Love, Beauty, Truth

What am I listening to these days?

2010-07-30T21:41:00.002-05:00

"Cream Puff War (Live at the Fillmore West, July 16th 1966)" - The Grateful Dead
"Run" - Spiritualized
"Sad World" - The B-Film Extras (Currently the best local band in Washington, D.C.)
"Take Me To The Other Side" - Spacemen 3
"Horchata" - Vampire Weekend
"Everything's Here (Original Mix)" - Danny Howell
"Cannot See Straight" - Yppah

All very good music to listen to.

Is it ever really personal?

2010-07-29T21:52:00.003-05:00

When people get angry at you, they're really getting angry at how they are currently feeling about something. It's never personal.

People are reacting to what's going on inside of them.

They're reacting to how feel.

In this sense all communications requires communicating to yourself.

"All communication is trance."
-Richard Bandler

Utility resides in context

2010-07-28T22:05:00.003-05:00

Utility resides in context

Good Music To Listen To

2010-07-18T21:38:00.001-05:00

"Spiegel Im Spiegel" by Arvo Pärt

2010-07-13T21:37:00.000-05:00

Back to the drawing board . . . realizing of the importance of picking the market first, finding a gap in the market (and of course making sure there is a market in the gap!) and THEN developing a product tailored to that market.

Some of the best music out there (That you've never heard of)

2008-10-28T22:23:00.001-05:00

Spacemen 3. Albums worth checking out "Recurring" and "Music to Take Drugs to Make Music To" and "For All The F***ed Up Children Of The World."

The Verve. Albums worth checking out. Start with a "A Storm In Heaven" and then move on to "A Northern Soul." Nick McCabe's guitar work is the product of a rare and breath-takingly gifted genius.

Other Honorable Mentions:

Oumou Sangare "Ko Sira"

The Black Angels "Directions To See A Ghost."

On Spoiled Kids and Trust Fund Kids

2008-05-07T22:18:00.000-05:00

When I become a parent, I do not have any plans on spoiling my kids.

I have seen what happens with overly spoiled kids. The only way I will spoil my kids is sending them to good schools, and helping them open their eyes to the world by taking them to various countries in the world.

Sure I'll pay for college but you better believe they will have to work for their spending money, and you better believe there's no moving back in home with Mom and Dad two weeks after graduation.

A lot of trust fund kids too don't always do so well from what I hear.

When I lived in New York a friend of mine observed a peculiar phenomenon. He said a lot of the trust fund kids, once they finished up school waited for "the perfect job" something that would probably more fitting with their ego and the expectations of their wealthy parents.

What would usually end up happening is they would literally wait for the "perfect job" that would stroke their ego and their parents ego only to twiddle their thumbs and usually not do much with their lives.

How true of trust fund kids this is, I don't know. But what I do know is that people respond to incentives. And sometimes you gotta turn up the heat to get people to really change.

A Good Philosophy To Live Life By

2008-03-20T22:13:00.000-05:00

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.

The Sartorialist - at Adamson Gallery - Washington, DC

2008-03-19T22:15:00.002-05:00

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’être, 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.

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"WHAT A NIGHT!" at Apollo Braun

2008-03-16T21:31:00.006-05:00

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

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

2008-03-14T22:48:00.003-05:00

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

2008-03-06T01:06:00.006-05:00

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.

Washington DC Fashion Freedom Rally @ Federal Plaza - September 24th 2007

2007-09-27T15:19:00.001-05:00

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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 An Van De Wal. You may not use them without written permission but you may link to the posts or give out a link to the posts.
Please visit An Van De Wal's website at www.lumierephotography.net

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Apollo Braun @ Bryant Park for New York Fashion Week

2007-09-16T18:38:00.000-05:00

Around the edges of Bryant Park it was coffee,
newspapers and lovers as usual, but as one approached
the bulky white pavilion in the center, abnormality
and intensity of atmosphere were making themselves
obvious. One started to notice models who looked like
they just stepped off the pages of Vogue right on to
the dirty grass, followed by photographers of all ages
and bursts of flashes. People with cellphones and busy
vibes were pacing nervously around people who were
standing in the middle of nowhere with their mouths
open. Approaching the entrance gate, one actually had
to pass through different layers of crowd: the outer
layer of passer-by tourists, the second layer of
people spreading advertising materials and propagating
messages of social importance, the layer of
photographers and the best dressed, and the thinnest
layer composed of those who looked like they were likely
to go inside.

On both sides of this human spectacle, there were tall
beautiful men standing upright and "on guard," but it
was a very surreal and off-the-wall New York kind of
guard indeed. Dressed in cut up pink T-shirts
populated by safety pins and see-through skirts, red
gause and duck-taped shoes, and paints of primary
colors all over their bare skin, this was the guard of
Apollo Braun, artist, designer and poet from the Lower
East Side. The name of their spiritual leader, which
is also the name of his hip independent design
boutique on Orchard St., was written across their
belts. Apollo himself, dressed in the same uniform of
his own design, was one of the men present.
"Originally we wanted to stay all together," Apollo
said, "but the police separated us. Yet, we are still
here to assert our right to be here." Police, without
knowing it, made possible an even better presentation,
visible from every side of the entrance.

Every Apollo pink T-shirt was pinned and cut in a
unique way, but had the same inscription across the
chest; "Who killed Anna Wintour ?" "I hate Anna
Wintour,"Apollo said, "She does not accept
up-and-coming designers. She is the death sentence of
everything avant-garde in design. I don't want to be
in Vogue. Vogue is the enemy, remember it when I will
be there.
I think the whole show thing is ridiculous. We are
here to show how important it is to express yourself
and be who you are!"

Apollo also added that Anna Wintour puts fur into
Vogue, "and I am a Vegetarian." There was another
group of young women dressed like sexy fur police, in
everything black and not animal produced, who shared
Apollo's views.

One of the models, Michael Davis, elaborated further
on their common strong presence in front of the
fashion pavilion. "We are tax-paying citizens. We
should be able to stand here wearing this! I think it
is a great expression of our freedom of speech and of
democracy, really!" Michael is a friend of Apollo,
shares a lot of his views and owns and wears 3 or 4 of
his T-shirts. "Apollo takes normal trends and
de-constructs them. He is a little bit ahead of normal
trends. When I am wearing his stuff, I feel like I am
not a part of a fad!"

All the pink men were also wearing a yellow star of
David with "Jude" written on it, a German word for
"Jew". Apollo explained the strong statement to the TV
reporters and surrounding crowds: "This was the star
that Jews were forced to wear by the Nazis and it used
to be a degrading symbol. However, I am a Jew and I
want to bring it back. I want to show that I am a Jew
and I am proud of being a Jew; I am not degraded!"

And, finally, the last symbol of Apollo's design, the
omni-present safety pin, has to pronounce its message
to the world at large through the mouth of its Master,
now sounding a little bit like a Rabbi: "I think that
all of life is attached together by simple safety
pins!"

(apollo braun)

All writings here are copyrighted by Antonio Goicochea and Galya Kovalyova. 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 Galya Kovalyova. 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
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Liset Castillo opening reception @ Black and White Gallery in Chelsea (September 7th 2007)

2007-09-11T15:53:00.001-05:00

Pristine and brightly lit Black and White Gallery in
Chelsea is currently opening a colorful solo exhibit
of young Cuban artist Liset Castillo. "Pain Is
Universal But So Is Hope" is the title of the
exposition and hope definitely infiltrates the air
through a strong presence of a large rainbow sculpture.
Constructed of 400 varnished, hollow square
wooden blocks in primary colors, the rainbow purveys a
joyful childhood feeling and can be observed
multi-dimensionally, as well as inside out. It is a
pleasure to see serious art buyers peeking through the
rainbow at different angles, succumbing to the joy of
pure color.

However, the rainbow is present to counterbalance the
difficult transformation of civilizations, recreated
in sand and captured by Ms. Castillo on eight large,
70x92 C-prints, each set against the background of one
the rainbow colors. "Liset is a sculptor whose medium
is sand, like Joseph Du Bois' medium of expression was
felt and Matthew Barney's is Vaseline," says Tayana
Okshteyn, the owner and director of the gallery. "Sand
is a material very rich in meaning. It is the cement
that holds everything together, which is in the
binding material of civilizations, but it is also the
epitome of destruction. Photography here is just the
means to capture the essence of sculpture in material
that is ephemeral in nature, just as the human
constructions it is recreating." Immediately the
doomed idealism of
sand castles and the continuous struggle for survival
of Kobo Abe's "Woman in The Dunes" come to mind.

Briefly captured in sand is a series of creation and
destruction of historical landmarks across time and
civilizations, merging together and collapsing against
each other in a common whirlwind of transformation.
One hears exclamations like "Oh, I recognize
something, this looks like a coliseum." These
representations of civilization are something everyone
can relate to as they are known from school and media
way before they are seen in real life. The Pyramids
are mashed in with
the orthodox churches and with the arches of
McDonald's M, which holds as much territory in the
modern world. The last image is that of a sand crane,
the ultimate symbol of destruction and re-building, of
change, that is forever present in everyone's mind's
eye. Yet, over this sad corrosion is the binding
realization of common fate and the peace of the
rainbow after the storm. The sculptural landscape
shown on the photo prints took 5 months to create, using
only sand water and spray glue, destroying and
re-defining every element to show progression, a
process synonymous to the larger scale progression it
reveals.

"Liset is a very serious artist." Ms. Okshteyn adds.
"We have been working together for the past two years.
The first show she had in our gallery is now on
exhibit in the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Her work is always
different, but you always know that you can expect a
lot from her because she is so professional. Her work
is very rich in symbolism and meaning; and it is the
meaning and symbols that I share and agree
with." Ms. Castillo has been a recipient of numerous
awards and fellowships, including the Guggenheim
Fellowship.

(Liset Castillo)

Shortly after the opening the artist herself arrives,
fashionably dressed, with a large yellow flower in her
hair, followed by a large group of young, fun friends
speaking a variety of languages. "Did you know about
my opening or did you arrive here by accident," Liset
asks and it takes me a moment to understand that I
have already met her in my local Williamsburg Post
Office, overwhelmed, just like me, by the heat and the
length of the line. "Your story should start with 'I
once met a beautiful Cuban woman in the Post office,'"
she says and I hide my pride for the fact that any
waiting soul in line to ship mail in Williamsburg can
turn out to be an amazing artist.

All writings here are copyrighted by Antonio Goicochea and Galya Kovalyova. 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 Galya Kovalyova. 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
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Alison Nickles at Apollo Braun Boutique | Doron Braunshtein Gallery

2007-08-21T13:34:00.000-05:00

A large young crowd smoking and drinking outside Apollo
Braun boutique gave away the art opening across the
block. Tonight's opening is for a show of photography
by Alison Nickles. Alison, a native of North Carolina,
graduated from Savannah (Georgia) College of Art and
Design with a BFA in photography and currently resides
in Bushwick, New York. Her work can be seen at
www.alisonphotography.com or at Apollo Braun Boutique
through August 28th.

The mock biography on Alison's web site says: "I called
Nan [Goldin]. She told me prostitution is for whores;
photography is the same but your body is the camera
and your john is your subject. Now I know what I want
is honest photography that tells a story."

As one walks through the crowd into the gallery, the
portraits of young people on the walls look exactly
like the people smoking outside the opening. They look
like the kids who wonder through Manhattan's Lower East Side,
or live in Bushwick, and yet, Alison says that these are
her friends from Georgia. They look like some of our
friends in their early twenties all across United
States.

Turntables and guitars, cigarettes and tattoos,
violence and junk food, piles of empty beer bottles
and plastic coffee cups permeate the atmosphere of
clean and noble medium format C prints. But this
evidence does not give away the presence of renegade
youth nearly as much as does the gaze of the
protagonists. The look in the slightly widened eyes of
youngsters across all of the prints is at once anxious
and subdued, wasted and worried, violent and
frightened, cool and tortured, empty and full of
mystery yet extremely matter-of-fact and extremely
striking to the audience. There is universally
recognizable beauty and sadness in this portrait of
artistic struggling twenty-somethings, fighting, partying and
playing music to be themselves. "Isn't it great how
her crutch is totally unexposed, but her hairy legs
are," says Alison to a friend, pointing to a photo of
a dumbfounded couple with guitars between their legs.

Alison shared that professionally staged looking
portraits were shot at house parties with friends
gathered on the occasion of helping create her art
project; "Bribing a bunch of broke hipsters with
beer." When asked what the series is about, she said
"These are my dreams." Yet the characters in her
dreams are her friends sincerely playing their own
parts. That is why there is a beautiful discrepancy
between staged organization of these shots and their
deeply sincere expressions. These people are truly
living in the moment, for better or for worse, and the
authenticity of this moment carries through in the photographs.
This production is an example of how real life can turn
into an art project about itself.

