something to laugh at

I broke up with a sweet and wonderful guy this weekend so I'm sad and feel very little like laughing at the moment.

But my friend RJ, who hosts a blog (www.procrastinet.com) has a really REALLY funny entry here (read July 26th).

I'll write more myself when my heart picks itself up off the floor and stops punching itself in the guts.

audition notices

I'm not kidding, these were posted on a list of casting notices I get over email:

ACTING CALL: This is a very small short film in cooperation with CTV Studios in New York. We are looking for Male and Female actors of Caucasian decent. Must be capable of playing younger than your actual age. [NB: age not listed] Minimal athleticism required. [what kind of film is this again?] No formal experience needed. [just have big tits and be willing to show them to us] There is no monitary payment for participating in this film. However, all actors will recieve a copy of the finished product for their resume or "reel". All other expenses are payed for including meals on days when multiple scenes are shot.

And:
Seeking a Persian type of cat with long hair for greeting card company

* Read Details Listed: 7/26/2006
Seeking a Persian cat (or cat with Persian looks) with long hair for a greeting card company. Please no white cats if possible. Pet owner must be willing to sign a standard model release form. Shoot date TBD. Submission deadline is Friday, 7/28.

The question remains: should the cat bring a resume or "reel"?

where to get theatre tickets at a discount

So I've been doing some research lately, looking for the best way to get theatre tickets (for cheap) without standing in line at the TKTS booth. As it turns out, there are a variety of ways, but none offer the outrageous discounts I was hoping for. However, if you're looking to see a show (either On or Off Broadway), check out the prices here first, and see if you can't get yourself a deal.
http://www.broadwaybox.com/ (no links for you today, missy!) offers discount codes that you can use to purchase tickets for major shows and events. You can see Avenue Q, for example, on a Friday night for $81.25 a $1.25 handling fee, and Altar Boyz for $39.99 a $1.00 handling fee.

http://www.hitshowclub.com/ also offers discount codes, but requires a free membership. (Katte, who also lives in my apartment, signed up for me. She's great.) Same deal here as above: Ave. Q on Friday for $81.25 a $1.25 handling fee, but Hit Show Club isn't offering tix to Altar Boyz. (seems to be Broadway Only)

http://www.bestofbroadway.com/ is truly NOT the best of Broadway. Maybe if you're a group, but if you're flying solo, you can see Avenue Q on Friday night for 101.25 a $10.00 service fee a $1.25 theatre restoration fee. And if you had ten or more people (no solos here) you could see Altar Boyz for $41.00 a $5 service fee a 10 ervice fee. (The $1.00 theatre restoration fee is included in the price.)

At http://www.theatermania.com/discounts/, you can't get discounts to Avenue Q (but they do have Faith Healer, Rent and other shows), and you can get tix to Altar Boyz for $49.99. You also have to have a free membership to get the discount.

http://www.broadway.com/gen/general.aspx?ci=524474 won't offer you tickets to Avenue Q (this week at least) but you can get $111.25 tix to Spamalot (they're calling it a 20iscount), which is better than nothing at all. No Altar Boyz here... Broadway only! And don't plan too far ahead -- this site is best for last minute, listing only tickets available for performances through August 8th.

Bless their hearts, http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/vc.htm is offering discounts. They're a scraggly, odd variety of discounts, but hey, maybe you want to see somethin scraggly and odd! No Avenue Q here, but Altar Boyz can be had for $49.99... and if it benefits nytheatre.com at all, I'd recommend purchasing them here.

http://hotnycdeals.com/_wsn/page2.html offers discounts, but they're a little sneaky, offering rush "POPULAR" tix to Avenue Q for $21.25... and then explaining the process of the lottery. Altar Boyz can be had here for $39.99.

The Playbill Club (http://www.playbill.com/club/offers/) used to be the place to go, but these days... maybe not so much. No discounts for Avenue Q, and Altar Boyz can be had for $39.99, provided you sign up for their free membership (which you probably should anyway).

If you're looking to pay an upfront fee to join a club that will give you discounts on future theatre-going, there are two options I'm aware of at the moment. The first is the TDF's program: http://www.tdf.org, and the other is TheatreMania's Gold Club: http://www.theatermania.com/gold/. For a mere $25, TDF will sign you up and give you "regular opportunities to purchase Broadway, Off Broadway, music and dance productions at a fraction of box office prices." ($32 or less per ticket) The Gold Club, on the other hand, charges you $99 upfront (or $69, if you're on the right email lists... I can hook you up if you're interested) and then charges you only $4.50 per ticket (max two tix per show). I have friends who are on TDF and their show lists are essentially the same as the Gold Club's (of which I am a member), and their prices do go as dramatically low as the Gold Club's. I might recommend TDF, only because the Gold Club has been kind of lame lately.

Have a ticket to sell or swap? Of course there's always ebay (beware! they're charging there for the discount codes I'm providing you here!), but there's another site, StubHub: http://www.stubhub.com/tix12-ticketcenter/theater-tickets-and-arts-tickets/?gtse=goto&gtkw=theater ticket that allows you to buy or sell your ticket there. A friend of mine has had a very good experience with them and would definitely recommend them.

Other than all of that, this site (http://home.nyc.rr.com/frugaltheatergoe/) seems to hit something of a motherlode! If I've missed it here, they cover it there! They seem a little slow to update (they're offering discounts to Stuff Happens at the Public, which closed about a month ago) but if you've got time to cyber-wander, check it out!

Got more suggestions? My comments are your playground!

i'm too young for my childhood toys to be vintage!

It being a very slow day here at work (thank god!), I decided to take a little stroll down Memory Lane. Only once I got there, I discovered that Memory Lane quickly turned into Vintage Boulevard, and I was a lot older than I thought.

