Posted by Skrud at Friday, December 29th 2006 at 7:03pm
When I was in NYC, Josh and I were really intent on finding a particular phone booth depicted in a classic cinematic masterpiece; Hackers. In more than one scene, the heroes are standing around a phone booth in New York’s Chinatown, using their laptops to wreak havoc and mischief directed at FBI Agent Richard Gill (aka “Hacker enemy number 1”).
The phone booth in the movie should stand out, since there was a Chinese pagoda sitting atop it, making for a pretty distinct-looking phone booth. So Lunchy & James, our native New-Yorker buddies, guided us around Chinatown looking for a phone booth that had a pagoda on top of it.
We couldn’t find any.
Upon closer inspection of the movie, I think I can figure out why:
In these screenshots, it’s pretty clear that the pagoda isn’t a permanent fixture on the phone booth at all. Instead it seems to be a little wooden prop that the filmmakers placed on the phone to make it look more … Chinatown-y.
In the second screenshot you can see a better view of the street. I’m pretty sure we were at the very intersection, at that very payphone, walking down that very street – only we didn’t notice the payphone’s significance due to lack of pagoda. I’m pretty sure that’s the street we walked on to get to this little restaurant that was supposed to have awesome soups, only to have it close exactly as we approached the front door.
Tags: geek, life, movies, nyc, travel | 4 comments
Posted by Skrud at Thursday, October 12th 2006 at 7:41pm
Near the onset of our trip, Josh and I ended up getting a ride in a police car. Well, not an N.Y.P.D. cop car or anything, but an MTA (transit) cop.
You see, Adam was staying in a hotel in Long Island to be close to his girlfriend, while Josh and I spent our time in Manhattan to rock out. We left Josh’s car at the hotel in Long Island – since parking in Manhattan is expensive and the $150 it would’ve cost us was much better spent on beer and food.
So we had to take the train from Deer Park to Penn Station. (Yes, we were actually in a place called “Deer Park”. I thought it was funny, too. I’m such a nerd.) The train line we were on was called “Ronkonkoma” (that’s pronounced ron-KAWN-ko-ma and not ron-kon-KO-ma). Adam told us that we’d probably have to cross to the other side of the track, which we did. The train came and we got on.
“This is the train to ron-KON-ko-ma. The next stop is Brentwood.”
Oops. We were supposed to be on the train to Penn Station. So we get off the train at Brentwood, cross to the other side of the tracks (where of course we had just missed the train we were supposed to be on) and try to find out when the next train is coming.
As we tried to decipher the schedule (which had “…” written for the enxt train from Brentwood) a policeman walked by and said “You guys just missed it.” So we asked him when the next train is coming, and he takes a look at the schedule and declares “Oh shit! The next train doesn’t stop at Brentwood.” Which means there wasn’t going to be a train until three hours later. Crap. We were contemplating taking a cab to the next station when the officer offered to drive us up to Central Islip, which was where the next train was going to stop before it skips Brentwood. We happily agreed…
… and got into the back of his police cruiser – which was very uncomfortable (I had my knees to my chin). During the ride we felt like the cameramen in COPS. The cop was telling us stories about the crazy shit he’d seen – like some kid biking on the train tracks and his bike touched the third rail and the rear wheel exploded and the kid went flying but he was OK because he was holding on to rubber handlebars. Meanwhile the radio is going about a series of four bank robberies. BANK ROBBERIES.
Finally we got off at the station at Central Islip (which we were told not to be around at night – because we won’t come out again) and caught our train to Penn Station arriving around 6:30pm, where Lunchy was waiting for us.
Tags: nyc, travel | 9 comments
Posted by Skrud at Monday, October 9th 2006 at 4:42pm
I had so much fun this weekend that I’m already planning my next trip down there. I have no idea where to even begin describing it… so I’m just going to count down my reasons for wanting to head back.
We didn’t do any touristy things in New York, excepting possibly “visiting” Central Park (we walked about 20 ft in, and then left). We didn’t get cheesecake, we didn’t even get pastrami. We didn’t visit any museums, Empire State Buildings, Grounds Zero, or anything like that. We did see Times Square, but that’s because it was conveniently right next to our hotel.
We basically did the same kinds of things we do in Montreal, only we were doing them in Manhattan.
