Long weekend wrap up
+ A Streetcar Named Desire. The African American and Latino cast was different visually and made a huge difference to the audience -- I've never been to another play with an audience that was so predominantly AA -- but didn't significantly change the story or how I felt about it: a mix of pity, disgust, and frustration at the sexism and patronization on display. Blair Underwood's interpretation of brutish Stanley Kowalski is eye-opening in the sense that I've only seen him in roles that are more "refined" -- the doctor in Sex in the City, lawyer in LA Law and Something New, etc., until now. Nicole Air Parker is excellent as Blanche Dubois IMO.
~ I would like the theater district so much better if it were NOWHERE near Times Square. I hate TS: it's like people lose their minds and their ability to negotiate public spaces when confronted with all the lights and color. On the other hand, the lower west side and Battery Park were crowded and yet still pleasant yesterday.
~ Despite my moratorium on paper books, I bought two while browsing at The Strand. I defy anyone to manage to browse there without finding something they must have. In my case, it was a narrative about Magellan's circumnavigation of the earth, and Alma Katsu's The Taker, which drew me in with this passage:
I stood there for a second, shocked. I was confused, still possessed of the phantom traces of his desire, his kiss and the memory of his hardness in my hand. In any case, he’d misunderstood me: I hadn’t given myself to him. I had declared he was mine.
~ I've read rave reviews of the Shake Shack's shakes and burgers. Eh, they seemed pretty average to me, certainly not worth waiting in the line that grew out the door at lunch time. The burgers at Good Stuff Eatery are better by far.
- Dear Dan Savage: Thank you so much for describing virginity as a "garden gnome with tall whiskers that lives in the vagina" when describing how abstinence-only education skews sex education into thinking that only penis-in-vagina sex is sex, so that engaging in anal sex keeps virginity intact. (Srsly, kids, hymen and virginity are not the same thing.) "Put a penis in and it has to move away." I now need brain bleach. I do appreciate the point though, especially when Savage points out that legislators in Tennessee are likening sex to heroin. Well, done right it can feel addictive...
~ I've been invited to the staff meeting for my new (old) group. It makes the transfer seem real. Unfortunately, it's the same time as my current group's monthly meeting.
- I fail as a social being. I'm invited to a housewarming next weekend and really don't want to go. I like the wife of the couple, have never met the husband. It's more than an hour drive each way, and I've already got two other social things scheduled for the same day. I can only socialize so much in one day, okay? My patience for small talk is low, and I'm not really interested in going to a social event with people I work(ed) with on the weekend.
~ I would like the theater district so much better if it were NOWHERE near Times Square. I hate TS: it's like people lose their minds and their ability to negotiate public spaces when confronted with all the lights and color. On the other hand, the lower west side and Battery Park were crowded and yet still pleasant yesterday.
~ Despite my moratorium on paper books, I bought two while browsing at The Strand. I defy anyone to manage to browse there without finding something they must have. In my case, it was a narrative about Magellan's circumnavigation of the earth, and Alma Katsu's The Taker, which drew me in with this passage:
I stood there for a second, shocked. I was confused, still possessed of the phantom traces of his desire, his kiss and the memory of his hardness in my hand. In any case, he’d misunderstood me: I hadn’t given myself to him. I had declared he was mine.
~ I've read rave reviews of the Shake Shack's shakes and burgers. Eh, they seemed pretty average to me, certainly not worth waiting in the line that grew out the door at lunch time. The burgers at Good Stuff Eatery are better by far.
- Dear Dan Savage: Thank you so much for describing virginity as a "garden gnome with tall whiskers that lives in the vagina" when describing how abstinence-only education skews sex education into thinking that only penis-in-vagina sex is sex, so that engaging in anal sex keeps virginity intact. (Srsly, kids, hymen and virginity are not the same thing.) "Put a penis in and it has to move away." I now need brain bleach. I do appreciate the point though, especially when Savage points out that legislators in Tennessee are likening sex to heroin. Well, done right it can feel addictive...
~ I've been invited to the staff meeting for my new (old) group. It makes the transfer seem real. Unfortunately, it's the same time as my current group's monthly meeting.
- I fail as a social being. I'm invited to a housewarming next weekend and really don't want to go. I like the wife of the couple, have never met the husband. It's more than an hour drive each way, and I've already got two other social things scheduled for the same day. I can only socialize so much in one day, okay? My patience for small talk is low, and I'm not really interested in going to a social event with people I work(ed) with on the weekend.