My pitas page

the strokes
they rocked the house last night at the hammerstein ballroom, and i think every resident of williamsburg can back me up on that (it was that kinda crowd). it was a shame they were opened for by two of the most god-awful bands i've seen in quite some time. the papaya kings=bad surf music with gogo dancers. the moldy peaches=bad teen angst music without gogo dancers. but the strokes delivered a great set, hitting their stride around the third song. there was a lot of pogo-ing and moshing down on the floor, the highlight of which was the guy in the full-on bunny costume (hey, it WAS halloween). lead singer casablancas has a real verbal crutch issue with the word "fuckin" but that's ok. i especially liked that they did no encores; in the words of said lead singer "we've got two more songs. have some fuckin fun."

run for the border
last night was taco night while watching the evil yankees play ball. glad they won though, because i do like this city even if i hate their team.

space ages
this little calculator lets you find out how old you'd be on another planet (in our solar system only, i'm afraid). it makes me even more at ease with the fact that i'm getting older--i would not want to live on neptune, for example, and be less than a year old and have to go through my awkward teenage years All Over Again! once was enough, thank you kindly.

vacation cancellation
it doesn't even improve my mood that that little headline rhymes. the vacation for europe around new year's has been cancelled due to the very high muslim population in southern spain and portugal. we have one year to use our airline tickets, though, so let's all cross our fingers that this whole war thing has settled down a bit by next summer.

2 good 2 be 4gotten
i saw u2 last night, live, in concert, from the very top row at continental airlines arena. and it was easily the best big show i've seen since (believe it or not) i saw them on the popmart tour many moons ago. i have to say they have overtaken r.e.m. as my most favorite band ever. but i digress: the stereophonics opened and they are a very good dark pop band from britain. i highly recommend getting their new disc. the lead singer was, we think, a bit drunk, which is always a promising sign in a british pop band. then u2 came out and played just about every song one could hope for: elevation, beautiful day, new york, sunday bloody sunday, where the streets have no name, all i want is you, bullet the blue sky, in the name of love, one, and so many more that i cannot remember all the names. the show lasted almost 2 hours, included 2 encores, and even i got all teary when they scrolled the names of the flight victims and lost firefighters/nypd folks. the lighting was of course great, as was the heart-shaped walkway and moving video screens. musicians who know how to act like rock stars: so dreamy. (it was in fact also a t-shirt-worthy event so if you see me wearing a baseball-jersey-lookin shirt, you'll know where i got it...especially after you see the U2 on the back, i guess.)

VERY bad author
i can't even tell you how bad because i am on the verge of throwing something out the window. suffice to say he is not getting a christmas card from me this year. but please buy his book...

movers
hiring these folks to move us. so happy i could cry.

welcome to the neighborhood
late this afternoon i get the keys to the new pad and begin officially (with c., of course) to become a resident on hell's kitchen. i am so looking forward to it.

death cab for cutie
to whom i will be rocking out on saturday night. they sing a song called "lowell, mass.", one of the places in massachusetts that you never would think could inspire song. (and need i even mention who plays on sunday night in new jersey that i will be watching? only the best band around, my friends...full u2 update on monday, though i look forward to hearing about last night's show from amy at some point before then.)

bad author
i can't even begin to tell you how bad. but i still naively hope he will redeem himself, and hopefully before close-of-business today.

the alienist
i gave up on the salman rushdie a while ago. too dense for this point in time in life, i'm afraid. so now i am reading this book, which came out in hardcover the summer i worked at the barnes & noble in enfield, ct. never bothered with it then, mostly because i was pretty sick of people buying it. i am totally digging the historical new york setting, though i am still waiting for the characters to flesh out a bit. on the down side, it is making me have mass-murderer-after-me-and-my-loved-ones dreams. but i guess that's the price one pays for literature, right?

ew
topless bjork, painfully pierced.

next step
now that the apartment is good to go, it's time to find stuff to put in it, wouldn't you agree?

the evils of nicotine
going out for cigarettes got this taliban guy captured. it sounds like something that would happen to me--it's just such goofy bad luck.

the foundry
BIG UPDATE: c. and i are in like flynn. lease gets signed tomorrow. yay!

living in the now
you guys all know how bad i am at not having my life exactly in order. well, tonight c. and i go to look at a short-term furnished studio rental from this company. basically, as long as there are no drug dealers or large rats inside the actual unit, we'll take it. it's only for a month, right? and on nov. 1 we start looking for a permanent place to live. wish us luck on the housing and legal fronts. [a side note: short-term furnished housing in nyc is SO EXPENSIVE.]

libel checklist
for example, would me and boy doing an interview with fox 5 news about our apartment situation and our landlord's refusal thus far to break our lease be libelous? i think not, according to this handy checklist. but we'll still try to put them off til next week--no need to get chuckie-the-owner-rep mad at us until we have a lawyer.

coppola's
perhaps the wine from this restaurant on saturday night helped make "corky romano" funny. but whatever--good prices, good food, and i was called "madam". eep.

corky romano
went to see this movie this weekend. while no one will be getting statuettes for their performances, it was indeed stupid-funny. and i have almost gotten down pat my imitation of chris kattan's girl scout cookie line.

really, really sick
someone is making an independent film about a group of people trapped under the rubble of the WTC and their struggle to escape. so very gross and so very wrong.

