Tag Archives: movies

“The days are long but the years are short”

24 May

This is a quote from a book I’ve been reading called The Happiness Project by Gretchen Ruben.  It is one of the four splendid truths she uncovers during her year-long quest to find her inner happiness and make herself an overall better/happier person.  I haven’t finished the book yet, but I’m enjoying it very much so far and it’s a thoroughly appropriate read for where I am in my life right now. I’ll write more about it once I’ve finished.

The Happiness Project

Meanwhile, though I believe that quote has so much truth to it, lately, my days have NOT been long!  They’re just flying right by like crazy – hence my lack of blogging.  So – please forgive my absence.  Here’s what’s been going on the past couple weeks – the condensed version:

I had some friends over and did a little experimenting with Mindy Fox’s roast chicken cookbook myself.  Last time my friend Amie made the chicken and it was FABULOUS!  So I pretty much wanted to recreate her success.  The menu was as follows:

  • Vermont Creamery Bonne Bouche – aged goat’s milk cheese from VT with fresh sliced baguette and honey to start
  • Roast Chicken with Green Olives, Fennel Seeds and Thyme (out of this world – best chicken I’ve ever made)
  • Roasted Red & Golden Beets with Basil (beets are a bit labor intensive – but delicious)
  • Warm Sugar Snap Peas with Mint
  • Basmati Rice cooked with sauteed shallots
  • A beautiful raspberry cinnamon tart that my friend brought over for dessert

Everything came out wonderful!  I can’t wait to try out some more of her roast chicken recipes.  The  next on my list is Peruvian Roast Chicken with Avocado Salad.  Mmmmmmmm.

Last Tuesday I worked with a small team from Bodega (Adam’s company) to shoot a music video for Jones Street Station‘s new track “The Understanding” (click for free download).  This was actually quite exciting.  The video stars Danny Pudi from the NBC show Community.   Here I am with Danny Pudi and Joel McHale (ran into him on the street while shooting nearby – NBC upfront in town)

Yes - I look like a nerd. But I was excited to be sandwiched between these two.

I’ve also been doing some Brooklyn apartment hunting.  I’ve seen about six apartments in the last couple weeks – none of which feel right… oh Brooklyn brownstone on a majestic tree-lined street… why do you elude me so?  Two of the apartments I saw last week didn’t have doors to any of the “two bedrooms” they boasted.  One of them didn’t even have a sink in the one bathroom.  And of course these apartments cost thousands of dollars a month.  Insanity!  However, now that we’re going month to month in our current apartment, I feel much more relaxed and comfortable with the fact that we’ll just wait until we find the right thing.  But this is what I’m talking about… ahhhhhh.

Lovely Brooklyn Tree-Lined Street

Last Thursday I helped my friend Beck shoot some tests for an amazing new stop-motion music video she’s putting together.  It was so cool to see the process that goes into stop-motion.  It’s kind of magic.

Then Friday we flew off to Jacksonville, FL for the weekend to celebrate the twenty-five year marriage anniversary (and vow renewal) of some very dear friends/extended family of ours.  Turns out… a weekend away with loved ones was EXACTLY the kind of breather we needed!  Because during all of this we’ve been preparing for…

THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF HELLO LONESOME IN NYC THIS FRIDAY 5/27!!

Yes, that’s right – Adam’s film is opening at the Cinema Village theater this Friday night where it will run for a week.  If you live in NYC, you should totally come!!  You can buy tickets online right HERE!  Check it out – on the Marquee!  So exciting!

Hello Lonesome on the Cinema Village Marquee

Oh – and if that’s not enough, we got contacted by Jdate, because they’re in love with the short film Adam surprised me with at our rehearsal dinner and they want to use it for a national television commercial!  Craziness.  Many of you have seen it already – but it’s so special so I’ll post it again for you in case you haven’t seen it.

So that’s been my world since we last met.  I felt a void not blogging over the past two weeks so I’m going to try to carve out some morning time for myself so I can make it more of a regular thing again.  I missed sharing with all of you!

Leg Three – Ashland and Opening Day of the Ashland Independent Film Festival

11 Apr

So, here I am… back at my desk, in our apartment in NYC.  I’m still in a slight haze though I managed a three-hour nap upon returning home from our red-eye last night.  Poor Adam went straight to work!  Now, he’s passed out cold on the couch. :)

First off, Oregon is amazing.  If it wasn’t on the other side of the country from my family and friends, I would move there in a heartbeat.  We totally fell in love with the entire state this week.  And Ashland… oh my Ashland – what a little heaven.  I’ll post a bunch of pictures so you can see for yourself.

But besides just being in love with Oregon, this week was amazing because of the film festival!  We felt like we were wrapped in a warm fuzzy blanket of love from the minute we got there. The Ashland community was so warm and welcoming and they LOVED Hello Lonesome.  Everywhere we went, people would stop Adam on the street and tell him how much they enjoyed the film and how much it moved them.  In fact, a few women professed their Adam crushes to me. Amazing.  And then, there were the festival organizers and the other filmmakers – what talented awesome people.  We left Oregon last night both super inspired to create something new and even better!  The festival truly fueled us.

So before I go any further, let’s start where we left off…

I didn’t take too many photos on Wednesday, during our five hours of driving (I was the driver) – so I found myself searching for a photo at around midnight in our B&B.  I ended up in the bathroom – with another face photo:

Photo 362 out of 365 – “Bathtub Face”

"Bathtub Face" - Settings: ISO 3200, f/4.5, 1/50 sec, 24-70mm lens (32mm)

This one looks like an animal of some sort to me… maybe a lamb – with the white knobs as his ears?  Yes – I still see faces after my initial face project…  Adam saw one too on our way home:

Tray Table Face

This one’s definitely a person instead.  Right?

Anyway – Thursday was an amazing day.  We had breakfast at a place called Morning Glory in Ashland, where the food was delish, but the servings were so huge we left feeling guilty for wasting half our breakfast.  After breakfast, Adam had to jump on a conference call with work, so while he did that in the passenger seat, I drove around the hills of Ashland, looking at the beautiful houses and stopping to take pictures of the scenery.   Here’s a taste:

View of mountains from up in the hills of Ashland

All of a sudden, Adam points out a couple of deer eating some shrubbery right near where we were parked.  I got out of the car, put the 70-200 lens on my camera and started stalking the deer (in a nice way of course).  I kept whispering… it’s ok, it’s ok… as I snapped pictures.  I think they trusted me, because they didn’t really run away.  Before long, there were about eight deer – all just walking around the neighborhood.  I guess that happens pretty regularly in Ashland.  This is my favorite photo from the deer session:

Photo 363 out of 365 – “Deer in Ashland”

"Deer in Ashland" - Settings: ISO 160, f/4, 1/200 sec, 70-200mm lens (170mm)

I really think I could get more into the nature/animal photography thing.  I enjoy the patience that is involved – and I find it exciting capturing the animals doing their thing – especially when they look straight at me – and I feel that we have a moment’s connection.  It gives me a little rush.

When Adam was done with his conference call, we kept driving up and up into the hills until we ended up at a road that led to a trailhead.  We decided to go for it and drove about a mile up this windy, bumpy road until we reached an entry to the Pacific Crest trail.  At this point we were up fairly high and the trees were covered in snow!  We were sort of ill-prepared, with spring jackets, and no hats or gloves or hiking boots, but we decided to just take a short little walk to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Here’s Adam at the start of the trail:

Adam at the start of our hike

By the time we had walked about twenty-five minutes or so, it had started to snow really hard, so we turned around to head back. We were kind of cold – but it was magical – a far cry from the sirens and noise I’m hearing outside my window right now while I write this.

Snowy trees in Ashland Forest - Along the Pacific Crest Trail

Here I am… seeking shelter in my sweater… but really happy:

Snowy Me.

Finally – here, we recreated the first shot – but with massive snow falling on us this time:

Adam at the end of our hike - very snow

At this point, a bit cold and wet, we decided it was time to hit up Rogue Creamery in Central Point, OR (about twenty minutes away).  I am familiar with a few blue cheeses from Rogue Creamery that are sold at Murray’s.  These blues are AWESOME, award-winning cheeses, so I was psyched to check out their birthplace.

