Self’s Recent New York Trip

Self’s last trip to New York — she wanted it to be about music.

She wanted to see Carnegie Hall, the place where Dearest Mum played with the New York Philharmonic, at age 14.

She wanted to go to the Russian Tea Room with Dearest Mum.

Or attend a concert at the Lincoln Center.

Instead, self only had time to watch one concert, and it was one she just happened to stumble on, when she gained admittance to the Whitney.

And the man banged on the piano keys (a Yamaha, self couldn’t help noticing — in Manila, in her childhood home, there were three pianos, all Steinways) with his elbows. And even struck the piano strings with a pack of cards.

Dearest Mum was a student at Curtis in Philadelphia, and self hasn’t ever laid eyes on that august institution.

Self, you are too, too wanting. Always wanting.

Reading for the Day: John Logan’s “Red”

The Rothko in the excerpt is the painter Mark Rothko, and Ken is his assistant, played by Eddie Redmayne, who garnered a Tony for his performance.

It was a very interesting performance. Self thinks Redmayne pulled it off primarily with his voice, which exhibited an endearing tendency to crack at moments of high tension (which, in this play, occurs every 10 minutes or so. It is a very intense play, dear blog readers!) And Alfred Molina as Rothko was absolutely GREAT.

Penny, self is forever grateful to you for getting the tickets and for taking her to see this play last month!  Self was one of the last two people admitted to the theater before the play started:  she had to catch the subway from Soho and practically flew, flew through Times Square! 

San Francisco Bay Area Favorites

Self found this list a looong time ago.  It was called “San Francisco Bay Area Favorites of a Left Coast Brotha.” The Brotha’s name is actually Cedric Brown, and the list is so old that self can’t even find it any longer (She googled  —  like crazy —  but no luck)  Anyhoo, this list (which self of course printed out) was five pages long, single-spaced.

And, since Drew Brees has just surfaced on Letterman, self will confine this post to listing the things on Cedric’s list that self has actually done, because she does want to listen to what Drew has to say, etc etc

The List of San Francisco Favorite Things by Left Coast Brotha Cedric Brown (not the complete list:  only the things on Cedric’s list that self has actually done)

• Couscous at El Mansour Moroccan (Of course, with Dearest Mum)
• Summer outdoor concert series at Stern Grove (watched San Francisco Ballet)
• Watching hang-gliders at Fort Funston
• A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books on Van Ness (Sadly, no more!)
• Readings in the Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Main Library
• Pricey dessert at Citizen Cake
• Pasta Pomodoro (Redwood City branch, ha ha haaa!)
• Arts at Yerba Buena and SF MOMA
• Lunch on the lawn at Yerba Buena (during the annual Filipino American Pistahan Parade!)

On Michael Mann and His New Movie

“Public Enemies” is a long movie.  And what makes it seem even longer is the fact that we all know how it’s going to end.  And no matter how cool Johnny Depp is, at a certain point one wonders whether all this is just much ado about nothing.  (Blonde woman seated in the row just ahead of self was on the edge of her seat the whole time, hand pressed to her cheek.  Clearly, there are many Johnny Depp fans who will not share self’s opinion!)

Spoiler Alert!

Self was saddest when Stephen Dorff (Hey, Stephen, where you been hidin’ lately?  You ought to appear in more movies!  Seeing as you still got your looks!) got knocked off.

Marion Cotillard is great.  Johnny Depp is as expected.  Christian Bale is intense and angry as expected.  Final scene outside movie theatre has shades of Brian de Palma’s Eliot Ness movie, “The Untouchables.” Self liked that John Dillinger liked watching movies, as it reminded her that Dear Departed Dad loved movies, a love which he passed on to self.

Let’s see, what else?  The white-haired detective at the end is pretty good, though self doesn’t know his name.

Channing Tatum was in it for all of two minutes.  With his hair dyed a coppery gold and wearing an atrocious blue suit, he was almost unrecognizable.  Why bother putting Channing Tatum in a role where he doesn’t have to do anything (except run around in an orchard)?  What a waste of eye candy!

There were a few other actors self recognized, in itsy-bitsy roles:  Emilie de Ravin (“Lost” and “Brick”), Giovanni Ribisi (“Saving Private Ryan”) and Leelee Sobieski, who is gorgeous but who self hasn’t seen in a movie in years and years, and who has almost no lines to utter.  There was also the guy who plays Faramir in “Lord of the Rings.” (Apologies, dear blog reader, this is about the second or third time that self has seen him in a movie since “Lord of the Rings,” but his name never registers)

Self supposes everyone did it just for a chance to work with Johnny Depp and Michael Mann.

