Fobbing more visuals onto an unsuspecting public....

Feast your eyes on my latest endeavors:

Hallowe'en Roundup and let the Fall/Winter festivities begin!

This year's Hallowe'en weekend started with a pre-Hallowe'en gathering at friend Nat's palatial home in New London for a scary movie viewing, drinks, chat, etc. Our host met us at the door in glorious costume, and several other guests were in costume, too.

Nat's place was aglow with blacklights and fun horror movie/Hallowe'en ephemera - a Bruce Campbell doll was spotted in one corner, posters from the Exorcist and Army of Darkness...lovely atmosphere!

The movies that were chillingly served up quickly became MTS3K-esque fodder for us- 'Black Sunday' (aka 'The Devils' Mask'.) The bat alone was worth the price of admission......one viewer exclaimed 'What is that? Half an umbrella?' I'm not so sure what this movie was about- Witches? Vampires? Bad lighting?

So, when that was done, we took a break, ate some delightful vittles, drank (I was imbibing Burnett's Sweet Tea vodka- not bad for a flavored vodka, but tasted better when mixed with Honest Tea's Black Assam Iced Tea.)

The second movie was most frightening of all: 'Never Too Young to Die', starring John Stamos, Vanity and Gene Simmons as an evil hermaphrodite.....in drag......

The exquisite pain and suffering caused by this move has forced us all to file a class action lawsuit against our host. Where do I start? Stamos finally had a showcase for all his acting range of that one emotion, Vanity....well, she keeps guns in interesting places, has lovely underwear and sure knows how to do yardwork. As for Gene Simmons, he was just cringingly over-the-top. And not a sexy man in drag, either - my eyes actually burned during his song and dance routine. I think he wore Cher's wardrobe discards - the ones she wore when she was feeling 'fat'. This movie was made in 1986, and it incorporated bad imitations of 'Mad Max' "punks", big hair, made-for-TV-movie plot, and one very long, sharp fingernail. I don't want to share too many details as I know all of you, Dear Readers, will want to see it.

This movie is a glorious train wreck, and yes, if you find a copy, send it my way.

So all of this really set the stage for Hallowe'en excitement. On Hallowe'en, J10X & I scrambled around to finish our costumes in anticipation of the Creepshow at the Hygienic Art Park. J10X went as a scarecrow, I a crow.

With plans to meet up with Miss Wendy, Kate, Marko, the Boojums & others at the park, we eagerly set off. It was a fabulously blustery night and J10X was in danger of losing all his stalks to the wind.

When we arrived at the Park, it was scantily populated. Then we found out one of the bands (one of the good ones) couldn't play! Horrors! Fortunately, the Art Park started filling up with people and their fabulous costumes- although I find it weird that anyone would dress in "80's" costumes, such as Molly Ringwald or preppies. All I think is 'Crap ! High school!' The Boojums were dressed in their finery as was Kate and once the park was full, it looked fantastic!

Then the really scary part started- one of the bands played.....a looooong set. Too long. Lots of people left. Then it very briefly rained. The third band, Get Haunted, decided to go play at the Oasis, a place that is too small when I'm not in costume from head to toe! So, we skipped that. which I'm sorry to say, as I heard it was great show. Miss Wendy, Kate, J10x & I went to the Dutch Tavern, where we were the only costumed folk in a room full of sports fans watching the World Series. Until Batman came in for a frosty one. The four of us scored a table and had drinks & chatted- a theme for this Hallowe'en! Then we said our goodbyes and wrote obscenities on Marko's car.

Trick or treat...............?

Good Music

Last night J10X and I cruised to Rosie's Cantina in Groton to see an awesome show featuring Brokedown Serenade, Get Haunted & The Paul Brockett Roadshow Band.

Rosie's is a decent joint, but I have issues with the sound system. I did discover the 'sweet spot' to stand is about 10 ft from the stage. A foot further forward or back results in a mind meltingly loud experience.....

I had seen Brokedown Serenade open for the Cobra-Matics, and I felt they were much improved. They were definitely more relaxed on stage, and I think they'll grow even further from this point on. They served up competent, steady rockabilly/blues/rock 'n' roll. Fun fact: BS's bass player used to play in the Lucky Diamonds, a band fronted by The Colonel, who fronts the Cobra-Matics.

Next up was Get Haunted, a band I was just champing at the bit to see. Fronted by the ever-magical Joey Royale, his lovely wife Sarah and a Nice Young Man called Kevin. Really basic drums, twangy banjo and intense (dare I say 'punkily hammered out') acoustic guitar and Joey's.....voice, which I have a really hard time describing. It's warm, hoarse, intense, old, shades of Nick Cave, Johnny Cash and Lux Interior. How about 'compelling'? I'll stick with compelling. The songs are dark, haunted, and in their own words 'sticks and stones, Indian bones and a box buried in a mound.' And sartorially, very entertaining: black-rimmed glasses, Mr. Royale's pencil moustache, shirts buttoned up and sporting plantation ties.....Sarah was wearing (from what I could spot) a black bodysuit and some shiny leather-looking stockings. Well, they knocked my socks off, so I will see every damn show they play if I can.

And if that wasn't enough, we also were fortunate to see the always- fantastic Paul Brockett Roadshow Band. I cannot say enough great things about this band- they always deliver great songs, always with heart, soul and humor. Paul flung his guitar at the young man from Brokedown Serenade, who whipped out some nice bluesy notes. And a special treat for us in attendance were the spectacular songs done with Joey Royale - it's always awesome to see the PBRB bring people onstage, but this was truly transcedent. 'Magic' is the only word to describe it.

So, hats off to all you fabulous musicians for a great night of music!

'In Like Flint'- Move Over, James Bond!

Beg, borrow or steal this movie!

This lavish prequel to the Austin Powers series features:

• James Coburn and his Super Secret Spy Moves!
• Yvonne Craig as 'Natasha'!
• Herb Edelman as the Russian Prime Minister!
• 1967 Push Button Technology!
• A plot so weak that the 'GI Joe' movie had to use it!!
• Battle of the Sexes!
• Free Love!
• Fembots!
• Seriously Fabulous Clothing!
• Underwhelming Fight Scenes!
• Outer Space Effects inspired by Ed Wood!

Oh, just look for yourselves.....The Trailer

RIP, Slimjim, c1998-2009

It's always hard to lose a beloved pet. Slimjim had been with us for almost twelve years.

He was  good, sweet, loving member of our family and we had to make the incredibly difficult decision to let him go on to the Great Mouse Hunting Ground in the Sky.

Unfortunately, last year he started having seizures that were becoming more and more frequent and with no apparent physiological cause.  He was also losing mobility and we had to take him to the vet today because he couldn't breathe.  He was in such distress he was actually meowing - a rare thing for Slimjim. The vet found a huge lump in his throat that showed some damage to the fine bones there and his passageway was so swollen that it was impeding his breathing. After much deliberation, and many, many tears, we felt it would be kinder to let him go rather than traumatize him further with aggressive care. 

We love you Slimjim - and we miss you terribly.

The 4th, Public Enemies, and Ephemera...

(If I wait long enough, I accumulate enough to blog about.....)

Last Friday, braving the torrential downpours, J10X & I went to see Public Enemies. For those who don't know, it's a movie about John Dillinger's 14-month crime spree. I love gangster movies; I love gangster movies with stylish stars; this had both. And I'm pretty sure I can now predict the men's fall fashion line for 2009.
This movie was beautifully shot, some scenes evoking the feel of 1930's newspaper photos and it was a welcome respite from the usual direction of movies of late. The pacing was a little slower than I thought it would be, but it was a relief to see the action, not have it shoved in your face with nearly-undecipherable CGI magic.
It's really hard to describe the movie as a whole, and I'm hard put to explain any of the plot devices. There were no decent female roles, not even Dillinger's moll, played by Marie Cotillard, who had more of a 'character' than the other women. Johnny Depp was cool as Dillinger, Christian Bale [The Most Tensest Actor Since Clint Eastwood (tm)] was serviceable as Melvin Purvis, the very intense G-man who was chasing Dillinger, but again, the characters & story were very broad strokes. There was a good deal of sub-plot involving J. Edgar Hoover and the beginnings of the FBI, and Baby-Face Nelson's psychotic self was skin-crawlingly represented as well. Plenty of familiar faces in this movie, most of whom I couldn't name if I had to. This was a really enjoyable movie and beautiful to watch: I recommend it as an afternoon's diversion.
Rating: 3.5 crowns out of 5, 5 crowns for Johnny Depp 'cuz I'm sweet on him.

On the 4th, J10X and I were fortunate enough to party down with the Boojums and their Big L'il Bash for the Fourth. It was so glorious outside (finally), good food was to be had, good people to talk to, just a nice, relaxed vibe. Later that night, J10X & I went to Norwich to see the fireworks - it was insane. There wasn't a single place to park, the town was just packed full of people. We managed to get to a spot behind a bank, under some trees, through a culvert and on a grassy knoll and joined an older couple to watch the fabulous fireworks.

Sunday was another glorious day, so off we went to the beach! It was a bit chilly on the beach itself, but really nice walking around. Oh, yeah, we scored some more tiki goodness at the flea market as well, this time in the form of ephemera. One piece, which is marginally Polynesian Pop, is a brochure from 1931 on the SS Mauritania and its cruises to South America and islands. That has a big fold out section of the schematic of the ship, too. We also scored a travel booklet from Hawaii and several pamphlets from Silver Springs, ca. 1940s-1950s.

So, all-in-all, it was a rare relaxed holiday weekend- yay!

