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On The Scene: Bumper Cars on Ice at Bryant Park!

by Sydney Hargrove
written by Sydney Hargrove

As the first few weeks of the new year settle in, it can be difficult to find the kind of fun activities that you’ve enjoyed the past few months, even in the liveliest of cities. In New York, the exiting of holiday fun to make way for what awaits in January can not only be sad, but can make it seem like there’s not much to do in your free time, especially with our recent icy temperatures.Β 

But Bryant Park is always a staple of year round fun, no matter the season or the weather. Thankfully for anyone looking for a little bit of winter cheer, one of the most anticipated NYC activities, Bumper Cars on Ice, recently made its return to the Bank of America Winter Village. It’s an ideal time to check out the cars, as the holiday shops, and other various attractions have come down for the season, making crowds at a minimum and fun at a maximum.Β 

Even though it may be a little cold to head to Coney Island right now, you can still experience a carnival classic in a whole new way. Now through March 2nd, participants can experience classic bumper cars on new terrain, making for a slippery good time. This unique experience allows individuals to glide and bump into each other on the ice, ensuring greater speeds than the typical ride, and some gorgeous views as well.

One of the best things about Bryant Park is how much there is to do, even after the holiday season. After enjoying the bumper cars or a whirl around the park’s free admission ice skating rink, guests have the perfect opportunity to continue their winter escapade at The Lodge. Situated rinkside, The Lodge is a cozy aprΓ¨s-skate escape that beckons visitors to unwind and immerse themselves in the festive atmosphere. It’s an open-air environment, creating the perfect setting to savor a delightful cocktail and relish delicious food. The Lodge stands out as the ultimate winter destination, offering both outdoor and indoor bars, providing a comfortable retreat for New Yorkers and visitors alike.

The bumper cars will be open from 1 pm to 7 pm, Monday through Thursday, and from 11 am to 5 pm, Friday through Sunday.For those eagerly awaiting this winter treat, tickets are now officially available for purchase. To secure your spot on the ice and partake in the joyous escapade of Bumper Cars on Ice, check out their website here!

The Rink at Bank of America Winter Village is located between 40th Street and 42nd Street on 6th Avenue. Whether you’re a seasoned skater or a first-time participant, Bryant Park’s Winter Village offers a delightful blend of winter activities to create lasting memories.

 

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EntertainmentEventsEventsFeaturedLifestyleThe LatestTV

It Has Been A Quarter of a Century Since The Most Influential TV Show of All Time Premiered

by Ishan Wankavala
written by Ishan Wankavala

I was but a child in high school when I first randomly choseΒ The Sopranos from a list of possible shows I could watch on my HBO, and having now completed it several times, it has rocketed up to one of my favorite shows of all time, along withΒ Breaking Bad andΒ The Office. With the 25th anniversary of its original premiere upcoming on January 10th, 2024, HBO reached out to me to experience the pilot episode once more in a screening at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Lower Manhattan, in an event that would celebrate the shows popularity, influence, and legacy.

The Alamo Drafthouse VHS collection

The first spectacle was the theater itself. The Alamo Drafthouse was renowned as a theater, restaurant, and bar all rolled into one, offering patrons the unique ability to order food while watching, and having servers bring it to you mid-film. The theater’s love of film was very evident, with a whole room dedicated to professing a spectacular collection of movies all on VHS, and various antique movie posters and memorabilia. It felt like a miniature museum within the theater, and I appreciated the dedication and attention to detail. The theater had also set up aΒ The Sopranos themed backdrop, complete with a fake meat market akin to the one seen in the show, and a small “outdoor” table at which fans could pose with props and clothing from the show. For a brief moment, I was in the show’s universe, and it was magical.

We headed back to the theater and took a seat while the event began. Each person’s seat had a small gift bag which contained The Sopranos merchandise. Mine had a little Funko Pop! figure of Carmela Soprano, which I thought was cute.

My pizza. Tony would be proud.

The night started with a little bit of trivia about the show, and while I was unable to win a prize for any of the questions, I got all of them correct in my head, thinking of the answer a split second before another individual said it each time (I swear). To prepare for the screening, I ordered a brussels sprout pizza and a specialty banana cocktail.

Banana cocktail from the menu

Finally, it was time to return to where it all started. The lights dimmed, and for the fifth time in my life, the pilot of The Sopranos began playing, and I sat back with a smile on my face. This would be the first time in my adult life that I would be watching this show, and right away I could tell that I was picking up on emotions and motives that I had not previously detected. I saw James Gandolfini Jr. begin talking about the ducks as Tony Soprano once more, and watching his amazing performance and thinking ahead to where this show would go in six seasons, I couldn’t help but realize that I desperately needed to rewatch it. This was a show that had started a golden age in modern television, one which was still ongoing.

Ready for the screening

As I watched Gandolfini Jr.’s nuanced performance, I realized truly the impact that this show has had, and shuddered at the thought of where we would have been without it.

I am currently almost through the first season of the show on my fourth rewatch, and I am enjoying and eagerly anticipating every moment of it. This screening of the pilot ignited a dormant love for the show that I have had for a while, and I hope it did the same to the other attendees at the event. A celebration of this show’s 25th anniversary was the perfect way for HBO to bring new interest to the show, and I hope it remains popular and continues to influence generations to come.

 

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EventsEventsFashion & Beauty

Celebrating Dry January with Mocktails and Manicures!

by Julia Mazza
written by Julia Mazza

What better way to kick off Dry January than with mocktails and manicures? Mingle Mocktails and GLOSSLAB graciously extended an invite to a girls’ night out and treated us to bothβ€”lucky us!

The founder of Mingle Mocktails, Laura Taylor, was mingling among the guests for a Dry January event, which allowed guests to try each of the lineup of the beverage’s flavors. With a drink in hand, guests were also treated to a complimentary manicure.

(I picked the perfect shade to match my beveraginoβ€”Mingle Mocktail’s “Cranberry Cosmo!”)

My nails dried insanely fastβ€”which made it infinitely harder to keep myself from indulging in the spread laid out for the evening. In addition to a charcuterie board and finger desserts from Eataly, the food also included the cutest “cakes-in-a-jar” from Andie’s Eats, a local bakery in NYC.

(I snuck a jar of the S’mores cake in my swag bagβ€”no regrets everyone!)

I was honestly impressed with Mingle Mocktailsβ€”especially after trying so many soda alternatives over the past year. “Blood Orange Elderflower Mimosa” was my favorite, with “Cranberry Cosmo” coming in at a hard second.

You can find Mingle Mocktails at Whole Foods and several grocers across NYC via their store locator HERE. You can also find GLOSSLAB locations citywide for the fastest manicure in New York!

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EntertainmentEventsMusic

The Hip Hop Museum Closes Out Tour During Miami Art Week With Trina in Conversation With Museum Curators Pete Nice and Paradise Gray

by Britt Trachtenberg
written by Britt Trachtenberg

On December 9, the Hip Hop Museum Tour closed out its six-city tour in Miami at Wynwood Studio in partnership with Mass Appeal. CÎROC Ultra-Premium Vodka sponsored the event. Hip Hop Historians Pete Nice and Paradise Gray curated the traveling exhibit.

In celebration of hip-hop’s fiftieth birthday, the Hip Hop Museum Tour told the stories of impactful hip-hop artists. The exhibit featured Hip Hop’s early years (1973-1990) and highlighted vital firsts in the genre’s history from block parties to stadium performances.

Guests explored the exhibit while DJ Vashtie curated the sound.

Miami native and hip-hop artist Trina co-hosted the museum tour’s finale. In a fireside chat, she chatted with Nice and Gray about the importance of preserving Hip Hop history. After the discussion, guests met the panelists.

The exhibit had a Jorit mural. Attendees watched the Italian street artist finish his work live. Viewers particularly enjoyed the “Mass Appeal Station.” The space looked like a New York City subway train station. Inside, it offered airbrush tattoos and manicures.

The Hip Hop Museum Tour started in New York City with Lola Brooke. After an excellent reception, the tour traveled to the A. Native ATLien. Baby Tate hosted the event and welcomed visitors to the exhibit at The Cellar at Southern Exchange. The discussion turned to the importance of preserving hip-hop and the genre’s progression over time. Kentheman hosted the exhibit in Houston, while Blxst anchored a fun night in Los Angeles. Before wrapping up in Miami, the show traveled to Charlotte, where Grammy-nominated rapper Rapsody discussed the importance of women in hip-hop. The Hip Hop Museum Tour served as a precursor to the official opening of the Hip Hop Museum in 2025.

