It looks pretty clean and delicately built. I wish we behaved it good.
Video reveals NYC subway ride 108 years ago from Union Square to Grand Central
31–40 of 48 posts
Re: Video reveals NYC subway ride 108 years ago from Union Square to Grand Central
#32Reminds me of this video: http://www.wimp.com/sanfrancisco/ -- uninterrupted San Francisco footage from 1905. Very surreal, extremely captivating.
Anyone know what the music in this video is?
The track is called La Femme d'Argent by the band Air on the album Moon Safari. What's odd is I had just been listening to this earlier and somehow thought something had turned it back on.
Re: Video reveals NYC subway ride 108 years ago from Union Square to Grand Central
#33A good view of people on the platform starts at about 4:20.
I'm not sure if its an artifact of the camera, a result of their clothes or something cultural but its fascinating to watch them walk. The men especially all walk differently than people today. Their posture and demeanor is almost alien. Its almost like they're all walking down an invisible incline.
I believe you are seeing focal plane shutter distortion.
http://maisonbisson.com/post/10531/focal-plane-shutter-disto...
Re: Video reveals NYC subway ride 108 years ago from Union Square to Grand Central
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
looking at all those people, thinking how each is busy with their day, their plans, their hopes - then realizing all of them had already lived their lives and died, including the odd child also in the video... Nothing deep to say - this can be said about every old media showing people - just for some reason, perhaps the portrayed routine, this made me reflect on that fact
I've thought about that watching old movies from even as late as the '30s - that every single person I'm watching (scenes with 10s if not hundreds of people) are long dead.
Every time I watch old films or start pondering mortality I then think of life longevity augmentation which is probably going to happen in the next 40-50 years (if not sooner) and then wonder if a. I'll live that long, and b. what a shame it is all those people are dead.
Then I start thinking of all the differences we'll have when longevity comes about, such as being able to travel intergalactic distances, declining birth rates, and placing a higher price on the human life. It's an interesting thought exercise.
Re: Video reveals NYC subway ride 108 years ago from Union Square to Grand Central
#35What strikes me the most is how similar they are to us.
Re: Video reveals NYC subway ride 108 years ago from Union Square to Grand Central
#36As a (former) regular rider of the NYC subway, the thing that strikes me the most is just how short the platforms all are! Anyone who's ever had to turn an MVP into something that can serve millions of requests will appreciate some of the history of the MTA. At almost every station along the old IRT lines, you can pick out the boundaries of the "old" stations and where the platforms were later extended. As the articl…
You can actually run the IRT cars on BMT/IND tracks, it would just be awkward for passengers. Maintenance trains (e.g. the garbage collector train, the trains used for trackwork, etc.) often use retired IRT cars for things like motive power or transporting equipment for that very reason: they can go on any line.
Re: Video reveals NYC subway ride 108 years ago from Union Square to Grand Central
#37Reminds me more of the London tube stations than any of the NYC subway stations of today, likely due to a combination of respect and lack of bodily waste/trash. I ride the NYC subway every day and am always surprised at how poorly the stations are treated. People throw wrappers on the tracks so calmly and confidently as if they were designated to collect waste. Puddles of urine are not uncommonly found. It baffles me…
New York in general is just dirty. It's a place to visit, not to live in.
Reality is dirty. I love it here in NYC.
Re: Video reveals NYC subway ride 108 years ago from Union Square to Grand Central
#38Reminds me of this video: http://www.wimp.com/sanfrancisco/ -- uninterrupted San Francisco footage from 1905. Very surreal, extremely captivating.
Surreal indeed.
The subway video looked remarkably similar to what you would see today. Folks were overdressed, but that's about it.
However, that San Francisco street cruise was a different world!
Re: Video reveals NYC subway ride 108 years ago from Union Square to Grand Central
#39Reminds me of this video: http://www.wimp.com/sanfrancisco/ -- uninterrupted San Francisco footage from 1905. Very surreal, extremely captivating.
Wow. I'm not sure if people just hung out in the middle of the street back then or if folks are just excited about the camera.
Re: Video reveals NYC subway ride 108 years ago from Union Square to Grand Central
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
looking at all those people, thinking how each is busy with their day, their plans, their hopes - then realizing all of them had already lived their lives and died, including the odd child also in the video... Nothing deep to say - this can be said about every old media showing people - just for some reason, perhaps the portrayed routine, this made me reflect on that fact
I've thought about that watching old movies from even as late as the '30s - that every single person I'm watching (scenes with 10s if not hundreds of people) are long dead.
What about Youtube? Never in history could people so easily share their lives with the whole planet and it being archived very well (and searchable). Think about the impact it (already) has on the future, when people somewhere hundred years from now can look back at so much of human history in full color and sound etc. We as humans are currently recording so much for future generations. Half of it may be crap, but on the other side there's also a lot of good stuff.