Pumpkin Cheesecake Alert

For those of you who are feeling the autumn crisp in the air and is definitely hankering for some pumpkin sort of dessert, I would recommend pumpkin cheesecake from the clinton hill Choice Market.

Their cheesecake was usually the popular Pear Creme Brulee cheesecake (that I didnt really care for but other people did) but for this season, they have replaced it with the Pumpkin Cheesecake. their pumpkin cheesecake has a nise sort of cream cheesy-ness that the other pumpkin cheesecake from Billy's Bakery doesnt have. My sensitive friend, Mel, could care less for billy's cheesecake because it was apparently too "meat" like for her.

Pumpkin does have that weird sort of "meaty" taste. Must be because it is a squash? But I've read through many blogs that, that is the reason why people put shit loads of spices and sugar in pumpkin desserts.

So yes, if you're up for some pumpkin cheesecake, go to Choice Market instead of Billy's Bakery.
If you're going for ice cream, I highly recommend Shake shack's Pumpkin spice custard. The last day to get it is on Oct 31 (its every saturday this october.) Good Luck!

Choice Market
318 Lafayette Ave
Clinton Hill, Brooklyn NY

Maybe we should all invest in vanity

LOOKBOOK.nu

is a fashion community of people, mostly in their teens to mid 20s, posting pictures of themselves and their fashionista good-days. I have not seen a not-anorexic looking person in this page.

However, it is a pretty page to look at and its interesting to think that, "wow, you take a picture of yourself, tweek it mucho in photoshop (color wise) and post it." I think doing this takes some time and effort. I will admit, I envy those kids there for looking nice and skinny but its too much effort than I can afford to give. That and I think I would feel ridiculous posing out in public holding a "candid" pose for a few moments. I'm good with a shirt and jeans thank you.

I am surprised with the amount of male population in the list. I think most of them are from europe. and I like how sometimes, you can tell when a person is in New York.

But this is still part of my desire to go shopping. I want to go shopping. But alas, I have no time or money. I'll live vicariously through the people at lookbook.nu and pretend that I already did go shopping. (it doesnt work. I really need a cardigan.)

A video for designers

Michael Bierut is a designer that is very well known. I've never heard of him before. I'm new to graphic design, indulge me. However, he gives an interesting lecture and notes on his ideas of design. Btw, he did the New York Times sign on the new york times building near Port Authority. (Which is something that I've always admired whenever I passed it, also that it is a lovely building itself.

Enjoy

Cute Cartoons

Imp was an adorable internet flash cartoon that, I guess is british, can entertain you only for a minute or two.

Its so cute. Maybe its the british accent or the idea that satan is a ditz. <3

Is it cheesecake season too?

Though I have been craving pumpkin desserts, I stumbled upon a recent article on cheesecakes from Serious Eats concerning "New York's Best Cheesecake."

It's quite interesting really because they mentioned Two Little Red Hen's as the top. A bout a few weeks ago, my friend told me that TLRH had the best red velvet cake she's ever tried. (just so you know, she's a frosting person.) Its funny because I tried them last year for their red velvet cake and I threw it half way through because I didnt like it that much.

I'm always willing to be corrected or try a place again. Since my sister lives near there, guess I'll stop by and give them another chance. However, I really do wonder if I should eve stick to instinct.

In case if anyone was wondering, my favorite cheesecake thus far is Eileen's. As for red velvet, its kind of hard. I believe that any dish can taste good, you just have to find the right person to make it. Just like my belief that all restaurants are good, you just have to order the right thing.

Photographer Highlight: Masao Yamamoto

So, in my heart, I've been stalking (rather, internet stalking) this man called Masao Yamamoto. He is a freelance photographer from japan. Originally a painter, he creates these beautiful, haunting, elegant and quiet photographs that completely move me. I was so sad I missed his exhibition last year because I didnt learn about him at the time.

More of his work can be seen at Art Pages

I cant believe I bought his book though. Averaging at 200 dollars a pop. I waslucky someone was selling it in amazon for 85 bucks and bought it. His work is so beautiful. I cant wait til the mail comes.

Vimeo Roundups

Chukwa's Approach III (The Final Encounter) from depart on Vimeo.

I'll admit. I did it cause there was a turtle.

CTIA "Grow Your World" from PSYOP on Vimeo.

MTV music awards 2009 video package by Prologue from Huitième Degré on Vimeo.

Everyone likes Prologue. They're way to awesome to ignore

Type Type Type

Is always interesting. I found three thing that I thought were interesting to take note of.

Fonts as Characters at college humor has a little skit depicting fonts like real characters. It reminds me of a play that you would make in elementary. Though, I think most fonts are misrepresented, I thought Baskervile, Bookman and Wingdings were well characterized. Either that or I just like crazy people and old men bickering.

