New York – Day 5: Back in Time

As I write this, it’s technically five in the morning New York time, but something about flying from the East to the West coast and subsequently back in time makes me feel oddly less tired. I’m not even sure.

But today was our last day in New York and it started off slow. We are all exhausted, we didn’t even want to get up. In fact, I’m pretty sure we all slept in past our alarms. Not by much, but enough to set us back.

We finally finished packing and made our way down to check out of the hotel where we find that not only did we not pay the remaining balance of the room when we checked in (like the receptionist had told us) but they were now saying the balance was double what we had originally been quoted.

Frankly, I was a little upset. I didn’t disagree with the fees, but I did not approve of the way they handled them. Mostly it had to do with the not telling me part and the not actually charging me when they said they did part. I had thought I was going to have some money left over…no, not so much. Thanks for that, Hyatt.

We squared all that away and then jumped on the Subway to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The guy at the hotel told us to get off at 86th street and didn’t give us any directions beyond that, so I assumed it would be right outside the subway. No, it was like 4 blocks south and like 5 blocks east from where he told us to go. So hurrah for iPhones or we would never have found it.

The museum is huge, I think I got lost at least 3 times. I would think I was going in to the room I had (in theory) just done a circle back into but then it would turn out to be something completely different. If I hadn’t been so tired I might have been able to keep track of where I was going, but I essentially figured if I kept going from room to room not only would I have the element of surprise as to what I would find, but based on the fact that I couldn’t get back to rooms even when I wanted to there was less chance I would repeat things.

Lots of people all over, lots of kids. We basically wandered around till it was time to go back to the hotel to get our bags and catch the car to the airport. And of course with traveling, that’s where things get more interesting.

We have a guy set to pick us up and 3 bags, you know…suitcase bags. And he shows up in his little sedan that has a trunk already got all sorts of stuff in it. Sooooo, we can’t get half our luggage to fit and two suitcases have to go in the front seat. He then says we have to pay extra because we put bags in the front seat. I have no idea what that is all about. Stupid is what it was. I was too exhausted to argue with him but I’ll be certainly writing things to their company.

The airport had virtually no lines and when we were done it was still two hours until our flight even boarded. Thus began the waiting. For some reason we had the privilege of listening to the WORST news for an airport. I’m not even kidding you, they talked about airport security, airports that had let infected people on the no fly list board a plane, things about swine flu, terrorists…I mean, really?

Our first flight was into Chicago, and the three of us were quite literally the only people who were not businessmen/women on the plane. It was really entertaining. Our next flight left pretty quick after that one got in.

And then we were home, returned to the land of palm trees. I think it’s getting close to crash time. The trip was amazing, and I would love to go back again. But for now, home is good.

New York – Day 4: Blisters and Very Sad Toes

Walking around New York can get very tiring. Doing it for 4 days always on your feet is even more tiring. Up stairs, down stairs, jogging across streets before the light turns green for cars, you name it. I know I’m not speaking just for myself when I say my feet hurt. In fact, I think my feet literally cried when I put them in my shoes this morning. When I changed shoes back at the hotel it was better, but still…walking EVERYWHERE.

We started off this morning with the search for Alice’s Tea Cup. Which is a tea shop based off Alice in Wonderland. It was a tad more difficult to find than google maps originally suggested, but aside from a couple of (IMO) creepy photos, it was very cute. Interestingly enough, when we got off the subway, a lady asked us for directions as if we were locals (fortunately I was able to give them) but then we spent a good 20 minutes trying to find the tea shop, go figure.

From there we went like 7 stories underground to catch a subway to Rockefeller Center where we met up with one of my friends who lives in New Jersey to go on a tour of NBC Studios. We got there a little bit early and spent a good 30-40 minutes making friends with the sales guys, Vincent and Travis. They were super friendly and we talked about a bunch of shows. Taiko left them a compliment card.

As more people started to show up for the tour, this random dude who was on our tour comes over and starts talking shows with us. He had a pretty strong British accent and appeared to be there all by himself. The conversation was fine until it got to the fact that he was sorry his eye was all weird because he had a little too much to drink last night. Note to random British guy trying to pick up American chicks, that is SOOO not something you want to say. In fact, go away. We finally managed to ditch him when Taiko just happened to sit in a different row than him in the theatre that was intended as an intro for the tour. Point to Taiko.

