, the venue seemed clean, the wine was priced as though we were Saudi Princes and the seats were perfect.
I'm one of those people, and gosh there are a lot of us, who can near as recite the enitrety of Monty Python's "The Holy Grail". Was a little unsure how to prepare myself for this then except that I knew it was lovingly crafted by Eric Idle and had recieved broadly brilliant reviews.
And it was great. Really great. I was saying at the time that it was the best play I'd seen, but on colder reflection, it was at least very very good, if not this.
The worst bits, though they were good, were the dialogue from the fim. The best bits were the surprises, the hilarious songs, the great spectical, the pace of the thing and the ironic king arthur played by that indian guy from the Kumars.
I'm just spending my time now scanning the cheap theatre ticket web sites; trying to find the cheapest tickets on the worst nights to the best shows, and angling for upgrades.
Check out my review of Palace Theatre - I am gotiges7 - on Qype

A word to the wise, however: those chilis are deceptively dangerous, especially their seeds. Laurie ended up alternating her slurps of her pho with ice cubes to soothe her burning lip when she accidentally consumed few too many peppers. Vegetable spring rolls offer cooler, crunchier relief between the spicier soup moments, as did the homemade lemon soda with mint. As mouth-watering as this all sounds, it’s only a tease. I’m hoping this post is just a stand-in for a series of more authentic celebrations of Vietnamese cuisine written from the motherland itself. Vietnam is also on my top-five travel destinations spots, so stay tuned for further drooling on that front.

British Street Artist Banksy has envaded the wall of Wooster and Grand in NYC with a huge drawing rat. Usually pieces like these would happen over night and out of sight but the wall was rented and painted by sign painters. I've seen these a couple of time and never knew what the hell it was about but it looked cool because its so obvious when you get down there. Here's another painting that's on Broadway near Canal.

UPDATE: Banksy has opened a pet store...

[VIA]

[gallery]

Rod Stewart loves The Hamptons...

I'm loved like Bob Ross, but hated like Jeff Koons...

Right after I took the above photo in Soho yesterday morning I noticed some firemen...

I thought that they might be stopping to get breakfast. Then I realized that the building I was standing in front of was on fire...

I just regretfully inform you that your world makes me sick!

Pierce Chicken, emphasizing their high quality chicken,
no trans fat and a various of batter for their fried chicken!  

We tried:

Honey Dipt 4 Piece Friend Chicken
-----Highly recommended!! ----- 
Yummy and Juicy! The chicken itself taste really nice! Juicy but not oily. 
It is the kind of aroma that you would want to let it keep with you 
for another hour :P

It comes with 4 piece and even the chicken breast are
really really juicy and tender!

Wing-Zings
Very nice too, but I think its abit over priced and
if you give me some good quality chicken, I could do the same job too... 

Maple Chippotle Glazed WingSations
Pauline and I liked it more than the Wing-Zings, its baked with Maple
and its was sweet and exotic! 

Chicken Ring Things
I think this is just so so, I would rather have fries or onion rings... 

Sprite Zero and Steaz's Green Tea Soda
The Grape Green Tea Soda was yummy! It was a great compliment 
with the Chicken and it sure feels good drinking it :D

---------------------------------------------------

Only Problem with the shop:
the oil/smoky smell in the shop are really strong,
our clothing got that smoky smell after a long day!! 

----------------SNAPS---------------

 
(LEFT) Copy cat with the same color clothing tone (AGAIN!!!) WHO COPY WHO? 
(RIGHT) The shops outside Pierce Chicken... 

_____________________________________________________

Address:
 34B Staunton Street, Central, Hong Kong
中環士丹頓街34B地下B店  

Official Web Site:
http://www.poultry.com/pierce_chicken.asp

Openrice.com:
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=19185 
_______________________________________________________ 

After a few set backs, the final location for America's first TopShop has been chosen. UK's beloved cheap and chic store will making its stateside debut on Thursday, November 1st on 478 Broadway Street in the center of SoHo. TopShop will taking the place of edgy skate shop Yellow Rat Bastard and by so doing bringing the wonders of UK's cult favorite to the U.S. The store opening will bring the coveted lines of Kate Moss and TopShop's Unique to the adoring masses in NYC. No longer will we be plagued by shipping and handling fees, and by we I don't mean us over here on the West Coast. At least the fee won't be the usual $20 that London shops entail! Hurray for the silver lining!

Rice to Riches
37 Spring Street (Mott/Mulberry), NYC

The decor has a definite metallic space-age feel. As you enter you see the sprawling counter of 20 or so pudding varieties. This could be a glimpse of a distant future where all foods come in sweet pudding form. Most of the fun is deciding what flavors and size vat of pudding to consume. Category 5 Caramel? Stubborn Banana? Don Cappaccino? Sex Drugs and Rocky Road? It's difficult. The pudding is delicious, although not cheap. I think most of the inflated prices are due to the non-recyclable thick plastic containers and dishes. It is unconscionable that they use such wasteful packaging. I took mine home and use it as a sugar bowl, but most people won't. I do love the thick gooey pudding. I believe it is a perfect anytime food and gets a Golden Bonzone from me. You have to love NYC, a place where a rice pudding only eatery can be a gold mine.

