Not Fade Away

Or in other words, the city almost killed me. Or in other words My Very Special Greece Vacation:

1) Started out with a lovely plane ride in which topics of conversation included the Hudson-Sully plane landing (which led to an internal debate about the best Hitchcock film...something about constricted spaces and evil birds) and the disappearance of that French/Brazilian flight. Thank god we hadn't yet heard about the Continental pilot dying while in the cockpit. We of course just happened to be flying Continental.  Bad thing about the flight: it was long. Good things about the flight: I got an extra half a seat to myself and watched Confessions of a Shopaholic which was cute and made me want a green scarf really badly.

2) The next few days are filled with sun and surf...there was a small incident with a little too much booze and midnight swimming but near-death was luckily avoided.  Actually interesting backstory though...so in Santorini, all the restaurant hosts work REALLY hard to get you in the door. Especcially when it's four girls.  So this one guy got us in with the promise of many free drinks...which kept coming...and coming...and coming. And then to be polite we asked him to join us for a drink and then have a few shots that way. So by the end of the night we were PLIED with the stuff through absolutely no fault of our own. And then we proceeded to swim in the hotel pool after hours. Luckily alcohol poisoning or drowning due to intoxication were avoided.

3) We climbed a freakin' active volcano.  In the blazing heat. Nuff said.

4) Then we jumped off a boat (not a little boat...a ship) in the middle of the ocean and swam to the hot springs. Then we swam back. If we happened to drown or get left behind, no one would have noticed. Maybe someone would have said 'Catasrophe!' but that's another story.

5) THE DONKEY.  If you ever go to Greece and have the urge to ride a donkey, take the donkey up the wide, barriered steps to the center of Santorini (Fira). DO NOT take the donkey up the steep steps to Oia. The road is as wide as my computer screen...there is nothing on one side but a drop down to the ocean. The other side is jagged rocks pointing out toward your limbs. My possibly drunk donkey veered first to the cliff, then to the ravine, and when he wasn't trying to drop or amputate me, he was trying to beat the other donkeys to the 'finish line'...I was convinced I was a goner.  The few donkey herders there are (not enough to save you if you fall) just walk around yelling 'Catastrophe!" and "Sherpa!"....they don't care if your strirrup just so happens to be missing or if your donkey seems inebriated or if you are to small to hold on to the dam donkey without bruising your thighs for days. OMG scariest thing I have ever done in my life.

6) We flew to Athens for our Acropolis Walking Tour. That was conveniently the day that all the tour guides went on strike.  No potential death there but still, how could the utter Murphy-ness of that not be mentioned? Priceless. Anyway, we walked around Athens on our own, saw the Acropolis and Parthenon. It was cool.  Good city.  Went to the best restaurant ever there...so delicious and the decor was great. Also came upon a scene of pigeons swarming a little girl. They were on her head, shoulders, etc. Nutty.  My friends' reaction: Ew. Gross.  Mine? Photo opportunity? Took some cool shots.

7) The Floaty Saga: A man on the beach was leaving and offered us two of his floaties for free. So we took them and proceeded to take on out on the water. We couldn't get on (it's hard, ok) so we proceeded to try to act out the scene from Titanic in which Jack tries to get Rose on the door floating in the water and she's all like Jack don't let go. Anyway, we sort of managed to half get on for a second but suddenly the wind blew the floaty out from under us. We swam after it. It flew further. We swam after it some more. It flew further. Then we realized we were swimming out too far which was dangerous, and turned back.  Thereby, we polluted Santorini and lost out floaty (dubbed "Kamari").  RIP.

8) We went out and met some Australians.  Also, nuff said. I thought I would go through life without ever actually hearing the phrase 'What's wrong with this picture? Why is there no drink in your hand?' but alas, that was not to be.  We also happened to be at a bar that gave out lit sparklers...beautiful and fun but not a good combination with rowdy drunk people.  Aah the joys of inebreation. 

9) We climbed Ancient Thira.  A bus took up half way along a (very) windy road on which I very much wanted to deposit my half-digested lamb gyro. Then, once we got to the top, the massive wind tried to blow me off the mountain, on purpose.  OMG it was insane. I lost half a head of hair.

