Friday, August 30, 2013

The End Of Art Is Peace


Seamus Heaney
Rest In Peace

"Seamus Heaney, the Irish poet whose lyrical beauty and ethical depth won him the Nobel Prize in 1995 and gave him a prominence far beyond literary circles, died in Dublin on Friday." ... Story continues here: Seamus Heaney, Irish Poet Of Soil And Strife (NY Times)

Monday, August 26, 2013

Quote Of The Week

"A weird time in which we are alive. We can travel anywhere we want, even to other planets. And for what? To sit day after day, declining in morale and hope."

Sunday, August 25, 2013

This Very Moment


"I have crossed the seas, I have left cities behind me, and I have followed the source of rivers towards their source or plunged into forests, always making for other cities. I have had women, I have fought with men; and I could never turn back any more than a record can spin in reverse. And all that was leading me where?"

Text by Jean-Paul Sartre
Photograph by Lee Greenfeld © 2013

Monday, August 19, 2013

Quote Of The Week

“Life has but one true charm: the charm of the game. But what if we’re indifferent to whether we win or lose?”

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Coney Island's Last Wild Ride




A film about greed, politics, land use and public policy, Zipper tells the story behind the battle over an American cultural icon. Small-time ride operator, Eddie Miranda, proudly runs a 38-year-old carnival contraption called the Zipper in the heart of Coney Island’s gritty amusement district. When his rented lot is snatched up by an opportunistic real estate mogul, Eddie and his ride become casualties of a power struggle between the developer and the City of New York over the future of the "People's Playground." Be it an affront to history or just the path of progress, the spirit of Coney Island is at stake. In a market-driven world where growth often trumps preservation, the Zipper may be only the beginning of what is lost.


Film poster by Steve Powers

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Freedom In Anonymity


"Masquerades disclose the reality of souls. As long as no one sees who we are, we can tell the most intimate details of our life. I sometimes muse over this sketch of a story about a man afflicted by one of those personal tragedies born of extreme shyness who one day, while wearing a mask I don’t know where, told another mask all the most personal, most secret, most unthinkable things that could be told about his tragic and serene life. And since no outward detail would give him away, he having disguised even his voice, and since he didn’t take careful note of whoever had listened to him, he could enjoy the ample sensation of knowing that somewhere in the world there was someone who knew him as not even his closest and finest friend did. When he walked down the street he would ask himself if this person, or that one, or that person over there might not be the one to whom he’d once, wearing a mask, told his most private life. Thus would be born in him a new interest in each person, since each person might be his only, unknown confidant. And his crowning glory would be if the whole of that sorrowful life he’d told were, from start to finish, absolutely false."

Text by Fernando Pessoa
Photograph by Lee Greenfeld © 2013

Monday, August 12, 2013

Quote Of The Week

"Thoroughly unprepared, we take the step into the afternoon of life. Worse still, we take this step with the false presupposition that our truths and our ideals will serve us as hitherto. But we cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of life’s morning, for what was great in the morning will be little at evening and what in the morning was true, at evening will have become a lie."

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Within And Without


"For the perfect flaneur, for the passionate spectator, it is an immense joy to set up house in the heart of the multitude, amid the ebb and flow of movement, in the midst of the fugitive and the infinite. To be away from home and yet to feel oneself everywhere at home; to see the world, to be at the centre of the world, and yet to remain hidden from the world — impartial natures which the tongue can but clumsily define. The spectator is a prince who everywhere rejoices in his incognito."

Text by Charles Baudelaire
Photograph by Lee Greenfeld © 2013

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Apparitions


"For the past several years I have been photographing life on the streets of New York City, almost daily. At first I just wanted to capture the oddities and outrageous sights I encountered in my daily routines, but as my dedication increased I began going out specifically to find and photograph the unlikely moments, memorable faces, and unexpected phenomenon that make life here so special to me. At this point, shooting the streets is the central focus of my life, an obsession like no other..." -Reuben Radding

Dig: Reuben's flickr account
Dig: Video slideshow of Reuben's work
Support: Apparitions (indiegogo campain)

Photograph by Reuben Radding © 2013

Monday, August 5, 2013

Quote Of The Week

"A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them. As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being. Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves."

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Don't Just Sit There


"In a time of universal deceit —
telling the truth is a revolutionary act."