Tweak of the Week. Tweak Playoffs. Free the Commish. A mysterious New Yorker patrols the sidewalks, parks, elevators, and doorways of the city, a vigilante not too dissimilar from Batman. Except instead of protecting the people and stopping criminals, he is heckling normal individuals and acting as “commissioner” of New York City.
Here he is heckling a woman who is trying to spot Mayor Eric Adams (who the commish HATES) from the top of a car.
Overall, The Commish’s lack of care for what others think about him and undying desire to share the stories of the city, and his opinions, make his content must watch. #FREETHECOMMISH
Here are some other great ones for your enjoyment.
I thought New York was such a mess all around. I thought New York has so many crimes happening every day. I thought New York only had cloudy days. I thought New York had nothing that attracted me. I thought I knew all the facts about New York.
My parents told me so much why they didn’t like New York.
I watch the news on television about how terrible New York is.
However, It’s really different from what I expected.
My parents are right about the environment. It is a little messy all around the street, plus, there are lots of homeless people who come to me asking for money. Although there is trash all around the city, New York City is still attractive to me. After all, the people, the city, and the weather make it impossible for me to not see how perfect NYC is.
The best part that I will never forget is when I went to Time Squares for the first time. That night, right after dinner, my friends took me to Time Squares. The city looked vivid with the colorful LED lights and screens shining all over the city. As I walk towards the center of the street, listening to some random people playing the song, Empire State of Mind by JAY- Z, I feel alive again for the first time. At that moment I knew I became a New Yorker and I wanted to be a New Yorker. Watching people walking pass by with smiles on their faces. Don’t tell me it’s not paradise while everyone can be whoever they want to be and enjoy the night with their loved ones. It’s difficult to describe with words as there are so many beautiful and exciting moments happening every second.
Contrasting the small, quaint towns where I’ve grown up in California, New York City was a breath of fresh, exciting air with life awaiting at the end of every corner walked.
My first night in New York was magical. I arrived around 10 at night, and looking out the window I was in awe of all the city lights illuminated in the distance. I couldn’t see all of them yet, but I knew they’d be tall and magical.
The cab ride was no different. With the hood of the roof of the taxi cab rolled back, I felt small as I saw the bright city lights tower over me, skyscraper after skyscraper appeared for the whole hour of driving until we arrived at our Airbnb in Greenwich Village.
At 12:30 we finally headed outside for dinner, and every restaurant was open. At TWELVE THIRTY at night, every restaurant was open, while in Santa Barbara anywhere but a bar is usually closed by 10 pm at the latest. You’re lucky if anything is open in LA.
But New York City is just filled with amazing life and even more amazing food. Every single restaurant I went to had artichokes, and I love artichokes. It’d be a miracle if I found them at a restaurant excluding Sea Fresh and Cheesecake Factory in California.
But that’s just one food item. We ate at a different restaurant every single night. From small vintage American diners playing 2000’s throwbacks to luxurious, high-end Italian restaurants or steakhouses, every place was delicious.
But one place that sticks out in my mind is BlackTap. The small, bar-seated burger place only fit thirteen people. The place had an hour long line, but when we refused to wait and came back a calmer day, we finally understood why the place was so popular. The food was phenomenal, but the true wow factor of the place was their milkshakes.
Photo Credit: thebrunchboys.com
The milkshakes were insane. From cookies supreme to the birthday shake, these shakes towered over the cups they were put in with overdoses of sugar and sweetness. I had a cookies & cream shake which left me in a sugar coma for the rest of the day.
Though most of my memories of NYC occurred in a restaurant, there are so many more that they’d be difficult to count on my fingers and toes, but I’ll name a few.
The Saturday after we arrived, I eagerly ran over to Washington Square Park from the place I was staying to participate in a massive pillow fight on National Pillow Fight Day. Hundreds of people piled into the park with pillows in their hands and grins on their faces in a fight to the “death” in a friendly, but intense, pillow fight. It was one of the purest experiences I ever had the privilege to take part in. Feathers exploded into the air, laughter silenced the playful screams, and pillows were thrown.
I did many more things in New York City. I walked around the city so much that my feet had blisters that hurt to the point that I’m still limping now (it was worth it), I visited three universities and absolutely fell in love with NYU, and I explored every inch of Times Square. However, by far my favorite were the three broadway shows I went to.
First I went to the Book of Mormon. I wasn’t sure what to expect because I didn’t listen to the soundtrack prior to going, but the performance exceeded my expectations. First, it was the most hilarious show I had ever been to. It was completely satirical about the Mormon faith, but it was executed perfectly with amazing acting, and catchy songs that are still stuck in my head. However, the musical is highly offensive so I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone highly religious or offended easily by extreme stereotypes, but it’s definitely worth paying the money to go see.
The day after I went to go see Kinky Boots. The night before I had a midlife crisis because my NYU tour and Kinky Boots show were planned at the same time. I shouldn’t be melodramatic, but when my aunt told me that they’d just go see Kinky Boots without me, I almost died. I had been excited about that show for months, and I had been dying to go see it since Brendon Urie starred in it. Thankfully, we were able to exchange our tickets for the night performance and I was able to experience the magic of Kinky Boots. I had heard nothing but positive reviews, and when I went to the show I left happier than ever. It was original, unique, and just saying, those men walk better in six inch heels than I ever will.
Photo Credit: thegreenspace.org
Completely last minute, my Aunt and I headed into Times Square and snatched last minute seats to The Lion King. Somehow ending up in the seventh row of the center orchestra, I was ready for three hours to experience one of the most iconic shows on Broadway. I was shocked how much effort was put into the show. The costume design was crazy. I didn’t know where to look during the opening number when people dressed head to toe in animal costumes walked down the aisles singing the Circle of Life while walking onto the stage. Everything about all these shows was amazing.
I could go on about my trip in New York for hours, but this is just a glimpse of it, and I am dying to be back there soon.
This gorgeous mansion, along with seventeen other private mansions, was located in New York City on Fifth Avenue, AKA Millionaire’s Row. Unfortunately, this amazing property has since been demolished. Unfortunately (again), there are so many mansions are Millionaire’s Row I will only include three in this post.
The Felix M. Warburg Mansion
This huge mansion was built in 1901 by none other than Felix M. Warburg. It ran for $44 million in 2010 when Carlos Slim, one of the richest people in the world, bought it. The details of this mansion are outrageous. The mansions is 20,000 square feet compared to the average 750 square foot apartment. This castle mansion also boasts five stores, 12 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, and almost as many fireplaces.
Astor Family Mansion
Grander than grand, John Jacob Astor received the land for this mansion as a wedding gift. The usual. While the outside may look inconspicuous, the inside is anything but. And yes, it does include a ball room.
During this summer, I met a subway musician at the Times Square Station, NYC.
It was a really, really hot afternoon and the air was just sticky and burning beneath the ground, especially in the subway.
His name was Peter Joseph Paul, a one-man-band, who played in the subway station with his music despite of the heat.
As a New york born musician, Peter formed his high-tech one-man-band and began performing in the Times Square subway station in 2007. And since then, he began to play at the station every Sunday evening from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Using the latest technology and electronics, Peter plays complex drum beats with his two feet, sings and plays guitar, all at the same time.
Sponsored by MUNY(Music Under New York), Peter is also an accomplished audio engineer, arranger, producer and songwriter. And his musical career started when he was 12.
(Picture from starnow.com)
“I write approximately 1-5 songs daily,” Peter said. “I have been writing for over 30 years.”
So far Peter has published two CDs with his own songs – “Energy” and “Sum Night.” And the next CD will be a masterpiece composed of many new styles of songs and more instrumentation, according to Peter.
“I don’t push my CDs on people,” Peter said. “If people like you, they will come up and ask you.”
During my visit, I met lots of underground musicians from all over the world and played various instruments. All of performances were exciting and enjoyable.
They are just the spirits of music who fill the subway stations with joy.
Summer vacation would never be better than spending time in a big city like New York.
I personally always consider the Big Apple an artist. She paints herself into a large, colorful picture that embraces different views and various culture.
However, instead of hanging out and having fun in the crowded city, my summer was mostly spent at a more academic spot –NYU.
Before my summer started, I applied to NYU’s precollege program and waited a long time to start the exciting experience.
When I arrived at the campus, which consisted of lots of different buildings located around the Washington Square, my heart started to beat strongly and eagerly. God, I do love this place.
Then my six-week school prgram started. Just like colleges, each student had their own schedules and for me, as I applied to the journalism program, I chose “Report in NY” and “Multimedia Journalism” in order to get a more professional experience as a journalist.
The classes went well. For the Multimedia class, we stepped outside the classroom and shot pictures and videos, and interviewed people -basically everything about the topic of the story we were dealing with. As for me, I did a profile story on a subway musician at Times Square Station; a story about the heat in the city and how the weather affected people’s lives; and a review story on the CNN Tour we went on as a class. My favorite -or my most successful- project was the final which was about, “Dining at NYU.”
It was a brand new experience for me to present news via multimedia ways. I learned a lot about shooting skills, and the editing process of videos and what should be shown or not shown. Six weeks were absolutely not enough to become super good at it, but at least I got a unique opportunity to start something valuable.
Walking around in NY with my camera shooting the life of the city, has been my dream for a long time, and it came true. I did enjoy it.
“Report in NY” class was more traditional compared to the other one. We found stories by ourselves and did all the interviews and edited them until it reached the perfect level.
The most part I liked about NY was that it was not hard at all to find stories. Things were happening all the time around us. The city was busy and so as the people.
Talking to different people and listening to their stories only made me more obsessed with journalism. Because I do want to share them with others and let more people know about the world around us. And I guess that’s what I’ve learned this summer.
Besides studying, I also went to other places in the city to relax. It’s New York, as long as you are in the city, it would never be boring.
My summer was busy with classes but at the same time, I felt fortunate to learn something new, to meet new friends, and to get more knowledge about New York.
It was a life-long unforgettable experience for me and I will miss that purple place very much.
(Picture from starnow.com)
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