Savage Beauty, the Alexander McQueen retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has closed. This past Sunday was the exhibit’s final day. According to The New York Times:
“The exhibition attracted more than 650,000 visitors since it opened on May 4, and 15,000 on Saturday [August 6] alone. It is among the 10 most visited shows in the museum’s history, and the most popular special exhibition ever at the Costume Institute, which is housed at the museum.”
Two of my closest friends, Coco the Fashionista, and Ling the Graphics Designer, had already seen it. They both gave it solid rave reviews. The previous Thursday I emailed Milton that I was thinking about doing the unthinkable, forego my usual Sunday power sleeping, and rise at 7 am to get to the Met by 9 am, “Are you interested in joining me?” Milton emailed me back, “I’d do it.”
We were well aware that going on the last day of the final weekend was an act of guaranteed masochism bordering on the certifiably insane, but it would also be a very only-in-New-York-thing-to-do since New Yorkers are veteran line waiters. At this stage in our lives, I am certain that Milton and I have invested the equivalent of at least an entire year of our lives doing nothing more than waiting to enter films, plays, restaurants, exhibits, and standing at box office windows (refer to Lame Adventure 1 for the story of another epic wait). Yet, we did not anticipate when we both arrived early – he at 8:40 and I at 8:45 (the Met opened the doors at 9:30), that the lines leading down from the front of the museum on the 79th Street side as well as the 83rd Street side would both be so monumentally long, reaching so deep inside Central Park, they nearly snaked through the Upper West Side and into the Hudson River. Thousands upon thousands of other people had the same idea as Milton and me. The lines continually grew longer as we inched forward.
Huddled masses not exactly enjoying a day in the park.
Inching closer to entry more than an hour later.
As we approached the home stretch of the line in the sweltering heat around 10 am, I noticed two young women toss water bottles into the trash and confer with each other. Mind-reader me knew what they were thinking since I could smell the acrid stench of line crashers. I gave them the hairy eyeball. They got the message and did not attempt to weasel their way in front of us. Instead, they cut right behind us in front of a clueless guy whose head was absorbed in his iPad. I said loudly:
Me: Great, future tax cheats of America right here.
Milton the Wise reasoned: Pretty young girls can get away with this sort of thing, but if we or anyone we know tried to do it we’d all get killed.
Cheating duo up front.
Soaked in sweat, we finally entered the museum around 10:40 and purchased our tickets at 10:48 while staring at a sign declaring that the next phase in the wait would be 2 ½ hours. We stared at that sign expressionless until Milton, who was now starving and getting cranky, groused:
Milton: These fuckin’ clothes had better get up and spin.
For interim viewing pleasure the Met had us wait in long lines that snaked through galleries displaying ancient artifacts. We were particularly fond of the Chinese sculptures from the 5th through 8th Centuries. A guard told us that it was okay to photograph the permanent collection. To help Milton take his mind off of his hunger, I handed him my camera and he snapped away.
In predominantly good company.
Crowd waiting patiently.
Impressive mural.
Appreciating sculpture while waiting.
I occupied my time working on solving the US debt crisis so we can regain our AAA rating. I suggested to Milton:
Me: Maybe if we returned these artifacts to China, they’ll forgive some of our debt?
A tourist standing behind us asked Milton:
Tourist: Are you from out of town? You’re taking so many pictures.
Milton: No. We like taking pictures.
Milton relaxing.
Milton’s dream pasta bowl.
Next leg of epic journey.
Ha! Suckers that just got in!
Ha ha! Sucks to be us!
Ancient artifact conversation piece.
Ancient artifact conversation piece 2, or part of an ancient trend with who-knows-what function, possibly a kinda/sorta inspiration for the bong.
Just as we approached the sign that said we had 30 minutes to go before reaching the McQueen exhibit, we saw a sign warning us that there was no photography beyond that point. Therefore, we did not photograph any of the impressive Auguste Rodin sculptures. Our Tourist-friend bleated:
Tourist: Did you see that sign? Put your camera away!
Milton: We saw the sign. We’ve put the camera away.
