Most of the time
When these two entities happen to overlap, then you can finally
tell adults what you did this weekend.
The Roosevelt Island Tram ought to be more popular, more publicized, and come more highly recommended by locals to other locals. The gondola-esque tram is, in essence, a huge glass orb, offering 360° views of the Manhattan, Queens, and Roosevelt Island – where it once again touches land after several minutes suspended above*. The views up and down First Avenue and the East River are exceptional. I’m convinced I’ve seen postcards of this view. The Tram parallels the Queensboro Bridge. While most patrons on the Tram are evidently not regulars**, you’ll notice the bourgeois 30-something year-old guy in a tailored blazer. He’s carrying a leather satchel and reading Omnivore’s Dilemma or Finnegans Wake, and you realize, for the swipe of a subway card, he does this everyday, and it affirms how boring your daily commute is. He gets to ride on something you’d expect would be at Disney while you catch a bus that always runs late and transfer to a subway whose platform smells like piss and bleach.
Liftoff!
All of Roosevelt Island has this ethereal theme park feel, or gives you the impression you’re in Europe or at a remote resort, or ultimately, some place that isn’t New York. Things are cookie-cuttered. Competition for apartment rentals could be overwhelmingly cutthroat, so the property management is monopolized; all buildings seem to be owned by the same realty groups. There is a single avenue on the two mile by one-block-wide island. Why anyone would have a car here, though, is a mystery to me. I’d assume the exit for Roosevelt Island off the Queensboro bridge is an afterthought for most motorists driving between Manhattan and Queens. Like most of New York City, Roosevelt Island is pedestrian-dominated. Once there, you could get an overpriced drink at the only restaurant on the island, conveniently located right across from the Tram terminal, or you could opt to by a 99-cent AriZona Iced Tea from the Duane Reade.
Of note, there are a few soccer fields here where adult rec. league games are held. The fields are curiously oriented in a lateral fashion. So one team has the high-rises and hospitals of Manhattan as a backdrop, and the other, and industrial Queens backdrop. This leaves not only the possibility, but the likelihood of an errant ball landing in the East River. I’d imagine the joining fees of an adult rec. league whose games are hosted on Roosevelt Island are obscenely high, and that the prospect of losing balls is a consideration. Extra balls, are accordingly included in the budget and brought to the games in a large mesh sack. I’d imagine the members of such leagues are Dartmouth- or Columbia-educated people who joined in the midst of a quarter-life crisis and pride themselves on their late-game goal, impressive throw-ins, or at the very least, sleep easily knowing they got 60 minutes of exercise in over the weekend.
At the Northernmost end of the Island is an elderly residence converted from an old mental hospital. Considering the remoteness and inaccessibility of the island, the concept of such an institution is jarring, and for some reason, eerily redolent of Shutter Island.
Aside from walking around and making observations, there’s not a ton to do on the Island. Great place to respect and spend an afternoon, and for $4.50 round trip, it’s worth it just for the ride alone. Roosevelt is also accessible by the F-Train for the vertically fearsome. But, really, if you don’t get there by Tram, why bother going?
What's Up First?
* The Tram takes off from an elevated platform, one story above 2nd Avenue. By the time you cross four lanes of traffic, you’ve risen hundreds of feet above the ground. The Tram comes up steadily but not alarmingly and then plateaus for most of the experience, much like a chairlift or an edible, but before you realize you’re descending, you’re already on the ground.
** A mother with small children who didn’t obey her order to stop licking the railing (Nicholas! Stop it! Germs. GERMS!); Groups of teenagers with overstuffed rope-closure backpacks, using digital cameras and iPhones to snap pictures; An old couple carefully pointing and peering at everything throughout the ride.
Location: 60th and 2nd. Might as well stop and get a drink at Blue Room while you’re there, kitty-corner.
Superior, Speed Fly from Marshall Miller on Vimeo.
it could be fun, but it also looks like a “world’s most gruesome video” waiting to happen
In an attempt to prove a friend wrong, a German man created this website to show that he could collect over a million pictures of giraffes. 440 Days later and 5,244 depictions of giraffes over his goal, he did it.
Did you know?
Giraffes are the tallest living animal!
Only half the countries that visited the man’s giraffe-picture-amassing site actually contributed to it! (That’s a lot of lurkers…)
A giraffe’s tongue is black! (If you get this reference, you truly are a product of the ’90′s.)
just a small percentage of his collection
Over one million giraffes were submitted from over 102 countries, and only 4.1% were from the United States. That’s still 41,215, but still, this is the United States. People our age are constantly online, aware of the latest publicity ploy and pop culture phenomenon! My question is, Wie war ich ahnungslos???
http://www.lastpicstanding.com/index – pic popularity contest. ya’ll seen ‘the social network’?
bigassmessage.com – like a facebook status hopped up on cocaine
http://www.sadanduseless.com/2010/08/pictures-words/ – quotes, quips and wit; presented artfully
http://whythefuckdontyouknowabout.com/ – thank you, tom bergerstock’s facebook status, for the current events and pop culture ticker
...because we all waste time on the internet
Let’s all grow up and get jobs like we’re supposed to!
Then we can make money and buy nice things!
As the Internet escorts me from Sunday Night to early Monday morning, my cyber-trekkings have lead me to the website for the Ithaca Beer Co. I am graced with images of Brew Fest cups and ‘Zillas being bottled when I see Events posted by the brewery.
On the last Friday of every month, the Beer Co. hauls a firkin – an antiquated term for a cask used to hold liquids, about eleven gallons – to Korova. Since the last Friday of the month is Christmas, the Beer Co. is bringing the quasi-keg over this Friday, the 18th.
If you don’t know what Korova is, it’s the seemingly nameless bar near Taste of Thai and Subway in the Commons. It’s usually got some cool chalkboard artwork hanging outside, and some bangin’ specials – $3 Guinness, yes please!
So if you’re still in town, get to Korova and you’ll be able to tell your folks that you drank from a fricken’ firkin!
5 – 7 pm
cheers
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