Down in Chinatown

It has been weeks since my last blog post and don't think I haven't been racked with guilt over my lack of postage...(can I use that word in this sense? I don't think so, but I kind of like it and I'm going to anyway...)

All I can say is, moving in New York City is a hell I wouldn't wish on my least favorite of people and I've been a bit busy surviving the most stressful and strenuous (both mentally and physically) weeks of my twenty-two years on this earth. So please have some patience. 

But, things are different now. I feel like my world may have finally stopped spinning and I can foresee a future where weekly blog posts are again a part of my reality. And that future is bright.  

And now, a little story:


One Thursday night about three weeks ago, Tyler, a good friend of mine from SMU mentioned in a previous blog post, flew in from Colorado, suitcase in hand, his pockets, of course, proverbially full-of-dreams. 

He'd tentatively planned on moving here last semester and through some combination of unicorn dust and a show-stopping resume, he actually landed a job here prior to graduation, sealing his fate to be my new (and hopefully long-term) roommate!


So Thursday June 3 he shows up and we officially have the weekend to find our new digs, or else. His first day of work is Monday; my lease is up the fifteenth--time, to say the least, is of the essence, and we didn't waste a minute. 

The next day Tyler scoured the entire borough of Manhattan while I emailed him craigslist postings from work. He saw ten different apartments, God bless him. Most listings were in the upper upper East and West sides, aka, lower Harlem.

Harlem's supposedly very up-and-coming these days though and Tyler was very impressed with some of the places, one in particular. He sent me a text describing a tree-lined street and "HUGE" livingroom windows. The place even had a washer/dryer, which, in any other city in the country would definitely not be a major selling point, but let me tell you, in Manhattan you're lucky if you have a common washer/dryer in your entire building. Wanting one in your own apartment is a dream.

Up until about 3 p.m. I was pretty sure we were getting this Harlem place, and actually very excited about it without even having seen it. I very much trusted Tyler's judgement though and if he loved it, I was sure I would, too.

That's when I got the call.


I was at work, but I answered my cell anyway. It's not everyday you're remote-apartment-hunting and I felt that if Tyler chose to call rather than text, it must be important. I was right.


"I found this great place!" he told me.


"Yeah? East or West?" up to this point those were the only places we'd been looking...


"Chinatown."


Pause.


"You're joking."


He wasn't. I promised him I'd take a look at the place even though I was sure I would hate it. (I kept that last part to myself...)


We went out that night in both neighborhoods to get a feel for how safe I'd be walking home late at night. Turns out a coworker of mine lives in Chinatown; we met him for drinks in the area and he told us about how his kid goes to daycare in Chinatown and now speaks English and Mandarin and a little Hebrew (apparently it's a Chinatown daycare owned and managed by Jewish people. Oh, New York....)


Walking around in Chinatown elevenish at night with Tyler, I felt completely fine. Okay, so maybe I had to pee badly and nothing was open so Tyler and I pretended like we were staying at the Best Western until it turned out there were no Joneses registered for that night (really? no Joneses??) and then we had to leave (but not before I got to use their restroom!) but, the area felt very safe and was surprisingly busy considering most stores there close fairly early and the only places open were a smattering of bars. I even had Tyler walk ahead of me ten paces so I could feel what it would be like to be all alone on the street...and it was really ok.


Then we took the 6 train to the upper-upper East....Harlem.


I do not care what the New York Times says about it; Harlem past midnight was no place to be. Tyler offered to walk his ten paces ahead of me to simulate this whole being alone thing. I told him he'd better not.

It felt less safe for a number of reasons: The streets seemed absolutely deserted except for your standard homeless nappers and beggars; there were no cops making standard patrols as in Chinatown, probably because Harlem isn't your biggest tourist hot spot and NYC throws its money where the money is; finally, about a street down from our would-be washer-dryer-equipped apartment, there was what can only be described as a block party going down, only this block party was unlike any you've ever seen. One a.m. on a Friday, it included a number of baby strollers manned (and wommanned) by young-looking parents using their free hands to hold glass beer bottles or lit cigarettes, or both. I wanted to stop and tell these people "Go home. Put your kids to bed. You are a mom/dad--Seriously...give me a break!"

