Met lecture on fashion/superheroes

Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy

This lecture was nice and concise. The exhibit is fun to see, with one of the Iron Man suits from the movie that came out recently. They also had the Catwoman suit that Michelle Pfeiffer wore. I had never realized that "high fashion" had such weird outfits!

The Odessa File

Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones during the cold war. Fun thriller with a plot full of holes. Entertaining enough, but not highly recommended.

El Quinto Pino

Yum, we found this great tapas bar: and it literally is a bar. No table seating, all bar seating. Fantastic food, especially the eggplant with honey! That dish is a must-have.

Get Carter

We watched the original "Get Carter" on DVD. Michael Caine is so much fun to watch; and this very dark movie was interesting. We haven't seen the remake (and probably won't get around to it), but I tend to prefer older movies anyway: and I cannot imagine that Sylvester Stallone could do as good a job as Michael Caine.

The commentary is interesting (we watched a little of it). In an early scene in the movie, one minor character sits with Michael Caine in a train compartment; I won't spoil the movie by saying who that character is.

Rickshaw Dumpling Bar

I've always loved dumplings, and we finally got around to trying this restaurant (which is almost around the corner from us). This little restaurant isn't cheap, but the dumplings are excellent. Interesting concept!

El Quijote

We ate lunch at this Spanish restaurant. Since I was really hungry, it was hard to be that objective about the food quality. The stuffed scallop was really good, though! The chorizo tasted good, but wasn't the best I've had; the shrimp was excellent, as were the olives and manchego. Worth a visit, although not cheap.

Iron Man

We've entered the age of the comic-book hero. The second-tier heroes are getting their own movies! Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark was inspired casting: the movie is a lot of fun, if slow-paced for an "action" movie. Jeff Bridges was excellent as well.

All around, a good way to kick off the summer movie season!

Murakami in Brooklyn

We went to see this rather over-the-top exhibit of Murakami's art. He combines a Japanese manga-like sensibility with business and "high art": they even had a small Louis Vuitton store inside the exhibit that was selling Murakami bags!

My reaction was that the exhibit was entertaining, but completely overrated. Murakami will not be remembered in 100 years, other than as providing some entertaining art.

A few of his pieces (both sculpture and video) are very explicitly sexual, which was odd. Many visitors had brought young children to the exhibit, and when they got to the room with those sculptures, you could see their faces suddenly change. Other than that, there wasn't anything particularly shocking about the exhibit.

The Brooklyn Museum itself is a wonderful building in a beautiful location.

No Country For Old Men

I watched this movie on DVD while flying back from Europe. A fantastic movie, although the ending of the "main" story was both jarring and fitting at the same time. Great atmosphere (and boy, I would not want to live out in the middle of nowhere!) and extremely well done, although it still felt odd that no one seemed to respond to lots of shooting in the middle of the night.

The Art of Woo

I read this book after taking a seminar at work with one of the authors, G. Richard Shell. He is a very compelling and down-to-earth speaker, and the book is pretty valuable as a business-psychology tutorial on how to sell ideas. Definitely worth reading, if you have to work in any kind of organization (which means everyone...).

Alhambra

 

Well, we visited the Alhambra while in Granada. Of course, how could one go there and not see it? A web album has some more pictures of the Alhambra.

Alhambra

La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia is an amazing cathedral: well worth visiting to see the genius/insanity of Antoni Gaudi. Unbelievable! Some other pictures of Gaudi buildings in Barcelona can be seen in a web album of other photos:

Gaudi and Barcelona

Patisserie des Ambassades

This restaurant was decent. Not fantastic, but we had a reasonably priced meal here.

Persepolis

This comic, which is about the author's experiences growing up in Iran, is moving, sad, funny, etc. All of the typical reasons why you should read a great novel (or in this case, a great comic). If you read one comic this year, this should be it: it paints of a picture of a country that has been through some major upheavals in the last 50 years.

Puccini for Beginners

A delightful little comedy: a woman gets involved in an amusing love triangle with a man and a woman! Definitely worth watching if you want a light romantic comedy.

Whitney Biennial

We stopped by to see the Whitney Biennial, which is an exhibition of modern artists that occurs every 2 years. Overall, it was relatively uninteresting, but maybe it was because I was tired and hungry after a day at work. There were a few compelling pieces, but a lot of constructed art that was pretty boring.

The Stuff of Thought

Steven Pinker's book on language and thought is fabulous. Some of the chapters were kind of boring (such as the one on swearing), but some were fascinating beyond belief. The somewhat obvious (in retrospect) idea that language is not how we think is remarkable, and Pinker's description of how linguists have deconstructed the building blocks of thought is wonderful. Read this book, if you read only one non-fiction book this year.

Lust, Caution

This movie was very beautifully done. The ambience and tension created by Ang Lee were impressive, although some of the computer graphics were a bit fake-looking. Very slow plot, though; I'm not sure everyone would enjoy it.

Casaville

An excellent restaurant (if a poor web site) that serves tapas (mostly). They had an avocado hummus that was quite good, and a foie-gras mousse that was excellent. Worth going to, although it's not really that close to any subway lines.

Come Back, Little Sheba

This production of this 1950's play was really well done. At the beginning, it felt a little stilted, but either I got used to it or the performers loosened up. S. Epatha Merkerson was the star: she's the police captain on Law and Order. The play felt somewhat dated, given the 1950's gender roles, but the emotional impact was still there.

US Virgin Islands

We took a vacation to the US Virgin Islands, and spent most of our time on St. John. What a lovely place! Instead of blogging the whole trip, we'll put notes on a map that we created using Google Maps.

The Logic of Life

Another book written by an economist about incentives and social psychology. Entertaining and illuminating! I did think that the metaphor that people pay high rents move to cities to learn from the "University of Life" a little silly, though. It seems clear to me that people are not paying for knowledge per se: they are paying for the actual connections (relationships with other people) that they build while in those cities.

The Merchants' War

Charles Stross is a highly entertaining author: this series is a good romp that demonstrates his knowledge of the technology industry, the fantasy and sci-fi genres, and historical fiction. I tend to blow through these books, mostly because the characters are not deep. They tend to not have character flaws, but tend to be the one-dimensional characters seen in lots of simple fiction: they are put in situations where they do the most rational thing.

Otto Restaurant Enoteca Pizza

The prices appear pretty reasonable, until you see that they plate very little food for you. Pretty good quality, but extremely crowded and loud. I don't think we'll go back.

Turkish Kitchen

Yum, Turkish food! This restaurant was very reasonably priced, and the food was delicious. Definitely a winner.

Bello Sguardo

We had dinner at this nice restaurant on the Upper West Side. We just happened to walk by it, and the food was quite good! If we lived closer we would certainly go back.

Macbeth

Patrick Stewart at BAM in a production imported from England. He was awesome. Great production, if a little loud in the soundtrack. The set was quite stunning and versatile, and the setting in a fascistic WWI-type setting was quite impressive. I feel quite lucky to have gotten a chance to see this performance.

BAM's Harvey Theater is an interesting performance space; they kept most of the original walls, which had a really bombed-out look.

There were some subtleties that were interesting in this performance. "Damned be he who first cries, 'Hold, enough!'" The meaning of that line was altered greatly through the delivery by Mr. Stewart---they executed the fight between the last two words, and although Macbeth had the upper hand, he gives up and mutters "Enough." in a despairing sigh. Also, the porter's name "Seyton" is pronounced "Satan", which was in retrospect obvious, but disturbing in its connotations.

ilili

We decided to eat out for Valentine's Day on the night before, since it is a lot easier to get reservations that day. OK, so we're lazy...

The food was quite good, albeit reasonably pricey. The building doesn't look like it would house such a fancy-looking restaurant. But it's pretty close to where we live, and so is a nice option on bad-weather days.

Lovejoy

We watched a few episodes of this BBC antique-dealer-slash-con-man, mostly because Ian McShane was the star. He was the central figure in HBO's Deadwood, and we just saw him on Broadway in The Homecoming. Very fun series, if a bit dated-looking now.

In Defense of Food

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

That's the essence (and subtitle) of the book. What else is there to say? Well, you should read the book. Michael Pollan is a wonderful writer; I wish I could have the chance to meet him.

Lost

Another season of Lost, and it's a good one so far! Some great scenes and stunning revelations to close each episode.

The comic writer Brian K. Vaughn (he just finished Y the Last Man, which is worth reading) has been involved in writing and producing some episodes of Lost. Interesting tie-in!

Jane Austen Book Club

Although very predictable in many ways, this movie was surprisingly endearing. (Certainly not profound, though.) I would recommend it as pretty good light romantic comedy.

Lewis Black

Red, White, and Screwed was pretty hilarious. What else is there to say? Lewis Black is one of the funniest comedians around; hopefully we'll get a chance to see him in person some day.

Candide

We watched this semi-staged performance on DVD; the music, as always, is stunning. Kristin Chenoweth was outstanding!

Music of the Heart

Music of the Heart was a heart-warming film about how music can change kids' lives. A bunch of famous musicians participated, but the most surprising thing was that the director was Wes Craven! Meryl Streep was enjoyable to watch, as always.

Notes on a Scandal

Dame Judi Dench and Kate Blanchett are great, but I felt let down by the writing. The plot seemed way too predictable, and the Judi Dench character seemed too psychotic to be believable. Plus, none of the presumed marital tension between Bill Nighy and Kate Blanchett was really visible, except in the voiceover from Judi Dench. Maybe worth watching, but not highly recommended.

The Homecoming

Wow. This revival of Harold Pinter's play was stunning. I didn't like the play (in the sense that it was highly disturbing and dark), but I was impressed by the visceral intensity generated by the play and cast. Ian McShane was great (we got to know him by watching Deadwood), as was Raul Esparza (we saw him in Company last season). If you're into theatre, it's certainly worth watching; see it soon, though, because the theater was not close to full on a Friday night---this revival might not last that long.

Bon Chon

We had Korean fried chicken at this interesting restaurant. From the outside of the building, we thought it would be a hole in the wall, but it turned out to be a fancy club-like atmosphere. The chicken was really good (for fried chicken), and the sushi rolls were very well done. The loud music was a bit much, though, and the service was OK at best. Mildly recommended.

3:10 to Yuma

This remake was entertaining, and well done. A little focused on machismo and honor as a motivation, but that's the nature of Westerns. Similarly, there weren't any interesting female roles in the film. Christian Bale was convincing, and Russell Crowe was a perfect fit for his part. If you like Westerns, it's worth a few hours.

Discover Your Inner Economist

Casablanca Cafe

Flagler Museum

We visited Whitehall, the building that is now the Flagler Museum. It was built during the Gilded Age by Henry Flagler, one of the founders of Standard Oil. Apparently Flagler was single-handedly responsible for much of modern Florida: he built the railroads in Florida, and did much to encourage agricultural development in the state. Definitely worth seeing!

Ocean's Ten

Crepes

We had a big seafod crepe at a restaurant in downtown Fort Lauderdale during our brief vacation. Pretty decent food, and we managed to hit the end of the dinner rush. If we're ever back there, I'd go back.

Le Tub

We had lunch at this "hole-in-the-wall" local joint in Hollywood, Florida. Apparently GQ called the burgers the best in the country. I don't know about that, but certainly the burger we had was pretty good. We also had an excellent seafood salad. We went after the lunch rush, which was fortunate; the people at the table next to ours had been waiting for their food for 45 minutes! Apparently they have only one grill to serve a place that seats around 100. If it weren't for the long wait, I'd recommend this restaurant highly.

Bombay Talkie

Fancy Indian food. A bit pricey, and you're paying for atmosphere rather than food. But the food was still pretty good; I'd go back.

The Lives of Others

Wow. A wonderful film. Clearly a deserving winner of the Best Foreign Film Oscar last year. In fact, I would argue that it was a better film than The Departed, which won Best Picture. But we can't do much about the US-centric Oscars; after all, each country has its own awards ceremony. We watched the various special features on the DVD, and the interview with the director was fascinating. I just wish we had watched it sooner!

