WanderLust

Homemade Pinhole

2011-09-24T23:59:00.002-04:00

My home through the eyes of a pinhole camera made of tinfoil... just add digital for instant gratification

King of the Hollow

2011-09-17T18:12:00.003-04:00

Thanks for the fun times and warm memories this summer. No matter how much she loves NYC, an aussie will always be grateful for respite from the concrete jungle and a chance to play in the creek.

Tidbits

2011-09-14T11:20:00.000-04:00

its a weird feeling when tidbits of your otherwise private life are floating around on the web ... anyone who wants to be noticed should just remember that its usually the stuff you dont want to show that people want to see. the rest is just noise and an uninteresting proverbial sign that says 'look at me' in caps

http://antonski.tumblr.com/post/10200603643

A Special Place in Colombia

2011-07-22T15:45:00.009-04:00

Earlier this year I went to Colombia. After some months of research prior, I made contact with some amazing people who spend each day living with and combating, in their own ways, the atrocities that afflict Colombians due to the ongoing civil and drug related conflict. I had the privilege of meeting B.H who has spent the last 10 years in Colombia documenting human rights abuses for organizations like the United Nations HCR and other publications including the NY Times and Vanity Fair. The day I met him he was excited about flying out to Buenaventura, widely regarded as one of the most violent cities in Colombia, to direct a music video about displacement. In a lot of ways, he was very much like a NY music video director/ photographer, but with a completely different agenda. I remember was the way he almost off handedly voiced concern about a death threat he had received at his home the week before....probably from the paramilitaries, he thought. He was a real inspiration to talk to, and despite his apparent need for a life absent of routine, and full of danger and purpose, he was unassuming, calm and matter of fact as we talked about the visit I had planned for later that week to El Pozon, a shanty town outside of Cartagena.

I spent most of a long, hot day at El Pozon with members of La Liga de la Mujeres, and have never met a group of more strong and resilient women. La Liga de la Mujeres is a grassroots organization of displaced women who, with limited resources, try to assist each other and the many new victims of Colombia's violent paramilitary and guerilla groups. With the help of Marlenis and Doris from La Liga de la Mujeres, and my fantastic (19 yr old) translator Leonardo, I interviewed 18 women who had come to the slums after being displaced by violence in their home towns. What has happened to these women is unfathomable to me, even as they described the events that unfolded the day they were told to leave their homes. I can't imagine going through what they had experienced and if I could, I don't think I could have continued to listen to all 18 stories. After the interviews I spent the afternoon with them at their homes, meeting their families and documenting them and aspects of their day to day lives.

Sadly today I received news of the assassination of one of the women who was part of La Liga de la Mujeres. Coincidentally, it was after I finished working on the last of these photos, which I had not had time to work on for months. Here are some portraits I took from that day. (Click on them for a larger view)

Lately in NYC

2011-04-09T13:42:00.004-04:00

...black & white film has reinspired me a little
But sometimes you just need to get out of New York to appreciate it... hinthint

glasses shopping at Brooklyn Flea

spot the naked chick

post blizzard #2

hanging out at creatures of comfort

snow lines on trees

sleeping vegetable patches

bye bye minka

straight from saudi to the strippers pole

ting 2 eating her way around nyc

ernie and burt

Lunar Tunes - Limited Time Only...

2010-12-23T17:08:00.000-05:00

...Until I can get my facebook to work and tag all y'all biatches

The Nutcracker Pas De Deux

2010-12-16T14:27:00.003-05:00

You can’t feel like a Christmas scrooge after going to see The Nutcracker ballet at the Lincoln Center in New York (preferably when its snowing!). The first time I saw it I was hanging out for the well known classics like the Nutcracker March, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy etc. Last night, I was waiting for this one amazing piece that was new to me last time but couldn’t remember which part it was. Turns out it was the pas de deux (duet) – A Pine Forest in Winter - where the Sugar Plum Fairy dances with her prince. The music is so moving that you want to close your eyes and listen but the Balanchine’s version of the dance is lovely so you can't close your eyes! Although I don’t know much about ballet it seems really classic and poised - not too much jumping around with great controlled poses, lifts and turns. He adds something that is really special that I didn’t see anywhere else in the ballet where the ballerina is pulled across the stage while on pointe. There are a lot of different versions out there, from more well known theatres and ballet companies, but I found this version, although not Balanchine’s, its seemed similar and I liked it.

