There are things in life that speak to you at the right times… I was sitting on a northern line train in london, on my way back to my mate Aliyah’s place, when a group of rather loud ladies boarded and sat next to me. Two of them were going on and on to my neighbor about her the importance of her finding someone else – and being open to the idea in the first place. Then one of them decided to stop telling her what she has to do – and rather took a new angle: You need to be comfortable / satisfied with yourself and the fates will find you. Wisdom in those words. I agree and of course ended up chatting to the ladies. I offered myself to my neighbor – but she (and her crew) were all lesbians. Ahh well ;-) And here I thought the fates were smiling upon me!
fate has a way of finding us…
December 16th, 2005Katie and Tim got married!
December 15th, 2005
On November 20th, my friends Katie Jaye and Tim Lipton got hitched. It was an exquisite wedding – from the ceremony to the post-party tea, it was truly a wonderful event. Despite the fact that all the celebrators were looking ravishing, the bride and groom put everyone to shame! Katie’s dad, Andrew added to the excitement by organizing a VERY animated appearance from Katie’s beloved Horse – Louis … er I think thats his name… i COULD be wrong… Im working on super caffeine right now. SO please ignore my ignorance ;-)
Anyway, a wonderful event. I taught myself how to tie a bow-tie. (Fairly successfully I might add.) And Im convinced that my mom, dad and I blew the world away with our dapper appearances! Perhaps because the Hirschmann men are not known for their knowledge of fashionables… (Well perhaps the youngest of us makes up for it) So I now have a suit; Bow tie; shoes; and belt. All VERY important when attending gorgeous events of this nature.
I wish the happy couple a beautiful future. Filled with the right amount of everything important. Right now they’re honeymooning around New Zealand and it sounds magical!
Florence! (and the folks)
December 13th, 2005
The images from the Florence experience can be found at theses two gallery locations – click on both images, cause they’re different gallery’s.
Highlights of the trip? Aside from the wonderful time I spent with my mom and dad, i was filled with the incredible urge to carve marble after being surrounded by so much magnificent work. The sculptures were hands down my eyes’ favorite pieces to stare at. I can honestly sit and let these hand crafted chunks of rock weight on my mind for hours. Specifically Michelangelo’s work. Its phenomenal to think that to be able to accomplish so much – sculpture, paintings, architecture…. Its rather numbing to imagine the kind of genius that existed in those days – people were capable to acheiving so much! What happened to the world???
Highlight exhitbits are at the following spaces:
- Bargello;
- Capello di Medici (San Lorenzo)
- Academia;
- sure i should include: uffizi, palazzo vecchio, duomo etc…
- Yellow Bar -> Cheap super tasty food
We ended up stumbling into a mass on Sunday at the Duomo. We hadn’t yet been inside, and on sunday evening we noticed people walking in! So of course we followed them. Only to realize that we’d entered into a good old fashioned sunday evening mass at the Florence Duomo! It was quite interesting – I might have been more lively had I understood more than 20% of what was being said. It was just a great mistake.
Parents in italy – 2005
December 13th, 2005
My parents came to visit me in November. It was a really good chance to hang out with them, show them around my life here in Italy (well Treviso specifically, but whatever ;-) Anyway, we had a truly wonderful time. I proved to them the importance of being able to cook pasta – the RIGHT way. I made sure they ate well, and became more aware of what it is i actually do here…. er… well what I mean is I showed them why there is no way to truly be able to tell people what I do here, cause its kinda difficult to explain! And it changes quite a bit too. Anyhoo – my folks and i bonded very well. We took a weekend off and went to Florence which was in two words “fucking awesome”. Following which we ended up in London for my friend Katie’s wedding. More on that in another post. Still trying to play catchup!
Its been a while…
November 11th, 2005And due to my terrible blogging habits – I’ve been visited by my PARENTS! Thats right, the Hirschmann Momma and Poppa are in Bella Italia to visit their little boy, Daniel. So this evening, we ought to be in Florence, visiting culture, eating fantastic food… You know, that sort of thing. The photos will definitely be up one of these days.
Weeeeeee!
Brett Kebble Art Awards cancelled
October 20th, 2005There was this competition in South Africa called the Brett Kebble art awards. VERY sadly, the man himself – Brett Kebble was killed (murdered would be the correct term). Now he may have had shady business dealings, or he may have been clean as a whistle… but regardless there is nothing that can be said to console his family. Losing someone under these circumstances is utterly painful… Anyway – as I was saying, there WAS this competition called the Brett Kebble art awards – and it no longer is (well for 2006 anyway) I truly hope that they continue after the family has had time to grieve. Regardless of his history, Brett Kebble did amazing things for the South African art scene – which gets no real support anywhere else. Very sad. VERY sad.
birthday again
October 14th, 2005
Some pics uploaded by Ann -> partying with fabricanti -> on the celebration of four peoples birthdays. (Andy, Serena, Chino – the bar owner – and me.)
birthday
October 12th, 2005its my birthday! Yippeee!!! etc.
