Monday, June 5, 2017

The Weekly Web: Aussie’s in New York, Snowboarding, Photo of The Day


The Weekly Web is a collection of odd little pieces of information with a focus on items from around the world.

Australians in New York City 
I am a great believer in the old travel adage: When in Rome do as the Romans do. However, there are times when you can’t help hankering for the tastes of home. While I am happy to eat pretty much anything whenever and wherever I travel, the one thing I often find myself wishing for is a hot cappuccino made the way only Australian barista’s seem to be able to make them—that is with plenty of froth, hot milk, and a sprinkling of cocoa or chocolate powder.

I have encountered many a barista who has had a good stab at making cappuccino’s the Australian way, but they a generally pale comparisons to what I would call the real thing. Thankfully, when it comes to visiting New York City, this situation is beginning to change. There is a new kid in town—in fact there are several new kids in town—and they seem to be young, Australian, and keen to make their mark on the city’s coffee culture. 

Two Hands Café, New York City
One of those new ‘kids’ is the fast growing Café Grumpy chain, which, as of this moment, now has eight outlets in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and one in Miami! Locations include Greenpoint and Park Slope, Chelsea, the Lower East Side, and Grand Central Terminal.

The Aussie invasion continues with Bluestone Lane, Two Hands Café, Dudley’s, Ruby’s, and Flinders Lane, with more infiltrating the city’s coffee culture faster than you can say, “Starbucks? What Starbucks?” Just Google ‘australian cafes in new york’ to get a sense of where these cafés and restaurants are springing up. For a dedicated caffeine addict like myself, this makes the prospects of finding cappuccino’s just the way I like them during my upcoming trip to New York City that much more enjoyable.

As for all those Australian’s setting up new businesses in the city, I’ll let Gothamist explain:
They’re on the subway, in the beer line at PS1 Warm Up, and holding the elevator for you at your office. Sometimes it feels like Australians are becoming as common in New York as bank branches. You aren't imagining things. In 2005, an American Community Survey taken for the U.S. Census estimated that only 5,537 Australians were residents of New York City. In 2011, the Australian Consulate pegged the number at 20,000, suggesting that the rapid influx of Australians to the city is very real.


My Travel
No, not a film about my own personal travel, but a short film featuring three very accomplished snowboarders, Elias Elhardt, Jason Robison and Victor Daviet; competing in various events at locations as diverse as Mt. Baker, Innsbruck, and the Dolomites.

The Mt. Baker Ski Area is a resort in the northwest United States, located in Whatcom County, Washington, at the end of State Route 542. The base elevation is at 3,500 feet, while the peak of the resort is at 5,089 feet. 
Innsbruck, capital of Austria’s western state of Tyrol, is a city in the Alps that's long been a destination for winter sports. Innsbruck is also known for its Imperial and modern architecture. The Nordkette funicular, with futuristic stations designed by architect Zaha Hadid, climbs up to 2,256m from the city center for skiing in winter and hiking or mountaineering in warmer months.

The Dolomites are a mountain range located in northeastern Italy. They form a part of the Southern Limestone Alps and extend from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east.
  • Directed by JULIEN MAZARD 
  • Aerial Camera: Christoph Thoresen
  • Music in order of appearance 
  • Midnight / Infinite
  • Scientific / Somniac
  • Shiloh / Morning
  • Araatan / Nymph

Online: http://www.dakine.com | Facebook: facebook.com/dakine

Click on image to view at full size.

Photo of The Day
[Above: A release of water containing high amounts of sediment from the Xiaolangdi Dam in China in July 2012.]
This amazing photo from Getty Images, illustrates an article in the New York Times, A New Formula to Help Tame China’s Yellow River, which, which examines China’s attempts to harness the destructive power of the one river that has as much cultural significance to the Chinese as the Mississippi has to the United States, or the Ganges has to India.

Saturday, June 3, 2017

NYC Round-Up #6: Northside Fest, NYC Stories, New Ferries, 'Manahatta'

 
 Northside Festival 2017
One week every June, over 100,000 creative and cultural trendsetters converge in Brooklyn to uncover the future of music, innovation, and content with over 300 bands, 150 speakers, and 100 content creators.

The Northside Festival encompasses a constellation of venues – small clubs, outdoor spaces, boutique hotels, and more. A single day might include discovering your favorite band, the next big startup, or the best visual content you’ve experienced all year.

On June 10-11, Williamsburg’s main drag Bedford Avenue will transform into a public park (from Metropolitan Avenue to N 12th Street). Temporary wall units, interactive installations, and eye-popping sculptures will be staggered throughout the blocks.

Bedford Avenue is always rocking in the summertime, but never before like this! Jameson Music is proud to be showcasing promising artists on the Sine Metu Stage, bringing new sounds from across the U.S. to Northside Festival. Swing by between 2-6PM on Saturday and Sunday for performances by Jameson Music artists including Eve & The Exiles, Julia Haltigan, J-Council, HONEYHONEY, Cha Wa and Kristin Diable, plus other Northside favorites.

In addition to the installations there will be a variety of related activities to engage in and pop up parks! Artists currently participating include Nyssa Frank, Occupy Art, Chinon Maria & Maven Murals, Stickymonger & Andrea Tang, El Museo de Los Sures, Hiromi Niizeki, Peter Kato, Taezoo Park, J.H.S. 291 Roland Hayes & TalkingWalls Collaborative, Brooklyn Draw Jam, and Shoe String Press.

More information
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New York Stories
New York City is teeming with tales! In every window, around every corner, in every dark alley or sun-filled park or dusty corner store, something is happening. I loved the way the latest New York Times Magazine has taken ten news articles from the paper’s extensive archives into turned them into illustrated stories, or comics.

The magazine partnered with The Times's Metro desk to tell these stories in an innovative way: Through a series of comics drawn by some of the best illustrators in the business. Dive into this year's New York issue here…
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New Ferries Take to New York Harbor
New York City’s new NYCFerry service which has now begun transporting passengers around the city’s great harbor. The service, with six lines, will eventually link Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx along the East River.

Ferries on two of those lines — the Rockaway, Queens, route and the existing East River route — are up and running, with the South Brooklyn and Astoria routes expected to follow in August, and the Lower East Side and the Bronx routes in the summer of 2018.
A one-way trip will cost $2.75, the same as a subway ride. For $1 more, you can bring your bicycle onboard. (You can also purchase a 30-day pass.)

All routes have battery-charging stations and concession stands, and Wi-Fi is on its way, too.

The Rockaway route:
• This ferry will make three stops: Rockaway, Sunset Park and Wall Street/Pier 11.
• On weekday mornings, the earliest boat will depart Rockaway at 5:30 a.m. and Sunset Park at 6:15 to arrive at the Wall Street pier by 6:28.
• Commuting the other way? The earliest boat will depart Wall Street at 6:30 a.m. and Sunset Park at 6:45 to arrive in Rockaway by 7:27.

The East River route:
The ferry will still make stops at East 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan; Hunters Point South, Greenpoint, North and South Williamsburg and Dumbo in Brooklyn; Governors Island; and Wall Street/Pier 11 in Lower Manhattan. So what's new? There will be an additional vessel, which means more frequent service.

Check out all the routes and schedules here…
Download the NYC Ferry app to check schedules, purchase tickets, and learn more.
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Video available in online article here...
The Sounds of ‘Mannahatta’

At Left: Collect Pond Park in 1609. Collect Pond Park at Lafayette and Franklin Streets was once a five-acre basin in the 1600s, as shown in “Calling Thunder: The Unsung History of Manhattan.” By DAVID AL-IBRAHIM and BILL MCQUAY. Publish Date: April 25, 2017. 

Photo by LEFT: Markley Boyer/The Mannahatta Project/Wildlife Conservation Society; RIGHT: Stephen Amiaga/Wildlife Conservation Society.

It seems that visitors to New York have been complaining about the level of noise for a long time. Writing for the New York Times, JIM DWYER  notes that in 1748, a Swedish-Finnish naturalist, Peter Kalm, complained about the nightly chorus of the Manhattan’s frogs, writing, “They frequently make such a noise that it is difficult for a person to make himself heard.” 

So vibrant was natural life in New York before European settlement, the city could have become “the crowning glory of American national parks,” Eric W. Sanderson of the Wildlife Conservation Society wrote in “Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City.”

Even today, Dr. Sanderson said in an interview, our modern eyes can glimpse remnants of the landscape of 1609, when Henry Hudson sailed into the harbor, at places like Jamaica Bay, Inwood Hill Park and Pelham Bay Park.

“What you can’t ever find is the sound of what it was like,” Dr. Sanderson said.
Until, perhaps, now.



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Summer In The City
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The official New York City visitors site, NYCgo should be at the top of everyone’s list of websites when researching things to do—not just over the summer, but all year round. Here is a sampling of some of the summer concerts, movies and theatre events on offer, the vast majority of which are completely free:

Free Summer Movies…
The free summer film series have already begun, but be quick, you might miss out on La La Land, Life of Pi, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Lego Batman Movie, The Big Lebowski, Blazing Saddles, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Muppet Movie, Logan, The Secret Life of Pets, Finding Dory, Selma, and Hidden Figures, just to name a baker’s dozen from the extensive smorgasbord on offer.


Free Summer Concerts…
You can hear live music of all kinds across the City without spending a dime. From punk on Staten Island, to indie rock on the Manhattan waterfront; from classy nights outdoors with the Metropolitan Opera, to a diverse lineup of jazz and world music at SummerStage and Celebrate Brooklyn!, there is surely something for everyone.

Free Concert Seasons

Brookfield Place Events

Not Only, But Also…

Thursday, June 1, 2017

Don't limit your whole experience of life...

Don't limit your whole experience of life to a few people and a few places.
Travel. Meet new people. Explore what being alive has to offer.
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