Posts Tagged ‘photowalk’
haven of light
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Do not bring up the subject of sleep to your humble narrator, for even the thought of entering into that trance state- with it’s concurrently wild hallucinations- is enough to cause both physical and mental strain upon my delicate equilibrium. Just thinking about lying helpless in the dark waiting to slip into this inevitable oblivion is enough to make me breath rapidly and experience irregular cardiac rhythms while sweating profusely. The psychological effects of such inferences manifest as a confused, trembling, and amorphous fear which betrays a dread terror and malign panic.
I’m all ‘effed up.
from wikipedia
The fear of the dark is a common fear among children and to a varying degree is observed for adults. Fear of the dark is usually not fear of the darkness itself, but fear of possible or imagined dangers concealed by the darkness. Some degree of fear of the dark is natural, especially as a phase of child development. Most observers report that fear of the dark seldom appears before the age of 2 years. When fear of the dark reaches a degree that is severe enough to be considered pathological, it is sometimes called nyctophobia (from Greek νυξ, “night” and φοβια, phobia), scotophobia, from σκότος – “darkness”, or lygophobia, from λυγή – “twilight” and achluophobia.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Severe, my psychic pathologies demand isolation from others, easy to achieve by being awake while everyone else is asleep. Terrifying possibilities of what might lurk out there in the darkness torment my imagination, and I can only feel safe when blanketed in electronic light. There are stories of untoward and unexpected occurrences observed during the Great Astoria Blackout of 2006 whose meanings are only now beginning to coalesce into some sort of sensible shape, things that can exist only in the safe fuligin which no sensibly illumined skeptical New Yorker might expect. Thresholds throughout the ancient village knew lurkers, and odd shinings were described emanating from certain ruined or lightning cursed churches which dot the rolling hillocks of Astoria.
From beneath the streets an azure glow and acrid scent escaped, and rough havoc was unleashed, I’m sure.
from wikipedia
Panphobia, from the Greek ‘pan’ and ‘phobos,’ also called Omniphobia, Pantophobia, or Panophobia, is a medical condition known as a “non-specific fear” or “the fear of everything” and is described as “a vague and persistent dread of some unknown evil”, or only seeing the extremes to everything.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
To help pass the lonely hours of nocturnal hand wringing, tooth gnashing, and guilty self recrimination I have taken to long exposure photography which allows me to feel as if something had been accomplished before weakness and fatigue forced me into surrendering to that familiar cycle of deteriorating into unconsciousness, hallucination, and dazed awakening. Stumbling out into the streets the next and every day- into and beneath the direct gaze of the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself- emanations sting at my skin and if exposed to them for not so long a time, radiation burns will begin to manifest.
from wikipedia
Erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) is a relatively mild form of porphyria, although very painful, which arises from a deficiency in the enzyme ferrochelatase, leading to abnormally high levels of protoporphyrin in the tissue. The severity varies significantly from individual to individual…
EPP can be triggered through exposure to sun even though the patient is behind glass. Even the UV emissions from arc welding with the use of full protective mask have been known to trigger EPP.
Prolonged exposure to the sun can lead to edema and blistering. At times the immediate damage can be so severe that the individual can lose the skin in sheets.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Doctor friends have advised me that my aversion to this hideous biological malady is unavoidable, and described timetables which offer precise time periods during which the kidneys and liver may cleanse the blood of toxins, and the function of cellular growth and repair is based around sleep as well I am told. As well, psychiatric and psychological sources describe the chronic loss or avoidance of sleep as some sort of disorder.
Well, what do lettered academics know anyway? Have they rode with the tomb legions over the frozen steppes of nephren ka, or flown with the night gaunts through low hanging branches over the Lethe, or walked a mile in my moccasins?
from wikipedia
Sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough sleep; it can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function. Few studies have compared the effects of acute total sleep deprivation and chronic partial sleep restriction. Complete absence of sleep over long periods is impossible for humans to achieve (unless they suffer from fatal familial insomnia); brief microsleeps cannot be avoided. Long-term total sleep deprivation has caused death in lab animals.
without voice
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For the fullest sensation of joy, please check out this Newtown Pentacle post: “Weirdly Afar“, from March 25 of 2011.
Were it that just a day or two ago I hadn’t confessed publicly my fears of descending into some megalomaniacal state and an inevitable attempt to set myself up as a comic book villain, this new throne might have been the one. Black and silver are my personal colors, after all, and this would fit the macabre decor by which Newtown Pentacle HQ is known and remarked upon by the sturdy Croats which people this section of my beloved Astoria.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Illumined by a shaft of emerald light, this throne would sit in the middle of a large room cloaked by shadow, located somewhere deep below Newtown Creek. My lackeys and henchmen, whom I would call the WaxMen, would kneel before this throne awaiting my biddings which they would then do.
(my friend Chris, by the way, claims these are supposed to be Lions- I think they look like surprised Baboons. Any thoughts, Lords and Ladies?)
– photo by Mitch Waxman
From this lair of mine, a nexus of absolute intent and malediction of wholesomeness, would my gloved hand reach out- and were the world to have just one throat…
…Sheesh…
This is why I can’t ever be allowed to have a throne.
Funny thing is that a couple of days ago, somebody emailed me asking where the store was. I think it was a fashion industry thing.
A Recommend…
Hermès Trismégiste at Grand Central Station – photo by Mitch Waxman
The day after the Newtown Creek Cruise, your humble narrator was feeling a bit worse than usual. For one such as myself, cursed by fatigue and a surfeit of personal discipline, the rigors of organizing the trip and speaking before the crowd were nearly overwhelming. Despite this, I decided to attend a walking tour in Manhattan the next day- Occult America with Mitch Horowitz, presented by the Observatory room and Phantasmaphile.
from observatoryroom.org
OBSERVATORY is an art and events space in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Founded in February 2009 and run by a group of seven artists and bloggers, the space seeks to present programming inspired by the 18th century notion of “rational amusement” and is especially interested in topics residing at the interstices of art and science, history and curiosity, magic and nature. The space hosts screenings, lectures, classes, and exhibitions, and is part of the Proteus Gowanus art complex. It is located at 543 Union Street (at Nevins), and is accessed through Proteus Gowanus Gallery’s entrance. OBSERVATORY’s gallery hours are 3-6pm on Thursdays and Fridays; and 12-6pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
Observatory is:
Joanna Ebenstein – multi-disciplinary artist, author of Morbid Anatomy, and keeper of The Morbid Anatomy Library, Michelle Enemark – author and photographer of Curious Expeditions, Pam Grossman – curator and author of Phantasmaphile, G.F. Newland – animator and illustrator, Wythe Marschall – writer and co-founder of the Hollow Earth Society, Dylan Thuras – video editor and author of Curious Expeditions, and James Walsh – video and book artist.
The Opal faced clock at the center of Grand Central Terminal– photo by Mitch Waxman
The day was gloomy, which fit the mood I was in. Misty reminisces of my buddy Bernie were unavoidable for me during the Creek Cruise, and the sleep deficit suffered during the week leading up to the trip had weighed heavily upon me physically. A double dose of those esoteric potions which my doctors require me to ingest were required to just leave the house, and a profound desire to not speak a single word beyond whatever was necessary to negotiate my way around the city was in my thoughts. Mr. Horowitz pulled a large and interested crowd, and your humble narrator walked amongst them, ever an outsider and alone even in company.
from mitchhorowitz.com
Mitch Horowitz is a writer and publisher of many years’ experience with a lifelong interest in man’s search for meaning. He is the editor-in-chief of Tarcher/Penguin in New York and the author of Occult America (Bantam), which The Washington Post Book World called: “Fascinating…a serious, wide-ranging study of all the magical, mystical, and spiritual movements that have arisen and influenced American history in often-surprising ways.” The book received the 2010 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award for literary excellence.
The Lamasery – photo by Mitch Waxman
The thematic narrative offered was well presented, and the presentation of the material was enhanced by a well provided and quite recognizable series of head, hand, and finger gestures which have been used by Mediums and Seers for centuries to enthrall. A core notion was hammered home, the suffusion of mainstream American culture by a thread of so called Occult lore and practice which though hidden, has helped to shape the mindset of modernity. He expounds and presents his theory in the book “Occult America” which is easily found and available from online book sellers in a variety of formats.
If you believe in the “power of positive thinking”, or practice “Yoga”, or attended “Kindergarden” or an “AA” meeting, or believe that “all religions worship the same god, just in different ways”, Mr. Horowitz is talking to you.
from phantasmaphile.com
Long before the “Aquarian Age” hit California, America’s laboratories of spiritual experiment were in the tenements of Hell’s Kitchen, the metaphysical churches built in New York’s old cow pastures, and the lodges nestled among Manhattan office buildings. Join Mitch Horowitz, author of Occult America, for a walking tour to explore New York City’s astonishing – and overlooked – role in igniting the occult revival and the revolutions in alternative spirituality that swept America (and the world) from the nineteenth century to the present day.
