Impressed by art

Yesterday, I had a hit of culture in the form of the Frick collection. Henry Clay Frick was an industrialist and patron of the arts who commissioned a large family home to be built on 70th and 5th Avenue, overlooking Central Park. It is thought that at the back of his mind, Frick intended this place to become a gallery, in which the public could enjoy the works in his collection, which includes Vermeers, Turners, Rembrandts, several Van Dycks, and Holbein's portrait of Sir Thomas Moore.

The house is quite spectacular, not ostentatious, not showy, but the way in which art is central to its design. The West Gallery actually made me smile as I entered the room. Not only because of Turner's picture of Cologne that make an immediate bid for the eyes' attention, but because the proportions, colours, textures and lighting of the room make it one of the most compelling settings for looking at 19th century painting that I've ever come across.

The evening was less cultural, and a lot more energetic, we ended up at a place called PM in the meatpacking district, which is a little ironic when you think about it ... Pictures, plus more of the evening outings of the week are available here.

Sunday service

Yesterday, I went to a church with Heather (friend from TBT) called Redeemer. It's held in Hunter College on E68th and it was rammed full with people, at least 1,000, at 10.30 in the morning. Nice service, a little more traditional than I'm used to, but I have nothing against that. The church is running a series on some questions that come up a lot, and this week's topic was "How can there just be one true religion?"

Tim Keller is a really good speaker and his main focus was on secularism's three common arguments or angles to put to religious types.

1. "Let's just say that all religions are an equally valid path to God"
2. "Religion is fine, but you shouldn't try to convert people to your own set of beliefs about life and the world."
3. "Religion should be kept to one side when discussing things like public policy."

1. This is a judgement about the nature of God, not about the nature of religions. Religions contradict each other, so if this statement is true - that all religions are equally valid then either a) There is no God and all religions are equally wrong, or b) There is a God but one that does not hold us accountable on the way we choose to live our lives. The reasoning for this is that for two contradictory religions to be equal, they both have to be wrong about the way God judges. So if this is a statement about the nature of God, then it is itself, a religious viewpoint and one that assumes itself higher than those it is saying are all equal.

2. Taking a step back, saying this to someone who believes the opposite is an attempt to convert one's own way of thinking about life and the world. Telling someone that they should keep their beliefs to themselves is the ultimate hypocrisy as its doing the very thing that is saying you shouldn't do.

3. Theses are written on this one and I must admit I got a bit lost at this point (after less than 4 hrs sleep can you blame me?)

Just some things to think about.

My first movie

Sleep deprivation, NY style

Just got in from my second consecutive 4am night out so I'm a little worse for wear... has been great though. Friday went from here to here, and Saturday started here and ended here, at Mr Orr's habitual stomping ground. Bed is beckoning... and, since we're in the centre of the Jewish district, happy Rosh Hashana!

Lewis the tourist

Today I did the very touristy thing and went to the top (not quite the top but it's only an extra 16 floors) of the Empire State Building because... well, because it's there and I hadn't been up for about six years. So I got some other tourist to take a photo of me, and in the background... Queens. Anyway, this one aside, there are some other pictures that are worth a look - all taken from 86 floors up (except the one of the dog, and the spooky building refelection one).

Jimmy Carr gets intimate

Last night, I took two of my American friends to see Jimmy Carr. A bit of a risk, given his style of humour isn't particularly suited to the easily offended (or the difficultly offended - as Mr Carr himself admitted.) But they both liked it, laughed a lot, cringed even more.

The show itself was in a small theatre on Barrow Street in the West Village and Jimmy isn't really that famous over here, so in his opening night crowd there were about 40 of us which meant the show had a very personal feel to it - perhaps a little too personal at times. But another admission from the comic "I'm very famous somewhere else" set the scene for a very enjoyable night of comedy.

Baseball and the beach

Sunday: Another glorious day in New York, which was mostly spent outdoors, taking a walk around the Upper West Side - where there was a big outdoor family festival going on - and through Central Park. Some great pictures as the lake was so flat and the camera picks out the reflection nicely.

There are a pair of red tailed hawks that have made their nest on one of the buildings around E 71st Street, and there are a crowd of enthusiasts and other interested parties look on through telescopes, binoculars etc. Mostly elderly UES jewish types, but all very lovely and obviously have a great time on their Sunday afternoons. I had a peek at the female and a chat with one of the regulars who explained that the male has been through three or so partners as they've died from eating rat poison and the like.

The evening culminated in my first ever baseball game, courtesy of GL. The New York Yankees playing host to the Boston Red Sox - big local rivalry, despite the teams being hundreds of miles apart. Apparently there are some big cultural differences between the teams, but the Yankees fans are pretty quick to remind the Sox that they have about 20 more World Series titles than their New England counterparts. It's actually really easy to uderstand at a basic level and I totally enjoyed myself. The chants are rubbish though, with anything more than about four syllables being beyond the crowd's capability. I tried to start my own that went, "We're the New York Yan-Kees, New York Ya-a-an-kees, we're by far the greatest te-am, the World has ever seen!" but it didn't catch on.

