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Enjoy the Go!

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Do you like hearing words of encouragement while taking care of business in the bathroom? On the go and need to find a bathroom post-haste? Stuck in the Times Square area? Well, then step right up and enter Charmin’s annual holiday pop-up bathroom! While you’re doing the deed, you’ll be serenaded by the strains of their official with no other discernible lyrics besides the cheerfully sung “enjoy the go!” Charmin – making your number two their number one priority this holiday season!

These photos were taken on December 15, 2010.

Believe

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This is what you can see on the facade of Macy’s Herald Square – “Believe” in giant Christmas lights on the 34th Street side and the Christmas tree in lights on the Broadway side. I’m all for believing but I’m reminded of another kind of believing – the kind the New York Mets engaged in selling their fans last offseason. “We believe in comebacks” being chief among them. Last night was a gigantic gut punch for Mets fans – Cliff Lee spurned the New York Yankees only to run into the arms of his old flame, the Philadelphia Phillies. Even when Mets fans, they lose. Of course they do. Believe. Whatever.

These photos were taken on December 10, 2010.

A Walk Through Wrigley Field

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After starting my summer of funemployment with an early July trip to Austin, I finished it off with a late August journey to Chicago. Food, booze, and sights were there in excess but no trip there would be complete without taking in a game at Wrigley Field. The day I went was a miserable one – chilly (for late August), windy, and wet. In short, just miserable. Somehow, they managed to get a game in, thanks to the quick work of the grounds crew. While they were setting up to get the game going at a decent time, I took the opportunity to walk all throughout the historic stadium. Maybe aged or old would be a better way to describe it – the bathrooms have troughs for men to urinate in – very bar/nightclub-like and equally messy. It’s decidedly no-frills here with just two decks of stands and the bleachers in the outfield. It’s a nice stadium but, like Fenway Park and the old Yankee Stadium, if it weren’t historic, it’d be a dump. I’m not ripping on the place but sometimes the truth sucks. I hear they got rid of the troughs this year so they’re slowly making some progress, I guess.

These photos were taken on August 26, 2009.

The National + Yo La Tengo

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On the last night of Hannukah, which also coincides with the last night of the Yo La Tengo 8-night long residency at Maxwell’s in Hoboken – funny how that just works out, no? – The National was the special guest opener. The National. Opening and playing in a 200-person venue. That’s something I thought I’d never see since Boxer was released in 2007 and their star rose rapidly. As much fun as it was to see them here, it only made me long to see them again in a much larger venue so they can have their full orchestral backing and nifty light show as well as much better sound. But, you know what, I can’t complain because just a few weeks ago, I was thinking I wish I’d gotten to see them a second time this year and, just like that, problem solved.

I’ll admit I bought the ticket because I heard The National would be there that night. And while I don’t love Yo La Tengo, I do like them and they’re a good band to see live. A good set which ended with Ira wading into the crowd during their last song.

These photos were taken on December 8 and 9, 2010.

Macy’s 2008 Holiday Windows – “Believe”

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These were posted on a previous blog of mine – don’t remember which one because I’ve gone through quite a few in the past two to three years – but I figured it’s worth reposting, especially as it really is ’tis the season. The Macy’s 2008 holiday windows theme was “Believe” which I think is still the theme, even in 2010. I could be wrong. I haven’t seen this year’s windows yet but I’m hoping to check those out soon.

For a better description of 2008’s theme, I’ll let designer Paul Olszewski explain:

I wanted to take all the simple things that surround us during the holidays and make you believe that so much more goes into them, so much magic goes into them, than meets the eye.

These photos were taken on December 18, 2008.

Saks Fifth Avenue Holiday Light Show

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I’m gonna make a preemptive apology here – it’s about to get all Christmasy on this here blog. There’s a lot of fun stuff to take photos in this city during the holiday season and I’m gonna try to capture as much of it as possible. So first up is Saks Fifth Avenue’s annual projected light show on their building facade. This year, there’s translucent white snowflakes and bubbles while “the visual effects include snow gathering on ledges, bubbles emerging from windows, and the building exterior appearing to freeze over.” I got a few photos but I think it’s better explained with a video, no?

These photos and video were taken on December 2, 2010.

The View From My Brother’s Apartment

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After a very filling Thanksgiving meal and the subsequent cleanup, it was nice to take some time to just sit down and relax. After all, we’d been running around my brother’s apartment, prepping, cooking, and, yes, eating for the past five hours. All I wanted to do was watch the end of the Saints-Cowboys game and to stare vacantly out the window as the Cowboys blew a late lead on a stupid fumble, making it that much harder for the Giants to get a wild-card bid. Ah, well, at least there’s this view of the 59th Street Bridge in one direction and the Citi building in another.

These photos were taken on November 25, 2010.

Thanksgiving Dinner

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For the first time in my entire life, my family did a home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner that didn’t take place at home. This year, we had our feast at my brother’s apartment in LIC, which makes sense since he ends up doing the brunt of the cooking anyway. And it’s definitely a win for me since his apartment is a much shorter trip from Astoria than it is all the way to the southern part of Brooklyn. The feast is what’s become the usual fare for us at Thanksgiving – turkey, cornbread dressing with mushrooms and andouille sausage, brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes (truffle oil instead of roasted garlic this year), ham, kale, and cranberry sauce. Even as I type this out, I’m still working on finishing the leftovers!

These photos were taken on November 25, 2010.

Times Square Cardboard Apartment

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No, I’m not talking about the kind you’d see a homeless person take shelter in a back alley in the old Times Square though I say that being far too young to have actually seen a Times Square that looked like that. This was actually a one-day-only installation from Services for the UnderServed (SUS), helping “individuals and families faced with a wide range of challenges—mental illness, developmental disability, physical disability, AIDS, homelessness, unemployment and poverty.” While the cardboard apartment, complete with cardboard furniture like chairs, a desk, and a bed as well as cardboard food, it serves as a stark reminder of how rough some people have it. Sadly, I don’t think enough can ever be done to help all those who need it.

These photos were taken on November 12, 2010.

Tour of AT&T Park

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On my second trip to San Francisco in three months, this time for Apple’s annual WWDC, I took one morning off from conference sessions and went on a tour of AT&T Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants. As far as ballpark tours, it’s one of the better ones I’ve been on. We got to see the tiny room where they do their smaller press conferences before heading up to the upper level of the stadium which, with a stadium devoid of fans, afforded us a great view of the empty stadium. A brief history lesson and then we were off to the Oracle Suites level which was followed by everyone’s favorite part of the tour, walking onto the field and getting to enter the dugout. Then it got even better – since I went on an off day where the visiting team for the next series hadn’t arrived yet (it was the Oakland Athletics so it’s not like they really needed to get in the day before), we got to enter the visiting clubhouse. One final treat came when the clubhouse manager let us into his office so he could show off all the player bobbleheads he’s received over the years.

These photos were taken on June 11, 2008.