A Night in NYC & 2 reviews

So me and Bonnie ventured into NYC quite recently.  Tentative plans were to meet at Penn Station and take the subway to a bar in the village name Zinc.  There was an over 40’s event I’d discovered through Meetup.com.  They were hosting a very politically incorrect comedy show called “A Black and a Jew”.  It sounded intriguing and it was cheap.

We get there thirty minutes early only to be shut out.  Poor planning had the host overbooking without notification.  I was not pleased.  Without a Plan B me and Bonnie were out in the cold without knowing what to do next.

From now on my motto is “Always have a Plan B”.  Bonnie alerted me that she was ‘in the mood for food’ and after hearing that I decided I was too.  We walked street after street trying to discover just the right spot.  What we found was Quantum Leap in the West Village. http://www.quantumleaprestaurant.com/FoodDelivery/RestaurantLocations.m

It was a small room but quite full.  There was a subtle understated atmosphere that was both welcoming and chic.  We found a corner table and caught up on girl talk.  I dined on a black bean burger with toppings of mushrooms and such.  It was served with a side salad with a yummy ginger dressing and sweet potato fries.  Excellent choice.  Dinner under $20 and very satisfying.

We decided to find dessert at another location.  We wandered down a few blocks poking our noses into shop.  One specialized in chess.  We chatted with a foreign bald headed host.  He was informative and charming.

With many Hookah (snicker) shops lining the street it seemed there were just as many which held items to enhance spiritual wealth as well.  Bonnie chatted with one of the clerks who shower her “the singing bowls” one after another after another.

I was upfront mentally trying to talk myself out of buying anything.  You see often I have this delusion when in NYC that I have more money in my bank accounts than I actually ever do.  I also find myself mentally arguing that I’ll never find the gem of an item I am trying to talk myself out of, anywhere else.

Eventually we wandered down the street and found Rocco’s bakery at 243 Bleeker Street http://pasticceriarocco.com/

As the door opened we were enveloped with the welcoming warmth beckoning us from the cold.  Behind its endless glass counters were the countless delights tempting us both.  I had the cheesecake with strawberry topping and Bonnie had some big chocolate cake thingee.  Looking back we should have split something.   And after that dessert the only thing I thought I’d split was my pants.  Well worth finding though.

NEVER LET ME GO - A DVD Review

Based on the Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel this tale of science fiction was dark and disturbing on many levels.  In mid 1950’s England, a “boarding school” named Hailsham is filled with students who are  and cared for and isolated a specific purpose.  Starring Kiery Knightley & Carey Mulligan (who previously played sisters in “Pride and Prejudice” and Male lead Andrew Garfield of “The Social Network” fame.

It was remarkable the way the characters maintained such a calm demeanor given the grave nature of their existence.  Watch it only when you are feel DARK…..and curious to know what their secret is..  I give this film barely two stars.

Cleaning House - a personal rant

I suppose there are other things I should be writing, say for instance about culture.  Books movies things of this nature, but alas today I do not.  I miss writing terribly.  I ‘ve been journaling lately on (gasp) steno paper since my online blogging has gone by the wayside for undetermined reasons.

Anyhew still needing to blog here and document this.  I’ve taken steps recently to clear my path.  I’ve told “D” that I need at least six months of no “D”.  No texting no conversations, even those of merely a friendship nature.  I was honest with him in telling him that I could rarely ever think of him as just a friend.  We both know why.

A friend recently told me ‘You deserve more than a guy who just wants to send you a picture of his ****.”  And she was right.  Too often, mainly out of boredom I’ve allied myself with men (not necessarily D in this case) that I flirt with, inevitably sending the wrong messages until one day I’m getting e-mail or txts with anonymous body parts on them.

So I’ve looked through my e-mail addresses and cell phone list and deleted any man who wasn’t “just a friend”.  I’ve deleted men who still had “dirty designs” of me that I truly wanted nothing to do with.  Even men (such as Gus) who actually was a friend to me, but when push came to shove he still found himself trying to manipulate me into a “dirty deed”. 

My good friend woke me up to the fact that all of this nonsensical bullshit was blocking my path to God.  It blocks me from being of maximum service to God and his will.  She was right.  I knew it the MOMENT she said it.  What the heck was I doing?  Has the Winter really been that long that I’d wandered into the murky waters that this qualifies for entertainment on a boring Saturday night?

So I did some housecleaning.  I never thought I’d be adding “D” to that list.  He treated me so well, well as any “jump off” could be treated I guess.  I wrote him on Friday night and asked him to delete my number, give me 6 months of no contact.  And as luck would have it, he sends me a ****shot on Saturday, which led me realize he hadn’t yet read my e-mail.  He finally did and on Monday and ugh, called me anyway at work to apologize for the c.s. 

In all honesty I know that’s not the reason.  I think he needed me to say it.  And blubbering like a baby (with a raspy voice from a severe sore throat) I did.  I probably sounded like a crazy person.  But he did know how I felt, even if he didn’t agree with it.  And I don’t think he had any doubt that it hurt me saying goodbye, or in this case “see you in six months.”

Ideally I’d like to think that ‘clearing this path’ doesn’t necessarily have to do with me and relationships with men per se.  Its more to the point that I won’t find myself preoccupied with men who have lackluster attempts at holding my attention.  That if indeed I am ever blessed with a man in my life, my heart, it will be one who does more than send me pictures of bodyparts and is more interested in sharing with me that ultimate bodypart…………his heart.

The Buglisi Dance Theatre - a Review

So Sunday I went to see the performance of http://www.buglisidance.org/  The First performance was entitled ‘Requim”.  In a 20 minute performance, the curtain opened to reveal five female dancers rising up from the ground, backs facing the audience.  The gowns they wore seemed shredded, their backs exposed.  I was close enough to witness the cut but sinewy muscle that flexed with every small motion.  Unlike anything I’ve seen before, the dancers ranged from the young beginners to the seasoned, and older, veteran.  The seemed to express emotions of being tortured and torn.

The second performance was entitled “Letters of Love on Ripped Paper.”  This 40 minute dance piece displayed difference styles of dance all the while love letters were narrated over music.  It seemed fitting that I saw this performance given that Valentine’s Day was earlier in the week.  The thing I found most odd was the fact that the dancers danced barefoot.  The choreography was inspired by Martha Graham.  A most unusual style using the upper torso as the primary vehicle of expression.

EARLY OSCAR PREDICTIONS

BEST PICTURE
*= saw it
*Black Swan (want to win)
*The Fighter
(will win)The Social Network
*The King's Speech
Toy Story 3
*Inception
True Grit
*The Kids Are All Right
127 Hours
*Winter's Bone

BEST ACTOR

(will win)Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Javier Bardem, Biutiful
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
James Franco, 127 Hours
Jeff Bridges, True Grit

BEST ACTRESS

(will win)Natalie Portman, Black Swan
(possible contender)Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right


BEST DIRECTION
David Fincher, The Social Network
The Coen Brothers, True Grit
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David O. Russell, The Fighter(will win)Tom Hooper, The King's Speech

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
(will win)Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
(will win) Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Another Year, Mike Leigh
(will win)The Fighter ;Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
Inception, Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
The King's Speech, David Seidler


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 Hours by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
The Social Network by Aaron Sorkin
Toy Story 3 by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
True Grit by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Winter's Bone by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini


BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Toy Story 3
How To Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Biutiful
DogTooth
In A Better World
Outside The Law
Incendies

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Exit through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
The Confession
The Crush
God of Love
Na Wewe
Wish 143


BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Day & Night
The Gruffalo
Let's Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

BEST SOUND EDITING
Inception, Richard King
Toy Story 3, Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
Tron: Legacy, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
True Grit, Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
Unstoppable, Mark P. Stoeckinger

BEST SOUND MIXING

Inception, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
The King's Speech, Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
Salt, Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
The Social Network, Ren Klyce, David Parker Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
True Grit, Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

BEST ART DIRECTION
(will win) Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
The King's Speech
True Grit
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Black Swan, Matthew Libatique
(will win) Inception, Wally Pfister
The King's Speech, Danny Cohen
The Social Network, Jeff Cronenweth
True Grit, Roger Deakins
BEST MAKEUP

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
(will win) Alice in Wonderland, Colleen Atwood
I Am Love, Antonella Cannarozzi
The King's Speech, Jenny Beavan
The Tempest, Sandy Powell
True Grit, Mary Zophres


BEST FILM EDITING
Andrew Weisblum, Black Swan Pamela Martin, The Fighter (will win)Tariq Anwarr, The King's Speech Jon Harris, 127 Hours Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter, The Social Network

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Alice in Wonderland Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
Hereafter, Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
Inception, Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
Iron Man 2, Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

The Kings Speech - a Movie Review

So last night me and a movie lovin’ friend went to see “The Kings Speech”.  The true story of The Duke of York’s ascension to become King George the XI., played by Colin Firth (nominated for Best Actor) and his battle with overcoming a crippling stammer.  The story follows his early, embarrassing attempts at public speaking.  His wife intervenes by hiring a slightly unorthodox speech therapist, played by the brilliant Jeffrey Rush (nominated for best supporting actor.)
Brilliant performances in this film, although the cinematography  seemed abit dark and straining on the eyes.  A better film that I had originally thought.  Strong competition for the Oscar race.

Blue Valentine - a Movie Review

And so tonight I went to see “Blue Valentine” starring Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling as a flesh and blood family living in Pennsylvania.  The story starts out present day with the married couple, alcoholic husband as his wife trying to raise their daughter and keep the peace in their household.

The story has flashbacks which show the audience how they met and fell in love.  Michelle Williams character is an only child in a dysfunctional family.  Nightly she sits in a house where her parents hate one another and its one verbally abusive night after the next.  Her only saving grace is school and the relationship with her disabled grandmother.

In a chance meeting she and Gosling meet and he pursues her without abandon. 

The performances in this film were outstanding.  Michelle Williams was nominated for her role and rightly so.  You never get the sense she is acting or more to the point over-acting as too many actresses tend to do.  Ryan Gosling is always at his best (ever seen Half Nelson?)  rent that there’s a film worth seeing.  He is a young Sean Penn without all the shitty movies Sean Penn had to make before he got it right, lol.

The direction was excellent it was done so in a way that you felt like an intruder watching moments that were never meant to be seen by an outsider.  At the start of their marriage you could feel their hopefulness and promise and in the end you could feel the yearning amidst the pain and nightmare that was unfolding.

Gritty, moving and I think worth seeing, I enjoyed this film.