Category Archives: NY

TMB Model Train Club’s O-mazing Open House

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From LONG ISLAND – by Ann Parry (annparry.com)
November 30, 2016

Where can you see a three-ring circus, NYC subway line, and real prop used in a mob hit scene on The Sopranos?  At the Train Masters of Babylon Model Train Club HQ in Long Island!

Last Saturday, during the long Thanksgiving Weekend, I spent a couple of hours that sped by all too quickly at TMB’s Open House, which was free and open to the public, as all their Open Houses are.

Farmingdale, New York, USA. November 26, 2016. BAKE TURNER, of Melville, holds a blue Electromotivee Division EMD model train engine at the Train Masters of Babylon TMB Model Train Club's Open House. Visitors enjoyed a 4000 square foot O Gauge model railroad with 10 trains running on 19 scale miles of track and an underground subway system. Watching O Scale model trains traveling on tracks through various elaborate scenes was family fun, free and open to the public, during the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. (Ann Parry/Ann Parry, ann-parry.com)

Farmingdale, NY, USA. Nov. 26, 2016. TMB club member BAKE TURNER, of Melville, holds a blue Electromotive Division EMD model train engine at the Train Masters of Babylon Model Train Club’s Open House. (© 2016 Ann Parry/Ann-Parry.com)

BAKE TURNER, a TMB Model Train Club Board Member, told me how the club – which is a Lionel Ambassador for 2016-17 – moved from Lindenhurst to their Farmingdale location four years ago, and they’re still expanding the elaborate O-Scale layouts, including developing one vertically up a wall!

Farmingdale, New York, USA. November 26, 2016. Tiny high wire aerialist model figure, about two inches tall, is part of the circus scene display at Train Masters of Babylon TMB Model Train Club's Open House. Visitors enjoy a 4000 square foot O Gauge model railroad with 10 trains running on 19 scale miles of track and an underground subway system. The free and open to public event was family fun during the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. (Ann Parry/Ann Parry, ann-parry.com)

Farmingdale, NY, USA. Nov. 26, 2016. Tiny tightrope walker model figure, about two inches tall, is in circus scene display at Train Masters of Babylon TMB Model Train Club’s Open House. (© 2016 Ann Parry/Ann-Parry.com)

Young children perched on parents’ shoulders; adults bent down to inspect the subway line; and lots of arms, short and long, pointed to trains whizzing around the 19 scale miles of track winding through fantastically detailed landscapes, towns, tall cityscapes….

Farmingdale, New York, USA. November 26, 2016. At TMB Train Masters of Babylong Model Train Club's Open House, visitors look at actual train display - complete with blood stains - seen in 'The Blue Comet' episode of 'The Sopranos'. Photo above layout is scene with character Bobby Baccalieri at L.I. model train store. (Ann Parry/Ann Parry, ann-parry.com)

Farmingdale, New York, USA. November 26, 2016. At TMB Model Train Club’s Open House, visitors look at actual train display seen in ‘The Blue Comet’ episode of HBO’s ‘The Sopranos.’  (© 2016 Ann Parry/Ann-Parry.com)

And then there’s the club’s star attraction: the actual train layout featured in “The Blue Comet” episode of The Sopranos HBO television series. It wasn’t until shortly after my visit I realized the layout was complete with “blood stains” from Bobby Bacala’s execution, so I want to return to the scene of that crime during a future Open House.

UPDATE:  January 2019

In the Jan. 2019 issue of Model Rail, the UK model train magazine, editor Richard Foster writes that The Blue Comet episode of HBO’s The Sopranos is his favorite TV episode featuring a model train.

Along with info about the episode and TMB Model Train Club, Foster’s “Backscene” article (page 146) includes one of my news photos of the actual TV prop on display during TMB’s Open House.

The Model Rail  January 2019 digital back issue is currently available for purchase at the PocketMags site (which I have NO relationship with).

TMB Open House:  PHOTO GALLERY 

Train Masters of Babylon: TMB site  |  2016-17 Lionel Ambassadors

Feb. 28, 2018 blog post: “TMB Model Train Club: Big Room with Big (& Small) Views“

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Where the Heck is Matt? Dance-a-gram for Cleo the Cat

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From LONG ISLAND – by Ann Parry (annparry.com)
October 25, 2016

For years, my family’s been a fan of Matt Harding’s “Where the Heck is Matt?” videos where he enthusiastically dances around the world. So I was intrigued when I saw that the Kickstarter campaign to fund his 2016 video included a perk to have him create a Dance-a-gram.

Hamburg, Germany, March 2016. Matt Harding dancing with fans in Marco-Polo Terrassen.

Hamburg, Germany, March 2016. Matt Harding dancing with fans in Marco-Polo Terrassen, his final stop in Europe. This is one of several postcards Matt sent as perks to many of his Kickstarter supporters.

I asked Matt to create a message about adopting animals on behalf of our family’s Cleo the Cat – the gray and white striped furball we adopted from Last Hope Animal Rescue in Wantagh, NY.

Yesterday I received Matt’s Dance-a-gram, and it’s AMAZING:

[videopress BXTOWaU3]

Matt Harding’s Dance-a-gram for our Cleo the Cat, adopted from Last Hope Animal Rescue in Wantagh, NY. (YouTube: youtu.be/mGUSaiBFekl ) 

When I saw the first location in Matt’s Dance-a-gram is Cape Canaveral, Florida, I smiled, since I’m such a space fan and was at Kennedy Space Center in 2000 for Jim Lovell’s talk & book signing for Apollo 13.

And please remember, if you have room in your heart and home, Cleo the Cat hopes you’ll adopt a rescue animal!

Cleo the tabby cat at home on Sept. 1, 2015, after being adopted from Last Hope Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation, Wantagh, New York, USA (Ann Parry/Ann Parry, ann-parry.com)

Long Island, USA. Here’s a glimpse of Cleo the cat, which will have to do until I capture photo of her dancing for joy over Matt’s Dance-a-gram.  (© 2015 Ann Parry/Ann-Parry.com)

Official site of Last Hope Animal Rescue

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Hofstra Debate 2016 Event with David Axelrod

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From LONG ISLAND – by Ann Parry (ann-parry.com)
September 14, 2016

Yesterday, DAVID AXELROD was the Signature Debate Speaker on “The Evolving Media and Political Landscape” – a Debate 2016 event at Hofstra University, which is hosting the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump later this month, on September 26.

Hempstead, New York, USA. September 13, 2016. DAVID AXELROD, CNN Senior Political Commentator and Democratic strategist who served as Obama Senior Advisor, is the Signature Debate Speaker on The Evolving Media and Political Landscape, at Hofstra University, which will host the first Presidential Debate, between H.R. Clinton and D. J. T., scheduled for later that month on September 26. Hofstra is first university ever selected for 3 consecutive U.S. presidential debates; Hofstra; university; universities; college; colleges (Ann Parry/Ann Parry, ann-parry.com)

Hempstead, New York, USA. September 13, 2016. DAVID AXELROD is the Signature Debate Speaker on The Evolving Media and Political Landscape, at Hofstra University, which will host the 1st Presidential Debate later that month.  (© 2016 Ann Parry/Ann-Parry.com)

Axelrod, a former senior advisor for President Obama and current senior political commentator for CNN, devoted time after his prepared remarks to answer questions from audience members.

Hempstead, New York, USA. September 13, 2016. Hofstra University Debate 2016 banner, in patriotic red white and blue, is one of many displayed on the campus of Hofstra University, which will host the first Presidential Debate, between H.R. Clinton and D. J. T., scheduled for later that month on September 26. Hofstra is first university ever selected for 3 consecutive U.S. presidential debates. (Ann Parry/Ann Parry, ann-parry.com)

Hempstead, New York, USA. September 13, 2016. Hofstra University Debate 2016 banner on South Campus at Hofstra University, which will host first Presidential Debate on Sept. 26. (© 2016 Ann Parry/Ann-Parry.com)

My favorite Q&A exchange began when a student referred to Axelrod’s advice to vote for one of the two major party candidates, rather than casting a statement vote for a candidate with no realistic chance of winning. The student then said he did not want to vote for either the Democrat or Republican nominee and indeed would vote for a 3rd party candidate.

So Axelrod gave an example of when protest votes for a 3rd party candidate may have affected the outcome of the election:

‘In the 2000 presidential race in the pivotal state of Florida, Green Party nominee Ralph Nader received over 97,000 votes, and Democrat Al Gore received just 537 fewer votes than Republican George W Bush, who won the presidency.’

Unswayed, the student once again said he’d be voting for a 3rd party candidate.

Axelrod began to say something, then abruptly stopped, glanced up and then back at the student, and asked if he was from New York. When the student said yes he was, Axelrod cheerfully told him to go and vote away. The student smiled as he returned to his seat; the audience clapped.

FYI from LI: The most recent Republican presidential candidate to win New York was Ronald Reagan in 1984.

Hempstead, New York, USA. September 13, 2016. Hofstra University Debate 2016 banner - tall vertical in patriotic red white and blue - is one of many displayed on the campus of Hofstra University, which will host the first Presidential Debate, between H.R. Clinton and D. J. T., scheduled for later that month on September 26. A high-rise residence hall is at right, also in North Campus. Hofstra is first university ever selected for 3 consecutive U.S. presidential debates. (Ann Parry/Ann Parry, ann-parry.com)

Hempstead, New York, USA. September 13, 2016. Hofstra University Debate 2016 banner is one of many displayed on the campus of Hofstra University, which will host the first Presidential Debate on Sept. 26. (© 2016 Ann Parry/Ann-Parry.com)

Hofstra will be the first ever university to host three consecutive U.S. presidential debates.

ALL Hofstra Debate 2016 events, unless otherwise noted on Hofstra’s site, are free and open to the public. RSVP is recommended.

Hofstra Debate 2016 event David Axelrod:  GALLERY

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