Uh, How Do Ya Call your Luva Boy....?

Rock 'n' Roll!

Rock 'n' Roll!

Rock 'n' Roll!Rock 'n' Roll!Rock 'n' Roll!

Rock 'n' Roll!

Rock 'n' Roll!

Rock 'n' Roll!

Rock 'n' Roll!

Marko and I witnessed a fantastic, kick-ass, REAL rock and roll show last night at Pearl St. in Northampton - the NY Dolls came, rocked our world, and left us all in a sweaty, steamy, spent and satisfied pile on the ballroom floor. 

The Dolls only have two original members left, David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain, but the newer members of the band were, in every sense of the word, NY Dolls. This band was classy, stylish, rockin' and the perfect mix of great musicians who are tight, but can let it get loose and not sloppy. 

I wasn't overly familiar with the newer material, but it was GREAT live - and there was a nice mix of original Dolls' tunes and the newer songs. Sylvain and Johansen both looked really pleased that the audience really went nuts over the original tunes.  That said, most of the audience were obviously long-time fans of the band.  They also covered Johnny Thunders' 'Can't Put your Arms Around a Memory' and gave Thunders and Michael Jackson a shout-out, which was cool. Other songs included 'Stranded in the Jungle', 'Pills', 'Jet Boy', 'Trash', 'Mystery Girls', 'Personality Crisis' - they opened with 'Looking for a Kiss', which is arguably my favorite Dolls tune, and it just went uphill after that. And they played for almost 2 solid hours. Johansen's voice was amazingly unchanged, Sylvain's guitar-playing and audience interaction was great and I highly recommend you go NOW and see this band if you can.  

"Trash, wont pick it up
Take them lights away
Trash, wont pick it up
Dont take your life away
Trash, dont try to take my life away...."

Cape Cod- the World's Repository of Fudge, Taffy, Jams & Jellies!

For my Birthday Time this year, Jv10X and I decide we'd stay at the Cape for a week- do some biking, kayaking, Provincetown-ing, catch some rays at the beach.  We were so psyched because it was pre-tourist-season, so it would be peaceful.

Well, things didn't quite turn out as planned: we were disappointed by the place we stayed in (I felt their website was rather misleading), lots of places were not open because it was pre-season, and it was cold and rainy. So that definitely put the kibosh on whale-watching, kayaking and anything ocean-y at all.  If the rental places weren't closed, it was just too damn cold (think 55 degrees and windy and cold rain.)

So, as they say, we were given lemons, so we made vodka tonics. The first night, we went to P-town to scope out the scene. As it was late evening, there were very few stores open, but it was really peaceful without too many people around, so we walked all over, making note of the places we wanted to visit over the next week.  Provincetown has nice shops, lots of cool galleries, theater....a lot of stuff in a fairly small space. We checked out the Marine Specialties shop, and that was quite the diversion!  Tons of army/navy surplus from around the world, and just....stuff. Clothes, toys, home goods, pith helmets- you name it! We also stopped at Wa, which has a Zen garden and some completely stunningly beautiful objets. 

The next day, we did manage to get in a fabulous bike ride at the dunes. It was pleasantly cool out and we had gone early enough to avoid the visitors that came later.  The landscape was really bizarre- all the scrub pines and sand looked like an alien landscape and you could smell the salt mist roses everywhere. The bike path was really nice, paved, and boy, there were some huge hills to navigate. After the ride, thighs aflame, we checked out the visitor's center and found out that a whale (dead) had been washed ashore several weeks earlier - they had pictures of a crane picking up the enormous tongue off of the beach!  It was the Gene Simmons of whales, I believe....

After dolling ourselves up to have a nice dinner in honor of my birthday, we went back to P-town earlier than the night before and stopped in at id. So many gorgeous things here, too!  I picked up a beautiful, simple vase there and I wish I could have afforded, oh, ALL the jewelry. Not everything they have is online, so keep checking that site as they add to it. We grilled the owner about things to do around town, why wasn't everything open, and where shall we eat? We had decide to go to The Mews, but we wanted some local input. A place called Victor's was recommended to us, they have tapas, so we thought we'd give that a shot and then go to The Mews afterwards to sample as many of their 256 vodkas as we could. Well, after walking the length of P-town twice, we couldn't find it:  the next day we realized we were about 10 damn feet from it. (We did the exact same thing the night before trying to locate The Mews- we stopped about 50 ft from it and turned around thinking we had missed it. ) 

So, we went to The Mews, and we're SO glad we did! The setting was great (nice, dark, relaxed, ocean view), the staff were fabulous, the food was divine as was the vodka.  Hands down, the Tuna Sushi Tempura was the winner out of everything we tried - I could eat that every day of my life. We also tried the crabcakes, which were delicious and the mushroom strudel, which was great, and Jv10X had the skirt steak and scallops, which he really liked. I really recommend this place if you're looking for an elegant, but relaxed, restaurant in P-town.  And, look who's also eaten here: Bob Mackie, Bozo the Clown and John Waters!

We were fortunate enough to be sitting next to a table of three women, and one of them was also celebrating her birthday- they were out on the town, and very fun. One of the women created all the stained glass pieces in the restaurant, and she took me to the lower level dining room to show me some really spectacular pieces. 

We tried four vodkas: the Snow Queen from Kazakhstan, which was best chilled, had a nice, mildly sweet taste and light on the tongue; Youri Dolgoruki from Russia, which was also best chilled, and that had a more astringent, citrusy flavor, also light on the tongue; the always incredible Zubrowka bison grass-flavored vodka (one of my top 3 favorites) and is nice not chilled; and my new favorite, a lovely Ukrainian by the name of Nemiroff Honey- Pepper: I had this 'neat', and I think that's how it should to be served. It smelled strongly of honey, but the honey taste was delicate, not cloying, and it had a little zip to it from the pepper. It was a beautiful gold color and very warming. 

I was hoping that we could have smaller 'tastes' of more vodkas, but they don't have that option. The servings were a good size, so after two, I was feeling no pain. 

We left and window-shopped all the galleries, which were closed by the time we left the restaurant. One of the exhibits that we kept missing was 'A Dozen Divas' by Robert de Michiell whose caricatures were quite reminiscent of Robert Risko. We could at least see these pieces really well through the windows, and they looked glorious. We did manage to see several galleries' shows, but I thought the Simie Maryles gallery had the most interesting works- I'm not  huge fan of paintings, but I loved Roxie Munro's pieces as well as the glass art of Ian Sylvia, which was far more stunning than in any other pictures in that link. There's a long history of art and artists in P-town, but we tended to skip the galleries of the paintings of boats, ocean, bad figurative drawings and the like. 

The next morning, we woke up to a torrential downpour and when it stopped, we decided to take a walk along the main rails-to-trails bike trail that ran behind our motel. It was paved, really clean and after we had walked for half an hour, the heavens opened back up and drenched us is cold, fat drops of rain. With thunder.  So, after getting back to our room and peeling off our soaked garb, we checked the forecast and realized it wasn't the best day for a hours-long bike ride. So, we headed back to P-town, this time during the day, so we could just go to all the place we wanted to visit that were closed the two days before. This was definitely turning into a shopping & eating trip. We checked out Utilities, The Shell Shop, Womencrafts, Stax of Wax (I snagged some comics here and the adorable owner was selling his punk record collection- so much punk!  So much vinyl!), Yesterday's Treasures (where Jv10X liberated a funky-ass Coco Joe's ashtray/lighter combo set), got a hair cut by the fabulous Carl Thomas at Salon 54, ate at Wabi Dumpling (delicious! and we tried Sake2Me's Green Tea Sake that was lightly carbonated- amazingly delicious!), purchased dessert from The Purple Feather (sold to us by one of the many, gorgeous, flirty, flirty, flirty Bulgarian boys and girls who were working on the Cape for the summer), ate some awesome pizza at George's (with large drinky-poos, nice bartender, and the hilarious realization of how porn-y the closed captioning is for Andrew Zimmern's show)....um, then we tried to get into the Whydah Pirate Museum, but it wasn't open, of course - arrrrrgh. So went back to our room.

Surprise!  The next morning it was pouring rain! We figured it wasn't going to be a good day as we noticed the household across the street was loading its camper up with two of each animal...we had completely 'done' P-town, so we decided to cut our losses and head home. We will definitely go back to Cape Cod, and we understand from the locals that September is the best time to go. We met a lot of really nice people and had a great time wherever we went. 

And we did not succumb to the pressures of purchasing fudge, taffy, jams, jellies or $2 

t-shirts....but we have plenty of random pictures here.....

Movie Reviews: Star Trek & the Matrix Sequels

A current theme in my movie theater-going these days is the switcheroo: I show up to watch a movie only to find it's gone and I have to substitute another.
Miss Wendy and I went to see 'Wolverine' (yes, that would be the 4th time in a month for me...), but it had gone away and we decided to see Star Trek, which was cool as we both wanted to see it.
This movie covers the very beginnings of the careers of Kirk, Spock, Bones, Checkov, Sulu, Uhura, Scotty.....and the Enterprise. Lots of fun effects, but the plot was......disappointing. As in 'We'll fix all the holes in the plot by using time travel to change the future!'-ok, I see this on Dr. Who and it works- came across as lame in this setting. I did like that the characters physically were a nod to the originals and there was some slap-stick type humor that was silly enough to be fun. (Oh, and if 'Bones' looks really familiar, it's because he was in LOTR and Xena....and, believe it or not, Winona Ryder is Spock's mom......)
Oddly, the one really distracting element was the bad skin on everyone except Uhura- I mean, c'mon, it's Stardate 2388- don't they have nuclear-strength Clearasil by now and razor blades that give a clean, close shave??
For the record, you'll only really like this if you've watched the original TV show fairly regularly. There were plenty of inside jokes and I was able to demonstrate my carefully hidden full-on geekiness to Wendy during the movie. I don't see that it would create many new fans, but it was a treat for old ones.

