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ALL DARE NO SCARE

This was one funny Halloween on the mean streets of New York City. Here is a photo essay with all original pictures (except for Amitabh in drag and Nietzsche).

I guess we are all so desensitized to horror that it is pretty much impossible to get a good old-fashioned scare anymore.

All dare, no scare….

 DEEP THOUGHTS

On a more thoughtful (‘fundu’) note I agree with others that Halloween does reflect the resilience of pre-Christian naturist and animist traditions in Bush’s America. But  unlike Christmas, Halloween’s largely commerce free popularity hints at a society that continues to hunger for a post-Christian identity. For a well written analysis click here Dark Echo Horror Site – Halloween History.

NYC native celebrating Halloween.

And of course no such commentary on post-Christian identity will be complete without Nietzsche (Read Dave Mormon’s Inquiry). As Nietzsche said -”there was only one true Christian, and he died on the cross.”. There is of course his classic The Antichrist, which I have admittedly never read.

Hard thinking, not hard drinking.

THE PARADE

The parade ends just 3 blocks from our apt on 6th avenue. We headed down and soon encountered police roadblocks – see you are more likely to encounter crowds out of control than a vegan vampire. 

NY cop or is it a citizen in costume? 

To avoid the roadblocks, you end up having to go South on Broadway till you hit 19th and then you get funneled into this cattle run that carries you to the parade on 6th.

 the cattle run on 7th Avenue

Here was one lady and her companion who ended up getting a lot of attention. What is with big girls in short outfits that gets crowd attention? Any Queen Latifah / Silk Smitha fan’s care to explain?

big girl in short dress…    

And then the usual Gothic heavy metal crowd, seeming more silly than scared, more scared than scary.  I’d get a start every morning if I were him - looking in the bathroom mirror!

silly and scared…

I feel a culture is measured by how it revels in the beauty of its women.. and how it lets its women revel in their beauty.. and better yet how it lets its men revel in their women’s beauty as well. Here’s a good example.

Prime NY real estate!

And for some reason I haven’t figured out, crowds love reaching out and touching those folks on floats… and this dude responded. For it does take a lot of pluck in these troubled times for a man to wear plumage and strut his stuff in public. Montezuma did it with quetzal feathers on his head, so did many other kings, princes and other less deserving notables. Hmm… maybe stuff for another posting…  

transmitting Karma waves …  

Robocop, one of the last of the shoot first and ask questions later heroes. Goodness knows we need more of him in the Global War Against Terror.

Republican Candidate for 2008...

While many of us from India still prefer a full figured mother goddess the male psyche in this country (US) has a pair of long – and I stress - very very loooooong, freshly waxed legs wrapped firmly around it’s head. And by that standard this brunette definitely made my day… oh wait a minute those aren’t legs..   

 Unemployed Leggs model….   

We also had a significant presence from the Homeland Insecurity Department (HIDE) keeping an eye out for illegal visitors. We managed to pick out a couple of their well known operatives in the crowd in the process of closing in on an alien.  

  surveillance by HIDE  agents 

illegal alien….target of surveillance.

The Sunderbans is full of man-eating tigers that have a taste for ‘ lean villager’ and this fella sure reminded me of those backward facing masks they wear down there. This mask is from V for Vendetta the comic strip and movie.    

 Hindsight is 20/20    

Borat is one funny guy and for anyone who gets the whole Borat and Ali G. phenomenon, this guy essentially exposes the bigot inside all of us. If there is anyone who deserves the Nobel Prize for Free Speech and Free Thought – its him. Here’s Borat and Sister (#4 in all Kazakhstan).

Jagshemash! Welcome to US and A!

And some people who just looked cool!

Talent Scout!

   Talent!

 Incorruptible! Goody! Proper!

I even came across a woman in a sari (no photo here) – since when does that qualify as scary?  Of course unless it is worn by a 300 lb woman with a belly ornament. I once had a teacher who fit that description and the closest picture I could dig up was this one.

 Amitabh in sari  

Now that I think of it, we saw a little bit of Bollywood last year - with Abhishek Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan’s wife…. and they did not look scary either.

Abhishek & Gowri – Halloween 2005.

The Joker never seemed the same again after Nicholson’s effortless performance. Well here is one guy who was scary even while trying to be funny - reminding us of the wildcard in our minds, the inner Loki.

He who laughs last!

Ok – I did get the heebie jeebies at least once that night. Here was one strange denizen that even when dressed in white could make anyone’s skin crawl.  

