seemed like a good idea at the time

 The first thing I ate when I got to New Orleans was this catfish po-boy.  It was crazy-delicious, but little did I know that basically every meal I ate would be comprised of fried things.  

It seems that no visit to New Orleans would be complete without a trip to Cafe du Monde, which basically has two items on the menu, beignets and cafe au latte.  A general good rule of thumb is, The Less Things On the Menu The More Likey Each Item Will be Amazing.  In this case, it applied.

The streets had these fantastic gas lights.  Why do we find outdated technology charming?  I don't know, but it was charming as hell. 

I thought the (non-fried!) shrimp below would be my last meal in New Orleans, but the joke was on me when my flight was cancelled and I ended up ordering a meal of desperation in my airport La Quinta - wait for it...  a bunch of fried food! Ugh.  I like pub food as much of the next person.  Possibly more, actually.  But I felt my arteries hardening by the moment.

I'm going to miss being called Sugar-baby by strangers.  

More New Orleans

Here are a few gorgeous pictures from my trip.  I loved all the beautiful balconies in the French Quarter, why aren't ALL balconies like that? 

I like run-down buildings too - this was a fabulous little stretch.  Tomorrow: a bunch of ill-advised fried food I ate...

New Orleans

Well, I'm in new Orleans this week for a conference, and aside from missing a ctain husband I'm having a pretty good time. My hotel is on canal stret so I've been exploring the French quarter when I can. Wow, so beautiful, romantic, dirty, and mildly terrifying. At envy moment I'm afraid someone is going to dump a bucket of filthy water on my head.I think this is probably what ancient Rome felt like. When I first arrived, I kind of went overboard on fried fish, which, yes, in retrospect was a big mistake. I think I ate three meals in a row with nothing but fried food culminating in woe beignets from cafe du monde that were really spectacular. But after that I had to find a nice salad. I'm having trouble adding my pics from my phone to my iPad to blogger (oh, technology!)but I'll post them pretty soon.

Gallantly streaming

Did you have a nice Fourth of July?  It was literally 110 degrees in Chicago, so we tried hard to stay inside most of the day. We went down to the Art Institute, where, I hate to say, I haven't been for quite a while - there's a Lichtenstein retrospective there.  I really like Lichtenstein, but I realized he's better in small portions.  Seeing all these pieces together was sort of cynical and cold.   I was dying for some more heartfelt artwork after it was over.

This period was great, though.  There were two rooms that just knocked our socks off.

After the museum, we found a shaded spot in Millenium Park for a patriot concert.  No one can here resist being a conductor when they drop a little Phillip Sousa - it was funny to look around and seeing everyone directing the orchestra.  After that, we hit our favorite Italian Ice shop - really just a window out of which a dude sells fresh, homemade, delish ice in a cup as large as you can handle.  Then, back home where we jumped on our bikes, headed over to the beach and saw the fireworks show.  There was a little boy sitting next to us who kept saying, with increasing alarm, "They're coming right towards us!  They're coming right towards us!"  That's a boy after my own heart.

I'm off to New Orleans this week for a conference.  I'm presenting a topic, the breadth and width of which would no doubt impress you.  ha.  It's gunna be a barn burner, folks.

Spiderman, Spiderman, something something spiderman

We saw Spiderman on opening night - it was pretty fun and I mostly liked it.  The following things were cool:

1. When Peter Parker turns into a spiderman, he's crazy strong and breaks his doorhandles and whatnot.  I'm a real sucker for that kind of Jason-Bourne-y-OMG-how-am-I-doing-this? stuff.
2. Emma Stone as whoever this Gwen person is?  

and these things were dumb:

1. The fact that it was made
2. This armless scientist had supposedly been working for decades on an arm-growing serum and one day Peter Parker's like, try this, and he grows a damn arm?  And also turns into a lizard?
3. Lizard villan.  Amirite?
4. The actor who plays spiderman is too skinny, but he has a cute tuchus.  

But, I mean, honestly, I really liked it.  Do you know I used to be a real movie snob back when we lived in San Francisco, and I only wanted to see Indie-art-house films all the time.  Now I hate that stuff and I only want to see silly things on opening weekends.  There was even this scene, which felt very calculated, it was like, you could picture the flow-charts that guaranteed it would stir emotions in people aged 29-45, when Spiderman needs help and all these blue-color guys in NY help him.  And even though it was so cheesy and calculated, I still found it quite stirring.  What is wrong with me?

Oh!  As promised, here is a short list of actors I cannot tell apart:

• Jodie Foster and Holly Hunter
• The Rock and Vin Diesel
• Erika Christensen and Julia Stiles

Spiderman

At first I thought this new Spiderman looked really stupid because I thought it was derivative of the Toby McGuire movie, but I'm getting kind of excited about it.  Plus, I really like this Andrew Whatshisname's hair.   Also, I love Kirsten Dunst, but she really ah-sucked as MaryJane.  I think Emma Stone will be good.  One thing I don't understand is this whole Dennis Leary/Willem Dafoe thing.  I mean, honestly at first I thought they were the same guy.  For realz those guys look exactly the same.  You know what would have been totally cray cray?  If they had cast Elijia Wood as Spiderman.  I have a hard time telling him from McGuire.  Coming soon:  a complete list of celebrities I cannot tell apart.

Did you see The Hair on the Daily Show?  This is too much...

passing time on the couch

kissing ass

I had another procedure done on my left foot on Friday.  Swollen and booted (again!) I spent a lot of time on the couch this weekend, asking M to bring me stuff and watching movies on tv.  Here's what I watched...

Valmont (on demand, free) 1989.  It stars Colin Firth and Annette Bening and is not as good as Dangerous Liaisons.  Meg Tilly uses her big girl voice.  Firth looks creepy in a 17th c. mullet.

2 Days in Paris - starts out as kind of a witty Woody-Allen-type comedy, devolves into shouting.  M walked in and said, "All people do in this movie is TALK!"

even the cat's upset

Chronicle - three stupid boys touch a rock and get super-powers.  They can't really think of anything interesting to do.

Carnage - two sets of parents sit down to have a civilized conversation about their kids' fight.  Society falls apart.  I like when Kate Winslet throws up.

Brave - really enjoyed it.  Is this the first movie about a princess that has nothing to do with how she feels about a boy?  Hallelujah!  And that HAIR.

Fiona!

I bought Fiona Apple's new album, The Idler Wheel... and it. Is. So. Fan. Tastic.  My favorite song is probably Werewolf.  The lyrics are amazing.  Dear God, can she write...

We are like a wishing well and a bolt of electricity But we can still support each other, all we gotta do's avoid each other Nothing wrong when a song ends in a minor key 

And then it ends in what I can only assume is a minor key.  I have no idea, really.  (BTW, are we supposed to stop listening to Pitchfork after Letter to Emily that's going around?)  There's a great review/article of her new album and perceived wackiness on Flavorwire.  


I'm totally obsessed with this Paul McCartney cover by Apple...  

Perfect weekend

We had a perfect weekend (aside me me accidentally spilling mojito all over M's laptops - whoops), lots of time in our garden, which is where we like to spend most of our time.  I had a pedicure, during which the esthetician called my feet "beautiful".  That's a word that has never been used to describe my feet.   Dinner with friends, time with some of my favorite gals at the beach, back to the garden (mojito incident) then off to Via Venito, one of our favorite Italian restaurants.  Evening in the garden - candles, fireflies...


Happy Father's Day to my dad!

Moonrise Kingdom

 We saw Moonrise Kingdom over the weekend - it's utterly charming and M & I both loved it.  Every moment is a visual pleasure.  Like most (all?) Wes Anderson movies, it has a great soundtrack, too.  I'm pretty happy to have discovered this song.

The film website looks like it might hold a few treasures - I'm going to pour over it later...

I also watched Higher Ground on dvd, directed by and starring Vera Farmiga.  It made quite an impact on me.  Lots to think about re: religion.  Parts were difficult for me to watch not because of violence or anything like that, but because of the particular expresion of religious dogma.  I recommend it espec. to my sister, I wish we could watch it together.  

Lest you think I whiled away the entire weekend, not so!  Most of the weekend was whiled away in our backyard oasis where the following ingredients (cat + hammock + mojito + good book + beloved spouse) formulate just about the most perfect summer day you could ask for.  On Sunday we ate every single meal outside.  Bliss.  

camping in LA

We went camping for just one night while we were in LA but we had the BEST time.  My nephew had never been before and it was so fun to experience it with him.  And my sister had never been (excluding a mostly disastrous trip when we were kids, so she was a good sport to give it another go).  We went to the Angeles National Forest, which is really huge (larger than LA itself, but not quite as big as LA County).  As we drove there, we were going through what was mostly desert and dusty, cactus-covered land.  Everyone was getting nervous because we all thought, "Is this the type of place where we're going to spend the NIGHT?"  But, when we got to our campsite in the mountains, it was a nice, wooded area that was more like what we were expecting.  My nephew loved seeing the tent go up and had a lot of fun playing and swinging in the hammock.  He got so dirty, and made us all laugh with his stream of chatter and excitement.  When M built a fire, he for some reason wanted to stand in the smoke, even though it was hurting his eyes.  Later, when I asked him what his favorite part of camping was, he said, "Sleeping in a bag!"  What's the least favorite part?  "Getting smoke in my eyes."

