December 2, 2010

Union Square Lets Its Freak Flag Fly

Though there has been plenty of change in New York over the last two decades, with the city a lot cleaner and friendlier than it used to be, one thing that hasn't changed and will likely never change is that there are still lots of very odd people here.  The center of the weird universe used to be Times Square but now that that's all filled with Euro tourists and Middle Americans, the freaks of NYC have migrated south to Union Square park.

There's a guy in called Normal Bob who documents all the strange happenings in the park on his website normalbobsmith.com.  Recently he put together a bittersweet video of all that he has observed recently with his camera, set to the tune of LCD Soundsystem's "New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down".  It's a touching and somewhat shocking ode to the other side of the city that doesn't get as much attention these days.  But it's also somewhat reassuring to see that you can't take the freaks out of the city, no matter how much you clean it up.