Usually I can see the bridge even before I reach the water… but today is different. Today I’m here before even the sun arrives. It is the season for heavy fog, and although not so prevalent in the city, today it is thick. The clouds have fallen from the sky to visit earth. It clings to the river, coating everything with a secretive mist.
Today I beat the bridge, in a disorienting race to the shore. My monumental friend is not waiting to greet me, but seems to have left, perhaps out of boredom. I’m at the water and the bridge is gone. My connection to the urban island, invisible in the clouds. The city, always so close is suddenly nowhere. The fog devours it- sight, sound- everything swallowed up by nature.
Transparent air has become a uniform opaque grey, the curtain is both suffocating and a release. Zero visibility brings back nostalgic memories of upstate travels. Two people in a car, moving at snails pace through fog so thick it could have been molded with my own hands. There was very little light, since the fog was even more of a reflector than it was an obstruction. We traveled slowly, as to avoid the frogs, hundreds of them on the road. I wonder if there are frogs all around me, native inhabitants of the fog. If they are crossing the bridges en masse.
The sun begins to rise, and the clouds turn to white. This can’t be reality; did Manhattan suddenly break from the earth, floating to the heavens?
And when gravity pulls it all back down, will we stay here in the clouds? Leaving an abandoned civilization? Or will the event release us unscathed? Returning to us our bridges and buildings? The fog simply sinking back into water? Many completely ignorant to the heavenly entity that has visited our City this morning.

Oh, and here is the visual piece:

“Manhattan Bridge at Night”

]]> http://dustbunny586.wordpress.com/2008/04/30/creative-final-pieces/feed/ 0 Dazed Manhattan Bridge at Night http://dustbunny586.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/tldr-the-reaction-to-the-assigned-articles/ http://dustbunny586.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/tldr-the-reaction-to-the-assigned-articles/#comments Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:54:12 +0000 Dazed http://dustbunny586.wordpress.com/?p=21 ]]> Okay… So um, there was a little too much assigned for me to handle this week… I haven’t even finished my paper (the ideas I have, I like, but my organization = horrific)

I really enjoyed the articles that I did read, but there is no way I will be able to finish any of these essays by tomorrow… I’m sorry, but there is no way in hell, and we all have to face that. as for the tl;dr thing, It’s not because I am uninterested, but more because I read at snails pace.

I am going to be so unprepared tomorrow… but maybe some sort of miracle will occur…

~D

It is such an empty feeling… eating the food here. I feel depressed every time I take a bite of the same old tofu cube vegetarian meal. I honestly don’t really “eat” from the cafeteria anymore. More like, “gingerly nibble until disinterest/distaste sets in.” I’ve turned to buying prismacolor markers off my meal plan and trying sell them off for food money. So if anybody feels especially rich or in need of (bargain priced!) markers and feels like feeding me for the week… let me know~
Peace~
~D

But yes, I LOVED that movie! The way it was filmed was pretty cool. What with all those intensely bold colors making crazy angles while somebody talked directly to the camera (usually looking down), such a cool effect. It made the movie itself very bold and action packed. And almost reminded me of a comic book style (in essence, not so literally square frames around a flying superhero). And all the yelling, at times it made me cringe, but I feel like the colors, and loud noises captured a feeling of a certain aspect of the culture (probably the noisy brightly colored one)

I really enjoy how the entire movie emulated the heat of that one day, starting from the beginning with the description by the radio host, it then showed every bead of sweat on each person’s face. And the bright sun, sometimes with heat waves rippling actual images. If the movie could just be turned into an infrared reading based on color, it would start of as a neutral brown, not cold, but you don’t feel the heat yet. It would very soon turn to a reddish orange, still dull, but a minor nuisance. Once Mookie steps outside though, it turns to a bright red, and will stay that way for most of the time the plot takes place outside. Some notable cooler points would be when people try to cool themselves off, and indoor scenes. Although it is hot in the pizzeria, it is a darker cooler environment to the viewer, so the mood cools down to a brown again. When Mother Sister is in her window, that small frame is also seen as a cooler place. And the corner store run by Korean people might even be seen as a middle-tone blue, not hot, but definitely not cold, just cool. At the point where the fire hydrant is opened, the mood becomes a cool blue, everyone is happy and comfortable, also when “The Mayor” gets his cold been, I see that a pure black. Quite possibly one of the most comforting scenes of the movie, relieving the viewer of the strain the heat puts on the characters. Similar cooling objects are the similar beers other characters get, The ice used by Mookie in the scene with his girlfriend (another cooling scene) and the Italian ice a girl buys from the pizzeria. I also see the roses Mayor buys for Mother Sister as cool objects as well. As dusk approaches, the infrared color of the movie gets cooler, everyone starts relaxing. The scene in the pizzaria before the climax of the movie is the coolest scene, probably a dark blue. Everything is closing down and summing up to a happy ending, everyone is a family, until the “black power” characters appear in the shop, then the colors change very quickly, from blue, to brown, to dull red, to bright red. When the police come it becomes more intense, the boy is killed, and everything pauses- Everyone is yelling, but the colors seem to cool down again, almost to brown. Then when the window is broken, The color is orange, to yellow, and rapidly to white, the fire is both literally and figuratively the hottest part of the movie with the highest energy.
The next day might be just as hot, but the audience can no longer connect the same way with the characters, you almost have to separate yourself from them. So the color is just brown, maybe flickering to reds for a couple moments.

There is something i have to complain about, that probably everyone does actually, since it is upsetting. but those “black power” characters really bothered me. They were the types who stood up for something they didn’t even truly understand. They were radical without realizing what boundaries would have actually helped them. A kid lost his life because he couldn’t turn off his radio? It was unreasonable The racist pizza guy was equal in unreasonable-ness I must say… I know the whole point was that the ignorance was supposed to frustrate you, and I think it definitely did that.

My thoughts on it so far are that the characters are okay… They are developed a little too blatantly and yet the language used is really passive (I will use a specific example later)
Larsen really seems to enjoy those visual descriptions, often calling on color to evoke more feeling from her otherwise overly complicated words. I feel like she is eloquent, she makes some very beautiful word combinations, but that they distract from her story, I find it very difficult thinking about the story when all I focus on is the form. I don’t know, I think maybe when I was more into reading I would have liked this book. but now that I enjoy poetry and memoir-style stories better, it is very difficult for me too appreciate the story. I think I expect so much more subtlety (perhaps I jst haven’t gotten far enough into it yet? : )

- People with umbrellas that could easily fit 5 people under them. They take up the whole sidewalk, and drip rain on anyone else who isn’t underneath it (basically everyone). Its a waste of materials and space.

- People who sing to their headphones on the subway. I could understand if you were making a facial expression or a lip-synch, even a whisper… but really, out loud?

- The L train. The fucking hipster-magnet. D:<

- The people who don’t know you at all and yet tell you what to do with your stuff, thank you my bag is very happy where it is on my lap. This is a hint that I do not, I repeat DO NOT, want to put my shit on the floor.

- People who push religion on me, when I was obviously on my way to hell when they stopped me. They’re in it. Why try to save the damned?

Ugh, I don’t even know what I am complaining about anymore… I just had another weird Tuesday. I went to Magnolia Bakery, where one can buy the MOST AMAZING cupcakes EVER! and then I met with a client about a mural commission I might do… not really important right now.
The point about the bakery is this, I had 3 beautiful cupcakes, just waiting to be devoured… and of course, I am saving the best for last… a beautiful dark velvety devil’s food cupcake with mocha frosting and a little decorative daisy made of sugar. IT WAS FREAKING MEANT TO BE. I was meant to eat that delicious little cup-sized cake!
So I go to this new meditation class I registered for (to relieve the stress in my life, haha), and we have to make a promise: “the forbidden fruits are: alcohol, recreational drugs, caffeine, refined sugar, and anything with a mother.”

Wait, refined sugar? This includes cupcakes? So the last most favorite cupcake can’t even be eaten until next week?!? what a waste of a fresh cupcake…. So I gave it away… *sigh*

So yes, anyway. Now I’m depressed. I think I’ll go to bed.

So yes, I am sleepy minded in the morning and I manage to take the wrong train.. for about… the whole way there (I’m lucky it was a close stop,) it wasn’t too bad, just took the E instead of the F… but it was so strange to me. It was like, this morning, the E train was a completely different dimension. I left New York City at around 10:00am this morning, and traveled to a distant land of understandable, friendly PA systems, and happy passengers with smiling faces… *sigh*

Well let me explain, I got onto this car, and found a seat. In fact, the usually busy E, was oddly deserted. Then as we went along our merry (but wrong, as I later discovered) way, every time the train let off passengers, the conductor would wish the departees a “nice day.” What the hell?! What is this place I have wandered into?!?! I thought.
That’s when this woman boarded our car. She looked like she used to be a hippy. I don’t know how to describe her, but she observed everybody. and when we made eye contact, she smiled??? It was very… happy inducing?. After she got off the train, I couldn’t stop smiling. partially because my past hour had been so ridiculous, partially because I realized that this woman, even though she may get rejected by many people and denounced as some sort of creepy person for smiling at them, will bring joy to peoples lives (even those who she doesn’t know) just because she is willing to smile (despite rejection.
As I pondered this, I heard the conductor proclaim our arrival at 53rd and Lexington. I thought, good only one stop left… just 63rd left. I took a look at the map, just to make sure my reasoning was flawless. It totally wasn’t. I had been riding the E the entire time I had to ride the F! and this was the last stop before Queens! I ran to the door, only to get slammed by it halfway through… ouch. I managed to escape with most of my body and personal belongings intact…. the only thing that had been left behind was my dignity… But I’m sure it’ll catch up and find me eventually.

It makes me wonder… since I took the wrong train, if I was ever meant to see that little sliver of Not-New York on the E Line, and if people are always happy there, and the conductor is always wishing people well on their way. And maybe there is a hidden side that I just never see, since I am so busy being stressed out and all around hating the parts of New York I deal with on an everyday basis.

So yes, I am reviewing/discussing Midnight Cowboy and its ties to city culture. Errr… we never got to see the end in class since Nobody showed up on Monday to play the movie for us. But I looked up the synopsis online… and I think I sort of understand the movie?
So some history… it was the first movie to be rated X for extremely pornographic images and blatant homosexual undertones. Well, for 1969 it was quite risqué… now you can see this material on any episode of nip/tuck.
the movie itself was captivating enough for me to pay attention to it… but it always frustrates me to watch movies about really naïve people. Or more to put it bluntly, plainly idiotic. This is about a guy who goes to New York City to be a male prostitute, and gets completely robbed of all of his money by the general city public. His inane statements and constant gum chewing annoyed me from the moment the movie started. He is also insanely tactless and pathetic, rarely being helpful or considerate to help offered, and being too willing to be taken advantage of…? Oh god… this movie just… frustrates me. The part when they were playing scribbage?!?! MONY??? I know it is probably symbolic, and I know he is supposed to be a moron… but it was so difficult for me to watch… It was like watching anything that Larry David is involved with. And the gum chewing! Sorry to mention it again, but it still aggravates me! Oh the horror! Open mouthed cud-like mastication signifies an ignorance that only similarly-feathered flocks could ever tolerate.

I think it describes the way NYC is in a way. I am constantly on the watch for being scammed. I am constantly clutching my bag. I am constantly looking behind me (I’m probably also paranoid too.) And it does get hellishly cold in the winter… I suppose that’s a shallow comparison though.

The artsy Warhol-esque party entertained me for the simple reason that is seems like people try to throw parties like that still… and good on them!
…As long as they invite those stupid pseudo-cowboy studs

Well I’m out~
~D

To me, his reasons seem very reasonable. It is very clear that he is putting the man in a situation where he deserves his money. He shows a lot of thought behind what he does, even if it seems impulsive, he displays planning through his examination of his surroundings so as not to draw attention. Despite the fact that he is “born fragile,” he attacks the man who is larger and stronger than he, for a simple experiment. The idea definitely entertains me as I find myself thinking in that same vein quite often.

I usually refuse to rave about the City, but DUMBO is the biggest exception to this rule there could possibly be, let me descibe to you the beauty of this place: You take the A train to High St, exiting right across from the (I believe) Empire-Fulton Park(?), it was dedicated to the preservation of avian wildlife in the area. Walk through the park, right now its winter, so its a little drab and when you get to the end, make a left down the road and go under the small overpass. Soon you will see it, The Manhattan Bridge, through the buildings.

The area itself, keeps its original cobblestone streets, and many of the buildings remain from when they belonged to Fulton Landing, not DUMBO. Especially along the edge of the East river, you can see many of the warehouses, now turned into event galleries and boutique shops.

If you walk down the road leading in, until you hit Water St, turn right. a short walk will lead you to Jaques Torres, the best chocolate
shop in Brooklyn. There you can get their “wicked” hot chocolate, a potent chocolate drink enhances with hot chili peppers. Their Bon-Bon selection is fantastic, with flavors ranging from “champagne kiss” and “got milk?” to “love potion,” “menage a trois,” and “heart of passion.” This is the happiest gift to give anyone, really, everyone should love this place.
Next door is the Water St. Restaurant, their portabello polentas are to die for (I love food, it has to be mentioned)

If you go back to the corner of the street near where you turned, there is a wonderful book shop filled with the latest and greatest art books, and they often feature the work of famous photographers on their walls. Books I would suggest to look at are the Teddy Bear Book, The Magnus, the children’s coloring books (by the same author of Everyone Poops, and the Pop-up Book of Sex. After getting some hot cocoa, wandering around here is a pleasant way to spend time (other ways include the carousel, which has ever been open while i was there…)

If you make your way down to the water’s edge, you can experience Manhattan’s beautiful skyline without having to be in it. This little beach in the park is the location of at least five wedding photos on any given beautiful day, and perhaps two to three on the gloomy ones. Most of the famous shots of Manhattan come from DUMBO because of its impressive view of the city.
Quite often there are installations in the park, including glowing fiber-optic grass, and flashing wall lights on various building and objects.

The water side is what made Fulton Landing such a success way back when,when the ferry would ship people back and forth. When the bridges were built, the town was made desolate, and one can still feel that loneliness today. According to the Village Voice (best of NYC 2007) people named “Best Manhattan Neighborhood In Brooklyn – DUMBO” and while I dislike Manhattan, they continued with:

What DUMBO has that Manhattan doesn’t is a residual sense of the industrial picturesque, a nostalgic desolation (galleries and theaters notwithstanding), a main street called “Main Street,” and its own strip of East River beach. DUMBO also offers that most narcissistic of New York pleasures—a fantastic view of the skyline.”

Perfect description.
Sure it is now a happening art scene (Not quite sure if that is good or bad yet), but still not quite a snobby area yet. There are still ferries running from Fulton Slip, and you can always get there by bus, metro, or simply walking.