Are you old, too? If you (or your sister) had any of the toys posted below, you're probably old. You're also probably really cool, but that doesn't make you any younger.

Going back as far as I can remember, we start with Richard Scary's Puzzletown:
This was a fabulous set of interlocking toys based on the books of Richard Scary. We had the medical center (above) and the downtown, the farm, and god knows what else. My favorites were always the picklemobile and the egg mobile. I think that may be all we have left of them now.

Then our good old bathtime favorires, Sea Wees. My sister and I shared them, and I'm pretty sure we had both of the ones below:

In addition, we had the blue one, the white one and the orange one. I sure as hell don't remember their names, though. I'm waaaay too old for that.

Ah, Pretty Cut & Grow. What they don't show you here is that if you buy the blonde doll, it comes with blonde hair in the doll, and a PURPLE HAIR REPLACEMENT. What the hell was that??
The Brooke Shields doll (The World's Most Glamorous Teenage Doll). But I could SWEAR that mine came in a Blue Lagoon bathing suit outfit. Maybe my mom made that, though. There's no evidence of its existence (outside my own home) anywhere on the internet.

The infamous Barbie Head, which they still make -- although none of the ones made now come with that attractive ruffled prom dress. After my mom would do our hair by pulling it super-tight, my sister and I would always shout, "I'M NOT A BARBIE HEAD!!"

My friends Becky, Jenny, Mandy and, um, er, Timmy? (we didn't have him) At one point, my sister and I had two Mandys, so we cut one open to see what was inside. (Just fluff) These dolls had great shoes. Not sure why I remember that in particular, though.Dolly Pops! I especially loved the brown haired one because I thought she looked so much like me. These were dolls whose clothes were made out of plastic and you just popped them into place on the doll. We never had this fashion show stage, but family friends did and I certainly thought about stealing it when I was younger. And had no scruples. Unlike now.
Real Baby. Really heavy. Pretty ugly, too. This doll was HUGE. And when I got mine, it came in this enormous bassinette that took up half of my bedroom. But boy did I feel like a Real Mommy for about a month!Then there were all the happy meals, and everything you could collect from them.
Like the potato head kids.
Or the McNugget toys. (Creepy, but lovable)
I don't think the Glo Worms came in happy meals, but they could have.
Pogo Ball, which I fell off of and sprained my ankle so badly I had to go to the hospital.
And then, as I grew up, we had all sorts of other toys and games, but one that I remember having that nobody else had:
THE DURAN DURAN BOARD GAME.

(I have no idea how on earth you play it, but Polly and I were champions!)

My mom was in children's advertising for my entire childhood, so my sister and I got a number of toys that never made it to market, including a set of collectible birthday My Little Ponys, Ripley's Believe it or Not game (which is actually good), and who knows what else. And we had all the other toys, too, like Strawberry Shortcake, Jem, Barbie (although Jem was mom's client, and we had more of them), Cabbage Patch Kids, Weebles, and on and on and on. Although, you'd think with a mom in the biz I somehow would have ended up with a Snoopy Snow Cone maker, but I never did.

noah smith & chuck closterman ask all the tough questions

My friend Noah Smith (on myspace here and on his own website here) is a fabulous writer, and one of the few ways I stay entertained and maintain my sanity here at work. His blog (baggy pants and bravado) is often full of childhood-related questions and explorations, stories about his wife, friends or family, and complaints against major motion pictures with superheroes in them. I can't always get every reference, but for those of us who were born in the mid-to-late 70s, Noah's blog is a compendium of familiar joys.

He also has an audience participation section every few days or so, in which he asks questions of his readership. Sometimes they have a theme, and sometimes they're strung together with spit and the sheer brainpower of Noah himself.

This week, however, he's posted some really fascinating questions written by Chuck Closterman, author of Sex, Drugs & Coco Puffs:

"The twenty-three questions I ask everybody I meet in order to decide if I can really love them"
They're neat questions. I've snatched a couple of samples (thanks, Noah!), but for the full effect, I would strongly recommend popping over to Noah's blog and offer up your own comments. (read the audience participation part at the top, too, and you'll see Noah's comments about our comments. Wikked meta!)

"At long last, someone invents "the dream VCR." This machine allows you to tape an entire evening's worth of your own dreams, which you can then watch at your leisure. However, the inventor of the dream VCR will only allow you to use this device of you agree to a strange caveat: When you watch your dreams, you must do so with your family and your closest friends in the same room. They get to watch your dreams along with you. And if you don't agree to this, you can't use the dream VCR. Would you still do this?"

"For reasons that cannot be explained, cats can suddenly read at a twelfth-grade level. They can't talk and they can't write, but they can read silently and understand the text. Many cats love this new skill, because they now have something to do all day while they lay around the house; however, a few cats become depressed, because reading forces them to realize the limitations of their existence (not to mention the utter frustration of being unable to express themselves). This being the case, do you think the average cat would enjoy Garfield, or would cats find this cartoon to be an insulting caricature?"

a glimpse inside my subconscious: or why you shouldn't eat sushi before bed

Several factors combined last night to give me one of the weirdest-ass dreams I've had in a long time:

1) the aforementioned sushi;
2) six trillion degree weather;
3) Levaquin (a high-power antibiotic); and
4) serious conversation right before bed

I started out on a tour bus to visit my sister in Boston. When I got there, I found out that we (my sister and I) had to move all the stuff out of my parents' house because they were moving. So we went upstairs (to my parents' house?) and started taking down the stuff. But halfway through it, I found out that I had to move out of my apartment in Brooklyn, too. So I freaked out, because there was no way I was going to fit all the stuff from my parents' attic AND my apartment into my Honda (which I haven't had for 6 years now).

Meanwhile, we're still pulling stuff from the attic when it starts to rain. And the rain tears down the awning covering the attic(?), so now we have to run to save everything from the rain. Scott (my brother in law) carried down the stuffed grizzly bear (which we really dont have) and I carried down the Teddy Ruxpin (which I always wanted but never got) and the next thing I know, we're all moving stuff naked. Me, my sister, and my dad. Scott seems to have stayed clothed, and in somewhat-true-to-life fashion, my mother wasn't involved in the project.

So I load what I can into my car, and the next thing I know, I'm driving away, but driving from the passenger's seat. It's not a British car. It's my Honda. But I'm still driving from the passenge'rs seat. And when I get pulled over, I'm sure it's because the cops are wondering why (not how, of course) I'm driving from the passenger's seat, and I'm sure it's illegal.

Turns out, it's not the cops. It's car-jackers. And they shove this device that looks like a palm pilot (with a very very sharp stylus) into my face, and the stylus has some sort of drug in it (probably Levaquin) so I can't scream or talk. But I try to call my sister on an old cellphone anyway, and all I can squeak out is a measly "help!" before I lose the power to speak all together.

Next thing I know, I'm looking at a rack of clothing hanging outside a bus in a parking lot. I'm trying to pick something to wear to work. I find this really cute dress, but it turns out it's not a dress, it's shorts. And I can't wear shorts to work. But I notice that there's only this little rubber cord that's keeping the legs sewn together, so I start to unravel it, in hopes that it will make an attractive dress. And the more I unravel, the more it turns into yarn. And I start balling it up, and end up wearing it like a brooch on my left shoulder.
And that's all I can remember.

lame reviews

So King Lear recently got a review online, and I have to say, it's one of the worst reviews I've ever read. And doesn't even trash the show. It's just poorly written, poorly conceived, and, well, lame.

My impression of it? "King Lear was good. The acting was nice. The park was dumb."

New York theatre reviewers, especially those online, vary greatly in skill and ability. There are many (at nytheatre.com, especially) who are well trained, have great eyes, can pinpoint a problem without trashing a production and who, in general, can be critical without being denigrating. They can craft reviews that have some flow to them, that raise engaging questions and read well. (Confession: a large number of them are friends of mine, so I know these things are true beyond just reading their reviews.) But they must all be on summer vacation, because what we got was seriously less qualified than that.

Come on, nytheatre.com! Have some standards! I'm not going to mock the reviewer herself (although it's SORELY tempting to do so) (sigh) (ok, go here to do so yourself, but don't tell them I sent you), but I am going to hold the site responsible for having reviewers with sub-par reviewing (nay, sub-par writing) skills. Granted, this appears to be her first review. And in it, she makes a couple of very valid points (especially that the double-casting in our production makes the characters in disguise hard to tell from the actors playing two roles). However, half of her thesis argument (if you can call it that) ["the thematic issue of how we treat the elderly."] was so poorly handled that I wondered why it was in there at all.

Her review reads more like a blog, which, while there's space for that in our society (um, right?) I'm not sure that that's where theatre review should be headed.

I'm only angry because the institution of theatre has for centuries held the reviewer like a god -- to be feared, revered and heeded (hed?). And to find someone so un-godly posting her opinions about theatre (let alone my show) just makes me feel like, yet again, the art of our craft (in all its forms and varieties) is sliding. But then again, I've always been something of an elitist (especially where theatre and acting is concerned), and perhaps this is just a democratizing of the process. [Boo to artistic democracy! but more on that some other time.]

Every actor hopes to find something useful in a review -- something she can add to her marketing materials, something to reinforce her own belief in her performance, or something to highlight problems to a director in hopes that they'll be addressed. And while "the pretty Kate Surgeon is effective as Regan" is not unusable it's, just, well... lame.

Blah blah blah, I could review her review and you could find it just as pathetic as the original. But when you mock me, please note that a) I'm writing on myspace, b) nobody's paying me to do so, and c) I use terms more nuanced than "excellent" "effective" and "funny." I say things like "worst" and "lame."

things to do this summer (and i'm taking volunteers!)

As my show winds down, I'm going to start having free time on the weekends, and continuing to have some free time on weeknights, and there are SO MANY things to do in New York, that have narrowed down a few of them, and present them for your interest, education and pleasure.
And, if you're free to do any of them, let me know, and we'll see if we can do it together!

These first few are ongoing:
Saturdays 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Downtown Boathouse
Kayaking on the Hudson
Facilitated by The Downtown Boathouse, kayaks are available for short 20-minute paddles on the river. The only requirements are that you know how to swim and have fun! Boathouse staff will supply life jackets, kayaks, paddles, and some tips on paddling. Please wear a bathing suit, or shorts and a t-shirt. Weather permitting only. For daily weather status: (646) 613-0740.
Location: 72nd Street and the Hudson River

Saturdays 1-5
CHELSEA PIERS
Rollerskating for free! ($19 skate rental)
Chelsea Piers outdoor rink hosts outdoor skating. Admission is free with a $19 skate rental
Location: Pier 62 at 23rd Street
(212) 336-6200

Bryant Park: Bryant Park Knits Mondays, April 17 - October 16
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Free knitting lessons. Experienced instructors from Knit New York on 14th Street provide beginners with step by step methods and experts with insights and challenges. Come to watch. Come to learn. Come to knit.

If you are already knitting, bring your project and share ideas & secrets with other enthusiasts. Yarn and needles are supplied for beginners. Starter kits are available for sale.

Classes are limited to 20 people. Please pre-register by calling 212-387-0707, or take a chance and stop by.
Location: Bryant Park

Select Fridays: May 12, June 9, Sept 22, Oct 13, 11:30 am-1:30 pm
Gone Fishing
Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park (Battery Park City)
Join Master Anglers and cast away stress during the lunch hour with relaxing fishing. Equipment and bait provided.
more info here

Select Saturdays and Sundays.River SwimsOpportunities to swim in the beautiful Hudson. Co-sponsored by Manhattan Island Foundation.
¥ Aquathon, Freedom Tower: 8:45 am; and Cove to Cove Swim, 9:00 am, Sunday, July 23; South Cove to North Cove¥ Race for the River Swim: Sunday, July 23, 9:30 am; Pier 62 to North Cove
Go here or call 888.NYC.SWIM for registration.

July 10-17
Restaurant week in NYC
You know the deal. This site lists participating restaurants

Horseback riding in Prospect Park
Kensington Stables (go here for more info)
You can rent a ride for $25 an hour, and can get lessons if youre a novice. Bring a cowboy hat and a hot guy and pretend to wish that you could quit him!

August 8 - September 3, 8:00 pm
Central Park: Shakespeare in the Park - Mother Courage and Her Children
This world premiere production of the Bertolt Brecht play stars Meryl Streep. Translated by Tony Kushner, directed by George C. Wolfe, original music by Jeanine Tesori.

In Brecht's seminal work, we follow Mother Courage over a period of 12 years as one by one her children are taken away by a vicious war. As she seeks to profit from the war that is killing her children, she questions the roles of honesty, virtue, and family in the face of a bitter struggle for survival.

Pick up your free tickets on the day of the performance, beginning at 1:00 pm line usually begins to form early morning at the Delacorte Theater, or from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street.
More Event Info>>

Wednesday nights, 8:30 pm
Pier 54. 14th St. & West St.
Enjoy all-time great movies under the stars! Every Wednesday evening at Hudson River Parks Pier 54 (Quirky Themed Movie Series Films are generally rated Pg-13 and R) and Friday evening on Hudson River Parks Pier 46 (Family oriented movies).

Movies begin at dusk (generally around 8:30pm.) Seating is available. Free Popcorn. Beverages and snacks are for sale.

Wednesdays: July 5 through Aug 23.
Location: Pier 54. 14th St. & West St.


And these are date-specific
Thursday, Jul 13, 2006, 7:30 pm
Asser Levy Seaside Park
Seaside Summer Concert Series presents: "Sweet Sounds of Soul" featuring the incomparable Al Green and special guest Funk Brother Jack Ashford & The Original Motown Sound.

For the best in family entertainment, Asser Levy Seaside Park is the place to be every Thursday night from July 13th to August 24th. Enjoy the free shows!

The public can bring their own chairs or rent them for $5/chair in a specially designated area ($10 on 7/13, 7/27, 8/10 & 8/17).

Location: West 5th and Surf Avenue, opposite the New York Aquarium.


Saturday, Jul 15, 2006
12:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Coney Island
Village Voice Siren Music Festival

This free, all-day, all-ages, music festival will feature live international, national, local bands and DJs performing on two outdoor stages in historic Coney Island. Now in its sixth year, the Village Voice Siren Music Festival has solidified its status as a leading outdoor music festival, drawing over 100,000 music fans the past three years, establishing itself as a leader in showcasing indie rock veterans and emerging artists.

The 2006 festival line up will be announced shortly. For general information please call The Village Voice Siren Music Festival Hotline: 212-475- 4022 or go here.
Location: Coney Island


Thursday, July 27th 6:00pm-7:30pm
Washington Square Park
Romashka Experience the kinetic rhythms, wild playing, and delicious harmonies of this soulful gypsy folk band. Located at the Southeast Plaza Stage.
More info here

Thursday, Jul 27, 2006
7:30 pm
Celebrate Brooklyn!: Dracula with Philip Glass & Kronos Quartet / Slavic Soul Party

World-renowned composer PHILIP GLASS' collaboration with the genre defying KRONOS QUARTET on an original score to the 1931 camp-horror classic DRACULA resulted in one of the great film soundtracks of all time. Glass and Kronos reunite at Celebrate Brooklyn to perform the score live for the first time since 2001. SLAVIC SOUL PARTY's toothsome combo of Gypsy brass, Balkan anthems, and hip-grinding funk will make you want to bite someone on the neck.

Keep It Great, Give $3 at the Gate!
more event info
Location: Prospect Park Bandshell

Thursday, Jul 27, 2006
8:30 pm
Brooklyn Bridge Park: Movies with a View - Pee Wee's Big Adventure

This year's theme is "Movies in Motion" - get set for some of Hollywood's most incredible journeys and road movies. Music starts at 6 pm; movie starts at sunset.
More Event Info>>


Friday, July 28th 8:00pm-9:00pm
Washington Square Park
Fireless Fireworks The Madagascar Institute crafts the thunder, pulses, screeches and colors of a fireworks display without the use of a single pyrotechnic. Located at the Fountain
More info here

Friday, Aug 04, 7:00 pm
Sunset on the Hudson/David Ippolito
Enjoy the sunset on the Hudson every Friday from June 9th to August 25th. It's the perfect way to wind down the work week.

David Ippolito (a.k.a. The Guitar Man) has been playing in New York City for 15 years. His avid following enjoys both original and cover songs that are of a folk style. You can enjoy Davids original songs, which bring out his unique perspective on life, along with the beautiful sunset from the spectacular, grass-covered pier 45 that stretches 900 feet into the majestic Hudson River.
Phone number: 212-627-2020
Location: Hudson River Park's Pier 45 at Charles Street.

Saturday, Aug 05, 1:30 pm
Lincoln Center Out of Doors: Dance with Folk Feet
Move your feet with the Brooklyn Art Councils world traditional dance troupe. Featuring performers from the spectrum of international communities whose New World home is Brooklyn.
Yahaya Kamate - Ivory Coast koukou.
Sheren Attal - Middle East debkah.
King Uprock and Tiny Love - Brooklyn-style uprocking and electric boogie.
Joanna Barry and Martin Connolly - Irish reels and jigs.

Location: South Plaza is directly south of the Josie Robertson Plaza and Lincoln Center Fountain, at West 62nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues.
More info: Lincoln Center
Sunday, Aug 06, 7:00 pm
Hudson River Park's MoonDance: Tango
Dance the night away under the stars with music from New Yorks hottest dance bands on Sunday evenings no experience necessary. Featured styles include swing, tango and salsa. Free Dance lessons begin at 6:30pm courtesy of Dance Manhattan. Live bands go on at 7pm!

Featuring Eternal Tango.

Location: Hudson River Park's Pier 54 located at 13th Street and the West Side Highway. Enter at West 14th St.

Phone number: 212-627-2020
Hudson River Park Trust


Saturday, August 12th 8:30pm-10:00pm
Washington Square Park
The Fire Within Professional fire dancers mesmerize with a dazzling array of fire accessories that swing, twirl, toss, and spin. Located at the Fountain.
More info here

Saturday, Aug 12, 19, 26 12:00 pm
A Country House in Manhattan
Manhattan's oldest house began its history as Colonial Roger Morris's "Gentleman's Farm" in Colonial New York, became a Revolutionary War headquarters to Washington, and finally a "Chateau in the Heights" to Madame Eliza Jumel in the 19th century. Today you can take a guided tour of its 11 period rooms decorated in the Colonial, Federal and Empire styles and learn about is fascinating history and inhabitants.
More Event Info>>
Location: Morris-Jumel Mansion, Roger Morris Park - 65 Jumel Terrace at 160th St.

Saturday, Aug 12, 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Central Park SummerStage: Soul to Soul

This is a music event with a suggested donation of $30 as the 2nd Annual Benefit for the New Orleans' Musicians Clinic by Central Park SummerStage.

SummerStage will present its second annual Soul to Soul benefit to pay tribute to the resilience and spirit of the Big Easy in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy. The festivities will help to raise money for the New Orleans Musicians Clinic, the non-profit medical center whose aid for the areas music-makers is needed now more than ever.

Admission to all free performances is on a first-come, first-served basis, no tickets required. Gates open 90 minutes prior to performances on weekends and at benefit concerts, and 60 minutes prior to performances on weekdays. All SummerStage performances are rain or shine.
More Event Info>>
Location: Rumsey Playfield, Central Park - enter the park at 69th Street and 5th Ave on the east side or at 72nd Street & Central Park West on the west side

Sunday, Aug 13, 7:00 pm
Hudson River Park's MoonDance: Swing

Rollickin roadhouse boogie is the heart and soul of George Gees Jump, Jive & Wailers, an electrifying 10-piece band that has kept dance floors pulsating from coast to coast. Dance the night away under the stars to their music no experience necessary. Free Dance lessons begin at 6:30pm courtesy of Dance Manhattan. The live band goes on at 7pm.

Location: Hudson River Park's Pier 54 located at 13th Street and the West Side Highway. Enter at West 14th St.
More info: Hudson River Park Trust

Tuesday, Aug 15, 8:15 pm
Lincoln Center Out of Doors: Carpetbag Brigade Physical Theater Company
Brilliant red, nine-foot tall stilt characters rise, fall, and suspend one another with daredevil lifts and stunts in the Carpetbag Brigade Physical Theater Companys Mudfire, a spellbinding tale of destruction and rejuvenation.Inspired by the cycles of regeneration after forest fires, Mudfire is an acrobatic, stilt-walking fairy tale that enchants children and mystefies adults.

Location: Damrosch Park, located at the southwest corner of the Lincoln Center Plaza, at 62nd Street near Amsterdam Avenue.
More Information: Lincoln Center

Saturday, August 19th 10:30am and again at 12:30pm
Washington Square Park
The Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre: The Princess, the Emperor and the Duck One of the only public marionette theatres left in the US, these puppeteers bring this magical tale gloriously to life. Located at the Southeast Plaza Stage.
More info here

4:00pm-10:00pm
Quiet Disco DJs spin music transmitted directly to wireless headphones, and people dance like crazy to sounds no one else can hear. Bring your own FM headphones, or borrow a pair from presenters The Madagascar Institute. Located on the Big lawn (northwest quadrant).
More info here

Tuesday, Aug 22, 6:00 and 6:45pm
Lincoln Center Out of Doors: Czechoslovak American Marionette Theatre
Conceived by Vit Horejs, Artistic Director of the Czechoslovak Marionette Theater and performed by members of the Czechoslovak American Marionette Theater, this performance piece with puppets, music and dance explores four centuries of immigrant life in the cultural melting pot of the East Village. The title is derived from the bittersweet autobiographical account of artist Yuri Kapralovs life in this turbulent, eclectic neighborhood.

Location: South Plaza is directly south of the Josie Robertson Plaza and Lincoln Center Fountain, at West 62nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues.
More Information: Lincoln Center

Thursday, Aug 24, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Central Park: Dancing on the Plaza

Dancing outdoors under the stars, featuring live music and a 45-minute dance lesson. Each week dance to a different style of music. FREE.

Location: Central Park - The Charles A. Dana Discovery Center. Inside the Park at 110th Street between Fifth and Lenox Avenues
More Event Info>>

Saturday September 9
East River
Brooklyn Bridge Swim
Manhattan Island Foundation hosts about 150 swimmers in the first-ever Brooklyn Bridge Swim from South street seaport to Dumbo. Its a distance of one kilometer, requiring exertion roughly equivalent to running five miles.

Saturday, Sep 23, 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Fall in Love with Prospect Park

Hawk Weekend, 12 5 p.m.
Get up-close and personal with birds of prey and learn about the resident raptors of Prospect Park. Discover how these creatures raise their young, catch their prey, and build their homes. Hand puppets, hawk costumes, interactive games, and crafts. Audubon Center. Free.

