Blizzard 2K10

I had a great time in the recent Snowpocalypse. It began on Sunday in Flushing, where Hanna and I met up for Chinese food. The snow began falling harder and harder as we drank our noodle soups.



My sneakers were soaked by the time I made it back to the subway. (And my bag was a few ounces heavier after the purchase of a Chinese propaganda film called Troubled Laughter). I made it back to my apartment, got cozy in my bed, and watched All About Eve, which I had never seen.

Then I woke up and walked to work, which was quite an adventure. I thought I could just take my usual route, but most of it was neither plowed nor shoveled. Everyone was just tromping through, making deep footsteps, and looking confused and zombie-like. It was fun.

Since I can walk to work, and I live near both the N and R (which were running decently by the time I needed them), I didn't feel the inconvenience as much as others might have. But I have to agree that the boroughs really got short shrift. For example:

My street: Monday morning

My street: Tuesday night

It took them forever to plow my block, and even now, it will be difficult for many of the cars to get out without doing some major shoveling on the street itself. The trains and buses were so delayed on Monday that one of my co-workers began his journey to the museum at 5:30 in the morning and didn't arrive until 1 in the afternoon. While I know a blizzard is a rare occurrence, we did have fair warning and you'd think the city could respond in a better fashion. Didn't Bloomberg learn anything from Lindsay's Snowstorm?

Merry Christmas!

Things I did for Christmas:

1. Listened to Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" on my iPod on repeat.

2. Ate Chinese food with Jews, while we watched a movie, because that's what I'm supposed to do. (And it was a lot of fun.)

3. Drank mulled wine with Sam and chatted and admired her Christmas tree.

4. Remembered Christmases past, namely last year when I was in Harbin with Jessica. I tried to create some celebration, but failed miserably by taking her to one of the filthier restaurants in northeast China.

5. Read the "Christmas" chapter of Little House in the Big Woods. That book has not lost its magic.


Hope you've all had equally joyful holidays!

Pictures of Things

In the midst of work and moving and life, I've been a terrible blogger. Even though there are so many fun things to write and think about! For one, even though I actually don't find WikiLeaks itself that interesting, it's been fascinating to see the feminist community discuss the sexual assault charges against Julian Assange. People like Michael Moore and Keith Olberman can't seem to understand that while the charges are clearly politically motivated, that doesn't mean they're untrue. Kate Harding sums it up pretty well here.

Also, if you've been living under a rock, Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed. I was really moved when I found out. To be honest, I don't really understand how our government works, so I thought that this thing was dead in the water weeks ago. And now, here it is, repealed. I was ecstatic, and it's yet another thing to add to my favorite website: "What The Fuck Has Obama Done So Far?"

Beyond news, here are some pictures of things I look at. It's very Tumblr of me.

James Franco's brother.

Alice Glass, of Crystal Castles.

Beyoncé.


Rex Manning Day.

Little Edie Beale.

Michael and Tobias.

Bros Icing Bros

Last week, my dad and I went to see a Rangers vs. Islanders game at Madison Square Garden. It was the first time I'd ever been to Madison Square Garden, and my first hockey game. It was truly awesome. Hockey is the kind of sport I like. It's fast-moving, beautiful to watch, easy to understand, and violent. The players got into lots of fights and it was all very entertaining.


The fans at the game were extremely devoted, and the experience reminded me of a National Film Board of Canada animated short film, called The Sweater. It's a really nice story, but I think Roche Carrier's voice-over is what does it for me. I love the way he pronounces everything, especially "Maurice Richard." Ah, to be a young Quebecer!

Learning To Love You More

I've always felt torn about Miranda July. On the one hand, when I was in college, I saw Me and You and Everyone We Know and didn't like it. It felt too irony-laden and hipster-ish and generally unreal. Then I saw her short film, Are You The Favorite Person Of Anybody? which was creative and funny and a little sad. Then I read her book of short stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You. Half of the stories fell flat in that clever, post-modern way that I have trouble relating to. Yet, half of them were really moving and wonderful.

Then I forgot about her for a while, until I recently browsed through Learning to Love You More, a book of assignments she and another artist gave to the general public, via this website. The results are posted on the website, and subsequently, were put into a book.

The assignments are so, so, so great:

1. Recreate a poster you had as a teenager

2. Photograph a scar and write about it.

3. Take a picture of your parents kissing

4. Write the phone call you wish you could have.

5. Make the saddest song.

Tonight I decided to complete Assignment #32: "Draw a scene from a movie that you made you cry."

I drew a scene from an admittedly cheesy movie, Riding in Cars with Boys. Whenever it's on television, I end up watching the whole thing. The last scene of the movie, where Drew Barrymore's father picks her up and they drive home, listening to the Everly Brothers, always makes me cry.

I Can Do Anything Good

Sometimes you get down on life and you just have to watch Jessica's Daily Affirmation for the fiftieth time.

Movin' Out

So, it turns out that if you do a Google image search for "dream home" you get a really gruesome-looking Chinese horror film. According to the internet, it's a violent and grisly critique of the high prices of Hong Kong real estate.

Awesome.

The reason I even conducted the search in the first place was to celebrate my new Astoria apartment! I officially got the keys today from the nice-but-frazzled tenant who was moving out, and the friendly super, who speaks very little English. The next step is painting the walls a fun color and getting furniture and attempting some semblance of design. All my design-minded friends, I will be soliciting advice from you in the coming weeks...