Just a quick hello

Because I haven't blogged in a while, I felt it incumbent upon me to let you know that I am still alive and as well as could be expected!
In the past month I have:
Seen the Roundabout theatre's revival of Bye Bye Birdie on Broadway (with Gina Gershon channeling her inner Chita Rivera)
read the novel Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby
seen the wonderful movie An Education (with a screenplay by Nick Hornby)!
gone to a work-related dinner and sat with the fabulous author (and Oprah Magazine books director), Sara Nelson
seen the amazing season finale of Mad Men (a show I'm just mad about)!
I hope to check in again sooner, rather than later!

Staycation!

My vacations tend to be stressful, rather than restful, perhaps because instead of using the little time I have to relax a bit and unwind, I try to pack too much in to too little time. Now what for me is too much may be very little to somebody else, but we all have different capacities, wouldn't you say? I worked Monday, so it all began on Tuesday, when I was meeting a friend for dinner and theatre. Attempting to get anywhere early inevitably doesn't work out for me, and that once again proved to be the case as I waited in the train station parking lot 1/2 hour for a spot to open up, thinking "don't run for the train." Of course I ran for the train (and unluckily the escalator was out of service), missing it by literally seconds. Had a great time at the show though ("Wishful Drinking" w/Carrie Fisher - very funny!) and even got the star's autograph afterward (bizarrely enough we were virtually the only ones at the stage door). Yesterday I ran around further, having lunch with my attorney (whom I adore btw) and seeing a friend who has been living in California for the past 20 years and who I hadn't seen in at least 5. Tonight I am going to dinner at a Buddhist temple and tom'w I head out east to the Hamptons Film Festival. So I am doing fun things, and also things I wouldn't ordinarily have the time to do. So why do I feel guilty? Could it be because the piles of clutter on my desk are getting higher and deeper?

The Devil in Wintour

That Prada-wearing Devil, Anna Wintour, High Priestess (or, as one acolyte calls her "Pope") of fashion Bible Vogue, is the subject of a new fashion doc (my favorite subgenre!), The September Issue. Unlike several other recent films of similar ilk (Valentino: The Last Emperor comes to mind), few, if any, tears will be shed. There may well be fire beneath that ice, but we the viewer can never tell, as Ms. Wintour maintains an inscrutable facade throughout, which may well contribute to why she is choosing to plug the film on the talk show and film festival circuit. In addition to bringing attention to the magazine in a down market, it does nothing to ruin her image of herself as the always-in-charge Supreme Leader. It's definitely a fun film anyway. Andre Leon Talley is always a hoot, and, as several critics have pointed out, legendary Creative Director Grace Coddington steals the film, as being the only person willing to disagree (at least on camera) with Wintour.

London. Paris. Rome. Rhinebeck.

Highlights of my trip this weekend to Rhinebeck:

• Lunch at Escoffier at the Culinary Institute
• Dinner at the Beekman Arms
• Dinner at Arielle
• Shopping at Oblong Books and Hammertown
• Seeing (500) Days of Summer
• Visiting Eleanor Roosevelt's home, Val-Kill
• Visiting Samuel Morse's home, Locust Grove
• Shopping at the Rhinebeck Farmer's Market
• Visiting the Bard College campus
• Seeing the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard (Frank Gehry designed it)
• Traveling the highways and byways of the historic Hudson Valley with my buddy Patti P.
  

The List of Books

In the Spring of 2003 I started a list of books I've either read or listened to, starting with Cad by Rick Marin, and most recently Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers. This in addition to the lists I keep on LibraryThing, Shelfari and GoodReads. Of course I have enjoyed them all, or if not all, then most. But some have stood out more than others, including the following:

• Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z
• Cancer Vixen
• Le Divorce
• The Emperor's Children
• Fun Home
• Little Children
• Le Mariage
• Prep
• The Ramen King and I
• Tamara Drewe
• The Woman in White

and a special shout out to my neighbor's two books that I read and enjoyed so much:

• The Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA
• The Smart One

Guilty Pleasure

I was just now watching one of my secretly favorite TV shows - VH1 Classic Albums - and this episode put the spotlight on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon (shockingly I thought it would be in the top 10 of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, but I just checked and it came in way down at #43). Although I never really followed their career in its entirety this is one heck of an album - "Money," "Us and Them," "Breathe," and "Brain Damage" are all on it. What amazed me, and I'm always amazed that I continue to find it so, is how sedate some of these 60's icons now seem to be. David Gilmour, whose whole look screamed ROCK STAR back in 1972, when the album was initially released, now has short gray hair (shocking!), and looks just like a retired bank President. On the other hand, Roger Waters, who wrote the lyrics for the songs on that album, looked like just a nerdy kid back then, and looks very much the cool, ironic, aging rocker now.

RIP, with mixed emotions

As a child he was made to be the performing monkey at the organ grinder's show. As an adult, to all outward appearances, at least, he appeared to be attempting to eradicate both his race and his gender. And, at the very least, he had a very unhealthy obsession with young boys. But...the legacy of the King of Pop will live on in his music.