April's donation

This month, I donated to EntrepreneursNOW!, a program that teaches high school students to be entrepreneurs.

I am unsure how just giving them money for nothing teaches them to be entrepreneurs, but I learned about it through a friend and thought, what the hell.

A movie set in Astoria!

Throughout my nearly 4 years here, I have walked through many streets being used for movie and TV shoots (just last week, I walked through the CW's "Gossip Girl", "Confessions of a Shopaholic" starring Isla Fisher, and "Duplicity" starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owen, the last one yesterday in the Village.)

Today, on 30th Street in Astoria -- my neighborhood --- they are prepping to shoot a scene of "Julie & Julia". Here is a synopsis from www.imdb.com, as well as a photo of a famous Astoria building that I am sure will be in the background (above).

Synopsis:
The film follows Powell, a government employee who decides to cook her way through legendary cook Julia Child's classic cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in one year's time out of her small Queens kitchen. Powell blogs her daily experiences, gaining a loyal following along the way.

A Catered Affair

My brother-in-law was nice enough to get my sister (who is visiting from Aruba) and me tickets to "A Catered Affair", which opened at the Walter Kerr Theater on W 48th Street last week. It was great, especially Faith Prince as the mother and Harvey Fierstien as the uncle!!!! I highly recommend it. www.playbill.com


Below is the info:


Synopsis:
In 1953, relationships are strained to the limit when a Bronx couple must choose whether to spend their life savings on a family business or to launch their only daughter's marriage with a lavish catered affair.

Show Advisory:
None

Genre:
Musical

Cast List:
Faith Prince
Tom Wopat
Matt Cavenaugh
Harvey Fierstein
Leslie Kritzer
Philip Hoffman
Katie Klaus
Heather MacRae
Lori Wilner
Kristine Zbornik

Production Credits:
John Doyle (Direction)
David Gallo (Set Desing)
Ann Hould-Ward (Costume Design)
Brian MacDevitt (Lighting Design)
Dan Moses Schreier (Sound Design)
Zachary Borovay (Projections)

Other Credits:
Lyrics by: John Bucchino
Music by: John Bucchino
Book by: Harvey Fierstein

Aristotle joins the crew

There is a new statue in the little Athens Square Park on 30th Ave. It is a shiny new bust of Aristotle.

He joins the statue of Socrates and Athena in our largely Greek neighborhood. Opa!

84 Charing Cross Road

I saw this address 2 weeks ago as I was walking around central London --- I used to walk up Charing Cross Road every day on my way to class back in 1994.

I walked by its corresponding address at E 72nd and 3rd Avenue in New York today.

That is because 84 Charing Cross Road is also the name of a book by Helen Hanff, detailing the 20 years of written correspondence between 2 people who never actually met (editor's review from amazon.com below. No, I did not kiss 84 Charing Cross Road. It is now a sushi restaurant and anyway, that's just plain weird.)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

84, Charing Cross Road is a charming record of bibliophilia, cultural difference, and imaginative sympathy. For 20 years, an outspoken New York writer and a rather more restrained London bookseller carried on an increasingly touching correspondence. In her first letter to Marks & Co., Helene Hanff encloses a wish list, but warns, "The phrase 'antiquarian booksellers' scares me somewhat, as I equate 'antique' with expensive." Twenty days later, on October 25, 1949, a correspondent identified only as FPD let Hanff know that works by Hazlitt and Robert Louis Stevenson would be coming under separate cover. When they arrive, Hanff is ecstatic--but unsure she'll ever conquer "bilingual arithmetic." By early December 1949, Hanff is suddenly worried that the six-pound ham she's sent off to augment British rations will arrive in a kosher office. But only when FPD turns out to have an actual name, Frank Doel, does the real fun begin.

Two years later, Hanff is outraged that Marks & Co. has dared to send an abridged Pepys diary. "i enclose two limp singles, i will make do with this thing till you find me a real Pepys. THEN i will rip up this ersatz book, page by page, AND WRAP THINGS IN IT." Nonetheless, her postscript asks whether they want fresh or powdered eggs for Christmas. Soon they're sharing news of Frank's family and Hanff's career. No doubt their letters would have continued, but in 1969, the firm's secretary informed her that Frank Doel had died. In the collection's penultimate entry, Helene Hanff urges a tourist friend, "If you happen to pass by 84, Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me. I owe it so much." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Obama!

I just got a call to be in an Barack Obama promo (I would be unpaid, of course) but they unfortunately did not call me till 3 hours before they plan to shoot.

Too bad, it would have been nice to be part of history.