New York City, Day Two

Alright, so I'm a day late and a dollar (or $220) short, but here it is anyway. Tuesday's adventures, for your reading and my recollecting pleasure.

We started out relatively early Tuesday morning so we could go pick up our New York Passes from Planet Hollywood. We got on one of our "Hop On, Hop Off" City Sights NY double-decker buses and rode it up to the American Museum of Natural History. We wandered around the African Mammal exhibit for a little while, then started one of the tours. When the tour was finished, we wandered around for a while longer (there is just so much to see in there!). We were satisfied after seeing the huge dinosaur exhibits, and left the Museum to go back to the bus. Next stop: the Metropolitan Museum of Art!

After getting off the bus, it was definitely lunchtime. We weren't sure where to eat around the Met, so instead of wandering aimlessly wondering which restaurant was going to be worth whatever money we were going to spend there, we opted for some of the street vendor carts outside the museum (!). Sean had a couple of hot dogs, but not being much of a hot dog fan myself, I decided on the cart next door for a cheeseburger (or, as they spelled it, "hamberger" - they also had a "beef petty" and a "warp sandwich"). The berger was very good in spite of the poor spelling.

By this time it was already mid-afternoon and we were a bit tired, so instead of investigating the Met, we surveyed it. That's what we called it, anyway. Basically, we went inside and walked through the exhibits rather than looking at every individual piece (there were FAR too many for that anyway). Neither Sean nor I are very "into" art, so we were happy with the way we went through the museum. They had some very awesome sculptures in there, and the Egypt exhibit was very cool.

The two museums pretty much wore us out, but it was too early to come back and sit in the hotel room to get ready for dinner, so we hopped back on our bus and finished the Uptown Manhattan tour. We decided we didn't feel like walking around, so we hopped on the Downtown Manhattan tour and rode around the loop until that tour was finished.

When we got back to the hotel, we met up with my Big Brother Chrissy, and we went to an early dinner at a place on 9th Avenue (don't ask me to remember what it was called... I didn't even know the name of it while we were there!). Sean and I just had salads, since we had (very) late dinner reservations at the Babbo Ristorante in Greenwich Village.

We got back to the hotel and got ready for dinner, then hailed a cab and set out on our way. Dinner was amazing, and the bill was large ($220, with the tip), but it was totally worth it for the experience, and the food was also very good. I had a baby aragula salad (appetizer), goat cheese tortallini (first course), rabbit (second course), and a sampling of various gelatti and sorbetti (dessert), as well as a very good glass of wine (yes, I actually had a wine that I enjoyed! I didn't drink the whole glass, and I have no idea what it was called). The gelatti and sorbetti were so delicious. Two different sorbetti: green apple and apricot, which tasted like I was biting into the actual fruit. It was so bizarre. The gelatti flavors were olive oil (surprisingly very good), some kind of spiced something (which I can't remember, also very good), espresso, and chocolate. SO GOOD. Sean had lamb's tongue (appetizer), beef cheek ravioli (first course), a whole fish of some sort (second course; I think it was a type of bass), and maple cheesecake (dessert), all of which I tried and they were also very good.

Since our reservation at Babbo wasn't until 10:45pm, we didn't get back to the hotel until very late. We got all of yesterday's pictures up on our website last night, and that was about it. It was around 1:30am by the time we shut the lights off and went to sleep.

The alarm went off at 6:30 this morning, and it was a very busy day on not very much sleep. I may write today's blog in the morning (I'm sleeping in!), and I'll upload our pictures in the morning as well. If you want to look at yesterday's pictures, go to http://karstenwedding.shutterfly.com and click "NYC Honeymoon, Day Two".

Sadly, I'm just too tired to add pictures to this blog right now, but I may go in and add them later!

New York City, Day One

Yesterday we started out early. We left Brimley around 9:30am and made good time to the Bridge. We hit some pretty heavy traffic on I-75 (that's post-holiday for you) and it took us longer than we thought to get to Birch Run, where we stopped for lunch at Tony's. That place was a riot: first of all, it was packed. Second, their portions are HUGE. I ordered scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon, and the picture to the left is what I got. Three pieces of rye toast, like... four scrambled eggs, and an entire POUND of bacon. And then I didn't eat again until this afternoon. I'm sure that food was delicious at the time, but I felt like crap for most of the rest of yesterday.

After some shopping at the outlet mall in Birch Run (Old Navy! Bath & Body Works!), we hit the road (and the traffic) again, this time to Romulus, where our pre-flight hotel was located.

The hotel was... interesting. Definitely a cheapie, but it did what we needed it to do. Today was another early morning. This time, we had to find the place to park my car for the week (that was easy) and get on the shuttle to the airport. We lost my Starbuck's travel mug at the carry-on and shoe bomb check (sad, and it was Sean's fault), but the lady at the end of the conveyer belt said my shoes were cute, so I guess it's a wash. We eventually found our gate and then it was time to wait.

Our plane was basically a tin can with wings.



It was a 50 passenger plane, with 3 seats across (2 on one side and one on the other). Sean's a nice guy and made sure I was going to have a window seat, so I got to look out the window as much as I wanted. It was a nice, clear day so the view was great. Of course, we had no clue where we were most of the time, but it was very clear when we hit the New Jersey/New York metropolitan area (aside from the fact that the plane was descending). We had a cool view of the skyline on the opposite side of the plane, but no pictures. And I noticed that basically everyone and their mother has a pool in their backyard. Hmph.

After our arrival at Newark Int'l, we boarded our shuttle bus to the hotel in Manhattan. It was my first experience with crazy traffic, and let me tell you - I figured out quickly that in order to drive around here, you need balls, and I do NOT have them. I'm SO glad we're relying on public transit while we're here, and I'm even MORE glad that we flew instead of drove, because I could not handle this.

So here's a funny story. On the way to the hotel, we were stopped at a red light next to a limo that wanted to park. If you look really closely, right above the license plate, you can see the reflection of a taxi cab. Where's the funny part? As the limo, whose license plate clearly says "ACCURACY", was backing up, the driver backed up right into that taxi cab.

Check-in at the hotel is at 3:00, but we managed to get into our room at 12:30. After we got our stuff upstairs, we headed out to explore Times Square. We went to the Hershey's store, the M&Ms World (three stories of M&M stuff!), and we ate lunch at Planet Hollywood. Saw the sights, and there are oh so many of them. We walked around for a bit, then headed up to Bryant Park, where we ran into the New York Public Library. We happened to get to the NYPL right in time for their last tour, so we snuck into the group (it was free) and checked out the HUGE library. Most of the pictures turned out blurry because of the lighting, but here's a good one of the hustle and bustle of Times Square:

After our late lunch at Planet Hollywood, we headed up to Central Park to walk around for a while. We got a little lost looking for the zoo, but it didn't matter since it was closed anyway. Central Park is so neat - you can still see the huge skyscrapers over the trees sometimes, but it's just like this whole other world in the middle of all of this action. Central Park is PACKED, though. There are people everywhere around here! It's so bizarre and completely not what I'm used to, but surprisingly I haven't really been uneasy about it (I'm more afraid of walking around Detroit). We almost got hit by a taxi cab once, but I think that might be part of the experience.

This is the view of the carnival thing they have in Central Park, backdropped by some gorgeous trees and of course, The City.

Overall we had a great day today. Tomorrow we're heading up to Central Park again, to visit the zoo while it's open, and also to go through the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History. We'll see what else we have time to do during the day, before we meet up with a couple of my friends tomorrow early evening and then head to dinner at the Babbo Ristorante (Mario Batali) at 10:45PM (!).

If you'd like to see the pictures we took yesterday and today, visit http://karstenwedding.shutterfly.com and click "NYC Honeymoon, Day One".

Sweet Caroline, good times never seem so good

Well, I'm back from Detroit safe and sound. Notre Dame beat Northern on Friday 2-1; Michigan beat Alaska on Friday 3-1. On Saturday, Northern beat Alaska 2-0 and Notre Dame beat Michigan 5-2.

We watched the NCAA selection show this morning. No surprises. We also went to lunch at Vicente's, which was delicious. I had Pollo al Limon, which was two chicken breasts coated in egg wash and Parmesan cheese, and then topped with lemon sauce and lemon zest. It was served with fried sweet plantains. Yum. We had to find our way to Vicente's, so I used the handy GPS on my iPhone. Because of this, I finally got Sean to admit that my iPhone is useful, and that he was wrong about it being a waste of money. Victory is mine!

Speaking of "yum", I tried one of Arby's new RoastBurgers - the bacon cheddar one - and HOLY CRAP. It was the most delicious fast food sandwich to exist ever. We also ate at Fishbones, which is a "Joe trip" tradition.

It's incredibly fun to call people and say, "We're on a bridge, Charlie!" when going over the Mackinac Bridge.

What really sucked about this weekend didn't actually happen until we were back in the UP today. I realized, as I was listening to "My Sharona" on my pep band mix CD, that I was really done with pep band. This was it. And it's kind of sad. It's so hard to just stop doing something that's been such a big part of my life for so long. Dr. Grugin DID say that I can come back and play anytime, and that if the band goes to the Joe next year I can go with them, which is nice. Even so, though... I feel like so many things in my life are changing so quickly now and it's a bit scary.

Anyway, I should probably go to bed soon. Lots to do this week!

-Amanda

Randomocity

Hello out there in the Blogosphere. I think I may change my mind about this blog and post more than movie reviews [which clearly, I don't do often]. My LiveJournal is Friends Only but I do seem to have a handful of friends who DON'T have LJ and maybe they want to know about my life too.

Well, I HOPE they might, anyway.

The pep band is heading out to Detroit at 4am tomorrow. This is one of the few really cool things we get to do with the music department here so I'm pretty excited - four trips in five years isn't bad, so good job hockey team! For those that don't know, the CCHA tournament is held in Detroit every year at the Joe Louis Arena [home of the RedWings!]. When the team makes it, the band makes it. The trip is around 9 hours and the game is at 4:35, hence the 'buttcrack of dawn' departure.

