2011

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Strange, Small & Forgotten Films: Two Lovers (2008)

April 14, 2011 in Film | Permalink

James Gray’s beautiful 2008 romantic drama was largely lost in the wreckage of Joaquin Phoenix’s misguided, well-calibrated and public “mental breakdown,” which served as a test run of sorts for Charlie Sheen’s sadly real and much more interesting one. Making the stupid stunt even more maddening is that Two Lovers contains the best performance of Phoenix’s career.

Leonard Kraditor (Phoenix) is recently out of a mental hospital but not nearly out of danger. A broken engagement led to a suicide attempt and once liberated from the facility Leonard spends time in between subsequent attempts to do himself in by working at his father’s Brooklyn dry cleaners and taking gorgeous black-and-white photographs of street scenes. Into his life come two very different women: Sandra (Vinessa Shaw), the daughter of his father’s business partner who yearns to tend to his wounded, sensitive soul; and his druggie next-door-neighbor, Michelle (Gwyneth Paltrow), who is caught up in a destructive romance with a married man.

Leonard is trapped between what’s right and what feels right, dating the stable woman but longing for the one whose inner turmoil matches his own. But as he’s forced to make a choice he realizes that perhaps the choice isn’t his, and that the decisions made for us are almost always less satisfying than the ones we make ourselves, whether they’re for the best or not.•

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David Byrne Choosing Plastic Over Paper

April 14, 2011 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

David Byrne, 1978. (Image by Michael Markos.)

“Nothing But Flowers”

Here we stand
Like an Adam and an Eve
Waterfalls
The Garden of Eden
Two fools in love
So beautiful and strong
The birds in the trees
Are smiling upon them
From the age of the dinosaurs
Cars have run on gasoline
Where, where have they gone?
Now, it’s nothing but flowers

There was a factory
Now there are mountains and rivers
you got it, you got it

We caught a rattlesnake
Now we got something for dinner
we got it, we got it

There was a shopping mall
Now it’s all covered with flowers
you’ve got it, you’ve got it

If this is paradise
I wish I had a lawnmower
you’ve got it, you’ve got it

Years ago
I was an angry young man
I’d pretend
That I was a billboard
Standing tall
By the side of the road
I fell in love
With a beautiful highway
This used to be real estate
Now it’s only fields and trees
Where, where is the town
Now, it’s nothing but flowers
The highways and cars
Were sacrificed for agriculture
I thought that we’d start over
But I guess I was wrong

Once there were parking lots
Now it’s a peaceful oasis
you got it, you got it

This was a Pizza Hut
Now it’s all covered with daisies
you got it, you got it

I miss the honky tonks,
Dairy Queens, and 7-Elevens
you got it, you got it

And as things fell apart
Nobody paid much attention
you got it, you got it

I dream of cherry pies,
Candy bars, and chocolate chip cookies
you got it, you got it

We used to microwave
Now we just eat nuts and berries
you got it, you got it

This was a discount store,
Now it’s turned into a cornfield
you got it, you got it

Don’t leave me stranded here
I can’t get used to this lifestyle

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New Means Of Firefighting In Japan

April 13, 2011 in Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Like a reverse Molotov cocktail.

Commodore Nutt With His Famous Boss

April 13, 2011 in Excerpts, Old Print Articles, Photography, Urban Studies | Permalink

Barnum and Nutt conduct business.

This undated, classic 1800s photograph of sideshow attraction “Commodore Nutt,” along with his employer, P.T. Barnum, was taken by Charles DeForest Fredricks. An excerpt from the performer’s 1881 New York Times obituary:

“Commodore Nutt, the celebrated dwarf, died early yesterday morning at the Anthony House, after suffering nearly two months from a severe attack of Bright’s disease. He was born April 1, 1844, at Manchester, N.H., and at the age of 17 was brought to New-York by Barnum and exhibited in the old museum, corner of Ann-Street and Broadway. He was widely advertised as the ‘smallest man in the world.’ His full name was George Washington Morrison Nutt. His father was a New Hampshire farmer, over six feet in height and weighing 270 pounds. His mother was average size and healthy. When he engaged with Barnum in 1860 he was 30 inches high, but as years went by he grew somewhat, and at the time of his death his height was 3 feet seven inches. In girth his increase in size was even more marked, and it is not improbable that recently his average weight has been fully twice that when originally presented to the public. The ‘Commodore’ was originally known as ‘$30,000 Nutt,” Mr. Barnum claiming that such sum was paid the dwarf to go on exhibition. ‘The fact is, though,’ said Mr. Hutchings, who used to be known as the ‘Lightning Calculator,’ the old man paid the boy but $15 a week.'”

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“His Judgment Can Also Transform A Previously Worthless Object Into Something Worth Tens Of Millions Of Dollars”

April 13, 2011 in Excerpts, Urban Studies | Permalink

David Grann recently published an excellent piece in the New Yorker about a mysterious death in Guatemala. Here’s the opening of another great article for the same magazine, 2010’s “The Mark of a Masterpiece,” about an Oxford professor who authenticates art:

“Every few weeks, photographs of old paintings arrive at Martin Kemp’s eighteenth-century house, outside Oxford, England. Many of the art works are so decayed that their once luminous colors have become washed out, their shiny coats of varnish darkened by grime and riddled with spidery cracks. Kemp scrutinizes each image with a magnifying glass, attempting to determine whether the owners have discovered what they claim to have found: a lost masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci.

Kemp, a leading scholar of Leonardo, also authenticates works of art—a rare, mysterious, and often bitterly contested skill. His opinions carry the weight of history; they can help a painting become part of the world’s cultural heritage and be exhibited in museums for centuries, or cause it to be tossed into the trash. His judgment can also transform a previously worthless object into something worth tens of millions of dollars. (His imprimatur is so valuable that he must guard against con men forging not only a work of art but also his signature.) To maintain independence, Kemp refuses to accept payment for his services. ‘As soon as you get entangled with any financial interest or advantage, there is a taint, like a tobacco company paying an expert to say cigarettes are not dangerous,’ he says.

Kemp, who is in his sixties, is an emeritus professor of art history at Oxford University, and has spent more than four decades immersed in what he calls ‘the Leonardo business,’ publishing articles on nearly every aspect of the artist’s life. “

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Charles Laufer, Tiger Beat Founder, Dies

April 13, 2011 in Excerpts, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

"Exclamation points, sometimes as many as 50 a page, added empha." (Image by Allan Warren.)

From the New York Times obituary of the former schoolteacher who made a mint by selling David Cassidy and Leif Garrett to infatuated adolescent girls:

“Charles Laufer, who as a high school teacher in 1955 despaired that his students had nothing entertaining to read and responded with magazines aimed at teenage girls desperate to know much, much more about the lives of their favorite cute stars, died April 5 in Northridge, Calif. He was 87.

The cause was heart failure, his brother, Ira, said.

Mr. Laufer’s best-known magazine was Tiger Beat, published monthly. With its spinoff publications and its competitors, of which the most popular was 16 Magazine, Tiger Beat had it all covered — or at least what mattered most to girls from about 8 to 14. The Beach Boys’ loves! Jan and Dean’s comeback! The private lives of the Beatles!

Exclamation points, sometimes as many as 50 a page, added emphasis. Pix, as pictures were known, were glossy, glamorous and frequently poster-size. Fax, as facts were known, often included ‘101 things you never knew about (fill in star’s name)’: he uses a blue toothbrush!”

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Adorable Children Who Do Not Yet Possess Logic

April 13, 2011 in Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Piaget tests showing the Preoperational stage. Soon it will all be clear to them. (Thanks Reddit.)

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Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

April 13, 2011 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

 

"Maybe erotic."

Man of Many Trades For Hire (Williamsburg)

I am between jobs and looking for odd ones. Big or small, weird or mundane, I am at your service! I am looking for unusual jobs (maybe erotic) to perform when nothing but a handsome interesting guy with many skills will do. Prospective employers: JUST ASK.

