09.30.05
Posted in Travels at 10:49 pm by Leopoldo
Ah, a lazy morning with warm sun (New York is boycotting fall) on my feet and five channels of HBO at my finger tips. Note to self: Eating lukewarm hot and sour soup while watching FBI profiling movie full of rotting corpses - bad idea.
In the afternoon we took a walk to the house of Richard and Kitty for dinner. I am very fond of Richard and Kitty, very honest and intelligent and great people to spend an evening with. They had a delicious pulled pork rib dish with wine and appetizers. After dinner we went to theater (Richard and Kitty go to theater pretty much every night) and saw Cycling Past the Matterhorn and ok play about strained family relationships. The audience broke out into applause on the appearance of actress Shirley Knight, which surprised me because name or not, she flubbed a few lines, stepped on two other lines and had some off-pace pauses. Now I know the show is still in previews and being worked on but the rest of the cast seemed to have their timing down. Dad took a cab back but I decided to walk home from 44th, something that made him a bit nervous but was a great chance to see the newly cleaned up 9th avenue at night.
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09.29.05
Posted in Travels at 10:23 am by Leopoldo
At last a good bagel! I knew where to find good home made bagels up on the upper east side but have had no luck finding one near my dad’s apartment… until today. It is a bit of a walk up to Broadway and 80th but just as the bagels were emptying out the bin you could see them pulling fresh ones out of the cooker as replacements. Victor: looks like you might get your (mostly) fresh bagels after all. Figure a 4pm pickup and a 2am (EST) arrival in Portland so they will be a few hours old but about as fresh as New York bagel as you can get. Any requests?
I got to enjoy my warm bagel with cream cheese as I waited for Circuit City to open so I could buy an Ethernet cable for my dad’s new Airport installation. The rest of the morning was devoted to installing an airport station, airport card, DVD writer, new hard drive and doing a whole lot of maintenance on a couple of G4 PowerMacs. Gotta love how accessible Apple makes their machines.
Lunch was a warmup of Colombian food brought back from the restaurant on Tuesday after which dad and I went down to Broadway to look for rush tickets of Monty Pythons SpamAlot… yeah right. It seems the show is sold out months in advance. There was a queue for people waiting to buy cancelled tickets but that was already quite large. With that plan in the can we switched to plan B: an advanced showing of A History of Violence (2005). The movie is pretty good, very violent (but then again what do you expect from a David Cronenberg movie?) but with a tremendous performance by Viggo Mortensen that alone makes it worth watching.
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09.28.05
Posted in Travels at 10:57 am by Leopoldo
Top priority this morning was preparing a creative resume to send to some of the people I have met lately. It was an interesting exercise, I have made many professional resumes in my life but this is the first time I have to make a non-chronological one. I was pleasantly surprised with how many projects I have worked on and was glad to remember a lot of the forgotten projects.
In the afternoon dad and I went to a local Apple store and bought upgrades for both Macs at his house, I will try to install those tomorrow. Afterward we had a bit at ‘’the tasting room’ off 23rd. It is a very interesting contrast from the meal last night. The Colombian feast was comprised of oversized and overflowing plates piled high with rich food for a very modest price. In contrast the tasting room serves tiny, and I mean miniscule portions for large prices. Pretty good (high quality ingredients, well prepared) but hardly worth the price.
After dinner we crossed the street for a showing of Crimen Ferpecto (2004) [the Perfect Crime]. Whomever organized the US release of the movie missed out on a great opportunity for a pun by not carrying over the switch in the title to ‘The Ferpect Crime’. The movie is a very dark comedy with a rather grizzly murder at it’s core that is certainly not for everyone but I thought was pretty good.
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09.27.05
Posted in Travels at 10:25 pm by Leopoldo
Today was Teresa’s last day in Manhattan and we decided to take advantage of it by exploring bits of the island. We took a walk down Broadway then over to Central Park and down Park Ave. We took a winding path to 2nd AVE and 60th and took the cable car to Roosevelt Island. In all the times I have been to New York I never before bothered to go to Roosevelt Island and now I know why: Ain’t nothin’ there. Nope, just a bunch of apartment buildins and a couple of parks. OK, I guess if I feel the need to have a picnic in NYC I now know of a place with a bit less traffic noise but that aside there is no reason to go to the island.
