Gnip Gnop

I don't often go to charity events like this, but a friend was involved so I was somehow convinced to venture down to 23rd Street to this huge cavernous basement space called Spin New York. It's filled with over 30 ping pong tables and a bar and lots of young New Yorkers and some not so young ones too. The place has been around for over a year and seems to draw a crowd. This just shows you how many places there are and how much stuff goes on in New York that you can't possibly be on top of everything no matter how much you read Urban Daddy and Very Short List and every other semi-informative email newsletter.

For a Monday night charity table tennis tournament (models vs. whoever else), the place was reasonably full, if only because there were globs of models and semi-famous actors there for the breast cancer charity event. I don't know how it fares on other nights of the week. Unfortunately, you can't really see any models in my picture, but just imagine a bunch of tall thin girls with long hair wearing tight black pants and tank tops and you'll get the idea. I didn't see Susan Sarandon (she's an investor in the place), but I wasn't really looking for her either. I saw lots of models or wanna-be models. I mostly liked the green floor. I admired that. I said hello to a few people that I just happen to know and then it was off to other events and happenings in the big city.

For the record, I'm not so bad at table tennis. Anyone want to play?

I must say that I also like Gnip Gnop. It's just as fun and you can play at home. We had this toy growing up. Add it to the Christmas list.

Jive Turkey Credo

An important public service announcement from the helpful graffiti writers of New York City as seen on 23rd Street.

Bootleg DVDs

I don't think you should, but if you wanted to buy completely illegal bootleg DVDs, the best place to find them is down in the subway. I knew this dude would be completely pissed off if he knew I took his picture so I waited for the right moment and snapped away.

(Smart Tip of the Day: Try not to take pictures of criminals as they may not take too kindly to your photography and the possibility of being posted on a blog.)

What I liked best about this illicit salesperson is that he had a DVD player so you could see the quality of his wares before purchasing. The criminals in NYC are technologically savvy! I would much, much rather see movies in the theaters than on DVD, but if I had to buy any DVDs right this second of movies in current release, I suppose I would take a copy of Jennifer's Body, The Informant, Paris, Bright Star, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and The Other Man. $5 is way cheaper than $12.50 at the theater and for lots of people this is a viable alternative since they have been priced out of going to the cinema.

Happy Hour Fishing

Live Bait is a bar on 23rd Street across the street from Madison Square Park. It's been around for a while so they must be doing something right. I think I went there once or twice. We had lunch there during a Carrot Top commercial shoot for AT&T.

Rush hour commuters whizzing by at the end of a cold city day.

Today was a good day! Lots of traffic because of this. Yay!