Sunday, April 29, 2007

I've totally backslid on my resolution to party less & get more done. Well, I did get a lot done, just mostly not anything I actually needed to do. I visited my parents one weekend, which is always stressful, but it was great to watch my little siblings play tennis & hang out with them. One of my slaves - who has a serious glove fetish - took me to Sermoneta (58th & Madison) for opera-length black leather gloves... amazing. The leather is some of the softest I've ever felt. I wish I could wear them somewhere besides home. Sexy English Boyfriend & I went to the last movie of the GenArt film festival, He Was a Quiet Man. It was disturbing & thought-provoking, although a bit confusing at the end. & Elisha Cuthbert is beautiful. We liked it better than Crashing (the first GenArt movie). I partied Wednesday & Thursday with the girls, & Friday SE actually came out with me. We went to a fantastic Italian place in the East Village, Cacio e Pepe. We had the shrimp wrapped in bacon, pecorino & black pepper tonnarelli & bucatini. It was unbelievably good. Gin Lane & Cabanas at the Maritime Hotel were cool too - Lovely Blonde came with us & helped spice things up. We all danced together & after much experimentation, the best positioning seemed to be one girl on each side. Although I also really enjoyed being the middle of a SE-LB sandwich. SE & I went home kind of early after seeing LB off on her sexy little Vespa.

Saturday we celebrated a friend's birthday at Carne Vale, a churrascaria in the East Village. I really really love meat. Fashionista was being a nasty little bitch but it was great to see our other friends & meet SE's buddy visiting from London. We were supposed to stay & drink more with the birthday boy, but got invited to Scores East so the choice was clear. We joined our friends GQ Banker & Eurasian Beauty & some random people they were hanging out with whom we vaguely knew. Then came the highlight of the evening - no, the month, possibly the year! Eurasian Beauty & I got onstage! We made out, we were topless about a minute into our song & I knelt on stage & bent all the way backwards as EB simulated going down on me. Outside that I basically just did some of my hip-hop moves instead of trying to be a stripper. Oh my god it was so hot dancing with EB. After that we were so excited that we got carried away giving girls in our group lapdances. I'm surprised management didn't stop us. I still know I could never be a real stripper but it was so much fun. I'm quite an exhibitionist when I get the excuse.

Sunday was shopping & exercise-new-toys day. We were exhausted from being out super late the night before but we couldn't resist trying everything. Very very fun. :) This week has been a lot of work & partying - SE is in Poland for a stag weekend so I have to amuse myself. I've ended up hanging out with Eurasian Beauty & GQ Banker every night... GQB has been hitting on me again. He is the friend that had a crush on me first but then SE & I started dating. Friday night all our friends left first & we went to Flashdancers at 3:30 & I chatted with him & his roommate at their place for about 20 minutes before finally going home. I wasn't doing anything wrong but I know I shouldn't have been hanging out with just him. I was drunk enough that I didn't want to resist the male attention. & SE has been away 4 whole days. It is hard to behave... I guess it's good that I'm this reflective & concerned about it though. Last night I made a point of not meeting up with GQB when I could have. He was going to an afterparty at Room Service but when EB said she was going home I said me too instead of hanging out with just him again. Plus I know that I don't want to cheat on SE so I won't.

Yesterday was yet another banner day of drinking. My friend organized an East Village pub crawl, exactly like the one we did for Halloween, except this time he made it like a golf game. Each hole was a different bar with a special drink that was worth more negative points. We started around 3pm & by the time I left at 8:30 I was quite inebriated. It was really fun though. I met a very cute Asian girl & beat her at Connect Four. Also, even though I only played 7 holes I ended up about 11 under "par". I had dinner with Double Trouble & her friend at Wild Salmon, which is much better than the reviews led me to believe. I had the crab & corn chowder & then linguine with clams, both of which were really good. I guess all the liquor filled me up because I couldn't even finish my linguine! & I can eat a lot. Afterwards we went to Penthouse, my home away from home, & I saw one of the sexy strippers I met before & this time she gave me her #. She lost mine last time. Another girl took such a shine to me she got in trouble with management - she asked me to spank her but apparently we are not allowed to do that. Also she is not supposed to bite me (nicely). I saw this other girl who was so thin & sinuous & delicious I couldn't stop staring at her, but once she danced for me I could tell she had her eyes on the goal & that didn't include fooling around with me. Oh well. I started giving Double Trouble a lapdance & security was a little mad, since they'd already scolded me for doing that for the naughty stripper at her request. We were leaving anyway. Man I really love strip clubs.

