You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

Just got around to watching the Glee season finale, and as I was recovering from the fairly spectacular and bittersweet parting of Finchel, I could only think of two things as I watched Rachel arrive all wide-eyed in NYC.

1) If she were taking the train from Ohio, she probably would have arrived at Penn Station and not Grand Central. But of course GCS is a far more attractive setting to shoot.

2) We see her walking up 45th Street, east of 8th Avenue - specifically, past the Booth Theater (not a short walk from Grand Central), and suddenly she's by the Plaza Hotel - 14 blocks up and half the island's width east of where she just was. I couldn't help saying "How'd she get over there?!" I mean, it's not an unreasonable walk with no encumbrances, but with a suitcase? And having already walked from Grand Central to the Theater District? Oh Glee, never stop being implausible. :P

You know, a lot of New Yorkers (and others) complain about how vanilla New York is now. That it used to be cool back in the 70s and 80s when it had a lot more edge and wasn't so "safe." I've even done some of that myself, half wishing that I could have lived here in the Taxi Driver or 9 1/2 Weeks era, when Times Square was seedier and instead of Applebee's and Madame Tussaud's on 42nd Street between Broadway and 8th (currently my least favorite block in the entire city) there were grindhouse theaters and peep shows.

But I was looking around tonight for a trailer and some information about a 1980 film called Maniac (inspired by the recent Mondo Tee's poster for that film and a few others by the same director, Bill Lustig). Maniac, it must be said, is a film I am kind of afraid to see - and I've seen A Serbian Film, so that should tell you something. I wasn't even aware there was a creepy mannequin element before tonight, just that it was incredibly violent and that many women have huge problems with this film and with Lustig as a filmmaker in general. But I found a short clip of an interview with Lustig, where he talks about his inspirations for Maniac. He mentions another movie called Tourist Trap (another film I am afraid to see - I'm afraid to even watch the trailer a second time) and its creepy use of mannequins, which inspired his use of mannequins as a key story element in Maniac.

But then he tells *this* story. [ETA: WARNING - VERY DISTURBING] Apparently, back in the 70s, there was a case where a couple of prostitutes had been murdered in a hotel in Times Square. Not just murdered, decapitated. Being unable to identify who the girls were, the police took their bloody clothes and put them on a couple of mannequins, and they set those mannequins in a glass case in the little police kiosk in Times Square (presumably the one that's next to the subway entrance?) in the hopes that some street people would recognize the clothes and be able to identify the murdered girls. Because, you know, mannequins TOTALLY AREN'T CREEPY ENOUGH.

Let me tell you, friends... the next time I get the urge to complain about how "Disney" Times Square has become, I'm going to think about that story and blow a kiss to that horrendous Disney Store that has been plopped down on Broadway. And the M&M Store and the public bathrooms. And all those chavvy kids who hang out in that area on the weekends, walking around like they're the shiz-nit. Sure, I wish there could be a happy medium between the gritty New York of yore and the family friendly New York of today. But if those are my only two choices, I'm glad I'm in the relatively safe and sane version of this city.

I still hate that block of 42nd, though.

I love our little group that meets in Brooklyn (usually) once a month to watch a Rifftrax movie or MST3K episode. There was another one tonight. We watched The Last Airbender and hoo boy is it every bit as horrible as everyone said. More so, I think. Horrible acting, amazingly awkward dialogue (references to Tommy Wiseau and The Room were not at all unfitting), bizarre editing, and no storytelling skills whatsoever.

As usual, my navigational skills failed me when forced to make my way through the labyrinth of DUMBO, despite my having been to this particular meetup location several times before. I was glad to see that I was not alone in my befuddlement (though, I guess I should concede that most of those people were probably trying to find this place for the first time). I always have the vague thought as I enter the building (which is former munitions factory that has been adapted into a few lofts) that I'm either secretly in an Adrian Lyne film and on my way to a smutty tryst or in a horror movie about to be stabbed. This time I had the added joy of imagining that I was in A Serbian Film, where both those eventualities would be possible, perhaps at the same time, in a location such as this. Oh my dear brain, what have you become?!

Next month, we sparkle on with Eclipse ("Volturi - that's Chevy's new midsize sedan, right?"). Rifftrax is the only way to see the Twilight movies.

It has been brought to my attention that I have been lax in my updates about life in NY. In truth, I have answered so many individual questions on the subject that it never occurred to me there are people who are interested and don't know most of it already. So, in the interest of disclosure, and to have it on record...

* I am fairly close to being registered with a couple of temp agencies that specialize in legal proofreading. These are different from regular temping agencies in that they are much more in need of people to work. So, while the regular temp agencies are watching paint dry because the job market for office workers is so lousy, the legal proofing agencies are in the rare position of having more work than they have people to do it.

This field really appeals to me at the moment, despite the lack of benefits, because I can make a pretty handsome paycheck even just working four days a week. Plus, it's exactly the kind of dry work that I can leave behind at the end of a shift so that I can focus on writing.


* I'll have a post soon with pictures of the new place, but I've still got some things to put away before that can happen. I'm still loving it, but I do have to leave the house with some semblance of a plan, and I can't really afford to take more than one trip Downtown and back a day, because even on the A, the subway trip is a huge time-suck.


* Saw Tropic Thunder, and I may post more thoughts on it later, but for now I'll just say that it's all kinds of awesome. I think I have a bit more affection for Pineapple Express, but TT still rocked like a boulder(c). Tom Cruise needs to not take himself seriously WAY more often. And Danny McBride should be in every film ever.


* There have been no celeb sightings so far, though I know I've ignored at least a couple of opportunities for such. I'm sorry, but when there's a mob in Times Square, screaming and flashing their cameras, my main interest is in avoiding it, rather than hanging around for whoever I'm supposed to be noticing. :P I will be seeing Dan Radcliffe next Tuesday, though, so that will be cool.

OH! I don't know if it counts (it does to me), but I did see Janet Dacal (who plays Carla in the cast of In the Heights, and who played Vanessa on the night I saw the show - and was AWESOME) outside the Richard Rodgers Theater signing autographs and greeting fans of the show. She's even taller and skinnier in person, which makes me sick. :D


And that's basically it, aside from the more humdrum stuff of getting a NY driver's license and a library card (first check-out: Georgette Heyer's The Black Moth). I've also loved watching the Olympics - how awesome is Michael Phelps, breaking another world record last night, even with chlorine water in his goggles?!

Way on up to northern Manhattan. Today is moving day, and I'm pretty excited.

For several reasons that I won't bore you all with, I made a trip to Nashville to pick up some of my boxes. I only came to NY with what I could get on the plane, so it will be nice to move into the apartment with some things, instead of just clothes.

I stayed the night in Fogelsville, PA last night, which means I have a couple of hours (probably a bit more, with traffic delays) to drive today. And then I get to hope that there's a place to park my rental car somewhat near my building. :)

Uh, don't expect this to be a running thing, but I thought some might be wondering about my first few days.

She really is a knockout.

The hired car was the best $145 I ever spent.  I shudder to think what I would have done if I'd had to get a cab or get on/off a train with all this crap.  There was what I can only imagine to have been a stellar comedy of errors in the short distance I actually had to travel with my luggage, and three or four kind people (see, they ARE nice here) had to help me get up a step (yes, that was A step, singular) or get on/off the elevator.

*wonders what it will be like moving it all again in a matter of days*

*gets tired at the mere thought and decides to stop thinking about it for now*

I think I'll take a walk now and get to know my new home.

I'm at the airport, paying way too much for internet access, but what's a series without a useless fanon-ruining crapilogue, right?

Lesson Learned: Beware of pigs on roller skates in Central Park.