I've been terribly remiss with posts & I apologize. But if you knew how topsy-turvy my life has been... Sexy Englishman & I broke up in May. It was absolutely devastating for the first two weeks, but I'm still here. It helped that I started dating the next day. Although lately it seems that he's been regretting his stupid decision. [Fingers crossed, everybody.] More importantly, I went to a 6-week theatre acting intensive and I learned so much. It was crazy! I haven't slept properly in about four months because first I was too busy dating & going out (oh so much partying), then insanely busy learning scenes. We all did at least 6 scenes in 5 weeks. It was so intense my photographic memory came back, probably in solidarity with the rest of me. Plus, I never thought I could do theatre besides musicals but now I want to try.
School was like therapy, boot camp and social awareness training all rolled into one. As an actor you can't be detached from your life - you have to go honestly with the truth of the moment. I had to stop distancing myself from what goes on around me. Which meant that I ended up crying almost every time I got up in class. It was worth it - I kind of knew I was sitting back, watching my life go by, but this smacked me in the face with that fact and stopped me. I also have a hard time allowing myself to express my feelings, because I'm afraid of how intense I can be, & I had to learn that it's ok to scream & throw shit & cry & do whatever short of physically hurting the other person. I found it incredibly difficult to stop controlling my emotions all the time, so I wasn't very good until my last scene. My partner & I were so good, the teacher just tweaked our scene a bit, let us do it again & said, "Thank you. That was fantastic. You've inspired me to greatness. Next!" No one in our classes had ever finished a scene that quickly. I was walking on air the rest of the day.
I'm working at Giant Multinational Corporation again for a while. It sucks because I desperately needed a rest after school but I had to start the Tuesday after it ended. Money is money though. Business at the dungeon is nearly nonexistent anyway, after the police closed two places. I'm going to try to update more often... wish me luck with auditions & boys!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
busy busy bee
A ton of stuff has happened since December. I quit my hostess job at Swanky Uptown Restaurant after a month of stress; I moved about 80 blocks south; I started sessioning at a new dungeon; & I am now into snowboarding. SUR sucked. I liked the food & most of the other employees but the managers were terrible. I stuck it out through xmas, since I said I'd work, so they took advantage & had me closing xmas eve, xmas day & the day after. Plus they made it so difficult to get my hard-earned money I almost wanted to give up & not bother anymore. At my new dungeon, on the other hand, everyone is sweet & doesn't give me any problems. No one yells or orders me around & the head mistress has shown me some new stuff. I never used a hoist or electrical equipment before & now I know how to. Plus we changed my name to a much better one.
My new apartment is great, it's like a little home. I had a housewarming party a month ago & it's pretty much all set up. Things are going well with Sexy Englishman, although he's still scared of the moving-in-together conversation, & we just celebrated our first anniversary together. It was my birthday a week before that, for which he took me to River Cafe (omigod so good) & threw me a party at Pacha (lots of fun & girl kisses). We're leaving for Vegas tonight - I'm sitting in my cozy new home watching the lovely white snow fall outside, & right now I am very happy. Have a great weekend everybody! (& I promise I will catch up on posting). :)
My new apartment is great, it's like a little home. I had a housewarming party a month ago & it's pretty much all set up. Things are going well with Sexy Englishman, although he's still scared of the moving-in-together conversation, & we just celebrated our first anniversary together. It was my birthday a week before that, for which he took me to River Cafe (omigod so good) & threw me a party at Pacha (lots of fun & girl kisses). We're leaving for Vegas tonight - I'm sitting in my cozy new home watching the lovely white snow fall outside, & right now I am very happy. Have a great weekend everybody! (& I promise I will catch up on posting). :)
Thursday, December 06, 2007
No Country for Old Men
I just got a new job as a hostess at Swanky Uptown Restaurant so I'm pretty busy nowadays. (Yes, I know I could do much better things with my degrees, blah blah thanks a lot for the support Mom. Also, where are my damn footslaves when I need them? 7 hours every other day of standing on hard wooden floors is really painful.) Sexy Englishman & I managed to fit in the movie on Monday, though. I like torture movies & lots of killing but this movie is ridiculous. Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh is clearly an absolute psychopath. Not to mention his crazy-ass Beatle haircut, possibly the worst hair I've ever seen (including on real people). He does an amazing job of portraying someone on a completely different wavelength from the rest of us, who enjoys killing just for the hell of it. He leaves almost no one in his path un-butchered. The emptiness in his eyes is almost as horrifying as his favorite, though not only, murder method. He carries around a pneumatic cattle air gun which shoots a bolt several inches forward before retracting. So when he puts it on someone's forehead, it's like shooting them in the head without the messy backsplatter or ear-shattering noise. It's awful.
At first, I thought Llewelyn Moss was an asshole for robbing dead bodies of their guns & suitcase of money. But as he tried his damnedest to get away from the pursuing Chigurh, I found myself cheering for him. Tommy Lee Jones is laconic as the sheriff on whose territory most of the murders happen, & Woody Harrelson has a nice little cameo as an assassin. I thought Mrs. Moss was hilarious, almost a caricature of a redneck wife, but she became sympathetic by the end too.
Do not, I repeat DO NOT, see this movie if you're sensitive to blood or murder. I kept squeaking in fright & so did our other friend. She was so scared she spilled a giant soft drink on her boyfriend right at the beginning. (It starts with a pneumatic air gun murder.) I had to hide my eyes at a couple parts & even though I liked the movie overall, it was incredibly grisly. If you can stomach all that, it's a really good movie. It made me think about what money can make people do & how easy it is to start sliding down that slippery slope.
At first, I thought Llewelyn Moss was an asshole for robbing dead bodies of their guns & suitcase of money. But as he tried his damnedest to get away from the pursuing Chigurh, I found myself cheering for him. Tommy Lee Jones is laconic as the sheriff on whose territory most of the murders happen, & Woody Harrelson has a nice little cameo as an assassin. I thought Mrs. Moss was hilarious, almost a caricature of a redneck wife, but she became sympathetic by the end too.
Do not, I repeat DO NOT, see this movie if you're sensitive to blood or murder. I kept squeaking in fright & so did our other friend. She was so scared she spilled a giant soft drink on her boyfriend right at the beginning. (It starts with a pneumatic air gun murder.) I had to hide my eyes at a couple parts & even though I liked the movie overall, it was incredibly grisly. If you can stomach all that, it's a really good movie. It made me think about what money can make people do & how easy it is to start sliding down that slippery slope.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Avery Fisher concert
I went to the 11/10 concert, which was rather disappointing. The first piece was some weird Chinese modernist thing, which frankly just sounded noisy. I wanted to like it - supporting my sort-of countrymen & all - but I didn't. Gimmicky orchestral stuff isn't my thing. The young composer is quite handsome though. I was excited about Vadim Repin playing the Lalo Symphonie Espagnole, one of the staples of the solo violin repertoire, and yet again disappointed. He was out of tune a lot. At first I blamed it on nerves, but as it kept happening I couldn't figure out a good excuse for him. Also, he was wearing some kind of weird Nehru jacket & suede shoes that made him look as though he was playing in his pajamas & socks.