The tour itself was led by not one, but two pages and took us through the set of the new Dr. Oz show as well as the SNL set. I thought it was pretty cool that there were like people building and painting and stuff while the pages are talking about things with a group of tourists. They also took us to a makeup room as well as a mock news room. It was a pretty short tour, but seeing as they basically only have the talk shows and late night sketch comedies to show off, it was understandable. I would say it was definitely worth the 20 dollars we paid to take it.

Michelle, Sam, Jess, Laura, Taiko - Rockefeller Plaza

After the tour, we wandered around with Sam and Michelle. They had tickets for a taping of Jimmy Kimmel and so we went for lunch at a Chinese place before simply meandering the streets and under the Rockefeller (which frankly I think is more confusing than the subway).

We found this little store under the Rockefeller that had some fun merchandise, but a really cool cashier. Her name was Latasha and she practically became best buds with all of us as soon as we were introduced. They didn’t have compliment cards, but we asked for receipt paper and Taiko left a compliment for her anyways, she was so excited she practically did a little dance.

We eventually made it to the American Girl store, which when I was little this was the place that I thought would have been the most epic store in the world. It was still fun, like three floors of American Girl dolls.

We had to part ways with Sam and Michelle after that so they could make their show and we were sadly forced to carry on shopping without them. For a change we were actually shopping on 5th Avenue and not just power walking past everything over and over again. We went into Little MissMatched and all bought some awesome socks. We again made friends with the employees and the lady who rang us up told me if I moved to New York she would give me a job (tempting). No compliment cards here either, but Taiko didn’t get to write one this time.

We went back to the hotel to change and pack a little bit before heading out to Chicago. Fortunately, our taxi ride was much better. Chicago was playing at the Ambassador, a much smaller theatre than the Minskoff. Our seats were amazing, second row balcony.

I was very intrigued by the way this production was put on. A very minimalist approach, with the orchestra not only ON the stage, but the set built around them and they themselves (although mostly the conductor) were incorporated into the play. That was essentially the set. The orchestra on a stadium style platform with steps built among them, a couple of ladders and two dozen chairs. It was absolutely fantastic.

When it finally let out, we wandered a block up in search of food and came across this super little place called Ellen’s Stardust. Which is a 50’s style diner with singing servers. Not to say that they sing when they bring your food, but that there were a handful (about 3/4ths of them) that had microphones and would sing and dance almost non stop (taking turns) throughout the diner. The idea being that they were all aspiring Broadway actors/actresses and so they would sing showtunes for us while they brought food and cleared plates, etc. I wish we had a place like this in LA, I would go there all the time.

Tomorrow is our last day, so the rest of the night will be packing and picking up. Another blog tomorrow, and perhaps one more when we finally make it home before we return to our regular blog programing.

Things We Learned Today:

• Brazil kills babies (Or rather you’re not allowed to have babies there).
• People from the East Coast wear scarves as necessity and sunglasses as a fashion item, West Coasters wear sunglasses as necessity and scarves as a fashion item.
• Jess ALWAYS told us so, even when she didn’t.

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New York – Day 3: Boats, Subways and Taxis, Oh My!

So day three seemed like it was going to be super crazy busy. We had a lot we wanted to do, not as much as yesterday, but still a good chunk of stuff.

We started off our day going back to the hotel room. That’s right, we forgot stuff. A mistake we tried not to repeat given the 17 block walk of yesterday. Well, that didn’t happen. No worries though, we realized when we got to the subway station, which is super duper close (literally under our hotel) and there wasn’t as much retracing to do.

Our first stop this morning was at the Bowling Green. Frankly, I’m just amused that the subway exit is called the Bowling Green. It was really the exit for the ferries to the Statue of Liberty and Elis Island. I was anticipating a pretty huge line, but apparently when you get there at 10am, lines are shorter. Like I said for Empire State Building, I’m a big fan of not waiting in line.

