Revolution Solution

The Hollywood Bowl was originally a natural amphitheater. The first person to be employed to design a shell for the stage in order to help broadcast the sound was Lloyd Wright, son of Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1931 Lloyd Wright’s wooden shell was replaced with a concrete one designed by Allied Architects of Los Angeles. That shell was in turn replaced by one designed by Frank Gehry in 1982. The fifth and latest dome (2004) is the design of Hodgetts + Fung Design Associates.

I went tonight with my best pal samson to see Thievery Corporation. It was an unexpected surprise. I didn't come to LA for the happiest of occasions, but left with one of the best experiences of my life. The venue is such a beautiful place, being in the middle of all these trees, and the beautiful california sky, it feels so classically los angeles, which makes me want to live here again. there is a romance of la that i think has been lost, but more on that some other time. the music was so wonderful, bebe gilberto and thievery corporation.. and perry ferrell came out for what i believe was Revolution Solution. I can't think of a more awesome surprise.

People were dancing in the aisles, and i could totally picture you there too... dancing free, letting the beats overtake you. and i felt like you were there. you knew how much i loved to see you dance. and it made me smile.

there is a primal feeling to it. a few well placed beats and you can't help but nod your head. pictures to come.

Endless Summer..

This is how summer should feel like. the movie "endless summer" call me nostalgic... but when i walk out everyday, i don't feel summer. i feel like urban hell. :) maybe i should move back to california...

"a summer chill" - this is ivy league. that's my first song of summer.

i'm still reading (re reading) sun also rises.
"it is awfully easy to be hard-boiled about everything in the daytime, but at night it is another thing"
so terribly true. in one sentence, life is explained. at night, even if you're with someone, aren't we all just a bit lonely?

one i always loved..

If You Forget Me

I want you to know
one thing.

You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

But
if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine.

Pablo Neruda


i've had a sad day today. death is always difficult for me, and i i guess you know i take it hard in my own way. i wish you were around to speak to. you'd know the right words to say. i re read some of your old notes.. even words written in the past were good for some comfort. i always loved this poem by neruda. sometimes i fear that the 4th stanza rings true for you... i hope not. i tend to disagree with neruda as much as i love this one. love does not need to feed on love. sometimes it needs to nourishment. and it lasts forever.. and its roots will always remain.

freedom..

Was watching the z-boys movie again. remember how much we loved it duuuude? when i see it, i can see the freedom that you always talked about and loved. the youthful energy of how people just did what they wanted and created something new and great. it's funny how sometimes we don't see it until we're older..

addendum: the word you used to use was spontaneous. :)

The sun also rises..

i read this today. it reminded me you..

she was looking into my eyes with that way she had of looking that made you wonder whether she really saw out of her own eyes. they would look on and on after everyone else's eyes in the world would have stopped looking. she looked as though there were nothing on earth she would not look at like that, and really she was afraid of so many things.

-hemingway "the sun also rises"

the past..

I saw someone today as i walked out of the subway station. it was a glance, and looked again, and i saw someone we knew from the past. And he looked the same. with another friend of his. And i looked at him, and there was no emotion from me. There was a time that I would even despise thinking of him, but now, just nothing.

I think of whether not you see him or not, and how you didn't like him either, but he may still be in your life somehow.

The weather is cool tonight. People are out, buzzing with excitement for the weekend. It's supposed to be very warm. I'm moving through time without leaving one place.

summer

today summer really begins.. unofficially of course. it was dead hot here in new york city. hot. sticky. uncomfortable. you can almost smell the garbage beginning to rot on the streets. you didn't just breathe the air, you felt it, like a sticky web all around you.

this isn't summer. the picture above is how i'd like to imagine summer. breezy. beautiful. like a long weekend between a busy work week.

words we said in a letter.

make a noise in the dark so i know you're there
lost on location but the view is still the same
people move in and out with a little less care
everyone looking like you none with your name

can a liar ever tell the truth
and will my words ever make it through
they're just waiting on your doorstep
memories passing through but always kept

last time i sat here another band was playing
right now was still a tomorrow yet unseen
spring was more like winter and fall more like spring
and the view from my seat is just less interesting.

this was my time please can you please see
now we're locked doors searching for our keys..

fancygreysuit.com

i'll be updating this periodically now with a new project i have been thinking about..

