Thursday, March 31, 2011

#276: Pretty Vacant?

Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

There's been so much pretty urban decay to gawk at and so many delightfully wonky numbers in the collection lately that I've almost forgotten about the understated elegance of some of my neighbor's address plates. It's just too easy, you know? It's like having a crush on the homecoming king. Justifiable, sure, but hardly interesting. Give me the socially awkward, kind-hearted misfit over the neatly-packaged prat any day of the week. Better stories. More fun.

It's gotten to the point where I am so obstinate about finding hidden, underappreciated gems that I will spend an entire city block ignoring all else around me, contemplating, nay, admiring spray-painted numbers on garbage cans -- the same ones that often misspell the name of their own street and even the one that's tagged by someone known only as "BEER SLUT." In other words, I think I might be taking this obsession a little too far. Is there such a thing?

Even though I am kidding no one via this exercise, least of all my slumming, iconoclastic self, I will take this day to step back, look up, and appreciate the finer typefaces in life. Oh look -- a manhole cover!

3 comments:

Owen said...

Beer Slut ? Too funny...

Loved this succinct little visit to the slumming, misfit world you travel and imagine in.

Other than mondern day hunter gatherers there is a tribe known as the outsiders. People who suspect that they don't quite fit in the well defined order of things.

If I may, for your perusing enjoyment, way down the right side in my sidebar there is a chaotic index... if you try clicking "Dream House" or "Dream Cars", those collections can help give you a little perspective of some of my photo / blogging passions.

Have a great weekend slumming ...
:-)

Owen said...

Loved you bit from Bruges way back, way back in a September long ago...

Not sure if you would see a comment left on a much older post ? So am leaving it here. But "Bruges" is another index entry you could click to see a few things that caught my roving eye there...

Who are you and where have you been hiding ?
:-)

Therese Cox said...

I tried hiding in Bruges but I learned my lesson from the Martin McDonagh film.

Glad you find the collection interesting. I'm on deadlines now but will click around at the Magic Lantern after I hack through the word thickets.