Not Just for Refined Tastes

Roar! I know I often write about sweet art but this time the art isn't just sweet to look at but also to taste! Turns out Creativetime is presenting an amazing new sculpture series by Kara Walker that's housed in the old Domino Sugar Refinery in Williamsburg! This will probably be the last chance I get to go inside the factory before it's razed and turned into condos so I decided to head on over to the Williamsburg waterfront to check it out! Roar! 

Roar! Here I am outside of the Domino Sugar Refinery. Look at this huge line of people waiting to see the Kara Walker Domino! Give me a break! Turns out the line moves really fast and it didn't take more than half an hour for me to get inside. That is also pretty sweet! Roar!

Oh Henry! Kara Walker has sculpted a giant sugar sphinx in the center of the refinery! The full title of the installation is "A Subtlety or the Marvelous Sugar Baby an Homage to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant."  Woah! That is one serious title, though I've got to say there really isn't anything subtle about this installation. Roar! 

This pictures bound to get a few Snickers.  What can I say? I like, this, art, and I can not lie... this is incredible! I feel like I've hit PayDay at the Domino refinery, not only do I get to see this amazing art but I also get to check out the factory I've long admired from the Williamsburg bridge! Roar! 

There are a ton of other smaller sculptures through out the refinery. Everything is made of sugar and it's melting the whole time the show is up. I hope as this guy's arm melts he doesn't get butterfingers and drop what he's carrying! Roar! 

Here are a bunch of photos of the decaying interior of the refinery. Things are so decrepit in here, I can't help but think it's a long way from 5th Ave! Roar! 

There is also a bunch of old machinery in the refinery, this is, it's, it's a, you know... Whatchamacallit? Oh I forget! Roar! 

There is a lot of other stuff that's messed up in the refinery. Here you can see all the walls that have begun to Krackle. No wonder they are tearing this place down it would cost more than a 100 Grand to fix this place up! Roar! 

Here are a couple detail shots of some crumbling stairs and pipes and rotting insulation. Despite all of this decay it really is a great location to host an art installation. Kudos to Creativetime for organizing it. Roar!

Here you can see the sugar from the sculptures melting and dripping all over the floors. It certainly added to the ambiance of the place. I must say Kara Walker certainly hit a Grand Slam with this show! In an interview she said this was some of the most fun she's had making art and it shows in the work! Roar!

The looming Domino refinery will soon be no more. A Subtlety is a great piece of commentary on the dark aspects of the history of sugar and presents plenty of ideas that a person probably wouldn't think about when staring at this building while biking over the bridge. It's also a fitting send off to a building with it's own rich history that's become something of a Brooklyn icon. The show is up until July 6th so if you have time come down to the sugar refinery and Take 5 with some sweet art. Roar! 

Crushing the Guard!

Roar! Not too long ago the last great arcade in New York City, Chinatown Fair, closed its doors! It was a sad day here in NYC. Now where will people go to put money down on Robotron?! Luckily, a few days later the owner of Chinatown Fair opened a new arcade in Sunset Park, Brooklyn! The arcade isn't officially open yet but this past Wednesday they were having a Super Street Fighter IV and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 tournament so I went over there to get a sneak peak at the new arcade!

Here I am outside Next Level Arcade! It still doesn't look like much on the outside but there sure was a lot of action happening inside these doors! Let's check it out! Roar!

Here are some of the best Super Street Fighter IV players in NYC! It looks like everyone has got their game faces on. Get a look at how fast their hands are moving! Woah! Was that an Ultra Combo?! Roar!

Here are the best Marvel vs Capcom 3 players in the city! Since MvC3 is still a pretty new game there aren't any arcade machines yet so the arcade has it running on a custom XBox360 set up! Talk about neat! Again these guys are so good -- their hands are a blur! I wish my claws were that fast! Roar!

Right now there aren't many other machines at Next Level Arcade. They did have this King of Fighters machine, which is all right, but I really wish they had Primal Rage! The only problem with SSFVI and MvC3 is you can't play as a dinosaur, though maybe they'll fix that with some DLC! Roar!

