A Child Of Atom

Yesterday it was 85º outside. I had sweet tea with my lunch at a restaurant with no difficulties. There's Spanish Moss in the trees, and they haven't lost any leaves yet. It almost feels like home... almost. I'm in Orlando this week visiting BFE Michelle for a few days, (and working for her) and I'll be playing at a couple of the Disney Parks later in the week. Kevin is coincidentally in town, as is another friend who is performing at the Orlando Puppet Festival. Seems Orlando is the place to be these days. So, things may be a bit slow around here for a day or two while I have some fun out of town!

In another "Only in New York" moment this afternoon I witnessed one of the strangest exchanges I've ever seen. Sitting on the subway a stereotypically dressed black teenager sat down beside me. The train was just a little crowded and there was a fairly flamboyant gay guy standing in front of us. Both of them had their iPods out and were watching video of some sort. From the corner of my eye I tried to get a glimpse of what the black guy was watching, but I couldn't so I just went back to my book. He must have caught me trying to peek because he nudged me with his elbow and turned the iPod so that I could clearly see. There on the tiny screen was an orgy. He was watching porn. I just nodded and waved him off, like people living in the city learn to do with so many different people. Apparently though he wasn't satisfied with my dismissal. He reached up and tapped the arm of the guy in front of us, looking to share with him as well. When the gay guy looked at the screen he laughed and held up a finger in the motion for "wait a second." He fiddled with his won iPod for a bit until he found what he was looking for and then turned his own iPod to both of us (I couldn't pretend that I wasn't looking at this point) so that we could see the screen. There on his screen was a similar scene to the one he had been shown, only with all men. The black guy laughed and nodded his head and both of them went back to their own videos, satisfied with their exchange.

I repeat, only in NY.

This afternoon I went by a theatre where I've worked quite a few times, down in Tribeca, just at the edge of Chinatown. While I was down there I took the opportunity to swing by one of my new favorite eating places in town Province Chinese Canteen. Province is a very simple eatery with a clean, almost industrial look to the interior, located at the corner of Walker and Church. The food is as simple as the space, small-ish sandwiches made from steamed Chinese buns called mantou. The buns have either sesame or poppy seeds on them depending on what's inside. The fillings for the sandwiches are variations on sliced meats and some sort of topping. My personal favorite is the Short Rib and Kimchi which is incredibly full of flavor and just spicy enough. I usually also get one of their Braised Pork sandwiches which comes with fresh cucumber slices and cilantro. Somehow this sandwich manages to be both savory and fresh tasting. Their menu is small, only 5 or so sandwiches and some sides, but they usually have 5 or 6 more choices on the specials board. Today I decided to try the Angus Burger, which had a sauce on it that I can't remember. Another awesomely good sandwich. If you are in this neighborhood do yourself a favor and stop by this place, I promise you won't be disappointed by any of the choices. This is one of the things I love about the city. Here is a place that serves some of the best food I've had in a while that is cheaper and far fresher than any fast food that can be had. Every time I go by this theatre I will probably eat there.

Last Thursday Kevin passed along a couple tickets to the Second Stage production of Eric Bagosian's "subUrbia." This has been a favorite show of mine for a few years, primarily because it is high on my list of shows that I would want to design.

The show is just a bit dated at this point (It was originally produced in the mid 90's and is a bit tangled in the mire of that time period) so I was thrilled to find out that Bagosian himself had done some rewrites and edits to the script to bring it into a more current time frame. I really wanted this show to be good. Unfortunately I ended up being disappointed.

The cast was decent. It included two child-stars (Kieran Culkin and Gaby Hoffman) and several award winners and nominees, but the only real stand-out was Peter Scanavino as Tim, the disaffected former Naval Airman, and the de facto leader of the group of slackers that the show centers around. Whether he has a brilliant make-up artist, or just lives the lifestyle himself Scanavino certainly looks the part of a guy on a 3 day bender, and he carried the cast through the rest of the show. Whenever he was on stage he commanded the attention of the audience well above the rest. The others on stage worked to varying degrees of success, but none of them really managed to connect fully to their roles or the audience. Hoffman was especially lackluster and never seemed as if she belonged with the rest of the cast. Her character, Sooze, is the one bright spot in the show, the one character with the ambition and possibility to move beyond the situations of the town they live in. Through her we should be able to see in sharp relief the opportunities that everyone else is allowing to slip past. Instead she came off as spoiled, and snobbish, placing herself above it all without motivation.

