Day 348/365 - Beer, Nachos, and Star Trek

I missed out on seeing the newest "Star Trek" movie in its first run in theaters. My buddy Chris and I were going to see it on one of our Monday guy night at the movies, but because of scheduling issues we never got around to it. I figured I'd have to wait and catch it on DVD, but then Chris' wife Des noticed that it was playing at the Arlington Cinema 'N Drafthouse and gave us a heads up. So tonight I drank beer, ate nachos and fried mac and cheese, and finally saw "Star Trek."

I think this was the first J.J. Abrams movie that I unreservedly enjoyed. Generally his films fall apart in the final act. Most of the time it's like he has ADD and loses interest in developing a project all the way through to the end, so the last third or so tends to suck and not make much sense. This one was good thoughout, however. It excellently balanced character development, action scenes, romance, and special effects and was perfectly pitched to appeal both to diehard Trek fans and newcomers who didn't know or didn't care about the "Star Trek" universe.

All the key touches were there: Kirk made out with a hot green chick, Bones groused "Dammit, I'm a doctor not a [fill in the blank]," Spock said "fascinating," Scotty said he was giving all the engines had to give, Uhura was hot, Chekov spoke in a bad Russian accent, and the alien baddies got blasted. Yep, that's "Star Trek" all right.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 335/365 - 700 Sundays

Tonight I went to the National Theater to see Billy Crystal's one-man show "700 Sundays." I had never seen Billy Crystal on stage before and I was hoping he was still funny. He was, although the show was also sad. It's a biographical reminiscence of his time growing up on Long Island and the wonderful and eclectic cast of characters that passed through his life. It's funny, sweet, sad, and surprisingly informative. Most of the laughs are to be had in the first half, where I laughed so much my stomach hurt and I got a bit lightheaded. The show takes a more somber turn in the second half, but there are still several funny moments sprinkled throughout.

It's a show about life, love, laughs, and loss. If you're familiar with his work you'll have heard some of the material before, but that doesn't make it any less worth seeing. After it ends, you know so much about Billy Crystal that you feel almost as though he were an old friend of yours. I didn't realize that tonight was the first time he'd performed the show in front of an audience for two years. Despite the long layoff, he was great.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 199/365 - In the Heights

When I decided to make a weekend trip up to New York, I checked to see what shows were playing on Broadway. The pickings were pretty slim. It was mostly just shows I'd already seen and more rehashes of Disney movies. The only show I really wanted to see was the musical "In the Heights." Instead of buying my ticket in advance over the internet, I thought I'd wait and see if I could get a discounted, day of performance ticket from the TKTS booth in Time Square. No such luck, unfortunately. I wound up having to pay full price at the theater box office, but it was money well spent.

"In the Heights" is something pretty rare on Broadway these days -- an original show rather than one based on a movie. The play is set in Washington Heights, a section of upper Manhattan that is home to many Latin immigrants from many lands and islands. The story focuses on a wide cast of characters who are all either trying to follow their dreams or figure out what their dreams actually are. It's a bit of a cross between "La Boheme" and "Romeo and Juliet," with a New York Latin flair. The story is engrossing and keeps you engaged as you wait to see how it all turns out in the end. It's a bit unusual though in that there is no antagonist in the play, apart from the vicissitudes of life and circumstance. The presence of a heavy might have been a good idea and could have tempered or counterbalanced the overall sweetness of the play.

The characters are likeable and well fleshed out for the most part, although some of the minor characters are largely stereotypes. The performers are generally good, especially the male lead Usnavi. The dancers are appropriately energetic and limber and the singers are passable. The set design is good and eschews the trend toward mechanically spectacular staging in favor of a fixed set that conveys the claustrophobic coziness of the neighborhood. The music and songs are good and "In the Heights" is the first musical I've seen that successfully blends singing and rapping without making a mess of either.

