Outside Cinnamon Shops

Waaaaaaait a minute

2009-05-18T13:17:00.000-07:00

David Ortiz before being teammates with Roider Manny Ramirez: Batting average of .266 and hitting a home run every 25.4 at bats.

Years with Roider Manny Ramirez: Batting average of .301 and home runs every 13.1 at bats.

Over the past two years since Manny has been gone: Batting average of .250 and home runs every 23.7 at bats. INTERESTING.

Yes, please make your A-Rod comments below.

Crap on my Poo and Axe through my Knee

2009-04-20T11:39:00.000-07:00

I liked this board a lot. (I won 407 to 379, but that's neither here nor there.)

Very Exciting New Website Up and Running

2009-04-02T14:04:00.001-07:00

http://www.hotchkissandassociates.com/

Scotchy Scotch Lemon?

2009-02-12T09:56:00.000-08:00

I was served a scotch on the rocks with lemon in it last night. Not a twist, an actual slice of lemon. I removed it immediately, but my scotch had a hint of citrus to it, which was weird. It was also overpriced.

Try to Imagine

2009-02-09T14:30:00.000-08:00

Beirut at MHOW

Huzzah and Huzzah and Huzzah

OMG...HBU?

2009-01-28T08:28:00.000-08:00

Late last night I received a text message from a Baltimore area cell phone number I did not know. The following is our correspondence.

RANDOM BALTIMORE GIRL: You in New York? And awake later likd [sic] 3? Plans just fell through, any chance (Audrey and I) could crash with you?

SEAN: Audrey smells bad. She can’t stay at my place.

RANDOM BALTIMORE GIRL: What?

SEAN: Wait, where are u [sic] guys? Maybe I’ll come out.

RANDOM BALTIMORE GIRL: On the bus, She’s on the train. Her train is late, don’t want to take the subway at 3 or 4 to Astoria. You live in Manhattan, or do you live further out?

SEAN: I live in Brooklyn, but I’m at my girlfriend’s in Manhattan. Who is this? Where are you coming from? Who do you think I am?

RANDOM BALTIMORE GIRL: Found a place. Take care.

SEAN: Aww. Tell Audrey I said hi!

RANDOM BALTIMORE GIRL: You’ve never met her.

SEAN: I’ve never met you either.

Salsa Makes Things Free

2009-01-21T12:36:00.000-08:00

Submitted to Qdoba customer service survey:

I ordered a Quesadilla which was prepared just fine. My girlfriend ordered a Fajita Ranchera Burrito with Pork. We presented a coupon for a free chips and salsa. The person taking our order asked what salsa we wanted. We decided to just have the chips as we didn’t need the salsa. When she rang up our meal, we were charged for the chips. When I questioned her, I was informed that because I did not want salsa with my chips, that the coupon had become invalid and I was getting charged for the chips. So, here’s the problem, if you ARE going to have a strange rule where you MUST have the salsa with the chips in order for the coupon to be valid, please have your employees inform the customers of your very bizarre policy. But that just seems like wasting salsa. We ended up taking some salsa, so that we could get the chips for free. That salsa could have fed a needy person who actually wanted it.

As we were leaving, I also noticed that we were charged an extra 79 cents for peppers and onions in my girlfriend’s burrito. As the Ranchera comes with peppers and onions, we questioned this. We were informed that you could not get the Ranchera with pork (Sarah had ordered a non-existent burrito,) but instead we were charged with a regular burrito, they then took away the beans, and added the onions and peppers. Again, this was something that we would have liked to have known as we were ordering.

We really enjoy Qdoba and hope to be back again in an environment where ordering food is not so frustrating.

Also Genius Switch Studio (http://www.geniusswitchstudio.com) is pretty freaking great. They are doing some great work for us.

Celebrunots

2009-01-14T09:51:00.001-08:00

Sarah and I went to the Defiance premiere and after-party and became celebrity photo background artists. I think it might be a new profession for us. (Leelee Sobieski and Milena Govich.)

Infantile

2009-01-08T11:59:00.001-08:00

Babies are awesome. Even more so when they are not yours.

