A Rainy Day in Chinatown

Mom and Dad left town yesterday for a romantic getaway in England! Lucky duckies. But hey, now it's just me and New York, keeping it real. Yesterday I went down to the Union Square area, where Forbidden Planet is. I just looked around the place to see if there were any interesting new manga or related merch to gawk at. I also went to a used books store called Strand: a literary emporium with an overwhelmingly extensive selection of books stacked on tall shelves. It seems like it would be incredibly difficult to find something specific in that place, but it's great for book collectors.

Last night, I watched Watchmen. Spectacular in many ways, the movie is both visually and thematically complex. But the gore was extreme and disturbing even for an R rating; it's a tad gratuitous, really. Has Zack Snyder ever heard the phrase "Less is more?" I think he needs to learn some artistic restraint. But all in all, the movie was smart, fascinating, and unforgettable. I'm still trying to figure out what it all means.

Rain, rain, go away! The rain keeps coming back to New York again and again. It's like we moved to Seattle or something. Today, I decided I felt like exploring Chinatown despite some light rain. But when I got out of the subway station at Canal Street, the rain was pouring so violently that an umbrella did almost no good. It was absolutely insane. So I just went back up to midtown. The rain had calmed a little bit so I stopped by Book-Off, and then looked around a nearby movie store. Not as fun as Chinatown. I'm tired of this rain ruining my plans!

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

A couple weeks ago, I had fun taking photos of the incredible sculptures at the Met, trying my best to achieve artistic photography. Blogger was being stupid and wouldn't let me post this slideshow in the entry below. Anyways, here you go...

Harry Potter Night with Marlena

A week ago, I finally got to hang out with my friend Marlena, who I know from middle/high school back in Tucson. She's been living here and studying acting at NYU for a couple years now--and lovin' it. It was so much fun to socialize with someone my own age, haha! I adore Marlena, with her funny stories, her uncensored personality, and her emotional understanding (as she listened to some of my kind of lame stories). As a warm welcome to New York City, she was generous enough to treat me to a lovely dinner and dessert at the charming, popular little restaurant called Serendipity. Their famous frozen hot chocolate is to die for. After that, we checked out a nearby candy shop called Dylan's Candy Bar. It's a huge and colorful temple dedicated to all things sweet, with pricetags that will empty your wallet. It was fun just to look.

Next, Marlena and I walked to Times Square for the main feature: Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince! She got our tickets for the midnight showing ahead of time, so it was just a matter of working our way through the mob outside of the movie theater. Marlena is no push-over, so she grabbed onto my arm and pushed her way to the front doors. We got perfect seats ahead of the crowds. As for the movie itself, we both enjoyed it. In my opinion, it's at least better than Order of the Phoenix--a particularly dissappointing HP movie for me--but doesn't come close to the glory of the climactic and compelling Goblet of Fire. Anyhow, Marlena was sweet enough to escort me home after the movie so I wouldn't be scared taking the subway so late at night. That evening was probably the best time I've had in the city so far, since I got to spend it with a good friend. Thanks, Lena!

Wall Street, Pride Parade, and Such

My mind is all jumbled because this post is a little late, and I'm trying to work out how to organize a run-down of my recent adventures for you. *sigh* Okay.

Two weekends ago, I took the subway to Wall Street and joined Mom and Dad for a stroll around the financial district. There are lots of really cool buildings, both historical and modern, around that part of town.

We also went to Battery Park, where you can look over the river and see the Statue of Liberty in the distance. I've still never actually seen that thing up close!

On Sunday, June 28, I went over to 5th Avenue around noon to watch the Gay Pride Parade-- a celebration of GLBT self-expression, equality, truth, peace, and love. There were plenty of drag queens and hot guys to go around. Gotta love it. I took hundreds of pictures at the parade, so I've compiled a slideshow of a small selection of them. I also took several video clips (but I think I'll upload those on another post because Blogger is giving me a headache). There were a few notable people marching in the parade, including the governor of New York David Paterson, Oscar-winner Dustin Lance Black, activist Cleve Jones, and I'm pretty positive I also saw Jaslene Gonzalez from America's Next Top Model.

The parade was way longer than I expected, but I stuck around for most of it until I was basically starving to death. After a meal of pizza and breadsticks, I proceeded to take the subway over to the PrideFest Street Fair, which took place over in The Village (At least, I think that's what they call that area). There was lots of junk food and rainbow-themed gifts for sale, but I just bought a lemonade because, as I've noted before, I don't have much money. I did enjoy walking up and down the street fair checking out guys and stuff. By evening, I was exhausted, especially because I didn't sleep well the night before. Ah well, it was a fun, gay-filled day anyways.

In other news, I've been watching way too much baseball lately because there's a Yankee's game on 6 days a week and dad got me into it. Me? Watching sports? Crazy talk! I know, right? But as usual, I've also been diggin' lots of anime. Since I finished watching the intellectually stimulating series "Kino's Journey," I started on another great series I bought a while back, "Samurai 7," a futuristic rendition of Akira Kurosawa's legendary epic film Seven Samurai. Thus far, it's a fairly impressive series, with a diverse cast of characters, an engaging story, samurai action, and subtle romance. I also rented some great anime films recently: (1) Kiki's Delivery Service, a family-friendly coming-of-age story about a young witch, directed by the masterpiece factory himself Hayao Miyazaki; (2) The Sky Crawlers, a pensive, complex, and mysterious study of the human condition punctuated with stunning CG aerial action sequences, directed by Mamoru Oshii of Ghost in the Shell; and (3) Tokyo Godfathers, writer/director Satoshi Kon's quirky tale about three homeless people who discover an abandoned baby in a garbage dump and try to find out who her mother is in an adventure full of chance encounters and holiday miracles.

Over the past week, I also worked on making some curtains for my room out of cheap bedsheets. I did it with mom's help, of course, because I didn't really know how to sew before. They look pretty good now, except I think they just need one more finishing touch.

Last Friday, I went with the parentals to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we admired all kinds of amazing art--what else? I took a lot of pictures of the incredible statues, which are probably my favorite kind of artwork to look at. The amount of skill that went into creating these realistic figures is astounding. The photos will have to come on a later post because this one's long enough already!

For July 4th, we had a picnic in the shade at Central Park. It was a gorgeous day! After we ate, we took a little nap on our picnic blanket and enjoyed the breeze blowing gently over us. Then we walked around the park and checked out the beautiful Conservatory Gardens, which feature fountains with bronze statues, topiaries, colorful flower beds, and lush ivy. I'm mad that I forgot to bring my camera that day! But of course, I can go back and take pictures any time I want. Because I live in New York City.