Karl New York City, United States of America.

Photographer Peter Funch spends weeks taking photos on Manhattan street corners and then pastes them together into single photographs.

A wonderful idea I wish I had time to execute here in Stockholm, as it’s something best left for the weekend or retirement, me thinks.

Hi everyone! I’ve been super slack (again) at updating my blog, even though there’s so much to tell you all. I guess it’ll come out when I’m back in Australia and Stockholm, so for everyone else visiting my little slice of the internet, this is for you.

One week to go.

This is it. My last weekend in New York City for who knows how long, hopefully not too long. I love this damn city. The past few weeks have been hectic at work. I bought a pair of trainers and started running again. I can’t believe how good it feels to run after so long. I stopped running about 12 months ago when I began riding to and from work. Since moving to Stockholm, I’ve done little to no exercise, so running is where it’s at. My apartment has a gym on the 21st floor, and I feel sort of bad by saying this, but nothing beats running on a treadmill overlooking up town New York. Just gazing out the window, listening to Drum & Bass and running a few miles. It’s addictive, and I’m glad to be active again.

On Wednesday I went to Madison Square Garden to see the New York Knicks play the Orlando Magic. Mad game. Knicks lost, but there was one hell of a 4th Quater where the Knicks came back like 20 points. My new hero is Nate Robinson. Absolute glue of the team, smashed 30 points and he’s only 5 foot nothing. It was also pretty cool to see Spike Lee hustling the Magic from the sideline! Check it below.

That’s him in the brown coat.

This week we’re planning to go and see the New York Rangers play. I can’t wait to see my first real live NHL match. It’s a dream come true! I just wish I was saying this when Wayne Greztky, Mario Lemeuix and Pavel Bure were still in competition. They were my childhood idols. Photos to come.

Today was one of my last days to go walkabout, and I wanted a nice pair of sunglasses to replace the unreplaceable (still) Alexander McQueen sunglasses I had for many years, but stupidly left on the ground and walked away from like a naughty child. I’m happy with these for the mean time…!

I also managed to stumble into some strange Japanese store in SoHo and all of a sudden was meeting 2 week old babies and speaking terrible Japanese. The store keeper, who was cheekier than me, thought I was Japanese and spoke to me in Japanese, but I made it clear I had no clue what she was talking about. Turns out she has been in NYC for 35 years and was turning it on to get a sale. NEW YORK SHOPPING!

Tonight is Saturday, and my last Saturday night, so we’re going to hit the town and tear it up. My good friend Justin (the host with the most) is going to take us somewhere on the West Side to some little joints he knows. Locals only type deal. Speaking of local’s only, even though I’m far from a local, I’ve been spending most of my weekend evenings drinking at a little haunt on the LES. Great staff, excellent drinks and cheap like the budgie. No tourist priced majito’s here. In fact, I think I almost drank for free last night thanks to Alex the super awesome pommy bartender who kept me company while the rest of my apartment slept like babies. LIKE BABIES. When in Rome, sleep in Stockholm.

Work is great. I love the NY crew. F-i is all about family, and it’s a definite family vibe in this place, but I’m sure no one goes out after work, and like a true Aussie, I’m the one grabbing beers at 6pm and distributing them to the whole office, who in turn look at me like some crazed alcoholic, when in real essence, I’m not, I’m Australian, and Australian’s DRINK BEER AT 5PM ON FRIDAY!!

Anyway, I’ve got a big night ahead and an even bigger day tomorrow. Sorry my posts are lame. We’ll speak for real in a few weeks.

Love you all.

Hello!

Well I’ve been working in NYC for a week and a half. Monday was President’s Day, which is a day America celebrates George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Not bad for the rest of us as we get a 4 day working week. Woop!

I had a great weekend. I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to Brooklyn, and back to Manhattan over the Manhattan Bridge (and yes, the penny did just drop), and also pounded the pavement of downtown Manhattan. Make sure you check all the photos over on my Flickr stream.

Saturday was the Australian’s in NYC benefit for the Red Cross at the Australian Hotel on W38th. I met up with a friend from Melbourne who is in town and we drank Cooper’s, Boags and more Cooper’s whilst watching the latest NAB Cub AFL match and signing Australian rock anthems. Very traditional indeed. The place was absolutely packed with ex-pats and lots of conversations were going on about how people came to be in New York, how bad the fires were and how we haven’t heard much about it since being here. The pub played lots of photo slideshows of the disaster and it was touching to see the Australian’s dig deep when the time came.

Apart from these two stories of high importance, I’ve been working very hard, coming home and crashing. Well, except for the few nights where I’ve been cooking. I could be working on the moon and it wouldn’t matter. I long for the weekends so I can explore the metropolis. This weekend I will be heading over to Chelsea and the gallery district to cop some culture, as well as trying to rest up from the week that’s been. My friend Stu (the guy who designed NiceProduce.com) is here in the city and we’ll be hooking up and heading to Harlem on Saturday night to hit a jazz bar in Sugarhill. Rad. Another friend of mine, this time from Stockholm, Filip, lands on Friday, so there’s plenty of people to run around with over the course of the week.

Also, good news for those who don’t already know, I’ll be returning to Australia in April for 2 weeks, let’s catch up.

Until then, it’s back to work!

Peace!

Today was my first day at FI New York. It was so nice to finally put some faces to names of people whom I’ve been working with since December. The office is warm and carries a great vibe. It’s amazing being here, it’s definitely a dream come true.

My spot is second row from the front, and first left. Here is the development floor where all the super nerds to super amazing things. Downstairs is the designers dungeon, and I’m taking this from the mezzanine. You can see the kitchen and the long table where we all gather for breakfast each day.

So, I hit the ground running, picking up where I left off from my work in Stockholm, there’s definitely no time for tourist nonsense. It looks like every morning I will be joining the march down Broadway with the rest of the suits, cops, hotdog and coffee vendors, and lost puppies. My apartment is right on Wall St, and the gloom of a global recession reeks on our street! I haven’t seen a smiling face apart from those in my office!

This is a shot from Franklin St where our office is. We were heading out to get some Pho today, how good! I have been acclimatised to the weak selection of Asian cuisine in Stockholm that I’ve forgotten that the rest of the world loves Pho, also that New York City has absolutely anything and everything awaiting at your disposal. Yay!

Mmmm. Pho with the Fi Developers. US$5, probably the only thing I’m going to eat from now on, considering on Saturday I had a $15 cheeseburger, which, after tip and tax was US$20 converted becomes AUD$29! Ouch!!

I’ve started to feel a bit crook so sorry for the lame post, but I should be in bed. I’ll let you all know how my week unfolds.

I’m here! This is from the rooftop of our building. Lovely weather we’re having, too! Sorry about the expression. The sun is in my eye and I’m severely jet lagged / hungover / both.

This Saturday I’m flying to New York City. It’s funny because I’m not as excited as I was the first time. I’m too damn busy to even think about the whole experience. Work has been going crazy, and not just for me, the whole office is on overtime at the moment. At least the days are flying by. I can’t believe it’s Thursday already. I promise to update the blog more when I’m in New York, there’s obviously more to photograph, therefore more to blog!

This last week has been crazy. I got word from my shipping crew that my boxes are in Hamburg awaiting departure to Göteborg. Apparently I need to pay for a courier to get it from Göteborg to Stockholm, even though I’ve paid it all the way. I’ve spoken with my stupid people in Melbourne who seem to not know much about the logistic business at all. Needless to say I’m pretty stressed. In those boxes are some photographic equipment I’ve always dreamed of having in New York, now they’ll probably get to Stockholm the Monday I start work. It was supposed to arrive today.

Argh.

(Clockwise: Hanna, David (my housemate), Thérèse, Bernado, Gustav)

Apart from this nightmare, last night I cooked my biggest meal yet. I had 4 friends over and managed to cook for them, my housemate and myself, 6 in total. Because we don’t have a wok, I was using 2 frying pans at once, pretty happy with the result if you ask me (and my guinea pigs!). Vegetarian green curry! Yummmmmmmmm.

I’ve also been riding my bike all week. I’ve noticed that due to the lack of exercise that I’ve started to gain weight, crap. I used to ride around 20km’s a day, or on average 120km’s per week. Now I don’t ride a single kilometer because of the snow and my diet hasn’t changed. Beer is a killer. It’s been great to get back on the bike again now that the weather has been forgiving, though this morning I woke up to a full blanket of snow and shunned myself back to the depths of T-Bana. Boo. I won’t be taking my ride to NYC as I doubt it’ll be much good given the temperature at the moment (a balmy -11ºc), let alone not having any time.

So, the next update will be from the frosted streets of New York’s downtown district. I’m just off Wall St, where the tourists and businessmen roam by day, and Matteo, Tom, Priscilla and I stumble around drunk by night.
Until then, one love! Don’t forget to write!

So, sorry about the lame updates lately. I’ve been super super busy. I’m working until 9pm each night, getting home, cooking dinner, watching the Wire then passing out, ready to do it all again.

Last Friday we moved offices. Our last place is only 50 meters down the road, but boy what a difference that 50 meters makes. We’re smack bang in the center of town. Stureplan to be exact. There’s so much more action outside our door. It actually feels like I’m working in a city with people in it.

Now I know Stockholm isn’t the biggest city in the world (we’ll get to that, soon), but when you head out to lunch into a ghost town, it can be a little disheartening. Now I’m walking into people as soon as I step outside. The place has a lovely buzz about it.

The office is brand new, custom designed by Fi and built to our demands. It was an old attic, now it has 100mbit internet, a pool table, Rock Band, and 15 ratbags.

The above photo is my new workstation. We came up with the idea to put trees in between our desks. Seeing we are 5 stories above the city, this gives us a little piece of mind when we’re heads down. This is the 4th day since moving in, so when the office is set up again (pool table, XBox, Wii, trees, trees, trees), I’ll provide more flicks, but to give you an idea of the views we get…

This is from our “living area”, the place where we eat, drink and be merry. That circular object below the American flag is called “The Mushroom”. You can’t see from this picture, but the last flag flying high is a New Zealand flag. No love for the Aussies, not even on Australia day.

So, I do have some good news. The project I’ve been working on is taking me over to New York next Saturday. I’m over for a month living on Wall St with Matteo, Priscilla and Tom. I’m very much looking forward to seeing Matteo again, even though the little bugger has already put in his alcohol orders. I can’t wait to get back to the Big Apple. I’ll be teaming up with my mate Justin and coincidently a friend of mine from Stockholm will be in New York for a good part of my trip, look out Manhattan!

Expect lots of juice to be found here when I’m over in NYC. Until then, it’s back to the books.

Stay in touch, one love!