Kips Bay Side Streets

While I don't think Kips Bay is quite as interesting as Murray Hill, there is nothing wrong with it.

There is a lot of variety of old and new architecture and nice residential side streets like the one shown. ( This is below 34th Street).

It's an expensive place to live, of course, -- have seen some really nice brownstones that are just as nice as anything in the Village or out in Park Slope.

More pictures of Kips Bay soon.

The Real Murray Hill

As I've noted before, people in the area which is closer to where I live, which is really Kips Bay, like to say they live in Murray Hill.

Here are some photos of the real Murray Hill area, up on Lexington in the high 30's, which give you an idea of the feeling of the place.

Kips Bay is nice, but it somehow lacks the distinctiveness of the real deal.

Radiation and Thyroid Cancer

I blogged once before about the link between radiation and thyroid cancer, but deleted the posting for some reason.

Maybe I thought it was too much of a downer and too personal.

The story is, basically, that like a lot of other children of the baby boom generation, well meaning doctors gave heavy doses of X-rays to my tonsils as a cure for chronic tonsilitis.

And, like tens of thousands of other people who had the same treatment, I eventually developed thyroid cancer and had to have my thyroid gland removed.

Now, if you're going to get cancer, thyroid cancer is probably one of the "best" ones. It has an extremely high cure rate. The thyroid gland encapsulates tumors and takes forever to metastasize, by which time the sufferer has become extremely symptomatic and is usually accurately diagnosed quickly.

You do, however, have to start taking synthetic thyroid hormone, which has skyrocketed in cost since I had my operation back in the 1960's. Drug companies justify this kind of gouging in all kinds of ways.

Interestingly enough, part of the reason for the X-ray approach was that it was pushed by General Electric --which made the equipment.

GE used to always say, "Progress is our most important product," a message conveyed to the public by a smiling Ronald Reagan.

When Chernobyl happened, I knew exactly what the outcome would be. Scores of thousands of people in the then Soviet Union and Eastern Europe eventually developed thyroid cancer.

Scientific "progress" often, it seems, has hidden and potentially dangerous costs.

Manhattan's Elegant Apartment Buildings

I remember as a child always being fascinated with the wonderful old apartment buildings on Chicago' s Lake Shore Drive.

Manhattan is full of great residential buildings like these...for a price, of course.

Let's face it, those pre-war buildings almost always look so much better than later ones.

Not all of them are in the best of repair of course. Rent control was not the best policy for making sure landlords kept up a lot of the great apartment buildings on places like Riverside Drive.

Weather was sunny and nice today and a long walk cheered me up ( and got my mind off the long drawn out battle with cimex lectularis, i.e., the common bed bug.

Supposed to be final exterminator treatment tomorrow, then have new mattress and box spring ( which have arrived) into protective cases and replace all the bedding...open up new comforter my sister sent me for instance.

In case you didn't know, bed bugs are epidemic in NYC right now. Asked exterminators and yes, they are very, very busy.

So This is Avatar

I didn't see the movie "Avatar" under the best possible circumstances. Partly I was out killing time while waiting to go back to my apartment which had been sprayed (again) for bedbugs, which I am slowly getting rid of. Have found through research it takes a lot of work to get totally free of damn bugs...

I really enjoyed the 3D effects in Avatar but that was about it.

The story is not a new one and as everyone keeps saying is "formulaic."

To give you an idea of the lowest-common-denominator nature of the script, the precious mineral being mined on this far-away planet Pandora is called--get this-- "unobtanium."

Who thought that one up, a ten-year old? Someone has said to me that the movie is probably geared towards the mind of a ten year old to help make back all the money that went into making it ( hundreds of millions of dollars).

In other words, "cinema history" is made by deliberately making a movie that's fun for the feeble-minded, thus allowing huge amounts of money to be spent on special effects that would not otherwise have been possible.

Not that I have anything against ten year olds, I should add. I have a niece who is ten years old and I am told that she loved Avatar. So it wasn't a complete waste, after all.

The Return of High Camp:" Sherlock Holmes "

Have already written on Facebook about the new Guy Ritchie film, "Sherlock Holmes".

Occurs to me on reflection is that what Ritchie has done, probably unintentionally, is to resurrect the notion of "high camp"-- that kind of cliched, over the top and even kitsch-y stuff that typifies say, Busby Berkley musicals.

It is often great entertainment and such is the case with "Sherlock Holmes"--as long as you accept that it's all balderdash.

All the actors in the movie are great and memorable and I think Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law are as effective a buddy duo as Paul Newman and Robert Redford...

The evil Lord Blackwood, played by Mark Strong, is fantastic.

This movie is of course NOT Arthur Conan Doyle. It IS however a send up ( as I have written elsewhere) of every buddy film, detective story and action movie every made.

Loved Holmes final confrontation with Blackwood high above the Thames ( on the scaffolding of what is to become the Tower Bridge?)-- where Holmes explains how all of Blackwood's "black magic" has been achieved ( shades of Charlie Chan and "The Thin Man'!").

Fantastic escapist adventure. Violent fights are well staged --one is almost a quote from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" with Holmes facing a tough giant of an opponent ( with a different ending, however).

Also loves how Holmes is always getting kicked around (as also happens to Watson) in the pursuit of the triumph of Good over Evil.

Sights of Lower Midtown

These little advertising statues are growing rarer and rarer...found this one ( and Santa behind it in window) on Fifth Avenue about 28th Street)...

Reminds me a little of pizza guy near where I live.

This kind of art used to be common and is getting lost with gentrification.

Also going is the kind of store like the one shown here, the "$2.99" store, which seems to be mostly junk jewelry.'

It is not far from the Empire State Building...that whole are has loads of tacky, tourist oriented shops.

Massachusetts Says No to Democrats

Right wing radio is always referring to Massachusetts as a lost cause for "Real Americanism"--but it doesn't look that way now.

The situation is further muddied by the fact that, by all accounts, Martha Coakley probably ran one of the most uninspired, inept campaigns ever as the Democrat...she hid from the people.

Seems to me Obama has let the right wing have the initiative from the very beginning on the Health Care issue, and is still painfully slow to respond.

Hard to be optimistic now about Health Care. It was hard enough with a "secure" Democratic majority in the Senate. Health Care reform may have to wait for another generation before it is enacted...by which time it may well be way too late.

This is not a happy day for the country.

Taking Leave of Nicotine Anonymous

Since I have been smoke free for over ten months now and feel like there is no chance of my ever smoking again, regretfully have decided to stop attending Nicotine Anonymous meetings. Today was my last one.

Wish I had found a support group like NA years ago...and also wish they had had nicotine lozenges years ago ( all they had was the patch, which did nothing for me and to which I am allergic).

There are Nicotine Anonymous chapters all over the country now, and I could not recommend it highly enough.

Unfortunately, there are not as many groups as there are for AA-- I was lucky to find one within easy commuting distance.

If you know anyone who is trying to quit smoking 1) see if they can get free gum or lozenges from some program to get started-- my dental clinic supplied some 2) DO look for a NA group...it makes such a huge difference.

January Thaw- Around the Empire State Building

After freezing for some time, temperatures crept upward today and you could stroll around the Empire State Building area and look around...

The snow is gone, as are the rogue patches of ice...

Just a short distance from the Empire State Building, an elegant old Beaux Arts building is all cheap advertising glitz on its first two floors-- all aimed at tourists.

On the side streets, the buildings vary widely in age and style, with all kinds of pleasant houses hidden away in what is surely one of the most obscure neighborhoods of Manhattan.

2010 Begins

In the aftermath of New Year's celebrations, statue of painter is left bedecked with a balloon...

New Year's Eve was very festive in New York. As usual, people crowded Times Square ( most under 30, by reports)--some had been waiting around for hours and hours--so they could see that silly ball drop ( why doesn't it go UP instead of dropping?) ( It would be much more visible from Times Square).

The New Year begins on a shaky note, with an airplane bomb plot stopped at the last minute, and an economy still in the dumps ( I am hearing stories of people who were laid off a year ago and still haven't found new jobs).

Well, here's to 2010 and let' s hope for the best!

34th Street Shop Window

Just happened that this shop window, with all its jewelry and seashells etc. caught my eye on 34th Street...

This window is no big deal as Manhattan store windows go- -this city must have some of the best window -dressers in the world-- but I just found this one intriguingly different.

Will be looking now around the neighborhood for oddities and places that just interest me...they don't have to be "important" places.

Cities Forced to Cancel Christmas | Lifestyle | Mainstreet

Cities Forced to Cancel Christmas | Lifestyle | Mainstreet

This is link to internet article about drastic measures taken in Chicago etc. to cut down the cost of Xmas celebrations-- budgets are tight this year.

American Academy of Dramatic Arts

Over at 120 Madison Avenue is the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, which claims to be the oldest acting school in the country ( or is it the whole English speaking world? Have to check the Wikipedia article again-- )

The building is the landmark Colony Club, designed by Stanford White. the Academy also has a school in Hollywood, on the site of the old Charlie Chaplin Studios.

There is an impressive list of alums in the Wikipedia article-- includes Robert Redford, Grace Kelly, Diana Barrymore, John Cassavetes and all kinds of names you have heard of or maybe not. It doesn't say whether these people graduated with any kind of degree, only that they attended the place.

I knew the building was the old Colony Club but it wasn't until very recently that I learned it was also this Drama Academy.

New York has all sorts of places to study acting, notably the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU ( where my friend Cecil Mackinnon teaches). I wonder how well graduates of these places do on the whole...guess it's still true that it is such a competitive profession that there is still " a broken heart for every light on Broadway."

The American Academy of Dramatic Arts is celebrating its 125th year of operation in 2009.

Mild December Day- What are these flowers?

It's December 4 and some hardly flowers are still blooming...what are these red flowers on Third Avenue and 37th Sreet?

Meanwhile, water project has been finished and you can now see Third Avenue...

The Blind Side: Hollywood for the Holidays

I usually balk at happy-ending Hollywood concoctions, but "The Blind Side" is a nice story, told with a great deal of humor, and its uplifting qualities didn't put me off at all.

Sandra Bullock dominates this film, this is her movie-- as the believing Christian who tries and succeeds in turning a young rather hopeless black boy's life around.

Some people have complained that the movie is too much about her character to the detriment of everything else, but that didn't bother me--- nor did the happy ending. Also, I was relieved they didn't make a big deal of her religious beliefs.

The cast is uniformly good and includes Cathy Bates as an eccentric tutor ( you will remember her from "Misery") plus Tim McGraw as Sandra Bullock's husband. The violence in the story is all organic to the plot and is not overdone. Nice job of movie-making for the holidays!

November Song- November 15, 2009

We find ourselves at mid-November still enjoying a relatively mild Fall...

Produce markets, basketball players, ornamental kale all over the place, and the last of the flowers in bloom... a rather pleasant late autumn.

Taking a walk around Murray Hill on a nice Sunday like today, it is easy to forget all the world's problems.

Notice, of course, changes everywhere in neighborhood, some which have been there for a while-- like no more Maurice Villency furniture on Madison Avenue ( it is a Roche Bobois outlet now)--which was a fixture for so many years.

The old Roger Williams hotel has been gentrified into "The Roger" with a very swank lobby...

They closed down the Midtown tunnel today with no warning that I can remember and there is an immense traffic jam, which would be even worse if it weren't a Sunday.

Weatherman says real winter is still some time off...let's hope so, and hope nice weather continues. We need the sunshine.

Law Abiding Citizen: Don't Bother

I just saw part of "Law Abiding Citizen," and this is one of those times I'd wish I'd read reviews beforehand-- so I wouldn't have wasted my time.

One of the aspects of this movie that annoyed me the most was the endless KA-BOOMS on the sound track to underline anything dramatic/violent that happened.  This is the cheapest kind of film making.

Short Lived Store

Halloween season inspires short-lived store at Second Avenue and 30th Street...

This is the site of the old Office Depot store that was once here...huge basement, now filled with masks and costumes and other Halloween regalia.

If I remember right, store opened about a month ago.

Asked employee if store closed on Halloween and he said yes.

I remember when I did public relations for a business association there was a lecture I covered on how to make a go of short-term businesses. This is one, I guess.

Clarks and Zappos.Com- Terrible shoes

Have just had terrible time with Clarks shoes bought from Zappos.com...recommend you avoid both.

Shoemaker told me Clarks shoes I had ( which cost $75) were terribly made and just designed to rub skin off of ankle.

Already returned one pair which was rubbing skin off my toes.

Payless Shoes has erratic quality and they don't last long, but they are much more comfortable.

Would be getting some Nikes or something except they are so expensive and no good once there is rain and snow.

If you know of some good reliable shoes, let me know.

Also, avoid Zappos...they have terrible quality control.

"Where the Wild Things Are"--Deep Fantasy

You may or may not like "Where the Wild Things Are." I was bored by this well-made movie but the audience around me seemed to be enjoying it...

The movie version is supposedly very close to the book, so if you liked the book you'll probably like the movie. I have never seen the book.

"Wild Things," though very imaginative, is just not my cup of tea.

Suggest you see it via Netflix unless you loved the book-- then would be worth going to a theatre.

Convenient location...Murray Hill

Big apartment buildings at 34th Street and Park Avenue are prime Murray Hill locations...

A short walk from such places as the Empire State Building ( entrance shown with tourists flocking around)-- and Grand Central area, these buildings also are good for public transportation.

Apartments in these buildings vary...I have been in the building in the center here ( 40 Park Avenue) and was surprised on smallish nature of living quarters...it is a great looking building though...bet the top floors have big penthouse like apartments.

Air quality is a problem for people who are sensitive to city pollution I guess. Suppose you can always buy an expensive air filtration system...

Lots of shops and restaurants around but is something of a hike to nearest supermarket ( at 32nd and 3rd)...not that bad, really.

Wouldn't mind living here if I had the air filter system.

Is America Losing Its Faith in Itself?

The Marble Collegiate Church at Fifth Avenue and 28th Street is famed as the home of Norman Vincent Peale...

Peale, if you are too young to remember, was a wildly successful motivational speaker who encouraged "The Power of Positive Thinking," and was part of the official optimism of the country during the 50's and 60's and even later.

His book sales were enormous as he urged people to positively think their way to success...in a world and country where all things were obtainable.

Now the church's gate in front is draped with "Peace Ribbons" commemorating  military people fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as prayers for peace in general. 

The recession has hit hard and everyone knows it will take some time to emerge from it. But, on a deeper level, have Americans lost their traditional faith in the inevitable success of America?

Surely, there is no lack of immigrants who are searching for the "American Dream." And Obama's slogan of "Yes We Can" seemed to be a great protestation of faith in America's potential.

But you sense really negative undercurrents these days which contradict that American Dream idea. ( I remember one scene from an episode of "The Sopranos" where a Russian mob--related woman says to Tony Soprano, " Americans always act so surprised when things don't turn out for the best. In the rest of the world, people expect the worst, and they are usually not disappointed."

Noticed on my walk around Midtown the other day that new buildings are still being put up, and in the beautiful autumn sunshine the City looked so pleasant and appealing...

But New York has certain advantages other places do not. Consider the plight of Detroit or Newark. Does anyone really expect life there to realize the American Dream?

And the ravings on the Right get more and more strident and doom laden.

Finally, there is another big scare about the world coming to an end in 2012 (supposedly because of Mayan calendars ending then and some super-rare convergence of stars)-- there will even be a much ballyhooed motion picture about it.

Somehow, as during Vietnam, America isn't a very confident country these days and it looks like it's going to take a long time for that to change.

"Julie and Julia" -- Unbelievable

The new Meryl Streep film "Julie and Julia" is such an over-the-top sugary chick-lit fantasy that it is unbelievable.

Julia Child was quite an enjoyable personality and I remember seeing her on TV years ago. I didn't watch all that closely because I wasn't that interested in cooking...

This movie is not for anyone who has at least one foot planted on the ground.

It is ultimate in what the Irish and British call "twee"-- so cutesy and arch that it is painful.

I sort of sat through this movie in stunned silence because I couldn't believe it was headed the way it was... it is so sappy, so saccharine ....

The men are like the guys in teen-age girl romantic fantasy comic books.

Meryl Sreep does a pretty good imitation of Julia Child.

And that's about it. 

Miss it.

Ricky Gervais Strikes Out

I left after the first third of "The Invention of Lying" and I don't really care what I missed...

Not in the mood for this movie today. It has one basic comic idea--the invention of lying in a world where lying is unknown-- and that's pretty much it.

Having people blurt out all their thoughts and feelings uncensored all the time gets to be boring. As someone has pointed out, no world could really exist if people did that. It would cause too much social disruption. 

White lies are a kind of social glue found the world over and we can't do without them.

I had heard bad things about this movie but wanted to see for myself. If I had been in a more tolerant mood, I would have stayed for the whole movie-- there are chuckles here and there.

Save your time and money for some other movie!