Category Archives: Spring Forward

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New York/Vienna/Brussels
April 15-16, 2011

Distance Today:  4816

Distance So Far: 7336

Very Nice Flight

Thank goodness for an exit row!  When you’re a big, claustrophobic person like me, extra leg room is everything.  I am truly a business-class sized traveler with a coach-sized budget.

The road to Brussels' Arc du Triomphe
The road to Brussels' Arc du Triomphe

True, my exit row was completely full and it was three steps from the bathroom, so I had people on top of me the entire flight, but it was worth it.

The flight even took off on time and landed in Vienna early.  Quelle concept.

The airline was Austrian, and it was run with Teutonic efficiency.  The flight attendants’ uniforms were very reminiscent of the Swinging 60s look.  The service was polite but chilly.

The seat right next to me belonged to a nice young woman who, before takeoff, went and fetched her husband and made him sit there instead.  “It’ll be better for your long legs.”  Nice wife.  In fact, they were so cute to watch because they were very young and almost painfully in love.  At one point the husband was negotiating with someone else near us to switch seats “so I can have my wife.”  I thought it was sweet that he put it like that.  Periodically during the long flight she’d come over from her seat in the next cabin and crouch in front of us and they’d hold hands and stare with idiotic infatuation at each other.  They’re lucky.  I hope their passion lasts.

Each seat, even in coach, had a “personal” video screen.  I never even opened mine.  I was busy finishing Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi, which turned out to be just amazingly good.  Scalzi gets better and better with each book; he is becoming a science fiction voice to be reckoned with.  That and dungeon-crawling my way through the candy-colored Dragon Quest V on my Nintendo DS kept me busy.

Hey! Cleveland has an arcade JUST EXACTLY LIKE THIS!
Hey! Cleveland has an arcade JUST EXACTLY LIKE THIS!

After eight hours we landed in Vienna.  What a drag that I didn’t have a direct flight to Brussels.  At least on Austrian I get 50% of the miles credited to my frequent flyer program.

Austria cracks me up.  It may just be me, but I swear you can smell the old-fashioned anti-Semitism there in the air.  It kept expecting “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” to be piped out of the sound system at the airport.  I remember the last time I was in Vienna, five minutes into a taxi ride to the airport, the taxi driver was already complaining about the Jews.  This was in 2006.  Yeah, they’ve really processed the lessons of World War II in Austria.

Because of the long flight and the six hour time change, I basically lost half a day, the second half of Friday.  After a 90 minute layover and a short flight to Brussels, it was almost noon (Saturday)local time when I landed.  Keep in mind that I had been traveling since noon on Friday.  To say I felt tired and gross would be  akind understatement.  As I posted on Facebook, I felt like a banana peel left out in the sun on a steaming New Orleand afternoon.  The only thing that kept me from being really miserable was that I knew the drill.  I am, after all, an expert traveler.

I checked into the exquisite Hotel Montgomery, a boutique jewell on the edge of the “European” District.  “European” District?  In Brussels?  As opposed to what, the Afghan District?  Turns out that means it’s where lots of the foreign consulates and offices are.

A canal without multicolored pinwheels is so dull, n'est-ce pas?
A canal without multicolored pinwheels is so dull, n'est-ce pas?

I was delighted with the room, easily twice the size of my room in New York, with a huge beautiful and openable window facing the beautiful boulevard circle.  At first I worried that the proximity to the busy street would make the room loud, but the windows in the hotel are brilliant:  When you close them, all is silence.

Despite wanting to, resisted the temptation to go right to sleep.  I knew the only chance I had to get acclimated to the new time zone was to stay awake for several more hours and go to bed as close to a normal time as possible.

There’s a metro station 100 feet from the hotel, so I popped on down and was at the Grand Place in a couple of minutes.  The Grand Place is the tourist center of Brussels, and it had just the right amount of bustle and eye candy to keep me awake.  I made my way a few blocks to the Magritte Museum. 

I have always loved Magritte, even before he helped me win Ben Stein’s money on “Win Ben Stein’s Money” in 1997.  I had two big Magritte questions on the show, which helped me secure the win.   The Magritte Museum is similar to the Dali Museum in Tampa, in that it’s a large exhibit that nevertheless contains very few of the artist’s most famous pieces.  Didn’t matter.  I saw lots things that were new to me, and several of his cutout doves and images of dark houses under brilliantly lit skies were there.  Plus, due to the fact that I hadn’t slept in almost two days and was in practically an alpha state, it seemed appropriate to be viewing all of the crazy-ass Belgian’s surrealist images. 

After the museum, a nice long walk back to the neighborhood my hotel was in, a nice dinner, and then blissful collapse in my room.  

My Current Favorite Science Fiction Writers

  • John Scalzi
  • Robert Charles Wilson
  • Peter F. Hamilton

Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 212 user reviews.

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New York
April 15, 2011

Day of Relief

Today, my final day in New York, was a day of nothing but good news!

This is my favorite image that I've made with my camera so far. To see it at the best size, click on this image twice.
This is my favorite image that I've made with my camera so far. To see it at the best size, click on this image twice.

First, and by far the most important, my friend Rob came through his surgery with flying colors.  What he had was called a vestibular schwannoma, also known as an acoustic or aural neuroma.  This means a benign tumor attached to the bundle of nerves that control hearing, balance, and facial muscles on one side of the head.  The surgery is very tricky, and I’m thrilled that it went well, and I’m thrilled that it’s OVER.

Rob is in a lot of pain and having some acute and persistent nausea, both of which suck.  He’ll hopefully improve soon.  His brother Charles is in and out of the ICU unit to visit him today.  I wish I was there.

Next, my passport and Russia visa is IN MY HAND.  At last, not two hours before I left for the airport.  Whew, that was a close one.  It would have been extremely obnoxious if it had not arrived today. 

It’s my final day in New York.  I cannot believe I’ve been to New York three times in the last ten months.  Amazing.  I always have a great time here, and this time was no exception, though I must say my commute was bit trying and the weather wasn’t very cooperative.  It was great to spend time with friends, though. 

In the early days of my twenties, when I had only lived in New York a couple of years, I was proud to be a New Yorker, and assumed I’d always live there.  Nowadays when I visit, no matter how much fun I’m having I never, ever think:  I should be living here again.  I do love Los Angeles.  I have now lived there almost twice as long as I lived in New York.  I am a proud Angelino.

The other good news is that I scored an exit seat on the longer of the two flights today.  This will make a huge difference, comfort-wise.

Steeple of Trinity Church near Ground Zero. Many famous people are buried here, including Andy Warhol, Ayn Rand, Robert Ludlum, the guy who invented Muzak and Captain Kangaroo.
Steeple of Trinity Church near Ground Zero. Many famous people are buried here, including Andy Warhol, Ayn Rand, Robert Ludlum, Karl Marx, the guy who invented Muzak and Captain Kangaroo.

So.  I did my final visits in the New York office, then grabbed a cab and headed for JFK airport!

Cities I’ve Lived In (Number of Separate Residences There in parenthesis)

  • Los Angeles, 20+ years (3)
  • Bryan/College Station, Texas, 12 years (5)
  • New York, New York, 11 years (9)
  • Ft. Worth, Texas, 4 years (1)
  • Beaumont, Texas, 2 years (1)
  • Austin, Texas, 3 summers (1)

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 163 user reviews.

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New York
April 14, 2011

Day of Stress

Bah.  Just want this day to be over.

A 36-year-old friend of mine is undergoing brain surgery today in Los Angeles to alleviate a vestibular neuroma.  It’s making me insane that I’m not there just to offer whatever help I could to his partner and brother.  In addition, after tomorrow I won’t even be able to call because of STUPID VERIZON WHO IS BEHIND THE TIMES WHEN IT COMES TO USING YOUR PHONE OUT OF THE COUNTRY. Grr.

Two questions: Why? and more importantly, WHY?!
Two questions: Why? and more importantly, WHY?!

Also, it’s down to the wire on my Russia visa, which I’ve also been stressing about big time, because I’m not scheduled to have my passport returned to me (with the Russian visa stamp) until tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow afternoon is, of course, when I’m getting on a plane to Brussels. 

I’ve actually gotten good news regarding the passport.  It’s finished, and it’s on its way to the Washington office of the client, and someone there will overnight pouch the thing to me, so it looks like we’re homefree on that one. 

Now I just need to hear the news that my friend is safely out of surgery.

Surgery sucks, there’s no way around it.  I know of what I speak:

My Surgical Adventures (all at Cedars Sinai, Los Angeles)

  • Re-assemble shattered elbow, May 2000
  • Second reconstruction of elbow, July 2000
  • Third reconstruction of elbow, September 2000
  • Double cardiac arterial bypass, February 15, 2002

 

Believe me, that’s plenty.

Honey Badger doesn't give a shit about Spring in New York.
Honey Badger doesn't give a shit about Spring in New York.

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 188 user reviews.

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New York
April 13, 2011

At Cross Purposes!

If you look like this and you are an attorney at a client where I'm working, it really isn't fair to me.
If you look like this and you are an attorney at a client where I'm working, it really isn't fair to me.