green wins democratic run-off
my vote was not in vain--mark green will be the dem running for mayor on nov. 6, when i must remember once again to go and vote. why did i pick him...i wish i had some really great reasons, but i don't. basically: he's a democrat, he thinks it would be ok to have guiliani stick around for a slightly longer-than-normal transition period, and he seems to understand a bit better than ferrer that this whole wtc thing has changed everything. so yay green.

tori amos
a shout out to catherine (yay) for passing along info on a friend's friend who was trying to get rid of her tickets for tomorrow night's show. it looks like i got them, and thus c. and i will be rocking out with our bad selves tomorrow night at the beacon. also fun because i've never been there and i bet it'll be a cool venue. the question: to t-shirt or not to t-shirt? i mean, u2 is decidedly a t-shirt-able concert. i guess it will depend on the t-shirts available. good design can be very persuasive.

gideon yago
chris thinks he's a goof. i think he's kind of cute and, really, who wouldn't want the job of reporting news for mtv at age 23? anyway, i just got off the phone with him; he wants to chat with one of my authors. too bad said author is in freaking afghanistan right now. but cross your fingers that this works out ok? trl passes for everyone!

chicama
where i went for a business lunch today. it was yummy, and deserted. i felt bad for the one waiter working all the tables, even though only about four tables were being used. it's just not a good feeling to be in a place that's usually butstling and find it anything but. so go have some ceviche!

la vineria
where we went last night for dinner with my boss. good food, actually, despite what this little blurb says. and a cute, cozy place too.

anagram fun!
i am blatantly stealing this link from stacy's pita. i can only hope she understands that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

the west wing
last night's terrorism episode was a bit talky, but i think it did a good job of being educational, entertaining, and still kept the characters true to themselves. i especially like that leo flipped out on the arab-american staffer because it shows that nice people can lose it too in times of stress and uncertainty. but i don't think leo should have apologized for his remark about teaching muslim women how to drive--that gender is treated in such an inhumane way that it *should* be our business to work for change on that front. human rights and all.

journalist sensitivity 101
how many of our news folk could have used this tip sheet three weeks ago? i especially like "avoid stupid questions". so many people thought that asking "how do you feel?" would get some sort of really good response from the interviewees. it was just sad instead. i mean, how do you think they feel, ya know?

volunteering with homeless kids
make any jokes you would like about a homeless person like me helping homeless kids. now. the info about it is buried on this page, but i'm going to an orientation in a couple of weeks to help said shelter-dwelling kids with their homework one night a week. i'm pretty excited about it, despite the long-term commitment required. i mean, it's only one hour a week and it's good for everyone invloved. so anyway. i'm looking forward to it. i hope i don't suck.

the satanic verses
i thought as i was buying this book--which i've wanted to read for a while--that it might be a weird time to read it. and then when i started it, i found out how right i was. it opens with a plane hijacked by terrorists exploding over the english channel. other than this weird coincidence, i'm quite enjoying it, though i'm only maybe 25 pages in because i have to read and re-read things very slowly--it's very dense and descriptive and i fear missing bits if i go too fast. it's lovely, though, thus far, in terms of the writing style. you want to reach out and touch the words, as silly as that sounds.

doing my part
to help the economy. here's my brand spanking new winter coat. granted, it is back-ordered until 11/6, but i'll still need it so it's good to know it will someday come. it's lovely--i've wanted a camel-colored coat for so very long. it feels good to finally live the fantasy.

mayoral race
i think i'm going to vote in the democratic run-off on oct. 11, just because i want mark green to win. here's the thing--it's all noble and stuff that ferrer wants to keep the election system exactly as it is. hats off to him for doing what he thinks is right. BUT, i still think mark green is the better leader for the city. and i also think it's a good idea that the transition between administrations take longer than 1.5 months this time around--the city is going through some nutty stuff right now. (while we're at it, i also think term limits are a bad idea but since i'm in the minority on that here in nyc i won't bore you with my goofy and possibly ill-thought-out arguments.) so anyway, if i get my butt to the correct voting station next thursday, green's my man.

saturday night
went to this club saturday night after a brief pop-in at bar code in times square. (bar code: would go back because i feel i didn't get the true sense of it--we couldn't leave the bar level with our drinks to see what games were upstairs.) anyway, it was fun: we managed to snag one of the hipster-doofus booths, drank 'til we were quite drunk, and sang along to p. diddy songs like we were trained professionals. all of this was followed by a 3am stop at the rennaissance diner where i ate So Many french fries...ugh. i can barely think about it without feeling ill, though no physical sickness took place, thank you very much.

concert of the month
there's a big long story that goes along with this, but suffice to say that four of us are going to see u2 in jersey at the end of october. i am so happy i could spit--they're the best big group out there today (in my humble opinion). what fun we shall have!

worldwide madness
a gentleman in switzerland decided that since he had issues with some local government officials, he would kill 14 members of the country's parliament. i really wonder sometimes why people think that this sort of behavior will make their lives better. though in this case the gunman is dead, so i guess he didn't really think this whole thing through anyway.

yankee candle compound
in keeping with the new england theme this weekend, we also went to deerfield for both a craft fair and to visit the huge yankee candle headquarters. gifts were bought in abundance, as well as some stuff for my own apartment, whenever it's ready.

eastern states exposition
it's hard to describe the big e to someone who's never been there, but it's basically a land of fried foods, farm animals, tacky gifts, and new england heritage. i haven't been since high school (!) so going with my parents this weekend was great fun. as good as i remember: the clam fritters in the rhode island building. unfortunately, there were no spin art stations to be found, so none of you will be getting creative frisbees as gifts. i tried.