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Living Objects installation in McCarren Park.
I’m currently keeping myself awake until a car comes to pick me up for the airport at 3 am. My flight to Oklahoma City is at 6 am, so I’m passing a “nuit blanche” to keep from accidentally missing it. As you may have seen on the news, New York City got blanketed with snow this weekend and I’m hoping enough has melted to not delay my flight.
This past week was pretty busy, as I was at the very important film studio this working as their temporary receptionist. I was charged with the very important tasks of answering the phone, signing for packages, keeping the coffee machine stocked, and avoiding eye contact with the very important film producers. Luckily, my unimportance made me invisible, a superpower granted to all temps. Mostly, I just had to sit at a desk, not having to do much more than the light people pictured above, who are currently installed in McCarren Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center ice skating rink.
I must have delivered at least one bottle a day of Cristal champagne to people’s desks at the temp job, along with bountiful food gift baskets and numerous boxes marked with “perishable.” Well, I worked some holiday cheer of my own into my temporary professional life, including a visit to the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. That place is CRAZY right now. It was more crowded than Times Square. However, it was still worth it and we saw the Saks snowflake display synchronized to an electronic remix of Carol of the Bells. An NYPD officer even danced along to it as he directed traffic.
An Edward Scissorhands-style topiary at the MoMa as part of the Tim Burton exhibit.
We also stopped by the free Friday hours at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), hoping to see the Tim Burton exhibit. Unfortunately, tickets were already sold out, but we still got to see this Edward Scissorhands-esque topiary in the courtyard. Don’t worry, I’ll be back to see it.
Gabriel Orozco’s “Mobile Matrix” whale skeleton at the MoMa.
The MoMa is also showing an exhibit of Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco’s work, which includes “Mobile Matrix,” the giant, decorated whale skeleton shown above. We checked out the Bauhaus exhibit and some of the permanent collections as well, but the whale was the highlight for me.
Alice in Wonderland-style shenanigans at the holiday window displays at Bergdorf Goodman.
We also checked out some holiday window displays. While Saks and Juicy Couture win for most unsettling, with maniacal snowflakes and circus insanity, Bergdorf Goodman won for entertainment, creativity, and detail. For the women’s store, they had Lewis Carroll-inspired displays with taxidermy animals and high fashion. This picture of a squirrel on a bicycle is only an example.
Bears at Bergdorf Goodman.
There were also dancing bears holding canes, as well as ostriches playing bagpipes, ravens typing, cats lurking around corners, and prancing horses made from plants.
Fantastic Mr. Fox at Bergdorf Goodman.
At the men’s store, the windows had the miniature characters from the Fantastic Mr. Fox movie, which I still haven’t got around to seeing. The little characters are adorable, even if they look a little bit like taxidermies of dead animals, maybe caused by them being across the street from the real taxidermies in the other windows. I’ll have to see the movie to judge if that makes it creepy.
I guess I’m just an hour and a half from my trip to the airport. I’ll be in the Oklahoma City soon and am looking forward to warmer weather and seeing friends and family. Good luck to my fellow holiday travelers!
Ice skating rink at Bryant Park.
As the FedEx delivery person just reminded me, Christmas is a little over a week away. And scarier still, 2010 is just two weeks away. I’m temping this week at the very important film studio and ducking potential confrontation with very important film producers. These people are serious about their movies. My desk is next to a TV that plays the same 16 minutes of movie trailers over and over and over with the sound off. Well, anyway, last week I happened to walk by the Bryant Park ice skating rink one my way back from the library. It was packed, but everyone seemed to be having a great time and people were giving away chocolates.
Empire State Building lit for Hanukkah, seen from the Bryant Park ice skating rink.
This past Saturday a couple of college friends were visiting town and we met up in SoHo where it seemed like everyone was panicking over last minute holiday shopping. We also visited Chinatown where there was a surplus pashmina store where people were frantically rifling through and ripping open packages of brightly colored silk scarves in the narrowest rows possible. That evening, there was a volunteer party at the Dumbo Arts Center that I stopped by and saw some people I hadn’t seen for a while and had a couple of drinks, and then headed to Park Slope for Patty’s classy holiday celebration. Check out her blog for some great pictures of her charming tree, which includes a wooden hand grasping the top and strings of cranberries and popcorn. I had eggnog and cookies decorated with sprinkles, so I guess Christmas is officially here.
Bull and Bear Market.
On Sunday, I volunteered at the Bull and Bear Market at the Invisible Dog in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. I have been doing some public relations help for the organizers, Recession Art, and although the day was very rainy and cut down on our crowds, it went really well and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. As you can see in the picture, it was in a huge industrial loft space and was decorated with lights and a Christmas tree made from belts. There was also music on ukuleles and keyboards, gingerbread shantytown building, an abundance of sweets, and wine. At the end, our mascots Bull and Bear destroyed a pinata full of candy.
Inside the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.
