The Screening and The Statue

Thursday morning I got to sit in on part of an NYU film class at Tisch Hall to see the short I was a part of. Kind of fun to sit in on this particular lecture - he talked about what coast had what type of film industry. He started the class by showing an old industrial called - The Power of 10- Note: He told the class this was made in 1950, this site says 1977! Oops. His purpose of showing this was to point out that NY does more industrials than L.A. He also talked about soaps being in NY. Someone asked about the porn industry - the prof said he assumed that to be just about anywhere, thanks to my friend in Cali though I know there's a fairly prominent area for the industry there - of course I chose not to share, that's kind of akward info to know I suppose...

This class (I think) was mostly full of sophomores. One thing that surprised me a bit was that when they called "last shot" on filming - I said, "Isn't that the martini?" And they looked at me blankly saying - "Well, our prof never told us that." Well, the prof doesn't know EVERYTHING! ;)

However, I did find out that the prof (David Irving) was the director of C.H.U.D. II - Bud the Chudd.The class was actually going to be having a "slumber party/screening" to view it later that night...

At any rate, we finally got to the films - Ruth hadn't actually screened it yet so she warned that my voice might be low and it was. I sounded rather masculine. But that aside, it was fun to watch! Had a close call where a couple frames started to bubble and burn (unfortunately she'll have to slice and replace those) but the movie kept running - and my first screen kiss looked pretty good if I do say so myself! ;) Ruth got really positive feedback on the piece so that was good too! :)

Then it was off to meet the 'rents in Battery Park. When I first got there I saw the World Trade Center Globe and eternal flame - a temporary memorial started on 9/11 2002. Although people were taking pics (some actually posing near the globe) somehow it just didn't seem like something to take a pic of. Just something to take a moment's pause for, reflect, take a deep breath and move on...

I knew I was getting closer to the ferries when I saw several people dressed up like the statue along the pathway. Finally caught up with the 'rents and stood in the masses to board a ferry to take us to the Statue and Ellis Island. I may be totally wrong - but there's something about the whole process of visiting the statue that to me, would make even the most native New Yorker feel like a tourist. There's just no getting around it.

The ferry takes you straight to the statue and then to Ellis. We opted to ride on to Ellis first. Unfortunately, there are parts of the island under reconstruction so not all of it can be seen but what they do have open is full of info and insight as to what many immigrants went thru (including some of my great-great grandparents).

Besides info about Ellis itself they also had several displays about ancestry. One being a tree of where different words came from - Like "Pumpkin" and "Gopher" originated in France, "Hunky-dory" and "Poppycock" are Dutch words. Before getting in line for the Ferry to the statue we stopped for some grub. Mom opted for the "immigrant stew" while I took a more modern approach with a Nathan's hotdog.
My mom has wanted to see the Statue of Liberty since she was little - she's always wanted to peer out from the crown, but unfortunately due to security/safety you can only go up to the top of the pedestal now. So no peering, but she did get to see it! :)

It is an amazing piece of work and once again what a wealth of info to absorb. So much work and effort put in and the patience it took! Around 10 years for it to be completed once it got here! A few factoid for you - The face of the statue was inspired by the sculptor's (Frederic Auguste Bartholdi) mother, the body based off his wife...weird. The torch also includes elements thought to represent the U.S. - corn, tobacco leaves and arrowheads. It never was meant to be lit - but some thought it would work just fine as a light tower - it didn't. Bartholdi suggested putting gold leaf on it instead but this suggestion was ignored until the mid 1980s!

Just to give you an idea of how big the statue is I stood by the base - can you see me?! It takes 157 steps to get to the top of the platform. From there you can peer out and peer up (looking up Liberty's skirt to see the inner construction that Eiffel built to keep her standing). They also had replicas of various "parts" of the statue so you could get an idea of the size in that manner too - my size 10s have NOTHING on her.
We finally said goodbye to Liberty (the statue) and headed back to Battery Park and then back to Times Square where we ate @ Planet Hollywood. Then the 'rents went on to the Wax Museum and I went home. Tomorrow would be spent at Rockefeller.