 

“Five Thousand Years After The Invention Of The Wheel, We Have A New Wheel”

April 13, 2011 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Dutch artist Theo Jansen creates self-propelling sculptures that he calls “Strandbeests,” which are fashioned from recycled plastic tubing and bottles. The “creatures” are left on the shore to fend for themselves, using the wind to “walk.” Jansen wowed the crowd with this TED Talk several years ago.

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“They Will Be Stretched Out On The Sidewalk, Twitching And Babbling In Time To The Music”

April 13, 2011 in Excerpts, Politics, Urban Studies | Permalink

"Backing them up will be an all-star cast of freaks, every one of them stoned." (Image by HammondCast.)

Before moving to his longstanding homestead in Aspen, Colorado, Hunter S. Thompson lived in Berkeley and was eyewitness to the Hippie phenomenon. An excerpt from “The ‘Hashbury’ Is The Capital of the Hippies,” Thompson’s account from the front lines of flower power and its brutally quick commodification, which ran in the May 14, 1967 New York Times:

“Those hippies who don’t work can easily pick up a few dollars a day panhandling along Haight Street. The fresh influx of curiosity-seekers has proved a great boon to the legion of psychedelic beggars. During several days of roaming around the area, I was touched so often that I began to keep a supply of quarters in my pocket so I wouldn’t have to haggle for change. The panhandlers are usually barefoot, always young and never apologetic. They’ll share what they collect anyway, so it seems entirely reasonable that strangers should share with them.

The best show on Haight Street is usually on the sidewalk in front of the Drog Store, a new coffee bar at the corner of Masonic Street. The Drog Store features an all-hippy revue that runs day and night. The acts change sporadically, but nobody cares. There will always be at least one man with long hair and sunglasses playing a wooden pipe of some kind. He will be wearing wither a Dracula cape, a long Buddhist robe, or a Sioux Indian costume. There will also be a hairy blond fellow wearing a Black Bart cowboy hat and a spangled jacket that originally belonged to a drum major in the 1949 Rose Bowl parade. He will be playing the bongo drums. Next to the drummer will be a dazed-looking girl wearing a blouse (but no bra) and a plastic mini-skirt, slapping her thighs to the rhythm of it all.

These three will be the nucleus of the show. Backing them up will be an all-star cast of freaks, every one of them stoned. They will be stretched out on the sidewalk, twitching and babbling in time to the music. Now and then somebody will fall out of the audience and join the revue; perhaps a Hell’s Angel or some grubby, chain-draped impostor who never owned a motorcycle in his life. Or maybe a girl wrapped in gauze or a thin man with wild eyes who took an overdose of acid nine days ago and changed himself into a raven. For those on a quick tour of the Hashbury, the Drog Store revue is a must.” (Thanks Kevin Kelly.)

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Rare Footage Of The Beatles In India (1968)

April 12, 2011 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

From Italian television. The Fab Four was accompanied by Mia Farrow and Donovan. No Monkees were there, but lots of actual monkeys were. The whole trip to find enlightenment at the feet of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi didn’t pass the stink test, but the footage is still amazing.

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“He Has Been Out Of His Mind And Addicted To Hash For Most Of His Adult Life”

April 12, 2011 in Excerpts, Urban Studies | Permalink

"Research does indicate that some schizophrenics decline faster if they smoke hash." (Image by Zantastik.)

From “Running the Asylum,” Graeme Wood’s new Atlantic article about mental-health care in Pakistan, a land that’s suffered a dizzying succession of jihads, terrorism, floods and hashish, always hashish:

“Raja, in his early 30s, is a typical case. He has been out of his mind and addicted to hash for most of his adult life. He’s tall and skinny, with a film of dirt on his face that suggests he can’t quite look after himself. Wazir says Raja routinely relapses by leaving the hospital and hanging out at a nearby shrine close to a police station, where addicts gather to smoke hash and opium. (Wazir blames the hash for worsening Raja’s mental problems. Research does indicate that some schizophrenics decline faster if they smoke hash. Other research, however, shows that cannabidiol, one of the psychoactive chemicals in hashish, has antipsychotic properties. Perhaps it’s a wash.)

Today is a good day for Raja. His eyes bug out, and his lips are pulled back in a huge grin that reveals teeth the color of brown sugar, looking so rotten that a swig of water might wash them away entirely. On bad days, he flies into uncontrollable schizophrenic rages. ‘If he is violent or too talkative or too mischievous,’ Wazir says, ‘we put him again in the mental hospital, and if he requires it, he gets electric shocks.’ He has gone through about 15 rounds of shock therapy. ‘But he’s young, so he can sustain it.’

Wazir says his countrymen have been mentally traumatized more or less continuously for the past 35 years. ‘First it was Afghan jihad, then it was Kashmiri jihad, then it was the nuclear issue, then it was terrorism and suicide bombings, and now floods,’ he says. ‘I have not heard any good news coming to me in Pakistan’”

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The Rebirth Of The Commodore 64

April 12, 2011 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Videos | Permalink

According to a new BBC article, retro computing enthusiasts will soon be able to purchase a retooled version of that old 1980s favorite, the Commodore 64. An excerpt.

“Commodore is making a Windows PC that fits inside a boxy beige shell that looks exactly like its original C64.

The 8-bit machine was released in 1982, had 64 kilobytes of memory and became one of the best-selling computers ever.

Commodore’s updated version will run Windows 7 but also has an emulator capable of playing games written for its ancestor.

Commodore has started taking orders for the C64x, priced at $595 (£364), and said the machines would ship between May and June. It is expected to appear in shops later in the year.”

Old Print Articles: Firebugs, Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1890s)

April 12, 2011 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

"The newly arrived class, among whom incendiary fires occur, contains many people who are ignorant, filthy, dishonest and little appreciative as yet of American ways and American law."

There were many different reasons why people set fires during the 1890s, and the scary results didn’t always bring out the most enlightened responses from reporters at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, as the following quartet of pyromania-related articles prove.

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“The Firebug, Zucker” (December 29, 1896): “The conviction of Zucker, the firebug, and his likelihood of serving the state in prison for the rest of his days, will tend to restore a measure of public confidence. There have been quite too many fires of late. They have a way of breaking out in places that are insured, and insured to at least the value of their contents. In order to avert suspicion themselves, some of the people who set fire to their shops and tenements have deemed it wiser to hire the work done by others, and Zucker, with some confederates made this his business. It is believed that he made $200,000 out of his fees for starting fires and out of his share of the insurance that was paid on burned buildings. The newly arrived class, among whom incendiary fires occur, contains many people who are ignorant, filthy, dishonest and little appreciative as yet of American ways and American law. The conviction of Zucker must serve to them as a warning and deterrent.”

••••••••••

“A Boy Firebug” (April 29, 1899): “The most youthful prisoner ever accused of the serious crime of arson in Queens County was arraigned to plead to an indictment before County Judge Moore to-day. The accused is George Spillett, 15 years old, of Flushing, L.I. He pleaded guilty to a charge of arson in the third degree, when he admitted that he had set fire to a barn in College Point several weeks ago. Young Spillett was caught redhanded with the torch in his possession after he had ignited a bundle of straw. The boy has been acting queerly for a long time past and it is believed that he is somewhat demented. About a year ago he was arrested for stabbing a playmate named Joseph Schuester during an altercation, but escaped punishment.”

••••••••••

"The girl is now under arrest, after having admitted that she set fire to the house no less than nine times, the last fire resulting in the complete destruction of the interior." (Image by Henry Mayhew.)

“Is the Little Firebug Mad?”  (January 7, 1895): “The mystery surrounding the series of fires in the house of Adam Coldwell, at 84 Guernsey street, has been explained by the confession of Rhoda Carlton, the 14 year old daughter of Mrs. Coldwell, by a former marriage. The girl is now under arrest, after having admitted that she set fire to the house no less than nine times, the last fire resulting in the complete destruction of the interior, so that the family is now homeless and dependent on the charity of neighbors for shelter.

The girl made a full confession to Captain Rhodes of the Greenpoint police yesterday. She said that she was tired of living in the house and thought she could frighten her family into leaving. She said that she was not happy at all. The girl, who is not bad looking and is rather large for her age, cried as she told how she dropped lighted matches behind the wall paper and in the bed clothes.

Rhoda cried a great deal in court and when asked why she had started the fire she wailed: “I don’t know. I don’t know. I want to see my mamma.”

••••••••••

“A Peculiar Case” (July 14, 1898): “The Fire Marshal is to-day conducting an investigation into the circumstances attending a peculiar case of alleged arson which occurred yesterday in a two story frame house at 369 South Fifth street, in the Eastern District. The house is occupied by Mrs. Rose Gavin, her son, Isaac Morris, a bartender, his wife, Mrs. Antoinette Morris, and her niece, Annie Mitchell. Mrs. Morris has two children, one of whom died lately. Several years ago she met with an accident, injuring one of her legs. The wound proved intractable and since then it has been necessary to place the patient under the influence of ether no less than eighteen times in order that pieces of the putrefied bone might be removed from the limb without pain. Latterly it has been noticed that the injury and incidental worry has been affecting Mrs. Morris’ mind.

At the Bedford avenue station Mrs. Morris loudly protested against the charge of arson preferred against her. ‘As God as my witness,’ she said, ‘I am innocent of this charge. For a long time my mother has been acting in a strange manner toward me. I wish I were dead.'”

••••••••••

 

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Don’t Try This At Home. Or Anywhere.

April 12, 2011 in Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Disco fabulous.

Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

April 12, 2011 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

"She has Star Power." (Image by David Shankbone.)

Doggie Agent….Wanted – $5 (New York)

Hello,

I’m looking for a dog agent to put “Crystal” on the map. Crystal – for her crystal blue eyes…. She has Star Power… I have a photo of her as a baby, she’s a little bigger now. Everyone says she should model, and be in commericals…. She is very smart. This is my first time doing this sort of thing so any help would be appricated.

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“I Believe In Television, Atomic Power And, Certainly, Computers”

April 12, 2011 in Books, Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

A fun 1963 profile of writer Ray Bradbury, then 43, which was made during the early days of the Space Race. Things on display that are going or gone: crowded bookstores, typewriters, filing cabinets.

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“Until Recently, Lawson’s Name Was Not Very Well Known, Even Amongst The Video Game Community”

April 12, 2011 in Excerpts, Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

Atari famously brought the video game craze into the home with consoles that played removable cartridges rather than having games built into the system, but it wasn’t the first company to offer such a setup. The Fairchild Channel F did it earlier and one of Fairchild’s chief engineers and inventors, Jerry Lawson, just passed away. An excerpt from a new article about him on 1UP: “Engineer, inventor and video game pioneer Jerry Lawson passed away Saturday of unknown causes.

Lawson was among the earliest video game engineers. His first arcade title, Chicago Coins’ Demolition Derby, was developed in his garage in the early 1970s.

Lawson is remembered as the inventor of Fairchild Semiconductor’s home video game console, the Channel F. Released in 1976, the Channel F is the first console with programmable game cartridges; before it, home video game systems only played the games that were built into them.

Until recently, Lawson’s name was not very well known, even amongst the video game community. Fortunately, Lawson was honored by the International Game Developers Association’s Minority Special Interest Group at the Game Developers Conference just last month.”

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Performance Artist Liu Bolin, the “Invisible Man”

April 11, 2011 in Politics, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

“My art is cultural, it represents the diminishing humanity in today’s society.”

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The Cardiff Giant Arrives In NYC (1904)

April 11, 2011 in Old Print Articles, Urban Studies | Permalink

George Auger, center, of course.

This undated classic photograph shows George Auger, known in his performing days as the “Cardiff Giant.” Auger, who lived a short life, as giants almost always do, was a Welsh man who was somewhere between seven and eight feet tall, depending on whose hoopla you believe. But he was an authentic titan by any measure. An excerpt from a 1904 New York Times article about his first appearance in America, when he was in the employ of P.T. Barnum:

“A new giant, larger than anything in that line yet seen here, arrived on the steamship La Bretagne from Havre. He will be placed on exhibition with the other prodigies in the museum of the Barnum & Bailey Circus, which opens at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. His name is George Auger, and he comes from Cardiff, in Wales.

Auger is but twenty-two years of age, and now stands somewhat over 7 feet 11 inches in his socks. He wears fourteen size shoes, and gloves which have no numbers on them because nothing so large is made for the trade. His shoulders are almost as broad as those of two ordinary men, and there is cloth enough in one of his suits to fit out a whole ordinary family. With the giant was his wife, who looked like a pygmy beside him.”

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“What’s A Web Page, Something Ducks Walk On?”

April 11, 2011 in Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

An early instructional video about the Internet that was aimed at dreadful children in striped sweaters. (Thanks Reddit.)

“This Will Introduce To You Mr. Boston Corbett, Of Camden, N.J., The Avenger Of Abraham Lincoln”

April 11, 2011 in Excerpts, Urban Studies | Permalink

"Corbett told him that he was homeless, almost penniless, and headed to Kansas to stake a claim." (Image by Mathew Brady.)

The opening of “The Man Who Shot the Man Who Shot Lincoln,” Ernest B. Furgurson’s American Scholar account of the unusual life of Boston Corbett, the soldier who killed John Wilkes Booth:

“One morning in September 1878, a tired traveler, five feet four inches tall, with a wispy beard, arrived at the office of the daily Pittsburgh Leader. His vest and coat were a faded purple, and his previously black pants were gray with age and wear. As he stepped inside, he lifted a once fashionable silk hat to disclose brown hair parted down the middle like a woman’s. Despite the mileage that showed in his face and clothes, he was well kept, and spoke with clarity. He handed the editor a note from an agent at the Pittsburgh rail depot, which said: ‘This will introduce to you Mr. Boston Corbett, of Camden, N.J., the avenger of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Corbett is rather bashful, but at my solicitation he concluded to call on the Leader editor as an old soldier.’

The newspaperman realized that this was no joke. He remembered the photographs of this man, spread across the North after he shot the assassin John Wilkes Booth 13 years earlier, in April 1865. He invited him to sit and talk. Corbett told him that he was homeless, almost penniless, and headed to Kansas to stake a claim. The railroad agent had suggested that he come to the newspaper to tell his story, on the chance that someone would help him on his way.” (Thanks Longform.)

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Robo-Bartenders Are Ready To Serve You

April 11, 2011 in Science/Tech, Urban Studies, Videos | Permalink

At the recent BarBot 2011 event in San Fran. Still not as good as monkey waiters wearing lady masks. (Thanks Singularity Hub.)

Recently Posted On NYC’s Craigslist

April 11, 2011 in Misc., Urban Studies | Permalink

"We just sold an authenticated piece of chewing gum from a Hollywood producer." (Image by Kulmalukko.)

anything unusual?

we are a new and coming e tradeing business and we offer u a platform to sell anything unusual like celebrity memorabilia we jus sold an authenticated peice of chewing gum from a hollywood producer and retrieved 75 dollars for it so if u have anythig unusaul and authentic for sale we can sell it we take a small broker fee and u get the rest no scam if we dont sell u wont get charged

The Average Lifespan Of U.S. Currency

April 11, 2011 in Excerpts, Urban Studies | Permalink

We’re headed further and further into a paperless currency world in the near future, but bills still have a role right now. Below is a list of the average lifespan for a number of denominations, which don’t last long. It’s taken from an Atlantic article, The Destruction of Money.

  • $1 bills: 3.7 years
  • $5 bills: 3.4 years
  • $10 bills: 3.4 years
  • $20 bills: 5.1 years
  • $50 bills: 12.6 years
  • $100 bills: 8.9 years

 

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