La Vita e Bella - Life is Beautiful

2010-12-11T10:35:00.002-05:00

My partner in crime, pasta, cheese, wine...what more could I want in life?

Lingerie on a Winters Night

2010-12-09T23:51:00.005-05:00

What I love most about my friend Alicia is that she has a great attitude and as benign as it sounds, its not a trait many people have, or at least, with as much zest as she! The other thing I really like is her name that makes her sounds like Italian royalty...Alicia Anthony Giovanna Ficalore. Yum. Oh and speaking of yum, we know how to do it up when it comes to eating, no expense spared. She also happens to have the largest collection of lingerie I have ever seen.

Tonight we embarked on one of our random outings together, armed with press passes, to an event she was covering for a magazine. This time La Perla and Jean Paul Gautier collaborated on several new lingerie pieces and her presence was requested. Sometimes I play photographer for her, which really means I go to these events, run around frequenting the open bar, eat anything that is presented to me and in between try to take some nice pics for her article. She, on the other hand, does fashiony stuff... checks out the clothes, interviews people and helps me make conversation when my mouth is full. All things considered, the pictures don't look too bad...

Long Lost Photos... Holga Makes a Comeback

2010-12-09T00:26:00.000-05:00

My holga and I were separated for quite some time and I recently reconnected with it after more than a year. With it, I found some old film - lost, and since forgotten. Getting it developed was like ... I don't know what... maybe giving yourself a surprise gift, cos I didn't remember what was inside. Turns out it was bits and pieces of Paris, London and New York.

Brain Polaroid

2010-12-02T17:23:00.003-05:00

I’m not as motivated to blog from a pc and my mac is dead for now. A new one is on its way but am getting a little blogging withdrawal. So here are some thoughts, a snapshot of my brain at this minute, but no actual pictures.

1. I don’t think its always been 5 days of work and 2 days off, when did that whole thing start and why? Is it like that everywhere in the world? What would it take to change it?

2. Why can’t the whole world be on the same time zone and just have a system to monitor when it is night and day and business hours at different places? Would that be harder or easier to deal with than calculating time differences? Wouldn’t it be a more accurate representation of time since, for example, we don’t really lose time or gain it when we travel, although with time differences, it appears that way.

3. The teenage mutant ninja turtle song goes, “Turtles in a half-shell, turtle power” I always thought their shells looked whole, could I have been mistaken all this time?

These are a few of my least favourite things....

2010-11-04T22:04:00.006-04:00

...but thank god there are people around me who make Halloween fun

Male Model Boxing

2010-10-19T22:51:00.006-04:00

This is what was going on the other week in the loft across the street from me. I had a lot of fun taking these pictures - I was totally caught up in the moment of the fight and hardly noticed that I was being pushed and shoved by the big boys with big cameras.. everyone up against the ropes trying to get the best shot. So, this is what some people do with a big empty loft... sell cheap alcohol, drill together a makeshift boxing ring, give a bunch of male models gloves and make them fight each other for sport. Sweet.

Those Naughty Victorians

2010-09-25T21:43:00.003-04:00

Food Movement

2010-09-08T13:16:00.018-04:00

Its true that recently, in foodie land, a lot of attention has been given to the notion of cutting down the amount of "stuff" (handling, processing, time etc) between food at its source, and food in our mouths. Everyone seems to have a freshness radar which is now keenly used among some of the more traditional criteria to conclude on which dishes at which restaurants are best in class. Which begs the question...who is doing this, or more importantly who is doing this_ best?

