Chuang Yen Monastery - A Buddhist Temple

The largest indoor statue of Buddha in the US sits in the Great Buddha Hall just upstate at the Chuang Yen Monastery. The name "Chuang Yen" means “Majestically Adorned” and this 125 acres of land in Putnam county is definitely Majestic. Architect Edward A Valeri designed much of the temple in the style of China's Tang Dynasty. (618-907 AD) Visitors from all over the world and every walk of life come here for Peace. The CYM has programs every weekend with lectures, meditation and a vegetarian lunch. There are also events are held here every year such as the Chinese New Years Blessing, Ritual for the Deceased and even a Summer Camp. They also have a Free Book Distribution made possible by the contributions of many Buddhist Masters and Authors. The books are free for visitors and volunteers as well as sent out to prisoners if requested. With the beautiful garden to walk in and the grand Buddha himself sitting in the Hall one is flooded with a calm feeling. This place is a feast for the soul and something that could take your breath away. 

NYC Haunted Spots to Visit on Halloween

Its the time of year to dress up, have fun and see something scary. This city is an old one. So there is no shortage of haunted spots to check out. Here are a few that may just surprise you. Starting with the oldest haunt in town "The Bridge Cafe." This is in a building that dates back to 1794. Believe it or not this was a old pirate bar and brothel. In what was The Fourth Ward this bar was in a hood that was no joke. "A travel guide of the day called it the most violent street on the continent." If you messed around in this place a 6-foot-tall Irish bouncer would bite or cut off an ear and pickle it in a jar above the bar. Her name was Ms. Gallus Mag, a woman not to piss off. Then there is "The Death House" on West 10Th. It is said that 22 people have died in the house. This was once Mark Twain's old stomping ground and he is said to haunt the stairwell of the house. Then in 1987 Joel Steinberg beat his 6-year-old adopted daughter Jessica Steinberg to death. Just walk by and feel the death coming out the windows. Some spots with ghosts are places people walk passed every day. Like Empire State Building where there has been 14 suicides from the Building's observatory. Five in 1947 alone. Also in 1945 a B-5 Bomber crashed into the building killing 14 people. It is said if one was to walk by at Midnight screams can be heard from above. Then Washington Square Park was once a potters Field where the poor bodies that were unwanted by the church were put to rest. Most of the graves were not deep enough and reports of stepping on crushing bones were made. In the 18Th century the park was used for hangings. It is said that the large tree in the northwest corner of the square is Hangman's Elm, but there is some evidence that the tree was where the fountain is now. In 1825 the cemetery was closed. So when walking through this park that is now a tourist attraction think about the people hung there and the 20,000 bodies that remain under foot. Happy Halloween!!

Bridge Cafe
279 Water St
The House of Death
14 West 10Th Street (near Fifth Avenue)
Empire State Building
350 Fifth Avenue
Washington Square Park
West 4Th Street and MacDougal

NYC You Are Here.....
...
 Has been Places...
But will be coming back soon!!

NYC You Are Here Talks to Liniers at the Lyon BD Festival -France

The Lyon BD Festival has just finished up it's 8 Edition in Lyon, France. NYC You Are Here got to talk a little with Argentine Cartoonist Ricardo Siri Liniers about his new book for children, "The Big Wet Balloon." He is Known for his comic strip published in the La Nación Newspaper. Liniers has many a book out in Spanish. This year he will publish not only his new collection of comics in English (Macanudo) but has jumped into making children's books with Toon Books of New York City. This September Toon Books and Liniers will celebrate the publishing of "The Big Wet Balloon" at the Brooklyn Book Festival. This Wet book is a funny and sweet portrait of the cartoonist daughters and the way they love Saturday's, even rainy ones. Liniers said that comic strips like "Charlie Brown" and "Calvin & Hobbes" are one of the reasons he started to draw. Also he took inspiration from cartoonist like Art Spiegelman and Matt Groening. So much so that he took out a pen and paper to draw a cartoon of himself as a cross on Art's "Maus" and Matt's "Life in Hell" cartoons. Check out "The Big Wet Balloon" this September from Toon Books and look for Liniers other comic collections in print in Spanish and soon in English.

Toon Books "The Big Wet Balloon"
English:
http://www.toon-books.com/about-the-book-lin_en.html
Spanish:
http://www.toon-books.com/about-the-book_lin_spanish.html

Brooklyn Book Festival
http://www.brooklynbookfestival.org/BBF/Home

Poetry, Muaic and Art Tonight at the 61 Local!

