This is not an ad. These were people standing around in Bryant Park during fashion week. I was sitting around in the park and saw this crowd. I thought it looked like one of those CK One ads from the 1990s.

I looked at them and thought — thank god I’m not this anymore. Its so much effort looking cool. I’d rather expend my energy on something else.

I have a secret. Do you want to know what it is? I come home everyday and watch the O.C. for hours on end, pretending that I am Marissa Cooper and it is Ryan Atwood chasing around after me. Then, I have a couple of the songs from the show on my iPod and I obsessively listen to those. Wait, I tell people this all the time, absolutely horrified that I like the O.C.

Nah, I love time exposures. That is my big secret. The time exposure. The world that only the photographer sees through their lens. A world that does not exist. Early photographs were all actually long exposures, but now I can use tiny digital camera to do what it would take Nadar (an very old, very famous photographer) a camera the size of a television to reproduce.

And, it takes trained professionals to attach their tripod to the side of a fence or sit around and wait for a good shot and get stared at. Well, what else is new? Me, I take photos and people stare at me.

All right, here is the stuff, more from my favorite place:

Love this one, with the people moving around and this kid sitting there really still:

More people moving around, lookin’ interesting:

Here are some random shots that are “just a show of my technical skills,” as one of my friends said. Whatever, I like them:

And now some photos from my soon to be favorite place. I hope I didn’t just curse myself by saying that. Anyway, beautiful Stockholm:

It absolutely did not look like that when I took the picture. It was totally dark out. Wherefore the magic of the time exposure. More stuff that looks weird? Ok:

This photo above is a picture of the Swedish parliament. I was walking around and there was a woman singing. It was kind of amazing that whole moment.

And two more, just to round it all out:

That’s it. That’s all I have for now.

The yentas on “The View” scare the living crap out of me. I don’t care that they get a national forum for their idiotic views because no one actually listens to them. Of course they have provided some hilarious moments over the years. The Rosie-Young One smackdown — timeless, priceless and worth the price of admission. And by that I mean having to endure some yentering beforehand.

But this latest outburst is just downright scary. Last week, this panel of Rhodes Scholars and biology experts were discussing evolution. Because the fact that they all hold PhDs in evolutionary biology, makes them qualified to discuss this topic. Oh wait, they don’t.

Anyway, onward to the idiocy.
Then, Whoopi asks the immortal question:
Is the world flat?

This came after the debate about evolution passed over into whether or not this Sherry Sheppard person believes in science. Is the world flat? They decided this like what, about 500+ years ago.

Anyway, Ms. Sheppard, I mean professor emeritus of evolutionary biology answers the question:

All right, all right, I picked a photo with her face all screwed up. Here she is answering this difficult and probing question:

Her answer ladies and gentlemen:
I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it, but I do think about how to feed my child and whatever, some other crap not worth remembering.

Here she is with this smug look on her face, not realizing probably that her “response” will be ridiculed on every major TV show for the next week and will forever be immortalized on these here internets.

Now the smug look on her face when she closes her dissertation with the conclusion that if her son asks her “is the world flat?” she’ll have to go to library. I’m cringing just writing this. Anyway, another stupid facial expression from well respected astrophysics authority Sherry Sheppard:

Oh, the pride. She’s thinking to herself “they will now doubt this newfangled theory about the earth’s roundness. Where does one even find evidence of such a thing?”

Needless to say, I could go off on noted Big Bang expert Sherry Sheppard (who will now forever be known for not knowing whether or not the world is flat and probably nothing else) about her absolute ignorance and stupidity. Is the world flat, the yentas asked and she responded with whatever that crap was she responded with. Sure, flat earth theory is a byword for something that has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be untrue, but whatever, is the world flat? Ms. Sheppard doesn’t know and frankly does not occupy her time with such trifles.

