Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Watch for flying entrails

Man, I would NOT want to be in Hamburg right now. Talk about creepiness!!! What could cause this? I like the evil curse theory, or potentially a pissed off local spirit/ deity better than the "scared by crows" one offered in the article.

I'll talk about Drop City tomorrow - have to run now...

Monday, April 25, 2005

listen up people

if you do anything this week, it will be going to see Kung Fu Hustle, right? right.
trust me. that is what you will do and that will be why this is a good week for you.

Friday, April 22, 2005

Thanks to science ...

I am so relieved to know that the elusive issue of unpopped popcorn has been resolved!!!
"Popcorn breeder" sounds like not your everyday, run of the mill career....

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Stairway to nowhere

Sonny took me to a building in Providence. Inside the door, you ascend a few steps to a landing, from which the stairway curves off to the left and right. Only the left stair goes anywhere - the right runs smack dab into the floor of the 2nd story landing. I found this highly curious and it keeps coming back to me since. I wonder if you closed your eyes, took a deep breath and ran up it - would you end up with a concussion and possibly more from tumbling back down after impact or could you possibly bust the illusion and end up...somewhere else? That would be soooooooo cool.

So, the trip to Providence! I had a great time. Sonny was still fighting a cold so we weren't in a frenzy of activity, but we still did quite a bit and I enjoy hanging out with Sonny anyway. Hanging with him, you're almost forced to drop some of the limitations you put on yourself in everyday life - to exist at a more spontaneous level. I actually found myself a little lost when I got home because of that.

We went to two art shows: the one at the Gallery Agniel where Sonny has a piece, and Catherine Hamilton's show at the Providence Art Club. Very cool - both.

Lunch on Thursday at Cuban Revolution - where I had a mango-strawberry milkshake, a cheese empanada, and black beans & rice. Diet schmiet, I was visiting my brother! Yum and fun atmoshpere. Dinner at an Italian joint, Sicilia's - good stuffed pizza and garlic bread.

Thursday night we went to see M Ward. Good show, but a bit mellow for me being so tired. I have to admit I almost dozed a couple of times.

Oh, yeah and we saw Sin City Thursday, too! Quite the movie, and Sonny and I had the theatre to ourselves for it! Not that we wanted to talk much, but it was almost like having a really awesome living room.... Liked the movie, probably would have understood it a bit more if I had read the comics. Definitely wanted to know more about the stories and characters.
With Sin City was a preview for The Skeleton Key - the movie J and I saw filming in New Orleans - it's due out this summer - a ghost/voodoo bayou movie that looks pretty cool....

Friday, we had brunch at Julian's - really good French toast with real maple syrup...
Did some antiquing, visited with Will, hung out and made CDs.

Good trip - as always wish it was longer, but we'll do it again soon...

Oh, and Book #10 was Catcher in the Rye - hadn't read this since high school. Now, it doesn't seem all that outrageous to me, even if he was only 16. Not great stuff for a 16 year old to do, but not really shocking. I'm tending to think about it more from the perspective of why he was so depressed, what might make him happy, if he had that, what would his approach to things be. Has me thinking, that's a good thing.

Gotta run.

feelin better

so i guess that if you stay upp late every night for over two weeks to get work done (by late i mean 2 or 3am) and get up at 7, then you get sick. like i did last week, which was my first week "off". it lasted all week which im sure was no fun for aprille when she was here. we still did a bunch of stuff (sin city, m. ward, goin out to eat, couple a art shows). then i worked a bunch this weekend and went on a long bike ride in nice weather and now i am well(er) and working on pieces for my show coming up in june.
thats all.

Sunday, April 17, 2005

Trip part1 - follow the red brick line....

Tuesday and Wednesday in Boston - bummer that the nice weekend weather we'd been having didn't extend to MA for this trip, but a few cold fingers on the way to an awesome supper never really hurt anyone....

Stayed at the Club Quarters downtown. I think of Boston as a "recently quit smoking" town - the 2 times I've been the rental cars and this hotel room have smelled of stale cigarette smoke - the smell you can't quite get out of fabrics after years of exposure. That made me a little ill.

I love the streets of downtown Boston. They twist and turn and the buildings are piled right on top of the curves, so they are really like canyons. I would love to take time to explore more - when it's not quite so cold so I'll be more in a picture taking mood....

Had a raucous dinner at Prezza. Met Kat' for a quick round of catch up at South Station - in life, when decisions are made it is best to proceed boldly and with style - Kat' has done that well and I applaud her. When we were in high school and college, I'd often write Kat' to deal with tough things, to clear my head -it always helped. It was good to have a chance to chat, to see that that same bond still holds, for me at least. Have to do it more often, though.

Then, off to the train and Part2, which I'll write about tomorrow, along with Book #10 and whatever else begs to be typed. 'night

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

First they take....

Poor Cookie Monster! He'll lose his whole identity!
"Even Cookie Monster is learning to control his cookie cravings," Frist told me by e-mail. "His sage advice opened our eyes to the simple joys of a tasty cookie and now reminds us that moderation is the key to healthy living."

Cookie Monster was not available for comment. (I'm hoping he hasn't gone too Hollywood.)

"We are not putting him on a diet," said his spokesman, Truglio. "And we would never take the position of no sugar. We're teaching him moderation."
It's just soooo wrong - Cookie was all about excess - teaching him moderation is like teaching Big Bird to face the facts that Snuffy isn't "real"!

Poor kids nowadays. Nothing is sacred.

Monday, April 11, 2005

Local flavors, of sorts


This weekend, J and I had some great food.
Saturday afternoon, we went to Simply Crepes for lunch -I had a small Simply Salad (walnuts, blue cheese, strawberries, etc.) and a Raspberry Gulee (yummm) and J had a Smoked Salmon crepe.


Then, we stopped at the Pittsford Dairy - got fresh milk and red pepper/ mozzarella raviolis from the Ravioli Shop (yumm yumm). One thing I really liked about the dairy was that a lot of the "other" merchandise they carried but did not make was made by local small vendors - supporting local food "artisans"!
J also got "home state" pop - Vermont Maple Soda - kinda' freaky, but it's like drinking a whole bunch of maple sugar candy with each sip - sugary fun!

Sunday, we walked up to I Scream - the ice cream parlor near our place - J got a Mocha Malted and I got the full-burn Chocolate Malted with homemade chocolate sauce. The guy there is really cool and makes really good real malteds - I think we'll visit often.

In the vein of supporting local food folks, here's a site to help you find local cafe's with just a zip code.

Book #9 - Drop City by T.C. Boyle - will discuss more after book club....

Off to Boston and a visit with Sonny in Providence tomorrow - taking Catcher in the Rye, Bouzi by Jennifer Robin (a U of R grad), and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Correction

The tulips weren't stolen - sorry to smear the squirrels.... They coming up strong - also a lot of curious looking bits and pieces sprouting around the yard - can't wait to see what they turn into!

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Catching up

Wow, I haven't been able to post in a bit - things are once again, and as always, crazy at work and I don't have time to write. What's been up? Shopping and a visit from Mom, awesome malted milkshakes, Adaptation finally finished, Easter, a leaky window, a dying dryer, mouse #4, Dan's birthday (Happy Birthday Dan!), and other adventures.

It's cool to see the yard again after all the snow. Now starts the adventure of discovering what the previous owners planted that will come back this year. The bulbs I planted in the fall were all stolen by squirrels - nasty rodents....

Book #8 - The Subterraneans-by Jack Kerouac. I love Kerouac's tone and rhythm. At times the long drawn out sentences that carry you back and forth in time, from one event or conversation to another, threatened to sweep me away in the flood of thoughts pouring forth. This flow conveys excitement, passion, regret, despair. It makes the story so much more real. I had to fight a bit of depression at the constant gloom that hung over the city, but Percepied found ways of escaping it that once again swept you along. In terms of the story - I had not realized this was based on an actual affair in Kerouac's life, though I think I may have guessed at it. A sad tale of the inability to trust yourself or your love - of a constant burning desire to be at the center of everything that ends up driving those you truly care for away... Good read...