Top this, Jake.
Monday, July 14, 2003
Sunday, July 13, 2003
Sunday, July 06, 2003
Ann and I just got back from our 4th of July weekend in NYC/CT. We went down on the 3rd and saw a hilarious musical - "Urinetown." The premise is that some time in the distant future, water has become so scarce that you need to pay to pee (and shit for that matter). What made it so funny, however, was the fact that it was so self-referential and basically a parody of other musicals. It was a musical for the musical-haters out there. The coolest part was that the bartender from Northern Exposure was in the cast - I used to love that show.
Anyway, on the Fourth itself, Ann and I did a bunch of fun stuff. We went down to Battery Park and wandered around for a bit. It was wicked hot, so we looked around for someplace to cool off. Where we ended up was the National Museum of the American Indian. They had a great exhibit on modern day Mexican Indians that really used multimedia to great effect - there were artifacts, video interviews and photgraphs that melded nicely as a whole exhibition. If you've seen "Y Tu Mama Tambien," these Indians live in the area that the two boys and the woman are travelling to at the end of the movie. If you haven't seen it (the movie), you should!
After the museum, we decided to check out Ellis Island. We bought ferry tickets, and then proceeded to wait in a 45 minute line in the 95 degree heat to get on the boat. The boat stopped first at the Statue of Liberty (which you can't climb up anymore becase of terrorism concerns) and then at Ellis Island. The building at Ellis Island was amazing - just like in the Godfather Part II. The museum inside had several different exhibitions - my favorite was the one where you walked through the various rooms where the examined the immigrants for health, criminal past and ability to become a contributing member of society. Ann liked the "Treasures from Home" exhibit, which displayed all the different things that the immigrants found important enough to bring with them.
When we got off the ferry, we were back in Battery Park in time to catch the second half of the free Ryan Adams show. We couldn't get onto the lawn because it was "full" but we sat behind a chain link fence heard well enough. For some odd reason, it now seems to be legal in NYC to drink in the park - there was a snack bar selling Brooklyn Pilsner and Lager for 3.25 a cup - what a great deal! We both had a couple, got a good buzz on and chilled out to the alt-country stylings of Mr. Adams. As if there was ever any doubt, his "New York, New York" was the final encore.
After that we caught the fireworks, which were not quite the spectacle of Boston, but also much less chaotic crowdwise. Then we marched uptown until we couldn't make it any further, hailed a cab, and went to my new favorite bar in NYC - d.b.a. Of course, they didn't have any of my first choices from their beer list (Rogue Old Crustacean, Hair of the Dog Tripel and New Glarus Frombozen) but they had good substitutes at the ready.
The next moring we went up to Connecticut to meet Ann's family, watched the Sox beat the piss out of Roger, had some great steaks on the grill and rode a couple rides at a travelling carnival. Fun times...
Anyway, on the Fourth itself, Ann and I did a bunch of fun stuff. We went down to Battery Park and wandered around for a bit. It was wicked hot, so we looked around for someplace to cool off. Where we ended up was the National Museum of the American Indian. They had a great exhibit on modern day Mexican Indians that really used multimedia to great effect - there were artifacts, video interviews and photgraphs that melded nicely as a whole exhibition. If you've seen "Y Tu Mama Tambien," these Indians live in the area that the two boys and the woman are travelling to at the end of the movie. If you haven't seen it (the movie), you should!
After the museum, we decided to check out Ellis Island. We bought ferry tickets, and then proceeded to wait in a 45 minute line in the 95 degree heat to get on the boat. The boat stopped first at the Statue of Liberty (which you can't climb up anymore becase of terrorism concerns) and then at Ellis Island. The building at Ellis Island was amazing - just like in the Godfather Part II. The museum inside had several different exhibitions - my favorite was the one where you walked through the various rooms where the examined the immigrants for health, criminal past and ability to become a contributing member of society. Ann liked the "Treasures from Home" exhibit, which displayed all the different things that the immigrants found important enough to bring with them.
When we got off the ferry, we were back in Battery Park in time to catch the second half of the free Ryan Adams show. We couldn't get onto the lawn because it was "full" but we sat behind a chain link fence heard well enough. For some odd reason, it now seems to be legal in NYC to drink in the park - there was a snack bar selling Brooklyn Pilsner and Lager for 3.25 a cup - what a great deal! We both had a couple, got a good buzz on and chilled out to the alt-country stylings of Mr. Adams. As if there was ever any doubt, his "New York, New York" was the final encore.
After that we caught the fireworks, which were not quite the spectacle of Boston, but also much less chaotic crowdwise. Then we marched uptown until we couldn't make it any further, hailed a cab, and went to my new favorite bar in NYC - d.b.a. Of course, they didn't have any of my first choices from their beer list (Rogue Old Crustacean, Hair of the Dog Tripel and New Glarus Frombozen) but they had good substitutes at the ready.
The next moring we went up to Connecticut to meet Ann's family, watched the Sox beat the piss out of Roger, had some great steaks on the grill and rode a couple rides at a travelling carnival. Fun times...
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