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Chupa Chups

Three interesting steps:

1. We recently saw "Midnight in Paris" and Adrien Brody as Salvador Dali was a particularly charming and funny character in the movie.

2. Later, I came across an article about how Salvador Dali had designed the logo for Chupa Chups. How neat that something so common has such an artistic provenance.

3. And then one afternoon, I wandered to the Indian grocery store near my office to get a little snack. This is a grocery where most of the activity comes from the cashier guy taking phone call orders and then dispatching his staff of four or five guys to collect the stuff from the shelves and deliver it on foot or bike. I prefer getting a little fresh air instead of sitting at my desk to call in an order, so I wander over. There's a whole section of Indian snacks, sesame crackers, corn nuts, balls of peanuts that I find fascinating, and they also sell stroopwafels, a nostalgic Dutch caramel treat. At the counter, a display of Salvador Dali's Chupa Chups.

J&J Film Festival

I've mentioned before that the movie selection here in Doobz can be a little flimsy at times, and we've often resorted to checking out terrible dubbed French action movies in an attempt to satisfy a craving for arthouse. And then there are weekends like this last one.

Whereas in North America, January and February tend to be devoid of good releases as studios have saved their blockbusters for the previous Christmas season and any potential award-winner has been premiered to slip into the awards season. Jan and Feb in Dubai, meanwhile, are a catch-up time. Finally, NOW, crawling into theatres are some Good Movies.

We saw four that appealed to us, and narrowed it down to two for a Saturday outing. The J&J Film Festival!

Over to the Dubai Mall, were we first saw Ralph Fiennes' interpretation of Shakespeare's Coriolanus (excellent).

We then had an hour-long break, during which we headed down to the restaurant that has a sushi bar zigzagging throughout the entire seating area.

After good sushi, it was back up to the theatre where we sat back to watch The Artist (also excellent). A funny note on this movie, which is a silent film and black & white: the latest issue of TimeOut noted that theatres were having to inform ticket buyers of both of these facts, as people were complaining that they didn't know it would be silent/b&w. We loved it.

J&J Film Fest, great success.

2011 Year in Review: Cinema

Movie watching can be a hit-or-miss experience in Dubai: there's a major theatre near our apartment, but it leans towards schlocky blockbuster hits and anything animated (Puss in Boots, Happy Feet, etc). Occasionally, a gotta-see-it-it's-on-my-wishlist movie comes to town, but more often we have to wait for the year-end film fests to get any of the artsy movies and documentaries. 

My Favourite Movies of the Year:
1. The Mexican Suitcase
2. Restrepo
3. Another Year
4. Cave of Forgotten Dreams
5. King's Speech

The Mexican Suitcase* - Dubai Film Festival. This movie was AWESOME. A documentary that wove stories of the Spanish Civil War with the stories of wartime photographers, including Robert Capa, who left rolls of film in a suitcase that made its way to Mexico and then sat in someone's closet for decades until it was rediscovered. I love photography, I love stories of travels, I love hearing about people's experiences in new lands, I love adventure, and this movie had it all.

Restrepo - the owner of a local art gallery gave us his copy to watch after I mentioned we had meant to see it. As the NYTimes review says here,  "Restrepo, a documentary that sticks close to a company of American soldiers during a grueling 14-month tour of duty in an especially dangerous part of Afghanistan, is an impressive, even heroic feat of journalism." This movie is powerful, fantastic. I loved it.

Another Year (Emirates flight to Johannesburg) - I should say that, in addition to the film fests, Emirates flights are another excellent place to see artsy movies because they have catalogues of hundreds in the on-flight entertainment system. This movie was on my "must see" list for an age (I loved Happy-Go-Lucky, by the same director), so I was thrilled to see this on the flight, for it had never come through Dubai. This was the type of film that had me still mulling it over days later. As the NYTimes review says, "Tom and Gerri, played with uncanny subtlety and tremendous soul by Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen, are much more subdued but no less radiant, and just as extreme in their delight."

