Tag Archives: monkeys

Picture Postcard: The Bronx Zoo

21 Jun

June 21, 2012

I went to the Bronx Zoo on Sunday, June 17th. It was a nice day, warm but not hot, with plenty of sun but luckily plenty of shade too. There were plenty of people there but it was just short of being crowded. I managed to take almost a hundred pictures with my Nikon Coolpix. I upgraded from my old Olympus, which was a nice camera but it was starting to get old. The Nikon has a much better zoom and better features. I still prefer old-school SLR cameras but for my purposes this is enough of a camera for the zoo.

Much as I like this picture I can’t take too much credit for it. That bird (I’m sorry but I forgot what it is) stayed in the position the whole time I was there, just shuffling around a little on the branch. I think it was showing off. and never once did he turn around to face the camera.

Right place at the right time. I slightly cropped this picture to center the bears a little more. It was warm and these bears were not fighting, they were playing around in the water. There were other bears who were just lounging around in the sun. Notice that the “fallen” tree is bolted in place. Here is the uncropped picture:

The same picture as above, uncropped.

Typical monkey (gibbon?) pose, but this guy is looking right into the camera and makes the shot.

This baboon was right up against the glass and spent his time either ignoring us or showing us his fangs. You can’t tell from the picture but she’s about five feet tall.

Sleepy gorilla. My friend thinks he is sulking.  Most of the animals were taking it easy in the pre-summer heat. Can you blame them? For me it is the primates that make the zoo worth visiting.

No animals here, just some of the scenery at the zoo. Going to the Bronx Zoo is (or to be more accurate, the Wildlife Conservation Society) is like going to another world. I know that is a cliché but when you are there you forget that you are in New York. With the summer heat coming on us now is the perfect time to go. 

 

American Chopper: Sr. vs. Jr.: Two Weddings and No Fun At All

19 Jan

January 19, 2011

I normally begin with a discussion of the bikes but since the show virtually ignored them this week I will too, except to say that OCC had more trouble than you might expect with some standard front end parts. In fact, the only interesting thing about the bike build was at the end, when they unveiled it at an OCC road show. What do they do at an OCC road show? They build a bike on stage. I fail to see the appeal, unless they decide to accurately recreate the bike building experience- Senior yelling at random audience members, the OCC crew throwing things into the crowd, and lots of intermissions.

Spring is in the air, though this aired in winter, and it is wedding time. Last time it was Paulie, this time it is shaved orangutan Jason Pohl. Who would marry him? I am not sure since the guilty party has not appeared on camera, but I have my suspicions.

Anyone remember Escape From the Planet of the Apes? Remember the outraged Bishop when Zira referred to Cornelius as her husband?

Senior, for some reason, feels like Jason is a son to him and frankly, they deserve each other. How much does Senior love Jason- bought a new suit for wedding, WITH SLEEVES! It was his first new suit in forty years. He even got married in a sleeveless tux, so this is something special.

Speaking of “special,” no one on the show is more “special” than Mikey. When he heard that Sr. was going to Jason’s wedding (which, BTW, Paulie did not) he took it as a personal affront that Sr. would go to Jason’s and not Paulie’s- nor his, for that matter. Yes, I must have missed this, but at some point Mikey was about to be married and then it all fell apart. I don’t know who was at fault, but I figure that his bride must have sobered up and realized she was about to marry Mikey Teutul and go the hell out of Dodge.

But that wasn’t all from Mikey this week. Following his moving out of his art studio he moved back in with mommy and daddy- I mean Paulie and Vinnie. Not only did he set up a little art space in the shop, but he also planned to run sprints up and down the shop.
The busy shop.
The busy shop filled with expensive equipment.
The busy shop filled with expensive equipment which he broke.
Couldn’t you see that coming?

Paulie this week got a new customer, Faro Technologies, who was one of Sr.’s vendors. I don’t get why they went to Paulie (Senior suspects they poached him, and I think maybe he’s right.) because, let’s be frank, Paulie has nothing to offer, but they did and sent him a prototype mechanical arm. What does it do? I don’t know but it looked pretty cool until Mikey broke it. Paulie’s reaction? He screamed at Mikey, called him an idiot, and told him to get away from everything and never touch anything again.

At this point it may be helpful to remind you that I am talking about Paul JUNIOR, not Senior. Hmm, I wonder where all that anger came from? And judging by some of the other things Paulie had to say about Mikey, I wonder if Senior isn’t right about Paulie just using him against his Senior.

And by the way, Paulie, great mechanic that he is, told Mikey (of all people, Mikey!) to “glue it back together.” This is an expensive prototype on loan to them. I hope that Crazy Glue works!

Regardless, things were moving right along at PJD. Vinnie and Odie-Who-Is-Not-Cody started on the Faro bike and got as far as two minutes in when they realized that Paulie had not drawn up any plans. Paulie explained that he had them in his head, which is the worst place to keep them for a variety of reasons. Brendan, who seems to be the only guy who can fabricate in the entire country, flew all the way in from California to work on the bike. How hard up is he for work? How bad is the fabrication market in California that he would leave his pregnant wife at home while he flew to New York to make a fuel tank? Is there no one east of the Mississippi who can hammer some sheet metal?

Odie-Who-Is-Not-Cody had an idea about the bike’s design, to which Vinnie replied “nothing you say will be used.” GOOD FOR YOU VINNIE! He said he was only kidding, but you know what Shakespeare said: “Jesters do oft prove prophets.” That was in King Lear, another guy who didn’t quite get along with his kids. Let’s see how this tragedy ends.

In the end, there is no winner here. Unless you count Iron Horse magazine, which interviewed both Senior and Junior and got a lot of free plugs on the show this week.