Quisquilia: Lib. nov.

Who comes up in your mind first when you read the following statements?

“He’s not a prankster. He’s a borderline sociopath. And he totally creeps me out.”
“With [him], something is not right. His movements are stilted, his speech is forced and artificial, and he exudes insincerity.”
“[His] chuckling callousness is suspect as is his willingness to adopt seemingly any position on any issue if it will help him gain a temporary advantage.”
“Since he has appeared on the scene I have wondered how anyone could remain so stuck in the year 1961. He seems like a time capsule of everything which was wrong with those times.”
“[H]e is a very strange guy, like a very good but not quite perfected synthetic human being. His face doesn’t match what he is saying. Weird things make him laugh.”

Be honest with yourself!

(Assorted reader comments taken from online op-eds by columnists Gail Collins and Charles M. Blow, New York Times, 12 May 2012)

Nota bene: I stand by my view that Stepford Mitt as Leader of the Free World will at least look very photogenic… On those documentary DVDs detailing the Rise of the East over the West.

Wahnwitziges Zeitalter der Beschleunigung – as proven by an item I fetched just from today’s news:

“Investing is a binary activity, and its practitioners are speed junkies. A New Jersey company, Hibernia Atlantic, is spending $300 million to run a new cable across the Atlantic Ocean so that information can travel 5.2 milliseconds faster between New York and London.”

(Joe Weisenthal vs. the 24-Hour News Cycle, New York Times, 10 May 2012, p. 3)

Oh, the irony! In an article on the prospect of rising sea levels as a consequence of global warming, by way of the accelerated meltdown of another Antarctic ice shelf, The Christian Science Monitor drowns its spelling in a tell-tale of our age’s increasing negligence of good publishing practices. Which seem to have fallen out of fashion, mostly and vastly.

This mishap is probably due to the lack of a thorough editing process; and it is a symptom painfully characteristic of the online media’s fast-paced publishing of content in the digital age. Or should I rather call out the industry on its lazy proofreading? Which not only has spread to book publishing, sadly, but also, given the media’s function as communication multipliers, results in one finding after another of deteriorating spelling habits, limited text comprehension and reduced literacy among young readers and digital natives – and ultimately a break with written tradition in Western societies.

CS Monitor misspells

As if the deluge of misspellings (tantamount to the sea levels rising an additional 4.4 meters by the year 2100 due to the Weddell Sea alone in worst-case scenarios) and the wrecking of both grammar and the world’s unfortified coastlines weren’t enough, though, the article links to a quiz which allows the readers of the Monitor to check their scientific literacy. Hence, even if you should prove as illiterate as an increasing number of media outlets with view to spelling and grammar, you may still make up for it. There is, after all, still some hope willy-nilly amidst all the irony by which this article is fashioned.

Problemet med rasisme er ikke faktaene, men tolkningen.
Das Problem des Rassismus stellen nicht die Tatsachen dar, sondern ihre Deutung.

Å vandre langs bokreolen, det er en innbydelse å gå på tur.
Se promener le long de la bibliothèque, sans hâte, c’est une invitation à flâner.

På den tjuefemte time. Festen varer ennå helt kjempefin.
25th hour. Party still going strong. (4.-5. mars 2012)

A couple months ago, I wrote somewhat amused about Google’s new reverse image search feature and some of its more entertainingly absurd results.

Well, now as Google have reworked and put into place their new search routines, in addition to a revamp of their homepage, which for the general user appear to work fine (in mysterious ways, though), another example of the inner workings gone awry seems to corrobate the need for wider fine-tuning of the beast and its algorithms.

I found this one while searching for a potential Norwegian dialectal term, which may factor in as Google, in general, seems to consider any language but English somewhat exotic which comes to light when it is acting in its quixotic manner. Just try for yourself:

1. Enter “først og fram” in the Google search box and press enter.
2. You get: “About 662,000 results (0.11 seconds)”.
3. Take a look at the results and then go to page 2 of the search results.
4. At the top, it now reads: “Page 2 of 12 results (0.25 seconds)”.
5. Say out loud “huh?!” and take a walk.

NB: The common and correct phrase in Norwegian is “først og fremst”, and although you may find “først og fram” in the vernacular, it is not recommended for use in written Norwegian. It corresponds to the English “first and foremost” and is similarly formed and cognate to the German “zuerst und zuvörderst“.

Magazines

1. Village Voice: http://www.villagevoice.com/
2. New York Magazine: http://nymag.com/
3. Time Out New York: http://newyork.timeout.com/
4. The L Magazine: http://www.thelmagazine.com/

1-3. Any of the above magazines is a good choice for keeping yourself up-to-date on NYC’s pulsating life and will help you spot events, places, sales and shopping excuses, and news on the city’s haves and have-nots. Basically, they all aim at the same set of a young, fun-loving, educated audience, residents and tourists alike, with an emphasis on the hipper quarters of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Guiding you with view to New York’s club life, fashionable rooftop bars and basement waterholes, you will easily get a fair knowledge of NYC’s eternal 80s revival and the finest in DJ culture within city limits, know where to go during fashion week and which unmarked door next to an unfashionable side street corner store holds a hidden dining room or a prohibition era speakeasy (you will have to figure out yourself the knocking pattern, though), why hipsters suck and New York City under Bloomberg still remains the capital of the world - despite all the pacifying and gentrifying which has taken place in the last decade.

4. I’ve never used this magazine during my time in the city, but it seems to appeal to an artsy and cutting-edge clientele the same way the others do, and perhaps its name is most catchy among them with the queer folk. To me, choosing any of the magazines over one another is pretty much only a matter of personal preference; you will find all the news you need and more in any of them including the juicy stories and sex columns of Village Voice’s Dan Savage, the bloggings on theatre and playwrights in L Magazine, Time Out’s well-structured schedules and categories on events and activities to do (and not to be missed!) in New York, and NY Magazine’s somewhat articulated stint at the underground in favour of high culture and high society. Combine either two of them, and your stay in New York is guaranteed to be full of opportunities, overwhelming night and day life and, sadly, all too many missed chances. There is just too much to do in a city that never sleeps.

Blogs

1. Not for Tourists: http://www.notfortourists.com/newyork.aspx
2. Brooklyn Vegan: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/
3. Gothamist: http://gothamist.com/

1. Insiders know best, and if you are looking for some surf action or lonely beach walking, the local favourite deli-joint or just accurate, reliable neighbourhood portraits including maps, and places preferably not overrun by tourists in general, NFT is the perfect starting point for your research. Articles are written by natives and residents, clear and up-front, and though their tartly comments sometimes come across rude (this is NYC, after all), they get down to the facts effectively, without cutting slack. Spicey, straight, uncompromising - a safe bet for insights into the lesser-known parts of the city, its highlights, and the hot shit (aka faex calesca). Don’t miss out on New York’s narrative and first-hand knowledge and join the esoterics and city-dwellers from within New York City. With your i-prefixed cell phone, you can even navigate while on the walk.

2. Brooklyn Vegan functions as your source for information on concerts and parties at night, particularly if indie, electro and Balkan music is your cup of tea, and it also offers effective news on genres outside mainstream hipsterdom such as rock, metal or house. Do not expect anything too outragous or adventurous here, though, as there are plenty of newsletters, Yahoo groups and secretive lists on the experimental and underground which don’t principally cater to an audience in its late teens, early twenties. Hence you won’t find yourself at an illegal warehouse rave if you solely depend on Brooklyn Vegan. Word of mouth and a network of close and not-so-close friends in your favourite spots will prove more rewarding in this instance, just as a few web-based links on the ever-so insatiable Scylla of social networking sites. Make up a name and fake profile and benefit from the savvyness of the Youtube and Last.fm generation. Also, you may be able to fetch discounts and guestlist spots here time and again.

3. Gothamist tends to take a much brighter look at the city than the DC Comics-inspired nickname may suggest. (Actually, Washington Irving was the first in 1807 to refer to Manhattan as Gotham, but the imagery, architecture and gritty atmosphere often associated with NYC, particularly in movies and artifacts relating to the 1970s and 1980s, strongly corresponds to the image of the metropolis going by this name which is also home to Batman.) Here, you will find extensive food reviews and restaurant recommendations throughout the city, along with cooking recipes, cocktail mixology and formulas and tips on healthy servings. Next to a charming obsession with subsistence and nutrition, it also offers delightful news on arts and entertainment, galleries and exhibitions, dating and local politics (OWS, for instance, as of late), with a lacing of celebrity gossip, blurps on New York’s social circles and light-hearted sports columns. There is nothing too deep and serious about this enjoyable blog, but it will consistently point you to the right direction as regards the cinema, culture and cuisine of The Big Apple.