I wear several hats.  I’m a contract software trainer.  I’m a game reviewer.  I am a newspaper columnist.  And I’m a photographer.

Almost always, there’s no problem or conflict with these various roles.  They’re nice, separate boxes, without any spillover.

Except that sometimes there is.  And it’s frustrating.  The issue arises in the dynamic between the software trainer hat and the photographer hat.

Every now and then, there is someone at a client site, usually a law firm, that I am interested in photographing.  The trouble is, there is simply no way to pursue it.  I’ve thought about it from every angle I can come up with, and there just seems to be no solution.  There’s just no appropriate way to segue “… and that’s how you can minimize the ribbon in the new Word 2010 interface, ” with, “and by the way, would you like to be a model for a day?”  It just wouldn’t work.  It wouldn’t be professionally appropriate.

Which is annoying.  But there it is. Damnit.

///

I’ve been having fun with my preliminary research on my dual signature quests in each foreign city that I visit:  Find Tex-Mex food and go see a movie (in English if possible).  It’s sometimes a challenge, but always fun, to try to achieve these goals.

Foreign Cities Where I Can Take You For Tex-Mex Food

  • Munich (not very good)
  • Budapest (dynamite!)
  • Tokyo (bleh)
  • Beijing (the Tex – great, the Mex – not so much)

 

For some reason I'm glad there's still a store like this.
For some reason I'm glad there's still a store like this.

Foreign Cities Where I’ve Seen Films in English

  • London (duh)
  • Edinburg (duh)
  • Paris
  • Prague
  • Munich
  • Budapest
  • Frankfurt
  • Tokyo
  • Beijing
  • Rome
Can you imagine trying to sell units in this building if it was in California?
Can you imagine trying to sell units in this building if it was in California?
Third Avenue Canyon
Park Avenue Canyon

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 194 user reviews.

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Minutia of My Fascinating Life, Pronouncements, Spring Forward, Theater, Travel
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New York
April 12, 2011

Alma Mater

I graduated from this school thirty years ago this month, back when still had hopes and dreams and a waistline and my original cardiac arterial connections.
I graduated from this school thirty years ago this month, back when still had hopes and dreams and a waistline and my original cardiac arterial connections.

Today I passed my old Alma Mater, The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, on Madison Avenue.  I decided to step in and just look around.  I was met by a receptionist who wanted to know what the hell I was doing there.  “I graduated from here exactly thirty years ago, ” I said.  “Really?” She replied.  “Today is graduation day, as a matter of fact.”

I looked around at all the kids in their neatly pressed suits and dresses, having just returned from the stage of the Majestic Theater on Broadway where their ceremony had been held.  I should have asked who the speaker had been.  In April of 1981, when I graduated on the set of Deathtrap at the Music Box Theater, the speakers had been Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn and silent screen legend Lillian Gish. 

Today’s graduates looked predictably happy, tired and excited.  I sure hoped they were smarter than I was thirty years ago.  I stifled the impulse to collar some of them and give them some unsolicited advice.

Then I realized the person I really wanted to give advice to was my young, stupid, callow, naïve, hopeful 1981 self.  What I really wanted was to jump into a time machine, just for five minutes, and MAKE my 21-year old self listen to some wise words from his future self.

Here’s What I’d Tell My Stupid 21-Year Old 1981 Just-Graduated From Acting School Self

  1. Either get out of show business right now or get a lot smarter about it immediately.
  2. Come out of the damn closet already.  There’s no prize for who stays in the longest.[1]
  3. Low carb, low carb, low carb, low carb, low carb.
  4. Resist the impulse to take Meridia without a doctor’s supervision.
  5. Learn about your credit rating.  Treat it like your first born child.
  6. Credit cards are The Devil.
  7. It’s not too late to make friends with your own body.  Do anything you have to to achieve this.
  8. Did I mention low carb?
  9. You’re skinnier and better looking than you think you are.
  10. Investigate the new and growing world of computer and video gaming.  It might be a better career path than acting.
  11. Like the song says, enjoy yourself, but always remember:  it’s later than you think.
We're very serious at Ground Zero.
We're very serious at Ground Zero.

 

Friends for thirty-two years. I'm lucky they'll still hang out with me. But then, they don't have to do it very often.
Friends for thirty-two years. I'm lucky they'll still hang out with me. But then, they don't have to do it very often.

 

I wonder if I would have listened?

 

[1] But wait about three years before you start having sex.  There’s a scourge coming and it’ll be a little while before they know how you can avoid it.

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 284 user reviews.

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New York
April 11, 2011

They say our sense of smell triggers our memory more than the other four sense, and I believe it.  There’s a place in New York where this comes into play very dramatically:  The subway.

