Colin Hay - I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You

My Architect

A beautiful reflection of a life, through the lens of a son is endearing and the intercepting old-people moments are priceless and adorable. Kahn's buildings herald monumentality in the twentieth century landscape of architecture, with several touting him as the most important architect of the latter part of the 20th century. 

Kahn was uncompromising in his work ethic vowing to achieve clarity and truth in his design, but his personal life was wrought with chaos and a life filled with secrets. He died penniless in the mens room of Penn Station in New York, leaving only three families and three children from three seperate women to his name. His youngest son, an illigitimte child Nathaniel embarks on a journey to discover his fathers buildings as well as the man behind them, through is friends, his encounters and his collegues. In the end, it is made clear that it wasn't only his buildings that touched all those who encounter them and will conitue to, but his person, was the greatest design of all. Nathaniel's journey leads him to Philly (Louis' hometown), New Jersey, New York, California, Jerulesum and Bangladesh, where he would eventally finish his joureny. His encounters include the likes of Kahn's former lovers, legitmate and illigitamte children alike, and other cameos peppered throughout the film from the likes of Frank Gehry, I.M Pei and the late Philip Johnson, in what I must say, is an untimely encounter. A jewish immigrant from Estonia, whose face and hands were permanently scared from an accident early on in life. You learn about the price of genius and how that effects the people that ar around everyday My Architect (2004) slowly peels back the layers of this mysterious life from an enigma of a man. An enigma so puzzling even his own son finds it perplexing to piece it all together. 

It is a poetic portryal of a great men with iconic buildings, but most of all its a son's journey to discover who his father really was, in what was essentially the messiest legacy any son could have potentially inherited and uncovering home truths that haunt both parents and children alike. In a documentary with the emotional impact of a dramatic feature film (including an original orchestral score), Nathaniel’s personal journey becomes a universal investigation of identity, a celebration of art and ultimately, of life itself.

Humans of New York

“I’m attracted to the extreme light and the extreme dark. I’m interested in the human condition and what makes people tick. I’m interested in the things people try to hide.” - Johnny Depp  

Humans of New York is one of the best tumblrs I've stumbled across in a long time. the concept is simple, photographer Brandon Stanton documents the minor accidental encounters that fill ones day,  all of which essentially effect ones perception of a city. "For the past year and two months or so I've been walking all over New York. I've been to almost every single neighborhood. And I've just been stopping strangers on the street and asking them for their photograph," said Stanton. "What I've done is I've plotted them on a map here. And I've organized them by neighborhood. So what you can do is click on a neighborhood and scroll through the faces of the people that live in those neighborhoods," said Stanton. Stanton calls "Humans of New York" a slice of New York City life. He says he loves the art form because you never know who you'll meet or what you'll get, like a break dancer with his son or ballet students. "There's a ton of kids on here. And whenever I see an old couple in love I always stop and ask them for their photograph. Part of that is me knowing what people on my Facebook group like also. We love kids and we love old people in love," said Stanton. Humans of New York is part social documentary, part art project. It offers a dialogue on the existentialism of life, enjoyed through the light-hearted snippets from Brandon's lens. Humans of New York represents everything I love about New York: travel photography and small scale community involvement - this is exactly what the world needs - love, understanding, connecting and documenting. C'est Parfait. I've actually been subscribed to this Tumblr for quite a while, its my little slice of heaven online but I had an overwhelming need to share it here. "I'm always very sensitive as to whether or not I'm getting Jaded." Brandon says, and his introspective outlook and his child like enthusiasm make the blog even more endearing. It seems to me, that by examining other cultural phenomenons like Girls, or the Sartorialist,  people are creating a candid dialogue about what they're going through, documenting and finding solace in the fact that several other people also find solace in the same thing create hime truths. In a way, this made me realize that photography creates an intimacy that cannot be replicated in any other art form, it creates a bond between the photographer and the subject - it's raw, gritty and honest  and presents a fully rendered human being oddly enough... I think that this blog teaches us that we can learn from others, and what we can do about connecting with each other on a small scale makes us realize the fragility of our own existences, which is an important reminder in this fast paced world.

Brandon's Story in his own words...

"Hey there.  I’m Brandon.  I get really passionate about things.  At some time in my life, I’ve been obsessed or borderline-obsessed with saltwater aquariums, the baritone euphonium, reading, piano, filming, financial markets, New York City, and photography.  I studied History at the University of Georgia.  During my senior year of college, I took out $3,000 in student loans and bet it on Barack Obama to win the presidency.  A friend heard about this bet and got me a job trading bonds on the Chicago Board of Trade.  I traded for three years.  It went really well for awhile.  But then it went really bad. Whoops. After I lost my trading job, I decided to move to New York City and take portraits of strangers on the street. Mom wasn’t too happy about that decision, but so far it’s gone pretty well. I’ve taken nearly 5,000 portraits and written 50 stories. And I’ve met some amazing people along the way."

"It's important not to rush through life so much that you don't find time to do the things you really should be doing."

"What things do you wish you'd made more time to do?"

"I wish I'd learned to drive a racecar. Learned to cook. Followed up with a certain young lady. I wish I'd read more. I've got this stack of books I'm going through now, but I should have read them 50 years ago. I'm even reading Harry Potter!"

"Do you mind if I take your photo?"

"..."

"I run a website called...."

"Don't give me that shit line. Just take the picture."

“This is a character.”

“Oh, so this isn’t you?”

“It’s not me. But there’s a lot of me in here.”

“I’m in the middle of a spiritual process. I can’t wear color for another six months.”

“I work at the UN. I study happiness, actually.”

“So what’s happiness then?”

“Well it’s very strongly related to income, but only to a certain amount. After about $20,000 a year, it becomes much more dependent on the amount of time we spend with family and friends. This is something we seem to intuitively know at the beginning and end of our lives— but lose sight of in the middle.” 

“I never had any family growing up. But I still went to school everyday. One day, when I was in eleventh grade, my English teacher came up to me and said: “If you graduate, I’ll adopt you. I’ll show you the life. You’ll do things you never dreamed of.” And he kept his promise. He made it legal and everything. On the day I graduated, he was the only family I had there. My father’s taken me everywhere since then. I’ve done all kinds of things.”

Seen in Times Square.

Seen on the Williamsburg Bridge.

“When my husband was dying, I said: ‘Moe, how am I supposed to live without you?’ He told me: ‘Take the love you have for me and spread it around.’”

Seen on the Subway

“Living in New York is a struggle, because you’re always trying to make $5 last for three days. But in a way it’s romantic, because The City always gives you little ways to make it.”

This man walked onto the subway and announced in a loud voice that “Everyone is now on the Love Train!” He then started blasting gospel music, volume 10. Ironically, some people opposite-of-loved it.

Meanwhile in Iran...

“How is business?”

“As God wants it to be.” 

(Tehran, Iran)

This man offered me a cup of tea after I took his photo. It seemed like a good idea to accept his offer. He was super friendly, but it quickly became apparent that the extent of his English consisted of the phrase: “Do you want some tea?” Unable to communicate, we spent an awkward five minutes staring at our shoes and avoiding eye contact, while I burned the shit out of my tongue trying to finish the tea as fast as possible.

I saw these men from the window of a taxi. I asked the driver to pull over, so I could walk back and take their photo. Instead he INSISTED on backing up against a heavy stream of traffic. It was 100 yards of sheer terror. “No, please,” I said. “This is perfect.” Not a problem at all, he insisted.

So much of Iran’s history, as well as world history, is encapsulated in this image. These are the 200 year old etchings of British servicemen, carved into the 2500 year old walls of Persepolis— the markings of a modern empire on the ruins of an ancient one. The drive to empire is not a disease of individual nations, but a disease of humanity.

Behind the Portraits

A City of Faces

An American Photogrpaher in Iran

Check out Humans of New York here.

Family Matters

“There’s nothing like family. These are the people who make you who you are. They’ve helped you grow, they’re responsible for the countless lessons in life that you’ve learned. It’s the memories of who you were that make them proud to see what you’ve become. They’re the ones who filtered your dreams and provided the fuel to making it a reality. They constantly give you an example of what it takes to make something happen. They give from the heart. They don’t change. There’s no way that you can ever repay them for everything that they’ve done for you, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that they know your love for them will never change.”

-Jay Z

For my sister...

My sister and I, circa '91

"Self-Reflection" by Carl Jung - Death Is Not the End

Jung Supposes tat we don't subscribe to thinking of the end, or the end result, but rather to look forward, becuse when we look forward we can gain perspective of what we want, not what we lost. If we dont look back and we can be happy - to carry on because its not the end of the world, all that's needed is a change of mind set. After all, life is all about adapting and being proactive, and so is art, so as my commitment to being an artist, and not wanting to purger that commitment, I, like many others, need to pay more attention to the present. It's not what you do for a living that makes or defines you, nor is it your friends or the scene you run in,  or your hobbies... So, what defines YOU? In a way, we can cheat death by being honest to who we are in the present. In essence, that is the force field of life.

500 Days of Summer - Expectations vs Reality

1.02: When everything crumbles. The end of life as you know it. You may as well crawl under a rock and allow yourself to rot. Close to home.

Men are More Romantic than Women...

Marina & Ulay

Marina Abramovic and Ulay started an intense love story in the 70s, performing art out of the van they lived in. When they felt the relationship had run its course, they decided to walk the Great Wall of China, each from one end, meeting for one last big hug in the middle and never seeing each other again. at her 2010 MoMa retrospective Marina performed ‘The Artist Is Present’ as part of the show, a minute of silence with each stranger who sat in front of her. Ulay arrived without her knowing it and this is what happened.

My most romantic post to date... man life is messy when love comes into play.

Louis Armstrong's Dear Old Southland

Hard to go past this. As close to perfection as it gets:

Before Midnight: I Can't Wait

"So dont forget, you're stardust."

I first watched Before Sunset when I was 15, not really understanding the real beauty of romance in it. What experience and a little bit of hindsight can do. The trilogy follows the romance of Celine and Jesse who first met in Austria 18 years ago, then again in Paris 9 years ago, again by chance, but not without the meddling of Jesse who had conspired to write a book about his experience with Celine in a new book, curiously finding himself in Paris for the European leg of his book tour, for the sole reason of bumping into Celine. In Paris, Jesse finds himself stuck in a passionless marriage, and falling yet again for Celine, and  most likely missing his flight home, entranced by her beauty.

This is quite possibly the most romantic love story in cinematic history. audiences on the edge of our seat - asking, what comes next, will it end, will they finally get together  or will they let this one slip by yet again? These characters are so close to my heart being something I have experienced before in my life, you never know what someone is or if they're yours until the end as much as you want them to be. I'm avoiding all press release of an sort in case of spoilers but I just cannot wait to see what Jesse and Celine decide to do next.

I guess a memory is never finished as long as you are alive.” You know when you see someone do something completely random but totally in their element and then you realize you love them. You wonder what you were doing your entire life without this person because you HAVE to have them in our life. Like they're a movie that you just cannot stop watching, you could watch them forever and just to be in a part of their life for a second feels like heaven. Like reality and time and space stops and ceases existence for a couple of seconds just for the two of you to have and share this moment. Existential. I love dialogue-focused narratives.

And finally, these are the best scenes from the trilogy thus far:

He convinces her...

The look, the moment

Daydream delusion
Limousine Eyelash
Oh, baby with your pretty face
Drop a tear in my wineglass
Look at those big eyes
See what you mean to me
Sweet cakes and milkshakes
I am a delusion angel
I am a fantasy parade
I want you to know what I think
Don’t want you to guess anymore
You have no idea where I came from
We have no idea where we’re going
Launched in life
Like branches in the river
Flowing downstream
Caught in the current
I’ll carry you. You’ll carry me
That’s how it could be
Don’t you know me?
Don’t you know me by now?

Jesse and Celine "call home"

Goodbyes. Forever, or just for now?

Relationships...

The confession - Life isn't all roses, on either side. 

"Baby you're gonna miss that plane...". "I know..."

Nothing like a Great Love: Johnny and Winona's Love Story

Poster couple for the 90's grunge era: Johnny and Winona were captivating apart and dynamite together. So when they split, the word mourned along with them. The following are musings from themselves and the closest confidanes of the former couple about the split:

"There’s been nothing throughout my 27 years that has been comparable to the feeling I have with Winona. There’s something inside me that knows really well, that no one else has ever known, or will ever know. Life is trial and error, but when you find the one who’s really it, there’s no mistaking it."

- Johnny Depp

"I love Winona. I’m going to love her forever. Putting her on my arm solidified it. The truth is very powerful, believe me this is not something I took lightly." - Johnny Depp

"The split in 1993 was during the filming of Ed Wood and there were days he would come crying, I felt so bad. I asked him why it happened but all he said was, ‘It wasn’t her fault, it was mine.’ And when he met Kate in January of 94, it wasn’t the same as Winona. I felt weird to be around him like he wasn’t acting like Johnny anymore. It’s almost like Winona took Johnny’s soul, Johnny’s love." - Tim Burton

“He was so desperately in love with Winona, that when they broke up, he wouldn’t admit it was over for the longest time.” - Tim Burton

Lost - Frank Ocean

Is this me?

