Getting Down With "The Low Line"

Down under Delancey Street, at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge, lies an old trolley terminus that has been sitting vacant for 60-some years.  Now there is a push to revive the space and maybe turn it into an underground park.

The NY Times recently did a piece about what has come to be known as "The Low Line", a nickname for the project inspired by the success of another reuse of abandoned rail infrastructure, The High Line. Though the two guys who are trying to make this happen are optimistic and the MTA is very eager to lease some of its real estate, the project has a long way to go, both financially and even theoretically. 

I think it's gonna be tough to get people to hang out underground near a major subway station, even if they filter in natural sunlight as pictured above.  A similar project was attempted in Washington DC in the '90s where a food court was developed in an old trolley terminus at Dupont Circle that met with disaster and lawsuits.  Below is the MTA's recent video showcasing the space, which is roughly 600ft x 100ft.  It looks pretty bleak but then again, so did the High Line ten years ago. Time and corporate backing will tell....

West Village Bar PIECES Saved By New Lease

For nearly 20 years, the West Village bar PIECES has been a popular gay hangout on Christopher Street. It was due to close next year but its landlord has changed their mind, based on community support for the bar.  You can read the full story on NEXT magazine's website (where I occasionally do nightlife coverage).  I was asked to do an exclusive interview with the establishment's owner Eric Einstein over the weekend as he wanted to get out the word that bar was going to stay in it's current home for a few more years at least.

Latest In Hi-Tech Toys Comes To Times Square

I was in midtown yesterday and stopped by the new pop-up WIRED store on Broadway and 42nd which features tons of hi-tech toys for holiday shoppers, including everything from 3D flatscreen TVs to touchscreen watches.  One of the most buzzed about items was the Lytro light field camera.  It is a curiously-shaped rectangular box that takes whopping 45MB pictures which capture so much information that you can change the point of focus after you've taken the picture.  You can check out one of these nifty cameras from the "ambassadors" in the store (a.k.a. cute actors with jobs for the holidays) and you take some pictures with it.  It won't be on the market til 2012 but you can pre-order them already, starting at $400.  This little cameras could be the wave of the future, especially when their expected video version comes out soon.

Other unusual products on display and for sale are the Maker-Bot 3D printer, which creates tiny objet'd'art in plastic (like a 3-inch Teddy bear or an octopus).  I would have liked to seen the printer in action but it only had the finished products.  Price tag...a cool $1300.  Another pricey item which was not on display due to theft concerns was a bit retro-tech.  A gold-plated Atari gaming system going for $6650.  That would look amazing in front of your huge flatscreen TV...talk about some entertainment bling!  The WIRED pop-up store will be open everyday from 12-7pm until Christmas Eve.

On World AIDS Day, Looking Back 30 Years

Today is World AIDS Day, a day of remembrance of those lost to the disease and a day to educate those who are at risk.  This year's World AIDS Days is taking place in the year that marks the 30th anniversary of the emergence of this terrible plague which devastated gay men in the 1980s, specifically here in New York.

As part of this anniversary, I have been writing a series of profiles in courage about people who have been living with HIV since that decade.  These first person accounts are being posted on Queerty; so far, two have gone up with more to come later this month.  You can read the remarkable story today of Lee Raines, who joined an ACT-UP demo the day after his diagnosis in 1989.

In Oscar Race, Two Actors With No Lines

As the Oscar race gets into gear in December, studios are positioning their films and talent for the  little gold statuettes.  In the Best Actor race, there are two performances that are being pushed for consideration in which the actors don't speak.  They are Andy Serkis, who played the lead Cesar in RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and Jean Dujardin who plays a silent movie star in THE ARTIST. Currently, the odds are in favor of Dujardin getting a nod as critical reaction to his charming movie has been through the roof.  Also, Dujardin won Best Actor at Canne's earlier this year when the film debut.  Even though he speaks barely a line of dialogue, his performance is what keeps the film together.

In the case of APES, Fox is pushing hard for Serkis' work in digital performance capture to be nominated for an award.  (There is story about their efforts in the Hollywood Reporter this week.)  Though their line is that dialogue doesn't matter, one thing that does matter is faces.  And Serkis's face is not in the movie at all.  And even though they are trying to get him a Best Supporting Actor nod, it seems like a long shot. Actors vote for the actor awards and I can't imagine there is a lot of enthusiasm in that camp for turning over the awards to digital creations when so much of Hollywood's films are already highly digitized.  Also, they tried this strategy with AVATAR a few years back and failed.  But then again, it was a few years ago and one can't deny that Cesar was one of the more memorable scene stealers of the year.  

Rethinking The Grounds Of The Washington Monument

When I was in Washington for the holiday weekend, I checked out a fascinating exhibit at the National Building Museum called "Unbuilt Washington".  It is a 200 year plus retrospective of plans for the nation's captial that never reached fruition, like a Versailles-esque White House on Meridian Hill, a Smithsonian Gallery of Art with a shockingly modern design that would have replaced the Castle, a 200 foot tall water fountain for a Teddy Roosevelt Memorial (where the Jefferson now stands), and, the strangest by far, an elevated freeway around the perimeter of the national Mall.  It's an amazing and often shocking look at what could have been and, for the most part, fortunately never was.

