I didn’t want to let another week go by quietly, especially since my good friend Dan came down to visit last week. So lets have a little recap, shall we?
Last Sunday, instead of doing something alcoholic for St. Patrick’s Day I went to the SVA/BBC Design Documentary Film Festival. I don’t regret it. made me want to get keep on the up-and-up with documentaries.
Here was the line up:
11:00 The Bra
11:25 Deodorant
11:50 The Harley Davidson
12:25 The London Underground Map
1:00 LUNCH BREAK
2:00 Chelsea Hotel
3:00 – 3:30 – Q&A with Alan Yentob
3:30-4:00 COFFEE BREAK
4:00 Cracked Actor (David Bowie)
5:00-5:45 Q&A with Alan Yentob
They all had their charms, the deodorant one made an interesting point in one part of it about how the health/beauty industry has basically told women that all parts of her are imperfect, disgusting, and need to be changed.
But my ABSOLUTE favorite film, by far, was Chelsea Hotel. It was an incredibly well-done documentary. Super interesting background on the hotel plus the story of personality of “now” (when the film was made) through the narrative of the current residence. It was fascinating! Afterwards I wanted to live there so badly, but I found out just last year a modern day super villain, Joseph Chetrit, a real-estate monster who wants to turn the beautiful, history hotel into luxury condo. Hate. Read up on the hotel, seriously. It should be a historical landmark. What I really like about the documentary, was that it really made you fall in love with the hotel and people. I think a lot of people could get star struck by the raw data about the hotel and the celebrities who’ve stayed there, but the documentary brought the soul of the hotel out. It was a treasure. Now I want to see more of Nigel Finch’s (the director) other documentaries.
Ok…And then on Monday I got to see Dan from Laramie! It was a lot of walking because a number of the places we tried going were closed, but it’s always good to catch up with that guy. We also met up with his super cool friend Emily.
Tuesday we successfully went to The Met and stayed their for hours. I got to see the contemporary art this time, which I somehow missed the during my previous visits, and I actually really enjoyed it. Sometimes I feel a little lack-luster about it, but The Met has a great collection. Afterwards we saw a flamenco troupe at a little place in the upper west side (The Underground, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you really want to see the show there) and eventually met up with Emily and talked more into the night.
Wednesday, after frantically trying to get work done int he morning, I was able to catch up with the two and their other lovely friend Sarah at Cake Shop, a great bar & venue in the lower east. I would love to go again. It has a great lounge area and a grungy concert area in the basement.