|
|
Monday, May 12th, 2008
| |
6:54 pm - A Great Anniversary Weekend with Debbie
|
Debbie is at work right now. Sure, it’s New York, the most thrilling city in the country, and there are 1000 exciting things I could be doing on my own right now; but quite frankly, it’s cold and raining and I’m just as happy to use some “down time” to sit here in the hotel and catch up on all my writing and LJ and e-mail and phone calls.
So it’s been a great anniversary weekend. Debbie’s gift to me were tickets to an Off-Broadway show called “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.” It was a wonderful musical comedy and we both enjoyed it very much.
The play was a series of scenes and vignettes having to do with relationships. Those in Act I had to do with being single and dating. At the end of Act I, there was a wedding. And the scenes in Act II had to do with the various stages of marriage. It was all set to catchy music, was very funny, and was performed by four extremely talented actors (two males and two females). Each must have played a dozen different characters, maybe more. Many costume changes.
Nothing really too profound or earth shattering or envelope pushing, as I would normally hope to see in New York theatre, but somehow this play, despite being non-political and uncontroversial, just really touched me. Perhaps it’s because it just came at that exact moment in my life when it needed to, as I find myself in this shady transition period as I am going from being single to being married (or at least, that’s what I am assuming my near future holds). Act I was about my past and Act II was about my future. And as much as I enjoyed Act I, I think Act II was even better.
There were several scenes I really enjoyed. In one, a guy is dating a girl at a movie and he’s complaining it’s a chick-flick—he’d rather see a macho guy film—but then he starts to really get into it and is really crying, he’s so touched. Another humorous scene took place at a prison, where couples get scared by a mass-murderer convict into lowering their standards and getting married. In the second act, I thought it was so funny when a father was obsessed with making sure his child’s toys were safe that he attacked a giant teddy bear. I also liked a scene were a divorced woman made a video tape for a dating site. And the final scene, where two older people meet at a funeral was moving.
But somehow the scene which touched me the deepest was a middle-aged husband and wife having a quiet breakfast together and the husband sings “Shouldn’t I Be Less in Love With You?” when noting how married couples typically fall out of love over time, but he still loves his wife as deeply as the day they got married—maybe even more—30 years later. Yea, it’s a sentimental, Hallmark card moment, but it just got to me somehow. I tried to imagine myself married to Debbie after 30 years, and still being in love with her, even as all our friends have affairs and get divorced, we’re still so much in love.
Yea, I really liked the play. More than I expected to, really. If I had seen in 10 years ago, I probably wouldn’t have been as impressed.
And then yesterday, as I mentioned in the above entry where I posted the photo, we went to Flushing Meadows Corona Park. As we approached the Unisphere—a giant, stylistic steel globe which was the symbol of the 1964 World’s Fair, which was held on that spot over four decades ago, I took many, many photos. It’s a very unique object and I got all kinds of interesting angles on the steel structure.
Then we went to the Queens Art Museum, which was right next to the Unisphere. This is the only remaining building from the Fair. In fact, it’s also the building where the United Nations first met, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, while waiting for their current headquarters in Manhattan (which I visited last year) to be completed. In fact, it was in this very building where the UN declared the 1947 partition of Palestine, which, in effect, created the State of Israel (which celebrates its 60th birthday this week).
Inside the museum, there was a Buddhist group displaying the work they do around the world. And there was also an interesting exhibit of photographs of religious communities in Queens. Then we got to the real thing: the main highlight. The Panorama of the City of New York. It’s gigantic. A model of the entire city—every building represented—in perfect scale. One inch equals 100 feet. So the Empire State Building was 15 inches tall. It was an amazing thing to behold. It was originally created for the 1964 World’s Fair, but was updated in 1992, so we see New York as it looked in 1992, with the World Trade Center still standing. I took tons of pictures. And you could see, as you walked along a pathway above it, looking down in this huge room, how small Manhattan is compared to the other four boroughs. But we saw all the important landmarks, including, even, Debbie’s house. There was also a light show, with lights illuminating parts of the model and talking about New York. I really enjoyed that.
Then we saw the final exhibit—about the 1939 and 1964 World’s Fairs, both of which were held on that very spot. They had all kinds of souvenirs from the fairs—it was really interesting. Everything looked so dated, stylistically; but pretty cool. My parents had attended both fairs and I wondered what it would have been like to go.
There’s more I could say, but some people have requested I keep my entries short, so I’ll end here. Just as well, actually, because I have to go meet Debbie in about a half hour. I’m picking her up at work and then we’ll have our anniversary dinner at some nice Asian restaurant.
Tomorrow I return to Virginia. I’ll be sad to leave Debbie. But it won’t be for too long. I’ve already made reservations to return for her birthday at the end of the month.
|
|
(13 comments | comment on this)
|
| |
2:48 pm - Happy Anniversary Again, Debbie!
|
It was one year ago today that Debbie and I met. It’s been a wonderful year. And it’s also been a wonderful weekend here in New York, despite the lousy weather. Being with Debbie makes the rain go away. So does the umbrella she gave me. I love you, Debbie.
Here’s a photo of Debbie and me at the 1964 World’s Fair.
Okay, no, not really. Neither of us were actually alive in 1964, but yesterday we did go to the site of the 1964 World’s Fair in New York’s Flushing Meadows Corona Park where the Unisphere, symbol of the Fair, still stands.
Later, I’ll make a post about all the exciting things Debbie and I did this weekend to celebrate our anniversary. Well, okay, maybe not all the things we did. But at least the ones that are worth sharing with my friends. I have much to say about the Unisphere, the Queens Art Museum, and the Off-Broadway play “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.” Look for an entry soon…
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, May 8th, 2008
| |
9:52 am - Happy Anniversary, Debbie!
|
In about an hour, I’m off to New York. I’ll be seeing the love of my life. On Monday, we will celebrate a full year of having been together. Yes; that’s right. It was May 12, 2007, when Debbie and I met for the first time and had that wonderful date at Coney Island. A whole year has gone by and it just keeps getting better and better.
I’ll be seeing Debbie very soon, but let me now just say, in public, that I love her deeply and am so glad she’s my girlfriend … and more. It’s been a great year. Happy anniversary, Debbie; and here’s to many more to come.
All my love!
|
|
(6 comments | comment on this)
|
| Monday, May 5th, 2008
| |
3:18 pm - New Chizfilm Article about War on Terror
|
Hey, the new Chizfilm article is finally up!
http://www.chisdes.com/waronterrorfilms.html
For those of you keeping score, this is the first new article in over six weeks. Yea, pretty pathetic, I know. It’d be even more pathetic if no one even reads it. So go do me a favor, read it and leave a comment, so I don’t look even more pathetic than I already appear.
Thanks for your support.
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, April 24th, 2008
| |
11:52 pm - Florida, Passover, Deathly Hallows, Osama Bin Laden, Etc.
|
Some of you may have been wondering where I’ve been. Well, Judi and I have returned to Florida for two weeks, for Passover and my parents’ anniversary, and I haven’t been on line much. Sorry about that, but it’s very difficult to get on line here. First of all, my parents are still using dial-up, so it takes about ten times as long, maybe longer, for the typical web page to load, and that’s damn frustrating. Furthermore, there are four people here who want to use the internet and with dial-up only one person can use it at a time. In addition, my parents request that the phone line remain open some of the time on the off chance someone might actually want to call them. As a result, I have severely limited my internet time. I don’t check most of my regular sights as often as I usually do; I’m way behind on reading my friends’ blogs, so many e-mails I have yet to answer, and I’ve completely given up on Facebook. That will have to wait until I return to Virginia. And You Tube? Fuhgeddaboutit!
So I find that a bit frustrating. I’m also frustrated living in this house by my parents’ daily routine regarding sleeping, eating, etc., which is so different from mine. Worst of all is the heat. It’s so effin’ hot in here. Granted, it’s Florida in late spring, so I expect the weather outside to be hot. But in the house, we can’t put on the AC. When I lived in Florida, I had the AC running constantly for about nine months a year. But my father will consent to run his AC about only nine hours a year. I feel very uncomfortable and have been having trouble sleeping.
On top of all this, it’s Passover, which means, in my parents’ house, there is no non-Passover food to eat. All breads, grains, and products of grains (including pasta and corn syrup and any manufactured product that contains corn syrup, which is approximately 90% of everything sold at the average grocery store) are forbidden. Personally I find the extra-Kosher dietary rules for Passover silly and would normally pay them no mind, but my parents abide by them so I must respect that in their house. So the diet for the eight days of Passover is extremely limited, adding to my growing stress.
As a result, I made a rude comment to my father earlier today, over something rather trivial. I felt pretty bad about it after I said it; normally I don’t think I would have been so petty, but the difficulty of living in my parents’ house, day-after-day for over a week now, is starting to get to me.
Anyway, Judi and I have been quite busy since we arrived. The day after we got here, we set to work cleaning the house for Passover and throwing away all the “chumetz” (the food with leavening or corn syrup or grain or soy that is not permitted for Passover). Once that was done, we had to exchange the normal china dishes for the special Passover dishes. This was all a big job.
