Happy Birthday Mr. President....

It's James Madison's birthday today--so I'm toasting the occasion with some red wine and the reading of the Constitution. Yes, for once I have red wine in my apartment. The red wine, aka "date rape wine" because it knocks you right out, is leftover from a weekend-o-fun with my aunt, uncle and cousin. We had so much fun and I miss them already. We did too much to recount in anything but a list: pizza/date rape wine, Hoboken, walking along the water front, Ellis island, LES, Rockefeller Center, St. Pat's, MOMA, Upper East Side, Bagels!, Central Park...

So much fun. So exhausted...


...Weekend Anna

Easily Distracted...

I keep sitting down to write a post and then something else grabs my attention. Last night it was a combination of realizing that Ida Maria is opening for Glasvegas at the end of the month at Webster Hall and the release of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs newest album, "It's Blitz!" on iTunes at midnight. I've had a love for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs since I stumbled across a recording of "Art Star" online the summer before my sophomore year of high school, smack in the middle of my I-love-the-Beatles- and-everything-about-the-1960s-and-maybe-I-will-dress-in-hippie-clothes-and-not-wash-my- hair phase. I fell head over heels for Karen O--her crazy outfits, her onstage writhing, and her howling scream punctuated with flirtatiously coy lines ("I've got a dealer in Tokyo/ I've got a rep in Paris/ I've got an agent in Cologne/ Shit, I've got a gallery in New York!). I was hooked and the rest is simple: "Fever to Tell" was next followed by a trip up to Cleveland to see that writhing in person. Then relatively unknown TV on the Radio (Colbert bump!) opened on the waist-high stage in the tiny ballroom. I was right in the front, close enough to feel the sweat from Karen O.'s hair whipping around when she danced and the champagne she squirted out of her mouth like a fountain. It was glorious.

"Gold Lion" from "Show Your Bones" pops up on my playlist at least half a dozen times a week and I've listened to their latest album in full three times since I downloaded it less than 24 hours ago (not including the dozen times I've listened to "Zero" and "Hysteric", my two current favorites). "It's Blitz!" is different from the others, less raw and disjointed. I love it though and right now time will tell if it enters my list of favorite albums.

The last two weekends have been amazing...but the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have kept me from writing about those weekends for at least another 24 hours...

...YYY Anna

I like this place...it's not pretentious...

...this of course being my paraphrased attempt of quoting "Priceless," a beautiful and light movie starring the lovely Audrey Tautou. I love this movie because it makes me think of some of my old favorites, like "Charade" or "To Catch a Thief." I like that quote because it sums up my view of Chicago, a city that I've loved more and more only after I left it. Not that I didn't love it while I was there--I always felt lucky to be in or near Chicago, but New York was always the goal, the dream. I'm as close to that dream now as I could hope to be at 23, but Chicago has entered my heart and refuses to relinquish its grip. For one thing, Chicago is cleaner, more spread out, less chaotic--the people are nice and lack the pretension displayed by so many New Yorkers and their wannabe counterparts. Chicagoans have pride, but it's a pride in something real and seemingly more deserving...maybe it's hard work without the glitz or bright lights? I don't know, but it's this feeling that Chicago is a wonderful place, but it isn't all there is--there's a whole world outside of Chicago, one that people go out and explore. Chicago is the place that you return to, it's home. Some New Yorkers think that they are at the center of the world, not just part of it, giving them the false sense of worldliness, even if they never leave the island of Manhattan. Of course, not all New Yorkers are like that and not all Chicagoans are wonderful. New York will always have more than The Second City and I feel more connected to the history of the New York/New Jersey area then I ever will to the Midwest. But Chicago is a nice place, a place I hope to go back to at some point in my life.

Yes, I had a lovely visit to Chicago--I am always happy when I'm surrounded by friends and family, and I got a taste of both last weekend. Recapping it will just make me miss them more, so I'll just leave it at that for now.

On to this weekend, my independent/Italian weekend of randomness--"A Room with a View" (ah, Firenze!) on Friday night with some popcorn a la Sarah-style (kernels, oil, salt, oregano, paper bag, microwave, yum). Yesterday was organizing parts of my life and then a date with myself. I took myself to see "Gamorra" at the IFC center (stopped off for a peanut butter and nutella sandwich at Peanut Butter & Co. first). The movie was wonderful--dark and horrific, but beautifully shot and moving. The film looks at five different characters all attached in some way to the Camorra family (mafia) in Naples. The dialect was strong so I had to rely on the subtitles, but that made it all the more real. I think that's what was so troubling about it--I've seen plenty of violent films but over the top violence seems more like entertainment. I can watch it because I know it's not real. This violence, the killing and revenge and depravity of the whole situation was (and is) just so real. In any event, I'm glad I saw this movie, even if it wasn't uplifting at all.




Today was Italian mass (I love all of the old Italians and how they talk with their hands...their gestures are amusing and pleasant), a quick stop by the hairdresser's for a bangs trim and a visit to the bookstore for Ian McEwan's "Enduring Love" and Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited"--yes I have an illness called compulsive bookbuying...


...Weekend Anna

Happy Valentine's Day!

Photo courtesy of yoshiko314.

My Valentine's Day? Packing, flying to Chicago, fig and cashew butter sandwich and beer with Sarah at the Hopleaf!

The Black Keys...

I love live music. Nothing is better than being able to see, hear, smell and feel the music, especially when your whole body vibrates with the rhythm. I like that you can move and dance with no fear of looking like too much of an idiot because there is almost always someone else there dancing, swaying, breaking it down, in a much more idiotic fashion. It's liberating in a way, and so much more satisfying than dancing alone in a bedroom.

The weekend started out with a trip into the city to check out the Whitney Museum of American Art. It was a balmy 45 degrees or so and sunny, which made for lovely-walking-around-the-Upper-East-Side weather. The museum is small, but full of some very interesting pieces. My favorites included latex paint spilled on the floor (I really wanted to touch it), three video pieces (the room was dark and cool, and the only noise was the whirring of the film projectors, it was like a dream), and the exhibit of Alexander Calder's wire sculptures (his circus was so whimsical, so of course I loved it).


Today I continued my whimsy kick with the movie "Coraline"--it was beautiful, although the storyline itself wasn't developed too much. But it was worth it to see the animation. And then The Black Keys. I hadn't been to a concert since seeing Eddie Vedder in Chicago back in August. It was the prefect show--not too crowded but not dead, smallish venue and a great set list with a good mix out of their discography. The lovely RMB and I got there fairly early, bought some overpriced beer, and staked out our spot along the rail of the first raised level. We had a great view above the sea of plaid shirts (when did plaid become hipster? did I miss something?) and knit caps--overall, a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

I'm just trying not to think about the fact that the lovely RMB is leaving me and returning to Ohio...

Next up...Chicago!!!

...Weekend Anna

I'm going to Chicago!

It was one of those random whims that turned into reality because everything came together. I was sitting at work today, dreaming of the coming weekend--The Whitney as well as the Black Keys with the lovely Rebecca--when my mind started to wander to the following weekend...Valentine's Day weekend and President's Day weekend...which means no work on Monday...which means a three day weekend (the stuff that dreams are made on). I started to think about what I could do over those three days when it hit me--I could go somewhere, more specifically, I could go to Chicago. A quick survey of flights, a message to that beautiful Papermoon girl, and a click of a button, and I had myself a round trip ticket from Newark to O'Hare.

I'm so excited--Chicago means seeing dear friends, a trip to the Hopleaf, maybe a trip to the Unicorn Cafe in Evanston, and being in a familiar place, a place that feels like home.

I'm so excited...

...Weekend Anna

Lost and found

I found my necklace! And now there is much cause for rejoicing. I don't usually wear jewelery--maybe earrings once a week or some bracelets, and a necklace on special occasions. But this necklace, a small silver lower-case script "a" rarely left my throat and chest for roughly a year. Then came the packing and the leaving Chicago, the throwing of all my stuff in this box and that bin and these suitcases and those bags. Somewhere in all of that, my necklace was misplaced. I was surprised at how upset I was about it at first--I'd left earrings at friends' houses, lost bracelets in the ocean and my high school ring had disappeared about a month after I picked it up at school. I'm still not sure why this was different--it just was. After rooting through my sweater bin, the "a" is back around my neck.

This weekend was spent with my lovely Rebecca--I'm going to miss her so much when she returns to the Midwest...


...Weekend Anna