Famous Ankles

Archive for 2008

Howitzers Celebrating the Fourth of July in Battery Park

July 5, 2008

I looked for it; honest, I did. But I didn’t see any notice of the event. Last year, I had wandered down to Battery Park on the 4th of July and found a group of guys in olde style military outfits and some guys from the National Guard just firing off some howitzers.

There was a purpose to it, even in NYC we don’t fire howitzers without reason.

This was a ceremony in which each State is called out in the order it joined the Union and a howitzer is fired in its honor. Loud. Oh yeah; fireworks have nothing on a howitzer from 10 feet away.

Despite no notice, I found them where I expected ’em.

You couldn’t get right up to the artillery, but that’s okay. There were three guns and each had some blank ammo next to it.

Yeah, blank. Otherwise, look at the direction they were aiming. We ain’t shooting Lady Liberty here.

It turned out that they weren’t going to start until noon. Noon! It was only 10am when I was there. I had other things to do than plug my ears with my fingers.

But it is a good show. Next year I plan to get there in a timely manner.

-H

Categories: Events, Manhattan

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NYC Fourth of July 2008 (or about 3/4 of one)

July 4, 2008

Happy 4th to you…although I’m posting this so late it probably won’t be seen by anyone until the 5th. But that’s okay. I only got to see about 75% of the fireworks (although I saw the whole show) so, on balance, seeing 3/4’s of the fourth on the fifth is the fourth. Right?

That’s way too wordy and idiotic. I oughta just delete it, but it’s late and I need to make my post.

Anyway, I went out to see the fireworks, but there was something of a problem.

Yeah, a building was partially in the way. So, I only got to see about 3/4’s of any explosion.

It was also raining a little. Fortunately, not enough to spoil the show, but enough to make the end of the fireworks highly anticipated so we could get out of it.

There only seemed to be one boat firing off the fireworks (it was anchored in the middle of the East River). I should have recorded the TV show to see if there were others further to the south. I looked to see if I could detect another one, but didn’t see anything.

The bit that was interesting was before the show, we could see lots of fireworks going off miles and miles away in Brooklyn and Queens. A couple of them seemed to be pretty big shows. I suppose one of them could have been in Coney Island (I believe I’ve heard it has a good show, too). But the East River show is the big’un.

The show was done well. It escalated nicely and there were a few well-deserved gasps when it hit the occasional cresendo. The crowds at the center of the action usually have a musical accompaniment; but nothing for us on the far edges of the show.

-H

Categories: Events, Hudson and East River Views, Mid-town

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Euro-Bungy (or is it Bungee?) at South Street Seaport

July 3, 2008

As I was wandering the South Street Seaport mall over the weekend, I saw one of the local attractions in use. It’s called “Euro-Bungy” and is a small bungee jumping setup that is pretty cool. I think I saw it in use one other time (but only by one person) whereas this time there were, I think, four of them in operation at the same time.

It looks like a lot of fun.

The kids have two bungee cords attached to them and they bounce up and down on a small trampoline at the bottom. It looks like they can get up about 10 feet with no trouble at all but it probably tops out at not much more than 20 feet up. I think that’s plenty high from my angle.

I think it costs about $10 for five minutes of jumping and every person I’ve ever seen jump has been under 16 or so. I think one kid I saw was more in the six or seven year age range. Of course at that age you can’t expect them to be able to bounce quite as high. But I think their parents are thankful for that.

I don’t know about doing it though. I did note a sign saying no one over 20 is allowed to do a flip on it. That’s terrible! If I can’t flip, I ain’t doing it.

-H

Categories: Manhattan, Wanderings

Comments: 3 Comments

Lever House Sculpture

July 2, 2008

I was wandering past “Lever House” and saw something I didn’t expect: something fun and interesting.

I’m getting way too cynical in my old age.

I’ve done a couple of earlier posts on Lever House artwork (see here and here) and I generally find their stuff not to my taste or just insipid. This one was absolutely primed for such treatment, and then I found myself enjoying it.

Wait for it….

It’s “Hello Kitty”.

Yeah. Hello Kitty. I have never for a moment found anything interesting about Hello Kitty…until now. I’ve always thought of it as the quintessential commercial dreck aimed directly at five-year-old girls and their mothers. And I’m a guy who was watching anime from way back. (I actually lived in Japan as a teenager and used to watch some of the shows and read their comic books. And I’m sure no teenager now. Decades away, in fact.) Bluntly put: until this exhibit, I hated Hello Kitty.

The pieces are huge. And, despite their white color; they’re made of bronze. Okay, I don’t know that for certain, but the collection is called “Bronze Collection”. I didn’t touch them to confirm. The sculptor is Tom Sachs and they are on display until September 6.

The next pictures above and below have some motion to them: streams of water shooting out of their eyes. That’s anime for crying. No tears: streams of water shooting outward.

Why did I enjoy them? I really don’t know. They are certainly a relief from the supposed intellectual content of the earlier sculptures that I didn’t like. I do enjoy playfulness and although a small Hello Kitty depiction on a handbag or t-shirt is not something I get any pleasure from; a ten or twelve foot one is a delight.

Sort of like a giant walking marshmellow if you catch my drift.

-H

Categories: Events, Manhattan, Mid-town, Wanderings

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Goats and a Blue Guy at Union Square

July 1, 2008

I couldn’t help it. I was at Union Square and noticed two things that I hadn’t seen there before. Well, the title tells it all.

Union Square was having one of its regular farmers markets and plant/flower sales as I was going through it, and I happened upon a nice little place.

Nothing special, just kind of your usual stall selling cheese. In this case, goat cheese. I’ve seen them before. What I hadn’t seen before were the proof of the cheese source: Goats.

They were pretty skittish, but then this is a new land for goats. We don’t get much livestock in Manhattan, dontchaknow? Well, not nowadays. Go back a dozen decades and it would probably be a frequent sight.

But this is a sight you wouldn’t have seen that dozen decades ago. And probably not last week, either.

I honestly don’t know the purpose or reason or joke that’s being pulled here. For some reason, the figure looks familiar, but I don’t really recall seeing him/it before. Of course, you see all types in NYC.

With regard to livestock (to revisit that topic for a moment). No, we don’t have livestock, but our farmers markets can have some game for sale. Not live, though.

-H

Categories: Manhattan, Union Square, Wanderings

Comments: 1 Comment