10.22.04
Posted in Travels at 8:11 am by Leopoldo
Thursday, October 21, 2004
2:51 PM
I walked from 72nd and Broadway to 14th and 7th Avenue this morning. Along the way I stopped at the brand new Time Warner building on Columbus Circle and spent some time in the Samsung showroom playing with tiny little cell phones with built in cameras, MP3 players and other toys. 42nd street was crazy as usual with all kinds of geeks and freaks, some local and some imported moving about. I was surprised to see The Naked Cowboy is still out there shaking his moneymaker in tighty-whitties, years after I first saw him and in the cold of deep fall.
I stopped at Pen Station to see a Jeep climbing a building to a spot atop marked ‘Jeep Parking’. It was a nice stunt, which along with some good music had the undivided attention of passerbys.
I posted to a query looking for good eateries on the upper west side to PortlandFood.org and got some great replies. We tried one of the most recommended places, @SQC for lunch and had a good time of it. The menu was infused with various seafood dishes, which relegated me to a crafted minced sirloin burger that was pretty good. The Passion Fruit spritzer was excellent.
I have a standing-room ticket for Die Zauberflöte with production design by Julie Taymor tonight. I hope to find a seat open after the first intermission; I am not sure how well I will fare standing for the whole opera.
11:30 PM
The Magic Flute was quite excellent. I found both Tamino (Matthew Polenzani) and Pamina (Dorothea Röschmann) to be rather uninteresting. They both did a superb job singing their parts but neither put much character into their characters… they mostly stood there singing out to the audience like actors rehearsing their lines. Both Papageno (Rodion Pogossov) and The Queen of the Night (Erika Miklósa) though were simply stupendous. Papageno played his comic character well infusing him with a liveliness and humor that made it look like he would at any moment take flight. Likewise the Queen of the Night hit those high-f notes with such clarity and power that it sent chills down my spine. The production design was as expected otherworldly… literarily. Someone told me the 3 ladies looked like space aliens and as soon as they took their puppeteered heads off I knew exactly what they meant. I bought a cheap standing room ticket in the back of the orchestra level and was quite happy with it except for two scenes that had puppets that rose above my line of sight. The woman next to me told me it was her first opera, I told her this was an excellent place to start (it was my first opera as well, I saw The Magic Flute in Bogotá when I was seven).
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10.21.04
Posted in Travels at 11:54 am by Leopoldo
Tuesday, October 19, 2004 11:50 PM
Manhattan, New York
The drive from Vermont back to Providence was completely in rain but still quite beautiful. The Vermont hills are full of little hidden valleys each with a rich forest of reds, yellows and greens and with a white chapel poking its head out from among the trees. Some construction aside the drive was without any incident and we arrived in Providence ahead of schedule. Lunch was at Paradox with a lovely waitress who was able to advice me on the route to take down to Manhattan after which I was off.
I-95 gave a clear ride all the way down to New York and with only five miles to go until my exit it suddenly came to a stop. I spent forty-five minutes on a mile of freeway and was starting to really worry about my schedule but managed to get into Manhattan with time to return the car without being charged an additional day, have a quick bite of soup and get to a performance of Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera House.
Carmen was magnificent, particularly due to the spot on performance by Marina Domashenko in the title role. I have heard it said that Franco Zeffirelli has received some criticism for his stage production but found no fault whatsoever with this rich and vivid production of the opera.
Monday, October 20, 2004
A lazy morning checking and answering email and posting to this and other web sites left no question that I am on vacation. Lunch was delivered from one of the Chinese-Cuban restaurants that abound the upper west side after which I set to work installing memory and doing maintenance work on my Dad’s computer. After that we zipped down to the Angelica theater in time to catch an evening performance of Primer (2004) (a review of which I hope to post to Film Roar soon.)
Dad has a brand new Sony Flat Sceen HD-TV which has a really great look. We watched The Daytrippers (1996) with Parker Posey on The Independent Film Channel on it and I truly noted the difference a big crisp screen makes. It very much made me want to upgrade my home system, but alas that will have to wait for a time when I have more money.
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10.18.04
Posted in Travels at 11:25 pm by Leopoldo
Sunday, October 17, 2004 10:13 PM
Williamstown, Vermont
The drive up to Vermont was stunning. The trip was mostly through forests, which seemed to be on fire with their rich yellows and reds. It was fun to pass through four states (Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont) in less than 200 miles, not something easily done on the West Coast.
Arrived at the Autumn Harvest Inn by around 2:30 and were attended to by two individuals who seemed a bit “out of it”. Nice place, big house on the side of a hill with large views of the surrounding countryside. The caretakers were a bit behind schedule so we dropped off bags and went straight into Montpelier (about fifteen miles North) for dinner. Montpelier is a very attractive town with a Main Street lined by old Victorian houses. We asked the nice fellow at the visitor’s center for a recommendation on a place to have dinner and he sent us to “where all the locals go”: The Wayside.
