September 28, 2003 [Sunday]......Jets game
Went out to Giants stadium to see an NFL football game this afternoon. Jets lost to the Dallas Cowboys 17 - 6. I sat right on the 50 yard line, but way way back up near the top of the stadium. Some very light rain on occasion and it was getting quite cool out there.

September 27, 2003 [Saturday]......Standing in Line in Harlem at Night
Went out for a bit of shopping this afternoon. We walked over to a upmarket modern designer furniture store, ddc, on Madison Avenue that we had previously passed and seen from the bus window. Well it seemed odd that there were no prices anywhere so I walked back to the front desk area and saw a price list folder, picked it up and flicked through it. I saw some big numbers. Then the woman at the desk quickly told me that I couldn't look at that. So when you are not even allowed to know the price, that was a good indication that it was out of our range.

Late afternoon we got the subway up to Harlem. They were doing a taping at the Apollo Theatre for the "Showtime at the Apollo" tv show. So we lined up outside on this huge line and stood there for the next 2 hours before they had closed the doors as the theatre was full. We had been told there was a good chance we wouldn't get in earlier but most people stayed and waited anyway. So we walked along 125th street and made our way back to the subway. Personally I didn't think Harlem at night was that much of a worry but Anh wasn't real keen to return. We took the subway 2 stops and were back in the Upper West Side, a completely different feel, and had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant.

September 25, 2003 [Thursday]......Takashi & the Rangers
After work I got the F train to Rockefeller Center to check out the new Takashi Murakami outdoor exhibition called Reversed Double Helix. Taka has designed a bunch of stuff, most notably the Luis Vutton bag design that is sold as copies all over chinatown. He also lives in Brooklyn. His display was these 2 giant inflatible balloon things hanging over where the ice rink is in Rockefeller Center during the winter. There was also a sculptured huge figure and mushroom style kids seating all with his unique patterned design.

The I rushed home and walked up to Madison Square Garden for the first game of the season of the New York Rangers. Tonight was a preseason game and the Rangers beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-0. A highlight was the large number of fights, possibly 8 fights during the night.

September 24, 2003 [Wednesday]......Gotham City
Tonight I met up with Marty who had been a consultant at my work and played hockey with me. We went out to the Gotham Comedy Club as one of his friends is a stand-up comic and was performing there. The show was very good, 9 comics in all, Marty's friend Lee was great. A bunch of the others had all appeared on the late night shows like Letterman and Conan etc. The worst was one woman who seemed to completely lose it onstage, forget her bits and started going through a very public breakdown, it was fascinating, like looking at a train wreck. Gotham club is only a few minutes walk from our apartment, over near the Flatiron building.

September 23, 2003 [Tuesday]......Rufus
Walking home past Barnes & Noble on 6th Avenue I saw that the singer Rufus Wainright was performing an acoustic set. They often have writers make appearances and occasionally singers also. The crowd was jammed all through the large store and around the window on the sidewalk. I made my way in and listened for 30 minutes or so until he finished.

September 22, 2003 [Monday]......David's Version
Firstly I had to correct Anh's poor grammar. Secondly I have to add that we caught a cab to the taping and cabs in Manhattan are soo frustrating. We got a cab as we were running late and needed to get to midtown and over to 10th Avenue. I swear I could have picked a more sensible route than our dumbass cab driver. In the end we probably could have walked there quicker. So my advice is save a $10 cab fare to be stuck in traffic and just stick to the subway!!

September 22, 2003 [Monday]......Comedy Central Taping (Anh's commentary)
It's only 8pm and already we are home from a taping of a comedy show called "Tough Crowd". It reminds me of "The Panel" back in Australia where 4 panelists and a host talk about a variety of topics including TV shows and news items. Tonight's panelists included the host of the show "Fear Factor", Joe Rogan and one of the comedians from yesterday's Comedy Club, Dave Mordal that we got a photo with. We arrived there in the nick of time and got VIP passes which meant that we got to sit with the stage crew. The show was pretty hum-drum and lasted for about an hour. We decided to walk home (the studio is on 53rd street) and also picked up some take-away on the way. We got home just in time for Fear Factor which is on TV on Mondays!

September 21, 2003 [Sunday]......Comedy and the Mets
This afternoon I went out to Shea Stadium to see the New York Mets ballgame against Montreal Expos. It is toward the end of the season and the Mets have sucked this year. I had a cheap ticket and there were plenty of seats available so I moved down to a lower level and sat near 1st base with a good view. The Mets lost 4-2 but it was a close game until the last innings.
At night we went to Carolines Comedy Club on Broadway to see 3 of the comics from the "Last Comic Standing" reality show that finished recently on TV. Most of it was quite funny and after the show we got photos with each of them and signatures. Before going home, we stopped off at Cold Stone Creamery to get some of the best icecream in the world.

September 20, 2003 [Saturday]......Chelsea Galleries
Fantastic day out, 80 degrees and a good day for walking around the neighborhood. I took off to visit some of the art galleries in Chelsea, which is one of the things this neighborhood is known for. I wandered from 20th - 25th Street over between 9th to 11th Avenue where there is the largest congestion of galleries. In under 2 hours I covered maybe 20 galleries or more, many are small and some buildings have 5-10 galleries so you just go from floor to floor. Most exhibitions are on show for only 1 month so you can return quite often and see all new artists.

Afterwards, I walked around the block to see what was going down. One street was closed off for a street fair which I walked through, then another was also closed off but for a resident street garage sale it looked like. I wanted to go visit a park though, so I got the subway down to the West 4th station and walked over to Washington Square park. This is one of my favourite parks, it is quite large and has a dog run, grass areas and centre domain where some breakdancers were busking doing their routine. This park is next to New York University and I remember walking past it several times earlier this year when it was all snow and ice and it looked like a wasteland.

At night I headed off for The Garden to see a WWE Wrestling event that was on.

September 18, 2003 [Thursday]......Mariah at Radio City
Just got back from seeing Mariah Carey in concert at Radio City Music Hall. This was the same venue we waited outside the other week at the MTV Video Music Awards, so this time we were inside it.
Both Anh & I totally enjoyed the show and I would say Mariah had the best live singing that I have ever heard, her range is incredible. A couple of rows in rfont of us sitting next to the mixing desk was Randy Jackson, her producer I think, who was a judge on American Idol.

After the show we waited around for awhile before going outside and not long after, one of the backup singers came out, so I got her to sign our tour program.

September 17, 2003 [Wednesday]......Elvis Imposter
We walked around to the Trailer Park Lounge & Grill for dinner tonight. It has a trailer park theme as in the name and plenty of kitsch decor. The real fun was that on Wednesday nights they have an Elvis Imposter performing. He was very entertaining, moving around the place to all the tables singing. At one point he was singing Suspicious Minds next to Anh, I couldn't stop laughing.

On other news, Hurricane Isabel has been getting lots of press here. It is due to hit the East coast late tonight I think down near Carolina somewhere. There is Tropical Cyclone warnings up the coast as far as New Jersey and people have gone mad buying supplies from Home Depots, like boarding up their windows. Early on, they predicted the storm could be as high as Long Island but now it seems we are out of the direct path.

September 16, 2003 [Tuesday]......More Free Movies
I hooked up some more advance screening tickets tonight, this time for the new Ben Stiller movie, Duplex. It was held over on 2nd Avenue around the Murray Hill neighborhood which we got to via a packed crosstown bus on 34th Street. Movie was very funny, and it opens here in a fortnight. By the way, you can't use the word "fortnight" in the US, no-one has a clue what it means and you get strange looks indeed.

After the movie we actually walked back home, it was a great night out and we stopped at a 5th Avenue pizza joint for a late night slice o' pie. Not only is pizza great here, and available on just about every street corner at any time, but it is reportedly better than the rest of the country some say because of the water here. Either way, it tastes good.

Walking back down 6th Avenue we saw possibly the most extravagent homeless man yet. He was laying down to sleep on the sidewalk for the night as many do around here, but this guy had a double bed sized matress laying flat on the sidewalk, whereas others sleep in shopping trolleys or on the pavement. Don't know where he got it from but I wondered what he did with it during the day.

September 15, 2003 [Monday]......Fireworks Fizzer
As part of the 150th birthday of Central Park, one of the last events was held tonight, a fireworks display in the park called Circle of Light. It was supposed to be this impressive display created by a chinese artist where the highlight would be a circle of light created by synchronised fireworks. Well, there was some light mist that turned into rain just as it got underway, and the fireworks themselves were kinda disappointing. Skyshow in Adelaide is still probably the best I have seen, the ones here so far have been subpar.

