i like .... this amazing video.

Now this is truly amazing! Witness a parachute jump from the edge of space, as caught on camera. It is actual military footage and it is a-m-a-z-i-n-g. The video then cuts to a beautiful underwater scene that turns into some amazing surfing footage. This entire piece is the music video for Boards of Canada's 'Davycan Cowboy.' Boards of Canada is generally quite excellent, and although this is arguably a weaker track, the footage gives it a boost. In fact, the picture and sound go together perfectly.

Enjoy!

oh, japan.

File this under 'the Japanese make some crazy stuff!'

rellerindos

One of the best parts about living in New York is all the candy. Yes, I said candy, and no, I'm not kidding. As far as I'm concerned, high fructose corn syrup and sugar are the nectar of the gods, and NYC is Candy Mecca!

My most recent discovery happened last night. My friend innocently handed me over a bag of Mexican candies, and suggested I try one. Well, after all the ghetto things I've heard about candy from Mexico over the years (it's tainted with lead, child laborers package it, etc., etc.) I timidly said no, until I realized ... what the hell. It's candy.

The treat that I popped in my mouth was heavenly. Spicy, sweet, sour and salty all at once. What were these nuggets of goodness? Rellerindos, tamarind flavor!!

I am going to hunt through all my local bodegas and see if I can find more. They are DELICIOUS.

last minute gift ideas

Two last minute gift ideas for anyone trying to think of a unique and fun gift for someone (or yourself):

* Sponser a chimp at the Chimpanzee sanctuary in Florida! They're all chimps that were used in the Air Force's space program, lab chimps and/or their offspring. I love this organization and everytime I read their website my heart breaks for all those poor chimps who've been so horrifically abused. (Can you imagine NOT HAVING TOUCHED GRASS FOR 40 YEARS? Some of those chimps have been through that and worse.)

Here's the link: http://www.savethechimps.org/give_adopt.asp
You can pick which chimp you want to sponser and read their life stories. Also, you can also sponser a chimp's move to Florida, donate blankets and food, join the organization and/or help buy some chimps dinner with their meal program!

* If you want a unique, handmade gift by a very talented artist out of California, check out http://www.sappymoosetree.com/. The artist is a person I have known online for a long time, and I have two of her lovely products which have a special place in my bedroom. She specializes in adorable stuffed animals -- gotta see them to believe it.

life: an update

Feeling a little bit better today. Getting out and forcing myself to be social with friends and classmates has been good. My over inflated tution actually covered my dinner out last night with my professor and class, so it was nice to nosh on some Egyptian goodies. I chowed down on falafels, lamb and chicken kabobs, roasted veggies, hummus and pita and some yummy salad and cheese. The food was excellent, for the record.

Then it was a stop off at a friend's bar she manages in the East Village. It was crowded and totally not my scene, but with a $2 glass of Yuengling, who can complain that much? I stayed for a drink and then jetted out to catch my train before Late Hours began.

Things improved later in the evening when I took advantage of the wonderful views on my roof and had a friend over. Great conversation, weather that isn't too cold, and a misty view of Manhattan will always add flavor to one's night.

Today I had lunch out with a friend (his treat) and caught the new-ish Coen brothers flick, No Country For Old Men. I have enjoyed the work of the Coens in the past, and this was no exception. A bit of a departure from some of their earlier work, and quite disturbing, but it is a well rounded and beautifully shot movie. Very violent, though, but it fits in with the script.

In an interesting aside, I had an interesting conversation with a Hassidic Jewish guy in a used bookstore today. He was really curious about my life. He was asking all sorts of questions -- what bacon tasted like, what I thought of Hassidic Jews, if I knew any Hebrew, did I know any Jews, and the like. We even went over my martial life -- or rather, my lack of one! He was very open, and told me he couldn't be caught talking to a woman in his religious community, but he could outside of his neighborhood. We even shook hands, which is a very tabboo thing for most Hassidic men. He was very proud of being a father and having 5 children (at age 35), and was very into being Jewish, but he was also genuinely curious about non-Hassidic life. He even announced he felt women and men were equal ... but not to tell his wife that! Anyway, he was a friendly fat little fellow and maybe I'll bump into him again. We had a good conversation.

Now I'm contemplating the pile of finals and papers I have to finish before the end of the coming week. So much to do! At least having work on my mind will keep me from dwelling too much on the lamer aspects of my life right now ... I guess give thanks for the small things, right? Even if those small things otherwise suck.