Rating: 3 crowns out of 5, because I only saw it once - I doubt it'll hold up to repeated viewings.
Matrix: Reloaded & Matrix: Revolutions- wow, the incredible suckiness of these two movies is almost beyond words. I know I will be lying on my deathbed at some point regretting the 4 hours I wasted watching these movies.
Where do I start? First of all, it was basically one big movie that could have been edited down to 2 hours instead of 4. The plot was flogged like a dead horse. And the story went from good vs. evil to a ridiculously heavily christianized version of the same. Both movies were boring, so much so that the fight scenes barely revived one's interest, and it seemed that each scene was shot several times and two takes were kept and inserted...wherever....so you see the same thing over and over and over.....zzzzzzzz.........and any decent acting accomplished by Fishburne and Weaving was completely overran by the ponderous plot and editing.
Rating: 0.5 crowns out of 5, the half a point awarded to Trinity's awesome costumes.

Restaurant Review: The Black Sheep

Jv10X & I popped into the new Black Sheep Irish Pub in Niantic after an extensive tour of the Book Barn: sold some books, bought some books, had the Jim Miller Experience at Book Barn Downtown. (Note: Jim always plays better music than the main Book Barn does.)

The Black Sheep is very....pub-y....with nice white walls, brick wall, molded ceiling, burgundy and gold textiles and dark wood with an adult atmosphere. It's roomy and cozy at the same time.

I was please to see that they carry some nice beers (and Newcastle, hands down my fave) but I was a little distressed that the menu was largely meat and bivalves - but after all, it is a pub, so what the hell was I thinking? And the staff seemed to be very....nervous...so that was a little strange. But they were nice.

I ended up ordering the field greens salad with grilled shrimp, and Jv10X gave a stab at the burger. The salad was huge and really tasty, and Bernie declared his burger to be really good. (I kind of wonder if my salad was so big because they probably don't get a lot of salad-eatin' folk in there, but I'm not complaining!) I definitely would like to stop there again to try an actual dish on their menu- the wild mushroom ravioli look fab as do the crabcakes.

Wolverine. Indian Food. Paul Brockett Roadshow Band.

....that's what my very deserving mom was treated to for Mother's Day.

Oh, is it exams week already?

(Me, addressing the students):

“Sorry to interrupt, but did anyone park outside the Library? Campus Safety just popped in to ask everyone to move-“

(Student interrupts, screaming):

“Just gimme a sec! I’m gonna move it! They already told me four times! God, they need to CHILL!”

(Me, not saying any of the 4 gazillion sarcastic rejoinders that have leapt to mind):

“Well, alright then….just so you know, when they actually come in to tell us, it means you’re about to be ticketed or towed….”

(Student, still screaming):

“Fine! Whatever!”

Wolverine- The Movie

My sister and I had a rare date to see a movie - we were going to see Crank 2, but when we arrived at the theater, pretty much only Wolverine (or "X-Men 4") was playing- so of course we just had to go see it. I think it was really well done, fairly faithful to the comics, but they added some other hoohah that included origins of other mutants as well- even, so, it worked. 

Liev Schreiber was amazingly evil and creepy, and Hugh Jackman was terrific and....gosh, yummy and nekkid. This is a pretty violent movie- definitely not for the kids and we were kind of amazed it didn't get an R rating. (I bet a full-frontal of Mr. Jackman would have done that, though, because we all know sex is bad, but violence is ok...)  

The actions scenes were fantastic and intense! The theater we were in was super loud, and really enhanced those scenes! The photography was a bit odd, but not distractingly so- the beginning sequence with the credits was gorgeous, but there were some odd shots that made everyone look a little too bronze and shiny and then some shots that looked like they were made-for-TV-movie planned. But it was still great. There was a lot of potential-spin-off/sequel-to-come bits that happened at the end of the movie, which makes it not really stand on its own.

Warning- potential spoiler alert! 

I do have a few beefs though: Logan's wife is Emma Frost's sister? That was a little desperate, but I like that Logan's wife did get a juicier role than in the comics.   

Admittedly, Gambit is one of my least favorite characters, but the kid who played him (Taylor Kitsch) sucked in that bland, Vanilla-Pudding/Ben Affleck kind of suckiness. There was nothing interesting or compelling about him, he was outclassed (even by Will. I. Am.) and didn't Gambit have a French accent? Well, not this one, apparently.  

