random jaunt

Well, the weather wasn't exactly what I hoped for today. It was a bit chilly but it was one of those spectacular New York days where nothing really happened but plenty of wackiness ensued. You know, those days where Manhattan is your very own "Seinfeld" episode. These are the best days one can imagine for blog fodder. Some highlights, if you will allow...

I got to the train station to see everyone huddled around the television watching CNN's coverage of the Columbia disaster. Some crazed woman was literally screaming "It was a missle! It was a missle!" An interesting start...

I hopped on the train and the conductor quickly came into the car. The conversation was insane.

Conductor - "What are you doing?"
mrw - "Uh. What do you mean?"
Conductor - "What are you doing? Did you call ahead?"
mrw - "Call ahead? What?"
Conductor - "Yeah. You need to call ahead to let us know where you're going."
mrw - "What?! I take the train almost every day."
Conductor - "That doesn't matter. You need to call ahead."
mrw - "I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't need to do that."
Conductor (screaming) - "Yes you do! I'll be back."

This is even more bizarre than the woman a few months who wouldn't sell me my ticket at the disabled rate. It also really pissed me off.

The conductor came back a bit later to collect tickets. I was still pissed. This exchange was even more bizarre.

mrw - "So what if I did call ahead. How would you find out?"
Conductor - "They would tell me."
mrw - "Who?"
Conductor - "I would find out."
mrw - "Tell me how."

He then stormed off without taking my ticket. I had to deal with an asshole but at least my trip was free. I gave him a little smartass wave when we arrived at Grand Central.

I then went to see "Lost in La Mancha" at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas. I often end up seeing films there as they program pretty good fare. However, I simply despise the place. The screens are absurdly small and the wheelchair spots are partially behind a pillar. That's not really a big deal as I normally jump out of my chair, it's just that there's no place to put my chair in this place. The theater that "La Mancha" was showing in had a screen that was smaller than anything at Film Forum.

The film, however, was great. A really interesting and tragic insight into a cursed project. I think that Gilliam has some amazing ideas for it. Somehow, though, I don't think that it will ever come to fruition. Supposedly he's going to work on a couple of Hollywood projects and then try to bank on those deals to get this one financed. I'm not holding my breath. We do, at least, have some amazing footage from "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" in this documentary. I realized after watching this that I have never read Quixote. I should pick up a copy.

On the way back to street level some guy in the elevator was talking to his companion about how his brother was the guarantor on "Baron Munchausen." Damn. I love this city.

After stopping for coffee I decided to soldier on to the Met. For those of you who have never been to NYC, pedestrian walk/don't walk signals are merely suggestions. The lights are timed so that there is almost always no traffic for a few seconds before the light changes. Any non-tourist will walk before the little white sign appears. So I'm heading uptown on Broadway. I must have been at about 71st and I creep into the road to get ready to go. Now, I have a tiny little chair. One of the fringe benefits of small chair is that it doesn't have handles that people can use to push you around. There's just one little crossbar on the back of the seat to pull it around when you're not in it and to use to fold the back down. As I'm creeping into the intersection I'm suddenly stopped and pulled backward. It was a couple seconds before I could get my bearings and figure out what was going on. Yep. Some old guy was pulling me back to the sidewalk. He was some crazy Eastern European guy with a big fur hat and was muttering to me in what I think was Russian. I pushed forward and he kept pulling. I didn't know what to do next. The dude was clearly either insane or drunk. So I hit his arm lightly. Still he kept pulling and muttering. He then started to point at the crossing light. It changed to "walk" and he let go but continued to mutter. Needless to say I sped off before he could corner me again.

I'm a member of the Met because it's simply the most amazing art museum on the planet. I go to other museums and galleries to see installations that interest me. I've seen the permanent collection at the Whitney and the Guggenheim, for example, but go back a few times a year just to see what's new. At the Met, on the otherhand, I can find something new to look at in their permanent collection even though I've been there dozens of times. It was really packed this afternoon so I decided to find a quiet spot in, of all places, the art of Oceania. I spent some time looking at these poles that were used in headhunters' funeral ceremonies. It was an impressively macabre way to spend an afternoon.

I schlepped back to Grand Central after making a few stops to buy things I don't need like some fancypants loose-leaf green tea and a couple of bottles of wine.

Those are the highlights. I won't bore you with the details. Tomorrow I think I'm going to go to Chinatown for Chinese New Year. I figure the New Year is the best way to celebrate M.'s birthday. Out with the old, in with the new...

Posted by mikewolf at February 01, 2003 09:27 PM