Friday May 15, 2009. 9 AM. BAM.

Little Italy Is Kind Of Disapointing

today's walkabout took me in the same general direction of past walking excursions: towards greenwich village, soho, and all the other places in that general direction. i actually had reason to go that way today; i went down to school to get my nyu id card ahead of the oncoming freshman rush, and once that had been accomplished, i figured i would spend the day (again) walking around down there.

as usual, i had a grand old time, looking at buildings, looking at people, window shopping, and discovering restaurants that i might have to check out again (hoomoos asli being #1 on the list). my adventures today also took me through little italy, a place i had been wanting to go to for a while, and i must say i was highly disappointed. first of all, little italy is just one street in the midst of the outskirts of chinatown (speaking of chinatown, the borders of chinatown don't really seem to be distinctly defined and it just kind of spills over wherever it wants). i wasn't impressed with the restaurants or the bakeries either. i just kind of got a "blah" feeling from the place. i would much prefer south philly and the italian market or boston's north end over little italy. i did have some good pistachio gelato, though.

i can now cross little italy off my list, for better or for worse. one of these days i am going to go uptown and see what there is to see up there.

caio.

Meredith Dolgin Is The Gift That Keeps On Giving

god, she really is a moron. am i sure this is the school i want to go to? not only is there a problem with my registration already, but this moron was, at one point. president of some sort of class council. actually, on second thought, maybe i am needed at NYU to teach them about damage control, because this website hurts, rather than helps, her case. it almost reads like one of those crazy peoples' website where they ramble on about having micro transmitters in their teeth and that bees are spies for the king of england. then again, as the saying goes, just because you are paranoid, it doesn't mean no one is following you.

Tribute Tuesday

i am finally going to get this started. my first victim: laura osterman.

the good news about laura leaving DC is that she too is headed to new york. the bad news (for her) is that i will be there too. she is going to pursue a degree in education of some sort of columbia. speaking of columbia, do i have to automatically hate that school because i go to NYU, just like kids who go to GW have to hate georgetown? if so, columbia, you suck. but back to laura. i can hardly think of another person out there i would rather teach a young child than laura. someone who is kind and sweet and has patience that could last forever. that is the kind of person laura is. i don't think i have ever seen her get even remotely mad at anyone or anything. laura also appreciates good music, so i know i will have at least one concert buddy in new york.

so, here's to you, laura. best wishes at that evil school you are going to.

i encourage others to contribute thoughts and comments about laura in the comments section.

From One Cesspool To Another

does government corrupt? ask the president of the NYU student council.

this also reinforces the old saying that washington (politics) is hollywood for ugly people. i hope all the girls at NYU don't look and act like this!


UPDATE: i am really regretting putting that picture up there. i need to write a bunch of new posts so it gets bumped off the first page!

Once And A While You Can Get Shown The Light In The Strangest Places If You Look At It Right

last night i was watching one of my favorite TV shows, 30 rock, when they cut to a scene of liz lemon (tina fey) and floyd (jason sudekis) standing in front of a particularly iconic red building in new york. i had to rewind the DVR to make sure i saw them correctly, but sure enough, there they were, standing on the corner of houston and lafayette, right in front of the puck building, which serves as the headquarters for the wagner school (the school i am going to next year).

the puck building

now, why is this significant, you ask? well, a few reasons. 1) it was cool to see them standing in front of puck. the puck building itself was one of the things that pushed my decision to attend NYU, so i felt some sort of validation that the crew of 30 rock felt that the building was significant enough to film in front of. 2) i was impressed with myself that in a post-kickball state of mind i was able to recognize the corner of lafayette and houston, one of the few corners in new york that i can officially say i recognize right now (the other would be the corner of 16th and 3rd, the home of the infamous joe jr.). 3) it got me excited for school again.

let me expand on #3 for a moment. its not that i have fallen out of excitement with school, its just that some of the initial gloss has rubbed off. school is no longer some sort of idyllic idea or concept. while it still represents a new beginning to me, i now have to deal with things like college loans (thank you, citibank), finding a place to live, finding a job, ect..., which makes school much more real and less a fantasy, which brings me back to the title of the post.

the title of the post comes from the grateful dead song "scarlet begonias". my apprehension about the real world implications of attending school were slightly abetted simply by reminding myself of the romantic vision i have of new york, and that i still have the capacity to view the city in such a way. i dont even remember what the characters were talking about, all i remember is that they were standing in front of the puck building. the building wasn't even the focus of the scene, it was simply in the background, but, in a way, i think that speaks volumes to the magic that is new york city, that buildings have their own magic and stories to tell and that every building has a different and special meaning to those who pass it by. to live your life in such an inspiring environment must surely be a treat.

i also found it amazing that yet again 30 rock was speaking to me, which is a strange thing to say about a sitcom. for whatever reason i really identify with this show, especially liz lemon (tina fey), which is even weirder when you consider that the show is a) a sitcom and b) lemon is female. i cant explain it. maybe tina fey is one of those artists that has the special capacity to speak to me directly, like the way i can identify with any klosterman book or any hopper painting or any pre 1998 phish.

enough rambling. its finally nice outside. soon i hope to expand this idea and talk more about why i like 30 rock so much and why i think that we are entering into a golden age of television, where some aspects of TV will bridge the gap between entertainment and art.

now if i could only find a way for this post to segue seamlessly into "fire on the mountain"...