Hello, My Name Is Werner
This is Werner, he's a red fixed-gear Iro Mark V. He's named after Werner Herzog because I expect the bike and myself to go on many adventures together and if there's anybody I'd like to adventure with, it's Mr. Herzog.
So far we've mainly stuck to my neighborhood as we've gotten acquainted with one another. Not being able to coast was a little odd at first but I'm quickly getting used to it. Cruising down 5th avenue on a nearly silent bike is pretty awesome and being able to get to Sunset Park for lunch in less than 15 minutes is a beautiful thing. My food foraging expeditions into Brooklyn had largely been confined to areas near subway stations but that looks like it's going to change. I'd already known getting around on a bike was generally considered to be the fastest mode of transportation in the city but I'm only now realizing just how much faster it is than taking the subway.
Werner did suffer his first injury yesterday on my trip back home from Sunset Park. The roads around there aren't in the greatest shape and after hitting a small pothole my front tire suddenly went PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHAWWWWWWWWWWWWW~! Thirty blocks of walking later, I was at my local bike shop getting the tube replaced on my front tire. Note to self and others: Dixon's bike shop in Park Slope is one of the few bike shops I've been to where all the employees are not huge assholes.
Other thoughts, observations and opinions from the past couple months:
Modern sports stadiums are incredibly ugly. Faux-neoclassical columns do not lend a newly constructed building any sort of gravitas. Also, don't demand public funding for a stadium and then not offer any affordable seating. I'm looking at you Yankee Stadium. I'll let the Met's off the hook on this one because they're going to have a Shake Shack inside Citi Field and that makes just about anything okay.
San Francisco is a cool city but it's overrated. The public transportation there left a bit to be desired and it's a tough city to walk (probably why the bike scene there is so awesome). However, I did have some great food including a burrito in the mission and one of the best meals of my life at...
CHEZ PANISSE! Alice Waters, oh how I love you. Located in Berkeley, Chez Panisse is considered one of the best restaurants in the country (and the world) and it completely lived up to expectations. Lee and I ate at the cafe upstairs and were absolutely blown away by how fresh everything was. Sanddab, salmon, spaghetti, everything was perfectly and simply prepared, allowing the quality of the ingredients to do all the work. Lee's dessert was a fruit bowl consisting of one whole plum and a handful of berries. The plum was called "Harold's Miracle Plum," and it really lived up to its name. I assume Harold is a farmer friend of Waters'. I can only hope to have friends someday with gardens that yield such amazing fruit. Who would've ever thought an unadorned plum could be a revelatory experience? Fun Fact: Waters cooked the shoe that Herzog ate in Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe.
Another meal in SF was a huge letdown. In-N-Out burger was so horribly overrated that what I would normally consider to be a pretty good burger was disappointing and even annoying. So many people I know spend so much time gushing over how amazing the food is that I expected the sky to open up and start raining Skittles when I took my first bite. Needless to say, that didn't happen. The first two bites were pretty damn good though, I must admit. The bottom bun was nicely toasted resulting in a nice crunch. As the bun quickly grew soggy, the burger quickly became average. Better than an average fastfood joint but it certainly can't compete with Shake Shack. The animal style fries I had were pretty good but a bit much for one person to finish.
Portland has a LOT of hippies. I knew it was kinda known for that but I was still shocked by the sheer number of hippies on every block I walked through.
Le Pegion and Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland have opened my eyes to the magical combination that is maple and bacon. At Le Pegion, I had a dessert that consisted of cornbread topped with maple ice cream and bacon chunks. At Voodoo Doughnuts I enjoyed a maple bar with a piece of bacon on top. Genius.
I'm not going to lie, McDonald's cheeseburgers are teh hotness.
The Dark Knight was tons of fun but shockingly pretentious and clumsy in its attempts at being socially and politically relevant. Nolan appears to have a hard-on for Michael Mann and that's totally fine with me (because I do too) but his action sequences are nowhere near as well presented as those of Mann's. Ledger's performance is as good as everybody says but I found the Joker to ultimately be a pretty uninteresting character. A force of nature I couldn't take my eyes off, yes, but interesting? Not really. I hate to say this, but despite all the love Ledger is getting now, I'd be shocked if he's still as highly regarded a couple decades from now.
The X-Files movie was a pleasant surprise. Mulder and Scully ARE interesting and fun characters and seeing them again was great. The movie is just a big budget, glorified episode of the show but that's fine with me. The show was just a series of low budget short films. I've even admitted to many people that I enjoyed this movie more than the Dark Knight...
Why does all the coverage of U.S. Baseball keep calling them an "international superpower?" Everyone seems shocked by the lack of a dominating performance coming from team USA but they've done very little in international tournaments to warrant such surprise.
Cuban Wheat Shakes are the bomb diggity.
Ba Xuyen in Sunset Park makes the best Banh Mi I've had in New York. Saigon Bakery is pretty damn good but Ba Xuyen is out of this world good.
I recently went to Di Fara for the third time and can now say without a doubt that it's the real deal. Lee and I split a half green olive, half artichoke pie and ate for long periods in stunned silence as other customers watched us down the entire pizza.
Pineapple Express had some great moments but was overall a disappointment. David Gordon Green is capable of so much more and it's a bit frustrating to watch him waste his time working on something like this. That's not to say I wouldn't have done the same thing if I was him. James Franco does give a great performance but the movie ultimately felt like Harold and Kumar make an action movie, minus Harold and Kumar. One major thing the movie had going for it is a potential reference to No Retreat, No Surrender. I'm not convinced it was actually a reference but I also wouldn't be surprised if it was. I'd say there's about a 50/50 chance it was.
Scarpetta, a new Italian restaurant in the Meatpacking District, recently got a lot of much deserved press as the local food critics published their reviews. Lee took me there for my birthday and we had a great meal. While everything was good the highlight was the handmade spaghetti with an impossibly delicious tomato sauce. Who knew spaghatti could be that good?
I recently read the Watchmen for the second time and was better able to appreciate the brilliance of the book. Once you know the plot you get a chance to pay more attention to the meticulous craftsmanship that went into the construction of the book.
The trailer for the Watchmen is awesome but also very worrisome. The director of the 300? Really?
Lolita is a really really good book so far. Good but creepy.
Synchronized diving is one of the silliest sports in the Olympics. I find it so arbitrary considering that almost anything could be made into a synchronized sport. Synchronized shotput anybody? Nothing inherent to diving seems to indicate to me that it's more fit for synchronization than any other sport requiring precise physical actions.
The 2010 Winter Olympics are being held in Vancouver which is near Seattle. I'm so there.
Waking up at 5am to watch Olympic soccer is pretty rough. I'm a pretty emotionally stable guy but waking up at 5am and watching your team get eliminated on back to back heartbreaking games can be a bit much to handle when you're sleep deprived. Nevertheless, I didn't cry myself back to sleep. Seriously.
The Wire is an amazing television show but claims by others that it's "the most important television show of all time" are just silly. I mean, what does that even really mean?
I've watched the first episode of Mad Men and am impressed so far.
The idea that the Olympics are sacred and that politics shouldn't be a part of them are naive and misguided. If it's an issue involving the lives of millions of people, the time and the place for speaking out about it should be anywhere and anytime people are listening. The IOC needs to grow a pair.
The opening ceremonies by Zhang Yimou were pretty spectacular.
Metal Gear Solid 4 was tons of fun to play during the little actual gameplay that it contains. Most of the damn game felt like watching a really cheesy Japanese movie. I loved it but is a 90 minute cut scene at the end of a game really necessary?
Fixed-gear bikes are a popular hipster accessory and as a result, I've found myself being self conscious sometimes when I'm riding around. I probably look like the biggest poser ever but I figure any snob desperate enough to judge me is probably the real poser.
The Mariners are horrible and I don't expect that to change anytime soon.
The Red Bulls actually seem to be turning their season around. Perhaps I should look into booking tickets to this year's MLS Cup?
Going nuts in the U.S. Supporters section at the U.S. vs Argentina game at Giant's Stadium was one of the most fun experiences of my life. Hopefully, the U.S. vs Cuba game in D.C. this October will be just as fun.
Driving from Portland to San Francisco in one day while taking the scenic route down the Oregon Coast is a bad idea. However, if you must do it, be sure to stop by Voodoo Doughnuts in the morning and get at least a half dozen doughnuts to fuel you along the way.
Radiohead at All Points West was predictably spectacular but being surrounded by Kings of Leon fans so that you can save your spot gets old really really fast. It was worth it though (barely).
My brother got me an 8-inch Global chef's knife and it's super badass. I love it and have been looking for pretty much any excuse to cut something.
Bicycle helmets make my already big head look absolutely gigantic.
It's tempting to go riding without a helmet since I totally trust my own riding abilities but it's the abilities of other people using the road that I don't trust. With my cynical worldview in regards to the general intelligence of the average person, it shouldn't be surprising that I don't trust most people to safely operate big metal machines at high speeds.
The fact that female gymnasts perform their floor routines to music and supplement their acrobatics with dancerly flourishes is pretty regressive. Yes, I realize they're all 16 year old girls but still is that really necessary?
Some Barack Obama fanatics are so obnoxious that I almost don't want to vote for him just to spite them. They're lucky that John McCain is even more annoying than they are.
Welcome back to blogging Vadim. Hopefully this venture into the world of nerdom (as if it could get any worse considering the dumb sci-fi crap you're always reading) will last longer than your Myspace blog did.
I've got more stuff to add but this post is getting way too long and I should probably go to bed. More observations and opinions soon...