The only unqualifiedly good thing about the program was Beethoven's Seventh. I recognized a lot of the melodies, which had been floating around in my head unattached to any particular work. Yes, I was a typical diva violinist, only paying attention to concertmaster solos & the violin repertoire. I also pretty much stopped listening to classical music after I got out from under my mother's thumb 7 years ago so whatever I did know about orchestral music got jumbled up or forgotten.
I liked the whole experience of going to the concert though. It felt very grown-up & cultured; dressing up, having champagne beforehand, reading the program notes, etc. We used to go to concerts almost every week when I was growing up. I hadn't been to a New York Philharmonic concert since I moved here several years ago, & the only times I'd been in Carnegie Hall or Avery Fisher were when I was playing. Fortunately Sexy Englishman quite liked it as well, so we'll probably go to another one.
Sadly, I can't say as much for the ballet. A few months ago I begged him to take me to Sleeping Beauty, which was much more old-fashioned than I expected, with lots of solos & irrelevant (though beautiful) parts, & he hated it. He refuses to go to the Balanchine retrospective thingy they're putting on soon. I keep explaining that it was choreographed at least 100 years later but he won't listen. Maybe my lovely friend Dancer wants to go...
The only unqualifiedly good thing about the program was Beethoven's Seventh. I recognized a lot of the melodies, which had been floating around in my head unattached to any particular work. Yes, I was a typical diva violinist, only paying attention to concertmaster solos & the violin repertoire. I also pretty much stopped listening to classical music after I got out from under my mother's thumb 7 years ago so whatever I did know about orchestral music got jumbled up or forgotten.
I liked the whole experience of going to the concert though. It felt very grown-up & cultured; dressing up, having champagne beforehand, reading the program notes, etc. We used to go to concerts almost every week when I was growing up. I hadn't been to a New York Philharmonic concert since I moved here several years ago, & the only times I'd been in Carnegie Hall or Avery Fisher were when I was playing. Fortunately Sexy Englishman quite liked it as well, so we'll probably go to another one.
Sadly, I can't say as much for the ballet. A few months ago I begged him to take me to Sleeping Beauty, which was much more old-fashioned than I expected, with lots of solos & irrelevant (though beautiful) parts, & he hated it. He refuses to go to the Balanchine retrospective thingy they're putting on soon. I keep explaining that it was choreographed at least 100 years later but he won't listen. Maybe my lovely friend Dancer wants to go...
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
trivia master
You know those Delta ads that say something like "Change is: being crowned cross-country trivia champion"? That's me! Delta sucks, but now that I kicked ass from Atlanta to the Bahamas I like them a bit more. (Yes, I know that is not technically cross-country.) Poor Sexy Englishman was overjoyed at beating me by a hair in the first game but I dominated the following 5. I also had the highest score for the entire flight. On a more serious note, Hurricane Noel screwed up our flight on Thursday & I have to say Delta was pretty on the ball about calling us & rebooking us on the next flight out. This is just one plus in their favor though - they've been completely shitty up until now.
This past President's Day weekend, when I flew to Colombia, people trying to check in were forced to stand in the bitter cold outside the terminal because the lines were so long & the staff couldn't figure out how to process people in a non-snail-like manner. They resorted to basically just calling the next flight & taking care of people haphazardly while delaying flights until they'd checked everyone in. Plus, since I was flying JFK to Atlanta to Bogotá, I got in the international line & 2 hours later was told I should have been in domestic. Which makes no sense, because my bags & I were going internationally, & it turned out that cretin was wrong anyway. I swore then I would never fly Delta again but, you know, sometimes one has to save money. I also don't like their weird PR campaign with the new Delta Sky Lounge bar in NYC (I'm not kidding, it's on 57th & 6th), making up new cocktails (!) & thinking that people want not-free movies & TV instead of decent service. All the money they've wasted on that crap, they could have put into improving existing services. I don't need a fancy Rande Gerber cocktail. I want some damn food when I'm sitting in first class from the Bahamas to NYC for 3 hours. Little cracker & cookie packs do not count. I want the flight to leave on time; I don't want a $5 movie on the tiny screen.
There is just no reason American airlines can't get their act together. We had better service & food in Africa than anywhere I've flown in the States. I really think the government bailing the airlines out every time they're about to go bankrupt is unwise. Some of them are bloated, inefficient & need to fail. I don't see why airlines should get special treatment when most other companies are allowed to stand & fall on their own merits. It's been shown over & over that competition is the best way to serve consumers, & it's about time we had some.
This past President's Day weekend, when I flew to Colombia, people trying to check in were forced to stand in the bitter cold outside the terminal because the lines were so long & the staff couldn't figure out how to process people in a non-snail-like manner. They resorted to basically just calling the next flight & taking care of people haphazardly while delaying flights until they'd checked everyone in. Plus, since I was flying JFK to Atlanta to Bogotá, I got in the international line & 2 hours later was told I should have been in domestic. Which makes no sense, because my bags & I were going internationally, & it turned out that cretin was wrong anyway. I swore then I would never fly Delta again but, you know, sometimes one has to save money. I also don't like their weird PR campaign with the new Delta Sky Lounge bar in NYC (I'm not kidding, it's on 57th & 6th), making up new cocktails (!) & thinking that people want not-free movies & TV instead of decent service. All the money they've wasted on that crap, they could have put into improving existing services. I don't need a fancy Rande Gerber cocktail. I want some damn food when I'm sitting in first class from the Bahamas to NYC for 3 hours. Little cracker & cookie packs do not count. I want the flight to leave on time; I don't want a $5 movie on the tiny screen.
There is just no reason American airlines can't get their act together. We had better service & food in Africa than anywhere I've flown in the States. I really think the government bailing the airlines out every time they're about to go bankrupt is unwise. Some of them are bloated, inefficient & need to fail. I don't see why airlines should get special treatment when most other companies are allowed to stand & fall on their own merits. It's been shown over & over that competition is the best way to serve consumers, & it's about time we had some.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
off again
The Halloween party was an epic success - so much so that Sexy Englishman & his housemates are no longer allowed to throw parties with more than about 20 people. We had 200 people show up! It was awesome. & one of our favorite people in the whole world made a surprise visit from London... I was furious at not being told beforehand but so so happy to see him. I couldn't decide whether to whip him or hug him. SE & I, along with Cute Gay Guy & a couple other people, partied through to Sunday morning & then started cleaning up. This was our "bar" at that point.
We had such a great time we're not even going out for Halloween tonight. Plus, we're flying out to the Bahamas tomorrow for his college friend's wedding, & we have to look nice for the über-posh people there. It's going to be at Lyford Cay. The dress code is 4 pages long, I am not kidding. They are so crazy, for breakfast they say that men don't have to wear panama hats but it's encouraged. I'm excited to wear my new dress from Selfridges though!!
We had such a great time we're not even going out for Halloween tonight. Plus, we're flying out to the Bahamas tomorrow for his college friend's wedding, & we have to look nice for the über-posh people there. It's going to be at Lyford Cay. The dress code is 4 pages long, I am not kidding. They are so crazy, for breakfast they say that men don't have to wear panama hats but it's encouraged. I'm excited to wear my new dress from Selfridges though!!
