Ignite Philly

Last night I went to IgnitePhilly 2 last night at Johnny Brenda's, a bar and venue in Fishtown.

"If you had five minutes on stage what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds?"

That is what Ignite Philly is. A group that I am a part of, the Drexel Smart House, presented at the event. A number of other interesting groups presented and the event was introduced by the founder of Half.com and venture capitalist Josh Kopelman

Before I left West Philadelphia for Fishtown, I changed the inter tube of my rear wheel. I apparently didn't tighten both wheel nuts tight enough, because after about a mile my wheel came out of alignment and started rubbing against the frame. I went to a service station to ask to borrow a wrench but the man who worked said the garage was closed and all the tools were away. There was a many inflating his bike tires at the air pump, I asked him if he had a wrench. He told me no and looked at my problem. He then proceeded to kick my wheel into alignment. I thanked him and that solved the problem for about a minute. After two blocks I asked a young guy getting out of his car if he had an adjustable wrench. He said he "just might" and instead found a pair of pliars with teeth for using it on nuts and bolts.

A local 8-bit music group played Gameboys for intermission.

West Philadelphia

I went to go get a key copied yesterday in West Philadelphia, I tried at first to get my key copied at a shoe shine & shoe repair shop that advertised "Keys Made" below its storefront window. Interesting little shop with chummy patrons, but they had sold out of the type of key I needed. After biking around and looking for an actual locksmith, I settled with this store:

This is an interesting shop, as you can see as all the things that advertise, Oils, Gold & Diamonds (bought?) at Top price, Books, Incense, Clothing & Islamic Clothing, Watch Bands & Batteries. The oils they had there ranged from common scents like "Paris Hilton", "Opium", and "Black Lady".

You can't really tell but the shirt hanging up is a colorfull airbrushed Obama Biden shirt that says "Seize the Time"... Carpe Tempus, indeed (I had to look up Latin declension to make sure that was right).

This table was nearby outside. I had wondered what happened to all those wrestling toys that so many of my friends played with in elementary school.

on the road

I've moved out of the townhouse condo I've been living in for the past 6-months with a bunch of roommates and I am staying with a friend in West Philadelphia, the real West Philadelphia that Will Smith sings about in television theme songs.

I am staying until Sunday, just long enough for the Alumni Regatta I've been organizing. I will be flying to Austin and then staying in Corpus Christi while I look for an internship. I've joined AIESEC and I hope to find an internship through them. It's the largest student organization in the world. It was founded in 1946 and offers international 'traineeships'. Unfortunately, the job that I wanted is only available to graduates.

The Last McCarren Park Pool Party

A few weeks ago I was able to attend the last McCarren Park Pool Party as we know it. The park sits just off of Bedford Ave between Williamsburg and Greenpoint in Brooklyn. The Park has a gigantic municipal pool that was built by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression and designed for a capacity of 6,800 swimmers, three times the size of an Olympic pool. It is truly massive. The pool ceased operation in 1983, in 2005 the first concerts were staged in the gigantic empty pool.

For the past three years, concerts have been held every Sunday in the Summer with top name artists of the indie scene. Yo La Tengo headlined the last concert, M.I.A., MGMT, Death Cab for Cutie, DEVO, The Breeders, The Black Keys, Aesop Rock, Regina Spektor, and Wilco all headlined free shows there this summer.

Along with the regular concert amenities like beer tents, the McCarren Park Pool Parties have dodgeball, four-square, and a slip and slide. There were a surprising amount of 'alt' families at the event.

Dodgeball was actually pretty challenging. Yours truly, in yellow shirt and jeans, didn't fair that well.

four-square:


These dramatic arches, designed by Aymar Embury II made me think of something that would be found along the Silk Road in Central Asia.

Sadly, the concerts as they are currently held are doomed, the city intends of turning the pool back into a pool.

Sailing

For those of you who don't know, this is what sailing is all about in a picture:

Little Person Michael Jackson

From the depths of New York's subway:

Little Person Michael Jackson!

How odd

Still in Philadelphia for a few more weeks...

I headed over to see The Kooks busking on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania today. I missed them, I was too late so I got a burrito and a latte and called it a day.

On my way back on "Locus Walk", which has pedestrian bridge over 38th Street, I saw a man in the bicycle lane of a major 4-lane road wearing a matching brown Dashiki and a Kufi hat in an electric wheelchair/mobility scooter with PA system broadcasting very loudly Ben E King's Stand By Me which he sung along with on the PA. Many people in the right turn lane were honking at him as he passed them waiting in line.

It was very surreal. I tried to catch up with but by the time I got off the bridge and to the intersection where I had seen him last, he was nowhere to be found.

Update:
According to a friend, he is 'everywhere' and brought his soul-singing mobility scooter to Northern Liberties wearing a red suit where he hung out near my friend's old apartment for hours.

NEW POST

Hello folks! I haven't posted in a while, but now I will post more since I have further obscured my name! Huzzah!