June 4, 2014

Beautiful woman reads a book in Russian by the light of the refrigerated pastry case.

Untitled

In Caffe Reggio on MacDougal Street in NYC last Saturday. Here's the top comment about Caffe Reggio at Yelp! on the Caffe Reggio page at Yelp!:
I sat in Caffe Reggio and drank an Americano, because I had to remind myself that I could, in fact, sit in Caffe Reggio and drink an Americano. It's downstairs from my apartment, and it's been there for thousands of years, and yet I seldom make my way inside. I could feel something deep inside me stirring, and suddenly I had an intense craving to break free from the pattern I had been running as of late. I wanted to be free. My my routine of sulking, and whining, and going to the same places that I always went day in and day out had exhausted me. So I opted for a little bit of history, and a little bit of Old New York, and I began to write a rant about why these things were at the same time toxic as they were healing. It went something like this:

It's been a constant topic of discussion, and it seems to be on all of our minds: New York is dead.

Rent is too high, and we've chased out all of the artists. Nightlife is not what it used to be. Everything is too safe, and Manhattan has become a Disneyland for the wealthy. We hear this every day, and it's forced down our throats by our friends and loved ones who have given up the dream and moved to a more attainable and temperate Los Angeles. New York is a desolate wasteland of broken dreams and failed attempts at success. It's been the winter from hell, and every time the weather drops below freezing we call it a Polar Vortex, which is something that never existed in history before a few weeks ago. It's all we have to talk about, and much like anything in this life, you are what you dwell upon.

Today, for the first time in months, I decided to take a long walk. I went outside with my light leather jacket, put the fucking Amelie soundtrack on my headphones, and just walked. Springtime was starting to peak [sic] out from behind the dirty snow drifts, and I knew that everyone could tell. There was a lightness in the air, and I could feel myself trying to come back to life. It reminded me that New York would make a comeback soon, even if it were my own private revolution. It's not New York that's dead: it's us.

This is coming from the most seasonally depressed, self-sabotaging, wallowing, weak-willed person in all of Manhattan. I had my heart broken into a million pieces this winter by a person who didn't care about me, and I too fell trap to this sick notion that this was all New York's fault. I thought for a moment that I was too poor to make art, and I was too uninspired to make a difference, and too safe to make any waves in this desolate tide pool of a town. But you know what? It's bullshit. All of it.

There's no such thing as being bored--only being boring. Moby wrote an article recently that's been popping up all over my newsfeed about how much New York is passé, and it's a waste of time. [Link.] Why all of a sudden are we all listening to what that little bitch Moby has to say? What the hell does Moby know? Well you know what, Moby? Eat a dick. Oh--wait--dicks aren't vegan. Eat a soy dick: the worst kind of dick there is.

Don't like New York? Fine. Move to Los Angeles. Maybe then rent will finally decrease, and the artists might be able to live here again. In the meanwhile, if you think New York needs some action, then look to the trees and see that very soon the leaves will be sprouting again, and we'll all be outside reminded of how lucky we are to live in the most beautiful city in the world.

If you miss the art, go out and make some. If you want to find the old New York grit that everyone talks about, then go out and dig for it--it's still there. Even if it's only in your heart and your demeanor, as you take your coffee black and sneer at tourists on the sidewalk through oversized black sunglasses.

I'm sick of this debate, and I won't take part of it any longer. This has been my home for fourteen years, and she's murdered me every single winter to the point of cracking. But I'm looking forward to spring, and every spring after that, and I won't give up on her. It's the least I could do.
That's by Chase C., whose Yelp! reviews are collected here at the Chase C. page at Yelp! If you read the full Yelp! oeuvre of Chase C., you won't need the light of a refrigerated pastry case, since it's all and only on line, but you might want some background music, so here's the fucking Amelie soundtrack.

If only the empty seat across from the beautiful Russian woman could be occupied by Chase C.! Perhaps you are inspired to write the scenario, the "My Dinner With Andre" for these two. Let's find a less French and more Russian movie soundtrack. Ah! The Prokofiev soundtrack for "Alexander Nevsky"... this ought to melt the ice of inhibition.



Pour your coffee black and sneer, artists. 'Tis time!

53 comments:

The Crack Emcee said...

Once again, the black American race is going to upend this place - that has no real cultural enrichments unless we provide them - so prepare yourselves:

The excitement you crave is coming.

But be warned:

More than likely, it'll include whites going insane and shooting,….

mccullough said...

How does one say, "Do you like soy dick?" in Russian?

Nonapod said...

Upscale liberals have this strange tendency to move to new areas in droves in search of authenticity (or at least what they believe to be authenticity). Once they've all moved in they do what liberals do: create a bunch of new rules, regulations, and zoning laws. They raise taxes and drive up rents which in turn pushes out many small businesses and the poorer denizens. After all that they grouse about how the area isn't authentic anymore.

RonF said...

"More than likely, it'll include whites going insane and shooting,…."

Except for the race of the people involved, that's a typical Saturday night in Chicago.

SomeoneHasToSayIt said...

The Crack Emcee said...
Once again, the black American race is going to upend this place - that has no real cultural enrichments unless we provide them . . .


Bawahahahahahahahahahaha. OMG. Bawahahahahahahahahahaha. OMG. Bawahahahahahahahahahaha. OMG.Bawahahahahahahahahahaha.OMG.
Bawahahahahahahahahahaha.OMG.
Bawahahahahahahahahahaha.OMG.
O.M.G.

Mark said...

Thanks Ann. That was nicely blogged.

dbp said...

The picture of the young woman reading is intriguing. You see enough of her face to know that she is beautiful but not enough to really know what she looks like.

traditionalguy said...

Maybe she's dreaming of a Russian dance community in Wisconsin. Ballet and Brats.

SGT Ted said...

White people have no culture, unless of that provided by black people.

How racist is that?

rhhardin said...

I just assumed everybody was a sex worker or banker and the prices worked out.

George M. Spencer said...

"Cafe Regio" by Isaac Hayes from the "Shaft" soundtrack.

Can ya dig it?

gerry said...

Please, someone, tell New Yorkers that Woody Allenesque monologues are now tedious?

Guimo said...

Sounds like an Obama voter.

Johanna Lapp said...

Opera. Hawthorne. Legitimate theater. Citizen Kane. American literature. Electronic music. Country music. The Hudson River School. Mad Men. Transcendentalism. Hannibal. Louisa May Alcott. Some Like It Hot. Dobie Gillis. Hopper. Jackson Pollock. Balanchine. George and Ira Gershwin. Thoreau.

Brando said...

A lot of people whine about how NYC isn't "gritty" like it used to be (and if it were, those same people would steer clear of it--no one wants to live in the NYC of the '70s where cops had to leave one guy in the squad car at all times to prevent their hubcaps being stolen) and underneath all that whining there's a worthwhile point. The city has become incredibly expensive to live in, and in the long run that can lead to young people avoiding it, businesses and artists leaving, and much of what made the city so popular starting to deteriorate.

The biggest reason for that is the regulatory climate that makes doing business there so expensive and drives up housing prices with rent control. It just doesn't seem the people running the city ever seem to learn this.

Mark said...

In NYC, when people find themselves in the presence of a creepy and pathetic person, they tend not to engage said pathetic creep.

A bit of advice for my flyover friends.

Kevin said...

After all these years, I think I've finally had enough of Crack.

Chance said...

I'm wondering if Althouse asked permission before she took the young lady's picture? When I take such pictures, I'm often pilloried for perversion.

MayBee said...

I hate it when people try too hard on Yelp.

BarrySanders20 said...

Who is this WE you invoke, Crack?

What have you done to enrich culture? Being a bitter self-centered racist doesn't count for much.

If you don't get to claim your tribe's contributions, what's left?

Smilin' Jack said...

Beautiful woman reads a book in Russian by the light of the refrigerated pastry case.

Not necessarily. Sometimes a face like that is attached to a big butt--check her out carefully before approaching.

Ann Althouse said...

BTW, I lived in Greenwich Village in the 1970s when it was gritty, and, oddly enough, back then, we thought Caffe Reggio was kind of a tourist place. Funny how that aged into authenticity!

We liked Caffe Dante a few doors down.

Ann Althouse said...

"I'm wondering if Althouse asked permission before she took the young lady's picture? When I take such pictures, I'm often pilloried for perversion."

I usually avoid taking pictures of strangers, even when they are in public like this, but this was a case of such a fine image (with the witty lighting) that I decided to do it. I did it very quickly.

One way to think about it is to analogize it to looking at someone. I wouldn't stare, but I would look, and I spent less time taking the photograph than I could have politely looked.

Captain Curt said...

My father-in-law loved to hang out there in the 1940s. He still has fond memories of it, which he did not hesitate to tell us about.

So when my wife and I took the kids to NYC a few years back, we stopped in for coffee and hot chocolate. My younger daughter was just starting to get interested in photography, and loved the lighting of the place. We still have at home a couple of framed pictures from there, including one of that cooler.

Anonymous said...

CMC's nutjob posts have reached the level of racial cyber stalking. In the dark of night, when I see one of his glowering posts coming in my direction, I quickly cross over the way to a different discussion thread or another blog. Just a precaution for my safety, you know. Always pay attention to the warning signs. Ignore them at your peril.

Bob Ellison said...

I have that problem all the time. People stare at me. I shout, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful!", and they stare more. It's a curse.

cubanbob said...

The same self-important kvetch about New York has been written numerous times decade by decade practically since the city was founded.

The Crack Emcee said...

SGT Ted,

"White people have no culture, unless of that provided by black people.

How racist is that?"

Not much - it appears we were here first.

Revise your handbooks. [looks around]

ROTFLMAO

Ted, your silly obstinance - even to silliness - kills me. You're a really smart guy looking for trouble. That's a flaw, dude, not something folks can point to, like segregation, but something you created in White World.

Maybe in The White's White World World Conference Conference Room.

Let me guess:

You're now going to come back, claiming the prestige and respect of a sergeant, just to tell me that's not true (You've never been to The White's White World World Conference Conference Room) when you - an intelligent white person - knows exactly what the Hell I mean, even when I'm a little off.

But you gotta get it in, don't you?

Or is it out?

What a culture,...

m stone said...

So, Chase C's gender is not revealed. But he/she lost his/her love ("He") to a guy.

Writes like a woman; talks about "heels" getting caught and hair mussed.

Am I trying too hard, MayBee, to understand this person?

Michael said...

Crack:

Maybe your best post ever. Hilarious.

I am tossing my Beethoven for Two Chainz and my Bach for Fifty Cent.

Cultural enrichments my ass.

LOL

Thanks

M

HoodlumDoodlum said...

mccullough said...
How does one say, "Do you like soy dick?" in Russian?


Damn, that was funny.

Michael said...

Professor:

Don't know if you made it up and down 9th Avenue up in Hell's Kitchen but that is an area of Manhattan that has changed utterly over the last decade. All the old haunts of the 70s and 80s are being eclipsed by new areas that have migrated from the sketchy to the edgy.

Was there over the weekend and early this week. Fantastic city, always amazing.

ALP said...

I usually avoid taking pictures of strangers, even when they are in public like this, but this was a case of such a fine image (with the witty lighting) that I decided to do it. I did it very quickly.
****************
That is very respectful of you. I wish more people felt that way. I am tired of being an unwilling backdrop to vacationers photos. What is it about street cars, trains and buses that makes people want to shoot so many photos? Its impossible to get away in a situation like that. I am considering buying a grotesque rubber mask I can carry with me at all times - so I can don said mask when being photographed against my will. Insist on putting me in your photos? Then you are getting an image of me in a Quasimodo mask.

damikesc said...

A lot of people whine about how NYC isn't "gritty" like it used to be (and if it were, those same people would steer clear of it--no one wants to live in the NYC of the '70s where cops had to leave one guy in the squad car at all times to prevent their hubcaps being stolen) and underneath all that whining there's a worthwhile point. The city has become incredibly expensive to live in, and in the long run that can lead to young people avoiding it, businesses and artists leaving, and much of what made the city so popular starting to deteriorate.

Isn't that the case in every single Progressive city?

Portland is trying to kill itself. SF is now only for the uber rich. Austin is going that same route.

Again, a campaign based on inequality will fail since it is far worse in Dem cities than anywhere else.

PB said...

Ah, the choice is between New York and Los Angeles. Such arrogance.

Alex said...

Once again Crack finding the need to insert race! He's nucking futs.

Alex said...

Culture:

List of Classical-era composers

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Johanna Lapp said...

Opera. Hawthorne. Legitimate theater. Citizen Kane. American literature. Electronic music. Country music. The Hudson River School. Mad Men. Transcendentalism. Hannibal. Louisa May Alcott. Some Like It Hot. Dobie Gillis. Hopper. Jackson Pollock. Balanchine. George and Ira Gershwin. Thoreau.



Mark Twain. Andy Warhol. Herman Melville. The Marx Brothers. L. Frank Baum. Aaron Copland. Frank Capra. Jackson Pollack. E.A.Poe. Frederic Remington. John Muir. Steven Foster. Edward Albee. And Thomas Pynchon.

Alex said...

Steve Jobs, Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Nicolas Tesla, William Shockley...

Ann Althouse said...

"Don't know if you made it up and down 9th Avenue up in Hell's Kitchen but that is an area of Manhattan that has changed utterly over the last decade. All the old haunts of the 70s and 80s are being eclipsed by new areas that have migrated from the sketchy to the edgy."

We didn't go to many places over the weekend when we were there (to see family), but I did live in NYC in Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 (visiting at Brooklyn Law School).

So I saw plenty back then.

Alex said...


Great Inventors: Titans of American Innovation


Amazing.

Stephen A. Meigs said...

If a particular beauty of hers is always matrilineally expressed, like all the traits on the X-chromosomes of marsupials, then all her daughters will tend to have a corresponding particular trait arising from her rather than from her mate, which will make males by nature tend to love and enjoy that beauty more than otherwise. If the particular beauty resides on one of her X-chromosomes, then none of the female descendants of her sons will have the particular trait arising from her mate, while many will have the beautiful trait arising from her, which would make her even that much more beautiful and pleasant to males. Simple logic suggests to me that if a trait is especially useful or good in females (compared with males) and is the sort of thing that can contribute to beauty, then love and, more generally, sexual preferences will select better for it if it be from an X-chromosome and if it always be expressed matrilineally (the allele in females inherited from the father always being inactivated).

Diamondhead said...

I've long held that the Europeans and their descendants have made certain cultural and other contributions to human society. It's an area that would welcome more study perhaps.

MayBee said...

So you are no longer anti-travel?

David said...

Chance said...
I'm wondering if Althouse asked permission before she took the young lady's picture? When I take such pictures, I'm often pilloried for perversion.


You are male. "And that has made all the difference."

Ann Althouse said...

"So you are no longer anti-travel?"

It was never an absolute position. I think travel needs to be justified. This, for example, was a trip to see 2 loved ones.

MayBee said...

I think travel needs to be justified.

Ha! Fair enough.
Although "Because I want the experience" is adequate justification. You had an experience that seems to have got you thinking in a direction you wouldn't have, had you not gone.

rhhardin said...

The cigarette is missing.

rhhardin said...

I think travel needs to be justified. This, for example, was a trip to see 2 loved ones.

As I said to my boss, with group meeting in California announced, "I don't travel."

So that's the way it was.

From Inwood said...

I too was in NYC last weekend.

Among other things, including visit to Inwood & The Bronx Zoo, saw a revival of an Irish play: "The Cripple of Inishmaan"

Crippled Boy meets girl

Crippled Boy loses girl

Crippled Boy gets girl.

Stereotypical characters recognizable & enjoyable -- authenticity is overrated -- but deep down it's shallow as we say.

NYC exciting as always. Weather was great.

Anonymous said...

Hah. I liked Amélie. Haven't seen it in a zillion years. Maybe it's time for a Best of Youth // Amelie early aughts rewind. That's eight hours combined viewing.

Too soon?

I just saw Gilbert Grape again. That's been 20 years and it now has a cult following. My then-roommates worked on that in a middle-level crew capacity after graduating college and before law school. Funny, neither one of them mentioned Leonardo Di Caprio at the time.

His performance is so ebullient. I appreciate his transformation, but his current romantic historical figure // action hero big earner MO doesn't quite live up to his early, zen 'alert water' potential, imo.

Long. Long. Time. Ago.

Anyway, yes, she's very beautiful even from that angle. Hints at a Milla Jovovich/Charlotte Kemp/Liv Tyler type.

Going off on a click tangent from your other recent post, I gather Exene is moving to Texas from LA/Orange County in preparation for the coming apocalypse/SHTF, so it's not like rents here are super low, but it's not as crazy as NY.

gerry said...

It just doesn't seem the people running the city ever seem to learn this.

The liberals never learn. It interferes with their consciousness to be aware.

“I’m at the breaking point,” said Gretchen Gardner, an Austin artist who bought a 1930s bungalow in the Bouldin neighborhood just south of downtown in 1991 and has watched her property tax bill soar to $8,500 this year.

“It’s not because I don’t like paying taxes,” said Gardner, who attended both meetings. “I have voted for every park, every library, all the school improvements, for light rail, for anything that will make this city better. But now I can’t afford to live here anymore. I’ll protest my appraisal notice, but that’s not enough. Someone needs to step in and address the big picture.”

SGT Ted said...

The racial problems this country has will never be fixed as long as people like Crack MC think the way they do.