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November 2, 2007
A Short List
I have a lot to say about a lot of things, except these days I either don't have time to write them down or am seriously torn as to whether I want to share them on this World Wide Web of ours. Here is a short list of this week. My goal is to write about these things in more detail next week...let's see if I can live up to my own promise.
- Cobblestoned. Somebody who will remain nameless professed his love to me via the gift of a large, heavy cobblestone this week. Said cobblestone came from a place quite dear to me. No, he did not dig it up. It was already in a pile of rubble en route to disposal. What does one do with a forty pound cobblestone? We're not quite sure yet, but it goes in with our collection of bricks and other detritus that we've collected over the years. I'm hoping Irving won't take to licking this one.
- Absinthed. We had the opportunity to try some absinthe last night at a Halloween party. While not partial to many things anise, I must admit that I liked absinthe. Maybe the sugar helped me push aside the licorice taste...but mostly, it was the process of melting the sugar that I liked best, and the giant decanter-like thing that dripped the water over the cubes.
- Preservation Camp. Want to buy me something? Send me here next summer. I am dying to take their class on 19th century collodion photography, as well as the course on techniques for dating historic structures.
- Polga? As in a polaroid back for a Holga camera. Love it or hate it? Is it worth it? Filed under: me wantee.
and lastly,
- Brooklyn Back Houses. Have you seen one in your neighborhood? Drop me a note.
Posted by callalillie at November 2, 2007 1:25 AM | Random
So, uhm, re: #5 -- is that like, if you don't know what it is you've never seen one?
Posted by: beth at November 1, 2007 7:59 PM
not necessarily- a back house is a small house, usually a frame house, built on the back of a lot. they're usually very old. the building in the background of this photo is a back house.
Posted by: corie at November 1, 2007 8:46 PM
May I ask if you had one of the new absinthes that have been released on the U.S. market, or an authentic version?
My husband has been playing with the Lucid for a month or so, and he has been mixing it into cocktails since then, but we just did the whole louche thing this weekend (I got him an absinthe spoon as a birthday gift). We have yet to try the other "legal" absinthe that was just released in the states.
Posted by: jenblossom at November 1, 2007 9:49 PM
Weird. When I hover over the link to "this photo" nothing is there. I went to an absinthe event a few weeks ago, one of the newly released ones, I think? I didn't like it mixed with sugar, but mixed with champagne it wasn't bad. Also, I guess back houses are not the same as buildings built in the center of a block with no street access except via another building?
Posted by: craige at November 1, 2007 11:11 PM
Jen- I'm not sure about the absinthe. I know that one of the ones we tried was sold in the store. Not sure about the other ones.
Craige- Try the photo now. Houses built in the center of a block? If it's an old, probably wooden little house built on the edge of a lot (which I guess it would make it the center, or on the edge of one lot and the one on the opposite side..er, like the lot line between 19th and 20th Street, for example, it's probably a backhouse. I think that they are fairly rare in Brooklyn, which is why I am curious. Back houses were usually built either as servants quarters, workshops, or to house more tenants. They probably would not have much access to the street- they'd literally be in someone's backyard.
Posted by: corie at November 2, 2007 7:07 AM
Not backhouses, but do you know the houses on Warren Street that were originally built as houses for longshoremen? I saw the inside of one of them a few years back. I find it odd that nowadays you'd have to be a millionaire to buy one. So far from the original intention.
Posted by: Janine at November 2, 2007 10:16 AM
#5: in the Midwest those are called "garage houses." They were built sometime in the first half of the 20th century, generally by someone who owned the lot but didn't have enough money or credit to built a real house. So they built the tiny one at the back of the lot next to the alley and lived in it until they could afford to build the bigger house farther front on the lot in the traditional place. The name stems from either their placement in the traditional garage location on the lot, or from the fact that after the real house was built the little one became the garage.
Posted by: kmkat at November 2, 2007 12:34 PM
"holgaroids" are good for the novelty of the marriage of two otherwise very separate camera types. the square type 80 film has been discontinued (sadface) so you'll end up spending more money on it if you choose to get one of the older cobbled together versions.
i did just find out they have come out with a new one that takes 669 film as well. kind of expensive for what it is, but if you want instant gratification then it'd be worth it. i prefer having negatives so i can blow things up later, and reserve polaroiding for the cameras for which they were made.
a hint: the focus is pretty unforgiving and i believe the viewfinder is obscured unless you attach one, or get that new one that has a pop-up finder.
Posted by: elizabeth at November 3, 2007 9:46 PM
