Buddha and Bullock

To focus my day, I thought that cleaning the house after visiting Starbuck's would be a good plan. After a hour or two, I had compiled a tidy list of cleaning supplies I needed, which meant I had to run around town for awhile, which meant that I screwed off most of the day with shopping.

But, judging from yesterday's event, I must have been a spiritual place, because I found a wonderful Buddha head sculpture which has a place of honor in my newly cleaned and tidy home. Now I have to see about getting my altar table back from BC...

For my evening entertainment, I went to see Crash for two reasons. One, it was getting very good reviews and two, somehow Sandra Bullock slipped in a movie and I knew nothing about it.

Crash is absolutely wonderful. It is powerful and magical, and sadly real. It is the story about race relations and the inherent distrust of the Other every single group in the world has for another group. It is intelligent, realistic, painful and true.

And surprise of all surprises, Sandra gives an amazing performance. She really can act. I am formally retracting my earlier statement in the Miss Congeniality 2 review about if I wanted to see acting I'd go to a Julianne Moore film. If you want to see acting, go see Crash. Everyone involved has given a passionate, moving performance.

A Phrase I Could Do Without

So I got an email from my PDXTraveller, which included the following phrase:

I may have cancer elsewhere

Black type on a white background. Amazing how such a short little sentence can disrupt your whole existence.

The world is never as simple as being black or white - it is always a shifting gray, and sometimes it is very cloudy, and hard to find your way through.

It's My Friday

A few times a year, my store sends out a flyer, which means we become even more busy than we regularly are. Because of this condition, I took for a team, and stayed an extra couple of hours today, before punching out for my weekend.

As it also happened to be payday, I did a little shopping on the way home, picking up a lovely book of Edward S. Curtis photos and, something I never, ever do - I bought a shirt - FULL PRICE - at the GAP. I scope out things all of the time, and bide my time waiting for the inevitable markdowns. But what can I say - this one so fulfilled my deeply buried but omnipresent desire to be a seventies guitar player... just had to have it.

My Stressful Hectic Morning

Well, it had to happen eventually.

This morning was the most hectic, hardest morning I have had at work. It took divine intervention to get everything off of the floor and out the backdoor into the parking lot (which we refer to as our "backyard") before the store opened at 9 am.

I spent until 1 in the afternoon stacking and shrinkwrapping nine (9) pallets of backstock. Let me tell you, Faithful Readers, that is a LOT of boxes.

But, just when you think your day is going to hell, what should happen but someone who has the day off drops by at 8:50 in the morning with a real Starbucks triple grande latte just for you...

So, I guess it really wasn't so bad after all.

Events of An Uneventful Day

I was so eager to get off of work today, that when H__ called at 5 pm asking me to go look up a definition she needed to complete her current art project, I was not as pleasant as I should have been.

Once I was sitting in the nice, comfy chairs at the barnes and Noble, sipping a double espresso and flipping through a dictionary, I felt much better and became much more civilized.

I dropped in on H__ to see how the projects were progressing, and we ended up taking a walk and dropping by a diner - what is greater than that - for dinner.

On our back to her place, we longingly stalked the beautiful apartment building down the street, and our thoughts turned once again to finding a place to call home...

New Music Tuesday - Electric Oasis

I like quite a bit of world music, and have recently discovered a passion for trance/chill beats.

So when I saw this CD, I had to have it, and I have been very pleased with it. A lot of great beats under some beautiful Arabic melodies. As the marketing says : Where ancient Arabian melodies meet contemporary grooves to create the new heartbeat of the street. Perhaps a bit overblown...

I listened to this with the gang at work, and most everyone really got into it. It's good to work to; it's aurally interesting and stimulating - certainly not something that you have heard before. Song titles such as Scheherazade, Move Your Belly, Sandstorm, Mirage, Blue Bedouin capture pretty clearly what you can expect. Naked Rhythm (Alex Spurkel and Avi Sills) and Ro-Je are favorite artists on the disc, and Naked Rhythm has some MP3's from the disc posted here for your listening pleasure.

And you get a lot of music on this disc - for better or for worse.

The Makings Of The Next Blockbuster

So early this morning, leaving Starbuck's heading to Kent to go to the library, I heard this story on NPR.

It seems police in Kent, England found a man dressed in a formal black suit and tie, soaking wet, walking along a beach. He could not communicate with the authorities, so they took him to a psych hospital, Medway Maritime Hospital .

While he was there, the only communication he provided was to draw a (very nice) picture of a grand piano. They took him to the chapel, where there was a piano and he played lovely classical music for several hours.

His identity remains a mystery.

No Refunds, No Returns

I spent most of last evening ill-advisedly working on my great, fabled novel. It is my deepest wish that one day in the very near future I will complete it and put it to rest. It seems I was neither emotionally or intellectually strong enough to deal with things the writing required of me last evening, and a mild gloomy depression has taken up residence.

When I got to work this afternoon, my heart was just not into it. Not that there was a single thing I could have realistically been doing that I would have found satisfying...
So I asked a fellow manager that since I used my day off poorly, if I might have a “do-over.”
That is not one of the benefits my company offers... Go figure.

Thwarted

I had grandiose plans that I was going to go the library first thing this morning to book a flight for the afternoon to New York City. Just to fly in for the morning, and leave late in the evening. No big deal.

I wanted to take H__ to see the exhibit of Gregory Colbert 's photographs at the Nomadic Museum on Pier 54.

Apparently, I have no airline karma whatsoever. Being a Taurus, I could not accept my fate so readily, and kept trying various maneuvers to realize my goal. After about two hours, I consented, and with weary eyes and a psychosomatic headache, I lost all interest in doing any other work there, and dejectedly left.

The Last Of The Birthday Festivities

I had been so looking forward to today for so long now...and my day - the 13th - starts out walking under a ladder at the bookstore ! Luckily I am not the superstitious type...

As I was driving up to Cleveland, I called H__ and asked that if she had a spare hour to get a cup of coffee with me. Happily, she did. We were going to walk over to Cafe Limbo from her house, but she felt too warm, and so we drove. She always manages to get the parking space directly in front of the joint. It's uncanny...

After a lovely chat on a lovely afternoon, it was time for me to take my leave so I could go to Sergio's, where I was meeting Heather for a triumvirate of celebrations.

As we rounded the corner back to H__'s house so I could get my car, we noticed that about 100 feet in front of where my car was parked a minivan was engulfed in flames and pouring a huge cloud of noxious smoke up into the sky.

I offered to pay H__ to chauffeur me to Sergio's, as I did not want to be anywhere near the impending explosion when the flames reached the gas tank of the minivan. Declining all financial bribery, H__ did some nice illegal driving maneuvers and we quickly arrived safe and sound at Sergio's, where H__ and Heather finally got to meet for the first time. Heather invited H__ to join us, but she was at the end of her day. Heather said she respected H__'s ability to be so honest - it means that you respect that in others. I thought that was a cool observation.

{ I want to take an editorial moment to report that I have received several emails from Faithful Readers speculating about H__'s identity, and every one of them assumes that H__ is Heather. H__ is H__. Heather is Heather. }

This dinner marks the first time of being able to sit outside on the patio of Sergio's this season! We ordered a libation to get the party started, a dark Brazilian beer, Xingu. Heather has finally graduated with her hard-earned Master's Degree, and in addition, we were celebrating each of our birthdays.

We had a great meal, the coffee (which goes without saying) and the now standard (it seems) coconut cake - which Heather approved of as well.

Although Heather and I talk on the phone to each other frequently (well, we voice mail each other frequently), we have not seen each other since our last meal at Sergio's, which was on St. Patrick's Day. Now here it is, Friday the 13th. Nothing bad happened, other than the umbrella for the table across from us started to fall our way, threatening to impale us, but it was caught before a scene was created.

It was so nice to spend time with Heather - I have missed her very much and I am very selfishly glad school is out! She better not be thinking of getting her PhD anytime soon, that's all I'm gonna say on the subject...

So, Heather drove me back to my car, as she lives about four blocks away from H__ - convenient, huh?

My trusty car was sitting all safe and sound, with nothing but a large circle of cinders in the street to tell the tale of the burning minivan.

I headed home, and clouds rolled in for the predicted thunderstorm.

By the time I arrived home, there was only a steady gentle rainfall, a distant rumbling of thunder, and wonderful clean scent filling my apartment. With fresh air and clean linens calling to me, I took a magazine to bed, and had a wonderful, sound sleep.

Drive Thru Safari of the Dead

I felt like I was on one of those "hop in a Jeep" nature safaris today whilst on my weary commute to the workplace.

When turning onto the on-ramp of the highway, right there on the curb railing sat a red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus). Ok, that was cool. Off to a good start, right?

But about 50 feet down the road, there was a dead mallard drake (Anas platyrhynchos). I drove for miles pondering the possibilities that would result in hitting a mallard, or wondering if maybe it just had a heart attack. Do birds have heart attacks?

To round off my macabre roadtrip, I passed four corpses of does on the side of the road, certainly a new record. And, if you think your job sucks, check out this career report from CNN. And if you want dessert, check out the menu...

Edvard Munch : The Film

"Kitty Griffing" and I had plans to go to the art museum after work for dinner and a movie.

When we arrived, "Kitty" took me to the Ingalls Library, deep in the bowels of the museum. As I have been going to the museum since I was an infant, it was disturbing to me that I had never set foot in this library.

Well, it was amazing. The best part was the periodicals room, which has every art and photography magazine imaginable just sitting there...I was in heaven. Then, the icing on the cake, the back wall had countless auction catalogues for Sotheby's and Christie's, and "Kitty" and I spent a good long time oohing and ahhing over great works of art being auctioned off. Now I am obsessing about collecting auction catalogues. It is very to interesting to not only see what is available, but to see the value placed on it.

So we dragged ourselves away and went to the museum cafe for dinner, where I got a very nice Mediterranean chicken with corn relish and red potatoes and "Kitty" had a melange of cold salads. We took our meal outside to the courtyard, which we practically had to ourselves and had a lovely time dining by the fountain amidst some fine sculpture.

Then it was time to go see Edvard Munch, a film by Peter Watkins from 1974. The film received rave reviews such as:

"A work of genius." Ingmar Bergman

and

A classic of world cinema, EDVARD MUNCH is considered the summit of the artist biography film ...

Most reviews I read in preparation tended to be positive, though there were some critics who found the film repetitive and exaggerated. "Kitty" and I would be in that the latter camp.

First of all, it was three hours long. And three hours of repetitive scenes, replayed over and over (The definition of repetitive, I am aware), and silent, longing looks between Munch and his mistress...dull dull dull.

There was one brilliant scene, showing Munch creating his 1885 work, The Sick Child, in which he attacks, scores, and brutalizes the canvas. The sound of the scraping and the intensity in which the scene is filmed, left my pulse racing, and I was thinking that the previously tedious film was turning a corner, but no, it immediately returned to its insipid storyline revolving around the mistress. I am sure she influenced his art tremendously and all, but I really wanted to see more of his process, not endless emotional masturbation.

I have rarely been so happy when the credits start to roll as I was on this night.

Leaving the museum, the temperature had dropped about 10 degrees and it was down right cold outside. Which necessitated a stop at Starbuck's, for warmth, and to keep me awake for the long drive home after the three hour tranquilizer....

New Music Tuesday : Camiel

A great discovery. I can list on one hand the CD's that I am able to listen to from beginning to end without itching to hit the "forward" button (and maybe I will post that soon). Today's CD joins the list.

Sunset, by Dutch guitarist Camiel will be my soundtrack of choice for the summer, or for a great beginning to a evening at home entertaining.

It is hard to pin down exactly what this sounds like. My favorite track is El Alba, which is beautiful with his excellent acoustic guitar playing and lovely piano accents. Second is Sigueme, with a smoky female vocal in a foreign tongue.

Two "spoken word" pieces, layed on top of a great soundtrack, are evocative and haunting: Follow Me and I Would.

The CD is, in the very broadest sense of the word, smooth jazz, without the hideous soprano sax that that term conjures up for me. But is deeply rooted in disco, groove, R&B, soul and Latin rhythms for good measure.

To finish off this great recording, Camiel had the good sense to record this live with real instruments and an orchestra...no dubbed in samples. There is a nice, open aural space created from the live recording.

Can you tell I dig this?

Remembrance

When I was a child, the month of May was heavenly.

The most important people in my world were my grandmother, my uncle and my mother.

My birthday began a week long celebration of us, and it seemed to me that the four of us were bonded together in a very special way. After my day, a day on which I was completely indulged to do anything I wished, my uncle's birthday was 6 days later on the 9th, and then my mom's birthday, a week after mine on May 10.

Rounding out the celebration, my mom's birthday usually fell on Mother's Day, which was the perfect excuse to include my grandmother in the partying as well.

Perhaps that is why that even now, in my 40's, a sneaking sense of glee overtakes me for a bit when my birthday draws near.

I would love to go back in time to my grandmother's house on Lang Drive in Pennsylvania and watch the celebration in the dining room...

Happy Birthday, Mom.

What Passes For Excitement 'Round Here

Yeah, ok, so this will sum up my life pretty well at this point:

The big excitement of the weekend was that I didn't need a jacket, and gas was under $2 a gallon. (ok, it was $1.98, but still..)

The Final Cut

I had been wanting to see this film for quite some time, and I really enjoyed it.

Robin Williams (in the third installment of strange roles –following Insomnia and One Hour Photo) plays the role of a future mortician-psychologist-filmmaker. In this version of the future, people have biochips implanted at birth which record everything they experience. At death, a Cutter (Williams) gets the memory chip, and edits together the pertinent moments and images from that person's life. His work is shown at a ceremony called “The ReMemory”.

The ideas raised in the film are quite good, and what I really enjoyed about the film was that both sides, the pros and the cons, the ethics and economics, of the issue were presented. The film clearly gave time to the protestors of the chip, and nicely answered some questions raised early in the film regarding their appearance.

I have to admit to seeing the final outcome long before it arrived, but that was ok. It still was a suspenseful film, well-crafted and certainly well-acted.

It is a film that lends itself to thought and discussion – and you don't get those too bloody often.

Birthday Festivities Continue

Following work today (which coincides with my weekend kick-off), I went to H__'s house, where I received many wonderful gifts. The beauty of knowing artists is that you can be fairly sure that on gift-giving occasions you will receive something handmade, original and wonderful.

H__ made a glorious card of vellum, with stitching and art work, as well as a necklace and wonderful shadowbox with a removable beaded Buddha face pin.

We left for dinner, and you will not believe this, I requested to go to Valerio's, a restaurant in Little Italy. Shocking, I know. We had a very nice meal of pollo au funghi, and a cappucino, then decided to walk about the neighborhood as it was a lovely and finally warm evening!

We wandered into Anthony's Cafe and each had a homemade latte gelato. That was pure heaven.

As we continued on our stroll, we found a gallery that appeared to be open, La Bella Vita. The owner, Barbara, invited us in, and we immediately were impressed by the incredible murals she had done on each wall. The place is a work of art – my favorite room is the small back “clearance” room, which is painted with deep orange clouds and a night sky...the room was once a bathroom, and I could just imagine soaking in a tub under the ceiling fan (the ceiling was at least 10' high) in this beautiful atmosphere...

H__ was in heaven, and dropped quite a bit of quid. We had a terrific time there. Sadly, as I had been up so early, I was getting very sleepy and had to call it a night.

Birthday Festivities

People were compelled to sing to me this year in honor of my natal day. The festivities started out with my morning latte and the Starbucks crew singing the birthday song. I headed up to Cleveland where I was joining my friend, "Kitty Griffing" (see Policy Change - next post). We were going to see Masterworks From The Phillips Collection currently on display at the art museum, before the museum closes for renovations for SIX YEARS.
I arrived before "Kitty", and was horrified to see bus after bus lining up by the museum. The place was overrun with children. I was filled with dread.

Well, "Kitty" arrived and we bravely entered the exhibit and attempted a strategic deployment to the end of the exhibit first, to get away from the swarms of children.

My favorite pieces were all four works by Paul Klee (especially 1937's Picture Album), a marvelous piece by Kandinsky which I have never seen before, and a gorgeous small canvas, Melancholy (1874), by Edgar Degas.

The big showstopper is supposedly Renoir's The Luncheon of the Boating Party, which is all well and good, but it made me REALLY want to go and see J. Seward Johnson' s bronze life-size reproduction of the painting. That would be cool.

We then went to check out the Drawn with Light: Pioneering French Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art exhibit. I think my favorite piece was seeing Nadar's 1855 portrait of Alexandre Dumas père. I had seen it often in books, but it was truly beautiful in person. As were the works by Eugène Atget, of course. Many of his works look like fairy tale landscapes to me.

Before we knew it, it was time to cross the street, walk by the Geary building and get some lunch at....Sergio's! At lunch, I received a call, which was the second rendition of the birthday song so far. I am happy to report that today, under the influence of "Kitty", I tried dessert there for the first time, a magnificent coconut butter cake with a divine warm sauce. It was truly amazing.

Knowing my proclivity for ruins and cemeteries,"Kitty" then drove me to a tiny, hidden cemetery. I was completely enraptured and can't wait for the opportunity to return with my camera. It is an outstanding hidden treasure.

She then took me to Hessler Court, which is the oldest street in Cleveland - it is paved with "bricks" which are made from wood blocks. Mindblowing!

A few friends called, and more singing.

After all of this fun, I had to go to work.

My co-workers felt compelled to bring out a big sheet cake, in front of everyone at the registers and sang the birthday song yet again, over the intercom. I like it much better when the guest of honor is not me. Still, it is very nice to be remembered and celebrated.

Policy Change

At times I have been hard pressed to come up with a name to disguise the identity of real people who make an appearance on the blog.

So, I have decided that from now on, when a good name does not present itself readily, I will resort to using that individual's porn/stripper/drag queen name.

This is a little game we play at work which never ceases to amuse me. Just take the name of your first pet and the street that you lived on, and Viola! You now have your porn/stripper/drag queen name – whichever is more appropriate for you.

I feel compelled to share with you my stripper name which is Misty Lang. If I went with my second pet, I would be Boots Osborne, which is most certainly a jazz saxophonist. My best friend's name would be Scruffy Butler, and I've decided Scruffy is Boots' drummer in the jazz band.

Somehow, I see a novel in this....

Please feel free to amuse me to no end, and post your name here...

New Music Tuesday - Rebekah Jordan : The Trouble With Fiction

H__'s neighbor dropped off his daughter's self-produced CD the other day, and after listening to it, H__ passed it along to me.

A mere 6 tracks, but instantly likeable. The definite highlight is her version of Stevie Nicks' Dreams, the final cut. However, all of the other songs ( which she wrote) are very good, and at this moment my second favorite is track 2, The Art of Losing.

Rebekah sings and plays the piano, and has created a nice folky-pop sound, enhanced surprisingly by the inclusion of a cello. You gotta love that.

I hope her career takes off. Do go and see her if you have the chance.