Hello Metroblogging NYC! Some of you may know me from my comments here or my blog Velvet Sea; although I usually comment as Velvet Sea, my name is actually J$ (sometimes pronounced as J-Money but technically the correct way to say it would be to say “J” while holding a dollar bill).

Believe it or not, New York City is really good place to see birds. I’m not just talking about pigeons here. Central Park and Prospect Park are prime birding spots and even amateurs casually strolling through are able to see many different varieties. NYC is home to a large population of red tail hawks and winter is probably the best time to see them as the trees are bare.

Today, while walking through Prospect Park (first decent snowfall of the season!!!!) I saw one of the hugest red tail hawks I’ve ever come across. It was at least the size of a football. Normally they are perched very high up in the treetops but this one was just sitting on a branch across a path:

I was able to get extremely close to it although I did not walk directly underneath it- partly out of fear of getting attacked (it is a bird of prey after all) and partly out of fear of getting pooped on. Hawks eat pigeons and mice, so I don’t even want to think about the latter possibility.

I’ve also seen red tail hawks near the boat pond and the ravine in Central Park and they can frequently be spotted soaring high above any wooded areas on the city. New York’s most famous red tail is Pale Male. So keep your eye in the sky and you might catch a glimpse of a red tail hawk yourself.

Say what you will about my hipster quotient (or lack thereof), but one ironically hip thing I’ve never been able to embrace is the movie Point Break. Nope. I’ve pretty much always hated it. And I think that fact essentially bans me from Williamsburg these days. But whatever.

That said, I’m intrigued by this new stage production of said horror show. It boasts two “extended skydiving” sequences, for god’s sake! And as if that weren’t enough, each night the Keanu Reeves character is played by a randomly chosen member of the audience–who reads his/her lines off of cue cards. (The idea being that this affords the most accurate approximation of Keanu’s wooden performances.)

Sweet. Sign me up, duuude.

I have no problems with beggars, per se. It’s when they start getting in my face that it irritates me. The near-muggings from the Boys and Girls club; 3 Fruit Rollups from the thug on 14th street for a dollar, only avoided because my wallet was literally empty; the Urban Homeless Association on Union Square West; all these I can cope with. All these are tolerable.

But do not expect a single cent if you’re taking up all of the walkable space underneath the scaffolding on 4th. That’s some precious goddamn space, and by taking all of it, you guarantee only irritation, not charity.

What are your worst begging stories?

If you’re rocking Rocawear or you pride yourself on your Sean John threads; think again. Two of New York’s most prominent rappers turned entrepreneur’s have been accused by the American Humane Society of using dog fur and selling it as faux fur – as in fake fur – as in those people who bought Sean John & Rocawear thinking “oh well, this isn’t real, I can wear it.” Guess again!

Okonomiyaki

Since my trip to Japan last year, I’ve been trying to recreate the experience. I keep my eye out for Hello Kitty emblazoned items and T-shirts with nonsensical sayings, I hang out at Takashimaya admiring the gorgeous packaging (but never actually buying the super-expensive items), and I assume that whatever men are reading on the subway is pornography (haha, just kidding).

But I’ve had less luck finding food that lives up to the Tokyo version. It seems every time I walk into a typical sushi place, it’s run by Chinese people, which isn’t a bad thing but doesn’t exactly make for authentic Japanese food. This weekend, however, I finally found a place that was the real deal.
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Over the past few months since our office moved to 6th Avenue and 20th Street, I have noticed a disturbing trend. In the day time both sides of Sixth Avenue are no parking zones except for loading and unloading. Thus a car parked there stands out. And invariably I have seen cars parked there with an official looking police sign put on the dashboard. This gives them an immunity to park in No-Parking zones.

However at all times, these are private cars. They do not even bear NYPD plates. How are they allowed to just park like that ? Is the law above the people ??

Just today I noticed a Gray Nissan Altima parked outside Cosi. The car had the requisite placard in the dash, making it untouchable. After I picked up my lunch and walk out, I see a couple in plainclothes getting into the car and driving away. The couple was standing in front of me in the cashier line at Cosi. They were not on official duty. The woman was a cop and she and her boyfriend were grabbing a bite on their way to a movie uptown.

I wish I had a camera to snap their picture and post it. This is blatant abuse of powers. Can the public do anything about it ??

Microsoft always makes waves when they release a new product. The song “Start Me Up” by the
Rolling Stones has become synonymous with Windows 95 thanks to an aggressive ad campaign. So, you know the technology mega-corporation would do something huge to top past efforts with today’s highly anticipated release of Vista, the latest installment of their popular “Windows” operating system… Enter Cirque Du Soleil.

[Photo courtesy Gothamist]

Am I the only one who thinks, on the surface, this report is designed for a bit of political grandstanding and fear mongering?
I don’t know enough about Congressman Anthony Weiner but his commissioning of this report seems a bit…spurious at best.
670 of the city’s sex offenders live near middle and elementary schools. That’s a sobering statistic…except there’s not a spot within 25 blocks of my apartment you could live and NOT be within 10 city blocks of an elementary or middle school. That’s a near-impossible feat to accomplish.
This whole ordeal reeks of the sort of fear mongering our nation’s leaders have increasingly resorted to in order to make people believe they’re actively attempting to protect us from “dangers.”

[image from Amazon.com]

Bill Sullivan, a photographer, took pictures of people walking through NYC subway turnstiles and then put them together in strips.

Note the diversity that make the subway one of the most democratic institutions around.

Over here at MB NYC we’ve got a pretty universal blog-crush on our new Governor Elliot Spitzer. Except for a few things here and there, we’re pretty damn happy about his performance, both as Attorney General and now as the new Governor. Whatever he does, he’d be better than the stiff Pataki right? Well, now I’ll add to the list another reason to cheer for him: He’s seeking to block the ban on locally grown Foie Gras. Now I know this is a hot button issue, as it’s widely known that the practices of making Foie Gras are less than humane. There is also some discussion as to whether not the practice produces a food product that is safe to eat. There are plenty of videos on YouTube and other sites that widely discuss these issues at length so I not bringing them up here. It is undoubtedly stomach-turning as is the practice of most animal slaughter.
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