Konstantin’s Weblog

So here I am in Chicago. Once again I’m one of the millions
of people affected by the massive blizzard. However, in my case
it’s actually kind of nice. I get to stay with my family for a
couple more days and forget about work for a little while.
Although, I must say that it is pretty crazy for my flight to be
delayed by four days. At least I’m not sleeping on cardboard in the
airport so I suppose I should be thankful for that. Also I recently
read about the troubles in Moscow where passengers looted the
alcohol from the duty free store and started beating up Aeroflot
employees. Even though it’s a tragic situation there is definitely
an element of dark humor in there. I mean, where else in the
developed world would you predict a drunken riot at an airport with
no power and covered with ice. On a serious note, I do hope that
everyone gets home alright! As for me, I’m supposed to be flying
back to New York tomorrow morning so wish me luck!!!

Me next to a giant pair of UGGS in a mall...

Once again, haven’t written here in a really really long time. For this, apologies, but quite frankly it hasn’t been easy to find the motivation to write much lately. That being said, I did have a chance to briefly glimpse and meet one of my favorite ex-presidents, Jimmy Carter. He seemed like a very pleasant in person and I actually expected nothing less. He signed a book for me although there was really no time to even say hello. Nevertheless, it was nice to meet one of the more unappreciated presidents and someone who has done more for human rights then most. I’m looking forward to reading his book, “The White House Diaries” which is an abridged version of Carter’s diaries from his presidency. Check out the rather poor picture below.

Jimmy Carter signing some books at B&N in New York.

I have previously published a short post on a disgusting pink limo that I saw in Chicago. I assumed that it is impossible to create a more horrible vehicle but alas I stand corrected. As you see below, thats a Mini Limo and its a particularly nasty shade of pink. Honestly though, the term mini-limo is a complete oxymoron so I have to give them credit for irony. Alright, so maybe a part of me wants to roll around in this thing for a night but hopefully you won’t hold it against me. Enjoy the picture…

Ewwwwww, nasty...

Alas, I have neglected my blog for far too long once again. I always seem to do this and if you actually read my rambling thoughts I apologize for the interruption in the missives. There is once again too much to catch-up on in the span of a single post. During the last few months several things have occupied my attention. The primary concern in April was my thesis which ended up stretching to fifty pages (a modest length for a masters level work). The topic dealt with  the influences of politics on contemporary Ukrainian post-modernist authors. To be more specific, I explored the claims made by certain old-fashioned (traditionalist) critics that post-modernist literature is hurting the Ukrainian national project and is thereby threatening Ukrainian independence. I ended up really enjoying the work since I got to read some excellent Ukrainian literature by the like of Yuri Andrukhovych, Oksana Zabuzhko, and others. I highly recommend that you go out and pick up a copy of Andrukhovych’s Perverzions or Recreations. Both make for excellent and thought provoking reading.

In other, less academic news, I spent the last few weeks celebrating my graduation and birthday which happened to fall on almost the same day. There were two separate ceremonies along with a birthday party and countless celebratory dinners. I will surely miss my time in school especially considering that I am slowly loosing my mind trying to find work. Hopefully, in the very near future, someone will actually pay me to do what I’ve been trained to do. Nevertheless, I am staying positive about it and I can focus on the entire process now that all of the celebratory things are done with. That includes Beth and Spencer’s wedding at which I got to see many of my IU friends whom I haven’t seen in years. Many of them have also just graduated. Anyways, I am currently back home in Chicago for several days. I will be back in NYC on Saturday so if you are in the city and want to hang out just give me a call. I have more then enough free time. Also, I promise to take better care of this page. Please check again sometime soon for more updates! Graduation picture after the break

My classmates/friends at the CU graduation 2010!

A few weeks ago, I finally got the chance to visit the Daily Show, which is something that I have been wanting to do for some time. I think its worthwhile to briefly recount the experience even though I saw the show on March 8th. It should go without saying that I had a great time and the Jon Stewart is nothing short of amazing. We were lucky enough to catch a really good show that featured the Oscars, the Iraq elections, and a crazy guy who wanted to protest Mother Teresa being put on a US stamp. We were initially a little disappointed that the guest was a relatively unknown author and not some huge celebrity. However, Harry Markopolos definitely held his own. He was the guy who initially uncovered Bernie Madoff’s ponzi scheme and tried for almost a decade to get people to do something about it. He was really bitter and angry about the entire situation and I would say that the interview is worth watching. As usual, I think Jon Stewart does a great job with serious interviews and actually asks some of the best questions. If you get a chance, definitely check out a taping.

