An animated version of New York City shows a timeless quality

by Jamie Rhein on

No matter how many ways New York City is depicted in film, there is always another view that offers a surprise. Here is a link to a video by New York artist and filmmaker Jeff Scher. He writes the blog The Animated Life for the New York Times. As he says about this particular 2:06 minutes of visual artistry he created in 1975, there is a timeless quality about New York.

What Scher made more than 30-years-ago looks similar to the essence of New York City today. That’s not true about many places.

A few years ago when I was on a six-hour walking tour of Cleveland, I thought about how that city had changed since the 1960s when the Terminal Tower was the 2nd tallest building in the world. It was the world that Ralphie of A Christmas Story went to on his visit to Santa Claus. Higbees where Ralphie gazed in the window at animated wonder has long closed. Downtown Cleveland on a Saturday morning along Euclid Ave. is not a crackling place. I really love Cleveland. I really do. I’d live there if I didn’t live here. But if you did a video 30-years-ago of Cleveland, it would not look the same as today’s version–at least not if you shot it downtown. Maybe it would, if you squinted and imagined people.

Scher’s vision of New York City is a jazzy rendition of a city that no matter what happens has a constancy that one can count on year after year. Jeremy is capturing much of it in his weekly series “Undiscovered New York.” Plus, Scher’s film is a cool art piece besides.

The photo is from another one of Scher’s blogs, Reasons to Be Glad. The blog has other shots of New York City that are examples of the variety of intersting angles out there.

A few years ago when I was on a six-hour walking tour of Cleveland, I thought about how that city had changed since the 1960s when the Terminal Towers was the 2nd tallest building in the world. It was the world that Ralphie of the movie A Christmas Story went to on his visit to Santa Claus. Higbees where Ralphie gazed in the window at animated wonder has long closed. Downtown Cleveland on a Saturday morning along Euclid Ave. is not a crackling place. I really love Cleveland. I really do. I’d live there if I didn’t live here. But if you did a video 30 years ago of Cleveland, it would not look the same as today’s version–at least not if you shot it downtown.

Scher’s vision of New York City is a jazzy rendition of a city that no matter what happens has a constancy that one can count on year after year. Plus, it’s a cool art piece besides. The photo of a bus and a taxi is another Scher creation and a feature of his blog “Reasons to Be Glad”.

Cleveland International Film Festival: One Day in Africa

by Jamie Rhein on

The Cleveland International Film Festival, from March 19-29 is the largest film festival in Ohio. That’s merely one reason to attend this kaleidoscope of images and stories from around the world.

The other reason is that Brook Silver- Braga will be at the premiere of his film One Day in Africa. Brook wrote the Gadling series Across Northern Europe. Back in January, I wrote a post about Brook’s film and he promised to keep me up to date about the schedule. Now the news is out, and he has added the details to the One Day in Africa Web site.

I’ll be at the screening on Saturday, March 28th at 9:15 a.m. There is an earlier showing on Thursday, March 26th at 7:25 p.m.

Along with Brook’s gem are dozens of others that span subject matters and countries. I’m going to the preview party this Friday in Columbus at the Wexner Center for the Arts so I can give you a heads up on what other films to look for.

In the meantime, here’s a link to the complete film listing and schedule. To help wade through the offerings, some are divided out as being teen friendly.

If you do head to Cleveland, the film festival takes place at Tower City. Take some time to go to Terminal Tower, the original part of the building. First of all, the art deco atrium is stunning. Terminal Tower was the 2nd highest building in the United States in the 1960s after the Empire State Building. The Prudential Building in Boston took its 2nd place status away from it.

Cleveland International Film Festival

by Jamie Rhein on

When snow dumps in massive amounts, one wonders about the events that happen once a year that require people to attend for a success to happen. Our friends moving back to Japan had two people show up for their moving sale. We managed to slide down their street to pick up a dresser we bought from them.

