Lakers win their 16th NBA championship! ! ! !

"This one's by far the sweetest," Bryant said in front of a still-standing Staples Center crowd that, on this night, had no desire to leave early and beat traffic.


Read the rest here: http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakers-celtics-20100618,0,5118663.story 

ah...

a view of laguna,

pearl,

and a crystal cove sunset.

venice / santa monica

the entrance? 

the (in)famous boardwalk

places where you're allowed to graffiti 

awesome skateboard park right on the beach

santa monica pier from the bike path

frank gehry's binocular building

griffith observatory

the outside

the inside

view of the hollywood sign from the observatory

looking south from the observatory towards downtown

new background of the skyline !

taken on my last day in new york, on the way to the airport.  (i left space so you could see it uninterrupted, smog included)

memorial day in huntington beach

GIANT flag over the beach

the beach and the pier

Mario Batali's Babbo

Lobster pasta !

Gnocchi with Oxtail

Happy campers

lupe fiasco + b.o.b. concert

Lupe Fiasco

B.o.b

more pictures of my favorite buildings and parks...

Flatiron Building from Madison Square Park

MetLife Clock tower from MSP

Shake Shack in MSP

View from Union Square, looking north

Washington Square Park

The Sandman and his art

Spring in WSP

the guggenheim

the outside, from across the street.  designed by frank lloyd wright.  

inside the center of the rotunda, looking up towards the skylight

inside the rotunda, looking across the atrium, art and museum goers on the other side.

while the art in the museum wasn't my favorite type of stuff, the guggenheim itself is easily the coolest museum i've ever been to.  when I arrived there, I watched a 27 minute film about the history of the museum and its constantly changing exhibits.  after that, I took the elevator to the top of the museum and proceeded to look at the current work on display while walking down the 7 story spiral ramp.  while the frank lloyd wright design was initially controversial, it has proven itself as a lasting icon of modern architecture.  

northern central park shots

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis reservoir, looking east from around 88th street.  

my new friend

so, last night i saw the movie kick ass at the union square movie theatre.  on the way home, we walked back to hayden by going down university place.  as we we're walking, i was singing the wu tang clan song C.R.E.A.M., which stands for cash rules everything around me. at a certain point, we passed by this bar that had a huge black bouncer outside of it.  he overheard me singing and decided to join in.  we sang the part that goes "get the money, dolla dolla bill y'all" together.  it was really cool to have someone on the street recognize and appreciate my taste in music.  hanging out with a bouncer in new york.  nbd.

my conversation with spike lee

today, i was walking around new york when all of a sudden something magical happened.  i'm standing on the island with the cube on it around astor place waiting for the street light to change when i see this man decked out in yankee attire.  he had the jacket with all the years they'd won the championship an a classic yankees cap.  he also had a customized pair of beats by dre headphones around his neck.  this pair was special because they were made of white and blue plastic and had the classic "ny" yankees logo on each side.  when i got closer to him, i realized it was spike lee, the famous film director.  feeling courageous, i went up to him and said, "those are sick headphones" to which he responded, "thanks man, they sound great".  at this point, the intersection was clear and the light changed so he began to walk away.  even though it was brief, i got to speak with spike lee.
nbd.

atoms for peace

tonight chris and i went to see thom yorke's new band, atoms for peace, play in new york.  a few years ago, thom yorke wrote a solo album called the eraser which consists of 10 songs with low-key beats, minimalist techno influences, and of course his hauntingly beautiful voice.  as radiohead is inbetween albums right now, thom decided to go on a small tour and play theses songs live for the first time.  he recruited flea from the red hot chili peppers (my favorite band) to be his bassist and nigel godrich (radiohead's producer) to play keyboards and guitar.  he played the entire album and then followed it up with a few random songs, including everything in its right place by radiohead.  it was a great show (although it only lasted an hour and a half) and awesome to see such a unique lineup perform an album that many thought they would never hear live.

thom yorke + flea (with blue hair)

dinner with NYU President John Sexton

back in october, I entered a lottery to attend a special group dinner with the president of my university.  a few days ago, while in class, I received an email letting me know that i had been chosen to attend.  I didn't even remember that I had signed up for the lottery since it was so long ago but I was really excited.

The event took place in the university penthouse, located on the 18th and 19th floors of 37 washington square west.  john sexton doesn't even live there so they just use the space for special events.  the views from up there were unlike any other I've seen in new york so far.  since greenwich village is in a relatively "short" part of manhattan, you could see all of midtown (empire state building included) in one direction and all of downtown in the other.  

john sexton spoke to the group of 20 undergraduates for nearly 4 hours.  the dinner was scheduled to be from 6:30-8:30 but didn't end until 10:30.  john began by telling us pretty much his entire life story all the way from his childhood in brooklyn to being the current president and everything in between.  throughout his storytelling, he would pause and use the events of his life to illustrate an important lesson he wanted us to remember.  by the end of the night, i was incredibly proud of what he had accomplished not only for himself but also for nyu.  and yes, he gave me one of his famous hugs.

no big deal.

the view of midtown

downtown 

a few pictures from the metropolitan museum of art

one of monet's water lilies

wheat field with cypresses by van gogh 

self portrait + flowers

i don't remember 

international pillow fight day 2010

today in union square, thousands of people gathered for a massive pillow fight.  it started at 3pm and lasted until almost 6pm.  there were even people providing pillows to those who wanted to fight but didn't have pillows.  the part of the park the fight was in was so littered with feathers by the end, it was pretty disgusting.