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MON SEPT 28 Let me preface this post by apologizing for the poor quality of these photos. I realized after the fact that my camera was set on a wrong exposure level so the pics are unnaturally dark. Some other pics I am going to post later on were also taken on this wrong setting, but I have reprogrammed my camera correctly now. :)

So Law & Order: SVU has recently been filming in Harlem quite a lot. These photos were taken on Thursday, Sept. 24th. By the time I was able to get there they had already wrapped up the outdoor filming and had moved on to filming inside one of the gorgeous homes on Astor Row.
Astor Row is the name given to 130th Street between Fifth Avenue and Lenox Avenue in Harlem, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. More specifically, it refers to the semi-attached row houses on the south side of the street. These were among the first speculative townhouses built in Harlem, and their design is very unusual. The houses are set back from the street and all have front yards, an oddity in New York, and all have wooden porches. The effect is southern, and has been compared to the appearance of parts of Savannah, Georgia. The houses were built on land that had been purchased by John Jacob Astor in 1844 for $10,000, but the development was driven by his grandson, William Backhouse Astor, who hired architect and builder Charles Buek to oversee the project. The houses were all built between 1880 and 1883.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astor_Row

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Now when they come, they kind of take over, all over. Lol! :) In order for them to shoot in just one small spot, at least four or more blocks are utilized.

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A passerby who was there actually thought that these extras were real! :D

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In fact a cop car stopped in the middle of the block and that helped to make the passerby convinced that the extras were indeed real. I said to the woman that it would be funny if the reason the cops stopped is because they want to check and make certain that the film crew had filming permits and no sooner were those words out of my mouth than one of the cops made one of the crew show him the permits! Lol!!! I guess the cops didn't see all of the signs with the information about the shooting.

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You just have to Love Mariska Hargitay! :D

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Now this next series of 2 (really 3) pictures ends up with a nice picture of Mariska waving hello, but I sure did capture some funny facial expressions on the way to getting to that nice shot. Last time I got pictures of Christopher Meloni with funny facial expressions, so I guess it was just Mariska's turn. :)

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Last time I was able to only get pics of Mariska and Christopher. This time I was not only able to get pics of them, but Mariska walked right up to the few of us that were standing there and gave us autographs. She is the NICEST person!! I said the following about her before, but I think it bears repeating. :) She is BEAUTIFUL and looks like a REAL woman. She has hips and thighs and wrinkles and looks older, a Natural, Beautiful older, not like someone who is trying to do all the horrible looking excessive plastic surgery crap. I don't know if she has or has not had plastic surgery. I just know that she does not look fake.

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Christopher Meloni on the other hand, in my experience, is more standoffish. I am NOT saying he is mean or nasty, because he hasn't been the times I have seen him, but he doesn't seem to be as "fan approachable" as Mariska.

I don't really like this photo from a technical perspective, but I included it anyway because I just LOVE the look of glee on the woman's face and the way she is clutching her chest in excitement over seeing Christopher walk by. How adorable! :D

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"You looking at me?" (said in a Robert De Niro/Travis Bickle voice) :D (He really isn't looking at the camera, but the Travis Bickle character was the first thing I thought of when I saw the shot at home.)

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He sure does spend a lot of time on his cell phone in between takes.

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I hope that wasn't ice he was chewing in someone's ear! :D :D

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I thought that it was funny that he put the same look on his face that a lot of us put on ours when break time is over and we have to return back to work.

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A change of clothes later and another scene filmed. He seemed to come out from the scene with a, "Whew, that was a tough scene" look on his face, but I have absolutely no idea if that is what he was thinking. Lol! :D

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Hope you enjoyed the pics! :D

Native American Ceremony

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SAT SEPT 19 Last weekend I was walking through Riverside Park and unexpectedly walked up on a Native American ceremony. This is just one of the MANY things I LOVE about NYC; the unexpected nature of it. You just never know what you will see in a given day. I was not really able to get much information about the ceremony except that it was a celebration of their ancestors and a sort of blessing for the continuance of their people. I was blown away by the Beauty of their outfits. Just Amazing!

The only element I recognized was Our Lady of Guadalupe which is Mexican and Catholic. However, a good number of native cultures have covertly used Catholic symbols to really represent their own religious symbols. Based on what Wiki has on the history of Our Lady of Guadalupe and a sign they were holding, the participants are likely of Aztec origin.
Some historians believe the icon syncretically represents both Virgin Mary and the indigenous Mexican goddess Tonantzin. Others believe the Virgin was a simplified and sanitized version of Coatlicue, the Aztec mother goddess. This syncretism may have provided a way for 16th century Spaniards to gain converts among the indigenous population of early Mexico; it may also have provided a method for 16th century indigenous Mexicans to covertly practice their native religion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe

If you happen to know more about their ceremony, please tell me about it, TIA!

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I was tied as to my favorite male outfit. This one was the first.

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I wonder if this man just decided to wear his hair in dreads or if ancestrally dreads were worn by Aztecs? I know dreads are found in African and Indian cultures, but I am unsure about Native American cultures.

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This woman's outfit was my favorite of all the women's outfits. I just LOVE the color and her headdress. The pair of skulls on the bottom of her dress kind of reminded me of football helmets; the St. Luis Rams to be exact.

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This was the other male outfit that was tied to be my favorite.

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This is Our Lady of Guadalupe:

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Finally, this cute little girl was very proud of their sacred chalice that was used for burning incense and said that it was very important that I take a picture of it. :)

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