Monday, September 27, 2010

Hybrid Theatre Works Monthly Artists Response Forum: Conference Day!

Roar! Last night was the second installment of Hybrid Theatre Works' monthly Artists Response Forum. This month's topic was the recent round of peace talks between Israel and Palestine! I decided to make a film that commented on the repetitive nature of the history of the peace process between the two contries as well as used a couple of the historical places in NYC that played a part in the conflict between Israel and Palestine. My film is called Conference Day and is a parody of the movie Groundhog Day! Enjoy!
 
The first location in the film is actually the Queens Museum of Art out in Flushing Meadows Park. It served as the New York Pavilion during the 1939/1940 Worlds Fair and after the fair was over it was converted into the original home of the United Nations before they built the current building on 42nd street in Manhattan. It was here that all of the post World War II decisions were made, which included the partitioning of Israel and Palestine! The second location is the current home of the UN. It's easy to forget that so many of the world's conflicts are discussed and settled so close to home. I hope my movie helped remind people of that. Roar!

At the Makers Faire

Roar! Yesterday was the New York Makers Faire at the New York Hall of Science! It's a really cool event where all sorts of artists and inventors from around New York City gather to show off all the crazy stuff they've been working on! I thought it would be neat to go and see what all of my fellow NYC craftsmen have been up too, but this time I'll be sure to stay away from the Rocket Park mini golf!
One of the first things I went to see at the Makers Fair and one of the absolute collest things there was this crazy life size version of the mousetrap from the board game Mousetrap! It was really nuts and worked just like the one in the game, only instead of trying to catch a mouse they were using it to smash a car! Talk about crazy! Roar!
Next, I went over to see what some of the local inventors were working on! Here is an awesome open source 3D printer someone built! This printer can even print itself! I sure hope it doesn't become self aware!
There was also this amazing art piece where a computer was using different algorythms to try and align these pieces into a 3 dimensional mobius strip! It may all sound respectively scientific but I thought it was a great art piece on the passage of time and our true inability to grasp the nature of infinity! Roar!
Another weird art piece was this giant undersea monster sculpture! It sure was scary, I hope I never encounter this guy down in the briny deep!
There were also a lot of cool people wandering around the Makers Faire. I ran into this girl who had a sign that said "scare me" on her chest. I roared real loud and she turned into a porcupine! Wow, that's a pretty nifty defense mechanism and she looks pretty cute too! Roar!
After all the wandering around I was doing, I was getting pretty hungry so I went on over to the food court for some delicious snacks! Woah! Look at all that sweet sweet gyro meat! I'm definitely getting some of those! Oh man I just love meat so much! Maybe I should work with some of the inventors here to come up with new kinds of meat! That would be so cool! Roar!
There were also a bunch of wild rides! In this one people rode a bicycle to spin those guitars around and play some serious power chords!
The Madagascar Institute was also there! There built all sorts of cool art that can kill you --Gulp-- and have been doing it for over 10 years! They had this wild DIY chariot race featuring a fire breathing raven and a Kraken! It ended in a huge collision and chariot parts went everywhere! It was totally nuts!
The Madagascar Institute also built a replica of one of the early sociable style bicycles! This baby sure looks like it would be fun to ride! Roar!
But by far the coolest thing the Madagascar Institute had at the Makers Faire was this carzy rocket powered carousel! It featured two ponies with rocket engines on their backs and when they spun around fire spewed out of their backs! After riding it I was so dizzy I nearly spewed out all the gyro meat I had just eaten! Oh my that would have been embarassing, as a dinosaur I don't want anyone to think I can't hold my meat! Roar!

The Makers Faire turned out to be a really cool event and a lot of fun! I'll definitely come again next year and maybe I'll even bring along a few friends! Roar!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

"One of these days, T-Rex, to the Moon!"

