Follow the Target to the Brooklyn Museum

Hey Y'all,
I hit up Target's First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum for the Killer Heels exhibit. It rained all day, I don't know why I was under the impression that it wouldn't be busy (cause I was wrong!)
The Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled Shoe exhibit was amazing. I saw shoes from past to the present and how the styles have changed over the years. The exhibit is organized by Lisa Small, Curator of Exhibitions, Brooklyn Museum. Shoes weren't just created for art, height and accessorizing; they also served as a representation of your social class. The higher the shoe, the higher up in class you were. I guess that rings true even till this day.

I love shoes but I hate the suffering that comes along with it. They are very helpful at times for lengthening my legs and giving me the ability to see over taller people (or maybe giving me a slightly adjacent view.) At any given time I can suffer blisters, pinched toes, the weight of my body weighing heavily on the front of my toes as they smash up against the front of the shoes, chaffing in the back of my ankles, not to mention the pressure my arch suffers from all the pronation. I'm not sure if I ever learned the correct way of walking in them or maybe my feet are not meant to be in them. Despite all these injuries, I still continue to wear them (just not all the time).

Brooklyn Museum had various events in conjunction with the Heels exhibit. There was a curator talk with Lisa Small and music performances by the Hot Sardines, Rock Ballerina and TK Wonder.
I attended the Hands-On Art Studio Time, where we created our own shoes based on the influence of the exhibit. They provided model magic (an air dry clay) and supplies. I had no idea what I was doing. There was a shoe model made by a friend that got a lot of stares and looks from everyone inside and outside the studio. They also had a Killer Heels Photo-Op to rock your heels and tell them what your shoe says about you. I participated using my Madden Girl Loop MG Dressy Sandals. I love these shoes because they are so glittery and have a platform. I labeled my photo (Stars).

Some of the events the museum offers require you to obtain an additional ticket. Make sure if the event you want to attend requires a ticket, you have to show up to the queue at least an hour prior to distribution. We showed up an hour prior and the tickets were already gone to an event we wanted to see. Pick your top two and a standby one just in case you can't get in to the first two.
The Killer Heels exhibit will be on display until February 15, 2015. I think you guys will really like it, it's a heel of a time!

Who wants to play Megabots?

Hey Y'all,
I saw a MegaBot at New York City's Comic Con! Just what is a MegaBot? A MegaBot is an internally piloted robot that is 15 feet tall and weighs 15,000 pounds. It seats a team of two (a driver and a gunner). It has massive pneumatic weapons for arms and fights against other MegaBots. They fire special paint-filled ammunition, shooting at speeds of more than 120 miles per hour. The more damage inflicted results in weapons getting jammed, limbs flying off the robots body (not yours!) resulting in the robot shutting down.

The idea to build MegaBots started in the childhood dreams of each founder. However, the skills, means and opportunity to accomplish those goals didn’t present themselves until 2012 when Andrew Stroup and Gui Cavalcanti met as competitors on the Discovery Channel reality television show The Big Brain Theory: Pure Genius, an intense elimination-style engineering competition show. Starting on the show and continuing into the following year, Andrew and Gui spent countless hours designing and prototyping robotic components. After completing research and development, Andrew and Gui recruited Matt Oehrlein, an unrivaled controls engineer from the hacker/makerspace community. With these complementary skill sets and areas of expertise, MegaBots, Inc., accelerated to full throttle to bring these battling behemoths to life (from Megabots Press Kit).
These creators of the MegaBots remind me of Voltron or, as the younger generation would recognize, Power Rangers. They are all separate individuals with a set of skills but once they are grouped together they formed a huge battle machine called the MegaBot!
MegaBots, Inc has just launched a Kickstarter campaign to gather support for the first-ever giant robot battle league!

For more information or any press inquiries, please contact Andrew Stroup, Co-Founder of MegaBots, Inc., at press@megabots.com or 918.691.8755.

To learn more, please visit http://www.megabots.com or join the conversation at:

https://www.facebook.com/megabotsinc

http://instagram.com/megabotsinc
https://twitter.com/megabotsinc

Trip Hop with Emel Mathlouthi

Hey Y'all,
I was introduced to an amazing international singer/songwriter named Emel Mathlouthi recently and was blown away by her voice. She has such a good energy and aura about her that makes you feel at ease.
Emel is from Tunisia and she is best known for her protest songs: "Ya Tounes Ya Meskina" (Poor Tunisia) and "Kelmti Horra" (My word is free). "Kelmti Horra" became the anthem song for the Tunisian revolution.
When the Tunisian government banned her music, Emel moved to Paris, France to pursue her singing.  She has performed all over the world and this year we were lucky enough to have a U.S. tour.
I was able to watch her perform the last tour date here in New York City called Arabic Trip-Hop. The online radio network Live@365 had her performance for the new world series at Elebash Recital Hall at the Graduate Center. She performed songs from her two albums titled "Kelmti Horra" and "Helma".
It was a beautiful experience, the kind that you don't want to distract yourself from by taking videos or pictures (you want to be in the moment). Mathlouthi has several videos on YouTube where you can hear her music. She will also be performing at globalFEST on January 11, 2015 here at Webster Hall.

DUMBO Lights

Hey Y'all,
We had our official New York City Light Festival in DUMBO Brooklyn. The festival was a collaboration of light installations from different artists on November 6-8, 2014.
This area in Brooklyn is a beautiful piece of property near the Manhattan Bridge; the streets are cobblestone with train tracks embedded giving you a walk down NYC's memory lane. The archway was the main congregating space for the event.
I attended the event on Friday night, it was a beautiful site to see color lights reflecting off the bridge and archway even though it was freezing. They had projections against the bridges structure and DJ music echoing the archway. What amazed me was how many people showed up. When I was done with the event I walked to the closest train station at York Street (F-line) and the sidewalk was filled with so many people; it took me 20 minutes to get from the street level entrance to the platform!
On the last night of the festival I was told there were so many people they ended the event early (rumor/gossip?). If it's true I guess they will have to find a bigger space next year.