In 2025, the Hip Hop Museum will open in the Bronx, NY.Β  The museum will provide a space for fans and artists to interact. It will create educational opportunities and entertaining experiences for hip-hop culture’s past, present, and future.Β  Fans can follow @Massappeal and the @UHHMuseum on social media for updates.

Hip Hop 50 serves as Mass Appeal’s love letter to hip-hop. Through the exhibition, the entertainment company celebrates hip-hop culture in an authentic and globally impactful way. Hip Hop 50 activates audiences through original music, timeless content, strategic partnerships, custom products, and so much more. Every component of Hip Hop 50 includes charitable initiatives that connect to the Hip Hop Museum. Fans can find #HipHop50 online, on-air, and on the block.

Mass Appeal tells stories from the perspectives of artists who shape and change culture. Since 1996, the entertainment company recorded emerging movements that have gone on to influence popular ideas. Today, Mass Appeal leads hip-hop discussions in content, music, and creative services. Fans can follow Mass Appeal on all social platforms @massappeal.

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EntertainmentEventsFilmThe Latest

On The Scene: AppleTV+’s ‘Masters of Air’ premiere with Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Barry Keoghan, Tom Hanks, and Steven Spielberg

by Kinsey Schofield
written by Kinsey Schofield
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EntertainmentEventsFilmThe LatestVideo

Netflix Premieres ‘Lift’ at Lincoln Center with a Star-Studded Cast

by Branda Ayo
written by Branda Ayo

Netflix premiered its latest action heist film at the Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC on Monday, January 8. Directed by F.Gary Grey and written by Daniel Kunka, Kevin Hart who plays Cyrus Whitaker races to lift $500 million in gold along with his castmates Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Vincent D’Onofrio, Úrsula CorberΓ³, Billy Magnussen, Jacob Batalon, Yun Jee Kim, & Viveik Kalra. Lift has been in production for a few years setting the tone for the first quarter as an original Netflix film.

In a Red Carpet interview with Netflix, Gugu Mbatha-Raw who plays Interpol agent Abby Gladwell shares that she hopes audiences will feel swept up in the film and describes it as a β€œfresh, fast action-thriller”.

(L-R) Yun Jee Kim, Kevin Hart, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Courtesy Netflix

Escapism was a central theme for the movie and the night of the premiere. While orchestrating a large-scale heist 40,000ft in the air might be implausible, bringing together a talented team and a cast that understands the story Grey and Kunka wanted to tell is critical. Creating characters that the audience can connect with is the most important aspect of filmmaking. A compelling script and great characters ensure a good movie, but having the right people in the room with the right energy completely transforms how it’s perceived. This, in turn, influences how people engage with the film and what we ultimately consume as the audience. Grey touched on this during his Red Carpet interview, expressing, ‘I want the audience to escape, be taken on a ride, enjoy the actors, enjoy the performances, and hopefully, they will.'”

 

 

 

Lift will be available to stream on Netflix January 12th

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EntertainmentEventsFilmThe Latest

On The Scene: Dan Levy Joins Ruth Negga & Himesh Patel for Intimate Panel for ‘Good Grief’ in New York City

by Sydney Hargrove
written by Sydney Hargrove

In true Dan Levy fashion, the New York premiere of his directorial debut, Good Grief,Β  wasn’t just an event. The celebration, much like the film itself, was an emotional journey through the corridors of grief, love, and, most importantly, the unwavering bonds of friendship.

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EventsThe Latest

The Drake Hosts The Annual Holiday Party for Casita Maria Center in New York City

by Danielle Niecey
written by Danielle Niecey

Jackie Weld Drake, Beth Rudin DeWoody

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, December 13, 2023. Park Avenue, New York, NY. — Jacqueline Weld Drake, the gracious hostess and Chairman of Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education, opened the doors to her home to host a phenomenal Annual Holiday Party for Casita Maria Center that included a live performance of Christmas caroling by the Casita Maria Choir.

Casita Maria Choir

The Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education, is the oldest Latin charity, thriving in New York City. Housed in an underserved and impoverished area in the South Bronx,Β  the organization provides quality arts education programs to more than 1,000 students each day. This impressive level of efficiency is what Casita Maria prides itself as they believe in fostering a safe space that serves as a warm and welcoming community of holistic engagement, uplifting the youth and their families in their offerings through teaching and volunteering.

