noisewar internetlainen - games, politics, and sarcasm

PHOTOS:
Photos from Day 1
Photos from Day 2
Photos from Day 3

Our first vacation in a long time, Xstine and I went to New York City for the first time. Ok, actually second for me, but the first time I barely left the hotel. Part of the reason for going there was for the Naughty or Nice press event where I demoed LPSO to all sorts of different media to demonstrate that the tidal wave of casual was coming, but the other part was because Xstine and I just needed to see what all the fuss was about.

And I think I understand now. I may not want to be a New Yorker, but I envy those who had a chance to be. The Manhattan skyline is a massive, complex, unblinking slab of history and industry dropped onto the poor island like a living henge to capitalism and discovery. New York does not need to sleep to have the American Dream because every waking moment there is drowned in that hope that, ironically, was originally born from those who left the city for the endless lands of the New World.

New York is the first real city I've been to. Even LA and it's sprawling sun-drenched hills filled with douchebags and wannabes have nothing on NYC, where Broadway is a nightly ration of magic accessible to everyone, not just those at Universal Studios. There, Times Square is timeless, the subways are escalators, the people are raindrops, the food venues set like parking meters down every street, all in a more genuine multi-cultural mix than anything the pretentious Cali affirmitively-activated immigrants could claim.

New Yorkers are proud. Where in San Francisco you see claims of "NY style pizza!" and "Texas BBQ!" and every other imported mimicry, in New York you'll never see California mentioned as anything more than "Napa-style sandwich". There is almost nothing (except BBQ) that New Yorkers don't do bigger, better, and around every corner at every hour. Once in a while you'll see a kindly nod to Chicago and it's pizza too, but otherwise it's a powerfully oblivious place. There is a lack of want there that you can't get enough of.

One thing I came back with a newfound appreciation of was the ungodly grace of a bagel sandwich barely clamped down on a smoky fresh filet of salmon, lettuce, tomatoes, and a pancake of cream cheese... unbelievable! Time to smoke my own salmon to toast a great city!