This blog has moved and is now being maintained at www.danialcorn.com/blog
Check it out for my new picture-a-day project for 2012! Hope to see you there!
Thursday, 29 December 2011
Friday, 11 November 2011
Thursday, 10 November 2011
A New Documentary: Miss Representation
Last night my college sponsored a screening of the new documentary film Miss Representation. I expected something dogmatic and preachy. Rather, I got something nuanced, thoughtful, and artistic.
The film certainly had a message, but the documentary did a good job of not choosing a single scapegoat to blame all the world's ills on. Media was certainly blamed to a certain extent, but the documentary presented its case calmly and with evidence to back up its claims, leaving the audience to make its own value judgments.
The use of statistics interwoven with deeply insightful interviews with some of today's leading female politicians, actors, and activists, was superb. From a film-making point of view the documentary was well-paced, never rushed never boring, coming in at just under an hour and a half. The use of music was also particularly affective.
It is sobering that while 51% of the US population is female, women make up only 17% of congress.
"You can't be what you can't see." says Marie Wilson, the Founding President of The White House Project. Ultimately, the film urges those powerful women out there now to mentor the next generation of female leaders.
Change is possible and this is certainly the kind of documentary I hope seems incredibly dated in twenty years. Until then I urge people to check out Miss Representation's website: http://missrepresentation.org/the-film/
The film certainly had a message, but the documentary did a good job of not choosing a single scapegoat to blame all the world's ills on. Media was certainly blamed to a certain extent, but the documentary presented its case calmly and with evidence to back up its claims, leaving the audience to make its own value judgments.
The use of statistics interwoven with deeply insightful interviews with some of today's leading female politicians, actors, and activists, was superb. From a film-making point of view the documentary was well-paced, never rushed never boring, coming in at just under an hour and a half. The use of music was also particularly affective.
It is sobering that while 51% of the US population is female, women make up only 17% of congress.
"You can't be what you can't see." says Marie Wilson, the Founding President of The White House Project. Ultimately, the film urges those powerful women out there now to mentor the next generation of female leaders.
Change is possible and this is certainly the kind of documentary I hope seems incredibly dated in twenty years. Until then I urge people to check out Miss Representation's website: http://missrepresentation.org/the-film/
Monday, 31 October 2011
Ta Da! Happy Halloween!
Rachel and I finished the costume! Drum roll please.... Presenting Captain Kara Thrace (aka Starbuck) of Battlestar Galactica.
Rachel is a miracle worker :-)
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Pumpkin Carving! Again!
Today Rachel and I hosted pumpkin carving at our house. After yesterday's pumpkin debacle we had resigned ourselves to carving tiny pumpkins. But the pumpkin fairies had visited Whole Foods in the night and delivered JUMBO CARVING PUMPKINS. I was so excited.
We had so much pumpkin in our cart...
Rachel Geistfeld came over to carve a pumpkin with us. She enjoyed it.
We put down a tablecloth (aka drop cloth) and the carving commenced.
I made a mummy! Here's the finished product.
Happy Halloween!
We had so much pumpkin in our cart...
Rachel Geistfeld came over to carve a pumpkin with us. She enjoyed it.
I made a mummy! Here's the finished product.
Happy Halloween!
Pumpkin Carving!
Last night Rachel and I went to a pumpkin carving party at an acquaintance's house. We went to three stores looking for pumpkins and couldn't find any! We finally found a few tiny "pumpkin pie" pumpkins at Whole Foods as well as a selection of seasonal squashes. We each selected a miniature gourd to carve and took them to the party. It was a lot of fun! There was an impromtu dance party at the end.
These were our pumpkins! They're friends!
 |
| Yes, Rachel's squash has eyebrows... |
Friday, 28 October 2011
Halloween Costume Sneak Peak
We are making me a Halloween costume and Rachel is teaching me to sew. Since the clock is ticking now this sort of translates into Rachel-does-all-the-hard-stuff-and-I-pin-fabric-togeter (and sew on patches). But I did manage to use the sewing machine to make a seam in one of the sleeves tonight!
Below is a partially assembled version of the costume. I'm not telling what it is yet, but I dare you to guess...
Below is a partially assembled version of the costume. I'm not telling what it is yet, but I dare you to guess...
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Fall Morning
This morning when I awoke the light outside was fascinating. The tree across the street from my building always turns yellow during the fall, but this morning something about the way the sunlight permeated through the dense cloud cover made all the yellows and reds really stand out. I'm not sure if this picture does it justice, but I tried to capture what it looked like.
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
I saved three lives today!
I saved three lives today by donating blood! I get to feel like a good person and have lots of protein and glucose for dinner totally guilt free! Hooray!
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Tonight's Dessert Creation
Tonight we made a beautiful dinner (which we forgot to photograph). We made balsamic-marinated chicken breasts, pumpkin dumplings (which turned out a little more like pumpkin gnocchi but which were still delicious), roasted asparagus and Brussels sprouts, and saffron rice.
For dessert I made Spiced Applesauce Cupcakes. They are quite good, but the Cinnamon-Nutmeg Cream-Cheese Frosting was the event.
Here is the recipe I used:
For cake 2 cups (8 3/4 ounces or 250 grams) all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder 1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) baking soda 1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) salt 3/4 teaspoon (2 grams) cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon (1 gram) ground ginger 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 1 stick (4 ounces or 113 grams) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup (7 3/4 ounces or 218 grams) packed light brown sugar 1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract 2 large eggs 1 1/2 cups (about 13 ounces or 365 grams) unsweetened applesauce 1/2 cup (about 1 3/4 ounces or 50 grams) walnuts (optional), toasted, cooled, and chopped
For frosting 5 ounces (142 grams) cream cheese, softened 3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces or 42 grams) unsalted butter, softened 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 cup (4 ounces or 120 grams) confectioners sugar 1 teaspoon teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter an 8- or 9-inch square cake pan. I had no trouble getting my cake out of a nonstick pan by just buttering it, but if you don’t have a nonstick cake pan or are a little nervous, line the bottom with parchment paper and butter that too.
Make cake: Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Beat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in applesauce. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just combined, then stir in walnuts (if using). The batter will look a little curdly and uneven but don’t worry, it will all bake up perfectly in the end.
Spread batter evenly in pan and bake until golden-brown and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake to loosen, then invert onto a plate. Reinvert cake onto a rack to cool completely. You can speed this up, as I always do, in the fridge. OR recipe makes about 16-18 cupcakes. Cooking time approximately 20 minutes.
Make frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy. Sift confectioners sugar and cinnamon over cream cheese mixture, then beat at medium speed until incorporated. Spread frosting over top of cooled cake.
For dessert I made Spiced Applesauce Cupcakes. They are quite good, but the Cinnamon-Nutmeg Cream-Cheese Frosting was the event.
Here is the recipe I used:
For cake 2 cups (8 3/4 ounces or 250 grams) all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder 1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) baking soda 1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) salt 3/4 teaspoon (2 grams) cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon (1 gram) ground ginger 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 1 stick (4 ounces or 113 grams) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup (7 3/4 ounces or 218 grams) packed light brown sugar 1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract 2 large eggs 1 1/2 cups (about 13 ounces or 365 grams) unsweetened applesauce 1/2 cup (about 1 3/4 ounces or 50 grams) walnuts (optional), toasted, cooled, and chopped
For frosting 5 ounces (142 grams) cream cheese, softened 3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces or 42 grams) unsalted butter, softened 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 cup (4 ounces or 120 grams) confectioners sugar 1 teaspoon teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter an 8- or 9-inch square cake pan. I had no trouble getting my cake out of a nonstick pan by just buttering it, but if you don’t have a nonstick cake pan or are a little nervous, line the bottom with parchment paper and butter that too.
Make cake: Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Beat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in applesauce. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just combined, then stir in walnuts (if using). The batter will look a little curdly and uneven but don’t worry, it will all bake up perfectly in the end.
Spread batter evenly in pan and bake until golden-brown and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake to loosen, then invert onto a plate. Reinvert cake onto a rack to cool completely. You can speed this up, as I always do, in the fridge. OR recipe makes about 16-18 cupcakes. Cooking time approximately 20 minutes.
Make frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy. Sift confectioners sugar and cinnamon over cream cheese mixture, then beat at medium speed until incorporated. Spread frosting over top of cooled cake.
Monday, 24 October 2011
A Very Theatrical Weekend
This weekend I went with Rachel to see Second City (a famous sketch comedy and improve group based in Chicago) at Northwestern. The name of their show, in honor of our mascot was, "Wildcat on a Hot Tin Roof."
The show was actually much funnier than I was expecting. However, we found that to satirize Northwestern they didn't actually have to exaggerate much. For example, one of their sketches was about an incoming freshman who planned to triple-major in engineering, music, and economics... that's a combination I'm actually pretty sure I've heard before...
They also sang us a song called, "We're Big 10 (But We're Also Ivy League)." And as we lost our Homecoming game this weekend, one of the more telling (and shortest) sketches went like this:
The show was actually much funnier than I was expecting. However, we found that to satirize Northwestern they didn't actually have to exaggerate much. For example, one of their sketches was about an incoming freshman who planned to triple-major in engineering, music, and economics... that's a combination I'm actually pretty sure I've heard before...
They also sang us a song called, "We're Big 10 (But We're Also Ivy League)." And as we lost our Homecoming game this weekend, one of the more telling (and shortest) sketches went like this:
A girl and boy sit on two chairs, cuddling
Girl: You know, I've never been to the stadium on game day before.
Boy: (nuzzling her hair) I just wanted to come somewhere where we could be alone...
End Scene
Then, the next night, I went down to the city and met Jackie at Navy Pier, where we saw Murder for Two a musical comedy at the Chicago Shakespeare Center.
All I knew about the show was that it was popular enough its run had been extended four times and it was billed as follows, "A two man show: both men play the piano and one man plays all 13 suspects!"
How could you go wrong? It was indeed quite funny. Both men were very talented pianists and performers. It was not high art by any means, but it was quite a good time. I would definitely recommend it for anyone who needs a laugh!
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Catching Up on the Recent Happenings at College
One of the consequences of the quarter system is you feel like you've just gotten back in the swing of things and suddenly the quarter is half over! So to go back a bit...
Fall in Evanston this year has been particularly lovely. The leaves were just gorgeous at the beginning of October! We eventually did get some gale-force rain, but up until a couple of days ago things have been really nice.
We've also been doing a lot of cooking in 802. Charlotte has been coming over every Tuesday to whip up some delicious deserts. We've had apple pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate-chip cinnamon cookies, and snickerdoodles so far. Rachel and I have also been experimenting with some new things, including lentil bread (the substance all over Rachel's fingers).
And then Rachel turned 21! We celebrated by going out for drinks at the Rhythm Room at midnight. It took the poor bartender several moments to realize what the date was. Rachel's drink was also free!
The day of her actual birthday we went to teapot painting class at Norris with Jackie and made cute little teapots (hers is the blue one, mine's the purple elephant).
That night we had friends over for fondue (don't ask how many blocks of cheese went into the fondu) and Rachel's famous spice cake with marzipan topping.
It's been a busy couple of weeks! And we haven't even gotten to Halloween yet...
Fall in Evanston this year has been particularly lovely. The leaves were just gorgeous at the beginning of October! We eventually did get some gale-force rain, but up until a couple of days ago things have been really nice.
We've also been doing a lot of cooking in 802. Charlotte has been coming over every Tuesday to whip up some delicious deserts. We've had apple pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate-chip cinnamon cookies, and snickerdoodles so far. Rachel and I have also been experimenting with some new things, including lentil bread (the substance all over Rachel's fingers).
And then Rachel turned 21! We celebrated by going out for drinks at the Rhythm Room at midnight. It took the poor bartender several moments to realize what the date was. Rachel's drink was also free!
