Museum Walking

Day 90

First, let me say Tim Burton is one very weird dude. Think Dr. Seuss meets Pixar films and James Ensor with a little bit of Jack the Ripper thrown in, and you might be able to come up with a few images of the maudlin, tortured, twisted, beautiful, fanciful figures and characters that inhabit Burton’s films and apparently much of his waking mind.

Second, let me say I completely disagreee with NYTimes critic Ken Johnson’s assessment of the Burton show currently on view at MOMA as “…a letdown.”

My college-age daughter — a huge fan of Burton’s strange and macabre films like Corpse Bride and Edward Scisssorhands — and I, who prefers his more lighthearted, non-animated Big Fish movie, braved the holiday crowds at MOMA yesterday to take in the Burton exhibit. It was fascinating, gory, and mesmerizing. Using everything from stop-action backyard film clips Burton and friends made in high school, a hand-written note and illustrated story boards young Burton sent to Disney Studios in the mid 1970s, strange poems and sketches for such odd characters as Shell Girl, Robot Boy, MellonHead,  Corpse Bride and more, straight through to film costumes, figurines representing the multitude of oddly assorted characters from his many movies, and a number of paintings and  illustrations, as well as plot treatments and script notes, the MOMA show proved to be enjoyable and engaging despite the crowds.

It made my 2 hour walk seem like a stroll through the graveyard. Or a walk in the haunted cemetary. A day at the morgue. More fun than a barrel of Beatlejuice (another Burton film)

When it’s cold and the kids are home from college and you don’t want to miss out on either walking or family time together, a day at a museum can be just the ticket. And speaking of tickets, if you plan to see the Burton show, I suggest you buy your timed admission tickets a day ahead.

AND JUST FOR THE RECORD, that is ME in the red spotlight. Taken at MOMA. I adore art that invites viewer participation.

 

Monday Walking Tips

Day 89

I’m back, and I’m on a Mac*.

Yes, fellow walkers, my computer crashed and burned, my sneakers were soaked and smelly, and my kids insisted we unplug Electric Santa even as he was happily belting out holiday greetings to all who walked through our door on Christmas Eve. And I — well, I took the road less travelled by this week. Here’s what I learned.

* If you don’t have a chance to walk on Christmas Eve day, it’s okay to drink half a dozen a few Old Cubans and walk to the ten o’clock candlelight service to meet your pals in the back pew. Just be sure you bundle up, because that rum in the Old Cuban is going to thin your blood.

* If you go for a walk with your sister-in-law in the driving sleet the day after Christmas, be sure to wear a long coat and the new waterproof Merrells your husband put under the tree. Because you’re going to be cold as hell if you don’t. And of course, that damn rum has gone and thinned your blood.

* If you walk with your daughter on the third day of  Christmas, be sure you leave the house before 3:30 — otherwise that sun is going to be setting before you reach the end of your hour march through the woods. And that rum you drink to warm up afterwards is going to thin your blood.

* If you decide to see the Tim Burton exhibit at MOMA (more on that tomorrow), and want to count those two hours of museum strolling as your BigWalk, you might want to also walk from the museum to the Port Authority afterward. And you might want to bundle up. Because (yes, yes, please join me)… that rum is going to thin your blood!

* If your blood hasn’t been thinned by an Old Cuban yet — my New York Times’ holiday drink of choice this year — you ought to hurry up and mix yourself one before the New Year arrives.  And if these don’t seem like GREAT walking tips to you, well then…that rum just hasn’t thinned your blood. Yet.

*Yep, that’s a MacBook. Patience, please, while I’m learning!

 

Storey from the Strip

Day 84

The strip of Vegas, that is…

While the rest of us were fumbling with snow boots and digging hats and gloves out of the attic, MyBigWalker  Storey was in sunny Vegas, doing the strip and having a grand old time.  Here’s what she reports from that sunny tract of hotels and forever-holidays West of the Mississippi:

“Eight of my closest girl friends from college planed a trip to Las Vegas because we’re all turning 50 in 2010. We had a late night and agree to go to the gym early Friday morning.

After about a half hour of weights and tread mills I couldn’t take it another minute. It was 50 degrees and sunny and I had to get outside.

With a bit of a hangover and the wind at my back I took to the street at a brisk walk. This city had a rhythm and I found myself running ( I am not a runner). There were stairs and an overpass about every three blocks that crossed over the strip, I could see the whole city and even the mountains in the distance. The sights were amazing, I ran past “Paris,” “New York,” “The Pyramids,” Caesars, Elvis’, fountains, and strip clubs.  I got the feeling that people were staring at me wondering how anyone could be running so early after spending a night in Las Vegas.

I was wondering that myself.

But I was pumped.  I was dodging pedestrians, bounding up flights of stairs and feeling like Rocky Balboa. I stopped to snap a few pictures of Sin City while crossing over the street on the pedestrian overpass. I was invigorated beyond words. My enjoyment of this  ”walk” was fabulously unexpected and with an open mind and a pumping heart (Vegas is at over 4,000 feet above sea level) and a huge smile on my face, I enjoyed the view! Viva Las Vegas!”

 

Walking the Aisles

Day 83

Ok the holidays are getting to me.

I have one sister who’s gone incommunicado and one who lives too far away to see for Christmas. That’s not to diminish the in-law family, which is won-der-ful. But still.  I spent 5 — yes FIVE — hours shopping today, spent $#&!$*^%!$ in the grocery store and the mall, and came home to find the kitchen was a mess, there was a double batch of brownies burning in the oven, and I had no tin foil — which, if you cook the way I do (line the pan, bake, throw the foil away with the mess)  is almost as bad as being out all day and coming home to find you’re out of milk, coffee, and toilet paper.

Hey — I said ALMOST.

Worst of all, I was forced to count my 2 hours of walking through Costco and the Willowbrook Mall as my walking time. I will make it up over the next few days, adding an extra 20 or 30 minutes onto each walk until I’ve made up the true pedestrian time I’ve missed. But that walk outdoors has become something I count on to clear my head.

My salvation today is Storey, who is writing tomorrow’s first guest post. She’s been walking in Vegas (far, far better than walking the aisles, I am sure), and there are some sights to  to see there. Now if only I could start mixing those Christmas Eve cocktails tonight… like my foul-mouth friend Suzy here: