#natural history museum alive screening 13

[world-of-wales]

CATHERINE'S STYLE FILES - 2013

11 DECEMBER 2013 || The Duchess of Cambridge along with Prince William attended the screening of David Attenborough's 'Natural History Museum Alive 3D' at Natural History Museum in London.

[pellicano-sanguino]

The Long Carmilla Post 2 - Return of the Long Post about the Queen of Lesbian Vampires

When Tumblr tightened its policy about censoring nudity, they targeted a long post I'd made about Carmilla, since I showed photos of Ingrid Pitt and Yutte Stensgaard with their bare breasts in it. I have now censored the post, edited it and added a little. Carmilla is my favourite vampire of all time, and I have a long history with her different incarnations, so I wanted to bring the Long Carmilla Post back.

When I first posted the Long Carmilla Post, I had just seen the movie made by the Carmilla webseries folks. The sudden fame of the webseries surprised me. I can't help but think, that there must be a lot of new Carmilla fans, who instantly think of Natasha Negovanlis when they hear that name. If this series had been around when I was a teen, damn, would I have loved it! I would have been obsessed with it. But it was not, and I can't really become as obsessed with it now as the new fans do. Because when I hear the name Carmilla, several different faces appear in my imagination. I have already been obsessed with Carmilla from a rather young age, and while I love the webseries and this movie, for me it's just one of Carmilla's newer incarnations, not her default form.

I don't want to sound like a hipster (”I liked Carmilla before the webseries made her cool!”), I just thought that as a lesbian vampire lover I should make a post about my favourite vampire, and the history I have with the character.

There are some images of blood under the cut.

When I was younger, there really wasn't any lesbian litterature around (well, there probably was but I didn't know what books to search). I had a habit of switching genders in the books I read, making everyone female so I could get the girl romances I craved for, but this always felt forced and not ”real.” I read lots of vampire stories, because I've always loved that genre, but it was very much dominated by stories of male vampires. When I read Dracula, it had a short introduction speech that talked about the history of modern vampire stories, and it mentioned Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla.

Tracking the novella down was a bit hard, considering that back then I didn't have internet and so could only read books that I found in the library and bookstores. Fortunately the translation of Carmilla was included in one horror anthology that our library had. I managed to get my hands on it, and this cover illustration was the first ”face” of Carmilla that I knew.

I can't really put a finger on why I became so obsessed with this story. It's not that great of a novella. A very basic old-timey vampire story about a monster who threatens the life of the protagonist, who is saved when the monster's true nature is revealed, after which it is hunted down and destroyed. And the lesbian subtext is very, very subtle. There was just something very mysterious and fascinating about Carmilla. She is still among the few vampires who actually frighten me. Though Le Fanu's story isn't very scary by modern standards, Laura's nightmare scenes somehow got under my skin. There's something very creepy in the way vampires in older stories used to steal blood from their victims while they were sleeping. The idea, that there exists a predator who instead of straight up attacking its prey, approaces it by a cover of flawless mimicry, is horrifying. You are being slowly eaten alive and you're not even aware of it happening, or that it's your charming friend doing it to you.

I started having dreams about Carmilla. The first ones were nightmares, but even if they were scary, they didn't make me anxious, just excited. I was scared of Carmilla, but I wanted to see her, I wanted to hear her voice. It was as if I had fallen under her spell, much like Laura, but unlike Laura, I was aware of her true nature. I knew what she wanted, I knew that in my dreams, her kisses would lead to bites. But to a young lesbian who loved vampire stories, those kisses were worth losing a few drops of blood in the dream kingdom. She was one of ”my people.” She was not a genderswapped male hero, she was ”real.” She genuinely loved women and blood, and I loved her.

Halloween isn't really celebrated where I live, but one October a friend of mine decided that she'd hold a Halloween party (which became a yearly tradition for us for many years to come). She invited a group of her friends to watch horror movies at her house, and everyone should wear a costume. There was no competition what I would go as. I had a light blue dress that I decorated with blood stains, and over it I wore a dark gray cape, on which I had painted purple flower patterns to make it resemble the coat Carmilla wears on the cover illustration. It must be almost twenty years old, but I still have that cape.

Little Pellicano as Carmilla. I think I must have been 13 or 14 when this party was held.

Then I saw my first Carmilla movie. A Hammer film called Vampire Lovers.

This is a very silly movie. Very cheesy. But young Pellicano loved it. I can still quote many of the scenes from memory. The movie follows LeFanu's novella rather loosely, but I think it's one of the most faithful adaptations. It included the basic ”plot” that Carmilla uses to get close to her victims, has the nightmares (including Carmilla's monstrous cat form), keeps the plot point that she must form her new names anagrammically and makes her killer be a man who lost his daughter to the vampire. So far I think it's the only movie version that includes the scene where Carmilla sees the funeral procession of a girl she killed and loses it completely. I've always found that scene interesting, many claim that her fit of anxiety is caused by hearing the chanting (being unholy creature who's weak to christian things) but I think it's more than that. Either she has horrifying flashbacks to her own funerals (waking to vampirism and having to claw her way out of her own grave, that would scar me for sure) or she is genuinely sorry for killing the girl and terrified of having to face the truth that her love will always end in death.

I want to interpret Carmilla as a vampire who really loves her victims, not as playthings but as real lovers. But she wasn't a reluctant vampire either, she embraced the monstrous side of herself. It was natural to her, and so it was inevitable that the women she loved would eventually die. Maybe she preferred to ignore this knowledge in the daytime, and when she was forced to see what her night time activities had resulted in, the fit of anxiety happened.

A bit off topic, but one scene from the novella that I've never seen make it into a movie, is when a wandering salesman offers his dentistry services to Carmilla, offering to file down her fangs, which sends Carmilla into a fit of rage. I don't know, I always thought that scene pretty funny. Poor guy, offering to de-fang a vampire and getting a HOW DARE YOU rant in response.

So, the next ”face” of Carmilla was obviously Ingrid Pitt. While this movie wasn't particularly explicit (all the sex happens off screen), the lesbian subtext was much less subtle, which pleased young Pellicano. And then there was the infamous bathing scene (would show pics, but gotta censor for Tumblr. You can easily find them by image googling.).

When I was younger, I suffered from being underweight for a long time (had always been a small girl). Seeing Ingrid Pitt's figure motivated me to try to gain weight. She was so beautifully soft and curved, not just her chest, but her shoulders and legs and everything just looked so smooth and nice, while I had thin, pointy, stick-like limbs with sharp edges and none of that lovely roundness. I know teens should not look at celebrities and actresses as body models, but I think having Ingrid Pitt's shape as body goal was healthy for me. I never reached that goal, of course, but I did eventually reach normal weight limits (50kg, the weight needed for blood donors).

That friend of mine, who hosted Halloween parties, watched the movie with me and knew that I was obsessed with Carmilla. One day she got me a fake gold necklace with a red plastic gem on it, shaped like a blood drop. I don't know where she got this trinket from, but it was similar to the pendant Carmilla wears in the movie, and even if it was just cheap junk, I treasured it. And totally wore it during the next Halloween party, going as Carmilla like I always did. I've lost the gold chain, but I still have the gem.

Also still have the VHS. I don't know why I've kept it, I have no VHS player anymore.

Before I move on from Ingrid Pitt, I’d like to mention a pet peeve of mine. Ingrid Pitt has done two vampire roles (three if Elisabeth Bathory from Countess Dracula is counted). The more famous role is obviously Carmilla, it’s probably her most famous role ever, period. Her other vampire role is Carla Lynde from House that Dripped Blood. Now, the thing that annoys me is that article writers tend to always mix these two up. Whenever they write something about Carmilla or female vampires in general, they always mention Ingrid Pitt’s role as Carmilla in Vampire Lovers, but they always use the same damn stupid promo photo that is from House that Dripped Blood. That’s lazy research! Do they just image google “Ingrid Pitt vampire” and fail to check if the photo they use is actually from the movie they’re talking about?! The roles don’t even look identical, Carmilla’s a brunette while Carla Lynde is blonde, Vampire Lovers is set in 1800s, House that Dripped Blood is set in 20th century. The worst one was when the museum in my home city had a vampire themed exhibition and even they used the wrong photo for Vampire Lovers. If a museum can’t get their facts straight, that’s just sad.

Here is an example of my pet peeve in action, an article about vampire movies, using the wrong fucking photo for Vampire Lovers. And yes, I know why they like using this particular photo (”höhöhöö boobs, I’m so mature”). But that just makes me more angry when they do it.

Hammer made a sequel to Vampire Lovers called Lust for a Vampire. It was...  disappointing. It introduced a male love interest for Carmilla, which in my opinion was complete bullshit. If you want to make a story about a female vampire who falls in love with a human boy, by all means make it, but don't call it Carmilla, call it something else. That being said, there were a good amount of lesbian action going on as well (this time Carmilla plotted her way into an all girls' school...) and if there's one thing Hammer rarely fails at delivering, it's the bucketloads of unconvincing bright red fake blood. I skipped the icky het sex, but always enjoyed this scene:

Yeah, Yutte Stensgaard was the third ”face” of Carmilla. When I think of that name, this blood-covered, sleepy-looking vampire maiden is among the images that instantly pop into my mind.

The third Carmilla movie I saw was titled just Carmilla and starred Meg Tilly.

This was clearly a cheaper (maybe made for TV) adaptation. Meg Tilly didn't leave as big an impression as Ingrid Pitt and Yutte Stensgaard did. But I do remember one line from the movie clearly. When Marie (the southerner ”Laura” of this version) asks about Carmilla's past, Carmilla brushes it aside by saying ”That was another lifetime. I'm much happier now.” I adopted this phrase into use. Whenever people are unknowingly asking about a painful thing from my past that I don't want to talk about, I will say it to let them know that nothing good comes from digging old wounds that have already scarred. That was another lifetime. I'm much happier now.

I do remember that Meg Tilly's Carmilla was the movie with the ”awkward floaty blood drinking pose.”

I'm sorry, but that just doesn't look comfortable. Or functional.

Then the big day came – my family got a computer that could access internet. It was an awful piece of junk that could barely be used for writing emails and visiting messageboards. It wouldn't play videos, loading images took forever and big pictures often made it freeze. However, I had access to the internet now. The first word I ever googled was obviously ”carmilla.” Among the sites I found back then, was one about a German play, starring a woman called Ulrike Schneidewind.

The site had big, beautiful promo photos of the play. They took forever to load, but I returned to watch them often. There was something captivating in Ulrike Schneidewind's look for Carmilla. I'm not usually a fan of vampires with the white face+red lipstick+loads of mascara-look, but hers was beautiful, like a painting, like a creature that really wasn't human.

I don’t know if they used fake blood in the actual play or if it was only for these promo photos, but it looks incredibly pretty and surprisingly convincing.

I have no idea what this demon looking thing is supposed to be - Carmilla’s monstrous cat form maybe?

Ulrike Schneidewind became the next ”face” of Carmilla, even though I have never seen her act. All I've seen are these promo photos of the play (I have heard her speak. There's a couple minutes long news clip on Youtube about a vampire lifestyler event she attended). Supposedly there exists a VHS of the Carmilla play they performed on a Romanian tour, but they must have only made a handful of those, since I've never seen it on sale anywhere. I check the German eBay every now and then in faint hopes of finding a copy but I've come to accept that I'll probably never see this show. But still, Ulrike Schneidewind's look left an impression on my mind.

Around those times I started to draw comics in which my self-insert character shared a house with six vampire roommates (Carmilla, who owned the house, Brunhilda from Wake Not the Dead, Teresa from Last Lords of Gardonal, Ruthven, Dracula and Francis Varney) and an OC named Charity (Brunhilda's donor and girlfriend). I mostly pulled the designs for my vampires out of thin air, really (well, Dracula was as he was descrided in the novel, with fuzzy moustache and bushy eyebrows) but Carmilla's design was based on Ulrike Schneidewind's look, with blue veins shining through the white skin and lots of dark makeup and black hair.

Sad part is that it's been over ten years and my drawing skills have not improved at all. This is not ”art” this is doodles. But drawing these was super fun back then, so I shouldn't feel ashamed of them now, I think.

Besides these comics, I wrote some fanfics too. But I'm very glad I never put those anywhere public, because damn, they are embarrassing to read now. It's because my fanfics were actually serious business, full of drama and sturm und drang, and they turned out rather cheesy. Also full of, ahem, erotic content written by someone who had no personal experience on the subject yet. The comics on the other hand were just made for shits and giggles, and I think they've survived the test of time better (by which I mean, that I have actually shown my comics to other people, because occasionally I think I made a fun one, while I've never shown my fics to anyone and have already burned the worst ones.).

