We Want Wii!

They’ve been on the market for more than a year, but rave reviews and manufacturer’s shortages have combined to make the Nintendo Wii the “I’ll do absolutely anything to buy one” item this holiday season.

That “anything for a Wii” mentality means that those anxious to score one for Christmas are paying several times the $249 list price (thus creating a new job category: professional Wii reseller). But … even if they are willing to pay top dollar, how do they find a Wii to buy?

In addition to bidding on eBay, many have resorted to bribing local shop owners, following delivery trucks, subscribing to services that alert them to the toy’s availability (”Toys R Us just got a shipment!”), and, of course, camping out in front of stores.

A few weeks ago, I heard a National Public Radio reporter say that the Nintendo World Store in New York is one of the best places in the country to buy the machine because it receives a shipment every day. Those regular deliveries mean that, rain or shine, potential buyers are massed outside, patiently waiting for the store to open.

Of course, purchasing such a desirable item isn’t a simple as strolling in and whipping out a credit card. The Nintendo World Store employs a strict system that maintains order:

1. Since the Wii is sold on a first-come-first-served basis, buyers line up in front of the door. Many come as part of a “buying team” — one member can go for a hot chocolate or take a bathroom break while the other team members maintain their position in the queue.
2. Security guards (sometimes aided by police officers) stand at several points, preventing line cutting and jumping.
3. A hour or two before the store’s official opening time, numbered bracelets — one per machine in stock — are distributed to the crowd, front to back. Each person is limited to one bracelet, which gives them the right to buy one Wii.
4. Simply obtaining a bracelet is not enough; the potential buyer must continue to stay in the line until their number is called. Sometimes the doors open a bit before 9:00 a.m.; if your number is called and you aren’t present to enter the store, you lose your chance and the guards simply go on to the next person.

Tonight I stopped by the queue and spoke the woman at the front, who lay on the ground bundled up in a sleeping bag. She was waiting to enter the Valhalla-like shop and buy a Wii, she said, for her 12-year-old sister and had set up her little camp at 5:00 p.m. By the time the store opens at 9:00 tomorrow, she will have logged 16 hours in her frigid spot on the New York City sidewalk.

Secure in the #1 spot

Linewaiters, settled in for the night

This is his sixth time on the queue

Buddies ready for the long haul

Cleaners working inside the closed store

Nintendo World Store
National Public Radio: Finding a Wii
SF Gate: How I Scored a Wii
PC World: Wii Shortage Blame Game: Don’t Just Blame Nintendo
Consumerist: Confessions of a Wii Reseller
Gizmodo: Nintendo Not Going to Have Enough Wiis This Holiday Season

Chaos & Prizes at West 14th Street

I received an e-mail from Apple announcing the grand opening of the largest Apple Store in the city. Since I recently became a first-time Apple computer owner, I thought the event would give me a great opportunity to meet lots of people who could provide tricks, tips and advice. The notice also mentioned that those attending would have a chance to win an iPod or laptop. Why not go?

The opening of the place officially known as Apple Store West 14th Street was scheduled for 6:00 pm. I arrived around 3:30 and found a couple hundred people were already waiting. Talking to the people closest to me, I realized that most of them had never used — or even seen — an Apple computer and didn’t really understand what would happen when the doors opened.

The high school girls who linked arms and cheerfully elbowed their way in front of me explained that a DJ on their favorite radio station (WQHT Hot 97 “Where Hip Hop Lives”) had announced the grand opening and promised that the first people through the doors would all receive free iPods. The kids didn’t agree on the number of free iPods the DJ had mentioned (200? 400? 600?) but they had all, they swore, heard him say that the first people on line would definitely be receiving them. Of course, Apple had never promised any such thing.

Soon, the sky got dark, snow began to fall and the mood changed. As the crowd grew, more rumors started to circulate. Apparently, another popular DJ (WWPR Power 105.1 “Hip Hop and back in the Day Joints”) had spread a rumor that the store was giving out free laptops to the first 10 people who entered. Eager to get their hands on the costly electronics, many people showed up with groups of friends and relatives; scores of shivering children wailed in the cold.