Tonight come down to a Poetry Reading and Embroidery Circle. It all starts at 6pm and will wind down around 9pm. Bring your words and smiles to the 61 Local, 61 Bergen Street near Smith Street (F/G trains to Bergen) This event is in conjunction with the Artist Iviva Olenick's work with the @EmbroideryPoems project. The evening will begin with a quick embroidery lesson, after which poets will read, with musical breaks by Cristina Martin and friends. As poets read, embroiderers will stitch select phrases, creating new "found" embroidered poems. Everyone can come and join the embroidery circle because the supplies will be provided, or be an audience member without embroidering. The 61 Local has a great selection of locally crafted beers, food, and non-alcoholic beverages. The Performing poets/musicians include: Jeanette Anderson, Mahogany Browne, Robert Colpitts, Liz Daly, Megan DiBello, Jessica Elsaesser, Kevin Kinsella, Iviva Olenick, Monte Olenick, Montana Ray, Purvi Shah, Kris Wettstein, and original music by Cristina Martin. This event was funded from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs as administered by the Brooklyn Arts Council.  With music, beer, poetry and craft art this is the best way to spend this Thursday evening!

www.IvivaOlenick.com
www.IvivaOlenick.com EmbroideryPoems.tumblr.com

Last Days to see Scarecrow at the Film Forum!

The 70's had the best Road Movies. Think back to the end of the 60's and Easy Rider. Then on to films like Two-Lane BlackTop and Vanishing Point in 71'. These and many more showed the gritty American landscape of that decade with trips across country. If one would like to be taken back to this time head Downtown to the Film Forum to see Gene Hackman and Al Pacino in the 1973 Road Movie - Scarecrow. The 70's might have been the last decade of the Hobo Traveller. This was a way to get around hitchhiking on the back roads and if need be hopping trains. This film Directed by Jerry Schatzberg, who just two years before had made The Panic in Needle Park with Pacino, is about two down and outs that meet on the road and head East. Max (Hackman) is a ex-con that likes to fight with a dream of opening a Car Wash in Pittsburgh. Lionel (Pacino) is a sailor who has some strange ideas about playing the clown. Lionel believes that the scarecrow doesn't scare birds, but instead amuses them - birds find scarecrows funny. In this way he shows Max that fighting can be avoided by making people laugh. This is not always the case as the two jump from one ride to another stopping at dive bars and little towns that seem to be living on their last leg. This is a film that shows just how crazy traveling can be and is one of the films that made the 70's the decade of the Road Movie. In New York the Film Forum brings lots of old films to the screen. So go down and check out the Director that gave the young Al Pacino his big break in the second film they made together - Scarecrow.

NYC You Are Here Back-Log - Panic in Needle Park

Book Then Movie - The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald is now a box office hit Directed by Baz Luhrmann. A all star cast has come forward to be apart of this historic film based off one on the best novels ever written. First is Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby, then Tobey Maguire, and one of the best young actress out there, Carey Mulligan, make this production of a classic pice of literature into a big box office smash. Luhrmann was the Director that brought the world Romeo + Juliet in 1996,  also staring DiCaprio. This movie will be in the theater for a long time. So one will have time to flip through the book and then get to the Cinema. This is not only a must read for every New Yorker, but all Americans and book lovers. It not only shows us the American Jazz Age, it shows us just how good a pice of writing can be.

Here is a Book Review from the back log on NYC You Are Here of F. Scott Fitzgerald's the Great Gatsby --

This great work of Twentieth Century American Fiction was not so well known in Fitzgerald's life time. The first printing that came out in 1925 was over 20,000 copies and sold out. The second printing (3,000) sat on the shelves of a warehouse for 15 years. Only after the news of his death did the last of the second printing finely sell. His novel is not just a social history, but is a pleasure to read. The Jazz Age, that great party before the depression. This is what is represented with the bigger then life characters in the Great Gatsby. The twenties was a time of bootleggers, flappers, and self made men. Fitzgerald knew how full and just how empty these characters lives could be. "The Jazz Age, it was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire." Gatsby is the man of the Jazz Age. He Has "some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life...an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness." This is a story about life, love and money from the 20's. It is also a story about New York, Long Island and how even back then young people flocked here to be where the actions is. The narrator Nick Carraway comes from the Midwest to find himself before being married. His story is told by reconstructing events in Gatsby's life from his own prospective. This Tall Tale is not just Gatsby's, or Nicks, but it becomes yours as you form your own prospective. "I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life." Nick lives next door to Gatsby on Long Island. On the Island rich people have big parties, nice cars, and huge estates. In contrast some of the story goes on inside Manhattan, in small apartments, city streets and train stations. Nick's NYC is a big bustling place full of surprises. The whole book has a dark feeling that is heightened when in the city and lifted, if only slightly, within the excess of Long Island. But this is a vale, a fake cover for people that want to run from not through life's twist and turns. A must read for any New Yorker.

