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the bright aisles of c-town
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Sunday, January 29, 2006
IDIOTAROD 2006
I participated in the 2006 Idiotarod yesterday, and it was absolutely insane. My team was named the Koopa Troopas, in reference to a character in the videogame Mario Kart. How fitting for a shopping cart race! Here are our costumes.
Donkey Kong (also ran in 2005 Idiotarod)
 
Mario
 
Luigi (Real mustache - that's dedication!)
 
Toad (also ran in 2005 Idiotarod)
 
Yoshi (also ran in 2005 Idiotarod)
 
Princess Peach Toadstool (also ran in 2005 Idiotarod)
 
Princess Peach Toadstool
Bowser
 
Wario (also ran in 2005 Idiotarod)
 
Waluigi
 
The Koopa Troopas!
The Route
Since Drew and I registered our teams online on Friday, we were able to receive text-message updates about the race through the morning. The published start of the race was Monster Island on Kent Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn at 2:30PM. Drew and I received texts in the morning letting us know that the start of the race was moved to the top of Fort Greene Park to avoid the police. Fort Greene Park - I live across the street! It was great to be on home turf.
Hundreds and hundreds of races and onlookers met at the park between 1:30PM and 2:30PM. At 2:30 the race started, and it was mayhem.
My knowledge of the streets of DUMBO proved valuable as I led our team on a specific route to avoid cobblestone streets. The published route was all cobblestone - SUCKERS!
Here is our route for leg 1.
Distance = 1.36 miles
The first checkpoint was complete mayhem. Police cars were cruising up and down the streets, and no one knew what to do. Ed and Drew were in charge of getting us checked in and checked out. As they were trying to check out, an undercover police officer (Drew says he noticed the hand radio the person was carrying said NYPD) took all the registration forms. What a poopoo!
After being very near the front of the total race, we were not not-registered whatsoever. Oh well! Might as well run!
I was dressed up like a Gorilla, which really changed my behavior. A group of bananas rushed by - and I totally ran after them and started humping one of them. Oh, did I mention that we were drinking a lot throughout the race?
The second leg of the race was brutal. We ran the carts through Dumbo, over the Manhattan Bridge, and through the Lower East Side. I ran on a cart with Ed during this part of the race, and he is horse of a runner. Most of our team was left behind as Ed powered our car as fast as he could. I could barely keep up, and Ed wasn't stopping for NOBODY. Ed's knowledge of the Lower East Side proved valuable here. We went down streets without police so we could stay in the street, and Ed knew of one block that was all parking lot, so we cruised through diagonally. The rest of the team caught up at Checkpoint 2, a big playground near a school. Here was our route for leg 2.
Distance = 2.59 miles
The last leg of the race was pretty easy. It was just 3/4 of a mile down to the East River Park Amphitheater. Matt and Mike met up with us there, and we continued drinking. After a while we just started tossing what was left of the bananas around.
Here was our route for leg 3.
Distance = .77 miles
All in all it was a great race. According to the Google Map Pedometer I used to trace our route, we ran a total of 4.72 miles. It sure didn't feel like we ran that far, but I guess this must be right. Broken up into 3 legs, I guess under 5 miles is managable.
We took our cart back to Pathmark in Gowanus (yeah right!). The post-race pizza was quite nourishing. The after party at Sub-Tonic was too much - exhausted, smelly, and I had already drank plenty.
I was supposed to go to a work party that night, but I passed out when I got home. I woke up at 5AM and I had no idea if the clock meant AM or PM - truly confused.
*******************
A quick note about the NYPD involvement. For the most part, the NYPD involvement was exactly the way it should have been - a heavy police presence to maintain safety and keep the roads clear. I heard a lot of sirens, but I did not witness any arrests. For the most part, the police seems to just be trying to keep the race on sidewalks and to keep carts from running over pedestrians.
There may be been a bing sting set up at the original start location, and from Drew's account it looks like undercovers were trying to sabotage the race. But, from what I saw, all participants got to have some fun without being arrested.
Given what has been going on with Critical Mass and the No Pants Subway Ride recently, it's nice to know that the cops were somewhat cooperative for the Idiotarod.
My Flickr Photoset: HERE
Waluigi's Photoset: HERE
Princess' Photoset: HERE
11:00 AM
Polar Bear Swim - New Years Day
WOWWEEEE WOWWEEEE That was so frickin' cold! Just uploading these pictures today made me need to put on the fleece and slippers and crank the heat.
A few friends and I participated in the 2006 Coney Island Poloar Bear swim on New Years Day. You can read a quick article about the event at Gothamist.
