Friday
.
A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions
than anything else in the world.
-Edmond de Goncourt
As I'm sure I've noted before, the Big Apple, as nobody really calls it, is truly the best place imaginable to take advantage of all the world's finest art, music, theatre and toasters. Well, I suppose the toaster thing only really applies if you include the MoMA, but that, just by chance is exactly where my Lovely Bride and I took the boys this week. It turns out that they're doing a 20 year retrospective exhibit of Pixar's work, and we thought that would be just the thing to fight off the post-Christmas/mid-winter ennui that seems to be creeping about.
And so it was on Saturday afternoon that we endured a nasty but not unexpected bout of traffic at the G.W. after which we managed to skirt the more egregious tourist-trap parking lots along the West side, finally arriving at the MoMA in high anticipation of all things CGI. There was, as promised, a broad collection of artifacts and memorabilia; Pixar's John Lassiter had the foresight to save everything. Indeed, there are more sketches, paintings, story boards and plastic character sculptures than you can shake a Woody at.
In the end though, as enjoyable as it was to experience these things first hand, it didn't take long before character sketch fatigue set in. There are, after all, only so many conceptual drawings of Buzz Lightyear you can consider before your eyes glass over and your mind wanders to other, more compelling matters, like whether or not they still have the Van Goghs upstairs.
Well, I'm pleased to report that they do, as well as their quirky collection of uncomfortable looking Swedish furniture, motorcycles and pre-retro household appliances that includes that toaster. Now granted, it's a very slick looking Braun toaster from 1961, but is it, to ask the age old question, Art? Sure, why not.
In any case, we continued the day in fine form; we hooked up with a friend we hadn't seen in a while and cabbed it downtown to Peanut Butter & Co. for some old fashioned comfort food. It was, needless to say, yet another hit with the boys, and I must admit that my peanut butter BLT was extremely yummy. Even better, we finished up the day with a glass of wine at OTTO. Yummy again.
So, to briefly recap, Pixar collection: so-so, although the zoetrope is cool in the extreme, and boys liked it all just fine. Van Gogh: still compelling in a psychedelic sort of way. And, I found that there were only two things that popped into my head when I ran across Uma Thurman on the fourth floor. 1: Not just tall, but surprisingly tall. And 2: She was in serious need of a good night's sleep and a dash of makeup. Well then again, that really applies to most of us, doesn't it?
.
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1/12/06
Toasters, Buzz, and Uma
Toasters, Buzz, and Uma
A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions
than anything else in the world.
-Edmond de Goncourt
And so it was on Saturday afternoon that we endured a nasty but not unexpected bout of traffic at the G.W. after which we managed to skirt the more egregious tourist-trap parking lots along the West side, finally arriving at the MoMA in high anticipation of all things CGI. There was, as promised, a broad collection of artifacts and memorabilia; Pixar's John Lassiter had the foresight to save everything. Indeed, there are more sketches, paintings, story boards and plastic character sculptures than you can shake a Woody at.
In the end though, as enjoyable as it was to experience these things first hand, it didn't take long before character sketch fatigue set in. There are, after all, only so many conceptual drawings of Buzz Lightyear you can consider before your eyes glass over and your mind wanders to other, more compelling matters, like whether or not they still have the Van Goghs upstairs.
Well, I'm pleased to report that they do, as well as their quirky collection of uncomfortable looking Swedish furniture, motorcycles and pre-retro household appliances that includes that toaster. Now granted, it's a very slick looking Braun toaster from 1961, but is it, to ask the age old question, Art? Sure, why not.
In any case, we continued the day in fine form; we hooked up with a friend we hadn't seen in a while and cabbed it downtown to Peanut Butter & Co. for some old fashioned comfort food. It was, needless to say, yet another hit with the boys, and I must admit that my peanut butter BLT was extremely yummy. Even better, we finished up the day with a glass of wine at OTTO. Yummy again.
So, to briefly recap, Pixar collection: so-so, although the zoetrope is cool in the extreme, and boys liked it all just fine. Van Gogh: still compelling in a psychedelic sort of way. And, I found that there were only two things that popped into my head when I ran across Uma Thurman on the fourth floor. 1: Not just tall, but surprisingly tall. And 2: She was in serious need of a good night's sleep and a dash of makeup. Well then again, that really applies to most of us, doesn't it?
.
