We're heading to Pennsylvania for the holiday. The last time we went down Jenn’s evangelical aunts hired a Korean prayer lady to speak in tongues over us. This did not freak me out. When I was a kid I spent my summers in Mexico and in our neighborhood there was an old woman said to have a third eye. As she was missing one of the eyes on her face I always wondered if this meant she had 2 hidden elsewhere. She had a thick brush of mustache, too many moles to count, and occasionally she would shout things that would make my blood run cold like, "Don Jose, Jose Flores, dead man, stop scratching me". I used to buy firecrackers and popsicles from her. It was said she had a death finger and if she pointed it at you for more than three seconds your days were numbered, so after doing business on her porch (always with exact change counted beforehand), I tended to run for my life. Anyway the point is that after that experience having some cute Korean harmoni (with both eyes intact) yim-yam over me was no big deal.

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If you travel back and forth between NY, Boston, and Philadelphia, you should know about the Chinatown bus which goes between all the cities. $20 roundtrip between NY and Philly and this is not some crappy bus...

I am lucky to have a wife who enjoys going to Godzilla movies with me. Tonight we saw Godzilla vs. Ghidra the Three-Headed Monster (1964 version). Splendid. Too bad it was dubbed in English (and subtitled in Spanish). As cool as it is to see these films on the big screen (well big-ish screen, we were at film forum), they are even better undubbed.

I finished work early and went downtown with Jenn.

We did baby stuff and then went to see To Have or Have Not. When we emerged it was a different world. The police had barricaded the streets. Helicopters were buzzing overhead.

The streets were empty but you could hear people shouting in the distance and small groups of people with signs kept passing us going downtown.

Large groups of protesters passed by (as well as a few bands of Bush supporters). It felt like New Years Eve or Halloween, but the massive police presence (and the people yelling at the police) gave it an edge. Scores of cops on motorcycles, in cars, and on horseback kept zipping down the empty streets.

On 6th Avenue I was yelled at and told to move on... I would have liked to go further but Jenn was with me. So we hiked over to Madison and took a cab home.

The city was eerily quiet today. Some parts of town were almost deserted. I witnessed a few Repbulican/Protester clashes, but nothing more exiting than a few insults being thrown back and forth. The army of police around is unsettling. As respite we watched the Ramones documentary which was excellent.

If I am set up with fast DSL, I always try to leave open at least one wireless connection for those who pass by. Apparently in some cities people can now get in trouble for this.

We saw Ju-on tonight. The first half was genuinely terrifying. Shimizu has a way of capturing creepy quiet fears and visualizing them in ways that kept sending chills up my spine-- empty houses in disarray, crazy old people, scary cats, evil children, etc. Ultimately the scares wear off as the movie starts to drag with the lack of a protagonist or strong narrative. But there are a couple of scenes that will stay will you in the dark of night.

A few nights ago we enjoyed Hero. Visually speaking it is a worthy successor to Crouching Tiger and it has the Zhang Yimou touch of greatness, but it didn't quite add up for me. I just didn't care enough. But in this case I just turned off the left brain and and enjoyed it as a right brain experience.

We finally got around to watching The Manchurian Candidate last week. I almost walked . The film was so bad I felt embarrassed to be watching (and to have once worked for the producer!). The remake seemed to suck any suspense out of the original (one of my favorite films). There is nothing so silly as pretentious self-important fluff packaged as serious commentary on our times.

I was lucky. Both my parents were semi-obsessed with art. Even when they didn't have a dime, they always managed to find great pieces for our home. My folks found this painting over 20 years ago at a shop in Monterrey. Unknown painter. Unknown subject. It followed my dad from Texas to New York and I'm sure one day it might follow him to Spain.

I've always loved the little girl's big blocky feet, the details like the gold earrings she wears, and the bird she holds. I've been looking at this painting over half my life and I still keep wondering about the story behind it.

. . .

Jenn has been spending way too much time on the urbanbaby.com message boards. She reads me the highlights. Funny stuff.

Jenn and I love Thai food. Over the course of our time together we have eaten hundreds of Thai meals together. In LA there is a huge Thai community and a decent sized Thai town. Jenn and I have been fairly systematic in our exploration.

Our favorites:

East Wind Café 2
7363 W. Sunset Blvd.

This little hole in the wall near the Rock & Roll Ralphs, is run by a grandmother. Every time we go the décor gets more and more elaborate (christmas lights, fake plants, holographic waterfall posters, etc). All the food is top notch (spicy enough to make you sweat), but the Tum Yum Gai is out of this world. The parking lot can be dangerous, leave your car right in front if you can.

The Palms (also known as Thai Elvis)
5273 Hollywood Blvd.

Thai food and a Thai Elvis impersonator... come on, this is genius. Kavee Thongprecha performs virtually every night to a packed room. The food is also darned good. I always go for the boar. Jenn tends toward shrimp or whole fish. Note their version of medium spicy is extra spicy anywhere else. Also you can walk next door to the Thai grocery store if you need supplies.

Mae Ploy
2606 W. Sunset Blvd.

It's all the way out on the ass end of Sunset Blvd, but try their soups. You won't be disappointed. Note: Mae Ploy seems to have 2 or three cooks. The one who works at night is leagues better than the others.

Sompum
4156 Santa Monica Blvd

Sompum does not serve your standard LA Thai fare. The spring rolls are larger (giant actually), the fish is fresher, and the yum neur deeply delicious. In fact when I think of yum neur, I think of Sompum.

In New York I do not have the Talmudic knowledge of Thai joints that I have in LA, but then again there are fewer places to choose from, they are more scattered, and they tend to expensive relatively speaking (It's not unusual for 2 people to order several plates in LA for less than $20. In NY the prices are double or triple.). But I do have some old favs:

Topaz
127 W 56th St

Expensive as far as Thai places go, but I always return for the spring rolls (tiny and delicious) and the Thai steak (bbqed with a complex and yummy spicy sauce).

Pat Pong
93 E 7th St

If you can get past the unfortunate name, you'll enjoy the adventurous menu. Some of the items were influenced by the East Village's Eastern European roots (there is a kiebasa dish for example). This might sound awful, it's delicious. Trust me.

Sea Thai
75 2nd Ave.

Sea Thai is best experienced in the late afternoon when it's not too busy. Then, the food is across the board tasty. The portions tend to be small and somewhat preciously presented (I could care less about presentation, just let me eat!). At night Sea Thai becomes a bit of a scene, the waits are long, and the food suffers.

So far all the Brooklyn Thai places we've tried (Lemon Grass and the one next to it on Court street) have been mediocre. We're always looking for recommendations.

I managed to completely miss the protests. This morning I saw both cops and protesters heading south (I was heading north). Later I took a subway right under the thousands of people marching in the street (I could hear them at the 34th Street station stop..sounded like thunder and shook the tracks)... When I headed back late afternoon I caught people going home streaming onto the trains. I expect these will demonstrations will only get bigger throughout the week.

...
Random aside: One of the Russian doormen who has been unfriendly almost to the point of meanness, suddenly offered to take us around the far reaches of Brooklyn and host us at a Brighton Beach Russian restaurant. Odd. Now that he has offered I feel we have to accept or else there is this lingering invite in the air. Then again it might be weird to be hanging out with the doorman and his wife and a bunch of Russians. After we get back will he still expect tips as he does now? Will I have to chug Vodka as I did throughout Siberia? I don't know...am feel very Larry David about the whole thing.

...
La Maison des Peintres is an excellent house book if you can find it. It features artists' houses around the world.

We're onto finalizing things with the painter. He begins on Tuesday. When we were settling things today in his apartment up in the West 90's he me nervous. "I don't let my guys smoke or drink on the job. You know if they drink and paint they get real sloppy."

In order to cut costs we went with one of the cheaper painters... also we're not painting ceilings or moldings as they need lots of repair (we'll look at the cracks as a patina). Our landlady isn't pitching in and I don't feel like spending the extra money to improve her place for her... it's only a year or so and we hope to buy something and start get renovating. But we do want some real color on the wall. White and grey is so dreary.

We're going with a Korean inspired color theme. This is an example of korean colors commonly used on fabric borders and so on:

These are somewhat different that the colors I've used in the past. Jenn found the colors of our last house (painted pre marriage) too masculine. For reference at Lakewood Ave I used:

So the challenge was finding something we could both live with... We couldn't use a pure set of Korean colors. They are too intense for our existing furniture so we have to tone them down a bit. This is our current plan (so far):

The transition from living room to bedroom looks funky on the computer, but it's ok on the wall. The bedroom color is a complex Islamic looking blue that could also be a Korean blue. At least that's the impression we hope it gives. The fear is that the bedroom will look like a swimming pool. We're a bit stymied by the kitchen. I had wanted to do some sort of linen colored walls with a rich blue ceiling, but that would be a hassle to repaint when we move out... Right now we've settled on a green similar to what we had in our old bedroom. Boring but we can't come up with something better. The red room is jenn's concession to me. I've had a red room in virtually every place I've had since college. We plan to put all my horns and maps and things in this room.

Once we have our own place again we'd like to get a bit more advanced with color-a modern Bloomsbury look. I'm thinking glazes, painted decorative ceilings, but one step at a time. Let's find the place first.

Just came back from rooftop movies. Only tonight the venue was a parking lot. But even in the parking lot we were jazzed. Perfect weather. Full moon. Blimp overhead. Kinda cool. Wish the movies were better.

Now that we are having child number one, Jenn and I are encountering dilemmas I never would have imagined even a few months ago. Strollers for example. My impression was that a stroller is a stroller; you just go to a baby store and buy one you like. I looked around and found a stroller called the bugagoo. It's cool looking, rugged, good on city streets, but expensive. No problem, right? Well apparently the bugaboo is something of a status symbol (It was featured on Sex and the City and is popular with celebrities. ) and there are many people that hate them because of that. Lots of people look bugaboo owners the way I look at Hummers owners--as foolish jackasses. Do we want to get involved in that? Would it be better to get an anonymous stroller? What about the Xplory. I could care less about the status factor, I just want a well designed machine that doesn't provoke people and is good on city streets.

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My ipod's shuffle play has been coming up with lots of French songs today.

A paste of my recently played list:

Je Me Suis Fait Tout Petit - Georges Brassens
A Handful of Songs - Annie Ross
Eggs and Sausage - Tom Waits
Toi Que Je Veux - France Gall
I Want You Back Again - The Zombies
Vaya Con Dios - Les Paul and Mary Ford
You're So Influential - Steve Allen
The Biggest Night of Her Life - Harpers Bizarre
Looks Looks Looks - Sparks
Lonesome Traveller - Karl Denver
Two Ton Feather - Dion
Ces Bottes - Les Sans Culottes
Joe Stalin's Cadillac - Camper Van Beethoven
Abilene - George Hamilton IV
Le Temps De L'Amour - April March
Satisfaction - Cat Power
Relax-Ay-Voo - Dean Martin
Heavenly Light Shine On Me - Swan Silvertones

Last night Jenn was annoyed that I pulled out my camera at dinner. Later we discussed banchan. Jenn finds it offensive that banchan is often compared to tapas, or worse, labeled an appetizer. "Banchan is a philosophy," she announced. End of discussion.

These protesters were all over midtown today. Better than the Save the Children guy who, when I passed him by, yelled at me "What you don't care about saving children?"

. . .

I've been doing painter interviews over at the apartment. All the people listed in the Franklin report are crazy expensive. Does anyone have a reliable painter, available on short notice, who can handle 3 stories and around 2500 square feet? We need to move fast. Jenn is dying to set up a baby room. I am dying to be settled. We're not looking for super cheap, but we don't want to pay top dollar either. It's a rental.

Sometimes in big cities you will catch a little snippet of conversation that tells a larger story, only you never know how the story ends.

Here are today's bits of urban drama:

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Man to sobbing woman: That's just the way it is baby. You gotta understand.

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Street artist: This one is a schematic of a UFO and that one is the view from the Tapanzee bridge.

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Woman on cellphone (distressed): I'll send you the CAT scans.

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Man to woman: I swear to god I was there. I swear to god I was there. I swear to god.

Woman: That's what you say but that's not the way it was.

Man: I swear to god I was there.

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Man with big hat to cell phone: Say that again. I dare you to say that again. You sorry piece of crap. I can't believe you just said that.

On the subway this morning I was in a car of Nader/Camejo supporters. One of them was wearing a t-shirt that said (in big letters), "I AM NOT IRRELEVANT!" Another had a shirt that said, "MY VOTE COUNTS!" They were handing out buttons and half heartedly chanting "Nader, Nader, Nader, no more Bush or Al-Sadr." One guy managed to spill his coffee on a commuter who was not amused.

I've been spending way too much time on the subway. Almost 2 hours a day. Things will get better once we're moved in. But being subterranean for so many hours a day makes you think about things... like why is it so darned hot down there? Heat rises and yet 50 feet underground it is often 10 or even 15 degrees hotter than outside. The culprit, I'll bet, are all those air conditioners on subway cars spewing hot air. Why not just AC the stations and forget out cooling individual cars? Or maybe just turn off the AC in the cars and see if the whole place cools down. Also, who is busy scratching all the windows? Every single car I've been in has windows scratched so badly you can barely see out of them. The scratches aren't even tags, just random angry hatchmarks. What's the point? I understand tagging. But this is just stupid. And what's the deal with the variety of color/tiling schemes going on? Why for example is 49th street bright orange? Why not paint the columns at each stop based on the color of the line they are on? Stations with multiple lines would have stripes on the columns. Easy & logical. Also why has New York never instituted route maps like the London Tube System which is regularly hailed for being well signed. Every day I see hapless tourists scrutinizing maps and getting on the wrong train. Sigh. I could go on.

Happily it was another day of perfect weather. I dealt with painters and spent some time exploring my new neighborhood.