5chw4r7z:: the Cincinnatista

Polar Plunge

For whatever reason, I thought there'd be you know, 20 - 25 people jumping in and I'd see Bill Rinhart, get a picture and leave. Man it was cold, I can't even imagine what was running through the minds of people getting ready to plunge in. Anyhow, I was shocked to see literally thousands of people at the levee to watch hundreds of their family and friends jumping into the frigid water.
Good for them and Special Olympics, a very worthy cause.
Never did see Bill.

Love these sequence of shots

The guy grabbing his feet for a belly flop cracked me up

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CUPCACALYPSE

As relentless as the waves pounding the sand they've appeared and spread. From the coasts most likely, isn't that where everything starts?
First spotted in the outer edges of the city last summer they've continuied a their slow lumbering trek until they've made it downtown!

No, not zombies, cupcakes.
Will they be the end of society and life as we know it?
Who knows, but they sure taste good.
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Strip District

Going through old pictures on a CD I found buried in a drawer, I discovered these of Pittsburgh's Strip District . Ms. 5chw4r7z had taken an Cultural Anthropology class and for a field trip they decide to eat their way down the strip. If you've never heard of it, think Findlay market but 6 or 7 blocks long food vendors, grocers, bars and restaurants mixed in with commercial suppliers makes for a dynamic little neighborhood. Now back then I wasn't as an adventurous at eating as I am now so you can imagine what I went through. Ms 5chw4r7z got sick on sushi which turned me off of it for years before I even tried it.
What really struck me about these pictures though, is if I didn't know any better, I might just think these were Cincinnati, the old church, the hills and old ghost signs.

St Stanislaus I think, every time I look at it I think Music Hall for a split second.

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3 yins guys

Dirty Franks

Been shooting for a Dirty Frank pilgrimage since reading about it on the My Columbus Ohio Blog. Yesterday was finally that day, cold bright, I figured we'd have the place to ourselves, hey a Sunday afternoon?
Hell no, it was standing room only. But we'd been driving 3 hours so it felt good to stretch.
And for everyone with camera envy since I got the Panasonic, heres proof for every good picture I get, there's 10 I can wipe my a55 with. But I need these so you'll suffer along with me.
Prepare yourself for some craptastic pictures.

PBR and Blatz
f#@k yeah hipsters
$1 beer and $3 hotdogs. Whats wrong with this picture?
The problem is, if hipsters started jumping off bridges guess what?
Yep, in 6 months we'd all be jumping off bridges too.

OK, so if you're like, life's too short for cheap beer no matter how uncool it is to pay $4 for a pint, they have an awesome selection for you.
I had the Two Brothers Brewing Cane&Able, but they also had Great Lakes, Troeggs and BBC on tap.
Verdict;
I've gone to great lengths in pursuit of that noblest of life's pleasures: the perfect hot dog.
Climbed mountains. Swam across lochs. Dodged rabbid Buckeye fans.
Dirty Franks hot dogs were worth it!
But you know what, now that I've found it, at the end of the day, its still just a hot dog.

HA! Franklin College around the corner, explains the hipsters.

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The Freedom Center

It only took us 5 years but we finally make it to the Freedom Center on a cool MLK Day to check it out.
As you can imagine, it packed a powerful message and what shocked me most is the one thing I had never thought of before, the stories of the men who made large fortunes dealing in the human trade. Whether influencing local and state laws or just the brutality of it all, I wonder how they justified their actions.
I digress but somewhat related, I have some vegan friends who lament the way animals are treated and I always say, you know how humans treat each other, what chance do poor animals have?
We missed the new exhibit by one day, the whole concept of people selling and buying postcards based on lynching really blows my mind, so I'm torn, I'm not totally sorry I missed it, but sorry too.

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

The message is still poignant today even though slavery ended 145 yrs ago with the 13th Amendment, last week was the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and there is still much suffering in the world today.

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sturm und drang

You could feel something in the air, a feeling of not being denied, no quit in the dog. You could almost smell it on a realitively warm night that brought some fans out, shouting and cheering and that was a nice change of pace.
And agression, everyone was all over the ice, no quarter given or taken and the low scoring game stayed close.

Checkout that backbrop, does it get any better than that?
I don't think so.

halftime entertainment, emergency vehicles flying by.
These guys pull out all the stops.

Did they win or lose?
The expression says it all.

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Candlemas Day

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright
Winter will have another fight.
If Candlemas Day brings cloud and rain,
Winter won't come again.

If Candlemas Day be dry and fair,
The half o the winter's to come and mair;
If Candlemas Day be wet and foul,
The half o the winter's gane at Yule.

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Final freak'n freezin Friday

If it wasn't for the Forgotten Cincinnati opening, there's no way in hell we're leaving the condo Friday night. But with fellow bloggers in the lime light, there's no way we're staying home either on a night that almost guarantees every blogger that is will be out and about. Them and more, Final Fridays are getting to be a incredible group hug at the end of every month and it was amazing just how many people were out given the temps.

Gorden Bombay, I knew him when..

Courttney Cooper, I'm a huge fan of his ink and paper downtown maps. Its amazing he can draw these things with this much detail. We were searching out all the streets and buildings we knew.
I'm glad I bought one years ago, couldn't afford one now.

Burger trucks outside Outside. Its almost all anyone could talk about. Why dd it take so long for someone to do this? They were printing money on a 20°f night, imagine whats gonna happen this summer, they'll have lines around the block.

Not dumb, we're eating burgers inside Outside.
I ate mine in like two bites. Jenny between bites is all
"I can't believe"
"you"
"ate that so fast"
It was erph good.