There was a concert on a yacht, a Broadway show with Nathan Lane, the usual smattering of seeing people here and there, a really fun 90s Pop Singalong party. I dunno what else actually. I've been hitting up a few more book events because of friends' readings and releases, but not anything too heavy. I'm in the middle of like five books I can't seem to get to halfway through on any of them. Not on account of goodness, they are all good, but I just don't sit down and read I guess. One of them is due this week for book club. Even though I'm not that far into it, Americanah is already good bordering on super excellent, I can tell. It's by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who did the "The danger of a single story" TED talk that got around. That, along with the previously posted about Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. has reignited my fire for fine reading.
I will conquer some books soon, or pass out trying.
New York summer has slipped away from me. All the late nights, the wandering around, the things that I come to New York for, all of that hasn't really happened. And now I'm headed to San Francisco for three weeks, and when I return it'll be fall. Part of the problem is this weather. I can't believe I'm saying this but I actually miss the heat. Nights have been almost chilly, like seventies, and the thickness of summer is gone. Come back humid weather, come back so I can complain about you again.
Yesterday night I biked from Midtown all the way to my apartment in Fort Greene. It's the longest ride I've taken, maybe five or six miles in total. I felt like it was my last chance to catch any summer before it passed away. I rode down late, music blasting, even though I didn't have my newly acquired helmet on. (I mistakenly bought a woman's helmet, but it's so pretty that I'm keeping it even if it sits weird on my head.) It only took me two and a half songs to get across the bridge, but it was enough for me to say goodbye and to come to terms with the fact that summer is over.
Sorry, I totally let you down.
A few weeks ago JMZ took me across the Manhattan Bridge for the first time, on the way to ramen. It was pretty awesome, if initially a bit tiring. JMZ rode his skateboard and was somehow twice as fast as me. He's ahead of me carving up the street on his mini-board as I hustle to catch up. At times, JMZ would hang onto the back of my seat, sitting sidecar -- apparently this is called "skitching" and it's what real skaters do. One passerby yelled out "cute" as he shot by us on the bridge. He may have meant it mockingly but whatevers, it was damn cute. Everyone should skitch with one other.
Also, skate video four. As you can see, I'm not getting any better, I just want to buy more skateboards.
The ramen place we ended up was Bassanova. It's pretty new and it's from Keizo Shimamoto. If you are a ramen person, his Go Ramen blog is probably familiar to you. A couple of years ago, Keizo quit his job, moved to Japan, and became a ramen chef. And now he's got a place in Chinatown, right on Mott Street. The prices rival Ippudo's but I have to say that his Thai green curry ramen is pretty freaking delicious. And different. Watch his short documentary Ramen Dreams if you wanna see someone doing it, living out their dream.
What it must feel like to have your passion, and just get to it. I've been thinking about that. If you just had to pick one thing to do, with no excuses, what would it be and why aren't you doing it? Or not even one thing, but putting 125% into anything. I'm also reading through a camp acquaintance's book, Do Cool Sh*t, and it's inspiring to see how much one person can do. Well, deflating, but ultimately inspiring. In the book she says to surround yourself with the right people. So I've been thinking about that. Surround myself with the right people to achieve what I want. Who are these people? Is it you, me, them, us?
We watched Drinking Buddies the other night. It's got Jake Johnson from The New Girl and Olivia Wilde, and Anna Kendrick. It's from Joe Swanberg, who did all the mumblecore stuff like Quiet City, Nights and Weekends, Hannah Takes the Stairs. Some real gems right? Drinking Buddies was like accessible mumblecore, with more plot and shine than stuff Swanberg has done before. I loved it, absolutely.
The loose idea of Drinking Buddies is that it's about exploring the line between friendship and romance. Johnson has a girlfriend, Wilde has a boyfriend, but the relationship depicted is between them. They are friends, maybe more than friends, maybe not really, they are mostly platonic but also not just. Whatevers, it's grey area. It's worth a watch, even just for the discussions it might bring up. I mean, unless you're in a relationship, in which case this could be alarm bells.
Bill Simmons wonders on his podcast, with pop culture genius / intellectual douchebag Chuck Klosterman, if this is the Singles or Reality Bites for the current generation. (The Gaga Generation? Miley? Ha, just kidding. What is the right reference here?) I'd say not quite but maybe. I'll have to give it a re-watch. Also, if Ben Stiller successfully pulls off bringing Reality Bites back as a television show, as rumored, I'll have to hate him even more than I do now. Of course I'll hate watch Lelaina and Troy, but I won't like it. Not one bit.
- The B.S. Report: Chuck Klosterman on Miley Cyrus, Breaking Bad, and Drinking Buddies
- NYT Review: When It's All About the Timing | New Yorker review
- Meet Drinking Buddies Director Joe Swanberg, the Man Behind Your Next Favorite Movie
- Joe Swanberg On Why He Felt a Social Responsibility To Make Drinking Buddies
- Lessons in Extreme Productivity From the Director of Drinking Buddies
When I get the time in the next week or so, this blog is going down. It's time to go newsletter with Tiny Letter. Jon Wow has outlived its purpose. What purpose you ask? Ha, you're hilarious.
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