Baked Ideas honors the sixteenth president of the United States in its creative gingerbread house at Le Parker Meridien (photo by twi-ny/mdr)
LANDMARKS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
Le Parker Meridien, 56th St. atrium lobby
119 West 56th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Daily through January 3, free
212-245-5000
www.parkermeridien.com
gingerbread extravaganza slideshow
Gingerbread dates back thousands of years, to the time of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. In the late sixteenth century, Queen Elizabeth I had gingerbread cookies designed to look like visiting guests. In the early seventeenth century, German families would pick up gingerbread creations in the Christlindlmarkt, baked by the Lebkuchler. And in 1812, the Brothers Grimm published “Hansel and Gretel,” a story of two children who get trapped by a witch in a house made of gingerbread and candy. The result is that wonderfully designed gingerbread cakes and cookies have become a longtime Christmas tradition in America. And fantastical gingerbread houses have now become a tradition at Le Parker Meridien in Midtown Manhattan, where the third annual Gingerbread Extravaganza continues through January 3. This year’s theme is “Landmarks Around the World,” with a half dozen inventive constructions made out of gingerbread. Baked Ideas has built a fabulous white-iced version of the Lincoln Memorial, featuring the sixteenth president keeping warm with charming blue earmuffs and mittens, looking rather regal in his blue bowtie. Hell’s Kitchen dessert bar Kyotofu has re-created the Edo-era Toji Tower, a World Heritage Site. Butterfly Bakeshop has constructed a gingerbread model of the Mayan city Chichen Itza. Rolling Pin Productions and Park Slope’s Aperitivo restaurant have designed one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Great Sphinx of Giza — with a fondant Santa hat. Downtown’s North End Grill has come up with a model of Scotland’s historic Urquhart Castle, complete with the Loch Ness Monster rising from the water. And Le Parker Meridien’s own Norma’s has hoisted “Hurri-Crane,” a depiction of the dangling crane that hovered over Midtown after Sandy hit, surrounded by police cars, fire trucks, and curious onlookers. (There appears to have been a seventh entry, David Burke’s Chrysler Building, but it doesn’t seem to have made it.) The event is a fundraiser for City Harvest; visitors are encouraged to vote for their favorite gingerbread display, with individual ballots available for one dollar each or five dollars for eight. One winning voter will win a five-day trip to the Parker Palm Springs in California.
“I consider myself more of a chess player,” Ai Weiwei says at the beginning of Never Sorry, Alison Klayman’s revealing documentary about the larger-than-life Chinese artist and dissident. “My opponent makes a move, I make a move. Now I’m waiting for my opponent to make the next move.” Over the last several years, Ai has become perhaps the most famous and controversial artist in the world, primarily since he participated in the design of Beijing National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest, for the 2008 Summer Olympics, then denounced the Games on political grounds. Ai gives director, producer, and cinematographer Klayman, making her first full-length film, remarkable access to his personal and professional life as he gets physically abused by Chinese police, prepares to open major exhibits in Munich and London, and visits with his young son, Ai Lao, the result of a tryst with Wang Fen, an editor on his underground films. Klayman speaks with Ai Weiwei’s devoted wife, Lu Qing, an artist who publicly fought for his freedom when he disappeared in 2011; his mother, Gao Ying, who spent time in a labor camp with her dissident-poet husband, the late Ai Quing; and such fellow Chinese artists and critics as Chen Danqing, Feng Boyi, Hsieh Tehching, and Gu Changwei, who speak admiringly of Ai’s dedication to his art and his fearless search for the truth. A round man with a long, graying bear, Ai is a fascinating, complicated character, a gentle bull who openly criticizes his country because he loves it so much. He is a social media giant, making documentaries that are available for free on the internet and revolutionizing the way Twitter and the blogosphere are used. Ai risks his own freedom by demanding freedom for all, calling for government transparency before and after he is secretly arrested, not afraid of the potential repercussions. And he is also a proud cat lover — more than forty felines regularly roam around his studio — eagerly showing off one talented kitty that has a unique way of opening a door. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry shows Ai to be an honorable, supremely principled human being who has deep respect for the history of China and a fierce determination to improve its future, no matter the personal cost. The film completed its extended run at the IFC Center on November 8, but it will have an encore screening there on November 13, with Klayman on hand, as part of the DOC NYC festival, a week of nonfiction screenings that also includes such works as Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi’s 5 Broken Cameras, with Michael Moore in attendance; Rob Fruchtman and Lisa Fruchtman’s Sweet Dreams, with the directors and special guests participating in a discussion; and Mary Kerr’s