I have seen the future

Magnet #1243 - Elizabeth Taylor

Ok, folks. Tonight I've seen the future, and I'm not sure if I'm ready for it.

I'm using this Elizabeth Taylor magnet from my Union Square magnetdude, because she was British-American, of the 20th Century's Golden Age, and because with only five years separating them, she kind of reminds me of the woman I met tonight in a random West Side bar.

So yesterday, I wrote that "I am woman, hear me roar" post. You know, the one about having no other master than me.

Today, I met my future sitting in a bar built in 1868. Early for drinks with some pals, I made friends with this older lady sitting next to me. After telling me the history of the bar (sound familiar?), she moved on to telling me she was born in 1927 in Rockland County, and she's lived in NYC ever since.

Her relatives on both sides of her family came over on the Mayflower (in 1620!, she said). Both were from England - on her mother's side, they just didn't like England. And on her father's side, well, he was the King's Taster - the dude who didn't die from tasting the king's meal before he ate it. To hear her tell it, her family was English through and through. (Nothing she could do about it, she said, it wasn't her fault.)

My God, the life this woman has lived.

She basically grew up in New York City - lived through the Depression (her older brothers were all born in the 1920s as well) and remembered Pearl Harbor.

She spent 18 years living and working on Broadway as a dancer, working with the likes of Bob Fosse and other greats.

She spent 2 years straight going to every 2nd night of every Broadway show, free for this newspaper she worked for, seeing the likes of Laurence Olivier staring right at her in the audience.

She lived in a Hell's Kitchen (before it was called Hell's Kitchen) railroad apartment for $200 for 50 (not 1-5, young lady, 5-0!) years, her rent never going above $400 (big deal!, she said).

Finally, her friends insisted that she move to an assisted living home near the bar we were at, where she hates it. Not only does she hate having helpers she doesn't need, but she's surrounded by folks who've never traveled and seen and done the things she has. (I always traveled, because I had money and I could. They didn't! Now they know nothing of the world and other cultures!, she said.)

She insisted that she would never marry. She didn't. She insisted that she would never have kids. She didn't. Even when the guys promised they wouldn't have to have kids, she said, hell no, not for me, move on!

Seriously - if you know me at all, you've heard me claim the exact same things. And, if you know me at all, you know this extremely personal question did not come easy for me. I asked her straight out if she ever regretted never getting married or having kids.

She looked me straight in the eye and goes, "Hell. No." To which I replied, "Hell. Yes. Thank you."

She relented a bit, and said "Now, that's me. You have to decide for yourself." And I said, "No, I'm in agreement." She asked how old I was, replying, You're just a baby!, when I told her.

On the one hand, she's right. On the other, it was like God sat her right next to me to give me an idea of what my life would be in the next 40-50 years.

She was a tough old broad, right down to complaining about the Irish bar we were in (it's Irish bar food, what the hell do you expect?), and it was kind of ridiculous seeing her having to repeat things for me to hear.

But honestly, ya'll. I can't imagine living my life almost twice over to get to her ripe old age of 84. Jeez.

It's one of my favorite things, listening to older generations tell their fantastic stories. I probably could have chatted her up all night, except sadly, after telling me everything I mentioned above, she then started telling me about her family coming over on the Mayflower, like she hadn't just talked to me for the last 20 minutes. Sigh. Sad.

Still, she was absolutely amazing, and I was kind of sad to join my friends. I did start to worry that she'd escaped from the old folks home down the block...but since she knew the bartenders, too, I figured she'd be ok.

So I'm sharing her stories with you guys - after such a great conversation, I couldn't just let her memories fade away!

Accents

Magnet #1241 - Honey bear

Big movie weekend, with the last installment of Harry Potter coming out and of course, Winnie the Pooh. I mean, I even picked up this magnet at Dan Nicholas Park a few weeks ago because I knew I'd eventually see Winnie.

In the end, I didn't see any movies - unless you count the Kellie Martin TV movie double-feature on ABCFamily today. (I honestly don't know how many times I've seen The Face on the Milk Carton, but come on, don't you always have to watch when it's on? Just me? Ok, then.)

Instead of the movies this weekend, I got to hang out with my cousin and his girlfriend, both from Australia. So much fun!

Ya'll know I love playing tour guide in town, so we ended up getting @coolhausNY ice cream (Finally! Now I can shut up about it!), walking the High Line, going to Forbidden Planet, the Strand and the Met on Saturday, and shopping on Sunday. Busy, busy weekend!

But, the best part is hanging out with yet another cousin - there are 30+ of us first cousins (yes, we populated the world) - so it's always interesting to meet a new one. Especially since all I knew of him, was his baby picture from almost 30 years ago. We spent most of the weekend comparing cultural notes on country, television, regional differences, and of course, our accents.

For as long as I can remember, hearing Filipinos with accents always makes me giggle. Like, the extremely Southern/mountain accents of a couple of Filipinos that we grew up with. Or, even the Filipinos we met in England, with their British accents.

But, the Australian cousins have the best, most distinctive accents of all of us, and so, are the ones I'm most jealous of. I've always wished for a cooler accent - I mean, sure when I'm in NY I have a Southern accent, and when I'm in NC, I have a Northern accent. But by no means are either of those two accents fun conversation topics, or even at all exotic.

I've also learned this weekend that I should never try to mimic the Australian accent. But, don't think I didn't just write this entire magnetpost with an Australian accent running through my head.

LEGO Buildings and Lions - Escape Home to NYC, Part 2, Day 4

Magnet #1185 - LEGO

While I love LEGOs, I'm not like the hugest LEGO fan out there. I didn't really grow up putting them together, and played with them only once in a blue moon. In fact, I think that's why I have so much more fun with them now as an adult.

I inherited a LEGOs set at my old office, so when the kids come in, they'd playdate with me on my cube floor, and we'd build fun stuff. The box wasn't a full-on set, just randoms, so we'd really have to get creative with what we built.

Lemme tell you, if you think advertising creative folks are hard to get along with? Try getting in the way of a 4-year-old's LEGOvision.

If you've read anything from this blog, you know that I'm a big architecture buff, so of course, I'm loving all the architectural sets LEGO's released over the last couple of years. Naturally, my two fave sets are Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim and Fallingwater. I had so much fun putting them together - even as friends and family sat and wondered how old I was. Still. C'mon. They're superduper cool!

My other LEGO fave is the touring Towering Ambition architecture tour that we saw in Chicago. It's currently at the National Building Museum in DC, so if you get a chance to go, you must. It's a cityscape of tall and taller famous buildings from all around the world, all made of LEGO blocks. Freakin' fantastic. And don't even get me started on LEGOLand - I just walk around for ages looking at all of their outdoor diorama displays!

It's been a LEGO-filled weekend, too. Today, I finally braved the Rock Center crowds again to visit the store - they have a new tiny Andy Warhol display, which is superdupercute.

And this weekend, I basically hung out at the New York Public Library for their Centennial Celebration. They commissioned a LEGO artist to put together half-sized Patience and Fortitude, the library lions. Even with 60,000 pieces, they were a tad bit on the small side, but still, damned cool.

I just love my shot below of the awesome Library Lion, reading @MichelleKnudsen's Library Lion, flanked by the LEGO Library Lions. So funny.

It's like the Best. Shot. Ever.

To live and die - Escape Home to NYC, Part 2, Day 3

Magnet #1184 - Die in Manhattan

My sister bought me this fantastic Mad Men magnet, and I can't think of any other truer sentiment for the End of the World.

Or Rapture.

Or End of Days.

Or Apocalypse.

Or whatever it is.

Or wasn't.

All things considered, there wasn't any other way I'd rather have spent the last day on earth, than Saturday morning cartoons, diner breakfast for lunch, dragging a friend to the NY Public Library's Centennial Celebration and showing him around one of my favorite buildings in town, giving the same 5-cent tour to another friend who's lived here most of her life and never been inside, discovering a new (to me) Cuban restaurant serving $6 Happy Hour Mojitos (so going back!), and some late-night shopping at Macy's.

Yep, a little tv, food, architecture, history, fun and friendship.

Best day ever, and quintessential New York.

Seriously. If the End of the World had happened while I was drinking those Mojitos last night? I'd have been perfectly content.

Now, we just have to wait til October.

Or you know, 2012, if you're Mayan.

With the birds

Magnet #1180 - Queensboro and Brooklyn Bridges

From yesterday's underwater access points, to two of our bridges high off the water - I figured I'd just minithon the other of my BNT magnetset from Fish's Eddy.

One of my favorite things to do in the city is walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, from one end to the other, stopping along the way to check out the amazing views, looking between the planks at the water and/or cars below, reading all the plaques by the caissons, and imagining all the freakin' work that went into building such an astounding bridge.

Oh, and it doesn't hurt that there's some really good pizza at Grimaldi's, or chocolate from Jacques Torres, and the really cool Brooklyn Bridge Park waiting on the other side. (Clearly, there's more to do in Brooklyn, but I'm saving some of it for an Explore Brooklyn Day, hopefully soon. Hmmm, maybe this Saturday. And yes, there's an Escape Home to NYC sequel in the works - yay!)

The Queensboro Bridge, (aka, the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge or even, the 59th Street Bridge) on the other hand, I can't even remember if I've been across. I must have, right? I mean it's a major thoroughfare! I just know it's the bridge that's right beside the Roosevelt Island tram - everyone knows it - it's the tram where Spider-Man saves Mary Jane?

Yep, that's another fun thing to do in the city, especially, if you're my mother. It's her thing. She loves making everyone take the tram to the island, pop a quarter on the bus and ride it around the little island enclave, and ride the tram back. She seriously loves it.

In fact, I'm going downstairs right now to show her this Spider-Man/LEGO video below, because she will. love. it. And say, "When can we go again, Joy? Can we go there again when I go back to NY, Joy?



eta:
Hah. I was wrong.

Mom: "That's smart! You should do that! Without copyright infringement, of course. I just love riding that thing - it's so exciting!"

With the fishes

Magnet #1179 - Lincoln and Holland tunnels

Hey, did ya'll know that the Holland Tunnel (which connects downtown Manhattan to Jersey City) was supposedly the first underwater vehicular tunnel in the world when it was built back in the 1920s?

Ugh, can you even imagine slowly put-putting through the dark hole in the ground as one the first cars traveling through it?

And I didn't realize that the Lincoln Tunnel (which connects midtown Manhattan to Weehawken), was built as a WPA projects in the 1930s. Apparently, nowadays, the tunnel supposedly hosts more commuters via the bus routes into Port Authority than the trains do running into Penn. That seems weird to me, at least until you walk around the smoggy floors of the PA, waiting for the buses, that's when you believe it.

When we were little and on roadtrips, we used to love all the tunnels we'd pass through on our way to our destinations. The ones through the mountains meant we were halfway to Chicago. The ones under the Hudson meant we'd reached New York City.

And every time, my mother would yell, wake up, girls, it's the tunnel!

That's why I was excited when a friend bought me this superdupercute BNT (that's Bridge & Tunnel for the rest of America) magnet set from Fish's Eddy.

They've always held a certain fascination...as they do when you're little. Even now, as I pass through either the Lincoln or the Holland, I'm a little more alert, always looking around, watching the lights as they pass, the curves of the ceilings, the little walkways for the workmen, the lights of the cars ahead. It's still pretty cool.

The best story, though, is when we roadtripped with the BFF up to NYC, when we were in seventh grade. And we had told her all about the supercool Lincoln Tunnel, that you have to go underwater - under the Hudson River! - to get to NY. The only trouble is...we got her so excited to see the tunnel, it was a huge letdown for her when she couldn't actually see the fishes in the water.

Apparently, she was expecting a Sea World-esque see-through type tunnel. Oops!

Coke goes green

Magnet #1175 - Green Coke

Well, sorta.

I picked this magnet up last week at a random NYC street fair I stumbled onto. Dudes, a whole kiosk of magnets. Or, Heaven, as I like to call it. I mean, it's truly a miracle that I didn't walk away with many more magnets than the half dozen I bought.

Love that this Coke bottle's green - it's the whole reason I bought it. It totally cracks me up, because The Coca-Cola Company has a superstrict set of brand guidelines - for corporate and all of their brands. Everything.

I mean, sure, TCCC has green glass-bottled Coke and are working toward a 100% plant-based green plastic bottle, but this baby 2-liter green bottle magnet?

Totally unlicensed. This green bottle is enough to make any self-respecting brand cop's head explode.

Ah, street fairs, how I love you.

Anyway, it's the 125th anniversary of The Coca-Cola Company, and to celebrate, they put on a huge 3D projection show at their Atlanta headquarters. I love corporate projection shows, having used it for a few clients of my own...but damn, ya'll, I can't even imagine the production budget on this night:

And then there were none

Magnet #1170 - Coney Island

And so, my friends, my Escape Home to NYC ends today as I hop a train down to NC in the morning.

I know...how overdramatic have I been over this trip? It's only because I had packed to be gone for three weeks, not three months, and I was going a little stir-crazy in NC. But, this trip has reaffirmed my crazy NYC love.

I can tell ya'll, I am avoiding packing for NC to the bitter end - lunch, walk, nap, cleaning, Tweeting, texting, whatever possible to not have to pack.

And speaking of packed up...I love this shot of Coney Island, and I'm deathly afraid that this desolation is what I'll find if I head back out there, just based on all the reports over what's been dismantled, what's staying, what's being built, etc., I'm sure it's fine, but I'm really just afraid to see what we're all going to be left with in the end.

I can tell ya'll I've ridden only two rides out there - the Cyclone that I've magnetblogged before, and this Wonder Wheel in the background. I'll confess, for a while there, the only thing I knew about the Wonder Wheel is that some very naughty folks filmed some very naughty things that you stumble upon on those naughty cable access channels in the middle of the night.

I mean, it was all I could think of upon boarding the clackety-clack cars of the Wonder Wheel, what those folks were doing in there. Like, I totally had to check out the cleanliness of the seats before I sat down. (Ewwww.)

Of course, those thoughts were quickly replaced by worry, as I wondered if we would actually make it through the ride. I had no idea that the cars actually swing around and out, making it look like you're about to fly off the wheel itself. Dudes, I hate when coasters or rides are made to look like they're about to fly off the track. Freaks me out - every time!

And it was so long! It went on forever! Yeah. Probably wouldn't re-ride that ride again if given the chance.

What I do want another crack at are those swirley coils that you have to get the stick down from the top to the bottom. Damn, can I waste a ton of money trying to win that thing.

I've won it once or twice, and won some big stuffies from it, but man, every time I get in front of one, I just have to keep trying and trying. And, just when I think I've got it,

MEEEEEP.

Skyline

Magnet #1167 - Chrysler Building

Picked up this magnet from a new Union Square magnet vendor.

I know! The horrors! As it turns out, just like my tv and film boyfriends, I'm a fickle, fickle girl when it comes to who sells me magnets. If they've got 'em, I'll buy 'em.

Ya'll know how much I love the Chrysler Building. It's one of my favorites here in town, and this is such a great shot. Figured a New York magnet was in order, since we're headed back from Houston today.

Can I just say? Nothing beats that first glimpse of the city skyline for me - whether I'm coming up on Amtrak on the Jersey side, driving up the NJ Turnpike, or on the flight path approach into JFK or LGA, I love seeing that skyline.

Yes, it's changed over the years, buildings have come and gone - but thankfully, mostly come. But, no matter what vantage point, no matter which part - it's the greatest skyline in the world.

Seriously - I grin like a crazy fool when I see it. I hope the day never comes when I don't.

Last call - Escape Home to NYC Day #4

Magnet #1163 - HERE ZOMBIE

This magnet my friend brought back from the Romantic Times convention best represents how I feel right now.

After three days of running around town like a girl with a hall pass, it would seem that NYC has kicked my ass.

As I write, I'm running a low-grade fever, all aches and sniffles...putting off packing for Houston because I don't really want to get up off the bed. OIY. There went my Explore Brooklyn Day plans, along with my back-ups of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Festival, and even the antique show I wanted to check out.

I did pretty good though, despite myself, brunching on the UWS and watching Fast Five. Yep, only #prettyboys and #fastcars could have made me break my self-imposed NYC movie theatres ban. (But, well worth the effort, because it was one of the better of the franchise - the twist at the end more than made up for its silly Ocean's 11 slant.)

Anyway, so this is how my escape home to NYC trip ends, with a sneeze and a sniffle, rather than a Tom Collins w/ a splash of cran to celebrate tomorrow's birthday. No matter, at least I won't be hungover for the Houston flight in the morning. So there's that.

Thanks, NYC, for the fun four days here at home - I squeezed in enough good times and food to last me through the next couple of months.

And then hopefully, I'll be coming home to stay.

Forbidden fruit - Escape Home to NYC Day #2

Magnet #1160 - Forbidden Planet

Day #2:

- breakfast strawberry crepes at Alice's Tea Cup
- NYPL to get some work done
- lunch with friends at Bill's Bar & Burgers
- Vosges for a Rooster
- Met & MoMA in three hours.

Ya'll. I am lovin' speed-dating my town! How much of this stuff do we just take for granted living here?

Anyway, by way of explanation, ya'll know all that shopping I did yesterday?

If you know me at all, you know I don't go crazy and spend a boatload on couture or hell, even clothes. Totes not me. (Don't get me wrong, drop me in an Outlet and I'll do a fair amount of damage, but NYC is not an Outlet.)

Instead, with a little money in my pocket, I end up buying silly stuff. And usually from silly places. It's all that forbidden gifty stuff that people keep telling me not to buy within a month of my birthday, so they can buy it for me.

Like my trip yesterday to Forbidden Planet.

This is not my demo, folks. I don't really know what my demo is at this point, but FP is not it. I mean, whenever I walk in, I still feel about a million years old, and way too corporate to be darkening their doorstep. (Especially as I'm wedged in between nerdy cuteboys grabbing their week's worth of comics.)

I don't even read comics or manga - ya'll know that! I've said it a million times! Nor do I play with action figures (mind, I own them, but they never get played with or whatever). And, I don't even wear all those graphic Ts they sell. (Today's Doctor Who Gallifrey Road T-shirt doesn't count, as I didn't buy it there. And yeah, I was totes gonna Tweet a pic of it on me, but then realized I had just taken, and was about to Tweet, a picture of my boobs. Uh, NO.)

Anyway, so yeah. Ya'll have no idea how much crap I ended up buying there. AND OMG, I found my stuffed Adipose (I was devastated when I lost mine on my last trip to the BBC and was SO happy to pay for it - again.) Shut. It.

I also ended up buying a boatload of stuff at Reminiscence, a fave novelty store a friend introduced me to several years ago, down on 23rd off of 6th. Slightly kitschy stuff, slightly dirrty stuff, and I must confess I've never actually made it to the back of the store. No kidding.

But I love spending time wandering through the store. SO much fun. I mean, I'm totally the biggest kitschy gift person ever - I mean, what's the point of presents if you get someone something they'd give themselves?

