Tuesday 20 April, 2004 at 11:18AM (Nereus)  ::  permalink  ::  comments (3)

Hey. We've had some nice weather recently with temperatures yesterday hitting mid 80's°F (which is getting up to around 30°C). The crap that accumulated in the pool over winter was cleaned out yesterday as well, which is always a good sign that summer is on the way.

We headed out last weekend (Sunday) to Manhattan and spent most of the day sifting around Greenwich Village with our friend Alt (da Fish). We had a 2 o'clock lunch at a cafe followed by some time spent at nearby Washington Square Park where we sat down and chatted and attempted to get the squirrels to come to us (a couple did, until they saw we had no food and then they lost interest). It was nice there; all the trees have new leaves and blossoms are opening up and it was all very 'springtime in NYC' if ya know what I mean, that little period of time between the late winter's cold with dirty snow and slush on the streets and the summer's suffocating heat and smells that resemble something like fried goats, where to get some fresh air you need to open a window and stick your head inside a building. Heh ok it's Douglas Adams but there ya go.

After chillin' at the park for a while, there was a bit of shopping (clothes) and then back to the cafe for coffee and desert (they do an awesome carrot cake and just as awesome tiramisu). We then headed off to Angelika Film Center (still in the Village) which usually shows all the 'artsy' non-mainstream non-commercial type films. At Altie's urging we saw a movie titled 'Good bye, Lenin!' by Wolfgang Becker, and I have to thank Alt for that, it was a really good movie.

The dialogue was in German with English subtitles and tells the story of an East German mother living in Berlin in 1989 in the era of socialism. She has a heart attack and falls into a coma for 8 months after seeing her son in a protest march for freedom and democracy (she's a pretty gung-ho supporter of socialism). While she is in a coma the socialist regime crumbles, the Berlin wall falls, and coca-cola advertising runs rampant. When she comes out of the coma the doctor tells her son and daughter that their mother cannot handle any stress or shocks, so they (mainly the son) decide to take her home and pretend that the old regime is still in place. It's really funny as well as giving a good glimpse at life in socialist East Germany before the wall fell. If you get a chance to see this film, definitely do it, it's really worthwhile viewing. If you need more convincing, it's won a pile of European film awards along with nominations in the Academy and Golden Globe awards for best foreign language film.

It was a good day in NYC. Ok that's about it for now. I have other things to tell but I'll keep this entry just as it is.