Then began the cooking for the two “Seders” on the first two nights of Passover. Our First Seder was just to be the four of us, so it wasn’t that big a deal (even still, it’s the most elaborate meal all year, even more so than Thanksgiving). But for the Second Seder, which was Sunday night, there were nine of us. So that’s a lot of food we needed to prepare. And absolutely everything must be made from scratch since any pre-prepared foods would not be Kosher for Passover (except for a few specially-made-for-Passover exceptions).
My Dad and Judi are the serious cooks in my family, but my main job (in addition to some other minor things to assist with) was cooking the matzah-ball soup. I did it twice, for both nights; took about an hour-and-a-half to make, each time. The second night it came out even better than the first. I have to admit, I was proud of that soup and it got a lot of compliments, from both guests and family.
For those who may not know, the Passover Seder is actually three parts: a long service before the meal which lasts about an hour, the meal, and a shorter service after the meal which lasts maybe a half-hour. I actually enjoy this; in fact, several years ago, I researched, compiled, and put together a “Hagaddah” (special prayerbook for the Seder) just for my family to use. I dare say, because of the research I did back in 2002, I probably know more about the Seder than anyone else in my immediate family (remarkable, since usually it’s my Mom who knows more about Jewish ritual and history and text than anyone else). So as a result, I was asked to lead the two Seders. Usually my Dad, as traditional head of the household, leads the Seders, but this year he wasn’t feeling quite up to it.
The first night, leading was no big deal because it was just us and we’ve all done this, perhaps, 80 times already. But the second night, with five guests, it was more important, especially since a few of our guests were not Jewish and had never been to a Seder before. I think I did a good job as leader, making sure everyone got a chance to read (or opt out of reading, as one guest preferred), giving people a chance to frequently ask questions, making sure they understood what was going on, and explaining patiently when they didn’t.
So that’s Passover. (Any questions? Feel free to ask.)
The other really big thing in my life, since I last updated LJ, is that I have been reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Yes, I finally, finally, after several busy months, have found some time to read the seventh and final book of the series. It’s a very big book and I finally finished it last night. It took eleven days. Overall, it was a good book and I enjoyed most of it. There were some particularly well-written passages and moving scenes. I was really into it, for large sections of it, and I appreciated the fact that most of it did not take place at Hogwarts: this was Harry’s real life test after having gotten six years of education. However, I am forced to admit that I didn’t like the ending very much.
[Warning: spoilers to follow! If you have not read the book but intend to do so, skip the next three paragraphs.]
I felt the ending too abrupt, too happy, and left too many questions unanswered. And when I say ending, I’m referring to the last dozen or so pages, immediately after Harry kills Voldemort. For such an incredibly long epic, it seemed the tension after the grand climax relaxed way too fast. There was too much celebration in the wake of too much death. The whole tone changed too rapidly. And that final epilogue was a bit too cute, a bit too “happily ever after” for my tastes. And although we do find out that Harry married and had kids, and so did Ron and Hermione, there are far too many questions unanswered. Yes, the really big questions are answered, such as was Snape good or bad, and who sent the doe patronus, and why the wand could beat Voldemort—but what about some of the lesser questions which, in such a massive epic, I thought deserved an answer? Does Harry graduate from Hogwarts? Do they give him a diploma? Do they let him study for a final year? What kind of a career does he have—does he become an Auror like he originally wanted? Or does he have some calm desk job? Does he ever see the Dursleys again? And what about Umbridge? She never shows up again after Harry steals the locket from her. Was she a Death Eater? She was not in the final battle on either side. How did she end up with Moody’s eye? And what good did it do anyone when Dumbledore saved her at the end of book 5? Another question—how did Lupin die? Obviously in the battle, but we see, or at least hear the details about, the deaths of all the other major characters who died. Why not Lupin? He seems too easily dismissed for such a major character. And speaking of DADA teachers, did Lockhart ever get his memory back? What happened to Moaning Myrtle? She didn’t even make an appearance in this book. What happens to Luna and Neville? And what about any consequences for Harry for using two of the three unforgivable curses? And now what kind of government will there be under the new Minister of Magic? Will the government be just, or will it continue to be filled by pettily vengeful and narrow-minded people even if they aren’t Death Eaters? And what about SPEW? Will the house-elves finally be given their freedom?
The more I sit and think about it, the more unanswered questions come to me. You know what it feels like to me? This may not necessarily be true, but it feels as if, when Rowling was writing the end, her publisher was on the phone to her screaming to get it done because they were on a deadline and she just rushed through those last few pages just to get it done and turned in. Quite frankly, I felt a bit cheated. For an epic which, in many ways, raised some rather important and worthy moral, ethical, political, and spiritual issues, the ending seemed so superficial. It just didn’t leave you with much to think deeply about—just wonder all those factual questions I mentioned above.
So I’d have to say, largely because of the ending, this was not my favorite book of the series, despite the fact that there were many engaging and moving passages (such as when Dobby is killed, or the scene when Harry is walking into the forest expecting to have only a few minutes left of life before being killed by Voldemort) and that Harry finally demonstrates that he knows how to use what he learned, out in the real world. So now that I’ve read all seven, I have to say that my favorite book is still The Order of the Phoenix.
So that’s that. In other news, I’ve managed to find a few other things to do while down here in Florida. On Tuesday, I got together with my friend Ben and we hung out for most of the day. It was good to see him and we had a nice time. And we went to go see a movie together: “Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?” the new documentary by Morgan Spurlock (who had previously made “Super Size Me”). Overall, I thought it was a good movie, investigating public opinion in the Middle East as Spurlock goes on a hunt for the most wanted man in the world. Yes, it was rather mainstream and simple compared to a number of other documentaries I’ve seen in the last year or two about the War on Terror. But Spurlock has a good sense of humor and keeps the tone light enough that it wouldn’t turn off the average American. (For example, he’s in store and a saleswoman is explaining how a skin cream will help him in the desert climate and he keeps asking her questions about the cream and then suddenly, in the middle of all these questions, he asks, “By the way, do you happen to know where Osama bin Laden is hiding?” Another example is when he explains that the whole project was inspired by action films which prove that complex geopolitical problems are best solved by a single strong guy with a clear middle-American sense of simple right-and-wrong; perhaps he could single-handedly solve the issue of terrorism if he could just find Osama Bin Laden.) And he uses a number of funny graphics to illustrate his points such as a fake video game showing him and Bin Laden beating each other up, or baseball trading cards to represent various individual terrorists. Although there was very little that I learned, or came as a revelation to me, I certainly enjoyed watching it and it was nice to see such a diversity of opinion and a presentation of the Arab peoples as PEOPLE, not a political unit which far too many commentators in the US like to present them as.
One of the things that interested me was how, when he went into the Palestinian territories in Israel and asked the Palestinians what they thought of Bin Laden, every one of them said they didn’t like him and that they resented him claiming their cause as his. Another interesting part in the film was when Spurlock got to Saudi Arabia and said that all the other Arab countries he had just been in seemed incredibly progressive compared to Saudi Arabia, with its tightly controlling fundamentalist religious government. One other interesting thing was that he kept asking this same question over and over again: “If Osama Bin Laden were to die, would it change anything?” And every single person, time after time, gave the exact same answer: “Absolutely not.” In fact, it seemed like the one thing all Middle Easterners agree on. So why are we so desperate to get him?
So yea, despite its lack of depth, I thought it was a good movie. Not as great as “Super Size Me,” but definitely enjoyable and definitely accessible to the average American. And I hope Middle America watches it—some of them might learn something. If nothing else, that Arabs are people, just like them, most of whom want to be left alone and raise their children in peace.
Okay, this entry’s gotten too long. I think I’ll end it here. Not sure when I’ll update again. My parents’ 50th wedding anniversary is Saturday. They will be having a luncheon (a Passover luncheon) at the synagogue after the Sabbath morning services. And in the evening, a few friends and neighbors for Passover cake and coffee. (Most of the Passover cakes that we have made so far this year have come out pretty lousy. But Judi made some really nice lemon squares; I’m trying to persuade her to make those again for Saturday night.) So no fancy party or anything, but that’s what my parents want.
And, oh yea, Judi and I actually did finally find something to give to my parents as a present while we were driving down. And speaking of anniversary presents, I also found something great to give to Debbie for our one-year anniversary which is coming up in three weeks. But don’t tell her; she thinks I’m not giving her anything. When she said she at least wanted a card, I teased her and said she might not even get that. I told her I wasn’t giving her anything so she wouldn’t get me anything. I don’t want her to spend her hard-earned money to get me something because she has already given me so many wonderful things, just by being her and blessing me with her presence. Any further token of her affection would be superfluous. I trust, however, if she is expecting nothing, she will be pleasantly surprised when she sees what I got her.
