Friday/Shabbat – Day 159/160
January 7, 2013
Friday and Shabbat were unfortunately more of the same. Singing and dancing without end. As a result this post is going to be kept very short. Unfortunately my Shabbat was mostly without the Shabbat and while everyone else was going out to eat their meals I was eating a supply of fruit and pita that I had purchased beforehand. Suboptimal.
The above photo portrays a fun moment of me being dragged around the rehearsal space, a definite highlight.
After rehearsal on Shabbat everyone walked to Nord’s (our director’s) home for snack and a little time to relax. Amongst the activities was a screening of the ‘newman’ scavenger hunt video which revealed just how poor our singing was that day. Thankfully the oldmen cut us a little slack.
Back we walked through the dangerous neighbourhoods of northwest Philly and late that night I finally made it back to Hamilton Court, my new residence!
Shabbat/Sunday – 153/154
January 1, 2013
Shabbat was super relaxed and gave me the opportunity to get through a whole stack of books! I consumed four over the weekend of various qualities. All thrillers. For some reason I didn’t quite have it in me to tackle anything more serious.
Sunday on the other hand was pretty exciting for me because I got to hang out with Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston, a good friend from home. First stop of the day was to MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art in midtown Manhattan. We spent a good few hours there, and though it wasn’t the cheapest gallery on offer, it was well worth it in my opinion.
Of particular note in the gallery was ‘The Scream’ by Edvard Munch, around which a thick crowd gathered to take photos. Amongst the pieces I enjoyed most were those of Rousseau and Monet. However, aside from the large collection of paintings, the museum also had varied displays on contemporary art.
From there we went to eat lunch, some yummy Sushi, and then to the Eugene O’Neil Theatre to see if we could get Ariel in for the evening’s production of ‘The Book of Mormon’. Unfortunately we didn’t win the ticket lottery, however, we did manage to secure tickets to a performance of another show, ‘Bare’. The show followed the story of two young gay men in a Catholic high school. One who wanted to ‘come out of the closet’ and the other who was ashamed of his sexuality and feared the repercussions of making his identity public. Overall the show was excellently written barring a few clichés that ultimately spoiled it for me. The music was upbeat and pop-py in the first act, with a number of good tunes, however in the second darker act, the music tended a little to the melodramatic.
Overall, worth going to see, especially with tickets priced at the $30 mark.
After that, did the usual and headed home on the subway for a good nights rest.
Shabbat/Sunday – Day 142/143
December 21, 2012
Shabbat I finally received some of the much needed rest I needed. With my family in New York, the day was spent sleeping, eating and reading magazines. After sundown it I arose from my deep slumber as there was not only work to be done but an unexpected journey to take. Of course, as my first act of freedom, I went with the family to see the Hobbit in 48FPS 3D IMAX at Loewe’s 34th.
Personally, I really enjoyed the movie despite a few minor gripes. In my opinion the VFX used on the dwarves or perhaps the makeup, was a little too visible in the format I saw, rendering them fake or almost cartoon like. In addition, it took some time to get used to the higher framerate and I’m still undecided on whether it has a place in cinema of the future.
However, despite these gripes, I felt the film stayed true to the character of ‘The Hobbit’ for better or for worse. Some critics have lambasted the film for its pacing and childlike character but the book itself is structured in such a way. It is a younger, lighter-hearted version of The Lord of The Rings, which, yes, does include lots of downtime between the action!
Overall my favorite elements were the portrayals of Radagast in Dol Goldur and the riddle scene between Bilbo and Gollum. One classic Hobbit and the other a good Peter Jackson addition. The scoring by Howard Shore was fantastic as always with a great theme in the song of the Misty Mountains. The movie was most enjoyable for me, particularly as a Tolkein fan, however I do see where the harsh reviews were coming from.
The late night was reserved for working on my final project for Ruby on Rails for which I had received an extension due to the time I lost trying to recover my visa forms on Friday. Till around 3AM I coded my heart out, and have actually made a decent webpage.
The next morning I needed a bit of a sleep in. It was also the day my brother Raph’s exam marks were due to come out. Thus much of the morning was spent lazily. However the afternoon was not to be my own as I was yanked out of the apartment to go shopping for a new winter wardrobe by my mum. In her eyes my previous clothes were completely unacceptable and so I returned two bags heavier from H&M with new things for the winter.
In the evening we went in search of some food and ended up at Raph’s choice, “Mr Broadway”, a Kosher meat restaurant where we shared a mixed grill as a family and I had some steak for the first time since leaving home.
On returning home I set to finishing my project and by the end I was rather proud. Still not perhaps happy enough to launch it publicly, but confident in my skills as a web developer.