West Meets East!

Roar! This afternoon was really cool. It turns out you don't need to go to museums or art galleries to see cool stuff, there are lots of great things hidden right under our noses.

I went over to 145 West 57th Street in Manhattan and headed up to the Spink Shreves Auction House where the were previewing the upcoming auction of the Floyd E. Risvold Collection - American Expansion & The Journey West. I got to look at all these old letters and maps from the then new frontier. I really liked looking at all the Oregon Trail stuff. It brought back a lot of memories. Roar!

There were no photos allowed at the auction but I was able to get pictures of what I looked at off of the auction house's website. Here is an old map of Fort Kearney. Maybe I should stop and look around? Y/N Or perhaps I should press return to size up the situation. Roar!

This is the first letter to ever arrive in Astoria, Oregon. It took over a year for it to get there. I guess things were still pretty post-apocalyptic out there in the frontier. I hope Nathan Hale's army didn't try to stop The Postman from delivering this letter!

This is a really great old map of the Oregon territory. It's from the book Horn's Overland Guide, from the U. S. Indian Sub-Agency...to...Sacramento. Inside the front cover of the book the original owner had drawn some cartoons and the people at the auction house were nice enough to let me take a picture.

Here is the first cartoon. It's call "A Democratic Speech." The speaker on the left is saying, "Three cheers for luck" and then the top three figure are all shouting "hurrah!" On the bottom two men are fighting while another on looker shouts "hurrah." Meanwhile an unseen assassin attempts to shoot the speaker. I'm guessing the author of this cartoon was a Whig. Roar!

The second cartoon is a lot less political and instead offers us some commentary on frontier living. The pioneer on the left is asking the man at the bar for a bottle of whiskey. I guess they drank a lot of it back then.

Oh my! This pioneer had the same name as me! It looks like he never made it to Willamette Valley, Oregon. Frontier times were tough, people couldn't even spell right! Roar!

Downstairs in the same building as the auction house they were having a preview show for some really cool Japanese prints.

The show was of little-seen prints depicting the industrial revolution in Japan. Unfortunately none of the original art was on display but it was still some really cool stuff to see.

 Here is an amazing picture of an early Japanese train. I wonder what the poem above it says?

This picture was crazy! Look at all the "western" amenities falling from the fireworks! I wish fireworks could do that for real! Roar!

They had a lot of great stuff on display. I definitely recommend coming here while the show is on to check it all out. Roar!

Pie Roar Squared

Roar! Yesterday was such a strange day! First, the PS1 museum's Saturday Session was having performances featuring a bunch of "Do It Yourself" instruments that looked pretty cool so I rode up there to check it out.

At the museum I met a dinosaur enthusiast and old college friend from back in my B.C. days. It had been ages since I'd last seen her.

The show was upstairs in the record room. The first performance was by this woman who made a synthesizer out of a sewing machine. It seamed like a cool idea but she just ran a piece of fabric back and forth making sounds to show how it worked. I really wanted to see her sew a dress so I could hear what it would have sounded like.

The next performance featured a cello with a television set built into it. The performer used a magnet to bow the strings and cause the image on the TV screen to distort. It was a very clever effect but instead of playing music she just sat around making sounds to show everyone how it worked.

After all of that free improv I convinced them to let me play this sweet vacuum cleaner powered organ. Time for some Iron Butterfly! Roar!

Next, I headed back to Brooklyn and over to the K&M Bar for the BK Farmyards Pie Contest. 

It was really dark inside the bar and hard to get good photos of all the pies. Here you can make out a bunch of the pies entered in the contest. There ended up being well over 50 pies entered and after judging the pies were given out to the audience so they could try them too.

Everyone was so shocked to see a T-Rex at the contest they decided to let me be a guest judge. My favorite pies ended up being the steak and kidney pie, minced meat pie, and the chicken and leek pie. Roar!

Here I am with a big plate of pies to judge. After all the judging was over I must have eaten at least 3.14159265... pies! That's whole lot of pie! Roar!

T-Rex Aquatic!

Roar! Today I went down to the beach to visit the New York Aquarium!

Before I left to head down to the Aquarium I wrote this message to place in a bottle and leave by the beach. It says, "Help! I'm trapped on an island at 39° 11' N, 96° 35' W. I am surrounded by savages and fear they will soon get me unless help arrives! PLEASE HURRY!" If you look up the coordinates you can find out what island I was trapped on. Roar!

Here is what the message looked like when I put it inside the bottle.

After a long train ride I finally made it to the beach. I tossed my message into the sea! This is what is looked like when it washed back up on the shore. I sure hope someone finds it and comes to rescue me soon! 

Next, I went over to the New York Aquarium. It's suggested donation on Fridays after 3. I gave them a few bones and went inside to check out all the awesome fish!

Woah! Look at all this awesome sea life! I love fish! You could even say I'm hooked on them! Roar!

Oh my gosh! It's a giant walrus! I tried to say the traditional walrus greeting I learned from a Beatles song but I don't think he heard me.

I can make that face too, Mr. Moray Eel! Roar!

Ahhh! It's the "terror" of the jelly fish. I don't want to get stung! I wonder if there's a peanut butter fish?

Ah, the majesty and mystery of the briny deep! Just look at these fine fish swim through the shadows. I bet they taste delicious! Roar!

Look at all these pretty starfish! I thought this was an aquarium not a planetarium!

The undersea world is full of so much color! I thought everything was going to be blue! Roar!

Hey look, it's an old selachian prehistoric friend of mine. It's nice to know these guys are still around.

That sea otter is having a lot of fun with that watering can. Someone should plant him a garden, or maybe he could just share the octopus's! Roar!

Here is another prehistoric buddy of mine. He was so surprised to see a T-Rex it left him speechless!

After I left the aquarium I went back to the beach to watch the sun set over the water. It sure was a fun day at the aquarium!

T-Rex and the Sandman...

Roar! Saturday night was so cool! I went to got see a free concert of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf that was performed by the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra and narrated by Neil Gaiman! It was so much fun! The performance was at the Winter Garden of the World Finacial Center which turned out to be a pretty unusual place to see a concert.

The Winter Garden has all these palm trees growing in the center. It was a strange sight to see! I guess when you're the World Financial Center you can put palm trees whereever you want. All those palm trees also made the accoustics for the concert really bad so they had to mike the entire orchestra and play the concert on speakers throughout the garden. The music they played before the concert was also really strange! It was Vangelis' score to Bladerunner. I hope it wasn't... time to die!

It was also really dark in the garden. I can barely read my pamphlet! Roar!

Finally the concert started. Since the concert was free seats were first come, first serve. I got there an hour early and still ended up near the back. You can see Neil on the left and the conductor of the orchestra on the right. Turns out he's Neil's cousin! Roar!

The performance was really good and Neil did a great job but seeing it made me want to make my own version of Prokofiev's story starring me and my friends. So we got together on Sunday and filmed the introuction to Peter and the Wolf. Evntually we'll make the rest of the story but I think the introduction gives a pretty clear idea of what it will be like. Roar!

"Sad" Hoc Closing Party!

Roar! Last night was the closing party for the Ad Hoc Art Gallery. They were giving away all sorts of weird stuff including free art so I headed over there to check it out.

Here I am outside of the gallery. Woah! There sure are a lot of people inside! I guess everyone is really sad the gallery is closing so they came to pay their last respects. I guess all the Ad Hoc regulars will now just have to go to one of the other dozens of galleries in the area. What ever will they do?!

This place is such a mess! People were just tearing the gallery apart. I guess they all wanted something to remember it by.  There is a lot of potential here for some sweet loft art. Roar...

Oh yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about! Free art! Just look at all these sweet prints. I hope there is one of a dinosaur! Roar!

