The Magic of the Cities.

Zen promotes the rediscovery of the obvious, which is so often lost in its familiarity and simplicity. It sees the miraculous in the common and magic in our everyday surroundings. When we are not rushed, and our minds are unclouded by conceptualizations, a veil will sometimes drop, introducing the viewer to a world unseen since childhood. ~ John Greer

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

The Cloudmaker


Ah, summer grasses!
All that remains
Of the warriors dreams.
Basho.

music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Cat Stela / Estela del gato



Maya Stela Day (8/24/2009) / Estela Maya del Dia

Astronomy
Uniquely, there is some evidence to suggest the Maya appear to be the only pre-telescopic civilization to demonstrate knowledge of the Orion Nebula as being fuzzy, i.e. not a stellar pin-point. The information which supports this theory comes from a folk tale that deals with the Orion constellation's area of the sky. Their traditional hearths include in their middle a smudge of glowing fire that corresponds with the Orion Nebula. This is a significant clue to support the idea that the Maya detected a diffuse area of the sky contrary to the pin points of stars before the telescope was invented.[23] Many preclassic sites are oriented with the Pleiades and Eta Draconis, as seen in La Blanca, Ujuxte, Monte Alto, and Takalik Abaj.

The Maya were very interested in zenial passages, the time when the sun passes directly overhead. The latitude of most of their cities being below the Tropic of Cancer, these zenial passages would occur twice a year equidistant from the solstice. To represent this position of the sun overhead, the Maya had a god named Diving God.

The Dresden Codex contains the highest concentration of astronomical phenomena observations and calculations of any of the surviving texts (it appears that the data in this codex is primarily or exclusively of an astronomical nature). Examination and analysis of this codex reveals that Venus was the most important astronomical object to the Maya, even more important to them than the Sun. (Wiki)

music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Unfinished Portrait


How would you describe creativity?
It’s godlike. It’s a life-giving thing, instead of the death rhythm
people are exhibiting. It’s getting out of the mould. It’s using the
mind, the imagination, the heart, the spirit... things we don’t see
in daily life. Who shows his heart? Who shows imagination?
Conversations with Henry Miller.

music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Buildings


St. Regis Hotel [Great]


City Express Reforma Hotel [Reliable]

Whenever a taboo is broken, something good happens, something vitalizing. Taboos after all are only hangovers, the product of diseased minds, you might say, of fearsome people who hadn't the courage to live and who under the guise of morality and religion have imposed these things upon us.
Henry Miller

music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Friday, August 21, 2009

The Persistence of Life



[PhoneCamShot]

"A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it."
From The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton.

music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Mexico City Metro


The Mexico City Metro is a rubber-tyred metro system that serves the metropolitan area of Mexico City (this includes some municipalities in Mexico State). It is the second largest metro system in North America after the New York City Subway, and in 2006 the system served 1.417 billion passengers, placing it as the sixth highest ridership in the world.

The first Metro line relied on 16 stations, and was opened to the public in 1969. It has expanded since then in a series of fits and starts, comprising currently eleven lines and 451 kilometres of passenger track. Ten lines feature rubber tires (also called pneumatic traction) instead of traditional steel wheels, decreasing noise and making it easier for the system to manage Mexico City's unstable soils.

The Metro has 163 stations, 24 of which serve two or more lines (correspondencias or commuting stations). It has 106 underground stations (the deepest of which are 35 metres below street surface); 53 surface stations and 16 elevated stations. Eleven stations are located in Mexico State. This area where the stations are located is part of the metropolitan area of Mexico City, while the rest are within the limits of the suburbs with Mexico State.[Wiki]

music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Reforma Sidewalk


music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Childhood and Play


Childhood and play
Play is freely chosen, intrinsically motivated and personally directed. Playing has been long recognized as a critical aspect of Child development. Some of the earliest studies of play started in the 1890s with G. Stanley Hall, the father of the child study movement that sparked an interest in the developmental, mental and behavioral world of babies and children. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published a study in 2006 entitled: "The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds". The report states: "free and unstructured play is healthy and - in fact - essential for helping children reach important social, emotional, and cognitive developmental milestones as well as helping them manage stress and become resilient" [Wiki]

music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Little Wing


"The poet doesn't invent. He listens."
"The poet is a liar who always speaks the truth."
"The poet never asks for admiration; he wants to be believed."
"Art is a marriage of the conscious and the unconscious."
Jean Cocteau

music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Sintiendo El Mundo / Feeling The World


Ver. 2

Art teaches nothing, except the significance of life.

El Arte no enseña nada, salvo el significado de la vida.

Reflections of Writing, The Wisdom of the Heart by Henry Miller.

Model: Caro.
music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Friday, August 14, 2009

"Television, The Drug of the Nation"



"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book."
Anonymous.