We got back in time to get Teresa an east coast Philly Steak sandwich and drive her to the airport. Rather than head back to Manhattan directly we went to La Pequeña Colombia in Flushing. Ah, what a treat those huge and delicious Colombian dishes. I gorged out on Maduros, Muchacho Envuelto con Alcaparras, Ensalada de Papas, Arroz, Jugo de Guanavana and Jugo de Lulo. There was a lady outside selling original and freshly made churros which smelled delicious but there was no chance I could fit any more food in.
We got home in time to watch the latest episode of Rome on HBO. Pretty interesting, definitely better than most television. The show kind of made me wish again that I could get HBO at home. As soon as the episode was over I called into at meeting for the TV show I am working on, then turned in for the night.
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09.26.05
Posted in Travels at 11:21 pm by Leopoldo
After some bagels at home Teresa and I went out to catch a matinee show of Corpse Bride (2005). The movie was very disappointing for me, maybe I am a bit jaded by having seen so much good cinema lately but I found very little in the movie worth watching. It was fun to sit through the credits and recognize so many names though; the movie was produced by LAIKA, previously Will Vinton Studios, the TV/Film company I worked for my first four years in Portland and while most of the animators were Brits a great deal of the production crew were people I had known. Incidentally I picked up a habit from another Vinton ex-pat of referring to the new studio as ‘Dead Russian Dog Studios’ and have now had opportunity to spread that to other ex-pats as well as to the animation set ‘across the pond’ (Nick Park et all).
We left the theater and walked a short distance to the offices of Greenberg Kingsley where we picked up Mark Kingsley an old time (as in from preschool) friend of Teresa and accomplished graphic designer based in New York. Mark walked us to a nearby French Café for some (almost authentic) French sandwiches and conversation. Mark is another fascinating and well opinionated individual and proved a great conversationalist. It is too bad that his wife, Karen Greenberg, could only join us for the end of the meal as she seemed very interesting and I had little opportunity to get to know her. This time the conversation was mostly about the city (town?) in up-state NY where Teresa and Mark grew up. It seems Mark was successful in convincing Teresa to return to New York for some type of school reunion being held there in a few weeks. At lunch’s end (nearly 5pm) Teresa stuck around for a dinner appointment with Peter Lord and I went up town to prepare for the Opera that night.
By 8pm we were at the Metropolitan Opera ready for the evening show of Falstaff, the beautiful comic opera by Giuseppe Verdi, or as I prefer to refer to him ‘Joe Green’. The orchestra was well directed by James Levine and the lead impressively sung and performed by Bryn Terfel. For an accurate and concise account of the performance I will refer the reader to the New York Times review and will only add that a pet peeve of mine are opera singers who know how to sing but whose idea of acting is to raise and lower an arm from time to time, an annoyance delightfully missing from this production and specially from Terfel and Jean-Paul Fouchécourt (as the side kick Bardolfo).
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09.25.05
Posted in Travels at 11:59 pm by Leopoldo
Started the morning with a New York diner breakfast. Challah French toast for me, huevos rancheros for Teresa and ‘the usual’ for my dad (he has breakfast there often enough that on entering the restaurant the cooks start cooking his breakfast). We then went back to the New York Film Festival, this time for another French / Belgic cinema verite film L’Enfant. The movie follows two young people living on and off the streets trying to make do with petty scams and thievery. Another new movie that is worth watching.
Teresa left directly for her hair appointment and I followed about an hour after. Mig did great work and Teresa looked stunning (I only wished she could have worn the gown she brought, we found out last minute the event would be informal). It was then time for the main event: the U.S. Premiere of Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005). We showed up on the red carpet just as director Nick Park and producer Peter Lord were arriving and hung out while the press took photos and conducted interviews. A few minutes later Teresa and I both walked the red carpet ourselves, a new experience for me being photographed by paparazzi and all that. Once inside we sat among the Aardman folk and enjoyed the show. It was particularly fun because this was the first time Nick and Peter had seen the movie with a full audience and with children so they got to find out which of the jokes worked on what audience members.
Myung Lee, Bill Plymtoon, Nick Park and Peter Lord
After the show limousines took us to one hell of a great Italian restaurant in the Village (I wish I could remember the name) where Bill Plympton, Myung Lee, Peter’s son, and the Aardman and SKG publicists joined us for dinner. The conversation was lively and friendly, both Nick and Peter are terribly nice and friendly individuals. Given they had not seen Bill or Teresa for some while most of the table talk was dedicated to catching up and distributing the latest info (and rumors) in the animation world across both ends of the ocean. I was particularly delighted to have sat next to Myung Lee who proved a fascinating individual I would love to get to know better. After the aperitifs I was served an entrée of seared beef and had to break out with my “I need red meat” impersonation of the Brazilian leopard from Creature Comforts (1989). Nick overhead the imitation and told me the story of how that bit was recorded. By midnight the whole staff of the restaurant were standing in the back giving us the evil eye (ours was the only table still occupied), not that anyone else noticed. Teresa and I were both ready to keep the party going but everyone else had either morning work or morning flights and had to turn in.
