Thursday, February 5, 2009

New York, New York

A lovely photo set of New York City from the 1930s. My favorites are the crowded beach scene at Coney Island, Margaret Bourke-White's shot of hats in the Garment District, and a shot of "the Lung Block" on the Lower East Side.

Having lived here beyond the "novelty" period, i must admit it's easy to take The City for granted. It's not that i've seen it all, not even close. I've barely made a dent on the most fundamental of NYC to-dos. But see, it's not that there's no novelty left, it's that we lose the energy to explore it: "Ehh. It'll be there tomorrow. I'll do that later. Sure, maybe next time."

But here, we pay a price for the laziness, the too-cool-for-school attitude (which NYC nurtures), because the pace is unforgiving & unrelenting. The list of things i've missed out on would stretch for miles, and and a good portion of that is regretful. So it's good to see composites like this that capture how spectacular a seemingly unspectacular moment can be. And, for me, it reminds me that i live in the one city in our one world, where every moment, however mundane, can make beautiful spectacular history.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Let Me Explain...

...the reason for my prolonged silence is simple: I've been watching this nonstop, on repeat:



Watch the 2:04m mark and you'll understand why.