Boka: Bon Chon on St. Mark’s

Bradley Farless6 Comments

Last Sunday was Mother’s Day.  It’s been years since I’ve lived near my mom on Mother’s Day, so I wanted to take her somewhere to get a nice lunch.  My mom has lived in the city for years, so I wasn’t sure what would be appropriate (some place she hasn’t eaten at quite a bit already), but I settled on a place called Boka: Bon Chon.  It turned out to be a good thing too.  Boka is a Korean food place and my mom had never had Korean food before, so besides lunch she got the gift of a new experience for Mother’s Day this year.

Boka: Bon Chon on St. Mark's

As for the restaurant itself, I was a little skeptical at first, because when you first walk up to it, it looks more like a bar than a place you’d go for a good meal.  From the outside, it’s pretty unassuming.  You would hardly know it’s there.  There’s no large sign or store front to speak of.  It occupies just the bottom level of the building seen above.  There’s a karaoke bar above it, a Japanese noodle place to the right and another restaurant that I didn’t really pay much attention to on the left.

Interior of Boka: Bon Chon on St. Mark's

The interior was a surprise.  It’s really nice and really clean and the décor was classy, if not something I’d think of when I think ‘Korean’.  The place gives more of an English pub impression, to me at least.

We got there at around 2 PM, between lunch and dinner, so the place was empty.  By the time we left, it was starting to fill up.  It looked like the crowd was mostly younger people, which makes sense since NYU has dorms in the area.

Pork bibimbap from Boka: Bon Chon on St. Mark's

I chose the pork bibimbap.

Beef bulgogi from Boka: Bon Chon on St. Mark's

I helped my mom pick something from the menu, since she wasn’t familiar with the food choices.  She got beef bulgogi, which is pretty tame and a good first taste of Korean.  I think that’s what I had, the first time I ate at a Korean place.

The lady that served us seemed to be the only server working at the time, but it wasn’t busy.  She seemed a little unsure of herself and I got the impression that English was still a bit of a struggle for her, but she was very friendly.  Our food and drinks came to the table quickly, though she seemed a bit surprised that we just wanted water and Coke, rather than soju, sake, or beer.

Overall, the place is pretty cool.  The atmosphere is comfortable, the food is good, the prices are reasonable and the service was good.  I’m looking forward to visiting again.  I think next time I’ll try the Korean style fried chicken.  I saw a tip on Foursquare, after we’d ordered of course, that the Korean style fried chicken there kicks ass.

A Celebration of Buddha and Asian Culture

Bradley Farless2 Comments

Last Sunday, on my way to the Barnes & Noble by Union Square, I was passing through the park and saw an event celebrating Buddhism called The Lotus Lantern Festival.

Lotus Lantern Festiva, Union Square, 2011.

A Buddha statue at the Lotus Lantern Festival, Union Square, 2011.

Buddhist statue with an elephant and Buddha.

I’m not really clear on the significance of the above statue, but people would step up to it, bow, and then use the dipper (you can just see the handle protruding from the bowl above the elephant) to scoop water from the bowl and pour it over the head of what I assume, by the lotus he’s standing on and the extended earlobes, to be a representation of Buddha.

A woman singing at the Lotus Lantern Festival, Union Square, 2011.

When I first walked up, a woman was singing. I don’t know what it was, or what it was about, because I missed the intro, but it sounded interesting, so I hung around for a while to see what else might happen.  After she sang, there was a demonstration of a traditional Korean dance.  I forget exactly what was said about it, but it was a celebratory dance related to successful agriculture, I think.

After I watched that, I walked through the park and just as I was getting to the other side, I started to hear Japanese pop music.  When I turned the corner, I saw there was a stage, with a live performance by a girl named Reni.

Reni onstage at the Annual Asian Culture celebration at Union Square, 2011.

On one side of the park was the solemnity of Buddhism, and on the other side of the park was Japanese pop culture, complete with cosplay and peace signs.  Weird combination.  Anyhow, I recorded one of her songs…

And then moved on past her booth…

Annual Asian Culture celebration at Union Square, 2011.

The Reni booth at the Annual Asian Culture celebration at Union Square, 2011.

…and happened to catch the tail end of a Chinese dragon dance and a martial arts display.

 

A martial arts display at Union Square Park during the Annual Asian Culture celebration, 2011.

I think it was called Wishun but I could be mistaken.

Japanese flag hanging in Union Square Park during the Annual Asian Culture Celebration, 2011.

I’m already looking forward to what I might see at the park this coming weekend.

Broadway Street Fair, 14th Street to 8th Street

Bradley Farless11 Comments

A street fair on Broadway near Union Square Park.