If you ever find yourself in Montpelier Vermont and are looking for a place to eat, whatever you do: DO NOT go to The Wayside. It was only our overwhelming hunger lack of knowledge of an alternative that kept us from leaving with our food uneaten. We are talking worse than Denny’s (if that is possible). The rub came from reading guidebooks at the table and learning that Montpelier is home to a renown Culinary Institute which has a restaurant and grill attached. Alas, lesson learned.
A nice drive around the countryside took us to the Barre Cemetery, a rather astounding large cemetery with impressive demonstrations of marble carving from the local artists. The cemetery was worth a visit and a few photos after which we visited the local rock quarry which was much bragged about in our guide book but resembled little more than a small cliff face. I think the indifference we experienced may have been routed in our rather different experience having both lived among the Cascade Mountains in Washington State. The guide described the quarry as being enormous among the great mountains of Vermont. Translation for North westerners: Great mountains = small foothills.
Monday, October 18, 2004 6:50 PM
Williamstown, Vermont
It looks like we missed the Vermont fall by about two weeks. Fall has mostly fallen around here though the views are still impressive and the colors rich. I am glad we took the trip northward yesterday and will get to travel through countryside on our return tomorrow. I get the feeling that the distance we have traveled has given us a taste for New England fall all the way from ‘just starting’ to ‘mostly over’.
This morning was all about horse riding. The stable we had made arrangements with, Phoinix (yes that is how they spell it, don’t know why) was unable to accommodate us due to a medical emergency but they recommended us to another nearby stable “T-n-T”. The ride was glorious. My horse, Reno a large Appaloosa, was very mellow, easy, well behaved and cooperative. Enrika’s ride, Misty, was a tad less cooperative wanting to stop and graze whenever the going got slow then trot to catch up. Our guide, Jill, was simply marvelous as well. From the greeting the was very friendly in an easy way that made us feel simply relaxed (and very cute to boot). I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable I was in the saddle, able to ride and guide the horse with no problems even staying calm and comfortable when Reno broke into a trot on a steep downhill and when he reared a bit after being spooked by Misty sneaking up on his side.
After the ride we drove north and visited the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream factory (free ice cream samples included) then took the scenic route back south passing many charming little New England towns (do not blink as you drive through Middlesex Vermont or you will surely miss it). I have for some while seen the pictures and read about the New England steeples poking atop the tree lines and to quote Enrika: “God damnit there are a lot of churches around here”. Downtown Montpelier I pointed out to Enrika a corner with 3 churches, one on each of the 4 corners and a fourth just a block away. Each had it’s own steeple reaching up toward the heavens.
We had desserts (I ordered one, Enrika decided she needed to indulge and sample 3) at the bakery run by the Culinary Institute, none of which were great but all were tasty and enjoyed a view of the local school and college kids walking back from class. Another country drive (and another beautiful cemetery) got us back to the B&B from which we will go back to the Culinary Institute for a proper dinner.
11:30 PM
Now that is what I call a proper dinner. The New England Culinary Institute (NECI) has a very comfortable and inviting atmosphere. The service was just great though the food did take over a half an hour to serve (we chalked that up to staff-under-training though it could have been due to any number of reasons). I started with a cream of tomato soup and a nice glass of California white which was crisps and a good compliment to the meal, Enrika and I shared a delicious glass of freshly pressed Apple Cider. For an entrée I had a pretty good Hanger Steak served cut into small medallions with side green beans, asparagus (surprised to see it this late in the season) and what was listed as red potatoes but were obviously Yukon Gold. Enrika had pork tenderloins with a side of what we thought was Polenta at first but turned out to be buttery brioche bread pudding. A cup of coffee and a very well made Apple/Pear crisp rounded off the meal. Enrika decided to try one of their Port wines (she had never tasted a Port before) and was served a taste of a 20 year old Port that was shown as the best on the menu by the wine steward (and also the most expensive). She decided that she did not like it much so the night cap was skipped and we got back to the B&B in time to see a spectacular crescent moon bathing the valley with soft moonlight.
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10.17.04
Posted in Travels at 1:23 am by Leopoldo
Saturday, October 16, 2004 4:08 PM
Detroit Michigan
On a trip from Portland to New York five years ago I spent some four hours of airport hell at the Detroit airport. The terminal was so run down, so dirty, so noisy, so smelly.. in general so inhospitable that I instructed my travel agent to never book me on a flight that changed planes in Detroit. I booked this flight not realizing my stopping point, and as we started to arrive the flight attendant announced those of us continuing to Providence RI would have to disembark and change planes. To my great relief I found that Northwest airlines has a brand new terminal built all just for it’s own little self which is quite nice and clean. There is a tram that runs above the main terminal floor hurrying passengers to their gates which makes a bit of noise but provides a nice futuristic feel to the building.
I have a mild cold which flared at the beginning of the week and aside from some coughing sneezing fits at work has proved to be little more than a minor nuisance. On the descent into Detroit though my inability to clear my ears turned to some rather uncomfortable results as the pressure in my right ear mounted to a painful crescendo. Fortunately once on the ground the ear popped removing the menacing promise of ear damage. I bought some Sudafed at the airport which I hope will alleviate some of the congestion before the next leg of my trip.
