Another annual event to consider, this one is a ton of fun! Interspersed with walks through semi-derelict neighborhoods and vantages of really big bourgeois shopping districts just blocks away from collapsing and reclaimed-by-nature pieces of architecture, this past weekend was the 2012 Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race (image, above – with the Jaguar next to it, you can see just how big that pink poodle is!).

I took a bus there and back the same day – totally exhausting and totally worth it. Exiting Marc Penn Station I huffed it down St. Paul’s and made my way to the harbor where I caught a late-morning performance by Batalá, a samba-inspired all-female percussion band. Awesome. Along came the Kinetic Sculptures and I had no idea it doubled as a bike parade for the public too – hundreds of art bikes and regular riders went all along the north harbor to Catton Park (I missed the early morning festivities at Federal Hill, I was on a bus at 6am!). There the sculptures are charged into the water, and have to do a single lap around a 50′ dock – that’s tougher than it sounds! Then they emerge, and continue parading through the city to another park where they’re charged through beds of sand and mud, and must endure yet another leg back to Federal Hill. A multi-multi-hour parade through a city with tons of civic pride, economies of scale (as I call them), and of course great people:

Lots of people were costumed up.

Caption This! A giant rat-bike-boat in the harbor.

Lots of bike mods and themed bike crews.

Big elephant with pontoons.

Not everything floats. This big bike is big-n-heavy.

The wheels are 12 foot diameter.

the Machine, being paddled and pedal-powered.

Eiffel Tower made from corks, it floats just in case.

I hiked the whole day, to get a sense of the scale of the city and its environments. I’ll definitely be back – I need to visit the AVA Museum among other sites – and don’t necessarily recommend everyone walks like I did (I’ll do it again, but it’s not for everyone) but highly recommend you mark your calendars for next year!

[more photos on my Flickr]

Artist André Smits will be having an opening for his “artist in the world” photography series, for the first time showing the entire collection: 1293 photos! Photographs of artists in their studios, shot from behind, their faces obscured. And yes, I’m in there somewhere, in a basement in Queens.

See more of André’s “Never Ending Art Trip” here: http://www.artistintheworld.com/

A pretty sick finish at the end of this video by Japanese “bicycle sharing service” firm Cogoo who turned a regular BMX bike into a roving turntable – there appears to be some liberty taken with the visuals matching up with the audio, but you get the idea. Particularly, I’m inclined to start seeing more and more bikes modified with lifestyle choices and electronics – because bikes are a lot more than just a way to get around.

TURNTABLE RIDER created by COGOO とは、自転車をターンテーブルに転換する世界初のデジタル自転車アクセサリー。１台の自転車をシェアすることから生み出される前代未聞のバイクミュージックパフォーマンス­をシェアしよう。

Nearly forgot about this one. Back in November/December last year, when the Swimming Cities Ocean of Blood crew were overseas in India on the Ganges – the holiest river in the world – there was a moment we all knew was going to happen. It was only a matter of when, what, and who. I was their link to the world while they were very much ‘off the grid’, save an infrequently operating cell phone. I got a frantic call from Porter late at night, which was just past sunrise in India. They were in Kanpur, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. They had passed through Kanpur days earlier – why had they gone backwards? Porter informed me that they suspected Charlie had developed kidney stones, and they were desperately searching for a hospital to take him to. Thanks to the Google I was able to pin down about a dozen hospitals within 5km of their approximate position. They were freaking out over the conditions of the hospital they were currently in, but their description sure sounded better than what I saw on my screen! A brief look at the website for New Leela Mani hospital showed a scrolling slideshow of their ‘leatest [sic] work’ – and that slideshow included a disturbing image. Not disturbing by hospital measure, but because I thought, “Wait, is that Jack in the Box?” Sure enough, right next to some heart ops and a child with a tube in their face is a screengrab from this commercial of Jack in the hospital (post-Super Bowl ad, when he got hit by a bus).

Needless to say, I did not send them to that hospital – and yes the slideshow is still on the Leela Mani hospital website – at the bottom.

what's an ASS4?

A 40,000 sq. ft. plot that is zoned to accommodate a 320,000 sq. ft. of residential development at 41-50 24th Street, which has been an empty dustbowl for as long as I can remember. Well it recently traded hands again (after the previous owner sat on it for 4 years, the owner before that for 5) and its current sell-price values the potential build-out (not including the actual cost of building, just the land) at $90/sq. ft. Yup. $90 for a square foot of that dirt and 8 stories of air rights. You can do the math or click here to read the original article and find out. Seriously, the only way to get rich in NYC is to already be rich, it would seem.

YOU GO GIRL!

Trimmed for your viewing pleasure – turn your speakers down, those caucus goers know how to shout!

Another great clip from Maddow, this time exposing the absolute chaos inside the Republican nominating contest currently in Missouri. Y’all know MO has a special place in my heart: I still say “Y’all”, I try and remind someone about Nelly’s band-aid at least once a month, and all my non-existent Ron Paul gold is buried somewhere in the Ozarks. But the point is that outside of MO these incidents didn’t get national mainstream traction, even though MO, like OH and FL, is a crucial “bellwether” state that tends to vote with the nation. And, therefore, this is what the Republican nation is like right now. Wow.

Exit Art will be closing permanently on May 20, 2012.

It’s crazy to think of Exit Art shutting down. Sad to see Jeanette’s passing, and wishing the best for Papo and everyone else there in the future. Exit Art was one of the reasons I moved to NYC – their historical legacy and awesome space (never did get to see their SoHo space, but still, legacy!) being the draw, not to mention their rock-solid alternative programming (digi-movies, election night coverage, pop-up events, etc.). Their culture will be missed.

Best part during yesterday’s Rachel Maddow Show was not the Russian rocket-sled story nor even the topiary (IMO), but the juxtaposition (watch clip below) of a super-sophisticated haptic feedback robot arm needed to handle highly enriched uranium (“HEU”) in the same room where in the background is a simple green chalkboard with, well, chalk. And equations! Before Rachel even brought up the topic of the chalkboard later in the show, I was “LOL”ing at this.

click image for recipe

Do you, get it?

Firefox includes new developer tools that represent the structure of websites in a new way and make it easier to live-edit CSS code. The first is a powerful visual layout tool unique to Firefox, Page Inspector 3D View. Nicknamed Tilt, it is a brand new WebGL-based website visualization tool that highlights the structure of a page better than a flat view, so anyone can immediately understand the relationship of the code to the page output. While developer tools like “view source” have always been useful to learn about how to develop a page, the 3D View more clearly illustrates how the parts of a website are structured. After selecting “3D” View in Page Inspector, just hover your mouse over the elements to get more information about each piece you select.

For starters, you’ll need a PDF instruction manual. That, and the machine itself, because once you have one machine, you’ll be able to make more – One Machine To Rule Them All!

(Plus it looks pretty wicked!)

So fun.a quick jog n get on with ur business.

What does that even mean? The other “review” of the park is equally unhelpful: “It is a gem….nyc park…secured cz itz cntrld by us army…” Interactive map below – zoom out to see where this reclusive bit of Queens is:

View Larger Map

I won’t make it, but if you’re interested, Shorewalkers will be walking Fort Totten, Bayside and Flushing this Friday – via their meetup.

###

Tweets can now be cited in academic papers, using the following format:

For example:

Athar, Sohaib (ReallyVirtual). “Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).” 1 May 2011, 3:58 p.m. Tweet.

via, you guessed it, the MLA website

###

The door to the apartment of Hector Monsegur aka Sabu, hacker turned FBI informant, who lived in Manhattan and whom the NY Times published this not-so-flattering profile on last week:

Hector Xavier Monsegur, or Sabu, lived in Apartment 6F at 90 Avenue D in the Jacob Riis complex in Manhattan.

###

The Rube Goldberg of wine de-corking and pouring machines:

###

On the Homeland Security’s “Long, Long List of Social Media Watch Words” includes the gem “social media”, because, you know, “We heard you like social media with your social media so we put social media in your social media so you could social media while you social media.”

###

What is “computer virus”? Whatever it is it doesn’t translate to TV:

###

On the history of GIFS, who says PBS is dead?

Also, it’s pronounced “GIF” – wait. I mean Ghif. As in not-the-peanut-butter. Because “graphics” is pronounced “Guh” not “Juh” and the G in GIF stands for Graphics. So who cares what the Compuserve “jiy” or “guy” says. Get it?

###

Spring/Break continues today through Sunday at Old School, 233 Mott @ Prince. Go see it. A sort of pop-up art fair of young artists and emerging curators, it’s refreshingly distinct from the hubbub of the big, corporate, art fairs happening all this weekend throughout NYC.

Always think of Jaybird whenever I see this stack cloud – if you know who I’m talking about…

But what’s interesting and what’s becoming mainstream political discourse – by the way I really live for Super Tuesdays! – is how even limelight Republican footholds (or swing states in the case of Ohio) are starting to divide into “red” and “blue” sectors, with blue typically representing urban centers, and red representing the rural void. It’s not just Ohio either, have a look at other states that have had primaries and caucuses thus far. Also, the national map itself is starting to divide, with the “blue” winner taking the West and East coasts, and the “red” winner typically winning the middle. The national map below is almost more indicative of a presidential election, not a party nomination process – but the schisms in the Republican party are deep, and the wounds are starting to fester:

PS – I like maps!

For last night’s Super Tuesday the Huffington Post held a live commentary, taking questions on Twitter, while displaying feeds from Fox, MSNBC, and CNN on the screen behind. Oh, and Natty Light. Lots and lots of Natty Light! FCC can’t touch this! And as the evening went on – which by the way I was tuned in the entire time, and it was good – multiple outfits and ties were worn, bunny ears were given, and math was scribbled. Polling dork fest:

With a focus on art galleries and studios, it’s NYC Gov’s NYC Media series $9.99 exploring Long Island City – there’s also a stop by burger joints, Dutch Kills bar, and other passing sights. Obviously given my explorations there are lots of things they missed, but they did a good job cramming what they did into a 20-odd minute segment (whereas I’ve been exploring for years on end):

[via NYC Media]

Tracking development around Queens Plaza, 3 days ago a new espresso bar that also serves specialty bagels and paninis, opened at Queens Plaza South – ironically, it opened on the same street as another new food place, a Checkers (let’s face it, that’s shit – maybe you crave the food, but it’s shit that another corporate name lowered the bar in the area). Thankfully this coffee & food bar, named Triple Show World Atlas (awesome name) serves organic teas, fair trade coffees, and while I won’t do a review, pretty good food. I’m mostly excited by a new, locally owned store moving into an otherwise bustling area that generally gets bought out and moved around by Dunkins, Subways, and now Checkers. Good to see, and again, awesome name for a store – check out the world map they have inside:

(check out the hand in bottom-right giving me the rock fingers!)

Mobee, or Monolithic Bee, is a pop-up robot fabrication project of the Harvard Microrobotics Lab. Using Printed Circuit MEMS (Microelectromechanical systems), a single piece of material (thus its ‘monolithic’ nomenclature) can be folded and locked into a 3-dimensional structure, similar to a pop-up book or piece of origami. Five layers of carbon fiber, two layers of plastic, two brass layers, one layer of titanium, and eight layers of adhesive are heat-pressed together to form an 18-layer laminate, while two piezoelectric ceramic inserts will provide mechanical function. After being laser-cut, the laminate can be popped up and assembled in one motion, allowing for rapid fabrication of many robots! The robot’s locking joints are soldered together, allowing it to be easily removed from the sprue for mechanization. Watch the video below for plenty of jaw-dropping awesomeness, and for more in-depth reading on this technology, I recommend reading “Pop-up book MEMS” (PDF) by the makers of Mobee.

modified audio, with a hat-tip to the Tea Party Patriots at the very end:

meanwhile, when asked about his speech, he won’t even discuss it, claiming Americans only want to hear about Jobs Jobs Jobs:

in other words, “let me preach” but “don’t hold me to it.”

FULL SPEECH is online here.

Noticed while browsing around inside Google Earth that Long Island City is being increasingly modelled, even more-so than Greenpoint or Williamsburg, which is interesting because you know, LIC is still “on the cusp” of becoming “cool”. Which either means the residents of this town have more time on their hands to produce 3D models and plot them in Google Earth, or the residents of this town give more concern towards how their town is perceived in both real and virtual worlds – either way it’s win-win for LIC!

Some other areas of Queens are also being increasingly modelled and mapped:

A clever marketing ploy, a recent condo development in north Astoria uploaded their model; I can already hear the broker saying, “Here, click this link to see your future bougie digs in Google Earth!”

A nearby business/warehouse district in Woodside also updated their area with scale models.

Someone even took the time to model these generic housing blocks, in south Corona.

Obviously a marketing ploy, regardless, I’ll always call it New Shea Stadium.

No, seriously. In fact, I wanted to title the post ‘Canadian Jo makes Real Art’ or something like that, because it’s gobsmacking amazing that this guy has been going at this for 7 years (since 2005, although he’s been working with RC vehicles since 1996). So in case you couldn’t infer from my other proposed title, yes, Jo is Canadian, and stereotypically therefore has lots of time. In fact, he says,

I feel quite fortunate to have stumbled onto this basement excavation idea, it’s been a great past time to date dreaming up new ideas to tackle different projects along the way.

Definitely a way to pass the time. However, “fortunate”, that’s a different story!

For more photos and videos than you probably care to consume, but which are incredibly amazing, click here.

It’s humbling once you try and process it really. From 10^-35 to 10²⁷, there you have it, the known Universe! Equally as incredible is to think to scale the Universe is 9.3 meters wide, at 10²⁷ scale! All built into a beautiful ‘Scale of the Universe 2′ slider, so you can smooth scroll back and forth to comprehend your own insignificance in the scheme of things.

Hrmmm… curious.

so to sum it up, if you’re in a rut:

[thanks Brian Matthews for the link!]

This NASA manual from 1984 contains tips and tricks for astronauts on how to take good photos in space! Before the era of reliable digital imaging systems, which is no doubt what is used by 99% of space missions now, photography was a manual, analog process whose images wouldn’t be seen until weeks after returning to Earth and processing the film. Additionally, a little bit of trivia few photographers even think about: the Hasselblad used in space, the 500EL/M model, had a motorized back that held around 500 photos per back – because when you’re in space, perhaps in a spacesuit, the last thing you want to think about or would be able to do is manually advance your film! Not to brag or anything, but I held one of those rare units back in 1999 and they are a work of art!

While the Tea Party of Tennessee (and other states) wage war on history and attempt to ‘soften’ the read of slavery as concurrent with and even a founding element to America’s exceptionalism, I was wondering about applying their logic of “negative light” to the history of baseball, and in particular the Negro Leagues of the late 19th and early 20th century.

The “patriots” who align themselves with the Tea Party argue against the truth of history, and go so far as to suggest associating America’s founders with the institution of slavery should be removed from textbooks that are used to teach our nation’s public schoolchildren. But as a lover of baseball – the American sport – and especially fond of the diversity of history of baseball, would the Tea Party also argue for removing the “negative light” of race segregation from the history of America’s past-time? It makes no sense. It’s a complicated part of history, it’s a negative element of the sport (and of our Founding Fathers), but it shouldn’t be removed, intentionally un-taught, in classrooms. Could you imagine Bob Costas (another St. Louis native) talking about baseball but never using language that in any way mentioned the “negative light” of baseball’s troubled past? Likewise, steroids are a problem – so much so while we all know they’re still being used, they’ve been consolidated into a period of time known as “the Steroid Era”. Do we not talk about this era, this history of excessive use of drugs for personal statistical gain? History happening is one thing, but committing to a path of not teaching it is another, and is so far removed from the notion of patriotism it’s repulsive.

Being from St. Louis, being born in February (a la Black History Month), and being a baseball fan, the Negro Leagues are very much a part of my person: The St. Louis Stars played on the SE corner of Compton and Laclede (image, above), what is now part of the Harris Stowe campus and which I drove by quite often zipping around the city as a teen. So I was hugely impressed with the story of Arlington, MA teen Cam Perron (big surprise, he’s a Bosox fan) and his near-muckraking journalism and reporting on the contributions of African-American players to the sport:

MLB Negro Leagues brought back to life

His story is impressive, his empathy is amazing, and his Patriotism is Grand.

Frank Rich’s article in NY Mag doesn’t quite push all the buttons on its central thesis – Willard’s Mormonism and lack of discourse about his religion – but that’s okay because the election cycle will.

And not just stolen from a light pole or clipped from a bike rack, but someone actually broke into my property, clipping my yard’s gate lock with bolt cutters (ON VIDEO, coming soon!), probably proceeded to poke around my house’s perimeter, and eventually clipped my bike’s lock and rode off into the sunset.

Incident occurred at approximately 3:30pm on Wednesday January 25 in Long Island City, Queens. The very guilty suspect can be seen walking up the street (my landlord has video cameras on the street and on our property, which is set about 45′ back from the street) with a bag of tools, obviously, and the whole thing takes about 5 minutes for his in and out theft. Bikes get stolen, I know that, but it’s pretty shocking that whoever this was was ballsy enough to bolt-cut the lock on the street, in broad daylight. And oh yeah I was home at the time! Anyhow it’s an iconic looking bike: 2010 Bianchi San Jose, shiny red; neon green handlebars and neon orange pedals; if you see it LOCK IT and email me [nick@geekathon.net] or call my hotline [419-NOR-MALS that's 419-667-6257] with its location!!

during the set of Slavic Soul Party in the Grand Ballroom, this solo dancer was clearly enjoying himself – among a crowd of fellow happy dancers!

HINT: “Jackson” by Slavic Soul Party!

And so the headlines read again and again in this week’s Nonsense NYC list – so many good choices for one evening, from Cheryl to Occupy to the Pratt Steam Whistles, and then, recovery, while the boroughs clearly take a break from partying, as indicated by the disparity of events for Mon/Tues/Wed. Also, Nonsense are currently asking for donations – give a buck, if you can.

See you in 2012!

This trailer is deservedly getting a lot more views in recent days – in case you don’t know the tale of Pulgasari it’s not only a mythical creature but was also a film produced – yes, what I’m about to say is true – by the now-deceased North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il. A few years prior to the kidnapping of that film’s director, Jong-il penciled the treatise On the Art of Cinema [link] (fantastic cover by the way, pictured above) which led to the formation of the North Korean film industry aka Jongilwood (just made that up obviously). It’s a terrible movie but if you’re a fan of the monster genre, it’s sort of quintessential:

PS – the post title is not only a reference to Team America: World Police but because I’d love to see a puppet re-make of this film in their parody-style – yessir!

the original video is here

PS – I made this.

I AIN’T GOING NOWHERE BABY!!

Where Normal meets Man meets Moustache meets Hair meets Normal meets Moustache – WHATEVER!!

En route back home from work, did a bike tour of areas nearby. Some new condos going up, some economies of scale, a new way to park your truck, and the light yesterday was incredible – clear blue with a slight pink or yellow tint coming from the horizon, cold in the shade but intensely warm in the sun.

I also encountered this gem of a hoarding – I’m still perplexed about the whole thing, the pigs, the flying pigs, the lone tree, the underwater-ness of the blue. But it’s an amazing use of the paneled plywood, and I’d love to see more hoardings – if they have to be there – take this approach:

Because it’s Halloween season. And because it’s one of the best costumes (and films) of all time. And because it’s playing tomorrow (Friday) night at the Museum of the Moving Image (in Astoria, Queens). That’s a Japanese poster of the Alien’s perceived anatomy, and the reality of the costume as inhabited by Bolaji Badejo, a 7’2″ Nigerian design student “discovered” in a SoHo pub – who supposedly committed suicide several years after the movie’s release (can only imagine why), and whose name has largely disappeared into obscurity.

Bolaji with HR Giger:

Bolaji taking a break between shoots:

In the video above note the plains-clothed officer arresting the Chase customer (scan to 1:30). Note the square tag on the back of his hoodie.

It was a busy day for this officer. No doubt he is reveling in the overtime pay. He was later spotted emerging from a squad car on 9th Ave and 36 Street, along with the guy in the suit (also glimpsed in the video). They proceeded to head towards the Times Square rally, with the same hooded officer carrying an ‘International League of Peoples Struggle’ picket sign (that’s really poorly made by the way). It begs the question was he there for observation, or instigation?

I’m certain that additional photos culled from the Times Square rally will show this officer in higher detail, without his badge visible.

Someone should tell them to not be so obvious too – shaking hands with every officer you see along the way to the protest isn’t something a typical ‘commie bastard’ (ILPS) would do.

“[My exhibit] looks like most of the other production vehicles back here, buuuuuuut… come this way.”

BRILLIANT! Way to go Mark!

And oh yeah, if you’re not already on the level, Maker Faire has its own YouTube channel with lots of behind-the-scenes type shots, conversations with Makers, and those projects that you saw but didn’t get the opportunity to learn more about. Check it out!

Brilliant project by André Smits, a painter and traveling photo-logger who is taking portraits of artists from around the world, in their studios, and only from behind!

My photo is part of set [95] The World_0022 – and literally thousands more photos can be found at his full archive here.

See! You can totally spot me in the crowd!

Thanks to Max Cohn for this absolutely stunning time lapse video showing some setup and crowd-lapse shots during World Maker Faire. A must-watch-in-HD, with beautiful tunes by Collin Cunningham. Great stuff, good to see someone else taking the reins on a project like this! While it’s nice to spot myself in the vid, I think my favorite segment is outdoors, at the thoroughfare across from Gerard’s Paella, where all the cars and carts and Dogzilla and other projects cross the picture plane – it shows just how nuts and full of activity the setup and preparation for World Maker Faire is (in a good GREAT way!).

The adventures of YOUR 3d printed likeness can also be had with the aide of a MakerBot Industries Thing-O-Matic. The resolution on these printouts is so good, at any scale. And they just demonstrated a two-color printer at the recent World Maker Faire in NYC. Just imagine what is possible with this newfangled art form, for example:

Normal in the pop-up office:

Normal cherry bowl:

Normal hoodie:

Normal bottlecaps:

Normal comfy pillow:

Normal on the dash:

And lastly, Pastafarian Normal:

press:

Motherboard.tv | Animated GIFs of the Coolest 3D Printers at the World Maker Faire (scroll down)

TOR | Conductive Paint, Makerbots, Knitwear & More: EtsyBrook Goes To Maker Faire NYC

mother nature network | Go ahead, Maker Faire my day

PC World | UAVs, Modding, and a New Chumby at Maker Faire NY 2011

blogs:

Dave Durant’s blog

Bath-On-Hudson (Rensselaer, NY) (roadtrip!)

flickr:

2011 Arduino WMF OSHW set on Flickr

Well, we did it! Once again we changed the world for the better. Here are some of my choice photos, followed by some important articles and coverage, and then finally some videos. Will keep updating but enjoy this selection for now:

Definitely one of my favorite moments walking around outside was turning around and being visually stunned by the Rocket Park rockets, 1960s era rocket sculpture, and Tim Laursen’s MIDI controlled robot drummers in the foreground, with people interacting with his drumbots via a drum machine. Intense!

Wonderful projection arts and chiptune sounds by Datalore

This one made even me scratch my head! Homebrew biodiesel!

Greggy and his homemade cakes were a big success!

It was great seeing kids interact with exhibits, even if only momentarily. One of the few days of the year where they can be completely free.

Bamboo Bicycles brought their mobile bike truck workshop

Wonderfall spelled things using illuminescent liquid

Little Yellow Drumbot, would take input audio from surrounding environment and turn that into a drum beat!

Huffington Post | What Barack Obama Could Learn From Maker Faire

Scientific American | A Robot in Every Home? We’re getting close.

BBC News | Tech heads display DIY projects at New York Maker Faire

Scientific America | Making, Education, and Innovation: Inspiring Makers in Underrepresented Communities

ABC News | New York Maker Faire Showcases a New Generation of Innovators (video below)

spectrum ieee | The Coolest Things at World Maker Faire 2011

Engadget | Arduino brings the (new) goods to Maker Faire New York, welcomes ARM into the fold

photosets:
World Maker Faire 2011 set on my Flickr
some great photos by ka1kjz on Flickr
the NYSCI’s Maker Faire set on Flickr

MakerBot “brought the awesome”, and documented it in this episode of MakerBot TV:

ABC News, great interview with Mitch Altman which opens with Rude Mechanical Orchestra and features a nice segment with Joe Hudy and other Makers in my area:

BIG UPS to Tim Laursen who personally helped me make World Maker Faire a success:

plenty more videos on Maker Faire’s YouTube Channel

Another one of those World Maker Faire head-scratchers. Also involves a kitten (I’m seeing a recurring theme I never noticed before!).

…

(just one of over 450+ maker projects you’ll find at World Maker Faire 2011!)

(photo by Lunar Camel Co)

The Last Nights of Constance Hockaday’s Boggsville Boatel and Boat-In Theater,

September 8-10

The New York Times gave it rave reviews, as did NPR and every other magazine and TV channel in America. (Photos) The Boatel has been SOLD OUT all summer long, but we’re auctioning off rooms here for ONE LAST WEEKEND! (All proceeds go to the Swimming Cities India raft project…we leave Sept 20!)

The Boggsville Boatel is a floating hotel and theater fashioned out of abandoned and re-claimed boats, all of which sleep 2-5 people. Six of the vessels are leisure fishing crafts from the 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s, ranging from 28 to 40 feet long. Another is a 70’s drifter houseboat remodeled into a rustic penthouse. Rooms include dinner and access to our GOING AWAY PARTY Sept 10 right next door at Marina 59, from 8pm-late. Kick it on your poop deck four blocks from the beach with cold beer, all of your friends and swim trunks—plus Cocktail Cruises in Jamaica Bay, Jerk Burgers & Pineapple Hot Dogs by Carnival Queen Lamar Iposa and Sea Shanty Karaoke.

And yes you’ll see a sunrise like that; and yes you’re only 4 blocks from the beach/ocean; and yes there is a bar; and yes there are film screenings; and yes you can swim there.

There are some faraway places in New York City that many people just don’t know about, where Life is happening day in and day out. Manhattanites thankfully don’t go there with their “make me a fucking sandwich” demands. Brooklyners won’t go there because it’s Queens. And everybody else simply can’t be bothered, or they’ve found their comfort zones even in places like Coney Island (you know what to expect there). I’m talking about the Far Rockaways. A clash and collision of beach culture, low-income housing, middle and HIGH-income housing in areas, non-existent social infrastructure, and marina/boat life – you can see further examples of this from my 2008 bike trip from Far Rockaway to Breezy Point on Flickr. I think I’m always amazed by places like this though, because of the presence of the water. Growing up in a river-culture city doesn’t quite have the same effect as the ocean and bay here has on its residents, or more specifically the pace of life on the boardwalk. And like I already mentioned, you wouldn’t go there unless you had to, which while these pictures are devoid of human life don’t get me wrong, it’s absolutely bustling down there:

“Would you look at the Virginia Chrome job on that boat!”:

the Rockaways largely lack an economic identity, take for instance these towering residential blocks and a fanciful home that is nearby:

or the juxtaposition of an abandoned house against a sprawling development area:

the 59 Street Marina at night:

the view of the Rockaways over your shoulder to the West as you head north over the Channel on the A train:

What a great flyer made by Brian Yanish from ScrapKins, which is bringing their Recycled ARTs Program to World Maker Faire next month. And yes, he’ll come and pick up your bog rolls and cereal boxes!

He writes:

If you wouldn’t mind saving the following items and throwing them in a bag, I’ll come by and visit and take them off your hands.

Here’s what we need help collecting:

1) Toilet Paper Tubes & Paper Towel Tubes

2) Cereal Boxes and thin food packaging boxes

**Everyone uses an abundance of toilet paper tubes at home, please ask staff, friends and neighbors if they wouldn’t mind saving us a bag or two.**

For all of you out there who claim to yearn for that “old school” New York City experience, or for anyone looking to have one of those ‘I can’t believe that just happened’ New York encounters, I recommend patronizing Boris Shoes at Queens Plaza North – in the Plaza, 2nd floor, on the same level as the entrance to the 7/N/Q subway at Queensboro Bridge just over the bridge.

Let me clarify: I actually don’t recommend Boris Shoes (unless you’re an Experience Hunter like myself). But! If you must, if you have a shoe that needs repair, and want an experience that is unlike any other, that reminds you of that “old school New York” gestalt, then yeah go to Boris Shoes! This guy has been making shoes from scratch for 58 years, and has been at this Long Island City location for longer than I’ve been an independent pay-my-own-rent adult. But be warned: making eye contact with Boris (his right eye, not his left one – like I said I warned you) means your soul – your sole rather – is his. He now owns you. Just the mere act of pulling a shoe out of bag means its his now. And anything he does to it you’re responsible to pay for, even if you didn’t ask for it – otherwise why did you bring him a shoe in the first place? Also he’ll tell you stories. Wonderful stories about young whippersnappers who bring him shoes to fix and never come back to pick them up. It’s a mystery why! But this guy is an artisan. Check out his shoes outside his shop and you’ll see what he’s capable of. Also he himself is always wearing a bitchin’ pair of homemade shoes.

And the real shame? The owner of the Queens Plaza currently has 23,000 sq. ft. of available retail space, and is kicking Boris and a nearby barber and some other shops out soon – even though he doesn’t have another tenant to move in. Boris doesn’t have the security of a lease, and so it’s time to go. Development at the Plaza is booming, and so clearly the landlord thinks he can get a pretty penny in the near-future or far-future if he deals with these tenants now.

PS – he’s Russian. Been in America longer than me. I recommend you learn a couple Russian expressions – he’ll either love you or hate you for it. Use at your own risk!

You can tell that’s not me because my moustache has more zazz than that.

I lurve me some widgets! They provide great interactive functionality, and the best part about them is I don’t have to code them! Sweet! So above is the countdown widget for the 2nd annual World Maker Faire in Queens, NYC. And yes, that is very soon. If you’re planning to be in town, and trying to get information to fit Maker Faire into your schedule, everything you need to know about attending (directions, tickets, hotels) is located here. Hope to see you there!

Copy the code below to add this widget to your website:
<iframe src=”http://makerfaire.com/social/button/” width=”300″ height=”250″ frameborder=”0″ ></iframe>

“collaborating” with Stephen Matysik whom I met at I-Park while on residency at their first-ever IDC Program.

I’m in Connecticut (and so can you!). I’m at I-Park with 14 other inter-disciplinary artists, engaging an experimental collaborative residency program. For driving directions from anywhere, click here; for train directions from NYC’s Grand Central, click here (real simple: Metro-North to New Haven, then Shore Line East (SLE) to Old Saybrook – call to I-Park ahead of time and they’ll pick you up from the train station!). Don’t forget to RSVP (so we know how much food and drinks to supply)!

…

Inter-disciplinary Collaborative Projects
Experimental Residency Session
July 30, 2011

2:00     Open Studios
3:15     Formal Presentations, Refreshments
4:00     Site Walk

You should wear comfortable walking shoes for the site walk
RSVP by July 28, 2011 to ipark@ureach.com or 860.873.246

…

The I-Park Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code

Chinese farmer Wu Yulu has been in the news and blogosphere before – plenty of times. But I’m hoping some of y’all that read this rag haven’t heard of him before, or seen his wack-tastic inventions. They show that anything is possible – everything in the world can become a ‘bot!

[via The Creators Project]

In NYC (and indeed throughout the Northeast) you’ll hear rumors after you move here about how the sewers spew human waste into the area rivers during periods of excessive raining (or when snow melts, etc.). Well they’re not rumors. It happens. The combined sewer-drainage system creates this effect when it becomes overburdened – the pressure has to go somewhere. But the location of these particular drainage points remains a mystery, even a myth (read: rumor) of sorts until you stumble upon a Wet Weather Discharge Point. They’re clearly marked by the DEP and they look something like this sign. The particular sign I saw (no photo) was accompanied by ‘no swimming, no boating, no fishing’ pictographs. The above panorama is one such discharge point, in north Astoria, hidden in an industrial business district. Click it to embiggen.

I C U

Throw back! It’s 1994 and Jersey-born Suffolk County-raised Craig Mack releases “Flava in Ya Ear” which tops at #9 on US Billboard, #4 on R&B and #1 on Rap charts; it features throughout the music video prominent shots of structures throughout Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens. There’s the Queens Theatre in the Park flying saucer buildings, the Unisphere, and my favorite sighting the Great Hall at the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) – where at one point Craig Mack becomes a colorful but frame-dropping hologram! The Great Hall was built for the ’64/’65 World’s Fair and last year used as the staging area for 2010′s World Maker Faire tesla coil performances by Arc Attack (below). You see, I have or had, the Flava in Ya Ear single on LP, way back when – so that song has a special place in my heart. I don’t remember the music video at all to be honest, but the LP (if I still have it), lives in a box in the basement of my good friend John Pitts, and it was his twin brother Jello who just yesterday put up Craig Mack’s video on his facebook wall – so you see, it’s all full circle now! Life is weird like that, no?

Cmon! Everybody does it. “I wonder what Google Image Search thinks looks like me?” These are my results, below, which notably include Barack Obama, an Avatar-ed Barack Obama, I think that’s Tom Cruise, some politicians, Jon Stewart, a crazy guy in a Master Chief helmet, some religious figures, and various footballers and military officers (the jacket flare can’t quite be compared to!), among others:

And there’s a fast and furious way of doing this with any web-located image (Facebook profiles anybody) of you (or anybody!) online: in Chrome, install the Search by Image extension; then edit the extension’s options to ‘Show [camera] when hovering over an image’ and it will then do exactly that, over ANY image (jpg, png, gif!? yup!). From there it’s cakewalk. And what’s extra crazy is that your search result is databased, so there’s a hypertext URI you can bookmark for your results! (I don’t know How In The Hell that works!)

I met Kurt Boone over the weekend, at the annual Bike Film Festival street fair. I first heard about Kurt a few months ago when I saw a screening of his poem “Alley Cats” (below), a quick verbal summation of pedal-powered work & life on the streets of NYC, delivering the goods. Kurt is a poet, a Queens resident (from Jamaica), and NYC’s fastest messenger; he’s also super friendly, oh and he has an ongoing Messenger Poet Show on KoldCast.TV

The weather was inclement and I got pretty well rained on twice, but I guess if you’re gonna get rained on I’d rather be rained on while on Fire Island than in Queens! Specifically, these shots are from the Davis Park area of the island, further east than the Pines or the typical beach-tourist areas. Big ups to my friend Sam Shamoo for inviting me out for the day, and giving me a tour. I never realized how accessible the whole area is, until you have a way in. And then you realize it’s really right next door – reaffirming my belief in the awesomeness that is the East Coast and this Long Island I live on in particular (yes, Brooklyners, you live on Long Island too!). Because it was a weekday, and because the weather was iffy, that meant there was almost no stragglers on the beaches and throughout the trails, which was both wonderful and spooky.

Everybody on the island is especially friendly, and talkative, and it was pretty simple to strike up conversations in passing. After all, if you’re there – from the “main land” or in from the city – you clearly want to be there, you made the effort, and so you might as well enjoy yourself and the company around you.

Captions to follow:

Lots of lovely trails in the area.

Sam’s BIG Bench, I mean it’s BIG! Anchored to a ridiculously giant tree that washed ashore some years ago. It’s confusing where in the hell a tree like that came from, probably from 50+ miles away.

A whale’s invertebrate bone looks like a skull from above!

Some say bocce but I say it’s more likely a horseshoe box.

There are many wonderful people on and passing through the island, daily:

A local deli, “featuring”… spices!

The western edge of the National Seashore – enacted September 11, 1964, this stretch of federally protected land is undeveloped, forever more.

Bone Sign.

Zoom in. You’ll see the local post office is only open in July and August. And oh yeah it’s also a free lending library! 11772 you rock!

And lastly there is some truly unique and stunning architecture on the island – I wish there was an ‘open house’ type event so I could see the interiors of all these domiciles:

What began with a 3D scan of Stephen Colbert’s head (who was subsequently turned into a terrifying teddy bear, Capitol Hill eagle-monster and tentacled Colbertopus – episode clip here) has turned into a 3D printing frenzy of NY Notables: “Hackers, bloggers, artists, musicians, comedians and anyone else we think is notable” as the MakerBot blog says.

MakerBot Industries marketing director Keith Ozar invited me round to their “creative space” and studio on Dean Street, covered my head and ‘stache with a blanket of corn starch (the 3D scanner is unable to render any hair that isn’t golden blonde), and I was then scanned by their current artist-in-residence Jonathan Monaghan, who has been digitally touching up the scans and then printing many dozen New Yorkers, miniaturized to approximate 4″ busts.

I intentionally went shirtless as I was going for a ‘caveman’ look, which I think was rendered quite well. Oh yeah and the best part about MakerBot is Thingiverse! You can totally download my likeness and print your own Nick Normal! Thanks Keith for the invite, Tom for the photos, Jonathan for the render and Bre for such a wonderful machine – this really is the future today!

An exhibition of around 40 New York Notables will take place at MakerBot HQ next Thursday, June 30th, from 7-10pm @ 314 Dean Street at 3rd Avenue in Brooklyn. I’ll be there from around 8:30 on. See you there!

A MakerBot in action, printing another Notable head, using a honeycomb structure to build up the sculpture:

[full photo set on my Flickr]

So one of my personal philosophical dilemmas is sand. Not sand at the beach, but deserts. The thought of continental sand really bothers me, it’s something my mind can’t seem to resolve. It also plagues me, thinking that there are huge, vast tracks of land that we can’t do anything with. However all that sand in the desert might be useful after all, if one Abu Dhabi-based professor has his way, making bricks from bacteria that “cement” sand without heat:

I’m not saying it resolves my notions of continental sand, but maybe there’s a sustainable architecture that can at least put me at ease!

[via dvice]

Lego orerry by V&A Steamworks:

IBM is 100 years young, and unlike some high-value gadget companies they’re actually responsible for a ton of the tech we use or pass by in our daily lives – with a centennial website about their “second century”.

And no, CNN, you’re wrong, Apple in fact did not “invent” the personal computer – that’s just their monthly allowance cheque to you talking.

office killer, turn any JPG into a Commodore-64-esque image at C64yourself:

these two characters will never cease to get old. Wasn’t this like 10 years ago? Cloud vs Sephiroth, with Aeris’s cure ability thrown in for good measure:

regarding this diagram of geek culture, I disagree (or rather dis-associate) mostly with Geek Idols, and relate mostly with Geek Obsessions – what does that say about my personal geekathon?

If you can’t figure this one out then you clearly don’t know me! Progress shots showing the current state of my box thingy for Figment Project this weekend – oh yeah I’m in that, so swing by if you can! It’s built entirely from scrap wood without the use of a table saw, which is pretty impressive given my constraints, lack of budget, and the temperature these days. I still have to embed all the soft switches, and solder all the wiring – so still about 5-6 hours of work there; plus I still have to figure out how to transport this thing to the island, either Thursday late afternoon or Friday day sometime. Friday day is looking like the best possibility – so if anyone out there has a car and is available, I’d rather pay you than a taxi driver I’ll never see again! Anyhow not bad for a one-day build-n-hack. And the name of this piece – for those in the know – is ‘Your Lack Of Stress Is Stressing Me Out’. I don’t know where I’m placed on Governor’s Island – but I shouldn’t be that hard to find, just listen for the really, really loud 8-bit noises.

and finally…

FRIDAY JUNE 3RD

9PM-LATE | 9-10PM OPEN BAR
$10 before 11pm or with costume; $15 otherwise
Bordertown takes place in a converted trolley repair station scheduled to be demolished this summer
1428 FULTON ST (at Tompkins Ave)
BED-STUY BROOKLYN
Subway: A, C to Kingston-Throop Aves
www.weareswimmingcities.org
All proceeds go to Swimming Cities’ Ganges River project in India, fall of 2011

Choose your allegiance between the two fabulous party nations of VULGARIA & TAKISTAN. After an impassioned disagreement over whether a Pomeranian’s nose is mauve or puce, a great wall has been erected between them, patrolled by the world’s sexiest border guards.
Celebrate the absurd & arbitrary nature of borders, bureaucracy, and class inequality with us in this epic event that is designed to inspire the joys of insurrection, freedom, & integration.

The grungy Eastern Block gypsy state of VULGARIA invites you to celebrate the most debaucherous of holidays, National Vulgaria Day, the filthiest drunken day of the year. Festivities ruled by the corrupt dictator DAVO, featuring The People’s National Thieves Market ,Tattoos, Rickshaw rides, Raunchy Street Food, Bike Jousting, Catherine the Terrible’s Cossack Guard, Fortune Telling at the Altar of Saraghina, The People’s Steam Room, visuals by DJ Fuzzy Bastard and Surprises!

The opulent monarchy of TAKISTAN invites you on the day of the great royal wedding to enjoy decadent attractions, featuring His Majesty’s Royal Casino, Princess Cupcake’s Naughty Boudoir, The Grand Inquisitor’s quiz show, Dr. Adventure’s Royal Guard, The Royal Passport Scavenger Hunt, the Royal Ultra-Tacky Runway Show, Live acts by Laura McMillian of the Egyptian Shumba and by Sugar in the Gas Tank, S&M Royal Wedding Visuals by The Housewives’ Guide to Anatomy, Dirty Uncle Pony Rides, and More Surprises!
Dress in your Princess Best for a chance to wed the dashing Prince of Takistan!

Patriotic Libations include: Vulgaria’s national cocktail “The Three-Legged Mule” and Her Majesty’s royal imbibement “Groundskeeper’s Embrace at the Summer Palace” and yes, back by popular demand “Morning After Pill Jello Shots!”

…

COSTUME SUGGESTIONS

VULGARIA
SARAGHINA 8 ½
COSSACKS
STROMBOLI
ANAMATRONIC FORTUNE TELLING GYPSY BOOTH
DRUG FRONT BOARDWALK FORTUNE TELLER
BORDELLO MADAM
COCKTAIL THIEVING MONKEY
GHOST OF RASPUTIN
MUSTACHE CONTEST
INTERNATIONAL ARMS DEALER PLAYBOY

TAKISTAN
THIRD WORLD DICTATORS (THE DEVIL WEARS TAUPE)
GADAFFI SEXY BODYGUARDS
CARABINIERI
JERSEYSHORE VICTORIAN
IVANA TRUMP AND LIBERACE’S PROM NIGHT IN MONACO
SIGFRIED AND ROY
MICRONATION ROYALTY
GROOMED POODLE “STANDARD” WITH SHOWPAPERS
MUSTACHE CONTEST
“WHAT IS THAT, VELVET?”
PRINCESS! PRINCESS! PRINCESS!

The Crucible bills itself as “A Nonprofit Collaboration of Arts, Industry and Community” – basically it’s a metalshop, a woodshop, a glassblowing studio, a ceramics studio, a dance studio, bike repair shop, and just about every creative industrial art you can imagine. Housed in a warehouse of I-can’t-even-approximate how many square feet (I just looked online, it’s 47,000 square feet!), the Crucible’s current digs are substantial to say the least. What’s also substantial is that they launched in 1999 with a grant of only $1,750, and even when they moved into these current digs (in 2003), they only had 5 full-time staff – they’re largely volunteer ran and supported.

[complete photo set on my Flickr]

Following my tour of Sonoma County (Sebastopol, Occidental and Monte Rio), I hitched a ride with Sheena from the Maker Faire team who was conveniently taking a class on Saturday morning at the Crucible – this facility was already on my docket of places to see during this West Coast excursion, ever since having met Kier (below) briefly at the Maker Faire Bay Area 2010 when he was running the Crucible’s fire engine and industrial arts demos for that event. Sheena went off to her class and I gave myself a self-guided tour of the Crucible’s facilities.

I gave two laps around the facility and introduced myself to as many staffers as possible. There’s more equipment and facility here than I could fathom to learn, which is remarkable that it’s all made available to the public through classes, workshops and even internships. In short, it’s an absolutely wonderful place and if you ever get a chance I highly recommend taking a class there and supporting their mission. Now, on with the photos!

The Crucible from above; this is only about 1/12th of the available floorspace and workshop area.

This is Kier giving me the low-down on the Crucible; you can’t see it but behind him is a giant flame and kiln which he’s warming up for a glass workshop later in the day (photo of the flame at the end!).

Woodshop including lots of hand tools, benches, wood-turning machines, saws, so much more!

death box – only one crossbone, nice!

the welding pods – the red plastic panels make it so you can watch people from outside; or to protect you when you accidentally glance over that is!

Machine or Art?

Bike repair studio – including lots of frames and bike projects.

Gas! Lots and lots of compressed gases power this place.

Jennifer at the reception desk, crocheting with brass wire.

The giant glass kiln flame, warming up for the workshop later in the day. Kier told me this thing also helps keep the Crucible warm in the winter – when it gets down to a chilly 50F in Oakland! Hah!

Stella is a beautiful boxer with tons of energy and a gorgeous underbite. Trained not to kiss, it’s impossible for her not to play – and she has a particular knack at dragging 8′ lengths of branch on the beach, among other traits:

Some shots from my walking tour of San Francisco yesterday. It’s actually oddly difficult to take a level shot here, because of the hills – you find yourself constantly leaning to one side or the other. And I think my shots would all – ALL – be off-level if it wasn’t for the built-in bubble level in my G12! Because I took a couple shots without the level turned on, and they’re way off. And it’s one thing to take a photo on a hill, it’s another to drive or bike when you’re constantly on an angle!

You can see other shots from my walking tour Day 1 on my Flickr.

In that order, from left to right, these windows grace one of the exits of the Hunters Point station (7 train) in LIC. I love how each “window” is a unique layout of bricks, and especially how the Burgers window is just a bunch of bricks crammed into a hole!

Unfortunately Sparky isn’t a neighborhood dog. His mom lives in Woodside and she was just passing through, pushing him home in his cart. You see her brother was throwing away this carpet and well, that’s a nice carpet, you can’t just throw that to the curb, so she pushed Sparky all the way to LIC from 64th Street in Woodside, and was pushing him – and the carpet – all the way back to Woodside. I met them on 41st Avenue & 24th Street, so they had a ways to go.

And that’s one of the really amazing things about this city. This lady was already pushing this cart on a 3+ mile return journey (not to mention the 3+ miles she walked to get the carpet!), and with traffic and at her speed, probably a 2-hour journey. And she didn’t even flinch! 3 miles in any other city and you’d be insane to want to walk that far – and here it’s just part and parcel of the land. New Yorkers like to walk!

It’s out there. And it lights up too (also, you’re being watched when you’re approaching Perfection).

Easter Egg Hunt at Gantry Plaza State Park – less of a hunt, and more like a stampede!

9th annual Kite Flight at Socrates Sculpture Park – even the tape is green!

Kite Flight in action – a good windy day indeed

container garden in Astoria

probably my favorite domicile in all of Astoria, this house property goes all the way through from block to block, with a huge “backyard” garden and cobblestone driveway

green garage door – it was painted after the windows were filled in with plywood

lots of places in Queens with this rough growth – not the best light, I’ll be back!

Nearly 5 years after I purchased my Canon G7, I’ve finally upgraded (I’m no brand loyalist, but I’ve stuck with Canon for many reasons which I’ll detail later – I got the G12). Ironically in the same weekend that I decided on the upgrade purchase, my Flickr account surpassed the 10,000 public photos mark – I can’t believe it. I seriously never thought I’d make it this far, and I didn’t notice it almost until it was too late.

I keep multiple backups, and my Flickr is but one that is viewable by y’all. I use Flickr for the obvious reasons like sharing – it’s nice to know what my friends like, or to share collective memories. Almost more astonishing than the 10k flickrs though are the views – also in the same week I surpassed the quarter-million views mark, and already stand at over 255k views! I don’t even consider my photostream particularly “hot” or trend-setting, but the thought that each photo gets seen an average of 25 times is pretty wonderful. And if I quit taking photos today (I can’t!) I would be happy with knowing that number will only continue to grow. So it’s interesting to look back over recent photosets, emerging photosets, and some of the photosets that started this whole craze for me.

