Preppy Afternoon

A couple of prepsters were out for an afternoon stroll headed down 6th Avenue on a cloudy afternoon.

Rainy Oysters

Another rainy night in Midtown Manhattan.

I love the neon of the Famous Oyster Bar, but I've never been there. It's been around forever and about the only thing I can think to recommend about it beside the neon is the location. It always gets uniformly negative reviews on Citysearch and Yelp.

If you are from out of town and are looking for a place to go for oysters, go to the Grand Central Oyster Bar. It's located in the basement of Grand Central Terminal and and I highly recommend it. It's definitely not to be missed if you visit New York City.

Hey Asshole!

You really shouldn't take random pictures of homeless people with any sort of crazy look in their eyes. I should learn this lesson quickly, but I haven't yet.

Is it any surprise that instead of thanking me for taking such a wonderful portrait that this guy/woman, proceeded to scream obscenities at me (including the wonderful blog title above) in broad daylight and literally chase me down the street? I had to actually run away. I took off in the direction of the Museum of Modern Art and deftly eluded capture. You know you don't have a great picture until you have to run to get it.

I see this guy around a lot in my neighborhood. In 85 degree heat he's usually seen dressed in his stylish bright red jacket and scarf while lugging a couple of roller suitcases filled with God knows what. Most notably though, if you're lucky to catch him on a good day, you'll see him/her with a full face of lipstick smeared all around his lips. It's crazy interesting so if you have an extra compact to donate to the homeless, I know someone in need.

Trash Can Lunch

It's hard to know what's going on in Midtown and you don't really want to ask barefoot people who are eating out of the trash exactly what they're doing. Plus it's never a good idea to disrupt someone's lunch. My guess is that this is either a really hungry homeless guy or it's another one of those avant-garde performance art pieces on Madison Avenue.

Color Coordination

I am not sure how he managed to find a tie to match the shirt or vice versa, but this is a significant accomplishment.

Unseasonably Warm

The weather has been really topsy-turvy lately. One day it's cold and then the next it's 90 degrees. People don't know what to wear. Some people are wearing shorts and t-shirts in April (see background), and others choose to steadfastly hang on to the winter and wear their cold weather gear: down coat, hat, scarf, and gloves. If you like winter like I do, this is a great way to capture my attention and I'm also very likely to take your picture. She yelled at me after I took her picture.

54th Street Scream

Plenty Should Be Enough

It should be, but it never is.

The latest artwork installed at Lever House on Park Avenue between 53rd and 54th is Barbara Kruger's immersive installation entitled "Between Being Born and Dying." Using enormous bold white Helvetica ultra-condensed adhesive vinyl letters on a black background, many as tall as seventeen feet, the artist has plastered them over the inside and the outside of the entire lobby.

As Arthag points out, it also reminds me of those reconstituted 80's Frankie Goes To Hollywood t-shirts.

Silhouette

8:30 p.m., Monday night.

Miley Cyrus on the "Sex and the City" 2 Set

I noticed that "Sex and the City 2" was filming this evening in my neighborhood so I wandered down the street a little after 11PM to check out the filming. There were loads of huge campers and trucks taking up all the parking spaces in the area which is a really good sign that it's a big movie. I walked around the set and took a couple of pictures for your enjoyment.

To be honest, I didn't see the first movie and I wasn't a huge fan of the HBO TV series so it really isn't my thing, but it was semi-entertaining to have a major motion picture take up residence so close by my house. In case you've never visited a movie set, it is really pretty boring to stand around while it's being filmed. It seems exciting, but there's not much to see. All the good stuff happens in the editing room. It's mostly set up and waiting around time, but even still there were lots and lots of people who were milling about on 54th and 55th Streets hoping to catch a quick glimpse of a celebrity or two.

I always find it noteworthy to see how close you can get to the filming and just blend right in to the scenery. I walked right up the the area where the directors and producers sit to watch the video playback and took a couple pictures of the director's chairs with the movie logo printed on them. I should have headed over to craft service and grabbed some food since they usually have a great selection of snacks, but I wasn't feeling so bold tonight. The scene they were filming tonight was being shot outside the Zeigfeld theater on 54th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. From the looks of it (and my pictures) I think the scene calls for the actors to be going to some sort of fake lame action movie premiere called "Heart of the Desert."

Afterwards as I was walking home, I noticed a large crowd gathered in the cold (40 degrees!) around one of the actor's trailers. I assumed they were waiting for an actor to come out on the way to the set and I waited around for a few minutes outside with a bunch of tourists, foreigners and paparazzi. It sure sucks to be a paparazzo. You can cross that out for one of my potential career choices. I'm not that good of a photographer anyway so it's an easy choice to make. Plus who really wants to wait around outside in the cold and jostle with many overweight grimy men equipped with enormous cameras?

As luck would have it, after a few minutes the trailer doors opened and out popped Miley Cyrus (Miley! Hey Miley! MILEY! MILEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!) surrounded by a number of police and security personnel. She seems tall. I don't know why I mention that, but it seems like that's what you are supposed to comment on when you see a celebrity in real life. I took a picture or two of her (sort of) and it was just about to rain so I went home. You can see what a madhouse it was surrounding her short walk to the set. She had nice hair and seemed way older than 16. I wanted to ask her about dumping her Twitter account, but even though she walked right by me, security was kind of tight and I forgot to ask.

End of Summer Flowers

It seems like just yesterday that summer started. And now as Labor Day passes, it's the symbolic end of the summer -- vacations are over and everyone grudgingly returns to work.

It sure seems like A LOT has happened over the past four months since I posted this picture. I'm hoping that people come to their senses and the fall season brings lots of good things for everyone, myself included. Especially me.

Under The Watchful Gaze

Why have just one surveillance camera when two will do the job so much better? There really is nowhere you can go in New York City without being watched by the penetrating stare of these ubiquitous cameras. Most of the the time you don't even notice them, but I've been seeing a lot more this past week all over the place.

Internet Upstairs

Downstairs the world.

City Tulips

Some white tulips on 6th Avenue. I don't normally get the white ones, but tulips are definitely my favorite flower.

Art on the Street

These little figures seem to pop up all over the city.

If you've lived here long enough and keep your eyes peeled you'll see them around. I've noticed them mostly either painted on the street in crosswalks or affixed with some odd tape/paint sort of stuff directly to the pavement. This is the first one I've seen at eye level. It is glued to one of those strange electrical boxes that are on a lot of street corners. It's made out of some paper/plastic like material and is glued down really, really good.

This is quickly becoming my favorite blog. It's great and totally gets right to the point.

The Coffee C'Art

Here is artist Mame McCutchin's rendering of The Coffee C'Art as it might appear on the southeast corner of 54th Street and 12th Avenue - across the street from Pier 94 where the Armory Show is shacked up.

Come on down for a cup of nickel coffee, get an awesome GUEST of CINDY SHERMAN coffee cup, and support the arts!