A tale of (failed) gun safety from Seattle

By Jack Brummet,  Second Amendment Editor

From yesterday's Seattle Police Department Blotter:

"On October 11th at approximately 4:30 p.m. officers responded to a 911 report of an accidental shooting at a residence in the 900 block of North 96th street. Preliminary investigation indicates that a father and his adult son were sitting together on the floor of the living room portion of the father’s apartment. They were showing each other their handguns and explaining to each other the proper way to safely load/unload and disassemble the different makes and models of each other’s handguns.

"The father had just finished showing his son how to properly make his gun safe and was about to hand the gun to the son when the father pulled the trigger. The gun discharged and a bullet struck the son in the upper thigh and buttocks area.

"(When the initial 911 call was made it was reported that the son had accidently shot himself).

"SFD responded to the scene and transported the victim to Harborview Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

"This remains an active and on-going investigation."
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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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