another eye opens

Bergdorf Goodman

study in anatomy

Bargain Store, Astoria

Bargain Store (detail)

“Kitchen Counter with Toaster Oven, Fish Oil Capsules, and Sliced Radishes in Hand-Painted Sienese Bowl” — the painting Rembrandt forgot to paint

Deal of the month

It’s official! You can walk from 57th Street down to 51st along NYC’s newest avenue

You will never guess what gift Steve brought back from Mexico for Andy in this Pink Princess box….

West Village

West Village

Pat LaFrieda Place, West Village

Astoria

good Czech beer

Astoria

Spa Day for Breast Cancer Survivors, Jewish Community Center, Upper West Side

gay marriage meets Marvel Comics

It was a beautiful week to ramble around Central Park.

Andy and I sat in line for 2 1/2 hours to get free tickets to Shakespeare in the Park Saturday night. Nearby, a team of triathletes conducted their regular training, doing chin-ups and practicing their balance along the fence rails. Alas, this show turned out to be much more edifying than Daniel Sullivan’s production of AS YOU LIKE IT, which was so unengaging that we left at intermission. Surprisingly nice musical score by Steve Martin, though, played by terrific musicians (including Tony Trischka and Jordan Tice).

my new favorite beverage — it also comes in grapefruit and blood orange flavors

Sunday afternoon we took part in the Silent March to End Stop and Frisk, intended to put pressure on Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD to end a policy that amounts to selective harassment of young men of color.

We met up with my demo buddies Jonathan Lerner and Mike Spiegel, along with Mike’s wife Sheila and their daughter Ruby, on 110th Street.

Silence once we got to Fifth Avenue was definitely the best part of the march — no crappy rap bands, no inane speeches, no throat-ravaging chants.

The turnout reflected the great diversity of New York culture — all ages and colors, Grannies for Peace, folks in wheelchairs, lots of unions (nurses, UAW, writers), a substantial queer contingent, and of course Occu-pup.

Since the march ended at 78th Street, that meant walking home down Madison Avenue — a whole other New York culture.

a familiar sight in Astoria from the Q train

spied on Sixth Avenue from my bicycle

David and Gareth are going to Italy in October, and they invited Andy and me over to confer.

We ordered sandwiches from Sfilatino, a new Italian takeout joint on 57th Street, and went to Gareth’s house where he DJ’d an appropriate playlist (Connie Francis and Nilla Pizzi), David made Negronis, and we opined heavily and show pictures of Italy on my iPad.

The storefront that used to be Compusa looks like a David Zinn set these days.

The women who work at the post office were all atwitter about the new Miles Davis stamps, so of course I had to have some.