I am really tired but I'm going to dance class. I have to look good when I pick up SE at the airport tomorrow... I miss him so much. I can't wait for him to come home.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

fairly quiet weekends

I've been pretty bad about posting, sorry - if anyone's even still reading this. (After sitemeter check: just enough to make every day show up separately.) I spend most of my time with Sexy English Boyfriend, & it seems like when I'm actually at my apartment I'm rushing around trying to get stuff done before meeting him. Last weekend we had a double date with my friend Double Trouble (so called because we have the same first name, are very similar in many respects & have slept together) & her sort-of-boyfriend at Del Posto. Yum! We had the prix-fixe menu in the lounge. The calamari, carpaccio, gnocchi, bucatini, & steak were all fantastic. I was expecting it to be a bit overrated but it was even better than we'd heard. Afterwards we went to SE's friend's art showing at Rebel. It was a little weird for me because he's hooked up with her, although after I saw her & realized she was no competition I was all right. Then we were very spontaneous & went to the midnight showing of Blades of Glory (see review). The rest of the weekend was helping SE get stuff done, as well as the Bloc Party concert Saturday. They were pretty good but I prefer their album since it was a little hard to hear in the hall. I took my friend Fledgling Designer (& SE) out to dinner Sunday night since I missed his birthday while I was in Colombia. We had a great time just the three of us at Meskel, a new Ethiopian place in the East Village. It got a great NY Times review, although I wasn't quite as impressed with it. The injera (bread) is a bit sour for my taste - yes I know, it's supposed to be - so I eventually stopped eating it & just had the meat with a fork. That was good, it just got irritating to eat it inside bread with my fingers.

Wednesday I took SE to one of Fashionista's friend's Soho House dinners. The food was all right, not as good as usual. I used to love snobby places & people but am starting to feel how empty stuff like that is. Everyone name-dropping, trying to prove how cool they are, talking about things most of them couldn't possibly have experienced (something like which vintage of Château d'Yquem is better, come on). I guess I am trying to be a more genuine person & this rings a bit false now. Also, F was being an undermining little snake - we have been really good friends but the more I get to know her & the more I grow up, the less I trust her. My distrust has crystallized lately because of her behavior with SE. On her birthday she was overly flirty & touchy with him when I went to the bathroom, to the point of making me suspicious. She seems to have a crush on him, which is not a problem so much as her evident desire to drive a wedge between us. SE & I have talked about it - she's been known to be jealous of me, but this definitely feels like she wants him. Anyway, that night she made several little snide comments calculated to scare him (wedding jokes) or turn me against him. Oddly enough, though I was insanely jealous of him over silly nothings when we first started dating, now that the threat is somewhat real I'm actually quite calm about it. It probably helps that he doesn't like her & finds her unattractive.

The next night was more fun. We went out with Lovely Blonde & her friend Lovely Asian, who incidentally has the crudest potty mouth I've ever heard. She talked about poo a lot. I was covering my ears but couldn't avoid hearing her description of one that she took a picture of & sent to her friends. She's pretty fun, though, I think because her face is so lovely when she's quiet that you can't help liking her. It was also a great night because SE didn't have work, so we could stay out late. We hit up Room Service & Retreat, my promoter friend's new club, & went home quite drunk.

The next morning we luxuriated in bed for hours. We are such sillies sometimes - for some reason he started telling me a story in a ridiculously plummy BBC announcer voice, about Princess [Renaissance Diva] & her meeting some unicorns & dropping too much acid in her youth. It was so cute of him. I love unicorns & being called princess. The rest of that day was low-key, just us enjoying each other.

Saturday we met up with Most Hated Ex-Boyfriend. I am not sure why I agreed to it; I think I wanted MHEB to eat his heart out that not only am I forever out of his reach, I'm even more desirable than when we dated 3 years ago. He was one of those nasty, much older guys who was using me for sex when I thought we were dating. It went ok - he probably texted hi & "let's get coffee" because he wanted to see if I'd fuck him, & behaved quite politely considering I showed up with boyfriend in tow. I haven't heard a peep from him since, which is just as well. After the surprisingly non-awkward brunch, SE & I went shopping in Soho. Varvatos for him - god he looks yummy in their stuff - & some extremely pornographic Agent Provocateur for me. We got the shirt with all the vinyl straps, a tie-side thong, & the Top Hat 1/4 cup bra & thong set in virginal white lace & pink ribbons. The second he saw me try it on he got hard. :) Later that night we hung out with some of his Brit friends, who are all really nice & cool. I've never met anyone with so many friends I whole-heartedly like & approve of. Everyone in his life is genuine & solid & good people. He inspires me to rethink some of my questionable acquaintances.

Sunday was a leisurely day of watching cricket & Easter dinner with Young Entrepreneur's visiting family & some of our close friends. (YE is his flatmate.) It was wonderful but stressful & depressing for me, in that YE's parents are so much nicer than mine that it made me want to cry. I had to go to SE's room for a bit to calm down. He comforted me, though, & I was able to rejoin the party.

This week was quiet. We went to the GenArt film festival with his friend. The movie, Crashing, was all right, a bit too long but an interesting concept. It's about a successful writer who ends up crashing on these two sexy young coeds' couch & writing about them. The novelty is in the way the movie illustrates the writing process by showing all the fits & starts of his imagination. Threeway with the girls - no, unrealistic - sleeping with them one at a time - getting caught snooping by both - only getting caught by one - etc. The girls were the best part. God they were so hot. The scene where they made out, I was ready to climb on top of SE right there. Izabella Miko & Lizzy Caplan, names to remember. They're good actresses too. Afterwards we had dinner at Patsy's across the street, where we three (me, SE & friend) got along famously. In fact, yesterday SE forwarded me emails from that friend & one I met Saturday, both saying how lovely I am. It was great timing - I'm trying to be more down-to-earth, & it's hard to let go of my defensive party girl persona & be this vulnerable. That they liked the real me was very reassuring.

Thursday I went to some parties with Cute Gay Guy & met this very nice married couple as well. They totally wanted me, as did the other girls at the afterparty, & the most fun part was telling SE about it & watching him get all excited. He loves that other people want me & can't have me. I am such a good girl now! I only kissed the wife a little & didn't let more than 10 minutes go by without mentioning my boyfriend to every guy hitting on me. I must really like SE. Which brings me to exciting news. I met his parents! They're visiting for the weekend from England. We had dinner at 11 Madison Park - fantastic, more on that later - & I think they liked me. I know I loved them. They are such warm, genuine, interesting people. I was very nervous beforehand but it seemed to go well. From what I know of SE's prior conduct with girlfriends I think this introduction means he really likes me.

So, about our amazing dinner... it was great in every way. The service is unobtrusive but always there when needed. All the amuse-bouches were well-timed & delicious - just when we were getting restless & hungry there'd be another yummy little morsel. I had the scallops, gnocchi & beef tenderloin, while SE had the tuna, lobster & lamb, all of which were scrumptious. (I didn't try the parents' dishes.) They weren't huge plates but the absolutely gorgeous, geometric & unhurried presentation somehow was more satisfying than a simple big meal. At the end I had a to-die-for chocolate mille-feuille that I was loath to part with although I shared with everyone. It was unexpectedly wonderful in so many ways.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

please do not spit on the subway

It sounds crazy but it happened today on the 6 train - a guy & a girl got into some kind of dispute, which I noticed when it escalated to yelling. We were at a stop during the whole argument when the guy, already outside the doors, made fun of her do-rag or something. So she stuck her face through the doors & spit at him. He tried to charge back in & continue the argument but it seemed like people blocked him. She cackled, "Haha you wish!" & spit at him again. Fortunately the doors closed & we got moving again before anything else happened. People are crazy.

