Destination Recession: February 2009

Hangover today - Pho My Only Hope

So I've pretty much been nursing a hangover ALL DAY due to last night's misdeeds. Yeah, I guess pretending to be a college student and sneaking into a frat party is funny, especially when it feels like you've slipped into some sort of frat movie alternate reality. WOW, so many whorish girls, dudebros, and oh the kegs. Plus some kid called my friend a Narc (bonus!) !!! The experience was so different from my actual art school education that I found the whole thing pretty entertaining instead of the expected annoyance. What's not so fun is next day's pounding headache, crabbiness, lethargy, and feeling like death. I think I need a bowl of hot gut soup, this the only thing that will save me. Pho with extra tripes and gut meat. mmmm. I'm gonna run over to Pho Hoa right now, and get some meaty soup goodness to go, and watch a movie at home.

Rachel Comey Spring 2009

This stuff seems so casual and wearable.

Lanvin Spring 2009

Again, Lanvin does not disappoint. I'm really digging the one shoulder action, and those shoes..

Rodarte 2009

I love the newest collection from Rodarte. The layering of distressed knits, fabrics, and textures create something very lush yet very edgy. I also very much love the leggings, but I'm not sure if I can pull that off.

Fleet Light By Megan Jenkinson

I thought that these shots were beautiful, and the album cover for the School of Seven Bells came to mind.

So I guess it's not exactly alike, but I think the idea is similar.

I Want These!

I know these these shoes are plastic and would probably murder my feet, but I really want these Bathing Shoes by F-troupe ( in purple ).

Cute Baby Animals Like Big Cellphone Screens Too

This is cute.

Topshop US Online Store - Store in NY to Come

Jeez, I think I read about this somewhere a while ago and forgot about it. Anyway, I don't know how to feel about this. I'm angry because I really shouldn't be buying anything right now, but still pretty excited and very tempted. Argh! What to do? Well at least Topshop isn't as much as other retail obsessions. I think I should just move to NY, at least I wont have to pay for shipping.

Yungas Road - The Highway of DEATH

I'm not doing this ( I don't want to die ) but I think little brother will - another name for it is Slaughter Alley. Apparently you can mountain bike down it.

Puerto Maldonado

On gmail chat my little bro mentioned going camping in Puerto Maldonado, which according to Wiki is a Southeastern city in Peru close to the Amazon forest and the Bolivian border. You can get there from Cusco by bus or plane. I'm expecting that we would camp in the Bahuaja - Sonone National park, as the other sanctuaries seem to be somewhat restricted. I might be wrong. Apparently there's a bunch of lodging available with tours of the Amazon rainforest and it's wildlife. Besides the wildlife there are a few things that I would especially like to see:

Monkey Island: An island in the middle of a river home to hundreds of Monkeys.
El Jaguar Zoo and Disco: A modest zoo by day, and by night a disco. Yes how awesome is that?

Natto Fights Alzheimers? - Again Nothing about Peru

Look at these beautiful tendrils of slime glisten in the sunlight!

Natto and rice, a simple and wonderful combination

Alright I know this has nothing to do with Peru but I couldn't resist. According to Wired Magazine Natto my favorite food in possibly the world, is said to have an enzyme that breaks up the fibrous deposits on the brain that cause Alzheimer's. Although this enzyme is not actually proven and the whole article seems to be based around speculation, I still think that this is a really great thing. Natto is a food that's greatly under appreciated, almost everyone I know who has encountered it is disgusted by it. Me on the other hand grew up on it, it's beautiful beany, stinky, slimy, goodness...

Sukiyaki Western Django - Miike Craziness

So last night I watched Sukiyaki Western Django directed by Takashi Miike. It's pretty much what you would expect from his movies, super crazy plot, beautiful shots, random humor. The movie starts off with Tarentino playing a gun slinging cowboy shooting a hawk in midair and then cutting open the snake that the hawk is carrying to get an egg that the snake ate to make sukiyaki. Whew...... The scene leads to the main story the war between the white clan and red clan - a bloody, fucked up, yet really funny epic drama. What really blew my mind was that the Japanese actors were speaking, or trying to speak an old western style English. I couldn't really understand what they were saying so I had to turn on the English subtitles. Even though that might seem like an inconvenience, I thought that the jengrish was kind of charming. Soo yeah, some really good Miike craziness.

Interesting Bits about Cusco

Yeah I know these pictures are kind of touristy....

Cusco is located in Huatanay River Valley, in the southeasts Andes of Peru at 11151,44 feet above the level sea. The foundations of modern Cusco were built by the Incas 5,000 years ago. The Incas designed Cusco, their capital in the shape of a puma, the walls Sacsayhuaman in the north representing the teeth. Cusco was the epicenter for the Inca Empire and contained roads leading through the Andes, Ecuador, through Bolivia and Chile. Spanish Conquistadors realized this, and during the battle of Sacsayhuaman most of the Inca monuments were leveled. Many of the Inca structures were so well engineered that the Spanish simply build on top of original structures.

Opening Ceremony Online Store Launched - Nothing to do with Peru but who Cares

Alright yes, this has nothing to do with Peru, but I can't help but post this. Opening Ceremony, one of my favorite and very over priced stores in NY has launched an store online. This is awesome, but not - as I don't really have real money coming in...... eek. Well one can dream.

Alpaca - I will eat you / Expanding my Meat Vocabulary

One thing that I'm very much looking forward to is eating new things, especially animals that I've never tasted before. I guess you can say that I'm not that squeamish about my food as I have a tendency towards gut meat. Sadly, I've never eaten any land animal out of the norm - pig, chicken, cow. I was thrilled to learn from my brother that Alpaca tastes much like a bacon steak (or was that horse?). Anyhow, this picture that I dug up of the tasty animal looks quite good. Who can resist tasty skewers of meat ( not counting vegetarians )?

Fun Facts about Peru

I'll be posting what I've learned, progress, and interesting tidbits in the meantime. Here are some fun facts about Peru.

Peru has about 28 million inhabitants and is the fourth most populated country in South America
Pachamanca is a traditional Peruvian tradition of cooking meat and vegetables with hot stones.
The Inca Empire was located in Cusco

Peru!

Peru! I booked a ticket, and will be living with my brother in Cusco for 3 weeks, and I know almost nothing about it.

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