l o o p e r: 06.2006

The New Looper is Here!...

Finally it is ready to unveil!

Please update your bookmarks, and links to http://iconeon.net/blog/,
Sit back and enjoy!

The New and Improved Looper features...

A New Look...
A New Address...
Same Great Content... Yet More Filling and Satisfying....

If you miss my first official post, you can see it here.

Thank you to all that have visited these pages over the past 17 months, I look forward to keeping the momentum going with the new site.

Random Mondays... 06.26.06...

Today's random selection was culled from shots taken over the past week.

First up, we have a shot taken under Columbus Drive yesterday.

While on a visit to the Lincoln Park Zoo on Saturday, the Lion House was all a flutter with the lions receiving a special treat. I am not sure what type of animal this giant bone came from (an elephant perhaps?) but it seemed very Flintstones like.

An angle of the Plensa Fountain at Millennium Park that isn't often photographed (by myself or others) The water hitting the up-lighting.

Waiting at Belmont for a Brown Line. This station along with the others along the Brown Line will be going away as they rebuild the tracks. Even though the platform is archaic and outdated, I will miss it's quirkiness.

Looking out my window last week, I couldn't help but notice this pink concrete truck on Block 37. I took a few shots of it, and after looking closer at the images, I was able to figure out that the truck was painted pink for Breast Cancer Awareness. Now I am in no way trying to dis Breast Cancer Awareness, but didn't they take the pink ribbon idea from the red ribbon fight for AIDS? And why isn't there a red truck out there for AIDS awareness?

Found on the intersection of Clyborn and Willow. I have never seen this kind of set up for fire hoses.

Brutal...

A few weeks back while down in Hyde Park, Michael took me to see the Joseph Regenstein Library (University of Chicago).He knew it would probably provoke me to take pictures and he was correct. Designed by Skimore Owings and Merrill, the Library is a great example of Brutalist Architecture. It shows that not all Brutalism is... Well... Brutal.

The library was completed in 1970 at a cost of 20 million dollars (which seems like a lot for the time).

Critics argue that this abstract nature of Brutalism makes the style unfriendly and uncommunicative, instead of integrating and protective as its proponents intended. I don't know much about the Brutalist movement, but the omnipresent heavy-ness of the buildings can have an overwhelming effect on it's users. But I think this example works, and isn't overwhelming at all. I does show importance.

The majority of Brutalist buildings are constructed of exposed concrete. But occasionally, brick or other materials are used. For the Library, the outside walls are deeply grooved Indiana limestone

A few more images can be found on my flickr.

Chinatown Chicago...

Chinatown in Chicago at ~~18th~~ Cermack and Wentworth my not compare to Chinatown in NYC or San Francisco, but it is still a great neighborhood wander, and you can find some great Dim Sum!

I find myself drawn to the lettering on the "Overseas Art and Travel" sign. I need to come back in the evening to find out if the neon is still functioning.

The Pui Tak Center

A great place for Dim Sum on a Sunday Morning

Somehow I would think that "Cantonesia" would be mildly offensive. But I suppose after a few Maitai's, it wouldn't really matter.

Random Mondays... 06.19.2006...

Today's selection of randomness comes from images shot over the past ten days.

First, the 7th Street Garage on S Wabash. Note that they added "Discount" as a separate sign. What makes this parking discount?

I can never grow tired of Inland Steel. This shot from last week when the sun was just right.

Found in an alley while walking south on Jefferson near Randolph.

Michigan Avenue, Friday evening.

While out with the rental car Saturday evening, we ducked into Target in the burbs to miss a big storm. The storm didn't materialize, but when we came out of the store, this was the view on the way to the car.

This is the product of a happy accident. I was noticing that most of the floors at the IBM building were lit last night, and as I was setting up my camera, I pressed the shutter at the same time I was zooming out and this is the result.
Now I just want to experiment with it.

Botanic-alicious...

For the first time in my seven years of living here, I was at the Chicago Botanic Garden yesterday. I haven't been there before simply because it isn't exactly located in a convenient place (like the city of Chicago) and it also isn't exactly transit friendly. In the past, I have never wanted to take to nearly two hour trip each way on CTA and Pace, but thanks to the miracle of the rental car, and the astronomical sum of $12.00 to park it, I finally got to see the garden (which is free to get into).

Rather than explain all of the prettiness, I will just let the images speak for themselves.

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Bunnies were everywhere, and as soon as I would zoom in and begin to take their pic, they would scamper off. This little one however, sat still for me.

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These and a bunch more images from the garden are posted in my flickr.

Night Game...

While long controversial, the lights at Wrigley Field was perhaps the best designed addition to the ball park until the addition of the new bleachers last winter. The design of the lighting standards looks as though they were part of the original plan. I was up in the nabe on Tuesday evening, didn't go to the game, but I did walk around a bit and take a few shots. It is always the lights that grabbed my attention.

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While not on top of the ball park, they looked very cool against the evening sky.

See more shots of Wrigley Field Lights at my flickr.

Under the "L", South Loop...

I was walking down Wabash near 16th street on Sunday, when I began to hear a loud sound, like a tornado... So I rounded the corner at 16th, and walked under the "L" tracks to see what the noise was all about., and of course, it was a freight train.
It is here that the "L" tracks elevate to go over the freight trains and then ease back down again before the Orange and Green Line's go their separate way.

I have posted before (in Lake View, down Lake Street, on Wells Street, and Van Buren) about how much I love the shadows under the "L", and this is no exception. It wouldn't be Chicago with out the "L" tracks.

The next two images are me playing with black and white, leaving a small patch in the original color. Each of the rail cars (hauling coal) were shiny new aluminum, and they all had the bright green square on them. I suspect they are not connected with H&R Block.

And finally, over on State Street, the train was still going a while later...

Coming Soon to a Computer Near You!...

Coming Soon!
A New and Improved Looper featuring...

A New Look...
A New Address...
Same Great Content... Yet More Filling and Satisfying....

Stay tuned for more details!

Random Mondays... 06.12.06...

Today's random fun comes from shots taken over the past few weeks.

First up... Waiting for the Red Line at North and Clyborn last week. They are installing cameras at all of the subway stations, so snapping random shots without the wrath of CTA employee's will become more challenging. Even though it is completely legal to take pictures on CTA property (the policy allows for incidental photography), employee's routinely challenge you and tell you that you can't do it. It is usually not worth the argument.

"Pago Pago-Cantonese Food and Exotic Drinks in a Polynesian Atmosphere"

Painted on a building on Wabash just south of Van Buren. I don't know how far back you would have to go to find all three of these locations still in operation, but I think it is before the 773 area code came into being. Anybody have any ideas?

In the 20th floor laundry room at Marina City, is a "Weathermaker".
I think this is perhaps the best name for an air-conditioner ever.

Standing on Wacker and Monroe looking up at 30 S Wacker. Now I want to know if the windows are really that wavy or if it is an illusion.

A block away on the corner of Monroe and Franklin. I have shot this before, and probably posted a previous version, but it is none the less, a great intersection for looking up.

Wabash Ave side of the Essex House Hotel. These bricks are not painted, they were glazed in the different colors... How Mid-Century! Even though I have posted previous shots of this before, this one taken yesterday has such a nice shininess to it.

Marina City Sunsets...

I have done a post on this before, but every time I take the same shots, they are different.

Last week after dining on the balcony at Michael's place, we went up to the roof to watch the sun set. To follow is several images from the following 30 minutes.

It was a bit hazy, but the color was amazing.

Meanwhile, looking in other directions, the evening was turning out to be quite beautiful. Out over the lake, you can see the Indiana shore in the distance...