September 13, 2003 [Saturday]......Saturday in New York
Started the day by going to the City Bakery for breakfast. This was on West 18th Street and I wanted to try one of their specialties, the grilled chocolate sandwich. Yes, that's right, meltng chocolate in a grilled sandwich. And it was delicious. Apparently there is another place in Brooklyn that also does it.

After a short walk around the neighborhood, we then hopped on a subway up to look at the BoConcept furniture store on Madison Avenue. Anh then headed home while I went over to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). We had rain overnight and it was a dreary kind of day, so one of the best things to do in New York on days like this is a Museum trip. MoMA is located over in Queens until 2005 while they build a larger Manhattan site. The 2 main attractions I went to see today were a photography exhibition of Ansel Adams and a large collection of paintings by Max Beckmann.

Tonight we went over to the Upper East Side at 88th Street to have dinner with Ellen and Paul. Amongst other things, we heard Paul's account of Sept 11 as he was working downtown that morning, and Ellen's haunted New York stories!

On the way home, we walked past Jay-Z's club "40/40" that he owns, which is only one street away on 25th and attracts quite a few celebrities. We have no chance of getting in of course, and tonight it was guest list only anyway.

September 11, 2003 [Thursday]......September 11...
There are many events happening in the city today for the September 11 anniversary. This morning the official ceremonies were held at the WTC site and many other rememberance services were also held throughout the day.

This evening we went down to the Ground Zero site to view the Tribute in Light. We are 7 subway stops away, which is only 15 minutes or so. We spent half an hour or more walking along the main viewing area for ground zero where there was some large wreath displays, many in the shape of the towers or a giant nypd badge etc. There were people reading short stories of each of the people that died while crowds stood and listened. Along the fence were flowers and some pictures plus some messages from families saying not to rebuild directly on the building footprints, which is a very topical and emotional issue in the community right now.

The main event tonight however was the Tribute in Light. One block over from ground zero they create twin shafts of light shining into the sky in commemoration of the Twin Towers. It is for one night only and a return of what they did last year when it lasted several weeks. We walked over to Vesey Street where the lights were based to get a closer view. It was quite a spectacular sight, each "light" is actually a set of 20 or more lights that viewed from a distance blend into one powerful shaft, representing one of the towers. Plenty of people gazed at them and took photos, they seemed to go so high up, we stood at the base and they literally went higher than you could see.

September 9, 2003 [Tuesday]......Final Hockey Game / Street Film Set
House4 wrapped up our roller hockey season tonight with a loss, meaning we would miss the playoffs. Again, we played with no goalie, giving us virtually no chance from the outset. Late in the game I checked someone into the boards and possibly sprained my wrist, as it has been quite sore ever since and hard to move.

While on the crosstown bus to hockey, we passed a movie premiere at the Chelsea West cinema complete with red carpet and photographers. I couldn't see what movie it was for. Another block down on the opposite side of the street was a film set with a crowd of people. I made a note to have another look on the way home, which I did by walking back to that spot instead of getting straight on the bus at chelsea piers. Coming home, they were packing the set up and organising all the equipment. I spotted all the director chairs and noticed "Law & Order" printed all over them, so they must have been shooting a street scene. From there I jumped on the next bus for the last few blocks as my hockey bag is damn heavy.

September 7, 2003 [Sunday]......US Open Men's Final
The finale was today, Andy Roddick v Juan Carlos Ferrero. It was possibly the best tennis of the tournament, at least from Roddick, he was amazing and blasted series after series of aces on his way to victory.

This was the day to be seen, and through my trusty binoculars (we were at the top of the stadium, literally) I spotted Alec Baldwin, Mandy Moore, Jon Lovitz - again. No Beyonce, so I ditched the cracker jacks for a $5 bottle of water.

September 6, 2003 [Saturday]......US Open Women's Final
Tonight was the Kim Clijsters v Justine Henin-Hardenne final. Not even Lleyton and family sitting in a courtside box could stop the stink of a game that Clijsters played. Lleyton looks like he is falling asleep when he watches her, he rarely claps or cheers and slouches under his nike cap.
For a session, you get 2 games, so after the final, the next was the men's seniors doubles final. You can't be serious. Why anyone on the face of this earth would sit through that rubbish is beyond comprehension. I still can't understand why a juniors finals match wasn't played where you can see the next generation of stars, not the has-beens. You be right in guessing that that stadium emptied quicker than a firedrill.

Tonight I was sure to have a "Beyonce special" bag of Cracker Jacks while watching the game.

September 5, 2003 [Friday]......US Open: The Highlight
We had a full day out at the US Open today. It is held at Flushing Meadows in Queens, next to baseball's Shea Stadium. Originally we only had tickets to the day session, the Men's Quarter finals. Centre court we watched Andre Agassi beat Guillermo Coria in straight sets. Next we moved out to the outside court to watch Lleyton Hewitt get whupped by Juan Carlos Ferrero which was quite satisfying. Of course we could spot his family courtside. A good thing about the outside court is that it is not reserved seating so you can sit closer and have a much better view than centre court where the same location would cost hundreds.

During sessions we took time to walk outside around Flushing Meadow. Started out at the huge globe sculpture that you would recognise but I can't describe very well. It is set amongst a series of fountains and must have been 5 stories tall. From there we walked down past the never ending series of soccer pitches where it seemed to be all Hispanics playing. Further down is a small dirty lake they hold an annual dragon boat race in.

The night session was newly scheduled to make up for rain delays and we used our day tickets to buy half price tickets for the night session, the Women's Semi finals. First game was Kim Clijsters v Lindsay Davenport. Clijsters beat a disappointing Davenport.
Next up was game of the day, Jennifer Capriati v Justine Henin-Hardenne. This had plenty of action, crowd was really into it, and Capriati was stirred up from a series of questionable line calls. By the 3rd set she choked and couldn't hit a winner to save her life. Originally we "upgraded" our seats by slipping down into the higher priced seats, but that didn't last long before we got kicked out and found some higher up.

Despite all this, we found just as much action off the court. Destiny Child's Beyonce and hip-hop star Jay-Z had front row seats centre court. We sat opposite them and could see what they were up to with my binoculars. First up, Beyonce don't like tennis. She didn't clap or even watch half the match, plus I saw her yawning. Later on they disappeared and came back with snacks. They both had a packet of Cracker Jacks and a cup of hot tea.
Over in the President's Box I spotted Matthew Perry from the tv show Friends. He was getting friendly with the brunette next to him. The next box down was Jon Lovitz who has been in lots of comedy movies.

September 4, 2003 [Thursday]......Museum Visit
On the way home, I stopped in at the Museum of Art & Design on 53rd street tonight. Quick summary: not worth seeing. Most of the stuff you can see in a department store.

September 3, 2003 [Wednesday]......The Sequel
First post was a little premature it turns out. We were sitting home having some of Anh's homemade soup when they announced around 9pm the tennis would start, 2 hours late. So we had to quickly head off to get the subway as it was a 45 min trip to get there. When we finally arrived moments before we entered the stadium, light rain started again and the players went off court. After it stopped, we sat there for the next half hour being entertained by the more than 50 ball boys that wipe the court down with towels to dry it. They don't use covers for some reason, but kids with towels and 10 lawnmower style air blowers. It's quite a site.

The match we ended up seeing (we missed the first set) was Andy Roddick v Xavier Malisse which Roddick ended up winning. Kevin Bacon was the only celeb out there tonight and they played Footloose during one of the breaks. There was so much low fog that you could barely see the seats at the top of the other side of the stadium.

September 3, 2003 [Wednesday]......Rained Out!
The weather has turned on us quite fast. After some hot & humid weather recently, the end of summer also brought a change overnight to cooler temperatures and constant rain. We were scheduled to go to the US Open tonight, but it looks rained out, like much of the past 2 days of games. Hopefully it will pick up soon...

September 1, 2003 [Monday]......The Mets in Queens
Today is the Labor Day holiday in the US and it also marks the official end of summer. That means that as of tomorrow, all the beaches and city pools close, regardless of the weather. There is always baseball happening on holidays, so I used the chance to go and see the New York Mets who I hadn't seen yet. They were all set against the Atlanta Braves who I wanted to see. The Mets play out in Flushing, Queens, next door to the US Open. It was a trip on the 7 train to get there, and a dingy day that had a lot of rain in the morning.
The game went ahead despite the weather and the crowd was down significantly because of it. I was sitting out by first base around 10 rows back, but Mets tickets are easier to get than Yankee ones. It rained for around 3 innings, continuing the streak of 4 straight baseball games I have been to that rained. The game was quite good and the Mets beat the Braves 3-2 which was an upset based on their form this year.