Milton’s stomach: ROAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After enduring nearly four hours of waiting, we gained entry into the McQueen exhibit around 12:35 that afternoon. The galleries were so densely packed with visitors it was impossible to see everything. We did notice people taking photographs with their iPhones, and as much as we wanted to follow their lead, we didn’t. Every so often a McQueen-weary guard would erupt:
Guard: No photography, please! Put your camera away!
A number of visitors brought their youngsters. How much can you see in a crowded gallery when you stand barely four feet tall? A little girl tried to grab one of McQueen’s trademark Armadillo shaped shoes and Milton had to control his knee-jerk desire to lunge at her.
Look. Don’t touch!
He gasped:
Milton: Don’t!
The kid’s mom seemed indifferent to her daughter’s antics. This exhibit should have been off-limits to small fry under age ten, but at least strollers were banned. Overall, it was impressively assembled and what we did see of the clothes was in a word, brilliant. Milton and I may be the two least stylish people we know, but we both recognized McQueen’s amazing artistry or as Milton observed, McQueen not only had the daring to go further than other designers, but he had the ability to do so and do it brilliantly. I will never look at a feather* the same way again.
*Exception: stray pigeon feather littering the sidewalk.
He told stories with each of his collections and his imagination struck me as so vast. How tragic that he was compelled to commit suicide at only 40.
Since we played by the Met’s rules and controlled our impulse to sneak photographs, click this link to see a video that the Met has online of the exhibit.
When we exited the Met an hour later, we saw that the lines were still miles long.
Missing sound effect: cash register clanging.
The museum extended their hours to midnight both days of this past weekend. We were glad that we were able to see this show before it closed. It was certainly unlike any other exhibit we’ve ever seen, and one truly worthy of a four hour wait and 5+ hours of standing. Andrew Bolton, the exhibit’s curator, deserves a shout out; he did a great job putting it together.
Lame Adventures 
You two are heroic (particularly Milton’s stomach).
Now let me brag: I’ve a friend who has a friend who works at the Met and sneaked us in for free on one of those $50 Mondays. It was pretty crowded but we got the bonus of sharing the gallery with Neal Patrick Harris the day after the Tonys. Now, don’t kill me.
xoxo
Grande Enchilada.
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Hey, I won’t kill you — I admire you. That’s the way to have REALLY seen this exhibit. You rock, Enchilada!
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Four hours! Amazing. That does say something about people’s interest in art. In New York. Would you get comprable crowds in Cleveland. Or Saskatoon. Maybe. I want to say something negative but I can’t bring myself to do it. Good on you for sticking it out.
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Hi David,
I think that the waiting gene is in every New Yorker’s DNA, whether they were born here or not. It just reveals itself over time. In other parts of the country, or possibly the entire world, it might be considered a crazy as a loon gene. Thanks for checking in! I hope you return.
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I enjoyed reading this post. I sympathize with Milton’s hunger. I don’t think I could have endured that long without entering sugar shock. Enjoyed Milton’s photos, too — the feather my favorte. I, a fellow writer and blogger, keep seeing your link on your NY Times comments, so thought I’d come visit your blog. I made a comment similar to yours today at the Times about Raphael Enthoven’s “Reverie” essay; that is to say, on my part a bumbling attempt to state that he put his thumb on the focus of my blog and that I wish I could think that deeply and write that well to exhibit the same artfully-sculpted work.
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Hi Samantha,
I’m glad you enjoyed reading this post and you took the time to check out Lame Adventures. I think my commenting is getting a bit notorious on the NY Times. I was very impressed with the “Reverie” essay, too. I definitely lack the intellectual depth to write anything that well. Viewing the McQueen exhibit and glimpsing his level of artistry up close and personal made us feel very lucky to gain entry into the Met on Sunday, but I’m still a bit surprised that neither of us suffered heat stroke in the endurance test that was waiting in that line! I visited your site, too. You write very well. Thanks for sharing your link.
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Bravo! I am just amazed at your dedication. And I thought a ninety-minute wait to ride the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland was pushing the limits of patience! Great photos, too.
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Had we only attempted to see it a month or two earlier, the total wait-time (something like 30-45 minutes) was significantly shorter … but, of course, we didn’t do that. If we had a motto it might be, “Why do it the easy way?” Glad you like the photos!
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Hi, it’s me again. Thanks for visiting my site and the writing compliment. I’ve read more here, and I do enjoy your writing and humor — Pigeon Little and the Bagel, for instance. I’ve signed up for an email feed, or however that works. 🙂
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Thanks Samantha. Your writing has an almost ethereal flow whereas mine’s more cloddish. Every so often NYC wildlife (pigeons, squirrels and rats) appear on this site. Running into that pigeon pecking the bagel was quite a serendipitous opportunity. Glad I packed my camera for the time when I ran encountered a pigeon wandering in my supermarket’s vegetable aisle, I didn’t. It was so upsetting missing that shot! All the patrons stopped around it and it just knew, “I don’t think I’m welcome here.”
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No, your writing is not cloddish. It’s funny, witty, and, really, very well written and clean. I tend to use, um, well, a lot of words.
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Aw Samantha, you’re very kind! I’m flattered.
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Great blog: I have friends who have visited this exhibit; It was my intention to get to NYC to see it before it closed, but work kept me from making the short trip, now after enjoying this blog I almost feel as though I was there… I thank my writer friend Carol for sending me this link… enjoy!
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Hi Robert,
I thank you for taking the time to write a comment and Carol, too, for turning you onto Lame Adventures! Milton and I waited until the last possible second to see this exhibit which was boneheaded considering that getting there was so easy for us Manhattanites. Our only excuse for waiting to attend for so long was that we were two sloths. Fortunately, we did get there and looking back, we’re so glad that we did. Had we gone sooner, we could have seen so much more since the crowd was so dense, but overall packed with cool customers. We didn’t witness any NYC-style bursts of anger. We were all too transfixed with the depth of McQueen’s brilliant artistry to be petty and nasty to one another … best to save those outbursts for the subway train anyway. Revisit LA again whenever you have a moment for silliness from the city!
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I think the real story here: You have friends named Coco the Fashionista, and Ling the Graphics Designer!
😉
Fun post…
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Hey, thanks for checking in Mikalee! I’ll share your shout out with Coco and Ling.
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Hilarious. I am so glad I found this blog. I will definitely be checking back to read more of your funny adventures 🙂 Great post!
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Thank you for taking the time to check in over here at Lame Adventures(land) Reina. Please do return. Something silly is always going on over here.
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You two are hard core! I don’t know that I would have endured. Thank God you earned Freshly Pressed for your willingness to wait! Congrats. This was a fun post!
Kathy
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Hey Kathy, It never occurred to me that our masochism would lead to LA getting Freshly Pressed. That was quite a pleasant surprise. All we were thinking about was finally seeing that exhibit — and eating! Loved your Dog-Daze of Summer post. Dogs pop up over here from time to time. I’m quite the dog lover. Glad you enjoyed my post. Thanks for visiting.
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It was great having you stop by my blog and having you subscribe, as well. Thank you!! I can’t wait to read some of your dog posts! So glad you enjoyed reading about my sweet dog!
And again, congrats on FPed! Yours was a delightful post!
Kathy
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You’re welcome, Kathy — and your dog is adorable. You are so right about their eyes. One of my personal favorite LA’s is Lame Adventure 81 featuring Tanner, a beagle in my neighborhood and a very industrious squirrel. No animals were harmed in the writing of that post. Check it out whenever you feel like checking back in.
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How did you do it? Hahaha.. impressive. Real fun post, by the way! Definitely deserved to be on the Freshly Pressed!! Congrats 🙂
You, my friend, are going on my blog roll! Awesome blog!:D
Edwin
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Thanks Edwin! How did we do it? Good question since it did have its Bataan Death March moments. Hey, I checked out your blog, The Awkward List. It’s quite a riot!
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great name for your blog. standing 5 hrs for art proves this was anything but a lame adventure. thanks for sharing a slice of ny w/ those of us who love the place!
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I’m not sure how that name for my site came to me; I was probably reflecting on the trajectory of my life … Thanks for checking in! I love the pictures on your lovely site. They’re magnificent, makes me want to pack a bag and make a quick getaway.
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Savage waiting, indeed. A friend of mine saw the exhibit and was quite enthralled by it.
My longest wait was for the King Tut treasures, and I was, in fact, a “small fry under age ten” at the time. I didn’t understand what we were waiting for until we entered the exhibit. My tiny mind was blown! I am so grateful to my parents for taking me.
