WhatISee

After a month of running around, the thought of a big New Years Eve production was quite beyond us. So we had two excellent friends over for a quiet meal of Filet Mignon, roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes and of course, cake.

Some of our other friends went to big parties, several went to Florida, others went skiing, but I think what we picked was just about perfect. Now it's time to get ready for the new year.

Above, a glimpse of the crowd as some friends and I avoided the Times Square area on New Years Eve. The already had the barricades set up, and you can see the crowd is already filling in the area to the South.

On New Years Day, when we finally ventured out, one of the first things we saw was the first abandoned tree of the season. People really don't wait very long to get rid of that tree they were dying for a month ago.

There was a big film setup on the corner of 50th and Broadway on Tuesday. It looked like three different boom cameras and a couple of shoulder mounted cams walking around. It turns out Applebees is making a huge ad campaign around their relatively new Times Square location.

Whatever you think of Applebee's cuisine, you have to admit they were trying to make the best of it. I particularly liked the boom operator playing with traffic. Raising the boom when he saw a truck coming and lowering it when they had passed.

See also: Mallification of Manhattan: Bennigan and Home Depot style.

Photo Friday: Silhouette. From Tobay beach, Long Island.

Every so often you see something like this scene at 55th and Ninth Ave. Everything on a block starts closing down at the same time. Random happenstance. Or not. It sure looks like the entire building is being bought out. Across the street are two new projects that are either finished or about to. A few blocks away, the relatively new Time Warner center towers over the neighborhood. I wonder what this corner will look like in three years. My guess is completely different.

Update: a more artistic look at the same corner.

A while ago, I switched from my home grown URL/string block list to using MT-Blacklist. Afterwards, I saw a drop in comment spam, but I've seen lulls before, so it wasn't clear how well it was actually working.

Until I took a look at the Blacklist log. Wow. Thank You!

I'm almost at the point where I'll open up new comments without moderation.

I'm not sure I want my laundry here anymore...

Every so often you watch an old movie and recognize where it was filmed, even if you didn't when you first saw it. New Jack City had a run on HBO recently and sure enough I knew where the "wedding" scene took place. The third photo shows where the gunfight with the Italians was shot. A quick look at IMDB confirms this.

Grant's Tomb at 122 street is a striking memorial, especially when you look at photos of when it was first built and for the opening ceremonies. Now it's somewhat forgotten, but it's well worth a visit. Unfortunately the hours aren't the most convenient.

We've been to Otto a few times now. It's still quite popular, especially for the standing bar scene up front. We usually wind up eating at the bar if we can get seats. One of the bartenders used to be at the Cub Room for years and years.

Originally from A literal and figurative dead end. No parking Either. Now it's for Photo Friday: Signs

Sorry for the small size. Will put "normal size" photo up in the morning.

We live in what is often referred to as the culinary center of the universe, New York City. If it's made anywhere in the world, you can find it here.

Every so often, one comes across the stories behind the food. Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential certainly sets the bar high for followers such as Rocco.

Today though, I came across a blog by someone who works in a Chelsea restaurant as either a manager or a head waiter. The little details ring true. More importantly, the author is gut bustingly funny without being too crude (though there are some moments). I haven't cried while laughing in quite a while and somehow fell prey to it several times today.

It's that amusing. Go read it: Waiter Rant

We wandered around Central Park today looking at all the blocks that have been laid down for the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Gates Project.

The whole thing is amazingly organized. You can see how uniformly the blocks have been placed. I tried picking one up and it didn't budge. I couldn't tell if they were bolted to the group or if they were just really really heavy. A quick read of their FAQ reveals that they are 600 - 900 lbs. There are 12 different width paths and each size path has a different size block. I think I'll have to go into the park early on Saturday, February 12 to see the unveiling. More to come on this.

A far cry from the Summer Photos, the winter view of the Clinton Community Garden on 48th St is charming in it's own way.

Stopped by Movable Hype last night. Nice to chat with fellow bloggers (the Real Janelle, Youngna, Lockhart, Jesse and of course Jen Chung and beau) for a while.

The music sounded pretty good from the bar. :) There was a typical double booking by the bar so it didn't start on time. School night anyway.

Afterwards, stopped by Rosarios with Keith on the recomendation of Adam, Sliceny himself.

The daily news has an article on the Windemere, the building on the corner of 57th and Ninth Ave. I've long noticed this building with it's beautiful skeleton and scary scaffolding and even scarier history (tenants being threatened in order to clear out the building).

Hopefully it's preserved and cleaned up. It's history will remain, but it could be better used.

I found these sitting outside a Duane Reade. I like the keyboard and little monitor they had on the back, hidden away from the street.

It seems everyone in the world went to Whole Foods to stock up for the blizzard today. The line started past the meat counter. I've never seen it that long before.

Christo's work looks different in the snow than it did last week.

