"And down the street is a retro-chic bakery, where... the windows are decorated with bird silhouettes — the universal symbol for 'hipsters welcome.'"

From the second paragraph of a NYT style article titled "Creating Hipsturbia" about NY suburb such as Hastings-on-Hudson. That bird business called to mind this segment from the TV show "Portlandia":



Anyway, the article is interesting and amusingly written, even if you don't worry about how suburbs can adapt to the tastes of "the type of alt-culture-allegiant urbanites who once considered themselves too cool to ever leave the city."

"Hipsturbia" is a good portmanteau word (if "good" includes making people who are trying to feel good about something feel bad).

To ward off the nagging sense that a move to the suburbs is tantamount to becoming like one’s parents, this urban-zen generation is seeking out palatable alternatives... and importing the trappings of a twee lifestyle like bearded mixologists, locavore restaurants and antler-laden boutiques.

How are they supposed to ward off nagging senses with the NYT dogging them like this? Don't these people know they are never ever ever supposed to leave the city — not for fresh air, not for adequate housing at a remotely decent price, not for good enough public schools, not for anything? If you leave you will be punished. You may try to get something that reminds you of the Real Life that can only be had in Brooklyn, but you will be pleasuring yourself with antlers.

The Brooklyn police officer "pointed at my outfit and said, 'Don't you think your shorts are a little short?'"

"He also stopped two other women wearing dresses... pointed at their dresses and said they were showing a lot of skin."

He said that such clothing could make the suspect think he had "easy access".... She said the officer explained that "you're exactly the kind of girl this guy is targeting."...

Flashback to the Canadian cop who caught hell and sparked the Slutwalk movement. He said, you may remember: "I've been told I'm not supposed to say this – however, women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised."

You'd think by now the cops would have figured out how to broach this touchy subject. Look at this response from the woman quoted at the first link: "I can't wear shorts? Besides the fact that I wasn't wearing anything that was inappropriate or provocative…. I don't think that should be part of the problem. At all." Of course, she's right, but the annals of crime are full of innocent victims. The cops would like to encourage people to defend against crime, but advice from an authority figure feels like a restriction of your freedom... which the police know and use to control people.

I'm shocked, shocked to learn that semi-clad models are writhing in the law library!

"... Brooklyn Law School officials rented Diesel its library expecting a tasteful photo shoot for a jeans ad -- but what they got was a steamy display of writhing young models in skimpy lingerie grinding against books and computers."

Wait. Why did they expect a tasteful photo shoot?

"It's gross. I work on those computers every day!" fumed a female student, referring to a shot showing two bra- and panty-clad women climbing over the machines toward an open-mouthed man....

The frisky photos, shot last spring, show off the hot bodies of male and female models as they prowl around the library's floors, tables and bookshelves -- while wearing tight-fitting panties bearing various seductive messages.

If the law school — I emphasize law school — did not impose restrictions when it took Diesel's money then it has nothing to complain about.

"We are as shocked and mortified as you must be by these photographs," interim dean Michael Gerber wrote in an e-mail yesterday to students, faculty and staff.

"When the school gave its permission to do the shoot, the school was assured that the photos would be in good taste. They are not."

"Assured" "good taste" — that's not specific enough to make me believe Diesel violated a contractual term. The school took Diesel's money and had to know that any advertising for clothing for young adults is likely to involve some display of sexuality. Especially if the scene is a library. That's what I'd expect.

What exactly was the school assured of? The models aren't naked. They've got on underwear. And what is even so gross and shocking about this? Man, Diesel is getting way more great publicity than its stupid underpants deserve. Where did this controversy really start? I'm inclined to suspect that the administration is only shocked* after the fact and only because some students have managed to create the impression that the school might be accused of contributing to a "hostile environment" form of sexual harassment.

As for the young woman who is grossed out that a model in panties writhed in the vicinity of a computer she uses... do you realize how many people type on those things with hands they didn't wash after they went to the bathroom?

----------------------------------------------

*Shocked!

"Brooklyn is now overrun with rats and opossums."

"A few years ago, officials in Brooklyn, New York came up with a seemingly brilliant idea to deal with the rat-infestation problem in their borough: release opossums into the neighborhood to eat the rats...."

Ha. Of course, like rats, they prefer garbage. No shortage of that.

"The critters have a mouth full of 50 sharp teeth, tend to exude a foul odor, and can occasionally contract rabies... They are nocturnal, and some Brooklynites have become terrified to go into their yards at night."

Oh, Brooklynites! I thought youse guys were tough.

Time to bring in some wolves, I think. They eat rats.

"Living in her gilded cage all these years, Madonna, once a frequenter of dirty Manhattan bars, clubs, and pizza joints, has lost touch with the Real New York...."

And then she encountered our Palladian!

If only he had stuck around. He might have heard a whispered "Thank you."

Ha ha ha ha.

"I yelled at Madonna today, and I didn't even realize it until later!"

So Madonna is filming this movie in Brooklyn... and our longtime commenter Palladian has an encounter:

I yelled at Madonna today, and I didn't even realize it until later!

She's apparently directing a film (!) and was shooting right in front of my house in Brooklyn on Wednesday. I came outside to do my morning walk and there were crowds of people all over the place: screaming black girls, curious Chassidim, hipsters in Ray-Bans feigning disinterest, irritated cops... I saw a bunch of Arri equipment boxes and realized it was a film shoot of some sort. I walked a few feet down my block and a chick with a headset held up her arm and said "You have to cross the street, sir!" I replied: "I don't have to do anything. This is my neighborhood, and a public sidewalk, and I'll go where I please!"

I walked a few more feet and another drone with a headset came rushing up to me and said "The sidewalk's closed. Please cross the street!" I replied: "This is a public sidewalk. I will continue to walk where I please."

I pushed past him and a I came upon a haggard woman in sunglasses, a baseball cap and a scarf printed with a stylized skull pattern holding a clipboard and looking into a hand-held monitor along with a couple of other people. Being a veteran of the terrible world of film production, I recognized that this woman was probably the director. I paused as I passed and said to her: "You need to inform your brain-dead P.A.s that they need to treat us residents a little better, honey." She looked at me, expressionless behind her sunglasses for a moment before one of the men with her said "Move along, sir." I replied "a hearty fuck you to both of you" and I walked onward.

Later, when I was on my way home, I stopped in the local market and the Korean guy who runs the place said to me: "what do you think of that mess out there?" I told him of my encounter with the production assistants and the director. He laughed and said: "do you know who that director is? Madonna!"

I smiled and said "No, I didn't recognize her.. but she looks like hell and sure runs a shitty location shoot."

An article is irking me, and I express my irritation herein by quoting one sentence.

"[Amy] Sohn said she and her husband have fallen into a comfortable routine of going out once a week — 'just like Barack and Michelle' — to Park Slope restaurants like Al Di La and Franny’s, Although, she added, 'I can’t call it date night, because if you call it date night you might as well shoot yourself in the head.'"

"My God, it's a mansion!"

"It's a house."



Now, have a nice breakfast. And don't sell the house. I love this house.

The Brooklyn Bridge is 125 years old tomorrow.

I'd been looking at the Brooklyn Bridge for the last 9 months, but I'm back in Madison now, so I'm missing the festivities. I must have walked across the bridge 20 times while I was living in New York, and I still have a picture of the bridge as the welcome page of my iPhone. So let me mark the occasion with a few of my favorite pictures of the bridge:

Glenn Reynolds joins the cult...

... only to immediately commit heresy.

Beware the fisheye curse!

I'm not in Brooklyn anymore, but...

... here are a couple last Brooklyn pictures:

Are there better window boxes anywhere than in Brooklyn Heights?

These appear within one block on Columbia Heights just north of Pierrepont Street:







I'm very impressed by the care taken arranging the plants and know from personal experience that it's a lot of trouble to keep these things watered and unwilted.

ADDED: Notice how all 3 of the designs have structure to them. There's a rhythm to the colors, a horizontal flow of shapes, and a distinct upright element in the center. The first 2 also have a downward plant, while the third one use the elaborate container to make the lower portion of the design interesting. The ups and downs on the box in the center are particularly dramatic. I wish I'd kept track over the course of the year to see how these window boxes change, but I think they are done and redone with the seasons. I also appreciate the shiny clean windows that reflect the trees and bring even more nature to the picture within the window frame. And note how the first window includes a lace curtain with a leafy design. All those layers! I imagine inside there are plants and flowers and maybe furniture upholstered with flowery fabrics, making the view from the inside perspective even more lush.

"I wish you'd stay in Brooklyn, as Madison is such a PC backwater."

Wrote commenter Kirby Olson in my post with the photograph of a small protest march, taken from my 9th floor window at Brooklyn Law School. He says there are "real events" in New York City and "history is being made. Whereas Madison is from the 80s." He asks the provocative question: "How can you stand to go back?"

By the way, Kirby has a blog called Lutheran Surrealism, and his blogger profile lists his favorite music as Bach and Captain Beefheart, and if you know me, you should know that these things make me more willing to answer his question.

My answer will be a numbered list.

1. What's the difference between looking at an event through a dusty 9th story window and watching it on television? I am able to monitor the news of everywhere from anywhere. The question is what place keeps me alert and attentive and in a state of mind where I can think and write something worthwhile about what I'm seeing.

2. I am constantly encountering protest marches and other sorts of incidents in Madison, and I can photograph them and talk about them in a way that brings more value because: a. So few of you are in Madison, and b. My Madison readers don't normally get the perspective this blog and its commenters bring to the city. It's a plus that Madison is whatever it is that makes Kirby say "PC backwater."

3. Maybe you are concerned that the pleasures of life do not flow to me in Madison and that New York City is, by contrast, a glorious playground. There is suffering and pleasure anywhere. You need life skills, luck, and perspective to enjoy living where you live. I can not only "stand to go back" to Madison, I eagerly anticipate it.

4. ...

Stray images from a walk in Williamsburg, Part 1.

What does it mean? Who is this man?



I have no interpretations. My response is emptily graphic.

Obama on 6th Street.

In Brooklyn, New York.

AND: Commenter Scrutineer points to this blog post by Steve Sailer that discusses the Obama campaign poster that is similar to the image I photographed here, and notes that it was made by Shepard Fairey, who designed those famous Andre the Giant "Obey" stickers. I found this this interview with Fairey about his Obama posters, and it includes the "Progress" version that I photographed — with different, more American colors:



The colors read as red, white, and blue, though is darker than usual, and the white is darkened to beige. The image I've photographed uses the colors associated with Africa. If this is intended as a pro-Obama image, then, it is a pro-Obama image that is not intended for the general American audience.

Did you notice — in my photograph and in the version of the "Progress" poster at the link — that the "Obey" logo is incorporated into the Obama logo, creating an alarming "Obey Obama" logo? Here, look closely:



So 2 famous logos — Obama and Obey — are merged into the "Obey Obama" logo! This is an anti-Obama painting then, isn't it?

Based on the interview, it seems that Fairey started off on his own, without connection to the campaign, and he incorporated his "Obey" logo as a way of branding the poster. Now, Sailer is also concerned that Fairey is purveying un-American values because he's adopted the style of Soviet constructivism, but Fairey says:

I think what makes something art is that there's something that makes it enjoyable to look at regardless of the political content of it. I don't believe in the political content of the posters done under Mao or the early Soviet constructivists stuff but it's still really great to look at. It's got to be engaging aesthetically and if it has a point of view, that's even better.

Okay? So is the image ominous? I don't think it was intended to be.

Now, another commenter wants to know if the Obama image really is next to the punk rock girl. This picture shows the degree of proximity:



And while we're looking at pictures, here's a closeup of the area right under the Obama image:



So... is this, like, an installation?

That cheese shop on Bedford Avenue.

I loved the literary experience. Click on "enlarge" to read the cheese blurbs:


enlarge


enlarge


enlarge

But in the end, I made my selection not by reading but by letting the cheese seller know what I was looking for. She had 3 ideas and gave me 3 thin slices to test. All 3 were great, so I said, "Can you give me a small amount of each of the 3?" And what I really loved, more than the cheeses and the writing, was that she cut and wrapped a small amount of each of the small cheeses without ever saying anything like "A small amount? Do you mean like 2 or 3 ounces?" She just cut small amounts. The place was truly literary, you see, and there was no need to get arithmetic about it.

So that was the Bedford Cheese Shop in Brooklyn, New York.

Calm.

"Are we to look at cherry blossoms only in full bloom, at the moon only when it is cloudless?"

Wrote Yoshida Kenkô in one of my favorite books "Essays in Idleness."

"To long for the moon while looking on the rain, to lower the blinds and be unaware of the passing of the spring—these are even more deeply moving. Branches about to blossom or gardens strewn with faded flowers are worthier of our admiration."

I found the quote in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, in an article on Japanese Aesthetics.



I'm not saying my attitude was anything Japanese —

The blossoms of the Japanese cherry trees are intrinsically no more beautiful than those of, say, the pear or the apple tree: they are more highly valued because of their transience, since they usually begin to fall within a week of their first appearing. It is precisely the evanescence of their beauty that evokes the wistful feeling of mono no aware in the viewer.

— but we paused among the fallen petals yesterday in Brooklyn:



The branches of that cherry tree are seen in the upper right corner of this photograph, taken at the end of March, before there were any blooms.



This large, intransient monument is in Cadman Plaza. You can read the inscription on it here.

The trees that resist the touch of springtime.

You've got to respect them.



They have ways of their own.



They aren't going to prettify themselves just because you think it's the time of year to primp.



There are some old, old attitudes that need to be what they are.

I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday in the early evening.

And there was that one guy skateboarding across:



Oh! I was ravenous when I got to the other side:



I craved sustenance:



And I found a comfortable little corner:



In an old favorite place:



Where I ate, among other things, a fig: