Monday, June 29, 2009City Opera at the River to River festivalThe New York City Opera performed at South Street Seaport on Saturday as part of the River to River festival. The weather was perfect and the opera was fantastic. [Linked to larger version] Thursday, June 04, 2009Photos of a man and a tankThis year, to commemorate the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, the New York Times has coverage of the photographers who took the photos of the man confronting a tank. Four different photographers captured the iconic confrontation. They also have coverage of a fifth photographer, Terril Jones, who recently released his photos taken at ground level.Labels: China, photographers Thursday, May 21, 2009Sam Calagione talk at GoogleLast month, I wrote about seeing Sam Calagione talk at Google. His talk has been posted on YouTube. I quite enjoyed the talk: Authors@Google: Sam Calagione.You can hear my question and his response at 46:06. Saturday, April 18, 2009Sunset on the promenadeSpring sprung into action today in Brooklyn and high 70s were an invitation to relax. I strolled down to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and was stunned by the colors of sunset.
Sunday, March 29, 2009Electric skyA thunderstorm buffeted the New York City region this evening and lightning flashed across the sky.
Hour of DarknessThis past Saturday, New York City dimmed the lights of many buildings as a statement towards conserving energy. It was very strange to see the Brooklyn Bridge unlit. Sarah and I were hanging out in DUMBO. For some reason, it was like I was seeing double.  Labels: New York Sam Calagione from Dogfish HeadI recently went to a talk by Sam Calagione, the president and founder of Dogfish Head. Dogfish Head is a small craft brewery based in Delaware. It was accompanied by a small selection of some of their beers; I had tastes of their 60-Minute IPA, Midas Touch, Palo Santo Marron, and Raison D'Etre. These were all well-balanced beers; my favorite was the Midas Touch. I've enjoyed Dogfish Head beers for years, I still remember tasting their Punkin Ale years ago in a mid-Atlantic brewing festival in Northern Virginia.The lecture did not disappoint: Sam Calagione touched on all aspects of his business, including going through the background of several of his beers, discussing the business of craft breweries, and speculating on the future of his business. He was the subject of a profile in the New Yorker in late November of 2008. In the article, Garret Oliver, the brewer at Brooklyn Brewery was quoted as saying of Dogfish Head's 120-Minute IPA, "I don’t find it pleasant to drink [...] I find it unbalanced and shrieking." During the Q&A portion of the talk, I asked about the quote, and Sam was nothing but gracious. Sam noted that he felt craft brewers should generally support each other, and that part of the craft brewing movement is drinking what you like and not dictating what others should like. He also noted that he and Garrett were on good terms and regularly exchanged beer. Hopefully the talk will be posted on YouTube, and I'll be able to share a link.   I am proud to say I am a beer geek, and here is a geeky photo of me with Sam Calagione.  Labels: beer Thursday, March 26, 2009Sign of the timesYesterday's New York Times Dining In/Dining Out section, aka the food section, had eight pages. Excluding advertisements by and for the New York Times, there was a single full page display advertisement and two small display classified advertisements. If that doesn't make the Times management a little nervous, I don't know what does.In other New York Times Dining News, Kim Severson and Julia Moskin had dueling dinner parties to see who could cook the best meal. Frank Bruni, the restaurant critic for the Times was the judge. Unfortunately, in a non-critical piece, he ultimately weaseled. Unsurprisingly, it's more difficult to criticize people you know and work with than it is to visit restaurants anonymously and potentially destroy their livelihoods with your critiques. Sunday, March 22, 2009Visiting Mystery PointWhen I visit my friends Phil and Karen in Garrison, New York, one of my favorite places to hike is Mystery Point. It's a small piece of land the juts out into the Hudson around 10 minutes north of Bear Mountain Bridge.I've visited Mystery Point in the past few months. One of my visits was December 27 of last year. The tide at Mystery Point was very low, and the water level was very low. December 27 was relatively warm, but the ground was still covered with snow.  A light haze covered the water, and you could see it accumulate as you looked into the distance.   Every now and then you see odd artifacts; this hook was embedded into a large boulder at Mystery Point. Was it used to dock small boats? Was it part of a larger structure? Around 100-200 yards north of Mystery Point is a loading dock; perhaps this was part of that infrastructure.  Even in the middle of winter, there are splashes of bright colors all around Mystery Point. The bright red flowers seemingly pop out of the middle of boulders. Mushrooms and other fungi abound.   My friend Anne frequently hikes up to Phil and Karen's house.  Phil has been doing quite a bit of hiking--I think he wants to hike the entire Appalachian Trail in New York.  Karen, Anne and Phil on the goat trail next to Mystery Point.  Tilt-shift effects can sometimes be fun....  I went back up to Mystery Point last weekend. Spring has already arrived at Mystery Point, yet it was a bit surprising how much the weather, water, and land resembled the weather of late December.     Wildlife abounds at Mystery Point. My friend Kathy took a fantastic photo of an immature bald eagle on the Hudson next to our friends' house. She was also kind enough to lend me her camera for this most recent trip since I had left mine at home. One of the signs that Spring was arriving were the large number of red-winged blackbirds migrating back. They had a distinctive call and a stunningly sharp and bright swatch of red and yellow on a black body.   Metro North and Amtrak share a train line that runs parallel to the Hudson. Near Mystery Point is a bridge where you can see the train motoring North and South. I created two stop-motion images of both trains: Stop motion #1 of train next to the Hudson Stop motion #2 of train next to the Hudson. Of course, I also have the individual photos that made each video. 
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