I get a lot of mails and questions of friends who want to know what the best things are to do in NYC/Brooklyn. I’m definitely not an expert but I do have some suggestions that will make your trip a lot different from the average NYC tourist trip.
Where to stay? Use Airbnb and find something in Lower East Side, they have great breakfast places like 88 Orchard (great American pancakes with Blue berries);
If you’re wondering what tourist guide to buy: purchase the NFT (Not for tourist) Guide of NYC (also for iPhone), I got the book once as a present from one of the editors and I now recommend to everyone (which ruins a bit the idea of the guide ;);
Go out of Manhattan and look up different subcultures using Walking Around: Hipster bars in Williamsburg to Greek bakeries (there’s one good right at the corner) in Astoria or get deep in Brooklyn with the Malaysian cuisine (I ate here twice, it was good and very reasonable priced);
Also in love with curries? Don’t mind low-key places? Mingus and I used to go here sometimes twice a day, meet cabbies and in the good times Occupy fellows (near Financial District), take the naan bread with vegetables OH and milk tea;
Friday nights are the best at Miss Favela (Williamsburg), grab a good Mojito and dance your way into the Samba (live music!) with Brazilians living in NYC;
Before you do your samba, one block away is Cariño, they serve the best Mexican food ever, and the staff rocks big time.
Monday nights are always the best in Apotheke, we threw our TSAS Pre party there, the people are great, and the atmosphere is the best (they rebuild a complete old Pharmacy from Austria), it’s expensive but it’s hidden in the midst of China town. Please go on Mondays: they play live jazz at ten;
I always lived with architects around me back in Delft, they’re pleasant people: good taste for fashion and style, if you happen to have time check out what’s going on in Storefront for Art and Architecture, last time I went to see my friends of Plus Pool interviewing Bjarke Ingels (cool guy, and awesome architect);
Yesterday I got this wonderful email of a very good friend. He read my blog series on how I do things I want to do: Face, Focus and Roll. He added a few things, I thought were too good to leave in my inbox:
Don’t blog about the same things, don’t make people ‘re-consume’;
Do small things;
Don’t get (social) media involved;
Do it 100%;
Be less heroic and more effective, it’s not about you, it’s about the thing you are working on;
We should only publish things when they are finished, don’t finish things quickly in order to publish more;
“Bianco e nero e se son rose fioriranno.” - Do it honest and if is good it will blossom;
Get small, get quite, get glocal. Don’t be the Britney Spears of your project you’re working on;
I have too much sites but I did not find the perfect place to put everything I like. I prefer to keep things seperate that’s why there is” Things Justus Likes the more curatorial blog.
I’m bad at keeping focus on just one sites so here an overview my other sites/projects:
In my secondary school, Sint-Michielscollege [Lovely site btw ;)] in Schoten (Antwerp, Belgium) we had a class called “Esthetica” (Aesthetics) given by a man named Vincent Geyskens. He was a slender young man with black combed hair and a straight nose which held his thin glasses. He usually wore a blue vest with a polo-neck. Besides teaching, he made art which he also exposed in galleries in New York City. He never mentioned that, probably because he did not want mix teaching with his own work. His colleague teachers did, they discovered his work in the national newspapers, and were surprised Geyskens never told them.
My class in 2004-2005, search me
Mr Geyskens would sometimes jump on his desk to grab our attention and amaze us with another new cultural subject. When he started talking about the culture in the twenties he wrote with big chalk letters: “VERSPLINTERING” (FRAGMENTATION) and aggressively drew all stripes around the letters scattered on the blackboard. He explained us how mankind lost faith after World War I and how man didn’t care anymore about living strictly by the rules, since it the war showed that rules made them beasts.
Royal Palms Beach Club 5 by Vincent Geyskens
He almost blew the speakers with “Le Scare du Printemps” (Rite of the spring) of Igor Stravinsky. He narrated how the elite in Paris would throw chairs to the stage so Stravinsky had to flee through the toilet room. He mentioned that Claude Debussy (another composer) was the only one that enjoyed the music and hailed him as new great composer. During the performance Debussy was looking how the ballet dancers were running away from the crowds on a stage designed by Pablo Picasso. Years later Stravinsky became a legend.
Mr Geyskens gave us an insight in “Die Dreigroßenoper” (The Three Penny opera) in Berlin of Bertold Brecht and its satirical songs (e.g. Die Moritat von Mackie Messer). He showed us what the relationship was between bad economy and Romantic paintings. And would explain us in detail Wagners Die Walküre, The Valkyries, Hitler’s favorite song.
There’s a lot of exciting things going on in my life. However when you choose not to follow the average path it’s not always easy. But to get things done and create a reach I do three things: I face, focus and roll.
The next weeks I’ll make three blogposts about those categories. Last week I wrote about ‘FACE’ and ‘FOCUS’, here’s the third and last post:
ROLL
Make mistakes, make fun Don’t care about making mistakes. Fail and then fail better, you’ll be better only when you try. So keep trying, enjoy small improvements.
The best answer is a question When people ask you questions and you don’t know the best response. Answer with another question. Such as: “What do you think would be the best?”. It’s a matter of keeping it simple, you don’t know everything, accept that, figure out together.
Accept you’re not perfect Mention it, it takes a lot of stress away knowing that things won’t always work at once. Please explain people. Strive for the best, but don’t shoot yourself when you did not get it all. You can’t do more than 100%
Delete your facebook account Seriously? Well I actually should. But since I need I have nearly 4000 people supporting my foundation online, I cannot just put it aside if it were nothing. But if I could start over I would. I hate facebook, it wastes my time, it’s addictive, it’s not supportive. I use an app called Self Control to block myself from both facebook and twitter when I need to roll and focus. I think this graph will help you quiet a lot to roll better.
Don’t be a politician Stop debating, arguing, trying to convince people, campaigning and launching good one liners. Just make stuff and show it. The problem of politicians is that they’re short term, one day flies, your projects are long term and more efficient. You’ll be there forever. Politicians are coming up with terribly good arguments for terribly bad ideas, they win and that sucks. Don’t be one.
Don’t invent things that already exsist, support and join There was a long time I had plenty of ideas and really hated the fact when someone came up with a similar idea. I tried to explain others why my invention was much better. Now I endorse every idea I love, I help and make it work. In the end it’s about the idea not about you.
You cannot do everything Share your ideas you don’t have time for. I put them online on another little blog. People can pick them up and go on with them. I love that, otherwise, nobody would realize them.
Work hard Nothing goes for free. To get things done you need to work hard.
The art of saying no Dieter Rams [link = clip], SirJonathan Ive’s favorite designer, made a list of ten design principles. One of his design principles was as follows: “Good design is as little design as possible”. Why? Because it concentrates on the essential aspects that are needed. This can be applied to anything: good work is as less work as possible: less is just better. Only work on just those things you think are most important. Say no to the rest.
Conclusion
Whenever you are running a business or doing something small or bigger, face reality, keep focus and most of all: roll.
Liked this? Read all other articles here. Suggestions? Do comment!
There’s a lot of exciting things going on in my life. However when you choose not to follow the average path it’s not always easy. But to get things done and create a reach I do three things: I face, focus and roll.
The next weeks I’ll make three blogposts about those categories. Two days ago I wrote about ‘FACE IT’, here’s the second serie:
FOCUS:
Make it work Get things off the ground. Start doing, it’s ok when something is not really finished: the secret is that it will never be. Don’t talk about the future, do something now instead of later. Get it done, get it out.
Breathe A recent research showed we perceive our days longer when we breathe slowly and with consciousness. Do so. Sleep enough and breath slow, take your time, do one thing at the time. Finish one task after an other, just that.
Announce and talk when doing There’s always people who are fascinated by you and what you achieve. Keep them up to date, announce, even when unfinished. Talk when doing, online. Ask questions, listen carefully, don’t judge, try to understand.
Be honest and straightforward Make mistakes and if you do: announce them too: explain to people, why this happened to you, what you learned from it. People will accept it. Don’t hide, be transparant and direct.
Criticism is publicity Love it, it means people follow you, are interested and serious about your existence. Not everyone will love you, maybe they hate your accent or the way you do your presentations or just the way the media puts you in the picture. But don’t lose yourself in it. Accept it, don’t reject it. Listen and understand. So what if you disagree, move on and get your stuff done, when they’re not moving forward.
Ghandhi hit the nail saying:
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Ask for help Don’t be afraid. Ask your heroes too. Make your questions short and precise. I have friends who are true heroes to me. Try not to waste their valuable time.
Do you have other focus tips you think I should add?
There’s a lot of exciting things going on in my life. However when you choose not to follow the average path it’s not always easy. But to get things done and create a reach I do three things: I face, focus and roll.
The next weeks I’ll make three blogposts about those categories. The first serie:
FACE IT:
You’re hypocrite and inconsequent Yes you are. And that’s fine, because nobody is perfect. Not everything is the best decision at once. When we grow, we learn that some directions are better than others. Being a vegetarian and being polite isn’t always the best combination. Try to be less hypocrite and incosequent, but please don’t feel sorry when you are a little.
We don’t know why we live Don’t take decisions based on things others think are necesarry, base your decisions on your initution. Live life like it is a blank sheet of paper. Fill it with the most beautiful things possible and don’t take it too serious.
Media doesn’t care if you drop dead, there’s enough content to publish Never make your goal: media attention. Media just need page fillers and juicy content to publish. Just get your own stuff done. Send it to them, make them talk about you, but don’t trust them, don’t expect anything from media. They’ll never quote you correct, they will picture you the way they think is the most interesting. Attention is great, but achieving your goal is better.
You are not Steve Jobs, and that’s fine The man was great at keeping focus, yelling at his people and making groundbreaking products with wonderful teams. No offense but he’s no better then you are. Everything he did, you can do too, in your way, with different views. Be happy with who you are, don’t force yourself being someone you are not.
Time and money are inventions Money made us poor and time made us late. Don’t mind being poor and late since humanity made those up. Perceive everything as relative. Define your own values. Think about what really matters to you.
I’m eager to hear if you have any other things to add. Please leave a reply in the comments!
"President Obama — himself holds heinous views on a slew of critical issues and himself has done heinous things with the power he has been vested. He has slaughtered civilians — Muslim children by the dozens — not once or twice, but continuously in numerous nations with drones, cluster bombs and other forms of attack. He has sought to overturn a global ban on cluster bombs. He has institutionalized the power of Presidents — in secret and with no checks — to target American citizens for assassination-by-CIA, far from any battlefield. He has waged an unprecedented war against whistleblowers, the protection of which was once a liberal shibboleth. He rendered permanently irrelevant the War Powers Resolution, a crown jewel in the list of post-Vietnam liberal accomplishments, and thus enshrined the power of Presidents to wage war even in the face of a Congressional vote against it. His obsession with secrecy is so extreme that it has become darkly laughable in its manifestations, and he even worked to amend the Freedom of Information Act (another crown jewel of liberal legislative successes) when compliance became inconvenient."
When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and you’re life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money.
That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.
Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.
