Elgg Threaded Blog Comments

Posted on 8/15/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

I have finally finished my work on a threaded comment system for Elgg 1.2. You can download the plugin at http://community.elgg.org/pg/plugins/rsrobbins/read/228544/threaded-blog-comments This must completely replace the existing blog plugin because the change from an annotation comment to an ElggObject comment is more extensive than a view can handle. But I tried to follow the Elgg way of doing things as much as possible.

The Threaded Blog Comments plugin allows you to reply to a specific blog comment so you can create comment threads without using some hack like the @ ampersand sign (made popular by Twitter). A comment that is a reply to a previous comment will appear underneath and indented. This makes it much easier to have a conversation in the comments. In addition to the nesting of comments, I also added pagination controls for comments which was not a feature of the original comment system.

Much of this work is based on the similar customization I did for Ning before they killed their platform for third party developers. And prior to that I developed this style of nested comments for YouTube videos using the YouTube API which you can see at http://www.williamsportwebdeveloper.com/YouComment.aspx. The legacy of this prior work is that the Elgg version still uses a XML feed. So you also get a RSS feed for a blog’s comments as a bonus.

If I don’t go back to work any time soon, I’ll work on applying this customization to Elgg 1.5. I will also see about implementing nested comments for other types of content besides blogs.

Posted in Elgg, PHP, Programming, Web | Tagged Blog comments, comment thread, Elgg | Leave a comment

Vista’s Virtual Store Bites Me In The Ass

Posted on 8/14/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

I’ve been working on my blog comment threading modification of Elgg for the last few days. As I was copying my files to my iBook to test my instructions on how to implement the changes, I noticed something weird. When I opened a PHP file in my code editor I would see the current code. But when I copied to file to a new folder and opened it in my editor I would see an old version of the code. This caused me several problems as I implemented the changes to the copy of Elgg running on my iBook.

I was very confused! I would see different code depending on where the file was located. After posting a question on Stack Overflow I finally learned what was causing the problem. Vista has something known as the Virtual Store which it uses to store files in order to pretend a user has permission to write files to protected locations like “Program Files”. I have Apache 2 installed under “Program Files”. My web sites are located under C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\htdocs. So when I edited my PHP files a few would be copied to the Virtual Store because I did not have permission to edit files under “Program Files”.

One clue to the problem that you can watch out for is the Compatibility Files button that will appear in Windows Explorer when the folder has files in the Virtual Store:

To solve this problem give your user account full permissions to your Elgg web site directory under “Program Files” and keep an eye on the Virtual Store to make sure none of the files you are working on are coming from there.

Vista sucks! This caused me considerable confusion and many problems. I should send Microsoft a bill for the time and money it cost me.

Posted in Elgg, General, PHP, Programming | Tagged Elgg, Virtual Store, Vista | 1 Comment

6 Ways To Work With Dates In JavaScript

Posted on 8/7/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

Yesterday I added another AJAX demonstration to my web site using the Reddit API. http://www.williamsportwebdeveloper.com/reddit.html The reddit API provides dates in the UTC number format which forced me to spend some time figuring out how to convert it into other date formats. Since I frequently deal with different date formats in JavaScript I decided to do some research on the topic and add a cheatsheet to my notes. I might as well share it with you because I don’t share this kind of knowledge often enough.

Get Current Date/Time

The first example just shows you how to get the current date and time. Note that this can vary slightly depending upon the browser. Also, it does not factor in your time zone.

function fnNow() {
    var now = new Date();
    alert(now);
}

Thu Aug 6 22:49:52 EDT 2009 
Thu Aug 06 2009 19:43:34 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)

UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) String

This example gets the date and time in a slightly different string format.

function fnUTCString() {
    var now = new Date();
    alert(now.toUTCString());
}

Thu, 6 Aug 2009 22:49:52 UTC 
Thu, 06 Aug 2009 23:44:14 GMT

UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) Number

The UTC() method takes a date and returns the number of milliseconds since midnight of January 1, 1970 according to universal time. 10 to 13 digits, last 3 digits for miliseconds.

Syntax: Date.UTC(year,month,day,hours,minutes,seconds,ms)

function fnUTC() {
    var now = new Date();
    var d = Date.UTC(now.getFullYear(), now.getMonth(), now.getDate(), now.getHours(), now.getMinutes(), now.getSeconds(), now.getMilliseconds());
    alert(d);
}

The example above converts a UTC date in the numerical format, 1249585988774, into the string format. This is what I needed to work with the Reddit API.

1249585988774

ISO 8601

ISO 8601. Note that the “T” appears literally in the string, to indicate the beginning of the time element. Times are expressed in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), with a special UTC designator (“Z”). Used in ATOM RSS feeds.

function fnISO() {
    // Only works in Firefox using ECMAScript 5
    var now = new Date().toISOString();
    alert(now);
}

As noted in the code comment above, ECMAScript 5 will support the toISOString() method. Firefox 3.5 appears to be the only browser with a JavaScript engine that has this method for the Date object. This will make it easier to convert dates into the proper format for RSS feeds.

2009-08-06T23:36:31.390Z

UTC Number To JavaScript Date

In the following sample code, I finally factor in my time zone and convert an UTC date in the numerical format into a regular JavaScript Date object.

function fnUTC2Date() {
    var now = new Date();
    var d = Date.UTC(now.getFullYear(), now.getMonth(), now.getDate(), now.getHours(), now.getMinutes(), now.getSeconds(), now.getMilliseconds());
    // obtain local UTC offset and convert to msec
    localOffset = now.getTimezoneOffset() * 60000;
    var c = new Date(d + localOffset);
    alert(c.toLocaleString());
}

JavaScript Date To ISO8601

Since the toISOString() method is not available for Internet Explorer yet you will need to reformat a date into the ISO 8601 format yourself. The following code is just one way to accomplish this:

function padzero(n) {
    return n < 10 ? '0' + n : n;
}
function pad2zeros(n) {
    if (n < 100) {
        n = '0' + n;
    }
    if (n < 10) {
        n = '0' + n;
    }
    return n;
}
function toISOString(d) {
    return d.getUTCFullYear() + '-' +  padzero(d.getUTCMonth() + 1) + '-' + padzero(d.getUTCDate()) + 'T' + padzero(d.getUTCHours()) + ':' +  padzero(d.getUTCMinutes()) + ':' + padzero(d.getUTCSeconds()) + '.' + pad2zeros(d.getUTCMilliseconds()) + 'Z';
}
function fnToISO() {
    var now = new Date();
    alert(toISOString(now));
}

Posted in General, JavaScript, Programming | Tagged Dates, ISO 8601, JavaScript, UTC | 12 Comments

Elgg And Zen Cart

Posted on 8/5/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

Pennsylvania still has not passed a budget so I continue to work on my web development skill set. Currently I plan to focus on Elgg and Zen Cart. Zen Cart is a new web application for me. I think it is being maintained more than OsCommerce so there are probably more web sites using that shopping cart. My web hosting company supports Zen Cart so I may eventually put up a demo store to sell my old technology books.

I have resumed my work on threaded comments for Elgg blogs. Yesterday I revised my comment RSS feed to sort the comments for a threaded discussion and then I created a test page to display the comments as a thread of nested comments, with replies appearing under the original comment. Now all I need to do is put everything together into its final form.

After I complete the threaded comments I will spend some more time exploring Elgg 1.5.

Now that I have a lot of free time, there are various other things I’m doing to keep busy. I will be making more YouTube videos after I figure out the best method of editing videos on my new system. I never got around to installing my synthesizer software or much video editing software. I have a lot of video from my traveling to use as raw footage.

I also plan to create some Vista Gadgets, write an AJAX page using the reddit API, and continue to study French and German. Yesterday I finally finished adding all the material from a book on essential French grammar to my notes so I’ve been exposed to every aspect of French grammar.

Now is not the time to relax or take a vacation because I fear the Pennsylvania state budget could impose severe budget cuts leaving my permanently laid off.

Posted in Business, PHP, Programming, Web | Tagged Elgg, Zen Cart | Leave a comment

Brothel Locator Web Service In COBOL

Posted on 7/29/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

My last article on How To Create A JSON Web Service in ASP.NET did not attract much interest so it is time to step it up a notch. To make this article more interesting I’m going to create a new web service in Fujitsu NetCOBOL. As far as I know, there are no examples on the Internet on how to do anything meaningful with the .NET Framework using the COBOL language. Although you can use many programming languages with .NET nobody really uses anything other than C# and VB.NET.

Let’s suppose your company has senior management who often travel to Germany. Most of your expertise is in the COBOL programming language because the company has been using COBOL for years. And lets assume any new work must be done in COBOL as well to maintain the corporate IT culture. The executive puts in a request for a web service to help him find brothels while in Germany. You already have a web service that supplies him with client addresses from a contact database. He can’t easily find information on brothels in Germany because he does not read German so you’ll be maintaining a database of their locations.

Below is the database schema that we will be using for a database named Laufhaus with one table named ErosCenters:

column_name	data_type	numeric_precision	character_maximum_length	is_nullable
ID	int	10		NO
BrothelName	nvarchar		255	YES
Street	nvarchar		255	YES
City	nvarchar		255	YES
PostalCode	nvarchar		6	YES
Phone	nvarchar		25	YES
Link	nvarchar		255	YES
Latitude	nvarchar		50	YES
Longitude	nvarchar		50	YES

Fujitsu NetCOBOL supplies an utility program which will add the necessary XML nodes to your web.config file for the database connection. This program will error until you run another utility program to update the machine.config. This was not well documented. Run the following command first: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Fujitsu NetCOBOL for .NET Runtime V3.0\Runtime\x86>setupconfig.exe /install

This will add the following section to your web.config file:

<fujitsu.cobol>
    <runtime>
        <sqlSettings>
            <connectionScope>
                <add key="@SQL_CONNECTION_SCOPE" value="APPLICATION_DOMAIN" />
            </connectionScope>
            <serverList>
                <server name="SERVER1" type="adonet" description="SERVER1">
                    <add key="@SQL_DATASRC" value="LocalSqlServer" />
                    <add key="@SQL_USERID" value="sa" />
                    <add key="@SQL_PASSWORD" value="HIFDOBLHCFAPANBFLOJCNNMLDDHO" />
                </server>
            </serverList>
            <sqlDefaultInf>
                <add key="@SQL_DATASRC" value="LocalSqlServer" />
                <add key="@SQL_USERID" value="sa" />
                <add key="@SQL_PASSWORD" value="HIFDOBLHCFAPANBFLOJCNNMLDDHO" />
            </sqlDefaultInf>
        </sqlSettings>
    </runtime>
</fujitsu.cobol>

You can create a ASP.NET web service using COBOL as the language. It took me hours of experimentation to figure out how to turn a simple “Hello World” demo program into an actual web service. I had to work through how to make the database connection, how to return XML instead of a string, how to return multiple records, how to create an .NET object within COBOL, and how to call an object method. It was a hell of a lot of fun though to work in COBOL. As you can see this program is far more wordy than an equivalent program in C# would be.

