I moved to NY in 2008. During the years I spent in the city the world changed in memorable ways. The housing bubble and the subprime mortgage crisis in America destabilized the world’s economy months before Barack Obama won the presidency. A devastating Tsunami in Japan highlighted the climate change that many insisted on denying. And Michael Jackson’s death was the prelude to a mysterious capture of Osama Bin Laden.

In my efforts to digest the city that morphed everyday into new social absurdities, I grew the habit of sneaking pennies into stranger’s bags. I took solace in the lofty tale that gifting a penny would help me soothe the monstrous roar of financial uncertainty. Maybe I was just chasing a thrill.

While I distributed pennies to unsuspecting New Yorkers, Google Chrome was released, Bitcoin was launched and the swine flu of 2009 foreshadowed the world’s pandemic of 2020. Instagram was launched and the volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted, covering Northern Europe with a lingering cloud of ash and thunder. 

Here are 50 cents of video entertainment in memory of the amorphous cloud that fills NY with charm and despair.