When the wonderland of internet was opened to me, I gained access to all the books in the world. I was no longer restricted by what our library and book stores had, I could buy stuff that wasn't published here. So obviously I got a copy of Kyle Marffin's Carmilla sequel. It's not a very good book. Quite silly, childish and badly written (men really shouldn't write about lesbians, they know nothing about them and enjoying an erotic scene becomes rather hard when you imagine some gross het dude writing it while drooling on his keyboard). But it was the first time I read a rather explicit lesbian sex scene, and that got me very excited, because finally all the subtext was thrown to garbage. Here it was, black on white, proof that Carmilla was into girls, not just their blood but their bodies as well. My late discovery of lesbian erotica may seem weird now, when anyone can gain access to mountains of lesbian smut in the internet, but back when I lived with my parents I never dared to look up smut on the home computer, in fear that they'd find out. Until I moved out, my only access to lesbian erotica was books, and Carmilla's Return was the first one I got.

Rant time: I might also add, that annoyingly enough I had been encountering explicit het sex scenes in books, movies and TV years before. And while I never intentionally searched naughty stuff on the net, I had bumped into het porn there accidentally as well. I wonder if heteros understand how freaking frustrating this kind of thing was. Their smut was all over the place, in every book, every film and all around the net, pretty much rubbed to my face, while MY stuff was so obscure I didn't even know where to look for it. And then they had the nerve to claim that we are ”flaunting it” and ”making it all about ourselves” whenever there was a gay sidecharacter somewhere. Grr. Grrr. Rant over.

I bumped into some incarnations of Carmilla later too, but none left an impression on my mind like these early ones did. The worst Carmilla I ever saw was the main villain in Lesbian Vampire Killers. That movie is easily the worst vampire movie I have ever seen (maybe even the worst movie I've seen, period), it's an ”erotic horror comedy” that is neither sexy, scary or funny. It is nice that when they were thinking of a character to star in a movie about lesbian vampires, they chose Carmilla. But the movie is such utter garbage, I'd rather they'd left my favourite vampire out of it. Save your money and sanity -  don't watch this movie. It's bad.

I feel like a lot of time people want to take Carmilla's name and make a whole new character with it (like Reimi Urara's character in Vampire Succession, who is named Carmilla but isn't even a vampire at all). These ”Carmilla in name only” kind of characters don't count, and frankly speaking I'm not that fond of them. I guess it is nice that people want to pay respect to the legendary vampire by naming a character after her, but my opinion still is that if you don't want to tell the story of a lesbian vampire, call your character something else. If you take away either of Carmilla's two passions; that of women or that of blood, the character loses her trademark characteristics and stops being ”real.” You don't make a Godzilla movie where the king of the monsters isn't allowed to have his trademark atomic breath, and you don't make a Carmilla who doesn't love women and blood.

Now that I have said that, you probably guess my opinion about the (*spoilers*) ending of the webseries's third season. Yeah, I wasn't a fan of humanizing Carmilla. So, I went to see the movie with rather low expectations, and was pleasantly surprised. This movie is more Carmilla than all of the webseries's seasons together.

But let's speak about the webseries first. I was very positively surprised by it. One day I ended up googling Carmilla again (was probably looking for fanfics) and discovered this little gem. It had very little to do with Le Fanu's original, but what it decided to change was so good that I didn't care. And it had still lots of little nods to the novella. Carmilla's anagrammical names, the nightmares, they freaking included Laura's governesses De Lafontaine and Perrodon (I would totally watch a spin-off that just follows the adventures of Laf and Perry) and there's even a scene where Carmilla is watching over sleeping Laura, looking a bit similar to a famous illustration of the novella. Also, the theme song ”Love will have it's sacrifices”, is a direct quote, from a scene where Carmilla is describing to Laura the night when the curse of vampirism was passed on to her (of course, she doesn't out right say it, but the reader knows what she's talking about).

”--- I was all but assassinated in my bed, wounded here," she touched her breast, "and never was the same since."

"Were you near dying?"

"Yes, very--a cruel love--strange love, that would have taken my life. Love will have its sacrifices. No sacrifice without blood.---”

I'm not going to say the webseries doesn't have its flaws, a little lazy writing here and there, plot holes and inconsistent characters occasionally (I feel sorry for Danny. She just can't win.). But it was incredibly entertaining, it made me laugh and it made me care about what happens to everyone. And like probably a lot of the fans, I adored the fact that they didn't dance around the lesbian thing. When Laura understands that Carmilla's advances weren't blood-related, her reaction isn't any dumb ”But we're both girls, how can this be?!” Whoever understood to make Laura gay too was a genius. When she gets all flattered and blushing after learning that a beautiful girl finds her attractive, it's such a relatable feeling. It's the lesbian romance I so wanted as a teen! Not stories of a predatory lesbian seducing dumb clueless het girls to the dark side, but girls experiencing all the usual things female leads in romantic stories do, only with another girl as their love interest.

The first season of the webseries is my favourite. The second was pretty good, too. Third, in my opinion, a bit unnecessary (here I think you could see the writing starting to slip). Then came the movie.

They could have completely abandoned the vampire theme and proceeded with the heroes' further adventures. But they didn't and thank goodness for it. They return to draw inspiration from the original source; the novella. We have nightmares, and I admit they actually made me uneasy, reminding me of that creepy feel Laura's dream scenes gave me in the novella. The image of Carmilla laying down in a coffin filled with blood is also from the story. There's a scene where Carmilla is forced to reveal her vampiric nature, and it really reminds me of the scene where it happens in the book.  

And they freaking quote it, probably being the first adaptation ever to use straight quotes from the book. ”Die together so they can live together”-speech isn't quite right word-to-word, I think, but still, it's an identifiable quote. I used to be able to quote the ”You are mine, you shall be mine”-speech in English, Swedish and German, but have now forgotten most versions (yeah, I read Carmilla in several languages when I was younger. I was freaking obsessed with the story). I still think it's the most memorable quote from the novella. Also, the book-reading scene with ”Girls are caterpillars who undergo several larval stages before becoming butterflies”-speech is also from the novella. I think the only famous quote missing in this movie is the ”I've never been in love and never shall unless it should be with you”-speech.

As a fan of the ”old” Carmilla I adore how they pay homage to the origin respectfully, while still making their very own story. Again, teenaged Pellicano would have been all over this stuff. But I had to make my lesbian vampire stories from other versions, and while those also have their flaws, I adore them just as much. I am just happy that Carmilla lives on, not forgotten and left in the shadow of the countless more famous male vampires (seriously, where the fuck are all the female vampires? Ones that are actually main characters in their story and pass the freaking vampiric Bechdel test?)

Carmilla lives on, indeed. She has made a new comeback in Netflix's Castlevania series. I watched the first season and liked it quite a bit. It was a bit too gorey for my personal taste, but that wasn’t a dealbreaker. I liked the art style and was interested to see where they take the story. When I heard rumours that the second season would have a character named Carmilla, my reaction was pretty much “Carmilla is part of the Castlevania franchise?! Why did no one tell me this before?!”

Of course I’m always eager to see new adaptations of my favourite vampire. So, I did some research to know which games she appears in, made some popcorn and sat down to watch some Let’s Play videos (I’m not a gamer and don’t own game consoles so the only way I get to experience videogames is through Let’s Plays in Youtube.). But I ended up rather disappointed. Carmilla in the Castlevania games is cartoonishly silly at best, downright insulting to the original at worst.

So, after seeing how poorly the games treated my favourite vampire, I looked forward to the second season of the Netflix series with mixed feelings. I was hopeful, thinking that they can't go anywhere but up from here. And I was pleasantly surprised. The character design made her a bit silly looking with eeeevil face and her body language is very femme fatale-ish (I don’t really see the appeal of the femme fatale trope, but then again, it’s usually written for male audience), but they didn't put her in an ugly, revealing costume and the camera focused on her face instead of her breasts.

It's disappointing that she isn't a lesbian in this one (she makes one joke that hints she might be into girls too, but because Dracula's war council is mostly one big sausage fest, we don't see her interact with other females much).

I am so, so happy that the makers of the show understood that Carmilla is not some boot-licking notice-me-senpai Dracula fangirl (an aspect of her I loathed in the games). The only reasons for a lesbian vampire to ally with a male one are if they have a common goal (such as defending themselves against vampire hunters) or if she has no other choice. Netflix Carmilla is the latter. Dracula is a powerful, dangerous monster, who is also very much insane and therefore unpredictable. When he summons Carmilla to join his senseless crusade against humankind, Carmilla can't afford to refuse and take the chance of the mad vampire king killing her for disobedience and making a warning example of her. She has to go to war she herself deems pointless (well, Godbrand had a point in his ”If vampires kill all the humans, what will the vampires eat?”-speech.). So she begins to plot to prevent the genocide (she actually wants humankind to keep existing as opposed to wiping them from the face of the Earth, remind me again why she is the one every fan hates while they love Dracula the Kill All Humans-madman? Oh right, she assaults one of the male fan favourite characters on screen and is therefore deemed much more evil than Dracula who slaughters countless innocent humans offscreen without mercy. Got it.).

I love that she uses cunning instead of seduction when putting her plot to gain freedom from Dracula's servitude in action. Admittedly, some of the scenes where she's manipulating Hector seem a bit seductive-ish, but are still nothing compared to the ”Oh great master let me lick the blood off your sword!”-bullshit from the games. Also, was I the only one who could see right through her mindgames? Every time she complimented some man, I was shaking my head ”Lady, even blind Reetta can see that you are full of shit.” So it really surprised me when Hector fell for it. How do you fall for such an obvious trap?

I like that Carmilla's reasons for her schemes are reasonable and based on common sense and war strategy rather than just being evil for the sake of being evil. That being said, the scene where she beats Hector felt unnecessary, the man was tied up and would have gone with her even without getting his ass handed to him, because he's a prisoner and has no choice. I understand that it's an important scene symbolically, tying back to the scene where the animal-loving Hector compares vampires to cats, to which Isaac points out that cats play cruelly with their prey. It's a turning point for Hector, who abandoned humanity and tried to find a new family among monsters only to realize that they are, well, monsters. What did you expect voting for Leopards Eating Peoples' Faces Party would bring to you? Anyway, I understand that the scene is important to the plot and character growth, but I can't help but feel that making Carmilla assault a fan favourite character so brutally was the writers way of making sure the audience hates her. I have a feeling that they want to be sure the audience hates her, because they have something disgusting in mind for her for the third season.

I already talked about this in my ”If you have to kill female vampires on screen, please don't make it look like a rape”-post. I am worried what they are going to do with Carmilla. She's obviously going to get killed, but I hope they allow her to go down with dignity. Lords of Shadows 2 already gave us a really disgusting, rapey killing scene (I’ve only seen one killing scene with an even clearer “lesbianism can be cured by rape”-theme, in Lesbian Vampire Killers where Carmilla is impaled by a dick-shaped sword), we do not need another. I don't want Hector or Isaac or Dracula impaling her body slowly and looking downward at her in disgust as she painfully dies. Yes, Dracula will be coming back, it's Castlevania after all. I'm also worried of the possibility that instead of killing her, they make Dracula force her back into his servitude, which would also be super gross.

I am happy that the character of Carmilla lives on, that new fans get to experience her with these new incarnations, but whenever a new Carmilla surfaces, I am also a bit worried at how they are going to handle her character this time. I will have to wait and see how the third season of Castlevania ends, until then it is useless to speculate.

[i-am-very-very-tired]

Where do I start? That’s a question I hear quite often from recent transplants who have just moved to Los Angele and are now looking for a pathway to getting to know the city of angels. With that in mind, I tried to put together a collection of things to do that would be accessible, relatively inexpensive, and also provide a variety of perspectives and experiences through which to gain knowledge of the area. While it’s impossible to do everything in L.A., you can at the very least tackle to-dos that let you see just how diverse our city is. It is, after all, the wondrous variety of possibilities, all in ultra-close proximity, that makes living here so unique. One thing I can say confidently: If you experience all 21 of these activities within your first 365 days living in Los Angeles, you may never want to leave. Now get to it!

1. Visit the Griffith Observatory

Truly, one of the crown jewels of the city of Los Angeles. At the observatory you can look through telescopes, explore exhibits, see live shows in the Samuel Oschin Planetarium, and check out spectacular views of Los Angeles and the Hollywood Sign. There’s even free WiFi! While the planetarium shows have ticketed costs, general admission (and parking) is free and they also host many free events every month, such as the public star parties or All Space Considered. Just keep in mind it does get crowded here, especially on the weekends, and they also revamped their public parking to include fees.

2. Eat an In-N-Out Burger

If you just moved here you owe it to yourself to try SoCal’s most iconic hamburger brand. And if you’re feeling like going all out, make sure you order a few items off the secret menu

3. See a Show at the Hollywood Bowl

Pack a picnic, invite a date and go to (in my opinion) THE signature outdoor concert venue of Los Angeles, originally built in the 1920’s and home to the L.A. Philharmonic for over 90 years. Check the 2017 summer schedule to see if there’s a concert that may tickle your fancy. [BONUS: Keep in mind The Hollywood Bowl is also an awesome public park you can visit for free during the day. See video below for more on that!]