Double D
Big full breasts on my baby (Yo we goin' to Florida)
Triple weight
Couldn't weigh the love I've got for the girl
And I just wanna know
Why you ain't been goin' to work
Boss ain't workin' ya like this
He can't take care of you like this

Now you're lost
Lost in the heat of it all
Girl you know you're lost
Lost in the thrill of it all
Miami, Amsterdam
Tokyo, Spain, lost
Los Angeles, India
Lost on a train, lost

[Verse 2]
Got on my buttercream silk shirt and it's Versace
Hand me my triple weight
So I can weigh the work I got on your girl (Too ? to live, too ? to die)
No I don't really wish
I don't wish the titties would show
No, have I ever
Have I ever let you get caught?

[Hook]

[Verse 3]
She's at a stove (Who?)
Can't believe I got her out here cookin' dope (Cookin' dope)
I promise she'll be
Whippin' meals up for a family of her own some day
Nothin' wrong (Nothin' wrong, ain't nothin' wrong)
No nothin' wrong with life
Nothin' wrong with another short plane ride
(Nothin' wrong, ain't nothin' wrong)
Through the sky (Up in the sky)
You and I (Just you and I)

[Hook]

[Outro]
Love lost ?
Love love
Love lost ?
Love love
Love lost
Love love
Love lost
Life is the substance
Then the other channel on the

On a side note - Doesn't Frank Ocean look like Malcolm X? 

Just 'cause it's Awesome

Riding a bike on the open road should be considered the most appropriate metaphor for life. Discovery, self-discovery, freeing, a journey, a starting point, a destination, exploration, recklessness, the unknown, experiences, life.

Shame: Brandon and Sissy's Argument

Raw. Sad. Familiar.

A New Favourite: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

"...I hope you live a life you're proud of, if you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again."

I just watched The Curious case of Benjamin Button on TV for the second time ever. You know those films you watch for the first time and they never truly make an impact, until you're older and all of a sudden things come full circle and make sense when you watch it again at a more mature age? This, along with The English Patient, and Le Petit Prince are some of the stand outs in that category for me. It took me time and experience to fully understand the purpose of the film. And this time, it really got to me. It's about life, the fragility of it, how accidental  it all is and the experiences and the people you meet that make it what it is. Like Daisy was for Ben, there will always be those who you love and that never fades through your expereinces, only time can tell if that person is ours in the end. In the meantime, go on living, go on loving and be open . The reason I love it so much is that it transports me to another world, the mysterious world of this mans predicament is broken down and reveals a very human story, filled with romance and (all forms of)discovery. 

The most curious thing about the film though (excuse the pun) is the fact that David Fincher, yes, the David Fincher of Fight Club, Se7en, The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network. His usually dark perversions were certainly left behind on this one, where his penchant for the more romantic comes into play. Such a timeless piece.

Daisy captivates Benjamin

Daisy and Benjamin montage - When you're in love, all you need is a bed.

"You certainly are beautiful to watch.... I want to remember us right now, just as we are."

"For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again." 

"Some people...". This scene is so pure. We are meant to be who we are always meant to be, there is no need to make excuses for who you are, and amidst all this confusion through life of to 'find' who we are, essentially reminds me of how subjective and accidental life is.You already know yourself. It's not hard, all you have to be is honest. You just need to convince yourself of that.

And finally, you just can't go past the beautiful ragtime/jazz score:

Bethena - Scott Joplin 

Dear Old Southland - Louis Armstrong 

New York's Red Light District

Four years ago, a Wall Street trader named Chris Arnade wandered into Hunts Point, a Bronx neighborhood nestled in the poorest Congressional district in the nation and often referred to as New York City's red light district. He didn't know why he was there, but he had his camera, and he started snapping photographs.

Then he came back. Again and again. Soon he started writing about what he saw there, posting both images and text on Facebook, Flickr, and Tumblr, and capturing the cycle of abuse, drugs, and sex that kept people chained to the neighborhood.

His work -- about the weapons carried by prostitutes; about abuse from pimps called Payroll, Mosquito, and Escrow; about oral sex, the currency of the desperate -- shocked many of his Wall Street colleagues, and occasionally, his three teenage daughters.

In early 2012, the New York Times featured his work. But in the past several months, much has changed: He quit his job with Citibank and now spends about five days a week with the Hunts Point crew, often working with journalist Cassie Rodenberg. His subjects have ceased to be merely subjects, he says, and they've pulled him down a twisty, intimate path from which he believes he cannot escape.

