the master of my non-ticketness

i hate ticketmaster. the fees are the big kicker, followed by the sneaky way tickets end up on ticketnow or stubhub within mere minutes of being released to the public. so i love the irony of this security check from last week.

Pappa Tarahumara @YBCA, 2/19/2009

Pappa Tarahumara
"Ship in a View"
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
February 19, 2009, 8PM


Japan’s Pappa Tarahumara, a dance-theater troupe, sailed about last Thursday in “Ship in a View,” creating bold images of remembrance while using intricate props to transform the stage at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts into an extraordinary, fantastical world.

Directed by founder Kiroshi Koike, “Ship in a View” pushes the abstract and imaginary, with the twelve dancers playing towards their strengths of operatic song, modern dance, gesture, and theater through sections that seemed like a series of fantastical clouds interweaving through dreams. The stage filled with blueish white fog, enveloping the centered wooden post and the audience in a 95-minute trance of swirling images and rocking emotions. And as a tiny ship embarked across the stage, we entered a world of water and motion. Various performers ran around the stage, wailed with heartbreak, and climbed the mast to look out towards the horizon, but “Ship” didn’t feel slapped together; on the contrary, the attention to detail astounded me...

For more, go here...

Photo by Sakae Oguma/Katsui Sato

something smells fishy

every year, we do a little spring cleaning, which regularly consists of me getting rid of really old t-shirts and those jeans that i never really hoped that i'd actually wear. todd's gift to the garbage bin normally includes a stinky old pair of basketball sneakers. each year, i try to sneak our singing rubber fish by him and slide it incognito into the donate pile, but it never works. billy the bass always ends up back in the closet; it was the valentine's day gift todd actually wanted way back in 2003 or so, and i was dumb enough to shell out $9.99 at walgreens for it.

last night, we got home late, and i fed alphie and popped into bed. soon i'd be off to dream world... until i heared bobby mcferrin's voice crooning in the front hall closet--"here's a little song i wrote, you might want to sing it note for note, don't worry, be happy..."--and kitty claws scampering quickly across the hardwood floors. alphie, doing what i've always wished i had the balls to do, attacked billy the bass. and billy fought back with song. fine, billy, you can stay for now.

you're my pump'kin

pumpkin bread pudding, served with champagne, part of a compete v-day breakfast
variations from martha s.'s recipe: i baked the entire batch in a 9x13 glass pan. baking time should be 40-50 min., depending on moisture preference. i also substituted egg whites for eggs and trader joe's soy creamer for milk. this version is made with brioche.

< i > heart < u >

friend: i just took a quick crash course in html formatting.
me: i love html... all the little letters that get hugged!

saving face

i have serious issues with facebook, primarily the ads. sure, it's sort of obvious, but ads are the driving force of everything free these days. well, except public transit... why can't diet dr. pepper sponsor my bus? i'd be more willing to drink it (the soda, not the bus) than when it sponsors the sugar-free top chef quick fire challenge.

oh, and facebook etiquette. like, do i only become "friends" on the site with my actual, real, live friends? because then i'd have about 10 actual facebook friends and those 10 people would then be faced with the sad, hard fact that i only have nine other friends and i'm a closet loser. or do i accept every "friend" request that pops into my inbox? and how do i politely say no to the random guy i went to elementary through high school with who, once we turned 10, never gave me the time of day except to tell me, in 5th grade, that my hair looked like a dried up bird's nest?

with that in mind, this arrived in my inbox yesterday. gee, thanks loehmann's, for wanting to be my facebook friend! now i feel special. like a special loser who loves discounted merchandise.

cinnamon sugar puffs

puff pastry can make any valentine's day special, even for those with very little baking skillz. this morning, as a trial run for v-day, i made these cinnamon sugar puffs without using a recipe, and todd didn't keel over. phew.

ingredients

• puff pastry (regular or whole wheat)
• flour
• ground cinnamon
• sugar
• cold butter (salted), sliced into thin slivers

directions

• put frozen puff pastry in fridge the night before to thaw.

the morning of:

• preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
• take your rolling pin and dust it with flour.
• on a clean work surface, unfold the puff pastry and dust it with flour, too.
• roll out your puff pastry a little bit (not too thin) until it's 1/8" thick.
• slice the pastry into 2 1/2" wide long strips (you can make them thicker if you chose to. just keep an eye on the baking process so that they cook evenly and thoroughly).
  
• cover the pastry slices with a thick coating of cinnamon.
• do the same with the sugar.
• press the topping into the pastry.
• top the sugar/cinnamon mixture with a light sprinkling of butter slivers.*
• place a silpat over a large oven-safe pan (spay a pan with baking spray).
• carefully, roll each coated strip from end to end, and place seam-side down on the silpat/pan, about 3 inches from each other.
• sprinkle the tops of them with leftover sugar and cinnamon.
• bake for approx. 10-18 minutes. time will vary depending on size and pastry.

*you can also add raisins or other dried fruit, chocolate chips, jam, etc.

SFB, Program 2, February 3, 2009

San Francisco Ballet
Program 2
Tuesday, February 3, 2009, 8PM

San Francisco Ballet’s initial program may show off its dancers’ liquid limbs, but Program 2 displays their steely attack and strength.

William Forsythe’s “in the middle, somewhat elevated” uses stark shadows and a cavernous stage to display wham-bam dance paired with Thom Willems’ synthesized romp full of wrps and zings. Dressed in teal with additional black hip-slung cropped tights for the women, the dancers, below a suspended duo of gold cherries (hence, the work’s title), whizzed about in contortions and jagged angles while enunciating the in-betweens. This rollercoaster of a ballet featured 10 incredibly strong dancers who complemented each other so well that they delivered one of the most high quality events I’ve ever seen on the Opera House Stage. Vanessa Zahorian, the ever-dependable technician, showed muscle and power as she plowed through some intense pirouettes and partnering, and Sofiane Sylve, with her tight ringlet curls, proved that she’s “on” even when hip-jutting off balance. The dark haired and He-Man-like Simon Ball, joining the cast as a guest artist (thank you, Houston Ballet!), matched up with Katita Waldo and later Sylve, in two dynamic duets based on trust, guts, and impeccable timing. The cast also included Elana Altman, Frances Chung, Lorena Feijoo, Pascal Molat, Joan Boada, and Ivan Popov. Without much grandeur, Forsythe has showcased raw, abstract ballet at its best. And to think “in the middle” premiered in 1987!

For more, go here.

Vanessa Zahorian and Joan Boada in Forsythe's
"in the middle, somewhat elevated."
All photos © Erik Tomasson

Japan Dance Now, YBCA, 1/29/09

Japan Dance Now
featuring Baby Q, Sennichimae Blue Sky Dance Club, and Nibroll
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Thursday, January 29, 2009, 8PM

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, over the past few years, has developed into an innovative arts presenting powerhouse. Not only is most of their season eclectic and forward-thinking, but also the visiting companies continue to challenge audiences’ minds and souls. Thursday night’s presentation of “Japan Dance Now” promised a window into Japan’s modern dance landscape, and it delivered, mixing the slick and the wow with the huh.

Baby Q, led by founder/dancer Yoko Higashino and live electronic musicians including Toshio Kajiwara, gave us an excerpt from the cerebral “E/G – Ego Geometria.” The overarching work looks at the physical and metaphysical aspects of the space-time continuum. In this solo excerpt, Higashino moved across the stage abruptly at first while dressed in clunky heels and draped skin-colored stretchy fabric from the top of her head to her thighs. Without being able to see her facial expressions, the images became shapes without emotion. Early on, Higashino walked decisively amongst different pools of light, yanking her arms and bending as if held about by strings, and partway through, she pulsed from her abdomen, almost as if a giant earthquake was coming while the music grew more insistent with each thumpety thump. Across the back wall, angular and formulaic images popped up, but the projection was best used when showing nightvision-like video images of Higashino, especially as she started to move more towards the metaphysical, shedding her cocoon for a ruby red dress sans face covering. Here, her movements became softer yet more powerful as she carved through space, with a yearning look piercing through her eyes...

