Happy Thanksgiving!

music: Sarah Vaughan

obsession: Arrow Moccasin Co.

It has been years, YEARS, that I've wanted a pair of these. Perhaps this is my combination Xmas/ birthday gift to myself.
Damn, that list is long

tv: Entourage

goods: Tauer's Incense Rose

So, Christmas is indeed right around the corner, as they say. For all the times I've said, "I don't want anything," I finally have come 'round.

The 1.7oz size will be fine. If you call up the company in Switzerland, there's an excellent chance that Andy Tauer will answer the phone.

Any questions? Trust me: if you smell this, you will be forever captivated. Experience and be changed.

www.tauerperfumes.com

music: French covers

I'm not terribly fond of the rise in amateur exposition. However, there is something immensely charming about this French ephebe sashaying through Belle & Sebastian covers.
Good job, sir. Seems like you've got alot of the factors in the equation; Hollywood might come calling!

field trip: Montague Book Mill

ahh, good 'ol New England. Such small pockets of hidden charm, increasingly less hidden. One shouldn't be too selfish, though, in appraising the crowds; there's a reason why wonders are well-populated.

The Book Mill has always been a favorite place to go with loved ones (or one's self), and today was no different.

film: Don't Look Back

goods: Sienne l'Hiver

The perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour wields the scents of incense, woods, and aromatic resins as though he conjured a djinn. Presently the in-house "nose" for L'Artisan Parfumeurs, he also is responsible for the masterpieces from a small Italian house called, rather magnanimously, Eau d'Italie. Fine by me; call them Eau d'Europe if you want, they are each of them a work of art.

Eau d'Italie's Sienne l'Hiver (Siena in winter) will, and always will be, a scent of such complete emotional beauty that I am at a loss to give it further words.

tv: Absolutely Fabulous

painting: Van Gogh at MoMA

Really, only the most jaded would find fault in the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh. Also, his biography is such a romantic narrative on the artist's existence.... I'll be rather p.o.'d if I don't get myself down to NYC to see it.

Van Gogh and the Colors of the Night at the Museum of Modern Art, until January 5, 2009

film: Stardust Memories

tv: Hart to Hart

What do you think of Jasper Johns?

wheels: BMW, yes please

This is still in a planning stage, and I'm just stunned that they need to think twice about it.

music: "The Vogue Years" Francoise Hardy

As the thermometer plummets here in New England, this CD set is like a scirocco from Saint-Tropez.
Since I don't speak a bit of French, she could be ya-ya'ing through her grocery list, for all I know. If so, never did dry goods sound so good.

painting: John Evans at Gallery Henoch

one of the finest contemporary landscape painters, a former student of Philip Guston, a mean golfer, and a friend.

If you are or are planning to be in NYC this month, see his paintings. There really is nothing quite like them.

Gallery Henoch West 25th Street New York City

reading: on the night table

currently:

Because the Night James Ellroy

The King and the Cowboy David Fromkin. 19th-20th century European nobility can be such a drag. We know, we know; they all married their cousins. Toss good 'ol TR into the mix, however, and there's bound to be a good read.

and nary a dud in the newest New Yorker, a pleasant surprise. Who knew about the midwestern knife master of the 1930s? http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/11/24/081124fa_fact_oppenheimer

Wodin's day

Well, this is going to be an inauspicious start, as I need to figure out basic details like A. how do I get back to this page, and B. how do I post this post.

Grant me a wide berth on this learning curve!

I just was sent a youtube video of "Raimunda" singing Volver, from the movie of the same name; had every intention of posting that here... all clean and 21st C.-like. No such luck. Seek it out though... fantastic Spanish melodrama from a living master.