Friday, October 26, 2007
hanzoswords.com sucks ass
I decided to be Go Go from Kill Bill for Halloween, since I already have a slutty schoolgirl outfit & they have a ball & chain at the dungeon where I rent. I bought a mini samurai sword online from hanzoswords.com, because she had one & I always wanted a sword. It was $11 + $11 shipping so I was pretty happy. When it arrived, though it looked good, it couldn't be opened. I tried for a couple days but it was jammed. I left a voicemail for them, which wasn't returned, & then emailed. They replied in a few hours, telling me to get another person & try to open the sword that way. I thought that was kind of stupid, because if I can't open it on my own, regardless of my strength, the sword is useless. Who wants a prop sword they can't even pull out of the scabbard? & if I open it once with someone else, it's still inoperable all the other times. Anyhow, I told them I wanted a replacement by Saturday at the latest. This was Tuesday night. Sexy Englishman, his housemates & I are throwing a huge Halloween party on Saturday so I need it by then. They email back that it's no problem, they can do that. I ask again to confirm that they can guarantee it will get here by Saturday. They say yes, they just need a tracking # for the one I have when I send it back by 6:30 pm eastern time Wednesday.
On Wednesday, I take care of it by 3:30 for $20 because that's the cheapest way I can get a tracking #. I don't know much about shipping so I sigh & say, fine whatever send it FedEx as long as I get it out on time, just do the least expensive way. I email the site. No answer. I email again at 6:30 to make sure they got the first email, because I want that sword in the mail tonight. I get a reply at 9:30 saying "Oh sorry, didn't have time to check mail before I went to the post office this afternoon, we will have to send it express tomorrow (Thursday) & that will cost about $20, but we'll reimburse today's shipping costs since it was our mistake." I said fine just send it to SE's apartment because I won't be home much the next few days. I comment that they must have a great deal with the post office because it took me that much to send to them, & the unfriendly reply is "Oh. No. I did not ask you to send it express. 2 lbs should have been $7. I will only give you that much." I'm already pissed off at this person for not checking her email in time to send the thing out earlier, which is costing them more & entirely their fault. I don't know anything about parcels, the corner shipping store told me what they could do & $20 was my lowest option if I wanted the tracking # hanzoswords demanded.
I feel that I've been quite reasonable & clear up to this point. They send me a defective sword - I ask nicely for a new one. I said I wanted a new sword only if they guaranteed delivery by Saturday - they said yes. I shell out $20 without complaint & email the tracking # as requested, twice before the deadline - they mess that up, won't reimburse most of the shipping & act like I'm the one in the wrong. I email SE's address twice for them to send to - & today I come home to a notice from the US Postal Service saying "Sorry we missed you! You have an express mail package." TWICE I told her the address. I understand that they're busy for Halloween, but this was very simple & they fucked up repeatedly. This means I have to come back to my post office, among the myriad things we need to do to get SE's apartment ready for 300 partygoers, to pick up the damn sword that should have been ready two weeks ago. Fuckwits is a word that comes to mind.
Update: customer [dis]service tried to argue with me over email about this. I told them I wanted someone to call me last week since no one ever returned my voicemail. They said there was nothing to discuss, please pay the bill for shipping, we did everything we could. I explained succinctly & politely why that was not the case & got another dimwitted "please pay the bill, thanks for your business" message. I said I didn't want to keep going back & forth over email & to please call me. All I've gotten since Monday is PayPal reminders, which apparently they send out 3 at a time. Keep digging the hole deeper, dummies...
Update in March 2008: hanzoswords found this post & commented on their side of the story at length, but they used my name so I had to delete it. I told them they were welcome to re-post if they took out my name. It seems like they still don't quite understand what happened, but they canceled the PayPal bill for the shipping & at least made the effort to apologize to me, so maybe it's just their one employee who is messing things up.
On Wednesday, I take care of it by 3:30 for $20 because that's the cheapest way I can get a tracking #. I don't know much about shipping so I sigh & say, fine whatever send it FedEx as long as I get it out on time, just do the least expensive way. I email the site. No answer. I email again at 6:30 to make sure they got the first email, because I want that sword in the mail tonight. I get a reply at 9:30 saying "Oh sorry, didn't have time to check mail before I went to the post office this afternoon, we will have to send it express tomorrow (Thursday) & that will cost about $20, but we'll reimburse today's shipping costs since it was our mistake." I said fine just send it to SE's apartment because I won't be home much the next few days. I comment that they must have a great deal with the post office because it took me that much to send to them, & the unfriendly reply is "Oh. No. I did not ask you to send it express. 2 lbs should have been $7. I will only give you that much." I'm already pissed off at this person for not checking her email in time to send the thing out earlier, which is costing them more & entirely their fault. I don't know anything about parcels, the corner shipping store told me what they could do & $20 was my lowest option if I wanted the tracking # hanzoswords demanded.
I feel that I've been quite reasonable & clear up to this point. They send me a defective sword - I ask nicely for a new one. I said I wanted a new sword only if they guaranteed delivery by Saturday - they said yes. I shell out $20 without complaint & email the tracking # as requested, twice before the deadline - they mess that up, won't reimburse most of the shipping & act like I'm the one in the wrong. I email SE's address twice for them to send to - & today I come home to a notice from the US Postal Service saying "Sorry we missed you! You have an express mail package." TWICE I told her the address. I understand that they're busy for Halloween, but this was very simple & they fucked up repeatedly. This means I have to come back to my post office, among the myriad things we need to do to get SE's apartment ready for 300 partygoers, to pick up the damn sword that should have been ready two weeks ago. Fuckwits is a word that comes to mind.
Update: customer [dis]service tried to argue with me over email about this. I told them I wanted someone to call me last week since no one ever returned my voicemail. They said there was nothing to discuss, please pay the bill for shipping, we did everything we could. I explained succinctly & politely why that was not the case & got another dimwitted "please pay the bill, thanks for your business" message. I said I didn't want to keep going back & forth over email & to please call me. All I've gotten since Monday is PayPal reminders, which apparently they send out 3 at a time. Keep digging the hole deeper, dummies...
Update in March 2008: hanzoswords found this post & commented on their side of the story at length, but they used my name so I had to delete it. I told them they were welcome to re-post if they took out my name. It seems like they still don't quite understand what happened, but they canceled the PayPal bill for the shipping & at least made the effort to apologize to me, so maybe it's just their one employee who is messing things up.
Monday, October 15, 2007
if you don't know what kind of asian I am...
don't fucking call me kim chee, idiot. Or say konichiwa or ni hao. (a) You're almost certain to guess wrong, (b) you know you can't possibly be saying it right, (c) that makes me want to talk to you even less & most importantly (d) that's not my damn name. Assholes.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
yay for boots!
Finally it is cold enough to wear boots again. I missed my beautiful black leather. Plus, since it's raining, it is a practical decision as well. Now, what to wear on top...
In other news, I finished the project at Giant Multinational Corporation so I no longer need to commute to yucky Jersey every day for work. It was 1.5 hours each way! Which comprised 3 trains & about 30 minutes of walking. Planning to cocktail &/or bartend, preferably the latter, though I need to learn how. Can you believe I could get paid more as a cocktail waitress than a lawyer?!?! I've been enjoying sleeping & going to the gym this week.
& most exciting of all, I cooked dinner for Sexy Englishman last night! I can follow a recipe fairly well but I pretty much use my kitchen to store books, boil ramen, or throw 10 things in a pot & call it soup. We go out to dinner 5 or 6 nights a week so it's not like I need to ever put on an apron. I wanted to show him how much I love & appreciate what a wonderful boyfriend he is, & was hankering for some shrimp fra diavolo, so I decided to make it & surprise him. It turned into shrimp & scallops fra diavolo with the help of about 7 internet recipes put together. I bought supplies at Citarella - if you live near one, it is so awesome for getting fresh everything - & went over to his place & plunged in. I have never made pasta that wasn't just boiled noodles with sauce on top so this was new to me. I had to peel & de-vein the shrimp myself, sauté them & the scallops while boiling the pasta, & then toss them all together. Fortunately I didn't try to make the sauce myself (thank you Rao's). SE was surprised & happy when he came home - he said it was very yummy. Next time I will boil the pasta & sauté everything less though. I underestimated how quickly seafood cooks. But overall, yay for my first proper attempt at cooking!
In other news, I finished the project at Giant Multinational Corporation so I no longer need to commute to yucky Jersey every day for work. It was 1.5 hours each way! Which comprised 3 trains & about 30 minutes of walking. Planning to cocktail &/or bartend, preferably the latter, though I need to learn how. Can you believe I could get paid more as a cocktail waitress than a lawyer?!?! I've been enjoying sleeping & going to the gym this week.
& most exciting of all, I cooked dinner for Sexy Englishman last night! I can follow a recipe fairly well but I pretty much use my kitchen to store books, boil ramen, or throw 10 things in a pot & call it soup. We go out to dinner 5 or 6 nights a week so it's not like I need to ever put on an apron. I wanted to show him how much I love & appreciate what a wonderful boyfriend he is, & was hankering for some shrimp fra diavolo, so I decided to make it & surprise him. It turned into shrimp & scallops fra diavolo with the help of about 7 internet recipes put together. I bought supplies at Citarella - if you live near one, it is so awesome for getting fresh everything - & went over to his place & plunged in. I have never made pasta that wasn't just boiled noodles with sauce on top so this was new to me. I had to peel & de-vein the shrimp myself, sauté them & the scallops while boiling the pasta, & then toss them all together. Fortunately I didn't try to make the sauce myself (thank you Rao's). SE was surprised & happy when he came home - he said it was very yummy. Next time I will boil the pasta & sauté everything less though. I underestimated how quickly seafood cooks. But overall, yay for my first proper attempt at cooking!
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Halo 3
My name is [RD], & I can't play Halo for shit. I can't play anything after Super Nintendo actually. I tried to play Gears of War with Sexy Englishman the other weekend, & thought I sucked because we were coming down from a marathon afterparty, but this past weekend I tried the new Halo & couldn't even get my guy to look at the right eye level, let alone direction. I spent most of the time looking for my team! I even got lost trying to find them. I was doing one of my inadvertent whirl-around-with-head-thrown-back exercises when I fell off a small cliff & got completely disoriented. I really want to learn how to play but SE & his housemate Young Entrepreneur are too good at it & I'm a complete beginner, so I guess I'll have to wait until they beat the game & then maybe they can teach me. I always thought of myself as a bit of tomboy who was pretty good at boy games so now I'm sad. You'd think all the years of violin would make my hand-eye coordination good but apparently not in this case.
Friday, September 28, 2007
I heart Roald Dahl
When I was little (& even now) Roald Dahl was one of my favorite authors. In honor of his birthday on September 13, Google made a special logo, how cute is that? If you haven't had the pleasure of acquaintance with his books you should go read them now. They're still awesome to me, 20 years later.
Monday, September 24, 2007
yet another trip
Sexy Englishman & I just got back from a week in London & Malta. I spent a lot of time wandering around London by myself, since SE had to work, & managed to only get lost a few times with the help of Google maps on my BlackBerry, a London map book & a Tube map. I have no sense of direction so it's pretty difficult navigating by myself. But after several days of doing it, I'm much better. We flew out Wednesday night, arriving early Thursday morning. SE went to work & I set off in search of Wagamama after a very long nap. I found the Kensington one after getting turned around a few times. My feeling of accomplishment quickly evaporated when I tried to get to Gaucho Grill (in Broadgate) to meet SE & some of his friends. He told me to take the Central Line from Bayswater to Liverpool St. Station. He should have said Lancaster Gate, & unfortunately I hadn't ever taken the Tube on my own at that point so I didn't know anything about it. After walking a long time in pretty but painful heels, I found Bayswater. When I told people where I was headed they directed me to the Circle Line, which also goes to Liverpool St. but is much slower. Are you confused yet? My BlackBerry had decided to stop recognizing the Vodaphone network, so I couldn't even get in touch with SE. One of his emails got through though, & he told me to hop in a cab. £20 ($40) later, I finally arrived. Fortunately, the steak was good, & SE's friends teased him until he apologized for giving me bad & un-detailed directions, so I cheered up.
Friday went better. I found a Ping Pong for dim sum & was fairly impressed. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the British Museum. I tried to go to the First Emperor Terracotta Soldier exhibit - supporting my peeps, you know - but it was sold out for the day & it cost £12 ($24) so I wasn't really sure I wanted to go. I had fun wandering around more thoroughly this time. I saw the other Egyptian rooms, the rest of the Asian rooms, the slavery photographs, Greek pottery, Assyrian jewelry, etc... that museum is ridiculously huge. This time I wore sensible sneakers but 3 hours of walking & learning all by myself was exhausting. Afterwards I sat in Hyde Park for a little while until I had to meet SE to go to the wedding in Malta.
We took the express train to Gatwick but couldn't find our flight. This turned out to be because it was at Heathrow, 40 miles away. With 1.5 hours to go, we managed to snag a cab for £81 ($162!!) & actually made it in 35 minutes. Despite some issues carrying on my violin & the tennis rackets, we got on board ok. Nerve-racking though. We had lunch with SE's parents Saturday before playing some lousy tennis. We both used to be pretty good but it's been a while. & serving is so much harder than it looks. We stopped after a very sweaty hour & I got ready super fast (for me) in an evening gown I first wore at age 18. Amazingly, it fits. Not sure how that can be - perhaps my dress follows its own laws of physics, as I'm still trying to lose the inches I gained in Africa.
SE's childhood friend was the groom, & the bride was Maltese. The Catholic ceremony at the church of St. Patrick in Sliema was beautiful. The standing wasn't great, nor the "lamb of God" stuff or the music but the bride & groom were obviously glowing with happiness & I love that part where they ask, "Do you take this woman, in sickness & in health," etc. I cried a bit. Plus now I know I definitely don't want to get married in a church & SE agrees completely. I just want to say that part of the rite. There was a lovely cream-colored Rolls Royce waiting for the newlyweds afterward, & we all trooped back to the hotel for the open bar portion of the night. I had way too many cocktails & glasses of champagne while trying to look sober for SE's parents. After they went upstairs SE & I tried out our new moves from ballroom dance class & got a little rambunctious - I ended up in the pool! We went to bed soon after that & couldn't drag ourselves out of bed until about 1:30 the next afternoon, & that was only because we had to leave for the airport around 2:45. We flew back to London without incident.
We'd stayed in the Queensway Hotel initially, but I wanted to switch so we booked the Rose Court for the second part of our London stay. Not good. We moved to the Edward Lear hotel on Seymour St. the next day, which was much better & whimsical besides. Lear was a nature illustrator & nonsense poet, most famous for "The Owl & the Pussycat." The whole place was being renovated & our room was absolutely charming. Everything was so cute & cozy I really wished I could stay longer just for that. Although it is much easier to delight in coziness when you just have 2 suitcases of stuff. The staff at the Lear are very friendly, it's in a great location (Marble Arch) & a double room with bathroom is under £100 even in the high season. It's a really good deal, I definitely recommend the place.
I'm impressed with the food in London. This time was very Indian-intensive - I ended up "having a curry" 4 days in a row. That just means eating Indian, not necessarily curry per se. Sunday night we went to La Porte des Indes. It's much bigger than it looks from outside. The cuisine is supposed to be French-influenced authentic from the Pondicherry region. We did the tasting menu & were blown away. It was almost as good as the Mughal Room in Cairo. The service was unobtrusive & excellent, while the space managed to be inviting despite its size, & I got an orchid sprig when we left. (They do that for all the ladies.) It was still alive when I flew home Wednesday; really wish I could've brought it home.
Monday I made a pilgrimage to Brick Lane after visiting the Old Spitalfields Market. At Famous Curry House I had an actual curry, which was quite small, so when I saw the 2007 Best Chef place Papadoms, I decided to try it too. Both were good; Papadoms was definitely better though. The chicken jalfrezi there was scrumptious. Later, when SE got home from work, we checked out Crazy Bear in Fitzrovia. It was a Thai fusion place recommended in some little guide I picked up in Heathrow. The drinks were fantastic & so was the food. It was a bit of an odd crowd in our section - I swear one couple was an oldish Thai escort & her long-term john - but we had a great time. The bathrooms alone are worth the trip. In fact, it's like being on a trip when you go inside. The room is hidden, first of all; you just push one of the wood panels in the hallway. Then you're inside a completely mirrored room. The only reason I found a stall was because those doors had knobs. The sink is a trough affair where you can reach across to the men's bathroom under the mirror. Very cool, though I bet a lot of inebriated customers get lost in there. Tuesday we had dinner with one of SE's friends at Bombay Palace in Westminster, which was also great. (Thanks to Google, now I know they have one here in NYC as well. Yay!) The boys got chicken murgh tikka, basically equivalent to tikka masala, & I got the chicken kohlapuri. Yummy yummy. So now after 2 very satisfying trips, I can confidently say that the restaurant scene in London is nothing for a New Yorker to sneeze at. The only drawback is the expense. Everything's pretty much the same price as here, except the price is in pounds so it's really double.
Since SE worked every weekday, I had to amuse myself a lot. I tried to avoid the department store Selfridges, because I have to be a bit sensible with money, but he insisted that it was really cool & I should look around. It was indeed really cool. I discovered my new favorite goth/domme jewelry brand, Chrome Hearts. I desperately wanted to buy something, but there were no price tags on the jewelry. So I astutely inferred from a tank top price tag of £100 that everything would be out of my reach. It's ok. One day. I wandered on, into the contemporary area, where I was waylaid by the prettiest dress ever. It was cream silk with black lace & embroidery flowers - I had to buy it. It was £90 ($180), not too bad. I got vinyl round-toed pumps for £40 & sexy buckled black leather gloves for £22. At which point I realized I had better leave before my wallet took another hit. The Old Spitalfields area was not very interesting since it's basically just a lot of semi-expensive yuppie shops now, but some of the restaurants looked cool. There was one store, Fairy Goth Mother, which had amazing corsets & goth/fetish-y clothes. I ended up buying a very pretty skirt there for only £20.
Tuesday was sightseeing instead of shopping. I started with the London Eye, which is quite expensive (£15) but a breathtaking view of a beautiful city. I always forget how much bigger London is than NYC. A nice English couple on the ride answered all my "What's that building?" questions - I think my favorite was Charing Cross Station. Afterward I made my way to the Sherlock Holmes Museum. Definitely not worth the £6. It's not even interesting to see Baker St., since it doesn't look Victorian anymore at all. The top floor of 221B was an extremely creepy wax museum of scenes from the stories. They were bad, but lifelike enough to make me reluctant to put more than my head close to any of them. My next stop, the Dickens Museum, was much better. It's in one of his actual houses at 48 Doughty St., & has a lot of paintings of him or people in his life, as well as some manuscripts, first editions & other Dickensiana. I loved his books as a child & I rediscovered how much fun his books are with Martin Chuzzlewit recently. Sure, the happy endings are always a bit too neat, but the journey there is always a great ride & it's so nice when things finally work out.
I really like London. SE has said several times that he'd like to live there part of the time in the future, & I think I'd be on board with that. They have got to sort out airport security though, that is a real pain in the ass. I hope in a few years planes will be flying faster as well. My flight turned out to be 7.5 hours of screaming &/or chair kicking from the little brat behind me. I love kids, but damn. I restrained from doing more than turning around to glare at her useless mother periodically. I figured if we started talking about it I'd get more pissed & the kid would get upset, which would be counterproductive. Anyhow, as much as I like London, it's good to be home.
Friday went better. I found a Ping Pong for dim sum & was fairly impressed. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the British Museum. I tried to go to the First Emperor Terracotta Soldier exhibit - supporting my peeps, you know - but it was sold out for the day & it cost £12 ($24) so I wasn't really sure I wanted to go. I had fun wandering around more thoroughly this time. I saw the other Egyptian rooms, the rest of the Asian rooms, the slavery photographs, Greek pottery, Assyrian jewelry, etc... that museum is ridiculously huge. This time I wore sensible sneakers but 3 hours of walking & learning all by myself was exhausting. Afterwards I sat in Hyde Park for a little while until I had to meet SE to go to the wedding in Malta.
We took the express train to Gatwick but couldn't find our flight. This turned out to be because it was at Heathrow, 40 miles away. With 1.5 hours to go, we managed to snag a cab for £81 ($162!!) & actually made it in 35 minutes. Despite some issues carrying on my violin & the tennis rackets, we got on board ok. Nerve-racking though. We had lunch with SE's parents Saturday before playing some lousy tennis. We both used to be pretty good but it's been a while. & serving is so much harder than it looks. We stopped after a very sweaty hour & I got ready super fast (for me) in an evening gown I first wore at age 18. Amazingly, it fits. Not sure how that can be - perhaps my dress follows its own laws of physics, as I'm still trying to lose the inches I gained in Africa.