Cue Evil Music

2008-09-10T08:58:00.001-07:00

I am giving Anthony Quinn nefarious advice at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Oink

2008-08-26T09:14:00.000-07:00

He tried to escape. But we ate him anyway.

French Girls

2008-08-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

These girls were going to a Staten Island Yankees game.

Sarah and I completed the New York Times Magazine Sunday crossword, then found we had one wrong letter. Damn you Jefferson Starship.

Burnt

2008-08-14T12:08:00.001-07:00

I was the human torch in my dreams last night. I flew around the city, but I saw depressing things as I did. Perhaps I will not eat at that Thai restaurant again.

I Found Love in the Subway

2008-08-11T20:09:00.000-07:00

I thought once that having a structure to this blog would make it easier to update. Instead, it discourages me from updating. I am abandoning the structure in an effort to blog more often. Here’s to that!

Call Me Manatee!!!

2008-06-25T10:25:00.000-07:00

Wow. I’m bad at this blogging thing. Let us see. My father won a Drama Desk Award and made a lovely speech. I missed Silver Mt Zion due to my own folly. Basketball playoff victory. Nice.

Music: Indie Rock Playlist, June. One song “I Love You” by Esser stands out so far. It’s a few hours of music so it may take a while. New Sigur Ros is amazing. I wish I knew this band before they played in huge sold out halls at $50 a ticket, but at least it means they’re not going anywhere soon. Pela at Bowery (photo, above,) fun, though two complaints. 1. REALLY obnoxious drunk girls. 2. Their new album may not be all that great.

Books: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

“You’re a nice-looking boy, a bit slight, well scrubbed and well mannered. All that is fine, but it’s your existence I love you for mainly. Existence seems to me now the most remarkable thing that could ever be imagined.”

Movies: Indy Indy Indy (shakes head.) Hulk Bore! Benny’s Video, interesting, but sometimes I need to be in the mood for Haneke. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, really nicely composed and rides a fine line really well. I HATED the last shot though. Totally unnecessary. Control, I think I preferred 24 Hour Party People.

Stories: Went to see John Mulaney at Comix and Jim Gaffigan did a surprise opening for John. My abs hurt the next day from laughing at this guy. After a little research I found that Gaffigan did (10 years ago) one of my favorite comedy bits ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jkUPNfiITk

Shut up. Sea Cow.

The Lights Go On, The Lights Go Off

2008-05-14T08:42:00.000-07:00

Above, at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Photo credit = Sarah.

Lots of things have happened.

Music: Son Lux, highly addictive. Thanks aefs. The second half of Portishead Third is great. Ferraby still in rotation. Excited to see Silver Mt. Zion. Anyone want to go? I have extra tickets.

Books: Many proposals, few are promising. Starting The Ethical Slut. Interesting. Not quite convincing me yet.

Movies: Iron Man, much fun. Lebowski again. Walter is one of my favorite characters evah. The Lookout, interesting. The Savages, good, but not as advertised. Golden Compass, whoops.

Stories: Too many.

They Must Be

2008-04-01T15:26:00.001-07:00

I went to New Hampshire this past weekend to visit the lovely couple Andrew and Erica. Above, one of their two dogs, Kuba. They are having a baby, though Andrew attests that it is a potato. It will be a loving family.

Music: They Might Be Giants in Portsmouth. More on that below. Sons and Daughters at Bowery. Fun. Faure Requiem riding in the dark into Boston was pretty great.

Books: Lots of proposals, sections of manuscripts. An amazing short story that I’m very excited about.

Movies: Stop Loss, impressive if melodramatic. I was depressed by its box office performance. Dan in Real Life, liked it more than I thought I would. 30 Days of Night and Hitman, both trashy fun.

Stories: So the They Might Be Giants show was as always amazing, but there was one moment that blew me out of the water. Dan Miller, guitarist for TMBG played an absolutely incredible intro to Istanbul (not Constantinople.) It was reminiscent of some Explosions in the Sky or GYBE moment. Link here for a brief part of it captured at another show. I was floored. http://video.aol.com/video-detail/they-might-be-giants-istanbul-solo/1339473133

SUN AND WAKE

2008-03-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

A lovely cruise around the Caribbean. Hurricane Ivan did a number on the Grand Cayman coral though, and it’s not nearly as impressive as 9 years ago. I stuffed myself with great food and pretty good wine. I lost much money in the casino, but it was great entertainment. Texas Hold’em with surly Italians was amazing.

