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METROPOLIS

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1/11/2013 New CHINATOWN GUIDE

Many New Yorkers write off Chinatown. They either  deem it a tourist trap filled with cheap, tacky tchotchkes or an insular ethnic community impenetrable to those unfamiliar with Chinese culture. There are, however, several destinations that fall into neither category and offer an exciting alternative to the city’s ubiquitous commercial establishments.

Fay Da Bakery-  Considering the popularity of some Asian confections, it’s incredible that Chinese pastries have not caught on as more of a trend. Mochi and bubble tea both have rave followings, but the Chinese bakeries scattered throughout the city do not receive the same kind of attention. Chinese pastries differ significantly from their Western alternatives; they are not traditionally as sugary, and often use glutinous rice flour (mochi) or crispy noodles as a base rather than dough. Fay Da is one of the more successful Chinese bakeries in the city, with several locations in both Manhattan and Queens. The ambiance at Fay Da is not as trendy as Pinkberry, with their artsy light fixtures and pebble floor, but what they lack in interior design, they make up for with the beauty of their fare. Fay Da offers a variety of classic Chinese sweets, including mooncakes, rice balls, and lotus puff pastry, and each piece is exquisitely crafted. The taro cake was especially eye-catching, a perfect sphere with a marbled lavender surface, and the golden glaze of the sweet bun is certainly seductive. At under $2 per item, you cannot go wrong. 191 Centre St. 

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1/11/2013 ONLY IN NY: SIZZLIN' SUMMER FLASHBACK

 

  

1. JAZZ AGE LAWN PARTY, GOVERNOR'S ISLAND
2. BRYANT PARK OUTDOOR SCREENING
3. SNAPPY DRESSERS, SOHO


11/10/2012 Shuffle Saturday: International Date Line Edition

It's already Saturday in Paris, which would imply two things: 1) It's unquestionably time for a long-overdue shuffle; 2) My god, do I miss the city. You know the one. The city ahead of which I'm currently time traveling, sidling around the sun six hours in advance: NY, NY. Lounging around in black skinny jeans and eating croissants from my dorm's vending machine might mean I'm living the Paris dream, but it also means I'm constantly day-dreaming of NYC. And it's often on Friday nights, when grocery stores close at 6 and the metro at 1:30, that my heart is with the city that never sleeps. I don't worry too much, though, we're all looking up at the same moon, right? If either of our cities could see it through the pollution. And digital music transcends time zones, man. All that to say: here's another mix, from Paris, with love.


1. Bloodbuzz Ohio- The National
2. Angels- The xx
3. Touch Me Bad- Steel Train
4. We Come Running- Youngblood Hawke
5. Purexed- P.O.S.

8/15/2012 WORD TO THE WISE: WEETZIE BAT, Y.A. FABULOSITY


Although this blog centers around New York love, every once in a while METROPOLIS casts a thought to other U.S. cities. And it is undoubtedly true that an L.A. summer is a magical, mythical, quintessentially American concept. That's why I was so thrilled to come across the bohemian ode to the Los Angeles lifestyle in the form of the Weetzie Bat, young adult book series.

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8/11/2012 Shuffle Saturday: S-s-s-s-sticky summer exams edition

Evening, city slickers and country bumpkins. I've a confession: whenever suffering through another finals season, my go-to jones isn't studying, or sleeping: it's spending an hour shuffling it up for you kids. There's no helping it: neither common sense nor a prohibitive French language pledge (for instance) has done much to keep me on the academic straight and narrow. And this time I even went to the extra effort (heruclean, really) to delete all the acoustic folky bits, thus ensuring I haven't become the Generation Y equivalent of a broken record (maybe that girl you know who updates her status with "Sooo bored txt it" every twelve hours? Hail the great philosophers of our time). Here's hoping you appreciate it, as my GPA certainly won't. (You're welcome.)


1. C'mon Talk- Bernhoft
2. The City- Patrick Wolf
3. Ohio- CSNY
4. Be Calm- fun.
5. Infra Red- Placebo

Postscript: I was also about to write you guys an alt rock edition of If You Like Then You'd Like with fun. and the band Walk the Moon, until I found out that they're on tour together this fall. Which revelation would have taken the wind out of my blogging sails had it not been that I'd already bought tickets to the Paris fun. show and love them both.* So maybe you didn't hear it here first, but you'll hear it here now: if you like fun., then you'd like Walk the Moon. I definitely do (Anna Sun was the theme song of my 2011 summer, Some Nights 2012's). And consider this my official prediction, one I made within seconds of hearing their debut i want! i want!: Walk the Moon are going to break it big** sooner rather than later. Get ahead of the curve!

*If you're a music snob who thinks a band with a #1 hit on the pop charts can't be insanely talented, you are wrong.
**(-ger than they already are)

8/10/2012 TIPOFF: GLOBALFEST


I don't think much more needs to be said, except that I'm stupid jealous.

7/28/2012 Shuffle Saturday: Newport Folk Fest Edition

Ladies and gents, it's time for another quick playlist to start your weekend off right. Lord knows I'm going to need it, making my way in a sorry station wagon full of other exhausted lunatics, from VT to RI, at 4am this morning. We've somehow managed to convince ourselves after Bonnaroo 2011 that doing this again, in the middle of jobs and school and visa applications, will be chicken soup for the insomniac's soul. Hence interrupting our glamorous research assistant/baby grad student lives for a pilgrimage to Newport Folk 2012. The whole thing should generally be considered a fit of youthful foolishness, in which we'll do our best to channel Dean Moriarty minus the casual misogyny and drug addiction. Expect updates in re our success or failure on our return. Sorry if it's not your speed--I'll mix it up next time, pinky promise.
  7/27/12 by NYC METROPOLIS on Grooveshark

1. Lost Kid- The Apache Relay
2. Six Weeks- Of Monsters and Men
3. Little Toy Gun- Honeyhoney
4. I Found You- Alabama Shakes
5. Boy With a Coin- Iron & Wine

7/25/2012 DARK KNIGHT: VIOLENCE ON SCREEN AND OFF

Despite the recent shooting of innocent moviegoes at the Dark Knight premiere in Aurora, Colorado, I was still willing to see the film when invited by a friend. Yes, I found the incident random and horrifying, but at the time little was known about the killer's motives. I was thinking, a crowded confined space is what it is. The nature of the film is just coincidence. It was only in sitting through the movie's first few minutes that I began to recognize the creepy violence of this series and coincidence began to seem more like causation.

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7/24/2012 ONLY IN NY (Mini & Outdated Version)

Recently got some film developed that I shot in the city this May. I like this Only in NY because (for once) it could actually be many many places where green things come up in spring.

New York
Some of the first buds coming up in Morningside Park, May 2012

New York City
Early Spring 2012 in Riverside Park

7/20/2012 Wanderlust: Park Slope

Now that I am officially out of school and have been given the majority of my days to squander at my leisure, I have been increasingly voyaging into Brooklyn, namely Park Slope. I will admit that I was, at first, a little skeptical of our neighboring borough and its endless rows of grand but understated brownstones. Why were they all content to be the same size? Where was that virile drive for power and dominance that charged the heart of William Van Alen causing him to send the Chrysler Tower thrusting into the sky?
I soon found that this sort of understated elegance permeates the majority of Park Slope. Everything is a little closer to the ground, it’s a little more woody, rustic, and organic. People walk slower, their sunglasses are a little less mirrored. The main prediciment this environment causes for your average tourist is that it becomes hard to find the key destinations. There are no major commercial intersections marked with clusters of screaming fluorescents to direct you to the thrills of a blob of Justin Bieber-shaped wax or a plastic tube of $10/lb. M&Ms. So people get lost in Park Slope, wandering aimlessly around, walking around in circles, poking their heads in random boutiques and organic food markets, searching for the excitement. Luckily, for you fortunate readers, veni, vidi, vici, and I’m willing to share the spoils.

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7/20/2012 WORD TO THE WISE: Spiderman, The Stone-Garfield Edition

Officially, the new Spiderman film also has a new name-- "The Amazing Spider-Man"-- separating it from its predecessors. Personally, though, I anticipate it being remembered as the Andrew Garfield Spiderman. The plot and aesthetics of this version differ in no discernible way-- it is only the actors' unique interpretations of their characters that make it a film worthy of a trip to the local cineplex.

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7/19/2012 If You Like, Then You'd Like: Bon Iver and Ben Howard


A year or two ago Bon Iver was still the stuff of small clubs and All Songs Considered, skirting mainstream music and shunned by Billboard charts. But after two Grammys and months of buzz you now have no excuse to be ignorant of Justin Vernon’s singular crooning on Skinny Love (I mean, Pitchfork gave their self-titled second album the No. 1 spot on their Best of 2011 list. Come on! Not that it stopped the confused American masses). That’s why the indie folk outfit is the If in this resurrection of If You Like, Then You Like (as a bonus, my money’s on Ed Sheeran for a similar rise to stardom, just saying). The Then this time around is the much smaller and equally talented Ben Howard, English singer-songwriter who’s only just begun to sell out American rooms. His May show at the Bowery was incredible—don’t think twice the next time he’s in town. So there you have it: If you like Bon Iver, then you’d like Ben Howard.

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7/19/2012 Wanderlust: Sea Bright, NJ//Where Not to Spend Your Summer

Hello New Yorkers and fellow exiles! I've been revising some thoughts I put down this spring about going back to my high school job, and decided that giving it to you might make me leave it alone for once and for all. Longer than usual, but I think you'll like it (it's about you, after all. Sort of, anyway. It might mostly be about me. But I'll leave that open to debate).

Read me ramble under the cut:

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7/15/2012 ONLY IN NEW YORK: ROCKAWAY EDITION



 

1. ROCKAWAY TACOS
2. THE MOSAIC WHALE
3. BOARDWALK

A WANDERLUST SIDE NOTE:
Rockaway Beach is a truly unique experience. It is, first of all, very strange to me that you can access it for only $2.25 by subway. It feels somewhat surreal, like that children's television show where a bunch of terrible children are launched into space on a rogue school bus.

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7/15/2012 ONLY IN NEW YORK




1. RICKSHAW DUMPLINGS, MANHATTAN SKYLINE
2. S. AMERICAN CULTURE PARADE
3. ASSORTED SWEETS, CHINATOWN, BAY RIDGE

7/14/2012 WORD TO THE WISE: ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

I am sorry to say that I have recently been relatively disappointed in film. It started when I went to see Magic Mike in theaters-- a film which does not possess even the smallest fetal skeleton of plot or character development. And continued with a slow night spent in my dorm room watching a bizarre Netflix biopic.

So, relatively resigned to bad movies in general, back on my Netflix account, I began Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. My first thought was "well, if it's got nothing else, it's got the beautiful Kate Winslet." At the time it felt like a superficial throw-away, but, in retrospect, I realize that a lovely, talented actress is nothing at which to scoff.

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6/15/2012 TIPOFF: THIS AIN'T CALIFORNIA

            Common adjectives for a documentary might be “interesting,” “informative,” or “stimulating,” but it's not so often that a nonfiction narrative is "explosive." The directors often seem to conform to established filmic patterns rather than using their full creative capacity to really explore their subject. This Ain’t California is an exception to the rule.
            The story, ultimately, is one that has been told before, being at its core a narrative on oppression in East Germany. The way it is related, however, is completely original. Director Martin Persiel explores the small but steadfast clan of skateboarding devotees in the GDR in the 1980s. Their movement, as described by one of the characters, is “the desire for freedom turned lifestyle,” and it’s a bizarre but extreme power this misplaced trend exudes. The film’s story is grounded in the narrative of a small skating troupe, beginning with footage the skaters filmed themselves through their childhood and adolescence. These clips are then complemented with interviews with surviving members conducted by Persiel in the present. The style allows the audience both to experience the raw highs and thrills of surfing a concrete city and then to reflect upon these emotions within their context.
            One might think that so many sources of footage would result in a jumpy or unclear narrative, but instead the patchwork quality, exaggerated to the ultimate effect, only works to the film’s advantage. Not only do the clips come from different time periods, but the forms varies from newsreel, to animation, to stills, to Super 8 footage. This makeshift visual style is the perfect form to fit the story’s function—skateboarding was a departure from convention, and the footage consequently reflects the experimentation of the period.
            The film is clever, and insightful, and beautiful all at once. Not to mention explosive.


5/22/2012 ONLY IN NEW YORK



1. MURAL DOWNTOWN
2. CRACKED CEILING: EDGAR'S CAFE- W. 92ND
3. LOUIS VUITTON PUMPKINS- CHELSEA

5/10/2012 Good night and good luck

Unbelievably, tomorrow I'm actually moving home for quite a while, and I'm not sure what to do. I'll sacrifice pithy alliteration this week to simply say: New York, I miss you already. I don't know when I'll be back again for the long haul, but I won't let it go too long. In the meantime, I'll be living it up on the Jersey shore and trying not to think too much. HAGS. Never change.

1. Salina- The Avett Brothers
2. The Fastest Way Back Home- Frank Turner
3. For the Summer- Ray LaMontagne
4. Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)- Decemberists
5. How'm I Gonna Get Back Home- He's My Brother She's My Sister

(Lot of repeat offenders this time round. Next time expect innovation.)

3/04/2012 Not So Shuffled Saturday: Go on an' git!

Its that time of March again, and I'll confess to have begun collecting songs almost immediately on returning from winter break. Nevertheless, we're leaving school, we're coming back home, we're grudgingly starting term papers and failing to study for midterms. What better time for a homeward bound playlist, even if some of our destinations may be less than homey (I'm looking at you, Cancun). Count on another one come May--it's not as if it's an uncommon theme in either song lyrics or the life of an undergrad. And once again, while going home and  leaving NYC are synonymous for me, they may not be for you, and for that I apologize. Then again, I can only recommend moving to New York as a solution--if you're unconvinced, try last year's homeward bound playlist on for size. My advice: stay just long enough for that sunny-sweet homesickness to kick in. Happy Spring.

1. You're Going Back- The Tallest Man on Earth
2. Same Old Ground- Lemon Sun
3. So Glad that I'm Coming Home- Langhorne Slim
4. NYC--Gone, Gone- Conor Oberst
5. Within a Mile of Home- Flogging Molly

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