I remember once staring out over the city through a friend's high-rise office window. It seemed as if Central Park and the upper west and east sides stretched on forever. A light fog had descended, giving the buildings both definition and a softened edge.
"It really is Gotham today, isn't it?" he asked me. I nodded and snapped a few photos. The city in fog is almost as beautiful as the city at night.
In my mind, there are only two forms of weather that really fit New York. Rainy and snowy. I love black coats, tall boots, and dark umbrellas. Love the sound of water, the gray pall all around. It fits. It's right. This is the city I love.
Sometimes I'm struck by how the city moves, how its rhythms seem to align and flow. This morning, I'm walking up 7th Ave., with dozens of women and a few men, and I realize we are all walking in step. Click, click, click, click, click. For a few seconds, we are all in sync. Then, when we reach the intersection, it all changes. I head west to the bank, some women keep heading north, and a few stand at the intersection, waiting to go east.
When I was little, long before my eyes went bad, I liked to adjust my eyes' focus. I'd focus on an object right next to me, then refocus onto the wall 10 feet away. I loved how everything not in focus would go blurry, and yet I could make it crystal clear just by willing my eyes to do that.
My eyes are in too poor condition to do focus and re-focus anymore, at least past a few inches, but I suspect I was taking pictures long before I ever picked up a camera.
Hmm... here's a thought for all you text messaging junkies (including me).
Need another reason to get angry at your next cell phone bill? Turn to Nigel Bannister, a space scientist at the University of Leicester in Britain, who has concluded that sending a mundane, ubiquitous text message costs at least four times as much as transmitting scientific data from the Hubble telescope. Here’s his math, from a news release, converted to dollars from British pounds:
There are some nights when I regret all the unhappiness I've caused, whether intentionally or unintentionally. There are some nights when I miss old friends dearly and wish we could still have that same rapport we used to. Some nights when I wish I had said "I love you" more, or had taken more time to express my love, or what have you.
Ick. Watch out, New Yorkers. I'm not sitting on wooden benches in the city anymore.
Reports that the city’s bedbug epidemic was spreading to subway benches certainly alarmed New Yorkers this week.
But the Department of Housing Preservation and Development quickly established an arm’s-length distance to the statements, which were made by Edward Brownbear, a lead instructor for the department, at the Greenpoint Reformed Church on Tuesday, as part of a continuing educational series on bedbugs.
Last night, I watched The Fifth Element, that most gloriously-entertaining sci-fi film directed by Luc Besson. It's ridiculously clever and had me laughing so many times!
Anyway, this isn't a proper review, but more an opportunity for me to share my favorite scene, the Diva Dance:
I also found Bruce Willis ridiculously attractive in this movie. Was it the highlights? The way he "negotiates" with the bad guys? *sigh*
Getting ready for my Pen and Brush show, and I decided to try printing my photos at 2'x3'. Wow. Such a new experience! I can't believe I didn't do that before.
Of mixed Filipino and Chinese descent, An Xiao grounds her urban photography in the aesthetics of haiku and Henri Cartier-Bresson, as she seeks the joy of the present moment in the hustle and bustle of busy city streets.
Her award-winning work has appeared in magazines and galleries internationally and throughout the New York City area, including Hun Gallery International 2006, the dual-continent Circular Exhibition with Hun Gallery and Gallery Ho in Seoul, the Asian Contemporary Art Fair with Tenri Gallery, and Cheryl Pelavin Gallery’s holiday benefit in TriBeCa.
That Was Zen, This Is Tao is her journey in haiblog -- brief, crisp prose in the tradition of Basho and the Way of Haikai. She enjoys writing about the contemporary art world, Zen and poetry, quirky Internet spaces and, of course, life in the big city.