All writings here are copyrighted by Antonio Goicochea and Galya Kovalyova. 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 Galya Kovalyova. 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
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Galya Kovalyova Photo Exhibit at Doron Braunshtein Gallery

2007-07-24T11:28:00.000-05:00

Doron Braunshtein Gallery is yet another
manifestation of a hip and colorful clothing boutique
Apollo Braun on Orchard St., Lower East Side. "Every
talented artist should be given an immediate chance
for exposure, without pretensiousness or difficulty,"
Apollo Braun himself, the owner of the store said, "we
will do the same when we are in Chelsea!" Here, bold
and bright, yet intimate atmosphere provides a natural
home to funny, moody and extravagant artwork, clothing
and people.

The Gallery's fifth hosted artist, photographer Galya
Kovalyova, was welcomed during the opening yesterday
night, on Thursday, July 19th. Her series "Dreaming a
City," a surreal moody exploration into the intimate
magic of night-time urbanism, matches the faintly lit
unpredictable evenings of Lower East Side. Galya is a
Russian-American and the photos exhibited travel
across Europe, New York and China, and yet the images
of steamy restaurant windows, half-decipherable neon
signs, reflections and distortions of backlit
architecture form a universal picture of mystery in a
city at night, recognizable across the modern world.
These are images from our dreams of A City, romantic
and full of secrets.

The visitors browsed the store, drinking and laughing,
finding the photos on the colorful, magazine-cutout
walls and leaving their immediate associations on the
white paper wall space around the artwork, as
suggested by a friend of the photographer. This
continued and transformed the common reflections on
the topic. Thus a visitor wrote "A Forrest" under a
photograph of a piece of meat peaking through a green
curtain of a butcher shop in Beijing. The chunk of
meat transformed into an animal and the imagined city
started living its own life.

The exhibition will be up through next Thursday, July
27th. Please come and leave your associations. For
more information about the photography and the
gallery, please visit www.galyaphoto.com and www.apollobraun.com

All writings here are copyrighted by Antonio Goicochea and Galya Kovalyova. 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 Galya Kovalyova. 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
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The Man Who Rocked My World

2007-07-06T15:29:00.001-05:00

My FAVORITE british guitarist Nick McCabe has come back from the dead!!!

Or out hiding into the sun light some would say as he now has a myspace page!

For those of you who don't know who he is, he is the ethereal genius guitarist of a little known band called the Verve.

The Verve became very famous and popular in Europe throughout the 1990's, however their American following remained puzzling small.

Nonetheless he was the principal songwriter behind the songs off the band's first two albums, A Northern Soul, and the widely acclaimed A Storm In Heaven, the album that was the most important and influential album to come out of England in the 1990's.

His genius ranks up there with the dazzling brilliance among the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and other notables. And fortunately, this genius has been blessed with a longevity that surpasses the "Club of 27" life span.

Check out his myspace page and listen to the some of the spell-binding sonic soundscapes he has available for preview up there.

Tell him Vega from Vegalifestyle sent you.

P.S. You can buy the Verve's albums on Amazon or any record store near you.
P.P.S. The Verve disbanded shortly after the release of their Urban Hymns album which was more of Richard Ashcroft's album than it was Nick's and also debuted the hit single Bittersweet Symphony. The Verve have since reunited in the past few months and are going to go play a few shows later this November in the UK.

Are Robots taking over the Earth?

2007-07-02T10:38:00.000-05:00

I was recently an intense discussion with a Wall Streeter about job security. This gentleman graduated from the prestigious Wharton School of Business with both undergraduate and graduate degree's in finance and worked for years on Wall Street.

After having had the luxury of working overseas in finance he came back to the states only to be faced with stunning difficulty in obtaining employment from many of the big firms despite a highly successful track record on the Street and abroad. He quietly explained to me that many of the Wall Street firms were hiring younger and younger and paying less and less in an effort to maximize profits. He also tried to explain to me that the idea of job security was pretty much dead.

In a previous post, which I pulled from this blog, I talked about who had the best job security.

I thought about it long and hard and also had discussed this with another friend in finance.

Jobs that are the most secure are ones that can NOT be replaced by robots or outsourced to foreign nations such as India or China.

This leaves us several categories of jobs all of which can be summarized in as such that it needs human intelligence to execute or run.

•People who build or run businesses
•Specialists or people who are self employed such as doctors, accountants, and •lawyers
•Salesmen
•Artists
•Technical Artisans . . .
•etc, etc

There is a field where where a specialist and an artist intersect which is that of the technical artisan.

These are individuals who operate sophisticated pieces of software, which may or may not be coupled with other equipment.

The workers in these fields are safe so long as there is a high cost of entry.

For example, type setters started losing their jobs once word processors came out.
The demand for professional audio engineers started dwindling at a tremendous rate once affordable good quality portable recording software, such as ProTools, exploded into the marketplace.
Apple greatly undercut Avid's market share by offering a video editing platform (Final Cut Pro) at a huge fraction of the cost with comparable editing power.

We will see this happening soon with Apple's release of the Color application which is meant to mimic $100,000+ color correction systems such as the DaVinci 2k.

And if you think being a surgeon is a safe bet in terms of job security, you might be wrong. The U.S. military has developed a machine with ultra fine motor movements that can be remotely operated by a surgeon from over a thousand miles away. The military developed this technology so that it afforded them the ability to contract the best surgeons to operate on wounded soldiers in distant or remote locations. Of course one could speculate that surgeons might be outsourced. However this is mere speculation.

We also know that innovation destroys jobs. Advances in machinery, intelligent robots, better preventative health measures, etc, etc.

If you're looking to a job for high pay, that also may change in the future depending on the field you are pursuing.

For example, surgeons and doctors were doing very well financially until health insurance companies began to dictate what they would pay doctors. (Plastic surgeons still make rockstar levels of cash since they rarely have to deal with health insurance).

Rumor has it these highly paid self employed specialists may begin to unionize. Which I ultimately hope is not the case as we have seen ill-effect from this happening particularly in reference to some of the automobile manufacturers in Detroit.

My suggestion? Learn more about money and how it works. I don't mean study finance, or business, although I wish I had majored in business instead of minoring in it. Today I am shocked at how little many people know about money. I know people who have more than DOUBLED their salaries and crossed the 6 figure threshold only to complain about having less money than ever before.

And then we all know about the success stories of many individuals who started off with nothing, in many instances no college education, who have amassed empires. And then there are also some individuals who have amassed a great deal of wealth through wise investments, and choose to work a job part time.

Best of luck to you.

Surprise! Tony G Farewell Dinner Party

2007-06-29T23:00:00.000-05:00

This event took place over at Mekong Restaurant on the corner of 6th Avenue and King St. (This is in downtown Manhattan for all you folks outside of the Promised City)

Anieu (the event organizer) surprised Tony by throwing a Farewell Dinner in his honor.

An entire back room was rented and was packed, packed, packed!

Check out the pics

Highly talented director and producer Nick S., and brilliant genius comedienne Adara Almonte

World's spunkiest dance instructor Melissa (she really is spunky! . . . and she likes taking table cloths and turning them into hats as you can see . . . makes me wonder what happened to my table cloth as I can't find it . . . hmmmmmm)

Sara and friend

Dazzling jazz pianist Andru McCann, Tony, Nick, and amazing fashion designer Heather in the front

John and Andru

Here's looking at you! Philip Akka is one of the most sought after and best flame artists in the world . . . and he also happens to be a great friend and roommate (he is also highly sought after by the ladies)

Anieu (the organizer), James, and his nephew

Melissa (again), and Marcus!

Marjan and Tony

Gina Mauro Art Show @ Doron Braunshtein Gallery

2007-06-28T23:00:00.000-05:00

On June 28th at Doron Braunshtein Gallery @ Apollo Braun Boutique in New York City's Lower East Side artist Gina Mauro presented her artwork.

This is the artist that so far out of all the previous artists, has works of art that really resonate with who I am and my personality.

Here are some pics from this VERY well attended and wonderful event.

From left to right

Ann, Doron Braunshtein, and Gina Mauro

This event was sooooo well attended that attendance spilled over to the store exterior.

