New York Halloween!!

Ok, I just did something which I am frankly shocked. I just spent US$500 on a Halloween costume. Some explaination is in order.

The 35th New York Annual New York's Village Halloween Parade will be held tomorrow on Friday night. It is listed as one of the top 100 things to do and see before you die. Basically, the entire Sixth Avenue in New York starting from Spring Street will be packed with NYorkers dressed up in Halloween costumes. Freaks, gays, drag queens, nudies and flashers will all be out in force. People will turn up in the most outlandish costumes to take part in the parade walk. It is the largest street night party in the New York Calender. It will be a drunk and fun night.


I have been waiting for the famous New York Halloween Festival for many years. It is one night where everyone is equal. Rich or poor, straight or gay, it doesn't matter. Everyone is dressed up as monsters. This really hot South African girl that I know is coming as a kinky police woman. Naughty. Yay. When I asked her why, she said simply that she would be arrested as a prostitute if she tried doing it in South Africa. Indeed. New York is the only place where everything is tolerated.


I have always wanted to dress up in a particular costume. So I spent US$500 to buy the most authentic costume ever. Behold the costume which I will be going in:


How's there for a f#%@&@ awesome Catholic priest cossack. There are 27 sewn buttons. Thrown in a theatrical cheap gold cross and I am your standard child-molesting Catholic priest.

All these years of stupid Christians telling me to repent or go to hell. And that stupid ass of a priest from my Secondary School who threatened us detention unless we say Hail Mary. Tomorrow night, for one night only (ta dah), the tables are turned and I can make fun of the religion the best way I know how. Dressed up as a Catholic priest with a beer in one hand in a freak show period. This is what I call retribution.

Here are some pictures of the Pumpkin Festival last Saturday. Central Park was filled with pumpkins left, right and center. Unfortunately, the festival was rained out by heavy downpour.

Presidential pumpkins!

Tomorrow night will be historic!

Some pics of NY

The weather is turning cold and I can feel a flu bug coming. Burrrrr.

Oh, there was one night (Friday night, I think) where I woke up at 3 am and I have absolutely no idea whee I am. There I was, huddled beneath six pillows and a warm comforter and for the life of me, couldn't tell whether I was in Laos, Singapore, Thailand, New York or on a plane going to somewhere. Too much alcohol.

Here are some pictures of NY.

Weekend at Brooklyn Heights. Plenty of brides and bridemaids.

This is where Capote stayed - the guy who wrote Breakfast at Tiffany. I like this picture. Nice light.

I also like this one with the moon. I suddenly felt like visiting an European country with medieval cottages and cobblestone paths.

This is at Battery Park where you take a ferry to Liberty Island to see the Big Mama - the Statue of Liberty.
The ice rink at Rockefeller Centre is up and running!

Pulsaki Day Parade

Last weekend is the 71st Pulsaki Day Parade It is a day when Polish Americans cleebrate their Polish ancestry. Thousands of marchers and dozens of floats turned out to march down the glitzy 5th Avenue. Apparently the Pulsaki Day Parade in New York is the largest celebration of Polisy Pride in the US. You have students, bands, cheerleaders, and beauty pageant winners. Beautiful.

I like these couple of Poles who are dressed up as Slav warriors. I think they are already drunk when they walk the streets in their armour.

It is like a huge street party. I didn't know that there are so many Polish techno musical songs.

Nice uniforms. These Americans take their parades very serious.

The Slovakian Date

So I take a Slovakian girl out for a date.


Yeah, I have no idea where is Slovakia. The only thing I know about Slovakia is that Liverpool has a player from Slovakia called Martin Skertel. And its capital is Bratislava which is where THE HOSTEL is. Remember the movie???? Yeah, that Slovakia.


She will only be in town for 3 weeks so it will be perfect for me. No long term obligations. Since she is into musicals and watching a musical on Broadway is on my list-to-do list in NYC, we decided to go watch a musical. Our first choice was this show which stars the Harry Potter actor (Daniel Radcliffe) himself. Apparently Harry Potter gets naked for the last couple of minutes of the show but it is a play not a musical. Since we cannot imagine sitting for 2.5 hr just hearing dialogue after dialogue, we decided to find a musical on Broadway. She had watched Phantom and Mama Mia costs US$210 per ticket. US$210!!!! Why don't they just buy a fruit knife and rob the bank?


So, we chose Chicago.


I have never, never been a fan of musicals. And I am still not after spending US$89 per ticket (x2 since I paid for her) watching a musical that stretched from 8 pm to 10.30 pm. I think it is an immense waste of time and money. I don't find it entertaining and I keep thinking that I could buy and watch the whole box set of Audrey Hepburn movies from Laos for just US$40. I guess this sort of entertainment is just too high-brow for me. People say I should learn to appreciate the songs, the dance and the stage set. My reply back then and still is today, is:

Can Neo stop bullets in a musical? Hell, no. Movie magic rules. People who tell me to appreciate the marvellous set on stage can go stuff their pretend high-class head into the sand and let me beat it with a shovel. Movie beat musical hands down like T-Rex taking on a hamster. The only way the hamster can win is if the T-Rex got lost on the way to the battlefield.

For the sake of it, here are some pics of Ambassador Theatre. The place is packed to the rafters. New Yorkers love their Broadway.

I don't think she enjoyed the musical also since her English is decent but not super fluent and those people in Chicage are just singing too fast for her to follow.

The entertaining segment of the evening came when we saw the street busker drumming pans and pails. And a black kid was simply dazzling in his footwork and dancing.
After couple of minutes, a group of Jewish boys (easily identified by their distinctive skullcap called a Yarmulke) spontaneously joined in and showed off their skills. It was an amazing show of spontaneity.

The next time we go out again, we are going to watch a proper movie. We are going to watch this movie:

OH YES!

Kiasu Nation

We Singaporeans always claim to be the most kiasu people in the world. We say it as if it is a source of pride. But the fact is everyone is kiasu. If you want something bad enough, you will break all normal code of conduct to get it. A can of milk, Hello Kitty, LV Bags, old transformer toys . . . whatever float your boat.

In the US, it is fashionable to queue up for hard to buy tickets. NBA, NFL, NHL, NBC, ABC whatever. Here we see a queue at 9 pm outside the NBC centre. The people are ready to bunker down for the night with books and sleeping bags just to be the first in line to buy Saturday Night Life tickets.

Saturday Night Life is a weekly late-night 90-minute American sketch comedy/variety show based in NYC. It launched the careers of many, many comedians and actors e.g. Tom Hanks, Bill Murray, Drew Barrymore, Steve Martin and even Britney Spears. The tickets are hot but I never realise how hot. Tickets go on sale on the morning of Saturday but queue is already up and running at 9pm on Friday night.

Keep in mind that it is cold in NY nights. Here is the NBC center near where I stay.

This group of girls actually brought a tent.

Everybody seems to be in high spirits despite the cold.

This girl actually brough a styrofoam bed. Awesome. Looks like a homeless person.

I shall end off this late night entry with a picture of an overweight woman who was panting heavily when she walked next to me. She asked me where was Lexington Avenue, to which I replied that it was just one block away. She gave me the look as if I just told her that Lexington Avenue was as far away as Singapore. She even asked whether I was kidding her.

I should have directed her in the opposite direction to make her walk more!