4. Go to the Getty(s)

Not only do the Getty Center and the Getty Villa in Malibu house some of the most amazing art collections you can find in L.A. (or anywhere in the world), but they’re also spectacular examples of L.A.’s architectural excellence, and in the case of the Getty Center, offer an amazing viewpoint to look eastward on the expanse of our city.

Best part?

Admission to the Getty Center is free (but keep in mind parking is $15). For the Villa, admission is also free but an advance timed-entry ticket is required (parking is also $15).

5. Walk Along Venice Boardwalk

A stroll on the Venice Boardwalk will offer a lens into array of colorful characters, eccentrics, and unique attractions, not to mention sometimes it’s just nice to take a stroll near the beach and enjoy the ocean air. Here’s one blogger’s account of her first visit ever to the boardwalk.

6. Hike to the Hollywood Sign

I’m always surprised how often I talk to long-time residents (like 10+ years) who have never made their way up to Mt. Lee to see the sign up close. You can get there via Bronson Canyon like we did, or take one of several other routes. However you arrive, trekking up to above the sign is something every Angeleno should do at least once. If the sign doesn’t interest you, we’ve also documented 9 other great hikes around L.A. with NO trail fees and NO parking costs. Enjoy!

7. Experience The Downtown Art Walk

Every second Thursday of the month see downtown Los Angeles come alive in a vibrant blend of art, community, culture and food known as the DTLA Art Walk.

8. Get to Know L.A.’s Backstory at the Natural History Museum

One of the permanent exhibitions at the Natural History Museum is called ‘Becoming Los Angeles’ and it documents a 500-year story about how our little region of SoCal has evolved from a tiny pueblo to an expansive metropolis. If you want to really understand how L.A. became L.A., this is a great place to start. Oh, and you can go check out Dinosaur bones afterwards!

9. Check out KCRW Summer Night’s

KCRW’s free signature outdoor event series that’s awesome for all-ages. Here’s the complete 2017 schedule of concerts (check back in the speing for the 2016 lineup).

10. Taste the Best of the SGV at a 626 Night Market

The premier asian-food themed night market in the United States (or at least the biggest), the 626 Night Market is a must-try, especially if you don’t regularly hang out in the San Gabriel Valley (gives you a great excuse to head over there!).

11. Hunt for L.A.’s Best Food Trucks

Jump on the food truck craze, whether as a dinner destination or a late-night jaunt. While your food trucking options are many in the city of angels, Christina narrowed it down to 10 of her favorites to give you a nice starting point. And if you love international flavors, check out this fantastic list.

12. Have a Beach Day

At least once in your first year in L.A. you just need to plan an all-out beach day. Maybe you plan a meal around it, or maybe you head up the coast to check out some of Malibu’s finest sandy spots, but whatever you do don’t be that guy (or girl) who has lived in Los Angeles for more than a year and never been to the beach!

13. Cruise Grand Central Market

Even if you don’t partake in the food at Grand Central Market  (and you should!), just wandering around and admiring the vibrancy and variety will be an enjoyable experience. But if you really need an excuse to head over, check out their game night (every Thursday) where you can not only grab great food at the nearby vendors but also partake in ping-pong, cornhole toss, Jenga, Uno, Cards Against Humanity, Scrabble, and more.

14. Go to a Rooftop Bar

What better way to chew the scenery of Los Angeles than with a delicious cocktail and a spectacular view? Here are the 10 best rooftop bars in L.A. (assuming you’re of age).

15. See an Outdoor Movie Screening

What better way to take advantage of the incredible L.A. weather than to enjoy an outdoor movie screening with thousands of your fellow angelenos. That said, there are many options.

Here are a few series you might want to consider…

Rooftop Cinema Club

Eat|See|Hear

Street Food Cinema

Moonlight Movies at the Beach

Silver Lake Picture Show

16. Go to an L.A. Farmers Market

What better excuse to explore L.A. (and eat a bit healthier) than to check out some our city’s finest farmer’s markets? We put together a quick list of 7 of our favorites to get you started, along with links and resources to other markets all over the city you can peruse. Want more? Here’s a handy day-by-day list of Farmers Markets in L.A.

17. Take a Metro Art Tour

Did you know that Metro offers free, regularly scheduled docent led group tours of the artwork in the Metro Rail system? It’s a great way to get to know our city’s public transit system, which ought to come in handy if you just moved here.

18. Picnic at Barnsdall Park

The Barnsdall Art Park is an 11 acre park featuring gorgeous views of the observatory and Los Angeles as a whole, along with being home to the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Hollyhock House. It’s also just a really nice spot to pack a picnic lunch, a blanket and chill on a sunny afternoon. And if you’re a fan of the vino, check out the Friday Night Wine Tastings that take place at Barnsdall over the summer.

19. Hang out at a First Friday Event

Whether it’s going to an art walk, sampling delicious food trucks or checking out a free night at a museum, first Friday events (including in Venice Beach and Bixby Knolls in Long Beach) are a great way to connect to your local community and get out to do a little exploring.

20. Visit the Rooftop Garden at the Disney Concert Hall

Did you know there is a hidden rooftop garden at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown Los Angeles? The garden is surrounded by the curves and and exterior of the hall and decked out with lush landscape centered around an intricate mosaic blue rose fountain dedicated to the late Lillian Disney (Walt Disney’s wife).

21. Leave a Note at The Wisdom Tree

One special tree at the summit of Burbank Peak survived a devastating 2007 wildfire up in the hills and today some hikers visit the spot to leave diary-style notes in ammo boxes that reside below the tree while others just meditate for awhile or simply enjoy the amazing view. Write your own note, and document how you felt about your first year in the city of angels.

What did you do your first year living in Los Angeles? Let us know in the comments below!

[a380flightdeck]

FOR A WHOLE HOST OF REASONS, airports are often bewildering, maddening places. There is much to be found in the modern-day terminal to enrage, confuse, or vex the traveler. Where to begin?

The following list was inspired by a layover I spent not long ago at Incheon International Airport (ICN), serving Seoul, Korea. Not to take away from perennial survey-toppers like Amsterdam’s Schiphol or Singapore’s Changi Airport (amenities at Changi include a movie theater, a swimming pool and a butterfly garden), but Incheon stands as the most functional, attractive, and overall flyer-friendly airport I’ve ever visited. It’s cavernous and immaculate, with a cathedral-like calm throughout. Security and immigration are a breeze; international transit is effortless. The staff at the multilingual information desks are disarmingly helpful. Amenities include free internet, free showers, luggage storage, cellphone rental desks, a post office and massage facilities. Relaxation areas, with sofas and easy chairs, are set away from the main thoroughfares.  There’s a cultural center, a museum, and a full-service hotel inside the secure zone, allowing those with extended layovers to rent a room without the need to clear immigration. Or, if you’re feeling energetic, a tour desk arranges free excursions to Incheon city. If you’re headed into Seoul, the airport’s high-speed rail connection will have you downtown in under an hour. Why can’t every airport be like this?

FIFTEEN THINGS NO TERMINAL SHOULD BE WITHOUT:

1. A fast, low-cost public transportation link to downtown.

In a way, choosing a favorite airport is like choosing a favorite hospital: amenities aside, nobody really wants to be there in the first place, and the easier and faster you can get the hell out, the better. To that end, every terminal should have a public transport links similar to those across Asia and Europe. The examples of Portland, Oregon and Washington-Reagan notwithstanding, rail links in the United States aren’t nearly as convenient – when the exist at all. Or how about JFK, where for hundreds of millions dollars they finally got the AirTrain completed — an inter-terminal rail loop that connects only as far as the Queens subway. It can take 45 minutes, up and down a Rube Goldberg assembly of escalators, elevators and passageways, just to get from one terminal to another, let alone all the way to Manhattan.

2. In-transit capabilities

It’s a shame that American airports cannot, for whatever reasons, recognize the “in transit” concept. In the United States, all passengers arriving from other countries, even if they’re merely passing through on the way to a third country, are forced to clear customs and immigration, collect and re-check their luggage, and pass through security screening. It’s an enormous hassle, unheard of in most of the world. And it costs our airlines millions of annual customers. Why change planes in the US, where you’ll have to stand in three different lines, be photographed and fingerprinted, re-check your bags and face the TSA gauntlet, when instead you can transfer seamlessly in Frankfurt or Dubai? Indeed this is part of what has made carriers like Emirates, Singapore Airlines, and others so successful.

3. Complimentary wireless internet

What do we do at airports? We kill time. And there are few better and more productive ways of killing time than logging on to the Web. Send an email to your mistress, read my blog, Skype your friend in Slovenia. Many, if not most major terminals do have Wi-Fi access, but it’s often expensive and cumbersome (few things in life are more irritating than those credit card payment pages). It should be everywhere, and it should be free.

4. Convenience stores

It appears the evolution of airport design will not be complete until the terminal and shopping mall become indistinguishable. I’m okay with Starbucks and souvenir kiosks, but it’s the saturation of high-end boutiques that always confounds me. Apparently there isn’t a traveler alive who isn’t in dying need of a hundred-dollar Mont Blanc pen, a remote-control helicopter or a thousand-dollar massage chair. And what’s with all the luggage stores? Who on earth buys a suitcase after they get to the airport? What we really need are the same sorts of things we buy at CVS or the corner convenience store: basic groceries and dry goods, stationery, and personal care items. Brussels and Amsterdam are two that do this right, with in-terminal food marts and pharmacies.

5. Power ports

I didn’t realize that passengers have a right—nay, a duty—to mooch electricity from their carrier of choice, but at this point it’s a lost cause to argue. I hope your battery isn’t dying, because good luck finding an outlet that isn’t hooked up already to somebody’s iPhone or computer. Airlines should throw in the towel and build more charging stations.

6. Showers and a short-stay hotel

Another amenity that is common overseas but sorely lacking in North America.  No serious international terminal should be without a place to wash up or crash for a few hours. Passengers arriving from overseas can shower and change before their next connection. Those with longer waits can grab a nap in one of those pay-by-the-hour sleeping pods.

7. Play areas for children

Truth be told, airport play areas encourage toddlers to shriek and yell even more than they already do, but at least they’re doing it in a localized area that’s easy for the rest of us to avoid. Ideally, this spot should be in a soundproofed bubble six miles from the airport, but a space at the far end of the concourse is a reasonable alternative. The Delta terminal in Boston has a pretty cool kidport, but nothing tops the “Kids’ Forest” at Amsterdam-Schiphol. I’d play there myself if nobody was watching.

8. Better dining options — i.e. fewer chain restaurants

Chick-fil-A, Burger King, Sbarro’s. Airport cuisine isn’t a whole lot different from the shopping mall food court. We need more independent restaurants serving actual food, ideally with a local bent.

The next time you’re at LaGuardia, check out the Yankee Clipper restaurant over at the Marine Air Terminal. That’s the circular building at the far southwest corner of the airport, with the art deco doors and flying fish relief along its rooftop. Yankee Clipper is a cafeteria-style place on the left-hand side of the rotunda. It’s good greasy spoon food with absolutely no corporate affiliation. The Marine Air Terminal was the launching point of the first-ever transatlantic and around-the-world flights, and the restaurant’s walls are decorated with historic photographs. You can eat in, or take your sandwich out to one of the wooden benches beneath the famous James Brooks “Flight” mural. Commissioned in 1952, Brooks’ expansive, 360-degree painting traces the history of aviation from mythical to (then) modern, Icarus to Pan Am Clipper. Its style is a less than shy nod at Socialist realism, and at the height of ’50’s McCarthyism, in a controversy not unlike that surrounding Diego Rivera’s famous mural at Rockefeller Center, it was declared propaganda and obliterated under gray paint. Not until 1977 was it restored.

9. An information kiosk

Where is the Yankee Clipper restaurant? Where is the nearest ATM? Where is the nonexistent subway link to the city? Every arrivals hall ought to have personnel who can give directions, hand out maps and make change.

10.  A bookstore

Reading on planes is a natural, am I right? Why then is it so hard to find a proper bookstore at an airport? (Not all of us pre-load our reading material on a Kindle.) Not long ago, every major airport had a proper bookseller. Nowadays they are harder and harder to find, and usually what passes as a bookstore is really just a newsstand hawking a thin selection of business books, thrillers and pop-culture trash. Believe it or not, travelers’ tastes extend beyond Sudoku, Suze Orman, and the latest CEO autobiography.

11. Sufficient gate-side seating

If the plane at the gate holds 250 people, there ought to be a minimum of 250 chairs in the boarding lounge. There is something uncivilized about having to sit on the floor while waiting to board. Do we sit on the floor when waiting for a table in a restaurant, or at the doctor’s office? When Changi was built in Singapore, the gates were outfitted with no fewer than 420 chairs, matching the number on the average 747.