Today, Broadway was closed down from 14th Street, where Union Square is, down to 8th Street for a street fair.  The road was lined on both sides with stalls selling everything from costume jewelry to barbecue pulled pork.  There were even stalls set up by The New York Times, trying to get people to buy subscriptions, and a booth promoting Islam.  This is a story best told with pictures:

Costume jewelry for sale at a street fair in New York City.

This costume jewelry was laid out in a huge pile across a few tables.  It was on sale.  A closeout sale in fact.  Only $3.00 apiece.  Doesn’t seem like much of a sale to me.  I’m sure if you looked hard enough you could find this stuff for a dollar apiece.  It’s pretty to look at though, especially when it’s laid out together like it was.

Kettle Corn NYC.

Some $9.00 bags of kettle corn.  If you’ve never had kettle corn, it’s sweet.  It tastes awesome and smells great.

Shirts for sale at a street fair on Broadway in New York City.

Japanese balls. Yum!

I stopped by this booth to look at what they had to offer.  The sign on the front of the table says that everything on the table is free.  The guy in the blue jacket on the right spoke fluent English and Spanish, and the Korans he’s putting down are translated into Spanish.  The Lower East Side has a lot of Hispanic families, so maybe that’s the demographic they were mostly prepared for.  I took a few of the flyers.  I’m sure they’ll make great reading material for the train.  The guy in the blue jacket seemed encouraged by my interest in the flyers and asked me what I know about Islam, so I started talking about dates, like Mohammad’s birth, death, the first revelation, etc.  I know these things, since I just learned about it in an Art History course and I’m taking a test over it tomorrow.  He asked me if I wanted to spend a few minutes learning about the basics of the Islamic faith.  I thanked him, but said no.  It’s not that it wouldn’t be interesting, but given recent events, I don’t want to hang around anything promoting Islam.  Some nutball might show up and do something violent.  Besides, I have a feeling he was going to tell me about the 5 pillars of the Islamic faith: Attestation (“There is no god but God, and Mohammad is his prophet.”), Alms, Prayer (5 times a day), the Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), and fasting during Ramadan.

Marrakesh: Moroccan Bazaar and Decor booth at a street fair on Broadway.

There were even Moroccan rugs!

Funnel cake stand.

And funnel cakes!  I love funnel cakes.  I didn’t get one though, because I was on my way to meet my mom for lunch.  It was Mother’s Day, and I didn’t want to spoil my appetite.

I saw a LOT more than just this street fair today, including some Asian cultural festivities, but I’ll save that for a post tomorrow, or the day after.  I hope you enjoyed the photos!

Man Jumps Over Six Women in Union Square, Manhattan

Bradley Farless2 Comments

Crowd at Union Square, Manhattan, New York City.

I went up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art again today.  I’ll blog about that later.  For now, I want to show you what was going on at Union Square that cost me some of my museum time.  Like I keep saying, there’s always something going on there and when I was passing through, I saw a huge crowd gathered by the entrance to the subway, so I stopped to check it out.

Man in a leopard outfit jumping over a girl in Union Square.

This colorfully dressed guy had just jumped over the girl that’s standing behind him there, in the center of the open area.  I took this photo right as he was landing, though I meant for it to be him in the air over her.  This wasn’t impressive enough, so he decided to give us an even bigger show, which I recorded:

I was impressed.  I half expected him to land on the last girl, turning this otherwise exciting performance into a tragedy.  There are very few places in New York City that you can go without seeing some sort of live performance by a regular person looking to make some extra cash.  Some are bad, but some, like this one, are pretty damn good and worth the time to watch.  I try to keep some change in my pocket for when I see stuff like this, or when someone is playing music (on an instrument, not from a boombox) in the subway and it sounds good.

Union Square Park (Photos)

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Union Square Park, facing south along University Place.

I haven’t tried to keep up with what days each market is held on, but there was an art market yesterday.  This is a photo of the cobbled area along the west side of the park where the stalls were set up, with people selling homemade artwork including oil on canvass, photography, sketches, etc. in various styles.  One day I might even buy something from here to decorate my apartment wall.  Maybe.  I remember hearing people haggling over a price for something that looked like it was about a foot square.  The starting price was 500.  Ouch.

Two men being interviewed on camera in Union Square.

I’m not sure what the interview was about, but the guy to the right in the photo was pretty animated while speaking.  Maybe this was part of a project being done by students at the New York Film Academy, which borders Union Square.

People sitting on a fountain in Union Square.

A group of interesting looking folks, sitting on the edge of a fountain in the southwest corner of Union Square.  On warm days, Union Square is packed with people who are just hanging out and enjoying the good weather, at least so far.  I wonder if that will change when the weather turns from warm and pleasant to hot and scorching, and the cement gets hot enough to sear your ass like a burger on a grill.

A group of people doing a large painting in Union Square.

There was a group of people working on this painting.  I think it had something to do with a project sponsored by Keds shoes.  The old man there was taking a photo, like I was doing, and then went right into the middle of things to ask what it was all about, or at least I assume that’s what he was doing.  That’s one of the good things about being old.  People are more forgiving when you do stuff like that.