I am happy to report that the calculation I hade on my laptop’s battery life during my trip to Miami (see The Lion’s Den: En route to Florida) seems to have been incorrect. The battery took my laptop through a bit of work on the finder plus two TV episodes on a DVD totaling about 90 minutes of up time and showed a half an hour worth of power left which leaves me hopeful for watching a full feature film through on a single charge. I still do wish I had acquired that spare battery I had been browsing on eBay after my last trip. Alas, so be it.
With season 6 of Buffy and season 3 of Angel completed I have turned to James Cameron’s Dark Angelas my next show to see through on DVD. I miss the character development of Whedon’s shows but am enjoying the rich set of cultural and geographical references in Dark Angel. I do wish Jessica Alba and specially Michael Weatherly could (or maybe were given the opportunity to) show a bit more range for their character, but I am none the less enjoying the show quite a bit.. plus 44 minute blocks and arching story lines are just about perfect for entertainment on the move.
4:34 PM
It is as if many cruise liners had all just landed and dumped their contents in a moments notice. What had been a rather sedate and quiet concourse is suddenly a thriving hive of busy little travelers all buzzing to their little jobs. I wonder: If I stay another half an hour will I see the wave reside? I have an urge to install a stop motion camera and see the daily activity of the terminal sped up to 10 minutes.
7:31 PM
Providence Rhode Island
The plane landed twenty minutes ago and thus far there is no indication of our bags coming to any of the carousels. The pressure problem with my left ear was repeated on the landing but thankfully my ear has once again popped now that I am at sea level (I assume I am at sea level but don’t really know if Providence is at any elevation).
1:30 AM
Ah Saturday turned out to be a most wonderful night. Had a great deal of fun talking with Enrika and her roommate Vicki who has a lot of good insight and book recommendations from her doctorate studies in philosophy. We walked up along the Brown University campus and to an Indian restaurant called Kabob and Curry that was simply delicious. Good environment, good music a gorgeous Indian waitress and food that was so tasty it was hard to stop eating.
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10.13.04
Posted in Travels, Food at 12:19 pm by Leopoldo
The orchards of Washington and Oregon are known for their significant production of apples and pears. What a lot of people do not realize is how many unique varieties of apples are grown in these orchards. Combining a beautiful fall drive around Mount Hood with a tour of the apple orchards my mother and I were able to purchase and sample dozens of different heirloom apple and pear varieties. Skipping varieties commonly available in super-markets and most baking apples we still collected 26 different apple varieties, 19 types of pears and other assorted farm goods. Read the rest of this entry »
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10.12.04
Posted in Music at 1:52 pm by Leopoldo
I am sitting at work listening to Song of the Siren as performed by This Mortal Coil (the version performed by the Cocteau Twins is also quite excellent) and I suddenly found myself so filled with emotion I had to stop and listen to the song through then take a minute to recover. It is interesting how there are only a couple of songs (the Flower Duet from Lakme is another) that have this power over me, but how effectively these songs stir emotions in me every time I listen to them.
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10.08.04
Posted in Politics at 4:03 pm by Leopoldo
How about this breakdown of the last debate?
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Posted in Politics at 8:49 am by Leopoldo
The folks over at JibJab.com who brought us This Land is Your Land have a new re-interpretation of a classic song out at their web site. Go check them out.
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10.03.04
Posted in Personal at 8:05 pm by Leopoldo
Evil Willow is hot.
…
But then, we knew that already.
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10.01.04
Posted in Travels at 2:22 pm by Leopoldo
Friday, October 1, 2004 12:35pm
Houston Texas
En route to a conference near Miami Florida something happened to me that I am rather surprised has never happened before (given the number of trips I take in a week): The plan aborted the landing. We were over the runway about to touch down when the pilot suddenly gunned the engines and pulled up. Having a window seat I was curious why we had aborted but could not see any reason. The attitude of the plane suggested that it was calm and controlled though so there was probably nothing mechanically wrong. After regaining altitude the pilot came over the intercom to tell that the plane in front of us had not cleared the runway by the time he made it in so he took us around for another pass. All in all the jostling and shifting from the first attempt followed by the ups and downs of the second left me feeling a bit motion sick. Having a spot of lunch now before my next flight and am hoping the time on the ground with the added food and bit of beer will settle me down before I take to the air again.
4:06 PM
Aboard a Boeing 575 more than half way to Ft Lauderdale I look out the window and onto the wing (of course I am over the wing, exit row seats are life savers for tall people like me) and remember learning the physics of flights in college. I am generally not afraid of flying, but when I stop to consider that the only thing keeping these thousands of pounds up in the air are little turbulence eddies along the wing… well lets just say that I choose to stop thinking about it.
Time to test the notebook batteries and see how much of a movie I can watch on 90% charge.
5:25 PM
32 minutes of movie plus some wirting and other futzing around with the laptop brought battery power down from 90% to 58%. Assuming power consumption is generally linear this suggests my laptop does not pack enough juice to watch a full movie. Yay verily that does sucketh.
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