And because after passing these people enough nights I was sure that at one point I would speak my mind and have to deal with the consequences of such actions, it was probably for the best that Tyler and I turned around at that point and decided we couldn't take the Harlem apartment.


I was also pretty convinced that despite my positive experience in Chinatown by night, we were still not getting that place, either. In fact, I was pretty sure we would be scrapping the whole crappy experience and starting from scratch the next day in search of more mythical laundryrooms, but then something surprising happened: I really liked the C-town place.


Ok, granted, it's small--only two bedrooms,  no living room (same as in my old place, the converted one-bedroom to three-bedroom...This place was probably actually a studio at one point and they threw up some pressurized walls and called it a two-bedroom. Again, Oh, New York...)


But, it has hardwood floors and granite tiling and countertops in the kitchen. And there's rooftop access, which is awesome. Tyler and I are on the lookout for folding chairs; we already rescued a folding table propped beside a Chinatown garbage can and got it "foh fwee!" as we've started saying. Now we're looking for chairs and I'm envisioning many a rooftop wine-night in our futures.

And we each have our own window A/C unit in our rooms, which I know doesn't sound great by regular living standards but... you guys have to believe me, it's good. I know a couple who moved into an apartment in Manhattan with no A/C units and they're having to buy and install them themselves. Ridiculous.


Anyway, this post is getting long, but I just wanted to update and soon I'll probably post again to tell the epic tale of my Dad's trip to NYC and how I roped him into helping me move into this fifth-floor-walk-up using only our own brute human strength and the kindness of one brave Taxi driver.


And then another about my first trip to my new grocery store, the Hong Kong Supermarket, and my newfound love for garlic-flavored peanuts.


Post again soon. Please message or leave comments. Miss everyone from home and would love to hear from you!


<3 Leigh

Melville House Presents The Moby Awards for 2009's Best (and Worst!) Book Trailers

Ah Memorial Day weekend...something about that extra day just makes the skies a little bluer, the clouds a little fluffier, and the pigeon shit on the sidewalk a little less disgusting.

I went for a run in Central Park today. I've only been back there a couple of times since the weather's warmed up and it's still strange to see all of the green.

A few months ago the Great Lawn was covered in an army of snowmen. Now, the fountains are flowing and the pedicabs are out in full-force. I'm always impressed with those guys pedaling human bodies around in what essentially amount to over-sized red wagons painted yellow. Parts of Central Park are really hilly. I've seen some pedicab drivers (pedalers?) hop out at the really steep hills and tug their loads up manually, all the while chatting up their fares about the different sites they're coming to, entirely unwinded. Amazing.


But that's not what I wanted to make my post about. So, moving on--
  
The week before last I went to an event that, considering all laws of probability and rational thought, should not have existed, but, like so many things in the book publishing industry, went on in spite of all things logical and sane. 

This event was the first annual Moby Book Trailer Awards. That's right. Book trailers.

Presented by Melville House, an indie publishing house in BK I've mentioned in a previous post. The event was a red-carpet affair at The Griffin, a trendy bar in the meatpacking district.

(Side note: The meatpacking district used to literally be a meatpacking district in Manhattan. Up until the 80s, it was a slaughterhouse littered, fly-drawing area of town with blood-soaked cobble stones. Now, through the power of astronomical rent hikes and Manhattan's innate ability to reinvent the unreinventable, it's a yuppie's paradise littered in velvet-roped bars and over-priced restaurants, similar to Dallas's uptown.)

The event was an intimate affair with probably about 50ish people in attendance. True to my expectations of meatpacking district fare, my vodka pineapple was a steep $11. Also true to my expectations of that area's venues, the surroundings were very chic, with funky antique chairs and chaise lounges arranged in the center of the room beneath a stunning medley of chandeliers, further glamorized by an array of mirrors strategically placed to best reflect the fixtures' glittering glass. 

Kaci and I sipped our drinks and admired the surroundings while we waited for the event to start. Other guests included famous industry bloggers, authors up for awards, and anyone in the publishing industry who RSVPed using a work email address (which is how I, a lowly production assistant,  weaseled my way into an invite).


Everyone seemed really excited to see what this event was all about. The industry articles about it had been vague at best, promising only a "red carpet affair" that required "formal dress" for the presentation of book trailer awards and giving the date and location. 

Before coming across this event in a daily newsletter I subscribe to from shelf-awareness.com, I had no idea that books had trailers. Silly, silly me. Apparently, in this new age of self-promotion homemade youtube videos by indie authors are the new craze. The purpose of this event was to showcase certain videos, the best of the year, the worst of the year, the least likely to sell the book, etc., in order to generate even more press for this new phenomenon.


When the award show started, a presenter announced the winner for each category and then we got the opportunity to see the winning trailer. Some were really funny. Some were really questionable. And some, thankfully, really made you want to read the book.


Click on the link below and scroll to the middle of the page to check out the nominated (and winning) videos and, if you like, leave a comment or two to let me know which ones you like best!


http://2010mobyawards.wordpress.com/


My two faves were John Wray's trailer for Lowboy and Kathryn Regina's vid for I'm in the Air Right Now .

Fresh Ground Pepper Please!

Whew. What a whirlwind weekend.

It is entirely impossible that tomorrow is Monday and the start of a new week. I am not on board with that at all. 6:20 a.m. will most certainly come way too soon.


In any case, the past few days have been a ton of fun. New York is really coming alive now that it's springtime. People are everywhere and it seems like there's been a surplus of interesting events going on in the area.


Last Friday I went to an event put on by Fresh Ground Pepper, an organization that supports local artists of varying mediums. This particular night the focus was music. I realize that I recently published a blog on the NY music scene; even so, these acts were all so completely different from anything I described in my earlier post this counts as an entirely different topic.

I showed up not really knowing what to expect. A friend of mine sent me a vague facebook invite to the event which, I noticed immediately, was free. And, if nothing else, I'm a sucker for free. (I'm sure I would have definitelygone anyway to see Greg perform and support him at the show, but "free" helped!) 

It turned out to be a really cool hodgepodge collection of talent at a pretty interesting venue, The Tank, a non-profit performance space with stadium seating and sticky floors (probably covered in the only beer available at the concession bar--locally brewed Brooklyn lager). 


I was there to see Greg with his group, The Darklings, debut his newly written songs for a much-needed although not-yet-in-existence Broadway musical version of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. 

They performed the pieces in a group of three, each playing varying characters and miraculously changing their singing voices to fit the different acts. The songs themselves blended fantastically with Burton's existing music and Greg couldn't have picked more perfect performers for his group. They were, most definitely, The Darklings. Coupling the pieces with skeleton-hand gloves and fantastically fuzzy hats, the tone of the performance was a perfect Nightmare blend of light and dark, fun and fear. 

I was in awe. Gregory Van Acker is one of the most talented people I know and I cannot wait for the invite when this debuts on Bway.


Another group I thought was really unique and interesting was a twosome made up of James Monaco and Jerome Ellis, called, appropriately, James Monaco and Jerome Ellis.


In their bit one of them performs a monologue while the other plays an instrument. The music works with the pacing of the monologue to make the story's mood more or less intense, frantic, sad, or thoughtful. On Friday night the accompanying instrument was a saxophone, but in this youtube clip, it's a piano. I really liked the way these two complemented one another. It was just a great fusion of good writing and musical talent.

All in all, this was a great show and I'll definitely have to try to make it to more Fresh Ground Pepper stuff this summer.

Bedtime now. Hope everyone's Monday isn't any more irritating than usual.

<3 Leigh



Also--side note. Congrats to all of the new recent grads!! Are any of you moving to New York and interested in writing about it? I'm looking for guest bloggers to view the city with fresh eyes (mine are getting old and tired. I've been out of school a full year now. I'm practically in dentures.)

Contact me if you're interested or know someone who might be! recentgradinnyc@gmail.com