P.S. – For the first time on my blog I will use a filler image. This is due to the fact that photography is not allowed in the studio and they watch you very carefully. I had the same problem at the Colbert Report.

Jon Stewart. Very cool guy.

One of my neighbors has apparently decided that the center courtyard area where the garbage is taken out is somewhat bland and depressing. I couldn’t agree more and therefore the addition of this smiley face thing is most welcome. I suspect that this is still a work in progress so I will be sure to report on the finished product. For now, enjoy the picure after the break.

Okay, so I’m going to try to go through all of the fun and interesting events one at a time and in more or less chronological order. First up, we have Wicked! I was lucky enough to get some free tickets to go see my first ever Broadway show from my neighbor who happens to write plays for Broadway. I have to say that it was nothing short of amazing. The stage design, music, acting, singing, and special effects were all top notch. There was a gigantic dragon hanging above the stage the entire time and it would move around throughout the performance. There was also a part when the flying monkeys (actors in monkey suits) were flying above the audience on wires. Also, the story itself was very compelling and engaging. For those of you who haven’t seen Wicked, it’s basically a parallel story to the Wizard of Oz which strives to give the Wicked Witch a bit more depth. That shouldn’t give anything away so you should totally go see it for yourself.

Wicked Set!

This is totally awesome! Someone decided to take an old bike and cover every inch of it in old metro cards. The result is a really cool NYC MTA bike. Not sure if this is a functional bike or just another street art project but it looked really cool. Enjoy the picture below.

P.S – expect a few posts soon about a bunch of really exciting stuff. It’s been a really active week for me

Yesterday I tried out snowboarding for the first time and I have to say that I had a really good time with it. We went to a really small mountain (more like a hill) north of NYC and stayed at a friends house overnight. The ‘mountain’ was called Tuxedo Ridge since its in the town of Tuxedo which is apparently where the tuxedo was invented. The slopes were a little icy and there were only five really short runs but for a beginner like me it was more then enough. I fell a couple of times at the beginning but by the end of the day I was actually really getting the hang of it. I went down almost every run that was open and I’m happy to report that I didn’t break anything. Unfortunately, I didn’t have snow pants or proper gloves so my legs and hands were cold the entire day. I also woke up really sore this morning from using all of the muscles I didn’t know I had. Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun and I definitely want to go out and do it again and maybe even make it into a hobby. I’ve lived in cold places all of my life so it seems only appropriate that I should learn more winter sports. In any case, the experience will certainly make me appreciate the Winter Olympics a little bit more. So, enjoy the picture after the break. I’m off to watch at least a part of the Super Bowl and maybe get some homework done. (GO COLTS)

Snowboarding at Tuxedo Ridge with friends.

Hey everyone who actually still reads my blog I realize that it has been a while since I’ve written a post. In fact, its been sort a couple of months. This is mostly due to the craziness of finals at the end of last semester coupled with the holiday season and the start of a new semester in January. If I were to recap everything that happened in the past few months it would take forever and as usual my time is limited. Anyways, I do plan on keeping the blog page up to date with more interesting posts of life in NYC so please keep reading and checking.

For today, I have a fun event to write about. I finally managed to do something that I have been wanting to do for a little while: to go see a taping of the Colbert Report. I went with a few of my friends from school and while it took us about an hour and a half to get in, I think that it was well worth the wait. Once we got inside, they had a stand-up comic warm up the crowd a little which was really fun. We were repeatedly instructed to laugh at the jokes no matter what (though I don’t anyone had an issue with that). The Stephen Colbert came out and took about five or ten minutes taking questions from the audience out of character. The most entertaining of the questions was what Colbert would do if he were trapped between a bear and Nancy Pelosi and he had to turn his back on one of them, what would he do. The answer: let Nancy Pelosi destroy the bear with her hypno-eyes. It makes sense if you watch the show… Anyways, the show started shortly after the Q&A and I must say that I was surprised with how smoothly the entire thing went. Colbert messed up at the very beginning a few times but other then that no second takes were necessary. I was really surprised at how close the live version was to the TV version. For the guests we had Henry Allen (a Pulitzer Prize winning critic for the Washington Post) who talked about the reclusive J.D. Salinger, and the main guest was former NY governor Eliot Spitzer (the one who resigned because of the prostitutes…). So, what should you expect to see when the show airs in about a couple minutes? Expect to see Stephen Colbert bragging about his Grammy as well as a look J.D. Salinger. Also, a WORD segment on social networking and how pathetic it is (yes, I realize the irony of bloging/facebooking about this). Anyway, be sure and watch the show and you mights actually get a glimpse of me in the audience!

No camera's allowed! Taken from the hip.