from croatia, with love

croatian catholic church - 502 W 41st St- map it here

Happy Monday everyone! Today, I wanted to show something a little different. This picture was taken yesterday from a bus on my way to Mistuwa, a Japanese supermarket in New Jersey. The route to the Lincoln Tunnel is not exactly the most appealing. But if you pay attention, you can always find little things that make you smile. Like this one, which is an advertising for Jana, a Croatian spring water you can find on the shelves of your grocery store in New York. On that light blue wall you can read "with love from Croatia". And below, Croatian Catholic Chuch New York. Does that mean they provide the holy water? Hmmm?

Here's a peek at that church:

and here goes the sun

the new york times building - 242 W41st St - map it here

This one is for our friend Hilda who is sick of the monsoon and asked to see some sun. So here's our little friend in the Manhattan sunset. Hey, you ask. I deliver.

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Previous posts with view of the NYT Building:
• http://nycdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/08/14
• http://nycdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/08/
• http://nycdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/06/
• http://nycdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/04/
• http://nycdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/01/

approaching thunderstorm

the new york times building - 242 W41st St - map it here

And a few moments before...

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Previous posts with view of the NYT Building:
• http://nycdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/08/
• http://nycdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/06/
• http://nycdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/04/
• http://nycdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/01/

purée de pois

the new york times building - 242 W41st St - map it here

This is the picture I would have posted yesterday if Flickr and Blogger were not both suffering from an indigestion.
I took this dramatic photo of The New York Times building from the window of my office yesterday morning. It was quite a spectacle to watch the approaching storm develop, hear the sky coughing and then this "purée de pois" taking over the city. A "purée de pois", pea soup in English, is how we call this type of weather in French. When visibility is very low. But if you look hard enough, you can probably distinguish some buildings to the left.

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Previous posts with view of the NYT Building:
• http://nycdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/04/
• http://nycdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/01/
• http://nycdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2008/06/

sleek silhouette

sleek silhouette, première mise en ligne par • Eliane •.

This sleek silhouette of the Financial District was taken from the Brooklyn Bridge. Yes, a few minutes apart from the pictures of the two last posts.
Some call it lomography, I call it having fun with your phone. I like the unexpected result that is so far from what you really see but pretty damn cool.

run, run, run

brooklyn bridge - above the east river - map it here

Allez hop, another little one from the Brooklyn Bridge!
Isn't that bridge so photogenic?

pretty clouds on a blue-blue sky

brooklyn bridge - above the east river - map it here

This Monday, as I was in the Financial District on a beautiful day, I just felt like taking a little détour and walking on the Brooklyn Bridge on my way home. And I could not resist taking a picture of those pretty little clouds through the net of the bridge cordage. Aren't they just charming? Maybe I should join The Cloud Appreciation Society? For those of you who feel inclined, here's their manifesto:

WE BELIEVE that clouds are unjustly maligned
and that life would be immeasurably poorer without them.

We think that they are Nature’s poetry,
and the most egalitarian of her displays, since
everyone can have a fantastic view of them.

We pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it.
Life would be dull if we had to look up at
cloudless monotony day after day.

We seek to remind people that clouds are expressions of the
atmosphere’s moods, and can be read like those of
a person’s countenance.

Clouds are so commonplace that their beauty is often overlooked.
They are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul.
Indeed, all who consider the shapes they see in them will save
on psychoanalysis bills.

And so we say to all who’ll listen:
Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and live life with your head in the clouds!

[from The Cloud Appreciation Society website: http://www.cloudappreciationsociety.org]

pause financière

financier - 62 Stone Street - map it here

A quick one today, taken during my lunch break in the Financial District where I am attending a training this week. Not too much blabla here. I just think it's cute. And refreshing.
Oh and, this is from Financier, a French (or French style?) eatery in the Financial District. The café au lait was good but the sandwich (in the bag) deserved a much crispier baguette than this chewy overpriced thing. Look no further than this cute bag and its matching sandwich box for the extra price. Or was it the three cornichons they offered that didn't help crunching the price? Hmm...

winking at a friendly sailor

45th floor, somewhere in the Times Square area

This is the south side of our office lobby, which overlooks the Hudson River (here you can see NJ across) and has great views of the rest of Manhattan. The model sailboat you see on the table is a tribute to a colleague who left us too early, about two years ago, in the beginning of August. I think he would have liked it.

be afraid... be verrrrrrrrrrrrrry afraid!

bleeker street, somewhere between mercer street and broadway - map it here

'nough said.

let's crack the code!

bryant park, midtown manhattan - map it here

[apologies for the bad picture - detective work here]

I found something quite fascinating the other day. Maybe you can help me crack the code?

See that beautiful lamppost? It is located along Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan. On the background, you can see the pretty façade of the American Radiator Building (aka Bryant Park Hotel), dark brown with golden highlights. But back to our lamppost. I noticed that every lamppost has a barcode, a little bit above eye level. And of course, I now wonder why...

Sometime ago I heard something about barcodes being used in a new trendy way in association with cell phones. That you would see a barcode on a restaurant or a building, take a picture of it with your camera phone and by a mechanism that I don't recall, it would point you to online content such as reviews, menus, point of interests, etc. All that was still a prototype I think. So when I saw our lamppost here, I was very excited. Apparently it is all the rage in Japan where they use it in advertising. But is it really what is going on here?

A little Q&A in the New York Times a few years ago, explained how lampposts in a Brooklyn neighborhood had barcodes on them. They were put by Con Edison to monitor them: each time they would test a lamppost, they would put a barcode on it. By scanning it, they could have a quick health check.

Somewhere else, I read that barcodes on traffic lights and other "street equipments" could be used in automating parking enforcement: the officer writing your ticket would scan the barcode to point to the location of violation and so on.

So what do you think it is? Have you seen those around??

Here's another one, on a traffic light:

YES, it's been a year already

gray's papaya - 2090 Broadway # 1 - map it here

I had completely forgotten about it but yes, the first post of this blog was exactly a year ago! So today, I am bringing you back where it all began: the window of Gray's Papaya, a local hot doggery claiming that its hot dogs are as good as filet mignons. One year ago...

If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you will see that they were encouraging our mayor to run for president. And, they were promising free hot dogs on inauguration day!

Today is also theme day and the theme for August is metal. I am now scratching my head to link this post to the theme, to which I had registered forgetting about the blog anniversary. I think I can leave you with two quotes, vaguely appropriate here:
"Water makes metal rust, so imagine what it can do in a stomach." (Jean-Marie Gourio)
and
"Metal detectors in airports are so sensitive that I avoid to eat spinash before boarding on a flight." (Philippe Geluck)
Well, rest assured that you won't get any spinash at Gray's Papaya and your beverage of choice should of course be a papaya drink.

There are 183 blogs participating in this theme day. Which means there are at least 182 much better interpretations of the theme! Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Happy August, everyone!