Working My Way Down My Bucket List

Yesterday was the second Saturday in a row where we've had at least one day of gorgeous weather: 55 and sunny. And what did I do? Spend the whole afternoon indoors. It was completely worth it, though, because I was in the beautiful Rose Reading Room of the New York Public Library. It was the perfect place to do some reading for my online class and be productive for a few hours --and cross something off my NYC bucket list. On the way to the library, I saw Grand Central Station for the first time. The famous terminal is even more beautiful in person and despite the hordes of people taking pictures on their smartphones, the place seems frozen in time. I half expected North By Northwest Cary Grant to push past me.

Here are a few of the other things I've managed to cross off my NYC bucket list since my last post:


FAO Schwarz

Channeling my inner Tom Hanks

FAO Schwarz is the oldest and perhaps most famous toy store in the United States, and it's absolutely ginormous. You can easily spend a whole day there, but my friends and I could only handle a couple hours. After embracing our inner children playing with and gawking at all the toys and candy, we found the Big Piano (the one Tom Hanks famously plays Chopsticks on in Big). A few of the notes were strategically turned off so people couldn't play Chopsticks (who can blame them?), but it was still fun jumping around and making the keys light up. It was definitely a workout! There was even a Zoltar machine (also from Big) on the first floor, but it trolled me and said it would only tell me my fortune if I put in more money. Tom Hanks movie moments 1 and 2? Check.

The crowd in front of Starry Night

MoMA

I visited the Museum of Modern Art for the first time on one of its free Friday nights.

It's conveniently located a block behind the Paley Center, so I went straight after work. As expected, the place was crowded, but I was able to see what I wanted in about two hours. I loved seeing many of the works of art I had learned about in the art history course I took last year. I saw art by Pollock, Warhol, Picasso, Seurat, Dalí's The Persistence of Memory, and Van Gogh's Starry Night, both of which had large crowds snapping photos in front of them. Starry Night was especially beautiful in person because you can see the texture and the brushstrokes; the paint is so thick and the colors are still vivid despite the painting being more than a century old. Unfortunately, I didn't have time for the special exhibit on Frank Lloyd Wright, so I'll save that for next time.


Broadway Show #2: The Glass Menagerie

Mr. Quinto

On, February 23, Nicole and I went to the closing performance of The Glass Menagerie starring Zachary Quinto. We got to the box office an hour and a half before it opened, and a small line had already formed, but we were able to get standing room spots for $30 that gave us a perfect view of the stage.  Everything about the play was wonderful and all the actors were amazing; I wouldn't be surprised if they all got Tony nominations. After the show we waited at the stage door with a large crowd of people to get our Playbills autographed, and to everyone's surprise, Zachary Quinto came out to sign. I'd heard he usually didn't greet the crowds after the other shows, but I assume he did this time because it was the last performance. It was a very long day with all the standing we did, but it was well worth the fantastic experience.



The Tonight Show

Last month, my friend Christian and I saw Jimmy Fallon kick off his second week of The Tonight Show! A few weeks prior to that, the show's Facebook page posted a link to reserve tickets for the February tapings. Luckily, I saw the info shortly after it was posted, so I was able to get two reservations to the February 24 taping with guests Reese Witherspoon, Fred Armisen, and Rick Ross.

Can you find us?

When you go to a TV taping, you aren't always guaranteed a spot because they give out more tickets than necessary in case there are no-shows; they want every seat filled. Because of this, we arrived an hour before the time our reservation said to, which turned out to be a good idea because we were near the front of the check-in line. After we got our wristbands, we had time to kill until we had to get back in line, so we went downstairs to the Rockefeller concourse for a snack. When we went back upstairs, the NBC pages lined us up based on the letters on our tickets; we were F, so we were sixth in line, and ended up in the second row! We were on the left side on the aisle directly across from Jimmy's desk, so we had a perfect view the entire time without any cameras blocking us.

The taping was a blast; The Roots were awesome, the interviews were fun, and Jimmy and the guests played Catchphrase, one of my favorite games. We even made it on camera when they showed the audience giving Fred Armisen a standing ovation, a running gag every time he's on Fallon. At the end of each taping, Jimmy runs up and down the aisles and gives everyone high-fives, and since I was on the aisle, I got one! The whole evening was amazing; if you ever have the opportunity to go to a TV taping in NY, pick The Tonight Show, because they show you a really good time. And it's FREE.


The Museum of the Moving Image

Brando's mouth plumper

Everybody knows the Guggenhiem, the Met, and the Museum of Natural History, but not too many people have heard of the gem that is the Museum of the Moving Image. It's located in Queens and is adjacent to the Kaufman-Astoria Studios, the longtime home of Sesame Street and countless other films and TV shows. I'm not ashamed to admit I've made three trips there in the past month. The best part is the main exhibit: it's divided into different sections devoted to the main components/positions that make up a film--actor, director, screenplay, costumes, production design, etc. There are a ton of cool artifacts on display, including Marlon Brando's mouth plumper he wore for The Godfather, Robin Williams' face prosthetics and costume from Mrs. Doubtfire, design renderings for The Silence of the Lambs, and a shooting screenplay for Taxi Driver. There are also several interactive stations where you can dub dialogue, choose foley effects, and add music for various movie scenes. Another cool thing about the museum is that it always has a variety of film screenings going on that are included with the price of admission; so far I've seen An American in Paris and Modern Times in its large theater. MOMI is the most fun museum I've ever been to--you could say I've fallen in love with this place.


And this city.
 


Until next time...