I also felt the immense amount of info we're given as part of the origins of other mutants was too much too near to the end of the movie. All in all, I will most likely go see it again (actually, I kind of have to as I promised to see it with two other people) and I think I may have a different take on it the second time around- I did have to explain things to my sister, plus I thought this would flow with the previous three X-Men movies, but it didn't.

3.5 crowns out of 5, with Mr. Jackman's buns earning 5 crowns out of 5.

Happy 40th, Bernie! Viva Von 10X, indeed - hot damn!

Well, what can I say? We had a fab cocktail party at the Aloha Alcohula (TM)* in honor of Bernie's 40th birthday!
Our wonderful guests - hot rodders, artists, musicians, the Usual Suspects and newbies - donned their swanky attire and joined us for martinis, much too much food, and mayhem. I cannot thank everyone enough for being fabulous guests and making this a very memorable event for Bernie, who so deserved it! Happy Birthday, Pootie-pie!


(a Johnny von 10x tribute by the joey Zone - With NO apologies to Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman!)

A shot o’ HOT DAMN gonna set my throat
Gonna set my throat on fire
Got a whole lot of shots down in front o’me--
Who set those stakes up higher?!?
There’s a thousand pretty women in THE tiki bar
But I wanna sit and talk about a CAR
For a gearhead like me that’s just about par
Viva VON 10X, viva VON 10X

How I wish that there were more
Than the twenty-four hours in the day
cause even if there were forty more
I wouldn’t sleep a minute away
Oh, there’s chrome and lacquer and a kustom wheel
A swapmeet somewhere with sech-a-deal
Ya jes’ needs a strong liver and some balls o’ steel
Viva VON 10X, viva VON 10X

ALOHA ALCOHULA with its barlight flashin
And some drink glass smashin
All that good hooch down the drain
Another shot o’ HOT DAMN turnin day into nighttime
Turnin night into daytime
If you’ve been to THE bar
Youll never be the same again

I’m gonna keep on the run
I’m gonna have me some fun
If it costs me my very last dime
If I wind up broke up well
I’ll always remember that I had a swingin time
I’m gonna give it ev’rything I’ve got
So bartender please let those shots stay hot
And let me shout “HOT DAMN!” with ev’ry shot
Viva VON 10X, viva VON 10X,
Viva, viva VON 10X!!! :D










* Best DAMN tiki bar in CT

Dreamings, 5-Course Love and the Perception of Women

I haven't blogged in a while, so this one's all over the map.

I was absolutely blessed to see two theatrical productions within one month- I didn't realize how much I missed going to theater since I had left the Bushnell.

Elena & I saw 'Dreamings', performed by both the Judy Dworin Performance Ensemble and members of the York Correctional Institute for Women in the Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford. The cultural center is housed in CT's oldest synagogue building - there were glorious architectural gems to spotted in the building: stained glass windows, gorgeous chandeliers that would make great earrings, beautiful woodwork. (I brilliantly deduced we were in a synagogue by observing the Hebraic script right smack in front of me on a beautiful window....)

The performance included projections (brilliantly...projected...by a reacquainted Old Friend) on sail-shaped screens that enhanced the portions of the performance in which the dancers created a ship on the sea, traveling back and forth through the stories. (That particular portion of the performance strongly reminded me of the scene in 'Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead' that shows the Shakespearean actors silently recreating the well-known scenes from various plays. ) There was beautiful a cappella singing by a trio of women; modern dance sequences that were entertaining and thoughtful; and some spoken word pieces that, frankly, were.....not great. I do think the entire production was enjoyable, considering it could have been really heavy-handed.

Afterwards, I said hello to my Old Friend (now elevated to Friend category) and Elena and I hied off to a bar (shocking, I know) for a nightcap. Elena is one fun date.

Next: 5 Course Love-
Marko and I went the fabulous Spirit of Broadway theater in Norwich to see this musical comedy after dining at Paul's Pasta (Home of the Suitcase Full of Pasta) in Groton. The SoB is a tiny theater that maybe seats 100 people, so there's never a bad seat in the house and the productions are wonderfully minimal. Another added attraction was the ability to bring a bottle of one's own wine that they would uncork for a small fee.

Three actors played the three parts in the 5 vignettes of this performance. They were all fantastic, funny, talented, sometimes interacting with the audience, and the costumes and set were very stripped down, which only enhanced the script.

The book, music & lyrics were written by Gregg Coffin and it was fun, clever (in a good way) and the music did not sound like Rogers & Hammerstein, for which I am eternally grateful.

There was a little RHPS action during the German S&M/sexpot vignette: whenever the character's name of Heimlich was spoken, everyone was to turn their head & cough - very funny.

After the show, we trudged uphill to Billy Wilson's (Pub? Tavern? Ageing Still?) to have a nightcap and see every single person we know in Norwich. The bar actually had some decent wine! Marko is one fun date.

Ok, The Perception of Women. I'm prompted to write this because it just seems lately that world-wide culture is just dumping on women more than ever. I was listening to a story on the radio today about an American Idol-type contestant (who I'm sure is now world-famous by this point) who is modest, not botoxed, bleached and boob-jobbed out of proportion, and even more shockingly, is TALENTED: Susan Boyle. I watched the clips of her beautiful performance and was horrified at the smirks and disrespect directed towards her by the audience and 'judges.' Are you people really that shallow and unappreciative of others? The follow-up interviews of this 'miraculous' performance are even more idiotic as Ms. Boyle's looks and manners are still the major topic and not her beautiful singing- whoever the git was on NPR going on about how she's 'too far along' to be famous at this point in her life should be shot. If this was a man, his looks would never come into play to this insane level. One of the many reasons I loved watching 5-Course Love is that NONE of the actors were conventionally beautiful- what a nice change of pace.
And do I even need to spit about the new Afghan marriage law that essentially legalizes marital rape? Or some idiotic movie that has a 'well, it's not humor for everyone, so you women should just get over it' date rape scene? And I won't even go into the 'Powderpuff Girl's Football' email I received from the Athletics Department at work....we have Women's Basketball here, not sure why it can't be called Women's Football....

Thanks for tolerating my anger- come on over to the Aloha Alcohula* and I'll serve you a drink in my new Bearded Clam mug....


*Best DAMN tiki bar in CT (TM)

Sharing the Wealth

The April 1st issue of Library Journal has two interesting articles:

one on the Redroom.com site (oh, authors, you need to see this....!)

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6645881.html

AND

The 'Music for the Masses' column highlights hardcore music: 'Hardcore: Wild in the Streets' by Matthew Moyer, pg. 57....

http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6646653.html

(Was I just a total geek and blogged about Library stuff? Ssssshhh...don't tell anyone!)

St. Urho's Fire - Better than Bison Power?

Yes, folks, Raven & Wombat Tea Party has another product! It's in honor of the Most Revered St. Urho. 

You can see and buy it here!

Books, Booze & Broads...

This past Wednesday I played hooky from work to see the fabulous 'Book of Secrets' exhibit at the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library with pals Elena & Kate. 

Did I say fabulous? How about Amazing! Beautiful! Exquisite! I've always had a fascination with alchemy: the hard science and the integrated philosophy and religious aspects are both very simplistic yet also incredibly complex. The books were just a joy- many with the scholars' annotations including some amusing small, pointing hands in margins and some wonderful illustrations. One particular illustration has now become a new party game for the next meeting of the minds at the Aloha Alcohula*: 'Raising the Green Dragon with Bellows while Wearing a Loincloth."  A conversation starter for sure!

To see the range of alchemical writings over a timeline was also very interesting- it has had a long shelf life! There were also several foreign-language versions of Rowling's "Harry Potter & the Sorceror's Stone." (I have a confession to make: I was very excited to see the movie when it first appeared, but it sort of soured my taste for All Things Potter- it wasn't nearly as, well, alchemical as I had hoped - Nicholas Flamel, Sorceror's Stone....I felt cheated.)

Just past this portion of the exhibit, there was another treasure- a Gutenberg Bible. I had, to my knowledge, never laid eyes on one before, and it was really exquisite. At first glance, I was still a little overloaded with the Book of Secrets exhibit, so I had to clear my head to really take in the significance of this item. Just glorious! The contrast between the hard edges of the black-letter type and the organic hand-painted illustrations was really striking.

Also present (near the gong I was so tempted to hit...) were the two Yale-owned copies of John James Audubon's "Birds of America" - in the handy-dandy double elephant folio size.  This case was not well-lit, though, which was bit disappointing, but the illustrations were beautiful!

After filling our eyes &  brains, it was time to fill our bodies with lunch- we stopped into the Thalitoo vegetarian Indian restaurant across from the Yale bookstore.  The food was really wonderful, especially on such a damp, grey day: we had chapatis, hot masala fries, malai kofta, 

paneer sabji jalfraize, and two other dishes I cannot recall. The food was tasty and the service was fast, plus the soundtrack of Bollywood music was fun. (I see that I haven't mentioned booze yet: we had beer.)

We then popped into the bookstore, I scarfed up a sale copy of Risko caricatures, which was a pleasant surprise. I find it incredibly amusing that you have to waltz past the Clinique counter to get to the sales books...

Back to Elena's for chat, vodka, and more food. The vodka was another zubrowka, but I don't remember the brand - we agreed that it was sweeter out of the bottle than the Bison Grass brand, but I think only Elena liked this other brand better. I felt it lacked the subtle changes in flavor as it warms that Bison Grass has. However, it did compliment the cheeses just fine.

