not sure if I can hotlink an image from Instagram but this dude was on my subway car last night o_0
http://distilleryimage2.ak.instagram.com/0a811a4a103411e3bb5722000aeb3e27_7.jpg
― dmr, Thursday, 29 August 2013 18:31 (ten years ago) link
i love praying mantises. they are so boss.
― YOU FOOLS PAY OVER $2.50 for a comic book (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 29 August 2013 19:17 (ten years ago) link
just hangin on the ceiling, no big whoop
praying mantises are cool but the people who were sitting in the seats right under him were maybe a little overconfident in his gripping ability I thought
― dmr, Thursday, 29 August 2013 19:21 (ten years ago) link
Kittens Run onto Subway Tracks in Brooklyn, Trains Shut Down
― mookieproof, Thursday, 29 August 2013 19:23 (ten years ago) link
cutest service outage evar
― dmr, Thursday, 29 August 2013 19:23 (ten years ago) link
Has anyone done any serious writing on the "Showtime" phenomenon with the boom box and the death-defying dance moves? The history of it, the risks, behind-the-scenes interviews with the performers, which stretches of the line have the most performances, what the MTA thinks, etc.? Yesterday I was on the D between 59th and 125th and a "show" began which devolved immediately into what felt like three to four agonizing minutes of the speaker cutting in and out from silence to a thunderous beat based on some 80s song I now can't place, and the guy trying to fix it by various means.
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 9 September 2013 14:17 (ten years ago) link
Ha, I was just talking about that with H recently. If I were a journalist I'd love to follow a group of those kids around. We get a lot of them on the E train in Queens and it's interesting to watch the variations in style, talent-level, etc. Certain moves seem to become memes, and they also tend to use a similar kind of music (and I can't really place the style, sort of hip-hop based club music) and I wonder whether they come from the same area, or whether they might even work for someone. Certain things are staples -- the hat-tricks, the pole swinging, etc., and lately I've started to see some contortionist-type moves, a few really impressive.
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Monday, 9 September 2013 14:21 (ten years ago) link
sometimes i think there must be some centrailized place that trains these kids. i don't care for all the hat tricks, but i never get tired of seeing back flips on a moving train.xp
― mizzell, Monday, 9 September 2013 14:22 (ten years ago) link
yeah we were joking that there was this giant, abandoned warehouse somewhere at the ass-end of queens, outfitted with subway poles, rows and rows of kids all learning their moves from an instructor
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Monday, 9 September 2013 14:27 (ten years ago) link
A little hat-trick goes a long way, I agree. OTOH I don't really want them to be doing any more flips because I'm convinced someone is going to get killed. It's a really weird entertainment model really: am I throwing in change because this person just risked his neck for it, or because I was entertained? On the other hand I just had my ride interrupted by loud music and bodies flying wildly about, four inches from my knees.
I wonder what the optimal number of people on a car is, too. You want a crowd, but if it's too crowded you can't really do the moves (though I've seen them try anyway).
re: training - maybe late at night on near-empty cars?
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 9 September 2013 14:29 (ten years ago) link
yeah there is a funny psychology to it, sometimes I think I throw my money in because of the tension and release, like "Argh, this is going to be aggravating and I'll probably get kicked in the face...hey, that was actually pretty good."
If they ever try that shit while I have my toddler daughter on the train though I will go papa grizzly.
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Monday, 9 September 2013 14:32 (ten years ago) link
saw somebody standing at the entrance to the F at east broadway pissing directly down the stairwell in broad daylight yesterday
― 乒乓, Monday, 9 September 2013 14:36 (ten years ago) link
sorry
― One burly voice screamed and that was one of many. (forksclovetofu), Monday, 9 September 2013 15:24 (ten years ago) link
drunk people be peein'
― ian, Monday, 9 September 2013 17:15 (ten years ago) link
i don't think it was a drunk person - his partner was standing to the side, about 3 feet away, looking vaguely embarrassed. seemed like desperate tourists
― 乒乓, Monday, 9 September 2013 17:19 (ten years ago) link
I realize this is going to vary by line, but does anyone have any thoughts on the best time to bring a stroller on the subway if you absolutely HAVE to do it some time in the vicinity of rush hour? This morning I got on about 8:15 AM and it was murder. Would I do better going earlier (like say 7:30?) or later (like say 9:00)? Or is it a wash? I can't really go much earlier or later than those times.
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 11 September 2013 14:36 (ten years ago) link
the F which i take uptown is usually jampacked by 8:30 but the few times i've taken it at 7:30, it's been fine
― 乒乓, Wednesday, 11 September 2013 14:37 (ten years ago) link
Yeah I take the M from its first stop, so I at least get a seat, but then once people crowd around I get lots of nasty looks about the stroller, kid goes crazy, and it's very hard to get off.
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 11 September 2013 14:39 (ten years ago) link
I feel like 7:45-7:50 is the cutoff and that's in JH, so in Forest Hills yes about 7:30
― I Am the Cosimo Code (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 11 September 2013 14:41 (ten years ago) link
The M is not quite so crowded as the F, so you have a few minutes more leeway maybe.
― I Am the Cosimo Code (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 11 September 2013 14:43 (ten years ago) link
http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/09/the-unique-genius-of-hong-kongs-public-transportation-system/279528/
this is what it could be like, nyc ppl
― 乒乓, Saturday, 14 September 2013 15:31 (ten years ago) link
Managed to get to the M a little before 8am this morning -- was much less crowded right up until toward the end, but getting off at lex/53 is murder -- the station was so deep in people that I could barely push the stroller, some obnoxious lady played walkway chicken with me even though I obviously had nowhere to go but forward, and the elevator broke.
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Monday, 16 September 2013 19:56 (ten years ago) link
I can shoot for 7:30 maybe. Any earlier is going to be tough with K only waking up at 6:30.
nostalgia photos
http://www.rsvlts.com/2013/10/23/nyc-subways-in-the-1980s-were-no-joke-47-photos/#1
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 31 October 2013 11:31 (ten years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/bTD6Rcg.jpg
― 乒乓, Tuesday, 5 November 2013 12:46 (ten years ago) link
so cool
― chinavision!, Tuesday, 5 November 2013 14:11 (ten years ago) link
lol enough to make me hate unions
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 5 November 2013 15:10 (ten years ago) link
wtf is going on on the E train lately? Monday morning, train comes to full stop in tunnel "sick passenger" on the train ahead, half hour delay after which they let us walk to the front and get out of the front car at court square. Yesterday evening, E train home, SAME FUCKING THING at 71st Ave. This morning "trains running at slower speeds due to an earlier incident."
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 15:06 (ten years ago) link
thanks de blasio!
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 6 November 2013 17:31 (ten years ago) link
De Blasio subway suicide wave
― #fomo that's the motto (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 6 November 2013 17:49 (ten years ago) link
oh god, that relentless Big Bang Theory poster is back
― Doctor Casino, Friday, 8 November 2013 23:40 (ten years ago) link
morbs you do know the union is TWU right? no indication at all that jacket is union swag at all (in fact i don't think any official union stuff even says "mta" anywhere on it, that would be like UAW union materials saying "Ford" or something.)
― lollercoaster of rove (s.clover), Wednesday, 20 November 2013 14:27 (ten years ago) link
it was just a wisecrack
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 20 November 2013 15:33 (ten years ago) link
(the closest i ever came to getting medieval on a transit employee's ass was in D.C. anyway)
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 20 November 2013 15:34 (ten years ago) link
husky busker guy at my stop in the mornings a few times a week -- every song either is or sounds exactly like 'hallelujah' or 'girl from the north country'
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 20 November 2013 15:43 (ten years ago) link
"husky busker," that's a nice rhyme scheme right there, v satisfying. (if I knew more about poetry there's probably a fancy word for that)
I think that guy's been in my park slope F station before, "Girl From the North Country" followed by Mumfords.
― dmr, Wednesday, 20 November 2013 16:12 (ten years ago) link
one thing that bothers me about this poster is that you can tell that the main dude's hand is photoshopped because he's pointing at you in the poster version and not in the banner version which is located a foot away
― iatee, Wednesday, 20 November 2013 16:30 (ten years ago) link
had a terrible terrible wait for the train but the fact that I got to ride on my first r188s-on-the-7 almost made up for it
http://images.nycsubway.org/i131000/img_131240.jpg
moving on up
― iatee, Wednesday, 20 November 2013 16:34 (ten years ago) link
no rail fan window no cred
― chinavision!, Wednesday, 20 November 2013 16:44 (ten years ago) link
http://cdn.hitfix.com/photos/3172726/NBCs-Sean-Saves-the-World.jpg
that sean is so wacky but whaddya gonna do
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 20 November 2013 17:02 (ten years ago) link
doesn't that one look like a fake show poster that would be in the background of a movie or w/e
― iatee, Wednesday, 20 November 2013 17:03 (ten years ago) link
http://benhauck.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/the-michael-j-fox-show-featured-e1383279121389.jpg
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 20 November 2013 17:06 (ten years ago) link
there really is something eerie about all these posters
― iatee, Wednesday, 20 November 2013 17:14 (ten years ago) link
an outgrowth of the eerieness of the unkillable sitcom
― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 20 November 2013 17:16 (ten years ago) link
Haha, yeah, the whole genre losing any kind of attachment to any audience whatsoever, existing in this vacuum that seems to assume that someone, somewhere is stoked that SEAN is on TV and can't wait to see his antics.
one thing that bothers me about this poster is that you can tell that the main dude's hand is photoshopped because he's pointing at you in the poster version and not in the banner version which is located a foot away― iatee, Wednesday, November 20, 2013 11:30 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― iatee, Wednesday, November 20, 2013 11:30 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
during this poster's last reign at the top, I was convinced he was doing a "Cyclops" like gesture towards his glasses, but on the current version I realized his finger's not there... OR IS IT???
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 20 November 2013 18:42 (ten years ago) link
clearly you haven't met my roommate
― the portentous pepper (govern yourself accordingly), Wednesday, 20 November 2013 18:46 (ten years ago) link
I think possibly the WORST ad campaigns ever are those Seinfeld in syndication banners in the subway.
― i wish i had a skateboard i could skate away on (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 20 November 2013 19:56 (ten years ago) link
http://adsonthesubway.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/photo1.jpg
― i wish i had a skateboard i could skate away on (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 20 November 2013 19:57 (ten years ago) link
a few years ago, this one happened to be prevalent around the time of the michael richards meltdown, and I had a really strong urge to cross it out and sharpie in "N166er!"
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/178892/KRAMER.jpg
― i wish i had a skateboard i could skate away on (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 20 November 2013 19:59 (ten years ago) link
it's probably good that you didn't
― iatee, Wednesday, 20 November 2013 20:08 (ten years ago) link