And of course, if you know me, you know it's almost impossible for me to leave a bookstore without a book in hand. (I may not actually read it, but owning it is half the battle, dammit!) So of course, I had to buy the books of all three authors at last night's book launch.

Sure, I could have scored free copies of them, easy. But I love, love, love giving those few cents to the author's sales numbers. Plus, how can you not help Independent booksellers like Word Brooklyn out?

So yeah - not a pile of new clothes, just a new pile of dustcatchers...for me, but mostly for others. Hah. Just like half the things in my life, my version of shopping is nowhere near anyone else's version of shopping.

Think 12-year-old.

Or hell, it's quite possible that maybe I'm really turning 5 on Sunday.

Crazy as Joy - Escape Home to NYC Day #1

Magnet #1160 - Crazy as a Loon

Hahaha - one day in the City, and I totally forgot to do yesterday's magnet. Oh, how quickly they forget.

Mind you, I didn't get home until midnight this morning, and I woke up at 5 yesterday, so I totally get a pass.

Yeah, you can definitely tell I'm back in New York, because I'm running around town, nonstop since then, crazy as a loon. (See what I did there?)

I can't help it! I didn't want to miss a single second of my first day back in town - so of course, I didn't.

Diner breakfast with my diner coffee - Check.

Lunch and fab dessert (what idiot turns down dessert, I ask you?) at Union Square Cafe with a good friend - Check.

Checking out the digs for a possible place of employment - Check.

Shopping - Check.

Wait. More shopping - Check.

A little more shopping - Check.

Ice cream from the Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream Truck - Check.

Still more shopping - Check.

Acquired nine magnets - Check. (Including this Rangeley Lakes, Maine, magnet my lunch friend brought back for me from Maine! Supercool! And quite fitting, thanks!)

Drinks with good friends to bitch about old place of work - Check.

A quintessentially NYC, evening book launch event in Brooklyn - Check.

Discover really great restaurant for dinner in Brooklyn - Check. (Haven't a clue what the name of the place was...and not entirely sure I could find it again, but whatever.)

Traveling on as many as five different train lines in an hour - Check.

Ready to start the next day?

Oh, hells yes.

On the docket?

Alice's Tea Cup for scones. The Met. The MoMA. Lunch/Dinner/Drinks with friends and coworkers. Heading out to Queens for the Royal Wedding.

And, oh yeah, possibly some shopping.

Escape home to New York

Magnet #1151 - Wall St

My last MTA magnet. I loved these little guys - so pretty, and such a good use for old subway maps. I wonder if they have more...I shall find out soon!

Yay, I'm comin' home to NYC next week! Mind you, it's just a short visit, and I'll have to come right back home to NC afterward (because they've finally decided on which course of action to take with my heart patient dad) but that's ok - I'm comin' home!

If you read this blog at all, or you know me at least a little bit, you know how much I love NYC. I don't even have to be outside of my apartment to love being in town, but it's truly one of my favorite places in the whole wide world. (Both my apartment, and my town.)

The first thing I'm doing when I get there is stopping at Perfecto's around the corner for a slice. I didn't think I'd miss NYC pizza all that much, but after stops at Pizza Hut, Sbarro's, and Cici's...plus frozen pizzas by DiGiorno's and CPK, I just want a slice. A nice, giant, greasy plain slice that drips over the edge of my paper plate, that will burn my mouth the second I bite into it. That's it. Oh. And maybe some garlic knots.

Then breakfast is totally gonna be City Diner down the block for my scrambled eggs, sausage and home fries, toast and strawberry jam - and coffee. Real and proper diner coffee. A real and proper breakfast. How I've missed it so. Not that it's all that bad here, but diner coffee can't be replicated by Dunkin or Krispy Kreme or Starbucks.

After that, I'm headed across the street to get my haircut by Autumn at Dramatics NYC. No, that's not her real name - they all use fake stage names (Rolex, anyone?), but she has to fix my hair. This dude mangled the heck out of it here in NC, and I can't stand looking at it anymore. I will be SO happy after she's done!

That will all hopefully be done in time for my jam-packed schedule of lunches, drinks, dinners, museums, and random events, etc. My Google calendar's already doing that annoying +2, +3 events thing in the month-view.

It's so funny, you can definitely tell I'm headed back to NYC specifically, because I'm already trying to overschedule everything and everyone - going from place to place, seeing as many people as I can see, and doing as many NYC things as I can squeeze in. (I can't help it, you try being stranded on 22 acres in the middle of nowhere!)

I've already mentally written down grabbing a 7-day MetroCard the second I get in, even though I'm really only home for four days. I'm gonna need it with all the running around I'm gonna be doing.

Someone in New York already told me to slow down, that NY would still be there when I got back home, but honestly, if there's anything I've learned in the last year, it's to do as much as you can, when you can do it.

And nowhere better to do it in the world, than New York City.

What's next?

