Captures from the video.

The Seattle Cardboard Tube Fighting league hosted a tournament: Saturday in Philadelphia on the Art Museum steps (made famous in Rocky),and Sunday in McCarren Park, Brooklyn, New York. It was a free event, and the League provided the lightweight cardboard tubes. You want your tube to survive the duel while your opponent’s is destroyed. This is a pretty random process, as when tubes clash yours is as likely to break as the one you are striking. The real agenda is to have fun. I came home with a few scrapes but was otherwise unharmed.

Armor Cam: I made hole in my cardboard breast-plate so I could safely place the camera beneath my armor to capture the action. Unfortunately I had my camera set on the lo-res setting. Oops!

The Melees, a free-for-all after the competition.
My epic battle, see me cower from the vicious tail slashing dragon. Captured by Anonymous Agent:

More video from phire on clgamer

Filed under: Brooklyn- , City Life, GammaBlog Videos, Street Performance - by gamma
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Update: Now with more Santas, part 2 of the video is embedded below.
Both videos are mildly NSFW, mostly for language.

I regard Santacon and other roving gatherings as street art, people expressing themselves in public. I was torn between capturing the event on video and dancing down the street. This year I pretty much sacrificed the dancing for the capturing. Maybe next year I’ll attach my camera to a Santa helmet and just go for it. Though if I wasn’t having fun shoving my striped pole in the air like a crane, I would have put the camera away, had a drink or two, and joined the dance.

Bill Cunningham in the New York Times stumbled upon the event and has an audio slideshow. He was greatly amused.

Part 1 finds the Santas in midtown completely covering the steps of the General Post Office on Eighth Avenue,
and then traipsing over to Grand Central Terminal.

Full Screen (Link to YouTube, click play in high quality and then hit the full screen button on the player)

Santacon NYC 2008 Part 1 from GammaBlog on Vimeo.

Part 2 takes the Santas from Rockefeller Center, to the South Street Seaport, and the Staten Island Ferry.

Full Screen (Link to YouTube, click play in high quality and then hit the full screen button on the player)

Santacon NYC – 2008 – Pt. 2 from GammaBlog on Vimeo.

The pedal-powered stripper pole at the South Street Seaport. I mostly shot video during this year’s massive NYC Santacon. I have eight and a half gigs of it to edit into something worth showing.

Warning if you go to Santacon dressed as a panda, you will likely get whacked in the head with a candy cane by feisty girls!

(more…)

Filed under: Architecture, Manhattan, Photos- , City Life, Flag Waving, GammaBlog Videos, People, santacon, Street Performance - by gamma
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Between March and November, 2006, Richard Howe systematically photographed each of the island’s roughly 11,000 street corners. At the moment he has approximately half of the photos on his site. Accessing a specific corner is difficult, but you can take virtual strolls up and down the various avenues until you get to the corner you want.
The Manhattan Street Corners

• 101 Manhattan Street Corners (Sampler)
• Broadway Part One: from Battery Place / Bowling Green to 96th Street
• Broadway Part Two: from 97th Street to Ninth Avenue at the Harlem River Bridge
• Alphabet City & the East Village
• First Avenue from 15th Street to 127th Street
• Second Avenue from 15th Street to 128th Street
• Third Avenue from 15th Street to 128th Street
• Lexington Avenue (including Irving Place) from 15th Street to 131st Street
• Park Avenue (including Union Square East) from 15th Street to 132nd Street
• Fifth Avenue from Washington Square North to 143rd Street
• Sixth Avenue from Franklin Street to 59th Street
• Malcolm X Blvd. (Lenox Avenue / Sixth Avenue) from 111th Street to 147th Street
• Seventh Avenue from Leonard Street to 59th Street
• Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Blvd. (Seventh Avenue) from 110th Street to 155th Street
• Eighth Avenue from Abingdon Square to Columbus Circle
• Frederick Douglass Blvd. (Eighth Avenue) from 111th Street to 155th Street
• Ninth Avenue from Gansevoort & Little West 12th Street to Broadway at the Harlem River Bridge
• Tenth Avenue (including Amsterdam Avenue) Part One: from 13th Street to 110th Street
• Tenth Avenue (including Amsterdam Avenue) Part Two: from 111th Street to 218th Street & Broadway
• Eleventh Avenue (including West End Avenue) from 23rd Street to 107th Street & Broadway
• The West Side Highway from 15th Street to 57th Street (comprising Eleventh Avenue from 15th Street to 22nd Street & Twelfth Avenue from 22nd Street to 57th Street)

Filed under: Manhattan, New York City- , City Life - by gamma
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What that durn red nosed dog placed on the Brandie Bailey ghost bike’s seat is an irreverent but not totally unaesthetic addition. Those artificial flowers, still vibrant from the memorial in May, have tarted up the bike of late, possibly drawing the attention of the dog. Previously real flowers were used and when they faded, the dried remnants gave a more solemn air.

Filed under: Uncategorized- , Bikes, Brandie Bailey, City Life, GhostBike, Memorial, Red Nose, Stickers - by gamma
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Summer Streets – August 23, NYC from GammaBlog on Vimeo.

I rigged a harness to hold the camera firmly against my chest while I rode. I figured this would be the steadiest place to put it. It worked adequately. This event was a lot of fun. I hope the city does this more often.

Filed under: Manhattan, Photos- , Bikes, City Life, GammaBlog Videos, Video - by gamma
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Has anyone else in the neighborhood (East Village, Lower East Side) noticed the proliferation of bundles of stuff, often on piled-high shopping carts, loosely attached to parking poles. I know a Chinese woman is associated with the shopping carts. This huge pile on East Second Street seems a bit overblown. Big enough to live in, but it doesn’t have the feel of habitation. Could it be the sad result of someone’s eviction?

ratherbebiking says:looks cozy. i would live there

Filed under: East Village, Lower East Side, Manhattan, New York City- , City Life, Odd - by gamma
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May 8, 2007 the second anniversary of Brandie Bailey’s death.

A couple of days later someone used the left-behind chalk to leave the message. “Died on Fixed Bike.” There is some controversy concerning the safety of fixed gear bikes, braking is accomplished by pedaling in reverse. This seems a harsh thing to say at her memorial, seemingly blaming her choice of transportation on the accident. All chalk messages were gone the next day, after a heavy rain.

Search for – Ghost Bike – on the GammaBlog

Filed under: Photos- , Bikes, Brandie Bailey, City Life, GhostBike - by gamma
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Code Pink and the Granny Peace Brigade celebrate Mother’s Day, the way it was originally celebrated by Julia Ward Howe‘s in her Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870.

Mother’s Day for Peace: a professional reading of the proclamation.

Filed under: Upper East Side- , Central Park, City Life, Demonstrations, GammaBlog Videos, Peace, Video - by gamma
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