Felix Urrutia, Tracey Fortson

The mission that Casita Maria focuses on is one of collaboration, coupled with empathy for the unique circumstances and hardships faced by each student-artist that attends their Center. Commitment as a team of professionals is a pact they make day to day, moment by moment as they seek to serve the intellectual, creative, physical, and emotional growth of the young student artists they serve without prejudice; their standard of excellence has championed them in the non-profit sector, 90 years in the making; a hard act to follow for any non-profit organization, but one that is not impossible for Casita Maria as they are being stewarded in by Executive Director, Felix Urrutia Jr through its next stages of development leading to their Centennial Anniversary in 2034.Β Last but not least, their ever-thriving desire to be innovative as they achieve their mission in partnership with loyal donors, the families that make up the community of the South Bronx, their dedicated administrative, educational team and staff, elected officials, community sponsors, partners, and the ever-growing support they garner as the awareness of their organization’s mission reaches the ears of caring adults who want to see the student artist thrive.

Luisa Lopez Celada, Alberto Mariaca

The night opened with guests that included notable figures in the arts, media, and entertainment fields, such as famed and brilliant Art Director, Luisa Lopez Celada, who developed corporate and brand concepts, advertising campaigns, promotional materials, and publication designs for a myriad of companies; Editor-In-Chief and Founder, Jonn Nubian,Β  of YRB Magazine, a lifestyle publication that focuses on fashion, music, art, and related cultural subjects; the intelligible and articulate CC Minton of The House Of Minton; Seven-time FiFi Award winner and internationally renowned packaging designer Marc Rosen and many more! The guests mingled and enjoyed tasty hors d’oeuvres, choice wines, beverages, and champagnes. Various media outlets and the honorary Casita Maria Community board members and supporters of the organization who have either participated in the offerings of Casita Maria, all held light conversation while indulging in fresh roasted turkey, peppercorn steak, and rye bread entrees.

Marc Rosen,Cici Menton

Casita Maria Choir

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had the opportunity to speak withΒ Gail Heidel,Β the Artistic Director at Casita Maria overseeing all performing and visual arts and arts education programs. For almost a decade, Gail has poured her heart and soul into seeking new opportunities for theΒ students of the Casita Maria Center. With over twenty years of experience as an arts administrator, curator, educator, and visual artist, Gail gushes over the reality that she has found her β€œdream career”, serving others and one that allows her to remain in the space of creativity, to teach and to give back to the community. We spoke on the “South Bronx Culture Festival” an annual tradition for the organization that began in 2011, held in the first week of June, and celebrates the vibrant culture and communities of the South Bronx through an annual performance series anchored by a new theme each year. This year the free outdoor performances were held at Father Gigante Plaza and garnered in support from BronxNet Television, media partners of the Casita Maria.Β 

Casita Maria Choir

One of the most impressiveΒ  things that I discovered while speaking to Gail about Casita Maria, is that there’s a holistic emphasis and approach the organization takes in introducing the student artists into each medium. Offering studies and concentrations in music, performing arts such as theater and dance; instrumentation like piano and violin,Β  as well as visual arts. It is refreshing to know that the engagement isn’t in place to pacify inner city youth; the staff and the programs built around the student-artist are about full engagement, and involvement, with consideration of their psychological and emotional development in mind. The organization also works in collaboration with volunteers and Teaching Artists, a comprehensive training and internship program comprised of artists, designed to prepare them for their fields through practicing their artistic crafts in the classroom. This level of consideration and mindfulness on the part of Casita Maria’s team and leadership is one to be ever admired and esteemed. These efforts are the cornerstone of what holds the borough of the Bronx, and the city together.Β  True to their statement,Β Casita Maria is where generations of local residents have found a home away from homeβ€”a place to gather, play, create, learn, and grow. It stands as a symbol of resilience, providing vital support in arts, education, and community and youth development.

These efforts are all aimed at producing well-rounded individuals who aspire to fulfill their dreams.

Casita Maria’s educational programs offer after-school and summer programming for up to 1,000 young people from kindergarten through high school. Programs are built on a Creative Youth Development framework that combines arts education with academic assistance and positive youth development principles to empower young people to reach their potential as artists, scholars, and leaders.

All programs are free and operate after school from 2:30 to 6 PM. Casita Maria, though known to have a higher attendance from Bronx residents, accepts participants on a first come-first served basis, regardless of need.

To learn more about this wonderful organization and to show your support for the Casita Maria mission, visit their website at: https://www.casitamaria.org/

 

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