Rogue Creamery in Central Point, OR

The shop manager is named Tom Van Vorhees and after some chatting, I found out that he used to live in NYC and worked at Murray’s in Grand Central.  I told Tom about my Murray’s cave internship and we became fast friends.  He took about a half hour with us, letting us taste whatever we wanted.  I was in cheese heaven.

Here’s Tom:

Tom Van Vorhees - Rogue Cheese Shop Manager

And here’s where all Rogue’s famous blues are displayed – note the one named “Flora Nelle”.  I was excited about that one.

Rogue Creamery Blues Case

Tom explained to us how the Flora Nelle was created to put a new American spin on a classic French blue called Fourme d’Ambert (the first blue cheese I fell in love with).  Flora Nelle is also their first pasteurized-milk cheese as they are hoping to expand to the Australian market and those Aussies don’t import anything raw!  I never knew that. Anyway, we got to taste a version of Flora Nelle that is still evolving and won’t taste the same when it’s finalized and brought to market officially.  Here is Tom, scraping a piece off for us to taste.  It was delicious… salty and nutty with those little yummy cheese crunchies.

Rogue Creamery Flora Nelle

Still, my overall favorite was the Caveman Blue… it just sort of smacks you over the head with amazing blue flavor.

When we checked out at Rogue, Tom told us to head next door to Lillie Belle’s Handmade Chocolates so off we went.

Lillie Belle Chocolates - Central Point, OR

Jeff Shepherd, the owner of Lillie Belle chocolates (named after his wife and daughter… cute), is quite a character!  He definitely brings his own unique spin to the chocolate world and his shop was a blast to explore!

Jeff Shepherd - Lillie Belle's Owner and Chocolatier

He’s won awards with his “Do Not Eat This Chocolate Bar“, which is so hot, it manages to burn your face off while still being quite good.  His advice is to break it up over ice cream – I’m definitely trying that.  He also makes these crazy dark and deranged bunnies called Voodoo bunnies, which are apparently all the rage.  I bought one of course.

Voodoo Bunnies

But besides the crazy stuff, he makes wonderful treats like lemon-coconut buttercream bon bons, marzipan fig bon bons, smokey blue cheese ganache and a huge array of other delightful chocolaty creations.  We brought back a selection to sample.  Though never formally trained, he’s become hugely successful over the last several years and next week he’s being shot for Food Network.  Good stuff.

So… sated with cheese and chocolate, we headed back to the B&B to get ready for the AIFF welcome party followed by the first screening of Hello Lonesome at nine-twenty Thursday night.  The party was wonderful – more cheese and chocolate, local ciders, beers, wines – lots of people to meet.  It was great – and then we had to ditch out early to go attend the screening, which seriously… ROCKED! It was sold out and packed with Ashland folks who were totally with the film all the way.  It’s a true pleasure watching the film with an audience like that!  It’s more of a community event.  The screening was a huge success and nearly everyone stayed after for the Q&A with Adam – we got a tremendous response.  It was really touching.  At that point, we had a feeling it was going to be a really special festival.

Hello Lonesome Q&A - First Screening - Varsity Theater

So that’s only the first day!  The next couple days were filled with screenings of excellent movies!  We saw mostly documentaries – but I’d love to tell you about them all so stay tuned tomorrow when I continue with the rest of the festival scoop.  It definitely ended with a bang!!

I have a cold. Blech.

31 Jan

Ah… glorious cold season.  What started as a scratchy throat a couple days ago, has  now become a full fledged runny nose, sneezy, stuffy head, juicy cough cold.  Just peachy.  Last week my friend Susan had surgery on her toe and requested the comfort of some of my mom’s homemade chicken soup (which I’ve now adopted as my own).  I made a great big batch of it last Monday and I was planning to bring it to her out in Queens on Wednesday but then that huge snowstorm rolled around and I was left with a lot of soup on my hands.  So – Adam and I ate half of it – and I froze the rest.  However, when one has a cold and there’s a big thing of chicken soup in the freezer… the answer is obvious.   So what was Susan’s loss is now my gain because I ate every last ounce of that chicken soup today and I hope it’s healing me as we speak.   Thank you Susan!  I owe you one!

