Wednesday took a walk at lunch to see the sights..

My leg wasn't killing me today - no sciatic nerve. Knees were a bit on the sore side, but the sciatica had improved. Also it was a lovely day, low eighties (twenties C), a cool breeze, and low humidity. So I took a long walk at lunch - to check out the Freedom Tower and Memorial Park.

I'm thinking of going back at another time - maybe after work? When I've more time to explore. I want to check out the shops, and the Mercer Labs Museum of Art and Technology which is huge and contains immersive art exhibits.

New York Pass on Mercer Labs

It is however pricey. About $42-53 per visit.

NYC is basically a city of museums. I'm considering checking out all the museums in NYC over the course of two years. It has about 170. Still not as much as LA which has 800. I don't see myself making a trip back to LA any time soon - it's an impossible city to visit without a car. And my extended family all live closer to or in the surrounding suburbs of San Francisco.

Gill & Marc Wildlife Wonders sculpture exhibit in the Financial District of NYC was on display. I'd already seen one group of sculptures north of the Freedom Tower, now I saw the ones leading to it.
Britain has chimpanzees, and we have hippos and octopus.
( photos of Wildlife Wonders Exhibit )

Then I wandered over to the Occulus and the murals across the street from it.
( the Occulus and the murals across the street )

Then off to look at the Freedom Tower and the Memorial Fountains, which are where the World Trade Center once stood. The whole area was constructed by Silverstein in cooperation with the Port Authority.

( Read more... )

Finally, The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at the World Trade Center- it was rebuilt along with the Freedom Tower.

"Welcome to Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at the World Trade Center in New York City. We are a community of faith resurrected within the rebuilt World Trade Center, more than twenty years after the horrific day of 9/11. The rebuilt church stands strong to the fullness of Orthodox Christian faith, and is a Shrine for the Nation, a place for remembrance and reflection."

I didn't go inside - I only had ten minutes to get back to the office. But I may come back at another time - and check it out. There's two churches, I'd like to check out the interiors of at some point - Trinity and St. Nicholas.
( picture of the church/shrine from the outside )

And finally a parting shot of the Freedom Tower and the surrounding buildings and park from in front of St. Nicholas Church.

Today's Music among other things...

So, Ozzy died. People just posted "Ozzy died" and I thought, okay, I'm guessing this is Ozzy Osborn, and not another Ozzy. It was stunning - because he'd just finished a concert tour. I last saw him about a year ago judging Dancing with the Stars. (Assuming there is another one out there.) I can't say I was a fan, exactly? I saw him in things of course, and I grew up in the 1970s and 80s, so, yes, I've heard Black Sabbath. Metal, I'm on the fence about. Although I was listening to it today and yesterday at work and finding it weirdly comforting as white noise. It definitely blocks out all other noise. (Listening to it on my Bose headphones, so great sound by the way.)

Here's the new music that Apple Music has been sending me all day (I got bored and clicked on one of the browsing new music options):

Living Dead by The Pretty Wild
RAGE by President
Level High by Cyanide Summer
Night Driving - Max McNown
She Explains Things to Me - David Byrne and the Ghost Orchestra
IAMWHATIAM - Tiga
Kholat - Paradox
The Spell - Mammoth
Burnpile - Pecos & the Rooftops
Nuclear - dead7
We are Love - the Charltans
Clarity - The Amours
Superman - Galatic Empire

Among others. It's kind of a mix of indie rock, country, metal, rap, hip hop, and electronica. Some worked for me, some didn't.

Like I said I'd gotten bored of my music library and wanted to listen to something new. Also I've been in the mood for metal lately. I used to go to sleep to the soundtrack of The Crow.

Here's Paranoid by Black Sabbath (fronted by Ozzy Osborn).
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Making my way through the Rook (on the Kindle) - it's...how to put this? There's a lot of info dump. And while it is entertaining in places. It is a lot of info dump. And the writer is building a complicated world. Which would be fine - if I weren't relegated to reading it in twenty minute snatches on a subway, or briefly at night. Also if I weren't skimming and reading information all day long for work. This is urban fantasy. Think Torchwood but for the supernatural and paranormal, and a lot older and a lot more organized.

I can tell the writer has watched and read certain things - since he borrows heavily from them. But, again on the other hand, maybe not? Ideas are readily available to all. As Rubin states in The Creation of Art as Being (I think that's what it is called - I cannot remember the name of that book to save my life) - ideas are out there for anyone to grab. The Universe or God or the Source channels the ideas to as many as possible - hoping someone will create something to convey the message. In copyright law - it's simple - there is no such thing as an original idea. It's how you decide to use that idea that is original. Example? A female vampire slayer is not an original idea. But a valley girl from Southern California, who is small, blond, and former cheerleader, who becomes the slayer, and speaks in slang, and has a single Mom, and is called Buffy - that is original. It's all the trappings that make the idea copyrightable and original, not the idea.

And don't worry - just because you couldn't do anything with an idea, doesn't mean someone else won't - they just won't do what you would have done with it - because we are all unique individuals who do not think alike.

Anyhow, sorry for the subtangent. I like the book, for the most part, and will stick with it, but I wish there was a little less info dump? The writer clearly works for a bureaucratic government agency with lots of pointless meetings (I can relate - I do too), and feels the need to make fun of it here (which I get), but seriously it's a lot of info.

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Speaking of Buffy? The Reboot is in pre-production. Gellar shared a picture of her name above her character's name "Buffy Summers" on a placard in front of her chair. A script. And her little Buffy action figure on a lap top. Made me kind of want my own action figure.

Also, Charisma Carpenter is doing a first watch of all of the Buffy episodes, because she never watched the series, in a group of podcasts entitled - The Bitch is Back. She has guests from time to time. Why the Bitch is Back? She finds the phrase empowering - due to an episode of Angel entitled Room of One's Own - where Cordelia takes down a poltergeist.