New York trip
Okay, so there's a big bunch of time between my last update and when I went to New York. Fortunately, nothing really happened so I'll spare you the mundane details. The day before I left was interesting. I finished packing about about 2 in the morning and needed to be up three hours later to make it to the airport in time to catch my flight. I made it and got to the airport. First thing I do in leaving La Guardia is get into a cab to go meet James at the place I was to stay at. The driver was the stereotypical middle-eastern guy that I couldn't understand. Then he almost went the wrong way and had to put it in reverse for about 30 feet on the highway at one point. Good times.
My first three hours in New York were spent in an Irish pub (eating an amazing burger) and meeting people. Following that, James took me to Times Square and gave me an opportunity to get acclimated. That night was spent playing Trivial Pursuit.
The next day, I went wandering around the Times Square vicinity on my own. I managed to stumble across the Museum of Modern Art which was AMAZING. They currently had a Dada exhibit which I wish I would have had more time in. I saw Van Gogh's original Starry Night there and about soiled myself. I also was introduced to the work of the English painter Francis Bacon who's made some amazing stuff (online, pictures of his "Painting" (1946 I think) aren't that great, but in person it's insane). That night, almost everyone I met in the pub turned out to celebrate James' birthday. There was good food, iTunes galore, champagne in paper animal cups through crazy straws, and more Trivial Pursuit. Hilarity obviously ensued.
The next day, I had a meeting with the head of the cinema studies department at NYU. After my meeting there, I was pretty pumped about the program and currently, my status is the same. Also, I saw my first broadway show, The Light in the Piazza.
The next day was used for two more Broadway shows (after a less-than-encouraging meeting with the admission people at Columbia). For the matinee, I saw The Lieutenant of Inishmore which was hysterical. I've never laughed so much about dead cats. That night, I went to Spamalot, the Monty Python musical semi-based on the Holy Grail movie. I had heard the soundtrack and wasn't a big fan of it, but seeing it in person definitely made up the difference. It was also hilarious. Adapting the netflix scale to broadway, Piazza gets 4/5 stars, Inishmore gets 5/5 and Spamalot also gets 5/5.
On Thursday, I tried to hit up some more museums. Thursday morning I went to the Museum of Natural History. They had a Darwin exhibit I wanted to check out but the movie was about 90 minutes whereas the Robert Redford-narrated movie about asteroid collision was 20ish. There's some really amazing stuff there, but to fully enjoy it, you would need more time than I had. This was followed by a trip to the International Center for Photography. There was some good stuff there, but that recommendation was probably overrated compared to other stuff I could have done. My next stop was the Guggenheim which I found out is closed every Thursday. So, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art instead. That place was enormous. I only had time to get in three sections before they closed. That night I didn't make it in time for any broadway shows, so I went and found a theater and watched the movie "Wordplay". Considering it's a documentary about crossword puzzle enthusiasts, it's surprisingly entertaining.
The next morning, I woke up early so I could hop on to the A Train and somehow end up in Brooklyn. My outdated Frommer's Guide said that walking the Brooklyn Bridge was a good, touristy thing to do, and it was free. By walking the bridge, I was able to see the Statue of Liberty and both the Empire and Chrysler buildings. Then, I immediately hopped back onto the subway to go to the Guggenheim (I was determined). I finally made it there around eleven in the morning. There was an exhibit on the architecture of Zaha Hadid who apparently has designed some very crazy structures. There was also a Jackson Pollock exhibit which was darn cool. When I finally reached the summit of the famous ramp, my initial thought was something to the effect of "This is where Richard Serra stood and hurled molten vaseline down a little chute in Cremaster 3". Yep, I'm a nerd (with questionable taste). I left the museum (but not before picking up their handy guide and a discounted Cremaster Cycle poster), and then went back to homebase to pack. Total burroughs I made it to = 4. My flight was that afternoon and slightly delayed, but I still got back to Nashville at a decent hour and made it home. That night was the night before my roommate (John Fisher)'s wedding, so there were a bunch of guys over cutting up and injuring themselves with feeble desks. The next day was the wedding itself.
I got there a tad late, so when I walked in everyone was turned around expecting the groomsmen. Mildly awkward. Also, my phone went off two seconds before I was about to open the sanctuary doors which would have been a double-whammy. But Fisher and Abby were wed and then I went to the reception to mingle and whatnot (I never turn down free bell peppers). After the reception, no one was staying in town, so I packed it up as well and drove back to the Head.
