After spending the majority of the day (and the day being Saturday) at work, I really needed some time off. So, the siblings (R & P, and R's girlfriend, P2), came over for dinner (take-out, who has time to cook anymore!) and a marathon of Law and Order SVU. Except I got tied up at work until 915pm, but fortunately the siblings are ever entrepreneurial and brought their own set of keys to my apartment, so they were able to let themselves in at the appointed hour and make themselves comfortable in front of my television.
We watched four episodes in total. I'm not the biggest fan of this season. It's just a little too sensationalist for me. I want more gore and crime and less . . . fake drama. Because if you have rape and murder and sordid sex crimes, you have drama a-plenty without having to resort to some crap plot line about the new DA having a thing for Detective Stabler. We don't have time for those sorts of romances.
* * *
It's 230am so I should go to bed. But first, let me link to this article from Slate, which talks about whether cyclists should follow the rules for cars. Let me clear and unequivocal on this point: YES. I've said it before and I will say it again. If you are not in a wheelchair, in a pram, or riding a tricycle (OK fine, or a bicycle but only if you're less than 12 years old - arbitrarily picked age), then you should be ON THE ROAD and not on the pavement and you should be STOPPING AT THE RED LIGHT.
Because otherwise you get in my way as I walk to work. And in case you were wondering, well, see the previous post: I'm not a morning person, and I don't need you in the way.
* * *
I went on a ticket-buying spree today. Two concerts in November and one in December. Which ones, you ask? Well, I've got to keep you on your toes. So keep checking this blog regularly, and you'll find out soon enough.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Thursday Update
I'm not doing so well with blogging regularly, am I?
I try, I try. Or I don't try enough. Ah, story of my life.
I've been under the weather. Caught a horrific cold/ cough/ sore throat/ fever (I suppose it would have been more succinct to just say flu, I suppose, but that conjures up images nowadays of H1N1 and all that jazz). I'm over the worst of it now, I think, though I am still phlegmatic as hell. Yes, you'll know where I have been if you check the waste paper baskets and find them full of used tissues displaying copious amounts of green and yellow mucus.
And now I have lost my only reader? Or attracted a new teenage fan crowd, quite possibly. But seriously I cannot be the only person who blows his nose and immediately inspects the product. Although perhaps sophisticated and serious bloggers don't blog about such stuff?
Ah, this is all taking a turn for the worse. This is a problem with blogging perhaps -- not enough self-editing? Like right now I could go back and erase all that I have typed and start over again. But instead I'll talk about doing that, all the while leaving the original content for you to read. Instead, dear reader, use your imagination and conjure up a world in which the mucus paragraphs did not exist, as though I had never typed them! There you go, now was that so hard?
I have a problem getting out of bed in the morning. It's not really a problem waking up. That part is fine. But right after that I pop open my laptop, check my e-mail, surf the web for international law news, then regular news, then I read my favourite blogs, check the weather, listen to a song or two on myspace or itunes store, contemplate whether or not to buy a new song, download it, listen to it on repeat a couple of times to get it into my system . . . oh, you get the picture.
Which means I am always late to work.
Bad Caveboy.
I try, I try. Or I don't try enough. Ah, story of my life.
I've been under the weather. Caught a horrific cold/ cough/ sore throat/ fever (I suppose it would have been more succinct to just say flu, I suppose, but that conjures up images nowadays of H1N1 and all that jazz). I'm over the worst of it now, I think, though I am still phlegmatic as hell. Yes, you'll know where I have been if you check the waste paper baskets and find them full of used tissues displaying copious amounts of green and yellow mucus.
And now I have lost my only reader? Or attracted a new teenage fan crowd, quite possibly. But seriously I cannot be the only person who blows his nose and immediately inspects the product. Although perhaps sophisticated and serious bloggers don't blog about such stuff?
Ah, this is all taking a turn for the worse. This is a problem with blogging perhaps -- not enough self-editing? Like right now I could go back and erase all that I have typed and start over again. But instead I'll talk about doing that, all the while leaving the original content for you to read. Instead, dear reader, use your imagination and conjure up a world in which the mucus paragraphs did not exist, as though I had never typed them! There you go, now was that so hard?
I have a problem getting out of bed in the morning. It's not really a problem waking up. That part is fine. But right after that I pop open my laptop, check my e-mail, surf the web for international law news, then regular news, then I read my favourite blogs, check the weather, listen to a song or two on myspace or itunes store, contemplate whether or not to buy a new song, download it, listen to it on repeat a couple of times to get it into my system . . . oh, you get the picture.
Which means I am always late to work.
Bad Caveboy.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Sorry
Yes, yes, I've been away from my computer, so I've not been blogging. My home computer, that is. I've been chained to my work computer, down in Peru. Unfortunately, cookies or some such were disabled on my work computer, and java script editor something or the other likewise did not work. Which meant I could not log on to my blog to, well, blog.
Thus starving you of my wit and entertainment. You poor souls. How have you managed without me?
Very well, it appears (he noted, bitterly).
I'm back in New York. Spent the day hiking about 2 hours away from the city. Was a ton of fun. I would write more, but I'm exhausted. Which leaves you thinking two weeks away and all we got was this lousy blog entry? To which I say, yes.
Thus starving you of my wit and entertainment. You poor souls. How have you managed without me?
Very well, it appears (he noted, bitterly).
I'm back in New York. Spent the day hiking about 2 hours away from the city. Was a ton of fun. I would write more, but I'm exhausted. Which leaves you thinking two weeks away and all we got was this lousy blog entry? To which I say, yes.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Just to let you know
that I am about to go and watch the season premier of Law and Order Special Victims Unit. I tell you this now, at 10:42pm, before I start watching the show because I know that afterwards, circa 1142pm, the last thing I will want to do is get online and tell you how it was. Rather, I will want to crawl into my bed and praise the good Lord above that the season of gore and heinous crimes is upon us again.
I need to read
Dear Readers,
It has crossed my mind that I'm slowly becoming illiterate. I used to read voraciously as a child, then as a college student (it helped, conveniently, that I was an English literature major (oh, in addition to Economics, yes, I wasn't entirely useless in planning for my future)). And now? Well, I barely read, and when I do read, it's about what's happening in New York City so that I can feed my need to be a part of this vibrant! thriving! city. Or it's huffingtonpost.com, or slate.com, or althouse.blogspot.com, or five international law blogs, or the nytimes.com, and occassionally, it's newyorker.com, or vanityfair.com, or the guardian.co.uk, or pslawnet.org (so I can look up non-profit jobs), or un.org/en/employment (so that I can look up UN jobs), or google searches for "international law jobs" so that I can look up international law jobs, whatever the institution might be. I need to read books.
Please hold me accountable if I don't read at least, hmmm, 1 book a month?
(Yes, I'm setting my standards low.)
It has crossed my mind that I'm slowly becoming illiterate. I used to read voraciously as a child, then as a college student (it helped, conveniently, that I was an English literature major (oh, in addition to Economics, yes, I wasn't entirely useless in planning for my future)). And now? Well, I barely read, and when I do read, it's about what's happening in New York City so that I can feed my need to be a part of this vibrant! thriving! city. Or it's huffingtonpost.com, or slate.com, or althouse.blogspot.com, or five international law blogs, or the nytimes.com, and occassionally, it's newyorker.com, or vanityfair.com, or the guardian.co.uk, or pslawnet.org (so I can look up non-profit jobs), or un.org/en/employment (so that I can look up UN jobs), or google searches for "international law jobs" so that I can look up international law jobs, whatever the institution might be. I need to read books.
Please hold me accountable if I don't read at least, hmmm, 1 book a month?
(Yes, I'm setting my standards low.)
Yeah Yeah Yeah
I went to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs perform last night at Radio City Music Hall. What a big venue! And I was way! way! up! To see the Yeah! Yeah Yeahs! The ticket was part of my "I must do New York things while I am in New York." You see, when I was working in Sierra Leone, I used to complain to myself that I missed, oh so much, the culture! the nightlife! the opera! the theatre! the concerts! of New York. But I also knew at the back of my mind that I never ever really took advantage of all that New York had to offer. So, in the last year, it's been consciously on my mind that I must rock the body electric and get my body out to these venues and places.
So, there I was, with my charcoal gray suit, my super white shirt, my red silk tie (which I removed just prior to entering the concert venue and stuffed into the inner pocket of my jacket). Oh, and with my two pockets jammed full and bulging with my (1) work blackberry, (2) personal cell phone, (3) wallets (OK, fine, this was my back pocket, so that makes three bulging pockets), (4) ipod and headphones, (5) keys (with Duane Reade discount card, D'Agastino discount card, and then mailbox key, front door key, building entrance key, and some random key that I think opens my brother's old storage locker in Newark, New Jersey), and (6) my work ID.
Once Puxoticus and I were inside, we made straight for the bar. Novice that she is, I told Pux to just get hard liquor on the rocks b/c it does the job efficiently but doesn't make you feel bloated and/or need to go to the bathroom. But she mumbled something about taste and liking to enjoy what she was drinking. I don't understand those types - when it comes to alcohol, I can be entirely utilitarian.
The concert was great. Well, the first two songs had me wondering whether I had made a big mistake, and should instead have spent the night home with my television. (My TV has yet to fail me. Well, my TV coupled with my DVR have yet to fail me.) But then we hit my favorite songs, and we were on a roll: Soft Shock, Cheated Heart, and, suddenly the music was good! Later, they performed an incredible version of Maps, dramatically done with orchestra-like instruments (violins! beautiful!).
Overall: a very good concert.
So, there I was, with my charcoal gray suit, my super white shirt, my red silk tie (which I removed just prior to entering the concert venue and stuffed into the inner pocket of my jacket). Oh, and with my two pockets jammed full and bulging with my (1) work blackberry, (2) personal cell phone, (3) wallets (OK, fine, this was my back pocket, so that makes three bulging pockets), (4) ipod and headphones, (5) keys (with Duane Reade discount card, D'Agastino discount card, and then mailbox key, front door key, building entrance key, and some random key that I think opens my brother's old storage locker in Newark, New Jersey), and (6) my work ID.
Once Puxoticus and I were inside, we made straight for the bar. Novice that she is, I told Pux to just get hard liquor on the rocks b/c it does the job efficiently but doesn't make you feel bloated and/or need to go to the bathroom. But she mumbled something about taste and liking to enjoy what she was drinking. I don't understand those types - when it comes to alcohol, I can be entirely utilitarian.
The concert was great. Well, the first two songs had me wondering whether I had made a big mistake, and should instead have spent the night home with my television. (My TV has yet to fail me. Well, my TV coupled with my DVR have yet to fail me.) But then we hit my favorite songs, and we were on a roll: Soft Shock, Cheated Heart, and, suddenly the music was good! Later, they performed an incredible version of Maps, dramatically done with orchestra-like instruments (violins! beautiful!).
Overall: a very good concert.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Hamlet starring Jude Law
I went to see a production of Hamlet starring Jude Law this evening. It was three hours and ten minutes long with one intermission. Which, when your day started at 645am with a visit to the gym (look how I make myself seem virtuous and industrious!) means that your eyes are closing circa the beginning of, oh, Acts 1, 2, 3, etc. means that you just want to yell at the stage saying, "To be or not to be/ That is the question," and "Methinks the lady doth protest too much" and "Get a move on it."
Which is probably not the best frame of mind, all things considered.
I didn't love the production. I think there are two big reasons why. First, when I watch Shakespearean plays, I'm acutely aware that I'm not watching something that is supposed to be a representation of what's real in the world as I know it. In other words, I'm watching the play to fall in love with the complexity of emotions, the imagined situation and circumstance, the way with words. But I am well aware that the play is not my life because, well, it's set a long time ago and, more significantly, the actors speak in Shakespearean verse. So it's very hard for me to lose myself in such a production. It's all artificial to me.
Second, the character of Hamlet is hard to execute. This is a guy that is going increasingly mad as the play progresses. And it's hard to depict mad. Rather, it's hard to depict mad in a natural way. I could see Jude Law trying to be mad. I could see him hunching over, I could see him twitching, I could hear him modulating his voice from really loud to really soft, I could see him be physical with characters in a sort of flamboyant, uncontrolled way . . . and all I could think was, oh, this is you depicting the descent into madness. Which did not please me. I wanted to see mad as mad, not what it was like to be mad.
I think Ophelia completely sucked. I mean, I haven't seen a production of Hamlet before, but in my mind, when I read the play in high school, I Imagined Ophelia as a character with great, great emotional range. Not so much this actress.
Overall review: Glad I went because it's good to do New York things when in New York. And, you know, it's good to watch plays about a young man going mad because he thinks that his mother might have had something to do with murdering his father and then God forbid it but she married his father's brother, and then a young lady go mad (eventually killing herself) because her father was killed accidentally by the man she happens to love. It's like, Oh you get me and you know what my life is like.
Which is probably not the best frame of mind, all things considered.
I didn't love the production. I think there are two big reasons why. First, when I watch Shakespearean plays, I'm acutely aware that I'm not watching something that is supposed to be a representation of what's real in the world as I know it. In other words, I'm watching the play to fall in love with the complexity of emotions, the imagined situation and circumstance, the way with words. But I am well aware that the play is not my life because, well, it's set a long time ago and, more significantly, the actors speak in Shakespearean verse. So it's very hard for me to lose myself in such a production. It's all artificial to me.
Second, the character of Hamlet is hard to execute. This is a guy that is going increasingly mad as the play progresses. And it's hard to depict mad. Rather, it's hard to depict mad in a natural way. I could see Jude Law trying to be mad. I could see him hunching over, I could see him twitching, I could hear him modulating his voice from really loud to really soft, I could see him be physical with characters in a sort of flamboyant, uncontrolled way . . . and all I could think was, oh, this is you depicting the descent into madness. Which did not please me. I wanted to see mad as mad, not what it was like to be mad.
I think Ophelia completely sucked. I mean, I haven't seen a production of Hamlet before, but in my mind, when I read the play in high school, I Imagined Ophelia as a character with great, great emotional range. Not so much this actress.
Overall review: Glad I went because it's good to do New York things when in New York. And, you know, it's good to watch plays about a young man going mad because he thinks that his mother might have had something to do with murdering his father and then God forbid it but she married his father's brother, and then a young lady go mad (eventually killing herself) because her father was killed accidentally by the man she happens to love. It's like, Oh you get me and you know what my life is like.
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