Times Square

Wearing 3-D glasses to make it look real?

Tourists are dwarfed by, and buildings disappear into, the advertising

Emerging from the light

Left, Show Folks Shoes; right, from Father Duffy and self-sacrifice
to Morgan Stanley and self-serving aristocrats

Up the steps into the light and... poof! ...off to another world
I throw out nearly all the pictures I take of Times Square.  There are a few interesting relics buried under the billboards, like the Show Folks Shoe Store facade, but the only interest beyond that is watching visitors figure out that Times Square is just a massive corporate branding experience, and that they themselves -- all the thousands converging on this pulsating emptiness -- are the only real attraction.  And who wants to look at their tired, sweaty, tourist self?

They find out what it feels like to live inside the TV, surrounded by corporate messages from all the wonderful brands -- from friendly banks to candy -- that give life meaning!

My favorite pictures are ones where people look dazed, or like they're about to step into another dimension.  Maybe the latter is just wishful thinking, the hope that there are other worlds we can't see where the plastic simulation of civilization we've let happen here would melt like the Wicked Witch of the West.