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March 31, 2005
Scenic Vista
(Battery Park)
Posted by jpchan at 3:41 PM
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Filed under: Places
March 30, 2005
We Had a Winner
Take a chance take a chance take a chukka chance chance take a chance take a chance take a chukka chance chance...
(Wall St & William St)
Posted by jpchan at 11:43 AM
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Filed under: Signs
March 29, 2005
Tuesday Unlucky Rats (I Am, I Said)
As I was taking this photo to show how one can get used to anything in this City, including drinking Dr. Pepper next to stinky subway trash containers, a rat the size of my cat darted out from between them.
I leapt out of its way, barely a second before it would have climbed onto my shoe, crawled up the inside of my pant leg, chewed its way into my right front pocket, turned on my iPod's shuffle mode, listened to several tracks, made some snide remarks about Neil Diamond, and escaped by squeezing itself past the loose waistband of my baggy jeans.
As I stood there with a big grin of shock and relief at the fate I'd escaped, I could hear a couple with a baby next to me chuckle and say, "that's a big one."
(14 St-7 Av Station)
Posted by jpchan at 8:29 AM
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Filed under: Subways
March 28, 2005
Monday Lucky Cats
(Great Wall Store, Canal & Broadway)
Posted by jpchan at 12:05 PM
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Filed under: Chinatown
March 27, 2005
Cut Rate
(Fulton St & Ryders Alley)
Posted by jpchan at 2:28 PM
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Filed under: Places
March 26, 2005
Dunkin-n-Writin
(Dunkin Donuts, Hudson Pl, Hoboken)
Posted by jpchan at 5:47 PM
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Filed under: Cultcha
March 25, 2005
FIRST Robotics Competition: Boom Box
Lastly, what's a teen event without loud music? This robot, which was built as a side project by the Pirates of George Westinghouse High School (BKLYN!), features a DVD player, a stereo, and of course, Earth-shakin' bass. The makers tell me they may attach an arm to it and enter it in next year's competition.
(Riverbank State Park)
Posted by jpchan at 8:47 PM
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Filed under: Geekout
FIRST Robotics Competition: The Pit
This is the Pit, where the robots are kept and repaired between matches.
(Riverbank State Park)
Posted by jpchan at 7:16 PM
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Filed under: Geekout
FIRST Robotics Competition: British Invasion
The Systemetric team hails from Hills Road Sixth Form College of Cambridge (UK, not MA). They've posted flyers with UK trivia all around the venue, presumably to help us dopey Americans understand their stange and exotic culture. I didn't see any flyers explaining their mysterious uniforms, however.
(Riverbank State Park)
Posted by jpchan at 6:42 PM
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Filed under: Geekout
FIRST Robotics Competition: Grrl Power
The Brearley Bots of Brearley School are competing here for the first time. They're one of the few all-female teams.
[Special shout-out to my good friend Zoe, a proud Brearley alumna.]
(Riverbank State Park)
Posted by jpchan at 6:05 PM
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Filed under: Geekout
FIRST Robotics Competition: Bklyn Rbttng
The JeffTech2005 is straight outta Thomas Jefferson High School, Brooklyn.
(Riverbank State Park)
Posted by jpchan at 5:44 PM
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Filed under: Geekout
FIRST Robotics Competition: The Game
This year's competition is a kind of tic-tac-toe involving "tetras" -- fiberglass pyramids about three feet across. The competitors are divided into two sides of three teams each. The remotely-controlled robots have arms that can stack the tetras -- and block opponents from doing so.
(Riverbank State Park)
Posted by jpchan at 5:31 PM
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Filed under: Geekout
FIRST Robotics Competition
The FIRST Robotics Competition NYC Regional is always a raucous and uplifting event. This year, three dozen teams of NYC-area high school students have built robots for the competition, which is designed to encourage interest in science, technology, and math. The teams have their own uniforms, chants, face paint, and even cheering sections. The enthusiasm of the kids and their supporters is incredibly inspiring.
It's especially great to see that the program has attracted teams from a wide variety of schools -- not just the elite ones. The kids are as diverse economically and ethnically as NYC is. It's a wonderful sight.
(Riverbank State Park, Riverside Dr between 135 & 145 Sts)
Posted by jpchan at 5:18 PM
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Filed under: Geekout
March 24, 2005
Rehearsal
Writing a play -- even a short one -- is a difficult and lonely process for me. Maybe one day it'll get easier, but for now there's no fun to it until rehearsals start. I love watching the director and actors find their way (and themselves) through the text, trying some great things, trying some not-so-great things, but trying always to get at the truth.
