VENETIE MD, Jacopo de' Barabi For some reason someone has scrubbed the 'MD' from under VENETIE in that photo above. Its MD for 1500AD. I urge you to zoom in on some of the streets.
Patchwork cities, where buildings were made a century ago or maybe more, made for a lot less people than are crowded in now, and using older technology and ideas about plumbing and electricity needs, which have increased exponentially. And usually now you can't just demolish a whole block and rebuild it, and even if you could, the spaces won't get any wider. Unless you take out four or five stores and replace with one.
Sorry to be pedantic, but West Side Story was a musical before it became a film. Music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Steven Sondheim ... As for the picture of the long counter in the diner ... and the people standing behind the eaters ... hmm. Gives me an idea. *runs to the piano* I wanna eat in America! Eggs can't be beat in America! Someone behind me -- America! Meals are inside me -- America! *looks at the hastily-written lyrics again* Ah, it'll never work. Never, never, never! *beats head on piano*
Ah, Venice (aka Venezia in Italian). I visited it last year, got lost in some of the back streets, and had a good time. And then tried to get back to my hotel, using Google Maps, which didn't work. Italy's a wonderful place to visit, but be warned: Google Maps is crap in Italy. (Spoiler-not-spoiler: yes, I made it back. And no-one tried to rip me off).
If only you had had Barbari's 4ft by 9ft handy pocket map with you. Folds down to be no thicker than a concrete breeze block. Very handy.
Sophia Loren (right) poses with her mother Romilda (center) and her sister, Maria Scicolone, in 1957. Photo by Loomis Dean—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Washington DC had Peoples Drug Store. It was long before my time, but my relatives remember it and my great grandfather lived near the one in DC. (not as long... but still, the same concept)
I don't know, she has the right number of fingers and they seem to look properly functional, not mutantlike in any way. Most likely it's just severely cleaned up in Photoshop. Or it's just because the lighting is so strong it glares and obliterates all detail on her body. You can't see her tires at all, they're hidden away entirely in shadow. I think it's also because the light is so strong on the woman and the car but dark in the background, making them look pasted in. But that's just because the photographer used a spotlight or a flash (possibly two, to hit the side of the car strongly as well), and the light wasn't strong enough to light up the entire background.
It was probably shot using a wide angle lens, which would stretch out things near the edges of the image. Yeah, the front end of the car looks way bigger than the back end.
Here are some more pictures of the same model posing with cars (interesting—the word model still fits, it now means three things—except that this isn't an AI model, it's an IG model): As an amateur photographer I know some things about photography, and this looks like the real deal to me. It's just within the realm of possibility it's AI, but I've never seen AI be able to produce multiple images of the same 'person' and it look like the same person. Three images in a row, and still not a mutant finger among them. Nope I'm calling it.
Ok, there's one thing that does support your AI theory—the strange and often unreadable decals on the car. Aside from the license plate, which is consistent from one pic to the next (they're all the same car), none of the decals seem to say the same thing or even be words. No wait—I can just make out across the bottom of the car it says Drift something (Drift Kingsport). A word, and an appropriate one. The rest might be company logos. But that polished look is just the way people and cars look when hit with really bright light.
Wow! Look at that gigantic ... back seat! (You thought I would say something else, right?) Since we were discussing AI, this woman doesn't look quite right: her legs are far too thin. Yeesh. And here's another picture for your delectation:
Nice to see them having fun. Excellent chance they would have croaked during the influenza plague a few years later.
