QuirkeyBlog

I was at my computer Teusday night when the announcement that RubyConf2006 tickets were going on sale. I had been waiting for it, and planning on going. My younger brother, Dov, goes to school at CU Boulder so I thought Id be able to kill two birds with one airplane - visiting him and going to RubyConf.

I got to the site was about to put in my credit card info, but a quick check to my bank account made me think twice about making the purchase. The very same day I had spent more money then I haver had on clothes buying myself my first suit (I’m the programmer not the biz guy) for a wedding I’m attending on Sunday. So that quick check made me close my laptop and think about it for a sec. And for that I’m an idiot. I woke up the next morning, to the other announcement and all was moot.

Oh well . . . see you at RubyConf 0 7!

This past weekend, Kat and I traveled to Philadelphia to visit two of our best friends, Tal Ben-Yaacov and Asuka Goto, both extremely talented sculptors. Tal has his first real post-college show of his sculpture at in West Philadelphia at The Saturn Club, and we were happily obligated to be there to help set up and attend the opening.

He is showing five large sculptures in total, three completed in the last couple of months. Tal’s work is a mix of found objects, mainly metal car parts and organic plaster and wooden shapes. The metal pieces are brightly painted while the plaster often remains its natural pale white color.

I am of course partial, but I love Tal’s work. The lines are so clean, yet even the most clearly engineered metal objects are given the quality of life within the context of his complete pieces. The bright colors of his metal work, at first estrange the objects from any natural or organic interpretation, but when combined with the seemingly fluid plaster objects are given life. They would walk - they would hum - if you gave them the right push.

In his plaster works especially there is a dialogue about process and creation. The works are initially cast in plastic bags or with wooden forms. Then after being formed with drills and chisels, are given up to nature, being organically disintegrated by water (a stream in fairmont park). The end effect is an evocation of the original shape, including the taught-ness of the form, however, eroded, recreated, and reformed in a way that could only be the work of the chaotic and random nature of a water.

In this way, Tal’s work speaks of its own genesis. It’s about the reformation, the refactoring, of disparate energies and objects.

I’m trying to help him put together a website, but in the meantime you can see more pictures of his show at my flickr stream. If you’re interested in purchasing or commissioning work from him, or just finding out more info - you can email him at tbenyaacov at gmail.

I’ve been back for just about two weeks now and the trip is finally settling in my memory. I’ve compiled my slideshow. I’ve seen almost all of my friends now, and given them the “How was it?” brief, but informative, answer. And yesterday, I went to Chinatown with Kat and thoroughly enjoyed a Shanghai feast while showing off my new and improved chopstick skills. I can really say now that I’m home - my jet lag is no longer an issue, and I look back on my time in Hong Kong with real awe and a feeling of “wtf?”.

They often use the term culture shock to describe the feeling of stepping off the airplane into a foreign place. Hong Kong didn’t shock me as much as it overwhelmed me like a double decker bus speeding to a stop right at your feet (think: the knight bus). Hong Kong sleeps - but when it wakes up it takes a healthy dose of amphetamines and a strong cup of tea. The constant flow of the city and the feeling your always being pushed somewhere is often disorienting (and this is coming from a New Yorker). At the same time the flow seems perfectly and organically organized, like a flock of migrating birds - everyone knows the turns, no one bumps into each other. My New York “Rules of Walking” didn’t apply. You must stop at a don’t walk sign (even if there are no cars). You cant cross in the middle of a block (on main streets they have fences to stop you). This might have been what threw me off the most. I always felt like I was not following an unwritten set of pedestrian laws.

My family got to see just about every thing we needed to see (or at least Fodor’s told us to see). I love sight-seeing, but I love sight-_eating_ more. Luckily, we did that, too. Of the culinary highlights, my favorite was probably Whole Fried Grouper [Fish] in Sweet and Sour sauce at the Red Pepper, a Szechwan place in Causeway Bay. Also, eating Dim Sum in a restaurant that was analogous to a New York Diner, with lots of mirrors and awesome Barbecue Pork buns.

Its probably going to be a while until I go back to the Far East. Next time - I’m flying first class.

I’m sitting against the window in my room with my big headphones on listening to Ambulance LTD. I feel sort of like Charlotte in Lost in Translation. Maybe thats a stretch - but whatever. I haven’t blogged yet because I really haven’t had a second to breathe. Hong Kong is amazing. And I’m going to take some time now to go through the highlights of the first two days. I would love to write about everything- but I’ve just done too much.

The first thing you notice about Hong Kong is the signs. They’re everywhere and they hang down from the buildings like tree trunks. In the neighborhood we’re staying in, Sham Shui Po, they’re almost all in only chinese. When you get further into the city you see more english (and engrish). I could take a million pictures of all the signs and the awesome neon - but it wouldn’t do the density justice.
Thats what really stands out about every aspect of Hong Kong - density. The amounts of people; The narrowness of the buildings; the general layout. Dense.

