Saturday, July 24, 2004
Shot 66 Times And Happy About It...
Good morning, and it is indeed. Rain pitter-patters outside, but inside I bask in my cocoon of art, music, air conditioning and good vibes... Thomas sent me all the pictures from our photo shoot Sunday, and I am blown away. I've put nine of my favorites on a special page for you to see. This should get me some dates! Speaking of Thomas, it turns out he's been living downstairs from the 'bomb cop,' an unhinged 9/11 crew survivor that allegedly planted a pipe bomb in the 42nd St subway Monday and burned himself 'rescuing the public' from it... Read about it in his Thursday post.
Facing Windows with Christi... Braving sheets of rain Christi and I took in a great Italian mystery/character film at the 70s-drenched, seat-bucket art house known as the Quad. "Facing Windows" is about young woman in a strained marriage whose husband takes in a lost elderly amnesiac, and who is attracted to the Clark-Kent-like young man whose window faces hers across the courtyard. Unfolding at a meandering but engaging pace, this story leads to some unexpected places.
It is not at all Hitchcockean suspense, despite some traces of "Rear Windows," but it is heartfelt, thoughtful and emotionally honest. It swept Italy's film awards this year, and I highly recommend that you see it if you can..this entry's permalink
Friday, July 23, 2004
They've Got The Land...
...But We've Got The View
Freedom With Brownie Points... Yesterday, my 35th Floor deal marathon ended with a whimper. Despite being 85% done, unforeseen circumstances have pushed the project back to early September. But I added value and earned gratitude. Hope it does eventually happen... My thoughts turned to photography as the project's 30 bankers, laywers, customers, and go-fers began to mentally check out and disperse. 
Here's the Unilever building from an interesting angle. Above, the view southward down Park Avenue, with photographer Aaron superimposed. Quote del Giorno:
"My breasts are not actresses." - Liv Ullmann
Here's an odd aerial of Central Synagogue, an jewel of 19th century architecture which houses New York's longest runing Jewish congregation. Note the exquisite twin domes. The "twin" theme is a New York classic, with several dozen twin ornaments and buildings over the years, including of course WTC:
Modern Art, Corporate Cafeteria:
Finally, 350 Park Avenue, with its "new hat" following a 1990s facelift, and in the 1980s when I worked there:
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Thursday, July 22, 2004
Way Cool...
I was delighted to see, as I arrived home sleep-deprived from another intense day on the deal team, this amazing photo of me on my friend Thomas' photoblog, with a nice note. Thomas also snapped the lovely masthead photo in this blog's upper left corner, of me in my checkered shirt. He really captures something essential in his photo portraits, I think. I can literally feel my personality radiating from this photo... Quote del Día
"Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case, the idea is quite staggering." - Arthur C. Clarke
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Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Kaleidoscope Spin Cycle
Quote of the Day
"Hey, I'm a simple man. I may not be able to point out Canada on a map but I know one thing ... It has too many bears" - Ted Nugent, singer-songwriter and Michigan luminary : - )
My sleep-deprived brain feels like a Kaleidoscope Spin Cycle... Why is Stevie Nicks doing chiropractor advertisements? :- ) ... hmmm 'hmmm' in Russian is 'gmmm.' I'm gearing up for another marathon day with the lawyers, the bankers, and the endless proofreading and bickering over semantics. High up on the 35th floor, looking south over East Midtown. The view out the panoramic window includes the tippy top of the UN and the pasted-on ornament that tops 350 Park Ave (could only find a picture of what it used to look like, see below), my very first workplace 22 years ago. ABBA would pronounce ago with an accent on the 'o.' I always found ABBA's cluelessness about English tonic stress to be one of their charms. this entry's permalink
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
(16 Hour Work-)Day Of The Friend
Just worked my first grueling 16 hour day -yes, 16, from 7:45am to 12 midnight, in quite a long time. I was sequestered on a deal with a conference room full of lawyers and businesspeople, high up on the 35th floor of a Park Avenue landmark building. I was basically hostage to a make-or-break deal for my team, working beyond my normal research duties. My mind is like jello, my muscles are wobbly, I ate cookies all day and about 13 lbs of Sushi when dinner finally arrived at 9:30pm. Not healthy. But temporary, thank goodness. It resumes tomorrow at 8am. And, oh yes, in a suit and tie!Ironically, July 20 is Friendship Day (Dia del Amigo) in Argentina, a day for celebrating personal connections, not burying oneself in work. I exchanged sweet message with my ex Andres, my friend Celia.. Celia informs me that the actual inspiration for Friendship Day was the July 20, 1969 'one giant step for mankind' - the lunar landing whose anniversary seems to have been forgotten amidst the campaign and conventions and security hubbub. In Argentina, restaurants are booked as friends go out to celebrate. Picture above is me, semi-celebratory in Paris, in one of the world's more beautiful restaurant bathrooms. I look like I've had a bit of Merlot. : - ) Well, bed time now...
p.s. If I had read the High Line site, I would have known in advance that police are agressively ticketing and arresting trespassers. Click here to see the High Line's four finalist designs and the other 716 entries, with 36 countries represented.
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LameNet
Remember my LA trip a month ago, when I wrote "I am writing this on the TV in my room, the only internet access offered here"? And I noted that "I enjoy the novelty though it is cumbersome. This is to interet access what an attic is to a penthouse. My analogy du jour. " Here, then, are two pictures I snapped of "Lame Internet."
Speaking of Cyber-lameness, my work is now blocking my blog server! ugggh! They're also blocking, Gothamist, my alternative blog news source. Well, that won't keep me from posting. Just like the musical group !!! said about Giuliani: "he can sick his lackeys on me / but he can't stop a new age dawning.."Quote du Jour:
"I think that everybody, to a certain extent, uses humor to hide behind, and I think Jews are particularly good at it. I'm not trying to suggest that there is anything bad about hiding behind something for the purpose of comedy. I think it's a device to take us away from the pain of living." - Jonathan Katz, 1947
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Monday, July 19, 2004
Today's Quote du Jour seems apt given my recent adventure. : - )
"Trouble has a habit of finding me and I have a habit of embracing it when it does." - G. Gordon Liddy, former White House aide and convicted Watergate felon.
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"Trouble has a habit of finding me and I have a habit of embracing it when it does." - G. Gordon Liddy, former White House aide and convicted Watergate felon.
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Sunday, July 18, 2004
Aaron Nabbed By Federal Agent On High Line (!)
Well, I wanted to be adventurous... Like any self-respecting NYC-based blogger and photographer, I wanted to experience the lovely, abandoned urban anomaly on sticks that is the High Line. For my non-NYC readers, the High Line is a defunct elevated freight railway (pictured left) that citizens are fighting to preserve as a park and promenade, fighting obtuse developers that wanted to tear it down. It's private property, yes, I knew that.. But it beckoned, and off I went, in Exclesior mode, with my camera and my mp3 player. 
So I headed for the Greyhound bus yard at 34th St and West Side Highway, as suggested by Gothamist, a NYC-themed blog. That's where the elevated railway touches ground, before climbing 20 feet up and extending over a mile southward, all the way to Gansevoort St in the Village, mostly running between 10th and 11th avenues. I snuck through between two large trailers (pictured left)and climbed up an embankment, on to the tracks. 
Exhilerated, I began my way upward, between the rails, among the weeds and wildflowers and shattered beer bottles, past flies, butterflies, and the occasional bee, and took a few pictures, shown left and below. I'd gone about 100 feet when a loud, angry voice from below insisted that I 'get down here right now' and inquired what the hell I was doing. Startled, I looked down and saw a uniformed agent with a gun. I froze, and he reiterated, or rather shouted, that I'd better come down and not try to run away. Alas, descending his side of the tracks involved a 10 foot drop with not much to grasp on the way down. And descend, I did, landing unharmed, and I went to face an irate federal agent. 
With his vocal chords on volume 10, the agent pointed to the 'no trespassing' posters and told me I could spend the next three days in jail, or just receive a summons, if I was lucky. He took my driver's license. I think I handled myself very well. I was calm, sober, polite, respectful and projected the aura of a decent person caught doing something admittedly dumb but not really harmful. I didn't speak much. He read me the riot act, and asked me questions, including why I did it (because it was pretty, I answered), where I worked, if I was working for lawyers, architects, or any of the many interested parties in the High Line struggle. 
In the end, he was lenient, giving me a summons to appear in Community Court, which, similar to a speeding ticket, will not go on my record or be reported to my employer. I signed the summons (see copy below) as requested, took a copy and my license, apologized, and walked home. Not quite the adventure I had hoped for, but at least I saw a small corner of the High Line. Happily, Friends of the High Line appear to be winning the battle, and I suspect that the rustly rails will house a beautifully green and serene urban promenade by the end of the decade. I'll have to make a contribution. This, by the way, made me the second Friend of The High Line to face prison in two days. Yes, that's right, Martha is a Friend. : - ) Today my blog is exactly six months old! What a way to celebrate....
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