Everyone was watching the sledders, including this Italian speaking family.

Some people needed a push

While others were fine on their own

These two, Martin from New Zealand and Lauren were enjoying a gourmet meal of frozen oysters while looking out at the pond. Later on, we loaned them our sled so they could give it a try.

Looks like Rion, Jesse, Youngna, Keith, Jake and Tien all had fun in the park today as well.

Part Two of Central Park Snow Photos. No matter what the weather, this mosaic is always kept clear by fans of John Lennon.

The Lake, frozen over. The park police had to keep yelling at people who walked out on the ice. We must admit we've done it as well in the past, but it's not a very smart idea.

Another view of the lake

See the face?

From the Great Lawn, a view of Belvedere Castle just after sunset.

As an aside, Photoblogs.org has a great summary of everyone's photos from this event.

Just a short note to point out that a year ago today, we had our first real post. Sure, the first entry is listed as Jan 23rd, but I was actually playing with the dates to see how to backdate them. Nope, today is really the one year anniversary.

So, what do you think of the past year? Suggestions for improvement? Comments on what you like best?

Practically an institution, the frat boy friendly Senor Swanky's is no more. The point wasn't the food, it was the drinks outside, with chips and guac. Harry's down the street and even Burritoville had better food of course, and the sign (not visible in the photo) lied, no celebrities ever hung out here.

Still, it's another piece of the "old" Upper West Side gone away. What's next to leave us, Pizza Joint?

With all the news about the Plaza Hotel, I thought this photo was appropriate

Christo and Jeanne-Claude will be attending a talk by their exclusive photographer, Wolfgang Volz at the Chelsea Art Museum tonight. 6-8pm, 556 W22nd.

I somewhat expect them to be sequestered in a corner with big bodyguards and a strict no talking policy, but who knows.

Originally from the Young Kilt entry, now it's appropriate for my Photo Friday: Youth entry.

We stopped by the New Museum to see the Wolfgang Volz show. He gets a lot of press as the official photographer of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, but his work is quite interesting in it's own right.

Of course the show has very large prints of his photographs of Christo's work. But you'll also see his wide landscape of Arizona, Russia, and China like the one above. We'll have to go back when no one is around because the crowd tonight demanded people watching. The bar is always a good place to start.

The guy in the black jacket and beanie is someone we always see around town at various art shows. He's invariably at the bar, enjoying a fine glass of wine. There's a whole network of people who show up at these openings apparently just for the free drink. They don't really wander around looking at the art, they just stand by the bar, occasionally going in for refills.

Lots of women with a range of colored hair. None of them looked like Jeanne-Claude though. Nor Christo for that matter.

This guy was one of the more popular people at the show, everyone seemed to want to talk to him. Wait a minute though, there's something funny about the woman in the yellow glasses.

Let's get a little closer

Ok, even more so. Hmm, what is that on her temple?

She had them on both temples. Although in this photo, it looks stuck on, you'll have to trust me it didn't look that way in person. In fact, it looked like it was under her skin. It was also sparkly.

I'm going to feel really bad if it's something medical, but I don't think it is. I suspect it's a fashion statement, but that doesn't make me feel much better. If you know what it is, please speak up.

[Part Two, Three]

The scene looking up the Brooklyn Bridge as all the Idiotarod teams are heading down

The first checkpoint for the Idiotarod, where the teams were supposed to hang out for twenty minutes was a bit of a mob scene. The police showed up and didn't quite know what to do. They settled for directing traffic around the mob and asking people to stay on the sidewalk. I ran into several other photobloggers, including Jesse, Meccapixel, Rion, Bluejake, Youngna

[Part One, Three]

The best part of the Idiotarod for me, besides the teams were the people. They went all out to create a character and have fun with it.

These girls were very popular with the crowd. They were part of team "Make It" or "Make Out", I couldn't quite tell. There were covered in lipstick kisses.

I can't imaging running in this.

This girl and a few others stood at the end of the Brooklyn Bridge handing out flyers saying that the checkpoint had changed. The ruse lasted until the first batch of carts started to make their way back. Didn't Jeremy's Ale House close a while back? I give her credit though, even after it became clear they were fooling everyone, she was willing to have her picture taken with the flyer.

The wrestler has his teams story, including finding a cart an hour before the race.

[Part One, Two]

Arrived late for the Idiotarod, so rather than heading to the starting point in Brooklyn (where Corie and Lex were), I went to the City Hall side of the Brooklyn Bridge. I started snapping as fast as I could as the teams ran by. They all demonstrated a lot of spirit and creativity.

Almost taken out by these two

"Our cart has balls"

One of the more popular teams, the mimes.

I'm not sure what to make of these guys

One of many pirate carts

You wanted to stay away from this team. They kept a supply of raw ground beef in the bucket and were flinging it at their competitors

The ghostbusters