I had a lot of fun visiting Next Level Arcade and I can't wait to see what it will be like when it's done! They say they will even have a bubble tea bar! I love bubble tea! Roar! 

Visiting Green-Wood Cemetery: More Than One Tree Grows in Brooklyn!

Roar! Friday morning I went over to Green-Wood Cemetery to go on a walk with a fellow blogger and explore all the different trees and plant life that thrive in a place where humans eternally rest! Now that's what I call poetic! Roar!

Here I am outside the main gates of Green-Wood Cemetery where I met Katie who writes Green-Wood Cemetery Trees. Those sure are some fancy looking gates! Even though the cemetery was established in 1838 those sweet, Gothic gates weren't built until 1861. They were designed by Richard Upjohn who also designed the current Trinity Church!

As soon as entered the cemetery Katie started showing me all sorts of cool things I would never have noticed on my own! Here she's showing me a flowering katsura tree. You can even see the stamen and anthers! Roar!

Here I am checking out a type of shrubbery commonly called Andromeda. Woah! Get a look at those crazy looking flowers! They're totally out of this world! Possibly even galactic! Roar!

Next we passed by this crab apple tree whose base was completely hollowed out! It reminds me of a story I read one about a human boy that went to live in the woods and made a home inside of a tree! What a crazy story! Still, this tree is pretty comfortable... Roar!

Next Katie and I passed this beautiful budding beech tree. Try saying that five times fast! Roar!

There are a ton of famous people buried in Green-Wood Cemetery. Here I am hanging out on the grave of Bill the Butcher! He was a member of the Bowery Boys who was made famous in the movie Gangs of New York. That movie was about the rivalry between gangs of "native" New Yorkers and arriving immigrants. It's was a lot like what's happening in Collect Pond Park right now!

"Boss" William Tweed is also buried here. He is probably New York City's most infamous politician! Tweed  stole up to 200 million dollars from tax payers and died in jail. Since this was before the consolidation of the city in 1898 I'm guessing no one wanted Tweed to be buried in Manhattan! So instead he was interred here in Brooklyn! Now that's justice! Roar!

One of the trees Katie wanted to find was this hardy orange! The hardy orange is a seriously thorny shrub whose fruit smell strongly of citrus. Unfortunately it's the wrong time of year for fruit otherwise I would be able to give them a try. I guess I'll have to come back in the future and plunder the Green-Wood C. Roar!

Here are some crocuses that were coming up in a planter in front of a headstone. The crocus is a sure sign of Spring! They are always the first flowers that I see come up once the seasons start changing!

There are a lot of beautifully crafted tombstones at Green-Wood Cemetery. This chair marks the grave of a child. Look at the detail of their coat draped over the arm of the chair. Not to mention the tassel from the coat. I can only imagine how beautiful it must have looked a hundred years ago when it was new.

Here I am in front of a Dawn Redwood or, as Katie called it, Metasequoia. The Dawn Redwood is actually a living fossil! I used to hang out in the shade of these trees back during the late Cretaceous! It was so awesome to see one of these guys again! Roar!

Next we headed down to one of the many pretty ponds located in the cemetery. Just check out this lovely spot under one of the willow trees! Katie told me that willow trees can actually be an invasive species in some places! I never knew that! I guess I've just always been in love with the iconic beauty of the weeping willow and never thought about how they might fit into the local ecosystem.

We passed this budding cherry tree on the other side of the pond. Since it didn't have its famous blossoms I didn't even realize it was a cherry tree until Katie pointed it out to me!

Not to far from the Cherry tree was this headstone. I hear this guy just loved cherries when he was alive! Roar!

Here I am under a sweet maple tree! Get a look at those bright red blossoms! I wonder if I can come back here and get some syrup? Roar!

This is a baby maple tree that had sprouted from a seed. Katie says the maple is pretty resilient. There were maple sprouts all over the cemetery. None of them will grow into full trees though, these guys won't make it past the first mowing of the grounds! Roar!