Here is a photo of one of the murals on the wall inside the gallery. It reads "A VISION OF THE FUTURE IMAGINE A BOOT STAMPING ON A HUMAN FACE." Let me tell you I have seen the future and it involves asteroids, not boots!

The actual art exhibit that was on that night was really good. Too bad everyone was too sad the gallery was closing to notice it. It involved these portraits of the human body made by laying objects out on large sheets of photo paper then exposing them. The effect was great and made for some really fascinating images. Roar!

"T-Rex-erick Cook" goes north!

Roar! Yesterday I decided to make an expedition to the north, just like Frederick Cook, the founder of the New York Explorers Club! I started my journey by first heading to visit continental Manhattan.

Here I am on the bridge that leads from Inwood to Marble Hill, the only neighborhood in Manhattan not on the island. It turns out Marble Hill was once actually part of the island until the Army Corps of Engineer built a channel for ships into the East River. Now Marble Hill is part of the continental mainland! I sure hope the Bronx doesn't try to take it over!

Marble Hill got its name from all the marble deposits that used to be found here. They were all stripped out long ago and now all that's left are the steep granite cliffs from the quarries. Here I am hanging out in front of one of these granite cliffs. Someone even built a house up there, but I don't think they want any visitors.

Oh no! It looks like the dog has spotted me! I hope he's friendly! Roar!

Since Marble Hill is part of Manhattan it has a lot of fancy people living in it, in lots of fancy houses!

Roar! I don't know why, but I'm really partial to this house! 

Woah! Check out the decal on this car. This guy really is living up in "da hill!" Roar!

Look at this fence! I guess the people in Marble Hill really do want to keep the Bronx out! It's going to be a bit harder to get to my next destination than I realized! 

After finding my way out of Marble Hill, I headed up to the College of Mount St. Vincent in the Bronx. I came here because the northern corner of their campus is also the northernmost point in New York City.

Here I am hanging out on the campus for the College of Mount St. Vincent. Look at how sweet this building is! It was built when the college was first founded in 1857.

Oh my gosh! They even have a sweet castle! This sure is one cool college! Now if only they had a windmill! Roar! 

Oh my! I really am up north! Look at the black squirrel in that tree!

Roar! I'm so far north I even fell into Symmes's hole! Good thing I'm a T-Rex! Not even the center of the earth can hold me! Roar! 

Finally, I made it to the northern most point in New York City. To my right is some strange, foreign land called "Yonkers" and across the Hudson river is some terrifying place whose name I've only heard mentioned in hushed whispers when visiting some of the shadier parts of NYC. It's a name best left unsaid. 

Here I am looking south from the top of New York City. Just look how pretty the sky is as the sun sets behind the George Washington Bridge. 

I threw up a sticker on the fence that divided New York City from "Yonkers." Now I also have the northernmost graffiti in city! Roar! 

On my way back downtown from the Bronx I stopped to visit Grant's Tomb. Who's buried there again? 

Why it's president Ulysses S. Grant and his wife! I thought this type of monument belonged in Washington D.C.  I guess Grant wanted to make sure he was buried safely in Yankee territory. Roar!

After leaving Grant's Tomb I headed down to Chinatown for some delicious hotpot at the Grand Sichuan restaurant! Mmmm! Just look at that delicious meat! What a great end to a great day! Roar!

UPDATE: It turns out Frederick Cook lived right in my neighborhood in Bushwick. The mansion he lived in is right on Bushwick Ave between Myrtle and Willoughby. 

It looks like his awesome mansion has fallen into disrepair. Too bad, it's such a cool looking building! I feel bad for old Frederick Cook, he led an expedition to the North Pole in 1907 and claimed to have reached to pole in 1908, a full year before Robert Peary. Peary then set out to discredit Cook and succeeded. Poor old Frederick Cook's reputation never recovered. Roar...