Winter

Signs of the Apocalypse

Nature

Chinatown.

  Near entrance to Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn.


Captions always give more gravity.

Weirdos

It seems like New York used to be filled with bona fide weirdos. Maybe the second guy is not a weirdo, just a stylish fellow. But that first guy, he is clearly a character, sunning himself in Washington Square Park.

Keith Haring Bathroom

Some flattering photos of Dan and I at the Keith Haring bathroom. It was cool.

Wonder What the Neighbors Think?

There was a post on the blog Apartment Therapy in January about a pink brownstone in Park Slope. What was creepy about the responses wasn't that some people thought the color was ugly, but that everyone seemed so horrified in a gated-community, block-association, keeping up with Joneses type way:

"I feel it's flat out tacky. Wonder what the neighbors think?"

"when you have to subject passersby to such a bold statement, it seems a bit discourteous. Soon you'll have a street of rainbow houses."

"This is a shameful. The outside of a home should be RESPECTFUL to the context of it's surroundings. This is like giving the middle finger to all of the neighbors."

"I would not buy the house across the street from this house."

"Oh, how dreadful. This horrid should not be allowed in urban environment. If people with no taste want to project their personal “style” onto the exterior of their houses they should move to the country side and do as they’re pleased."

Wait, an urban environment is where it shouldn't be allowed? I thought being exposed to different things is exactly what you should appreciate about an urban environment. Go back to the suburbs, lady!

By contrast, one commentor wrote:

"I've lived near that house since the mid-80s. The neighborhood used to be a lot funkier, with bicentennial-painted fire hydrants, old clawfoot tubs overflowing with plants, "cheap landlord" paint colors, and many of the brownstones in disrepair. Then came the real estate boom, the money, the mass renovation/restoration movement, and the movie-set perfection that is Park Slope today...

Garish as it is (the pic doesn't do justice) it pleases me every time I walk by, and reminds me of what Brooklyn (and life?) used to be like before The Fall (when Eve bit the apple and understood that her pink house was wrong)."

Anyway, this discussion certainly reinforces the idea that people want to live in places like Park Slope so they can fulfill their suburban fantasy and further neutralize the neighborhoods personality to suit their own bland, tasteful, and ultra- expensive aesthetics.

Brooklyn Academy of Music

I wish people were still carving angry cherubs onto buildings instead of coating them with brushed stainless steel (how did that become a building a material???) and "reclaimed " wood veneer and filling them with drywall. Actually, BAM has a very modern awning I find ugly, complete with brushed stainless steel poles that look like they belong on some sort of industrial staircase. I know people get annoyed when you tell them you hate modern architecture but hey guess what soon it will be old and the lovers of modern architecture will find it ugly and dated, like in the future when we have internet walls and doors that scan our brains.