It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

It really is. This is my favorite kind of weather. Everything seems kind of clear and sharp, and the temperature is perfect for, you know, actually thinking about stuff. Plus, this is when all of my favorite things happen -- going back to school (used to get psyched about this when I was a kid); apple picking; Halloween; Thanksgiving.

So I haven't posted in a while. Sorry! Laziness, really.

The Monday before last Nina and I went to go see Bjork at Madison Square Garden. We showed up a little late, thinking there'd be more openers than there were, but we got to have a delicious dinner (the remnants of which they made us throw away at MSG) at Grand Sichuan beforehand. The pink peppercorns in my broccoli dish made my lips tingle! It was actually a little scary. So I'd never been to the Garden -- it's intimidatingly huge inside the arena, but the stage is just sort of set up on top of the wood court, so the whole thing feels a little like a band playing in a high school gym. I'm not a huge Bjork fan (neither, Nina speculates, were most of the dudes who were there that night), and our seats were such that we couldn't see *that* well, but the stage and costumes were pretty sweet, and she's got a great voice (pretty sure she was actually singing the whole time) and a ton of energy. I found some closer-up pics up the thing here.

I put in a bunch more hours over the weekend (holy shit I was clocking like 80-something) and finished Dragon Quest VIII; I did not get that empty feeling some people get after beating a game. I initially had some contempt for the game -- it's a little too cute, and it begins very much in media res, which I assumed was some kind of bullshit Japanese storytelling thing -- you know, that we're just supposed to get from the title that the game is about, you know, an archetypal "Cursed King," and that should be good enough to get us through the narrative. It turns out, of course, that the game's a fair bit cannier than that, and the plot and the metaphysics of the game universe are reorganized about half way through in a pretty subtle and pleasant way. Sorry, Japan! Now I'm playing FFXII, which I picked up on sale a few weeks ago but hadn't yet cracked open. In terms of the art direction, it seems like something I've always wanted to play: A Byzantine fantasy in every sense. I'll reserve judgment on the rest of it 'til I'm a bit deeper in.

Kind of a whirlwind of a day on Sunday. To start off, Eve and I went to go check out the Chili Pepper Fiesta at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The garden is always beautiful (although I'm conflicted over whether it's worth $8 to go see), but this festival was no great shakes. The main attraction seemed to be a big tent set up with tables where you could go and taste (and hopefully buy) the wares of local chili gourmands -- salsa, fudge, etc. Maybe we showed up too late. We showed up a bit late to the Atlantic Antic, too, which we hit up next, as most of the vendors were closing up shop. Managed to pick up a cool t-shirt for Nina at the Cut It Out table (thought they had a web site, but now I can't find it) and ate some delicious fish cakes. We also ran into my friend Arthur (a.k.a. Arturo) from Wesleyan.

Arthur's a nice guy -- I was in a couple of plays with him at Wesleyan, and although I don't share his passion for Harold Lloyd-style "clowning," I was more than happy to help him out on this film project he did one year over Christmas. Nina and I had just been discussing the relative probabilities that either of us would turn up on the YouTube, and I'd pegged mine pretty low. Well, I was wrong. For those of you who've seen Pete Hagan's epic New-Wave senior project, The Zombies Win, I should point out that in this film, Somni, I'm maybe 60% as effeminate but like twice as beaky (lit'rally):

• Part 1: http://youtube.com/watch?v=faRZoSYyxYE
• Part 2: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ljK-JTf1HgQ
• Part 3: http://youtube.com/watch?v=OFhIqAMo_kU

It's Sukkot right now, which means there are a lot of Lubavitchers hanging out in the subway asking you if you're Jewish. They're asking, as Eve explained, because they want you to fondle this stick they're carrying or some shit -- it's a mitzvah if they get other Jews to do it. So I'd been cursing them out and giving them the finger when they asked yesterday: my policy is that people who dare to get in your face about religion in public deserve at best ridicule and at worst a good beating. Eve feels differently, though, and so once I met up with her I agreed to tone it down. To the next guy who approached us I said, "you know, it's really none of your business, buddy." He backed off, and as we were passing muttered, "Chag same'ach." I promptly flipped him off over my shoulder. But then I got curious and asked Eve, "He was slagging me off, right? What did he say?" Eve said, "It means 'Happy Holidays.'"

Last night I dragged my friend Jason from work with me to Chinatown to this Thai grocery store, where I was shopping for ingredients to make horchata, a delicious, rice-based dessert drink they serve at Mexican places. It's a pain to have to go to a restaurant when you want some, and the stuff they sell off the shelf at the carnicerias is disgusting. So I'm soaking the ingredients now and I'll blend it up tonight and give it a taste. After I found as much of the stuff as I could, Jason insisted I come over to his house to taste some whiskey -- this is a thing he does with work friends; it was finally my turn last night. I tried four different whiskeys, really liked three (the icky fourth, from Laphroiag, tasted really strongly of band-aids and beef jerky), and we listened to a bunch of Pogues songs.

They're making my favorite game, Bigger Scumbag, into a TV show!

Going to see Arcade Fire at Randall's Island on Saturday. Shamefully enough, I have never been (to the Island).