My first experience with this kind of eating, aside from scoffing mulberries from a tree as a kid, was at Blue Hill in the West Village of NYC. Blue Hill is affiliated with Stone Barns Farm near Tarrytown in Westchester NY. A significant portion of the menu is created from the produce of the farm - vegetables, meat, dairy, everything. Basically, if no animals were killed that day, there is no meat on the menu...kind of thing. I have had, possibly, the best egg I have ever tasted at Blue Hill which was featured on the 5 course tasting menu, along with its mother, the chicken, beside it on the plate. Sounds like a cult suicide, but was delicious! The dish was quite simply called 'this morning's egg'.

I sat on the plane to Sydney around Christmastime last year chatting to a photographer (also apparently talented foodie/ author) about this and he whipped out a sample of his love project - Harvest to Heat. It explores the concept of farm to table, sustainable eating with some of the most sought after culinary minds in America, the likes of Mario Batali (Babbo), David Chang (Momofuku) and Eric Ripet (Le Bernadin) to name a few. The book embodies my love and lust for food, beautiful recipes and goregeous photographs in the raw and modern context of sustainable eating - which is not to be confused with humane eating, as the book includes a tongue in cheek interview with a fois gras artisan.

Now that I survived the hot and sticky summer, flicking through H2H has me reinspired to get my ass back into the kitchen and over the stove this fall!

Oishiiii

2010-08-31T09:52:00.005-04:00

And the winner is.... not telling! The best meal of the last two weeks was tonight, in a cute area I discovered in Tokyo this trip. Attention to detail is this: You sit down at a place with no english menu and ask the people who don't speak english to bring you any 3 dishes. Every dish is presented so that you don't want to ruin it by eating it, and every ingredient on the plate, bowl, cup tastes great on its own and put together is even better. Everything put in front of you is explained by the waiter or chef with a japanese - english dictionary, even though they can barely speak english. Wow.

Of course I forgot my camera but here are some quick snaps from my blackberry.

Soup and Tofu

Sashimi - Bonito, Horse Mackerel, Squid

Fish Broth - Steamed Bass, Shitake, Chicken

Chicken

Japanese Bean Ice Cream

Green Tea and Grapes

Under the Yurakucho Railway

2010-08-30T09:49:00.010-04:00

Whether I'm staying at a 40 buck per night hostel and asking how to get to a restaurant where I will spend 400 bucks on dinner, or I'm at a 400 buck per night hotel and asking how to get to a beer joint underneath a railway track, I always get strange looks from hotel staff. Now I have a thick skin for that kind of judgement and I do what I want cos yes, sometimes I'll feel like fois gras and sometimes I'll feel like a Big Mac, so to speak.

Wandering around underneath the Yurakucho railway track on a sweltering Tokyo evening is an interesting experience. I saw my first homeless japanese person while the smell of miso and garbage wafted around me. I peeked into one Izakaya after another while trains clattered across the track above, trying to decide where to eat. In the end I settled on a place where some old guy was clapping at me to come in. I sat at the wooden bar with a big draft Asahi and ordered tofu, sashimi and korrokke. The waiter told me that was enough for 3 people but I didn't care....and ate most of it. Mmm. The rest I took for the sleeping homeless guy on my way back. Itadakimasu!

Hard work... I mean, hard to tell if its work?

2010-08-21T07:13:00.010-04:00

Look what I found at the beach today....
(I really am here to work)

Sleepless in Asia

2010-08-20T14:38:00.003-04:00

Piano

2010-08-15T22:59:00.019-04:00

I have consulted many people, with different muscial backgrounds, on the question of creating music and whether they were producers of electronic music, DJs, jazz or other classical musicians one message consistently rang clear which was 'stop thinking'. A few weeks ago I did that and this is short piece is what my fingers decided to play. An intuitive young man I have recently had the pleasure of getting to know better told me that it reminded him of the rain. Its the first original piece and maybe the last. Either way a broken barrier for me, so thank you to all the people in my life who have shared their passion for music with me, especially mother dearest who tirelessly sat through the tantrums and lessons and gave me these fingers (Sorry I broke one of them :/)! Hope you like it.

