While browsing through the trailers for the remaining slate of 2014 films, I came across The Theory of Everything. The biopic traces the relationship of Jane and Stephen Hawking as their lives are thrown into tumult by Hawking’s diagnosis and subsequent physical deterioration. The film’s poster acts as a wonderful companion piece to the trailer, conveying the characters’ emotional journey (and perhaps giving a wink to Hawking’s study of quantum gravity) via a simple gesture – rotating the background image 90 degrees. A great reminder that sometimes the most eloquent design solution is the simplest one.

Update: The National’s song Heavenfaced utterly elevates the new trailer.

Summer’s not officially over but these past few months sure flew by.

Petanque @ Bryant Park, Kara Walker @ Domino Sugar Factory, Buttermilk honey blueberry ice cream @ OddFellows, Jose Gonzalez + yMusic @ Damrosch Park, Guardians of the Galaxy, Arcade Fire @ Barclays Center

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen’s seminal album Born in the U.S.A., Lightning Rod Records will be releasing Dead Man’s Town, a tribute album featuring new interpretations of the Springsteen classics, on Sept 16th. I checked out the tracks on a whim and came away with a newfound appreciation for these anthems:

Gantry Plaza State Park is situated along the East River in the Hunters Point section of Long Island City. The park, which boasts a fantastic view of the Manhattan skyline, sits on a site formerly occupied by a rail car float dock and Pepsi bottling plant. Opened in 1999 and then expanded in 2009, the park offers a great example of urban waterfront reclamation. Four gantries stand sentinel, harkening back to the waterfront’s industrial past, while amenities such as picnic tables, playing fields and a fishing pier afford a myriad of activities for today.

Storm King Art Center is a sculpture park located an hour north of New York City in the lower Hudson Valley. Over 100 site-specific sculptures are situated over 500 acres of fields, hills and woodlands. Note: the Woolly Bear Caterpillar in the pic below is not an official work of art, but rather a resident of the park.

Summer officially kicked off this week and I have yet to compile a summer reading list. Thanks to this article on Ourit Ben-Haim and her blog Underground New York Public Library, I feel a bit more inspired to get a move on it. First up… F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” ― Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island.
The past two months seem to have been consumed by museum and gallery hopping. The highlights: The Greatest Grid at Museum of the City of New York and Revolutionary Ink: The Paintings of Wu Guanzhong at Asia Society.

Ramen @ Minca, Student Scholarship Competition @ Society of Illustrators, Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel, NY Philharmonic Memorial Day Concert

This month Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Music celebrated its 100th anniversary with a concert at Carnegie Hall, MoMa presented a survey of the work of documentary photographer Eugène Atget with the exhibit Documents pour artistes and the cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden made their annual appearance.

CMU Music anniversary @ Carnegie Hall, Eugène Atget @ MoMA, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, fresh cannolis @ Caputo’s

Winter is no excuse to stay indoors. Reasons to don a coat + scarf: Restaurant Week, The Radical Camera at the Jewish Museum, Oscar-nominated short films, Hot Chocolate Festival at City Bakery (tip: grab a pretzel croissant while you’re there).

Dessert @ Cafe Bolud, The Radical Camera @ Jewish Museum, Oscar Shorts!, pretzel croissant @ City Bakery