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
CLASS-ID. CLASS-THIS AS "Service" INHERITS CLASS-WEBSERVICE
    CUSTOM-ATTRIBUTE CA-WEBSERVICE CA-WEBSERVICEBINDING.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
CONFIGURATION SECTION.
SPECIAL-NAMES.
    CUSTOM-ATTRIBUTE CA-WEBSERVICE
      CLASS CLASS-WEBSERVICEATTRIBUTE
      PROPERTY PROP-NAMESPACE IS N"http://www.williamsportwebdeveloper.com"
    CUSTOM-ATTRIBUTE CA-WEBSERVICEBINDING
      CLASS CLASS-WEBSERVICEBINDINGATTR
      PROPERTY PROP-CONFORMSTO IS PROP-BASICPROFILE1_1 OF ENUM-WSIPROFILES
    CUSTOM-ATTRIBUTE CA-WEBMETHOD
      CLASS CLASS-WEBMETHODATTRIBUTE
    .
REPOSITORY.
    CLASS CLASS-STRING AS "System.String"
    CLASS CLASS-WEBMETHODATTRIBUTE AS "System.Web.Services.WebMethodAttribute"
    CLASS CLASS-WEBSERVICE AS "System.Web.Services.WebService"
    CLASS CLASS-WEBSERVICEATTRIBUTE AS "System.Web.Services.WebServiceAttribute"
    CLASS CLASS-WEBSERVICEBINDINGATTR AS "System.Web.Services.WebServiceBindingAttribute"
    CLASS CLASS-SQLPROCEDURE AS "Microsoft.SqlServer.Server.SqlProcedureAttribute"
    CLASS CLASS-XML AS "System.Xml.XmlDocument"
    CLASS CLASS-STRING-BUILDER AS "System.Text.StringBuilder"
    ENUM ENUM-WSIPROFILES AS "System.Web.Services.WsiProfiles"
    PROPERTY PROP-BASICPROFILE1_1 AS "BasicProfile1_1"
    PROPERTY PROP-CONFORMSTO AS "ConformsTo"
    PROPERTY PROP-NAMESPACE AS "Namespace"
    .
OBJECT.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 MSG                  PIC X(1200).
01 WK-BROTHEL-NAME      PIC X(255).
01 WK-STREET            PIC X(255).
01 WK-CITY              PIC X(255).
01 WK-POSTAL-CODE       PIC X(6).
01 WK-PHONE             PIC X(255).
01 WK-LINK              PIC X(255).
01 WK-LATITUDE          PIC X(50).
01 WK-LONGITUDE         PIC X(50).
01 WK-STRING            OBJECT REFERENCE CLASS-STRING.
01 WK-STRING-BUILDER    OBJECT REFERENCE CLASS-STRING-BUILDER.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.

METHOD-ID. NEW.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
    *> Uncomment the following line if using designed components.
    *> INVOKE SELF "InitializeComponent".
END METHOD NEW.

METHOD-ID. GET-BROTHELS AS "GetBrothels" CUSTOM-ATTRIBUTE CA-WEBMETHOD.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
*> There must be enough fields for the number of columns.
    EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION END-EXEC.
01 BROTHEL-LIST.
  02 BROTHEL-NAME           PIC X(255).
  02 STREET                 PIC X(255).
  02 CITY                   PIC X(255).
  02 POSTAL-CODE            PIC X(6).
    02 PHONE                  PIC X(25).
    02 LINK                   PIC X(255).
    02 LATITUDE               PIC X(50).
    02 LONGITUDE              PIC X(50).
01 NUMBER-OF-RECORDS    PIC S9(9) COMP-5.
01 SQLINFOA.
    02 SQLERRD              PIC S9(9) COMP-5 OCCURS 6 TIMES.
01 SQLSTATE                 PIC X(5).
    EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION END-EXEC.
LINKAGE SECTION.
01 RET-VAL OBJECT REFERENCE CLASS-STRING.
01 RET-VAL-XML OBJECT REFERENCE CLASS-XML.
PROCEDURE DIVISION RETURNING RET-VAL-XML.
    EXEC SQL WHENEVER NOT FOUND GO TO :P-END END-EXEC.
    EXEC SQL
      DECLARE CUR1 CURSOR FOR SELECT BrothelName, Street, City, PostalCode, Phone, Link, Latitude, Longitude FROM ErosCenters
    END-EXEC.
 P-START.
    EXEC SQL CONNECT TO 'SERVER1' AS 'CNN1' END-EXEC.
    EXEC SQL
         SELECT COUNT(*) INTO :NUMBER-OF-RECORDS FROM ErosCenters
    END-EXEC.
    EXEC SQL OPEN CUR1 END-EXEC.
    *> CREATE AN STRING BUILDER OBJECT
    INVOKE CLASS-STRING-BUILDER "NEW" RETURNING WK-STRING-BUILDER.
    *> CALL THE OBJECT METHOD
    SET WK-STRING TO "<ErosCenters>"
    INVOKE WK-STRING-BUILDER "Append" USING BY VALUE WK-STRING.
    PERFORM P-LOOP NUMBER-OF-RECORDS TIMES.
 P-LOOP.
    EXEC SQL
        FETCH CUR1 INTO :BROTHEL-LIST
    END-EXEC.
    *> MOVE SQLERRD(3) TO MSG.
    *> MOVE BROTHEL-LIST TO MSG.
    MOVE BROTHEL-NAME TO WK-BROTHEL-NAME.
    MOVE STREET TO WK-STREET.
    MOVE CITY TO WK-CITY.
    MOVE POSTAL-CODE TO WK-POSTAL-CODE.
    MOVE PHONE TO WK-PHONE.
    MOVE LINK TO WK-LINK.
    MOVE LATITUDE TO WK-LATITUDE.
    MOVE LONGITUDE TO WK-LONGITUDE.
    *> CONSTRUCT XML STRING
    SET WK-STRING TO CLASS-STRING::"Concat"(N"<Brothel><Name>" WK-BROTHEL-NAME N"</Name>").
    INVOKE WK-STRING-BUILDER "Append" USING BY VALUE WK-STRING.
    SET WK-STRING TO CLASS-STRING::"Concat"(N"<Street>" WK-STREET N"</Street>").
    INVOKE WK-STRING-BUILDER "Append" USING BY VALUE WK-STRING.
    SET WK-STRING TO CLASS-STRING::"Concat"(N"<City>" WK-CITY N"</City>").
    INVOKE WK-STRING-BUILDER "Append" USING BY VALUE WK-STRING.
    SET WK-STRING TO CLASS-STRING::"Concat"(N"<PostalCode>" WK-POSTAL-CODE N"</PostalCode>").
    INVOKE WK-STRING-BUILDER "Append" USING BY VALUE WK-STRING.
    SET WK-STRING TO CLASS-STRING::"Concat"(N"<Phone>" WK-PHONE N"</Phone>").
    INVOKE WK-STRING-BUILDER "Append" USING BY VALUE WK-STRING.
    SET WK-STRING TO CLASS-STRING::"Concat"(N"<Link>" WK-LINK N"</Link>").
    INVOKE WK-STRING-BUILDER "Append" USING BY VALUE WK-STRING.
    SET WK-STRING TO CLASS-STRING::"Concat"(N"<Latitude>" WK-LATITUDE N"</Latitude>").
    INVOKE WK-STRING-BUILDER "Append" USING BY VALUE WK-STRING.
    SET WK-STRING TO CLASS-STRING::"Concat"(N"<Longitude>" WK-LONGITUDE N"</Longitude></Brothel>").
    INVOKE WK-STRING-BUILDER "Append" USING BY VALUE WK-STRING.
 P-END.
    SET WK-STRING TO "</ErosCenters>"
    INVOKE WK-STRING-BUILDER "Append" USING BY VALUE WK-STRING.
    EXEC SQL CLOSE CUR1 END-EXEC.
    EXEC SQL ROLLBACK WORK END-EXEC.
    EXEC SQL DISCONNECT DEFAULT END-EXEC.
    *> INVOKE SELF "GetData" .
    *> CREATE AN XMLDOCUMENT OBJECT
    INVOKE CLASS-XML "NEW" RETURNING RET-VAL-XML.
    *> CALL THE OBJECT METHOD
    SET WK-STRING TO WK-STRING-BUILDER::"ToString".
    INVOKE RET-VAL-XML "LoadXml" USING BY VALUE WK-STRING.
END METHOD GET-BROTHELS.

METHOD-ID. GET-DATA AS "GetData".
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
    MOVE "Hello" & " World" TO MSG.
END METHOD GET-DATA.

END OBJECT.
END CLASS CLASS-THIS.

Instead of a C# using namespace, you must alias a class in the REPOSITORY section. You define your string variables in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. Line 80 is where the database connection is being made. Then there is a query to determine how many records there are which tells you how many times to perform a routine. The database fields are moved to working storage strings which are then concatenated with XML tags. As you can see, just getting COBOL to build a string is hard work. A XmlDocument is created on line 130 and its LoadXml method is called to load the string that was built. This is what the web service returns.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ErosCenters>
  <Brothel>
    <Name>Laufhaus Vitalia</Name>
    <Street>Helene-Wessel-Bogen 16</Street>
    <City>Munich</City>
    <PostalCode>80939</PostalCode>
    <Phone>+49 (0) 89 35818865</Phone>
    <Link>http://www.laufhaus-vitalia.de</Link>
    <Latitude>48.197147</Latitude>
    <Longitude>11.592529</Longitude>
  </Brothel>
  <Brothel>
    <Name>Maison d'envie</Name>
    <Street>Danziger Strasse 61</Street>
    <City>Berlin</City>
    <PostalCode>10435</PostalCode>
    <Phone>030 417 259 20</Phone>
    <Link>http://www.danziger61.de</Link>
    <Latitude>52.540201</Latitude>
    <Longitude>13.422267</Longitude>
  </Brothel>
  <Brothel>
    <Name>Laufhaus Eros</Name>
    <Street>Ulmer Strasse 16</Street>
    <City>Goppingen</City>
    <PostalCode>73107</PostalCode>
    <Phone>07161-50 60 180</Phone>
    <Link>http://wwwlaufhaus-eros.de</Link>
    <Latitude>48.699458</Latitude>
    <Longitude>9.663935</Longitude>
  </Brothel>
</ErosCenters>

I’ve used Eiffel for the .NET Framework but I would prefer COBOL since it can be used with the .NET Framework 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005. I learned COBOL in community college but never got the chance to use it professionally.

Please note that the brothel locator web service is intended as a joke. I just thought it would entice programmers to check out COBOL for the .NET Framework. My serious articles are often ignored. Nobody has actually requested this web service and it will not be used. It was purely a programming exercise. The nature of the data in the database is unimportant compared to the interesting choice of programming language and the technical challenge of making this work in COBOL.

Posted in ASP.NET, COBOL, Programming | Tagged .NET Framework, COBOL, Germany, web service, XML | 5 Comments

How To Create A JSON Web Service In ASP.NET

Posted on 7/27/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

ASP.NET makes it easy to create web services but they usually return XML. Like many web developers I now prefer JSON. This article and sample code will show you how to get your web service to return data in the JSON format. The web service is written in C#. Since my web hosting company only provides me with a MySQL database, we’ll make this project a little more challenging by pulling data from a MySQL database. Finally, I will show you how to use jQuery to call your web service. So you get three kinds of value from this article; a web service in C# to return JSON data, how to use a MySQL database, and how to call an ASP.NET web service using jQuery. None of those three tasks are very intuitive or simple when using ASP.NET because they all go against the framework conventions.

The first task to tackle is connecting to the MySQL database. ASP.NET is usually used with SQL Server or SQL Server Express so using MySQL is not always easy. On my local development web server I downloaded the MySQL Connector/ODBC 5.1 from http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/odbc/5.1.html. Then my web.config file merely needed a connection string node:

<connectionStrings>
        <add name="Books" connectionString="Driver={MySQL ODBC 5.1 Driver};Server=localhost;Database=books;uid=root;pwd=password;option=3;" providerName="System.Data.Odbc"/>
</connectionStrings>

NOTE: This is not my real password and there is no external access to MySQL server running on my development server.

For this demonstration, I am using a simple database I use to keep track of the books I read. It has a single table “reading” which has only three columns; BookNum, Title, Author. I don’t know if CrystalTech has the MySQL ODBC driver installed, but I was able to create a datasource name using the control panel so the connection string used a “dsn=books” instead of the driver.

The C# code for the web service at http://www.williamsportwebdeveloper.com/BookServices.asmx shows you how an ODBC connection is used to query the MySQL database. What you should notice in the code is that various method attributes are used on the web service class and methods. These method attributes require the System.Web.Script reference. If you get an error concerning missing assemblies then make sure your web.config file has everything it needs for an AJAX enabled ASP.NET site. As you can see, there is a ScriptMethod method attribute that specifies JSON as the response format. The tricky part is converting a dataset into a JSON string. I used a jagged array to accomplish that because it will serialize properly. That is probably the most valuable tip in this entire article.

using System;
using System.Web;
using System.Collections;
using System.Web.Services;
using System.Web.Services.Protocols;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.Odbc;
using System.Web.Script.Serialization;
using System.Web.Script.Services;

/// <summary>
/// Web services to query the book database. All methods return JSON data.
/// </summary>
[WebService(Description = "Web services to query the book database.", Namespace = "http://www.williamsportwebdeveloper.com/")]
[WebServiceBinding(ConformsTo = WsiProfiles.BasicProfile1_1)]
[ScriptService]
public class BookServices : System.Web.Services.WebService {

    public BookServices () {

        //Uncomment the following line if using designed components 
        //InitializeComponent(); 
    }

    [WebMethod(Description = "Gets the books matching part of a title.")]
    [ScriptMethod(ResponseFormat = ResponseFormat.Json)]
    public string GetBooksByTitle(string strTitle) {
        OdbcConnection objConnection = new OdbcConnection(System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["Books"].ConnectionString);
        OdbcCommand objCommand = new OdbcCommand("SELECT * FROM reading WHERE Title LIKE '%" + strTitle + "%' ORDER BY BookNum;", objConnection);
        DataSet objDataSet = new DataSet();
        OdbcDataAdapter objDataAdapter = new OdbcDataAdapter(objCommand);
        objDataAdapter.Fill(objDataSet, "reading");
        objConnection.Close();

        // Create a multidimensional jagged array
        string[][] JaggedArray = new string[objDataSet.Tables[0].Rows.Count][];
        int i = 0;
        foreach (DataRow rs in objDataSet.Tables[0].Rows)
        {
            JaggedArray[i] = new string[] { rs["BookNum"].ToString(), rs["Title"].ToString(), rs["Author"].ToString() };
            i = i + 1;
        }

        // Return JSON data
        JavaScriptSerializer js = new JavaScriptSerializer();
        string strJSON = js.Serialize(JaggedArray);
        return strJSON;
    }

    [WebMethod(Description = "Gets the books matching part of an author's name.")]
    [ScriptMethod(ResponseFormat = ResponseFormat.Json)]
    public string GetBooksByAuthor(string strAuthor)
    {
        OdbcConnection objConnection = new OdbcConnection(System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["Books"].ConnectionString);
        OdbcCommand objCommand = new OdbcCommand("SELECT * FROM reading WHERE Author LIKE '%" + strAuthor + "%' ORDER BY BookNum;", objConnection);
        DataSet objDataSet = new DataSet();
        OdbcDataAdapter objDataAdapter = new OdbcDataAdapter(objCommand);
        objDataAdapter.Fill(objDataSet, "reading");
        objConnection.Close();

        // Create a multidimensional jagged array
        string[][] JaggedArray = new string[objDataSet.Tables[0].Rows.Count][];
        int i = 0;
        foreach (DataRow rs in objDataSet.Tables[0].Rows)
        {
            JaggedArray[i] = new string[] { rs["BookNum"].ToString(), rs["Title"].ToString(), rs["Author"].ToString() };
            i = i + 1;
        }

        // Return JSON data
        JavaScriptSerializer js = new JavaScriptSerializer();
        string strJSON = js.Serialize(JaggedArray);
        return strJSON;
    }

}

At this point you have a web service that queries a MySQL database and returns records as JSON data. This is extremely useful if you want to use that data on your home page without making it an ASP.NET page. You can get the data using AJAX and avoid having your home page show an error should your ASP.NET web application develop a problem. Next I will show you the JavaScript code for calling the web service. I’ll use the jQuery library because it is extremely popular with web developers right now. It makes it easy to write JavaScript that works in both browsers but you may not know how to call an ASP.NET web service using jQuery, especially since we need to pass a parameter to the web service methods. This is also tricky because the content type must be JSON.

$(document).ready(function() {
    $("#btnTitleQuery").bind("click", function() {
        $("#query_results").empty();
        $("#query_results").append('<table id="ResultsTable" class="BooksTable"><tr><th>BookNum</th><th>Title</th><th>Author</th></tr>');
        $.ajax({
            type: "POST",
            contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
            url: "BookServices.asmx/GetBooksByTitle",
            data: '{ strTitle: "' + $("#txtTitle").val() + '" }',
            dataType: "json",
            success: function(msg) {
                var c = eval(msg.d);
                for (var i in c) {
                    $("#ResultsTable tr:last").after("<tr><td>" + c[i][0] + "</td><td>" + c[i][1] + "</td><td>" + c[i][2] + "</td></tr>");
                }
            }
        });
    })
    $("#btnAuthorQuery").bind("click", function() {
        $("#query_results").empty();
        $("#query_results").append('<table id="ResultsTable" class="BooksTable"><tr><th>BookNum</th><th>Title</th><th>Author</th></tr>');
        $.ajax({
            type: "POST",
            contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
            url: "BookServices.asmx/GetBooksByAuthor",
            data: '{ strAuthor: "' + $("#txtAuthor").val() + '" }',
            dataType: "json",
            success: function(msg) {
                var c = eval(msg.d);
                for (var i in c) {
                    $("#ResultsTable tr:last").after("<tr><td>" + c[i][0] + "</td><td>" + c[i][1] + "</td><td>" + c[i][2] + "</td></tr>");
                }
            }
        });
    })
});

You can try a working example at: http://www.williamsportwebdeveloper.com/BookQuery.html. This JavaScript is binding function prototypes to the button click events. These functions call the web service methods using the POST method and pass the required parameters as JSON data. The JSON data that it receives in response is used to create a table. You can continue to issue queries without reloading the web page. If you view the source of the BookQuery.html page you will find all the code required for the client page because it does not require any server side code.

Posted in ASP.NET, Databases, JavaScript, Programming, Web | Tagged ASP.NET, C#, jQuery, JSON, MySQL, web service | 46 Comments

Web Site Revamped

Posted on 7/25/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

Tonight I revamped my web site. I have not updated my web site in a long time although I had a task on my To Do List to improve the wording. I have updated the content to reflect my current skills and services. I removed a lot of crap and made it look more professional.

The page touting my ASP.NET expertise was way out of date and made it seem like I was still studying ASP.NET 2.0. I now know everything about ASP.NET 2.0. Of course, Microsoft has moved on to ASP.NET 3.5, ASP.NET MVC, Linq, and Silverlight 3.0. So I’m still behind on Microsoft technology.

I added a page about my PHP web development skills because I’ve been doing a lot of PHP programming. I learned a lot of PHP while working on the Vloggerheads Ning site and I’ve been doing stuff with Elgg.

I also restored some material about Storefront 6.0. Tonight I learned LaGarde filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year and Storefront has been acquired by Dydacomp. Businesses are really screwed if they are still using Storefront 6.0 but I’m still willing to support Storefront 6.0 because it always made me money and I have a lot of time invested in the necessary expertise to customize that old ASP.NET 1.1 web application. I think there may be a SQL Injection vulnerability for Storefront 6.0 which probably exists on many of the old sites I worked on.

I also made it easier to find my AJAX demonstrations and ASP.NET sample web pages through the Flash navigation. I have a lot of working code on my site which really demonstrates how good I’ve become as a web developer. I still have an unused MySQL database that I’m being charged for so I ought to use that for something. Elgg won’t run on an IIS web server so I may install OsCommerce, Joomla, or a CakePHP demo.

Posted in ASP.NET, PHP, Programming, Web Design | Tagged ASP.NET, LaGarde, PHP, Storefront | Leave a comment

Looking For More Freelance Work

Posted on 7/24/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

I’ve allowed my client list to dwindle down to just one but now I need to look for more freelance work. Pennsylvania has not passed a budget for the 2010 fiscal year and instead of issuing IOUs like California, they are not paying state employees, vendors, suppliers, and non-profit agencies. This has caused an emergency for many businesses that are dependent upon state funding. It has caused me to lose my major source of income although this may be only temporary, just until Pennsylvania passes a budget.

In any event, this is a wake up call to find additional sources of income. I have not been looking for freelance work because many of my clients have been deadbeats and I got tied off being taken advantage of. It seemed like a better idea to just concentrate on my best client who always pays on time. But you really can’t put all your eggs in one basket in this economy. I doubt that Pennsylvania will be able to pass a budget next year so this will occur again. They may also slash the budget so deeply that they eliminate the programs my employer is servicing.

In the past most of my freelance work has been customizing LaGarde’s Storefront shopping cart software. I see that another company has bought Storefront and their forum has been taken down. Therefore it is hard to tell if that business has dried up or there are many desperate e-commerce sites that need somebody to support this web application. I’ll probably have to find another shopping cart to specialize in. Or maybe I should put more effort in Elgg because there are a few companies looking for developers to install and customize that web application. I have already put considerable effort into understanding Elgg. Some other possibilities are Joomla and Drupal but they are mainly used as content management systems. Web Development companies that are too biased towards design use content management systems to create basic web sites which the client can manage. I think there is more money in e-commerce. A company that sells an actual product is more likely to want an e-commerce site which will actually generate revenue. These businesses tend to be pretty good about paying their bills. However, I would avoid the entrepreneur who is burning through his savings and credit trying to start a web business because he lost his job.

Posted in Business, General, Web | Tagged buget imapsse, freelancing, lay-offs, Pennsylvania, Storefront | Leave a comment

My Professional Development

Posted on 7/19/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

I have not been putting as much time into my professional development as I used to but I still make incremental advances. ASP.NET technology has outpaced me since I managed to catch up with ASP.NET 2.0. I have not learned anything about MVC and very little about Linq or Silverlight. Now that Silverlight 3.0 has been released and can be used with Microsoft Web Developer Express, I have begun to reacquaint myself with Silverlight.

I have been doing a lot more with Flash CS4 and ActionScript 3.0. I’ll probably be expanding my expertise with Flash because I recently used it in a project. That finally gives me an excuse to really master the technology. I’m reading the book Flash Hacks on my lunch breaks. I recently added a topic to my notes on SWFObject 2.2 which has been updated. It now comes with an AIR application to generate the code.

I also resumed work on my code for nested comments in Elgg blogs but this is going very slowly. I figured out how to create a RSS feed for the comments using a custom script. It could not be done using the REST API or a RSS view so this is somewhat non-standard. Now I need to order the comments for nested replies and then work on the final display of the nested comments.

I’ve been feeling uninspired because I don’t have any all consuming interest or passion at the moment. So instead of putting a lot of energy into any one thing I’ve been rotating between a multitude of previous interests which I put a little work into for incremental progress.

Posted in General, Programming, Web | Tagged Elgg, Flash, Silverlight, SWFObject | Leave a comment

WordPress – Windows Live Writer Fix

Posted on 7/13/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

I think I have finally solved the problem I have been having with WordPress and Windows Live Writer. Windows Live Writer is a free Microsoft program that allows you to write blog posts and submit them to your blog. It is a useful program if you maintain multiple blogs and don’t like the built-in text editors. Windows Live Writer uses XML-RPC, a remote procedure call protocol which uses XML to encode its calls and HTTP as a transport mechanism, to submit the blog post.

I’ve been getting the infamous “An error occurred while attempting to connect to your weblog: Invalid Server Response = The response to the blogger.getUsersBlogs method received from the weblog server was invalid: Invalid response document returned from XmlRpc server” error when my Now Reading plugin was enabled. I would have to disable that plugin before using Windows Live Writer. This required logging in to my WordPress administration and that defeats the whole purpose of using the program to avoid using the browser.

There are various solutions to this problem but eventually I found it came down to the XML response from the xmlrpc.php file. Windows Live Writer complains when the XML response cannot be parsed. In order to troubleshoot this problem you need to see the XML response. I did find a XML-RPC debugger at: http://gggeek.raprap.it/debugger/ but it is not very helpful when the XML is malformed. It can give you some insight into the methods that are available though. In order to figure out exactly what was going on, I wrote a simple VBScript to submit a POST request to the xmlrpc.php file and saved the response to a file.

' #################################################
' # VBScript To Call WordPress XMLRPC             #
' # Need to examine XML response to troubleshoot  #
' # programmed by Robert S. Robbins on 06/10/2009 #
' #################################################

Set oXMLHTTP = WScript.CreateObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP")
oXMLHTTP.open "POST", "http://www.williamsportwebdeveloper.com/cgi/wp/xmlrpc.php",False

oXMLHTTP.setRequestHeader "Content-Type", "text/xml"
'oXMLHTTP.send "<?xml version="1.0"?><methodCall><methodName>system.listMethods</methodName><params></params></methodCall>"
oXMLHTTP.send "<?xml version="1.0"?><methodCall><methodName>demo.sayHello</methodName><params></params></methodCall>"

Set fso = WScript.CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
strWorkingDirectory = Left(WScript.ScriptFullName, InStrRev(WScript.ScriptFullName,"\")-1)
' Third parameter must be True for Unicode if the XML contains unicode characters
Set objOutputFile = fso.CreateTextFile(strWorkingDirectory & "\wp-response.xml", True, True)
objOutputFile.Write oXMLHTTP.responseText
Set objOutputFile =  Nothing

MsgBox  "Done Processing!"

My script revealed that the XML response was missing a few characters from the final closing tag. I fixed that problem by adding some newlines to the class-IXR.php file in the wp-includes directory. I added newlines just before the EOD; on line 336. Then I found that there was a BOM (Byte Order Mark) just before the first XML tag. This problem was caused by my use of Microsoft Expression Web which added the BOM to my wp-config.php file when I edited it in that crappy program.

After finally verifying that the XML response would be valid I was able to use Windows Live Writer without disabling any of my WordPress plugins. Who da man?

This blog post was written using Windows Live Writer and will serve as a test of my fix.

Posted in PHP, Programming, Web | Tagged BOM, class-IXR.php, Windows Live Writer, WordPress | 9 Comments

What I’ve Been Adding To My Notes

Posted on 7/10/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

As a busy web developer, I learn something new every day and I take the time to document what I learn in my notes. The following is a list of material I’ve recently added to my notes:

A tagged regular expression for the search and replace in Microsoft Expression Web. This is useful for preserving the inner text when you need to modify the surrounding tags. It has saved me a lot of time in my efforts to improve the CSS in my web pages.
Access Data Projects – I had some trouble figuring out how to create an Access database linked to SQL Server in Microsoft Office 2007. There was no obvious way to create this kind of Access database. I documented this so I won’t struggle with that task again.
Microsoft Agent – I like the Microsoft Character Animations used for the Office Assistant. I have downloaded many characters and developer tools for Microsoft Agent but I never took any notes on the subject so it took me awhile to get back up to speed when I wanted to play around with Microsoft Agent.
Amazon URL Shortener and Amazon Associates Product Links. Amazon is practically an Internet institution so I have a topic in my Notes on some things I need to remember about their services.
Microsoft Translator Widget – I’m studying French and German so I signed up for the Microsoft Translator Widget. I may want to business with the French and Germans in the future.
ActionScript 3.0 – I’ve been doing a lot of work with Flash CS4 recently but none of my old Flash books cover ActionScript 3.0. I compiled in a PDF cheat sheet and some sample code.
Animated PNGs – since Firefox 3.5 came out I’ve heard about animated PNGs so I added a topic to my notes on that. Unfortunately, there aren’t any graphic programs available to create animated PNGs yet.
Linux Command Reference cheat sheet. I converted the PDF into a PNG using Adobe Illustrator and compiled it into my notes.
iTouch Web Applications – this topic is mostly material from http://www.iphonewebdev.com with some additional information like the iPhone user agent string and a listing of iPhone fonts
CSS Font-Face Rule -all the material I could gather concerning the new CSS @font-face rule that Firefox 3.5 supports
Digg JSON – I used the Digg API to whip up a little Digg widget to run in my notes.
Reddit and BookMooch widgets – just some external JavaScript I created topics for so I can find it easily

That is just material I’ve added in the last couple of weeks. I add something almost every day.

Posted in CSS, Programming, Web | Tagged ActionScript, CSS, Flash | 1 Comment

Silhouette Theater – My Webcomic Project

Posted on 6/30/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

I have started a personal project in order to see if I can make any money by producing content on the Internet. I’ve recently read a book, YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture, which got me to thinking about how much time I spend contributing content to online communities. Many web sites are making money by providing a platform for the average user to contribute content in the form of videos, photos, comments, writing (blogs and comments) and knowledge. They then monetize the content and get all the rewards from the work that was done by the users. We are serving as their unpaid labor. This is similar to how freelance writers are treated by the small press. The writers provide all the content in exchange for the privilege of being published in a widely read magazine. Only the publishers stand to make any money.

YouTube: Online Video and Participatory Culture: Jean Burgess, Joshua Green, Henry Jenkins, John Hartley: Books

ISBN: 0745644791
ISBN-13: 9780745644790

Well any fool can publish on the Internet. It is just as easy for me to register a domain name, find a web hosting company, and create the web site or web application to publish my work. Then I can monetize it as I please without sharing the revenue with the provider of the “platform”.

So I have started a webcomic, http://www.silhouettetheater.com/, to explore various methods of content monetization. I chose a webcomic as the form of content because it is easy to produce. It does not require very much writing. I just use the snarky remarks that I leave as comments on YouTube videos. I’ve been giving my wit away for free! It also does not require much artistic ability. I got the bright idea of using silhouettes. It is easy to create silhouettes in Photoshop and the lack of detail reduces the amount of drawing that is necessary. I’m using vector graphics as much as possible because I can then scale and rotate the images to create new poses.

Successful webcomics like http://xkcd.com/ are based on nothing more than stick figure drawings. Randall Munroe is making a living doing this based entirely upon his engineering humor. Then there is Dinosaur Comics which is just the same clip art every time with only the text changing. Alien Loves Predator is done by Photoshopping toys and photos. The bar seems to be set pretty low. However, I have seen some really well drawn and entertaining webcomics which are a labor of love. Many people are creating webcomics without making any money.

I’m determined to see if it is really possible to profit from my Internet participation. This project provides an excellent excuse to experiment with different ways to drive traffic to a site and various methods of monetizing content. Many of my clients have been interested in Search Engine Optimization and online marketing but they frequently are disappointed by the results. Therefore I have a professional interest in learning how to make a web site popular and profitable through the use of technology. As a web developer, I am expected to be an expert on what is essentially a publishing platform. Many of the old tricks like keyword selection, image alt text keyword stuffing, and meta tags no longer seem to be effective. Being successful in the attention economy clearly requires a more creative approach.

My first innovation has been to create a custom web page that is iPhone friendly. I’m using the ComicPress plugin for WordPress to manage my webcomic content because I’m familiar with WordPress and can design themes for it. However I did not find any webcomic applications for the iPhone that could be used to view my webcomic and I did not like how my web site appears in the Safari Mobile browser. My custom iPhone web page at http://www.silhouettetheater.com/m/#_cartoons displays a simple list of links to my comics. Each comic can then be viewed as a simple image which can be rotated to the landscape mode by tilting the iPhone or iTouch. That is exactly the kind of exploration and experimentation that this project is intended to foster. I’m sure I can use everything I learn in future projects for the benefit of anyone I’m working for.

Posted in Business, General, Web | Tagged ComicPress, content monetization, iPhone, Silhouette Theater, webcomic, WordPress, xkcd | 2 Comments

Ich bin ein Berliner

Posted on 6/15/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

Foreign travel is one of the best ways to keep life interesting. Everything about a foreign country can seem fresh and exciting even though it may bore the locals. And the United States is such an xenophobic country that we often know very little about other nations. I like to do a lot of research before I travel abroad because I’m very nervous about getting around town when I can’t speak the language. But this just serves as a prolonged period of armchair travel which makes the entire enterprise more engrossing for a longer period of time than the one week I’ll spend in the foreign city. My trip to Paris seemed like a grand adventure but I just did the usual touristy things so in actuality it was rather mundane. It is hard to say if foreign travel is an adventure or a mundane experience. The French are certainly bored with life in their country. After all, “ennui“ is a French word and there are many French films about bourgeoisie existential angst. I recently saw the French film “She’s One Of Us” (aka “Elle est des Notres“) which reminded me of Albert Camus’s novel “The Stranger“ in a modern office setting because the main character seems emotionally detached and kills someone for no apparent reason. This film depicts the workplace culture of France which seems just as mundane as office life in the United States. It seems ironic that tourists seek their little adventures in a country that isn’t very different from their own.

I’m currently preparing for my trip to Berlin even though I can’t afford to do any more travel until next year. But I’m glad it is far in the future because there is a lot of preparation I want to do. I didn’t leave much time to prepare for my trip to Paris. I didn’t read all the travel guides I bought or learn much French. However, I should have plenty of time to read all the travel guides for Berlin. And I’ll read several books to learn enough German to get by. I studied French in high school and retained some basic familiarity with the language but German is completely unfamiliar to me.

I’ve already bought two travel guides for Berlin. “National Geographic Traveler Berlin“and “The Rough Guide To Berlin“. I’m currently reading the National Geographic guide because they have the best photos and maps. Unfortunately, you cannot learn anything about Berlin without encountering the sad history of the Nazis and the East German Stasi. The World War II bombing of Berlin which flattened many of the historic buildings and the division of Berlin by the Berlin Wall are just too significant to the present city to be ignored or glossed over.

Personally I would rather concentrate on modern Berlin, especially the music scene which is very influential in the alternative music scenes that I enjoy. For example, I learned that punk diva Nina Hagen was born in East Berlin. Fortunately I already have four Nina Hagen CDs that I must have bought as part of my 1980s nostalgia. One of the CDs has Nina Hagen singing “My Way” in German. Today I got a book I ordered from the German Amazon web site. This is the first book I’ve owned that is all in German. I can’t read it but it has many photos of German rock groups that I can check out on the Internet. The only musician I recognized is Tilo Wolff, of the band Lacrimosa, based in Switzerland. I have a lot of Lacrimosa CDs with songs sung in German. Their music is very symphonic with classical arrangements. I also like the German groups Rammstein and Das Ich.

On Sunday, I bought some bratwurst and sauerkraut at the grocery store to sample some German cuisine. I don’t like sauerkraut alone but it adds some flavor to the bratwurst which I ate in a bun like a hot dog. Sauerkraut is pickled cabbage. I remember it was frequently served in school lunches but I never touched it. And sauerkraut can really stink up a home where people like to eat it.

I found some German TV channels on YouTube, openreichstag and zdf which allows me to hear spoken German and get some sense of German news. But my favorite German web site is The Local which provides German news in English.

Posted in General | Tagged Berlin, bratwurst, Das Ich, German, Germany, Lacrimosa, Nina Hagen, Rammstein, sauerkraut, Travel | Leave a comment

iTouch Web Applications And Web Slices

Posted on 6/1/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

I’ve been slacking off for the past two months due to travel but I’m finally getting back into gear. I recently added some material to my notes on creating web pages for the iTouch and iPhone. I have an iTouch which I like to carry with me when I am traveling, although I don’t always have a WiFi connection. Anyway, it would be useful if I could publish some information on my web site that I could easily look up using my iTouch while walking around town. For example, I could access my directions and notes that way. The stupid iPhone operating system does not even provide a means of storing offline text files on the device. Apple computers and devices frequently suffer from such Steve Jobs design limitations. There is always something missing because Apple doesn’t want to include it in the design or operating system. But I think there is a way to store web pages offline so I can use that to store text information. While every other developer is busy creating iPhone applications to get rich quick, I may develop a few web applications for the iPhone to meet my needs.

Today I explored web slices in Internet Explorer 8. Microsoft has a gallery of web slices at http://ieaddons.com/en/webslices/ but there is not much there. This looks like another one of their bright ideas that never take off. I thought it might be useful for keeping track of information that is published on the web and sometimes updated without your being aware of the change. For example, the Lycoming College Theater Season is something I’d like to be notified about when it’s web page changes. I don’t want to visit the page every day because it rarely changes. Unfortunately, web slices require some special CSS classes in the HTML content so I can’ create a web slice for a web page that I can’t edit.

My next travel adventure will be Berlin, Germany. I’ve begun to research the country, language, culture, and tourist attractions. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to afford to travel for a long time. I need to concentrate more on reducing my debt. Things have been slow in my web development business. I may need to actively search for new clients. However, there is only so much money you can make doing work that requires billable hours. I’ve been reading about passive income and I think some sort of creative work would bring in more money for less effort. I’m still studying French. Knowing a foreign language could prove to be rewarding financially, especially in the United States where few people study foreign languages. If there is one thing I’ve learned, it is that your job skills and expertise is the only thing you can really rely upon.

Posted in Business, Web | Tagged iPhone, iTouch, web slices | Leave a comment

Philly Sunday

Posted on 5/27/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

For Sunday the only thing I had planned was the Star Trek exhibit at the Franklin Institute. I bought a ticket for that online via TicketMaster last week. I checked the local weather on my laptop and saw that they were expecting rain in the afternoon. I had forgotten my umbrella. Usually I keep one in the car but I keep forgetting to put it back. Fortunately the Holiday Inn gift shop sold umbrellas so I didn’t have to find a store to buy one. (It never did rain that day). I walked all the way from the Historic District back to the Parkway / Museum District. Along the way I shot some additional photos of the skyscrapers around City Hall and Claes Oldenburg’s Clothespin sculpture.

At the Franklin Institute I saw the huge statue of Benjamin Franklin sculpted by James Earle Fraser. Benjamin Franklin is the king of Philadelphia. At the YoTube Gathering in Independence Park, I bought a biography of Benjamin Franklin by Edmund S. Morgan which I’ve read already so I knew he achieved fame as a scientist. I probably would not have gone to this museum if not for the Star Trek exhibition which seemed like a cool thing to do while I was in town. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take any photos in the Star Trek exhibition, although you could be photographed sitting in Captain Kirk’s chair or on the set of the bridge. The exhibit consisted mostly of costumes, props, complete sets, models, and videos. They even had a few costumes and props from the 2009 movie. While in the engine room set, I had the bright idea of doing a web site navigation in the design of the control panels. I remember a Star Trek CDROM that had an user interface like the control panels (the Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive Technical Manual). Unfortunately I could not ride the Star Trek Simulator because it requires two people for a ride. I did walk through the Giant Heart which is a Philadelphia icon (according to Wikipedia). I saw some gang sign graffiti in the Giant Heart so blood corpuscles better stay out of the left ventricle.

I did not spend much time at the Franklin Institute so after that I walked the rest of the way to the Philadelphia Museum Of Art. I’ve been there before in 2003. The first thing I did was circle around the Washington Monument at Eakins Oval to take lots of photos. Another photographer there asked me about the four pools of water which represent the Mississippi, the Potomac, the Delaware, and the Hudson rivers. When I didn’t answer right away she asked me if I spoke English. The Philadelphia Museum Of Art gets a lot of foreign tourists. I saw a French couple speaking French while I was there.

I also took a lot of photos of the Ben Franklin Parkway from the “Rocky Steps” and the Greek Revival facade of the Philadelphia Museum Of Art. This location is really impressive and grand. It is hard to believe that the Rocky movies eclipse its intrinsic grandeur. The Philadelphia Museum Of Art is as impressive as the Palace of Versailles and they both had one wing covered in scaffolding during my visit.

Since it was Sunday, you could pay whatever you liked for the entrance fee but I just paid the usual fee of $14.00. I made sure to pick up a map which I usually forget. I’ve given some thought about how I should blog about the art I saw. Rather than lecture my readers on the art and artists, I think I should stick to giving my impressions. I started my visit by accident in the Arms and Armor gallery. The museum has many suits of armor dating from the 16th Century on display. They look like medieval robots, the only context I have for medieval knight armor, although steam-punk has made the style popular again. The ancient firearms made more of an impression on me because they were elaborately engraved and pretty fancy for guns.

After consulting the museum map I went to the European Art gallery. You could take photos as long as you didn’t use a flash so I took a few photos of paintings I wanted to remember. You really don’t need to photograph any of the artwork because you can always find a better image of a painting online but it does help you to identify something later. One of the paintings I liked was “A Carnival Evening” by Henri Rousseau. This dreamlike painting shows characters from Commedia dell’Arte, the mime Pierrot, in a dark and mysterious landscape. Pierrot is an interesting clown / mime appearing in literature and art. I’ve read two fascinating scholarly studies of Pierrot by Robert Storey; “Pierrots On The Stage Of Desire” and “Pierrot: A Critical History Of A Mask”. There is a black and white photo of “A Carnival Evening” in the “Pierrot: A Critical History Of A Mask” book.

On my previous visit to the Philadelphia Museum Of Art I had admired a set of four paintings depicting an angel child as the four seasons but I never found out who the artist was. I took a photo of it on this trip and was able to determine that it is Leon Frédéric’s “Four Seasons”, a Belgian Symbolist. These paintings reminded me of “The Knight with the Flowers” by Georges Antoine Rochegrosse which I saw at the Musée d’Orsay. They both portray human figures in a very colorful and fanciful sea of vegetation. I believe Georges Antoine Rochegrosse was also a Symbolist. I appreciate these paintings because they elevate fantasy to a grandeur that I consider appropriate.

Another famous painting that caught my eye was “Dance At The Moulin Rouge” by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec which depicts decadent cabaret society. But its imagery has become so commercialized that I’m overly familiar with it so this painting merely represented art itself for me. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s paintings just look like art book covers to me now.

I also liked the painting “Liverpool from Wapping” by John Atkinson Grimshaw which I had to identify online from my photo. The bright lights of the store fronts across from the ship masts express the allure of European travel. I prefer cities at night when the electric lights create dramatic tableaux. Empty streets and city architecture can look like a mysterious stage set then.

The next gallery I went to was devoted to Asian Art. My photo of the Tibetan art appears quite blurry from motion blur I think but it looks better when scaled down. I liked this gallery because I appreciate the mysticism of Buddhist philosophy. But while the Buddhist form of mysticism is based on the serenity of the empty mind, I prefer the mysticism of a profound imagination, drawing deeper from the unconscious, so William Blake is more my style. This wing of the museum features the famous Japanese tea house with its bamboo garden which transports you to Japan. But they don’t serve tea there.

The last gallery I wanted to tour was the Modern Art gallery. One of the most striking works of art I saw there was a digital painting. It was like artwork from the future. I don’t remember seeing it on my previous visit to the Philadelphia Museum Of Art. It was two flat screen monitors proportioned to the size of a canvas, showing a high definition film of a man and a woman performing a series of anguished expressions. Many people were standing around this vivid video painting. I dare say people spend more time staring at this work of art than anything else in the museum. I can picture an art museum of the future where all the canvases will be transforming before your eyes like that.

Another artwork that I don’t remember from my last visit was Tom Chimes’ “Portrait of Antonin Artaud”. Artaud is a significant figure to anyone familiar with modern theater due to his book “The Theatre and its Double” which details the concept of The Theatre of Cruelty. This painting certainly captures his fierce, piercing, tortured expression.

Apparently the Philadelphia Museum Of Art had a photo of Dali draped over the “Rocky Steps” in 2005 but I missed that. I did see his painting “Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War)”. I don’t think I’ve ever read a Salvador Dali biography so I should probably buy one. Dali’s work is always reproduced in any book on dreams and dream symbolism. Since he is one of the masters of the unconscious I should be more familiar with his life story. I wonder if there is a Jungian interpretation of his work?

One artist I want to rant about is Cy Twombly and his painting “Vengeance of Achilles”. The museum has several large canvases like that which are just scribblings with a few names from Homer thrown in. They look like giant copies of a bored student’s English class notebook. I’m not sure that this qualifies as art. You can’t just scribble something and then consider it art because you scrawl the names of a few Greeks on it! The only thing that is impressive about Cy Twombly’s work is its size which makes idle doodles seem monumental. By the way, you can see all of my Philadelphia trip photos on my Flickr photo set at http://www.flickr.com/photos/youtuber/sets/72157618687603776/. The Wikipedia entry for Cy Twombly has an amusing story about a woman who kissed one of his paintings and got arrested for leaving lipstick on it.

While moving between galleries I snapped a photo of the large sculpture of Diana and the Alexander Calder mobile from the 2nd floor of the Grand Stair hall.

I bought two books at the museum gift shop which has a great collection of art books. I bought “Fresh Fruits”, the second book of Japanese fashion portraits taken in Tokyo’s Harajuku district. I’m not surprised that they would be selling this book because it is an eye-popping chronicle of colorful costumes and outrageously creative personalities. I also bought “A Critical History of Modern Architecture“, a survey of 20th-century architecture, because architecture is something I know little about and I was seeing plenty of architecture in Philadelphia on my trip.

I then had Sunday Brunch at the museum restaurant which was an expensive buffet. I had a glass of complementary champagne which is the first time I’ve ever drank it. I also ate a large waffle and a salad. That cost over $40! I wasn’t too happy about that.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art was running a Paris fashion exhibit but in order to see that I had to walk over to another building, their new Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building. Along the way I came across the monument of Joan of Arc by Emmanuel Fremiet. This is the same French sculptor who did the Joan of Arc sculpture in Paris which I saw last month! This is its “sister” statue in Philadelphia. Joan of Arc interests me because she was a visionary although in our day and age she would be considered merely psychotic (a radically different interpretation, n’est pas?). Apparently the locals call her “Joanie on a Pony” [rolls eyes].

The Perelman Building is an impressive example of Art Deco architecture. I saw most of the current exhibitions; Shopping in Paris: French Fashion 1850-1925, Daid? Moriyama: Tokyo Photographs, Visual Delight: Ornament and Pattern in Modern and Contemporary Design, A Taste for Modern: The Jeanne Rymer Collection of Twentieth-Century Chairs, and Henri Matisse and Modern Art on the French Riviera. They just scanned my ticket from the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s main building. I did not have to pay again.

On the second floor I went through the small exhibit of Kansai Yamamoto, a Japanese fashion designer (Hello! Fashion: Kansai Yamamoto). He did the wardrobe for David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust. There was a flat screen TV there showing footage from his extravagant fashion shows which seemed as grand as Olympic opening ceremonies. It is hard to believe that a fashion designer could stage such extravaganzas. This was all new to me because I know nothing about Japanese fashion.

When I left the Perelman Building at 4:00 PM I walked all the way from the Ben Franklin Parkway back to the Historic District which was very tiring. I had to stop to sit on some park benches a few times. When I got back to my hotel I had to unwind and nap for almost an hour. After my feet stopped aching I walked over to Walnut Street and had dinner at the Caribou Café. This time I had a glass of wine (Bordeaux), the pasta duck, and Irish Ice Cream. The Les Pâtes was Pappardelle (a kind of noodle, large, very broad fettuccine) served with duck confit, figs and Port wine sauce. It was very good but I could not finish all the noodles. This time I left a $5 tip in the check before they charged my credit card which seemed to make the waitress happy.

After dinner I walked to South Street to cruise this colorful neighborhood of shops and restaurants. I took a photo of the Digital Ferret street sign even though the store was gutted and empty. I guess they moved a few blocks away but I did not see their new store. Dancing Ferret Entertainment Group is part of the goth underground. I think I may have one of their CDs or bought something from them via mail order.

I did go into an used record store on South Street, Repo Records. I spent a lot of time looking for the kind of music I like but eventually had to settle for Nico “Chelsea Girls” and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “The Boatman’s Call”.

That was the end of my Philadelphia weekend. I was thinking of staying a little longer on Memorial Day but everything would have been closed so I left early in the morning. I think I did plenty in just two days. Fortunately I did not get lost on the long drive home.

In conclusion, Philadelphia has a lot to offer and it makes for a perfect trip after Paris. I don’t know when I’ll visit the city again although the Philly Fringe Festival may tempt me. My next adventure in travel will be Berlin but it will take me at least a year to research the trip, learn a little German, and pay down my credit card.

Posted in General | Tagged Benjamin Franklin, Digital Ferret, Franklin Institute, Giant Heart, Joan of Arc, Kansai Yamamoto, Leon FrÃ©dÃ©ric, Philadelphia Museum Of Art, Pierrot, Star Trek, Washington Monument | 1 Comment

Philly Saturday

Posted on 5/25/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

I managed to make it to my hotel, the Holiday Inn (Historic District) without getting lost. I only had to circle the block once. I’ve stayed at this hotel before for YoTube (the YouTube Gathering in Philadelphia).

After parking the car, I headed off on foot for the Academy of Natural Sciences on the Parkway/Museums District. The advantage to walking everywhere in a city is that you can stop to take many photos. I walked up Arch Street and passed the Chinese Friendship Gate so I took several photos of it. Encountering an Asian street in an American city is just one of those things that make large cities seem like a world unto themselves. I just found Philly’s Chinatown web site: http://www.phillychinatown.com/

Chinatown Gate

I saw the Reading Terminal Market across from the Philadelphia Convention Center but I didn’t go in because it looked like a mall made up of nothing but food courts. When I reached Broad Street I turned left and headed towards City Hall. Philadelphia’s City Hall is one of the world’s finest examples of French Second Empire architecture according to one of my guide books. It does look rather grand so I took many photos of it. Nearby is the Masonic Temple which I did not visit.

City Hall

From City Hall I headed diagonally to John F. Kennedy Plaza where Robert Indiana’s LOVE statue is located in front of a fountain. A photo of the LOVE statue is used as the cover art for Frommer’s current guide to Philadelphia & The Amish Country. This statue is certainly an iconographic image invoking Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, so I’m glad that I came across it on my walk. The John F. Kennedy Plaza gives the city a New York City vibe, or at least I felt so, because it is a cozy but grand public area.

LOVE

From John F. Kennedy Plaza I kept heading diagonally until I reached Logan Square. This was pretty much my destination because the Academy of Natural Sciences is nearby. I also found the Franklin Institute nearby which I had a ticket for on Sunday so I duly noted its location and photographed it. Logan’s Square features a fountain with figures by Alexander Calder. I circled around the fountain and took many photos from all sides.

Logan Square

I had to wait until 10:00 AM when the Academy of Natural Sciences opened so I sat on a bench in Logan Square and watched the fountain and the doors to the Academy of Natural Sciences. At 10:00 AM I didn’t see anyone waiting outside the doors I was watching so it occurred to me that there might be another entrance around the corner. It is always a problem figuring out the correct entrance to a building. Sometimes you can find this info on their web site. I did find their main entrance with several employees standing around outside so eventually I had to ask one if the place was open.

The Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences is a somewhat small museum with many dioramas; a three-dimensional display of a scenery, often having a painted background in front of which models are arranged, e.g. in a museum where stuffed animals are presented against a painted landscape. They also have some dinosaur skeletons and a butterfly room. Of course, the dinosaurs make it a real kid magnet and the exhibits were clearly geared for little kids.

The first few dioramas were of Pennsylvania wildlife so I thought it was all going to be a lame exhibit of squirrels, deer, skunks, possum, and rabbits. I had the amusing and wicked thought that I saw all these animals on the trip to Philadelphia as roadkill. Who needs stuffed animals when you got fresh roadkill with plenty of guts to give you an anatomy lesson?

But it was actually a thrilling exhibit with polar bears, buffalo, tigers, lions, gorillas, and even an Egyptian mummy which frightened the kids. While staring at a caribou it occurred to me how freakish antlers really are. We get so used seeing antlers on deer that we never feel how peculiar it really looks to have these bones branching out of the head. I mean, this is kind of the weird thing you’d expect to find on an alien creature.

The gorilla diorama was a bit saddening because the big apes looked like they’d been prepared by a funeral home mortician. The skin was leathery, the hair a bit ratty, and the fingers were peeling. The gorilla looked like a worn sofa. Still you could observe the physiology of the gorilla which is rather different than a human’s.

Gorillas

While looking at these dioramas I had one of those moments of inspiration that were surprisingly missing from my trip to Paris. I suddenly imagined a drawing room filled with potted plants and caged birds and lush decor which was so brightly lit that the room seemed as resplendent as a sunny day. This image may not sound very inspired but it also dispelled my sense of time so the drawing room seemed supernaturally contemporary. Even that description does not satisfy me for there was a vividness to this mental image that photos and paintings from the past can never have.

After seeing all the stuffed animal dioramas I went to the Dinosaur Hall. You’ll have to admit that any trip that includes dinosaurs is going to be memorable. The Dinosaur Hall contained complete skeletons of a Tyranosaurus and a Chasmosaurus although I think these were casts and not original fossils. There was also a model of a dinosaur’s internal organs which was pretty interesting. These creatures had very large hearts and a lot of intestines.

Tyranosaurus

I had a museum button for the Butterflies exhibit so I got to see their collection of live butterflies. The butterflies fly free in a tropical greenhouse that you enter through a doorway of clear plastic strips. There were butterflies on the floor so you had to be careful not to step on any and squish them. As I was leaving there was also a sign warning you to check for butterflies taking a ride on you. I saw some giant moths and the chamber of live pupae.

I also checked out the Live Animal Center on the ground floor but there wasn’t much to see there except for the veterinary hospital. Before I left I went into the museum shop to buy some souvenirs. I bought a plastic Dunkleosteus, an armored fish, because I thought it was a more unusual item then the typical plastic dinosaur. I also bought the book Visual Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs because I don’t have many books on dinosaurs. I saw some of those Golden Guides with wildlife illustrations that I remember from my childhood but I already have a few of those. The only other field guides I own are the National Audubon Society’s Field Guide to North American Fossils and Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians. Unfortunately I don’t get out in the field often enough to need any guide books. I prefer city guide books. Somebody should publish a field guide to city nightlife with pictures of all the creatures you may encounter there at night.

On the walk back to my hotel I took some more photos of the Frank L. Rizzo Statue in front of Philadelphia’s Municipal Services Building Plaza, across from City Hall.

Frank Rizzo

I also photographed the Jacques Lipchitz’s statue “Government of the People”. I got a nice shot of the Arch Street United Methodist Church’s gothic spire in the background of my “Government of the People” photo.

Government Of The People

When I got back to my hotel it was still too early to check in so I just put my Academy of Natural Sciences purchases into my car on the parking deck and then headed off for lunch. The restaurant I’d chosen for lunch was on Walnut Street so I headed south which took me pass the Second Bank of the US and Independence Hall so I took lots of photos in that area. I came across Washington Square Park where I found the Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier. I’ve just realized that this was a good way to celebrate Memorial Day since that is a memorial to our war dead.

Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier

As I walked further down Walnut Street I saw something that made me smile, a banner with my last name on it. I thought Philadelphia was really going to a lot of trouble to make me feel welcome! However, it turned out that this was the Robbins Building occupied by Robbins Diamonds. Unfortunately they are unrelated to me.

Robbins Diamonds

Further up the street I found the Walnut Street Theater which is staging a production of the musical “The Producers”. I had a ticket for the show that night so I was glad to find the place. I made a mental note of its location and took some photos. I was surprised by how narrow the building looked and was wondering how they fit a stage in there. Then I noticed that the stage is actually the white building beside it. I did not particularly want to see this musical but the Walnut Street Theater is the oldest theater in the United States and many famous movie stars did theater here. So instead of the musical, I really came just to see the theater and be part of the audience for one night. Every theater lover should do a pilgrimage to the Walnut Street Theater. That being said, it is surprising that our own Community Theater League does not acknowledge its existence. They never sponsor bus trips to the Walnut Street Theater and I don’t remember the local theater critics ever reviewing any shows there. I could be wrong about that or maybe this theater is considered outside of our ballpark.

Walnut Street Theater

After that I found the French restaurant that my trip research had uncovered, Caribou Café, 1126 Walnut Street. This restaurant is larger than it looks on Google Street View. It is narrow but deep with an upstairs seating area. They could seat a lot of people so you probably won’t need a reservation unless they are really busy. The outdoor seating area is only six or eight tables so you may not find a seat there. I really liked the decor of this restaurant. There were black and white photos of Paris and Parisian cafés on the walls of the booths. There were vintage posters advertising drinks over the bar. The bar mirrors were surrounded by bottles of wine and the bar had two art deco statuettes. It was your typical Philadelphia lounge bar / upscale restaurant with its own web site. There are many similar establishments which I read about in the book “On The Make: The Hustle Of Urban Nightlife” by David Grazian, an ethnographic study of the Philly bar and restaurant scene. I ordered a glass of Bordeaux wine, the salad special which contained either lobster or crab meet, tomatoes, and a variety of other ingredients, and crème brulée for desert. That meal came to $31.30. The only problem I had was with the tip. I wanted to pay by credit card and you can’t add the tip until they bring back the receipt after they’ve charged your card. I think my waiter was angry because I didn’t leave a tip until after signing the slip, at which point I slipped five dollars in the checkbook.

According to my sales receipt, I had lunch there at 12:18 PM so it was still too early to check into my room. So to kill some more time I went shopping at the Gallery at Market East. This mall is mentioned in my guide books as a good place to shop. It is sort of hidden and easy to overlook because you need to look for the 1980’s style “The Gallery” sign. From Arch street it is two streets south, east of City Hall. I was eager to do some shopping. Although I’m not thinking of shopping while on vacation, buying something special while on a trip is a good way to collect some souvenirs. I went to the Border’s Express where I bought a Lonely Planet German Phrasebook and a Eyewitness Travel Top 20 Berlin book. The sales clerk asked me if I was planning to go to Germany and when. I replied yes, in about a year because it will be a long time before I’m ready for another European trip. Then I went to Fye which had a bigger selection of DVDs than our mall’s store. They had a section for Foreign Films so I stocked up on some European films; Maîtresse, Va Savoir, The Lives Of Others, and She’s One Of Us. The Lives Of Others is a German film so I had to buy that.

I went back to my hotel to put my purchases in the car but it was still too early to check in so I had to find something else to do. I decided to find the genuine Philly cheese steak. I started walking south thinking I’d walk all the way to Pat’s King Of Steaks and Geno’s Steaks but fortunately I reached South Street and immediately saw Jim’s Steaks. By this time my feet were killing me so I decided Jim’s Steaks would be good enough. There was a line of people waiting to get into this restaurant but it was a short line and I still had plenty of time to kill. While I was waiting in line a homeless man entertained the crowd much to the embarrassment of the locals. Once I finally got inside I saw a wall of autographed celebrity photos including Bruce Willis. The restaurant’s operation was more like an assembly line than anyplace I’ve ever seen. First you place your order at the grill. I ordered a cheese steak “whiz wit” with Cheese Whiz and mushrooms. Then you are asked if you want it for here (tray) or to go (bag) and if you want a drink. I ordered a Yoo-Hoo. Then you proceed to the cashier to pay for everything. I ate my cheese steak upstairs where there were more autographed celebrity photos from Jim’s Steaks illustrious history.

Jim's Steaks

Now here is a piece of unpleasant, but necessary advice. These cheese steaks may go through you like an express train. I didn’t even make it back to my hotel before my stomach began to cramp and I became desperate to reach a bathroom. It is a good thing that I did not walk all the way to Pat’s or Geno’s and it was close to the time when I could finally check in. The girl at the check in counter mentioned that she used to live in Williamsport, on Park Avenue. I took this as a small sign that Philly is a part of my world that I should be more familiar with. I was sure glad to get into my hotel room because I was hot and sticky from walking in the hot sun all day. My bowels were rejecting the cheese steak and my feet were aching. After getting more comfortable I got out my iBook and hooked up the digital camera to it to transfer my photos.

The final excitement on Saturday was going to see the musical “The Producers” at the Walnut Street Theater. I bought my ticket online via TicketMaster so they only had to scan my print out which had a bar code. I arrived early and they have a bar so I was able to order and drink a coke before the show began. I got an aisle seat up front so I had an excellent view of the show. The Walnut Street Theater resembles Williamsport’s Community Arts Center but it is much smaller and not so grand. The Community Arts Center is like an opera house while the Walnut Street Theater is more like a community theater. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the entire movie of the film version of “The Producers” and I’ve never seen the musical. I’ve seen a few scenes on TV and know a few of the songs. A production of “The Producers” is currently being performed in Berlin. The Walnut Street Theater production was as lavish as a touring Broadway show such as I’ve seen at the Community Arts Center. The funniest part of the show was the pigeons in the pigeon coup who would raise their wings in the Nazi salute. The other wing wore a swastika armband. Scenes with the gay director were over the top camp and very funny although I suppose the gay community would find it offensively ridiculous and bawdy. During the intermission I bought a book on the Walnut Street Theater at the gift shop. The book is one of those Images of America paperbacks that chronicle local history through old photographs. It makes a great souvenir and I liked all the photos of old theater actors and plays. Contemporary actors who’ve played at the Walnut Street Theater include; Kirk Douglas, Marlon Brando, Henry Fonda, George C. Scott, Jane Fonda, Jack Lemon, Robert Redford, and Gene Hackman.

My first day in Philadelphia was a fascinating blend of dinosaurs, butterflies, French restaurants, stomach cramping, and Nazi musicals. I managed to accomplish most of the goals for my trip on the first day.

