Word-o-phile: Spanish Popeye
Spanish Popeye describes a loophole in New York City law regulating the adult-entertainment industry. The law permits a business to operate outside adult-entertainment zones if at least 60 percent of its merchandize is not X-rated. The Times explains that the term is a coinage of Robert Sacklow, a buildings inspector who once found eighteen thousand copies of Popeye cartoons dubbed into Spanish, in a sex shop with "only" twelve thousand porn videos.Moving
Jennifer and I are shacking up, starting this weekend. We've spent the last week painting and packing and freaking out. Blargh.Clash in my home
Thanks to the world's best girlfriend, the 25th-anniversary edition of London Calling has arrived, as an early birthday present. I'm listening to the Vanilla Tapes now, and if I have time between boxes later, I'll pop in the DVD. Yes, Nagl, the U.S. release has the video stuff. Yay!Nightwing turns 20
Leave it to Metafilter to remind me how old I am. It was 20 years ago that the original Robin, Dick Grayson, gave up that identity to become Nightwing.New York photo atlas
For those who think they know the streets of New York City like the back of their hand, think again. For those who don't know how to get around Gotham, here's a chance to get to know the city in all its glory. New York: The Photo Atlas combines exquisite aerial photography and detailed street atlas maps to provide a truly unique perspective of the city -- high above the concrete. The breadth of the area covered is stunning: All five boroughs are included, as well as several New York and New Jersey suburbs. Trace your bike route, find your apartment building, or take in the sights without leaving your living room. Even if you don't know New York well, you will find this book fascinating.
The New York Times discussed the book yesterday, calling it "remarkable in its intimacy and its breadth." The article goes on to discuss the book's inception and the way it reveals otherwise-unseen elements of the city, such as a biplane on a building's roof or the hidden backyards of New York neighborhoods. I have serious lust for this book.Leonard's birthday
Tuesday is Leonard Cohen's seventieth birthday, and in his honor: Seventy things you probably don't know about himI Found Your Life
Here's a blogger who found a camera's memory card in a taxi. With no way to ID the card's owner, he's posting the photos on a weblog, and commenting on them as if he were the owner. It's a funny look at the banality of personal photography. I Found Some Of Your Life [via The Morning News]Underground cineasts come forward
The group who built the secret cinema-restaurant-bar complex underneath Paris has met with the Guardian reporter who broke the story.Huddled round a table in an anonymous Latin Quarter bar, the group's members - of whom only Lazar wanted to be named - relate past exploits: rock concerts for up to 4,000 people in old underground quarries; 2am projections in a locked film theatre; art and photo exhibitions in supposedly sealed-off subterranean galleries.
MTA backs away from ban
The Daily News reports this morning that the MTA is backing away from a full ban on subway photography. The ban, thought to be unenforceable, was proposed a few months as a security measure designed to help prevent terrorists from gathering information on the city's infrastructure. But the proposed ban was blasted by civil libertarians and transit fans, and now it seems the MTA and the NYPD are working toward a narrower restriction against "sensitive areas" of the system such as equipment rooms and underwater tunnels.London Calling, legacy edition
Via TMFTML, a review of the special edition of London Calling. I hope the U.S. release contains the DVD.Rats and hobos
Last night, on my way to the new place, I saw a dead rat on the sidewalk. When I looked closer, I saw that it was stuck in a crack in the pavement around a manhole cover, and it was bent at the waist (if rats can be said to have waists, that is) and its head and torso were slumped over the cover. It was clearly in the midst of trying to squeeze through the crack and reach the sidewalk when something happened to kill it. This morning, there was a youngish dude passed out on the 4 train. He was on the floor, slumped against an empty seat when I boarded at Nevins in Brooklyn, but at some point, he lost his perch and stretched out entirely on the floor. No one, myself included, did anything to help him, although when he fell completely to the floor, his eyeglasses fell under him, and one fellow pried them lose and placed them on the guy's chest. Finally, a cop came through the train and rousted him. Dead rats and passed-out drunks. Ah, New York.Worst commute?!
Yesterday's downpour left New York's subway tunnels flooded and many commuters stranded. Many commuters walked across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, and taxis and buses were overwhelmed by the rush of extra travelers. I was lucky. The rains were worst after 7am, and by that point, I was well on my way, so by the time trains were diverted and tunnels were closed, I was already at work. The post-work commute was a little longer than usual, but it was fine. However, I think Gene Russianoff needs a reality check. Speaking in today's New York Times, he calls yesterday ...the worst commute since Aug. 26, 1999, when another unexpected deluge caused a systemwide crisis
Uh, no, Gene. I can't see how this commute was any worse THAN THE FREAKIN' BLACKOUT. Russianoff, who advocates for subway riders as staff lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign, is usually sharper than this. Maybe the Times misquoted him.Secret cave in Paris, for movies and drinks
The Guardian reports that Parisian police have discovered a cave containing a bar and an audiorium for film screenings, complete with a professionally installed electrical system and working phone lines. Although the police have no idea who built the underground cinema, they suspect the work of so-called cataphiles, bands of urban explorers who access the network of tunnels and catacombs under Paris. My favorite part of the article:Three days later, when the police returned accompanied by experts from the French electricity board to see where the power was coming from, the phone and electricity lines had been cut and a note was lying in the middle of the floor: "Do not," it said, "try to find us."