For all you shatter is our seeming, And in breaking we are free

I was scrolling back through my youtube favourites, and found this gem:

Manhatta, 1921

This was introduced to me via my Historical Geographies of the City class, and I thought it was so awesome at the time that I faved it when I got home. It's a short silent film from 1921 (though this version has a modern music track laid over it) by Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler. It's bascially a paen to New York as it was in the 20s, and the forces that made it the city it was. A paen to the city, drawing on the ideals of industry from the early part of the century, where a cloud of industrial smog was a sign of industry and honest work. Heh. It's ... It's a thing of its time, and its awesome.

I found it again just now, and the thought occurred ... this New York is Nikola's New York. Heh. *grins sheepishly* The city as was, the city he would have seen out the window of that hotel room. That's ... that's kinda awesome itself. Heh.

This is why I love old movies, old books, old photographs, what I adore about them, the thrill they give me. This is what I love about archaeology. Because this is what was. You are holding a piece of what used to be, seeing it as someone then saw it. This film, up there? That's what someone 90 years ago went out and saw, that's where they walked, that's where they rested their camera. And we get to see it. We get to have it. This fragile piece of film, and it keeps a moment safe, for nearly a century. Encapsulates a moment in time, a city-that-was, and lets us see.

That will never not be awesome to me. That will never not be incredible. Heh. *smiles faintly*