Tuesday - 2008-0311-1400 - Rain - Man in Rain New York City, 1952; Ruth Orkin; Derek and Drew Riker; Guys (various states of undress); Ritts, Weber, Viewing under IE vs. Firefox; Harry Wales; Edward VII, Alice Keppel, Camilla Parker Bowles; "New Amsterdam" - "Soldier's Heart" and "Leaves of Grass"

Rain - Man in Rain New York City, 1952 (Ruth Orkin) Larger Image

Derek and Drew Riker Larger Image

Harry Wales in Afghanistan Larger Image

Some of my favorite rain shots are of NYC in the past. I love all the water-soaked surfaces that appear slightly pebbly. And all those wonderful lines - diagonal, curved, horizontal, vertical. And shapes: rectangular blocks on the sidewalk; the arc to the right of the window; the squarish puddle surrounded by railings; and the trapezoidal slash of the window sill.

No matter where you look, you come back to the anonymous solitary figure with hat and briefcase. The man's stride brings to mine a line from Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard". "The ploughman homeward plods his weary way..."

The only info I had on this photo was the original URL - orkin-rain. Which now takes you to a bizarre-looking site that says, "Sorry about that! We couldn't find the page you requested. We've recently renovated our site, so the link may have changed or been moved.site that says, " Most of the links take you back to the same page.

I truncated the URL to Temple University, then did a search for Orkin and eventually found photography.for.the.mass.media. And the link for Ruth Orkin leads back to the bizarre-looking site I first encountered.

Next, I Googled for Ruth Orkin and discovered Ruth Orkin Photo Archive. At the far right is the photo in question. If you follow that link, you'll arrive at Ruth Orkin Photo Archive | Store | Photographs | Man in Rain.

On reading the bio, I learned. "From her Central Park West apartment, she watched the seasons change outside her window and for the next 30 years documented what she saw. These photographs became the subject for two books "A World Through My Window" (1978) and "More Pictures From My Window" (1983)." There was a very familiar ring to the second book, and I was fairly sure I owned a copy but not certain.

(In the act of painting the living room, I moved most of the furniture and all the books into what was mother's bedroom. Higgledy-piggledy would be a significant understatment of the room's state. Also, the nanosecond I turn the doorknob, Tiger, Tiger appears wanting to explore all the wonderful crevices and odd spaces. And he become furious when I try to keep him out. It's a distinctive growl that I'm sure in feline-talk is something akin to "Fuck off!" Nonetheless, after a few minutes scrunched into a corner, I found the book.)

"More Pictures" indicates Central Park West became her home in 1955. So the photo was taken from the window of her earlier apartment on West Eighty-eighth Street. " Although there are a few monochrome shots in the initial pages, the main section contains all colour photos. There is some very deep-seated part of my being that is drawn to monochrome works. I feel it comes closer to capturing the essence of a scene. Colour may be colourful, but to my eye it is somehow a distraction. This may be the reason that I revel in the starkness of winter trees, and dislike the exuberance of spring.

Last time, I indicated I had another shot of the Riker Twins I wanted to post. Actually, it was a different photo. But I did a number of image searches and stumbled on this gem at Riker+Twins+1.jpg (image). No amount of truncating of the URL reveals any more info.

Although totally nude, they appear almost indifferent, which I would think would be most difficult. Or exhibits a supreme awareness and confidence in your body.

I found a semi-decent fan site at The Derek & Drew Fan Site. But I could not find an official site which always annoys me. Then by chance, I came across Riker Brothers. So obviously, they have turned from modeling to photographing models.

Several years ago, I had a section on the site called "guys of the day." It was a sporadic effort at publishing intriguing images. And I think the Riker twins were a prominent part. As an expansion of the idea, I've decided to add a section called guys. The home page says, "guys - various states of undress --- A continuation of 3,000 years of appreciation of the male form."

The layout is identical to that of the one for pensive guys. And at present, the only occupants are Derek and Drew. My next topic will be Greg Louganis, of whom I have a bevy of pictures.

