Aside from beautiful people, NYC also has more than its share of beautiful dogs, like this blue merle collie. It's not at all uncommon to see tiny little dogs poking out from purses and jackets.
A row of buildings like this serves as the main attraction in a lot of towns, such as
Telluride, CO. In NYC, it's the norm.
A set of buildings like that with businesses on the first floor and apartments above, serves as a trendy, hip, happening place to live in a lot of cities, such as
Dallas, Tx. In Manhattan, the entire city is constructed that way! It's a great way to live.
Am I the only one who thinks that's an odd design for pants?
A few weeks ago, I to see a show with Ismael Auray, a film director from Canada who was in town for a month. The show was called Esoterica, and features Eric Walton (pictured, on left) performing magic tricks and demonstrating his incredible memory. I was probably the only person in the entire audience who knew how he did the memory tricks, as I've learned them myself from
Ron White. Incredibly useful skills, and as Eric demonstrated, lucrative too.
Ismael Auray. What's cool is that he filmed one of his short films and a music video right in the
Penington, where I live. The music video--for a contemporary Canadian composer, Pierre Laponte--is available for download.
Check it out. If you look closely, you'll see me for a split second in the background, to the left of the dancing couple.
It's amazing how quickly you get used to crowds in New York. For instance, the crowd pictured here didn't bother me at all.
There are signs in the subway warning people against climbing down into the tracks. The warning reminds everyone that the "third rail" is electrically charged. I've often wondered which one is the "third rail", being that there are only two rails. Well, I finally saw a clue: perhaps it's the one with two 1 inch thick copper wires welded across the gap in the rail. Makes you wonder how much current is going through there...
Batteries. I've noticed an odd thing in the Subway - there are batteries strewn all along between the rails. Duracell batteries. I haven't figured out why they are there... My best theory is that the subway workers go through a lot of them in their flashlights or radios. Or maybe walkman wielding passengers heed the warning on the battery--you know, the one that warns you not to throw the batteries in the garbage.
Imagine my surprise at finding a bulldozer parked underneath the stairs in the Subway (mind you, there is only about 2 feet of room on each side of the stairway before you fall off into the tracks). Imagine my further surprise to find someone
asleep in the bulldozer!
I love the wording of this ad in a subway train. "A handful of peanuts a day
may hand you more days,
period". It's like saying "We think peanuts might be healthy, and that's a fact".
Rockafeller Center. Famous for its observatory, "Top of the Rock". That's where my current favorite photo of NY was shot:
A New York Sunset. What makes the Rockafeller Center building interesting is that from the other side, it's a thick "slab" of a building. Hopefully soon, I'll get to check out the view from the observatory. First though, I need to check off the Empire State Building observatory. Who's with me?
Now
that's a door. Spotted on Fifth Avenue, near the Rockefeller center.
Oftentimes, I want to capture the size of a structure or the feeling of a particular experience. Many times, it's hopeless, because you'd need to be able to take a 360 photo to really grasp how breathtaking a scene is. This photo comes fairly close to capturing the size of one of the churches on Fifth Avenue. For comparison, The Trinity Church, a different church located downtown, is famous for being a landmark for ships sailing towards New York. It is that tall; and I bet this church is even taller.
Then you realize that the Empire State is six times that size.
The original Saks Fifth Avenue.
It's not very often you see a thousand-foot-tall building being supported by a
few pillars.
Another awesome New York sight. There is a large glass cube in the middle of a block by Central Park. Apparently, when it first appeared, it had a line wrapped all the way around the block and populated with characters such as
Kevin Bacon.
When you get closer, you see the
Apple logo, and realize that there is one, single, solitary elevator just below the logo.
Going down the elevator, you discover a complete Apple store! It's much better organized than any other technology store I've ever been in.
The view looking up on the way out of the store.
Someone made a great video of the day the Apple store opened.
Check it out.
This building found a cool place to plant some trees! I'm pushing for a
green roof at the
Penington.
This is the path which runs up the east side of Manhattan near 20th St. It's
great for rollerblading. Note the small patch of beach on the right side of the photo. It's the only patch I've seen on the east side, and is about big enough for 20 people to crowd onto. Someday soon I'll have to visit
Coney Island. It fits
a few more people.
A beautiful, deserted public space, and its view looking north up the east river. Since I discovered it (thanks to Kathy from the Penington), it has been a frequent stop while rollerblading along the east side pathway. It was built very recently, so it's not well known yet. There aren't any clues as you walk past it either; it's hidden between a few buildings. There are so many great little gems in Manhattan, if you just know where to look!
The most fun friend I've made in NYC: Nathalie Dore. We've rollerbladed down half of the eastern side of Manhattan. Next up: the entire west side.
