Yo La Tengo: Even Cooler Than You Thought

By Yo La Tengo, I really mean Georgia, the drummer, and this is almost two decades before she would join Ira in the greatness that is YLT. This is a video her parents, the Hubleys, made. It's pretty genius. Just like Malice who introduced it to me.

Don't Eat That, Monkey!

The New York Times had this interesting article yesterday.
I thought it was enjoyable and I learned something.
Maybe you will too.
If not, here's a picture so you don't have to read.

Best of Brooklyn: Gyms

Pre-Bean, I was more of a gym monkey than a gym rat. With the Bean, I like to make sure I get some exercise everyday, but I certainly don't spend nearly as much time at the gym as I used to. I've lived in Brooklyn for almost six years and belonged to 3 gyms, not including the oodles of dough I've hemorraged at various yoga and pilates places around town.

My first Brooklyn Gym was the YWCA on 3rd Ave and Atlantic Ave. Talk about cheap--I paid $300 for the whole year! Of course, you get what you pay for. There were like three treadmills, two StairMasters, and three stationary bikes. At least two pieces of equipment were broken at all times. My favorite was the bike whose seat was swathed in duct tape for 8 months! The ambiance of the place was really unique--it was mostly really old, black men who would lift crazy amounts of weights and ride each other between sets. There were two guys who literally wore the same outfit every single time I saw them and no, they didn't wash them.

When the ladies locker room wasn't full of camp groups, it was full older women with no qualms about showing off their birthday suits. I saw more nudity there than the summer I spent at a nudist colony. For a while there was a functioning sauna and steam room, which was closed down for violating like 75 health and safety codes. People would shave their legs in there! And stink it up with eucalyptus oil. Were there any amenities? Like towels or TV's? No,no towels, but they did install TV frames but never got the money for the actual TV's. There was a good pool, which wasn't very crowded and they had one terrific yoga teacher who I followed to various private studios. In hindsight, although the Y seems pretty skanky I liked it and was bummed when it closed.

After the demise of the Y, I joined to the Park Slope Fitness Club, which was certainly a step-up from the Y. I think it started at around $65.00 a month. There was a lot more cardio equipment and they gave you clean towels when you checked in and they had some decent yoga classes. No pool or cranky old men so all in all adequate but not that memorable.

Then Satan came to Park Slope and the PSFC got bought out by Crunch, which is an evil evil evil corporation. It's a total business so they pushed people join, which made it so crowded. The worst was the locker room, which I now see as misogynistic. There were an insufficient number of small lockers and thin little benches for dozens of women coming from work. As you know, NYC women have to carry a lot of stuff so if you made the mistake of going to the gym on a Tuesday at 6:00 PM, there'd be no available locker and no hanger for your coat so you'd have to stand around this tiny space with all your crap looking like a hawk waiting for someone to free a locker. They would fix the broken machines a lot faster than the Y did, but there were times when you would have to wait 30 mins for a treadmill. What really annoyed me was all the cutesy ads. Like: We know you only use us for your body. We're okay with that. Whatever, you think the first time you read it, but it's right in the stall so you end reading it 10,00 times. Crunch also raised their rates and sent some cutesy yet ambiguous letter saying so. All in all a terrible place.

Carrying the Bean in my belly, made me really miss swimming, which is one of the best things you can do while pregnant. So, I froze my Crunch membership for "medical reasons" and joined Eastern Athletic Club, which is right across from the library. My dream come true, no?

EAC is a little pricey at $104 month but since Crunch was $84 when I left, I thought the $20 increase would justify using the pool during my pregnant state. EAC is so nice. The pool is lovely--they even have a nice big plant. It's never been horribly crowded (mostly it's pretty empty) and the locker room is huge--no more hawk like behavior from this lady. Have I mentioned the views? You can see Manhattan from many of the windows. It feels so much classier than Crunch and, although you might not get this from my posts, I'm pretty classy when I'm not smoking my menthols and spitting my chewing tobacco. I joined EAC prior to N. getting the NH job, with the idea that once the Bean was born I could go back to Crunch. But now that I've see how the other half pumps the iron, there's no way I could go back to Crunch. N. said he suspected this would happen. Many moons ago he was a member of the EAC and really enjoyed his 2.5 workouts there. But he's more of a mental workout kind of guy.

Movies Are Kinda Like Books, Right?

I'm still between books. Perhaps I've been watching too many movies.

Wednesday, N. and I saw Baby Mama, which I knew going into wouldn't be deep or anything. I wonder if I was more inclined to see it since I'm pregnant. It's entertaining, but not in a $10.00/ticket way. Definitely more of a renter or good plane movie. I like Tina Fey and wish she wrote the movie instead Michael McCullers. I felt Fey could have given it a little more bite, made it a little more witty funny. The acting was good; N. dug Amy Poehler quite a bit. Romany Malco was good too, but N. and I fear he's becoming the token black man who kicks it with white women since his role as Oscar was pretty similar as his role on Weeds. Steven Martin was excellent. Pony tail and all.

My problem with the movie was how, in the end, it really privileges the idea of conventional parenting. In the beginning, Fey's character is a single 37 year-old who really wants a baby. When fertilization and adoption don't work she hires Poehler's character to be her surrogate. But at the end, it ends up that Poehler's character keeps her baby (it never was Fey's egg to begin with) and even though the chances were 1 in a million, Fey ends up getting pregnant the old fashioned way. Of course, at the end of the movie not only does she have her "own" baby, but she has the cute dude too. I know I'm acting like I need to write a paper for my undergrad Representations of Women in Film class but still. I thought it was a lame, Hollywood ending.

On Monday N. and I watched Gone Baby Gone since we'd had it out from Net Flix since, like, January. The plot felt a bit unclear and I don't know if it's just me but I thought Michelle Monaghan was like the worst actress. More importantly, I had a HUGE problem with the ethical question the movie tries to bring up. Amanda, this 4 year old, is abducted from her totally horrific, non-parenting mother played by Amy Ryan. All these events unfold and it turns out that the little girl is happily living with Morgan Freeman, the former detective who was the head of the Children's Division, a job he took because his daughter was abducted and killed blah blah blah.

I suppose Ben Affleck/Denis Lehane (it's based on his novel) wanted to make viewers wonder if it's ever justified to take a child from her own poor environment , where she will undoubtedly grow up severely disadvantaged, to live in one where she will have way more opportunities to thrive and prosper. So yes, Amy Ryan's character, is a terrible mother BUT there wasn't abuse and I do believe she loved her daughter although she was certainly guilty of neglect. Still, it seems clear to me that kidnapping is never justifiable. I know there are all kinds of problems with Child Protective Services but to me that's 100% the only route to go.

Also, I couldn't buy that Morgan Freeman would make another parent, regardless of the kind of parent she was, suffer with through the abduction/possible murder of a child.

We also saw The Visitor, which doesn't really fit in with the (inadvertent) baby theme. The Visitor is a terrific film though--quiet, moving, and touching. You should see that one if you don't have anything to read.

PS The answer to the contest that only 1 person (out of my 3.5 readers) entered was: an African-American woman who told me she was once pregnant with twins. Good thing no one won although the next time there's a contest, I will scounge up a prize.

Best Of Brooklyn: Thai

While I'm still able to walk (rather than waddle) to dining establishments around the Borough of Kings, I thought I'd have a semi-regular Best of Brooklyn series of posts.

Let's talk about Thai food.

People often ask if pregnancy has brought any weird food cravings. The only thing close is how much more I desire Thai food. I always liked it but since being pregnant I find myself wanting it at least once, sometimes twice a week. Weirder is how I want the same thing (Pad See Eu) even two days in a row, which is so not my (non pregnant) style.

I think the best Thai food in Brooklyn is Watana on 7th Ave between 14th and 15th. It's consistently good and fresh. It's also cheap since it's BYOB. N. usually gets some kind of domestic brewsky at the bodega across the street unlike his usual fancy-man wine at restaurants with liquor licenses.

(Not drinking for these past 6! months [yes, the Bean inadvertently imbibed alcohol during its first month since I had no idea!] has made me painfully aware of the insane markup on booze in restaurants. I know everyone knows this but it's all the more painful when sober to realize that your hunny has spent $20 on two glasses of average wine when you can get a decent bottle for less than $10! I'm working on N. to get a flask, but he thinks it's tacky.)

Back in the day I often ate at Song on 5th Ave and 2nd St. because it was $8.00 entree cheap. But I stopped two years ago because it was always insanely noisy and the noodles were greasy. I went back with a friend last week who said the food was better. I was pleased that the curry I ordered (I had Ped See Eu at Wantana the night before and the Bean's diet should have variety) was delish! N. and I went last night, but my noodles were greasy! And overly beefy! Wantana has a lot more veggies in their Pad See Eu so they get more points. N. liked his Massaman curry so maybe the rule is only curries at Song. Song is not BYOB but even with a glass of wine, last night's bill (incl. tip) was $25.00

Mango at 52nd 7th Ave in Park Slope is okay. If you do take-out, you need to get extra rice because they are very stingy with it.

The truly best and cheapest BYOB Thai food in the smallest space is probably East Village Thai on 7th St btwn 2nd and 3rd but since this is a Brooklyn-centric blog I'm not going to mention it.

Don't Take the Blue Ones

A few years back on WNYC--NPR's affiliate station--I heard some statistic about people giving up their seats on the subway for pregnant women. From most likely to least likely it went like this:

Women
Black Men
Men of Color (other than African-Americans)
White Men

These results don't surprise me. Despite the progress of women and minority groups blah blah blah, it's still a white man's world and how dare some knocked up chick expect him to get off his butt for her.

Anyway. While there are no books to be reviewed today there have been several milestones. The Bean has entered its 28th week, which means I am starting my (lucky) 7th month of pregnancy and beginning the third trimester. I've been very lucky with the pregnancy thus far and I'm hoping it sticks in this last part too.

The other exciting milestone was that someone on the 6 train offered me their seat! Whoo-hoo. Can you guess the race and gender of this generous person? I'll reveal the answer the next time I post....I'd offer a prize as an incentive but honestly I'm too lazy to come up with one and mail it.

I was on the 6 train because I had to go to the OB for the monthly check on the Bean's heart. I also had to be tested for gestational diabetes. I had to take what's called the glucose challenge. Sounds like a race some corporation would sponsor but really I had to drink like 30 liters of pure glucose without eating anything before or after. It was pretty vile. It tasted like slightly thicker orange jello before it jells, which actually isn't bad except when you have to drink so much of it all at once. Exactly an hour later I had my blood taken.

I do hope I passed the glucose challenge; if I didn't the next step involves drinking even grosser stuff and being monitored at the lab for 3 hours. Go Bean, Go Bean, Go!

All that glucose must have knocked me out because when I got home I crashed like a frat boy on quaaludes and vodka.

BBG

Another cool thing about Brooklyn is the Botanic (yes, it's Botanic, people. The Botanical is in the Bronx) Gardens. On Tuesdays (and Saturdays before noon) it's free, which I (occasionally known as "the cheap one") really dig.

This past weekend was the Sakura Matsuri festival, which means the cherry blossoms are peaking and 10,000 screaming children are set loose upon the well-manicured grass. Plus, there's Japanese food and music going on. N. and I opted to skip it and go this morning. There were still a lot of people but not nearly as bad as it can be on the weekends or at the fest. The cherry blossoms were nice and the atmosphere was pretty pleasant. We discovered the celebrity walk which has leaf prints for famous people who were born in Brooklyn---Joe Torre, Rosie Perez, Walt Whitman, etc. The path was virtually empty compared to the rest of the garden.

Once I took my mom to the garden and there were 100,000 Orthodox ladies with their 6.5 children apiece there. I think she might still be traumatized. And to be honest, it was rather intense. I once went with my dad on a cold fall day, which was nice because it was empty. I've also went there with my former high school English teacher this past fall.

If you want to get married or have a commitment ceremony in Brooklyn, the place to do it is the BBG. We had friends that did it almost three years ago. The whole place does feel pretty magical at night. N. and I aren't classy enough for the BBG so we had to marry in Queens....

Wogging? Jogging?

What does one call blogging at work? There's really nothing for me to do right now because my boss isn't in (yet) and I've done everything else. I realize this post is lame but at least I'm posting, right?

FRIDAY BOOKS 2.0

I had to speed read The Book of Dahlia by Elissa Albert because it was from my mom's library--the non-Brooklyn branch and she didn't want a fine. I hadn't heard of it; she got it because she read some great review of it or something. She lent it to me because she didn't get past the first twenty pages. I know why. It seems geared to people more my age than hers. It turns out I took a few yoga classes with Albert back when I was doing community yoga down on Atlantic Ave.

The book is as non-Jhumpa Lahiri as you could ask for. Not that I want every book to be like Lahiri, but Albert's writing is cool and cute and snappy with tons of pop culture references while Lahiri's feels more timeless and classic. Albert is a good writer but I didn't love the book. I found it readable because of the snappy writing but the characters were so unlikeable that I found it a bit tedious.

I'll admit that the conceit of the book is interesting: Dahlia Finger, 29 year old fuck up, who spends her father's money, smokes tons of pot, sleeps around, watches old movies religiously, gets diagnosed with a brain tumor. A serious, going to kill you, brain tumor. The first chapter is terrific--extremely tight in executing the plot and establishing the character. But while you sympathize with Dahlia for her illness, you never (ever) like her. I kept wanting her to change in some way and she never does. In a way this is interesting since one of the rules you often hear in writing workshops is that your characters need to change--even if the change is seemingly minute. I read somewhere that Dahlia is the anti-heroine of the novel and while I guess it's an interesting conceit and explains why she wouldn't change, I found her frustrating and tedious. Her relationship with her brother is a good example. They're best buds till he's a teenager and then he becomes a total asshole. From page 20 on, it's Dahlia's futile attempts to make her brother like her. Maybe 150 past that she realizes he's not going to change and from then on it's just this verbal diarrhea of what an ass he is. His assholeness is true, sure, but it's so extreme that he doesn't even feel real.

The same can be said for Dahlia's mother. She's so selfish that at some point around page 75 I felt like okay, how long do I have to spend with these awful people. But the writing is good and I guess that sort of saves it.

I read online that Albert's own brother had a brain tumor and it did make me feel a little differently towards to the book. Maybe more sympathetic. I'm not sure that this information should effect my reading of it but it did put it in a new light.

Now, I have nothing to read, which is a bit of a bummer. Luckily there's always Net Flix and TV.

When I'm 64...

My totally groovy dad will be 96!
For now, let's have him relish in his 64edness.
Congrats, dad. You've made it to the Beatles song!
That must make you feel kind of old considering they weren't even 30(!) when they wrote it.
Anyway, happy May Day everyone and happy birthday to my good "old" dad!