Sunday, September 28, 2014

Jeff Koons: A Retrospective

Playing: Granada-Il Volo
Reading: Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds by Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle
Left to Right: Matthew, me, Yish, Aristo, and Filip
It feels like I've done a lot within my first month at NYU yet I haven't taken that many photos. Fortunately, I went camera happy at the Whitney Museum of American Art, so I was able to write this post. I loved how the Whitney Museum managed to showcase a wide variety of Koons' work from the past three decades and how they dedicated five floors to this retrospective. Seeing Koons' balloon dog sculptures in real life alongside the infamous "The New" (a collection of vacuum cleaners in clear boxes) was  pretty exciting for me. I've seen them in books and online for years yet never saw them aside from a small collection at LACMA. Apart from looking at the art and enjoying free tickets courtesy of NYU, my friends and I pondered the deeper meanings of each piece of art jokingly or at least that's what we thought. As we walked away from one painting, we heard a security guard laugh and say to himself, "Holy shit. College students these days." 

PS I'm changing my URL soon to satellite-buzz.blogspot.com soon, so don't be alarmed when the name of my blog changes on your news feed. 

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Japan Trip: Osaka

Playing: The World is Ugly-My  Chemical Romance
Reading: Metamorphoses by Ovid
After our day trip in Kobe, Tina and I head off to Osaka for a three day visit. We of course did the touristy stuff like visiting Osaka Castle, which is probably Osaka's most famous attraction. The garden around it is pretty and is a nice area to walk around. If you're planning on going inside the castle, know that it's more of a museum than a castle. I expected it to still be a castle like the ones I've visited in Europe, where you can see each and every room, but that's not the case.
After Osaka Castle, we took a quick trip to Kyoto so that we could experience Gion Matsuri, one of Japan's most famous festivals. Tina and I even brought yukatas all the way from America to wear to it. Highly recommend Gion Matsuri, if you're ever in Kyoto during July. It's just a lot of fun to get a taste of Japanese festival foods (Bacon wrapped onigiri, scallion/mayo pancakes, and kara-age? Yes, please!), play all of the games, and watch everyone walk by in their beautiful yukatas. Disclaimer, Tina and I don't know the three girls in the middle of the photo. We just wanted to look like we were actual, Japanese teenagers.
The next day, Tina and I met up with a friend of ours, who moved back to Japan three years ago, named Marika. We met up with Marika at America-mura to go shopping and do a round of purikura. If you ever get the chance to do purikura, you must do it. Purikura is basically a Japanese photo booth that alters your appearance by smoothing out your skin, enlarging your eyes, lengthening your legs, etc. and it's so funny to see your photos afterwards.
Although Marika visits America-mura often, she told us it's kind of a sketchy area. Consequently, we gave up our dreams of finding cheap clothes there and walked over to Namba Parks, which is an architectural masterpiece of a shopping center. You must take a walk around the winding buildings, resembling Antelope Canyon. After you're done walking through Namba Parks, sneak into the tallest office building or hotel, go to the top floor and admire Namba Parks' twisting roads and patterns from above. You won't be disappointed.
Tina's and my favorite part about Osaka was Dotonbori at night time. Everything lights up and it looks like a stereotypical snapshot of Japanese life - crowded streets, bright lights and the whole deal. Not only that, but there are tons of great places to eat at and plenty of arcades to keep you busy all night long. If none of that interests you, at least get a photo with the famous Glico Man sign!

P.S. I'm officially living in New York now and I promise a post soon about what I've been up to. New York (and NYU) has spoiled me so far and I love all of the opportunities here.