It's easy to see why "In the Heights" won the Tony Award for Best Musical. It's just a shame that there aren't more original shows like this being staged on Broadway. It's disappointing that the creeping 'Disneyfication' of Time Square has now extended to the productions in the theaters as well. If this keeps up, Time Square will be little more than a urban strip mall full of chain restaurants and chain plays.

(Taken with my Nikon D80)

Day 177/365 - Everlasting Moments

A few days back my friend Pia invited me to go see the foreign film "Everlasting Moments" with her and tonight we both finally had a free night to go. The movie chronicles the experiences of a Swedish family in the early 1900s. The style of the movie is similar to the realist movement in literature in that it doesn't feature a strong central plot that drives the narrative, but instead focuses on the ordinary details of the ordinary lives of an ordinary family. As such, it proceeds at a very leisurely pace and meanders a bit in spots, but it is a journey worth taking.

One of the central themes of the movie is the search for fulfillment and happiness. For the coarse, abusive brute that is the family's husband/father, this search initially leads to the illusory joys of alcohol and adultery, and later to caring for an injured horse. For the eldest daughter, it's her desire to become a teacher. For the eldest son, his desire to become a scholar. But the movie's primary focus is on the wife/mother of the family's quest for happiness, a search which leads her to discover photography.

Photography is in many ways the deus ex machina in this movie, working to push and pull the characters in various ways. At the beginning of the movie, the eldest daughter who narrates the film recounts how her mother won a camera in a raffle with a ticket purchased by her eventual husband. When he said the camera should be his given that he paid for the ticket, she said he could only have if he married her, which he then did. The camera, however (a portable Contessa with a collapsible bellows), is quickly packed away and forgotten, only to be rediscovered many years later when the women is cleaning house. She takes it to a local photography studio to sell it, but the proprietor of the studio convinces her that she should at least try the camera before she sells it.

She does, and quickly discovers that she has both a passion and a skill for photography. Her talent for photography eventually leads to her selling a photo to the local newspaper, taking portraits for her neighbors and later for merchants and more well-to-do clients, and also serves as the seed for her unconsummated affair of the heart with the studio owner.

From the end credits, it appears that the movie is not a work of pure fiction but is instead based on the lives of an actual family as recounted in the reminiscences of the eldest daughter. The movie is interesting and compelling, if a bit long-ish, but don't expect slam bang action or neat resolutions to difficult questions. In the end it's a realistic portrait of people's lives, much in the way that a photograph is, and real life is seldom sensational or tidy. But, just the same, life is worth living and this movie is worth seeing.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 72/365 - Bright Lights, Big Screen

My favorite movie of all time is the Frank Capra Christmas classic It's a Wonderful Life. I've seen it about a zillion times before, but always on tv. I'd never seen it on the big screen in an actual movie theater until tonight. Just across the DC border in Silver Spring, Maryland is the AFI Silver Theatre -- an old art deco movie palace restored and operated by the American Film Institute. It's a lovely old structure with a gorgeous main auditorium and is an outstanding place to see a movie.

I met up with Erin M. in the theatre lobby. She planned this trip to the movies as an outing for the DC Social Group on Flickr, but through the process of attrition it wound up just being me and her there tonight. That was fine. We had a great time anyhow. She thinks it's the best movie ever made as well, so since it was just the two of us we didn't have to deal with any non-believing cinematic heathens pooh-poohing our adoration.

It was very cool to see it on the big screen. The lighting and shading seemed better and I noticed a lot of little details in many of the scenes that I had never noticed before when I watched it on tv -- like the skull and crossbones patches on all the boys stocking caps at the beginning, the little skull carving that was on Mr. Potter's desk, and the way Ernie the cop shot out one of the lights in the 'Potterville' sign when he was shooting at George during the 'alternate history' sequence.

Yes, it's maudlin; yes, it's simplistic; yes, it's far-fetched and full of logic holes -- but it makes me laugh a lot and cry a little and for that I love it. I love it.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 49/365 - On Broadway

Okay, so the picture is technically from 44th Street and not Broadway, you get the idea.

