Madison Connecticut

Today, I went to a beach in Madison Connecticut. The lighting and the winter colors along with weathered boardwalks and shacks were amazing. Here are some photos from today…


Here are some self portraits...

My First Apartment and Inspiration: Ace Hotel and Minimalism

Yesterday, I moved into my first apartment on the second floor of a Victorian house. Complete with leather wallpaper, the house was built in the teens as a single-family house and converted into a two-unit house in the late fifties. A built-in cabinet, closet and dresser furnish my 100 square foot room. I picked this room because of my recent interest in efficient spaces and simplistic minimalism. I envision the limited closet and dresser space forcing me to further thin my wardrobe and thus help reform my consumerist urges. (I strive towards minimalism however I still need to find space for my three garbage bags full of shoes).

Growing up, I shared a slightly larger room with my brother up until the age of thirteen. Everything in this room was built in, including the beds (and dressers underneath them).
Last summer I swung by the Ace Hotel in downtown Portland (Oregon). Their minimalist rooms with built-ins furnishings are awesome. During my time at Rogues Gallery, I flipped through many architecture and sailing books looking for rustic rooms for brand inspiration. My recent trip to the Wharton Esherick house over Thanksgiving reiterated affirmed much of my architectural and interior design taste. For example, I am going to put my mattress directly on the floor sans box spring or frame.

Here are some photos from the Ace Hotel in Portland Oregon and other minimalist dwelling that I hope will inspire my new room. Unfortunately, I imagine that these photos will merely expose contradictions between what I do and what I want.

What is going on?

A couple days ago, I stumbled across an article stating that CD players are seeing a major resurgence in sales in the UK. According to a recent article in the Daily Telegraph, A UK newspaper, portable CD player sales are up 50% from last holiday season. Department stores like John Lewis are stocking these players for the first time in four years.

I am completely baffled. Why would anyone buy a CD player for 30 dollars when they could get a 1gig flash mp3 player for 20? Cost aside, the mp3 player is much smaller and can hold much more music. Sometimes I think I have a handle on technology and then anomalies like this force me to rethink.

Here are some articles and blog postings disusing this phenomena...

Daily Telegraph, Portable CD Players Make a Comeback
The Guardian, Are you getting a CD player for Christmas?

Just Finished My Last Paper

For the last week and a half I have been writing papers and studying for exams. I have never liked school, and this miserable process, memorizing useless minutia that i will forget in two weeks, reiterates my fundamental objections to the American college system.

To get me through studying and writing papers, I turned to these songs for inspiration.

In the last two days, Ennio Morricone's masterpiece made me feel like the Capital Asset Pricing Model is as exciting as robbing a bank or stealing 250000 dollars in gold. This song could even make Olympic Curling exciting.

I also played Gordon Lightfoot's historical classic, The Wreck of The Edmunds Fitzgerald, on repeat.

I will resume normal daily postings tomorrow.