With all the “reality” shows that run the networks these days, it is so refreshing to discover a novel that you can dive into as a distraction to all the noise around us. Yes, thats right – remember books? I know you can read!! I recently tore through one I could not put down and had to share it.
The Last Day of Paradise is one of those books you pick up because of the interesting cover art and unusual title. It doesn’t take long to discover the double entendre of the title and realize the book is not at all what you thought. That is how the best works of fiction usually hook you. What you think is coming doesn’t – and what you find you weren’t looking for!

The book is the coming of age story of a young girl named Sunday living in Greece. Her and her friends reject their parents repressive ideas of family and culture that shackle them to the past. The kids speak English to each other as a code of cool talk and to liberate themselves from the world of the past that lingers on.
The author, Kiki Denis was herself born and raised in Greece and is a longtime New Yorker. She is able to make us feel that sense of longing that is universal for any young person growing up in a small town. It is that universal ambition for more that we can all remember- the desire to expand your horizons and get out and see the world.
A first time author Ms. Denis uses a wonderful technique of switching into a unique dialect of broken English mixed with contemporary slang – so much fun to read and process!
Denis herself is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College which is one of the most prestigious Universities in America. Actually, it is the founding University of the Seven Sisters – a network of Universities exclusively for Women to be the female alternative to the Ivy League schools for men. For Kiki to write in this broken English style must have been a challenge. In her own way, it is a poignant commentary of the culture that raised her and to remind us just how much things have changed.
The story has twists and turns and takes you on a wonderful journey that is at times hysterical and at times very emotional – never an easy task. There is also a great fashion tie-in woven through the story.

The novel has gotten attention from some major competitions and important book reviews. Denis received an honorable mention in the
2007 Hollywood Book Festival (category: wild card) for her work.

Published by Gival Press, the easiest way to find it is to click on the title link above. The book is a perfect read to take on a weekend trip or better yet to give as a gift this holiday season.
If anyone has already read the story, please let us know your thoughts!

by moscerina

When it rains, Rome is usually the last place anyone wants to be. You can’t eat outside, unless you don’t mind getting quasi-soaked. The buses, trams and taxis seems to be in limited edition. The Vatican Museums are overrun and the Forum has a mud river flowing through it. That doesn’t mean there is nothing to do in Rome. It just means you have to be clever and get out of the historical center.

And right now, this means visiting Testaccio, the latest “really, truly Roman” neighborhood to be gentrified.

—————————————————————-

Cheap Flights to Rome
Opodo offer cheap flights to Rome and other world cities

—————————————————————–

Testaccio is not as quaint as the charming little neighborhood called Ponte between Piazza Navona and Castel Sant’Angelo. It has none of the medieval buildings of Campo de’ Fiori nor the terrazzos of Trastevere. It’s a “new” working class neighborhood with slightly modern buildings, an urban park and large sidewalks.

In its center is probably one of Rome’s more favorite street markets, noted for its egg, tomato and shoe vendors. Famed Volpetti, Rome’s best cheese shop is on Via Mamorata, the main street that leads into Testaccio from the Tevere (Tiber river). Via Galvani, running perpendicular to Via Marmorata, is noted for its row-houses built into Monte Testaccio, a Roman amphorae (pottery) dump and now backdrop to several hip clubs.

Testaccio also is home to two secret enclaves of culture: Centrale Montemartini and MACRO al Mattatoio.

Centrale Montemartini, Rome’s first power station, re-opened in 1997 as temporary housing for 400 of the Capitoline Museums’ Greek and Roman sculptures. Now the Centrale Montemartini is the permanent home to a vast collection of antiquities which include a terracotta Athena, the famous togato Barberini (a Republican-age senator in toga), ruins of the Temple of Apollo; and, among several others, a Venus seated on a horse. The striking contrast between raw material like industrial engines and turbines and elegant, finished classical sculpture creates an amazing viewing experience.

Centrale Montemartini often hosts contemporary shows along side its permanent collection, and is considered Rome’s favorite “off-the-beaten” path visit for those who chose to venture “outside the walls.” Tickets cost 4 euro 50, or 8.50 for the inclusive double museum ticket of Centrale Montemartini and Capitoline Museums.

MACRO al Mattatoio, open since 2002, is located in a former slaughterhouse, and shows contemporary art exhibitions. The collections are temporary, and always contemporary. Taking advantage of hip location, MACRO opens at 4 pm and closes at midnight, Tuesdays through Sundays.

Centrale Montemartini
Via Ostiense 106, Testaccio
Tuesday through Sunday: 9 am to 7 pm

MACRO al Mattatoio
Piazza Orazio Giustiniani, 4 – 00153 Roma
06 6710 70400

New York based writer Jennifer Cody Epstein has just published her first novel “A Painter from Shanghai” based on the life of Chinese painter Pan Yuliang. The book traces Pan Yuliang’s tumultuous life and her relentless pursuit of artistic fulfillment against the backdrop of seismic political and social change in the China of the early 20th century. Jennifer’s novel has been called “luminous” by the New York Times and Publishers Weekly says it “captivates to the last line”.

You are an American writer, based in New York. How did you hear about Pan Yuliang and what were your intentions in writing about her?

It actually began at the Guggenheim Museum, about ten years ago. My husband and some relatives and I were at an exhibition on Modern Chinese Art, and there was just one image by Pan Yuliang on display. But it drew me over immediately. It was a typical Pan Yuliang in that it was very evocative of Matisse and Cezanne, and the bright, bold colors and distinctly Western setting (as compared to the huge propaganda-style images and much more subtle ink paintings around it) really stood out for me. I went over to see more and when I read about Pan’s story (prostitute-concubine-Post-Impressionist icon; really?!) it just blew me away. I’d never heard of her before—but I couldn’t, at that moment, understand why—it struck me that everyone should know about her. I guess I hoped that by writing this novel I’d both educate myself about how that transformation happened(not just factually, but emotionally—in a way only fiction can really get close to) and also spread the word about a woman I consider to be—at least in the West—an unsung feminist hero.

What is the perception of Pan Yuliang today in China? Do Chinese women perceive her as a role model or as a failure?

I think that within the context of women artists in general she’s finally fairly respected there—in large part because of a novel (HuaHun) that was written about her there and a movie (by the same title) starring Gong Li that came out about fifteen years ago. There might be some debate about whether this is solely due to her extraordinary story, rather than on the merit of her art; but I think the fact stands that while her subject matter and her history both remain controversial (as recently as the mid-90’s some of her nudes were taken down from an exhibition in Beijing) people recognize the phenomenal strength of character it must have taken for her to transcend her original circumstances and, not just paint, but paint what she wanted to. Regardless of the consequences.

There is, I think, a larger story somewhere here about women artists in China in general; for whatever reason they simply aren’t accorded the same acclaim and opportunities as male artists are (I’ve actually had a well-known Asian art collector tell me, bluntly, “I don’t collect female painters and I don’t know anyone who does”). I don’t think many would argue that compared to their male counterparts, Chinese women artists are largely absent from the current Chinese art “boom,” though why that is is also open to debate. I think there’s a really interesting study to be done on it, though.

The story of Pan Yuliang is set against the history of China as well as the history of art – did you do a lot of research and try to stay as close as possible to facts or did you take the proverbial fictional license?

Both, actually. I happen to love research, and China and Chinese art in particular were things I hadn’t had as much background on when I began the project so I did pretty much pull out the stops. I took graduate level classes in Chinese history at Columbia, read everything I could get my hands on, talked to a number of people and even took a painting class (with decidedly mixed results). That said, this was one of those subjects where I actually had to use creative license—even the art historians I spoke to confirmed that there is so little actually factually known about Pan (even the birthdate on her gravestone in Paris is generally agreed to be inaccurate) that in order to get a full sense of her story, one has to simply imagine. Once I’d come to terms with that, the task of telling a story—rather than, specifically, the story—came much more easily.

Memoirs of a Geisha was an international bestseller and dramatized the life of a Japanese courtesan. It seems obvious to draw parallels between Memoirs and The Painter from Shanghai – do you feel comparisons are justified?

I’m really mixed on the subject. On the one hand, I loved Memoirs, and am flattered that anyone would compare me to what was so obviously an industry-changing novel. But it’s a little strange to be constantly compared (as I am) to a book that I actually don’t think has much in common with mine—apart from having an Asian prostitute at its heart. I was really trying to do something very different in Painter than talk about prostitution; in fact, I was far less interested in Pan’s experiences at the brothel than how they informed her development as an artist. And, of course, Japan and China are extraordinarily different countries and cultures (having lived in both I can say that with a fair degree of confidence!).

