Alexandra Charitan

Mar 2

Mar 2 Happy Friday!

Things that happened recently:

On Thursday the Met ↑ began charging full admission to anyone who is not a New York resident or student from New York, New Jersey or Connecticut. The ticket is now good for three days, and includes admission to the Met, the Met Breuer and the Cloisters. A lot of people are unhappy with the new policy, including artist Ai Weiwei, who vowed never to go to the Met again because charging full price to non-New Yorkers is "like taking the jacket off a poor person."

David saved a recent issue of the New Yorker for me so I could read this article about modern day polar explorer Henry Worsley's incredible Antarctic journeys. I'd never heard of Worsley before, but I've been interested in polar exploration ever since I read Endurance, an excellent book about Shakleton's famous voyage.

I mentioned it at the end of this post, but I recently started a Society6 shop. There are tons of fun roadside attraction prints over there, and if you ever see a photo of mine that you'd like as a print, don't hesitate to ask!

Things to do this week:

Today is the opening of the David Bowie Is exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum and tomorrow is the first day of the annual Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden. I am going to try to get to both in the next few months, but here are some photos from the past five orchid shows if you're already dreaming of spring: 2017 // 2016 // 2015 // 2014 // 2013

Tonight, The Morgan Library and Museum is hosting a screening of the John Waters/Divine classic, Pink Flamingos. We paid our respects to Divine in Baltimore back in October, but I would love to do a re-watch of the entire Divine oeuvre.

After a movie marathon on Saturday, I'll have seen all of the Best Picture nominees, so you better bet I'll be watching the Oscars on Sunday. I don't have the space to throw a viewing party, but if I did, I would be making this piñata, printing these fun ballots and making cookies with this.

Things I've discovered recently:

In the '80s, the Public Art Fund commissioned "Wheatfield—A Confrontation" on the site of a landfill in Battery Park. The 2-acre wheat field was just two blocks from the World Trade Center and eventually yielded more than 1,000 pounds of consumable wheat. I often wish I had been able to see New York during the '70s and '80s (watching this is as close as I'll probably get) but in reality I probably would have been terrified and constantly mugged.

I love a lot of the art commissioned for subway posters but I never knew that you could buy prints until I looked up Ryan Peltier and found that his Edward Gorey-like illustration was available from the New York Transit Museum Store (I bought one, and now I just have to figure out where to put it).

I started reading this book after my friend Lindsey suggested it and I'm loving it so far. I read Rebecca when I was in high school and fell in love with Daphne du Maurier's gothic storytelling, but I have no excuse why it took me so long to read another of her novels. Lindsey also sent me this article, which made me love du Maurier even more: “What a pity I’m not a vagrant on the face of the earth,” du Maurier wrote in her diary at 21. “Wandering in strange cities, foreign lands, open spaces, fighting, drinking, loving physically. And here I am, only a silly sheltered girl in a dress, knowing nothing at all — but Nothing.”

Tomorrow I'm doing this five movie marathon to catch up on all of the Best Picture winners at the AMC in Times Square (thoughts and prayers that I don't get bedbugs). The day starts at 10:30 am with Dunkirk, followed by Darkest Hour, Call Me By Your Name, The Post and Get Out. This might be the first time in my life that I'll have seen all of the Best Picture nominees before Oscar night so I'm looking forward to watching on Sunday night. My prediction is that Three Billboards will win, but I'm rooting for The Shape of Water.

When I first moved to the city, I frequently did solo double features, so I'm no stranger to spending most of the day in a movie theater. The most movies I've ever watched back-to-back in a theater is three, but I've already seen The Post and Get Out, so I can leave early if I'm feeling over it. There are three of us participating, so we need to coordinate our snack plan—thankfully the art of snacking is something at which we all excel. I'm also hoping to fit in a diner breakfast before we get started, and I have TBD brunch plans on Sunday. I hope you have a great weekend, and enjoy the Oscars, if you'll be watching.