Because I am not as smart as my heroes

...and never will be.  Here is what John Green has to say about The Hunger Games movie (which dovetails neatly into what I have to say next):

What is very, very interesting to me is the ways in which the plot of both book and movie explore the extremely complicated and ethically fraught relationship between observer and observed—the way resource-laden Person X paying attention to the plight of resource-deprived Person Y shapes both the lives of Person X and Person Y. (The most interesting moment in the movie to me is when Katniss gets the salve from a sponsor that allows her to survive: Lawrence’s complicated thank you in that moment is maybe even more evocative than in the book. Katniss is benefiting from the generosity of the rich, but she only needs this generosity because the social order that created the wealth is also the social order that put her in the games.)

Like, what Collins explores with real brilliance is that most social orders are more or less designed to be unjust because they are less concerned with justice than they are with stability.

And when you yourself are the victim of this injustice, you’re aware in a heightened way of what gets sacrificed in the name of stability. But the vast majority of people benefit from stability, or at least feel that it is better than taking a chance at instability. (And in this respect, we’re not entirely wrong. Like, it’s still unclear whether the radically unjust but relatively stable rule of a Hosni Mubarak, for instance, will be replaced by something better.)

Because I am not, nor will I ever be, as smart, or as good of a writer as John Green, here is what he has to say about the resolution of Konygate:

Some Appropriate Responses to the News That Invisible Children Co-Founder Jason Russell Was Arrested for Being Drunk and Masturbating in Public

1. Make a gift to a highly rated, respected, efficient charity that works in Uganda, like Save the Children.

2. Join the Kiva nerdfighters group and lend to entrepreneurs in Uganda, the DRC, and other nations affected by the LRA.

3. Remind yourself always to do some research before giving to any organization, like for instance by making a quick visit to charity navigator.

4. Remember that the masturbatory habits and/or substance abuse problems of cofounders of charities are not nearly as important as the work those charities do and the efficiency with which they do it. I, for one, am far more concerned that Ugandans seem generally disgusted about Kony 2012 than I am with this news.

5. Acknowledge that the LRA sucked 10 years ago, and sucks today, and will suck tomorrow, and that it remains our job to pay attention in a patient and sustained way to the world in which we find ourselves.

Uhhh, yeah, what he said.  I am continually humbled by the brilliance of John and Hank Green, to the point where, should I be blessed enough to bear another child, they shall be named Jhankgreen.  Jhankgreen Lagerfeld (because I am starting a semi-serious campaign now that the next child should have my last name, as a bid to counteract patriarchal naming conventions.

So smart!  This week has been insanely, insanely busy.  Busy at work, busy with school, and our nights are busy.  To wit:  Monday night, we were both home to put the Boobla to bed together (my favorite!).  Tuesday night, I had class.  Wednesday night, the Dotytron had a parent council meeting to attend.  Tonight, the Dotytron wants to catch our friend A's set at The Rex.  Friday night, I have book club (where I will probably have to defend YA AND Mindy Kaling to my professor friends, who are SERIOUS INTELLECTUALS) and then Saturday we have to do house/grocery stuff and then I'm shopping with Dr. Rei and then seeing the Hunger Games with her.  Sunday we have brunch at the Dotytron's Aunt's house in King City or wherever and then we're taking my mum and Poh Poh out to dinner.  PHEW!  That means that the only night we had with both of us at home was Monday and Sunday.  That's too few!!!

Reasons why I love Dr. Rei and the fact that she's working at the Ministry of Magic.  Getting texts like: "dude! We still have to talk about the Budget!" (the provincial budget dropped on Tuesday...kind of a big deal.)  We are literally the only two people we know in the world who care to talk about the budget and provincial politics in any great detail.  I love that gal.

Feeling pretty stressed right now.  I have two 25 page papers I want to have done by the middle of April so I can have a clean slate before my last class starts in May.  I'm losing a big chunk of Easter weekend for the best reason possible, which is to celebrate the nuptials of H & A.  I'm super pumped about it!  

In other news...so many babies born!  All little girl babies too.  My colleague K had her baby this past weekend and Uncle Jesse and N had their daughter on Monday.  I am feeling tinglings in my uterine region!

 Wednesday night's dinner was those black bean and spelt burgers I make on occasion.  But with the addition of a runny fried egg (makes everything better!) and some baby arugala in addition to the smoked Spanish paprika feta spread on Pita Break One Bun.

Tonight's dinner was a cabbage and beet borscht, which had all the colour leached out of it from sitting in the slow cooker all day.  Still tasty though.  I tried to find some beef shanks or shins to dress it up but no dice.  Settled for pork ribs instead.  Served with oven-warmed Ace bakery roasted garlic bread.

Fin.

Retraction

Don't ever say that I can't admit that I'm wrong.  

I've been very vocal about my initial love affair and subsequent breakup with Zooey Deschanel as a style icon and then as a female figure in popular culture starring in a hit sitcom.  Initially, I really disliked the show New Girl because of the whole "adorkable" thing which was way too twee and infantilizing for my liking.  Well, I've come around.  We find the show pretty funny and I can admit it.  

