Currently browsing 'twilight zone'
Havana Cabs
The Havana cabs are a diverse species. Just like other material objects in Cuba, cabs are a wedding of what’s available. You have your standard checkered yellow, George Jetson Cocotaxis, pedicabs held together with some clever salvage craft, and then these… the ones that defy time, science and embargoes… what makes Cuba feel oh so 1950s. More on taxis to come.
where I won’t be tomorrow
photo by Luc Viatour
Nova is gearing up for some new odysseys, but she’ll tell you one place she aint going to be. That would be the moon, given looney-tunes NASA has decided it needed to shoot the equivalent of a missile into it “to see what happens”. Sounds very much like a bunch of little boys detonating fireworks in places they really shouldn’t be, though talking about it in a language appropriate for their ages and nerdiness : “LCROSS Centaur Separation… Mission operations is initiating the breaking maneuver. This will create the 4 minute, 373 mile (600 km) separation planned for optimal data of the Centaur Impact Flash and debris plume. The breaking burn is 4 min 5 sec. in duration.”
Break out the apocalypse kits! Women will simultaneously get their periods across the globe, massive tidal waves will engulf our coasts, and the alien base hidden in the moon’s core will become activated and aim their cannons at earth. All because we wanted to see what happened.
No following NASA missions for me this time around! I’ll be home with my duct tape.
Space Odyssey in Washington Heights
This installment sits in the secluded woods of Fort Tryon Park by the dog run. I think it is a cleverly disguised black monolith from the movie: 2001: A Space Odyssey. Instead of apes jumping up and down to its presence and hum, you have dogs barking around it, perhaps triggering some evolutionary spark in them so that dogs evolve into their anagram: gods. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, visit the black monolith link.
If it’s not a disguised black monolith, then it is an ode to the types of radiators we have in Washington Heights.
Your thoughts?
Strange friends you have, Mr. Heineken…
Washington Heights, NYC August 2009
Delivering more than beer here!
first summer day in NYC 2009
Mark the date, August 10th 2009. First real summer day in NYC in 2009. Pathetic.
Unfulfilled prophecy (thus far)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn NYC July 2009
Not true so far. What happened?
Et en Arcadia
The most memorable moment of our recent Sicilian odyssey did not happen in a city, but between cities. We were on one of those two hour car drives, this time our destination was ceramics from Caltagirone and chocolate from the city of Modica. We were winding our way through the Sicilian countryside. Our cars followed a well paved highway. We were surrounded by fields of golden wheat, distant hills with olive trees, and flattened sun-dried grass with bundled haystacks that looked like round suitcases left long ago by the Cyclopean race. The highway served as an unlikely wormhole through an Arcadian landscape; we passed through it encased in our vehicles. For a long while the only reminder of human contact with the land was passing trucks. They swayed with heavy loads of agricultural bounties I imagined harvested from these golden fields. I was entranced by paradise. Et en Arcadia – continue reading …
Urban Tree Series
Thorn tree in Buenos Aires- they also had large cocoon like sacks hanging from branches that burst into cotton balls. Very alien-like.
Body Bag Stiletto Guy Revealed
News flash- we’ve got our finger on the NYC pulse, because in today’s NY Times Sunday Styles section, there is an article about the guy in the body bag wanting you to step on him that I told you about in Cielo. The picture to the left is from the NY Times, follow the link. Surprise, surprise, he does derive some pleasurable satisfaction from being stepped on, ergo why I didn’t step on him without knowing the real deal. That’s like being an unknowing participant in a sex act. At least now I know for next time, and can make an informed decision.
UPDATE: Forgot to thank avid Urban Odyssey reader, DIVAFISH for showing me the article!
Step to Cielo
Fans of House music (which is very much odyssey travel music): Cielo and DJ Alex Pearce are a nice match. The club is spotless (with a swimming pool smell that doesn’t seem to bother me); it’s cozy (not like a an over-hyped coliseum (like the old Twilo)) and has the best lighting and sound system I’ve experienced in a club. The music is thumping, but not piercing.
Turns out there is a guy who has been asking (and getting permission from) various clubs and DJs to lay on the floor in a body bag with a sign that says “Step on me” with a modestly drawn happy face. In Cielo he was situated right under the bar to capture high traffic. Everything on him is covered in the padded body bag, except his nose. He has pale skin, (not sure if it is make-up to make him look like a corpse), but I swear I detected a pleasurable grin under his cloak.
Now who is this guy that asks to be stepped on? Bar talk theories:
- An S&M enthusiast
- A performance artist
- A graduate student doing his thesis on group attitudes and behavior on masochistic requests
As I watched girls climb on top of him to order drinks, their heels digging into his stomach, I saw his back arch and torso cave in. Was it to adjust to the weight or was it a pleasure groan? I refused to step on him. Ain’t going to get that type of service from me, stranger. At least not without an introduction.
