new york = the internet?

Where, oh where, does Jennifer Senior, the author of the cover story in this week’s New York magazine, find the … excuse me, the balls, to claim that New York “has become” the Internet?  Or, better yet, that New York was a prototype of the Internet before the Internet existed? 

“… [John Cacioppo, director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago] was describing the ballet of the train station. But his description could just as easily have applied to the Internet. Think about it: Serendipitous encounters between people who know each other well, sort of well, and not at all. People of every type, and with every type of agenda, trying to meet up with others who share that same agenda. An environment that’s alive at all hours, populated by all types, and is, most of the time, pretty safe. What he was saying, really, was that New York had become the Web. Or perhaps more, even: that New York was the Web before the Web was the Web, characterized by the same free-flowing interaction, 24/7 rhythms, subgroups, and demimondes.”

Which isn’t to say that she hasn’t done her homework (she has), or that the piece doesn’t have it’s merits (it does), or that New Yorkers couldn’t use a little bit (or a big bit) of a hug right now (the do), whether they admit it or not (they don’t).

But if this comparison between a thronging, buzzing, chaotic cityscape and a humming network of fiber optic cables works, how is it not applicable to a dozen or more great cities around the world? Or the great cities of history, for that matter? 

Arriving at this climactic final assertion after passing through such touchy-feeley pit-stops as a visit with a sociologist who reassures us that friends are as important as family — “home of Friends, after all,” Senior quips in a parenthetical aside — I leave the piece with a conclusion of my own. Sadly, it’s the latest instance of New York centricism/egoism gone unchecked.

surprising tranquility of our pulse

I love parks. I love art in parks even more, and even more when it’s interactive and/or touchable. Which is why I hustled up to Madison Square Park on a recent chilly Monday evening to catch Mexican-Canadian electronic artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s light installation, “Pulse Park,” before it closed. 

“Pulse Park” is a series of 200 individual white light beams lasering across the central oval grass lawn, and they pulsate. Cool effect, yes, but here’s the catch: At the south side of the lawn you have the option to register your own pulse and become a part of the installation. You can grip a pair of handlebars afixed to a podium-height steel rod for 10-15 seconds (the handlebars are not unlike those on stairmasters and eliptical machines), and once your pulse is calculated, all the lights of “Pulse Park” go dark, and a single beam of light rhythmically pulses to the rate of your pulse for a few beats, solo. Then the rest of the park lights up, pulsating to the rate of 199 previous heartbeats measured.

live blogging: veselka bacon cheeseburger

The genesis: I’ve been thinking about live blogging as a form for some months (years?), and I’ve been thinking about food for my entire life. Live blogging. Food. Food. Live blogging. Food. mmm … 

There was, of course, a lot of other miscellany in between, but in the interest of (my) attention span, let’s fast forward to the realization that the only live blogging events I’ve ever been interested in are about food or food-related events — i.e. Gawker’s live blogging of the opening of the Whole Foods on Houston and Bowery, or the first live-blogged restaurant review by a real critic. So tonight I decided, let’s order some take-out and do this thing:

WHAT: Bacon cheeseburger, medium rare, to-go

WHERE: Veselka Restaurant, 144 2nd Avenue at E. 9th Street, 212.228.9682 

WHY: It’s been named the best, or among of the best, burgers in New York City by such burger aficionados as Josh Ozersky, editor of The Feedbag (see RSS at right) also formerly of NY Mag’s Grub Street blog, and also Nick Solares of Beef Aficionado, who also blogs for A Hamburger Today.

8:07 p. Order from the take-out register at Veselka. Scan the side options (fries/home fries/potato salad) and opt for the later. 

8:08 p. Misread the sides, doh! To order some starch is apparently “deluxe”, aka an extra $1.75. I reorder burger solo. Fork over $10.02. 

8:14 p. I walk out the door, briskly. I’m always wary about taking burgers to-go, nothing’s worse than a cold burger/damp soggy bun/cheese that has melted and then re-solidified into some oozing awkward shape.

8:20 p. Home. Tear into the white paper bag that I’ve been catching bacony-cheesey wiffs of from all the way home. First thought: holy shit that’s big. (Insert wry dirty joke here, I did.) Nearly fills the entire girth space of the circular to-go container. 

8:25 p. inspection

8:21 p. First inspection of burger. Holy shit that’s big (yes, again). Huh. No L/T/O. Well I guess that’s how Velseka rolls. Doctor up with a pair of ketchup packets. First bite. … Executive decision: A burger this big needs a little roughage. Dive into fridge for lettuce mix, bit of red onion. Ahhh much better.

8:25 p. WTF, I haven’t even made a dent. Good burger though, passes inspection. Wide, evenly formed patty. Nibbling at the meat around the sides to taste “just” the beef. Nice char. A bun that can take care of business. Pink inside, yum.

8:30 p. Still haven’t made a dent. Wondering if I’m going to be able to manhandle (womanhandle?) this burger or if it’s going to get the best of me. Damn I need a beer.