Film scholars have been pretty insensitive to the myriad ways you can watch films. Most of the earliest film scholars watched in a theater with a group of people. They assumed that would be the only way to watch films, primarily because it was the only way to watch films. In some cases, a particular screening would have been a one-and-done situation. Consequently, they wrote about the film so that it survived beyond the evanescence of a theatrical exhibition.
This is a good weekend to be a film geek because you can watch films in ways that might seem novel or even foreign to most viewers today. Sure, you can watch a film at the New York Film Festival and pay as much as $25 to watch a film that will be out in New York–area theaters anyway. However, that’s not the case for the Views from the Avant-Garde series, which I plan on attending this Friday. For a more worthwhile glimpse at film exhibition, you could recreate the experience of watching a silent film in a movie palace and compare it to watching a film at a drive-in theater. Here’s how.
Silent Film
I’m a big fan of the Loew’s Jersey. Built in 1929, it is a landmark movie palace that has been restored over the years to resemble its original state. Whereas most movie palaces have been divided into multiplexes, altered beyond recognition, transformed into retail stores or churches, or are simply torn down, this one has remained a viable venue for film screenings and live performances.
To showcase their restoration work and to preserve a forgotten form of moviegoing, the Friends of Loew’s Jersey occasionally screen movies, including silent films and an annual horror movie series around Halloween.
The Friends of Loew’s Jersey will be screening two films on Sunday, October 5, beginning at 3:00 PM. My Best Girl (1926) stars Mary Pickford and the man she married after Douglas Fairbanks, Charles “Buddy” Rogers. To add to the authentic experience of the show, there will be live organ accompaniment during the screening. Neat! There will also be a short film, Movie Night, starring Charlie Chase. It’s a rare chance to watch silent films as they would have been seen in their day. And if you don’t mind breaking from the authentic 1920s experience, go get Indian food after the show.
Drive-In
Starting this Friday, October 4, you can see films in a “drive-in” theater at the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
The Empire Drive-In is more of an art installation than a bona-fide drive-in movie theater. The installation is open during the hall’s regular hours, but on select days, it transforms into a drive-in theater. To create the drive-in experience, there are sixty cars and trucks, salvaged from a nearby junkyard, installed to accommodate visitors. The screenings run from October 4 through October 20, although you should check the schedule because they’re screenings films only on select days. On those days, the installation is only open until 2:00 PM, presumably to allow time to prepare that evening’s screening.
A few weeks ago, on the eve of the New York City Primary election, the campaigns for various democratic candidates robo-called me. I kept some of the recordings and posted them on this website. But I was reviewing that archive today, and I realized something. All of the candidates, whose campaigns called me, lost in the primaries. Let’s have a look.
Mayor
By far the most active caller was Christine Quinn. Her campaign called me since the early summer through the day of the election. Her campaign also sent people to knock on my door and mailed me flyers just about every day.
Candidate
Robo-Call
Electorate Share
Result
Bill de Blasio
No
40.3%
Won
Bill Thompson
Yes
26.2%
Lost
Christine Quinn
Yes
15.5%
Lost
John Liu
No
7.0%
Lost
Anthony Weiner
Yes
4.9%
Lost
Public Advocate
The first call I posted online was from the Squadron campaign. Their candidate did well enough to force a runoff but lost by 20 points to Letitia James two days ago. Either the Squadron or James campaigns (or both) called me on the day of the runoff but left no messages. It worked because it reminded me to vote that day.
Candidate
Robo-Call
Electorate Share
Result
Letitia James
No
35.9%
Won Runoff
Daniel Squadron
Yes
33.1%
Lost Runoff
Reshma M. Saujani
No
15.1%
Lost Primary
Catherine Guerriero
No
13.1%
Lost Primary
Sidique A. Wai
No
2.8%
Lost Primary
Queens Borough President
The Vallone campaign was runner up not only to Melinda Katz in getting their candidate elected, but also second to the Quinn campaign in bugging the shit out of me. His campaign not only called me, mailed me flyers, but also used this new thing called “e-mail” to reach me. I was invited to attend fundraising events, read about his family’s scholarship fund (the original DREAM Act, as they called it), and get out to vote.
Candidate
Robo-Call
Electorate Share
Result
Melinda Katz
No
44.5%
Won
Peter Vallone
Yes
33.7%
Lost
Everly Brown
No
12.5%
Lost
Tony Avella
No
9.3%
Lost
What does all of this mean? I don’t know. There’s almost certainly no correlation between the robo-calls and the candidates’ failures. For one thing, I only cataloged the calls where messages were left. Most likely, the other campaigns just hung up and called back later, only to hang up again. Jerks.
In either case, it’s hard to like a candidate whose campaign calls you repeatedly. Over and over again.
One of the hallmarks of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 has been the advent of bundling. As a Verizon FiOS customer, the double-play bundle of reasonably fast Internet (almost symmetrical 25 Mbps downstream and 30 Mbps upstream) and a fiber optic landline costs significantly less than the broadband-only service at the same speed. Rather than settle for a slower connection at a lower price, I take the “free” fiber-optic telephone.
“Wait,” you might be asking, “What’s the difference between a fiber-optic telephone line and a regular landline?” One big difference is that in the event of a power outage, your new fangled fiber-optic phone will only work with a big backup battery pack.[1] The one on my kitchen wall measures 11-inches by 17-inches, the same size as a tabloid sheet. Your old plain copper-wire telephone works if the electrical grid goes awry, which does happen, but not your trusty mobile phone or the new fiber phone.
As far as the benefits and drawbacks go, that’s the trade off for zero-cent-per-minute long-distance calling. Let’s call that an even swap.
But what makes fiber phone kind of a bad deal is that I still get robo-calls during competitive elections, such as today’s New York City primary election. We don’t (yet) get those on mobile phones, but we do received them on a line that is tethered by glass.
In order to get a less throttled Internet connection for less money, I’ve had to endure countless robo-calls during the last few weeks. Because Verizon FiOS voicemail will email you an audio file of your message, it has been really easy to collect some of the more memorable robo-calls of this primary season. Here are some of them.
Daniel Squadron
A common template for the robo-calls is to get someone recognizable to “call” you to discuss the candidate’s strengths and the newspapers endorsing the candidates. Here’s one where Senator Chuck Schumer waxes about Daniel Squadron, the candidate for public advocate.
Bill Thompson
My name gets me on some Latino-targeted lists, for marketing, banking, and now electioneering. Here’s Bill Thompson’s campaign calling me. Notice how it is both in English and then en español.
The message identifies me as someone with an immigrant’s experience. It mentions his family’s experience of immigrating and struggling in this new land. It also uses “community” [“communidad”] as a way of tapping into my Latino sensibilities to relate to this candidate.
Peter Vallone
Using the immigrant experience is a powerful strategy for creating sympathies between a voter and a candidate. Peter Vallone, Jr., who is running for Queens Borough President, has been aggressively sending email and postal mail. One of the latter was a flyer about the Peter F. Vallone Scholarship, which his campaign calls the city’s “original Dream Act.” None of the calls I received mentioned the scholarship, but instead mentioned his strengths as a “law and order” candidate. Here he is doing his own calling but still following the template of strengths and endorsements.
Christine Quinn
As persistent as Vallone was, the Christine Quinn campaign was the most aggressive, likely due to her well-funded campaign. The campaign called early in the summer to ask if “she could count on my vote.” They sent a high school student to my apartment to talk with me about Quinn and distribute some literature. And speaking of literature, the campaign has mailed me a flyer or ten in the last few weeks.
And, again, because of my Latino name and background, some Spanish-speaking luminaries have been calling me to talk about Quinn’s strengths and endorsements.
And pulling out all the stops today, Election Day, she “called” me herself.
Anthony Weiner
Last and late to the party was Anthony Weiner. He didn’t play up the Latino angle, which is probably wise because it could remind me about Carlos Danger and all that unpleasantness. Instead, he kindly asked me to join a telephone “town hall” conversation.
Since it was during my Monday night class, I missed it. And he called me to remind me that I bailed on him.
I’m not sure what the second call was meant to accomplish other to have me think of him. It did, and I am.
Today, I’m happy because the robo-calls should end after this primary election. Or else, I guess there’s always the run-off in October.
According to Verizon’s Terms and Conditions, “Where applicable, battery backup available for standard fiber-based voice service, FiOS Digital Voice & E911 (but not other voice services).” ↩
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has issued an Air Quality Health Advisory for New York City until 11:00 PM tonight. Active children, adults, and people with lung disease, such as asthma, should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors. For more air quality information visit http://www.dec.ny.gov/
With a week before my first class starts, it’s nice to know summer isn’t over yet.