We didn’t have tickets to get up to the crown, they sold out a couple of weeks ago. Regardless, we still got to go up to the top of the pedestal and through the museum. The museum was pretty awesome, and I think given the fact that it was cold and only stairs to the top I’m okay that we didn’t get to go in the crown.

Elis Island Museum

Elis Island was the next stop, unfortunately none of us really come from immigrant families. Jess’ last name came up in the database, but she’s pretty sure it’s like a 4th cousin to her great great great great great grandpa eight times removed as she didn’t know who they actually were. Taiko and I of course knew we wouldn’t find our last names in there, but it was still a fascinating place. The crowds started coming in more and more with each boat, so we were glad to have got through those early.

Since we were down at the south tip of Manhattan, we decided to take a stroll down Wall St and then double back to visit the site of the WTC. Since it was Sunday, Wall St was virtually empty. I imagine it would have been cool on a weekday with people there, but I am glad we did it this way.

The WTC isn’t really much to see at the moment, there are construction fences that pretty much block everything except the cranes. But it was pretty crazy, that big empty space in the middle of all those huge buildings. It’s just…gone and you can tell it’s missing.

We got pizza at a place nearby and tried to wrap our heads around the whole thing, let me tell you I’m not sure it’s something we could do.

We took the subway back to Grand Central station (absolutely beautiful every time we go through it), and since the whole first half of the day took a lot less time than we had anticipated we decided to get a desert and people watch at the station. Mostly we sat, ate our deserts and took pictures of the amazing architecture.

But while we were sitting there, this random lady and a guy come up to us with a video camera, a little sign and ask to tape us. Apparently the guy was one of the groomsmen in a wedding and they had this idea to video tape a bunch of complete stranger (random, I know) wishing the couple good luck and congratulations. Here’s the catch, the wedding was for a Japanese couple. We stumbled our way through “Tsukamoto motto yare you” and will now be in a video for some random person’s wedding. *shrug*

We shopped for a little and then went back to the motel to change for Broadway. Unfortunately, we all kind of just sat down and didn’t want to move, so preparations took a little longer than they should have. As a result, we decided to take a taxi to the theatre since our tickets were at will call and we were unsure as to how long the line would be.

Here’s the fun bit. We knew where the theatre was, we saw it when we wandered Times Square. But parts of Times Square are blocked to traffic, so when the driver seems to be going a littler further north than we anticipated we assumed it was because of the one way streets. But then he stops in front of a movie theatre a good 30 blocks north of where we wanna be. He then proceeds to get all pissed off that we want the Minskoff theatre and not the Lincoln movie theatre. I’m not even sure how those sound a like.

My favorite part, is when he tells us he doesn’t know where that is. Yeah. Our show starts in less than 15 minutes, we need tickets from will call and we’re at least 30 blocks north with a driver who has no idea where we need to go. We finally convinced him to just take us to Broadway and Times Square and we’ll walk from there, cause it was somewhere in that area and it’s pretty hard to miss a giant yellow billboard. We managed to get our tickets and our seats with about 4 minutes till the lights went down. Needless to say, we were NOT happy.

However, I’d say about a minute after the lights went down, the happiness not only came back but went through the roof. I’m pretty sure that the Lion King on Broadway is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I mean, the entire show is animals, and it was just done so genius and beautiful. I think every animal costume that I saw at the beginning was instantly my favorite, they were really all that good. It was brilliant, the acting, the costumes, the light, the sound, the set design. Sooooo good. The Lion King has always been my favorite of the classic Disney movies, and to see it brought to the stage in such a way and so fantastically — there really aren’t words.

I spent waaaaaaaay too much money on those souvenirs and then we took pictures with just about every sign/kodak opportunity we could find.

Since we hadn’t really had much to eat all day, we went across the street to the restaurant at Planet Hollywood which ironically doesn’t exist in LA. It was a really fun atmosphere, like an over stimulating version of the Hard Rock Cafe but movie style. Some bizarre choices in music (we’re pretty sure very few if any of the songs/music videos played were actually related to movies). I think they have a lot going on in there, but good chunks of it (almost all of it – save the cement hand prints on the stairs up to the restaurant) were even worth looking at (not like Hard Rock).