SE's childhood friend was the groom, & the bride was Maltese. The Catholic ceremony at the church of St. Patrick in Sliema was beautiful. The standing wasn't great, nor the "lamb of God" stuff or the music but the bride & groom were obviously glowing with happiness & I love that part where they ask, "Do you take this woman, in sickness & in health," etc. I cried a bit. Plus now I know I definitely don't want to get married in a church & SE agrees completely. I just want to say that part of the rite. There was a lovely cream-colored Rolls Royce waiting for the newlyweds afterward, & we all trooped back to the hotel for the open bar portion of the night. I had way too many cocktails & glasses of champagne while trying to look sober for SE's parents. After they went upstairs SE & I tried out our new moves from ballroom dance class & got a little rambunctious - I ended up in the pool! We went to bed soon after that & couldn't drag ourselves out of bed until about 1:30 the next afternoon, & that was only because we had to leave for the airport around 2:45. We flew back to London without incident.
We'd stayed in the Queensway Hotel initially, but I wanted to switch so we booked the Rose Court for the second part of our London stay. Not good. We moved to the Edward Lear hotel on Seymour St. the next day, which was much better & whimsical besides. Lear was a nature illustrator & nonsense poet, most famous for "The Owl & the Pussycat." The whole place was being renovated & our room was absolutely charming. Everything was so cute & cozy I really wished I could stay longer just for that. Although it is much easier to delight in coziness when you just have 2 suitcases of stuff. The staff at the Lear are very friendly, it's in a great location (Marble Arch) & a double room with bathroom is under £100 even in the high season. It's a really good deal, I definitely recommend the place.
I'm impressed with the food in London. This time was very Indian-intensive - I ended up "having a curry" 4 days in a row. That just means eating Indian, not necessarily curry per se. Sunday night we went to La Porte des Indes. It's much bigger than it looks from outside. The cuisine is supposed to be French-influenced authentic from the Pondicherry region. We did the tasting menu & were blown away. It was almost as good as the Mughal Room in Cairo. The service was unobtrusive & excellent, while the space managed to be inviting despite its size, & I got an orchid sprig when we left. (They do that for all the ladies.) It was still alive when I flew home Wednesday; really wish I could've brought it home.
Monday I made a pilgrimage to Brick Lane after visiting the Old Spitalfields Market. At Famous Curry House I had an actual curry, which was quite small, so when I saw the 2007 Best Chef place Papadoms, I decided to try it too. Both were good; Papadoms was definitely better though. The chicken jalfrezi there was scrumptious. Later, when SE got home from work, we checked out Crazy Bear in Fitzrovia. It was a Thai fusion place recommended in some little guide I picked up in Heathrow. The drinks were fantastic & so was the food. It was a bit of an odd crowd in our section - I swear one couple was an oldish Thai escort & her long-term john - but we had a great time. The bathrooms alone are worth the trip. In fact, it's like being on a trip when you go inside. The room is hidden, first of all; you just push one of the wood panels in the hallway. Then you're inside a completely mirrored room. The only reason I found a stall was because those doors had knobs. The sink is a trough affair where you can reach across to the men's bathroom under the mirror. Very cool, though I bet a lot of inebriated customers get lost in there. Tuesday we had dinner with one of SE's friends at Bombay Palace in Westminster, which was also great. (Thanks to Google, now I know they have one here in NYC as well. Yay!) The boys got chicken murgh tikka, basically equivalent to tikka masala, & I got the chicken kohlapuri. Yummy yummy. So now after 2 very satisfying trips, I can confidently say that the restaurant scene in London is nothing for a New Yorker to sneeze at. The only drawback is the expense. Everything's pretty much the same price as here, except the price is in pounds so it's really double.
Since SE worked every weekday, I had to amuse myself a lot. I tried to avoid the department store Selfridges, because I have to be a bit sensible with money, but he insisted that it was really cool & I should look around. It was indeed really cool. I discovered my new favorite goth/domme jewelry brand, Chrome Hearts. I desperately wanted to buy something, but there were no price tags on the jewelry. So I astutely inferred from a tank top price tag of £100 that everything would be out of my reach. It's ok. One day. I wandered on, into the contemporary area, where I was waylaid by the prettiest dress ever. It was cream silk with black lace & embroidery flowers - I had to buy it. It was £90 ($180), not too bad. I got vinyl round-toed pumps for £40 & sexy buckled black leather gloves for £22. At which point I realized I had better leave before my wallet took another hit. The Old Spitalfields area was not very interesting since it's basically just a lot of semi-expensive yuppie shops now, but some of the restaurants looked cool. There was one store, Fairy Goth Mother, which had amazing corsets & goth/fetish-y clothes. I ended up buying a very pretty skirt there for only £20.
Tuesday was sightseeing instead of shopping. I started with the London Eye, which is quite expensive (£15) but a breathtaking view of a beautiful city. I always forget how much bigger London is than NYC. A nice English couple on the ride answered all my "What's that building?" questions - I think my favorite was Charing Cross Station. Afterward I made my way to the Sherlock Holmes Museum. Definitely not worth the £6. It's not even interesting to see Baker St., since it doesn't look Victorian anymore at all. The top floor of 221B was an extremely creepy wax museum of scenes from the stories. They were bad, but lifelike enough to make me reluctant to put more than my head close to any of them. My next stop, the Dickens Museum, was much better. It's in one of his actual houses at 48 Doughty St., & has a lot of paintings of him or people in his life, as well as some manuscripts, first editions & other Dickensiana. I loved his books as a child & I rediscovered how much fun his books are with Martin Chuzzlewit recently. Sure, the happy endings are always a bit too neat, but the journey there is always a great ride & it's so nice when things finally work out.
I really like London. SE has said several times that he'd like to live there part of the time in the future, & I think I'd be on board with that. They have got to sort out airport security though, that is a real pain in the ass. I hope in a few years planes will be flying faster as well. My flight turned out to be 7.5 hours of screaming &/or chair kicking from the little brat behind me. I love kids, but damn. I restrained from doing more than turning around to glare at her useless mother periodically. I figured if we started talking about it I'd get more pissed & the kid would get upset, which would be counterproductive. Anyhow, as much as I like London, it's good to be home.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
stupid ads
Saw this next to a Daily Candy email. I like it, it's funny; much better than the silly Sunsilk ads that said "My frizz is so wild even a dominatrix couldn't tame it" & "My hair has more splits than a pole-dancer," among other stupid things. I realize they were trying to be cute but I think they tried too hard with the similes.Speaking of dumb advertising, Sprint made an unfunny attempt for the World Edition BlackBerry. I probably parsed the ad more carefully than they intended, but basically it says the Sprint W.E. is the most expensive phone ever! (Like that's a good thing.) You can buy it for $10 million, & they'll throw in an island! The way it's written is just retarded. It's not funny or tongue-in-cheek, though I think that's what they were going for. The fine print also says that this offer is only available to the 100 wealthiest people in the world. So nobody else can buy a BlackBerry from them? Retards.
