Etch-A-Sketch Is Trending & Its Stock Rising

After an off-hand comment by a Romney campaign operative, Etch A Sketch is trending this week.

In yet another random sidebar of the Republican presidential race (which has played like one random sidebar after another) Etch A Sketch is now being talked about by the remaining candidates for the Repblican nomination.  The reference was to shaking the Romney campaign like an Etch A Sketch at the end of the primary race, and recalibrating Romney to be more conservative for the general election.

Whatever the meaning, it's done wonders for a toy that most people probably thought had gone the way of the Rubik's cube.  But no, Etch A Sketch lives and its stock yesterday doubled in price on Wall Street as reported on the WALL STREET JOURNAL's blog. So maybe Romney will inadvertently create some jobs as demand for the long-forgotten toy ramps up as the Republican primaries heat up.

Dinner & Great Theatre At THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF HEDDA GABLER

Last night, I was invited to a unique theatrical event.  The company Exit Pursued By A Bear (a reference to Shakespeare's A WINTER'S TALE) kicked off their second season with a production of Jeff Whitty's play THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF HEDDA GABLER.  The play, starring Whitty in a transformative turn as the titular character, takes place in a nether world where fictional characters live on for eternity.  Gabler meets up with Mammy from GONE WITH THE WIND, played with heart and searing soul by Billy Porter, as well as a host of other notable characters who are too delicious to reveal as they all try to find their way out of immortality and into real life.

The play was wonderfully acted and sharply written, funny as well as thought provoking. But what was really so lovely about this production was the presentation, taking place in a converted industrial style loft on the far west side of Hells Kitchen with seating on raised platforms covered in cozy pillows and blankets.  It was theatre as a true communal experience as the audience numbered maybe 30 people and the actors were only a few feet away.  At intermission, a dinner of fresh baked beer bread and a vegetarian stew was served, along with wine, beer and soda that audience members had brought to share.

The whole experienced made me think of what it must have been like being in NYC during the experimental theatre scene as it blossomed in the late 60's and early 70's.  There were other theatre artists in the crowd and after the show, there was a nice hour or so of socializing over dessert as people discussed the play and got to meet and chat with the actors, some of whom were helping clean up from dinner!

If you're interested in something unusual and unusually well-done, I would encourage you to check out this show. The cost for tickets is a suggestion donation of $20, which is well worth it and helps support this new non-profit theatre. The show has been extended through the end of this month and limited tickets available on their website.

Lost Photos Of The Catskills Concord Hotel

I was on the Huffington Post recently and stumbled across this amazing shot of the Concord Hotel, one of the famed hotels of the Borchst Belt that prospered in the Catskills during the mid-20th century.  These are actually photos from a series of postcards that were sold at the hotel, recently discovered and collected by Jordan Smith.  They show a lost world of glamour and leisure--where Don Draper might have gone on vacation (if he was Jewish, that is). You can watch the full slide show here.

The Concord was abandoned in the mid-1980s and recently demolished to make way for a potential casino. Regardless of its future, there is no denying it had a gorgeous past. I get very nostalgic for this era when I see photos like this, even though it was well before my time.  There is a certain glamour to it all which remains appealing, some 50-odd years later.

NEWSWEEK Goes Retro With MAD MEN Issue

Ad Age reports today that a special issue of NEWSWEEK magazine will be styled like it was back in the 1960s to coincide with the premiere of MAD MEN on AMC this coming Sunday.  The idea for this supercool cross promotion came from Newsweek's newish editor Tina Brown, of course.

This special issue will be about the role of advertising in U.S. culture and will even feature some retro-styled ads as well.  However, one type of old school ad you won't see--no cigarettes, as those are no longer advertised in the magazine per Brown's edict. One other oddity this article in Ad Age mentions is that, during the MAD MEN era, women were not even allowed to be bylined writers for the magazine. They only worked in the background, doing copyediting and research, and it wasn't until a class-action lawsuit in the 70s that they were able to write articles.

As much as MAD MEN generates nostalgia for the style of the 60s, we can certainly be glad that some of the discriminatory details of the decade are long gone.

SPECIAL: Take A Ride On The Space Shuttle's Booster

Here's a video I noticed on FB the other day of a ride on the space shuttle, taken from the vantage of the solid rocket boosters that life the STS into orbit and then fall back down to earth.  It's one of the most incredible views of space travel I've seen. Not to mention the actual soundtrack too.  I never realized the solid rocket boosters really got so high, up to 28 miles exactly...their release is wild, like something EFX wizards concocted but it's actually real. Also, stick with this through to the end to the splash landing in the Atlantic.  Extraordinary!