And that was our day. One more full day, and then a partial. See you tomorrow.

Things We Learned Today:

• Knock hard on windows before entering.
• National Monuments have more security than some airports (see most airports).
• The Jonas Brothers have no concept of putting hand prints in cement (ie: They were actually fingerprints).
• Taking pictures of your own shadow is harder than it would seem.

Jess, Laura, Taiko - Lion King Glass Wall

New York – Day 2: The Day of Semi-Redundant Traveling

There’s a lot to be said about planning things out, a schedule with rigorous deadlines and direct and straight forward routes to each destination. But maybe we’re not those sort of people….

We did have a plan, but things…altered it.

Our plan was to hit up the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) when they opened to get tickets for the Tim Burton exhibit for later in the day, and then hit up Central Park. Problem is, we got it in our collective heads that the MoMA opened at 8…it opened at 10:30. So we showed up around 9:15 to a very locked up and dark MoMA. No worries though, Central Park is always open and a mere 5 blocks away.

So we walked up to Central Park, but got distracted by FAO Schwarz. Which unfortunately when we got to that, was 15 minutes from open. We could have stayed outside and waited…but there were a lot of winds, and it was cold…and there was this really open, really warm Apple store right underneath the plaza of FAO Schwarz. So we took refuge in the Apple store.

Laura, Jess, Taiko - Feet Musicians

Once Schwarz did open, we literally spent like an hour in there. Three floors of toys, and a GIANT PIANO which seeing as it was in the movie Big, needs to be giant (Yes, I know the size of the piano has nothing to do with the name of the movie, I’ve seen the movie). We really were little kids in here, all the toys and playing with swords and just general insanity.

At some point during all this playing, we realized that the MoMA had opened and we needed to go back and get tickets. So we walk the five blocks back to MoMA, get tickets for a couple hours out and…walked back to FAO Schwarz. There were really a lot of awesome things in there…

When we finally finished acting like children in a toy store (literally). We went out to Central Park and took a horse drawn carriage ride through the park. Our driver was very knowledgeable and totally willing to share all his information once he understood we wanted him to tell it.

Because we were on a bit of a time constraint for the MoMA, we didn’t explore the park on foot and stopped at the Plaza Hotel for High Tea. It was quite delicious and for Taiko’s enjoyment, there was more salmon involved.

Sometime during Tea, we all realized that for one reason or another, NOBODY had an extra set of batteries and we had ALL managed to run down our cameras. So with an hour to go till the Tim Burton exhibit, we walked 17 blocks back to our hotel to get batteries.

My cousin. who lives in Brooklyn, joined us for the Burton exhibit. It was totally packed, shoulder to shoulder…I’m pretty sure we haven’t rode a subway car as packed full as that room. You try keeping four people together in a place like that. Yeah, it didn’t happen.

I’m honestly not even sure how much time we spent in there, and by the time we all regrouped outside? Who really knows. We explored some more of the museum, before getting dinner at a pub around the corner. I had an excellent grilled chicken sandwich, Taiko and Jess each had a what they say was a “very good burger”. Their water pitcher was…less than helpful in the pouring department.

South View - Empire State Building

After dinner we had one more destination, the Empire State Building. Let me tell you, night time may be cold, but there’s not a single soul waiting in line to get up there. I definitely approve of not having lines.

The view from up there was absolutely beautiful. I love cities lit up at night. There was soooo much to see, but it was really cold up there. One of the hazards of going at night I know. But totally worth it.

The ridiculous lady in the gift shop tried to convince us that the “two for forty” option hung between two different styles of sweatshirts meant that you had to get two of the EXACT SAME sweatshirt style. And that it was “too confusing for guests”. Frankly Ms. Empire State Building Gift Shop Lady, I think what’s confusing is the rules you make up in your head and don’t explicitly put on your signs. We aren’t mind readers. Let’s just say, we decided that zero sweatshirts for free was the way we wanted to go after a nice argument with Ms. Empire State Building Gift Shop Lady.

After all that, you may not fully understand where the semi-redundant traveling comes in…so I’ll explain.