But don’t tell her. Shhhh…
|
|
(9 comments | comment on this)
|
| Friday, April 11th, 2008
| |
12:05 am - Piccies!
|
Okay, for the benefit of my friends who prefer to look at photos rather then read what I’ve written (I’m not naming names, but you know who you are), here are some photos that I took at the circus two weeks ago. I’m not going to bother writing captions; I think it’s pretty obvious what they are.
I hope you like them.
In other news, I just finished my 2007 taxes. OMG, what a nightmare! Calculating them—even with the help of my sister—was bad enough. But the bottom line was a real shocker. Because of a strange situation with some stock I owned, combined with the unfair IRS tax rules which defines the return of an investment as “capital gains” refusing to take into account 25 years of inflation, which in turn pushed me into a higher tax bracket, plus the fact that I moved to Virginia in 07, doubling my taxes because I now have to pay the same to the state that I pay to the federal government, my taxes went up 800%. However my real income only went up 7%. It’s not fair. The spirit of the law, I’m sure, was not intended to tax someone in my situation so heavily, however the letter of the tax code dictates that. And the IRS is only interested in the letter, of course. No one’s ever accused the IRS of having spirit
Anyway, because I didn’t foresee such an incredible jump in my taxes, my whole personal budget is all screwed up now and I have to rebudget. Cut back on some things. Tighten the belt a bit. Not go to NY as often as I’d like. Or I could get a job. Of course, if I get a job, I won’t be able to go to NY as often as I like. Damn the tax code!
So what’s next for me? Judi and I are heading down to Florida in two days. Our parents want us to spend Passover with them, plus they are having their 50th wedding anniversary on the 26th. Believe it or not, neither I nor my two sisters have any idea what to get them. We must have had 100 ideas between the three of us; each was rejected for one reason or another. My parents are very hard to shop for.
current mood:  frustrated
current music: "Oklahoma!" by Rogers and Hamerstein
|
|
(15 comments | comment on this)
|
| Monday, April 7th, 2008
| |
11:48 pm - Several Things That Have Happened
|
How many people have noticed that I haven’t made an entry in two weeks? Anyone? Well, a lot’s been going on. I was away for a bit, in New York, having a great time with Debbie. And I’ve been back in Virginia for four days now. I’m not going to tell you everything that happened on the trip, but there are a few things worth noting that some of you might find interesting.
Circus: The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. “The Greatest Show on Earth,” so they claim. I’d never been to a circus and so Debbie, as a gift, bought me tickets. It was at Madison Square Garden and we went on Saturday the 29th. We had a good time.
We were way up in the nosebleed section, but it was fun nonetheless. I liked the animals. They had elephants and tigers and horses and mini-horses and dogs. They all did tricks and I managed to get some photos. There was a really good one of a tiger and his trainer. But most of the photos didn’t come out so well because we were so far away.
As far as I could tell, the animals looked healthy and happy and well-cared for. (This was a concern of mine, since I have heard a few stories. In fact, there was a protestor outside handing out pamphlets decrying the way the circus treats their animals, but most people ignored her.) Debbie pointed out that one of the elephants, when being paraded, was skipping. That was cute.
I also enjoyed marveling at the acrobats. And there were contortionists and men hanging in dangling cloth and jugglers. And one of the things that impressed me the most was people bouncing on these giant rubber tubes and doing backflips onto other tubes. And also the trapeze artists—they were cool. And the motorcycles running around in a circular cage.
There were clowns but, personally, I thought they were a bit silly. There was a running gag with the lead clown continually stealing the ringmaster’s hat. And the ringmaster kept getting all upset—he took it far too seriously to be serious. And another time the clown stole a woman’s cell phone, but I don’t think she was a real audience member. Still, the kids really liked the clowns—especially when they blew bubbles.
Everything was done to perfectly choreographed music—a live band. And there were dazzling moving lights and people wearing bright, crazy costumes. And some fireworks. I suspect the circus has changed a little since P.T. Barnum’s day. There were lots and lots of extra things to buy—food and souvenirs and twisty lights that kids just loved. Overall, it’s fair to say I enjoyed the circus but I think calling it “The Greatest Show on Earth” is a bit hyperbolic and sets up unrealistic expectations. Still, Debbie and I enjoyed it and we were happy to be there together.
New Directors New Films: This is one of the most prestigious film festivals in the country and I was able to attend for one day with Debbie. Some films were held at Lincoln Center, but the ones we ended up going to were at the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) theatre in the basement of the museum.
The first movie we saw was “Waterlilies,” a French film about three teenage girls and synchronized swimming. It was really good. Debbie and I both liked it. It was preceded by a short simply called “Man.” It was directed by a woman who was a student at Columbia University—a joke was made about how far she came (six subway stops) because the other director came all the way from France. The French director took questions afterwards; answered in English.
The next movie was “Moving Midway.” (Most of you will remember me writing about this movie, which deals with Southern plantations, at the VFF, as well as my reference to it in the last entry when I wrote about the UVA art exhibit.) This was the fourth time I’ve seen this movie. Highly unusual to see a movie that many times within such a short time frame (the first time I saw it was in July). And it hasn’t even been released yet! And it was still great. And it was a particularly good and clean and sharp print. And guess what—this time I noticed that some of the paintings from the UVA art exhibit were actually in the movie. Debbie liked the movie too and was glad I brought her.
When it was over, Godfrey Cheshire, the director, got up to answer questions. And then guess what. He was joined by Robert Hinton, the history scholar and descendant of Midway’s slaves who appeared in the film. Well, he’s a professor at NYU, so he didn’t have very far to come. So it was great to hear Robert Hinton answer questions along with Godfrey, and, among other things, hear Robert’s thoughts on the issue of reparations for slavery which some audience member asked about. Also interesting was a story that Robert and Godfrey might actually have met when they were in their late teens, when Godfrey went to a movie theatre in Raleigh and crossed a picket line. Robert was one of the picketers and, possibly, hit Godfrey with a sign when he crossed the line. Now they are the best of friends. Also, interesting to hear some of the making-of stories, behind the scenes, that were left out due to editing, to make the movie simpler.
I was able to ask Godfrey a question. I asked what he had learned, as a critic, from making the movie, and also if he had plans to make more movies or just concentrate on his criticism. He told me he learned a real appreciation for editing that he hadn’t realized before. And also that he indeed had some plans to make more films.
When the Q&A was over, I spoke with Godfrey outside. He told me he remembered me from the Virginia Film Festival and seemed impressed that I have seen this movie four times now. I also told him that I gave this movie the best documentary Chizfilm Award for 2007 which pleased him.
We talked for a few more minutes. I started to tell him about the UVA art museum exhibit and he stopped me and told me he knew about it. In fact, his movie was originally going to be shown as part of the exhibit but something happened—he wasn’t sure of the details and I didn’t get all of what he told me, but it had something to do with personal politics of friends and wives and it ended up not happening. But he was exited to hear me tell him details of the exhibit and how much it relates to his film.
Shopping: Debbie’s brother is getting married in June and Debbie and I spent much of our time together going in and out of many stores looking for a possible gift. A number of ideas have come up but nothing has really grabbed us.
One afternoon toward the end of the trip, Debbie and I were at this mall in Long Island and were getting frustrated that we hadn’t found much exciting and, to lighten the mood, we started joking around. We started suggesting really ridiculous things. Debbie said, “Maybe we could get them a kid.” Well, that way they wouldn’t have to deal with the whole pregnancy and birth thing. I said, as we continued walking, “That sounds like a good idea, but where would we get one?” Debbie said, “Oh, we could just pick one up at the mall.” At that moment, a kid about 4 or 5 was wandering by and his mother a few paces behind him. I said, pointing to that kid, “Like this one right here?” And at that instant, the mother suddenly went into panic mode and ran after her kid shouting, “Grab my hand, grab my hand!” and ran away from us. (Apparently she heard us and didn’t know we were just joking around.)
Public Bathrooms: Almost anywhere you go in the US, if you have to use the bathroom, you can find a fast food restaurant, or any business establishment for that matter, and use their restroom. They don’t require you to be a customer or anything. Letting someone use the bathroom when they have to use the bathroom is simply the human thing to do and most people just take this simple thing for granted.
However this is not so in New York. It’s hard to find a restroom, and when you do, you have to be a customer. And then you have to ask permission—get a key or be buzzed in. I’ve had to do this a couple of times. Quite frankly, it makes me feel like a little school kid who has to ask permission to use the bathroom, which I resent. And as if that’s not embarrassing enough, there’s this fear that you could be told you can’t—the bathroom is for customers only. Is it a scam to force you to buy something? I don’t know, but it creates this sense that the public bathroom is something sacred and not everyone can qualify to use it. Are you part of the blessed elite that is eligible to use it, or are you in the riffraff, the scum of society, that has to go behind the building in the alley? I rather resent that New York has taken one of the most basic human common denominators that we all share—the need to go to the bathroom every so often—and turned it into a class system: those who are allowed to use public bathrooms and those who aren’t.
