Manhattan Massive Crane Collapse - Shocking Viral NYC Video

Just came across this shocking video of a huge massive crane (height of maybe 30-40 floors perhaps) crashing down the street in a matter of few seconds. The crane collapsed in the early morning hours around 8am on 5th Feb today. This happened in the Tribeca neighbourhood of lower Manhattan, New York City. The roofs of several cars were crashed and 1 man was confirmed killed as per latest reports. As per reports, this caused massive street closures due to the collapse. As you may be aware, Wall Street is just nearby.

Check out this shocking viral youtube video guys. Really surprised at the timing when the video captured the incident. What a timing! Shocked!

FIFA World Cup 2010 Rewind - England vs Germany

The FIFA 2014 World cup is just about 3 months to go. The ticket sales for 60 matches will go live from today.

In the meantime, I just wanted to rewind back to the 2010 World Cup. There was one match which was really memorable to me. The game between England vs Germany - Round of 16. I remember I had watched this match at the Tonic pub of New York's Times Square. If you may be aware, Tonic happens to be a multi-level pub. So, the ground floor was fully occupied by the English fans while the German fans occupied the entire first level. This game was like a war. This was the game in which Germany defeated England by a massive 4-1 lead.

The Germans were chanting their national anthems, the English were singing patriotic songs. The whole atmosphere was so charged up. Fully charged up without Duracells or Energizers :) Some folks were waving their flags. Some were dressed in flag-colored costumes. The whole build-up before the game began was intense. I chose to side with the Germans on the first level. Me basically being a huge fan of the German national team. A fine mix of experienced players like Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski and new-generation stars like Thomas Mueller, Mesut Ozil. The line up was able and strong. The English' on the other hand boasted about Wayne Rooney and Lampard.

People were cooling off with the chilled beers as well. Especially the Germans. In fact, beer was flowing like water on that day. I hardly noticed anyone drinking scotch or vodkas or rum. Majority of them were having beers.

Let me recapture some great important moments of this terrific match including the goals.

Formation : Look at the initial starting formation of the two teams. The Germans had formed a 4-2-4 formation. The English had something like a 2-4-3-1. This is when the match starts.

Passions run high at the very 4th minute when Germany's Ozil almost nearly scored a goal. The English goalkeeper David James was lucky to defend it as the ball hit his knee and went up.

Goal 1 : Germany : After some great tackling and changing of possessions, Germany scored it's first goal on the 21st minute. And it was the experienced Miroslav Klosé. German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer took a long run to hit the ball which crossed almost the 2/3rd of the ground distance. Later the ball was finely pushed into England's nets by Klosé. Klosé touched the ball just lightly enough, without raising it and smartly angled it to the net's right cornor. Take a look at this.

Goal 2 : Germany : Going forward, James almost denied a goal on the 31st minute. Just a few seconds later, the ball moved to the other side and Defoe hit a header which hit the upper bar of the nets. Immediately later, there was amazing passing by Germany from Ozil - Klosé - Mueller - Podolski. Yes Podolski scored the 2nd goal for Germany on the 32nd minute. He smartly grounded the ball with his left leg, waited for 2 seconds and hit the ball straight into the nets past England's James. Boom. England was in deep trouble. They were down 2-0. Check this out.

Goal 3 : England : England knew by now, that it was in a big mess. Their defenses were falling apart. The Germans were taking charge and leading with aggression. Just around the 36th minute, Germany gets a cornor and Klosé misses the oportunity. It results into another cornor by Ozil, but was saved by James. The very next minute i.e at 37th minute, England gets a cornor and Upson converts it into a lifesaver goal by a header. It seemed like England was back in the game. Look at this.

Goal 4 : Germany :  After the previous goal, in the next 30 seconds, Lampard hits another smasher. Unfortunately the ball hit the upper bar of net and Neuer took a hold of the ball before it crossed the goal line. This was a controversial call by the referee. I guess many readers would relate with that. The game after this, went on at a regular pace. Both sides battling each others. No new goals till the half time. Not even after the 59th minute. Germany's Neuer saved a strong hit near the 60th minute. England's James Milner gets substituted by Joe Cole on 64th minute. Around 65th minute, Rooney gets blocked and Lampard gets a free kick. But it doesn't get past the German wall. Soon after, the ball rapidly moves toward's English nets. Some really fast running here by Podolski. Podolski passes ball to Mueller and GOAALL again. Mueller scores the 3rd goal for Germany. 67th minute. Check this out.

Goal 5 : Germany : Post the 3rd goal, Germany seemed destined to enter the quarter finals. Just a couple of minutes later around the 70th minute, Ozil speeds up the ball towards the nets and intelligently passes it to Mueller. GOALLLL again. Mueller does it again! The 4th goal for Germany. This goal highlights the raw speed power of the youth (back then, Ozil & Mueller were just in their early 20's). The English were too slow to catch up. See this.

By this time, the Tonic bar had turned into a battleground. The German occupied first level went absolutely crazy. Their happiness knew no bounds and they were in the seventh heaven. They reached the quarter-finals where they were to face the mighty Argentina. Nonetheless, they had crossed the crucial English barrier. On the other hand, the English occupied ground level was totally quiet and pensive. The sadness on their faces was too visible. The English hopes had come crashing down. They were out.

I will never forget this match. It was like the 21st century World War II - Hitler vs Churchill :) where history was re-written.

Mexicue - Food Truck, New York City

Just the other day while watching Eat Street, I was reminded of a food truck that I bumped into somewhere in Brooklyn some time back. The name is Mexicue.

It has a cute little orange truck which serves some great tasting burritos, enchiladas, tacos, nachos and the typical mexican fare, which is much much better than Taco Bell. Check out Mexicue's menu here. It's most popular dishes are the Brisket slider, Rice bowls, Alabama Chicken taco. It does offer classic beers like Tecate & Pork Slap.

And well, just like many other food trucks, it travels across Manhattan and Brooklyn. The truck locations can be found through Twitter updates. Checkout it's official twitter handle here.

Check out Sharon L's review and rating on Yelp.

FYI : Eat Street is a popular canadian street food based reality show, which airs on Food Network in Canada, Cooking Channel in USA and Fox Traveller in Asian regions.

New York City subway romance

New York City as you know it, is always bustling with people - the tourists, the locals, the office peeps, the hipsters, the blue collared staff, the wall street guys, the cops. No matter where you go, you'll always bump into people.

However there are some folks who prefer peace and quiet over the hustle & bustle. For instance, the newly formed couples or the just-dating teens. Sometimes even you get this urge to get away from the crowd and commotion. Thats when, you really have to scout around looking for some private spots to get cosy with your loved ones.

Check out a smooth pacifying photo which captures this emotion. A couple just getting closer and strengthening their bond.

P.S : This was taken by me at the 42nd street Bryant Park subway station on one chilly night.

Blarney Cove - New York City

Blarney Cove, one of the last remaining iconic old-school dive bars of the East Village, has closed down for good. I might have passed by that bar for many years but very occasionally did I checkin. However, during Feb of 2012, last year, the Blarney Cove was running it's last about-to-close days. I did once drop by to say goodbye.

This bar was one of the few dive bars who offered cheap $10 Budweiser pitchers and $3 beers. So yes, it used to be frequented often by locals who were on a budget, sometimes by the punk'd hipster crowd from the Alphabet village but you could hardly find visiting tourists here. During my few couple of visits to the bar, it seemed everyone around knew each other.

It also featured a cheap Internet jukebox. Check out this picture which features the Asian bartender (in white-green top) dancing like crazy.

#NYE Live Nude Music Show - New York City (NSFW)

Warning : This post contains some controversial 18+ NSFW material.

In my previous post about Dec 31st 2012, I was talking about how some people hang around the bars of East village and Lower east side neighborhoods of Manhattan during the New Year's Eve.

Talking of NYE's, I just remembered a controversial event that was held in New York City. Precisely on Dec 31st of 2011. It was essentially a music show by the punk rock band Kraut in one of the bars in Lower east side. I don't remember, but I think it was the-now-closed dive bar Local 269  on East Houston st. Oh yes it was Local 269 for sure.

And it was controversial because it had a live full nude show by another band as well. The lead singer, guitarist, drummer were fully nude top to bottom. I mean seriously, they had no clothes whatsoever and their dicks were like swinging to the beats. Check out the pictures for yourself. The photos have been blurred a bit to reduce the NSFW-ness.

P.S : On googling a bit, I found the band name is The Afterbirth. Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve - Columbus Circle, New York City

With 2014 less than 24 hrs away, lets rewind to the last day Dec 31st of 2012. Most people spend their money in attending various all-you-can-drink NYE parties or attending the ball drop at Times Square. However a lot of people hop around the various bars and lounges in East Village, Lower East Side or the Midtown neighborhoods.

A lot of shops and malls are thronged by locals and tourists alike. If shopping during New Year's is your way of celebrating, one of the happening places is the 5th ave stores and the shops around Columbus Circle.

'The shops at Columbus Circle' i.e the Time Warner Center is beautifully decorated with christmas trees, synchronized lighting and a host of other festivities. Check out a couple of pictures of the Time Warner Center interiors during NYE 2012 :

This mall features some popular fashion brands like Boss, Armani Exchange, Cole Haan, H&M, J.Crew, J.W.Cooper, Moleskin , Thomas Pink, True Religion, Wolford to name a few. Make sure to have an open mind and and an open wallet :) Happy shopping :)

New Year 2014 - The Countdown

Ola! Como Estas? Well well well, 2014 is just around the cornor and its time to say 2013 a goodbye forever.

So folks, what are your new year resolutions?  Any memories of 2013 you would like to share? How was 2013 for you overall - Good or Bad?

How do you plan to welcome the new year 2014? Which NYE party you going to?

Do drop by your valuable comments... Ciao

Taking pictures from a boat or ship - Photography

Taking photos from a boat or a ship can be extremely challenging.

Since the ship is always moving, you are moving as well. So it is extremely challenging to maintain a proper focus. Keeping the camera on a tripod reduces slight distortion but still since it's on an uneven surface, the resultant pictures are not so good i.e they are blurry and distorted.

Make sure the lens you're using has Vibration Reduction (VR) or Image stabilization. It reduces some blur and distortion from the pictures.

Try to use a grip hand strap instead of a neck strap for added stabilization. You can buy one online here from B& H Photo Video store in New York City.

I would recommend you experiment with the settings and try to master getting perfect photos. If you're in Manhattan, I'd suggest you take the free Staten Island Ferry and practice getting some pictures of the Manhattan skyline. First try during the day time and then try at night. However, it becomes extremely challenging to get pictures at night, due to low light conditions. I'll cover the low light condition scenario in another post for now.

Take a look at my very bad quality night time picture of the Manhattan skyline taken from a boat. You can imagine how challenging and difficult it is to get still shots from a ship. Observe the blurriness and distortion. This was taken during the 9-11 anniversary so you can see the 9-11 memorial lights.

Mason Dixon - New York City

This post is dedicated to the once famous popular Manhattan hotspot - the Mason Dixon.
It was one of the most frequented bars in the Lower Eastside neighborhood since it featured a mechanical bull. Most young folks would drop by in groups, just to test each other's mettle riding the bull :) I must admit the bull must have resulted in tremendous liquor sales.

Unfortunately the bar was closed in fall 2011 for good. Probably due to the envy of other establishments.

Here are a few snaps in it's glory days

Northeast Blizzard 2010 - Part 2

Oh the memories! How wonderful!

Checkout this pic from a Manhattan LES apartment on the day of the blizzard. I believe it was Dec 26.

Northeast Blizzard 2010

Merry Christmas folks! It's already mid-December this year and its time to say 2013 a goodbye. But before welcoming 2014, I just remembered the cruel unforgiving Northeast blizzard of 2010 which happened around 25-26-27 Dec.

While sifting through my pictures, I found out some great snaps of the next day after the blizzard. On the day of snowstorm though, I remember how the transportation came to grinding halt. NJ Transit trains connecting NJ to NY were totally stopped. A state of emergency was officially declared. Everyone were sitting indoors and no one was seen outside. However I did venture out on that night and managed to grab some videos. I'll post them once I find them (They are hidden somewhere within the huge repository of memories :)

Oh and in the meantime, here are some post-blizzard pictures in and around Central New Jersey.