A Bunch of BS

SUNDAY MORNING WAYBACK MACHINE: Music

G. took B. to a friend's house to watch the Patriots and the Sox play at the same time.  He must be in heaven - especially since he thought he'd be missing the game because, as you know, our tv has been "broken" since the beginning of August.

Therefore, U and I are free to be silly girls.  And when I am feeling like a silly girl, I start to take out old LPs that I've held onto since I was a silly girl (instead of, I suppose, the silly woman I am these days).  I don't often take out my old or more quirky LPs because G can't help himself - he must make fun of my "pussy" music.  Not that's it's all like that - I have most early Husker Du on LP, and I single handedly got most of my friends hooked on the Pixies seven years after they broke up.  But should I put on The Smiths or The Feelies or anything that was used in a John Hughes movie... the gloves come off.

So when I am totally alone the LPs come out.  About an hour ago I dug out one of my absolute favorites: The Mercy Seat EP from Ultra Vivid Scene.  For me, the song itself is the wayback machine - moments after hearing the first hint of bells at the top of the song, I am instantly transported back to perhaps 1988 or 9.  While I'd like to think I was somewhere in the original Ritz on 11th Street (where I saw The SugarCubes way back when) I was probably in what we called the New Ritz when I first heard Mercy Seat, and I was transfixed.  Now, whenever I hear Mercy Seat I am a teenager again, in a smelly oversold club, waiting for Jane's Addiction to finally get on stage.

I've had the LP since I first heard the single:

If you follow the link to UVS, you'll see that the  man behind it is now a visual/media artist.  Interestingly, when we were at the MoMA in August I stood for a few minutes and watched the monitor display behind the cash registers in the lobby.  I remember thinking that they were just the right balance of interesting without reminding you of the serious amount of cash you were forking over.  And tonight I discover that they were partially created by Kurt Ralske, who was Ultra Vivid Scene.

SUNDAY MORNING WAYBACK MACHNE

Good Morning!

I'm thinking that this whole two kids, freelance work, regular blogging thing isn't really working out the way I'd hoped.  I often find myself lying in bed at 12:30 am, thinking, "That was funny, that thing B did today, I should really write about it on the blozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz."

So I've decided to blatantly ripoff a few other blogs I try to to remember to read and start having a themed post on a certain day of the week.  If I can only write about that one thing, then at least I have a starting point to work from when my brain would rather be trolling D-listed for the latest Britney debacle.

Therefore, welcome to the Sunday Morning Wayback Machine™! (I love rocking the TM when I can).  My mom sent me a DVD of all of her photos, scanned in and burned to moderately stable plastic digital media.  She took all of her photos and scanned, labeled, and organized them by year.  In case you're not suitably impressed, please think about it again.  Starting in 1953.  Thousands.  Clearly named w/ the names of who is in it, where the photo was taken, when the photo was taken.  Please, everyone, a round of applause for my mom for finishing a project that has taken her years.  I can't tell you how many times I have called my mom at midnight her time, only to find her three hours into scanning more photos.

[Bringing it back around now]  Here, therefore, is the first installment of the SMWM:

That's my mom being carried by "Jimmy" (L) and my dad (R) in 1961.

I remember seeing this photo when I was a kid (I had an obsession with looking through my mom's old photos).  A few things went through my mind the first time I found it:

• wow, my parents look like they used to have fun; what happened to them?
• wow, my dad used to dress really cool; where'd the black socks-while-wearing-shorts look come from?
• ummmm... these can't really be my parents.

Of course, the funny thing is that we've come full circle (I feel my mother smiling from 3000 miles away).  As I type this I am looking at a photo of me and my closest friends at our wedding.  We're all making the "Rob face" (patent pending) and most of us are ragingly drunk have a drink in our hands and are slightly sweaty from dancing. I can't wait for B & U to register it for the first time and ask, "Wow, you used to be cool people.  What happened?"  What happened indeed.

Both of these photos will posted to B's website if you'd like to compare - I am still feeling a little burned about the whole B preschool/family members freaking about photos I posted.  This photo of my parents is pretty old and small... and lets face it, they look a little different now.  But the photo of me and my friends is more recent and they haven't signed consent forms.

Email me for the login/password.

Whatcha Want?

Somehow, the stars aligned, and Guy and I managed to see the Beastie Boys at the Greek Theater Saturday night.  Though we were much later than we preferred, we still managed to find two seats in the amphitheater part where the sound is best. 

