where the wild things are

bravo

Last night Erin and I went to see Valentino: The Last Emperor at the Film Forum. We'd been hoping to get tickets to the 8:00 show to catch a Q&A with director Matt Tyrnauer and Vogue's André Leon Talley, but to no avail. So we cozied up with our easter candy in the middle of the third row for the 10:00 show. And guess what?

Matt Tyrnauer introduced the film himself, saying it was heartwarming and "a-mazing" to have a full house at 10:00 on a Tuesday night. He made it well worth our while. Jaunty 60's style caper music opens the film, but our hearts swelled collectively with the first bars of "Bette Davis Eyes."



For an hour and a half, we were swept from backstage to fittings to conference rooms to Valentino's breath-taking, and I mean breath-taking, homes. There was not a gratuitous sound bite, not a lull in the action. Tyrnauer must have had loads of fabulous material on the cutting room floor when he finished this restrained look into the end of Valentino's reign--truly the work of a gifted writer and disciplined editor.

Tyrnauer loved seeing his film so well-received in New York. He said it would play in "any city where anyone cares about life and love and passion for excellence." He was talking about Valentino Garavani, but I'd say the same for Tyrnauer's work.

Bravo.

P.S. You don't have to love fashion to appreciate this movie, but if you do, I'd suggest going to tonight's 10:00 show at the Film Forum.

mom and richard serra: the pulitzer, st. louis

sprung

I know it's not official until the 21st, but find Exhibit A:


I'm sparing you an audio slideshow of this picture of the ice cream truck outside my window, taken over and over with a looped soundtrack of the 20-second song it plays that ends with a voice going, "Hello!?" before it begins again.

But if you really miss me, I could send you something like that, and you could play it all day and pretend you're working from home with me.

So,yes, "Hello!?" Spring has sprung in New York.

that's my dog.

Running into one of my friends wearing a dog head might not strike me as terribly out of the ordinary in New York. But I didn't see it coming when I went for a walk in suburban St. Louis on Saturday morning.

Justin Brockman, pictured here, is not a performance artist. He's just a good guy on his way to a 3-year-old's birthday party.

soon

Soon we will be riding our bikes barefoot, barbecuing on rooftops and shaking sand out of our sheets.

photo compliments of Mike D., the 275 Canal Corp.

See here for another ode to the promise of spring on Dossier Style.

second stop

The Second Stop Café is such a welcome new neighbor.
It could never front on Gimme! Coffee for the sheer joy of stooping it with the perfect (yes, perfect) cup to go--especially on a day like today when spring starts to make little sounds like she's starting to wake up.

But check it out: a big wooden table to work at, natural light, a ceramic "We are Happy to Serve You" cup of Stumptown coffee (New York's newest drug of choice, it seems) and a slice of lemon pie oozing with real sugar-soaked lemon slices and tart custard-y filling, topped by a flaky spelt crust.
I'll tell you what, it beats working in the newsroom.

frog brigade

Like auntie, like niece.

Here's Bella, on her first day of kindergarten at her new school in Western Australia. Her mom and my brother-in-law laugh at my tendency to "froggy smile" when faced with a camera. Looks like little Bella is getting sweet revenge on her parents by adopting the froggy herself! Go Bella!

The original froggy: my own first day of Kindergarten.

It's been nearly a year since I left the babes behind in New Zealand.


Now their dad has a new gig managing a cattle farm in an area known for its waves and its wine, Bella is starting kindergarten, Maizie talks to me on the phone and the old Jaybird blog is in need of some new material. (And somebody's got to save that puppy.)
I'm not dropping out or anything, I'm just saying that come April, Australia may be the new New Zealand.

Stay tuned.

snow bunny