First one: Very neat idea, I think I see what you were trying to do here. I think it would be more effective if you were to crop it down a bit....crop the sky at the top out, and the phone booth at the side.
If you have PS, I know there is a way you can do a lens correction, so you can straighten out the lines and make them perfectly vertical...I think it's in filters > distortion >lens (or something like that...I'm not sure, and I am not at home where my PS is.