2010

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Photographs Of Old-Timey Train Wrecks

October 5, 2010 in Photography, Urban Studies | Permalink

I hope no train ever goes off a track again, but there can’t be any harm in looking at these spectacular photos of train wrecks from days of yore, which can be found on Wikimedia. Clicking on the images will create larger versions.

Montparnasse: Brake failure caused a steam train to crash through the station in 1895. (Image by Studio Lévy and Sons.)

Indiana: The Hammond Circus Train Wreck of 1918 occurred due to a conductor falling asleep. There were eighty-six deaths. Fashionably dressed people examine the carnage.

Tennessee: "Nearly A Hundred Killed In A Wreck," read the headlines in Nashville after this 1918 head-on collision. (Image from "The Tennessean.")

Canaan, New Hampshire: The Quebec and Boston express crashed on a foggy 1907 morning. Twenty-five fatalities.

Garrison, New York: Twenty-one people died in 1897. It was never decided whether this wreck was caused by derailment or an embankment failure. (Image by George Eastman House Collection.)

Exclusive: Larry King Talking Into A Breadstick At The Olive Garden

October 5, 2010 in Fake, Humor | Permalink

Bonnie Hunt just brought me a Chicken Marsala. (Image by Chad J. McNeeley.)

He was once one of the most highly paid and ill-prepared hosts on television, but these days Larry King is known as that creepy old guy at the Olive Garden who keeps trying to interview people with a breadstick. When a group from the office is trying to celebrate someone’s birthday, Larry King plops himself down and tells them that they are on the air with Ryan Secrest, even though they’re not.

The manager at the Olive Garden was sort of thrilled the first time Larry King walked into the restaurant. You don’t see too many celebrities there. He took a photo with Larry King and hung it on the wall. But now he pretty much calls the police as soon as Larry King pulls into the parking lot.

Hot, tasty microphones.

Larry King thinks his waitress is Lady Gaga. Yeah, his waitress is blond, but she’s also a 48-year-old mother of five. He probably should realize the difference. Larry just asked his waitress if she wrote “Poker Face” because she likes playing poker. She just wants to take his order and finish her shift, but Larry King finds her “entrancing, one of her generation’s most exciting performers.”

Larry King thinks the kitchen is his dressing room, and he hangs out in his underpants and regales the cooks with stories of his days running around Miami with Jackie Gleason. Most of them are trying to put poison in his Lasagna Classico. They long for his death.

Larry King really needs this Olive Garden gig to work out, even though it’s not really a gig. He stares out of the window in fear that Anderson Cooper or Piers Morgan is arriving. But it’s just the police, so he quickly pulls on his trousers.

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    If Celebrities Were From The Midwest…

    October 5, 2010 in Excerpts | Permalink

    Johnny Depp: Jack Sparrow as a mountain of fudge. (Image by Karl Jefferson.)

    What do you do when something seems both cruel and sort of true? You post it, of course. Go here to see an incredibly funny gallery of Karl Jefferson’s reimaginings of what stars would look like if they lived in the Midwest. It’s eerily effective. (Thanks to Newmark’s Door and Jeremy Enke.)

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    Featured Video: Bruce Lee Playing Ping Pong

    October 5, 2010 in Sports, Videos | Permalink

    Videos of Bruce Lee playing ping pong (really well) with nunchucks surface occasionally, but they’re always amazing to watch. How exactly did he do it?

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    Smartass Steals 40,000 Hotel Hangers

    October 4, 2010 in Excerpts, Urban Studies | Permalink

    Chrysler's reason for stealing 40,000 clothes hangers: "I had 40,000 coats which I needed to hang up." (Image by Jhansonxi.)

    This British guy, who claims his name is Arnold Chrysler, stole 40,000 hangers from hotels around the world, even though the hangers were useless outside of the hotel closets. He was arrested and brought to court where he made a mockery of the proceedings. Miles Kington of the Independent was on hand to get the story. An excerpt:

    “Counsel: What is your name?

    Chrysler: Chrysler. Arnold Chrysler.

    Counsel: Is that your own name?

    Chrysler: Whose name do you think it is?

    Counsel: I am just asking if it is your name.

    Chrysler: And I have just told you it is. Why do you doubt it?

    Counsel: It is not unknown for people to give a false name in court.

    Chrysler: Which court?

    Counsel: This court.

    Chrysler: What is the name of this court?

    Counsel: This is No 5 Court.

    Chrysler: No, that is the number of this court. What is the name of this court?

    Counsel: It is quite immaterial what the name of this court is!

    Chrysler: Then perhaps it is immaterial if Chrysler is really my name.

    Counsel: No, not really, you see because…

    Judge: Mr Lovelace?

    Counsel: Yes, m’lud?

    Judge: I think Mr Chrysler is running rings round you already. I would try a new line of attack if I were you.

    Counsel: Thank you, m’lud.

    Chrysler: And thank you from ME, m’lud. It’s nice to be appreciated.

    Judge: Shut up, witness.“

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    Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

    October 4, 2010 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

    "Ima laugh."

    iced out jesus piece 15 carets – $2700 (fordham rd)

    I have a white gold 14k canary princess cut jesus head..it has 15 caret yellow diamonds and wieghs 55 grams of 14k white gold….price is 2700 this piece will run u $5000 easy in any jewlery store the way the price of gold and diamonds are rising….we can meet in any jewlery store u like garenteed u cant find this cheaper anywhere else….will only trade for an invisible setting cross with clean stones in it…or let me know what u have to trade if its garbage and u know it dont waist ur time ima laugh…email me with ur # and ill call asap if its legit….i took 3 pics with no light so u can see how good it looks in the dark and 1 pic with the light on…do not email me with offers like a phone or computer or corney shit..only trade would be a princess cut cross….and i will not ship to ur dieing mother in india….

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    Classic DVD: Brief Encounter (1945)

    October 3, 2010 in Film | Permalink

    Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard look longingly at one another. Noel Coward adapted the screenplay from his one-act 1936 stage drama, "Still Life."

    One of film’s most beautiful and bittersweet romances, Brief Encounter is an adaptation of a Noel Coward stage play about the unconsummated affair between a married doctor and a bored housewife, both of whom feel an indescribable lack in their lives. A taut film by David Lean with none of the director’s late-career trademark sweep, this drama proves you don’t have to go very far to travel great distances.

    Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson), a suburban British housewife with a dependable husband and two handsome children, has a chance meeting with married doctor Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard) in a railroad tea shop. After another chance meeting, they begin to realize that they fill an emotional void in each other’s life, one that they had only suspected existed before they met. The couple spends several Thursdays together, enjoying lunch, seeing movies and running through the shadowy rail station to catch their trains so that their spouses won’t suspect their dalliance. But the warm glow of their “affair” soon turns dark. Down deep they realize that it’s not only their trains–but their lives–that are heading in opposite directions.

    Lean is better known for his epics about great men trying to conquer the world, most notably Lawrence of Arabia. But if Brief Encounter doesn’t have T.E. Lawrence raging against every grain of sand in the desert, it has has a pair of mere mortals who rage just the same and their failure to change their own little worlds feels no less shattering. (Available from Netflix and other outlets.)

    • To learn about the current Broadway stage production of Brief Encounter, read the review by my former colleague, the excellent New York Post theater critic Elisabeth Vincentelli.

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    Old Print Article: “A Blind Steeple Jack,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1902)

    October 2, 2010 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

    "The blind man has sold 3,880 pounds of peanuts and 31,000 popcorn balls." (Image by Jack Dykinga.)

    Most of these old print articles I bring you are about monkeys burglarizing apartments and immigrants brawling in barber shops, but this one from the January 9, 1902 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle is really heartwarming. The Eagle reprints an account from a Midwestern newspaper about a remarkable blind man who resided in Kokomo, Indiana. An excerpt:

    “William Brinkman, the Kokomo, Indiana, blind man, who two years ago married Jennie Lamb, who beside being blind, is totally paralyzed, has disarmed his critics, who insisted that he had his hands full in taking care of himself without assuming additional burdens. In two years, Brinkman, unaided by charity, has paid for a home and improved it to a present worth of $800. The blind man has sold 3,880 pounds of peanuts and 31,000 popcorn balls. After preparing the morning meal and guiding the food to the mouth of the helpless wife, he rolls the peanut roaster downtown, returning home at noon and night for the other meals. He does all the housekeeping.