Anyway, the game was going really well until Boston decided to score three runs in the last two innings and we lost 4-5, but there was a phenomenal catch by a guy called Coco Crisp, which won them the game - so can't complain too much.

Oh, and the beach - yesterday I went out to Coney Island, which used to be a fantastic entertainment hub for New York and the area, but various fires and the passing of time has meant that it's derided by most now as a bit of a joke. Still, New York has a beach, one that you can get the subway to (it's about 70-80 minutes from Manhattan) and the water was lovely so I'm not going to knock it. If you want more proof that it's cool, Harvey Keitel was there.

Who is Gianni Russo?

Yesterday's complete turn in the weather was very much welcomed and meant that the Feast of San Gennaro took place under gorgeous sunshine. Mulberry St was pretty rammed full of people and after going there all by myself, I had a stroke of luck and ran into Arielle and some of her friends.

The feast may have actually been the cause of San Gennaro's demise, since the diet contains masses of cholesterol and seriously fatty foods including - deep fried Oreos, candy apples, cannoli (fried pasta roll filled with cream), doughnuts, as much fried sausage as you can imagine, funnel cake (just deep fried batter with icing sugar as far as I can tell), and zeppole - which are like the most unhealthy doughnuts you can think of. In any case, the issue of not being able to trust a thin chef wasn't raised throughout the day. More pics here.

Around 16.4% of the state of New York are Italian American, and there's a huge amount of patriotism that goes on on a daily basis. Coupling that to a New Yorker's own sense of pride leads to a massive feeling of solidarity on these occasions. The guest of honour was Gianni Russo, who appeared to be enjoying the attention of his fellow compatriots almost as much as he was enjoying the wine they'd loosened him up with. We were stumped as to who he is, but apparently, he's an actor and was in The Godfather, which gives him the perfect credentials for the role. I can't think of many other more revered Italian Americans out there (except maybe Al Pacino, Carly Fiorina, Robert De Niro, Sam Palmisano, Quentin Tarantino, Alyssa Milano, Mickey Dolenz, Danny De Vito, Jon Bon Jovi, Joe Montana, Marisa Tomei, Mario Andretti, and a couple of others).

Under the weather

It has been raining in New York for two straight days, and my bones are starting to feel a little damp. Each trip inside is like a momentary respite, but there's only so many times you can walk round the Brooks Brothers store without feeling a little stupid about not really wanting to buy anything.

We ended up not catching up with GL yesterday due to lack of mobile credit, but did have an excellent meal at the Hudson, where there was something vaguely celeb going on that may or may not have been linked to this. In any case, during the unfulfilled wait, there was a silver lining of a free G&T compliments of the delightful Sarah (what would her boyfriend say!?)and her other waitress buddy.

Today is the feast of San Gennaro, which is some Italian thing with a procession...let's do it.

Trout and Rosé appear to soften jet lag...

To be fair, it's more like jet hysteria - the feeling you get when you've been up for longer than you should have been, your body is telling you it's 1.00am, but the balmy September evening and the deep blue sky that goes with it is telling you that it's just gone eight, and that dinner was a little early by the usual standards.

No profound pilgrimage to Ground Zero, no deeply moving photographs of mourners, no thoughts from a cross section of New Yorkers, other than Nadine who commented that it was a pretty good (uneventful) September 11th, culminating in said dinner at this place which I can see turning into a favourite, food is great, well priced and the staff are attentative, pleasant and rather cute.

The photograph is the line of taxi's outside JFK terminal 4 at about 2.30 this afternoon. Settling in hasn't been a priority thus far, but I do now have a US mobile, so if you need to get the number for texting purposes...

The luck of the Irish

Well, my quest to make all those with whom I have the slightest aquaintance very jealous has got off to a faltering start. My Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to JFK was cancelled and now I'm here having a night's sleep before we try again with a plane that works this time. I've just spent the last half an hour trying to understand Irish football (no rules as far as I can tell - and getting the ball over, under, in the vicinity of the posts seems to score points or at least get the crowd shouting.)

So my hopes of being able to write a poignant take on the commemoration of 9/11 is rather jeaopardised right now. Still, I'm due in at 13.00EST so there may be some time for reflection in the evening.

Eerie, UK

The team has set off for IBC leaving me to last out my final hours of work at home base. It's strange not being the one on the plane today, and that's only after four years. Still have so much to do this weekend and so many people I won't be able to see before I jet off. It all feels very odd filing off emails and telling clients that I'm not going to be around any more. I don't know what I'll miss yet, but nostalgia is already peering over my shoulders like a watchful schooolmaster.