Month: August 2008

There was a guy on the roof next door talking on the phone and eyeing me warily as I took pictures.  Probably making drug deals. (More likely complaining about his roommate where they couldn’t hear.)

This is a picture of artist/filmmaker Julian Schnabel’s building.  I was admiring it the other night at the party, and everyone else was saying the pink was ugly, but you couldn’t tell at night.  I agree that the pink is not as nice during the day, but I still love it.  I think it’s one of the prettiest buildings in my part of town.

The pictures this camera takes are astounding, but I don’t think you can tell after I’ve shrunk them down in size and resolution for the web.

Also, I didn’t like the exposure it was choosing for a lot of shots, although I could see why it chose what it did. But I have to learn how to control everything manually.  It’s interesting that the better the quality, the more I can tell what I don’t like.  This camera may have been over-kill if all I do is shoot for the web and shrink them down.

Here’s another shot of the Schnabel building, which gives a more accurate representation of the distance between us.  I wish I could remember what people were saying about it, something along the lines of he’s been importing it brick by brick from some place in Italy, a la William Randolph Hearst and San Simeon.

Mark asked me in email to take more pictures of the place where I live, so from now on every day I will take a picture of something or other as I walk around New York.

Today I went to the Circuit City in Union Square to get a memory card for this new camera. So here is a quick shot of Union Square. I noticed a new building going up. With the Empire State Building right there for inspiration, that’s the best they can do?? I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t know what the building is to the right, but it’s pretty.  I should have taken a shot that showed more people.

Here’s some people.  As I went in to get memory, all these people were lining up.  “What are you lining up for?” “Shwayze is going to be there to sign their new album.” Never heard of them.  I just googled them.  Not for me.

I also picked up the drawings Craig McPherson did of me (many years ago), all gorgeously framed. I agonized about where to put them, I mean, I am naked after all. But me aside, they are beautiful drawings—the frames alone are works of art. I was so astounded at how exquisitely the frames came out the guy took me down to where the frames were made to show me how they hand applied and burnished the gold leaf. This is the same outfit that does the framing for the Metropolitan Museum of Art to give you an idea of who we’re talking about here. They are Gerlach Frames, Inc., 309 Nassau Avenue, 718-486-8836, in case you want to get the absolute best frames out there.

I decided these drawings must be hung where they will be seen, so in the living room they went. My first picture with my new camera shows the spot I chose. (It’s also one of Buddy’s favorite places to hang out.) This picture, obviously, doesn’t do justice to Craig’s drawings. I posted a better shot of one of them here. And for more about Craig McPherson, you can go to his website here.

It also doesn’t do justice to what the camera can do, but I’ve just begun exploring.

I’m always cutting and pasting bits and pieces of things I read. Like the other day I saved this:

“On the basis of their measurements, the team concluded that if the photons had communicated, they must have done so at least 100,000 times faster than the speed of light — something nearly all physicists thought would be impossible. In other words, these photons cannot know about each other through any sort of normal exchange of information.”

I thought experiments like this had been done many times and weren’t news. This was a reminder to read the whole article and figure out what’s what. But the snippet I want to talk about is this:

LONG ISLAND COUPLE KILLED IN SINGLE-ENGINE PLANE CRASH

“A Westhampton couple were killed in a plane crash in Massachusetts; a third person was also killed. The flight was an “angel flight,” via Angel Flight, the non-profit that flies people to medical centers for free; the couple (the husband had cancer) was headed to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.”

That same morning I was on the subway, and for a minute the car went much faster than usual. For a second I thought, ‘run away subway car,’ and got scared. This is how you die sometimes, out of the blue. It’s a day like any other and than bam, your subway car goes out of control and you’re dead. It’s over. You never saw it coming. No time to prepare.

That couple (and my brief scare) reminded me of this picture I saw of Princess Diana and Mother Theresa shortly after Mother Theresa died. This young beautiful woman and this very, very, very, old woman. When it was taken, if Diana thought about it at all, she would have thought that she had her whole life ahead of her and Mother Theresa was at the end of hers. But in reality, they were both at the end of their lives and died within days of each other. Mother Theresa died on September 5, 1997, and Diana died on August 31, 1997.

Same with the wife in this poor Westhampton couple. She was thinking her husband was the one in danger, and she was probably heartsick about him, but they must have boarded that plane full of hope, and then bam. They’re both dead. And even if she was full of hope, he was supposed to be the one that maybe would soon die and like that, she’s dead too.

Ha. Cheerful, huh? Yes, you can thank me for this Monday morning pick-me-up thought of the day. Sorry.

The picture is an isight camera shot of a picture of Civil War veterans that hangs next to my desk. My grandmother and great grandmother are in the shot. They were members of the Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War (which I joined to learn what I could about my ancestors).

First, thank you Susan Brownmiller for the great party last night.  Susan threw a party for me (thanking me for Echo) and Jackie (her birthday). Great food, great company, saw a bunch of people I haven’t seen in a while.  But of course I didn’t have a camera to take pictures to show you.

Then, yesterday, on my way to the gym there was an explosion on 13th Street.  A big boom, the ground shook, the area filled with smoke!  A tourist bus happened to be there right then and I wondered if they thought, “So this is New York.” There was a second smaller boom shortly after, the place was filled with firemen and cops.  But of course I didn’t have a camera to take pictures to show you.

Very frustrating.  I think my camera might arrive tomorrow.  Can’t wait.  I took this picture of the flowers on my desk with my isight camera.  But man, not having a camera at the party was particularly hard.  One, I would have liked to take have been able to take pictures of the people there to prove I have friends, and two, you just wouldn’t believe the view Susan has.  She has this wrap-around terrace on the top floor of her building and it’s mind-blowingly paranoramic of downtown/West Village Manhattan.

Explosion Info:  It was from an electrical fire underground.  One of the explosions was from a manhole cover blowing.  I don’t know about the second, smaller one.