Part of the exhibit was dedicated to the tortured history of one memorial that has become so iconic, it's hard to imagine it never having been built.  The Washington Monument was problematic from the start because President Washington had explicitly asked that no memorials be built in his name, wishing to avoid the godly hero-worship which had caused Europe so much trouble. But his wish was ignored and and, after many grand designs came and went, eventually a simple obelisk was built...over the course of 50 years, with the project stalling a third-built for 30 of those.

Now there is a plan afoot to rethink the design of the Washington Monument's plain, open field grounds.  There is a public competition entering the final phase where you can vote on your favorite design.  Some imagine a national amphitheater in marble that would hold 3,000 people, others a landscaped and wooded forest.  You can see the entires here and vote on the site as well.  Winners will be featured in the exhibit and their ideas presented to the National Park Service as they consider what to do with the grounds...after they fix the actual monument, still closed due to earthquake damage.

New Catholic Mass Debuts In The U.S.

If you are Catholic, yesterday was not only the beginning of a new liturgical year (with the first Sunday of Advent) but also the start of a new liturgy too.  I was home for the holiday and actually went to the first new mass with the first new "script" since the Vatican II changed the mass to English almost 40 years ago.  The revisions, which are meant to track closer to the original Latin, are not as extensive as I was led to believe though some of them are certainly strange.

The biggest change is that the response to "the Lord be with you" has been changed from "and also with you" to "and with your spirit".  Which means...what exactly?  As I recall from taking Latin in high school, some Latin just does not translate very well.  Also, words like "begotten" and "consubstantial" are tossed into the mix just to confuse everyone.  It seems odd to make this big revision when the previous mass was so clear. Now they're just muddying things up again.  My theory is that the real reason the church is doing this to remind everyone who is in charge....The Vatican!

Hundreds of American priests are in a bit of revolt over the new mass, according to a piece in today's TIMES. I can report that the priest at my old parish in Maryland was clearly not happy about the change and said as much during his homily. He even related that other priests in the diocese were also not pleased by the change up.  But, he wearily said they will change anyway and that everyone will get used to mass 2.0 eventually.  As they say, when in the Roman Catholic church...

The World's Fastest Coaster Is In Dubai

As most people know, the world's tallest building is now located in Dubai...the Burj Khalifa. (You can see it prominently featured in the current trailers and commercials for the new MISSION IMPOSSIBLE movie.) But with a little less fanfare, the world's fastest roller coaster recently opened in Dubai as well.  With a top speed of 150mph, it displaces the terrifying Kingda Ka at New Jersey's Six Flags' Great Adventure as the fastest roller coaster in the world.

The Formula Rossa is shaped like a Ferrari race car and is so fast that the riders need to wear protective eyewear to protect them from bugs.  (Gross!)  But despite the top speed, which occurs when the car is shot of out the gate by hydraulic technology similar to that which launches jet fighters, the coaster seems pretty tame actually (as you can see in the smooth ride below). No crazy loops, inversions twists or even drops; the whole ride has the feel of going around a race track. Which even at fast speeds, seems a little....dull.

Anyway, the Formula Rossa is part of a massive new amusement pavilion called "Ferrari World".  Yes, it's a big promo-tisement for all things Ferrari in the guise of a tourist attraction.  Or, what my father used to call, a tourist trap.

Have A Happy Thanksgiving & Some Pumple Cake

In honor of Thanksgiving, that uniquely American holiday which is supposed to celebrate gratitude for our blessings but, in its current form, has become a day of overindulgence, I give you the Pumple Cake.  The Flying Monkey Bakery in Philadelphia had the crazy idea to bake a whole apple pie and a whole pumkin pie into a massive two layer chocolate and vanilla cake with. It's sort of a Turducken for the dessert course!

It looks delicious but beware; one slice of this dangerous dessert is a whopping 1800 calories.  Insane or insanely delicious?  I haven't tried it yet myself but I would like to....with maybe four of my closest friends.  Happy Thanksgiving y'all!  :)

Pressing The NYPD On Their Treatment Of Press

When the Occupy Wall Street-ers were evicted in the middle of the night from Zucotti Park last week, the most shocking thing to me about the operation was the fact that the police forbid the media from covering it.  They said that they did it out of concern for their safety but it doesn't take a genius to figure out the real reason was that the mayor did not want pictures of it all over the morning papers/TV/blogs.  And there weren't. There were only reports that the protestors had been evicted.

Well today, the press is fighting back against this egregious violation of the First Amendment. The TIMES media blog today reports that 13 news organizations along with 10 journalistic unions have filed complaints with the NYPD and have asked for a full investigation into the events of November 15th.  In addition to the enforced media blackout, there were also 10 journalists who were arrested that day and multiple reporters who were roughed up and impeded from covering a major news story.

This is beyond shocking in a democratic society.  The police and the mayor's tactics on that day are more reminiscent of what goes on in China than in the United States.  Let's hope a full investigation is launched into police misconduct and that the city takes responsibility for violating the rights of citizens that it is supposed to be upholding.