alright bitches, let's bring this back to williamsburg.
in honor of my third (tercero) visit (visita) to (a) one of the finest eating establishments in brooklyn, i decided to write a short poem to xxxpress my love. el almacen, you have charmed your way through my stomach everytime.
el almacen you are my zen i've come here three times once on a weekend your aji relleno bring me back again
you are mildly over priced as your enchiladas don't come with rice though i love the julia malbec with it's after kicking spice
el almacen i shall try visit you more often when i'm no longer vegan.
in contrast penquena's black bean soup that gave me an uncomfortable feeling for 24 hours, i would say el almacen is the place for latin flavored specialties. particularly when mama nelson is buying the sangria.
as you can imagine with cait's flight to the south and my terrible return to this side of the atlantic, a few photo shoots have taken place over the past couple weeks. this was captured from the picnic spot beside the restaurant that was too fancy for coffee, but before pursuing two bottles of prosecco and a $23 pizza. eat your heart out, dominoes.
it's entitled "can you somersault into the valley?"
it's october, you know what that means...vacation! ok not really. but i'm going anyway. if you need me, i'll be making beautiful memories until further notice.
and don't try to call, there's no phone reception. there WILL be lots of wine, bbq and sun.
enjoy the early onset ny winter.
kthxbai.
ps. just cause it's friday: a winning image from a recent trip to pittsburgh for the g20. i believe this was one of the delegate's rides. i fully support the teal totes obvi.
we are all about celebrating fierce beasts around here and dame bassey's soulful voice couldn't get any fiercer. she was born in wales, and although it's no scotland (come back soon k-dizzle), we'll holla at the uk for now.
for your sunday listening pleasure, some tunes to enjoy whether you're waiting for the mta delays or drinking champagne.
caitlin asked if we could take the kanye hater vibe off the blog as it's clearly a little dated (that is so three weeks ago). to bring this back to recent times in brooklyn, let's check up with the best new music to come out of new york's finest borough: the antlers.
it is understatement to say their sophomore pursuit, hospice, is incredible. a concept album based off the semi-autobiographical experiences of the band's lead singer, peter silberman, tells the story of a man battling a loved one who's battling cancer. considering the record's title, we know she won't make it through the last track.
there are so many falsettos in music these days, so many artists who creep into social isolation and break out with thoughtful work, so many records with the "indie rock" stamp, yet hospice hits a different chord. silberman's words are haunting -- it's all in the details of the story and the honest emotion that takes this album to another place. in "epilogue" he sings:
In a nightmare, I am falling from the ceiling into bed beside you. You're asleep, I'm screaming, shoving you to try to wake you up. And like before, you've got no interest in the life you live when you're awake. Your dreams still follow storylines, like fictions you would make.
So I lie down against your back, until we're both back in the hospital. But now it's not a cancer ward, we're sleeping in the morgue. Men and women in blue and white, they are singing all around you, with heavy shovels holding earth. You're being buried to you neck. In that hospital bed, being buried quite alive now. I'm trying to dig you out but all you want is to be buried there together.
the lyrics could easily be read as prose, which almost seems his intention considering the structure of the album booklet. to accompany the weight of his grief is a voice that simultaneously conveys sadness, anger, and hope.
the impossible task of even penetrating emotions surrounding loss, disease, and watching a loved one die somehow comes together beautifully in hospice. it may leave you feeling shittier than before you gave it a listen, but to feel so much can be beautiful in itself.
OBAMA HAS SPOKEN: dear kanye west, you're a jackass.
i was entertained/mildly appalled by senor west's behavior this past sunday at the video music awards and thought he got the condemnation he deserved. regardless of levels of intoxication or ego inflation, the man is an attention whore in addition to being an idiot. as an avid follower of the celebrity/intellectually stimulating blog "oh no they didn't," i've been constantly filtered all the media coverage surrounding the microphone stealing incident: from celebrity tweets to "the view" to jay leno to KANYE'S OWN BLOG (OMG CAPS LOCK STUCK!!111!!) to all those great memes created in the past 72 hours.
yet, in light of a mere 30 seconds that was stolen away from ms. swift, one fellow ontd fan pointed out the following: just months ago chris brown beat the shit out of rhianna; how much celebrity/media vilification went into that? obviously there was shock and some uproar when photos of rhianna's bruised face floated around the internet, but it was nothing compared to this overarching outrage kanye's receiving. you can't even put beating a woman and stealing someone's moment at an awards show in the same category, but if you had to decide which of the two was the greater offense, how is it that taylor swift's victimization outweigh rhianna's physical well-being (and obvi emotional issues since gurlfriend didn't press a single charge against his ass)? what kind of society is this where domestic abuse plays second fiddle to a country singer's acceptance speech being disrupted?
please forgive the lack of updates over the past number of years. we have been busy with our respective to marriages to tiger woods and philip seymour hoffman as well as our dietary fiber addiction. please accept our apologies.
AND THEN ON ANOTHER NOTE
this morning [sic] i was inspired by a skype message sent from the one and only Adu gyamfi love from ghana (land of endless marriage proposals, but no ice to back it up).
adu writes:
Good morning!
...I am Adu gyamfi love from Ghana in the western part of Africa .And new here searching for friends and i just saw you online and i make mind to read your profile and it was nice profile. It was so overwhelmed me to mail you for ask for friendship .I know that true friend is someone who makes u have the total freedom of your Life and there will be many people who will walk in and out in your Life but only the love ones will leave with footprint...Thank you very much , and hoping to hear from you soon . i sincerely apologize if this note offends your good moral justice and ethics.
this charming and emotive message made what was a rainy morning full of agitation towards new york city disappear into warm thoughts of friendship. in addition to this, his note also reminded me of the greatest love letter i have ever received from a man named david. david was hanging out in the purses section of macy's two years ago and wooed me by crying out "nice boots!" we exchanged words for 20 minutes and then parted ways. david is an equally interesting writer and full of life.
david wrote:
Hi Kelsy,
Hi , this is David, I met u in Macys dept. store a few days ago. Thank u for giving me advice of what birthday gift i should buy my married friend. I studied advertising design. I started a design company, but have not made any money with the company yet. I have a business partner in N.Y. My company name is Sciensun Inc. I designed 2 practical products and hope to sell them in tens of thousands of stores accross america. If they are successful i will sell them in all of Asia , Europe and USA and Latin America. I have more products on the drawing board for the future. I was born and raised in NY. I live in Elmhurst Queens now. Do u Have brothers and sisters ? I love dogs. I will definately buy a Golden Retriever or a German Shepherd puppy in the future. Do u have pets ? Do u like animals ? I like dolphins also and horses and girraffes, lions, tigers and salt water aquarium hobby. I paid to swim with a dolphin 4 years ago in Florida. They gave me a crippled dolphin , it swam with a limp fin. The dolphin had a fin cast on. I would like to try bull riding as a challenge to myself. I want to see if i can stay on the bull for more than 8 seconds. Bull riding is in Texas. What fun activities do u enjoy doing ? I like cafes/lounges, amusement parks, bowling, play pool, motorboating. I don't have internet in my house. I would like to take u out next week and talk to get to know each other more. I don't have internet in my house. I use the library computer 1 time a week. Please call me (347)730-xxxx or e-mail me.
