Our dear designer Kim is leaving Boston to go to New York, we had drinks at this bar appropriately named 21 amendment.
Allie is my neighbor in the office, we're having a nose contest.
Kim and Jim
Group.
Recently in encounters Category
Walked around Harvard over the weekend. Saw this little fella.
Touch Down in Boston, Driving the rental car off of the airport lot
I just can't wait to try Boston's Lobster, so this is the first room service I ordered. It's delicious.
Walking about in downtown, trying to find details on getting an iphone.
Drove up to the dealership to get a car, and on my way back, I decided to drop by and check out my new office. I know the office is a mansion, but I didn't know its in the middle of a forest. Very charming!
This is it, I feel like... I'm in an X-men movie.
The Car.
Newly signed apartment, a bit out of my budget, but I loved it too much to pass on.
The furniture arrived soon after...
I got a blister already at this point...
Two blisters...
By the time I finished with the bed and took this out, its already 12 midnight, I'm absolutely exhausted
.
West Elm furniture... they are more difficult to assemble than Ikeas... Three blisters.
Continued work pays off the next day, now just waiting for the electronics.
I love Bravia (think it was because of their ads) and I am absolutely impressed with digital signals, its like watching people acting in my room.
Enjoying my first night.. stress free...
America, I missed you...
Da Zha Lan before City's more recent glamorous days was a dump, and before people's republic was city's red light district. Now the city pured millions into a revitalization project. I heard a lot about it and decided to pay a visit. When I got close to it, I felt like I'm in Xin Tian Di in Shang Hai, its such a film set, everything is brand spanking new, and... old at the same time. I am happy for Da Zha Lan, this area is in a disparate need for face lift, but to have it completely demolished and turned into a... even older, distant era than before, I question its value and authenticity, for a brief moment I felt the area was not built for me, it no longer belongs to the people that lived in Beijing, its just for tourists, then very quickly I realized, maybe its for both, a reminder for Beijingers as well, as we were deprived of this part of history for so long also.
Cory brought us to his favorite tea house tonight. One interesting aspect of tea drinking is the relationship between water and tea leaves. Unlike coffee, the leaf releases its flavor bit by bit, so naturally, as the water sit longer, the flavor becomes stronger. The tea drinking etiquette therefore involves an "interim pot" which is called "公壶" (sharing pot). A pot full of tea is poured into this pot first, and then poured into the cups of each drinkers, this eliminates the concern of uneven flavors between the first guest and last guest.
This pot is an interim pot. It only receives brewed tea without leaves. The designer got rid of the lid entirely, and made the entry system on the bottom. the design inside essentially is an upside down funnel, water is pured into the pot and when its flipped, water stays around the funnel and doesn't spill out. To emphasize the design even more, the shape of the pot is made into an lucky peach, a symbol for longevity and long life. I loved this design decision, its one of the few shapes that involves a vertical line. The designer is using it to contrast how the lid, which will require a horizontal line for the cut, is not there. Very clever.
The tea house is on Dong Si Shi Tiao street. near Sony Certified service center.
I was working out in my gym yesterday, when I turned on the TV this is what I saw. The usual crappy drama, but this time with my friend in it! Lu's on TV. Playing a virgin too! hahahaha.
An ad that advertises Durex vibrating ring. I'd fire my self if I created this crap.
Got this book from Wieden Kennedy a while back, just saw it now when I returned home, oops, i meant Wieden "+" Kennedy. Its a picture book about the employees, a day in their life from anything to everything. Some interesting pictures, mostly diary style point-and-shoot pictures of mundane everyday stuff.
In the book there's a book mark and it says the following in English, Japanese, Dutch, and Chinese:
April Foos was written and photographed by the employees of Wieden+Kennedy Portland, New York, London, Amsterdam, shanghai and Tokyo on the occasion of W+K's 25th anniversary, April 1, 2007.
It was printed by ColorGraphics in Seattle using its Green Process, which, compared to standard printing, saved 150 fully grown trees, 63,933 gallons of water, 106 million BTUs of energy, 7074 pounds of solid waste, 13,929 pounds of greenhouse gasses, 188 pounds of aluminum and three pounds of volatile organic compound emissions. The paper is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council for responsibly managed forests.
While I liked this book for the idea it stood for, I didn't like the photos in them. Crafty photos are getting rarer and rarer these days, people need to respect their position behind a camera lense, not abuse it.
Saw this cool thing walking down lower east side today
Chloe's friend Cai Xin gave us a exclusive tour in the UN. This is the desk of secretary general of the UN security council.