Music: Very little on the cruise. BUT, a very important new album that everyone must rush out and buy: Breaking the Ground, The Music of Christopher Simpson, John Mark Rozendaal’s first solo CD. Amazing stuff. Also, Pela show before I left, great rocking, but far too much booze. A speedy recovery to Billy. Ferraby Lionheart, nice.

Books: Stephen King short stories, always fun. The Ruins by Scott Smith, great terror, but looks like a suspicious movie from the trailer. The Pearl Diver by Jeff Talarigo, very promising first hundred pages. Depressing.

Movies: The Bank Job, a fun time. Red Road, fresh and good. Lucky You, not so much. Premonition, yuck. The Other Boleyn Girl, Scarlet over Natalie? Puleeease. Costumes were great and there was a viola da gamba sighting. Away From Her, sigh sigh sigh.

Stories: The cruise ship seemed to be the holding place for stereotypes from across the country. We had all of them: The abrasive rude Europeans, the douchebaggery of college kids on spring break (from University of Central Florida with backwards baseball caps and all), the white middle America, conservative, overweight couples. It was like a zoo.

Daiye Spa

2008-02-17T18:27:00.000-08:00

One Story:

My very kind Valentines Day present was a “couples” trip to a day spa. I had never visited a day spa before and neither had Nancy. We were informed that the package included a mineral rub, a steam bath, a massage, a facial, followed by champagne and chocolate. We arrived and our coats were placed in the smallest closet I had ever seen. We then sat at the front desk as the employees raced about seeming stressed and confused. This created a great atmosphere to be “relaxed” in.

We were placed in a room with two massage tables and told to take off our clothes and put on shower caps. We were also directed to two sealed packages about the size of pocket-sized tissue packs. These contained the underwear that we were to wear for the next three hours. I dutifully put on the silliest paper bikini underwear ever made. Thankfully I stopped laughing before the woman came to rub things on me. By the way, the employees at this spa had a well cultured skill for knocking quickly and coming in right as you are trying to put on your silly paper underwear. The woman then rubbed me all over with brown sugar. I was a very large coffee cake.

We were then directed into a shower where I was able to remove my sweet, sticky covering. Afterwards, I accidentally destroyed my second pair of silly paper underwear and had to request a third.

The massage was actually very nice. Though after washing off one very oily substance, I was then covered in another and not offered the shower again. Then, time for the facial!

The woman placed in front of my face what felt like a hair dryer if they added steam. I could not breathe. I felt like I had instantly become asthmatic. So after the water-boarding variant, I was covered in a mask of some kind. Then that mask was removed. Then she attacked my face with her fingers, squeezing the very life force out of it. I told her EVERYTHING. Then I was covered in another mask, which was washed off in preparation for me being covered in another mask.

This was followed by them seating us in a small screened-in alcove where we “enjoyed” our glass of champagne and single chocolate each as the employees raced around very clearly stressed out.

All in all, I actually had a blast. Thank you.

Drink it up!

2008-01-29T15:52:00.000-08:00

The puzzle is complete. Huzzah.

Weekend full of parties. A rousing success in Seth’s Rabbie Burns Night party. Never has so much scotch been consumed by Sean Daily. My Scottish accent had nice touches of Irish and Australian. I went up on the Selkirk Grace, but the audience was kind. The Haggis was incredible. Los Angeles Times misspells my name. GIANTS GIANTS GIANTS!

Music: Radiohead’s OK Computer, still possibly the best complete album ever. Baltimore Consort’s The Mad Buckgoat in preparation for Burns (left in Seth’s CD player.) Sonnerie de Sainte-Geneviève du Mont, maybe three times in the last week.

Books: A great literary romance that takes place chiefly on the New York City subway system. Also, An Unfinished Life by Mark Spragg, really quite good.

Movies: There Will Be Blood, breathtaking, maybe the best film I’ve seen in years. Cloverfield was fun, though the 9/11 parallels were a little unsettling. Eagle Vs Shark, quirky. In The Name of the King, maybe the worst film I’ve seen in years.

Stories: Sarah and I have begun the apartment hunt in earnest. Went to an apartment with a broker where the hallways were stucco and about 2 feet wide. When we got to the door, the key would not work (turns out it was uncut.) The broker convinced a kid to climb out on the fire escape and open a window for us. His overweight angry mother came out in her house dress and cursed and yelled at the boy, and then yelled at us. We ended up not taking the place, despite the wonderful neighbors we’d have.

Good Prospect

2008-01-16T09:49:00.000-08:00

At the park.

What an incredibly long time since I’ve been back here. Christmas happened. As did New Years. Kudos to the paradise lounge for hosting a kicking party. Basketball and football have been proceeding without serious injury. The biggest revelation of the past few weeks is that I enjoy puzzles, though I am not very quiet.

Music: Still trying to get into Andrew Bird. Not sure if he will really take. Pela is being played more and more. Finally found the Jordi Savall Folia CD and had that going for a while. Been hampered by broken headphones. Annoying.

Books: World War Z, very great. Apparently I’m a zombie nut. I’m afraid I gave up on Elizabeth Costello, the Coetzee. I guess he just lost me. Maybe I’ll revisit at a later date. A few more things for work.

Theatre: Spamalot! Hilarious, but most of the stuff that worked best was the material that wasn’t in the movie.

Stories: We had two separate fights break out at my last basketball game. The referees called the game with a minute and 20 seconds left after the second fight. Technically, we won the game. I’ve never had that happen in organized sports. So many frustrated young professionals.

Bar

2007-12-20T14:57:00.000-08:00

I’ve missed my home the past couple of weeks. I’ve been far too active. A very nice long holiday break awaits.

Music: Recently rediscovered Molotov, Gotan Project, and a mix that Stephanie made for me years ago. Still Beirut. I love it.

Books: Ian McEwan’s Cement Garden, quite wonderful. Also stocking up for the holiday reading with a little Coetzee.

Movies: Juno, hilarious. If only everyone in the world were that witty. Pierrepoint, I love Timothy Spall. Unfaithful, not so great. Happy Feet, "cute" works for about 20 minutes, then yawn. I Am Legend in IMAX. A great time was had by me.

Theatre: AMDA Showcase, very very funny. No Dice by the Nature Theatre of Oklahoma, once again blowing my mind. Kudos to them and to the great reception they’ve received.

Stories: I was annoyed to have people talking full volume to each other during a play last week with no regard to the other audience members or the people on stage, even after being shushed. I mean, I try and not be too snooty, but jeez, it’s a play.

Light Snow on an Empty Pool

2007-12-06T20:39:00.000-08:00

Such Great Heights Times Two

2007-11-25T20:23:00.000-08:00

Above, Inara George from The Bird and the Bee. (heart)

4 days of celebrities. Sunday: Ryan Gosling at The Bird and The Bee. Monday: John Flansburgh at The Noho Star. Tuesday: Demetri Martin (actually wearing his Mickey Mouse sweatshirt) at the Noho Star. Wednesday: Luis Guzman at a movie theatre. Flansburgh was a special treat. Ridiculously relaxing weekend filled with food and football and movies and good company.

Music: Beirut!! Love. Cold War Kids. Fun stuff, and both courtesy of SARAH SARAH SARAH! Also some DJ Shadow today on a too long bus ride.

Movies: I turned off The Break Up. It was not funny for 45 minutes, I assumed the rest of the film followed suit. Surprisingly did not like Before The Devil Knows You're Dead very much. I mean, it was good, but I didn’t like anyone or find them fascinating enough to not like them and have that be okay. Beowulf, poem is better. Mo-cap…meh.

Books: Lots of proposals. The beginning of Badenheim 1939.

