I went out a recent evening to take some pictures of the Lord and Taylor Christmas windows.
The big sort of lighting of the outside is typically done by the better downtown stores.
Even before I got there, I knew I wouldn’t be taking very good pictures of the windows. Instead, I got the crowds.
And they were impenetrable for me.
Lord and Taylor is on Fifth Avenue around 38th Street. Just a few blocks north of the Empire State Building.
-H
Just a quick finish to my Grand Central Station / Terminal light show review…
The people on the Grand Concourse never really stopped, but they did slow down…a little. There were a number of us lining the walls or just standing in the open. I was standing near the foot of the west stairs, trying to keep out of people’s way while getting a nice view.
Other than the music, what I show here can’t really capture the event. The pictures move pretty quickly across the walls and then there are occasional pauses where you wonder “is it over?”.
Unfortunately, with the lighting, it took my camera a little too long to take the pictures, hence the shakiness.
More kaleidoscope-type pictures.
The back walls of the concourse were also part of the show.
And then a little bit of simulated fireworks…
And the curtain comes down…
From beginning to end: eight minutes.
It’s a nice show.
-H
Every year, Grand Central has a short light show in the Grand Concourse. They try to make the show as big and as grand as the place is. The first year I saw it, it was a laser light show of some sort that really played on the ceiling. For the past couple of years, the light show has become exponentially larger with the main show occuring on the walls of the station. And those are big, big walls.
Recently, I went to the show during rush hour just to see it in the midst of crowds. Here’s the view just as I entered the Grand Concourse from Vanderbilt Hall.
I positioned myself at the west end of the concourse and waited. Here’s a picture of the walls. You might see that they are reddish. That’s part of the show. The red is a “curtain”.
The first sign of the show is a brief light show in the ceiling. Just moving stars.
And the curtain rises…
And then the walls light up.
I haven’t mentioned the music. Yes, there’s music. It’s all instrumental snippits from a variety of music sources. The only one I remember recognizing is part of the Nutcracker Suite. Some of it was just abysmal, but it’s just a form of background more than anything else.
You might notice that it isn’t a true kaleidoscope as the pictures aren’t broken up into different reflections. Last year, it was; but this year they seemed to prefer large pictures projected on the walls.
Some weren’t as clear as others, but they mostly did not constitute a kaleidoscope view.
The ceiling was usually included in the presentation, but I don’t remember if it ever really reflected what was happening on the walls. The pictures below if about as close to a kaleidoscope as any I ever saw.
But the below is a little more typical of the show.
More in the next post.
-H
So, there I was in Princeton University…and there in the distance I saw a mighty sight…
What say you these be…these black forms in the distance?
As for me, I call them giant teeth. You can see the roots. So, they’re teeth.
Is that the famed school of dentistry? Does Princeton have a famed school of dentistry?
I’m told that the building these “teeth” are in front of is the art school.
I’m told these “teeth” are really human forms. Perhaps they’re headless. As I got closer, I could tell that they are human shapes. Maybe the heads are down (in shame?). Or maybe just tiny heads. The “roots” are actually legs.
I reject that! They’re teeth!
We ran into some other art. Here’s the Canvas of Wishes, a wooden lattice where ordinary folks are encouraged to tie fabric.
I say “bleh” and I say the other ones are teeth and that’s grand art!
If I had wanted to get my mind off of the human teeth statues, this bit of art was just the thing.
Yes, that’s a statue of two men. One is bound with rope and on his knees looking up in supplication to a bearded man who is holding a knife.
I have no idea what this statue represents. I didn’t see a plaque, but I have to admit I didn’t look too closely for one. I don’t notice any particular ethnicity that this might be trying to represent.
Finally, a more famous statue: Out to Lunch by J Seward Johnson Jr.
More importantly to the art, we had lunch at the famed Alchemist and Barrister Restaurant and Pub. The hamburger is very good, but the fries are unusual and really, really good.
-H
I actually left NYC for a few hours and visited the wilds of New Jersey. In fact, I even went so far as to get into Pennsylvania. That close to the edge of the earth, isn’t it?
Actually, it was great. NYC is very compact and built up and going to the suburbs and beyond is a real break. There’s a real pleasure going to a place where the crowds are light and everything is spread out. As usual, I get delighted by the mildest and most mundane things.
A co-worker invited me out to look for a chair out there. I really cannot find the sort of chair that I want in Manhattan and there was a store that sort of carried them. So I went out to Princeton and we drove out to Pennsylvania to look. There wasn’t a great deal of luck, but it was better than nothing.
On my part, I was amazed at the size of the parking spaces for cars. Such luxury!
Anyway, on the way back, we stopped in Princeton to look at the University.
It’s a little over 250 years old and is very attractive.
Yeah, they take “Ivy League” seriously there. It isn’t on all of the buildings by any means, but a bunch of them.
Something that I liked was that they had a real variety of architecture. It makes sense, of course, but I hadn’t given it much thought and wasn’t expecting the different styles.
The next place was being used for a private party. Apparently some kid was having a bar mitzvah. I just wouldn’t expect a kids’ party (okay, it’s a coming of age party for a 13-year old or so) at someplace like Princeton. Mom and/or Dad must be an alumn and are putting some pressure on junior(?).
The next was a cool little walkway we walked down.
As grand a place and as historic a place as it is, it really felt just like it is: a university. It’s a great place and I wish it would have been a place I could have gone to.
In my next post, I’ll cover some of the artwork and the town of Princeton.
-H
Famous Ankles 