Now on to photos… it was a great weekend (until I got sick) – with lots of good food and good times with friends.  On Friday night we met up with Dave & Lucy and had dinner at the Mermaid Inn.  I had a Blackboard Eats coupon for 30% off so we saved over $50 on the meal AND got a serving of six delicious oysters on the house!  Love Blackboard Eats!  And love Mermaid Inn! The highlight of the meal for me (other than the oysters) were the baked sea scallops with escargot!  They were super fresh and delicious with a light taste of lemon.  I really enjoyed both the service and the meal!

After dinner we visited at our place for a while.  We had this old Elvis movie on – Blue Hawaii (super CHEESY!!!) and it got Dave all nostalgic for his childhood record collection.  He got all into the music and I took the opportunity to do a nice little photo shoot with my color filters and flash!   Here are a couple of the best shots:

Photo 294 out of 365 – “Foxy Dave”

“Foxy Dave” – Settings: ISO 6400, f/3.2, 1/25 sec, 50mm lens

Foxy Dave in Orange

Foxy Dave in Green

On Saturday night we had Kelly & Val and their sweet little puppy Lola over for some spaghetti (another great recipe from my mom) and Rummy 500.  Lola is simply the cutest pup ever.  They found her at a shelter and she has a very shy, quiet personality so far… but she got really cozy at our apartment and made herself totally at home.  It was super sweet.  Adam and I are definitely craving a little puppy of our own now, but at this point, I think we’ll settle for babysitting Lola.

Photo 295 out of 365 – “Lola”

"Lola" - Settings: ISO 6400, f/2.8, 1/50 sec, 50mm lens

Then yesterday we had a total chill day.  I started to feel sick so we just stayed at home all day, having a movie marathon and playing Risk.  Nerds. :)  We watched a great movie called Damned United, directed by Tom Hooper – the same guy who directed The King’s Speech, which we loved.  Just like The King’s Speech, I found this movie to be visually stunning and fascinating to me from a photographic standpoint.  And the story was great too.  I highly recommend it.  We also watched Precious, which was quite heavy, intense and disturbing… but good with great performances.  And then we watched half of Funny Girl with Barbara Streisand.  We’ll finish that one off tonight.

As I didn’t leave the apartment all day, the photo inspiration was lacking… but I managed to snap this one, while snickering to myself (and then sneezing):

Photo 296 out of 365 – “Breaking the Rules”

"Breaking the Rules" - Settings: ISO 400, f/1.8, 1/100 sec, 50mm lens

So wish me luck… hopefully that Jewish Penicillin theory is for real!

Brrrrr.

24 Jan

And… it’s Monday again.  My how the weeks are flying.  I’m happy to have Adam back after his week away working on a shoot in San Francisco.  Today is his birthday so we’re celebrating with a dinner at Strip House – his favorite steak joint in NYC.  Yum.

This past weekend was jam-packed… it started on Friday night with a birthday celebration for my friend Robbie:

Photo 287 out of 365 – “No Pictures”

"No Pictures" - Settings: ISO 3200, f/2.0, 1/30 sec, 50mm lens

Then on Saturday morning, my parents arrived to spend the day with me in the city.  We had lunch at a cute and cozy little spot on Bond Street called The Smile (yummy sandwiches).  We went to meet up with Pam, who was lunching there with a friend.  We’ve known Pam and her family since I was a baby, and last week she got engaged!  So we had to give her a big congrats and check out her brand new gorgeous engagement ring!

Then we did some shopping around Soho (mostly for Adam).  My dad was such a sport… he and Adam are close to the same size, so he tried on all the clothes and modeled them for my mom and me.  After some shopping success, we hit the Angelika to see the Mike Leigh film Another Year. We all thought the movie was quite good.  The story revolves around a healthy, lovely couple who have been happily married for many years and how they care for and support the mostly sad, lonely, dysfunctional and desperate people in their lives.  It was a bit of a downer… and definitely very slow-paced, but I thought it was honest and true and touching.