So I guess, in the end, it cuts both ways—if the comparison makes people who liked Memoirs take a look at my book then that’s good, obviously. But I’d have to say if they still feel like they’re similar after reading through, I’d be slightly disheartened—no one wants to live under someone else’s literary shadow (and Geisha casts a very long shadow!) And my favorite reviews—the New York Times, the South China Morning Post, the Huffington Post—are the ones that don’t make the comparison at all.

Politics, gender, art history, colonialism, war – the book touches on many complex subjects and covers a lot of ground – what particular aspects were the most difficult to write about and why?

I think the politics were probably the most complicated for me; they were so wonderfully complex in China at this point, with so many different influences and factions and switcharoos from one side to the other. I essentially worked with a huge timeline on my wall showing what, specifically, was happening when; when the Republicans were in charge; when they were allied with theCCP, when they were attacking them, when the warlords were in charge of which parts of China; which elements held political sway within each party at different points. It helped somewhat that it’s all from Yuliang’s perspective, and she would have been learning about it more or less first hand as well—that was largely why I introduced the character of Xing Xudun, who was her sort of guide to the confusing world of political acronyms and various feuding radical groups abroad.

In the 1920s and 30s Europe was an arts and culture mecca for educated Chinese (and other nationalities), a continent respected and admired for its artistic achievements and innovations. What does Europe represent to young Chinese today you think?

That’s an interesting question! I actually would probably have to ask young Chinese today for the answer, as most of the people I spoke to for this project were academics. But I do know that there is a lot of movement between China and Europe in the art world; if you look at the resumes of some of the top Chinese artists many (if not most) of them have spent some time in Paris or Italy, studying. So I’d imagine that at least as far as art goes, Europe is still an arts mecca at least.

You’ve lived in hong kong – did you draw on your experience in Asia to write about China or did you spend some time in Shanghai and Nanjing researching the local culture?

I actually lived in Asia for a total of seven years, and spent a good four more studying Asian history and culture at college and graduate school. In terms of China in particular–I’d backpacked through parts of it as a college student, and when I lived in Hong Kong I made frequent trips to Guanghzhou, Shenzen and Shanghai (I had a boyfriend there for a while, which was good motivation!). During the specific decade in which I was working on this book, though, I unfortunately couldn’t afford—on many levels—to go back. I made do with hiring researchers, reading everything I could get my hands on on China, and doing a lot of internet “journeying” –which was hugely helpful.

The wonderful thing about Google is that while you do have to check the sourcing of a lot of the information very carefully, there is pretty uninhibited access to images; I was able to download hundreds of images of Shanghai and China from the time period of my book (including Pan Yuliang’s own paintings), which were all enormously helpful to draw upon.

You were a journalist before turning to writing fiction. Why did you switch from journalism to fiction? Was it a difficult transition?

It was difficult—but also, for me, inevitable, I thought. I always wanted to write novels-pretty much from when I could first read them. But I was afraid—as I think many writers and artists (although obviously not Pan Yuliang!) are to take the leap; which is primarily why I ended up in journalism for so long. It wasn’t easy to go from a steady paycheck and standard measures of success and accomplishment to something as completely subjective and risky as writing a novel (a lot of people thought I was crazy, actually). But I knew if I didn’t do it now I would probably miss the boat completely.

I did find being a journalist helped a lot in terms of learning to economize with language—and, essential for this book—to research and interview effectively. The fact that I’d gone to school for International Relations and was used to writing about people in different places and worlds made it slightly easier to take on something of this magnitude of difference from my own life. I do think that as a journalist it’s probably that much harder to let yourself veer from fact. For better or for worse, though, as I’ve said, there was really limited fact to work with in Pan Yuliang’s case; so it forced me to take leaps I probably would never have dared otherwise.

Pan Yuliang lived in a time of great upheaval for China. Today China is experiencing another period of economic and societal shifts that are redefining its relationship with the West and especially the US. Were you influenced by current events in your writing? And do you see your book contributing on some level to the debate about China’s “new” role in the world?

For me, the book was largely born of my fascination with cultural shifts and mergings and interactions between cultures and countries. I’ve always been intrigued—particularly from my first few years living in Japan—with the way that bits of American and European culture (as well as, obviously, Chinese culture, though obviously on a much grander scale) find their way into first the fringes, then the mainstream of intellectual, cultural and political life and resurface as things completely unique and fascinating in their own right, with attributes from both cultural “parents” but identities that are singularly their own. Pan Yuliang’s art was one terrific example of this for me; the way that not only her actual technique and subject matter reflected the changing tide in China’s art world but the fact that she, as a woman, could make the kinds of statements that she did, coming from where she did—that, too, was the result of a breakdown of traditional, Confucian ideas on gender and identity under more modern, Western ways of thinking.

