There were some discussions at Floyd’s last night on the photos found here and one point (a good one) was that you really can’t see the scale too easily from the photos. I agree. Photos are my bane. These great looking statues just get crushed by photography. I have had pros (and paid plenty) shoot them and the results aren’t a whole lot better. There is NOTHING like standing next to one. Photos don’t tell the whole story. But here is a scale shot. I have to use the timer and as you can see, it isn’t great. But now you know.
In the other big development at Floyd’s, I learned that Murray’s Cheese Shop is not really on Bleeker Street, but faces another street. But it looks like it could be on Bleeker to anyone but a postman, who get very precise about these sort of things.
These two shots are of Mickey Mantle, also life size. This statue was completed in 1996 and needs a sprucing up. I plan to do some work on the face as well. Mickey’s face was the hardest one I’ve done and the reason is that he was so good looking, that he didn’t have any stand-out feature. Ruth and DiMaggio have cartoonish faces that are easy to nail, comparitively. Mickey spent a few months in Mickey Mantle’s restaurant in the 1990’s as the feature thing that you saw when you walked in the door. That’s why he needs a refit mostly, because there was no room to create a buffer and the patrons could touch him, and, of course they did.
Last point. Yesterday, I heard that the Mets will be charging $29 to park at Citi Field? Are they for real? That does it. I hereby formally renounce my Mets fandom. They can have it back, those plumbers. I will not go to Citi Field and I will not pay $29 dollars to park my car for 3.5 hours by the airport and the stink of the chop shops on Roosevelt Ave. I am hereby a fan of the Washington Nationals. Go Nats. **** the Mets. **** Fred Wilpon. And Omar. And Willy. And the black uniforms that cater to gang inspired fashions. And the drunken violence that makes my nephew say to me, “Uncle Fog, I’m scared” while watching a game against Philly in the upper deck last year. And the ridiculously high percentage of Spanish players and promotions that make me feel like I might be in a foriegn country when I’m at the game. And the EAR DAMAGING music that they blare out of the speakers all game long so that you go horse trying to converse with the person next to you. And because Steve Phillips actually worked there. Bu-bye.
Not sure where your postman delivers mail, but Murray’s is ON Bleeker Street. 254 to be exact. It used to be on the corner of Bleeker and Cornelia – remember the smaller shop? IT had a door diagonally facing the corner – which may have given it a Cornelia Street address instead of Bleeker at the time, but alas, it’s all Bleeker now.
So how about Clemens and the old b-12 excuse. What’s next, more flax seed? String him up with Bonds, two peas in a pod. I think you should do a statue of him in prison stripes. Bring back 2000.
Thanks for the Christmas Card, the little elf is cute. I have to meet him soon. Happy New YEar.
T
Comment by Tom — January 4, 2008 @ 3:44 pm |
Oooh, Tom, thems fightin’ words. Andy, who works for the USPS and can recite the house numbers all throughout his old routes in my town, quickly corrected me the other night when I mentioned that Murray’s was on Bleeker. He’s all “Cornelia”. He grew up there and his dad had a shop there and used to send him into the back of Murray’s to pick up his orders (of the cheese with the worms in it that still move when you eat the stuff) that he phones in. So he knows plenty about it and admitted that it is very close to Bleeker. To kind of head things off, I think that you’re both right.
And yes I recall the shop with the diagonal door and Bleeker is at a funky angle there, no? Well, I certainly can’t hold a candle to either of you so I’ll bow out.
No comments on my renouncing of the Met fandom? Am I nuts? I just don’t get the same thrill out of it anymore. To me, rooting for a team is (1) for kids and/or (2) nostalgia. I am just a fan of the game itself now and I just take it all in like a big long, 7 month soap opera where young kids play for money and some crack and some come through. Oh, and guys like Clemens cheat and then want to blow smoke up our arses and have us believe that the earth is flat.
Make no mistake, Tom, Clemens’ recent antics have not escaped this artist’s notice and well…well…that’s all my lawyer will let me say at this point. –fog
ps – Thomas, or “little fog”, is not really little. At 5 months, he’s 22 lbs. That’s a big palooka, I’m thinking.
Comment by mcgonnigle — January 5, 2008 @ 12:15 am |
So basicly what you saying your rooting for the laundry??
Comment by Tim — January 5, 2008 @ 12:42 am |
Yes, Tim, it’s all just laundry. It’s really moronic when you stop and think about it. Professional sports, particularly so, but even others. The idea that no matter who you put in those stupid, black Mets bowling shirts, I should “root” for, is insane. It makes no sense. It’s fun when you’re a kid but later on, it should be dispensed with. It’s all laundry. A lot of hokum. A big smoke show. –fog
Comment by mcgonnigle — January 6, 2008 @ 11:50 am |