Cave of Forgotten Dreams* - Abu Dhabi Film Festival, 3D, amazing, spiritual, what does it mean to leave something that people discover 30,000 years later. The crooked pinkie, the palm prints. The talent, such excellent depictions of horses and lions, bears and mammoths. The thrill of discovery.

The King's Speech* - Everyone who saw this *raved* about it, and though we missed it at the Dubai Film Fest, once it opened in wide release around town, we added it to the movie wishlist. One lazy afternoon while Fred was in town, we got tickets to the Platinum Screening (like 1st class on a plane - reclining seats!) and sat back for this movie. And it was fantastic, I loved it. Well acted, an affecting story, and great period shots of the 1930's.

Here's a list of the other movies I saw in 2011 (* = seen in theatres)

Fair Game* - Recounts "Plamegate," though I was surprised with how much of the movie had passed before the newspaper column appears with Valerie Plame's name. Thus provides excellent background into what was happening in the White House at the time, and provides many layers to the story of this CIA agent's identity being revealed. 

The Way Back* - The story of men who escape from the gulags in Siberia and trek thousands of miles to escape. Through harsh winter to searing Gobi desert heat, on and on they walk, until they cross the Himalayas into India. 

True Grit* - I'm not a huge Western fan, but I really enjoyed this movie: the scenery, the actors, the crazy scenarios.

The Other Guys - Will Ferrell = hilarious! From the opening montage where Samuel L Jackson and The Rock play cops in a high speed chase (the light gets shot off the top of the car, the driver pulls out another and sticks it on the roof; or they smash through a tour bus, and then use the tour bus to chase the bad guys; etc etc hilarity etc etc).

The Company Men (Royal Brunei flight to London)
The Fighter (Royal Brunei flight to London)

You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger (Emirates back to Dubai from Cape Town) - like Match Point, Woody Allen movies set in London are quite nice to watch, even moreso now for the familiar scenery in the background.

Catfish (Emirates back to Dubai from Cape Town) - as the NYTimes review said, "this is, by far, one of the most intriguing movies of the year." A guy befriends a woman through a social network and when he goes to her town to surprise her in person, it turns out that things aren't at all how they seem.

Unknown* - there's an artsy movie theatre in Cape Town called The Labia on Orange, and we bought a small packet of popcorn and sat back to watch this twisty-turny, stolen identity thriller. Very enjoyable.

The Hangover 2* - seen at the V&A Waterfront on Cape Town on a Saturday night, because the Friday show was sold out. Made me laugh so much, just howling - loved it.

22 Bullets* - Eager for some culture at a Dubai movie theatre, we spotted this French film - only to discover that it was dubbed in English. Cheezy storyline - old gangster with a heart of gold, his wise old mamma, his former prostitute wife, his opera tapes. He is chased by a widow cop who sits in her car and does shots of vodka. The real bad guys threaten violence, and then laugh, "eez onley eh joke". The only thing this cliche-ridden movie missed was one of those slo-mo moments where the gangster finds someone dead and bellows, "noooooooooo."

Bridesmaids* - Premiering several months after the US debut, I had eagerly looked forward to this and had so many good laughs mixed with full-on cringes.

The Adjustment Bureau - on a plane from Dubai to Munich, July 2011

Super 8* - What do you do after a late night in London and don't feel like walking around the next day? Go to the movies!

Crazy, Stupid Love* - Mall of Emirates, with free passes. For the first time in ages, I saw *something* at the theatre that wasn't a "well, we could see this, it doesn't look too bad."  As the NYT review says, "“Crazy, Stupid, Love” is, on balance, remarkably sane and reasonably smart." And I did NOT see the twist at the end: "These are eventually spun together in a chaotic climax that manages to be astonishing without destroying the film’s hard-won credibility."

