Sunday Morning Bus Stop
7/17/2005
Sparrows Breadcrust
Sparrows and Breadcrust
After the rain two sparrows sat on a street light looking down until the sidewalk was moderately clear - and then swooped down for some soggy bread. This was shot with a 50mm lens, so you can image how close I was. Most of the time I was just crouched by the bread, camera ready - while early Sunday risers walked by and gave me rather strange looks. After all - when they looked they only saw the bread.
7/16/2005
7/15/2005
Today's World
When we were kids - no concrete barriers around the city to practice our balance on. But we did have "duck and cover" drills. Okay everyone - let's pretend that an atomic bomb is going to hit the Empire State Building (that's what they said) - now quick - under your desk.
I used to think of the explosion - wondering how long it would take for the shockwave and cloud to get up to the Bronx.
Has anyone done a study about the psychological effects - or after shocks - when children come to believe that their world can be gone in a New York minute? Gives a new meaning to the term: baby boomers.
Also may be related to the fast food craze that began back then. "Sorry mate - no time to sit down and eat - I'll just pop by for a burger."
Did you ever read the interview with the man who invented instant coffee? "We need things quick now," he said. "We don't always have time to brew a pot."
Could he have had instant annihilation in mind?
in mind.
What will the results of growing up in today's world be? Annihilation is no longer instant - it's more random. Will a new cult that prays to the god of randomness emerge?
I leave those ideas to future historians - or to you.
Believe it or Not (Sikhs)
Oh, just give the city bureaucracy a chance to do something stupid and they'll come up with something. Always. This is their forte. The MTA (they run the subways and buses in New York) told five (5) Sikhs that they cannot wear their turbans on the job. Most of them work in token booths (punishment enough) and one runs a train. In fact, one of them has worked for the MTA for 20 years - wearing the turban.
Well that's what the MTA said at first - no turbans. The Sikhs then filed a protest. The MTA rethought (I use that word loosely) their position and said that they could wear the turbans, but would have to stick an MTA Button on the front of the turban.
So the turban is a religious symbol. Many religions have some sort of a sacred hat. But what in the world could the MTA have been thinking. Oh, I know - the turbans scare people who think that terrorists have taken over the token booths. That must be it.
Yes, their new strategy is to take over the token booths (which don't sell tokens anyway anymore) and hold the metro-cards for ransom.
I believe what's happening is that with the recent events - the MTA is beginning to believe that it is some kind of para-military operation and that the best way to get organized is to make sure that everyone wears the same uniform.
My own suggestion is that they get the announcements to be audible on the trains before they tackle the terrorists.
Well that's what the MTA said at first - no turbans. The Sikhs then filed a protest. The MTA rethought (I use that word loosely) their position and said that they could wear the turbans, but would have to stick an MTA Button on the front of the turban.
So the turban is a religious symbol. Many religions have some sort of a sacred hat. But what in the world could the MTA have been thinking. Oh, I know - the turbans scare people who think that terrorists have taken over the token booths. That must be it.
Yes, their new strategy is to take over the token booths (which don't sell tokens anyway anymore) and hold the metro-cards for ransom.
I believe what's happening is that with the recent events - the MTA is beginning to believe that it is some kind of para-military operation and that the best way to get organized is to make sure that everyone wears the same uniform.
My own suggestion is that they get the announcements to be audible on the trains before they tackle the terrorists.
the 11th man
AG has written 15 chapters of the Eleventh Man. The idea of the book is to do a sort of satire / sci-fi / picture book. A lot of the story is based on images that I took but there will also be some new things to shoot. The feeling of the book is somewhere between an comic book for adults - and something from the old Sherlock Holmes Victorian era - such as were published in the old Strand Magazine.
We weren't sure when we started whether the images would drive the story - or the story would drive the images. Turned out to be the former.
My only role in the narrative so far has been to spitball ideas - and to try and offer an objective view of the thing. I have only read the first chapter so far. Tomorrow I'm planning to print out all the chapters and read it as a whole. I'm guessing there's another 15 chapters to go... (they are each very short).
My cat has also been writing a couple of chapters but so far they are just a lot of garbage (sorry Buddy).
The other constrainment - is that we came up with this idea that all the names, adjectives, and adverbs should be 11 characters in length. This is proving to be a real hardship but A.G. is up to the task being a former winner of the Des Moines Crossword competition. [composition = 11 characters, AG that might be useful to you)
We weren't sure when we started whether the images would drive the story - or the story would drive the images. Turned out to be the former.
My only role in the narrative so far has been to spitball ideas - and to try and offer an objective view of the thing. I have only read the first chapter so far. Tomorrow I'm planning to print out all the chapters and read it as a whole. I'm guessing there's another 15 chapters to go... (they are each very short).
My cat has also been writing a couple of chapters but so far they are just a lot of garbage (sorry Buddy).
The other constrainment - is that we came up with this idea that all the names, adjectives, and adverbs should be 11 characters in length. This is proving to be a real hardship but A.G. is up to the task being a former winner of the Des Moines Crossword competition. [composition = 11 characters, AG that might be useful to you)
Two Sisters
I'm still experimenting with blogger... a couple of nice touches that I couldn't do with radioland: I can set the time & date of the post. This means I can organize the order of posts a little better. Couldn't do that with RadioLand.
Can allow someone else access to write something while I remain the "administrator."
I don't think - at least at first glance - much of the ability to upload photos with their photo upload widget as I don't like the resizing - and the fact that if you click on it you get the original in a window - doesn't seem that great to me.
It allows you to save drafts so in essence you can save an image-based template as a draft and just use that when you want via copy and paste to put up new images.
Of course it's nice that you can do your posts while you're on the road - if I ever do get on the road. There might have been a way to do that with Radioland, I'm not sure.
And since they're now owned by Google - well - I expect more innovations.
Tippy Toes
"Their minds are filled with big ideas, images and distorted facts." - Dylan, Idiot Wind
It has been disclosed to this reporter that new disguises are being drawn up for certain Political Advisors.
7/14/2005
Switched to Blogger
I did some design work for Mr. Priestly - and he was using blogger software for the blog so I got to learn the ins and outs of it a bit. I'm going to switch to it for various reasons. Mostly, I think the commenting is better than the Haloscan gizmo I'm using, plus a couple of other features.
This will be my 3rd blog. First one began in 1999 with Dreamweaver. Then RadioLand which was an actual blogger tool. And now to Blogger.
The old blog will still be at: THIS OLD BLOG
The new web address is: www.DaveBeckerman.com/photo_blog
I'm still futzing a bit. The left column is too wide in IE but perfect in Firefox, and there are a bunch of other stuff to add.
This will be my 3rd blog. First one began in 1999 with Dreamweaver. Then RadioLand which was an actual blogger tool. And now to Blogger.
The old blog will still be at: THIS OLD BLOG
The new web address is: www.DaveBeckerman.com/photo_blog
I'm still futzing a bit. The left column is too wide in IE but perfect in Firefox, and there are a bunch of other stuff to add.
Be A Bum
"To be born in the street means to wander all your life, to be free. It means accident and incident, drama, movement. It means above all dream. A harmony of irrelevant facts which gives to your wandering a metaphysical certitude." The Fourteenth Ward, Henry Miller.
My last full day in the 9-5 world was January 30, 2002 and I'm still here. Not in debt. I don't think I've paid for a restaurant meal with anyone since that date. Which is to say that everyone knew that money was tight and were more than happy to treat me to lunch or whatever as I was the poor artiste. One of the most important things I learned was that it was okay to toss what you used to think of as your dignity out the window. I'm not claiming to be Blanche DuBois (living off the kindness of strangers) - but in the days when I did have money - I tossed so much of it away on other people and now family and friends are only too happy to treat me to something or other.
In the days when I went and sold prints in front of the Metropolitan Museum - the tossing of your dignity was important. I am just a lowly street vendor; a wanderer without definite purpose; without definite income. It probably would be a good exercise in humility to get a cup and beg on the corner. Having done that once or twice many years ago - I would advise you all to try it. But if you do - do it with some style.
Give up your false sense of dignity - because you are doing a job that society needs, supplying the passersby with a sense of superiority which they may not get anywhere else. Wear the ratty clothes. Apply a scar. Drool if you can manage it. And when someone gives you a few coins say, "God Bless You" or "have a nice day, sir."
Do this once a week, even if you have a good job. Best therapy in the world, and cheaper.
"Few are those who can escape the tread-mill. Merely to survive, in spite of the set-up, confers no distinction. Animals and insects survive when higher types are threatened with extinction. To live beyond the pale, to work for the pleasure of working, to grow old gracefully while retaining one's faculties, one's enthusiasm, one's self-respect, one has to establish other values than those endorsed by the mob. It takes an artist to make this breach in the wall. He does not respond to the normal stimuli: he is neither a drudge nor a parasite. He lives to express himself and in so doing enriches the world." The Air-Conditioned Nightmare
[Additional educational tools for teachers: Sullivan's Travels by Preston Sturges (movie); The Man With the Twisted Lip by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Dharma Bums]
My last full day in the 9-5 world was January 30, 2002 and I'm still here. Not in debt. I don't think I've paid for a restaurant meal with anyone since that date. Which is to say that everyone knew that money was tight and were more than happy to treat me to lunch or whatever as I was the poor artiste. One of the most important things I learned was that it was okay to toss what you used to think of as your dignity out the window. I'm not claiming to be Blanche DuBois (living off the kindness of strangers) - but in the days when I did have money - I tossed so much of it away on other people and now family and friends are only too happy to treat me to something or other.
In the days when I went and sold prints in front of the Metropolitan Museum - the tossing of your dignity was important. I am just a lowly street vendor; a wanderer without definite purpose; without definite income. It probably would be a good exercise in humility to get a cup and beg on the corner. Having done that once or twice many years ago - I would advise you all to try it. But if you do - do it with some style.
Give up your false sense of dignity - because you are doing a job that society needs, supplying the passersby with a sense of superiority which they may not get anywhere else. Wear the ratty clothes. Apply a scar. Drool if you can manage it. And when someone gives you a few coins say, "God Bless You" or "have a nice day, sir."
Do this once a week, even if you have a good job. Best therapy in the world, and cheaper.
"Few are those who can escape the tread-mill. Merely to survive, in spite of the set-up, confers no distinction. Animals and insects survive when higher types are threatened with extinction. To live beyond the pale, to work for the pleasure of working, to grow old gracefully while retaining one's faculties, one's enthusiasm, one's self-respect, one has to establish other values than those endorsed by the mob. It takes an artist to make this breach in the wall. He does not respond to the normal stimuli: he is neither a drudge nor a parasite. He lives to express himself and in so doing enriches the world." The Air-Conditioned Nightmare
[Additional educational tools for teachers: Sullivan's Travels by Preston Sturges (movie); The Man With the Twisted Lip by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Dharma Bums]
Behind the Curtain
As far as politics go - the real question is What Did The President Know and When Did He Know It? Could this really be Watergate All-Over-Again? Is it possible that a) Mr. Rove did this on his own and b) that when it came out he didn't mention it as a problem to his leader?
- Oh, by the way, Mr. President, that idiot who's been giving us so many problems with the uranium thing - don't worry about that. I have something for him.
- Yes? Good work. What is it going to be this time Karl?
- Uh. Well. You know, Mr. President - this is another one of those things you'd be better off not knowing. Just in case. I've talked it over with my lawyer and so long as I use the correct language - this should be legal.
- Forget I ever asked. What's next on the agenda?
As far as I can tell - right now - at least in local news, the latest Harry Potter book is getting more coverage. Could the wizard be revealed? The curtain pulled back? Or is there just another curtain behind the curtain?
- Oh, by the way, Mr. President, that idiot who's been giving us so many problems with the uranium thing - don't worry about that. I have something for him.
- Yes? Good work. What is it going to be this time Karl?
- Uh. Well. You know, Mr. President - this is another one of those things you'd be better off not knowing. Just in case. I've talked it over with my lawyer and so long as I use the correct language - this should be legal.
- Forget I ever asked. What's next on the agenda?
As far as I can tell - right now - at least in local news, the latest Harry Potter book is getting more coverage. Could the wizard be revealed? The curtain pulled back? Or is there just another curtain behind the curtain?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)