Today Ryan and I walked to the Brooklyn Bridge, walked across it, ate dinner in Brooklyn Heights, then walked back. I’m absolutely exhausted, but here are some pictures.
Last night Ryan and I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End at the Ziegfeld Theatre. It was our first time seeing a movie at the Ziegfeld.
First, The Ziegfled. It’s absolutely incredible. Ryan joked that it must have been built when someone had 100,000 yards extra of red velvet. It’s classic and beautiful. It’s one of the last great picture houses left in the US. The kind with a single screen and a massive theatre where there are almost no bad seats among the 1000+ that it offers.
They don’t play annoying ads the entire time you’re waiting for your movie; they play music. Then, just before the previews, the golden curtain opens up to reveal an absolutely gigantic screen. The audience cheers. I love that people cheer and clap after the previews that they like, and that they also cheered when Johnny Depp sails onto the screen. The crowd was extremely excited and energetic, but extremely respectful. When the movie started the theater went completely silent. No one talked during the movie. It was a great experience.
Here is a picture of the lobby:
Next, the movie. I was obsessed with the first movie. I watched it nine times in the theater. My expectations were not incredibly high for the second because I thought the previews looked disappointing and bad. And my instincts were right, I did not like the second very much at all.
So I had low expectations for this one as well, especially because of the horrible reviews it got. However, I absolutely loved it. It was better than the second by far. The critics are right: it is confusing. Especially toward the middle. But it’s funny. Much more funny than the second. It’s also cooky – there’s a plot line involving Captain Jack that’s funny and weird, and sort of explains a little about why he’s wonky. It also glorifies his weirdness, and it’s fun to watch.
The second half is absolutely awesome. The visual effects are incredible, and the idea behind the battle scenes is outrageous and so cool.
So when (or if) you see it, don’t worry too much about understanding absolutely everything. Just enjoy the pirates, Johnny Depp, the effects, and the humor. It’s fun.
Here is a post from Amazon’s blog that does a much better job than me about explaining why this movie is awesome. (And don’t worry about spoilers, there are none, except for one at the end written in white font that you have to highlight to see.)
Last but not least, a picture of Ryan, while waiting to enter the theatre.
Today was a gorgeous spring day. Warm and sunny, with a bright blue, welcoming sky.
Ryan and I walked all over Greenwich Village, Noho, and East Village. We visited 5 bookstores we had never been to. My favorite was St. Marks Bookshop, it was very trendy with great displays. I got the new Paris Review, and a back issue of McSweeney’s – number 17. This was the awesome one that was designed to look like the contents of your mailbox.
The Jefferson Market Library branch in Greenwich Village was incredible. It feels like an old castle. Here’s a picture of the outside, the tower was really cool, and that’s where the staircase is up to the second floor.
I took some pictures of Grace Church as we walked by. I’m always surprised by how many breathtaking churches there are in the city.
When we got over to East Village, Ryan got us fries at Pomme Frites and I got two cheeseburgers at Paul’s. Then we took our haul over to Tompkins Square and ate on a bench in the park.
After coming home we promptly passed out for a few hours, and then woke up and watched some netflix movies.
My idea of a perfect saturday!
Every year the Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey circus tours first in Long Island, and then in Manhattan at Madison Square Garden. The train they are on is too big to go through the tunnels into Manhattan, so it’s become a tradition that they unload the animals on the Queens side of the Mid-town tunnel, and walk them through into Manhattan and across the city into MSG. The result is a mini-parade at 12:30am with excited spectators lined up to cheer them despite the late hour on a tuesday night.
Ryan and I met friends there last night, and had an incredible time. What a sight to behold! I find it so cute and charming that they walk holding each other’s tails with their trunks. There were about 8 elephants, and about 10+ horses, and about 4 miniature horses. It was dark and I couldn’t get very good pictures, so the top two are from flickr. The first is the elephants entering the tunnel at last year’s March (via Flickr). The second is also from 2006, a close up of one of the elephants (via Flickr). The bottom two I took: one of the truck going by before the march, taking the circus equipment to the stadium, and one of an elephant as it came by.
My first concert in new york. Madison Square Garden. John Mayer. Things don’t get much better than that.
John was incredible, as always. He was charming, funny, clever, chatty and appreciative. I’ve seen him four times now, and each time has been better than the last. This show gave me a real appreciation for Continuum, an album I love (especially now) but that took me longer to get into than his previous releases. My favorite songs from it are Stop This Train and The Heart of Life.
His encore was amazing. He came into the middle of the floor and stood on a small stage and sang Stop This Train and Your Body is a Wonderland, just him and his guitar. Then he went on stage and joined the band for Vultures and Gravity. During Gravity Alicia Keys made a surprise visit and sang with him. It was incredible. Madison Square Garden is the most amazing venue. It’s massive and yet still intimate, and if you could harness the crowd’s energy it would power Manhattan for the evening.
The set list:
Belief
Good Love is On the Way
No Such Thing
I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You)
Clarity
I Don’t Need No Doctor
The Heart of Life
Waiting on the World to Change
Bigger Than My Body
Why Georgia
I’m Gonna Find Another You
– encore –
Stop This Train
Your Body is a Wonderland
Vultures
Gravity
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