A Tour of Norwich

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Apr 13 Beats

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Norwich, CT

[MY HOMETOWN]

Arts & Crafts of Micronesia

Very nice book by Barbara Wavell. Thanks Barbara, and Neil!

All the Saints

St Croix, St Kitts, and St Thomas. (Those are beer drinking, can crushing pigs).

Dominica & Grenada

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RINYC

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The Tappan Zee Line

Full version here.

I'm a fan of mass transit, trains, and rely on Metro North. With a new Tappan Zee bridge on the way, it's fun to imagine the future. While BRT is probably more realistic, I'm not that big a fan of taking the bus, and I can't help thinking how great it would be to have a line connect the Harlem, Hudson and New Haven lines outside of Grand Central, which also connected the Jersey trains. This Line would follow along the I87/287 corridor, use the Tappan Zee bridge, and hit the likes of White Plains. That seems to be the most logical place for it, at least from my arm chair. Calling it the "Tappan Zee Line" seems like a great fit as it would then be synonymous with the bridge it would use, and therefor synonymous with connecting the two regions - East to West.

The original take on the Metro North map was done by Robert McConnell, who's site I believe is: rmcconnell.com. It's great, but being of the forced geometric variety, the distance between Tarrytown and Port Chester is a bit exaggerated. White Plains is really more equidistant, and the distance between Tarry. and Port C. is only about 13 miles. Adding the bridge and line extending out to Sloatsburg, adds another 19 miles for a total of about 32 miles end to end. It wouldn't change the fact that I87/287 is one the best ways around NYC for anyone driving along the greater East coast, where ever they're going. But it would certainly be sweet for us locals who are just trying to get around to different points in the area, or those commuting to work in places other than Manhattan, but in area. Especially in Westchester where Bee Line buses don't run on the weekends, leaving a car, or expensive taxi trip, being the only option of getting to other train lines.

Cheers'

Putney Swope [1969]

"The only black man on the executive board of an advertising firm, is accidentally put in charge after the unexpected death of the chairman of the board. Renaming the business "Truth and Soul, Inc.", Swope replaces all but one of the white employees and insists they no longer accept business from companies that produce alcohol, war toys, or tobacco." Putney Swope is fantastic. And not quite what I was expecting. From the descriptions I expected a much heavier 1970s-ish examination of society than what takes place. Instead this film is very funny because it's so odd. Yes there's lots of commentary but it's on both the oppressor/exploiter and the revolutionary. And it's amidst a world in which people talk in funny voices, repeat things ad nauseam, or are dubbed. The main character's wardrobe constantly changes from one dictator trope to another, dressed as Castro in one scene, an African king in the next—As if embodying White America's every fear. And I haven't even mentioned the commercials that are being produced by the Swope lead firm and are interspersed in the film [they are in color, the rest of the film in black and white]. The bottom line is I'm really glad I finally got around to watching this film. Don't sleep on it. Bonus fact for designers, Chermayeff & Geismar did the simple [but well done] titles.

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1st Snow

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