10) Last full day we went to the Red Beach...a really beautiful volcanic-rock beach next to the White Beach (also very cool). Anyway, from the bus you have to walk down this steep mountain path to the beach...my knees were dying at that point and I kept skidding down, plus it's not like they make a path for you to walk on...it's basically light mountain climbing. wearing flipflops and a bathing suit, I was certainly not prepared.

Totally a death defying trip.  That said it was a lot of fun...beautiful and just a great mix of relaxation and adventure.  I am pleasantly surprised that I made it back in one piece. 

Pictures are on Facebook.

Song Of The Day: "Scream and Run Away" by the Gothic Archies because I love songs based on literature (this one is about A Series Of Unfortunate Events) and because it is awesome. Stephen Merritt is amazing.  I think if I were to make the perfect man I would take Stephen Merritt, mix him with Chuck Klosterman, than put them in David Boreanaz' body. I would be so happy with that guy. Sigh.  BTW starting reading Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics...soooo good. Ended up buying the whole set.  No wonder I am poor.

I know I haven't posted in a while but I was waiting for something new and irritating to tickle my cynical fancy and this very morning I was gifted with something fitting the bill. So apparently, Amex Corporate Card statements are going paperless and the company sent out a memo saying so. I'm all for green. Go environment.  I was happy and excited and filled with corporate pride.  So I proceeded to do my expenses a few hours ago, and lo and behold, it occured to me that we have to print out the Amex Bill from the site and include it with our expenses in order for them to reimburse us. So, maybe I am missing something, but isn't that incredibly stupid on two levels: a) WE'RE STILL KILLING TREES and b) NOW WE (INSTEAD OF AM EX) ARE PAYING FOR IT. I'm sure they had no choice in the matter but something about this screams EPIC FAIL.

Another bit of insanity? This Buffy movie business. I don't understand it. If you want to exploit an equity, shouldn't you capitalize on what makes it what it is.  The entire name is tied up in the show, in Joss and the actors. Without those things, what is Buffy except yet another vampire franchise riding Twilight's coattails? I'm all for remakes and reboots if they are well conceived...even if they diverge from the source material (the Battlestar reboot was brilliant, I enjoy the Star Trek and Batman movies, etc.)...but those were all things that haven't been around for a while or that didn't have specific creative teams associated with them (e.g many of the Star Trek people are dead, Batman never really had a single person or actor associated with it). But Buffy went off air a mere five years ago...and it still exists in comic form. That world isn't dead, the actors look pretty much the same, and most importantly, the man behind the show is still around, working, and in full use of his writing and directing muscles. I'm all for turning a profit and making money, but this all is just so blatanly greedy and absurdly stupid. I'm not saying it will necessarily be bad, but I am dreading this so much.  How is this happening? I want to know. So dumb.

Another something in the "life is a cabaret" category..so I finally find I doctor I like, after an endless search, and today I get a letter saying that he has stopped taking my insurance. This is so like the world. UGH.

BTW my mommy watched Battlestar Galactica with me and she loved it!  It was so awesome rewatching it, and the fact that my mom loved that show was just hilarious and great and really cool.  Now I'm thinking what else I should force her to watch. I love spreading my TV obsessions to others. Muahahaha.  

Also something cool (to me): I got to stand inches away from American Idol winner and runner-up Kris Allen and Adam Lambert yesterday!!! It was so cool! They were really funny and adorable and it kind of made my day. There are days when I really enjoy my job and where I work.  Oh and today I was riding the down escalator and saw Danny Gokey on the up!!!

Went on an impromptu central park outing and took some pics. I have all these plans for future 'shoots' but they will have to wait until I get back from Greece. Anyway, new pics here:  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2144808&id=800812&l=a3e627956a

A few highlights:

     

Song Of The Day: Not a song but I just discovered a cool artist...Russian Red.  She's a Feist-ish singer-songwriter. I really like her

So I'm in Chicago once more (seems like I was only complaining blogging about being in Chicago for focus groups just a few months ago...though it must have been last year, now that I think about it). I actually don't mind...it's nice to get out of the office and it probably beats staying around in the city and organizing everything on that end, but still, it sucks going all alone in some respects.  In any case, between room service and taxis I'm milking this thing to the limits. JK.

