MONUMENT: IMPOSSIBLE--Cool Photos Of Damage Control Team

Last August, Washington DC experienced a rare 5.8 earthquake which did some serious damage to the Washington Monument, the city's tallest structure at 555 feet 5/18 inches. It has been closed and will remain so likely until 2014, according to a recent story in the Washington Post. Meanwhile, a damage control team from the engineering firm of Wiss, Janney, Eltsner and Associates have been scaling the surface trying to keep the massive slabs of stone together.

This weekend, the Washington Post Magazine ran some stunning photos of the team at work. They reminded me of scenes from a MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE film as men (and women!) dangle from cables hundreds of feet off the ground with incredibly panoramic views of the cityscape.  To view the photos as a slideshow, you have to click thru to the Post's website. They are really amazing...but then again, I'm an old DC tourguide so I live for stuff like this!

Ran Palillo From WELCOME BACK COTTER Dies At 63

I'm not a big one for obits on this blog but this one struck me today. Ron Palillo, who played "Horshack" on WELCOME BACK KOTTER in the 1970s, the sitcom which launched John Travlota's career, died today in Palm Beach.  He was only 63 and the cause of death at yet is unknown, as reported on the Palm Beach Post website today. It is also reported that he is survived by his partner of 41(!) years Joseph Gramm, a fellow actor.

I loved this show as a kid and I think the fact that Ron and John were in it had a lot to do with that. One was super-hot and gay (though not exactly out yet) while the other was super-funny and gay. Of course, they both played it straight on the show. Still the gaydar came through the TV in a subliminal way and I just adored this show and saw every episode more than a few times....oh the hours spent watch sitcom re-runs after school. Anyway, a sad loss to note but also lovely to see Ron's four decade relationship honored in his obit.

Happy Birthday Hitchcock, King Of The Director's Cameo

Many directors have inserted themselves into their films.  Some quite obviously, like Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese, and others somewhat more discreetly, like Michael Bay. Perhaps the only discreet thing in his films! 

However, Alfred Hitchcock takes the consistency prize for placing himself in small non-speaking roles in all of his feature films. Often his appearances are comical and can somewhat take you out of the action (i.e. lumbering onboard the train with a large musical instrument in STRANGERS ON A TRAIN).  While other times they are subtle and more organic, such as my personal favorite which is his appearance in the gay guy's apartment in REAR WINDOW, standing behind him as he plays piano. Is he a sugar daddy? An gentleman caller? Or the backer of a potential Broadway show?  All interpretations work and add to the fun of the guessing games involved when spying on your neighbors, which is what the film is all about.

A clever and diligent editor has compiled all of Hitchcock's appearances into a clip on YouTube. I found this through my friend Paul Maggio, who often posts celebrity birthday's on his Facebook feed. Anyway, watching this is a great way to celebrate the master of the movies on what would have been his 113th. Happy Birthday Hitch! :)

Two New Docs To See This Weekend: OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY and THIS TIME

This weekend, I want to draw your attention to two new documentaries that are opening for limited runs in the Village. The first one is a project I worked on called OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY. It's about Cantor Fitzgerald, the company that had it's offices on the top floors of the World Trade Center and, on 9/11, they lost 658 employees, nearly nearly two-thirds of their workforce.  Their surviving CEO Howard Lutnick (left), who was taking his son to kindergarten that morning, drew a lot of media attention because of his loss but the film goes into the real story behind the headlines and how the company survived against all odds.

I've worked on this documentary for the last 6 years as an associate producer and my good friend Danielle Gardner is the film's director, bravely telling this incredibly personal story (her brother was a Cantor exec who did not survive). The film has its premiere tonight at the IFC Center as part of the annual IDA Docuweeks series and it will play there every day for the next week. For those on the west coast, the film will be out there starting next Friday August 17 as part of Docuweeks LA. Oh--and we got a great review in the NY DAILY NEWS today too!

The other film is a doc by my Victor Mignatti, a filmmaker I met way back when I was in film school. His film is called THIS TIME and follows the story of the stories of a number of singers in show business (including Cissy Houston), some looking for second chances and other for their big break. In an age of IDOL where there is so much hype surrounding recording artists, this doc keeps it real and shows you the hard work and the heartbreak that goes hand in hand with a career in the performing arts. I saw a nearly finished cut a couple years ago and found it moving, intense, emotional and, of course, very musical and inspiring as well. It opens today at the Quad Cinema on 13th Street.

So no whining about "ah, there's nothing to see out there"...all you have to do is look and you will find some indie treasures. Especially this weekend.

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.