I got sidetracked in my quest for sites to access images - my love is contemporary East and Southeast-asian art and I found cool sites which I am going to review first - apologies to LucienSarkis. I personally find the synthesis of Western art techniques and ideas with Asian ideas and traditional Asian methods fascinating. Trouble with contemporary art is that you often have to be in the region where it is happening to keep abreast of things. People used to western art may initially deem contemporary asian art to be nothing new. Indeed, the methods employed are very often 100% western, but the ideas expressed are not. Although I regard this sort of art to be Asian, I am far more impressed when the artist manages to assimilate Western means of artistic expression with asian ones. Two of my favorite contemporary Chinese artists right now are Wei Dong and Xu Bing. Both had training in classical Chinese art and have used their backgrounds to develop a visual vocabulary that is uniquely theirs. More power to artists like them!

Whoo hoo! I am glad to be back home in the tropics and have access to all my favorite fruits once more. I am a very gastronomically driven person, and I am glad that fruits like durians were available in the US thanks to the large Chinese population in the States. Papayas were a pain in the neck to find, even though I knew they were available, and they cost a bomb too! Imagine my pain when I knew I could get humungous papayas for only US$0.70 in the tropics.

While I was in the States, I missed so many of the fruits, not just the taste, but the sight of them. Have you seen rambutans? They are a rosy fire-engine red when ripe, and the tips of their "hairy spines" are flecked with bright green. Inside their flesh is pale and translucent but sweet and tart.

I miss too the Jackfruits and Chempedaks - Whoo hoo! They reek of gasoline when ripe, but their deep golden flesh is thick and sweet, and tastes oh-so-good! Like the durian, it's loaded with calories, but makes an excellent meal or dessert. hey...if it isn't sinful, it doesn't taste quite as good.

But the fruit I miss the most are the mangosteens - their flesh is white as white can be but sweet and very pleasantly tart. It tastes best after it has been chilled. They don't look like much on the outside - I wonder how anyone thought they would be delicious, after all, its skin is thick and hard and produces a purple dye that permanantly stains your clothes!

As you can tell, I am food-crazy. I think I dream of fruits in color. I have been gorging myself since I got back. Although New York apples, Florida oranges and Del Monte bananas are good sources of fibre and vitamins, i won't be eating them for a long long time!

btw, the images for the pics came from this cool website which I have reviewed somewhere in my review section, on the same date as this entry.

Am back home after a long long long flight. Finally managed to put the limited German that I know into good use at the Frankfurt airport where the staff thought I could speak German and rattled off to me in the language! All I did was nod and make the appropriate sounds of agreement....I should write a column of how to bluff your way through Europe on Two Words a Day!

Here's something that I wrote at the beginning of freshman year college. It got published on an e-journal, BlackRose, Blooming, which you can click on to find some more of the type of poetry that I used to write. Am more inclined towards happier stuff now. You can also follow this link BlackRose to see my review (Dec 14, 2000) of the site.

Soul of Ice, Spirit of Fire

The leaves have all turned gold, my love
And the sky gone red with flame.
And with each sigh the north wind breathes
I begin to forget your name.

The kiss of winter has touched my lips
I gasp in silence at its touch
And the birdsong is gone from these darkening hills
Forgotten in the fleeting hush

The rain has come again once more
And I dream with a heart grown wild
I suddenly long for those sweet summer days
When I was just a child.

But I have come home to stay awhile
In this place that I do not know
From Summer's smile have I fled this way,
Amidst the silent snow.

But Winter's beauty is as pure as heav'n
And Summer's like a blazing pyre
I cannot choose - my heart it weeps
Soul of ice Spirit of fire.

The aurora is calling beyond the dawn
I see myself in its flickering light
To sleep and forget my divided heart
And pass once more a lonely night.

hmmm....I think I am going to use this time outta school to come up with a whole list of my favorite sites to access art images. Watch out for this soon, so that when I start talking about art, you can easily find the picture that I am talking about

random poem of the moment

flying fish don't

quite make much sense except

that they swim through the air

like ballerinas on speed

Am currently in Manhattan waiting to catch a flight back home.
Everytime I am in the city, which is quite often, I never fail to be surprised by it, it's sheer color, diversity and vibrancy. True - I always do feel like I am going to be mugged when I walk about, but hey, there had to be some truth to those stories about the Big Apple....Giuliani has done a good job overall

Hey hey hey...a good friend just reminded me that I am on the web! It's a piece of art that I did ages ago in high school - not very good but it's mine! you can follow this link to get to it: RGS

whoo hoo...it feels great to finally be over and done with this semester. work work work...haven't been back home for a year!

looking forward to the sun and warmth after the snows of upstate new york.

i leave this friday - can't wait at all!

random poem of the moment

cold windows

that i can doodle on

when my breath hits it,

like a thunderstorm

in the lonely desert night