52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 47

Approaching Liberty. Watercolour, with green Sharpie ink on the crown spikes. Based on a photo taken by me, in January 1984, just before the torch was replaced.

Week 47: New York

Update:

John Lennon Memorial in Strawberry Fields, Central Park, New York. With some strawberries and a little magic. Just imagine! I've been mulling this one over all week and strategising. I really wanted to do it, but drawing a mosaic like this, in the detail I wanted originally, could literally have taken months! Instead, it took about 30 minutes. Black Sharpie ink and watercolour. Texture provided by metallic pencil rubbed over my flyscreen wire door, plus a little added glitter.

Week 47: New York II

Ian in Wonderland - in 3D!

Oh frabjous day! I thoroughly enjoyed this evening's little excursion to the cinema to see the new "Alice in Wonderland" 3D movie! I'd heard rather mixed reviews, but this was a most satisfying 3D experience.

And how curiouser and curiouser to notice Joel Swetow in the credits as Man With Big Belly - I own the Andorian ambassador's robes he wore in "Star Trek: Enterprise". Always love a neat Star Trek connection! And yay Michael ("Alfred Pennyworth") Gough as the voice of the dodo!

I wished I gone with someone now, even it it was to get a photo standing in the middle of this huge cardboard display (above). Woulda looked a bit like this:


Me, attending the Mad Hatter's Tea Party in Central Park, New York (January 1992).



Today's pic of the day: a signwriting plane going home at sunset, after a hard day's signwriting?

"I'm late, I'm late!" - Framed and hung... at last!

Today's pic is a photo of some favourite old photos.

I finally got around to framing my 1992 Central Park, New York "Alice in Wonderland" statue pics a few years ago, and finally found a place to hang them a few weeks ago. Until then they'd been cluttering a corner, and getting moved around the floor every time I vacuumed.

At about ten to midnight, I realised I needed a subject for my 365 Photos project, and well, here it is. Click on the link above about to see the actual pics.

Gort versus Gort

Klaatu - Barada - Nikto!

It's the battle of the Gorts and - because I enjoyed myself on Sunday (despite a very disturbed night's sleep earlier on) - I'm declaring a draw!

Yes, I went off to see the remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still". Even though I already knew the basic storyline, for me this remake was an engrossing-enough movie. I guess the fact that I didn't fall asleep, even though I was quite tired, is a good sign.

I actually like Keanu Reeves in most of his films. The "Bill & Ted" movies were such a cack, and I enjoyed his unique contributions to "Parenthood" and the first "Matrix". (I've had the DVD of "The Lake House" for about a year, purchased on the strength of his appealing performance in the theatrical trailer, although I haven't found the time o watch it yet.) So, if he's known for his wooden acting, then it certainly helped him bring an alien quality to Klaatu, this film's featured character made famous by the always intriguing Michael Rennie in 1951. Big shoes to fill!

Kathy Bates was also excellent. I had no idea she'd even been cast. A nice surprise. Jennifer Connolly was a likable female lead, and the young actor playing her stepson was appealing and capable.

I'd deliberately avoided the newspaper and Internet critiques, but I guess I'm now not surprised that it's garnered some rather lacklustre reviews... I suppose the main stumbling block is: did they really need to remake this classic, when the original still holds up so well? (I do have a great DVD version of the original - with a fascinating commentary by Nicholas Meyer and the then quite elderly director, Robert Wise. Coincidentally both men directed for the "Star Trek" features, so it was fun to hear them working together.)

The new film combines new SPFX with plenty of nostalgic homages to the original. The new take on what makes up Gort was interesting from a SPFX angle, and the swarms of alien, self-replicating nanite creatures seemed innovative. I guess most people were expecting Gort to use brute strength. I was surprised this Klaatu had no traditional flying saucer, but the network of giant spheres, which seemed to provide transport, communication and ark-like retrieval pods (for Earth's non human fauna) seemed efficient, and very pretty to behold.

There are some other interesting changes. The new Gort is huge! In the original film, if I recall correctly, he was played by an extra, whose day job was working as a security guard (Lock Martin) at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Famously, the old costume was made in two versions - one with the zipper in the back, the other with the zipper in the front - so the "metal" suit would appear seamless. This time Gort's all CGI, I guess, and it's the US military who name him, not Klaatu. G.O.R.T. is now an acronym for "Genetically Organized Robotic Technology".

Probably the film's green messages were a bit heavy handed. But we haven't learned much by way of Michael Rennie's Klaatu's warnings in 1951, so will we also ignore Keanu's Klaatu as we approach 2009? Yep, I think we will..

Oh, and I also loved that the bridge in Central Park, under which the main characters shelter during the finale of the new "Te Day the Earth Stood Still" seems to be the same bridge used by the young heroes of "Cloverfield" in that film's finale. Next time I visit Central Park, that's a must-have holiday snapshot. Hopefully I won't pick a day of impromptu alien invasion.

Ian in Wonderland

Here's a flashback to January 1992: a photo of me at the "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" statue of the Mad Tea Party, in Central Park, New York, USA. Why am I posting it (and the ones below) today?

Well, this is one of my holy grail photos, so it's a long story:

I was first in Central Park in January 1984 and managed to miss this amazing statue, having no idea to even look for it. Then, I happened to pick up the book "Apple of My Eye", by one of my favourite authors, Helene Hanff, in which she and her friend, (the aptly-named) Patsy, travelled around their native New York pretending to be tourists in their own city, so that Ms Hanff could write accurate and pithy captions for a book of photographs about New York. She happened to mention this statue, as sculpted by José de Creeft in 1959 (and based on Tenniel's Victorian era illustrations), plus several other literary landmarks I'd overlooked in Central Park, in one of her entries - and I was determined to check it out. Somehow.

My penpal Carolyn, who lived in the East Village of NYC in the 80s, promised to photograph the statue for me... then managed to leave her camera in the glove box of a friend's car. When she finally got the camera back, almost a year later, and had the film developed, it had become weather-affected and the image was not printable.

I finally got back to Central Park myself in 1992, and had these photos taken. That should have been the end of the story. But... then my now-housemate, Steve, managed to lose the prints and the negatives - and he's been searching for them ever since. It has been so long since the photos were taken, we'd both began to doubt ever having seen them. If I had had possession of these photos for even a day, I'd probably have had them enlarged and framed, which was always my initial intention. (As a teacher-librarian, they'll look great in my school library.)

Well, the pics finally turned up today, in our flurry of cleaning up in preparation for having the carpets steam cleaned. (In the interests of good planning, Jack threw up on the carpet today; what's the bet he does it again after the steam cleaners depart?)

Anyway, here's the long-awaited "Alice in Wonderland" statue photos, including closeups of the March Hare, the Mad Hatter and the Dormouse, and the Cheshire Cat! [Photos by Steven Simpson (c) 1992; book by Lewis Carroll, 1865.]






Mmmm. I only just noticed: the Mad March Hare, host of the book's Tea Party, could be easily mistaken for the White Rabbit character here, as he's depicted with a large pocket watch.