Roar! Yesterday was the Mid-Autumn Festival on the Chinese calendar so I met up with my friend Bao Bao to have some Lunar Adventures!
First, Bao Bao and I got a couple of Arnold Palmer iced teas and headed on over to the New York Hall of Science to play some Rocket Park mini golf!
Here I am at one of the first holes at Rocket Park Mini Golf! The whole course is really cool! It teaches kids all about the physics of space travel and challenges them to complete a mission to send their ball to outer space and safely return home! It's practically out of this world! Roar!
Roar! Here are some photos of Bao Bao and I playing a few of the different holes at Rocket Park Mini Golf! We learned all about escape velocity, satellite repair, space junk, and reentery! I wonder if I'll ever have to put any of this knowledge to use some day!?
Rocket Park gets its name because this is where the New York Hall of Science has some of the rockets from the Mercury Space Program on display! These rockets all look really cool, maybe I'll climb up top for a better look!
Roar! The inside of this capsule is really cool! Get a look at all these nifty controls! I wonder what all these different buttons do? Woah! Turns out I was going to have to learn what they all did pretty quickly because right at that moment Bao Bao got a hole-in-one on the last hole and my rocket launched itself into space! RRRRRooooooaaaarrrrr!!!!! Here I go again!!!
Woah! I set my controls for the heart of the moon and after a brief flight I crashed down in the lunar city of Yue York! Everything here is so different! How am I going to get back to Earth this time?!
Roar! Yue York City is a huge,scary place! I have no idea where I am or how to get home! I wish there was somebody who could show me around!
Luckily, I met this really nice Rabbit on the moon! She was super friendly and said she had never met a T-Rex before! She told me she'd be happy to show me around YYC!
Here we are downtown where Ms Rabbit was showing me some of the sights in YYC! Here we are in front of one of the old theaters! Unfortunately it's been forced to shut down recently. I guess things aren't going so well for the lunar economy since the decline of American tourism starting in the 1970's. Roar!
I told Ms Rabbit I was pretty hungry so she took me over to the Silver Mall for some sweet lunar noodles!
Here I am with a delicious bowl of Lunar Noodles! They were so yummy! I guess YYC has a lot more to offer than I initially thought! Ms Rabbit even said she was really surprised how much I was able to eat and that she was sorry she hadn't ordered enough food. Wow, Ms. Rabbit sure is polite!
Roar! After eating all those delicious noodles I really needed something sweet so I got some amazing black sesame ice cream! Wow! YYC is great!
I threw up this sticker in dowtown YYC then Ms Rabbit and I went over to the bay to watch the Autumn Earth rise!
Ms Rabbit and I settled in on a bench with a traditional Earth cake that we picked up downtown. She said she was really honored to be able to share an Earth cake with a big, strong T-Rex like me and hoped I liked it! Wow Ms Rabbit sure is nice!
Roar! The earth cake sure was awesome! It was lunar melon flavored and really tasty! It was definitely nice to be able to share it with a new friend!
Here Ms Rabbit and I are watching the Autumn Moon rise over the calm bay. She said this was here favorite Lunar holiday and she was glad to spend it with someone like me! Ms Rabbit is such a friendly person, I'm really lucky to have met someone like her on my chance visit to YYC!
Roar! Here is the Autumn Earth reflected in the calm bay!

After a nice evening in Yue York City it was time for me to head back to NYC. I asked Ms Rabbit if there was any way to send me back home. She was sad to see me go but told me that they had an ancient Lunar space craft that might work! Turns out it was a chair with fireworks attached to the legs and an umbrella on top! Despite its flimsy appearance Ms Rabbit assured me it would work...
Sure enough after blast off and a short ride back to NYC I splashed down in Flushing Bay! Bao Bao was really surprised when I told him about my time in Yue York City but happy that I made it back safe and sound! Roar!

Friday, September 10, 2010

T-Rex goes down the Rabbit Hole!