HBO: One afternoon in New York, I was by myself and had some time to kill before I had to meet Debbie. Having nothing better to do for 45 minutes, I took a stroll through Midtown, walked through Times Square, walked passed the new New York Times building, passed many of the famous theaters. I turned a corner and there was the HBO building. I didn’t know that HBO had their own building in the middle of Manhattan, but it certainly didn’t surprise me to find that out, since many big, important companies have their own building in the middle of Manhattan.
Anyway, the HBO building had a gift shop and in the display case in the window, they had all this “John Adams” memorabilia. Colonial antiques, books, etc. Well, I went inside and guess what. They didn’t have a single “John Adams” item for sale—it was just for display to promote the TV show. The clerk said it all becomes available to buy in June.
Well, they did have all kinds of other stuff from lots of other HBO shows like “The Sopranos” and “Deadwood” and “Sex in the City,” and several others. In the far corner, they had a whole shelf of stuff from “Rome.” At first I got excited—that was one of my favorite shows. I thought it might be really cool to get a “Rome” t-shirt. But they only had three designs and all three were rather ugly designs. Plus the material was extremely thin. The shirts were $23; I wasn’t going to pay that kind of money for a shirt I didn’t like that was too thin, simply because it had the name of a TV show I liked. Oh well.
* * * * * * * *
So that was my trip to New York. There are two other things I wish to mention briefly that have happened since my return to Virginia:
Charlton Heston: In this blog I very rarely make comments about famous people, but I cannot go on without noting the passing of Charlton Heston on Saturday. Although I disagreed with his politics late in his life, I greatly admired him in “The Ten Commandments” (still one of my ten favorite films of all time), “Ben Hur,” and “The Planet of the Apes.” I enjoyed him in movies like “The Agony and the Ecstasy” and “Soylent Green.” And I felt so much pity for him in “Bowling for Columbine” (one of my favorite documentaries). He was a strong supporter of Civil Rights in the 60s. And regardless of his “From my cold dead hands” bravado which turned me off, he was someone who meant something to me. I’m sorry he died; I’m sorry his last years were so terrible with Alzheimer’s Disease. He was a great actor and I admired him for standing up for what he believed in.
Jewish-Catholic Dialogue: Yesterday, my synagogue had a Jewish-Catholic dialogue with the Catholic Church which is across the street. It’s part of an on-going series our two congregations have been having for the last year or so, meeting once every six months. Judi and I went; it was very interesting and we enjoyed meeting and talking with the Catholics.
The topic for this particular meeting was the Trinity—i.e. God as three-personned. As Jews, none of us have really understood that theological concept since, to us, God is one. A UVA professor and Catholic theologian spoke about the history and nature of the Trinity. The first half of his talk, about the historical development of the theology over the first five centuries of Christianity, was quite interesting; but in the second half, when he got into the details of God as three, I really had trouble following. I was a bit overwhelmed—at one point I thought my head was going to explode. It just didn’t make any sense to me. The Catholic concept of God was far more complex than I could grasp.
When we were broken up into groups, I was the only Jew in my group. I felt a bit put on the spot, and also a bit at a loss. I wasn’t sure if I was the only one who had trouble following the speaker because all of the Christians in the group said they enjoyed it, followed it, believe it—it all made perfect sense to them. But the one thing which the theologian said that I could actually make sense out of and helped me understand it a bit more was the idea that individual Catholics could pray to any or all of the three personages of God. And the son ( i.e. Jesus), was human as well as divine, which made it easier for humans to relate to him. So I could see the Trinity actually as an attempt to humanize and simplify God, break him down into more easier-to-grasp parts, rather than making him more complex. Maybe that isn’t the point, but at least it made me feel a little bit better.
When I left, I felt a little bit more enlightened about Catholic theology than I did going in, though still somewhat confused. But what was more important was getting to know our Catholic neighbors, being able to sit down and respectfully discuss, one-on-one, our differences as humans. We can respect each others beliefs and get along with each other socially if not theologically. And maybe that’s the beginning of a model where other religions could talk to each other and respect each other as humans, even if they disagree with each other, and stop killing each other.
And by the way, I might have made a new friend.
current music: "Kokomo" by The Beach Boys
|
|
(15 comments | comment on this)
|
| Monday, March 24th, 2008
| |
4:30 pm - Landscape of Slavery: The Plantation in American Art
|
So you’ll remember from my previous post that I won a tour of the current exhibition at the University of Virginia Art Museum by bidding on it at my synagogue’s fundraiser on-line auction. For the winning bid of $43 I received a private tour of “Landscape of Slavery: The Plantation in American Art” given by Roger Stein, a retired art historian, UVA professor emeritus, and member of my synagogue. I was allowed to bring two people: my sister Judi, of course, who is an artist, and I also asked our friend Carol to join us. The tour was scheduled for yesterday at 2:00. And I must say, I had a great time. It was a fascinating exhibit and Roger was an enthusiastic, dynamic, and quite knowledgeable tour-guide.
We looked at works—mostly paintings, but a few sculptures, ceramics, mixed media, a quilt, a weaved basket, and even clips of films (the black-and-white “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” a “Bugs Bunny” cartoon that made fun of the Civil War, and “Roots”)—that depicted so many varying and different views of the southern plantation. Different time periods (18th through 21st Centuries) and different artists had many different views, from idyllic and romanticized to a place of great barbarity.
There were some famous artists, including Winslow Homer, and some famous plantations including Mount Vernon and Monticello. Some showed happy slaves, some showed oppressed slaves, some showed no slaves at all. One painting depicted a former mistress visiting her former slaves during the Reconstruction era; another depicted a Civil War battle being fought on a plantation while slaves picked cotton in the background; another showed a plantation taken over by Union troops; another showed a plantation destroyed, abandoned, and decayed. More contemporary works were collages and photographs. A watercolor by a southern woman in the 1930s depicted an antebellum plantation where slaves happily greeted their white masters. A display case showed memorabilia from the movie “Gone with the Wind,” which tried to portray the antebellum plantation as “nostalgia.” Another display case showed drawings inspired by Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
There was one giant painting from the late 1980s that showed an Italian palace on the top, still lifes on the bottom, and much black space in between. It was called something like “The Bounty and Burden of History”—none of us, not even Roger, could figure out what was going on in it and why it was included in this exhibition.
I guess the one piece that was most striking to me was called “Foundation.” It was in a room all by itself. It was a big steel sculpture. When you first saw it, it seemed to be a pyramid of bricks. Didn’t look like much. In fact, at first glance, I wondered what on earth that was doing in an exhibition about the plantation—I thought perhaps it was part of a different exhibit at the museum. But then you walk into the room and walk behind it and you see that behind each of the bricks, on the far side, is a bent over slave. And then it became clear that the artist was showing you how that plantation’s foundation was slave labor—but it was hidden. You had to walk around and make the effort to look underneath to see the reality. I had a good discussion with Roger about that. It didn’t occur to me until later that it was very similar, thematically, to that short story “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” by Ursula K. LeGuin.
The exhibition was hung in a particular way in which paintings, hanging side-by-side, talked to each other, in contrast. For example, there would be two pictures of cotton pickers next to each other, but one was bright and the other was dark. From two different periods. Also, different views of Mount Vernon—one showing happy slaves being treated kindly by Washington, another showing rundown and depressed slave-quarters in the foreground with the famous mansion almost hard-to-see in the background.
In many ways, the exhibition dealt with many of the same themes which were brought up in “Moving Midway,” that movie I loved so much at the VFF last year. That documentary showed the several different ways Southern plantations were portrayed on film, and viewed by descendants of slaves and slave-owners. So it was fascinating for me to see that same theme carried over into art. (BTW, as a side note, “Moving Midway” will be playing at the prestigious New Directors New Films festival in New York next weekend, and guess who will be seeing it again. Yep, it will be my fourth time seeing that movie; and I’ll be able to view it with Debbie this time.)
The tour ended up lasting two-and-a-half hours. I was quite pleased. So were Judi and Carol. In the remaining time, before the museum closed, we looked at some of the things in the museum’s permanent collection and then we went for some supper. We walked across the campus to “The Corner,” an area across the street from the campus with a lot of cute stores and restaurants. We ate at this nice little place called The Virginian which was pretty good.
We walked back passed the Rotunda, the beautiful, red-brick white-columned iconic building, symbol of UVA which was designed by Jefferson. It was particularly stunning with the setting sun on it and next to it was a beautiful magnolia tree covered with white blossoms. In fact, this time of year, the UVA campus is just gorgeous with trees just budding and spring flowers, particularly daffodils, sprouting all over. I happened to have my camera with me (I had brought it in case I could take pics in the museum, but it turned out I couldn’t), so we walked over to the Rotunda and I took a bunch of pictures. I’ll have to send them to my friend Siobhan; she’s a big fan of Jefferson and I think she’ll enjoy them.
So it was a great day yesterday and I’m so glad that I bid on that museum tour. I’ll have to make it a point to return to that museum when they have their next exhibit.
|
|
(3 comments | comment on this)
|
| Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
| |
2:00 am - New Chizfilm Review
|
|
| Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
| |
6:19 pm - Debbie’s Weekend Here, Auction, and Obama
|
Yea, I know. I haven’t been on LJ in a while. Lots been going on. It seems the busier I get in real life, the less time I have for LJ. Ironic, because there is so much more to write about.
