2009 October — dovate

Monthly Archives: October 2009

The Year the Tile Broke: 2009 recap

Posted by admin on October 31, 2009 – 11:09 am

Filed under TOYNBEE IDEA, Uncategorized, general, weird

Why haven’t I written about Toynbee tiles in a while? It’s been a great year. Actually, 2009 will go down in history as the year the tile broke. Consider this:

There are no less than 4 people or groups (probably 5 or 6) out there tiling Philadelphia. They are:

1. House of Hades. The Buffalo/NYC group (or person) has put down spectacular tiles all over Manhattan and dropped a couple (including an incredible Toynbee tile reproduction) in Philadelphia. Outside the originals, they’re the most skilled and creative of the new tilers. You can see their work at 16th and Chestnut and Broad and Spruce. They keep it anonymous, which gives them bonus points. How do I know that Broad and Spruce tile is a fake? Trust me. There are half a dozen give aways.

16th and Chestnut House of Hades

—

House of Hades Copycat Toynbee Tile at Broad & Spruce in Philadelphia.

—

2. Stikman: Those ubiquitous robot men were joined this year by random single words, the mothership being in front of the Crane Arts Building up on American Street. While stikman remains only semi-anonymous (he gives interviews) he gets extra points for spreading his tiles everywhere, from Hollywood to Atlantic City and 100 points in between.

Stikman

3. Utrecht Linoleum tiles: A few tiles created with battleship gray art-store linoleum have popped up around town. A 16th and Walnut tile reads RIP PHILA and one up at Broad and Cecil B. Moore says something similar. These tiles are probably related to the Tupac tiles. One of these is at 40th and Market and another (found curbside) is in my living room. It reads “Tupac Alive in Jamaica.” These tiles get extra points for making me laugh.

Tupac

4. Possibly, but probably not made by the same person as the Utrecht Linoleum tiles is a type found at 12th and Market. It’s 2 sections long and reads “Tut Mir Leid” which means “I’m sorry” in German.

5. TOYNBEE IDEA: And to top it all off, this has been one of the most prolific years ever for good old fashioned Toynbee tiles. Dozens of them in every variety ever produced (plus some new types) have appeared all over the city and into South Jersey. 52nd and Market is tiled. Kensington and Allegheny has 2. Penn Campus has been surrounded with large original style tiles. Below is a comprehensive (and growing) list:

Original Style tile at the North Portal of City Hall

—
2009 Toynbee tiles:

3rd and South (strip)
5th and Market (strip, broken)
5th and Lombard (strip)
8th and Market (semi old school)
8th and Oregon (large index card)
9th and Walnut (strip)
9th and Market (old school with red border)
9th and Arch (old school with red border)
10th and Race (2 tiles, semi old school)
10th and Arch (semi old school)
10th and Market (semi old school, destroyed)
10th and South (Large, new style, flipped)
16th and Spruce (large Index Card)
16th and Locust (large Index Card)
16th and Walnut (large Index Card)
16th Sansom (large Index Card)
16th Chestnut (large Index Card)
18th and Market (strip)
19th and the Parkway (South Side, strip)
19th and the Parkway (North Side, next to last year’s tile, strip)
19th and Vine (Next to last year’s tile, strip)
19th and Market (strip)
20th and Chestnut (strip)
20th and Market (strip)
20th and Race (strip)
21st and Cherry (x2, north and eastbound corners, strips)
22nd and Arch (strip)
34th and Chestnut (old school?)
34th and Walnut (old school?)
38th and Walnut (old school?)
41st and Filbert (semi old-school)
42nd and Lancaster (License plate)
42nd and Market (License plate)
42nd and Chestnut (License plate)
43rd and Chester (large index style)
48th and Woodland (large index style)
52nd and Market (semi old school)
Race and the Parkway (strip)
Logan Circle and Kelly Drive (strip)
Logan Circle near 23rd (strip)
Route 70 & King’s Highway ((large, new style)
Kensington & Allegheny (x2, large, new style)
Kensington and Madison (strip)
City Hall (NW Corner, old school)

Other Tiles:

Broad & Spruce (original style Toynbee tile + lady legs. House of Hades Copycat)
Broad and South (still covered)
Broad and South (eastern side)
Broad and Cecil B. Moore
2nd and Poplar
2nd and Chestnut (Cracked goblet)
2nd and Market (Tupac tile… destroyed)
12th and Market (says: “Tut Mir Leid” which translates to I’m sorry in German)
15th and Walnut (says: “RIP PHILA”)
16th and Sansom
16th and Chestnut (House of Hades tile, Large)
21st and Moravian (Forgive Me)
22nd and Walnut (Rocketship)
31st and Market (House of Hades)
40th and Market (Tupac Tile)
43rd & Baltimore (copycat, not Toynbee)
+ dozens of stikmen, single word tiles.