I will say that the show has definitely taken steps to reduce the undue focus on Zooey Deschanel's character Jess, as a series of walking quirks and has taken steps to mature the other members of the cast into a really likable, funny, watchable ensemble.  The show has even addressed the criticisms of the tweeness (I'm not the only one who has said it!) head-on, most notably in a confrontation between Jess and her roommate's high-powered, very un-cute lawyer girlfriend, which included the following diatribe from Jess: "I brake for birds. I rock a lot of polka dots. I have touched glitter in the last 24 hours. I spend my entire day talking to children. And I find it fundamentally strange that you're not a dessert person. That's just weird, and it freaks me out. And I'm sorry I don't talk like Murphy Brown. And I hate your pantsuit. I wish it had ribbons on it or something to make it just slightly cuter. And that doesn't mean I'm not smart and tough and strong."  Which was a little heavy-handed for my liking.  But lines like this one (Jess, bemoaning her inability to make an apology): "I hate groveling. I wouldn't have lasted two minutes in the court of the Sun King. I think about that all the time," made me LOL like a mother.

This past weekend when I was hanging with the neighbs the Big Yam was giving me guff about wearing his hat and I was telling him, "you wear a hat when you're outside!" and he took the hat off and THREW IT ON THE SIDEWALK at which point I told him that he has to listen to mama and hustled him inside while he kind of twisted and bucked in my arms like a 28lb giant Southeast Asian grub.  Later on, I took him back outside and he wasn't wearing a hat, so one of my neighbs needled me, "where's his hat?" (I forgot to put it on him) and so I said, "the important thing is not whether he's protected from the sun at all times or not.  The important thing is that he knows that if it is my will that he wear a hat, he has to wear a hat."  LOL!  I'm pretty sure they think I'm the meanest parent on the block.  I rule with an iron fist.  I went back in to tell the Dotytron and he supports me 100%.  The Boobla neither has the mental capacity (right now) or the history to understand context, therefore, it's my job as the parent to decide when he has to wear a hat or not.  But if I say, we wear a hat when we go outside, then he better do it, because my word is LAW.  

How many times have I seen a parent, obviously not happy about their kid doing something they don't want them to do, standing there, arms akimbo, earnestly saying, "Madison, can you please stop taking the sand out of the sandbox? Madison?  When you take the sand out of the sandbox, then there won't be enough sand the next time you want to play with it.  Madison, I asked you to please leave the sand in the sandbox," and on and on with their voice going up at the end and I'm like, why are you pleading with your kid?  Why are you trying to reason with them?  They don't understand the long-term ramifications of their actions!  Every day is a new day to them...they're not going to get that if they shovel all the sand out of the sandbox now, that at some date in the not-too-distant-future, the level of sand in the sandbox might decrease to the point where it will have a negative impact on their sandbox fun!  **I** barely understand that concept (see: my clothes buying habit and my credit card balance)!  It's all about conditioning them.  So yeah, maybe I treat my kid like a dog in the court of a slightly-more-strict version of the Sun King.  But at this age, they kinda ARE like dogs!  Is that wrong?  Am I not supposed to say that?  Obviously, the personality of the kid makes a huge difference too.   Some kids might not be as receptive to direction.  But maybe it's the cultural studies in me but I believe that like, 98% of the time you can mould general behavior.  That's how I learned that murdering people is wrong, right?  

So despite the individual personality of the particular kid involved, I think that it's a symbiotic relationship between the parent and the kid (within reason).   Kids who come out of the womb more sensitive can have the edges smoothed a bit by a parent who doesn't give into those sensitives, or have those edges sharpened by a parent who gives into those sensitivities.  That's why as a general thing, people have an easier time with their second child, because they're less anxious and stressed out than they were with bambino number one.  I can draw an anecdotal conclusion that the parents I know who still have babies that get up in the night repeatedly, if you ask them, "well, how long do you let them cry for?" will almost always say, "I can't bear to listen to them cry!" That being said, I'm pretty sure if we have another baby, that #2 is going to be a hellraiser of the highest order, just to shake up my world a bit.  At which point, I will post another retraction.  Stay tuned!

Tonight I have class.  It's my last Tuesday class before the summer term starts in the beginning of May.  The summer class ends on July 14th and then I will be DONE MY DEGREE!!!  THE STUPID DEGREE THAT PROBABLY WON'T ADVANCE MY CAREER PROSPECTS IN THE LEAST AND WHICH I RUINED MY MATERNITY LEAVE WITH MY FIRST CHILD FOR!  

Sigh.  

Fin.

Weekend in review

FAO DR. REI - this post might contain Hunger Games movie spoilers!  You've been warned!  Same goes for anyone else in my pathetic readership who hasn't seen the movie yet.

This weekend was kind of bucktown.  We went with some crew to AYCE Hot Pot for dinner and it was THE BEST!  Well, some people didn't love hot pot as much as we do.  I find it odd, and I know that Dr. Rei considers it like, a personal insult any time I take friends to a Markham favorite that she's been to and they don't like it as much as she does.  In her mind, that means they don't "deserve" to go.  LOL!  It's kind of cute.  Is it wrong that I secretly agree?  You're either on board or you're not!  You either can accept the glory of AYCE hot pot (and the unlimited eggs for dipping!) and cold, sweetened (and free!) chrysanthemum tea into your heart or you can't.  