I didn’t take many photos during the day on Saturday, but on the walk from the movie to dinner, we passed this dive bar and there was a band playing inside with this very intense-looking woman screaming into the mic.  I thought she made an interesting subject for photo 288.

Photo 288 out of 365 – “Rock Through a Dive Bar Window”

"Rock Through a Dive Bar Window" - Settings: ISO 3200, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, 50mm lens

Then we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Frankie Spuntino.  It was truly a scrumptious meal. That restaurant is definitely becoming one of my favorites in the East Village/Lower East Side.  It’s super cozy and warm with delicious homemade Italian comfort food.  And though it’s not cheap, the prices are really pretty reasonable for NYC – doing it up with wine, cheese, appetizers, mains, coffee, dessert, etc. costs around $50 per person.  They put out a cookbook that I’m itching to get.  If I can make food like that at home, we may never leave the apartment again. :)

On Sunday morning I woke up really early and laid in bed with my mom while my dad went for his early morning run. I was planning on going back to sleep (I had a rather crappy-night’s sleep on the couch) – but my mom and I ended up having a major girl-talk session for almost three hours.  It was sweet.  When my dad buzzed up from downstairs after his run, he told me to get my camera ready for his arrival… I was intrigued.   I opened the door and he had little ice drops hanging from his eyelashes and frost in the shape of a smiley face on his head warmer from his breath.  Isn’t he cute?

Photo 289 out of 365 – “Morning Run in Winter”

"Morning Run in Winter" - Settings: ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/80 sec, 50mm lens

Then my mom and I took off for a baby shower in New Jersey.  The shower was for Karen, who is one of the offspring of the “Brooklyn Boys” gang. It was a lovely afternoon with lots of good food – including an amazing cake with a layer of chocolate chip cannoli cream filling in the center – I had never heard of cannoli cream filling before and I’m not even much of a cake person… but that was some GOOOOOOOD cake!

Now it’s seventeen degrees outside and “feels like twelve” according to weather.com.  Just groovy.  I’m dreaming about somewhere warm to escape to… but for now… maybe some red wine and steak will do the trick. :)

 

Good Morning Monday!

22 Nov

I must say this was a super relaxing and enjoyable weekend.  It was very chill, with lots of time spent cozied up at home with Adam.  I also saw two movies, several friends and re-discovered a yummy little restaurant just a few blocks away!

Movie #1 - Harry Potter.  LOVED IT!  Seriously, I was so sad when it ended, I could have spent another five hours in the theater immersed in the world of Potter & gang.  I now want to go back and watch every Harry Potter from the beginning as I’ve forgotten many of the details – plus, it’s fun to see them all as little kids now!

Movie #2 - 127 Hours.  This was obviously a crazy film… and I totally liked it!  I definitely had to close my eyes through the whole arm-cutting scene – but James Franco was amazing and the story is incredible.  I can’t believe it’s true.  It is one inspirational survival story.

As for the rest of the weekend, Saturday after hanging out at home for most of the day, reading, photo-editing, catching up on emails, etc, Adam and I went out for an early-bird dinner at around six o’clock.  I’m telling you… that’s the way to do it on a Saturday night in Manhattan.  We didn’t have to wait for a table, the neighborhood was still quiet and we were home and in our PJs by eight o’clock.  Yes, we’ve become little old people.  But we like it.  So it’s cool.

We went to this place called Sake Bar Satsko on 7th street between B & C.  It is such a cozy spot with a nice variety of Sakes on the menu.  We decided to go for a bottle… needless to say, we got rather smashed!  The chef/owner was there and we got to meet her, which was fun.  I’m actually sending her a few photos fr0m dinner that I took!  We ordered delicious gyoza (pork/beef dumplings), edamame, tuna tataki and chicken curry.  It was a great meal – my favorite parts were the dumplings, the music they were playing and the overall ambiance… very enjoyable spot.