Stories: I was leaving a bar with someone and the Iron & Wine cover of the Postal Service song “Such Great Heights” came on. I said “this song is great, but I like the original better because this was ruined by an M&Ms commercial.” My friend had never heard it. Many hours later we were leaving a different bar and the original Postal Service “Such Great Heights” came on. We stared at each other and I was happy and she had heard the version I wanted them to play and fate was running the jukebox. It was weird.

Fire in a Horn

2007-11-14T21:45:00.000-08:00

Late night photo...

Sorry, it's been a while again. Let's see, the concert went
splendidly. I played an organized contact sport for the first time in
almost 8 years and it was pretty excellent, even though I got beat up
something awful including a nasty gouge in my pinky. Heard more from
my grandfather than I usually do out in Philly over the weekend.
Interesting. There was a death in my extended circle of friends, which
was sad. But things are looking up…

Music: New Sigur Ros. Hvarf/Heim. Beautiful, but no surprise there.
Some Broken Social Scene. Someone needs to burn me Beirut.

Movies: Next, with Nick Cage. Um "Next!" The Invisible, great premise,
yawn execution. A Dirty Shame. Ugh. Ha. American Gangster. Damn
straight. No Country for Old Men. Love love love love. And love.

Books: A great surreal legal thriller. Reread the end of No Country
for Old Men. Purchased another copy of Street of Crocodiles to give
away.

Stories: I'm just coming to realize that I am not taking advantage of
Brooklyn. I went to a small bar/performance space with quaint wood
tables and red candles and a huge wine list and noise low enough to
hear the person you're there with. The windows up front are naturally
frosted by being fogged up from the warm inside. Free live music in a
small room in back. Comfort.

Also, I've been hearing wonderful tales of a far away city from a
friend. This makes me need to travel again soon. But where?

Above all else

2007-11-02T22:06:00.001-07:00

Music

Ka-Tet

2007-10-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

Above, as Roland Deschain. And me and Walter Sobchak. Wild Halloween weekend. Some people made me really happy with their costumes. The King, Brown v. Board of Education, but best of all was Larry Craig. Hats off to that. I’ve got a concert coming up that will consume the next week of my life, but I’m feeling very good about it. Oh, also, apparently I am good at beer pong. Who knew?

Music: John Henry this morning. Shakespeare songs concert with David Douglass, Ellen Hargis, Paul O’Dette and William Hite. Quite nice. A little Mum. Some Godspeed as always.

Movies: Into the Wild, beautiful and smart and inspiring. Kicking and Screaming, the Baumbach, not the Ferrell. Very funny. The Wind that Shakes the Barley, I wanted to like it a lot more than I did. Also, it was one of those films in English that could use subtitles.

Books: Great screenplay adapted from a “southern turn of the century” book that I love. A nice urban gangster book. A lovely YA that’s not going to work for film unfortunately.

Stories: I played my favorite early music game ever again this weekend at the Shakespeare concert. The game is to look around the hall and find men in attendance that do NOT have 1. facial hair 2. a bald spot 3. glasses. This is much more difficult than you may imagine. In a hall of 120 I found 3 qualifying men.

Boaking

2007-10-15T08:14:00.000-07:00

Sailing off of City Island in a 33ft boat. Wind and sushi and water and salt air. 25 thousand people on Randall’s Island surging to Arcade Fire. A long, long, lovely walk back to the upper east side over a packed bridge. A pre-performance of the Bach suite. An LCD HDTV (but not for me.)

Music: Radiohead, In Rainbows (yes, I paid for it.) Picforth. Perfect From Now On. ESCM.

Movies: 1408, more clever than I assumed. 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, dumber than moss. Resident Evil: Extinction, things jumped out at us…it was scary, the end. Eastern Promises, great, but something unsettling about it, and not the violence. It’s as if the normal comfort of the sure hands of a storyteller was missing...intentionally.

Books: An alien invasion YA. A sardonic wandering novel that I'm enjoying.

Stories: I tried to imagine the inverse of eating sushi on a boat; watching fish eat humans under the water. Fairly disturbing, but I still ate it anyway. Yummy eel avocado.

Wake Up! (sorry, very tired)

2007-10-01T14:29:00.000-07:00

Life is...yeah. But if it wasn’t, we’d all be struldbrugs, lounging around, waiting in silence and doing nothing but having greedy thoughts.