Sunday consisted of church the next morning, watching Altman's "3 Women" and a whole bunch of random stupid shows on TV, and eating with Cassie at Cici's for dinner. She actually didn't know what Cici's was before that, but I think she's now seen the light in all of it's grease-filled, heart-stopping glory.
Monday was my dentist appointment. Apparently, I had a tooth that needed to come out. I sat down in the chair and they prepped me. I asked if I would be gassed up and they said they were out at the moment, so I didn't get to hear the funny fume-induced voices. The tooth was pulled and aside from a large wad of gauze in my cheek, all was well. I drove back to Bowling Green that night since duty called the next day.
Then, the regular routine was re-established. Aside from switching houses (aka-moving) yesterday, I really haven't done anything too out of the ordinary (or at least not in comparison to everything else I previously mentioned). Tomorrow (technically today), is the fourth of July. I'm attempting to make it to two cookouts simultaneously, so I guess I'll be doing the Flintstones/Boy Meets World two-places-at-one-time trick. I will also probably see An Inconvenient Truth in the afternoon since I have nothing else to do. Sidenote (which mostly applies to James)-deepdiscountdvd.com is having an awesome sale on Kino DVDs. All the Haneke stuff (sans "Cache"), Buster Keaton, Fritz Lang, Wong Kar-Wai, and D.W. Griffith are all at 50% off. Soiling of the trousers/purchasing of the movies still to come. Here's what I've seen since my last update that (and whether or not I recommend it).
(*=recommended, !!!=see it now, NO!=avoid like the plague)
The Draughtsman’s Contract *
21 Up *
Sunrise !!!
Breathless *
Close-Up *
X-Men 3: The Last Stand
Benny’s Video
Funny Games *
Bride of Re-animator
The DaVinci Code
Gertrud *
Carnal Knowledge *
28 Up *
The Mirror *
Panic in the Streets
Aria *
71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance *
The Intruder *
Funny Ha Ha
Carl Th. Dreyer - My Metier
A Prairie Home Companion !!!
Faces *
Brotherhood of the Wolf *
La Notte *
Transporter 2
The Sacrifice !!!
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Bottle Rockets *
George Washington !!!
Wordplay *
3 Women *
The Replacements NO!
Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life NO!
My first three hours in New York were spent in an Irish pub (eating an amazing burger) and meeting people. Following that, James took me to Times Square and gave me an opportunity to get acclimated. That night was spent playing Trivial Pursuit.
The next day, I went wandering around the Times Square vicinity on my own. I managed to stumble across the Museum of Modern Art which was AMAZING. They currently had a Dada exhibit which I wish I would have had more time in. I saw Van Gogh's original Starry Night there and about soiled myself. I also was introduced to the work of the English painter Francis Bacon who's made some amazing stuff (online, pictures of his "Painting" (1946 I think) aren't that great, but in person it's insane). That night, almost everyone I met in the pub turned out to celebrate James' birthday. There was good food, iTunes galore, champagne in paper animal cups through crazy straws, and more Trivial Pursuit. Hilarity obviously ensued.
The next day, I had a meeting with the head of the cinema studies department at NYU. After my meeting there, I was pretty pumped about the program and currently, my status is the same. Also, I saw my first broadway show, The Light in the Piazza.
The next day was used for two more Broadway shows (after a less-than-encouraging meeting with the admission people at Columbia). For the matinee, I saw The Lieutenant of Inishmore which was hysterical. I've never laughed so much about dead cats. That night, I went to Spamalot, the Monty Python musical semi-based on the Holy Grail movie. I had heard the soundtrack and wasn't a big fan of it, but seeing it in person definitely made up the difference. It was also hilarious. Adapting the netflix scale to broadway, Piazza gets 4/5 stars, Inishmore gets 5/5 and Spamalot also gets 5/5.
