New York

Visited New York last week, narrowly missing the current downpours. Had a brilliant few days doing what tourists in NYC do; MoMA, Grand Central Terminal, the view from the top of the Rockefeller Center, Brooklyn Bridge, the Guggenheim, Central Park, Ground Zero, Bloomingdales. Went to see the Knicks get beaten by the Detroit Pistons at Madison Square Garden. Waved a big blue foam hand in the air, ate a nasty weiner hot dog, drank beer and chanted "DE-FENCE," when the scoreboard kindly pointed out that New York were defending. The game itself is a fairly turbid affair but as a novelty spectacle it's fun.
Art-wise, MoMA wins hands down over the Guggenheim which, to be fair, is having massive refurbishment done at the moment but, still, it seemed pretty claustrophobic to me. The Guggenheim has been falling apart ever since the early 60's, soon after it was built, which doesn't imply it's the most successful piece of architecture ever. More impressive is the sheer number of skyscrapers in Manhattan. It's a living guide on how to build vertically, especially in Midtown where the sky doesn't get a look in. The emergency sirens that go off are really eerie as the soundwaves struggle to find their way out, bouncing off one structure after another.
We met up with some friends who've lived over there a couple of years. We usually went for huge brunches downtown around the TriBeCa (Triangle Below Canal Street) neighbourhood where we were staying or SoHo (South of Houston). TriBeCa was originally an industrial area dominated with warehouses but has now been revitalised into a fashionable residential district with lots of little boutiques and restaurants. Ghostbusters was filmed there, don't you know.
So anyway, a good time was had by all. Actually experiencing America first-hand made me see some refreshing positives about the place for a change. Speaking of which, I came across this comment by Charlie Brooker in his book "Screen Burn",
"Thank God they currently rule the world with an iron fist, because they do a far better job than we would. Can you imagine how a modern global British empire would function? It'd be like Railtrack with stormtroopers."