The jazzy tunes of new york

My parents came to visit me this weekend and today I decided to show them around my neighborhood and beyond. We crossed a few avenues to get to 5th ave. To our right was central park, and to our left stood the most expensive stretch of real estate on the planet.

I love taking the walk down 5th avenue and central park to get to midtown, because it is beautiful to see the classy abodes that line the street on one side with the serene park on the other. Athletic men and women jog listening to their ipods and iphones, while older ladies in fur coats walk their small fluffy dogs with pride not paying attention to a group of wide eyed european tourists. Yellow cabs line the street with their drivers honking and frustrated; some are stuck in the busy traffic and some are stuck in their lives. When you live in these abodes, it is easy to forget the world that many people live in, including many new yorkers. A few steps down the street lie the archaic city subways. Once in a while, I can hear a jazzy tune played by a sad man, once in a while it is a chinese flute, and once in a while, it is a merry spanish song. All of these tunes can be heard in the subways and almost all of them are created by men homeless or unemployed unable to make a decent living otherwise. Many of them are quite talented. I wonder what the difference between some of them and the people of 5th avenue are? Is it luck?

The sounds of the city can be heard everywhere - you just have to listen.

No TV and No beer make Homer something something

Here is a link to a Simpsons episode from a while back:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yGJGTjV2WE

I found it hilarious because I have been watching less and less of TV for a while and I dont drink at all. According to Homer, I should've turned crazy long ago. I used to watch a lot of TV before. When I moved to New York, I made the decision that I will not subscribe to premium cable. It is one of the best decisions I made. I can still watch TV if there is something important, but at the same time, it forces me to use my life for other productive tasks. There are so many better things I could do with my day and it is beautiful feeling to end each day well.

The only downside to not watching as much TV as before is missing out on conversations about shows. I can get very lost while friends talk about LOST. I dont know what goes on in Top Chef and I dont always follow American Idol. It is still a small price to pay for the time I get to do better things.

Americans spend an average of 142 hours watching TV a month. That is 142 less hours of spending time with their family. 142 less hours of socializing. 142 less hours of reading. It could be anything. I am sure other countries are catching up to this. I have noticed my relatives in India watching a lot of TV too.

The reason I find TV annoying, to say the least, is the amount of choice and control I have over shows and commercials. With internet, I can choose to visit only websites I like to visit, and I dont have to watch commercials. To me, that is a more efficient use of time.

Food and entertainment

I realized I haven't posted anything on my blog for more than a week! NY is an excellent place to be if you are a work hard play hard person. There is so much energy and endless things to do. NY is also famous for its array of restaurants and cafes. Many of the good restaurants are packed, even during a recession. However, it is not the time to be an average restaurant or a Wall St restaurant. My coworkers and I used to frequent a place for lunch; it was a cafeteria/restaurant/cafe with different kinds of food and we were never dissapointed with the quality. It was right on wall st and frequented by the regular wall st crowd. Two weeks ago, when we went there for lunch, we were surprised to see that the restuarant had closed down. Our assumption is that the wall st meltdown must have caused it to come to its end.
Each week, I have been discovering new restaurants and I should start posting the names of all of them. This weekend, I went to a cuban restaurant for a friend's birthday called Havana Alma De Cuba. The appetizers, especially the empanadas were great. I love plaintains and people eat plaintains in our part of India too. Its always interesting to see how cuisines can be similar according to similar climates; they also stem from cultural influences brought on by historical voyages. Here is a link to the restaurant:

http://havanavillagenyc.com/media/websitehavanavillage.html

I also discovered a new cafe around my neighborhood. Its called beannocio and it was recommended by a lady I saw in another cafe. I liked the environment and it is a great place to read and study. http://beanocchios.com/

Last week, I saw the Sonicvision show in the planetarium at the american museum of natural history. Being an astronomy enthusiast and also the fact that the show was in a planetarium, I was expecting a little bit more of a science lesson. The show was fascinating, but it was more on the technical, music, and graphics side and less on the science side. It was definitely worth seeing once.

http://www.amnh.org/rose/dome/