In 1982, CBS aired a quirky high school comedy starring a teenaged Sarah Jessica Parker called "Square Pegs". Created by Anne Beatts (one of the original staff writers on SNL) it was critically well-received but had trouble getting decent ratings and was cancelled after just 20 episodes.
When this show originally aired, I was fairly obsessed with it and even wrote a letter to CBS when word came down it was not going to be renewed. I recently heard SJP being interviewed on Studio 360 and the host played a clip from the show which sent me into a nostalgia-spin. I immediately searched for it on NetFlix and found the one and only season of the show now on DVD.
Despite all the 80's "fashion" and references (remember the Budweiser "Taste Buds"?), the show holds up pretty well and is very entertaining. Then again, given my love of GLEE, this show is pretty much my sweet spot. As for SJP, she is totally adorkable. She almost didn't get cast on the show as the lead geek because she was too pretty. But when she put on a pair of the casting directors big owl glasses, a sitcom star was born.
The other standout in the cast is Merritt Butrick as Johnny Slash. Watching it now, he is pretty much the gay guy on the show before you were allowed to say it. It's pretty funny the various ways they telegraph this....like everyone think's he's punk but he keeps insisting he is "New Wave", leading to his catch phrase: "it's a totally different head, man...totally." Yeah, totally. He also has a nicely braided rattail.....god, remember those?! And the coolest moussed-up hairdo. Sadly, despite going on to star in "The Wrath Of Khan" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation", Merritt died suddenly in 1990 of complications from AIDS. He was just 29. It's a tragic footnote to what has been a truly joyous viewing experience.
So if you're desperate for a goofy look at high school in the 80's, this show may be geeky at heart but it's a winner in my book...and the rare TV show that is laugh-out loud funny too.
I found this amazing photo on Towleroad today. It's a shot of last month's launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, taken from the unique perspective of a pair of F15 fighter jets patrolling the Kennedy Space Center. This was Atlantis' last flight, with the entire Shuttle program set to end next year. A truly stunning shot...
One of my favorite local history blogs, Jeremiah's Vanishing New York, has posted part one of a two-part mystery surrounding the location of the diner which inspired Edward Hopper's painting "Nighthawks". For years, the rumor has been that the diner was located at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Greenwich Street, where the MTA currently has a fenced in lot for vehicles with controversial plans to build a ventilation plant there. However, after some diligent research, Jeremiah has found pictures of a gas station on the site from the 1930's. And no evidence of anything else being built there since, other than the MTA's fence.
Hopper has said the diner was inspired by a place he saw on Greenwich. But Hopper has also been known to take liberties with his inspiration and was not exactly a documentary painter. If you tune in tomorrow, Jeremiah says he'll reveal where the real diner was located. It would be amazing if he even found a picture. I wouldn't put it past him....this guy really knows his stuff.
This adorable ad is airing in France apparently. So sweet....it's like a little piece of a French indie art movie that happens to take place in McD's. So when do we get to see the American version of this ad? They could certainly buy some time in GLEE and maybe some more of The Gays would actually go buy Big Macs. No fries though. Carbs. :)
Sex And The City's Kim Cattrall was one of more than 1300 people who sat across from performance artist Marina Abromovic in her 3-month marathon show at MOMA. It ended on Monday afternoon to the applause of a filled atrium and the relief of Marina's back, which she was having some difficulty with after sitting 8 hours a day.
The Village Voice's website has put up photos from the Flickr stream of another artist, Marco Anelli, who took a picture of each person who stared down Marina for periods ranging from 1 minute to more than a couple hours. Other celebs who sat were Lou Reed, Isabella Rossellini and Antony Hegarty. There is also a priceless photo of a young girl who's 6 going on 60, a true city-kid skeptic of this whole performance art thing.
I was at MOMA last week and it was fascinating to watch the different reactions of people as they sat to face the stone-faced Abromovic. It was amazing to me that many people waited for more than 8 hours to have a few minutes in the chair opposite her for what some described as a religious experience. Some wept, some smiled and one woman even whipped off her clothes only to be removed by security. Only in New York, kids!
Twice a year, there is a phenomenon unique to New York where the sun lines up with the city's east-west street grid, creating some beautiful conditions for photography. It's informally called Manhattanhenge and the first one of 2010 happened at sunset on Monday. I found out about this on a blog called Animal, which has posted Manhattanhenge pictures for the last couple years, like the one above. The next opportunity for anyone looking for a unique picture of the city will occur on July 11th at 8:42pm. Mark your calendar, bring your druid necklace and I'll see you on 42nd street with my Lumix.
While Memorial Day was celebrated here over the weekend, a holiday on which we remember and honor the servicemen and women who have fought for our freedoms, in Moscow a group of daring activists managed to stage the first Gay Pride Parade. Unlike New York's parade goes on for five hours plus, this parade lasted about 10 minutes. But that was a huge step forward considered the history of such events there recently.
The city of Moscow's police and politicians have been incredibly hostile to gays and lesbians in recent years and all previous attempts to stage a Pride Parade have been disbanded, some ending in violence. But on Saturday, a group of roughly 30 determined gays and lesbians, evaded the police and, through the magic of digital video and the Internet, you can watch their brave and determined efforts below. This dramatic video is from the Band of Thebes blog and there is is full coverage at Towleroad with more photos and behind-the-scenes videos.
I've often heard people here in the city bitch and moan about the Gay Pride Parade....that it's too long, it's too flamboyant, and, as someone recently tried to explain to me, it's "unnecessary". For those who wonder why we still march on gay pride day, this is a stark reminder that the fight for equality goes on.
After more than 10 years, a new version of the NYC Subway Map is coming out next month. There is a write-up in today's TIMES talking about the changes to the new map; Manhattan is 30 percent wider, no more weekend schedule info (which was often wrong), less detail on bus connections. But overall, the map sticks with the approach the MTA took starting in the late 1970s, after years of complaints about the iconic and somewhat modernist map by Massimo Vegnelli (pictured here).
Of course, this being the age of the Internet, the MTA does not have the last word on it's own maps anymore. There is a competing map, downloadable to your iPhone, which has more than 250,000 fans of it's somewhat retro approach. Using the Vegnelli design as a starting point, the Kick Map goes back to the future while also adding some of the more familiar surface references too, like streets and landmarks. In fact, it's an admitted compromise between the two warring map factions.
In some ways, it is curious that NYC is the only major US city that takes the topographical approach. The argument is that there needs to be a more direct connection to the street because there are so many tourists and new arrivals from all over the world. However, tourist-stricken Washington DC has stuck with it's own modernist map since the system debuted in 1976. Despite the MTA's improvements, I think the Kick Map has got the right idea for clarity and ease of use. Now all I need is an iPhone....
Starting at midnight last night, the Whitney Museum will be open 24 hours a day until Friday at midnight. It's the final days of the museum's Biennial exhibit, featuring the work of more than 100 artists.
The all-niter concept was the work of an artist too: Los Angeles conceptual artist Michael Asher. His art consists of altering the hours of operations of museums and other institutions....really. So he made the proposal to have the Whitney be open for a whole week but the museum couldn't afford the staff for that sort of operation so they cut it down to three days. Still, it should be a unique experience to stop by the museum at 4am to see the latest the art world has to offer. And admission is pay what you want.
