What Happens When You Leave Your Camera Laying out
Missy | March 26, 2006
Me, Ivanna, and Amy, with my teacher Ezra also in view - Dance New Amsterdam, Manhattan
Missy | March 25, 2006
I’ve not had a speck of free time lately, which is why now, on my weekend off, I want to pack in playdates (that is not, sadly, a euphemism but is just me using a word I find stupid). Still, I thought it might be nice to sneak in an update here before people cease coming back due to my inactivity.
First, did you hear that one about how I scheduled two much-anticipated events for the same night, and then bought different-night tickets for one of them and later found out the other has been postponed? That’s right. Built to Spill won’t be playing NYC until OCTOBER Geez! I could be married and with a kid by then. (I don’t know where that exaggeration just spilled from.)
It occurred to me a couple of days ago that I completely forgot about ND/NF (New Directors, New Films), which means there will be no Will Oldham or Old Joy for Missy, as the screenings are sold out. (Speaking of Will Oldham, I was surprised when a friend of a friend recently rattled off Will Oldham’s entire movie oeuvre–I didn’t know he had an oeuvre, though I did snap & point when he caught my eye with his tiny appearance in Junebug.)
Meanwhile, I’ve seen exactly two movies in the theater this year, and my Netflix movies (I believe they are Code Unknown and Downfall…or maybe Pride and Prejudice) have been sitting on my entertainment stand for a long, long time. None of this explains how I made time for Just Like Heaven the other night, but you know what? I liked it. Or rather, I didn’t not enjoy it. My movie cred is slipping away.
Also, even though I’ve been dance-cheating on Ezra with Mark Morris (at Mark Morris, rather), I haven’t seen any of the month-long 25th anniversary celebration of the Mark Morris Dance Group at BAM. (By the way, I’m not really cheating, just supplementing. Besides, Ez gives me muscles and is a fellow bourbon-lover. Have you guys checked out his photos? He, like my friend Toby, got into photography relatively recently as a regular hobby and is now enviably good at it.) Anyway, the other night I walked by the intermission smoker crowd–haha I quit, suckers!–on my way out of the studio to my home (MM & BAM are across the street from one another), a mere two subway stops from where I live. Did I mention this was a month-long affair?
So you see, it’s not you, it’s me. I’ll be back with more later…
I am Mrs. Doctor
Missy | March 17, 2006
Not all high art in New York need be concentrated in Manhattan. To wit: the sold-out run of Hedda Gabler in the little village of Kings–Brooklyn–and home of BAM, the multi-purpose arts center that makes living in Brooklyn even more gratifying. And I got to see it. Cate Blanchett is a blonde beanpole, twitchy and bitchy, bitterly funny and desperate (although I’m tired of the “Desperate Housewife” tag, maybe because I’m tired of that show.) This is my first exposure to seeing a Hedda, and I don’t count Summer Phoenix as Esther Kahn as Hedda Gabler, a performance that has long-slipped from memory, much like Phoenix’s career. There’s also Hugo Weaving, whom you may know from the LotR trilogy and, more recently, as V (as in, ‘for Vendetta’) playing Judge Brack. But it is Blanchett who rules over this stage. I know there are different reads of the character of Hedda, but Blanchett seems to capture all of them at once.
What I’m reading this week
Missy | March 15, 2006
And finally, what I have been listening to, contextualized by the following bit of dialogue:
Me: So here’s what I’ve been thinking. ‘Gerry needs to pick my ass up and we need to drive around and listen to Wolfmother and headbang a little bit.’ Does that sound that a good idea?
Gerry: That sounds like a good idea.
Finally, a reason to watch tv again
Missy | March 13, 2006
First of all, Knucklehead Smiff? Brilliant! James Gandolfini sure had some zingers written for him in last night’s episode. Poor Uncle Junior, even though, yeah, Tony took one in the gut. It made me kind of sad to see Junior running into the closet all E.T.-like.
So, Tony starts to weigh in (hah!) on his mortality, Carmela has returned to her enabling, enthusiastic gift-accepting ways (though I suspect the stress is going to lead to something health-related for her). Some guy I don’t remember hangs himself.
It’s hard catching up after almost two years.
(Comment auto-approval is back on for the time being.)
UPDATE: Matt Zoller Seitz, should you need an additional reason to read his site, is Sopranos blogging.
Red Hook
Missy | March 11, 2006
Doors. Red Hook, Brooklyn
Today was our first second* gorgeous day this year so if you weren’t outside doing things, I have no sympathy for you (unless you’re stuck inside with the measles or something, in which case I’m really sorry).
I made excuses to be out & about starting around 7:00 this morning. Mostly because it’s the first day I’ve felt like a million bucks after suffering through a cold all week. Part of the day involved going down to Red Hook to take photos, which I’ve been patiently waiting to do as soon as the weather was ready to cooperate.
Go here. In case you are wondering, I’m playing with Flickr’s “Blog This” capability.
*Yesterday was supposedly the first but I was, regrettably, indoors.
Missy | March 9, 2006
Chalk, where once were shadows, Brooklyn
Funny thing I noticed about shadows the other day: if the sun is bright enough, and I catch it at the right time in the morning at the right spot on the street, I can actually cast two shadows in opposite directions: one from the sun in the east and one from the sun’s reflection in the west off of the side of the building where I work, a block and a half away.
Beige, looking across the World Trade Center site at dusk
I bought some new running shoes thinking I was going to start up some running again. I hate running. It’s such a lame activity and one that’s boring as hell. Given my positive attitude, I actually did start up that running. It’s nice in my neighborhood to run over to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade when it’s getting dark (thankfully, later and later). But here’s what I did today, my first day back at running: I left with the iPod in one hand, my keys and $4 in the other. Since I’m out running, it shouldn’t be too much trouble to run by the pizza place on my way home, pick up a couple slices? Especially when the mirror that runs along the wall in the pizza parlor makes me look much skinnier, as if to say, Have Some Pizza. (Don’t mind if I do.)
Missy | March 1, 2006
I do a lot of dumb things. Well, maybe not a lot, and maybe not always so dumb, but this time I’m telling you: dumb.
Let’s back up. Whenever I find out about something that I want to see, a band or some performance, I instinctively get tickets before I can even think about buyer’s remorse. But because, you know, I have the world’s best taste in everything, I have no need to regret such decisions. The problem is I act so impulsively that, despite my funny-sad attempt at keeping a calendar, I don’t pay attention. My at-work calendar has to be regimented or else, without question, I’ll miss meetings. At home, I’m a goner.
So, it comes as no surprise that just tonight (after more than enough time has passed for me to have figured it out sooner, which I did not), I discovered I am a ticket-holder to both Built to Spill and the William Forsythe Company on Thursday, May 4. My love for Forsythe is well documented. And Built to Spill? I’ve seen them a number of times and I love them and I’m not about to miss them; plus, I’ve already invited my friend Gerry and the shows are probably long sold out anyway, and the will-call nature of the tickets under my name prevents me from giving up my half of the tickets, WHICH I’M NOT GOING TO DO ANYWAY. (UPDATE: Actually, I just checked and I should be receiving them in the mail closer to the show date, but that’s irrelevant now because…)
Impulsively, yet again, my solution was to place a new order for Forsythe for May 6, luckily not sold out. I do not know if I already have something planned for May 6. Whatever it is will have to be canceled. In the meantime, I have two tickets for the May 4 performance (at 7:30) that are up for grabs. Although each is $40 on the face, I’m sure we can work something out that will make everybody happy. In fact, if I could give someone the gift of William Forsythe, I will. I could offer them to some dancer acquaintances (most of whom I barely know), but if friends are interested, contact me through the email address up there on the right.
Also, for those keeping track (that would be you, Lane), I actually have the Forsythe tickets in my possession in a specially-designated place where I keep tickets. In other words, I haven’t lost them. (I did make it to that Mos Def show, as noted in the comments, thanks to the kind box office people who believed me when I called them the day prior to say I “never received” my ticket.)
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Listening
Unmap
Volcano Choir
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Reading
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again
David Foster Wallace
