"I close the iron door on you!"

a still from one of the final scenes in '20th Century', which captures the style of the film perfectly: 

'We must rescue the word pedestrian!'

'Potsdamer Platz' by Kirchner, 1914. 

 I have been walking considerable distances almost every day in New York, which leads me to think how wonderful wondering around a city can be, but  also confused because I can't seem to find an accurate way to describe the activity. My transformation has been from someone who frequently uses a car to pretty much exclusively a pedestrian. No sooner do I type that word it seems technically accurate but remains lacking. Somehow 'pedestrian' is a misrepresentation of the pleasure in the activity. Why has 'pedestrian' come to to be synonymous with the mundane - it's a great activity. Since when did the noun for a person travelling on foot become such a dirty word. 

By contrast, the flanur, who technically does exactly the same thing,  conjours images of walter benjamin stravaging around, parisian gentlemen...

very different images -  it's an outrage!

the respective wikipedia entries are pretty good at establishing the differences

as are the google image search results

urban dictionary suggestion for pedestrian: 'common place, everyone doing it, conformity', but there isn't an urban dictionary entry for flaneur. 

By and large it appears in a 'boys only' context, or suggested activity. I think this is quite unfair. Walter Benjamin wannabies arn't the only people who wander the urban jungle in a medative state, entranced by their environment. Yet the only women known to wonder the streets in our culture are prostitutes. Why is this so! 

"She came at me in sections..."

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Band Wagon - Dancing In The Dark Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire

NYC Art Shop Suggestions

Lee's Art Supply
 (This is a really old art store that has everything. Things are
 spread over many floors so don't be shy about asking people to help you.)
220 W 57th St # 2
 New York, NY 10019
 (212) 247-0110

New York Central Art Supply
 (This is a tiny art supply store that many serious New York artist
 use. It's overcrowded and squished. Upstairs they have an interesting
paper department.)
62 3rd Ave
New York, NY 10003
(212) 473-7705

Utrecht Art Supply
(This is a cheaper place that caters mainly to young art
students. )
111 4th Ave # 1
New York, NY 10003
(212) 777-5353

Kate's Paperie
(This is not really a classic art supply store but has paper, journals, desk accessories, photo albums, frames, ribbon,
giftwrap, and planners, and pens -  some kitsch, some nice.
Here are three locations:

Midtown
140 West 57th Street

(between 6th and 7th Avenues)
New York, NY 10019
212.459.0700

Hours : Mon-Fri. 10:00AM - 8:00PM, Sat. 10:00AM - 7:00PM
Sun. 11:00AM to 6:00PM

Soho
72 Spring Street
(between Crosby and Lafayette Streets)
New York, NY 10012

212.941.9816
Hours : Mon-Sat. 10:00AM to 8:00PM, Sun. 11:00AM to 7:00PM

West Village
8 West 13th Street

(between 5th and 6th Avenues)
New York, NY 10011
 212.633.0570 Hours : Mon-Fri. 10:00AM to 7:30PM, Sat. : 10:00PM to  6:00PM Sun. : 12:00PM to 6:00PM

Serge Gainsbourg - New York USA (1964)

Serge Gainsbourg - New York USA (1964) Album: Gainsbourg Percussions J'ai vu New York New York USA J'ai vu New York New York USA Je n'avais rien vu d'au Je n'avais rien vu d'auss...

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small cafes in NYC

Point Knitting Cafe

37a Bedford Street, NY, NY 10014 (Greenwich Village)

The Grey Dog's Coffee

90 University Place at 12th street

The Pink Teacup

42 Grove Street, NY, NY, 10014

tentative draft of places to eat in NYC

*The Spotted Pig: 314 W IIth St, at Greenwich St, 10014, (212) 620-0393, right by the Soho House and does seriously yummy meaty things

Cafe Grumpy: 224 West 20th Street, (between 7th and 8th Ave), 10011, (212) 255.5511 good for coffee and right by all the chelsea art galleries

*La Esquina: 106 Kenmare St, 10012, (646) 613-1700 very cheep 24hr Mexican diner, good margaritas and burritoes, 

Cafe Gitane: 242 Mott St, 10012, (212) 334-9552 NoHo hipsters, retro, delicious 

Gimme! Coffee: 228 Mott St, 10012, (212) 226-4011 a place to refuel in NoHo

*Bubby's Pie Co: 120 Hudson St, (212) 219-0666 incredible pie, serious brunch, not too many screaming babies, opposite the Tribecca Issey Miyaki store, the interior of which was designed by Frank Gehry

Sarabeth's Kitchen: 423 Amsterdam Ave, at 80th St., 10024, (212) 496-6280 really good brunch right by 72nd street, wholesome American fine food

Il Cantinori: 32 E 10th St., 10003, (212) 673-6044 smart but unfloral italian, really good, fave haunt of Patch W and Sara Marks

Cheapo Korean that prob doesn't have a name, which is just by the Empire State Building, at 33rd and 5th. right by my work, fresh tasty and seriously cheep 

E.A.T: 1064 Madison Ave., 10128, (212) 772-0022 upper east side deli, superb sandwiches, near The Whitney, The Gug, The Met etc. so good for post\pre museum nourishment 

Freemans: End of Freemans Alley, off of Rivington St., bt. the Bowery and Chrystie, 10002, (212) 420-0012 hip and low key, looks like Get Stuffed inside, and serves all American grub

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Louise Bourgeois exhibition at Cheim & Read in Chelsea, 547 West 25th Street, 10001, (212) 242-7727

Good street of galleries in Chelsea (where Mar's gallery and the super stylish Comme des Garcons and Balenciaga shops are: around W26th Street, bt. 6th and 7th Ave., 

Japan: January: Flights Booked!

Scandal, 1989

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This clip is taken from Scandal, the 1989 film on the Profumo affair. Oddly enough, it made me think of home! Click on it to watch it play. I'm now terribly pleased I've worked out how to post videos directly onto this site. 

if I dreamed of the New Yorker as a piece of furniture, this is exactly what it would look like:

this is the New Yorker 'bench' at BookExpo America 2008. Location? LA. Of course.

"Bushenfreude" - what a word!

"Democrats who were big beneficiaries of the Bush tax cuts were suffering from a weird mix of confusion, annoyance, exhilaration, and anger. They were enjoying their extra income while loathing its source - a Republican in the While house and Republican-controlled Congress."

Daniel Gross, "Bushenfreude Revisited", Slate Magazine, Friday, August 6, 2004. 

The urbandictionary.com cites this as a phenomenon specific to POY's, (that's Pissed Off Yuppies). 

Oh no!

The publishing industry's ever escalating failure  is one problem Obama can't fix. Selling books, maybe even reading in general seems to be headed for a big disaster. Such news comes as even more of a shock since "American voters have just picked a president who is an open, out-of-the-closet, practicing intellectual." (Nicholas D. Kristof, 'Obama and the War on Brains', The New York Times, Sunday, November 9, 2008.) But the president elect, just like the UK's Jordan, or America's Comic giants. It's celebrity, celebrity women's fiction, celebrity confessions, celebrity advice or ...bust as far as I can work out for the adult book market. You're on a 2 billion doller contract with Random House, or you're using the faculty photocopier to send out slush pile submissions. There is a nice and dismal Gawker article "Publishers Hope Americas Tire of Blogs, Among Other Christmas Wishes", which sums up the mood. 

Obama on the first dog for his daughters

In his acceptance speech, Obama mentioned he'd get his daughters the puppy he'd promised them if he got elected. Naturally the press went bizurk. In this video clip, Obama goes into the specifics: he'd like the dog to be "a mutt, like me". It's a whitty quib against the mad reporter who asked him about what sort of puppie he'd get for his daughters in Obama's first press confrence (I think) as President-elect. 

Quotation from Newsweek's special spill the beans edition

"I remember going home that night, and my boyfriend saying, 'What is that purple bruise on your back?' I had bruises on my back from people pushing and shoving, trying to get to [Obama]...I remember grabbing women's hands because they were trying to pull his shirt from his pants. I couldn't believe it."

- Eureka Gilkey, on of Obama's aids, about a speech in 2004, featured in this week's Newsweek. 

Dizzy Rascal for PM

Here is a wonderful video of Dizzy and Paxman is terrific wishful thinking. It also shows raises the problem of whether an European Obama is possible, or if back home is still more conservative than we'd like to think. 

telly really does rule the world

"I would like to say one thing to John McCain." 

"Listen, Senator: you don't show up for me, America doesn't show up for you."

David Letterman, on The Late Show, November 6th, 2008. 

"Obama victory renders hipster 'movement' obsolete"

is the title of a stupid article on the streetbonersandtvcarnage blog. Loosely connected with renegades from Vice magazine, or something. Although it's fairly obnoxious, it does have an amusing poke at the (my) cynicism generation in America, and where on earth they're going to go from this [historic] point. 

'It Still Felt Good the Morning After'

- was the title of a hilarious New York Times cartoon published a few days afterwards. The morning after certainly had an overpowering atmosphere. Manhattan was very quiet 'with hungover bliss'. There wasn't a newspaper left in the city by 9am when I prowled the streets to find one. Obama makes dreams come true and has single handedly rescued the printed newspaper industry. Everyone was very proud of themselves. Of one another. "Yes we did" rather than "Yes we can" was on lips all over the city. The odd phrase echos grammar quirks more akin to the Republicans. But who cares. Obama is an unabashed intellectual, and the majority of the country will be slightly 'worse for wear' in the best possible way, so if that's the buzz that stumbles onto our lips - so be it, and thank you young America that no one has to muster the strength to face a headline that screams "You betcha: gosh darnit". 

where I was on the 'historic' evening

So my election night started off uptown. Supper was tense. We were all a tad nervous. Once the chicken had been swept away, out came the moldy old halloween candy, and on when the news. The table was a swarm of chocolate wrappers, clearly our stress was getting ahead of itself. This was going to be (so we thought) a long night. Lots of anxious channel hopping fueled by cheep sugar followed. Then I went downtown on the subway. The real actual hard results were coming through: things were looking up! Philadelphia was 'won', by the time I got to Rivington Street. The journey down was perhaps the quietest I've ever seen the subway. Even, or especially late at night it's always packed. New York had momentarily turned into a veritable ghost town.  Suspended in a terrible limbo. Well at The Building, they'd worked their way through all the prosecco, and were onto the pink champaign. Hysterical, joyous exhaustion: the results were still looking good. But we can't relax now! Oh god I was nervous this morning. I know, here pass me your glass. Let's keep looking. Wait switch the channel, this guy is garbling his stats. Oh I so want to here what Fox is trying to say about it! Let's go to a bar. Sure. Meet my wonderful friend, he's just returned from a trip back to England. So what are we drinking. I was thinking along the lines of a Long Island Ice Tea? Oh. Yes. Tall glasses all round. Good Luck ev- wait is that McCain? It is. Oh my. The concession speech. It's over. That was it! Not even 12 yet! The bar errupts. It's full of weeping 20somethings, as are all the streets, we go outside to yell lounder. Every block seems to have errupted in jubulation. Random people grinning and patting you on the back. On the subway back to the apartment, random people were simply saying "Obama oh-eight" over and over again. We weren't random people on the subway ,we were a band of communards facing a new frontier! 

better late than never: hooo-ray!