p h o t o s
brooklyn (fall/winter 06)
serious cheesage (12 kinds!) at katie's 30th birthday dinner (yes i am a geek for making signs)
me and the birthday girl
annie, me, and flora
a separate reality
katie, annie, and mike
lena, brina, david, and flora
annie and me
big smiles: adam, me, and saisha happy our first semester's over
me with straight hair
i was invited to be a judge on mark kostabi's game show 'name that painting'...
the contestants: glenn o'brien, randy jones (the cowboy from the original village people), and michel gondry
wall o' names
dollar bills flying through the air
brina votes yes and no
three little indians on halloween
color-coordinated cotton candy at coney island
japan (aug 06)
first stop, tokyo:
only $126 for this cubic watermelon in shibuya
in japan, one sends melons (like this $84 canteloupe) instead of flowers to sick people
andré, tsering, and the freshest tofu i've ever eaten
placards inscribed with wishes at meiji shrine:
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maple leaves
kimono-clad dogs in a pram!
harajuku puppy
the japanese rockabilly guys who dance at the entrance to yoyogi park every sunday: (video clips)
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me and the gang
at least a dozen bands were playing on this one strip of sidewalk in yoyogi park, all in a row: (video clips)
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fireworks over tokyo bay (for 90 minutes nonstop!)
the mori building
view from tsering and andré's roof
balconies on kappabashi dori (the kitchen supply street full of stores selling plastic food)
plastic yakitori
plastic mackerel
kawaii!
pagoda at asakusa kannon shrine (aka senso-ji)
lantern at entrance to senso-ji
holy smoke
fortune-telling sticks (i got 'the best fortune,' part of which said 'you will gradually become famous and peaceful')
bad fortunes get tied here or to tree branches
the philippe starck-designed asahi building (aka 'the golden turd')
the pond at ueno park is overrun with lotuses
tentacles
serious sashimi
then i traveled south to okayama with tsering and her friend danielle...
amazing boutique in okayama selling a gazillion varietals of japanese honey
how bananas come
anywhere green, you can hear cicadas buzzing
okayama-jo (aka the 'crow castle')
nice window
an entire train decorated with pictures of anpanman
takoyaki (octopus balls) at a fair in a tiny town called wake
masks
we were there during the obon festival, so lots of girls were dressed up in yukatas
there's not much to do in okayama on a wednesday night...
my yukata
speeding past rice paddies on the shinkansen (bullet train)
on to naoshima, a tiny island in the inland sea that's home to a tadao ando-designed contemporary art museum...
miss nervous heart on the ferry
perfect okayama peach at the beach (they're a local speciality, and can cost as much as $8 each!)
asymmetrical composition
bruce nauman neon sculpture at benesse house
artwork by kan yasuda at benesse house
fancy museum lunch
hiroshi sugimoto photos installed outdoors
cai guo qiang's 'cultural melting bath' (a hot tub on the beach)
yayoi kusama's polka-dotted pumpkin
dan is an expert BBQer
we slept in a mongolian yurt on the beach
the roof inside
tsering and our yurt (aka bert!)
sitting in the sea
shrine designed by hiroshi sugimoto
cute little altar
another cute altar
not sure what this is for, but i like it
kusama pumpkin
then tsering and i took the shinkansen to kyoto, where we met andré...
bizarre restaurant mascot
andré and me at the entrance to kiyomizu-dera ('clear water' temple)
tsering and me on the veranda
there's a sacred spring in this mountain...
if you drink the springwater, your wishes may come true
three of us at kinkaku-ji (the golden pavilion), where we saw a famous russian sumo wrestler!
serene scene
happy
make a wish
it's pretty much impossible to take a picture of ryoan-ji, the famous 15th-century zen rock garden on the outskirts of kyoto
mossy heaven
lilies and koi in kyoyo-chi pond
rocks in bibs
tsering and andré at ryoanji
honest-to-goodness geishas between shifts in gion
fushimi-inari shrine outside kyoto, where thousands of orange torii line a 4 km path up a mountain
prehistoric-looking shrine in the woods
then i went to osaka to visit mayumi (aka oof)...
oof and her prosthetic pygmies
in front of pika's house
we drove to kobe, where their band afrirampo played a show in a tiny jazz bar called the big apple
oof's boyfriend shinryo and i worked the merch table (and i learned how to say '1800' and '2500' in japanese!)
this picture doesn't even begin to capture the amazingness that is afrirampo
video clips:
pika drumming ...
more pika ...
oof on guitar ...
afrirampo ...
singalong
shinryo's friend keiko
japanese-style toilet (the tank has a sink attached that starts running when you flush)
oof's obon altar (the eggplant horse is so that her ancestors can come back on horseback)
kitchen window
bike with umbrella stand
following oof around osaka
in front of the oden restaurant
osaka castle
geisha and samurai
oof and me
and finally back to tokyo...
view from the mori tower (tsering and andré's building is the one in the front with the green cylinder on the roof)
me and hazy tokyo
i really wanted to smuggle this back home
tsering, andré, and the aftermath of our last dinner together
private dining room
brooklyn (winter 05-spring 06)
mc rob bronco
soft at 119 ingraham:
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the stage
katie and anjali
fireworks
watertower
sonia, charles, melissa, and craig
mike and annie at my birthday brunch
ahmad and sirin
anthony, laura, and rob
lesley, jamie, and me
me and mike w
keara, flora, and dani
michael and rob
me and dave
katie, lena, and dan
me and mike c
mike, sirin, and ahmad
me and sirin
queen lena
scrabble
group picture in my living room
anthony and me at katie's birthday dinner
la famiglia
ladies who brunch
ashley and lena
flora channeling yoko
me and peter going to the sculpture center gala
still life with taleggio
rob the poker king
ahmad at my house
soft at the delancey
softer
charlottesville, va (feb 06)
kristin's new printing press
ahmad, kristin, and sirin at the downtown mall
upstanding citizens
tree elf
me and the rotunda
dead flowers
cheesefest for kristin's 30th birthday
kristin, nathan, and tyler
someone's having a good time!
i am too sad to tell you
mannequin
eleven years
me, sirin, and kristin at the c&o
ahmad at guadalajara
interpretive dancing at the woollen mills
ahmad strikes a pose
trip down memory lane
be nice or leave!
2006 brooklyn, japan, charlottesville
2005 india, thailand, hong kong, macau, venice, london, skaneateles
2004
saas fee, reykjavik, brooklyn, milan, skaneateles
2003 brooklyn, parma, milano, torino, lago di garda, madrid, berlin, lago maggiore, capalbio, venezia, prague, london, genoa, lugano, istanbul
2002 brooklyn, frankfurt, kassel, milano, venezia, paris, torino, amsterdam, bologna, grazie, mantova