All the Mexico photos

This is me on top of the Pyramid of the Moon at Teotihuacan. This is a pre-Aztec city abandoned mysteriously in 750 AD.


In the same position from left to right is our professor Walter Hood and classmates Elizabeth and Sara.


At five o'clock the Mexican flag at Zocalo Square is lowered with the help of about 200 military personnel. Overkill?


Yummies for the tummies at a place called Pasteleria Ideal near Zocalo. You enter the store, grab an enormous tray and a pair of metal tongs and get to business!


Right after coming out of the pasteleria, we saw a curious truck at the stop light...


A good portion of the trip was spent trying to get people to let us into the homes designed by Mexican architect/landscape architect Luis Barragan. Here is one of the homes he designed in the El Pedregal subdivision. El Pedregal was the first occaision Barragan entered into the speculative real estate biz....apparently a success, too. This house was an amazingly intact example of his modernist design (exterior and interior) from the period 1945-1950.


This is the musical amphitheater-grotto of Chapultepec Park. There are interesting benches to lounge on while you listen to a strange selection of music play from mounted speakers. Mexican park police hang out in here, so it's safe. When we got there I think Vivaldi was playing, but soon was interrupted by what I can guess were Mexican show tunes.


Here I am at Luis Barragan's Los Torres de Satelite, or the Satellite Towers. These things are located in the middle of a freeway median. The towers were meant to be a visual gateway to the growing subdivisions of Mexico City in the mid-1950s. It was very polluted despite the sky looking so clear. Stinky!!!


Worm's eye of the towers.


This is the library at the Universidad Nacional Autonomous de Mexico. The entire campus uses a variety of modernist styles embedded with cultural markers, such as this mosaic tiled main library building.


We went to a famous lava flow on the campus of UNAM. Artists built a large ring of concrete right triangles around it.


Me and my shadow...

Being sick in DF

I ate a bad taco or something last night and ended up getting sick at a Luche Libre (Mexican masked wrestling) event. As a result, I missed the group trip to Coyoacan today. I got up around 1:00 pm, and managed to drag myself to Coyaocan to look at the weekend market. It was kind of a waste of time because I ended up leaving after an hour due to still feeling sick. Now I am back at the hotel watching Fox News.

So the day has not noticably improved.

Otherwise, the trip has been awesome. I will try to get photos up soon.

Besos,
Miss E

Happy belated, Alyssa

Alyssa joined the 29 crowd this past Saturday! Hope it was a fun one. I'll eat a celebratory taco for you in DF.

Me get on plane, me go see pretty things

My flight to DF boards at 7:40 am tomorrow. It's 9:39 pm and, of course, I have yet to pack.

Packing has got to be the most boring things ever. I do this everytime, I resist packing for trips. At least I am well fed and rested. One time I had to pack for a month away in SE Asia having not slept for 3 days. The flight left at 10am. I waited until 2:30 am to begin packing. It wasn't fun, it was no picnic.

We have a very loose itinerary proposed by our professor. Here are some images from the Interweb of some of those things we will visit.

This is our hotel, the Maria Cristina. We are located near the U.S. Embassy. Good thing?

Here is something called Los Torres de Satelite. Translation: The Satelite Towers. Built by Luis Barragan, one of Mexico's most prolific modernist architects.

The floating canal gardens of Xochimilco promise us wide-eyed landscape architects-in-training untold sights and wonders.

The urban "Grasshopper" Chapultepec Park houses the world famous Anthropogy Museum.

We will experience the immense demonstration of power and space at Zocalo Square, the heart of the city.

The trip will culminate with a visit to the past at Teotihuacan's Aztec ruins.

Photos will be posted at earliest convenience, but most likely not until week after next.

Vaya con Dios, amigos!

Raquel

Movie count

The last few days while I have been at home sorting and organizing paperwork has been filled watching some movies and films.