Guitar Center is a playground. LaGuardia Airport is NOT entertaining for three hours late at night OR 2 and ½ hours very early in the morning. I have an Xbox now thanks to my brother (life over.) I had an amazing and complicated weekend that was far too short.

Music: I saw and heard more Japanese and Danish pop music in the past two days than I had seen or heard in my entire accumulative life. It made me bop. Fun. A lot of Arcade Fire (concert this weekend!) and some Calexico.

Movies: No Movies!?

Books: sigh

Plays: The Dining Room at the Clurman Theatre. Spectacular. My Pa’s hilarious. There are a couple of really “difficult” segments in the production that are handled very well too. It made me want a dining room. Hell, I’d take a living room at this point.

Stories: Mets game last week. 4^th row behind home plate. Ushers, waiters, Chloe Sevigny, and Mr. Met running away from pretty girls who just want a picture with him. Poor Mets. If they weren’t the Mets I’d feel bad.

Sly and Strand

2007-09-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since I posted. Much has occurred. The tag sale came and went without Comic Book Guy coming and taking all my comics away. But I did get rid of a good deal of possessions (I heard somewhere they were fleeting anyway.) I had dinner with someone who knew and photographed both Sylvester Stallone and Mark Strand. Also Yankee game, Jesse James premiere, and one kick-ass birthday party for Sarah. Go Sarah.

Books: Finished The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King. Digging into The Waste Lands. I forget how they dealt with the Jake issue. Argh. I think great books, like great movies, require re-watching/re-reading. Then I read a bunch of bad things.

Music: Mad Buckgoat. Faure Requiem on a train after a dinner party. Once soundtrack walking home from drinks. Ratatat to pick me up after Faure.

Movies: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. It’s beautiful, lyrical, amazingly acted, wonderfully shot, and almost 3 hours long. My favorite movie so far this year.

Stories: I met celebrities (Brad Pitt, Cuba Gooding Jr.) at an after party for the Jesse James premiere, but the real story was the cheesecake. They had desserts laid out for us after the buffet dinner and I had a small piece of this innocuous looking cheesecake and it was possibly the most succulent cheesecake I’d ever eaten. I went back twice for more. These celebrities get the greatest perks.

Brad did amuse us all though when he grabbed a hor’dourves plate and started circulating a small area offering small pieces of salmon on crackers to un-expecting guests.

I'll Sing Along

2007-09-12T09:15:00.000-07:00

I spent much time this past weekend preparing for a huge tag/garage/yard sale that will occur in Katonah this weekend. I’ve somehow compiled over 1000 comic books and over 10,000 baseball cards from ages 2-18. I am also very ready to get rid of 99.9% them having not missed them for 8 years. But I went through them and organized them and priced them. I’m counting on Comic Book Guy to come by and say “I would be interested in buying all of your comics and baseball cards and take them away from you” and I will say “yes, please take them all, and this purchase in no way makes you a giant loser” and he will say “thank you” as he combs the sweet tarts out of his beard.

Books: Nautical Intervention by Josh Goldfaden. Very funny. I have four books on my desk I have to finish before the week is out. Yikes.

Music: Oakenfold Dragonfly. The Dirty Three, She Has No Strings Apollo. And an amazing Frames concert (more below)

Movies: I haven’t seen anything. That’s insane. What’s wrong with me?

Stories: So, this will mean more if you’ve seen the film “Once.” Anyway, two nights ago, I saw an amazing Frames concert that rocked out with its *ahem* out. It included some kick ass electric fiddling by Colm Mac Con Iomaire (best name ever) and even a solo set by him with an acoustic five string violin with gamba-shaped ribs.

Anyway, Glen Hansard came out for their encore and said “so for this whole tour, people have been coming up to me and asking if they could sing ‘Falling Slowly’ with me because they knew Mar (Marketa Irglova) couldn’t make it on the tour. Well, Mar’s here tonight in New York, so we’re going to sing it for you now” At this point, I almost melted into a pool of Seaness on the floor. So they sang it, and at the end Glen walked over to Mar and gave her a kiss and I DID melt into a pool of Seaness. (Thank you Sarah for collecting me and getting me out of the venue) So, yeah, good show. I honestly had a hard time separating the movie (Once) from reality in this concert. Felt like an epilogue.

Junked Food

2007-09-04T13:30:00.001-07:00

I like wine too.

A lovely trip to suburban Philly for Labor Day weekend. A serene day at the country club basking in the sun and splashing in the pool. Good burgers, good scotch. Then 6 hours of travel in cars, buses, and trains to get back to Brooklyn. That was less fun. I feel like I need more Art in my life. Let’s go to a museum, okay? But a free one, okay?

Books: I’m not reading fast enough. I need a library room with a big leather chair and maybe a smoking jacket. Then again, Professor Plum may try and whack me with a lead pipe if I do that.

Music: So much recently. Sigur Ros (), Explosions new album, Radiohead Kid A, Neon Bible this morning. Low’s “In Metal” made me so deliriously happy two days ago, I almost burst.

Movies: The Invasion. Ugh. Could have been good, but it wasn’t. It very wasn’t. Also, Nicole Kidman is getting hotter as she gets older. I’d take today’s Nicole Kidman over Days of Thunder Nicole Kidman for sure. Maybe it’s just the de-Cruisification.

Plays: Veddy interesting Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare in the Park. Jay O. Sanders is an amazing Bottom. Martha Plimpton is a larf. The costumes were quite strange and sometimes very bad. Overall I had a lovely time, though I was not a fan of the supertitles on the big screen in front of me. Too bad Shakespeare didn’t write in English so we wouldn’t need them. Um. Yeah.

Stories: I learned this weekend that my grandparents shop like 9 year olds. In their kitchen: three bags of three different types of cookies, two boxes of Entenmanns donuts, one full jar of Hershey’s bite size chocolates, bite size Milky Way and Snickers, Klondike bars, four bags of potato chips (different brands and flavors), and a few full size Snickers bars. But I think if you make it to your late 80s you can eat as much junk as you want. I plan on it.

Living like a champion today

2007-08-31T21:02:00.000-07:00

Old photo of an old home.

Sometimes time slows down a bit too much. But a week full of decisions. Something “moving.” Hoy hoy. Check back in March. Looking forward to getting away this weekend and seeing the fam. Also FIGHT ON IRISH!!!

Books: A lot of poor treatments. I’m excited to dig into a two part true slavery escape narrative. Some screenplays, of course. Wow, I really can’t comment on much. Damn internet.

Music: Ahh, the Bach D Minor violin Chaconne this morning made me feel wonderful. TV on the Radio coming back from drinks with Justin was a perfect choice. Explosions in the Sky returning from my lesson and celebrating a Yankees victory over Red Sox. I’m not sure where I’d be in my life musically without the subway. God bless the subway.

Movies: Four Brothers. Meh. Romance and Cigarettes premiere. How wonderful to see James Gandolfini and Susan Sarandon singing their hearts out. Also, seeing James Gandolfini and Susan Sarandon in the flesh was exciting.

Stories: Steve Buscemi has twice now looked me directly in the eye for a longer than normal period of time on two separate occasions at two different premieres. Definitely awkward moments. Next time, we need to tussle. Just kidding. I love that man.

Growl.

2007-08-27T09:12:00.000-07:00

Oh man. This could be interesting.

Books: A so far very good roman-a-clef about hospital life and hit men. Also read Itamar Moses's play Bach at Leipzig. Very funny and smart and a great great ending.

Music: An Italian Sojourn by Trio Settecento. Very beautiful. Everyone run out and buy! (Sighs) The National, Boxer, this morning. Along with Vittorio Ghielmi's Bagpipes from Hell. Rwar.

Movies: Superbad. Funny and dirty and made me miss Michael Cera and Arrested Development. The Coen bros line is classic. Also saw loads of Eddie Izzard standup. I laughed heartily.

Stories:
I had a lively, loud, and hilarious suburban Westchester dinner at which I told this joke:

Q: What do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhinoceros?

A: Elephino....get it? Elephino?