Union Square Park, facing the Beth Israel Phillips Ambulatory Care Center.

Union Square Park, facing the Beth Israel Phillips Ambulatory Care Center.

Union Square is even more crowded on weekends.  This was a Thursday afternoon, around 5 PM.

Do You Have Your Life Vests And Boats Ready For May 21st?

Bradley Farless12 Comments

Lady in Union Square train station with a sign stating the world will end on May 21, 2011.

This lady, or someone like her, has been in the Union Square train station fairly regularly over the last week or so.  When I first tried to take her picture, she was leaning against the side of the pole to the right.  She moved,  so I moved too.  I wonder if it’s because she has some doubts about what she’s promoting and is concerned about potential embarrassment when she wakes up on the morning of the 22nd to see clear skies and just another Sunday?

I say clear skies because the reasoning behind this theory that the world will end on May 21st, 2011 is that God said that “Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made” (Genesis 7:4) and He also said “that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8).  Apparently, May 21st, 2011 is the day God was talking about, and never mind that whole story that follows Genesis 7:4 about Noah in the ark.  That was just a prequel for the real event.  Or so they would have us believe, I guess.  There’s also some special numerology that they’re using to explain why they fixed on exactly May 21st that involves numbers with traditional symbolism and the number of days between the Crucifixion and that day.

Sign saying the world will end on May 21st, 2011.

I’m not going to hold my breath.  Like every other end-of-the-world theory that’s come before this one, this will end in disappointment and tears, and maybe even some embarrassment.  But, on the off chance that the world actually is flooded on the 21st, at least I won’t have to do finals for this semester.

Osama bin Laden’s Dead? So What?

Bradley Farless4 Comments

PD*26245836As much as I try, I just can’t seem to make the moment I saw the news about bin Laden being dead feel the same way it did when I saw the WTC collapsing on September 11th, back in 2001.  I think the reason is that it just doesn’t mean as much.  The collapse of the World Trade Centers and the resulting deaths, the toll of which is still climbing from inhalation of toxic materials by workers, was a momentous event that launched this country into what has become a decade of constant warfare, draining our economy and polarizing world opinions of Muslims and Americans.  What has Osama’s death accomplished now, so many years after the fact?  Just about nothing.

You see, it’s too late.  The damage has already been done.  I saw a quote on a news site saying that killing Osama is like cutting the head off of a snake, but Al Qaeda isn’t a snake.  It’s a world-wide network of terrorist groups, like minded individuals in groups that can work independently of any leadership.  The death of Osama bin Laden is only a fire that will cause their feelings of hatred toward the United States, and other Western countries, burn that much brighter.  I don’t think they were doing what they’re doing just to get a pat on the back from big brother Osama after all.  This is a war of ideologies that won’t end until everyone who believes in radical Islam is killed.  I don’t think that’s likely to happen any time soon.  You might say that Osama was financially backing the terrorists, or at least some of them, but how expensive is a home made pipe bomb to make?  Not very.  How expensive is it to purchase a firearm and then shoot up a military base like that knucklehead at Fort Hood?  Not very.

Without going down the road of questioning whether or not the story itself is even real, I just don’t see the point.  People are getting excited about Osama’s death, and I guess there is some relief or sense of justice for people who have had family members die in acts of terrorism that he claimed responsibility for, but in the grander scheme of things, this changes nothing.  Radical Islam still has a mission, and that mission is the destruction of Western Society, by any means necessary, to establish a global caliphate under Islamic rule.  Rather than going out and celebrating, we should be buckling down to make sure we’re ready for any backlash that this event may cause, especially now that we (the US) has further soured relations with Pakistan by operating behind the government’s back.  They are a nuclear power after all.

Singapore Ez-link Card Stickers

Bradley Farless2 Comments

My wife and I were looking through some of our old photos together and we happened to see these:

Singapore ez-link card with a Papa Smurf sticker on it.
Singapore ez-link card with a Papa Smurf sticker on it.
Singapore ez-link card with a Garfield sticker on it.
Singapore ez-link card with a Garfield sticker on it.

They’re not just cards with pictures.  I know in the US you can get something like that as a sort of collectible, but these are actually stickers on top of ez-link cards from Singapore.  You see, in Singapore, they use a transit card that’s like a contactless debit card.  You just tap it against a reader and enter the train station or bus.  You don’t even have to take it out of your wallet or purse if you don’t want to, and, because there’s no strip to worry about and they’re not disposable, you can decorate them.  They’re simple and usually don’t expire, as far as I remember.  We wound up turning these in for new ones, when they upgraded their system so that ez-link cards could be used to pay tolls on toll roads in cars as well.  In fact, that might have been when we took these photos, just so we could remember our stickers.

I miss these things, and how much easier they were to use than the MetroCards we get in New York City.  MetroCards seem like a waste to me, because you get one, use it for a while and then it has to be thrown away.  Wouldn’t it be better to just use the same card until you wear it out?  It would definitely be more cost effective.  Of course, switching to a card like this would create a loss of work for whoever makes the current MetroCards.  That’s probably the reason they won’t upgrade.  I understand that it’s important for people to have jobs, but I just get tired of seeing it used as an excuse to halt progress, especially when the upgrade could make life easier and is better for the environment at the same time.

What Does It Take To Get Put On The Terrorist Watch List?

Bradley Farless2 Comments

More than 200 individuals who were on the federal terrorism watch list passed background checks and were allowed to buy guns in 2010, according to a new government review.

via ABC News

I saw this (above quote) in the news this morning when I was on my way to class, and it got me thinking.  I’ve read previously that it’s pretty easy to wind up on this list.  I read about a news anchor (or maybe it was a journalist?) that found out he was on the US Terror Watch List simply because he complained about the TSA and their ridiculous screening procedures.  So, what does it really take to get put on that watch list?

In 2008, I took my first trip outside the United States since I was a kid.  Back then, I was traveling because my dad was in the military and we lived in Germany for a few years.  Great place, by the way.  Some kids in the US go to a shitty local museum for a school field trip.  We used to go to castle ruins that were hundreds of years old, or older.  That was so much cooler it can’t even be measured, and it is probably one of the main reasons I’ve had a fascination with sword & sorcery novels ever since.  Anyway, on that 2008 trip, I went to Singapore and then the Philippines.  I had a really good time, but hit a minor speed bump on the way back into my own country.

When I was trying to re-enter the United States, I got asked questions about why I was in the Philippines.  I didn’t even give the trip any thought beforehand, at least not in terms of making it back through customs, until that moment, and then it all sort of clicked together in my head.  The Philippines is a hotbed of terrorism, especially in the southern islands, which is home to the comically acronymed MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front, not Mom I’d Like to F***).  I spent about a week and a half there, so it must have raised a red flag when my passport was scanned at US Immigration.

What followed was a long discussion about why I was in the Philippines, what I did there, if I was planning on going back, and where I was going in the US.  Not helping the situation, I was still in the US Army at the time and I was heading back to my duty station, fresh from a ‘dangerous’ country that’s full of people who want to blow things up.  I’m just glad they didn’t have ‘enhanced’ (i.e. legal sexual assault) pat-downs or radioactive nudie machines back then or I’d have caused a scene and likely would have wound up being detained, as well as miss my connecting flight.

Later that year I moved to Asia, visited quite a few different countries in the region, including one that is ‘Islamic’ and even has shariah courts.  I even lived in the Philippines for a while.  When I re-entered my country, I again had a long discussion about my reasons for being there, coming back, etc., etc.

You might say, “But dude, you’re no one special.  Why would they watch you?”

To that I’d say no one is really special until after they blow something (or some people) up, or try to.  No one ever heard of those morons who flew planes into the sides of the World Trade Center buildings until after they did it right?  Or that idiot that tried to detonate an explosive in Times Square, or that lunatic disgrace of a military officer that turned on his own in Fort Hood.

So, I wonder if my name is on that list, based on my past military experience and the fact I’ve visited certain countries?  That’s kind of a scary thought.

People Hanging Out At Union Square

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Union Square Park in Manhattan, New York City.

There’s almost always something going on at Union Square, and even when there isn’t, there are still crowds of people there.  The warmer the weather gets, the more people there are.  I imagine quite a few of them are NYU students from the nearby dorms, but there were also people hanging out on the grass, having lunch, reading, or just talking to friends on the benches.

Union Square Park in Manhattan, New York City.

Union Square Park in Manhattan, New York City.

Then, of course, there are tons of people passing through to get to the stores around the Square, and to get to the subway entrances scattered around the area.  Union Square is one of the major subway stations in New York City.

Subway entrance at Union Square, Manhattan, New York City.

I like to walk through the park just to see what kind of people are there.  You never know what you might come across in New York City, after all.

Barnes & Noble at Union Square, Manhattan, New York City.

Three of my favorite stores are situated alongside Union Square: Best Buy, Barnes & Noble and Petco.  I can spend hours just browsing in those stores, especially Barnes & Noble.  Barnes & Noble is like a museum of words.  I could spend a whole weekend just browsing the shelves.  It helps that they have a coffee shop inside (which is a bit expensive, but we can’t have everything right?) and they don’t run around throwing you out if you’ve been hanging around too long.

‘Green’ markets and holiday markets are regularly held in Union Square.  I’m looking forward to finding time to explore one.  I go through there every day, and I’ve seen them quite often, but I’ve never had time to just stop and look.