The country of Georgia is also pissing me off. They've got these "Georgia vs. [more well-known country]" ads that utilize spurious logic, such as saying that 3000 years ago they came up with wine, & since their economy has outstripped France's for the last 5 years, people should instead support Georgian viniculture. & since China is only the 4th most reformed economy in the world, while Georgia is the first, the latter is the clear investment choice. I barely drink wine but seriously, if you're going to invest in only one of the countries, it would be very stupid to go with the one that nobody even knows makes wine. & "most reformed"? What the hell kind of economic measurement is that? In the first place, reform implies that it is a comparison. If one went from 0 to 60 & the other went from 50 to 100, the first is more reformed but not better. & my biggest concern if I were investing would be that little Georgia is next to giant Russia, which has been doing a lot of saber-rattling & chest-pounding recently. China, on the other hand, is the giant in its neighborhood. Anyway, I'm probably paying too much attention to detail. I caught up on some sleep during our trip (see next post) but I went right back to staying up super late as soon as I got home, so I'm tired & cranky.
Update August 2008: See, I was right. That business with Russia invading Georgia's province of South Ossetia would never have happened if it belonged to China. China would have looked at Russia & been like, "Bitch, are you trippin'?"
Monday, September 10, 2007
All hail Federer
I spent a very enjoyable 3 hours watching Federer slowly but surely crush Djokovic's resistance yesterday... I wanted the latter to win, since I'd watched him in real life at the Open last weekend, but after the first set I was pretty sure Darth Federer was going to conquer. D put up a hell of a fight though, & of course it's easy for me to say from the comfort of the sofa, but I think when he figures out how to calm himself & re-focus when things don't go his way, he'll be even more formidable. Throwing his racket wasn't exactly very mature. Anyway, in case you wanted to know, the score was 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-4. There was one point in the 2nd set when D was up 4-1 but that lead disappeared soon thereafter. Now I really really can't wait to play with SE after all this tennis excitement!!
Monday, September 03, 2007
vodka comparison
On Friday, as I was organizing my apartment, I came upon a little limoncello that I brought back from Rome 5 years ago & forgot about. (I was there to play a concert, stayed a week with just my accompanist - learned how to shop, order wine with dinner & I even met a guy. So much better than family vacations. Plus I nailed the horrifically difficult & nearly atonal sonata to the composer's countrymen's liking.) I decided to try drinking at home for the first time & bought a little bottle of Ciroc to make lemon drops. When I was at the liquor store the guy was discussing vodkas with me, & I've been a diehard Grey Goose girl after a blind taste test between that, Belvedere & Ketel straight, but his "ewww" reaction to GG made me think about trying something new. He suggested Imperia & Ciroc as very smooth & nice so I tried the Ciroc since it comes in a small bottle. As I mentioned before, I can't really taste alcohol until it's about 80% of the drink so that little 250 mL limoncello bottle lasted about 3 martinis. By which time I was surprisingly quite hammered, especially after being a tidy tornado in my house - physical exertion speeds up alcohol absorption - so I went to the store again to get a bottle of Imperia before they closed. That Africa detox & sober-weekdays-while-working policy were clearly not a good idea, as they have lowered my tolerance appreciably. Anyhow, after tasting the Ciroc & Imperia straight, I have to say I agree with the liquor store guy. I don't think it'd matter much in a vodka soda, but they do truly go down a lot more smoothly than Grey Goose. & today at Citarella I found bellini mix from Cipriani's ("good with vodka, gin, white rum & sparkling wine"), which of course I had to try. Fortunately Imperia comes in a nice big bottle & I have a lot of chores for myself tonight, so I should stay fairly well-behaved. Plus I'm practicing now which forces my brain to stay focused. Wish me luck!
Sunday, September 02, 2007
My sister is sponsored!
My baby sister got a sponsorship deal with Prince! Apparently she is one hell of a tennis prodigy; her coaches called some people & the rest is history. I know very little about the deal, but I am just fit to burst with pride for her. She's barely in double-digit ages & everyone sees a very rosy future. The family came to NYC for the the US Open this weekend & I went with them one day - I just know she's going to be there, kicking ass & taking names, one day soon. She certainly beats me handily whenever we play. :)
Saturday, September 01, 2007
movie reviews
We've seen 4 movies in 2 weekends since we got back. We wanted to see Superbad but it was sold out so we saw Knocked Up, Judd Apatow's earlier film. I thought it was really funny in parts but I didn't love it. My biggest problem was the lack of explanation for why she decides to keep the baby. It basically cuts from her mom telling her to get rid of it to her telling the guy she's keeping it. An on-air presenter at E! in LA & she wants to get fat? When they specifically asked her to start going to the gym? Not plausible. I also found their love a bit of a stretch. The most incredible part was Ben deciding to step up, grow up & take responsibility for the kid. There may be one 23-year-old unemployed pothead in recent history (since people that age started being considered still kids) who did this in real life, though I doubt it. Those objections aside, it's pretty funny. The dopes Ben lives with are ridiculous & convincing. Debbie (knocked-up Alison's sister) & Pete's marriage is a bit scary but it looks real too. Plus, you can see through Debbie's bitchiness to the deep insecurities underneath. & I like the scene in Vegas where Pete realizes that his problem is he can't accept his wife's love for what it is & has to run away from it. Paul Rudd, who plays Pete, was easily my favorite character in the movie. He's so yummy-looking & just a great actor. & as unrealistic as it is, I can't help cheering for Ben in his transformation from stoner to responsible adult. Thank you Mr. A, for thumbing your nose at the Lost Boys convention of current cinema & making Ben grow up to be a man. 7/10.
The Simpsons movie was really fun. Spiderpig might be the next big meme - I still can't stop laughing when I think of the song. The story wasn't the most logical, but it hung together pretty well. So many good one-liners - "I was elected to lead, not to read," being my favorite. I liked the détente between Bart & Flanders as well. I found Homer's selfish asshole behavior a bit hard to believe, but overall it was funny & worth seeing. Make sure to stay through the credits, they throw in some extra scenes. 8.5/10
The Bourne Ultimatum was jam-packed with action. At this point he pretty much seems magical - whatever he touches does what he wants without putting up too much fuss, whether it be a door, a safe, etc. I did not understand the thing with Julia Stiles; were they together before? That should have been explained, or recapped if it's from the second movie. I loved the action scenes, especially the fight in Morocco where Bourne finally tussles with someone worthy instead of easy henchmen. It was frustrating but realistic to watch Director Vosen (David Strathairn) bulldoze over people's objections & reasoning, insisting that Bourne must have some byzantine plan instead of drawing the logical conclusion that he was anmesiac. Reminds me of a certain issue with WMDs... The movie wrapped up some questions from before but I'll have to read the books I think. I hate that song they play for the credits, it's the musical equivalent of nails on a chalkboard for me. Actually that's exactly what it sounds like. 8.5/10
I saved the best for last. Shoot 'Em Up is so good, it catapulted to my top 5 movies of all time immediately. Comes out Sept 7 - we saw it at a free advance screening. (Don't tell them I told you; we're supposed to keep quiet about it until then. Though I'm pretty sure it's all a cynical ploy to build up word-of-mouth, it's so good I don't care & will happily plug their movie for free.) I've been a huge Clive Owen fan since his debut in the BMW short films & I'm glad he's such a big star now. Oooh, speaking of great drivers - how hot would it be if he had a drive-off & battle movie with Jason Statham? Yum. So this story is completely over the top. Smith (Owen) is drawn into a gun fight to protect a pregnant stranger he sees running for her life. The ensuing firefight is the first scene of the movie & already at that point I knew this movie was something special. He kills one guy with a carrot! Obviously, the shooting isn't terribly realistic, as I know from trying it in Vegas, but the fluidity of the choreograhy is engaging & just breathtaking. When it's over he wants to forget about the baby but he can't, & enlists the help of DQ (Monica Bellucci), a dominatrix specializing in infantilism, because she has milk. He's being tailed by Hertz (Paul Giamatti), who seems to be a crooked police chief. They first meet in the brothel where DQ works (the writer seems to have confused dommes & prostitutes) & exchange some hilarious trash talk after Smith decimates the entire goon squad. Smith fends off increasing numbers of henchmen throughout the movie, trying to follow the clues back to the source, as Hertz gets more & more frustrated - at one point he screams in fury, "Do we suck or is this guy just that good?!" I don't want to give away too much, so I'll just say that this has some of the most creative fight scenes ever ever EVER!!! I can't believe no one's thought of them before. Bellucci is luscious, almost spilling out of her tight clothes, & a perfect foil to Owen's rugged 'tall dark silent' hero. I never liked Giamatti because he's ugly & I detested Sideways with a passion but he's a great villain in this & gained a lot of points with me for finding the perfect blend of camp & serious evil. Be warned, though, there is a tough torture scene towards the end - definitely a finger-peeker. People were cheering & clapping at lots of scenes, it was so great. If you like guns, shootouts, heroes saving people at considerable personal cost because they just can't coldly abandon them, deliciously evil villains & their well-earned come-uppances, creative fights, comedy, or super hot sex scenes, this is so the movie for you. 10/10!