Street Book - The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

Found - at the CAN MOCAMP in Kas, Turkey
Picked Up Because - This was a book in English!

This novel written in the mid 80's is told through a interesting point of view. From the start the athor let's the reader know that it is just a story and the people in it just characters. The "story" of these fake people is told around very real historical events that happened in Prague starting with the Russian occupation the spring of 1968. A film of this book was made in 1988 with Daniel Day-Lewis cast as the books womanizer who lives for his work as a surgeon, but falls for a young woman with unstable dreams that he makes his wife. This does not stop the sex he craves with many other woman to fill his intellectual thirst. One of this mans lovers is a strange Artist that has a reason of her own for her over sexed lifestyle. The Arthur has a tendency to take small timeouts from his lovers lives to explain the human mind and how we may see the acts of fate by using philosophy and other rants. Is the world "Light" to some and "Heavy" for others? Is the feeling of lightness a reaction to being free? Or just a symptom of the mind that wants to fit feeling with fact? In this book these are not questions that can have a answer, just ways to help the fake lives of these people seem more real. Some parts of this Novel one will read twice just to let it all soak in and that is what makes this a great book.

Tai Thai Thailand Home Cooking

Downtown at the border of the East Village and the LES is a little spot that has great Thai home cooking. The lunch special here is worth the walk, just remember to stop at the ATM because they only take cash. The small dinning area helps make this spot feel like home, if home was full of movie posters of Thai Action Films. This family run restaurant has great Curry! The food is so good it reminds one of the tasty Thai food on the West Coast in California. Their curries pop with lots of veggies and the pad thai is full of flavor. Call in orders for lunch and they will have everthing ready for pick up fast! So next time your tummy is craving for some Thai, head down to E. Houston for some Tai Thai Thailand Home Cooking. (78 E 1st St, New York, NY 10009)

Citizen Kane this Weekend at Midnight in the L.E.S.

In 1941 Orson Welles made his first feature film now considered by most as the greatest film ever made. The year this came out it was nominated for nine Academy Awards but failed to recoup its costs at the box office. The screenplay did win the Oscar for Herman Mankiewicz and Welles. Welles and RKO started a war because of "Kane" that would have a big effect on Welles and his Directing career. Forced to quickly finish films that the studio then added "happy endings" to without Welles consent lead to box office failure and little Directing jobs for Welles. His radio and acting careers did continue. Citizen Kane is a story of Charles Foster Kane a newspaper man with a large ego, a character based in part upon the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. This great story is told through flashbacks that start and end with the elusive "Rosebud." When Welles was again given the Directors chair he made some more stand out films including "The Lady from Shanghai" '47 and "Touch of Evil" '58. Did Welles make his best film first? How does the story of the power hungry, motivated, obsessed Charles Foster Kane help tell the story of Orson Welles? Who or what was "Rosebud" to these two men one real and one fiction? Go down to the Sunshine Cinema this weekend at midnight and see if you can unravel the mystery.

Art in the City - Open and Opening!

Spring on its way with New Art Openings. This last Thursday The Christopher Henry Gallery had a reception for Allison Maletz's "Together." The work in this show uses the Myth of The American Nuclear Family to portray a dream like view in wotorcolor taken from photographs. The Artist uses her background as a Documentarian to change what the world still would see as ordinary. This New York Artist takes her past and makes it seem like our future. Showing through March 24th.
Also on Sunday The Sons of Israel have a Opening in Long Island City to show off seven talented Artist of different fields. In this show one will get a chance to see Art from all around the world. The reception is this Sunday on March 3, at 1pm - 5pm. Expect some music for your ears and to keep your eyes full with some Video Art. Featuring the work of Sara Smokler, Michal Novikov, Fred Libove, Maor , Betty-Ann Hogan, Annie Patt and Sal Cervantes.

The Christopher Henry Gallery:
Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Saturday 11 – 6, Sunday 12 – 6, Monday and Tuesday by appointment. T: 212.244.6004, E: ch@christopherhenrygallery.com

Sons of Israel Opening:
3321 Crescent Street, Astoria, NY 11106

Django Unchained Picks Up Two Oscars!

