MJ @ Cara's

Unfortunately, we did not actually play for money.

QBQ BBQ

Our foray to the Water Taxi Beach for the 2nd QBQ BBQ was sandwiched in between a Mets game (a makeup game for a rainout) and some poker at MC's.

CitiField takes shape

Simpsons (Movie)

Da da da da da da da da dadadada.

We went to the Kwik E Mart beforehand to snap some pics.

Eisenberg's & Violinists

Went to Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop for lunch today, a departure from our usual Thursday forays into Chinatown. My pastrami was pretty tasty, but it still doesn't compare to Katz's Delicatessen.

Another detour on my way home. I took the R/W to Times Squares tonight and got off to transfer to the 7. I usually just stay on the R/W until it gets to Queens, but for some reason I decided to traverse the tunnels of the Times Square subway station and came upon these two girls playing their violins. I stood there for a good twenty minutes while Dilyana and her friend played some Baroque hits by Bach, Vivaldi, and Boccherini.

The Four (Eight) Seasons

Went to the Naumburg Bandshell tonight to check out Lara St. John perform with the Brooklyn Philharmonic. St. John, a noted violin soloist, is perhaps most-well known for the furor over the cover photo of her debut album release Bach Works for Violin Solo. They performed the Four Seasons twice. Actually it was The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi interspersed with the Four Seasons of Buenos Aires by Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla of nuevo tango fame. And right now I just heard this amazing ring tone of Debussy's Arabesque. I totally have to get that for my phone.

Waiting for Higgs

Did someone find the "God Particle"?

Andy Samberg is funny

Went to a preview screening of Hot Rod tonight. It was a very uneven film (my friend was cringing in her seat the entire time, whispering stuff like, "it's terrible, this is terrible"), but the movie did have some ridiculously funny moments, especially the dancing Asian dude. I sort of wish it was even more crazy than it was.

The buzz around Andy Samberg has been building for a while now, first when Lazy Sunday came out, then there was Dick in a Box, and recently NY Mag did a whole spread on him.

Afterwards we argued over the awesomeness (or lack thereof) of the film over some Korean food at the "big house"

Siren Music Festival

This might be the last year for the Siren Music Festival. My crazy day with HP didn't give me much of a chance to enjoy this fest. I got there pretty late and only got to hear We Are Scientists before my queasy stomach got the best of me. I'm not sure if it was the crowd or lack of sleep or Nathan's hot dogs & fries, but I was in no condition to stick around for the rest of the show and made my way back into safe harbor before deciding to call it a night. There's always next year, or not.

Harry Potter Finale (recap)

It was a completely crazy, exhausting day and I loved almost every minute of it. Here are some more flickr sets of the event. (I show up in both of them!)

I'll admit I wasn't always an HP fan. I didn't even know about the series until the 4th book (Goblet of Fire) came out in 2000. One of my co-workers at the time told me that I would love the books whenever I got around to reading them. I've actually only read the first four books so far, having seen the movies before reading each of the books (which might be a 1st in the history of something or other). I'm not sure if I can hold out, now that Deathly Hallows is out and the series is over. My brother started reading it as soon as I brought it home. He'd already read 500 pages by morning and would finish the book by nightfall. I'm going to start reading Order of the Phoenix right now.

Harry Potter Finale (part 3)

...on into the night.

Harry Potter Finale (part 2)

...and continues...

Harry Potter Finale (part 1)

And it begins...

Mein Zwilling???

What do you think?

Just Another Concert in the Park

I love and hate the annual Concerts in the Parks by the NY Philharmonic. I love hearing world-class musicians play for free. I hate all the yuppie scum at the park that won't shut up and just listen when the music is playing. I'm all for picnicking and gabbing with friends, but there's a time and place for everything. *sigh*

Tonight's program featured Conductor Sir Andrew Davis, and Soprano Measha Brueggergosman.

SpongeBob is apparently a fan too.