Spring Fever

I don't consider my self an outdoorsy person, but every year when it begins to get warm again and the sun starts to stay up till after dinner, I get this intense desire to sit in the sun or go on long walks. Unfortunately this is also the time when I have to most work to do. So I find myself ditching my homework to walk along the still desolate boardwalk at Coney Island or climb the hill to the Cloisters. This afternoon rather than take the subway home, I decided to walk across the Williamsburg Bridge and watch the sunset.



I've always like Edward Hopper's aptly titled, From the Williamsburg Bridge. I thought it perfectly captures that desire to be outside, to get out of the dark.
I took this picture from the Manhattan ramp of the bridge. It's unlikely that these are the buildings in the painting, as many of the buildings along Delancey Street have been knocked down and replaced with projects or even that Hopper painted the exact streetscape, but I think they come remarkably close.

Misc.

In an homage to my favorite Daily Photo blogs, I thought I'd post this picture. It's the Flushing Avenue Station of the J train and directly behind the platform is the hulking form of Woodhull Hospital. The hospital is ugly, distopian and, by all accounts, provides inadequate medical care. I think the architect must have been watching Kubrick movies and drinking chocolate milk the night before he began designing it.
Anyway if you like cityscapes check out Paris, London and Venice. There must be 35 in all, but those are my favorite.
On Friday, I went to see Lonesome Jim. It was opening night and Steve Buscemi, who directed, answered questions afterwards. It was a quasi-Catcher in the Rye story about a likeable loser who hits rock bottom only to learn not to look for his heart's desire any farther than his own backyard. Despite it's cliche ridden plot and minimalist production, the acting was low-key and charming. My biggest complaint is that it's entirely forgetable

Not a girl; not yet a boy

Reasons I think I might be missing a chromosome:

1) Dirty Dancing I don't get it. In one 24 hour period freshman year, I was forced to watch this "movie" twice. I sat through it dutifully, but frankly I think it's crap. I don't get Patrick Swayze. I don't get the dancing. I don't care if any one puts Baby in a corner.

2) Sex and the City All right, I'll be honest, they really lost me with the "shiksa princess" story line, but even before that this show was kind of mystifying. I like shoes and shopping as much as the next girl, but Carrie was whiny, petulant and ultimately, completely unsympathetic. Sure the show was funny at times, but it's not my life philosophy or anything. And I would never pay to have a taupe colored tour bus take me to Magnolia for cupcakes. I can walk there just fine myself.

3) The NY Giants This past fall I had a conversation with a girl who admitted that sometimes she wished she'd been born a boy so she could play football. Maybe I'm not alone...

4) Offsides It's just not that complicated. You're in an offsides position if you're closer to the goal line than the second to last defender and the ball. But it's only an offense if you're interfering in play. Granted this is made more complicated to judge because football (Europe) doesn't use instant replay. But making Angela Merkel (the Chancellor of Germany) draw a diagram of offsides to prove she's really a football fan? Puh-lease.

Belated Greetings from Michigan.

I hadn't realized that I haven't updated in almost a month. I've been really busy with school and work and I haven't had anything interesting to talk about. I'd been planning on updating when I'd been in Detroit, but I was to busy eating hamburgers and watching tv. (Seriously that is all I did, and Comcast is way better than Cablevision.)
Detroit is a crazy, crazy place. There is so much I could say about this, but I will only mention this. Detroit has a phenomenon called urban prairie where entire neighborhoods have been demolished and have reverted to their original prairie state. Feilds of wild flowers now surround the ruins of houses, factories and churches. This isn't the whole city, but its a sizeable part.
The other things that I've been thinking about include the crappiness of the fact that Apple doesn't make replacement iPod headphones and Trader Joe's doesn't live up to the hype.
I've been forced to buy replacement headphones that are pinkish-white, although they do fit more comfortably in my ears. I know it's a total lable-whore thing to worry about, but I'm not appreciating having to walk around the city with non-Apple 'phones.
Also Trader Joe's, meh. I will totally admit that I'm Whole Foods' bitch, but I'm not that impressed by TJ's. Their selection is way smaller; plus I have to stand in line outside. The lighting and decor are harsh, while the shelves are in varying degrees of disorder and emptyness. All of which contributes to a rather Soviet bread line atmosphere. And their claims of super-deliciousness? Completely unfounded. My brie was average, but the massaman curry was inedible. As if it needed another endorsement? (ex)MTV VJs love Whole Foods. Two years ago, I saw Carson Daly chatting up everybody in sight at the Columbus Circle WF, and yesterday I saw Matt Pinfield at the Union Square one. (It was totally him.)