All Packed...

Well... my little room has now been packed up into 5 boxes and a big suitcase all ready for the move on Wednesday. I have a confession to make... a large part of me wishes these boxes were being shipped home and that I was coming too. I'm missing home a lot today.

Sunday Strolling...

Yesterday evening I took myself to see Taking Woodstock at the cinema up on 42nd Street by Times Square - I really like going to that cinema now, walking through Times Square is always incredible - it's just heaving with people... constantly.

I had a little of time to kill in between finishing my Jack Daniels Ribs and the film starting, so I went for a little wander around, I walked up past Radio City Hall (which made me think about when Mops and Pops were here and how fantastic that was), then I found myself outside the Ed Sullivan Theatre!

It was great seeing some of the sights and not having to rush to fit it all in.. I have to admit that I was actually strolling around trying to find a Dunkin' Donuts for pudding! Much to my dismay the only one I could find was CLOSED! I think it was a sign that I shouldn't have got any...

I had some candied Cashews on my walk back to Union Square after the film to make up for it!

A Moose Loose About This Loo...

These taps made me smile...

Hair Metal...

I went to get my hair cut yesterday at a place called Hair Metal in Williamsburg... as you can see from the photos, there was a bit of theme to the establishment! It was great, all the people working there were all heavily tattooed and incredibly friendly.

I'd read a few reviews about it and they were all very good so I thought I'd give it a try...

I was a little nervous when the hair-dresser pulled out a cut-throat razor! Then she did most of the cutting with it... You wouldn't get that in David George.

No Ordinary City...

... and I live there!

I saw this poster on a blog today, it's a ad for New York, it's great...

14 days...

In PRECISELY 2 weeks, probably to the hour - Abi will be here!
I can't wait for our little summer holiday... it's going to be fantastic to have a little break (especially as it's 10.15pm and I'm still in the studio now!), 14 days and counting...

Addicted!

Last night I watched 4 episodes of the new series of Hell's Kitchen... it's official... I'm hooked! It's so much more dramatic than ours back at home, it's ridiculous - it's so so heavily edited and hammed up but it's BRILLIANT!

The people in it are sooooo arrogant and so confrontational (I expect they're cast exactly for those traits) and it can sometimes get a little heated... just look at this little clip!

 I think I might watch another 4 episodes tonight, I've got some catching up to do.

Good News!

I'll be moving out of my little room and into a full apartment next week!
Yahoooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Ponyo Ponyo...

Last night I went to see Ponyo at the Sunshine Theatre. Ponyo's the latest Disney Anime type film, by the same person who did Spirited Away and Howls Moving Castle... although they'd got different actors in to do the English voices, like Liam Neeson, Tina Fey and Matt Damon.

It's a really lovely (strange) story about a little goldfish who turns into a little girl after licking a cut on a little boy's finger...? It was very sweet anyway and the Ponyo character was very cute.

The Sunshine Theatre's brilliant - I think it must have been renovated or something because it looks all old from the outside and has HUGE letters saying SUNSHINE on the awning, but then inside it's all new and has stadium seating and really comdy chairs. I've just looked on google and it looks like they hold film premiers there sometimes... fancy!

I stopped off on my way back to the apartment for a couple of $1 slices of pizza... yum!

More Bedfordness...

Here are some more bits and pieces I saw around McCarren Park today, I'd just come back from looking at another apartment and it was beautifully sunny. I went for a walk around the park - I'd not realised how big it is, it's got lots of different bits that are seperated by the road running through them, but it's much bigger than I'd thought.

The 'M' was on some gates outside a shop, the shop said it did restoration and stuff but I think it was an old painted shop sign and it might have been a restaurant of bar now... either way, pretty groovy gates.

I bloody love the pickup truck and the choppers - I want them!

Paper Heart...

Last night I went to see Paper Heart at the Angelika Cinema. My very reliable source (Abi) tells me that the Angelika has been in Sexy & The City, which explained why there were a couple of girls looking very pleased with themselves for finding it... It was a great little cinema, it's a bit like the Showroom in Sheffield, it plays more arty films.

Paper Heart is a film/faux documentary about love, and the main characters inability to find or feel it... it was a very sweet film with a clever concept - it was very funny too, it has Seth Rogan and Michael Cera in it so it couldn't fail to be funny really...

I'm not sure when it'll be out in the UK, but it's good - not as good as Juno, not by a long shot but it's got a similar sort of feel... kind of.

Washington Square Park...

Yesterday evening, on my way to the cinema I strolled through Washington Square Park. I always forget just how close it is to work, it's just at the end of 5th Avenue. At the weekends there are often loads of different performers there, sometimes good ones (like the little band I saw) sometimes not so good, like the juggler I saw who kept dropping his batons.
I'd seen two of this little band before, performing as a duo (the girl with the washboard and the guy with dreadlocks) - they're brilliant. The girl's got such a distinctive and old fashioned sounding voice and they play old 40's style songs. They'd attracted quite a crowd and were playing in a restaurant later that evening... I was almost tempted to go and have tea there so I could hear them some more (I'd already had a mighty tasty burger from Stand already though).

Verde Verde Nice...

(I didn't take this photo by the way...)
On Thursday evening Jon, Malvina, Alex and I went out for a meal at Locande Verde which is in the Greenwich Hotel. It's one of Robert De Niro's many many restaurants - apparently he's got 25!! It was rather lovely, the decor was great, lost of rusticy wood mixed with stainless steel, quite industrial chairs and light fittings mixed with delicate glass panels and stuff - tres nice.

It was really busy, which is obviously a good sign, but luckily we got a table (as long as we were out by 9pm). The menu is based on a 'sharing concept' apparently, so all the dishes come at different times and we're all supposed to try a bit of each other... problem is all the portions are bloody small, so we ended up ordering more food.

I had a mighty tasty sea bass with clams (with a blue crab thingy to start), then we each had a lamb meatball slider (mini burger) and then we had pudding... I had cheese and biscuits, which then lead to a very funny conversation with Alex. Alex, in all his 28 years has NEVER heard of having cheese and biscuits for pudding!?!?! We couldn't believe it, he thought you'd have it for a starter...? Oh well. It was incredibly delcious (and a wee bit pricey), so I'd certainly recommend going (you might need to stop off at MacDonalds afterwards though!).

In The Gutter...

Last night the four of us went for a spot of bowling in Williamsburg. We went the The Gutter, which is a brilliant bowling alley that looks like it's straight out of 1970 or something - it's got a really old bar and pool table area and shabby (in a good way) alleys.

They consoles for the scores were all old, they were just black and green screens with very simple pixelated counters and stuff and the chutes where the ball comes up out of were all metal and felt similar to the design of all those old American 'streamline' aviation inspired things like the Airstream caravans.

It was great - which is more than can be said for my playing... not one single strike. Pitiful.

There's another bowling alley just down the road which looks far swankier, it has leather sofas instead of those plastic seats where you sit and wait for your go and they've got huge plasma screens hanging up - so I think I'll be going there next!

Little Red Truck...

I loved this truck, and this garage... and considering I took this with my iPhone I think it's come out alright (after a wee bit of tweaking!). I love American cars from the era, and this truck had obviously been done up to a very high standard (it had those custom tattooish flamey lines around the front badge). Beautiful.

Bedford Findings...

It's been a wee while since I strolled around the Bedford Avenue area, and I wanted to find where these two bowling alleys were, so this afternoon I went for a bit of an explore...

It was a beautifully sunny day today and bloody BOILING! Everything looked lovely in the sunshine, even all the run-down and abandoned factory buildings looked very photogenic in the sun.

I managed to find the bowling alleys, they're in the old industrial area of Williamsburg, fairly close to the river, so I could see the Manhattan skyline as I was walking around. Near the bowling alley was this great garage that had a beautiful old red pickup truck parked outside and two fantastic motorbikes parked in the entrance - this mighty fine yellow van was parked across the road.

I was thinking yesterday that I would like to find the Brooklyn Lager Brewery, but I didn't know where it was... well - it's just round the corner from one of the bowling alleys, I think the two buildings are joined together actually... so I'll be paying them a visit soon I think.

I love all the different houses and apartment buildings around Bedford Avenue, off on of the North streets I spotted this building that was being renovated. It had the most amazing porch, it was all copper with very intricate patterns... very grand looking (quite out of place really). It looked very impressive with the sun shining off the copper (or brass? Or both?!)...

I thought this Barber Emporium looked very quaint with the red awning and the groovy bike chained up outside... after further inspection I realised it was a motorised bike! Maybe if I get round to getting my hair cut I'll go here...?

I also found some shops that I'd not noticed before - one was a fantastic, big, cluttered junk shop - it had all sorts of things. Including old battered acoustic guitars for $50, I think I might go in and barter with them and then get it fixed, get the nut and bridge flipped and get it restrung... they looked fantastic, like the little acoustic guitars people had in the 50s. I'm not sure how old they actually were, but I loved the look of them... so watch this space!

It Might Get Loud...

After having some Pigs in Blankets at the Brooklyn Diner at Times Square (as recommended by Mops and Pops!) and a couple of pints in a 'Authentic' Irish Pub, Jon and I went to go and see It Might Get Loud.

It's more or less a film with The Edge, Jack White and Jimmy Page talking about their relationship with the electric guitar and how they got into playing it - it was really interesting to hear their stories, especially Jimmy Page (He played guitar on the Goldfinger song!). I did think that they could have picked some other prolific guitarists to talk to too - Jack White's not really the most accomplished player in the world...

