Stefan Sagmeister...

On Wednesday afternoon there was another talk going on at FIT, it was part of the same programme that organised the Paula Scher talk I went to a few months ago.

This time it was a talk given by Stefan Sagmeister - questionable one of the most important Graphic Designers around today (and important Designers full stop). He's known for doing a lot of experimental typographic work as well as doing a lot of CD covers in the 1990's.

He has a very small studio (4 or 5 people) in Manhattan, not too far away from where the talk was taking place, and they do a mixture of work, they do corporate literature and identities, they do work for charity organisations and they do some other very creative and experimental work. One of the best things about the studio is that they close for 12 months, once every 7 years. It's all aprt of Sagmeister's plan to shave years off his retirement (when he'd just be bored) and spread them out throughout his career... I think it's a fantastic idea.

The talk he gave was very similar to the TED talks that he's done, I'd watched them both before I saw him talk and was incredibly inspired by some of his thoughts and statements. If you click on the titles below it should take you to the different talks if you fancy watching them...

Things I have learnt in my life so far...
The power of time off...

This was one of the pieces Sagmeister talked about, it's part of his 'Things I have learnt in my life so far' book, he often writes one line statements in his diary and later looks back at them and creates various pieces from them, either in scuplture, print or in animation. This particular one was created in a plaza in Amsterdam using Euro cent coins - there's a funny story about it if you watch his TED talk.

It was a great talk, and I'm incredibly glad I got to hear it first hand - I was a bit surprised no-one else in the office made the effort to go really (Abi was off sick, so I'll let her off) - but it's their loss, I always feel really inspired after hearing other designers talk about their work.

As I did after the Paula Scher talk, after the talk had finished I went across the road and enjoyed a burger from brgr - it's now become a little tradition (well maybe after a third talk it will become a tradition), a very tasty tradition.

Mr. Sandman...

He was back in Union Square the other night starting another fantastic piece...

One Year Today...

This time 1 year ago my plane had landed into JFK airport and I was frantically trying to direct my taxi driver to my apartment - the apartment that I'd never been to, in a part of the city I'd never been to, which I would be sharing with people I'd never met and barely spoken to...

The first couple of months were pretty bloody tough, and for the first two or three weeks I just wanted to come home again - but now things have got a lot easier and although I miss home more than ever and I'm counting down the days until we're flying back (74!), I'm glad I stuck it out and stayed out here.

It would have been 1000 times harder if I wasn't so spoilt with all your visits, and it's not long now until Tom's here (next month!) - it's incredibly hard being away from you all this time, but it's lovely being able to share my adventures with you too.

It feels like Abi and I have only just started our own little adventure (it's barely been 2 months since Abi arrived), so hopefully there'll be plently more stories to come. We've got some trips that we want to take and we're planning those so there might be some non-New York (and hopefully non-food related) posts on their way in the next couple of months!

Saturday stoll in the Park...

After being turfed out of the museum (it closed at 5.45pm), it was still beautifully sunny outside so we crossed the road and went into the park for a little walk. 81st street isn't too far away from the lake where everyone goes rowing in the little boats, to we walked down to the edge of the lake to watch.

There was a wedding party at the lake, having their photos taken infront of the view in the top photo - it was such a beautiful evening for it - but it was a bit muddy down by the lake so I hope no-one got their heels stuck or their suits dirty.

There's a spot down by the lake that has some big rocks you can sit on, this is one of my favourite areas in the park. I went here to take some photos in the Autumn and Tom and I went there in February when we came for his birthday. The trees surrounding the lake are beautiful and you can see the little bridge to the left and the skyscrapers to the right. It's a peaceful little area and although there are always people there with the same idea, everyone seems to be quiet.

There are also big rocks to climb, like this mountain goat did!

I love being in the park in the late afternoon/evening time - the light is always so beautiful and everything feels so calm... it's still one of my favourite places in New York.

In the Gift Shop...

I think we'll need these for when we visit the planetarium!

Truely Awesome...

(Sorry about the blurriness of the photo, I had my camera on the wrong setting...)

This tree started growing in 550AD and wasn't cut down until 1892!
At some parts of the tree the bark is over 12 inches thick!
I'm not sure where the tree was growing, or what type of tree it was (I should probably have read the sign in a bit more detail, but I was too gobsmacked at the age of it!), but this was by far one of the most awesome things we saw in the museum... this and the Dinosaurs.

Lunch Time...

Some Natural History...

Yesterday afternoon we went to The Natural History Museum and it was AMAZING!

Ever since Jurassic Park was on the other week I've been dying to go to the museum and see the Dinosaur bones and fossils, so yesterday took the subway up to 81st Street.

As soon as you get off the train in the station you're prepped for the weird and wonderful creatures you're going to see in the museum. There are mosaic spiders and fish and other creepy crawlies on the walls and the floors tiles have got some fantastic tribal type drawings of people, fish and animals on them. I love how certain subway stations are decorated to suit the area they're in - like 59th St. station has penguins and other animals on the walls because of Central Park Zoo, 8th Avenue has lots of little bronze sculptures, Prince Street has the little tiles with different New York people on them, 42nd Street has pictures of baseball fans because that's where you get the trains to the games from... it's such a great little touch to some of these stations.

As you enter the main entrance of the museum you're greeted by two huge Dinosaur skeletons - it's just like in the films. There are so many halls and rooms and floors to the museum, there are dinosaurs, African Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Space stuff, Ocean stuff, Anthropology stuff and lots more - more than we had time to see in the couple of hours we were there...

The first room we went into was the African Mammals room - you walk into a gloomy hall that has a heard of Elephants in the middle, then all around the sides are individual sets with various animals and scenes in. It was so strange seeing all these models and stuffed animals that I'd been lucky enough to see in the wild in Swaziland, like giraffes, zebras, warthogs, all sorts of antilopes, lions and rhinos.

All the scenes were so cleverly put together - the background paintings merged perfectly with the models and some of them looked incredibly real. Most of the models are made of clay with animal skins on, but some of them are actual stuffed animals, all of them look very life-like.

Then we went up to the forth floor to look at... DINOSAURS!

The range of skeletons they have in the museum is amazing - and the T-Rex is fantastic. It was just so incredible to think that these were REAL and actually roamed the planet! Some of them looked like they were straight out of Avatar!

There was even a Mammoth skeleton!

After seeing the Dinosaurs, and then going back into the African Mammals room it made us see all the animals in a different way - things like Rhinos and Giraffes and Ostrich's aren't too far removed from the Dinosaurs really...

As well as all the weird and wonderful creatures from the world, there were also a lot of rooms dedicated to all the people of the world, there was an exhibit about American Plain Indians which was really interesting. It's strange to think that American Indians were living in places like Arkansas waaaaay before anyone else got there.

There was also a room all about different tribes from around the world - with all their tribal masks and paintings and weapons, there was even an Easter Island Man statue (although I don't think it was real...)

There was still LOADS that we didn't get to see or read about, so we're going to go back another time. There was a full sized scale model of a Blue Whale that we wanted to see and there's also a whole wing dedicated to the planets - so I think we'll be heading straight to that section next time. It really was an amazing museum.

Kellogg's Breakfast...

(I didn't take this picture, I forget to take my own so this is off t'interweb...)

Yesterday we headed into town, but annoyingly the G Train wasn't running properly so we had to get the shuttle bus to Lorimer Street... the plus side of this is was that the bus stops right outside the Kellogg's Diner!

I've seen the Kellogg's Diner quite a few times (whenever I've had to get the shuttle) and always wondered what it was like inside, so it was nice to have an exuse to go in and have some brunch/lunch. Inside it feels like a typical diner, squeeky plastic covered booths and lots of mirrors and chrome, it wasn't as nice as the Tick Tock Diner in Manhattan though.

We both had a banana milkshake and some eggs benedict to give us some energy for the day - I have to say the milkshake was lovely but the eggs benedict weren't the best we've had in New York and weren't a patch on Chatters eggs...

