media – Uptown Moxie

Happy Monday!

This past week I made the trek out to Astoria to visit the Museum of the Moving Image. I got so caught up in the amazing Yelp reviews, I forgot that I’m not really too much of a movie buff [read: I don’t know the difference between Clint Eastwood and Sean Connery]. Thankfully, I was accompanied by the textbook definition of a media connoisseur, so luckily he was able to break down for me everything from details of film projector extinction to why I need to add Being John Malkovich to my ever-growing “Stuff I need to watch” list.

Some of my favorite parts of the museum were seeing some of the costumes used in movies/television (pictured above is an actual Cosby sweater), this really sick thing called a strobeatrope which I can’t even accurately explain, and the text message translating game by the museum’s entry. Overall, the museum was a pretty good experience, and on Fridays after 4pm it’s donation-based (i.e. free, unless you get the mean man working the desk who basically threatens to melon-ball out your eyeballs if you don’t donate). I would especially recommend it for normal people who have an average or beyond knowledge of movies/the film industry, unlike myself. I guess I just spend my spare time surfing Buzzfeed and watching reruns of The O.C.? My poor underdeveloped brain cells.

Due largely in part to some technical, internet-related glitches (and not at all due to busyness or laziness on my part), I missed a few posting days. Sorry about that. The following was intended to be my first “Museum Monday” post (a little something I’m trying out), but it’s Tuesday… so I guess Touristy Tuesday it is?

Ever since I began my new commute [from hell], I pass the subway station advertisement for the Museum of Television and Radio twice per day. Since it sounded like something up my alley, I did a little research and found that it was renamed the Paley Center for Media a few years back, but I wanted to check it out nonetheless.

Unless you’re attending a specific speaker or screening at the building, you go up to a room and basically watch TV for 90 minutes. They have a bunch of old (and new) programs and clips archived and easily accessible through their computers. I’d imagine this would have been a lot more unique in the days before YouTube, but I was still able to surface some cool footage I would never have otherwise searched for on the web. Conan O’Brien’s first monologue, old footage of Elaine May and Mike Nichols, a feature on Lucille Ball and an interview with Jerry Seinfeld from the 80’s were some of my picks.

What am I reading?

Uptown Moxie (formerly known as Little Girl and the Big Apple) began as a way to document my crazy adventures when I moved to NYC as a young college graduate freshly plucked from an Ohio cornfield.

These days, I reside in Chicago and write when I can (which is never as much as I’d like). I utilize this as a place to tell stories, write about my passions, and share photos of whatever I capture when I have my camera on me (which is also never as much as I’d like). In the past five years, everything has changed and nothing has changed.

And because I sense your curiosity through the screen – it's called Uptown Moxie because Christie Brinkley is my alter ego and while I’ve seen Lost in Yonkers exactly once (and coincidentally have been lost in Yonkers exactly once), it left a lasting impression.

Tag: media

Museum of the Moving Image Visit

Paley Center Visit