Friday, October 31, 2008

Random Image.

From 07 Morelia
I took tons of pictures of this incredibly textured walls. Locals walking past looked at me like I was crazy. What was I taking pictures of???

Cepellin!

From 07 Morelia
Otra Vez! Photo by Pedro Meyer.

Photographer Pedro Meyer.

From 07 Morelia
Though I would love to pass this off as my own.

From 07 Morelia


From 07 Morelia

Dia de los Muertos Exhibit.

From 07 Morelia
I just think it looks cool in an 60s Esquivel kind of way.

Another Random Image.

From 07 Morelia
San Antonio!

From 07 Morelia


From 07 Morelia


From 07 Morelia

Random Image.

From 07 Morelia

Rant.

Right now, I'm in the patio of my hotel wasting time, posting pictures up on the blog. These super-gangly, barefoot American blondes came down and made a stack of white toast for them to share for breakfast. WTF??? They can get great pan dulce down the block for about fifty cents a piece!

If you are THAT poor or THAT xenophobic to where you can only eat toasted white bread when you are in Mexico, just stay home!!

Also, they lounging and have their gross, dirty bare feet (for you, Anastacia) hanging on the furniture and they are loitering right in front of the only outlet where I can charge this phone.

Damn them! Damn them to Hell!

Random Thoughts.

There are tons of optical stores in Mexico. But I haven't noticed that many people wearing glasses. Why? Who's buying these glasses? Foreigners? Should I buy some glasses while I'm here?

There are tons of tiny, adorable Mexican school kids around everywhere. Holding hands, so they don't get lost and wearing adorable school uniforms. A couple of times I wanted to take a picture, but I might seem like a weirdo and I'd get attacked and run out of town.

There are also tons of business called "___________ El Güero" Why? Is a light skinned hermano going to fix my radiator better or make better tacos? Is it self-depricating? Are they bragging?

Can you imagine in the US - "Light-Skinned Black Guy's Soul Food?" Who would eat there?

I'm light-skinned. You don't want me making your tacos. Call me if you need help defragging your computer or have a question about 70s TV sitcoms. That's about it.

Cepellin!!!

From 07 Morelia
This was the clown I was refering to in an earlier post!!!

I thought the The Dark Knight would have been an even better movie with him as the Joker!

I haven't seen Cepellin since I was a small child that could speak Spanish!

Dia de Los Muertos Celebration.

From 07 Morelia
At Morelia's Plaza de Armas.

People posing with calaveras. Taking pictures. Good fun.

From 07 Morelia

Second Best Tacos I've Ever Had.

From 07 Morelia
And a chorizo, frijol and queso torta para llevar. Something light.

More Altars.

From 07 Morelia
More air, heavy with copal and marigold. Heady.

On the Other Side of the Coin.

From 07 Morelia
A mural at the Wonka church.

A priest coming to the rescue of a sacrificial victim. Sure.

Willy Wonka Church Interior.

From 07 Morelia
A bit much? Perhaps.

Willy Wonka Church at Night.

From 07 Morelia
Seems tasteful, right?

Museo Regional V.

From 07 Morelia
A...provocotive mural.

I'm so glad to see things in black and white. Before, I thought the issue of the Conquest was complex and nuanced. However, Aztecs = Good. Europeans = Bad.

Y'know. This really is a case of a brutal, theocratic empire conquering a slightly more brutal, theocratic empire.

There might be some that thinks that the Spaniards should have preserved to Aztec ways, instead of destroying their culture wholesale and imposing their way of life. But you know what? That's a WESTERN idea, totally foreign to the f'n Aztecs. Screw 'em!

Absolute rights and wrongs, I don't really know, but Aztec mass murder in the name of a societal practice is totally beyond me. When culture (the man made need to kill to appease the gods) overrides nature (the biological need to preserve life) then that comes pretty close to a universal wrong to me.

Anyway. I can say this in a more thoughtful way, but I'm just tapping this out with my thumbs on a fancy telephone. Sorry!

Museo Regional IV.

From 07 Morelia
Peasant diorama.

From 07 Morelia

Museo Regional III.

From 07 Morelia
Peasant diorama.

Museo Regional II.

From 07 Morelia
Mexico really brings the ideas of permanence and impermanence to the fore in a way I hadn't realized before.

