“A journey round the world. A look back in time, and a window on the future. A treasure house of religious faiths. A procession of products. And a dream of ‘Peace through Understanding.’”¹

Geek Out

It’s the World’s Fair! I’d imagine the bulk of my readers never got a chance—due to lack of funds, lack of time, or lack of existence—to attend the 1964-65 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, Queens. We all know the Unisphere, perhaps from Men in Black or from the knockoff at Trump International Hotel in Columbus Circle, but that’s the extent of popular familiarity with the ‘64 Fair. You can remedy that this Sunday at the LaGuardia Holiday Inn, where a 1964-65 World’s Fair Show and Sale is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The fest will supposedly include book signings, memorabilia, and even era-appropriate refreshments. I say “supposedly” because information on the event is sketchy. The only pre-event press I can find is a post on the AM New York Urbanite blog, but AMNY people are trustworthy folk, so I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Manhattanhenge Redux. I promised you Manhattanhenge would return, didn’t I? Head to the east side of the city tonight or tomorrow a little before 8 p.m. to watch the sun set in alignment with the city grid. If you want to study up on the ‘Henger scene, reread my profile of the first Manhattanhenge ‘08 from June. It’s the article so nice you can enjoy it twice!

Geek In

Be civilized. There’s few better ways to pass an unexpectedly humdrum weekend evening than a Civilization game. This week brought the latest release in the sprawling Civ franchise, Civilization Revolution. It’s the first game in Sid Meier’s classic turn-based strategy series made for home consoles (PS3, Xbox 360, and DS) rather than the PC. Civ’s complexity and necessarily ornate interface have always made it ill-suited to console play, and those same qualities made it a hard sell to the vaunted “casual gamer.” Civ Revolution supposedly scales back the detail a touch to make the game more accessible, and while I haven’t tried it yet, it appears to be getting good notices in the gaming press. If you’ve never played Civ before, try out Revolution and let me know how it goes. Beware: It could be the perfect gateway drug.

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1. That was the lead written by National Geographic journalist Carolyn Bennett Patterson in this crazy old World's Fair photo spread dug up by Modern Mechanix. ↑