Paris Video Montages 2001

A couple of images stitched together from video frames. My first time visiting Mike in Paris.

Hayden Planetarium by Night

A frigid February night in Manhattan-2003

Stainless Steel-Part4

This entry in the "Shiny Structures Series" (see previous entries Part1 Part2 and Part3)is in my own neighborhood for a change. A water treatment plant across the street from Eli Whitney's first mass production armory in Hamden, Conecticut.

Ouray, Colorado

Variation on the Theme

The-Atomium in Brussels, Belgium continues the stainless steel architecture theme perfectly.

Minimalism in Missouri

Rocio Romero's LV Series prefab house in Perryville, MO.

St. Louis Stainless Steel

Eero_Saarinen's stainless steel masterpiece of monumental minimalism.

Chefchaouen Chefchouen Chouen

Two women walking in an alley. Sitting high in the Rif Mountains of northern Morocco, Chefchouen (also just called Chouen) is one of the most beautiful towns in Morocco and also one of the most relaxing. One reason for the laid back vibe is that this is the heart of "Kif Country" (the hashish producing area) in Morocco. It was not uncommon to see merchants and customers partaking in not just the usual hot mint tea during price negotiations but also passing around a hash pipe as well.

A Monument to George Washington

The Washington Monument has attracted the attention of protesters over the years.

Norman Mayer protested the insanity of nuclear weapons in 1982 by driving a van up to the monument and threatening to blow it up. They shot him dead.

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Dwight_Watson drove a tractor into a pond in Constitution Gardens near the Monument in 2003. He also claimed to have explosives. He was protesting the fact that he couldn't make a living growing a highly addictive, fatal disease causing drug (tobacco) without continued government subsidies. He served fifteen months in jail.

Neither man had explosives.

Conspiracy Theorist's Moral of the Story-If you are going to protest, do not protest something meaningful for purely selfless reasons. Protest something ridiculous for completely selfish motives. That way the powers that be might sympathize and let you live.

Looking Up in DC

Interior domes of the Museum of the American Indian (top) and The National Gallery of Art (bottom). The former makes me think of Porky Pig saying "Thats all folks!"

To Form A More Perfect Union

At the Greenbelt (Maryland) Arts Center (formerly Greenbelt Center School) one in a series of limestone friezes by WPA artist Lenore Thomas depicts part of the preamble to the Constitution of the U.S.

Greenbelt, Maryland.

The Chrysler Building pays homage.

Looking east down 42nd Street with The Chrysler Building reflected in a storefront window.

Used Book Storage

The Beineke Rare Book Library at Yale University is a very interesting structure. A protective glass box inside a cube of translucent marble that glows softly inside from the natural light outside.

It feels like someplace Kirk and Spock would visit. The sacred repository of all knowledge of some ancient alien race silently biding it's time on some long forgotten distant planet.

The New York Public Library

"The Streets of Charleston-A QM Production"

These shots look to me like scenes from one of those cop shows I used to love as a kid in the '70s. Let's call this one "Smokey and DeGennaro" and we'll say it's about two cops from up north. The big guy, Smokey, is an easy going, laid back, by-the-book detective and Degennaro is a streetwise vice cop who isn't afraid to bust a few heads. They are on special assignment from the NYPD, "on loan" to the Charleston, South Carolina police force. Think "McCloud" meets "My Cousin Vinny."

This episode finds them on the trail of some redneck gun runners who have teamed up with the Irish Mafia. The gang sends cheap, saturday night specials up north and brings shipments of "extacy" pills back down south hidden inside kegs of Guinness. Thanks to some creative "good cop-bad cop" routines our heroes convince some sorry stoolies to give up the location of the gang's hideout. But things go badly and Smokey buys the farm when they are ambushed in a set up. Later he's laid to rest in the ancient burial ground and in the closing scene DeGennaro vows to bring the culprits to justice.

Next episode we find out Smokey is OK thanks to a bullet-proof vest. The funeral was staged to fake out the bad guys. The show gets cancelled after only half a season but a spin-off about Smokey's little brother "Babajayjay" who is a yoga instructor turned turned private eye runs for two more years.

Qarawiyin Mosque in the Medina of Fez

Looking out from above the thousand year old medina of Fez, Morocco in 1997, the green tiles on the roof of the Qarawiyin Mosque glitter in the setting sun. It is debateably the oldest university in the word and according to Wikipedia Gerbert of Auvergne (930-1003), who became Pope Sylvester II and who supposedly introduced the use of zero and Arabic numerals to Europe, was an alumni of al-Qarawiyyin.

The medina is a maze of twisting alleys and covered walkways that make navigation a real challenge. The carpet shop that served tea on it's rooftop terrace, where this photo was taken, had closed due to a fire when I went back in 2000, hopefully it will reopen.