Squidspot has an Periodic table of Typefonts and I think its a must have for every type student or geek out there.

And last but not least, there was this adorable one liner comic like thing between helvetica and arial. I didnt know Arial was actually a helvetica wannabe.

Feeling Semi-Popular

I question I posted about food finally reached the open windows of the moderators of the kitchn. As a student who lives on low budgets and not on fresh vegetables, I asked the question "Which vegetables are OK to buy frozen?"

Its nice that I got a handy amount of answers. If you have any other questions related to cooking or food, this site is pretty nice and cute. Though I did post the question about a month a go, its better late than never. =)

Vimeo Parade (again)

I cant help it. I like vimeo. Its nice to subscribe to the place if you like that stuff. Especially if you have school and you need ideas. I think even more when you get a job =_=;

MTV BLOOM from FMK_7 on Vimeo.

Lift Typography Reel 2009 from Easyfeel on Vimeo.

Berlin Block Tetris from Sergej Hein on Vimeo.

I would have liked it more when you clean one of the levels and people scream. But its really interesting and fun none the less. It reminds me of how much I suck at tetris

John Maeda: Eye Meat

I would encourage people to watch John Maeda's discussion on simplicity in TED. Surprising for me to know, he's the president of RISD. I love competition, and I like how I've heard some people say that Pratt is where the rejected RISD students go.

In my opinion, people go to pratt because RI is kind of boring. Its pretty but boring.

Anyway, I felt a bit lied to because John Maeda said that his book, "The Laws of Simplicity" is free online. I cant find it.

But basically he boils it down to a statement: "Simplicity is about living life with more enjoyment and less pain." Personally, it sounds like it parallels with my hedonistic values. However, its a hard balance since everything has a price. Like ice cream = weight gain = iCantFitIntoMyPants syndrome.

Again and again, its always about moderation.

Book Review: The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

I'm sure many of you have read this book already, especially if you're in art school. When you're on the computer the whole day its still nice to pick up something tactile once in a while.

But first of all, let me make an interesting note: Ayn Rand made two books: The Fountainhead and The Atlas Shrugged. I havent read the latter but its nice to hear people's opinion on these. People would say that they're both good but they prefer one over the other. It depends on your personality. I heard the Fountainhead is more about individualism and the Atlas Shrugged is more about collectivism.

This book was one of the very few books I was so in love with reading. I dont usually read that many books because I'd fall asleep too fast from reading but this one kept me awake and I got to finish it in 3 days. But in the end I felt so productive.

Since I suck at writing synopsis' I'll pass it on to wikipedia:

The Fountainhead's protagonist, Howard Roark, is an individualistic young architect who chooses to struggle in obscurity rather than compromise his artistic and personal vision. The book follows his battle to practice modern architecture, which he believes to be superior, despite an establishment centered on tradition-worship. How others in the novel relate to Roark demonstrates Rand's various archetypes of human character, all of which are variants between Roark, the author's ideal man of independent-mindedness and integrity, and what she described as the "second-handers." The complex relationships between Roark and the various kinds of individuals who assist or hinder his progress, or both, allows the novel to be at once a romantic drama and a philosophical work.

I thought it was a fun read and it was kind of insightful and inspirational. However I'm not really that ambitious in life. I'll be honest: I like money. I would be willing to sellout it when I think its appropriate. It was nice to hear from my mom that she read the same book. But she told me she liked atlas shrugged better. I'll try to read that book next time when I have time.

BTW, if you're reading this, think of Frank Lloyd Wrights work when they're talking about the architecture. It was funny that I was getting into him and reading fountainhead at the same time. I had the pleasure of seeing his works when I visited Chicago and saw his exhibition at the guggenheim 3 months back.

OMG. Canon Customer Service

I called canon tech support this evening because of my bitchy new/old printer.

This printer was a free printer that came from Apple when I bought my laptop. A free printer. Duh. I got this printer last year on october (exactly last year) and I havent opened it since june.

Anyway, my printer was having the difficulty of eating the paper when printing: the paper wasnt going in and it thinks that the paper is in and would print. "no problem."

I finally got to call canon tech support. Unlike other tech supports, they were actually open till 10 in the evening. I called and got connected to a tech pretty fast. She was the nicest tech support I've ever had the delight of talking to. We had some light chit chat and wished each other well in the end. Since I only have a few days till my warranty expires, they'll send me a box to ship my printer back and I'll get a replacement printer in 3-5 business days.

Yey!

My printer, by the way, was a canon pixma mx300. After printing fine, a few seconds later, it started bitching about paper jams where the paper isnt inside of the printer. and later on would just not eat the paper and think it was eating it. My printer is delusional. I barely even use it because I'm so stingy with ink.