Julian Lesser wants to be interesting and compelling. Revealing but not too revealing. He wants for his work to be worth something. But not just in a ledger. This Astoria-based artist has a gift. He's modest but not shy when it comes to his art. His acclaimed collection, "Future Gardens and Other Destinations" recently opened in Upstate New York. Some of the same work will be descending on SoHo in

December. He's no stranger to experimentation. He likes a good challenge. He thinks of New York as home. But to Lesser, life is fragmented. To Lesser, we are all ripped apart inside by ideas and emotions. And when the Molecule recently asked the young painter to bring us in a little bit closer to his art, we found a bit more in the process.

UM: What was a typical "day in the life" at the Lesser homestead growing up?

JL: Good question. It changed from day to day. Things would be normal for some time and then they’d completely get out of hand. When it was normal it was nice. Our family was very safe, very loving. We enjoyed cooking together, traveling and learning together. My mom is an artist as well. When I was a boy I would spend time drawing and painting in her studio. She always encouraged my creativity. Like I said, the good times were good. And then there were the bad times. Difficult. Stressful. There were times when we were in financial crisis and had to move from where we lived. Times my parents weren’t happily married and my brother and I were forced to weather the storms from the sidelines.

UM: How has living in New York affected your art?

JL: Living in NYC has made me realize that I was meant to make art. I grew up in Westchester and went to school in the Hudson Valley, which has a very vibrant artistic community. I was able to focus on my art in the mountains of New Paltz. Then I moved to NYC after graduating from college. I engaged my art in the city while finding a way to survive. I often wished I could quit everything and just paint, but quickly realized the city wasn’t supportive of my kind.

In a sense I’ve always lived in NYC. We would often come to see family or do other things, so I felt like a New Yorker early on. The city inspires me. Not only my art, but my drive. Every day is inspiring and challenging. Every day is a day to create something new, to strive to be bigger, better, stronger. New York City makes you want to succeed. You can’t be passive in any way. It’s fast and rough, and makes you explore your motives and inspirations and goals, your soul.

UM: More and more creative types are relocating to Astoria. How is it living in Queens as an artist?

JL: There is so much energy, very much like the energy you find in the city. And it’s very close – a quick train ride – so I don’t feel like I’m missing parts of the art community. But being here gives me peace and quiet too. There’s also a sense of community you might not find in Manhattan. It allows me the space I need without worrying about whether or not I can afford to eat. It’s ideal here. I get the space I need to create my work and I’m slightly removed from the social distractions of the city, so I’m not always tempted by sex or partying. Well, I still do get distracted sometimes. I’m not a prude. Besides, some of those city activities are part of my inspiration.

UM: What comes to mind when I say the word "bodies"?

JL: Bodies of water. Bodies of land. Collections. Mass groupings of a particular thing. The human body, which in itself is a massive collection of cells and neurons. Bodies are collections, groupings, families. Bodies…it’s really a huge word that can relate to so many things. It relates to my work, I think. It’s an overview of a larger picture, an umbrella with thousands of layers below it. My work is a final image with thousands of layers, ideas and emotions below it, peeking through and lying underneath. A body of work, bodies of work…it’s a very artful term.

UM: Your work has taken several turns with respect to media. Ink, acrylic, mixed. Is there a clear progression? Introduce us to your personal artistic evolution.

JL: [sighs] I’m an experimenter. I love to try new things. I feel like I’m at a place where it’s working, like I don’t have to experiment with materials as much, but now I can focus more on content. My multimedia work comes from the need to create a history and substance. The textures. The layers. I have a process where I create layers and history first, then work with my content. Painting without exploring is of no interest to me. My paintings are journeys, small adventures. Still life is of no interest to me. I’m more interested in creating a history or finding a problem, then figuring out how to visually resolve them in a painting.

UM: You recently had a successful opening in upstate New York.

JL: The opening was great! The show had 51 pieces in it, my largest show ever. I created the body of work over the course of 3 to 4 months. Friends, family, art buyers and others came. I sold 12 pieces opening night. I hope the show continues to sell. It’s showing through November 2nd. I dedicated the show to my nephew, Nathaniel Lesser, who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) at 4 months back in early July. Whenever I got tired I remembered what, who I was working for. He was my motivation.

UM: You have a show coming up in SOHO.

JL: The show is at Bobby Berk Gallery. Bobby and I have been acquaintances for many years. We know a lot of the same people and share many friends. He has always had an interest in my art but didn’t have a space until early this year. It wasn’t until recently that he decided that my work would suit his space. He invited me to show a past collection of my work – it’s actually there now. He loved my new work and thought it would look great in the space. Of course I agreed.

