New York!: Part 3

And now for the final part of my first solo expedition out into the great unknown; er, New York city. I say solo, not because I was alone, but because there was no one else there that was related to me. Or responsible for me. Or that I was responsible for. I was, for a few days, on my own (although we were most graciously housed and taken care of by Peter's wonderful relatives). It's the first time it's ever been like that for me, and I gotta say, I enjoyed being responsible for myself. I love my family to pieces, don't get me wrong, but I'm getting to that age where, soon enough, whether I like it or not, personal responsibility is thrust on me. I need my own job, I have my own bills, I'll have to find my own health care, feed myself, clothe myself, etc., etc. And one by one, I seem to be confronted with those different things, getting a little more responsibility here and there. I'm easing into adulthood. And maybe that's why these years (college) are typically regarded as some of the best times. You get a lot more freedom to do whatever you want, but not quite all the responsibility it entails.

But I digress. That's another post for another time. Back to New York.

Wednesday. We woke up around 9:15, made ourselves presentable, the headed for the city around 10. Our first destination was the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), specifically for the Tim Burton exhibit. We had a timed visit, for 12:30, so when we got there closer to 12, we had a look around at a few other exhibits first. One that was really neat was a performance art that was being held in this large, open room. There were two plain wooden chairs on either end of a plain wooden table. At one end sat a woman in a dark, plain dress. The other chair was empty. There was a large square of masking tape going around the scene, with one small section cut out of it. Anyone from the audience was invited to come sit quietly in the empty chair for as long or short as they please. When the chair was empty, the woman would have her head bowed. When someone would sit, the woman would sit up and stare at the newcomer.

The work is called "The Artist Is Present" by Marina Abramovic. It was really interesting to see the two people staring at each other, unmoving (although some of the participants would shift and move). It's hard enough to stare at someone you know in the eyes for longer than a couple seconds, much less someone you've never seen before, all the while being watched by hundreds of people. The whole thing was confusing at first, but once we figured it out, it was captivating. However, we were on a time crunch, so we had to move on.

Next we went to the Tim Burton exhibit for our "appointment". The place was packed. Remember: this was a Wednesday afternoon, but there were hundreds of people in the exhibit. Lines everywhere. We quickly realized that our "timed appointment" meant absolutely nothing (maybe it's only enforced on the weekends?), and it took a while to see everything, partly because of the mass crowds of people in front of us, but partly because of the sheer volume of work Mr. Burton has done. There were so many pieces of art, most of which (to my surprise) were drawings. Especially in his younger years, Burton did tons and tons of sketches. Mostly pen and paper, with some pastel or watercolor here and there, but they definitely capture his style. These were actually more interesting to me than the movie props they had. Seeing his sketches made us wonder why his movies are so tame. Sure, they're weird, but in comparison, he definitely has a lot darker, more disturbing things in his mind. Maybe they're not mainstream enough. Whatever the case, I'm interested to see if his movies start to reflect his drawings more.

Speaking of his movies, they had a bunch of neat props. Different props from Beetlejuice; several cowls from Batman, along with the Penguin's carriage; Edward Scissorhand's suit; the cape from Sleepy Hollow; helmet from Planet of the Apes; lots of figures from Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride; as well as the razors from Sweeney Todd. There were also concept sketches and paintings to go with the props, so it was cool to see what ideas made it into the final design.

After finishing up at the MoMA, we visited a local bakery we'd heard about that sells gigantic cookies. And they really were. It's called Levain Bakery, and if you get the chance, stop in and try one of the cookies. They're incredible. After that we had some authentic New York pizza at a local pizza shop, which was also great.

Then was Emeril. Peter's dad got tickets to this new show Emeril Lagasse's doing, called the Emeril Lagasse show, which is kind of like a mix between a variety show and a cooking show. It's a little weird. Each episode has audience participation games and a special guest, among other things. Our episode was a special family episode, so there were lots of kids in the audience, most of Emeril's family was there, and the special guest was none other than: Elmo. If you've never seen Elmo outside of Sesame Street, you must; he's hilarious. He was the highlight of the show.

The show itself was kind of awkward, unfortunately. Partly due to the new format, partly due to the fact that his son was really obnoxious and kept interrupting him. It just fell flat. Emeril really needs to get back to his roots. The variety thing just doesn't work for him, and you can tell he's not really passionate about it; he doesn't seem comfortable doing it. The best parts were when he was cooking, and unfortunately not a whole lot of that happened. Overall, it was disappointing, although it was cool to see Emeril (and Elmo, for that matter). The show airs starting March 28th on ION, and airs every Sunday after that. I believe ours airs the first Sunday in May.

