Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!
It's been lovely to see lots of families taking their children out trick or treating, some of the babies have looked incredibly cute all dressed up as pumpkins and bears and ladybirds and bumble bees... there have been Transformers, Fairies, X-Men, Pirates, Withes and Wizards and then there have been some people who are just carrying a plastic bag and haven't dressed up at all, but are still expecting sweets.

I think the best costume I've seen whilst out and about today though has to be the two girls who were dressed up as Macs - the were wearing white boiler suits and had made very impressive frosted perspex 3D Apple logos that lit up around their necks...

What I've found a bit odd though is that because around Williamsburg (and Bedstuy I suppose) there are so many apartment buildings, so it makes it a bit harder to trick or treat than living in the suburbs - so the children just go into all the shops instead!!! Newsagents, Estate Agents, Chemists, Grocery Shops... even Dunkin Donuts! They just walk in and say trick or treat and help themselves to some sweets (some of them don't even say trick or treat!). It's been nice to see some of the parents dressing up too.

I must say that is was a little off putting walking into the hairdressers and seeing a Zombie sitting behind the desk - the thing is with getting your hair cut at Hair Metal, you're never sure if the people are in fancy dress or not! I had to think twice about saying 'I like your costume' to the girl who cut my hair because it wasn't far off what people in Brooklyn wear anyway...!

I was going to go and see the parade in the Village this evening - but the pumpkin carving took FAR longer than I'd imagined... I'm afraid I had some rather grand plans for my pumkins, but after cutting my finger I started to resent them - so out of the 3 I carved, only one is remotely good and that's only because I put the little witches hat from my Halloween sweet (from Dylan's Candy Bar, thank you Mops and Pops!) on it... I'm very disappointed.

I'm going to watch Zombie films now to cheer myself up...

Spotted...

I was just at the Union Square Market buying some pumpkins (more on that later) and saw a commotion coming my way... it was Mayor Bloomberg and Lance Armstrong taking an oh-so-natural walk through the market. With the army of police and security around them the wouldn't have actually been able to see any of the stalls... at least I got my pumpkins.

Fairey Tale...

Last night I got the train up to Times Square to the Levis store for a rather special event. Shepard Fairey (the artist who did those brilliant Obama Posters) has collaborated with Levis and produced a line of clothing which launched last night in New York.

To celebrate the launch, Mister Fairey was doing a live installation right in the middle of Times Square and then he was doing a signing of his prints, so I bought a T-shirt (which I'm wearing right now) got my free prints and got in line to get them signed.

The hording around the store had been tagged and decorated... it looked great.

The installation must have been about 7 feet high and 24-30 feet wide, it looked great - and they actually had people sitting and watching the whole thing, they had seats set up for spectators.

If you bought an item of clothing from the new range you got 4 free limited edition prints which were double sided. One one side they're 4 individual prints but if you flip them over you can put them together to make a big picture of a punk...

Initially we were told that we'd only be allowed to get one poster signed, but people had loads of different prints - some people had copies of the ORIGINAL Obama prints that he did (which apparently are worth more than $5,000 each now!). Luckily if you lined up the prints just right he would sign all of them, so I managed to get all four prints signed... who knows - they might be worth a bit in a year or two?

THANK YOU!

Thank you for such a fantastic weekend Mops and Pops!
I can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks when I'm back HOME.
(I hope you don't mind me putting this photo up, but I thought it was lovely.)

On The Lake...

There were lots of boats on the lake on Sunday afternoon... it would have been a very romantic way to spend the afternoon. Well, it would have been romantic for a lot of the couples that were out there if it wasn't for mobile phones - I noticed rather a few boats where the boyfriend was rowing hard, trying to impress his girlfriend while she was furiously texting away! Who said romance is dead?

Father & Son...

In the park the was a father teaching his son some football manouvers... I managed to get a photo of the boy jumping for the ball before his dad said 'Enough of the jumping already!'

Autumn In The Park...

After saying cheerio to Mops and Pops on Sunday afternoon I thought I'd go back to the park and take some photos of the leaves...

The park was a hive of activity, I love it on a Sunday afternoon with all the families and the runners and the rollerbladers and the horse and karts and the hotdog stands... I love it, love it, love it! It certainly helped to keep me from feeling too blue after saying Goodbye.

The leaves looks so fantastic in the evening sunlight.

There were also some families playing baseball or playing catch or football. It's lovely to see families spending Sunday afternoons together outside in the sun - not sure there's much of that going on back in the UK or not, but it was comforting to see it here...

I walked back to the lake, to see all the boaters and see the reflections of the leaves in the water, it was so beautiful. I think evening sunlight is my favourite kind of light, it's my favourite time of day. It was so peaceful by the lake, I find it amazing that in the middle of all the busy busy noise of Manhattan you can sit on a rock by the lake and feel completely relaxed and calm and not hear any traffic... perfect.

Lady Liberty...

Brooklyn Bridge...

One from the river...

Sunny Sunny Sunday...

On Sunday we went for a boat tour of New York, cruising along the Hudson River and seeing the incredible skyline from the water. Unfortunately we had to suffer a rather annoying and opinionated tour guide, but that couldn't ruin the trip because the views were just amazing...
The boat took us all the way down the Hudson River, then round the corner of the bottom of the island, under the Manhattan Bridge, under the Brooklyn Bridge and under the Williamsburg Bridge and then up the East River and turned around before reaching the United Nations HQ...

We then cruised back down the river, and went over to pass Governors Island, Ellis Island and Liberty Island to see Lady Liberty...

Travelling under the bridges was great and seeing the Statue of Liberty in the sunshine was beautiful.

It was a beeeeeeeudiful boat journey and a perfect way to end such a fantastic and relaxing weekend with Mops and Pops...

Walk On The Wild Side...

On Saturday evening, after a rather tasty burger (and massive salad for Pops) at the Tick Tock Diner we went to go and see Where The Wild Things are at the IMAX... it was a great film, a little bit scary and a little dark in parts - but it's beautifully shot and the animatronics are absolutely INCREDIBLE!!! I think Max is a little doolally and a little old for dressing up as a wolf, but the characters were lovely and seeing it on the IMAX screen was brilliant...

Candy Bar...

On Saturday we did a spot of shopping in Bloomingdales and popped over the road to Dylan's Candy Bar! It's like stepping into Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, it's so colourful and sugary...
We had fun looking at all of the different kinds of sweets for Halloween and Thanks Giving and Hanukkah and the amazingly over priced sweets from home (almost $4 for a Lion Bar!). We bought lots of goodies and then got on the train to Brooklyn for a cup of tea in my flat.
(This isn't my photo by the way... I didn't take my camera out because of the drizzle.)

First We'll Take Manhattan...

On Friday we spent an evening with Mister Leonard Cohen at the world's most famous arena... MADISON SQUARE GARDEN!!!!
It was such a fantastic concert, he's go the most unique and incredible voice - it was spellbinding and his band were so tight and talented. Mr. Cohen was obviously having a great night and the audience LOVED him... he got a standing ovation just for coming on stage, then he continued to get about 3 more through-out the concert and then one for each of the 45 encores that he and his band did. For a 75 year old he has incredible energy and presence and passion for what he does - and he has mastered the art of wearing a trilby too!
He played from about 8.30 until about 11.30!
That's longer than a Foo Fighters gig...
It was such a brilliant experience - I don't think I'll ever forget it.

That Friday Feeling...

On Friday we thought we'd go for a walk through Central Park and work our way over to the Guggenheim Museum...
So we got the subway up to 72nd Street and walked passed the Dakota Building where John Lennon and Yoko used to (and half still) live. It was a bit spooky seeing the exact alley where he was shot, I'd never seen it before and there was a certain feeling in the air around the place. We crossed the road and went into Strawberry Fields, then carried on walking up and across the park where all the trees were showing off their fancy Autumn colours.

We happened to find ourselves near the Boathouse Restaurant so stopped by for a spot of rather delicious lunch - we timed it perfectly too because after we got our table the place completely filled up. The views from inside the boathouse are amazing, it's such a beautiful setting to have lunch in - looking out over the lake with all the reds and oranges and yellows in the trees and the skyscrapers peering over the tops of them. It was fantastic and the food was delicious Mops had steak and Pops and I had pork tenderloin with figs and honey... Mmmmmmmmm!

Then we continued up to the Guggenheim, where we were bowled over more by the architecture than the amazing Kandinsky exhibition inside - it's such an incredibly cleverly designed building... good old Frank.

Yeeeeeeehaw!

Another New York landmark to tick off the list... The Naked Cowboy!
I saw him on my way to Mops and Pops' hotel on Friday morning, there was some TV event going on in Times Square and he seemed to be causing quiet a stir with passers by...

Welcome Back to New York...

It's been incredible to see Mops and Pops again, but now I'm feeling a little blue, so I've spent this evening going through some photos of the fantastic long weekend we've just had, and here are some of the highlights... starting with Thursday evening at the Highline Park...

It was a beautiful day on Thursday and the evening was equally beautiful, so we went over to the Meatpacking District and took a walk along the Highline Park. Walking along the old railway in the evening is so wonderful - watching the sunset over Hoboken and enjoying all the lovely plants and architecture along the Highline.

We then went for a walk through the Chelsea Market which had been decorated all ready for Halloween - they had some fantastic Pumpkin carvings... some inspiration for my carving this week I think...

