Just before midnight, we walked down Seventh Avenue to Times Square, it was jammed with thousands – tens of thousands – of people, most of them foreign tourists, you could walk blocks without hearing English. Look at one way, the square is gorgeous, a riot of colors. Digital images surround the square, in every conceivable color, some are small, some are enormous. Every step of the way, we were assaulted by hawkers selling all kinds of good, fake Gucci handbags, bus rides, jewelry, tourist baubles, CD’s, used books, peanuts, candy.

There were sirens and flashing lights, songs and loudspeakers.

If you allow yourself to suspend reality and enter the virtual world, it is like taking a journey to another dimension. It is another dimension and although it made me very uncomfortable after a few minutes, almost everyone there had a cell phone or camera out, faithfully recording their trip to this virtual world.