The grand Cemusa Phase 2 plan is going into action--all those shiny, miserable, criminal newsstands will become giant, flashing, car-crashing TVs. [EVG]
Alex goes back to Fanelli's. [FP]
It's summertime..."journey to the Heart of Blandness and its scorching, Burger King-scented emptiness." [Restless]
Looking back at Schott Brothers history. [BB]
Unpacking the Fluxus Collection at MOMA--and how urine becomes valuable. [NYO]
Some more signs with old phone exchanges. [ENY]
A peek into Angel's Barber Shop on Court St. [PMA]
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a.k.a. The Book of Lamentations:
a bitterly nostalgic look at a city in the process of going extinct
- Jeremiah Moss
- THE BOOK:
"We should all buy Jeremiah Moss’s book, Vanishing New York." --Sarah Jessica Parker
“Essential reading for fans of Jane Jacobs, Joseph Mitchell, Patti Smith, Luc Sante, and cheap pierogi.” --Vanity Fair
"a vigorous, righteously indignant book that would do Jane Jacobs proud." --Kirkus Reviews
THE BLOG:
"the go-to hub for those who lament New York's loss of character." --Crain's
"No one takes stock of New York's changes with the same mixture of snark, sorrow, poeticism, and lyric wit as Jeremiah Moss." --Village Voice, Best of NY
“Jeremiah Moss…is the defender of all the undistinguished hunks of masonry that lend the streets their rhythm.” --Justin Davidson, New York Magazine
"One of the most thorough and pugnacious chroniclers of New York’s blandification." --The Atlantic, Citylab
"Hyperbolic and combative, tireless and passionate." --Salon
I get why you are posting the YouTube clip as an example of our obsession with retail consumption. Though I think part of this guy's (clearly disproportionate) anger probably stems from the fact that it seems most of downtown Toronto, mall or otherwise, was being fenced-off for the summit meeting. And if you are not familiar with Toronto, Eaton Centre is actually a massive-and yes even pretty nice-shopping center right in the middle of Toronto's equivalent of Times Square. It also has massive public space (so I thought), a huge bookstore that isn't Borders or Barnes & Noble, and lots of cheap food, which are good things, right?
ReplyDeleteActually, the most interesting thing about this video is where the cameraman points out that the whole space is owned by a private corporation-didn't know that-but I guess it is still a mall, even though it takes up a wide swath of land right in the heart of a major city.
do you think he's an anarchist, and this is part of the G20 protest? he is wearing some insignia on his t-shirt that is a combination peace symbol and Communist star, with the word "resist."
ReplyDeletestill, when he says "I want to shop," i take him seriously.
hard to tell what's really going on.
Good point. I hadn't even noticed the t-shirt. Of course, I think you can actually by these communist/anarchist t-shirts at the mall these days, which just adds another entire level post-modernism to this whole clip.
ReplyDeleteyes! the layers of un-meaning here are multiple.
ReplyDeleteit makes it much more interesting than just a clip of an irate man who wants to shop.
Jeremiah - I thought of you this morning when the morning news reported the Hollister store has closed because of bedbugs. Mwahaha!
ReplyDeleteNobody should be fooled by the illusion that shopping malls are public space. No matter how big they are, how much people go there just to hang out, how many benches and tables and fountains and indoor-grown trees they have, it's all owned by private corporations and as such people have no rights there that they would in genuinely public spaces. For example, the courts have upheld that freedom of speech does not apply in a shopping mall. If the owners don't agree with you, or simply don't want any "trouble", they have every right to throw you out and shut you up.
ReplyDeleteI get very sad thinking of the man who came up with the concept of the indoor shopping mall. Apparently he was an expat Austrian who had fled to the States in 1938 and after the war tried to recreate Viennese cafe and street culture in the inclement weather of the American midwest. What would he make of the monsters he has spawned.
Goggla, that's very sweet.
ReplyDelete