Prof. B.V. Doshi’s lecture on “Architecture for India” comes at a time when India is on everybody’s mind. He will explore spatial concepts and architectural themes in his work and examine contradictions and challenges posed by India’s unique cultural milieu and rapid urbanization and growth. The subjects will include institutional projects and housing as well as large-scale urban design and planning projects.

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Date: Friday June 02, 2006

Time: 6:00 pm

Venue: Center for Architecture, La Guardia Place, NYC

More details here

Here are tracks I find to be perfect and the neighborhoods you should be cruising through while listening and watching. Some of the tracks may be hard to find for the average Joe, so I’d suggest going to your local music store and inquiring further.

Song Title/Artist
I Ain’t Got Nobody – Bessie Smith
SoHo on one of them cobble streets after dark preferrably.

Sing, Swing, Sing – Benny Goodman
Morning power-walk going to work or a business meeting – I once listened to this song from Grand Central upto the U.N. building where I worked at the time. Perfect way to start your day.

Juicy – Notorious B.I.G
Great song, especially when you just get on the GW Bridge coming back home to NYC

New York, NY – Frank Sinatra
Great song, especially when you just get on the GW Bridge coming back home to NYC – and you don’t like good hip hop.

Iguazu – Gustavo Santaolalla
Anywhere in NYC when it rains, preferrably though near a waterfront somewhere . . . (except Jones Beach).

Centrepeace – Badly Drawn Boy
A suburb stroll or Sunday afternoon drive tune fo’ shizzle.

I hope you guys enjoy this list and try it out sometime. In honesty, this came to be since a friend and I were driving down midtown Manhattan; 42nd street, and changed the CD 4 times while driving down and nearly every song fit the mood of NYC perfectly. It was a great experience. I figured I’d give you a best of list as far as I’m concerned.

I love NY1. Not only do they show the weather about every two seconds, they usually have a great “This Day in History” segment.

For instance on this day back in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge opened, connecting Brooklyn and lower Manhattan.

How can you celebrate? Take a walk across. Little over a mile long, it’s an easy stroll – well, except for all the soot and dirt that’ll blow up on you from the cars below – especially on a day as nice as today.

Then after your walk, head on over to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory on Water Street for purportedly some of the best ice cream in the city. I haven’t tried all the ice cream in the city, but the vanilla at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory is definitely off the hizzle.

Image from Catskill Archives.

After reading about Dana’s love for some of the greatest bars in the country in Billyburg, I started longing for coffee places in Queens.

There really aren’t any other than the Starbuckses. Those are nice places to hang out, but a place that is not racist and not Starbucks in Queens . . . I’m open for suggestions.

Tom Bridge from DC Metblogs was lamenting that none of the great beer establishments in DC made it onto the Beer Advocate’s ‘Top 50 Places in America to Have a Beer’ so I figured I’d check out the list to see how NYC fared. Oddly enough, three places in NYC are on the list and not only are they all in Brooklyn, but they are all in everyone’s favorite hipster enclave, Williamsburg.

Here’s how we ranked:

#3 Spuyten Duyvil – 359 Metropolitan Avenue @ Havemeyer Street

#36 Mugs Ale House – 125 Bedford Avenue @ North 10th Street

#49 Barcade – 388 Union Avenue (Between Ainslie and Powers)

I’ve never actually been to Mugs but I have definitely talked about my love for Barcade before here. That being said, hands down Spuyten Duyvil is my favorite bar ever. In fact, I have been refraining from writing about it here so it doesn’t get so crowded that I can’t get a seat. But it appears that the cat is out of the bag now. Spuyten Duyvil has a cafe like vibe, lots of seating and benches, not to mention a fantastic outdoor garden area that’s great for a happy hour gathering. Not only do they have some of the most rare and obscure ales you’ve ever heard (or more accurately not heard) of, the staff is knowledgable and friendly–letting you taste the tap selection and bending over backwards to get you a beer you will like. I am particularly fond of the Kindl Berliner Weisse, a very tart, dry Weisse beer served with a dash of Raspberry or Woodruff syrup to reduce the acidity. They also have a great selection of meats, cheeses and pates to compliment your libations.

Right now SD is celebrating Lambic with their Yeast Feast, which started last Sunday and ends this coming Sunday. They have an impressive array of lambics on taps right now that I highly recommend you check out.

For anyone who has shoped in a “Big-Box” store in the US, this is a story you will relate to. Over the past two weeks, my experience in some stores in NYC, has re-affirmed my faith that we do need to outsource the in-store customer service to India or any other place where people are willing to work, and not be the lazy asses they are in the stores here.

Sunday night we were at Pathmark, a food supermarket.We were looking for a particular kind of oil. We couldn’t locate it and so ask the one of the store employees working in that aisle. She gives us a super vague answer and walks away. We go and explore her answer, just to find that she was completely bullshitting and didn’t even know what we were asking for. Instead of taking the trouble to look it up either on the shelves or the computer, we were stonewalled. I threw a fit and asked for the store manager and he came after 15 minutes, and said that they don’t even carry that product. So on what basis was the earlier store employee telling us that it was on some shelf !

The second instance was at Circuit City yesterday. I was looking for a SATA Hard drive connector cable. As soon as I walk in, one of the reps walks over and in a “parrot way of talking” announces “Welcome to Circuit City…..”. For once I thought, great, here is someone wanting to help.

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I’ve already kvetched that there doesn’t seem to be much going on for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. As the month draws to a close, I’ve decided to celebrate in my own way, and what better way than with weird Asian snacks.
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City officials are thinking of installing cameras into subway cars as a result of increasing scratchiti and graffiti in the subways. But for now, they’re spending $25 million to install new windows that would prevent damage…

Freaking graffiti, I loved you as an art and you rape my tax dollars and unleash Big Brother on me?!I don’t know what to do with you!!!!

Now, consider all of what follows with this taint: I think the prices at the YMCA for their gym membership are a bit much. My current thought is dropping the seventy-five bucks to fight with three spegetti armed hipsters over the one set of dumb bells in the city run Metropolitan Pool & Fitness Center on Bedford. Hell, that scrap between the skinny will probably be enough of a workout by itself.

Still, I am sometimes amazed by the lengths some New Yorkers go to get their excersize in. Case in point, the man on the subway doing squat thrusts. (This is also case in point why I should never leave my camera at home.)

I can see from that glimmer in your eye, that you want to know more. Well, you know I can’t resist that stare of temptation…on we go…
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