So Im another year older…
And so many people made it an AWESOME birthday.
It all began last night – getting UBER drunken at a place named La Pausa. There were four birthdays being celebrated at the same time. Mine, and one of the owners of the bar are today – and two friends (Andy and Serena were yesteday) It was a gooooood night.
Some notes:
I received many beautiful gifts – including an olive tree! A large number of some of the tastiest M&M cookies on the planet. A whole bunch of incredible emails. Some badly sung but heartfelt happy birthdays by phone… A large number of SMSes from all over the world… And finally a truly heart warming gifts in the mail. I am without doubt the luckiest/happiest human being on earth. (One with an extra impressive hangover today ;-)
Thanks to everyone for making me feel stupendous.
Cesky Krumlov – Quaintness contained.
October 7th, 2005
The Český Krumlov mission turned out to be the coolest outing we did. Lara and I had noooo idea what to expect. We knew it would be a cool town and a castle… we just didn’t realize how marvelous it would turn out. When visiting Prague / Czech republic, do yourself a favor and spend a night in Cesky Krumlov. Its sooooooooooo cute, quaint, cool and beautiful.
Theres also this gem of a museum called the Egon Schiele Art Centrum. You wouldn’t expect to see such a well designed contemporary art gallery in the middle of a small medieval town! Along with the early 20th Century Czech contributions to their Expressionism show, was a FANTASTICALLY cool retrospective of Czech artist František Skála. He’s now one of my new favorite artists. Take a gander at his seaweed heads to get an idea of his coolness! Such a wide range of work… Performance, Lighting, Wood carvings, massive record players, foam suits, huge pop icons … cool.
So Cesky Krumlov is lekker. The castle is the second biggest after Prague Castle. It underwent a number of restorations / renovations / additions etc. Throughout the town, the people went sgraffito mad – which is basically fresco facade patterning, with a little more physical work thrown in. Some patterns are first painted into the plaster and later chiseled to further enhance the designs. Really cool. I will definitely do this one day when I have a medieval town to decorate ;-)
If you ever plan a trip there: PLEASE pre-book your bus tickets (both to get there and return to prague.) On our way there, we saw many locals being turned away, while a few were forced to stand… And on the way back – the bus was TOTALLY full. No standing room left. And its over two hours. So book!
Prague Day 3 – City, Museums, Opera
October 6th, 2005
Gallery Day! (And the opera of course)
We chose to venture forth to two museums:
The Mucha Museum -> Which offered a succinct and informative history of Alphonse Mucha’s life. He seems to have been one of the first really cool graphic designers out there! I have decided: I like his work. Beautiful / Decorative / Infused with important symbols etc. Good stuff. The cubist museum of Black Madonna House was sadly a disappointment. I guess two relevant moments were firstly when i realized that we were standing in a cubist building. Which was actually kinda cool… And second when I remembered why this movement was relevant… Can you imagine being used to seeing images which were highly representational… and all of a sudden the artists start going crazy and abstracting what we knew into something virtually unrecognizable… It really was paradigm changing! (It had to have been, cause all the relevant artists of the time touched on it at some stage.) I know I like to talk shit about art work – and therefore Im absolutely sure of what my comments would have been 90 years ago: “Uhhh Why the BEEP would the guy have used circles and weird polygons to describe shapes that are easier described with flowing curves instead??? Haven’t they seen ANY 3D modelling software? Oh wait… not for another 80 years… Oops.”
More walking and eventually a BUNCH of shopping. Daniel bought a suit with lara’s patient help. Of course Lara was doing waaaaaay more shopping than Daniel (and he had attained a state of infinite patience) Hmmm…. speaking in the third person confuses the daniel… If he doesn’t stop it soon, he’ll end up losing whatever shaky connection he has with my.. er… his identity. er.. Ok. Im back. Anyway, I bought a slick suit. Specifically with Katie Jay’s marriage in mind (mid november). Now all I need is a corresponding facial hair arrangement – and things will be looking up!
And onto the Opera:
Everyone who goes to Prague should see an Opera at the State Opera house. (And get dressed up in their new suit!) It is an awesome experience. GORGEOUS lavish romantic golden opulence in-doors… Comfortable seats… An orchestra with a conductor of course – and classical performances by truly talented singers. We saw La Traviata (By Giuseppe Verdi) I thiiiink its a little over 100 years old… and I know my Granny Gertie used to perform it in the Pretoria Opera house… I could make out about 20% of the italian, and once fancy get up. Fun Nights.