Saturday, March 13, 2004
All We Are Saying,
Is Give Pez A Chance...
Wo-ho! I'm feeling much better! And just in time for my party. The bizarre photo to your right is from John Perkinson's wonderful Orbit 1 photoblog. Two more of his photos close out today's posting.Kooky Gallic Kaleidoscopic Whismy With A Bite! That's the only way I could describe the movie "Amélie", which I saw this morning, via Netflix. I had (wrongly) stayed away from it, thinking it was a cloying fairy tale, when it's actually anything but. I'd call this stylized, innovative, kinetic, humorous and very French experience "The Opposite Of Boring." Not to be missed. And yes, I think Matthieu Kossovitz is too cute for words : - ) The original French title, btw, translates as "The Fabulous Destiny Of Amélie Poulain."
Pez-cific Coast Party! Yes, there are Pez collectors and Pez conventions. (Pez, for you non-US people, is silly pellet candy in a colored plastic tube with a goofy head). Yes, adults do this. Yes, I know one. My ex's current beau Joe is a Pezophile, and today attened the Pez-cific Convention in Long Beach, California. Below you can see one of the US's larger Pez collections.
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Friday, March 12, 2004
A Date With Wilbur
Banished from my apartment while the cleaning lady works her magic for Sunday's party, I sought refuge at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, where I enjoyed the debut of "Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself." Not at all what I expected, this neat little film grows organically from black comedy to wistful but life-affirming drama. 
The film quickly draws us in to the lives of a would-be suicide, his timid caretaker brother, and a single-mom hospital janitor, amidst the post-industrial burntscape that is Glasgow. This is Danish director Lone Scherfig's followup to her wonderful "Italian For Beginners," it's her first English-language, non-Dogme-95 movie (for background, I posted about Dogme on Tuesday), and it's a promissing step forward, indeed.See The Whitney Biennial 2004 At Your Computer! Their site is excellent, seamless and user-friendly, a gift to art-lovers far from New York and those of us New Yorkers who hate crowds. Just click here to enter.
I'm still trying to shake this bug/virus, the dreaded 'ear', that is sapping my energy, impeding my work flow, and looming over Sunday's party and what could be a promissing date tomorrow afternoon in Slope of Park. So tonight I will lay very low. DVD-watching, books-on-tape, reclining position, and perhaps I'll order a 'love meal', aka something with chicken and/or hot soup to make those evil germs just scram.. I have all sorts of interesting things in store for you tomorrow....
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Fragile (Frágil)
In the darkest hours of grief and fear, flowers speak volumes. Words run a high risk of sounding trite, or at least inadequate. My heart goes out to the 1,600 innocent and unlucky commuters and their loved ones, so much personal devastation inflicted. It's ironic how truly awful things tend to strike like a bolt from the blue. They're not the things we spend our time worrying will happen... There's a lesson in there somewhere... I also thought of the François Fenelon quote from the end of "Collateral Damages," the 9/11 documentary I saw last week:All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers.
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Thursday, March 11, 2004
My Analyze Over The Ocean,
Oh Bring Back My Anatomy
¡Viva Jane! Last night I saw "Sense and Sensibility" via Netflix and really enjoyed it. Great acting, plot, dialogue are complemented by cinematography and set design that basically re-create late-18th century rural England. Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson are so pitch-perfect that you'll feel every emotional twist and turn of the story. Colorful supporting characters are a Jane Austen mainstay, and "Sense" features brilliant turns by a snooty sister-in-law and meddling old biddy who never knows when to shut up. Jane Austen resources abound on the web, such as Pemberley, with bio, details, tidbits, and above all, the text of all six novels, which have long been in the public domain.Summer and Smoke, the Tennessee Williams classic has been revived in NY and is getting good reviews.
I am very fond of the 1961 movie version with Geraldine Page. And here's the Mexican movie poster for that 1961 classic:This afternoon I spoke to Andres, my first boyfriend, who lives in Argentina, and is relaxing before he starts is new semester as an undergrad in psychology. I may see him soon. This is because I'm travelling to Brazil the week of March 28th for a week of company visits. I plan to post my adventures down there in real-time, though probably with far less links and photos...
Nuke it! Pill time. That's what I say on the sixth day of being sick with ear and throat discomfort. In Aaron-Brian language I would say "I have ear" and he'd say "I'm sorry you have ear." : - ) My party is in three days. And I coughed up green. So I called my lovely MD Dr. Laura Fisher and asked permission to take my reserve antiobotic. I said to her "If the sputum's green, you must come clean...." I know, I'm oversharing again... : - )
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Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Random E-Harvest
Cyberspace abounds with random pleasures, but lately I've been discovering the pleasure of randomness itself... I would erect a statue to the inventor of the 'shuffle' feature on my CD walkman. Today I saw a site that generates random adorable kitten pictures! Another site concocts random meaningless business phrases... And that's just today...
Speak of the Dogma.... Yesterday I posted on "Italian for Beginners" and Dogme 95. Flavorpill is obviously channeling my Danish energy, as this week's event selections include a both retrospective on Dogme founder Lars Von Trier and the NY debut of the followup to "Italian," director Ms. Lone Scherfig's black comedy fairy-tale (what a combo) entitled "Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself." The Retrospective runs March 13-28 at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. "Wilbur" opens Friday at the Angelika at Mercer & E. Houston.
I howled with laughter at Burritoville tonight, as I read the "person in the street interview" in this week's Onion, a wicked commentary on the possibility Milosevic may go scot-free...
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Tuesday, March 09, 2004
My Karma Ran Over My Dogma : - )
A breath of cinematic fresh air... Last night, via Netflix, I saw a delightful Danish romantic comedy, Italian For Beginners, where a handful of troubled Danes find solace and a chance at love by taking Italian lessons at their local community center. Not at all cloying, this movie was closer to Veal Marsala than to a box of canolis : - )
It was filmed under the tenets of Dogme 95, the Danish movement that is perhaps the antitode to predictable, vaguely pavolvian Hollywood films with treacly, manipulative music. Dogme is the cinematic "vow of chastity" - this means on location, hand-held camerawork, no flashbacks, no optical filters, no superficial action, and nomusic that does not naturally occur in the scene. The supreme goal is to 'force the truth out of characters and settings.' Founded by Danish filmmakers Lars Von Trier (Pelle The Conqueror) and Thomas Vinterberg (Celebration), Dogme 95 issued certificates (actually, reprimands!) to 32 films from around the world before declaring their mission had been accomplished and closing down. I've seen several acclaimed Dogme-certified films, and highly recommend Celebration, The Idiots, and Mifune, all of which were thoroughly satisfying - click on those links for a plot description.
I am on a new kick: films 90 minutes and under. Suggestions are welcome. Had a great lunch at Cosí today with a charming former colleague who appears to have flown north for the summer : - )
Thomas Hobbs has uncovered more New York gems in 2 years than I've seen in 20! Check out some great photos he took at 'Phun Phactory', a graffiti-art center in Northwestern Queens
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Monday, March 08, 2004
L.A. = LightRail Adventure?
Los Angeles discovers the joys of public transit... L.A.'s MTA Rail links a vast swath of Greater L.A., now reaching as far east as Pasadena! And it's a big hit! Ever the adventurer, my dear friend and ex Brian sallied forth on Saturday and rode the whole 32 miles from his Long Beach apartment south of LA, eastward to Pasadena and its charming historic center, museums, gardens, and indie movie theaters. It took him 90 minutes, changing twice, including once at beautiful Union Station (see pictures).
Brian could have also ridden 32 miles due north to Hollywood, hung out there, and then travelled 16 miles east to Pasadena, completing the triangle. Light Rail Now has an excellent website which touts success stories coast-to-coast and argues that it's a very good expenditure of taxpayer dollars...
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Sunday, March 07, 2004
Podunk!
What a beautiful day! Yeah, it's down to 48F from 65F yesterday, but it's so sunny. I'm going outside!High Tea served by Mother Goose? It was perhaps the most charming moment of the year so far, courtesy of my dear friend Bart. We sipped flavorful teas and sampled a cornucopia of baked sweets and dipping sauces, in the relaxation and regression chamber known as Podunk Café, located at 231 E 5th St.
In a room warmly filled with children's books and unusual seating devices, owner and hostess Elspeth Treadwell really dresses the part of the Old Woman In A Shoe. : - ) She takes her time with each order and gives everything her personal touch. This was in honor of my Bart's visiting childhood friend Chris, who is totally charming, and was also to celebrate the new job of Ashley, Bart's partner, at the Brooklyn Historical Society. I had pineapple papaya tea with shortbread cookies and chocolate sauce. This was my dinner. Highly recommended. Links du jour: Good cartoons, one and two. How to read nursery rhymes to children. The Complete Mother Goose text.
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