First night 2013/FIGMENT
Jan. 1st, 2014 06:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidThis year FIGMENT got involved with First Night (I think because the old group ran out of money, or some such thing), and as always, I volunteered to help out. I walked down to the Boston Common late morning yesterday, to help with set-up. Since I managed to bring mittens but not gloves, I did more unloading of not-heavy things (lower back isn't quite happy) and helping hanging signs than assembly of things.
My toes got cold, and I went over to Milk Street Cafe to defrost my toes and ingest warm things. I'd been intending to stop at the T's Charlie Card Store for months, and finally managed to do that before heading back to the Common. (I was surprised, though perhaps shouldn't have been, that it mimicked the experience of going to the RMV, including long lines).
I meandered back, taking photos of the FIGMENT art being installed/assembled, then continuing around to see more of the event before my next volunteer shift. I got to see a huge kraken ice sculpture being carved, and video projection onto the front of the BPL being calibrated. I stopped at the Hynes, which was overwhelmingly full of families; it took a while to find the art I'd been looking for, First Light, which had a lot of interesting, often interactive pieces. The stand-outs for me were Tensor (a wall of lights that change patterns) and paintings by Klingonlandlady, which look vastly different in different colored light. One of the paintings had cycling lights on it, while the other had "the Frobinator," a rainbow line of lights that could shine on the painting, depending on what people waved hands over.
I saw that the parade was assembling, so went out to watch it (it had been nice to be in the heated Hynes, but it was almost too warm). First up was a huge truck that shot tones of bits of white paper into the air, rather like a ticker-tape parade, giving the impression of snow falling. Later I saw some bits of paper caught on the branches of a tree, fluttering like white moths.
There were a lot of musical groups, including a few with drums. There were those long Chinese dragon puppets with lots of puppeteers, plus others of that type (my favorite were the four colors of T train ones). I hadn't known how many people were stiltwalkers around, and there were unicyclists. People carried art (large flowers, painted banners, etc.). One of my favorite groups was an LGBT one that had decided to be Alice-themed, with lots of cards, a Queen of Hearts, and Alice herself (in short sleeves! no clue how he didn't freeze). Plus the bus behind them was decorated as the Cheshire cat, large grin and whiskers.
It was time to get back to FIGMENT, which took a bit longer given the crowds and barriers from the parade. I picked up the "flyers" I was supposed to hand out, finding that there were little MOO cards (half business size). I went to circulate and distribute them, but didn't bother during the fireworks show. I had forgotten how they resonate in the chest when so close, and the sound was doubled, echoing back from the front of the tall buildings facing. I was pleased to get some decent photos of them (always a surprise).
After my flyer shift, I had an hour in the info booth, happily in a heated tent. The person who'd signed up to share the shift with me was still working on his art project, so I handled it alone, and mostly was able to help out (most frequent questions: where's the bathrooms? what's the schedule of events? where's all the rest of First Night things? where can I buy a button?). After that I gave someone a breather to unfreeze her toes.
I ran into friends as I watched one of the fire-spinning performances (Boston allowed fire performance! This is a big deal; they have historically denied any applications.)and tagged along as they meandered for a while, but when people headed off to a party, I decided I wanted to go home. I was tired, it was late (even if I hadn't made it to the countdown), and there was a pain in one foot. The T was free, so I hopped it home, to find that the reason my toe hurt was that I had a blister that had bled, through two pairs of socks, even. ::sigh::
Part of me wished I'd gone to the party, but most of me was glad to have listened to what I needed, rather than pushing myself to do the socially-expected thing.
My toes got cold, and I went over to Milk Street Cafe to defrost my toes and ingest warm things. I'd been intending to stop at the T's Charlie Card Store for months, and finally managed to do that before heading back to the Common. (I was surprised, though perhaps shouldn't have been, that it mimicked the experience of going to the RMV, including long lines).
I meandered back, taking photos of the FIGMENT art being installed/assembled, then continuing around to see more of the event before my next volunteer shift. I got to see a huge kraken ice sculpture being carved, and video projection onto the front of the BPL being calibrated. I stopped at the Hynes, which was overwhelmingly full of families; it took a while to find the art I'd been looking for, First Light, which had a lot of interesting, often interactive pieces. The stand-outs for me were Tensor (a wall of lights that change patterns) and paintings by Klingonlandlady, which look vastly different in different colored light. One of the paintings had cycling lights on it, while the other had "the Frobinator," a rainbow line of lights that could shine on the painting, depending on what people waved hands over.
I saw that the parade was assembling, so went out to watch it (it had been nice to be in the heated Hynes, but it was almost too warm). First up was a huge truck that shot tones of bits of white paper into the air, rather like a ticker-tape parade, giving the impression of snow falling. Later I saw some bits of paper caught on the branches of a tree, fluttering like white moths.
There were a lot of musical groups, including a few with drums. There were those long Chinese dragon puppets with lots of puppeteers, plus others of that type (my favorite were the four colors of T train ones). I hadn't known how many people were stiltwalkers around, and there were unicyclists. People carried art (large flowers, painted banners, etc.). One of my favorite groups was an LGBT one that had decided to be Alice-themed, with lots of cards, a Queen of Hearts, and Alice herself (in short sleeves! no clue how he didn't freeze). Plus the bus behind them was decorated as the Cheshire cat, large grin and whiskers.
It was time to get back to FIGMENT, which took a bit longer given the crowds and barriers from the parade. I picked up the "flyers" I was supposed to hand out, finding that there were little MOO cards (half business size). I went to circulate and distribute them, but didn't bother during the fireworks show. I had forgotten how they resonate in the chest when so close, and the sound was doubled, echoing back from the front of the tall buildings facing. I was pleased to get some decent photos of them (always a surprise).
After my flyer shift, I had an hour in the info booth, happily in a heated tent. The person who'd signed up to share the shift with me was still working on his art project, so I handled it alone, and mostly was able to help out (most frequent questions: where's the bathrooms? what's the schedule of events? where's all the rest of First Night things? where can I buy a button?). After that I gave someone a breather to unfreeze her toes.
I ran into friends as I watched one of the fire-spinning performances (Boston allowed fire performance! This is a big deal; they have historically denied any applications.)and tagged along as they meandered for a while, but when people headed off to a party, I decided I wanted to go home. I was tired, it was late (even if I hadn't made it to the countdown), and there was a pain in one foot. The T was free, so I hopped it home, to find that the reason my toe hurt was that I had a blister that had bled, through two pairs of socks, even. ::sigh::
Part of me wished I'd gone to the party, but most of me was glad to have listened to what I needed, rather than pushing myself to do the socially-expected thing.
no subject
Date: 2014-01-06 02:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-06 01:19 pm (UTC)