Post Inauguration (spelled right this time)

How embarrassing!  I've written 'inauguration' many times in the last week, and have managed to misspell it in a variety of ways.  Sorry.

Stay warm!

Post Inaguration

Surface (yes, frivolous) thoughts on Inauguration Day:  I loved Michelle Obama's ball dress!  Wow, does she have great arms or what?  In general, didn't the women look better than the men?  Not just dress-wise, but totality-wise?  Men were leaning on canes and being wheeled in chairs, but the women, in their high heels and bare heads (fantastic exception - Aretha Franklin), were out there in the cold smiling and smiling.  And the pictures of the balls - do they emphasize mature love that is somehow young or what?  Those dances, with adoring looks and snuggles.  And Jill Biden - a community college administrator and teacher!  And Hillary Clinton in pants!  I love her.  

More to come.  

Anticipating it all...

Here we are on a Friday morning - with days of wonder and delight ahead.  While it's cold outside, baby, it's warm with anticipation.  Ken has gone on to Queens, and I'll meet him later in the City.  I'll walk to work, then will come home for lunch (the new austerity) and bring the car back to campus.  I'll catch the 4:33 or the 5:01 Metro North and we'll stay down by the Brooklyn Bridge at a Hampton.  On Saturday morning, we'll catch the 6 to 125th St., then the M60 bus to meet Barbara at LaGuardia at 9:42!  Oh, how lovely!  We'll see Speed the Plow at a matinee, then have dinner at Chola.  Depending on the weather, we'll either roam the rest of the night or catch a movie.  Sunday is delightfully free and we'll pick things from this week's New Yorker or Friday's New York Times, or, if we need an infusion of spring (hey, it's even cold in Tampa), we'll catch the Harlem Metro North line to the Botanical Garden.  And we'll eat and walk, of course, although a movie is not without possibility.  Barbara takes off early evening, back to her Tom and her strawberries.  We go to Lincoln Center to see Stephen Sondheim being interviewed by Frank Rich.  How much more wonder can you get?  We will spend the night at the Metropolitan on Lex and 50th, and Ken will head back to Queens on Monday.  I have the day in the City - buying gifts for Ken's big 0 birthday and visiting some of my favorite spots.  The Strand for, at the very least, a book by Francine Prose to check out for One Book/One New Paltz purposes.  I'll take the train home Monday night, and then, almost the best of all, I have Tuesday off to celebrate the inauguration!  Reality is way too much with us - war, waterboarding (yes, it is torture), the economy - but I want one more day of amazement and delight over the election of Barack Obama.  One more day is not too much to ask.  Then we get to watch him either realize his potential or not.  

2009 so far has been filled with winter, work, birthdays (both Ray and Veda have birthdays the first two weeks of the new year) and no-chocolate.  The news about the US Airways jet landing on the Hudson yesterday is beyond description.  As Governor Patterson said it, "the miracle on the Hudson."  The pictures are just amazing.  

I am wondering where global warming went, but as I read recently, I guess it's the snow's turn.  

Peace.

 

Music & miscellany...

This is as much for us as for you, dear reader.  Here are the miscellaneous adventures.  Shows our range.

Show	Location	Comments
Ainadamar	Carnegie Hall	Jackie only – opera, not theater – amazing, fantastic, moving, powerful – there are not enough adjectives!
Garden of Earthly Delights	Minetta Lane Theater	Ken only – dance – naked bodies flying
Christmas Show	Radio City Music Hall	Bern gave us tix – 10:00 on a Saturday morning – quite amazing and fun
Beethovan Mass in C	Tanglewood	Amazing
Pilobolus	Joyce	With Matt – usual fantastic, gorgeous bodies
College football	United States Military Academy at West Point	Saw Army defeat Eastern Michigan University – homecoming – oh the pagentry!
College football	Saw Columbia defeat Cornell	Really fun!
Professional baseball	Saw the Yankees lose	With Mert and his friend
Professional baseball	Saw a rainout at Shea Stadium	With Linda – got a miniature of the stadium
Times Talks	Michael Pollen	Too cool for school
Times Talks	Governor David Patterson	Very impressive

Here is the theater...

