Revisiting Older Posts

This was my favorite one this year.

One Boy, One Girl, Seven Cups

It all started innocently enough, at a big family dinner in Chinatown. Went to Mandarin Garden to meet the extended family (not mine). Well not actually Mandarin Garden, it had to be either Mandarin Court or Shanghai Garden (right next to each other on Mott). After a gut busting meal (7 courses?) at MC, we trekked over to Zinc Bar for some bossa nova.

More drinking, music.

More walking, past the sculpture near NYU housing, past the cheese caves at Murray's, past Caliente Cab Co., past 85 Bedford, finally landing at White Horse Tavern.

More drinking, more food.

We discussed why I should never, ever marry.

A subway ride to the 24hr Starbucks on the UWS.

And then we had 7 cups of coffee & tea in less than an hour (along with some tips on health and fitness from our baristas, Exodus & Dan).

That's why I'm still up at 5:30, argh.

Back Back Back

It's been months since I've done any updates, so I'll try to fill in as much as possible these next few days/weeks...

UPDATED
late July thru mid August (now with lots and lots pics!)

UPDATED
thru first week of September.

My favorite new web comic

This made me laugh out loud at 4am in the morning.

And this was one of the best episodes ever.

Power of 10

You might see me on TV tonight, that is if you happen to flip over to CBS and watch that other Drew Carey game show.

Staten Island Yankees 2007 Finale

It wasn't actually the end since the SI Yanks advanced to the Penn-League playoffs, but it was the last day of the regular season and it was Friday so that meant fireworks!!!

AB and JV seemed to enjoy the beer too. :)

Check out the rest of the flickr set.

Opera for All (second time around)

Back to Hong Kong Station for lunch.

Then it was off to Lincoln Center for another year of Opera for All at City Opera!

It was a great preview for the season, especially Don Giovanni which I was seeing with my bro two days hence. EVOC provided the after-party entertainment again.

AW and I stopped in to a local pizza joint (hi Mario) to grab a quick bite and then I had one of those surreal New York encounters - Xian walked in along with a posse of HCHS kids. Xian and I caught up briefly before we went on into the night.

Power of 10 (taping)

Feel the power (that's what she said).

Followed by a visit to Boston Pizza (in Astoria).

Sunnyside über alles

I'm not sure how I ended up in the East Village on Labor Day, but I had lunch at Rai Rai Ken before meeting EH's journalism school classmate for a tour of Sunnyside. Walked around for a bit and we stopped in to a Sunnyside dinner party (not hosted by me). I might have been the only non-writer/journalist there.

More Béisbol

Another baseball game, this time in the Bronx.

The NY teams lost more often than they won (at least when I went to the games).
It was probably my fault in some way.
Le sigh...

Serra Serra

Finally saw the Serra exhibit at MoMA tonight.

AB was late, I almost left to go home.
I don't like it when people are late/don't RSVP/don't call.
When I say "don't like" it's actually more like "fucking hate".

Mets at the Movies

My bro and I had tickets to watch the Mets play the Phillies on the big screen inside the Ziegfield.

Was this the beginning of the end?

Check Out

I had fun at this, my first singles event ever. I actually ran into a couple of people I knew and made a new friend at the fair trade table.

Some others didn't seem to have such a good time.

Loreley & Ceci Cela

All I ever do is wander around and eat and drink and drink and eat.

But sometimes I am content. And sometimes it's only content.

Bon Voyage Dana

DK was leaving NOLA in a few days and it was my last chance to see her.
We met and settled in at Caffe Roma on Mulberry. It used to be run by a member of the Genovese family who disappeared in the '70s, but I digress. We shared egg creams and cookies while she detailed the crazy events of the past month and her decision to make a somewhat permanent move to the still recovering city at the mouth of the Mississippi. I'll miss her, but maybe that means a trip thru MSY is in the offing.

Zabb

It's all part of my Tour de Queens.
Right next to UFC stands Zabb.
See what happened!

UFC UFC UFC

That would be Unidentified Flying Chicken.

Why isn't it Frying?

It was tasty, though not as tasty as Bon Chon's.
Then again we were all pretty drunk at Bon Chon, and UFC still doesn't have a liquor license.

MJ @ Mina's

Same MJ, new venue.
I really need to get these girls on the gambling tip.
It's just no fun otherwise.

I did see this bit o' fun downtown earlier in the day.

Superbad

Stopped into Momofuku II with JK before we went to a showing of Superbad, my favorite movie of the year. My most favorite end credits ever!

Blast From The Past

Another person from the past reentered my life today.
We'll see how this pans out...

Origami @ AMNH

Another early morning/afternoon of teaching origami to the kids.

There were a couple of Arsenal fans in the museum that day!

Photos of the Hearst Tower, New York's first Gold LEED certified building.

Guac-Off

DB & JS hosted their 2nd? annual Guac-Off. It was very fun and tasty.
I need to realize that no one ever expects you to show up on time.

(Halfie) Potluck

A most fun summary of the night.

I love black & white cookies.

Some photos from Bryant Park.

