philly

Once again via the Tattered Coat, I'm reminded to go read this post over at 1115.org. Blogger/photographer Matt Cohen [a Pittsburgh native] went down to New Orleans ahead of Dubya to see what he could see. It's not pretty, but it has to be seen. And by everybody. What happened in New Orleans and all along the Gulf Coast one year ago cannot be forgotten nor whitewashed by Dubya's platitutes of all the "progress" made down there. Make sure to take a click through Matt's flickr set of gorgeous black and white images of what the 9th Ward of New Orleans looks like today.

The NY Times also has some incredible multimedia slideshows and extended coverage of the Gulf Coast post-Katrina here which I really found informative.

Tonight is the encore presentation of Spike Lee's documentary When the Levees Broke on HBO from 8p – Midnight in one straight shot. I'll be watching it with friends.

Rebuilding the Gulf Coast will take decades.

Sweet, I just scheduled my second job interview of the week. Wednesday just before lunch is one interview down in South Philly for a political/internet-related gig which I am REALLY excited about. And on Thursday afternoon I have another interview for a sales-type gig with a company I really like out in West Philly.

Things could very well turn for the better very very soon. I'm really excited. I could finally say goodbye to this year-plus long "temp" job which has repeatedly told me they were planning on hiring me. Blech. Two week's notice will not be given if I get offers from either interview. I may have a new place of work as of Monday the 4th, which, depending on the office, is a holiday [and the last day for me to wear my white pumps!].

I saw Invincible on Saturday night with Lady and Pat [Lady posted her thoughts already here]. It was better than I thought it would be. I have no idea of the autobiographical accuracy of the film, but Vince Papale was a consultant on the film so I guess the Hollywoodization of the storyline got his approval. I didn't know it was a Disney film going into it. During the opening credits, when the Magic Kingdom was flashed on screen, I got a little worried that it was really going to suck, but it didn't.

There was some sanitization in the film, Disney style. Like Lady noted, tons of drinking, but not a single lit cigarette at all. And about a third of the film takes place in a South Philly neighborhood bar in 1975-1976, youse telling me that there wasn't a permanent cloud of smoke hovering under the ceiling of that place? And the scenes within the locker room and in training camp and the playground and the bar – not a single curse uttered. And then there was some over-Disneyization to it too. Some of the sequences, and the ending, were just a little too much for me.

But the accents. Has the Philadelphia accent, on the whole, and South Philly specifically gotten stronger since 1975? Because it was barely present, to my ears, during the film. The worst was when Mark Wahlberg, who played South Philly neighborhood guy Papale, called his friend "Tawmmy" in true Bahston form. Wahlberg, you're an actor, act. Lean just a smidge of the local accent. Hell, I can fake it enough, or at least tone down my native NY accent a bit. The director should've just reshot that scene. Or maybe that's the best Wahlberg could do and they went with it?

Tony Luke Jr
I think I heard the word Iggles once throughout the film. I hear people talk about the Iggles several times a day, not the Eagles. And the fight song. Is the fight song different now than it was in 1975? Or is there a copyright on the song for useage in commercial films? And if so, is the owner of the song such an asshole that s/he couldn't let it be used in this film? And that brings me to the man on the right. That's none other than Tony Luke Jr. himself of Philly's famous Tony Luke's. He played SuperFan #1 during the open tryout where Papale shined. He also sang the altered [to me] version of the fight song while in line [drinking a tall boy from a brown bag] to get into the stadium. He was awesome. Hilarious. The full embodiment of SuperFan #1 from coast to coast, you know that guy. Luke was him and maybe Luke is him, I dunno.

The film had some decent action. Most of it happening in training camp. It helps that Wahlberg is already a pretty jacked guy. It was funny to see him out there though. He's supposed to be playing a 6'3" Papale. I have no idea of Wahlberg's real height, but I'd say 5'8" is a stretch from what I've seen of him. The requisite love story was eh, but it didn't take away from the film. I rather enjoyed it, just for her allegiance to my beloved Giants.

And as parting note, the Giants are going all the way this year and the Eagles will stink it up big time.

Poster: Disney
Photo of Tony Luke: IMDb

I'm not a reader of Man on Dog's rah-rah blog, but they've linked to me twice now in the last two days on the same post, this one on how Jr.'s insurmountable ~20point lead has dwindled down to a statistical dead heat.

The second post from the rah-rah blog labeled me as a supporter of Jr.'s. Hah. Couldn't be further from the truth. I hate the fucker. Won't be voting for him. I hate him and the corrupt loins of "leadership" he sprouted from. And no, I won't be voting for Man on Dog either. And for anyone who thinks that a vote not for Jr. is a vote for Man on Dog, go suck a fat one.

This guy and the people like him aren't interested in debate, they aren't interested in diversity, they aren't interested in tolerance – they are interested in getting their way no matter what and will do what ever it takes to get opposition out of the way. Unfortunately, I see more of these types of extreme liberals taking root within the Democrat Party. Why unfortunate? Well, I'm the type of person who actually prefers to see a strong two-party system in which each party stands for something and are viable alternatives to each other. Parties that know what they stand for, not just what they stand against. Parties with a vision. The Democrats, under the direction of extreme liberals are lost in hatred.

Oh man did "this guy" laugh when I read that one. What I want is diversity, not "two" parties representing one set of ideas. I'd LOVE to get back to two parties, hell, I'd love a dozen strong national parties, each getting their proper time, but for now, we're stuck with "two". There are no "viable alternatives" between the "two" parties we have now. I know what I stand for, the Democrats don't know what they stand for, only what they stand against and that's a candidate [here in this race, Man on Dog], not a core set of ideals.

I have no idea who "mattbest" is and he has no idea who the fuck "this guy" is and he couldn't possibly know jack shit about me from reading a stupid post. Democrats under the leadership of "extreme liberals" would be united in getting the fuck out of Iraq. They'd also be united in filibustering extremist judges like Alito and Roberts. They'd be for joining the rest of the industrialized world in offering single payer universal healthcare. They'd be for reducing greenhouse gases. They'd be for outlawing assault weapons. They'd be for mandating better fuel efficiency from the automobiles Detroit's factories produce.

Having two parties isn't diverse if they stand for the same things. Tolerance doesn't work without acceptance and assimilation. I'm not the one whose party ham fisted everything they could down the throats of Americans via their 1% "mandate" and President who curses seemingly as much as I do. The neo-con right wing of the Republican party has done an incredible job in moving the entire nation to the right through a well-coordinated almost three-decade long movement. The Dems have been twiddling their thumbs complacent. We had a chance to hit the ground running in 2004, but we blew it and we're still bumbling along on the national level. I've got my sights set on more local stuff though, I'm in it for the long haul.

And I know that I'd be letting mattbest down if I didn't tell him to go suck an egg or something, so… Peace, love and happiness to you and all that other hippie liberal shit.

This is what was in the window of the office of the Democratic County Executive Committee of Philadelphia on Saturday evening. Notice anything missing? Isn't there a gigantic U.S. Senate race going on? I guess he doesn't need the extra help then? It's not like Jr.'s been lagging at the polls recently or anything and needs a boost [something along the lines of space shuttle boosters might do the trick] between now and November.

And it's not like Congressman Chaka Fattah isn't also running for re-election in 2006 either. It's not like he represents the other side of Broad St from Brady. As a matter of fact, the fucking office, 1421 Walnut St, is in Fattah's district!

This is just stupid.

And oh yeah, who is Rendell's running mate for Lt. Gov.? You wouldn't know if you saw his signs. It's a shame it's not Valerie McDonald Roberts.

I checked Lady's "dorm room" office downstairs to make sure it wasn't flooded before I went to bed last night. It wasn't. What I didn't check was the kitchen. This morning, as I went downstairs to make myself some lunch, I stepped onto a sopping wet rug and saw puddles of water along the walls. Fucking A.

The landlord should be there right now cleaning up. Ugh. This shit sucks.

