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.

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.

Walk. Freeze. Eat. Repeat.

Magnet #1020 - Disney, New York City

Fact: I paid way too much for this magnet. But. It was opening day at Disney's new Flagship store in Times Square a few weeks ago, and so, was totally worth it.

Plus, look at it! So darn cute! If they had a second one, with a complementary set of Disney ones (they could so do one with just the princesses!), I would totally have gotten it.

Spent the day playing tourist again in my city - one of my favorite things to do here. One of my former clients from Italy is here this week with her boyfriend, so we went wandering around Queens and midtown.

Yes, Queens. They wanted to go, so I brought them all the way out to Corona Park and the Queens Museum of Art, to see all the World's Fair stuff. You know I love it there.

Her BF is an architect, so he was totally interested in the architecture out there, and in midtown. So I picked up a copy of Francis Morrone's Architectural Guidebook to the City for him - remember him? The dude who gave the Plaza tour?

I firmly believe that all visiting architects should have that book in hand while wandering around town. We wandered through Grand Central, up Park Avenue to visit the Seagram Building, Lever House and the Frank Lloyd Wright showroom, over to Madison for the AT&T/SONY Building - such a pleasure to wander around with someone who appreciates the buildings themselves! We followed that by a quick trip into Cartier, St. Patrick's, Rockefeller Center, and Times Square for Disney, M&Ms and Hershey's, and Toys R Us.

Yep. All day. Loved it. Walking, freezing and eating. My kind of day.

Well, without the freezing, maybe.

I walk alone

Magnet #964 - American Idiot

I keep all my Playbills and tickets for all the shows I've been to. Last week, when I transferred them into a shiny new box, I found that I've been to about 70 performances during the course of the last several years here in town.

Most of those performances were with discounted tickets from Playbill.com, my secret weapon when it comes to enjoying Broadway. They send out great email offers all the time, which is how I ended up at American Idiot last night, with mixed feelings about it today.

First and foremost, I should admit that I'm not a big Green Day fan, but I hate being left out of things, and it always seems that American Idiot is one of those shows that everyone wants to see. I'm wondering if you should be a Green Day fan in order to enjoy the show. I mean, sure, I knew several of the songs, but not all of the songs.

And, to give the show a benefit of a doubt, I missed the first 20 minutes of the show. I apologize to all the performers last night, but yes. Classic rookie mistake - for some reason, all day long, I had an 8pm start time in my head. It's not like I was busy, I stopped myself from getting ready early, so that I wouldn't be down in Times Square too early. So at about 6:53 last night, I was like, hmmm, la-la-la, I guess I'll get ready to go. La-la-la. And I decided to pull up my confirmation.

My confirmation that said, St. James Theatre, 7pm.

7pm!!!

I flew out of my apartment, and I swear the train conductor knew I was on board, because we careened down the 2/3 train track. Braving the withering looks of about four ushers, I entered the strobe-lit theatre mid-song, and was seated in the nearest empty end seat, about 20 rows better than what I bought.

From there, I couldn't settle down. Maybe it's because I missed those 20 minutes that I couldn't quite catch up with the story that I wasn't bowled over by it?

The set design and production overall was fantastic, although they scared me a few times with all the moving scaffolding and cirque du soleil stuff (and sometimes the strobes). The performances were terrific, the guitar playing was awesome.

But, from what I could tell, the AI story is really just Hair, but for our generation. And we all know how I didn't love Hair. It had the same young slacker generation frantically raging against political and military machine issues that frustrated the heck out of me in Hair.

Huh. Looks like the square I would have been in the 60s and 70s, translates to the square I am in the 2000s. Eh, I'll own it.

Oh! I will say that the one benefit of being late to the show? Walking almost alone through Times Square and the side streets, because everyone else got to their shows on time. It was nice.

eta:
Double oh! Or, maybe it was because I got distracted by the silly teenager in front of me who kept messing with her stupid hair, sticking her elbows out both sides four times to redo her hair back into her headband/side ponytail combo. Dude. It's dark. They won't see you!

Bright lights, big city

Magnet #921 - Times Square, 1939

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I love Times Square. I love the way it's grown and changed over the years, and bright lights have been its only constant.

It's why I love seeing these images of old-time NY - either in books or on magnets, like this one from my magnet guy in Union Square.

It's definitely a far cry from where I grew up, where the most lights we have are downtown, when the Christmas star goes up. Also, I use the term "downtown" loosely, given that we have maybe four square blocks of a downtown.

Still, there's something to be said for living in the sticks.

At night, you can look up and sometimes, your only light source are the moon and stars.

Raccoons come up on your backporch to say hello! In broad daylight!

Bunny rabbits hippity-hop to get out of the car's way. Every single time you come home! That's not even counting the deer that live in the woods in front of the house.

Hummingbirds flock to your backyard.

And, aside from the wildlife, you get to speed like a freakin' demon on the backroads.

You get to pass cop roadblocks on the backroads. (Thankfully, I wasn't speeding, but it's actually kinda awesome, they had me show my license. Dude didn't even tense up when I reach into my [albeit cartoon] giant totebag for it.)

And, if you're me, on the way to the highway, you pass what's totally a biker gang hang-out, complete with the Rebel flag and American flag, next to an auto collision shop.

Oh hells, yeah, there's some Sons of Anarchy action going on there. (Awe. Some.)

Trip the signs fantastic

Magnet #814 - Hong Kong

Now I can't remember if I picked this magnet up, or if someone brought it home for me. Hmmm.

Either way, I totally dig it, because it reminds me of the beginning of Doctor Who's Turn Left episode, where the DoctorDonna are wandering through an Asian market, trying out the local wares, including a tall cup of foamy drink...that of course got cut out in the US/BBC-A version.

Oddly, now that I've gone back to look at that episode, it looks like even that first minute isn't really all that much like this magnet, it's more like it reminds me of the last spine-chilling minute of that episode, instead.

Still, this feels like a pretty accurate picture of Hong Kong - a thousand neon lights, amidst a thousand tall buildings, and a trillion people. It's quite the place to visit, even if only for 15 hours.

I can't even think about it must be to like know what all those signs say - like "Joe's Pub"? "Manicures here" *blink* blink* blink* "Buy one, get one free? BOGO?" "Chinese laundry"? But what's that LA BAMBA over there mean? Hahahaah.

I suppose it's probably akin to seeing all the signs in Times Square. TSQ really has nothing on the lights and signs of Hong Kong, and ours are only concentrated within that 20 block radius, from 41st Street all the way up to about 53th Street. And it's mostly corporate logos, rather than individual stores and establishments in HK. Honestly, it seemed like every street corner we turned down, there were streets and alleys that were lit up - I'd bet you can see it from space!

Very cool magnet, for a very cool town.

Not your grandaddy's Times Square

Magnet #597 - Times Square

So, while the rest of the gang are doing the Intrepid that I did a couple of weeks ago, I decided to take the laptop for a walk to get some work done here.

No. I mean, literally. Here. In Times Square. Smack in the middle of what used to be Broadway. On the lawn chairs in front of the ESPNZone, with their free wifi (Thanks!). With the tourists.

The blogosphere has been full of NY locals who are ticked off about the former Crossroads of the World becoming Disneyland. Even though I'm kinda having a blast, the naysayers aren't entirely wrong. From where I sit this second, there's:

Fake pedestrian malls with red pavement and oases of gravelly walkways with red chairs and tables.

Spongebob, Dora and Elmo, scamming tourists for pictures. Please tell me someone's getting licensing money for that.

Sidewalk vendors with easily cartable food or funny drawings for sale.

Giant signs with lots of moving lights.

Screaming kids in double-wide strollers, being pushed by frustrated parents.

Cameras are ubiquitous, with people getting pushed out of the way to get that Kodak moment.

Actually, the only thing we're really missing in Times Square are rides.

But hell, take a cab to get here. That'll complete the experience.


(I'm totally gonna talk about this magnet, but later, when I have more than 18% battery left, and the rest of my advertising creative brief left to write. Eeep. Publish Post! Publish Post!)

eta:
Found it. According to Gothamist, this magnet image is Rudy Burckhardt's Times Square at Dusk in 1947. I'm sad I missed the Glitz & Grime photography exhibition at the Yancy Richardson Gallery that ended just last month. Seems like for every cool thing I know to do in the city, there's always a few more that I end up missing, too.

Sigh. Isn't that always the way?

Picture pages, picture pages

Magnet #419 - Hershey's Times Square

This is the other half of my Hershey's Times Square store magnet. I've just never found a good picture of me in Times Square to put in it.

I'm glad, because have I got a not-so-sweet rant for you today!

One quick search for Facebook on this site will reveal my love/hate relationship with it. One day I love it, because I've connected with a friend I've lost touch with. The next day I hate it, because I see someone do something utterly stupid on it.

To wit:

One of the first workplace rules I was taught: if you're at a work party, and someone's aiming a camera your way, and you've got a drink or a beer bottle in your hands - lower it.

It's something that's always stuck in my head, and not just cuz I had a silly crush on the coworker guy who told me. I think I'm still the only one who does it.

That's why it boggles the mind some of the party and bedroom pictures that get posted to Facebook. People! Doesn't matter how many settings you set, how many privacy levels you allow - at some point, potential or current coworkers, bosses and even HR folks see this stuff. Never mind that - family sees this stuff.

This bogglization probably extends to untoward Facebook statuses about the guy you went home with the night before, or the hookah you were hookah-ing the night before, or the mary janes you were eyeing the night before...or basically anything that gives away anything that you were doing the night before that you don't want your mom to know about. But, when there's actual pictorial proof of what you were doing the night before that you don't want your mom to know about, that's a good indicator that you may want to think twice about uploading it.

Yes. Once again, I'm railing at another rule that I was taught but didn't get taught to a different generation. Once again, I sound like I'm 90 years old, a tight-ass and a prude...but to be brutally honest, I don't need to see anyone's teenage cousin kissing on their boyfriend in bed. Even if she's in college.

Family. On Facebook. Countless cousins, one sister, and one aunt. An aunt related to your mom.

Psst, I know I just said that it doesn't matter how many privacy levels you allow, but for the love of Pete (literally), keep that junk between you and your boyfriend. Shocker! You actually can set it that way. Dummy.

Also?

Ewwwww. Thank you. Now I have to go bleach my eyes.

eta, in bold, because it's fairly more important than my standard etas:
Dudes. So, while I chose to write the above rant, lambasting those who upload untoward pictures...my other cousin came through with this Ad Council vid, a far more eloquent, astounding and totally creepy PSA: Everyone knows Sarah.

eta2:
Mind you, I could be accused of the same practices, here on joy magnetism. But aside from some pictures with Ponch and me - in a work context - I try to be a little more vigilant.

Sweet Times Square New Year's Eve

Magnet #313 - Hershey's Times Square

Oddly, this is my only Times Square magnet - from the Hershey's store. Love that store. Most of the stuff in there is what you can get in a Duane Reade or CVS, but they have supercute branded stuff, too. And you know I love my swag. Plus, the facade of the building, with its giant candy is just awesome. It's almost as cool as Willy Wonka's candy factory.

Picked this one for today, because most assuredly, Times Square is already jam-packed with New Year's revelers. Everyone should do New Year's in Times Square at least once. But don't go sober. Or alone. And make sure you go to the restroom before you head out there.

It's a great place to be, don't get me wrong, but you know that phrase, alone in a crowd? Truth is, even if you're hanging out with friends, the second the ball drops and everyone's kissing on each other, it's the loneliest feeling on the planet - absolutely the only time I've ever felt lonely in New York. Odd, I know. I could have gotten my freak on like the drunk chicks from Germany near us, who were then kissing on the drunk boys from Australia near us. But, ewwwww.

Anyway, I digress. It was a superfun night - we weren't actually in Times Square, though. Yet again, another example of me going somewhere and missing the biggest thing about it. While we did see the ball drop, I didn't get to see Dick Clark that night. It was kind of upsetting. Heh.

Check out this map. We left at like early afternoon, and we were still about 8 blocks away, halfway between the One Times Square and Central Park. And those blocks were filled to the brim with people. Insane. The one good thing is that we got to see both the ball drop and the fireworks over Central Park. It was seriously amazing. Even without the strangerkissing.

Hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year's Eve, and a Happy New Year!

Kiss and tell

Magnet #263 - Times Square

I ransacked my walls looking for an appropriate Veterans Day magnet that didn't center in on just one branch of the military. Not surprisingly, I think I do have a magnet from each.

But, I think this will do for my feel-good post.

I worked on the advertising team for the World War II Memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C., and, while doing a photosearch through the National Archives collection, I came across that iconic V-J day in Times Square image.

You know the one - where the sailor's kissing that nurse in the middle of Times Square?

Did ya'll know that no one knew for sure who that couple was? I remember being scandalized when I found out that they weren't actually a couple!

Apparently, when word came across the ticker that Japan had surrendered, everyone poured into the streets of Times Square and celebrated the end of the War, in and out of bars, strangers kissing strangers, etc. I just love how Alfred Eisenstaedt, the photographer, was running around in the middle of the madhouse, snapping pictures. Must have been insane. But, I guess it explains how even Eisenstaedt couldn't say for sure who the kissing couple was.

Over the years, several people have come forward to say it was them, and have backed it up with forensics analysis, even. In the end, the two that are widely accepted are Edith Shain and Glenn McDuffie.

So how terrific is it that the 90-year-old Ms. Shain will be serve as the grand marshal at today's Veterans Day Parade in NYC!

Totally makes me all sniffly.

So, today's Veterans Day, and with it comes a big Thank You to all veterans - here, and around the world.