Alec Baldwin Guest Host Gig On NPR

Alec Baldwin served as guest host this weekend on WNYC's arts show "Studio 360", subbing for regular host Kurt Anderson.  He did a great job, interviewing Laura Linney about acting and Mary Carr about her latest memoir of about addiction.  

It was quite a change having him as host as he was more conversational with the guests, like he was having them over for dinner.  He also did a number of droll jokes regarding Kurt Anderson's whereabouts ("he's in the trunk of my Toyota") in the same, flat NPR-style voice that made his "Schweddy Balls'" sketch such an SNL classic.  Hearing him talk like this made me want to watch that skit again and, all these years later, it is still hysterical.

Downtown Pix At NYU

Back in the late '70s and early '80s, the downtown art scene in NYC was hot.  Artists like Robert Mappelthorpe, Patti Smith, Keith Haring, and David Wojnarowicz were making their mark.  

Currently, the NYU Grey Art Gallery has a show up which explores this fertile time in downtown art scene.  It's mainly photographs with some video, culled from the University's extensive Fales Archive.  Some of the more surprising pictures are documentation of a performance art series that happened in the summer between 1978 and 1985 on a sandy beach, made from the excavation for the World Trade Center, which would eventually become Battery Park City.  (The photo above is by Village Voice photographer Robin Holland.)  The group that put this together was called Creative Time and there are pictures here that look like something you might see at Burning Man but are actually lower Manhattan.


The show "Mining the Fales Archive"  closes on April 3 so it's worth checking out this weekend.  And it's free!  

Four Words--Hot Tub Time Machine

When I first heard of the movie title "Hot Tub Time Machine" I thought it was a joke.  Some sort of YouTube video or something.  But it's actually a big studio film that is opening this Friday with a concept so brilliant, it just might save MGM.  

Needless to say, the concept is self-explanatory ala  "Snakes On A Plane".  Four dudes get into a hot tub that transports them back to 1986 (cassettes!!!) where they encounter their past (hot moms!!!) and do their best to get back to 2010.  Though it sounds dumb, I think the film has the potential to be hilarious.  I mean, I laughed twice watching the trailer...that never happens! Of course, I do have a certain fondness for time travel/fix-the-past movies like "Back to the Future" and "Peggy Sue Got Married".  

In fact, I'm currently working on one entitled "Prom Queens", about three gay guys who end up going back to high school. More news on that as things develop.  In the meantime, I will see u at the muliplex this weekend for HTTM!

Brownie Of The Week

I was walking up Fifth Ave in midtown yesterday, something that would usually be a pretty dreary exercise especially given the cold, rainy weather.  Suddenly, there was a flash of silver ahead and the semi-mythical Treats Truck came into view, parked no 38th Street.  Known for it's brownies and sandwich cookies, the truck has been cruising around NYC for a couple years now and getting rave reviews for it's sweet and reasonbly priced treats.  

Unlike some other more stationary truck vendors I've blogged about, the Treats Truck really gets around town: the Village, the Slope, the Upper West Side, Midtown, Chelsea. To keep track, owner Ima Kim regularly updates her location current on the truck's Twitter feed.  Now that's one use of Twitter which I can totally understand.  Next time I need a brownie (which would be later this afternoon), I now know exactly where to find one!  

Life On The Upper East Side Is A Blast

For the last few months, the MTA has been blasting through the city streets of the Upper East Side as work on the fabled Second Avenue subway picks up.  Second Avenue Sagas posted some startling video of a recent controlled explosion that took place last Friday.  The force of the blast looks like a minor earthquake and sounds even worse.  But this is the work that needs to be done as they prepare a so-called "Launch Box" for the Tunnel Boring Machine that will carve out the new "T" line deep under the city's streets.  Completion is schedule for....oh, somewhere around 2016.  Yikes.

Nancy Pelosi & Dems: They Are The Warriors

While checking in on the health care vote yesterday, I found this photo posted on the front of the TIMES website of Pelosi wielding the gavel from '69 that was used to pass Medicare.  However, the first thing this shot made me think of was a somewhat iconic movie poster from my youth....THE WARRIORS.

Congrats to the Congressional Democrats who stood their ground yesterday and voted for this historic and long overdue reform of our nation's health care system.  Simply put, they ARE the warriors.  

Art That's Literally On The Edge

Every year, the Madison Square Park Conservancy funds a public art installation.  For 2010, the project is so ambitious that it will not only spread outside the park but even above it.  

British sculptor Antony Gormley has created 31 naked statues of himself and placed them in the park, on nearby sidewalks and up on the rooftops and ledges of nearby landmark buildings, including the Flatiron and Empire State.  The project is called "Event Horizon" and is actually a restaging of a similar piece he did in London back in 2007. The difference here is that he's got some taller buildings to work with and a concern from local police that the statues might be mistaken for suicidal jumpers.  

Today's TIMES has a write-up about the project and some stunning photos by Todd Heisler. They also have a map so you can find all the statues which are concentrated in the Flatiron District but stretch as far south as Union Square. The exhibit will be up until August. 

The End of Publishing?

This is video response to all the doomsaying about book publishing, including most recently an ominous New York Magazine article this week entitled "The End".  This video was meant originally for an internal sales conference at a UK publisher but now is getting passed around in the online world.  I like it's message which is about seeing the glass half full as opposed to already empty.  And I like the way they did this...which still is sorta mind boggling.

American Idol at The Met

Every year, hundreds of opera hopefuls from around the country participate in an American Idol-esque search for the next generation of classical singing talent.  In a series of auditions, more than 1,800 singers are winnowed down to 22 semi-finalists who come to New York for a change to sing on the storied stage of the Metropolitan Opera in the National Council Grand Finals.


I'm not a big opera fan but I happened to catch a compelling PBS doc called "The Audition" on Channel 13 this week.  It follows these semi-finalists through the end stage of the 2007 process and the crowing of 5 winners in front of an audience at the Met.  It was like American Idol except these 20-something performers are a little plumper than the typical Idol contestant...oh yeah, and they got pipes.  Seriously!  It makes Idol look like the kareoke competition it's become this season.


Anyway, this doc was part of PBS's Great Performances and there is a preview available on their website. It's pledge time so I'm sure it will be re-airing a few more times....check your local listings.

America's Smartest 11 Year Old

I was at the GLAAD media awards on Saturday, where Joy Behar and Cynthia Nixon were honored for their work in promoting positive LGBT issues in the media.  There were many other awards and plenty of speeches.  But there was one that was truly extraordinary.  


Will Phillips, an 11 year old from Arkansas (!), was the subject of a CNN story about his refusal to pledge allegiance to the flag at his grade school because he believed the phrase "with liberty and justice for all" didn't cover the nation's millions of LGBT citizens.  When his story won, he got to the podium with his parents and received a standing ovation. Then, as he pulled out a typed acceptance speech, the audience exploded with laughter.  However, his speech was no joke....this kid had something to say and wowed the crowd with his simple eloquence and excellent diction, not to mention a message for President Obama.   


This kid was easily the highlight of a star-studded evening. And he gives me hope for a future in which this nation's LGBT citizens will get their full and equal rights, as promised in the pledge.