After a brief stay in Somerset, Pennsylvania, visiting Erin's friend, Josh, we drove to Pittsburgh. Tom, my first cousin once-removed (my father's first cousin), lives in Squirrel Hill, a beautiful neighborhood between Schenly and Frick Park. Each park is expansive. If you look on a map of Pittsburgh, you'll realize how much space they take up, relative to the city next to it. Erin and I were both amazed at the access to nature within the cityscape.
The street he lives on is brick. So are a couple other parallel roads, making the neighborhood look feel old -- but not old enough that there might be a "Do Not Touch" sign on it. The houses were quaint, with an abundance of large 50's-style pillars. I noticed that to live in Pittsburgh, you'd need a car. More like, want a car. Each side of town was far away from the next. This turns me off from living there. My ideal of city-living would be to not need a car -- to be able to walk or bike to any store, market, pharmacy, etc.
The Andy Warhol Museum felt dead. This was the second time I had been there. The last time I visited I was 10. 11 years later, it looked exactly the same. Minus, the Vader helmet showing. I wasn't at all impressed by this exhibition.
"Good artists copy, great artist steal" mentioned Picasso.
But if it's obvious that you're stealing, then what is the point? I would say to anyone making another Darth Vader helmet to go home. Do something interesting if you're inclined to share it.
Warhol left us a new lens to look through; a simplified and dead lens of satire. I think Warhol himself must have been so bored with the world.
In Pittsburgh, there are more backwards hats in than people to occupy them.