treo hell

Oh happy day... my Treo unilaterally decided to erase about 7 months of calendar data. Not the oldest things, mind you, but the most recent. It doesn't make any sense because the problem is most likely that I have too many records (6 years' worth), which generally causes the oldest to be deleted. It sucks - I like to write down stuff I do & where it is. So not only do I have no record of what I did since last September, all the addresses & place names I noted so painstakingly are gone. I'll have to go through & replace some of it from posts here. & the worst part is, tech support told me I should purge events every so often to prevent this kind of problem again. But the Palm Desktop software only gives me the option of deleting events older than a week to a month. I guess I have to go through & delete things from 2000 one by one. Damn retarded machines.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

recent movie reviews

I've seen several movies lately: the 300, Last King of Scotland, a Korean horror movie The Host, Blades of Glory, & The Lookout. The 300 was quite awful despite good fight scenes & wonderfully muscled men. Every line is delivered in a portentous manner that makes me want to fast forward, the pause before each one is so long. Xerxes is the prettiest drag queen there ever was, while the rest of the Persian army is apparently made up of ogres & masochistic minions. I did like the Queen, Lena Headey, & King Leonidas, Gerard Butler, mainly because they're gorgeous & a little more convincing than the rest of the cast. Maybe it was unintentional, but the whole movie felt like a heavy-handed attempt to moralize about how much better being Spartan & disciplined is than decadent & gay (apparently) like Persia. It felt reactionary as well as inaccurate - the Puritans trying to keep out the Romans, so to speak. & they really should have kept calling the battle place Thermopylae. The Hot Gates just sounds stupid & makes it even more of a farce.

Last King of Scotland was disturbing & thought-provoking. I quite liked the young Scottish doctor, & it was fascinating to watch him start working for Idi Amin without meaning to. I liked how the film showed Amin slowly spiraling into paranoia & madness. There are some brutal torture scenes towards the end, which I didn't enjoy as much as one would expect. I'm not sure about the historical accuracy - the end feels a little pat, but overall it was a really good movie & made me think about how easy it is to lose touch with reality when you are on top.

The Host has to be the saddest horror movie I've ever seen. I lost track of how many times everything looked like it would work out but then didn't, usually in a really upsetting, heart-wrenching way. It's also frightening, mainly because I was always being startled by the monster or unexpected things. Basically the monster is the product of mutation due to chemicals being dumped in the Han River (I think that's in Seoul). It kind of looks like a dinosaur - very big & powerful on land as well as in the water. One day it comes out of the river & starts snacking on people. Soon we see that it's taking some of them back to a concrete hole somewhere in the sewer system. The government tries to contain all the people who've come into contact with the monster, thinking it's spreading a virus. This is a problem for one family, because their little girl is in the secret lair & no one believes them, so they need to go rescue her. That was a very upsetting part of the movie - the way the bureaucracy was absolutely pig-headed & wouldn't listen to anything, & there was a lot of unnecessary pain as a result. There's a lot of action - sometimes the movie's a bit silly, but it seems intentional, like they were poking fun at themselves & the horror genre. I really liked it.

Blades of Glory was probably the funniest movie I've seen this year. It's very silly, but the plot is actually kind of clever, especially the way they justify having Jon Heder & Will Ferrell skate together. Will Arnett & Amy Poehler are great as the villains in the piece, & Pam from The Office is their sister & Jon Heder's love interest. There are so many lines that were roll-on-the-floor funny - I think my favorite was when Heder says nighttime is dark for everyone, & Ferrell retorts, "Not for people who live in Alaska. Or people with night-vision goggles." Maybe it's the crazy way he says it. He's fantastic at every permutation of his character - arrogant bad boy, disillusioned drunk, annoying fat asshole, & finally older wiser bad boy. The two of them play off each other really well - the movie just effortlessly brings you into its world because everything works so seamlessly. Definitely go see this one.

The Lookout was also thought-provoking, partly because of the issues it raises & also all the loose ends it doesn't tie up. Usually every little detail that a movie focuses on comes to be important in the end, but not here. It seemed more like life that way, so I liked it. The lookout is a young guy who crashed his car after the high school prom, sustaining severe head injuries & killing 2 friends in the process. Because of the head injuries he has difficulty remembering things & frequently can't control his impulses. He falls in with a bad crowd, partly because of a girl (Isla Fischer, the crazy sister from Wedding Crashers) who seems to have been instructed to seduce him, & is swept up in their plans to rob the bank he works at. It was a little scary watching him keep making the wrong choice & get sucked into evil - it seemed so ordinary, like something that could happen to anyone. I recommend this one too.