It seemed to me that by studying how her work came to be, you could also study the way those different cultural currents interacted, and play with the way that they might have mixed and clashed.

I don’t think I was influenced specifically by current events in writing Painter so much as aware of the fact that—as they say—history does repeat itself; and in many ways the China we see today, while certainly facing different challenges than that of the period I was writing about, is also facing a huge task of reconciling various—and at times, downright oppositional—facets of tradition and modernity in order to continue on. Similar stories to Pan Yuliang’s are probably being played out on a daily basis everywhere on large and small scales; different venues, different conflicts, different resolutions, of course. Not just in China, but everywhere. But the process of somehow melding the old and the new, the known and the foreign into something unique and valid continues. (And of course, if my book can contribute to that in any way I’d be more than flattered!)

You can support Tom’s book project with a small (or large) contribution at Kickstarter:

Get tickets here: billetnet

photo via ballet blog the winger

check the revamped new york city ballet website for videos on balanchine and other choreographers

It’s been quiet on the interview front at Shortcut, but here’s a special treat: I’ve talked childhood friend Linda Heydegger into letting me interview her about her work as a painter and showcase some of her pieces in digital form on the site. Linda’s been painting and drawing since i first met her at age 11 and she’s done so with increasing success. Her last exhibition, a series of still lives, was a delightful amalgam of mundane objects set off by dazzling colours: these are household items glimpsed perhaps casually on kitchen tables across Europe, but rendered with fastidious detail and arranged sensually like objets d’art before the viewer. Each piece barely bigger than a large-sized envelope, the still lives evoke a series of postcards conveying multiple domestic worlds, each with its inherent cultural flavor. And yet these multiple, disparate words, nudged into careful composition and bathed in glistening colours, converge into fundamentally the same vision: an image of home.

Linda was born in Basel but raised between Arizona, Germany, Switzerland and now lives in France.

Read the interview or enter the gallery

Shortcut: You’ve been painting for years and have had several exhibitions. At what point did painting become more than a hobby for you?

Linda: The first time i experienced satisfaction in my own work was as a twelve year old, when I won a wonderful white ballet tutu in a drawing competition. Since then I have developed a certain ambition… By the way, even today i tend to approach art as a hobby rather than a profession. This lends my work a degree of lightness and an ostensibly independent streak. More than anything it’s my work as an art teacher that pays the bills.

Shortcut: Any role models that inspired you, painters and others?

Linda: Role models were something that influenced me at an earlier stage.  For example the pop art works of Andy Warhol or the charged, solitary landscapes of Edward Hopper. I also enjoyed Georgia O’Keeffe’s rich paintings. And Cindy Sherman’s ability to stage her own stories via the medium of photography appealed to me. I can find inspiration in many places. Old photographs, the gesture of a woman brushing her hair at a train station, a children’s game, a shapely cup aso. I find inspiration in many mundane objects or things. I absorb them and digest them, at times brooding about something for a long time. Then later they resurface in my work in some way or other.

Shortcut: What do you want to express in your works? Do you have a clear idea when you start or is it an intuitive process?

Linda: A certain idea of your work exists at the beginning. Usually in the form of an intuition or foreboding, similar to a dream that you try to reconstitute after waking up in the morning. Sometimes the dream is lost, but occasionally all the details emerge clearly. I process memories and stories.  Like in my work “Little Secrets”, a series of small letters cast in plaster. The little secrets, which here can no longer be read or deciphered, exist purely in the imagination of the observer. In my still life paintings, I briefly appropriate for myself the objects I paint and I get to enjoy the richness of all these small gems. They are interchangeable and also superfluous – they stand for the fleeting nature of possessions.

Shortcut: You live in France with your partner, after living in Switzerland for a long time. What made you decide to move?

Linda: What makes my heart skip a beat with joy – this old apartment in a villa dating back to 1897. The villa and its large garden were what triggered the move. We live very well here on the border between Germany, France and Switzerland. we can take advantage of the best of each region.

Shortcut: Switzerland has become well known for its Art Basel fair and now the Art Basel Miami. What’s your take on art fairs? Do you think they’re useful, inspiring events or an excuse to party and make money?

Linda: To me Art Basel gives me a yearly glimpse into the general trends and the prevailing mood in contemporary art. You can get all riled up and at the same time get carried away about something. This paradox is the real kick for me.

Shortcut: On a different topic: what’s your favorite spot in Europe?

Linda: I can’t give a definitive answer to that. It depends on the season and what your current lifestyle is – i’ve definitely enjoyed the cliffs of Corsica’s West Coast, the arid landscape of the Alentejo in Portugal and the hills of Piemont in the Spring. The best place is probably Sicily  – i’ve always wanted to go there!

Enter Gallery

See more paintings at galerie maeder

Michael’s traveled the world as surfing anthropologist extraordinaire, gathering clues to the origin of the sports and its worldwide adoption after World War II:

How did an obscure tribal tradition from pre-colonial Hawaii — nearly eliminated by Christian missionaries — jump oceans to California and Australia? How did it become a world sport, and how does it clash with cultures in corners of the earth where the surf might be excellent but the society is highly traditional, or superstitious about the sea?

Find out on Amazon (US) as of June 2010.

Keep an eye out for Tom Schutyser‘s Caravanserais photographs, recently exhibited in Paris at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture. Tom has travelled extensively through the Middle East and Asia and was drawn to document the caravanserais he encountered along the trail of the ancient Silk road from Iran to China.

Tom is now working on a book of his photography. Read more about the project and help kickstart it at Kickstarter.

Says Tom himself:

In early 2003 I traveled in a West-East direction along the Silk Road from Iran through Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan) to China. In Northern Iran these silent  solemn ruins of caravanserais languished in eerie, desolate, motionless desert winter landscapes. They are a reminder of the prosperous eras of the Silk Road along which trade, inventions, diplomacy, religions and cultures were exchanged between China, the Western world, the Middle East and Central Asia.

For more information on Tom’s work and upcoming projects, visit his website.

Brighter times are ahead.

Take an online trip to Viamigo, the brainchild of San Francisco based creative/journalist  jeff goldsmith, and pick from a vast menu of local guides that you don’t have to lug around: living, breathing residents who are willing to put their arduously collected personal expertise at your disposal. Need a historian to explore the finer nuances of Sicilian baroque? Chances are you might find one on viamigo. Or maybe you feel like sharing your city wisdom with others? Sign up as a guide.

More on viamigo:

VIAmigo.com helps global travelers find authentic, local experiences and insider adventures – by connecting them with personal tour guides from everywhere. We simply let independent tour guides tell everyone what travelers can see chez eux – and we let travelers rate guides. VIAmigo.com is, pardon the jargon, a one-to-one destination marketing platform. Go beyond the guidebook. Go everywhere. Get into everything.

Amsterdam International Fashion Week, the home of Dutch fashion was finally back last week !! Over 100 designers took their latest looks to the catwalk ! Amsterdam is really growing as a Fashion Business Capital. Trade Fairs Showroom and Mode Fabriek attract over 20.000 professional buyers from Holland and abroad.

Amsterdam International Fashion Week was founded in 2004, as an initiative to put Amsterdam on the map as a vibrant and inspiring destination for fashion.

The program last for over 10 days and consisted of trade fairs, catwalk shows (a combinantion of on- schedule shows at Museumplein and off-schedule events around town), business network events and a public programme of exhibitions, launches and parties.

Amsterdam Fashion Week is organized by AIFW, consisting of Merle Deterink, Pietre de Haan, Steven Pooters and James Veenhoff, supported by internes and in close cooperation with sponsors, government, instituitions, industry partners and media.

AIFW presents both mens and womens, as well as couture, ready to wear and streetwear collections. As well as the home of Dutch fashion, Amsterdam aims to become an international platform for new luxury brands, breakthrough talent and commercial success.

This year new venue in the center of Amsterdam, Museumplein with 4 tents, inspired by New York Fashion Week’s “Bryan Park” set up. There are two catwalk venues. “TENT” with a capacity for about 600 seated guests, and the more intimate SALON , all in white, that holds aeround 300. The move to Museumplein was co-funded by the City of Amsterdam’s Evenemenfonds and the Ministry of Economic Affaire Pieken in de Delta program, as well as the sponsor partners Fortis, Philips, KPN Mobile, LG, Lancome and Redken.