Current Perspectives

So….there has been a lot of talk about what is actually in Pinkberry’s “Yogurt”…..the name “yogurt” is even suspect so I’ve been told.

I got to try a New York Pinkberry and while a lot of the controversy seems to be in California I can’t help think that all Pinkberry’s are probably connected.

The visit to the pinkberry will always be very memorable for what I ended up getting….Green tea “yogurt” topped with mango, lychee (or something), and captain crunch. Quite the combination!  How I ended up with this concoction is because i asked the guy working what his favorite combination was and said “I’ll take it!”

After I tasted it….i thought “That guy is straaange” but then wondered… if I worked at Pinkberry or any type of food venue like that, I feel like people might frequently ask my opinion on the food and so for my own personal entertainment I might make it up every single time. It might spice up the day, you know?

So I don’t know if the weird combination was really his favorite or if he just thought it might be fun to put that all together. Which ever, I enjoyed the memorable experience and while the “yogurt” was weird it was good too!

If you ever go to the pinkberry website, they’ve got a really catchy song! “Pinkberry in me…Pink beeerrry” la la la. It is cute.

For more information on the controversy here is a link: PINKBERRY CONTROVERSY?!?

I am so pleased that I was able to see this production of Stunning by David Adjmi at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre. The play was Stunning, ultimately disturbing, not only because of the work itself but because of the fact that this is such a personal story for the playwright. I don’t know how much for the story are based off of actual events but the culture of the Syrian-Jewish immigrants is very real. I thought it was a great story, a tough story but I thought it was great. 

In all honesty, I couldn’t talk about the play right after I saw it and still am not even all together what I liked or what I thought was missing, if anything, or how to describe what I liked about it other than the compelling storyline and the growth of the characters within the play. So much happened.

The play for me was like an outsiders view of a very culturally segregated immigrant group that remains so homogeneous because of its strict guidelines of conduct in regards to interpersonal relationships.

I think the story was an extreme yet truthful example of people coping within the structure of their culture. The basic ideas of marry one of your own and have a lot of kids really quickly is not uncommon among many other cultural groups. The purpose is to perpetuate the culture without changing it.

Coming from Southern Utah, this concept isn’t lost on me. The predominant culture is that of the LDS church. When most people that I know get married between the ages of 17 and 21 and within a year generally begin a family. It is also strongly suggested that their spouses be members of the church or convert and that their children be raised as members of the church as well. Also, the community is pretty small where I live and during high school I was able to see many people who wanted to challenge their upbringing but really couldn’t because of the amount of pressure put on them to be a certain way.

It is my understanding that most western religions all share these same thoughts. What is more specific to Stunning is that the people in the story are also immigrants which might understandably create an even greater need to remain a strong collective.

The stakes in this play were very high which really intensified my investment as an audience member. While I might have an understanding of the characters needing to comply with their families wishes I could never imagine how difficult it would be to even dare to be different in such a situation.

As for the production itself I liked the idea of the set and for the most part found it very effective. Although, the thing with mirrors is that they reflect. duh. but I could see the opposite side of the audience at times as well as lighting instruments that probably werent’ meant to be seen, so that was a bit distracting. I really liked the music choices and how the sound was used during transitions.

The thing I liked the best was seeing Lily’s character change from the beginning of the show to the end. She went through so many transformations and I think her journey was captured nicely with her having “ no life experience” as a naive seventeen year old in the beginning to when she says at the end “now I have life experience” as a very different person.

 I am just really glad I got to see the show.

While in New York I happened upon a special exhibit at the New York Public Library about Jack Kerouac’s life and specifically the creation of his work “On The Road”.  Jack Kerouac viewed life as a spiritual quest which is a fascinating thought, like living to find something. While at this exhibition I participated on a guided tour given by someone who clearly “got Jack”. She peppered the lecture with fun anecdotes from his diaries and a book of grievances which were on display. She said that he wasn’t one to hold a grudge, rather he would simply make a note about whoever had upset him in this book. He even went as far as to blame his alcoholism solely on one individual.