This afternoon I ditched work early and took the train up to New York. I decided to stay at the Best Western at the South Street Seaport. It's a pretty cool area. I'm going to have to come back another day when I've got more time and shoot loads of pictures. It's old and weathered looking and there are some great views of the Brooklyn Bridge.

I grabbed dinner just around the corner from my hotel, at the Bridge Cafe. It rocked. It's just a small, unpretentious, neighborhood restaurant with excellent food. In that regard, it reminded me a bit of my favorite eating place in the world -- the aptly named Le Restaurant in the Montmartre section of Paris. I started with the mixed green salad with pears, bleu cheese, candied walnuts, and citrus vinaigrette paired with the pumpkin beer they had on tap. Then it was on to the lobster pot pie with a side order of mac and cheese, washed down with another glass of pumpkin beer. I'd missed lunch, but this dinner more than made up for it.

After dinner I headed to the St. James Theatre to see the musical 'Gypsy' featuring Patti LuPone. I had never seen this show, but I knew it was supposed to be a classic with a plum role for a mature, belt-it-out style female singer. I hadn't realized how many great songs it had in it. There were about four songs that were instantly recognizable as well-known standards. Now I need to order the soundtrack off Amazon.

The story chronicles the life of the famous burlesque queen Gypsy Rose Lee and her loopy, controlling, over-the-top stage mother. As with most family dramas it was a bit dark, but it was also quite funny and moving. I liked this play a lot. In addition to lucking out with my choice of a play to see, I got lucky with my seat as well. Normally I spring for a pricier seat in the orchestra section, but I'd been to the St. James before to see 'The Producers' so I knew there were good views to be had from the balcony. Because the theatre was only about two-thirds full, they closed off the balcony and let us cheapskates sit down on the mezzanine level. Bonus!

I had been planning on grabbing some cheesecake and coffee after the show, but I was still so stuffed from dinner that I just headed back to the hotel to crash. Not exactly de rigeur for the city that never sleeps, but I knew I had to get up early Thursday if I wanted to get a good spot from which to watch the parade.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 22/365 - The Way of the World

It had been a while since I'd attended a play, so tonight I went to check out the Shakespeare Theatre Company's production of 'The Way of the World'. I love going to plays. It's like 3-D tv. I got my ticket for half-price from Ticketplace. It's amazing that more people don't know about Ticketplace. It's DC's version of NYC's TKTS. They have half-price tickets to most shows in town, including the Washington National Opera. It sure makes theatre-going a lot more affordable.

The Shakespeare Theatre Co. is a pretty safe bet for a night out. They stage some very good productions. This is the Lansburgh Theatre -- their old, small theatre. They also have a huge, fancy new theatre just up the block that is basically an architectural rip-off of the Signature Theatre in Shirlington. I think I like the old one better. It's less uppity and pretentious.

'The Way of the World' isn't one of Shakespeare's works. It's by William Congreve and was written a century after Shakespeare. It's a farcical and funny bit of frippery with overwrought costumes and big fluffy wigs. It's essentially a sharp-tongued morality play about a bunch of scheming lovers and/or deceivers and it takes a pretty stiff needle to the foibles of society and its obsessions with reputations and appearances.

I liked it and got quite a few laughs out of it. I have to admit to getting a bit lost in the first act, though. There are loads of different characters that are all interconnected in about a dozen different ways and involved with each other in about a dozen different schemes. I was a little embarassed that I was having some trouble keeping abreast of things until during the intermission (or as I like to call it, half-time) the older couple seated next to me asked if I'd been able to make sense of the first act.

I freely confessed that the play had me a bit dizzy and then the three of us read through the synopsis of the plot that they'd printed in the program and talked it through trying to remember which characters were which and what they were all up to. It was a lot like reading a Chekhov play where each character goes by at least three different names and you can't keep them straight without a scorecard. After the half-time cram session though, I was able to follow the second act much more easily.

All things considered it was a good night's entertainment with some very funny lines, great costumes and sets, and (for the most part) excellent performances.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)