My pitas page

bakari kitwana tonight
come on by barnes & noble astor place to hear the nicest author ever talk hip-hop politics. 7:30 p.m., be there or be, well, not there, i guess.

ok, so
i know you are all dying to hear about the run yesterday. don't try to deny it. basically, i did ok for a first time half-marathoner. i ran faster than i thought i would, coming in at 2:16:37. not that i'm counting. and then chowed on good brunch with lady friends and hit this place for my first ever massage. i think i have opened pandora's box on this one--one visit per month for the rest of my marathon training is going to be a requirement. and today" sore, but not overly so. i can walk and function, which is basically as good as it gets on regular days. so no complaints.

epa cleanups near ground zero
so this makes me angry, that epa is now saying it will clean and test apartments in the wtc area. i think they waited just long enough to announce this plan so that they would have a VERY low number of people ask for the service. by now, everyone has cleaned up already and/or had testing done on their own dime. and you know what else this "plan" says to me? that there maybe is something to the concerns of all those "crazy" residents who were/are concerned about air quality in the area. i remember sitting at meetings and listening to epa officials say that there was nothing wrong with the air, testing levels were what they should be, and all i could think was: bull-shit. there's no way the air was ok down there then, and OF COURSE testing now will show that the air is ok because it's had 8 months to clear. just another example of our government at work, kids: too little too late.

tickets on sale today
today was quite the boom day for various online ticket merchants: am going to see the hives at bowery ballroom on 6/13 and chris isaak at jones beach 7/13. who says 13 is an unlucky number?

les halles
went here for lunch with cool freelance journo girl. had duck confit frisee salad. did you ever think such a yummy thing existed? nor did i til i ate every last bit. yay on the new work neighborhood--and on drinking wine with lunch. so executive-like am i.

belle & sebastian
saw them last night at the hammerstein, and i am in luv. they truly understand what being a live band is all about. s&b played for about 2 hours, bantered with the audience, did a brilliant rendition of "staying alive," sang happy birthday to a girl in the crowd, pulled a reluctant audience member on stage to dance, and there were never less than about 14 people on stage in the band all night, what with the string section and all. i don't know a lot of their stuff by heart, but they projected such energy that one didn't need to know all the words to bop around and get dazzled by the spinning, saturating lights and leave the place with a huge goddam smile. i wish i was going again tonight--really, really good.

sexy beast
rented this on saturday night, and i have to say i was kind of expecting something...better. ben kingsley was good, but overall, there really wasn't much to this film. lovely spanish scenery is the best i can do. i cannot wait for vacation (16 days, in case you were wondering).

believe the hype
or not. saw spiderman on saturday and it was a lovely summer movie, as summer movies go. good special effects and toby maguire--whatever he may be like in real life--has quite a nice bottom. kirsten dunst annoys me, but williem defoe is so naturally creepy looking that i was distracted. and we got to have an 11 year old in our company which really was the best part. he loooooved it, which is just so great. kids are cool.

veuve cliquot
which publishing house had buckets and buckets of this bubbly on friday night to celebrate themselves in a fashion very much opposed to the fiscal restraint it has been urging its staff to practice for months? :)

"enablers"
i think marty arnold is trying to pay book publicists a compliment in this piece, but it's kind of hard to tell. basically, we are champions for the author, helpmates to the journalist, and constantly striving for the literacy of america. except when we're being pushy, i guess. then we're just annoying and to be treated as less than less itself.

petrossian
here last night for book party. it's not really as lavish on the inside as you would think a caviar place would be, but the building it's housed in is quite lovely. i did get to have champagne, though, and eensy weensy finger foods. so what the heck.

friend of a farmer
with one of the best restaurant names in nyc, i think, good place to have dinner last night with the girls. american food, kinda quiet to talk, and pretty centrally located off union square. and the cornbread. ah, cornbread. i should have been a pioneer. i would have done well surviving on cornbread.

half-marathon ALONE
there is a very real chance that i am going to run this half-marathon by myself in less than 2 weeks since running friend has a hurt foot that is not getting better. i am terrified. 13.1 miles is a long time to listen to one's own breathing. but perhaps you would like to meet up after for brunch and see if i can still walk? if nothing else, it could be terribly amusing for you.

elmer mccurdy, outlaw, deceased
this is the guy whose life we are going to try to turn into a best-seller, starting with bea this coming weekend. and i get to work on the book, which is going to be such fun. on a related note, i finished "the amazing adventures of kavalier & clay" this weekend and boy was it goooooood. very good. right up there with "white teeth" as an enjoyable read. so now i am confronted with what to read next...and i fear the answer is: work-related or vacation-related books til that plane ride to portugal. i think for that i will start a whoile new big fun pleasureable book. but for now i am all about practicality.

bookexpo america
this is where i'll be on friday and sunday--hawking our fall wares to the bookselling and book-reviewing community. i'm actually pretty excited--i've never been allowed to go to bea before, so i think it will be a surreal, valuable experience.

black rebel motorcycle club & spiritualized
saw these two bands last night at the beacon theater, a good show overall, with kick-ass lighting. cool brmc t-shirt purchased. the weird bits: the show was supposed to start at 8, and it started at 8:20--ever so punctual. brmc for some reason was only allowed to play four songs. spiritualized, however, played for almost 2 hours, but they didn't really play hi-energy stuff til the second half of their set, which made it hard for the sleepy peeps in the audience (yeah, that would be me) to be enthusiastic about the first hour of their music. i guess it was the new stuff that was a bit too jam-y for me, while their older stuff had more rock to its roll. no matter--it was quite the people-watching scene at the beacon, and good music is still good music, no matter how long it takes to get to it. (note: mr. pierce of spiritualized wore shiny silver pants. they were so cool.)

d.c. animals
i'm so sad i missed the unveiling of these painted donkeys and elephants that will decorate the city's public areas for the next few weeks. sure it's a total ripoff of chicago's cows on parade, but there's something about colorful animals i just can't resist.

girl golfers and fashion
interesting piece, in a way, about golf fashion for ladies on the lpga tour. i didn't realize that golf was so fashion-forward these days...now if only golf clubs would allow them to dress realistically. (and men too, of course. it's hot out there and to not allow shorts is just mean.)

bar in the hood
went here for drinks after work last night, since it's so conveniently located next to offices of me and c. and even c.'s mum. nice space, but a bit expensive: $8 for a gin and tonic. puh-leeze--it's not exactly the ritz, you know?

new 9-5 home
and after this whirl-wind weekend, arrived this rainy monday morning at our brand new corporate offices, which look pretty hip i must say. i still have a window office, and my space is about the same size, so i am happy. will be happier still tomorrow when i can come in and do work instead of unpacking!

washington national
next morning found us here after a pleasant metro ride, way early for our flight. security is not that tight, kids, don't believe the hype. also, we saw barely any protestors this weekend, when they were supposed to be there by the bucketful. i think we weren't in the right place at the right time. however, we DID see about half the world bank conference attendees, all of whom were staying at our hotel. made us feel quite continental.

and then, sadness
desiring a light dinner, we went to cafe luna, my fave cheap-eats option in dc. i ordered my beloved 10-veggie salad, ate most of it, and then found a dead bug hiding under a lettuce leaf. ew...fond memories now tarnished.

lethargic after all that art
c. and i retired to the hotel, fearing more rain, and made ourselves ill on chex mix and soda.

then, the national gallery of art
because it certainly looked like rain. but it was good because we got some culture: saw this goya exhibit, and another one about the works of christo (the guy who puts umbrellas on hillsides and wraps buildings and stuff).

then we popped in here
(national botanical garden = booooring.)

my country tis of thee
after killing time at the great starbucks in dupont circle, where we were able to snag an outdoors table, we trekked via metro to the u.s. capitol building so c. could climb the steps and shout "i'm king of the world." sadly in our post-911 world, climbing the steps is no longer an option. so we mostly hung around at the base, and at the little reflecting pool, watching tour groups get the pictures taken.

clyde's of georgetown
went here for good old fashioned burgers and artichoke dip friday night. walking through georgetown was so weird--there's a pottery barn, an aldo shoes...very chain-y where it wasn't before. but some things don't change: still the cruising strip it used to be. i didn't think people had neon lights under their cars anymore, but i guess i was wrong.

