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The
Hoodpecker
cuesta (kwest'-ah) n.
a hill or ridge with a steep face on one side and a gentle slope
on the other. [from Spanish costa side, rib.]
Autofocus :|
The interesting,
but badly realized story
of Hogan's Harrows
 
Peace Resource Project
The
Gods Of Arr-Kelaan
This week's donation goes to:
Drug
Policy Alliance
Reason. Compassion. Justice.
"A boy in our scout troop took it to camp. My 14 year-old
came home raving about how much fun it is."
-- comments accompanying an order for Fluxx
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Toy Fair! Times Square! |
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 We're
back from Toy Fair in
NYC, and boy are we tired. We got back late Wednesday night and
only now, on Saturday, have I managed to get this report together.
But it went really well... I'd say this was our best Toy Fair
ever!
Here you see Ali
Summers, our Sales Diva, as she gives out a flurry of Looney Labs info packs.
Ali lives in California and works for us primarily by phone/internet,
but we get together for trade shows in distant cities every now
and then. Below you can see what our booth looked like, as well
as the rest of our staff (Alison,
Kristin,
Marlene,
and me)
as we talked to industry big shots at the Javits Center last
week.
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 As
you can see, I wore a regular suit during part of the show. Here
at Looney Labs, we're
always conducting experiments, and I decided this time to see
how much of a difference it would make for me to be wearing a
more stodgy, business-like outfit. Since I just couldn't bring
myself to also wear a tie, I may have invalidated the experiment
slightly, but even so, my conclusion was that it didn't matter.
After a couple of days, I reverted to my usual tie-die...
 One
of the great things about going to Toy Fair every year is getting
to spend a few days in the heart of New York City. There's so
much neat stuff to see and do there, even within walking distance
of our usual hotel! Having done this for a few years now, there
are certain habits we're starting to develop, such as favorite
restaurants we always like to dine at. I'm particularly fond,
for example, of the Cupcake Cafe, over on Ninth. I didn't manage
to get there myself this year, but I did get one of their fabulous
cupcakes, as Kristin had lunch with Dawn
there one day and they brought back a bakery box for our booth
staff to enjoy.
Another thing I always like to do is to walk over to Times
Square, just to gawk at the amazing display of lights and people.
This was particularly enjoyable this year, since I finally managed
to find the mysterious "sound sculpture" Rash
told me about more than a decade ago, when he heard it during
a trip he took in '92. According to this Press
Release, it was deactivated for many years, but operates
now just across the street from the Times Square Howard
Johnson's Restaurant, one of the last few still in operation
and another of those landmarks I always enjoy visiting when I'm
in town. (I have fond memories of the time Kristin and I shared
a meal with Penn
Jillette there in July 1990...)
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The sound sculpture is unlabeled and you don't really notice
it unless you're really quite close to the steam grates from
which the sound emanates. It was created by Max Neuhaus and is
called simply "Times Square." Mar
described it as being like a Tibetan singing bowl. Alison
thought it sounded more like bells resonating with multiple harmonic
overtones. I was reminded of the continuous musical drone one
often hears accompanying the voice of Joe
Frank on his old "Work-in-Progress" radio shows.
It was neat.
Have an excellent week!
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