The second thing I noticed was the scaffolding. What’s the big deal about scaffolding?, you ask. Easy - Its all bamboo. Even for this large inner city building, not a steal bar or PVC pipe in sight. All bamboo. And not only that but its everywhere. Hanging out over buildings, supporting heavy loads, incredible.

The next was the sheer verticality of the city. My brother described it really well. Imagine taking the island of Manhattan in between your hands and pushing towards the center. The buildings get taller and closer together. Central Park becomes a large mountain. And everything become tightly packed. That’s what Hong Kong Island is like. Everything is up.

You notice this especially when going from Central to the mid-levels. Though you can do this by bus - the easiest way is The Escalator. There is a series of many escalators going up one level at a time up the gradient of the hill that stands behind central Hong Kong. It’s quite surreal to think that for a large number of people a commute is the ride up and down a series of escalators. They run down for four hours in the morning (rush hour), and back up the rest of the day.

This all leads back to the fact that HK is a new city. Unlike NYC or Paris which have been big cities for a long time, Hong Kong became a metropolis much later. This allowed them to incorporate all these modern and really efficient municipal services, like the escalators and the very very modern and well designed subway (The MTR).

In this way HK is a paradox, though. It at once super modern and traditional. Its a constant clash between these two that make it so interesting.

I have much more to write - but I’m just still recovering from all the walking. I’ll keep posting pictures though. And I’ll write more very soon. I promise.

I probably wont actually be able to post any of this until I get to Hong Kong, but honestly - who gives a fuck.

Chicago - 12:03 PM EST

We’re flying United on our big trip. First, La Guardia to Chicago O’Hare and then CHI to Hong Kong. I’m in O’Hare now at a Food Court - next to the only open outlet I could find in the whole concourse. Lame. Why is that? Where in the 21st Century People, come on! I assumed, incorrectly that there was going to be some sort of wifi here and also that Id at least be able to plug in my computer. Wrong.

I’m preparing myself for departure and stuffing myself into my 4 cubic feet of space on the plane. Didn’t they used to offer you meals? Weren’t the flight attendants nice and courteous at some point? Have times changed or have I just grown up to realize things I didn’t when I was younger. Either way this is not going to be too fun. But Ill do my best not to yak.

Excuse my bitterness, I’m tired and hungry - Im gonna go eat a $12 sandwhich.

Somewhere Over the Canadian Tundra - 6:40 PM EST

We’ve been on the plane for about 4 hrs now. Not even a third of the flight. It hasn’t been so bad. Besides the lady behind me giving me the evil eye every time i stand up to pee. Its been pretty easy. This is the first time I’ve pulled my computer out and I think Im going to spend my precious battery life doing some coding instead of blogging.

I just watched Walk the Line. Johnny Cash is great and the acting was good, but honestly it kinda sucked. After seeing Ray which was only slightly better, this just seemed a lot less interesting. I loved the music but still - kinda lame.

Also I was convinced that we were going to have personal screens - but not back here in steerage.

Skirting the North Pole - 8:52 PM EST

Wow, thats cool. (No pun intended isn’t it kind of dumb when people say that to point out the pun they just made?)

Over the Chinese/Mongolian Border - 1:43 AM EST

We flew over some of the most amazing snow tundra I have ever seen - who am I kidding I’ve never seen snow tundra before. I got a bunch of great pictures out of the window. Think Hoth.

Im getting to the point of real restlessness. While the radio that they’re pumping through the different channels has variety and is actually entertaining its constantly skipping and I cant listen to it for more than fiver minutes at a time before the skipping drives me crazy.

With intermittent use somehow the battery on my powerbook has lasted me this long. Hooray. Outside the window is the Mongolian desert at midday. Its also quite breathtaking drifts of snow in these amazingly patterned nooks and crannies (_i must be hungry_)

We’re Here - 9:10 AM EST

The last couple hours were pretty hellish. My laptop battery died and then I just had nothing to do. Then when the last meal came, my mom started going a bit cooky. I got really ancy and just wanted to get off.

When we finally got off we waited silently at the baggage claim as 1,2,3 bags came off the conveyor. But where was my bag? No where to be found. Fucking great. So my parents got there three bags my one tiny duffel with all my clothes is still in Chicago. Thank you United Airlines.

I fell asleep in the cab to our apartment and missed the great view of our entrance to Hong Kong. We got the the apartment, which is Sham-Shui-Po, which my brother claims is one of the dirtiest neighborhoods in Kowloon (The peninsula part of HK). The apartment is kind of like an efficiency - but its not so bad - minus the fact that my bed is a little tiny. I’ll deal.

I just need to get to sleep. Tomorrow - Explorations! (and Peking Duck!)