The biggest thing since I last wrote was that Debbie visited me last weekend. It was a quick trip (three full days and two travel days) but we had a great time and managed to do many fun things together. I won’t mention all of the fun things we did—I’ll leave some up to your imagination—but I will say that we got to visit with both of my sisters (Sarah was in town on Saturday) and spent some nice time wandering the Downtown Pedestrian Mall. Debbie enjoyed the stores, particularly the needlepoint shop where the proprietor was very helpful. Also we ate at some fine restaurants including Vinny’s which is my favorite Italian restaurant in Charlottesville.
We saw some good movies. I finally got to share with Debbie the two films by Chris Hansen, “The Proper Care and Feeding of an American Messiah” and “Clean Freak,” both of which I’ve written about at length in this blog. We also watched “Sydney White”—Debbie was intrigued to see Rollins, since I had just showed off the campus to her two months ago, when we were in Florida. And she, too, remembered many of the “Greek” issues, which the film dealt with, from her college days. We also saw “E. T.” I hadn’t seen that movie in years—Debbie only saw it once when she was five—even younger than Drew Barrymore was when she was in that movie. So it was pretty new to her.
Both of Debbie’s planes were late. The first was particularly bad. She was due to come in at 8:15pm at Richmond, but it didn’t land until 10:30. By the time we got her bags and left the airport and drove to a restaurant on the other side of the city that was open that late (TGI Fridays), it was after 11:00. Debbie’s used to eating dinner at 5 and is often asleep before 11. And then after we ate and drove the 75 miles back here, it was nearly 1:30 before we got in and crashed. So the next day we slept very late. Didn’t get out of the house until 4. But we had a good time together and that’s the most important thing.
The other highlight of Debbie’s trip was going to the synagogue on Friday night. We had a great time and I got to introduce her to many of the people I know there. And the services were nice. It happened to be Hadassah Shabbat and they made a very nice service in honor of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel. Several women got up and gave speeches about their interesting personal experiences in Israel over the last 60 years.
I was sorry when Debbie had to leave, and I miss her, but I’ll be seeing her again soon. In less than two weeks I’ll be going back up to New York and we already have some exciting plans. For one, we’ll be going to the circus. Debbie bought me a ticket; this is exciting for me since I have never been to a circus. Yes, that’s right; I’m 40 years old and I’ve never been to a circus. It will also be my first time at Madison Square Garden. I’ve been underneath it at Penn Station many times, but never inside “The Garden.” I understand it’s quite the stadium and I’m looking forward to seeing it.
Also, it turns out that weekend is the famous New Directors New Films festival. For those who might not be up on the independent film scene, this is one of the five most prestigious film festivals in the country. So Debbie and I will check out some of those films. One of the films playing is “Moving Midway.” Some of you may recall that writing a blub for that was my very first assignment for the Virginia Film Festival last year. And those who paid close attention know that it won the “Best Documentary” award for Chizfilm last week. Yes, I’ve seen it three times, but I would go again to give Debbie a chance to see it, and to meet again Godfrey Cheshire, the director who is also a film critic. I wonder if he’ll remember me from the VFF last November.
Anyway, there is more big news in my life. My synagogue, as a fundraiser, conducted an on-line auction with donated items. It’s kind of like e-bay except on a micro scale. To make a long story short, I won an item. It’s a private tour of an interesting exhibit at the University of Virginia Art Museum. The exhibit is called “Landscape of Slavery: The Plantation in American Art.” According to the website, the exhibit “examine[s] the aesthetic motives, historical context, political impact, and social uses of artworks that deal with the theme of the plantation.” I suspect it will look at a number of the same themes brought up in “Moving Midway,” but from the perspective of art rather than film. Even if I hadn’t won the private tour, it’s something that I would have gone to anyway.
The tour is being given by Roger Stein, who is an art historian and also a member of the synagogue. Of all the 250 items that were being auctioned off, that was the one I wanted the most. I bid on several other items but didn’t win them, but this one I won. My final bid was $43. And all the money goes to the synagogue, which is a cause I believe in.
The tour has been scheduled for this coming Sunday and I’m looking forward to it. I’m allowed to bring two guests. One, of course, will be my sister Judi who is an artist herself. As to the other, I’m not sure yet. I’m going to make a few phone calls to see who I know who is available and would like to come. I wish it could be Debbie, but she’s in New York this weekend. Oh well.
One other thing I’d like to mention is that I was really impressed by Barack Obama’s speech on racism yesterday. Did anyone see it? I didn’t actually see it, but I read a transcript of the text. I must say I found it extremely unusual and refreshing for a political candidate to talk so openly and in complex detail on such a controversial issue which is usually ignored by the mainstream. One would normally expect a politician in his position to try to distance himself from Rev. Wright and brush the racism under the rug. But instead he confronted it head-on. He didn’t say anything that no one knows—we’re all aware of deep-seated fear and mistrusts between Blacks and Whites and the historical reasons for such continuing suspicions and even hatred. But the fact that he said it—a man running for President—and in such detail, was surprising. I must say that this speech increased my respect and admiration for this man. I still have my reservations, of course. But of the three main candidates left in the race (along with Clinton and McCain), he’s the one who seems most worthy of holding that office.
If you haven’t seen or read the speech yet, check out a transcript. Here’s a link to a transcript from the New York Times site. But there are others, I’m sure.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/us/politics/18text-obama.html?ex=1206590400&en=eeb9fd47e9f2bd55&ei=5070&emc=eta1
Oh yea; one last final thing before I go. Are you all aware of the LJ strike called for Friday? It seems LJ is no longer allowing basic accounts and certain user interests (such as sex, bisexuality, depression, and fanfiction) are now to be hidden from the list of most popular interests. Have you all heard about this and what do you think?
I hope everyone’s doing well. Take care, my friends.
|
|
(7 comments | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
| |
3:01 pm - Chizfilm Awards and Debbie's Arrival
|
|
| Saturday, March 8th, 2008
| |
2:21 am - The Last of the 2007 Movies
|
Hey, everyone. I haven’t updated in a while. The biggest reason for that is I’ve been sick. I woke up Sunday morning with a bad cold and have been fighting it all week. I haven’t been able to get too much done, or even get out of the house much. But I am finally feeling a bit better now.
The one good thing about being sick is that I was able to catch up on my movies. You know, every year, just before the Oscars, I’ve announced the annual Chizfilm Awards, but this year I’ve been behind, thanks to my trips to Florida and New York and my various family issues that I’ve had to deal with. So I’m not only down to the wire, I’ve passed it. But I’ve set myself a new deadline—this coming Wednesday—to post the 2007 Chizfilm Awards because Wednesday is the day Debbie is coming. I’m rushing to catch up on my 2007 films, but whatever I haven’t seen by then just won’t be seen.
So far, I’ve seen 56 2007 films. Actually, I guess that’s not bad—that averages out to more than one per week; still, I’d like to get the count up as high as possible to give as many films a chance at an award.
Anyway, in the last week, I’ve managed to see eight 2007 films. These are the ones I’ve seen:
“Golden Door”: An Italian film about Italian immigrants coming to the US in the early 20th Century. I found it a bit slow moving, but it got a bit more interesting once they got to Ellis Island. The crazy tests immigrants had to go through!
“The Savages”: A very well acted movie staring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney as a brother and sister who must put their lives on hold to take care of their aging and ill father. It was very moving. I saw this with Judi; we both felt that we might be looking at our own near future. You know, my Dad continues to decline and my Mom’s not getting any younger either. So we both related to this movie on a strong, personal level.
“Rendition”: An excellent ensemble piece about a suicide bombing in North Africa and an innocent Egyptian-American who the US government thinks might be related to the terrorists who did it, due to an unfortunate coincidence. He’s taken to a prison outside the US and tortured. Eventually, to get them to stop torturing him, he just starts making up stuff. Powerful film.
“Sex and Breakfast”: An interesting little comedy about two young couples who are having sexual problems. A therapist suggests some rather radical ideas, such as group sex, but they backfire. I thought it was amusing and some scenes were very funny, but most of the critics didn’t like it. When I disagree with the vast majority of the critics, it makes me wonder if I’m missing something, or if I’m seeing something that most others missed. When I agree with the critics, it’s reassuring to have my opinions confirmed, but when I disagree, I worry there might be something wrong with my critical faculties. Perhaps I’m just an independent thinker. Which is good for an independent critic of independent films. But I digress. The point is, I liked the movie. And by the way, in case you were wondering, there is far more breakfast than sex in the film.
“In the Shadow of the Moon”: A very good documentary about the Apollo program where NASA sent a dozen astronauts to the moon in the 1960s and 70s. It was quite interesting to hear the surviving astronauts talk about what they did, all these years later. There was also some really neat never-before-seen footage of the missions.
