graffiti hall of fame
106th St. & Park Ave (west of the bridge)
coney island
An article on the impending gentrification of Coney Island just appeared in the Economist, and coincidentally a friend and I went to check it out a few days ago. […]… Read More
thai home kitchen
New Yorkers really love their Thai restaurants. They also like being seen to be trendy. Finally, they seem to have pretty bland palates. Because most of the Thai places I’ve been to suck–unless you like eating vaguely Asian-like food in a dimly lit hipster bistro. […]… Read More
alaska + william shatner
I’m now back from a few weeks of traveling–to Anchorage for a wedding, Toronto (incl. a trip to Niagara Falls) and Fredericton to see friends and family, and finally Albany to complete the swearing-in for admission to the NY bar (and gain the pompous title “Esquire”). […]… Read More
times square lawn chairs
last week, I decided to check out the new pedestrian area of times square. it’s a public space experiment running until the end of the year, when the city decides whether or not to make the change permanent. I had expected the entire area to be completely pedestrian, but traffic is still allowed to go cross-town: only Broadway is closed … Read More
xi’an in flushing
the best food I’ve had in NYC was in a Flushing food court. actually, the term ‘food court’ is misleading. it’s more like a collection of half a dozen Chinese food stalls in the basement of a place called Golden Mall (also a misnomer because the ‘mall’ appears to consist entirely of this basement). after hmm-ing and haw-ing awhile between … Read More
facelifting kashgar
Chinese officials are demolishing Kashgar’s Old City to prevent calamity in case of earthquake in this tremor-prone region of Xinjiang. To give some perspective on this project, many of the 13,000 families who live in the city belong to the Uighur ethnic minority, a people who–like the Tibetans to the South–have in the past been targets of clampdowns by the … Read More
the changing face of iran
good article in newsweek about the changing attitudes in iran today (also accompanied by photos the journalist took of random different people, to show a cross-section of the population).
not just peacocks… albino peacocks.
my boyfriend’s parents were in town recently, which was a good opportunity to do some exploring of the city. the best part was riding on one of those double-decker open roof buses, especially since I would not have learned otherwise that in my own neighbourhood–at the cathedral of st john divine (that big church by the university)–there live two peacocks. … Read More
the lovely story of sriracha
(on nytimes.com)