Archive for the ‘brooklyn’ tag
Mind The Gap…
What with everything else I’ve been doing lately, I find that I have to push myself to shoot the daily photo. I’m still carrying my camera around, but it hasn’t been as natural for me to haul it out. I need to remind myself. But the interesting thing is that forcing myself to look for pictures, makes me wake up from the plodding, somnambulism that can come over me in the course of the day: the sense that I’ve seen everything from every angle already, so I don’t have to look.
For example, I was nearing my home last night when I realized I hadn’t shot anything, so I pulled my camera out of my bag and turned back to scan the view across Flatbush Avenue. Is this such a fantastic picture? I don’t really think so, but that act made me come alert, and really look at my surroundings.
When people talk about the sacred aspect of art, I usually cringe and reach for my gameboy. But there is something that that connects creativity and ritual, and it’s that they are both ways of focusing attention in the present, and reconnecting to the importance of our existence in a particular time.
And now a shout to the hive mind: This is the new welcome page for my website. See how it does that mouseover thing with the pictures? In order to get it to do that I got lazy and used a page I found online to generate the code (a java script, and of course now I can’t find the site again). And now I’d like to get rid of those white bands between the pictures, but I’m stumped as to how to do it. My image borders seem to be set to 0, but still no difference. Got any ideas?
Tags: brooklyn, daily photo, making art, notes on practice, websiteRelated posts
Splish splash…
So Mike has been in town and yesterday he, I, his friend Karen, and Lolita took ourselves off to five hours of liquid satisfaction at Spa Castle. Bliss is a well placed jet of water. If you’re a New York resident or planning a visit, make your host take you there: it’s like a civilized water park with immaculate saunas and a decent food court thrown in. You can get baked eggs. One note though: bring a change of clothes, because you end up so clean that putting your old duds on at the end of it can be a bit of a let down.
We also had two fantastic meals: before we submerged ourselves we had a very civilized brunch with Thor at good. And on the way home we joined Jason and Sue at SriPraPhai (sorry Dan, I know we should have called you), which has expanded and remodeled and yet was still as delicious as ever. Then J was so very kind as to offer Mike and I a ride back to my place, where a not too disgruntled Lehigh awaited her evening walk. There was a little canoodling, and then the Sandman showed up for a three-way.
You could say I was satisfied.
Tags: brooklyn, daily photo, food, friends, new york in black and white, sex, spa castle, thorRelated posts
Sunday in the park…
We celebrated Mother’s Day by taking a prolonged walk through Prospect Park; my Mom, my sister, Lehigh and myself. We followed it up with an early dinner at Whiskey Sundays. Which was so heavy that I left me nearly incapacitated for the rest of the day. Laundry did not happen.
The walk was quiet, thoughtful. It was not a hugely celebratory day, even though things seem to be going alright for my Mom. I had the chance to introduce her to a couple of the people in the neighborhood that, like her, are fans of the pooch. Lehigh was basking in attention. There’s no nearby dog run however, so while she met a few playful dogs, she did didn’t have the chance to race around like a maniac.
Tags: brooklyn, daily photo, lehigh, mom, my block, prospect lefferts gardensRelated posts
Observed and reported…
I spied:
The dapper retiree at the Atlantic Avenue bus stop carefully transferring the contents of a pint bottle of vodka into two bottles of blue Gatorade in anticipation of some kind of festive afternoon.
Long lines of Park Slope and Heights yuppies and their spawn at every boutique ice cream parlor I passed.
The lid of your laptop has become the pedestrian bumper, home to every sort of smash-the-state community-action-now sticker. This helps flashing messages of social engagement across the gulf of tables at cafes, even though the users of said laptops are only digitally engaged at the moment of use.
A guy with the logo to the Vin Diesel/Ice Cube “XXX” films tattooed across the back of his neck right below his shaved head. That will wear well.
After deciding to sit in back of the tumbledown yard of the cafe, my book reading was interrupted by rustling in the leaves next to me. I looked over and saw a grey, furred back churning beneath the foliage. It was definitely a rodent, but I decided that I didn’t want to stick around long enough to discern whether a rat or a squirrel. I gathered my book, my iced coffee and my groceries and beat a quick retreat.
All in all about five miles traversed.
Tags: brooklyn, cafe society, daily photo, walkRelated posts
Disturbing sign…
The trains were all messed up today. Oy.
Tags: brooklyn, daily photo, new york in black and white, transitRelated posts
I can’t fight it…
I give up, my block is a fuggin’ winter wonderland.
Tags: brooklyn, daily photo, my block, new york in black and white, weatherRelated posts
Sea squatters….
For some reason my block was infiltrated this morning by a platoon of gulls. As I set out for work, I noticed that the pigeons and sparrows had been cowed into sullen clumps along the the north side of the street, while the sea birds wheeled above the overflowing gutters.
I don’t know what this incursion portends. For the most part the gulls have restricted themselves to occasionally haunting the parking lot of Western Beef, a couple of blocks over. This is the first time that I’ve ever seen them take an interest in my block. For what it’s worth I live pretty much fully inland in terms of Brooklyn, and I’m not thrilled at the prospect of them becoming full time residents. We no longer even have a full size phone booth to take refuge in, should things go awry.
Tags: brooklyn, daily photo, my block, wildlifeRelated posts
Yeah, but…
..what about if you can’t get to the door to open it?
I’d let my Brooklyn library card lapse years ago, but recurring trips past the revived main branch kept reminding me that I should really get my ass in gear and sign up again. Public libraries are one of the best uses of my tax dollars, ’cause reading is, like, fundamental and junk.
Nowadays you can apply for your card online (I remember the rite of passage walk with my parents up to the local branch in Manhattan to solemnly fill out the card application in all too permanent ink). ANd then you go to the branch to “activate it”. This morning, having a bit of extra time before work, I jumped on the B41 bus and marched up to the doors surmounted by two gilded owls, only to find out that today is “staff development day for all the branches in the system” meaning once again, no admittance.
Curse you lallygagging librarians and your “development”! How will I cruise the stacks now?
Tags: brooklyn, daily photo, libraries, readingRelated posts
There’s no eggs like…
Landmark….
Quiet day today, but I took myself for a walk along Atlantic, across the Brooklyn Bridge and up Elizabeth, where I found the Malaysian Beef Jerky shop.
I confess to being overwhelmed these days and a little agoraphobic. The time change also took me completely by surprise. I promise to get back to answering very soon.
