Bearshorty's musings

Saturday was a far busier day by far. Today was mostly relaxing day. The weather yesterday turned cold and rainy, very non-May like. And this morning was very cold. Going outside for a walk today was warmer than in the apartment. Tomorrow, however, looks very promising and we will take advantage of that.

On Saturday, there were already plans for a museum day and the weather just made that plan work even better. Medusa and I went to museums - first The Museum of Moving Image in Queens and then the Metropolitan Museum of Art (or the Met) in Manhattan. Both were lots of fun.

I've never been to the Museum of Moving Image before and I probably would not have gone but Medusa heard about the Exhibit on the Music Video and its history and so we went. And it was a great installation. I didn't realize just how far back the music videos go - to the beginning of the 20th century. And we could also watch clips of original MTV broadcast and other forms of evolution in video including fan vidding (They had three of those - Closer on (Star Trek Kirk/Spock one), and Vogue (300 one) and another). And there were videos running on a giant screen and just a lot of information. There were two floors of that and it was entertaining and educational. The permanent installation called "Behind the Scenes" was a lot of fun too - it went into different departments of movie making - from costumes and masks, directors and props and building models. I loved seeing different masks. And there were some interactive exhibits. I even made two little stop motion animations. I actually wish we had more time there but after almost three hours we were really hungry. But I highly recommend this place.

We walked for a bit to an Indian buffet place we found on Yelp the night before. And we piled on the food. The food was good. I didn't even eat dinner that night - I ate so much.

Then we took the subway to the Met and spent a couple of hours there. The Met was super crowded. Mostly because of the weather and the rain. It is my favorite museum in the world - and I've been to many. I love that I can just pay a dollar and go in and their special exhibitions are always worth it. The two we went too were super crowded which cut down the enjoyment a little but it was still fascinating. The first special exhibition was "Punk: Chaos to Couture." While it was all loud music and a bit of punk history (bathroom at CBGBs and the London store) it was mostly punk by major designers like Dolce Gabbana etc. So it was just really weird juxtaposition because Punk is not meant to be designer and it didn't leave the best impression. The clothes were certainly interesting and I liked the boots on one design a lot but I wasn't sure of the message of it all. And it was so crowded.

The second special exhibition called "Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity" was a bit less crowded but much more interesting. It is closing tomorrow and I might get a chance to see it again but I'm just glad I actually didn't miss it. It was a very interesting and fresh take to present Impressionism. It focused on portraits the artists drew, in particular on the dress within the portrait, mostly of the women. And in each gallery, on the floor, were the period dresses, usually 2-3 per room. Often the dresses matched the dresses in the paintings and sometime it was the exact dress worn in the painting. And that juxtaposition was just remarkable. There was one black dress that was particularly gorgeous. A wonderful exhibit and the curator of that deserves many accolades. Just to put that together. And it made me pay attention to fashion. (Also, some patrons had a hard time processing that some children in dresses with long hair in the 19th century paintings were boys - that was amusing to watch)

After those, we walked around the American wing for a bit before we needed to head home. I need to not forget to come back sometime in July, because the Met is going to have The Cyrus Cylinder, an ancient Persian artifact, famous for, among other things, allowing Jews back to Judea after Babylonian Exile. I've been teaching about it for a few years now and I would love to see it in reality.

We both ate so much at the Indian that we really didn't want dinner, once we got home. Bear was home already and he got us movie tickets on the way back from work. Medusa wanted to see "Iron Man 3" and I knew Bear wanted to see it too. I was sort of neutral on it. But it occurred to me that I could just go see "Fast and Furious 6" at the same time and that made it perfect. Of course, going to our movie theater on a Saturday night was a bit ridiculous, and I don't think I want to attempt it again. It was so crowded. Extremely so. Parking was an adventure - we sort of squeaked by. And we had to get through a tight crowd just to get in the movie theater even with tickets at hand (thank goodness we had the tickets beforehand). There were many for later shows who weren't let in yet. And my theater was already packed more than 25 minutes early. Good thing I just had to find a seat for me - and I did get a good one. But it was so full. And so many parents brought their kids - I was sitting next to four year old. It is not really a children's movie but I guess many parents didn't want to find babysitters.

"Fast and Furious 6" was exactly the movie I expected it to be: silly summer fun with ridiculous and not even remotely realistic stunts, with lots of eye candy muscles (I do love those arms) and fun with my slashy goggles. It was definitely fun to watch it in a crowd. It was not claiming to be anything else and I enjoyed it despite times where I went "I'm really sitting here and just watching people drive." ( spoilery talk )

Compared to yesterday, today was pretty mild - just going to the store and later for a nice walk with Bear. It is nice to relax a little.

We finally made it to Brooklyn this morning to visit my grandparents and give my grandmother her birthday presents. The snow is slowly melting but it is still hard to find parking anywhere.

After weeks of waiting, I got my teaching assignment for my writing classes for the Spring, which starts in two weeks. I’ll be on Tuesday/Thursday afternoon schedule there and my classes are completely filled right now. I really will need to pace the grading. So Friday will be my only at home day. I will really have a busy semester and I’m actually looking forward to that. I need to start writing lectures from my Global class next week.

“Mountains of the Moon” – 1990 movie about Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke and their African expedition to discover the source of the Nile. Very much old school explorers movie; very British too. I liked it a lot. My favorite scene was when Burton and Livingston compared scars. Fiona Shaw was great as Isabel Burton.

After looking on the internet for various cross stitiching and craft idea I came upon this exhibition in Manhattan called “A Stitch In Jewish Time: Provocative Textiles.” It is a free exhibition and I will definitely put it on my ‘try to see’ list. The pictures of the pieces in the exhibition look very original.

Exercise – 30 minutes on the Wii – I do wish they had longer exercises; I don’t like to keep picking different ones to get to 30 minutes.

Cross stitch – I decided on two ply, I did most of the ball in two-ply with a middle yellow section in three to compare. Since there wasn’t a significant difference and two ply is easier to start the stitch with, I’ll do that. I also did satin stitch for the eyes of the toys. The needle is much sharper for the quilt cloth than for normal Aida cloth, I need to be a bit more careful.

Late last night, Mama decided that she wanted to go to a museum today after all (instead of a party Papa and she were invited to) and her decisions tend to rule in our household and so I was happily dragged along today. I actually did want to use the free Museum Day ticket since it was an opportunity to go to a museum I was curious about but didn’t want to spend the money. I generally get lazy about actually going somewhere and while Bear and I were thinking of going, he had to work today. So I’m glad I actually went with my parents. We went to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space museum – which is really a retired USS naval carrier plus a tour of a real submarine. It usually costs $22 (which Papa had to pay since he did not print his free ticket).

( photo of the Intrepid )

It is a really big and fascinating ship. It was commissioned in 1943 and served in the Pacific during WWII and then up to Vietnam. It was also used to pick up astronauts a few times. It held more that 3,000 people at the same time. We started by going up on the flight deck with lots of planes painted in fun designs. The views of the city were nice up there too. My favorite part of the ship was probably the Navigation Bridge and the Captain’s and officer’s quarters on the very top of the ship. Just lots of cool gadgets. The Hanger Deck had lots of hands on exhibits educating about the working of the ship and some space capsule replicas. It was very kid friendly and I kept thinking how Lenya would have liked this (he is 9). There was a replica of a Gemini capsule where you could actually lie down inside in its seat for photographic purposes. Because I was in Kennedy Space Center and have seen “From the Earth to the Moon” and “Moonshot” I feel I had a lot of background to put their space exhibits in perspective. I liked climbing in the capsule though.

( flight desk on the Intrepid )

After we stopped by the gift shop (I got a magnet) and a café for lunch, we went on the Growler submarine. This was an actual US nuclear deterrent submarine during the Cold War and it patrolled off a Russian coast. (Since my parents were on the other side of the curtain during the Cold War and I grew up on the other side too, it is always fun to go to exhibits on the Cold War here. It is like watching US story of advancement on Japan and being from Japan, I think – which they actually included in the little movie on the ship – actually showing kamikaze pilots and their reasons from the Japanese perspective. It was very impressive.) Anyway, to get to the submarine you have to show that you can pass through a hatch. I wasn’t claustrophobic or anything. If the sub was filled with its crew of 80-90, I think I might have been. It would feel like a sardine can. I liked seeing ordinary places where people lived, like bathrooms and tiny offices and small bunks among all the highly technical equipment.

( submarine )

We decided not to wait in line to see the inside of a British Airways Concord, since a plane is a plane. By this time we were tired. I’m counting hours and hours of walking as exercise today since my feet are killing me. And after the museum we still had a long walk to the subway and a long ride home. I’m going to sleep early. And tomorrow I will torture my legs with rollerblading (since Bear is coming over).

On the way to the subway station I discovered an amazing street - 46th street between 9th and 8th Avenue is full of restaurant after restaurant. It is like all food cultures in the world decided to be on this one block. There was Thai place, Chinese, Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian and I think other restaurants. There was a blues bar and a piano bar, an Irish pub and other bars. If I lived in the city, I could try out restaurants on this one street for a while. That is why I love New York – I always discover a street I haven’t been to and it amazes me.

I took some random pictures of the city too:

( pictures of Manhattan )

I downloaded the photos once I got home and then I was too tired to do much else. I did rewatch ‘Community.’ I was thinking about watching some Highlander or maybe “Prince of Persia” but I think I would just read instead.

Today was a really good day. I’m really glad we went. Ability to go for free is a great incentive.

My cousin Vika had a little girl yesterday – congratulations to her!

It is rainy again and cold. Here the sky is blue in one part and them another part is gray cloud and rain. It was alternating like this all day.

I had eggs for breakfast for once. Papa made them for me.

My feet are really tired from all the walking in the past week. I have new sneakers too, which I don’t think helps. Today, first we took a metro to Yakub Kolas station to another general store and did a bit of random shopping. We saw a magnifying glass that was only $2, for example. I also bought lipstick and blue eye shadow. Lipstick was only $2 as well, much better than $14 in New York.

After the store we went to Komarovskiy Rynok – a big covered market (there is uncovered seasonal fruit and vegetable section too. The prices here are lower and it is a bit like farmer’s market). We got some kolbasa and cheese and had nice baked goods. Papa bought honey as well. My camera batteries died just before we got there, so no more pictures the whole day. I forgot to bring my extra batteries, they were in my bag at home.

We took the trolleybus to Nemiga and dropped all the shopping at Katya’s before we went to Belarus fast food place where we ate yesterday and got lunch. I had fried potatoes and a chicken cutlet and salad this time. It was ok, nothing special. Still, I’m eating as much potatoes as I can while I’m here.

We walked up to Komsomolskaya street to Karl Mark street to the National History Museum. We bought tickets to all exhibition rooms including the special collections. (The tickets are sold separately, in case people want to just see one room or two, or don’t have money for the whole thing. It cost us $4 per person and the museum sales person did ask us first how much money we were planning on. We were being extravagant. ) We saw ancient artifacts room that included Neolithic stuff and the first printing press. Then we went to see the special collection of Medieval Torture Devices. Well, it was actually late Early Modern Period torture devices, but “Medieval” looks better on the poster. Gruesome, cool display. There was mannequins to illustrate various tortures. I also learned that when a head is cut off, it still lives from a few seconds to a minute. That is just awful. We also saw a room of paintings about the Battle against Teutonic Knights (knights lost eventually). There was also lots of stuff about the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Belarus was part of that for a while) including awesome family trees going back 500 years, modern fashions, photographs and musical instruments and such from a century ago and a room of uniforms and weapons of the twentieth century.

After the museum – my legs were already killing me – we stopped by a book store where I bought a map of Belarus and a map of Minsk, postcards for grandparents, a book in Belorussian and a Russian-Belorussian dictionary. And a notebook that teaches first graders how to write in Russian for Bear. After seeing Belorussian everywhere, I figured I need a bit of a recap in it (I had Belorussian language and literature in school from third to seventh grades). I get the easy stuff like street signs and announcements on trains but literature is hard. Plus, it will be cool to have another dictionary. Papa recommended Bykov as a good Belorussian writer (he also translates his own work in to Russian, which we have at home). I tried reading some of it in the evening – I definitely need a dictionary. I can read easier children’s prose mostly with no problem.

Russian, Belorussian and Ukrainian are three Slavic languages that are very similar in a lot of ways. Vocabulary is at times different but a lot of basic grammar rules are the same. Most people in Minsk speak Russian from birth, Belorussian is mostly spoken in villages. Since 1992 there is a bit of more of a movement to revive it and a language on the same level with Russian. Now Belarus has two official languages: Belorussian and Russian but all the signs are in Belorussian. It is not too hard to learn one if you know another but it is still a different language. Belorussian is a bit of a mixture in vocabulary between Russian, Polish and Ukrainian.

My parents also bought so much candy at the candy store. I keep eating little cakes all the time here, since they are so delicious.

While we were waiting for Katya, before going home, Mama and I stopped by Lidia Soveilevna’s apartment. Her view is just amazing – looking toward the river and the center of the city.

Mama went for her cosmetology appointment at 5:30pm while we went home and Aunt Vera fixed us dinner of venegret (salad from beats) and pickles and kolbasa. Then it was time for my own appointment. They didn’t have facials but they had face masks and I got one of those. It was very relaxing and everything. I felt very fancy.

In the evening we were too tired to go anywhere so we just hung out at home. Sasha only paid for the internet after nine, so I could only call Bear at ten. He already finished the latest Dresden Files book I gave them so we discussed Harry Dresden for a bit.