Magnet #1121 - Times Square New York

I dunno if it's because I traveled more or if it's because the entire collection is back in NY or if there's just no magnets wherever I go, but the photobucket selection is getting a little thin.

Well, there's always the Tampa airport tomorrow afternoon!

So crazy. I can't believe how this week in Tampa has flown by in a flash. We have final rounds of the Transitions Championship today, and then I fly out tomorrow.

And then I can begin answering some questions of what I want to do next. The whole dilemma is whether or not I'll be living in NY or NC, and while I love NY with all my heart, it depends on what's happening with my dad.

But even if I head back home to NY, there's the next question of what to do next. Do I work in an agency? Do I try to stay freelance? Do I find a job that won't suck my soul?

It seems to be an answer that I can't quite put my finger on - I've had a few folks who've said to just give them the word and I'm in. I'm eternally grateful for those folks, I am.

But, who knows where I'm going next. All I know is that the coming months hold a lot of changes in store for me. It's scary. But exciting, too.

Pine Bank Arch

Magnet #1091 - Pine Bank Arch, John Hall

John Hall shot this image of Pine Bank Arch in Central Park, back in 1996, the year after I moved to New York. It's gorgeous, no?

It was built in 1861, just at the beginning of the Civil War. If you want to get technical, it's really a bridge, and is about 80 feet long, and about 11 feet up (to allow for the bridle path below). It's also one of the few remaining original cast-iron bridges left in the park.

Snow-covered Central Park is pretty much how I left New York a few weeks ago before I came down here to North Carolina to take care of a family emergency. Who knows what it'll look like when I get back up there. When I do, though, I definitely have to take this Forgotten NY tour - would love to be able to see all of the stunning bridges and arches the park has to offer. You kind of just take them for granted when you're there, but flipping through those bridges makes me want to spend the day in the park.

For now, though, I'll definitely enjoy the spring temps of NC - it's supposed to be 73 tomorrow and in the high 60s this weekend.

Yep. I just did a magnetblog about the weather. Too bad I didn't think about the weather before I packed all my sweaters a couple of weeks ago!

Here and there

Magnet #1057 - Camera Work

One of the things I love about this town, is when there are multiple exhibits around the same subject at different museums. Whether it's planned or not, it still gives you a better grasp on a subject when you see it from multiple vantage points/exhibits.

The last couple of weeks or so, that's what the Seaport Museum and the Met (where I picked up this magnet) have done for me.

The Seaport just finished the amazing Alfred Stieglitz New York exhibit. I'm not a big photography fan, indeed, the amount that I know about it, could fill a teacup.

Yet, I've found myself captivated by his particular work, because he was born during the Civil War, and died at 82 in 1946, after World War II. So, his photography spans from horse-drawn carriages on the streets of New York, to the monumental skyscrapers being built all around him.

Plus, dudes. The man was doing more with his magic lantern camera in the 1890s than I can do with my point and shoot Panasonic in 2011. His photography is amazing. He makes me want to run out there and shoot anything and everything.

If you missed the Seaport exhibit, you can always hop on over to the Met, for the Stieglitz, Steichen and Strand exhibit. Though you can see much of what was at the Seaport, the Met's collection includes the Georgia O'Keefe portraits, plus additional halls focusing on Steichen and Strand's work as well.

While you're there, definitely drop by the Met's Masterpieces of French Art Deco exhibit. Very cool, made more interesting for me today, because it included more than a few pieces from the S.S. Normandie, which I magnetblogged about yesterday.

I know. I keep finding myself at the Met, over and over again. At some point, I really just need to get a job there.

eta:
Oh! I forgot. Each Friday, I've decided to post a new Floaty Pen video. Yes. Exactly what it sounds like. Yes. Just as silly as you would expect.

What? I can't figure out a better way to make use out of my Floaty Pen collection than showing you guys one a week!

Ships in the night

Magnet #1056 - Seaport Museum

This past weekend, I visited the Seaport Museum to catch the last days of the Alfred Stieglitz exhibition, which I'll magnetblog as soon as I run and get that Camera Work magnet from the Met's Stieglitz exhibition tomorrow. Loved this museum.

Yes, yes, it's possible that I might love every museum in the world, but I really enjoyed my visit! The Stieglitz exhibition was superdupercool, but I was truly blown away by the DECOdence S.S. Normandie exhibit.

Before I get to the Normandie though, can I just say? I had the Coolest. Evening. Ever.

Today was the second-ever Royal Rendezvous in New York Harbor - all three ships of the Cunard Fleet met this evening near the Statue of Liberty...and made fireworks!

It was superdamn cool standing that the bottom of Manhattan island, seeing the three giant ships in the harbor, each like floating cities of light, each dwarfing the Statue of Liberty. They all poot-pooted their horns, and then paraded one after the other past Lady Liberty.