One of these anecdotes that she mentioned was about his good friend and travel companion Neal Cassady. Jack and his “team” traveled across America three times but prior to his group traveling together Neal Cassady made the trek alone in a bus. This bus was a refurbished coach bus, the type that would state the destination above the driver; it always said the same thing, “Destination: Further”.

I liked hearing that story, while it wasn’t part of something Jack did it is easy to see how Jack and Neal got along. Of course I would like the idea of a destination to always be going further. Further than you went yesterday….

I liked the exhibit, the original typed scroll of “On the Road” is there along with many of Jack’s paintings which were very interesting to see since I never thought of him as a visual artist.

Kerouac wrote, “Beat doesn’t mean tired,or bushed, so much as it means beato, the Italian for beatific: to be in a state of beatitude, like Saint Francis, trying to love all life, trying to be utterly sincere with everyone, practicing endurance, kindness, cultivating joy of heart. How can this be done in our mad modern world of multiplicities and millions? By practicing a little solitude, going off by yourself once in a while to store up that most precious of golds: the vibrations of sincerity.”

Going off to find this bliss, this beatitude, and having ”further” as the destination, I think that is a beautiful thought.     

The title of this blog is a quote from William Shakespeare from “The Life of Timon of Athens”. New York is one of my favorite cities because of the people that are here, I people watch.

 New York has a rhythm to it that is unlike any other city that I’ve ever been to, while San Francisco or L.A. or even international cities like Paris have distinctions that make them all special none are like New York.

No matter how many people are here it seems like there is always room for more.

I have begun documenting and writing about being here, how the city feels, how the city moves. How people are, depending on what side of Manhattan they live or work on, how people are if they live in the outer burroughs.

New York is a fascinating place and I am glad to be here again. I am off now to begin Day 2 and with Day 1 having been such a success I can hardly wait to see what happens today.

Maybe, passion is when you put more energy into something than is required to do it. It is more than just enthusiasm or excitement, passion is ambition that is materialized into action that puts as much heart, mind, body, and soul into something as is possible.

Today was just a lot of working, I don’t even see my room mate anymore. It is sad that we don’t even get to talk to eachother anymore because we are so busy. This is a short blog because I don’t have a lot to say right now.

After reading the Washington Post on Sunday I looked up music mentioned in the article about the group “Matmos”.  Sadly and unusually there was no sign of the NY Times anywhere. It was nowhere to be found which upset my Sunday morning paper read. Good thing there’s next week!  Anyway, the article was interesting, what a funky music group they are! The extreme of experimental music. It would be interesting to listen to a song and be told what each new element is when it is brought in. You would hear things like, “…and here’s the bone saw”…hmmmm.  I included a video of one of thier performances. This group is actually good for Ideas in Performance becasue their music only really really works in performance. It isn’t the same at all to hear a recording.

I liked this song though. It is from their album, “The Rose has Teeth in the Mouth of the Beast”.

This post has a link in it to a youtube video that was made during one moment of joy in the CAD lab. This video is posted in an open forum purely for Mary Pilger and Deniz Soyer, probably against my better judgement. However, this was a moment of exhaustion combined with “killing time”.

Most of the conversation from last night was about the need for a term that means ”beyond tired” but not exhausted something in the middle. As we were discussing what we could say I got stuck in a chair and at the critical moment to decision I exclaimed “I’m stuck in the  chair!!” so our term for beyond tired is, fittinlgy, “stuck in a chair”.

Another topic of discussion was the message that comes up on the computer when you type in a password. The message is the “Do you want your computer to remember this password” 1. Never for this website, 2. Not Right Now, 3. Always are the three choices you can choose from when answering this question.

I think it would be great to have personal buttons in life like these. “Do you want to study for your quiz?” your own butten box appears and you can chose, “Not Right Now” or “Remind me Later”.  Another question “Do you want to go to the party?” answer: “Always”.

We also talked about the origins of the words “Wiki” or “Blog” and had a really good time hanging out, waiting to have a meeting for class.

So, I offer this video in hopes to share a moment of shear joy that made the three of us laugh until we were crying.  The Video.