A magnificent old Central Park West apartment building.
A magnificent old Central Park West apartment building.

When I go down into the subway each morning to make my way down to Midtown from the northern reaches of Yorkville on the Upper East Side, the weird gumbo funk of smells that hit my nose take me instantly back to 1979, when I first moved here as a 19 year old. 

Growing up in a small town in Texas . . . and HATING being in a small town in Texas . . . you can imagine the impact that the City of New York had on my unformed brain and spirit.  I was truly in another world.  Riding to work and school on an underground train, the crowds, the buildings, the history, the accents, the speed, the energy, the famous landmarks, Broadway . . . . I walked around in a daze for what seemed like months.  The post cards I sent my sister (yeah, remember post cards?) almost had her worried, I sounded so entranced. 

Most Memorable Sites From My Early Days in New York

  • Tiny coffee shops that served you a full breakfast for 55 cents
  • The Statue of Liberty, and how freaking foam green it was
  • The insides of Broadway theaters (I couldn’t believe how SMALL most of them were)
  • The Flatiron Building
  • The Empire State Building’s Observation Deck
  • Central Park
  • Madison Square Park
  • The crumbling mess that was Times Square in 1979
This stupid building now blocks my friend Gerard's view of the Hudson River. It used to stop at the the whiter portion. We hate this building.
This stupid building now blocks my friend Gerard's view of the Hudson River. It used to stop at the the whiter portion. We hate this building.

 

 

This used to be a fantastic view of the Hudson, damnit.
This used to be a fantastic view of the Hudson, damnit.

Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 based on 300 user reviews.

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New York
April 10, 2011

Distance Traveled Today:  30

Distance Traveled So Far:  2820

Cute name, meh place. You pays you money and you takes you chances.
Cute name, meh place. You pays you money and you takes you chances.

Sunday morning Amy and I had breakfast at Hansel and Griddle, which is much less fun than its cute name suggests. 

///

On the way back into the city I realized I was beat.  I’ve now been on the road for four weeks, and while in New York I’ve done a lot of running around.  I decided to just crawl back to my hotel room and recharge for the evening.

And that includes not writing any more!

Empty List

  1.  
  2.  
  3.  
  4.  
  5.  
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  7.  
  8.  
  9.  

More Shots Taken Around New York

Feels almost Dickensian, doesn't it?
Feels almost Dickensian, doesn't it?

 

The Flatiron Building, built in 1902, has always been and will always be my personal favorite building in New York. It was the first skyscraper north fo 14th Street.
The Flatiron Building, built in 1902, has always been and will always be my personal favorite building in New York. It was the first skyscraper north fo 14th Street.

Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 161 user reviews.

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New Brunswick
April 9, 2011

Distance Traveled Today:  30

Distance Traveled So Far:  2790

With Luci and Derek, who came down from Connecticut to meet me for lunch! Why? Because they are teh awesome!
With Luci and Derek, who came down from Connecticut to meet me for lunch! Why? Because they are teh awesome!

Very fun Saturday.  My friends Luci and Derek, from my World of Warcraft guild (that’s Ritual Noise on Proudmoore, if you must know), came down on the train from Connecticut and I met them at Grand Central.  I’d met Luci (and her brother Dave, another guild mate) last year, but hadn’t had the opportunity of meeting Derek in person yet.

We had a lovely breakfast across 42nd Street from GCT and took a walk around Tudor City and the United Nations neighborhood.  (We had all agreed that crowded Times Square could do without us that day.)  [INSERT PHOTO]

Amy on Broadway in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Ashley Judd and Jason Patric.
Amy on Broadway in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Ashley Judd and Jason Patric.

After saying so long to them, I zoomed back uptown to my hotel, were I threw a couple of things in a bag and made my way down to Penn Station where I caught a New Jersey Transit train to New Brunswick, where my friend Amy is doing a play with Peter Scolari and a bunch of other talented people.

Amy in The Fox on the Fairway
Amy in The Fox on the Fairway (that's Peter Scolari on the right).

The play is The Fox on the Fairway, a new play by Ken Ludwig, the guy who had a hit with Lend Me A Tenor.  Like Tenor, the new play is a farce, and it was delightful Amy romping around on stage.  Amy is an amazing actress and it’s always great to get a chance to see her work.

Her performance schedule over the weekend is tiring (five shows between Friday and Sunday) so we shared a hotel room across the street from the theater so we had sort of a slumber party.

