Thursday, March 20, 2008

A Good Philosophy To Live Life By

I make it a point to watch something funny in the morning, and something funny in the evening.

Why do I do this?

I watch something funny in the morning to put myself in a good mood for the rest of the day.


I watch something at night before I go to bed because I want to be a in good mood when I go to bed at night.

It makes no sense to me why people would want to watch something depressing, like the TV news which is filled with stories about violence, crime, drugs, or war, etc, etc. right before they go to bed. Those are the very last thoughts you bring with you right before you go to sleep.

Don't you think you'll get a better nights rest with good thoughts and feelings on your mind right before you close your eyes?

With the advent of YouTube it's now easier than ever to find something funny to watch before resting for the evening.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The Sartorialist - at Adamson Gallery - Washington, DC


I had read previously that the Sartorialist's opening reception for his exhibit in beautiful New York City had a line of fashionably dressed guys and gals going around an entire block; many of whom unfortunately didn’t get a chance to make indoors and see the exhibit. Subsequently, expecting a similar, albeit much more mild result with this being Washington D.C., I decided to show up early only to discover it was pouring rain outside as I left work and realizing I hadn’t brought with me the shoulder strap to my trusty Kenneth Cole - Reaction Portfolio case (I’ve had it for so long it’s worthy of the titular prefix “trusty”).




Luckily I arrived at Adamson Gallery right around the time the reception kicked off. Inside there was already a teeming mass of fashion lovers, Sartorialist blog readers and all points off chart and in between.

Interestingly, Betsy Lowther, of Fashion is Spinach blog fame was in tow but I didn’t get a chance to say “hi”, or rather go up and stutter nervously and tell her how great I think her blog is. (She wasn’t there for very long. I’m surprised at how tall she is in real life. Lord almighty, and I thought Em of DC Goodwill Fashions Blog was tall. Must be something in the water with these femme bloggers. I’m now highly curious to meet Johanna, and Rachel Cothran).

I must say, if you’ve read The Sartorialist’s blog, (or rather looked at the pictures as the word content tends to be sparse), you’ll find the pictures are even MORE of a treat to the eye to see in real life, although I will admit the ones on sale were smaller than I expected, especially as far as gallery fare is concerned.

What thrilled me even more than the photographs themselves was.The. Number.Of.People.Dressed.So.Amazingly.Well! (Local fashion bloggers take heart, this is particularly in reference to the A Serious Job is No Excuse blog’s raison d’ĂȘtre, and a recent entry on FIS).

Unfortunately, afraid at being seen to one up The Sartorialist himself (aka Scott Schumann) at his own event, that and I was unusually shy which is so extremely rare at these types of events that I wonder if hell is freezing over or if should check my positions to make sure I don’t end up eating my shorts tomorrow both literally (for the would be rogue speculator and financially inclined reading this blog there is a double entendre here) and figuratively, I was somewhat too timid to ask people if I could take their photographs.



However, being a true aesthete I regaled in and was in ecstasy surrounded by people who were in such good and tasteful clothing as opposed to the typical male or female wearing a suit with sneakers, typically indicative of local DC professionals heading to and fro work.

Again I was uncharacteristically timid, but I did manage to get crowd shots and a literally a couple of posed shots after a group of friends asked me to take their picture with another attendee who was dressed fabulously well.


By the time they had yanked a second person from the crowd, handed me their portable point and shoot and asked me to snap a picture of them and their hostage / subject “cheesin’ it”, I said I would, but that I would snap a picture with my own camera.

Nonetheless, this was as far as I got into talking to people, save a gentleman who had lived on and off in Latvia. Unlike other major metropolitan cities, I found that initiating conversation here with the random folks is rather hard. Typical to my experience with many DC locals, initiating conversation is usually results in an effete and lukewarm “oh hey.”

Regardless, I was extremely pleased with the event.








For those inclined to see what The Sartorialist looks like here he is on the right.

















I wonder where the bloggers were, aside from the aforementioned above.

It's way past my bed time, so I will continue editing this blog this weekend.

All writings here are copyrighted by Antonio Goicochea. You may not use them without written permission but you may link to the posts or give out a link to the posts.

