We had a very lovely Christmas, and received lots of nice things, including fourteen books between the two of us and a sizeable amount of discretionary cash, some of which I spent on some excellent clothes (still hunting for black boots) and Tom spent some on Guitar Hero III for the Mac (he is very excited). Spent a lot of time with family and friends. I was sick for days but finally brightened up by Tuesday and was able to eat again - hurrah!
We got home Thursday around noon and spent the day relaxing. I’m avoiding the internet this week as much as possible, but I’m sure I’ll be back in full force right after the new year.
So, have a happy New Year celebration, all!
My review of Sweeney Todd is up at World, with some priceless comments.
Many of our various friends and acquaintances are in Comment this week, in an article by yet another acquaintance by way of IAM. Check it out.
My review of Youth Without Youth, Francis Ford Coppola’s latest, is up at WORLD.
I never mentioned how Monday’s program at the 92nd Street Y was. Robert Alter read from his new translation of the Psalms (quite a stunning one, too), as did Marilynne Robinson, who was there as a theologian and writer. There were a few musical settings of his translations as well as two of the Psalms in Hebrew. Between readings, Alter and Robinson commented on them, both as translations, as poetry, and as prayer. Alter sought to recapture the sound and alliteration of the Hebrew Psalms in a greater way than previous English translations such as the KJV have. To me, it sounded a lot like a combination of the raw, personal voice of Peterson’s paraphrase, The Message, but not as a paraphrase, and with a stronger emphasis on poetry. As he pointed out, this book is, in literary terms, an anthology of ancient Hebrew poetry.
Marilynne Robinson is phenomenally articulate - she speaks as she writes - and their observations on the nature of the Psalms both as sacred texts and as ancient poetry were valuable - particularly as Robinson commented on the difference between the polytheistic view of the individual and God’s/the gods’ interest in the individual and that of the Hebrews. (For instance, in most ancient religions, many natural phenomena such as wind, fire, and flood was attributed to disputes between the gods - but in the Psalms, it’s clear that this is something God himself produces, and while it’s fearsome, it’s celebrated.) I hope a recording was made of the talk. I know it was telecast to two Jewish congregations, one in New Jersey and one in Wichita, Kansas. (The 92nd Street Y, if you’re unaware, is actually a YMHA - Young Men’s Hillel Association - so though much of their programming is not overtly religious in nature, there’s a strong Jewish undercurrent.)
Tonight is my office Christmas party (all I can think about are Christmas parties from The Office), and then we’re heading to a screening of 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, which I’m fabulously excited about: it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2007, it’s Romanian, and it’s about illegal abortion at the end of the communist regime in Romania. Review forthcoming.
Also, we are seeing Sweeney Todd at midnight tomorrow night, because we are apparently nutty fans of slasher musicals and possibly only a little less insane than Sweeney himself. If I am awake at all on Friday, I’ll get my butt in gear and write a review as well.
Last night I carted two very heavy bags of Christmas presents that have been piling up in my office as the mail comes in, and locked myself in our tiny bathroom to wrap Tom’s presents. It was kind of acrobatic, and I very nearly had to stand on my head a few times to maneuver the paper properly, but it’s all good and now we have bags of wrapped gifts to bring to Albany.
I did make Tom open one of his presents early because it weighed about forty pounds. It was - what else? - the new Pevear/Volokhonsky translation of War and Peace, which is lovely to look at. But I’m glad we don’t have to cart it up on the train.
Speaking of the train, we leave mid-morning on Saturday for Albany, to celebrate with my mom, my brother, a handful of aunts, uncles, and cousins, grandparents, and a healthy helping of Albany-based friends. We haven’t been home to visit since Sean graduated from high school in June, so this is very exciting. Also, they have snow. A white Christmas for the first time in a while.
No! Blueprint got the axe! I finally find a women’s magazine I like and it disappears. I just got a subscription for my birthday. Well, phooey. I don’t want Martha Stewart Weddings.
On Saturday, we saw I Am Legend (as apparently everyone else did). We thought it was great, and pretty scary. Also, the providential element? Interesting. It was crazy to see such an intimate view of our city in a post-apocalyptic world. (The house Will Smith lives in is actually an NYU building; I’m pretty sure I added it to the wireless map at work on Friday.) Certainly one of the better action films we’ve seen this year.
We then headed off to a Christmas party that involved many cookies and twinkly lights and conversations late into the night. I made lemon butter cookies from the Chocolate & Zucchini cookbook that were well-received. Easy to put together, simple but elegant ingredients. Delicious.
I had incredible stomach pain for no apparent reason when I woke up on Sunday; I took some Mylanta and it went away, but not in time to go to church. So we stayed home and rested, and later in the day, watched I Heart Huckabees. What fun. I love Charlie Kaufman-esque movies.
“Have you ever transcended space and time?”
“Yes. No. Uh, time, not space . . . No, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
We went out to our friend Carey’s Christmas party in the evening. Carey has a real gift for bringing together a wide variety of people over excellent food, and this was no different. Topics of discussion included historical archival, the Westminster Catechism, Paul Potts, and upstate New York. And much more.
I finished What Is The What over the weekend (excellent and important) and started The Mysteries of Pittsburgh today, since I read that the film will be at Sundance. Michael Chabon in his early days.
I started sharing Google Reader items with my GTalk friends over the weekend and I like it. You can add me if you want. I’m alissamwilkinson on Gmail.
Tonight we are going to The Psalms: A Conversation with Robert Alter and Marilynne Robinson at the 92nd Street Y. As you know, Marilynne Robinson is one of our very favorite authors and one of my personal heroes. Very, very excited.
I got in! At Draper! I’m officially in!
My latest article is up at Comment!
I was asked to write about “Things I Love: Clothes”. This proved challenging, as I love great clothes, but I don’t usually buy them. But, the article took a turn that I liked.
Now that Tom’s between projects, I’m usually up before him. That’s ok. Early morning is the only time during the day when I’m by myself, so I like to get up a little early and read and do things to start my day. Because we live in a studio, it’s inevitable that I wake him up eventually with some floorboard creak or a dropped spoon or just the noise of movement. When that happens, we usually have a conversation of some kind before we go about our separate ways for the day.
When he woke this morning, he said, “My dream last night had deleted scenes that played after the dream. Good ones, too.” (Also, he and Philip Seymour Hoffman were trying to stop a train that was going to Harvard, and were dressed in superhero costumes.)
I’ve continued my annual tradition of giving my unsolicited opinions about the Golden Globe nominations over at Conversant Life. Feel free to go on over and comment.
I had some trouble figuring out what to say about Juno that hadn’t already been said - and I’m not entirely sure that I succeeded - but you can read my review at WORLD.
One thing I’m very grateful for this Christmas: that my office is downtown, in a neighborhood the holiday masses seem to have forgotten about, and not in Rockefeller Center. I get to do things like each my lunch and walk outside my door without becoming completely stressed out.
The Sartorialist runs through my feedreader (me, and everyone else on the internets), and I have to say, this look from today’s post is one of my favorites.
All the critics circle awards have been coming out for different cities, and they’ve all been pretty good. Being a New Yorker and a film critic, I figured the New York Film Critics Circle awards were probably most pertinent to me. And they’re good. I have a few brief thoughts at Conversant Life.
The concert on Saturday was great; so great, in fact, that I blogged about it over at Radiant.
All that’s left to mention about that trip is that we had the best chili of our lives at a place called “The Cookhouse” in New Milford, Connecticut.
So good. Their barbecue was also excellent. You can see pictures from the trip on Flickr.
On Friday, we saw Juno, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Review is forthcoming so I’ll hold my tongue.
Yesterday, after church, we had brunch at Gusto with Angela, and several others, and discussed things like warm winter hats and our various jobs. I had a splendid focaccia with ricotta, grapes, and caramelized onions. When we plunged back out into the cold, Tom and I walked down to Purl Soho so I could get some lovely, soft, big, sort of mushroom-colored yarn.
Now I need some needles - anyone have suggestions on a place online for inexpensive circular #19 knitting needles?
We then went home and watched Fido, a weird and great little comedy about an alternate 1950’s world where zombies are kept as pets/slaves, and Hairspray, which we’d missed in the theaters. Fun was had by all.
Change of plans. Tom suddenly discovered that the Andrew Peterson Christmas show is in New Milford, Connecticut tonight, about two hours away, so we’re heading up there shortly. Lots of special guests, too!
Via Comment:
What’s your neighborhood’s walkability score? Put in your address and the website will calculate the score by proximity to stores, restaurants, schools, parks, and more.
Our, of course, is 94%, but I imagine that’s normal for a lot of NYC. I think this will be interesting in suburban neighborhoods.
Put your walkability score in the comments!
I’m starting to get confused about what day it is. I feel like it’s just getting light when I come to work (it isn’t, the sky has just been very cloudy), and it’s already dark hours before I leave the office.
So, backing up, we saw The Diving Bell and the Butterfly on Tuesday night at the Angelika. It was outstanding, a visually beautifully film, stirring, and still accessible. I wrote a review here. If it comes to your town, don’t miss it.
