Norwegian Elevator Constructors Union

A few months back I received an unusual email from Norway. Coincidentally, I visited Norway back in October, 2008 when I attended the wonderful annual film festival in Bergen. A movie I produced, "Guest of Cindy Sherman," was invited to screen in the festival and I had an amazing time there. I thought the email might have something to do with the movie or my trip to Norway, but it was entirely unrelated.

The email I got was from the Norwegian Elevator Constructors Union asking about a picture they had seen on this very blog. They were writing an upcoming article about escalators, especially the old wooden ones, and wanted to know if they could use a picture for their member's magazine which is published a few times a year. Even though there was no fee for the usage, I said "Sure, go ahead and use my picture." The picture they liked was the one I took of the old wooden escalators in Macy's. It is sort of fitting that this comes up today as tomorrow is the great big Macy's 4th of July Fireworks show. At any rate, the original photograph ran here a little over a year ago in May, 2009.

Months have passed and I had almost forgotten about it until I when to get the mail today. There was a large white envelope from Norway and contained in it was my complimentary issue of the magazine. Even though I can't read a single word of it (since it's entirely in Norwegian), I was pleasantly surprised to see that not only did they use my picture "in" the magazine, they used my picture on the cover. In some ways I suppose this makes me a professional photographer now. It seems these kinds of things happen to me all the time. One day I decide to start a blog of random pictures and the next one of my picture is selected to appear on the cover of a magazine.

I feel a little bit like they owe me a payment. There's a big difference between using the picture in the magazine and using it for the entire cover in full color, don't you think?

Making Your Way

Navigating through the lunchtime shoppers and throngs of pedestrians on 6th Avenue near Herald Square and Macy's.

Macy's Owls

There are a pair of owls perched outside of Macy's if you know where to look for them.

Headless Homeless

It sucks to be homeless because you have to sleep in a doorway near Macy's, but I think it sucks worse to lose your head.

Undercover Rolls Up on Macy's

Alela Diane - The Pirate's Gospel

Here's an example of your typical undercover NYC police car stopping to harass a street vendor selling perfume or some other unnecessary street junk on 35th and Broadway, near Macy's. The guy in the backwards baseball cop is a police officer (all these guys look the same) and there's another one sitting in the back seat of their unmarked completely nondescript automobile. There's also a cop in uniform in the picture who rolled up on a 10-speed bicycle too.

These are the people keeping our city safe, one bottle of counterfeit perfume at a time.

Alela Diane is a singer/songwriter and part of the so-called New Weird America folk genre. She's a terrific lyricist and sure knows how to write a good song.

I figured I'd post the only cool pirate song I know on account of today's conviction of Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, the sole surviving accused pirate from the foiled bid to hijack the huge U.S. container ship, the Maersk Alabama off the coast of Somalia last month. Prosecutors said that he was the ring leader of the pirates or at least conducting himself that way and was the first to board the ship. It's pretty crazy that four or five pirates in a small boat can take over a massive ship. Apparently he is the first piracy conviction in the US in nearly 100 years or so. I think he was only doing this piracy thing because his parents couldn't afford braces. After all, his parents said he was only 15, but I don't think the court believed them for a second. I'm not convinced either way. They should have asked his Somalian orthodontist to testify. After looking at the picture (link above) I am sure you'll agree. He's facing a mandatory life sentence in prison. That may wipe the buck-toothed smile off his face.

Wooden Escalator

Macy's may be known for many things, but I think that their original wooden escalators are one of the best things about the store. This enormous department store is located in the middle of the city and its kind of a let down when you go there for the first time or any old time really. It's huge (10 floors), but basically pretty crappy as far as department stores go. To me, it seems run down, tired and in need of some general overall refurbishment and upkeep. There are way better department stores in the city (Bergdorf Goodman or even Saks) or anywhere in the world (Harrod's, etc.). I like to think that Macy's management is huddled up in a conference room somewhere right now devising a plan to make their flagship store appear a lot more spectacular.

At least they are doing one thing right.

The absolute best part about visiting Macy's is taking a ride on the wooden escalators and visiting the McDonalds located on the 7th floor. It's a good place to go and get a Big Mac.