Sunday, May 27, 2007

W. 18th Street, May 2007


I had a great day yesterday! More walking, walking, walking - I wound all through Chelsea and down into the West Village and then wound up in SoHo. I took bazillions more pictures. Flickr is going to start charging me twice the normal fee!

I just love getting out and exploring. One of my goals was to go check out Frank Gehry's new building at 18th Street and the West Side Highway, a beautiful milky structure that rises up in a neat collection of curved planes and horizontal lines. It looked really nice against yesterday's pale sky.

I know Gehry is all the rage in the architecture world - in fact, he might even be a bit overexposed - but his work really IS amazing and unique. You can tell a Gehry building right away.


Anyway, in between all this walking and photography I also got in a trip to the gym and a trip to the Zendo.

And I bracketed the day with an interesting cinematic experience: In the morning I finished watching "Fahrenheit 451," which I'd started the night before, starring Julie Christie. (A bit tedious, but some interesting '60s style.) And then in the evening I saw Julie's most recent release, "Away From Her," a film about Alzheimers Disease that despite its subject matter never resorts to easy manipulation. Interesting to see the exceptional Julie Christie in two films in one day, at opposite ends of her career (thus far). And she still looks amazing!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow, amazing pics. It is a lovely building.

and julie christie is lovely too! (though i believe she succumbed and had "work" done not so long ago...)

Anonymous said...

NO! I don't want to know that!

:)

Anonymous said...

Julie Christie is one of my heroines, too.

Gehry, not so much. I like the sculptural aspects of his designs, but his buildings never invite me to come inside. In fact, they look kind of rickety and dangerous, like they might blow away or fall down. They look so unbalanced.

Great pics, though!

Anonymous said...

What an interesting building. Have a great Sunday, Steve.

Anonymous said...

I love Julie Christie! She was sooo good in "Finding Neverland" --I love "Fahrenheit 451" what a great film---I love the hopeful ending and have seen it countless times. Surreal pics here.

Anonymous said...

i love these pics mr reed. they don't look real. and i must look out for 'away from her' as that is what took little moth
;0)