The end of times is nigh, if the 2012 Mayan calendar is to be believed. So let’s party, or learn about Paris and horror while drinking absinthe, or walk through a Kubrik and Lynch inspired labrynth of Macbeth… Shall we?
Friday, November 11, The Observatory and Morbid Anatomy presents Decadent Paris Weekend Event # 1 (For Decadent Paris Event #2, Click here: ) “Hidden among the decadence and sleaze of Pigalle with its roughnecks and whores, in the shadows of a quiet, cobbled alleyway, stands a little theatre… –“Grand Guignol: The French Theatre or Horror,” Hand and Wilson. From its beginnings in turn-of-the-century Paris and through its decline in the 1960s, the Theatre of the Grand Guignol–literally “grand puppet show”–gleefully celebrated horror, sex, and fear. Its infamous productions featured innocent victims, mangled beauty, insanity, mutilation, humour, sex, and monstrous depravity in a heady mix that attracted throngs of thrill-seekers from all echelons of society. By dissecting primal taboos in an unprecedentedly graphic manner, the Grand Guignol became the progenitor of all the blood-spilling, eye-gouging, and limb-hacking “splatter” movies of today.” Join Professor Mel Gordon on an educationally thrilling ride to the darkside. Complimentary absinthe provided by sponsor La Fée Absinthe, the first traditional absinthe distilled in France since the 1915 ban and is the only absinthe endorsed by the Musée de l’Absinthe, Auvers-sur-Oise.
Saturday, November 12th, at the Astor Center, right off Astor Place: The cocktail-centric blog Dizzy Fizz will be hosting a Holiday Spirits Bazaar. Learn all about moonshine, how to make your relatives drunk without them realizing just how strong the punch is, and the best office cocktail recipe. Try tons of drinks and listen to mixologists wax poetic about bitters and their bittersweet neccessity in cocktail-land.
And Sunday, or really any day until January 21st, 2012, watch Sleep No More! The performance art/promenade theater show about Macbeth. This is the one all the papers and magazines have been raving about, the audience must put on masks and follow characters around a factory in Chelsea. Vice describes it as a walk through a David Lynch set, The New York Post say’s it’s mindbending. And… I finally GET TO SEE IT! (Also, it’s featured in the new episode of Gossip Girl, shut up, I don’t watch it, I saw and ad ok?) Either way, it looks like an incredible experience and is a must-see for intrepid New Yorkers. Ticket prices are going up, so get on it here.