The hours passed, the store brought out some portable heaters, a guy in the crowd had a pizza delivered, and the snow stopped. Since most of those outside the store were determined to be among the first to enter, it was inevitable that pushing and shoving would ensue. What was surprising, though, was the tiny group of security guards who seemed reluctant to approach the crowd, and the complete lack of Apple Store employees out on the street with us (if they’d been there, they surely would have heard — and been able to quell — the rumors that were flying).

And then, pandemonium. A couple clad in puffy jackets squeezed through the metal police barriers within view of the kids who had cut in front of me. Screaming, pushing and hitting, the frantic girls attacked the line jumpers until police arrived and dragged the couple away for their own safety. With no security staff in sight, the crowd surged forward, then surged again. People were knocked to the ground, shoved up against the pane glass windows (thankfully, they held), and a wheelchair nearly overturned. At last, police reinforcements arrived and succeeded in controlling the tense, angry crowd.

The doors opened promptly at 6:00 and the staff allowed the linewaiters to enter in small groups. When we finally made it through the door, we were greeted by applauding staffers, handed white boxes containing t-shirts and black tubes holding posters. The tubes had black plastic caps, and hidden under each cap was a sticker revealing a prize (if any). The rumors about prizes going to the first few hundred were, of course, false; the store had less than 4,000 posters and t-shirts to distribute.

I, like most of those who’d entered, won a $10 iTunes card. The girl next to me received the same thing. Scowling at the card, she asked, “What am I gonna do with this?” She didn’t own an iPod or a computer, or even know anyone who did. I offered her $5 for the card and she happily accepted.

I heard that Whoopie Goldberg and Mary J. Blige had been in the store when the doors opened (they used a different, secure entrance), but they’d departed before I arrived. I did, however, see a movie star in the crowd and snap a picture. I was surprised to see how many stomped out (or stayed to argue with staff) as soon as they learned they weren’t getting a free iPod or laptop. And I was shocked to learn that the store does not contain a public rest room. None, not one, not even a handicapped stall.

When I left the store, I walked around the block to see how many people were still waiting to enter. Thousands, stretching around the block, stood in the Manhattan night. By that time, dozens of police officers were on the scene, keeping order and scratching their heads. They knew that most of those waiting would go home cold, tired and empty-handed.

Early arrivals — a typical happy Apple crowd

Later arrivals were lacking in merriment

A portable heater in action

Inside the store, Brooke Shields surveyed the crowd

First glimpse of the Genius Bar

The store crowded to capacity inside & out

Around the block, thousands still hoped to enter

Apple Store: W. 14th Street
O’Grady’s PowerPage: Apple Store Riots
Info Apple Store: W. 14th St. Opening (scroll down to read comments)
Info Apple Store: W. 14th Friday Evening
MacRumors: West 14th Street Store Opening

Pearl River Mart

More than 30 years ago the first Chinese-American department store opened its doors in the heart of Manhattan’s Chinatown.

Known as Pearl River Mart and offering a wide range of foods clothing, home furnishings and accessories imported from China, the store quickly became an essential resource for designers and trend-setters.

Pearl River Mart moved around lower Manhattan several times, from one ramshackle building to another, before arriving at its current, thoroughly modern home in trendy Soho. 

A far cry from the store’s earlier incarnations, the glossy store at 477 Broadway features a waterfall, tea bar and, hanging from the ceiling, a display of the enormous masks and dragons used to celebrate Chinese New Year (yes, they are for sale).

Paper lampshades on display

Block-long dragon for parades

Lion, tiger and other animal masks

Pearl River Mart
Village Voice: Pearl River Mart

Living La Cheeto Loca

I appreciate good design, but interior decorating isn’t a part of my life. In fact, you’d probably have to look hard to find someone less concerned about styles and trends in interior design.

I can’t imagine what an interior decorator would do in my home, but it’s a fair bet it would look like an entirely different place; I don’t have “themes” and “color schemes,” just furniture and stuff.

Nevertheless, I recently visited the New York Design Center, a building devoted to interior designers and furniture showrooms. While entering the fifth floor offices of Cliff Young Ltd., I saw a piece that made me stop dead in my tracks.

The item, created by Italian furniture manufacturer Della Robbia, is called the Bon Bon Ottoman. It measures 20” w x 20” d x 17” h and it is mounted on casters so that easily rolls across the floor.