imax afternoon
got to d.c. on friday afternoon, then sat for a long time inside the "old post office pavillon" while it poured and poured. after it let up, went to the air and space museum to check out the brand-spanking new imax film, "space station 3d." mr. cruise himself was just in town that week to promote its release. it was way cool, in my space geek opinion.

thor heyerdahl dead at 87
"who?" said c., when i correctly gave this adventurer's name as a jeopardy answer one recent morn. we had to read "kon tiki" in 8th grade history, and while it's not the best-written book in the world, it's a great story. he crossed the pacific in a 40-foot raft. doesn't get more harrowing than that.

powerpuff power!
so many good movies coming out this summer. i may have to dress up in costume to go see this one. on a separate note, today is our last day here in these corporate offices. the company is moving to the "NoMad" neighborhood (north of madison square park) over the weekend, so when next i write i will theoretically be gazing out my new office window onto park ave. south. after a long weekend in our nation's capital, of course, which i am SO looking forward to. cross your fingers for me that neither of my authors on tour needs me til next week.

hot enough for ya?

super ant colony in europe
yeah, that would be right where i'm heading for vacation. cnn just showed a map of where this huge ant colony is...basically it goes from italy across spain and up the coast of portugal. i will pause while you think about how icky that is.

my next book
(the one i'm reading, not writing, silly.) i finished "atonement" last night, and it was quite good. let's just say: you think you know, but you have no idea. now i am finally going to read "the amazing adventures of kavalier and clay," which i have been looking forward to for quite some time but something always came up. and i know some of you out there have read it and enjoyed it, which makes me happy. i like knowing (a) i hang out with people who read for pleasure, and (b) those people like the sort of books i fancy myself liking, too.

one of the many things
i love about having a live-in boy is that some nights i do not have to cook dinner, yet i still get to eat yummy things like this, upon which a salmon fillet wrapped in proscuitto is perched. i try to repay the favor as best i can, but there's really no contest as to who in the house is a Good Cook and who is a Rank Amateur. however, i have managed to somehow pull ahead of the pack in day-by-day calendar "jeopardy!", so i'll console myself with that talent for now.

new glasses
i'm giving them a test run today by wearing them to work, and thus far one person has said they look like ashleigh banfield glasses. which amuses me, since that's who i thought of when i tried them on. her super-journo skills have not rubbed off on me yet, but i'll keep you posted.

new england scenery
tomorrow i get to experience that bizarre sort of meeting for work that takes you longer to get to and from than it does to sit through said meeting. taking the train to new haven with co-worker j so we can sit silently through our imprint's sales conference presentation. we are there for face time, to show our support for the humble regional sales reps, who toil to sell our bound pieces of paper to bookstores, who then toil to sell same bound pieces of paper to the public. it presents a moral dilemma: the train ride is 103 minutes each way to new haven. does one bring work, or does one finish "atonement", because one is at the point in the book where Everything Comes Together. i can't even believe i stopped reading it last night, because someone just walked through a door and you KNOW it's a pivotal moment--pivotal beyond pivotal. but i was sleepy, and sleepy generally wins over pivotal i find.

swim-swim
portugese beaches, here i come! (i got the red one, not the blue.)

the masters
due to this big golf thingie happening this weekend, i am planning some good quality time by myself, writing various press kits, tending to female beauty rituals, and perhaps even doing more apartment decorating. should be fun.

p. diddy in the hizzouse
ok, not really. but went to his restaurant last night for a book party. what sort of book? is it any good? let me simply say: it's a self-published spy thriller. at any rate, the decor was cheesecake factory-ish, and due to hordes of people hanging out by the kitchen door i only got to sample one little crab cake ball. it was a good crab cake ball, though, so perhaps their "soul food" deserves further investigation. (though i'm more looking forward to hitting britney's restaurant next month when it opens.)

sigh
did not go to the mooney suzuki show last night. because doing the math of doors-opening time, the sets for the two opening bands...the m.s. would have gone on stage around 1 a.m. which is just too damn late on a school night. and just saying that out loud makes me feel ever so old. but, i'll buy their album to show my (somewhat lame) support for their good rock.

