Haunted By Coney Island

I just finished watching The Warriors again, and when it was done, I really wanted to learn more about Coney Island. The way it comes across in photos and movies is so interesting. It looks like a ghost town, but one with roller coasters and amusement rides. People have always spoken about Coney Island, but I never really knew anything more than what I’ve seen in The Warriors or Requiem For A Dream.

So, I spent a good hour reading up on the history of the place. The rise and fall of Coney Island. Did you know that from 1880 until World War II it was the largest amusement area in the States? It became a really high-class resort area during the late 1800s, the wealthy arriving by train to relax and swim on the huge sunny beach. The first carousel was built before electric light had been invented, and used kerosene lamps instead.

At the beginning of the 20th century there were a few really ambitious amusement parks that were being built:

Steeplechase

- where the first ferris wheel was built, it also had smaller replicas of the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben. The park burned down in 1907, was rebuilt for the next year’s season. It burned again in 1936 and 1939, and was finally closed down in 1964 because of rising crime in the area.

The only structure still standing from the park is the Parachute Jump. It’s not used as a ride anymore, but after almost being demolished countless times, it was named a city landmark – Brooklyn’s Eiffel Tower.

 

Luna Park

This one burnt down too. After two fires in 1944 it was closed down. They never rebuilt it, and in 1946 the property was sold and the park was demolished.

Fires seemed to be a common occurence in these parks. The buildings and rides were all built using very flammable materials: frames of thin strips of wood covered with a moldable mixture of plaster of Paris. That, coupled with the number of electric lights used in the parks – when lightbulbs were still a novelty, created the perfect situation for FIRE.

Dreamland

SO Dreamland here was the crazy one. It was only around from 1904 til 1911, but it went all out in that short time, trying to compete with Luna Park next door. It billed itself “High-Class Entertainment” and even through in some educational exhibits. Apparently it had over one million light bulbs illuminating the park and its buildings (REMEMBER THIS: 1 million)

Among Dreamland’s attractions were a railway that ran through a Swiss alpine landscape; imitation Venetian canals with gondolas; a “Lilliputian Village” with three hundred dwarf inhabitants; and a demonstration of fire-fighting in which two thousand people pretended to put out a blazing six-story building. Creepiest of all, there was a display of baby incubators, where premature babies were cared for and exhibited. Yup, preemies on display.

Now, on the night before opening for the 1911 season, a new ride called Hell Gate was undergoing last minute repairs. On the ride, boats rushed through dim caverns – very scary. Anyways, a leak had to be plugged with tar, and at 1:30 in the morning that night, the electric lights illuminating the workers started to explode and in the darkness one of the workers knocked over a bucket of hot pitch. And Hell Gate was on FIRE.

The flames quickly spread through the entire park. A brand new high-pressure water pumping station failed, and there wasn’t enough water to keep the fire under control.

It was complete chaos in the park. With only the light of the fire, everyone was trying to save the animals and preemies. The one-armed lion tamer, Captain Bonavita, was trying to save his cats when a few of the terrified lions escaped. One named Black Prince ran out into the streets, where crowds of people were watching the fire, and was shot by police. The New York Times reported that all the preemies were lost to the flames, then later learned that they had all survived. Preemies, lions and fire. How completely crazy is that?

The park was never rebuilt.

I Want To Marry Jon Stewart

Don’t you?

Actually, I want to marry both Jon Stewart AND Stephen Colbert.

Different Sequence

OK, so I changed it around a little bit for the one I actually hand in. I’m not sure if it’s better this way or not, you know how I am with decisions though. So I’ve already labeled them and they’re in the envelope!

First Film Assignment

This is due tomorrow and I’m really excited to hand it in.

We had to go out and shoot a bunch of still photos. Then afterwards, arrange them in a sequence of 5 and put them in an envelope with all the outtakes.

Here’s the sequence of five. Graphic elements like lines, horizons and direction are suppose to tie each to the next smoothly.

And here are the other ones that I didn’t get to use in the sequence.

Wheeee!

SO I have discovered that the roads on campus at York were designed specifically for me!

They were created with the sole purpose of being my own personal driving track. Oh yes, I’m completely serious! Filled with loops and turns, roundabouts and smooth straights, it’s like a really cool exciting Go-Kart track – but for me and my CAR!

Tonight I went out to check that my car hadn’t been broken into or stolen overnight (it hadn’t been), and once out there decided to go for a little drive around North York. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t dare go when it’s dark, I don’t particularly enjoy getting carjacked on Jane and Finch. (Yes! It’s happened to others!) But seeing as I only get an excuse to drive MAYBE once a week,  my fingers and toes were seriously raring to go.

North York is uber-boring. All three lane uggo-ass suburrrban highways and such. Yawn. Also, driving in my Quebec-plated Volvo, not only do I feel like a target for bad bad criminals, but for the OPP as well. I try to rationalize that considering the area they probably have much more on their minds than terrifying a young girl from Quebec, but you never really know.

