The Museum

The Museum of the Moving was pretty interesting, actually. Before going I had assumed it was in Manhattan, like every other museum. Queens is a different story. I mean, sure it's on the same landmass as the borough in which I live, but we generally don't speak of Queens where I live. It's a far away, made up land, like Oz or the North Pole.

Anyway.

It was surprisingly easy to get to, outside of me almost getting lost on my way there (I had mixed up the 35 and 37 for the streets, something I had promised I wouldn't do before I left).

The museum itself had quite a few interesting things in it and was pretty informative, though it taught me very little that we hadn't learned in class. It was more about seeing and experiencing what had been discussed, such as the kinetographs, or the aspects of sound mixing. They also had several displays that were cool to see, such as the original televisions and camera and special effects props. One of the things I most remember about our tour was our guide stressing that no one really ever appreciates the large model on display of the huge building from Blade Runner, as no one has really seen the movie. It was cool because that's definitely one of my favorite movies and it was cool to see that they had such an important set-piece to the film in Queens.

Just joking.

The museum also sported several interactive displays, such as a progression of video game consoles, an arcade, stop-motion animation machines, the aforementioned kinetographs and a voice over booth, which I got to contribute to.

I only really contributed because no one else jumped at the opportunity and I thought it couldn't hurt. My experience taught me two things- 1. My voice doesn't sound as bad as it usually does in recordings, and I totally trust the microphone there, because it's probably of much better quality than the ones I usually hear myself on. 2. I had assumed everyone I met in my life had been lying to me, but I do talk very fast by default. I definitely struggled to match my words to Dorothy's mouth (from the Wizard of Oz), to no avail.

Maybe I can get a job as an auctioneer one day.

Or at least maybe I can get a job.