Category — Podcasts and Videos

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“A Guitar, a Hat, but no Shoes”

Acoustic guitarists have the power to play entire concerts with only their guitar and voice. On October 7, 2009, the Highline Ballroom presented Matt Hires, The Myriad, and Tyrone Wells. Tyrone and Matt played the acoustic guitar without the need for any type of special sound effects, unlike The Myriad. However, Matt Hires left his mark on stage with just his guitar. The audience had the pleasure of listening to multiple performers, but he shined. His style and choice of songs certainly began the concert exuberantly. [Read more →]

My Chocó dream

When you step through the door at Max Brenner: chocolate by the bald man, you are stepping into the world of your wildest chocolate fantasies. Like Alice Through the Looking Glass, every item on the menu beckons, “eat me!” Max Brenner has taken one item, Chocolate, and created an empire around it. With 20 locations around the globe, I sampled the one in Manhattan, located on Broadway between 13^th and 14^th street. Even if you are allergic to chocolate you want to be part of this chocolate manifestation. This place is not only for chocoholics it is a place to be seen. Melissa Joan Heart is only one of many celebrities stopping by this chocolate-filled phenomenon. Passing by the store at any time of day you will see a line out the door. What causes people to dwell in Max Brenner from morning to night you ask? It is the mere fact that Chocolate can’t be served more elaborately and creatively than at Max Brenner’s. The mystique of the place draws people from 9 am to closing which can vary from midnight to 2 a.m. But for me it’s the combination of the romance of chocolate and the childish fantasies of chocolate that are weaved together in the staging of the chocolate delicacies. [Read more →]

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The Little Nyonya is a Chinese film set during the time period of WWII in Malacca, Malaysia where it is rich in the Baba-Nyonya culture. Babas are what males are called and Nyonyas are what females are called. This film stars a deaf and mute woman, named Guk Hyung, who is a daughter of the head of the household and a servant, thus she too becomes a servant and is thought lowly of because of her illegit origins. Her story of being mistreated and abused is carried on with the birth of her daughter whom she has with a Japanese man, which makes her daughter an even more of an outcast than she already is. This drama puts much of the culture into microscopic and refined details, not giving up any chance to illustrate the rich and sophisticated nature of how the Babas and Nyonyas lived. A prevalent theme in the plot of the film is the marriage joining a Baba and Nyonya. Just like in the United States and anywhere else, there is much to be done to prepare for a wedding, but how the wedding is carried out varies widely between all the multifaceted cultures around the globe; this is no exception to the Babas and Nyonyas. [Read more →]

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**All the pictures are from the web because they did not allow cameras inside the tents. **

From the cooking pan, an orange flame of fire roared into the sky, caught everyone’s attention. The creator of this excitement was Guy Fieri, “winner of the second season of The Next Food Network Star.” [1] At the Chelsea market, where all the actions originated, Food Network stars such as Guy Fieri, Rachael Ray, Bobby Flay, and Martha Stewart worked together to raise money toward a common goal. All the proceeds from this event, The Wine and Food Festival, are going to the Food Bank to help fight hunger. From the different type of foods, it dawn on me that the sensory stimuli of each dish spoke a lot about the hard work a chef had put in. [Read more →]

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One of the most talked about horror movies recently, is Paranormal Activity. Shot back in 2007, it was only played in a few fright festivals. Last month, Paramount started playing the film in 16 college towns. The tickets were such hot sellers that many showing were sold out. Eager to watch the movie, millions of people went online and “demanded” a wider release. A low budget film, Paranormal Activity took $11,000 and just one week to shoot in writer-director Oren Peli’s own house. Couple Katie Featherstone and Micah Sloat (also the actors’ real names), recently moved into a new house and suspected it to be haunted[1]. They set up a camera and microphone in their room to record any paranormal phenomena that may occur during the night. Replaying the video in the morning, they found out there was a demon haunting Katie. What makes this particular horror film so unique, is its simplicity. The audience sees the whole movie through the point of view of the camera and it all takes place in the house. It doesn’t have gory or bloody scenes or any real violence. In fact, it doesn’t even show what the demon looks like. Effects, especially sound effects, are used to show that there is indeed a demon lurking around the house, and its out to get them. [Read more →]

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When commenting on the composition and style of The Milkmaid, one of the most admired and beloved paintings of all time, Walter Lietdke, curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, pointed out that “you can reproduce The Milkmaid on the side of New York building, thirty feet high, and it would hold up as a design and not many paintings that are only 18 inches high could go through that sort of experience.” When considering what an amazing accomplishment that truly is, it comes as no surprise that The Milkmaid is considered one of the greatest works of art the world has ever seen. Everything, from the sunlight glinting off the bread to the carefully crafted shadow of the nail sticking out of the wall, is so stunningly realistic that the viewer begins to overlook the remarkable craftsmanship that went into this masterpiece purely because they forget that it is not a photograph. But to truly appreciate this timeless masterpiece one must first understand the outside influences that led to its creation. The audio tour of the Metropolitan Museum’s exhibit titled “Vermeer’s Masterpiece ‘The Milkmaid” helps the viewer understand how the techniques and styles of other painters shaped Vermeer’s stylistic development, and eventually led him to paint The Milkmaid. [Read more →]

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Recently the trend of making movies based off of books has skyrocketed. The new children’s hit movie Where The Wild Things Are is a prime example of just that. The 10 sentences and twenty pages of the beloved children’s book published 1963, has been brought back to life to fit the silver screen and entertain the children of a new generation. Where the Wild Things Are is a keen example of how recently books are being transformed into movies. [Read more →]

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Maids in the kitchen—sexy and ready to serve

Imagine yourself being a kitchen maid in 17^th-century Holland—serving a wealthy household, in an enormous mansion, working for hypocritical high-class men, witnessing the most luxurious games between men and women. What would be your teenaged mind? Love? Lust? Or loneliness? [Read more →]

brooklyn museum story podcast

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