Thursday, February 24, 2005
WEBSITES THAT KICK ASS #1: Forgotten NY
aftynoon!
In an effort to steer myself away from the self-flagellating monomania of politics and class warfare, and to add something different to my usual uninteresting rants about my life, I've decided to share with you some of my favorite websites, the ones I keep going back to because they are so incredibly fascinating, educational, or just cool to look at/listen to.
Here's the first one:
http://www.forgotten-ny.com
I've only ever been to New York City a few times, but regardless of everything I've heard about the place being a giant cellblock/insane asylum/pressure cooker/black hole for one's income, I'm utterly fascinated by it, in large part because it's so full of character. When I think of NYC, I think of a huge, diverse, gloriously grimy place that has never really molted much of its ancient skin, an anachronistic accretion of secret doorways to hidden side streets, rusted disused fire alarms, and flaking painted billboards for drugstores that haven't existed since Roosevelt was president. Seems like a wonderful place to spend a year or two wandering around and exploring.
Forgotten NY makes it easy. You don't even have to pick up from your easy chair. It helps that the guy who runs it lives there; his drive and enthusiasm for cataloguing and photographing all the curiosities hiding in plain sight within the five boroughs is just incredible. His sections on ancient street lamps and road signs are my personal favorites, along with Street Scenes and places you'd never believe you'd see in New York City. Like a country lane, for example, or a fishing village, or a sheer mountain cliff, or an untouched primeval forest that wasn't designed by architects. This urban exploration stuff is tre cool, and although Columbus has its share of neato old stuff still in place, we've done quite well in erasing most of our public antiques from the streets. For this stuff, as with many other things, New York is where it's at. Eat it up.
Next: either obsolete phone noises, dicreet shortwave radio noises, or abandoned airports.
But before that, news. Like Twiggy & Frollywog's new practice space!
In an effort to steer myself away from the self-flagellating monomania of politics and class warfare, and to add something different to my usual uninteresting rants about my life, I've decided to share with you some of my favorite websites, the ones I keep going back to because they are so incredibly fascinating, educational, or just cool to look at/listen to.
Here's the first one:
http://www.forgotten-ny.com
I've only ever been to New York City a few times, but regardless of everything I've heard about the place being a giant cellblock/insane asylum/pressure cooker/black hole for one's income, I'm utterly fascinated by it, in large part because it's so full of character. When I think of NYC, I think of a huge, diverse, gloriously grimy place that has never really molted much of its ancient skin, an anachronistic accretion of secret doorways to hidden side streets, rusted disused fire alarms, and flaking painted billboards for drugstores that haven't existed since Roosevelt was president. Seems like a wonderful place to spend a year or two wandering around and exploring.
Forgotten NY makes it easy. You don't even have to pick up from your easy chair. It helps that the guy who runs it lives there; his drive and enthusiasm for cataloguing and photographing all the curiosities hiding in plain sight within the five boroughs is just incredible. His sections on ancient street lamps and road signs are my personal favorites, along with Street Scenes and places you'd never believe you'd see in New York City. Like a country lane, for example, or a fishing village, or a sheer mountain cliff, or an untouched primeval forest that wasn't designed by architects. This urban exploration stuff is tre cool, and although Columbus has its share of neato old stuff still in place, we've done quite well in erasing most of our public antiques from the streets. For this stuff, as with many other things, New York is where it's at. Eat it up.
Next: either obsolete phone noises, dicreet shortwave radio noises, or abandoned airports.
But before that, news. Like Twiggy & Frollywog's new practice space!
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
a thought
You can compare Columbus's two major arts-politics papers to shows on FOX, thusly:
The Other Paper is The Simpsons.
Columbus Alive is Melrose Place.
The Other Paper is The Simpsons.
Columbus Alive is Melrose Place.
unaffordably cool
My curmudgeonly cynicism lives! You have been warned.
How's this for an incredulous laugh to perk up your workaday afternoon? Just saw an ad--full page--in the impossibly hip Columbus Alive for the Ice House Lofts, another of the recent glut of renovated downtown industrial dumps that are apparently our latest lameass attempt to convince everyone, or at least ourselves, that Columbus is a Major American City. You know, like New York, dude. I mean, like, lofts, dude!
The tag line of the ad, next to a stock-looking photo of a couple of hip, artsy, attractive twentysomethings, was this:
affordablycool (sic)
So how affordable is cool? I went to their website (be sure to include the "the" in the URL, otherwise you get taken to another "Ice House Lofts" in Tuscon, also playing the "cool" card...like the people I suspect they're marketing to, they may be cool, but neither one seems to be terribly original) where they provide a handy-dandy downloadable PDF of their price list.
Their cheapest units are a pair of approximately 780 square-foot postage stamps on the first floor. For just under $149,000.
Six other units of about the same size are in the $160-180k range. You break the 1000 square-foot barrier and you're talking about $200k all the way up to almost a half million bucks.
