Pizza, Movie, Pizza, Movie. Now Let's Go To NYC.

Heading to New York for the weekend.  Going to celebrate the birthday of Pegg's roomate from college and her first two years in NYC.  This friend had been living out in LA for the past few years, but recently moved back to New York with her boyfriend.  We're going out to dinner in Brooklyn near their place.  Should be fun.

 

I haven't been keeping in touch with my parents as much as I should be, given that I moved away from New York after having been there for seven years.  Boston is not far, when you think about it, but apparently it feels far to them.  So my mother has been sensitive lately about me not calling enough, about not visiting enough, etc...  We had a long, drawn-out battle on the phone about how it takes two people to keep in touch, and how she should not be afraid to call if she misses me rather than standing on ceremony and waiting for me to call.  But ultimately she is right.  I don't call enough.  Period.  I know she is having a rough time in certain areas of her life, and I am not making enough of an effort to be there for her.  So we're making a detour on our way to NYC this weekend, and driving to Long Island tonight to see her.  We'll stay over, have breakfast together, get some talking and hugging in, and then head to the city.

 

We'll crash with Brother, who is flying solo for a few days while my sister-in-law is on a business trip.  It will be good to see him, though we won't have that much time to spend together.  He has some plans for the weekend, and we'll be out all of Saturday night.  Sunday we have breakfast plans with one of my friends from college.  He and his wife actually live around the corner from Brother.  They had a baby girl a few months back, and we have yet to meet their daughter or give them the gift we bought.  Looking forward to seeing them.  I'm down with O.P.K. (Other People's Kids).  It's great to be around kids in short bursts.  Like grandparent mode.  Drop in, play a bit, get the kid riled up, and just as they start to get cranky, get the hell out of there.  I guess I'll need to change this attitude when it comes time to having our own little rugrats.  But that's a ways off from now...

 

Last night we went to see a movie at the Boston Jewish Film Festival.  We saw Only Human.  It was great.  It's a Spanish film about a dysfunctional Jewish family in Madrid, and the hijinks that ensue when one of the daughters comes to visit with her new boyfriend who, while Spanish, happens to be a Palestinian.  This was honestly one of the funniest films I have ever seen.  I could obviously relate to some of the Jewish elements in the film, but by no means do you have to be Jewish to appreciate it.  I don't want to give too much away, but let's say that there is a scene involving the Palestinian boyfriend, the blind Jewish grandfather Dudu, and a toilet that had the audience roaring.  Try to see it if you can.  The combination of doing something "kinda Jewish", laughing throughout the film, and getting to munch on some Upper Crust pizza before the movie made last night great.

 

The night before last we went out with some friends to Emma's Pizza in Kendall Square.  (Never in a million years could I imagine Pegg letting us have pizza two nights in a row, but we were in a rush before the BJFF movie last night).  Dinner was great.  These were friends of Pegg's from high school, and they are all friends with the owner of Emma's, so it was good to see him, and support his business.  The fact that he didn't charge us for our drinks made it easy to enjoy offering this support, but the food there is honestly so good that it would be somplace we would frequent even without the connection.  We shared two pies - the number 10 (Scallions / garlic / gorgonzola / traditional sauce with mozzarella) and the number 18 (Artichoke hearts / baby spinach / roasted sweet potato / rosemary sauce with mozzarella).  Both were fantastic.  The pizza there is possibly the best in Boston, and on par with New York and New Haven pies.

 

After Emma's we all went to see Shopgirl, the new film by Steve Martin.  I enjoyed it, and thought it was an interesting character piece that was well written and well acted by the three leads (Steve Martin, Claire Danes, and Jason Schwartzman).  Pegg, who would typically enjoy this type of film more than me, had a more critical view on it.  She thinks that Steve Martin is full of himself and pretentious, and is sometimes annoyed by his pieces in the New Yorker.  This film did not help his reputation in her eyes.  She also felt the music was a bit harsh and overdone, and this hampered her enjoyment of the film.  So there's our review - take it for what it's worth.  And have a nice weekend.