Category — Podcasts and Videos

[display_podcast]

Walking along Fresh Meadows Corona Park, the leaves begin to blow in outrageous directions. There was something very magical about this place. However nothing is more magical than the giant Unisphere that hovers over the park. The Unisphere is a reminder of the 1964 World’s Fair. It’s a gargantuan structure over 12 stories high. It’s the largest representation of the globe that I have ever seen. When I walk next to the platform, almost directly under the Unisphere, I can see all the way to the North Pole. It is a magnificent view and it is hard to believe that something so beautiful resides in the small town of Queens. As I continue to walk around the Unisphere, I can see the skateboarders skating around the inner fountain, almost like it is a skateboarding rink. Joggers are profusely sweating as they try to finish their last lap. Even though winter is approaching, children are running and laughing in all directions. The Unisphere is a great piece of art and we are lucky it is in our vicinity. I recommend anyone in the Queens area to take a look at the Unisphere because it is so breath taking and exquisite.

By: Sarah Hussain, Masha Kamenetskaya, and Ariella Levian

blurb 4 einsteins dream

Einstein’s Dream

I went to see Einstein’s Dream at the Baruch Performing Arts center on Thursday, November 19. It is a show about Albert Einstein as a young scientist who is troubled by dreams as he works on his theory of relativity in 1905. The theater in which the performance took place was on the 23^{rd ST} building. The play is not like the everyday story line that has a beginning and end. The play demonstrates the relationship each human being has to time, which affirms Einstein’s theory of relativity. The play was made up of individual scenes that didn’t necessarily flow with each other. The thread that connected the different scenes was the fact that all of them focused on relativity. That format seems plausible since dreams can often consist of parts that don’t relate to each other. What I specifically enjoyed was the fact that the audience was practically part of the stage. That in itself caused the experience to be more intimate.

The actors and actresses were phenomenal. It’s amazing how even though the cast had such a short time to prepare they looked so professional. Their facial expressions and movements were distinct. They projected their voices not too loudly nor too softly. The actors all wore white, which was the perfect contrast for an extremely dark room.  There were hardly any props except for one, long white sheet. The fact that there were minimal props made the play more engaging. The sheet was used in so many different ways. It was used as a blanket, as a screen for the projector, as a rope, and much more. The actors used their bodies as props for whatever the sheet couldn’t become. For example, in one scene one of the actors was the moving boat. He had two actors sitting on either end of him as if they were rowing the boat. All in all, it was a unique and marvelous performance.

Phantom of the Opera podcast

Phantom of the Opera

I went to see the longest running musical, Phantom of the Opera on Wednesday, November 18 at the Majestic Theatre for the second time. The first time I saw it I was still in elementary school and I can still recall how mesmerized I was by the play. It is the type of show that lingers forever in your heart. [Read more →]

[display_podcast]

[Read more →]

[display_podcast]

Last Friday, Maria and I were able to visit the Arts of Japan tour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We had to navigate ourselves through the museum to the Asian Art section and made it just before our tour guide, Sakura Mitarai, opened the doors revealing the dim-lit, quiet Arts of Japan gallery. Matarai explained how Japanese art evolved from the 12^th century to present day because of the influence of foreign countries like India, China, and the United States. Through a matter of eleven rooms, Japanese art changed from sculptures of Buddha to colorful artwork of everyday life. [Read more →]

[display_podcast]

I was watching the movie Hitch a few days ago and noticed that at one point Eva Mendes eats with a friend at Rice to Riches. It is an eatery located on Spring Street. I have been there twice so far, and the experience only got better the second time. The restaurant sells rice pudding, but not the rice pudding you commonly see, I am talking about THE Rice pudding. The masters of all rice puddings. The eatery has a very modern look, and I when I first walked in, I had a similar feeling to that of when I walk  into an Apple Store.  Rice to Riches has a good amount of flavors to choose from as well. Popular names include Stubborn Banana, The Edge of Rum Raisin, Don’ Cappuccino, Coconut Coma, Chocolate Chip Flirt and many more. Notice that each flavor has it’s own creative twist. And the options do not end there. I was able to also pick from a wide range of toppings. They included coconut, vanilla sauce, and whip cream. Most importantly, this work of art can bring together an audience for a night made of rice pudding. The rest of the audience certainly loved the mix of coconut and stubborn banana. Rice to riches is a great place to eat, and the company was just another additive.

[display_podcast]

The Museum of Modern Art, right in the heart of 5^th Avenue, is a place that fuels creativity, ignites minds, and brings the artistic side out of all of is. In this museum lie somewhat permanent exhibits as well as special exhibitions. For the past as well as upcoming weeks, the museum features Claude Monet, displaying some of his most well-known and prominent pieces, The Water Lilies. Monet, one day looked upon his elaborate water lily pond and gardens and using that as his motivation, he began his more than now 40 large-scale panels between the years of 1915 and 1926. The first painting I saw was the The Japanese Footbridge which fueled Monet’s series of paintings of his pond at Giverny. Compared to his more naturalistic works in the past, this painting features a fiery palette of maroons, rusts, and oranges only unique to Monet. As I move around the museum, I could not help but see a large 3-panel piece of art. The most famous painting, a triptych has water lilies at the center, shimmering with reflections from the clouds overhead. The water surface fills the composition so that clues to the artist’s and the viewer’s vantage point are eliminated. In response to Monet’s request himself, these panels were installed at a slight angle in order to properly portray the piece. [Read more →]

[display_podcast]

The Skyscraper Museum is located on 33 Battery Place. Their current exhibit is called China Prophecy: Shanghai. The museum basically focuses on the skyscrapers in Shanghai and compares it with the skyscrapers in the United States. In addition, the exhibit compares the views and vision of skyscrapers that Americans had during the 20th century, and how it was different compared to reality. The museum informs its visitors about the history of skyscrapers in both New York and Shanghai, and why they were created. It examined the structures, and shows all the skyscrapers located in shanghai in a timeline. The museum has films and photographs of both the present and the past of both cities and renderings of the complex structure of the skyscrapers. The exhibit explains that the speed of building skyscrapers in Shanghai is faster than NYC during the 20th century.” As the world’s largest city in 1930, New York boasted a population of nearly 7 million and some 200 skyscrapers –more than all other cities combined at that time. Today, as high-rises proliferate everywhere, Hong Kong holds the title with 7,200. Still   ascending, though, Shanghai is surely China’s prophecy of the urban future.”

Paula Danielle Roby
December 2, 2009
Choice Reporting – Feature Article

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade is one of the biggest parades in the country. From its first run on Thanksgiving Day in 1924, it has run almost every year from Harlem all the way down to west 34th street in front of Macy’s in Manhattan, New York. It is most known for its giant helium balloons, which have graced the parade since 1927 (with the first balloon “Felix the Cat”) that are spectacles that draw crowds every year. This year thousands of spectators crammed onto the streets off of Broadway and into every apartment building and coffee shop along the way, trying to get a good view. The good weather seemed to draw the majority of the city and its surrounding counties into the streets and to get a good view was neigh impossible for those who arrived to line up after 6 AM. [Read more →]