Location: 86th Floor, Empire State Building.  11pm

In the fabled location of Doc Savage’s suite of offices, I photographed Times Square glowing in the near distance.  I actually looked for the 1930s Superhero’s name, Clark Savage, Junior, on the building directory. He was unlike other superheroes in that he lacked superpowers: he trained himself, reinvented who he was, to be extraordinary.  What would Doc think of Second Life?

Manhattan has meant more than the best pizza I have tasted. It also jarred me because this place is so much like SL.

First is the erasure of topography and nature, except in Olmstead’s (magnificent) Central Park.  Next, the wild fashions of Greenwich Village near NYU or the Theater District show more modesty than in SL, but these gaudily plumed or subway-Goth natives could be avatars.  Finally, the tourists gawking at the neon canyon of Times Square are avatars, doing a scarecrow’s walk as awkward as any SL newbie’s. 

I don’t think that seeing the surrealist masterpieces at MoMA forced these connections.

A crazy man passed me singing, in a surprisingly clear and melodious voice, about why he hates Chinese people.  Later on, two lovers had a loud verbal tiff in public, right in the middle of the sidewalk.

Doc Savage’s New York was a place of great financial visions and futuristic dreams. If the dreams are parodies today—Trump’s hubris, Paris Hilton’s debauchery—we might excuse them. They hold up a mirror to the unreal worlds we are coding, one avatar at a time, online.

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gokrekoc http://teqzrjjw.com hvdbzgxz cfankvfd judnccvk  uqsawguv

Alright, I think you’ve sold me and I’ll soon sign up and recreate an avatar.  The bit on flying is enough to get me there all on its own.  When I arrive, you’ll have to show me the ropes.

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