I am taking tonight off from doing work, and then it's back to the grind in the morning. I wish you all a good weekend, and hope that life, or finals, or whatever, are going well.

lights and candles

My candle in the window isn't there anymore. (Is everything leaving me? Feels that way.) I don't know if you remember, but a while back I wrote about the comfort of a routine I had developed for evenings I was feeling lonely or low. I'd look out my window and would always see a candle flickering in the window of an apartment a few streets over. It was always such a warm and welcoming sight, and served as a reminder that there were other people out there, at home like me, enjoying the warmth of a flame.

Sadly, my candle is gone. I went to go look for it the past few nights, and it hasn't been there. This is a little too fitting for someone who is not feeling warmth or love right now! I keep losing things and people I love and depend on. Men, candles ... metaphors ... ugh.

Luckily, there's a new candle in a different window to cheer me up. In fact, the owner of this candle has Christmas lights all around the edge of their window, which glow bright white in little star shapes. They also have the red candle that burns on the windowsill. Love it.

The weather may be getting colder, but thank god for the holiday decorations. Like last year, people are out doing themselves in my neighborhood to display plastic lit up Santas, strings of lights and blinking technicolor snowflake ornaments. I might have to try and take some snaps of the Christmas display for this blog. There's something incredibly sweet about a family that takes the time to put up decorations. It shows some dedication to the holiday spirit.

I'm feeling sad right now, but at least I have my lights and blinking flakes and the like. I guess the world can't be totally gray if I have red and green colors flashing all over my nightly walk home from the subway.

But I still say ... life is a series of departures. My Christmas Candle in the Window will be departing after the holidays, and come January, all those decorations will be packed away to collect dust. I'd say that's pretty blue, and not at all a happy thought.

a sad day post

In the end, this is all it came down to,--
a frustrated, confused phone call and me in tears, knowing that the best friend I'll ever have (that I will ever want to have) is leaving me, extracting from me, mining out bits and pieces of my heart and head and my being --

what is left?

and

what more is there?

What is life, if nothing but a series of departures?

dancing on the train

Well, dear God, the following clip just made the evening news. Apparently some girls entered an online dare to win $10,000 for the best pole dancing contest and they decided to film themselves going nuts on a N subway train.

I have to say, it took some serious guts to do this. That said, they're all musical theater majors, which explains a lot -- every acting student I know is pretty much clinically insane.

The clip is semi-vulgar, but there's no nudity. Just lots and lots of smiling men, girls hanging from bars, and some crazy dance moves.

wild parrots in brooklyn

Who knew that there were wild parrots in Brooklyn? Yes, you read that correctly. Wild parrots. Apparently they've been flying around parts of B'lyn since the 1960's. Somehow they have managed to co-exist with all the power lines, people and cold weather for decades.

There's a website dedicated to them here. There are even Parrot Sighting Safaris for those who want to actually catch a glimpse of these colorful birds. (The next one is coming up on December 1.)The guy who runs the website, and gives the safaris (which are free) seems to be a huge parrot advocate, which is nice. I'm not sure about trudging around in the cold to see the parrots, but perhaps I'll luck out and see one on my own.

The Washington Post ran a story on the subject back in 2006. The link to it is here. Highlights from the article include where to spot them, that they live in herds (or flocks? whatever) of 50 to 60 birds, and that they've adapted quite well to Brooklyn's climes.

Further research has yielded intriguing tidbits about parrot poaching and suspicious activity by ConEdison, the local power company. Sketchy, sketchy! However, if you want to find out the scoop on these details, I suggest you do a little detective work yourself and type in 'Brooklyn parrots' at a search engine online.

Oh, and don't forget to Google image search them ... they're cute! And green!

sonic BOOM!!

The lighting of the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center is tonight for anyone interested. I think it goes on between 7 - 9 pm Eastern Time. I won't be there (boo for getting an education instead!), but a lot of other people will be ... If you want a live look at the tree from here on out until Christmas, there's a webcam pointed directly at the tree here. Just click on 'Exclusive: A Live Look At The Christmas Tree.' The tree is up until around January 6, and is lit from 5:30am-11:30pm. That's a whole lot of electricity.

