#47 Boston - A Weekend at the Movies - April 29, 2005

Hello All,

Week 47 here in Boston, this time littered with movies and some other incidents of random madness.

The cinematic excitement was due to the 3rd Annual Independent Film Festival (http://www.iffboston.org/index.html), which took place in several locations across the hub - at the Somerville, Brattle, Coolidge and MFA movie theaters. I had signed up with IFFB for a couple of long shifts at the Somerville movie theater near Davis Square and it made for a very exhausting weekend. The festival was definitely compelling - only one celebrity sighting for me - famed African-American actor/director/composer Melvin van Peebles (http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/van_peebles.html). He was wearing a t-shirt with the words "Original Badasssss" on it, referring to his controversial 1970s movie "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song". On opening night, which I did miss, Indie favorites Steve Buscemi and Casey Affleck were also seen in town attending the premiere of their project "Lonesome Jim."

I did manage to see two stimulating pictures, a Canadian flick called "Childstar" (http://www.iffboston.org/2005/film_childstar.html), which was a funny, but darkly bitter comedy on child actors in the film industry. "Rhythm is It" is a documentary on a project done between the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the conductorship of Sir Simon Rattle (great name for a composer!!), and British choreographer Roylston Maldoom. Roylston took 240 kids and young adults, from elementary school age to about 22 years of age, and taught them to dance accompanying the symphony orchestra's performance of Igor Stravinsky's "Le Sacre du Printemps". What an inspiring project and equally motivating and touching movie!!!! (http://www.iffboston.org/2005/film_rhythm.html)

Somerville is a very nice part of the Boston municipal area - home of my favorite Boston pub, The Burren, all very neighborhoody, great restaurants. The Somerville Theater, in one of its previous lifetimes was originally a Vaudeville-style performance theater with a reputation for excellence.
Spending some time waiting for the subway in Somerville, reminded me that a some of the T stations here feature much appreciated diversions. The Davis Square T for example features poems by Emily Dickinson and other women poets on its brick tiles on the platform floors. At the Kendall Square/ MIT stop local artist Paul Matisse installed three sculpture-instruments - Pythagoras, Kepler and Gallileo. "Pythagoras" is a set of long tube bells tuned in B minor struck by a line of pendulum hammers. When passenger move the handle on the station wall, the hammers swing back and forth, striking the tubes, creating the most wonderful sounds.

The weekend started off on a good note, on Saturday morning, I participated in the first ever Back Bay 5 K (http://www.aviewoncities.com/boston/backbay.htm) along the Charles River Esplanade. Organized by the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay and the Chi Phi Fraternity of MIT, it was a very community-based, low-key event with about 120 runners attending. The Chi Phi frat boys did a commendable job, and the race was definitely enjoyed by all, in particular because we all put up spectacular running times. This was partly due to the fact that the race was not exactly 5K (3.1 Miles), but according to my own calculations about 2.75 Miles. If my math is correct, I can now applaud myself on a new personal best of 8.45 minutes/ mile!!! Yeah! The weather was perfect for running, cool temps in the upper 40s or so, and just a little windy. My running companions included Ruth, Eric and Elaine - for Ruth this was her first official race, and she did spectacularly.

Sunday was a bit of a messy day, as other kinds of madness kicked in. First, after peeling myself out of bed at the ungodly time of 7:15 AM to meet up with an acquaintance to go bird watching at the wonderful Mt. Auburn cemetery (http://www.mountauburn.org/), I got stood up! There I was waiting in the pouring rain, freezing, tired, and no one showed up (at least nobody I knew)! That pretty much set the tone for the day. Being overtired and grumpy do not make a good combination, I have to tell you. During my afternoon shift at the theater, I walked outside to look for one of the coordinators, only to find some 65-year old psychopath freak out on me simply because I "stepped in front of him." Completely lost it, the dude, screaming on the top of his lungs, his eyes bulging, and he did not stop his rapacious tirade until the end of the next block. The whole day was like this - loonies everywhere - and by the time I came home, I went straight to bed. No use in staying up or meeting more crazy people.

The week has been pretty low-key as a result of my extreme tiredness following this past weekend, the evenings were filled with couch time, movies, books, and an acceptable allotment of exercise. The weather has been less than inviting, warm but mostly rainy. The weekend promises mixed weather - plans include a concert, some hiking, maybe a road race (possible spontaneous moment coming up!). Sunday is National Arbor Day (you know, good for the trees, that kind of stuff). As a nice contrast, Germany celebrates Labor Day on May 1st - everyone usually goes on a hike and gets drunk! My friends, have a beer on me and enjoy the weekend!!


pet:)

#46 Boston - In Fine Fettle - April 22, 2005

Healthy as a Horse, as they say! I returned from a physical check-up with my PCP with a boastable cholesterol level of 182 (not even fasting), and an HDL level of 74 (greater than 40 is optimal). No word on my mental capacity, but you guys all know me! No reason to check any further, eh? I hope this will bode well for my running efforts, in particular for the road race tomorrow morning (the 1st Annual Back Bay 5K), where I hope to improve my running time, and maybe get a wee bit closer to that 9-Minute/Mile mark. I have been practicing diligently, but again learned that I suck when it comes to jogging during warm weather. This past Wednesday, where the erratic spring climate dropped an 87 degree day on us, I put on the most despicable performance ever - it was like running through molasses (considering that it was still 80 degrees out at 5:30 PM). It has cooled down a bit since, and we are hoping for no rain tomorrow. Spring bloom is in full force, and the magnolia trees along Comm Ave and the cherry trees on the Charles River Esplanade are putting on a most splendid display.

The weather has been inviting for hikes and such, so last weekend I hopped in the caah and barreled up to Nashua, Hew Hampshire for a hike with the AMC. Nashua, situated in the Merrimack Valley, is the second largest city in New Hampshire, about 30-some miles from Boston, and has an interesting history (http://www.nashuahistory.com/). It originally started out as the Dunstable Massachusetts Bay Settlement sometime in the 17th century, in 1746 became a bona fide NH town named Dunstable and in 1803 changed to Nashua. Our hike in the granite state took us to Mine Falls Park, a very nice 325-acre area along the Merrimack River, and we were rewarded there with turtles, herons, one lonely swan and a lovely lunch alongside a pretty impressive waterfall. (http://www.bikerag.com/nh_mines_falls_park_pics.htm)

Back in Boston, I lumbered to the Hynes Convention Center where the John Hancock Sports and Fitness Expo was taking place - the city was abuzz with the excitement of the upcoming Boston Marathon (http://www.bostonmarathon.org/), which was to take place on Monday. The city was jam-packed with people, athletes and cheerers-on alike, and the nice weather put them all onto our fine streets. Forget about getting a spot for dinner anywhere.....

Sunday started off with a nice breakfast at the Deluxe Town Diner in Watertown, where on the weekends the lines are out the door - with the size of their flapjacks that is no surprise to anyone. It is one of my favorite breakfast places - their pancakes come in plain, buckwheat and sweet potato, and their tea selection is quite eclectic. Owner Don Levy prides himself on offering what he calls "fine dinering" fare (http://www.ronsaari.com/stockImages/diners/town.php).
Aside from a quick 5-mile run along the Charles River, (where some of the sun-hungry Bostonians attempted to enhance their chances of getting skin cancer) Sunday turned into a lovely lazy day with some chores and lots of R&R.

Monday was Patriots Day which equals Marathon Day - what an excitement!! Many people take the day off to cheer on the 20,000 runners in the race! "Catherine the Great", Catherine Ndereba from Kenya captured her fourth crown in a row, and Hailu Negussie from Ethiopia crossed the finish line as the men's winner - both of them in times barely over two hours!! That is 26 miles, 40 Kilometers!

The week has been good at work, progress in "posterland" (with a mildly scary first presentation today to the executive committee of the cancer center, but it did go well) and lots of social activities, among it two nights of jogging with my friends Ruth and Joanne. The book group met Tuesday night, where we descended on a snazzy desert place called "Finale" (check out their creations - they are pieces of art - http://www.finaledesserts.com/ ). In the sugar rush that followed the consumption of a Manjari Mousse, I was a little out of control, but I was not alone there - fellow book worm Coleen called her father, telling him that I have a fact fetish, and solicited the story of Boston-born Republican statesman Henry Cabot Lodge (he grew up in Nahant, where Coleen resides). She then proceeded to tell me some cockamamie story about Cabot's family making their money by cutting ice in chunks and shipping them out for refrigeration. I have not been able to find anything about this anywhere, so I am just assuming that it was the chocolate talking!

Wednesday night I joined my friend Nesli Basgoz for a little trip out to her neighborhood in Brookline, a rather lovely part of Boston. My favorite part was "Emack and Bolio's" - http://www.emackandbolios.com/icecream.htm, an "ice cream shop with more than a lick of promise". Started in the 1975, it is a Boston ice cream institution and was apparently named after the first two customers that walked in the door.

Last night, it was time to taste the whiskey, this time for the "Johnny Walker Journey of Taste" at the Hotel Commonwealth at Kenmore Square. A rather sloppily and hastily organized event, so aside from tasting some of the whiskeys that go into their blends, it was definitely not worth attending.

My friends, it is time to head into the weekend, I leave you with a couple more local morsels.

Ciao.

pet:)

Morsel 1: Boston has the world's smallest suspension bridge (in the Public Garden - http://www.ebpm.com/bost/regpix/glry_bost_pubgar.html)

Morsel 2: The city of Rockport, MA voted last Tuesday night to allow the sale of alcohol by restaurants (ending 150 years of being a dry town). Only 14 dry towns remain in this lovely state of ours. Let's go get'em!

#45 Boston - Weather Jumble - April 15, 2005

Hello All,

I know that you might be tired of hearing about the lovely, but unpredictable Massachusetts weather, but this week has been and is definitely noteworthy. The signs of spring are here - absolute fact - and last weekend us New Englanders (actually probably just me) thought we had it nailed. The weather kept getting better and better, and on Sunday we enjoyed a very balmy 68 degrees, everyone was out and about, sandals were freed from the back of closets and the sound of children playing echoed in the streets. Monday morning, I put on my nice new spring blouse, and left the house with just a jacket, when I noticed everyone wearing their fleece and down jackets and a minute later a nice 42 degrees hit me in the face! What in the world?? It stayed cold most of Monday, warmed up a little on Tuesday morning, and when I left the hospital on Tuesday evening, I was greeted by snow flurries (yes, snow!!??!!). It has since warmed up again slowly, and we are expecting a nice warm weekend with temps in the upper 50s and even 70s for Sunday. For next Wednesday a high of 78 degrees is proposed. That folks, is spring in New England!

Aside from this hodgepodge of weather, it has been a good week off work and an operose one at work. The grant is coming back to haunt all of us as we are preparing for the NCI (National Cancer Institute - the folks with the dough) site visit in June. I am in the midst of preparing posters, making friends with many Excel spreadsheets and having flashbacks to February (not the good kind).

This past weekend, on account of the peachy weather, I headed to the most lovely city of Carlisle and Estabrook Woods, which consists of about 1200 acres of woodland, hills, ledges and swampland just a couple of miles north of Concord. The name was given to the forest area by none other than our friend David Henry Thoreau. Carlisle was first settled in the year 1650, is located about 40 minutes outside of Boston (20 Miles NW) and - interesting fact - 25% of the town is protected conservation land. (http://www.carlislehistory.org/history.html). I joined my friends from the Appalachian Mountain Club for a very agreeable hike, slightly muddy on occasion, dotted with gratifying conversations including some solid advice from an investment banker and a slight disagreement with the trip leader about pine trees. He was a bit of an odd duck, got lost a few times, and we backtracked quite a bit, so the 5 miles we hiked might have been a bit of an underestimate.