The tag says that it is solidy constructed from hardwood and New Zealand wool, but to my eye it appears as though it is made entirely of Cheetos.

I imagine this thing in the den of a weary suburban dad—someone, perhaps, like Homer Simpson. He slumps in his lounge chair, a can of beer in one hand, the television remote resting on his belly. His eyes are glued to his big-screen TV. With his free hand, he gropes blindly for the bowl of cheesy snacks resting on the Bon Bon near his elbow. He grabs a handful, stuffs them in his gullet, and then, unthinkingly, wipes his orange-stained fingers across the surface of the woolly ottoman.

His long-suffering wife watches him smear crushed Cheetos on the furniture, smiles to herself and thinks, “Yes, my man is still a slob, but thanks to my Bon Bon Ottoman, no one will ever know.”

I can’t remember ever lusting after a piece of furniture (OK, I’ve never lusted after furniture before), and I accept the fact that the price-tag puts this thing firmly out of reach, but I am now madly, hopelessly in love with the Bon Bon Ottoman.

If anyone out there has a spare Bon Bon, I’ll happily give it a new home. Just let me know; I’m ready to start living La Cheeto Loca.

Bon Bon Ottoman
Originally uploaded by annulla.

Cheetos
Originally uploaded by annulla.

Homer Simpson
Originally uploaded by annulla.

New York Design Center
Cliff Young, Ltd.
DellaRobbia Furniture
Cheetos
Homer Simpson

You’re in New York. Go in Style.

If you’ve spent any time in New York City, you know that clean, free public restrooms are almost nonexistent. And in midtown Manhattan, site of some of the busiest streets in the world, relief is frustratingly elusive.

However, in a brilliant marriage of public service and promotion, on November 20th Procter & Gamble’s Charmin brand toilet paper opened a public restroom in the heart of Times Square. Located in the Bertelsmann Building at 1540 Broadway, next to the Virgin Megastore, the Charmin restrooms are not only sparkling clean, they are actually entertaining.

The building, squarely in the center of a prime destination for millions of tourists and natives, has been staffed with dozens of cheerful hosts and attendants (many of them out-of-work actors and dancers) in blue and white uniforms.

Anticipating long lines, the planners equipped the waiting space with plentiful seating, plasma televisions, a disco-like stage where guests can sing and dance to the brand’s bouncy theme song, a nose-blowing lounge area stocked with boxes of facial tissues, a pair of fireplaces, stroller parking, tourist information and a photo corner for those who want a picture with Charmin’s mascot, a big, fuzzy brown bear.

The main attractions are even more impressive — 20 small, bright, private rooms, including some with disabled access and baby changing stations. All are equipped with sinks, soap and plenty of Charmin toilet paper and are hand-cleaned by an attendant after each use.

Sadly, this deluxe comfort palace is here only temporarily. Due to some baffling city ordinance or other, on December 31 the Charmin restrooms will close their doors forever. Unfortuately, it seems that sometimes even restrooms have to go.

Entrance under the arrow

The waiting line

Sign inside a stall

Inside a stall: lots of soap, mirrors & towels

Ceiling of a stall

Lounging near an electric fireplace

Posing for photos with the bear

Attendant photographing a visitor with the big bear  

The nose-blowing section

Charmin
Charmin in Times Square
The Procter & Gamble Company
Bertelsmann Building
NY Magazine: Charmin’s Times Square Toilets
YouTube: Charmin’s Times Square Bathrooms
USA Today: Charmin Rolls Out 20 Restrooms

Fêtes de Noël at Bryant Park

European-style outdoor holiday markets are a relatively new phenomenon in New York City. In recent years these temporary marketplaces have appeared in several areas around Manhattan including Union Square (the oldest), Columbus Circle (the newest), the cafe at St. Bartholomew’s Church (the smallest) and Bryant Park (the most centrally-located).

Now in its fifth year, the holiday market at Bryant Park is officially known as Fêtes de Noël. The market includes over 100 booths with green and white striped canvas roofs arrayed around the fountain (turned off for the season) and the skating rink (erected for the season). Most of the booths offer specialty items and handicrafts ranging from stuffed toys to suits of armor.

Tucked among and around the booths are an enormous star-topped tree and a refreshment area complete with tables, chairs and snacks including hot cider, cocoa, hot waffles, candy apples, caramel apples and shao bings (Chinese buns).

If shopping, snacking and skating becomes boring, you can always duck into the New York Public Library — the main research library shares the block with Bryant Park and its closed stacks are located directly under this space.

42nd Street entrance to Bryant Park

Booth selling goods from Thailand

Candle booth

At a jewelry booth

Food booth: apples on the right, bings on the left

Hot apple cider - $3.00 a cup

The skating rink

Kids skating class

A little skater and friends

Skaters in view of the tree  

Greenery & booths around the fountain  

Women’s clothing booth

The stands at night  

The Bryant Park tree  

NY Magazine: Fêtes de Noël
Fêtes de Noël
NY Magazine: Bryant Park
New York Public Library stacks
NYC Nosh: Bings
Roll and Dough
NY Times: Unique Pastry Bing

Union Square Holiday Market

Over the past decade it has become a holiday tradition: late in November, the air is filled with the sounds of saws and hammers as red and white striped tents are hoisted, tiny lights and boughs of greenery are draped over fountains, lampposts and statues, and the southern section of Union Square is transformed into a bustling Holiday Marketplace.

Now in its 11th year, Union Square Holiday Market includes more than 100 vendors selling handicrafts, foods, holiday decorations, antique prints, jewelry, toys, clothing and more. During the month that it is open (November 24 - December 24), the Marketplace is busy night and day. On a clear night like this, passersby are enticed by the distinctive sights, sounds and aromas of New York during the holiday season. Hot apple cider, anyone?

Sitting on the fountain

Shoppers at a jewelry booth

At a booth selling decorations

Jewelry vendor’s booth  

Paper goods’ vendor’s booth

Examining handmade earrings

Crowding around a booth

Rack of knitted hats

NYC Parks Dept: Union Square Holiday Market
NYC Parks: Union Square Holiday Market

14th Annual CANstruction Competition

Fourteen years ago the Society of Design Administration created CANstruction, a philanthropic competition for architects, designers and engineers. The challenge is deceptively simple: these creative professionals must transform cans of food into sculptures and constructions.

The nutritious entries were assembled on site at the New York Design Center, a building devoted to interior designers and furniture showrooms. From November 9 through 22, the exhibit was open to the public during normal business hours; the entry fee was a single can of food.

At the end of the exhibition, the structures were disassembled; this year, one piece, a Mobius strip, collapsed during the competition. The packages of food (generally about 100,000 cans) are donated to the Food Bank for New York City, which distributes it to feed New York’s hungry.

Space Shuttle by National Reprographics

Subway Car Interior by Guy Nordenson

Trojan Horse by Arup

Tango Dancer by Thornton Tomasetti

Rabbit in Hat by Robert Silman Associates

Campfire by Leslie E. Robertson Associates

Lion by Perkins + Will

Candy Apple with Bite Taken by Pei Cobb Freed

Dragon by Robert A.M. Stern

Sushi with Chopsticks by DeSimone Consulting

Empty Can by Helpurn Architects

Frog by diDomenico + Partners

Can as Skyline by Fradkin & McAlpin Assoc.

