If I had a Twitter, this would be a Tweet

Irony: You spend 5 days in Manhattan and the one and only car that almost runs you over ... is from Quebec.

A small island of respite

We'd arrived in NYC on the evening of the 5th, spent the next day running about (saw "After Miss Julie" that evening). Saturday was my birthday and we went to the Met to see "Turandot". Sunday was a museum day - we were on our feet and walking for close to 7 hours.

When Monday arrived, we needed a break from Manhattan's noise and bustle. So we took the tram to Roosevelt Island. The island is a narrow finger of a place in the Hudson River between Manhattan and Queens. There are conventional ways to get there (the F train swoops under the river and stops there on the way into Queens and there's a bridge into Queens as well.) But the tram shown at left is much more fun. On the Manhattan side, there's a tram station at 60th St and 2nd Avenue. Climb a set of stairs, pay your fare or swipe your Metrocard and enter one of the two tram cars. After a few moments, you're off and the tram's cable lifts you up over the streets and along the Queenboro bridge. This photo was taking inside the cabin, looking out across the bridge. The whole trip takes less than 5 minutes.

We spent the better part of Monday morning there. The island is almost completely surrounded by a riverside pedestrian walkway - well laid out and pleasant views are just about everywhere. If you find yourself missing the city, just look west.

It would be interesting to live this close to Manhattan yet still live quietly. The vast majority of housing on the island is rental properties - with some co-ops and condos - but there are a great number of families and, with all the amenities available many people only leave the island to work in one of the boroughs.

Live from the Corner of Exit and No Exit

We just flew in from NYC and BOY are our arms tired! Thank you, thank you I'm here all week try the veal and tip your server. But seriously, ladies and germs, this photo was taken at the always delightful Salisbury Hotel on W 57th St. Ok, the truth, we've only stayed there twice but we were so happy we can't imagine staying anywhere else. It is close to everything - two subway stops on the street. Carnegie Hall is across the street. The place is quiet as the tomb - between rooms. This is NYC - if you don't like a little street noise consider somewhere else. The building has been in use for over 80 years - it's owned and managed by the Calvary Baptist Church - and is solidly constructed.

Got almost no sleep last night - went to South Pacific at the Lincoln Center, got home by 11ish, didn't get to sleep until 1 and woke at 4AM to get ready to go to the airport. Our flight was at 11am but the shuttle company* INSISTED on picking us up at 615AM. So it was almost 11 hours of waiting in Newark Airport, flying to Toronto, tearing through customs*, almost swallowing a burger whole so I could make the flight back here. Tomorrow I'll have pictures of Roosevelt Island.

* I'm never using them again because the pickup was just a convenience for them. A gentleman would never reveal the name of this shuttle company but they consider themselves a (ah-hem) Super shuttle service. Just "super".

** What the heck is with Toronto? You arrive to clear customs and continue within the country and they make you:

1. Get off the incoming plane
2. Walk through the entire terminal in a secure area
   
3. Stand in line to talk to Can Customs - so far so good
4. Pick up your checked luggage - ??
5. Carry it through the final customs check
6. Drop it on a conveyor specifically for connecting passengers post-customs luggage ???
   
7. Exit the secured area ??!??
   
8. Walk around and up to the departures level
   
9. Clear security AGAIN ??@!!@##
   
10. Walk to your connecting gate
    

Did we lose a war or something? They should take a lesson from Montreal.

A small tech tip

This is where I put on my geek hat. If you're trying to sync your iPod Touch (or iPhone I suppose) with VirtualBox3 running WinXP as a guest on a Ubuntu machine (how's that for a mouthful?), you MUST set the machines display to the minimum needed for iTunes (1024x768) or less.

From personal experience:

Resolution at 1920x1080 - my 32GB ipod Touch took 2 frickin' hours to sync

Reducing the resolution to 1024x768 - <2min to sync.

I don't understand 'em, I just report 'em.

FYI - The better half and I are going to NYC next week - look for pictures and updates. Ciao babies.

Well done, Ensign Obvious

A little bit of graffiti I found on the Halifax/Dartmouth Ferry this summer.

A simple and compelling argument

What follows is an ad from the Irish group MarriagEquality. I honestly haven't seen the issue summed up so clearly before. Enjoy, think and share.

J-Pop is so far ahead you can't conceive of it.

The Japanese Popular music (J-Pop) scene has always been, well, difficult for North Americans to understand. Via Lady Bunny's Blog (NSFW), I discovered this gem from Jajima Beauty Salon: Hamaguri Bomber (aka Clam Bomber). Enjoy!



Left to right the singers are Strawberry, Margaret and Naomi Yajima "discovered" in Nevada, they were brought to Japan by DJ OZMA and the performing group Tunnels.

In reality the characters are played by DJ OZMA (as Naomi) and the two partners in Tunnels (playing Strawberry and Margaret.)

Ok, maybe not the most believable drag but it's good dance tune and the production values in the video are THROUGH THE ROOF! And, one more thing, I don't speak a WORD - a syllable even - of Japanese. GIven how much fun everyone seems to be having, I assume they're not singing anything rude.