Hotel – MoMA (Subway)

MoMA – FAO Schwarz/Central Park/Plaza (5 blocks north on 5th Avenue)

FAO Schwarz – MoMA (5 blocks south on 5th Avenue)

MoMA – FAO Schwarz (5 blocks north on 5th Avenue)

Plaza – Hotel (17 blocks south on 5th Avenue)

Hotel – MoMA (Taxi cab)

Let’s just say, we got very familiar with that five block chunk of 5th Avenue. Tomorrow our plans should not result in similar travel. Until then, the things we learned today. Yes, I realized this morning I forgot that last night, I’ve since gone back and added it. whoops.

Things We Learned Today

• Jess secretly wants to be a model.
• Taiko and Laura are too camera conscious for candid photos.
• Taiko documents approximately every five steps with a photograph.
• Taiko always seems to have things growing out of her head, in pictures.

Our Horse Drawn Carriage Ride

New York Trip – Day 1: The Day of Traveling To The Future

Let’s start off with the fact that I haven’t blogged in a while, I was terribly busy with school. But here are the facts, now school is done. I’m graduated and on a trip with two of my friends to celebrate.

I was originally going to do a video blog like a couple of friends of mine did during their trip to New York a year or so back, but seeing as my voice is still shot due to illness from last week…I’m reduced to typing up our adventures.

We left this morning bright and early. Left by 6am for the airport, huzzah for security checks. That meant of course I had to get up at 5. Which is bad in and of itself. But I was really excited for this trip…I only got one hour of sleep.

We almost quite literally spent the entire day traveling. I mean, we showed up at the airport around 6:20, did all the fun check in and security stuff. Our plane left at quarter to nine and it was a five-hour flight. But here’s the thing, we traveled into the future. The East Coast is three hours ahead from the West Coast. So instead of a five-hour flight, it was essentially eight.

We literally landed as the sun was setting. Which was beautiful, but totally bizarre that our day was already gone since it had essentially been five hours long. Despite of the weird time shift our flight was non eventful.

But since airlines don’t really feed people anymore in the air, we skipped lunch. And as soon as we checked in at our hotel, we made our way to the Hard Rock Cafe of Times square.

Laura Air Guitar - Hard Rock NYC

This place…AMAZING. Great music, great setting, good eats. (only good – see things we learned today at end of blog). All sorts of albums and guitars and Beatles and Beatles and MORE Beatles! The place is huge, I’m pretty sure in the restaurant portion there’s no way you could see all the rock and roll paraphernalia they have in one meal (I know we didn’t), let alone a week’s worth.

We all bought drinks that would allow us to get free Hard Rock New York glasses and then I couldn’t pass up the amazing sweatshirt they had in their store. I mean, it’s the Hard Rock Cafe!

On a side note – according to their menu of “current cafe locations” there’s one coming to LA in 2010!!

After the Hard Rock Cafe, we essentially wandered around stores at Times Square, we will prolly hit up some more shopping there later on, but we got a primary feel for the area.

Jess & Taiko - Times Square

Went to the Hershey’s store, and at first I thought they couldn’t make more merch for their product if they tried, but then we went to the M&M store across the street. Literally, THREE STORIES of M&M related products. There were WALLS of those tubes to create your own

mixture, there were mugs and tee shirts and key chains and chess sets and dog sweaters. I dunno how Hershey lets it stand with this blatant win right across the street from them.

Things were basically starting to close down after that, so be made our way back to the hotel, long day traveling to the future and all. We’ve got an awesome trip ahead of us that would never have been made possible had it not been for my amazing parents and their assistance.

More tomorrow. Night.

EDIT

Totally forgot to add this last night…whoops.

Things We Learned Today:

• No matter how much Taiko cheers on and sympathizes with Salmon, she will still eat them.
• New York does not make Mexican food like Los Angeles. We blame lack of proximity to Mexico.

NBC News – Chuck

Just got word from the fabulous Television without Pity and (via TWOP) Entertainment Weekly, that we might be seeing the return of Chuck far sooner than the late Spring we originally thought.

