read a good poem, and see a fine picture: todd hido, #6242

todd hido, #6242. via squarecylinder.com

today is "poem in your pocket" day--the academy of american poets is trying to spread the poetic love by offering a little template, with 25 selections that can be printed out for folks to either carry around for themselves, or share. of these, i like lost by sara teasdale...

there is a poem that i carry around, it was sent to me by my aunt several years ago. she knows too well my dreamy, broody side and during a particularly difficult period, i received in the mail a handwritten note from her, on hotel stationery:

be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.

do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them.

and the point is to live everything.

live the questions now. perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it live along some distant days into the answers.

she came across that passage in "a year by the sea" by joan anderson, which she'd been reading during her vacation. it was written by rainer maria rilke ('letters to a young poet").

i read it from time to time, encouraged by the words, still amazed by the timeliness and thoughtfulness of her sending it. but that is just how she is...

***
i've linked to todd hido's work before--he is a newly discovered favorite photographer of mine, and i really love the shots through a wet, dirty windshield in "a road divided."

here is david m. roth's brief review of his recent show at the stephen wirtz gallery and many more shots from "a road divided" here, via americansuburbx.com.

enjoy.

pizza pizza

pizza tasting party at the white house roosevelt room, april 10, 2009. photographed by pete souza, via the official white house photostream.

ok, i can't stop looking at the official white house photos. a terrific peek into events both official and ordinary.

like this pizza tasting party.
how much do i love the newspapers lining the table?
let me count the ways.
so hysterical. so down home. and a terrific re-use of the daily rags...

short stuff

photographed by pete souza, via the official white house photostream. march 3, 2009.

anyone wanna teach a girl some shorthand? so old school cool...

the coolest ever...

P020109PS-0339
the president and first lady, in 3-d glasses while watching superbowl 43. photographed by pete souza.

originally uploaded by the official white house photostream

i was feeling bluesy, until i saw this...

brilliant!

here's a link to the announcement of pete souza as the official white house photographer, and his site. i'll be spending the day admiring his work.

enjoy.

mad square adventure

finally. a single shackburger, a double shackburger, fries and 2 black and white hand-spun shakes.

in recent weeks, i have walked through madison square park nearly every day, sometimes twice a day, and i've marvelled that the shake shack has managed to sustain such a devoted and patient patronage. the line that snakes long around the seating area on the south side of the park has been a deterrent for me, yet it makes me smile quietly--it's a sign of spring, joyous congregation around...meat and milkshakes. i think it's sweet that people are still so enthusiastic about it. but i also wonder if they aren't the biggest suckers in town. friends have offered mixed reviews, from "meh" to "awesome" --it just hasn't been enough to inspire me to endure the wait.

but yesterday, my friend stephen proposed it as our "lunch adventure." he too has never wanted or had time to wait out the line, but it was a gorgeous day, since we haven't hung out since i was laid off, we could fuel our anticipation with some good catching up. and in that hour, we shared all kinds of good gossip (i mean, news) from the office. i think i even got a bit of color...

and then there was the food.

the shackburger is a bit more modest then i anticipated--it's small, but the single is probably a smart size for a mid-day meal. it's a handsomely assembled little burger (pretty tomatoes). the meat was tender, but a bit too done and lacking flavor. i am a ketchup fiend--fiend, i say--and my burger test is "how long can i go before i need some ketchup?" i have been to a few places recently--fatty crab, resto, 5 napkin burger--where the meat was so savory that ketchup would have only been a distraction. not so here. three bites into it, and it felt like the shackburger needed something to elevate it. the shack sauce was runny and indistinguishable. and american cheese is wonderful for adding smoothness, but something sharper could have helped here.

it seemed to be the overriding theme, as the fries were handsome and crisp, but missing flavor and salt.

but the shake redeemed everything. not that any of the food was bad, it was fine and good. one wonders, though, if it's enough payoff for the wait?

the shake makes it so.

come to the cabaret: maude maggart

maude maggart will be song-styling at the oak room, through may 23. i have been wanting to see and hear her perform but have managed, for the last two years, to miss her. not this time.

it would be nice to have a friend or two to accompany me, but i don't think too many of mine are down for the cabaret. perhaps it would help if i told them she is fiona apple's sister? but perhaps not...

perhaps if they heard her rendition of the carpenter's superstar? i think it is haunting and lovely.

***

loneliness is a such a sad affair

and i can hardly wait to be with you again

what to say to make you come again

come back to me again

and play your sad guitar

***

need a bit more convincing?

here is stephen holden's review in the nytimes (ms. maggart acts a song with a fluid body language that lends everything she sings an added dramatic intensity...she wields old-time hollywood glamor to cast her seductive spell);

and will friedwald's in the voice (there are plenty of singers in new york clubs who can out-sing her, but none who can out-think her... singing the subtext as much as the notes or the lyrics, she creates a kind of jukebox musical of the gods).

and here is a link to the oak room site.

maybe not a dream match-up, but a dreamy one

i woke up in time to catch a few games of the battle of the handsomes: safin v robredo.
and then, with robredo serving at deuce, down 2-4, the rains came.

marat safin, during his match vs. tommy robredo at the internazionali bnl d'italia. photographed by julian finney for getty images. april 28, 2009.

to be continued...

***

in the meanwhile, here's a favorite photo of safin from last year's australian open:

marat safin, at the australian open 2008. photographed by greg wood for getty. january 18, 2008.

and to keep the "handsome guy with racket" theme going, one of robredo:

tommy robredo at the 2004 french open. photographed by clive mason for getty. may 30, 2004.

see a fine actor: richard short, on fringe

who's on the fringe?

i tried watching it when it first premiered, and it was a bit too spy/sci-fi convoluted for me to stay invested in, but...i've got my dvr set and i'm going to watch tomorrow night's episode live, to see my friend, the fine actor (and co-blogger of film snobs), richard short.

he's going to get his spine ripped out, apparently.

gory good fun!

it airs at 9pm on FOX....

hot child in the city

i do look forward to the few times of the year when i can sport something of a savage tan, but i've only ever been interested in acquiring a tan in the course of pursuing some kind of activity: tennis, running...at the very least, i'd have to be at the beach, with the prospect of running or flopping around in the water. but lounging outside on a towel, just to get a bit of color seemed boring. and it seemed somehow sad to have to do it on the roof or on a fire escape or in a city park. but i must be getting old and lazy, because when my friend andy suggested whiling away an afternoon in central park on this the first of surely many scorching ny sundays, i didn't have to think twice about it. and i didn't even think twice about stripping down to my bikini. it was too hot for much modesty, too hot for much just beyond lying there, with lots of water. and cherry popsicles.


















all that doing nothing in the sunshine really did wonders for our appetite though. after winding our way all through the west side of the park, we hit up the new uptown outpost of fatty crab, and feasted on fatty sliders (mini pork and beef burgers, served on soft square rolls, with luscious sambal aioli--maybe my favorite dish on their menu), green mango salad, fatty duck, the near- perfect mess known as the chili crab, coconut rice, and...the fatty dog...

our table was quite a scene, especially when we were done.

this new restaurant is a smart extension and a good fit for the neighborhood: it doesn't sport the elbow-to-elbow, knee-to-knee intimacy and down home charm (and the lighting is less amorous), but the trade-off is great service, and a shorter wait for a table (more tables!). the tweaks to the menu (no quail egg shooters! and a curry sauce for the chili crab, rather than luscious, piquant tamarind sauce) might be a minor disappointment for the downtown regulars who fiend for those particular delights, but it at least ensures the original location won't be forgotten.

our meal was a nice, if super-indulgent coda, elevating an afternoon of simple pleasure to a summer holiday.

***
i love "hot child in the city" but had forgotten it was sung by nick gilder. or maybe i never really knew that. he doesn't do much to sell this song, but it's catchy anyway...

if you check out the wikipedia link, you'll see a connection to john mcenroe's wife, patty smyth...

(hint, hint: "bang, bang")

iced coffee and tequila

vietnamese iced coffee. april 23, 2009.

i have a couple of friends who are yearning for "iced coffee" weather. and while i, too, am wondering where the hell spring is (but steadfastly refusing to pull out my winter coat again), i almost never drink iced coffee, certainly not in the morning. oh, i like it fine enough, but it's too easy to drink. and really, it has to be consumed pretty quickly lest it get depressingly watered down, like a yoo-hoo.

but vietnamese iced coffee stands apart from this phenomenon. the first few sips are shocking--it is so wonderfully, toxically thick with sweet condensed milk and that too-roasted coffee bean flavor--try to drink it too quickly, and it will send you reeling. at the very least, it could ruin your interest the meal that awaits you. you have to sip it throughout the meal, let the ice mellow it out. it seems never to get too sadly diluted.

and it knows no season. yesterday, my friend/boss for a freelance project took us out for a sort of celebratory lunch, and even though i was under-dressed for the weather (cold, cold hands!) and (probably) over-caffeinated, i ordered a vietnamese iced coffee without a second thought. i knew every leisurely sip would hit the spot.

***
do we think it wise to agree to have one's hair cut by a woman named tequila?

i'm about to find out.

enjoy the afternoon.