"I think what frustrated me most about the Times article was that it made it look like this is a series on prostitution," he said, "when it's in fact a series on addiction. But I would say now it's even more a story about abuse, mostly sexual abuse."

His writing, like his photos, has stayed crisp and unencumbered.

"I'm following a few subjects much more deeply," he said, "into the hospitals, into the jails, the prisons, the court system -- as well as just getting more and more access to people, in terms of going into their houses, getting more about their back stories. Most people no longer think I'm an undercover cop."

His critics call him exploitive: a privileged white man preying on poor people, mostly women. Journalists sometimes knock his methods: He doesn't hesitate to pay a prostitute $20 to take her picture, or to hand $10 to an addict in withdrawal.

To Arnade, though, what matters is how his subjects feel.

This month he visited Daphenie Hill, 22, a homeless prostitute serving time at the jail on Rikers Island.

When he arrived, Hill wrapped her arms around Arnade. Leaning over a tiny wooden table, dressed in a shapeless gray-green prison uniform, she described her first encounter with him. "I was scared," she said. "Why should I open up? But after Chris posted my picture on the Internet, I felt amazing. People commented and made me feel like I could accomplish a lot. After that, they knew my pain."

 Daphenie Hill, 22, called “Beauty,” was born and raised in Oklahoma. She was brought to New York by a pimp who promised her she could "make some mad money." She has since had nine pimps: "Got my first black eye from one, another punched me in mouth, but this guy is good to me."

Manny Quiles is a former pro boxer from Connecticut, now an addict living in a homeless shelter. Manny's career ended after several injuries left him with a right eye that is unable to focus. Unable to fight, with little other skills, he found himself homeless and turned to heroin.

 Michael and Pam smoking crack in the small crawl space under the expressway where they live.

 Michael’s new home, a crawl space he lovingly called “my cave.” At just slightly over five feet, Michael can get in and out of the space in seconds. “The police are like you,” he said to Arnade, “big and lazy. They are not, I repeat, not going to find me.”

 This photo is the first in an ongoing series in which Arnade asked subjects to show the objects they carried for self defense. Weapon: Railroad spike. Used it?  "No, but I will. Hit a john right upside the head."

 Vanessa, 35, had three children with an abusive husband. She "lost her mind, started doing heroin," after losing the children, who were taken away. The drugs led to homelessness and prostitution. When Arnade asked her how she wanted to be described, a friend jumped in. "She's the sweetest woman I know. She will give you the shirt off her back, if she has one on."

 Erik and Sonia.  “I have already destroyed myself,” said Erik. “I can’t walk by a corner with a pocket of money and not buy dope.”

 Jennifer, 21, sells her body for drugs, mostly heroin. "I'm very intelligent but sometimes I feel disgusting because of what I do. I'm not really too happy with life, but I'm happy to be alive." Jennifer grew up with foster parents. Her biological mother and father were addicts. She remembers the smell of drugs from her childhood.

 Charlie, 41, is a female pimp. “I have to work twice as hard, be twice as tough.” She lost her mother at 13, and took to the streets, selling drugs, boosting from stores, and stealing cars. Eventually, she turned to pimping.

 Brenda, 45, started doing heroin at 18. "At my lowest point, I destroyed myself. I got my four kids taken away." Still, she said she knows she was a good mother, never doing drugs in front of watchful eyes, always making sure her kids had a home-cooked meal to eat. "They thanked me even. 'I never went to bed hungry, Ma,'" she said.

 Takeesha, photographed after learning she’d had miscarriage. “I was thrown down the stairs. Will we stay together? I still love him, but you don’t see him around do you? If he works on his issues, we might be able to get together again.”

 Pam, 46, was raped at the age of 11. She now walks the streets, trying to make enough for heroin or crack. During her last stint in jail -- four years for robbery -- she wrote a series of 26 children's books, one for each letter of the alphabet. "My dream is to publish the books and be able to use the money to support my paraplegic brother in-law."

 Jackie, 28.  "You live on the streets as a girl, you get raped,” she said. “It just is." Her dream?  "I want to get my GED, become a nurse, and get my kids back. I just want my kids."

 Natalie, 41, grew up in a strict Italian Catholic family in Westchester. As she walked around Hunts Point, she shared pictures of her son, now in college, who was raised by her parents. She described him as a "wonderful, straight geek, the smartest, best kid a mother could hope for."

Wayne, pushing his bike and his scrap-metal cart up a long hill, racing to reach the metal yard before it closed. “I am blessed,” he said. “I am still here. Many others have gone. I am blessed. We are all blessed."