12.  Escalator etiquette

Americans haven’t figured out how to behave on an escalator. If you’re not in a hurry, stand on the right and enjoy the ride, allowing those of us with a flight to catch to walk on the left. Instead we stand in the middle, hogging up both sides.  Ditto for moving sidewalks. The point of the moving sidewalk is to expedite your passage, not to indulge your laziness. You’re not supposed to stand on it, you’re supposed to walk on it. And to take yet another page from the Europeans and Asians, what prevents us from fitting escalators and sidewalks with a light-beam trigger that shuts off the motor when nobody is on them? Ours run constantly, riders or no riders, wasting huge amounts of energy.

13. A view

Why are so many architects intent on hiding the fact that airports are actually airports? Gateside seating always faces away from the windows, and the windows themselves are sometimes intentionally opaqued or obstructed by barriers. Why? Penty of people would enjoy the opportunity to sit and watch the planes go by. You needn’t be an airplane buff to find this relaxing, or even a little exciting. As a bonus, more windows mean more natural light — always welcome over harsh fluorescents.

14. Bring back the airstairs!

Have you ever taken a good look at a jet bridge (or Jetway to use the proprietary term), that strange umbilicus connecting terminal to fuselage? One thing to notice is how ridiculously overbuilt they are. Do we really need all of that metal and cable and wire and hydraulics for what is, at heart, a simple gangway?

Of course, I am opposed to jet bridges on principle. I prefer the classic, drive-up airstairs. Some of the international stations I fly to still employ those old-timey stairs, and I always get a thrill from them. There’s something dramatic about stepping onto a plane that way: the ground-level approach along the tarmac followed by the slow ascent. The effect is like the opening credits of a film — a brief, formal introduction to the journey. By contrast, the jet bridge makes the airplane almost irrelevant; you’re merely in transit from one annoying interior space (terminal) to another (cabin).

Save your emails. This is just me being romantic. The benefits to the jet bridge are obvious — inclement weather, disabled passengers, etc. – and I realize there’s no going back.

15. Last but not least, some aesthetic flair

If an airport has one aesthetic obligation, it’s to impart a sense of place: you are here and nowhere else. On this front, Europe and Asia again set the standard. I think of Lyon and its magnificent hall by Santiago Calatrava, or Kuala Lumpur with its indoor rainforest, and a dozen places between, where terminal design is a point of expressive pride — where it makes a statement, be it quietly stylish or architecturally stupendous.

Take the magnificent Suvarnabhumi airport (pronounced “Su-wanna-poom”) in Bangkok, Thailand. Its central terminal is the most visually spectacular airport building I have ever seen. At night, as you approach by highway from the city, it looms out of the darkness like a goliath space station — a vision of glass and light and steel, its immense transoms bathed in blue spotlight. Or for sheer character, try the little airport in Timbuktu, Mali. Here you’ll find a handsome, Sudanese-style building emulating the mud-built mosques ubiquitous in that country.

With scattered exceptions (Denver, San Francisco, Washington, Vancouver), there is nothing comparable in America. To the contrary, some of our most expensive airport renovations have been terrible disappointments. JetBlue’s wildly overrated home at JFK, for example. Terminal 5 – or “T5” as the carrier likes to call it — is a $743 million, 72-acre structure that opened in 2008 to considerable promotion and fanfare. Inside, the atrium food court and rows of shops conspire to make yet another airport feel like yet another mall. The Wi-Fi is free, and so is the noise and claustrophobia at the overcrowded gates. But it’s the exterior that’s the real tragedy. Although the street-side facade is at worst cheerless, the tarmac-side is truly abominable — a wide, low-slung, industrial-brutalist expanse of concrete and gray. Once again it looks like a shopping mall.  Or, to be more specific, it looks like the back of a shopping mall. All that’s missing are some pallets and dumpsters. The facility’s only visual statement is one of not caring, a presentation of architectural nothingness, absolutely empty of inspiration — precisely what an airport terminal should not be. Is this the best we can do?

It’s ironic that Eero Saarinen’s landmark TWA “Flight Center” sits directly in front of T5, itself part of the JetBlue complex. The TWA building is supposed to serve as an entryway lobby and ticketing plaza for T5, though for now it remains semi-derelict and only partly renovated. I wish they’d finish the thing so that more people could appreciate what is arguably the most architecturally significant airport terminal ever constructed. Regarded as a modernist masterpiece, the Flight Center opened in 1962 and was the first major terminal built expressly for jet airliners. Saarinen, a Finn whose other projects included the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the terminal at Washington-Dulles, described his TWA as “all one thing.” The lobby is a fluid, unified sculpture of a space, at once futuristic and organic. It’s a kind of Gaudi inversion, a carved-out atrium reminiscent of the caves of Turkish Cappadocia, overhung by a pair of cantilevered ceilings that rise from a central spine like huge wings.

And just to the north of T5 used to be the National Airlines Sundrome, designed by I. M. Pei. It opened in 1970 and was named in honor of National’s yellow and orange sunburst logo and its popular routes between the Northeast and Florida. After National was folded into Pan Am, the terminal was taken over by TWA. Later it was used by jetBlue, then abandoned and torn down. Pei and Saarinen, a half-minute walk from each other. Our airports ain’t what they used to be.

Am I making too much of this? While terminal design and passenger friendliness are important, isn’t it the operational aspects of an airport—the state of its runways, taxiways, and logistical infrastructure—that ultimately matter most? Indeed, but here too the situation is worrying, as any American who travels globally can attest. Once again, it’s a funding issue. Our airports are failing, and nobody wants to pay for them.

“Other parts of the world are more enlightened in their aviation policies than we are,” said Greg Principato, North American president of the Airports Council International, speaking at a conference in 2012. He added that members of the U.S. Congress have a poor understanding of how the upkeep and renovation of U.S. airports needs to be funded. “They have a sense that airports are economically important,” he explained, “but don’t really understand why.” Principato warns that the declining state of its airport infrastructure puts the United States “at risk of being turned into a feeder system for the global aviation network.”

But let’s change gears for a minute, and move from what airports lack to something they have too much of. To me, the single most annoying thing about airports is how noisy they are. I’m not talking about the noise from jet engines. I’m talking about the in-terminal noise. I’m talking about the sounds of humanity on the move, with our shrieking kids, and our beeping electric carts, our laughing and our shouting and our cellphone chatter. All of it amplified by the sadistic acoustics of the typical terminal.

And what makes this a distinctly American problem is our peculiar infatuation with public address announcements. As we’ve already seen, there are plenty of good ideas that American airports can borrow from their counterparts in Europe and Asia, but perhaps none would be more appreciated than realizing that passengers need not be assailed by a continuous loop of useless and redundant PAs: security alerts, boarding calls, traffic and parking directives, promotional and welcome messages. You’ll often hear two or more announcements playing simultaneously. I’ve heard up to four of them blaring at once, rendering all of them unintelligible in a hurricane of noise.

Intensifying this bombardment are those infernal gate-side television monitors blaring CNN Airport Network. These yammering hellboxes are everywhere, and they cannot be turned off. There is no volume control, no power cord, no escape. Every gate has one, and they run twenty-four hours a day. Not even the employees know how to shut them up (believe me, I’ve asked).

All of this sonic pollution does not make passengers more attentive or keep them better informed. What it does is make an already stressful and nerve-wracking experience that much worse.

On a lighter note, am I the only one struck by the phenomenon of teenage girls carrying big fluffy pillows onto airplanes? I’m uncertain when this trend got started, but take a look around in any terminal, anywhere in the world, and you’ll see girls clutching big fluffy pillows.

What’s wrong with this? Nothing. It’s a great idea, especially now that carriers no longer dispense even tiny, non-fluffy pillows on all but the longest flights. In a window seat, putting a pillow between your body and the sidewall creates a comfy sleeping surface. I only bring it up because, on behalf of guys everywhere, I feel excluded. It’s unfair. Grown men like me can’t walk through airports with big fluffy pillows unless we’re willing to get laughed at. We’re stuck with those neck pillow things.

But this isn’t right. To hell with dignity, I say. It’s time to rise up and break the pillow barrier. Who will be first? I’m thinking we should organize a march — a line of men strutting through the concourse, pillows proudly in hand.  

“We’re men, we’re strong, this is true, Fluffy pillows aren’t just for you! Downy soft, pastel blues, Come on girls, let us snooze!”

Later, in the parking lot, we can high-five and toss a few of those neck braces into a bonfire. And I smell a gold here mine for airport merchants. Instead of luggage and massage chairs, why not a pillow shop right there in the terminal? No need to lug one from home when you can pick one up gate-side for just a few bucks. You’d have a choice of foam or feather, and a selection of pillowcases to pick from. To entice the guys, cases could be emblazoned with camo patterns and beer logos.

[tipsycad147]

Beginning Witchcraft: A Free 30-Day Crash Course

Are you intrigued by the idea of exploring witchcraft?

With countless books, websites, forums, traditions, holidays, and new vocabulary to learn about, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

The guide below sets simple, realistic goals that will start you down the path to a more magical spiritual life.

The ideas below are completely free, easy and perfect for beginning witchcraft as a practice in your life.

Day 1:  Set a clear goal.

What do you hope to learn by beginning witchcraft as a practice?

Would you like to know more about herbs and how to use them?

Are you interested in researching your folkloric heritage?

Maybe you want to explore a more natural lifestyle in our fast-paced, throwaway consumer culture?

Spirituality tends to be serendipitous.  You’ll likely learn a few things you didn’t expect to.  But knowing what you want out of your practice goes a long way to getting it.

Once you decide where your focus will be, you can customise these exercises to suit your aspirations.

Day 2:  Nip stereotypes in the bud.

Before you get too far down the road of the Craft, take a moment to consider what your preconceptions are.

Open a notepad on your desk top.  (Or, for those of you who still remember how to write with a pen, open an actual notepad).

Write down what comes to mind when you think of the word “witch.”:

Then, check out some common myths about witchcraft and see if any appeared on your list.

Day 3:  Notice the moon.

Is it waxing?  Waning?  Full?  Totally black?

Research the current moon phase and its meaning.

Or don’t.  Just take a moment to look up in the sky tonight and be inspired by this beautiful cosmic body.

Day 4:  Head to the library.

Your local library likely keeps books on the subject of magic and witchcraft.

If not, try looking at books with peripheral relevance, like books about classical mythology, herbalism and dream interpretation.

Pick one, and plan to read it by its due date.

Or, if you like to sit at home and curl up with your Amazon account, check out these beginner-friendly suggestions.

Day 5:  Plan a morning ritual.

Start your day on a positive note by planning a simple morning ritual.

Design it according to your preferences and what you have on hand.

Here are some clever ideas for a spiritual wake up call.

Day 6:  Learn the Wheel of the Year.

Not all witches observe the Wheel of the Year.

But it’s so frequently referenced in witch circles. blogs, books and websites that it’s worth it to know it even if you don’t plan to celebrate it.

It takes 20 minutes to memorise the holidays and dates.  Of course, learning their meanings goes much deeper, but the basic facts are enough to start with.

Day 7:  Work with colour magic.

You need not begin your experiments with spell craft using elaborate techniques and tools.

For example, try choosing a shirt to wear in a colour that corresponds to your intentions.

For common colour correspondences and other ideas about colour magic, go here.

Day 8:  Set up an altar.

Clear a small space on your dress or a bookshelf.

Or, if you want to keep it discreet, have some fun with your discretion.  One of my favourite ideas:  DIY your own secret book safe.

Choose items with meaning to you to include on your altar.  Stones or natural items found on nature walks, mementos or family heirlooms, and photographs of your ancestors all make nice additions.

Day 9:  Explore the Elements.

What Element correspondences to your birth sign?

Do something simple to get in touch with your dominant element.  Here are some ideas to get you started:

Fire Sign

Earth Sign

Water Sign

Air Sign

Day 10:  Give divination a try.

If you happen to own runes or a tarot deck, great.  Bust those bad boys out and draw for yourself.

But if not, you need not run out and buy anything.  Divination tools are, in many ways, best found in nature any way.

Here’s one that’s free and only requires you to step outside your front door:

Cloud Scrying for Beginners.

Day 11:  Research an herb you’re not familiar with.

It doesn’t have to be a super esoteric herb.

Even if you know the culinary uses of basil, try looking into its metaphysical properties.  Then, come up with some creative ways to employ it in your practice.

Day 12:  Go on a scavenger hunt in own your house.

While many new to the Craft think they need to spend a lot of money on ritual gear, this usually ends in disappointment and frustration.

I am a big proponent of starting with what you have.

Lots of everyday items may be used in magic.  Look for these common household items used in witchcraft.

Day 13:  Get kitchen witchin’.

The kitchen is the cauldron of the home and very often the jackpot of a magical household.

