Tonight! Christmas at Rockefeller Center!

The ceremony begins at 7PM and the actual lighting of the tree will take place at approximately 8:55 PM.  The telecast will begin at 7PM for New York City tri-state residents, and, the National broadcast will begin at 8PM on WNBC New York. The tree is a 74 foot Norway Spruce that was donated from the yard of Peter Acton, a 9/11 first responder at Ground Zero.

Hosting the 2010 Christmas in Rockefeller Center celebration are Al Roker and Natalie Morales.  Special celebrity guests include:

• Susan Boyle
• Mariah Carey
• Sherly Crow
• Josh Groban
• Jessica Simpson
• Annie Lennox
• Katherin Jenkins
• Charice
• Kylie Minogue
• Jackie Evencho
• Radio City Rockettes

ABT's NUTCRACKER

Over the next few weeks  I decided to update on holiday events happening round NYC. First off is ABT's Nutcracker Choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky. ABT took off their entire fall season to prepare for this. I'm icredibly sad I cannot attend, but it sounds amazing with a live orchestra and costumes designed by Tony Award-winner Richard Hudson (The Lion King). I hope you're able to attend. 
http://www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=2497

Alvin Ailey at NY City Center

I have tickets in a couple of weeks to go see Alvin Ailey at the NY City Center! To celebrate the 50 years they've been dancing Revelations, one of the best pieces of choreography I've ever seen, they're expanding the cast to 50 dancers. Check out the video to the second section of Revelations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_emeASlSa2E&feature=related

http://www.nycitycenter.org/tickets/productionNew.aspx?performanceNumber=5805

Social Media Info Graphics

Created by Annelise Bryda 11/15/10

Gavin Creel At Birdland

If there are any fans of the musical, Hair, out there, Gavin Creel has one more show to go at Birdland one November 15th. It was a nice intimate show and he was casual with the audience. I was unfamiliar with his music and absolutely loved it! The songs vary in style, but a lot are about love and sexual orientation. His cover of "I Kisses a Girl" was absolute perfection! Check out his website below and the link for Birdland. Birdland has a broadway series that runs every Monday.

http://gavincreel.squarespace.com/
http://www.birdlandjazz.com/

Inspiration for info graphics

Nokia / 3G Video Ringtones

I really liked this video for nokia created by universal everything! check it out at their site!

http://universaleverything.com/#/UE143

NY Art Book Fair

This weekend is the NY Art Book Fair resented by Printed Matter at MoMAPS1. This is one of my favorite annual events in the city! Free and open to the public, the Fair hosts over 200 international presses, booksellers, antiquarian dealers, artists and publishers from twenty countries, offering the best in contemporary art book publishing. If you love books and zines this is a must for you! Make sure to bring some money so you can take some home with you!


http://nyartbookfair.com

All About Maps

Here are some examples of maps I've been looking at for my senior thesis on mapping life. Enjoy!

The Hard Nut

I am so happy to say I have tickets for The Mark Morris Dance Group's Hard Nut this season. It's the first time in eight years it is being performed on stage. This 60's Comic Strip version of the Nutcracker is supposed to be hilarious and entertaining. If you're looking for something fun and different to go see this holiday season I would suggest The Hard Nut. Check out the link below. (I also love the print design and advertising... so different compared to a "normal" Nutcracker poster.)

http://markmorrisdancegroup.org/performance_calendar

New "vintage" posters

I really like these posters that were created to look vintage. I think The American poster is especially well done.

Gap is keeping original logo, thank goodness

After coming out with their horrible (IMO) new logo, Gap is going to stay with their original in the blue box. Here is the statement issued on the Gap Inc. website:

GAP LISTENS TO CUSTOMERS AND WILL KEEP CLASSIC BLUE BOX LOGO

STATEMENT FROM MARKA HANSEN PRESIDENT OF GAP BRAND NORTH AMERICA

“Since we rolled out an updated version of our logo last week on our website, we’ve seen an outpouring of comments from customers and the online community in support of the iconic blue box logo.

“Last week, we moved to address the feedback and began exploring how we could tap into all of the passion. Ultimately, we’ve learned just how much energy there is around our brand. All roads were leading us back to the blue box, so we’ve made the decision not to use the new logo on gap.com any further.

“At Gap brand, our customers have always come first. We’ve been listening to and watching all of the comments this past week. We heard them say over and over again they are passionate about our blue box logo, and they want it back. So we’ve made the decision to do just that – we will bring it back across all channels.

“In the meantime, the website will go back to our iconic blue box logo and, for Holiday, we’ll turn our blue box red for our seasonal campaign.

“We’ve learned a lot in this process. And we are clear that we did not go about this in the right way. We recognize that we missed the opportunity to engage with the online community.  This wasn’t the right project at the right time for crowd sourcing. 

“There may be a time to evolve our logo, but if and when that time comes, we’ll handle it in a different way. “

http://www.gapinc.com/public/Media/Press_Releases/med_pr_GapLogoStatement10112010.shtml

Original logo

attempt at re-branding

Map of Life

My professors told me to look this up for my senior project. I absolutely love the design!
http://www.feltron.com/

New Technology good or bad?

I watched this about a year ago and decided to try and find it again. Some of the things they demonstrate with this technology is amazing, but it's scary to think about what could happen to social media. Being able to get information on a product is one thing, but a person standing in front of you... privacy invasion?

http://www.ted.com/talks/pranav_mistry_the_thrilling_potential_of_sixthsense_technology.html

SYTYCD NYC!

Thursday night I went to the SO You Think You Can Dance tour performance at Radio City and absolutely loved it! They performed all of the favorites plus a couple new ones. I thought Kent and Lauren dancing Travis Wall's Prom dance and going into My First Kiss was such a clever decision. Some of the commentary they gave from the stage sounded a little too scripted ( cough cough Ashley cough), but some of them such as Dominic were funny as ever. I was surprised to find I didn't like Lauren's live performance as much as seeing her on tv, but thought Billy looked better live on stage. Kent is Kent is great where ever you watch him! I was happy to see a guest appearance by Alex Wong! I need to go stalk him around NYC sometime! All in all it was a great show. Here's a reminder of one of the many amazing dances they performed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlRulUDxbWU

Star Wars 3D!

Star Wars is back and is in 3D! George Lucas has decided that 3D has become refined enough (thanks to Avatar) to re-release his epic saga in 3D. Planned to be released in chronological order, The Phantom Menace will be out first, possibly b 2012! I can easily say the Star Wars movies are my absolute favorites and I can't wait to see them again on the big screen. I could see some die-hard fans being upset at the transformation of the original 1970's trilogy, though.
http://www.starwars.com/movies/saga/announce3d/index.html

Last Day for Figment on Governor's Island

Sunday, Oct. 3, is the last day to go play mini golf and see the sculpture that make up the Figment exhibition on Governor's Island. It's supposed to be a nice day so go take a ferry over and spend some time outdoors :).

http://figmentproject.org/2010/long-term-exhibitions/figment-minigolf/

Miami Art Museum Design

I love this logo and campaign for the Miami Art Museum. 

Promises, Promises: great acting, ok music

I went to the broadway show Promises, Promises earlier today. Sean Hayes was absolutely hysterical in it and Kristen Chenoweth gave her usually solid performance. I left however with no desire to want to buy any of the songs from the soundtrack except maybe I Say a Little Prayer and A House is Not a Home. Check this video of the amazing opening choreography!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWwR2FOqGUI

My adult playtime :)

This summer I decided to try an adult gymnastics class at Chelsea Piers and absolutely love it! It's a good workout (you do lots of conditioning), but you get to practice skills on the tumble track and by jumping into a foam pit! Check out there adult gymnastics site

http://www.chelseapiers.com/fh/adult-gymnastics/

New Dollar Bill Design...

Does our currency need another design update? Take a look at some of the designs for a new dollar bill.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/16/15-amazing-new-designs-fo_n_719913.html#s141131

I feel like this design works more as a history flashcard than as a form of currency. Isn't the fact that it represents $1 important, yet it is easy to miss.

This reminds me of old war posters. I think it's too simple for currency... counterfeiters would have a field day. This design is all about what it represents. There is no mistaking this is a $10 bill.

Mao's Last Dancer

I can't believe I haven't seen this movie yet! I've only found it playing at two theaters in NYC right now, but it looks amazing. Dance sequences are choreographed by Graeme Murphy, who has been the Artistic Director for the Sydney Dance Company. http://www.maoslastdancer-movie.com/flash.html

Sunday at Broadway on Broadway

This year's Broadway on Broadway was just as great as past years! Luckily the rain held off during the show! Here is a photo of the lovely "ladies" in La Cage aux Folles.

Broadway on Broadway on Sunday!

Broadway on Broadway is one of my favorite events in NYC! Tomorrow Sept. 12th go check out the festivities in Times Square! Get there early if you want a good spot. Below is a photo of a number from Chicago when I was close to the stage two years ago.
http://www.broadwayonbroadway.com/