Bloody hell I am tired as I write this. Not for the first time New York has inspired me to push my limited fitness and failing body past anything it is used to. I’ve averaged just around 20,000 steps a day when I’m lucky to manage 5,000 in a normal day at home (and recently with various fun ailments it has been less than that.)

So what have I been up to?

I caught the ferry to Brooklyn Bridge Park for the Red Bull 3×3 Basketball World Championships where I watched the Japanese women and American men beat all comers…and got some praise for my trainers from a couple of the other fans.

I gorged myself on tacos, empanadas and local indie beers at Smorgasbord in North Williamsburg where I chatted with indie brewers about the way the Brit scene had sold out (which was then in the news days later) and got more trainer praise and some for my Y-3 hoodie…before I dropped taco all over it.

Comic con was a LOT. I got there too early but this did mean I was in straight away when it did open and able to find the Hip Hop Toyz stand and grab the painted subway cars I was targeting. The Image Comics panel was pretty low energy but did hear about some interesting upcoming books. The Spidey panel was a bit too fanboy serving and no Dan Slott due to Covid was disappointing.

Artist Alley was overwhelming – NY Comic Con is clearly still about comics. Wandering around (well fighting through the crowds) I saw pretty much every creator I’ve collected in the last couple of decades including Frank Miller, Tom King, Kevin Maguire and more.

I also got to meet DMC (as in Darryll McDaniels from Run-DMC) which was so exciting I pretty much blacked out.

There was so much cos-play – a real mix of spectacular and ‘are you sure?’. Lots of stuff from anime and gaming I didn’t recognise, a lot of Beetlejuice and Wolverine/Deadpool. Some cool Invincible and The Boys stuff. I didn’t really get many/any photos though – it was so busy and so many of the cosplayers were young and it felt a bit creepy. Oh and there were a lot of guys with amazing body positivity showing a lot of skin. I mean they had a LOT of skin.

Visited Bushwick and the Lower Eastside for graffiti / street art exploring. Lots of beautiful work as ever but fewer new pieces than at any time in the last decade of me visiting. Lots of new construction means lots of reliable walls have gone (in Bushwick a whole street had been raized!) and some pieces have survived when in the past they’d have been replaced.

Made the long trip from Brooklyn to the Bronx for the Futura2000 (a legendary graffiti artist who also did a lot of stuff for the Mo’ Wax record label in the 90s). It went smoothly (all my subway experiences have been much better than ever before – no incidents!) The exhibit was much smaller than I expected though – some nice pieces but it was really only one room. Got a nice tee and book though…and saw Yankee Stadium.

Had a few drinks at Horses and Divorces which I loved, watched the Champions League at Iona (which was fine). Had great food at Pies and Thighs, Tacoma, DuMont Burger, La Bicyclette Bakery and Inday. Oh and a pizza slice from ‘Best Pizza’ (with a name like that you better bring it!) which got a 9.1 from Dave Portnoy https://www.onebitepizzarankings.com/). Watched ‘Saturday Night’ at the Williamsburg Cinema. Really enjoyed it – felt very New York not surprisingly and I’m a sucker for these behind the scenes type of things. Then I found a great local comic book store for the books I failed to pick up at the Con.

The hotel is a bit of a mixed bag but mainly a success. The room is SMALL – even for one of these hub/pod style places. It makes a CitizenM room feel like a suite. It is basically like a student room in my old halls of residence. Including the toilet in the shower nightmare. That said it is pretty well designed otherwise. The WiFi is fast, there are plenty of power sockets, the lights make sense, it has a big window and a small TV. The website promised an onsite bar and restaurant neither of which are currently a thing though – which isn’t really an issue other than the false advertising – as the biggest strength of the place is location, location, location. It really is just a few steps from the heart of Williamsburg – yet it manages to stay pretty quiet…and it is close to a couple of Subway stations which has meant zero Ubers this trip.

The weather has been incredible – hovering around 25 degrees all week. It has been days since I even needed a hoodie – it has been pure t-shirt weather in the manor.

As I publish this it is 12 hours before I actually fly home…about eight hours before I start the trek to JFK (god it is a terrible airport) and six hours before I have to check out of the hotel and do the killing time dance in the lobby. I’m already looking forward to my next trip to Nashville in December and starting planning something bigger for May next year.

Need to see about fitting in some work in amongst the holidays I guess.

Right – that does it.

Stay safe folks.