Prospect Park & Park Slope...

Unfortunately I've felt pretty blummin' rubbish all weekend, and Abi wasn't feeling too fantastic either so we both enjoyed a very lazy weekend watching films like Up and Avatar and Sex & The City.

However, Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL day and blummin' hot too - so we ventured out and headed to Prospect Park. We got on the G train expecting to get off and change to the F train - I wasn't too sure which stop we needed to get off at, so inevitably we missed our stop... Oddly, the G trainline seems to have been extended and my Metro Map App on my phone hasn't been updated since, so I blame that. Anyway, once we'd realised, we decided to get off at the next stop and go back and then get the F train to Prospect Park. Once we got off at the next stop we had a very pleasant surprise - we were already at Prospect Park! The G train has been extended and now runs directly to the park - this is brilliant because in the summer they have concerts in the park (Tom and I went to listen to MGMT there last summer).

Anyway, once we got there we we gasping and rather peckish so we had an little explore around Park Slope (the area that Prospect Park is in) to find somewhere to have lunch.

It's a lovely area, and it feels very family orientated (like Cobble Hill or Brooklyn Heights but just a bit less fancy). The area we were sitting in for lunch felt quite quaint and a bit more like a small town, like Bentonville - with two story buildings and tree lined streets, little shops and flats and restaurants.

By the time we'd eaten it had started to cloud over and I was feeling ready to collapse on the sofa again, so we headed back - although we didn't get to go to the park this time, it's definitely a new area that we're going to explore again VERY soon.

John's Pizzeria...

Yesterday was Jonny's last morning at work, and as Darren's over from the Leeds office this week (to sort out a load of IT stuff) and Eliot was in town (from Chicago) we went out for a work lunch - we went to John's Pizzeria in the village, which apparently is famous in New York.

It was a small place, there weren't many tables or booths in there, but it wasn't very busy either as we went quite early. It's all deep red and wood colours inside, so it felt quite cozy - I imagine it has a good atmosphere at night.

Along the walls, and the benches, and the backs of the benches people had carved their names in the wood - unfortunatley our tables weren't wooden so we couldn't carve our names in... maybe next time.

It was mighty fine pizza but I have to say, it was no where near as good as Lombardi's - that's still top of the list for me.

The Caliente Cab Company...

I've noticed this little cab many times when I've been down in that area of the village and I've always thought how lovely and friendly it looks - it looks like a cartoon car. The Caliente Cab Co. is actually a Mexican Tapas restaurant, not a cab company - I wish all the cabs looked like this in New York!

How Could I Forget...

I completely forgot to say that on Saturday, late afternoon/early evening I went for a run in Central Park with Jonny... I say run, I sorted of jogged and then staggered, and then walked and then stumbled along for a bit.

I think I probably managed about 1 mile non-stop running... pretty poor really - but it was nice to be out in the park and be running along the roads. It definitely made me want to start running again and to go to the park to run a bit more - maybe I can build it up like I did in Arkansas and work my way up to running round the whole park...

We went from the 5th Avenue entrance to the park and made our way up to the reservoir, I thought it'd be nice to run round the reservoir (not realising how big it was), but then I saw it and had second thoughts... it's big.

It was a lovely view though.

Just like my target in Arkansas was to manage 10 miles, my target will be to run round the park (which I think is about the same) without stopping... then the marathon! Ha ha.

Birthday & Belated St.George's Day Tea...

On Monday it was Jonny's birthday (and his last full day - after 3 weeks of being with us, instead of the 10 days he was meant to be!). I asked Jonny what his favourite food was in all the world and he said steak and ale pie, so I investigated the best places to get such a thing in Manhattan - and so we went out for a birthday meal at Tea & Sympathy!

It seemed very fitting to be going to an all British restaurant on a cold, wet and dark Monday evening - it was pouring with rain outside and the restaurant was a little nippy, but it was incredibly cozy and it did feel like we were back home for bit.

