JP Chan

jpchan
jpchan
@jpchan@jpchan.com
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  • A Freak Accident

    Cycling is my favorite way to get around NYC. But I fully recognize that biking can be dangerous, so I ride conservatively. I stop at red lights, I stay out of the door zone, and I don’t take unnecessary risks. Still, you can’t protect yourself from every eventuality. And last night, none of my usual…

  • Today’s FCPX Updates and News

    Apple just updated Final Cut Pro X to 10.0.8, which includes, among other tweaks, support for the Sony XAVC codecs up to 4K in the new F5/F55 cameras. Compressor and Motion got updates also. Sweet. I don’t have an XAVC camera so I couldn’t test the new codec, but the rest of 10.0.8 has been…

  • Grand Central Uplift

    Grand Central Terminal is beautiful from every angle, even the ones you didn’t know existed. You can catch this view for free from the Apple Store. I feel really lucky that I get to walk through GCT on my way to work each day. The beauty and bustle of the place lifts me up on…

  • Change Your Passwords. Really.

    From “How I became a password cracker” at Ars Technica: Watching your own password fall in less than a second is the sort of online security lesson everyone should learn at least once—and it provides a free education in how to build a better password. It seems like every week there’s a new totally terrifying…

  • St. Vincent’s Hospital

    It’s very sobering to pass by St. Vincent’s during its demolition. You can’t help but think about all the human experiences that must have taken place there. They’re ghosts now, and the building is following them. I don’t know nearly enough about the situation to say whether it’s good or bad that St. Vincent’s Hospital…

  • We Still Need (Mac) Trucks

    John Siracusa writes: On paper, the Mac Pro may no longer be a viable product, but it would be a mistake for Apple to abandon the concept that it embodies. Like the Power Mac before it, the Mac Pro was designed to be the most powerful personal computer Apple knows how to make. That goal…

  • 101F

    Holy moly, it’s been a while since I had a fever this high. The only question now is: am I finally starting the Breaking Bad marathon or the Downton Abbey marathon?

  • Mohamed of Lenox Avenue

    Just wanted to give a shout-out to the man who, in an average week for me, cooks almost ten percent of my meals. Mohamed of the Palomino halal truck at 116 St & Lenox, thank you for feeding me so well. And yes, I really do want extra extra red sauce.

  • R.I.P. A.J.C.

    Found out from a close friend today that someone we both knew fairly well in high school had committed suicide last spring. Apparently, he had been struggling with financial and family problems for at least a year. He left a farewell note on Facebook. He was single. He was 43. A. and I had drifted…

  • This is Where the Cabs Go

    From “Where Do All the Cabs Go in the Late Afternoon?” in the January 11, 2011 New York Times: The hour from 4 to 5 p.m. has long been considered a low tide of taxi service, the maddening moment when, in apparent violation of the laws of supply and demand, entire fleets of empty yellow…

  • Sixty-Sixth

  • This Station Needs a Hachikō

    Flushing’s LIRR Main Street station is very lightly used compared with its nearby subway station, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve some sprucing up. My recommendation, in all seriousness, is to put a dog on it. Just like how putting a bird on something can make it art in Portland, putting a Hachikō at…

  • Montague Street Tunnel

    Spent the midnight shift with a Signals crew as they worked on an ancient but critical piece of subway infrastructure inside the Montague St Tunnel. In a 24/7 subway system, the overnights are prime time for repairs and maintenance. Every twenty minutes, we’d have to climb out of the trackbed and flatten ourselves against the…

  • What I Drink When I Drink

    You may know I don’t drink alcohol. But until now you didn’t know the real reason why: once you drink Trump Ice, no other beverage will satisfy. (Everlasting gratitude to my brother JJ Chan for this gift of gifts.)

  • Monday is Cat Week: A Bird in the Paw

  • These Long Stretches of Nothing

    From “Ang Lee and the Uncertainity of Success” at jeffjlin.com: If you’re an aspiring author, director, musician, startup founder, these long stretches of nothing are a huge reason why it’s important to pick something personally meaningful, something that you actually love to do. When external rewards and validation are nonexistent; when you suffer through bouts…

  • King Tower

  • Seward Park

    “After Years of Delay, a Lower East Side Gap Is Ready to Be Filled” from today’s New York Times: For decades, advocates of affordable housing sparred with residents of the powerful Grand Street co-ops, who preferred more market-rate housing and commercial uses for the site. The new agreement splits the difference, calling for 1,000 new…

  • Three Questions for Yasmine

    What are you looking forward to? Working on a film set again. Hopefully soon. What song have you been listening to most lately? Just Give Me a Reason by Pink. What do you believe with all your heart to be true, but can’t prove? Soulmates are real, that I have more than one, and that…

  • A New Chinatown Uptown?

    From “Chinese Moving to East Harlem in a Quiet Shift From Downtown” in today’s New York Times: It also thrust into violent relief an otherwise hidden demographic change in East Harlem: The population of Asian residents, mostly Chinese, has quietly ballooned in the last decade, doubling in the southern part of the neighborhood and tripling…

  • Monday is Cat Week: Helena at Home

    She’s only been here five months, but Helena pretty much owns the place now. Nobody’s complaining.

  • An Oversupply of Veterinarians?

    From today’s New York Times: America may be pet-crazed and filled with people eager to buy expensive fetch toys and heated cat beds. But the total population of pets is going down, along with the sums that owners are willing to spend on the health care of their animals, one of the lesser-known casualties of…

  • Long Island City

  • Times Square

    Elmo: What up, Grover? What are you doing here? Grover: Oh, just meeting up with some friends at Bubba Gump. You wanna join us? Elmo: No, I can’t. I’m seeing a play at the Roundabout. Grover: Cool. Elmo: Yeah. Grover: All right, see you later. Elmo: Catch you later, man.

  • Sodastream Anxiety

    As far as I can tell, there’s no way to know if you’re near the end of a Sodastream tank. Is there a name for the anxiety that comes with this uncertainty? NO points for answering “first world problem.” None whatsoever.

  • Back to the Blog

    In December 2004, I began this blog as Bklyn Blggng, a humble Blogger-based cameraphone blog. (If you want to see that original blog in its current blown-out, spam-infested, decrepit state, look here. This is what happens to abandoned Blogger sites.) It’s hard to believe eight years have passed. I started photoblogging because I wanted to get…

  • Wet Snow

  • 10/10

    I found myself surrounded by shouting Taiwanese from New Jersey and was instantly transported back to my childhood. (Mulberry St & Mott St, Manhattan)

  • Pocket Discovery

    Cleaning house, donating clothes. Find Vietnamese currency in a suit I haven’t worn for years. Can’t recall how it got there. Maybe my forgotten suits have been getting out more than I realize.(Manhattan)

  • Meet Helena

    I still miss my beloved Marla Singer, but eventually I realized that the best way to honor her memory was to open my home to a cat who really needed one. Plus, I just plain missed having a cat around the house. So: welcome Helena, formerly of the …

  • Broadway & Houston

    I’m shooting time-lapses at the busiest corner in Soho and… – The biggest rat I’ve ever seen hops past me and into the veggie stand on the corner. The rat was literally rabbit-sized. The only witnesses were myself and two teens standing next to …

  • Off the Hook

    It’s a little chunky, but I really love my Speck HandyShell iPad case. The ingenious hinged handle serves three purposes: a handy grip when reading on the subway, a useful kickstand when tabletop bound, and a giant glowing reminder that I AM A NER…

  • Anytime

    (43 St & Madison Av, Manhattan)

  • Pit Stop

    An unexpected midday break near Astor Place was a good opportunity for a quiet meal alone to rest and recharge. It was also my first time eating cold ramen — which, by the way, is awesome. (Photo taken before my usual liberal helping of hot oil w…

  • At The Elevators

    How would I describe my personal style? That’s easy: NYC*NERD (Manhattan)

  • Sudden Downpour

    It’s no fun to get caught in it, but it’s always awesome to watch fierce rain in NYC. (Avenue B & 11 St, Manhattan)

  • Milford

    I’m a city guy at heart, but after two weeks of shooting in the beautiful Milford area, I can see myself falling in love with the place. I say this even despite the terrifying nighttime onslaught of insects that have left bites all over my body. (…

  • Objects in Mirror

    Even the parking attendant can’t stop looking at my ginormous Bossypants hands. (Manhattan)

  • This View Is Free

    I’m surprised how many New Yorkers have never been on the Staten Island Ferry, especially considering that it’s free and super-easy to get to. Fortunately, I’m not one of those New Yorkers. But I feel bad for them. (Andrew J. Barberi Ferryboat, St…

  • Up in the Air

    I’m smiling not because I visited the top of three NYC bridges (Verrazano-Narrows, Marine Parkway, Throgs Neck) and saw six peregrine falcon chicks in one day. No, I’m smiling because I survived being repeatedly dive-bombed by the adult peregrine …

  • Maybe

    (MTA New York City Transit Linden Yard, Junius St, Brooklyn)

  • Night Riding

    For a clear-your-head ride, Manhattan’s Hudson River bike path and piers are hard to beat, especially at night. (West 70 St Pier, Manhattan)

  • Security Made Easy

    When a security camera is pointed at you, it’s important not to look suspicious. (J&R Music, Park Row, Manhattan)

  • R68

    (B train, Brooklyn)

  • Reduce Reuse Recycle

    (Bowery & Hester St, Manhattan)

  • Final Pro Cut

    I was so excited about my first professional haircut in six years (been DIY since 2006) that I forgot to smile. BIG thanks fo the amazing Shin for the cut. (Drawing Room, 148 Spring St, Manhattan)

  • Brighton

    (Brighton Beach Boardwalk, Brooklyn)

  • Marla Singer Chan 1996*-2012

    Marla Singer, my beloved tuxedo cat, passed away this morning after a long battle with kidney disease, among other ailments. She was probably at least sixteen years old, though nobody knows for sure. We were together nearly twelve years and she wa…

  • Cat Acupuncture

    Today, my ailing Marla Singer got an acupuncture session in the comfort of our home. She seemed not to mind the needles and the sight of her getting the treatment made me laugh out loud. Win-win so far.

  • Hidden Camera

    I’ve very cleverly hidden a Sony FS100 camera somewhere in this photo – I bet you can’t find it!