That really is actor Joe Malone's bong in real life in the background of one of the quick scenes.
This short film was originally a video production project for a New York University class during the 1988 spring semester. The assignment was to capture a dark side of New York City in two minutes or less, but to shoot some of the footage in daylight.
The cinematographer Jeff Kramer had forgot to bring his Steadicam that day so the "skeleton" crew "borrowed" a local shopping cart to help Jeff roll thru the shoot. The crew returned the shopping cart when they were done at the end of the day and no one was worse for the wear.
The World Trade Centers were both captured just as the actor was improvising a poem and said the line "so big".