koons

I went to the igoogle launch party today. i created some of the artwork for the oscar de la renta portion of it. and jeff koons was there and i met him. and he was the nicest person. completely humble and so sweet. it was quite moving. and i'm still so excited. and i thought that you would be excited too. and i wish i could tell you all about it.

walden

today i watched walden by Jonas Mekas. the way it was shot, like watching a home video, really made you feel like you were experiencing his life with him. There was this part, where he talks about the world moving quickly and you can just watch this movie. and it stops. how you can interact and get something from these moving images, or you can just tune out, really got me thinking. It was like he was talking about how we're not stopping long enough to get something out of things. We move too quickly and time is lost and when you turn around, you missed it.

she's better now..

the best thing ever..

i saw this on another blog and had to share it. it's the best thing ever. and i'm sure you'd like it.

How are you? Do you remember? This day we met on this bench? One year or more... Since you left to Switzerland I lost my dad and my best uncle. I lost my dreams about life and love. Sometimes losing my mind... Never forgetting you. I wish you the best!!! From here to nowhere.

Parc du Cinquantenaire, Brussels, Belgium

like you..

When i read this, it reminded me of you. about how fragile you could be, in a precious way. about how special you are. that there were other forces at work. that beneath that hard exterior, you just wanted to be loved like everyone else..


I didn't want my picture taken because I was going to cry. I didn't know why I was going to cry, but I knew that if anybody spoke to me or looked at me too closely the tears would fly out of my eyes and the sobs would fly out of my throat and I'd cry for a week. I could feel the tears brimming and sloshing in me like water in a glass that is unsteady and too full. ~Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar,

Time and again.

i hate sunday nights.

Today.

"let's start over again.."

Glow.

Last night I dreamed I saw you again. I went to a small clothing store. It could've been on Lafayette. You saw me and you looked surprised and like you didn't want to see me. Then you gave me a smirk. You know that smirk/smile you do, when you know something that i don't. the one that's so frustrating yet mischevious and endearing at the same time. And you looked so young. so fresh as if you were glowing. And today i couldn't stop thinking about it. And hoped that you glowing in real life.

Excerpt from "I don't owe you anything" by the Smiths (i'm listening to the Sandy Shaw version)

Did I really walk all this way
Just to hear you say :
"Oh, I don't want to go out tonight" ?
"Oh, I don't want to go out tonight"

But you will
For you must


I don't owe you anything, no
But you owe me something
Repay me now


Too freely on your lips
Words prematurely sad
Oh, but I know what will make you smile tonight


Life is never kind
Life is never kind
Oh, but I know what will make you smile tonight

My Blueberry Nights

I saw My Blueberry Nights today. Let me preempt this with the fact that I am a huge WKW fan. I went into this movie with very low expectations since this movie got relatively panned by critics. It wasn't bad. at all. WKW needs to stop going into his bag of tricks with the same visual effects.. slow motion, stop motion etc. The art direction was so-so as well. William Chang should've stayed away from the usual 'moody' look of the other films as I think he failed to capture the heart of the cities that the movies took place in. Norah Jones' acting left a bit to be desired, but I think this came from the lack of depth her character had.

On to the good. Jude Law was great. His character was fresh and his interaction with Chan Marshall was my favorite part of the movie.

Katya: Sometimes, even if you have the keys those doors still can't be opened. Can they?

Jeremy: Even if the door is open, the person you're looking for may not be there, Katya.

last night..

Last night i dreamed we hung out.
and you weren't mad at me anymore.
i think we had tea.

"Jeanne" by the Smiths

Jeanne
The low-life has lost its appeal
And I'm tired of walking these streets
To a room with its cupboards bare

Jeanne
I'm not sure what happiness means
But I look in your eyes
And I know
Oh ...
That it isn't there


Oh, we tried, and we failed
Oh, we tried, and we failed
We tried and we failed
We tried and we failed
We tried


Oh, Jeanne
There's ice on the sink where we bathe
So how can you call this a home
When you know it's a grave ?


Yet you still have that greedy grace
As you tidy the place
But it will never be clean
Jeanne


We tried and we failed
We tried, and we failed
We tried and we failed
We tried and we failed
And we tried


Oh ...
Cash on the nail
It's just a fairytale
Oh ...
And I don't believe in magic anymore
Jeanne


But I think you know
I really think you know
Oh ...
Oh yes, I think you know the truth
Jeanne


Oh ...


No heavenly choirs
Not for me and not for you
Because I think you know
I really think you know
Oh ...
I think you know the truth
Oh, Jeanne


We tried, and we failed
We tried, and we failed
We tried and we failed
We tried and we failed
We tried

Groundhog's day

Volvo

Last night i dreamt i went to your house. You lived in a nice white house. It had a porch. I rode my bike over and noticed your car was leaking oil. You had a white volvo station wagon circa 1983. Which incidentally was my first car. You came out as I was fixing it. I got under and starting tightening some knobs. and you looked just like you did since the last time i saw you...


Excerpt from Halo by the Cure..

I never felt like this with anyone before
You show me colours and I'm crying
You hold my eyes in yours
And open up the world
I can't believe all this

I want to keep this feeling
Deep inside of me
I want you always in my heart
You are everything

Back to the old house

Listening to "BACK TO THE OLD HOUSE" by the Smiths
I would rather not go
Back to the old house
I would rather not go
Back to the old house
There's too many
Bad memories
Too many memories
There ...
There ...
There ...

When you cycled by
Here began all my dreams
The saddest thing I've ever seen
And you never knew
How much I really liked you
Because I never even told you
Oh, and I meant to


Are you still there ?
Or ... have you moved away ?
Or have you moved away ?
Oh ...


I would love to go
Back to the old house
But I never will
I never will ...
I never will ...
I never will ...


anyway, just wanted to let you know i was thinking of you and i hope you don't think i forgot. or didn't miss you. and if you're reading this, then maybe you miss me too, just a little...

backstage at oscar by me.

Growing UP..

a nice quote

"To live in Paris is to kiss your lover long and deep on some bridge or other. It is to arrive soaking at a gleaming square and search in agony for the face that never appears. To live Paris is to rush into the metro fearful of being late for an adulterous tryst, or to take refuge with freezing hands in some out of the way cafe. the cafe, a place for lovers. Because there is a Parisian way of loving, and whoever falls in love in Paris cannot love any other way. "
-Zoé Valdés

Paradise

Just got back from panama. it is so beautiful there.so rich with history living with the new. i met some really great people there, and even though it's hard to say because you're not living there, they seem so free. sometimes we always see paradise behind us, like we're always leaving it because in our memories, things were always better before. we spend our whole lives trying to recapture those little paradises.

merry XMAS

Fitzgerald and a fancy grey suit..

pre-email days..

I Won't Share You by The Smiths

I won't share you, no
I won't share you
With the drive And ambition
The zeal I feel This is my time

The note I wrote
As she read, she said
"Has the Perrier gone
Straight to my head
Or is life sick and cruel, instead ?"

"YES !" No - no - no - no - no - no
No - no - no - no - no - no
Oh ...

I won't share you, no
I won't share you
With the drive And the dreams inside
This is my time

Life tends to come and go
That's OK
As long as you know
Life tends to come and go
As long as you know
Know, know, know, know, know
Know, know, know, know
Oh ...

I want the freedom and I want the guile
I want the freedom and the guile
Oh, life tends to come and go
As long as you know
Know, know, know, know
Know, know, know, know
Oh ...

I won't share you, no
I won't share you
I'll see you somewhere
I'll see you sometime
Darling ...

Charlotte in Paris Vogue

A female Fancy Grey Suit.. She guest edits the new French Vogue for December. Beautiful photographs of my favourite actress...

happy snow day..

first snow of the season..sketch for an upcoming project..

Then the cow jumped over the moon...

For angela...

Moveable Feast

“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for all of Paris is a moveable feast.”- Ernest Hemingway, 1950.

A dear friend of mine is in Paris right now, as I received a text from her the other day. She described it so beautifully, a perfect autumn day. There are certain periods in history that we romance in our heads. And Paris during the Lost Generation years is one such period. The beginnings of Jazz, the literature, the people, Picasso.. Hemingway.. Fitzgerald.. Gertrude Stein. Just thinking about it now, I imagine the food tasting better, the clothes just a bit nicer, and the inspiration just a bit better..

We couldn't rewind...

Lately i have been obsessed with finding live versions of my favorite songs online. and boom, all these great songs are online for free. I can pretend i went to the concert without being tortured, standing for hours, smelling people's BO and spending money on a drink i probably don't want. here's what i'm listening to right now. i may make you a mix cd since i'm convinced the only person that reads this blog is me.