Man with major problems.

In the event you really do get a good scare, EMS (emergency medical services) personnel are on hand to bring you back to the world of the living.

You - handled with care! 

Walking all those blocks sure does work up an appetite and there is nothing like falafels and shish kabobs to hit that spot. For a Middle Eastern institution, this sure had one relaxed dress code.

 Are you being served? 

As I said at first All Dare, No Scare. This was indeed one Happy Halloween!

YOUR COMMENTS BELOW….

More blogs about malgoody.

Dear Bill, and the Live Spaces team

I have been a fan of Microsoft ever since I was in diapers – well almost since.

I was(am) still your biggest fan through all your ups and downs. As a former developer and now a product management and marketing veteran – I continue to be in awe of how you pull things off. I have even pulled over, stepped out and kissed the sidewalk in your Redmond campus.

And I am an unabashed fan of MSN Live Spaces even though I had a lot initial bugs with Windows Live Writer and MSN Live Spaces. The developers in your discussion groups and your support team were outstanding.

BUT – and here is the BIG BUT…

The one truly dumb idea, that I have a hard time even comprehending, requires anyone who posts comments to regsiter on Windows Live.

And that is a truly indefensible certified dumb idea. It is so indefensible I can only assume you have one of those weeny marketing guys or weasely management consulting types feeding you slideware on “walled garden” strategies.

Well this is not a walled garden – it is a prison compound. Even the Berlin Wall allowed you to spray graffiti without joining the Communist Party. And I can tell you a million reasons why you need to fix this fast.

So get with the plan, be the Mcirosoft that I always admired and continue to admire.

To paraphrase my hero Ronald Reagan – “Mr. Chairman - tear down these walls!”

Dee Sree, Private and Free Citizen.

Well.. I did end up connecting two loose themes in my life this afternoon…they hovered… not around the edges waiting to be noticed… but like an old set of mismatched bookends…  putting them together seemed neither obvious nor necessary..

The occasion … an Edward Hopper retrospective… introspective? The weather was perfect…a cold clear, sunny winter afternoon. The location – less so – that dismal concrete monstrosity that houses the… Whitney Museum of American Art . The free audio tour is worth it… and so is the ticket ($15).

The first painting “Early Sunday Morning” …has a fairly neat audio commentary – almost ‘art critic’ routine… when Art Spiegelman (of Maus fame) chimes in.

 Early Sunday Morning (on exhibit)

His musings from the perspective of a comic artist was well… humbling. Art chatters on about quadrinos (Spanish for comics).. compares the fire hydrant and the barbershop sign to R2D2 and C3PO, and does to one’s ear what he usually does to one’s eye. Art on Art!

Also on exhibit was Soir Bleu … Paris, worker, clown, whore and bourgeoisie… all mingle under chinese lanterns on water’s edge. More elements of comic art… inspiration for Metal Hurlant?

“New York Movie House” (see way below) captured the essential irony of movie theaters.. a dark private group space … the essence of urban anonymity… the usherette’s utter alienation. Imagine Mr. and Mrs. Wayne, catching the show with young Bruce.. only pages away from the fatal encounter that spawns Batman.

I rounded off the afternoon with a grim warning from the “grimm” Wim Wenders .. (see his best work – Paris Texas) about the impending violence  in Nighthawks (see way below)… the essential elements of film noir, 1930s Gangster Comics, Dashiell Hammett and more.

The crowd in the lobby did not help. The museum store - a disaster. Hopper, comic art.. bookends with much in between. I exited the Whitney – quickly!

==== Prose in Praise =====

An afternoon invading Hopper’s ’people optional’ world… is like no other…

a magnificent desolation at once uniquely American..

and its people…grafted on a landscape, pasted on almost unwillingly…

alone.. even in company… a DMZ of the self….if people unseen then … people implied… 

if people seen – then mannequins…

frozen in intent  and moment .

But always the clear cold light and the clean cool lines…  

 Second Story Sunlight (on exhibit)

of homes in cape cod and the Carolinas, and yes… paris … 

of rooms and lives organized around the spare, sparse modern habitat… indulgent, naked..

   A Woman In The Sun(on exhibit)

yet trapped.

And  film …image and sound, flat, no life, and people – seated, standing… still, quiet, pensive…life.

   New York Movie House(on exhibit)

And film noir… Goodnight. 

   Nighthawks(on exhibit)