Tea & Sympathy's split into two shops, one is a small shop selling tea and beans and chocolate and other British goodies (like Myers of Keswick) and the other is a little tea room serving lots of yummy foods...

(Lots of goodies for sale in here)

(The walls of the restaurant are covered with teapots and cream tea trays)

It was odd how excited we all got over the smallest things, we were all Ooing and Aahing over the fact that they had Ribena (and hot Ribena) on the menu, and you could get a side of Heinz Baked Beans if you wanted (yuk!), you could have Colemans mustard or Mint Sauce as a condiment and the menu was chocked full of the best of British grub at the best of New York prices... Jonny and I shared sausage rolls for a starter -2 sausages rolls (no bigger than a Greg's one) with a token salad for $14!!!!

Abi had a scotch egg for her starter, which was delcious but it also cost $10! So Tea & Sympathy are certainly onto a good thing... but it was worth it. They even had IRN BRU!

I'm actually quite glad it was cold and wet, I think it would felt a bit funny eating our Steak and Guinness pies and Tweed Kettle pies if it was lovely and sunny and warm outside, it was proper comfort food...

The 5 of us shared some sticky toffee pudding and custard for pudding, the waitress was lovely enough to put a candle in it and then sang Happy Birthday to Jonny in Irish (while the rest of us just sat there trying to work out what she was actually saying - we couldn't really join in).

It was a very fun evening and Tea & Sympathy is a great little place, I think it'll be a while before we go back though - it's more of a treat to go there (although having I think I'd pay $14 for another plate of sausage rolls - I miss sausage rolls a LOT!). The food wasn't a patch on proper home cooking, but it made a good enough substitute and will keep us going for another few weeks or so.

Brooklyn Flea...

Sunday was a grim, grey and wet day - luckily we had no plans and nothing to do... We decided to go to Target in Brooklyn (not the most exciting thing to do I kn0w), so we got the train to Atlantic Avenue (a few stops away from our apartment) and made our way there.

On the way we saw a sign that said the Brooklyn Flea Market was on, and on for the next 12 weeks too - so hopefully we'll be able to go back and get some more stuff for the apartment, or hidden treasures.

The building that the market was in was a very grand, veeery tall building - it felt really special wandering around, looking up at the ceiling and all the arches and then seeing all the interesting things for sale, all the old bits and pieces and all the crafty things that people had made.

One man made jewellery out of old vinyl records, one lady made some lovely little animal cushions, other people had screen printed tshirts they'd made and tote bags, there were some artists in there, some people were selling coffee beans and chocolate then there were all the flea market stalls too...

I thought this little chap looked a lot of fun - he reminded me a bit of Wall•E...

I think we'll be going back there to have a better look, we were a bit wet and cold and hungry - so we went on to Target (stopping off for a hotdog on the way!) and got a couple of DVDs for other rainy days (we got Avatar, Up and The Muppets Take Manhattan!).

Ducati...

Meatpacking Mural...

I saw this while I was walking along the Highline - there's lots of great street art in the Meatpacking District, but this looks completely different to anything else that's around there - it's great.

Bright Benches...

These are some of the picnic tables/benches by one of the entrances to the Highline - the colour of the benches against the tarmac looking rather striking I thought...

Stained Glass...

Theses beautiful windows are in the part of the Highline that's undercover - the light coming through the matt glass made each pane look like a colour swatch or something, I love it.

Back to the Highline...

On Saturday Abi and I met up with Jonny for lunch, we went to The Diner in the Meatpacking District - then we wandered over to the Highline Park.

Just as it's been lovely seeing Central Park through the different seasons, it's great being able to go to the Highline throughout the year and see all the plants growing and thickening out, and also to see the park being developed. Since the last I'd gone they'd opened up another section running for another 9-10 blocks.

It was a beautifully sunny afternoon, with a bit of a breeze in the air so all the trees were rustling and everyone was enjoying the sunshine... including us!

You can see the Empire State Building from the new section of park, and it looked like they're already working on the next stretch too. It's such a great idea and I can see why it won Wallpaper Magazine's 'Life Enchancer of the Year' Award last year.