One more thing: Live Free or Die Hard was fucking awesome. I'm sure everyone's seen it by now, so I'll just say that I'm a little Asian bitch who likes to kick people, & yippee ki yay motherfucker it was incredibly cool.
The Simpsons movie was really fun. Spiderpig might be the next big meme - I still can't stop laughing when I think of the song. The story wasn't the most logical, but it hung together pretty well. So many good one-liners - "I was elected to lead, not to read," being my favorite. I liked the détente between Bart & Flanders as well. I found Homer's selfish asshole behavior a bit hard to believe, but overall it was funny & worth seeing. Make sure to stay through the credits, they throw in some extra scenes. 8.5/10
The Bourne Ultimatum was jam-packed with action. At this point he pretty much seems magical - whatever he touches does what he wants without putting up too much fuss, whether it be a door, a safe, etc. I did not understand the thing with Julia Stiles; were they together before? That should have been explained, or recapped if it's from the second movie. I loved the action scenes, especially the fight in Morocco where Bourne finally tussles with someone worthy instead of easy henchmen. It was frustrating but realistic to watch Director Vosen (David Strathairn) bulldoze over people's objections & reasoning, insisting that Bourne must have some byzantine plan instead of drawing the logical conclusion that he was anmesiac. Reminds me of a certain issue with WMDs... The movie wrapped up some questions from before but I'll have to read the books I think. I hate that song they play for the credits, it's the musical equivalent of nails on a chalkboard for me. Actually that's exactly what it sounds like. 8.5/10
I saved the best for last. Shoot 'Em Up is so good, it catapulted to my top 5 movies of all time immediately. Comes out Sept 7 - we saw it at a free advance screening. (Don't tell them I told you; we're supposed to keep quiet about it until then. Though I'm pretty sure it's all a cynical ploy to build up word-of-mouth, it's so good I don't care & will happily plug their movie for free.) I've been a huge Clive Owen fan since his debut in the BMW short films & I'm glad he's such a big star now. Oooh, speaking of great drivers - how hot would it be if he had a drive-off & battle movie with Jason Statham? Yum. So this story is completely over the top. Smith (Owen) is drawn into a gun fight to protect a pregnant stranger he sees running for her life. The ensuing firefight is the first scene of the movie & already at that point I knew this movie was something special. He kills one guy with a carrot! Obviously, the shooting isn't terribly realistic, as I know from trying it in Vegas, but the fluidity of the choreograhy is engaging & just breathtaking. When it's over he wants to forget about the baby but he can't, & enlists the help of DQ (Monica Bellucci), a dominatrix specializing in infantilism, because she has milk. He's being tailed by Hertz (Paul Giamatti), who seems to be a crooked police chief. They first meet in the brothel where DQ works (the writer seems to have confused dommes & prostitutes) & exchange some hilarious trash talk after Smith decimates the entire goon squad. Smith fends off increasing numbers of henchmen throughout the movie, trying to follow the clues back to the source, as Hertz gets more & more frustrated - at one point he screams in fury, "Do we suck or is this guy just that good?!" I don't want to give away too much, so I'll just say that this has some of the most creative fight scenes ever ever EVER!!! I can't believe no one's thought of them before. Bellucci is luscious, almost spilling out of her tight clothes, & a perfect foil to Owen's rugged 'tall dark silent' hero. I never liked Giamatti because he's ugly & I detested Sideways with a passion but he's a great villain in this & gained a lot of points with me for finding the perfect blend of camp & serious evil. Be warned, though, there is a tough torture scene towards the end - definitely a finger-peeker. People were cheering & clapping at lots of scenes, it was so great. If you like guns, shootouts, heroes saving people at considerable personal cost because they just can't coldly abandon them, deliciously evil villains & their well-earned come-uppances, creative fights, comedy, or super hot sex scenes, this is so the movie for you. 10/10!
One more thing: Live Free or Die Hard was fucking awesome. I'm sure everyone's seen it by now, so I'll just say that I'm a little Asian bitch who likes to kick people, & yippee ki yay motherfucker it was incredibly cool.
US = money
Check out this map: It replaces each US state name with that of the country whose GDP it most closely matches. (I tried to put the picture here but it turned out quite badly.) If you scroll down it goes into a bit more detail about the GDP rankings. Our 50 states plus DC match the top 101 GDPs in the world. The top 45 states match the top 61 economies. Total American GDP is almost as much as #2-5 combined. Amazing.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Will Shortz is my new bff
I am extremely proud of myself. I finished today's Friday NY Times crossword! Plus I finished last week's Friday as well! Before, I could only do Fridays very rarely but it looks like I am improving. (Newspaper puzzles increase in difficulty from Monday to Saturday, with Sunday being bigger but about a Thursday difficulty.) All those crosswords while we were on vacation really paid off. Last week I was so clever I didn't even look anything up. I had to this week - didn't know a hockey player named Tverdovsky, a wrestler named Flair, or any songs from the '60s - but generally I would just stare at a word & think, or run the alphabet in my head, & I made some inspired guesses. Those clues are hard. I won't give away the answers if anyone is working on it, but what do you think the 8-letter answer is for 16-across, "Exchange for something you really want?" The 10-down "Skin pics?" answer I still don't understand. The worst part about late-week crosswords is trying to figure out what exactly they're driving at. Usually it could be several different things, & there aren't enough words in the clue to let you know which one until you've got some letters. I like how much crosswords exercise my brain though - which reminds me, I need to go pick up some physics textbooks. :)
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