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What I have been doing the past few months

i havent updated this blog in the past few months. shame on me.

anyways here's what i was up to during those times: hanging out with family and friends in NYC, returning to Portland for Lyza's wedding, moving out of NYC and back to Chicago for a few days, driving from Chicago to Denver, meeting Lisa in Denver and then driving to Portland while stopping in Denver, Boulder, Rocky Mtn National Park, Ogden, UT, Pendelton, OR and other places. and a lot more.

i'm now in vegas and have a new blog for that trip, so continue to that one. i'll try and keep that better updated.

http://monishvegas.blogspot.com

daily show, july 20

Went to see a taping of the daily show on Wednesday July 20. Got there around 4pm, the studio doors opened at about 5:30pm. However they had recently moved to a new studio, and the new studio only had a staging area for the first 50 or so people. So a bunch of us had to stand in line until the taping was about to begin for another 45 minutes or so.

Once we finally got in to the studio it was awesome. Everyone is packed very closely in. Jon Stewart took like 5-10 minutes to talk to the studio audience before the show taping. Once the taping began it went very quickly, no retakes were needed. Main topic for that show was the choice of John Roberts for the Supreme Court Vacancy. Guest for that show was Robert Kennedy Jr.

Was a fun experience. It might be easier to go around 4:45ish and wait in the stand-by line, about 6 or 7 of them got in. I'll probably do that sometime in the future.

MoMA July 20

Went to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) on Wednesday July 20. Spent a lot of time there, there were a ton of interesting exhibits. Highly recommended for anyone who visits NYC.

The special exhibit was on paintings by Paul Cezanne and Camille Pisarro. They were french painters who worked closely with each other in art in the late 1800's. Their paintings were of similar subjects, mainly french countrysides, and their styles were similar but subtly different. In many cases they painted the exact same thing, and the nice thing about the exhibit was that both artists' paintings of the same scene were placed next to each other to offer an easy point to compare and contrast their styles. After staring at many paintings i was finally able to discern the differences between the artists.

Based on my viewpoint, I would classify Cezanne's paintings as more left-brained and Pisarro's as more right-brained. Cezanne's paintings focused more on individual objects and shapes. If I could see a painted line/brushstroke demarking a rooftop or tree edge i knew it was a Cezanne. Pisarro's paintings were more subtle. To fully appreciate his paintings one needs to take a few steps back and enjoy the entire painting (thus the right-brainedness).

The other special exhibit was about the many photographs of Lee Friedlander. there were over 500 pictures in the exhibit. Many interesting pictures in different locations, of different subjects.

There were so many other interesting exhibits at the museum, and i cant really write about all of them. Go for yourself, you'll enjoy it. I posted some pictures from the visit to my flicker site as a preview.

In the evening I returned to MoMA to watch the NYC pre-theater screening of Portland's very own Gus Van Sant's Last Days, a movie about the final days of a grunge rock star (influenced highly by Kurt Cobain). I was bored out of my mind, i wished the main character would just commit suicide so the movie could end and i could go home. However some movie critics like this movie, example: NY Times, and i'm not sure why. This one, the hollywood reporter, is more like what i thought.

Lisa in New York Part III

This covers July 14-17.

Thursday July 14 - went to see Ground Zero in the afternoon. The thing that struck me the most was the size of the the WTC complex that was destroyed. The entire thing was almost like 2 large city blocks, and now its just a big hole with some construction (re-construction) starting to happen. No pictures, i didnt feel it was appropriate to take pictures of that area.

at night we went to the top of the Empire State Building. it was $14 per person, and we had to wait in lines forever. there's a huge line to get onto an elevator, but that only takes you to the 80th floor. then there's another line to get on an elevator to go to the 86th floor (where the observation deck is). The cool thing about the ESB observation deck is that you can go outside, unlike the Sears Tower or Hancock buildings in Chicago. I think its better to go at night (around sunset would be ideal) to see the lights of New York.


Monish and Lisa at the top of the Empire State Building

Late that night we were hungry and trying to find food in the UWS. But the kitchen was closed at midnight at a lot of the places we went to -- so much for the city that never sleeps. Luckily we ended up at this cool place called Northwest (appropos?) on 79th and Columbus. Food was good, and Lisa had her best Mojito of the trip, albeit at a cost of $10.

Friday July 15 - took the Staten Island Ferry to, well, Staten Island and wandered around for a bit. Staten Island is a more residential place than the rest of the city, and not particularly great to visit. We took the bus to South Beach in Staten Island. Ugh, what a nasty beach, junk was washing up on the shore from teh dirty harbor water. Definitely not recommended.

