Rittenhouse Square/30th Street Station

More photos. Taken Wednesday, mostly while I was in Rittenhouse Square. Mostly I was just sitting on a bench while I took these...

These last two, taken after sunset, are from Chestnut Street near (I think) 29th, looking towards 30th Street Station and the Cira Centre behind it. These are the type of pics that would look better if I took a photography class or something. My flash is limited, of course, but perhaps there are settings that would make for a better picture. Or perhaps I just need a better camera.

May 19, 2012: My Festival Fest

On a warm late-spring Saturday afternoon I took in three different festivals in the city. I took many pictures and some video (using my tablet's camcorder)!

I started out at the Trenton Avenue Arts Festival , which has been held for the last seven years in Kensington (in a spot where, I'm guessing, it borders Fishtown). Its attractions are basically as advertised: arts and crafts (such as "Billy Maze," pictured),  food, vendors, etc. However, it also featured the 6th Annual Kensington Kinetic Sculpture Derby. (Arts festival and derby photos are here.)

The what?


Basically, it's like this: a kinetic sculpture is a vehicle that's powered by humans (such as a bike) but also has some special artistic additions, making them look like parade floats or something. What they do is ride these things along a stretch of the street. There's no race, but there is one element to challenge them: a mud pit. They have to design their kinetic sculpture so that they can get it through the mud. Here's a sample:



Here's a close-up picture of the mud pit...

It's really entertaining. Next year I want to go again, but get a seat nearer to the mud.

Then I headed for Franklin Square for

Rittenhouse Square Yarn Bomb

I wrote about the odd and surprisingly popular phenomenon known as yarn bombing once before, and got quite a few hits on the blog because of it. Naturally, when I saw this picture, which was taken yesterday by my friend Kurt (so you can't use it without paying him -- you can send me the money and I'll be sure to get it to him), I felt that I should, you know, try and get some more hits. (Speaking of which, no noticeable uptick in hits from Joe Jonas fans. Explains his album sales, I suppose.)

This statue is "The Sundial," and it's in Rittenhouse Square. With a chill in the air, some thoughtful person decided to help these frolicking naked children keep warm. Well, one of them, anyway. Well, for the kid's head, at least...wait, what horrible creature saw these poor naked kids and decided to torture them by leaving just one hat for the two of them?

More S Words

I have a couple of photos I took during yesterday's trip to Center City to buy comics, but my phone (or Virgin Mobile, or something) refused to let me post them to Twitter (via Twitpic) or Facebook. So here they are -- both subjects start with the letter "S" -- just like this previous post -- and not only that, the titles of all three books I bought yesterday started with "S." (Insert "Twilight Zone" theme here.)

Shirtless Thugs II: For this first one, taken at Rittenhouse Square, I tried to Twitpic it with the caption, "Where are they? WHERE ARE THEY???" This graffiti seems to be a phenomenon. It's the second time I've seen it. It's also been mentioned on another blog, but that blog recently took a condescending and possibly anti-gay shot at the creator of one of my favorite blogs, Streets Dept., so it gets no link from me.

Yesterday was a bit too damp and dreary for people to be shirtless, anyway. (But at least there wasn't a tornado in town, like there was up in the Northeast, about 3.5 miles from my house! It's really rare for a tornado to touch down in Philadelphia. The last reported twister was in 1999. But this one yesterday wasn't much of one. It was EF-0, the weakest on the scale, and only traveled about 300 feet according to the National Weather Service. A few roofs torn off, a little debris, and that was pretty much it.)

Saxbys: There's a new one that just opened at 20th and Walnut. I'm not one for coffee but