All Photographs here are copyrighted by Antonio Goicochea. You may not use them without written permission but you may link to the posts or give out a link to the posts.

If you enjoy the articles on this blog check out
cafepress.com/vegalifestyle

Sunday, March 16, 2008

"WHAT A NIGHT!" at Apollo Braun






WHAT A NIGHT!
Night Italia Magazine Presentation
Thursday March 20th, 8 – 11 pm
APOLLO BRAUN STORE
193 Orchard Street (Cornhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifer of Houston), NY, NY 10002

Apollo Braun Store and Night Italia Magazine are pleased to announce What A Night!, a one night event dedicated to the presentation of “Night Italia” magazine, a brand new publication about international, contemporary art and culture.

“Night Italia” was born at the end of 2007 and inspired by the New York magazine “Night”, founded in 1978 by the artist Anton Perich, painter, photographer and videomaker, who contributed to Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine.

“Night Italia” is the brainchild of the Italian artist Marco Fioramanti, who have been known and collaborated with Perich for over twenty years. The magazine is a project that aims to provide free information out of the mainstream cultural channels and to be a critical alternative to the widespread cultural conformism. Fioramanti, along with other artists and curators, designed it as a book, constituted mainly by images and texts in different languages. Its focus is underground and innovative contemporary culture, from visual arts to music, from theater to performance. “Night Italia”’s ultimate goal is to give visibility and voice to dimensions of creativity characterized by freedom and originality.

Apollo Braun’s operation shares this stand for the necessity of free expression and realizes it creatively through fashion.

What A Night! also features the display of some b/w photographs by Anton Perich: works which were included in the first issues of “Night” New York and which will create a story of the evolution of “Night” project, that this year celebrates its thirtieth anniversary. Also, during the event, two performances will take place: one by the extravagant nasty trio “The Bambi Killers” and the other one created by the magazine editor and artist Marco Fioramanti “Art Show – Art Shoe”.

Virginia Villari – Curator

Friday, March 14, 2008

Lida Moser Opening Reception (@ The Fraser Gallery, Bethesda, MD)





Lida Moser is pictured here in the center sporting a red dress.

From the Fraser Gallery website

"Lida Moser is one of the most respected and highly regarded photographers in America. Over the last 60 years, her work has encompassed portraiture, photojournalism, theatre, special effects, book covers, record covers, fashion and architectural photography."

She had also previously worked for Vogue magazine. Her most famous pieces include the "Judy and the boys" photographs which I unfortunately can not post lest I break any copyright laws (and Ms. Moser stays on top of any wily would be infringers from what the curator and proprietor of Fraser Gallery, photographer turned succesful Gallery owner, Catriona Fraser tells me. She's one tough cookie that Lida, especially for being 87 years young).

All writings here are copyrighted by Antonio Goicochea except where noted. You may not use them without written permission but you may link to the posts or give out a link to the posts.

All Photographs here are copyrighted by Antonio Goicochea. You may not use them without written permission but you may link to the posts or give out a link to the posts.

If you enjoy the articles on this blog check out
cafepress.com/vegalifestyle

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Season Finale of Project Runway - Welcome and Unsurprising ...

Running into some friends downtown I was invited to come over to watch the fourth season finale of Project Runway. Being in my ever typical sociable mood, I knew I could kill two birds with one stone, which is my fancy way of saying I could accomplish two things at once, primarily watching the season finale of Project Runway, and also spend time with people after having a day that wasn't particularly sociable.


Once we arrived at my friend Anne's house to sit and watch, we immediately begin to put our bets on who would win. Funny I was the only one who thought the ever lovable, scrappy and cocky Christian Siriano would win. Of course I didn't judge the contestants by the overall collection but rather by the quantity of the pieces in each collection that I liked.


Based on this scoring philsophy, my tally came in that Christian had the greatest number of pieces that I liked. Jillian, second, Rami, the show's resident master draper, third. Thus I wagered our "fierce" panel of all star judges, which now included style-icon extraordinaire Victoria Beckham, would position the contestants in the above pecking order.