Reason For Going Back #4: Artsy Things
Just because I didn’t go to any museums on this trip doesn’t mean I don’t want to. I’m especially interested in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, and an art gallery belonging to the guy that directed all the Tool videos. (I have the address on a piece of paper, unfortunately all galleries in New York are closed on Sundays, so we didn’t get to see it).
Reason For Going Back #3: The Nintendo Store
Apparently there’s a Nintendo store at 10 Rockefeller Plaza. We didn’t make it there, because after doing jumping jacks in the middle of 6th avenue as hundreds (literally, hundreds) of cabs passed us we just gave up and got a couple of pints and chicken fingers instead.
Hailing a cab in New York is a serious ordeal. It’s not like in Montreal, where you simply think of a Taxi and one magically appears. I think there’s something unique in the way a person walks when they’re in need of a cab that Montreal cabbies are sensitive to, and they’re just always there and ready when you need them. We were laughed at when we tried to hail a cab by just waving our hands in the street.
Reason For Going Back #2: There’s more beer to drink
We discovered the Heartland Brewery, a brewpub in Times Square along the same lines as Les 3 Brasseurs. Between Josh and I, we had a pint of every one of their beers. The winner: Farmer John’s Oatmeal Stout, possibly one of the best beers I’ve had. We also found a pub right around the corner from the hotel called stout nyc. They must have had about 50 different kinds of stouts alone, not to mention an impressive selection of beers from across the planet. Reason #2 for going back to NYC is because I need to sample the rest of their beers.
Reason For Going Back #1: Lunchy
The internet is a strange and wonderful place. If it weren’t for the IRC, I never would have met Paul, never would have joined the Concordia Computer Science Society, met most of the people I hang out with today and started this blog, forum, etc. In fact, you could say that a large part of everything I do is thanks to one channel in particular, #mp3_metal on DALnet. While I’m rarely on IRC these days (and #mp3_metal has more or less disappeared), that channel is where I spent most of my teenage years.
A long, long time ago – I’m talking about 8 years, when Josh and I were 14 years old – we met a girl named lunchb0x on #mp3_metal, and she eventually came to hang out with us in #skrud. Lunchy lived in Long Island at the time, and Josh has been in contact with her (at least occasionally) ever since then. I still remember having her phone number written in green marker in my high school agenda in grade 9. She now lives in a dorm in downtown Manhattan as she studies computer animation (check out her website / gallery).
We met up with Lunchy at Penn Station before even checking into our hotel, and she hung out with us for most of our trip – introducing us to her friends, taking us to bars and being all around excellent company.
We went to a bar called Barfly on our first night with her and James and Mitesh – took over the jukebox and played metal all night. The second night, Lunchy and James took us around Chinatown, then for bubble tea, and finally to their friend Chris’ place where we drank more beers and watched Master of the Flying Guillotine, a cheesy 70’s kung fu movie.
I even participated in a wog… which is where one person starts drawing something, then passes it on to the next person who adds something to it, and the drawing continuously gets passed around (and usually progressively dirtier, too) as people keep adding to it. Of course, James and Lunchy and Chris are all artists. I drew superhero comics up until the 9th grade, and that’s about it…. and I’d been drinking. Interesting wog.
So my number one reason for going back to NYC is to hang out with Lunchy and her friends some more; they’re an awesome group of people. Hopefully we can get some of them to come up to Montreal :D
Tags: life, nyc, travel | 7 comments
Posted by Skrud at Saturday, October 7th 2006 at 3:50pm
I’m posting this from a MacBook in the Apple Store on 5th avenue in Manhattan.
So far, New York City is a blast. It feels like a typical downtown, but blasted through that amplifier in the opening scene to Back To The Future. Our hotel, while boasting small, closet-sized rooms, is on 7th avenue a mere three blocks from Times Square and we’re right in the heart of the city.
We met up with lunchb0x, aka Lunchy, who used to be one of our IRC buddies going back some eight years. Last night we were out until last call, drinking some pints (bars here have Pilsner Urquell and Paulaner on tap!!).
Today we’re doing some exploration and mild shopping.
Tonight we’re partying some more. :D
Tags: life, nyc, travel | 2 comments
Posted by Skrud at Friday, October 6th 2006 at 2:34am
I’m off to New York City for the long weekend to get some R&R. I’ll see you guys when I come back on Monday. :D
Tags: life, nyc, travel | 4 comments
