My pitas page

new york is book country
oh, it is. and here's a nice essay by anne roiphe about the healing and saving power of books. amen to that. if i am not too incapacitated from the wedding tomorrow night, perhaps sunday afternoon will find me at the 5th avenue book fair. but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

hurricane party
according to the new york times, everyone in new orleans is enjoying the weirdness of the situation and throwing parties to help get them through hurricane isidore. above, the link to buying pat o'brien's hurricane mix, some of the tastiest girl-drink alcohol around. two thumbs up, even if you're not drinking it in the eye of the storm.

must see tv
the new seasons of "ed" and "the west wing" start tonight. i know two young ladies who will be happily glued to the set, able to peel their eyes away only to eat oreos. i love fall!

the west wing
have i mentioned how stoked i am for the two-hour permier this week? how i have missed my d.c. tv friends.

yoga
jumping on the bandwagon a bit late, i am going to try re-vamping the workout routine. need more flexibility and thus will give this a shot...maybe i'll even end up liking it!

coldplay
or, as i like to call them, my new favorite band full of potential crushes. or actual crushes, if i'm to be 100 percent honest about it. they were quite, quite good last night at jones beach. first: the weather was perfect coldplay weather, if you know what i mean. barely a cloud in the sky, an almost-full shiny moon, and crisp fall-is-coming breezes off the ripply water. then comes the lighting/other effects which really are key when seeing a band live in a venue as good-sized as that (and one is in the top row): a track of electric blue lights around the perimeter of the stage, four video screens on the back wall that broadcast in b&w each band member--like they were really close to bank videocameras, and a diaphanous curtain behind all of that which looked like a pond getting psychedelic when lights behind it were shone in various colors. and the band... you might not think coldplay can rock the house, being so ethereal and british and such nice boys. but rock they can, and chris martin is what a lead singer should be. he dances like a hyperactive five year old, rambles on at the mike between songs, and is not above lending nelly's "it's getting hot in here" the emo treatment, which is so much more likely to get smart girls nekkid than the original. and they all seem to be having so much fun, making this music that people listen to and like as much as they do. all of which is crucial to a good live band, in my opinion. i wish i could go see them in concert again right now. many thanks to n. for scoring the tickets, and now everyone should go get their new album.

weiner dogs!
this is possibly the most dangerous website in the world for me to visit. because i want to take all of them home--how could you not when you read their little stories?

drinks and small food
hung out with the h.p. last night, checking out new l.e.s. wine bar belly and then hitting this very nice-looking space for a signature cocktail. such a fun night--and highly recommended destinations even though belly needs to work on customer service (but perhaps it's just being all new york).

new shoes
isn't it funny how one's footwear can really make or break one's happiness? (the girls out there know i am not exaggerating.) but seriously, my run saturday left me hurting, and i firmly believe now that the culprit was the wrong kind of running shoe. one new pair later (see above--aren't they cute?) and my leg pains are gone! brother, i am ready to testify!

french soccer girls
um, there aren't many. interesting piece about how in france, home of the former world cup champion team, girls who play soccer are looked down on as too masculine and un-ladylike. and the one french star who plays in america seems like a very cool chick, but perhaps a little naive about her power to help change the image of soccer as boys only in her native land. i mean, she's not just one "little girl" as she proclaims--she's a kick-ass footballer!

library card
this weekend, i am going to get one. it seems like a good, new york-y thing to do. besides, reading the 100 best novels of the 20th century can get pricey if one has to buy each and every book!

9-11
well, the one-year anniversary is over, without catastrophe thank gods. here are the musings on the day from the d-plan website--some good stuff here.

"the air is safe"
at least, that's what the federal epa told residents and wrokers in the downtown nyc area after the 9-11 attacks. and now hundreds of firefighters and other rescue workers are retiring due to chronic lung problems. hey, epa: fuck you and the white horses you'd like to think you rode in on. and chalk one up for the conspiracy theorists, because you really can't trust the government.

la boheme
because i am always trying to be a good g-fry, c. and i are going to see the baz luhrmann production of this on broadway for c's birthday this winter. (he asked to go--this was not 100 percent my idea, i swear.) so now, i must learn what the story is in order to enjoy the evening that much more. yay to advance sales for am ex card holders!

budgeting
one thing about new york that has always been and still is hard to deal with is that it requires a heck of a lot of money to be social. which is why this week there is a new resolution in the works in my head to be much more fiscally responsible than i have in the recent past. (i mean, two vacations within three months!? there will be no more of that.) it's a drag, but i am determined to make it stick...this time! wish me luck, and perhaps you'd like to join me?

bachelorette's night out
oh my goodness...saturday night was my first real bachelorette party experience and it was so much fun. i didn't think it was possible. there was dinner, drinking, comedy club, more drinking, dancing, drinking. and before you know it, it's 5 a.m. and you're at odessa eating eggs. yesterday, of coure, was a wasted day-after, but it was way worth it.

rm
here is where we go for dinner tonight to celebrate mom h's birthday. am looking forward to it--full report to come...

book party
so yes, what steve guttenberg and malachy mccourt have in common is that both of them were at the big party last night for this new book, SO OTHER MIGHT LIVE, a history of the fdny, held at ny's fire museum. we're not quite sure how steve guttenberg got invited, but does it really matter? he seemed very nice. and mr. mccourt was of course a doll. i said hi and got his autograph for c's mom and he gave me a hug and kiss--he's just so cute and st.nick-looking. and other than that, the mayor came and praised the book, and there was local nyc media there and all in all it was a fab event.

malachy mccourt

steve guttenberg

the VMAs
oh, mtv. usually the vma's are a fun, over-the-top thing to watch but this year things seemed a bit, well, off. eminem was just a jerk, jimmy fallon started funny but ended up overshadowed, and the "battle of the bands" hyped to happen between the hives and the vines was such a huge disappointment. the highlight of the evening was pink's speech, which started with the immortal words "i am way too drunk right now...". and would someone please remind the music community that michael jackson is a child molester and shouldn't be applauded. i would love to be a producer for this show--i think it would be nerve-wracking but fun...and then i'd have no one to blame but myself if it wasn't that great :)

bring on the cream sauce
finally will get to use a gift certificate c. got for xmas last year--he and i will be taking the "taste of paris" class described here this october. sounds like good food to make on a chilly fall night.

temple bar
and no summary of dublin would be complete without checking out the other area--besides grafton street--that got a lot of our shopping and eating dollars. (um, euros. sorry.) temple bar is kind of astor-place-ish due to the large clots of punk rock teens that hang out there, but there are also good places to eat, indie film centers, tiny boutiques. all very good things.

guinness storehouse
well, of course. we took the self-guided tour of the guinness storehouse and it was so great! really a very fun tour and you learn something at the same time. the design of the place is really fabulous too. and it all ends with the consumption of a pint in the all-glass bar on the 7th floor, offering a fantastic view of the city below. two thumbs (or pint glasses ) up.

national gallery
popped in here as well to check out the yeats exhibit. really great stuff.

the gaol
went here on sunday for our "tourist day" of sightseeing. very good tour, and a fascinating place. you may recognize it from its use in the movie "in the name of the father."

grafton street
grafton street is synonymous with shopping, thus it is where i spent most of my last couple of days in the city. such great europe-only stores, i tell you.

howth, ireland
this is the town where c's aunts and uncles live, just north of dublin. went there for dinner sunday and had such fun...and so much alcohol. but anyway, this is part of the peninsula upon which howth (say: hoe-th) lies--a gorgeous view over the bay...which i would imagine is even better in good weather.

bewley's oriental cafe
i am not making up the name--this nineteenth-century cafe is where we had our breakfast most mornings. consisting, of course, of mostly bacon and/or sausage, because i am convinced ireland has the best of these items on the planet. low-fat this vacation was not.

slane castle 2002
saturday was devoted to slane castle's 2002 music festival. i really cannot describe properly how weird it was, but let me try. c. and i caught a bus out there around 1, ending up outside the town (village, really) of slane around 2. there is a bit of a trek to the castle gates, during which you are made to get rid of you beverages, but you can keep food. at the big stone gate your are robbed of your umbrella. and then you walk down a narrow path in the woods for about a half-hour. and EVERYONE else around is drunk. puking and falling and fighting with strangers drunk. and it is humid and close. and you eventually get inside and you realize that there literally are 60K people here today for this festival. the venue is a huge sloping hill on the castle lawn, with a big stage at the bottom--a natural ampitheater. there are two huge bars on each end of the lawn, and a rank of food and t-shirt folks at both the back end and the front end of the lawn section devoted to seating. c,. and i sat down finally around 3:30, in time oto only see counting crows (who were really, really good live!), nickelback (um, YEAH), the charlatans (good), and the stereophonics (really good, as ususal). lessons we learned that i now pass on to you: (1) leave earlier from dublin than we did--bands started playing at 12 noon which we did not know until that day. (2) be prepared for everyone there to be wasted beyond belief. i've never seen anything like it any any show i've ever been to. (3) go as far front as possible--that's where the music fans are as opposed to the interested-in-alcohol-only knackers we were surrounded by in the back. (4) bring your own food. (5) slane-specific t-shirts sell out early. (6) leave the venue before the end of the last act--we did this like we normally do at shows in nyc and were very successful in getting back to the buses and back to dublin at a reasonable hour. so there you have it--it was a good if weird show, and i'd totally go again for good bands. wouldn't even hesitate.

st. stephen's green
this green was right near the hotel and served as a lovely place to go for one's morning run, when one could drag oneself out of bed to do said run. have i mentioned yet it barely rained the whole time we were there? it was usually sunny and lovely cool--maybe 70 degrees. real fall weather that makes you happy to be wearing your new jeans.

trinity lodge
this is where we stayed--right in the heart of the south side of dublin, convenient to just about everything. and quite nice, i must say. beware of the stairs, though--five flights sounds easy til you try it for the first time...

the stag's head
in c's family lore, this is the pub of pubs. and it's authentic and old and there is indeed a stag's head over the main bar and a taxidermied fox in the back bar. here is where i learned that it is not masculine to drink a drink called a beer shandy, which is what i was drinking--beer mixed with something called red lemonade in a half-pint glass. to that i say who cares if it's masculine? i am a girl and will drink what i please. and it was good.

book your flights now
am back from dublin. i haven't had this much fun on vacation since probably paris, and it was a different kind of fun. a let's drink and eat lots and walk about a very cool ancient city kind of fun. a let's buy new bath towels and pricey silver earrings on the same day kind of fun. a can you believe it hasn't rained in three days kind of fun. you must go. you really must.

all-american family
fascinating piece about an extended crime family in oregon, and the hereditary nature of criminal behavior.

archived!
(appropriate, no?)