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09.24.05
Posted in Travels at 11:43 pm by Leopoldo
Saturday morning was amusingly VERY New York. Phone calls and preparations for the Sunday premiere had Teresa running late to her pre-hair appointment with Mig (as in Miguel but more hip). Now notice the term, no this is not a hair appointment.. nope, this is a pre-appointment to determine what work will be done at the actual hair appointment on Sunday. This is the first time I had heard of such a thing and derived much amusement from the event. So, imagine the scene: We are getting out of a cab on a crowded New York street when Teresa’s cell phone rings with Nick Park on the other line. She fumbles for bags while I pay the cab, walks into the salon (nearly an hour late), meets the hairdresser and passes me the cell phone to jot down Nick’s cell number for a return call while she checks in. Poor Nick was about as confused as… well, as Teresa.
From the hair appointment we went directly to Washington Park and met up with Teresa’s friend and creator/director of the Wallace & Gromit feature and short movies, Nick Park. Nick has been on a whirlwind tour of the planet promoting the movie and has hardly had a chance to catch his breath or do anything outside the promotional schedule. He seemed to be honestly delighted to be able to just sit for a beer and some food in the East Village. I ordered a plate of chicken fingers and he buffalo wings, when the plates were served he looked down and commented ‘i’ts the whole cast of Chicken Run‘. Conversation went all over the place except for (I am guessing to Nick’s relief) the recent movies. At one point I found out Nick had made a trip to the Antartic and photographed ice flowers, which oddly enough I had worked on creating in an Antartic Sea Ice Lab during my time at the University of Washington school of Marine Geology and Geophysics. Go figure. After lunch we ambled along Blecker Street and gave Teresa and Nick a chance to catch up then made a run to 42nd and Broadway to see the Wallace and Gromit billboard. Teresa and I then had to run to get to a showing of the NY Film Festival.
We got to Lincoln Center just in time for the showing of The Death of Mr. Lazarescu at the New York Film Festival. The movie is a Romanian film that follows the titular character as he is herded along by an ambulance attendant from one hospital to another being rejected at every turn by self-righteous and uncaring doctors. It is filmed in a very French verity style and is quite worth watching, though I warn that if the movie hits you like it did me you may want to slap a doctor on your way out of the theater.
For dinner we went to Cottage Restaurant for some of the best Chinese food I have had in a good while. The line to get in was significant but we were lucky in that a large group failed to show in time which gave us a table in less than fifteen minutes. If you are in this part of town I encourage you to visit the restaurant and order the Sesame Beef. We then got home in time to watch the French / Belgic movie Hop (2002), also very good and worth watching.
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Posted in Travels at 1:19 am by Leopoldo
I told my friend Teresa that I would meet her at the airport this morning and set my alarm for a 6am wakeup: enough time to get up, shower dress and get a bagel on the way to the subway. I kept waking up through the night (might have to do with sleeping on a sleeper sofa) and looking at the time out of curiosity. I had myself mostly convinced to stop worrying and just wait for the alarm when I noticed on a wakeup it was dawn and that the alarm clock said 3:30AM… dawn at 3:30AM? Something was amiss. Sure enough even though I had set the alarm properly the clock had not been changed from Pacific Standard Time to New York time and guess what, yup I was already half an hour late. A very quick shower and dressing later and I was running down the street for an express train to connect with an A train to JFK.
I found Teresa just after she had picked up her luggage and escorted her to Terminal 4 to pick up a rented cell phone and then on into town. In Manhattan by mid-day we had a not too bad but not really good lunch at Harry’s Burritos then made plans to meet with Teresa’s friend Eileen that evening. Teresa went on to run errands and meet people while I napped and then got ready to receive a priest friend of the family visiting town with his Niece.
We could only afford a short visit before heading down to the Village to meet Eileen at Otto’s on 8th near 5th AVE. The wait staff played a nasty trick and told Eileen not to bother with holding a table (they would seat us right away when the rest of the party arrived) and then had us hold for almost an hour before we were seated. The wait did not matter though as the ambiance was nice, the wine was good and the company absolutely lovely.