It felt good to get out and see live music, but also... I feel old.  I found looking down at the little mosh-pockets that sprung up on the floor, thinking, "When you've spent $50 for your floor seats, you've exited the world where you can mosh without it seeming cheap and more than a little fake.  Moshing is the $10 show, not the $50 show."  THEN I found myself thinking, "If I paid $50 and then had a bunch of 30 year old wannabe yahoos MOSHING in front of me, I'd be pissed."

That's it, ladies and gentlemen, I am officially OLD.

The next morning as I was talking to B about his night with Milagro, he suddenly remembered something.  "Mommy!  Milagro got the TV to work!"  I should step back and explain that Berch doesn't watch TV anymore.  The TV is "broken" and Mommy just doesn't know how to fix it.  On Monday when we saw Milagro before leaving for work, I told her, "Ningún televison para Berch. Le dijimos que esté roto."  She laughed and told us how B told her that his Mama said he could watch TV while Milagro was there - complete with trying to pull the locked doors open, which he never does when we are around.  "Él es muy inteligente!" she said.  More like "Mi hijo es disimulado." 

In any case, he's been fine with the lack of his 30 minute dose of Sesame Street.  Some day I'll actually update his page, but since no one ever goes there, not sure why I'd do that....

Metro Diary

Well, Metro Diary in the New York TImes.  Guy sent this to me, from yesterday;s NYT's diary section.  I hate to be a sap, but it really did bring a tear to this Mets loving, Yankee loathing eye.

A RED SOX FAN GOES ON A FIRST DATE

Her lips, her eyes, that lent their dazzling fire

To cheerless and adumbral Applebee’s

Had struck him dumb and breathless with desire;

Her bosom made him weak in both his knees.

So faultless was this girl, he feared to know

What secret septic blood within her coursed.

But still he bravely asked, in murmurs low,

Which local baseball franchise she endorsed.

He fought to overcome a nauseous urge,

His heart was gripped by panic’s numbing freeze;

She answered; and her words seemed to emerge

“The New York —” here he feared the fatal knife,

But “Mets,” she said, and smiled, and saved his life.

Shoshana Hantman

BlogShares?

So when I check my "Stats" page last night I was pointed to site called Blogshares.  I've got to say - that site ain't pretty.  But apparently somebody called Koobros has bought 4000 shares of A Bunch of BS.  Go figure.  I find it interesting that someone who is pushing a Happiness Agenda has decided to buy stocks in my site - I don't consider myself happy... maybe happy on some ironic level, or moderately amused.

In any case, of course now I need to see what Blogshares is all about - some kind of fantasy blog thing.  Honestly, if I am going to get involved in fantasy ANYTHING I want to do a fantasy stock market so I can get good at making REAL money in the REAL world.

In other news:  B. learned how to catch and U. CRAWLED today!  Movie of this coming very soon on her page.

Fish

Whoo-Hoo!  Last night we made it to Manhattan again.  Apparently, the no-agenda vacation is the way to go.  We both worked a bit in the morning and then headed in after the subways came back online.  We wanted to go to the Strand first, so we parked by my Aunt Margaret's apartment in Greenpoint and took the L in to Union Square.

Ahhh, the Strand.  I walked in looking for nothing and walked out of there with a cookbook, two fiction books and two children's books. Guy walked in looking for one book: The Boys of Summer.  He left extremely frustrated and sadly empty handed.  Guy's theory about the Strand is that it's a great bookstore if you have nothing in mind and want to wander the stacks.  However, if you are looking for a particular book, it could be the death of you.  That's not to say that you can never find a specific book.  While I was browsing the cookbooks one of those old men who have lived in Manhattan for 80 years in the same apartment asked for a copy of the New York Times Almanac.  One of the plethora of punk-rock chicks that seem to be enjoying a resurgence in NYC told him that despite the computer telling her that there was one copy left in the store, she could not locate it.  He told her he had seen it the afternoon before; she replied that perhaps it was purchased since he last saw it and the computer was wrong.  He then very loudly said, "Alright then, young lady, you go back to whatever I took you away from - I'll just get on my hands and knees and start looking for it myself."  And then... he did!  Hand and knees, until she came back with the book in shame.  It was a perfect bookstore moment.

Afterwards we walked down Second Ave to get a drink before having dinner at the Mermaid Inn.  Can someone please explain to me how Stomp is still playing at the Orpheum?  Or why the Telephone Bar still manages to stay in business? 

In any case, we had a great night - great food including a honeydew cucumber gazpacho I am itching to attempt as soon as we get home. 

Ralph's

In the past few years there has been a resurgence of the Italian Ice in the metro NY area.  In my parents' town, the King of Italian Ices is Ralph's.  Guy and I are addicted and  on a week long trip to visit my parents, we try to get an ice every other night.  Like tonight:

Holy Two Movies, Batman!

Just returned from seeing the Bourne Ultimatum.  People - that's TWO MOVIES IN THREE DAYS.  I feel giddy, positively giddy.

And you know what - it was great.  Perfectly over the top (to the point where I laughed out loud after the ultimate car chase because, while everyone else is bleeding and concussed, bad-ass Jason Bourne just gets up and walks away with a little buzzing in his ears).  Also, I have a secret crush on David Strathairn, even when he looks as slimey as he does in this movie.  We got in my mom's Corolla to drive home afterwards, and Guy remarked that it was nice that my mom disabled her extremely annoying car alarm because it was scaring B.  Then we started recounting scenarios where Jason Bourne breaks into my mom's car, hotwires it, and then... slowly tried to accelerate out of his parking space.

Unfortunately, there aren't too many other movies out right now that we want to see.  There is Sicko... but Right now I'd prefer to pay money to be taken to a better, happier place, filled with yellow-hued people and awesome scooter chases in Tangier.

Also, a reminder:  I am starting to post on B & U's sites (mostly pictures and tidbits about how goddamn cute they are).  Let me know if you want the password.

New York, Baby!

We're in NY for a week - almost midway through the trip.  It's been pretty good so far, though part of me is exhausted.  B, as some of you may have heard, is... er, willful.  We arrived Thursday late afternoon and B didn't nap on the plane - which we paid for later on as we tried to get him into PJs.

In any case, we've decided to stay agenda free on  this trip and it's working so far.  We hit Jones Beach Friday afternoon w/ B while my mom watched U.  The surf was kind of rough, but we made sand castles and sat on the sand while the waves rolled in, and B had fun commanding us to dive under the waves as they came crashing towards us.  Friday night, while B completely broke down, we just left him shrieking with my mom and saw the Simpson's Movie [ok - some very funny moments, we haven't regularly watched the show on TV in about a year, and of course, we NEVER go to the movies... so for us it was awesome]. 

Saturday G and I left the kids w/ my mom in the early afternoon and headed into NYC to catch the Richard Serra retrospective at the MoMA.  Afterwards we headed to the Lower East Side and did what was unthinkable 12 years ago: sat outside at a bistro at Orchard and Stanton (Épicerie Café Charbon) and drank some affordable Pouilly Fume while the sun set.  After meeting up with my cousin we headed over to Alias for dinner.  They had some salt issues, as in, they over used it on my cod and G's duck confit.  And the Burgundy we ordered, which had a  Kermit Lynch recommendation, kind of sucked - it's been a long time since I've ordered a bottle of wine I just plain didn't like.  However, we were saved by my cousin and her company Amex - whoohoo for the underused expense account!

And now we find ourselves at Sunday night.  Kids are sleeping, G is watching the Mets game to see if Glavine gets his 300th win, and I am downloading photos.  Goodnight.

The New World Order

We're back.  G. asked me the other day if I was going to blog anymore, now that U. was around and I had all of those posts for B.  I thought about it for a while - honestly, the whole thing with one of the parent's from B's school trolling and narcing on me to the school, in addition to my own family members giving me shit for prattling on about the mundane realities of my family and kids, made me lose all the joy in it.  I just got tired of typing "picture removed by request of someone else" or listening to people tell me about all of the awful, evil people lurking out there in that thing we call the Internet.

Then I realized. damn, I do love to tell a good, long story!

So I've revamped the site.  There are still some construction issues I am dealing with, but the biggest change is that there is now a site for U and B, but they are hidden and they are password protected (for now, at least - I don't know how I feel about password protecting a blog).  If you write to me, I will send you the info (if I *know* you, of course).  This page will be open for the general public, and I will do my best to keep a good balance going.  I'm not sure it is going to work - most of the stories involving the kids will be the same for both of them.  In that case, what's the point of having two separate blogs?  I don't know - we'll see how it goes.

I think I am also going to ask G. to start writing occasionally.  Encourage him to write about something other th an fantasy sports!