Rockefeller Christmas Tree

It's a foggy night in New York City and the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree has a special sparkle!

What To Learn From Rejection

A young entrepreneur who took his first rejection too hard set out to get rejected 100 times, filmed the process and is writing a book.

Lessons he learned this year from rejection:

• Rejection is nothing more than someone else’s opinion. Never consider rejection as truth about yourself.
• Accept that rejection is certain in life, and it will be easier to anticipate and overcome moments of rejection. 
• The worst part of rejection is the fear of rejection. Do not let fear prevent you from making a request.
• Detach yourself from the results of a request, and you will be more confident and increase your chance for acceptance, or a “yes.”
• If we talk to enough people without giving up, we find acceptance. 

Read the full Business Insider article by Fellow Knight-Bagehot Jim Edwards.

On Saturday Night Live tonight!

The man at right and his friend Michelle from Dallas got lost in Astoria today as they looked for Stamatis Restaurant. So I took them past it to my favorite spot, ETavarna To Koutouki - tiny, good food and hosts, antique Plaka decor. And then he casually mentioned that he plays keyboards for rapper Eminem and will be on Saturday Night Live tonight! His first name is so unusual that all I can remember is E.

Manganiyar Seduction NYC

A total of 36 musicians in stacked red boxes - lit with bright, round bulbs - seduced the audience Thursday night.
"The Manganiyar Seduction" was a sight-and-sound experience - their Rajasthan-style turbans, hand gestures, flutes, drums - non stop for nearly 90 minutes!
It was at the Rose Theater at the time Warner Center, and part of the White Lights Festival. Photo shot with my iPhone 3G.

Artist Norman Rockwell's Mask

The reason we liked Norman Rockwell, even though the creative elite snubbed his incredible artistic talent, was that he showed us American life as we wanted to see it -- with costumes and masks -- rather than the ugliness of life, which he knew too well. So says a new biographer, Deborah Solomon in the book "American Mirror." Happy Halloween!

Be Vulnerable & Authentic

How can being vulnerable be good?

Sociologist and inspriational speaker Brene Brown says that people who have a sense of purpose, a sense of worthiness, of love and of belonging, all of which yield "connection" -- healthy relationships -- are authentic and vulnerable.

In other words, they embrace whatever it is that makes them say, "I am not BLANK enough." These people -- and she's interviewed hundreds and studied and researched the subject of vulnerability -- have a sense of courage, meaning being okay with imperfection. They have compassion, so they can be kind to themselves. And connection, that favorite word in tango, is a result of authenticity and vulnerability, Brown says.

Instead, we numb the things we don't like or that are painful, but we can't numb emotions selectively through addictions, or by making uncertain things certain, or by assigning blame, or by being angry, which prevents us from listening. These approaches hurt ourselves and others. She says that glass of wine, that banana nut muffin, numbs joy, gratitude and happiness. Brown says that instead of numbing

ourselves, "there is another way. To let ourselves be seen, deeply seen, vulnerably seen, to love with our whole hearts, even though there is no guarantee, and that’s really hard. Especially when catastrophe strikes. Believe that you are enough. ... You are kinder and gentler to the people around you, and gentler to yourself."

How To Not Be "Old"

There is a theme to aging without really getting old: keep moving your body, in a way that's sustainable. Maintain good relationships. You're blesesed if you have a certain peaceful attitude. Not much is said in this video about diet, but you can see that each woman is fairly trim.
"Fabulous Fashionistas" is a must-watch production - click below!

Sunset on 5th Avenue

Savoring the view of the sun setting on 5th Avenue, from a favorite 7th floor spot. This October day feels like summer.

The Security Hero Who Predicted 9/11

Watch this History Channel program about Rick Rescorla, a Vietnam veteran who ran security at Morgan Stanley offices in one of the towers of the World Trade Center. 

After the 1993 bombings at the World Trade Center that left many people gasping for air, Rescorla took security and evacuations to a new level. He and his friends, interviewed for this documentary, discussed the possibility of an air attack before 9/11 happened.

