Category: Manhattan

The Days After

No, I’ve never seen the movie “The Day After Tomorrow” – somehow, the idea of NYC wrecked in a new Ice Age (and this movie probably came out some time after the bad snowstorm of 2003) didn’t appeal to me and I wasn’t in the mood for the emoting of Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal.

And, according to imdb, there was a 1983 tv movie with the title  “The Day After” (something about a nuclear fallout and starring a bunch of big names and familiar character actors like Jason Robards, John Lithgow, Steven Gutenberg, JoBeth Williams, and John Collum); I have no memory of that one.  And, based on the summary on the imdb page, it sounds really depressing. We’re no where near that close to world dissolution.

Count your blessings!  Breathe!

But, the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy incurred a bunch of mixed feelings. The headline of this NY Times’ article by James Barron and Ken Belson, “Hardship Strains Emotions in New York,” works for me because there has been so much going on.  I think it was from the NY Times somewhere, maybe a Thomas Friedman column (don’t hold me to it!), where it was said that the nation was in post-traumatic stress since 9/11/01, and I often feel that’s the case in New York City; the stress of the hurricane’s aftermath only emphasizes that to me.

Dazed, since one never imagines that this much damage would happen to the tri-state area; persistence, since one can’t just give up; maybe even inspiration, since so many have risen to action.  We’re pulling through; we’re getting there.  (almost a personal motto of mine as it is).

There has been a lot of impatience – I wonder if the Internet and social media, and cell phones, only increased the feelings and expectations of instant gratification? Or that we’ve become so dependent on electricity? (easy for me to say, when my neighborhood in Brooklyn was minimally effected).  Then again, a lot the craziness could have been avoided with a lot more planning and better communication of what happened and what expectations to have and why things will be.

There’s the sense of question for what works in the context – what respects the community? (such as it is, since in a dense urban context, sometimes “community” is hard to find).  For example: do we hold the marathon or not?  Unlike 9/11/01, we did not have have a six-week odd to deal with stuff; we had only days. I consider the marathon to be a great NYC thing, and I look at Meb Keflezighi as an American inspiration for being an American elite marathoner (not too many of those for quite awhile), but there was just not enough time for the NYC Marathon.  We could have civil conversation, but the controversy itself became a distraction from moving forward and helping each other out.

How do we balance interests and feelings and needs and wants?

Everybody feels forgotten, and Manhattan looked like two cities, with the half/third of the island in darkness (even described as a “dead zone”) and the north end looking no worse for wear.  You got to feel empathy for Staten Island, Gerritsen Beach in Brooklyn, and the Rockaways and Breezy Point in Queens, and there was so much going on.

But, there are reasons for everything: gas shortages are because the port was closed; the port needs electricity; there are places with no electricity; etc.

Gas? Well, we’re getting there…

Electricity? In Manhattan – almost there!  So looking forward to near normal MTA service; MTA is doing quite a job! (amazing that I’m even saying that).

Semblance of normality is near.  In the meantime, see how you can help.  There are a lot of possibilities. Brokelyn has a good list, wnyc has been a great resource (see here for wnyc’s list of ways to help; also, their tumblr page is terrific), and the libraries are open (NYPL, BPL, and Queens).  NYS Bar Association announced a storm relief effort.

Oh, and FC is so right on the mark on Facebook: NY1 has been on it and has done a great job.

I’m not forgetting NJ.  I’ll be out there again soon, I’ve no doubt.

Don’t forget Eastern Standard Time; we fall back an hour tonight.

Don’t forget to vote next Tuesday. The Civil War didn’t stop Election Day; our legal rights should still be exercised. Hell, you can still vote by paper, if necessary (not that I’m suggesting that it has to be, but that depends on your district’s situation). Check your district/board of Election/county clerk’s office.

So, hang in there, friends!

Hurricane Sandy 2012

Guess this fits the Halloween thing: Hurricane Sandy’s just about here, still early yet, and it’s creepy.  Stay safe!

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants for winning the World Series 2012!  (big yay for ex-Mets Marco Scutaro and Angel Pagan).

Since I’m catching up my triscribe posts, let’s just say that seeing the new Barclays Center takes some getting used to.  Traffic patterns still look strange and could be smoother (from my non-driver perspective). Brooklyn Nets? Hmm.  I’m of the generation that rooted for the Knicks.

And, then this news about the Islanders coming to Brooklyn in 2014 or 2015?  While it’s nice that the Islanders want to get in on the fun at Barclay Center and Brooklyn is the far end of the “island,” and they remain in NYS, (a) there’s still no hockey season in 2012, so do something about that, NHL, and (b) I’m still planning to root for the NY Rangers (if this season ever starts already).

Let’s go, NY Giants! What a season so far! (and with the real refs back for some time now).

Let’s not be bored: some more Gangnam Style!  Here’s a link to Gangnam Style with Robots!

A Gangnam Style mashup with that other song of 2012, Call Me Maybe (h/t: Generasian’s tumblr, at http://generasian.tumblr.com/day/2012/09/21)

To distract myself from one of the presidential debates this month, I watched this Gangnam Style parody of… Vanilla Ice and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  It almost amazed me.  Vanilla Ice? Really?

Here’s a laugh: the side-by-side Obama and Romney parodies of “Gangnam Style.” http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/10/03/mitt-romney-vs-barack-obama-whose-gangnam-style-parody-video-is-better/

I’ve really scaled back with my tv viewing, and still think that the nuttiest reality tv is the presidential/vice presidential debates.  While the results of Election 2012 remains to be seen, I suppose I should appreciate that the debates gave some food for thought.  For instance:

All the Big Bird jokes reminded people about PBS, the jokes about the military reminded people (somewhat?) about the budget questions relating to the military, and let’s not forget the women (to paraphrase Abigail Adams, when she wrote to her husband John when he went to assist with the writing of the US Constitution).

The parodies of Joe Biden v. Paul Ryan in their one VP debate were too easy to target.

The endless sports analogies during the debates.

Realizing that the best way to talk about foreign policy is to… not talk about foreign policy.

The quibbles and the talking heads, the drinking games and bingo games – and the hypocrisy… (well, perhaps I shouldn’t make my politics too obvious).

Oh, and let’s not forget about the economy, and war, and how the world will go to hell in a handbasket.  We seemed to have forgotten about climate change, but I guess we can only expect so much from the presidential candidates.

What’s among the really shocking: that the federal subsidy to PBS is the equivalence of SIX HOURS of what the Pentagon spends. I think this is about perspective, Mr. Romney.  I think – to Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama – we need to grasp a lot about perspective. Just saying…

Random historical thing to note, from Slate: Nathaniel Hawthorne was a Whig Party hack, who helped his friend, US President Franklin Pierce. Really? Fun fact: Barbara Bush, and thus former President George W. Bush, is distantly related to Franklin Pierce.  Presidential stuff can be fun! (even when, in reality, it’s not).

And in the category of “Well, who knew?” Turns out that White House Honey Ale is a pretty good beer, according to Brooklyn Brewery’s brewmaster Garrett Oliver and the NY Times liquor critic Eric Asimov.

Other fun facts: Sesame Street fun facts! (from the Atlantic).  I knew about Oscar being once orange, but I had no idea that Giancarlo Esposito used to be a recurring character on Sesame Street as Big Bird’s camp counselor back in the early 1980’s.

Check out Cookie Monster and Grover in their movie parodies, over at Entertainment Weekly!

2012 appears to be a year of anniversaries: ex., 25th anniversary of “The Princess Bride” (check out the great interview on NPR’s All Things Considered with Mandy Patinkin, of the famous line: “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” – Mandy Patinkin, “The Princess Bride.”)

In time for the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation, back in September, my sister and I caught the Star Trek Mixtape at the Paley Center, in time for the 25th anniversary of Next Generation. They aired the “Inner Light” episode at the end, a total Patrick Stewart classic (the “I should have been nominated for an Emmy for this particular effort” – quite a thing to watch after the end of the Next Generation run and realizing what a character Picard was/is).

The episode also reminded me of this great video on YouTube, for the 40th ann’y of Trek, which used the song from that episode and clips to make you love Trek all over again (previously posted somewhere here on triscribe; see below the embedded item). Also, check out a list of what consists of TNG’s legacy (h/t: Time.com).  Enjoy!

Which reminds me… I will start feeling sad with tv series leaving us soon (Fringe is in its last season and it’s been an upheaval of dystopic sadness; and when will “Community” be back, so we can say goodbye; NBC is unfair!)… Back to the hurricane…

Marching On In September 2012

Because the summer hit won’t completely go away, and because the conductor of this orchestral/choral version of “Call Me Maybe,” is an APA, of course I’ll share this (saw this on Facebook via a friend). As the linked article by Edwin P. Sallan notes,

What should make this version of particular interest to us is the fact that its conductor, 22-year-old Arianne Abela is actually a Filipina, a niece of noted stage actor Bart Guingona. Arianne’s parents migrated to the US before she was born and she also has a 14-year-old sister named Krista who actually edited the video.

In a 2008 article published by the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Arianne was born with physical disabilities brought about by a rare condition called amniotic banding syndrome, which caused her left leg to be amputated. Some of her fingers on both hands are either missing or fused together and there are toes missing on her right foot.

Thankfully, those physical defects didn’t stop her from pursuing a career in music successfully as she went on to graduate at the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music.

Very cool!

FC shared this interesting item over on Facebook: Rachel L. Swarns writes in the NY Times about how second or third generation Americans try to hold on to their heritage via food.  It’s a fascinating and bittersweet article – we want to remember what our grandparents or parents made, but assimilation is hard to fight and maybe we can’t quite get the food to taste the same or it gets Americanized (or we might have even grown up with Americanized versions of the food because of lack of ingredients or whatnot).