In what is fantastic news for… well, pretty much everyone, NBC may move up the launch of Chuck to as soon as, oh, two weeks from now. That’s right — late October. -TWOP

But wait, there’s more. If Chuck does come back sooner rather than later, the chances of NBC ordering additional episodes beyond the 13 it initially commissioned increases dramatically. And they increase further if it performs solidly… which for NBC, at this point, means my cat, Mister Scooch, sits down to watch with me. (Seriously, anything above a 2 rating in the 18-49 demo should do the trick.) -EnetertainmentWeekly

Needless to say, I am very excited to see that young Mr. Bartowski and crew will be coming back to my living room. Based on the finale for season 2, this next season looks to head off in an entirely new and exciting direction. I hope that NBC realizes the mistake they’ve made keeping Chuck off the air and brings him back for a full season, ASAP.

Big Bang Theory – 3.02 The Jimmy Conjecture & 3.03 The Gothowitz Deviation

So I got behind, and have to do both of em together in order to catch up. What can I say?

First off: 3.02

Of all the episodes I’ve seen, I think this was probably the least funny one and certainly my least favorite. I think it basically has to do with the sudden transition to all the sex talk. It wasn’t the acting or anything, it was the story. Just didn’t hold water for me. I mean the A storyline was Penny and Lenard and the B storyline was a cricket? No thanks, not entertained.

But everyone is entitled to their weak episodes.

3.03 on the other hand, was fully back to the regular Big Bang glory. The dynamics are changing and I’m loving Sheldon’s reactions. I mean, the chocolate? Perfect. The water bottle? Even better.

The B storyline was pretty good too, although highly unusual for the gang to be split for basically the entire episode. Quite a shocker, but still enjoyed it loads.

Glad show got back on track.

Supernatural – 5.04 The End

These boys continuously pull out all the stops to deliver nothing but pure awesome..I mean it. I mean, first of all, Jensen had to pull of not one Dean in every scene…but TWO. This isn’t just a one scene thing, the poor boy.

Jared on the other hand, is really stepping up his acting this season. Not that he’s a slouch by ANY means, but this boy blew my socks off with his scene(s?). He was in all of like two, but they were absolutely amazing. He played them so perfectly that I was basically beside myself in awe.

Ben Edlund always delivers in his writing too. I mean, this guy writes some cracked out comedy and then turns right around with heartbreaking drama.

Zombieland

Directed by Ruben Fleischer. Written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin.

So the previews for this movie display it as a sort of Shaun of the Dead in an amusement park, but it’s anything but that.

Yeah, it’s a zombie movie, yeah the basic idea is to watch a handful of people get chased around by zombies with lots of zombie killing and blood, but this was actually a really, really good movie.

For starts, the writing was amazing. So fresh and fun right from the start. The whole tone of the movie (which is clear from the beginning and carried well through) feels so much more original than anything I’ve seen in a while. Also, I’m pretty sure this film had the greatest B storyline, I have ever, EVER seen in a film. Frankly, I’m pretty excited to see the romance story line fall to the third place.

Yes there was a lot of violence, and yes there was a lot of language, but I didn’t feel that any of it was actually used for the sake of having language or gore. It’s definitely got it’s select audience, but I think it hit the ball out of the park in the niche that it was intended for.

I highly recommend this flick for anyone who loved Shaun of the Dead, who likes good writing, laughing, killing some zombies or Twinkies.

FlashForward – Pilot (1.01 No More Good Days)

So we start off right in the thick of things, upside down cars, blood, fire, people on fire…you get it. I see now why it’s being called the new Lost. Lost started off the same way, and also had Dominic Monaghan in it. There’s also the Kangaroo, which I’m going to equate to the polar bear of Lost. Now all we need is a random hole in the ground with a bunch of numbers.

It’s an interesting premise, everyone blacks out for a full 2.17 minutes (maybe these are the numbers?).

I really like John Cho’s character, he was fantastic in Star Trek and I’m excited to have the opportunity to see him every week. I’m not sure about his proposed story arc, but the idea that what was seen in the flashes isn’t set in stone is something I’m holding on to.

What is the most interesting to me is the concept vs the title. So everyone had a flash of a specific moment in time that turns out to be six months in the future. But is this a one time thing? Are they all going to black out again? That’s what I want to know.