From reading at random places, I found out that several of the photos I have up were taken by either Herb Ritts or Bruce Weber.

The Weber site is one of the oddest and ugliest sites I've encountered. Totally devoid of his work. And what is present is confusing or non-workable. It did strike me that the weber site might be one of those that had sold its soul to Microsoft, meaning that it can only properly be viewed under IE. So I lowered myself to leave Firefox and try IE. And indeed my suspicions were correct. Under IE on the home pages is a line at the bottom that declares: "best viewed with a high speed connection (and not fully viewable in firefox)." Heathens!

Harry has been in the news of late. Someone send me this snap which I really like. He is scrumptious. The neo-white-boy-afro, the scruffy whiskers, the desert camouflage attire, the naked chest. But I'm fascinated by the twisted-legs body language. Above all: he appears to be genuinely having fun.

I replied to the person who send the photo and jokingly quoted the old chestnut, "Is he really the son of Charles?" There have been so many mistresses and screwing among the royals that truth and supposition are compellingly similar.

I remember from an episode of "Upstairs, Downstairs," when King Edward VII was near death, one of the maids comments that Queen Alexander had sent for his mistress. Well, I certainly couldn't remember the mistress' name, so I consulted Edward VII of the United Kingdom. And what an incredible fact, I discovered.

"Edward's last mistress, society beauty Alice Keppel, was even invited by Alexandra to his bedside at Buckingham Palace at his death in 1910.One of Keppel's great-granddaughters, Camilla Parker Bowles, became the mistress and then wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, one of Edward's great-great grandsons. It was rumoured that Camilla's grandmother, Sonia Keppel (born in May 1900), was the illegitimate daughter of Edward. However, Edward never acknowledged any illegitimate children. His wife, Alexandra, is believed to have been aware of most of his affairs, and to have accepted them."

Last night I watched a new series on Fox, New Amsterdam"

"NEW AMSTERDAM centers on a brilliant and enigmatic New York homicide detective unlike any other. And he has a profound secret -- he is immortal.

In 1642, JOHN AMSTERDAM (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), then a Dutch soldier in the colony of New Amsterdam – later to become New York City -- stepped in front of a sword to save the life of a Native American girl during a massacre of her indigenous tribe. The girl in turn rescued Amsterdam, weaving an ancient spell that conferred immortality upon him. Amsterdam will not age, she told him, until he finds his one true love. Only then will he become whole and ready for mortality.

As he encounters cases in the present, he is reminded of similar events from the past. Last night's episode was about:

"A homeless Gulf War veteran confesses to the grisly murder of a controversial psychiatrist, but Amsterdam is skeptical. While reviewing the psychiatrist's soon-to-be published book, Amsterdam contemplates the reliability of memories and the reasons people bury them."

It's mentioned that the soldier suffers from Posttraumatic stress disorder. I've read that in the past, it was called "shell shock," "battle fatigue," "traumatic war neurosis," or "post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS)." To my knowledge, the term originated in WWI. (George Carlin does a brilliant routine on how we shift terms to disguise problems. His discussion on PTSD is pure genius.

As Amsterdam investigates, he thinks of his time as a Civil War medic. He encounters a patient who the nurse says suffers from "Soldier's Heart., and encourages John to merely sit and listen to the soldier. ("Soldier's Heart" is what we now recognize as PTSD. The soldier kills himself, and John realizes he was successful at the surgery (amputation of a leg) but failed at the convalescence.

At the end, the nurse gives him a book that he says he has published himself. John opens the cover, and the title page says "Leaves of Grass." So the nurse was Walt Whitman. And indeed Whitman served as a nurse during the war. In "Leaves" he recalls, "Many a soldier's kiss dwells on these bearded lips."

The term "Soldier's Heart" was something new to me, and a term that reveals so much. The concept of having the nurse be Whitman was a masterful stroke.

(In Tuesday - 2008-0311-1400 / Out - 2008-0312-0030) This entry was written in multiple settings.

Pax! Erin go braugh! Je accuse...