Category Archives: New York City

I am aware that the comment boxes don’t line up correctly. I am just way too lazy to fix it. If I am going to fix it, I would rather just make a new layout.

So there.

The Superbowl was pretty much kick-ass! Any game that makes me interested is a good thing. I didn’t know who was playing until earlier today when I hung out with Genevieve and her husband Chris. Gen was rooting for the Steelers and Chris was rooting for the Cardinals. I didn’t have a preference, until I stumbled upon my friend Mike’s party after the halftime. The Cardinals were behind, so I started rooting for them.

I was basically rooting for the underdog and the way the Cardinals turned it around was pretty amazing. Then I sorta wanted the Steelers to score a field goal so the game would go on to overtime… I just wanted to start some trouble. Instead, we got to see a pretty cool touchdown (although the footage of him catching it was cool, I imagine the throw to be harder). All in all, I was interested.

I don’t think I would be watching any more football games out of my own accord, but it was pretty cool.

We got awesome pizza from Ralph’s on 56th and 9th. Apparently they waited for Papa John’s pizza for 2 hours and finally turned away the pizza guy when they came after 2 phone calls (and the last one was very rude).

Everything chased with a new episode of the Office!

We don’t have plans to see a movie,but the coffee house was full. The angelika has comfy chairs.
I was irresponsible and took advantage of the awesome sales…I got a blazer, jumper, and shirt at A.P.C.
All my blog posts might be coming from my iPhone for a while.

Happy Hanukkah everyone! (Yes yes… Happy Holidays. No, I’m not Jewish.) Friday, I had Sabbath dinner with Cindy and her family and spent rest of the weekend at home.

On Christmas, I went to Genevieve’s place for a tasty stuffed pork chop and to enjoy her tree. Gen and Hoyeon both had presents for me and I had none. Come to think of it, Soph got me a present and I got nothing for her as well. I kinda suck. I did NO holiday shopping.

o.O I think I missed something. I was generally a holiday grouch, but promises of food gets me out of the Apt. I don’t celebrate Christmas or any other holiday, really. I just like to sleep and eat during the holidays.

However, being in Genevieve’s place inspired me to decorate, and I had this big urge to wrap things. Yeah… the one rush of productivity makes me want to play with holiday tinsel. WTH?

Otherwise, on Wednesday I am leaving for Portland, Oregon, for a long weekend. I think this time I need to pick up a present, though. Here is where I need help. I am clueless as to what to get an older couple, someone’s parents. I am leaning towards a cool coffee table book / books.

update: Uhg. No books… sweets it is!

For the past two days I have been trying to get into Guggenheim’s Works & Process, John Zorn’s Shir Ha-Shirim. Sunday, I went to the Guggenheim and they refused to seat me, because they were sold out. Fine. However, they were still seating people for comp seats and a whole list of people who hadn’t shown up. I asked that they sell me those seats, they refused. Then someone behind the counter told me that they sold those seats, all ready. Fine.

There were four people that arrived after I did. When I arrived, they were still seating people. However, I stuck around and they started turning people away… people that bought their seats. They were told they were at full capacity. Two ladies there raised a small huff, understandably. The Guggenheim basically sold their tickets twice and made twice as much profit. Of course, I am sure the women will be asking for a refund and giving the box office an earful. Through the 15 minutes we were waiting we saw management tell people they would not be given refunds, and then just told people to call the box office. Are they airlines, or something?

There were 3 people leaving… 3 empty seats and they still didn’t let anyone in. Dude, even Carnegie Hall and NY Phil seats throughout their shows.

The kicker is that when I went on Monday night, they were letting people in way into the set. People were sitting on the steps… And basically these workers were being dicks the night before.

I suspect the choreographer will be hearing from the other two people there the night before… who kept pushing that they were the choreographer’s friends. They were turned away, also.

Anyway. Otherwise the concert was great. The first half of the set consisted of a series of lounge-y jazz music on harp, cello, bass, vibraphone, and percussion.

The vocals on the latter half of the set were haunting and quite lovely. The man doing the narration was slightly gyrating against the microphone. What was that about? He emoted well, but I just couldn’t look at him. That was fine, because I think the focus was on the dancers and I enjoyed watching the vocalists. Ryan was impressed that there was absolutely no vibrato and the tones and pitches were right on. To me, the vocals took the place of instruments, to the point that I had to be reminded that they were coming out of these performers.

The vocals were accompanied by the Khmer Dance Troupe

Yeah, remember that Khmer wedding I was part of? There was a part where the wedding party had to do this little Cambodian dance, which was actually very much like Japanese Bon Odori. Unfortunately I took no footage of it, because I had to dance… and fortunately there is no incriminating evidence anywhere else, except for the couple’s video.

Anyway, the dancing was similar to what I saw before at a Cambodian New Year celebration in Maryland. And actually the vocals have a similarity in tempo and variations (I guess that’s what I would call it?), in that there are some huge tonal differences and jumps that occur in the Cambodian music I have listened to that seem very similar to the vocalists.

I really enjoyed this Trybrid animal he presented. The choreography in this instance was really fitting to the Hebrew (right?) narration. It was an interesting mix that worked together well. The dance, vocals, and narration seemed fragmented in theory and medium, but all expressed a sensual fluidity that worked visually, sonically, and most importantly to create an experience.

Ryan was telling me that a lot of modern music, and specifically we were talking about atonal music, was dedicated to creating an experience than a linear narration. As a girl that loves little tapas treats and dipping my hands into many different pots at once, the trifecta of voice, whispery passionate narration, and slow regal steps of the dancing was an enjoyable environment to be in.

Occasionally I have a reason to get all dolled up. Few Fridays ago, we were invited to attend one of the showings of the ACC showings of “Funny Money.”

The ACC is like a little secret nook in New York City. Admission is by invitation and the attire required for admission is basically a tux and formal evening wear. Ry’s friend’s family is heavily involved and invites us to shows.

I really love coming here, because the space is amazing. I love all the pictures and documents of all the shows they’ve put on. I like the actor’s lockers with all of the decorations… and booze. The whole building and courtyard is beautiful.

There is something about the accumulation of history, books, labyrinth like interior, and the antique lockers… that drives me nuts (in a good way)!

The play was really funny, but had that type of humor that was painful to watch at some points. Still, we had a really great time.

The best part is at the end of the night, we all went to Resto!

Apparently the Steinways (from the Pianos) were affiliated here…

Booze!

The brunch we attended was much more laid back. We had tons of Bloody Mary and Mimosas with eggs, sausages, lox, and bagels.