yes, he was a reformer vs the machine in the '60s.
― you call it trollin' i call it steamrollin' (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 27 July 2011 21:18 (1 year ago) Permalink
I think there’s an appeal to a lot of those movies, like Escape from New York or Maniac Cop, a view of Manhattan covered in garbage and graffiti.The graffiti was sickening! I never extolled graffiti as a new art form—that’s bullshit. Put it in your house, but not in my house, and not on the subways.
That’s what those films tapped into—that fear.Yeah, there’s no question about that. Particularly in the subways. Let me be maybe too bold about it. Can I tell you a little anecdote?
Do it.I wanted to get rid of New York’s graffiti problem, but I wasn’t in charge of the subways, the MTA was. I called the MTA into City Hall and told them they had to get rid of the graffiti. I presented them with a plan to do it: Kids were spray-painting train cars in the yards at night because there weren’t any fences. I told them, just put up a fence and put some dogs inside. They got scared, worried that the dogs would bite people, so I said, “OK, if you don’t want any chance of dogs biting people, get wolves.” That’s the problem with the new Liam Neeson movie, The Grey. There’s no recorded case of a wild wolf ever having bitten or attacked a single human being in North America.
I don’t believe that.Well, it’s true. The next day Clyde Haberman of the New York Times came to me and told me he’d checked my statement and that there are records of domesticated wolves biting humans. I said, “I know that! I’m not talking about a domesticated wolf. I’m talking about wild wolves. Let’s have wild wolves protect the trains. If the wild wolves become tame, replace them with more wild ones.”
So you recommended that the MTA fight graffiti with wild wolves?Yes.
― mizzell, Wednesday, 2 May 2012 15:27 (1 year ago) Permalink
so he's not dead yet eh
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 15:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
Ooh, baby, baby, it's a wild wolf.
― i love the large auns pictures! (Phil D.), Wednesday, 2 May 2012 15:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
I told them, just put up a fence and put some dogs inside. They got scared, worried that the dogs would bite people, so I said, “OK, if you don’t want any chance of dogs biting people, get wolves.”
funny that a guy who was a lawyer pre-politics would have such little regard for the city's potential tort liability for dog or wolf attacks.
― Nu Metal is the best music there is, the rest is pussy shit. (Eisbaer), Thursday, 3 May 2012 11:09 (1 year ago) Permalink
if the wolves wouldn't bite people then they wouldn't deter crime!!
― j., Thursday, 3 May 2012 15:44 (1 year ago) Permalink
amazing that ironic wolfshirts weren't all the rage in koch-era nyc.
― get wolves (get bent), Thursday, 3 May 2012 18:28 (1 year ago) Permalink
Koch writes possible self-rehabbing review of an AIDS documentary, draws fire from Larry Kramer ("We must never forget that this man was an active participant in helping us to die, in murdering us"):
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2012/10/closeted-former-nyc-mayor-ed-koch.html
― cancer, kizz my hairy irish azz (Dr Morbius), Friday, 12 October 2012 20:32 (7 months ago) Permalink
Sully's mentioned this btw
― The windiest militant trash (Michael White), Friday, 12 October 2012 20:37 (7 months ago) Permalink
this one's for you, morbs
https://archive.org/details/pra-IZ1228
― these wilburys taste like wilburys (donna rouge), Friday, 12 October 2012 21:16 (7 months ago) Permalink
thx... I listened to Rothenberg, probably heard some of these then!
― cancer, kizz my hairy irish azz (Dr Morbius), Friday, 12 October 2012 21:27 (7 months ago) Permalink
The good news always comes far too late, but the fucker is dead.
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Friday, 1 February 2013 12:07 (3 months ago) Permalink
Even more over
― that futterwacken you like is back in style (how's life), Friday, 1 February 2013 12:29 (3 months ago) Permalink
RIP one of my favorite thread titles ever
― space phwoar (Hurting 2), Friday, 1 February 2013 13:21 (3 months ago) Permalink
I got good price for you, Mayor Kochie. How I'm doing?
― that futterwacken you like is back in style (how's life), Friday, 1 February 2013 13:33 (3 months ago) Permalink
Enjoyed the documentary. I didn't think it was hagiography, unless hagiography is anything that doesn't unequivocally present him as a villain--it wasn't difficult for someone like me who only knew him from a distance to understand why he inspired such loathing. I'll skip anything more about my own reaction to him in deference to anyone who lived in NYC during that time. Three great bits of music: John Cale's "Fear Is a Man's Best Friend" (thrilling surprise cut way too short), "Smalltown Boy," and "The Only Living Boy in New York City" over the end credits. Koch's line about Abe Beame right near the end is classic.
― clemenza, Monday, 15 April 2013 01:10 (1 month ago) Permalink
fuck the bastard's bones in hell
― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Monday, 15 April 2013 01:19 (1 month ago) Permalink
I know you guys refuse to acknowledge one single positive thing but hey
― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, March 13, 2013 7:22 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Matt Armstrong, Monday, 15 April 2013 01:47 (1 month ago) Permalink