14 posts tagged “nyc”

Jet-setting to the other side on a red-eye flight with no sleep, this weekend I spent my days and nights remembering the very good city of New York.  A weekend alone is not nearly enough to trace the lines of my nostalgia for the city, but I can't complain since the hours were action-packed and always filled to the brim with good people.

With help and encouragement from dear ee.en, I attended 8-bit-people and The Tank's all weekend Chiptune bash Blipfest 2007.  Held at the Eyebeam gallery in Chelsea, the space was never left with an empty echo.  Throes of candy-colored concert goers, from the mandatory city hipsters to the graying groups of vintage gamers, pulsated to the 8-bit performances and basked in the lite-brite like colors of the set.  I spent a couple of nights dancing, nerd crowd-surfing, and bit-bumping, but the experience alone was intense enough to tire me out by the third night.

To give you a taste of what was had (and what should be hoped for in the next installment of Blipfest 2008) here's a trailer of last year's performance :

.tiff here.  Fully rested and attempting to recapture what exactly happened in the past 36 hours I was awake.  The 13 hours of non-stop sleep helped the brain cells recharge, but I have to admit everything is still a little blurry.

I arrived at 58th street by way of Taxi at 2 AM to switch places with Chico's housemate James in line.  My energy was pretty high at that point.  I fancied jumping around and running back and forth to check out the scene.  Although it never rained for more than 2 minutes total, sleeping line-waiters covered their chairs with umbrella shields.  A few had brought tents, and others just opted for the concrete sidewalk as their beds.  Sleep was basically not an option at that point, so I entertained myself with star coin collecting in New Super Mario Bros.

As soon as it started to get light, things get fuzzy.  Around 6am, media from CNN, Fox News, ABC, and others started to hunt down line waiters who looked like they had a story to tell.  A reporter from ABC asked questions to some line sitters like "Why do you smell the way you do?", and one Fox News reporter quickly went down the line person by person asking questions like "But why are you waiting so long?" or  "You aren't really crazy, are you?".  It became really irritating after a while, so I hooded up and put on my shades to avoid the press.

Following the news stations and bloggers were the companies advertising themselves with loads of free crap.  First, Apple passed out SmartWater and Krispy Kreams to peeps, but then non-Apple folks like FAO Shwartz, WIRED, Virgin Airlines, and more came to distribute their free products.  The police had assembled metal fences to separate us from the street, and I felt like a little baby in a cage grabbing out for free stuff as these people came by.  The assorted swag we took from the scene can be seen in the picture. Around 4 they started to moved us up to the front of the store where the media began to infiltrate the line.  Thankfully, Starbucks passed out cups of coffee to keep us going.  I'm sure you've heard the rest of this from everyone else on the internet, but it was really unlike anything else.  At 6PM they opened the doors.  A line of about 20 Apple employees lined the doorway and gave people high fives as we walked in line.  The press crowded around the entrance like a red carpet event.  As we spiraled down the stairway and the floor opened up, we saw apple employees on the floor everywhere, clapping and cheering as we came inside.  While we were entering, folks who already had their iPhones were leaving and were also cheered at as they left. Coldplay was being blasted around the store like the peak dramatic scene in a movie or TV drama.  I tried to record the madness, but my heart was beating so fast and I was shaking due to the overridden senses and the delirium I was experiencing due to my lack of sleep.

Chico and I got our 2 iPhones, and quickly headed out to Central Park, to catch our breaths.  We got a second wind after being released from the crowd of chaos, but then quickly passed out when we got home.  What an experience.  And I havn't even got to play with an iPhone yet!  One is going to my Dad and the other is going to Chico and James to sell (which they have succeeded in doing).  Time to go to the park and enjoy the outside before the humidity comes back to New York!

June 29, 2007

This evening Chico and I went out for a 'non'-date.  While the activities on the agenda were a movie followed by a few drinks, Chico has made the point that we are well beyond dating so our collective activities can no longer be considered 'dates'.  Fair enough, sure, but I still think movie and drinks count as 'date'-esque activities.

We started out watching the new Anime film Paprika, which I had initially read about on Drawn!.  Paprika is the cute female alias of a dream psychiatrist who helped develop a device called the DC mini, enabling people to enter other folks' dreams.  While the story was a little haphazard from time to time, I was absolutely overwhelmed with the beauty of the animation.  It's impressive that while American cinema has softened their interests for developing any new venues for hand drawn animation, the Japanese continue to produce groundbreaking creative styles and films unlike anything seen here in the states.  Overall, it was a very enjoyable film, and I'd recommend seeing it.  It does have a few strange sexual undertones however, so it's probably not an appropriate movie for young kids.

After walking a few blocks down, Chico brought me to this place called the Antique Garage.  We started by each having a drink.  I ordered a sour cherry martini garnished with fresh raspberries which was incredibly delicious.  We had a few other snacks and ended our little soiree out with a cappuccino and some profiteroles.  Chico has work tomorrow, I wonder what I'll do?

Oh! And I got a new digicam! Yup yup! Finally!

While I was getting my most recent pair of disposable cameras developed, I walked around the neighborhood for an hour to get a grasp of what was surrounding me.  Many small deli's and fruit stands, a lot of banks, a lot of cellphone stores.  Moderately crowded streets around 6:15 PM.  Several dogs being walked between business folk and students.  The sun was still beating down as it was heading west, but the shadows of buildings stood long and thick across the sidewalks.

I meandered around for about an hour until I found a grocery store near-by.  At that point I still had about 25 minutes to kill, so I grazed the shopping aisles very slowly, trying to determine what I could easily carry back to the apartment with me, and what wouldn't melt.  I savored fruit, particularly peaches, but the peaches the grocery store had were too small, so I opted for cheap canned peaches instead. Not the same, I know, but canned peaches can be somewhat romantic for a broke graduate straight out of college, right?  I picked up my photos, head back to the roof of the apartment, and forked slices of syrupy peaches while flipping through my print outs.

It was a nostalgic dual set of photos from the last half of senior week.  Mostly photos of my house and living room, and the good folks getting sauced here and there.  Duane Reade will put white borders around your print outs for free, which left the oddly focused disposable camera shots somewhat artsy, if you can believe it.  I'm happy with what I paid for, and tossed around the idea of only using disposable cameras from now one.  But in the long run it'd be much cheaper to get a digital camera again.  I'll have to do some thinking.

Later in the night I started After Dark, ate more peaches, met another person who lives in the building. Wrote up my very first Beta-Tester report for a friend's game and tried with all of my might to beat Gamma Bros, but still couldn't get passed the third level.  It's a deliciously fun game though, so try it if you get a chance!

I have to admit, I've been a little sluggish getting back into the swing of doing anything productive since graduation.  While the internet used to resonate as a guilty pleasure for procrastination amidst my school work, it has to some degree lost its addictive magnetism now that I only have to do what I want to do.  But I do want to post on Vox, so never fear.  I'll be here.

Chico's been busy working as a production assistant for the Fi Fi awards, a three day gig that he has to work from 5pm and 5am.  Meanwhile, the house cat Kitten keeps me company, and I've managed to make my way out to the world on my own now that I have my own set of apartment keys.  Last night I attended a preview screening of a documentary about Blipfest with my friend Analog Pigin, followed with a tasty dinner at La Esquina and a few beers at a bar where I coincidentally ran into four Vassar friends.  Ian gave me two graduation gifts; Haruki Murakami's new book After Dark, and the Pupshaw and Pushpaw Vinyl figurines that I've been longing to own for a year or so now ever since I read The Frank Book.

Today? Some reading, catching up on internets.  Archiving animated .gif's I've started to collect.  Cleaning.  Maybe groceries.  Beta testing a super secret game! Toys 'r' Us is only a few blocks away and I'm tempted to walk on by and pick myself up a new DS game.  Any suggestions?  Pokemon perhaps?

The past three meals I've had over the course of today and yesterday have all been soups.  Matzha ball.  Chicken udon.  Lentil vegetable.  This oncoming of soups indicates a fortuitous path in the universe.  At least, for me.

The weekend was filled with traveling and work.  Friday I went down to Trenton, NJ with Chico to take a quick visit to his family.  The rest of the weekend I cozied up in Brooklyn, finally gaining the creative momentum to begin work on my Media Studies senior project, which in its present form exists as almost four pages of graphic narrative.  I'm really excited about the work now that I've jumped into it, and reading Voxers' fascinating questionnaires certainly invigorated my thoughts.  So many, many, thanks again to those who contributed.

Meanwhile, the muses of Youtube videos and musical doncations from online friends have been exceedingly rich.  Backdropping my work was a wide-array of tv episodes, from the bizarre Tom Goes to the Mayor (the video above is from an episode with Michael Ian Black...the best secret handshake in the world) and Wonder Schowzen to the competitively comedic Kenny vs. Spenny.  Meanwhile, my friend Analog P. opened my ears to Boards of Canada and rg sent over Regina Spektor's 'anti-folk' album, which I've been listening to on repeat since I got it.

So things are good.  The bittersweet oncoming of parting ways with school in the next month is very apparent.  I don't think I've ever taken so many candid photos of Chico and I with my cellphone.  Just mini mementoes, tiny faces to carry around with me, wherever I may go beyond graduation.

So things are great.

After waking up early to do some work this morning, I headed up to the city to get to Brooklyn around 5:40 PM.  Chico (sometimes called gwomeul, affectionately) and I headed out for a night time walk around the Lower East Side.  Chico had this food stuffs place called the Automat that he specifically wanted to show me before we headed to dinner, a place where the ultimate vending machine and fast food treats combine forces to deliver passer-bys with junky sustenance. 

This is the future, my friends.  Hamburgers. Hot Dogs. Donuts. Mozzarella Sticks.  All available to you in the 24-hour convenience of the Automat.  A hamburger the size of a dinner roll is a mere $2.00, and a mini pink ATM is immediately next to all the food. Spending money is even easier!  Feel a little suspicious of food in small glass windows?  You can also order ice cream from the counter. Gee whiz!

While the temptation to gorge on ice cream and mozarella sticks was strong, we opted for our apetites to be saved for dinner, where we dined at the lovely Yaffa cafe.  Chicken dumplings and salads to start, penne and crab, and chocolate soufflé.  Yum!

Now we are watching the first season of the Venture Brothers.  Very entertaining!

Horray for gwomeuls!