Posted in General | Tagged Academy of Natural Sciences, Caribou CafÃ©, cheese steak, Frank L. Rizzo, Jacques Lipchitz, LOVE statue, Philadelphia, Philly, Walnut Street Theater | 3 Comments

Philadelphia Memorial Day Weekend

Posted on 5/21/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

I will be going to Philadelphia this Memorial Day weekend. I decided to go to Philadelphia now to take advantage of the three day weekend. The purpose of this trip is to become more familiar with the city and what it has to offer. Therefore I plan to visit as many tourist sites as possible in three days. On Saturday I may go to the Academy of Natural Sciences to see some dinosaur skeletons, have dinner at Caribou Café, and then see the play The Producers at the Walnut Street Theater. I already have my ticket for the play because I bought it online through TicketMaster.

On Sunday, I’m going to the Franklin Institute for their Star Trek exhibit. I’m not that into Star Trek but this is something special going on in Philadelphia while I’ll be there so I might as well take in the exhibit. I want to get a cheese stake at Geno’s Steaks, Pat’s King Of Stakes, or Jim’s Steaks that day. These are famous restaurants that celebrities have gone to and they are listed in my guide books as good places for authentic local cuisine. Of course, you can get Philly cheese steaks and hoagies here in Williamsport but it is not the same.

Monday is Memorial Day and many places will be closed so I may only go shopping at the Gallery at Market East. I might head home early on Monday or wait until the afternoon.

Even though I went to Paris last month, it will be good to get out in the beautiful summer weather and do something exciting and special. I have quickly grown tired of the same old routine.

Maybe next month I’ll go on a staycation here in Williamsport to save some money. There is not much for a tourist to do in Williamsport but I could go out to a restaurant that I’ve never eaten at and maybe do a little shopping downtown. I’ll have to use my imagination to feel like this is even mildly interesting.

Posted in General | Tagged Academy of Natural Sciences, Caribou CafÃ©, Franklin Institute, Gallery at Market East, Philadelphia, Walnut Street Theater | Leave a comment

A French Guide To New York City – La Grosse Pomme

Posted on 5/16/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

In order to maintain my interest in France I’ve been looking for French books that suit my tastes. Although I’ve been a casual Francophile since high school, I’ve never learned French because it is difficult to maintain an active interest in France when you just study their history and literature. I got half way through a biography on Napoleon before abandoning it and my copy of “Les Misérables” is such a thick book that I feel weary just to look at it. I would like to visit New York City more often, so I had the bright idea to buy a French guide book to New York City, “Le guide du routard: New York 2009“. This book is the mirror image of the guide books I read on Paris. Although I also bought some American guide books for New York City, I thought it would be interesting to see what the French recommend for their tourists.

The guide book has a list of recommended titles for further reading, just like English books on Paris list fiction and non-fiction books on Paris to prepare you for the city’s culture. It was interesting and worthwhile to check out the books on this list because there were a few surprises. If you think about it, it should be obvious that they would not consult the same books in English that an American would read to familiarize himself with New York City.

The first unfamiliar title was “Secret Isaac” or “Isaac le mystéieux” by Jerome Charyn. The author grew up in the Bronx and writes detective stories set in New York City. Jerome Charyn now lives in Paris, where he teaches film at the American University of Paris, according to Wikipedia. That probably explains why the French are familiar with his novels while I’ve never heard of this author. The Amazon reviews of his novels suggest a hallucinogenic world of bizarre characters and exotic situations. So following this lead may provide a new source of gritty New York City noir fiction. I think it is valuable to explore another culture for just such unexpected tangents.

Another unknown author was Chester Himes. Chester Himes was a famous African American writer who emigrated to France in the 1950s. The guide book recommends his novel “Tout pour plaire“ which translates as “Everything To Please” but this is not listed as one of his novels. You can find this book at http://www.amazon.fr/Tout-pour-plaire-Himes-C/dp/2070408159/ but I’m not sure why they recommend it.

Although probably known to fans of detective stories, Paul Auster’s “The New York Trilogy“ was unknown to me. Maybe the guide book writers just prefer mystery novels. This is another author who moved to Paris, France where he earned a living translating French literature. Another example of a crime thriller on the list is “In Tenebris” by Maxime Chattam. The French tourists will be expecting to find a lot of murdering going on in New York City!

Many guide books for New York City now include a special section on Ground Zero. Fodor’s 2009 New York City has seven pages devoted to this topic including material on visiting the site. “Le guide du routard: New York 2009” describes what happened in its section on the city’s history and Ground Zero is listed as something to do in Lower Manhattan.

There are just a few amusing cultural misunderstandings in the book. For example, one of the listed modes of transportation is “en pony cab“. Hmm, it seems there is such a thing as a “pony cab” in New York City. And on page 95 there is a section on “Homos” where we learn, “Après San Francisco, New York est la 2e ville homo des États-Unis. Certains estiment que 20% de la population de Manhattan est gay ou lesbiennne. À New York, les homos ont tout. De plus, les boîtes hétéros, sachant que les homos sont de bons clients, leur réservent une soirée spéciale par semaine.” The phrase “les boîtes hétéros“puzzled me because translation sites translate it as “the heterosexual boxes“but les boîtes can also mean nightclubs. I guess “homos” is an acceptable slang word for homosexual in French but it sounds amusingly insulting in English.

Just as there are English sites for Paris news and tourism, there are French sites devoted to New York City. I found a few interesting web sites listed in the guide book. http://www.voilanewyork.com/ provides information on New York City in French for French tourists. http://www.frenchmorning.com/ny/ is a web magazine for news concerning New York City for francophones.

There is a list of famous New Yorkers in the French guide book but there are no surprises here; Herman Melville, John David Rockefeller, Henry Miller, George Gershwin, Thelonious Monk, Malcolm X, John Cassavetes, Woody Allen, Ralph Lauren, Paul Simon, Calvin Klein, Lou Reed, Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Paul Auster, Billy Joel, Spike Lee, KRS One, Rza, Sean J. Combs, Mariah Carey, Tupac Shakur, Masters At Work, and Nas.

Posted in General | Tagged Chester Himes, French, Grosse Pomme, Jerome Charyn, New York City, Paul Auster | Leave a comment

Trips To Philadelphia

Posted on 5/14/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

I plan to make brief trips to Philadelphia more often. Philly is the nearest large city to Williamsport. I’m not sure if local residents visit Philadelphia very often. There are no bus trips to Philly. The James V. Brown library, Penn College of Technology, and the Community Theater League sometimes offer bus trips to New York City, but never to Philadelphia. I suppose this could be because everyone prefers to drive to Philly. Personally, I don’t like to drive to that city because I always get lost.

I plan to explore Philadelphia as thoroughly as I explored Paris, from a tourist’s perspective. When visiting a city in your own country, you tend to make a trip for a specific reason and only visit one museum or cultural event. But when visiting a city in a foreign country you’ll try to see as much as possible to get a sense of the nation and its culture. I’ve bought several guide books on Philadelphia just like I bought many guide books on Paris. It definitely helps to make your trip more successful when you do your research ahead of time.

I want to make weekend trips that do not use any vacation time. For my first weekend trip I’d like to see a play at the Walnut Street Theater. This will probably be “The Producers“since it is playing until July. I would also like to eat at a French restaurant, Caribou Cafe, which is nearby. I don’t think Williamsport has any French restaurants or café except for maybe Le Juene Chef which provides job training at Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport for their culinary arts students. I’ll have to read my guide books to find something else to do in Philadelphia.

I don’t think Philly is a particularly interesting city, but it is more affordable than traveling to Europe. I really can’t afford to do that very often! But I would like to visit Berlin next. I don’t think many Americans vacation in Berlin. From what I can gather, the Germans are thrilled to meet American tourists, unlike the French. Maybe Americans are put off by the fact that Germany was our enemy in World War II and we bombed them a bit.

But I don’t want to explore German culture as deeply as I’m exploring the French culture. I don’t want to watch a lot of World War II films or read books about the Nazis. That and the communist East Germany make the country seem grim and harsh. I’d rather stick to modern Berlin and the German music scene. My favorite alternative music is very popular in Germany so I’m familiar with many German bands like Rammstein. I’m also heavily into Lacrimosa but that is a Swiss band who just sing in German.

I do know a surprisingly great deal about German culture from my general study of world art and literature. I reviewed German literature on Wikipedia and discovered that I’ve read most of the major German writers and their most famous works except for Thomas Mann. I am also familiar with German art movements like Bauhaus. Otto Dix is my favorite German artist. Speaking of Bauhaus, I believe Germany has been rebuilding their country with a spectacular variety of modern architecture. I remember seeing some evidence of this online a long time ago.

I do have more of a connection to Germany than France because my mother’s side of the family was German. Her last name was Reustle and today I confirmed that this is a common German surname. Maybe it is the German in me that is responsible for the mystical character of my imagination.

I’ve bought a book to learn German but I only want to become slightly familiar with the language. Life is too short to learn every language and I’m only committed to learning French. I bought a massive French dictionary which should help me to translate obscure words and recently I’ve received some workbooks for the high school textbooks I plan to read. Learning French is a lot harder than learning a computer language but it may prove to be a valuable skill for my career and make for a more interesting career path.

Posted in General | Tagged Berlin, French, Germany, Philadelphia | 1 Comment

French Pop Culture

Posted on 4/30/2009 by Robert S. Robbins

I’ve continued to study the French language after returning from my trip to Paris but I’ve been debating this with myself. Learning a foreign language is a time consuming chore. You need a really compelling reason to keep at it. The best reason I can come up with is the French culture. France, Germany, and other European countries where English is not spoken have a vast and rich culture which is virtually unknown to us in the United States due to the language barrier. It is far more extensive than the small amount of material which gets translated.

What really fascinates and excites me is French pop culture. The stereotype of the French would have you believe that they are all artists or intellectuals; very sophisticated people. But the French can be low brow too. They love their comic books, game shows, pop music, and sci fi novels as much as we do. But you really need to scratch below the surface of the tourism industry to discover this.

I bought 18 French sci-fi novels on eBay. These novels were not written by French writers. They are all American novels translated into French. I love the bizarre artwork on the covers (including more nudity than would be allowed in the US). It will be more fun to learn French by reading sci-fi novels than literature.

Today I received two French graphic novels I ordered from Amazon.fr; “Poèmes de Rimbaud en bandes dessinées” and “Poèmes de Baudelaire en bandes dessinées”. They feature various poems illustrated in various styles by different comic book artists. These books are really adorable for anyone with a passion for French literature or poetry. It just blows my mind that the French would have something like this.

Other interesting French books I’ve ordered include a French travel guide for New York City (the only American city they dream about), a book on American slang which seems to include phrases like “you muppet”, and a novel by a French woman who moved to New York City.

Posted in General | Tagged bandes dessinÃ©es, books, comic books, culture, France, French, pop culture, sci-fi | 1 Comment

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