More NYC

i hate new york. well, not really, but im definately developing a bit of a love-hate thing about the place. maybe its because im londoner... etc. today and tried to go and queue up for free tickets to see shakespeare in central park and then proceeded to get mightily lost trying to get there. there was some stupid puerto carnival following me around so that all the entrances to central park seemed to be shut and then i accidentally ended up on a transverse from which there was no exit. (ooh just as an interjection theyre playing the new buick advert on the tv and the soundtrack is lyrical gangster. that song should come back) still at least its not raining for once and i'm not sure if i can handle shakespeare in an american accent. i ate a brownie. it partly cheered me up, then i went and bought some records from other music which is pretty much nyc's answer to sounds of the universe to complete the process. other things that annoy me - the weather is really unpredctable. i know this sounds stupid coming from an englishwoman but i think i have developed i bit of a 6th sense regarding the weather back home so i know if its going to rain or not. also new yorkers always dress up - sex and the city is actually accurate in regards to this - and it itimidates me. and the women here are so unbelieveably prepubescently thin. i really have never seen such thin people in my life. i want to force fried chicken down their mouths and then drown them in a pot of molton lard. i actually mistook a 12 year-old for a new york woman the other day whilst giving her a dirty look. they dont have escalators on the subway. come on, this is america! admitedly though the subway is not that far underground. you can hear rumbling below whilst walking along the street which is kind of cool. umm, ill try and quit moaning now.

lets have an art update, i went to PS1 which is an fantastic space and appropriately huge. they have been collating a collection of wll works in the myriad warehouse stairwells, including a cecily brown with the paint peeling off which is the best thing ive seen by her. the new (contemporary) museum had a group show of international artists below the age of 33 (the younger than jesus generation). most of the work was pretty bad actually including, predictably, the painting but it was interesting and well curated. the best piece was a ryan gander that involved the gallery attendant wearing a white addidas tracksuit with a blood stain on it. now for the prerequisite food and drink comments. i had a hot dog around 4am. it was amazing. i tried to eat a breakfast cereal called apple zines. it was painful. i also asked my friend, who is from great kills (what a name), statten island and then in my eyes a bonafied new yorker whay the big apple is thus called and got the reply that 'they grew apples once somewhere upstate i think'. classic. i did go out on the town one night and stayed up late, new york style til 5am. how i managed this i dont know since i went to all of 3 bars and had one drink in each. i think we spent a long time larking around in times square, which is very pretty in the nightime. proudly, i discovered a really cool place called the mars bar which was this filthy hole in the wall full of squat art and old school punks getting grumpy at one another. it also had the worlds most punk juke box - it was covered in grafitti, the track listings were hand scrawled and when you gave it a dolar and selected your choice of track it played what hell it wanted. i must admit though my desolute corner of brooklyn was eerily beautiful in the pre-dawn light, still in way new york rarely is i guess.