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A Sunday in Washington DC
One of the best ways to get a feel for a city is have a stroll around it on a Sunday, when the pace is slower and its inhabitants aren't concerned with anything but enjoying the day off, just as yourself.
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Japan: The Land of Sushi
Sushi is so fashionable nowadays. One can find sushi joints the world over and, oh, California rolls are just the thing, aren't they? Well, yes. Be discerning when you want to try great sushi.
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A Sunday in Kuala Lumpur
Suggested Sunday tour because many visitors in KL are there for business, so they arrive on the weekend to rest the jet lag off and then start up the business meetings on Monday. In truth, this interesting tour can be accomplished any day of the week.
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Japan: Pola Museum, Hakone
Pola Museum is an unusual building in an unusual area to host a museum of art. Architectonically it has two key traits: The massive concrete structure perfectly communes with nature, and its design is very atypical in the middle of the mountains.
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Japan: Musashino Art Library
Musashino Art Library is a must see for architecture lovers, and it's an extremely recommendable visit for anyone who has an appreciation for aesthetics with purpose.
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Sunday in Tokyo: Daikanyama and Nakameguro
A springtime leisure Sunday in Tokyo around Daikanyama and Nakameguro, where you'll feel like a citizen rather than a tourist.
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Japan: Land of Fascinating Contradictions
Fascinating contradictions make for a fascinating country. Modern Japanese civilization is quite the eye opener for those of us who think we've seen it all.
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Madrid: Micro Theater
Micro Theater For Money is an innovative concept born in Madrid that transforms traditional theater into "mini plays" performed by one or two actors, for an audience of up to 15 people. It's performed in very small stage rooms where public and actors are one single group.
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How to Prepare and Season Home Grown Olives
Very easy recipe to prepare home grown olives for consumption, including instructions to remove the bitter taste from the olives and seasoning tips.
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Madrid: Free Books Bookstore
Free Books Bookstore is a fantastic concept that I can't wait to spread around. Grab one or 10 books and go, or drop a cent, or a dime, or a dollar…
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Homemade Kumquat Marmalade
Homemade kumquat marmalade is really easy to prepare. I should know, as I can't cook to save my life, but I managed this homemade marmalade just fine, and the end result is very yummy.
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Japan: Awaji Yumebutai by Tadao Ando
Awaji-Yumebutai is an out of the way complex, built almost only out of concrete and glass. It's a spatial dream; the waterfall, the pond, the botanical garden, the layered terraces with the most original garden ever are quite unique in their conception.
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Japan: A Sunday in Tokyo
Wondering what to do in Tokyo on a Sunday? Here was my experience walking around the city, from Shinjuku Gyoen to Harajuku.
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Japan: Osaka Namba Parks
Namba Parks is actually the only green space of any substance in the big city of Osaka, besides Osaka Caste's grounds. It recycles more O2 than any other row of trees or gardens anywhere else in the city.
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Japan: Kobe Beef
It's likely you've heard about the famous Kobe beef. It's also likely you've never tried the real thing. Listen here: If you get the chance, do try it!
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Japan: Fushimi Inari Torii
Fushimi Inari Torii is probably the one shrine in the world that has left me completely humbled and full of open-eyed wonder. Spectacular doesn't even begin to describe this monument to the sight sense.
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Japan: Bamboo Forest in Arashiyama-Sagano
As soon as I set foot in Sagano's bamboo forest, I knew I would write about it. I'm certainly not the first, nor will I be the last, but I must, because it's a true sight to behold.
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The Amazing Bookstores of Kyoto and Tokyo
Here are two amazing bookstores in Japan, one in Kyoto by the name of Keibunsya, and the other in Tokyo, which goes by Daikanyama T-Site, the flagship store of the Tsutaya retail chain. The photos, I'm afraid, don't do them justice.
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Whitney Houston Post Mortem
Society at large sheds tears about the death of celebrities, when we tend to be ruthless and unforgiving when drug addiction or alcoholism are suffered by just about anyone else. What's more, once they pass on, we collectively turn a blind eye on what disastrous role models they are for our...
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Moneyball: The Fine Art of Strategy and other Valuable Lessons
Moneyball can be seen and understood as a sports movie, and it is that, but if one looks only that far when watching this film, then one misses out on half the story, if not all of it. Moneyball is a masterclass in strategy, leadership, taking and sticking to difficult decisions, and the ever so...
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Madrid Rio
Madrid Rio is the biggest urban project ever undertaken in the city of Madrid. It means the recovery of a run down and rather sore area of the city as a public space, reconverting for public usage approximately 7 million square meters of otherwise unusable surface around the Manzanares river.
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Postcards from the Harvard Coop Bookstore
The Coop Bookstore at Harvard is a fabulous bookstore, featuring a café and a store for official Harvard merchandise. The bookstore proper, however, is the main attraction to this old student cooperative which still operates today, after over 125 years of history.
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Words and Swords, Free Speech and Accountability
They do say the word is mightier than the sword, don't they? However, nobody ever seems to think that a word can, and actually does kill, just as a sword, or a bullet, as the case may be.
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Madrid: Open Air, the Coolest Summer Cinema
Open Air is no regular summer cinema, this is a huge show featuring the world's biggest screen, which unfolds moments before the movie starts, under a rainbow of laser lights and surrounded by Dolby 5.1 thunderous music. This is a high tech event to satisfy the most demanding of spectators.
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The Game of Corporate Politics
Corporate politics are a fact of life. Whether you like it or not, whether you play the game or not, politics in the workplace are alive and kicking. If you think I don't know what I'm talking about, you are.... delusional.
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Do You Hate Your Boss?
Is there a more diminished, despised, outright hated professional position than "the boss"? Makes me wonder that folks tend to see the mote in somebody else's eye and not the beam in one's own...
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Religion, at 100 words per rant
If you are a believer, you may do yourself a favor by staying the heck away from this post.
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Homosexuality: Condescension does Not Equal Tolerance
Message to straight folks out there: Almost every time you write up a defense of gay rights you make me want to run screaming in the other direction. And why is that, do you think? Because you're so grand and so tolerant. Supposedly.
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Mediocrity in the First Degree
To me, mediocrity is an attitude. If I want to be sincere and avoid mediocrity in a post about mediocrity, the first thing that I need to acknowledge is that I am mediocre in a number of things. Honesty isn't one of them though, so let's have it.
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She Said - More Strong Women in the Movies
Dedicated to strong women in the movies. This is part two, and I'm including some jewels that I wilfully omitted in part one... for good reasons. Read on, if you're so inclined.
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She Said - Strong Women in the Movies
Dedicated to strong women characters in the movies. Not that there are so many that this could be endless, but after over a century of the seventh art, there are enough for a very decent collection.
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Madrid: Geomining Museum, the Very Best Kept Secret
The Geomining Museum is one of Madrid’s best kept secrets. I only found out about this incredible space recently, and my jaw hit the floor when I witnessed what I’d been missing in all my years in this city.
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Madrid: Hotel ME, formerly Grand Hotel Reina Victoria
A favorite building in the heart of the city, ME Madrid takes my breath away with its pure whiteness by day and its ethereal purple lightning by night.
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Madrid: San Miguel Market
Original from the early XIX century, a lovely cast-iron building with incredible glass walls reopened in 2009 to host a modern, lively gourmet food market that has quickly become a hot spot in one of the most visited areas in Madrid.
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Madrid: The Palace and The Ritz
These two hotels are classics in Madrid, and class acts at that, both as hotels and as buildings. Their neobarroque and neoclassic cut and ivory colored, sober facades continue to inspire and bow me. The history they share never fails to bring a smile to my face.
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Madrid: Atocha Train Station and its Unique Greenhouse
The tropical greenhouse at Atocha train station is a one-of-a-kind environment. It makes this train station, which I use everyday to commute, one of my favorite places in Madrid.
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Could, would, should. Can't, won't, shan't. In 100 Words
A story of coulds, woulds, shoulds that lead to regret and to the can't, won't, shan't of lost love.
