I haven’t had much time to write. It’s OK. Actually doing stuff is a nice change from writing about wanting to do stuff, yes? Anyway, there’s been a fair amount of goodness going on and, being who I am, I am already worried about the withdrawal symptoms that will “rear their heads” (to quote from my new friend Pay-Pay, my affectionate-sounding nickname for Sarah Palin) once the fun is over. But that will have to wait. Here’s the coolness:

Earlier this month (October 2), saw Fleet Foxes in Philly (with my friends LJ and Sara). Their set was just lovely… lovely, lovely, lovely. Pardon the floweriness, but their voices and harmonies are just heavenly. The opening act, whom I shall call “Hipster with Banjo” - not so much. There are several videos from that show on YouTube - here’s one of their song “Mykonos”. You have to ignore some of the audience sing-along:

Yeah - so this was at the Starlight Ballroom. Beforehand, we got some tasty dinnerness at the Silk City Diner and some gelato at Capogiro. Mmmmm, tasty.

Later that weekend, there was some small-scale bar-hopping in Brooklyn. If hopping can be applied to going to one bar, walking a block away to another bar and then heading back to bar #1. The two bars - Union Pool and Fette Sau. Fette Sau is, strictly speaking, a barbecue joint. A barbecue joint with a smoker capable of “slow-cooking 700 pounds of meat at a time”. AT A TIME. We walked in and the smell of smokey mesquite and meat was just divine. Unfortunately, they were no longer serving food. Fortunately, they were still serving alcohol, so we had some rye (Michter’s?).

‘Twas my first experience with rye (and probably only my third or fourth encounter with the bourbon/whiskey family) and it was pleasant and without embarrassing after-effects. Honestly, those labels on meds that say you shouldn’t drink while taking them aren’t joking. While on my meds, I would have one glass of wine or one mixed drink and feel a bit rosy and sleepy already, even if I nursed that one drink forever. Sans medication, a vodka tonic here and a pour of rye there… and I was clear and good and not laughing inappropriately or anything.

Also that weekend, I saw Religulous. I’ve heard various criticisms - that said, I liked it. A lot. You sort of know what to expect from Bill Maher… he’s going to be asking questions, poking fun, potentially offending people… but all in all, he’s bringing forth some interesting truths, whether or not you enjoy the way they’re elicited. Here’s a clip from The Daily Show:

Finally, I also got to see Blindness. This got a bit of a negative response from film critics. One of those reviews was co-opted as my Facebook status message for a bit:

[Blindness is] supposed to work as an allegory for urban alienation, but soon begins to feel like an exploitation horror with pretensions of being more.

Let me first say that I read the book by Jose Saramago several years ago and re-read it a good 7 or 8 months ago when I heard the movie was in production. I really enjoy the book. I gave it to a work-friend as a Christmas gift and she liked it until a certain point where she couldn’t read it anymore, saying, “Eva, there’s just too much shit.” Meaning actual shit - fecal matter that the characters are forced to walk through/avoid. I advised her to view it as metaphorical shit, but I think people’s squeamishness and willingness to deal with quantities/levels of shit varies greatly.

That said, the movie was much cleaner than the book. I didn’t for a moment see it as an exploitation horror. It wasn’t “harrowing” or “difficult to watch”, which was other criticism leveled against it. I thought it was really well-shot (dare I say, beautifully?), with a good sense of the story; it did a fantastic job of heightening my awareness of my own sight while I was watching a bleak world of fumbling blind people. I thought it was quite good. Also, not one, but both of the friends with whom I saw it liked it. So there, critics. Moderately intelligent lay-people have spoken (and I even took a few film courses back in my NYU days, so I can throw that into the mix, if needed).

That’s some catch-up from a while ago. It’s been crazy lately. I’ve been feeling close to crazy lately. There’s much going on with work and home and friends and work (again). I’m traveling for work later next week and I need to borrow a laptop from one of my siblings (it’s something I need to buy for myself but cannot currently afford). I’ll be in Houston for work next Friday through Monday. Without a computer, I will be a bit of a wreck. For serious.

If the post title compels you to start singing that song by the Killers, by all means, do so. Yesterday was chockablock full of things to do. First, at 11 am, I helped a climbing friend move back onto her college campus; she recently had ankle surgery and is on crutches, so a helping hand was needed. I got sweaty very quickly; it was humid and we got everything moved out of the house, into cars, out of cars, and into the dorm in 2 hours and 15 minutes. Intense.

Then I went down to Princeton to meet up with my friend Sara to pick up something she was holding for me (technically, for my mother - but I was happy to play liaison) and then hang out for a bit. We wandered around the Princeton University campus for a while. It’s lovely. Quite lovely. Drew University in Madison, NJ, also has a lovely tree-filled campus, but Princeton kicks its ass with architecture (in some cases, Gothic - which is gorgeous) and sculptures on the grounds. See below for photographic evidence of the sculpture and the architecture:

"Big Figures" by Madgalena Abakanowicz

Alexander Hall at Princeton University

While in Princeton, I also had some delicious gelato - a scoop each of roasted cashew, Anjou pear and SWEET BASIL. They were all quite good - the flavors were amazing and unexpected (esp. sweet basil). The consistency, while good, didn’t quite measure up to the awesomeness of the gelato I had at the Capogiro Gelato Artisans locations in Philadelphia.

Around dinnertime, my brother joined us since he lives about 10 minutes outside of Princeton. So we went and had some Indian food for dinner, along with a fairly tasty Shiraz - Fools Bay Dusty’s Desire Shiraz from the university liquor store across the street. BYOB is nice.

We walked around a bit to make sure we were all OK to drive… stopped and had tea at a Starbucks… and then went on our merry ways. I got home around 10:30, so it was a fairly long day.

And today is all about cleaning. More purging of stuff. I’ve got two more boxes of books for Goodwill, as well as two bags of clothing… and possibly a whole pile of CDs. We shall see how inspired I am to simply throw shit out. I am quite a packrat, so I know the dangers of deliberating too much over whether or not to keep things. Most times, I just have to tell myself, “NO!” and chuck it.

In the long run, it will make it much easier for me to load a moving truck in the coming months (a search on Craigslist today yielded some decent results, so I just have to prepare myself for “comfortable financial readiness” so I can afford to buy any missing niceties and not screw myself by biting off more than I can chew - as I’ve done in the past).