(All the people who have influenced and encouraged me musically will know that I am a classical pianist - a puritan one? If that makes sense

Usually these days, if its not me playing, I hear classical music faintly floating around the lobby of high end hotels I stay in while I have my travelling consultant hat on. Gone are the days where I heard it loud and chaotic in the room next door or crashing on 10 pianos at once walking down a hallway of the Conservatorium. Another lifetime.

Listening to it clears out the clutter in my mind. But it has also been a sort of a prison. As time passes, I think more about how things should evolve and the concept that evolution should be organic. But the very thread of classical training is technical and rigid - ironically, musicality is mandatory in order to play something well ... but "you must pay attention" to the italian written on the manuscript that tells you whether you should crescendo (gradually increase volume), play dolce (sweetly) or use rubato (abandon tempo). In my mind, can still see my piano teacher gesticulating over me while I played. Sometimes she would grab my elbows in the heat of the moment to get me to 'use big arms' which would just make me screw up and have to start all over again.

Anyway just a stream of consciousness I was mulling over)

LES Sightings

2010-08-15T22:24:00.007-04:00

There are some parts of the LES that are becoming more gentrified but this corner is a gem for LES weirdo sightings. I could go there anytime and find something or someone interesting. Just to test my theory, I went to stand there for a few minutes one afternoon and after about a minute and a half of loitering on the corner here's who rolled by in a wheelchair.... matching red shirt and pants, black gloves, big black earphones, gold john lennon shades, gold guido chain.... bingo.

Places and Faces

2010-06-09T16:00:00.019-04:00

This is a collection of pictures I have taken over the years except for the one of the marines in Iraq. I put the marine photo in there because I think its interesting. When this guy sent me this picture of him and his friends I looked at it once or twice and then put it away because there was something about it that made me uneasy. I recently saw part of a documentary on young people in the U.S. military and the adverse effects it has had on them physically and mentally - I think it articulated the reason behind the feeling I got when I looked at the expressions on their faces in the picture holding their guns. Anyway, I digress... I was looking through some of my archives and realized that even though I never spent a lot of money on cameras before, I still liked how a lot of the pictures turned out. Sometimes the camera's imperfections make the picture more interesting

New York City, USA

Iraq

Miami, USA

Havana, Cuba

London, UK

New York City, USA

Sydney, Australia

Paris, France

New York City, USA

White Desert, Egypt

Home Sweet Home - New York City, USA

Home Sweet Home - New York City, USA

London, UK

Not sure where

Queensland, Australia

Krabi Province, Thailand

NSW Royal National Park, Australia

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Frogs on a Stick, Thailand

Bugs on Star Fruit, Thailand

Mount Sinai, Egypt

The Nile, Eygpt

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Luxor, Egypt

White Desert, Egypt

Chiang Mai, Thailand

"The Hunger": Pop Up Restaurant Series

2010-05-18T19:58:00.000-04:00

If you've lived in New York, you're probably familiar with pop up stores which, as the name suggests, are stores that are created temporarily and are dismantled after a limited time. I went to a pop up store on Layfayette St called Boho last year which was like a health food store that opened and closed in less than a week. I've also known the concept to extend to nightclubs which, for example, appear during fashion week and are gone by the time the week is done.

Last weekend I reserved a couple of seats for Urban Cuisine Bourgeois, the first in a series of pop up dinner parties called "The Hunger". I believe this is the first time the term "pop up" has been used in connection with restaurants but when I heard about it I thought it was an amazing idea. So obvious but no one had done it yet. A quote from The Hunger sums the concept up perfectly...

"Each evening will be set up like a fabulous dinner party, where all guests sit at the same time and simultaneously share an evening. Like a dinner party, guests will be encouraged to interact, and will leave with only a memory of the experience that will never be exactly replicated again – a moment, similar to the many great moments that take place every day in New York, which fade out as quickly as they “pop up.”