Pumpkin Party

Posted by admin on October 26, 2009 – 6:40 pm

Filed under Philly, Photo, general

Fourth annual Pumpkin Carving party in West Philly. Shot at ISO a lot. 6400, I think. Click to enlarge:

Pumpkins

Folegandros Cat

Posted by admin on October 25, 2009 – 3:48 pm

Filed under Photo
Tagged as Greece

The town of Chora on the tiny island Folegandros is as close to cat heaven as I’ve ever seen. It’s not too far from a human paradise either. Click to enlarge:

Get it Together, Ziggy

Posted by admin on October 23, 2009 – 6:28 pm

Filed under liberator76, satire

ziggy No one likes a complainer and no one likes you, Ziggy. You’re a pathetic excuse for a human being. I guess you have one redeeming quality. At least you don’t put a toupee on that bald head of yours. But you never go that extra step and actually figure out how to deal with life, Ziggy.

You’re a worthless waste of flesh and I wish they’d run a series where you hang yourself in your closet. There’s no point to your life. Do you think your pets need you, Ziggy? They take care of you and your sorry excuse for a life. Even your pets hate you, Ziggy.

Why don’t you go out and do something for once. All you do is complain about how your damn computer isn’t working. You know why your computer doesn’t work, Ziggy? You know why? Because you’re a fucking idiot. That’s why.

Your life is as joyless as it is pointless and you bring no light to my own. I can actually take care of myself, Ziggy. My computer actually works when I turn it on, Ziggy. Either get a hold of yourself or just end it. I’d prefer if you were a meth addled tweaker. At least you’d have an excuse. At least then you’d have an ounce of fucking motivation to actually do something. Why don’t you go fuck Jon Arbuckle? Go have a love affair with Jon. End it in a murder suicide and do the world some good for a change.

Get it together, Ziggy.

I’m glad I got that off my chest.

* This post originally appeared 9 years ago on epinions.com. It was a product review for some Ziggy related piece of merchandise. It made me 22 cents.

Let’s Do It Again

Posted by admin on October 22, 2009 – 7:01 pm

Filed under Philly, Photo

Click to enlarge:

Again

2500 Years After Glory

Posted by admin on October 13, 2009 – 6:22 pm

Filed under Philly, Photo, general, street art
Tagged as Athens

AthensStreet59

Before

Philadelphia and Athens are both cities live in the long shadow of their former preeminence.

What I mean is that both enjoyed some time at center of history. Believe it or not, in the second half of the 18th century Philadelphia was one of the most important hotbeds of political thought and activity in all human history. Now (to borrow a line from Steve Lopez) we’re a city full of bottomfeeders… with no bottom. Same goes for Athens two and a half millenia ago. As far as the world we all live in, Athens is the place that started it. It was the gravitational center of human thought that flung Western Civilization into 2000+ years of global dominance. Now… not so much.

That doesn’t mean that both aren’t great cities today… just that physical evidence of their former glory remains only in pockets of ruins and preserved buildings, museum artifacts, history books… and of course at the core of all of Western Civilization.

Today

The greater Athens area is a pretty damn big place, with 4 million or so people packed into a vast but densely packed valley. It’s not a rich city and the drive from the air or ferry ports into the center of town passes by some pockets of raw poverty. Even though shanty towns and communities under bridges exist… they seem to be small. We’re not talking hills filled with tin shacks, just a few dozen tin shacks peppered across the landscape.

I didn’t stay in a shanty, I stayed in a 85% grime free hotel in Plaka, aka “the nicest, oldest and arguably the most interesting neighborhood in the city.” Most of my photos are of that neighborhood and the few neighborhoods that surround it. I could go on and describe Plaka, it’s makeup and history, but I’d rather just get on with the photos. Visit the Athens section of the non-blog portion of this site for the photos:

<<<< CLICK HERE FOR GALLERIES >>>>

Men’s Room

Posted by admin on October 8, 2009 – 7:12 pm

Filed under Philly, Photo, general

I’m not going to go into much detail about why public mens rooms are so interesting and disgusting. I won’t tell my stories about needles in sinks, or the wide spectrum of sexual acts I’ve inadvertently witnessed, overheard or been propositioned for while in them. All I’ll do is post some photos.

Last week I found myself alone with a camera in a public bathroom… so naturally I took a few photos. Disgusting for sure, and hopefully a little bit interesting. Click the images to enlarge.