Start with the herbs and spices.

Choose a kitchen witch spell to try or come up with your own.

Make cooking a sensual experience.  Listen for the crackle of water on perfectly heated oil.  Inhale fragrant fresh herbs.  Enjoy the sensation of oil between your fingers or the feeling of soft dough as you knead it on the countertop.

Day 14:  Take a nature walk.

Unless there’s an active heat adviser or a hurricane, do this no matter the weather conditions.

If it’s freezing, bundle up and bring some hot cocoa.  If it’s raining and hot, consider leaving the umbrella behind and get wet on purpose.

We live so much of our lives in climate-controlled structures without so much as a potted plant.  Getting in touch with nature sometimes means experiencing discomfort.

Notice that when you endure this discomfort, you come home feeling refreshed, awake, and alive.

And if it’s nice, take your time and try some these ideas to make your nature walk more magical than mundane.

Day 15:  Reflect on what you learned so far.

You’re halfway there!  If you dedicated yourself to this 30-day exercise, you likely learned some things you didn’t know before and have a better grasp on where you want to go.

Take a look at the goal you set at the beginning of the month.  How much closer do you feel to achieving it?

Day 16:  Explore your heritage.

Your ancestors practised witchcraft, whether you know it or not.  If you reach back far enough in time, no matter where your bloodlines originate, someone, somewhere used something that anthropologists classify as folk magic.

Curious?  Do some digging!  If you already know where you came from, start there.  If not, call up your oldest living relatives and ask them where their people came from.  Old people love to talk about their family history.  Take advantage of this!

Day 17:  Assess your relationship with the Earth.

How much time do you spend in nature?  How much of that time is interrupted by your screens?

Are you conscientious about things like land conservation and recycling?

If you’ve never thought about these things, don’t feel bad.  Our culture doesn’t do a very good job of instilling a respect for the natural world.

Don’t know where to start?  Check out 10 Ways to Live Closer to the Earth for some easy suggestions.

Day 18:  Go on a witchy field trip.

You pick the destination.  Here are some suggestions:

-Visit an occult shop.

-Attend a Unitarian Universalist church (where witches are generally welcome)

-Find a quiet stretch of parkland to meditate.

-Go to a museum that features exhibits on local folklore and history.

Day 19:  Purge.

Go through your closets, drawers and dusty shelves.  Clear out cluttered corners where the energy is stale.

Give everything a clean sweep.

Make a pile of things to drop off at goodwill.

Then, open the windows, boil a pot of water on the stove with a cleansing herb or two.  Use whatever you have available (see Day 13).  Try one of the following:

-Lemon, orange or lime peel

-rosemary

-garden sage

-a few drops of essential oil

-pine needles

Let the water soft boil for an hour.

Enjoy the raised vibrations of your happier home!

Day 20:  Meditate before bed.

Start with 5 minutes, and then work up to 10 or 20 gradually. Trying to clear your mind completely as a beginner really frustrates all even people with years of meditation practice.   I find that in the beginning, guided meditation helps a lot.

My favourite is this one by Kelly Howell (you need headphones for best results).

Day 21:  Try something seasonal.

Preferably, an authentic local experience.

Gather wildflowers or evergreens by the roadside.  Bake something using seasonal ingredients.  Visit a local farm and ask about what’s growing there.

Get back in touch with the natural world.  Check in with it just like you’d check in with any other category of current events.

Day 22:  Explore sun magic.

While there seems to be an abundance of emphasis on the moon in modern spell work, the sun is also useful!

Read about the creative ways to use the sun in witchcraft.

Either watch the sunrise or the sunset today.  Notice that taking the time to observe its majesty lifts your mood and clears your mind.

Day 23:  Check the news.

No, not the mainstream political pundit talking heads on CNN.

Look into some alternative publications that feature news about witches.

The Wild Hunt has an excellent reputation for professional journalism.

Day 24:  Plan out your next full moon.

Go look up the next date of the the full moon.

Make some solid plans to celebrate it.

Check out 25 Ways to Celebrate the Full Moon for some creative suggestions.

Day 25:  Try chanting.

There’s a reason nearly every folk culture in the world uses some form of chanting in spiritual practice.

Look up some chants.  Find sources you can actually listen to.  Try one that’s appropriate.

Or, just choose a word or phrase that you find empowering.  Find a quiet space and repeat it over and over.

This is a powerful way to still the mind and focus your intentions.

Day 26:  Start a dream journal.

Access your deepest thoughts, fears and desires by beginning a dream journal.

Your dream journal need not be fancy.  A simple composition book works.  You can usually pick one up for less than a dollar.

However, I recommend keeping it low-tech and avoiding writing down your dreams in digital format.

Dreams are best recording at the very first moment of waking, and screens tend to disrupt your natural sleeping/waking process.

For more on working with dreams, check out Dream Work for Beginners.

Day 27:  Decide on some personal ethics.

Your morals and boundaries are personal.

No one gets to decide for you what is okay and not okay.

Before you go further, decide what your limitations are and promise to respect them.

For example, if negative spells make you uncomfortable, don’t do them.

Never feel pressured to engage in any spiritual practice that runs contrary to your beliefs.  Anyone who refuses to respect your space doesn’t deserve a place in it.  Period.

That goes both ways.  Respect the right of others to decide what’s okay for them and what’s not okay.  Never rope someone into a ritual who expresses reservations or hesitation.

Day 28: Take a cleansing bath for the soul.

Or shower.  I know bathtubs aren’t a thing everywhere.  Either way, do something to make it special.

Light candles, play soft music, make your own sugar scrub.  Be creative.  Think outside the box.

You can even use colour magic by dying your own bathwater.

If you prefer, keep it basic and try using self-massage techniques.   Or simply visualise negative energy draining with the water at the end.

Day 29:  Write your own spell.

It’s time to start putting what you learned to use.

Try not to be intimidated by spell writing.  Don’t get caught up in the “right way” to do things.

Use your intuition to choose ingredients, timing and other elements that support your goal.

For a basic framework, check out How to Write Your Own Spell.

Day 30:  Try levitation.

Just kidding.  You can’t levitate.

Well, you can, but only in a zero-gravity situation.  So unless you happen to have access to an electrostatic vacuum chamber, you’re stuck with the current conditions of unaltered gravitational pull.

Hopefully, your journey over this 30 days has dispelled some of the more ridiculous misconceptions and gave you a realistic glimpse into the world of witchcraft.

But really, it’s only the jumping off point.

You’re launched.  Get flying.

https://moodymoons.com/2018/12/26/beginning-witchcraft-a-free-30-day-crash-course/?subscribe=success#blog_subscription-3

[faucetbacon84-blog]

Saturday, December 8 & Sunday, December 9: Mansion Tours, Cookie Crawl, TubaChristmas + 99 More

What are your favorite free & cheap things to do during winter in NYC? Share your thoughts here.

Today’s Events—Saturday, December 8

2018 BUST Holiday Craftacular + School for Creative Living (Through Sunday, December 9) Brooklyn Expo Center, Brooklyn

2018 Gracie Mansion Holiday Open House Gracie Mansion, Manhattan

Choose From 50+ Cookie Varieties During 10th Annual St. Nicholas Cookie Walk (Through Sunday, December 9)

2018 SantaCon NYC

Open Bar SantaCon Brunch

2018 ARC Holiday Record & CD Sale (Through Sunday, December 23) The ARChive of Contemporary Music, Manhattan

2018 New York State Yo-Yo Contest + Afterparty Coney Island USA, Brooklyn

Free Coffee + Prizes 23rd St. & Broadway, Manhattan

Free Candy Buffet

Free Self-Care & Wellness Party with Massages, Music, Treats & More

2018 Wizard Fest Yule Ball Harry Potter Party Brooklyn Bazaar, Brooklyn

2018 Ice Theater of New York’s Free Winter Holiday Skating Celebration + Tree Lighting

Free Bourbon Cocktails + 2018 Paragon Sports WinterFest

PaleyLand 2018 with Vintage Holiday Shows, Games & Free Cocoa (Through Sunday, January 6) The Paley Center for Media, Manhattan

NYC Holiday Scavenger Hunt

Interactive Party Musical Inspired by Festivals of the Ancient World + Free Drinks Caveat, Manhattan

2018 Rubulad Holiday Revue—Performances, Holiday Karaoke & More

History of Riotous Pagan Holiday Saturnalia + Fav ’90s Singer-Songwriter Jill Sobule Caveat, Manhattan

Free Walking Tour: Gay & Lesbian Writers & Artists in the East Village Tompkins Square Library, Manhattan

Free Comics & Zines Workshop Brooklyn Public Library, Central Library Branch, Brooklyn

2018 Colored Girls Hustle Holiday Market New Women Space, Brooklyn

2018 Parklife Holiday Market (Through Sunday, December 9) Parklife, Brooklyn

2018 FAD Market Holiday Pop-Up in 2 Brooklyn Locations (Through Sunday, December 9) Brooklyn Historical Society, Brooklyn

Cheap NYC Ghost Walking Tours (Saturdays Through December 30)

Tomorrow’s Events—Sunday, December 9

2018 Queens Holiday Historic House Tour—Shuttle Transportation & Treats Included

2018 Accordion Festival Museum at Eldridge Street, Manhattan

45th Anniversary of TubaChristmas HOLIDAYTUBAS Concert Rockefeller Center, Manhattan

Free Harlem Gospel Choir Concert

New York City’s 10th Annual Blessing of the Animals Christ Church NYC, Manhattan

2018 ‘Menorah Horah’ Hanukkah Burlesque Spectacular (Discounted Tix!)

‘Nutcracker’ Set in Old New York

South Africa’s Grammy-Winning Soweto Gospel Choir

2018 East Village Tree Lighting Ceremony Tompkins Square Park, Manhattan

2018 Ft. Greene Tree Lighting + Carols, Cocoa & Cookies Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn

2018 Shamanic & Indigenous Arts Market The Ark, Brooklyn

2018 Holiday Market At Bohemian Hall (Sundays Through December 16) Bohemian Hall, Queens

Holiday Wreathmaking (Weekends Through December 9) Queens County Farm, Queens

NYC Gospel Music History & Architecture Tours (Sundays Through December 29)

2018 Fulton Stall Market Deck the Stalls Holiday Market + Performances (Sundays Through December 23)

2018 Vintage Holiday Subway Rides (Sundays Through December 30)

Nifty NYC is supported by community members like you. Share the love & donate to help me maintain the site. Every dollar is appreciated. :)

Ending This Weekend

Tour a Historic Hotel by Candlelight + Performances & Treats (Through Saturday, December 8) Mount Vernon Hotel Museum & Garden, Manhattan

Speaking Truth to Power 2018—Screenings & Talks (Through Saturday, December 8) Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn

Cheap NYC Dessert Tours (Through Saturday, December 8)

99¢ Sandwiches at Carnegie Deli Recreation Pop-Up (Through Saturday, December 8)

Free Cocoa & Chocolate Bars at M&Ms Holiday Pop-Up (Through Sunday, December 9)

Free Drinks, Bites, Styling, Crafts & More at 2018 Thrillist Holiday Hideaway (Through Sunday, December 9)

2018 Lighting Brooklyn’s Largest Menorah + Live Music & Latkes (Through Sunday, December 9) Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn

2018 Lighting of the World’s Largest Menorah in Manhattan (Through Sunday, December 9) Grand Army Plaza Manhattan, Manhattan

1/2 Price Tickets to ‘A Christmas Carol’ (Through Sunday, December 9)

2018 Chelsea Market Holiday Handmade Cavalcade (Through Sunday, December 9) Chelsea Market, Manhattan

MONO NO AWARE XI Film Festival (Through Sunday, December 9)

Ongoing

See more ongoing & upcoming NYC events

$7 Admission to the Museum of Sex (Through Sunday, June 30) Museum of Sex, Manhattan

NYC Slavery & Underground Railroad Tours (Through Saturday, December 29)

Greenwich Village Haunted Walking Tours (Through Sunday, December 30)

1/2 Price Central Park Bike Tours (Through December 2018)

High Line Art Installation Examines Art & Public Space (Through March 2019) The High Line, Manhattan

Save $5.75 on Movie Tickets

‘Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color’ (Through Sunday, January 13) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Manhattan

‘Underground Heroes: New York Transit in Comics’ (Through Sunday, January 6) New York Transit Museum, Brooklyn

‘Rebel Women’ Who Defied Victorian Era Expectations (Through Sunday, January 6) Museum of the City of New York, Manhattan

Discounted Tickets to Interactive M.C. Escher Exhibit in NYC (Through Sunday, February 3)

‘Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color’ (Through Saturday, January 5) Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Manhattan

‘Germ City: Microbes and the Metropolis’ (Through Sunday, April 28) Museum of the City of New York, Manhattan

‘Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power’ (Through Sunday, February 3) Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn

‘Before Projection: Video Sculpture 1974–1995’ (Through Monday, December 17) Sculpture Center, Queens

Jerome Robbins (‘West Side Story’) & New York (Through Saturday, March 30) New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Bruno Walter Auditorium, Manhattan

Cheap Indoor Ice Skating in Brooklyn (Through Monday, December 24)

‘Harry Potter’ Exhibition Brings Rare Manuscripts & Magical Objects to NYC (Through Sunday, January 27) New-York Historical Society, Manhattan

‘Tablescapes: Designs for Dining’ (Through Tuesday, April 16) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Manhattan

Velvet Underground NYC Experience (Through Sunday, December 30)

‘It’s Alive! Frankenstein at 200’ (Through Sunday, January 27) The Morgan Library & Museum, Manhattan

‘Yasumasa Morimura: Ego Obscura’ Questions Eastern & Westerns Notions of Gender (Through Sunday, January 13) Japan Society, Manhattan

Cheap Theatre Walking Tours of The Met (Through Friday, December 21)

$10 Big Apple Circus Tickets (Through Saturay, December 15)

Free NYC Circus Tickets—Human Cannonball, Acrobats & More (Through Sunday, December 16)

120th Anniversary Exhibition at The National Arts Club Displays Treasures from the Collection (Through Friday, January 4) The National Arts Club, Manhattan

The Contenders 2018: MoMA Film Favorites Screened (Through Tuesday, January 8) The Museum of Modern Art, Manhattan

2018 Gingerbread Lane, the World’s Largest Gingerbread Village (Through Monday, January 21) New York Hall of Science, Queens

2018 Holiday Fair at Grand Central (Through Monday, December 24) Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan

Andy Warhol Retrospective at the Whitney Reimagines the Iconic Artist (Through Sunday, March 31) Whitney Museum of American Art, Manhattan

2018 Holiday Train Show (Through Sunday, February 3) Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan

2018 Union Square Holiday Market (Through Monday, December 24) Union Square Park, Manhattan

Discounted Tickets to 2018 NYC Holiday Train Show (Through Monday, January 21)

2018 American Museum of Natural History Origami Holiday Tree on Display (Through Sunday, January 13) American Museum of Natural History, Manhattan

Check Out Charles Dickens’s Original Manuscript of ‘A Christmas Carol’ (Through Sunday, January 6) The Morgan Library & Museum, Manhattan

1st Ever WinterFest at BK Museum with Market, Performances, Tree Maze, Chocolate Tasting & More (Through Monday, December 31) Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn

2018 Columbus Circle Holiday Market (Through Monday, December 24)

2018 NYC Winter Lantern Festival with Huge Light Installations & Performances (Through Sunday, January 6)

Free Meals Paired with Art—Cook & Celebrate Together (Through Monday, December 31) Open Source Gallery, Brooklyn

NYC Christmas Sing-a-Long Adventure (Through Sunday, December 16)

2018 Vintage MTA Bus Rides for the Holidays (Weekdays Through December 21)

2018 Wreath Interpretations Exhibition (Through Thursday, January 3) Central Park Arsenal, Manhattan

Free Tickets to ‘Cleopatra’ Musical (Through Saturday, December 22)

2018 BKLYN Arctic Adventure VR Experience—Meet Santa & Have a Snowball Fight (Through Friday, December 14) City Point, Brooklyn

A Harlemettes Holiday 2018 (Through Sunday, December 16) Harlem School of the Arts, Manhattan

Holiday Classics Screened at Nitehawk (Through Saturday, December 29) Nitehawk Cinema, Brooklyn

Subscribe to our free daily e-newsletter or follow us on Twitter or Instagram.

Source: http://www.niftynyc.com/2018/12/08/december-8-december-9-free-nyc-events/

[middlerice79-blog]

Wednesday, December 12: Milo Ventimiglia, Vanessa Hudgens, French Baking + 60 More

Today’s Events

Milo Ventimiglia, Vanessa Hudgens & Peter Segal

Gene Editing & the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution Brooklyn Public Library, Central Library Branch, Brooklyn

Bake Like a French Pastry Chef Albertine Books, Manhattan

Fashion Mamas Holiday Mini Market + Free Sake & Bites

Olive Oils of the World Tasting Workshop + Bottle of Specialty Oil to Take Home Essex Street Market, Manhattan

Swordplay Class Led by an Award-Winning Fight Choreographer

Sites, Memorials & Social Justice American Folk Art Museum, Manhattan

Haunted NYC Trolley Tours (Through Friday, December 14)

BX Little Italy & Arthur Ave. Tour + Treats (Through Wednesday, December 26)

Free Christmas Craft-Making (Wednesdays Through December 19) Bryant Park, Manhattan

Nifty NYC is supported by community members like you. Share the love & donate to help me maintain the site. Every dollar is appreciated. :)

See free & cheap NYC events for tomorrow, Thursday, December 13.

Ongoing

See more ongoing & upcoming NYC events

$7 Admission to the Museum of Sex (Through Sunday, June 30) Museum of Sex, Manhattan

NYC Slavery & Underground Railroad Tours (Through Saturday, December 29)

Greenwich Village Haunted Walking Tours (Through Sunday, December 30)

1/2 Price Central Park Bike Tours (Through December 2018)

High Line Art Installation Examines Art & Public Space (Through March 2019) The High Line, Manhattan

Save $5.75 on Movie Tickets

'Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color' (Through Sunday, January 13) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Manhattan

'Underground Heroes: New York Transit in Comics' (Through Sunday, January 6) New York Transit Museum, Brooklyn

'Rebel Women' Who Defied Victorian Era Expectations (Through Sunday, January 6) Museum of the City of New York, Manhattan

Discounted Tickets to Interactive M.C. Escher Exhibit in NYC (Through Sunday, February 3)

'Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color' (Through Saturday, January 5) Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Manhattan

'Germ City: Microbes and the Metropolis' (Through Sunday, April 28) Museum of the City of New York, Manhattan

'Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power' (Through Sunday, February 3) Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn

'Before Projection: Video Sculpture 1974–1995' (Through Monday, December 17) Sculpture Center, Queens

Jerome Robbins ('West Side Story') & New York (Through Saturday, March 30) New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Bruno Walter Auditorium, Manhattan

Cheap Indoor Ice Skating in Brooklyn (Through Monday, December 24)

'Harry Potter' Exhibition Brings Rare Manuscripts & Magical Objects to NYC (Through Sunday, January 27) New-York Historical Society, Manhattan

'Tablescapes: Designs for Dining' (Through Tuesday, April 16) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Manhattan

Velvet Underground NYC Experience (Through Sunday, December 30)

'It’s Alive! Frankenstein at 200' (Through Sunday, January 27) The Morgan Library & Museum, Manhattan

'Yasumasa Morimura: Ego Obscura' Questions Eastern & Westerns Notions of Gender (Through Sunday, January 13) Japan Society, Manhattan

Cheap Theatre Walking Tours of The Met (Through Friday, December 21)

$10 Big Apple Circus Tickets (Through Thursday, December 13)

Free NYC Circus Tickets—Human Cannonball, Acrobats & More (Through Sunday, December 16)

120th Anniversary Exhibition at The National Arts Club Displays Treasures from the Collection (Through Friday, January 4) The National Arts Club, Manhattan

The Contenders 2018: MoMA Film Favorites Screened (Through Tuesday, January 8) The Museum of Modern Art, Manhattan

2018 Gingerbread Lane, the World's Largest Gingerbread Village (Through Monday, January 21) New York Hall of Science, Queens

2018 Holiday Fair at Grand Central (Through Monday, December 24) Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan

Andy Warhol Retrospective at the Whitney Reimagines the Iconic Artist (Through Sunday, March 31) Whitney Museum of American Art, Manhattan

2018 Holiday Train Show (Through Sunday, February 3) Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan

2018 Union Square Holiday Market (Through Monday, December 24) Union Square Park, Manhattan

Discounted Tickets to 2018 NYC Holiday Train Show (Through Monday, January 21)

2018 American Museum of Natural History Origami Holiday Tree on Display (Through Sunday, January 13) American Museum of Natural History, Manhattan

Check Out Charles Dickens's Original Manuscript of 'A Christmas Carol' (Through Sunday, January 6) The Morgan Library & Museum, Manhattan

1st Ever WinterFest at BK Museum with Market, Performances, Tree Maze, Chocolate Tasting & More (Through Monday, December 31) Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn

2018 Columbus Circle Holiday Market (Through Monday, December 24)

2018 NYC Winter Lantern Festival with Huge Light Installations & Performances (Through Sunday, January 6)

Free Meals Paired with Art—Cook & Celebrate Together (Through Monday, December 31) Open Source Gallery, Brooklyn

NYC Christmas Sing-a-Long Adventure (Through Sunday, December 16)

2018 Vintage MTA Bus Rides for the Holidays (Weekdays Through December 21)

2018 Wreath Interpretations Exhibition (Through Thursday, January 3) Central Park Arsenal, Manhattan

Free Tickets to 'Cleopatra' Musical (Through Saturday, December 22)

2018 BKLYN Arctic Adventure VR Experience—Meet Santa & Have a Snowball Fight (Through Friday, December 14) City Point, Brooklyn

A Harlemettes Holiday 2018 (Through Sunday, December 16) Harlem School of the Arts, Manhattan

Holiday Classics Screened at Nitehawk (Through Saturday, December 29) Nitehawk Cinema, Brooklyn

2018 ARC Holiday Record & CD Sale (Through Sunday, December 23) The ARChive of Contemporary Music, Manhattan

PaleyLand 2018 with Vintage Holiday Shows, Games & Free Cocoa (Through Sunday, January 6) The Paley Center for Media, Manhattan

'It’s a Wonderful Life' Screenings Introduced by Donna Reed's Daughter (Through Monday, December 24) IFC Center, Manhattan

Make Yourself a Superhero at the 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' Pop-Up (Through Sunday, January 27)

Subscribe to our free daily e-newsletter or follow us on Twitter or Instagram.

Source: http://www.niftynyc.com/2018/12/12/wednesday-december-12-free-nyc-events/

[eddie-redmayne-italian-blog]

About Time: C&TH Meets Eddie Redmayne

2016 was one hell of a year for the actor, Lucy Cleland meets him

by Lucy Cleland

What do George Clooney, Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig have in common, stellar acting careers aside? They are all ambassadors for Omega, which is why I’m at the Berkeley Hotel waiting to meet Eddie Redmayne, the latest name on the watchmaker’s formidable roster.

Redmayne’s appointment in March 2016 is just part of what could be termed an ‘annus mirabilis’ for the young British actor (34). On 2 December 2016, he received an OBE from the Queen; in June, his wife Hannah gave birth to their daughter Iris; currently Eddie is promoting his film Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, a spin-off from the Harry Potter stable; and to seal his rapidly growing style credentials he fronted Prada’s A/W’17 campaign, after being crowned GQ’s Best Dressed Man in Britain in January 2016. Phew.

On success…

‘Thank you, thank you,’ enthuses Eddie with a grin, when I remark on what a year it has been for him. He’s dressed impeccably in Saint Laurent shirt, Prada sweater and Margaret Howell trousers and is so slim that I could probably get my arms around his waist twice and, of course, you can’t miss those cut-glass cheekbones that give him his model-ready looks (attributes Burberry must have noticed years back when they cast him in their 2012 campaign alongside Cara Delevingne). Known as a ‘really nice guy’ in the business (something he says that those who really know him wouldn’t say), he has got a jack-in-the-box nervous energy and puppy-like boundless enthusiasm about him that I suspect is needed to inhabit some of the extraordinary roles he’s played in the last 13 years, since his graduation, first from Eton and then Cambridge (he gained a 2.1 in History of Art), most exceptionally as physicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, which won him an Oscar for Best Actor in 2015.

‘You have no expectations as to what it might be,’ says Eddie about his OBE. ‘We arrived [at Windsor Castle] and we went up the longest, straightest road in the world and there was fog across it. It was beautiful. Inside people were dressed in blue cloaks with scarlet collars, and you got to meet all the soldiers, and the castle looked amazing with all its Christmas decorations. It was all a bit overwhelming.’

On becoming a father…

Not as overwhelming one might imagine as the birth of a child. What has fatherhood meant to the man who, speaking of his marriage in 2014, said it was ‘the most wonderful thing I’ve done’? ‘It’s such a cliché, but the only negative is the sleep deprivation. One night Iris slept all the way through and we were like, “Our lives have returned!”, only we got sucker punched the next night by being woken at all hours. But despite that, you can go into her room mildly furious and then there’s this massive grin waiting for you and all is forgiven.’

Eddie wrapped up filming for Fantastic Beasts last March so has been very much around for Iris’ first few months, but whereas many new parents might not dare leave the house for a while, he and Hannah were happy to fly out to the Rio Olympics with Iris at just eight weeks old. ‘There was a slightly worrying moment when we were on the plane with lots of Olympians and there was the fear that Iris would keep them up and screw up their medal chances, but they seemed to do ok!’

