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Central Park App Lets Scarlett Johansson Guide You Through The Park
By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 23, 2014
Modified Apr 23, 2014
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 23, 2014
Modified Apr 23, 2014
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She looks different
EXT. CENTRAL PARK — SUNSET
Close on YOUR face. We hold on you for a long time (30 seconds). You're looking at something off camera, deep in thought. It's the Central Park Pool.
YOU (to no one) How have I never seen this before?
YOU are shocked to hear a voice come through your headphones, you jump back.
FEMALE OS VOICE What’s it like? What’s it like to be alive in that park right now?
YOU What do you mean?
YOU walk up a path, and sit on a rock, staring at the Pool, confused.
FEMALE OS VOICE Never mind. I see you are confused about The Pool. The Pool, with its grassy banks, weeping willows, and rushing waterfall, is one of the most idyllic spots in the Park. I'm surprised you've never been here before—it's a peaceful spot to sit in and stay for a while. Did you know Central Park's designers, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, constructed the Pool by damming up a natural stream that was known as Montayne's Rivulet? They sent the water along a northeastward course to form both the Loch and the Harlem Meer. There are many species of birds, fish, and amphibians can be seen at the Pool. It must be nice, to be alive...
YOU converse with FEMALE OS VOICE until the night sky is black, but for the moon which is now lighting up a patch of grass near The Pool. You walk to the moonlit-soaked spot, place your device in your pocket, and start spinning around. YOU and FEMALE OS VOICE are laughing, madly.
FEMALE OS VOICE I just had this terrible thought. Are these feelings even real? Or are they just programming?
FADE TO BLACK
The good news is you can listen to Scarlet Johansson talk to you as you spin in a circle in Central Park and hug yourself. The bad news is that it is just programming. Central Park has just enhanced their Official Central Park App. They tell us, "For the first time ever, the app includes celebrity audio guides to 43 of the Park's most popular landscapes, among many other enhancements."
Let HER guide you through The Pool by downloading the new Central Park Conservancy app on your iPhone or Droid. Or John Lithgow did one too, if that's what you're into.
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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