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> December 8-15, 2008 > Transportation Alternatives 21st Century Streets Celebration Transportation Alternatives has announced three winners for "Designing the 21st Century Street," an open design competition that challenged New Yorkers to safely accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists, transit, trucks and cars on the same "complete street" – something that has long eluded New York City street design. The winning entries, "Shared Space" by Steven Nutter, "Streets for Everyone" by Rogers Marvel Architects, and "Streets Come Alive" by LEVON, are remarkable for their ingenuity, invention and beauty. Come celebrate the winners and their innovative street designs at Galapagos Art Space. Visit http://www.transalt.org for more info. RSVP at https://livablestreets.wufoo.com/forms/the-21st-century-street-designed/
Fundraiser for P.S. 8 Join us in supporting our local public school, P.S. 8! We'll be pouring bubbly, noshing on hors d'oeuvres and outrageously tasty desserts. The P.S. 8 band plays live. Even the principal will be seving drinks. Awesome. To order your ticket today, use this form or go to NYCharities.org
Presentation #1 The basics of map reading: a breathtakingly quick history of maps up until present day. Maps can enhance your understanding of politics, they teach you about terms you always wondered about (latitude, longitude, degrees and their functions, Tropic of Capricorn and Cancer), and show you how to navigate like a REAL explorer - by the sun and stars! Bio: Jesse Landau abandoned his former life and embarked on a better-late-than-never attempt to do things he actually enjoys once in a while. He lectures to tourists for the City Sights double-decker bus, studies photography, and is soliciting funds in perpetuity so that he can raise a King Charles Spaniel to carry around in a cute little tote bag. Presentation #2 The current generation has been raised alongside video games, from a two-bit birth to a virtual "second life" (unless you count that as your first one). But as people spend time in computer-created games, their brains grow accustomed to simple rules and immediate gratification. The more these expectations are reinforced, the easier (and funnier) it is to screw with them. This presentation will explain some of the cognitive principles that make "gamers" predictable. Also included is a series of experimental games that DIRECTLY mess with players. Bio: Ben Donaldson develops Flash programs and games at a web company in New York. Earlier this year he focused on advanced business and engineering, but like most grad students, he only makes terrible life choices. Presentation #3 Ever been to a disorganized non-functional meeting where everyone was speaking out of turn, irrelevant topics were brought up, personal attacks started going left and right, and you left thinking, "Why did I bother to show up to that meeting?" This is where a little parliamentary procedure comes in handy. General Henry Robert wrote a 700+ page textbook called Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised, 10th Edition that describes the rules for conducting meetings. The book is really a simplified version of the actual meeting procedures used in the U.S. House of Representatives. In this lecture, you will learn some basics about Robert's Rules of Order such as making a motion, rules of debate, voting procedures, ranking of motions, and when motions are in order. You can say buh-bye to lame meetings, government-style. Bio: Victoria is the 2000 New York State Women Chess Champion, member of National Association of Parliamentarians (NAP) and American Institute of Parliamentarians (AIP), certified American Red Cross lifeguard and swimming instructor, black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and a beginner at rollerskating and calligraphy. She's also a Biology Assistant Professor at New York City College of Technology.
> Friday, December 12, 11pm TWI the HUMBLE FEATHER Twi the Humble Feather joins forces with fellow Brooklynites Redhooker and Victrola for a night of music and film that skirts the edges of moody electronica, classical, and adventurous pop. These groups combine oceanic indie austerity with quirky minimalist grooves, piles of keyboards, guitars, clarinets, strings, twittering vocals and lo-fi electronics. Redhooker and Victrola will perform with silent films including eerie home movies and slapstick vaudeville from the 1920's. Though harmony is the unifying substance of Twi the Humble Feather's (top pic) music --whether it be in the classically-inspired, contrapuntal guitar inventions that propel these pieces forward or the choir-like vocal arrangements that seem to coalesce and vanish at will like some kind of cosmic ether -- the pieces move along Redhooker is a four-piece ensemble of violins, bass clarinet, guitar, and electronics led by Stephen Griesgraber (middle pic). Its music is intense and contemplative, rich with counterpoint, and lush in timbral color. The compositions are at once lyrical and atmospheric, grounded in the organic character of its acoustic instruments with an added depth drawn from layers of live electronic processing. www.myspace.com/redhooker
"Fertile and gorgeous territory." Pitchfork Victrola (bottom pic), an "all star, all-female quintet" (Time Out New York) led by composer Missy Mazzoli, combines strings, clarinets, keyboards and lo-fi electronics to create lush harmonies, catchy violin melodies and spastic beats constructed from samples of sewing machines, subway trains, and answering machine messages. Victrola is as much a child of composer Philip Glass as of instrumental post-rock ensembles Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Sigur Ros. They've been making waves in New York's downtown music scene for the past year, and will release Cathedral City, their debut album, on New Amsterdam Records in 2009. www.myspace.com/victrolavictrola
> Mustaches for Kids 'Stache Bash Mustaches for Kids, the good-natured, follicularly-centered charity that last year raised more than $30,000 for kids, returns to New York for the ninth straight year. This year, Mustaches for Kids will once again Grow for DonorsChoose.org, a not-for-profit web site that turns public school teachers into social entrepreneurs by giving them a venue to submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. Mustaches for Kids will be building a “registry” of New York-based classroom projects to fund. More information on the DonorsChoose may be found at www.donorschoose.org. At the end of the Growing Period, Mustaches for Kids holds a Mustache Growing Contest—The ‘Stache Bash—a veritable pageant of the follicle, wherein Growers and their Mustaches are put through a thorough battery of physical, intellectual, and emotional challenges, including the Mustache Haiku, the Mustache Pose-down, the World’s Strongest Mustache, the Mustache Dance-A-Thon, the Wet Mustache Contest, and the Beer Foam Retention Test. The facial hair is evaluated by an independent panel of judges, and one Mustache is declared to be the “Sweetest.” And yes, there are costumes. A $20 Ticket includes open bar (beer and wine) until 10 pm! Shave Day is coming up! Click here to get involved - http://www.m4kny.org/about.cfm
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> Wednesday, December 10th, 8pm, price TBA
> Friday, December 12th, 7pm, $7
with REDHOOKER & VICTROLA
with an irresistible sense of rhythm, usually created by catchy strum patterns, bell-like harmonics and an unlikely but wholly successful use of vocal percussion. A lot of times it seems like these guys are imitating wind or pounding rain with their voices -- and having a great time doing it -- and the sparingly used swathes of electronics and field recordings of birds and natural sounds also contribute to this sense of both the otherworldly and the earthly idyllic. 
"An extended, melancholy dreamscape...." Time Out New York
Saturday, December 13th, 7pm, $20