In other news (and totally unrelated), does anyone else find the following video clip incredibly cool? It's of a military jet breaking the sound barrier. You can hear the sonic BOOM! and see the actual displacement of the sound wave or whatever. I remember when I used to live near a military base, and jets would always be zooming over head, breaking the sound barrier ... the dishes and windows would rattle like crazy in my house, and it was very loud. I know some people who had their china and glass break during the 'boom times'. (Ha ha, pun intended ... sadly.) Honestly, I know this is unrelated to Xmas, but youtube is so much fun, I can't resist finding the most random stuff possible. I'll try to get back to blurbs about life in NYC in the next post. I'm so ADD!

Here's the youtube clip:

some arvo part and an update

Friends, it's been awhile. Life has been zipping along like a flash, a great burst of energy, colors, people and sounds. In the past few weeks I've:

* retrieved my purse and wallet from the evidence locker at an out of state police station
* eaten two Thanksgiving dinners
* written more papers than I'd like to count
* been gifted with the second season of He-Man ... and, naturally, reliving my very early youth while watching it (YEAH, Battle Cat!)
* virtually memorized Joni Mitchell's album 'Song to a Seagull' while the song 'Marcie' has become one of my favorite of all time
* been on a bus at least 4 times in the past 2 weeks.

And that, folks, has been my life. I haven't been around NYC much lately, so I don't have anything that is related to city life to report. However, I am including a clip of Arvo Part's brilliant 'Spiegel Im Spiegel' which is one of my favorite pieces by one of my favorite living composers. The video quality is bad, but the point is the music anyway ...

too funny!

Ahhh, this is too funny! Clips from the film 'Amadeus' and a Family Guy episode spoofing the movie.

nyc marathon

For those of you who are in NYC or going to watch this on television:

The NYC Marathon is Sunday! World's largest marathon with over 38,000 runners! Also, fun fact: the world's largest urinal is set up at the Staten Island starting point. 200+ feet long. That's a whole lot of pee!

Official Website
Best Places to Watch The Race From
Marathon Information, Route Map & More Tips On Observation Points

My first year living in NYC I walked out my front door one day and right in to the middle of the marathon. It was going on and I had no idea! Needless to say, big surprise.

I'm not sure if I'll watch it this year. I guess I'll update you on if I go or not in the next post. If anyone catches it, let me know!

i like ... aya kato

I really like the work of Aya Kato.  A female Japanese artist born in 1982, Aya plays with color and form in inventive ways. 

In a funny way, her work reminds me a little bit of Henry Darger, at least in terms of the Technicolor palette and fanciful subject matter.  

What do you think?

 

my landlord might possibly be the biggest jerk on the planet

Now, can I take just a moment to complain about cheap landlords? If you have never dealt with one, then lucky you. However, if you've had the misfortune of dealing with a scum-of-the-earth property owner, then you will probably feel my pain more acutely than those who haven't had to deal.

My landlord is notoriously bad. When I say notorious I mean really just among my roommate and the lady next door (who is a freak show herself and a totally different story), but I'm assuming if I spoke with anyone else in the building they'd all agree -- our landlord is the pits.

To start with, he never repairs anything. I only got a mailbox fixed after I threatened to file a police report about mail theft from my box. If anything does magically get 'fixed', the work is so shoddily done that whatever has just been repaired will be sure to break again within a few days. We didn't have running water for 4 days our first summer here -- it took him that long to fix it, and that was after we got the Health Department on his case.

This landlord has verbally abused me over the phone (and my dad!), hires a drunk for a super who lives in New Jersey and is therefore never around when you need him, and is trying to up our rent by $25 ... just because we called about him painting the place.

The latest fiasco is our heating situation. Well folks, it's getting cold out. It's November. Heat would be nice. But we didn't have a working thermostat for over a week, and when it did get fixed the landlord's wife made sure that the heat is timed to shut off at 10pm. Yes, that's right, we get NO heat after 10pm.

I'm working on rectifying this situation, but getting anyone to respond to me is like pulling teeth. I literally have to rip a response out of someone around here to get anything (shoddily/poorly/horribly) done.

I suspect this is illegal, as well. Shutting the heat off after 10pm? Hmm.

obligatory holiday post

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I have to say, Manhattan on Halloween is a freak show -- and an annoying one, at that. Too many people, too much glitter and too much bad attitude from police officers! Seriously, if I see another fat girl in a bumblebee outfit or another gay man in drag (how unoriginal, boys) I am going to vomit.
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, but getting through a mess of people just to catch a ride on the subway is not fun. Why the congestion? The annual East Village Halloween Parade, of course, a legendary staple of NYC holiday life.

