FMCP the victim of piss poor event planning

From the Daily News:

Organizers of the Governors Ball are planning a two-day concert outside Citi Field in October, the Daily News has learned.

But the inaugural Meadows Music Festival could cause major headaches in Flushing Meadows Corona Park with the popular World Maker Faire taking place nearby at the New York Hall of Science at the same time.

Both events are scheduled for the weekend of Oct. 1-2. The festival, which would feature an eclectic mix of music and food, would take place in the parking lot of Citi Field.

The annual Maker Faire, which drew more than 85,000 people two years ago, takes place in the Hall of Science parking lot. But drivers are usually shuttled over from the Citi Field lot.

World's largest gingerbread village at Hall of Science

From the NY Times:

To call it a village would seem to diminish its Lilliputian sprawl, seeing as how it encompasses 164 structures and weighs in at slightly more than 1.5 tons, including a stuporous 2,240 pounds of icing.

Clearly this is no ordinary gingerbread village.

It is, in fact, the world’s largest such creation, built piece by piece by Jon Lovitch in a closet-size kitchen in his South Bronx apartment — a monument to the idea of working big on a tiny scale.

The exhibit, “Gingerbread Lane,” is on display at the New York Hall of Science in Queens. The Guinness Book of World Records last week declared it the world’s largest entirely edible gingerbread exhibit.

If the Guinness people saw how he made it, they might have declared it the world’s craziest project.

Mr. Lovitch, a 37-year-old chef, did all of the cooking and culinary construction work at home before assembling the village at the Hall of Science. Besides the icing, the village also includes 400 pounds of candy and 500 pounds of gingerbread dough.

All of the pieces — from the brownstones, to the two-foot-high nutcrackers made of many layers of royal icing — were made by Mr. Lovitch, usually late at night after returning from work as the executive sous chef at the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge.

Bringing a junkyard INTO the park

From the DNA Info:

A drive-in movie theater using junked-up cars and salvaged materials is rolling into the borough next month as part of an art installation designed to engage the public in discussions about car culture and "planned obsolescence."

The Empire Drive-In is a large, temporary installation that uses junked cars and salvaged materials to bring their drive-in movie exhibit around the country.

It will set up outside the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park from Oct. 4 to Oct. 20, and visitors can participate in discussions and watch films in old cars.

Okay, so the junkyards across the street are an eyesore and need to be replaced, but the museum brings junk cars into the park and that's an art project?

Visiting the Hall of Science

From Scouting NY:

About halfway through the tour, my guide brought me to a pair of unassuming doors marked, simply, Great Hall. What I didn’t realize is that we were about to enter this cement portion…and, without question, one of the most amazing rooms I’ve ever been in in New York City.

Hall of Science under renovation

From the Queens Chronicle:

The undulating walls of the Great Hall — the original structure of the New York Hall of Science — are hidden beneath protective sheathing as part of a major $25 million restoration project on the building from the 1964 World’s Fair.

Work is expected to be completed in 2014, in time for the structure’s 50th anniversary. The project will include stabilizing and repairing the exterior, renovating and modernizing the interior and repaving and improving the terrace.

According to Eric Siegel, director and chief content officer at the Hall of Science, the interior space will be used for ongoing and traveling exhibitions and special events. Uses for the plaza are under consideration.

The Great Hall is the main exhibit area of the Hall of Science, paid for by the Port Authority at a cost of $7.6 million. It was one of the few buildings designed to remain after the World’s Fair closed in 1965.

Great Hall getting a facelift

From the Daily News:

WITH ITS 90-foot-high walls and cobalt-blue glass, the Great Hall at the New York Hall of Science was built so that visitors to the 1964-65 World's Fair thought they were entering outer space.

Almost 50 years later, that architectural marvel is getting its first major face-lift. And designers hope the renovated Great Hall will continue to dazzle visitors at the busy science museum.

Even in its current barren state, with scaffolding and netting on its facade, the Great Hall is still a magnificent sight.

Specks of green, red and orange sparkle in the glass-filled panels. Heavy concrete walls ripple around the 7,000-square-foot space.

Over the years, cracked panels have been replaced, along with some concrete patchwork.

The current project, which preliminary estimates tag at $12 million, will fix the concrete, as well as panels that may need work.

Mystery room at NY Hall of Science

"Somebody I know in security let me inside Great Hall, here are some never seen photos.

The bleachers (former 1964 Federal pavilion ride) and movie screens are gone.

I opened a door to find a whole closet of high tech expensive Crown amplifiers and related audio gear permanently installed.

It was hinted to me the city is making it a private party & disco room for big wigs and 'Friends'." - Joe