I suppose if you're some little pasty-haired shit whose parents are paying your way through CCAD and who will probably bankroll your own little Short North gallery after graduation, that would be both affordable and cool. No friggin' ratty duplexes or second-floor storefront apartments for these young paragons of cutting-edge style, no-sirree-Bob.
It does kind of make me wonder about the kind of people who presumably read Columbus Alive, though. That paper seems to be really, really enthusiastic about the whole Downtown Living craze. The whole trendy-artsy lifestyle clique, to be honest. Like that "Photo-Fashion-Fate" feature they used to run. Ugh. Sometimes I wonder why I keep picking it up every Thursday along with the relative genius of The Other Paper. (Their music and movies pages are still decent, though.)
Does anyone in this backwater realize that in places like New York many lofts are relatively low-rent shit-holes and that in any case what makes that kind of vibrant urban living the way it is is that there are poor and average-income people living there too? Even people who have no aspirations towards coolness, but who live grungily because that's the way everyone there lives?
Nope. City planners once again have their heads up their asses. They want to recreate the Big City as a Disneyland attraction. Beautiful white people with wads of money ONLY need apply.
Forget it. They can have their Ice House Lofts. I may be way poorer than the latte-brains that will flock there, but I'm also way cooler. And probably just as arrogant. I don't think we'd be good neighbors.
One more note: they didn't include an email link on their website. They don't want to hear about it. So f**k 'em!
http://www.theicehouselofts.com
How's this for an incredulous laugh to perk up your workaday afternoon? Just saw an ad--full page--in the impossibly hip Columbus Alive for the Ice House Lofts, another of the recent glut of renovated downtown industrial dumps that are apparently our latest lameass attempt to convince everyone, or at least ourselves, that Columbus is a Major American City. You know, like New York, dude. I mean, like, lofts, dude!
The tag line of the ad, next to a stock-looking photo of a couple of hip, artsy, attractive twentysomethings, was this:
affordablycool (sic)
So how affordable is cool? I went to their website (be sure to include the "the" in the URL, otherwise you get taken to another "Ice House Lofts" in Tuscon, also playing the "cool" card...like the people I suspect they're marketing to, they may be cool, but neither one seems to be terribly original) where they provide a handy-dandy downloadable PDF of their price list.
Their cheapest units are a pair of approximately 780 square-foot postage stamps on the first floor. For just under $149,000.
Six other units of about the same size are in the $160-180k range. You break the 1000 square-foot barrier and you're talking about $200k all the way up to almost a half million bucks.
I suppose if you're some little pasty-haired shit whose parents are paying your way through CCAD and who will probably bankroll your own little Short North gallery after graduation, that would be both affordable and cool. No friggin' ratty duplexes or second-floor storefront apartments for these young paragons of cutting-edge style, no-sirree-Bob.
It does kind of make me wonder about the kind of people who presumably read Columbus Alive, though. That paper seems to be really, really enthusiastic about the whole Downtown Living craze. The whole trendy-artsy lifestyle clique, to be honest. Like that "Photo-Fashion-Fate" feature they used to run. Ugh. Sometimes I wonder why I keep picking it up every Thursday along with the relative genius of The Other Paper. (Their music and movies pages are still decent, though.)
Does anyone in this backwater realize that in places like New York many lofts are relatively low-rent shit-holes and that in any case what makes that kind of vibrant urban living the way it is is that there are poor and average-income people living there too? Even people who have no aspirations towards coolness, but who live grungily because that's the way everyone there lives?
Nope. City planners once again have their heads up their asses. They want to recreate the Big City as a Disneyland attraction. Beautiful white people with wads of money ONLY need apply.
Forget it. They can have their Ice House Lofts. I may be way poorer than the latte-brains that will flock there, but I'm also way cooler. And probably just as arrogant. I don't think we'd be good neighbors.
One more note: they didn't include an email link on their website. They don't want to hear about it. So f**k 'em!
http://www.theicehouselofts.com
It's way past a new year
2005...wow. Has it really been this long since I've posted a blog here? The whole run-up to the elec(trocu)tion took a lot out of me physically and emotionally, and now that I've gotten used to the idea of another four years of the Rich Reich, life doesn't seem quite as bad. They get four more years to irrevocably f**k themselves, to demonstrate to the American people exactly what they voted for. So I'll just sit back and watch the demolition derby from the comfort of my perch in exile. I take comfort in knowing that in all likelihood the GOP's amen corner, high on it's own perceived almightiness, will end up like Tony Montana at the end of Scarface. Hell, Howard Dean is the DNC leader now...and the Republicans are chortling that it's a good thing for them . I can't wait for 2008. Revenge will be indeed sweet. Yeah, baby!
But I'm not going there right now, or anytime soon. I decided a long time ago that I'm not gonna let politics and world events infect my blog, or my life in general, anymore. Politics are unhealthy, that's why we leave it to politicians, right? So from now on I'm gonna concentrate on my own navel, so to speak! My own pitiful little world and its own pitiful little happenings and ruminations on various things. This is gonna be my thinking-allowed--er, aloud--scratch pad.
SO
Best news of the year so far is that my sweetie is coming to live with me! Juneish, once the school year ends (the kids she takes care of, not hers). Humanity knows no happiness greater than sharing your life and home with that one of the compatible sex who you really, really, really, really dig. I have a lot of shit to clean out, though. And I need a new bed.
I got a visit from a police officer last night telling me that my regular Tuesday night practice with Twiggy & Frollywog was over, and that if they got one more complaint about the noise I was gonna be in trouble. So it looks like I'll be gaining a room and losing my unlimited access to Jason's drumkit. Funny thing was, while we were brooding and grumbling on the front stoop with an open Killian's Red apiece, loud drum practicing was pouring from an attic window next door. I considered calling the cops on them, maybe posing as one of my goody-goody little college kid neighbors (who don't seem to complain when there are raging keg parties in the neighborhood...probably because they're there, crocked on Bud Light and chanting "O-H! I-O! Wooooooo!" while I'm trying to get some sleep). I'm damned if I'm gonna be singled out for abuse.
I stupidly messed up the Panasonic miniDV camera that I got on eBay for only $81 plus shipping, less than a week after receiving it. Video feedback experiments. This never happened to me before. It may be cheaper to try to find another camera--Electrasound charges $40 just to look at the thing. And I was all excited about the possibilities, too. Having a camcorder was gonna be the Big Creative Liberator. A whole new medium to explore! Experimental light show effects! My own little El Mariachi on the cheap! Video of my next dive vacation! Unlimited video feedback experiments! Oops.
Shows lately have been going quite well for both bands. Floorian's show in Dayton last Saturday with Lab Partners was a success, except for the cord popping out when I played bass on "Waiting For It." Lab Partners are formidable. Twiggy of course is as solid as can be. This new Peavey amp I bought a few months ago has been a godsend, at least ever since I figured out what the T-Dynamics knob actually does.
Finally, a declaration:
Being a nerd is the coolest thing in the world!
I will elucidate on that subject, perhaps, in the near future, if I remember to bother regularly writing here. I will sure try.
It's great to be back!
Back to work now.
But I'm not going there right now, or anytime soon. I decided a long time ago that I'm not gonna let politics and world events infect my blog, or my life in general, anymore. Politics are unhealthy, that's why we leave it to politicians, right? So from now on I'm gonna concentrate on my own navel, so to speak! My own pitiful little world and its own pitiful little happenings and ruminations on various things. This is gonna be my thinking-allowed--er, aloud--scratch pad.
SO
Best news of the year so far is that my sweetie is coming to live with me! Juneish, once the school year ends (the kids she takes care of, not hers). Humanity knows no happiness greater than sharing your life and home with that one of the compatible sex who you really, really, really, really dig. I have a lot of shit to clean out, though. And I need a new bed.
I got a visit from a police officer last night telling me that my regular Tuesday night practice with Twiggy & Frollywog was over, and that if they got one more complaint about the noise I was gonna be in trouble. So it looks like I'll be gaining a room and losing my unlimited access to Jason's drumkit. Funny thing was, while we were brooding and grumbling on the front stoop with an open Killian's Red apiece, loud drum practicing was pouring from an attic window next door. I considered calling the cops on them, maybe posing as one of my goody-goody little college kid neighbors (who don't seem to complain when there are raging keg parties in the neighborhood...probably because they're there, crocked on Bud Light and chanting "O-H! I-O! Wooooooo!" while I'm trying to get some sleep). I'm damned if I'm gonna be singled out for abuse.
I stupidly messed up the Panasonic miniDV camera that I got on eBay for only $81 plus shipping, less than a week after receiving it. Video feedback experiments. This never happened to me before. It may be cheaper to try to find another camera--Electrasound charges $40 just to look at the thing. And I was all excited about the possibilities, too. Having a camcorder was gonna be the Big Creative Liberator. A whole new medium to explore! Experimental light show effects! My own little El Mariachi on the cheap! Video of my next dive vacation! Unlimited video feedback experiments! Oops.
Shows lately have been going quite well for both bands. Floorian's show in Dayton last Saturday with Lab Partners was a success, except for the cord popping out when I played bass on "Waiting For It." Lab Partners are formidable. Twiggy of course is as solid as can be. This new Peavey amp I bought a few months ago has been a godsend, at least ever since I figured out what the T-Dynamics knob actually does.
Finally, a declaration:
Being a nerd is the coolest thing in the world!
I will elucidate on that subject, perhaps, in the near future, if I remember to bother regularly writing here. I will sure try.
It's great to be back!
Back to work now.