Quentin Tarantino did good on his new film "Django Unchained," grossing over $380 Million worldwide and catching two Oscars. One Oscar was given to Quentin for the Best Original Screenplay, and the other Oscar for Best Supporting Actor was given to Christoph Waltz. He did a fine job in the role of a bounty hunter with class. This story about the Dirty South is told in a fantastic way using the frame work from old Spaghetti Westerns. Tarantino once more casts Actors he has many times, (Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson) and the way they work with the camera is spot on. Jamie Fox plays the Hero very well and one can see his change from Slave to Master build through the film. Some of the inspiration for this Western came from a Sergio Corbucci Spaghetti Western from 1966, "Django." As in most Tarantino films there is a story and inspiration behind every little thing and every shot. This is why his writing is so good. One must get out and see "Django Unchained" in the theater. This would lose some charm if not seen on the big screen.

Les Misérables 2012 Film Still on the Big Screen!

This Big Budget Musical can still be seen in Cinemas around the world. As the Oscar's are coming up people will try to see this a contender for Best Picture on the big screen, which is well worth the trip to a theater. With this new Musical there are almost a dozen versions of the 1862 Victor Hugo story to watch, but the stage musical is still the best known. Cameron Mackintosh, the producer of that stage hit is the one that brings the world this over two hour film with 50 songs. He has built not only a full scale set, but also an all star cast. With Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway in the three main roles. Hugh Jackman known for his work on stage and screen takes the audience through the hard life of the runaway convict Jean Valjean. It seemed as if Anne Hathaway used her work on many award shows in the last two years as an audition for this role, but it worked and she really shines. Even Russell Crowe makes a good impression in his role of the inspector that follows his convict through the years. With Tom Hopper looking for his second Best Director Oscar the world wants to watch and see what will happen this year. Will the Best Picture Oscar go to a Musical for the first time in ten years?

Showing in NYC:
City Cinemas Village East Cinema
181-189 Second Avenue, New York, NY, United States - (800) 326-3264 ext. 2708

Must See in NYC - Roosevelt Island Tram

In NYC not everything is free, but there are a lot of things that are almost free. The Roosevelt Island Tram is one of them. This Tram lifts people over the city streets into the sky 250 feet over the East River. The Tramcar has been using the Queensboro Bridge to take passengers across the river 3,100 feet to Roosevelt Island for over 30 years. Take it as the Sun is setting and get a even better ride! The New York Times has said that it is "the most exciting view in New York City!" In 2002 the first Spider-Man Film used the Tram for Spider-Man's battle with the Green Goblin. This is when Mary Jane Watson was thrown off the Queensboro Bridge. This was not the first time Spider-Man had saved the tram. The Comic book had used it many times as a way for evil doers to hurt the people of New York City. So for the swipe of a Metro Card one can go for this 4 minute ride and see the streets from above. Then once on the Island pictures can be taken of Manhattan's famous skyline. From there one can take the ride back over the water or find the Underground and take the F Train to the next exciting place in this the Greatest City in the World.

**Two cabins make the run at fifteen minute intervals from 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. (3:30 a.m. on weekends) **Bicycles are permitted on the tram.

Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years - Through December 31, 2012 at the MET

Need a good reason to go uptown and see the park covered in snow? Is Andy Warhol a good reason? If you think so head up to the park and go to the MET before the end of the year. They have over 45 works of the Pop Art master. On the walls with Warhol are sixty Artists that span the last fifty years that are keeping Art "Pop." The impact on Art that Warhol made was huge. He is the one that gave everyone 15 minutes. Central Park can be lovely in the winter, remember The MET is a Suggested Donation so stop by the Museum to get warm.

Metropolitan Museum of Art:
http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2012/regarding-warhol

Book Then Movie: On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Here we have the classic book of the Beat Generation. In this short read Kerouac invites us into the world of Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. This little soft cover even introduces the reader to the great William Burroughs. We meet these great men before the height of their individual glory. The reader meets Cassady before he is the driver of Ken Kesey's Bus and leader of the Merry Pranksters in the 60's (The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test-Tom Wolfe) and Ginsberg before Howl. The Old Bull Lee in this book even shows us Burroughs with his wife before the gun shot that made Naked Lunch. This story of the road and what one can find on it, is the first book of its kind. It has been an influence on all kinds of popular culture from the 60's, 70's and on to today. The amount of people that state it as a lighting rod that changed their ways of thinking about life and growing up are to many to mention here. Kerouac took the notes he had from the Road and after receiving a thousand-word rambling letter from Neal Cassady wrote the scroll that later became the book. This scroll was a long one page fury of words, with no paragraphs or even punctuation. Jack used what he called the "Essentials of Spontaneous Prose" to write one of the books that changed the way generations would look at literature and writing. This is what good films are made of, but if one does not read the words first they will miss what these men were meant to teach us.

 "To be beat is to be at the bottom of your personality, looking up.” - John Clellon Holmes 1958, Esquire magazine

  ‘You know, this is a really beat generation’ ... More than mere weariness, it implies the feeling of having been used, of being raw. It involves a sort of nakedness of mind, and ultimately, of soul: a feeling of being reduced to the bedrock of consciousness. In short, it means being undramatically pushed up against the wall of oneself.” - Jack Kerouac 1952, New York Times Sunday Magazine

Metropolis Vintage Get Your Black Sale 40% Off Everything!

If you do not know Metropolis Vintage you need to get off St Marks and check it out. This Friday is the day to go and get everything for the winter.





Big leather jacket - Check...A Rock 'n' Roll dress for the Holiday's - Check... boots that can take the snow without getting feet soggy - Check.

It's like your double went out and shopped all the stores from NYC to LA and put all you need where it can be found easy in the East Village. Their shoe section is legendary. This is not your cheap thrift store, Metropolis Vintage has higher prices but that's the "price you pay" for some of the best shit in Manhattan. If all is right in the world stores like this will stay in the Village. With other staples of the hood being pushed out this last year, (Mars Bar, Billy's Antiques & Props) it is nice to know that this shop is still giving people what was always needed in their closets. Do you like to dance? Well its OK in the store, but if you really want to show off ask the sales guy about the next Soul Clap. Where DJ's will make the people move and winners are given prizes! There might be other places to find Rock T's, but they are just reprints that it takes hours of shopping to find. Not here they mean Vintage and have more T's then anyone else! Remember this Friday go to the store and get 40% off everything! And do not forget to sign up for their news letter and get the heads up on other sales in the future.
http://metropolisvintageonline.com/

"Art From the Boros" Group Show Opens Tomorrow!

The Denise Bibro Fine Art Inc. has a group opening tomorrow with artists from Williamsburg, Redhook, Bed Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Ditmas Park, Long Island City, Astoria, and every other part of NYC! "Art From the Boros" has over thirty six artists and within these selected is one that takes craft and makes it art. Iviva Olenick has a new way to look at embroidery as art. This old slow craft is used in her work and it makes a statement. She uses her and others confessions about love and life in small, purely textual embroideries she calls “post-it notes." These and some of her larger works will be in this exhibit. The opening will be from 5pm to 9pm on the west side.
There will also be a closing reception on Thursday, December 20th, 6-8pm
So go out and see what art can and will be coming out of the NYC!
"Art From the Boros" will be on view November 15 through January 5, 2013.
@ Denise Bibro Fine Art
529 West 20th Street, #4W
We Are So Besotted blog:
http://wereisobesotted.blogspot.com.es/
Denise Bibro Fine Art:
http://www.denisebibrofineart.com/

T

New York Blogger Goes World Wide!

Well Known New York City Blogger is taking it to the world with Blogs in two new city's. The writer for NYC You Are Here is living between Barcelona, Spain, (BCN) and Berlin, Germany. These Blogs will be set up like NYC You Are Here with Concert and Music Reviews, Book and Film Reviews, and info on Art and things to do and see in Berlin and the BCN. There will soon be the sections you all love like Street Books, Bars/Restaurants/Cheap Eats, and each city will get a Must See In tab so people are in the know about where to go and what not to miss around the world. CHECK THEM OUT...

BCN Estas aqui / BCN You Are Here:
 http://bcnestasaqui.blogspot.com.es/

Be Here Now Berlin:
http://beherenowberlin.blogspot.com.es/

 NYC You Are Here will still be the first Blog and will never not show the city of New York love!

Chocolate Skills for Every Boy and Ghoul!

Need some help getting into the Halloween spirit? Need a little something to surprise that ghoul in you life? Just think outside the box and into the skull. These little sweet treats will trick anyone who thinks they have seen everything that has to do with this scary time of year. One can try to make these heady truffles themselves, but maybe it is best to leave it to the professionals. Here you can have them sent to your favorite bad boy or goth girl with just a few clicks of the hand. They will be just what the witchdoctor ordered to make a smile come across every body's face. http://www.etsy.com/listing/95544341/chocolate-skulls-gone-nuts