I was walking past the former site of the World Trade Center recently when I noticed a veritable forest of construction cranes have sprung up there. Work is moving full-speed ahead on the Memorial, the Museum, One World Trade Center (formerly the Freedom Tower) and Four World Trade Center. The two new trade center buildings are visible above street level, with 1 WTC rising nearly 20 stories in an impressive framework of steel.
On the 9/11 Memorial site, the outlines of the former WTC 1 and WTC 2 are now complete and the Memorial itself is scheduled to open on September 11, 2011. You can read more about the plans for these on the WTC Memorial site. There is also a temporary visitors center on 20 Vesey Street with models and timelines for the construction, as well as some tribute videos to the victims of the 9/11 attacks.
It's incredible that nearly 10 years after 9/11, this 10 plus acre plot is still a construction site. But, after years of squabbling and confusion, things are actually moving forward now. According to current plans, the new World Trade Center complex is scheduled to be complete by 2016.
When I was growing up in suburban Maryland, there were rumors that the real-life inspiration for the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was located in the woods just off the Old Georgetown Road exit of I-270. As it turns out, the rumors are not only true but now there a plans for an Uncle Tom's Cabin interactive museum on the site located in the middle of the burbs of North Bethesda (11420 Old Georgetown Road to be exact).
In 2006, the Montgomery County government purchased the property, officially know as the Josiah Henson Site. Henson was a slave who lived there for nearly 40 years in the early half of the 19th century before escaping to write his autobiography. It was this book that inspired abolitionist/author Harriet Beecher Stowe to write her international blockbuster, "Uncle Tom's Cabin". Stowe's novel was so widely read and influential that many historians list it as one of the causes of the Civil War.
It's remarkable that this little piece of history has survived all the development around it since the suburban explosion of the 1960's. Currently the site is open for limited visitors to tour the original plantation house and a small wood-cabin kitchen. The Montgomery Gazette reports that planning is underway for a full museum to open on the site in 2012.
While GLEE is on hiatus til September, I've discovered a sort of GLEE-substitute: a recent spate of flash-mob dance-in's to mashups from the show's soundtrack. The most recent one occurred in Paris a few days ago but the best one I've seen was in Seattle. Those kids on the left coast can really move. And look out for their flawless jazz hands....must be all that coffee. Go Seattle!
Last night I went to see "London Assurance" at the National Theatre and it didn't involve a trans-Atlantic trek. It was just a short walk to NYU's Skirball Center, where the play was shown on a movie screen in HD.
The play itself is a bit of a chestnut: a comedy of manners and errors as the lordly city-set get mixed up with the earthy country-set over the matters of an arranged marriage and an land inheritance. It was written in the 1841 by Dion Boucicault, an Irish wunderkind who was all of 20 when this work debuted. But it does has some sturdy comical bones which have only been strengthened with a polish by UK playwright Richard Beane and sharp direction by the famed Nicholas Hytner. It also has a stunning cast of British thespians, including Simon Russell Beale and Fiona Shaw, who hijacks every scene she is in. Having a name like "Lady Gay Spanker" certainly helps.
NT Live is a program that started this year with a series of live broadcasts from the South Bank home of the National Theatre that are beamed out to audiences in countries around the world. The tickets to this theatrical feast were just $25 and well worth it. It's brilliant idea and has been such a success that their second season is already planned for next fall. First up is a new adaptation of Mary Shelley's "Frankstein" directed by Trainspotting/Slumdogging Danny Boyle.
A few years ago, an editorial assistant at Random House named Rebecca Shapiro compiled a list of all the outdoor screenings of movies that happen in New York each summer. The list has become very popular with her friends, not to mention the public at large. This year, her list even got published in the NY Times.
You can check out this comprehensive guide here on the City Blog page. It's really handy to see them all together in one listing. There are so many these days! I just went through and marked my calendar with the one's I want to check out: top of my list are "The Goodbye Girl" in Bryant Park and "Starship Troopers" at McCarren Park. See you at the free movies!
Now I don't know much about soccer. But I do know a hilarious YouTube video when I see one. Reminiscent of the Winnebago Man (whose movie is coming out next month), Fabio Capello, the manager of the English soccer team, has an extremely short fuse which leads to large explosions of expletives and even some shoving of his scared-looking players. And that's when his team is actually winning!
I found this at a site called Kickette, which has great player pics along with soccer gossip. (Who knew there was such a thing?) It was recommended by a good friend who knows my ambivalence about soccer but, from my Benny video last Friday, my love of entertainment. And Fabio is nothing if not entertaining.
Despite their admirable run in the World Cup, I'm not a fan of the USA soccer team. Or any soccer team really. But I am a believer in the incredible off-field talents of Benny Feilhaber.
In one of the sexiest and simplest DIY videos around, Benny does an impeccable version of "No Air", doing justice to both the Chris Brown and Jordin Sparks parts. Benny is apparently straight and has a girlfriend so I will take him at his word....I guess. But this guy could seriously beat any NYC drag queen, even with his exquisitely expressive hands tied behind his back.
Most of the comments on the video are about Benny's good looks, gorgeous eyes and that he is obviously gay. However, his friends and defenders say he is just a big "goofball". Hmmmm....is this the new sports world code for gay?
The geniuses at IBM's research lab in Hawthorne, NY have been working hard on a new supercomputer called Watson. This computer is so smart that it is actually beating real live humans' at Jeopardy. It evens answers in the form of a question! This thing is so good that it has been freaking the other contestants out, leading to all sorts of nervous SkyNet jokes about when it will gain consciousness and nuke their nerdy ass.
There's a lengthy article about this super-duper computer from last week's TIMES Sunday magazine. It's worth reading if you are a techno-junkie or techno-phobe. There's exciting and disturbing news here for both camps.
Texting while driving is a dangerous and deadly habit, not only in this country but in the world. Oprah started a campaign against it and there have been some disturbing PSA's to try and warn the public. Here's a couple of them from both ends of the spectrum on this issue: a humorous take from a Southern church and an incredibly graphic approach from India. Which one do you think works best?
This weekend the Princess of Sweden married her former personal trainer in the biggest European royal wedding since Charles and Di. After exchanging "ja's" and even shedding some tears, Daniel Westling became officially known as HRH Prince Daniel, Duke of Vastergotland. And now I'm unofficially crowning him Kinda Cute.
Unfortunately, the AP, AFP and Reuters declined to cover the event due to restrictions by the Swedish government. So there is a real dearth of adorkable photos of Prince Daniel. The Washington Post website has a slideshow of Getty images that are lovely and give a good sense of the Prince's, well, prince-liness. He was just a commoner but look at him now...a real live Disney character!
Congrats to the royal couple and here's hoping that their royal marriage truly lasts forever after.