Birthday Dinner

With Dad.
We ate an insane amount of food.

Top Chef Ketchup

Spent my Ides of August catching up on my backlog of Top Chef episodes.
Padma is terrifically boring, and why oh why does she speak so slowly?
I can't fast forward fast enough!

Round Up The Usual Suspects

Saw Casablanca in Bryant Park with RV and LL. There were lost balloons and tasty sandwiches galore. Made some new friends (Hannah, Albierobrob) in my attempt to acquire some precious space on the grass.

AMND Redux

You can't keep runnin' away from love
'Cause the first one let you down
And though others try to satisfy you, baby
With me true love can still be found

Went back to the Delacorte to see A Midsummer Night's Dream from a better vantage point.

Trance Trance

I've been listening to trance music all night...specifically remixes of Gouryella...

(lyrics to Ligaya)
This is the first day of my life
For once I'm sure
That this is where I long to be
No need to know
If there is something more than this
No need to go
Cause there is nothing more than this
My future is so clear
Cause everything's right here
Inside of me
Inside of me

Red Sox Futures

We were supposed to visit Fenway for the first time this weekend, but the overcast day and our somewhat brutal overnight schedule led to the cancellation of our Boston travel plans.

We enlisted Jason for another walk to Sripraphai and enjoyed some Thai along with our baseball.

Marco & Wine

Another visit to my favorite place in Chinatown, Marco Polo.

Post work visit to Vintage NY Wine Bar.

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Flooding edition)

So the MTA is completely unprepared for any sort of deluge.
What's gonna happen when a hurricane finally hits NYC?

It afforded me a chance to catch the first night of AMND.
My streak is still alive!

More Poker

We hosted again. It had been a while. It's still fun.

The sky from LIC right before everyone came over.

MJ @ Cara's

Unfortunately, we did not actually play for money.

QBQ BBQ

Our foray to the Water Taxi Beach for the 2nd QBQ BBQ was sandwiched in between a Mets game (a makeup game for a rainout) and some poker at MC's.

CitiField takes shape

Simpsons (Movie)

Da da da da da da da da dadadada.

We went to the Kwik E Mart beforehand to snap some pics.

Eisenberg's & Violinists

Went to Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop for lunch today, a departure from our usual Thursday forays into Chinatown. My pastrami was pretty tasty, but it still doesn't compare to Katz's Delicatessen.

Another detour on my way home. I took the R/W to Times Squares tonight and got off to transfer to the 7. I usually just stay on the R/W until it gets to Queens, but for some reason I decided to traverse the tunnels of the Times Square subway station and came upon these two girls playing their violins. I stood there for a good twenty minutes while Dilyana and her friend played some Baroque hits by Bach, Vivaldi, and Boccherini.

The Four (Eight) Seasons

Went to the Naumburg Bandshell tonight to check out Lara St. John perform with the Brooklyn Philharmonic. St. John, a noted violin soloist, is perhaps most-well known for the furor over the cover photo of her debut album release Bach Works for Violin Solo. They performed the Four Seasons twice. Actually it was The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi interspersed with the Four Seasons of Buenos Aires by Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla of nuevo tango fame. And right now I just heard this amazing ring tone of Debussy's Arabesque. I totally have to get that for my phone.

Waiting for Higgs

Did someone find the "God Particle"?

Andy Samberg is funny

Went to a preview screening of Hot Rod tonight. It was a very uneven film (my friend was cringing in her seat the entire time, whispering stuff like, "it's terrible, this is terrible"), but the movie did have some ridiculously funny moments, especially the dancing Asian dude. I sort of wish it was even more crazy than it was.

The buzz around Andy Samberg has been building for a while now, first when Lazy Sunday came out, then there was Dick in a Box, and recently NY Mag did a whole spread on him.

Afterwards we argued over the awesomeness (or lack thereof) of the film over some Korean food at the "big house"

Siren Music Festival

This might be the last year for the Siren Music Festival. My crazy day with HP didn't give me much of a chance to enjoy this fest. I got there pretty late and only got to hear We Are Scientists before my queasy stomach got the best of me. I'm not sure if it was the crowd or lack of sleep or Nathan's hot dogs & fries, but I was in no condition to stick around for the rest of the show and made my way back into safe harbor before deciding to call it a night. There's always next year, or not.

Harry Potter Finale (recap)

It was a completely crazy, exhausting day and I loved almost every minute of it. Here are some more flickr sets of the event. (I show up in both of them!)

I'll admit I wasn't always an HP fan. I didn't even know about the series until the 4th book (Goblet of Fire) came out in 2000. One of my co-workers at the time told me that I would love the books whenever I got around to reading them. I've actually only read the first four books so far, having seen the movies before reading each of the books (which might be a 1st in the history of something or other). I'm not sure if I can hold out, now that Deathly Hallows is out and the series is over. My brother started reading it as soon as I brought it home. He'd already read 500 pages by morning and would finish the book by nightfall. I'm going to start reading Order of the Phoenix right now.

Harry Potter Finale (part 3)

...on into the night.

Harry Potter Finale (part 2)

...and continues...