Archive for May 2014
combats betwixt
Just like the good old days.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Lugging a dslr and its associated kit around can be quite a drag.
Camera body and lenses, and all the other crap I use, weigh something like ten pounds. Doesn’t sound like much, but that’s all on one shoulder and after awhile, it feels like you’ve got an anchor suspended across your back. I used to exclusively carry a Canon G10 with a specialized sort of mini tripod that involves rare earth magnets, and just to mix things up, for the last couple of days I’ve left the dslr and camera bag at home and taken the G10 and its mount with me instead.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The G10 is a grand little camera, notable mainly for its lens. The tiny sensor captures a quite noisy image – these shots were captured at ISO 200’s digital equivalent. My 7D dslr would render ISO 1000 in a similar fashion, something you can chalk up to sensor size and processor chip power. Still, it’s quite liberating to be carrying something that isn’t much heavier than a book for a change, and the bulk of multiple lenses was not missed on recent walks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The singular virtue enjoyed when carrying this particular camera emanates from the fancy magnet tripod I’ve attached to it, which was originally designed to work as a mount for the sort of laser leveler which a carpenter or drywall installer might employ.
Multiple rare earth magnets provide a steady grip on any ferrous surface, allowing for a steady and unyielding mount for the image capture. At night, I’ll attach a wire release trigger to the device, which further minimizes camera shake and allows long exposure shots at ISO 100, the lowest and least noisy setting the thing is capable of.
Have a cool holiday weekend, lords and ladies, and take lots of pictures. I know I will.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
largely baseless
Zombie Response Vehicle in Queens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This Jeep was spotted at a service station found at the intersection of Northern Blvd. and Newtown Road just the other day, and it was adorned with multiple decals indicating that it was the property of a Zombie Response Team. I’m glad that someone is finally taking this sort of eventuality seriously. Somebody has to.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There are plenty of zombie apocalypse “preppers” here in Western Queens, have no doubt about it. Caches of hand weapons abound in Astoria, and there are thousands of firearms hidden away in closets, basements, and garages – just in case of a manifest plague of Zombies (or a breakout at nearby Rikers, or a sudden influx of hipsters from Brooklyn). I didn’t know there was an organized vehicle fleet, but I must point out that this sort of vehicle would be somewhat inadequate for the sort of infestation that New York City would need to deal with. You’d really need an armored car or truck.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The big question that elected officials in Queens would ponder in a Zombie uprising would be whether or not Zombies could vote. If the walking dead could cast a ballot, would they reliably vote for Democrats? It wouldn’t be the first time that the population of a graveyard helped buoy an election victory around these parts, after all, and the Zombies would be courted by them. A brain in every pot, they would promise, and resolutions to outlaw blows to the cranium would be introduced by the City Council shortly afterward.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
strange pursuits
Why be a jerk?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This morning, the first thing I saw was an older woman (late 50’s, I’d guess) disposing of some garbage by throwing it into the tree pit in front of my house.
As it would be an impossibility for one such as myself not to chide or comment on such an act, I offered “Hey, where do you live? I’ll come to your place and throw garbage in front of your house.” She smiled, and kept on walking, never once thinking that she should pick up her discarded shit and drop it into the litter basket on the corner which was within eye shot.
What the hell is wrong with people? How is this ok?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One attempts to live a life which will have minimal negative impact upon others. All of my efforts in recent years are bound around the idea of “What would Superman do” in any given situation, a moral rubric which serves me pretty well in ethical gray areas. If the Kent wouldn’t do it, why would you?
The human infestation hereabouts, however, doesn’t seem to subscribe to any other dictum than selfishness and wild abandon in the public space. All the while of course, as they leave a stream of litter behind them, they’ll tell you that Queens is going to hell in a a hand basket and that “things aren’t the way they used to be.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s not a law and order kind of thing, we’d all need a personal cop to keep us in line if it were. The depersonalizations of modern life, led by corporatists and sophist political operators, are where I ascribe blame. Somebody else’s problem is all of our problem in tight quarters like New York City. Where things have gone to hell in a hand basket is precisely between our ears, and I have no idea what Superman would do with that.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
admittedly supercilious
Vampire target #1, Long Island City.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
If you ask our local elected officials, or the commander of the local NYPD precinct house, they will deny that hordes of stinking Vampires congregate on Vernon blvd. nearby its intersections with with 45th Road and 45th Avenue in LIC, shortly after sunset. It’s part of their responsibilities, to hide such things from the citizenry.
The war torn intersection on Vernon is where the New York Blood Center’s LIC facility is located, and the plague of vampires drawn to it nightly might just be the reason that the “Bloods” gang is so prevalent in the Queensbridge Houses, just a few blocks away. The Bloods have a bad reputation in the neighborhood, but they are amongst the finest Vampire fighters that Queens has ever produced autochthonously.
from nybloodcenter.org
The coordinated leadership of NYBC’s geographic blood services operations ensures some 2,000 units of blood products are collected each day and distributed to more than 20 million people in New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Our National Cord Blood Program at the Howard P. Milstein National Cord Blood Center has distributed cord blood units throughout the U.S. and internationally, with more than 4,900 units shipped to 220-plus transplant centers in 38 countries spanning six continents. World-class researchers at NYBC’s Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute lead the way in pioneering blood research focused on global health issues, from HIV and hepatitis to malaria and thalassemia.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back in the day, as it were, it was the Italian Gangsters who did battle with the undead around these parts. Mafioso proficiency in battling the undead is the reason why the Vatican has long tolerated the presence of the Black Hand in Italy, after all, but things have changed and the old guard has given way to the new. Rumors are that the night time security personnel employed by the Blood Center in LIC are all ex military, with a preference given toward those who were assigned to duties in the Philippines (due to the huge Aswang problem which plagues the island nation). Word has it that were their exploits and experiences made public, the nation itself would be shaken to the core.
from greinermaltz.com
Long Island City, NY, May 2, 2005 — New York Blood Center (NYBC), one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit, blood distribution and service organizations has just inked a long-term lease for a 76,000 sq. ft. commercial property in Long Island City, NY.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
By vampires, I don’t mean some shimmery Hollywood pretty boys, nor the bizarre Goth subculture encountered in certain Manhattan parlor and clubs. I mean stinking ghasts and objectionable revenants cloaked in the pallid soils of the graveyard, who hang about lonely crossroads and stalk isolated travelers or lonely mendicants. Personally, I spend the twilight hours safely ensconced in Astoria, behind hanging mats of garlic and cruciforms. There’s only so far that famous vibrant diversity of Queens can be embraced, after all, and I for one wish to see the bloodsuckers stay in Manhattan, where they belong.
from nypost.com
New York vampire hunter Joel Martin is A-positive that hundreds of bloodsuckers walk among us, often hanging — right-side up, that is — at downtown watering holes.
“It’s not at all like the ‘Twilight’ movies, but they’re right there in the city,” the Long Island occultist asserted. The downtown Draculas can be found in Gothic-themed bars in SoHo, TriBeCa and Greenwich Village, he said.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
obsequious jackanape
A quick one today.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Spotted the other day on Vernon Blvd. in Hunters Point’s tower town. I’m a bit ragged from this weekend’s back to back tours with Atlas Obscura and Brooklyn Brainery, so forgive a humble narrator’s inability to supply a meaningful post today. Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
The Newtown Pentacle 