The plane ride in was fine...nowadays you can pretty much get through to the gate in less than twenty minutes if you print the pass at home. Who knew? I got there way to early but it's hard to gauge traffic. The ride itself was fine except I got stuck between these two women who were travelling together but for some reason didn't want to sit next to each other. So they talked across me the whole time. And one of them had a kid (in her lap the whole time...doesn't seem safe) who kept kicking me (yes right in my poor deranged knee). But it was pretty quick and painless in all other respects. Hoping the ride back tomorrow is just as fast because considering that I have to wake up at like 5:30 tomorrow to make the flight, I'll want to take a nice long nap when I come home.

Anyway, I have to discuss this insane thing that is happening at work. I call it  the Great Water Bottle Conspiracy.

Well, it's been almost two weeks and my leg is less purple, but I still can't really walk without the crutches. I've been taking a car to and from work, and have been working from home a few days a week, but my leg hurts so much that I can't really say I am getting any benefit out of it.  I haven't had a full night's sleep since this happened, because there isn't a single position comfortable enough for my stupid leg.  The one positive thing about it is that at least I am toning my biceps by dragging myself around on those crutches. I feel like a gymnast on a Pomel Horse.  On top of everything, I'm getting a colonoscopy tomorrow (its mostly pointless...I doubt there is anything wrong, but my doctor wanted to make sure my system wasn't screwed up by all the antiobiotics and drugs I've been taking) so that should be fun.

I just saw Vicky Christina Barcelona, Woody Allen's newest movie and I reallyed LOVED it. I think it's on par with some of his best work. I did enjoy Match Point, but that movie, while good, always has the downside of having two of my least liked actors ever in it (I know it's irrational but Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Emily Mortimer just annoy the hell out of me). This movie on the other hand had a fantastic cast, strong, character driven writing, the usual Allen humor which I have found missing in his recent work, great music, and just a really nice look.  The story is simple, two American girls travel to Barcelona for the summer. They meet Juan Antonio, this artist who randomly invites them to Oviego for the weekend. He also has a slightly crazy ex-wife who might or might not have tried to stab him (played beautifully by Penelope Cruz -- was leaving Tom Cruise not the best thing that happened to her career?). Wackiness insues.  The movie is the usual Allenesque commentary on love, infidelity, overanalysis, sex, truth, etc. It was really entertaining and I wasn't bored for a single second. Highly recommended!

Dollhouse finally premiered, and I really like it! It's a lot of fun, the characters are interesting and have a lot of potential, and I really see this show being amazing.  I think it will need a couple of episodes to really establish itself and for you to care about the characters (since the main character is kind of a blank slate, it's challenging), but I think it's really going to rock by the end of the season.  Plus, half naked Helo. Come On.  Anyway, here is this music video they did for the show (there's some random dude setting it up in the beginning, but the music video is a few seconds in) with some clips from the show in the background.   The song in the background is the show's theme song, which is pretty good. It really fits with the show I think. Anyway check it out, and please support the show by watching. Since I'm sure none of you guys have Nielsen boxes, its actually better if you watch on iTunes or on Hulu or Fox. At least that way your views get counted.  PLEASE FOX GODS, do not cancel this show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQglEOoTIac

Being at home, I do get to have the TV on in the background which is very nice while doing work.  They were playing this random old silent movie on one of the classic movie channels and I remembered this poem I wrote a year or so ago that was inspired by the silent to talkie transition, and all the actors that were lost in the process because their high/squeaky/accented voices did not match the beautiful, glamourous personas they had created.  It was a really interesting moment in film history.  Anyway, figured I'd post it here:

The Man Who Could Not Speak

 
In the Beginning, there was light

And dark – and there was silence;

Not the cacophonous opacity

Of words, but the simple vocabulary

Of movement. And how he moved –

 

Each blink of a teary eye:

Divine punctuation. The lips,

With their round O’s and sharp

Intakes of breath – An angel’s grammar. 

And those kisses! Wordless kisses,

Like kisses should be, love
Without psychology. 

Vocalization
Changes the nature of the thing —
The way a needle changes
A pillow into a pincushion.  Think

Of Adam, bringing down Eden

With his words, his spoiled consonants,

His incessant naming of things.

He spoke with the tendons, the tide
Of his muscles clenching, releasing
To the staccato of violins.   But we,
With our wheels and axles, our celluloid,
Our kinetoscope - we pushed each word
Into his mouth like a gag -- Love
Lodged deep into his esophagus,

Darling stuck forcefully between his teeth

Like gristle. Gone in the gaps between breaths. 