Alex Ross

I went to hear Alex Ross, the classical-music critic for the New Yorker, give an interview at the Strand. The interview was sponsored by WQXR. The occasion was the publication of his first book, The Rest Is Noise
, a history of classical music in the 20th century. The book got rave reviews everywhere, so I've reserved it at the library. The interview was interesting, but I would have preferred a lecture by Alex Ross. The interviewer was Jeff Spurgeon, who is the morning announcer on WQXR. There's always something going on in New York!

Stoner

A friend lent me this book, and it is a must-read. Beautiful, compelling prose, and a moving story about a small-town college professor around the turn of the 20th century. I loved the book, and found hilarious the mildly barbed comment about academia that one of the jaded graduate students makes early on in the novel. You must read this gem!

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

A silly, although entertaining movie. We usually watch blockbuster action movies in the theatre, just for the better sound and huge picture. This movie wasn't a great action movie in that sense; we could just as easily watched it at home. The plot itself was absurd, and made me laugh out loud several times. It is worth a rental when you want a bit of light entertainment; the only reason that it dominated the box office for several weeks is that there was nothing better to watch.

Thank You For Smoking

I'd seen this before, but it was definitely worth watching a second time. Wonderful cast, hilarious writing (Rob Lowe's character was a hoot)---what else could one want? If you haven't seen this, you should.

Once

Once is a delightful movie about and around music. The star is apparently an Irish rock star (acting in his first rock movie). The plot revolves around a non-simple love story, which makes it interesting; it shows how love can manifest in unexpected ways, and how it can enrich one's life. Definitely worth watching (and listening to for the great soundtrack)!

Menchanko-Tei

We ate at this "hole-in-the-wall" Japanese restaurant, which has great Japanese noodles. Highly recommended, and at pretty reasonable prices too. Yum!

Sicko

We watched Michael Moore's movie about the brokenness of the health-care system. It points out many flaws in our system, but unfortunately doesn't try to grapple any of the real complexity underlying the issues. He makes simplistic comparisons with the UK and Cuba, and makes the argument that "we could just be like them". Of course we could be, but it's not that simple to just change everything.

Also, he encourages the perception that everyone should be able to get all of the health care that they need. Of course that's not true: someone has to pay for it!

The Namesake

An interesting movie about the difficulty of adapting as an immigrant to America. It was moving at times, albeit somewhat predictable. The actors who played the mother and father were really quite good.

I haven't read the book on which this movie is based; from what I hear, the movie is quite different than the book. The movie was more about the family, and in particular, the mother; the book is probably more about the son (the "namesake"). I skimmed parts of the book in a bookstore, and I disliked how the director and screenwriter changed around the story. From the DVD special feature on the making of the movie, it was clear that the director had a very different vision of the story than the novel. She certainly did a good job of imposing her view on the story.

Enjoyable, but I would not recommend it highly.

Ottimo

We ate at a nice Italian restaurant called Ottimo for New Year's Eve. It was reasonably pricey, but pretty good food. I had Penne Arrabiatta, and boy was it spicy! The appetizer we ordered (an antipasto plate) was really good. High-quality food, but not cheap.

The Receptionist

The Receptionist was playing at the Manhattan Theatre Club, which is an organization that is devoted to helping young playwrights. The Receptionist is a very creepy play that is set in a strangely ambiguous, Kafka-esque world. The entire play revolves around one simple line, which I can't quite recall, and which would also give away the whole premise if I put it here; so I won't. The play occurs in two short acts: the total running time is about an hour. See it if you can!

My Architect

Louis Kahn was a fascinatingly weird character who produced some marvelous (as well as some remarkably ugly) architecture. This documentary was made by his illegitimate son, and is interesting, if you're into learning about people who are absolutely devoted to their art.

Sweeney Todd

Ah, what a violent concept. And, boy, can Johnny Depp do anything that he puts his mind to? The movie was disturbingly bloody: throats slashed left and right. It was way over the top, but also extremely well done. If you want to see a musical horror movie, this is the one to see!

Age of Rembrandt

We saw the exhibit of the Met's collection Dutch art. It wasn't that exciting: too much of the commentary had to do with the history of the acquisition, as opposed to the history of the art. Plus, I was coming down with some illness, so it was really hard to concentrate on art. But it's always fun to visit the Met!

The Devil in the White City

We had listened to this book on CD a while back, and I finally got around to actually reading the book (I miss a lot of details on CD). This beautifully written book is the tale of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair: it centers around the architects who got it built (led by Daniel Burnham, who also built the Flatiron Building in NYC), and the first known urban serial killer, who preyed upon women in Chicago during that time.

Did you know that Cracker Jack, Aunt Jemima's, the zipper, the Ferris wheel, and the electric dishwasher were all first introduced at that fair? The fair was also the first major demonstration of widespread use of AC electricity. I recommend this book highly.

China Road

Rob Gifford's wonderful book about China describes a trip he took across China. It's a wonderful read, and its clear that Gifford loves China and its people. The most fascinating thing that I learned was that China is more diverse than the government lets on. Gifford says that China today is analogous to the Roman Empire: a motley collection of peoples held together by force. (He also makes the humorous statement that "going out for Chinese food" is analogous to "going out for European food".) All in all, a definite must-read if you're interested in China!

Carnegie Hall Young Artists' Concerts

I went with some friends to hear a master class given by Emanuel Ax, Richard Stolzmann, and David Zinman on various Brahms sonatas. It was entertaining: the F-minor clarinet sonata performed by José Franch-Ballester (clarinet) and
Andrius Zlabys (piano) was great. The other performers were good, but not as well-prepared.

Gimme Kudos

This Chinese movie has English subtitles, which is one of the reasons we took it out of the library. It was an interesting, dark little movie; I was glad that we watched it (although it had enough scratches that we couldn't watch the very end). The movie deals with the conflict between societal pressures in the "old" Communist China, and the new modern China. It is pretty funny at times (my Chinese is good enough to appreciate that), but it isn't really a comedy. I give it a solid "thumbs-up".

Waitress

Waitress is a charming film (which gains some resonance because this was the last film made by actor/writer/director Adrienne Shelly). Somewhat predictable, but filled with charming writing, beautiful pies, and a great cast. Keri Russell did a great job as the lead character. Nathan Fillion seems to pop up in a lot of movies these days (he was on Firefly); he's always fun to watch. Jeremy Sisto was great as the psycho, narcissistic husband; and Andy Griffith was charming as the grumpy old man.

Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko is an interesting cult thriller/science fiction/growing-up story. Lots of recognizable Hollywood stars: the lead actor is a young Jake Gyllenhaal. Creepy and mysterious, it's definitely worth watching!

Interesting fact mentioned in the movie: Donnie's teacher says that a linguist claimed that

Cellar door is the most beautiful phrase in the English language: that person was Tolkien.

The Queen

No, not Freddy Mercury. Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth. A fine movie, if a bit dry and not very exciting. And also predictable, given that it is based on real historical events. Still worth seeing, though.

Sheet music

This online store, Sheet Music Plus, seems to be one of the better places to find/purchase classical sheet music.

Economics humor

The video presentation of this paper is pretty funny, and worth watching.

The author, Yoram Bauman, apparently has given up a tenure-track position teaching economics, and now is a standup comic. Or, as he puts it, a "standup economist". You can see some of his routines on the web, of course!

Rome Season 2

We reluctantly finished watching the end of HBO's TV series Rome. Such fine television; it's too bad that all of the really well-written stuff seems to only on HBO!

One If By Land, Two If By Sea

Michelin-rated restaurant. Excellent food! They are celebrating their 35th anniversary this year, and were giving away $35 gift certificates. So we thought it would be worth a visit. Set in a building that apparently was owned by Aaron Burr, the ambience was spectacular. Not-to-loud lounge music from a grand piano, excellent service, and some revolutionary-war-era decorations. And the food was simple and fine!

Mauritius

Mauritius by Theresa Rebeck played at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Great cast, including F. Murray Abraham and Bobby Canavale. The star of the production was Alison Pill. The writing was not the best, but the play had some wonderful moments. F. Murray Abraham's soliloquies were a delight, in particular. Overall, it was definitely worth seeing, and good entertainment. But profound it was not.

Subwayland

Subwayland by Randy Kennedy is a collection of articles about the NYC subway that apparently were originally published in the NY Times from 2001-2003. They feel a little dated, but still are fascinating stories about the culture that exists around, in, and about the subway system.

No Reservations

This movie was also showing on the flight home. It was a predictable romantic comedy, and was entertaining to the extent that Catherine Zeta-Jones is beautiful. Abigail Breslin (the little girl from Little Miss Sunshine) was cute, but the role wasn't that well written and developed. Oh well, it kept me awake on the plane, at least.

The Magnificent Seven

Interestingly, The Magnificent Seven was playing on the plane from London to JFK. This movie is one of my favorites, and so I had to watch it again. A magnificent soundtrack; fine cast; good script (adapted from Kurosawa's Seven Samurai); and stunning cinematography. One of the best westerns ever made!

Medici Money

Medici Money by Tim Parks is a fun book about the beginning and end of the Medici bank. It digresses marvelously into discussions about the origins of humanism; the interplay of art, money, and religion; the political situation in Italy; and lots of fascinating other tidbits. It's an entertaining read about an interesting period in time.

E.G. Bührle Collection

After taking a break, I wandered over to the E.G. Bührle Collection. This private collection was made open to the public after the owner passed away, and it resides in a lovely 3-floor house. He was a major industrialist/art collector, and the collection has some magnificent pieces in it. I wish I could have taken some photos! I was the first one in the door when they opened at 2PM local time, and the house was virtually empty for the entire 40 minutes that I was there. If I weren't exhausted after flying to Europe (and walking around Zurich), and if a whole busload of people hadn't entered around 2:30, I would have stayed a lot longer.

Kunsthaus

I got off the plane at 7:15AM (Zurich time), and need to stay up today until evening so that I can force myself onto a normal schedule in Europe. So, after checking into a hotel, I wandered around Zurich and found my way to the Kunsthaus. It's a pretty good museum. Two of the more memorable pieces were 2 large two-paneled paintings by Monet. I'll have to upload some pictures after I get back home.

There was a special exhibition of Felix Vallotton's work, which was interesting: I learned something!

Reaper

There's only one thing good about being sick. Well, maybe not a whole thing, but half a thing: getting to watch stupid TV while recuperating. I watched an episode of Reaper, which is hilarious! Ray Wise as the devil; it's very reminiscent in a weird way of his role in Twin Peaks. But maybe I've been just reading too much about the new Twin Peaks DVD set that just came out...

Flags of Our Fathers

Flags of Our Fathers is a fine movie. Although this was the first of a pair of movies from Clint Eastwood, this was the second one that I saw. This movie makes a point of illustrating the different needs of individual soldiers, the army, the government, and the populace. Extremely well done, although I still think that Clint's westerns are his best work.

Funny Face

We watched Funny Face, with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire. It certainly had a "vintage" look! The star of the production was Kay Thompson, I'd have to say: she certainly had the best voice of the 3 primary actors.

This was not a great movie, but it was worth watching for the visuals. It is also amazing how exotic Paris must have been 50 years ago.

Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations

Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations by David Warsh is a fine read. It covers the history of economics from the point of view of interrelationship between economic growth and the advancement of knowledge. Apparently it was not until the early 1990's that the development of knowledge was explicitly modeled by economists as an important part of the real economy: prior to that, knowledge was outside of economic models (partially due to tractability of the models, I guess).

In any case, this book is an exciting intellectual tale of how economics developed; I recommend it highly.

Stephen Colbert on Meet The Press

MSNBC Video > MSNBC.com > by date > page 1

Stephen Colbert for President! Yee ha!

Albus Dumbledore outed

Dumbledore is gay, 'Harry Potter' author reveals - CNN.com

Wow, what news!

Buy a T-shirt.

Remember The Milk

Lifehacker had a post on Remember The Milk, a web-based application for managing tasks. It's pretty well-done!

Food psychology

I finished the book Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink, a professor at Cornell. Fascinating book: the web page also has a link to his blog. I recommend this book highly. Some interesting factoids from the book:

• Our bodies do not notice differences of 100 calories/day. So the easiest way to lose weight is to eat <100 calories less per day, and you'll lose 10 pounds in a year.


• Easy-to-get food gets eaten. The easier, the more it is eaten.

Babette's Feast

Babette's Feast won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 1987. I remember when it came out, but I never got around to seeing it until now. I don't think it's aged very well; although it was a nice movie to watch, the pacing didn't feel right, and it seemed all very predictable.

Michael Clayton

Michael Clayton is a fine movie: great writing and great actors. I have to agree with one of the reviewers of this movie on Rotten Tomatoes, though: it was entirely compelling to watch the movie, but it wasn't as satifsying after it ended. Maybe the ending was just a little too easy/happy/contrived. Despite that flaw, though, more movies should be this good.

Letters From Iwo Jima

Letters From Iwo Jima was a great movie: I almost wish I had seen it on a big screen, but the intimacy of a TV was almost acceptable, given the nature of the emotions on display. Definitely worth watching!

The Awful Truth

Cary Grant and Irene Dunne are great in The Awful Truth. I prefer His Girl Friday for sheer pleasure in dialogue (both in the writing and in the delivery). But this was still delightful in a different way: the subtlety was quite refreshing, given modern cinema.

The Phillips Collection

 

The Phillips Collection is wonderful: the first modern art museum in America. It was free, too, since there were no special exhibitions and we went on a weekday! This Renoir (Luncheon of the Boating Party) is their most famous piece, and one of the docents explained some interesting things about it. I'll let you just admire it, though.

Viggo rules

Eastern Promises was a fine movie and definitely worth watching. Viggo was great, and he works really well with David Cronenberg. I thought this was better than A History of Violence, but maybe that's because urban settings attract me more than farm country. For some reason I thought that Naomi Watts would play a larger role in the plot, but it felt like her character mostly existed to move the plot forward. Kind of like "Who killed Laura Palmer?" or "Who killed the Comedian?" (name those stories): secondary stories/plot devices that suck you in to the main story.

15 Minutes of Fame

 

Well, not really "fame". When we were walking around DC, this fellow asked us to take his picture, so I obliged. Since I took the picture, I thought it deserved to be published. Why not?

National Museum of the American Indian

The National Museum of the American Indian is pretty cool architecturally. The exhibition of women's dresses didn't do it for me, though: I just am not that interested in female clothing.

National Gallery

We went to the National Gallery, which had some pretty impressive special exhibitions, as well a pretty good permanent collection. One of the notable pieces in their collection is the only Leonardo da Vinci work in the Americas, a portrait of Ginevra de' Benci.

This photo has some of the same enigmatic qualities as the Mona Lisa. The background is also vaguely reminiscent of that portrait, as well.

We saw the following exhibitions:

• Desiderio da Settignano. Renaissance sculptor. Amazingly beautiful statues!
  



• Joseph Mallord William Turner. This exhibition will be at the Met in summer 2008, so we'll get to see it twice. Amazing collection of a ton of paintings; I wish I could have taken some photos. I wish I knew how Turner made his oil paintings shimmer like watercolors.
  



• Edward Hopper. This was a pretty large collection of Hopper's paintings, including the famous Nighthawks.
  

National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery has some fascinating historical paintings. Three that I found particularly interesting, mostly because their names are so important in certain cities: John Jacob Astor, David Rittenhouse, John Singleton Copley. Can you tell who is who?

International Spy Museum

I decided to pony up $15 or so and go through Operation Spy at the International Spy Museum. It was mildly entertaining: more kid-oriented than I would have hoped, and given that the group I wound up in had only 2 kids, not as much as it would have been with either all adults or mostly kids. Amusing, though!

Red Dust

I finished Red Dust, by Ma Jian. The book is a memoir of the author's travels through rural China near the beginning of China's transformation to a modern economy. Very disjointed writing, without much obvious structure; nonetheless, I found it to be a fascinating read.

Same Time Next Year

Netflix is fun: it enabled us to watch the old Alan Alda/Ellen Burstyn film Same Time Next Year. The movie was based on a play, apparently. It was a bit overly sentimental, but it had some really good moments. Seeing the characters change over 25 years was pretty interesting, although the changes seemed exaggerated compared to "real life".

Evan Almighty

I got to watch Evan Almighty on my flight back to NY. Again, no sound, so I had to guess at the plot: which wasn't too hard. There were a few hilarious scenes; probably worth getting on DVD, but I'm glad I didn't pay to see this movie in the theater.