Indispensable for food & catering

1. Menu Pages: http://www.menupages.com/changecity/newyork
2. Zagat: http://www.zagat.com/newyork

1-2. While you will find many restaurants and food joints in New York City Zagat-rated and the Zagat survey considered indispensable by many distinguished New Yorkers, most often you will rather stumble across a Zagat decal by chance, noticing it at the storefront from inside-out, while looking out and observing the buzzling life and busy streets of Manhattan. An ex post facto if there was ever one, and hence a bit of gambling if you go by older accolades - which rarely get removed from shop windows or front doors - or the Zagat guide you snatched at the hotel reception or local bookstore. If you care to prepare for a restaurant visit in the evening or a bar night with friends or business partners, Menu Pages, which has recently been acquired by Seamless, will at minimum prove a valuable side and provide you with free general information on restaurants, bars and lounges alike. Currently, the directory is listing more than 35,000 menus and close to 175,000 user-generated reviews, made available online for free, for both mobile and home-computing. Your smartphone thus will guide you to the next hot spot or top-notch neighbourhood tavern and avert you from ending up at a dive bar with your guest from Singapore instead of the hippest club in town with the same name next door.

Berta Zeisler¹ (2 February 1900 – 1 December 2010) was a German² supercentenarian. She was born in Metz (German Empire, now France), married in Stettin (German Empire, now Poland) and lived in Wachenheim an der Weinstraße.

¹: Source: Wikipedia.
Additionally, a short biographic note can be found here (on page 11), an image of her here.
²: As with all things pertaining to Elsaß-Lothringen (pardon, Alsace-Lorraine), the French seemingly feel an urge of Francization or Gallicization also of Mrs Zeisler, as evidenced here. Our outre-Rhin neighbours’ prowess in rewriting history never ceases to amaze me.

Vitam regit fortuna non sapientia.

“Idem est ergo beate vivere et secundum naturam. Hoc quid sit iam aperiam: si corporis dotes et apta naturae conservabimus diligenter et impavide tamquam in diem data et fugacia, si non subierimus eorum servitutem nec nos aliena possederint, si corpori grata et adventicia eo nobis loco fuerint quo sunt in castris auxilia et armaturae leves - serviant ista, non imperent - ita demum utilia sunt menti. [...] Quare audaciter licet profitearis summum bonum esse animi concordiam; virtutes enim ibi esse debebunt ubi consensus atque unitas erit, dissident vitia.” (Seneca: De vita beata, 8 (2), (6))

“Denn was hindert dich trotz alledem, deiner Seele die Heiterkeit, ein richtiges Urteil über die Welt und eine erfolgreiche Benützung der ihr gebotenen Gelegenheiten zu bewahren?” (Marcus Aurelius: Selbstbetrachtungen [OT: Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Lib. VII: 68 [69])

“Pour Martin, il était fermement persuadé qu’on est également mal partout; il prenait les choses en patience. [...] ‘Le travail éloigne de nous trois grands maux: l’ennui, le vice, et le besoin’ [,répondit le Turc].” (Voltaire: Candide, ou l’optimisme, chapitre 30: Conclusion)

“Det begyndte å bli lyst imorges da jeg våknet. Dagslysset trængte ind på begge sider av rullegardinet. Ellen var også våken, hun sukket træt og smilte til mig. Hendes armer var hvite og fløielsagtige, hendes bryst overmåte høit. Jeg hvisket til hende og hun lukket min mund med sin, stum av ømhet. Dagen blev lysere og lysere.” (Knut Hamsun: Livets røst, ex: Kratskog)

“Comme une marée immense, l’être aura dominé le frémissement des êtres. Au sein d’un océan tranquillisé, mais dont chaque goutte aura conscience de demeurer elle-même, l’extraordinaire aventure du monde sera terminée. Le rêve de toute mystique, l’éternel songe panthéiste, auront trouvé leur pleine et légitime satisfaction. Erit in omnibus omnia Deus.” (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: Mon univers)

“Wirkliches Schenken hatte sein Glück in der Imagination des Glücks des Beschenkten. Es heißt wählen, Zeit aufwenden, aus seinem Weg gehen, den anderen als Subjekt denken: das Gegenteil von Vergeßlichkeit. [...] Alle nicht entstellte Beziehung, ja vielleicht das Versöhnende am organischen Leben selber, ist ein Schenken.” (Theodor W. Adorno: Minima moralia, Teil I: 21: Umtausch nicht gestattet)

“I et herlig øyeblikk forenes ånden og sjelen i kandidaten, og hans fremtidige tilværelse vil gå ut på gjennom tjeneste overfor sine medskapninger å la denne første forening av sjel og ånd gjentas inntil den blir en permanent og alltid herligere realitet. Som nevnt omtales denne innvielse som en fødsel, og i den kristne religion symboliseres den ved Jesu fødsel.” (Erling Havrevold: Stadienes vei: De store innvielser, ex: Det evige nærvær)

“Ich halte mich zurück. Durch den Himmel, die Arme unten, ohne Matsch, ohne Winter, ohne Lucio, ohne Muskeln. An nichts denken, denn das wäre Arbeit, und Arbeit ist eine Last, die größte Last überhaupt, sie verdirbt den Rhythmus. [...] Nach zwanzig Kilometern erreicht man eine Schwelle, hinter der die Erschöpfung ihre Kraft verliert, die Sinne schläfrig werden und die Muskeln anfangen, vor sich hin zu träumen. Die Unebenheiten des Geländes werden weich wie Gummi. [...] Geradeaus, durch eine bewegungslose Landschaft könnte man diesen leichten, mechanischen Rhythmus, den nicht einmal das Herz spürt, tagelang durchhalten. [...] Man könnte ewig durchhalten. Vielleicht ist das das eigentlich Erstrebenswerte, immerzu laufen, bis in alle Ewigkeit, die Jahre vorüberziehen zu lassen, alt werden, die Beine immer in Bewegung, damit das Herz vor den Füßen stehenbleibt. [...] Lucio braucht nichts zu verstehen. Verstehen hat keinen Einfluß auf sein diszipliniertes Bewußtsein. - Genug der Metaphysik.” (Alejandro Gándara: Die Mittelstrecke [OT: La media distancia], S. 16, 34, 55)

“Mornings without fail, every night when he returned. He looked into the dusty glass, reciting fragments from the instruction sheet. Hold to a count of five. Repeat ten times. He did the full program every time, hand raised, forearm flat, hand down, forearm sideways, slowing the pace just slightly, day to night and then again the following day, drawing it out, making it last. He counted the seconds, he counted the repetitions.” (Don DeLillo: Falling Man, p. 235f.)

“The secret to a long and healthy life is to be stress-free. Be grateful for everything you have, stay away from people who are negative, stay smiling and keep running.” (Fauja Singh, translated by Harmandar Singh)

Quia bonus est, sumus.

Newspapers

1. New York Times: http://global.nytimes.com/
2. New York Post: http://www.nypost.com/
3. Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/
4. Wall Street Journal: http://online.wsj.com/

1. While the prestigious New York Times is without doubt the epitome of quality journalism both in print and online publishing, world-renowned for setting standards in news coverage and balanced, though opinionated editorials, and famous for both its extensive network of offices and social contacts and highly-regarded investigative journalism, all of which features which won the paper more than 100 Pulitzer Prizes in its long history, it proves at best its worth as a reference point for national and international news rather than local pieces. Top-notch are the features on NYC arts, culture, architecture and fashion, though.

2. A cursory, daily reading of the New York Post will on the one hand reinforce the impression of Brooklyn and the Bronx as epicentres of crime within the city limits and further highlight the trappings of the paper’s lurid, often voyeuristic tabloid style - never mind the plethora of frequently disgusting, xenophobic comments by its readership, mirroring the Post’s political leanings and outright bias to the right. It will, however, on the other hand give you worthwhile insight into the actual manifestation of society and life in New York City and the often abrasive interaction of this city’s diverse and multicultural communities with one another, i.e. “real life”.

3. The Daily News is another yellow-press daily in New York City; unlike the Post it focusses less on sensational crime stories and more on reports on New York society. There is not really any need to invest time in reading it for a visitor to New York, unless one happens to harbour an interest in the Upper East Side socialites and charity events anyways. Gossip, entertainment and sports reports are its trademarks, plus classified ads if you still cling to the print media for such. (Craigslist and Backpage are vibrant, and better, online alternatives for such, though, and for free.)

4. The most widely circulated newspaper in the United States, the Wall Street Journal covers primarily economic and political topics, both on an international and national level. For business and financial news, it is the first choice in the city; one needs to be aware, however, of a noticeable conservative bias and growing influence by Murdoch’s News Corporation (which owns the Journal’s publisher Dow Jones & Company) on its pronounced political and economic viewpoints - despite claims of editorial independence. For the New York vacationer who wishes to keep himself up-to-date on world affairs, in general, the Times seems the preferable pick du jour.

Fake Newspapers

1. The Onion: http://www.theonion.com/

1. You will probably pick up a free copy of “America’s finest news source”, originating from Madison, Wisconsin, on a Thursday night on the streets of SoHo or in the Villages, somewhere below the 14th St, and then have some pleasant fun with the Onion’s cleverly disguised news features on mundane issues and current affairs alike. Their playful, sometimes boisterous take on things makes life in the city so much more bearable and merry, and there’s nothing bad about a weekly chuckle with laughter at fineprint satire and news parodies which put tabloids like the Post to shame.

Journals

1. New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/
2. New York Review of Books: http://www.nybooks.com/

1-2. Both of these journals feature distinguished articles on culture, literature and current affairs, and both exhibit a striking characteristic of fostering national and international intellectual discourse in the English speaking world. Neither of these journals will provide a visitor to New York with readily available trip advice, yet both will prove an entertaining and stimulating read at night, in the library or, if need be, on a sunny day at Central Park, luring fellow salon intellectuals to your company or knocking off a heated debate. A postmodernist novel, however, by Don DeLillo or Paul Auster, signals equal versatility in dealing with modernity without the pretentious attitude and nonchalant disdain for shallow societal mores. If not for a Columbia sophomore, a smile may get you more hits and chats. Rather study the highbrow narrative at home!

1. Hopstop: http://www.hopstop.com/
2. Seamless: http://www.seamless.com/
3. Airbnb: http://www.airbnb.com/

1. NYC is huge, and despite an extensive 24/7 public transit system ranking among the most advanced in the world (and the oldest, too), connecting the tri-state metropolitan area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, it easily proves overwhelming when you start planning your trips beyond the immediate surroundings. The most reliable and simple way to navigate the city is Hopstop, always up-to-date, at day, at night, including real-time information on the service status of all lines, i.e. delays, service changes and cancellations. In addition, it provides alternative routes, schedules and transfers, and helps its users step by step, with maps and itineraries, for the traveller planning or checking his trips ahead of time. Less user-friendly proves MTA’s info page, and Google Maps is great for its street view feature, but useless for mapping out your routes.

2. Ordering food is tempting after a long day on tour or at work in the office, particularly given the negligent state of many Manhattan kitchenettes, which, often lacking basic utensils such as cooking knives and boards, turn food preparation much more into a challenge and ordeal than daily routine or artisan hobby. With Seamless, hundreds of restaurants, take-aways and other food joints in the immediate neighbourhood are at hand by instant online ordering, without the hassle of busy lines and phone miscommunication - and no awkward discussions about the amount of tipping, due to advance payment by credit card via Seamless’ system. Providing reviews and recommendations, photos, menus and detailed descriptions of the dishes, this site makes choosing (and bookmarking) your favourites and culinary hotspots awfully simple. And re-ordering even more tempting.

3. The NYC market for vacational rentals is stock full of schemes and scams, which renders any search for an (short-term) apartment from outside New York a vabanque, i.e. a risky enterprise, which in turn can get you to find yourself in front of an empty lot upon arrival instead of the shiny, newly refurbished flat you chose for your stay. Fraud is rampant, and Google’s search results unfortunately push some of the most shady and frivolous offers to the top. Airbnb’s design as a social community, enhancing (or corrupting, depending on your point of view) the concept of couchsurfing by facilitating rentals among strangers and friends, is a huge step forward. Reviews for hosts and guests, a secure payment system holding transactions for 24 hours to prevent rip-offs, and verification features for profiles and apartments are among the mechanisms put in place, to make you feel better about choosing a place to stay and venturing into the unknown.