Well, finally there’s a break from the horrendous heat and humidity though the weather is still warm, sunny and lovely. It’s difficult to find motivation, including writing blog entries, when the temperature indoors is over 90/32 degrees for days and weeks at a time. No air-conditioning, no happy face.

This Saturday Matt is off to Dublin for a week-long physics conference, and I’ve decided to make a trek to NYC. If you’re reading this and will be in the city next week let me know! I’ll be touring around on foot taking photos. And I’ve managed to find a perfect and economical sleeping arrangement in midtown for the duration via craigslist. Big thanks to Craig!

In other news I have crossed the line and become a bonafide Flickr addict. If you’re in the mood to browse some incredible photography then I encourage you view a slideshow of my accumulating favorites. Awe-inspiring!

Most urbanites when they want to set up camp, leave the city for a rendezvous in nature.

Not these guys (links to pics). Last night they set up tents in Times Square, and didn’t get booted by the cops until this morning:

Folks from all over the world stopped and talked to us to find out what we were doing. Some bought us supplies (we’d made a pact not to leave our traffic island until morning) and two even brought pizza. Many hung out for a while and left us their names and addresses. A few are pictured below.

We spun stories about being there to be first in line for Jessica Simpson tickets (one group almost joined us) or claimed to be photographers for North Face taking product photos in the urban landscape (the cops seemed to buy that one.) But people just seemed to love the idea that someone was actually camping out in the middle of times square for the heck of it.

Would you do this? I’m betting their tale makes it to the New York Times, which would result in some fantastic publicity for one of the campers, Zack Klein, who is a partner in some very profitable (though tacky, perhaps) web ventures.

In case you don’t follow, Overheard in New York quotes are too much fun:

“Then I had an epiphany: I realized I had a mullet. And I started to cry.”

I went to the city on Sunday to see a friend perform at the Bowery Poetry Club. Quite a neat place that is - they have daily readings usually in the evening, but on weekends they start as early as 10:00am and run all day.

The stage is in the background with seating for 60-75 people.

The bookstore sells a collection of indie chapbooks and CDs.

The show I went to see started at 6pm and about 30 people turned out. It was spoken word with jazz - organ, bass, flute, sax & vocals - with kind of a San Francisco beat poetry vibe, but fresh. The audience seemed to like it. If you’re looking to catch something different in the city, I recommend going here.

Earlier in the day I wandered through the Lower East Side and SoHo, taking pictures. Markets occupied the middle of Orchard Street, selling new and used clothes, luggage, sunglasses, etc.

Lots was happening in SoHo, too, with artists set up along sidewalks selling their work. There was a very funky (and possibly quite high) couple crocheting hats on a bench.

These pieces were painted on pages from the previous day’s New York Times.

Can’t say whether or not that’s her truck.

This quartet sounded incredible.

I played paparazzi taking some discreet shots of this Guy in the Blue Hat. The first person (other than Matt) who can name who this is gets three points:

I finally got around to creating an album of some of my favorite photos from the recent trip to NYC. Check it out, and any and all comments are welcome.

There are probably too many shots of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Gates though, but it’s tough to argue their photographic beauty. There’s also several black and white images, a direct response to my work in the Cornell darkroom and the fact that I’ve been tremendously enjoying B&W magazine.

I have explored using several different web gallery software packages, but still like JAlbum for its customizability (if that’s not a word, oops!). The software batch-processes images which saves quite a bit of time, but along with the benefits come some nit-picky quality issues. Sigh. At any rate to share images here it does the trick nicely.

FYI the Rated Films page has been updated but I get too overwhelmed by the length of the list to start adding relevant comments for each film. In the theaters we recently watched Hotel Rwanda and Bad Education. We love Pedro Almodovar’s stories and directing style, but not all people do apparently. I recently came across some reviews of Talk To Her saying it was ’sick and pointless’ and ‘beyond morbid’, so I guess that’s the kind of movie I like then.

Another update to the site - I took out the Ithaca Links on the sidebar to create a separate page full of even MORE Ithaca links. Many of these are resources we used to coordinate our move from Vancouver last summer.

And I suppose we can kiss yesterday’s taste of spring goodbye because I see snowflakes.

Countless people must have experienced this, right!? I was commenting the other day how surprised I was that I had yet to see any accidents in the city, but now I can say I have. From inside the taxi!

Of course my body’s still intact, and so is the taxi’s for that matter. We were pushing into a dense-traffic intersection when the light turned red and there were still a couple of vehicles behind us. Our taxi was straddling the crosswalk when the van behind rear-ended us with a loud thud and a significant jolt. This sparked gasps and panic-struck expressions from the people crowding the curbside ready to cross. It was actually pretty funny, and the cab driver was calm as could be. He had a quiet chat with the culprit and decided there was no damage to the vehicle. Turned out lucky for the van driver this time.

