E got a commission to do a big piece for the New Yorker Passport to the Arts benefit for the High Line. He had a little over a week to do it, but they wanted him to finish it at the cocktail party—sort of a live art thing. When they said that it would be 8 ft. by 8ft., neither of us really pictured how big that really was. It took up our entire living room floor after all the furniture was moved out. Luckily, it came in four 4 ft. x 4 ft. pieces, or it never would have made it up the stairs.
The event itself was fun. In the afternoon, there was a gallery walk. We each had little passport books and each gallery that was part of the event had a rubber stamp of a piece of art that they stamped in our books. I’d never explored the Chelsea galleries before, so it was a good way to look around. Some friends joined us for the cocktail party and E finished his painting in time to have a few drinks with us. It’s funny, all of these sponsored parties seem to be sponsored by some kind of alcohol that you’d never drink otherwise, generally because it’s not very good. This was sponsored by something called St. Germain, some variety of supersweet liqueur. Blech. I think I had a few sips of the St. Germain cocktail before swapping it for wine.
They auctioned off E’s piece in a silent auction, in four pieces. All four pieces sold, which was very exciting.
Joanna and I saw this lost dog poster while walking in a park in Portland.
I’m afraid Potato might have been dognapped—she doesn’t really seem like the kind of dog to wander off on her own. Or move much in general.
I wasn’t a big fan of the early books of the series. I read the first three because I was working in bookstores at the time and needed to know what this Harry Potter was about. Someone gave me a copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but I never got around to reading it and finally read it right before Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix came out. I liked Goblet of Fire much better and went ahead and read Order of the Phoenix, which then became my favorite book of the series. So for me, it was less a good series of 7 books than a good series of 4 books.
In Deathly Hallows, Rowling finally departs from the school year structure that structures the rest of the books in the series, with the trip to school at the beginning, Christmas in the middle, and the end of term at the end of the book. Harry, Hermione, and Ron have dropped out of school on the run, looking for the horcruxes which hold fragments of Voldemorts soul. The middle of the book is mostly them apparating from one camping spot to the next, arguing with each other and hiding from Voldemort. I think I might be the only person who liked this part—lots of Hermione and Ron, both of whom I like. At the end of the book, they return to Hogwarts (yea!) for a final showdown with Voldemort and his Death Eaters. This is when things got less interesting, I thought. Obviously, all our favorite supporting characters were there and fighting, and we occasionally get snippets of them. But mostly we’re stuck with Harry, as he inexplicably spends a good chunk of the battle with his head in the pensieve and then heads out to face down Voldemort.
I’ve always found Harry to be the least interesting character in the whole series and the end of book showdowns with Voldemort to be pretty anticlimactic. Rowling doesn’t handle the epic struggle between the hero and his evil opponent as well as Pullman or Alexander. And in this book, I couldn’t follow the magic-logic that allowed Harry to destroy Voldemort at all.
Hurray that Neville got to kill the snake and that Molly Weasley took out Bellatrix Lestrange, but all in all, I would have liked to see more of the supporting characters and less of Harry/Voldemort.
Worst of all, the book ends with an epilogue set some years in the future. Apparently, Rowling wrote it very early on in the writing of the series, and it shows. All it really tells us is that everyone now has kids who are going to Hogwarts, and they all seem pretty dull. Nothing about their careers, or what the wizarding world is like without Voldemort.
So all in all, not a bad end to the series. Far from my favorite installment (which is the darkly political Order of the Phoenix), it’s still an improvement over the earliest books in the series.
The forsythia plant has had a bit of a challenging life in that both I and E’s former roommates were convinced it was dead and attempted to throw it away. It does look extremely dead in the winter, but each spring it buds and blossoms in its scraggly way. We call it Earl and it lives on the fire escape. Apparently, it’s native to the area, and we don’t do anything for it—it gets watered when it rains, but that’s about it.
Last week, we noticed that a dove was hanging around in the pot. Eventually it left and we realized that there was a small egg in the pot. Over the next few days, the bird brought a few twigs in a half-hearted attempt at nest making, and sat on the egg during the days, leaving the egg alone at night. Since it’s been cold, we knew the egg couldn’t make it after being exposed at night. I looked up mourning dove behavior, and apparently she’s supposed to have a partner to take turns sitting on the egg. We’re not sure if he’s a deadbeat, or why he’s not there.
We’ve had torrential rain all day, and no sign of the bird. We assume she’s given up. It’s quite a nice little egg, but the bird seemed to not quite know what it was doing.
I wasn’t sure if I would love this movie or hate it. In the end, it was something in the middle. Sofia Coppola tells pretty much the same story in every movie, a lonely girl overwhelemed by her world. And her movies tend to be much more about mood and images than about plot. Her first film, The Virgin Suicides, was my favorite. The melancholy mood and misty camera work really work with the suburban gothic story. I had liked the book by Jeffrey Eugenides, and I was pleased that the film captured the mood of the book. With Lost in Translation, I found it very captivating in the theater and got swept up in the movie’s slow rhythm and introspection. When I saw it again at home, I found the main character whiny and annoying.
In Marie Antoinette, Coppola is again telling a story about a girl who is in over her head. The situation of the young queen is bizarre and impossible—she’s forced to leave everything she knows to go marry a prince she’s never met. She creates sort of a fantasy world of extravagance which then becomes part of why the French people turn against her.
I didn’t mind the lack of specific historical event details—that’s not really what you look for in a Sofia Coppola movie. The scenes filmed at Versailles were incredible—amazing to see what it must have really been like. But sometimes it seemed like Coppola got a little carried away with the clothes, shoes, pastries, etc. And while I left the film feeling sympathetic towards Marie Antoinette, that she was primarily a victim of circumstances, I also thought that she seemed like a beautiful little idiot, sort of a historical Paris Hilton.
We just found out that we’re going to Austin for SXSW. E did an illustration for a magazine that’s having a venue there and they decided that they wanted him to hang around the venue and be artsy. He’s not sure exactly what he’s supposed to be doing/drawing, but they’re paying him as well as paying for his flight and hotel room. Since all I have to pay for is a plane ticket, I’m going too.
Austin is my favorite Texas city, so it will be fun to go again. Joanna and I went to SXSW one year in college and had a great time. And March is when I get tired of winter in New York and will be happy for a few days of Texas spring.
Since we’re going to Quebec in February and Austin in March, I’m afraid we’re going to get used to going on vacation every month.
This was a weekend full of projects and parties. In our living room, the ugly air conditioner is the visual focal point of the room, between the two windows and above our tv. I bought some marimekko fabric a year ago intending to make a stretched canvas to cover it, but I never got around to it and then it got to be summer and we were using the air conditioner. This year I was determined to get it done. E used his art school skills to stretch the fabric on a huge frame and we got it hung. It floats a few inches away from the wall because the air conditioner sticks out behind it, but I think the floating looks kind of cool and design-y.
I also did my annual Christmas cookie making this weekend. I had to make springerle, which are a traditional family cookie. They’re flavored with anise and you roll them out with a special rolling pin to put patterns on them. I also made gingerbread men, which E decorated with raisin genitalia. And oatmeal raisin cookies, because I love my oatmeal raisin cookies.
When we weren’t making things, we were going to parties. We went to one holiday party Saturday night, a birthday brunch Sunday morning, and then two more holiday parties Saturday night. We had a lot of fun, but we were definitely tired by the end of the weekend.
I took the day off of work today to start some Christmas shopping. It felt very strange, Christmas shopping in 65° weather. But it was nice walking around in the sunshine. I saw these two doggies and had to take their picture—such a cute pair.
We’re having a BIG family Christmas this year—more of us than have been gathered in one place in a long time. Luckily, we decided to just do stocking stuffers this year instead of buying presents. Stocking stuffers are my favorite part anyway—much more fun to buy goofy little presents instead of trying to find the perfect big present.
I made the expedition down to Target and bought some stocking stuffers and some stuff for our holiday cocktail party. I love Target, but it was exhausting.
This little guy slept with us for three nights over Thanksgiving. For such a little dude, he sure is a bed-hog. We couldn’t kick him out though—he’s just too cute.
It’s nice to spend time with cats when we visit E’s parents. I always had cats, but our landlord won’t allow them in our apartment. It makes me sad—I miss cats.