New York State of Mind

Here is a little love for my city:



New York State of Mind from James Bernal on Vimeo.

Via LikeCool

Bull Cozy

If you need a little New Year knitting inspiration, I think this will do it:

I like the idea of our market being wrapped up in a nice warm yarn cozy. I think it could only help and bring us luck in the new year.

I *heart* my City

Creative Time presented an art project by Paul Ramírez Jonas called Key to the City. On my birthday, hubby took me to Times Square, and bestowed me with a key that opened locks all over the city. As we researched the project more, we learned that people were leaving notes, cards, and other markers in the places where they unlocked keys. I wanted to interact with this project in a way that showed how much I love the idea and my complete infatuation with NYC. So, (as I'm sure you've guessed by now) I knit up a bunch of little hearts to leave as my calling card. Several of the places ask that you not leave anything behind, so I respected that. The whole project for us was much more about the city then the locks. It was nice to hold a key to some of her secrets, but really we used it as an excuse to explore place we wouldn't think of on our own. The project is over, but I still keep my key on my key chain. I'm really possessive of this city, and I'm not ready to part with a memento that represents that so well.

These are the photos we took around the city as we hunted down and opened up locks. Some of them even show the hearts in places they were left.

Don't Make Me Pull Over!

A couple weeks ago, Hubby decided to join me for SnB, but when we got there, everyone was a no-show so we took the opportunity to check out some neighborhoods in Brooklyn and walk across the bridge. In DUMBO we came across this adorable covered wagon.

I was very caught up in its cuteness. It is hard not to be, because it is adorable.
Then I started to wonder why it was in Brooklyn. I usually associated covered wagons with long voyages to the West. Then I saw the rest of the story...
Then, like an echo from all those years ago, I could hear the animated pioneer mom yell, "If you two don't stop, I'm turning the wagon around!"

What a Week

This week was a whirlwind of non-stop action. Ok, maybe not quite, but I was busy enough that I didn't get to see the new James Bond movie. I also didn't spend any time in virtual adventures or knitting. Tuesday night was one of the more exciting events rather than just the errands that most of the rest of my time.

Tuesday we went to the Apollo for a seminar put on by the Made in NY program. Made in NY is a program from the mayor's office that is working to provide incentives that keep film and television producing in the city as well as increasing the community awareness and pride for the things that are made here. According to our MC for the evening, there have been some recent productions pretending to be be in New York city but they were actually filmed in places like Canada. The mayor is trying to take those productions back. They also announced a Production Assistant Program that the city is doing. It is a free 4-week training program and at the end there is job placement. Your first job may be asking pedestrians to wait so they don't walk though a shoot, but it would be a great experience for anyone interested. I live in New Jersey so I am not eligible. If you live in the city and are interested in film and television, check it out and let me know what you think.

So what's the longest running television show shot in NYC? No, it is not Law and Order, though at nineteen seasons they certainly have been around for awhile. The winner for longest running, coming in at just under four decades, is Sesame Street. Tuesday's seminar, How to Get to Sesame Street, was a panel discussion with Carol-Lynn Parente (Executive Producer), Dr. Rosemarie Truglio (Vice President, Education and Research), Joey Mazzario (Writer, puppeteer, director, "Murray"), Kevin Clash (Producer, puppeteer, "Elmo"), and Sonia Manzano (Performer, writer, "Maria"). It was moderated by Katherine Oliver (Commissioner, Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting). It was a great event. They talked about the process of making an episode and what a day in the life of each would be like. Elmo even made an appearance before the evening was done. Their unanimous suggestion for how to get to Sesame Street would be via internship. The executive producer herself started with the Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) as an intern hauling film canisters.

I Love This City

While I was putting around the internet last Thursday, I came across an announcement that the JCC in Manhattan was going to have a discussion with the director and scenes from the documentary in progress When Muppets Dream of Peace on Saturday. I immediately signed up and pulled out my subway map to figure out how to get there.

The last time I saw a documentary about Sesame Workshop, it meant a lot to me. I had heard whispers and rumors of a new documentary, but it was never anything that I could confirm or find any good information on. I was extremely excited to hear that I was going to get a sneak peak. Saturday was a soggy day, but we headed out anyway.

The World According to Sesame Street is the other documentary. It talks about the origins of Sesame Street and about some of the productions that Sesame Workshop is working in other parts of the world. One of the co-productions that they showed was in Kosovo. There they were starting two new shows that worked together to teach Albanian and Serbian children about each other to hopefully bring peace and tolerance to a younger generation. It was a difficult task especially because of the violence that was physically keeping everyone one apart. There is one scene that shows the whole group together brainstorming ideas for their first episodes. The first lesson they came up with to teach their kids was how to recognize a grenade and what to do if you find one. That scene changed my world view. I was teaching kids how to move stage right and stage left (I use to teach children's theater) at the same time that kids were being taught how to avoid explosives.

The new documentary When Muppets Dream of Peace is about a workshop project that is very similar to Kosovo. This project involved three productions. One for Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. Here is a video from a news segment about how one of the productions resulted in an actual Sesame Street:

At the JCC we got to see a few scenes and there was a panel discussion with Executive Produce Jane Coleman, filmmaker David Van Taylor, and Danny Labin from the Sesame Workshop (who you just saw in the news clip). It was a fascinating session about the challenges that the project faced and how they over came some of those issues. I am excited about seeing this documentary when it is finished. According to Mr. Van Taylor it was a growing experience for everyone and it sounds like they worked out some great solutions. I haven't found any official information about the documentary online, but here is what the postcard they passed out says:

When Muppets Dream of Peace
Coming to PBS 2009
from Highlander Pictures & Lumiere Productions
a documentary by David Van Taylor
Executive Producer Jane Coleman
Director of Photography Ramez Kazmouz
Co-Producer Noam Shalev
Editor Cindy Kaplan-Rooney

When Muppets Dream of Peace is made possible by support from The Ford Foundation, the Rokefeller Brothers Fund, and the Public Broadcasting Service.

We are currently seeking finishing funds.

For further information or to help, contact Jane Coleman: JDC@HighlanderPictures.com

While we were waiting for the discussion to start we found out that the JCC was having an evening discussion titled Planet of the Arabs about the view of Arabs portrayed by American media. Our plan was to find some food in between the two sessions and make it to them both. Unfortunately, we got caught up in some huge slices of pizza and we were too late getting back. My only excuse is that we must have lost a chunk of time in a carb induced daze. It all worked out though. We headed home early, and as soon as we got to our apartment, some Veteran's Day fireworks began on the river. It was a great day. I am loving living near all of this exciting stuff.

Stash Enhancement

There are a lot of very fun ways to enhance your stash, but I have to confess that topless men might just be the most entertaining.

I am about to stick my head in the virtual sand when it comes to knitting. I've printed off a hat pattern, and I've got my scarf and socks to work on. Hopefully they will be enough to keep me away from Ravelry and the knitting blogs that I follow until this weekend is over. Everyone is getting ready for Rhinebeck, and I am not going. I remember reading about everyone's Rhinebeck excitement last year and wondering if I would ever be 'in to knitting' enough to hit up an event like that. This year I read about the sweaters people knit just to wear there, and who's packing what projects and which authors will be signing their new books. I'm 'in to it.' I want to go, and I'm less than two hours away! I am just not in a position to be able to go to the festival this year, let alone buy any of the stuff I can just imagine I will be coveting while I am there. So instead of making the quick jaunt to upstate NY, I am going to pretend that it is really more of a fleece thing and I won't appreciate it since I'm not a spinner. (I am warning you... nobody is allowed to correct me on this for the next 3 days!) I am going to avoid any of the tempting reports from Rhinebeck until Monday when it is too late for me to hitch a ride and try to sneak in.

For those of you going... I want to hear all about it. Tell me details, take lots of pictures... just don't expect to hear from me until next week.