Thursday and Friday: An old movie, a new sculpture, family and a friend

I meet with my 82-year-old friend every week. He comes over to my place and I cook beans and rice and a green vegetable and we eat and then watch a movie (or The Food Network or YouTube videos of babies playing with puppies). A month ago he made me watch Casablanca (came out in 1942) and a few weeks ago we watched The Maltese Falcon (came out in 1941). I should be grateful that he's introducing me to these classics because they're classics and I should know and appreciate what came before, but sometimes I just wanna see a movie in color and see a little skin and don't want to hear all the dramatic gangster talk and see chicks in ballgowns and dudes in tuxes. I want a guy in some Diesel jeans and Vans and a lady with a smokey eye and Uggs. So when I asked Al to pick up a new flick for our next meetup,  "Something made within the last TWENTY YEARS, Al." I should've known better.  Al loves old movies 'cause that's what he grew up watching, so that old stuff is comforting for him to see and that's really all he knows. So yesterday he brought over a flick called The Day of the Jackal.  It came out in 1973. So, fine, it's not THAT old, but it still didn't have one actor that I recognized and I'm pretty sure there wasn't one person in Diesel. Fine fine, It was entertaining. The only real slightly annoying part was that it was 2 hours and 23 minutes long, but other than that, it was a good flick. I'll admit it. Oh and there were boobies in it! And a bare ass! Go Al!

Anyway...

After the movie ended (and the rain stopped), we took a leisurely stroll over to Madison Square Park, so I could show Al the new 44 foot art installation. It's probably the coolest-looking sculpture I've ever seen in person:

It almost looks like a mirage....like it kind of blends into the clouds and yet it's so gigantic and solid-looking. It's strange. It's hard to wrap your mind this large angelic face as big as the surrounding trees just sitting there on the grass. I have to admit, it's slightly creepy too, but mostly cool. I mean, I still haven't seen this piece at night. That might freak me out. I saw the Statue of Liberty at night and I had nightmares for months. (Note to self: Don't go to Madison Square Park at night.)

Here's Al (in the green jacket) with the sculpture in the distance:

It's made of fiberglass resin. You should just check it out. It'll be up until mid-August.

Anyway, after taking a bunch of photos, Al and I relaxed on a bench in front of the busy dog- run and people watched. It was pleasant until...we had to get up and move every fifteen minutes because some fool decided to light up a cigarette and carelessly blow smoke in our direction . What's with cigarette smokers! I'm gonna start carrying a container of dog shit (or human shit) around with me everywhere I go and the next time a smoker lights up near me, I'm gonna pull out my Tupperware, remove the lid, and delicately place it beside them. And when they complain about the smell I'm just gonna say, "I'll put away the shit once you put out your cigarette. Or you could move, that's also an option for you."  I mean, there's really no difference between feces and cigarette smoke. None.

Anyway, here's Al being silly. It's a subtle Ode to Micheal Jackson:

Then I saw this:

Wow, man, that's the life.

Al and I left the park shortly after and said our goodbyes.

What did I do *today*? I met with my friend Rob (on the left) and my cousin Shane (on the right).  They're in town visiting from London for a few days...

Remember them from London? Well, they met up with me at my place this morning. I showed them around my studio apartment (took all of three minutes because it's just one room), we chatted about the Royal Wedding for a few minutes and then we headed out to get some brunch at a nearby restaurant called Penelope.

Here they are standing outside the restaurant looking at the large list of food choices (aka the menu):

 After a twenty-minute wait, they let us inside. The place was super-cute and super-crowded. Check it out:

(It's Friday at 11am, do people WORK?)

I decided on the homemade granola:

Shane had an omelet and Rob had an egg sandwich. (The photo's a bit blurry because the boys were cutting their food with great vigor and enthusiasm):

We ate and then walked to Union Square Park and sat on the steps and people watched. We saw an American Indian/Mexican-looking man with a long black pony tail that had a red rubber band just barely holding on for dear life at the end of the tail. He was  holding up two red folders with cut-up mirrors attached to the outside in the shape of a crucifix on one side and a five-point-star on the other. He held both folders up in front of his face as if someone was about to spit on him and then he'd move the folders around like he was vogue-ing with 'em. We could not take our eyes off of this guy. Then we saw a very cute dude that was walking slowly and hesitantly towards Whole Foods. Rob was gonna walk up to him and pump up his Australian accent to the 10th power and try and pick him up, but then the guy all of a sudden walked with purpose in the opposite direction and started talking to some chick with a Jherry Curl.

Shane and Rob'll be in town until Monday, so we'll be hanging out again soon...

Tomorrow I have my Meetup group and then Sunday?

Get ready for this...

My grandmother's coming to town for *three* weeks. She won't be staying with me, though, because (according to her) my bed is too low and my cabinets are too high and it's just too exhausting for her to deal with, so she'll be staying at a hotel. But we'll still be hanging out practically everyday. She's even gonna drag me to the opera! It's okay. We're going on her birthday (May 3rd), so I'll suck it up and go and promise not to complain about...how much I dislike opera. It'll be okay.