Broke-Ass Pop Culture – I’m New Here
So I’m pretty new to NYC. Like, I-don’t-move-in-to-my-apartment-until-December new. And like anyone new to the city, I’m pretty excited to see it all dressed up for the holidays. Images of “Home Alone 2” and “Miracle on 34th Street” (old and not as old) march through my brain like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I’ve been told that come February I will hate this place.
However, maybe it’s my, like, totally Southern California optimism, but I am choosing to stay positive. How could I possibly hate the cultural center of the universe? From a weird Kubrick-like version of “Macbeth” to the Foo Fighters at Madison Square Garden to some guy playing the erhu on a subway platform… this place is pretty awesome.
There is certainly no shortage of things to do in NYC and my favorite thing to do (for now) is completely FREE – going for a walk. Not only is it spectacular people watching (um, is that guy walking around with a CAT on his HEAD?) but you can easily stumble upon some great (and cheap) eats/drinks while getting to know new neighborhoods (people, there is more to life than Brooklyn) and taking in some famous sites.
If you haven’t already figured out, I’m kind of a pop culture dork. I am not ashamed to geek out when I see Liz Lemon‘s apartment on Riverside Drive or the Dean & Deluca from Felicity. I think it’s cool that I can walk the same streets that the likes of Patti Smith and Erik B. & Rakim did as they were on the forefront of their respective genres. I love walking by the Met and picturing Cher and a very hairy Nicolas Cage meeting up as they did in “Moonstruck.” I am not too cool to appreciate these things… and walking around to view the places that inspired so many films, TV shows, bands, artists, etc. is mostly FREE.
So I’m encouraging you (and myself) to keep looking at NYC with fresh eyes and seeking out all there is to offer. Yes, it’s ok to do a bunch of touristy stuff… but it’s important to see what else is out there. With a culture as diverse as that of NYC, there will never be a shortage of random, creative, funky, freaky, beautiful, dicey, sublime, zany, peculiar (and certainly FREE) things to see and do.
Photo Credit: http://daviddust.blogspot.com/
