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Robot with some other street art in SoHo.
Tomorrow, for the first time since I arrived in August, I will be leaving New York. I’m flying to San Antonio to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family and am looking forward to some warm Texas weather and a break from the subways and crowds. I’m a little nervous to be traveling from one of the busiest airports in the country on one of the busiest travel days of the year, but I’m charging my iPod and have a good book, so I’m ready. Speaking of books, I just finished reading Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol. I had no idea until I got to the last page that the book apparently ends mid-sentence, as Gogol destroyed the rest of it. It was kind of anticlimactic.
A mix of SoHo things: graffiti, old ads, and a copy of a Michaelangelo.
Last Saturday, Elizabeth and I attempted to watch the OU football game, but it was another depressing match and we didn’t make it all the way through. Instead, we walk to Union Square, where we had falafel and then bought delicious apple ciders from the green market. The market is almost entirely apples now, as there is not much else in the way of November produce. We then walked to SoHo and perused the stores, both thrift and fancy.
The Brooklyn Bridge, as seen from DUMBO.
On Sunday, I met up with Christina, who is from Denmark, but is doing a university project in New York. We walked around Williamsburg and got bagels and then got to train down to DUMBO. There is already a drastic temperature difference between the parts of Brooklyn near the wind off the harbor and those far from it. I don’t know if I would want to be anywhere near DUMBO in the cold of winter. But we’ve been having rather nice weather lately, so it wasn’t too bad.
Flea market in DUMBO.
We looked at an art book store; apparently nude male photography is really popular right now, as that was the subject of every other book. There was also an unsettling book of child beauty pageant participants. We also visited the green market and the flea market, going on beneath the Brooklyn Bridge.
Pizza oven at the flea market in DUMBO.
All the food at the flea market was tempting, but we decided to try the Salvadorean pupusas. We shared an order with one that was spinach and cheese and the other which was zucchini, served with cream and chilies. They were absolutely amazing, and we ate them with a view of the sun setting next to the Statue of Liberty.
I’ll be posting of Texas adventures soon. Happy Thanksgiving!
Dog dressed as Snoopy at the Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade.
I’m finally writing the conclusion of last weekend, starting with Sunday’s Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade. I love dogs and I love Halloween, so of course I was excited to see the collision of those two things. I don’t believe I ever dressed my own dog up for Halloween beyond a festive scarf around her neck, but some people certainly spent as much time on these dogs’ costumes as I’ve seen people do for any child. The above person not only put goggles on their dog to dress it as Snoopy, they also built a biplane and dyed another dog yellow to be Woodstock. The Snoopy dog shows an admirable level of resignation and acceptance by sleeping through it all here. Here are some other highlights:
Dog dressed as Michael Jackson at the Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade.
One of the dog owners decided to go with the popular Michael Jackson in “Thriller” look, complete with miniature zombies on a platform with a TV playing the music video.
Three banana corgis at the Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade.
I also enjoyed the three hyperactive corgis dressed as bananas, who were leaping over each other in all directions. I can’t imagine having these three dogs in any New York apartment. Maybe you just don’t have any furniture or glass. Actually, most of my apartments have been like that.
Hulk dog at the Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade.
But what if you want something more permanent for your pet that will last all Halloween week? This dog was dyed green to be the Incredible Hulk by his surprisingly well-dressed owner.
Dragon dog at the Tompkins Square Halloween Dog Parade.
I wonder if this dog could actually walk while encased in this glittery dragon costume. I like the skull leash, too. We didn’t stay around the see who won the costume contest, but there were so many good contenders I wouldn’t have wanted to be the judge. Plus, I have a bias towards spaniels, so I might not be able to judge fairly.
Yetis love hot cider.
After seeing the dogs, we walked through the market in Tompkins Square, which was full of apples (and free apple samples). While I still miss the market in Valence with its amazing cheese and olives, I’m growing to be fond of the green markets here as well.
Apples at the Tompkins Square market.
Not only are apples in abundance, but so are pumpkins and pumpkin-flavored food. You can’t go down a street without seeing pumpkin lattes, ice cream, yogurt, bread, muffins, cupcakes…and I love it all. Patty and her roommate hosted a Halloween party at their amazing Park Slope apartment with amazing pumpkin carving, bread, and ice cream this Wednesday
Chalk letters on 14th Street.
After the dog parade on Sunday, I walked down 14th Street to Union Square for the second round of the R-A-L-L-Y performance. On the way there I saw some of the other Art in Odd Places, including the chalk writings like the above “Coastal Oak-Hickory Forest.” I thought these were just free association, but google has revealed that this is the name of a tree. And further internet searching has found the actual project, where the artist added “forest and stream sidewalk labels” to show where there were natural features in 1609.
Boat going down 14th Street.
I also saw the “Ice Race,” where current “contenders for power” such as an iceberg, a container ship, and an oil rig were going at paces determined by their current power. What does it mean that the container ship is ahead?
Rally Letters.
Then I met up with the other letter carriers for R-A-L-L-Y, which you might remember from two weekends ago. This time I carried a silver “N” and fabric “F” in the two performances of the phrase “M-A-K-E I-T F-U-N.”
Pile of letters.
The other phrase was “W-E A-R-E T-H-E R-E-M-E-D-Y.” You can see the giant “B” I carried last time in the picture above. People seemed to be into it; kids especially. I remember being of an age when the idea of spelling was fascinating, that letters could be arranged to create words. It is still cool.
"Howls" being dismantled by some kids.
I’ll have to keep an eye and ear out for more arts opportunities. It seems to be one of the best ways to meet people and see what’s going on here. Despite not being an artist (well, maybe a literary artist), I tend to get along best with artistically minded people. I guess I like being around people who are creative and adventurous.
Uncle Sam skeleton.
I will leave you with this unsettling Uncle Sam skeleton I saw in Union Square to start your Halloween weekend. I’m sure I will take many Halloween pictures, so get ready.
Space Invader sighting in Manhattan.
Here is the continuation of my last post, although I guess technically all of these posts are continuations of the ones before them. Today was rather rainy, nevertheless Elizabeth and I had delicious smoothies at the Liquiteria before looking at Halloween merchandise.
Dumpling Man looking at a giant dumpling at the Dumpling Festival.
Saturday was rainy (a trend of October), but we still made it to the Dumpling Festival and saw the above giant dumpling and got our picture taken with the Dumpling Man on the right of the photo. We also did a bit of shopping where I upgraded my wardrobe to a more professional level. After that we watched the OU/Kansas football game at the alumni bar, which offered some redemption after Texas.
The start of fall colors in Central Park.
That evening we went to the 92Y Tribeca for the DVD film screening premiere of Sufjan Stevens‘ The BQE. And Sufjan Stevens himself was there to emcee! Before the film, DM Stith played a set. It was the first time I’d heard his music and really enjoyed the subtle instrumentation and his unique voice. I was thinking during the performance that he’s one of those singers who uses the microphone to turn a voice that’s almost a whisper into a room-filling noise. After his set, the string quartet Osso played selections from Run Rabbit Run, an album of instrumental arrangements of the electronic songs inspired by the Chinese zodiac on Sufjan Stevens’ Enjoy Your Rabbit. Maybe it was the clever ways they used the instruments to mimic distortion and electronic texture, but I found the music to be really entrancing, and string quartets aren’t usually engaging enough to keep my attention for long periods of time. Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond also came onstage as a special guest and sang “If I Were Queen.” After Osso’s performance, Sufjan Stevens came back to introduce The BQE, his triptych film and orchestral score about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Despite the fact it was mainly footage of traffic, it was beautiful. I live really close to the BQE and walk under it everyday on the way to the subway, so I guess it’s one part of Brooklyn that feels familiar even while most everything else feels new.
