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July 29, 2008
One, Two, Three, GO! is Single of the Week on iTunes
Fantasía Pop, Belanova
The song One, Two, Three, GO! by Guadalajara's own Belanova made iTunes' Single of the Week, which means it is a free download (this week only), if you have iTunes installed on your computer.
It's bouncy synth-pop. Shawn said it kind of has a Go-Gos feel. I'm not saying it's for everyone. But it is free.
Posted by crispy at 04:05 PM | Comments (0)
July 20, 2008
New York, New York
View, Empire State Building
Despite Shawn's promise to help out with entries about New York and Boston, I have yet to get anything from him.
In the interest of posting some of the stuff about some of the cool things we did in New York so I can get back to the daily grind in Guadalajara, I'm going to go ahead on my own. If he wants, he can do the Boston entry.
Molly and Shawn at the Campbell Apartment
One of the coolest things we did was to go to The Campbell Apartment. It isn't an apartment now, and in fact, it never really was an apartment. It used to be an office for John W. Campbell, the railroad magnate, tucked away in a corner of Grand Central Station. It has been revived as a very cool cocktail lounge, with a hand-painted wooden beam ceiling and stained glass windows.
My saying this may reveal me as an incorrigible lush - or maybe just a fan of the horribly plush - but I think that everyone that goes to New York needs to have a drink here. It is classic New York in so many ways: big money, big room, big drinks.
Crowd, Empire State Building
New York is huge and crowded. The view from the Empire State Building (above) shows how the buildings are crowded, and the view of the Empire State Building Observatory shows how crowded the people are. This is kind of cool in some ways, as there are spots with a lot of famous or cool places that are all in a tight radius. There is hardly a walk or a cab ride that you take without seeing a slew of landmarks that you have seen on screen or read about in books. "Oh! That was the Sherry Netherland! Wow! The funky Apple Store! Cool! The Plaza!"
New York is also home to a mind-boggling number of museums that have incredible collections. We went to The Brooklyn Museum of Art because they had an exhibition of work by Takashi Murakami.
Brett at The Brooklyn Museum
The guards were a little rude there though. They wouldn't let Shawn simply walk through a section of the museum to check it out because it was 8 minutes until their posted closing time. Then, upon trying to use the bathroom located in the lobby of the museum, they again gave him a hard time because it was closing time, even though it was five minutes before closing time. He blew the guard off and went in the bathroom anyway.
We did not have much luck trying to see The Guggenheim Museum, as 80% of it was closed for the installation of an upcoming exhibition. Their web site did not really make this clear, instead talking about the two small little exhibits that remained open. To their credit, they charged a reduced price, and the two exhibits they had available were quite good. But that, combined with the fact that the outside of the building, a classic Frank Lloyd Wright design, was completely obscured by scaffolding, kind of foiled our Guggenheim experience.
The Guggenheim, New York
The ramps inside were even closed, so all we could do was get this photo of them from the lobby.
The King Cole Lounge, The St. Regis Hotel
We stopped by the St. Regis for cocktails in the King Cole Lounge. It has a mural painted by Maxfield Parrish, the trippy American painter and illustrator.
Radio City Music Hall, New York
There were many other things we did not get to see or do in New York, but hopefully we will get to return in the future for another visit.
Posted by crispy at 10:25 AM | Comments (1)
July 10, 2008
Alla cuelga mi vestido
View From Window, Manhattan
Shawn and I are still on our tour of the United States. Having spent the past month on the east coast, visiting Boston, Providence and New York City, we are now in southern Illinois. Most of the driving is now behind us. Most of the big city experience is over. Now we are spending another week with my parents, then passing through Chicago once more before returning at last to Mexico.
A lot of people have commented to me in email that they miss my blog entries. Thanks for saying so. And to those dedicated readers that have been seeing the bottom of the page creeping higher and higher, perhaps even coming here to find only a blank page, please accept my apologies. I know it is emotionally disturbing to see that. It makes it seem like the author has vanished into nonexistence. Blog entries have been few for a number of reasons.
I've been sending a little more email to individuals on the trip, as many small details have reminded me of particular people and do not seem very interesting to readers as a whole. How many people would laugh about my walking by the Museum of Folk Art in New York City by coincidence or celebrate my home town's "Specialness?" Only a select few even understand what those things mean, so while our trip has been full of many funny moments like those, they have not made it to the page.
I have also been trying out Shawn's preferred mode of travel: to travel first and blog after. He gets upset with me that I spend so much time blogging while we are actually on vacation. He thinks it would be better to just take brief notes (if that) and write about it when we return back home to boring old Guadalajara (or wherever is the relative equivalent of "home" at any given point).
Yet having now tried it, I must say that despite the logic behind taking the opportunity to experience a foreign place in a hands-on manner as much as possible, I need to write about it to process it a little. Also, it helps me to remember the best parts. I really enjoy the funky stuff that happens when traveling around the world, but I have a terrible long-term memory for the details. Already I am starting to feel the little things fading away about Boston and New York - how much did an unlimited Metrocard cost and for how long was it valid? - as is my interest in talking about them. I prefer to write about how a place makes me feel, not simply catalog what I did and what I saw. Any guide book can give better details on things like that than can my hit-or-miss memory.
Last but not least, what I feel like writing about is kind of gloomy. It is sad for me to see the land that raised us slipping slowly into chaos and disrepair, the once-great empire quietly sinking into an apathetic mediocrity, the talking heads telling us all the while that there is nothing to fear, everything will be okay. Yes, it still has a long way to fall, but what we had is gone, and despite a renewed sense of hope that change is possible, to an outsider looking in, it seems that it is all too little, too late.
This time around, the United States seems like a cartoon character that is suspended in mid-air only by the ignorance that she has no ground below to hold her up. Yet I really do not want to write about that. Despite all my caustic commentary and preparations for the oncoming darkness, it turns out that I'm not ready to face the twilight. I still want to write just a little more of the song and dance, before they ask us to pay the bill, and while we still have the chance.
Shawn said he'd help me pick out a few photos of the good stuff from our trip and give me a hand with the copy. Stay tuned for stuff that's a little more fun.
Posted by crispy at 02:13 AM | Comments (4)
July 04, 2008
Guadalajara to Host MTV's LAm Video Music Awards
The Hollywood Reporter has announced that MTV is going to hold their 15th Video Music Awards Latin America in Guadalajara at the Auditorio Telmex on October 16th.
Posted by crispy at 11:09 AM | Comments (1)