Sitting quietly, watching them work, I'm glad they're too busy to notice the big embarassing grin on my face. They're my heroes and I'm their biggest fan.
(Lower East Side Tenement Museum Theater, Orchard St)
Posted by jpchan at 11:46 PM
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Filed under: Cultcha
Cars, Snow, Cold
(Houston St & Lafayette St)
Posted by jpchan at 12:03 AM
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Filed under: Places
March 23, 2005
Freight Entrance
(7 Av & 14 St)
Posted by jpchan at 10:21 AM
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Filed under: Signs
March 22, 2005
The Iceman Zambonith
I don't care who you are or how far you had to travel to get here or where you have to be in an hour. When you come here to skate, you play by my rules. And my rules say that every ninety minutes, you get your ass off the ice so I can resurface the most famous and most perfect piece of ice on the motherfrickin' planet.
(Rockefeller Center)
Posted by jpchan at 3:00 PM
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Filed under: Places
March 21, 2005
Monday Seating: Red Sofa
(87 St & Lexington Av)
Posted by jpchan at 2:08 PM
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Filed under: City Life
March 20, 2005
The Needle and the Damage Done
The junkie chic look of the early nineties is back! I guess a Kate Moss comeback can't be far behind.
(55 St & 5 Av)
Posted by jpchan at 4:22 PM
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Filed under: Signs
March 19, 2005
Hope Springs Eternally Underground
What is it about our species that we can't resist throwing coins into every small man-made body of water we come across, even if said small man-made body of water is a fetid stream of who-knows-what flowing through Brooklyn's busiest subway station?
Whatever the reason, my frickin' wish better come true soon, because coming here every day with an offering is getting damn tedious.
(Atlantic Av Station)
Posted by jpchan at 1:40 PM
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Filed under: Subways
March 18, 2005
HBS Case Study 11201: Moderately Extreme Makeover
Sales rose 73% at the former Disappointment Smorgasboard following a comprehensive re-branding effort.
(Willoughby St & Lawrence St)
Posted by jpchan at 2:27 PM
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Getting a (Germ-Free) Grip
Subway riders do lots of things to minimize skin contact with the pole -- I've seen gloves, two-finger grabs, body leans, and surfing, to name a few. But I hadn't seen this rather obvious method (paper napkin) until today.
(B train, Bklyn)
Posted by jpchan at 12:13 PM
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Filed under: Subways
March 16, 2005
The Sphere
I think the proposed WTC memorial is a good one, but I can't imagine how it'll match the quiet power of this 9/11 survivor.
(The Sphere by Fritz Koenig, formerly at the World Trade Center Plaza, moved to Battery Park in March 2002)
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Posted by jpchan at 10:49 AM
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Filed under: Places
March 15, 2005
Why Other NY Graffiti is Still Pretty Lame
I thought this bit of faith-based vandalism was a recent phenomenon, but apparently it dates back to the late sixties. Note to tagger: if you're gonna be rude enough to tag a subway car, you should at least try to do something fresh...
It's just more proof that the best graffiti around the city these days is ad graffiti -- postmodern, meta-commentary-licious, and easy on the property damage. Smart-asses with Sharpies, unite and take over!
(Q train to Bklyn)
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Posted by jpchan at 9:19 PM
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Filed under: Subways
Why NY Ad Graffiti Rocks
The truth can really hurt sometimes.
(1 train, heading uptown)
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Posted by jpchan at 8:59 AM
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Filed under: Subways
March 14, 2005
Monday is Cat Week: Hello Beckoning Kittys
(Mott St)
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Posted by jpchan at 2:59 PM
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Filed under: Monday Is Cat Week
Monday is Cat Week: Paws
(Marla)
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Posted by jpchan at 10:12 AM
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Filed under: Monday Is Cat Week
March 13, 2005
Gratitude
What's a great day in New York? It's watching a play you wrote on its feet for the first time and thinking how lucky you are that these talented people are creating wonderful life from some crazy things you scribbled on paper. It's eating Two Boots pizza for dinner and Junior's cheesecake for dessert at Grand Central. It's seeing a terrific work-in-progress by a playwright you kinda know and being inspired to try to make your own stuff as good as his. It's spending an evening with a beautiful person so full of love and life you're reminded that you were like that once and maybe could be again. It's hanging out at a coffehouse with great jazz and no cover charge. It's heading to a bar to buy someone birthday drinks when you should have gone home hours ago. It's deciding between a fast but expensive cab ride or a cheap but pokey subway trip back to Brooklyn where you'll hit the bed tired but happy and feeling very, very grateful for the small and imperfect life you once cursed.
(Canal St Station)
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Posted by jpchan at 1:49 AM
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Filed under: Subways
March 12, 2005
Street Level
(Allen St)
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Posted by jpchan at 5:09 PM
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Filed under: Places
Chinatown
(Canal St)
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Posted by jpchan at 11:08 AM
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Filed under: Chinatown
March 11, 2005
The Unbearable Heaviness of...Adulthood
Act your age and get your mind out of the gutter why don't you. This ain't that kind of website.
(Eyes by Louise Bourgeois, Wagner Park)
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Posted by jpchan at 12:38 PM
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Blue Ice
(Broadway & Park Pl)
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Posted by jpchan at 7:39 AM
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Filed under: Places
March 10, 2005
Time Out From the Rat Race
These inflatable rats* are so commonplace now that we locals barely notice them, which probably says something interesting and true about New Yorkers, but I am just way too tired right now to figure out what that something might be.
*Commonly used by construction union protesters at non-union worksites.
(Broadway & Wall St)
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Posted by jpchan at 8:37 PM
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Filed under: City Life
March 9, 2005
Stairway to Academia
Monumental staircases aren't too common in new public buildings, which is a shame because this one at the NYU student center is quite nice. I'm guessing this is my alma mater's take on the famous Low Library steps at our uptown rival, Columbia. Except ours is air conditioned, ya Ivy League haterz.
(Kimmel Center for Student Life, New York University, Washington Sq South & LaGuardia Pl)
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Posted by jpchan at 8:52 PM
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Filed under: Places
March 8, 2005
BP Bird
(Battery Park)
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Posted by jpchan at 11:05 PM
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Filed under: City Life
Christo in Bklyn?
I loved The Gates, but I'm kinda worried that these copycat mega installation art projects will cheapen the whole concept.
(Brooklyn Borough Hall)
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Posted by jpchan at 12:01 PM
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Filed under: Places
March 7, 2005
Flight by A Woman
(Broadway, north of Bowling Green)
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Posted by jpchan at 2:58 PM
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Filed under: Places
March 6, 2005
Peace is the Dream
Whatever you think about the NYC 2012 Olympic bid (I'm a supporter), you gotta love their current ad campaign, which was meant to be seen by the IOC during its recent four day evaluation visit. I wish we'd see more messages like this, preferably not in the service of some bank or athletic footware company, however.
If anyone from the other 2012 candidate cities (Paris, Moscow, London, Madrid) is reading this, tell me how our ads compare with the ones you got.
(42 St & 7 Av)
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Posted by jpchan at 1:44 PM
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Filed under: Signs
March 5, 2005
Amusements
(Mott St)
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Posted by jpchan at 9:34 PM
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Filed under: Chinatown
Battery Park-n-Flip 2
(Battery Park)
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Posted by jpchan at 12:23 AM
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Filed under: City Life
Battery Park-n-Flip
(Battery Park)
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Posted by jpchan at 12:15 AM
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Filed under: City Life
March 4, 2005
Red Coat
Looked up from my spot
Saw a world in your red coat
I wanted to know
(Canal St Station)
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Posted by jpchan at 8:42 AM
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Filed under: Subways
March 3, 2005
Chatham Towers
(Worth St & Park Row)
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Posted by jpchan at 9:42 PM
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Filed under: Places
March 2, 2005
Terminal Couture
(Broad St & Marketfield St)
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Posted by jpchan at 8:41 AM
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Filed under: Signs
March 1, 2005
A Whiter Shade of Bowling Green 3
Cass Gilbert is the man.
(Bowling Green & the US Customs House)
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Posted by jpchan at 1:38 PM
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Filed under: Places
A Whiter Shade of Bowling Green 2
Cool and comfy seating.
(Bowling Green)
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Posted by jpchan at 1:36 PM
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A Whiter Shade of Bowling Green
The pink tint on the trees is from the camera, making them look like cherry blossoms, which is pretty cool.
(Bowling Green)
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Posted by jpchan at 1:35 PM
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Filed under: Places