Since the death of the drive in, something has been brewing in the shadows of the night, the burning desire to point moving pictures with sound against a solid white wall and enjoy. Do-It-Yourself Outdoor movies are spreading like wildfire in the hope to restore outdoor viewing experience across the country. Organizations like MobMov and Rooftop Films not only want you to screen movies outside yourself, but give you all the necessary tools to do so.
MobMov (aka Mobile Movie) is a network of “guerilla drive-ins” that use car-powered video projects and FM transmitters. They are constantly recruiting to start new drive ins and grow their network. They even dabble in guerilla marketing. Shows are announced via SMS and e-mail to MobMov subscribers. Imagine curating a double feature in a parking lot filled with people waiting to see Harvey/Donnie Darko back to back.
Rooftop Films is a group I’ve already mentioned, they are the masters of rooftops and film screenings. On their site you are able to rent projectors, projection screens, p.a. systems, and even folding chairs. You can even rent as for-profit or not-for-profit, which means you could potentially make money screening your favorite movies on your roof.
Bottom line, if you aren’t feeling any of the films in Bryant Park or elsewhere this summer, keep the dream alive and do it yourself. Who Know? Maybe you were born to curate.
Bicycling in New York City is becoming increasingly popular and the city has thankfully started to take notice. In a city where theft is rampant(I know, my back wheel was sadly stolen outside of my job last week), bike racks are precious street real estate. There is nothing worse than locking your bike to scaffolding or a street sign, walking away and wondering if it will be there in one piece when you get back.
Over the next two weeks, new bike racks are being unveiled all over the city. However, you’ll notice that these racks aren’t your usual run-of-the-mill U shaped racks. These racks are designs by David Byrne, a long time New York biker/artist/celebrity. Byrne’s bike racks were inspired by the collaboration between the Department of Transportation, Cooper-Hewitt, Google and Transportation Alternatives who organized an international city bike rack design competition. Byrne sat on the competition’s jury and ended up submitting nine designs(not part of the actual competition) for bike racks that will be placed all over the city. His designs produced racks shaped like cars, dollar signs, squiggles, dogs, and my personal favorite, a reclining woman bike rack, which will be stationed near 42nd entitled, “The Olde Times Square”.
The competition, whose results will be part of an exhibition at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in October, have recently announced the finalists.
Sometimes stories are just too crazy to have been written, which is why documentaries are one of the grand pillars of film. However, you would be hard pressed to consistently find them playing in the city’s theaters. This Sunday, cinéma vérité will have a permanent New York screening room when the Maysles Cinema, a nonprofit theater in Harlem, opens their doors. ‘Strangers in Strange Lands’, an 11-film series of travelogues by French directors, opens this Sunday.
A two-block section of Smith Street was turned into a large playing field as restaurants Bar Tabac and Robin des Bois hosted the largest US “petanque”
I have shamelessly sang my heart out to ‘The Power of Love’ by Huey Lewis to entire bar full of people. For me and the countless others who love singing Karaoke, tomorrow’s party is for us. To celebrate her new book, ‘Hit Me with Your Best Shot’, Raina Lee is hosting a Karaoke party at the 
i-D Magazine is the magazine known for its innovative photography and typography that has established a reputation as being a printed exhibition for fresh talent. So it is fitting that they are partnering with Parsons The New School for Design for the I.D. 2008 Annual Design Review. This exhibit will present the most innovative design work from the past year in an exhibition organized in conjunction with the magazine’s 54th Annual Design Review. The exhibition will look at eight different design categories: consumer products, graphics, packaging, environments, furniture, equipment, concepts and interactive media and will offer a glimpse of the current state of design and its young designers. Opening July 10th at the Sheila C Johnson Design Center, 66 5th Ave at 15th St.
This city has copious amounts of public art on permanent display-the Bull near Wall Street, the cube in Astor Place and many others. Sometimes, there are major works of public art that drastically change the cities landscape and incite such buzz (think The Gates) that the pieces can not be ignored and you are almost forced by sheer curiosity to experience them for yourself. The artist Olafur Eliasson created New York City Waterfalls, which is comprised of 4 massive cascades ranging in height of 90-120 feet in different areas of the city.
New York City in the 1980’s was a very different city than it is today. Some would say it was one of the worst times in the city’s history, riddled with crime, drugs and poverty. However, others call it the most exciting time in the city’s history. For them, New York was the world’s epicenter for arts and culture. It was the era of Andy Warhol, Madonna, Basquiat and the birth of Hip Hop. The upcoming exhibit, “Totally Rad: New York in the 1980’s”, at the Paul Kasmin Gallery is on the side that thinks it was one of the most exciting times in New York City. This exhibit celebrates the decade’s art starlings in all of their colorful 1980’s splendor. The exhibit includes pieces from artists such as Jenny Holzer, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, Julian Schnabel, Andy Warhol, Jean Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. Opening on July 10th and located at 293 10th Avenue, this show will make you wonder if such art would have been possible if the city hadn’t been in such disarray at the time and if so, is this kind of chaos beneficial for a thriving art scene?