MOVING TYPE

Wandering around Manhattan last week I happened across the New York Times building. It was a huge building, with the NY Times masthead over the entrance in big, metal type. Curious to see if I could get to the top floor for a view, I walked inside (see below for the video of when I finally did get a good view of the city from a rooftop).

The lobby had this cool art exhibit of moving type, which is shown above. I have no idea what the significance, or insignificance, was of each bit of type on the screens. The only common thread is that each screen poses a question, with no answer. It was kind of like a reverse magic 8 ball (remember those things from the 70s, where you asked a question and then shook the 8 ball up and an answer appeared in the window?)

NINE ELEVEN OH EIGHT NYC

Just got back from a whirlwind tour of Manhattan. I was there for almost exactly twenty-four hours, and spent the entire time trudging up and down the city streets in Keen sandals, which have no arch support at all. Highly recommended.

I found out that day that the place we were staying, which was supposedly five minutes from Rockefeller Center, was actually in Weehauken, New Jersey. Does anybody know where that is? 'Cause I sure didn't. Suffice it to say that you're missing absolutely nothing if you never, ever visit the place. It's a ten to fifteen minute cab ride via the Lincoln Tunnel, depending on your driver's familiarity with the area. If, say, your driver has to consult with his cab company on the radio several times while driving around post-industrial warehouse districts, your trip might even take as long as twenty minutes. And that's only if you're getting in the cab at the lower end of Central Park and it's two in the morning.

All in all it was an epic trip, with Weehauken the only asterisk. Unless you include having to run a gauntlet of canine-unit cops at the Philly train station, or having to subject to your bag being searched at the Conan O'Brien show. But I don't count those things as asterisks. Just Weehauken.