pointless.

i have had, i think, an unsuccessful two days off in nyc. while my first full day alone in the city was pure new york magic, perfect pizza and small bookstores by the park, basketball intricate and king lear brilliant, these last two days have been painted by me walking incredible distances towards illconceived and ultimateley unsatisfying goals. today too late sleep, then indecision, then the wrong subway stop, then poor swiss chard at mama's, then the show (macbeth in the park) sold out, then too long a walk for a ten dollar burger on 72nd and amsterdam. it was a great burger though, on an english muffin. yesterday wasnt quite as bad, laundry and not quite ripe plums, a beautiful walk through twilight brooklyn, but bad pizza and missed the show, the dirty projectors playing first not last, and me further flummoxed by seeing the lead projector, so genius untamed when i saw them in berkeley, saw him text messaging away in the very small room, rudely ignoring the granted highly ignorable bass guitar loop set on the stage. i drank my drink, didnt talk to the girl in the cute yellow dress, and left. (theyre all in cute yellow dresses here...)

much of my indecision in finding a place to eat in nyc comes from the sneaking suspicion that the perfect little place is just around the corner. the place where the owner regales you and the locals sing out loud and theres a crazy unheard of drink, blood wine or rose lemonade. always wanting the mystical experience, afraid of the mundane.

beautiful new york day; walking through park slope and prospect park, book stores and slices and people just everywhere, nowhere more alive than in this town, i swear, everywhere everyone just looks so damned real; the confluence of so many cultures, all hitting the eyes with fashion unknown and faces unafraid, its a lot to take in. the fashion, god! and im not talking here about the thrift store hipsters on the l - - its the unpredicable older generations, the aging caribbean man on teh subway in all baby blue, with a black and white checked hat with matching baby blue band, where does this stuff come from, who makes these clothes? oh i love you...

and then tonight saw king lear, my first time ever! actor's shakespeare project at lamama, with alvin epstein dancing about in mad high pitched glee. it was really fabulous, everyone so nuanced, and epstein just heartbreaking in those moments of questioning sanity. also some incredible sound design, all metal, gongs, buckets, tubs and sheets suspended throughout the space, bowed creepy for madness and rattled earshatteringly for the storm.

i havent really seen that much shakespeare, but lately im really loving it. and tonight i finally got why theres all these stage combat courses everywhere; cuz when its done right, it is fucking exciting. this lears' fights amplified by a stage in the round covered in mulch, so when the actors fall to the ground inches from the front row, mulch actually flies up and hits your legs; thats cool. people love a fight. people love a fight!

earlier today left the crowds watching the world cup in the streets (tried, cant get into it; the cameras too far away. though im certainly excited by the current group e upsets, so thoroughly explained to me tonight by jc, using the word "slaughtered" with such glee while diana ross danced about on a screen in front of plates and plates of grocery store sweets at a bar in the east village. i now share his ghana roooting and hope that all this backstory will get me more enthralled for thursday), left the cup

for some live basketball being played at the courts on w 4th. they were fucking great, and i was really watching it as redhen told me to, like theater, like telepathy, like dance. oh so beautiful, every little thing, every small gesture, and everyones doing something, silent respects, beautiful. and so real - a couple fights there too, faces flaming. jc tells me there were some bloody faces at the cup today too, he excited in the telling, oh yes.