Hop Hop Hopper

Ooooooh yeeee, who better than Hopper draws those magic atmospheres that take you inside the painting just as if you were part of the scene.

I can't wait to discover the origination of these masterpieces at the Hopper Drawing exhibit hosted by the Whitney Museum. Starting on May 23rd, save the date!

More than 2500 of his drawings will be displayed and...and... some of his mind blowing oil paintings such as Nighthawks!!!!!!

+ You have until October 6 to go see it, plenty of time!

Thank you Life, I love you

Kobra Street art

Have you ever walked by this mural in the City?

It is perfectly in line with the season. We should feel colorful like this all the time actually.

Go, go have a look and combine it with a nice walk on the high line as it is located on 25th Street and 12th Ave.

You want the story behind it, here you go:

This mural is called « VJ Day in Times Square », VJ meaning Victory over Japan 

 it is actually a reinterpretation of a photo taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt on Times Square on August 14th, 1945 when Japan surrendered...

Not sure if we will see a horde of Japanese people taking photos here ;)

Anyway, the painter Eduardo Kobratries, who goes with his artist name Kobra, travels all over the world to paint such amazing murals, see his artwork here: http://eduardokobra.com/

I like it, I think you'll like it too!

Hanami is coming!

April showers bring May flowers. But actually cherry tree flowers show up this month as shown in this time-lapse was created from over 3,000 digital photos, one taken every three minutes from April 18 to April 26, 2008, of Brooklyn Botanical Garden's Cherry Walk.

Looks nice, I never thought about it as you can pretty much see trees everywhere in Brooklyn. Mmmh I kind of want to go now.

The cherry blossom festival itself will take place on April 27 and 28 this year, but you can go visit the park any other day where it would be less crowded.

All details here: http://www.bbg.org/
$10 adults, $5 students, free children under 12, free on Tuesdays

50 Eastern Parkway
455 Flatbush Avenue
990 Washington Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11225

Chanting with monks

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare

This whole story started from this : www.sidetour.com/experiences/dine-with-the-monks-at-an-east-village-monastery. Yes, it says "Dine with a monk in a monastery in East village", for real!

So by pure curiosity, I did it and I met this amazing person Rasanath.

You should get an idea of this place where an amazing happens every Thursday night from 7 to 9 pm. It is free. Just try, you'll see.

Open the door in the middle of crazy East Village, jump up to the 3rd floor, take off your shoes, and slowly enter in the Temple...

Welcome to kirtan* night.

A windfall of warmth, peace, good energy, grounding and happiness hits you right away and sticks around for the rest of your night and hopefully more. You are part of it, all together we form this bubble of positiveness, there is no more individuality but an amazing unity of loving and heartwarming state.

Just by sitting down, closing your eyes, not even singing if you don't want to, you will forget about all the parasites, all the pollution that takes place in your daily life.
By being in this room, you will even forget that there is a world outside, it takes you far away and when you come back to reality, you would probably feel different...

Give it a try
Namaste

East Village Monastery
5 1st Ave
(between 1st & 2nd St)
New York

*Kirtan is call-and-response chanting or "responsory" performed in India's bhakti devotional traditions. Kirtan practice involves chanting hymns or mantras to the accompaniment of instruments such as the harmonium, tablas, the two-headed mrdanga or pakawaj drum, and karatal hand cymbals. It is a major practice in Vaisnava devotionalism, Sikhism, the Sant traditions, and some forms of Buddhism, as well as other religious groups.
Source: Wikipedia