On being (almost) mugged

My mental image of New York is not exactly a sex-and-the-city consumer utopia, but for some reason random street crime has never entered the picture. Never again. For better or worse, my attitude towards Gotham has changed as the result of an incident last night. 

The time: 1:35 am. The place: Myrtle ave, 65th st. After a wonderful day of grooving to Yo La Tengo and dancing on stage with the cast of HAIR, I was tired and looking forward to sleep.

I was only one block from home. 

Footsteps behind me. A young black man, maybe about 20 with a big afro and a lanky frame, steps alongside me and asks if I had a dollar. I said I didn't have any, which was true (I spent my last single on a Mcdonalds cheeseburger). He asked me again "You sure you don't even have a dollar?" Again, I said "no", maybe a bit too brusquely. He was being a bit persistent, but other then that I assumed he was just another homeless guy asking for some change. 

"OK, then I'm going to make this quick. Give me everything you have in your pockets NOW". Literally as I was turning the corner on my block, I turned around and saw him with his shirt pulled up over his nose and reaching for something in his pocket. 

Think: what did I have in my pockets? My cellphone, my wallet, my keys. I wasn't going to give him this stuff. The mind operates pretty quickly under pressure, and I recalled someone saying in a safety class in middle-school, of all places, that if you are ever approached by a threatening person you should yell "HELP!" as loudly as possible. That's the only tool I had for getting this guy off me safely. 

I told the guy "I am on my block now man. You don't wanna do this. I'm gonna scream for help". "You really think people are gonna come down to hel-" "HEEEELLLPP SOME GUY IS TRYING TO MUG ME! HEEEELLLP" "You are alone mother-fuc- "HEEEEELLLLP!" As I turn around again I hear the guy slinking away back to Myrtle Avenue. 

At this point bravado overtakes me a little bit "You run motherfucker! That guy in the afro tried to Mug me!" as if my block was going to collectively run out and capture him. I heard him say "Suck my dick!" and then disappear behind a corner. 

This had all taken place over about 2 minutes. My body hadn't caught up with events - my heart was beating normally, my muscles were loose. It was only after I got back in my apartment that I started to shake somewhat uncontrollably.

This was my first encounter with honest-to-god street crime, and it easily could have ended badly. Nobody actually came out of the apartments to help me - what if the mugger had continued pressing me? I suppose I would have given him my wallet, and maybe bargained to keep some of the useless identity cards (fat chance). 

This event needs more digesting. Have any of you had experiences with street crime? If so, what happened, and how did it change your outlook? 

Punk is dead - observations

I was getting into the first avenue L train this evening when I came upon a large group of punks. They looked like punks: Doc Martins, paperclips through ears, purple hair, the whole thing. They sounded like punks: yelling loudly, sliding on bannisters, making a scene. But then I noticed a group of them buying metrocards - something decidedly un-punk. As I passed one by the turnstile I commented "Shouldn't you be hopping the turnstile? Buying metrocards seems very un-punk!" The guy looked at me briefly, then muttered an expletive and continued waiting for his paying freinds. 

So these were not, in fact, punks - but only people dressed like punks. I almost wished to see a group of people who were pursuing an active alternative to our society's values, but was dissapointed to find this not to be the case. 

I read in a book defending anti-modern thinkers of the 19th century that the greatest lie our culture has given us is that you can find freedom through self-expression. It seems capitalism is able to take any movement towards this end, whether it be hippies, punks, riot grrls, or anarchists, and package it as a consumer drive. Our system is built FOR the purpose of satisfying one's desire to express themselves, and can easily adapt itself to commodify the latest trend. 

What groups dedicated to uprooting society through self-expression really exist today? I can't think of any, much less any that seem successful. No doubt that a social movement like PUnk allows people the freedom to express themselves in ways no other generation has before - but sticking a pin through your nose will not lead to broader social changes, it will only accomplish your own personal wish. It seems that the most direct refutation of an atomizing political and economic structure is a broad, unfied body that unites as many people under one roof as possible in the name of the greater good. Yes, you could lose your traces of your own "identity" within it, but it should be able to accomplish far more for society, and ultimately yourself, then by retreating from the world in order to achieve a myopic vision of who you "truly are". 

The forces that seek to control you want you to think that you are unique and different. We'd be better off if we realize that we are all human, and all belong in the same boat. 

awesome photoblog -Shorpy's 100-year old Photoblog

Just as reading about a place is no substitute for actually visiting it, to simply read about the past is not enough - you must experience it with your other senses. To hear Franklin D. Roosevelt's voice, to hold a WWII-era rifle in your hands - these aren't superficial devices to make "history come alive", they really help you understand what it was like to live in the past. 

That is what makes a website like Shorpy's 100-year old Photoblog so fantastic. Here you see amazingly high-def

photographs from the 1860s up with a clarity that is truly shocking. These aren't some

actors dressed up - these are real 1938 human beings, and just look at their eyes.

How are they different from us? Do they think like we do? Do they have the same

interests, priorities, and why?

Beyond vanished characters, photographs conjour up vanished landscapes. Just

check this out:

As time goes on I'll post some more of my favorite pictures from this and other sites. 

But defitely take the time to check out the page on your own - you'll find some real

gems. I'll leave you with this amazing photograph of Aviation employees looking

skyward at an airshow in 1941. 

The essence of improv

Four years ago I was getting out of the 23rd avenue PATH station in New York when I beheld a strange site. A motley group of comedians, dressed in ridiculous get-ups, were parading down the street and handing out flyers. Uncharacteristically I accepted one. "Del Close Improv Marathon" it read, 72 straight hours of improv comedy. I decided to take a chance and buy a ticket.

Since then I have become an Improv comedy devotee. I prefer it to Sketch, Standup, or any other format. Why is this?

Is it the performers? No, the best standups and sketch performances can leave me howling.

Is it the humor? No, you can (theoretically) find the same kind of jokes, one-liners, and situations in any of these formats.

The answer is Danger. Watching Improv comedy is a theatrical equivalent to watching a gladiator fight. These men and women are creating comedy in front of you, with no room for error. One false move, and a scene could be ruined. One sudden insight or turn-of-phrase, and a scene could be rescued. Its all up to them, and its all happening live. This knowledge keeps the audience at the edge of their seats - they applaud and laugh not only becuase what they see is funny, but because they are rooting, in a sense, for these folks to triumph in the face of awkwardness, boredom, and silence. 

Thats what I find so fascinating about these improv groups - there's a fine line between being individually funny, and working together to make a SCENE funny. One funny guy who screws up the dynamic can, ultimately, kill a bit. Its great to watch these people figure out what's working and what needs to be cut - its a performance and a puzzle all at once. 

And when you follow and improv group's through a few performances, like I do, the analogy with sports seems even more fitting. You start rooting for particular "players" to save a scene if its going bad - particular "plays" that they rely on to get them out of trouble. 

Here are some groups I encourage you to follow - Respecto Montalbon, Death By Roo Roo, and Mother. 

What do you guys think? Is improv your thing, why/why not? 

Groundbreaking JFK doc

We take for granted that today's politicians are extensively media-trained, unable to offer anything spontaneous (or honest) in front of a television camera. This was not always so, however, and that is the amazing quality that stands out in Robert Drew's two documentaries on JFK's presidential race and adminsitration, Primary and Crisis.  Here we see Hubert Humphrey asleep on the way to campaign against this New England Upstart; Governor Wallace speaking freely about his thoughts on segregation; Jacqui Onnassis fidgeting nervsouly behind her back as she speeks to a delegation of Polish-Americans. Adding to this cinema-verite is the amazing mobility of the camera, allowing Robert to capture the full scale of a political campaign, from the jungle of the convention floor to the cramped siderooms where the real deals are made. It doesn't hurt that its subject is one of the most telegenic and dynamic political creatures of the 20th century. 

All in all, this is a ground-breaking documentary that captures the dawn of the media-politician right in a way that can never be replicated. Check out more about the doc here. 

Funny/Sad department

I often wonder what would happen if the greatest songs of the 20th century were combined with Home Depot Marketing. Thanks to the internet, I can stop wondering. And start crying.

On the Sunny Side

It isn't the most innovative. It isn't the most technically spectacular. But  every time I hear Tommy Dorsey's version of "On the Sunny Side of the Street", I feel completely at ease. Its the quintessential feel-good swing song. The melodic riffs and punchy brass of its first half are great in their own right, but once those chorus gals come up on the second half, you just get carried along. It helps that their four-part 40s-style harmonies are some of the tightest I've ever heard.  I know its corny as all hell, but you can't help but feel the kind of hopeful outlook many Americans felt as we were getting out of WWII. Other countires have had bouts of optimism, but few really felt as confident as we did in the immediate post-war years. Of course, it couldn't last. I'm happy now to be living in a time when technology (internet) and certain politicians (Obama) are once again giving us a "yes we can" attitude, but you won't find songs like this coming out anytime soon. Only through their self-contained cultural products, like this song, can we vicariously live through the past. Thank goodness for youtube. 

On Right Wing Haters

Routines are important. They give you a structure to cling onto, to provide stability in uncertain times. For me, there are three essential, daily updated websites I must check in the morning before I do anything else, websites so crucial that to miss them would cause physical pain - salon.com, slate.com, and nytimes.com. 

On a later date I'll talk about exactly why these websites have such a dear place in my heart. For now I just want to thrust some nice articles into your face that I found on them. 

"Ante Up Luda" talks about what I mentioned in yesterdays post - the potential backlash voters might have against hollywood types taking their love of Barack to far and alienating peeps. As he explains, 

I'm not calling for censorship, but I am calling for "sense"-orship. Any chance these right-wing player haters get to bad mouth hip-hop and put Obama on blast at the same time is like Christmas andJefferson Davis' birthday all rolled into one.

As you can tell, he's also a pretty funny too. Check it out. 

Next up, Changing Lanes is a good article by Elizabeth Kolbert (the anti-colbert) decries McCain's campaign tactics. Blaming Obama for high gas prices?  Looks like the Straight Talk Express doesn't run during campaign season. Its too bad - I really liked McCain in the late 90s,  but an maverick can only maintain his independence for so long in 8 years of Karl Rove-run republican rule.  For more on McCain's mudslinging antics, and how effective its gonna be, direct your attention to The Low Road Warrior in last weeks issue of New York Metro. Its a disheartening view of a campaign gone south real far, real fast. And worst, it might just win him a seat in the whitehouse. 

Okay, enough of this depressing stuff. I leave you with the first episode of the fine comic/cum/webseries, Get Your War On

Fashion, Politics, and other Synonyms

Ran across this is this weeks New York Metro - 

http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/48938/

Barack Obama may not be “the biggest celebrity in the world,” as last week’s controversialMcCain ad charged, but his wife’s a fashion icon. Harper’s Bazaar has   photographed supermodel Tyra Banks for the cover of its September issue, and, cheekily,   she’ll be featured in a photo spread imagining Michelle Obama as First Lady. (On the  cover, she’ll just be Tyra.) The September Bazaar hits newsstands this week. “Harper’s  Bazaar photographed Tyra for a politically themed feature in the September issue,” says a spokeswoman for the magazine.

Sometimes, I feel that the entertainment industry's love affair with Obama is going to lead to a backlash. Middle America (and Mccain is counting on this, i.e. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-kHLS5i61M) will probably not be convinced to vote for Obama 

by the endorsement of 

Ludacris (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulcGldJlKiA), Tyra, or any other celebrity 

short of Charleton Heston or Tom Hanks. In fact, I am worried that they will be turned off. 

Then again, those folks would probably vote for McCain anyway, and

the votes they acquire, somehow, from celebrity-lovers might be beneficial.

If those people ever voted. Which they don't.

Or do they? DISCUSS!!

btw how can I link directly to youtube videos rather than using these clumsy htmls? help would be appreciated.

My first post.

We all have random thoughts and insights that swirl around our head, and don't really get anywhere past that. For the most part, thats a good idea. But, once in a while, we all have something interesting to say. Thank God for the blog!

A lot is happening to me these days. Graduated college in May. Starting Graduate School on August. Got an apartment in Queens in July in a neighborhood I've never stepped foot in before. Its an interesting experience to deal with these novel situations on a day to day basis, and I thought it could be nice to spill my guts, every so often, onto the Internet and give you a glimpse into the fast-changing world of Me. That way, if you ever attend CUNY in the fall of 2008 and live in Glendale, Queens with Joe Gibbons, you'll know exactly what and what not to do. Writing about this stuff also relieves me of stress, homicidal tendencies, and makes me a little more introspective about the shite I do. Which I suppose is a Good Thing. I'll also post pretty pictures once I get a camera. 

On a less practical note, I am also very interested in the world outside school and home - art, culture, music, politics, books, movies - and I would like to share some of my favorite examples of these with you.  The internet is full of links, articles, pictures, and videos that catch my attention on a daily basis, and a few of my friends have recommended having a blog where I put up some of my favorites for your edutainment. Such as this trailer for a movie I love, Up the Yangtze

Finally, occasionally I'll find myself compelled to talk about something that I have absolutely no authority in - a news item, thoughts on architecture and art, or your relationship with your mother. This website serves this purpose as well.  Please bear with me. And of course, I urge you to debate and discuss anything you want on this website. The Monocle accepts all. 

And with that, lets set this SOB out to sea.