halloween costume #1

still appropriate to wear to work... the wicked witch of the east, before the house dropped on her.

tonight is more dressing up, party-going. and then, tomorrow, I get in some nat time! hurray!

happy halloween, kids!

sigh. if only this were out now...

people. it's been one of those days. so i need me some truffle shuffle, and johnny depp. and i need it now. Goonies in the Caribbean. genius.

a night down christopher street. nyc.

Piper Perabo in Reasons to be Pretty. Photo by Joan Marcus

Thursday, May 22. While our friends rounded out their ultra-list of new york [read: statue of liberty, ellis island, ground zero, little italy, AND the empire state building. yes.], m and i made a beeline for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. More than 20 years after the rest of us, M has discovered the delights of children's literature, and she had to know if the Met was as fabulous and free as described in "The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler."

After a cozy little lunch with our friend, Jess, across from Bryant Park it was off to the International Center of Photography to see some... photography... and then to sweet shop Serendipity. oh the dreams i've had since of that apple pie...

Anyway! The adventure continues, since M wanted to walk from our chelsea hotel down to christopher street. we almost walked past the Lucille Lortel Theatre, until Piper Perabo's name jumped out at us (Did I mention that Imagine Me and You is our ultimate feel-good flick? some girls like Fight Club. We're more of a happy ending type family).

Pablo Schreiber threatens Thomas Sadoski, right before Sadoski kicks his ass.

We checked out the box office, and scored front row seats to Reasons to be Pretty by Neil LaBute. Other than the disappointment in a lack of nudity (the poster threw me off), the play was great, offset by performances by Pablo Schreiber (Kent), and Alison Pill (Steph). But wow, Thomas Sadoski (Greg), was amazing. His interactions with girlfriend, then ex-girlfriend, Steph were painfully realistic and full of humor.

Afterwards, we saw the cast on the street (fighting the temptation to say hi.) then grabbed some sweet potato fries at Cowgirl. We were sleepy and happy and heading back when fake snow and lights caught our attention on Bleecker Street. Yes, that's Catherine Zeta-Jones across the street, doing several takes for her movie, The Rebound and while I have nothing else other than the fact that she gave a wave from the makeup chair, and that she's tiny (breaking news!), it was cool to see the filming. (fake snow! christmas wreaths and lights! wonder when this one's coming out....)

shirley you jest

so while I continue to think about happy sad songs, I'll post a lovely pic of miss shirley henderson, who I recently saw (in a bit of a catty role) in miss pettigrew lives for a day... a cute little film, especially if you're tired of the dark and dreary and need a bit of (as me mum says) "escapism."

however, if you're not feeling fluffy, marie and I just rented cinema paradiso, which was scrumptious.

see through

::Surrounded by Water at BUAG ::

down down down to the tips of my toes you'll find... paint! frickin' everywhere. it has slithered like some slithy tove under my fingernails, on my elbows and atop me head. marie believes my hair looks quite nice the color of "spa." I can't wait until we turn on venture violet, or jardin. someday, i'll be a paint namer... much the same training as crayola crayon color namer. anyway, we're attacking the spackled past recognition walls (?) and ceilings in our new apartment. we decided this was the best thing to do after a long luscious weekend in providence with friends.

it's decidedly domestic, considering the rest of the time was spent viewing burlesque, persepolis, a play on sally mann, and a sex workers art show. love it.

livers of life

screen shot from ::being dead::

i think i should say something about how cruel foie gras is or something with that subject... moving on...

the redstone film festival is opening tomorrow. my favorite entry? jeff boedeker's being dead. i mean the still photos of fruit always do it for me... and subtitles. speaking of which, marie and i finally saw mostly martha, that german vixen meets culinary hard-ass type flick, and (although it didn't have subtitles, there are those irish accents...) once, which just made me wish i was in a band...

we're heading to party town this weekend, otherwise known as providence, r.i. to hang with nat and jessica.

i'm feeling a bit flippant right now (and i think it's showing in this entry), so i apologize... in other news, i saw this dad showing his three-year-old daughter how to push the walk signal yesterday. he held her hand and waited for the lights to change... very cute.

pregnancy pregnancy jiggety jig!

::Michael Cera and Ellen Page at the Toronto premier of JUNO::

It seems like the topic on everyone's lips these days, from celebrity baby bumps to the hottest indie flicks— pregnancy. Marie and I went to the latest offspring offshoot screening, Juno, last week. Awesome soundtrack, great story and the acting — cutthroat zingers delivered effortlessly by Ellen Page, and my favorite person in the whole movie, Allison Janney. Jason Bateman and Michael Cera never actually interact in the movie, but do seem to fit in a vehicle together, post their "Arrested Development" hijinks.

I do have to say, however, that I found the parental reaction to Juno's pregnancy to be a bit unrealistic... maybe it's just me, but I don't think most parents I knew in high school would take it as calmly if their daughter walked in preggers. but I'm sure that's just my midwestern upbringing talking. Another thing that bothered us was the insert of a Gibson guitar plug, not because we're guitar-hating neo revolutionaries, but because of Gibson's conservative stance on pregnancy, homosexuality, etc. and if we let it, the whole plot was being influenced by the Gibson agenda in our brains. I had no problem with Juno's eventual decision, but I had a sour taste in my mouth after the whole promo. Thoughts? Please.

BUT that doesn't mean you should have any sour/bitter tastes, because this flick is worth seeing (especially after the Love in the Time of Cholera drivel we sat through. shudder).

record(ed)

apparently awards season has started down in the land of indie. here's a delight from Craig Zobel's candid study of the recording industry: "Great World of Sound."