Here are some snapshots of the odd that caught my attention during my peregrinations around New York City over the past few weeks.
Viewing entries in
New York City
Pooja kept pointing to this piece at the show and saying, "Matt! It's you!" At which point, of course I cursed her. And then she asked, or rather, begged that I pose with it, which brings me to the next photo...
Haha.
And then silliness afterward at the bus stop.
My friends and I noticed this absurd scene in the Best Buy near Columbus Circle last week: a gold painted busker, typically spotted performing the robot for tourists and extra change in the park, just chilling in the video games section playing basketball on a demo Xbox 360. He was quite cool and let me fire off a few photos.
[Thanks Andy for letting me use your camera!]
Brooklyn resident Tameeka Henry, 21, has a rather annoying commute to her classes in Long Island.
Henry takes a dollar van, a city bus, the subway, two Long Island Rail Road trains and a Suffolk County bus to get to and from school.
And she's maintaining a gangsta 3.9 GPA. I'm going to complain less when my R train doesn't appear at my command.
[Thanks Melissa!]
Board a Manhattan-bound Q or B train from DeKalb Avenue in Brooklyn (or on weekends, currently due to constructions, the R train runs on this track as well) and look out the right side just before the train emerges out of the tunnel onto Manhattan Bridge.
You'll see a unique and playful piece of urban art: an underground zoetrope ("a device that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures"). This is one of my favorite "hidden" treasures of New York City.
The first time I noticed Masstransiscope, I thought it was just graffiti, but I was puzzled by why it was so brightly lit. And then when it registered that this "graffiti" was "alive" and moving with a specific intent, my brain exploded. I consider it a real treat that this is a frequent sighting in my regular commute and it never gets old. Vast majority of the people on the train never notice, but occasionally after the train passes this mass-transit zoetrope, I'll make eye-contact with a stranger whose eyes too were caught by Masstransiscope and we smile as if we just shared a wonderful secret. The reaction of little kids to it is particularly awesome. They respond to it like Christmas. "Mommmmm! Looooook! It's moving!!!!"
I'm almost hesitant to share a video of Brandt's underground work because I don't want to spoil it for you. I highly recommend everyone take this train to see it in person. That said, for my friends and readers who don't live in New York City, here it is:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IwVD5efXz0&fmt=18]
Woke up the next morning with a major hangover, natch. After meeting an old college roommate for a late brunch I headed over to Ayo's apartment for some football.
On the walk over I spotted this empty champagne bottle on the street.
We ended up ordering 50 wings for 24 bucks. Then a couple hours later a pizza sounded like a really good idea. And we watched Tropic Thunder. Man that movie is hilarious. Ayo also showed us the cap to the Jameson bottle from the previous night. For some reason he had put it in his pocket. Haha.
KG trying on Steph's Uggs.
Fuzzily remembered recap from my new year's eve. Went to a couple "PH" parties. Some of the photos below are jacked from Praerna's camera.
Nnamdi and Gaelle at Stephanie's party!
Party people! Yup, I decided to increase the temperature with a bow tie (and it ain't one of them pre-tied Men's Warehouse bow ties). Look at how composed and civilized everyone is in this photo.
Ayo, me and Stephanie the party host.
What was suppose to be a quick shot between Ayo and I became a shot of Jameson for every single person at the party. I was also impressed with the precision exit the entire party made after the shots to head downtown to ring in the new year at this amazing penthouse. Note the Jameson cap that Ayo is holding onto, because it'll be making a surprise appearance later.
Cabbie: I can only take four people.
Us: But we have five.
...
Cabbie: Fine, but BIG TIP?
Us: YES!
Then we arrived at the penthouse and it quickly degenerated into hazy messiness where red cups were replaced by bottles, like the one Nnamdi is swinging around.
Cyrus and Hanna.
Some blackmail worthy photos were taken by this camera.
"Ayo, where the hell did you get the hats?"
Praerna!
Party people.
Haha! It looks like Cyrus is trying to protect Hanna from Ayo's celebration.
HAPPY NEW YEARRRR!!!!
"Camera's up there."
Hey bow tie!
HAHA.
And at some point I stumbled home.
The End.
New York Times photo essay on Department of Sanitation workers who clean up Times Square after the ball is dropped. This is what's going on in my head right now:
Adam Platt's lengthy gastro-peregrination of places to dine and wine in New York City in 2009 where "the city’s hottest new dining neighborhood isn’t Nolita, or Fort Greene, or even Tribeca; it’s that perennial culinary wasteland, the Upper West Side." He also includes this restaurant in my neighborhood:
All sorts of high-end barnyard creations also adorn the menu at Bussaco, on Union Street in Park Slope, but if you’re wise, you’ll conclude your ramble through the gastronomic wilds of Brooklyn with one or two of the restaurant’s deceptively artful desserts. The seasonally changing treats have included platters of fresh-baked chocolate-chip and peanut-butter cookies and an elevated version of crème caramel touched with maple. But the dish my confection-starved food friends in Brooklyn can’t stop nattering about is the densely creamy, icy-smooth panna cotta, which is served with wedges of grapefruit or roasted strawberries and decorated with a dusting of vanilla beans.
Anyone wanna go?
Some highlight events and people from MRod's life in 2008.
Some shaky cell phone snapshots from a trip to the Guggenheim this weekend.
My new t-shirt came with this tag attached to it:
On Saturday night I went to a friend's annual Thanksgiving potluck party at her apartment's event space. There was also a birthday party that was taking place there at the same time, which we ultimately ended up kind of crashing.
Mary, Pooja, and Munira eating.
