"Despicable me" on Hudson River Pier 46--- I love the crowd!

  I and my housemate Eagle Lee went to see the Pixar's very heart-touching movie "Despicable me". I knew the movie from its trailers. But to see it for the first time was truly an enjoyable moment.
  We got by just when the movie started. All the space has been taken and conquered by an army of kids and their parents.
  So much for bringing the picnic blanket!  I thought to myself.
  We spent a few minutes scouting for a good spot to sit down, and finally I found a spot.
  Eagle told me, "I can't understand why people can't watch it on dvd, instead of coming to here."
  Obvious he was turned off by the big crowd.
  But I like the crowd....no----

  I love the crowd!
   

Ok you get the idea! I thrive in a social environment. I am a people person.
Oh I was falling love with this movie!
It's love at the first sight.
A sight that lasted 90 minutes!

Why do we make such beautiful movies?


So beautiful----it is from Utopia.

Do you have Utopia in you?

Street Salsa! "Learn to Salsa---Change your life?" But I think it is addictive!

I like to dance. I haven't danced much recently. I took ballet and jazz dance classes in college, and I loved them.

But I have just learned Salsa can change your life! That's according to the organizer of street salsa on 14th street and 9th avenue. Every Thursdays from June till September, you can learn to salsa for free on the street---and there are dozens of dancers.

Some of them were good salsa dancer, really good. I was so impressed that I took a video of two dancers.

There is another place to go. Last Sunday night I went to the free salsa night at Sheraton Hotel on 160 west 25th. There is no class there, just dancing. I was impressed for the first time. Today the second time here on the street.

Salsa music is fun too. You have to like its warmness, the love of life, simple life.

I have a friend who used to live in Peru. He said he had stomach aches in Hong Kong where he grew up, after moving to Peru his sickness was healed. Because he became more relaxed over time, influenced by the local easy going culture. He said that people would be drinking beer all the time and fall asleep on the street afterwards---like all people who get drunk. Most people were poor in South America, but they find happiness in simple life. 


 

Crooner Jazz Vocal performance honoring WNYC's Jonathan Schwartz, River to river festival, Rockefeller Park

      

     This show was my first attendance at a long Crooner show. It was in Rockefeller Park by the Hudson. Having just rain-showed, the grass was wet---perfect for sitting down on my butt.

     

      I used to listen to Jonathan Schwartz DJing those vocal songs, including Sinatra and other contemporary singers on WNYC public radio. Listening live is a little bit more exciting. There were a lot of older audiance---which means peace and quiet. They were annoyed by a few kids running around, laughing out loud. But it is hard not to enjoy such a beautiful evening at the Hudson River.

    

     

      Concert ended at 9:30pm, time to head to meet up with my friend Thao at Verlaine's, problem was---where the heck is Thao. 

     "How come this bar has so many Asians?" 

 

     Whatever I did, I couldn't find Thao. So I headed home.

       Woke up this morning, saw a text messege, "OMG, U left? I was there, you didn't see me?" 

      It's hard to spot an Asian among Asians in the dark space.

      Last night I dreamed of my father. He came to visit me. He was shorter now, still 6 feet. Maybe he was getting older or I got bigger. But he was the same way---happy but caring. He was networking for my job

     He bought me a bus ticket for but didn't tell me where I was headed. I asked but he wouldn't answer. So I had to tell him if he doesn't tell me I won't go. He then said it is going to Connecticut! What?! I say, why??

He replied, "There are more Californians in Connectict than any other places."

  

    I thought, oh my god, is this his idea of networking?

    I woke up.

       

Brooklyn Rider

       Last night I went to this River to River Festival event in Pace University to see this quartet called "Brooklyn Rider"---lo and behold, they were the best string quartet in terms of how much fun and creativity I had heard and seen.

      What attracted me in the first place was that they were part of the Yoyo Ma's Silk Road Project. Surely they blew me away with the quality of their show.

     They started with Mozart's "Quartet No.8 in F major, K. 168"---written when he was just 17. So that was classy and familiar.

    The next was of course Philip Glass' "Quarter No.2 "Company""---you could hardly miss Glass every time you listen to classical music in NYC.

    A teen boy sitting behind me complained to his mother about falling asleep listening to Glass.

   "Unidu" was their third piece. That's where the fun started. They had two additional performers joining in---one bass, another percussionist.

   If you know the Silk Road Project, it is tied to Asian music roots. This "Unidu" is  in Central Asian style. Written by Joao Gilberto, arranged by Colin Jacobsen.
 
   I love that mellow, winding, occasionally chanting sounds....

   Blue Grass was next, called "Sheriff's leid, Sheriff Freude".

   Kojiro Umezaki played solo Japanese pipe---a stunningly masculine instrument. The first pieced named "As if none of this ever happened..." It was written circa 1921 when Japan was devastated by an earth-quake, now re-dedicated to the latest one there. It was followed by two more separate pieces. One which he combined digitally synthesized sounds to his pipe called "Lullaby" by Itsuki. The third piece was a transitional back to the quartet, where everybody joined in.

   The funnest part of the show was the Gypsy pieces. I thoroughly enjoy Gypsy party string music!

   "Music of the Roma"
                  Doina Oltului (song of the river Olt)
  "Tchavolo Swing"
                 This one by Dorado Schimitt. Can you swing dance? The girl sitting in front of me was bobbing her head up and down...
  "Sirba in E-flat Major"
                       Moldavian traditional
                      Another excellent piece!! It was just so much fun.  The same girl sitting in front of me started to wag her head left and right....ok
   "Briu"
                   by Sapo Perapaskero --- it is a birds' chirping piece!!! The percussionist must used more than 10 different devices to mimic different birds' chirping, played to the string music.  
                       


      I was so delighted by the show, at the end I decided to take a walk from there to Chinatown---subway station was just too stuffy with its hot air.
     A beautiful, quiet summer Tuesday night, even Chinatown has all but silenced down. I felt like eating La-Mian, or Ra-Men, the wheat noodle; and I found one after a random scouting.  Still open at 10pm, it was very small but good enough for, because apparently the cook sounded very Northern Chinese---that's where Ramen came from---not from Japan!
     Oh yeah---it was delicious. I ate the beef, chewed the noodle, and yes, drunk all the soup. Salty and with MSG. It was worth it but next time I will tell them to be easy on MSG!
     After I went home and woke up in the morning my mouth was dry thanks to MSG!

About me

I work as a freelancer in New York City, mostly related to architecture. But I have become interested in social work and the government. I consider myself a liberal, a socialist, a free-thinker.
I enjoy living in New York City, and this blog is centered around my life here.