"Encuentro la television muy educativa. Cada vez que alguien la enciende, me retiro a otra habitacion a leer un libro."
Anónimo.

music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Confetti


Torre LatinoAmericana / Latin American Tower in downtown.

music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The Other Reality


music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Church of Sacred Family


Reflection of Church of the Sacred Family (Iglesia de la Sagrada Familia en la Col. Roma)

music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Sebastian's Horse Head


Sebastian was born in Ciudad Camargo, Chihuahua, Mexico. He is not only an artist but also a man of science. His sculpture is visibly concerned with geometric forms and does not submit his geometries to logical symbols, but rather to poetic symbols. The sculpture of Sebastian, objects in space and defined by the plurality of objects in space, multiplies them and forces us to imagine a combination of proximities and distances, of comings and goings. Sebastian’s matter, his material, is steel, aluminum, cardboard, the industrial product bathed in colors closer to Bennetton that to Huejotzingo. One of Mexico's most prominent sculptors, Sebastian has placed some 150 monumental pieces in cities around the world, ranging from Buenos Aires and Osaka to New York City and Mexico City.

In the background, the winged building is one of the first skyscrapers in the Mexican capital, the “El Moro” building, 117 yards (107 m) height, which is one of the safest constructions in this seismic area, cemented over hydraulic jacks. This building, also known as Loteria Nacional, was inaugurated in 1945.

music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

The St. Regis Mexico City


The St. Regis Mexico City - Opening August 3, 2009
439 Paseo de La Reforma
Ciudad de México, D.f. 06500, Mexico
01 55 5533 2969‎
01 55 5533 3057‎ - Fax

Elegancia creativa
Diseñado por Pelli Clarke, el icónico edificio representa hospitalidad, incluyendo tres restaurantes, dos salones, y una piscina en el interior.
Lujo insuperable
189 habitaciones y suites exquisitamente decoradas de diseño personalizado y con vistas espectaculares de la ciudad, redefinen el lujo.
Heart of the City
Located on Paseo de la Reforma, the St. Regis Mexico City combines an ideal location with timeless luxury.
Artful Elegance
Designed by Pelli Clarke, the iconic building embodies hospitality, including three restaurants, two ballrooms, and an indoor pool.
Uncompromising Luxury
189 custom designed, exquisitely styled guest rooms and suites—with spectacular views of the city—redefine luxury.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announced the opening of the St. Regis Mexico City, located on the Paseo de la Reforma boulevard overlooking the Plaza of Diana. The brand’s first downtown hotel in the region, the St. Regis Mexico City features 189 guestrooms and suites each with views of the city, a signature Remède Spa, and three signature restaurants. Owned by Grupo 1818 and designed by Yabu Pushelberg design firm and architect Cesar Pelli, the St. Regis Mexico City is located 30 minutes from Benito Juarez International Airport and a short distance from the city’s Polanco area, the financial district and the landmark Historic Center. The St. Regis Mexico City rises 492 feet above street level with floor-to-ceiling glass panes. Design firm Yabu Pushelberg completed the interiors using bold colors and Mexican-inspired design elements to seamlessly blend contemporary luxury with Mexico’s rich artistic heritage. Each guestroom features a color palette infused with rich accents of greens and purples including custom-made carpets and furniture inspired by Mexico City’s artisans. Many of the materials used by Yabu Pushelberg in the hotel’s design have been crafted locally by traditional Mexican artists including the Onyx mosaics adorning each bathroom and laser-cut silver screens in the hotel’s lobby. In addition, each guestroom includes a 42-inch LCD television with DVD player, a state-of-the-art sound system, a MP3 docking station, and an innovative LCD television recessed behind the bathroom mirror, enabling images to be projected onto a screenless surface.

Dining at The St. Regis Mexico City indulges the senses with diverse culinary offerings ranging from Diana Restaurant, led by Executive Chef Jeff Pelaez, which features a menu of Mediterranean cuisine to specialty cocktails including St. Regis’ signature Bloody Mary and Afternoon Tea in the Decanter Room or at King Cole Bar. Guests are also invited to enjoy a private dining experience on the hotel’s Helipad with breathtaking views of the city below.

music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Road 097


music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Animal Celebration Mexico 2009 - III

Rinoceronte Blanco (Ceratotherium simum) White Rhinoceros

The White Rhinoceros or Square-lipped rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is one of the five species of rhinoceros that still exist and is one of the few megafaunal species left. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species. The White Rhino is the most common of all rhinos and consists of two subspecies: the Southern White Rhino, with an estimated 17,480 wild-living animals at the end of 2007 (IUCN 2008), and the much rarer Northern White Rhino. The northern subspecies may have as few as 12 remaining world-wide - 8 captive and 4 wild - although the wild population has not been seen since 2006 and may have disappeared entirely.

music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Animal Celebration Mexico 2009 - II

Aguila Real (Aquila chrysaetus Linnaeus) Golden Eagle

Flying high over Xochicalco

Endangered species
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has calculated the percentage of endangered species as 40 percent of all organisms based on the sample of species that have been evaluated through 2006.

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Animal Celebration Mexico 2009


Tortuga golfina (Lepidochelys olivacea) Olive Ridley.

Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has calculated the percentage of endangered species as 40 percent of all organisms based on the sample of species that have been evaluated through 2006. Many nations have laws offering protection to conservation reliant species: for example, forbidding hunting, restricting land development or creating preserves. Only a few of the many species at risk of extinction actually make it to the lists and obtain legal protection. Many more species become extinct, or potentially will become extinct, without gaining public notice.

Extinct: the last remaining member of the species has died, or is presumed beyond reasonable doubt to have died. Examples: Thylacine, Dodo, Passenger Pigeon, Caribbean Monk Seal
Extinct in the wild: captive individuals survive, but there is no free-living, natural population. Examples:South China Tiger, Alagoas Curassow
Critically endangered: faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate future. Examples: Arakan Forest Turtle, Javan Rhino, Brazilian Merganser, Gharial
Endangered: faces a very high risk of extinction in the near future. Examples: Blue Whale, Giant Panda, Snow Leopard, African Wild Dog, Tiger, Albatross, Crowned Solitary Eagle, Dhole, Rangas
Vulnerable: faces a high risk of extinction in the medium-term. Examples: Cheetah, Gaur, Lion, Sloth Bear, Man, Wolverine, Manatee
Conservation Dependent: The following animal is not severely threatened, but the animal must depend on conservation programs. Examples: Spotted Hyena, Leopard Shark, Black Caiman
Near Threatened: may be considered threatened in the near future. Examples: Blue-billed Duck, Solitary Eagle, Small-clawed Otter , Maned Wolf
Least Concern: no immediate threat to the survival of the species. Examples: Brown Rat, Nootka Cypress, Wood Pigeon, Harp Seal. [Wiki]

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

The Shelter


Street kids

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Theme Day: Night

Night Falls on Mexico City


Ver.2

Mexico City (Ciudad de México, D. F. (for Distrito Federal), is the capital city of Mexico. It is the economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country, and the most populous city, with about 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008. Greater Mexico City (Zona Metropolitana del Valle de México) incorporates 59 adjacent municipalities of Mexico State and 29 municipalities of the state of Hidalgo, according to the most recent definition agreed upon by the federal and state governments. Greater Mexico City has a population exceeding 19 million people, making it the second largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere and the third largest in the world by population according to the United Nations.

Mexico City is according to a study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Greater Mexico City, with a population of 19.2 million, had a GDP of $315 billion in 2005 at purchasing power parity, an urban agglomeration with the eighth highest GDP in the world after the greater areas of Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris, London and Osaka/Kobe, and the highest in Latin America. In 2020, it is expected to rank seventh with a $608 billion GDP, displacing Osaka/Kobe.

Mexico City is located in the Valley of Mexico, also called the Valley of Anáhuac, a large valley in the high plateaus at the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 2,240 meters (7,349 ft). The city was originally built as Tenochtitlan by the Aztecs in 1325 on an island of Lake Texcoco. It was almost completely destroyed in the siege of 1521, and was subsequently redesigned and rebuilt in accordance with the Spanish urban standards. In 1524 the municipality of Mexico City was established, known as México Tenustitlán, and as of 1585 it is officially known as Ciudad de México.


Click Here To View Thumbnails For All Participants

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Friday, July 31, 2009

Guanajuato II




Teatro Juarez / Juarez Theater

Musicos del parque La Rebanada del Queso / Street Musicians


The Mexican city of Guanajuato is the capital of the state of the same name. It is located at 370 km (230 miles) northwest of Mexico City, at an elevation of 1,996 m (6,550 ft) above sea level. The historic town and adjacent mines are a World Heritage Site.
Guanajuato was founded as a town in 1554 and received the designation as a city in 1741. It is located in one of the richest silver mining areas of Mexico, and is well known for its wealth of fine colonial era Spanish architecture.
The Spanish name “Guanajuato” comes from Quanaxhuato meaning “Hill of Frogs”, in the native religion of the Purhépecha (Tarascans), the frog represented the god of wisdom.
The city was originally built over the Guanajuato River, which flowed through tunnels underneath the city. However, after years of raising buildings to accommodate repeated flooding, in the mid-twentieth century, engineers built a dam and redirected the river into underground caverns. The tunnels were lit and paved with cobblestones for automobile traffic, and this underground road network carries the majority of cars driving through the city today. It is one of the most notable features of the city.
[Wiki]

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Guanajuato I

Calle de Campanero / Bell Ringer Street



La Dama de las Camelias (Donde se bebe y se danza) / The Lady of the Camellias (Where you can drink and dance)


Palomas y Puertas / Doves and Doors

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Red Light


Good Night, and Good Luck.

music+image

Gracias por su visita. / Thanks for visiting, its most appreciated.


Apologies for not being very responsive lately due my work load. Please be sure that I read each and every one of your kind comments and I appreciate them all. Stay tune.