Category Archives: PhotoBlog

Photoblog 017: Mooooooooooo York.

Cow appreciation day. You can find all sorts of odd celebrations in the city.
That asian guy in the middle of the shot doesn’t look pleased.

Photoblog 016: Grand Central Eats! Nomnom.

If people didn’t know any better, you’d think all I do in New York is eat (well.. that’s kind of true.)

Grand Central Terminal (AKA Grand Central Station) is one of the most beautiful buildings in the city. It’s a mix of classic architecture and design with modern-day functionality. Which makes it awesome.

I’ve always been a fan of the zodiac and astrology, and the ceiling of Grand Central is a giant painting of the constellations.

On each level, you have tracks (metronorth and the LIRR) leaving for Connecticut and Long Island. I decided to grab lunch today down in the dining concourse, which is in the “basement” so to speak. It’s home to a huge variety of food; pretty much any classic ethnic meal you’d want, you can find (I went with falafel today!) And a few popular chains like Juniors and Hale & Hearty Soups.

The station itself is pretty huge. Several levels and lots of wings, I always end up finding someplace completely new every time I go just to wander. I’ll have to go back and take pictures of the shops you can find (the fresh market is EPIC).

Stuff I have coming up: Port Authority Bust Terminal (ugliest building in NY) and Bryant Park!

New York Photoblog 015: Urban Jungle Lunch

During warm weather, New Yorkers like to eat outside (even though it’s particularly hot today…). People will sit pretty much wherever they can plant themselves. Popular eating spots for lunch include buildings with lots of stairs, like museums and in this case the New York Public Library. This facade faces east from 5th Ave and spans 2 blocks (40 – 42 st) so it serves a HUGE chunk of lunchers, including workers and tourists.

Taste of Times Square 2011 Review

foodfest 021

The great thing about summer in NY is that there’s room to be whimsical with the never-ending array of things to do. Working in midtown has its perks; sure the place is bogged down by tourists at any given point in time, but, the offset is that there’s always something interesting and/or free around.

Today I ended up passing Times Square as I’m apt to do on my way to the port authority when I came across the Taste of Time Square music & food festival thing. Now, I love food. I certainly look the part, too. I was more than excited to give it a go and it was the perfect warm/cool start of the evening to do so.

The jist is simple; buy tickets each worth a dollar and trade tickets in for food. You can buy traditionally 5-10 although certain booths offer buying one for one. All the vendors set a ticket price for their wares; on average a decent sampling will cost 3 tickets. Some are more, some less.

I ended up trying four delicious dishes; Eggplant parm from Carmine’s, oyster w/ beer-based sauce, conch chowder from Angus McIndoe, and “Hush Puppies” which is some deep fried smörgåsbord of marine delicious from Bubba Shrimp.

There was a total of 34 vendors this year from around Times Square spanning five blocks. Unfortunately, getting there late (after work) basically meant I couldn’t spend enough time as I would have liked. The ticket deal also meant I couldn’t try more than a handful out of them all; I had to really pick and choose wisely and didn’t even get to hit up the last block of restaurants. The atmosphere was pretty good; overcrowded but years of working at anime cons and dealing with rush hour kind of cure you of claustrophobia.

All in all: good times were had. I’ll probably make an effort to go again next year!

So check out the gallery of delicious and be jealous. <3

~Isa

Picture 014: The City At Night

 Hi-Res Version, just in case.
I really love how this picture came out.
This is a street view from 32nd street, in front of Penn Station, looking uptown on 7th ave towards Time’s Square (that small mass of light right smack in the middle.)
The really cool thing about cloudy nights in NY, especially if they’re low, is that all the lights of the city reflect off the clouds, as you can see here.
I’ve really gotta hit up Times Square at night one of these days. As much as I hate tourist-trap areas, that place is really spectacular when it’s dark and I think you guys would like to see those.

Picture 013: View from the Train

One nice thing about fall is that the sun sets during evening travel and makes for some pretty shots.

It sucks that blogger doesn’t have threaded comments so I’m gonna go back and try to reply any questions or comments in the next day post.

@Janus Kane : subways are way worse, as much as NJT blows. We at least have AC and a chance at sitting, haha. Subways, you’re gonna stand 95% of the time.

@Izmeer: Yeah, I’ve had to stand once or twice before I learned the trick of just going all the way to the back of the train. The last few cars usually have space.

From Rain Rain Go Away
Rain is nice, but in NY it’s really shitty cause cars splash you and it mixes with the usual city much making for some grossness at times.
The worst is when it snows, it’s pretty and white for all of 10 minutes and then it’s just brown and yellow slush for the rest of winter, haha.
You guys will get a few of those pictures, I’m sure.

Picture 012: Misery Loves Trains Full of Company

Commuting on New Jersey Transit during rush hour often means standing for 40 minutes.
This was one of those unfortunate days.
PS. The one-level trains were leased in 1993, making them about 17 years old.

Picture 011: Office Madness

No, I don’t understand it either.

Picture 010: Rain, Rain, Go Away

Rainy day on Broadway. Ich.

Picture 009: Crazy Tourists

This guy is not a bum. He was on the phone yelling for about 10 minutes while I waited for a bus. Then his wife showed up carrying about 7 huge shopping bags and he just got up and the two left.
It was odd.