Archive for the ‘Astoria’ Category
somehow impelled
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Perambulating down Northern Boulevard here in Queens, one finds many gas stations and quite a few car washes. The Hess Station on the corner of Steinway offers both. A small, seemingly robotic car washing chamber exists here. Luckily, it possesses windows, which allow for some pretty intense lighting, at the right time of day. Car washes are another one of the things which your humble narrator waxes on about.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
“Back in the day,” as it were, it wasn’t customary to ride through the wash. You would leave your vehicle, and “the Brooklyn way” was to follow along with your car, viewing it through plexiglass windows as it made its way through the detention, wash, and optional Carnuba wax. At the end of the process, in a wood paneled room, would be a cashier. Loss leaders on sale at this station included key chains, porn magazines, “gas, grass, or ass- nobody rides for free” bumper stickers, and all sorts of fingerless gloves.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Whereas I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords… the long counter of air freshener products screen printed with Farrah Fawcett pin ups is missing from this automata, as is a complicated display with key chains extolling the logo of several auto brands. It does make for pretty pictures, of course, but still… Where does someone go these days for mirrored aviator sunglasses that fold, or a bumper sticker adjuring the Ayatollah Khomeni to go to hell?
perfect service
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A recent malfunction in one of the many Con Ed street pits here in blessed Astoria drew the somewhat swift response of service crews. It was only three days before they arrived at the spot where vaporous exhalations from the street had spewed, and they quickly set up for their task. Before long, a series of intense blue white flashes and a sound best described as “popping” sent them back into their service vehicle. They were summoning additional help.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A truck arrived, which had some sort of suction hose on it. The truck was very noisy, reminding one of the sound which might be made by a congress of baboons all vacuuming at the same time. The Con Ed employee was not actually a speedster whose movements were reminiscent of the Flash character of DC Comics fame, instead these are timed exposures which allowed the shutter to stay open for some 15 seconds. I know its difficult to accept that these guys actually move this much in 15 seconds, given the reputation of Union Labor in quasi municipal employ, but there you go.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One prefers instead to believe that the Flash, and other meta human beings, would find easy employment in the municipal services which keep New York City’s fuse from burning away. In my estimate, the City at any given moment in only half an hour from total collapse. We live amongst a series of highly volatile dominoes kept from detonation only by the constant maintenance and tinkering of an army of labor. Somewhere in the Bronx just now, a Union guy casually tightened a screw whose failure would have otherwise unleashed the beast of Armageddon, while in Staten Island- a frayed strand of wire threatens the entire municipality with unthinkably dire and entirely existential implications.
suffocating windrows
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few of you have emailed me recently, concerned about the dire outlook and melancholy displayed here, at your Newtown Pentacle, in recent months. Concerns have been transmitted that I seem to be grasped by a dark and somber mood are noted, and appreciated. Everything is fine, however, and your humble narrator is simply reacting to normal stressors in typically infantile manner. For example- I need an expensive new zoom lens and have no idea how I am going to pay for it, which is the very definition of a “first world problem.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The thing is, though, that at the moment I’m more than a little bored, without a whole lot to look forward to in the immediate future. There’s going to be a Working Harbor Committee Newtown Creek Boat tour in May, and I’ll be announcing a series of 2013 walking tour dates that will stretch out from the early spring to the fall in a few days… Also, the Kosciuszko Bridge project will be kicking to life soon… right now, though, not so much.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For the moment, I’m just some weird guy in a filthy black raincoat whom you see while driving along, walking toward Newtown Creek with a camera in my hand. A veritable mendicant- discarded and disabused, walking the earth and cataloging its riches. “When you’re down in the dumps”, I always say, “buy into your own mythology”- it’ll get you through the rough patch.
Project Firebox 59
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At 34th Avenue’s junction with Northern Blvd. waits this long serving alarm box. Its seen fire and its seen rain…
stupefying beholder
DUE TO AN ILLNESS, THE FRIDAY NIGHT MAGIC LANTERN SHOW WILL BE POSTPONED!!!
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, also called the Smaragdine Table, offers the paraphrased occult wisdom of “As Above, So Below.”
The notion this hermetic treatise asks the reader to accept is that Heaven and Hell are mirrors of each other, virtually reversed images. An alchemical manual, the Emerald Tablet details a system of something not unlike chemistry which is hobbled by a world view which only accounted for 4 elements. It is a product of a post Roman/newly Muslim scholarly culture and at least a thousand years old, so cut it a break for the dualist world view. Seriously, anything that preoccupied Sir Isaac Newtown is worth a second look.
from wikipedia
Lupercalia was a very ancient, possibly pre-Roman pastoral festival, observed on February 13 through 15 to avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility. Lupercalia subsumed Februa, an earlier-origin spring cleansing ritual held on the same date, which gives the month of February (Februarius) its name.
The name Lupercalia was believed in antiquity to evince some connection with the Ancient Greek festival of the Arcadian Lykaia (from Ancient Greek: λύκος — lukos, “wolf”, Latin lupus) and the worship of Lycaean Pan, assumed to be a Greek equivalent to Faunus, as instituted by Evander.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 16th century grimoire Pseudomonarchia Daemonum offers the name and description of Furfur, an Earl of Hell and commander of 29 legions of demons. Furfur is meant to”cause love between a man and a woman, create storms, tempests, thunder, lightning, and blasts, and teach on secret and divine things.”
Could the heavenly opposite of Furfur be, in fact, St. Valentine?
Would this mean that the Cherubs we normally see associated with Valentine’s day, decorating hearts and shooting love darts, are part of some 29 angelic legions?
Here’s St. Valentine and Furfur. As above, so below?
from wikipedia
Februalia, also Februatio, was the Roman festival of ritual purification, later incorporated into Lupercalia. The festival, which is basically one of Spring washing or cleaning (associated also with the raininess of this time of year) is old, and possibly of Sabine origin. According to Ovid, Februare as a Latin word which refers to means of purification (particularly with washing or water) derives from an earlier Etruscan word referring to purging.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Using the late Republic numbers (presuming that the term “legion” is based on Rome), a legion would include 5,120 individuals backed up by an equal number of auxiliaries. 29 legions would equate to 148,480 regular soldiers, and with auxiliaries- both Furfur and Valentine would find themselves just shy of 300,000 supernatural shock troops with whom to wage the Battle of Ragnarok and the War of Tribulation.
Demons are supposed to scare you, but Angels have always scared the hell out of me. The thought of close to 150,000 cherubs on the war path just makes my head hurt. Just imagine the noise of all those wings.
Happy Valentine’s day, don’t forget to duck and cover.
from wikipedia
St. Valentine’s Day began as a liturgical celebration of one or more early Christian saints named Valentinus. The most popular martyrology associated with Saint Valentine was that he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire; during his imprisonment, he is said to have healed the daughter of his jailer Asterius. Legend states that before his execution he wrote “from your Valentine” as a farewell to her.
The Newtown Pentacle 