new lens and it's like a new camera

I love B&H, my new lens came in just a day with free ground shipping.
This 50mm 1.8 makes me love my dslr again. The G10 is great, but it does have some shutterlag which drives me nuts.

Here are my long neglected books, collected in a previous life (when I thought I wanted to become an architect). The AR is ALDO ROSSI, Drawings and Paintings, one of my favorites.
















Speaking of college days, I'm headed back up to Northampton Massachusetts this weekend. Can't wait to see dear friends, eat at Green Street Cafe and catch up with one of my all-time favorite art history professors.

be careful what you wish for

I've read Augusten Burrough's memoirs Running with Scissors and Dry, but I just finished this most recent, Wolf at the Table which is a much darker heartbreaking story of his childhood marred by an unloving and equally terrifying father. The 8 disc audiobook is read by the author and while I found his narration can be plodding at times, there are some real cinematic, emotional highs and lows that couldn't be conveyed any clearer than by hearing Burrough's own voice.

Burrough's vivid story telling challenges you to recall your own early memories with your parents. And who, in the fit of a childhood tantrum, hasn't had a fleeting thought that there could be a nicer, cooler, more indulging couple who could replace your parents? Late last night I turned to the HBO First Look: Coraline. This is the creepy tale of a young girl Coraline who is seduced by the "other mother" in an alternate world opposite a bricked-up door in the drawing room. I haven't read the book by Neil Gaiman, but the real breathtaking element in the new movie (out tomorrow) is the stop-motion animation. I can't imagine the patience required to film only a few seconds a day! Seeing so many intricate handmade elements is like entering the world of a lost art form.

the art of the perfect cocktail

I can't seem to escape launch of for The Essential Cocktail's marketing blitz today. I've never tried one of Degroff's drinks, but am a big Audrey Saunders fan. So far, my favorite cocktail wisdom comes from The Gentleman's Companion by Charles H Baker. It took me a while to track it down, but these days this book has a new name (Jigger, Beaker and Glass: Drinking Around the World) and cover, but at least you don't have to track down an out of print tome.