The parlor at the
Penington.
A piece of graffiti pointed out by my friend Nathaniel, an artist who was in town for the summer with his wife Iryna. He pointed out that these keys can be found all over the lower east side, and they're always in the most hard-to-reach places. He's right; I've seen about 8 of them now, and I have no idea how the guy who creates them gets them up to where they are. The only thing I can think is that he hauls around a 20 foot ladder with him. Not very plausible in New York!
Nathaniel. (beard, patterned shirt)
His wife, Iryna. (in the white baby-tee)
His art. (Psychic Radio - Fission & Ice)
His art show. (at the 2006 Chelsea International Fine Art Competition)
Random red fire-breathing woman in Union Square.
These two people were dressed
exactly the same. Made for a strange sight early in the morning.
Another
Segway. What better place to own one than here?
Someone important (center) being escorted by a 6'5 bodyguard (left) to her driver (right).
Random very beautiful person. Cruising down fashion avenue with mother, radiating importance.
Someone decided to something productive with all of the
MetroCards the city discards daily.
Sheep's Meadow, Central Park, New York. I skated past it on my way to the Central Park Dance Skater's Association.
There were a bunch of incredibly skilled dancers at the event (think figure skaters--on roller skates), as well as a substantial audience, and even a film-maker doing a documentary on my skating instructor. My class participated in the dance for our graduation. It was incredibly fun; I was sad when I had to go. On the way out, I signed a release to include me in the film.
A little reminder of South Texas - a mariachi band trio playing right next to me.
Random key embedded in the concrete. With keys embedded in it.
Grimaldi's Pizza. One of the best pizza joints in New York City, and man, that's not a joke! The pizza was amazing. Aaron (pictured) and I went there to check it out.
I snuck a photo of them preparing our pizza. Word is they use all organic ingredients, special ordered from a place where they know the quality will be high.
I tried to capture a shot of the coal-fired oven, but the coal was just too bright for my little camera. Coal-fired pizza ovens have been outlawed in Manhattan (unless you already had one). Coal-fired is more desireable though, because you can get the heat much higher than electric ovens, creating crispier pizzas. To avoid the law, places like Grimaldi's build their pizza spots all around the outskirts of the island. Grimaldi's is right on the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Yum. You can tell which side of the pizza was close to the coal (hint, it's the closer side)! It looks burnt, but it wasn't. Just dark.
That's one way to lock your door! For some reason, this tree was allowed to grow
through the bars on the door.
New York experienced quite the heat wave this summer. Nathalie, Joelle and I were all relaxing on the roof of the Penington, when I noticed that this once cylindrical candle was looking rather... flat. I joked that it must have been the heat, thinking it was actually just caused by the candle melting from use. It wasn't until I touched it and it oozed out melted wax that I realized it
was from the heat. Wow.
Next time you're in the mood for some seriously delicious (and seriously expensive) breakfast food, check out
Balthazar. I went with a group of friends, and it was definitely worth the trip. The Brioche French Toast just
melts in your mouth...
Aaron at Balthazar, digging into his breakfast.
A shot of the stage at the theater where the play
The History Boys was playing. I went with my friend Susan Cannaday, a writer.
Blue Man Group is still my favorite Broadway show.
Now talk about your "only in NY" experiences. I got a hookup (thanks Molly and Brie!) on some awesome seats for the screening of "The Manchurian Candidate" at the
Bryant Park Film Festival. This is a free event, so awesome seats are hard to come by. Brie was there three hours before the movie to save the spot, and combined with a threat of rain--which never materialized--we had quite the view.
A very blurry shot of the
HBO "feature presentation" teaser which played before the movie. It was blurry because a few hundred people were all dancing to the HBO tune. In the spirit of the film festival, I of course had to participate myself. Needless to say, the festival is a great crowd experience. For instance, when Frank Sinatra walked out, everyone clapped; when he patted his wife on the butt and said "now go be a good little housewife and get us some drinks", all the guys clapped and cheered. Oddly, the women didn't laugh.
Here's a shot of Bryant park from a webcam. The webcam is set up to let visitors see the size of the crowd at the festival. I saved this shot right before I left to go to the movie, so it was probably about half again this many people by the time it started. The funny thing is that when I arrived, I distinctly remember thinking "Hey, it's not crowded!". I meant that too--I had expected a much thicker crowd. That was the moment I realized just how much I'm at home in NYC.
The view, looking south, from the cafeteria in my office building. I used to love seeing the building and working from within my 16th floor office in the 22-story Millenium Center in Dallas. Now I'm surrounded by amazing buildings, and have stood nearly a quarter-mile up in the air. I'm counting down to the completion of the Bank of America building and the Freedom Tower.
