castles, parks and cowboys

going out on a chilly presidents' day isn't at the top of my list. but hey, i need some air and sunshine somehow. and to make sure i don't explode on contact with light (yet).


first stop is downtown Brooklyn, to satisfy a White Castle craving since Harold & Kumar got into all sorts of troubles for this shit. needless to say, its an area where you're likely to get mugged, but not inside the White Castle. White Castle is where everyone goes and agrees on things. light-skinned customers are quite a rarity though. at least in this branch.


mine, all mine! you don't have to be high to have slyders.


after managing not to get mugged thru the rest of downtown Brooklyn (ok, just kidding, natives), it was off to Prospect Park. This park seems to be a demarcation line, a neutral zone between the ghetto-ish wastelands of Flatbush and the yuppie brownstones of Prospect Park West/Park Slope. and while its barely a fourth of Central Park, you could still get lost in it.


frozen water avians on thin ice.

kids were taking pieces of ice from the lake and tossing it back just to watch it shatter. a three-year old dropped his poking stick, allowing me to make a rescue. shucks.


then same three-year old also got some pieces of bread and threw it on the ice - which of course, caused a frenzy among the birds, who were just waiting for that moment. kind of like a food donation drive in some starving region in Africa that just went nuts. only without the gunfire and cursing.




here i thought it was a screening of March of Penguins To Find Nemo. turns out to be the Wollman skating rink, where mommys turn into stage mommys, and kids try to become the next Sarah Hughes or Michelle Kwan (boooo).



Hors D'oeuvres I mean, Horse Jerbs.



A refugee from those Snow White or Hansel and Gretel animations

it's called a Camperdown Elm Tree. it's a mutant and should be enrolled, i mean ... planted in the Xavier's School of Higher Learning.

The Place Known As The Ravine (cool name, eh)

oh, shit. where the hell is this? are there muggers hiding in the woods?

exiting from the 3rd St outlet, the cinemas were about 10 blocks away.


Litchfield Villa (1857 by AJ Davis)

Now housing Parks Authority and Admins. Supposedly has a nice view of the surrounding Long Meadow, the Gowanus Canal and New York Harbor. Be back in summer.



Lafayette Monument

Gilbert du Motier, a.k.a. Marquis de Lafayette, French revolutionary, American War Hero, rockstar



dey from Prospect Park and ya aint.

now it was time to watch some gay cowboy love.


whoops! sorry, that wasn't it.





"Think we could've done this as knights? or as Marines?"


now, priding myself to be able to sit through chick flicks without flinching (or sleeping), this was no biggie. after that Hulk disaster, Ang Lee has regained his footing. seriously, i'm only bigoted against morons and idiots, so seeing Jake the Snake and Heath The Sheath go at it is like, so what? a beautiful love story. even if you may wanna barf (hey, there were Anne Hathaway and Anna Farris sightings, so that should make up for it).


walking back to the nearest subway for home necessitated passing thru the Park Slope neighborhood. pity there wasn't a Heath Ledger sighting. i could've screamed "I wish I knew how to quit you!!" or "Ennis The Penis!" or something at him. Then ask for his autograph. and tell him i liked him in A Knight's Tale.