I first saw the red light appear when I docked a bike at 21st St and 6th Ave, in Chelsea. What does that mean? I tried to remove the bike from the dock, but it would not come loose. I tried to checkout the bike, but the red light came on and would not let me take it. Was the bike just now totally unavailable?
My gone-yesterday-here-today-gone-tomorrow list of trips shows that the bikes I borrowed yesterday were returned. Maybe this particular station is buggy. Who knows?
Man, how quickly one year goes by (and also two years). It’s time for the annual New York Staff Show at Phillips de Pury. This year, the event is at the Park Avenue location, not the one in Chelsea. Let’s hope this doesn’t mean they have begun cracking down on freeloaders like us.
There apparently was no need for me to buy earplugs.
After going through the juror’s orientation, they had us return to the waiting area. We sat around until 11:45, when they told us that they were giving us an extended lunch. “Come back at 2:00.”
I went for a buffet lunch at a nearby Indian restaurant, and then returned to the juror room. Shortly after 2:00, they told us that the case we were selected to serve was settled without a trial. We were also told that we had served a valuable role by being ready to serve and that our jury duty was done. We are now excused from serving for four years. “Thank you for your service.”
In two tours of jury duty in New York, I have yet to get to voir dire. Instead, I sit in the room for a day or two and then head home. I last served on a real deal, jury in like 1996, in Santa Barbara Superior Court. I tried to get out of it, and ended up being the foreman. It was a great experience for me.
I would be lying if I didn’t expect something like this to happen. Tomorrow is Independence Day. A reasonable person would guess that lawyers and judges would prefer to start a case on a day that wasn’t in the middle of Fourth of July weekend. Moreover, I heard from a well-respected NYU professor that most judges take their vacations between now and Labor Day and, thus, very few cases are heard during this time (or during the December holidays). If you don’t want to sit in a trial, get scheduled to serve during these times of the year. And bring your iPad and some earplugs.
The last time I had jury duty was in August 2003. I went to the courthouse in Manhattan and sat in the juror room for two days, but I was never called for a case and was dismissed after two days. After I arrived home, the power went out in my apartment. It was the beginning of the Northeast Blackout. Being summoned for service has eluded me since then. I did once get a summons from the court in Manhattan, but I was about to move to Queens so was ineligible to serve as a juror in New York County.
Starting jury service can provoke anxiety. It's an unfamiliar process since people only get called no more than once every four years. The level of stress and anxiety is probably on par with starting a new job. You're going to a new place. You're unfamiliar with the specifics of traveling to the courtroom. You're not even sure what door you're supposed to use and the security protocols.
My service in Queens was no less unfamiliar than starting a new job. First, I was a few minutes late in arriving at the courtroom. The E train was a breeze and whisked me from Long Island City to Kew Gardens in no time, but I left home too late to make it by 9:00 AM. Second, I couldn't find the door. It turns out that the entrance is on 82nd Ave., not Queens Blvd. Take the exit at the front of the Jamaica-bound train and walk east down Queens Blvd. Make the first left and the juror entrance will be opposite the retired red subway car that now serves as the Queens Tourist Office.
Because I was running late, I missed breakfast. Thankfully, they have vending machines and water coolers, dispensing cold and hot water. Had I known about the water cooler, I would have brought a bottle or mug to enjoy some beverages, although it might have been a bit much to bring an Aeropress and a portable grinder.
Someone told me that the juror waiting rooms have WiFi. Back in 2003, I had to entertain myself by reading the newspaper cover-to-cover and all of Don Delilio's Cosmopolis. But today, I brought my iPad and MacBook Pro because I am that big of a nerd.
The biggest distraction is that there at least eight flat-panel TV sets peppered around the juror room. They use them for the orientation video, but for most of the time, they're tuned to daytime television shows. The sound is turned up, making it difficult to tune them out. So far, I’ve heard Kelly Ripa and NYU Commencement speaker Michael Strahan do their morning happy-talk routine, Rachael Ray rhapsodize about hot dogs, in time for the Fourth, and about homeless dogs in need of a home. I'm bringing earplugs the next time I come.
And speaking of Independence Day, that's tomorrow. Although the court officers have repeated that we have to be here every weekday until the conclusion of our service, we should be off tomorrow. Right? I already planned a bike ride for tomorrow.
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