CBS New York: 6 Historical Forts

Hey everyone, we're also writing about New York for CBS New York. Periodically we'll link to content here that we produced there.

Several forts still stand in the New York City area. Although they are no longer used to protect the city, their power to inspire slack-jawed awe remains. Among the best preserved and most interesting are . . . [read more].

Jackson Heights Garden Tour

Once a year, the private gardens of Jackson Heights are open to the public, thanks to the Jackson Heights Beautification Group. Residents are on hand to answer questions, point out interesting features, and, in some cases, distribute lemonade, cookies, and chocolates. It's an opportunity to see what the other half sees everyday. 

El Palacio de Los Cholados

This thing of beauty is a "super combinacion" cholado from El Palacio de los Cholados on Northern Boulevard in Jackson Heights. It includes mango, pineapple, strawberries, coconut, banana, condensed milk, shaved ice, fruit syrup, and a single cherry. It's part drink, part fruit salad, all good, everything you might want from a dessert or a snack in the summer. We made the photo extra big, almost like a centerfold, on purpose. We don't quite have an X-rated relationship with the items on offer at El Palacio, but we're definitely in R-rated territory.

CBS New York: 5 Great Glasses of Soda

Hey everyone, we're also writing about New York for CBS New York. Periodically we'll link to content here that we produced there.

Artisanal soda is a revelation. Gone is the sticky, syrupy, chemically bite of so many mass-produced beverages, replaced with colors found in nature, refreshing, natural bubbles, and real fruit flavor. Read on for five of our favorite purveyors of this good stuff [read more].
 

Spring at the Bronx Zoo

  

CBS New York: Great Day Trips from Port Authority

Hey everyone, we're also writing about New York for CBS New York. Periodically we'll link to content here that we produced there.

 

No matter how much you love New York, every once in a while you probably need to get out of the city. The trips listed here leave from Port Authority in Times Square. Some will even have you back in time for dinner or a Broadway show [read more].

Icy and Sot in Williamsburg

CBS New York: 7 Best Glasses of Lemonade

Hey everyone, we're also writing about New York for CBS New York. Periodically we'll link to content here that we produced there.

 

Few drinks are as simple to make as lemonade: take some water, add lemon and sugar, and stir. Et voilà: lemonade! It sounds simple, but, as connoisseurs know, the differences in taste and experience can be significant. Read on for our picks for some of the city’s best glasses of this delicious beverage [read more].

Tom Fruin's Watertowers

A few weeks ago artist Tom Fruin installed his Watertower II (above) in Brooklyn Bridge Park, before shipping it off to its owner in Wisconsin. For the past year, Watertower (below) has lived atop a Jay Street building in DUMBO; soon it too will be removed. Both sculptures use salvaged steel and a thousand pieces of plexiglass, both re-envision the bland, blah, everpresent watertower, and both speak to the temporality of New York life and maybe even life in general: because so many things are here one minute, gone the next, we have to enjoy them while we can.    

  

Much Ado About Nothing at Lincoln Center

Shot in just 12 days in Joss Whedon's house, starring many of his friends, Much Ado About Nothing is a beautiful, evocative movie. Unlike another summer movie about what happens between people at parties, this one feels both elegant and naturalistic. It retains Shakespeare's original language but changes the minor character of Conrade to a lady, gives Beatrice and Benedick a sex scene, and adds smartphones, cars, knowing glances, eyebrow wiggles, tripping, bumping into things, gyrating hips, unbuttoning tops, and a few other contemporary touches. 

At the post-screening Q&A on Saturday night at Lincoln Center, sketch comedy duo BriTANicK (Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher) spoke about their experiences on set as First Watchman and Second Watchman.  Everyone was encouraged to hang out and drink, as long as "you didn't pass out in the shot." To Whedon, the plot of the play doesn't make sense unless everyone's drunk. Otherwise, why would someone arbitrarily break up a wedding? Why would another man arbitrarily offer to court a very eligible lady, heir to a great fortune, in someone else's name?

Scheduling conflicts meant each scene was shot in just two or three takes, intentionally giving the movie the feel of a filmed live performance. A miniscule budget meant each actor wore his/her own clothes (an audience member asked why the men looked so rumpled while the women looked so lovely). And because Whedon's stark walls looked weird in color, the film was shot in black and white, without any set decoration. Whatever the reasons, Whedon's decisions work. This very indie movie by a rather mainstream director might just be the summer's most original.

Photo: thanks

CBS New York: 6 Great Galleries that Specialize in Street Art

Hey everyone, we're also writing about New York for CBS New York. Periodically we'll link to content here that we produced there.

You can see street art anytime you want just by roaming the roads and avenues of Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Chelsea, among other neighborhoods in New York. Or you can visit one of the galleries listed below, all of which are committed to showing work by up-and-coming or established artists who got their start on the street [read more].

Cherry Blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden