telescreen.org

The loneliness. . ., originally uploaded by Vidiot.

(Marathon pictures up on Flickr.)

Not a bad weekend, despite having to work late on Friday.  On Saturday, B. and I slept incredibly late and then hauled our sorry asses out of bed.  We headed downtown to the Forbes Galleries, which neither of us had visited before.  We really enjoyed it -- it's a small museum, but very personal, and one gets a good sense of Malcolm Forbes' personality.  There was a huge and detailed collection of toy boats, inventively displayed in oceanlike dioramas, early Monopoly games, lots of toy soldiers, a temporary exhibit of Ronald Searle's drawings, and a really interesting exhibit of Olympic gold medals (and some torches, and some other Olympic-themed jewelry) with reminiscences by the winners.

It was B.'s turn to decide where to go next, so some shopping in the Container Store and Old Navy followed.  After the shopping (and a stop at City Bakery for some of their justly famous hot chocolate), I didn't feel quite so guilty about dragging her off to the WFMU Record Fair, where I spent (a little) too much but got some cool stuff:

• Andy Griffith, "What It Was, Was Football";
• The Shields, "You Cheated" b/w "I'm Sorry Now";
• Patti LaBelle & The Bluebelles, "You'll Never Walk Alone" (!) b/w "Down The Aisle";
• Ronny & The Daytonas, "Sandy";
• Dion, "Abraham, Martin & John" b/w "Both Sides Now"...yes, the Joni Mitchell song;
• "Steel Drums", a compilation;
• Jack Fascinato, "Music From A Surplus Store";
• Kermit Schafer, "Pardon My Blooper! Volume 2: An Album of Radio and TV's Most Hilarious Boners";
• John Lee Hooker, "The Real Folk Blues";
• and (drumroll) Janeen Brady, "Songs For A Mormon Child."

Not a bad haul...and there were a couple more things that are holiday gifts for various people, so they shall not be revealed here.

After that, we took a cab and sped trudged slowly uptown to Zankel Hall to see a screening of Walther Ruttman's 1927 silent movie "Berlin: Symphony of a Great City", with live musical accompaniment from two pianists and two percussionists.  I've seen live scoring for a silent film a few times, and it's always worthwhile.  (If only the Alloy Orchestra came to town more often...) 

Steak frites and pasta at the Brick rounded out a very pleasant day.

Today, B. had to work, so I went off to Crescent Street and the Queensboro Bridge to shoot some pictures of the New York City Marathon.  I saw the leaders (and eventual winners) of the men's and women's races, plus notables like German Silva and Lance Armstrong, handcyclists, and a whole lot of ordinary folks.  This is another thing I love about New York:  you could see the runners get energized by the cheering crowd -- and the crowd cheers for everyone, famous or not.  Runners put their names on their shirts, and people address them by name, encouraging them onward.  Inspiring.

Pictures TK on Flickr, but I'm very pleased to have one of my pictures show up on NYTimes.com.

Richard Nixon and Joan Crawford are still waiting on their Champagne.

I got a million things rattling around in my brain, and not too much time (or, sadly, truth be told, energy) to get 'em out here on the Intarwebs.  So I will resort to my usual solution and throw some linky goodness your way -- this time with slightly more pith & vinegar:

• Old news, I know, but:  Deputy mayor dies in monkey attack.  (!)
• Why should we protect banks from their mistakes?  Seems like the crowd that's always yelling about the innate superiority of the free market is the one that's first in line for government handouts to corporations.  (see also:  airline industry bailouts.)
• Ezra Klein applauds the momentum in Congress to give Amtrak a sorely-needed boost in funding, and notes that in terms of government transportation spending, passenger rail travel gets about 1/62nd the support that highways and aviation do;
• I'm with August on this one:  Fred Phelps is a despicable asshat, and his hateful picketing is reprehensible indeed.  But he's covered by the First Amendment too -- at least just as much as those corporate political donors are -- and he doesn't seem to be inciting violence or another breach of the peace.  (I don't think it rises to the level of "fighting words", either.)  Of course I'd love to wish Phelps into the cornfield, but I'm disappointed by the recent judgment against him; freedom of speech is even more important for radically unpopular messages.  As August puts it, "it's horrible, disgusting, vile, but utterly and totally free speech."
• New Yorkology points out that the city has backed away from its asinine rules regarding photography:  the city was proposing a law that anyone using a tripod or shooting in one place for 30 minutes or more be required to get a permit and a million dollars of liability insurance.  Now the rule is much more sensible:  don't obstruct traffic on the sidewalks;
• No way could I do NaNoWriMo; thankfully NaBloPoMo is more my speed;
• Way to go Tony -- DSO Records gets mentioned on the New York Times website!
• I am participating in my office's beard-growing contest, and as such shaved my goatee off yesterday to start with a clean slate.  I'd had it for maybe three and a half years, and it feels weird to have it gone -- I don't recognize myself in the mirror, and my chin is cold.  (Thankfully, no pictures will be forthcoming.  (At least for now.))

I'm not really sure what to say about this study on "suicide tourism", but I found it fascinating, deeply sad, and worth noting:

Out-of-towners traveling to New York City specifically to commit suicide have accounted for 5.3 percent of city suicides and more than 10 percent of all Manhattan suicides since 1990, according to a new research study. The two highest concentrations of such suicides took place near the George Washington Bridge, in Upper Manhattan, and in the Midtown tourism district, which includes Times Square, the Empire State Building and other skyscrapers, and most of the city’s major hotels.

Is the rent stressful?  Oh yeah.

It doesn't take all kinds, but we get all kinds.

Checkered Flag, originally uploaded by Vidiot.

Still working on my photo backlog -- this is from an evening spent at the dirt track in July.