Our friend eventually decided to relocate everyone to their apartment downstairs just around the same time that the other party's DJ started blasting some music. A few of us stayed to get this other party's dance started (so typical of us it seems, haha), including Pam here with a new friend.
Nishta acting like she wasn't into the music (the DJ played nothing but house techno, hahaa).
The heels come off.
These kids helped us get the dance party started.
Middle finger and Coors! Classic combo.
ZOMG! It's Mike! (Previously.)
Pam and Nishta!
Party people congratulating the birthday boy.
The party group for the night!
On our way out, we passed the building's gym where of course we needed to get our late night work out on.
Of course there's some video action:
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/2329154] I think it's funny that all four of them were running at totally varying speeds, with Munira busting out the treadmill running man in the end.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/2329243] Mike running at FULL speed. LOL.
I have bad knees so I have to use the elliptical machines with the other ladies.
Munira wanted to balance the cardio with some lightweight high-rep lifting.
LOL. I don't know what you are thinking but it isn't whatever it is you are thinking.
Haha. I don't know what the hell is going on here.
Any one who knows me or has been reading my blog for awhile knows that if you hang with me I am eventually going to demand some jumps. "Pam! JUMP!" "OKAY!"
"Again!" "OKAY!"
"Pam! Mun! JUMP!" "OKAY!" This picture kind of captures their personality well I think.
Mike then decides to climb the apartment. It seemed like a really good idea at the time.
Munira wanted to try too. Hey kids: Lets not climb buildings when we're out. Ask Kaizar what happened the last time I climbed a building.
And then we hopped in a cab to head downtown to Boucarou.
Jet lagged Mike taking a nap in the cab.
Flashback, circa 2005!
On the cab ride back to Morningside Heights.
So vulgar. I apologize.
Pam's friend and one of the owners or something of the club.
Free drinks! W00t!
It seems like every club has a drum guy nowadays...
I was hungry so Munira and I headed to St Marks for some Japanese food. On the way there I spotted these orange canisters. Thought it looked cool or something I dunno.
The Japanese restaurant (it's my fave on this street and I'm sure most of you have been here already) has a cotton candy machine outside that you can use with the sugar powder they give you after you pay your bill.
[vimeo=http://vimeo.com/2329252] And here's the video of the process.
Ta-da! Cotton candy!
The End.
While doing some hard drive house cleaning on my computer I found this priceless photo from circa 2005 (I think?) of Cyrus getting molested on the dance floor. Never seen a grown man cry in a club before. I don't think we've been back to this place since then.
On Tuesday night I met up at the last second with my former coworker Pamela for a delicious Chinatown dinner and then we stopped in briefly to check out the "clandestine cocktail bar" Apotheke. Just a couple photos below.
I like the bar's menu. There we ran into a party with the nonsociety girls holding center court.
Thanks Pam for the impromptu dinner and drinks!
This is what I love about New York City sometimes. A casual cheap Chinatown dinner can end with me headed home carrying a random gift bag.
A murder suspect's New York City transit metrocard seemed to confirm his claim that he was nowhere near the shooting in the Bronx earlier this spring. New York Times reports:
Months after the arrests, a retired detective working for Mr. Jones’s lawyers drove to a city jail located on a barge moored in the East River in the South Bronx, where Mr. Jones had been held after his arrest, and retrieved his wallet. The MetroCard was still inside.Mr. Jones’s lawyers then asked New York City Transit to use the card to trace his movements the night of the shooting. The results supported his account, showing that the card had been used on a bus, and later on a subway roughly five miles from the shooting, just as he had described.
He was released on bond. This is called making Big Brother work for YOU for once.
I thought this tidbit from this story was also neat.
In his ruling, Judge Marrero paraphrased a saying about change by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. The judge wrote: "The river now flowing by is not the same river that passed by yesterday."
Word.
Some clouds from out the window of our company's office in wall street. The clouds remind me of fluffy muffin tops.
Friday night I went to Ayesha's "Red and Black and Optional Wig" apartment party. A couple of the photos below are taken by Praerna.
Cyrus (looking a bit out of it, haha) and me.
Nnamdi, great party host Ayesha, and me.
Praerna, Amy, and [I'm sorry I forgot your name]. This picture would have been a lot better if the caps were removed from two of the bottles. I think some guy off camera suggested this and was promptly told to shut up by one of these girls. Haha.
Laura from DC and her friend dressed appropriately per the party theme.
Then some jerk spilled ice all over the kitchen floor. Thanks Nnamdi aka Operations Manager for cleaning it up! SRSLY, thanks!
Nnamdi defending his reasoning for putting the spilled ice into the bag on the floor, instead of the sink where it could melt as sensibly suggested by three different people.
"DON'T PUT IT IN THE BAG!" "I'M PUTTING IT IN THE BAG."
I don't think the Thundercats ever cleaned up ice.
Charlie's Angel style in action.
Ayo sporting my awesome sunglasses that Lauren gave me earlier this summer.
Ayo, Amy, and Chris!
"This is all the whiskey that was left."
Chris FTWig! Pun!
Amazingly Chris's girl is not horrified at all.
[Deleted] Seeing two cute girls kiss never gets old. Some people complained about the depressing rainy dog photo I posted earlier. I hope this will compensate you. This photo is definitely going into a Last Night's Party Best Of and getting its own special frame around it here to signify its awesomeness.
HI-HOOOO! Ayo likes it!
Ayo wants to git in on that face mashing action.
Something hilarious happened apparently. I don't remember though.
Bicycle pile on!
And then we got this random woman walking by to get in on the fun as well.
I got solid Corner Bistro burgers afterwards with Nnamdi and then called it a night.
The End.