The day of her actual birthday we went to teapot painting class at Norris with Jackie and made cute little teapots (hers is the blue one, mine's the purple elephant).
That night we had friends over for fondue (don't ask how many blocks of cheese went into the fondu) and Rachel's famous spice cake with marzipan topping.
It's been a busy couple of weeks! And we haven't even gotten to Halloween yet...
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Pumpkin Pie
Let me begin this post by saying that I do not like pumpkin pie. Except apparently pumpkin pie made by my friend Charlotte. THIS WAS THE BEST PIE I'VE EVER TASTED!
The filling recipe went something like this:
The filling recipe went something like this:
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 (15 ounce) can Pure Pumpkin
- 1 (12 fluid ounce) can Sweetened Condenced Milk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Some cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and garam masala.
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced
- 1/4 cup ice water
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Combine sugar, salt, and spices in a small bowl. Beat eggs in a large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mix. Gradually add evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.
- Cut up pecan pieces into very small chunks and sprinkle them on top of the filling.
- Bake for 15 minutes and reduce temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for 45-50 minutes.
- Cool for 15 minutes.
- Enjoy heartily.
Sunday, 2 October 2011
Vegan Banana Bread Recipe
Today I made incredibly successful vegan banana bread for my friend Aleah.
The recipe went like this:
Ingredients
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup vegan margarine, at room temp
3 very ripe bananas, mashed well
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup vanilla almond milk, mixed with 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup pecan pieces
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Cream margarine and sugars together. Add mashed banana, almond milk/vinegar mixture, and vanilla.
In another bowl sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt together.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Then add the pecans and chocolate chips.
Pour mixture into a greased 8x4 inch loaf pan. Top with brown sugar.
Bake for 1hr.
The recipe went like this:
Ingredients
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup vegan margarine, at room temp
3 very ripe bananas, mashed well
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup vanilla almond milk, mixed with 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup pecan pieces
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Cream margarine and sugars together. Add mashed banana, almond milk/vinegar mixture, and vanilla.
In another bowl sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt together.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Then add the pecans and chocolate chips.
Pour mixture into a greased 8x4 inch loaf pan. Top with brown sugar.
Bake for 1hr.
Friday, 30 September 2011
The Duchess of Malfi Trailer
To get the cast excited for our DVD release party this weekend I edited together a trailer of epic proportions, full of cliches and dramatic music. Check it out below.
Monday, 26 September 2011
The New 802 Quote Board
September 2011
"Oh, those are plates. No wonder they don't look like bowls..."
- Rachel
"It's going to taste beautiful... like rainbows and sunshine!"
- Rachel (on Charlotte's homemade apple pie)
"Cannibalism is my one no-no."
- Charlotte
"Where is this coming from?! This is coming from cray-cray."
- Charlotte (on Twilight)
"It seemed ridiculous we didn't have cocoa in our arsenal of beverages."
- Dani
October 2011
"Can we invent a hand spatula and, like, get a patent, and then never have to work?"
- Charlotte
"And then Charlotte asked me to lick her finger, and it was just strange..."
- Rachel
Rachel: Can I help?
Charlotte: No, it's just kind of wet... and not in a happy way."
"She tells us that our dreams should have more weird stuff."
- Rachel Geistfeld
"802: Where everyone offers you tea."
- Rachel
Charlotte: I had kind of a field day with your spice rack.
Dani: It was more of a love affair...
"She's a Rachel, not a skipper."
- Jackie, on Charlotte
"I saw them walking together with coffee, which obviously means they're having sex."
- Kaitlin G.
"Oh no! Two of them mated!"
- Charlotte, on snickerdoodles fresh out of the oven
"I think Charlotte can do no wrong!"
- Dani
"Hey now! I french-broed!"
- Dani (going for french-braided)
"I find it kind of ominous that it's called 'Brother'..."
- Dani (on Rachel's space-station sewing machine that's going to take over the world)
Rachel: I'm sure all my ancestors will be so proud I'm making a Battlestar Galactica jacket.
Dani: And your decedents!
"Your teabag is so explicit tonight! 'You only give when you love... in bed'."
- Dani
"Frictional forces can't beat my breast-warmth."
- Charlotte
Dani: I guess we would judge an orgy.
Charlotte: Even if only for technique.
"The paper is paper! ...that was more descriptive in my head..."
- Dani
November 2011
"The words fell out of your face..."
- Rachel
"You initiated this stage in our platonic physical relationship."
- Rachel to Charlotte
"I always like the dark ones..."
- Dani
"I have butter in my breasts."
- Charlotte
"Surprise fucks are the worst."
- Dani
"Have faith in the internet."
- Dani
"I was really hoping you'd want to be an abstract squiggle."
- Rachel, in a hypothetical conversation with her block of alabaster
"I just don't have as much experience fitting large things in my mouth as you do."
- Rachel to Charlotte
Rachel: Baking and booze always help.
Charlotte: Bacon and booze...
- a conversation had while making french toast bacon cupcakes
December 2011
"On a scale of one to married..."
- Rachel G.
"Guys! There's a torso in my present!"
- Rachel
"Dani knows what to do with bodies that come in boxes!"
- Rachel
"I love how it says 'America's Favorite Horse Race.' I feel like that's another way of saying 'The Only Horse Race Americans can name.'"
- Kate
"This dressmakers form is like a new Han."
- Jackie
"I mean, it's the Catholic studies class. What can she say? There's no forgiveness?"
- Rachel, on turning in a paper slightly late
"Oh, those are plates. No wonder they don't look like bowls..."
- Rachel
"It's going to taste beautiful... like rainbows and sunshine!"
- Rachel (on Charlotte's homemade apple pie)
"Cannibalism is my one no-no."
- Charlotte
"Where is this coming from?! This is coming from cray-cray."
- Charlotte (on Twilight)
"It seemed ridiculous we didn't have cocoa in our arsenal of beverages."
- Dani
October 2011
"Can we invent a hand spatula and, like, get a patent, and then never have to work?"
- Charlotte
"And then Charlotte asked me to lick her finger, and it was just strange..."
- Rachel
Rachel: Can I help?
Charlotte: No, it's just kind of wet... and not in a happy way."
"She tells us that our dreams should have more weird stuff."
- Rachel Geistfeld
"802: Where everyone offers you tea."
- Rachel
Charlotte: I had kind of a field day with your spice rack.
Dani: It was more of a love affair...
"She's a Rachel, not a skipper."
- Jackie, on Charlotte
"I saw them walking together with coffee, which obviously means they're having sex."
- Kaitlin G.
"Oh no! Two of them mated!"
- Charlotte, on snickerdoodles fresh out of the oven
"I think Charlotte can do no wrong!"
- Dani
"Hey now! I french-broed!"
- Dani (going for french-braided)
"I find it kind of ominous that it's called 'Brother'..."
- Dani (on Rachel's space-station sewing machine that's going to take over the world)
Rachel: I'm sure all my ancestors will be so proud I'm making a Battlestar Galactica jacket.
Dani: And your decedents!
"Your teabag is so explicit tonight! 'You only give when you love... in bed'."
- Dani
"Frictional forces can't beat my breast-warmth."
- Charlotte
Dani: I guess we would judge an orgy.
Charlotte: Even if only for technique.
"The paper is paper! ...that was more descriptive in my head..."
- Dani
November 2011
"The words fell out of your face..."
- Rachel
"You initiated this stage in our platonic physical relationship."
- Rachel to Charlotte
"I always like the dark ones..."
- Dani
"I have butter in my breasts."
- Charlotte
"Surprise fucks are the worst."
- Dani
"Have faith in the internet."
- Dani
"I was really hoping you'd want to be an abstract squiggle."
- Rachel, in a hypothetical conversation with her block of alabaster
"I just don't have as much experience fitting large things in my mouth as you do."
- Rachel to Charlotte
Rachel: Baking and booze always help.
Charlotte: Bacon and booze...
- a conversation had while making french toast bacon cupcakes
December 2011
"On a scale of one to married..."
- Rachel G.
"Guys! There's a torso in my present!"
- Rachel
"Dani knows what to do with bodies that come in boxes!"
- Rachel
"I love how it says 'America's Favorite Horse Race.' I feel like that's another way of saying 'The Only Horse Race Americans can name.'"
- Kate
"This dressmakers form is like a new Han."
- Jackie
"I mean, it's the Catholic studies class. What can she say? There's no forgiveness?"
- Rachel, on turning in a paper slightly late
Saturday, 17 September 2011
My Current Musical Obsession
My current musical obsession is Kristin Chenoweth's new album, Some Lessons Learned. In this album Kristin Chenoweth get's to go back to her semi-country roots. I would describe the album as country-flavored-pop. The songs are all very upbeat, not many "crying in my soup songs" as Chenoweth put it. The lyrics are quirky, fun, and sometimes tongue-in-cheek.
Album highlights:
Album highlights:
- I Was Here
- I Want Somebody (Bitch About)
- Lessons Learned
Our Cat... Not Our Cat
Today my parents and I went to PetSmart and it was Adopt a Cat Day. We were extremely weirded out to find the mirror image of our cat, Peaches. The resemblance is scary... right down to the smudge on the nose!
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Australia 2011: Day 23 (and a half)
This morning began the long process of returning home. I got up, finished packing, and showered at the last possible moment so I would clean as long as possible. Dad and I managed to repack our suitcases underweight. Our only crutch was one small duffel bag stuffed with some dirty laundry and leftover toiletries.
Delta said we needed to get to the airport three hours in advance of our international flight. Murphey’s law dictated that we made it through check-in and security in record time (maybe 15 minutes).
But, the good news is that Australians apparently like to shop while they wait for their planes (or maybe when they get off the plane and buy stuff duty free...). I had $25 Australian dollars to spend and I managed to use it all up on a couple of stylish coffee mugs for Evanston.
We got to chill in the Air New Zealand crown room after that. It was so nice! They had a hot breakfast buffet set up AND (more importantly) free wifi that was faster than anything we’d paid for on the trip.
I was feeling a bit peckish so even though we’re probably going to be fed at least 6 times in the next 24 hours I had some toast and a piece of kiwi-fruit (because it just doesn’t taste the same in the states).
We were on exactly the same kind of plane going out of Australia that we were coming in, so the seats were definitely fantastic. And because we were flying through what I considered day-time I was awake to use more of the media features.
In fact, I used most of the trip catching up on all the media events I’d missed out on in the last couple of years. I watched a couple of movies, LOTS of movie trailers, some music videos, and listened to several Delta radio stations, learning that Kristin Chenoweth has a new album called Some Lessons Learned that is fantastic!
The selection of movies on the flight was huge! There must have been more than 100 to choose from. They had a little bit of everything too... Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Ice Age (1, 2, and 3), Tangled, Inception, Citizen Kane, Harry Potter 1-7a, the LOTR trilogy, Sideways, (500) Days of Summer...
I watched two full length movies, Ice Age and an old classic I’d missed out on, Tootsie. Both were hilarious. Of the movie trailers I watched the list of movies I thought looked interesting and I’d like to see included Never Let Me Go, Just Go With It, Black Swan, and Barney’s Version (note to the reader: I have not checked these out on Rotten Tomatoes yet, so if there are any duds in there I’m not responsible).
Unfortunately, because the flight was mostly during my daytime I wasn’t able to sleep much. On the way over I got almost 8 hours. This time I might have dozed through two play-throughs of a Pink! best of album. I love the noise-canceling headphones they give you though... man, do they make the flight quiet.
Also, the oddity flying this direction is that you get two Wednesdays. We left Sydney at 10:30am Wednesday morning and arrived in Los Angeles seemingly before we left at 7:00am Wednesday morning. This is a fun peculiarity, but doesn’t weird me out nearly as much as not existing for a day going the other direction.
At any rate, we arrived in LA and got our bags/cleared customs really fast. We recheck the bags with a sigh of relief and headed to the Delta Crown Room to wait for our next and final flight to Orlando. I think Dad would have gone to the El Cholo’s in the airport (even at 8am) for nachos but he decided that they probably wouldn’t be as good as the real thing, and he’ll just have to look forward to them in November. (Nachos are traditional Thanksgiving food, right?)
This crown room was not as nice, but they did have some breakfast foods out. Also, I know this is a really random thing to notice (and definitely to photograph) but they had a really nicely decorated bathroom... (jet-lag is my only defense here).
Finally, we got on our domestic flight. The seats were definitely a step down. They fed us a burger and I managed to snooze for another hour and a half or so. Oh, I should also mention that even with all the movies/music/etc I read an entire Kindle book on these flights as well. It was Forever Neverland, an interesting twist on grown-up (gasp!) Peter Pan.
Mom met us outside security at the airport and it was sure nice to see her! We got our bags in about 25 minutes (lightning speed for MCO). Mom drove home, since Dad was jet-lagged and I couldn’t remember what side of the road you were supposed to be on (seriously, I kept walking down the wrong-side of the hallway and going to the wrong side of the escalators).
By the time we got home at 7pm I was kind of on a second wind and managed to unpack, chat with mom, and putter until about 9:15. Then I went upstair, took the best shower of my life, and went to bed.
I’m writing this now at 6:45am the next morning. Jet-lag being the bitch it is, I woke up at 5:00am, managed to doze until 6:00, then finally gave up.
All in all, this has been a really great trip. I feel rested, relaxed, rejuvenated, and enlightened. What more could you ask for?
Delta said we needed to get to the airport three hours in advance of our international flight. Murphey’s law dictated that we made it through check-in and security in record time (maybe 15 minutes).
But, the good news is that Australians apparently like to shop while they wait for their planes (or maybe when they get off the plane and buy stuff duty free...). I had $25 Australian dollars to spend and I managed to use it all up on a couple of stylish coffee mugs for Evanston.
We got to chill in the Air New Zealand crown room after that. It was so nice! They had a hot breakfast buffet set up AND (more importantly) free wifi that was faster than anything we’d paid for on the trip.
I was feeling a bit peckish so even though we’re probably going to be fed at least 6 times in the next 24 hours I had some toast and a piece of kiwi-fruit (because it just doesn’t taste the same in the states).
We were on exactly the same kind of plane going out of Australia that we were coming in, so the seats were definitely fantastic. And because we were flying through what I considered day-time I was awake to use more of the media features.
In fact, I used most of the trip catching up on all the media events I’d missed out on in the last couple of years. I watched a couple of movies, LOTS of movie trailers, some music videos, and listened to several Delta radio stations, learning that Kristin Chenoweth has a new album called Some Lessons Learned that is fantastic!
The selection of movies on the flight was huge! There must have been more than 100 to choose from. They had a little bit of everything too... Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Ice Age (1, 2, and 3), Tangled, Inception, Citizen Kane, Harry Potter 1-7a, the LOTR trilogy, Sideways, (500) Days of Summer...
I watched two full length movies, Ice Age and an old classic I’d missed out on, Tootsie. Both were hilarious. Of the movie trailers I watched the list of movies I thought looked interesting and I’d like to see included Never Let Me Go, Just Go With It, Black Swan, and Barney’s Version (note to the reader: I have not checked these out on Rotten Tomatoes yet, so if there are any duds in there I’m not responsible).
Unfortunately, because the flight was mostly during my daytime I wasn’t able to sleep much. On the way over I got almost 8 hours. This time I might have dozed through two play-throughs of a Pink! best of album. I love the noise-canceling headphones they give you though... man, do they make the flight quiet.
Also, the oddity flying this direction is that you get two Wednesdays. We left Sydney at 10:30am Wednesday morning and arrived in Los Angeles seemingly before we left at 7:00am Wednesday morning. This is a fun peculiarity, but doesn’t weird me out nearly as much as not existing for a day going the other direction.
At any rate, we arrived in LA and got our bags/cleared customs really fast. We recheck the bags with a sigh of relief and headed to the Delta Crown Room to wait for our next and final flight to Orlando. I think Dad would have gone to the El Cholo’s in the airport (even at 8am) for nachos but he decided that they probably wouldn’t be as good as the real thing, and he’ll just have to look forward to them in November. (Nachos are traditional Thanksgiving food, right?)
This crown room was not as nice, but they did have some breakfast foods out. Also, I know this is a really random thing to notice (and definitely to photograph) but they had a really nicely decorated bathroom... (jet-lag is my only defense here).
Finally, we got on our domestic flight. The seats were definitely a step down. They fed us a burger and I managed to snooze for another hour and a half or so. Oh, I should also mention that even with all the movies/music/etc I read an entire Kindle book on these flights as well. It was Forever Neverland, an interesting twist on grown-up (gasp!) Peter Pan.
Mom met us outside security at the airport and it was sure nice to see her! We got our bags in about 25 minutes (lightning speed for MCO). Mom drove home, since Dad was jet-lagged and I couldn’t remember what side of the road you were supposed to be on (seriously, I kept walking down the wrong-side of the hallway and going to the wrong side of the escalators).
By the time we got home at 7pm I was kind of on a second wind and managed to unpack, chat with mom, and putter until about 9:15. Then I went upstair, took the best shower of my life, and went to bed.
I’m writing this now at 6:45am the next morning. Jet-lag being the bitch it is, I woke up at 5:00am, managed to doze until 6:00, then finally gave up.
All in all, this has been a really great trip. I feel rested, relaxed, rejuvenated, and enlightened. What more could you ask for?
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Australia 2011: Day 22
This morning’s wake up was profoundly unpleasant. As Murphey’s Law seems to dictate whenever you have to get up early, you have trouble falling asleep...
But we managed to get ourselves and our bags downstairs by 6:00am. I was shocked to see that our ride to the airport was a personal tour bus. We had the whole thing to ourselves! It was... spacious.
It was also raining and cold in Auckland this morning. It seemed like we were getting out just in time, since the rain was supposed to settle in for the next few days.
Once we got to the airport it was indeed a blow to have to deal with all the hassles of flying commercially. As always my bag was 1kg overweight, but the person checking it in was nice and turned a blind eye. Our flight didn’t have a gate posted until about 20 minutes before it started boarding so we camped out on some chairs next to an incredibly over-priced bookstore.
The flight was uneventful. We had purchased tickets that were “The Works” so we got breakfast. Dad tried their hot breakfast of scrambled eggs, a rasher of bacon, and potatoes. I decided to play it safe and stuck with museli and a muffin. I discovered I actually like museli. It was like granola in really really light yogurt with raisins, fresh peach and maybe orange bits in it. It was actually pretty tasty.
I watched Super 8 after we took off. Dad and I had contemplated going to see this film earlier this summer, but we never ended up going. We should have! It was directed by J.J. Abrahms and I should have had more faith in him, given that I love his previous work. I would really like to see Super 8 again someplace where I can actually understand all the dialogue. The kids in the movie all gave great performances. Especially Elle Fanning!
I dozed for the last hour of the flight. It was weird how empty immigrations and customs were... there were no lines anywhere and I think once we’d gotten our bags we were out of there in a minute and a half.
We took a cab to our hotel in Coogee, which is where Pamela grew up! She’s already departed on her grand tour of Australia cruise so she can’t be here to show us around, but after Dad and I checked in to the hotel, we slathered on the sunscreen and went to take a walk along the beach.
It turned out to be a really scenic walk. There were huge waves coming in at the beach, and we climbed up to one of the coastal cliffs and clambered over rock formations. We returned to the waterfront for lunch. After a bit of wandering we ended up the Coogee Hotel’s brasserie/beer garden. Dad and I shared a Caesar salad and a cheese burger. One of the normal ingredients on burgers here is tomato relish. It was okay, but not as good as Fergburger!
After lunch we got brave and went over to the beach, despite all the things that can kill you. We took our socks and shoes off and (avoiding anything that looked remotely like a shell - stinging shells, look it up) went and stuck our toes in the water, or in my case since a wave twice as strong as all the others snuck up on me, up to my calves, splashing all over. It was cold (Dad hammed for the camera)!
We stayed for a little while, watching some boys trying to body surf on the large waves. Dad saw one really stupid person narrowly avoid getting smashed on the rocks, but since we saw his head bobbing after a few minutes, we figured he hadn’t actually managed to drown himself.
After about twenty minutes we decided to quit while we were ahead and nothing had bitten/stung/or poisoned us. We went back to the hotel for the afternoon and chilled.
For dinner we went to a restaurant called Ceviche that was diagonally across the intersection from the hotel. There was a private function going on inside the restaurant but they sat us on the balcony. The evening was quite mild and with the heater taking off the chill it was lovely.
I had gnocchi that was edible, tasty even! It was unusual, it was very large, about as long as my hand and had been stuffed with ricotta, spinach, and walnuts, and was served with a pesto sauce. Dad had tuna tartar. For our mains we both had fish, his was barimundi and mine was ocean trout served with wasabi mashed potatoes. It was a lovely evening and a great way to end the trip.
But we managed to get ourselves and our bags downstairs by 6:00am. I was shocked to see that our ride to the airport was a personal tour bus. We had the whole thing to ourselves! It was... spacious.
It was also raining and cold in Auckland this morning. It seemed like we were getting out just in time, since the rain was supposed to settle in for the next few days.
Once we got to the airport it was indeed a blow to have to deal with all the hassles of flying commercially. As always my bag was 1kg overweight, but the person checking it in was nice and turned a blind eye. Our flight didn’t have a gate posted until about 20 minutes before it started boarding so we camped out on some chairs next to an incredibly over-priced bookstore.
The flight was uneventful. We had purchased tickets that were “The Works” so we got breakfast. Dad tried their hot breakfast of scrambled eggs, a rasher of bacon, and potatoes. I decided to play it safe and stuck with museli and a muffin. I discovered I actually like museli. It was like granola in really really light yogurt with raisins, fresh peach and maybe orange bits in it. It was actually pretty tasty.
I watched Super 8 after we took off. Dad and I had contemplated going to see this film earlier this summer, but we never ended up going. We should have! It was directed by J.J. Abrahms and I should have had more faith in him, given that I love his previous work. I would really like to see Super 8 again someplace where I can actually understand all the dialogue. The kids in the movie all gave great performances. Especially Elle Fanning!
I dozed for the last hour of the flight. It was weird how empty immigrations and customs were... there were no lines anywhere and I think once we’d gotten our bags we were out of there in a minute and a half.
We took a cab to our hotel in Coogee, which is where Pamela grew up! She’s already departed on her grand tour of Australia cruise so she can’t be here to show us around, but after Dad and I checked in to the hotel, we slathered on the sunscreen and went to take a walk along the beach.
It turned out to be a really scenic walk. There were huge waves coming in at the beach, and we climbed up to one of the coastal cliffs and clambered over rock formations. We returned to the waterfront for lunch. After a bit of wandering we ended up the Coogee Hotel’s brasserie/beer garden. Dad and I shared a Caesar salad and a cheese burger. One of the normal ingredients on burgers here is tomato relish. It was okay, but not as good as Fergburger!
After lunch we got brave and went over to the beach, despite all the things that can kill you. We took our socks and shoes off and (avoiding anything that looked remotely like a shell - stinging shells, look it up) went and stuck our toes in the water, or in my case since a wave twice as strong as all the others snuck up on me, up to my calves, splashing all over. It was cold (Dad hammed for the camera)!
We stayed for a little while, watching some boys trying to body surf on the large waves. Dad saw one really stupid person narrowly avoid getting smashed on the rocks, but since we saw his head bobbing after a few minutes, we figured he hadn’t actually managed to drown himself.
After about twenty minutes we decided to quit while we were ahead and nothing had bitten/stung/or poisoned us. We went back to the hotel for the afternoon and chilled.
For dinner we went to a restaurant called Ceviche that was diagonally across the intersection from the hotel. There was a private function going on inside the restaurant but they sat us on the balcony. The evening was quite mild and with the heater taking off the chill it was lovely.
I had gnocchi that was edible, tasty even! It was unusual, it was very large, about as long as my hand and had been stuffed with ricotta, spinach, and walnuts, and was served with a pesto sauce. Dad had tuna tartar. For our mains we both had fish, his was barimundi and mine was ocean trout served with wasabi mashed potatoes. It was a lovely evening and a great way to end the trip.
New Zealand 2011: Day 21
Yesterday’s weather blew away (literally) leaving us with one last beautiful day in New Zealand. Having fairly thoroughly explored the city, we kept things pretty low key. We decided to go check out the art museum because it just received a huge private collection as a donation. There are apparently many paintings that haven’t been seen in several generations.
We walked over to the art museum, which is near the university. It was very breezy! But beautiful and sunny.
The museum staff was very friendly. Dad got a map. He tried to hand it to me to chart our course through the museum, but since I’m only luke-warm about art museums to start with, I told him he should do it, since he actually cared about what was there.
It’s not that I don’t like art. I do, but I’m the first to admit that I know nothing about it. Certain periods (back when things were representational) intrigue me and every once in a while I find a painting I absolutely love, but I have no use for anything after impressionism and I think paintings by chimpanzees and elephants have more artistic merit than most modern art.
The museum turned out to be a fairly eclectic mix of all styles and periods. There was one gallery dedicated to New Zealand art, but most of the upstairs was for the new stuff. It was sort of haphazardly arranged I thought. There was no unity of time period or style, just a bunch of paintings hung together with statues in the middle of the room.
I found one artist I liked. His name was Edmund Blair Leighton and he painted things inspired by Arthurian legends. I loved his compositions. They all told stories. My favorite was one of a woman sitting on a window ledge tying a scarf (as a love token) around a knight’s helmet. The mounted knight is outside the window, leaning down, reaching out for the helmet. The look on his face was difficult to interpret. Was he impatient or did he love her back? Was he going jousting or was he going off to war? Did he think he’d ever see her again? I guess that’s what I think art is supposed to do. Make you ask questions and spin stories in your head.
After the art museum we walked over to the University again to go to the Relax Lounge and get another Chai Tea Latte. It was just as good as I remembered. I think what makes it better is the powder they put on top. My educated guess based on smell and taste is ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and sugar. I’ll have to experiment when we get home!
We had a lazy afternoon at the hotel and went to Eight (the hotel restaurant) for dinner because everything (literally everything) else in the city was closed on Monday. Eight didn’t disappoint. We decided it would have been Mom’s favorite restaurant on the trip because the papadums were less than 10 feet away from the sushi...
I had: salad (honey mustard dressing), vegetarian hoisan stir-fry, butter chicken and garlic naan.
Dad had: salad (Eight dressing), sushi assortment, a variety of Indian dishes and garlic naan.
Dessert is the only thing Eight doesn’t seem to get. Consistently the best thing seems to be pineapple dipped in the chocolate fountain. I did manage to get a slice of pretty good chocolate cake and Dad and I discovered that we sort of like Turkish Delight (although it get’s stuck in your teeth...).
Tomorrow’s wake up call is before the crack of dawn (5:30am... 3:30am Sydney time yuk!). I mostly packed before bed so that leaving in the morning will require minimal brain power.
I sure will be sad to leave New Zealand! I had no idea how much I’d end up falling in love with this country!
We walked over to the art museum, which is near the university. It was very breezy! But beautiful and sunny.
The museum staff was very friendly. Dad got a map. He tried to hand it to me to chart our course through the museum, but since I’m only luke-warm about art museums to start with, I told him he should do it, since he actually cared about what was there.
It’s not that I don’t like art. I do, but I’m the first to admit that I know nothing about it. Certain periods (back when things were representational) intrigue me and every once in a while I find a painting I absolutely love, but I have no use for anything after impressionism and I think paintings by chimpanzees and elephants have more artistic merit than most modern art.
The museum turned out to be a fairly eclectic mix of all styles and periods. There was one gallery dedicated to New Zealand art, but most of the upstairs was for the new stuff. It was sort of haphazardly arranged I thought. There was no unity of time period or style, just a bunch of paintings hung together with statues in the middle of the room.
I found one artist I liked. His name was Edmund Blair Leighton and he painted things inspired by Arthurian legends. I loved his compositions. They all told stories. My favorite was one of a woman sitting on a window ledge tying a scarf (as a love token) around a knight’s helmet. The mounted knight is outside the window, leaning down, reaching out for the helmet. The look on his face was difficult to interpret. Was he impatient or did he love her back? Was he going jousting or was he going off to war? Did he think he’d ever see her again? I guess that’s what I think art is supposed to do. Make you ask questions and spin stories in your head.
After the art museum we walked over to the University again to go to the Relax Lounge and get another Chai Tea Latte. It was just as good as I remembered. I think what makes it better is the powder they put on top. My educated guess based on smell and taste is ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and sugar. I’ll have to experiment when we get home!
We had a lazy afternoon at the hotel and went to Eight (the hotel restaurant) for dinner because everything (literally everything) else in the city was closed on Monday. Eight didn’t disappoint. We decided it would have been Mom’s favorite restaurant on the trip because the papadums were less than 10 feet away from the sushi...
I had: salad (honey mustard dressing), vegetarian hoisan stir-fry, butter chicken and garlic naan.
Dad had: salad (Eight dressing), sushi assortment, a variety of Indian dishes and garlic naan.
Dessert is the only thing Eight doesn’t seem to get. Consistently the best thing seems to be pineapple dipped in the chocolate fountain. I did manage to get a slice of pretty good chocolate cake and Dad and I discovered that we sort of like Turkish Delight (although it get’s stuck in your teeth...).
Tomorrow’s wake up call is before the crack of dawn (5:30am... 3:30am Sydney time yuk!). I mostly packed before bed so that leaving in the morning will require minimal brain power.
I sure will be sad to leave New Zealand! I had no idea how much I’d end up falling in love with this country!
Sunday, 11 September 2011
New Zealand 2011: Day 20
This morning was very lazy. I slept in, Dad went to breakfast and ran into a few of our tour-mates before their bus left. The morning was quiet because it was raining buckets outside. We didn’t really mind though, it was nice to have a quiet day to relax.
Around lunchtime we decided to go brave the weather and take a walk. Restaurant options are pretty limited in this city on Sunday. There was a whole line of Asian restaurants we remembered from last time, and they seemed like likely suspects.
Armed with umbrellas and long coats we managed to time our walk to lunch with a break in the rain. We ended up eating at a good Korean place (which was sadly empty). Dad had bibimbap and I had a lunch box with Korean BBQ chicken. My lunch box was good, it came with white rice, a shredded salad, apple slices, tempura shrimp, tiny spring rolls, dumplings, a strange fried ring-shaped thing which was not onion, and a lot of chicken. It was really good but I didn’t make my way through too much of it!
There was a TV on, playing some movie. Our best guess was it was a Japanese film dubbed into Korean. The only reason I paid any attention to it was that it sounded a lot like the dialog between Sun and Jin in LOST! The plot was completely incomprehensible, and I don’t think it’s because I don’t speak Korean...
After lunch Dad and I found another break in the rain and scooted back to Real Groovy, the same interesting little CD shop we found last time. We decided to have a contest to see who could find the best CD.
The rules:
1. There was a $7 cap on the cost of the CD.
2. The CD had to be by someone you’d never heard of
Other than that, it was a free for all. We actually ended up pitting 3 CDs against 3 CDs. After we cashed out and returned to the hotel we started ripping them and the judging commenced.
It was close, but I beat the pants off him :-)
My strategy did seem to have been more effective than his. I was browsing in the Pop/Rock section, looking for female artists recording under their own names (no bands), with interesting/professional album artwork. He was in the Alternative section, looking for similar things, although he was more amenable to bands.
One of my CDs was actually so good we’ve already ordered three of her other CDs from Amazon.
My selections:
Dad’s selections:
The other find from the shop was a Bic Runga CD. She performed live with the Christchurch Symphony. They guy who produced the CD desperately wanted to record the event, she was a little hesitant because most live albums are a mash up of 6 or 7 performances and have been rehearsed ahead of time. This event was one night only and there was no chance for rehearsal. Finally he convinced her to let him record it, and if it was no good, it would never be released. It’s fantastic! Definitely a find.
Tonight for dinner we went across the street (because even if it’s raining it couldn’t take more than 30 seconds to cross the street) and had a fairly authentic pizza, although the crust wasn’t very Italian. It was quite good and the lighting was really cool!
Around lunchtime we decided to go brave the weather and take a walk. Restaurant options are pretty limited in this city on Sunday. There was a whole line of Asian restaurants we remembered from last time, and they seemed like likely suspects.
Armed with umbrellas and long coats we managed to time our walk to lunch with a break in the rain. We ended up eating at a good Korean place (which was sadly empty). Dad had bibimbap and I had a lunch box with Korean BBQ chicken. My lunch box was good, it came with white rice, a shredded salad, apple slices, tempura shrimp, tiny spring rolls, dumplings, a strange fried ring-shaped thing which was not onion, and a lot of chicken. It was really good but I didn’t make my way through too much of it!
There was a TV on, playing some movie. Our best guess was it was a Japanese film dubbed into Korean. The only reason I paid any attention to it was that it sounded a lot like the dialog between Sun and Jin in LOST! The plot was completely incomprehensible, and I don’t think it’s because I don’t speak Korean...
After lunch Dad and I found another break in the rain and scooted back to Real Groovy, the same interesting little CD shop we found last time. We decided to have a contest to see who could find the best CD.
The rules:
1. There was a $7 cap on the cost of the CD.
2. The CD had to be by someone you’d never heard of
Other than that, it was a free for all. We actually ended up pitting 3 CDs against 3 CDs. After we cashed out and returned to the hotel we started ripping them and the judging commenced.
It was close, but I beat the pants off him :-)
My strategy did seem to have been more effective than his. I was browsing in the Pop/Rock section, looking for female artists recording under their own names (no bands), with interesting/professional album artwork. He was in the Alternative section, looking for similar things, although he was more amenable to bands.
One of my CDs was actually so good we’ve already ordered three of her other CDs from Amazon.
My selections:
- That Girl by Stephanie Kirkham: B-, Good voice, good lyrics, needed more interesting music.
- Storybook by Texas: B or B+ (depending on later tracks), good voice, nice orchestration, first two songs much better than middle tracks, but it’s got potential.
- The day’s winner: Darkness Out Of Blue by Silje Nergaard: A+, Amazing album! fascinating orchestrations, brilliant lyrics (so good Dad actually noticed). Definitely a new favorite artist.
Dad’s selections:
- Tuning In by Beki & The Bullets: C, material more interesting than performance, first two tracks are almost the same song, sounds like it belongs in the Twilight Soundtrack, but they have a great name.
- Beneath The Sleepy Lagoon by Ghostplane: D (assuming F is reserved for rap and death metal), too horrible for words, nice packaging.
- The National Velvet EP by Dana Eclair: C-, Nothing special here, his voice isn’t great, it’s a little repetitive and most of the songs don’t go anywhere.
The other find from the shop was a Bic Runga CD. She performed live with the Christchurch Symphony. They guy who produced the CD desperately wanted to record the event, she was a little hesitant because most live albums are a mash up of 6 or 7 performances and have been rehearsed ahead of time. This event was one night only and there was no chance for rehearsal. Finally he convinced her to let him record it, and if it was no good, it would never be released. It’s fantastic! Definitely a find.
Tonight for dinner we went across the street (because even if it’s raining it couldn’t take more than 30 seconds to cross the street) and had a fairly authentic pizza, although the crust wasn’t very Italian. It was quite good and the lighting was really cool!
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