Kent, Washington in the news

By Jack Brummet, Green River Valley Editor

My home town makes the news once again.  The caption reads:  "Dave Anthony toasts his achievement after driving his truck onto the roof of a friend's soon-to-be demolished Kent home on the West Valley Highway."

Thanks to our favorite contributor, Jeff Clinton, for passing this along.

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"If you don't like gay marriage, don't get gay married"

I shot this photo yesterday in Manhattan while Kee and I walked along The Highline. Nice.  The building was in the meat-packing district. 

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Abe Lincoln, Paranormal Investigator

Thanks for the picture and caption to Dean Ericksen!

This explains what we've always sensed.   Abraham Lincoln's haunted look comes straight from from his heavy paranormal baggage.

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Keelin on The Highline

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The New Demographic In NYC

If you lived here in the late 70's/early 80's, the ratio of women to men on the streets was about 1:10. It's now roughly 1:1--a most welcome change. And the women, from 12 to 80, are beautiful.
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Dog in carriage

On Broadway and 79thStreet, one dog walking, and another--presumably infirm-in a baby carriage.

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1 World Trade Center, a/k/a The Freedom Tower

By Jack Brummet, NYC/Metro Editor (reporting from NYC)

1 World Trade Center as it looks today - click to enlarge

What was once known as The Freedom Tower, and recently renamed 1 World Trade Center, is looking good.  I was not thrilled with the early sketches and concepts, but seeing it live, I think it is going to be impressive.  And thank God they changed the name.  The earlier name evoked the silly pathos of America's rampant jingoism in the face of the 9/11 attacks, reminding us of the "Freedom Fries" silliness.

The World Trade Center buildings were, to me, the real totems of New York City.  When I lived here, sure, I went to the top of the Chrysler Building once, and to the top of the Empire State Building a couple of times.  But whenever anyone I knew from the West Coast came to visit, I would haul them to the "observation deck" of the World Trade Center every time.  I even went to a couple of meetings there, for my work.  I loved those towers.  I remember going to the Avant Garde Fair there in the late 70's, when John Lennon and Yoko Ono had skywriting planes put their messages in the air, over the fair.  Those towers, clad in white, reminded me (when I saw it much later) of the Getty Museum's (in the Santa Monica Mountains near Los Angeles) gorgeous travertine stone.   Even more than the Statue of Liberty, the Twin Towers were my ultimate New York touchstone.

Me, in front of the original World Trade Center, 31 years ago

Up close and personal, the new building (which will rise to 1,776 feet high, with its mast) is going to be a great addition to downtown Manhattan.  Bring it on.

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The Belleclaire Hotel

By Jack Brummet, Travel Editor

The Belleclaire Hotel - click to enlarge

The Belleclaire Hotel is on the corner of 77th and Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.  Rooms around $200 a night.  It's in the heart of one of my very favorite neighborhoods in NYC.  The rooms are nice size with angles and an entry--they're not just square boxes.  And they have wood floors!  Highly recommended!  For some reason it is full of Europeans.  The Belleclaire is very close to Zabar's, The Westside and Fairway Markets and lots of other uptown goodness.  It is a short walk to Lincoln Square and Central Park.   This is the second time I've stayed here, and it is just great.  Nothing fancy, but clean, simple and convenient.  Highly recommended!

The views from our room:

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The Lost Coast Tapes (coming soon?)

By Jack Brummet, Paranormal and Unexplained Phenomena Editor

The Lost Coast Tapes is a new horror-POV feature that has just finished post-production and should be out sometime in 2012.  It is already getting some buzz.    The Lost Coast Tapes follows a group of investigative journalists as they set out to Northern California to debunk a rogue hunter who claims he has a Bigfoot in captivity (now you know why we're writing about this!).  The tagline:

"In 2011 a documentary crew traveled to a remote site in Northern California to verify the discovery of a dead Sasquatch. This footage is all that remains."

If this poster for The Lost Coast Tapes has anything to do with the movie at all, this is pretty exciting.  It is directed by Corey Grant and they promise to release a teaser trailer soon. 

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The Emaciated Siddharta

Keelin took this photo yesterday at a Buddhist art exhibition here in New York. . .this outdoes even some of the wildest sculptures we saw in India. . .

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Poem: The trouble with flying

Even though I've flown hundreds of times, every time I do, it still puts the spook in me.  Xanax helps during the flight itself,  but I still have a week-long run-up of anxiety and darkness, whenever I have to fly.  But then I like to fly, because it takes me places I want to be. 

The trouble with flying
By Jack Brummet

The trouble begins,
and often ends,

When you make an unplanned transition
From an initial flying state

To a subsequent not flying state.
Falling per se is OK;

The hitch comes
When falling becomes not falling,

Or, what the pros call
The uncontrolled landing problem.
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NYC, Day One

By Jack Brummet

After a five hour and five minute red-eye flight on Jet Blue, Keelin and I landed at JFK at 6:05 AM.  We hopped on a bus that took us to the Howard Beach subway station, where we got on the A train (the train we rode to school and work every day when we lived in Brooklyn), switched at Columbus Circle for the No. 1 train (which was our train when we lived on the Upper West Side), and got off at 79th for our hotel--The Belleclaire, on the corner of Broadway and 77th Street.  It was too early to check in, so we went out for breakfast to Barney Greengrass "The sturgeon king" which is just up the street from our old apartment at 158 W. 84th Street (between Amsterdam and Columbus).  We always liked eating there when we lived here, but usually couldn't afford it.  I had scrambled eggs, an amazing plate of Nova Scotia salmon, a bialy, and Barney's usual lame coffee.  No one makes better nova, lox, sturgeon, herring, etc. than Barney.  Anyhow, the nova at Barney's is transcendent, if you like nova (very slowly code smoked salmon, with a very subtle smoke...not as dense or smoky or salty as lox).

Since we couldn't check in to our hotel in noon, we decided to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  There was a Franz Hals show we wanted to see, as well as a survey of historical Indian (the Asian Indians) painters.  And I always like to see their modern collection (The Klines, Warhols, Pollocks, Rothkos, etc.). Before I completely collapsed (I only slept two hours on the 'plane), I also went through the Roman and Greek marble galleries--always one of my favorites.  Usually, I also like to go through the Egyptian galleries too, which I may have to do this weekend.  But then there is the Modern, the Whitney, and The Frick, and The Guggenheim to consider.

More tomorrow (will try to visit the Occupy Wall Street protest/uprising).

one of my favorite warhol silk screen paintings

and it is huge--probably 20 feet tall

Self portrait in a parabolic mirror art installation at the Met

 

click to enlarge -- Autumn Rhythm,  by Jackson Pollock (and, yeah,

I know a lot of people don't like his work.  I do).

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