His mouth bled at the sight of our pointed verbiage.

From the rape of his silence came The Voice
Redundant as the third person in a room, --
Sandpaper against skin, the stamp of a dirty shoe
On white linoleum.  It was an extra eye,

An unwanted child. We cringed

At the peccant gravel of his vernacular.

 

We took back our words, our fustian

Words, and cast Lot out of Sodom,

His visage exploding into salt,

The salt into wind. Shrugging

 

We buried our heads in dialogue

Whispering we will not remember you.

 

Random Aside of the Day: What is with all the plane crashes lately? Is it just me or are there more of them. So strange.

Song Of The Day: "What You Don't Know" by Jonatha Brooke -- the Dollhouse theme song.

Why does everything have to turn into such an adventure? I just had a really fun fun weekend with my friends, but as usual it was tinted with the usual insanity.  First, on Friday, I walked around all day with the heaviest bag on earth because I was dragging Cranium and Scene It to Connecticut. Why do they put those games in metal boxes? It was like carrying steel.  Friday night we got to A's awesome apartment and just hung out. We watched Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist which was awesome...at least what I remember of it.  Have to rewatch that one.  Anyway we woke up on Saturday and went skiing. Now, we've been wanting to go for a while, but I was always scared that I wouldn't be able to, considering my knee issues. But I figured, what the heck, lets give it a try.  So we went, and I ended up being pretty good. We took a lesson with an instructor, and practiced a bit on the bunny slope.  Then of course, we had to go to the cliff of death on the lift. Well, just me and A since frapacin0  gave up on skiing after the first 20 minutes, and H decided to stick to the bunny slope. So the cliff of death was awesome...beautiful, exilirating, and I fell in love with skiing on it.

Of course then I had to go and screw up my knee. I was fine almost the whole way down (sure I fell a few times -- and took A down with me about half of those times -- but it was all in good fun).   But towards the bottom it got really hard and icy and I fell at the very end. I kind of flew up in the air and heard a loud crack and ended up on the ground somewhere not being able to get up. So a took our skiis down and I started sliding down on my ass (it was actually fun, like sledding) but then I couldn't because my knee started hurting even more, so A pulled me down the hill while I held the skiis on my lap.  Then I limped to the car. Frap kept insisting we go to the emergency room but I though I was ok so we drove back to A's.  Where I couldn't get out of the car. 

So then we went to the emergency room. It was the fastest visit of all time, since apparently people don't have emergencies in Connecticut.  There were like 3 people in the entire hospital.  Anyway, a very hot doctor did some x-rays and took a look at the knee. My diagnosis? "Deranged knee." He asked if I had any questions and A did everything in her power not to ask him out.

Deranged knee.  My friends will never let me live that one down.  The hospital gave me crutches, a leg brace type thing and pain killers which proceeded to make me very very happy and sleepy.  That evening we watched The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button and I really loved it.  At least what I remember of it.  Will have to rewatch that one too.  Today we woke up at noon, had cheesecake for breakfast, and played Cranium (I insisted because I did NOT drag that thing all the way to CT for nothing).  Then we took the train and a taxi back home.  Along the way, my lovely friends made fun of me ("Stumpy"? Really?)  My knee is now purple and swollen. But I can't wait to go back to skiing. Am I crazy?  Haha, all in all it was an awesome and amusing weekend, though I came home with an annoying souvenier. BTW, thanks guys for dragging me around and getting me water and taking care of me and only slamming against my leg four times.  You're the best ;-)

That was so fun though. Only you guys would take pics in an emergency room.  And my dad is totally freaked out by the way.  He looks like I ripped by entire leg of, rather than just banging it up a little. Parents ;-)

Song Of The Day: Eh, just listen to the entire Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack

Had a long, annoying week so I wanted to look at something that made me happy. This is a must see for anyone who loves movies, especcially old movies, and really feels them in their soul. This is probably the greatest short film ever made. It won the Academy Award for Best Short in the 80s and is collectection of beautifully organized and scored film clips (about 500 of them). I'm proud to say that I can identify about 90% of those images..I have some work to do, but thanks to Netflix and TCM I've really managed to watch a lot of these. Its strange how something like a movie scene...not even a scene, a moment...can make me so happy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkomAdFxniw

Enjoy!

Song Of The Day: "This Fear" by Lily Allen

What was WITH that guy feeding Obama lines during the inauguration? Was he high? It was only the most important moment for America in eight years, and he screwed it up. People. Sigh.  And is it just me, or did Cheney totally look like some villain from a movie...Dr. Strangelove, Austin Powers something like that.  I mean, I feel bad that the guy's in a wheelchair, but could he look any more evil with that cane and white hair.  All he needed was a one-eyed cat on his lap.  Anyway, I watched the whole thing at work, although at my desk rather than in the conference room where everyone else was watching. Speeches make me cry, so I didn't want to be around people who might see. I thought the speech was pretty good, well delivered for sure, and not overly optimistic, which I appreciated for the honesty. Regardless of my doubts about him, I do hope he does an amazing job.  New York Magazine had an interesting line about how Obama is actually the most 'Independent' president we've ever had, and how we elected him without realizing that. I sure hope that's true.

The rest of the week was interesting. I went to this work-related party at Tavern On the Green with some coworkers. It was actually pretty fun...they had a live band playing really good songs, really good food, and most importantly, and open bar. Although I had to go after my fourth vodka tonic because I was starting to get tipsy. But it was pretty cool. I went mostly because it sounded like a good networking opportunity, but it was mostly fake-networking...which is what I call it when you go somewhere to network, but really end up just talking to your coworkers the whole time. 

Two incredible weeks of TV, with the premieres of Lost and Battlestar, but I know some of people who pass through here haven't seen them yet, so I won't say anything for now. Lost was good, not the best premiere it's ever had, but solid and an exciting start to what I think will be the trippiest season yet.  Battlestar though completely hit it out of the ballpark with a killer premiere episode (I think I said the words 'Oh my God' like fifty times over the course of the episode) that had not one but TWO of the most memorable moments in BSG history.  The second episode was also fantastic...it reminded me a little of the first season, in a good way.  One sad face thing (so far at least) is that Baltar is taking a bit of a backseat in this second half of the season. Before, he used to drive half of the stuff that was going on, and now he's sort of just commenting on it. So that sucks because he was always one of my very favorite characters. But it's only the second episode, and it was so good that I just can't complain. 

Anyway...

Have you heard about that guy who murdered his wife because she'd changed her facebook status to 'Single'? What is going on with the world these days?  What about that Belgian guy who put on white makeup a la The Joker and went into a daycare and killed two babies their caretaker, and wounded a bunch more kids? How horrible is that? I just don't understand what goes through a person's head that would allow them to hurt anyone, especcially little children. Just horrible.  The fact that people with serious mental and emotional problems aren't being institutionalized BEFORE they do something like this is incredibly scary. My heart really goes out to all those kids and their families. Wow.  Of course, this was too insane a case not to write one of my news-related poems about (this is right up there with the woman who cooked her baby in the microwave, I think), so here it goes:

A Poem About The Belgian Joker Killer

 

This is a joke:

 

The babies swell, redness

Oozing out of their fat

White bellies like jelly

From a donut, sweet

And harmful, powdered death.

Today’s it’s a donut,

Tomorrow, a heart attack.

Today a baby, tomorrow

A politician. A black and white

Headline. The red

 

Hurts me – it is too bright,

The color of the future

Bleeding out. Better now

Than later she’d always say –

Mother – the blue tickle

Of stove-fire on skin, endless

And smelling of gas. Me

Learning her lessons.

In old pictures, she wore

Red in shades of gray, bows

 

In her thin baby hair, curled

At the ends in tiny smiles.

I tore it once, a picture,

A child cut in half, reverse

Meiosis.   It was like time

travel, like erasure. I awoke

My arms blackened, raw,

Lips bloodied with motherhood.

But I’d succeeded, for now,

Nothing burns.

 

I am ill with humanity, disease

Ravages my organs. My liver

Bursts with war, my spleen

With envy. My lungs blacken

From the stink of yellow

Journalism, from fifteen minute

fame, from tyrant worship.

I put on my gloves, and murder

Tomorrow, taking it like a pill:

The filling satisfaction

Of baby death.

 

Everybody laugh.

Song Of The Day: "Meat Is Murder" by The Smiths, because I met someone who didn't know this song and it made me get the shocked face.