It's an odd thought, but I walk past the back of a church built in the 1600s and catch a whiff of urine in a little nook. And it's a good place to go, actually. I wonder if a peasant pissed there in 1712. Or a drunk dandy in a top hat in 1846. Or a European tourist in 1954. Or a guy in a jet pack in 2167.

These amazing buildings will slough off these balloon vendors and people selling candies and bad haircuts and dated clothes.

We are just an insignificance to these buildings to be wiped away and replaced.

You don't have these thoughts at a strip mall.

Museo Regional.

From 07 Morelia
Morbid Catholicism!

I wonder what awful thoughts deserved a lash with these. I'm sure I had worse thoughts just ogling girls at the plaza today. (Kidding!)

Times are different today, though.

From 07 Morelia

I Woke Up Late.

From 07 Morelia
So I had two lunches. Pollo frito and French fries & three tostadas. And three Pepsis.

Why? I don't know. Good, though.

Testing 2


Thursday, October 30, 2008

Electronic Music Festival.

From 07 Morelia
Held at this old church, turned into a conservatory.

I thought that Steve Reich was going to be performing, but it was some musicians playing some piece by Steve Reich. Oh well.

Experimental music is not really my cup of tea.

The accordian player, the floutist and the guitarist were, at times, scratching and slapping and plucking their instruments. I was shocked to see that they had sheet music. I thought that this was like a Jackson Pollock paint-by-numbers. Or something like that.

Dia de Los Muertos Altars.

From 07 Morelia

The pedestrian path had many altars being set up.

The air was thick with the scent of marigolds and copal.

Santuario de Guadelupe.

From 07 Morelia
My guidebook told me that the interior was out of Willy Wonka. So, I sauntered in and it was very... uh...exuberant.

Why no pics? Well, there was the matter of the funeral taking place at the time...

Trust me though. It was tacky.

Equestrian Statuary.

From 07 Morelia
With some BMX bikers doing tricks at the base.

The statue of Morelia was designed by an Italian at the beginning of the last century.

Plaza Villalogín.

From 07 Morelia
Morelia's famed aquaduct in the background

I can't believe I didn't get a photo of the nearby sexy other fountain, with the comely topless water nymphs!

Yes. I am lonely.

Random Image.

From 07 Morelia

Interior of Morelia's Cathedral.

From 07 Morelia
Once again, the photograph doesn't do it justice.

Posted by ShoZu



From 07 Morelia

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Mexican Soul Food?

From 07 Morelia
Great abomdigas in this charming family-owned cafe by the Jardín de las Rosas.

The Severe Plaza Valladolid.

From 07 Morelia

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Rooftop Access at my Hotel.

From 07 Morelia
Once again the picture doesn't quite capture it.

When I checked my email when I down from the rooftop, a curator had written that a proposal submitted for a possible show with brilliantly talented Julia Barbosa Landois had been enthusiastically accepted by UTSA for a slot during Contemporary Art Month.

I'm convinced it's part of what was left at the lake. Letting go. Very important.

Morelia.

From 07 Morelia


From 07 Morelia
Morelia is amazingly beautiful.

I was drawn into the church. It was amazing. Just amazing. I didn't dare take pictures then.

It felt like some space between heaven and earth.

As I walked through the city, I was blown away by the beauty of the place. A colonial city. A university city. Incredible street life. Beautiful buildings.

San Francisco, you may have been bumped to number three.

From 07 Morelia

Plaza de Armas.

From 07 Morelia
Also public altars for Dia de los Muertos. Wow.

As I Stepped Out of this Taxi.

From 07 Morelia
I asked the driver to take me to the Plaza de Armas. My usual destination from the bus stop, not knowing anything about where I'm going in a new town.

I walked right into a fireworks celebration.

My Bus Crossed This Lake.

From 06 Queterero
I was watching the sun set over the mountains. (Listening to Orbus Terrarum, one of my favorites from the Orb. About maps and travelling and charting courses.)

I felt transcendant. Just transcendantly good. I felt like I was leaving unncessary things on the other side of the lake. Freeing my arms to embrace something else. I can't quite put it into words.

I knew that something was happening. I wish I could explain. I wish this small picture could encompass the scale.

What's Worse Than Plane Food?

From 06 Queterero
Bus food.

Posted by ShoZu

Estoy Aburrido II

From 06 Queterero
At least they have Wi-Fi. And an hour is not so bad.

Random Image.

From 06 Queterero

I Was Here, Mom.

From 06 Queterero
When you called. (Everyone else can ignore this message.)