Psychogeography

LeoZ 2009-09-30 01:11:30 ET Hmm, I moved to Manhattan. I didn't really expect it and it turned out to be a spur-of-the-moment type decision caused by me seizing an opportunity by the coat tails. But tonight (or, technically, last twilight) upon walking home I reflected that it was a good choice. Not only because I'm in Manhattan and thus location-wise I'm quite close to the social and economic epicenter of New York but because, as I was walking home from the grocery store, I was reminded of how much this place feels like Moscow. Not the real physical Moscow of today but the vague memorable Moscow of my kid youth. The Moscow which lives on in the nostalgic remnants of memory within my mind. My childhood in Moscow, as well as the 2 subsequent trips back there, are my Kaddath in the cold waste. It reminds me of a story from a Russian book that I have called "The Troll's Gift". The book itself is a collection of Scandinavian children's stories most of which related in some ways to trolls. There is a story there about a kid who, alone in his bedroom one evening, hears a knock on his window. The origin of the knock is from some magical character who ends up taking the kid to this land which exists only in the twilight. A land that is a sort of overlay over our real reality. And as I was walking to my new Manhattan home today in the twilight I was reminded of how this story as well as the Twilight Zone series relays the concept that the twilight is somehow weird. And it is. It feels like that. The weirdest thing is that it always feels nostalgic to me. As if all twilights are part of the same time period. Like in that comics, "The Invisibles", some time/place combinations are related because they are spacial and temporal locations where another universe is intersecting with ours. That's how twilight feels like to me. Like it's the same event repeated whenever I'm outside experiencing that part of the evening. And I get a similar feeling looking out the window at night. It feels like home but from god knows when. Weirdness.

intruesiive 2009-09-30 03:27:42 ET congratulations on the move! what neighborhood do you dwell in now?

subsume 2009-09-30 05:15:46 ET i miss manhattan. i only lived there for a few short months but it was in a very posh neighborhood while we were desperately poor & only one of us was working, so the contrast of being broke as shit, stealing food from the grocery store and living on the upper west side was pretty amazing.

LeoZ 2009-09-30 08:20:58 ET Hahahaha, I'm in the Upper West Side too! Except I got really lucky with the rent so I'm not broke at all. Which is very nice. I do need to start saving again. I really do need to take the time to start exploring my area and, ofcourse, everything else. The MetroNorth tracks run through a tunnel beneath my building and walking back home from work gives me flashbacks from the original Deus Ex game. Life generally feels interesting and hopefully will be an easy time.

subsume 2009-09-30 08:23:19 ET well that was the amazing thing, due to illegal subletting & rent control, we were paying $600 for an 1100 square foot apartment!! to top it off, my fiance's mom was paying the rent at the time. sigh. but yeah! you need to start exploring. i kind of want to explore staten island again. you moved from there, right?

LeoZ 2009-09-30 09:20:46 ET Yeah. Staten Island is fun to explore too. It's a whole different atmosphere. Coming in from the ferry the island looks like some weird coastal town in Italy. The houses and the area between Hylan Boulevard and Father Capodanno Blvd on South Beach look like some Louisianian bayou backcountry. The greenbelt area just makes you feel isolated and in the middle of nature... until you spot a houseroof peeking through the branches. On the west side of Staten Island, in the woods around the Arthur Kill Correctional Facility you'll find deer. If you're driving around at night have your car face the trees and turn on your highbeams to capture deer for brief moments in a temporary trap of dazzling confusion. Staten Island is cool.

intruesiive 2009-09-30 09:25:17 ET Staten Island is cool. i don't think ive ever heard someone say that. EVER. have you ever been to the (former) muddy cup, now "the cup"? it's a good little spot. we used to really like it in HS. we went to st. joseph hiiilllll representttttttt

subsume 2009-09-30 09:48:45 ET staten island takes a lot of slack, due mainly to its loud ass, guido inhabitants. one time marc & i found this bizarre strip of rural stretch a little off of new dorp lane. like, back alley housing complete with fields, one room houses & picket fences with the wash hanging on them. it was creepy as hell & mystifying. when i think back to our SI days, the memories are mostly fond.

intruesiive 2009-09-30 09:50:44 ET taco belllllll on hylannnnn RIP

subsume 2009-09-30 09:53:23 ET yeah! we went to that taco bell (kind of bizarre that we hopped on a half hour, maybe longer, bus ride to a different borough for some fucking taco bell) & then went exploring since we were already there. remember your mom would occasionally take us on drives? like, to the alice whatsherface house, the photographer who lived by the water?

intruesiive 2009-09-30 09:54:39 ET ALICE AUSTEN

subsume 2009-09-30 09:58:13 ET jessica lets explore staten island this weekend. i miss it.

LeoZ 2009-09-30 10:37:47 ET Hahahah, I worked at that taco Bell for like 2 or 3 weeks until some newbie poured lard down the central drain and it congealed and caused the water that we used to wash dishes (plus the general sewage) to come out of the floor drains. This happened on Monday night. The boss said he'll call the plumber....on Saturday. So I quit. Fun times! Oh, and yeah, the Alice Austen house area is awesome. There's a bed and breakfast across the street. I want to stay there one day.

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