Details coming Saturday on our March Madness Big Adventure!

We know that waiting is the hardest part, but brace yourself: All of the details, times, locations and quality information YOU need to know about our March Madness Big Adventure on Saturday, March 10th will be announced and posted this Saturday! We still have some Ts to cross and lower case Js to dot, but we want to make sure all is in place for an awesome day. Watch this space and prep yourself for the lunacy of our March Madness Big Adventure!

Radio City Music Hall- the movie theater built for 5,500

Some Big Apple tidbits for you during this time of year of Cinematic Buzz and Oscar Talk:

NYC is home to the largest movie theater in the world: Radio City Music Hall. Radio City opened in Rockefeller Center almost 80 years ago in December, 1932. Originally the theater had 5,945 seats and focused solely on First Run feature film. We’re sure that the company that makes Junior Mints was friggin' ecstatic. Designed to showcase both a mix of films and a various live stage shows, this format kept up for nearly 45 years before the theater moves to strictly live shows (including the hugely popular and overall ginormous Radio City Christmas Spectacular)

Some Radio City Music Hall Trivia for you: Last film screened at this palatial midtown theater? Caravans starring Anthony Quinn in 1978. The first film screened? The Bitter Tea of General Yen directed by Frank Capra. A...true...classic? Hardly. The movie was scheduled to run for two-weeks, but the theater yanked it after eight days.

For all things Radio City, we love the history feature on the official site:

http://www.radiocity.com/about/history.html

 

Empire State Building Lighting Schedule

Since The Big Adventure is often asking "Why is the Empire State Building this particular color tonight?” we’ve always found this handy: The official daily lighting schedule for the Empire State Building. You can preview the ESB color scheme for upcoming weeks and check out the lighting occasions over the course of the last year. Of course, the standard colors of white, white and more white make up the lighting pattern about half of the time. But the ESB can also accommodate blue, red, green, yellow, orange, pink and purple as well.

Want to take it a step further and become a "Lighting Partner" with your own private colors? The application is right there on the site. Who knows? Maybe you can have it the building lit in your favorite colors on your birthday. Or to celebrate a Big Adventure! After all, even the smaller events get the honor.  Sometimes the iconic sky scraper will be lit yellow and red recently for an unidentified “private lighting." Well, that's vague & intriguing. The burning question that we can’t seem to get answered, however, is how much does it cost to have the honor or lighting up with your preferred color scheme.

Want to keep it simple? Have some digital fun and create your own Empire State Building photos with custom colors and message. Or, for something quite different, you can vicariously relive this year’s Empire StateRun Up  (with some fun NY Times pictures here) with this first-person video of the exhausting experience (halfway down the article). it is little wonder that this is the most celebrated building in New York City.

Answers to our 2012 Big Adventure Oscar Trivia!

Didn't quite get your fill of Billy Crystal, The Help and Hugo from the 84th Academy Awards last night? As promised, here are all the answers from our 2012 Big Adventure Oscar Trivia!

1: In what photographic venue have the Academy Awards been held every year since 2002?
A: The Kodak Theater in Los Angeles

2: Who has won the most Academy Awards for acting?
A: Katharine Hepburn, with 4

3: Who has the most Oscar nominations for acting?
A: Meryl Streep, with 16 (and now with three wins!)

4: What was the first X-rated movie to win for Best Picture?
A: Midnight Cowboy

5: At the 64th Academy Award, who started his acceptance speech after winning the Best Supporting Actor by saying , “Billy Crystal…hahah…I crap bigger than him.”
A: Jack Palance

6: What movie has the longest title to have won Best Picture? Hint: It has been in the last 20 years
A: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

7: Who is the oldest Oscar winner?
A:Jessica Tandy for Driving Miss Daisy, age 80.

8: Who is the youngest Oscar winner?
A: Tatum O’Neal for Paper Moon, age 10

9: What performer won an Academy Award for playing a character who loses an Academy Award?
A: Maggie Smith in California Suite (1978)

10: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have each won an Oscar for the same accomplishment. What was it?
A:Best Writing…Screenplay. Good Will Hunting

11: Lee Daniels, the director of Precious, is the second African-American nominee for Best Director. Who was the first?
A: John Singleton for 1991’s Boyz n the Hood

12: Best Actor competitors Jeff Bridges and George Clooney starred together in a movie in 2009 that received no nominations. What was it?
A: The Men Who Stare at Goats

14: Three films have swept the Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay) –Name 2!
A: It Happened One Night, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Silence of the Lambs

15: In 1991, What film became the first Animated Feature Length Film to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Film?
A: Beauty And The Beast

16: What is the combined number of times Jack Nicholson has been nominated for both a Golden Globe and Oscar: 28

17. Who is the oldest Oscar nominee?

A: Gloria Stuart for Titanic, age 87

18. Only one of this year’s acting nominees was also nominated last year. Who is it?

A: Michelle Williams

19. If Christopher Plummer wins Best Supporting Actor this year, at the age of 82 (and he did!), he will become the oldest actor to win the award. What late actor currently holds that distinction?

A: George Burns 

2012 Big Adventure Oscar Trivia!

Recently, we told you about all of the places you could see Oscar in New York City. Now, on this Academy Awards eve, we wanted to serve up some prime Oscar trivia and see how well YOU know your award. Several of these questions were used a couple of years ago on our Film Big Adventure. These stumpers come to you courtesy of film aficionado and friend-of-the-Big-Adventure  Doug Strassler. Enjoy! Answers below. We’ll post all of the answers on Monday after the 84^th Academy Awards.

1: In what photographic venue have the Academy Awards been held every year since 2002?

2: Who has won the most Academy Awards for acting?

3: Who has the most Oscar nominations for acting?

4: What was the first X-rated movie to win for Best Picture?

5: At the 64th Academy Award, who started his acceptance speech after winning the Best Supporting Actor by saying , “Billy Crystal…hahah…I crap bigger than him.”

6: What movie has the longest title to have won Best Picture? Hint: It has been in the last 20 years

7: Who is the oldest Oscar winner?

8: Who is the youngest Oscar winner?

9: What performer won an Academy Award for playing a character who loses an Academy Award?

10: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have each won an Oscar for the same accomplishment. What was it?

11: Lee Daniels, the director of Precious, is the second African-American nominee for Best Director. Who was the first?

12: Best Actor competitors Jeff Bridges and George Clooney starred together in a movie in 2009 that received no nominations. What was it?

14: Three films have swept the Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay) –Name 2!

15: In 1991, What film became the first Animated Feature Length Film to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Film?

16: What is the combined number of times Jack Nicholson has been nominated for both a Golden Globe and Oscar?

17. Who is the oldest Oscar nominee?

18. Only one of this year’s acting nominees was also nominated last year. Who is it?

19. If Christopher Plummer wins Best Supporting Actor this year, at the age of 82, he will become the oldest actor to win the award. What late actor currently holds that distinction?