For more, go here...

Photo: Sennichimae Blue Sky Dance Club

25 things about my 29 years

this "25 random things about me" questionnaire is sweeping through facebook like the rhinovirus at work. basically, you waste 30 minutes trying to come with random things about yourself out of thin air. it's hard, and my brain suffered from it.

twenty-five random things about me

25. My favorite number is 8. Anytime I pull a number out of my butt, like “I spent x minutes waiting for the bus” or “I read this paper x times today, and it still doesn’t make any sense,” I round up to the nearest 8. like 18. or 18,000, or 780. The number 8 makes me feel better, maybe because it’s a continuous loop. and i am quite loopy.

24. I love medium to big dogs, but can’t stand tiny ones. Sorry, but if my cat can beat up your pooch, we’ve got a problem.

23. Up until about a year ago, when I invested in 4 pairs of great sneakers, my shoe collection consisted of 90% black shoes.

22. I’ve broken 3 bones in my body: my left arm in kindergarten (some boy didn’t want me to be the first to climb the ladder and get into the playground house, so he used his 5-year-old manpower and heaved me over the side), my nose (either from a superman bicycle accident or from police in riot gear at a protest against the US’s invasion of Iraq), and my kneecap (freak pothole incident two+ years ago).

21. I’m a vegetarian for animal rights reasons.

20. My hair is naturally curly, and I wear it this way 3 days or so of each week. But almost every time, without fail, at least one colleague exclaims, “You got a perm! How cuuuuuuuuute!”

19. I worked in a music library for a summer, and couldn’t go a day without sneezing uncontrollably. It was then I realized sheet music and I don’t mix. But it gave me great reasons to yell, "oh sheet!"

18. Around age 12, I begged my parents to let me go to a dance camp in upstate New York for the summer. I then bawled my eyes out for 6 weeks straight. This is the same girl that happily moved across the country upon college graduation.

17. I’ve never cut myself with a knife, but this past weekend I sliced my finger with frozen spaghetti squash.

16. Back in elementary school, I was a huge Star Trek: The Next Generation fan. So big in fact, that I can now watch about 2 minutes of any episode and tell you exactly what that episode is about.

15. I bake for professional baseball players.

14. I have never visited Tahoe or Yosemite.

13. I haven’t ridden a bicycle since accident in #22.

12. I’ve been taking public transportation for 7 ½ years. The only time I drive is when traveling for work or going home to Florida, and I don’t miss it one bit. Well, except for the drive up/down A1A where you can put your windows down, poke your head out like a dog, and smell the salty ocean.

11. I could spend a whole week reading books and be very, very happy.

10. I have never stolen anything.

9. In grad school, I subtly threatened to sue the university for non-delivery of advertised master's program.

8. I have worked for two major ballet companies (Boston Ballet and San Francisco Ballet).

7. I’m running out of non-interesting things about me. fine. i went to space camp. and besides the underwater base camp building exercise, i loved it.

6. I carried a teal green beeper in high school.

5. My first car was a teal green mustang (to match the beeper, of course).

4. I can’t drink caffeinated coffee anymore without getting shakes. Back when I worked 12-hour days in Boston for a summer, I drank two large Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffees (with hazelnut syrup) every day. Then Todd made me stop because I was way to focused and “on crack.” Ever since, whenever I try and drink just a little bit, I get shakes and heart palpitations like crazy. It’s decaf or nothing for me now.

3. I can’t file things for the life of me; piles or one giant inbox are the way to go.

2. I hate crosswords, scrabble, and word games. I’m really more of an analytic type of girl. My GRE scores confirmed this.

1. I’m practical, yet idealistic. I love to hug trees, and one day one will hug me back.