We then had a rather tasty dinner at The Diner, which is in the Meatpacking District, just opposite the Apple Store - it was great to be able to sit outside in mid October, the weather was amazing that day.

It's TOMORROW!

Mops and Pops will be here TOMORROW!!!
I can't wait to see them again and hear all about their holiday...
Wooooooohooooooooooooooo!!!

Strolling Up 5th Avenue...

I walked to the pictures last night - I strolled up 5th Avenue past Madison Square Park, it looked beautiful - it wasn't completely dark yet and all the lights were coming on.

There's also a little market on the edge of the park at the moment and it felt really Christmassy - it felt a bit like the Christmas market in Leeds, although it wasn't selling anything Christmassy, but it was chilly and the lights looked pretty and stuff...

The Flat Iron and the Empire State Building looked really lovely as it got darker and darker.

New York is so beautiful sometimes.

Zombieland

Last night I went to go and see Zombieland. I think I may have started a little personal tradition of going to the Tick Tock diner for a tasty burger before going to the 34th St. cinema. I went again last night and had a different burger, it was just as tasty as the last time. I think I need to do that Top 5 Burger list soon.

Zombieland was BRILLIANT, so much better than I was expecting. It was really funny and very clever, it had fantastic opening titles and throughout the film there were some great bits of type that popped up and interacted with the scene - a bit like in Stranger Than Fiction, how numbers and letters pop up around Will Farrell.

It wasn't very long - but it didn't need to be, it was fantastic. I'd watched Dawn of The Dead for the first time the other night, I think I've got a hunger for Zombie films now.

6 More Months...

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat news!
It's been confirmed that I'll be here for another 6 months next year... and I'll have a companion for the next leg of this American Adventure, ABI'S COMING OUT TOO!
I'm so excited!

Brothers Moving...

This evening I left work and was planning on going to the cinema, but instead I ended up watching this group for about half an hour in Union Square. They were a group called Brothers Moving, from Denmark and were absolutely AMAZING.

They had the most incredible voices, a cross between Louis Armstrong, Joe Cocker and Ralph from the Muppets (the dog who played the piano)... they were obvoiusly having great fun playing and managed to hold a big crowd for the whole time. They played their own songs (in their whatever language they speak in Denmark?!) as well as some covers, a great version of 'Roxanne' and Stevie Wonder's 'Master Blaster' and Joe Cocker's version of 'With A Little Help From My Friends'.

They're doing a little gig on Friday night at Webster Hall so I might go along to that, but by the looks of things they play a lot in New York. They were selling EPs for $7, so I picked one up - I've been trying all night to work out how to upload a song on here, but I don't think I can do it, so instead I've managed to find a little video of them performing (with a little help from a fan).

Walking through Union Square is so fantastic, you never know who's going to be there and what they're going to be doing, whether they're musicians or dancers or artists or whatever. I love it, it makes my journey back from work so much more enjoyable knowing that I might get to hear some great music.

Some Finds...

I was walking back to the apartment, R in hand when I saw someone was having a 'stoop sale' (although they didn't have a stoop, it was just the street)... and a rather nice chair caught my eye.

I asked the gentleman how much he was selling the chair for and gave it a little lift to see if I could carry it the rest of the way (over a mile left...) - so I have some new additions to the apartment now...

With a nice colorful cushion I think the chair will be rather perfic and the R will be a lovely reminder of a fantastic Sunday afternoon by the water.
(The chair was £12.50 by the way!)

Green Pirate...

I love all the variations on ice cream vans that are around, this was a healthyish organish juice van called The Green Pirate. I'd love an ice cream van...

Locked...

Nearly Time...

This was outside one of the grocery shops in Brooklyn Heights... I'm looking forward to carving a pumpkin to put in my window...

Little Snap...

Brooklyn Heights Wall Art...

There were some fantastic bits of commissioned graffiti in Brooklyn Heights - I think these two were done by the same artist (well, bits of the top on were done by the same artist that did Pedro's)... it makes such an impact against some of the more grey buildings. Pedro's looked like a fun little Mexican Shacky Restaurant...

Brooklyn Bridge...

Happily Ever After...

Under the Brooklyn Bridge seems to be a popular place to have wedding photos taken... I was there for an hour or so and I saw 3 or 4 different parties...


I was trying to work out what was going on here, the newly weds and the two girls looks grandly and smartly and appropriately dressed for a wedding, then the little boy at the front's wearing combats and the couple to the right look like they're just in the photo for fun! Maybe they just like being in photos...?

These group of people have an army of photographers and camera people, it's just a shame that in the background of all their photos is going to be a big yellow water taxi boat... they could have waited a few minutes... Nevermind.