Well, Sherry Sheppard, I’m going to do you a favor. Me, a humble blogger among many other bloggers. What for the accumulation of knowledge when one cannot share it with world. Yeah and ok, I wanted to post my photos of the sky over the Sweden and Denmark, but why not get a two-fer. The rest of the world who for some reason think the world is round get to enjoy the photos and Sherry Sheppard is about to be startled beyond belief. Careful, information is power.

Here we go:

You see that curving off in the distance? Could it be… Oh my god, the earth, no it can’t be! No! What am I going to tell my son, Ms. Sheppard thinks to herself.

But, no more evidence I must present Sherry Sheppard:

Why is she torturing me with this, Sherry Sheppard thinks to herself. Well, people didn’t believe this other radical theory (for the 15th century) that the center of the solar system was in fact the sun. I mean people thought Copernicus was wrong. Until they came for their senses, in the 16th and 17th century. But this caused many people a lot of pain, so sometimes assimilating new ideas can be very traumatic.

Eh, onward with the ridicule:

Looks round to me. More evidence you say. Ok, here goes:

THE WORLD IS NOT FLAT, SHERRY SHEPPARD YOU IGNORAMUS. NOT FLAT. THEY DECIDED THIS IN THE 15TH CENTURY. THE GUY NAMED COLUMBUS SAILED AROUND THE WORLD AND PROVED BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT A “THEORY” GOING BACK SEVERAL CENTURIES THAT THE WORLD. IS. NOT. FLAT.

Listen Sherry, I’m not saying that you fly to Sweden from Denmark and see the curvature of the earth. I’m not even saying that you need to buy a globe or even type the words “flat earth” into the internets. All you have to do is ask the guy who makes your latte in the morning “is the world flat.” The force of the laughter of all the people in the place will propel you so far upward that you will see that the earth, once and for all, is a sphere. Of course the guy slinging the latte could just say “the world is round.” And then he’d go into the back of the place and start laughing extremely loudly, saving you the trip to space.

Ignoramus. Save her from herself, someone. No wait, she keeps making these stupid statements and we all benefit and I can keep posting these photos. Keep on keeping on with your theory about the world Sherry Sheppard. All the people at the mental ward will soon follow what you are saying. I promise.

Totally flat:

OK, OK its the airport, but I kid Denmark because I love.

And filled with these strangely dressed locals:

He looks like a Martian.

Six transatlantic crossings this year. Six. I’ve logged the circumference of the earth. Four flights on American airlines, those being Continental and Northwest. Hatred. Hated those flights.

Continental Airlines, these advertisements are so infuriating:

It should say “work hard, fly wrong.”

Sorry, I’d rather walk there.

I’ll dig a hole.

And the piece de resistance:

I’ll take the smelliest, dirtiest subway I can find. If you want to get to Stockholm three hours late, take an aircraft left over from World War I, be served inedible food on tables sloping downward, Continental all the way.

I flew Northwest Airlines too. I was too angry at them to take any photos from that plane trip because they could not possibly capture what it felt like to be delayed four hours, be fed absolutely inedible food and to not be given this strange substance called “water.” “Water.” Its so rare. People travel millions of miles to find it. If you live in the Kalahari and are a bushman. Northwest Airlines planes are actually in the the Kalahari. Who knew.

And now, finally the point of all of this. My last flight to Stockholm, I flew SAS. I’ve flown this airline before and liked it. SAS shot glasses. Good meals.

But after this last flight, I feel truly and madly in love with this airline.

Love comes on in stages. Sometimes, it is at first sight. Other times it is instantaneous. My love for SAS grew slowly.

Board the aircraft and you see this:

This just puts you in a good mood.

We left on time:

Yeah, its just daylight, but we were supposed to leave in daylight.

Free bottles of a rare substance known as “water:”

Also free:

Notice it says “amused” and not “driven into a homicidal rage:”

Magazines featuring these types of headlines:

This cutie used to be the goalie for the Danish national team.

Tray tables where when you put the food on them, you don’t risk having your dinner in your lap:

Crackery-spicy things that aren’t salty peanuts:

Food. Not “food.” Food. Actual food. We’re not talking Le Cirque here, but an ok meal:

Got there in daylight, again, when we were supposed to be there:

Being able to watch this adorable, gem of a show:

All right, all right. Lucky coincidence because I love this show. You may not love this show, but to me, this show is hilarious. Anyone who grew up in Manhattan in the 1980s recognizes things in it and can’t help but be amused.

So, listen up American airlines:

Private equity, which will buy anything, and it won’t touch you with a 10 foot pole. Finance your transaction with debt that you will attach to the mind boggling amount of debt these airlines already have. No way.

Flights on SAS are not terribly more expensive than a flight on some American airline. Come on guys. Get your act together.

Suck. I wish I could fly SAS from New York to Philadelphia. I’d fly it from New York to Albany. SAS — look into that. You’d have at least one customer.

Borg internal dialog:

“Metal structure under face turning upward into smile. Personality chip does not allow for this. Must prevent. Abort. Abort. Abort.

Use all will possible. Use ALL WILL Possible. Facial muscles turning downward. Back to looking like I’ve smelled rotten eggs. Peace is restored.”

I get the feeling the Borg is wilder outside of his little house….

They finally went and did it!

I have no idea who these people are, but they sure picked an interesting location for their wedding pictures:

That’s Times Square in the background. And, Batman in the foreground.

Here’s another I made b&w and cropped a little:

I read recently that the kids entering college this year are the first ones born after the Cold War. There was a little article that said “to them, American rock bands always played in Moscow” and the Berlin Wall was something they saw in a museum. Oh. my. god.

I feel so old.

This doesn’t help:

Oh, cute cassette tapes! Oh my god! What are those? I mean look at these cute compacts. People used to use these for music? You mean before the iPod? But these are so cute!

I remember when people bought cassettes. When record stores sold them and records! Not to mention, having a compact disk player was a big deal.

This doesn’t help either:

Leg warmers? Leg warmers! I thought they were ugly when they were in style the first time, when the Soviet Union still existed and was an enemy and cassettes were things people actually used. Listen to one of your elders, class of 2011 — keep your leg warmers now. They will come back into style.

Pretty soon I’ll be driving with my lights on to the blue light special.

People have one of three reactions to New York.

Number one:
Its noisy, its loud, its dirty, I hate it.

Number two:
Its noisy, its loud, its dirty, I love it.

Number three:
Home!

I suggest a fourth response. Take notice of these details and see a city of with a lot of history. I watched this thing once about the history of New York and one of the people said that Jamestown always gets all the credit for being the oldest place in America, but New York is much older. I always knew that because I grew up there, but a lot of people who might write New York off as dirty and disgusting should look around at the buildings some time and see that by doing that, they are missing a lot of what is a really great place.

Case in point:

Ok, this isn’t that unknown of a detail. Its that guy on top of Grand Central. I’ve always loved him, but his beauty is underestimated, in view.

Oh and another view from my favorite New York WORKING TRAIN STATION:

And these details on buildings I saw just walking down 42nd street:

What is this guy looking out for? Of course, I have no idea what is going on here either:

And two more:

I got a look at these things and really thought they were funny. These were on this random building that millions of people walk by everyday near Times Square. I must have walked by it a million times. I never noticed them either.

Not to mention this thing:

This is the Flatiron Building. I love it for the reasons I love many places in New York. It is historical. It feels like New York’s past. It always makes me smile when I think of a 22 story building being the tallest in New York and the world. Well, anyway, I’ve never taken a closer look at it.

Here, I first thought this was a person standing on top of the building:

And here are some more details:

And, some more details from another building that I’ve walked by a million times, but never noticed:

Maybe I’m just a sucker for those Art Deco kind of details, but it seems like each time I walk by these buildings I notice something new.