I love the way plants have grown all over the old Mausoleums! Above you can see one that has been over taken by ivy! I guess ivy is pretty common in cemeteries but I don't expect to see any lizards around here! Roar!

Next Katie and I headed over to the pretty pond! It was really beautiful! It reminds me of how before public parks, cemeteries were used by the public as green spaces. I could easily spend an afternoon lounging in the shade around this pond! Roar!

On the hill above the pond was this gorgeous Blue Atlas Cedar! With a big strong tree like this around I won't need to beware of the darkness! Though I definitely don't want to be standing underneath it if it decides to shrug and drop all its cones! Roar!

Next Katie and I passed by this neat ring of graves! There are so many interesting sites to see in the cemetery but I'm glad I'm here during the day. I don't want to run into any ghosts after all! I'm still afraid that Charles BOOs might get me! Roar!

Here are some sweet looking Sweetgum balls! Wait a second! These don't look chewy at all! And... Blargh! They're not sweet either! I should have asked Katie about them first before I decided to try them! Roar!

Next we came across another living fossil! There was this ring of Gingko trees that had fused together. I guess there must have been one large tree in the center and it fell down. Then the new trees sprang up from the roots and formed a ring! Talk about neat! Now if only I could find someway to toast the nuts without having to handle the fruit. Roar!

Towards the end of our walk we passed by the monument to Charlotte Canda. Katie said Charlotte is a real Green-Wood celebrity! She was only 17 when she was thrown from a carriage and tragically killed. Her family spared no expense erecting this beautiful monument to her. People would come from far and wide just to see it. To the right of the monument is the grave of Charlotte's fiance who sadly committed suicide after loosing Charlotte. roar...

Katie and I had come to the end of our walk. It was really awesome of her to let me explore the cemetery with her. She is going to be leading a walk through the cemetery in May. Definitely come check it out if you can! On the way out of Green-Wood cemetery I noticed a group of parrots that have made a home in the spire of the main gate. There are a lot of urban legends about how they got there. Regardless of how it happened it was neat to see that there were more than just plants thriving in Green-Wood Cemetery! Roar!

Calypsos at "ROAR"FRONT in Bushwick!

Roar! Last night I went over to the STOREFRONT gallery on Wilson Ave in my neighborhood of Bushwick to check out Literary Thursdays where they host readings by local writers and poets. Last night's program featured an audio play by author Paul Rome with music by Roarke Menzies. It was pretty awesome! The audio play was called Calypsos and even though there wasn't any rum and coca-cola it stilled played to a packed house! Roar!

Here is Paul Rome reading his part in Calypsos. The audio play was divided into two parts the first being the sad love story of two Columbia students and the second being a retelling of The Odyssey from Penelope's perspective. The two stories were intercut together and both were backed by Roarke Menzies haunting music! I particularly liked the retelling of the Odyssey, it reminded me of my own ancestor, T-Rexxeus, and all the trouble he had getting home from the Cretaceous Wars! I never really thought about what his wife, Lagos, must have been going through! Roar!

Here I am with Roarke Menzies. I really like saying his name! ROARke! It has such a nice ring to it! His music is pretty sweet too! Before the reading started he performed a short piece where he recorded his own vocals live then layered them to produce a chilling effect! It's definitely something that needs to be seen live! Roar!

Here I am with Paul Rome. His last name also sounds pretty cool! ROOOOOOOOOme... Darn, so close! Well despite having only a somewhat cool last name, Paul is a really talented writer! He's had several readings in the neighborhood and recently a piece of his was chosen to open the newest issue of Bushwick's own literary journal, the Bushwick Review. That's pretty impressive! Roar!

It's great to know that I live in a neighborhood with such talented people like Paul and Roarke! Next time either of them has a performance definitely check it out! Also be sure to stop by STOREFRONT and check out the Literary Thursdays reading series not to mention all the great art! Roar!