Don Giovanni

Don Giovanni is the first opera that I saw and remains my favorite to this day. I've known it was playing at the Met this season and despite previously thwarted attempts to go and see it, I finally made it to the final performance of the season on Friday night.

(*Side Note: How AWESOME is it that I live 10 minutes from The Metrolpolitan Opera!?)

Don Giovanni is the story of the legendary Don Juan, who allegedy seduced over 1,100 women. Over the course of the three hour+ opera he tries to seduce the betrothed Donna Anna, kills the Commendatore, is pursued by Don Ottavio in vengence, dodges the scorned Donna Elvira, tries to seduce the peasant Zerlina while distracting her fiancee Massetto, while bantering with and abusing his servant Leporello and in the end is dragged down to hell after inviting the ghost of the Commendatore to dinner. Whoever said that opera is boring???

Aside from loving opera in general and this opera in particular, this is one of those things that I always imagined doing in New York. You know? Part of how I imagined the life of the young cultured urban professional that I wanted to be.

Every once in awhile I still get a kick out of the fact that I'm HERE, in NEW YORK CITY, living THIS life... and I think, how did this happen? The only answer I've been able to come up with so far is... it just did. Somehow it just happened.

And for the record, it's fabulous.

Urban Art 3, for Emily

Car Show (For Sam)

Since I was about 12, my family has gone to the car show every year. This is because my younger brother Sam, as been enthralled with all things automotive since birth. So when I found out the car show was coming to town, I had to go... for the sake of tradition if nothing else... And maybe also the drool-worthy collection of Aston Martins in front.

If we had seen nothing else, the matte black Lamborghini would have been worth it...

In honor of "Pearl"...

Hee hee. Yes. they had a ginormous "Bumble Bee" there with the Camaro...

Scion strikes again...

This one was so bright it made your eyes water...

Have I mentioned that I miss driving?

Easter

It's hard to be away from Family on holidays. Particularly the ones fraught with tradition, like Easter. Nevertheless, us lonely city dwellers do what we can to make the best of it. By now however, we have it down to a careful science.

Step 1: Gather as many people as possible into the tiny living room...


Step 2: Have everyone bring food (yes, I made dinner rolls from scratch thankyouverymuch)...


Step 3: Bring cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery...


Step 4: Various festive activities, as appropriate to the holiday...

The tools...




I like these, but the others preferred the "Bright and Shiny Accent" eggs...

Like these...

So it's not like home, but we manage. :)

So True

“Much like robots and the British, pigeons do not have the capacity to feel love. They only have the capacity to desire croutons.”

West Side Story

OK, I missed one. Since we're doing this whole Broadway review thing now... I saw the new West Side Story back in March. When the Family was in town, we had tickets to see Stomp, but the venue was bought out for the night for a corporate function. SO, our ticket broker got us 7th row center orchestra seats for the brand new West Side Story. Awesome.

It was quite good. The dancing was impressive, just really remarkable. They also did a rewrite of the script and left most of the Puerto Rican scenes in Spanish. Genius. I feel like the changes that they made took some of the cheesiness out of the story. For some reason "I Feel Pretty" doesn't sound quite as ridiculous in Spanish.

Costumes and sets were simple, but effective. Maria was played by an Argentinian opera singer who was supposed to be phenomenal. I thought she was good, but some of my friends with a more professional perspective were unimpressed. Tony was played by a guy that looked fresh out of BYU. Clean cut and fresh faced. Good voice, great dancer - but clean cut and return-missionary-ish doesn't make a very convincing Romeo.... I'm just saying.

Again with the dancing and the choreography - SO GOOD. If the rest of the show had bombed (and it didn't) this show would have been worth seeing for the dancing alone. That's how good it was.

I give it a thumbs up.

Tossed

Today on my way back to the office after a lovely lunch with my friend Malia, I passed a boy juggling vegetables on the sidewalk.

Juggling vegetables.

His counterpart was handing out fliers for the salad place they were standing in front of, aptly named "Tossed."

How's that for a marketing strategy?

I didn't go into Tossed, nor did I feel compelled to, but I did enjoy the quirky entertainment.