Please be careful..

because i'll always be sorry..

Make-up (we wear it)

George

I found this picture on http://www.esophotography.blogspot.com/
It's such a cute picture and the looks on these kids' face is priceless. have they ever seen a cellphone before? Total Fancy Grey Suit sensibility. I thought of my dearest friend JD right away and thought she would appreciate this..

Ugliness

"I prefer ugliness to beauty, because ugliness endures"- Serge Gainsbourg. There's a beautiful article written in this month's issue of Vanity Fair (NOV) about the artist, Serge Gainsbourg. It's a recollection of his life through the women in his life, including Jane Birkin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Francois Hardy and more. It is very insightful and heartwarming about such a talent, who had such an ability to move people. Someone who people may consider 'ugly' but became one of the most beautiful (and fancy) of all time.

On Pause..

"I haven't seen you in ages
But it's not as bleak as it seems
We still dance on whirling stages
In my Busby Berkeley dreams
The tears have stained all the pages
Of my True Romance magazines
We still dance in my outrageously beautiful
Busby Berkeley dreams"- Magnetic Fields "Busby Berkeley Dreams"

Pure joy..

This shot is from FaceHunter (http://facehunter.blogspot.com)I just love this shot. Not only because the setting is in Paris (my favorite place), and the outfits (which are amazing) but because of the pure joy that the kids exude. When you see pictures like this, you can't help but get a little wistful about your own life, and to try and recapture some of that joy and innocence of youth in your own life..

Marcello..

Another someone who wore a fancy grey suit. Was ever a character so cool yet so flawed in La Dolce Vita and 8 1/2?

You couldn't lose me..

if you tried.

Today's Suit: Grey

"Something Fine" Givenchy et Hepburn...

"In the end, as in the best love affairs, the only ones who knew the truth about the relationship between Hubert and Audrey were Hubert and Audrey. One need only see them walking together along the Seine, two lions in Winter, Hubert, his arm protectively around Audrey, sheltering her as she confides in him."-Audrey Style book. Something so beautiful, I love this photo. It's like they're the only two people in the world to each other.

Saltwater..

I've been listening to this band, Beach House. and one song really struck me as how i feel.. It's eerie how some songs just speak to you at the right moment. There's some people in your life that no matter what happens, they'll always be a part of you. That everything you see, or hear or feel remind you of them somehow. and that no matter what happens, you're glad they've been a part of your life. and that you'll love them all the time. i hope she knows this..

"Love you all the time
Even though you’re not mine
Love you all the time
Dream I’m in the saltwater

Timing’s gone all bad
Broken faith and a broken way
You couldn’t lose me if you tried
‘Cos I’ll be rollin’ to your side, baby

Love you all the time
Even though you’re not mine
Love you all the time
Broken faith and a broken way

You couldn’t lose me if you tried"

Chairs.

Everywhere I turn, the world mirrors you.
The chair becomes filled with someone else to lose
Somehow the conscious becomes the unconscious
And all my truths will become a promise.

Sometimes I dream that I might forget you.
And friends becomes strangers that you just spoke to
Books were just words typed to impress the paper
And chairs were just places that you saved for someone later

Once i sat next to you but i was really sitting alone
You were like a story i heard a long time ago
Now we try to bring the memory back and it doesn't add up
You won't believe it hurts until my heart cries tears of blood

I write a letter to you and all my words come out wrong
And the days that were once short become so long
Why can't you see i didn't pull the chair out from you
And that one day i will give my freedom up as my proof.

I ask you not to close up our box of memories
When i hear your tears i feel you don't really believe.
You see one person doesn't always sit in a single seat.
The music will someday stop and i'll fall at your feet.

at your feet..

a special request

from the country of mali..

love series #2

Earlier i did a post wondering where love went when it dies.. now i know it doesn't die. it stays with us and allows us to wake up the next day and keeps us going. to quote paul mccartney "Don't ever ask me why. Lord, I never say goodbye to my love. It's understood, it's everywhere with my love. And my love, she does it good."

love..

There are so many types of love. you can be in love, a friendship love, a motherly/fatherly love and then there is the purist type of love. a love that knows no bounds. you shouldn't underestimate love.. for more on this topic see http://notesonlove.blogspot.com

Up to my eyelashes

bear + girl

Lonely bear

RAY C