Facundo Speaks About Tango

Talented Argentine tango dancer Carlos "Facundo" Posadas, and his wife, Ching Ping, are just mesmerising to watch on dance floors in New York.
Their tango reality is not about the speed and flourishes that young tango aficionados show off. In this interview, Facundo describes tango as something you feel, and it doesn't matter how old you are, or the particular pace/style you dance. He says -- he's in his 70s, hard to believe -- that he now prefers dancing to music from certain older performers. Those include di Sarli and Osvaldo Pugliese.
The one thing you notice when you watch Facundo and Ching Ping dance: they make ample use of the "pausa," from the Greek word παύση * -- they pause in the middle of the dance floor, embracing, to feel the moment. And then they move forward.
In tango, the man is the leader, but the woman has to know how to follow and move, with flare, or they'll be stymied and bored and they won't move forward. There are a lot of metaphors for life in tango. It has a way of taking over. People who love it say tango is a way of life.

• Listen to Osvaldo Pugliese on Pandora Radio here. 
• The video of Facundo was posted by New York Tango singer and Astoria Tango co-host Héctor Pablo Pereyra. For video of Pereyra, also known as Pulpo, singing, dramatic video here. 
• For video of Facundo dancing, video here.
• For an idea of Argentine tango in a contest, video here.

* Isn't it funny that the pronunciation "PAFsi" in Greek translated to PAUsa in Spanish and PAUSE in English. The dipthong looked like a U and that's how it emerged. Would love a linguist's explanation.

Dragonfly on Gardenia

There is an abundance of dragonflies in New York City. They land on people in Central Park. This one parked on my gardenia to catch the afternoon sun.

Picasso

At Academy Records NYC listening to jazz and looking at Pablo Picasso.

Update For Travelers To Turkey

This morning, President Barack Obama spoke from the G20 summit about the reasons the U.S. might take military action in Syria, which shares a border with Turkey. At noon, the U.S. Department of State sent this email to people who have traveled or will travel to Turkey:

President Barack Obama
Credit: http://www.vmps.us/

"The U.S. Department of State warns U.S. citizens traveling to or living in Turkey that the U.S. Consulate General in Adana has been authorized to draw down its non-emergency staff and family members because of threats against U.S. government facilities and personnel.  The Department of State recommends that U.S. citizens defer non-essential travel to southeastern Turkey. On September 6, the Department of State permitted the drawdown of U.S. government non-emergency personnel and family members from the U.S. Consulate General in Adana, Turkey.  U.S. citizens seeking to depart Turkey are responsible for making their own travel arrangements. There are no plans for charter flights or other U.S. government-sponsored evacuations. U.S. citizens traveling to or residing in Turkey should be alert to the potential for violence.  We strongly urge U.S. citizens to avoid demonstrations and large gatherings.  Even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and escalate into violence.  There have been no direct attacks on U.S. citizens."

H Tύχη: Luck, Fate & Hope

Listening to a Greek song, "Luck," today that says: "Look what fate brings. Some give, others get. For some it opens roads and for others, it kills dreams. The scales are always tilted through life, depending on which side you're on .... η ελπίδα πάντα ζει ... hope always lives."
Avoid the video with singer Despina Vandi - just listen to the music and learn a little Greek with the lyrics below. (Some words are shortened into contractions missing apostrophes.)

Μέρα μπαίνει μέρα βγαίνει
τ΄όνειρό μου κυνηγώ
μα εκείνο μ'αποφεύγει
και είμαι κολλημένη εδώ
Συνεχώς 'στο παρά πέντε' (idiom for "just in time")
και ποτέ στο ακριβώς
βλέπω άλλους να εναι μέσα
βλέπω εμένα να ειμαι εκτός

Μου ειχες πει να ελπίζω πάντα
και να κάνω υπομονή
και αν πραγματικά το θέλω
τώ όνειρό μου θα συμβεί

Όμως για κοίτα η τύχη πώς τα φέρνει
σε άλλους δίνει σε άλλους παίρνει
για άλλους ανοιχτοί όλοι οι δρόμοι
για άλλους το όνειρο σκοτώνει
Κοίτα η τύχη πώς τα φέρνει
ζυγαριά που πάντα γέρνει
κι η ζωή σου εξαρτάται
από ποια πλευρά της θα εσαι

Μόλις φτάνω προς το τέλος
άντε πάλι απω την αρχή
οι προσπάθειες πεθαίνουν
μα η ελπίδα πάντα ζει

Όμως για κοίτα η τύχη πώς τα φέρνει
σ΄άλλους δίνει σ΄άλλους παίρνει
γι΄άλλους ανοιχτοί όλοι οι δρόμοι
γι΄άλλους τ΄όνειρο σκοτώνει
Κοίτα η τύχη πώς τα φέρνει
ζυγαριά που πάντα γέρνει
κι η ζωή σου εξαρτάται
από ποιά πλευρά της θα΄σαι

July 1974 - July 2013

A poster in Astoria, New York: "Cyprus: still occupied, still divided."

Southern Greece Featured in film Before Midnight

Credit: Rope of Silicon http://bit.ly/1a72SNS

Go out and see Before Midnight if only to see the remote Greek castle in Methoni and a revered writer's home near Kalamata.
The film is the third in a trilogy - all romantic fluff. The others were set in Paris and Vienna. Our favorite critic, Melpo, pans the latest entry, saying of the acting: "Very poor. No chemistry or feeling."
But the New York Times lauded the film, and so did Lincoln Center's film Q&A moderator in this lengthy Question-and-Answer session with the director and actors Julie Delphy and Ethan Hawke. They all admit the script violates every film school rule.
It will be good to see Methoni on the big screen. Our Yiayia had the National Geographic photo of the castle framed and positioned near the door.
Another scene: the elegantly simple pastels of a country Greek home once owned by Patrick Leigh Fermor, the British travel writer and World War II Greek resistance hero. Fermor wrote the book on Mani, the rugged Southern Peloponnesian peninsula once full of peasant folkways and mystery. Fermor died just this year; he spent some of his last days at the Greek house. Apparently he also traveled to "Constantinople" and a final book is to be published about his travels in Turkey.
The Rope of Silicon blog mapped out the Before Midnight scenes in Messinia here. The Before Midnight trailer is here.

Summertime, The Movie

In honor of someone who reminds me of the Italian actor Rossano Brazzi, below are clips of the 1955 color film "Summertime."
The luscious colors of Venice are a backdrop for the romance between Brazzi and Katherine Hepburn. He has a shop, which is what she's filming in the first clip below as her adorable little guide Mauro looks on. (Brazzi starred opposite Mary Martin in the film South Pacific.) More Summertime film clips here.

Deep in Queens

Deep in Queens, the late-night subway fashion is just ... indescribable.
Those are purple socks. Jade ring for added color.

Beat the Heat: Go Greek (Yogurt)

Everyone's getting into the Greek yogurt craze: this food proprietor's sign greeted me as I entered our Midtown office building today: "Put Your Greek On." The store, Fresh, is adding a yogurt station to its expensive salads and lunchtime health nibbles. Let's see if the yogurt is thickened in a pure way.
Yogurt has become my theme of the summer: earlier I wrote about New York's yogurt summit, and have learned more about Chobani, the upstart yogurt company founded by entrepreneur Hamdi Ulukaya.
Ulukaya is Kurdish and Turkish and grew up on a dairy farm in Turkey. He came to New York and tried feta cheese manufacturing before launching a strained yogurt enterprise.
His story in this video, and the one below:

Liz Lemon Greek Ben & Jerry's

Yiayia would never put lemon in her yogurt or put yogurt in the "freeza." But you have to love this very New York frozen yogurt tribute to 30 Rock character Liz Lemon, AKA actress and writer Tina Fey, who yes, has some Hellenic heritage. I only caught one Greek reference in the show - when the daffy assistant is engaged to a guy named Dimitri.
This ad is in the 49th Street Times Square train station, and shows the show's namesake Rockefeller Center edifice nearby. Is this Ben & Jerry's flavor available in other parts of the country?