New Shots from my father's studio

My father is busy preparing for a show on February 1, 2009 so he's got a number of new works in progress. I snuck a look and if you click the link you'll see what's new! I was very impressed with the amount of new work, given that it's not been that long since his last show. Also, I've included some prepared shots of a very old piece that he did when I was very young which you can see pictured to the left.
JS Sculpture Studio Dec 08

Houston Food and Environment photos

...and here are some of my photos from my recent Houston trip. I was really psyched to eat lots of good food and finally see James Turrell's light piece that connects the two parts of the Museum of Fine Arts. So, I thought I'd share a few of the shots with you. (click the image above)

Houston, TX Vietnamese Restaurant recommendations

Since we were in Houston for Thanksgiving this year, we made a point of stopping by some of the best Vietnamese Restaurants for some of the dishes we wanted. Typically, VN restaurants have one or two main specialties, so here are a list of dishes and the best place to get them at:

Bánh cuốn (probably my favorite VN dish. You must try the version with BBQ pork. It's soooo good)
Thiên Thanh
11210 Bellaire Blvd. #140
Houston, TX 77072
tel: 281.564.0419

Phơ (classic beef Phơ)
Phơ Danh #2
Bellaire Blvd C#25
Houston, TX
tel: 281.879.9940

Phơ Gà (chicken Phơ)
Phơ Gà Dakao
11778 Bellaire Blvd
Houston, TX 77072
tel: 281-879-5899

Bún Bò Huế
www.kimchaurestaurant.com
6806 Long Point Rd # I
Houston, TX 77055
(713) 683-8277

Wha?

I saw this in the Houston airport over Thanksgiving weekend and I had to post it. What the *$#@? You can buy iPods in vending machines now? Somehow I find this very odd.

Mixed Messages

From Street Art

I saw this on the way home today. Just kind of thought it was funny, so I thought I'd post it.

Vietnamese Thanksgiving weekend

Yummmmm, I've been eating well these last couple days in Houston,
having a little Thanksgiving, VN style!
Here's some top quality Pho Ga from Pho Ga Dakao, 11778 Bellaire Blvd,
TX 281-879-5899. We definitely recommend it.
Stay tuned for many more food photos to come!

a few more shots from Long Island

From SouthFork2

We were on the South Fork again for a birthday for a friend a couple weeks ago. Here's a very small selection of the shots that are suitable for public consumption from that weekend.

Yes...We...DID!!

It's time for a new beginning. Thanks to everyone who voted!

Domino Sugar Factory, BKN Navy Yard, and surrounds

I took a bike ride over to the Domino Sugar Factory last weekend to check out an open house that the new owners were giving. It was my first opportunity to see the Factory close up inside the gates. Likely, it was my last chance to see it before they tear down a large portion of it because as you can guess, they are setting up luxury condos in it's place. I hope they save the main building and the Domino sign at least! On the way back, I had to stop by the Brooklyn Navy Yard because they have some amazing urban decay there. Essentially, there's an entire row of old houses and mansions that are in a beautiful state of decay - a sort of unique dance/battle between man made structure and nature. Click on the image above to see.

Banksy Exhibit Photos posted

In case you're not in New York, or you just can't get yourself down to see the show, take a look at these instead (click image below):

Banksy Exhibit

I saw the Banksy exhibit today in the Village (7th Ave South, just above Bleecker St in between Jekyll and Hyde, and Sushi Samba). Although, admittedly it might not be for everyone, I really really enjoyed it. You should definitely try to go. I believe it's only up for this month of October, so go now! Banksy has a great sense of humor and definitely makes you think twice about being a carnivour. Anyway, I took a whole bunch of photos and can't wait to post them. In the meantime though you can take a gander at these two. Tweety was my favourite part of the exhibit.

Banksy exhibits in New York

Banksy has a show near my office now and they've put up two nice wall murals to call people's attention to it. This is the better of the two. It's at Howard and Broadway, if I remember correctly. I know I'm a few days late in mentioning it but in case you haven't seen it yet, here it is.

Peter Saville in New York

Peter Saville (one of the greatest designers of album covers and other mediums, not to mention a founding partner of Factory Records) was in New York on Friday for a panel discussion and signing at White Columns in the village. He was supporting a book that documented a recent show in Zurich of his design ephemera. I was a huge fan of Saville's work growing up, so it was a real honor meeting him. It turns out that, like most of the people I respect, he was very modest and seemed like a really decent guy. One of the most interesting things I learned about what he's up to now is that he's acting as the city of Manchester's Creative Director. Although, perhaps funny at first, it's actually a very good idea. I wish more cities did something like that. Saville had some insightful words about the job.
Anyway, I had a very good time and also finally got a chance to meet a work-neighbor, (noted artist) Robert Longo. Longo got to know Saville in the 80's and wound up directing New Order's 'Bizarre Love Triangle' video through his Saville connection.

