Ex Bibliotheca

The life and times of Zack Weinberg.

Friday, 21 November 2003

# 10 PM (GMT-5)

Went to see Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with my old friend Steven Kasow, at the Ziegfeld. This is New York City's most famous lavishly decorated movie theater. It used to be a stage, then it went bankrupt and was bought out by concerned citizens and turned into a movie theater.

I have read only one of the books on which this movie is based. Thus, to me the movie was a rollicking good sea yarn, but not the feast of references to things in the books that Steven found it to be. Almost all the action is at sea, and there's a handful of scenes filmed on the Galapagos Islands, which I cannot quite believe they got permission to do. It's very long but it does not drag.

Afterward I met another old friend, Michael from the CU marching band, who informs me that that institution has mostly recovered from the unhealthy attention it got from the deans' office back in the nineties. This is a relief, however I would like to see it for myself, which there will not be an opportunity to do on this trip. Michael now works for Bloomberg Inc and was delighted to show me around their incredibly lavishly decorated offices. Lot of money to be had in providing tons of juicy data to stockbrokers.

# 1:30 PM (GMT-5)

So here I am in Manhattan, which is deeply familiar. I'm writing this in Madison Square Park, not very far from the Flatiron Building. On first glance, it seems hardly anything has changed since 1999. Especially the area around Columbia University, and the campus itself, are just as they were: same sorts of faces, same little restaurants, same old brick and copper buildings. Elsewhere, again, same sorts of faces, same bustling streets, same architecture.

Looking harder, one sees cosmetic changes. The MTA is engaged in a huge project to replace all the tile in all the subway stations. They are keeping the 1920s-era mosaic station names intact, which is a relief. On the surface, there are a lot more American flags in evidence than there used to be: appliquéd to the sides of trucks and buses, hung up in office lobbies, and so on.

Mainly I've been visiting old friends. They are the same people that they were. Some have moved into new digs, some have new jobs, some are out of a job, life goes on.

Yesterday I got to say hello to one of my old professors, Dr. Allan Blaer of the Physics department. He tells me that the new president of the university is full of plans to expand the campus with a new complex of buildings at 133rd and Broadway. There would be a distressingly large gap between this and the existing campus, which ends at 120th, but if it means they can tear down the hideous business-school building, I am all for it.