It's the same with the Hunger Games.  I've basically turned into a one-woman Hunger Games defender.  There's been some kind of weird anti-Hunger Games backlash popping up on my social media and I swear, I'm turning defending the Hunger Games into a part time job.  I get so mad!  Why haters gotta be hatin' so bad?  Seriously?  It's always the duy-duys who have no idea about popular culture and dislike anything that's popular, too.  Guys: SOMETIMES PEOPLE GET IT RIGHT (ie. suffrage, civil rights, public healthcare, Harry Potter, the Hunger Games).  It's okay!  It's not that big of a deal to participate in a collective cultural experience!  It's also always the same duy-duys who like, dislike it because it's not "intellectual" like, say, Mad Men.  People talking about how "intellectual" Mad Men is makes me want to braf.  HOW?  WHY?  Because it's super-boring?  It's such an insular character study.  Even though I find i the least-compelling television ever, I can get the appeal.  But don't be trying to convince me that it's the SMARTEST TELEVISION IN FOREVER.  And that's it's all high brow high culture just because it's all mid-century modern and because people are conflicted.    Uh, no thank you.  The Mad Men-repping crew is always the same as the Six Feet Under crew or like, the Jonathan Frantzen crew and you know what I have to say about that?  I've had enough about white people and their white people problems, thanks.

I feel like the same thing that happened with Konygate is the same thing that happened with Lana Del Rey.  No matter what, there is no way that you can convince me that stopping Kony wouldn't benefit Uganda, or if you want to get specific, it would reduce the kidnapping-children-for-child-armies numbers.  What's galling is that the same liberal intellectuals who are all like, "Kony 2012 is complicated!" are also the same ones who are like, "stop globalisation!" or like, "stop the Israeli occupation of Palestine!" which is a WAY MORE COMPLICATED ISSUE!  Like, exponentially!  It's just the internet and the media whipping themselves up into a froth.  Which is what happened with Lana Del Rey.  Girl wrote (or had ghostwritten, seriously?  How is that an issue anymore?) a catchy song that capture a very evocative vibe that is really underrepresented and then did a semi-nervous performance on SNL (which wasn't even as bad as everyone made it out to be) and people raked her over the coals for it.  Whaaaaaa?  I'm an original hater and I frequently hate things randomly (ie. my hatred for the Jigga Man) but my gift is being able to step outside of myself enough to know when it's irrational and inconsistent.  And the attempt to take down LDR was totally irrational and bizarre. Like, she's being taken to task by the bloggerati for being contrived?  For being manufactured?  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...sorry, I'm already asleep from this BORINGEST CULTURAL CRITICISM CONVERSATION IN 50 YEARS.  

Move along!

ANYWAY, hot pot wasn't the most successful but the night was the best anyway because the crew was the best, anyway.  One of our friends didn't know that at most AYCE restos a 10% gratuity is included and ended up paying way more for a tip and the Dotytron was like, "You know what?  That's a n00b mistake.  I'm not even going to offer to pay you back because you have to learn your lesson!"  LOL!  I'm always bigtime embarrassed/find it hilarious when the Dotytron gets all hilariously uppity about "teaching people lessons" (except when the lesson learner is me, obvs.)  We got to the theatre (an hour early) and we totally thought our ticket taker was just acing the deadpan ennui delivery when he told us there was a line already.  We're all like, "Aw, Brandon! You card!  Very funny! Haha!  A line an hour early!?  Why I oughta..." and then we found out that we were in the SECOND line for our screening.  PSYCHO KILLER, QU'EST-CE QUE C'EST?!  We were okay though and got decent seats.

Did I mention that I braided my hair into a side braid a la Katniss Everdeen?  When I saw the flick, I realized that I've been rocking the winding-around-the-head French braid for longer than Katniss.  No big deal, they just used my styles for inspiration.  I was also wearing a hob t-shirt that SMckay got for me.  And she was wearing her Hot Topic District 12 tank which I almost wanted to rip off her body, but I didn't, because I was trying to be cool in front of her beau.  They showed a Hunger Games commercial before the movie started and SMcKay and I did the salute from District 11 and Lolly was like, "you guys are such nerds," and I said to her, "Uhhh...HOW ELSE WOULD WE HONOUR RUE, HUH?"  *rolls eyes*

Afterwards we went for frozen yogurt at Pac Mall and it was the best!  Funnest night evers.  So so good.  I'm glad I get to see the movie again this weekend with Dr. Rei and the Roomie.  I totally came home from the movie (we were out SOOOO late!  Didn't get home until 2am!  What?) and tried to will my brain into having sexy dreams about Peeta.  I'm like, such a shipper.  I have been since I was a kid.  I think my shipping started with Lady J and Flint from the GI Joe cartoon.  I have a long shipping history but haven't gotten to the point where I write fanfic (yet.)  What!  I would NEVER!  Hahaha...just kidding.  I might.  Someday (tomorrow.)  

I'll do my movie review at the end of the post so that people who want to avoid spoilers can.

Yesterday the Dotytron was preoccupied with getting his stuff ready for his teaching evaluation that's happening today and I spent a good chunk of time outside with the neighbs chilling and weighing in on our one neighbour's siding dilemma.  I love my hood.  So hard!  According to this site that calculates walkability (using a very simple metric), my neighb scored a very nice 88/100!  That's a solid A, folks!

Friday night's dinner was delicious - a folded pizza bread sandwich thing, stuffed with chopped anchovies, olives, a sundried tomato tapenade, and sauteed rapini with fresh mozzarella.  This was a briny, delicious delight.

Tonight for dinner we had chicken stew with sweet potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and peas and dilled cornmeal dumplings.  So, basically the return to cold weather was the fault of this meal

Okay.  Time to get serious.  Hunger Games movie review.

Overall, really really liked the movie.  They stayed true to the spirit to the book and the changes they made in order to make the story flow, made sense.  Some people have been griping that it wasn't as violent as the book and that it was toned down too much to make for a PG 13 movie, but I think those people are sociopaths.  I don't *need* to see someone getting mauled to death.  The before and after are enough for me and it still evokes the horror of what the Capitol makes them do without being gratuitous.  When the film first started, I was a little worried that the jumpiness and fast edits was going to continue through the film, but thankfully, it dies down.  Gary Ross does a great job with strategic flashbacks and knows when to lay on the music-video-effects touches and when to pull them back.  Jennifer Lawrence is a PERFECT Katniss Everdeen (I called it AGES ago!) and Josh Hutcherson is a good Peeta.  Liam Hemsworth as Gale is also good, even if he's reduced to making the same perturbed-but-stoic one expression for the few minutes he's in the film.  Here are my thoughts in point form:

- I know why Madge had to go, but the symbolism of the mockingjay pin then gets all garbled.  In this case, Katniss picks it up in the hob and gifts it to Prim, saying that it will protect her (no explanation of symbolism of mockingjays!) IT FAILS TO DO THIS because Prim gets picked in the Reaping.  Then she gives the mockingjay pin (which I would think is now CURSED) back to Katniss to "protect" her.  Bad symbolism guys, bad symbolism.

- Prim is THE WORST.  When my sis and I saw her casting, we were like, "UGH, UNIBROW!"  You're supposed to love Prim on sight.  FAIL!  Big casting mistake.

- The chariot scene suffered from some seriously bad CGI.  Admittedly, they had a small budget to work with...but you could've done better than that!  It looked really really cheesy and had me concerned before the rest of the film settled my fears

- Elizabeth Banks was PERFECT as Effie and the character of Effie was perfect.

- I'm not sold on Woody's Haymitch.  They also make Haymitch way more sympathetic than he is in the book, which doesn't do justice to the complexity of his character.

- LOVED Donald Sutherland's President Snow.  Also loved the speech about hope and why a little hope is good but too much is bad.  Loved the improved presence of Seneca Crane.  Also loved the final touch of killing Seneca Crane by putting him in the room with the poison berries.  Although we were joking after that that if we were Seneca, we would've been, "Well, this is getting a little obscure.  I guess President Snow is late for the meeting" and the final scene would be him still sitting in the room, looking at his watch, getting all exasperated.  LOL!

- it seems like just about EVERYONE IN THE WORLD pictured the cornucopia as like, a French horn half buried in the ground.  LOL!  People were NOT expecting it to look so futurismo, but I get it.  Making a giant golden French horn probably wasn't in the budget.

- Totally cried like a baby when Rue died.  Loved seeing the uprisings in District 11

- Didn't need Cato's speechifying at the end.  I don't need Cato to be rehabilitated.  He's a Career.  That's what he does.  I didn't want Cato to be humanized.

- Totally thought the shippers were robbed by the scene where Katniss kisses Peeta not for show in the cave.  In the movie, they just show her looking at Peeta in a new way (way to go Jennifer for the ace acting chops!) and then cut to daylight.  Lame!

- In our theatre, when Katniss kisses Peeta and they cut to Gale watching from District 12, the whole theatre went, "Awwwwwww" in sympathy for Gale.  It was hilarious.  And awesome.  

Overall, it was a very satisfying fanboy film experience. My quibbles are small and my appreciation is great.  I read recently that The Fault in Our Stars has been optioned for a film.  Pretty pumped about that.  With Batman and The Avengers opening this spring/summer...it's going to be a very satisfying fanboy summer for me.

Fin.

NYC part deux

 The Big Yam cruising around in his bonny togs

 Day 2 we ended up at the Manhattan Children's Museum, where the admission price for adults and all children over the age of 12 months is $11 (why a children's museum would create uniform pricing for adults and children is beyond me.)  It's basically a giant indoor playground with different learning areas, sand and water play, and some cheesy "exhibits" that are of questionable ethnic integrity and intent.

 Holla!  We hit up Doughnut Plant for the most delicious doughnuts I've ever had in my life.  I tried one of each kind - cake and yeasted.  The Tres Leches cake doughnut was out of this world but the yeasted doughnut was even better, if that's even possible.  It was light, airy, and filled with the most luscious, essence-of-coconut cream filling I had ever tasted.  Bomb!

The evening of Day 2 is the night we went to Brooklyn to eat at Betto and to visit with my chef friends S (who's the chef there), and A (who is a sous chef at Lincoln) and the Dotytron's buddy A and his gf, C.  It was a lovely, lovely dinner that stretched long into the evening.

