These Metro-Sci-Fi Times

Here goes my current list of sci-fi meets NYC's urban landscape:

5) The Freelance Whales, as seen yesterday, on Cinco de Mayo at Webster Hall

("The Freelance Whales is a series of unfinished thoughts, confused sensory experiences and convoluted yet composited emotions...the lighthearted sound is overshadowed by lyrics that make you smile to yourself and wonder if your dreams can be as fulfilling as the sound from The Freelance Whales." - Wes Soltis, HEAVEmedia) The surreal harmonies somehow make it sci-fi to me... beautifully so.

4) Mars 2112, the underground Martian-themed restaurant by Times Square. A surreal tourist trap, it is yet somehow deliciously quaint and somewhat of a throwback to old-school sci-fi concepts. Also, the 2112 is remarkably similar to my zipcode in Williamsburg: 11211. Coincidence...?

3) Dr. Sketchy's Anto-Art School. According to the website, "The Next Dr. Sketchy Is... May 8, 4-7 pm - Dr. Sketchy's is proud to present another fantastic Art Star series with the epic Kenny Scharf! Featuring the lovely Sequinette, this will prove to be Sketchy's most surreal session yet." We'll see about that...

2) "Manorexia," as described in NYMag.

So the article begins: "One of the side effects of metrosexuality seems to be the affliction of men with the same unrealistic body images that women have been dealing with for years."

Strange times we're in. Male mannequins are being reduced to a 27" waist -- that's just wrong.

1) Janelle Monae last month at the Highline Ballroom. Bizarrely exquisite. Ok, yes, yes, there's Lady Gaga, and the lady deserves some credit, but somehow Ms. Janelle Monae is a little more authentically sci-fi, or maybe also just more groovy/soul/funk sci-fi, while Gaga is a little more produced and glam...

And the point against NYC's inclination toward the sci-fi:

-1) Colossus: As described in NYMag, "Jean Nouvel’s Tower Verre was going to be the biggest thing to hit the midtown skyline since the Empire State Building. Then the city told him to chop off 200 feet. Scoffs the French architect: Why is Manhattan, of all places, afraid of heights?"

According to Justin Davidson in another NYMag article, "The Point of the Skyline," "Manhattan’s skyline was wrought by the single-minded pursuit of profit and boosted by a spiritual lust for height. To erect a tall building is to proclaim one’s faith in the future," which is why the height reduction of Nouvel's Tower Verre is so disappointing.