The NYU HawkCam Is Back...As Are The Hawks

Last spring, a daytime web-cast drama originating from high on a ledge of NYU's Bobst Library about a family of red tail hawks caught the interest of thousands of people around the world.  Well, I am happy to report that HawkCam has been renewed for a new season and started broadcasting this week live on the web, 24 hours a day.

The second season has some new cast members too as Violet, the female hawk from last spring, died over the summer after a leg infection.  The newest hawk in the next has been named Rosie (on the right) by readers of the NY Times CityRoom Blog, which has been chronicling all the action in the nest.  And there are two eggs as well so a new baby hawk could be arriving come springtime!  They've also upgraded and repositioned the camera so that now you also get a lovely, live view of Washington Square Park and the memorial arch too.

A Place At The State Dinner Table

This is a photo of columnist Andrew Sullivan and his partner Aaron Tone arriving at the White House for the U.K. State Dinner last night.  Sullivan and Tone were just one of an estimated 10 or more gay couples on the guest list, as reported over on Towleroad.  

Though there have been plenty of complaints about Obama's record on gay/lesbian issues, I think this picture is the equivalent of a thousand positive words about how remarkably things have changed in just 3 years since his predecessor left office.  On top of that, it's just a wonderful photo in general....two guys strolling hand-in-hand through the White House foyer, just like any other couple attending what is the pinnacle of social events in Washington.  

Hi-Fi Bri Turns 3 Today--Celebrate & Donate

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of Hi-Fi Bri.  Yay!!!  I found this delicious looking donut cake on The Internets to faux celebrate.  But I will probably stop by The Donut Pub for the real thing later. :)

Some stats: 725 posts total since March 15, 2009 and, in recent months, the blog is getting 4,000 hits per month.  There has been a huge upswing in viewers/readers since the end of last year, which I attribute to daily links via Facebook and Twitter (and some pretty fun stories too!).  The most popular story of all time remains "Anderson Cooper's Mom Is Kind Of A Perv" (June 19, 2009), about Gloria Vanderbilt's erotic novel and her now more-famous-than-her son.  It has 3,247 hits; apparently there are a lot of people out there googling "Anderson Cooper." The second most popular story after that is "Porky's: Where Are They Now" (June 21, 2009).  Random, right?  But oddly it's one of my favorite films for sentimental reasons; it was the first R-rated film I ever saw.

Anyway, as part of the big celebration, I'm encouraging my readers to click on the DONATE tab here on the right and make today a mini-fundraiser for the site.  As I like the say, the Internet only looks free.  So if you can toss a little coin in the online bucket and help to support your local writer, I would greatly appreciate it. As would Verizon, T-Mobile, Con Edison, Visa, Mastercard, etc.  And please continue to read Hi-Fi Bri...as well as repost, subscribe, forward, tweet (all of which you can do quite easily with all the little buttons just below here on the left). Thanks so much for your support!

Jimmy Kimmel Asks "Is Uggie A Fake?"

A couple weeks ago, Jimmy Kimmel had Uggie, the dog star from THE ARTIST, on his show to make Oscar picks.  Or did he.  A keen-eyed viewer has pointed out that the dog that appeared on Kimmel's show has different markings than the dog that was in THE ARTIST.  Talking about this shocking discovery on his show last night, Kimmel couldn't believe that someone would pass off a fake to him, for which his show reportedly paid a sizable fee.  As he put it, "it's like someone sending us a Meryl Streep look-a-like instead of the real Meryl Streep."  LoL.

Even more surprising was that the dog on Kimmel's show was the same dog that worked the red carpet at the Globe and the Oscars.  So this begs the question where is the real Uggie?  Kimmel promises a "full investigation."  No comment yet from the Weinsteins.

A Time Traveling, Time-Lapse Trip Through NYC In 1968

The NY Times City Room Blog is one of my favorite sites to find strange odds and ends about life in "The City."  Over the weekend, they posted a clip from an experimental film (remember experimental film?!) by Hollis Frampton in which he shot a time-lapse journey through the city. Making his trek on a weekend in 1968, Frampton starts at the Brooklyn Bridge then heads up Broadway, through Union Square, Madison Square, Sixth Avenue and ends in a teeming Central Park.

What is most surprising to me about this filmed time capsule is how little the essential streetscape of the city has changed, especially in lower Manhattan.  I could see and identifying many of the buildings along the journey, though certainly the signage and some facades have been altered.  However, what's most remarkable to a New Yorker is the strange lack of people on the sidewalks, not to mention the abundant availability of parking on the street.