And light it up

☛ (Dominic Wilcox = extraordinaire!)
☛  WOW = See also Joshua Lowenfels Works of Art, NYC.
☛  Dominic Wilcox The Lost Sketchbooks

Light out

John Singer Sargent, en plein air, in a yacht (possibly the Constellation), with his shade umbrella strapped to his leg. And why not?

Strap it on and light out. Before it's too late. Go!

Wye Mill

Lovely autumn day Road Trip with good friends to Wye Grist Mill on the Eastern Shore.

Chocolate and Heaven

Sent from inside the Smithsonian Resident Associates all-day seminar program entitled Chocolate: From Mayan Worship to Modern Wonder, hosted by the National Museum of the American Indian. (In a pleasant 4th floor room, with big floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Mall and the elm trees turning autumnal colors. With free wifi!)

This chocolate bar was the Best Of Show bar among all the afternoon tastings IMO: Labooko Nicaragua 50, "dark-milk", made in Austria. A very close second were the Kaka'wa Cocoa Beans, made in Austin, Texas, of all places.

Morning program =
1- Mesoamerican Chocolate until 1518 (Dr. Cameron L. McNeil, anthropologist) and
2- Chocolate Becomes European, 1518-1850 (Dr. Marcy Norton, GW prof)
Afternoon program =
1- Cooking demo by the sou chef for the Mitsitam Cafe, NMAI :
 -++- Coco Seared Scallops with Argula and Orange
 -++- Chocolate and Chile Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Pumkin Puree, Wilted Brussel Sprouts, and New Mexico Chile White Chocolate Sauce
2- Chocolate Meltdown and Tasting (run by our local chocolatier Biagio Abbatiello, owner of Biagio Fine Chocolate, and trendy and cool NYC chocolate critic Mark Christian, creator of the chocolate review site c-spot.com (which is not yet live, which is a cryin' shame).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

☛ Elixir Makers : Kakawa Chocolate House, Santa Fe, NM
☛ Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao, ed. Cameron L. McNeil (2009)
☛ Sacred Gifts, Profane Pleasures: A History of Tobacco and Chocolate in the Atlantic World, Marcy Norton (2010)

Location:Jefferson Dr SW,Washington D.C.,United States

Read

Much as it distresses me to laud anything having whatsoever, even remotely, to do with The City of Mossy Teeth, this looks to be an excellent exhibit: André Kertész: On Reading at the Carnegie Museum of Art.

The full gallery of all the images is here. Good stuff.

Atrium + Whipped Cream

You’re just too cool to be true.

Can’t take my hands off of you.

(latest addition to the Observe Closely household: Steve's Smash-Hit. I am so on board.)

A Reader’s Ode to the iPad (to the 4 Seasons' “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You,” by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio), Pogue's Posts, by David Pogue, NYT Tech section.
You’re just too cool to be true.
Can’t take my hands off of you.
You’ve got a screen I can touch.
And you don’t cost all that much.
For years I kept hope alive
And at long last you’ve arrived.
You’re just too cool to be true.
Can’t take my hands off of you.

And we're (finally!) rolling again

Socially Sanctioned Screaming.

I. am. back.

Sensuality is the new conceptualism

This quote is from R.M. Vaughn's recent review in the Globe and Mail, of Nava Waxman's (!?) encaustic show, entitled Light of Reverie, at Engine Gallery in Toronto:

. . . And then it occurred to me that I’ve actually seen a lot of beeswax on the walls lately. Perhaps the stuttering economy, the omniscience of cold digital reproduction, and the overall sense of exhaustion (ideological, theoretical, and pictorial) that pervades too many exhibitions of late have all combined to make the homey feel of encaustic works more attractive.

Viewers need a hug, and encaustic works, whatever their failings (the foremost being a tendency amongst some purveyors to equate humble wax with greeting-card whimsy), are nothing if not tactile. Sensuality is the new conceptualism, to disrespect The Question.

More here.

[image above courtesy of Nava Waxman 2010]

One time I looked at a diamond

If this vid doesn't work for you, go to the marvelous   Marcel the Shell with shoes on by clicking here to go to YouTube.

Coming Soon: Opening Night

Rosie O'Window