OK, after a certain point, self got bored.  She yawned; her eyelids fluttered (but didn’t actually close, as happened during “Up” —  points in Michael Mann’s favor)  It felt like she was being hit on the head repeatedly:  “Isn’t John Dillinger cool?  Isn’t Johnny Depp playing John Dillinger cool?”  Yeah, yeah, self gets it!  She gets it!  She hated that the music always started up with the rhapsodic elements, just when John was in mortal danger!  Michael Mann’s best movie is still (at least in self’s humble opinion), “Last of the Mohicans”, with Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe.  Now, that was a story that deserved the epic Michael Mann treatment.  The “Miami Vice” movie wasn’t bad, either —  it, too, was epic, but in a campy, “gran boffo” sort of way.

And, having said all that, self just wants dear blog readers to know that hubby and son liked the movie enough to give it “three out of four stars.”

Let’s see, self’s favorite movies (so far) this year are:

• “Land of the Lost”
• “Moon”
• “Star Trek”

The Redwood City 71st Annual Fourth of July Parade was excellent.  Leland Stanford, Jr. Marching Band kicked off the proceedings.  They stopped almost directly in front of where hubby and self were standing and played a song  —   out-of-tune as usual; perhaps that is part of their charm.  Miss California (not the one of the gay marriage quote, but a brunette) was on a float!  Hubby was so excited he barely had time to snap a few pictures.  And it was great fun to see some men in kilts playing the Scottish bagpipes, and another group in pioneer garb who called themselves the “Sons of Union Descendants of the Civil War.”  There was also a group that played the Jackson Five song, “ABC.”  And that was the one and only reference to Michael Jackson during the entire parade.

Afterwards, hubby and self settled in at City Pub for Cajun Fried Calamari, crab cakes and beers, and guess who should show up but the Notre Dame de Namur University librarian, Ruth, and her boyfriend.  Ruth is extremely sweet.  It’s not her fault that, a couple of months ago, the library tried to charge self nearly $200 for a book that self had actually returned.

Self is now cooling her heels at home.  Son took off on a bike ride.  Hubby is watching wrestling.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

The Garden, the Safeway, the French Movie

One is not really home unless one has once again done groceries at the local Safeway. Which self did this afternoon.

Before she left for New York, there was a lot of rice, she made sure of that. But this morning there was only about a cup left.

When self peeked in the fridge last night, she saw a huge chuck steak that hubby was marinating. Half a leftover steak was balanced on another plate on top of it. Son told her rather wanly that he and hubby had been eating “a lot of meat.” Self also noticed that hubby had moved the Weber grill out of the garage and into the garden.

Self was so restless to see the garden that, even though she couldn’t fall asleep until 4 a.m., she was up as soon as sunlight struck her face (6 a.m.). Then she began watering and watering, and only stopped when she had built up a good sweat. The clematis, the roses, the fuschias were yellowing, but still alive. (Oh, the poor orange tree! Self told hubby we should wait a couple of months before deciding to cut it down). As self was pretty groggy after hefting buckets of water hither and thither, she decided to finish watching the Netflix movie she’s had for almost a month, “I’ve Loved You So Long.”

Self is a big fan of Kristin Scott-Thomas, and was so happy when she was nominated for an Oscar last year. The movie turned out to be another one of these French pot-boilers, but Kristin Scott-Thomas (and the actress who played her younger sister) make everything look classy. The French system of justice is pretty murky to self, and getting more so after watching movies like this one and “Tell No One” (not to mention after reading Les Miserables!) Self did find herself shedding a saccharine tear at the end, which is probably less due to the merits of the movie than to the fact that she is at the moment exhausted.

Son walked the dogs, as he’s been doing every day since coming home. He left close to noon and was gone quite a long time! Self had no idea her li’l crits had such stamina! They returned home with grins (if dogs can be said to grin) almost as wide as their faces.

At the Safeway, there were many blonde and tanned women in shorts. People seemed to be buying stuff for the Fourth of July: big racks of pork ribs, steaks, salsa and chips, that sort of thing. It is summer! It is really summer! This thought always makes self happy.