The above photo is from today’s New York Daily News article on the residential/merchant displacements caused by Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards project. I find this visual — a bunch of padlocks “strung” together in a row on a construction-site chain-link fence — that I wanted to preserve it here (and on Flickr).

It’s not explicitly stated, but I got the impression from the article that this arrangement of locks represents a protest by the locals against the neighborhood disruption. If so, it’s a creative way to get the point across. I’m sure I’ve seen this before, although it couldn’t have been more than 3-4 locks grouped together; anything more than that would have piqued my curiosity before coming upon this image.

Am I missing the boat, and this chain-linking of locks is common-knowledge way of expressing discontent? I don’t know if there’s a clear symbolism: Are the protesters “locking out” the transgressors, figuratively or concretely? Or is it simply a relatively cheap and tamper-proof way to plant a protest symbol?

One of the more popular stories in the local paper of record last week involved the simultaneous deaths of two much-beloved doggies on the Upper West Side.

With all due respect to the outpouring of grief up on West 86th Street, I submit the accompanying photo as proof that the Lower East Side really knows how to mourn the passing of Man’s Best Friend. Not to get all crosstown-rivalry, but what’s a more fitting tribute: A toast of hoity-toity Champagne, or a kick-ass cornerstore mural?

This security-shutter painting, “In Loving Memory of Drew, Love the LES”, is a familiar sight on the corner of 1st Avenue and 2nd Street. Despite the rush I was in and the chill in the air, today just felt like the right day to finally whip out my cameraphone and take the shot. It turned out surprisingly better than I’d hoped.

I never knew Drew. Judging from his regal bearing, I’m sure he was more than deserving of this public commemoration.

Good to know that you can find made-to-order vampiric mouthware in the East Village/Alphabet City area. That’s where I cameraphoned this storefront-window sign the other day (closer to life-sized in embiggened Flickr version).

I won’t say where the “here” in that “Custom Vampire Fangs Made Here” is. Because I don’t want this little corner of Manhattan to get overrun by deep-end Twilight groupies who are looking for a thrill. Although given the neighborhood, it’d be fun to see those little fanboys/girls come face-to-face with the less-than-romantic urban vampires that’d frequent this literal body-shop…

Nearly a week after all the blizzard-like conditions, there’s still ample amounts of snow and slush in the streets of New York, and I’m still bitching about it.

But at least someone has a sense of whimsy about the lingering cold-and-wet stuff that’s impeding us pedestrians. I snapped the above photo today on Park Avenue, around 38th Street (bigger version on Flickr). Not even in a residential neighborhood, which was the biggest surprise of all. I’m sure it was quite a task to roll up the remnant sidewalk snow into an entire (if short) snowman, but the result was well worth it.

Judging from the melty halo surrounding him, I doubt this urban snowman will last more than a couple more days. Considering he’s fairly displaced in midtown Manhattan anyway, that he sprung up at all is remarkable enough.

For all the attention that the Flip Video camera is getting for the user-generated clips it’s running on national television spots, I’m seeing a concurrent part of this marketing campaign that’s curious:

Many of the outdoor display ads, like this one (shown above), actually feature celebrities. The placements I’ve seen in New York City transit hubs prominently display recognizable faces like Tony Hawk and Sophia Bush alongside the mini-camcorders. This seems to run counter to the “grassroots” concept behind the TV ads, i.e. everyday people sending in slice-of-life “flippable moments”.

But if you think about it, this two-tiered content approach makes sense. The television ads, short as they are, are designed for an audience that is focused on the screen; the eyeballs are already paying attention to the ad. The outdoor ads, on the other hand, need to capture attention in a split-second; the surest way of doing that is by showing off a celebrity mug. Different bait for different fish, basically.

It’s a neat trick, because it’s still something of a contradictory marketing message, despite the presumed minimal crossover in audiences. I guess the ultimate goal is to present the Flip as such a universal product that it identifies with everyone, famous or anonymous.

It’s December, so that means it’s time to put my snowman figurine on display. See him in his fuller-sized Flickr format (where I dubbed him “Sno Bro”, in a spasm of cameraphone-inspired cuteness).

I can’t say why I’m fond of this 12-inch high metal figurine. Probably his emerald-green sweater. Or the low-key holiday cheer he lends to a room.

What I can’t figure out is why no one else cares for him. I’ve had this little trinket for three years now, and each Christmastime, I have to put up with a fair amount of bitching over even this minor bit of decoration. I guess not everyone likes an indoor reminder of the wintry weather that accompanies the season.

Behold above, a common sight at this time of the year: A Christmas wreath. (Heck, behold it in its embiggened, Flickrized glory).

Look closely enough, and you’ll notice some unconventional wreath-borne elements in this holiday specimen. The garland, pinecones, and stray elf? Check. The artichokes and pomegranates? Not-so-check.

Artichokes? Pomegranates? Granted, they’re fakes, but still, I don’t think I’ve ever encountered such oddball vegetation in a Christmas-themed ornament. What exactly do those two produce products have to do with this time of year?

I pondered it for (a short) while, and came up with this theory: This is a California-origined wreath. Only on the left coast would you find unconventional vegetable/fruit combos festooning your wintertime decor. The only thing missing from this Golden State ring of holly is an avocado or two.

What this West Coast expression of holiday cheer is doing here in New York is the bigger mystery. Hopefully, I won’t wake up Christmas morning with a stocking full of some weird artichoke-pomegranate puree…

If Kraft Foods Australia learned anything from the strident, New Coke-like public backlash to its recent name-that-foodstuff promotion, it’s this: Aussie are very touchy about their Vegemite.

It all began in July when jars of caramel-brown Vegemite mixed with cream cheese began appearing on supermarket shelves with brightly colored labels inviting consumers to “Name Me.” After weeks of secrecy, during which the company sold more than 3 million jars of the new product to a population of just 22 million people, Kraft took an expensive advertising slot during a nationally televised Australian-rules football final Sept. 26 to announce its winner: Vegemite iSnack 2.0.

The reaction was fierce. Vegemite-loving consumers took to the Internet to voice their collective indignation about the name. Thousands of Twitter posts, at least a dozen Facebook groups and a Web site dedicated to “Names that are better than iSnack 2.0” blasted American-owned Kraft for tampering with an Australian icon…

After four days, Kraft announced that it would put the name back to a vote. This time, it put forward six rather more conventional choices — including Vegemate, Snackmate and Vegemild — from which Cheesybite was elected through an online and telephone poll. The controversy quickly died away.

I’m extremely skeptical about this chain of events. I’d bet anything that Kraft orchestrated this controversy by choosing a “winning” name that they knew would incite negative reaction. I mean, come on — “iSnack 2.0″?? Even the most insular corporate groupthink wouldn’t deem that worthy. The quick turnaround in rolling out a backup name is another tipoff. This was an in-house guerrilla marketing stunt, all the way. It succeeded by overblowing what would have otherwise been a so-what product launch, Vegemite fervor notwithstanding.

I wonder how the photo above, which I snapped a year ago near 1st and 1st in the East Village, would look with jars of Cheesybite interspersed among the straight-yeast flavor. Probably not as visually appealing.

It’s Halloween time again, and once again, I’m ill-prepared. I don’t have a costume picked out, and I’m not feeling a quickie expedition to one of the pop-up novelty shops to scrounge up some leftover or bare-bones outfit.

But I can’t feel too bad, because I’ve dug up the above photo, which charmed me so much last year at this time. There’s something about those ground-spiked white-sheet ghosts, seemingly clasped at the hands, that makes me smile. The ring they’re forming around that tree is surely a seance, and I maintain that they’re trying to coax some spirit-form out of that wooden encasement.

That’s my theory, anyway. The original Flickr photo page is silent on these spooks’ intent. Just as well — what’s a Halloween display without a hint of mystery?

I retrieved these four colorful little emoticons-based pin buttons from my brother’s pile of artifacts. I estimate they’re about a decade old. Since those little keyboard expressions are still going strong on screens from the desktop to the pocket, I guess these pins are not necessarily dated.

Except, maybe, for that pink-magenta one on the far left. For the life of me, I can’t figure out what communicative emotion it’s supposed to represent. I may have the orientation wrong, meaning that the “v” and caret should be flipped 180 degrees. If you know what I’m missing, please clue me in. The others, of course — comprising | | — are pretty self-explanatory.

Photo has been Flickrized, of course. Strictly for propagation purposes. Despite my best lighting efforts, my cameraphone just wouldn’t yield a sharper picture. I guess I could have recreated the buttons in full-color digital glory with Illustrator, but that smacks of work.

Thanks to an astute commenter, I now know the true identity of the above graffiti-planted rabbit, which I photographed on Bleecker Street months ago.

This long-eared masked malcontent is none other than Bunny bin Laden. And he’s left quite a trail of spray-painted impressions in his wake.

I guess I should be wary of possible linkages to Osama and/or al Qaeda. But he’s just so darn cute.

No telling when I’ll next be in Seattle — and that next time will be my first time. If I do go, I’ll have to check out the Fremont Troll:

The Fremont Troll has been lurking under the north end of the Aurora bridge since 1990. He was sculpted by four Seattle-area artists — Steve Badanes, Will Martin, Donna Walter and Ross Whitehead — for the neighborhood Fremont Arts Council. The head-and-shoulders sculpture is 18-ft. tall.

The shaggy haired troll glares southward with his shiny metal eye — a hubcap? In his left hand, he crushes an old-style Volkswagen beetle… There are plenty of places to pose, and interaction with the troll is encouraged.

A hubcap in that eye? That would fit with the automotive motif. Although when I looked at the big-sized Twitpic photo, I thought it looked more like a mini-disco ball.

Hopefully, when/if I get a chance to see this Emerald City wonder myself, it won’t be marred by graffiti tags.

I cameraphoned this poster this morning, on the Bowery corner just where Bond Street begins (or ends, depending on your perspective). In fact, this de-motivational message couldn’t exist anywhere else in Manhattan, really. The verbatim, apostrophe-less message:

THEN IT HIT ME

im not going to be famous
i wont get to be a rock star
i am going to be stuck on the payroll
doing work that doesnt interest me
for a very long time

As I inch toward 40, I think this advice is starting to sink in. Hopefully others get smacked with this base realization earlier in life. In aid of that, the embiggered, easier-to-read version is on Flickr.

Like I said when I first encountered Victory Brewing Company’s appealing logo-works, I don’t foresee sampling their beverages anytime soon.

But a trick of the light and a half-empty beer glass make for a noteworthy “happy hour” photo moment. Even if the result is reminiscent of an evil clown face.

Almost makes me want to forgo my usual liquor-based cocktails for a tall, cold one. Almost.

I was walking up Lafayette Street when I saw it: A giant billboard for E! Network’s “Chelsea Lately”, starring the eponymous Chelsea Handler.

Hard to tell from the above cameraphone photo (even in embiggened Flickrized mode), but it’s actually a two-piece billboard: Handler’s head and shoulders are placed on the smaller top board, while the rest of her body accompanies the show title, broadcast time, and that “The Sharpest Tongue In Late Night” tagline on the larger board below. There’s a noticeable gap between the two sections, which gives her a disembodied look, which I guess is why I looked for longer than 5 seconds.

Then, as I kept walking and looking up, I noticed the parked van in the foreground, directly in my line of sight. The URL on the van’s back door is for Chelsea Rental, a local truck rental company.

Coincidental juxtaposition: Chelsea up above, and Chelsea down on street level. So I had to take the picture. And maybe there’s a gag in it somewhere — is it possible to rent Chelsea Handler?

And the kicker is that neither of these “Chelsea” visuals were anywhere near the actual Chelsea neighborhood, but rather, clear across town in NoHo. The van, I guess, will eventually find its way back to the West Side. The billboard stays perched above Lafayette, for now.

If nothing else, the above (admittedly crappy) cameraphone photo at least proves that someone in New York is reading this blog. Specifically someone(s) at The Orchard’s offices overlooking Lafayette Street, who have a thing for decorative Post-It Noting of the windows.

How do I know they read my previous post on this NoHo sighting? Because that paper-pixelated “Pac-Man” used to be a peach:

Accordingly, I guess I’m wrong about that pixelated fruit being the bonus-points orange from “Pac-Man”. It’s actually The Orchard’s corporate logo, which, from the looks of it, is supposed to be a peach. That would make sense, as peaches do grow in orchards, while oranges grow in groves. (Although this Post-It creation could be doubling as both, just to fit in better with the “Space Invaders” alien and spaceship.)

So either I was right in the first place, and that really was an orange all along, or else they’re just screwing around. If they’re taking requests, the next oldschool blocky videogame I’d like to see represented is “Robotron: 2084″…

Yep, the cameraphoned photo above shows you a literal box of rocks. No call on just how dumb that is.

Actually, there are two more collections of caged stones just like this, out of frame (yes, even on the embiggened Flickr version). They’re positioned near the entrance of Flowers of the World, a hoity-toity type of florist shop in Midtown. I’m assuming the installation has to do with achieving some sort of commercial-retail feng shui effect.

Yesterday, an uptick of traffic to this old post and its related Flickr page solved the mystery behind the above photo. Turns out that those strategically-placed Post-It Notes belong to The Orchard, a big-time music and video licensing company. Their offices are behind those windows on Lafayette Street (although their actual physical address is around the corner, on 4th Street).

Accordingly, I guess I’m wrong about that pixelated fruit being the bonus-points orange from “Pac-Man”. It’s actually The Orchard’s corporate logo, which, from the looks of it, is supposed to be a peach. That would make sense, as peaches do grow in orchards, while oranges grow in groves. (Although this Post-It creation could be doubling as both, just to fit in better with the “Space Invaders” alien and spaceship.)

This art display was still in place as of a couple of days ago, which is the last time I walked past. Hopefully my online exposure won’t spook them into tearing it all down.

I like taking photographs for fun. The online evidence of my enthusiasm can be found on this blog’s Photography category and my Flickr account.

A recurring theme with my picture-taking: I frequently fob off all the grainy images I take on the poor quality of my cameraphone, which is the now-outmoded Motorola MOTOKRZR/K1m (yeah, I know, ancient — eventually I’ll upgrade to an iPhone). It’s probably no worse than most cellphone-bundled cameras, in that it’s not designed to be a high-quality image-capturing device. But I seem to have an especially hard time with it. My informal estimate is that about one out of every four pics I take come out presentable. Like I said, I blame the limitations of the technology I carry around with me.

But now, I’ve found out about Shawn Rocco, a professional news photographer who snaps amazing digital pictures with his old cellphone (the Motorola E815, which is pretty comparable to my phone).

So I can no longer use an inferior cameraphone as my creative crutch. I have to face it: I’m just lacking in photographic talent. Good thing I don’t have to do it for a living.

I must be completely punch-drunk tonight, if all it takes is a tweet request for me to post the above picture. That would be me, wearing my festive purple pimpwear fedora, a leftover relic from a years-ago masquerade party. I had a more-or-less complete suit to go along with it, but that’s long gone now.

Note the accessory fuzzy dice hanging off the side. I added that touch myself. I must have lucked upon them, because they obviously match well with the hat’s leopard-skin trim. Believe me, the partygoers appreciated my attention to sartorial detail.

Bigger photo on Flickr, although the quality is only fair, thanks to my cameraphone’s limitations. Pimpin’ may be easy, but spur-of-the-moment photography sure ain’t.

So I’m on 3rd Avenue, crossing 23rd Street heading uptown, and when I get to the other corner… Who do I see but Mystery Skeleton Stickman, who I’d previously encountered on the Bowery pavement. On the road again, so to speak.

Actually, he didn’t look the same as the last time pictured above. This version of him was white, instead of yellow. But it was the same standalone drawing, and the same road-grade paint to ensure that he’d stick around for a while.

Obviously, this little totem figure is a symbol for something or someone around town. But who or what? I wish there was an easier way of tagging his occurrences online; for now, these blogposts will have to do.