I had met the chef, Camille Becerra, at a rooftop party last summer around the time her Brooklyn restaurant 'Paloma' had sadly burnt down. If you watched it, you may recognize the name from season 3 of Top Chef. She was with her boyfriend Vincent Rotolo who has been a restaurateur for many years in NYC. I thought they were both warm and charming and I was glad she seemed positive in light of her recent loss.

Now almost a year later, she is hosting Urban Cusine Bourgeois. It featured a 6 course french influenced menu using fresh seasonal ingredients sourced from artisans who were friends of chef and team, a fantastic spread of vegetables, cheeses, meat and seafood. Many of the condiments and desserts were handmade by Camille from scratch and everything was served up in an intimate, tasteful setting by charming waitstaff.

Sitting with Vincent (in between some sneaky tequila shots and some extra courses here and there) I heard a lot about what went on behind the scenes. Needless to say it was no easy feat but for some reason it just looked effortless. So here's to The Hunger, what they stand for and bloody good effort for the first go round. Can't wait for the next one! I heard suggestions for locations such as Paris, London and settings like 'outdoors during the summer' (which for some reason makes me think of scenes from Like Water for Chocolate....??) I guess anything is possible for something as fleeting as a memory.

Extreme Measures

2010-05-17T23:14:00.009-04:00

My friend Leila is living in a place most people will never even get to visit - Saudi Arabia. She is one of those people who people love to be around because she always has a smile and a story or at least a weird dream to share. She took this picture of exercise dvd's at a Saudi store and I just had to post it - kind of a sad reality in Saudi but from the outside, definitely worth a laugh.

Thought my brekkie looked nice today

2010-05-17T10:17:00.002-04:00

Family Dinners

2010-05-15T19:05:00.016-04:00

I've always loved food and meals. I wonder whether its because of my asian upbringing or whether its a food-loving chip I have genetically ingrained in my dna. Probably a little of both. I was fed well as a kid growing up in a malaysian-chinese-australian household and have recently realized that I was not just fed well, I was fed extraordinarily well. Its funny because when anyone asks me where I'm from, 99% of the time I will tell them I'm Australian. But when it comes to food I 100% identify with being malaysian-chinese-australian more or less in that order. It was not unusual to be served up roti canai, bakut ter, surf and turf on the barbie, frutti di mare spaghetti, apple pie with custard and mooncake all in one week and on Sunday nights, always at the dinner table with the whole family (whether we felt like seeing each other or not :). Mum and dad are probably the biggest influencers of my palette and I sometimes wonder whether they did it on purpose so that wherever I am in the world, whenever I eat, I think of them.

As somewhat of a 'family-less transient' here in New York family dinners come in many different shapes and sizes but they do happen! My boo and I try to do Sunday family dinners which are great after an inevitably hectic week of running around new york city - we try all kinds of things and sometimes I'll try to bring my family to the table by trying to replicate something they used to feed me. I love his enthusiasm for love of food and am grateful for his openness to indulge with me in my slight obsession. Sometimes its with friends (my brothers from another mother) at the shabby-chic palace in Brooklyn. When we're lucky, the twin's mother is in town and cooks us up some southern soul food ...and the most dangerously delicious cheesecake I have ever had in my life. Big call. Especially since I don't even really like cheesecake and I want to face plant in this one.

Today, An Choi, the vietnamese restaurant down the street opened their extended dining space. Its been a month or so in the making, literally, with lots of odds and ends being drilled together to make furniture and to fit the space out. Its a lovely little airy quirky space, different to its moodier counterpart next door. I was invited to join them for the staff meal. It was a simple fare of salmon, cucumbers and rice and (of course) reminded me of home!

Hi Again

2010-05-15T18:16:00.004-04:00

Its been a while since I blogged I guess life took over for a bit. Spring always brings change and this year, lots of good things (sorry to say since its always more interesting to report on the crappy stuff). I'm excited about the G11 I just got, its given me new inspiration to capture all the mental snapshots I've been taking over the last couple of months. I have a few things I need to figure out, things that can be an emotional drain because they make you sad or uncertain and then life happens without you. Even though I'm still reading the manual, this camera is not one of them!