Upon returning home to Boston, I was not yet satisfied with the amount of physical activity for the day, so I headed out for a 5-mile run along the Charles River Esplanade, which was packed with roller bladers, bicyclists, joggers, dogs, cats, squirrels, you name it.
The snug weather on Sunday invited for a few things, but mostly for lazing and dilly-dallying, catching up on some reading. I spent the afternoon attending my friend Nakia's baby shower, "Little E" (Evan Jr.) is expected by the end of the month and we are all anxious to meet him.

On Tuesday night, I volunteered (sort of - we did not have to do that much....) with Boston Cares at the American Repertory Theater, this time at their Zero Arrow location between Harvard and Central Square (http://www.amrep.org/). The play was "Olly's Prison" by controversial and award-winning English playwright Edward Bond. His first play "Saved" which was produced by the UK's Royal Court Theater Group (1965) depicted the life of disenchanted youths who were driven to monstrous acts generated by the brutal economic conditions they faced. The play stirred up quite a scandal, and eventually led to the abolishment of censorship in theater plays in England. "Olly's Prison" (http://www.amrep.org/olly/) is an interesting play - and having a bit of distance in between now, I would say a very powerful one. The theme for me was that all the characters in the play were looking for some sort of order in their lives or in their minds in the midst of violence and turmoil. The actors were absolutely phenomenal, Bill Camp as Mike the main character, was an astonishing force on the stage, and so was Angela Reed. The performance was quite violent at times, either with its writing and words that were thrown at you with the potency of a whip or with the actual portrayal of violent acts. An amazing and exhausting experience.

On Thursday evening, I headed out to Weston - the site of some of my XC skiing and snowshoeing exploits in winter, which is now a golf course. The Charles River Canoe and Kayak folks had organized a slide show by the Maine Island Trail Association, featuring Maine's 100 public and private islands along the state's coast line. I will have to stock up on Dramamine and sea bands if I want to hop into a kayak and not get queasy, but the striking photographs will leave me no choice. MITA is a very cool organization, as their mission is to make all visitors (kayakers and boaters) "stewards" of these islands. They train visitors on low impact techniques and practices that assure that the fragile ecology of these islands will be preserved. (http://mita.org/index.php).

Hiking season has begun, and this weekend I will attend a couple of short hikes, Nashua, New Hampshire and Middlesex Fells, MA; there is a Sports and Fitness Expo at the Hynes Convention Center (on account of the Boston Marathon on Monday!) and meeting up with some friends, you know, just your average weekend. A little running also, as next week another road race awaits - the 1st Annual Back Bay Road Race! I will also be volunteering for the Boston Independent Film Festival in Somerville, so no shortage of entertainment there!

My friends, I hope you all have a nice weekend too. Be well and enjoy the great outdoors!

pet:)

#44 Boston - Daily Notes, A Shakespeare Sonnet and a Civil Righs Poem - April 8, 2005

Friday, April 1:
April Fool's Day - No apparent traps anywhere, we'll see when the bank statement comes or if someone delivers a washing machine to my door. Who knows? The week does end on a high note - my first 5-mile test run in the evening (no collapse) - MGH to the Boston University Bridge and back. Christmas pounds and winter weight finally melting away!

Saturday, April 2:
AMC's all-day Bicycle Repair and Information Workshop in Concord. Perfect activity to pick, as it is raining cats and dogs all day. Learned something (what kind of bikes to use for what, how to replace an inner tube (yeah!!), what a derailleur is and that I better not fix it myself - no intention of touching that stuff on my own!). Now I can go out biking in the wilderness and have a flat (again, no intention of doing that either).
Saturday night, first to the gym - then onto Netflix night, I can't believe I am telling you this! I watched "Walking Tall" with "The Rock". 'Nuff said. Note: There was no beer involved!! (As a matter of fact, I had my last beer on March 20th!). Also some TV time at my neighbor Claire's place (feeding the cats and enjoying the big screen TV).

Sunday, April 3:
Lolling around on the couch, followed by successful retail therapy at Filene's Basement. Finally realized in my Sunday stupor that the clock had jumped an hour ahead - bloody daylight savings time... All of a sudden, lolling and dragging did not seem like such a good idea any more. Get crackin!