Then, it was magically off to eat some more after Rod came home - not that I was hungry by any stretch of the imagination at this point, but pleasantly buzzed enough to not care so much...we ended up at the Mediterranean fusion restaurant, Mavi, in West Hartford. It was really nice inside, and we had appetizers that were really good - especially the lobster-stuffed avocado. There were lamb kebobs that were very good, vegetable pancakes that were disappointingly cold, but delicious, and seafood beignets that were ok - a bit doughy for my taste. Rod had duck that he and Kate pronounced to be very delicious.

Then it was off to....get more coffee. Good thing, or I may have succumbed then & there to the Steier Guest Food & Alcohol Coma. Not that it's a bad thing, mind you!  Then, back to Elena's, where she magically produced cheesecake. WTF? Where did that come from? So, yes I ate a couple bits, had some more zubrowka....woof.  The invitation to sleep over was getting to be very, very tempting, but after some more chat, I hauled myself up and out.

How much better could it be? Food for the head, food for the eyes, food for the heart, food for the body & liver. Thanks for a great day, Kate & Elena! 

*Best DAMN tiki bar in CT

Snow Day and Suet-eatin' Crows

I'm starting to really, really look forward to snowstorms this year- I love the snow anyway, and I've been blessed with time off from work because of the snow.

But I was a bit shocked when I went out to shovel this morning as I didn't really think we were going to get that much snow! So, I (figuratively) rolled up my sleeves and started in. About 15 minutes into this chore, a large crow sat in the tree above me and asked for some food. We've only fed this family twice this year, so I was kind of surprised - and I did notice a couple of others having a go a the suet cages hanging on the fence but they're too big to sit on them and eat.
So, I ran in and sacrificed one of Bernie's Krispy Kremes and a couple of pieces of sad dry bread to the crows. I was rewarded by some fantastic vocalizations: crk-crk-crk-crk-crk! And the "Food!food!food!HeyguysFOOD!" caws. But this crow wanted some backup before even attempting to fly down and grab some nosh. After about 20-30 minutes of yelling for backup/informing the entire neighborhood there was food, a few seagulls decided to check this out...did I say a few? How about at least 12-15 very large, aggressive scary seagulls, circling the yard, a few crows showing up ready to defend 'their' food....I was getting a little freaked and thought to myself 'Well, that's great- just trying to feed some birds, now I created some sort of aviary armageddon...'
So, I let the gulls take what was there and ran back inside for a few more pieces of bread and a new block of suet, which I hid from the gulls, but a couple of the crows saw me stash these tidbits. They hung out, telling me to hurry the hell up with the shoveling because they were hungry and I told them they were the stupidest corvids I'd ever seen - big, black dumb, chickens.
Finally I finished and laid the bread out on the ground along with the block of suet- I think they all said either 'Qwrawk, thanks!' or 'We'll let you live this time, human' and I told them to be quiet and just eat, fer cryin' out loud....in any case, about 8-10 crows were making very happy, contented noises and settled down to eat. And I still have my eyes.

Restaurant Review: Sakura Garden Japanese Steak House

This past weekend, Bernie and I found ourselves at the Sakura Garden Japanese Steak House at Evergreen Walk in Manchester/South Windsor, faint with hunger.
We approached our prey, wrenched the tall doors open and....wow, the decor was really nice. Like fancy nightclub nice, but as it was lunchtime, I felt appropriate in jeans. Nice modern dark wood, a curved wall of white plaster with inset blue glass pieces, very clean lines, interesting lighting fixtures.
A pleasant hostess who seated us near a window 'close' to the bar - about ten feet. Perfect! Refreshingly, the tables, sushi bar and regular bar were spaced out nicely, so I imagine it would fairly decent in there even on a busy night, and the place is very large. There was a sake menu, with quite a few choices, but I settled for a Newcastle and Bernie had a Mai-Tai. A quite mediocre Mai-Tai. (I fail to understand WHY he orders Mai-Tais at bars that always disappoint when he makes the best ones....)
We were presented with a fairly extensive lunch menu that so many mouth-watering choices. I settled on the shrimp tempura Sakura lunch box & my pootie-pie had the Ivory Tower roll, spicy tuna and Philadelphia maki rolls. We had miso soup, which was actually delicious, and then our food quickly appeared - I could not believe how large the lunchbox was! It had some lovely sticky rice, the shrimp tempura with some veggie tempura thrown in, shrimp shumai and 4 pieces of California roll. I'm not sure why I order things tempura'd (or fried) as I don't really like fried foods....but it was really tasty. The shumai were really exquisite- firm and flavorful as were the pieces of California roll. I was amazed how good the basic California roll was! Bernie's maki rolls were really nice, and the Ivory Tower roll was exquisite- very light and you could taste all the components - the ginger, the sesame, the tuna (very fresh) - and it was all plated very beautifully, too.
We left sated and happy and vowing to return several more times in the future to try some other dishes. There are 3 of these restaurants in CT, so I'm not sure if this is a chain, and if it is, I'm amazed at the high quality of the food. The staff were also very pleasant and very competent. Give this place a shot!