During most of dinner Teresa and Eileen caught up on news from the ever-migrating family of animators. We all got a long so well that we lost track of time and were eventually asked by the sommelier if he could bribe us to release the table with an offer of drinks on the house up at bar. We thought the offer was made quite gracefully and went out into the New York night for some wonderings around the Village looking for a cup of tea. Tea being in poor supply at 10pm we settled for canolis and an outdoor bench from which we could continue to talk and witness the ever-stranger parade of tourists, locals, cruisers, punks, fancy and assorted creatures of the night making their Friday night rounds. We did not get home until after mid-night and Teresa, whom like me two days previous, had not slept on the plane crashed after her 40 hour New York push.
Rest… rest.. for tomorrow is another day and it holds a new adventure.
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09.23.05
Posted in Travels at 10:00 pm by Leopoldo
It is probably a good thing that the maid came in this morning because I would have otherwise slept into the evening. I was up and about by 9am and went out on one of my New York walks. I usually head downtown and then walk back to the apartment but decided this time to start at the apartment on 72nd and Amsterdam and wind my way downtown. I walked across the park, over 5tth avenue, back to 9th ave and down into the village. Within the first few blocks I realized I was wearing the wrong socks and shoes for a long walk but decided to push ahead rather than head back. The full walk came out to 16.5 miles (thanks to GMaps Pedometer for the measurement) and ended with a slice of Pizza by the Heliport on the tip of Manhattan. I got blisters for my trouble which I am hoping heal enough to try a repeat of the experience but along the other side of the island.
In the evening we went through a list of current playing movies looking for something we could all enjoy, a challenging task given that both dad and Himelda tend to see all the good movies as soon as they come out. We settled on the under-exposed and under-rated Lord of War (2005) starring Nicolas Cage. the movie had praise from most reviewers and was Appretently loathed by the New York Times reviewer whom, it seems, did not bother to watch the end through it’s indicting punch line.
I had a real yearning for Indian food after the movie and was satisfied with a visit to (I think it was) Grand Poona. Ah, living la vida nueva yorkina.
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09.22.05
Posted in Travels at 10:38 am by Leopoldo
For anyone who travels to New York, check out JetBlue and find out if they fly out of your city. Friendly people, more legroom, leather seats, more legroom, 40 channels of Direct TV, more legroom and cheaper than other airlines… and oh yeah, more legroom. I caught the red-eye out of PDX at midnight and into JFK at 8am but did not manage to sleep at all during the flight. I did catch a lot of Kids in the Hall late on Comedy Central as well as a few Iron Chef episodes, but no ZZZs. Time for a side-track: I like Iron Chef a great deal. Fun show, great looking dishes, but it is a bit hard to watch for me since I am allergic to seafood and it is therefore rather disgusting to me and hmmm, lets see what the battle lineup for this week is:
Freshwater Shrimp
Crab
Cod Battle
Escargot Battle
Battle Carp
Octopus Battle
Battle Oyster
Dry Abalone Battle
Curry Powder Battle
And when for some miracle they DO manage to have a non-seafood main ingredient what do BOTH chefs do? “Oh dear god, look at this poor potato.. no good by itself, lets cover it with fish sauce and caviar and shark fins, and crab meat! Yes, now it can be eaten!” *sigh*. OK enough of that.
Landed in New York a good half an hour early, then lost twenty of those minutes waiting on the tarmac at JFK and the last 10 waiting for the luggage to be brought out. I do have to wonder, given that baggage handlers do the same job at each airport why does it take five minutes at PDX and SEA for luggage to come out and thirty minutes at JFK and LGA? Better equipment? Better layout? Different work ethic? Just asking.
A $7 quick monorail ride (SkyTrain) to Howard Beach and a fast moving A-train express into Manhattan and next thing you know I am in the big apple some 24 hours awake and still not sleepy… at least not feeling it. I did of course spend most of the rest of the day napping.
In the evening we went out to the Paris Theater (a very nice movie house next to what used to be the Plaza Hotel and is now the Plaza Apartments construction zone) and saw a new British film Separate Lies (2005). A review of it will (given some downtime) come to Film Roar but here is a preview of the review: “Given the way the British go about flirting, it is amazing they manage to reproduce”. Dinner was with the ex-Colombian ambassador to Peru at La Bonne Soupe which has a charming 2nd floor people watching balcony and some pretty decent soup.
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