Here is the list:

Cool Hand Luke (1967) Paul Newman
My Architect( 2003)
A Prairie Home Companion (2006) Meryll Streep
Kinsey(2004) Liam Neeson

Cool Hand Luke is an interesting prison genre film and I recognized quite a few faces in it, including a young George Kennedy and Dennis Hopper. I'm rather intrigued with the films of the late 1960s, and hope to see a couple more before the end of the week.

I was a tad disappointed by A Prairie Home Companion. I am an AVID listener of the weekend radio program and I kind of anticipated it to highlight and discuss the comedic genius of the series - but no such luck at all. The movie is essentially a behind the scenes look at the cast of the program who are reminiscing about their last 20 years together. There is a weird sub-story going on about a woman in a white trench coat who happens to be a ghost...I found that kind of silly. I shall stick to the radio series...

My favorite movie of all these is My Architect, the story of the life of architect Louis Kahn as told by his distant son. What a fascinating film. In my landscape architecture history course, we learned a little a teeny bit about Kahn in his work on the Salk Institute. The son tells the story through a carefully chosen melange of mixed recovered video of Kahn at work, pictures, drawings, and by methodically visiting each of Kahn's commissioned structures and interviews with family and professional associates. You learn about the very torn man that Kahn was, and at the same time you learn why he was so important to so many people around the world completely outside of his personal sphere.

Purchase

At midnight, I made this purchase. This item will hopefully resolve the problem I have been having with my testy bicycle tires. Soon enough, I will be on the road whizzing by all you car bound schmucks.

New Year's Even

A few things:

1. I have to have a gum graft on one of my lower central incisors next time I am home. My addiction to brushing my teeth has taken a toll. My mother suggested I do this and also said she would set up an appointment for me.

I wonder if this means she will also volunteer to arrange payment for such a procedure?

2. My auto repair shop still hasn't called me back. I fear that the Fox has been looted during its 12 day and nights stay in the bowels of West Berkeley, and the employees are hesitant to share the sad news with me.

3. There are many errands and chores to run the day after returning from 12 days away from home.

4. Looking back on 2006, I don't have any glaring regrets, but I do wish I would have been a little more bold with the designs I did for school. I think 2007 will be a year of remarkable boldness.

He's gone

Saddam is gone. I don't really know if this is good news or not.

Trip concludes

Tonight is the last night I am in Portland.

My brother Matt is having a show at 7pm at some coffee/bar place. Matt's music is sounding really superb these days. He was upstairs practicing for tonight's performance last night when my friend Alexa came to pick me up. She thought it was the radio or cd player going. Even when rehearsing, Matt is impressing people.

Yesterday's luncheon went very well, a great time. It is nice to have new friends to visit when I visit Stumptown. It is even more convenient when they live near my sister's new place.

My step dad Bruce got a wide screen computer monitor for Christmas. But it isn't one of those cool Apple display units. Rather, it is a Samsung. I have no idea why my step dad needs this thing. I guess it might be useful for him when he has large spreadsheets open in Excel. I am not so impressed with the product. The screen basically stretches your view, so previously rounded features, such as words, come out all pixelated and long. I think the screen is actually supposed to be used for HDTV.

Update from Karmakanix. The Fox is still undriveable. The expansion the shop was doing this week apparently prevented them from squeezing in the repair of my vehicle. I hope it will be ready on Monday. They've had my car since 12/20.

Four things. Wait, five!

1. The smoking allowed in bars law in Portland must be changed. The last two nights I've come home and my hair smells. Normally it smells wonderful, but now it smells rather awful.

2. I used a Foreman Grill today. Do those even sell anymore? I was just cooking vegetables on it.

3. Visiting Pier One Imports the day after Christmas with your mother, who is on a mission for the last of the marked down red glass water goblets in existence, is a recipe for a meltdown on the daughter's end.

