Tag: places

The Standard

The Humble Fabulist2 Comments

7:16pm

Built in 2009 around The High Line, the hotel offers unobstructed views of the City, Hudson river, people visiting restrooms and, scandalously, hot amorous couples showing off through the floor-to-ceiling windows in their rooms, turning unsuspecting passersby into unintended peeping toms.

From where I stand it’s too far to see – or is it?

May be if I waited for the lights to be turned on…

8:45pm

By the way, remember that incident when Solange Knowles lost it and attacked Jay Z in an elevator? That’s were it happened. Fame and Notoriety make good partners, I think as I gaze at life going on behind the windows.

September 7th, 2016

Candy Peaks

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This ex-candy factory that produced Mason Peaks – a candy bar with coconut covered in chocolate and Mason Mint – a round mint patty also covered in chocolate, later became an affordable housing and subsidized artists’ community until its most recent conversion into luxury condos, not without the controversy and bitter aftertaste that follow evictions that follow real-estate development that follow big bucks investments.

But, thankfully, they kept the sign which has now become my benchmark when looking for the right turn to reach Brooklyn Heights Promenade coming from Brooklyn Bridge. After getting off of the bridge and following the path through the park towards Peaks Mason Mints I continue on Middagh Street up until Columbia Heights then turn left and walk a few meters to a marked descending path which is the start of the Promenade and its glorious views of the Manhattan skyline.

September 5th, 2016

Good Heavens

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The weight of heaven on his shoulders for eternity: such was the punishment of Titan Atlas by Zeus for leading the Titans (elder gods) against the Olympians (young generation of deities) in what was essentially a power struggle between generations.

Carry Uranus (the sky) on his shoulders to prevent him from reuniting with Gaia (the earth) which would lead back to chaos, Atlas was essentially ”condemned” to be the keeper of the Balance of our Cosmos.

Atlas.
Bronze statue by Lee Lawrie and Rene Paul Chambellan, installed in front of Rockefeller Center in 1937.

24th September, 2016

The time is nigh…

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… and so it has been since end of August. It was then that some gorgeous, huge, perfectly rounded pumpkins made their annual front raw appearance in their thousands, taking position on shelves in- and outside grocery shops and supermarkets. Although they are supposed to be picked up in October, they couldn’t wait to mark the beginning of Halloween Season and start the countdown to every child’s favourite spooky night. No matter the sweltering heat of the last days of August, the magic ”pompions” were there to remind that the time is nigh.

Will and Fred went to the barn.
They got a pumpkin.
The pumpkin was large.
The pumpkin was yellow.
The boys cut the top off.
They cut the seeds out.
They cut four holes in the pumpkin.
They put a candle in the pumpkin.
The light shone out.
The boys said, “See our Jack-o’-Lantern.”

Narrative from a turn-of-the-century schoolbook, Victoire and Perdue’s The New Century First Reader via urbanlegends.

October 22nd, 2016

On the bright side

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Walking the High Line can be a real challenge with endless rows of tourists obstructing annoyed New Yorkers obstructing desperate joggers realising only too late that their choice of running track couldn’t have been worse (actually it could but I’ll come back on that later).

But step aside, look left or right away from this nuisance and a broader – brighter – perspective will lay ahead.

Shine

The High Line, Chelsea, Aug 28th 2016