The Best Movie of 2010

This is Inception. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Maybe you've heard of him, he directed a little something called The Dark Knight, as well as The Prestige. This is his new movie, arriving this summer. Quite possibly the most awesome trailer ever.

Taxes in America at Historic Low

A new study on taxes was published recently which I found fascinating.

American tax rates in 2009 were the lowest they have been in almost fifty years.

"A family of four in the exact middle of the income spectrum will pay only 4.6 percent of its income in federal income taxes this (2009) year."

Click here for the link.

NY Mets

We went to a ballgame yesterday! We saw the Mets play the San Francisco Giants. It was awesome. We were worried the game would be cancelled, because it was supposed to rain yesterday, but it ended up 73 degrees and sunny.

We took the subway from Grand Central into Queens to the new stadium, Citi Field, which is incredibly nice. And despite being in very cheap seats, we had a fantastic view.





And to top it all off, the Mets won with a walk-off, bottom of the 11th inning home run by Henry Blanco! This is a picture of the team meeting him at home plate to celebrate after the game winning home run. The stadium was going wild!



- Posted from my iPad

iPad

I got an iPad for my 30th birthday. Initially, I was skeptical of the iPad, it seemed like a superfluous, gimmicky product which served no actual market. And after a week of owning one I can safely say.... that's pretty much true, but I still love it.

So far the iPad seems best equipped for basic media consumption. Email, internet browsing, watching movies, etc., are all very nice on the device. The screen quality is fantastic, the device is snappy and responsive, and even early in its life has some very cool apps.

Tribeca Film Festival

This weekend we went to the Trbeca Film Festival. We bought tickets to the festival's second place audience award winner, Snowman. I don't know what "audience" voted for this movie but I demand a recount. But it was fun going to the festival anyway.

30

Happy 30th Birthday Jim!!! You're all grown up.

Murray Hill

Maybe we don't have it so bad. New York Mag just published a report on the 50 most livable neighborhoods in NYC. Our Murray Hill was ranked #8 just behind my beloved Carrol Gardens. Above is the chart for Murray Hill. It's safe, affordable, and has lots of curry restaurants.

The article is a very interesting read. It just reinforces the fact that the trendiest neighborhoods are by far the most expensive making most of them not worth living in. But one can still dream.

Union Square

We are considering moving to Union Square when our lease is up in November. It has a beautiful park, lots of shopping and restaurants, and is only one express subway stop away from Grand Central. Every Saturday and Wednesday there is a farmers market. This is a view of the square from a store window across the street.

Today we went to Union Square for some flowers for our apartment....


and for some delicious pizza at Artichoke Basille's ,one of our favorite pizza places in the city.
Just a few short months ago we would have done anything to live anywhere in Manhattan or Brooklyn, now I find myself complaining because my neighborhood is not quite as convenient or fun as the one 20 blocks down the road. So is life :).

(I don't dislike our current neighborhood, it just lacks some of the amenities that I would prefer like better restaurants and a close, reasonable grocery store)

This Game looks Amazing

This is a trailer for Red Dead Redemption. It's a western-themed game developed by the same company that makes Grand Theft Auto. This will be AWESOME!

Probably won't die of Heart Attack

Six months ago the doctor told me I had to start running, otherwise I would eventually die of a heart attack, because I have/had(?) "pre-hypertension." Since moving to NYC, in addition to literally walking miles every single day, I also began running at the gym every time I lift weights.

I recently had my blood pressure tested again, and learned that it has decreased 10 points. Apparently, walking and running really do work. No early heart attack for me!!

Weekend in the Sun

What a fantastic weekend. On Friday night Melissa and I explored SoHo, and ate dinner on the patio of La Esquina Corner Deli, a fantastic Mexican restaurant. We then saw a movie at the Angelika Film Center and Cafe, a charming indie theater also in SoHo.

The weather on Sunday afternoon was great, so we enjoyed a picnic in Central Park, seen in the pics above. It was very crowded, and helicopters constantly buzzed overhead, but we found a nice area and layed down our blanket, soaking in the sun. There was a good mix of people at the park; a lot of babies having their pictures taken non-stop by doting parents, a few dogs, and at least one crazy(?) old man doing pushups for fifteen minutes. By the time we got home we were exhausted, so we decided to enjoy a cozy Sunday evening making garlic chicken pizza, watching some opening day baseball, and then a movie.

Also shown above is a picture of Melissa in front of Kashkaval, a Greek restaurant we visited with my dad a few weeks ago, in Hell's Kitchen. It happened to be literally right next door from the bike repair shop that fixed Melissa's cruiser. Her bike is now good as new. We are now eyeing a bike for me, so that we can cruise the city in style this summer! Now we just need a good basket for the front of Melissa's bike, and a tiny dog to ride in the basket (not really).

This Looks Rad

This is the trailer for the Scott Pilgrim movie. It is based on a wildly-popular graphic novel series.

The trailer is pretty self-explanatory. I mostly love that CGI allows surreal worlds to come alive on-screen. It's also cool that there are movies like this in which CGI isn't just an excuse for the director to have free-license to completely suck at their job, while lazily turning the entire film into CGI schlock, aka: Transformers.

Roadkill

I read a fascinating book last year called The Black Swan. It was written by a mathematics professor at the University of Massachusetts, and is about unintended consequences and predictability theory.

With the recent passage of the health care legislation, one storyline has been sadly overlooked, the complete and total elimination of Mitt Romney as a Presidential candidate in 2012.

With health care reform, Republicans found their wedge issue with which to power their 2010 midterm, and presumably, their 2012 campaigns. This makes sense politically, health care is a severely complicated issue. Last year I listened to a fascinating two hour debate between two prominent health care policy economists. One was liberal, the other conservative. The first hour of the debate was basically them agreeing with each other about how many problems the American health care system has. The sticking point was which interest groups would take a bath in any inevitable reform.

As Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney signed into law state-wide healthcare reform, which substantively is very, very similar to the law just passed by Congress. To quote one piece:

The federal bill and the Massachusetts bill have much in common. Both establish exchanges, both have an individual mandate (which Republicans detest), both provide significant subsidies to the poor to purchase health insurance. They differ in one significant respect, however- the Massachusetts bill does not contain a fraction of the cost controls contained in the federal bill. That means not only did Romney support the “entitlement” aspect of federal reform at a state level, he didn’t do enough to address rising costs for his state.

Poor Mittens.

Nooooooo!!!!

I found these pics on a random site.

A whole chicken, in a can.

A whole chicken, IN A CAN.

I didn't even post the rest of the pictures, because honestly, they were too disgusting.

Why, America???

Brooklyn Bridge

We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday. The weather is amazing this weekend, it finally feels like spring. It was honestly one of the most fun things we have done in the city. The view from the bridge is AMAZING! We took the subway to Brooklyn, then walked across the bridge into Manhattan. Even though there were a lot of people also walking across the bridge yesterday, it was still spacious enough to not feel overly crowded.

The history of the bridge is fascinating. Melissa recently read two separate books on the history of New York, so she filled me in on all the details.

After we walked into Manhattan, we explored the East Village, and got a snack at the Doughnut Plant, the highest Yelp rated donut place in NYC. There was a line out the door, and sure enough, it was delicious.

One Down, Five to Go!!!

Last night, MY Syracuse Orangemen put an epic beatdown on syrup-hugging Vermont. Next up is Gonzaga.

We're cutting down the nets this year!!

James T. Wilson, Esquire

It's official - Jimbo has grown into James T. Wilson, Esquire! Today at 4:00 p.m. he and 70 peers with last names M-Z were sworn-in at the NY appellate courthouse at 25 Madison Avenue. Almost 10 months to the day after his graduation. I'm not going to lie, I got a little teary-eyed thinking of the five years of hard work he put into this. The hours practicing for the LSAT and applying to schools, the three years in law school, the professional responsibility exam, the horrid summer preparing for and taking the NY Bar, the anxiety of waiting for the results, then the mountains of paperwork to prove you are of "good character". Last week he went in for his final "character" interview and then was approved to be sworn-in. It feels like the end of a chapter in our lives.

Unfortunately, they would not let anyone take pictures of the actual ceremony. The courtroom it took place in was elegant and inspiring. It was the same room that Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor both took their oath in. Here are some pictures I found online, but it really looks much better in person. The celling had intricate gold patterns and a giant stained glass dome. The walls were marble with law themed murals painted everywhere.


Good work JIM!!!! Now go sue some doctors ;)

SUN!!!

Saturday was the first sunny day since we moved to NYC. We enjoyed the weather in Prospect park.

Lil' Kenyan

Melissa has been prodding me to start running for years. She always told me she didn't want me to die early.

Finally after moving to NYC, I began running at the gym. Yesterday I hit a milestone. I ran 2.25 miles. I don't think i've ever run more than two miles. I decided yesterday to run as far as I could, and incredibly, after hitting the two mile mark I was somehow still going. For someone like me who hates running, this feels like a marathon. I told Melissa to start calling me 'lil Kenyan.

Best Cupcakes in the World

Yesterday Melissa and I visited the most delicious bakery we have ever been to. Two Little Red Hens, on the Upper East Side. We got three cupcakes; Brooklyn Blackout, Strawberry, and Red Velvet.

I really can't exaggerate how amazing these cupcakes were. It made Magnolia Bakery seem like day-old 99 cent cupcakes from Albertsons, in comparison.

Two Little Red Hens was also charming because it seemed like the kind of place my mom would open if she owned a cupcake shop. The decor was all farm and chicken stuff, and the logo has a hen with a rolling pin under its wing.

Melissa and I have put this on our list of places you have to visit when you come to NYC. Delicious!!