We went to see it in the 42nd Street AMC cinema, so it was great being in a cinema in Times Square - it was HUGE and had a very grand foyer. They show a lot more films than the one near work, so I think at weekends I'll be going there more.

The film has made me miss my guitar even more... maybe if the exchange rate gets a bit better I might invest in a new one?!

Fish Friday...

Yesterday lunch time, in true Elmwood tradition we went for a Friday Fish Butty! I'd been told about a genuine British chippy called A Salt & Battery. It was brilliant and HEAVING! I didn't managed to take any good photos of it, but it's just like being back at home (except there aren't any pickled eggs!)... they even had Tango!

It was funny having to explain to an American man what a 'Chip Butty' was - but they were all loving it. So were the people working behind the counter, they were all from the UK and they were having so much fun.

Unfortunately there were some people in there who were you typical Brit Abroad and were just being laddish and talking about football and stuff - but it was quite nice in a strange way... well, not nice - but it made me appreciate certain aspects of home and certain aspects of New York.

It was a mighty fine fish butty and I'll most certainly be going back, probably in the winter as I was ROASTING yesterday... but it was nice to sit on the bench outside.

The chippy is next to a shop that's run by the same people called Tea & Sympathy. Not surprisingly, they sell tea - so I'm going to pop in there and have a look soon (although I noticed on the A Salt & Battery website that they're charging $17 for a box of PG Tips!)... I'm going to see if they'd stock Make Mine A Builders!

Thunder!

So much for the thunder storms that were forecast...
These are the skies I've been looking at today! Be-ude-ee-ful.

The Real Pigeon Post...

I was going through some photos and remembered I'd taken this when Tom was here...

Updated...

9/11 Memorial...

One the walk back to the Ferry port I stopped off to look at the 9/11 Memorial, it was for all the people from Staten Island who lost their lives, many of them were firefighters who must have been working for Manhattan divisions. It was a lovely idea to have the face profiles, on the plaques - they lovely shadows, the memorial must look dramatic at all times of the day.

Snug Harbor...

Unfortunately I didn't really do my research on Snug Harbor, so I'm not entirely sure what it used to be, although it feels a bit like an ex-military place that's now been turned into a collection of gardens, galleries and museums.

There a lots of different gardens, butterfly gardens, botanical gardens, healing gardens, chinese gardens, secret gardens... lots and there's children's museum (which looked great!) and a small art gallery which had some Henry Moore work in, some miniature sculptures and sketch books - so he must have spent some time there.

There were also quite a few weddings going on, I think I saw about 3 different wedding parties in about 15 mintues. One of them looked like a mobster's wedding, they all had really strong New York accents and were a little garishly dressed - everyone looked very happy though.

It was a really peaceful place to be, it was silent - such a massive contrast to Manhattan, it felt like I was hundreds of miles away not just 30 minutes. It was very quiet in terms of people too, there weren't many tourists about, maybe there would have been more had I gone in June or July (I'm pleased that it was quiet though). I think it'd be a great place to go and take a book and a blanket and a little picnic...

Staten Island...

Yesterday I took the free ferry over to Staten Island... it took about 30 minutes to cross over the river, chugging past the Statue of Liberty in our big orange boat.

Once I got to the other side I was a bit surprised at the contrast to Manhattan, there are a fair few shabby looking buildings, some abandoned ones too, but there were also some really lovely buildings that looked like courthouses or town hallish type places.

I walked around for a bit, struggling with the hills (there really aren't any proper hills in Manhattan) - it all felt eerily quiet really, despite it being Saturday afternoon... I wasn't really sure where I was going or what there was to do there. My trusty iPhone showed me that there was some where called Snug Harbor, it was about 1.5 miles away from the ferry port so I walked along to find it...

River Flicks!

I think it might be every Wednesday and every Friday during the summer there are free filmings on the Hudson River - they show films for adults (not naughty ones!) on Wednesdays and films for children on Fridays. They've shown things like Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Ghostbusters and lots more and I've been wanting to go for ages... and yesterday after work I took myself to go and see
THE MUPPET MOVIE!!!


It was great - there were lots of young families, lots of very cute little children and babies all ready to see Kermit and friends. Everyone was sitting down on the grass on their blankets, enjoying the free popcorn and the sunset over the river.

There was such a lovely atmosphere, everybody clapped when the film came on, everyone clapped at the end of each song, everyone clapped when the baddy got their comeupence and booed when Kermit and Miss Piggy got captured... they cheered when Steve Martin was on screen, the wowed when Orson Wells was on screen and laughed out loud at all the jokes - it was great.

It's such a lovey idea, I'm going to try and get along to the last few that they're showing - I think they might be showing Sex & The City soon - Abi, if you hurry you might catch it!

Sunset Over The Hudson...

After work on Friday I went for a stroll along the Hudson River... it looked beautiful as the sun was going down - the Jersey Skyline's not quite as big and beautiful as Manhattan, but it's pretty bloody nice.