NYC Subway Photographer...

Last week a man was struck by a subway train and killed in New York city. The victim, Ki Suk Han of Queens, was pushed onto the tracks moments before the subway struck and killed him. According to eye witness reports there was very little time between when Han was pushed on to the tracks, and when the train arrived. Twenty two seconds is the estimated amount of time between the two events.

In the twenty-two seconds Han frantically struggled to escape no other witnesses attempted to help him. No one offered assistance. No one reach out their hand or coat for him to grab a hold and pull up. In this time of year when giving is better than receiving, no one bothered to give to Mr. Han. In fact, no one seemed to care at all. Except for one man, R. Umar Abbsi.

You see, Mr. Abbsi is a freelance photographer who works for the New York Post, and was in the subway that day waiting on the very train that took Mr. Han's life. According to Abbsi, out of the corner of his eye he saw Han fall onto the tracks and began racing toward him, all the while snapping pictures of the tragedy.

One of those pictures landed on the front page of the Post the follow day.


Post freelance photographer R. Umar Abbasi captured the dramatic moments before Ki Suk Han was struck by a downtown Q train

Now I ask you. Is this Photojournalism at it's best? Or just wrong?

Clearly Mr. Abbasi was not charging toward the victim to help him. He's a photographer. His job is to get the shot. That's how he puts food on his table.

We have become a society that wants to see the unthinkable. We like train wrecks, bearded ladies, and dudes with three eyeballs. We like horror flicks; seeing someone saw off their own leg, and deep down we want to lift the sheet up and peak at what's underneath. So is he just giving us what we want? Is he just doing his job?

Was this guy merly running towards an accident to help and happened to take pictures, or was he taking pictures as he ran toward the accident in hopes of getting the ultimate shot?

No Thanks....

I know everybody in the free world is talking how thankful they are for this or that this time of year, but truth be told, I'm not a big fan of Thanksgiving. To me it's a bit of a waste of a holiday. Here's why.

First of all, the house is always 100 degrees. No matter where you are, or who's house you're in. It's always 100. Grandma and Grandpa like it warm, somebody has been cooking all day, you're wearing an itchy sweater. It's 100 degrees, period.

You sit in uncomfortable chairs you don't normally sit in, no lounging around in your sweat pants on the couch all day. You have to sit up and be pleasant. You eat yourself into a food coma. Everybody brings something you like, so you have to eat it. And lets face it, none of it, besides maybe the turkey, is good for you. Think about all those carbs. The noddles, the stuffing, the mac and cheese. You've got yams, yeast rolls and tons and tons of deserts. And if one meal wasn't enough, you know you're going around that table a couple of times. Which in the end, equates to being miserable.

 

So with all that being said, let me present the Guy's guide to the Top 5 Holiday's

 

5. New Years Eve/New Years Day: I know it's two days but it's hard to separate the two. You get cocktails and great college football games.

4. Father's Day: It's like the only time of the year where for 3 or 4 hours your kids pretend to like you. So while it's not high on most peoples list of great holidays, for me it's top five.

3. Labor Day: Kids go back to school. Which means we stop "laboring" over the kids.

2. Fourth of July: Cocktails, grilling out my favorite foods. Blowing up stuff. Beach/Pool and relaxation.

1. St. Patrick's Day: People are generally in a good mood, and you've got March Madness. College basketball and green beer, what could be better for a guy.

So there you have it.

 

Enjoy your itchy sweater.

 

 

 

This post was actually a rant by one of my favoite sports talk radio host, Colin Cowherd from ESPN. I thought it was spot on.

 

We're Moving...

I'm moving to Colorado...

By now I'm sure everybody has heard that on Tuesday Colorado passed Amendment 64 which legalizes the recreational use of marijuana. Ok I'm not really moving to Colorado, nor do I have any desire to move there so that I can legally get baked. But whether you support the legalization of marijuana or not this is something we must take notice of.

It's true Amendment 64 passed, and it is now legal for anyone over the age of 21 to smoke pot, however Federal Law still prohibits such use, so there will still be some battles between the federal government and state governments in the very near future. I'm not a pot smoker myself, personally I think it makes you dumb, after all there's a reason Spicoli wasn't a straight A student, but hey, smoke em if you got em.

WE'RE NOT READY

Sure you'll have to be 21 to purchase marijuana just as with alcohol, but what the local, and federal government for that matter, have failed to understand is that the legalization of marijuana will initially be like Lennie from the book, Of Mice and Men. Remember Lennie? He had a new toy, a puppy. Something he loved with all his big dumb heart. In fact he loved it so much he ended up killing it. Why? Because he didn't know how to handle it. And that's exactly the way the American people will be with weed. We'll be a bunch of big dumb Lennie's. We'll get this new toy and not know how to handle it. Oh sure all you Phish followers out there will be cool, but what about the rest of us?

We haven't had any education. No real guidelines have been set. Say I go home after work, smoke a dubie then get drug tested the next morning. Will I pass? Will I lose my job? Isn't it the same as going home and having a beer? And what about driving a car? There's no testing, that I know of, such as a field sobriety test that determines if someone is high or not. Because of today's drinking and driving laws most folks know not to get behind the wheel after they've had a few drinks. We know the dangers. Getting caught, losing our license, killing people. We know this. So we don't do it. But think about how long it has taken us to figure this out. Prohibition ended in 1933. I can remember when I was young, my uncle drinking a beer while he was driving, and it wasn't any big deal. Or at least society didn't think so. Even though the affects of the alcohol were the same then as they are now. So will the legalization of weed be different?  Or is this one of those, let's just get it legal and we'll figure out the details as we go along.

THE GATEWAY DRUG

Oh sure, I hear ya out there. But weed is a gateway drug! It will lead to coke or heroin. The next generation of our youth will be a bunch of Anthony Kiedis' living under a bridge. No, actually caffeine, tobacco, and alcohol are the gateway drugs. Grade schoolers drink soda. Middle school kids drink energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster. We sneak behind the garage and fire up a pack of smokes we stole from the Ol' Man when we're 12 and 13. Or we down our first beer at 14/15. Truth be told, most kids don't smoke pot until they're in high school or college. By that time our bodies have already experienced gateway drugs.

 

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

 

Honestly, for me, I'm all for legalizing pot. Not that I'm protesting on the steps outside to courthouse  for my state to legalize it, but why not? I know people bring up the argument, do you want your surgeon getting high before he cuts you open? Well no, of course not. I don't want him drunk, taking pain pills or sniffin' glue either, but he could. I guess that's the faith we put in our doctors. I'm sure there's going to be some cases where people make bad decisions directly related to getting high. I didn't want some Exxon Mobil Captain getting drunk and spilling tons and tons of oil in our oceans either but I don't think we should ban Goose and Juice because of it. 

 

As with every hot button debate, there are pros and cons, and the legalization of Mary Jane is no exception.

 

So tell me Lifers, what do you think? Are you for or against legalizing the bud?