Next was our final plans for New York: the play "Extinction", featuring James Roday (Psych) and Michael Weston (House). The play was at the Cherry Lane Theatre, a small venue, roughly 150 seats. I didn't know much about the play going in, except not to expect to see Shawn Spencer on stage. James Roday's character in the play, Finn, was definitely a different character for him, which was refreshing to see. Shawn's great and all, but it's good to see actors break out and do other roles, too.

The play's about two former college roommates who go on occasional weekends of debauchery. At the start, it's been over a year since they've seen each other, and they're getting together for another wild weekend. Michael Weston's character, Max, is gearing up like nothing's changed, but when Finn arrives, it's obvious that he's not so into the whole idea anymore. He's fine with catching up and having a good time with his friend, but he doesn't want to do anything stupid. Max thinks it's dumb and tries to get Finn to give in and party like old times. Finn reveals that he's got a baby on the way. This hardly does anything to dissuade Max, who just tries harder. Eventually Finn reveals that he's also married to the mother. Max is shocked; not only is his best friend married, but he wasn't asked to be the best man; he wasn't even invited. This sparks a spiraling series of events that further tear these two friends apart. Later, two girls are brought in to complicate things even more (played by Amanda Detmer and Stephanie Frame).

The play is a look at the male psyche from several different points of view, and is very much a guy play in that sense. It's mainly about these two men, talking about what it means to be men. The script is serious in terms of material and ideas, but executed brilliantly with lots of comedy. It's really brought to life by all four actors. Not one of them were weak; each character has development and depth to them, each one different from the rest, with different goals. The ending isn't a happy-go-lucky fairytale ending; it's rather jarring and really makes you think about everything that's happened in the play. The last show was on the 14th, but if you get the chance to see another production, it's worth seeing. But it's definitely not one for the kiddos.

After the play, we went and waited outside the stage exit. About ten minutes later the actors came out and started talking to people, signing autographs and taking pictures. They were all extremely nice, and they stuck around 'till everyone got a chance to say hi. They were still there chatting when we headed home. Meeting James Roday was definitely the highlight of the trip (although the whole trip was fantastic). He's super nice, and I complimented him on his impressive mustache, to which he replied, "Thanks man, but you better soak it up now; I'll have to shave it in two weeks for Psych."

After all that we went home on the ferry for the last time. Next day, Peter's dad drove us all back home, and thus ended our New York trip.

It really was incredible, and if you have the opportunity, go. It's a great place, with so much history and culture, and so much going on, as well as some incredibly nice people, which was also a little surprising. There's the stereotype of northerners being stuck-up, but everyone we ran into was nice and pleasant. Sure, if we'd had to drive in New York, it might be a different story, but we didn't.

I don't think I'll ever forget this trip. It was eye-opening, tiring, fun, and a great first experience. Thank you to everyone who made it possible and helped us out. We were shown such great generosity, and we really appreciate it. And thanks for reading this, and give me some feedback if you can.

Thanks again.

-Micah

New York!: Part 2

Wow. My mind has been inundated with so much stuff over the last couple days that it doesn't quite know how to comprehend it all. I'm going to try, though. I took over 150 pictures with my iPhone. I'm not gonna put them all up here obviously, but I've been really impressed with the iPhone's camera. There's only been a couple of times where it wasn't quite good enough for the shot I wanted, but overall, I got a lot of fantastic photos, and I think you'll agree. So without further ado, here's my second day in the Empire State.

We got up at around 8, got ready, and headed into the city around 9. I got a better look at the Statue of Liberty and the New York skyline on the ferry over, and I gotta say, we couldn't have had better weather. It was incredible. Sunny, warm; just great.

We took a couple more trains 'till we arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There were some cool street vendors outside, one of which was selling this really neat fork artwork, where he'd taken different shaped and colored forks and bent them into different shapes (there was a frog, a rocketship, and other things). We moved on inside.

The first exhibit we went to was the ancient Egypt exhibit, which was great. There were hundreds of artifacts and sculptures and pieces of tombs, mainly from the Old Kingdom of Egypt. They even had an entire tomb surrounded by a little moat in one room. After that we moved onto the ancient Japanese art, which was also really cool. Scrolls and tapestries, a few sculptures, and lots of paintings.

Those being the two exhibits we really wanted to see, as well as being pressed for time, we poked around a little bit more then moved on to none other than the Empire State Building. And yeah, it's huge. You can't really get a sense of how big it is without actually seeing it in person. And of course, we went inside.

It's kind of a rip because you have to pay $20 to get to the 86th floor Observatory. To get to the 102nd, you have to pay an additional $15. We decided that 86 stories up was good enough for us. And it really was. It was a really cool and interesting phenomenon to be so high above everything, especially in such a dense city. I got some great photos (and even a little video).

Next on the agenda was a little lunch a la Wendy's (it was quick and cheap), then on to 30 Rockefeller Plaza for Jimmy Fallon. On the way, in the subway, we ran into some street performers, including a Michael Jackson impersonator. He had a boombox blaring MJ tunes, backup dancers, and he was wearing the iconic red leather jacket. It was actually quitge impressive how good the guy was. Even did a great moonwalk. When the show ended, we caught our train to Fallon.

They were actually really professional about it. We got there around 3:15, they processed us in about 10 minutes (if that), then told us to be back there at 4 (not a minute before). Also, while there, we randomly saw Kristen Schaal (you probably know her as Mel from the "Flight of the Conchords" TV show on HBO). With about half an hour too kill we figured we'd visit Nintendo World, which was a 3-minute walk from 30 Rock.

We got a little shopping done and killed some time before heading back at 4 for the show. We'd gotten there pretty early before (we were letter J), so we were guaranteed that position. They has us all line up in order (A-Z, then numbers), where we stood for about half an hour or so. At around 5 (our phones were off so my sense of time was a little fuzzy) they ushered us down the stairs, through metal detectors, up elevators, and into the studio. On our way in a woman handed us little cards with numbers on them, telling us some lucky audience member would win some big prize. My number was 30, Chelsea got 31 and Peter got 33. You'll see that significance in a minute.

We got our seats, and we actually had fantastic ones. We were the front row in the middle column, and I was all the way on the right side of it, right next to the aisle. Chelsea was next to me, then Peter next to her. After the audience was situated, a guy came out and started warming us up by cracking jokes and having fun with us. After about 20 minutes of that, the Roots (Fallon's show band) came out and started jamming something fierce. Their tuba player and bassist decided to race up and down the stairs, and the tuba player jumped to the ground. With his tuba. While playing it. Didn't even drop a note.

Then Fallon came out and the show started. He did his monologue then moved into a segment where he elected a President of the Audience by "randomly" selecting a numbered card. The number was 32. Yes, it should have been Peter. Yes, it was rigged. We saw them pull the guy out of line earlier, made him sign some forms, then whisk him away. Oh well, we weren't bitter.

The show continued on with the first guest being Chelsea Handler (of Chelsea Lately) who was kind of interesting. The best part about it was the fact that they did a 'martini race' game, where both Fallon and Handler had 60 seconds to make 3 martinis, run them around the audience, then pour whatever's left into a measuring cup. Whoever had the most left won. Well, on the home stretch, Jimmy slipped on a vodka spot and crashed into the little cart feet-first, cutting his hand in 5 places. It was surprising and (since he was fine) it was pretty funny. They kept harping on it, too, and the fact that they wrapped his hand in like five rolls of gauze helped add to the comedy.

The second guest was Matt Walsh (The Hangover), promoting his new show, "Players". He was a pretty funny, interesting guest, but the best part was the musical guests: none other than the Allman Brothers Band. They played "Whipping Post". And they completely rocked it. It was spectacular. They also played another song afterward for the audience. It was great.

After Fallon, we had reservations at a local restaurant called NINJA. It's pretty fancy, but completely worth it. First, they take you down (it's underground) in an elevator. A ninja pops out and tries to scare you when the doors open, but our guy wasn't extremely convincing. From there, you can either take the shortcut to your table, or take the 'Ninja Path', which is just a narrow, winding corridor where ninjas are supposed to jump out at you, although we didn't get any of that.

The tables are in their own little private rooms, basically, with carved wooden panels for doors. You're never completely closed off, but it's enough to have privacy. It's dark, everything's very Japanese and mysterious. Your ninja then comes and takes out a scroll, which she opens to reveal your menus. Now, the menu here is not exactly cheap, but you have the option of getting things a la carte, or getting one of the meal plans. Never having been there before, I went with a 5-course plan.

The first course were these shrimp rolls. They had some type of meat shell, with a shrimp puree inside, served with some fresh veggies, and the whole thing was lit on fire. It was good. Second course were basically California rolls, but they were better than your average rolls. There were a couple that had this delicious ginger sauce in them, and those were great. Third course was grilled salmon in a type of tomato-y sauce with a baked potato and cauliflower. This was excellent. Fourth course was a brisket cooked inside of an onion, served with some leafy greens and some interesting little red berries that were actually quite good. I didn't really eat the onion, but the dish was good. And finally, dessert. I got this ninja star dessert, which was a chocolate mousse-type cake in the shape of a ninja star, covered in a chocolate shell, with some edible gold flakes on top. It was delicious.

There was also a magician that came around near the end of the meal and performed a couple tricks for us, and he was really good. He also had an incredibly curly, Shakespearian mustache; so impressive that it deserved to be written about.

After NINJA, we decided to walk around Times Square, which certainly is a sight, especially at night. All the lights, the noise, the volume of people, the amount of things going on; it's a very cool place to walk around. There's also different types of street performers. We ran into Spiderman, who was running around taking pictures with people.

Then we went home and watched ourselves on Jimmy Fallon (the episode for March 9th, 2010). I was visible 5 times, Chelsea 4, and Peter 3. Go on and watch it on Hulu (it disappears in a couple weeks or so) to see if you can spot us.

All in all, it was a huge day, completely jam-packed, exhausting, and amazing. Such an incredible experience to be walking around in such a richly cultured area, so small yet so much going on everywhere. We spent almost 14 hours in the city that day, and we managed to get everything done that was on our to-do list.

Again, thank you for reading (I know it's long), look for the third and final post about my experiences in New York in the next day or two. Leave a comment.

-Micah

New York!: Part 1

I have never been to New York. Like, any part of it. I haven't even been close to it. The farthest North I've been is Delaware. But I've always wanted to go to the Empire State. One of the leading arts and showbiz capitals of the country, full of history and culture, exciting opportunity, world-famous cuisine, and cinematographic eye-candy.

So when my friend and co-writer/director from Absolution, Peter, asked me about going up to New York over spring break, you can probably guess I got a little excited. And over the past month or so, we've been planning this trip and now, spring break is here, and at the time of writing this, I'm actually here.

For the next couple of days I'm going to be (hopefully) forcing myself to write about my trip, part for anyone who's interested and actually likes reading my writing, part for myself to better enjoy what I'm experiencing by putting those experiences down on (pseudo) paper.

4:50 AM should not exist. It just shouldn't. No one likes it. There's no one that looks at the clock and is happy to see that readout. Unfortunately, 4:50 AM was a much too real reality for us this morning, as Peter and I began embarking on the journey of a lifetime. Okay, that's a bit hyperbolic, but it's pretty flippin' cool, especially for us. It's the first time either of us have gone anywhere significantly far away on our own, with no other family members there. It's pretty exciting.

After rolling our cold lumps-of-bodies into the car, we were dropped off at the VRE station for our 6:15 train to Union Station. Not having ridden in a train before (at least not in conscious memory), it was pretty cool, just to have the experience. We got to Union Station around 7:30, and waited for our 8:35 Amtrak to Penn Station. Also, inside the station was a random pigeon that tried to wreak havoc on those of us waiting. It was weird.

Our train was delayed almost half an hour, but at around 8:55 we boarded and, shortly thereafter, departed.

If you've never ridden on it, the Amtrak is really nice. I was surprised. Comfortable seats, plenty of leg room, power outlets, and free wifi (which never actually worked for me). It reminded me a lot of flying, so I was pretty impressed.

The trip was supposed to be about 3 1/2 hours. At first we just talked and observed, then I broke out my laptop and actually got a fair bit of writing done. Pretty pleasant trip, until we got lost.

Our stop was Penn Station, New York. So around 12 (right around when we were supposed to arrive), the train stopped at Penn Station. The attendant removed the ticket stubs he'd placed above our seats. So, we assumed that this was our stop.

Yeah. Not so much. Apparently, there are at least 4 Penn Stations on that route. One in Baltimore (which we had enough common sense to realize wasn't our stop), one in Pittsburgh, one in Newark, New Jersey, and our stop, in New York. Well, apparently the Penn Station that we got off at was in New Jersey. Who knew? There wasn't any sort of sign that said it was New Jersey until you're off the train and on the upper level. And by then, it's too late.

Fortunately, the NJ Transit goes right to Penn Station, New York, and is also pretty cheap. So at about 12:30 (half an hour late), we hopped on the new train and headed for our correct destination. Oh, and by the way, as if to mock us, we saw that pigeon again in Jersey.

Finally arriving at Penn Station about 45 minutes late, we met up with Peter's cousin, Chelsea, and got on another subway, which we took to the Staten Island Ferry. I've never been on a Ferry before, so we went out on the deck and enjoyed the ride from there. And it was great. The weather is also blissfully gorgeous right now, which is a nice change from the Snowmageddon and 40 MPH winds we've had recently.

Arriving at Staten Island, we took another train to the area where we're staying, then had a pleasant walk to the house. We made it.

When we got here, it was about 2:30, putting the total trip time (from the first train departure) at 8 hours 15 minutes. Needless to say, we're exhausted, and pretty much just laying around the house right now. But tomorrow we're heading into the city, and I'm stoked. We're gonna try and see a lot of sights, but we also have tickets to the Jimmy Fallon Show tomorrow, as well as a reservation at NINJA. Wednesday we've got tickets to Emeril and a play, Extinction, starring James Roday (Psych's Shawn Spencer).

Thanks for reading. I need to go knock myself unconscious for a few hours before heading out for the city tomorrow. I'll try and have another post tomorrow night.

-Micah