So I took a short tour of the four streets bordering campus, and checked out what they’ve termed “The Student Ghetto” – I’m used to the McGill Ghetto where the term “ghetto” is used more in a quaint sort of tongue in cheek way, but yo, this be some serious ghetto they be talkin bout.  Tenement-style yo.

So I drove passed that quickly.

It was once I got back on campus that I really started to have fun. I mean, I must have circled the roads 3 times. I’d get back to my parking lot and just sort of drive on by. The loops and circles were just too much fun! Alex and her Auto, wheeee!

The Narrative

I have no idea how I stumbled upon this photoblog but it doesn’t really matter. What does matter, is if you go check it out. There are over a thousand photos but even if you just look at one, at least you looked. I have no idea who Matt O’Sullivan is, but apparently he’s in Toronto. It’s really really interesting.

The Narrative PhotoBlog 

To Make Dad Even More Jealous

Concerts coming up over the next 3 months:

October 1: Ladytron & CSS

October 8: Massive Attack, Constantines

October 10: The New Pornographers & Immaculate Machine

October 13: TV on the Radio & Grizzly Bear

October 14: Diplo

October 15: Art Brut

October 25: Frank Black & Reid Paley

November 1: Ted Leo & the Pharmacists

November 2: The Rapture

November 5: Hot Chip & Born Ruffians, Pretty Girls Make Graves

November 6: And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead w/ Celebration, Blood Brothers, Brothers and Sisters.

November 8: Bob Dylan & Foo Fighters

November 16: Bloc Party

He’s in Uganda so there’s no way he can go to any of these shows. I live here, but am a broke-ass student and won’t be going to more than two of these anyways… sigh…

For Julia

Here you go my dearest. You better enjoy it dammit.

It’s been awhile, huh?

Why I Miss Cable

I miss cable because I only discover crazy things like the OK GO craze almost a full year after they’re huge!

Yup, I had no idea this even happened. But thankfully, I’ve discovered the wonderfullness that is The Million Ways To Be Cruel Dance, and the copy contest that followed.

Here’s the band’s video:

And here is one of thousands and THOUSANDS of kids recreating the dance in their backyards, at school talent shows, it’s all over the place!

It became the most downloaded music video in 2005. It was so huge that the band released their next video (Here It Goes Again) straight onto YouTube, choreographed again by the lead singer’s sister. It got over one million views in the first six days.

And it caught the attention of His Magnifence, Stephen Colbert:

And now after all of that, I think I should let you know that I find the songs pretty damn boring. But the dancing is just sooo awesome. More boys in skinny pants should perform choreography on treadmills. Yessiree.

Leviathan

Today I experienced a very strange coincidence. It happens every once in awhile where a show, a person or a word that you really haven’t thought about, or even heard referenced, in a really long time just keeps popping up wherever you go. Today, that word was “LEVIATHAN”.

I first heard about Leviathan when I was taking a Humanities course at Dawson and we were talking about Thomas Hobbes. But that course never really had much of an impact on me, and when thinking about my time at Dawson it’s never in the forefront of my memories.

But this morning in my Poli Sci tutorial, the TA brought up Leviathan and the word sounded vaguely familiar to me. I’ll admit I first thought it was something to do with Rome or the Acropolis, something along those “Ancient” lines. But then she went further in, explaining it as one of Hobbes’ major works. The book concerns the structure of society, but referencing a demon from the Bible, Hobbes builds an image of a giant made up of all the people of the state. Some make up the head, some the arms, and they all have to work for the state “giant” to function properly. My TA made it really interesting, it was just a side note in the lecture but she was sort of walking around like a giant made of people. It was great at 9:30 in the morning.

I thought that would be the last time I heard of Leviathan for a while, at least for today. But wouldn’t you know, as I was walking home from yummy Chinese food, I passed by a field where BlackFest had been set up. (BlackFest is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, a bunch of booths and events for black people.) A man was on the stage and before I was even there I could hear him speaking. “Thanks for not talking over me! My name is Leviathan, and I’m a spoken word artist.”

I kind of stopped in my tracks. I mean.. woah! Freaky coincidence Batman!

He started doing a little spoken word piece about his neighbourhood, set to the tune of the Mr.Rogers theme. Talking about problems in his neighbourhood, crack dealers in the playground of his neighbourhood. It was kind of eerie.. but to the point!

Now I’m going to go a little deep here and say it’s pretty interesting how he’s named Leviathan – and his life is about using spoken word to educate others and help change inner city life. You could go so far as to say, he’s very much the voice of his neighbourhood, carrying everybody else with him as he goes. And here I come back to Hobbes’ Leviathan.

HAHA! That was fun. My brain needs to rest I’m going to watch The Office now.