Otherwise, there's not a whole lot going on. I'm just trying jump through the rest of the hoops so I might be able to graduate sometime in the next millenium.

My wedding is coming up and I have absolutely NO motivation to make anymore plans. And I suppose it's not so much that I don't WANT to, it's just that I don't have the time to. I need to take my engagement ring to the jeweler so they can make my wedding band, and basically that has to happen next week. I have to get back to our caterer about the food. I suppose beyond that there's not much to do. I'm working on finding a photographer. I'm still waiting for my dress to come in, which will hopefully be in the next couple of weeks.

With 29347398 different blogs, let's see how good I'll be at keeping up on this one :)

Toodles,
Amanda

Movie Review: The Godfather

Welcome to my first blogged movie review! I've only reviewed a couple of movies before but I figured, what's so hard about giving my opinion? It's something that I do quite often! I also watch a lot of movies, so the fit seemed pretty obvious. And away we go!

The Godfather [1972]

The Godfather is based on the book The Godfather by Mario Puzo [published in 1969]. It was directed by Frances Ford Coppola and stars many fantastic actors, including Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone, James Caan as Santino "Sonny" Corleone, Robert Duvall as Tom Hagen, John Cazale as Fredo Corleone, Diane Keaton as Kay Adams, Talia Shire as Connie Corleone Rizzi, and Al Pacino as Michael Corleone.

The Godfather opens in August 1945 at the wedding of Don Vito Corleone's only daughter, Connie. The Don sits in his office taking requests for favors, because, of course, "No Sicilian can ever refuse a request on his daughter's wedding day." He is assisted by Tom Hagen, his "adopted" son and Consigliere, and at times by his eldest son and Underboss Sonny. College-educated and World War II-decorated, the Don's youngest son Michael makes his return to the family complex with his young girlfriend Kay Adams.

The wedding really serves as an introduction to the main and secondary characters: the Corleone family [including the Don's actual godson Johnny Fontane], the Don's Caporegimes [Peter Clemenza and Salvatore Tessio] and more plot-important button men/soldiers [Luca Brasi, Paulie Gotto]. It also serves as a backstory of sorts, explaining how the Family operates, a little of the Family's history, and the personalities of the main and secondary characters.

The movie continues with Business as usual. After a refused drug deal with Virgil "The Turk" Solozzo, an attempt is made on the Don's life and Sonny is called on to act as boss while the Don recovers. Michael, though he doesn't want to be involved in the "family business", is willing to do what it takes to protect his father and his family, and the consequences of his actions change his life forever. Sonny's quick temper, which is well-known among the other Families in New York, gets him into some trouble and forces the Don to re-take his position as the head of the Family.

One of The Godfather's biggest criticisms is that it "glorifies" life in the mafia; I couldn't disagree more. I see the story as beautiful and tragic. It focuses on the hard, life-changing and most unglamorous decisions that the characters have to make in their life. This film is wonderfully directed, acted, and put together. It tells a complete story and though it's long [175 minutes] it captivates and entrances the viewer. The Godfather is one of those fantastic movies that you can watch over and over again and each time notice something that you didn't notice the last time. Let's just say that there is a good reason The Godfather is so highly regarded.

Amanda's Rating:

Awards Won:

• Best Picture [1973 - Academy Awards]
• Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium [Mario Puzo & Frances Ford Coppola, 1973 - Academy Awards]
• Best Actor in a Leading Role [Marlon Brando (refused), 1973 - Academy Awards]
• Best Director [Frances Ford Coppola, 1973 - Golden Globes]
• Best Motion Picture-Drama [1973 - Golden Globes]
• Best Motion Picture Actor-Drama [Marlon Brando, 1973 - Golden Globes]
• Best Original Score [Nino Rota, 1973 - Golden Globes]
• Best Screenplay [Mario Puzo & Frances Ford Coppola, 1973 - Golden Globes]
• Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music [Nino Rota, 1973 - BAFTA Awards]
• Best Foreign Film [Albert S. Ruddy, 1973 - David di Donatello Awards]
• Special David [Al Pacino (for his acting), 1973 - David di Donatello Awards]
• Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures [Frances Ford Coppola, 1973 - Directors Guild of America]
• Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or TV Special [Nino Rota, 1973 - Grammy Awards]
• Best Actor [Marlon Brando (tie), 1973 - Kansas City Film Critics Awards]
• Best Director [Frances Ford Coppola, 1973 - Kansas City Film Critics Awards]
• Best Supporting Actor [Al Pacino (tie), 1972 - National Board of Review, USA]
• Best Actor [Al Pacino, 1973 - National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA]
• Best Supporting Actor [Robert Duvall, 1973 - New York Film Critics Circle Awards]
• Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium [Mario Puzo & Frances Ford Coppola, 1973 - Writers Guild of America, USA]
• Best DVD [2002 - Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards]