The other night we were hanging out at Brooklyn Water Park, which is basically underneath the Manhattan Bridge. The view on the surroundings is pretty good, and popular. I snapped this shot of one of the infamous NYC waterfalls. They are pretty hideous, no? :)

Local filmmakers Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo of Zeitgeist Films sat down with Premiere Senior Editor and NYC Metblogs pal Jenni Miller to talk about their experiences in the film industry and the 20th anniversary of their company. I tagged along to photograph the two for the article and was interested to hear what they had to say about women in the film business and bringing great films that mix the political with the artistic to the public. From the article:

Zeitgeist Films, an independent film company known for delivering intelligent arthouse cinema to US audiences, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a retrospective of its award-winning films at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The company’s co-Presidents, Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo, sat down with Premiere in their Soho office to discuss entrepreneurship, creating a girl’s club within a male-dominated industry, and acquiring the documentary, Trouble the Water.

It’s an interesting article and outlook from two women who followed their passion for making great films (and kept the company local - their offices are in SoHo). You can also see the retrospective Zeitgeist: The Films of Our Time at the Museum of Modern Art, but hurry - the retrospective ends next Wednesday, July 23.

Not since Christo’s “Central Park Gates” have we had an installation so impressive. Olafur Eliasson’s four “NYC Waterfalls” have come to NY Harbor. There are bike tours, boat trips, and water taxi runs, to go up close to see the falls [think Niagara Falls "Maid of the Mist"], but if you prefer to stay dry, you can view them from spots in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island as well.

Check out the official websites for locations, times, pictures, and other details.

I’ve always been a fan of Donald Trump’s devil-may-care attitude, lies about his bald head, several failed marriages and 2 successful television seasons of a reality show. What I’m not fond of are the ugly monstrosities that Trump shoots up within a few months’ time and then calls them buildings.

What I’m especially not fond of are the buildings he puts up that destroy everything in its path. During my brief stint with the U.N. I knew a lot of colleagues that were upset about the ugly tall tower that sits right besides the Secretariat. He’s also run Conan O’Brien out of his own apartment by stealing its view. And the latest chronicle in his assault on the New York City skyline involves the death of a construction worker, tweaking city zoning guidelines and a lot of overall b.s.

I’m not sure where there’s a form available to have Trump stop, but someone needs to take charge of this campaign.

Today marked a rather grim anniversary: 5 years of the Iraq war. I attended a candle-lit vigil hosted by MoveOn in Madison Square Park. At first, only a humble number gathered to show their support for the anti-war cause. But then the group grew to a sizeable crowd, despite the stormy weather.

I spoke to one representative from MoveOn, who passionately told me her reasons for being against the war. She pointed out that America had now been engaged in the Iraq war for longer than World War II, certainly a disturbing thought. Another MoveOn representative carried a rather emotional sign, stating “I want my brother out of Iraq.” She gave a heartfelt speech which described the horrific conditions that soldiers are forced to endure in Iraq, including inadequate equipment, poor medical supplies, and low quality food and water. She said that she’d even had to buy her brother a gas mask. She called out to the crowd that if you support our troops, you are against the war - a statement met with cheers and applause.

The protest continued with volunteers from the crowd reading stories submitted to MoveOn about personal experiences with the Iraq war from soldiers and their loved ones. The message through these tales was clear - bring troops home to their loved ones and give them the care that they need. Many of these emotional excerpts stressed how money spent on the Iraq war should be spent on domestic education, health care, and care for veterans. The protest ended with people singing “Stop the war” to the tune of Taps.

Photo from imp-ep.three-half.com

A college friend of my fiance’s has begun holding mini reunions the third Thursday of every month. Yesterday was the first we attended, hosted at Luzzo’s. The invitation had confused me, miscalling the place Puzzo’s - which does not exist on the internet, but is a fairly amusing name.

The restaurant location is inconvenient from all subway lines but the L. After a cold walk over, we arrived to find the group seated at a table all the way in the back, right next to the kitchen. I ended up in the unfortunate seat closest to the kitchen entrance, and throughout the night got jarred by inconsiderate servers rushing past. This and the fact that we had to practically beg for water refills throughout the meal left me with a bad impression of Luzzo’s service. We split several large pizzas, including the bufalo and mushroom. Everything tasted delicious. We also split a few bottles of red wine, all relatively inexpensive.

This establishment definitely serves a tasty, authentic Italian pizza for a reasonable price. But everything else about the place just left me unimpressed.

I did two blog posts recently which talked about Hong Kongs transit system which profitably links transportation and land development.

Recently, the New York Water Taxi has had to cut a large number of it’s routes for lack of money. Isn’t there some way to link land development in the areas served by the water taxi to help fund it since the taxi adds tremendous value to these developments? This could be done in a number of ways, from granting the company some development rights, a cut of other developers profits or some kind of dedicated tax on land owners close to the areas served by the service.

I snapped this shot near Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, about 70 miles south of NYC on Friday morning. Numerous Northeasters create great surf in the winter, but full wetsuits are required for water temperatures in the 30s and 40s.

Just this week NYC announced that crime is down to a record low in 17 years and how the city has evolved into a really safe city. Now that statement has to be taken with a pinch of salt. Yes murders and killings may be down but regular vandalism is not. Ask any car owning resident of Clinton Hill or Fort Greene ! Ok, so no more digression.

However this story on Gowanus Canal, shows us another seedier, murkier, darker underside of the justice system and the police in general. A woman was arrested because there was a warrant out for her for having a dog unleashed on the road. She sends in a detailed account

because she was horrified at the conditions at the Brooklyn Central Booking on Schermerhorn Street between Smith and Boerum Place.

The R word comes up in her account and frankly anyone who has lived in NYC has been either a victim or a witness to racial profiling over the years.

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This Sunday afternoon my fiance and I went to the Natural History Museum. This is one of my favorite things about New York City. This museum is so large and full of things to do. Children everywhere have little idea bulbs permanently flashing above their little heads. This time we visited the Butterfly exhibit which they have every year during the cold seasons. Next we visited the new Water exhibit. Definitely worth checking out. The knowledge flowing from the Natural History Museum is brain titillating.

More pictures after the jump.
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