Molly and I rang in the New Year with the traditional viewing of Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve now hosted by Ryan Seacrest.
The show certainly had it’s humourous moments…will Idina Menzel ever live down blowing a tire on her signature song from Frozen? Well, we’ll Let It Go but certainly the social media universe probably won’t any time soon.
But I have to say that I really felt the sympathy for newly appointed NYC Welcome Ambassador Taylor Swift who got a quick and brutal lesson on New York’s winter climate.
After her performance, it was off to the elevated platform with Ryan when T-Swizzle realized that the wardrobe choice which might have worked in LA and Hollywood was totally wrong for a much colder Gotham!
If you’ve ever been to Times Square, it’s essentially a wind tunnel thanks to the generally north-south orientation of the streets and the tall buildings that form channels for the prevailing winds that blow through Central Park to gain speed all the way down Manhattan to The Battery. Those wind chills make the freezing temperatures even worse for those who don’t deal well with cold or aren’t dressed for it.
Being on that elevated platform only makes it worse…you don’t have all of those bodies down below to generate heat and block the wind! That’s really not the best time to wear what looks kind of like a bikini top to me!
The poor lady was freezing right there on national television and admitted that she probably should have thought about her clothes just a wee bit more but Ryan was a true Southern gentleman and offered her his coat right about the time that the ball started its journey down to the 2015 sign. Thank you Ryan Seacrest for reminding people that there are classy guys out there and they’re not hard to find even on TV.
I have no doubts she was so ready to book down Broadway to her flat in Chelsea for some serious quality time with her radiator and the warm drink of choice but she showed the toughness that any New Yorker would admire so that the show could go on!
Welcome to the real NYC, Taylor! 🙂
There’s no doubting New York City is going through a really tough time now what with Officer Ramos and Officer Liu who were recently assassinated in Brooklyn and the current tensions between NYPD and the communities they serve. And it certainly hasn’t been helped by “leadership” on either side really doing a lousy job of leading and finding intelligent solutions to their problems but I have no doubt they’ll eventually get there. All I’m going to say about it is that I am rather disappointed in watching NYPD officers show patent disrespect to the mayor by turning their backs to him. I understand they have a beef with him and his exceptionally poor articulations of his views about the protests wasn’t a bright shining moment in political awareness but at the same time the officers of the NYPD should at least be professional enough to respect the office even if they don’t necessarily respect the holder of that politcal office. Perhaps they ought to remember to keep their eye on the bigger picture of why they swore the oath and wear the badge…to serve and protect the citizens of the city they love which is far more important than the current contract negotiations.
I didn’t necessarily mean to get off an a rant there but that’s been bugging me for a while and it needed to get out there somehow to try to explain the difference between the NYC we’ve seen portrayed in the news lately and the reality that one small moment on that cold platform in Times Square shows what I’ve always seen when I’ve visited the city that even though the reputation of New Yorkers is that they’re tough and occasionally rude, I’ve generally experienced the exact opposite.
I’ll never forget the time when I was with Julia and the kids at the Rector Street stop on the 1 train line and had forgotten that a single Metrocard could only be swiped four times at the station and there were five of us. I was looking at having to go back across the street to the other station entrance to get a second Metrocard as the platform we were at didn’t have one of the dispenser machines.
The Asian couple who went through the turnstiles before Julia and the kids did not hesitate… they came back and swiped their Metrocard through the reader so that I wouldn’t be separated from them and wouldn’t let me reimburse them for the ride.
That’s the real NYC right there…you may not see it often on TV but it’s there. Trust me, it’s there! And that’s one of the reasons I love going walkabout with the camera when I’m not doing the usual tourist attractions…it’s been fascinating watching New Yorkers in their native habitat!
So when you see those photo galleries where it appears I’ve landed in some random part of the city for no apparent reason…there’s the reason right there! I love the tourist stuff just as much as everyone else but there are times where it’s nice to pick out a bench or a rock in Central Park and just watch what is way better than any TV show. Real life happening right in front of you… just begging for a shutter click!
