This is not Art

Sculptor: John Quincy Adams Ward (1830-1910)
Date: 1866
Placed in Park: 1869
Donor: 23 American artists and art patrons
Material: Bronze with granite pedestal

Indian Hunter was the first sculpture in Central Park by an American artist. Having studied the Lakota tribe, Ward was interested in developing American subjects. This sculpture of a hunter, his bow and arrow in hand, restraining his faithful hunting dog, shows Ward's sensitive commitment to realism and anatomy.

Source: The Central Park Conservancy

From Wikipedia:

The Feast of San Gennaro, originally a one-day religious commemoration, is now a 11-day street fair held in mid-September in the Little Italy area of Manhattan. Its defenders call it an annual celebration of Italian culture and the Italian-American community. Yet many people who live in Little Italy see it an an annual invasion of noise, drunkenness and garbage. One thing is clear about the festival: although it is portrayed as a neighborhood event, neither the organizers, the vendors, or the attendees live in Little Italy.

Centered on Mulberry Street, which is closed to traffic for the occasion, the festival generally features parades, street vendors, sausages and zeppole, games, and a religious candlelit procession which begins immediately after a celebratory Mass at the Church of the Most Precious Blood. Another festival is held with the same attractions and New York City's other Little Italy, in the Fordham/Belmont community in the Bronx. The streets are closed to traffic and the festivities begin early in the morning and proceed late into the night.

San Gennaro (Saint Januarius) is the patron saint of Naples, Italy. His feast day is September 19 in the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. The first Feast of San Gennaro was held on September 18, 1926, by newly-arrived Neapolitan immigrants who retained the customary observance from the old country.

Here's the saint himself. He looks bored with the whole production. I can say that by the time I pushed my way through the throngs of people, I was over it, too. (That's the top of cute guy's head in the lower left.)


One of the first booths we saw was one filled with magnets of all sorts.




And, strangely enough, there was a small sideshow setup featuring a "snake girl." Just weird.


I am not a fan of crowds. Odd that I love New York so much, right? I don't mind lots of people milling around, but I hate when they're all pushing in on me and there's no way out. As far as I am concerned, the feast of San Gennaro is hell on earth in this regard.


Apparently, this is what it's all about. There were more food booths than anything else, which makes sense since it's a "feast."

That is what appeared to be an albino python. I wasn't fast enough digging out my camera to get a good shot of it, though.

And this is a close-up of the water from the fountains in Columbus Circle. I just thought it looked neat.

If you were wondering why we no longer see herds of the Greater Blue New York Ostrich, these photos will explain everything. Clearly, they were hunted to extinction to make this hat.





This guy got on the 6 train as we headed back up town from the festival in Li'taly.

Today, The Blogless Fourth Axiom and I wandered around the city. We sat in Central Park for a while and we went to the Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy. Then, we just wandered around for a while. I snapped a few photos of things -- you'll see in other posts in a minute -- and I got some shots of people that I think are interesting. Usually interesting because there's a hot guy in it, but sometimes interesting for other reasons.

So, here are the strangers from my pictures.

Hot Guy #1:


Some people sitting in Columbus Circle enjoying the nice weather:


Hot dad. His face was just ok, but he had a nice body and was adorable playing with his kids.


This photo was an accident. I was holding my camera above my head trying to get a good shot of Mulberry Street and I got the angle too low and it turned into just a shot of the crowd. These three stood out to me when I was cropping the shot. I love that little old lady looking appalled. And the blonde chick looking digusted with the guy in the middle looking oblivious. (Note: A line of hair around your face is no substitute for a jaw. Mm'kay?)


This is another decent-looking guy in the crowd, but there's also that ugly guy next to him. It makes me think the title of this should be "Beauty & The Beast."


This guy was in the corner of one of my shots, so you can't see his whole face, but ADORABLE, right?

Last Friday, I took the day off and went shopping for a new pair of running shoes. On my way, I found the Project Runway window at Macy's. It was busy and I was in a rush, so I didn't stop to pay attention to my camera settings.

This was the only photo worth showing you guys. The two semi-cute guys are bonus.



You can thank me later.

My friend Daniella and I spotted a huge fashion don't in Daffy's today. She appears in white in the background of this blurry photo.



This woman appeared to be in her mid-50's and had a bad haircut, but she had a normal figure. She was well-proportioned and a good kind of curvy. Really, she could have been quite striking as a woman, if it weren't for her horrid fashion choices.

She was wearing TIGHT white pants and a TIGHT white shirt. What made matters worse is that both were see-through. You can clearly see her bra in the photo below. What you can't see, but what we got a good look at, is her thong.

The best thing I can say about her outfit is that she had the good sense to choose a pretty, white, lacey thong to wear under her see-through white pants.

Presumably, she wore the thong to avoid unsightly panty lines. Oh, irony! Not only did she NOT avoid panty lines, but she accentuated every unflattering aspect of her figure.

I'd like to say that I just recommend a new bra, but really, she needs to just do over. Go home. Go back to bed. Get up tomorrow and try again.



I snapped these photos while pretending to take pictures of Daniella.

I can't wait until these shafts of light are obscured by new, giant, beautiful skyscrapers.