On Thursday, I tried to hit up some more museums. Thursday morning I went to the Museum of Natural History. They had a Darwin exhibit I wanted to check out but the movie was about 90 minutes whereas the Robert Redford-narrated movie about asteroid collision was 20ish. There's some really amazing stuff there, but to fully enjoy it, you would need more time than I had. This was followed by a trip to the International Center for Photography. There was some good stuff there, but that recommendation was probably overrated compared to other stuff I could have done. My next stop was the Guggenheim which I found out is closed every Thursday. So, I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art instead. That place was enormous. I only had time to get in three sections before they closed. That night I didn't make it in time for any broadway shows, so I went and found a theater and watched the movie "Wordplay". Considering it's a documentary about crossword puzzle enthusiasts, it's surprisingly entertaining.
The next morning, I woke up early so I could hop on to the A Train and somehow end up in Brooklyn. My outdated Frommer's Guide said that walking the Brooklyn Bridge was a good, touristy thing to do, and it was free. By walking the bridge, I was able to see the Statue of Liberty and both the Empire and Chrysler buildings. Then, I immediately hopped back onto the subway to go to the Guggenheim (I was determined). I finally made it there around eleven in the morning. There was an exhibit on the architecture of Zaha Hadid who apparently has designed some very crazy structures. There was also a Jackson Pollock exhibit which was darn cool. When I finally reached the summit of the famous ramp, my initial thought was something to the effect of "This is where Richard Serra stood and hurled molten vaseline down a little chute in Cremaster 3". Yep, I'm a nerd (with questionable taste). I left the museum (but not before picking up their handy guide and a discounted Cremaster Cycle poster), and then went back to homebase to pack. Total burroughs I made it to = 4. My flight was that afternoon and slightly delayed, but I still got back to Nashville at a decent hour and made it home. That night was the night before my roommate (John Fisher)'s wedding, so there were a bunch of guys over cutting up and injuring themselves with feeble desks. The next day was the wedding itself.
I got there a tad late, so when I walked in everyone was turned around expecting the groomsmen. Mildly awkward. Also, my phone went off two seconds before I was about to open the sanctuary doors which would have been a double-whammy. But Fisher and Abby were wed and then I went to the reception to mingle and whatnot (I never turn down free bell peppers). After the reception, no one was staying in town, so I packed it up as well and drove back to the Head.
Sunday consisted of church the next morning, watching Altman's "3 Women" and a whole bunch of random stupid shows on TV, and eating with Cassie at Cici's for dinner. She actually didn't know what Cici's was before that, but I think she's now seen the light in all of it's grease-filled, heart-stopping glory.
Monday was my dentist appointment. Apparently, I had a tooth that needed to come out. I sat down in the chair and they prepped me. I asked if I would be gassed up and they said they were out at the moment, so I didn't get to hear the funny fume-induced voices. The tooth was pulled and aside from a large wad of gauze in my cheek, all was well. I drove back to Bowling Green that night since duty called the next day.
Then, the regular routine was re-established. Aside from switching houses (aka-moving) yesterday, I really haven't done anything too out of the ordinary (or at least not in comparison to everything else I previously mentioned). Tomorrow (technically today), is the fourth of July. I'm attempting to make it to two cookouts simultaneously, so I guess I'll be doing the Flintstones/Boy Meets World two-places-at-one-time trick. I will also probably see An Inconvenient Truth in the afternoon since I have nothing else to do. Sidenote (which mostly applies to James)-deepdiscountdvd.com is having an awesome sale on Kino DVDs. All the Haneke stuff (sans "Cache"), Buster Keaton, Fritz Lang, Wong Kar-Wai, and D.W. Griffith are all at 50% off. Soiling of the trousers/purchasing of the movies still to come. Here's what I've seen since my last update that (and whether or not I recommend it).
(*=recommended, !!!=see it now, NO!=avoid like the plague)
The Draughtsman’s Contract *
21 Up *
Sunrise !!!
Breathless *
Close-Up *
X-Men 3: The Last Stand
Benny’s Video
Funny Games *
Bride of Re-animator
The DaVinci Code
Gertrud *
Carnal Knowledge *
28 Up *
The Mirror *
Panic in the Streets
Aria *
71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance *
The Intruder *
Funny Ha Ha
Carl Th. Dreyer - My Metier
A Prairie Home Companion !!!
Faces *
Brotherhood of the Wolf *
La Notte *
Transporter 2
The Sacrifice !!!
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Bottle Rockets *
George Washington !!!
Wordplay *
3 Women *
The Replacements NO!
Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life NO!