Saturday Post

Not much has been going on since my last post. I saw the movie "Colossal" - a film starring Anne Hathaway - on Tuesday. I enjoyed it, but I also thought that it was a bit cheesy. 

My birthday is coming up in eight days (or a week from tomorrow). I am looking forward to my birthday this year. I bought tickets for Adrian and me to see an Archer-themed burlesque show at Oberon (a bar/performance venue in Cambridge). I am also looking forward to the Watch City Steampunk Festival, which is being held in Waltham, MA the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend. I hope that there is good weekend for that!

Weymouth's Annual Town Meeting is being held on Monday, May 22nd. I am planning on going to that. I went to last year's Annual Town Meeting. I remember that the Mayor presented the budget for the 2016-2017 fiscal year, and recipients of the Weymouth Scholarship Fund scholarships were also announced and presented with their scholarship awards.

Monday Morning and Books

I am reading two books at the moment - The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher, and 32 Yolks: From My Mother's Table to Working the Line by Eric Ripert. 

 

I decided to read The Princess Diarist because I am a huge Star Wars enthusiast, and because I read two of her other books - Wishful Drinking (2008), and Shockaholic (2011), and enjoyed those, so I figured I would enjoy this book too. I am enjoying it so far. I like Fisher's writing style. She comes across as warm and funny, and also very articulate and smart. The Princess Diarist is Fisher's account of what happened during the filming of Star Wars: A New Hope, and it includes excerpts from the diaries that she kept during that time. 

 

I think that it's appropriate that I'm reading The Princess Diarist right now. 2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the theatrical release of Star Wars: A New Hope (May 25th, 1977, to be exact). I admit that I still feel a bit emotional (mostly sad) about Carrie Fisher's untimely death last year. I never met her, but I did see her one woman show (also called Wishful Drinking) when it came to Boston in 2008. Intellectually, I know that hundreds (if not thousands) of people die every day, so why am I upset because this one particular celebrity died? I think that the only way that I can explain it is because the original Star Wars trilogy meant a lot to me when I watched them for the first time on the TV in my grandmother's bedroom in 1997, and that part of that experience for me was watching Carrie Fisher portray Princess Leia. It's not an exaggeration for me to say that those movies changed my life, and made me the person that I am today. Seeing those movies for the very first time was a religious experience for me, and I've been trying to recapture that sense of awe ever since. I found something that I didn't even know that I was looking for. Maybe I should say that the movies found me, instead of the other way around.

As far as, 32 Yolks, well, I know who Eric Ripert is mostly because he's made guest appearances on Top Chef (cooking-based reality TV show on Bravo that I like), and also because he is friends with Anthony Bourdain, and has made appearances on his shows Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unnown and No Reservations, so when I heard that he was publishing a memoir, my curiosity was piqued. It also helps that I think that Eric Ripert is cute and has a sexy accent.  

 

Yep. So that's what I am reading at the moment. I'm halfway through 32 Yolks, and maybe about a third of the way through The Princess Diarist. Hoping to have finished one or both of them by the end of this month. 

Sarturday Post

I went to the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, MA today to see an animated film titled Your Name. I heard some buzz around this movie - mostly that it was a commercial success in Japan and that it was quite good - so, since I enjoy anime films, I decided that I wanted to see it. 

 

Your Name is currently showing at both the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline and the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge. I like the Coolidge more than the Kendall, mostly because the Coolidge is closer to a T stop, and there are more fast-casual places to eat that I like near the Coolidge than at the Kendall. I will also say that one of the (many) things that I like about Brookline's Coolidge Corner neighborhood is the Brookline Booksmith, an independent bookstore that has been around since 1961. I like their selection of used and bargain books, and I also like they have a robust calendar of author events throughout the year.

The film was very good, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys anime movies in particular or just animated films in general. I enjoyed this movie so much that I want to seek out other films directed by Your Name's director. I did check to see if it is available on Netflix yet, and it currently is not, sadly. 

This weekend is a busy one here in MA. Easter is tomorrow, and then the Boston Marathon is on Monday. I think that it's been a few years since Easter and the Marathon fell on the same weekend.

Bed Bugs

We woke up on Monday morning with a case of bedbugs. I was not too upset about this. Yes, we had to get rid of our bed, but we have been talking about getting a new bed for some time now, so this just brought the issue to a head. Adrian and I took our mattress downstairs and outside to the dumpster, and then I cooked breakfast while Adrian took the bed frame apart and took those components down to the dumpster. It's a good thing that our neighborhood's trash pickup day is Monday.

I vacuumed around where our bed used to be, and wiped down surfaces. I did a few loads of laundry, and I threw out some pillows and sheets. Adrian has dealt with bed bugs before, but I have not. We've been speculating on how we could've brought the bugs into the condo. Our guess is that since I enjoy walking around our neighborhood, and Adrian enjoys running, it's possible that bed bugs could've gotten onto our clothes somewhere around here. This makes sense, since our condo complex abuts a wooded area. 

Our property manager came by on Monday and sprayed in our bedroom. He also sprayed the entire condo on Thursday, while Adrian and I were both out. I think that he wants to spray our condo once a week for the next month (at least) just to make sure that he got all of the bugs.

I hope that next week is a little less interesting.

BBQ and Wild Turkeys

The above photo is what Adrian and I had for lunch yesterday. We decided to have lunch at a place called Tennessee's BBQ, located in Braintree, MA. A friend of ours ate there recently, and said that he liked and enjoyed the food, and so, since we trust this person's opinion when it comes to BBQ, and since Adrian didn't have to be at work until 4pm, we decided to check it out. I got the tangy North Carolina Pork sandwich with two sides - corn bread, and a baked sweet potato. Adrian got a sweet pulled pork sandwich with two sides - mashed potatoes, and mac and cheese. We both got bottles of Ipswich root beer to drink. The food was tasty and filling, and the music that they piped in over the PA system was good too. Tennessee's BBQ has two other locations in Massachusetts (besides the one in Braintree, for a total of three) - one in Peabody, and one in Framingham. 

The food at Tennessee's BBQ was just as good as the food at the Whole Hog Cafe, another BBQ place that Adrian and I ate at last year when we went to PhilCon in Cherry Hill, NJ. 

In non-BBQ news, wild turkeys have been hanging out around our condo complex lately. I snapped a picture of this guy (see below) on Friday. I tried to get a picture of him head on, so I could have a better photo of his face, but he kept moving around, so this is the best I could do.

Anime Boston 2017

 

This past weekend (March 31st to April 2nd) was Anime Boston. Anime Boston (or AB, as I like to call it), is an annual, three day convention held in Boston, Massachusetts. This convention is run by the New England Anime Society, and according to their website, their mission/goal/focus is to "promote Japanese animation, comics, and pop-culture". The first Anime Boston was held at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston in 2003, as was the second. The con had to move to the Hynes Convention Center in 2005, where it's been ever since. 

I have gone to Anime Boston two or three times, but I haven't been in a few years. I do like anime, but Anime Boston is more of Adrian's "thing" than mine.

Adrian, holding an Anime Boston poster that he got in his swag bag of goodies when he picked up his badge at Registration. 

On Saturday night, I saw the Hub Theatre Company of Boston's production of "Coyote on a Fence". I took a picture of my program, which is below. What I like about the Hub Theatre Company is that they are they only Pay What You Can theater company in Boston (that I am aware of). Their shows are really good too. If I had to describe the plot of "Coyote on a Fence", I would say that it it's a play that tackles questions about the nature of evil, and the death penalty.