Indonesia, the hardest hit nation, said its toll ? now at 80,000 ? could reach 100,000, and officials began to acknowledge that the number of dead may never be known with precision, because the towering waves that smashed into Sumatra island swept entire villages with their inhabitants out to sea.
The international community has pulled together to bring relief to the survivors if any can be given. You've heard the stories - whole families killed; property destroyed; vacations ruined. If history repeats itself then we all have to be very careful for a scandal involving any moneys raised for the victims in this crisis. All fundraising is tainted with corruption. Please do the best you can to make sure that any money you give gets to wear it needs to go.
There are already reports that the legitimate organizations are having trouble distributing the goods contributed just because of the shear quantity of it all.
But with help streaming in, overstreched authorities were dealing with logistical nightmare of getting it to the needy. Tons of supplies were backlogged in Indonesia, with thousands of boxes filled with drinking water, crackers, blankets and other basic necessities piled high in an airplane hangar nearly 300 miles from Banda Aceh, the wrecked main city in the disaster zone.This is one of those times that I wish I had the resources to quit everything I'm doing and fly to site of hopelessness and offer some kind of help or consolation. But I don't. The best I can do is gather some clothes and try to send them off. I'm not sending money. Not only do I not really have it to spare, but I don't want the money I donate to get tied up in some kind of criminal doing by some crooked chairman of some legitimate organization.
What could they do with used clothes? I don't think that's worth much as currency. What would gangsters want with used clothing?
Can you believe how green the ivy is? It's winter for crying out loud. Shouldn't it be all brown and dried out? Jon met up with me and we walked around the back to Bryant Park where booths were set for their fetes de Noel or Christmas Fair. We found it pretentious that the Christmas Fair was called a Fetes de Noel. We also thought it pretentious that the carousel organizers were playing Edith Piaf music instead of the typical caliope variety.
Last night Jon and I went to see the movie Sideways. Here is a picture of us on the train. You didn't honestly think that I would post something without including a picture, did you? Jon took this picture by holding our camera at arm's length. He also used the flash which turned out to be smart because we don't look yellow from the fluorescent subway lighting. I thought for sure we would end up looking washed out from the extra light but it worked out great. The flash on the digital camera is a perpetual mystery to me. It works when you don't expect to and doesn't work when you want it to. This train ride was perfect. We boarded shortly after we got to the platform and the train proceeded to Union Square with no delays. Perfect.
After words Jon and I went to Cosi. Here is a picture of Jon hypnotizing me into ordering something delicious. I have to admit that it didn't take that much convincing but isn't this a cool picture? Yes. I agree. Jon does look great in this picture.
out old building. We walked through a pretty run down and somewhat scare part of Long Island City near the water front. The Sculpture Park seemed to pop up out of nowhere. When you first approach the park, you notice that there are blocks lining the outer gateway. They look like letters collected over the years from other signs, but who knows? They could have been created as part of some installation. Jon took a picture of three blocks that spell out a funny word.
After yesterday's fascinating post about finding new ways to be lazy, I decided to take a little walk around the neighborhood to see what I could see. With camera in tow, I headed to the Rite Aid to see if I could find some Xmas cards. Normally, it's not that hard to find our local Rite Aid but this year it was hard to see because this happy fellow was positioned in front of the store by the Xmas tree vendors. He's big and frightening and looks like he wants to squeeze you into submitting to buy one of his trees.
stores. When I got out of Rite Aid, I looked across the street to the Bargain Stop. The store being all tarted up for the holidays and looking warm and inviting, I was anticipating a fight with large crowds once inside. I sallied forth. It was worth it. Not only was the story blisfully uncrowded but I found a beautiful, scented candle for 99 cents. I walked a little bit more to see what else I might photograph and I came upon the butcher shop. I've been looking into the window of this butcher shop for over 10 years now and every time I've looked in the past, I've thought I'm going to take a picture of this one day. So, I took two. Here they are. One sign encourages you to order your holiday meat early, the other advertises goat meat. Yummy.
Well, put your wondering aside. I made pasta with meat sauce. The tomato sauce came from a can of Sclaffani pureed tomatoes. Okay, here's what I did.
the flaying and displaying of Charles Napier (one of his guards) in the courthouse scene; the scene where Gumb insists "It puts the lotion in the basket" when Catherine Harris, his victim, discovers nails in the walls of the well where she is being kept; and where Starling accidentally happens upon the scene of the crime. I love that scene. When she first walks into the house, she has no idea. Then, as she waits for Gumb to get her the phone number of Lipman's son, she starts putting it together. The discovery is sealed when she sees that odd moth.
Take this one for example. He looks like a little birdie waiting for his mother to drop regurgitated food into his mouth. Or like he has no bones in his face. Or like someone is about to beat him up for his lunch money. Or like someone just ripped out his tongue and he's still in shock. I was very disturbed when I saw this manaquin, that I didn't even notice what he was put there to sell. All I could see was that slack jaw and pair of frightened eyes. But he wasn't as scary as this next one.
This one is downright deranged. This mana"kid" looks like a snake unhinging its jaw in order to eats his pray. Or like he's laughing at me to distract me while something comes up from behind and eats me. Or like he thinks my outfit is so ridiculous that his laughter will shame me into coming into his store to buy something new to wear. Or like he's been driven mad because he learned the truth about Santa Claus. Or because he knew that I wasn't offered the job like I mistakenly thought.
Knowing that I was going to write about these characters, I took a wider shot to help you place these manaquins in the larger setting. See that creepier teenage manaquin in the back. Imagine a whole display of these creepy and mocking dolls. Standing together like that, they resemble a live action Twilight Zone nightmare sequence. They look like someone slapped them on the backs and froze the stupid looks they had on their faces, like their mothers warned.
