Nico

On my way to the Tivoli to see The Suicide Shop, I stopped off at Nico for a drink.  I didn't eat enough of their food -- just a small spinach salad and a couple little tastes of other things -- to fully comment on that, but I can tell you that the Proud Mary, a delicious concoction of rum, bitters, and rosemary-infused simple syrup (as best as I can recall), was amazing.

What I Watched -- The Suicide Shop

It's SLIFF time again!  (Actually, it's over now -- sorry for not alerting you sooner.)  I only had time for a couple of films this year, but a couple is better than none.

The Suicide Shop (trailer) is a satirical, ironic, feature-length animated film about the misery of the French.  Parisians specially, but the French more generally.  Everyone is miserable, the city is gray and drizzly, and the only place any of them find any happiness is at Le Magasin de Suicides, The Suicide Shop.  There, patrons can find all manner of tools and tips for ending their miserable lives. 

That all changes when the couple that runs the shop has their third child, and happy, bouncy baby boy.

Bottom line: The strange contrast between the dark subject, the animation, and the energetic musical numbers made this movie a bit of a mind-bender, but an enjoyable one.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Manhattan is My Yoga

I have an absurdly indescribable love affair with New York, despite not being a struggling actor, a starving artist, or a Wall Street shark.  I've never lived there, although I've had the opportunity (if I could have figured out how to afford it).  Part of the reason I didn't was because I was afraid that the reasons I love the city would become irritants, and it would lose that magical je ne sais quoi that it has when it's just a place I visit regularly.

Then I read this article, in which a Manhattanite describes her failed attempt to decamp for Brooklyn, and am thinking that maybe I would still love it even if I lived there.  Not that I'm planning on moving any time soon.  But at least I feel a little more confident that if I ever did, it would be exactly as great as I think it would be.

One of my favorite quotes:
"Everyone's New York story is different from anyone else's, and personal.  When I moved to New York City, it was for Grand Central station; the Empire State Building; honking taxicabs; the traffic, the tourists, that weird steam that comes out of the ground, the noise, and the struggle.  I moved here for Manhattan, and, I realized, I'm not ready to let it go.  Manhattan -- it's absurd inconveniences, annoyances, high rents, crowded bars, and tourist-packed streets -- is my yoga."

Florida

Thanks to T for arising early on a Saturday to take me to the airport for my flight to West Palm Beach! I was Florida-bound and was amused by the veritable train of wheelchairs that was waiting to get on the plane where I changed in Baltimore. Florida indeed.

My first day was really a half day (or less).  I think I got in around 2, and we went straight to a late lunch where I ate entirely too much.  The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent as the first day of a vacation should be - totally vegging out.

The next day we headed to Stuart to check out their green market.  (Despite promises that I could sleep as late as I wanted, E still came in to wake me up so we could make it just before the market closed.  At 1 p.m.  The nerve!)  Stuart also has a little waterfront stage where they have bands playing every Sunday from November through May - what a treat!  We walked around the little town square and shopped, enjoyed the sunshine, and sampled the ice cream.

I guess if you live in sunny Florida, a car like this makes sense.

We strolled on the beach and were amused by the sandpipers running in and out with the waves before heading off to a large, tasty, eclectic, and very fried dinner at Hogsnappers. 

Monday was earmarked for our pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving, so it entailed a trip to the grocery, E working hard at pumpkin cheesecake, mom working hard at everything else, and of course a trip to the pool!

 The strip malls are the same, except for the palm trees.

And then it was back to the 30-degree weather at home, but I was at least able to take advantage of my three-hour layover in Atlanta with a couple of beers and an order of fried green tomatoes!

Goal #47

Goal #47: dinner!

Dad and D are going to be in town for Thanksgiving this week, and they are stopping in for dinner on Wednesday.  I did a lot of work around my apartment this weekend, so at least my table is visible!  Hooray!  I have picked out a few things for dinner, and now I just have to get to prepping and cooking.

Recap of goal #46: I actually did open up a couple of boxes of kids' books this week.  I'm not sure where I managed to squeeze that in between the movies, the show at the Fox, climbing, and other activities, but I did!  Now to send a few of them off to K...

A Great and Terrible Thing

A Potbelly's just opened up last week in downtown Clayton.  This could be trouble.

Random Links

The happiness of pursuit.

A fascinating story about a guy you've never heard of.

A tribute to the joy of dance.

World Book Night.

Is home ownership the key to happiness?

Bar Les Freres.  It was too long ago to write a review, but everything was deliciously amazing.

Quote of the Day

"Now some people say that you shouldn't tempt fate,
And for them I would not disagree.
But I never learned nothin' by playin' it safe,
I say fate should not tempt me."
  -- Mary Chapin Carpenter, "I Take My Chances"

Goal #46

Goal #46: inventory books.

I have at least one box of kids' books in my apartment that needs to be sorted out and distributed and/or added to the Goodwill pile. I am making (a little) progress cleaning and would like it to continue!

Recap of goal #45: I read probably half the magazines I took to Florida with me, maybe a bit more.  Not as many as I would have liked, but more than zero!

A Night at Niche

A couple of weeks ago, I went to an event at the Art Museum.  It was fun, but I was all dressed up with nowhere to go when it ended!  I decided to take my book and go have a delicious cocktail and some tasty treats at Niche - an excellent choice!

Quote of the Day

"If every second of our lives recurs an infinite number of times, we are nailed to eternity as Jesus was nailed to the cross. It is a terrifying prospect. In a world of eternal return the weight of unbearable responsibility lies heavy on every move we make."
  -- Nietzsche on eternal return.

Sounds a little bit like posting our lives on the internet to forever come back and haunt us, no?

A Lesson in Unhealthy Life Choices

In line in front of me at the grocery store

Goal #45

Goal #45: read some magazines.

My M.O. for vacations is to take a pile of magazines I've gotten behind on reading.  As I read them, I'm happy to toss them in the recycling so I don't have to carry them home again.  If there are any pages I want to keep, I just tear them out and keep those particular items.

True to form, I'm on vacation with a pile of magazines.

Recap of goal #44: Woohoo!  Minutes for four meetings (we had one more this week) are done and sent out!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Microbrewery: Urban Chestnut

After a long week, what a nice thing it is to head out to a local haunt for some good brew and pretzels.

My latest stop was Urban Chestnut Brewing Company, a midtown spot conveniently easy to get to for me.

For beers, I had the zwickel and the pilsner. Normally I'm a pilsner fan, but I think I preferred the zwickel this time. I also had the pretzels, which come with grainy mustard and a flavored butter of some type. They could've used a bit more salt.

All in all, beers were good, and the food paired well with them. I could've done without all the college students getting drunk and acting ridiculous. Having said that, I was in a pretty good mood, so I didn't let them bug me.

Quote of the Day

"If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience."
  -- Woodrow Wilson

Random Links

A walk in the woods is like a vacation for the brain.

The ocean is broken.

Now that's a nice gift.

A tale of government intervention.

Notes from the tail.

I'm an introvert, and I don't need to come out of my shell.

Goal #44

Goal #44: paperwork.

I'm three meetings behind in the minutes I'm supposed to be doing, and I have another meeting coming up this week and still another before Thanksgiving. I've got to get caught up.

Recap of goal #43: I added a couple of items to my Goodwill boxes, but unfortunately didn't get them filled and delivered. I did help T move though, so I think he will have some Goodwill deliveries soon as well.

What I Watched -- Captain Phillips

Rather than watching the disastrous Game 1, T and I bailed in the third inning and instead went to see Captain Phillips at the MX, where we got our hot dog with ketchup, mustard, and relish delivered to our seat, thank you very much.

It was an excellent decision.  The movie was gripping in that increasingly popular ripped-from-the-headlines, I-know-how-this-ends-but-I'm-on-the-edge-of-my-seat-anyway Argo style film making.  And it was a success.

Tom Hanks - our intensely likable everyman - plays the titular Captain Phillips, and he basically is the movie.  Everything happens either at his direction or because of him, and it's a responsibility that the actor (and apparently the man) handled well.  Honestly he handled the pressure of the situation so well in the movie that it's hard to believe it really went down like that.

In case you don't know the story, Hanks plays the captain of a commercial container ship, the Maersk Alabama.  His ship is boarded by pirates off the coast of Somalia, and what follows is a showdown between the older, wiser, more collected Phillips, and the desperate kid pirates.

Bottom line: a hard-to-believe story with a good balance of suspense and understanding.