Archive for the ‘NY 11101’ Category
loosely paved
Tower Town, and wandering through it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A visceral need to “do my thing” will sometimes drive one out in search of interesting things to point the camera at. More often than not, I’ll find myself in Long Island City. Given the less than enjoyable climate offered in the last month or two, this activity has been curtailed, so whenever the universe is cooperative I’m out for a scuttle. After a rather busy recent day, I hopped on the train and took it to the Court Square stop to save myself some sweaty walking, emerging from the underground at the foot of the Sapphire Megalith. A short scuttle was engaged upon, and soon I was down at the East River waterfront.
Have to say, I’m really missing the old days when LIC was a desolate and unpopulated wasteland at night.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
At Hunters Point South Park, these two old utility poles are embedded in the shoreline. Decorative, they have the look and feel of former railroad signal poles, but I can’t say for certain if that’s what they actually are or not.
I got “fancy” with this one, setting up the tripod and using an ND filter in pursuance of a long exposure. That’s why the water has that weird misty look. The lavender cast isn’t from the filter, instead this shot was actually from the end of my walk in LIC, about an hour after the first and second were shot. Sunset does lovely things, colorimetric wise, to the East River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Not sure where I’m going next, but LIC is always my “go to” when I’m looking for someplace that offers long horizons and interesting views. The H shaped thing blocking the Empire State Building is called the Copper Building, and you can see one of the hideous Hudson Yards buildings ruining ESB’s silhouette just behind it.
Doesn’t Hudson Yards look just like space borne debris that rained down and embedded itself on the west side of 34th street?
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Upcoming Tours and Events
Saturday, July 13, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
“Exploring the East River, From General Slocum Disaster
to Abandoned Islands” Boat Tour w NY Adventure Club
Onboard a Soundview route NYC Ferry – Join New York Adventure Club for a two-part aquatic adventure as we explore the General Slocum disaster, and historic sights and stories along the East River, all by NYC Ferry.
Click here for ticketing and more information.
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
why tryeth
As stated, God hates me.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One mentioned this on Monday – the last two to three weeks of my life, during which the weather was conducive to photographic pursuit, my attention and time were consumed by “have to” meetings or events which saw me sitting inside of buildings rather than roaming about outside of them – would be followed by this, a fairly light week wherein I’d get to do whatever the hell I want to, would be an interval of bad weather and storms. God hates me, but I really can’t blame it. That’s right, “it.”
If there is a God, it ain’t a “him” or a “her.” I stand on this statement, as an all powerful extra dimensional and omniscient intelligence with an army of fire sword carrying winged avengers can only be described as being an “it.” Often, I wonder if “it” is just the “lord of the local vicinity” or if there’s a race of these all powerful things experimenting on different solar systems all over this universe of ours. If “it” is the sole autarch of our particular universe, what about all the other universes? There’s got to be a bigger story at work. Presuming each universe has its own “it,” do you suppose they’d compare notes occasionally?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Imagine the various “its” communicating with each other, their divine voices a combination of thunder and volcano sounds, chatting about their individual projects in the white hot particle foam and void soup which the different universes are thought to float about in? “Check this out,” our “it” might say – “My apes just figured out how to split the atom,” with some pride. Another “it” would chime in with “big whup, my lizards have just learned to harvest water from asteroids.” A third comes in with “yeah, my bugs did both of those things but then I threw an asteroid at them, just to see how they react” “can’t wait to see how they react to having to start over from scratch.”
Of course, the basic rules and physics of our world would likely be different in the various bubble universes, as any “universal constant” would be strictly contained to its own realm. Anything is possible, really, when we’re discussing magick and god kings, who live in the sky, and sit on thrones. What if it’s all true, and after death you make it to some heavenly choir where you’re going to sing to “it” for all eternity. What if you don’t like the music? Do you ever get a year end review where you get to say “So, what’s the point of giving kids cancer, oh “it”? Also, “as a disembodied extradimensional intelligence, why do you have so many hang ups about monkey sex” and “seriously, why do you hit us with a Ghengis Khan or Hitler every now and then?”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Long ago, and that’s where this entire narrative offered today drops from, I had a conversation with somebody of formidable intelligence who was a member of what I refer to as the “god squad.” By that, I mean, he was a church guy that saw everything through a literalist New Testament filter. When chatting about Science Fiction, he rejected the idea of life on other worlds since it’s not mentioned by a group of peasants and tradesmen who died two thousand years ago, and left behind detailed notes about their experiences with spiritual matters in Roman occupied Judea in the only book you’re supposed to take seriously. My buddy said that if there was life on other worlds, it would be a mirror of our own, and since mankind was made in “its'” image, so too would any intelligent species look just like us when encountered. “Just like us,” of course, meant people of European and North African descent.
Just saying – terrestrial body plans, with four limbs and a head held aloft on a muscular stalk… that’s just a quirky form of inheritance that sort of jibes with the local environment. A rock falls to the left instead of the right a few hundred million years and we could all be cyclopses or octoclopses instead of biclopses.
As a note, these are the exact kind of questions, musings, and observations which got me kicked out of Hebrew School when I was a kid.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
dawned clear
Vampyres!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Over the weekend, one found himself down in Long Island City, and I noticed that the New York Blood Center had added another layer of protection to its facility, no doubt to vouchsafe themselves from the nightly assaults of vampires they suffer. Occupational hazard, I guess. You hoard and “bank” enough human blood, you’re going to have to take steps and create precautions for what’s coming when the sun goes down. Given the large population of the nosferatu living in the steel rafters of the elevated tracks in nearby Queens Plaza…
On a side note, I often ponder the use of “up, and down” when referring to various sections of New York City. LIC, or Hunters Point more accurately, is at a somewhat lower altitude and declination than Astoria so I guess “down” is appropriate, but where does that stuff come from? Some sort of linguistic holdover from maps? I dunno, but… back to vampires.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This layer of armor around the blood center, which is found in a section of LIC notorious for flooding just three or so blocks from the East River, was labeled “Aqua Fence.” I’m sure that was just part of a marketing campaign for a recent superhero movie though, as the positioning of the armoring indicates that the Blood Center people have been experiencing issues with what they call “crawlers” – mobility challenged vampires.
What? You think Vampires are all undead European aristocrats possessed of athletic prowess like wall crawling? Get woke, kid. Challenges suffered in life continue in undeath, and there are plenty of former wheelchair bound vampires out there. The Vampire population of Western Queens is actually quite representative, demographically speaking, of our community’s legendary diversity.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned in prior postings, the actual role of the Sicilian Mafia was to hunt and eradicate vampires, a service to the community so important that Governmental officialdom looked the other way regarding their other hobbies and lines of business. Since that organization has declined in power and influence here in Queens, the Vampires have been multiplying and growing bolder. The only thing we, those of us who can tolerate exposure to the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself that is, have going for us is that that the Vampires aren’t registered to vote so no opportunist politician has tried to build a constituency out of them.
Meanwhile, the nightly sieges on Vernon Blvd. at the New York Blood Center continue.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Events!
Slideshow and book signing, April 23rd, 6-8 p.m.
Join Newtown Creek Alliance at 520 Kingsland Avenue in Greenpoint, Brooklyn for a slideshow, talk, and book signing and see what the incredible landscape of Newtown Creek looks like when the sun goes down with Mitch Waxman. The event is free, but space is limited. Please RSVP here. Light refreshments served.
The Third Annual, All Day, 100% Toxic, Newtown Creekathon. April 28th.
The Creekathon will start at Hunter’s Point South in LIC, and end at the Kingsland Wildflowers rooftop in Greenpoint. It will swing through the neighborhoods of LIC, Blissville, Maspeth, Ridgewood, East Williamsburg, Bushwick, and Greenpoint, visiting the numerous bridges that traverse the Creek. While we encourage folks to join us for the full adventure, attendees are welcome to join and depart as they wish. A full route map and logistics are forthcoming.This is an all day event. Your guides on this 12+ mile trek will be Mitch Waxman and Will Elkins of the Newtown Creek Alliance, and some of their amazing friends will likely show up along the way.
spectacled stranger
A few things to say, I have.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
To start with, this Saturday the 30th of March is the 110th anniversary of the opening of the Queensboro Bridge. It’s the official moment that you can stick a pin into for when Queens stopped being an agricultural backwater and began to develop into its modern form. Queens Plaza and the Sunnyside Yards occurred shortly thereafter, and then the subways began rolling and everything we know as Queens today began to get built up. If you’re crossing her on Saturday, tip your hat and offer the old girl a salutation. Extra karma points will be awarded if you say “Gustav Lindenthal.”
Lots of people cross that bridge everyday, unfortunately just last night that included the crew of loathsome sentience which calls itself the NYC EDC. They’re the ones who want to deck over the Sunnyside Yards. “Once in a lifetime opportunity,” they say. “Bring Queens into the 21st century” is also offered. Queens, and Queensboro made it just fine into the 21st century without the NYC EDC, although the bridge had to suffer the indignity of being renamed for Ed Koch. That wasn’t EDC’s fault, it was Bloomberg. The reason that the EDC was in Queens yesterday is sort of Bloomberg’s fault, as he elevated Dan Doctoroff to a position of influence and is a fellow whom our current Mayor (who is supposed to hate Bloomberg, right?) is under the sway of. Don’t forget, it was Doctoroff who kicked off this whole “deck the yards” thing in 2014.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Two evenings last week, I found myself in “private” meetings with members of EDC’s planning teams. Other folks were in the room, of course. We discussed open space and green space, transit and sewage, design and architecture. I insisted that our nomenclature for the conversations omitted usage of the word “will” in favor of “if” when referring to the possibilities of this project of theirs. There’s a few careers riding on this one, for the well bred and extremely well educated power brokers at the “public benefit” corporation called the New York City Economic Development Corporation. I’d point out, and I did during the meetings, that EDC doesn’t have the greatest track record. Amazon, the Staten Island Ferris Wheel, Brooklyn’s Bush Terminal… the list goes on and on.
At every juncture, I reminded them that I actually thought highly of the intellect and skills and pure moxy of their team, but that I view them as nothing more than an invading army sent in from Manhattan to destroy my home.
For some reason they were wounded by this statement. I guess that like any other abusive parent or bully, EDC wants you to thank them for and enjoy your beatings. It’s in your own best interest, as they’re doing this to help you, right?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve told EDC multiple times that they will not be allowed to do to Queens what they’ve done to Manhattan. For any of y’all EDC people reading this, I haven’t even gotten started yet on ensuring that it won’t. You’ll hear drums, first. Then the bagpipes. That’s when you’ll know it’s officially begun. You should pick some other community to fuck with, or wait for us to die out. There’s a line here in Queens, the same one you stepped on with Amazon, and my neighbors and I are standing on the other side of it.
I’m going to be conducting a free walk in LIC on the 30th of March, this Saturday afternoon. The Sunnyside Yards project has roared back to life in the aftermath of the Amazon debacle, and since the Manhattan people are going to all sorts of effort to get this thing done… Click here for details on the “Skillman Corridor” walk.
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
ritualistic innocence
So off schedule these days…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Apologies offered for inconsistent timing on these posts, but my rather nocturnal lifestyle these days means that I’m constantly out of sync with the rest of the world. What can I tell you, I’m basically living on Asia Pacific time. The thing in the megalith doesn’t care, it just laughs instead. Mortals and their foibles, huh?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a whole lot going on, including a free walking tour or two coming up that I’m sealing up the details on, and which I’ll let you know about later on in the week. Meanwhile, I’m wandering around with the camera while you’re sleeping, capturing some of the wonders of Long Island City before they’re swept away.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Tomorrow, something a bit different, which I got the other night in Maspeth. Meanwhile, why not buy a photo book at the link below and help me support myself? I’ve got bills to pay, y’know.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
The Newtown Pentacle 