“Goya’s Ghosts”: My favorite artist in the world, Francisco Goya, is the title character in this very interesting piece of historical fiction. He was a major figure in the history of art, but in the political history of Spain, he was only a minor character. Yet, as the court painter to both King Carlos IV and King Ferdinand VII and friend to many great writers and intellectuals, he was in a unique position to witness much of the brutal history of his time—from the Inquisition to the French invasion to the despotic tyranny which led to his eventual exile. Yet this movie is not really about him; rather an event seen through his eyes, on the sidelines. It concerns the daughter of one of his patrons who is tortured and imprisoned by the Inquisition and then raped, in prison, by another one of his patrons, a priest played by Javir Bardem. It is rather interesting and speaks much about this period of Spanish history, yet, in the end, the movie tells us very little about Goya’s personal life or the nature of art. “Goya in Bordeaux” is a much better film for that. Still, it was a worthy and interesting movie.
“The Wind that Shakes the Barley”: A good drama about the Irish struggle for independence from Great Britain in the 1920s. We follow two brothers who join the IRA but when the question of ratifying a compromising peace treaty divides the country, the brothers find themselves on opposite sides in a civil war. It was pretty sad, especially at the end.
“In the Valley of Elah”: Tommy Lee Jones plays the father of a murdered soldier who just returned from Iraq. As he and a police officer investigate the murder, disturbing facts, about how soldiers suffering from PTSD react once they return to the States, are uncovered. Tommy Lee Jones gives a really riveting performance. In fact, he was nominated for an Academy Award for that performance. He didn’t win, though. (Funny, I can’t recall who did win.)
So that’s that. I’m going to watch as many more 2007 movies as I can before Tuesday. But I also have many other things I need to get done before Debbie arrives. Grocery shopping and bills to pay and laundry to do and a haircut to get and an entire apartment to clean. And, of course, to finally shake this cold.
I’m really looking forward to Debbie’s visit.
|
|
(18 comments | comment on this)
|
| Saturday, March 1st, 2008
| |
12:39 am - New Chizfilm Review
|
|
| Friday, February 29th, 2008
| |
12:14 am - Sydney White and Rollins College
|
I just watched this movie I rented called “Sydney White.” A large portion of it was filmed at my alma mater, Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. I enjoyed seeing numerous glimpses of my old school on the big screen; it brought back a few memories. Two of the dorms I had lived in were in the background in three scenes and there were a number of scenes in front of Mills Memorial, the building where I spent many happy hours working for the Writing Center and the Sandspur, the college newspaper. Also quite a few scenes in front of and inside the Olin Library where I took Debbie a little over a month ago. Scenes were filmed in Bush Auditorium and the Annie Russell Theatre and by the shore of Lake Virginia. And there were several glimpses of the beautiful and iconic tower of the Knowles Memorial Chapel. In the movie, they didn’t call the school Rollins College, but made up a fictional name, Southern Atlantic University. Still, it was a pleasure for me to see so much of that campus I loved and lived on for four mostly-happy years of my life.
As for the content of the movie itself, I have to admit I wasn’t expecting too much. I was warned that it was mainly a teen comedy, a mediocre studio pic, and certainly not my kind of film. And while, yea, the plot was predictable and the characters a bit over-the-top and stereotypical, I have to admit it had a bit of an appeal. The movie took the famous fairy-tale of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” and re-imagined it as set on a contemporary college campus with tensions between Greeks (fraternities and sororities) and independents. Snow White becomes Sydney White, a freshman girl whose dead mother had belonged to a sorority and now Sydney feels she must pledge that same sorority to honor her mother. The wicked witch is Rachel Witchburn, the president of the sorority who becomes jealous of Sydney. The mirror-mirror-on-the-wall is a computer website which shows which students are the most popular. Prince Charming is Tyler Prince, the president of a fraternity who falls for Sydney. The Seven Dwarves become the “seven dorks” who live in a run-down shack at the end of “Greek Row.” One of the dorks sneezes a lot because he has bad allergies. The poison apple is an Apple Macintosh computer which hacks onto Sydney’s computer and erases her hard-drive. There are a number of other cute references to “Snow White.” Though not exactly a parallel tale, it borrows enough elements from the original story to be a tribute rather than a rip-off.
Also, the movie deals with some rather serious issues about Greek life on college campus which were actually rather important to me two decades ago. And, interestingly enough, I was discussing only last weekend with Debbie and Yogita who were talking about problems they had with their sorority at Queens College a decade ago. And apparently these issues are still very much alive today. The movie casts them in rather simple terms, but I appreciate that they were brought up and it reminded me of some of the concerns I personally had back then, as I watched what a powerful force the fraternities and sororities were at Rollins in the 1980s. I haven’t thought about those issues for a long time.
So yea, I enjoyed the movie. Mostly I loved seeing Rollins College on film for personal reasons. But artistically it had some merit. Don’t watch it for the plot because you’ll be able to know exactly what will happen after only five minutes into the movie. And don’t watch it for the character development because most characters are one dimensional. But watch it for the details and the clever “Snow White” references. Three stars.
|
|
(4 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, February 28th, 2008
| |
6:38 pm - My Trip to New York: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful
|
Well, I got back from New York late on Tuesday evening. I spent all day yesterday sleeping and trying to catch up with everything I’d put off for a week. Now I have a little time to sit down and write about the trip. I guess you could say it was a good trip, overall, because anytime I see Debbie it’s good. But I must confess there were a number of negative things on this trip, some disappointments, and some things that didn’t go as originally planned.
I think I will divide this blog entry into three categories: the good, the bad, and the beautiful. My old writing teacher, Twila Papay, taught me years ago that one should always start off with something positive, and usually I follow that advice. But today I’m just not in the mood. I have a desire to plunge right into the negative stuff, so I’ll start with that.
The Bad:
- The Hotel: We stayed at the Clarion hotel in Jamaica. We had stayed there once before in October and it was okay then. It was in a great location—one block from the subway and a number of familiar restaurants nearby, including a Wendy’s and a Dunkin Donuts which Debbie particularly likes. But a lot of things were wrong with the hotel. The heater didn’t work very well—it was too hot if it was on for a little while, but if you turn it off, by morning it would be a little chilly. The plumbing was too sensitive on the sink—hard to get a warm medium. And the water pressure in the shower wasn’t very strong. And there was very little counter-space in the bathroom. In fact, the whole room was rather small. And there was no closet—instead just a rather small wardrobe which, because it had an iron and ironing board (which neither of us had any use for) inside it, there was room to hang about two items. The internet connection was not always consistent—sometimes it was too slow. There was a fridge in there, but the fridge didn’t work. There was also a nice floor-lamp in the corner, but that couldn’t work because there was no outlet to plug it into. The only outlet anywhere near it had the alarm clock and the bed-table lamp plugged into it—both of those were more important.
The breakfast at the hotel was rather lousy and the coffee sucked. No cream for the coffee—just milk. And the maid service was pretty abysmal. They didn’t clean the bathroom well, they never replaced the dirty glasses, and one time they opened up the window and left it wide open so that when we returned in the evening it was absolutely freezing in there. It took over a half-hour with the heater going full-blast to warm it back up again. Another time when we returned, our key-cards weren’t working; turns out the hotel had the wrong date for our check-out. And speaking of checking out, I had requested a late check-out. Twice. Both when I checked in, as well as the day before. They said I could check out at noon instead of 11. Well, on Tuesday morning at 11:00am, guess what. The hotel informed us we had missed check-out. What the hell is the matter with them? Debbie and I have pretty much decided we’re not going back to that hotel again. Now I’ll have to look for a new hotel for next time.
- Snow: We got a good five or six inches or so on Friday. Now it’s not really the snow so much that I mind—after all, it is kind of pretty, especially since when it’s freshly fallen it hides the dirt of the city. But it’s cold. And again, the cold isn’t really that bad since I can bundle-up; I could deal with that, for a limited time between warming up indoors with hot chocolate. But the real problem was the slush. Until all the sidewalks of New York were shoveled, some 48 hours or more after it stopped snowing, we had to trudge through the icy slush getting all wet and nearly slipping several times.
- Barry: We had plans to meet up with my friend Barry on Sunday—he was going to come in from New Jersey and we’d come in from Queens, and meet up in Manhattan. Sunday was supposed to be his day off; and Friday’s snow was not a problem by Sunday so it shouldn’t have ruined those plans. But unfortunately, you see, Barry is a sports writer and many of the games which he was supposed to be covering on Saturday were postponed until Sunday due to the snow. So Barry couldn’t meet us. I was disappointed I didn’t get to see my friend.
- Black 47: Other plans fell through. Debbie and I were going to see my favorite band, Black 47, performing at their home base, Connolly’s, in Manhattan on Saturday night. But at the last minute, we changed our minds. It was very cold that night, plus it was late. We figured we’d have a happier time just playing around in the warm hotel room by ourselves. And we did. So of the bad, that one’s not so bad. There will be other chances to see Black 47.
