My buddy Herb has been working hard these past few months on organizing a benefit party and silent auction for The New York Foundation for the Arts.
He promises "no shortage of hot, art patronizing ladies, brazilian beer and caipirinhas, food, and dope music." Check it out - Tuesday June 27, 7-10 PM in Chelsea!
NYFA's Blame It On Rio Benefit
I repeat: "no shortage of hot, art patronizing ladies, brazilian beer and caipirinhas, food, and dope music"
My weekend officially begin on Thursday night at the big staff party. I was expecting an extravagant, yet refined, evening with the attorneys and administrative staff, but instead they sent all of the attorneys to a different party, and our nice corporate event turned into a wild ghetto-fab bash. I drank way too much, which left me incapacitated the next morning, and requiring me to go home for a two hour lunch-time nap on Friday in order to be in shape for work. And of course, after work I continued the week-long drinking at Opus 22 with guys on my basketball team. They were having a BBQ celebration for their one-year anniversary, but I only had one burger as we ate at Pop Burger before getting there.
On Saturday I woke up early, played a little Warcraft and then headed out to the park for some outdoor hoops. I was thoroughly wiped out, as it's starting to get much hotter here, and the humidity is kicking in. On Friday night I caught The Great Yokai War, which was showing at the Anthology Film Archive for the NY Asian Film Festival. Billed as a Lord of the Rings-sized epic, it compares much more to The Neverending Story than anything else. An even weirder Neverending story with wild and crazy demons from Japanese folklore.
On Sunday I decided to take advantage of sunny weather and check one of the NYC must-visit sites off my list. I made my first foray into one of the outer boroughs, taking the long train ride with Gerald to visit the world-famous Bronx Zoo. It actually wasn't that bad, taking only around 40 minutes on the 2 train. I'm a big fan of zoos and was really looking forward to the trip, however I think the heat just got the best of me (as well as all of the animals there). The exhibits were decent, although most looked a bit dated and in need of a good cleaning/restoration. I think what really sapped my energy was how nearly all of the animals were lounging around and sleeping.
On the way home, we stopped by the Park Avenue Country Club, where it seemed like every young Korean person in NYC went to watch Korea's World Cup Game against France. Gerald and I dropped in for a moment to say hi to Francis before heading home to rest after an exhausting trip to the zoo. Later that evening we met up with Francis again, along with his friend Heson (sp?), for his birthday dinner at Gam Mee Ok, and then Nacho Libre, which is a classic Jack Black flick with hilarious facial expressions, bad teeth and hair and an underdog storyline.
Last night we concluded our season with another tough loss. Our season may have been filled with lows on the court, but we more than made up for it with highs off the court, including an extended stay at a bar in Brooklyn after last night's game. I'll miss much of next season due to my pre-law school vacations, but I'm looking forward to donning the Moe's blue and gold again.
Other highlights this week included finally trying the fancy ramen at Momofuku, and an open bar, free food event at Bar 13. Looking ahead, our company is having its annual staff party tonight at The Rainbow Room, and then Moe's Tavern is going out for team karaoke on Friday night.
It's the featured court of Nike's NYC site!
I just watched another game there, a thriller that wasn't decided until the final 20 seconds. The international crowd really does get into it, and people aren't afraid to express their opinions about any of the players. Overall, good basketball times.
Prior to starting school in the fall, I'm trying my best to explore and experience all that New York City has to offer. This is especially true on weekends, and this past weekend was no exception.
Thursday: Watched a sneak preview of Cars with Winnie (who hooked up the tickets with reserved seating) and Andy. I wasn't expecting much though, not being a NASCAR fan or anything, but I really enjoyed it. It was easily the most family oriented and simplest of the Pixar films, but still had its moments. After the movie Winnie and I got chicken and rice from the famous Halal cart on 53rd and 6th Ave. Tasty and cheap! I'm looking forward to going. The line may be intimidating, but it's worth it if you have the time to spare.
Friday: Ran some errands at the law school, then got a haircut at SEI-Tomoko. I've never tried a Japanese salon before, and I probably won't again. I never walk into a haircut with a style in mind, rather I request for them to "cut it short, but not too short, and where it'll grow out nicely for a few weeks." However, the stylist at SEI-Tomoko really only spoke Japanese, with a smattering of English, so it was difficult for me to describe what I wanted. I walked away with a cut that was way too short for my liking and reminded me of when I got my haircut in Beijing and they gave me the traditional flattop with the hair thinned down to almost nothing.
In the afternoon Leslie and I went to the Met, where I wanted to see the Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh exhibit. It was sucha nice day that after the museum we took a nice leisurely stroll through Central Park and did some people watching near the big fountain. For dinner we gorged on KFC before watching This is Spinal Tap, one of my top five favorite movies.
Central Park is the best!
Saturday: Having taken it easy the night before, I woke up early and played a bit of Warcraft before heading out to the Big Apple BBQ Block Party. I got there first and jumped in line as Madison Square Park was jammed full of people trying to get their 'cue. Here's what I ended up tasting:
Pulled Pork Shoulder with Spicy Crispy Southern Mustard Coleslaw (x2), Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, Decatur, AL
Whole Hog with Mustard Coleslaw, Mitchell's BBQ, Wilson, NC
Baby Back Ribs with Beans, Memphis Championship Barbecue/17th Street Bar & Grill, Las Vegas, NV/Murphysboro, IL
My favorites were the pulled pork shoulder, spicy coleslaw and the beans.
Crazy queues for 'cue!
Pitmaster Chris Lilly, winner of the 2004 Memphis in May BBQ Cookoff
Everything that didn't get cooked from the whole hog
I love baby back ribs!
Gerald taking pictures as usual
After stuffing ourselves silly Gerald, Francis, Rachel and I headed down to Soho for some shopping. Rachel went off to do her girl shopping while the rest of us went to Crumpler Bags to check out their Beer for Bags promotion. I ended up turning in a case of Leffe and a bottle of Chimay for a Complete Seed bag. After I got my bag, we headed over to the West Village location where Gerald and Francis turned in two bottles of Patron for their own messenger bags. All the while, they were handing out beers in the store, and we took advantage of the free refreshments at both stores.
Me, Gerald and Francis enjoying Pacificos at the Crumpler store
And finally, on the way home I stopped to watch some high school hoops being played at "The Cage," a little black top court by my house. Basketball there can be competitive, and there was a pretty good AAU game going on when I passed by on my way home, complete with coaches yelling with loudspeakers on the sidelines and bystanders groaning and cheering with every play.
Crowd watching the hoops action
By the time I got back home I was thoroughly pooped and spent the rest of the evening at home playing Warcraft.
Sunday: I'm back here at work, but definitely plan on hitting the gym. Other than that, Crumpler is having their big beer party to give away all of the beer that they collected tonight, so I may drop by with G and Francis.
In addition to all of the movies I plan on watching this summer, I'm also hoping to do a bit of reading as well. Especially during all of my short trips. Prior to starting law school I'll be relaxing in the Bahamas, Hawaii and Vegas!
Here's a short list of books I want to read. Please feel free to suggest any additional books!
- In Cold Blood
- Moneyball
- The Namesake
- The Satanic Verses
- A Confederacy of Dunces
- The Things They Carried
- Reading Lolita in Tehran
Oh yeah, I'll be doing some summer reading for law school as well.
Last night Chih and I watched Army of Shadows at the Film Forum, a cool nonprofit theater right down the street where they show indie premiere and old classics. This was a French movie from the 60s about the underground French Resistance during WWII. While I was watching it, the movie seemed a bit slow and outdated, but now tinking about it there were a number of very powerful scenes that I haven't felt the like of in a while.
It's interesting to compare it to the last movie I watched, X-men: The Last Stand, which was all action and very little acting and storyline. Even though there's a good chance I'll watch X-men 3 again (probably today with Gerald), I'm looking forward to catching more restored films at the Film Forum.
That being said, there's actually a whole bunch of movies I want to watch this summer:
- An Inconvenient Truth
- Pirates of the Carribean 2
- A Prairie Home Companion
- Superman Returns
- Nacho Libre
- Cars
- Strangers with Candy
- Clerks II
- Miami Vice
- Fearless
In other movie news, here are some upcoming summer movie events:
- The New York Asian Film Festival 2006
- 2006 HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival
That's the sound of me watching Lost. Chih can attest to the fact that when I'm watching the show, I constantly disrupt whatever he's doing with a loud "Oh snap!" Full Metal Alchemist was more addicting, but Lost has filled in well during my self-imposed ban on World of Warcraft.
How hot it' s been lately? I promise this will be the last post on it. Just wanted to tell everyone how much I love my new (used) a/c. It's awesome. I think the a/c will become the East Coast equivalent of the dishwasher (my must-have appliance).
In other news:
- Cal wins its first NCAA women's tennis singles championship
- Bill Walton flies economy class!
- Go Dodgers! Now that the Lakers' season is finished, it's time to switch to True Blue mode. Check out the LA Times Dodger Blog.
I was just told that there is an extra scene after the credits in X-men 3. Now I definitely have to watch it again.