China vs. Elsewhere

2010-02-17T22:50:00.002-05:00

The search for Falun Gong

Time + Travel

2010-02-16T23:22:00.009-05:00

Sometimes I wish for time to travel ... and sometimes to travel to a perfect time

Land of Oz

2010-01-22T21:21:00.008-05:00

Learn to free yourself from all things
that have moulded you
And which limit your secret and undiscovered road

I took a break from this and I went home
I broke my finger
I lost my camera
But here are 3 pics from my blackberry
That show that the land of wussbags, dags and bludgers_paddle pops, eskis and cossies_bushfires and antipodean light
is beautiful in the eyes of any beholder

Twas the week before Christmas...

2009-12-24T07:40:00.020-05:00

... first snow and the things we do to stay amused

Good intentions gone wrong

2009-12-12T21:42:00.004-05:00

This is what happens when senile guy tries to help disabled beggar woman....

Barcelona (to be pronounced with a lisp)

2009-12-12T20:33:00.016-05:00

To me, Barcelona is about humble indulgence, if there is such a thing. Its been about 4 or 5 years since I've been to Barcelona but I went back for a few days last week. My first experience with the city was kind of ... distracted. Being there brought back a random concoction of memories that had since been put aside, not really forgotten. For some reason, the hallway leading to the room my friend and I were staying in, the incessant noise of Las Rambla coming through the tall windows in our room, wandering around the narrow winding streets of the Gothic quarter, the fight with an old Italian flame by the ATM machine near La Boqueria, sitting on the steps looking out over the harbour, sitting in the Gaudi park overlooking the city. The Gaudi and Picasso influences add a certain quirkiness to the city's aesthetic, and thats not to undermine any of it, particularly the huge undertaking of building the Sagrada Familia. Tons to discover in the Gothic quarter if you can put a day aside to get yourself lost back there. Anyway, as everyone knows, I want to talk about the food...1) Tapas anywhere at any time of the day but especially good at Bar Lobo and Cal Pep 2) Go to the more working class areas away from the tourist district for a basket of fresh bread, overripe tomatoes and garlic..rub the garlic on the bread until it dissolves then put the overripe tomatoes on top and thats it 3) up by the mountains is a castle-like place where you sit and have big metal dishes brought out to you with all kinds of meat on the bone sticking out (would obviously make some vegies hurl but great if you like meat) 4) La Boqueria .... so much food it made my head spin, but that could have been the party from the night before

2009-12-12T20:19:00.003-05:00

Tulum Beach, Mexico

From Mexico....Things I Ate

2009-11-20T19:55:00.001-05:00

I took a quick trip to Mexico this week. Random... but it was a nice change of scenery and everything a beach, food and culture whore could ask for crammed into a few days. Tulum is a small Mayan beach town on the Mayan Riviera. Its on the border of the Gulf of Mexico which is very much like the Carribean sea. And although there is a lot to say about the Mayans and the gorgeous beaches (and will be said) this post is dedicated to the food. Unfortunately I was usually in too much of a rush to eat what was put in front of me to spend time taking great photos but here are a few I wanted to share. Absolutely everything was yummy ... from the street carts in town to the beach restaurants owned by Europeans who got sick of Europe and have crafted some imaginative and tasty fusion menus. I strongly recommend anyone who loves mexican food to go down there for the real deal, and you'll get a lot more out of it than just the food which is all a bonus.

As an afterthought, if you can't get out of New York, try Barrio Chino on Broome and Orchard. Its a little hole in the wall place (in more of a hipster than dirty way) that has taken off. They have two kinds of spicy margarhitas and tons of other great cocktails and the food is authentic and tasty. No reservations so if you don't want to wait an hour for a table, go early or late, especially on the weekends.

Can anyone suggest a place in Sydney???