Mitch Horowitz – photo by Mitch Waxman
I’d recommend any and all interested parties to monitor Mr. Horowitz’s website for news of further tours. The walk was not rigorous, taking place entirely In midtown Manhattan and included one or two massive revelations which even your humble narrator was surprised by.
Recommended.
from boingboing.net
By the 1830s and 40s, a region of central New York State called “the Burned-Over District” (so-named for its religious passions) became the magnetic center for the religious radicalism sweeping the young nation. Stretching from Albany to Buffalo, it was the Mt. Sinai of American mysticism, giving birth to new religions such as Mormonism and Seventh-Day Adventism, and also to the spread of Spiritualism, Mesmerism, mediumship, table-rapping, séances, and other occult sensations – many of which mirrored, and aided, the rise of Suffragism and related progressive movements.
The nation’s occult culture gave women their first opportunity to openly serve as religious leaders – in this case as spirit mediums, seers, and channelers. America’s social and spiritual radicals were becoming joined, and the partnership would never fade.
growing ferocity
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Witness the most technologically advanced fire fighting vessel on earth, the FDNY’s newest, known to commoner and king alike as the “Three Forty Three”. An enigmatic and photogenic craft, it’s still shaking out it’s bugs in the harbor of New York, and is regularly observed by a humble narrator. This ship (which is a pregnant point which will be discussed in a paragraph below) and it’s capabilities as reported exist on the edge of what would have been called science fiction 10 years ago, and exhibits the kind of cutting edge technology which the modern FDNY’s mission calls for.
Click here to witness the initial launch of the craft at the Marine 1 homepage.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The question of whether a vessel is considered a boat or a ship is a bit contentious. Technical descriptions by maritime experts always use the mantra that a ship can carry and launch a boat, which defines what a “ship” is and what a “boat” isn’t. My buddy John Doswell of the Working Harbor Committee however, asks “have you ever heard of a fireship?”, and given his insider status regarding the retired John J. Harvey Fireboat and general maritime expertise one must lend certain shrift to his assertion.
Although, to me, the 343 is a $27 million vessel which can launch another craft as part of it’s onboard arsenal and design, so I have some difficulty referring to it as a boat.
from wikipedia
140-foot, 500-ton, $27 million dollar boat will be the country’s largest fireboat with a maximum speed of 18 knots. The Three Forty Three will provide the FDNY with the latest technology available for Marine vessels, including the capability of pumping 50,000 gallons of water per minute; nearly 30,000 gallons more than its predecessor. The need for this increased pumping capacity was graphically displayed as FDNY’s existing fireboats supplied the only water available for many days after the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. However, the technological advances of these new boats do not end there. The boat’s original design by Robert Allan Ltd. of Vancouver, B.C. will catapult FDNY’s Marine Division into the 21st century and beyond.
Because of the very real threat of additional terrorist attacks after 9/11, the boats will also be capable of protecting firefighters from Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear agents (CBRN). While performing in any of these hostile environments, the crew will be protected in a pressurized area that will also have its air supply filtered by special charcoal and HEPA filters. Assistance on the design of the CBRN system was provided by engineers from the U.S. military’s Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense and Naval Sea Systems Command. United States Navy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A sister vessel, the Firefighter 2, follows the same design principals as 343 although I haven’t managed to get any shots of it yet. Both will allow fire commanders to place as many as 50,000 gallons of water a minute in a gps guided arc onto a conflagration in Manhattan or on the harbor. Veiled references to parabolic calculations of the reach of this torrent have suggested to your humble narrator that it can be expected to reach further inland than any Fireboat in memory. Additionally, a forward ballast tank allows these ships to match the deck level of other vessels, allowing egress to the Staten Island Ferry amongst other civilian watercraft during emergencies.
from nycfireboat.com
- Length, overall = 140′-0″ (excluding fenders)
- Length, waterline = 130’–0″
- Beam, moulded = 36’–0″
- Depth, moulded = 16’–0″ (midship, deck edge)
- Draft (maximum) = 9’–0″
- Air draft design loaded waterline to highest point = 39’–0″ (maximum)
- Main Engines = MTU 4×2000 HP- total = 8,000 HP
- Propellers and Reduction Gears = Hundested 4 X Variable Pitch Propellers
- Fuel oil = 6,850 US gallons (trial condition), = 9,350 US gallons (maximum capacity)
- Fresh water capacity = 1,000 US gallons
- Foam concentrate = 3,600 US gallons (total)
- Sewage holding tank = 100 US gallons
- Oily water = 120 US gallons
- Sludge = 60 US gallons
- Decon wastewater tank = 100 US gallons
- Calm water trial speed – 20 mph at fully loaded condition operating at 100% vessel power rating (8,000 hp) and 15% sea margin.
- Design seastate – 6′ significant wave height
- Pumping capacity – 20,000 gpm on two engines as fire-fighting ship and 50,000 gpm on four engines as pumping station
- Monitor throw – 700′ from midships
- Operating crew – seven (7)
- Fire-fighters – 27 in transit
feeble horns
Hell Gate and Triborough bridges from Old Astoria – photo by Mitch Waxman
Loathsome memories of recent setbacks- and also of certain rebuffs- plague your humble narrator during these gloomy and sunless days, and always only solace can offer nepenthe. Thus, during a recent stroll by the pacific maelstrom of Hell Gate, nestled between two steel structures whose unearthly vibrations and omnipresent vocalizations form the aural environment- this series of shots were captured.
curiously scattered bones on sidewalk in Astoria – photo by Mitch Waxman
Vengeance and malice, indeed all of the seven deadly transgressions, populate the infernal dream world which has plagued me since childhood. Of late, a vivid character has typified these somnambulist hallucinations, and at least once during the night I’ll awaken in cold sweat grasping at the void of a curtain draped chamber. Surely, these negative humors are manifestations of another failing displayed by your humble narrator and least of all men, the inability to not bear grudges well beyond all sensible intervals.
sinister seeming bird at Hells Gate – photo by Mitch Waxman
Having grown up in a lonely and isolated existence, in dusty rooms of sculptured green carpeting and vinyl covered couches with odd knick knacks that betrayed basic tenets of adherence to the Hebrew faith, family members carried a charge of eastern European distrust for outsiders. Don’t trust anyone, my mother used to tell me while still in the cradle. As such, your humble narrator has grown into a hostile and suspicious man, contemptuous of authority even when such authority is necessary to govern over and control chaos and anarchy.
Amtrak at Hellegat Hell Gate Bridge – photo by Mitch Waxman
Often I stand on a point of principle, in a combative and tenacious- and vastly unpopular- stand over small matters such as allowing a police officer the right to inspect my belongings on demand. Of course I realize the age we are living in is fraught with the consequences of living in a global military empire the likes of which even the Romans or Turks would gasp and genuflect at, and that to most “standard of living” trumps “individual rights” but the constables have to follow the rules too. That’s what our modern Metropolis operates on, and as the saying in Brooklyn used to go “if I gots to stands in lines, youse gotta stands in da line”.
Psychiatric Hospitals at Hell Gate – photo by Mitch Waxman
Often, I fear that someday my darker impulses will take control of me, and I’ll spin off and become some comic book villain like parody of myself, the defeated antihero of a cosmic parable. Perhaps I will be remembered as a cautionary tale, your humble narrative of the man who looked under too many rocks. The Rumpelstiltskin of Newtown Creek, or perhaps just some old man in a shack who talks only to a collection of bottles?
Wards Island from Hell Gate – photo by Mitch Waxman
Preoccupations with such bizarre concerns has led me to believe in and visualize conspiracy lurking behind every corner. The attentions of certain malign elements, teenage adherents to some form of the Hip Hop cult, have been noted milling about around headquarters of late. Additionally, strange vehicles not usually parked in the neighborhood have been observed, adorned with mysterious antennae and blacked out windows- even on the windshield, which is unusual in itself due to municipal regulation.
Such bizarre notions, undoubtedly the product of lonely studies and a massive workload, were what led me to seek the solace of Astoria Park. I had hoped (futilely as turns out) to photograph passing Tugboats, but instead grew focused on certain uluations which seemed to be emerging from the impossibly distant Psychiatric hospitals at Wards Island…
The President of the United States on Marine 1 over Hell Gate – photo by Mitch Waxman
And that’s when the President of the United States flew by in Marine One on his way to the World Trade Center site to commemorate the death of his arch enemy.
In short, I’m all ‘effed up, and this post hits six points out of seven of the ICD-10 for paranoid personality type.
And the Newtown Pentacle is back in session.