On art & style…

Away from the screen, Eddie is a collector of art ‘in the most gentle way’. ‘I’ve got a couple of prints and drawings but nothing of any value. I’m quite badly educated on contemporary art, although we do always go to Frieze Masters, which I really enjoy.’ And where did he get his best-dressed-list style from? ‘I definitely have not always been – or will always be – a well-dressed person. A lot of it came down to the Burberry campaign I did. I went for a fitting and the clothes were so tightly tailored that I was like “whoa!”, but when I saw the photos I realised that the suit looked so much better so that changed my take on tailoring.’ He’s a fan of Prada, naturally, but also name checks Gucci, McQueen and Hardy Amies as his go-to designers

Eddie and Hannah live in Borough, south London, and he likes ‘the fact that it’s really central but can also be very quiet at weekends’. He loves going to the theatre (the Young Vic being a particular favourite) and museums, but mostly his free time is spent ‘keeping his child alive’. The couple also rent a ‘battered old farmhouse’ in the Midlands, which they’re slowly bringing back to life.

Would we ever lose him to Hollywood? ‘I didn’t love LA at first because if you’re used to being someone who walks, you’re screwed. But after going for 12 or 13 years I have a great affection for it, although, as an actor, your outlook is coloured by whether you’re having success or not because it’s such a one-industry place.’

And now to loop back to why I’m here in the first place. I admire the Omega Globemaster Calendar he’s wearing. ‘It tells me the date which is very useful. I’m a rancidly aggressive timekeeper and my wife is always late, so there’s many a gentle family row over timekeeping.’ But Eddie has long known the brand since his dad wore an Omega De Ville that he always admired. Then, after hanging out at Omega House during the 2012 London Olympics, a relationship was born. ‘When you realise there’s a narrative that goes far beyond the object, it’s really amazing. I’m seduced by stories.’    

His enthusiasm for the brand and its history is seemingly as great as the other topics we’ve chatted about in our 20 minutes and perhaps that’s Eddie’s skill, he’s as believable off screen as he is on it.

Eddie Redmayne is an ambassador for OMEGA watches and the face of the OMEGA Constellation Globemaster collection.

[birchleo1-blog]

75+ Free & Cheap NYC New Year’s Eve + New Year’s Day Events 2019

NYC New Year’s Eve Events—Monday, December 31

Central Park Fireworks & Run—NYE 2019 Central Park, Great Hill, Manhattan

Free NYE 2019 Fireworks in Prospect Park Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn

2019 Coney Island New Year’s Eve + Free Carousel Rides

Leonard Bernstein's New Year's Eve Concert for Peace The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, Manhattan

Time’s Up New Year’s Eve 2019 Bike Ride

MoRUS Future Positive New Year's Eve Party Co-Hosted with Times Up! Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space, Manhattan

Gemini & Scorpio's Hedonistic New Year's Eve Masquerade

New Year's Eve Afterparty with Snoop Dogg

The Bunker New Years Eve at Market Hotel Market Hotel, Brooklyn

New Years Eve 2019 with Rev. Vince Anderson & The Love Choir Union Pool, Brooklyn

New Year's Eve Spectacular Comedy Show—Christian Finnegan, Myq Kaplan, Snacks & Champagne Toast Q.E.D., Queens

New York Night Train New Year's Eve 2019 Home Sweet Home, Manhattan

New Year's Eve Tabletop Game Night + Free Bubbly The Uncommons, Manhattan

New Year Meditation & Celebration Vajradhara Meditation Center, Brooklyn

NYE 201X Babycastles Indie Arcade Party Babycastles, Manhattan

NYE Contra Dance Night with Live Music Camp Friendship, Brooklyn

Midtown West New Year's Eve Party with 3-Hour Open Bar & Champagne Toast

Free Uptown NYE Party with 2-Hour Open Bar + Champagne Toast

Open Bar Lower Manhattan NYE Party

Free Tickets to New Year's Eve MMA Championship at MSG

Rubulad New Year's Eve 2019

NYE 2019 at Parklife with Trivia & Free Champagne Toast Parklife, Brooklyn

Free Flamingo Formal New Year's Eve Dance Party 2019 The Royal Palms Shuffleboard Club, Brooklyn

Free Karaoke + Free Bubbly for New Year's Eve 2019 The Diamond Bar, Brooklyn

NYE Singles Party with Open Bar, Free Appetizers & Ice Breakers

Greenpoint Brew & Ale Co. NYE & Moving Party with Cheap Beer

Gatsby-Inspired New Year's Eve with 5-Hour Open Bar

Murray Hill New Year's Eve with 5-Hour Open Bar + Champagne Toast & Party Favors

Craft Cocktail Open Bar New Year's Eve in Noho

Watch the 2019 New Year's Eve Ball Drop in Times Sq.

Astoria NYE with Open Bar, Hors d’oeuvres, Champagne Toast & Party Favors

NYE Prohibition Pub Crawl

New Year's Eve Masquerade Ball + Free Food & Champagne Toast

NYC New Year’s Day Events—Tuesday, January 1

Free Fitness Classes During JCC's 2019 Fitness Fair JCC Manhattan, Manhattan

115th Annual Coney Island Polar Bear New Years Day Plunge + Free Admission to NY Aquarium Boardwalk & 10th St., Brooklyn

Gemini & Scorpio New Year's Morning Cuddle Puddle & Breakfast

Free Guided New Year's Day Nature Hikes in All 5 Boroughs

Poetry Project's 45th Annual New Year’s Day Marathon Reading The Poetry Project at St. Marks Church, Manhattan

25th Annual Alternative New Year's Day Spoken Word & Performance Extravaganza

Cheap Brunch New Year's Day Party

New Year’s Day Gentle and Restorative Yoga Workshop Third Root Community Health Center, Brooklyn

Nifty NYC is supported by community members like you. Share the love & donate to help me maintain the site. Every dollar is appreciated. :)

Ending Today

Free Meals Paired with Art—Cook & Celebrate Together (Through Monday, December 31) Open Source Gallery, Brooklyn

1st Ever WinterFest at BK Museum with Market, Performances, Tree Maze, Chocolate Tasting & More (Through Monday, December 31) Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn

Ongoing

See more ongoing & upcoming NYC events

$7 Admission to the Museum of Sex (Through Sunday, June 30) Museum of Sex, Manhattan

NYC Slavery & Underground Railroad Tours (Through Monday, April 29)

1/2 Price Central Park Bike Tours (Through December 2018)

High Line Art Installation Examines Art & Public Space (Through March 2019) The High Line, Manhattan

Save $5.75 on Movie Tickets

'Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color' (Through Sunday, January 13) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Manhattan

'Underground Heroes: New York Transit in Comics' (Through Sunday, January 6) New York Transit Museum, Brooklyn

'Rebel Women' Who Defied Victorian Era Expectations (Through Sunday, January 6) Museum of the City of New York, Manhattan

Discounted Tickets to Interactive M.C. Escher Exhibit in NYC (Through Sunday, February 3)

'Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color' (Through Saturday, January 5) Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Manhattan

'Germ City: Microbes and the Metropolis' (Through Sunday, April 28) Museum of the City of New York, Manhattan

'Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power' (Through Sunday, February 3) Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn

Jerome Robbins ('West Side Story') & New York (Through Saturday, March 30) New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Bruno Walter Auditorium, Manhattan

Cheap Indoor Ice Skating in Brooklyn (Through Saturday, March 30)

'Harry Potter' Exhibition Brings Rare Manuscripts & Magical Objects to NYC (Through Sunday, January 27) New-York Historical Society, Manhattan

'Tablescapes: Designs for Dining' (Through Tuesday, April 16) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Manhattan

'It’s Alive! Frankenstein at 200' (Through Sunday, January 27) The Morgan Library & Museum, Manhattan

'Yasumasa Morimura: Ego Obscura' Questions Eastern & Westerns Notions of Gender (Through Sunday, January 13) Japan Society, Manhattan

120th Anniversary Exhibition at The National Arts Club Displays Treasures from the Collection (Through Friday, January 4) The National Arts Club, Manhattan

The Contenders 2018: MoMA Film Favorites Screened (Through Tuesday, January 8) The Museum of Modern Art, Manhattan

2018 Gingerbread Lane, the World's Largest Gingerbread Village (Through Monday, January 21) New York Hall of Science, Queens

Andy Warhol Retrospective at the Whitney Reimagines the Iconic Artist (Through Sunday, March 31) Whitney Museum of American Art, Manhattan

2018 Holiday Train Show (Through Sunday, February 3) Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan

Discounted Tickets to 2018 NYC Holiday Train Show (Through Monday, January 21)

2018 American Museum of Natural History Origami Holiday Tree on Display (Through Sunday, January 13) American Museum of Natural History, Manhattan

Check Out Charles Dickens's Original Manuscript of 'A Christmas Carol' (Through Sunday, January 6) The Morgan Library & Museum, Manhattan

2018 NYC Winter Lantern Festival with Huge Light Installations & Performances (Through Sunday, January 6)

2018 Wreath Interpretations Exhibition (Through Thursday, January 3) Central Park Arsenal, Manhattan

PaleyLand 2018 with Vintage Holiday Shows, Games & Free Cocoa (Through Sunday, January 6) The Paley Center for Media, Manhattan

Make Yourself a Superhero at the 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' Pop-Up (Through Sunday, January 27)

How Technology Will Revolutionize Transportation (Through Sunday, March 31) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Manhattan

2018 Radiotheatre Holiday Sci-Fi Festival (Through Saturday, January 5)

20th Annual Animation Show of Shows (Through Thursday, January 3) Quad Cinema, Manhattan

MoMI Screens the Best Movies of 2018 + Q&As (Through Sunday, January 6) Museum of the Moving Image, Queens

Subscribe to our free daily e-newsletter or follow us on Twitter or Instagram.

Source: http://www.niftynyc.com/2018/12/31/75-free-cheap-nyc-new-years-eve-new-years-day-events-2019/

[whorlslave39-blog]

Friday, December 28: Best Films ’18, Celeb Parody, STAR WARS + 46 More

Today’s Events

20th Annual Animation Show of Shows (Through Thursday, January 3) Quad Cinema, Manhattan

MoMI Screens the Best Movies of 2018 + Q&As (Through Sunday, January 6) Museum of the Moving Image, Queens

THNK1994: 'The Fantasy of Celebrity Perfume' Parody Art (Through Sunday, December 30)

'Star Wars Holiday Special' Screening + Comedic Commentary Q.E.D., Queens

Broadway Stars Sing The Beatles

Shred Bad Memories of 2018 & Turn Them Into NYE Confetti During Good Riddance Day Duffy Square, Manhattan

Nifty NYC is supported by community members like you. Share the love & donate to help me maintain the site. Every dollar is appreciated. :)

See free & cheap NYC events for tomorrow, Saturday, December 29.

Ending Today

Free 2018 Queens Farm Holiday Open House (Through Friday, December 28) Queens County Farm, Queens

Ongoing

See more ongoing & upcoming NYC events

$7 Admission to the Museum of Sex (Through Sunday, June 30) Museum of Sex, Manhattan

NYC Slavery & Underground Railroad Tours (Through Saturday, December 29)

Greenwich Village Haunted Walking Tours (Through Sunday, December 30)

1/2 Price Central Park Bike Tours (Through December 2018)

High Line Art Installation Examines Art & Public Space (Through March 2019) The High Line, Manhattan

Save $5.75 on Movie Tickets

'Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color' (Through Sunday, January 13) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Manhattan

'Underground Heroes: New York Transit in Comics' (Through Sunday, January 6) New York Transit Museum, Brooklyn

'Rebel Women' Who Defied Victorian Era Expectations (Through Sunday, January 6) Museum of the City of New York, Manhattan

Discounted Tickets to Interactive M.C. Escher Exhibit in NYC (Through Sunday, February 3)

'Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color' (Through Saturday, January 5) Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Manhattan

'Germ City: Microbes and the Metropolis' (Through Sunday, April 28) Museum of the City of New York, Manhattan

'Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power' (Through Sunday, February 3) Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn

Jerome Robbins ('West Side Story') & New York (Through Saturday, March 30) New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Bruno Walter Auditorium, Manhattan

Cheap Indoor Ice Skating in Brooklyn (Through Saturday, March 30)

'Harry Potter' Exhibition Brings Rare Manuscripts & Magical Objects to NYC (Through Sunday, January 27) New-York Historical Society, Manhattan

'Tablescapes: Designs for Dining' (Through Tuesday, April 16) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Manhattan

Velvet Underground NYC Experience (Through Sunday, December 30)

'It’s Alive! Frankenstein at 200' (Through Sunday, January 27) The Morgan Library & Museum, Manhattan

'Yasumasa Morimura: Ego Obscura' Questions Eastern & Westerns Notions of Gender (Through Sunday, January 13) Japan Society, Manhattan

120th Anniversary Exhibition at The National Arts Club Displays Treasures from the Collection (Through Friday, January 4) The National Arts Club, Manhattan

The Contenders 2018: MoMA Film Favorites Screened (Through Tuesday, January 8) The Museum of Modern Art, Manhattan

2018 Gingerbread Lane, the World's Largest Gingerbread Village (Through Monday, January 21) New York Hall of Science, Queens

Andy Warhol Retrospective at the Whitney Reimagines the Iconic Artist (Through Sunday, March 31) Whitney Museum of American Art, Manhattan

2018 Holiday Train Show (Through Sunday, February 3) Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan

Discounted Tickets to 2018 NYC Holiday Train Show (Through Monday, January 21)

2018 American Museum of Natural History Origami Holiday Tree on Display (Through Sunday, January 13) American Museum of Natural History, Manhattan

Check Out Charles Dickens's Original Manuscript of 'A Christmas Carol' (Through Sunday, January 6) The Morgan Library & Museum, Manhattan

1st Ever WinterFest at BK Museum with Market, Performances, Tree Maze, Chocolate Tasting & More (Through Monday, December 31) Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn

2018 NYC Winter Lantern Festival with Huge Light Installations & Performances (Through Sunday, January 6)

Free Meals Paired with Art—Cook & Celebrate Together (Through Monday, December 31) Open Source Gallery, Brooklyn

2018 Wreath Interpretations Exhibition (Through Thursday, January 3) Central Park Arsenal, Manhattan

Free Tickets to 'Cleopatra' Musical (Through Saturday, December 22)

Holiday Classics Screened at Nitehawk (Through Saturday, December 29) Nitehawk Cinema, Brooklyn

PaleyLand 2018 with Vintage Holiday Shows, Games & Free Cocoa (Through Sunday, January 6) The Paley Center for Media, Manhattan

Make Yourself a Superhero at the 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' Pop-Up (Through Sunday, January 27)

How Technology Will Revolutionize Transportation (Through Sunday, March 31) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Manhattan

2018 Radiotheatre Holiday Sci-Fi Festival (Through Saturday, January 5)

Subscribe to our free daily e-newsletter or follow us on Twitter or Instagram.

Source: http://www.niftynyc.com/2018/12/28/friday-december-28-free-nyc-events/

[alibiflame36-blog]

Wednesday, January 2: New Year’s Transformation, Robots, Food History + 38 More

Today’s Events

Prayer Flags for Transformation in the New Year Rubin Museum of Art, Manhattan

SciCafe: Teaming Up with Robots American Museum of Natural History, Manhattan

Brooklyn Comfort-Food Magnate Patricia Murphy Mid-Manhattan Library, Manhattan

Nifty NYC is supported by community members like you. Share the love & donate to help me maintain the site. Every dollar is appreciated. :)

See free & cheap NYC events for tomorrow, Thursday, December 3.

Ongoing

See more ongoing & upcoming NYC events

$7 Admission to the Museum of Sex (Through Sunday, June 30) Museum of Sex, Manhattan

NYC Slavery & Underground Railroad Tours (Through Monday, April 29)

High Line Art Installation Examines Art & Public Space (Through March 2019) The High Line, Manhattan

'Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color' (Through Sunday, January 13) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Manhattan

'Underground Heroes: New York Transit in Comics' (Through Sunday, January 6) New York Transit Museum, Brooklyn

'Rebel Women' Who Defied Victorian Era Expectations (Through Sunday, January 6) Museum of the City of New York, Manhattan

Discounted Tickets to Interactive M.C. Escher Exhibit in NYC (Through Sunday, February 3)

'Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color' (Through Saturday, January 5) Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Manhattan

'Germ City: Microbes and the Metropolis' (Through Sunday, April 28) Museum of the City of New York, Manhattan

'Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power' (Through Sunday, February 3) Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn

Jerome Robbins ('West Side Story') & New York (Through Saturday, March 30) New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Bruno Walter Auditorium, Manhattan

Cheap Indoor Ice Skating in Brooklyn (Through Saturday, March 30)

'Harry Potter' Exhibition Brings Rare Manuscripts & Magical Objects to NYC (Through Sunday, January 27) New-York Historical Society, Manhattan

'Tablescapes: Designs for Dining' (Through Tuesday, April 16) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Manhattan

'It’s Alive! Frankenstein at 200' (Through Sunday, January 27) The Morgan Library & Museum, Manhattan

'Yasumasa Morimura: Ego Obscura' Questions Eastern & Westerns Notions of Gender (Through Sunday, January 13) Japan Society, Manhattan

120th Anniversary Exhibition at The National Arts Club Displays Treasures from the Collection (Through Friday, January 4) The National Arts Club, Manhattan

The Contenders 2018: MoMA Film Favorites Screened (Through Tuesday, January 8) The Museum of Modern Art, Manhattan

2018 Gingerbread Lane, the World's Largest Gingerbread Village (Through Monday, January 21) New York Hall of Science, Queens

Andy Warhol Retrospective at the Whitney Reimagines the Iconic Artist (Through Sunday, March 31) Whitney Museum of American Art, Manhattan

2018 Holiday Train Show (Through Sunday, February 3) Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan

Discounted Tickets to 2018 NYC Holiday Train Show (Through Monday, January 21)

2018 American Museum of Natural History Origami Holiday Tree on Display (Through Sunday, January 13) American Museum of Natural History, Manhattan

Check Out Charles Dickens's Original Manuscript of 'A Christmas Carol' (Through Sunday, January 6) The Morgan Library & Museum, Manhattan

2018 NYC Winter Lantern Festival with Huge Light Installations & Performances (Through Sunday, January 6)

2018 Wreath Interpretations Exhibition (Through Thursday, January 3) Central Park Arsenal, Manhattan

PaleyLand 2018 with Vintage Holiday Shows, Games & Free Cocoa (Through Sunday, January 6) The Paley Center for Media, Manhattan

Make Yourself a Superhero at the 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' Pop-Up (Through Sunday, January 27)

How Technology Will Revolutionize Transportation (Through Sunday, March 31) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Manhattan

2018 Radiotheatre Holiday Sci-Fi Festival (Through Saturday, January 5)

20th Annual Animation Show of Shows (Through Thursday, January 3) Quad Cinema, Manhattan

MoMI Screens the Best Movies of 2018 + Q&As (Through Sunday, January 6) Museum of the Moving Image, Queens

Subscribe to our free daily e-newsletter or follow us on Twitter or Instagram.

Source: http://www.niftynyc.com/2019/01/02/wednesday-january-2-free-nyc-events/

[greyparcel79-blog]

Wednesday, December 19: Shiny Things, Roast of 2018, Nitehawk Prospect Park + 79 More

Today’s Events

Nitehawk Prospect Park Opens

2018 Radiotheatre Holiday Sci-Fi Festival (Through Saturday, January 5)

Amy Adams, Steve Carell & Adam McKay

The Art of Organizing & Resistance New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, Manhattan

Astronomy on Tap: Shiny Things in Space The Way Station, Brooklyn

'Bingo, Actually' Xmas Pop Culture Party Parklife, Brooklyn

The Roast of 2018: (Semi) Immersive Listening to EVERYTHING from this Year Nowadays, Queens

How the Collision of Automation, Inequality and Demographics Will Transform the Workforce and Economy in the Next 10 Years

Free Christmas Craft-Making (Wednesdays Through December 19) Bryant Park, Manhattan

Nifty NYC is supported by community members like you. Share the love & donate to help me maintain the site. Every dollar is appreciated. :)

See free & cheap NYC events for tomorrow, Thursday, December 20.

Ending Today

Ongoing

See more ongoing & upcoming NYC events

$7 Admission to the Museum of Sex (Through Sunday, June 30) Museum of Sex, Manhattan

NYC Slavery & Underground Railroad Tours (Through Saturday, December 29)

Greenwich Village Haunted Walking Tours (Through Sunday, December 30)

1/2 Price Central Park Bike Tours (Through December 2018)

High Line Art Installation Examines Art & Public Space (Through March 2019) The High Line, Manhattan

Save $5.75 on Movie Tickets

'Saturated: The Allure and Science of Color' (Through Sunday, January 13) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Manhattan

'Underground Heroes: New York Transit in Comics' (Through Sunday, January 6) New York Transit Museum, Brooklyn

'Rebel Women' Who Defied Victorian Era Expectations (Through Sunday, January 6) Museum of the City of New York, Manhattan

Discounted Tickets to Interactive M.C. Escher Exhibit in NYC (Through Sunday, February 3)

'Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color' (Through Saturday, January 5) Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Manhattan

'Germ City: Microbes and the Metropolis' (Through Sunday, April 28) Museum of the City of New York, Manhattan

'Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power' (Through Sunday, February 3) Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn

Jerome Robbins ('West Side Story') & New York (Through Saturday, March 30) New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Bruno Walter Auditorium, Manhattan

Cheap Indoor Ice Skating in Brooklyn (Through Monday, December 24)

'Harry Potter' Exhibition Brings Rare Manuscripts & Magical Objects to NYC (Through Sunday, January 27) New-York Historical Society, Manhattan

'Tablescapes: Designs for Dining' (Through Tuesday, April 16) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Manhattan

Velvet Underground NYC Experience (Through Sunday, December 30)

'It’s Alive! Frankenstein at 200' (Through Sunday, January 27) The Morgan Library & Museum, Manhattan

'Yasumasa Morimura: Ego Obscura' Questions Eastern & Westerns Notions of Gender (Through Sunday, January 13) Japan Society, Manhattan

Cheap Theatre Walking Tours of The Met (Through Friday, December 21)

120th Anniversary Exhibition at The National Arts Club Displays Treasures from the Collection (Through Friday, January 4) The National Arts Club, Manhattan

The Contenders 2018: MoMA Film Favorites Screened (Through Tuesday, January 8) The Museum of Modern Art, Manhattan

2018 Gingerbread Lane, the World's Largest Gingerbread Village (Through Monday, January 21) New York Hall of Science, Queens

2018 Holiday Fair at Grand Central (Through Monday, December 24) Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan

Andy Warhol Retrospective at the Whitney Reimagines the Iconic Artist (Through Sunday, March 31) Whitney Museum of American Art, Manhattan

2018 Holiday Train Show (Through Sunday, February 3) Grand Central Terminal, Manhattan

2018 Union Square Holiday Market (Through Monday, December 24) Union Square Park, Manhattan

Discounted Tickets to 2018 NYC Holiday Train Show (Through Monday, January 21)

2018 American Museum of Natural History Origami Holiday Tree on Display (Through Sunday, January 13) American Museum of Natural History, Manhattan

Check Out Charles Dickens's Original Manuscript of 'A Christmas Carol' (Through Sunday, January 6) The Morgan Library & Museum, Manhattan

1st Ever WinterFest at BK Museum with Market, Performances, Tree Maze, Chocolate Tasting & More (Through Monday, December 31) Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn

2018 Columbus Circle Holiday Market (Through Monday, December 24)

2018 NYC Winter Lantern Festival with Huge Light Installations & Performances (Through Sunday, January 6)

Free Meals Paired with Art—Cook & Celebrate Together (Through Monday, December 31) Open Source Gallery, Brooklyn

2018 Vintage MTA Bus Rides for the Holidays (Weekdays Through December 21)

2018 Wreath Interpretations Exhibition (Through Thursday, January 3) Central Park Arsenal, Manhattan

Free Tickets to 'Cleopatra' Musical (Through Saturday, December 22)

Holiday Classics Screened at Nitehawk (Through Saturday, December 29) Nitehawk Cinema, Brooklyn

2018 ARC Holiday Record & CD Sale (Through Sunday, December 23) The ARChive of Contemporary Music, Manhattan

PaleyLand 2018 with Vintage Holiday Shows, Games & Free Cocoa (Through Sunday, January 6) The Paley Center for Media, Manhattan

'It’s a Wonderful Life' Screenings Introduced by Donna Reed's Daughter (Through Monday, December 24) IFC Center, Manhattan

Make Yourself a Superhero at the 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' Pop-Up (Through Sunday, January 27)

Award-Winning Musical Adaption to 'A Christmas Carol' (Through Sunday, December 22)

How Technology Will Revolutionize Transportation (Through Sunday, March 31) Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Manhattan

'Cher for All Seasons' Retrospective of Films Starring Cher (Through Monday, December 24) Museum of the Moving Image, Queens

Free Blowouts, Free Facials & More (Through Sunday, December 23)

2018 Holiday ID Pop Shop (Through Sunday, December 23) Chelsea Market, Manhattan

BX Little Italy & Arthur Ave. Tour + Treats (Through Wednesday, December 26)

Subscribe to our free daily e-newsletter or follow us on Twitter or Instagram.

Source: http://www.niftynyc.com/2018/12/19/wednesday-december-19-free-nyc-events/