Poster on 57th and 9th Avenue:

The 7th NYC Wedding March, September 26 @12pm in Foley Square.  www.meny.us/march

It was a beautiful day in New York yesterday, perfect late August: 85 degrees and sunny, with a slight sea breeze.

I took Little Man to my favorite park in New York: East River Park.  I love it because is in my neighborhood, and it’s rarely crowded so there are a lot of places Little Man can play and roll around in the grass.  The City has been paying a lot of attention to the waterfront of the New Yorkest of rivers, the East River.  The views of Brooklyn from the new esplanade are incredible, and the Williamsburg Bridge stretches over my end of the park.

I used my much-loathed Samsung Memoir cameraphone, which was able to produce a few good shots.

These are all licensed Creative Commons 3.0 attribution:

I dislike that opponents of the Cordoba House have won in branding it the ‘Ground Zero mosque’ – more evidence that it’s mostly non-New Yorkers, who generally prefer calling it the ‘World Trade Center’.

I ventured out to take some Creative Commons shots of the protesters and supporters of Cordoba House, but there were only a handful of supporters when I arrived at noon.   If people are not against Cordoba House and think it’s fine, they aren’t particularly enthusiastic with support.  That would explain the lackluster support turnout.  I would say there were about 500-1000 people who showed up for the actual protest.

These images may be re-used and cropped – they are licensed Creative Commons 3.0.  Click on the photo to enlarge it.

This was the small crowd of supporters of Cordoba House.

Below are shots of the protesters:

Click here to see more images of the protest at Flickr.

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On July 9th I turned 36 and I was invited to spend it on Fire Island.  It was an amazing birthday full of new and old friends.  I took Ernesto with me, who is also the model I used to illustrates the body on Wikipedia (for example, his well-formed teeth are used as an illustration of human teeth on over 40 Wikimedia pages).

Here are a few shots of my birthday weekend.  It’s great to be 36!

Nonie reading on the deck with swans.

The amazingly talented Shequida.

Good times: Michael, Nonie, Rafael (w/o head), David and Ernesto at the Belvedere for a party.

Ernie, Shequida and Chris at the Hotel Belvedere.

Ernie and Nonie freaking to “Bad Romance”

Michael, Ernie and Rafael

Click here to check out more Fire Island photos on my Flickr.

Last night a good friend of mine scored me a free ticket to see Lady Gaga at Madison Square Garden for the Monster Ball.  I hate to sound trite, but words don’t do Gaga justice so I will just say that it was amazing.

When I go to events like this I struggle with whether or not to sneak my good camera in so that I can take some nice Creative Commons photos of one of the most inspiring artists working today.  To bring a clunky DSLR means that I no longer feel like a spectator to the event as much as a documentarian.  I don’t sit back and enjoy the show (or dance in the aisles as I did last night) but instead I’m always on the lookout for crisper photos, better angles.  It can make an event I am in the middle of feel far away.

Since my Creative Commons project is more-or-less officially over (with exceptions), I left the DSLR at home and brought my Samsung cameraphone.  Obviously, the photos aren’t so great, but my own personal experience was so much better without the DSLR.

Me and Brooke with Gaga in the background.  Thank you to the security guard who took this photo and then promptly told us to go back to our seats.

She is actually playing the piano she is on top of in the photo above.

Brett and Brooke having a blast.

I stumbled across this unlucky fat fellow on East 6th Street on my way to breakfast this morning.  I would estimate that he was about two to three pounds.

Licensed Creative Commons 3.0 attribution

This man is not a neo-Nazi; he was at the Festival of India in Washington Square Park yesterday.  The swastika on his shirt is an ancient symbol (though obviously a little jarring to see).

I thought it was funny that there was not one other person at the Indian festival that wore this symbol except this white guy. Hipster Hindu with ironic Whole Foods bag juxtaposition – only in New York.

From Wikipedia:

Archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates from the Neolithic period in Ancient India. It occurs mainly in the modern day culture of India, sometimes as a geometrical motif and sometimes as a religious symbol. It remains widely used inIndian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Though once commonly used all over much of the world without stigma, because of its iconic usage as Hakenkreuz in Nazi Germany the symbol has become stigmatized in the Western world, notably even outlawed in Germany.

Here are a few more photos from the festival, licensed Creative Commons 3.0

This photo below was on the side of a tent promising some multi-media mind expansion experience, or something.  This mural was particularly strange.  It shows the stages of life:

If you click on the mural and blow it up, the last stage right before death looks particularly gruesome:

There are 60 diseases humans can contract from pigeons, and this guy in Washington Square Park must be one of the loneliest souls in New York City.  Really, to be such a bird man, loving their bird-brained adoration as they climb all over you; he revels in the trust that they give few.  It makes this man feel special, a Dr. Doolittle of downtown New York.

That is what I think when I see bird people like him in my neighborhood, because their adopted pigeon progeny roost on my windowsills and fire escape.  To pity this man is the only way I can make sense of what posses him and neighbors of mine like him to nourish these filthy birds to flouish.  Here are a few diseases this guy can get from these pigeons that he doesn’t care about:

Histoplasmosis - also known as “Cave disease,” is caused by the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. Symptoms of this infection vary greatly, but the disease primarily affects the lungs. Occasionally, other organs are affected; this is called disseminated histoplasmosis, and it can be fatal if untreated.

St. Louis encephalitis – an inflammation of the nervous system, usually causes drowsiness, headache and fever. It may even result in paralysis, coma or death. St. Louis encephalitis occurs in all age groups, but is especially fatal to persons over age 60.

Escherichia coli - Virulent strains of E. coli can cause gastroenteritis, urinary tract infections, and neonatal meningitis. In rarer cases, virulent strains are also responsible for hæmolytic-uremic syndrome  (HUS), peritonitis, mastitis, septicemia and Gram-negative pneumonia.

All images of this dirty birdy man are licensed Creative Commons 3.0.

Have you ever wondered a good place to contemplate life?  How about on top of a Wall Street skyscraper.  I had a meeting downtown and the bathroom had a window, which is when I caught this guy with my cameraphone.

The island between the buildings is Governors Island and way off in the distance is Staten Island.  The bridge barely visible on the left is the largest suspension bridge in the United States, the Verrazano-Narrows.  Who this guy is and what he was doing is anybody’s guess.  Images licensed Creative Commons 3.0.

Oh, the East Village, my neighborhood.  Some poor soul for weeks, if not months, planned to crochet his/her bike and put it out as art, or whatever else reaction they wanted.  I bet you if anything, they wanted this blog post; they spent countless hours in hopes somebody, somewhere, would see what they did and let you know about it.

Well, Crochet Bandit, I have taken the bait.  Now you read this and revel in the absolute bizarre amount of time you poured into this pointless exercise, which now officially exists.  Not only is it now on the Internets, but when I was there I saw real, live Asians photographing it.  When you move to Raleigh in two years, you can now spin yarns to the knitting club about the impact you had in New York City as a subversive street artist.  You. Were.  The Edge.

This is what bikes look like normally, all over this city:

But with the Crocheting Bandit on the loose, your hapless bike might end up like this:

The Crochet Bandit wants you to believe that this could happen to anyone, anywhere.  They hope to strike fear in you, asshole bicyclers, that you could wake one morning to find your smug eco-friendly way to work rendered useless in yarn.

Yet the un-yarned magna-lock and that the wheels don’t work show this was meticulously created over months, in the safety of an apartment, and then placed for you to behold.  And for Critical Mass to fear.  Well, I’ll bite.  I fear.

I fear for all those bikers New Yorkers hate, who beg for more bicycle lanes no pedestrian wants.  Those bicyclers (all of them) who obey no traffic laws and that most New Yorkers wish would not exist.  Cyclists.  New Yorkers hate them.  Really, we do.

So yes, Crochet Bandit, gum their wheels with the needle of synthetic justice!