This past week a mega event started in Cleveland. We won tickets but weren’t able to head north since even heading down our street was questionable. Since this event is continuing through this week and next weekend, here’s a heads up. The Cleveland International Film Festival is a chance to see films that often don’t get noticed and a chance to see creativity at work when the dollar a movie can make is not necessarily the reason to make it. Each day offers a wide variety of choices.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Cleveland, going to this festival could not be more convenient. It’s being held at Tower City, a shopping mall with various eateries that is connected to Terminal Tower. If you park in the garage, you don’t have to step outside once. Although, I do recommend heading over through the mall to Terminal Tower which was once the second tallest building in the world in the early 1960s. The architecture is gorgeous. If you go out onto Euclid Avenue, you’ll see the Soliders and Sailors Monument in Public Square a few steps away. Parking for the film festival is free.

Dubai is Getting Taller in One Spot

by Jamie Rhein on

Dubai’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai has finally reached the height of being the tallest one in the world, and it’s not finished. Now it stands at 1,831.5 feet tall (555 meters), just a bit taller than the CN Tower in Toronto (1,824.9) which was the largest free standing structure. The once tallest building, the Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan, lost it’s first place standing in July. Oh, well. In order to make sure it stays the tallest, the developers of the Burj aren’t saying how tall it’s going to be. Now, that’s tricky.

As countries clamor to make sure they are noticed by the rest of the world, I expect we haven’t seen the last of the let’s build a really tall building. Height could mean might–that’s the theory anyway. For now the United Arab Emirates has the honor.

Once I wrote a physics factoid for a textbook that explained what makes tall buildings able to withstand a stiff breeze. Even though I understand the principles, I get heart flutters when I get too high off the ground, although my sunglasses did fly off the top of the Carew Tower in Cincinnati when I looked over the wall. Oooops. Here’s something you may not have known, until 1964, Terminal Tower in Cleveland was the 2nd tallest building in the world after the Empire State Building until it was surpassed by the Prudential Tower in Boston.

Here’s an easy to understand article at How Stuff Works that explains how skyscrapers work and how their height is determined, ie, the actual height vs the number of floors.

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Cleveland’s Fame on NBC’s 30 Rock

by Jamie Rhein on

Okay, so Cleveland was poked fun at a bit on this Thursday’s 30 Rock episode, but what great Cleveland footage.

The Cleveland premise was this: Alec Baldwin’s character and his new fiancé went to Paris for a wonderful romantic trip away, so as a parallel story, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) and her new boyfriend went to Cleveland for their own romantic get-a-way. This ought to bring a boost to Cleveland tourism since the footage did show Cleveland from a variety of flattering angles, even though Clevelanders’ weight was used to get laughs. The idea being that anyone living in the Midwest is overweight. Harumph! Other than that, and Liz ‘s and her boyfriend ‘s comments on the smell of the air, as if the Cuyahoga River is still polluted–it’s not– the show did an admirable overview of Cleveland’s landmarks.

Here’s what would be on a 30s Rock Tour according to what I saw on the show:

  • First stop, Terminal Tower, a gorgeous building with Art Deco designs, and once, the second tallest building in the world.
  • Jacobs Field, home of the Cleveland Indians baseball team. There’s no better view of Cleveland than perched high up in the cheap seats.
  • Rock and Roll Hall of Fame– Worth several hours. I still haven’t seen it all since I always get caught up in the section where you can put on headphones and listen to tunes from each decade.
  • Good Time III – a boat cruise up the Cuyahoga River that winds under several of Cleveland’s bridges. Each bridge moves in a different way to allow large boats to pass through.
  • Soldiers and Sailors Monument– Cleveland’s.tribute to war veterans. Look for the display about the similarities between the death of Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.

I don’t know where Lisa and her fiancé were eating, possibly a restaurant in the Warehouse District, now a hot spot dining location. I’ve never eaten in the Warehouse District since our favorite eatery is The Flat Iron, a what was once an Irish neighborhood hotel /cafe in The Flats. Try the pierogies. Of course, since they are dumplings of sorts filled with mashed potatoes and cheese then sauteed in butter, they aren’t exactly diet food.

The 30 Rock website has a Guide to Cleveland with an interactive map.