This morning, I stumbled up this link in my work email: Free Chocolates, Hotel Rooms, and... Movie Kiss Reenactments. Free chocolate? Across the street from the office, say no more.
So at 11:45am, four guys from the office and I take the elevator down and hop on over to Jacques Torres. It's relatively quiet when we arrive but over the span of 30 minutes, it develops into full chaos. People are milling around wondering when they're going to get their free chocolate. Store employees appease the masses with samples of hot chocolate, which, quite honestly, is by far the tastiest I've ever had, but this is obviously a calculated ploy to get people into a chocolate store the day before Valentine's Day in the hopes that they will make a last minute purchase.
Still, we stand firm and keep waiting for the promised freebies and finally, they arrive. Sadly, our grand expectations (Think Homer Simpson frolicking inside the Land of Chocolate) are quickly crushed. What do we get for waiting inside a crowded chocolate store for over half an hour? A coupon good for a free hotel room in Atlantic City (that's not good on Friday or Saturday nights, AKA "useless") and ONE piece of leftover Christmas chocolate!
I guess I should've learned by now that most things that sound too good to be true usually are. Especially in New York City.
Then again, I've never been to AC and have always wanted to see what it's like. Maybe it's time to take a personal day on a Friday or Monday and see what all the hype (or lack thereof) is all about.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Land of Chocolate?
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Beirut @ BAM
The bad news is: my iPhone died. And the good news is: my iPhone died.
You see, when the 3G iPhone exploded onto the mobile devices scene, it brought along with it the App store. And with the birth of iPhone applications came the death of free time on the train ride home to jot down Lazy Robots posts.
That's right people, Apple killed Lazy Robots!
At any rate, with a little bit of spare time on my evening commute, I thought I'd share a really amazing evening I was lucky enough to partake in just last weekend.
Saturday night, Yer, Jake, Brandon and I caught the second night performance by Beirut at BAM. The acoustics inside BAM's Opera House proved to be far superior to the previous time we saw them in the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.
Beirut is one of the few bands that sound more incredible live than they do on their recordings. They played a number of songs including "Nantes" and "Cherbourg" and the Vassar Orchestra joined them halfway through the set for "Sunday Smile" and many more. The combination of accordion, horns, strings and enormous drum made my eyes gleam like Omar Sharif's.
The only complaint of the night was the fact that you couldn't take drinks up to the Opera House for the show - all in all, a fair trade for an experience like this.
On another note, Japanese noisecore band Mono is playing a Wordless show at The Society For Ethical Culture on May 8th where they will be joined by a 23-piece orchestra. I'm buying my tickets for that right after clicking "PUBLISH POST" here.
While it's sad that my phone bit the dust after a mere 13 months of usage, I will most likely run out and buy another one immediately. Hopefully that won't kill the momentum that I've created here today. Stay tuned!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
Rock on Mars: Stephen Sprouse @ Deitch Gallery
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Banksy's back
British graffiti/political artist Banksy is back and this time he's put together a makeshift pet shop in NYC's West Village, conveniently a mere 6 blocks from my work, at 89 Seventh Avenue South, between West 4th and Bleeker called The Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill.
In his "pet shop," Banksy explores a variety of themes including the consummation of pets, such as chicken and fish, as food, animal testing, fur and the lamentation of road kill.
I stand behind the "eye of the beholder" philosophy when it comes to art so far be it from me to instill any of my beliefs or interpretations upon you. Instead, I leave you with a gallery that represents a sneak peak of what's to be seen at the exhibit and encourage you to check it out on your own.
Banksy's Pet Shop will be up until October 31st.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Dance floor douchebaggotry
This past weekend, I had the chance to check out two NYC haunts I've managed to avoid thus far. The first one, downright inexcusably, is Mercury Lounge, where Portland based duo Talkdemonic was playing the early show Saturday night.
Talkdemonic is Lisa Molinaro on viola and Kevin O'Connor on drums with various musical tracks backing them up. They sounded great live and I've made a mental note to grab their new album Eyes At Half Mast ASAP.
The second one, Santos Party House (AKA, the new Studio B) is more forgivable because it cropped up just over the summer.
We got there about halfway through The Hood Internet's set and shortly after Z-Trip came on. It was refreshing to hear some really solid DJ'ing. Z-Trip currently has an "Obama mix" available for free on his site so download it here if you want a taste of the madness I experienced.
Besides the fact that the minute my boyfriend left me alone on the dance floor I was accosted by an unrelenting douchebaggot who would not go away until nearby good Samaritans brought a security guard to remove him forcibly, Santos was a banging good time!
Hate to say it but Z-Trip really gave my favorite DJ, Diplo, a run for his money. Luckily Diplo's here on Thursday for round 2 and I just picked up my ticket after work! What better way to spend the time waiting for the Bobs to come talk to me at the office than to dance it off on NYC's finest dance floors!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
From cover to cover
Since I haven't posted in a bit, I thought I'd pick up where Yer left off with the Hot Chip show we caught at Terminal 5 the Friday before last.
Highlights included giant balloons being bounced around the audience, a harder electro version of "Boy From School" than the one they usually play and a cover of Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" that seamlessly blended into "In the Privacy of Our Love."
After the show, it was off to Love for The Bug and Warrior Queen. Sadly, the soirée was somewhat of a letdown. The Subswara DJ's were less than stellar and The Bug's set, low on headphones wearing and high on EQ tweaking, didn't really build into anything. Some good tunes were dropped though and the Warrior Queen was highly entertaining, so all was not lost.
The following night, B and I took the train way up to Harlem to catch Jenny Lewis at the Apollo theatre. We took our time getting there and, much to our dismay, arrived just in time to catch the last 10 minutes of secret opener Sarah Silverman! (On a side note, the first episode of the new Sarah Silverman Program season may just be the most hilarious to date!)
Jenny played a beautiful hour-long set. My personal favorites were the acapella title track off her new album, "Acid Tongue," followed by my favorite number from Rabbit Fur Coat, "Melt Your Heart." She also treated us to a cover of "Love Hurts" by Nazareth.
Hot Chip, The Bug, Jenny Lewis and Sarah Silverman all in one weekend? New York, I definitely still love you!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Old school brand new
Even though Hurricane Hannah pushed last weekend's EVR Festival from Saturday to Sunday, most acts were still able to perform. Sadly, such was not the case for celebri-deejay Mark Ronson (and his hot pink "gournal"), a last minute addition to the lineup. Easy come, easy go.
Still the day was far from a loss as we were able to catch a short set by LA based hip hop/trip hop/idm/dubstep producer extraordinaire, Flying Lotus.
Flying Lotus, AKA the happiest guy in the beat making business, was all smiles as he dropped a number of heavy tunes including his Lil' Wayne track "Robo Tussin" and a brand new remix of Radiohead's "Reckoner," which he said our crowd was the first to hear.
While Flylo was easily the highlight of the day, coming in at a close second was KRS-One who managed to lay down some real hip hop all whilst waxing political and peddling the food which was on sale care of Frankie's in the tents at the back.
At one point, he called out for the crowd to grab their cameras and "Meet me by the chicken!" And most people did.
Also entertaining was the fact that Flylo supplied the beats for the first half of his set. The old-timer didn't seem to know what to do with the experimental sounds.
Regardless, looks like you've still got it, KRS-One. Word to that chicken! (And the salmon too.)
