This Shopping Cart Is In The Dumps

This Shopping Cart Is In The Dumps, originally uploaded by ⓅⒶⓎⓅⒶⓊⓁ.

The NYPD have nothing better to do than harass a photographer taking photographs of this trashed shopping cart. It's been sitting on this grassy patch on East 12th Street in Brooklyn for the past 4 days. It's filled with materials probably discarded by one of the disreputable and fly by night building contractors that work in my neighborhood. Office Sukhu was attempting to intimidate me today, implying that I was responsible for dumping this cart here. What right have the cops to ask me questions as to why I'm photographing anything that is on a public street? They have no right to harass me, ask for ID or make other assumptions about my character. Office Sukhu even questioned whether I belonged here in New York City. "You don't sound like you live here in New York" he said. I told him I was doing my art and he used that statement to imply that I was the one who dumped these materials. He and FOUR other officers from the 61st Precinct surrounded me and threatened me with a summons. The kind of cavalier attitude and leading conversation I suffered under their scrutiny has reinforced my negative opinion of the NYPD. There is no "Courtesy, Professionalism and Respect" coming from the NYPD anymore. I doubt there ever has been any but now even more so since Bloomberg declared the NYPD to be his "Army".

Walgreens Is Buying Duane Reade!

Invasion Of The Walgreens In Brooklyn, originally uploaded by ⓅⒶⓎⓅⒶⓊⓁ.

Apparently the deal is in the works for Wal-Greens to buy up all the Duane Reade stores by summers end. There is little enough competition between these drug store chains as it is now prices will only go higher as a result. I've never cared much for Duane Greed and Walgreens does have competitive prices. However without DG around to match and beat will Walgreens decide to up the ante even further?

Pretty soon the only chains remaining on the Planet will be Walgreens and Wal-Mart. The economy and jobs prospects for the next year or so are dismal enough. Now we will literally have our backs to the wall with these two giants of the "Wal" big box store set to be the only possible retail employers and sources for every day items. Anti-Trust laws seem to have taken a back seat to the powers these giants wield.

Update: Apparently the current Duane Reades are going to remain as Duane Reade stores. I can't imagine that making much sense. How can they even be competitive when they are owned by the same company? That would be like Burger King and McDonalds being on the same block and owned by Wal-Mart. Maybe they are?

New Line Cinema Taking Up Some Brooklyn Street Real Estate

Today I discovered that my neighborhood has been honored by New Line Cinema as one of the filming locations for a future film perhaps tentatively titled "Going The Distance"

Starring Justin Long and Christina Applegate. The film crew and equipment take up more space on 4 to 6 Brooklyn Blocks in Sheepshead Bay than the set of the film itself. The set is in the Rasputin Restaurant on Coney Island Avenue and Avenue X. It's a place that has perhaps a well deserved reputation as a Russian Mob hangout and perhaps the Management is proud of the distinction. Don't say I sent you there or I'll have to kill you.

The film is, as I suspected from the title and the featured stars which also include Dustin Hoffman who probably can play Drew Barrymore's great grandfather, Christina Applegate and Justin Long, is a chick flickr romantic comedy. Does anyone remember another movie of the same title. Going the Distance has certain taken up great amounts of distance and gutter real estate in the making of it.