Tag: midtown

Brunch en decadencia

The Humble Fabulist7 Comments

If you can’t fly over the rainbow, bring the rainbow in the room. Along with one of the most lavish brunches in the City, accompanied by the spiciest Bloody Marys (I had to give up on mine and go for some chilled white wine instead) and soft jazz music played live.

You don’t have to go far – just 65 floors high above the Rockefeller Center.

Because why else would you go chasing rainbows, if not for that view?

Best enjoyed on a sunny day; that’s when the crystal curtains on the windows sparkle the most and spread little rainbows all over the room.

Another martini Mr. Bond?

October 30th, 2016

Young Frankenstein

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What a pleasure to have discovered Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (1974) forty-plus years after its release (forty-three to be precise)…! Presented by the man himself, no less.

A live introduction, broadcast from the 20th century Fox studios to movie theaters, with Mel Brooks paying tribute to the film’s late star Gene Wilder who had passed away just two months before. But also letting the audience in on a few ”secrets” like how he discovered the original laboratory equipment used in the 1931 film Frankenstein stored in the garage of the man who created it, Kenneth Strickfaden. As it happened, it was in perfect working condition – they didn’t even have to remove the dust. It went without saying that Mr. Brooks would use it again in Young Frankenstein…

AMC Empire 25

October 18th, 2016

Moonlight Sonata

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Let me come with you. What a moon there is tonight!
The moon is kind – it won’t show
that my hair turned white. The moon
will turn my hair to gold again. You wouldn’t understand.
Let me come with you.

When there’s a moon the shadows in the house grow larger,
invisible hands draw the curtains,
a ghostly finger writes forgotten words in the dust
on the piano – I don’t want to hear them. Hush.

Verses long forgotten come to mind. From the poem by Yannis Ritsos (1909-1990), Η σονάτα του σεληνόφωτος / Moonlight sonata.

As always in poetry, nuance is lost in translation. But it is this or none at all.

October 16th, 2016

Turning Page

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Proud to have been present, among representatives of the entire world, at the historic moment when the United Nations General Assembly appointed by acclamation the former Prime Minister of Portugal, António Guterres, as the next United Nations Secretary-General, succeeding Ban Ki-moon when he stepped down on 31 December 2016.

An emotional moment for everyone present including Mr. Guterres himself, who addressed the General Assembly in English, French and Portuguese.

‘‘I have faith in the United Nations because I believe in the universal values it stands for: peace, justice, human dignity, tolerance and solidarity. Based on these values, I believe that diversity in all its forms is a tremendous asset, and not a threat; that in societies that are more and more multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious, diversity can bring us together, not drive us apart.”

An extract from Mr. Guterres’ speech which I found particularly resonating.

António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations

October 13th, 2016

No more photos, please…!

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Giraffe
Fortune

Baked enamel on steel plate, granite, 2014

This diva is part of A Fancy Animal Carnival, a series of eleven bronze animals by Taiwanese artist Hung Yi. Every animal is painted in colourful folklore patterns and represents a narrative, expressed through traditional Taiwanese symbols and motifs believed to bring luck.

I didn’t know that giraffes bring good fortune, did you?

Hung Yi

Artwork on 37th St. & Broadway (until April 15th, 2017)

October 9th, 2016