First, we saw Queen Mary 2 come into the harbor. She's the largest of the fleet, and can handle 2,620 passengers and 1,253 crew. And dudes. Dudes! She came about right there in the harbor, as if she were Pacey's tiny True Love, rather than her 203 feet tall, 1,132 feet long and 150,000 tons! After she turned downstream, she was followed by Queen Victoria, and then Queen Elizabeth, all while the fireworks broke through the skies.

It was awesome standing on the esplanade watching these giant ships go by. Of course, it was 19 degrees, and I may never get feeling back in my fingers and toes, and my nose may have hypothermia, but it was worth it.

I've never before wanted to take a cruise before, but I've decided, if I ever do, I will totally sail either the Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth or Queen Victoria. Talk about seaworthy!

But back to the French ocean liner, Normandie. At the time she sailed, she was the largest and the fastest ship in existence. And one of the most opulent ships ever seen. Kind of funny, given that she was christened during the Depression. When the war came, the French moored her in NY to be retooled into a troopship. Alas, she came to a fiery end through a bizarre construction accident. There's no doubt that had she made it through the war, that she would have seen many more years of service.

The DECOdence exhibit gives you a good background on the ship's history, how the French government heavily subsidized the building of her, the marketing and PR blitz it went through. Plus, it also gives you a guided tour of the ship, her luxurious features and amenities, the glorious art deco design by the likes of Lalique and other designers of the day. They have a ton of artifacts to look at, matched up with fantastic giant images that makes you feel like you're right there in the Grand Salon.

I swear, going through the exhibit makes you crazy, thinking of how wonderful it would have been to travel aboard the Normandie.

Mind you, I'd only accept first class passage. The better to meet Cary Grant, don'tcha know.

No woman's an island

Magnet #1055 - El Salvador

My sister brought this handpainted magnet back for me from her work trip to El Salvador last year. How cool is this one? It's painted on a tree!

Ok, fine. Painted on wood.

Still! Someone's little fingers painted this one. (Yeah, let's not delve too much into that, otherwise, I'll be forced to recollect all those sad books I had to read in International/Third World Politics at Carolina.)

I love that it's a little village of just two houses...with possibly a parrot over in the corner? (Or is that a shell? I dunno.)

I've been thinking a lot of the notion of home lately. It's funny, because when I'm in New York, I refer to North Carolina as home. And when I'm in North Carolina, I refer to New York as home. Truth is, they both are, really.

Someone FB-statused last week it used to be that once upon a time she couldn't wait to live in the big city, but recently she's realized that she loves living in a small town, because within 20 minutes of something happening, everyone knows, and has called, come over, cried, prayed or laughed with you.

That's kind of like my nightmare. That's the very reason I moved to the anonymous big city, so that I wouldn't have that issue of people knowing my business. (Not that I got called out as the doctor's daughter buying alcohol at Food Lion, or anything. Heh.)

So, for the past 14 years and up to late last year, I've lived in this building, not knowing more than my neighbor's name, the neighbor down the hall's daughter's name, the other neighbor down the hall's name and her dog's name. Annnnd, that's pretty much it.

Part of that was because I was a total workaholic getting home in the wee hours of the night. But the bigger part of that was because I was trying to be the most model tenant, making no waves, flying under the radar, truly embracing the comforting anonymity of a giant 23-story building.

Now that I've joined our tenants alliance (I can hear you laughing from here), in an effort to help us rent stabilized folks keep our homes in light of new owners, it's become the opposite. Last night, we gave candidate statements (shhh, I still hear you laughing), and as I looked around the lobby at our little community, I realized I've been missing out all these years, right in my own home.

Folks who have lived here for 20 and 30 years were friends with each other, were catsitters for each other. Some were joking around, even arguing with each other, but most with shared experiences.

Real neighbors.

People tend to think that in a city of 8 million people, that it's hard to create a circle of friends. I've managed to do it, collecting people from work and other places. I never thought to do it in my building.

It's sad to realize this now, now that we could possibly lose our homes. But it does make me realize that going forward, it probably wouldn't hurt to get to know the neighbors...now, and wherever I might end up next.

eta:
But hopefully it's here, in this building. I always swore I wouldn't leave this apartment (or New York) until they dragged me kicking and screaming. Despite my issues of the last year, I love it too much. It's home. Sigh. Wish us luck.

Taking chances

Magnet #1052 - Michelle Williams, Dawson's Creek

I've been holding on to this magnet for a while, because along with me, a certain demographic will always remember Michelle Williams as the bad girl next door, Jen Lindley.

So of course, I had to use it for today's Blue Valentine Q&A session with Michelle and @ditzkoff for the NYTs Arts & Leisure Weekend.

Funny how my first impression of her was that she was so tall! Then I saw her four-inch Louboutins. But, goodness, I've always thought they looked alike, but she and Carey Mulligan really must do a movie as sisters, because they're practically twins with the same pixie cut that I heart so very much.

