I love this song by Rufus Wainwright – Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk. It costs 99 cents in iTunes, but I just can’t bring myself to click the Buy button. I can’t explain it but I don’t feel I can spend on music, even though I would like to support the artist.

And yet, I don’t think twice about shelling out the same amount of money for new hair for my Second Life avatar. Go figure.

January 26-27, 2007
Hill Auditorium

Yeah, I went to a folk music festival. Not being a folk music lover of any degree, I didn’t expect to fully entertained. But man, I really had fun. The performers were all very talented musicians. Of all the amazing artists we watched, I have my favorites:

Jeff Daniels – Okay, he was actually the emcee, but he was great! He filled the time between acts with stories of his ironic experiences and lively blues songs (about his funny ironic experiences.) I sometimes wished he’d keep playing and just let the next act wait another five minutes.

Millish – This band was so cool. It was like… Irish… jazz. Check it out on iTunes – Hungry Man #1. Rockin’ song.

Jackie Greene – One heckuva talented blues kid. He’s got a beautiful rocker voice.

Kiyoshi Nagata Ensemble – Taiko (Japanese drum) group. They gave an astounding performance that was as mind-blowing to watch as it was to listen.

Rufus Wainwright – Friday night’s headliner. Charming New Yorker. He performed as though in a daze, even ad-libbing in middle of a song, but he was absolutely captivating. His music was easy to love.

Over the Rhine – The first half of their set had a sultry jazz lounge-y feel that I really enjoyed. Ironically, I overheard some people in the row ahead of us say that they didn’t like their style at all.

All in all, I’m so glad I went. I was exposed to a whole new branch of music that I think I can enjoy.

I slipped again this morning and fell on my left side. Mah.

* It was actually on my neighbor’s part of the sidewalk, so it’s not technically in my apartment’s scope of terror.

I am slipping fast into gelato madness. Last weekend, I broke down and bought a book of gelato recipes. Then I took it several steps further and bought: a non-skid mixing bowl, an angled measuring cup, an Oxo spatula, a $23 wire whisk, and ingredients. Thank goodness I scored 4 cute little jars of Piedmontese honey from Mail Order’s Booty Bin for a buck!

I followed the recipe almost perfectly (alas! it was the almost that portended my failure, but I haven’t gotten to that part yet.) I mixed, cooked, strained, cooled overnight. Finally, I poured the mixture into my ice cream machine to churn. After 20 minutes, I took a peek in the machine and saw immediately that the texture didn’t look right. I spooned some gelato out and tasted it. It was very icy. Too icy usually means not enough sugar. I kicked myself. Of course, I measured all my liquids in my new angled measuring cup, but not the only dry ingredient – sugar. I approximated two tablespoons by using a soup spoon. And now I’ve got a quart of icy honey “gelato.” Oh well. The road to gelato perfection is paved with tasty duds.

Oh my god, I loved this film. The casting was brilliant, the acting pure and flawless, the screenplay perfect.

The movie centers around the going-on-30 set with their emotions, responsibilities and challenges of being in relationships and needing to grow up. It’s easy to think you would never cheat or you would never let a relationship break down in silence. But as you keep watching, you see the characters fail and you know it could be you. We feel pain, we make mistakes, we make hard choices. And we hurt the ones we love without meaning to. And it’s scary. The Last Kiss delivered an honest slice of reality. I’m still in shock from how it tore at me.