Photo 225 out of 365 – “Condensation”

"Condensation" - Settings: ISO 6400, f/4, 1/30 sec, 100mm macro lens

I took this photo at dinner with the macro lens.  It is a closeup of an ice bucket, with condensation on it.  The red color is the reflection from the red beaded lamp hanging above our table.  I’m just so amazed and awed by the incredible detail this lens allows me to capture.  Lately, you can find me taking photos about an inch away from such things as brick walls, tree trunks and the textured metallic surface on the inside of the new subway cars.  I’m looking at everything in a new way now.  It’s refreshing.

Photo 226 out of 365 – “Jonny H.”

“Jonny H.” – Settings: ISO 6400, f/3.2, 1/50 sec, 100mm macro lens

Sunday I had the pleasure of enjoying catch-up sessions with a few special peeps.  My friend Jonny – of the wonderfully talented and rocking Jones Street Station was one of those people.  Thank you Jonny for allowing me to photograph you.  I still have a huge desire to get better at photographing people – and I’m still not very comfortable with asking strangers on the street.  Thankfully, I have lots of awesome and attractive friends who don’t mind humoring me.  Thanks friends.  I eventually want to do photo shoots of every single one of you!  So get ready. :)

Anyway, with Thanksgiving quickly approaching, we’re tying up some loose ends here and taking off tomorrow night to ride back to good old Westborough, MA.  Have I mentioned Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday?  I think it’s because it involves family, friends, going back home and eating a huge array of delicious food.  What’s better than that?

 

Photo 194 out of 365 – “Tree With Autumn Sky”

21 Oct

"Tree With Autumn Sky" - Settings: ISO 100, f/6.3, 1/60 sec, 50mm lens

The sky was absolutely gorgeous when I left my apartment last night.  This is the first picture I took – I adjusted the color a little bit – but not much – it really was this beautiful.  I upped the contrast a little bit and brightened the lights a tad and I increased the saturation of the the purple and magenta – but only by 8 out of 100… just a wee little bit.  Beautiful right?  I love the sky.  I could do a whole series on the sky and clouds and sunsets… just majestic.

Anyway, I had a date with Adam last night.  Dinner and a movie.  We met at Baby Bo’s – my favorite Mexican spot on 2nd Ave between 34th and 35th.  I used to go there at least twice a week when I lived in Murray Hill and in Gramercy.  I have a special place in my heart for Baby Bo’s.  Although, last night… they sort of pissed me off a bit.  (Prepare for rant).  It was a total Seinfeld episode.  I walked in and there was only one table left for two – but it was smushed between two other tables and one of them had a toddler sitting at it.  Not really interested.  In the front of the restaurant there were five tables (two-tops) pushed together to make a table for ten and there were two other tables for four.  All empty!!

I asked the waitress if we could sit in one of the other empty tables but she said we couldn’t – in case a large party came in.  There was no reservation for a large party… just the potential.  So basically, the restaurant is mostly empty and she’s going to smush us into a table next to a toddler – just in case a party of ten decides to come in the next hour??  Annoying!

Just then, Adam came and I decided we should sit at the bar instead… but I was sort of fuming.  After a couple minutes of being preoccupied and pissed off – I had to let it go… as to not ruin our evening – but stuff like that drives me CRAZY!  I hate inflexibility!  In my opinion, it makes more sense to take care of real people, who are already in your restaurant instead of compromising their happiness for a potential (but unlikely) table of TEN that is currently non-existant.  Right?

Of course, a couple came in right after us and got the crappy table – they did not look very happy about it.  And then, a single guy came in for a table of one.  Since there were no more available two-tops, the same waitress separated the large table for ten and gave him one of those two-tops.  If I had only come ten minutes later – I would have had a nice table, exactly where I wanted it.  It just re-confirmed how stupid the whole rule was to begin with.   Grrr.

Anyway, then we ate delicious fajitas and drank a couple margaritas and all was forgotten (until now as I’m writing about it). And then we saw The Social Network.  I liked it – it was definitely entertaining and enlightening.  Fun date night. :)

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