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  • Allegiance, with George Takei & Lea Salonga

    Allegiance, with George Takei & Lea Salonga

    In November, I told my wife that we would go see Allegiance for her birthday. She wasn’t so much interested in the show for the sake of the story, but because she’s a big fan of Lea Salonga and Miss Saigon. Miss Saigon hasn’t played in New York City since we’ve been here, but Lea has a starring role in Allegiance. As a bonus, George Takei stars in the play as well and I’ve really enjoyed him as an actor and as a person since I first saw him in Star Trek as a kid. His Facebook account is hilarious.

    I was told later that Allegiance was based on Takei’s childhood. He actually went through a Japanese internment camp during World War II. We really did go into the show blind, but it didn’t stop us from enjoying the story or the actors’ performances. The parts were well played. Everyone knew their lines. There was no stuttering. The dancing scenes were a lot of fun. The music was good.

    I think what I enjoyed most about the show was the way it attempted to address complex ideas of identity, belonging and citizenship. Questions 27 and 28 of a loyalty questionnaire given to Japanese internees played a prominent role in the play. The audience is told what those questions are, but I felt like there should have been more explanation about why answering “yes” to those two questions was such a huge moral dilemma for many Japanese-Americans. Having the main character’s father say it impinges Japanese “honor” did not really convey the complexity of being singled out as a group and being made to affirm loyalty to the United States when one was already an American by birth and upbringing. You kind of pick up on it throughout the play, but only if you’re really paying attention. I suppose one doesn’t go to a play to be mindlessly entertained, though. It’s supposed to be thought provoking.

    Not to take away from the suffering of Japanese-Americans during World War II, but I was reminded of the problems that many Muslim-Americans are facing today. They are being singled out as a group and subjected to additional scrutiny. Their loyalty, or allegiance to the United States, is questioned in the same way that Japanese-Americans’ allegiance to the United States was questioned.

    The fact that Muslim Americans weren’t rounded up and placed in internment camps shows that most of us learned something from our previous mistakes, or at least the people who can make those sorts of decisions learned something. But, we’re walking on a thin line. It wouldn’t be hard for the balance to shift and to wake up one day and find people being deported to concentration/internment camps again. I mean, look at how popular Trump is with Republican voters. Sometimes the guy says something that makes sense, but even a monkey could type a coherent sentence if he sits in front of a keyboard long enough. Trump represents the worst of our past and the desire of some to return to a period of selective privilege that leaves everyone who isn’t a white male in second place at best.

    Anyhow, coming back to the topic of this post, the play was excellent, thought provoking, a critical look at our past and relevant to contemporary affairs. I would recommend it to anyone interested in human drama, history, US politics, race relations, or just a good story.

    The Longacre theater, where the play is shown, is a little cold. The seats are a little close together and they didn’t open the doors until 6:30 PM, meaning the line was still out the door at 7:00 PM when the curtain was supposed to go up. If you’re planning on going, show up around 6:15 PM to be at the front of the line.

    Also, the concessions stand wasn’t impressive, but I haven’t been to a lot of plays so I don’t have a frame of reference and I imagine the audience is expected to be different from the one you find packed into a typical movie theater.

     

  • Winnie the Pooh at the Charging Bull

    Winnie the Pooh at the Charging Bull

    The office building I work in is at Bowling Green. According to the New York City Parks website, “Bowling Green is New York City’s oldest park. According to tradition, this spot served as the council ground for Native American tribes and was the site of the legendary sale of Manhattan to Peter Minuit in 1626.” So, the area is a popular tourist attraction. The Smithsonian’s Native American museum also faces this park.

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    The most popular attraction in the park seems to be the Charging Bull rather than the museum. Every day there are people crowding around this bronze statue to have their pictures taken with both its face and its balls. The balls seem to be more popular. I suppose that’s not surprising. The bull is supposed to represent the power and unpredictability of market forces and represents Wall Street and the Financial District.