You can tell our hearts are with live theater.  We are so DARN lucky!

Show	Location	Comments
Uncle Vanya	Bard – Fisher Center	Peter Dinklage as Vanya – powerful
Of Thee I Sing	Bard – Fisher Center	Wonderful
Curtains	Broadway	Ken only
Cat On a Hot Tin Roof	Broadway	Jackie only – Not a very good production; led me to “Blood Wedding”
Wicked	Broadway	With Matt, Erica, Jennifer, Jessica, Chelsea and Jody – amazing
In the Heights	Broadway	With Linda – saw the day it won all the Tony's – great
Young Frankenstein	Broadway	Freebie tix; little commitment; left at intermission; loud
Sunday in the Park with George	Broadway	With Kurt and Hillary; technology amazing; liked production at Kennedy Center better
August: Osage County	Broadway	Amazing
Doubt	Capital Rep – Albany	Jackie only – with Julie; nicely done
M Butterfly	Capital Rep – Albany	Jackie only – with AIRPO bunch; quite powerful, if too long
If You See Something, Say Something	Joe's Pub – The Public	Mike Daisy one man show – jeez
South Pacific	Lincoln Center	Transcendent
Camelot	Lincoln Center	Really bad seats – left at intermission
Good Boys and True	Second Stage – Off Broadway	Irritating & interesting
Some Americans Abroad	Second Stage – Off Broadway	OK
Boy's Life	Second Stage – Off Broadway	Irritating
Next to Normal	Second Stage – Off Broadway	A musical about bi-polar disease – powerful and ridiculous at the same time
The Promise Keepers	SUNY New Paltz	Not a very interesting play nor production
Company	SUNY New Paltz	Nice production
Our Town	SUNY New Paltz	Very sweet
Road Show	The Public Theater – Off Broadway	Later Sondheim – quite good – money makes the world go around
Kicking a Dead Horse	The Public Theater – Off Broadway	Stephen Rea – with Shelly, Shelly's Mom, Pat and Ray – short and odd
Drunk Enough to Say I Love You	The Public Theater – Off Broadway	A couch rises in NoHo
Taking Over	The Public Theater – Off Broadway	Stung a bit
Hair	The Public Theater – Off Broadway – Delacorte Theater in Central Park	Anniversary – fantastic, wonderful, moving, wowza
Nero	Vassar Powerhouse Theater	New musical by composer/lyricist of “Spring Awakening” - Idina Menzel
Finks	Vassar Powerhouse Theater	Jackie only – Wonderful

2008 in review

Although the Barack Obama story dominated 2008, the Andrews were frying other fish, or rather, paying attention to movies, theater, music, sports, etc.  

Can I slice in a list from Excel?  Here are the movies.

Movies	Notes
Wall-E	Wonderful, fantastic
Milk	Ditto
Slumdog Millionaire	Colorful, exciting, shocking
Burn After Reading	Blah
The Bank Job
W	Jackie only – interesting
Quantum of Solace	Oh my gawd
Rachel Getting Married	Jackie only – fascinating
The Visitor	Parts were wonderful
Man on Wire	Wonderful, fantastic
Frozen River	Jackie only – Upstate Films; director and star there answering questions. A wonderful movie
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist	Oh please tell me teenagers do not live this life.
I've Loved You So Long	Jackie only – pulled its punches at the end
Cadillac Records	Music out of sight
Sex and the City	Jackie only – loved it
Then She Found Me	Jackie only – book much better
Soul Men	Ken only
The Power of Song	Jackie only – cried like a baby
I'm Not There	Somewhat weird
Donovan	Woodstock Film Festival – so so
The Secret of Roan Inish	Woodstock Film Festival – quite lovely
Synecdoche, NY	Jackie only – walked out of