4. Lunch on Thursday with some guy I've been trying to meet up with for nearly one year. Persistance pays off? Hrmmm.

5. I forgot probably the BEST of the upcoming musical acts on its way through the Bay Area very, very soon. What a dolt I am. Anyway, it's gonna be a pretty amazing show, I hope.

Who: Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
When: January 5, 2007
Where: Bimbo's 365 Club
Whadda it cost me?: $20

Live tunes

Jan. 6, 2007, Sat, The Devil Makes Three, The Independent
Jan. 24, 2007, Wed, Pirate Radio, The Makeout Room
Jan. 30, 2007, Tues, Deerhoof, The Great American Music Hall
Feb. 4, 2007, Sunday, Ray's Vast Basement, The Makeout Room
Mar. 2, 2007, Friday, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, The Great American Music Hall
Mar. 3, 2007, Sat, Clinic, The Independent
Mar. 7-8, 2007, Wed & Thu, The Mountain Goats, The Independent
Mar. 9, 2007, The Mountain Goats, Bottom of the Hill

P.S. Merry Christmas. My family is watching Talledega Nights and I snuck upstairs to see what secrets of music the internet held...

Bob Sagat would make this a little more tolerable

Tonight, Christmas Eve, is the first night I've stayed at my parents' house since I arrived in Portland on Thursday. They live in Murrayhill, a subdivision in Beaverton, Oregon. Murrayhill is a virtual outpost in terms of being located near things, places, people or amenities I like to visit. The place has a nice view, I guess, and enjoys the benefits of existing within a homogenous community (low crime and neat yards).

Tonight I volunteered to make my parents dinner. The materials were already purchased. All that was required of me was to slice and cook the stuff. The dinner was stir fry, and like the neighborhood, the meal was sterile and predictable.

During the meal my parents turned on "AFV", which is a version of the series Bob Sagat used to host in the 1990s, "America's Funniest Home Videos." I thought it was a joke that we were watching it, but I soon realized that my parents actually adore this program. At one point, they were laughing and pointing at the TV monitor when someone sitting down on a bench made it collapse. I wish I was kidding about this.

Anyway, the host of this program isn't half as dynamic as Bob Sagat, who despite his reputation of being "America's Favorite Dad" possesses a certain brand of vulgar humor that makes him admirable.



Finally, after many long minutes of agony, AFV ended. Now my mother is watching Ocean's Eleven. So the cycle of madness and bad TV continues...

Oh, yesterday I saw "For Your Consideration", the newest Christopher Guest feature film. While it's no "Best in Show" it's quite good and worth at least a cost of a matinee ticket.

Flash back

This is my mother in 1972.

Chanteuse

This is the beautiful and talented Joanna Newsom. She played three sold out shows in the city this week. Mon-Tues-Wed shows at that.


Here is another.

And on quite a different note, here is a photo of my chipboard model from studio.

Waiting for my tow

Yesterday I consulted with Nino at Karmakanix about the sorrowful state of my VW Fox. He advised me to arrange for a tow to the shop and they would take car of the problem over the next ten days while they are expanding the shop. I will be out of town after tomorrow, so the idea of having a fixed vehicle upon arrival home is appealing. On the other hand, leaving my car parked on the curb of an industrial and transient neighborhood for such a long period of time, where Karmakanix happens to be, is not so appealing. I suppose I will take all the precautions I can against theft - remove the CD faceplate and stow all my loose cds in the glovebox and activate my crappy alarm system.

I called AAA at 9:00 and customer service rep "Dee" readily handled my tow request. I am covered for 5 miles of tow (lucky me, Karmakanix is about 2-3 miles from here). Perfect! The process to request a tow is altogether too easy. It's pretty awesome. So I am just waiting for him/her to arrive with the truck. Should be here before 9:50.

The Fox shall be reformed!

steeeeeerike!

Yes, torture has ended, I took my last exam today and I also went bowling with some of my classmates and a couple of hopalong architecture ladies from the 9th floor. Our evening took place at Albany Bowl, the most reputable alley in the East Bay. When we arrived, a big party was just finishing up having some kind of wicked bowl buffet. There was containers of bbq pork, 3 picked over bundt cakes, cornbread and baked beans. Not quite the meal I would advise before exercise, but then again, this is bowling.

First game I scored an 83 and the following game was an 84. Highest mph was 15.05. I roll a slow ball I guess. However, I did manage two strikes and a number of spares (some following a gutter ball) during the course of the two games.

I am very sleepy right now. I just feel like I should be up because I don't have any homework to do. It is a strange feeling.

The Fox is still out of commission. The damn heat gauge is unconsolable, even after I added coolant. I suppose it will need to be serviced. I am rather pissed. That car gets treated so well....how dare it double cross me! Blasted radiator.

Tomorrow night I will attend one of the three sold out shows for Joanna Newsom at the Great American Music Hall. I am really quite excited.

Drippy pouring rain, hookers

Yucko, it's raining so much outside. By tomorrow, there will be a huge 4" deep puddle where my car is parked. My shoes always get soaked when I try to get into my car after it rains. I should park on the street more.

Yesterday was my final studio review for school. It went so so. I have a history exam on Monday for which I haven't studied one iota. I have the book open and next to me right now, which makes me feel at least a little better.

This afternoon, around 1:30 pm, I saw a peculiar thing while waiting at the ol' F bus stop. Across the street, in front of the corner store, was a hooker and her pimp. She was hella interesting. Decked out in a mini jean skirt and suede boots, she spared no effort in trying to get the attention of people driving past her. She'd halfway lean out into the street, and kind of motion to people with strange gestures and facial expressions. I found it altogether kind of groddy. I wish that kind of shit didn't happen 100' feet from my house.

I am feeling lonely and reluctant. I think it is the lack of a social life outside my studio that is the problem, but maybe it is just the rain.

4 days, 15 hours

In the past four days, I have gotten less than 15 hours of sleep. We are countdown 36 hours until our final review (Wed at high noon). I will likely not sleep because my list of things to do is enormous.

After the final review is over (12-6pm), I have another final to go to from 6-8pm, just to add insult to injury.

Persistance

Received today at 10:45 a.m. from suspect obsessive girlfriend/fling:

"Arik, did u tell any0ne and u better n0t lie t0 me *wedding d@y 9.20.06*"

The mystery of the bad grammer lady continues - the torrid event referenced in the earlier email was apparently a wedding. Perhaps something scandalous happened before, during or after the wedding between Arik and the crazy lady.

I felt bad having not responded to the message from yesterday. I began to weigh the pros and cons of texting her back to say this isn't Arik's phone. I kind of like being at the receiving end of drama so far removed from my life. It kind of riles me up to get these kinds of messages! But then I thought about pathetic Arik and this crazy lady trying to reach him with these ridiculous messages.

I wrote her back around 3:30 to tell her that this isn't Arik's phone. She didn't write back. Strangely, I hope that she begins to wonder if Arik is just lying to her about it being the wrong number. Maybe she will send even more enraged messages later.

I can only hope.

SMS gone awry

At 9:21 a.m. I heard a familiar "beep" sound from my cell phone during class. A text message had come in. Who would be sending me something? I don't really use text messages much lately.

This is the message I received:

"Did u tell any0ne 4real. and if u did i swear t0 g0d i will never4give u and never speak t0 u again *it began 9.20.06*"

My first reaction was worry. Did I screw anyone over recently? The number did not come up with any name I recogized. Just a 510 number. I couldn't think of anyone I associate with that would use the term "4real". Still, I worried. Then I shrugged it off. I couldn't think of anything that "began" on Sept. 20 anyway.

Everyone reading this, please send a kooky message back to whoever sent me this...and make it very confusing. That would be funny. The number is 510.672.9052

Mwahh hah hhhaahha.....