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Some years back, when my niece was about 12, my sister and I took her to see the Titanic exhibit when it was showing in San Francisco. The wait wasn’t that bad, probably about half an hour, but my niece, who did not inherit the line-waiting gene, was rather crabby. Yet, once we entered the exhibit, she got into it. She loved the touchy-feely part where there was a giant slab of ice berg on display. Auntie Brain Cell was compelled to tell her, “This isn’t the actual ice berg.” Thanks for visiting! I love your cemetery post on A Clean Surface.
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The girls who cut were totally not that cute. Thanks for the flashback. I was at the Met a little less than a year ago and you have me feeling both nostalgic and happy that I live somewhere where the average line wait is 5-15 minutes. Thank you for sharing.
Crystal
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When I knew what those two were plotting, they looked like Satan’s offspring to me. The stampede to see the McQueen exhibit got increasingly crazier as the end date neared, so attending on the very last day was, in a word, insane. Yet, I am very happy that we made the effort. It was a very impressive exhibit — not that I intend to rethink all my New Yorker cartoon tee shirts and predominantly J. Crew wardrobe. Thanks for visiting LA. Crystal Spins is so well written! Thanks for turning me onto your site.
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Thank you for coming by for a read! And thank you so much for the compliment. I will certainly be following your adventures in the future as well!
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Cool!
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We got to see this exhibit 3 days before it closed! We waited 2 hours so not as bad, and definitely worth it! Gorgeous dresses–the royal plaid collection was my favorite. It was fun to see your photos of those very same sculptures which we also appreciated and learned much about on our long wait. I admit those got a bit forgotten in the aftermath. : )
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Since we were waiting so long, we had ample time to take in our surroundings as well as enlighten ourselves about ancient Chinese artifacts — still don’t know how we scored those over here. I’d think they’d like them back. I sure would if I was China. As for the McQueen exhibit, we thought the dress made entirely from the pheasant feathers was mind-blowing. How did he think that up, much less realize it? The guy was no doubt a genius. Thanks for checking out LA!
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I have a serious line allergy, myself. I have the patience of a caffeinated toddler, therefore I must live vicariously through patient people. Your post made me feel like I was actually there. On that note, I have heard that Starbucks has decent lattes. Would you mind stopping in for me and doing a bit of a write-up?
Great post! Congrats on making Freshly Pressed!
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You would have been tortured waiting in that line. There were some small fry desperately trying to burn off steam. What was insulting for them is that a relatively empty playground was directly across the street from the museum on the 83rd Street side of the wait! Glad you enjoyed the post. Hey, I have covered Starbucks. Check out LA 185. I’ve checked out your site. Wow, what a heroic effort you have going! I’m impressed. Thanks for the congrats and checking in!
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haha, nice picture of you flying above the water…very creative (:
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Thanks for checking in! I admit it, in my spare time I like to have myself shot out of a canon over the Central Park reservoir.
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Sounds like this was a great exhibit. Too bad I’m not there to see it.
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It was definitely worth all the Aleve we popped afterward. Thanks for checking in!
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I love this post! I like that there are pictures of the entire experience. It makes me feel like I went to the museum instead of just looking at pictures of the clothes online.
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Glad you enjoyed your visit to my site! Being there in the presence of AMQ’s extraordinary artistry was electric. It was quite an experience.
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Pingback: Lame Adventure 217: Inevitable Destiny | Lame Adventures
Earlier this week I covered the topic of line cutting over on my award-pending blog and it’s good to see that, even in the longest line ever, you stuck to your guns (it’s actually a good thing that, in a line that size, nobody had any guns).
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Hey Makya,
It was a genteel crowd for the most part, but those two were certainly super soaker squirt gun-worthy. Your line-cutting post is great! Thanks for commenting, sharing and visiting.
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Thanks for sharing your epic wait! I’m particularly interested in the “hairy eyeball.” Is this a New York thing? Can it be acquired?
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You’re welcome, Jen! I think you might already know how to do the hairy eyeball. It’s an intimidating glare that silently screams, “Don’t even think it!” Thanks for visiting and subscribing! Your storytelling is excellent.