The biggest problem I had with the show was the set. The design opportunity of this show, the thing that appeals to me, is that it is an absolutely real place, that has to portrayed in that way. The grounding reality of the show is in it's setting. The entire show takes place in the parking lot of a suburban convenience store and includes the interior of the store, as well as the roof, dumpsters, and some of the surrounding details. Scenic designer Richard Hoover did a solid job of creating the reality of the space, and I applaud what he managed, but it was also part of the ultimate downfall of the play. Hoover chose to present the entire front of the store relatively flat to the audience. His mistake came in presenting far too much of the interior. The depth of the store interior ate a LOT of stage space. 90% of the play takes place outside the store and while it was visually appealing to have the storefront represented so well it ultimately left too little room for the action and forced the actors into a small lane of space that really only allowed for movement parallel to the seating. The limited movement in the limited space (coupled with the limited acting) left the whole show feeling shallow. This was a textbook example of the design impeding the show. I'm not sure if a deeper design, with more acting space could have saved the whole thing, but it certainly couldn't have hurt it.

In all I'd say B-, which depresses me. There's potential here that they missed.

There's a few things I love about New York more than I can express. One of them is that, as a gay man I'm fairly invisible. Most big cities provide that opportunity. Dan Savage very frequently gives that advice to his young gay readers who are struggling with their identity in a small town: "Move to the Big City." And it's true. Being gay here is easier. The population here is fairly inured against us. Gay people are ubiquitous in the big city, and gay friendly people are even more populous. In the areas of Chelsea, and the Village especially seeing gay couple holding hands, or kissing is just as common as seeing straight couples. That ability, to be out even while out in public is incredibly freeing and affirming, and it's spreading. As the years progress, and NYC gentrifies the area where gay couples can be comfortable is spreading. For the bold, spearheading the change, there's not really anywhere on Manhattan that isn't safe.

For a small town boy from the south who grew up in a vastly different atmosphere I feel sort of conflicted about all this. On the one hand there is nothing quite like being out and seeing acceptance and diversity displayed openly on the streets instead of just talked about. I can't help but being excited, and thrilled by it, but at the same time, that oppressed small town boy kicks into gear in the back of my head. Seeing two men holding hands makes me at once happy and scared.

When I'm dating I want to be part of that excitement. I live in a city that affords me the opportunity to hold hands with my boyfriend, and to walk down the street with him in a safe manner. I want to do those things. I want to kiss him goodbye on the subway platform, or in front of his apartment. Luckily Kid Flash is open to those possibilities. Last Friday after leaving Roller Derby and looking for some food he proudly held my hand. In the bar where we ended up, neither of us was shy about standing with our hand in the small of the other's back, or touching the other's knee at the bar. This morning after having breakfast he kissed me quickly on the street outside the entrance to the subway as we parted. All of this was exciting beyond measure. Even after being here for several years and dating several people that's a feeling that has not gone away. At the same time I have to admit that my fear response was there as well. Friday night was not a problem, it was dark, the neighborhood we were in is fairly liberal and nice. I didn't really feel all that uncomfortable, but there was still a small voice in the back of my mind telling me to watch around me, pay attention to who was nearby. This morning was a bit worse, it was daylight, we were in a much less gentrified neighborhood, and kissing ups the ante quite a bit from just holding hands. I wanted that kiss, and I wanted to be as comfortable receiving it as Kid Flash was giving it. I tried to keep that small war in my mind to a minimum, but it was hard.

The good news is, of course, that I have someone who is giving me the opportunity to feel all this, and is willing to kiss me and hold my hand, either in public or out.

I assume that since this is based on 1990 Census data and Cully is not technically my first name they just missed me, but still... nice to know I'm unique.

At 2:10:18 this morning (US Atlantic time) a visitor from Queensland, Brisbane, Australia became the 25,000th visitor to this site! Thanks to everyone who visits and who has supported me and this blog!

Okay... wow. Last night I had the opportunity to see a preview of Evil Dead: The Musical. I'll say that there are two entertainment trends that I am not fond of: movie musicals, and tongue in cheek remakes. Movie musicals are the Broadway equivalent of making a TV show into a movie. After "The Producers" every producer in New York started mining Blockbuster looking for something they could put onstage. Some have been good ("Holy Grail") some have been bad ("Dirty Rotten Scoundrels") and some have only been fair ("The Wedding Singer"), but it just seems to me that there have to be better sources. Speaking of TV shows going to the silver screen why do they all essentially make fun of the show they are emulating? Granted some are worthy of mockery like "The Dukes of Hazard" but I'd have much rather seen a solid romantic comedy based on "Bewitched" than what we got. Evil Dead falls squarely into both of these pet peeves, so how does it fare? Not well frankly.

It's fun, don't get me wrong. And it has moments of brilliance. There are some pure laughs to be had, and some fun numbers, but in the end it was all a little flat. My first complaint is that the show doesn't seem to be sure of what it is mocking exactly. At times it is certainly poking holes in the source material, and at other times it attacks horror movies as a genre, but it also takes some serious shots at musical theatre convention. The audience that came to see this show because of the first part of the title (Evil Dead) is not going to get the musical theatre jokes, and the audience that came for the second part (The Musical) might be alienated by the blood and geek based humor.

Scattered through all that though are some great touches. The zombie masks are fantastic and the transformations are often seamless. The first transformation in fact was so full of theatre magic that I am still not 100% sure how they pulled it off. The rest of the special effects fall into one of two categories: either they are magical and fascinating, or they are played for laughs. One headless zombie is obviously a walking joke, while at the same time there are moments like a scalping that are enthralling. The jokes also seem to go to either extreme, overplayed, or understated. The understated humor frankly works the best. Ryan Ward as Ash plays this show as if he is the only sane person onstage. He only breaks the fourth wall and convention when his character runs up against some aspect of the plot that is obviously far fetched or against logic. On the other hand Darryl Winslow as Jake beats every line he is given with a stick trying to get every ounce of comedy he can out of it. In the end his performance suffers. Winslow doesn't trust the script to carry him the way that Ward does.

The show doesn't disappoint in some aspects it hits all the high points of the movie ("Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun.") and it certainly delivers on it's promise of blood and gore. Officially the first three rows are the "splatter zone" where the seats are covered in plastic, and you probably should be too, but unofficially members of my party were hit by spraying blood as far back as the 7th row.

I'd say that if you are a rabid fan of the movie, or you can enjoy an evening of fairly mindless entertainment with some blood thrown in then you should go. If you are in any way looking for off-kilter greatness then you're going to be a bit disappointed.

In the past week I have purchased: new oven mitts, a rug for the kitchen, a new trash can for the bathroom, new tea towels, a bread box, and some picture frames so that I can decorate the bathroom (finally).

I have a desire to purchase: mixing bowls, a new rug for the bathroom, more frames and an ironing board.

Why am I in a nesting phase?

You've got a small problem here. Several times over the past year or two I've gone to one of your movies and, as most movie goers do, I watched the trailers, hoping to catch a glimpse of what I'd be seeing next. Most of the trailers were greeted by indifference, or a big "Nope" on my part, but a few of them were interesting enough to get me back into the theatre, and to take another $10.75 from pocket. Which I assume was your goal.

Here's where the problem comes in. Why do you keep making trailers for movies that don't exist?

You made a great movie about a hispanic woman and her daughter and their struggle to fit into American society. It was charming, and had a lot to say about class struggle and cultural assimilationism. It had a great cast, who gave solid performances. Unfortunately you called it Spanglish and made a trailer for it that seemed like it was about a nutty caucasian family going through a divorce scare. And it was, I suppose, but that was by far the least interesting part of the movie. It was a subplot that existed mainly as a foil for the hispanic family, and the best comedy in the film occurred at the intersection of the two plots. Did you think that it would be difficult to sell a movie starring hispanics to a white audience, or what?

I saw The Exorcism of Emily Rose expecting a standard horror movie, probably not very good, since most horror movie are not very good these days, but passable entertainment close to Halloween. That's what I was expecting from the trailers at least. Somehow, as I was watching the movie, it morphed into a courtroom drama with supernatural overtones. How'd that happen? Did you realize that even Laura Linney couldn't carry a plot that dry so you gave us the trailer for the movie you wished you had instead? You did the same thing with An American Haunting which the trailers would have had us believe was an exploration of the legend of one of the greatest ghost stories from American history. Instead I was delivered what amounted to a debunking of the legend, which was not nearly as satisfying as it could have been. Granted, it was a bad movie, so maybe you did the best with the materials you had to work with, but you could have at least been honest with us about where the movie was headed.

Tonight you did it again. I saw Man of the Year, expecting something along the lines of Dave, where the film makers explored the concept of a non-politico suddenly thrust into a political situation. Instead I got a watered down political thriller that couldn't make up it's mind whether it wanted to be The Net or a political comedy like The American President. This movie had the potential to skewer some of the current political mess that we are in, and comedically explore the path that our elected leaders have chosen to follow of late. It could have ranked with Bulworth or Wag the Dog as one of the best political comedies ever. The trailers made it look like it would. Robin Williams appeared to be making a return to comedic glory, in a role that was tailor made for him. Laura Linney looked to be playing his love interest in the trailer, when in reality they share maybe 10 minutes of screen time. There is an audience for the movie that you made the trailer for, and that audience is not going to like the movie you actually made. I know, because I didn't. The smart political comedy that I was there to see ended about half an hour into the movie when Linney's plot kicked into high gear and I was treated to warmed over plot rejects from Enemy of the State.

Now I know that asking for honesty in advertising is like asking for honesty in politics, but wouldn't all be better served by trailers that actually reflect the plot of the movie being screened? I won't go as far as to ask for trailers that don't fool me into thinking some pile of mess will actually be funny or good, but is this really too much to ask for? I'd be much happier and feel far less cheated if my $10.75 went where I thought it was going, good or bad. Voting with your dollars is hard to do when the packaging says apples, but contains oranges.

Oh yeah... and in the crowd at the derby? Ethan Zohn, winner of Survivor:Africa, who you might remember was part of this list.

Damnit, Ethan! Why did you have to wait until I was dating someone I liked to show up?

I've never really been the organized sports type. For the most part I've always found the idea of spending time watching grown men chase little balls around to be... incredibly boring. To say the least. On very rare occasions I've gotten caught up in a sporting event, and they are usually small scale, local teams, or teams of friends. Maybe it's the scale of organized sports that turns me off... I dunno.

Last night though... last night Kid Flash took me to something new: Roller Derby. Now HERE'S a port I can get behind. Small teams of local girls, obviously playing for the love of sport, not money, in a fast paced and exciting game that is not burdened down with esoteric rules. (No lengthy discussions of "in-field flies here.)

Last night was the Queens of Pain vs. the Bronx Gridlock. I'll grant that the first few "jams" (which is what they call the plays) I was completely lost. I was still trying to get a handle on the rules, how to follow the action, who to pay most attention to, things like that. Kid Flash was very handy at helping me understand, and very patiently explained it to me several times. He kept me up on strategy and gave me the histories of every player, pointing out their playing styles, what they are best at, where they are weak, (he's really into it and has been at every bout this season). About half-time I had gotten a pretty good hold on what was going on, and how the game was played. It didn't take long for me to have chosen a team (the Gridlock) and even had favorite players (Blissy Sadistick and Pop Rox) and was feeling the excitement of the crowd. Cheering, stamping my feet, and reacting with the crowd is something I'm really not used to being caught up in, but there I was, cheering, stamping my feet and reacting with the crowd. This game is exciting! The tongue in cheek nature of the players, with character names (my fave name is "Brigitte Bar-Ho") and in some cases costume bits like wigs, fuzzy ears, and face make-up added to the fun too. The player's ability to be deadly serious in the rink and at the same time playful and edgy made the whole thing for me before the game started, and then after things got really underway the excitement of the action and the pace of the game kept me hooked. If all sports were played like this I might actually end up watching ESPN now and then.

In a couple weeks Kid Flash's best friend will be playing and I can't wait! I wish I had discovered this earlier in the year so that I could have followed the whole season, especially since there are only two games left at this point, but there's always next year.

My apologies to anyone who reads this blog through a feed, or an RSS subscription. I've been going back and editing posts to add tags, which is a new feature in Blogger, and it never occurred to me that all of these would be popping up on the feeds again as new posts! I've edited almost 300 posts in the past few weeks! I'm so sorry!

Does this sound like you?

1) You are in New York City
2) You enjoy one or more of the following things:
a) Cabaret performances
b) Comedy centering around either washed up starlets, broadway in-jokes or gay sex
c) Two bitchy queens bickering onstage
3) You are free next Monday night

If that sounds like a description of you then I cannot more highly recommend anything to do to fill your Monday evening than going to see Cake Returns at the Duplex, starring Vinnie Costa and Tom Privitere. (On the full disclosure front Vinnie is a friend of mine, and one of the people that I regularly play geeky card games with.) The show is great fun, including lots of really funny Broadway style songs, and lots of bickering and play fighting between Vinnie and Tom. I had great fun at tonight's performance. The Duplex is hinting around that they may want Tom and Vinnie to extend the run beyond the planned two performances, so get in there next week and support them!

After meeting his friends for breakfast on Sunday Kid Flash and I decided that we would hit some of the sites included in Open House New York. Open House New York is a two day event where buildings, parks, and other sites all over the five boroughs are opened to the public for tours. Most of these sites are normally closed, or charge admission to gain access, but for this one weekend they are open to anyone who cares to come and stand in line long enough. We chose a handfull of places to try and visit, but because we got a late start we were eventually only able to make it to two of them.

The first was The High Bridge Water Tower. This tower on the east side of Manhattan was formerly part of the Croton Reservoir system and had a water tower on the top of it that helped service the water needs of northern Manhattan. The water tank burned in the 80's but it has been replaced by an observation deck that overlooks all of northern Manhattan, part of Queens, and part of the Bronx. From the height of the tower you can see 9 or 10 of the bridges that cross onto Manhattan, including the George Washington. The restoration of the tower is amazing, and is part of a larger restoration project in the works for that area that will include the High Bridge. High Bridge was partially a pipeline from the reservoir, and partially a pedestrian bridge between Manhattan and the Bronx. I'll be excited to see that project complete, it was a great area and High Bridge was cool. I'd love to walk across it. Anyway...

There was a moderate line formed by the time we got there, but it ended up only being about 45 minutes long. After that there was a climb to the top of the tower. Waiting at the top was a park ranger who gave a brief talk on the history of the place, and tried his best to explain what had gone on in the tower, and answer our question. I say tried because there was a guy there who was obviously an engineer or something and kept asking questions about the reservoir system and how the water was pumped to the top of the tower, etc. The poor ranger tried his best but just wasn't up the task of the physics of the place. It was obvious during the climb that this place wasn't typically open to the public. Some of the hand railing was missing, and the floor boards were uneven in places. Still it was incredibly exciting to see this space. Even with the park rangers and the lines it had the air of having snuck in somewhere forbidden, but really cool. Part of the point of this whole thing I guess.

The views from there were amazing. Kid Flash was able to point out the building he works in across the river, we could both see our neighborhoods. The GWB from that angle was also awesomely cool.

After that we realized that we were running really late and so we prioritized which place from our list we thought we might be able to get to in time. The decision was to head over to Roosevelt Island and to try and see the Octagon Lighthouse. Neither of us had ever been to Roosevelt Island, so it seemed like the best choice.

We got to The Octagon just as they were letting the last group in. The Octagon was originally built as part of an insane asylum, and is the last standing part of that structure. It's a beautiful building, and probably would have been incredible to see 20 years ago, unfortunately it has been bought and incorporated into a luxury apartment complex. The portion that we were allowed to see is now the lobby of that complex, including the gym, and the play room. It's a great renovation, and I'm sure the apartments are beautiful as well, but looking at the photos of the wrought iron spiral staircase that once dominated the space (in place of the very modern one I photographed here) made me sad for what was lost. Still cool to see though.

Roosevelt Island itself was bizarre. The entire island is dominated by high rise apartment buildings, and by virtue of it's placement in the East River directly between Manhattan and Brooklyn I'm sure the apartments are quite pricey. There are a few dots here and there of older, cooler structures, but the apartment buildings really do provide the only visual cues about the island. The overly homogenized sameness of all the buildings lends the place a highly artificial quality that is eerie in a way. The lack of street traffic (most of the island is off limit to cars) as well as foot traffic left the place feeling pretty vacant. Kid Flash also observed a distinct lack of retail spaces in the places where you'd normally expect them to be in NYC. The whole thing added together meant that the island, while part of New York was VERY distinct from it, and different. It was a fun discovery, but not a place that I think I'd want to go to on a regular basis.

Next year I'll be looking to do this again, but with some better planning. There were some really tempting places on the list of available sites that I'd love to spend a few minutes in.

Okay... so things are going well enough on the romantic front that I've decided that a nickname for blogging purposes is probably in order. And so... Kid Flash it is. (He's a runner... I'm a geek... what can I say.)

My sister and I used to make this recipe on a nearly daily basis. I was so excited when she called me last week to say that she had come into possession of a copy of it again. Now officially these are called "No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies." We always called them "Dookie Cookies" for.... well... if you make the recipe you'll see the fairly obvious reason. We never bothered actually spooning the mixture out into cookie sheets and making actual cookies, instead we preferred just to eat it with a spoon directly from a bowl. But then like most kids I always did prefer the pre-cooked form of most sweets to the final form that they were supposed to be in. Regardless, it's a tasty recipe and I can't wait to try it again.

2 cups sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups oatmeal
Waxed paper

In a heavy saucepan bring to a boil, the sugar, cocoa, butter and milk. Let boil for 1 minute then add peanut butter, vanilla and oatmeal. On a sheet of waxed paper, drop mixture by the teaspoonfuls, until cooled and hardened.

It's happened a half dozen times in the last few weeks: about 10 or 11 o'clock someone in a nearby apartment begins playing an electric guitar. They never play for very long, and it isn't wild or loud, and I can never recognize a song. It's just 10 minutes or so of improvisational playing with a bluesy sound.

I love it.

Normally the NYC sounds drifting in from the street below me annoy me. The cars with too loud music. The old men playing dominos. The hoochie girls arguing over some boy. They annoy me, and keep me awake, and make me wonder how much training I'd need to use a sniper rifle from my window.

But this is different.

I've never made it secret that guys playing instruments is just about the hottest thing ever. And guitar playing is just plain out aural sex. In my mind the mystery guitar player is tall and thin and lithe with muscular forearms covered in blonde hair. He's sitting up in that apartment somewhere on a milk crate in worn cotton boxers and a white v-neck t-shirt, barefoot, with a beer on the floor beside him. (Given the demographic of my neighborhood this is probably far from true, but allow me my fantasies, please.)

The first few times I heard it it was just an anomaly, one of those NYC things that happens now and then. But I didn't hear him last night, and I actually wondered about him. Somehow, this random stranger I've never even seen has become a part of my daily life, which definitely IS one of those NYC things that happens now and then, and that makes me happy.

Because I use the word "atom" in my blog title I often get hits from search queries that are obviously designed to locate something related to science. It distresses me a little that in the past week I've had nearly a dozen hits searching on the phrase "quarts in an atom."

Just a hint... if you arrived here from a similar search they are called "quarKs" not "quarTs" and you should be looking here or here. Good luck!

Now for those of you who have been arriving here with various search strings involving the word "child...." well, there IS no help for you.

In roughly chronological order...

1. Marathons and running
2. Presidents who can speak clearly
3. Lindsay Lohan's breasts
4. Vegetarianism
5. The Baby Sitters Club
6. V.C. Andrews
7. Harry Potter
8. Robert Jordan
9. Mercedes Lackey
10. The relative merits of reading or not reading overly popular books
11. The Da Vinci Code
12. My old neighborhood
13. Apartment prices in NYC and other parts of the world
14. Geocaching
15. How to read a GPS
16. How starlings came to America
17. Inwood Park vs. Central Park
18. Mormonism
19. How to tell an accordion from a concertina
20. Lawrence Welk
21. Getting into museums for free
22. What fear feels like
23. Ren Faires
24. Badly painted murals
25. Zoos and zoo psychosis
26. Family
27. Prams
28. Collections you never intended to start
29. If more people would be better at math if teachers were better
30. Choosing underwear for the day
31. Naps
32. Scars
33. Kissing technique
34. Best friends

Oh... and what to do next time.