Sea Serpent by HOK Architects

Piggy Bank by R.M. Kliment & Frances Halsband

Typewriter by Coburn Architecture

Apple with Sliced Wedge by Handel Architects

Crocodile by Arquitectonica

Lady Bug by Ferguson & Samamian

Hand Cradling Can by Ted Moudis

Monopoly by Mancini Duffy

Lion & Lamb by Butler Rogers Baskett

Connect Four Game by Magnusson Architecture

Snail on Leaf by GACE PLLC

Whale Tail by Weidlinger Associates

Can with Electric Can Opener by Bovis Lend Lease

Sombrero by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Frog by STV

Cornucopia by Earth Tech

Ant at a Picnic by Severud Associates

Dripping Faucet by Gensler

Earth Viewed from the Moon by Beyer Blinder Belle

Lady Bug by Urbitran Group

Leaning Tower of Pisa & Italian Flag by Dattner Architects

Bobsled on Track by Gilsanz Murray Steficek

Can with Can Opener by Conant Architects

Sushi Platter by NELSON

Dragon & Castle by Perkins Eastman

Grand Piano by ads Engineers

Remains of Mobius Strip by Platt Byard Dovell White

Canstruction

Society for Design Administration New York Chapter

SDANYC Canstruction 2006

NYC Canstruction Rules

Images From Past Canstruction Competitions

Food Bank For New York City

New Apple Store in the Big Apple

Today, at 6 p.m., the Apple Store at 767 Fifth Avenue & 58th Street had its grand opening. The sole part of the store visible from the street is the entrance, a 32 foot glass cube marked only with the Apple logo. The interior, which is below ground level, can be reached via a glass elevator or a glass spiral staircase (similar to I.M. Pei’s pyramid entrance to the Louvre museum).

One young man was so determined to be the first customer that he arrived Wednesday night and camped out in the street, underterred by three days of thunderstorms. By Thursday night he was joined by several other Apple fans and on Friday, the hordes arrived; thousands of people formed a queue that eventually went all the way around the block, across the street and up three blocks, ending somewhere around Madison Avenue and 60th Street.

Employees flanked the entrance, applauding and high-fiveing each new customer. The first 2,500 to enter the store recieved special commemorative t-shirts packed in white boxes (similar to the packaging of Apple products) and an entry ticket to a series of drawings for free MacBooks, Apple’s newest laptops. Each MacBook slated for the giveaway was wrapped in a banner saying “We know what your next blog entry will be.”

Celebrities attending the opening included Spike Lee, James Woods, singer John Legend, the “Fab 5″ from Queer Eye for The Straight Guy, Kevin Bacon and most of the cast of Saturday Night Live.

The store illuminated (I did not shoot this photo) 

Apple Store Fifth Avenue

Gothamist: Apple Store Opening

Cnet: Meet Apple’s Version of Deadheads

Wired: Fans Storm Apple’s 5th Ave Store

The Louvre

Queer Eye For the Straight Guy

Saturday Night Live

Grand Central Spring Festival

Some kind of spring gift fair/festival/promotional catch-all has opened at Grand Central Station. Today I went from booth to booth exploring the vendors and the wares they were selling.

Most fun: Radio station CD101 (Their slogan is New York’s Chill Station) was handing out free CDs with music from various smooth jazz artists. I asked for one and they gave me two.

Most enticing: a booth promoting trips to Tahiti (no, sadly, they weren’t giving any away).

Most entertaining: The jewelry salesman who told me that he is also the Red Bastard. The what? “Check out my Web site,” he said. So I did.

Red Bastard

Most irresistable: A silver charm saying “Vagina Warrior” made by a company called GK Designs. I bought one and will give it to mom for Mother’s Day. She’ll either love it or hate it, but I’m not sure which.

Vagina Warrior

About Vagina Warriors:
“Since V-Day launched its very first event in 1998, the movement has encountered incredible women working to end violence against women and girls in their communities. These women have often experienced violence personally or witnessed it within their communities and dedicated themselves toward ending such violence through effective, grassroots means. They have been the very heart of V-Day since it was conceived as a worldwide movement to empower and enable local activists to raise awareness and funds locally through V-Day benefit productions of “The Vagina Monologues.”

“This year, V-Day’s 2004 events and campaigns will celebrate these women whom Founder/Artistic Director Eve Ensler has dubbed ‘Vagina Warriors.’ Each V-Day production will select and honor up to three Vagina Warriors in its own community.In every community there are humble activists working every day, beat by beat, to undo suffering. They sit by hospital beds, pass new laws, chant taboo words, write proposals, beg for money, demonstrate and hold vigils in the streets. Every woman has a warrior inside waiting to be born. In order to guarantee a world without violence, in a time of danger and escalating madness, we urge them to come out.”
http://www.vday.org/contents/press/release/0312021

About the charm:
“The jewelry is a representation of the Strength of all women. It is a reminder for all To “Stop the Violence” against women here and world wide. A percentage of all sales will be donated to VDAY.ORG.

CD101
Red Bastard
GK Designs
V DAY