Archive for March, 2009
29 March 2009 at 10:09 am
· Filed under Visiting Museums ·Tagged art, bakery, contempory art, eating, Food, Friends, Knitting, museums, obama, shepard fairey, street art
Jesse was in Boston yesterday, and, after some inexcusable forgetting and oversleeping on my part, we headed to Flour bakery for brunch. I’m the first to admit that Flour doesn’t provide a particularly tradition brunch, but their food is just so good, and the place becomes more and more zoo-like as the day wears on. In any case, I had a delicious roast lamb sandwich and piece of berry bread pudding. Yum!
Knitted graffiti spotted in front of Flour Bakery
After we’d finished eating we both had the afternoon free so we walked along the silver line route to the Institute of Contemporary Art. After admiring the building’s architecture we headed inside (where I discovered that Harvard has recently purchased institution membership to the museum, so free entry for me), and checked out the Shepard Fairey exhibit.
Shepard Fairey is perhaps most famous for the Obama campaign posters he created, and is one of the best known and most influentual street artists.
I really enjoyed the Fairey exhibit. I’m afraid that I’m probably a little lowbrow. I like contemporary art best when it’s fun and humorous. I tend to struggle with it when it’s overly serious.
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24 March 2009 at 10:02 am
· Filed under Traveling ·Tagged bay area, Books, California, ebooks, England, japan, language, rail travel, tokyo, Travel, yorkshire
It feels like I’m suddenly doing (or preparing for) a lot of travel – perhaps because I am. First, I have a significant birthday approaching (one that involves a zero), and I decided my birthday present to myself would be a trip to California (it was that or an iPod touch – crazily, flying to California was cheaper) – I have enough frequent flyer miles to cover the trip, so the cost will be minimal. I’ll be in the Bay Area April 3, 4, and 5. It will be lovely to escape Boston’s crazy weather (yesterday was most certainly not spring-like), and I’m looking forward to seeing my Californian friends again.
Secondly, my job interview was successful, and it looks like my next home will be in Tokyo. I’ve never been to Japan – in fact, I’ve spend hardly any time in Asia at all – and know no Japanese and next to nothing about Japan or Tokyo. Yesterday, I enrolled myself in a beginning Japanese class (first class is next Monday) and bought some Lonely Planet guide books about Japan and Tokyo. Yay! I’m increasingly excited about the impending move. I’ve also started to think about reducing my stuff – I’ve decided to stop buying CDs (substituting iTunes albums) and books (so much for the guide books I bought yesterday, although I’m sure they’ll be useful in Japan – I’m generally pretty good at borrowing books from the library rather than buying already, though) – surely the first step to reducing my belongings is to stop adding to them? I’ve been thinking about buying a digital book reader – the Kindle 2 and the Sony Reader are the two top contenders at the moment – to try and cut down on the space and weight my books occupy.
Finally, I’ve been thinking about walking in the Yorkshire Dales. I haven’t got very far in my planning, but it seems like basing our trip on the Leeds-Settle-Carlisle Railway might be a good idea. It would remove the necessicity of a rental car, and, by all accounts, the rail route is spectacular.
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22 March 2009 at 11:49 am
· Filed under Traveling ·Tagged Cambridge, England, manchester, Travel, united kingdom, yorkshire dales
I bought a plane ticket to England last night – I’ll be there from May 31 – June 10th. The main reason for the trip is to see my Dad. He’s going to be in a Manchester for a conference, and once the conference is done we’ll take a week or so of holidays. We’re tentatively planning to walk in the Yorkshire Dales (I’ve been watching All Creatures Great and Small), but we’re also planning to spend some time in Manchester (where we’ll catch up with Tom & Julia) and Cambridge (where we’ll catch up with Satnam and family). I’m flying in and out of Manchester, which is much better than flying in and out of the Heathrow – it has meant a less-than-direct flight though, and, for the first time, I’ll be flying Aer Lingus.
I’ve got some “research” to do before I leave – I’ve really no idea where we’ll be staying and walking, although it seems like the Yorkshire Dales National Park might be a good place to start.
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21 March 2009 at 8:51 pm
· Filed under Enchanted by the Silver Screen ·Tagged Movies
Kendra recommended Michael Clayton to me some time ago (ie. when it was still showing in theaters), but it took me until this week to check it out of the library (to be fair, I requested it some time ago). My timing was impressive: Just last week there was an article in The New Yorker about Tony Gilroy, who wrote and directed the movie. The article refers to Michael Clayton several times, and talks extensively about Gilroy’s use of the reversal. From The New Yorker article:
Gilroy told me, “A reversal is just anything that’s a surprise. It’s a way of keeping the audience interested.” A camera follows a man as he goes up the stairs to an apartment; we see his wedding ring as he pulls out his keys. He pushes open the door, slowly—a husband coming home, trudging up the stairs with his briefcase. But a woman in black lingerie greets him: he’s seeing his mistress! That is a reversal.
It was fun to watch out for and identify reversals, as well as other points discussed in the article, and it gave me an appreciation for the structure of the movie that I wouldn’t have found otherwise.
Beyond the co-incidence of watching a film so soon after reading an article about it, Michael Clayton is an excellent film. The DVD case describes it as a thriller, but it’s so much more than that. It reminded me a little of The Firm, albeit faster paced, and much more subtle. There’s remarkably little violence or use of special effects, no inclusion of a forced love interest (which is a bit of a relief, really) and the plot twists and turns (all those reversals!) so well that you’re constantly engaged.
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