November 30, 2005

Bulgarian Baron

I've been meaning to write abbot this for months now, but of course I haven't had time. In the previous entry I mentioned Omar's passion for imagery and visual delivery; around 4th of July he approached me with a project, he said that he wants to take some pictures of me with "the hair and the beard." With a fear to not be completely accurate, the idea was to create the image of a Bulgarian Aristocrat. It took us a few months to coordinate our schedules but finally we got together one weekend. In the preparations Omar had supplied the clothes, the accessories, and the place. Omar had rented a room in a Victorian (I hope I didn't mess-up the era) guesthouse in the outskirts of Boston - a gorgeous place. Before the photo shoot we went on a hike for last details. We had to find a scarf and a cigarette holder. It was an exciting time of final preparations. After couple of hours running from store to store we had picked them up and we checked in the guesthouse with all bunch of cloths. The room ended up being smaller than the artist thought but we were able to manage somehow. The significant part of the compositions is the DETAILS, which in actuality conceive the overall impression of the image:

     *Curls
     *Beard
     *Gold watch
     *Elaborate cufflinks
     *The ring
     *Scarf
     *The combination of the pants, white shirt, and the jacket
     *Etc...
Couple of hours and three rolls later we were done and left the guesthouse laughing that the receptionist would probably wonder how come we are not spending the night there.

I know that it is sooooo unlike me but my favorite picture is the one withot head.

Posted by Milen at 09:06 AM | Comments (0)

November 29, 2005

Green is the New Orange

In my post-school catch-up I'm visiting Boston and NYC. Boston = Omar. I visited Omar this past weekend and we had a real catch-up; we club-café-ed and buzzed the visit on Saturday and went shopping on Sunday. Omar has an extraordinary taste for cloths and accessories as well as for design and style in general. His new thing, for instance, is a visual collection. Omar has an incredible sense for the visual arts; no wonder he got his masters through Harvard. He specializes in graphic design - fonts and visual delivery are his passion. He is now building up a visual library - he is buying the best magazines and he is evaluating the work of photo art and presentation, for himself of course, and is taking out the compositions that catch the magic of life and art. I love the way he breaks down the details of the world that surrounds us. While hanging at his apartment I noticed a really cool zipper-sweater, he told me that this year his color is GREEN and respectively he has bought quite a few clothes in green. I mean that is the natural Omar, so I didn't pay much attention to the significance of that fact. Next day, however, he, as a good friend, took me out so I can buy some new clothes; I haven't been shopping in well over 8 months - of course he is a hero.
We went to H&M to see if they had the sweater I liked. While looking around he found a green hat that I totally loved. Then I found a green shirt and green gloves. Naturally, I turned to him and asked him if it would be ok if I buy the same hat. I was embarrassed being the copycat I am and for stealing his color. He in fact didn't mind it and we ended up buying the same hats. Somewhere in the midst of all that I profoundly announced that "green is the new orange," and it become the slogan of the entire weekend. I don't like shopping but I LOOOOOOVE new cloths. I'm so exited about the new Orange…

Posted by Milen at 10:47 AM | Comments (0)

November 27, 2005

My Best Friend

The winter after my first summer in the US I spent back home. Interestingly, I got everything I had dreamed of on a silver platter - my most desired job (I got a job at AveNew production - the best, at the time, music Production Company in BG), my most desired friendship was repaired (Zakki and I became friends again), the list goes on and on, but what's important - I got a bonus. On top of everything else I befriended Eleonora AKA My best friend. She really helped me cope with the tearing edge of my future expatriateship.

In moving the story along I'll go to May of this year. Zakki came to the US and I met him in NYC as you probably recall. He said that my mom had sent me chocolates - the biggest chocolates in the world - 2 big Swiss chocolate bars and a Toblerone . My mom had given me a Toblerone last time so I didn't think much of it. I kept the box from it, (I'm not quite sure why, probably it has something to do with my chocolate-deprived childhood) I even moved it with me to the new house. Then one day Arthur, whom I hadn't seen in almost 1.5 years asked me if I still have this chocolate from 2 years ago. I don't know why but it end up being weird and I explained through laughter that this is a different one and that Zakki had brought it to me in May. I guess this made me look at it up-close. And what was I to find out? In one of the corners - the pseudonym of my best friend - ILENA.

It just broke my heart to find out so late that this Big Toblerone was actually from her and I didn't even say thank you. I hope that will give me a chance to do so. Thank you, Eli!

Posted by Milen at 10:09 PM | Comments (0)

November 26, 2005

Jose

It has been a long time and you have probably forgotten the rubric "You've got voicemail," yeah, it took a while… it is not easy to take the voicemail from the cell phone and put it here. I usually collect messages and then bring them over to Steff and Cliff, where "Dr. Cliff" finds a way. I love working on stuff with Cliff because his attitude is - "nothing is impossible!" He has a very inventive nature, and in my opinion would have made a very good engineer. Anyway, Kate and I have always laughed, hard, when I get a message from Jose, we just love the way he says "Hi Milen, this is Jose," the speed he talks with, the accent and the intonation and the way he sais "Oh, Really"… You can hear it your self if you click on - "Hi Milen, this is Jose"

Posted by Milen at 09:11 AM | Comments (1)

November 18, 2005

Who make's those?

Don't you wander how much time do people who create those internet jokes have on their hands. I get tons of them and many I forward, but this one, as simple as it is, just cracked me up.
P.S.: those are redneck bird dogs.

Posted by Milen at 07:09 AM | Comments (0)

November 12, 2005

Strange Foods

This one time Dan and Steff were talking about weird food combinations, the things that people would eat. I had to call in with an old favorite, I said that it's something that my grand mother would do but I loved it too, it was actually a common breakfast meal when we were little. To hear the sound clip click on Macaroni

Posted by Milen at 10:29 AM | Comments (0)

November 09, 2005

And they lived happily ever after...

The year before last year, for my birthday, I received a Hibiscus houseplant and I took her home. She got severely sick, lost all of her leafs, and simply became a twig. I kept her however; I gave her a spot next to the window. The winter months had past and it was spring again. She didn't really improve - she only had few leafs on the only branch that was reaching in front of the small window, the spot in front of it obscured by a nightstand, which was rightfully occupying the area next to my bed. I almost gave up on her and almost got rid of her, on several occasions, thinking "you look like a leafless appendage sticking out from a pot," but I kept her in. Till one day I figured that she is standing in the way of the vacuum cleaner and I took her out. I forgot about her for a while, but then I started running everyday and watering the garden, in front of the house, afterwards so she got attention being amongst other plants. The summer months advanced and she slowly but surely bettered herself, never bloomed though. And then we had to face a second shake in our relationship - I had to move and there wasn't room for her in the new house! She was looking better; in fact she had become firm and youthful looking. So I struggled everyday in deciding what to do with her. I didn't want to drag her with me and have her freeze to death in front of the new house, but on the other hand no one wanted her. She was too big for most caring people, and the rest simply told me that they would love to have her but she will die from negligence. I had so little time on my hands that I had no choice but to leave her in front of the old house. I abandoned her. Days past and I had to go to the old house one last time. I saw her there standing, lonely by herself. I couldn't help it I took her with me. She got the same spot but before a new house. The winter was approaching, nonetheless. I suppose, destiny is called when someone's lives are meant to be spent together. I took her in, expecting her to lose her pretty, leafy dress and turn into a gnarled limb. I was prepared for the melancholy of her striped appearance. I waited every day, with fear, to see her starting wither. She lost a leaf, then two turned yellow, but the time pasted by without an epidemic spasm. Then one day, while watering her, I look at her up-close and saw a bud and another and a third… she had 10 of them at least. I thought, "she must have been confused, by all the rain and the extended summer, oh god she will lose the embryonic flowers too." I couldn't look at her at breakfast anymore. But what I was to see next week - her, standing strong and prettier than ever, a stem of life in green disclosure with luscious blooms in pink exposure. She not only didn't lose her dress, but also had adorned it with a pretty flower.

Posted by Milen at 11:19 PM | Comments (1)