Category: NYC

Sept 11

I fully intended on ignoring the fact that today is Sept 11. I had a few things lined up to do in the morning, then I was planning on watching some college football in the afternoon. I went out for a haircut this morning, though, and walked past the Sept 11 memorial here in Somerville. There were a bunch of people gathered around it, in silence. I think I walked by after all the official speeches were done. There was something about just seeing the people there, no one really talking, or doing anything, just being there.

When I got to the barber, he had the TV on, set to channel 7, where they were showing the reading of the names at the WTC site. I had about an hour wait before my haircut, so I got to listen to quite a few names being read. Very moving. So my plan to ignore Sept 11 has failed, and I am spending a good bit of time thinking about it now.

Two good articles to read: first, this classic Onion piece: God Angrily Clarifies ‘Don’t Kill’ Rule. The Onion did a great job in the days after 9/11 figuring out how a satirical newspaper / web site could possibly approach such a topic.

Second, this John Hodgman piece at McSweeney’s.

Big Bambu


Big Bambu
Originally uploaded by andyhuey

I went into NYC yesterday, and spent some time at the Met. I went up to the roof to check out Big Bambu. It’s pretty cool.

I did not realize at the time, though, that Big Bambu is also the name of a Cheech and Chong album. This is funny, because, as I was looking at this installation, I thought to myself, “I wonder if this thing was all planned out in a CAD system, or if these guys just smoked a lot of weed and lashed a bunch of bamboo together at random?” So, the name would indicate the latter. But I think they did plan it out, at least to some extent, and were probably not high while climbing around in the bamboo, and lashing it all together.

NYAF

I bought my 3-day pass for New York Anime Festival today. I went last year, and enjoyed it, though I didn’t really buy much or spend that much time at the con. I think I just went in for a couple of hours on Saturday. This year, I bought a three-day pass, and I plan on taking Friday off from work, so I should be able to spend more time at the con. I’m still so far behind in watching my accumulation of anime DVDs, and reading my accumulation of manga paperbacks, that I probably won’t buy much again this year. But, I’m hoping to just hang out, relax, and avoid thinking about work for the weekend. How’s that for a plan?

E2-E4

I was going to go into NYC on Friday to see Manuel Gottsching perform E2-E4 at Lincoln Center, but I got stuck dealing with some stuff at work, and it was raining on and off, so I kind of lost my enthusiasm for going to an outdoor concert. I probably should have gone anyway, even though I would have got there late. I found some nice pictures from the concert on Flickr. Looks like it was probably cool.

Tribeca Film Festival

The film guide for the Tribeca Film Festival is up. I’m going to try to get into the city and catch a few films this year. I caught a few good ones last year, and I’m looking forward to finding a few interesting movies again this year. Here’s a list of some possibilities:

  • Idiots and Angels: a new Bill Plympton film. I saw some of this (in rough form) at a Plympton panel last year in San Diego (I think). It looks like a lot of fun; the usual Plympton weirdness.
  • The Caller: Frank Langella and Elliot Gould in a “neo-noir thriller.” It could be good.
  • Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon: Historical Chinese epic. Sounds like it should have some nice battle scenes. And it’s got Sammo Hung!
  • Terra: This appears to be a computer-animated SF movie. I don’t know much about it, but it looks interesting.

And that’s all just from a quick look. I’m going to have to get organized, figure out what’s showing when and where, and then see about getting tickets and getting into the city.

NYC Kwik-E-Mart

I’ve been meaning to drop by the NYC Kwik-E-Mart, but the last couple of times I’ve been in NYC, I’d forgotten to look it up and make a note of its location. Well, now I know that it’s on 42nd between 8th & 9th, so I’m all ready to head over there and pick up some Buzz Cola.

NYC stuff

Interesting stuff in NYC over the next few weeks:

I’ll have to see if I can free up some time, and maybe talk a friend into checking at least *some* of this stuff out. I’m not getting out of the apartment enough lately!