Under the Spell of the Jim Henson Exhibition at the Museum of the Moving Image

I heard rumors that the Museum of the Moving Image was working on a permanent Jim Henson exhibit for years. Well, the Jim Henson Exhibition opened in July and I finally went to see it this past weekend! It was absolutely delightful and worth the wait. Winter is decidedly the best time for movies and museums. And muppets!

The Jim Henson Exhibition at the Museum of the Moving Image!

The exhibition starts at the very beginning of Henson’s career, when he was just a teenager pioneering puppets on public television. It’s easy to love Jim Henson as the creator of the Muppets. Who doesn’t? You’ll go into the exhibition knowing that and come out stunned at the incredible influence he had on the art of puppetry. He revolutionized the art form, pulled it out of the cliché ashes of ventriloquist dummies and created so many phoenixes it’s jaw dropping.  Read More

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New York Cliché of the Day: The Sprinkles Cupcake ATM

Sprinkles Cupcakes on Lexington Avenue has a Cupcake ATM. Yes, a Cupcake Automated Teller Machine. Only in New York would someone take a banal chore like going to the ATM and make it a cutesy cupcake novelty.

Here’s the Scoop on the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM

You go up to the ATM, tap the screen to pick your cupcake, swipe your card and a little door opens to give you your chosen cupcake, perfectly packaged in a brown box. Read More

[Replay Cliché] Stand Up Sellers And Seducers

Originally posted in February 2011. It is the beginning of the most dramatic, dishy story I’ve ever told on the blog: The Safa Boy Series, my torrid fling with a South African world traveler… Enjoy!

The pests of New York City are notorious. Sewer rats, pigeons (“flying rats”), squirrels (“rats with cuter outfits”), bed bugs, cockroaches,  and the guys who sell comedy tickets in Times Square. Tourists fall for their crafty sales pitches, locals avoid them, I fell for one’s charm and good looks.

safa

[This is the Introduction of the nine part Safa Boy Series]

Like bed bugs in a street curb sofa, they infest the area, preying on all those they come in contact with. A walk on Broadway from 42nd Street to 50th guarantees multiple accostings:

“Do you like stand up comedy?”
“Want to be part of a taping of a live show?”
“What are you doing tonight?” Read More

Saturday Street Art: Open to Interpretation at a Screenprint Warehouse in LIC

In NYC, you never know when you’ll turn a corner and walk into an outdoor gallery of street art.

But unlike an art gallery, there are no little blurbs next to the paintings. Instagram has made it much easier to identify artists, many sign their walls with Instagram handles.

Art signed by @bboybsolo, artist BenK

However, this is by no means universal! Many artists do not sign their work. Or maybe they do but my eyes aren’t sharp enough to spot the subtle signatures? Read More

Weekly New York Minutes #7

Every Friday I feature some fleeting moments from my week that made me stop and think, “I’m so lucky to live in NYC!” Here we go for the week we finally got out of February…Passing a bodega with BRANCHES of flowers in a bucket, thrusting my camera in the middle of them, and pretending it actually is spring, not just freakishly warm out some days.

Seeing actual signs of spring on Park Avenue! How resilient is this little tulip shoot? The sad thing is it probably won’t last the weekend – it’s been sleeting all day- and even if it does, landscapers might dig him out to plant tulips so they’re perfectly uniform. But maybe it’ll beat all odds and make it to spring! I’m rooting for you little guy! Read More

The REAL Story Behind a Blogger and Her Cute Cliché Photo Shoot

When I decided to do my first ever photo shoot for this blog, I knew it had to be colorful, full of personality, and…kinda cliché. It is the name of the blog after all! So I wracked my brain…

What’s the biggest blog photo shoot cliché?

BALLOONS.

Right? It’s gotta be balloons! Colorful balloons would be so fun! A perfect contrast to the concrete jungle and the gray of February! They’d look great in photos and be a perfect blogger cliché in the most adorable way!

The only problem was, because of crazy schedules and general ridiculous New York life, this photo shoot had to happen first thing in the morning. Where is a blogger supposed to get balloons at 7:30AM? No where! “Eh, I’ll just buy them the night before. It won’t even be 12 hours! It’ll be fine!” So I picked up 6 colorful balloons at 9PM from Party City, brought them home, and went to bed early to get my beauty sleep. Read More

New York Cliché of the Day: Union Square Greenmarket

Four days a week, Union Square transforms into a produce wonderland that puts the neighboring Whole Foods to shame.

Union Square Greenmarket: a fresh oasis in the Concrete Jungle

Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday farmers, and bakers, and organic cheese makers set up tents on the north and west sides of Union Square.

The market is year round, vendors from around the tristate area truck in even on the coldest days of winter. But with spring in the air on this last day of February, everything was starting to perk up!  Read More