Archive for home
November 5, 2007 at 4:48 am · Filed under dance, home, culture, apple, environment, life, learning, inspiration, hans rowling, TED conference
“Culture is the most important thing I would say. Because that is what brings joy to life. That’s the value of living.” - Hans Rosling at TED
I’ve had a bad cough/cold for almost two weeks now, so in an effort to help eradicate it for good, I pretty much spent the day on our couch. Doug left for Arizona at 4AM this morning, so I was unfortunately on my own in my loud foggy world (I’m glad he’ll finally be able to get some sleep tonight though!).
We got an AppleTV when it first came out, hoping it would be as amazing as almost every other Apple product we’ve been able to get our hands on, but unfortunately we were a bit disappointed (it’s possible, though, that we were expecting too much). The only thing we really use it for (rarely) is watching YouTube videos on a big screen (they actually don’t look so bad, and the searching and selecting interface is pretty good).
So today, I felt like I needed a little extra nerdy inspiration, and so I caught up on watching some of the videos of speakers at the yearly TED Conference. I was fortunate enough to come across this talk given by international health professor Hans Rowling, in which he uses his incredible graphing system to visualize statistics about the world, particularly analyzing data that can begin to help figure out how to pull people in developing countries out of poverty.
After showing his revealing Trendalyzer software (which was apparently bought by Google 10 days after this conference - you can play with it here!), he pulls up one simple powerpoint page (above), detailing and rating the MEANS and the GOALS for improving people’s lives. The conclusion was that while economic growth is the most effective means of development, culture is, in the end, the ultimate goal to strive for.
“It’s a cultural expression that for thousands of years has inspired human beings to think beyond the obvious.”
He then removes his shirt (exposing a muscle tank decorated with lightening bolts) and proceeds to demonstrate the ancient Indian tradition of sword swallowing, driving home his point (through culture!) that the seemingly impossible is possible.
Amazing. See for yourself…
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
October 30, 2007 at 2:57 am · Filed under dance, family, home, animals, JUSTIN
Well, since we’re all in such a gung-ho dog mood at the moment……
I have two amazing dogs at home w/ my family: Sasha and Tasha (there names are so similar that we only have to call one of their names to make them both come, ha)
Recent Posts by justin
September 7, 2007 at 3:03 pm · Filed under dance, new york city ballet, home, friends, new york city, life, JUSTIN, apartments
I’ve finally done it. I’ve beat the system, discovered the loopholes, hunted out the bargains, and ultimately completed my conquest of finding an apartment in NYC and furnishing it without breaking the bank (sorta). Here are the before and after pictures, so that you can see the transformation:
New York has just a god-awful broker system, where renters are forced to pay their apartment brokers usually 15% of the annual rent on the apartment. This fee makes entirely no sense, as my broker did all of 2-3 hours worth of work for my roommate and me. The broker fee itself came out a little less then $5,000 (yikes!). After that fee, the security deposit, and the first months rent, it left over very little for spending on furnishing our apartment. So what did we do? We got creative. We discovered a little San Francisco-based website some of you may have heard of, also known as Craigslist.
Here’s the thing: the value of furniture depletes immensely over time. Thus, there were endless amounts of bargains to be found of practically new furniture for a fraction of the original price. Examples: I bought an executive’s desk for $80, a dresser for $30, a stainless steel dining table for $50, the list goes on. My roommate David, who also happens to be a wonderful colleague at NYCB and one of my best friends, found the same sort of bargains as well.
Now, it’s not as easy as I’m making it all out to sound. The tricky part came with figuring out how to transport the furniture back to our apartment. We didn’t have a car. We didn’t even have a “dolly” to prop furniture on. Solution?? The NYC public transportation system! Of course! There are always people to be seen carrying fully assembled dining tables and such on the subway lines, right? Wrong. I can’t even begin to tell you how many looks David and I received when carrying a 7-foot bookcase onto the M107 (a bus line in New York). Or the glances of sympathy I got when I decided it would be a good idea (what was I thinking?) to pick up my 7 x 5 desk by myself (David was out of town) from 116th Street, and transport it via subway (I was only able to walk with it half a block at a time, before having to take a breather). Ya see? I knew lifting all those ballerinas so much would someday come in handy!
Ah, youth.
So the bargains to be had on craigslist, along with a few other deals hear and there (Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Overstock.com), made it possible for us to furnish our place for a fraction of the price one would normally pay. My advice? As long as you can withstand the funny looks from the little old ladies cruising on the M104—and the heavy lifting involved with transporting furniture—Craigslist is the best bargain in town.
David, exhausted yet satisfied after a hard day of furniture hunting (he’s going to kill me for putting this picture up, but its way too funny to pass up)
A[not so much] candid picture of David and me in our kitchen
~Roomies~
Recent Posts by justin
August 13, 2007 at 1:12 am · Filed under dance, family, home, friends, boston, dance studio, TAYLOR
Posted by Taylor Gordon
This past week was literally my first time having more than two days off from life in exactly one year. Between rehearsals, extra school courses, internships, and everything I haven’t had a chance to breathe until now. To start of my 3 weeks of freedom I went home to Boston to visit my family whom I haven’t seen since Christmas (imagine, they’re only an hour flight away and I never see them!).
(me and the family)
Since leaving home four years ago I’ve always missed everyone but dreaded making the trip to visit home. It’s just something about reverting back to the old ways…even for just a short period of time. Going from big city independence to small town boredom isn’t necessarily something to look forward to. There’s not much to do in our area, and since I don’t have my driver’s license (God bless public transportation) I can’t really be free.
However, this past visit was really nice. Unlike most visits, I had no looming pressure of school or performances ahead, so I didn’t feel like I was missing anything by taking time off. And being summertime, all of my family and friends had time to reminisce. We had a lot of laughs and it was a nice break.
(friends dancing in the living room)
We celebrated my (belated) birthday, and I got to visit my mom’s new dance studio (it’s quite pink inside, like tradition…the last studio was pink for 50 years!). I got to see all my friends I grew up with and even relive some old dance routines (haha).
(dancing in my mom’s studio)
(my mom and I)
As I was growing up in my small town driving 2 hours a day to commute to Boston Ballet School I always regretted not being born in a big city. Looking back, though, as a New York City resident (with high rent and hardly enough space to stretch out) I love that I have that alternative to look forward to for a change whenever I visit. No matter how far I go in this world, that place will always be my home.
(friends by the pool at night)
Recent Posts by taylor gordon
June 12, 2007 at 4:52 am · Filed under new york city ballet, home, party, SOPHIE, polaroid, costume, benefit, dance with the dancers
| | Posted by Sophie Flack
My sister Hannah and I before Dance with the Dancers.
…and at the event with my buddies (I stayed in geisha character the entire evening- avoiding eye contact and shielding my face with my fan).
Recent Posts by sophie
May 11, 2007 at 7:08 pm · Filed under SLOAN, computers, new york city ballet, food, home, music, projects, editing, mobile, r+j, tragiclovenyc.com, final cut, photoshop, au revoir simone
Posted by Sloan | via mobile phone
One episode is on the gala for tragiclovenyc.com and the other is a different kind of mix with music by Au Revoir Simone for a great art and design site called coolhunting.com
Recent Posts by kristin sloan
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