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I loved the show — waited four hours then spent about 75 minutes in the exhibit. It was worth it, but exhausting. I blogged about the exhibit itself and why I thought it was worth the wait. (And I only decided to go after one of the bloggers I read had gone six times. He’s a costume designer so if he was that impressed, I figured it must be worth it.)
http://broadsideblog.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/four-hours-in-line-worth-it-for-mcqueen-show/
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Hi Caitlin,
Thank you for visiting LA. I envy that you were able to spend 75 minutes viewing the exhibit. The crowd was so immense that last day, and it was so difficult to see anything, we were barely there 40 minutes. Fortunately, every second of those 40 minutes was worth it. Thank you for sharing your McQueen exhibit link. Your blog is very well-written.
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You and Milton are brave.
I love the heading for your blog!
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Thanks for visiting and thanks for calling us brave! Some might think we’re two loons.
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“future tax cheats of America right here.”
Oh, the hilarity. I feel like this should be on reddit.
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Feel free to click the Reddit button! Thanks for visiting LA. I love your pictures.
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around of applause for ALEXANDER MCQUEEN! thanks for giving us an opportunity to see the exhibit.(from other country.lol)
–jena http://fashiondiy101.wordpress.com/
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Thank you for taking the time to visit and comment from afar Jena!
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Pingback: Lame Adventure 216: Savage Waiting (via Lame Adventures) | harlequinncooks
nice posting
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waww… Great! I wanna go there… 🙂
i never see museum like that in my country..
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One day you MUST travel to New York, but Milton thinks that the museums in Paris are as wonderful as the Met here in the Big Apple. Thanks for visiting Iutfi!
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This one put a smile on my face. New York is a wonderful place. Being a Canadian, I often don’t have much time to visit, but when I can, I jump at the chance. Amazing as always, keep up the great laughs. Cheers!
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Hey Alex,
Thanks so much for visiting. I’m glad you enjoyed the post. It was quote a New York experience, but I’m glad we did it. Of course, had we made the effort to attend sooner, we could have stayed longer and probably seen a lot more.
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Love the post!
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Thanks Katie. It was great to be there that day!
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Great post–I’m glad I’ve discovered you! I saw the exhibit just a few days before closing–I was able to go before hours with a membership, and it was still packed, even then! McQueen was a true genius, and the show was put together beautifully. I commend you for your tremendous patience and waiting skills, and I’m happy to hear they paid off!
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Thank you so much for visiting my site! I think every day of the last two weeks of the exhibit the lines grew longer and longer. I agree with you that McQueen was indeed a true genius and the Met did a wonderful job putting the exhibit together. It’s a shame that it could not run even longer.
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Totally reminds me of the Shanghai 2010 Expo. Waiting sucks 😦 At least the wait was worth is, right?
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The monumental wait was completely worth it!
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And btw, I like your blog. 😀
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Hey, thanks for checking in and subscribing! I like your blog, too.
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It sounds fabulous. I’d love to get exhibition like that here in Sydney. I’m not sure I’d wait that long though. I’m not fussed on queues.And great post! I liked the “suckers” comment. It gave me a bit of a chuckle.
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The exhibit was indeed fabulous. The four hours of waiting, much less so. Thanks so much for checking in. If Milton ever gets a license (highly unlikely, he’s a complete subway guy) I’ll refer him to you gay car boys site!
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Great post! By the way your banner is really awesome!
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Thanks so much for checking in! Glad you enjoyed the post. Ling the Graphics Designer was instrumental in creating that banner with me. You have a lot of cool pix on your site. Very film-noirish.
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Wow. In London we have timed tickets. New Yorkers are fierce!
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You better believe it! Thanks for checking in and commenting.
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For a good time, follow the line. Fun post & glad you posted the links to the videos, too – pretty clever exhibition.
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Since we couldn’t photograph the actual exhibits — and our photographs would have been terrible since it was so crowded — that video the Met posted online gives a good idea about what McQueen achieved in his extraordinary but tragically too short life. What we were able to see was stunning. Thanks for visiting.
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Thanks for that hilarious post. It made me laugh out loud a few times; your captions are delectable!
Reading this definitely struck a chord of nostalgia. I lived in NYC for a year during a brief sojourn at NYU. I managed to visit MOMA a few times but never the Met. I think I missed out a lot. This definitely would’ve been something that would’ve spurred me to go.
Anyway, I’m glad you said something about those two girls. I abhor inconsiderate people who cheat others.
I’ll definitely be back to check out future posts. Happy (lame) adventures!
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I’m glad you were amused. I’m actually a graduate of NYU(seless), but it took me about 15 years of living here before I made it over to the Met (thanks to Va Va Voom, my ex). I was definitely more of a MOMA-ist that assumed the Met was for stodgy old-timers. Now that I’ve resided in NYC almost 30 years, it’s very possible that I’m one of those stodgy old-timers myself. As for those two line-cheats, what can I say other than, “Grrrrrrrrrrrrr”? Thank you for both commenting, and of course, for visiting LA. I admit that’s a rather perverse abbreviation for a blog that is so very NYC!
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Loll!!!
Reading your latest post reminds me of my days living in NYC.
I was a New Yorker for about 13 years but once the gloss wore off, which took about five of those years, I knew that I was on my way out. Unfortunately, the unwinding process took much longer.
For a several years one of my hobbies was to see the first screening of every new movie that opened in Manhattan. That meant that I stood in a lot of very long lines for many long hours. I not only developed a threatening, laser like stare to direct at line cutters but I was not above confronting people directly. Something that frequently caused the line cutters to offer me a spot in front of them. One more useful tool for in City-craft I guess.
I finally realized that, not only had I spent years of my life standing in lines but that in Manhattan, all you ever really have is your place in line, usually accompanied by an overarching need to defend it.
Sigh… New York! Sky Scrapers and everything!
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Before Milton the Magnificent, I used to be friends with a fastidious chap best called Felix Unger. Felix was obsessed with attending every major mainstream film that opened on Day 1 (the first 7-ish evening screening), so yes, we stood in hundreds of those lines and wasted days of our lives, but guess what? Once he and I parted ways, I discovered how nice it is to see films … whenever! Frankly, I can wait weeks or months. For example, it’s not important to me to be the first on my block to see the latest installment of the X-Men series. This might sound sacrilegious to ardent X-Men fans (and I’m not knocking their devotion; I just don’t share it), but since I unloaded Felix, and upgraded to Milton, I also upgraded what films I see. I only see what I want when I want. The X-Men series is completely off my list now, even though it’s on Milton’s (he is perfectly content to see those films sans me; what a guy). Moral of story, there are ways around the many epic lines of Manhattan, and had Milton and I seen this Alexander McQueen exhibit a month earlier, it would have incurred a much shorter wait and much longer viewing time. Thanks so much for taking the time to visit and comment!
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Thanks for posting this, I didn’t get to see the exhibit, but I’m glad that even though there was a terrible wait, you made my reading about your visit so enjoyable.
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Thanks for visiting Eli! It was truly worth the wait.
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totally agreed with everything you said, and it’s funny because we actually included a lot of the same things in our own post:
http://thelazytravelers.com/2011/08/02/mcqueen-at-the-met/
and seriously, WHYYY would anyone bring little kids to that exhibit? there was a girl there the day we went who was sobbing as soon as we walked in, she was so scared. but the exhibit was totally worth the wait.
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I suppose some people are okay with paying a $25 admission fee, but not for a sitter!
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Loved your truly excellent lame adventure story. New York is the BEST!
You are brave and dedicated to have waited in a 4 hr+ line.
I haven’t done that since the days of Grateful Dead shows. Though, whenever I do find myself in a long long line, I look back at that Dead training with nostalgia, and I would have known to bring some healthy snacks for Milton! Congrats on the fresh press!
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You are so right — New York is indeed the BEST! I’m not so sure if I would call Milton and I brave or just two imbeciles that should have attended that exhibit much earlier in its run, but I appreciate your kindness. Had we known the wait was going to be that monumental, we would not have done it, but the pay off in the end, up close and personal with so many breathtaking designs, was truly worth it. Milton is not a healthy snack eater, but he is an eater, so I was surprised that of all mornings in his life, he skipped breakfast that day. At least I thought to bring a yogurt. Thanks for the congrats and the visit!
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I was considering taking a last look that weekend, but I thought that the galleries would be too crowded to really enjoy the exhibit, and so it wouldn’t be worthwhile. Did the Met keep the exhibition sparse?
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Shirley, you jest when you ask, “Did the Met keep the exhibition sparse?” Yes, the galleries were crowded and the exhibit was indeed lavish. It did not disappoint. Hey, thanks for visiting!
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I’m glad it was all worth it! 🙂 I love the “Milton relaxing.” caption! 😉
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So does Milton! Thanks for visiting!
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Amazing!! Love it! x
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It was a wonderful exhibit. Thanks for visiting and commenting!
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This was such a fun read! Thank you for creating the moment for those who were unable to make it (like myself). It’s so true what you said about waiting in line being the new yorker thing to do. I’ve definetly had my share of long line waits. I love your writing style by the way. 🙂
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Thanks for visiting and thanks for the compliment!
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So glad I was able to see the Alexander McQueen exhibition without a line at the beginning of July. The show is beyond words.
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Ha! Rub it in! That’s so true about the show. Thanks for visiting.
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lol. at least you got a chance to check out the other works of art while in line. we were in nyc a couple of years ago and noticed there were lines for everything….shake shack, shakespeare in the park.
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That was very considerate of the Met to give us great art to look at once we got inside. Yes, if you’re waiting-in-line averse, NYC is a tough place to visit. Ten years ago, my friends and I actually camped out in Central Park to see Meryl Streep in The Seagull when it was a Shakespeare in the Park staging. I cannot brag about that adventure for I nodded off during the play. Thanks for visiting. Your blog is very dangerous to visit when feeling hungry! Great food shots.
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Haha, guess I’m a little late to the party on this post. In my defense, I’m not entirely sure I had even started blogging yet when you wrote it! But I love it. The other day, when the seeds that would become my “Like” post were just being sown in my brain, I was thinking about how it’s impossible to feel indifference towards McQueen. He evokes emotion like few people can through their art. I Love him with a capital L. Such an astonishing talent, gone way too soon.
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Hey Emily, always cool to hear from you, buddy! You probably did not get a chance to see the exhibit considering that you don’t live in the Tri-state area. Milton and I saw it at the last possible second. I regret not seeing it earlier, but at least we did go. I got so much out of this exhibit (aside from annoyed with the wait and FP’ed). I never realized the extent of his artistry. It was so impressive and we thought, “Wow, what a mind to think this up!” Granted, I dress like my personal stylist is Larry David and in all the years I’ve known Milton I’ve only seen him in jeans and tee shirts, but even schlubs like us were not blind to this guy’s brilliance. As sad as I am about McQueen offing himself, I do think he had only so much to give. With that in mind I think he gave all he had, he reached his end point with living and, sadly, checked out in such a tragic way. But, he leaves such a legacy! That will live on and on.
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V, you and Milton sound as if you have many adventures together (not so lame!) — the fact that you stood in line and muscled your way through these throngs of people proves your mettle as a true New Yorker. I don’t think I’ve ever stood in line to see anyone or anything that length of time!
Are you one of those people that wait in the freezing cold to ice skate at Rockefeller Center? We’ve tried to do that twice — at RC and at Bryant Park. My ADD has kept me from that but it is something I want to do. Once during the holidays, there was a guy who put an ice sculpture in the middle of the sidewalk and people piled up behind it — it took 20 minutes to just get past it — people would abruptly stop and that would send everyone behind them like dominos, teetering, muttering, cursing — all for a sidewalk ice sculpture. I’m babbling, but this sounds worth it. I have seen a Rodin exhibit but not Alexander.
You’ve put your usual funny flair with this post so I can understand why this one was deemed FP worthy. :D.
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Thanks for the compliment Brig. I have had more Lame Adventures with Milton than anyone. He is accompanying me on another one next week, plus we’re seeing several films at the upcoming New York Film Festival. Hopefully, we’ll encounter something LA-worthy while we’re there.
I don’t ice skate, roller skate, swim, or walk on hot coals barefoot. Not my thing(s), but last year when I covered department store holiday windows for LA I did rubberneck the ice skaters at Rock Center. If you go early enough it’s not that crowded. I’d rather be asleep in my warm bed.
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i want that pasta bowl.
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