But what followed was a good conversation between the two of them, about

• Blue Valentine (and how she and Ryan Gosling lived together for a month to have that couply background together- "except for the nighttime stuff")
• about her latest project (just got finished shooting the Marilyn Monroe bio...let's take a moment to smile about how Jen Lindley ended up playing Marilyn Monroe, while Joey Potter ended up playing Jackie O.)
• about her career (how she doesn't really map it according to what people expect her to do), and
• about her choices (that she's learned that whenever she's been torn about doing something - making lists and asking people for advice on what to do, deliberating hard, that it usually wasn't the right decision for her).

Itzkoff even asked her about her Creek days (bless), and she was totally open to talking about it. Apparently, James Van Der Beek once told her she was lucky, because she wasn't part of "such a strong triangle" that of all of the Creekers, she'd get away from Dawson's scott-free.

And, she has, for the most part. George Clooney once said that once you've been nominated for an Academy Award, whether you win it, or not, you'll always have Academy Award-Nominee in front of your name. And that's what comes before Michelle Williams' name now.

I've never understood why anyone was surprised when she was nominated - it was always obvious from any one of Jen's downward spirals that Michelle Williams was the actor who wasn't afraid to take chances in her work. She was just good. Like others have said, their time on the show was like six and a half years of acting class, a place to get rid of bad habits, and try out new things, and figure out what works for her and what doesn't.

Dudes, she even mentioned the funny walk Jen started doing! So funny, because just last night I was like, what is up with Jen and this funny walk? (No, seriously. To the point where I was totes surprised when Michelle walked so gracefully across the stage in her four-inch killer heels.)

And, yeah. You read right. Just last night. I'm totally in the midst of a Creekathon. For a couple of reasons, really. First, because I have the complete series box set that I never really cracked open. Second, because almost every day, @Creek_Quotes Tweets a DC quote, and I can pretty much pinpoint every episode it comes from. Third, because I was looking forward to seeing today's session with Michelle, and wanted to see her very early work.

But, the real impetus for my Creekathon is because of James Van Der Beek's Jamesvandermemes Funny or Die site, part of Van Der Week, where there's four videos to watch. And, if you haven't seen the Vandermemes vid:

Vandermemes from James Van Der Beek

Words by Rice, building by Piano

Magnet #1050 - Times Square/42nd Street

I once fell into the N/R/W/Q subway tracks in the Times Square/42nd Street station. This is not that magnetpost.

I'm just using it for today, because I just got back from Times Square, and seeing the Sir Tim Rice and Friends performance.

I've been looking forward to this event, mostly because of my obsession with watching all of those (very late to the U.S.) BBC/BBC-A, Andrew Lloyd Webber reality shows casting parts in the West End's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Sound of Music, then Wizard of Oz, and now Oliver! So when I didn't see any of Rice's work with ALW on the program, I was a little sad.

But, it was quickly explained by the funnier than I'd have expected Tim Rice, that the evening was being devoted not so much to him, but to Disney on Broadway's songbook. Being a Disney fan, color me sooo not disappointed!

And it was so much fun!

After Sir Tim did a tongue-in-cheek reading of all the not-so-great NYTs reviews of Disney shows, we were treated to fantastic numbers sung by seven original cast members of Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, AIDA, Tarzan, Mary Poppins, The Little Mermaid, and King David (which you've likely never heard of, but the two numbers from it were fabulous, so I hope we will hear of them again).

The first song was Be Our Guest, and all I could think of was that it sure did not sound like when my sisters and I play Wii Disney Sing It. And for the whole song, all I could think was man, I bet that dude would rock out on Wii. What? It's true.

From then on, it was quite amazing watching these Disney vets as they performed their songs without sets, without costumes, with a two-piece musical accompaniment...and still they managed to place us in every single show. Maybe because it was on such a small stage, and we were all so close up, but it was truly uncanny how I felt like I was watching Belle and Mary Poppins and Rafiki and Ariel, and shoot, even Tarzan. In street clothes.

And now I finally understand what ALW and all the judges were trying to teach all those reality contestants - how to act out a song, feel the emotions, connect with the words. I had pooh-poohed that criticism, before but honestly, I got a little goosebumpy listening to several of the songs tonight. I guess that's how the pros do it.

But wait. There's more!

Last week, I used a magnetquote by architect Renzo Piano, where I surprised myself with all of the Piano museums/additions I'd been to. Tonight's NYTs Arts & Leisure Weekend event was held at TimesCenter, at Piano's New York Times building just off of Times Square.

I've been to TimesCenter before, but hadn't realized just how ingeniously multi-use they've managed to make this building. While I was sitting in the audience of a state-of-the-art, 378-seat auditorium, through the stage backdrop glass, I was able to see New York Times employees leave their office space across the indoor courtyard, dinner patrons dining at the gorgeous Montenapo Restaurant, and a chick shopping at supercool Muji.

All that, and, it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the incredible performances of Sir Tim Rice's merry band of friends.

Pretty. Damn. Cool.