Friday, December 7, 2012

New York a la Martin Margiela

Four days in New York and I didn't buy a thing. Yes, I know we're all supposed to be spending to stave off a Thelma and Louise over the Fiscal Cliff.  Bit of an anarchist that's me...I promise to be patriotic and spend from now on.

Me and Pietra on the HiLine
Seen from the HiLine

Budha inflatable at Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens

Opa! Greek restaurant with fibreglass clouds

Ralph Lauren, Madison Avenue

Big Nick's, a greasy spoon in Upper West Side; Sumo burgers and jugs of beer

Talking of anarchy, it was a Martin Margiela kind of New York trip. MM is viewed as the most out-there designer, an invisible man refusing to be photographed or interviewed. His style is deconstructing - boots that look like they've been slathered with cement, lapels inside the coat, plexiglas heels and oversized shoulders.

(Most of the world queued overnight for the Martin Margiela - HandM collaboration but no one knew about him in Doha, Qatar where my sister Pietra is currently working, so she snagged a wonderful slope-shouldered coat and two men's shirts - one for her and one for Kevin, which are half workshirt and half tuxedo shirt.)
via
Our trip was so deconstructed that the first day found us on other side of the river in Rockaway, Queens.  The Socrates Sculpture Park there has a 10ft inflatable Budha floating in the river, a 1965 Ford Mustang draped with braids of black hair and a 3ft Virgin Mary made of birdseed. As we walked around it was "Is this art?" "What about this?" but we realised the plentiful dog poop was definitely not.

We were in New York for my sister Pietra's doco Maori Boy Genius screening at the Margaret Mead Film Festival at the Natural History Museum. While Pietra was viewing the dinosaurs she heard that she had won the "Moa" (an extinct 12ft bird) in New Zealand for the best documentary this year. Good on her.

During the screening I met: someone who needed an armed guard while investigating a fraud, someone who bought Modiglianis and wine for the super-wealthy, our friend Angus who runs the business side for Kiss and is a Bafta judge, his lovely wife Jules who is the PT for the New York Ballet,  a staff writer for the New Yorker and a Kiwi performance artist who was being featured at the Saatchi and Saatchi holiday party this week.

Later that evening at a random bar, I was asked that dreaded question...
"So Jody, what do you do?"
"Housewife" I confessed.
"How very, very..."
"Deconstructed?" I ventured.
"Yes!" they enthused, visibly relieved.


Cool stuff:
Noguchi Museum: Known mostly for his triangular tables, this man was the first to make a warehouse his home and carve simple stone sculptures that made sense of the world.

Opa! a Greek restaurant in Astoria with fibreglass clouds, plastic flowers and posters of waterfalls not in Greece. We asked the waitress what we should order. "The snappeeer..." she sighed as if this fish were poetry. Only $13 and it was.

Bollocks:
Afternoon tea at The Carlisle: Two small scones ($15) and club sandwich ($18) which was soggy in the middle and nearing pagoda (curling at the edges) on the outside.

$60 of disappointment at The Carlisle

Sleep No More: A theatrical experience in a hotel?insane asylum? where the audience follows the actors from room to room culminating in a writhing naked dance scene; ergo ram's heads, spurting blood, bobbing boobs and erect penises.  Ergo, deconstructed wank.






46 comments:

  1. Crikey Jode...you didn't have to strip off for the sleep no more thing did you?.....and what a great trip this sounds, fun, friends and family.

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    1. Naked moi? Well that certainly would have cleared the building!

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  2. Well done to your sister Jody on winning best documentary of the year:) I am still laughing here at your description of that sandwich!! I bet you had a great four days all the same even though it was a bit different to the norm:)
    ~Anne

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    1. Thanks Anne. It seems whatever you do in the Big Apple there's always adventures, don't you reckon?

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  3. Sheesh! Our time in NY was a bit more pedestrian and we seem to have completely missed Sleep No More....

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    1. No way! I saw your photos of that semi-naked couple in the street! Missing Sleep No More is a relief, believe me.
      Very polarised audience. If you look online the viewers who loved it say if you don't you love it you are pathetic and "just don't get it." So that's me I guess.
      http://www.yelp.com/biz/sleep-no-more-new-york

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  4. Congrats to your sister. Oh I love the cool stuff bit you would make a great restaurant critic

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    1. Pietra's now back to the Middle East to make a doco in Afghanistan. I'm back home to do the school run. Inge - forgot to mention Public which is a wonderful Kiwi restaurant in Noho (love this NY abbreviations!) which has sticky toffee pudding and hokey pokey ice cream!

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  5. You have an adventure everywhere you go and I love hearing about them.
    I am just a hop,skip and jump (well, an hour) outside of Manhattan and I love hearing non-New Yorker's takes on their visits there.
    Totally entertaining!

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    1. Eleanor - lucky you, NY is my favourite place ever, great for walking and people watching, you can't help but have a great time (even if you're whining about pricey scones!)

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  6. Very entertaining account! I'm very disappointed the Carlisle let you down though. The Ralph Lauren store windows are lovely, did you see Bergdorf Goodman's windows?

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    1. Sadly didn't get to them, something to save for next year?

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  7. Deconstructed. Loving that will appropriate it ASAP.

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    1. Its a corker word for covering a myriad of sins or ommissions

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  8. Ooh I don't know which part of this to comment on - your sister's marvellous news, the weird theatre experience, the non Greek Greek restaurant, the sad sandwiches or the fact that you didn't buy anything!!

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    1. Sad sambos, yes they were. Maybe they needed a therapist? Very New York

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  9. Sounds like quite the trip! And I love how the $13 dollar snapper outdid the $18 club ---- isn't that always the case?

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    1. As my friend Angus says the Big Nick's almost always outway the "spanky" places.

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  10. Glad you had a nice time...but doesn't everything look just a little bit tacky?

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  11. I'm going to be in NY in 3 weeks time ... getting really excited now! Altough I doubt it will be as interesting as your trip. Sounds fab. Congrats to your sister, that's wonderful news.

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    1. FF - you can't help but have an interesting time there I reckon

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  12. Congrats to Pietra on the docco! And on you being in New York — you jet-settter, you. I'm with your Twisted Scottish mate — tacky abounds (or is that just another word for "deconstructed"?). Obviously I am not a jet-setter, or I would know these things.

    Christmas blessings and Bear hugs (from the Bear who has gone back to hibernating — and not in New York). I suppose if I tried to hibernate in New York, someone would find me, discern that I am merely a silly old man who wears a fur coat and needs a shave, and put me to work in some dreadful factory!

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    1. Yes I definitely think deconstructed equals tackee!
      Think hibernating in New York could be performance art don't you?

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  13. this is from Mike Birbilglia ...the hero of great movie "sleepwalk with me"

    "
    Dear Journal

    Sorry I’ve taken so long to write to you. I’ve been busy mounting my new one-person show off-Broadway at the Barrow Street Theatre.

    Opening night was little bit like a wedding reception, which I never really had, even though I got the wife part. My wife Jenny is shy and I’m uncomfortable at parties, so instead we took the subway to City Hall and got married and then went to Big Nick’s and ate pizza and hamburgers. We took photos on our camera phones. In my mind it was very romantic.
    ,
    http://www.facebook.com/notes/mike-birbiglia/kimmel-tonight-and-great-reviews-for-girlfriends-boyfriend/10150219371930087?ref=nf

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  14. Congrats to Pietra! That is wonderful. I believe all trips to NYC should be deconstructed. It just seems like the way the city is meant to be seen. Of course, I might could do without the wankers!

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  15. I'm going to have to check out Pietra's documentary. It just so happens the little toe rag and I are heading up to NY for a few days. I'll stay away from the Carlisle.

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    1. Have fun with the littlies. You can get Pietra's others film (such as the Art Star and the Sudanese Twins on Hula or Netflix. )

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  16. Great post and marvellous links. The Lauren window was divine.
    Congratulations to Pietra - talent obviouly runs in the family and don't beieve for a nano second you are just a housewife and Mum.
    Can't wait to use the new buzz word - deconstructed and wel ldone for exposing the Carlise's shortcomings - disgraceful!

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  17. $60 for that measily offering? What a rip-off! A fancy tea-pot is not enough to make you feel you've got your money's worth either.

    Sounds like an exhausting time all in all. Well done your sis, but it must have been nice to get back home.

    I've been to NYC once and I just got gifts for others. After that there was nuffink left for me! :(

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  18. Ooooh you've made me so excited for our trip - we're taking the kids for the first time at Xmas. My OH proposed to me on the Staten Island ferry so I love NYC for many reasons. Our itinerary so far revolves around food:)

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  19. Congrats to your sister! It sounds like it was a fun trip, but when is NYC never not fun? And note to self, I must make sure to shop in Doha, Qatar and get a 10 ft inflatable buddha, I could really use that!

    xo Mary Jo

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  20. Big Nick's!! I went there all the time growing up -- we went to church around the corner (77th & West End) so of course my buddies and I would sneak out and go to "Burger Joint"...

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  21. Jody sounds fun to get out of the bubble.. Very cool and interesting places and people. Congrats to your sister! Talent must run in the genes!

    xx
    Kim

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  22. I am so glad you mostly had a nice time in our city, but bitterly disappointed about tea time at the Carlisle! $18 for a soggy sandwich? They should be ashamed of themselves!! xo style, she wrote

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  23. Afternoon tea at the Carlisle. They sound like they need a wake up slap. An $18 slap.

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    1. Actually the scones were a bit on the crispy side and could have been a nice missile...

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  24. Oh I could talk about disappointing afternoon tea ... I once looked forward to tea at a famous victorian hotel, where Some Like It Hot was filmed. Would you believe your selection of a single tea bag from a box, a pot of hot water and self serve pastries with the tacky sign at each table saying something like please don't take more than two.

    The floating Budha and parking lot signage are priceless. As is the word deconstructed, will be keeping that in mind.

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    1. Ha! Is that Hotel Coronado in San Diego? We went there with our kids when they were very young and it was the most dispiriting experience (and pocket emptying) ever. Really touristy, tons of gates everywhere where you needed to use your key so the kids could make a single step without us being there and shoving in our room card - and wedding music kept us awake until 5am. The concierge just said: "What on earth did you expect?"

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  25. Your humorous anecdotes always make my day which is why I prefer to read your blog first thing in the morning to set the mood for the rest of the day. Good on your sister!! Love your friends' response to your career.

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  26. Well done to your sister! It sounds like a fun filled trip, soggy sarnies and bobbing boobs aside!

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  27. "Modiglianis and wine"...first growths, no doubt!

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