Hysterical for Harry Potter

Well, I think I’ve visited heaven. I mean, if you’re a crazy-obsessed Harry Potter fan (like myself), then I’m guessing being at the NYC Premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One may be your idea of heaven as well. Hopefully…or am I the only one? Anyways, I knew I had to pay a visit to the Alice Tully Hall (two blocks away from the Lincoln Center Campus) when some of my Fordham friends mentioned there was going to be a Harry Potter red-carpet premiere in New York this year. Now, there were HP premieres in the city before, but I was always too young to either spend hours waiting for the stars to turn out, or be in Manhattan so very late at night. But not now. Now I’m 18, a college student…things change. And, seriously, I left at like 9 p.m…not that bad at all! So, there I was, waiting and waiting for hours amongst other HP fanatics, who I befriended because we all shared that one HUGE common interest. I met about 13 new people, and caught up with some Fordham classmates. It almost neared 6 p.m. and we were all going crazy at the thought of seeing Harry, Ron, Hermione and company right before our eyes! It was a dream come true! Tom Felton (aka Draco Malfoy) was the first to turn up, and he happened to be the only one who was on time. Everyone was screaming, I mean EVERYONE. We all see the crazy fan girls on T.V., right? But it was NOTHING like live in person. Even I, someone who is normally quiet, screamed and screamed until I thought my voice was going to quit on me…and I still kept screaming! The screams weren’t even annoying as I’d imagine it would be. In fact, when you heard a group screaming in the distance, you knew that meant a star had arrived. I must say, I was a bit disappointed in the trio (Dan Radcliffe -Harry Potter, Emma Watson - Hermione Granger, Rupert Grint - Ron Weasley). Rupert only did a bit of signing for the fans, Emma went straight from her SUV to the press and skipped the fans altogether, and I can’t even remember what Dan did…but I wasn’t keen of it. For goodness sake, Ralph Fiennes, who plays Voldemort, autographed fans’ items more than the trio did. But they all looked lovely. Later on, Emma and Rupert did come back out though, and took pictures with fans who stuck around until the movie premiere was over. I blame the event planners for the Emma, Daniel, and Rupert not standing around signing autographs when they first arrived. Why? The event planners didn’t obtain a permit to shut down the street, meaning the stars would’ve had to dodge cars and NYC traffic to get to where we were standing. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret going at all. I absolutely loved every minute of it. I met new people, saw the HP cast, Melissa Joan Hart (Sabrina the Teenage Witch), Joey Fatone (NYSNC), Rob Thomas, Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), etc. I even got Tom Felton’s autograph!!!!! Definitely, DEFINITELY one of the best days of my life. Hope everyone enjoyed the movie!

Tom Felton - soo close!
Draco Malfoy's my favorite Slytherin.
He has lovely handwriting...
NYC traffic trying to get in our way!
For Ronald Weasley and all the red-heads out there!
From left to right: Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort), Dan Radcliffe (Harry), Emma Watson (Hermione), Rupert Grint (Ron), and Tom Felton (Draco).

Ninjas in New York

When my friends told me that we were going out for Japanese food in Manhattan, I was not expecting to be running down a dark, creepy tunnel as ninjas jumped out at me. If this is how NYC does Japanese, I am going to have to become a lot braver before I want sushi again.

Ninja New York, in Manhattan's TriBeCa neighborhood, is a one of a kind experience. While the menu contains the usual Japanese cuisine one expects, this restaurant is anything but ordinary. Waiters dressed as ninjas not only serve the food, but make sure to scare you from the moment you step out of the elevator. Jumping out from dark corners, yelling at you through windows, and pretending to throw fake water balloons at their costumers is all in the ninja job description.

I took five of my friends with me to Ninja and together we braved the "dark and scary" section of the restaurant. This meant that from the moment we were greeted by the hostess to finally setting down our chopsticks, ninjas made sure to keep us on the edge of our seats. While at first we were all screaming anytime one of the ninjas jumped out, by the end we were laughing and practicing our ninja moves with help from our waiter.

Ninja New York was a Friday night completely out of the ordinary. As we laughed about our experience on the 1 train back to Lincoln Center, we all agreed that only in a place like New York City would sushi and ninjas make a successful restaurant combination.

New York Film Festival

Just a few months ago, my Sunday nights were always a blur of studying and last minute preparations for the week ahead. But this past weekend, I spent my Sunday night at a movie premier seeing some of the most influential people in Hollywood.

A 17 day long event, The New York Film Festival showcases a mix of films--from famous filmmakers to indie artists and foreign films. This year, the event was held at Lincoln Center, just a few blocks down from Fordham's Lincoln Center campus! As a avid movie fan, this was an opportunity I couldn't pass up.

The conclusion to this year's festival was Clint Eastwood's new movie--Hereafter staring Matt Damon. Since the movie has been getting a lot of buzz and has big names attached, there would be two showings--one at 7pm for the press and those involved with the film and a second showing at 10pm for the public. With a quick trip to the box office my friends and I easily purchased tickets for the 10pm show and decided to go down early and spend the evening in the Manhattan.

We took the Ram Van from Rose Hill and arrived in Manhattan by 6:30 and walked the few short blocks up to the theater. We had arrived early in hopes that there would be a place to watch the stars walk in and our early arrival paid off. We got a perfect view to watch Matt Damon arrive and walk the red carpet!

After watching few more people in the film arrive, we grabbed something to eat nearby from one of the restaurants listed in The Passport--Fordham's student guide to New York City. By the time we were finished, it was time to return to the theater for the movie.

While waiting in the lobby to go to our seats, we met Ron Howard--the director of movies like A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vince Code. He was there to support his daughter because she was in the film. As we stood there with him, I just kept thinking how surreal this night had been. We were standing in a theater used by Juilliard students, surrounded by movie critics, actors, and famous directors waiting to see the premiere of a movie that is already getting Oscar talk. Only in New York can this be part of the college experience.

Finally, we made it to our seats and prepared for the movie to start. The New York Film Society said a few words and had a surprise for us--Clint Eastwood! We had not seen him arrive and figured that he left with the other stars, but he had stayed so that he could introduce the film to us. Seeing a Hollywood legend like Clint Eastwood was definitely the highlight of the night--and that is saying a lot because Hereafter was phenomenal! It is moments like this that make me so excited about my next four years in New York City.