My pitas page

my, my metrocard
rocked out to le tigre saturday night. they have such a good live show, with the matching outfits and coordinated dance moves. the worst part was we thought we'd get there late enough to miss the opening band, but sadly the opening act had not even gone on when we arrived. so we had to sit through the electronica/performance art of "my robot friend". which is, in case you were wondering, a guy who dresses up as a robot.

whitney biennial
checked this out this weekend. all the artsy-fartsy types are saying this was the worst one yet, too "bland," but i liked it. there was some good stuff here, although i don't think the dark room with sounds should qualfy as art. best parts: the stretched out phone booth, the feminist stained glass, and the video installation of houses and foley effects.

portugal planning gone awry
it turns out a travel warning has been issued for americans in southern spain. basically, americans should not be driving there because roadblocks have led to bad and violent experiences for said americans. now, the plan for may had been to spend a couple days in lisbon then drive to seville. taking this new warning into consideration we said, perhaps we should take the train to seville. BUT it turns out the only way to get to seville from lisbon by train is to connect in madrid...which takes a bit of time. now the plan is: forget spain for the time being. we've booked a hotel for the full week in lisbon just so we know we have a place to stay, and will think further about our spain options a little later. i mean, the "worst case scenario" is we hang out in portugal all week, which i think is a great worst case scenario! more time for the beach!

city council slaying in paris
what is WRONG with people? this story is just so chilling. but here's a question: what on earth does the city council of nanterre need 40 (!) council members for? ah, the french. on a totally unrelated topic: phantom planet last night at the village underground. the average age of the crowd was maybe 19, mostly girls, and mostly wasted, waiting for the abercrombie-esque lead singer to croon in their general direction. the band played for MAYBE 40 minutes--i was home before 11 p.m.! it was just unsettling. but i liked the club because it was nice and small and there was not a bad vantage point in the room. and they're a fun band to see live--lots of amazement over the fact that this room full of people was there to hear them, you know?

the village underground
never been to this venue, so should be a fun and exciting show tonight for movie star band phantom planet. i know it might be considered selling out to like them, but that "california" song is good.

blissgloss
i am such a huge nerd and let me tell you why. this is the best tinted lip gloss around, but i thought it could only be purchased at bliss spas, and who is ambitious enough to go there just to buy lip makeup? well, turns out sephora carries it, so this is going to Totally Change My Life. no more heavy lipstick! only pretty pinky gloss! i can't wait for spring...

arthur who?
for everyone who wondered last night what arthur hiller ever did...

the muse asylum
i've given up on reading "confessions of a shopaholic" because it's just too, well, girlie in a bad way right now. have taken up this novel instead, which is very easy to read (50 pages in less than a half-hour!) and thus i think will serve as a good way to get me back to reading fiction. plus it's short, so there's no long-term commitment. [on a separate note: yay on russell crowe losing out so petulantly last night at the oscars. i thought he would stand up and shake his fist at denzel he looked so cross. hee-hee!]

44 & X
dinner here tonight. best part--so close to home on what's sure to be a chilly, windy evening.

ruby foo's
i love this place. just had such a good lunch there, complete with tower piece of chocolate cake. (yes, i shared.)

britney spears, restauranteur
can't wait to see the people who go there.

so cute!
must. not. buy. another. purse-y thing.

everything but the...
ate an Entire Pint of this ben & jerry's flavor last night while watching cosby show re-runs on nick at night. the best way to spend an evening, especially when it's cold and damp outside and warm and cozy in one's apartment.

blind item
which big-shot in the publishing world is going to be in the hot seat this month, answering uncomfortable questions about a book that takes some serious artistic license with people, places, and criminal testimony?

new book
finished my teddy roosevelt bio on saturday, after three months of plugging away valiantly at it. new reading choice is a bit of a palate-cleanser: "confessions of a shopaholic." i should be ready for some serious lit once again when i've finished it!

free morning-after emergency contraception
in britain, silly, not here! did you really think we puritanical americans would be logical enough to do that?

white stripes
on letterman tonight. will make a good effort to stay up and watch.

spring fling 4-miler
allow me to be a geek for a minute. a. and i ran this yesterday with the goal of four miles in 40 minutes, a fair pace. instead we finished at just UNDER 40 minutes, which is so impressive to us we are ready to explode. so go us. next race: 8k in april....followed by a half-marathon in may. terribly exciting.

d-plan and dcfc
so STOKED (yes, stoked) for them tonight at the bowery ballroom. i am assuming the first show last night was fab, and this will follow suit.