Yesterday I finally got to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. We took the subway across to Brooklyn and walked back across. The day was perfectly warm to do it, too. I definitely felt vertigo looking down between the wooden slats to see the water about 60 feet below. But it was a quick trek over and a fun little tourist experience.

Then Karl and I toured through SoHo on a photographic mission. We tried to stay a distance apart because I think we came across like stalkers with our lenses in action on those tiny streets. So many tourists though that the locals stop paying attention.

We’re currently staying in midtown and this is the fifth hotel we’re at since I arrived last Friday. It’s hard to recall the room number when you’re in rotation like this. Most of them end with a five. :O)

Well I’m out to troll about, looking for some galleries today. The more I tour around, the bigger the city gets.

The fall-off of posts here can be partly attributed to the fact that I’m in the city at the moment. I left last Thursday morning and will likely be here for another week. It’s a terrific opportunity to spend some time here since I don’t have to pay for a place to sleep. I am tagging along with a friend who photographs hotels for a living! At the moment we are at the Time Hotel (just off Time Square) and it’s quite a funky joint. Apparently the rates aren’t too bad for New York City either.

As I look out the window now I see giant, fluffy snowflakes blowing by. This could put a damper on doing a whole lot of walking today, but I plan to visit some photography galleries including the International Center of Photography which is only a few blocks away.

Some highlights of the trip thus far have been a leisurely visit to The Gates in Central Park. The ‘exhibit’ has now ended but I snapped some great photos that I’ll post when I return to Ithaca. We spent quite a bit of time in Chinatown one afternoon. And we had a hilarious evening at a tiny triangular gay bar in Greenwich called Duplex where the staff is the entertainment. They performed karaoke-style songs for a full-on patron sing-along. It was like getting the chance to do karaoke but not having to stand onstage or project through the microphone. Great energy there! Oh, a visit to the enormous place where people froth over electronic and camera gear - that’s B&H Photo - was an ultimate experience, too.

Of course I’ve walked the requisite number of blocks that you do when you’re in the city, amounting to about 50 per day I’d say. I’m still armed with a metrocard though, just in case the legs give.

We had an incredible time in NYC on the weekend, and now suffer from stiff muscles to prove it!

Saturday we arrived at 11:30am and checked into our hotel. We were given the choice between room 1D or 5B. After taking a look at both (they just give you the keys), we decided on 1D, decorated by Sheila Lawson. The room was cozy with no special amenities but its art, which consisted of large mounted B&W images, passages from the Bible and various personal to-do lists scribbled in permanent marker on the walls. Fine place.

Floor ‘B’ hallway entrance at the Carlton Arms.
(more…)

Early tomorrow morning we’re driving into New York and staying just one night, at the (fabulous?) Carlton Arms hotel. There are more than a few plans in our itinerary but it’s open enough for random exploration. Forecast says a mix of rain & snow so add an extreme factor to the foot travel.

We hope to arrive before lunch and stop at either Peanut Butter & Co. or A Salt & Battery for a taste of the basics - like a deep fried cream egg! YAH

In the afternoon we’ll make our way to Rockefeller Plaza & see that ginormous Christmas tree. Don’t think there will be ice skating though…

I have made a shortlist of the photography galleries I want to check out.

And there’s a huge record sale happening! Most albums are $1-3. (BTW- We have the turntable needle now, but realize the belt is shot, so still need one of those before the Baltimora bliss kicks in).

Evening dinner with Vancouver friends then we’re all off to the Comedy Cellar for a late show of belly laughs. If we’re lucky Jon Lovitz or Jerry Seinfeld will show up for a surprise show. Ya never know…

Sunday is more quiet. It is of the freeflow. I have a tip on an East Village Performance Art walking tour. Sounds silly - I like it!

Of course many frames of film will pass through the camera, so sharing will ensue upon return.

Bon weekend!

Wednesday morning I took the bus to NYC, a 5-hour ride, and arrived at 9:50am. The bus I would leave on departed at 8:30, so I had 10 hours to do as much exploring as I could in one day. It wasn’t important for me to go to any museums or galleries this time. I just wanted to hustle and get to as many neighbourhoods as I could see. But I had already bought a ticket online for the Empire State Building observatory, my only real plan for the day.

Note: There are several photos following so if you’re on dial-up, I suggest you go watch a movie or something while this downloads ;)
(more…)