Kaonashi Ga Suki

Sorry folks, but I’m still actually quite busy. I have papers due at the end of this week and all, but I didn’t want to go for too long without finishing the rest of my story.

The next day was cold, rainy, and dreary so we decided to go shopping. We went to SoHo, which from what I’d seen on TV, is supposed to have lots of cool and trendy shops. My bf mentioned that he needed a new jacket to replace his ugly, old shabby one so his parents made it their mission that morning to find him a jacket.

But before that we had breakfast at this place called The City Bakery, which seems to specialize in sweet, rich, and decadent breakfast pastries. I especially loved their french toast, and much to my delight, I found out that they have a branch in Brentwood, which is not very far from Pasadena (about oh, 45 minutes)! You guys should remember the Brentwood- does the name OJ Simpson ring any bells?

Anyway, SoHo was really cool. We first walked through a park that was apparently the setting in the movie, Searching for Bobby Fischer and sure enough, there were tables lined up across the grass where people can start or join in a game of chess. There were several chess shops in the area, where people can play for a small fee or buy a new chess board. I liked the new version of the Simpsons chess set.

After that we went in and out of various shops. My bf’s brother bought a pair of sneakers at an Addidas store. However, as for my bf, the search for a new jacket proved to be challenging. You see, he kind of gained a little weight, and not many of the jackets looked good on him. We even ended up going to the more mainstream stores like J. Crew and Banana Republic, and still nothing looked good. Since we had such a huge and late breakfast, we decided to skip lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met).

To get to the Met as quickly as possible, instead of taking two cabs (hard to find in the rain), we took the subway. Yay! My first time on a New York subway. I had a minor mishap trying to enter the subway. I swiped the card but didn’t push hard enough on the bar that allows you entrance into the subway platform, so I (thought I had) wasted my pay. Since we didn’t want to pay twice, I ducked under the turnstile to enter the platform. Now, since I did live in Japan for a year and a half and had taken the trains and subways there on a daily basis, I thought that I would be used to it. But it seems that NY subways are faster and therefore, rockier. Also, NY subways don’t have rings on the ceilings for shorter people to hold on to while standing. I had to stretch my arm somewhat uncomfortably to grasp the bar overhead.

During the subway ride we were treated to a young woman’s loud stories of daily life. She was chatting with her buddies as if she were at home, mentioning stuff like when she was apparently groped on a London subway, and the measures she took to avoid it afterwards. She also talked about enjoying walking around naked in her apartment when no one’s around, and other personal things like that. Thanks lady- now the entire subway car knows everything about you.

Now, the Met is fucking gigantic and would take a week if you really wanted to go through the whole thing. Since we had an early dinner (I’ll explain later why), we didn’t have much time and could definitely not see everything, so we just went through the musuem map and picked highlights. Although my feet hurt like a mofo at this point from all the walking, I still enjoyed the Met. There are exhibits ranging from Renaissance paintings, to Impressionist; there was a cool section on musical instruments, and you can see how today’s instruments evolved since there predecessors were also on display. There was a display case of very beautiful Tiffany glassware, and I also loved the Japanese art exhibits. My one complaint about the Met is that because it’s so freaking huge, bathrooms are very hard to find. I got to the museum needing a bathroom, and it took another oh, 15 minutes to find one! They’re tucked in these little corners, and they shouldn’t be, especially the ladies’ rooms. We asked several museum personnel, but they didn’t get the best directions to the bathroom. Anyway, it was still fun, and next time I hope I have more time to see the rest of the place.

After a very brief respite at the hotel, we got dressed for dinner and headed all the way…next door. Yep, our restaurant was right next door. You see, the reason for the early dinner and the close proximity of the restaurant was because we were going to see a musical later that night! Yay, my first Broadway musical! I was excited.The restaurant is called The DB Bistro Moderne, and this is where I had the $30 hamburger.

Yes, you heard me.

Here’s the description from the website menu itself:

THE ORIGINAL db BURGER
Sirloin Burger filled with Braised Short Ribs
Foie Gras and Black Tuffles
Served on a Parmesan Bun
with Pommes Soufflées or Pommes Frites
MC 29.

I know it sounds stupid to pay so much for a freaking burger, but my bf and I couldn’t help ourselves. We had to do it at least once in our lives, and now we can go around and say, “I had a $30 hamburger in New York!” It was pretty fucking tasty, by the way- nice and medium rare (with more on the rare side).

After dinner we hoofed it to the theater, and apparently so did 75% of the restaurant. It’s apparently a very popular thing to do around this area- go to an early dinner at a nearby restaurant, then catch the show.

So which Broadway musical did I see? Les Miserables? No, we’ve seen it? The Phantom of the Opera? No, it wasn’t playing. Rent? No.

We saw a musical called Lestat. Yes, as it sounds, it’s a musical based on Anne Rice’s Vampire novels (i.e. The Vampire Lestat and Interview With the Vampire). The music and lyrics were written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Since the musical was supposed to debut that next weekend, we actually watched a preview.

The theater was very small and old. Our seats were on the second floor balcony, which wasn’t too bad, except that from our point of view some of the special effects weren’t so special. For example, when some of the characters were set on fire, the character is supposed to be consumed by the flames and disappear. However, we can see the actor standing on a trap door that would slowly lower him beneath the stage while the (real) flames (controlled by these jets or something on the stage) were in front of him. Not very believable, but ok.

Oh, I just remembered. During intermission a guy proposed to his girlfriend. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwww. When will that ever happen to me? *sigh*

Overall, I thought that Lestat was meh. Many of the songs were forgettable, but the second act was better than the first act. It’s possible that I enjoyed it more because the second act featured the story from Interview With the Vampire, and I have seen and read that book. The first half of the musical featured more of The Vampire Lestat, which tells the tale of how Lestat became a vampire and how he dealt with it. Those who have read the books or seen the movies will recall that these vampires are quite sensual and seductive towards humans (and vampires) of both sexes. I thought it was amusing when my bf thought that one of the characters was Lestat’s brother.

“Um, that’s not his brother dude. That’s his um, very special friend,” I said.

“What? No, but Lestat said that he loves him,” my bf said.

“Yeah, exactly,” I replied.

“But Lestat’s mom called him her son,” he insisted.

“She was speaking metaphorically. He is LIKE A SON to her. Don’t you remember the movie? The way Tom Cruise’s character acted towards Brad Pitt’s character? Same idea,” I said.

In spite of my bf’s confusion over the vampires’ sexuality and the weak first act, we overall enjoyed Lestat. After the show, we returned to our hotel and conked out. Fortunately, the next day’s events were to be much more low key than the first two days.