soxnsubway

I know I haven't posted at all lately. I just want say, "I can't wait to leave London." The pace here is far too slow, people are far too rude, and too many crappy things are expensive. I miss New York and Boston.

I've recently started watching TV again. Something horrible has happened to Food TV. What used to be entertaining and useful has turned into a parade of horrors. Good Eats seems to be the only decent show that remains. It's become so bad that Emeril looks good by comparison. Gone are the shows that give cooking instruction. Gone are the somewhat annoying but somewhat talented celebrity chefs like Flay and Oliver. Now there is nothing but 4 hours dedicated to cotton candy followed by the movie theater nacho marathon. What the hell? "Let's learn how twinkies are made." Let's not; I didn't even eat them as a kid. $40 a day! What the fuck? How is this for $40 a day in any decently sized American city, breakfast: coffee and bagel anywhere for $3; lunch at the Four Season's hotel cafe (see note below) $25; dinner four bottles of three buck chuck (see note 2) to drown out what a stupid idea it is to market a show based on a single person squeezing by 40 freaking dollars. What are the intended demographics of this show?

In general, the network has come to glorify a lot of what's wrong with my country. It glorifies stupidity. They air shows that are nothing more than vapid "look at how expensive my kitchen redecoration was," and follow them with the absolute horror that is Sandra Lee. That women/thing is straight out of Clockwork Orange's rehabilitation program. What the fuck is a tablescape? Why would I want a tablescape? Is it healthy to cover up that much alcohol with sugar and artificial flavors? Is any of that food? And has she ever considered washing her hands after licking them or handling raw chicken? As you may know, I live in a large city on the East Coast that is known for its restaurants. I once had a visitor who arrived and promptly asked it we could dine at Applebees. I blame Fox news, the Food Network, and especially Sandra Lee for this (see note 3).

( notes )

So, I more or less survived finals. I felt like a punching bag this semester, and I'm glad it's over. Last week I saw my first games at Yankee stadium. What a dump! It's nowhere near as nice as dear Fenway, and--unlike Fenway--compares very poorly to some of the newer stadia. The crowd was superior to west coast crowds, despite being horribly misguided.

A few weeks back, there was an column in the Guardian claiming that quidditch was the worst fictional game ever. I tend to disagree, but I can't think of any other fictional games at the moment; therefore it wins by default. Can anyone help here? I will say that the triwizard tournament has to be the worst designed event conceivable from a spectator standpoint.

I need a new way to use time poorly. I'd rather not take up drugs of gamblilng, so I'm considering buying an xbox or PSP. Any other suggestions?

The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced I'd rather have Ginny as seaker than Harry.

So the event that I wanted to attend was standing room only. This didn't detere my better half, but it did me. So, I'm left alone at home to try and catch up with livejournal. I'm less than thrilled with the last three Sox games. I don't understand why they sent Adam Stern down now, rather than when Coco Crisp is read to come back!

The City (Shitty) Opera season ends tomorrow. I haven't made it to a single show! At least I still have a chance to see Tosca at the Met.

Here is a lemma I need a cute proof for: if you have f_n -> f pointwise in a metric space, for each f_n, you have an inverse, g_n. Does there exist a g such that f and g form a bijection, and do g_n converge to g? What if you just assume the existence of g?

I saw V for Vendetta tongiht on IMAX. It was good, but not great. Most of the IMAX coolness was lost on this, but an explosion scene made it very worthwhile. The bad guy leader was patterned on Ian Paisley, and hence was easy to hate. I found the supposed-to-be emotional scenes rather funny. It had tones of political overtones, but somehow I doubt it will influence anyone's way of thinking.

On more comment on movies: a couple of weeks back I saw a flick in Times Square. During this I saw a preview for Flight 93. I know I shouldn't comment, but offended doesn't even begin to approach how I felt. I'll shut-up about this now.

So, um sorry I haven't been updating my journal, I haven't had much of a chance lately.

Sox are playing nicely, and the Yankees aren't. I can't wait to go see the Sox when they come to Yankee Stadium.

I've been meaning to write an entry about my time in London, but I haven't had a chance yet. I'll just summarize with this: the West Ham game was a heck of a lot of fun. It was cold too. Hopefully, I'm returning this summer.

I've been accepted, with funding, to two summer programs. One of them is funded by the federal government, and the other is with an institution that I really respect. The dates are alligned perfectly, so I will be able to attend both! Sadly, I'm not going to go to the Princeton program in Analysis and Opitimization, but the other two make up for it. One of my friends is, and I hope he has a blast. Hopefully, I'll also be taking a summer school class in London in late July/early August.