- Bus: On Monday, we went to visit Debbie’s friend Yogita. She lived four-and-a-half miles away (I just checked on Google maps) but it took us a full hour-and-fifteen-minutes thanks to New York’s wonderful bus system. We started to get on a bus next to our hotel but the driver told us it was the wrong bus. (Debbie later realized the driver was confused; it was the right bus.) But we walked 10 to 12 blocks along Jamaica Avenue to Archer/Sutphin (where you get the Air Train). That took about 15 minutes. Then we had to wait almost 15 minutes for our bus. Finally the Q43 came along and that ride took a half-hour as it slowly wound its way along Hillside towards Queens Village—we got off at the corner of Hillside and Springfield. Then we went into CVS which took 10 minutes (Yogita had asked us to pick up some dinks there). And then it was a five minute walk to Yogita’s house. That adds up to an hour-and-fifteen-minutes to go four-and-a-half miles. I bet it would have taken less time if we walked. Is it me, or is there something wrong with New York busses?
- Krispy Kreme: I happen to like Krispy Kreme doughnuts, particularly when they are hot, just off the line. In fact, when they are cold, they really aren’t anything special at all. There used to be a Krispy Kreme in Charlottesville, but it’s gone. I miss those doughnuts. I had hoped to get some when I was in Florida last month but with a million other things going on, it just didn’t happen. So Debbie said I could get a Krispy Kreme doughnut in New York. Turns out there’s only one place in all of New York that has Krispy Kreme doughnuts—that’s at Penn Station. So on Saturday, Debbie and I walked several blocks out of our way to go to Penn Station to get me a doughnut. I had been looking forward to a nice, fresh, hot doughnut for a while. And when we finally got there, guess what. The Krispy Kreme at Penn Station doesn’t make them there. I was informed they are made in Connecticut. Connecticut!!! Can you believe that in the whole city of New York, they don’t make Krispy Kreme doughnuts—they only sell cold ones brought in from another state? I was terribly disappointed. And I was starting to doubt those who taught me, growing up, that New York was the center of the world.
- Victoria’s Secret: Debbie and I went into the Victoria’s Secret store on 34th Street at Herald’s Square. When Debbie told the stupid saleswoman what her size was, the saleswoman said she didn’t know what the American equivalent was and asked Debbie what country she was from. Debbie said, “I’m from here.” The saleswoman, unsatisfied, said, “Yes, but I need to convert your size. What country are you from originally?” “I was born here,” Debbie said. The stupid saleswoman wouldn’t accept that for an answer. Trying to help, I said, “She’s from Queens.” The saleswoman had a perplexed expression on her face. Finally I said, “Jamaica.” The woman’s face lit up, suddenly getting it, suddenly realizing that Debbie’s size was, after all, an American size. Naturally, we left the store without buying anything. Boy, they are idiots in there.
- Avi and his friends: I had trouble meeting up with my friend Avi—we kept playing phone tag and when we finally did manage to talk to each other, Avi was still hesitant to make final plans. Eventually we agreed Debbie and I would meet Avi at the Angelika for a movie on Sunday afternoon. After the movie, Avi suggested some of his friends meet us for dinner. Although I thought it might be nice to have a little time alone with Avi—just the three of us—that was okay with me. I had met Bill and Raquel before—both are nice people and I was happy to see them again. And Avi also mentioned a friend of his named David. I didn’t realize it until I finally met him several hours later that actually I had met him before, like a dozen years ago.
Anyway, after the movie, Bill met us in the lobby of the theatre. I thought we would wait for the other two and then we’d all decide where we’d go eat. But Raquel and David were running late, so Avi asked one of the guys who worked at the theatre to recommend a place and Avi would call the other two and they’d meet us there. The guy suggested a place called Mamoun’s Falafel which he said was excellent. Well, I hadn’t had falafel in years, so I was game. So was everyone else.
Well, it turned out to be a big disappointment. We had to walk ten blocks in the just-below-freezing cold. The food was okay, but not worth walking ten blocks for. What was worse, they only had three tables in the whole place and they were tiny tables and all of them were taken. There was no bathroom. It certainly wasn’t the kind of place where six people could sit down, relax for an hour or so, have a leisurely meal, and talk. It was really more the kind of place where people come and grab take-out to go home with. But Avi had already called Raquel and David and told them to meet us there. Plus Bill had to eat and run. So we were pretty much stuck there. If it weren’t for that, I’d have said, “Avi, let’s go somewhere else.”
Soon Raquel came, then Bill left, then David came. Once some customers left, we crowded around this tiny uncomfortable table designed for two regular people or four very skinny people. The falafel and hummus and schwarma were tasty—I’ll give it that—but it was served in a Styrofoam to-go box. It was cold; our jackets wrapped around us made it even more cramped than it otherwise would have been.
When Debbie and I took the subway back, taking the 6 train at Astor Place, we went in the wrong side; to go in the opposite direction we had to go back up to street level, cross the street, and then go down again. That wouldn’t have been quite so annoying if it weren’t freezing outside and if there were escalators, which there weren’t.
The whole thing made for a rather disappointing evening.
- Airplane: The plane ride up was fine, although it was strange because it was such a small plane and there was no jetway connecting the plane to the terminal. Both at Richmond and at JFK, we had to walk down stairs, walk across the tarmac, and then up stairs into the plane. Again, that wouldn’t have been so bad if it weren’t so cold; plus I felt bad for anyone in a wheelchair who couldn’t climb all those steps. The last time I flew out of Richmond—on Jet Blue—I was on a much bigger plane.
But the ride home was f-ing scary. Lots of really bad turbulence. Really bad. They stopped serving the drinks and peanuts—not that I really wanted any peanuts as the plane shook back-and-forth, up-and-down. My stomach was left behind in New York. Quite frankly, there were a few brief moments when I was starting to think that all my problems would be over real soon. Fortunately, once we got below the clouds, the turbulence stopped and the landing was fine.
Okay. So that was the bad. Happily, it wasn’t all bad.
The Good:
- Alba’s: The best meal of the trip was at this Italian place called Alba’s Ristorante. It was only ten blocks from our hotel, in Jamaica. I found it on the internet and it turned out to be excellent. A great place for Debbie and me to celebrate our Valentines Day dinner. It had a very pleasant atmosphere with cloth tablecloths. Huge portions with decent prices, and excellent service. Tasty garlic bread; a nice, fresh salad; and delicious entrées. I got chicken picatta and Debbie got stuffed shells. I hope we’ll be able to go back there again.
- Rickshaw’s: On Saturday we had lunch at this neat place called Rickshaw’s Dumpling Bar on 23rd Street, in the Flatiron District. They specialize in Chinese-style dumplings. I got duck dumplings with hoisin sauce for dipping and mushroom noodle soup. Quite tasty. It was a bit on the chilly side in there—as was just about every place in New York last weekend—but the soup helped to warm me up.
- The Museum of Sex: After Rickshaw’s, we walked up Fifth Avenue several blocks to the Museum of Sex which we enjoyed. They had three interesting exhibitions. The first was about art, fashion, and style of sex, showing sex in advertising and artistically rendered sexual objects such as toys. The second exhibition was about sex in the moving image. This was fascinating to me as it explored the history of sex and sexual implication on screen over the last 100 years and all the various forms it’s taken. The third exhibition was items from the museum’s permanent collection including the history of sex education, sex machines, sex in art, and a rather interesting display on robot sex.
- Valentines Day: Yes, Valentines Day was two weeks ago, but Debbie and I weren’t together on that day, so we celebrated nine days later, on Saturday. We exchanged gifts. Debbie got me a book called To My Sweetheart which is a collection of beautiful love-inspired photos and quotes, including some great pics from famous romantic films. And she also got me a heart-shaped box full of quotations from Shakespeare about love. I got her a pair of six silver earrings, three for each ear. There were some other gifts too, but modesty prevents me from talking about those in this journal. I’ll just say that we had a lot of fun playing with them later on.
Also, as I mentioned above, we went to Alba’s for our Valentines Day dinner. It was really lovely and I felt so blessed to have such a wonderful Valentine as Debbie.
- “The Band’s Visit”: On Friday, when Debbie was at work, I went to the Angelika to see the Israeli film “The Band’s Visit,” which I really enjoyed. It was a very good movie about an Egyptian band that is invited to play at the opening of an Arab Cultural Center at a town in Israel, but for some reason, they are never met at the airport. They try to find the village on their own, but end up in Beit Hatikvah instead of Betah Tikvah. Since they have missed the last bus, some of the locals put them up for the night. Is it more comedy or drama? That’s hard to say. There are some really wonderful comic and also touching scenes as the Arab band members get to know the Jewish townsfolk and come realize they have much in common and can learn a little something from each other. It was really a delightful film and it was nice to see so full a theatre (several dozen people) for a weekday matinee of a foreign film.
- “Persepolis”: This was the movie Debbie and I saw with Avi. It was absolutely wonderful. Probably the best animated film I’ve ever seen. Very moving at many parts. Based on a graphic novel, it told the story of a young girl growing up in Iran in the 1970s, witnessing the horrors of her country’s revolution. Then she is shipped off to Vienna and must adjust to a Western culture. It’s autobiographical and warns about the terrors of a fundamental religion based totalitarian state.
- “The Day the Earth Stood Still”: On my last night in New York, Debbie and I watched the 1951 Science Fiction classic “The Day the Earth Stood Still” on my Netflix “Watch Instantly” program, streaming live via the internet, on my laptop computer. I thought it was pretty cool that you could do that. Plus, it was an excellent movie. I saw it before, 15 years ago or so, but it’s definitely worth watching again. In fact, it’s even more relevant today. Although it was made as a response to the Cold War and the fear everyone had of the Soviets, it seems even more appropriate today with the fear everyone has of terrorism and immigrants and the shoot-first mentality that has killed far too many innocent people. The special effects seemed a bit cheesy by contemporary standards, but it’s such a dramatic and compelling story that you don’t care.
- Yogita: I finally got to meet Debbie’s best friend, Yogita. I’ve been hearing all about her for nine months, now I finally got to meet her. She’s very nice and she welcomed me with open arms. She recently had a baby, even younger than my niece Talia, and Yogita offered to let me hold her baby less than ten minutes after I met her; my own sister didn’t do that.
Yogita is very spiritual and has a Hindu background. We spent a lot of time discussing Hinduism and transcendental meditation. She said that when she was in labor, she meditated and that was better than any drugs. And because of that, she didn’t mind the labor pains. Ooooooh, my sister, who was in such painful agony for 34 hours, would be so jealous.
And finally, The Beautiful:
- Debbie: Of course, Debbie is the beautiful. Despite all the negative things which I wrote about at the beginning of this blog, being with Debbie canceled them out. She’s just such a wonderful person and has a way about her that makes the bad seem not so bad in her presence. She shrugs off problems with a, “Don’t worry, we’ll work it out” attitude. She encourages me. She completes me.
I love everything about her. I love her smell and the way she feels when I hug her. I love the warmth of her body and the touch of her lips. And I love just staring at her. She bought a new blue lace nightgown and she looks just so beautiful and radiant in it. Sometimes when I’m with her, I think I’m the luckiest guy in the world.
So that’s that. The good, the bad, and the beautiful. I can’t wait until my next trip to New York, in about a month. I’m already looking into travel arrangements.
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
| Thursday, February 21st, 2008
| |
1:05 am - Off to New York Again
|
Well, I’m off to New York, again. I leave in the morning. Well, noon; close enough. Yep, I’ve been doing a lot of traveling lately. But I have to see my love. Debbie has become a very important part of my life. I’m really looking forward to seeing her. Actually, it’s been almost a month since I last saw her in Florida. Too long, actually. We need to do a better job of seeing each other more frequently.
Anyway, I fly out of Richmond because it’s so much cheaper. Less than $200, whereas it would be almost $600 to fly out of Charlottesville. This time tomorrow night I’ll be in New York, if all goes according to plan. It should be a nice trip. I’ll see the library where Debbie works, I’ll get to meet her friend Yogita, we’ll meet up with my friend Barry, we’ll celebrate Valentines Day (a week late), and we’ll see my favorite band, Black 47. And maybe, if there’s time, we’ll visit the Queens Museum of Art or the American Museum of Natural History. But of course, it doesn’t matter what we do, it’s who we do it with. And that will be the best part.
|
|
(12 comments | comment on this)
|
| Wednesday, February 20th, 2008
| |
2:36 am - Eighties Meme
|
Snagged from ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) deborahrgoldman.
1. How old were you in 1980?
I turned 13—that was the year I had my Bar Mitzvah.
2. How old were you in 1989?
I turned 22.
3. Were you a Toys R' Us Kid?
No. My toys came from Kaybee toys. But by the 80s, I was pretty much giving up toys, for the most part.
4. Did you watch Transformers?
No.
5. Did you see E.T. on the big screen?
Yes. On it’s second showing.
6. Did you own a Lite Bright?
No
7. Who is your favorite Golden Girl?
Didn’t see that show often enough to have a favorite.
8. When someone says "Who you gonna call?"
Ghostbusters! The first time I saw that movie, I rather enjoyed it. The second time I saw it, I thought it was a bit silly.
9. What was your favorite toy(s) in the eighties?
I remember playing with a Rubix Cube a lot.
10. Did you have a Pogo Ball?
No.
11. Did you listen to New Kids on the Block?
I think I heard some of the songs playing in the background, but I wasn’t really listening.
12. What New Kid did you have a crush on?
I didn’t really know them.
13. Did you play M.A.S.H?
Play? Don’t you mean watch? Yes, I watched “M*A*S*H.” I liked that show. Still do, actually.
14. Did you watch The Care Bears?
No.
15. Did you have Jelly bracelets?
No.
16. Did you have a charm necklace and/or bracelet?
No.
17. Did you have a Glo Worm?
No.
18. Did you ever own a slap bracelet?
No.
19. The Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles?
“The Breakfast Club.” Yea, that was a good movie.
20. Did you have a crazy hair style?
No.
21. What was your first bike?
You mean the brand name? Damned if I can remember that.
22. Name one thing you still own from your childhood:
My Hanukkah menorah—I got that when I was five. Oh wait—you mean something I acquired in the 80s? My “Challenger” patch.
23. Did you have a Cabbage Patch Kid?
No.
24. Did you dress like Madonna?
Yes, I was a teenage transvestite. (j/k)
25. Rainbow Brite or Strawberry Shortcake?
No idea.
26. Did you watch Miami Vice?
I saw a few episodes. And I remember I really liked that song “You belong to the city…” which was from that show. Wish I could remember the name of the singer. … Hmmm. Was it Glenn Fry? Or something like that?
27. Did you own a pair of Jelly Shoes?
I’m not sure what that was. Doesn’t ring a bell.
28. Did you own a Trapper Keeper?
Yes. Quite a few, now that I think about it.
29. Atari or Nintendo?
Atari. (I had stopped playing video games by the time Nintendo came along.)
30. Did you play Pac-Man?
Yes. And Space Invaders. And Asteroids. And Ms Pac-Man.
31. Which was better: He-Man or She-Ra?
Shouldn’t that be WHO was better, not WHICH?
32. What movie scared you the most?
For the most part, I didn’t watch horror movies, but I do remember being scared to death by “Sasquatch.” Hmmm... but I think maybe that movie was in the 70s. Okay, I know now. “The Day After.” I don’t think that actually qualifies as a “horror” film, but it sure scared the sh*t out of me and really effected me, for years after watching it. Really.
33. Did you try to dance like Michael Jackson?
LOL Okay, yea, I’ll admit it. I thought the moon dance was cool. *embarrassed is*
34. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear "Flux Capacitor"?
The 1.21 gigawatts necessary to power that damn thing. (Sorry, I saw that movie too many times.)
35. What other colors did Pepsi come in?
Clear, I think. I seem to recall it looked a bit like Sprite, but tasted pretty yucky. It was almost as bad as “New Coke.” What were they thinking?
36. Roger Rabbit or Howard the Duck?
Actually, Jessica Rabbit, to tell the truth. I thought she was the hottest ‘toon.
37. Did you ever beg your parents to have your school picture taken with the 'LASER' background?
I don’t know what that is.
38. Do you know what the Ninja Rap is?
No, but I’m guessing it might have something to do with “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Am I right?
39. Do you know why people cringe when they hear the word BUCKNER?
Not a clue.
40. Can you name the family members from National Lampoons Vacation movies?
The Griswalds!
41. Wally-World or Europe?
Europe.
42. What was your favorite movie from the 80's?
Well, today it’s “Amadeus.” But I actually didn’t discover that film until 1991. At the time, some of my favorite 80s movies that I saw and liked then were “Return of the Jedi,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “La Bamba,” “Good Morning Vietnam,” “Special Bulletin,” “Somewhere in Time,” “Born on the Fourth of July,” “The Pirates of Penzance,” “Dead Poets Society,” “Back to the Future,” “Back to the Future II,” “The Blue and the Gray,” “Star Trek III: the Search for Spock,” “Star Trek IV: the Voyage Home,” and “War Games.”
|
|
(comment on this)
|
| Monday, February 18th, 2008
| |
4:35 pm - Chizfilm Review of a Dozen YouTube Shorts
|
|
| Thursday, February 14th, 2008
| |
2:41 am - Happy Valentines Day
|
Happy Valentines Day to all my friends. But most especially to the most wonderful woman in the world, Debbie. I want the world to know I love you, Debbie. Be mine!
|
|
(5 comments | comment on this)
|
| Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
| |
2:05 am - “Right at Your Door” Reflects Post-9/11 Fears
|
For those interested, I just updated my Chizfilm Movie Reviews site with a new review of “Right at Your Door.” It’s basically a rehash of the few remarks that I made about the film in yesterday’s LJ entry, but expanded and further developed. Perhaps some of you might care to check it out. I’d be curious to know what you think.
http://www.chisdes.com/rightdoor.html
|
|
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
|
|
|
|
