Due South

We finished season 1 of Due South, a Canadian TV show from the mid-1990's. One of the stars of the show was Paul Gross, a Canadian who also starred in the later series Slings and Arrows. This show starts off as a farce, but the episodes get darker as the series progresses.

The Canadians must really love their mounties, and they have a very strange view of American society!

Ponty Bistro

We had lunch here, which was excellent. An omelette and French toast: the latter was truly delicious!

Camerata Notturna

This orchestra is pretty talented: we went because one of my friends at work played a clarinet concerto with them. Another soloist played the Haydn cello concerto, with insanely hard cadenzas written by the principal cellist. The orchestra (and the soloists) played really well, and the conductor was fun to watch: he clearly enjoyed his work. The only quibble I had was that Beethoven's 7th Symphony was too loud for the small church we were in: by the end my ears were overloaded with the sheer weight of the sound. The smaller orchestras for the concerti were much more appropriate for the acoustic space of the church.

The end of the 70's?

Wow, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson leave us on the same day. Michael Jackson's career of course spanned more than just the 70's, but I'll always think of these two as icons of that era.

Museum of Art and Design

This little museum is "pay as you like" on Thursday evenings: it's definitely worth visiting. They have a collection of interesting jewelry (sponsored by Tiffany, I believe). A current special exhibit of glass by Klaus Moje was really amazing: "painting with glass".

The New Kings of Nonfiction

This collection of non-fiction (not really "essays") edited by Ira Glass is a great read. A wide variety of authors (including current "hot" author on food, Michael Pollan) write about a fascinating array of topics, including Saddam Hussein, World War II, and British soccer hooligans.

Stolen Life

An excellent movie about modern Chinese society. Dark, and yet hopeful in many ways, it depicts a young woman's coming of age. Shot in video, it has a very intimate feel about it: and the setting of the story in flashback (with the main character's voiceover) works well.

Up

We saw Up today: it isn't a perfect movie, but it was beautiful (and it made me cry at times). The introduction had almost no dialogue, and was a wonderful portrait of love. The primary story was an adventure story, and pretty predictable (but still enjoyable).

Much like Wall-E, the concept and the setup were brilliant. Also like Wall-E, the introduction was just brilliant storytelling: the rest was certainly funny, charming, and entertaining, but was not as brilliant. I had two nitpicks: one, the soundtrack was way too loud --- the dialogue was fine, but the music was annoyingly loud (and the choices of music were too schmaltzy at times). The second was that the primary story was a story about boys: there were female characters, but always in the background --- the primary "actors" were all male. I'm not sure why that bothered for this movie in particular; perhaps it was because the story was ostensibly driven so much by Carl's love for his wife. Was it just pure irony that the only other female character in the film was a bird named Kevin?

Bar Louis at the Hotel Fauchere

We went to the Poconos (I'll have to post pictures later) for a short vacation, and ate at this fine restaurant. We had a sausage plate, and then pasta for dinner. Great stuff, for such a small town (Milford, PA).

They had some cool photographs by the Hilton Brothers hanging in the dining area. They were dual portraits of a part of a horse (mostly one eye, but sometimes a hind leg) and a flower. Very fancy stuff.

Canaletto

An excellent restaurant near Bloomingdale's. Pretty generous portions, with a nice starter plate of meat and cheese, and some sweets at the end. We had two appetizers (mushrooms and artichokes, and gazpacho), and two entrees (pasta with clam sauce and pasta with mushrooms). Yum!

Slings and Arrows, Season 3

I'm very sad that we've finished watching the final season of this TV show. It was a dark, intense season, unlike the second season, which was a lot happier. Nonetheless, I still loved the season! I wish they could have continued the series (or filmed more episodes per season), just to get more to watch.

The Black Walnut Inn

We took a short vacation to Milford, PA (in the Poconos). This excellent bed and breakfast was affordable (but certainly not cheap). The rooms were small but comfy, the food tasty if not fancy. But the lodgings were very clean and elegantly decorated. Plus, we had the place virtually to ourselves: apparently before school ends for the year, very few people visit the Poconos.

We went horseback riding at their attached stables; they had some really beautiful horses to ride (not that we're very knowledgeable about horses!).

Pictures to come later...

Asiatique

We ate dinner at this relatively fancy Asian-fusion restaurant in Louisville. The food was really quite good! I'd recommend it highly.

Kung Fu Panda

While in a hotel I watched most of this movie over lunch. Entertaining, as Jack Black always is. Definitely worth watching, even though it's quite predictable. I loved hearing Ian McShane's voice as the villain!

Beat to Quarters

This book was mentioned as an interesting book from a management perspective. It indeed points out that good leaders are always conscious of the impact of their affect and their actions. Overall, though, a good yarn and an easy, entertaining read!