Here's a couple pictures of Saville's new book and a groovy promo card for a flat-pak 'plinth' he designed.

South Fork of Long Island photo selects

Last weekend we were fortunate enough to receive an invite to stay at a friend's rental in East Hampton. It gave us a chance to have a last chance at going to the beach in Amagansett and Montauk and visit Jackson Pollack and Lee Krasner's house and studios. It was really cool to see the floor of Pollack's studio and see the remnants of some of his well-known works splattered on the floor. Unfortunately, they wouldn't let me take photos of it, but I was able to take some random shots of the house and barn from the outside. Pollack had a really cool 50s-era amp and turntable that you'll see in the photos. These shots were mostly taken with my new 85mm f/1.8 lens, so I'm obviously having a lot of fun with depth of field. Hope you enjoy.
South Fork, NY, September 2008

Last chance for summer?

...looking forward to showing more photos of this weekend from the far
east.... of Long Island ;-)

2 New Photo Sets!

I was just putting up shots from my recent long weekend to the Pacific Northwest (Washington State and Vancouver B.C.) when I discovered another photo set from a trip to Marfa, TX (and surrounds) that I never made a public link for.
So, check them both out in the Archive List on the upper right of this page, or click below:
West Texas, trip 2, March 2007
Pacific Northwest, August 2008

In Washington on the ferry to Whidbey Isle

Finally some holiday time for me :-). I'm off to pick up Monique on
the isle and then it's off to Vancouver.

Carroll Gardens graffiti

This is a typical example of my subway stop's grafitti
(I'll be posting a 'Street Art' section in the Photo archive on the right in the near future)

SIGGRAPH 2008 Art and Architecture

This year, they had some interesting Art and Architecture at the SIGGRAPH conference. Many of the architectural models they had on display (all fabricated from various CNC milling or stereo lithography machines) were by architects I went to school with or was taught by, so that was interesting. Take a look. I didn't have my good camera with me by the way, so the quality is kind of bad.

Paris article in September issue of Gourmet

For those of you that are fans of my wife's writing, you can see her latest effort in the September issue of Gourmet magazine. It's a bit of a love letter to Paris that she composed after I took her there again briefly for her 40th birthday earlier this year.
The September issue of Gourmet should be hitting the news stands shortly, or you can click on this link to the on line version.

Wanderlust at SIGGRAPH!

So, I'm in LA this week at SIGGRAPH. I just saw a presentation on rock
videos and 3D and they showed the Bjork "Wanderlust" video I worked on.

Cosmas Radio status

I just added a little thing on the top right of this blog that will let you know if my radio station is broadcasting or not so you'll know what's up if you're to listen to it.

the Cosmas media empire

The Cosmas media empire is growing ;-)
Cosmas radio is now in beta. If you're interested, let me know and I'll give you details.

Beijing, China June/July 2008

Whew. Finally, I've finished going through my photos from two recent business trips to Beijing. We've just finished up working on a two and a half minute film for Johnson and Johnson for their Olympic Pavilion. There were a few days where there were either delays or where we were rendering which gave me a little bit of time to document some of greater Beijing. I was fortunate enough to visit such sites as the Olympic grounds (where I was working), the Forbidden City and nearby temples, a number of Hu Tong neighborhoods (the old areas with small alleyways that they are busy tearing down as fast as they can), the Great Wall, and the 798 Art district (which I highly recommend!!).
Click the link below to see a set of galleries of my photos. There are 11 sections that you can choose from.

Here's some shots I took of the Johnson & Johnson pavilion at the Olympics area in Beijing that I'm doing a project for. Thinc Design and Urban A&O are responsible for the design of the exhibits and building respectively.

Home Delivery Exhibit at MoMA

Checked out the Home Delivery exhibit at MoMA today. Make sure to check out the first part of the exhibit inside. Best in show award for the buildings outside goes to the Burst*008 building by Gauthier Architects. BTW, props to Henry Grosman, a friend, who I recently found out was the project lead. Here are a few pics:

David Byrne bldg, first impressions

Took my bike down today to see the David Byrne building...
It was definitely worth checking out. It was fun to give it a whirl, but I of course wanted to play it like drums, which is a little hard to do given that it has keys. Please come and see for yourself. It closes August 24. 2 South St, New York, NY (to the right of the Governor's Island Ferry)

I never wanted to do this...

...but what the hell. I hate blogs, but with today's ease of connectivity, I think this might be the easiest way to show people stuff without having to email people individually about it. Anyway, here goes nothin'.