I just found this on LJ. Thanks Google. Yes, this was me in 1989 and it was my dad's typewriter...

помню брату в школе одноклассник переписал году в 89-м "Седьмого сына". на другой стороне - как щас помню - был альбом Scorpions 88-года "Savage Amusement". чувак был большим энтузиастом - в кассету он вложил распечтаный на матричном принтере (видимо, Дубровкин был мажором - в те годы, да принтер!) а может и на печатной машинке вкладыш - названия песен альбомов. причем, все он перевел на русский язык. так что изначально первые услышанные песни Мэйден я знал как "Седьмой сын седьмого сына", "Зло, которое делает человек", "Лунный ребенок", "Предсказание" и т.д... -) Со скорпионсом та же фигня - "Любовь на бегу", "Не останавливайся на вершине", "Прогулки по острию ножа".....

Да - учились то мы в английской спецшколе, так что такой энтузиазм был понятен :)

New York theatre was, is and will be amazing.

I went to a one-time-only reading of Fat Pig by Neil Labute, read by the original MCC cast, at Lucille Lortel Theatre last week. It's the same play, but with less acting and no decor. It gave a tremedous power to the words, stronger than the best acting. In particular, the scene in which Jeannie slaps Tom didn't need any actual handwaving. Neil couldn't attend, but wrote a touching letter that was read to the audience to a round of enthusiastic applause.

The other play was Les Liasons Dangereuses at American Airlines Theater. Of course everybody knows the story, and Laura Linney gave it all the due respect. It was the real Broadway that makes you feel like you're living each act.

You might recall my earlier window washer post. Two people were "washing windows" of the New York Times building yesterday. The first was Alan Robert, a French dude, who had a sign in the lines of global warming kills more people than 9/11. That was just retarded. The second one was another nut, Renaldo Clarke who had to go through a psychiatric evaluation after his arrest. [NY Times]

The New York Times building is a block down and across the street from my office. These photos were taken by a colleague from our 12th floor. I couldn't get myself to watch more than five minutes of the second climber, I really didn't want to see him fall - something that would haunt my dreams for years.

Yes, this is the line to see Sex and the City last week. It wasn't the day of the opening and wasn't my idea to go see it and definitely not my idea of having to come early to stand in line to get good seats, but I did actually like the movie. It was really scary in the beginning, but turned out to have a real plot with cute moments and had a subplot of New York life that is somewhat realistic. The theatre was easily 90% screaming women too.

I also have to give credit to Sarah Jessica Parker for showing her sad (or real?) face, no make-up, or makeup with extra shadows (?), on a giant screen. That image will haunt many men who ever thought she was pretty.

I was recently interviewed on net:runawaydinosaur about FoodCandy and my wild music tastes. It's indeed a music blog but it is pretty diverse and touches related topics, including other forms of art and food.

DINOSAURS ONCE RULED THE MUSIC INDUSTRY..... NOW IT'S ANYONE'S GAME

» Read the Interview

Hercules and Love Affair @ Studio B

The singer was pretty good, but wasn't Antony from Antony and the Johnsons - I am listening to the Blind track on their myspace page and it's a whole different world. The Studio B sound was way out of balance with her voice and sounded out of a can.

Top-to-bottom Manhattan-to-Brooklyn:

