Hyperbolic Christmas decorations in the Bronx

On the subject of the American art of exaggeration (going back to one or two posts from last year on this theme), naturally the natives here have to take Christmas decorations to a whole new level. You go past entire houses lit up with gaudy lights, with enormous, illuminated Santas, elves, reindeers and Christmas trees installed in front gardens.

But these, I discovered recently, are still entirely dwarfed by a ludicrously brash, ridiculously over-the-top, hilariously kitsch Disney-inspired Christmas wonderland / scene from hell at a house in the middle of the Bronx, off the Pelham Parkway. You simply cannot believe your eyes when you go past the house. On display in front of the house, on the roof, in the back garden, everywhere on the premises, are countless, somewhat grotesque, life-sized figurines – some religious characters, some Santa-inspired and some cartoon characters – dancing, rotating, gesticulating to the enthralled onlookers; all the while accompanied by a tinny musical soundtrack of Christmas ditties.

Here are some pics of the Christmas decorations to end all Christmas decorations:

Kind of hideously life-sized dancing figures:

Santa’s reindeer-drawn sleigh on the roof, with Minnie Mouse:

Angels astride the garden shed:

From this angle, you can see Micky Mouse too:

Shepherds, angels, palm trees:

Welcome to Bloombergville

Fourth in a series of snaps of random happenings in New York City:-

Right near where I work, in downtown Manhattan, protestors were warming up to the ways of civil disobedience earlier this year, before Occupy Wall Street really took off. They were camping out / sitting out next to the Woolworth Building, promulgating these messages of fairer wealth distribution at a time when Mayor Bloomberg was threatening to cut the city budget meaning public sector jobs / services would be cut.

Enjoyed seeing the creative slogans of the protesters (and reminded me of the heady days when I too was out protesting in the anti-capitalist protests in the City of London many a moon ago):

Let them eat cake:

“Welcome to Bloombergville”:

Tax the rich:

Dog training lesson, Union Square

Third in a series of random New York snaps:-

Union Square, I’ve discovered, seems to be a magnet for all manner of weird and wonderful happenings and people. All shades of humanity seem to congregate here: the down-and-outs and the drunks lounging around, the bourgeois Manhattanites doing their farmers’ market shopping (scoff from this writer who has lived in Paris and knows what real farmers’ markets look like), the clickety-click of the high-heeled, sleek New York businesswomen, the ageing rock stars busking away.

And then, of course, there are the anxiously earnest dog-owners of New York City who gather at Union Square with their canine charges, to be taught the art of taming their beasts:

Note the variety of canine, as well as human, breeds that make up the class, all of whom look faintly sheepish:

Interloper disrupts class, teacher not happy:

Dogs learn how to sit still – note grey dog not following teacher’s instructions:

Dogs get a pat on the back:

Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Manhattan skyline

Second in a pic series of classic New York moments – Here, watching that most quintessential of New York films, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, at an outdoor movie screening in Brooklyn Bridge Park this summer, with the twinkling skyline of Manhattan providing the perfect backdrop to the scene:

Holly Golightly looking glam even when she wakes up:

Before the movie began, as it was getting dark, just to show off that Manhattan skyline (with many a New Yorker picnicker in the foreground):

“José’s my first nonrat romance”:

The dénouement we were all waiting for (contented sigh):

Spotted – Michael Jackson, back from the dead, on the A Train

I haven’t blogged for ages, but I have been taking random pics of funny/unusual/typically New York sights, so I thought to lure myself back into blogging more regularly, I’d start gently – by uploading a pic or two.

Here’s my first in a series of random, unchronologically ordered, New York snaps:

I present….Michael Jackson, back from the dead and fully reincarnated, pre-plastic surgery and looking younger than ever, doing the Moon Dance, on the A Train: