Rain and not getting it up

This weather is putting me in a serious funk. I have tomorrow off work, and Saturday is the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island. Both days would be infinitely better with some sunshine involved. Instead of being out and about enjoying myself, though, I predict a couple of days where I hibernate, clean the apartment, futz around, and end up with cabin fever. I really don’t remember the last time we had so much rain in such a short period of time.

Otherwise there’s not much to report. I had a fairly big paper due in class on Tuesday when I also had to give a presentation about Cialis. I was a model of maturity in class but have been cracking erectile dysfunction jokes ever since.

It’s too bad there isn’t anything more interesting happening for me to reflect on here.

The Hangover

Todd and I treated ourselves to a viewing of The Hangover as a remedy for my homework hangover yesterday.

This movie isn't amazing. It won't win any prestigious awards. It's definitely not going down as a classic of movie making. There are a few missteps including the totally fey Asian high roller–turned-kidnapper. Plenty of this movie stops making sense if you think about it too hard.

All that said, it made me laugh a lot. It's more a string of funny scenes and moments than anything else, but that still adds up to a whole lot of funny. I think seeing it in the theater played to its favor: the crowd obviously liked it, and being surrounded by all that laughter makes you want to laugh more. And once you're primed to laugh by the good moments, some of the merely ok moments make you laugh, too.

I feel hesitant to really recommend it, because I can see its flaws pretty clearly. But after a long, boring day in front of my computer thinking about how to position Cialis, of all things, I really enjoyed this movie. It really delivered the laughs, and sometimes that's all a comedy should do.

Weekend Plans

This weekend will be a mix of total work and utter fun. My summer class started a week late, so we have a make up class tonight. Yes, that’s right. My professor thought we’d all appreciate making up that three-hour class on a Friday night. He obviously has his pulse on the lives of his students. We’ve only met twice so far and the first session went by quickly. Tuesday’s class dragged beyond belief, though, and I’m suspecting tonight’s will be the same. Luckily a classmate / friend and I are getting together with our Todds (her fiance is also named Todd) for dinner after class, so at least there’s that to look forward to.

This weekend is Figment, which is one of the best art events of the year in NYC. It takes place out on Governors Island, which I adore. The whole island is transformed into a collaborative and interactive art space, and I can’t wait to see what New York’s most creative minds have put together this year. Unfortunately the weather will suck (NYC has recently turned into Seattle in terms of rainfall, overcast skies, and an inability to produce any sunlight), and I’ll be doing mad amounts of homework for my class. My first big paper is due on Tuesday and I was randomly selected to do my presentation (everyone has to present one paper this semester) in the first round, which means I have to put together a plan for that, too.

Tim Burton celebrated at MOMA

Since I have some Tim Burton fans as readers, I thought I should share this bit of news. The Museum of Modern Art will be holding a retrospective celebrating his work at the end of this year. It will run from November through April and will contain movie artifacts such as sketches, costumes, and puppets. There will also be some nonprofessional and early work that we’re likely less familiar with.

I'll definitely check it out and welcome anyone who wants to join me.

Dear Crafty New Yorkers,

Head out to McCarren Park today to check out Renegade. It's a craft show that is so huge it takes up the entire park. There are over 300 artists, jewelers, sassy t-shirt enthusiasts, bath-and-body peeps to make you smell like anything you want, and more. We spent the afternoon there yesterday, and if I'd been equipped with more money I'd have come home with a whole lot more than I did.

Jen is vending there, showing off her beautiful creations. That was the impetus for going out there, and it was exciting to see her tent so packed with people every time I walked by. As Rena knows, I love having artisan friends; I always want to support their efforts, so I'm able to easily rationalize indulging myself with a few treats. Yesterday I walked away with a beautiful new ring and a fabulous pair of earrings from dillonDesigns. Thanks, Jen!

I also got the cutest purse in the history of purses. I'm not saying more about it because at least some of you will eventually see these under the Christmas tree or wrapped up as a birthday gift. Seriously: the cutest.

The show wraps up today at 7:00, so all of you artsty-fartsy, crafty New Yorkers should get out there lickety-split.

Biking to DUMBO

Sunday was another beautiful day, and Todd and I had a great time out enjoying the weather. We biked through Central Park and discovered Japan Day. After leaving the park, we encountered the Salute to Israel Parade going down the east side. We took a route south through the east side, which brought us right past the U.N. It was a very international day on the bikes!

We don't usually bike down the east side, and after this experience I know I'll be sticking to the west side from now on. I found the route frustrating (on and off the green way and into and out of street traffic) and too exhaust-filled.

I was pretty impressed with our stamina, though. We biked all the way downtown and into Chinatown. From there we took the Manhattan Bridge across the water and into Dumbo. Todd and I both agree that Dumbo is one of the nicest parts of the city; we'd love to live there some day if we come into about a zillion dollars. If any of you want to finance us, please let me know.

Presidential Sighting

This past weekend brought perfect weather to New York. Saturday morning was lost to waiting for cable and a delivery, but we headed out in the afternoon to take the ferry to Ikea in Red Hook. The trip took a lot longer than it should have, but for a pretty good reason. All water traffic, including the Ikea ferry was stopped so that a very important person could 'copter in and land on the helicopter pad one pier over. At first we thought that said important person was Prince Harry. He's been in New York for the last few days and was spending Saturday playing polo at Governor's Island. It seemed to make perfect sense that he'd be coming back over the water at about that time.

As it turned out, it was President Obama who was landing that afternoon. We didn't get an up-close look, but it was very cool to see two huey helicopters swoop in and the president exit one of them. There were a bunch of people with him, naturally, and it was really interesting to see how quickly they exited and blended in to the convoy; there were several identical looking limos so any potential snipers wouldn't know which one to shoot at.

It was the kind of viewing that I would never have gone out of my way to see, but I'm glad I got to anyway.