West
06/29/03
Downtown Brooklyn
Gowanus, Brooklyn
10:24 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
South
06/26/03
Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
A set of fifteen-ton weights? I don't know what else this could mean.
Fort Greene, Brooklyn
9:57 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
North
06/25/03
After I took this first photo, two cops stopped me and asked for ID. Then they racially profiled me as unlikely to be a terrorist.
DUMBO, Brooklyn (More on REVS)
Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn
9:47 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
East
06/24/03
4 Downing Street, Brooklyn. Well worth a visit.
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
10:47 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Roof band
06/23/03
File under "Only in New York"... this afternoon a brass band serenaded Midtown from a rooftop about 15 stories above the ground.
10:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Church Ave
06/22/03
Flatbush, Brooklyn
East Flatbush, Brooklyn
4:21 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Mermaid parade
06/21/03
Coney Island
8:18 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Along Jamaica Avenue
06/20/03
Cypress Hills, Woodhaven and Richmond Hill, Queens
10:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
15 minutes of fame
06/20/03
When I posted photos of Tuesday's mob project, the last thing I expected was to be interviewed by a reporter from Italy's largest newspaper and by Robert Siegel of NPR's All Things Considered in the same day. But that's what happened.
It seems that, by its very nature, the inexplicable mob was not very conducive to having its members tracked down by reporters -- except for a few people who mentioned their attendance in their weblogs or who posted photos. Getting a phone call from Robert Siegel is really an unforgettable experience. I almost felt like asking him to record a message for my answering machine.
Streaming audio of the segment about the mob is available on NPR's web site. (Click "Mob Email" near the top; there's no need to fill out the personal information.)
UPDATE: I'm quoted in an article in Italy's largest newspaper, Corriere Della Sera.
7:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)
More on the MOB photos
06/19/03
You'd think a big company like Wired News (part of the Lycos empire) would ask before using someone's photographs. Instead, they apparently think it's just fine to take the photos, insert a "Courtesy of" link, and be done with it.
In this case, I don't really mind, and I'm happy to have people see the photos. But a little common courtesy, like a quick email asking permission or even letting me know they'd done this, would go a long way. Maybe the next person they do this to will sue them.
(The Wired News article is here, and my original photos are here.)
UPDATE: According to the author of the story, it was a bureaucratic mistake. Wired News has apologized. Also, listen for me (and more on the mob) on NPR's All Things Considered on Friday, June 20.
2:02 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)
Hey kids, collect them all!
06/18/03
I've finally seen the complete set of Shandell Blitz subway ads -- you know, the ones that show victims of negligence deliriously happy about their terrible fates, because they know that these ambulance-chasers are about to win them big settlements. Or something like that.
Here they are, in all their bizarre glory.
(The first two ads are here. And they're good ones, so don't miss them.)
And here's a nice recap of this phenomenon.
11:56 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
MOB #2
06/17/03
Meeting up at Jack Dempsey's:
The rugs department at Macy's, crowded around a $10,000 rug:
On the way out, precisely at 7:37:
Alas, some people missed the point and interviewed Macy's employees about the proceedings. To them, I say: Mr. Bunny will have his revenge.
Fort Greene, Brooklyn
More MOB photos here.
( MOB #3 at the Grand Hyatt | MOB #4 at Otto Tootsi Plohound | MOB #5 in Central Park | MOB #6 at Toys R Us )
8:29 PM | Comments (32) | TrackBack (8)
Misdirected emails of the day
06/17/03
Aaron Brown, Berkeley graduate student and all-around nice guy, has finally put up some of the emails he's received from people who think he's the CNN anchor. The Internet at work!
(His photo galleries are well worth a look as well.)
2:21 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Nissan in the subway
06/16/03
A story in five parts.
Here it was, being thrown away at Jamaica Avenue and the Van Wyck. How could I resist?
I couldn't, of course. It's genetic.
(Photo courtesy Rudayday.)
(Photo courtesy Rudayday.)
Naturally, the G wasn't stopping at Queens Plaza that day because of construction, so we had to walk all the way down the platform and down the long transfer at Court Square to the G train:
The bumper got a lot more of a reaction on the G train than on the E, where everyone pretty much ignored it.
10:02 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
House of signs
06/15/03
If you see a sign here that you absolutely have to have, the good news is that it appears they're all for sale. The bad news is that the seller is clearly insane.
Richmond Hill, Queens
11:36 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Sympathy for the devil
06/13/03
Route 666 bites the dust.
This spring, politicians in those three states, led by Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, petitioned the federal agency that handles such things to change the highway's number, arguing that the New Testament's association of 666 with Satan was impairing the economic vitality of the towns along its route....
Charlie Lanford's girlfriend was killed on Route 666 four years back. "The Devil," Mr. Lanford explained, "and the tequila."
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8:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Too subtle for its own good
06/12/03
Via 601am, Wallpaper magazine appears to have utterly missed the point of this satirical sign:
Van Brunt and Coffey, Red Hook
Right, it's on the corner of Coffey Street, which (unfortunately) doesn't quite have an intersection with Creamer Street.
No danger of a Starbucks in Red Hook anytime soon.
7:59 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
You never know...
06/12/03
This looks suspiciously like a Boston T logo...but it couldn't be, could it?
Penn Station
Midtown
Little Neck, Queens
12:48 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Updating from my stoop
06/08/03
And man, do I feel like a Brooklynite.
Of course, in this case it's because my evil landlord has had the heat on all day and the basement padlocked, and it's 96 degrees in my apartment. (Yes, I have a thermometer.)
I guess I should expect this given that I live at 666 Fulton Street; clearly, Satan runs the building, or at least the heating system.
Gah. Sleep may not be forthcoming.
Think cold thoughts in my direction.
Shanghai
10:21 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Up, down and sideways
06/07/03
Midtown, part of the sidewalk subway map:
110 Greene Street
AT&T building, Tribeca
Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn
Above the rail yards, Fort Greene/Prospect Heights
11:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Back
06/06/03
I'm completely blown away by the graphic design on this subway ad for personal-injury lawyers. In particular, don't miss the expressions on the people's faces.
3 train, Brooklyn
Ewww.
Port Washington, NY
Because nothing draws kids like the ten commandments!
Port Washington, NY
11:44 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
R.I.P.
06/04/03
My grandfather, Eppy, died this afternoon, just shy of 90 years old.
I'll never forget the time he taught me to play chess, assigning point values to the various pieces. (I later found out there were no points in chess.) Or the little puzzles he'd create for me. Or the debris he collected on his way through life -- everything from a roll of produce price stickers from Waldbaum's to mismatched encyclopedia volumes. His scavenger genes (and his cheapskate genes) live on in me.
At times like this, all we can do is remember. Perhaps most of all, I remember him through his paintings:
6:06 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Extra special
06/02/03
This, believe it or not, is a (completely unmarked) subway entrance. Unfortunately, I didn't get a shot of the vacant lot with waist-high grass that people cut through to get to it.
East 105th Street, Canarsie, Brooklyn
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It just wouldn't be the same with any other kind of fruit in front of the store.
Sunset Park, Brooklyn