real nerd rock
the rock bottom remainders. you can't make this stuff up, folks.

the urge to merge
everyone's doing it, so why not us? i especially like how we're described: "small publisher of relatively erudite non-fiction." i'm going to start using that when telling people what i do.

mmm...sticky toffee pudding
(i think that says it all)

if you live in chicago...
...and you want to see in person the terribly needy author who called me at home last night at 11 p.m., head here thursday night. and i know, chicago-friend, that i owe you an e-mail. i swear it will come soon!

bad haircut
have you ever gone to get your hair cut and asked for the person to take off a half-inch and ended up with at least three inches of your hair missing? that would be the story of my experience last night with "sting" at the dramatics at 57th and 9th. he knew what i wanted, and ignored it, and my almost-shoulder-length hair is now barely-at-my-chin hair. i cried for a good ten minutes last night, which i know is so lame and girly, but i worked HARD to grow that out, dammit! the up side: i won't have to go for a haircut for at LEAST four months, which will save a bit of dosh.

oscars contest
time for the annual washingtonpost.com oscar pick contest. if you win: free year of dvd rentals from blockbuster and a "lord of the rings" gift basket, which i am terribly curious about. i heartlessly filled in my form, with almost no awards going to LOTR...though i said it would win 5 in all cause think for a lot of the technical stuff it's a shoe-in. we shall see.

alias
ok, the food here was so good, despite the teensy bit of a delay in getting it. make a reservation, wear hip clothes, and settle in for the night. and get the "chicken fried portobello muchroom" entree. terrific!

so in-the-know
looking forward to dinner here tonight. despite being LES, likely won't be L-priced. sigh...but capping off a night of shopping with swell food is the way to live. right, credit card companies o' mine?

c-murder
does anyone besides me think it's really funny that a rapper known as c-murder is up for alleged murder? i mean, is that a case of nature or nuture? were his name c-armadillo, or c-hotfudgesundae, would he still be a killah?

spiritualized, are we?
the next month or two is going to be full of such good rock i can barely stand it. this month: dismemberment plan/death cab; pahntom planet; le tigre. next month: white stripes; spiritualized. may: belle & sebastian. and that is just as of today. love nyc, baby. i guess if one cannot live in london, this is the best place to hear the bands that matter.

lisbon
airline tickets are booked. may in portugal and southern spain. how lucky can one get? [i feel it is my duty as a conspicuously-consuming american to let you all know that airfares to europe are still quite cheap up through may--so start traveling.]

marseille
one year anniversary dinner here last night. the food, in short, was so good. it's impossible to have a romantic table--everything is very bustling and so on, as new york restaurants tend to be. but as this reviewer says: the peanut butter tart with celery sorbet is quite the crowning achievement.

gooooo strokes!
winning piles of awards at the nme carling's.

hateful
that would be what people are that assign you huge heaps of work for an off-site meeting in two days, which they only just officially told you about while assigning you said huge heap of work. did i mention this happened at 4:30 p.m.? oh, to be someone in charge and not just a lowly drone...

senator wellstone has m.s.
but really the reason this is posted is for the last paragraph of the story. the way it reads, it seems that someone actually asked the senator if the reason he was disclosing his m.s. is because of "the west wing" storyline in which president bartlet gets censured because he didn't disclose his m.s. diagnosis. the senator claims he doesn't watch the show...but i have my doubts about that. [an aside: praise be that the olympics are finally over--new "ed" and "w.w." episodes this week!]

vote in the nme carling awards
you've got til about 1:30 pm EST today to vote for who gets these prizes from "new music express" magazine in jolly olde englande. don't worry that they're brits--you know most of the acts nominated.

park slope event...
ok, park slope fans and dwellers (and fans of dwellers): author event at community bookstore in park slope. wednesday, march 20, 7:30 p.m., radical feminist andrea dworkin, who is actually sweet as pie. you know you wanna go...if only to fill the chairs so your publicist buddy doesn't get fired.

nyc marathon
i may have mentioned before my fantasy of running the nyc marathon this year with alana. well, last night we went to a clinic that is designed to half scare the crap out of you about ever running the marathon, and half make you want it more than anything else in the world, including food and shelter. we won't hear about whether we've been chosen in the lottery to run until mid-june, but a. and i have made a pact that if we don't get into the nyc one, we'll run another 26.2-miler somewhere else. so by the end of the year i'll be a marathoner. i guess that's my belated new year's resolution.