Street cart tacos .... about a buck fifty a piece, could eat them all day

Picante with every mexican meal

Aztec breakfast

Pickled carrots, roasted garlic cloves, bloody hot peppers with orange juice squeezed from under-ripe green oranges (so good)

Doesn't look like much but these large prawns were lightly cooked with lavendar with a drizzling of olive oil .... one of my favourites

Tomatoes up close and personal ... basil, goats cheese, anchovies, balsamic vinegar and olive oil

Tasty foccacia breads with pistachios and a tequila margharita on the beach

Pollo rojo ... aka red chicken... this chicken is stewed and baked in a sauce made from 3 different types of peppers and basically makes you want to lick the bowl when you're done

Miru-Kim-Esque

2009-11-20T17:14:00.000-05:00

I was looking through some Miru Kim stuff that someone told me about after seeing my last post, and found this picture. What is with naked asian chicks in random places? Anyway, I kind of like this one cos it looks like it was dangerous which adds a bit of something something ... and in case you were wondering, its not Miru Kim

Can't is not in my vocabulary..

2009-11-12T17:04:00.000-05:00

I love cheeky up-to-no-good monkeys outside La Esquina

2009-10-20T20:06:00.001-04:00

From Russia

2009-10-19T00:18:00.001-04:00

Russia was one of those places I wanted to go to ... but kind of just found myself there one day without much planning or preparation. It was one of those trips that I was thrown into last minute...like, the week or two before I was given a ticket and told to get a rush visa. I'd arrived on a Sunday in winter and was staying on Tverskaya Yamskaya which is in one of the busiest areas in central Moscow. My first impression was ... I can't read anything, its grey, hard and cold and where is everyone? I know, I sound like a new yorker. Since then I've been a couple more times and I'm fascinated by it. I love New York and, if New York is a girl, Moscow is like New York's older brother. Like NYC, there is so much going on every day, but the Russians seem to approach it as if its their last, which gives everything a different spin, from business politics to parties to art, music and fashion. You still feel the presence of the mafia, albeit in a way that blends into the backdrop like its no big deal, and adds another layer to the grittiness and extravagance. I've experienced parts of it with business expats, some with a fellow aussie, a little with the moscovites and also on my own. I hope to go back for longer and see more of the country outside of Moscow.... in any case, stay tuned, I may have to go back before the new year.

Coney Island

2009-10-17T15:31:00.002-04:00

One of the last car trips I took out of the city this summer was to the Coney Island boardwalk. I've been lucky enough to have the use of a mini cooper and although I never get to drive it, I like where it has taken me. I never made it out to Coney Island before they shut the rides down and I thought that the rides would take with them some of the character of the boardwalk. But when I got there I was surprised at the diversity...of cultures and I guess also the strange things people still do there. Here are some pics...

Guy runs around in a pit while people shoot at him

Little guy in the background

Freako in the foreground... I think he escaped from the pit

Metal detector guy

Fishing bait...chicken drumsticks from Pathmark

Small fish that eat chicken

Coney Island icons - Wonder Wheel on left... Cyclone on the right...
forgot what the thing in the middle is....

Gambling on top of a garbage bin ... he was telling me no pics... but I no understand

Big fat guy with tricked out bike

Burqas on the beach

WanderLust...Method or Madness?

2009-10-13T22:48:00.001-04:00

Someone once told me I had WanderLust. At first I was a little offended, admittedly without being completely sure what it meant. Its pretty self explanatory really if you just break it down in reverse order. Lust - overwhelming desire or craving, intense eagerness or enthusiasm. Wander - move about aimlessly or without any destination. As I thought about it, it grew on me and I've come to realize it can be quite a good way to approach things. That is, with zeal and without preconception. The best thing is, it can apply to virtually anything...travel, food, people, work, romps in the sack and the list goes on. And so I thought it would be a good title for my blog for now.
I want to be conscious of too much_wander_ in this first blog (ever) of mine so I will end by warmly welcoming myself to the world of blogging, and consider this an introduction of sorts... testing, testing, 123