Get Him To The Greek
Bad Day at Black Rock
Philadelphia Story

The Two Escobars - this documentary appeared on ESPN and I really enjoyed it. The two Escobars of the title are the drug kingpin Pablo and the Colombian football star who accidentally causes an own-goal during the World Cup, and suffers harsh consequences. It blends the stories of football with scenes of Colombian politics and life, to show how the drugs were affecting every element of society, including their national team.

The Fog of War - Excellent documentary, as the NY Times review says, "If there's one movie that ought to be studied by military and civilian leaders around the world at this treacherous historical moment, it is The Fog of War, Errol Morris's sober, beautifully edited documentary portrait of the former United States defense secretary, Robert S. McNamara."

North by Northwest - Cary Grant, James getting me into oldies, excellent, oh and there's Hitchcock

The Ides of March* - Abu Dhabi Film Festival, such twists and turns throughout. I kept thinking about the different paths that the story could have followed, so many different angles.

West Beirut - When we were in Beirut earlier this year, our tour guide mentioned this movie as an interesting dramatization of life during the civil war. Quite enjoyable, and the ending is suddenly very sad and poignant.

Normal* - We went to the Doha Tribeca Film Festival and saw this Algerian movie about how the youth are reacting to the Arab Spring

Arthur

J. Edgar* - Dubai Film Festival. It was fascinating to see the decades of history and backroom workings of the FBI and J. Edgar himself. But I didn't love this movie. As a Dan Kois recently wrote in the NYTimes, "Movie magic can do amazing things. Create worlds. Revive dinosaurs... But the one trick Hollywood still can’t pull off, apparently, is making... Leo DiCaprio look 70. The second half of Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar was flat-out ruined by Armie Hammer’s horrifying liver-spotted death mask. Old-age makeup: still tragically hilarious."

The Descendants* - Dubai Film Festival. After reading some blazingly positive reviews balanced by other so-so reviews, I didn't know what to expect from this movie. But, just like Sideways, it charmed me with its straightforward, simple story, authentic actors and slice-of-life scenery.

Abu Dhabi Film Festival

This is Abu Dhabi, as seen from the Marina Mall where we caught our first Film Festival show of the day, Cave of Forgotten Dreams. An amazing 3D movie about cave paintings, where you can see the texture of the rock, the way it bulges out in places and the way the stalactites hang in front of the view.  I really loved this movie, from the fact that they've identified a single painter from his handprint and his crooked pinky, which appears at other places in the cave, to the way that cave bears have also left their mark, scratching deep claw marks into the walls next to the paintings. The fact that it wasn't known whether the mountain lions that had roamed Europe in the ice ages had manes, since you can't tell from their skeletons, but the 30,000-years-ago artist painted lions without manes. What does it mean to leave a piece of your world to be discovered 30,000 years from now? Is creativity, are cave paintings, is any type of artistic endeavour meant for the gratification of the artist, or is there a hope that it will last 30,000 years?

That evening, we were back at the Abu Dhabi Theatre for our 2nd show, The Ides of March. There had been rumours that Clooney might appear, and moments before the scheduled show, a herd of paparazzi entered the theatre, jockeying for position (photo below). I elbowed James, "CLOONEY!!" and there was a murmur in the audience, as everyone else wondered why the photographers were there. The festival director came out to make a speech, beginning with a comment that he would just say a few words before introducing a surprise guest. "CLOONEY!!"

But then the surprise guest ended up being a Bollywood star, whom I'd never heard of, but a few appreciative shrieks of delight were heard in the crowd. Flash bulbs burst from the paparazzi scrum, and then they filed away so that we could watch the excellent movie. No CLOONEY, but a good CLOONEY movie.

2010 Year in Review: Movies

So many excellent movies this year, many of which I saw on DVD and wanted to capture here, and then the * = movie theatre viewings.

My Nominees for Favourite Movies of 2010
In the category of movies I thought I'd find silly but instead found compelling and smart: District 9

In the category of classic movies I hadn't yet seen but loved the moment I did:
The Life of Brian - "he is NOT the Messiah, he is a very naughty boy"

In the category of cartoons that were so heartfelt that I had tears in my eyes:
Up
Toy Story 3

In the category of "get me a notebook so that I can write down all these hilarious lines to quote later":
Due Date

In the category of dark storylines about tough young women fighting to escape their circumstances, complete with ultra-authentic landscapes and accents:
Fish Tank
Winter's Bone

In the category of achingly beautiful:
Bright Star
Never Let Me Go
Honey

In the category of "Oh my God that was awesome... emotionally draining, but awesome!":
A Prophet
Biutiful

In the category of "OH MY GOD THAT WAS AWESOME!":
The Social Network
Inception

 

And here is my full list of movies seen in 2010:

The Informant!
District 9
Revolutionary Road
The Life of Brian
Up

*Fish Tank - NYTimes Review: "Rather, thanks to Ms. Arnold’s fine-grained realism and the astonishing performance of Katie Jarvis, the nonprofessional actress who plays Mia, it is a diamond-hard reflection on the peril and progress of a fragile soul in a bad situation... Fish Tank goes a little astray toward the end, in a scene of breathless pursuit across a marshy seaside wasteland. (To say more would give too much away.) The sequence is powerful and skillfully filmed, but the dread and horror it injects into the story seem superfluously melodramatic."

Bright Star
The Invention of Lying

*A Prophet - NYTimes Review: "In A Prophet he shows us the truth of another human being who might otherwise escape from our sight because he is too foreign, or whom we might try to pity just to feel safe. But the world we make is not necessarily safe, and neither are those we leave alone to fight for their survival." There is a scene where Malik takes his first flight of his life, and the look of amazement on his face... what a moment. The whole film was engrossing.

The Pianist
Twilight - New Moon
Afghan Star
Brothers
Iris
The Squid and The Whale
Away We Go
I've Loved You So Long
It's Complicated
Leap Year
Avatar
Breaking Upwards

*Sex And The City 2 - Seen about 6 weeks after it premiered, in a theatre in Times Square with Michelle. In the previous many weeks, I'd enjoyed reading every review of the movie because of how awful they made it sound - offensive stereotypes, offensive Middle Eastern jaunt, silly gay wedding, silly trip to Abu Dhabi. Was it stupid? Yes! Was it fun? Yes!

A Single Man

* The Kids Are All Right - All of my friends were out of town one weekend in July, and I had a million errands to run on a weekend in the city. It was another hot, humid day, and after a run, a haircut, some purchases (swimsuits for Dubai, will become a water baby to stay cool there), and lunch, I made my way to the Chelsea Clearview to watch this movie, which had premiered to raves the day before.

* Dinner For Schmucks - Went to the movie theatre near my place in Jersey for the 1st time ever, joined by Mom and Dad and a large popcorn. Lots of laughs: "People said to Van Gogh, you can't paint with just one ear... to which he said, 'I can't hear you.' "  From the NYTimes Review: "“Dinner for Schmucks” is not a great movie, or even a coherent one, but in nearly every scene it draws laughter from an impressively eclectic array of sources, both obvious and new."

Babies

* Eat Pray Love - After a morning run followed by a yoga class, I met two girlfriends for an afternoon matinee of this show.  Things I want to remember from this movie: the Italian concept of il dolce far niente that I have always appreciated without realizing it  (the sweetness of doing nothing); laughing with Laura when she exclaimed "Oh YES" at Javier Bardem's first appearance; and instantly recognizing the song that the character Felipe is listening to as he's cruising in his Jeep and later at the bar, instantly knowing Bebel Gilberto's voice from the concert James and I saw in London.

The Time-Traveler's Wife

The Ghost Writer

* Inception - On a hot September day, we walked through the emptier-than-usual-thanks-to-approaching-iftar Dubai Mall to the theatres and sat back in our reserved seats (reserved seats!) to watch Inception. A few hours later, as the credits rolled, I felt breathless and astonished. When James asked what I thought, I just shook my head and said, "that was AWESOME!"  We then went home and spent an hour surfing the web for discussion boards with theories about what had happened at the end... was it all a dream? As the NYTimes review put it, "A lot of this is — what is the critical term of art I’m looking for? — pretty cool."

* Never Let Me Go - Late show in Lincoln Center area. I loved the book, and was almost anxious, would the movie be as good as the trailer made it seem, would it be as good as the book? I wrote to James afterwards, "that movie was exactly - exactly! - how I hoped it would be. The cinematography was gorgeous, the actors were excellent (the slightest facial twitches giving away so much, even on the child actors) and at no point did anything happen to wreck the spell or ruin the book." Here is the NYTimes review. Day after, I'm still thinking of the little moments, a bird on the handle of a kettle, plastic hooked on barbed wire gusting in the wind, the cottages, the trails, taking walks in woolies and boots.

* Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - The day after my birthday, I had a perfect day in Rutherford. I woke to heat and sunshine, I went for a run, I had a bagel with peanut butter from Rutherford Bagel, I sold my car (yes!), I deposited the car cheque, I browsed the country shop, I got veggies at the farmer's market, I had a Dairy Queen, I got a pedicure, I had sushi at the same place I'd eaten at the day I found my apartment here (in 2005), and I went to the movies at the Williams Center. The movie was okay. Confusing, too many, "wait, what?" moments. Good cast. But the NY Magazine review said "Apart from the stray bubble drifting past the camera to reinforce the idea that this is, you know, a bubble economy, there are no unintentional laughs" - - but there were! People totally laughed at parts. Well, so-so movie, excellent day.

* The Social Network - The preview, with its a capella rendition of Radiohead's Creep, had received unintentional laughter in the theatres when I'd seen it a few months earlier. That, and the fact that I can't stand Facebook, meant that I didn't think I'd bother with this one. And then the reviews came out. From the New York Times: "Despite its insistently unsexy moving parts (software, algorithms), the movie is paced like a thriller... The movie opens with a couple in a crowded college bar and ends with a man alone in a room repeatedly hitting refresh on his laptop. In between, Mr. Fincher and Mr. Sorkin offer up a creation story for the digital age and something of a morality tale, one driven by desire, marked by triumph, tainted by betrayal and inspired by the new gospel: the geek shall inherit the earth." From The New Yorker: "...brilliantly entertaining and emotionally wrenching... Sorkin’s script for “The Social Network” is his best work yet—incisive and witty from moment to moment but expansive over all as a picture of college social life, hipster business enterprise, friendship, and rivalry." And I LOVED IT!

* The Town - watched this in Halifax, NS with my folks, and it provided aerial views of Boston that provoked a nice nostalgia while also hurtling along on the momentum of a good storyline. As the NYTimes Review said, "the performances in “The Town” are strong enough to make it watchable, and the sense of place — of topography and architecture, if not of actual social life — is vivid and enjoyable."

Salt
Toy Story 3
City of Light

* Due Date - Hilarious, the straight man + screwup was just the kind of laugh I needed, outloud, roaring, groaning, wiping tears from the corners of my eyes. We saw this at the Dubai Mall in the first few weeks after  I moved there. Check yo'self before you wreck yo'self.

* Winter's Bone - I saw the on a flight to Dubai and then again as our first movie of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) and loved it both times. On the small screen, I appreciated the acting, the faces, the way the local accents spat out the lines. On the big screen, I appreciated those again but even moreso, it was the scenery, the landscape, the sound of crunching footsteps on frozen land, the sound of crackling fire. I shivered in the theatre, and I don't know if it was Dubai's maximized air conditioning or the power of suggestion of a winter in Missouri. I told James when we bought the tickets that it was a dark movie, but so well acted. As the NYTimes's review says, "Some of the cast members are nonprofessional actors, and nearly all are wary, watchful and taciturn, speaking their few words in faultless regional accents." 

* Honey - Another DIFF choice, this Turkish film about a very young boy was endearing, gorgeous and sad. The little hand pointing for a chance to read for the teacher... the whispered conversation with his father, asking where the toy sailboat went... the sound of birds, the sound of rainfall, the sound of crackling wood in a stove. Absolutely beautiful, and yet on the drive home from the theatre, I wept as I recounted the story.

* Cairo Exit - Another DIFF movie, we got the tickets because we knew we'd be holidaying in Cairo and wanted to see the streets, the buildings, the scenes within the city itself. We laughed when we got to the theatre and realized almost everyone else was wearing cocktail dresses and smart suits, because it was the world premiere, and we were in our jeans - and we had to walk the red carpet to get inside the theatre. As for the movie itself... all I can say is, oh dear...

* Morning Glory - The DIFF had a mix of regional films, indie films and some "Hollywood hits" and I had wanted to see this Harrison Ford - Diane Keaton - Rachel McAdams movie when I'd seen the previews. The story about a hard working morning news show producer was formulaic yet funny, and we laughed out loud at the montage of the weatherman going through every crazy scenario in a bid to raise ratings. Good silly fun.

* Biutiful - Our last movie at the DIFF, and I thought this Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu movie was spectacular. Complex, yes, thanks to its multilayers of crisscrossing stories and themes and characters, but this complexity worked so beautifully (biutifully). Reading about the movie after, the director had written and crafted the work for Javier Bardem, who had won the acting prize at Cannes for the role, and he was incredible.

 

2009 Year In Review: Movies

My list of movies watched in 2009 below and my favourite theatre movies for the year marked with a *:

 

An Inconvenient Truth - January 4

*Rachel Getting Married - January 6

Burn After Reading - January 6

*Milk - January 10

The Wrestler - January 17 

*Wall-E - January 18

Capturing The Friedmans - January 18

Gandhi - January 19

Starting Out In The Evening - January 31

Made of Honor - February 1

Two Lovers - February 22

Endurance - February 27

My Life Without Me - March 1

*Breaking And Entering - March 7

Annie Hall - March 15

Ratatouille - March 23

Twilight - March 28

Apocalypto - April 11

State of Play - April 17

Frost/Nixon - April 29

No Country For Old Men - May 2

Doubt - May 10

The Reader - May 30

He's Just Not That Into You - June 4

The Hangover - June 5

Letters to the President - June 14

Gran Torino - June 27

Sunshine Cleaning - July 4

*500 Days of Summer - July 18

*Julie and Julia - August 7

The Duchess - August 29

Changeling - September 9

In Bruges - September 10

*An Education - October 16
The Painted Veil - October 24
My Sister's Keeper - November 19
Hotel Rwanda - November 22
The September Issue - December 2
The Ugly Truth - December 2
*Up In The Air - December 13

2008 Year in Review: Movies

Some good movies this year, I've marked favourites with *.  Favourite movies from previous years: 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004.

Favourite Documentary: My Kid Could Paint That and Man on Wire

Favourite Cartoon - Persepolis

Favourite Eye-Candy Movie That Made Me Want to See Spain Again: Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Favourite "Most Fun" Movies, That I Was Still Reliving Days After The Theatre: Happy-Go-Lucky and Slumdog Millionaire

*January 12 - Persepolis

January 19 - Cloverfield

*March 1 - There Will Be Blood

April 12 - Smart People

April 16 - Young & Restless in China

*April 26 - My Kid Could Paint That

April 27 - Marie Antoinette

May 4 - Paris, Je T'Aime

June 15 - Sex and The City

June 16 - Resolved

June 28 - Get Smart

July 3 - The Other Boleyn Girl

July 12 - Hancock

July 13 - I Am Legend

*August 2 - Man on Wire

*October 11 - Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

*October 23 - Happy-Go-Lucky

November 9 - W.

November 16 - Quantum of Solace

*November 26 - Slumdog Millionaire

*December 19 - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

December 28 - Four Christmases

Weekend Recap - Mid-June

Wow, great weekend.

Friday night, cruised out to Williamsburg with the gang for dinner at Dumont Burger.

Saturday, puttered around, slept in, napped, grocery shopped, listened to the radio, read some books, watched a chick flick on TV.

Sunday, got up early to run the Father's Day 5 miler (MUCH better conditions than last weekend, less heat... still humid, but cooler - my time improved from the week before), met the girls for coffee, showered at Columbus Circle, shopped a little, got my hair done, saw Sex and The City and then enjoyed a glass of champagne at an outdoor table.

Perfect!

2007 Year in Review: Movies

I had a slower-than-usual movie-viewing 2007 - - too busy out and about with friends on weekends, which is never a bad thing!  Until December, that is, when my writing class would end at 1pm on a Saturday afternoon, releasing me into a freezing cold city with wind tunnel streets, and an afternoon matinee became the best way to pass the time between the gym and meeting friends for evening plans.

Looking at my list, seems to have been the year of James McAvoy, having seen three of his releases (Last King of Scotland, Starter for Ten and Atonement).  Also, the year of totally fun sophomoric adult-movie-masquerading-as-teen-hit humour, a la Simpsons movie, Superbad, Knocked Up and Juno.

My favourites from the list below -
Scariest - Pan's Labyrinth
Funniest - The Simpsons
Best Story - The Lives of Others
My Overall Favourite - Diving Bell and the Butterfly

January 18 - Pan's Labyrinth
February 10 - The Last King of Scotland
March 17 - Starter for Ten
April 20 - The Namesake
May 6 - We Are Together (Tribeca Film Festival)
June 17 - Knocked Up
July 28 - The Simpsons
August 13 - The Lives of Others
August 26 - Superbad
November 26 - Once
December 1 - The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
December 8 - Juno
December 15 - Atonement
December 23 - The Polar Express (Imax)
December 26 - Walk Hard
December 29 - American Gangster

First Snow Of The Season

Interrupting the Vancouver highlights with some weekend-in-NYC/NJ daydreams...

December 1 in New York City was icy cold with clean blue skies. I caught the early bus into the city, wearing my woolies and got a hot tea for writing class.

After three hours of excellent discussion there, I geared up for a run in Central Park, where my ears hurt from the cold wind and my cheeks were rosy from the jog.

Back at the gym, I sat in the steam room to thaw out and then walked back uptown to the Lincoln Center cinemas where I saw "The Diving Bell And The Butterfly" - I loved this book and the movie had been very well-reviewed. Even with all of that, it was even more astounding that I could have imagined, really beautiful. You know when you see a movie, and the final credits appear, and you find that you don't want to move so that the spell won't be broken? That's how I felt.

Somewhat dazed, I emerged from the theatre and found a taxi to bring me down to Murrary Hill, where I caught up with my friends before heading downtown to some Korean restaurant for dinner, a place without a sign on the door. As we were standing against the wall waiting for our table, watching gorgeous plates of food walk by, I asked my friends if they had heard of the super-hyped, ultrahip, mega-popular Momofuku Ssam Bar that has been getting a ton of press lately. "Um, that's this place." Much like the movie, this place had been well-reviewed and it was even more astounding than I could have imagined. Pickled vegetables, soft Korean buns with pork, cucumber and hoisin, panfriend Brussels Sprouts with caramelized scallions (quite possibly the best Brussels sprouts of all time), pork sausage over little gnocchi-like rice cakes and, finally, slices of steak that we wrapped in butter lettuce and drizzled with scallion ginger sauce.

As we enjoyed this feast, we talked about the weather forecast for the next morning, promising snow. And this morning, at 8:30, I gently awoke and looked out the window where I saw snow falling.

Joe had written me a message yesterday that it was snowing in Vancouver, and here too was the first winter storm of the season. After getting a few errands done (garbage, out; recycling, recycled; laundry, washed), I settled in for a cozy morning. Pot of coffee, a slice of my Mom's lemon loaf, and after an hour-long pause, the snow started to tumble down again. So cozy. I'm not leaving the apartment for the rest of the day!