Category Archives: Culture

Ghosts, Goblins, Superheroes, and Pricesses Dance on the Upper East Side: A Photoessay

By Vladimir Brezina

Halloween. But I was stuck at home working. It was clear I wasn’t going to make it to the Halloween Parade in the Village this year.

But around 5 p.m., unusual sounds from the street below began to penetrate my concentration. I discerned excited voices, children’s squeals, and then—the beat of dance music!

When I emerged to take a look, I found that my block of 92nd Street, between Madison and Park Avenues, had been blocked off and the First Annual Carnegie Hill Halloween Block Party was in full swing!

It was mostly for children. Little ghosts, goblins, skeletons, witches, dragons, tigers, superheroes, knights in armor, princesses, pumpkins, bananas, cobwebbed barrels and even tubs of popcorn, some young enough to be held in arms by their parents who clearly were having just as much fun, cavorted in the street. A little later there was a tiny parade, and prizes were awarded for best costumes. Then, the main business of the evening: trick-or-treating from house to house. Many houses in that block have for days been festooned with their own cobwebs, giant black spiders, and grinning skeletons in anticipation.

Here are a few photos.

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Dance Your Ph.D.

By Vladimir Brezina and Johna Till Johnson

It’s the question every science graduate student dreads:  “So, what’s your Ph.D. research about?” You take a deep breath and begin. People’s eyes glaze over…

The problem isn’t that your life’s work is uninteresting. It’s that the conventional way to explain it can be limiting:  Words can only get so far.  What if there were a better way to tell your story? Something like…  interpretive dance!

The first “Dance Your Ph.D.” contest was organized in 2008 by John Bohannon, the “Gonzo Scientist” of GonzoLabs and a contributing correspondent covering the intersection of science, culture, and art for Science magazine (“who, in true gonzo style, will participate in the events he covers”). Since then, the contest has become an annual event sponsored by Science. For the 2011 contest, 55 dances were submitted “covering everything from psychology to astrophysics,” and the winners have just been announced.

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Halloween Is in the Air on the Upper East Side: A Photoessay

By Vladimir Brezina

The Upper East Side of Manhattan takes Halloween very seriously. Halloween is still some days away, but decaying bodies, chained skeletons, and giant black spiders have festooned the area for weeks. The block of 92nd Street between Madison and Park Avenues is particularly worth seeing… here are some photos from that block and a couple of adjacent ones.

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Spam Poetry

By Vladimir Brezina

As surely as a flame attracts moths, a comment box attracts spam—with pretty much the same results. WordPress has an excellent spam filter that kills most spam outright. But occasionally it presents a particularly delectable piece of spam, under quarantine, for our enjoyment.

These spam comments, which the filter has quarantined but not killed outright presumably because it’s not quite sure whether they are spam or not, have a distinctive tone. They are, indeed, like real comments—but from some kind of mad dream.

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Easy Test

By Vladimir Brezina

In their article Do We Really Need a National Weather Service?, Iain Murray and David Bier of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (“Free Markets and Limited Government”) advocate abolishing the National Weather Service. They have an unanswerable argument:

The NWS claims that it supports industries like aviation and shipping, but if they provide a valuable contribution to business, it stands to reason business would willingly support their services. If that is the case, the Service is just corporate welfare. If they would not, it is just a waste.

And yet…  When in 640 A.D. the Arabs conquered Alexandria, the question arose what to do with the Great Library, the repository of the learning of the ancient world. Caliph Omar (allegedly) decided:

The contents of those books are in conformity with the Koran, or they are not. If they are, they are superfluous; if they are not, they are pernicious. Let them, therefore, be destroyed.

And so they were.

Figment NYC 2011

By Vladimir Brezina and Johna Till Johnson

On Saturday 11 June, 2011, along with our friend Runar, we visited  Figment NYC 2011, a free-form art festival that takes place annually on Governors Island in New York City (and in several other US cities). The vibe is half Woodstock, half Burning Man, with a dash of Magic Kingdom.

According to its organizers:  “FIGMENT is an explosion of creative energy. It’s a free, annual celebration of participatory art and culture where everything is possible. For one weekend each summer, it transforms Governors Island into a large-scale collaborative artwork – and then it’s gone.”

“Participatory art—what’s that?”, you ask. Read on: It can be anything—but most of  all, it’s fun! That was our biggest takeaway from Figment… it was a hell of a lot of fun, despite the cool rainy weather.

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The Other Islands of New York City: A History and Guide, by Sharon Seitz and Stuart Miller

By Vladimir Brezina

The Other Islands of New York City: A History and Guide, by Sharon Seitz and Stuart Miller. Third Edition 2011.  The Countryman Press, Woodstock, VT; distributed by W.W. Norton, New York.

How many islands are there in New York City? Even lifelong New Yorkers would have trouble answering this question. Several of the islands, of course, are home to millions.  A few other islands have mythical fame: Liberty Island, Ellis Island, Rikers Island… But next to them, sometimes just a stone’s throw away, are many other islands.  Some have long supported their own small human communities; others have colorful histories but today are inhabited only by birds and rats.  This unique book tells the histories and human stories of 45 of the “other” islands of New York City.

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