Nursing a wicked New Years hangover, we were late to the event. We missed swimming with everyone else, but we swam on our own anyway. I lasted about 30 seconds. As I mentioned previously, IT WAS SO FRICKIN' COLD! Still, we were lucky with the weather. I can't imagine what it would have been like if it were below freezing, snowy, and icey.
Afterwards, we visited the New York Aquarium which is right next to the beach. It was amazing! Sharks, jelly fish, walruses, eels - very cool.
Here is a Flickr photoset of us freezing our butts off.
10:43 AM
Serious Business Recordings
At the end of December Hello Nurse spent a day with Travis Harrison at Serious Business recording three tracks: Last One To Know, We Declare War, and Words Like Bullets.
Travis treated us right, and we are super happy with the results. Since that day we've committed to more time with Travis to record and mix seven tracks for a March-released EP. As of now we are done recording all of the instrumental tracks, and the mixing is left for 5 others. We've gotten a lot done, and there' s a lot left to do. But, we're finally investing money in good recordings, which feels good.
Here is the Flickr Photoset of the recordings.
I think I already mentioned this, but you can listen to Last One To Know at our MySpace page. While you're there, you can check out our friends list - over 60,000 strong!
We are happy say that Serious Business has lost a roommate. Mr. Business, the stray cat, has moved out. Thank goodness! He's such a cute cat, but he pissed on all of our gear. We've been using every bottle of deodorizer or carpet fresh we can find. We've gotten a lot done, and there's a lot left to do.
Mr. Business had* serious balls!
*Mr. B lost his balls the first week of January - just one week too late. Sorry Mr. B.
10:20 AM
Friday, January 27, 2006
Still Alive! Still an Idiot!
Sorry for the pause. I've been so unbelievably busy, I've barely had time to wiz. Thank goodness for absorbent adult undergarments.
Quick updates: Mercury Lounge show went GREAT. We had the largest draw of the night, and we will be returning soon. Hello Nurse is in the studio cranking out new tunes for a March '06 EP release. Check out one new track, Last One to Know, at our MySpace page. Work is ridiculous.
On a fun note, tomorrow I will be racing in The Idiotarod for the second year. I have copied a description of the event below.
Our carts have been jacked. Our costumes are close to finished. And our theme is the bomb:
MARIO KART
I am dressing up like Donkey Kong. I have a gorilla mask, a fur vest, a red tie, and lots of brown clothes. Other 'idiots' are dressing up like Mario, Luigi, Wario, Princess Peach, Princess Toadstool, Yoshi, Toad, and Bowser. We have a huge payload of bananas to drop and throw. And the boombox will be blasting MIDI files from the game soundtrack.
Have a great weekend. I will be wasted and pulling a shopping cart. YAHOO!!
Idiotarod
Attention Mushers, Runners, Race fans, and Abominable Snowmen. The
Idiotarod race kicks off Saturday in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and
finishes in a Manhattan park. The rolling pageant and grueling
endurance challenge will happen rain or shine, blizzard or breeze.
The Iditarod is the famous long-distance race in which yelping dogs
tow a sled across Alaska. The Idiotarod is pretty much the same
thing, except that instead of dogs, it's people, instead of sleds,
it's shopping carts, and instead of Alaska it's New York City.
Teams of five will compete for cash prizes. And glory. We expect
teams in costumes, hot-rod shopping carts, and all sorts of ancillary
mayhem. It will be extraordinarily silly. Everyone is invited to
race. If you would like to race and do not have a team, please use
our online bulletin board. It works!
There will be an afterparty and awards ceremony at Tonic, featuring
performances by the Defibulators, Battlestar, Fur Cups for Teeth,
Sxip-Matta, and burlesque dancers Anita Cookie, Gigi LaFemme, and
Nasty Canasta, plus dancing courtesy DJs Spinoza and Dirty Fingers.
So far there are 75 teams registered. You do not have to register
before the event, but it is extraordinarily helpful and we would
really appreciate it. There is online registration with Paypal at
precisionaccidents.com. If you don't want to pay online or you do not
have a credit card, please send us your team name, your email
address, your phone number, and the name of your cell phone provider
to jstark@nonsensenyc.com.
Please examine our Website for hours of reading and annoyingly
detailed race-day procedurals. Plus photos of a lot of people having
fun last year.
Idiotarod
Starting at Monster Island
210 Kent Avenue, at Metropolitan, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
1p registration; $5 per person
Idiotarod afterparty and awards show
Tonic
107 Norfolk, between Delancey and Rivington, Manhattan
6-10p; $free
jstark@nonsensenyc.com
http://www.precisionaccidents.com
10:47 AM
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