HYPERallergic

Street Art show in Nolita

2007-03-20T22:55:00.000-04:00

These pics are from earlier this month (too busy to post I guess). After hooking up with some pals in Chinatown for oodles of noodles, I headed up to "Trigr: A NYC Street Art Show" at the purePROJECT on Mulberry Street. To be honest, there was lots to see, but not much to comment on...so I'll let the pictures do the talking. Check out my post about Street Art.

NY's Outdoor Calder Exhibit

2007-03-11T23:28:00.000-04:00

One of the beauties of City Hall Park, other than its marvelous landscaping and historic feel, is the outdoor exhibits that fill its lawn and surrounding sidewalk. This last few months Alexander Calder has been on display in his full-scale glory. Picks from some impressive collections, the Whitney and the Calder Foundation, the show has some stunners [like "Seven-Legged Beast" (1957)-top, "Jerusalem Stabile" (1976)-middle, and "Three-colored Dog" (1973)-bottom] and fits perfectly in the compact patch of urban oasis.

NYC's Armenian Catholic Cathedral Goes Bye Bye

2007-03-11T23:07:00.000-04:00

I saw this in the East Village in early February and was a little sad to see this landmark building go. St. Anne's Armenian Catholic Cathedral--on E 12th St.--was dissolved last year but this year the wrecking ball made sure its romanesque walls crumbled--god forbid it becomes a nightclub--but it seems that the real motive is something else more sinister than dancing, boozing or drugs.

Good bye St. Anne's...but thankfully the Armenian Catholics have found a new home in the hipper than thou Williamsburg...from the East Village to Williamsburg, hmmmm...maybe those Armenian Catholics thrive among art-volk?

A Sunday Visit to Linda Ganjian's studios

2007-03-11T22:59:00.000-04:00

Veken and I perused the Long Island City Studios of Linda & Jesse today. Read more about this at my blog.

A Bushwick Hipster Smokes a Cigarette

2007-03-05T01:08:00.000-05:00

A comical tale of a luftmensch enjoying the simple pleasures of a highly addictive substance in the leisure of her loft's bathroom as she contemplates a new avant-garde decorative plan.

2007-02-25T23:34:00.000-05:00

A view of 42Nd street at night

Kill the Alarm performing "Uncovered" at Arlene's Grocery (LES) - Sat. Feb. 17, 2007 at 11:30 PM

2007-02-19T21:26:00.000-05:00

My SpongeBob Pinata

2006-08-11T16:42:00.000-04:00

Before his demise, SpongeBob enjoyed lounging in my office. He was in a state of bliss, seemingly unaware of his tragic death later that day at a Chelsea birthday party.

An evening in Rye

2006-08-05T15:56:00.000-04:00

Walking through the nighttime street of Rye in Sussex.

In London's Chinatown

2006-08-05T15:51:00.000-04:00

We discovered that dining after 11pm in London requires a trip to Chinatown for a full meal.

Around the city of London

2006-08-05T15:45:00.000-04:00

Soho Pride; in the tube; on the London Eye

London - Serpentine Gallery

2006-08-05T15:43:00.000-04:00

Rem Koolhaus 24 interview series at London's Serpentine Gallery proved to be a social event with some amazing speakers.

the hot FUSE sidewalk scrolling LEDs on Seventh Avenue

2006-07-24T14:25:00.000-04:00

These popped up in front of the FUSE streetfront on Seventh Avenue about a month ago. Across from Penn Station, the music station pops even amongst the visual chaos of the neighborhood. Fused (pardon the pun) into the sidewalk, it's almost impossible to read the text but then again who cares when it looks as amazing as this...I often choose Seventh Avenue as my favorite neighborhood route just to get a glimpse of this glorious media eyecandy.

hanging in woodstock

2006-07-24T14:18:00.000-04:00

Houri, Mika and Shant were all in the mix during the post-Open House dining experience.

Hanging at Nubar's open house

2006-07-24T12:24:00.000-04:00

=

Ani, Shant, Nishan, Alex, Houri and a whole slew of peeps were there for the annual event in the catskills.

Rachel in NYC

2006-07-12T12:29:00.000-04:00

A few months ago Rachel G was in town from Boston (where I fear she is languishing until she moves to NYC)...so I snapped a pic that recently surfaced to capture the elation we shared when she stopped by my office for lunch!

Cocktail Reception at AGBU & HMEM Nubar Club (Alexandria)

2006-04-17T21:36:00.000-04:00

All the other youth ditched me and convinced a bus driver to drive them back to Cairo so I was stuck at the late reception dreading the idea that I would return to Cairo after midnight (which I did!)....it's 3:36am now and I have to catch a cab to the airport at 4:45am....oy!

Having a few drinks & shots at the Montazah Palace Gardens w Sevana

2006-04-17T21:25:00.000-04:00

Eating at Tikka Grill & Fish Market

2006-04-17T21:23:00.000-04:00

At the Alexandria Library

2006-04-17T21:17:00.000-04:00

Snapshot from the bus

2006-04-17T21:14:00.000-04:00

Boghos Nubar & other monuments on the church grounds in Alexandria

2006-04-17T21:11:00.000-04:00

Alexandria's Armenian Church & Patriachate

2006-04-17T20:59:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Alexandria

2006-04-17T20:38:00.000-04:00

Cairo at night

2006-04-17T20:30:00.000-04:00

Centennial Concert w Soprano Hasmik Papian & Pianist Vardan Mamikonian (Gomhoreya Theatre)

2006-04-17T20:16:00.000-04:00

HMEM Cairo invited all of us to a Lunch

2006-04-17T18:41:00.000-04:00

The event reminded me of an iftar and it was nicely laid out in the Cairo Nubar complex.

Blessing of the Bread, Salt & Water by the Cairean Archbishop

2006-04-17T18:36:00.000-04:00

Easter Procession tp the Armenian Patriachate (Cairo)

2006-04-16T19:55:00.000-04:00

Easter Sunday Mass at St. Gregory Church (Cairo) - Part 2

2006-04-16T19:39:00.000-04:00

Easter Sunday Mass at St. Gregory Church (Cairo) - Part 1

2006-04-16T19:17:00.000-04:00

The church is situated by a major road and part of a nice compound with the Patriarchate. Most of us stayed outside for the majority of the 2.5 service. Other than a sudden shower (lasting 5 minutes) the weather was nice and rather mild.

Grand Ball at the Marriott: Part 5 (misc.)

2006-04-16T19:06:00.000-04:00

Grand Ball at the Marriott: Part 4 (dancing)

2006-04-15T21:30:00.000-04:00

Grand Ball at the Marriott: Part 3 (speeches & cakecutting)

2006-04-15T20:58:00.000-04:00

This one will definitely be added to the "Definitive Guide to AGBU Cakecutting ceremonies"...which will certainly be published by AGBU Bulgaria...(inside joke)...you couldn't imagine how many cakecutting photos we receive at the AGBU Press Office--you'd think we had a pastry chef on staff.

Grand Ball at the Marriott: Part 2 (Nune & her band)

2006-04-15T20:39:00.000-04:00

Grand Ball at the Marriott: Part 1 (my table)

2006-04-15T20:25:00.000-04:00

Anita, Salpi & me

2006-04-15T13:21:00.000-04:00

Two of my favorite people in the world...left, Anita (from AGBU NY) and right, Salpi (from AGBU Toronto).

book & photo exhibition at the hotel

2006-04-15T12:57:00.000-04:00

The book exhibit drew a small but devoted crowd...it displayed books published by AGBU Egypt over a ten-year period (1995-2005).

the stroll back to the hotel

2006-04-15T09:13:00.000-04:00

Kevin, Mary, their kids, and I headed back to the hotel via the scenic Nile route...

Sat morning: Museum & lunch at La Pacha

2006-04-15T08:31:00.000-04:00

They didn't let me bring my camera into the museum (dammit!) so I had to hand it off to a tour organizer. I walked around the museum alone listening to my MP3 player, favorites for the stroll were..Fall Out Boy's Dance, Dance...Dave McCullum's B*itch...MAW (with India) doing To Be In Love (Original MAW Mix)...Josh Rouse's Winter In the Hamptons...Praxis' (with Kathy Brown) Turn Me Out...

I finally recovered it at La Pacha restaurant where we lunched with 300 of our closest friends...so I swtiched back from audio to visual.

at the end of the night with my farmer's tan in my hotel room...

2006-04-14T20:05:00.000-04:00

I can't stop laughing at the farmer's tan I'm getting...or maybe it's a redneck tans since my neck always feels extremely hot...with the schedule pf the upcoming three days there is no hope that I will even it out

we went to the Casino, gawked at the gamblers, left & started to get silly...

2006-04-14T19:42:00.000-04:00

we ended up in one of the ballrooms that looked like the foyer of the original palace (pre-Marriott of course)...while I thought this place was a dump when I first arrived now I realize that it's a maze in parts with a shopping mall, pool, jacuzzi, gym, casino, terrace/restaurant, hookah bar, belly dancing bar, half a dozen bars/lounges/restaurants, conference rooms, ballrooms and who knows what else...one bar (which looks like a hustler bar) is extremely dark and I plan to check it out later this weekend if only for the story...it is a miniature city of sorts...I've seen male and female escorts hawking their wares in the corridors and on the terrace, so who knows what else I'll find...there were a bunch of gamblers tossing US$100's like they were crack to hookers...a strange, peculiar place this Marriott...

Late Friday at the Marriott

2006-04-14T19:33:00.000-04:00

After shopping I hung out in my room, went to the gym...which is quite nice to be honest...better than David Barton in many ways but much small...then met up with some of the younger peeps hanging on the terrace...

shopping trip: part 4c (khan al-khalid--souk shopping on a dug up street)

2006-04-14T15:12:00.000-04:00

Somehow this snapshot captured the whole Cairean souk experience

shopping trip: part 4b (khan al-khalid--souk shopping)

2006-04-14T14:41:00.000-04:00

The first picture is for my peeps in NYC...since the guy tending the booth in the white t-shirt is wearing a Puerto Rican flag...sorry the picture is blurry but I avoided using a flash in the souk...Nuyoricans reprezent...

shopping trip: part 4a (khan al-khalid--souk shopping)

2006-04-14T14:33:00.000-04:00

a luring idea...walking through the souk was highly disappointing...Abdul asked me how long I wanted to linger and I said 45 minutes would be enough, so I wandered through the market and realized that it was too long...having lived in West Asia there was nothing unique about this experience and certainly nothing compared to Aleppo's old souk...it was rather cheesy and reminded me of street markets in Brooklyn but crammed into a narrow alley (though our Brooklyn arabs are definitely cooler)...I didn't buy anything and ended up back at the place Abdul and I designated to meet 5 minutes early...the city really has no obvious edge...

shopping trip: part 3 (cemetery in Islamic Cairo--city of the dead)

2006-04-14T14:21:00.000-04:00

It was surreal to see people living in the cemeteries of Cairo...so I insisted that Abdul (officially my bff after 45 min. together--though I was wondering if we were more considering he kept squeezing my knee and touching me) drive me through one of the ones we saw...it was creepy and reminded me of Zeitoun Khan in Aleppo (how's that for obscure references)...the people were a little aggressive about us driving through their hood and yelled at us a few times...oh well, I'm an ignorant westerner anyway...

shopping trip: part 2 (cairean street snapshots)

2006-04-14T14:14:00.000-04:00

shopping trip: part 1 (old cairo strip mall--perfume shop)

2006-04-14T13:57:00.000-04:00

My driver, Abdul, suggested I try this totally undescript strip mall in Old Cairo because the quality of stuff at Khan al-Khalid sucked and he was right...after a couple of shops I ended up in a perfumerie (is that a word?) and they made me smell a slew of perfumes...I had no time for their bullshit so I would often cut him off and tell him to show me what I asked for...he insisted I was part Egyptian and told him eventually I was from Aleppo...and for some reason they kept calling me Lebanese...I didn't get that...then the salesman called me Indian...and I realized that was a racist way of calling me cheap...then he came around and I convinced him to throw more stuff into the deal and I got a couple of free items...so essentially I was paying for the experience...the stuff was good but I could've hageled down if I wanted...but they pissed me off enough that I wasn't having it...I hate people assuming westerners are chumps...I even made the salesman take a photo of me (pictured top left)...it was all rather fun...the place was rather nice and westerners streamed in...they also made me and my driver coffee (left)...

more Egyptian street snapshots...

2006-04-14T08:07:00.000-04:00

I caught Anita playing with her crackberry...and she quickly hid it

2006-04-14T07:54:00.000-04:00

Anita just goes to prove that someone can go from luddite to techie faster than a New York minute...she just needed to find the right technology and the blackberry gave her to push she needed it.

Friday morning's session of "Armenian Education & Armenian Language Instruction" at the Marriott

2006-04-14T07:36:00.000-04:00

Yervant Zorian presents his new software that will teach the Armenian language and history via the web.

The Armenian-language event was attended by a wide array of AGBU members and educators.

I met a friend of a friend for dinner & drinks

2006-04-13T20:05:00.000-04:00

Sanna is a finnish journalist living in Cairo...we chatted, and were later joined by a finnish egyptologist friend of hers...they were rather melancholy...it depressed me a bit by the end...but I was happy to meet them...they gave me warnings of the direness of Cairean nightlife...

AGBU welcome table in the lobby of the Marriott

2006-04-13T20:00:00.000-04:00

(for TJ: Anie Boghosian is the one of the right)

Lunch at the Sakkara Country Club

2006-04-13T19:49:00.000-04:00

Kevin & Mary

2006-04-13T19:46:00.000-04:00

AGBU Tour buses parked at Sakkara

2006-04-13T19:37:00.000-04:00

Vendors at the Sakkara step pyramid

2006-04-13T19:31:00.000-04:00

The amazing step pyramid of Sakkara

2006-04-13T19:25:00.000-04:00

Me with a bunch of Armos in Memphis looking at a pharoah on his back..

2006-04-13T19:14:00.000-04:00

Egyptian street snapshot

2006-04-13T18:52:00.000-04:00

The sweatshirt in the middle says it all...only at an Armenian event kids...

2006-04-13T15:01:00.000-04:00

A few candid moments with the Sphinx

2006-04-13T14:47:00.000-04:00

I was hoping for an intimate moment with the Ancient Egyptian but he was playing hard to get...so I settled for a kiss on the chin

I thought the Sphinx was definitely cooler than the Pyramids--the three great pyramids must have a great PR agent since they were rather un-extraordinary...maybe I'm just jaded...

no comment...

2006-04-13T14:39:00.000-04:00

This shot pretty much cost me US$10...but it kind of is the moneyshot...I kinda felt like an Arab Pride Day float...

The man who hustled me into riding a camel...

2006-04-13T13:08:00.000-04:00

he said he studied in Alabama...considering how broken his English was I believe it...

By popular request (i.e. talia), Anita at the Great Pyramid...

2006-04-13T13:02:00.000-04:00

Me at the Great Pyramid of Giza...

2006-04-13T12:46:00.000-04:00

Exhausted, I still managed to make it to the buses and trek to the pyramids...

My Cairo Hotel Room (Marriott) & the view from my balcony

2006-04-12T20:40:00.000-04:00

Lunch with Iram on Camel Row (Edgewater Rd in London)

2006-04-12T20:34:00.000-04:00

me at JFK getting ready to go...new glasses

2006-04-12T20:31:00.000-04:00

Starr Street Flag

2006-04-11T08:46:00.001-04:00

This morning at 6:30am on Starr Street I noticed someone had displayed an American flag in a neighborhood better known for its Boricqua pride.

a snapshot of my commute...

2006-04-06T15:43:00.000-04:00

My morning commute on the M train...

I'm ready for my close-up Mr. DeMille...

