Tales From The City - Part Three...

Wow... it has been a long time since I've written an installment of "Tales From The City." Like a year and a half long -- oops. It's not like I don't see plenty of wacky things when I'm out and about, but apparently I lack the presence of mind (or perhaps the promise of personal safety, in the case of crazy person-related sightings) to grab my camera and document them. Earlier tonight though, when Justin and I were on our way to catch The Illusionist, we spotted this on a Columbia College dormitory at the corner of State and 8th Street:

Can you see it?

Apparently, the students living in the building had banded together to turn their windows into a real-life version of Pac-Man, the iconic 80's arcade fixture. Pac-Man is on the left side of the building, and the trail of pac-dots he's munching, along with the ghosts who are chasing him, wind across the rest of the building. Ms. Pac-Man is located near the bottom right side.

You can see it a little better in this close-up.

I'm used to seeing all kinds of unusual things in the area around Columbia -- it is, after all, an art school. In fact, I'm often inclined to attribute any atypical happening in the area to an art project or performance piece being conducted by one of its students. Unlike the troop of young people I once saw walking around balancing on rubber balls in Magritte-like suits and serenading passersby, this larger than life Pac-Man creation is something I can get behind. Very cool, Columbia kids. Well done...