    Winnie the Pooh Costume Scammer

    Winnie the Pooh Costume Scammer

    This week I spotted a new arrival: a Christmas themed Winnie the Pooh and accompanying muscle, presumably to strong-arm tourists into giving up money after taking a photo with the costumed person. This is a pretty common thing in the Times Square area and became a point of public conversation during the debate over topless women posing for photos in Times Square in exchange for cash. I’d never seen them in the Bowling Green area, though, and after that one time I never saw them again. I wonder if they were driven out by the police, by crowds of tourists telling them to get out of the way so they could take photos with the Bull, or by the police, or some combination of those three?

    Regardless, I’m glad to see those two assholes gone. The crowds of tourists around the office building can be aggravating, because they obviously aren’t in a hurry during my lunch break and they sometimes block the sidewalk, but it’s understandable and I can’t be mad at them for coming to this city and having a good time. These people that dress in costumes and strong-arm people into taking photos with them and giving them cash afterwards, though? They’re parasites and they’re disgusting. It’s better than outright robbery, but not by much. I hope they stay gone.

  • Amazon Prime Offline Viewing on the Subway

    Amazon Prime Offline Viewing on the Subway

    So, I was on the train today enjoying the fact that I can watch TV shows on my iPad using Amazon Prime. I’ve always wished I could download shows on Netflix and watch them offline while I ride the subway here in New York City, but that was never an option. Amazon seems to have that covered though, at least for Prime content. Things that are rented don’t have an option to download, but that’s fine. There are plenty of Prime shows I want to watch and can watch during that long commute to and from work every day.

    For example, I’ve been trying to get around to watching Under the Dome season 3 for a while now. I also want to watch Vikings season 3. I’m not sure Vikings is quite tame enough for the subway, though. The show has episodes of random and gratuitous violence. I don’t mind, obviously, but while I was watching the show today, an older woman got on the train and sat down next to me. For a few minutes she was looking at my iPad screen, being nosy, but in a scene in episode 2 of season 3, Rollo decided to hack a prisoner’s leg off, because why not? It looked funny. With each downward stroke of the ax, I could see the woman next to me jumping or cringing a bit. She eventually just turned and looked out the window for the remainder of the time I was on the train.

     

    Ragnar Lothbrook crossing a river in England with heads on his boat.
    Ragnar Lothbrook crossing a river in England with heads on his boat.

    I felt sort of guilty about that. I mean, it’s the type of show where people ride around in boats that have heads dangling off of them as a scare tactic. I guess I’ll just stick with Under the Dome on the train, and then move on to other shows that are a bit more tame.

  • The Man in the High Castle

    The Man in the High Castle

    I haven’t updated this blog in a while, other than a few pictures over the summer. I haven’t always been really busy, but I suppose I’ve just been trying to keep up with other things and this just fell to the wayside. I’m going to try to get back on top of this soon. I’m working on finishing up an MA class this semester on top of working full-time. I also have one more MA class to do in the Spring, maybe. Maybe two more. We’ll see how it goes.

    The Man in the High Castle movie title logo and background imagery.
    The Man in the High Castle

    Anyhow, no matter how busy things get, my wife and I take the time to enjoy a show together, usually with dinner. Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Gotham, Fear the Walking Dead, and so on. Lots of good shows lately. When there’s a lull in what’s coming on TV, we have Netflix and Amazon Prime for stuff like House of Cards and this new show, The Man in the High Castle. I had heard about it before, but it really sort of popped to the front of my “to-watch” queue when I read about all the butthurt generated by the controversial ads placed on the shuttle train here in Manhattan, which I think runs between Grand Central and Penn Station.

    "...it's Tuesday..."
    “…it’s Tuesday…”

    Anyway, the shower is really, really well done. The acting is first-rate, the visuals are well done and the story is very engaging. It’s also very, very intense in ways that I had expected. I just didn’t expect them to be placed so well into the story I guess, like when the highway patrolman casually mentions the dust in the air is ash from the incinerator, because “it’s Tuesday” and that’s just the day for burning invalids and the terminally ill. It’s just such a casual drop of something so inhuman, that it really puts the world you’re becoming a part of through this series into much clearer perspective, in just a few seconds of dialog. Then, at the end of the second episode, so much was said and not said in those few minutes. I’m just amazed at how much is conveyed by this story, with the use of camera work and clever dialog. “I’m not a monster” indeed.