Harvest Fair, 1 4 p.m.
History you can touch! Harvest and cook potatoes, churn butter, make apple cider, watch a spinster spinning flax into linen thread, and make instruments from gourds. Lefferts Historic House. Free.
More Event Info>>

this is a really good place to look for things to do

the perfect day

Sunday was the perfect day.

I'm not being sarcastic, it actually was perfect.

It started out with me sleeping in until about 11, which is almost unheard of, not only for me, but for my sweet, sweet, door-slamming neighbors and my landlord (who is renovating the downstairs apartment) it's almost unheard of. Granted, I woke up with a hangover from my friend's wedding the night before, but it was tinged with great memories, so it didn't hurt too much.

I was off to my show, (which if you haven't seen it, has four more performances -- two in Fulton Ferry Park in Brooklyn and two in Central Park) which, while it was hot out, was crammed full of some solid acting(and not-so-solid acting, let's be honest), and some good times backstage.

Afterwards, I was surprised to find out that I knew almost half the audience! And I stayed in the park, on a perfect afternoon, playing frisbee with friends. No humidity, the smell of spaghetti and meatballs oddly wafting our way, and a three year old with a smile full of chocolate. I haven't laughed until my tummy hurt for a long time.

I love my friends.

summer reading, happened so fast...

wella wella wella huh!
tell me more, tell me more
did you read a good book?
tell me more tell me more
and give me a good look!

Sorry. That was lame.

I just started to read a fabulous new book by Paul Auster, The Brooklyn Follies, and it made me realize that there are a ton of good books out there that I'd like to recommend. So here they are. I've copied the blurb (with some editing) from Amazon because I can't be expected to remember finer plot points, and I think they're a good guide.

And I'll use a Smiley System to indicate which books are essentially for the ladies :) which ones are funny :) and which ones are for aliens :)

They're not in any particular order, and my comments (following the amazon blurb) will be in italics (apparently I can't make font color work today). Feel free, when done, to offer up recommendations of your own. I'm blazing through the Follies, and will be looking for something else next.

Life of Pi -- Yann Martel
The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes.
The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, the Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional--but is it more true?

Read this. If you haven't read this yet, read it. It's not for everyone, but I haven't read a book this compelling and fascinating in a long time.

Middlesex -- Jeffrey Eugenides
(Also recommended: The Virgin Suicides)
"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of l974. . . My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent drivers license...records my first name simply as Cal."
So begins the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City, and the race riots of l967, before they move out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. To understand why Calliope is not like other girls, she has to uncover a guilty family secret and the astonishing genetic history that turns Callie into Cal, one of the most audacious and wondrous narrators in contemporary fiction. Lyrical and thrilling, Middlesex is an exhilarating reinvention of the American epic.

This is also a FABULOUS, complex, awesome book. I'm thinking of reading it again.

The Patron Saint of Liars -- Ann Patchett :)
(Also recommended: Bel Canto, The Magicians Assistant, Taft, Truth & Beauty)
St. Elizabeth's is a home for unwed mothers in the 1960s. Life there is not unpleasant, and for most, it is temporary. Not so for Rose, a beautiful, mysterious woman who comes to the home pregnant but not unwed. She plans to give up her baby because she knows she cannot be the mother it needs. But St. Elizabeth's is near a healing spring, and when Rose's time draws near, she cannot go through with her plans, not all of them. And she cannot remain forever untouched by what she has left behind ... and who she has become in the leaving.

Definitely one for the women, this is a beautifully crafted story, with warm, believable relationships and I-just-love-it-so-read-it. I would recommend ANYTHING by Ann Patchett.

The New York Trilogy -- Paul Auster
(Also recommended: Brooklyn Follies, Leviathan, Oracle Night, Book of Illusions, Timbuktu, Mr. Vertigo, Invention of Solitude, Music of Chance, In the Country of Last Things, Moon Palace)
Paul Austers signature work consists of three interlocking novels: City of Glass, Ghosts, and The Locked Roomhaunting and mysterious tales that move at the breathless pace of a thriller... Geoffrey OBrien of The Village Voice wrote: "The New York Trilogy are novels of desire: the desire to write a detective novel, to read one, to -inhabit it. . . . By turning the mystery novel inside out, Auster may have -initiated a whole new round of storytelling."

This man is a genius and lives in my neighborhood. His books are eminently readable, really compelling and smarter than you are. I love them. (now I just can't wait to run into Paul Auster in Park Slope. How cool would that be??)


The Poisonwood Bible -- Barbara Kingsolver
(I'm tempted to put the :) here, but I know guys who have read and loved this book, too, so I'll only put it here parenthetically)
(Also recommended: Bean Trees, Pigs in Heaven, Prodigal Summer, Animal Dreams)
In 1959, Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist, takes his four young daughters, his wife, and his mission to the Belgian Congo -- a place, he is sure, where he can save needy souls. But the seeds they plant bloom in tragic ways within this complex culture. Set against one of the most dramatic political events of the twentieth century -- the Congo's fight for independence from Belgium and its devastating consequences -- here is New York Times-bestselling author Barbara Kingslover's beautiful, heartbreaking, and unforgettable epic that chronicles the disintegration of family and a nation.

Heartrending book. Somehow she makes you really feel like you're in Africa and with this family and with each chapter told from a different point of view, the experience gets fully rounded. I loved this book. I might re-read it as well.

The Time Travelers Wife -- Audrey Nieffenegger
(again tempted to go with the :) but it's JUST SO GOOD!)
This clever and inventive tale works on three levels: as an intriguing science fiction concept, a realistic character study and a touching love story. Henry De Tamble is a Chicago librarian with "Chrono Displacement" disorder; at random times, he suddenly disappears without warning and finds himself in the past or future, usually at a time or place of importance in his life. This leads to some wonderful paradoxes. From his point of view, he first met his wife, Clare, when he was 28 and she was 20. She ran up to him exclaiming that she'd known him all her life. He, however, had never seen her before. But when he reaches his 40s, already married to Clare, he suddenly finds himself time travelling to Clare's childhood and meeting her as a six-year-old. The book alternates between Henry and Clare's points of view, and so does the narration.

So. Damn. Good. I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats.

Motherless Brooklyn -- Jonathan Lethem :)
(Also recommended: As She Climbed Across the Table, Amnesia Moon)
Lionel Essrog is Brooklyn's very own self-appointed Human Freakshow, an orphan whose Tourettic impulses drive him to bark, count, and rip apart our language in startling and original ways. Together with three veterans of the St. Vincent's Home for Boys, he works for small-time mobster Frank Minna's limo service cum detective agency. Life without Frank Minna, the charismatic King of Brooklyn, would be unimaginable, so who cares if the tasks he sets them are, well, not exactly legal. But when Frank is fatally stabbed, one of Lionel's colleagues lands in jail, the other two vie for his position, and the victim's widow skips town. Lionel's world is suddenly topsy-turvy, and this outcast who has trouble even conversing attempts to untangle the threads of the case while trying to keep the words straight in his head. Motherless Brooklyn is a brilliantly original homage to the classic detective novel by one of the most acclaimed writers of his generation.

One of the things that Lionel Essrog shouts in his turettes mode is "eat me bailey" which I considered shouting at people for weeks when I was done with this book. It's a mystery, a fast read, really compelling. I'd pick this over Fortress of Solitude, if you're looking to read some Lethem. I found FoS kind of dry and hard to pick up until the end, so start with Motherless Brooklyn. And hey, it's about Brooklyn. (sort of)

Running With Scissors -- Augusten Burroughs :)
(Also recommended: Dry)
Running with Scissors is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of Anne Sexton) gave him away to be raised by her unorthodox psychiatrist who bore a striking resemblance to Santa Claus. So at the age of twelve, Burroughs found himself amidst Victorian squalor living with the doctors bizarre family, and befriending a pedophile who resided in the backyard shed. The story of an outlaw childhood where rules were unheard of, and the Christmas tree stayed up all year round, where Valium was consumed like candy, and if things got dull an electroshock- therapy machine could provide entertainment. The funny, harrowing and bestselling account of an ordinary boys survival under the most extraordinary circumstances.

Augusten Burroughs is a client of ours at the law firm. I sometimes talk to him on the phone. I want to take him home and hang out with him. This book is so crazy, so fucked up it's almost unbelievable. Read it before the movie comes out. (I'm probably not supposed to say that)

A Natural History of the Senses -- Diane Ackerman
Diane Ackerman's lusciously written grand tour of the realm of the senses includes conversations with an iceberg in Antarctica and a professional nose in New York, along with dissertations on kisses and tattoos, sadistic cuisine and the music played by the planet Earth. "Delightful . . . gives the reader the richest possible feeling of the worlds the senses take in."--The New York Times.

This book is awesome if you're at all a nerd and like to know random historical things about life long ago. Not about battles or events, but the small, every-day kind of stuff that makes up life. It also really makes you value your senses and perk up to what's going on around you.

The Lovely Bones -- Alice Sebold :)
In the second sentence, Sebold's narrator, Susie Salmon, announces, "I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973." Susie is taking a shortcut through a cornfield when a neighbor lures her to his hideaway. The description of the crime is chilling, but never vulgar, and Sebold maintains this delicate balance between homely and horrid as she depicts the progress of grief for Susie's family and friends. She captures the odd alliances forged and the relationships ruined: the shattered father who buries his sadness trying to gather evidence, the mother who escapes "her ruined heart, in merciful adultery." Much as this novel is about "the lovely bones" growing around Susie's absence, it is also full of suspense and written in lithe, resilient prose that by itself delights.

Lots of crying with this one. She creates such a lovable narrator that it's heartbreaking to think that she's dead. I'm considering putting this on my audiobook demo, that's how much I love it.

The Other Boleyn Girl -- Philippa Gregory :)
(Also recommended: The Queen's Fool)
Sisterly rivalry is the basis of this fresh, wonderfully vivid retelling of the story of Anne Boleyn. Anne, her sister Mary and their brother George are all brought to the king's court at a young age, as players in their uncle's plans to advance the family's fortunes. Mary, the sweet, blond sister, wins King Henry VIII's favor when she is barely 14 and already married to one of his courtiers. Their affair lasts several years, and she gives Henry a daughter and a son. But her dark, clever, scheming sister, Anne, insinuates herself into Henry's graces, styling herself as his adviser and confidant. Soon she displaces Mary as his lover and begins her machinations to rid him of his wife, Katherine of Aragon. This is only the beginning of the intrigue that Gregory so handily chronicles, capturing beautifully the mingled hate and nearly incestuous love Anne, Mary and George ("kin and enemies all at once") feel for each other and the toll their family's ambition takes on them.

If you like historical fiction at all, you'll like this one. The rivalries are so palpable, and some of the things these women do is so outrageous, I found myself gasping at the book occasionally. Which is really fun to do on the subway!

The Birth of Venus -- Sarah Dunant :)
In this arresting tale of art, love and betrayal in 15th-century Florence, the daughter of a wealthy cloth merchant seeks the freedom of marriage in order to paint, but finds that she may have bought her liberty at the cost of love and true fulfillment. Alessandra, 16, is tall, sharp-tongued and dauntingly clever. At first reluctant to agree to an arranged marriage, she changes her mind when she meets elegant 48-year-old Cristoforo, who is well-versed in art and literature. He promises to give her all the freedom she wants-and she finds out why on her wedding night. Her disappointment and frustration are soon overshadowed by the growing cloud of madness and violence hanging over Florence, nourished by the sermons of the fanatically pious Savonarola. As the wealthy purge their palazzos of "low" art and luxuries, Alessandra gives in to the dangerous attraction that draws her to a tormented young artist commissioned to paint her family's chapel.

There's something of a guilty pleasure to this book -- I promise you not everyone will like it, but I loved it and ate it up like dark chocolate or CSI: Miami. It's not trashy or tawdry, but there's a quality to the writing that almost makes it too easy to swallow (like Gatorade). Solid summer reading, but better than your average beach book.

The Secret Life of Bees -- Sue Monk Kidd :)
(Also recommended: The Mermaid Chair)
In Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, 14-year-old Lily Owen, neglected by her father and isolated on their Georgia peach farm, spends hours imagining a blissful infancy when she was loved and nurtured by her mother, Deborah, whom she barely remembers. All Lily has left of Deborah is a strange image of a Black Madonna, with the words "Tiburon, South Carolina" scrawled on the back. The search for a mother, and the need to mother oneself, are crucial elements in this well-written coming-of-age story set in the early 1960s against a background of racial violence and unrest. When Lily's beloved nanny, Rosaleen, manages to insult a group of angry white men on her way to register to vote and has to skip town, Lily takes the opportunity to go with her, fleeing to the only place she can think of--Tiburon, South Carolina--determined to find out more about her dead mother.

This has become a book group classic, and is well worthy of the description. Another narrator you fall in love with, another story you get tangled up in, and there's a lot of love and nostalgia all wrapped up together between two covers. Loved it!

A Delicate Balance -- Rohinton Mistry
With a compassionate realism and narrative sweep that recall the work of Charles Dickens, this magnificent novel captures all the cruelty and corruption, dignity and heroism, of India. The time is 1975. The place is an unnamed city by the sea. The government has just declared a State of Emergency, in whose upheavals four strangers--a spirited widow, a young student uprooted from his idyllic hill station, and two tailors who have fled the caste violence of their native village--will be thrust together, forced to share one cramped apartment and an uncertain future.
As the characters move from distrust to friendship and from friendship to love, A Fine Balance creates an enduring panorama of the human spirit in an inhuman state.

I didn't think I would like this book because the characters aren't at all like me -- or so I thought. It's a quiet book, about people and humanity and brutality, and it's really gorgeous. And it's not one of those uber-popular ones, so you'll look cool reading it.

The Namesake -- Jhumpa Lahiri
(Also recommended: Interpreter of Maladies)
The Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans. On the heels of an arranged wedding, Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli settle in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Ashoke does his best to adapt while his wife pines for home. When their son, Gogol, is born, the task of naming him betrays their hope of respecting old ways in a new world. And we watch as Gogol stumbles along the first-generation path, strewn with conflicting loyalties, comic detours, and wrenching love affairs.

Lahiri is an exquisite writer. She's got great insight, and the introduction of what, to me, is such a foreign culture into our familiar America is crafted so well. Also one of those books not everybody is reading.

Also recommended:
The Devil in the White City -- Eric Larson
Behind the Scenes at the Museum -- Kate Atkinson :)
The Fall --Simon Mawer
The Ha-ha-- Dave King
The Book of Ruth-- Jane Hamilton :)
As Hot as it Was, You Ought to Thank Me -- Nanci Kincaid :)
Property -- Valerie Martin :)
Tales of the City (the whole series) -- Armistead Maupin
Wicked -- Gregory Maguire
Memoirs of a Geisha -- Arthur Golden
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius -- Dave Eggers
Plainsong -- Kent Haruf
The Red Tent -- Anita Diamante :)
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay -- Michael Chabon
House of Sand and Fog -- Andre Dubus III

Match Point: am I the only one who thought this movie was POOP?

The movie starts with a tennis match, and discussion about how sometimes in life it's important to be good, but other times? It's important to be lucky. Good premise. And there's a great visual of a tennis ball hitting the net, and you're not sure which way the ball's going to fall -- forward, making a win, or backwards, a loss.

Then the movie goes on for five years and the ending is terrific. But the half-decade between start and finish? Poop! Dreck! Skip it!

My main complaint is that this is a story we've heard a million times. Poor boy meets rich boy (Kate thinks they're gay off the bat), rich boy has sister, poor boy meets rich girl, enters rich world. Then poor boy meets beautiful (American) girl, some very aggressive flirtation happens until... rich boy comes in and says "have you met my fiancee?"

Boring.

Sure there are twists and turns in the film, and I won't give anything away (on the off chance that you want to decide for yourself that this is poop), but Jonathan Rhys-Meyers is just not good. And Scarlett, in my opinion, is not bringing her A-game. Mostly because there's so much boring dreck in between the start and finish (that is masquerading as character development, but that's hard to tell because Mr. Rhys Meyer CAN'T ACT).

I was so excited because I thought this would be so great. (and apparently lots of people think it is -- it has a 79 percent fresh rating at rottentomatoes.com -- which used to be a much easier site to navigate, but is still entertaining in that it rates movies based on how many rotten tomatoes might get thrown at them) But I find I have to agree with those that speak less highly:

"'Match Point' crafts the beginning of a better than average
fish-out-of-water tale, bores us for an hour with a milquetoast affair, then
gives us a wild sucker punch of an ending that even a Nostradamus / John Edward
clairvoyance tag team couldn't predict." -- Mike
Ward, Richmond.com

"while not as awful as some of Allens flubs, this film is one of those
instances in which the cinematic ball doesnt quite make it over the net." Reviews
by Dr. Frank Swietek

Skip it. Watch summer re-runs instead!