After Staten Island we wandered through Chinatown and downtown. Lisa completed her gift shopping there. Chinatown represents a lot of old-skool capitalism, everyone selling the same stuff, and its up to you, the customer, to haggle and find the best price. never, ever buy at the listed price, always haggle. reminded me a lot of some of the street vendors in India.

Ate dinner at this cafe called La Luna at the North End of Union Square. Its an outdoor cafe in a very beautiful setting.

Saturday July 16 - wandered through Brooklyn in the afternoon. Fulton St. Market and then near Prospect Park. I got my haircut (trimmed really) out in Brooklyn at this place called Jake's Barbershop at the corner of Washington and Bergen. An excellent job for only $10. planning to head back there in the future before i leave NYC.

In the evening we went to Tavern on the Green in Central Park. The dinner was great, and afterwards we went dancing in the outdoor dance area of the restaurant. There was a band playing a bunch of cover music, not that great, and in between sets the DJ was playing a lot of old music, like swing, big band, etc. There were quite a few old (like 60's and older) couples truly enjoying themselves out on the dance floor which was quite the heart-warming sight.


Monish and Lisa at the Tavern on the Green

Sunday July 17 - Lisa returned to Portland this day, so not much happened. Excitement of the day occured when the E train that we were on towards the airport was suddenly unable to continue due to "signal problems". We were diverted to the F train and then had to walk 4 blocks or so to get to the Airtrain to take us to JFK.

Lisa in New York, Part II

covers Monday July 11 to Wednesday July 13

Monday July 11 - we made a trip to the beach. Long Beach, out on Long Island. Took the LIRR from Penn Station. $17 for a r/t ticket + beach pass. beach was very nice and clean and easily walkable from the train station. spent most of the afternoon out on the beach getting sun (not that i need it), playing in the water, catching shells and watching lisa get pinched by a little crab :) later on in the trip we ended up at a beach in Staten Island. ugh, that beach reminded me of the typical stories you hear about NY beaches with needles, etc washing up on the beach. Although we didnt see any needles there was a lot of junk on the beach. I very highly recommend making the trip to Long Beach if you need to get your beach fix whilst in NYC.


In Long Beach, NY the fire hydrants are painted baby blue.

Tuesday July 12 - I had espanol class and a volunteer gig in the afternoon. During that time Lisa did laundry, and i helped once i got done with my stuff. In the evening we ended up in Chinatown and then walked across the Brooklyn Bridge.

Wednesday July 13 - we visited my cousins Sharvil and Rujuta who live in Queens (Astoria to be more exact). as with visiting Indian folk, we had a lot of yummy food to eat there. i of course had to eat twice, especially since they had pani-poori left from the last time i was there. we also walked through Astoria Park and by the East river. in the evening Lisa, Sharvil and I went to see the NY Philharmonic play in central park. It looked like it was gonna pour, but luckily there was notta drop. it was a lovely evening to be out in central park listening to one of the best orchestras in the world, albeit kinda hard to enjoy the music with so many people in the park making noise. i think they hold these free concerts in the park to pique the interests of someone like me who might be willing to really enjoy the show in the audio-friendly confines of a music theater (and pay the $$$).


Lisa and me with my cousins Sharvil and Rujuta at their place in Astoria

Lisa in New York, part I

Lisa was in New York from july 8 to july 17 and we were doing all kinds of stuff all the time. here's a partial recap of the many things that we did during that timeframe.

friday july 8 - lisa arrives in town early (flight problems, she was bumped to an earlier non-stop flight). she brought the Portland weather with her, it was cold and rainy that day. wandered around town and went to a bunch of bars in the west village.

saturday afternoon july 9 - made the trip up to Harlem. walked on 125th street all the way across Manhattan (from the 1 subway to the 4/5/6 subway). went to many of the Harlem clothing stores, looked at the street vendors -- you can get a lot of really cheap books, DVDs and CDs, and I'm sure they are perfectly legal ;) Best part of the Harlem experience was when a touristy double-decker bus went by on 125th street and a couple of doods started shouting at the bus using a megaphone "there's the real zoo (and a whole lot more, cant remember all of it now)". in some ways i can empathize with them doods -- the tourists are being driven through this neighborhood as if they were on a safari, but then again, that bus also drives through the village, downtown, etc, so i dont think its that big of a deal. we were doing it the right way, we were walking through the neighborhood, talking to people, hanging out in the stores. after Harlem went to the UES to some mediterranean restaurant. Food was great, service was really crappy. got some snooty waitress who couldn't give the proper check or proper change. walked across central park to get back home. went to some bars in the east village at night and ended up at a small bar playing 80's music that had a bachelorette party dancing and getting drunk.