Which makes this as good a time as any to say that I’ll be writing a blog (not like the blog I keep here, but more of a free-form semi-weekly column) at the upcoming Conversant Life which launches in January. The blogging team they’ve assembled is a little staggering, and I’m completely honored to be included. So keep an eye out.
I seem to jinx myself every time I mention what we’re doing before we do it, but I’m going to risk it anyhow. We’ll be at the Bowery Poetry Club tonight for the CD release party of one of our favorite slam poets, Taylor Mali. Hopefully we’ll be seeing Juno tomorrow, and we have plans to be at the Sarah Lentz & (many very talented) Friends Christmas concert at 7pm, at St. Paul’s Church in Carroll Gardens on Saturday night. (Details on Facebook here.)
If you rush, you can get a few different Moleskine City Notebooks for $1.99 at Amazon. But they’re flying off the shelves.
Last night we saw The Savages. My review should be published soon, and I’ll link to it if that is true, but it was great. Probably one of my favorite movies of the year - dramatic with melodrama, and really funny. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney playing siblings is like fireworks on the screen.
It snowed a tiny bit as we were walking home, and it snowed a tiny bit again when I came in this morning. I miss seeing daylight, though.
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life - Anne Lamott
I’ve read quite a few books on “the writing life” this year, and I found this one immensely inspiring. This was published pre-Traveling Mercies, I think, and so it’s even more impressive to me. Lamott treats writing with a good amount of nonchalance; not that it’s not important, but that if you write something bad today, it’s ok. At least you wrote something. Really quite good. [4/5]
Gentlemen of the Road - Michael Chabon
Originally published as a serial in the New York Times, this is a swashbuckling tale of men from varying countries many centuries ago embarking on various adventures. I have a really, really difficult time reading books like this (I don’t know what my issue is), but Chabon is so great. Once I got into the rhythm, I discovered that the book is hysterical in a very historically deadpan kind of way. Also, it’s very short. [3/5]
The Cloister Walk - Kathleen Norris
I absolutely loved this book. Norris, a married Protestant poet, spent two terms of nine months living as an oblate with the Benedictines at St. John’s in Minnesota. This is a collection of her essays on the liturgical calendar, contemplation, celibacy and what it says about marriage, monastic living, the Benedictine order, lectio divinia, Scripture, South Dakota, and plenty of other topics. I’ve never really been so gripped by essays on spirituality, God, or the Bible. It’s long but really interesting, even if you don’t agree with everything she says. A classic, and highly recommended. [5/5]
Martha and Hanwell (Pocket Penguin edition) - Zadie Smith
The wonderful Amanda sent me these from Scotland, where, it turns out, Starbucks puts some effort behind literacy and did a distribution deal on a bunch of Pocket Penguin books. So, this is two short stories by Zadie Smith, with a preface on writing short stories. They’re so good that she rocketed up to one of the top five spots on my “favorite authors” list. Plus, at 50 pages, I read it in the time it takes to get to work and back. [4/5]
Innocent House (Pocket Penguin edition) - P.D. James
The other Pocket penguin book, which Amanda warned me was vaguely unsatisfying, as it turns out to be an excerpt and therefore ends kind of abruptly. Beyond that, and don’t shoot me, but I don’t like P.D. James’ style at all. There are some places where I winced. But, she’s awfully good at weaving a mystery. So perhaps I’ll read the rest of the book someday. [2/5]
That brought me up to 62 books for the year. Right now I am halfway through What Is The What - heartbreaking and marvelous, and despite those adjectives, not at all typical Dave Eggers fare. I have no idea what I’ll read next. Many savory-looking books stare back at me from the bookshelf every night.
Brr! It’s 24 degrees, which is kind of moderate for winter here, but it feels like 16, which is rough, especially since I don’t really have a winter coat. Lots of layers.
But! It snowed! It never snows this early in New York City. It’s really just a dusting, but it looks pretty.
Happy first Sunday of Advent. :)
Happy first day of December! Tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent, and I’m excited. (A church back at home held a Advent songwriting project in their community, and I just love the idea.)
I tried valiantly to go to work yesterday, showing up quite early for meetings, but by noon I was so sick I had to go home. It was the antibiotics. Perhaps I am allergic after all. So I came home and slept until 4:30 or so, then spent the rest of the evening watching Wordplay and random Friends episodes and trying to eat something. Successfully ate some New England clam chowder. I feel much better today.
Tom, on the other hand, got home at 7:30am this morning after shooting at the Met. He’s sleeping and I’m trying to stay quiet. Someday we will have an apartment with actual rooms; as much as I like this place, I’ll be glad when that day comes.
If you’re in New York, come to the Zoae Series! Kelley McRae alone is well worth the cost of admission.