We were obviously practicing a lot of fire safety, and he said, rather matter-of-factly, "If I fall in the fire, I'll be like Anakin."

At the end of a lovely day, we all slept soundly on REI pads.  I listened to the wolves howling and felt secure as ever.

Mini-Break

We took a quick trip to LA this weekend to celebrate our friends' K & G's wedding - it was a beautiful wedding ceremony and a fun reception.  K ranks among the 10 Top Gorgeous Brides of All Time, I'd say.  Near the end of the reception she changed into a red satin cheongsam (pronunciation - btw, I've been driving myself crazy the last few days trying to remember what that particular kind of dress is called!)  They're great friends and we were very pleased we could be there to share in the fun day.  

This note was left in our hotel room, which we thought was particularly hilarious.  M and I spent a lot of time asking each other, "Whhhhhhaaaaad're yoooooooouuuuu doing?" a la The Californians - a skit on SNL that gently mocks Angelenos for their propensity to show of their comprehensive knowledge of the LA freeways.  Anyway, be sure to avoid specific substances in your hotel room.

Stay tuned for a few pics on our little camping trip!

investing sux

Us, on May 21st, a Play

Me: We should buy some facebook stock.
M: Yeah?
Me: How much is it?
M: about 33 dollars.
Me: Let's get some, just for funsies.
M: Really? OK. 
Me: What could go wrong?

I guess you don't make 1 million friends without making some dubious financial maneuvers with obvious questionable ethical implications with "long-lasting negative implications for an industry that can ill afford this kind of blemish." (source)

The Avengers!

We saw the Avengers this weekend and it was really great.  M's a big fan of the Avengers... I thought the whole thing sounded really stupid, but Joss Wedon wrote and directed it, so I figured it would probably be pretty good.  I guess I don't really understand the concept of putting a bunch of random superheros together, but apparently that is a not uncommon superhero comic book conceit.  So, like, for various reasons, all these superheros need to fight together for the fate of the planet and whatnot, but they don't exactly like/trust each other, so first they have to fight each other (this is also not uncommon, I guess.)  I don't think I'll ruin it for you by saying basically every combination of superhero has to fight another superhero.  The best was when Thor? He's like this demi-god from another universe and really hot?  He has to fight the Hulk for some reason?  And, anyway, when he realizes the Hulk is actually really strong and he can go ahead and beat him with his special hammer, he gets kind of excited.

There have been a couple of REALLY bad Hulk movies in the last decade... all I really care about is, what's the deal? He grows like 5 times his size but his pants still fit?  Come on.  Anywho, the Hulk is ably played in this movie by Mark Ruffalo.  Robert Downey Jr. is back as Iron Man, with le Gwyneth making an appearance, wherein they show of their amazing lack of chemistry (zing!).  The Natasha (Black Widow) character is played by Scarlett Johansson.  I don't think she has a previous movie and M doesn't know much about her.  She's in love with the Green Arrow, maybe?  The only thing is, as far as I can tell, she's not really a superhero, she's just really smart and a good fighter, so when they have to fight these giant whatevers and all the other guys are all tricked out with the flying whatnots, she pulls out this little gun, and it's like, damn girl, whatchugunnado with that gun?  


I could have stood for a few more quips, it being a JW film and all, but M felt it was plenty quippy.  Me? I was waiting for the moment when someone inevitably said, "We've got to figure out a way to close that PORTAL!"

Ooooo - Chris Helmsworth (Thor) is also the handsome boyfriend in Cabin in the Woods.  It's all coming together now!   So, it was great.  And, I think there's for-sure going to be a sequel - and maybe like, a Black Widow thing (let's try to get that started!).

awkward!

(Hulk) Smash

So, I did go ahead and delete Smash off the DVR - I just read this hilarious article in the New Yorker that sort of epitomizes how I feel. This Katherine McFee person, I suppose can really sing, but more and more her voice sounds like it came out of a can.  Megan Hilty is fabulous, though.    Nussbaum writes, "She has also delivered a few truly thrilling musical performances, a fact made possible by perhaps the most horrible thing about “Smash”: how good the songs from the musical within the musical are. The songs written for “Bombshell,” the musical about Marilyn Monroe, are generally zippy, magnetic numbers created by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman."  Did you know that?  I didn't know that.  

The Pirates!

This weekend we saw The Pirates! Band of Misfits - it was really fun.  It's made by Aardman Animations, which does Wallace and Gromit, that wonderful claymation video.  Here's a great featurette if you're interested in that sort of thing. It's very funny and witty and we had a good time.  Hugh Grant does the voice of the Pirate Captain, but, for some reason I was like, Oh, Hugh Grant would never do animation... so the whole time I was trying to figure out how else had a voice as buttery smooth as HG.

I kept expecting them to break into song - something from The Pirates of Penzance, which I really really wish were on DVD, or, better yet, HD streaming on Netflix*.  If you haven't seen this movie, let me tell you... it is amazing.  Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, Angela Frigging Lansbury and that guy from The Greatest American Hero.  Know who I mean?  With the hair?

Anyway, it's great.  Here's one of my favorite songs:



* Hey!  It turns out it IS available on HD streaming on Amazon Instant whatever that is.

I watch too much tv

Is anyone watching Awake?  It's about this guy who lives two realities, post car accident - in one reality, his wife's dead, in another, his kid's dead, and he doesn't know which one is real.  It stars Jason Issacs, who is... guess who?

Mr. Malfoy, that's who!  Turns out he's wicked handsome when he doesn't have Stevie Nicks' hair.  

I really like Awake, although I'm worried they're going to do something stupid.  So many shows just haven't really thought past one season and then they poop out.  I can't even watch Smash anymore, I just fast forward to the songs.  Eww,  I'm watching it right now, actually, and that weird Bollywood bit sounds more like the death toll of Smash on my DVR.  

But, back to Isaacs, if you're recording Downton Abbey, you're probably getting all the Masterpiece stuff, which is so great.  I first saw a post-Malfoy Isaacs in Case Histories, based on a novel by Kate Atkinson.  I'm a big Atkinson fan and have read everything she's written.  Case Histories was great but a little hard to follow, and some of the Scottish accents were so thick it was kind of hard to follow.  In Awake he does an American accent. Back then I just spent the whole time going THAT'S MALFOY?????   

So, on Awake, in both realities, he sees a therapist, and one of his therapists asks him to open a book and read it randomly, and, it turns out it's the constitution - and she says, well, that proves THIS is reality unless you have the whole constitution memorized.  And then they sort of dropped it.  For some reason that kind of captured my imagination because like, say you're dreaming, you can do anything - speak foreign languages you've never studied or whatever and your brain just smoothes out the inconsistencies for you.  It would be funny if there were a third reality where he was a blonde wizard.  

The Cabin in the Woods (no spoilers)

This weekend we saw The Cabin in the Woods - I really wanted to see it because it's written by Joss Wedon.  It's nice for any Wedon fan because it's basically like a really great two-hour episode of Buffy meets Dollhouse meets the last episode of Angel.  It's partly a commentary on traditional horror movies and the standard stereotypes that are included (the jock, the nerd, the virgin, etc) and how we conform people to meet expected stereotypes and there's also this whole other element that I won't mention for fear of spoilers, except, I will say that I wish the trailer hadn't given so much away.  It's really interesting that this movie came out the same season as The Hunger Games, they have a lot in common.  Well, it's really interesting movie and I'd recommend it.  BTW, it's not really scary, at least not I-can't-sleep-now scary.  Remember when Scream came out and everyone said what a brilliant movie it was, social commentary, etc?  Back then I was like, We've got to see this movie! and then, I couldn't even so much as walk to the bathroom by myself in the middle of the night for the next six months, I was so freaked out.  M was like, Are you SURE we should go see this?  So, it's jumpy-scary in parts and and over-the-top gross in others, so over-the-top that it's funny.  I wouldn't like, recommend it to my mom, but I would to my sister.

The Killing

I got crazy addicted to season one of The Killing on AMC.  Remember that red-haired twin on Big Love that married whatshisname's brother?  She's in it.  Season 1 is really good and I almost watched the whole thing in 1 day.  Only (mini-spoilers coming) it was such a drag that they didn't say who the murderer is at the end.  I thought they were totally going to do like a Veronica Mars/new mystery every season sort of thing.  Now it's like... what? The mystery will never be solved?  I can't stand that sort of Lost/Heroes nonsense.  But, what I don't understand, and if you do, please tell me - how can it be that the mayor-candidate is not the killer when he's the one who sent the creepy emails to the high-class hookers?  Too many shows, I'll tell ya', just plan out one great season, then they get renewed, and it's like, oh shit, we have to think up some more ideas?!?!  

Don't just sit there, Draw Something!

So, I started playing Draw Something this weekend and it. Is. Awesome.  Will you please play with me?  I cannot get enough games going.  I drew like, a totally amazing Katniss and M got it.  Although, something funny happens in my mind, where I get a clue like Rabbit, for example?  And what I picture in my mind is something like this:

Durer

and what I actually draw is something like this...

me