 Day 3 we started by taking a walk on the High Line, which is an elevated train track that was converted into a park.  I can't even describe how lovely this was in the spring.  It's such a phenomenal idea and a smart and savvy use of space.  The Big Yam LOVED it.  He had been wanting to be outside the whole trip so the fact that he could run up and down and zip around was positively THRILLING for him.  I can't say enough good things about it.  Definitely a not-miss attraction.

 We saw this sculpture by artist Susan Sze, who I just learned is the wife of Siddharta Mukherjee, the author of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize winning non-fiction book, The Emperor of All Maladies, which I just finished two nights ago.  When I went to read up on him after finishing the book, I found out his wife was an artist and that I had recently seen her work!  Cool!  I'll review his book in an upcoming post.

 That day we had lunch at Parm, which is a sister restaurant to one of the newest and hippest kids on the block, Torrisi Italian Specialities.  There was no way we would be able to get resos at Torrisi, so we settled for walking in for lunch at Parm, which, in keeping with the unwritten NYC policy, doesn't have high chairs.  Of course.  They specialize in Italian-American red sauce classics. The value for the dollar is good - you get a big plate of chicken parm (me) or chicken francese (Dotytron) with salad or baked ziti with "gravy" for $15.

 Our last dinner in NYC we trekked to Brooklyn to eat at Pies'n'Thighs.  Fried pickles, fried chicken, biscuits, mac'n'cheese, and a fried apple pie?  Uh-huh.  Yeah, that's right.  

 My friends A & S live in an apartment pretty close to our hotel, so we went to visit them that night and hung out on their shared rooftop terrace.  This is the view of the Empire State Building from their place.  Pretty slick.

I'm a sucker, and the Big Yam was suffering from the beginnings of his walking pneumonia...so I had in the bed with us every night.  Best. Feeling. Ever.

And that wraps up our version of NYC this time around.  Like I said, it wasn't ideal.  There are obviously more high-profile restos I would have liked to have gone to and I would have wanted a more restful vacation than what I got toting my bambino around...but it was still nice to spend a good chunk of time away from our regular lives and whatnot.  I just love, love, love NYC.  It's such an awesome, awesome city.

That wraps up the NYC coverage.  Back to regularly scheduled posting tomorrow...complete with a book review and HUNGER GAMES MOVIE WEEKEND MADNESS!!!

Fin.

NYC!

I can finally tell you guys about NYC!  

Finished a long-overdue paper last night and I'm feeling pretty good.  Tonight we're going to see The Hunger Games with SMcKay, Lolly, R, and SMcKay's new beau.  To say that I'm PRETTY PUMPED would be the overstatement of the not-so-new millennium.  I'm BEYOND excited.  I've been waiting for this for what feels like years!  We're also doing a round of pre-movie AYCE hot pot, AND I just came back from Canadian Tire with 3 new Rubbermaid storage bins to do some reorganizing, which pretty much just launched this day into the stratosphere.

The Big Yam is doing his first sleepover at Nana's house tonight and there are plans a-foot for a late night mission to Pac Mall.  Sounds like the best damn night, in oh, I don't know, FOREVERS.  The only thing marring my anticipation is the knowledge that I didn't jump on that Hot Topic District 12 tank when I first saw it.  I went back yesterday on my day off to buy one and they're all sold out!  Sold out online, too!  Booooo...so sad!  I still might do up my hair in a side braid, though.  Squeeeeee!!! So excited!!!  

So.  NYC.  Overall, not the best place to go with a baby the Big Yam's age, when you do NYC the way we like to do it.  That generally means, not a lot of museums, and a lot of hanging out maxing, relaxing all cool.  But it was still fun, and Momma D watched him one night so we could have a fabulous 5 hour meal with our NYC friends.

On the plane ride over, a man stopped to spend an extended amount of time talking to the gentleman half of the couple sitting in the row in front of us.  Finally, we heard the wife, say, exasperatedly, "He doesn't know you." which made me and the Dotytron almost die with laughter.  LOL!  This was made even more funny because the stewardess who gave us the "how to hold a baby on the plane" safety rundown had made a big show of "recognizing" the Big Yam and saying stuff like, "Oh, I remember this little man!  He's grown so big!" and telling the other flight attendant that the Big Yam was a "frequent flyer."  After hearing the "he doesn't know you" line, we wanted to use it on the flight attendant when she came back to offer drinks and make a big showing of knowing the Boobla.  LOL!  I mean, maybe she was our flight attendant when we flew Porter to Boston, but that was 8 months ago...I have a hard time believing that the Big Yam was the baby she was remembering.

 We stayed at the Tryp Hotel in Times Square.  It's newly opened and had the biggest rooms of any of the ones I had checked into (280sq feet).  It's also got some cool family-friendly features.  Our room had this little extra bar/counter area with an extra sink, an empty bar fridge, as well as free wi-fi.  The deal I got us also got us complimentary drinks one night.  Some of the other "family" rooms have murphy bunk beds that swing down from the wall, which would be perfect for a family of 4 staying together.  The rate we got was $169 all in, per night, which anyone I've told has said is insane and a great deal for Manhattan.  Momma D?  Not so much.  She said she was used to thinking of $100/night as her maximum for a hotel.  I didn't clarify if she was talking in like, Eerie Indiana or NYC in 1972 or something, but it was pretty funny.  

 Our first day we had lunch at Luke's Lobster, which is a great alternative to Pearl Oyster Bar.  They have multiple locations (no line!) and are routinely listed as one of the top 5 lobster rolls in NYC.  It's a great, classic lobster roll: top-split bun, the barest hint of mayo, huge chunks of lobster.  Served with a pickle, kettle chips and a boutique soda.  Perfect.  I think I prefer my lobster roll with a touch more mayo, but that's just me.  We got a lobster roll and a crab roll.

 This was my crew.

 At the MOMA.  I saw this Picasso and said to the Dotytron, "this is exactly what you look like naked."  *pause*  "I'm pretty sure that's a woman."  LOL!  We saw the Cindy Sherman retrospective which was awesome as well as a Diego Rivera special exhibit.  This was strictly for Momma D's benefit.  Left to our own devices, we're not really museum goers.  The Big Yam had fun listening to the audio tours, though:

For dinner we had intended on going to Shake Shack but with the weather being so nice while were there, the lineup in Madison Square park stretched almost around the whole perimeter.  We ended up at Hill Country Texas BBQ Market and am I ever glad we did!  It's kind of like a Marché type concept: all the offerings (meats, sides, desserts, drinks) are printed on a little card, you bring your card with you to the station, they serve you up, note what you ordered, and you pay at a cash when you leave.  Easy peasy.  SO DELICIOUS!  I am haunted by the taste of the juicy brisket, the beef shoulder, and their ribs.  The sides were divine, the corniest, creamiest corn pudding you ever done ate in your life.  

That was Day 1.  

Day 2-4 to come tomorrow.

Fin.

Addendum

to Monday's post about the jacking and the people abusing subsidized housing.  Last night I had class so I called to check in with the Dotytron on my way home.  I called the housing management corporation and spoke to the tenant relations person, who was very forthright and cooperative about addressing some of the issues (not the thievery, but the underage public drinking and whatnot) - anyway, I was filling in the Dotytron about all that.  Then he's telling me, "oh, I have an update about that...there was more going on today."  


Apparently, he came home yesterday to drop off the car and go get the Big Yam from daycare, and there's two kids, outside of our neighbour's house, about 4 and 5, "one of them had a pacifier in her mouth," according to the Dotytron.  So the Dotytron goes inside, puts something away, and comes back out to the car, and the older of the kids, who is STILL ONLY ABOUT 5 YEARS OLD MIND YOU, is standing by this beat-up crummy plastic wagon thing, looks the Dotytron square in the eye, and says: "That's mine. Don't touch it." And the Dotytron was like, in his head, "is this kid talking to me? What the hell?!?"  Then the teenager next door, who is actually pretty nice generally and is just a typical, uneducated, f**ked up goon teenager, comes out and yells at the kids and tells them to "go the f**k home!  Stop hanging around!" and the two kids start walking away, with their wagon in tow, and the older of the kids, WHO IS STILL ONLY ABOUT 5 YEARS OLD MIND YOU, turns to the younger one (the one with the pacifier) and says, (about the teenager) "that guy's a f**kin' s**t."  !!!!!!!!!!!!  So saddening.  The Dotytron was appalled.  He kept repeating to me, "Did I mention that one of the kids WAS SUCKING ON A PACIFIER?!?!!!" which was kind of funny but also tragic because it is TOTALLY shocking that a kid (a toddler, basically) who is young enough to have a binky, is already totally immersed in this s***ty, sordid, cycle of poverty, ignorance, and lack of opportunity.  


Ugh.  


To counter-balance that, on Monday, our riding had a by-election to elect an MP to replace Jack Layton.  I guess the Dotytron had told an NDPer that he was planning on voting for the NDP candidate, Craig Scott, so as we were sitting down to dinner, there was a knock on our door, and I opened it to a really earnest nerd-bot who was asking for the Dotytron.  So I'm like, "I take it you're from the NDP?" and he's all like yeah, and wants to know if we've gone to vote.  And I tell him no, we're going to go after dinner.  So then he's like, "Do you know exactly when that'll be?" and I go, "that's none of your business! Why do you want to know?"  And he, taken aback, says, "So I know when to come back."  And I'm hungry and sick so I say:


"Dude. We're educated liberals.  Don't worry, we got this on lock."  And shut the door.


LOL!!!  


I kill myself sometimes.  Although, according to the Dotytron on Monday night, when he was frustrated with me being a pill (admittedly), "Other than bearing my child, and the odd laugh over the years, you are the BANE OF MY EXISTENCE!!!"  


Good thing he put a ring (read: grill) on it!


Tonight we had pasta puttanesca.


For all my griping about the one bad element on our street - I love our 'hood.  Love it so hard.  I love biking up my street and seeing all the neighbs sitting on the curb and the kids careening into each other and talking.  It makes my heart swell.  We're really lucky to have this community spirit on our street and I try not to forget that for an instant.


Dinner tonight was pasta puttanesca with an arugala salad:

NYC round-up post coming!


Fin.

Captain Save-A-Ho

...got jacked.  AGAIN.  We're 95% sure that it's the resident of one of the subsidized houses on our street, since a neighbour has seen her testing door handles before, and less than a month ago, she was caught red-handed, going into another neighbour's mini-van, in BROAD DAYLIGHT, at like, 3 pm on a Saturday afternoon.  KEEP IT CLASSY, SUBSIDIZED HOUSING RESIDENT, KEEP IT CLASSY.


Whoever the culprit is, also broke into our other neighbour's car and took his GPS.  This is what they stole from us:  our new GPS, our booster seat that we keep for restaurants (that our neighbour gave us) and, most galling of all, my homemade car emergency preparedness kit, which was a rubbermaid bin with some rope, some towels, candles, band-aids bottled water, stale granola bars, kitty litter, an umbrella, and a first aid manual.  LAME!  Who takes that shiz?!???  This is just further evidence that it was the ho-bag on our street.  Who would want to carry that around?  


Anyway, it's super-duper annoying.  Look: I get it.  I'm a lefty.  I'm pro-subsidized housing.  I want my street to be like Sesame Street - a melting pot of different socio-economic strata mixing together into a happy melange.  However!  TAKE YOUR THIEVING ONE STREET OVER!  That's all I ask for!  Don't send your billion kids to my house for trick-or-treating and then STEAL FROM ME!  It's the worst.


Also the worst?  Filing a police report.  I spoke to the dispatch officer and I was like, "So...are you guys going to come and take some prints or what?" (100% guaranteed that lady has priors.)  Him: "Well, we only do that if 6 cars have been broken into on the same street in the same night."  (Sidebar: WHO CAME UP WITH THAT RANDOM METRIC?!?)  Me: "Well, seeing as how this is the second time this has happened on our street to us, and that over the course of the year, more than 6 cars get broken into, then what do I have to do to get increased surveillance or something?" Him: "Uhhhh...I just take down the report.  You could go to 55 Division and speak to the Sergeant and try to get him to take an interest in it, but it's a man power issue."  Me: "Well, if this was happening on YOUR street, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?" Him: *mumbles*


DON'T GIVE ME ANY BULL ROAR ABOUT A MAN-POWER ISSUE!  How come whenever I have to rent a cop for $250/hour or whatever for a freakin' wedding, there's no man power issue?  How come when I go to Square Boy and try to get a chicken souvlaki on a pita and the parking lot is clogged with Toronto's finest, there's no man-power issue?  I'm incensed!  Mostly because I just bought that GPS like, two weeks ago!  And because I don't want to have to go to Babies R Us to get another booster seat!  


It's just so demoralizing.  As Dr. Rei said today, being a decent, hard-working person in contemporary society hardens you.  As soon as you say, leave academia and get a job, it basically turns you into a fiscal conservative.  I don't understand why I pay out the nose in taxes, when people I know, don't work, receive government grants, and don't PAY INTO THE SYSTEM THEY'RE USING!  Believe me, I'm all for the redistributive powers of the state.  At the end of the day, I live under the spectre of Marx.  And yet...and yet...I can totally understand the frustrations of the working stiff when they see people abusing the luxuries of a system they don't contribute to.  Instead of work to rule, why don't they do like, volunteer-to-rule?  Why do we spent time making high school kids amass volunteer hours, but people on the dole don't have to account for any of their activities except for how they COULDN'T get a job?  As someone who likes to follow the rules (when convenient, ha!) I get very aggrieved when people can succeed by circumventing them.  


This is what we've been eating lately:

 Friday night the roomie came over and we had spaghetti and meatballs.  We then watched L'Armi's new show, The Big Decision, which is kind of a Dragon's Den spin-off.  She made a delicious arugala salad and I made us a salad of raw shaved brussels sprouts with a cole-slaw-y dressing.  Delicious!

Saturday the Dotytron made us his special Swedish pancakes - the version he turned in that morning was a personal best.

Saturday night Lolly and SMckay came over and I made us an impromptu St. Paddy's Day feast. We had baked corned beef, cabbage sautéed with apples and bacon, smashed tatties fried in duck fat, and roasted maple-glazed carrots.  We also had that chocolate budino with salted caramel for dessert.

Sunday dinner I went into Jewish grandma mode, on account of the Dotytron and I both waking up and feeling sick.  I made a giant batch of chicken stock and threw together a modified version of Italian wedding soup, with sweet potatoes, carrots, leeks, celery, orzo, kale, and meatballs made with ground turkey and parmesan.

I promise you an NYC round-up post shortly.  My laptop is in the shop and we've been busy trying to you know, NOT BE SICK AS A FAMILY.

Did I mention the Big Yam has walking pneumonia?  I didn't even know that was a thing!  From what I can understand by the doctor in our clinic who saw us, it seems to be pneumonia that doesn't make you hate life.  The Boobla has been amazing lately.  He had a really good experience outside with a ball the day before we left for NYC and thus, the whole trip, anytime we went from outside to inside, he would start doing his jackknife-spasming thing and crying out, "BALL! BALL-BALL! BAAAAALLLL!" and we didn't put it together that "ball" was synonymous with "outside" until day 2 of the trip.  What a mensch.

He's also started saying, "Da Da Doooooo" which we can't decode for the life of us.  It *seems* to be a catch-all phrase for something he wants or desires.  It gets applied to everything (food, outside, being picked up, the phone), and it creates a fair amount of frustration from both sides trying to decode what the actual topic in question is.  It IS however, tremendously cute to hear him going, "Da Da DOOOOOOO" repeatedly.  

Fin.

NYC!

We're heading out in just a little bit to one of my favorite places on earth.  Love, love, love NYC!  Can't beat it.  For a chowhound and a jazzer, it's the perfect city to satisfy both our desires.  This is what we have on our itinerary:

...and more!  

Roundup post upon my return!  Enjoy the next four days, all!

Fin.

From shoes to Ugandan war children

Ugh. So stressed today.  I'm trying to wrap up a jillion things at work before taking next week off and of course I got hit with a bunch of requests, which I love working on, but which are stressful.  


Then I ended up crying at my desk no less than 2 times, a steady, salty leak from my peepers that I tried to furtively wipe away to avoid any unnecessary commentary from my office mates which would no doubt have sent me spiraling into full-on wailing.  The first set of leaks was as a result of an email exchange with my mum, the second set was after I watched that Kony 2012 video (Twitter hashtag #stopkony), which is EPIC long for an internet video (29 minutes!) but was only uploaded like, 3 days ago and has 40 million hits.  Here it is:

I came across it cuz John Green, my hero, posted about it.  So I watched the video and of course was swayed by it's slick construction and message (can you IMAGINE someone kidnapping the Big Yam and forcing the little Boobla to be a child soldier?!) and got all weepy.  

I followed it up by reading the inevitable educated liberal backlash (you know, the kind that results in crippling inactivity) like this article from The Atlantic (note: I agree with and frequently invoke the author's point about the dangers of western banal sentimentality when speaking of the developed world, thereby continuing to put my training in post-colonial studies to good use) and this one in The Washington Post and now I'm right back where I started, which is knowing a little bit about a pretty bad situation happening outside of my own privileged sphere in the world and paralyzed by the opposing forces of wanting to do good and not knowing enough to be able to be a true agent of change into self-loathing and doubt.  Which is basically the calling card of the educated liberal elite.  Sigh.

I don't know how people do it.  I barely have it in me to stay on top of Ontario news, which I need to for my job.  Let alone Canadian news, let alone what's happening in the REST OF THE G-D WORLD.  Let alone attain a nuanced, critical, educated understanding of a particular issue enough that I would be deemed to have the "authority" to be able to speak on it.  If that was the case, the only topics I'm qualified to talk about are:

- Pinterest

- the Big Yam

- which ramen restaurant in the GTA serves the best tonkotsu

- the relative merits of AYCE Japanese restaurants in the greater golden horseshoe

- why Jazz music is the refuge of the damned (and by "damned" I mean tragic nerdy guys)

It's just so demoralizing.  So, even as I so fervently wish that I could be a proactive, smart, contributing member of civil society (like so many people I admire!), I end up reaching that point of cognitive saturation where it's just easier for me to watch Top Chef or like, think about where I want to eat dinner with the Goosetang Clan tomorrow than do anything that will make any real change (however minute, at least it's not so self-gratifyingly directed) in the world.  

It's bigtime depressing.  BIGTIME.

Edit: The Dotytron coincidentally and independently also watched that video today and we talked about it, and as usual, he helped me to crystallize and formulate some thoughts on the above.  To wit: the critiques of the Invisible Children movement miss the point.  All the movement is hoping to accomplish is to harness the short attention spans and vapidity of the Facebook generation towards a common goal, within a short, fixed deadline (the only kind that exists today, the only kind that is sustainable today) and then leave the politicking and the logistics to the experts.  It's pretty smart and savvy and neatly tailors the activity to the right people - so you let the social networking dummy masses generate the momentum to push policy makers to then turn over the details to the experts.  

The post-colonial theory discourse of the banality of sentimentality doesn't necessarily hold true here.  In this case, it's different than when Paolo Friere or Gayatri Spivak talk about enabling the disenfranchised "Other" to attain their own autonomy free from the paternalism of the northern elite.  Friere and Spivak and the like are talking about more insidious and, some could argue, dangerous systemic power dynamics than in the case of the LRA and its actions.  In the case of the LRA it becomes a question of human immediacy.  The citizens of Uganda (by all accounts) don't have a conflicted, complicated relationship with the LRA - the LRA is terrorizing the people and the rest of Uganda don't have the means to do anything about it, but want to.  Big difference.  I think.  I have to think this through some more, but I can say that I find The Atlantic's critique to be fatuous.  

The Big Yam had his first visit with the pediatric dentist today.  His canine teeth are coming in okay and his molars seem fine...so it's just a matter of monitoring.  The dentist said the canines should act as placeholders to prevent shifting and there shouldn't be any impact on his speech development.  Basically, loosing his four bottom baby teeth shouldn't impact his speech any more than if he had lost them in the regular course of life, in their proper  time.  He can eat everything and we have to see the pediatric dentist every 6 months to keep tabs on the situation.  Phew!

As a reward, I jettisoned our dinner plans in favour of Amaya takeout and cupcakes from Bobette and Belle.  My book club was supposed to meet tonight at the Harbord House but people were sick so in the end, we called it.  I'm glad.  On a rainy cold day like today (with hail!) Indian food and cupcakes at home with the boys is exactly what the kind of restorative measures I need.

Fin.