Juliana says...

Ok, here goes:

Friday night after work I went to my friend Hadara Bar-Nadav’s poetry reading @ the Falls Café in Carroll Gardens & she rocked rocked rocked rocked rocked (as usual). Hers is heady, magical & wildly imaginative stuff that’s also edgy, sexual & dark… Stuff that one could see experiencing if you were tripping on ‘shrooms (not that I ever have). Anyway, she just published her new book of poetry A Glass of Milk to Kiss Goodnight (come on, I had to plug my girl’s book!) so I bought a copy & she signed it (“To the Julimama…” I’m never going to live down that damn name…). Anyway, I really enjoyed it -- she’s seriously a great performer of her art & really brings the stuff to life. And this is coming from someone who’s never really been that into poetry (gve me a short story anytime instead) Have to say, I kind of felt bad for the girl who went on before her because she seemed like such an amateur compared to H. Afterwards, we all ended up at some bar a few blocks for a couple of drinks – can’t say much about the place except that they charged me $28 for three drinks!! This is Brooklyn for chrissakes! Granted one had 4 different alcohols in it, but still...

On Saturday after dropping off laundry & doing errands, I spent 4 hours at the dog run on Riverside with Billie – Artie’s sweet little yorkie poodle for whom I was doggie-sitting. I listened to my podcasts on my iPod (I’m just getting into them – yes, I’m a slow learner) & got teary-eyed in public over the Story Corps series– some of those stories just break your heart. (BTW, I’m happy to report that I did not kill, maim or lose Billie – I didn’t think I would, but I guess it must’ve been a real possibility in Artie’s eyes because he threatened me with death if any of it occurred…) Anyway, she is the cutest thing & the bitch knows it. Girl ran me ragged! Happily though, we both came home tired & chill so she finally slowed down a bit in my tiny apartment allowing me to watch 2/3 of The Departed on DVD in peace. LOVED it! Although I didn’t realize until this movie how similar Matt Damon & Leonardo DiCaprio looked – kept confusing them throughout (maybe it’s just a white boy thing…) On a side comment: I had to pause at the scene where Jack Nicholson whips out his dick to discern if it was really his or not – I’m guessing not since it looked black & you can actually see balls out of his pants – so I guess he was holding a dildo. But I have to say though that, in slow mo, Matt Damon’s face is PRICELESS when Nicholson whips it out. I think I read somewhere that Nicholson ad-libbed that scene…

Anyhoo, Saturday night I went to see CORAM BOY with my man… overall, I liked – although I’m not really into chorale music. It was surprisingly dark. Actually it was like a darker Charles Dickens story with underage sex, infanticide, child prostitution, rape, murder & a hanging thrown in for good measure… you know, your usual Broadway fare if Broadway was in Russia. Afterwards, we went to a Cuban restaurant (of course I forget the name…) in Hell’s Kitchen where the appetizers rocked – the mussels were awesome (my seafood casserole entrée was just so-so…). Their mojitos were good though (I love it when they use real sugar-cane.)

Sunday we slept in & then I trekked to NJ via Port Authority to visit the parental unit. Had a 3 hour lunch with them, hung out & ended up taking a nap… They drove me back into the city & met Billie briefly. They too agree she is the cutest thing, and they’re really not into dogs. Watched the end of The Departed with Billie (jeez, could they shoot one more person in the head?!?) & just chilled as it was our last night together.

*End scene.*