Sports: I am so excited that baseball is here. Despite the massive loss of Johnny Demon, I think that the Sox break camp as a better team than the MFY. I skipped a recitation to see most of Arsenal's win over Juv, and they seem to be peaking at a very good time. (While I was in London, I had the pleasure of watching Arsenal v. Liverpool in a living room full of fans from both teams.)

I've had a few very long weeks. Fortunately, I'll be wandering about in London a week from now. I had hopes of going to the Fulham/Chelsea match, but alas, it is not to be. Now we are considering the Charlton match on Sunday, or the West Ham midweek cup game. I, of course, no nothing about London geography, or how much extra/less travel would be involved for any of these.

We're not quite sure what shows to see. Most shows have Broadway siblings: yawn. Nothing at the Royal National looks too appealing. It's a pity that we are going to miss My name is Rachel Corrie, staring Professor Snape, err I mean Alan Rickman. The Women in Black looks cute. The Old Vic has a good looking show, but it would be silly to see an American play in London. Speaking of this, if you live in London, GO SEE Who's affraid of Virginia Woolf. It was great last year here, and has the same cast in London. I suppose we will opt for at least one well known show like Blood Brothers or Mousetrap. Anyone have any thoughts?

During probability lecture, the Prof asked me what my favorite novel was. I responded with a (fabulous) play I saw over the weekend. Anyway, since the play title is somewhat obscure (that is, it's not a classic), the Prof couldn't understand me. Finally I said, "How about Harry Potter? would that make it easier?" Apparently he's a HP fan too.

Speaking of probability, I have no desire to ever see the word "measure" again in my life. (I'm also currently annoyed with certain aspects of algebra.)

The play I saw dealt satirically with Irish Paramilitaries. One of the main characters was a member of the INLA, which is a nationalist paramilitary but not the IRA. This distinction is a significant aspect of the play, yet every review I've read always refers to him as an IRA member. Another point, which was clearly lost on most of the audience, is that the characters were singing The Patriot Game. This song is clearly ambivalent about giving ones life to IRA, but this was completely lost on those singing it. Oh well, I loved it. I wonder what the good shows in London are right now?

I took two midterms this week. I'm completely useless with calculations, but I nailed all the proofs. Typical for me. A friend from my study group called me a freak. Math can occasionally be frustrating.

I presented a seminar today. It felt like I crashed and burned. It either went well or very poorly.

Oh well. I still love this snow.

On a friends recommendation, I bought The Tipping Point the other day. I've only read the first chapter, but I have to say I'm less than impressed. His premise is cute, but not exactly foreign to anyone who has ever seen a population model or a graph of e^x. I also broke down and started reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves; it is very very funny.

We finally have some snow! We went sledding in Central Park, and then had dinner at the neighborhood Ethiopian place. New York can be so great sometimes.

I'm buried with work, but I think I may have matched laviecomplique for nerdiness when I pitched a fit over losing my favorite mechanical pencil.

Finally, I thought that Glory Road was quite good. The scenes with the hostile, confederate flag waving fans were very powerful.

Movie reviews: Nanny McPhee and Tristram Shandy were both pretty good. Neither was great, but neither was a waste of money.

NYC weather has been "bat-shit insane." It (was) freaking January and people were wandering about in shorts. On Monday it was shorts weather; then a cold fog rolled in; and the the fog warmed up-after dark! If I wanted nice weather I would be in LA right now, dammit! I'm not a fan of this global warming crap.

( HP and Theatre )

I'm was tagged for a meme by laviecomplique, who has a much prettier lj layout than I. Anyway I need to list 7 songs I'm into

Royal Canal, written by Brendan Behan for his play "The Quare Fellow," but preformed by The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. This song also reminds me of the "Triangle inequality" from analysis.
Schizophrenia, by Sonic Youth.
Symphony Number 1, third movement by Mahler .(this is the one with that wicked cool funeral march to "Frère Jacques").
A Pair of Brown Eyes, The Pogues. (I could maybe, kinda, sorta relate last thirsty thursday.)
Mr. Brightside, The Killers.
Cold Feelings, Social D.
The Stolen Child, Its a Yeats poem, but Lorenna McKennitt set it to music.

I should tag 7 people more, but everyone I "know" has already been tagged.

In other news I'm contemplating the tripos part III in maths at Cambridge, or a similar program in Oxford next year. Anyone have any experience with either?

Well I managed to read 4/6 of the HP books during break. (The two I didn't get to were GOF and OOTP.) I'm really anxious for the next one. Four out of five of my classes are determined: (3 math + 1 econ), for the final one I am picking between Astro Physics (yeay rocket science) and more Math.

I'm not at all surprised that Denver lost; it was rather apparent from their incredibly narrow escape of the Pats that they just weren't that good. Wigan went on past Arsenal, but they had the same number of total goals. How does that work? I'm glad that Chelsea's perfect home record is a thing of the past.

I saw two movies this week: Cache (avec un accent), and Looking for Commedy.... The first was bad, the second was decent. Cache was just too cliche for me, and despite ending being nicely unsatisfying, the girl who I saw it with and I agreed it wasn't worth wasting conversation time on.

Well the Patriots won with the traditional elements of the Pats dynasty: dominating defense, timely offense and special teams. I'm not so sure that lasts week's team would have beaten Denver, but we'll know soon. A few thins I like about this team: 1) Asante Samuel shutdown Jimmy Smith--one of the leagues best receivers. 2) The other 3 defensive backs played well. 3) The O-Line played decent. 4) Kevin Faulk continued his tradition of timely plays. 5) They will be better next week with Bruschi

Now a few things I am worried about: 1) The defensive backfield looks better than last year (only 7 injuries right now), but this is the first time they have gone into the post-season without a back. (Ty Law for the first two and Harrison for the most recent. 2) Corey Dillon isn't in form. 3) The offensive line is just so-so (more injuries). 4) There recent win streak--discount the MIA game b/c it was just reserves--has included 3 games against teams not in the playoffs and 2 teams knocked out of them.

Denver is a tough place to play, and they are better than Tampa or Jacksonville.But I see no reason why the Pats can't win one more game.

When I first read HBP, I found Ginny's outburst towards Ron very disturbing. Its rather hard to think of a meaner thing to say to a 16 year old boy, especially one who we know to be extra insecure. I viewed it as the direct cause of Ron's fling with Lavender, and hence, the source of Hermione's (and later Lavender's) suffering.

Now that I have some time to myself I've started to reread HBP. So far Ginny has shocked me twice with specific acts of cruelty! Needless to say this is rocking my world. Once I've finished my rereading, I will post specifics, and then maybe one of you can reassure me that Ginny is just full of spirit, not mean.

I saw The Family Stone before the year was out. It was handsdown the worst movie I saw in 2005. Just thought you all could use the heads up

I saw Mrs.Henderson presents last night. It was very good, and rather amusing. The American critics seem to feel that it lacks plot; I feel they watch too much network TV.

I'm not one for lists, but why not:
Best Films of the year (no order):
Goblet of Fire
The Longest Yard (remake; screw artistic merit, I spent the entire film laughing..thats worth $10.75)
The Squid and the Whale

Worst Films of the Year
The Fantastic Four
Corpse Bride

Best Play:Pillowman Worst: Naked Girl on Appian Way. Note: I saw every single straight play on Broadway this season and they won best/worst by very wide margins.

I didn't see enough musicals to comment.

( sports and other matters )

There is nowhere to sit in the library!!

Last night the place was still half full when I left at 4:45am..I shit you not.There weren't even any seats available until the 1am hour.

Tonight was a bit better: there were a few empty seats in my reading room of choice.

Too many nerds here. (Though I suppose I'm one of them.)

This week's been a perfect storm of the flu, exams, and a new crying baby nextdoor.

I saw Goblet of Fire on the IMAX tonight. It was a very appreciated break from work. .Late run IMAX was a very different experience from the eletric atmosphere of opening night. The screen was obviously more impressive, but the film didn't really make use of the IMAX "motion feel."

I'll put the rest below the cut:

( Read more... )

Here's wishing good luck to Parakletos and Charlton this weekend. I love the concept that Wigan qualifying for European play--mainly because I wish American sports had relegation and promotion--but livejournal is thicker than water, or something.

The Patriots have a big game this weekend. They are just beginning to look decent. Unfortunately, due to finals I will miss yet another game. Its clear that they won't approach the dominance they displayed last year, but that doesn't mean they don't have a shot. A game against Tampa will be much more telling than a couple of games against the Jets and Bills.One can dream; beating Indy yet again would be oh so fun.