This week has been full of music. I started on Monday with the free dress rehearsal of Les Contes d’Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach at the Metropolitan Opera. Our seats were way up at the top balcony, but how can I complain about seeing one of the best opera companies in the world at no charge? And it was an incredible show, although it turned out to be a four hour commitment. Most of the other people there were retirees that had brought miniature bottles of red wine and sandwiches for the two intermissions, whereas Sean and I just had one scone to sustain us. The production itself was stunning and half the fun was seeing what new set and costumes were going to be unveiled next. There was a giant rotating dragon, a gondola rowing across the stage, a horde of umbrellas decorated with giant eyes, even a skeleton dressed in a top hat that wandered in the background. The details were incredible, even from the top balcony. The lead, Joseph Calleja, took a break after the first act due to a cold (saving himself for this week’s premiere), but even in one act his voice got ingrained in my head. The understudy wasn’t bad, but it was unfortunate that there was a reprise of one of the first songs at the end for comparison.The whole thing was in French, although I wasn’t able to understand anything as this was opera, but there were cool subtitle screens on the seats that made it easy to follow.
The plot was a little insane, but I’ll try to sum it up. As the translation of the French title is The Tales of Hoffmann, the plot is the story of Hoffmann’s three loves. Or rather, people he loves, as none of the women reciprocates. And each is more tragic for Hoffmann than the last. The first, Olympia, turns out to be a robot. The second, Antonia, is an artist with a bad heart and dies when the ghost of her mother comes and encourages her to sing. The third, Giulietta, is a prostitute who steals Hoffmann’s reflection. And throughout all these stories, Hoffmann is accompanied by his muse in disguise and is followed by a nemesis who is played by the same actor in different characters. The villain was my favorite. Played by Alan Held, he had this ridiculously evil laugh each time he entered the stage. But the whole cast was really incredible. I don’t know much about opera, and honestly hadn’t much enjoyed my previous opera experiences, but I would totally see this again. I’m going to have to keep my eye out for future free dress rehearsal tickets. You can see some clips from Les Contes d’Hoffmann in this YouTube interview with the director, Bartlett Sher.
Live floral arranging at Japan Brand.
That evening, after packing up my apartment, we visited the holiday market in Union Square and had apple cider before going to a Japan Brand event at Felissimo. There were tons of products made in Japan, as well as sake and various Japanese appetizers. The entertainment was live floral arranging that represented the seasons. That’s right, we watched someone arrange flowers and it was actually quite entertaining.
Ticket to the Mountain Goats/Final Fantasy concert.
Tuesday was moving day, which went relatively smooth. I got all my things packed into the van and we made it quickly to my new place, only to find that the girl who was moving out was still there. So, we had to move my things temporarily into the living room, but I don’t have many possessions so it wasn’t a big deal.
That night I went to see the Mountain Goats play at Webster Hall. I had actually seen them once before at Webster Hall, back in March 2008 when I came to visit Elizabeth. It’s not exactly an intimate venue, but they always put on a great show regardless of the space, even if I think the more delicate John Darnielle songs work better in small venues like the Opolis in Norman. I really miss the Opolis sometimes, where people were unfailingly polite, while crammed in a space the size of my current apartment. The crowd was horrible at Webster Hall, or at least the three people I was standing in front of. The whole time they were complaining that they “didn’t sign up for this” and that there wasn’t enough music to dance to and they didn’t recognize the songs. And I was just thinking, why the hell would you pay $25 for a concert for a band you’re not familiar with if you’re not willing to be surprised? And then ruin the experience for everyone around you? It was a much better experience after I moved further back.
Well, back to the music. Final Fantasy was the opener and I was blown away. I was familiar with his music, but hadn’t really thought about how it would be performed live. He recorded each violin part himself, then played them back while adding new strings over them. It was one of the coolest sets I’ve ever seen. This video of “The Butcher” should give you a good idea of his live presence (video is from another concert, not the one I went to).
The Mountain Goats were great as always. I think this was my fourth time seeing them. And it was a nice to surprise to see that they were joined by Perry Owen Wright of the Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers. I still regularly listen to The Mother Of Love Emulates The Shapes Of Cynthia and think he is a wonderful musician. I awkwardly interviewed him for a story I wrote for the OU paper way back when I was a young journalism student and the Mountain Goats were doing a show with Prayers and Tears in Norman. I hope he creates a new album and tours again soon.
The Mountain Goats set included tracks from the new album, The Life of the World to Come, as well as older songs like “Going to Georgia,” “Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod?,” and my favorite, “Against Pollution.” Which actually, I have a recording of Perry Owen Wright singing. God, I hope he doesn’t google himself and think I am insane. Well, enough fangirling, I’ll just say that the show was breathtaking and much needed after a rough fall of unemployment. If you want, there’s a complete set list and great audio of the show at nyctaper. You can also watch a good video from the concert of “Old College Try” on YouTube.