    I need to get around to reading the book for this at some point, and after seeing the first two episodes of this, I’m going to just put Philip K. Dick on my reading list.

  • The City College of New York – South Campus

    The City College of New York – South Campus

    The City College of New York – South Campus via Instagram
  • Open Fire Hydrants: Summer in New York City

    Open Fire Hydrants: Summer in New York City

    Open Fire Hydrants: Summer in New York City via Instagram
  • Shall We Play A Game? (WarGames, 1983)

    Shall We Play A Game? (WarGames, 1983)

    I am reading a book called Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline. It’s about a bleak but believable future when the Earth has nearly exhausted its natural resources. People flock to the cities to be near reliable infrastructure and mostly live in sprawling shantytown areas called “the stacks”, so-called because they are constructed of trailer homes, RVs and even shipping containers that have been mounted into steel, vertical frames. Jobs are scarce and food is rationed. There is very little hope in the average person’s life for rising above the poverty level.

    To escape this reality, people log into a 3D simulation called The OASIS. That stands for something, but I can’t remember what right now. Access requires a visor and haptic feedback gloves at a minimum, but there are higher end devices like full body suits that offer greater sensory feedback. The whole simulation is free to use and is maintained by charging real money for teleportation fees to reach other worlds and areas. The majority of commercial and leisure activity shifts to the OASIS and eventually, even school is held within the OASIS, since it eliminates travel costs and the software prevents misbehavior during class.

    The creator of the OASIS dies as the sole owner of Gregarious Simulation Systems. He has no heir and creates an elaborate contest built into and hidden within the OASIS to determine who will win everything. The prize is open to anyone, but making it through the contest requires extensive knowledge of the 1980s, a decade that the OASIS’s creator was particularly obsessed with. The book takes place in (I think) the 2040s, but the promise of hundreds of millions of dollars for completing the quest first causes the entire world to become interested in the 1980s again.

    Because the book relies so heavily on 1980s pop culture for its plot, there is a lot of name dropping. I was born in the early 80s so some of it is familiar to me. Other stuff I read about and it feels familiar, like going to the arcade and dropping quarters in a machine, or using pay phones in the street, or mentions of bands that I recognize and still remember hearing on the radio regularly in the early 90s. I wonder if this book would even be interesting to anyone who wasn’t born in or near the 80s? It’s nostalgic in a way, but I don’t know that I would care to read this book if it was based on, say, the 50s or 60s.

    In addition to reminding me of a lot of cool stuff, like Atari game cartridges, Ready Player One is also introducing me to some great stuff that I’d never seen or heard of before, like this movie called “WarGames”, produced in 1983. After noticing the movie title in the book I found it on Netflix and watched it.  It has a great Back to the Future vibe to it. There’s this shift in movie and TV now, where everything seems to be post-apocalyptic or focused on the imminent demise of the human species. In the 80s movies were about progress; now people seem to be fixated on decline, myself included. I can’t wait for the next season of The Walking Dead to start, for example.

    Anyhow, if you get a chance, both the book and the movie are worth checking out.

  • Graffiti Art at 160th St & Broadway, Manhattan, NYC

    Graffiti Art at 160th St & Broadway, Manhattan, NYC

    Graffiti Art at 160th St & Broadway, Manhattan, NYC via Instagram
  • Sunday Afternoon in Central Park – Pictures

    Sunday Afternoon in Central Park – Pictures

    It’s really hot today. We were going to do something fun, like go over the Brooklyn bridge, but with it being over 90, with the heat advisory and the air quality advisory, we decided to just stay at home. I dragged our portable air conditioner out of the back of the closet and set it up, to take the edge off the heat. Now we’re watching a True Detective Marathon to catch up to the second season. It seems pretty good, so far.

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    Last Sunday, the weather wasn’t that bad, so after we visited FAO Schwarz for the last time, we sat in Central Park for a while, by that little pond (called “The Pond”) in the southeast corner by the Central Park Zoo, and had a mini-picnic. It was nice. There were a lot of people out there hanging out, relaxing. Smooth breeze, a lot of chatter, the sun shining on the water as it set. It was nice, sitting there, doing nothing for a while. I read for a bit. I picked up this book called Ready Player One, about a future where the world is suffering an energy crisis and most people retreat to an online 3D virtual simulation called the OASIS. I’m liking it so far.

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    The Pond, looking south towards 59th Street.
    A girl laying on the huge rock overlooking the Victoria Gardens Amusement Park.
    A girl laying on the huge rock overlooking the Victoria Gardens Amusement Park.
    Southern Central Park
    Southern Central Park
    The Sheep Meadow
    The Sheep Meadow
    Just a cool lightpost.
    Just a cool light post.

    After we’d sat for a while and it was starting to get dark, we packed up to leave. We walked across to the west side and exited by 70th street afterwards to catch the train. It was a really great way to spend a late afternoon and evening.

    A neat looking building on the west side of Central Park, around 67th Street or so.
    A neat looking building on the west side of Central Park, around 67th Street or so.
  • FAO Schwarz’s Last Weekend Before Closing

    FAO Schwarz’s Last Weekend Before Closing

    Our Stores

    FAO Schwarz’s flagship store in New York City, on 5th Avenue near Central Park and the Apple Store, is closing on the 15th. We heard about it on the news, but you wouldn’t be able to tell otherwise. Their website doesn’t even mention that the store won’t be around anymore in a few days. There are no signs out front mentioning the fact. Nothing inside to show that they’re closing other than a lack of product and that the bottom floor is completely sealed off. I did talk to an employee that seemed depressed and annoyed with what was going on. I don’t blame her, considering she was basically losing her job. She said that display stands were being taken down right in front of customers and the floor sales people were trying to promote products that were sitting unceremoniously on plastic push carts.

    I was hoping there would be sales to clear inventory, but that wasn’t the case. It’s as if they’re trying to keep up the facade that the store is temporarily embarrassed until they don’t open the doors again. The shelves were half empty, the store was dirty. The bathrooms were half flooded, quite literally. The air conditioning was nice, though, and walking past the mock toy soldiers at the front door, seeing the spinning FAO Schwartz sign above the troughs of candy, and the smell of sugar and baked treats was exciting. It reminded me of what I love about going to FAO. There are so many types of toys, so many different types of candy to look at and consider buying, and so many different and odd people to watch. The place is always packed with tourists and locals. Just being there and being part of the crowd is a fun experience, but we rarely walked out empty-handed.

    Kids playing on a large floor piano.
    Large floor piano.

    I had been to FAO a few times as a kid and regularly as an adult, but usually just to pick up some candy or wander the aisles and see what sorts of toys were selling. I was disappointed when I heard the place was closing, but I mean, come on, when you’re selling 700 dollar stuffed dogs in 2015, what do you expect? One could argue that FAO was targeting a particular demographic, but most kids come from families that can’t afford a 700 dollar stuffed dog, and I’m pretty sure that even the ones that do would rather spend that 700 bucks on a PS4 or XBox 1, some accessories and some games. Making things even tougher, most games are bought as digital downloads now. Saves the trip of having to go up to the store. No travel fare, no gas money, no begging parents to give you rides. You just click a button and a while later you’re playing.

    I’d rather have a video game than a 700 stuffed animal too. I’d also rather have a video game than 45 dollar doll house furniture. Walking into the top floor of FAO, thinking about business models and changing economies, I couldn’t help but look at the stuff they were selling and wonder what they were thinking. Are there really that many kids clambering to build model train sets these days? Isn’t there a 3D simulation for that now? I suppose toy stores are going the way of Blockbuster and Books-A-Million. Everything is going digital. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Things change, often for the better, and companies have to keep up with those changes to remain relevant. You can’t force people’s preferences to stay locked into a certain decade.

    I suppose things won’t be the same anymore, not seeing FAO open when we walk by. I’m reminded of how much Union Square on 14th Street has changed since I was a teenager in the 90s. New York keeps changing. I’m already wondering where I’m going to get sacks of gummy candies from here on out.