Meeting the Met
I spent the day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Tuesday, quite literally. I got there shortly after it opened and stayed until they shuffled everyone out at closing time seven hours later. I think I saw maybe, maybe! a fifth of the exhibits -- the place is ginormous (BTW, I'm not usually a fan of neologisms that come from slang, but I think we need to go ahead and make ginormous a real word).
Every time I would walk to what I thought was the end of, say, the modern art wing, I'd turn a corner and find I was only at the midway point. And that the exhibit continued upstairs. It was quite incredible. I stuck with things I knew something about, so I missed out on ancient Sumarian coins or whatever, but still it was fun.
One thing I noticed in the museum that I don't recall seeing very often in the past -- they let you take photos of the paintings (although with "NO FLASH!" as the employees frequently call out to people). I guess it's understandable for famous things like Washington Crossing the Delaware or a Van Gogh self-portrait, both of which had crowds around them. But some people were taking picture of everything -- a 19th century cabinet, a broken Greek statue. Kind of defeats the purpose of going to a museum, I thought. Anyway, I took these of the exterior, an
Egyptian Temple and a Jackson Pollock painting. 
Obnoxious New York people I've encountered: A woman walked by me in the subway carrying a stack of those free daily Metro newspapers. She asked if I wanted one, and I said sure and took it. "Ahem, that's 50 cents," she said. Since it was supposed to be free, I tried to give it back and she shook her head angrily. Rolling my eyes, I gave her a dollar, which was all I had. "Actually, I having a tough time. Could you give me some more money?" she said. "I just gave you a dollar for a free paper," I told her. She stormed off in a huff.
Today is my last free day before classes start tomorrow. It's been rather disorienting having no official responsibilities, so I'm looking forward to it. They always make a point of saying how intense the work is going to be, but I'm up for it. Wish me luck!
Every time I would walk to what I thought was the end of, say, the modern art wing, I'd turn a corner and find I was only at the midway point. And that the exhibit continued upstairs. It was quite incredible. I stuck with things I knew something about, so I missed out on ancient Sumarian coins or whatever, but still it was fun.
One thing I noticed in the museum that I don't recall seeing very often in the past -- they let you take photos of the paintings (although with "NO FLASH!" as the employees frequently call out to people). I guess it's understandable for famous things like Washington Crossing the Delaware or a Van Gogh self-portrait, both of which had crowds around them. But some people were taking picture of everything -- a 19th century cabinet, a broken Greek statue. Kind of defeats the purpose of going to a museum, I thought. Anyway, I took these of the exterior, an
Egyptian Temple and a Jackson Pollock painting. 
Obnoxious New York people I've encountered: A woman walked by me in the subway carrying a stack of those free daily Metro newspapers. She asked if I wanted one, and I said sure and took it. "Ahem, that's 50 cents," she said. Since it was supposed to be free, I tried to give it back and she shook her head angrily. Rolling my eyes, I gave her a dollar, which was all I had. "Actually, I having a tough time. Could you give me some more money?" she said. "I just gave you a dollar for a free paper," I told her. She stormed off in a huff.
Today is my last free day before classes start tomorrow. It's been rather disorienting having no official responsibilities, so I'm looking forward to it. They always make a point of saying how intense the work is going to be, but I'm up for it. Wish me luck!
posted by Ryan Davis | 1:38 PM
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