• Dovetail: it's far, far up there in the wilderness of the upper west side - not impressed at par with the amazing reviews in printed publications
• Candle 79: pretty good for a vegetarian place
• Demarchelier: went there after the amazing Cai Guo-Quiang "I Want to Believe" show at Guggenheim; the restaurant is just around the corner, convenient and tasty
• Churrascaria Plataforma : meat overdoze
• Nick & Steph's: meat overdoze; am I repeating myself?
• Nick's Place: it's a perfect place to casually walk in for a quick lunch or breakfast
• Go Go Curry: you need lots of sauce to make the chicken taste like anything, but hey, it's five bucks (avoid 38 next door despite the line and the tasty looking dead ducks in the window)
• Antique Cafe: cute lunch stop arond FIT
• Merkato 55: i really liked the food actually, but we felt a bit like second-class citizens being given a six-people table for ten while a lot (too much) of the restaurant's attention was thrown at Dana Cowin (Food & Wine) who was having a little foodie gathering there - she wrote a positive editorial in the June 08' issue, so I guess the schmoozing worked for Merkato - because it's actually tasty I hope it doesn't suffer the same fate as Sascha and the other twenty restaurants in that same location
• Five Points: the one must-eat place out of my entire list of this ketchup; it's just perfect - and no, it doesn't need any more positive reviews, the place is full every day illustrating what New York food should really be like
• Chikie Pigs: mmm, pizza - the place is very tasty, but sweats a rather disasterous internal organization; no wonder the kitchen burned
• Slurp: I hope people realize how terrible Kampuchea is and migrate a block up - not everything tastes right just yet since the place opened two weeks ago, but it's very promising
• Ilili: pretty good in a really strange Flatiron location
• Joe the Art of Coffee @ Alessi: that and Aroma Espresso Bar are so soho
• Woo Lae Oak: it's a cruise ship that sailed from Korea town to the fancy waters of tourist Manattan; the food is fine
• Elementi: very tasty and not very expensive pasta; great Park Slope choice for a nice yet casual dinner
• Ocean View Cafe: it's really good Russian food, if you have been to Cafe Glechik you can now go to the more casual one and eat lots of pickled watermelon

I got into a habit of making myself a three or four egg omelet with a bunch of leftovers when I am hungry and home alone. The eggs are organic. There's often a piece of cheese, half a tomato and in one of these, home-made beef brisket. Always season well, salt and pepper and some french herbs.

The Food, Sex and Art talk at the Guggenheim paired some interesting characters: an inspiring Cai Guo-Quiang, a modestly tasty David Bouley (see Dinner with David Bouley) and a flirting Ruth Westheimer (aka Dr. Ruth). The talk was moderated by a NY Times contributing author Arhtur Lubow. They spent two hours talking about food, sex and art as a harmoneous experience, explicitly denying anything violent and completely overlooking 21st century edgy and sharp objects. While many banalities had been said, I found Cai particularly interesting and insightful. He told a very conservative story of sex, but his passion for the art was really what I needed to hear.

When I first heard about Nudo I thought it was a scam. It's not. Read my interview with Jason Gibb on FoodCandy.

Williamsburg gallery hop, celebrating the Armory show was a total bust last night. The level of art took a free fall, a tumble. It hit itself hard with child-like мазня splattered all over white walls. There were a few cute ideas, but they were mostly interesting in contrast.

I went to the opening party of Moscow - New York = Parallel Play and Thaw: Russian Art from Glasnost to the Present at Chelsea Art Museum a couple of weeks ago. The show is definitely worth a visit, on through May 17th.

The first was particularly interesting with many pieces of The Kolodzei Collection. The Kolodzei Collection, founded by Tatiana Kolodzei in Moscow during the height of the Cold War and continued today with her daughter, Natalia, is one of world’s largest private collections of Russian and Eastern European Art, with over 7,000 pieces by more than 300 artists from Russia and the former Soviet Union, chronicling four decades of nonconformist art from the post-Stalinist era to the present.

There was a lot of Russian Standard had at the event by a lot of Russians. I also picked up a copy of Russia! Magazine, who's editor is Michael Idov from Spielerfrau. See Yamabushi. There're two male astronauts making out on the cover, it's much about controversial art. I'm going to subscribe.

The museum is also home of the Jean Miotte foundation. I am a huge fan.

Forgot to mention a really cute Krappy Kamera Show at the Soho Gallery. I finally got a signed copy of my friend's Michelle Bates "Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity". The monkey was priceless and deserves its first place in the show.