The Museum of Fine Arts (http://www.mfa.org/) was next - to see the Ralph Lauren car show on "Speed, Style and Beauty" (http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/cars/default.html) - sold out, my friends! As the MFA is always a good bet on any day (rainy or not), I stayed and checked out the Asian Art collection, in particular a photography exhibit by Hiroshi Sugimoto, who became well known in the 1980s through his extremely long exposure photography, in which he was trying to combine the Eastern ideas of the creative process with the Western idea of conceptual art. Stunning photographs, simple in their beauty, in particular his nocturnal seascapes (the view from Mount Tamalpais included) and his somewhat bizarre obsession with theater and outdoor movie screens (including a phenomenal shot of Oakland's Art Deco Paramount Theater). [http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/sugimoto_hiroshi.html] Moved on to a great exhibit on the "Sword of the Samurai" and stunning selection of Japanese wedding kimonos (uchikake) and furisodes (kimono for unmarried women).
As only a fraction of the MFA's permanent collection is on exhibit at any given moment, my attempt to see my beloved Vermeer was for naught, but I did spend a few enjoyable minutes with the impressionists (always reliable).

Sunday evening - more Netflix ("The Day After Tomorrow") and Cat/Big-TV-sitting.

Monday, April 4:
Extended lunch hour, snuck away to Suffolk University Law School for a book reading by famous author Ha Jin - presenting his newest work "War and Trash". Got my copy of his book "Waiting" signed, one of my first ever book group books. http://www.powells.com/authors/jin.html)
Evening - gym activity (remember the Christmas pounds!) - rowing machine for 6 K. More Cat/Big TV-sitting (I am so glad I do not have a cable hook-up at my place - you would not be reading any updates, ever!)

Tuesday, April 5: Same as yesterday (except for no rowing).

Wednesday, April 6: Attended the volunteer orientation for the Boston International Film Festival which will take place later this month (http://www.iffboston.org/index.html). Continued over to the auditorium for the Third Annual Boston Shakespeare Sonnet-thon, where my friend Renee presented Sonnet #141 (http://www.shakespeares-sonnets.com/):

In faith I do not love thee with mine eyes,
For they in thee a thousand errors note;
But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise,
Who, in despite of view, is pleased to dote.
Nor are mine ears with thy tongue's tune delighted;
Nor tender feeling, to base touches prone,
Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited
To any sensual feast with thee alone:
But my five wits nor my five senses can
Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee,
Who leaves unswayed the likeness of a man,
Thy proud heart's slave and vassal wretch to be:
Only my plague thus far I count my gain,
That she that makes me sin awards me pain.

Unfortunately I missed her reading, but enjoyed quite a few others along with an extremely giddy and delighted audience. His birthday and day of death are both April 23rd, so every year this poetry marathon is held in the Boston Public Library.

Wednesday, April 6:
Weekly jog with the Running Partners from MGH (Lynda #2 and I)

Thursday, April 7:
Opening Reception at the Panopticon Gallery in Hotel Commonwealth at Kenmore Square - Ernest Withers, famed African-American photographer, who captured many key moments of the civil rights movement (His "I am a Man" portfolio is legendary), and also depicted the music scene in the 1950s and 1960s in Memphis, Tennessee. His exhibit was named "The Color of Baseball" and featured both prints from the Negro Baseball Leagues (in black and white) and modern day baseball (in color). He is an absolute icon and at the tender age of 83 quite spry!
http://www.panopt.com/photogra/withers/galleryew.html
(http://www.thehistorymakers.com/biography/biography.asp?bioindex=639&category=artMakers).

"I am a Man"
by Robert Worsham

Don’t look at me with disdain,
For I am not a weakling, I am a man.
I stood when to stand
brought severe reprimand,
I spoke, when to speak
brought denunciation from the weak,
and brutal attacks from those in power,
But to me this was my greatest hour,
With chin thrust out and head up proud,
I stood up straight and I said out loud,
I am a man!
And I shall always defy
the oppression of mankind
until the day I die.

Friday, April 8: Notes to Friends.