Best Non-violent Rescue Mission

Saw Moonrise Kingdom Friday night, was caught completely off guard by how awfully good it was.  Best Wes Anderson movie yet?  For the time being I think so.  What I really liked was how original it was, while true to Wes's style, it didn't seem like a rehash or retreading.  I think Fantastic Mr. Fox deserves some credit for this.

That said, several scenes (shots, really) reminded me instantly of shots from earlier Anderson films:

There were a couple more.  One was rather spoilery.  And only so many scenes were available to grab from the Moonrise trailer.

Best Life Imitating Art

Wednesday night, a party for Sam at Sam and Alpha's.  Something about the setting seems familiar.

Oh yes, that's right.

Best Real Dinner In Ages

You know what I am allowed to eat these days*?  Fish!  Especially if it's fish with friends, as seen here, where I (not pictured) am about to share this fish** with Ryan.  Who is Ryan?  Get out of here.  Ryan is a homie from when I studied in London.  A homie I hadn't seen in a few years, but the law brought him to town, yes, the law brought us back together and it was good.

*As opposed to rabbit or horse food.
And why do I eat so differently these days?  Because there is a rock in my guts, and good tasting food makes it very, very mad.
**And what sort of fish might it be?  The whole boneless porgy at the Momofuku Ssam Bar.  Come on, where else do you think I was going to take an honored guest?

Best What an End of the Year We'll Have

Well, if you're anything like me, then you took the news today of GI Joe: Retaliation being delayed until next March (to be turned 3D?!?!) pretty hard . . . no, honestly, I was looking forward to that one.  But at least three trailers appeared online this week for three of the Fall/Winter's most anticipation-worthy releases.  Baz Luhrman's Great Gatsby, Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, and Skyfall, the latest James Bond. (You've probably seen all of these already, and you'd be better off watching them in Hi Def at Apple or something.  But here's the YouTubes if you should want them or need them).



A lot of that looks cool, a lot of it makes me wonder.  I do not care for the U2 song.  The Gatsby movie in my mind looks more realistic than this.



I'm sorry.  I expected Jouaqin to sound like Daniel Plainview.



THIS looks FRESH.  The stone-coldest James Bond appears to be at his stone-coldest.

Best I Could Do (And It Wasn't So Bad)

This is not the beginnings of a compost heap.  It is a salad.

This is how I live right now, on arugula and radishes and sometimes snap peas.  But don't feel too sorry for me, this simple thing is actually based on a recipe for radishes with maldon salt, parmesan, basil and arugula dressed with lemon juice and olive oil from A Girl and Her Pig.  Only difference: I went super easy on the parmesan cheese and didn't have fresh basil (which the recipe says is absolutely necessary to the salad . . . oh well) and shook some on instead.  End result: Not so bad.  Good, in fact.  Probably great with the right amount of cheese and fresh basil.  I'm going to do this one again, someday.

Best Here's How Saturday Ended (Bonus: I Also Tell You About Sunday)

Okay.  Saturday.  After the Block Party?  I got a hair cut.  And I took a rested my feet.  And then I changed my shirt and walked out into my neighborhood.

And past this.

And past him.

To this building.

And I went up to the roof.  And saw so many friends.  Like Claire and Evan.

And this guy.

And Alisa and Andrea 

I think we were supposed to be partying for no reason, but a birthday celebration broke out.

Andrea took this picture of Evan and Molly and it's just about the best picture I've ever seen.

Karli and Stephanie.

Jesse and Me.

Courtnie.

It got later, it got darker. 

I walked home.

Then Sunday evening Carol hosted a gathering on her roof.

I was kind of pictured-out at that point, but there are a few important things I need to tell you:

#1: Casey is in town for a visit.  At last.

#2: Steve brought six macarons from Bouchon Bakery.

#3. These sandals matched those toenails.

#4.  And do not forget, Sunday was Mothers Day.

Best Sunny Saturday Morning

Remember how we were talking about what a nice day Saturday was?  Let me tell you about things I saw before the Block Party.

For starters, I ran into this parade in my neighborhood.  A parade celebrating the 20th annual World Falun Dafa Day.  What is Falun Dafa Day that?  Not exactly sure.  They handed me some literature.  I haven't gotten around to reading it.  But it is on very nice paper.

Stuntin' like his daddy.

When I saw that there was a Mexican contingent to this Chinese-seeming celebration I was intrigued.  All bets are off when there's a Latin American contingent to your Asian parade.  I really should be googling Falun Dafa.

The parade was giant, with staging areas spreading through Nolita.  This isn't the parade.  None of these next photos are.  These are people patiently waiting to be in the parade.  And exercising while they wait.

Calm Water Lilly Prince waits his turn.

Calm Water Lilly Princess is even calmer.

This I like.  People making new friends, sharing opinions, gaining knowledge.

One lady had the job of watching everyones' bags while they were in the parade.  Well, probably not everyones bags.  But a good number of them.

Double knot it now or you might regret it.

Passing Houston, I ran into the Meat Without Feet truck again.

Saw the skywriting that half of Manhattan instagram'd that afternoon.

Making good time.  Everything going as to schedule.

All Manhattan brunched around me.

Or enjoyed cured meat subs.

I, however, met Upper West Side friend Ben for lunch at Hot Kitchen in the East Village, a newish Sichuan place that we'd both noticed was getting some decent internet word of mouth.

We had the sweet potato noodles,



A vegetable that the waiter insisted we absolutely had to try . . . oookkayyy.

And the Mei Shan Beef.  The verdict: Everything was good, but bad for my stomach, the vegetables were a little earthy, things were spicy, but I'm certain the chefs held back.  Next time I go, I'll be clear that I want the full power of the Hot Kitchen unleashed upon me.  I mean, if I didn't think I could stand the heat, I wouldn't have been in the Hot Kitchen, right?

Post-lunch: Downtown streetfair happening.

Now there's a parade/march I'd love to watch.

Fellow OPRF Huskie Hannah (and down the block hometown neighbor) was at her store that afternoon, the jewelry business looked like it was booming. 

Watch Repair While You Wait at the subway barbershop?  A little slower.

But Saturday is more like a day you want to be showing off your watch, not hanging around underground to get it tuned up.



And that's stuff I saw and stuff I did Saturday morning.  Will my next post be about Saturday evening? Quite possibly.