Detroit Diva

Wondering who the guy is behind the mask in the movie V for Vendetta. Yeah, me neither but when I found out it was Hugo Weaving, I was intrigued.  You might know Hugo from the Lord of the Rings or the Matrix or, my personal favorite, Proof.

Days later, it's back to NYC.  We spent part of friday afternoon at the Whitney Museum Biennial. I'm not a big fan of modern art and well, just couldn't get into the exhibit at all.  I think the thing is I don't really want to think about what I'm looking at  - at least not too long or deeply. I'm a shallow art lover.  Following the museum we subwayed it down to the half price ticket booth at Times Square where we bought tickets for Sweeney Todd.  Which is what we did on Friday night.  The show starred Patti LuPone and it was incredible.  For those of you who don't know, it's the story of a serial killer who, obviously, kills people and a woman who turns the victims into meat pies. Very macabre, very funny and very, very, good.  (Are you happy now Kris? You can quite bugging me - I talked about Sweeney Todd) Kris and I bought t-shirts which my niece thinks are scary but my sis and I get quite the kick out of - not sure what that says about us.  I also want one of these.  If you get a chance to see Sweeney Todd - I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Powell's Books and Princeton University have teamed up to rebuild the library system in New Orleans.  For a $8.95 donation you can help them do so and you can suggest a book for the library.

"No human being is illegal"   ~Elie Wiesel

Ok, I'm going to have to continue filing you in on NYC tomorrow because I can't take any more of retardo and his girlfriend. They've now decided to play Jeopardy on their computer - outloud. Which is never a good idea if you are stupid and don't know the anwers.

National Guard

National Guard,
originally uploaded by amm1029.

We also saw a National Guard unit which had just returned from duty in Iraq.  They lost 19 members of their unit in Iraq. 19 dead! As you can see they aren't exactly a big group and they lost 19 members. I can't even imagine how they could summon up the energy, physically or mentally to walk in a parade. I'd want to go home and crawl under the covers and never come out. Every year the men in this National Guard unit have walked in the St. Patty's day parade - last year was the only year they've ever missed in the history of the parade because they were fighting in Iraq.

Pipes and Drums

Bagpipes,
originally uploaded by amm1029.

There was a bagpipe and drums group practicing before the parade which started about 2 blocks up from the library so we listened to them for awhile. I love the sound of bagpipes and men in kilts are quite nice as well.

NYPL Lion

NYPL Lion and me,
originally uploaded by amm1029.

Friday we started out at the NYPL and posed in front of the Lions - Patience and Fortitude.  I don't know which one this is but it's the one on the left if that helps. We thought that this was where the St. Patty's day parade started but it turned out it wasn't.

The male half of the couple sitting across from me just told his girlfriend that she didn't need to get a laptop with a pentium processer. I'm sorry but what kind of computer doesn't come with a pentium processor.   Now classy dude keeps burping out loud. Yeah, we are impressed.

Times Square

Times Square,
originally uploaded by amm1029.

After that we headed back to the hotel and met up with Mary and Stefan and headed out to Times Square which I have to say is completely overrated. Too much visual stimulation and way too many people. If you've never been there you know the pic doesn't really capture the craziness of the lights and sound and stuff.