2006-04-03T14:46:00.000-04:00

I caught Hrip in an intimate moment with herself in PhotoShop...

UN txtin thurs

2006-04-03T14:30:00.000-04:00

Here I am, trying to look serious as I text during the UN...

UN forum...over...relief...

2006-04-03T14:08:00.000-04:00

The UN event last Thursday that took it all out of me...thankfully the turnout was good. Now, time to move on...

2006-03-23T17:04:00.000-05:00

I was making fun of Ani as she spoke on the phone before the Stand-up comedy started. A hardcore crew of Armos were on hand to cheer on Steve O. from Philly....March 18, 2006.

2006-01-22T20:28:00.000-05:00

Recent grafitti on Metropolitan Avenue near Roebling (Williamsburg, Brooklyn)
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2006-01-22T20:24:00.000-05:00

My friend & neighbor Amy created this box to deliver a long awaited letter that included a short story of me falling in love...it was very sweet.
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2006-01-07T14:41:00.000-05:00

A corner of my loft this afternoon. This is the time of the day that it seems to glow like a lightbox.
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2006-01-06T20:25:00.000-05:00

A snapshot of Bed-Stuy on Armenian Christmas 2006.
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2006-01-06T20:24:00.000-05:00

Nagaraja, India, Kushan Period, 1st-2nd century A.D.Brooklyn Museum
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2006-01-04T22:33:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what I was doing but it was fun.
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2006-01-04T22:26:00.000-05:00

I love this NYE2006 pic because of the cloud of glitter that hangs overhead...that's pretty fabulous.
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2005-08-11T01:03:00.000-04:00

Post clubbing at Pawn Shop (Miami) with Aida.
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2005-08-11T00:39:00.000-04:00

In the hotel room (Montreal).
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2005-08-11T00:38:00.000-04:00

My mom at the CCA exhibit with me - July 29th (Montreal).
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2005-08-11T00:37:00.000-04:00

A model of an unconstructed 1960s project in Montreal. From the Montreal 1960 exhibit at the CCA.
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2005-08-11T00:17:00.000-04:00

Me at Rumi in South Beach during FOCUS 2005...I love like I was having a much better time than I was...
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2005-04-23T03:03:00.000-04:00

KFC at the corner of Myrtle & Bushwick Aves.
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2005-04-23T03:01:00.000-04:00

Mathis' Easter portrait at the MoMA.
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2005-04-23T03:00:00.000-04:00

Hanging out at the MoMA with Dan Flavin.
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2005-04-23T02:59:00.000-04:00

Great graffiti on the east side of Starr Street just south of Wilson Avenue...the building is being renovated now and this is already obstructed behind boards.
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2005-04-23T02:58:00.000-04:00

Hanging out in Chelsea with Mathis...
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2005-04-23T02:57:00.000-04:00

Chompin' down at Mandarin Oriental before the Paul Taylor Dance Company show....
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2005-04-23T02:56:00.000-04:00

Mathis took to picture of me at the MoMA...I think it is one of the best pictures of me ever....the parts of the sculpture resemble chess pieces....and my smirk makes it all seem very calculated and aloof.
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2005-04-03T23:32:00.000-04:00

I met up with Sameena & Johanna at Zoe's in Soho today, it's amazing how soothing it was to be with both of them. I hadn't seen Sameena for eight years but it felt as if no time had passed, while Jo simply gets more sophisticated and learned each time I see her (which is far too rare). I love them both.
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2005-04-02T11:12:00.000-05:00

Anti-War rally in Central Park on March 19, 2005. The crowd wasn't large and the speakers fairly predictable. The only real frustration I had was how they pancaked the issues of the day into what I believed to be an anti-iraq war rally.
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2005-03-28T00:00:00.000-05:00

My Newsom chair hangs from above, Jae's drawing is against the wall while the clutter of my loft hangs around.
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2005-03-27T21:53:00.000-05:00

In DUMBO
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2005-03-27T21:52:00.000-05:00

Francesco in Central Park (Feb 2005)
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