Archive for September, 2009
Touching New York
Posted by: | CommentsSome wonderful reactions from unsuspecting New Yorkers being high-fived by a passing cyclist.
A little bit unsafe for work because of the bad language. (Via nickbilton.)
Keeping the Faith
Posted by: | Comments
A few months ago, I took to the streets of New York to produce a short film for United Jewish Communities with my Pavement Films colleague Simon Weaver and the Jewishrobot. The subject of the film was heroes–specifically Jewish heroe–and we began the day outside Lubavitch headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. We must have spent at least a couple of hours on the street, talking to passing rebbes and worshippers. Sure enough, before long, I was asked whether I would put on tefillin.
I went to a Jewish middle school, in Leeds, so this wasn’t my first tefillin time. I used to own my own set, and I even have a vague memory of laying tefillin on Masada just after sunrise, when I was about 13 years old. But it had been an awfully long time – almost 20 years – since those leather straps and that odd, slightly heavy box, had been placed atop my head and on my arm. The tefillin reminded me of school, of being young and believing in, and being somewhat comforted by, religious practice.
Once the tefillin were on, it was time to say the Shema – a prayer I have probably uttered a half dozen times in the past decade. Thankfully, I acquitted myself quite well, remembering the blocks of phrases, the intonation, even the meaning of many of the words. It felt strange to be standing in the middle of the street, in Brooklyn, facing a fellow Jew, with whom I have a shared past and yet such an utterly different lifestyle.
The majority of my contact with the Lubavitch in New York is being accosted on street corners in the run up to Jewish holidays to be asked whether I would like to hear the shofar or shake the lulav, or to stare in disbelief from the back of a taxi as they hurry, shtreimels perched atop their heads, through Williamsburg. So, it was a real pleasure to just hang out for a couple of hours, discussing their heroes, their families and their community. Plus, they were a lot more friendly and open than I expected.
The remainder of the day was spent in Union Square, Washington Square Park and on the Upper West Side. (You can’t make a film about Jewish heroes without asking a few questions outside Zabar’s.) I think we interviewed about two dozen people who, sadly as ever, had to be edited to squeeze into a 60-second film.
James and Karla Murray
Posted by: | Comments
You may remember a few months ago I wrote about James and Karla Murray’s book STORE FRONT- The Disappearing Face of New York.
Well, the book has had some great reviews. And, if you want to know more, you’ll get your chance tomorrow evening (Tuesday) when James and Karla take part in a panel discussion at Clic Bookstore & Gallery from 6:30 pm to 8 pm.
I also notice, via an article in Interview, that the Murrays are currently curating an international survey of contemporary graffiti, called “Graffiti Gone Global”:
Premiering during Art Basel Miami Beach in December, it’s an unusual graffiti show in that approximately one third of the artists are women. In the mix are Ecuadorian-born Lady Pink, perhaps the most famous female graffiti artist (her work in is the Elizabeth Sackler collection of feminist art at the Brooklyn Museum, the Whitney and the Metropolitan Museum of Art), Aiko (part of the Faile collective), and Sofia Maldonado, one of the few U.S.-based artists invited to the Cuban Biennial.
If you want to take a look at some of the work they have collected, this might be a good place to start.
Bi-Czar America
Posted by: | CommentsI know it’s easy to produce a vox pop hit job on just about any group. But the level of ignorance on display among these protesters in Washington, on September 12, is staggering. (New Left Media.)
Sand Animation
Posted by: | CommentsKseniya Simonova’s sand animation about the Great Patriotic War (aka Second World War) on Ukraine’s Got Talent. I could have sworn I have seen this before. Nevertheless, its still impressive stuff. I recognize the instrumental version of Nothing Else Matters. But can anyone name other songs/singers? (Via mum.)
By me @ Wired: The Superconducting Super Collider
Posted by: | Comments
Finally, my story about the Superconducting Super Collider, in Texas, makes it into the world. I first pitched this story to Wired in October, 2006, on the back of an interview I conducted with Johnnie Bryan Hunt.
JB Hunt was a multimillionaire and former member of the Forbes 400, who I interviewed him for All The Money in the World, in 2005. If you live in America, I guarantee you have seen one of his white trucks, with a yellow-and-black “JB Hunt” logo, on the road somewhere.
During our conversation about Hunt’s extraordinary career, which saw him rise from a poor sharecropper’s son, who left school at the age of 12, to become one of the wealthiest men in America, Hunt mentioned that he had recently bought the Superconducting Super Collider.
The collider is a half-built ring particular accelerator in Waxahachie, Texas, similar in scope and ambition to the accelerator at CERN. It was abandoned by Congress almost 20 years ago after the project went billions of dollars over budget. Hunt intended to turn the site into one of the most secure data storage facilities in America. Not bad for a man who didn’t even know how to use email.
My interview with Hunt, who lived in Arkansas, was conducted over the phone. But of all the people I spoke to for that book project, he was the one I most wanted to meet in person. I felt sure there was a feature story waiting to be written–about a 79-year-old man who had made a fortune first in poultry litter, then in trucking, and who was now turning his attention to data storage (as well as oil, real estate, importing 4x4s). Quite simply, he was an incredible character. Here’s an excerpt from our telephone interview:
I don’t have bad days. That’s just not me. If I did, I must have forgot them. When I get up in the morning, about 4.30am, I read the bible and pray for about an hour, then I go out — and I come home when it’s dark after working 10, 12 or 14 hours a day, and it doesn’t bother me.
I think I am a true entrepreneur. I can start any company I want to but I’m not good at running it. I’m good at hiring people to run companies that did go to school. The smartest guy on earth is the guy who wants to do something but he knows what he doesn’t know. So he goes and finds a guy who can do it for him and he gets it done.
Sadly, soon after our interview, Hunt slipped on a patch of ice and died. Today, his companies continue to do well. But Hunt’s plans for the collider appear to have died with him. You can read about that story at Wired.
Secrets of the Lost Symbol
Posted by: | Comments
Apologies for neglecting EiNY lately. I’ve spent the past week setting up and launching a blog and a Twitter feed for a new book project I am working on as a contributing editor. The book is Secrets of The Lost Symbol, a reader’s guide to Dan Brown’s forthcoming novel.
So, if you have any interest in Dan Brown’s books, or if you are interested in the themes of his latest work — American history, Freemasonry and the founding fathers — please check out the blog and Twitter feed.
It’s been a big day today. We believe we may have found a minor weakness in Doubleday’s very carefully controlled marketing for the book. But you can read more about that here.
Mahmoud’s Israel Trip
Posted by: | CommentsThe Jewish Robot really is outdoing himself at the moment.