Memorable Performances by My Ridiculously Talented Friend Amy

  • Cat on a Hot Ten Roof, Broadway (Mae)
  • The Fox on the Fairway, George Street Theater, New Brunswick, New Jersey (Mrs. Peabody)[1]
  • The Women, Old Globe Theater, San Diego (Edith)
  • The Stand-In, Los Angeles
Amy in The Women at the Old Globe
Amy in The Women at the Old Globe (in the pink, top left).

 

[1]From the New York Times review:“Ms. Hohn, all dangerous décolletage as the club’s ever-available divorcée, Pamela, is especially delightful when wildly feigning a bout of hysterical blindness.”

Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 based on 153 user reviews.

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New York
April 8, 2011

Friday!

Tonight I’m going out with Gail Dennison, one of my oldest friends and one of the first friends I made when I moved to New York in 1979. 

That Gail
That Gail

Gail is a riotously funny actress and comic performer.  She also teaches at the American Musical and Drama Academy here in New York.

We’re trying to figure out a movie to go see.  I’m not having much luck selling her on Hanna.  Evidently Your Highness and the remake of Arthur are both awful, so I’ve just sent her a raft of suggestions.  The problem with being my movie buddy is that I go to the movies four times more often than most people.  This causes a real problem when you want to go to a movie with me.

The problem?  It’s this: Normal movie lovers — I’m talking about those increasingly rare weirdos who, like me, like to see films in the traditional way, that is, in a public movie theater —  have a short list of movies in their heads that they’d  really like to see.  As time passes, and their chance to see these films pass by when the titles leave the first-run theaters, newer titles take their place.  It’s a constantly readjusting short list that they almost unconsciously maintain.

I’m the same way, except I’m the on-steroids version.  I have twenty titles in my list, and – here’s the kicker – I actually go see the movies on my list.  I know, crazy, right?  Most of the time, movies leave my list not because it’s too late to see them in a theater, but because I’ve seen them and crosses them off the list.

Central Park West rises behind the lake.
Central Park West rises behind the lake.

So say you’re my friend, and you like movies and you want to make a movie playdate with me.  It’s a drag, because you’re almost guaranteed to have this problem:  Any possible title on your list is a movie I’ve crossed off mine weeks ago.  I’ve already worked my way down to that hilarious Pakistani soccer comedy and the documentary on the bed bug plague.  And you still want to see Inception.  It’s a problem.  Unless you want to go to a specialty screening, the only way our movie lists can intersect and find a happy match is if we go see a movie that just opened this week.  Or, preferably, just opened today. 

Oh, dear. Since, let's face it, it's an enema they're talking about, am I justfied in being concerned about what specific "loose weight" they are talking about? Ew?
Oh, dear. Since, let's face it, it's an enema they're talking about, am I justfied in being concerned about what specific "loose weight" they are talking about? Ew?

Sorry about that, everyone.  It’s just part of the price you pay for being my friend.

Now:  What time shall we meet to see the six-hour director’s cut of Heaven’s Gate?

Great Places in Los Angeles and New York to See A Cool Movie That’s Not Brand-New or Utterly Mainstream

  • The NuArt
  • The New Beverly
  • Film Forum
  • Cinema Village
  • The American Cinemateque at the Egyptian and the Aero
  • The Museum of Modern Art
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art
  • Silent Movie

Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 217 user reviews.

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New York
April 7, 2011

Latter Day Saints on Broadway!  With the F Word!

Stone and Parker in front of the Neil Simon Theater on Broadway
Stone and Parker in front of the Neil Simon Theater on Broadway

My friend David and I saw The Book of Mormon last night.  It was every bit as good as I hoped it would be.  Better, actually.  It’s a remarkable instance of the creators of a show having their cake and eating it, too . . . in a big way.  Meaning, the show has elements that are utterly profane and offensive, and yet overall it’s sweet and hopeful.  It’s not mean spirited at all, which is surprising, considering the ridiculous religion it’s portraying.

The performances are fantastic.  The two leads should share the Tony award . . . in fact, I really hope that’s what happens.

I highly recommend this show to anyone whose planning a trip to New York any time soon.

///

For a brief moment, my delirious enjoyment of the show was derailed.  In the second act, there’s a wonderful number called “Spooky Mormon Hell Dream, ” depicting the horrors that commonly bedevil (to coin a phrase) worried young Mormons everywhere.  Somehow the theme of recurring anxiety triggered my own:  Money.

Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells
Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells

Yeah, even though I’m in the midst of a wonderfully beefy project, I have no work scheduled when it’s over yet, and I still haven’t gotten over the blind terror of post September 2008 contractor life.  It’s not been easy, and I have to continue to work hard to find new opportunities.

The Only Three Things I Worry About

  • Money
  • Health
  • Actually, there isn’t a third thing

worry

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 156 user reviews.

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