General assembly, China's desk.
Me Relaxing with Brian, Caroline, and their friend Dennis at a bar in east village.
Met some really nice people at JWT today. Loved the new office space. Also, very surprised to see Christine, my artcenter friend walking by, what are the odds! This concludes my trip in New York. It was an exciting trip, went to the UN today, tired, will post them later.
Second round with saatchi went well... I think. Gorgeous weather outside and this is a better view of the city compare to the other day. Thank you John and Paul for seeing me of course.
Chole finally made it to New York, we went to Pastis for a coffee break and talked about our plans. I found this really cool packet of crispy Brittany crepes that came with our ice cream. Very delicious.
At night, we went to Rice to Riches on Mott and Spring. This is Chole and her college buddy from Tsing Hua.
My favorite store in SOHO
This is Momofuku Saam, on 2nd ave and 13th. Really really good food. I never thought kimchee, raw oysters and roasted pork would go well so nicely together! Amazing.
This is Last night. Caroline suggested a tapas restaurant called 1492. Very delicious as well. This week started off very nicely food wise. Lets hope everything else does too...
One thing I hate about America is wastefulness, people seem to care less compare to the rest of the world. I bought one plug converter from Radio Shack and this is the receipt I got. I put a normal receipt next to compare its size. It's ridiculous.
View outside of Saatchi office's window. New York has been a bit gloomy ever since I got into the city. I always liked the view out of this office though.
I love this chair(s)
14th street train station.
Brian took me to this really kick ass Sake Bar near St. Marks called Decibel.
Dark, but cozy, this place offers New Yorkers a variety of Japanese rice wine, sake, even plum wines.
Saiman Chow the up and coming director and Brian.
One Thing I love about New York is its Museums, Cooper Hewit and Guggenheim are two of my favorites. Mike and his mom decided to join too.
Cai Guo-Qiang is showcasing his work at Guggenheim, saw that today. Before installing these cars, Cai built a model of the interior of the museum and placed toy cars to investigate the exact position of the installation.
Guggenheim was actually closed on Thursdays, so we went to the next block to Cooper Hewit.
A very nice exhibit on Rococo movement. For those of you thats not familiar with Rococo, its pretty much the mother of Art Nouveau movement.
Afterwards, we went to the most expensive museum to get into - New York MOMA. ticket cost 20 dollars. But man, if you like modern art, I do have to say this is the best in the world. It has all the text book art works and more. This is Mike's mom, checking out a tree.
Thought this is pretty funny.
Esquire Cover proofs the famous soup can, and Andy Worhol.
On the 5th floor, it had a show on technology integrating with nature. There's one tiny robot, no longer than the thumb nail, that could fly. Scary stuff.
Mercedez Benz developed this octagon modular joint for its frames to save weight and gaining strength at the same time.
Color Chart Exhibit, a whole exhibit showcasing our understanding of colors.
I don't like obligatory silence, people only choose it to avoid certain confrontations they're yet to be ready of. So they choose to ignore it, set it aside and fill the void with typically a type of interpretation of the situation in their favor. Its a shallow minded way of dealing with adult life, a cowardly way. Every time people force themselves to refrain from communicating, they miss out on a chance to make their heart grow. - Thoughts from Jianwai SOHO Starbucks.
Today marks the last day for Chinese residents to light up their fireworks, legally at least. 15th day of the lunar new year also bares the tradition of eating sticky rice balls with sweet stuffing in them, representing the full moon. I've always loved it since I have a sweet tooth, but today, man, I ate so many at work (because they're free). The chocolate ones was so fattening I stopped right after just having one, well maybe its because I've had so many other flavors before already, but anyways, I was baffled at how two things can both taste so good when they're separate but so bad when they're combined... Believe me people, hocolate and sticky rice paste.. they.. don't.. blend... well...
Polaroid of the week.
The first one is the terminal in SFO, I loved the yellow lighting. It made the pass way futuristic.
Encounter is one of my favorite architectures in LA. Apparently its under some renovations.
Second, is the MTA building in Downtown Los Angeles on Valentines day.
3rd street and 110 fwy entrance.
Mom got Midori some outfits, dunno know how he feels about it though.
Went to Disney Concert Hall, we watched some suites and concertos by Bach, Vivaldi, Handel and Marcelo. I'm not a fan of french court music of the 1700s, I was mostly interested in going inside of the concert hall.
outside
entrance
Driving in traffic on the 10 by Downtown... ah, the memories.
happy new year everyone