Dedicated Tat Post

2007-08-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

I think I have settled on the gamba tattoo. It will be a C-hole. Now comes the difficult task of choosing which C-hole. Above are two options I like. The more traditional one is from the Vermeer painting Lady Seated at a Virginal. The more elaborate one is from a portrait of Karl Friedrich Abel by Thomas Gainsborough.

The other things at stake are.

Size (thinking about 4-5” tall)
Location (leaning towards right deltoid)
Number (probably only the one)

I’m looking for suggestions though.

Not easy being...

2007-08-17T08:51:00.000-07:00

I’ve been ill. Franny and I got something over the weekend and have both had a most unpleasant week. I seem to be on the mend now and am back at work. I’m drinking ridiculous amounts of green tea. Huzzah.

Books: I can’t put a title or author here as it’s a book we’re considering, but I’m reading a very nice bank robbery thriller. Intense. I also read the beginning of a fantasy series by a budding young author. It has swords and magic and ice-wolves. Yargh!

Music: Surprisingly not much as I’ve been ill, but I did listen to Fiona Apple this morning. Angry music. (Sad face…Fugee face)

Movies: Infernal Affairs. I really wish I had seen this before The Departed. Not only is it less interesting after seeing the Scorsese, but it makes me less impressed with the Scorsese.

Aliens. Get Away From Her You B*tch!!! Classic. Though not nearly as fun watching it sick and laying in bed as it was at Doc Films with 500 nerds screaming “Yeah!” after the line.

Stories: I watched a little of a Discovery Channel show about how things are made, propane tanks, toilet paper, etc. Anyway, it reminded me of watching Mister Rogers and how he would walk us through factories and show us how things are made. I just think it’s funny that television programming is now making entire 30 minute shows that used to make up 5 minutes of a kids show. We have too many channels.

Fishes

2007-08-12T18:54:00.000-07:00

A lovely few days. Saw Bethesda Terrace with Franny and we both walked way too much. Then the fishes, swimming mammals, and protists (!) at the New York Aquarium, lovely, beautiful, and educational.

Books: Rereading Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Amazing how the former heroin addict from 80's and the schizophrenic, paraplegic middle aged black woman from the 60s seem made for each other.

Music: The National, Boxer. A little Four Tet. And I'm playing (on gamba, not on CD) a little Marais again. It's nice to go back to something you know you love.

Movies: Stardust. It's kind of like someone put Princess Bride and Time Bandits in an electric mixer and came out with something good, but not nearly as good as either of the things you started with. Still, I recommend.

Rewatched Children of Men. It continues to be amazing.

Stories:

For the past seven years I have worn a pirate hat whenever I move somewhere. It started because I was moving and could not pack my pirate hat, lest it be crushed in the packing. I found while wearing the hat, people were happier (no one likes moving.) It became a tradition. (No, I'm not moving, I just had to explain the hat to someone recently.)

A New Beginning From The Start

2007-08-07T10:40:00.001-07:00

This an experiment to expand my ability to share. Please feel free to comment with things I need to be watching, listening to, reading, seeing, etc.

Books:

Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill (Stephen King's son writes a ghost story much like his father, only a little different and almost as good. A nice, quick, fun read with solid characters.)

Music:

Oldies: They Might be Giants, Lunasa, Moby.

New Stuff: Swell Season (has all the nice musical romance of the Once soundtrack without the accompanying emotional pain)

Concerts: They Might Be Giants w/ horn section at the Bowery with Franny (amazing show. one of the top three TMBG shows of the 11 I've seen)

Movies:

Simpson's Movie (good, not great, consistent chuckle production)

Bourne Ultimatum (someone buy Greengrass a steadicam)

Old Joy (meh, the line between artistically contemplative and boring has never been so thin)

Theatre:

Nature Theater of Oklahoma does Romeo and Juliet (I love it, giant dancing chicken and all)

Stories:

My boss came home from his business trip in Vancouver with a small tattoo on his right forearm. It's his first tattoo. It's a small Haida design. Very unlike him. I couldn't stop laughing for about 10 minutes. Now I'm thinking about finally getting my gamba tat. I just need to decide on the design. Suggestions welcome.