New York Day Three - 30 Rock, MOMA & kung-fu

First thing on day three we decided to go get a view of the city from up in the air. We had a City Pass where you get a ticket to 6 NY destinations for a lower price (MOMA, Top of the Rock, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty ferry, Museum of Natural History and The Met), which is recommended if you want to do the tourist thing and see the landmarks. Sometimes you get to skip the queue with these tickets, so its worth it just for that.

We decided hit Top of the Rock, where you go to the top of 30 Rockerfella Plaza. A lot of you will know this building from the show 30 Rock, as it is where a lot of shows such as Saturday Night Live are filmed. In fact, as we walked around the building we noticed a lot of the area was familiar from establishing shots used in 30 Rock (I admit we even walked around humming the theme tune).

Once we reached the top we got to see how truly large the city is. The one thing about the Top of the Rock is that even though it isn't as high as The Empire State Building, you get to see TESB from this view.

Central Park

If you look closely here you can see the set up for New Year's Eve and the ball that drops at midnight.

A few other views...

After this it was off to the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. One of my favourite parts of our stay in New York. It was pretty amazing to find myself looking at Van Gogh's Starry Night, Monet's Water Lillies and Dali's The Persistance of Memory and being able to see the brush strokes and clumps of paint. It really is different to just looking at a photo. But here are a bunch of photos anyway...

After MOMA we went to the Lincoln Center to catch a screening of the Shaw Brothers kung-fu film Swift Knight, which was part of the New York Asian Film Festival. This film rarely gets screened and it was amazing to finally see a Shaw Brothers film on the big screen. The film starred Lo Lieh as the Swift Knight, a Robin Hood type who gets caught up in royal intrigue. As with most Shaw Brothers films, the plot is quite complicated, but I always manage to figure it out in the end. I think this is why they make superior kung-fu films, as they deliver complex stories as well as action.

This being New York though, of course after the film ended they brought out the film's director, Chang-Wha Chung. He also directed the very influential Five Fingers of Death (AKA King Boxer), which also starred Lo Lieh.

Chang-wha Chung had an interpreter and did a Q&A, talking a lot about working at the Shaw Brothers studio, including having to work for the notoriously strong-willed Run Run Shaw and a friendship/rivalry with fellow Shaw Brothers director King Hu. He also discussed his dislike of wire work, preferring to work with trampolines and making his action look more realistic. A sad fact was also revealed that a lot of Chung's earlier work in Korea has been lost, once again highlighting the need for film preservation. 

And so, yet another fun-filled day in New York came to a close. The next day would see us at the Museum of Natural History, and checking out some local comedy.