We’ve grown our friendship and developed a business partnership, promoting his space and showing my work. The opening is December 11. The show is called “Escaping Manhattan: Future Gardens and Other Destinations Continued.” It will be some of the work from my most recent exhibition, “Future Gardens and Other Destinations,” as well as additional work I will complete over the next few months. I’m very excited about it.

UM: You were recently almost set on fire.

JL: Yes I was. Two cars in front of my apartment were parked next to a heaping pile of garbage on the curb. The blaze was bright and crackling and woke me up. I’m lucky one of those cars didn’t explode. I sleep naked so I would have really been fucked if fire had come through the window, or if I had to leave my apartment in a hurry. Since then I’ve been sleeping in shorts.

UM: In “Future Gardens” you fuse city structures with organic images.

JL: The collection is about traveling to cities, gardens and other landscapes. It’s about escaping New York and finding more. Of course I can’t leave right now…there’s too much going on. So, I decided to take a trip in my mind, to create my own adventures. While doing that I’ve found time to relax and reflect in my studio, or on the subway, or in Central Park. I made these paintings all over the city.

UM: Many of your human figures appear fractured. How did this style originate?

JL: As most of my work originates, without initial intention. This started with sketches and spills that were uncontrollable. But it felt right. Soon I realized it was a way to show self-reflection. To show all the sides of the people I was portraying. We are all fragmented, scattered, ripped apart inside by what we want versus what we need; what is right and what is wrong; how we feel versus what we think.  The fragmented figures represent the daily internal and external struggles each and every one of us goes through as humans.

UM: What's next?

JL: What's next? Ha! Make more art. Keep exploring this crazy, overwhelming inspiring world we live in. There is no next except this! This is what I must do: self-explore. Try to figure out the way we all fit together. Do I make a difference? Do any of us make a difference? What’s the point of being here if you aren’t going to contribute in the best, most eager way you know how? We all must do our part to contribute whatever it is we have to offer the world, to make a difference. To inspire each other. To make this existence worth a damn.

Johns Creek, GA

The Review:
Unfortunately, the runny and excessively colloidal substance that the unaffected 19 year-old ladled out of a huge copper vat didn't meet my expectations for a place with it's 'bread & butter' ('hummus & pita?') in the name.

You're better off picking up a tub of hummus from the grocery store and pairing it with fresh veggies yourself.

2 locations: Holborn & Soho

http://www.hbros.co.uk/

If you are looking for something to do tomorrow, and want to give some of that green in your pocket to your favorite clothing designer, why not take a trip with residence life to the famed SoHo district of Manhattan. As one of the most architecturally rich and classic parts in the United States, you will be given a tour of the area and see past all the designer stores and shops (my favorite is my company's store, Adidas). The trip begins at 12:00 PM and will be an all day event. For more information, follow this link.

-Matt Goulet

Well, to be honest, there are the only a few things I might be doing anyway (and don't be fooled, I won't be doing ALL of these):

Saturday morning: Try Crossfit Women's Workout

Crossfit is all the rage these days, and no one can really explain to me what it is. I think it's glorified personal training, but whatev--I'll try it! I mean, I ran 11.5 miles at 7:30 am last Saturday, surely I can get up for a 9 am class, right?

The class is limited to 30 women, so RSVP to Nicole Holstrom at nicoleholstrom@crossfitcentral.com
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Saturday noon: Play flag football!

This is just me, you guys can't do it unless you sign up with Austin SSC to play. But send Hey! That's Not My Flag! good thoughts.

Saturday afternoon: Stop by a beer festival?

Independence Brewery Anniversary Party

Free beer! Party! 5-9pm

Flying Saucer Fall Beer Festival

Hit the Triangle up from noon-10pm for massive amounts of beer--five tents, a 10-punch "tasting" card for $15 (um, is that $1.50 a beer? Sweeeet! but if it's $1.50 a shot glass of beer ... not so sweet)

North by Northwest Oktoberfest

Far as I can tell, it goes all weekend: all day, both days. Just like the real Oktoberfest, only not as many days of drunken debauchery. Oh, and it's kid-friendly?

Saturday evening: Watch the UT game

Austin Sports & Social Club is having a viewing party at Soho with free food and cheap Bud Light (always Bud Light, ugh ... they're sponsored by them).

Saturday night: uh ...

I don't want to talk about it. I'll probably be at Lanai. Maybe against my wishes, except that I love Lanai.

Most of MBW's wheat pastes have been torn down since I have taken this photo.
The ones he put on store front doors and cement traffic barriers were obviously pressure washed by the city. I have a feeling others however are now currently adorning the apartment walls of New Yorkers with good taste in art.

There is a bodega in my neighborhood of Flatbush that always has corporate sponsored murals on the side of it. I always have a certain inner dialogue and dilemma about posting the work. The concepts behind what justify art always come to the rescue though. Is it quality? Is it relevant? Is it effective? If the answer is yes then the work gets posted.