With Lady starting school today, this past weekend was the last week of the summer and we planned a mini-vacation, and by mini-vacation we mean day trip, to play some mini golf at Pine Creek, a twenty-eight acre course in NJ. We were initially planning a trip to New Hope, PA, but while on their website, I noticed the link to the mini golf course and I sent it to Lady for approval and she was excited to go too. We reserved a car from Philly Car Share, a Toyota Matrix, and were on our way on Saturday. There was a chance of rain, but it looked like it was gonna hold out when we took to the road a little before 2p. But once we crossed over to Jersey, it started to drizzle and then turn into more of a constant light rain. Arg.

We arrived at Pine Creek and went into the empty clubhouse. We called an audible and decided to go back to the original plan and head to New Hope, but first, we stopped off at Cream King, an ice cream stand [pictured above] we saw on Route 31 on the way to the course. My Dream Cone and Lady's milkshake helped cheer us up in the annoying rain.

Driving down the main road in New Hope, you're greeted by Boomer a gigantic, about twenty-five foot long cast bronze piece by Dana Stewart (2002). Perched up on a canal wall, Boomer stares right into you as you drive into town. We ended up getting a spot to park the car on the main street and we pumped in 1h40m into the meter and we were off to see what we could find in this little town.

It was very New England quaint which was weird because we weren't close to New England. I expected to hear familiar New England accents of people referring to the canal as a crick or asking a family member where they pahked the cah or maybe what the score of the Sawks game was. Instead, I heard French accents, Dutch accents and German accents – tons of tourists in town. The sidewalks were amazingly narrow, barely enough room for two people to walk side by side. Perhaps the most inaccessible place either of us had ever been to. The main street is ridiculously narrow as well so spilling onto the street was not much of an option, but people kept on doing it anyways clogging up the flow of traffic.

We parked close to the Trading Post of Bucks County, pictured above. I started to shoot some photos of it when a man coming out of his truck started talking to me. I looked to my left and a man with a weathered face and a yellow Crayola crayon Band-Aid across his right eyebrow looked back at me. He went on to tell me that this buliding was the oldest building in New Hope and that it used to house one of the earliest automobile factories. I can't remember the name of the car it produced, but he said the fourth car to be produced in Jersey was put together inside that building.

We walked up and down some side streets and down the main street popping in and out of various stores. One that caught my eye in particular was Suzie Hot Sauce – an entire store devoted solely to bottles of hot sauces. Tons of them. eight foot tall shelves stacked with them. And they had samples too. A stand of hot pretzel nuggets was right by the door. I helped myself to one from the XXHot bowl. It was nice and spicy with the heat coming in at the end after the pretzel was well on it's way to my stomach. I got a gigantic bottle of my favorite all-purpose hot-sauce, Cholula. The price was a very good deal.

We had a late lunch in Paper Plate and we headed back to the car to get home in time to drop off the car. One of these days, we're gonna get back up to Pine Creek and get in eighteen holes.

A flickr set here of the trip.

Lady and I walked by a SEPTA commercial in the process of being filmed over on 17th St just below Market St. It was the cleanest, most gleaming white SEPTA bus either of us had ever seen and most likely all those working on the set as well.

That gigantic white screen is to diffuse the light going into the bus where they were shooting.

I've heard about this mural for awhiles now and I finally went down to 22/Federal Sts to see it and take some photos. I've also heard that this building may be demolished or the land that it sits on has been bought and will be developed into something else. While Philly has a ton of incredible murals thanks to the Mural Arts Program, losing an original Keith Haring [from 1987] would suck major goat balls. Haring was and continues to be an important artist.

Haring is well known for his work in NYC during the 80s, but I recently learned that he's a Pennsylvanian originally from Reading. A six-month long show closed earlier this month at the Reading Museum. Unfortunatly, I found out about it the week before it closed and didn't have a chance to see it.

Haring is one of the first artists whose work got to me in some way. The simple graphical images just jumped out at me.

I wonder what could be done to help save this masterpiece.

Click on the image above for a larger look at it. I stiched together a dozen shots using autostitch, a great panorama tool. More Philly murals in this flickr set.

Peep Ruby Legs' run for Mayor of Phillyville. Considering he may or may not be the only resident of Phillyville, he's got a pretty good shot. Plus, he's got a more than half decent plan to boot!

Also fun to read, and by fun I mean crazy, is this thread on [and with] Minutemen.

Welcome to Phillyville is this fortnight's featured blog on Philly Future.

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