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Death and Me
The absolute certainty of death and my conviction that there is nothing after it cause me grief and joy in equal measure. It's the price of rationality, a price I pay very willingly.
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Inspired by Oscar Wilde, in 100 Words
Quotes from the great and unique Oscar Wilde that inspired my personal brand of snappy and breezy in 100 word pieces.
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No, in 100 words
No may mean no, or it may have subtle implications. Here's a snappy, 100 word take, on some meanings of no, and how to convey them.
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I'm going
A foolish, cowardly letter of unrequited love.
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A Therapeutic Rant About the USA Health Reform
Rant on the current "debate" about the health reform in the USA.
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Discipline and Boundaries for Children
Discipline is a fundamental form of education. Neglecting to discipline one's children is a sign of irresponsible and probably clueless parenting.
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Elena Does Descartes and His Method
Discourse of Method is based on the premise to doubt everything as basis to remove oneself from preconceived notions and come up with a critical assessment born of observation.
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Lello e Irmao, the World's Third Best Bookstore
The Lello e Irmao bookstore in Porto is the third best bookstore in the world, according to The Guardian. This is a tale of my visit and some photos to show its architectonic value.
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Command Performance Love Letter
Command performance love letter. This is a love letter written upon request.
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The kiss
What's in a kiss?
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A world without lies?
Is a world without lies possible or even desirable?
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Heat
It's so hot, the heat is like a presence in the room. The walls, the floor, this sofa I'm sluggishly sprawled on, it's all to the boiling point.
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Forgive Me - A Chained Melody
This is a letter composed of stances from song lyrics. It's a follow up to Goodbye, a Chained Melody.
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Goodbye - A Chained Melody
This is a letter composed of sentences taken from song lyrics.
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Pride and Dignity
I wonder if I'm the only one who sometimes struggles with these two terms, when to use one or the other? When they are more or less synonyms, or complementary, or when they are opposites?
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Postcards to Savor
Welcome to what I hope will be a mouth-watering article. This is a photo collection of some representative morsels from Brussels, Bruge, Paris, and Berlin.
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Postcards with a View
Check out some favorite rooftops, with views to kill for, and an atmosphere that makes you head fly!
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Amazing Bookstores
The best bookstores in the world, according to The Guardian. This article features my review of El Ateneo Grand Splendid in Buenos Aires, Selexyz Dominicanen in Maastrich, Posada in Brussels, and off the list but very famous (and gorgeous, too) Shakespeare & Company in Paris.
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Postcards from Istanbul
Between the East and the West, Istanbul charms the visitor with its touch of distant and at the same time familiar culture, the sights and atmosphere aren't quite European not quite Asian. It's a warm and delightful city.
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The Last Love Letter
The last love letter.
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Spring in My Terrace
Collection of the wonderful display of nature that's my terrace during the spring and summer.
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A Hopeless Love Letter
A hopeless love letter.
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A Love Letter
The most heart-wrenching love letter.
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Not a Love Letter
Hello, you, There is so much I want to tell you but I shouldn't because this isn't a love letter. There is so much I need you to know, bleed for you to know, but I shouldn't have you knowing, because this...
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Questions From the Child I Once was
Thinking back to my child self and considering if she'd be thrilled to know me today causes all sorts of feelings inside me.
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Simply Marvelous
Graphic story of January 9th 2009 snowy day in Madrid, and the wonderful sunny aftermath.
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To Believe or Not to Believe, That is the Question
Thoughts on religion and absolutism.
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Expressing what you Think: Constructive Criticism and Destructive Opinions
Expressing an opinion on any matter is a way, one of the many ways, to expose oneself to the world, so it's worth one's time to formulate the opinion adequately.
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Corporate Language, The Inside Scoop
There are two types of corporate speak: The benign lingo and the obnoxious, toxic, asinine, Orwellian, [insert your own expletives here] corporate language. Yes, yes, it is a language in itself, or a dialect at the very least...
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Postcards from Argentina
Four Argentinean wonders: El Ateneo Grand Spendind, Iguazu Falls, the Jacaranda tree, and street tango.
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Love Letters. 100 words to tell you that I love you
Four love letters written in precisely 100 words.