New York City
Oct. 28th, 2010 11:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
geoffsebestaNew York City
The infamous "Starbucks across the street from the other Starbucks" was under new management. Now it was something even more cynical. An amazing feat.
Tom Otterness. I took more pictures of his Life Underground sculptures. This is the guy who did the Uberfrau sculpture from last week, by the way.
Now, Tom Otterness is a sculptor who says what he means.
This is a crocodile coming out of the sewers and eating a man with a bag of money for a head. It's pretty clear. There's some art with nebulous interpretations, and then on the other hand there's some art that doesn't beat around the bush.
But he likes his little folks too. They're all over the place at the 14th St. Station.
Sometimes he's weird. This thing is holding dice and coins in all four hands. I don't get this one too good.
But this one is a lobster with a moneybag head attacking a family.
And they save the baby.
Comics as art. The 99 exhibit at NYU.
Cannot handle this squirrel.
Horse stuck in building, angry.
Gotta go. Kentucky time, then Texas. Maybe some Kansas in the middle.
NYC was good time. It was just the right week.
I forgot to take pictures of all the friends I was hanging out with. I always forget. Why is that? I never even think about photographs when I'm with other people
==========================
Now I'm in Kentucky. On the drive down here I hit a deer. I saw it in the headlights, just standing there in the middle of the road, and when I stomped on the brakes and started skidding to the left it sort of casually wandered forward until it was standing right where I was going again. So I hit it square amidships. It rolled over two or three times and ended up in the median, then pulled itself up and looked at me with a very aggrieved expression, then limped away.
The front of the van was shattered. It didn't set off the airbags so I must have been going less than 20mph when I hit it.
==========================
Intrigued by the differences between the phrases:
"Where are you?" and "Where you at?"
The reason that you're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition is that there is no need to. The preposition serves no purpose where it is at.
In other words, you could leave it off almost every time.
In the phrases above, it could easily be "...there is no need. ....where it is." So that's why it's against the rules -- because it's a thing we do when speaking that has no purpose when writing.
Because prepositions are as much sounds we make as they are words.
But this is why "Where you at?" is interesting. Because the preposition is necessary -- you can't just say "Where you?" There's no vernacular where that makes sense.
"Where are you?" is the proper phrase.
"Where you at?" is perfectly intelligible and has achieved complete dispersion -- although people disdain it there are few who would not comprehend it. It means exactly the same thing but it has cultural markers.
"Where you?" is a null phrase. It does not exist.
"Where are you at?" is not a common phrase.
If you think about this as sounds it makes more sense. To say "Where are you?" you have to slur the r. But if you lose the second r you have to do something or the thing sounds to unfocused. "At" is a sound made by making a vowel sound and then suddenly closing it off. Except for in precise speech the "t" click at the end is not heard -- it's just that you go "aaaaaa" and then, quickly, stop.
==========================
Watched L.A. Confidential on the flight back. You know, maybe the captain really was Rollo Tomasi? Maybe Eklund's father died the same way Valenci died. I hated L.A. Confidential when it came out, mostly because of two really lousy performances and some desire to be obstinate. Watching it again, I'm struck by how great it is. The lead cops are all amazing, and the writing is sharp. It's well done -- there is always something happening just out of everyone's vision, always something that somebody is missing. For example -- when the Night Owl Killers escaped from jail...who's to say they didn't "escape?" Maybe, I dunno, they let them out so they could kill them later.
I'd like to know how close that movie was to the reality that inspired it. They obviously want us to check out the technical consultant for Dragnet, see if he died mysteriously or something.
The infamous "Starbucks across the street from the other Starbucks" was under new management. Now it was something even more cynical. An amazing feat.
Tom Otterness. I took more pictures of his Life Underground sculptures. This is the guy who did the Uberfrau sculpture from last week, by the way.
Now, Tom Otterness is a sculptor who says what he means.
This is a crocodile coming out of the sewers and eating a man with a bag of money for a head. It's pretty clear. There's some art with nebulous interpretations, and then on the other hand there's some art that doesn't beat around the bush.
But he likes his little folks too. They're all over the place at the 14th St. Station.
Sometimes he's weird. This thing is holding dice and coins in all four hands. I don't get this one too good.
But this one is a lobster with a moneybag head attacking a family.
And they save the baby.
Comics as art. The 99 exhibit at NYU.
Cannot handle this squirrel.
Horse stuck in building, angry.
Gotta go. Kentucky time, then Texas. Maybe some Kansas in the middle.
NYC was good time. It was just the right week.
I forgot to take pictures of all the friends I was hanging out with. I always forget. Why is that? I never even think about photographs when I'm with other people
==========================
Now I'm in Kentucky. On the drive down here I hit a deer. I saw it in the headlights, just standing there in the middle of the road, and when I stomped on the brakes and started skidding to the left it sort of casually wandered forward until it was standing right where I was going again. So I hit it square amidships. It rolled over two or three times and ended up in the median, then pulled itself up and looked at me with a very aggrieved expression, then limped away.
The front of the van was shattered. It didn't set off the airbags so I must have been going less than 20mph when I hit it.
==========================
Intrigued by the differences between the phrases:
"Where are you?" and "Where you at?"
The reason that you're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition is that there is no need to. The preposition serves no purpose where it is at.
In other words, you could leave it off almost every time.
In the phrases above, it could easily be "...there is no need. ....where it is." So that's why it's against the rules -- because it's a thing we do when speaking that has no purpose when writing.
Because prepositions are as much sounds we make as they are words.
But this is why "Where you at?" is interesting. Because the preposition is necessary -- you can't just say "Where you?" There's no vernacular where that makes sense.
"Where are you?" is the proper phrase.
"Where you at?" is perfectly intelligible and has achieved complete dispersion -- although people disdain it there are few who would not comprehend it. It means exactly the same thing but it has cultural markers.
"Where you?" is a null phrase. It does not exist.
"Where are you at?" is not a common phrase.
If you think about this as sounds it makes more sense. To say "Where are you?" you have to slur the r. But if you lose the second r you have to do something or the thing sounds to unfocused. "At" is a sound made by making a vowel sound and then suddenly closing it off. Except for in precise speech the "t" click at the end is not heard -- it's just that you go "aaaaaa" and then, quickly, stop.
==========================
Watched L.A. Confidential on the flight back. You know, maybe the captain really was Rollo Tomasi? Maybe Eklund's father died the same way Valenci died. I hated L.A. Confidential when it came out, mostly because of two really lousy performances and some desire to be obstinate. Watching it again, I'm struck by how great it is. The lead cops are all amazing, and the writing is sharp. It's well done -- there is always something happening just out of everyone's vision, always something that somebody is missing. For example -- when the Night Owl Killers escaped from jail...who's to say they didn't "escape?" Maybe, I dunno, they let them out so they could kill them later.
I'd like to know how close that movie was to the reality that inspired it. They obviously want us to check out the technical consultant for Dragnet, see if he died mysteriously or something.