I purchased my G7 in July 2006 and almost instantly I started taking better pictures. And thus more pictures, and then organizing them better and using better meta to track them. This makes sense! So what began with a trip to Budapest and eventually documented a nearly year-long eviction, and return to NYC after a sojourn to the Midwest and New Orleans, recently with increasing focus on Maker culture and events around that movement, has accounted for the bulk of my 10,000 Flickrs – just a snippet of which exists below (and above, the Queens Plaza development is an ongoing use of social media to document the redesign of one of the busiest intersections in NYC that I thankfully and sometimes scarily call Home!).

this piece of clever graff was spotted in the Spring Street C/E station – I’d say 99% of the billboards on the platform were covered where a moustache would be applicable!

Honestly this only reinforces my opinion about how I never understood the desire to live in Manhattan – after all the really wonderful views of the skyline are to be had from the other side of the river, or in this case from Roosevelt Island (technically in New York County, but really it’s own territory!). Not to say that perspectives of areas in Queens and Brooklyn aren’t lovely, but I prefer the vantage from those boroughs, to gaze upon Manhattan; I like to “go” to the City, but not to live there. Or at the very least, I just really love these views! Views that Manhattanites will almost never see because they (sometimes pretentiously) never leave their borough.

Spotted in DUMBO, Brooklyn – this is probably the most pro drywall job I have ever seen! It’s also a bit of an overkill – such a giant warehouse to park that little car in! Hopefully they’ll actually make use of the ceiling height, otherwise they should only paint as high as they need, and that would be a waste of an awesome drywall job!

This is a sad, sad day, and not from any sense of nostalgia or sense of loss – after the first 18 very good years, having lived in Chicago, London and then Brooklyn and now Queens, I’m pretty comfortable with the thought that I’ve “moved on”. But it was – it IS – a good home. And it disgusts me that the Recession has plunged this housing crisis so far into the abyss that there’s no sign of return – and this domicile which should easily sell in the $300k range is now available for a steal (it’s like they’re paying you) for $175k, half of what it should sell for. Meanwhile there’s a $90mil apartment up for sale on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Of course I understand that it’s all about “location location location” – and St. Louis’s Tower Grove East neighborhood is not East 80th Street (the way my blog isn’t Curbed). But taking into account the initial cost of the house, and adjusting for inflation over 32 years, along with factoring in the money invested in maintaining this house (which is one of the oldest on the block and in the neighborhood at large) – just the sheer hours alone keeping the place “modern” – a price tag of $175k is gutting. Just heartbreaking really. As if in the end you’re paid $5k and told, “Thanks for the memories, Now Get Out!”

I mean just take a look at this place and tell me it isn’t awesome!

Here’s the listing proper.

This wonderful woodwork greets you as you walk in the front door:

The living room has a built-in bookcase and absolutely giant mirror:


The kitchen is old, sure, but there’s a whole another side that isn’t even pictured:

The master bedroom – this is where my parents made me! – has an attached room (through the curtains) that is as big as the smallest bedroom:

This was my first bedroom as a kid:


Then I upgraded to this room:

And finally the top floor. These rooms are HUGE. The two-tone tiles are 1′ square, so do the math. For several years of my life I had both of these rooms to enjoy:

And there’s a basement! Also not pictured. A giant room which leads directly to the back yard. And the trees out front produce these wonderful red berries that local birds love. And to top it all off, there are some hidden compartments in the house, and I embedded some time capsules in my time there too – those alone are worth the $175k exploration price-tag! Who knows, maybe me blogging this will lead to a sale, but in all likelihood this will stay on the market for a little longer and then simply fade into obscurity.

…

America has a housing problem.

I know I have one! This one was spotted on the streets around Broadway & 29th Street in LIC.

All the handball courts around NYC and by extension across America owe tribute to the sport of Gaelic Handball whose origins date back to the 13th and 14th centuries in Ireland, and whose rules were standardized in the 18th century.

(above two photos from Flickr)

Of course various forms of a “hand ball” game date back to BC, with various forms being found around the globe. But the modern version you might see played at a site such as the West 4th Street Court Facilities (two pictures above) are particularly indebted to their Irish cousin-sport.

I never knew!

Until I had discussions with West Kerry-based artist Andrew Duggan about his exhibition which is imminently ending (tomorrow!) at the Irish Arts Center on Manhattan’s west side. A site-specific video artist, I can only hope this video gets another NYC screening, because it really has a lot to do with sport & class & other issues that many New York City residents are effected by and talk about – issues of ownership, property, social recreation, public assembly, and most directly (but in an obtuse fashion) the notion of revitalizing communities and rebuilding formerly abandoned and derelict sites (i.e. for lack of a better word, gentrification).

A very simple installation of two juxtaposed video projections. The image on the right appears still but is a moving image (cars driving in the background, shadows fluctuating), of a handball court in NYC (recognizable by the maple leaf Parks logo in the upper corners of the wall, with accompanying fractured concrete) – on this screen sometimes two players emerge and hit a couple rounds of ball, their figures completely silhouetted against the court (the viewer too is inclined to cut the plane of the image, and impose their own shadow on the court!). The image on the left, however, is the “court” you want to watch. Which is ironic given these Gaelic courts are actually designed (unlike the NYC courts which are clad in cyclone fencing) to not be watched, instead they are simply pits of concrete. But a beautifully blue-dressed lady dances (not literally, but sportfully) with an equally blue ball, confronting the daunting nature and scale of this court, sometimes taking excruciatingly long breaths in anticipation of her next attack.

Such a simple juxtaposition. But this is the power of art – a power which so few other forms of cultural production seem to yield. The ability to look at a wall and interpret it in a way that dance, music, or writing simply cannot. Even my words here fail to enunciate the meaning of these two videos. Months of focus and thinking, summed up in a couple of several minute long videos and now I have an understanding of the world in a way that cannot be undone, cannot be un-thought. The world is a strange and wonderful place, and art makes it better. Andrew makes it better!

Spotted from the pedestrian walkway on the Queensboro Bridge; this People graff is written on the pathway on the southern edge of the Queensbridge Housing projects that connects 21st Street with Vernon Boulevard. It’s orientation clearly intends for it to be read by the residents of those towers. I love it! Meant to say: People Love People. Oddly enough, the first P in People is completely faded. I’ll go down to street level and get a shot from there soon, but in the meantime you can imagine this is what it would look like:

This might be my newest favorite graff, which started with People Love You.

Long Island City is afforded many wonderful views. The now-landmarked Pepsi Cola sign. sits in front of East Coast 7. You can see the area immediately around the sign’s base and behind it for about a block is still being constructed, and full of trailers. There is plenty of construction immediately north of East Coast 7 – which hopefully will be the end of this development craze (not likely) which has been many years in the making. All gentrification issues aside, the State Gantry Park is nicely landscaped these days…

Could be a giant anaconda, or just a pile of really awesome rope!

Outside a shop on the Bowery. get your 40% for 15% off; get 10% off your next 15%, and the sign itself is 40% off for a limited time, ACT NOW!

What’s on SALE? Nobody knows!

wayward kitty spotting in Queens – some cats ran away before I could snap them, but I’ll be back! Will update the full set on my Flickr

Spotted during another one of my many tours of this wonderful town and borough!

[found on teh Interwebs]