I Did Not Run The NYC Marathon

But I did watch some of it. The New York City Marathon hit the city this past Sunday. The runners spent at least some time in each of the five boroughs: starting in Staten Island (Richmond County), through Brooklyn (Kings County), up into Queens (knows as Queens County for some reason), over into Manhattan (New York County) and then a swing into the Bronx (Bronx County) before returning to Manhattan to finish up in Central Park. Marathoners started right at the foot of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Staten Island. I guess this served two purposes: they got off to a good start heading right into Brooklyn, and they started off fast to leave Staten Island behind them as quickly as possible.

Quite a bit of the Brooklyn stretch is on 4th Avenue, right at the corner of our apartment building. The Mrs and I went down around 9 to check out the early starters. One guy was running on two prosthetic legs... impressive. After a little while the motorcade approached, followed by a low-flying helicopter. Obviously the elite runners were approaching. Sure enough, the elites were right there in front of us. They're not nearly as bad as everyone makes them out to be. Not one of them was munching on arugula, sipping pinot noir or appeasing Europe. I managed to get a shot of the female leaders as well as the males. The winners - Marílson Gomes dos Santos and Paula Radcliffe - are visible, as is Kara Goucher, a Queens native who came in third in this, her first ever marathon.
The neighborhood was really rocking, with local bands and DJs blasting music, Brooklynites and tourists cheering everyone on. And I mean everyone... but doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose? This is a race, right? So shouldn't we have been booing at least half of the runners? Better yet, each spectator, whether or not they know someone running in the race, should pick one runner, sincerely cheer him or her on, and put as much or more energy into deflating the rest of the masses. I think this would make for a very interesting scene.

Later on in the morning and after noon, the runners gave way to "runners," and more spectators were drinking beer as they cheered. By the time the "sweep bus" was rolling down 4th Ave, crunching over millions of discarded paper cups and picking up marathoners who needed some assistance after mile 7, revelers in front of the bar Pacific Standard were enthusiastically cheering for the three ambulances that took up the rear. And a full day of NFL was still ahead.

More pictures here on Facebook or here on Picasa.

My Virtual Halloween Costume

Since I will not be partaking in any Halloween festivities this year, I decided to celebrate All Hallow's Eve online. I went with a character from the graphic novel Watchmen, which I just finished and thoroughly enjoyed. 

Digital costumes are so much easier than real-world costumes: no messy paint to worry about, no trips to those horrible seasonal stores (or seasonal sections of the drug store), no shocked responses from the wife like, "You're dressing up as a woman again?!"

So mouse-over the wedding day photo to the left to see me as Rorschach, or click here if that doesn't work. I had to be a little bit ahead of the game... this costume will be very popular next year. Mark my words. Better yet, bookmark this page and come back on November 1, 2009!

Banksy in NY

A couple of year ago I read an article in The New Yorker about an artist named Banksy. The graffiti artist sounded very interesting, and the publication came just a week after I discovered some beautiful graffiti in Melbourne, Australia. Sorry, ma, I know you hate graffiti, but this is different from most of the stuff you despised in the Bronx.

Supposedly, "no one" knows who Banksy is. He started in London, probably, with his anti establishment works around the city. His were far more sophisticated than that of Neck Face, another tagger I noticed in both Sydney and Brooklyn. Banksy's artwork was politically charged, especially when he traveled to other parts of the world, such as a mural of a little girl patting down an armed guard, painted on a wall in the West Bank.

Dana and I happened by a Banksy exhibit in Southampton after attending a wedding. The irony of a young, British graffiti artist displaying his work in a posh beach town is almost painful. Still, his work was sharp and relevant.

This brings us to autumn in New York. After several sightings of large, Banksy-ish murals going up on the sides of buildings in Manhattan, people start to speculate if Banksy's coming to NY. The answer: yes. But these murals were not done by Banksy himself. Instead, Banksy hired (or commissioned) a local artist r nicholas kuszyk from Williamsburg to put up four rat-themed artworks in anticipation of his exhibit in Greenwich Village.

The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill is unlike anything I had seen by Banksy. Word on the street is that someone told him, "New Yorkers don't car about art, they care about their pets." He took it and ran with it, using the pet theme to lampoon American consumerism. What's more, I took the Disney-like simplicity to indicate that he does not think New Yorkers can handle anything too complicated. The exhibit is very amusing, but I think the joke is on us.

But what do I know? I'm no art critic.

If you're looking for a laugh, more shots here on Picasa and here on Facebook.

Going Kubbing

This past weekend we went to Prospect Park for a round of Kubb. I had no idea what it was until I played it. Now I only have a little bit of an idea. Kubb is a Swedish game in which you line up wooden blocks and throw wooden sticks at them. It's nice and simple... the greatest Swedish export since the Ångström sign! Some say the game lacks creativity, but creativity is for the Finnish! So grab some wood, cut it into some blocks and sticks, grab your friends and go Kubbing!

Of course, Kubbing isn't the only thing you can do in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. There was a folk band played for hours. I believe I saw the family picnic across the way having a wheelbarrow race. There was an Asian-American Christian revival, an enormous American flag unfurled across the lawn, a soccer game between the Jamaican-Brooklynites and the Irish-Brooklynites, some dude in his underwear jazzer-sizing and countless dogs being walked by interesting owners. Always lots to see and do in Prospect Park. This was probably the last nice weekend in the park for the year. It was a nice sendoff. Pictures.

Atlantic Antic

Last weekend was the Atlantic Antic, which rocked from just down the street on 4th Ave all the way to the water... all on Atlantic Ave, obviously. The afternoon was full of great food and drink as well as interesting tents from local sellers. (This isn't your typical NY street fair, this is the biggest and best local street fair you could find.) More pictures here.
[Edit 2008-10-13: Link to photos fixed.]

Baby Girl Hurley

Here's a very early snapshot of our baby girl. She seems to have my energy level - kicking around and doing flips day and night. I'm trying to figure out a way to get her a little keyboard (wireless of course) so she can start blogging.

Oh Man, This Is Such A PickleFest... Let's Get Out Of Here

The Picklefest is sort of old news by now, but I don't particularly pride myself on punctual, yet perfunctory, prose, people. After all, this is a Picklefest we're talking about. Peter Piper, were you there picking a peck? If so, I missed a great story.

Last weekend, in the Lower East Side, throngs of people - that's right: THRONGS of people - streamed along Orchard St. I can't remember the last time I saw a throng of people, but this throng was particularly interesting in all things marinated in vinegar and spices. Despite the mascot being an anthropomorphic, green, pickled kirby cucumber, there were pickled carrots, string beans, ginger, mushrooms, grapes, kimchi and even pickle truffles.

This stretch of road was picked as the pickle place because of Guss' Pickles, which originated on Hester St. Guss' now operates out of Cedarhurst, and the Guss' here on Orchard is a separate business... but still, it makes a good story. And I'm not sure if an entire throng of people would make it out to Cedarhurst for a picklefest. Plus, it was some Long Island guys who were responsible for the Pickle on a Stick. (Sure, it was easy, but did you have to give in?)

There were loads of tasty treats, including masterpieces by the Pickle Master Rick. There was a large piece of wood asking me about pickling in Australia, and I was as honest as I could be. There were distractions, but I found some pickles to purchase. I went with Señor Pants recommendation and brought a tub of pickled back to my pregnant wife from The Pickle Guys. Very good stuff.

photos of the throng and of pickles