lisbon, again
cross your fingers for me, ok? the re-booking of this trip could be done as soon as next week--there's nothing like the beaches of europe in late may...

i love baby ducks
last night there was an ad for a "#1 country" cd that one cannot buy in stores, but can only buy through a toll-free number. there was one song that captivated me with its first line: "i love baby ducks." so promising! a song about baby ducks! but then the ad moved on to the next featured song and performer. so i give to you the lyrics in full to the song "i love" by tom t. hall.

exclusively at target
a cd of 7 U2 remixes!

bbc tv
last night, because i am such a social butterfly, i watched a totally fascinating programme on bbc america called "castaway b.c." it's like survivor, but people didn't get money for playing--they volunteered to live for 6 weeks in an "iron age" community. in other words: living mud huts, killing your own food, getting strange hygiene-related viruses, wearing burlaps sacks. and all the participants were british which made it so veddy proper...though the voice-over guy kept trying to inject drama by saying things like "but the camraderie would only last FOR SO LONG."

o'lunney's pre show
i don't know what it is about this place, but c. and i always, ALWAYS end up here when hungry in times square. i guess it's because the food isn't bad, and there's always a seat because the place is huge. at any rate: went here before the rufus show last night, which was so good. he's such a performer, which is how i like my rock stars. and his sister is cute as a button, even if she doesn't wear a bra and it's kinda distracting. oh, and: rufus sang the jeff buckley song "hallelujlia", which is one of my favorite songs ever and he did such a lovely job of it it brought tears to one's eyes.

u2 european tour
if this is true...and c. and i could get tix for dublin while there this summer...i could truly say i'll die a happy girl. besides loving (loving!) u2, i adore those idiots in oasis. they are so rock star.

ru-fus! ru-fus!
cannnot wait to spend this made up holiday of luv with best boy listening to rufus croon. should be a fab show.

agent provocateur
it is such a problem to have caviar taste but a tinned tuna pocketbook. if i could, i would clothe myself in this company's underpants every day for the rest of my life. (not the same pair every day, mind you. i am not THAT crazy.) alas, it cannot be...but at least it's a cool website.

sushi yasuda
i have had a lot of sushi around this city over the last coupla years, but this is the best place i've been yet. and it's no cheap thrill, but the aesthetics are so peaceful and the sushi itself is so good. (and there is actually space between tables! and the waitstaff isn't harried!)

runner's world log
i don't know if there are any anal-retentive running types reading this page...but if there are i hope you have found the "training log" feature on the runner's world magazine website. it rocks! it graphs your progress, tells you when it's time to buy new running shoes, and even offers training plans to up your performance. i am addicted.

oscar nominees out
ok, so while i know it won't happen, i would LOVE for lord of the rings to win in every single category it's nominated in. i can dream, right?

ultimate manilow
i just love the name of this cd. it's part of mom's feel-better-while-stuck-in-bed-at-the-physical-therapy-center present. the other part is a discman upon which to listen to the cd. looking forward to seeing her; not looking forward to the greyhound ride that stands between nyc and western massachusetts, though.

kelly can be testy,
but the stereophonics put on a good show last night at irving plaza nonetheless. first, to get the girlie bit out of the way: lead singer kelly is so much more dreamy than in the band's videos. a little short, we think, but definitely cute in that i-could-be-bono-in-these-shades kind of way. the crowd last night was about 90 percent irish or english, and VERY excited about the show. some even brought flags to show their national pride. all in all: being home by 12:30 on a school night after seeing a couple hours of brit rock is the best feeling ever.

stereophonics
here, tonight, for some brit pop-rock fun. should be a good time. i could use a little relaxation and bopping-around-in-place-as-dance-form.

barry manilow tickets for sale
yes, i know you think of me as ultra-hip, but...i have two barry manilow tickets for sale and i want to know if you want them! the show is friday feb. 8 at radio city music hall; the tickets are for two seats together in the orchestra section. i paid $120 for the pair, but price is negotiable. e-mail me at nerdgirl@angelfire.com if you're interested, ok? i would SO appreciate it. [UPDATE: never mind--i've had a taker. yay!]

let's go patriots!
and go they did. i cannot believe they won, even though i was rooting for them (despite my lapse at the 1:30 mark in the fourth quarter when i despaired of them breaking that pesky tie). i'm a non-football person, but boy did it feel terrific for new england to finally, FINALLY bring home a trophy. and in such a good game! and do i even need to mention how great U2 was at halftime!? i think not--they were the highlight of the show up until those last two minutes.