Best costume seen tonight: The girl running around who was a lamp, complete with lampshade on her head.
Earliest time I saw someone wearing a costume: Around 11am this afternoon.
Most unoriginal/uninspired costume: Anything involving fishnet stockings, a push up bra, wings and a woman. GET OVER YOURSELVES, GIRLS!
Least Involved get-up of the evening: The girl on the subway who was wearing devil horns strapped to her head while dressed in regular jeans and a sweater.
Cutest costume: The baby I saw this afternoon who was a little bee!


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

photos: autumn love

These photos were taken at a park near my non-NYC house over my birthday weekend. Love that fall foliage!

photo: manhattan from the 18th floor

view from the 18th floor balcony of a hotel in the lower east side
manhattan, ny
october 23, 2007
photo taken on my cell phone camera ... as usual.

birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

And to my fellow October 17 babies: Arthur Miller, Pope John Paul I, Rita Hayworth, Eminem, Robert Atkins (the Atkins diet guy!), Evel Knievel, Michael Hossack (Doobie Brothers), Margot Kidder (Superman!), Rob Marshall, Mike Judge (Beavis & Butthead, King of the Hill among others -- MTV legend and yes, I like his cartoons), Norm MacDonald, Ziggy Marley, Chris Kirkpatrick ('NSYNC) and Wyclef Jean.


October 17 was a great day to be born, and here I am, 25 years later, celebrating that eventful moment! (Thanks mom!)

I just want to share some interesting things that happened on my birthday, courtesy of wikipedia.org:

* 593 BC: "King Cyrus The Great of Persia marches into the city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost 70 years of exile and making the first Human Rights Declaration.

* 1604 AD: "1604 - Kepler's Star: German astronomer Johannes Kepler observes that an exceptionally bright star had suddenly appeared in the constellation. Ophiuchus, which turned out to be the last supernova to have been observed in our own galaxy, the Milky Way."

* 1888: "Thomas Edison files a patent for the Optical Phonograph (the first movie)."

* 1937: "Huey, Dewey and Louie, Donald Duck's three almost identical nephews, first appear in a newspaper comic strip."

*1967: "The musical Hair opens at the Anspacher Theater on Broadway."

*1979: "Mother Teresa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize."

eating in lower manhattan

Like every good New Yorker, I love to go out to eat. There are so many options in the city that, for the foodophile, picking a place to eat dinner can be quite a daunting task. Being the impoverished and cheap student that I am this problem is somewhat lessened, since half of the places to eat in NYC I can't afford. I'm all about the cheap eats.

For those of you on a tight budget and in the East Village, I suggest Dumpling Man on St. Mark's Place. You can order a variety of yummy Chinese dumplings made fresh to order. The dipping sauces are tasty, too. A good snack option are the pumpkin dumplings -- seriously, it's like fried pumpkin pie. Too good!

Although I haven't eaten there, I did try the hookah at Horus Cafe (also in the East Village). My friend swears by the place. While I can't attest to the food, I can state that the cafe has a great vibe, decorating and a nice staff. Just don't order water there -- I did, thinking it was going to be tap water, and it wound up being a $2 bottle of Poland Spring!

There's another cheap joint that isn't half bad. No hookah bar though. I don't know the name of the place, but it is also located on St. Mark's Place and has the infamous 'eat me' hot dog sign out front. Anyway, it's cheap, has good hot dogs and you can get the most disgustingly greasy cheese covered tater tots there. I promise you will feel like throwing up afterwards, but in a good way.

Oh, and my new favorite food spot in the Washington Square area is the vegan friendly Temple in the Village, located on West 3rd Street near the NYU Law School. It's a buffet of all vegetarian friendly fare, and the owners make a point of listing if the foods are raw, high fiber, cooked in oil and any other conceivable thing. It's a tad pricey at roughly $7 a pound, but it is one of the better deals in the neighborhood, especially for the quality of the food. They also have tea specials for $1 when you get food there -- corn, barley and ginger tea, here I come! I actually prefer the place to Red Bamboo. (Although Red Bamboo has a much better atmosphere, more choices to pick from, and has a killin' appetizer section.)

Anyway, enough about food! More posts to come. The travel blog is due for an update, as well ...