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February 8, 2007
And you don't even need a Charlie Card: The Interstate Highway system laid out as a subway map in the name of simplification:
Original site, with the full-size version of the map. And you people think I have too much time on my hands....Labels: travel
Posted at 7:30 AM
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February 7, 2007
Monday Morning Over Miami: Pretty cool radar image of corporate jets leaving the Superbowl:
Lifted from No Silence Here.Labels: sports, travel
Posted at 1:01 PM
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February 6, 2007
Crazy people: Interesting read on the Danvers State Hospital and other old building at Parlez Moi:
The building I worked in was a new, plain brick, institutional place but the old building was a long, serpentine, gothic structure that perched on top of the hill and looked about as malevolent as anything Stephen King or Shirley Jackson could have dreamed up. There were spires along the length of the building, tall barred windows and that brooding air of evil that those of us with a naturally romantic disposition like to project onto such places. At night when I left a guard would escort me to my car but I would always find a reason to turn around in the drives that surrounded the old building just to get a closer look and wonder about it. Reminds me of my trips to Dixmont State Hospital outside of Pittsburgh (photos).
 Labels: blogging, photos, Pittsburgh, travel
Posted at 11:04 AM
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January 29, 2007
I'm back from New York: And apologies for not tipping off most of my New York friends that I'd be in town -- it was a packed, last-minute trip that lasted for less than 24 hours and didn't leave me much time to hang.
Every trip to New York gives me a charge. It's the place where people go to give up on their dreams or pursue them with gusto. From a creative standpoint, it's a lot like traveling to Europe (minus the long flight, awful exchange rates and feeling like a foreigner). I'm dog tired when I get back but I want to work, throw some more irons onto the fire and get some more projects in motion.
Over dinner last night we worked out details for promoting Blood & Volume and finalized some loose ends for the book release party on March 8. Over breakfast we hashed out the outline for a new project, a screenplay that's part "Wall Street," part "Blow" and part "Old School." Over lunch we networked with someone who may have contacts we can exploit to distribute the documentary. All that in addition to the real reason why I was there (a job interview -- more on that later).
But the highlight was not work related. It was a trip to Chumley's.
 I have been to Chumley's about half a dozen times before. It's an old speakeasy with no signage on its exterior. Just a door as if it were the entrance to an expensive Greenwich Village apartment. Chumley's is rich in history -- if you've ever used the term "86 it," you can thank Chumley's: "According to legend (which party pooper McDermott disputes) the term '86 it' for 'kill it' or 'forget about it' comes from a warning the cops would give, phoning ahead to Chumley to let him know they were on the way and customers should '86' or book out the entrance/exit."
I had been there about half a dozen times before, but have never really picked up on how literary it is. We sat in back and soon noticed the framed jackets of famous (Catcher In The Rye, The Great Gatsby) and not-so-famous (UFO Exist!) books. A note on the menu said that the jackets decorating the bar are from books written by guests of Chumley's.
I was a guest of Chumley's and I immediately wanted the B&V cover on a wall. Even if it does look like someone dropped their kids on it, it's an eye-catching cover that would jump off of those walls. It would be installed long after smoking was banned in New York bars, meaning it wouldn't be as faded as, say, the cover of Calvin Trillan's book, so it may stand out and move a few copies.
A waitress told us the note on the menu was "bull shit." To get a cover on the wall I'd have to talk with the owner and show that I was a regular at Chumley's (geography makes that difficult). To make it more difficult, the owner is vacationing until the end of March.
"Or you could just slip it in when no one was looking," the well-tipped waitress said. "No one would notice."
I should have copies of the book in another couple of weeks and will hopefully have reason to be in New York shortly thereafter. I'll try to convince the owner I'm a regular, but even failing that, don't be surprised if you see the B&V jacket up there sometime soon.Labels: bloodandvolume, books, newyork, travel
Posted at 8:52 PM
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January 4, 2007
America's love affair with the automobile ends with me -- and the Constitution State: For all the talk about Massachusetts drivers being the worst in New England, if not the country, has anyone stopped to consider motorists in the Drive Through State?
I am talking, of course, about Connecticut, that awful stretch of highway that separates northern New England from the rest of the civilized world. I've had to drive to New York/New Jersey twice in the past two weeks, meaning ample hours in Connecticut, and it's a trip I make, on average, four or five times a year. Each time something heart-stopping happens in Connecticut, yet us Massachusetts drivers always take the blame for being inconsiderate and/or dangerous.
Yes, Massachusetts drivers are, by stereotype, aggressive and often rude, but Connecticut drivers are just plain ignorant. Weaving in and out of traffic on rain slicked roads, tailgating in the right lane and the famed, signal-free fade from one lane to another are all common occurrences on I-84. It rather remarkable how awful Connecticut drivers are, given the rather aggressive state police force patroling the state's highways and a long list of pesky and often frivolous traffic laws. The ride home today was so hairy I was actually hoping to hit rush hour traffic in Hartford just to slow things down for a few minutes.
All in all, me and cars are just not having a good day. Because of unclear signage, I managed to get my car towed in New York City this morning. I had never had my car towed for a parking violation before, and New York is not really where you want to lose your impound lot virginity. Dealing with the "friendly" staff at the tow pound at 38th and West Side Highway when I had the audacity to show up to retrieve my car during the lunch hour is not exactly how I pictured ending an otherwise productive trip to New York.Labels: boston, nyc, travel
Posted at 8:33 PM
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