washington d.c. protests
looks like the romantique long weekend c. and i were planning for in d.c. will include several thousand of our closest friends. do we have great luck picking vacation destinations or what?

kate spade, my eye!
in the spirit of checking things off of my life "to do" list, i finally went to the eye doctor yesterday for the first time in over two years. AND aside from getting an updated contact lens prescription, i ordered new eyeglasses to finally replace the ones i've had since sophomore year in college. i adore them--they make me look like a kinder, gentler ashleigh banfield. kate spade's website doesn't have her regular eyeglasses designs on it, but you can extrapolate from how fun her sunglasses are that the regular kind are just as likeable.

muscle pain considered, as well
just signed up for this Half-Marathon. all i can say is: at least i'll be getting a cool goodie bag and free massage out of it. (and a sense of achievement and all that hoo-ha.)

the panic room, also considered
saw this this weekend, and what fun! you totally know how it'll all turn out, but there is suspense and intensity and much high-tech gear. jodie foster is good, the kid is good, and i just want to hug that forest whitaker chap. david fincher makes everything he touches ominous and monochromatic, and i mean that as a compliment. who knew that manhattan real estate was not only evil, but Ominous?

white stripes, considered
went to their show at the bowery ballroom on saturday night. they're a good band...but perhaps my headache was what made me irritated to be there more than anything else. wait, let me modify that: it was the other people there that irritated me more than anything else. basically, the place was packed (yes, i know it was sold out and that's what happens at sold out show, but still), and every single tall guy there, except c. of course who is courteous, decided to stand right in front of me and: HEADBANG. yes, ladies and germs, headbanging was the byword of the day. i was mystified; the white stripes are not a headbanging band. they are a head*bobbing* band, but the more dokken-like dancing just doesn't seem to go with them. that said: the guy who opened was "eh", and meg was adorable with her lip-biting, head-swaying way of playing da drums, and jack just rocked and screamed and was good. but it was not a show that filled you with the joy of rock and the gorgeousness of life. which is sad, because they really are a good band...don't know what happened. i was just happy not to be someone who paid $200 on ebay for my ticket.

nuts to ya!
don't throw salty snacks at this guy's car...you'll be "cruisin for a bruisin" if you do. (ha!)

marion barry
when i lived in d.c. i loved marion barry in the perverse way you love to watch a messed-up person continue to be messed up. once again, he's been found with drugs in his general vicinity, and thus he's withdrawing from the city council race. he's a kind of al sharpton for d.c., the somewhat embarassing thorn-in-the-side. which, i guess, is a necessary and lovely part of our country's political system.

max
went to the east village branch of this little italian place last night with h. and i cannot stress enough how good the food was. i had a delicious, melty fettucini with meat sauce (was allowed to super-carb-load due to 5-mile race tomorrow). yes, it's cramped, and i don't know if i'd wait two hours for a table on a weekend, but it was good. and you should go.

the mooney suzuki
so excited to see this band tuesday night. not as excited as i am for the white stripes this weekend, of course, but close. i bet they'll have great t-shirts for sale, the both of them.

the west wing
ok, so the west wing last night was fab, as usual, and almost made me cry at the end when donna and the president are talking to her old english teacher on the phone. but: all of a sudden we're supposed to think that the VP is a nice guy...after they've spent 2 seasons demonizing him. but as of yesterday everyone is holding hands and singing kumbaya and they Really Do like each other. i am suspicious. i wonder if some betrayal is in the works. et tu, hoynes?

1-800-flowers
because nothing says you're sorry for cursing at your book publicist like tulips and daisies, right? especially when the card contains a non-apology apology. that's the way to show female solidarity!

strokes-struck
julian punches a record label executive. so rock-n-roll; they are starting to rival oasis in the "dreamy bad boy" category.

"if you're going to have a cookie,
have a cookie!" says the slogan of pepperidge farms. advice which i followed to a ghastly extent last night when, still a teensy bit tipsy from the wine a. and i had at the fab restaurant linked to below, i decided i could use a little taste of mint milano. it all started so innocently...and now we are VERY low on mint milanos in da house.

le pere pinard
looking forward to some francais food this evening with paris-travel-companion a. i don't mind erratic service, after all, if it's part of the euro vibe.