    Beside that, he tunes pianos, repairs clocks and organs. Recently he took an organ of 420 pieces apart, cleaned it and had it together and playing in four hours. He declines all offers of charity. A short time ago Mr. Brinkman performed the perilous feat of climbing the Court House tower and repairing the town clock, when experts had failed. Mr. and Mrs. Brinkman became acquainted at the state blind school and with them it was a case of ‘love at first sight,’ as both expressed it.”

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    Featured Video: “Are You The Favorite Person Of Anybody?” (2005)

    October 2, 2010 in Videos | Permalink

    Miranda July and Miguel Arteta made this poignant 4-minute film while July was editing her feature, Me and You and Everyone We Know. John C. Reilly and Mike White assist. July is the first person to approach Reilly in the movie.

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    Miscellaneous Media: Postcard To Mrs. Frank Houston. Cincinnati, Ohio, 45243. (1986)

    October 2, 2010 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

    On back of postcard: "Pompano Beach, Florida. This beautiful view depicts the glamour of living along the Waterway, with lush green trees and picturesque swimming pool. NOW THAT'S LIVING."

    (Postcard purchased for 25 cents at a Brooklyn flea market.)

    “Dear Birdie,

    Thanks so much for letting us know about Ruth. She seemed to be pretty good when I was up there. I thought she would lick it. Please keep me informed. You are always so good at that and I appreciate it. Can’t reach Kay. She is being operated on at Duke University around this time so that’s perhaps where she is.

    Stay healthy. We sure plan to.

    Love, Margaret”

    More Miscellaneous Media:

  • Christmas postcard from 1985.
  • Brochure from Rio Motel in Wildwood, New Jersey. (2004)
  • Jim Otto 1965 Topps football card.
  • Miniature Aircraft Quarterly. (1998)
  • Howeird Stern 50 Ways to Rank Your Mother LP. (1982)
  • A Knight’s Hard Day. (1964)
  • The Lowbrow Reader remembers Ol’ Dirty Bastard. (2004)
  • LP record about the 1972 Oakland A’s.
  • Madison Square Garden professional wrestling program. (1981)
  • Spy magazine. (1989)
  • Artis Gilmore ABA basketball card. (1973-74)
  • San Francisco cable car ticket stub. (1990s)
  • Bronx high school newspaper. (1947)
  • Mad magazine. (1966)
  • Vancouver Blazers hockey guide. (1974-75)
  • John Hummer NBA card. (1973)
  • Carolina Cougars ABA Yearbook. (1970)
  • The Washington Senators MLB Yearbook. (1968)
  • Ugandan currency with Idi Amin’s picture. (1973)
  • Tom Van Arsdale basketball card. (1970)
  • “Okie from Muskogee” sheet music. (1969)
  • California Golden Seals hockey magazine. (1972)
  • Beatles Film Festival Magazine (1978)
  • ABA Pictorial (1968-69)
  • Tom Seaver’s Baseball Is My Life. (1973)
  • Hockey Digest (1973)
  • World’s Fair Guide (1964)
  • World’s Fair Guide (1939)
  • Buffalo Braves Yearbook (1972-73)
  • New York Nets Yearbook (1976-77)
  • “Tom Dooley” sheet music.

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    “Highlights” From Another Week Of Afflictor Crap

    October 1, 2010 in Misc. | Permalink

    Afflictor: Making young Tajikistan starlets give that come-hither look since 2009. (Image by Steve Evans.)

    Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

    October 1, 2010 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

    "Coir" is the stiff, coarse fiber from the outer husk of a coconut. (Image by Kulmalukko.)

    RARE CHINESE Coir Raincoat c.1890 – $450 (anywhere NYC)

    Southern China, Late 19th century. Approximately 52″ X 44″ Coconut Palm Fiber. Excellent Condition. Not only is this coat rare, but the original hat to the coat is with it and I am throwing it in together. Serious collectors with cash only.

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    “We Know For Certain That She Was Very Good At Ice Cream”

    October 1, 2010 in Books, Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

    Mary Mallon, foreground, is forced to lie in quarantine in New York City in 1909.

    In page number and detail, Typhoid Mary: An Urban Historical is the thinnest book of chef-writer Anthony Bourdain’s career–though it’s not really his fault. Even though she was the most infamous carrier of typhoid fever during the early 1900s, there isn’t a whole lot of historical documentation about Mary Mallon. The lethal cook was an Irish immigrant who prepared food in NYC households and hospitals. She never developed the illness herself but passed it along to others who ate her meals. There were fifty-three cases and three deaths attributed to her.

    What was most perplexing is that health authorities couldn’t get her to stop working as a cook (which she did sometimes under pseudonyms). She simply refused to believe that she was spreading the illness. Mallon was forcibly quarantined twice and died during her long second separation from the general public. Bourdain is left to fill in the blanks with supposition. An excerpt from his 2001 book about the confection that likely allowed Mallon to transmit the disease to so many people:

    “We know for certain that she was very good at ice cream. Peach ice cream in particular was well-remembered–even by her victims. Sadly, it was exactly this specialty that was the probable source of transmission for many of her victims. As Soper correctly points out, cooked food, by the time it reaches cooking temperature, would have killed any typhoid germs Mary may have transferred. Ice cream and raw peaches, however, would have been a very attractive medium. The relatively high number of fellow servants afflicted suggests that chambermaids and laundresses, passing through Mary’s kitchen, might have grabbed a piece of raw fruit, nicked a raw string bean, stuck a finger in a tub of ice cream on occasion–which would explain their higher ratio of infection.”

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    Afflictor Nation: Canada Defeats Great Britain

    October 1, 2010 in Misc. | Permalink

    We're Afflictor Nation champions! (Image by Jonathan Pope.)

    It was a close battle in September to see which country would have the most citizens visit to the idiotic site known as Afflictor. In the end, Canada was able to snare that uncoveted title for the third month running, fending off a furious finish by Great Britain. The problem with our neighbors to the North winning again is that I think I ran out of Canada jokes about two months ago. So, instead of mocking that cold-as-fuck country, I’ll just list all the foreign nations that visited the site this month. Thank you all, even those of you that are truly backwards and embarrassing:

    Canada, Great Britain, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Russian Federation, Australia, France, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Ukraine, India, Lebanon, Argentina, Denmark, Switzerland, Turkey, Sweden, Japan, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Finland, Belgium, Republic of Serbia, China, Norway, Latvia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Malta, Croatia, Estonia, Romania, Kuwait, Hungary, Slovak Republic, Egypt, Hong Kong, Iran, Tunisia, Ecuador, Chile. Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Azerbaidjan, Singapore, Angola, Dominican Republic, Bulgaria, Guatemala, Uruguay, Peru, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Oman, Lithuania, Cyprus, Vietnam, Nigeria, South Korea.

    Illiterate Clown Running For Brazilian Congress

    September 30, 2010 in Excerpts | Permalink

    Even when he's not in costume, Francisco loves hilariousness. (Image by Sérgio Savaman Savarese)

    Brazilian clown Francisco Silva may not be able to read or write, but it looks like he’s a shoo-in to win a seat in the Brazilian Congress. Silva, who performs as “Tiririca” (which means “Grumpy” in Portuguese), ia running an anti-incumbent Youtube campaign that has him leading his opponents in polls. But there is one problem: It is said he can’t read or write and the Brazilian Constitution disqualifies people who are illiterate from serving in office. An excerpt from the Google News story:

    “Brazilians seem eager to put a clown in Congress, according to the polls. But the courts are taking a less jovial look at a new report that the comic doesn’t meet a legal requirement that lawmakers be able to read and write.

    The Brazilian Constitution mandates that members of Congress must be literate, and prosecutors said Monday they want to force Tiririca — a name that means “grumpy” in colloquial Portuguese — to disprove the allegations. Otherwise, he could be tossed from office if he wins.

    Tiririca, whose real name is Francisco Silva, has been this electoral season’s hit in Brazil, drawing millions of viewers on YouTube to his campaign ads. His slogans include, ‘It can’t get any worse,” and “What does a federal deputy do? Truly, I don’t know. But vote for me and you’ll find out.’

    Polls show he is likely to win more votes for Brazil’s lower house than any other candidate, upward of 1 million ballots.”

    Juan Mejias And The Art Of The Shoe

    September 30, 2010 in Urban Studies | Permalink

    "The most difficult to reproduce would be both the Golfing Shoes and the Bowling Shoes." (Image courtesy of Juan Mejias.)

    The Puerto Rican artist and inventor Juan Mejias is a dreamer who thinks up ideas for self-regenerating electric automobiles, guns that police can use to fire a tracking microchip into fleeing cars and functional shoes that are also sculptures. (He has created prototypes for his unusual footwear and is looking for venture capital to mass produce them.) I will likely never wear “shoendals,” but I still admire his diverse ideas. About.com interviewed Mejias. An excerpt:

    “I got started with shoes looking for new and different types of sculptures. By using the shape of the shoes and altering it to look like something else, I managed to create a type of wearable art that did not eliminate the basic use of a shoe. I don’t wear them because the existing ones are prototypes to be mass-produced if and when I can get venture capital or a company interested in buying my designs. I have not set a price on them yet because my original intent for those designs is other markets. If there were a serious art collector interested in them, I would consider reproducing a pair or two. The most difficult to reproduce (therefore most expensive) would be both the Golfing Shoes and the Bowling Shoes. The least difficult ones would be The Bum and the Shoendals. I also have all those designs and some new ones printed over socks. The CO2 brakes are gas powered hand-held brakes, which will stop my Race Car Shoes when they are being used as roller skates.”

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    The Spooky Beauty Of Nevada Ghost Towns

    September 30, 2010 in Photography, Urban Studies | Permalink

    lt’s probably difficult to take a bad picture of a ghost town, but these are some especially good ones from Wikimedia that were shot in a variety of abandoned communties in Nevada. Click on images for larger view.

    Gold Point: Town was first established by ranchers and miners in the 1880s. (Image by Vivaverdi.)

    Gold Point: Fifty of the town's buildings still stand, but this one only partially so. (Image by Vivaverdi.)

    Gold Point: Mitchell's Mercantile and other places where people shopped. (Image by Vivaverdi.)

    Lida: A one-time thriving mining town that maintained a small community until WWI. (Image by Sydney Poore and Russell Poore.)

    Pioneer: Fire destroyed much of the business district in 1909. (Image by finetooth.)

    Old Print Article: “Italian Nobleman Deported,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1901)

    September 29, 2010 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

    Bellevue Hospital Ambulance, New York City, 1895.

    If America rejected every idiot, insane person and pauper that wanted to come here, it would be a pretty boring country that turned away some of its best and most innovative thinkers. But that was the case in this story from the November 24, 1901 edition of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, in which a colorful Italian nobleman apparently lost his mind and got booted from the country. An excerpt:

    “Delli Edouardo Francio, a titled scion of a wealthy Neapolitan family was deported from this country yesterday on the steamship Fuerst Bismarck. Francio has been in the insane pavillion at Bellevue Hospital for the last three weeks and was adjudged insane by Doctors Fitch and Wildman. Being a non-resident of this country and having become a public charge, his case was brought to the notice of the Washington authorities. It was under an act of Congress passed March 4, 1891, designed to keep out of this country idiots, insane persons, paupers, people suffering from contagious diseases and others likely to become public charges within a year that Francio’s deportation took place.

    Edouardo Francio is the real name of the man, the prefix Delli being an old Neapolitan title among the nobility of Italy. Francio is a handsome man of classic features and is an accomplished musician and baritone singer. He studied medicine in a college in Naples and after graduating neglected his profession and led a fast life. His father was very wealthy and a minister of customs in Naples. His uncle is in the Italian Chamber of Deputies and he has a brother, a colonel in the Italian Army.

    Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, New York, 1901.

    About a year ago Francio came to this country with an opera company and toured the States and Canada. While in Canada he is said to have caused a divorce suit and to have gone to the Pan-American Exposition with the divorcee. There he became a bankrupt and got into considerable trouble and left for this city to seek employment. After various unsuccessful attempts he finally secured work in a concert hall in 184 Sullivan street.

    This place was also a sort of reproduction of an Italian village restaurant and it attracted many of that set of New Yorkers who seek foreign customs. Several of these people became acquainted with Francio and advanced him money. In this place he sang Italian and French operatic arias at a small salary.

    About two months ago Francio’s mind became affected and he thought that his friends were persecuting him. He became violent and on November 1 he was taken to Bellevue Hospital. While in that institution many stylishly dressed women called on him. One handsome woman who called in a carriage advanced the information to Dr. Young of the young man’s identity. Through this source the Bellevue authorities notified the immigration authorities, and they in turn notified the Washington officials, who ordered his deportation.”

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    Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

    September 29, 2010 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

    Try to not step on my head, geniuses. (Image by Ansgar Walk.)

    RARE *** Polar Bear Rug – $5000 (Norwalk, CT)

    Extremely Large Antique Polar Bear Rug with the Head and Claws attached.

    Measures:

    • 9 Feet from Nose to Tail
    • 9 Feet between front Paws
    • 8 Feet between rear Paws

    This rug is an antique more than 80 years old that we inherited this from an old family friend. The kids are afraid of it and it is just HUGE. Not sure what to do with it and it is currently folded and stored. Would look awesome in a ski chalet or in front of a fireplace!

    It has a heavy quilted backing and it quite heavy. To our knowledge, it never had any foot traffic upon it and was more of a decorator piece. These rugs are now generally barred from import into the United States and due to its age, we believe this particular rug is grandfathered and offered legally for sale.

    Being an older rug, it does have some minor issues that can be solved with minimal restoration by a professional taxidermist. The issues are that one claw has become partially detached as has a portion of the bear’s left ear … however, we have the parts and they can be easily reattached. Aside from these issues, the fur is thick, the teeth, mouth, nose and eyes are in great shape and in fact, it shows no real sign of it’s age. We expect this rug to be around for many years yet provided it is properly cared for.

    This is an opportunity to purchase a Polar Bear Rug at a greatly reduced price. Due to its size and rarity, it would not be over priced if offered for $12,000 or more. We simply wish to move it on to someone that can appreciate this unique item and sell it quickly. We are asking $5,000. We are offering this for pickup only to be certain of compliance with the Federal Wildlife Act.

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      Classic DVD: The Killing (1956)

      September 29, 2010 in Film | Permalink

      Sterling Hayden's final role was in the 1982 Civil War TV miniseries, "The Blue and the Gray."

      Stanley Kubrick’s first great film, The Killing is a 1956 horse-track heist caper that the director co-wrote with pulp legend Jim Thompson. While it has all the earmarks of a hard-boiled tale of grifters, there is also a devious sense of humor that would be one of the common threads in the filmmaker’s amazingly rangy, genre-jumping career.

      Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) has just done five long years in prison for petty theft and the only lesson he has seemingly learned is to steal larger quantities of cash. He organizes a group of track employees, cops and others, all of whom have personal motivations for a bold theft that could net them hundreds of thousands of dollars each. But the elaborate plan has to go off without a hitch or it’ll be jail all around, And the crew may also have to deal with a few gun-toting opportunists who’ve been tipped off about the job.

      One of the best performances is turned in by Timothy Carey, a great character actor and one of the oddest people in Hollywood history. Carey plays Nikki Arcane, a whacked-out, menacing sharpshooter recruited by Hayden to off a horse in the middle of a race. Nikki is a talented, off-kilter professional who truly relishes the sinister side of his work–which was also an appropriate description of Kubrick. (Available from Netflix and other outlets.)

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      Miscellaneous Media: Brochure From The Rio Motel In Wildwood, New Jersey (2004)

      September 29, 2010 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

      The Rio Motel brochure has the usual shots of enticing fun in the sun.

      The Rio Motel in Wildwood, New Jersey, was an example of the aptly named Doo-Wop architecture that the South Jersey city is famous for, though it wasn’t nearly as neon-infused and garish as most. The Rio was built in 1958 across the street from the ocean and had rooftop miniature golf, a large pool and a sundeck during its heyday. It managed to straddle the line and draw both families and couples.

      Despite seemingly endless sands and a raucous boardwalk, the beach town had been in a slow decline for some years when urban planners in the ’90s suggested that the local businesses stress the honky-tonk quality of the architecture and Las Vegas signage and refurbish the 1950s-era space-age structures rather than demolishing them and modernizing. The strategy proved a success as the ocean resort town rebounded. But success had a cost: In the middle of the aughts, during the real estate boom, developers snapped up the cherished old historical properties (the Rio included), took a wrecking ball to them and built (or planned to build) condominiums on the land. A  disappointed Rio patron’s comment on Yahoo! Travel:

      “Haklar quadruplets will miss the Rio

      Rio, I was just told this past weekend that the Rio was torn down for Condos. I couldn’t believe it. We have not been down to Wildwood for the past few years due to family conflicts but that was the only hotel we had ever stayed in from the time we took our quadruplets to their very first ocean vacation when they were about 5 years old. I remember they didn’t even come close to seeing over the counter when we arrived to check in. By our last visit when they were 12 or 13 they could definitely be seen across the counter. It saddens me to know that we will not be able to visit the Rio as a family ever again. With the kids all going off to college next year those memories of the 6 of us in our ‘suite’ on the third floor will be all we have left of our earlier days with our children and our yearly beach visit. We do have pictures as well to keep those memories alive. Best of Luck to all of you. We hope this is a new adventure for you and your staff and that the future will be a good one. Kathy, Rich, James, Gregory, Jessica, David Haklar.”

      1960's Rio Motel postcard.

      Sad But True: Segway Owner Dies Using Segway

      September 28, 2010 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies | Permalink

      Kamen is a brilliant person, but his prediction that the Segway would be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy didn't exactly pan out. (Image by Jared C. Benedict.)

      Segway inventor Dean Kamen is fine, but Jimi Heselden, the man who purchased the company less than a year ago, was killed last Sunday when he rode his two-wheeled, electric vehicle off a 30-foot cliff in the North of London. One assumes it was an error in judgement or mechanical failure. The Segway had epic-level hype and was a huge disappointment. An excerpt about Heselden from the Yahoo News story:

      “Heselden, a high school dropout who went on to make a fortune developing a blast wall system used to protect troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, never abandoned his gritty roots. He used his money to help people in the working-class area around Leeds where he grew up, earning folk hero status there.

      The 62-year-old Heselden had bought control of the Bedford, N.H.-based Segway in December.

      The company’s unique two-wheeler was introduced with much fanfare in 1999 by its American founder, Dean Kamen, as a means of transport that was more protective of the environment than other scooters and automobiles. The company claims the Segway is 11 times more efficient than the average American car. It can be used indoors because it has no emissions, making it popular with some police departments and private security firms, who use it to patrol indoor malls.

      But it has also been linked to some high-profile mishaps.”

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      Why Do People Review Books On Amazon?

      September 28, 2010 in Books, Excerpts, Urban Studies | Permalink

      "After earning her master's degree in library science, Klausner moved around the United States with her husband, a palm reader." (Image by Olaf Simons.)

      Reviewing books on Amazon is even more ridiculous than spending time writing a blog. I don’t mean putting in a good word for a friend who’s published a book. I’m talking about people who relentlessly post reviews and ratings for thousands of books (and other products). Nicholas Jackson has an interesting piece about these obsessives in an Atlantic story titled “What Motivates Amazon’s Hardcore Readers?” A couple of excerpts about the most prolific reviewer of all, a Bronx native:

      “Harriet Klausner is a speed reader. It’s a gift she was born with, according to her Amazon.com profile, where she also claims to go through two books a day. Even at that speed it would take more than 31 years to read the 22,824 novels Klausner had reviewed as of this writing. But why does she do it?

      After earning her master’s degree in library science, Klausner moved around the United States with her husband, a palm reader. This, according to a personal website she maintains with a complete archive of her reviews. (Klausner didn’t respond to an interview request.) ‘I also watched my book reviewing career begin to take shape,’ she writes, noting that, with each city she moved to, she always found work with a library or bookstore. ‘I take immense pleasure informing other readers about newcomers or unknown authors who have written superb novels.’

      •••••

      It’s even been suggested that Klausner doesn’t exist, or that the profile exists as a means of self promotion for publishers. But “Our Lady of the Infinite Reviews” has been profiled everywhere from Wired to Time, where Lev Grossman wrote that ‘online critics have a kind of just-plain-folks authenticity that the professionals just can’t match.'”

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      Any Way You Count It, It’s A Lot Of Money

      September 27, 2010 in Misc. | Permalink

      Don't hate me for my success. I worked very hard for it. (Image by Ildar Sagdejev.)

      Afflictor.com

      Estimated worth: $USD 424.00

      (Source: SiteToolWizard.net.)

      Featured Video: Synchronized Fake Slow Motion

      September 27, 2010 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

      As soon as I posted an excerpt from New York magazine’s Nick Denton profile, Reddit pointed me back to the nymag.com site for this music video that has a group of Japanese men proceeding around Tokyo in synchronized fake slow motion. The performance is by singing group World Order, which is the brainchild of former martial artist Genki Sudo, who is also an actor, dancer and choreographer. If you know Japanese, visit his official website.

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