79th Street Boat Basin Pics

2007-06-28T19:00:00.000-05:00

Books I've Read Throughout my Life

2007-06-27T10:29:00.021-05:00

Because I'm sure people would love to know
(a)=abridged audio book
(ua)=unabridged audio book
(p)=partially read
(f)=photoread
(f+r)=photoread plus read straight through
An Inclusive List:
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Where The Wild Things Are

The Berenstein Bear's Books (various)
Dr. Seuss Books (various)

The Holy Bible (p)
Jesus Before Christianity
The Shadow of the Galilean: The Quest of the Historical Jesus in Narrative Form
The Demonologist
Padre Pio (p)

A Guide To The Bodhisattva Way of Life (p)

General Custer's Last Stand

The Art of The Deal
Think Like A Billionaire
Trump: How To Get Rich
Trump 101 (p)
Trump Never Give Up: How I Turned My Biggest Challenges into Success
Why We Want you to be Rich
Think and Grow Rich
How To Win Friends and Influence People
Never Eat Alone
Who's Got Your Back?

The Education Of A Speculator (by Victor Niederhoffer)
When Genius Failed : The Rise and Fall of Long Term Capital Management (Unabridged Audio Book)
Confessions of An Economic Hitman (Unabridged Audio Book)
The Warren Buffett Way (Unabridged audio)
Jim Cramer's Real Money (Abridged audio)
Learn to Earn (Abridged audio)

The Dollar Crisis (p)
End The Fed
Guide to Investing in Gold and Silver
Gold: The Once and Future Money (p)
The Housing Boom and Bust (By Thomas Sowell)
In Defense of Global Capitalism
Macroeconomics (textbook by Hubbard and O'Brien updated 2nd edition)
Money Mischief: Episodes in Monetary History (p)

Freakonomics (a)

The New Business Road Test (p)
Zero To One Million
Rich Dad's Before You Quit Your Job

Rich Dad Poor Dad
Cashflow Quadrant
Conspiracy of The Rich (p)
Rich Dad's Guide to Investing
Rich Dad's Increase Your Financial IQ
The ABC's of Real Estate Investing
Own Your Own Corporation
Who Took My Money?

Managing Customer Relationships (By Peppers and Rogers)

Sales Dogs
No B.S. Sales Success (p)
No B.S. Sales Success In The New Economy
No B.S. Direct Marketing (p)
No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs
The Ultimates Letter (p)
The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies (ua)

There's A Customer Born Every Minute
Buying Trances
Hypnotic Writing (f)

Persuasion Engineering
Influence (p)

The True Believer (p)

Combating Cult Mind Control

The Prince
The 48 Laws of Power (p)
Seduction (p)
The 50th Law (p)

Bailout Riches

How To Be CEO
Going Places

A Whole New Mind

Letting Go Of Shame: Understanding How Shame Affects Your Life

Why you're Sick Dumb and Broke
It's Called Work for a Reason!: Your Success Is Your Own Damn Fault

The Hypnotic Patterns of Milton Erickson Vol 1, and 2
The Structure of Magic Vol 1 and 2
Frogs Into Princes
Using Your Brain For A Change
Trance-formations
Reframing
The Adventures of Anybody
Magic In Action (p)
Training Trances: Multi-Level Communication In Training and Therapy
Turtles All The Way Down
Gestalt

Thresholds of the Mind

Power vs. Force (by David Hawkins)
The Power of Positive Thinking
The Attractor Factor
The Missing Secret (Abridged Audio Book)
The Power of Intention
The Success Principles (p)
Inspiration
Unlimited Power
The 4 Agreements
The Active Side of Infinity
It Works
Silent Power
Getting In The Gap
Zero Limits

In The Blink of an Eye (By Walter Murch)

Music Supervision
All You Need To Know About The Music Business
This Business of Artist Management
Copyright Law (p)
The Rise and Fall of Popular Music (p)
The Physics of Sound (p)

Mixing With Your Mind
Mastering Audio: The Art and The Science (p)
The Mastering Engineer's Handbook (p)
5.1 Surround Sound: Up and Running (p)
Spatial Audio (p)

The Tao Of Health, Sex, and Longevity (p)

Depression-Free, Naturally (p) (Great book)

The Student Success Manifesto

Tom Sawyer
Huckleberry Finn
The Grapes of Wrath
The Great Gatsby
Jurassic Park
Death of A Salesman
All My Sons
The Sun Also Rises
A Farewell to Arms
A Catcher In The Rye
Homer's The Iliad
Romeo and Juliet
Hamlet
The Merchant of Venice
Things Fall Apart (by Chinua Achebe)
Enders Game
The Giver
Angels and Demons
The Davinci Code
Deception Point
Naked Lunch
A Raisin In The Sun
The Celestine Prophecy
The Testament
Omerta (By Mario Puzo)
Atlas Shrugged
The Schopenhauer Cure (p)
America My Whore (p)

The Hiram Key
Holy Blood Holy Grail (p)

Black Boy (p)
Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur (p)
Call Me Ted (Unabridged Audio Book) (As read by Ted Turner himself!)
Get In The Van
Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs
Lennon
Room Full of Mirrors
Heavier than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain
Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana
Never Fade Away: The Kurt Cobain Story
The Long Hard Road Out Of Hell
No One Here Get's Out Alive
How To Make Love Like A Porn Star
Screw It Let's Do It (by Richard Branson)
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life (p)
The Real Deal: My Story from Brick Lane to Dragons' Den (a)
A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity (a)

The No Spin Zone
Who's Looking Out For You
The O'Reilly Factor
Culture Warrior (a)
A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity (a)

Arguing With Idiots (p)
Democrats in The Red Zone (p)
How To Talk To A Liberal (If You Must) (p)

The Game (by Neil Strauss)

Emergency (by Neil Strauss)

Comedy Writing Secrets
Rock This

Buzzed
The Addictive Personality
The Selfish Brain (p)

Inside the Criminal Mind
Mind Hunter
The Criminal Personality Volume 1: A Profile For Change (p)

James Curtright art show @ Apollo Braun | Doron Braunshtein Gallery

2007-05-31T23:32:00.000-05:00

Lots of lovely ladies abound! From Left to right: Sheila Jimenez, Mystery Guest (Some lucky guy), Genevieve Pacana of Virtual Canvas fame, and Iveta (Note: She's one hot Bulgarian mama jama)

The amazing artist James Curtright (right) with his wife on the left.

The Apollo Braun boutique | Doron Braunshtein Gallery is located on 193 Orchard St (proudly situated in the Lower East Side south of Houston Street).

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

All photographs © 2007 Antonio Goicochea. All Rights Reserved.

Boyce Cummings Reception @ Jonathon Shorr Gallery

2007-05-27T08:10:00.000-05:00

This reception for Boyce Cummings art show at Jonathon Shorr Gallery took place this Wednesday May, 23rd in the evening.

All photographs © 2007 Antonio Goicochea. All rights reserved!

Quote of the Day

2007-05-24T21:53:00.001-05:00

"Agitate"

- Frederick Douglass

Instinct vs. Intuition

2007-05-14T23:37:00.000-05:00

I often hear people say "You have good instincts" or "I'm going with my intuition on this", etc, etc.

It seems a lot of people I talk to use the words "instinct" and "intuition" interchangeably. In fact it seems to me that most folks I talk to think THEY are the same thing.

In my experience I have found the following to be true and use as my personal definitions:

Instinct is a type of common sense typically developed over years of experience with something.

Intuition is the part of you that is psychic in nature.

Neta Ben-Simon Olson Art Show @ Apollo Braun

2007-05-11T14:41:00.000-05:00

Last night at Doron Braunshtein's "Apollo Braun" Boutique and Gallery (193 Orchard St. in New York City), I went to the opening reception for Neta Ben-Simon Olson's paintings on display. The paintings were fabulous and showed the work of a highly imaginative and inspired artist. This talented yet undiscovered painter had the luxury to find someone, Doron Braunshtein, who saw her work and believed in her. Her paintings are on display until May 25th and prices range from $150 to 10,000. Here's some pictures of the turn out!

The artist - Neta - is on the right in this first photograph.

The painting in the photograph above is my favorite one of Neta's paintings.

The owner of Apollo Braun, Doron Braunshtein is pictured here wearing a purple t-shirt

Photographs 1, 4, & 6 © 2007 Antonio Goicochea. All rights reserved. Shot on Pentax A20 10 MP Digital Camera

Interesting News For People Who Love To Shop

2007-05-08T23:37:00.000-05:00

That's right . . . I've opened my very own Cafepress store . . .
check it out! T-shirts, hats, trucker hats, mugs, teddy bears and more!!!

www.cafepress.com/vegalifestyle

Basic Smell Theory

2007-05-08T21:52:00.001-05:00

I am blessed and cursed with an abnormally good sense of smell.

Here are my observations so far . . .

VOLUME
The more particles in the air of a smell, the more accurate you will be able to detect the chemical nature of the smell. For example . . . from a distance orange juice and say urine smell similar. (In fact I've known when my dog has peed in the basement of the house when I, while docily sleeping on the 2 nd floor of the house, could smell the ever so faint smell of something that smells like orange juice come through the air conditioner vent - although it had a very faint acrid note that made me suspect otherwise).

Now up close say a few feet away, where there is a higher concentration of molecules in the vicinity it is much easier to detect what the exact chemical nature of the smell is.

DEFENSE

I have sparred myself falling ill from bad foods by simply smelling them. Remember the nose is a chemical sensor. It detects chemical information in the environment around you. There's a reason why your nose is right above your mouth and not right above your ass or arm pits or feet!

Inspired Photo's

2007-05-03T14:25:00.000-05:00

Here's a few snapshots of Lima, Peru's very bohemian and rustic Barranco district. This part is unlike ANY OTHER part of Lima with it's beautiful one story (occasionally two stories) spanish colonial style houses with ultra high ceilings and surrounded by a great deal of greenery. A popular night time hang out for the 20 something crowd as an alternative to the more upscale and active Miraflores district.

Shot on a Pentax A20 10 Megapixel digital camera.

This picture here includes the famous Mochilleros establishment on the right. It is a beautiful one story residence converted into a restaurant/pub with an outside patio courtyard for seating guests, an attached hostel, and a downstairs underground bar where local music acts perform. A popular night time hangout spot.

(Last Photograph) This building is a bit more modern and on the beach. It has the advantages of being on the beach and being in a more relaxed part of the district and IS ALSO walking distance to the more happening part of the district. A resident on that street could easily be partying one minute watching a band play at a local pub and the next minute be at home and be able to relax.

You can purchase a hard copy of these photos by e-mailing me privately.

All Photo's © 2007 Antonio Goicochea

Poetry to set a Sunday afternoon Mood to

2007-04-30T13:29:00.000-05:00

In A Cave... Swallowed By Light... Hearing My Breaths... Slowly Inhaling... Eyes Closed...Lost in Wandering Contemplations

How to see and be blind at the same time

2007-03-26T00:10:00.000-05:00

Hindsight is 20/20 . . . nah . . . it's a MYTH

You are free to change your opinions of the past at ANY time.

The question is . . . which view (aka opinion) of the past has the most usefulness for you and where you want to go in life?

Observation on Genius

2007-03-26T00:09:00.001-05:00

(REPOSTED FROM MY MYSPACE BLOG)

Observation on Genius

What many people typically call genius is actually the ability to observe and / or analyze at the level of the deep structure of reality, notice, it and disseminate it, and then articulate it.

At the least it is an ability to UNDERSTAND at the level of deep structure of reality. Articulating it is what makes others realize that YOU ARE a genius.

In the end this ability is really the ability to SEE truth as untainted as possible in what non-geniuses would see as the details or the deep structure of reality. Unfortunately many non-geniuses can't see the "deep structure" of reality.

(Here's an experiment . . . I don't know if it'll work or not
For you non-geniuses out there try really really really observing something and derive the unbiased truth from it as much as you can.)

I'm a man of colour

2007-03-25T23:54:00.000-05:00

Try something interesting . . .

Go somewhere that is highly public. A park filled with people near shops is a perfect place as is an art gallery.

pay attention to all that you see in front of you PLUS what you see in your periphery.

Now . . . pay attention only to the COLOURS . . . nothing else . . . do NOT pay attention to the lines, details . . . only notice the world at it's most elemental form . . . masses of COLOUR . . .

And notice how beautiful it is to see it this way.

The Statistic on Statistics

2007-03-22T06:23:00.000-05:00

Statistics are a measure of only what has happened SO FAR.

Feel free to change them at ANY time.

Straight A's

2007-03-06T04:12:00.000-05:00

The fact that someone was high school valecdictorian, or has an MBA means nothing in terms of real world execution.

Words are words, excuses are excuses, Titles are titles . . . PERFORMANCE is REALITY.