NYC's Coolest Old Subway Map Is 40 Years Old

It was 40 years ago this week that the MTA made what was considered a colossal blunder; it introduced a mod-looking map of the world famous subway system by Italian designer Massimo Vignelli. The map was ultra modern and presented the subway in a grid of orderly and colorful lines that went at right and 45 degree angles. Unfortunately, it was so disconnected from the grid of the city that some stations were out of place and Central Park was represented as a squat, gray square. After a public uproar, the map was replaced in 1979 with the the version that's in use today.

The NY Times has an interesting story-behind-the-story tale of the map that went wrong. One interesting fact is that the map was supposed to be used with a series of other maps in stations that would have been more geographical in connecting to actual streets and tourist spots. Also, the MTA was so enthralled by Vignelli that they did absolutely zero testing of the radically new map before introducing it to a very cranky public. 

Oddly, a new version of the map has had a resurgence, designed by Vignelli himself. As I wrote here, The WEEKENDER started appearing on the MTA's website last year to show weekend changes to lines. It's become so popular that now it's available at all times to show service changes and disruptions, of which there are more than a few.  Glad to see the map is back and Vignelli's reputation somewhat restored too.

Check Out This Book Trailer I Directed For THE MARRYING KIND

I recently directed/produced a book trailer for my friend Ken O'Neill's debut novel, THE MARRYING KIND. We did a little talk show skit with Ken appearing on a program hosted by the lovely and hilarious Jennifer Westfeldt (writer and star of the recent feature FRIENDS WITH KIDS). It was lots of fun working with her and Ken and the whole thing turned out great!  Thanks to Alton Christensen and Cory Beisser for their Canon5D and lighting skills, respectively which helped make it all happen.

If you're looking for a great beach read, I'd recommend Ken's book which is about a wedding planner who starts a "wedding boycott" when he has an epiphany that he and his partner can't get married themselves. Check it out!

Kodak's Colorama Gets An Art Exhibit In Grand Central

The Colorama was a massive advertisement for Kodak prominently placed on the eastern wall of Grand Central Station's cavernous main room from 1950 to 1990.  It displayed an ginormous transparency of a Kodak image in which someone was using an instamatic camera or Super8 movie camera to record the scene.  As I've written here before, George Eastman didn't invent photography but he invented the idea that people should take pictures of each other as mementos of a occassion or trip. And the Colorama was the ultimate purveyor of the Kodak message, seen by thousands of commuters every day for 40 years.

There is currently an exhibit in Grand Central of the original photos that were displyed in the Colorama.   The pictures, 36 of them hung as prints in the MTA store/museum at Grand Central, are quintissential Americana scenes of familys and iconic American landscapes like the Grand Tetons, an endless wheat field in the plains, or a California beach.

It's a great sample and the only disappointing thing is that the exhibit centers just on photos from the 1960s. I would have loved to have seen how these photos and their depictions of the American family evolved over the decades.  You can see some of that as womean go from more traiditional family roles (a mother in a dress playing with a daughter playing with dolls, 1962) to small hints of women's lib (a women in capri pants biking atop a mountain in the Pacific Northwest, 1967). The photos will be up until November of this year.

Some Cool New Public Art For New Bleecker St Station

Recently, the MTA unofficially unveiled a new work of public art at the Bleecker Street station.  They took down the construction boards blocking the view of the new 6/BDF train transfer, which will eventually allow passengers to transfer to the uptown side of the 6.

The art on display is by an artist I know from my NYU days, Leo Villareal. He has created a honeycomb-like pattern of colorful flourescent tubes that shift and change color constantly.  It's really cool and watching the colors change is almost hypnotizing. Leo has specialized in computerized LED style displays, large and small.  This one is called "Hive" and it's a beautiful addition to the newly renovated station.

John Goodman As Col. Sanders Welcomes The Gays To KFC

There has been a lot of Internet-insanity this week over Chik-Fil-A, the fast food chain with a hateful CEO Truett Cathy.  How this man calls himself a Christian is beyond me and, frankly, would be beyond Jesus Christ  himself. Unbelievable. Yesterday was Chik-Fil-A appreciation day inspired by Mike Huckabee and supported by Wendy's.  Meanwhile this fracas has inspired other companies like Schnippers, Amtrak and The Muppets to come out in support of marriage equality.

Fortunately, in all this intensity, there is something to laugh about.  John Goodman has done a very funny and somewhat demented faux ad for KFC welcoming the gays.  Or, as he puts it in his own unique, way "any money mouth" who wants to eat some fried chicken.  Hilarious and creepy and spot on.  I mean, what national chain business in their right mind actually wants to exclude certain customers?  None, of course. Which leads to the conclusion that CEO Cathy is not in his right mind.

KFC Loves Gays with John Goodman from John Goodman      

F. Scott Fitzgerald Has A New Short Story Out This Week

Though he's been dead for more than 70 years, F. Scott Fitzgerald keeps cranking them out apparently.

This week's New Yorker has a short story that was previously unpublished called "Thank You For The Light". It is a very short story about a women having trouble with smoking in public and it contains some classic FSF turns of phrase. I found it delightful and somewhat contemporary given the way smoking has been demonized in today's culture.  Would he have every imagined someone today that a person could get a ticket for lighting up in Central Park?

Fitzgerald was such a prolific writer that many works of his have turned up in recent years as new to us, though they were written years ago. The great irony with this story is that he submitted it to the New Yorker back in 1936 and they rejected it.

Brilliant Doc JOBRIATH A.D. Has Its NYC Premiere At NewFest

This weekend, the NewFest screened my friend Kieran Turner's brilliant documentary JOBRIATH A.D. up at Lincoln Center.  The film takes a fascinating look at the legendary story of a singer/songwriter from the 1970s who was destined for fame as America's first out rock star.  Unfortunately, that never came to pass....

Jobriath Salisbury started out playing America's first out musical theatre star--Woof in the cast of an LA production of HAIR.  When he moved to NYC, he met famed musical manager Jerry Brandt who promised Jobriath he was going to be a huge star and set up a massive promo campaign w/Elektra Recods to make it happen. However, the public rejected Jobriath despite his talents as a singer/songwriter. It seems his extravagant ways as the "first true fairy of rock'n'roll" was a bit too ahead of the curve for the music biz in 1974. But there's a lot more to his story than this.

If you think the name Jobriath sounds a little odd, as I did watching the film, you're onto the truly interesting story behind the story.  Unlike the usual "Behind The Music" trajectory, this film takes some amazing twists and turns as it goes into who Jobriath was and who he became after his rock career fizzled in the mid-1970s. To say more would be to give away the surprises of this riveting and ultimately heartbreaking story about a talent that was lost way too soon. It is easily one of the best docs I've seen in a while and definitely worth checking out when it gets a general release next year. You can keep updated about all that by liking the film's Facebook page.

Finally, JOBRIATH A.D. got its start with a DIY Kickstarter campaign a couple years ago. So, with that in mind, I'd like to give my dear readers a gentle reminder that my own Kickstarter for BEST SUMMER EVER is in the final countdown phase....just 3 days left to reach our goal. And you can check out of FB page too.  Please help us make our goal so this movie can be at next year's NewFest. Thanks! :)

SATURDAY SPECIAL: Mr. Rogers Has A Groovy Viral Jam

PBS Digital Studios has done something very trippy; they auto-tuned Mr. Rogers and turned him into a groovy singer!  With 5 million hits and counting, it has become a viral sensation.  I loved Mr. Rogers as a kid...I love him even more as unsuspecting pop star.

No Nice Way To Say It: The Olympic Mascot Looks Like A Penis

There was a great bit on JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE earlier this week about the Olympic mascot for the London Games, which officially open tonight.  There are actually two of them Wenlock and Mandeville and they are supposed to be two drops of steel, which Kimmel says appropriately "makes no sense at all".  Agreed.

When he showed an image of the one on the right (Wenlock I think?) and asked some folks walking down Hollywood Blvd. what they thought it was, the majority though it looked just like a penis.  Seriously.

This would not be the first time an Olympic mascot has caused some concern. There was the weird Izzy from the Atlanta Games, who garnered the unfortunate nickname "Sperm In Sneakers".  But with stories about all the sex going on in the Olympic Village, maybe it's totally appropriate. So let the games begin...

Warner Bros. Long History Of Violent Movies

The mass shooting at a Colorado movie theatre last week was an awful tragedy. But whenever this sort of madness erupts, there is always a great deal of national handwringing over the role that violence in the movies plays in shootings like these. Are these madmen inspired by the movies? Or are they just people who would do the same thing without the examples presented in Hollywood's films.

The NY Times today ran a interesting article on the topic from a broader perspective; that of Warner Bros. studios long-history of violent, crime-ridden films that have often been controversial.  In the 1940s and 1950s, as a bit of theatrical counterprograming, Warners specialized in gritty B/W films filled with criminals and, in some cases, based on real life crimes. The films were so violent and extreme, compared to the sunny & singing studio output of MGM and Columbia, that when the French got to see them after WWII ended they coined the term "Film Noir".

Though studios "brands" don't really exist now the way they used to in the olden days, it is interesting to note that Warners is the studio behind THE DARK KNIGHT trilogy. These three films are darker than any noir (even though they are shot in a faded, washed out color) in their twisted stories, psychologically disturbed characters, and deranged criminals, namely Heath Ledger's mad Joker who may have inspired the Colorado shooter. Nolan's trilogy already had caused a great deal of debate, even before the shooting last week. Other Warners films that have caused cultural consternation are THE MATRIX, DIRTY HARRY, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, BONNIE & CLYDE and, way back in '32, I AM A FUGITIVE ON THE CHAIN GANG. However, unlike a lot of those films, the great irony in the case of THE DARK KNIGHT is that the film's hero doesn't even use a gun.