Banskied again (Warning! Disturbing content)

I've been Banskied again. This time it was knowingly though. Bansky came to town, but unlike London he probably deduced that local authorities wouldn't take too kindly to his art on the walls of the city (unlike gang graffiti which they don't seem to mind at all). So instead he took over a store front on Seventh Avenue near Houston, the Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill.

I would like to offer my usual speculations on whether this was art, ahhhrt, fun, or just bizzare, but don't feel quite up to. But take a look and decide for yourself.

There were bales of Hay out front that you can't see here:


Bansky loves his CCTV's so much that he brought a flock of them with him to NY:


Never did like gumballs myself. This probably wasn't my concern though:

Now here's an idea....

I thought my neighborhood was stroller central, but apparently in the few years I've been on the road I've missed a few developments...
from The New York Times...

October 5, 2008, 2:59 pm

Stroller Central, Now With a Valet

By Tina Kelley

Joe Caraballo, the stroller valet at the Prospect Park YMCA, parks up to 75 strollers a day for the overburdened parents and toddlers of Park Slope. (Photo: Christian Hansen for the New York Times)

The mothers rushed into the Prospect Park Y.M.C.A. in Park Slope, heading into prenatal yoga, art classes, or gym time. “You want long term or one hour?” Joseph Caraballo asked, as they left their strollers — some with temperature sensors and pedometers — under his watch.

He takes care to flip the canopies down so the seats won’t be too hot for the chubby thighs returning from yoga class. Except, of course, if it hides the wallet, cellphone, keys and cereal bar wrapper of an absent-minded parent.

“Is this a second-hand sale?” passersby asked, seeing 39 strollers lined up, handle-by-wheel, along 9th Street. “Are they having a race?”

But no, it’s stroller valet parking, a perfect fit notoriously spawnocentric neighborhood.

Mr. Caraballo, 52, who has a 9-year-old son, works in the Y’s maintenance department, and does not accept tips.

Erica Schohn was trying to fit her daughter, Silvia, into a Maclaren, which appeared to be the brand of choice. But Silvia would not bend, throwing back her whale-spout pony tail and arching her body. Ms. Schohn said leaving her stroller out was nice, “because then they don’t have to be folded.” (The kids, alas, do.)

Then there was the lady who left one child in a stroller and took the older one in to the gym: “She said, ‘Oh, the lady inside said I could,’ ” which was not true, Mr. Caraballo said. “I said, ‘Don’t do that.’ ”

Civilized city

There's no doubt that this is a civilized city. You may not think so when you're being trampled on Oxford Street or when the nearest underground station has been barricaded shut exactly at rush hour because it's too busy, and you're huddled outside in the cold like Communists queuing for toilet paper. But the locals still have a way with words, a way of saying things without quite saying them.

It was a sunny day and I was walking near Hyde Park when I saw this:


Indeed, it is gratifying to avail oneself of the convenience when the need arises. I was particularly taken with the idea of the "cleansing hot line". They're the ones you call when you conveniences are no longer so convenient. In New York, there are almost no public conveniences, and if they exist you can assume they will be pretty filthy. And then a few days latter I ran across this one:



Note that it was the winner of the "Loo of the Year" award. What a wonderful idea! An awards night for loo directors, designers, and actors. Do you think they dress up in gowns and tuxedos? Do they give tearful acceptance speeches where they thank their mothers? Do they get angry and beat up the ushers when someone cuts them off? Does Ladbrokes accept bets on who will win? Is there a red carpret, and does Joan Ri

The Next Big Thing

As I mentioned in

recent posts and comments,
I was in the United States the last week or so, a little bit of flugelbindery on the
go. While there I came upon a brilliant new idea.

Something so innovative, that I'm sure it is going to change city streets around the world. I was so impressed that I have even obtained the exclusive European distribution rights.

So if you are at all interested, and you should be, then ladies
and gentlemen I introduce to you the you-saw-it-here-first
only-in-America


the wooden manhole cover.

Cheers,

BB