Signs seen in Harlem protesting Walmart

sunday july 10 - relatively peaceful day. i went and played softball in the park, and then in the evening Lisa made dinner. we then watched the fox shows (KotH, Simpsons, Family Guy).

4th of july fireworks

the 4th of july fireworks were fired off over the East River. I went to see them with my cousin Rujuta. The weather was so nice that a whole lot of people went to go see them fireworks too. Originally they blocked off FDR Drive (right next to the east river in Manhattan) between 14th and 42nd. By the time we got there that area was so packed that we were diverted to 49th and FDR.

Fireworks started around 9:20ish and lasted for almost 30 minutes. It was the most spectacular fireworks display I had ever seen. There were some really cool fireworks that i had never seen before, like one that did a smiley face. Even though there were lots of crowds, I am glad that i made it to see those fireworks.

I've attached a few pics of the show, i also have some video of the fireworks.

Oakenfold at Crobar NYC July3

Went to see Paul Oakenfold and Liquid Todd the night of Sunday July 3 at Crobar NYC. got there around 11:30 and stayed till almost 4am. ate a Veggie Samosa on the way back to the subway and then took the A train back to 72nd st. the train was more crowded than i thought for 4am on a Sunday. eventually got to sleep around 5am. ah, good times!

Crobar NYC phyiscal layout: a lot different from Crobar Chicago. Much more like a cross between Fur in Washington D.C. and ICE in Las Vegas. The club has the main room with the DJ and dance floor and an separate staging bar area. They roped off the main dance floor area until there was critical mass in the staging area, which was around midnight. The main dance area reminded me a lot of ICE Las Vegas in appearance. A large, almost square-ish dance area with VIP tables on an upper level on 3 sides. Plus they did the blast of cool air (nitrogen?) similar to ICE and Vision (chicago).

Prices: advance tickets were $43.75 ($3.75 handling charge). Amstel Light $8. Bottled Water $6. didn't try for a GG&T (grey goose and tonic), probably would've been like $15.

Club Scene: nothing extraordinary. Extremely packed from like 1:30 to 3. got slightly worried about getting trampled in case of an emergency. about 3/4rds dudes, and most girls there were with dates. but i wouldnt expect to see a lot of single women there unless they were really big fans of the music. $40 is a lot of dough. Some people were smoking, but it was significantly less than in other clubs i've been too. that was nice. Didnt see a lot of people who were visibly high on Ecstasy (unlike Tiesto in Seattle last December). only a few whiffs of pot smoking.

music: liquid todd was on first. was ok, had some really good music that got the crowd going and then played some not so good stuff. didnt really feel the momentum throughout his set. Oakenfold started playing around 1:45am. Energetic set early on, not exclusively trance, but a good mix of different genres. Highlight of the night was when he played a remix of Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall Part 2. was very energetic until about 3:30ish, and by then i was tired and ready to leave.

overall: definitely a good one-time thing (maybe just to say I saw Oakenfold in NYC), but probably not worth the $$$ to do this on a regular basis. Portland is lucky to have a place like Level where a better experience can be had for significantly fewer $$$.

a few pics:

Oakenfold on stage


People having a good time at the show

today i am a manhattanite

i needed to do laundry today but i also had a softball game to play in during the afternoon, so i dropped off my laundry at a wash and fold. $20.85 for 21 lbs of clothes. i'm sure i could've manually done the same thing for about $5 and 2-3 hours. but then i'd need to wake up early (gasp!) or not do something fun during the day. so i decided to use my hard-earned money to give me some free time and escape from doing laundry. on the plus side, the quality of the wash and fold laundry seems much better than anything i could've done.

the softball game got done around 5:30pm and the laundry place closed at 6pm, so i needed to get from central park around 100th street to the laundromat at 71st and Columbus rather quickly. there is a subway stop at 97th st and 72nd st, so theoretically i could've taken the subway, but since the subways are kinda erratic on weekends i decided to take a cab.

so i've done the drop off the laundry and take the cab instead of the subway because i was too busy with personal/fun stuff. plus i'll probably head to some trendy club tonite. i, at least for today, am a manhattanite.