Roar! Last night I went over to the new Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO to see the latest performance by the Box Full of Wasps theatre group! It was called Alice, Live From the Rabbit Hole and was sort of their own take on what a cabaret floor show would be like if it took place in Wonder Land! I'm not sure what Lewis Carrol would have thought of it but it sure was cool!
Here is one of the big musical numbers that took place in the show! It featured all of the Alices dancing for the Queen of Hearts! She really loved it! Roar!
Later on there was a romantic slow dance where everyone in the audience participated! I sure wish Giraffe had been able to come with me. Here is another one of the Alices dancing with the Mad Hatter! It turned out today was also his un-birthday, which was really strange because it turned out to be my un-birthday too! What are the chances of that!?
Here I am with Alice number 1! She was also the best Alice! Roar!
One of the the strange things about the new Galopagos Art Space is that Allison Harvard, one of the past competitors on America's Next Top Model, is a waitress there! Giraffe loves that show! She was really nice and let me take a picture with her to show Giraffe!

Overall, Alice Live at the Rabbit Hole was really awesome! The new Galapagos Art Space is really cool and Box Full of Wasps are a great theatre group. I can't wait to see what they come up with next! Roar!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

A visit to Bottle Beach on my One Year Anniversary

Roar! Today is the 1 year anniversary since I started my blog! In order to celebrate Giraffe and I decided to head down to a remote area of Brookyln to get a first claw look at our city's past!
From Gerritsen Beach it was just a short ride over to Dead Horse Bay. The beach here is littered with all kinds of trash and has earned the nickname bottle beach! The thing is, almost all of the trash is from over 100 years ago! Dead Horse Bay is right on the edge of New York City's original air strip, Floyd Bennett Field, which was built on top of the old 19th century landfill. Now ten decades later, the bay has eroded the edge of the landfill and exposed all of the garbage that hasn't decomposed!
Roar! Besides all the old bottles, there was a ton of other weird stuff on the beach, namely old dentures, leather shoe heels, and even old newspapers that hadn't completely decomposed! Talk about crazy!
Here is a photo of Giraffe and I in front of an antique car engine that had emerged from a sand bar and was covered in barnacles!
I even found this sweet old harmonica! Too bad it didn't work anymore, I really wanted to play the greens on my anniversary! Roar!
Here's Giraffe looking out over an old abandoned pier, and here I am checking out some rusty metal containers that used to be part of the old landfill! I find that all of these forgotten structures really add to the feeling of Dead Horse Bay.
Not everything on the beach was antique trash. Here is a monitor someone placed on this tree! I wonder if it's some kind of art piece? Roar!
There was also this abandoned boat that washed up on the beach! I decided to leave my mark on it. Roar!
Dead Horse Bay got its name because this is where they used to dump the horse carcasses from all the old glue factories in the city! Gross! Now there are just tons of dead horseshoe crabs lining the beach! Roar!
It wasn't just all trash at Dead Horse Bay! There was also this sweet mussle patch growing in the reeds! I guess they should rename this place mussle beach! Roar!
After leaving Dead Horse Bay Giraffe and I decided to head over to Floyd Bennett Field and check out the old air strip! But then things got really strange and we passed all this snow! I don't think I'm ready for it to be winter yet! I'm really glad Giraffe was there for me!
Roar! Here I am in front of the old air traffic control tower at Floyd Bennett Field! This place is so cool! I wish I had a sweet biplane to land here!
Here Giraffe and I are in front of one of the old hangars at Floyd Bennet Field! This hanger was for American Airlines which was one of the only commercial airlines to use Floyd Bennett Field as its base for New York flights. But because there wasn't much commerical airlines traffic, Floyd Bennet Field was used by famous aviators, such as Howard Hughes and Amelia Earhart, to set their record breaking flights!
Floyd Bennet Field is now run by the Parks Department! They even have this sweet community garden! It's nice to see gardens thriving in out of the way places like these! Roar!
Here I am out in the old, overgrown runway! Woah! who's this handsome looking guy!? Why its a paper version of me, T-Rex! Roar!
Here is Giraffe and I hanging out in the old runway with my paper T-Rex! It sure was awesome getting to see some of this city's history first claw today! Happy Paper Anniversary everyone! Roar!