I've Seen Daniel Craig
Nov. 21st, 2009 05:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jpskewedthroneWell, on stage. Yesterday, Patricia Bray and Tom and I (after spending the morning teaching) hopped into a car, drove to Beacon, caught a train, got off in NYC at Grand Central Station, wandered the city for a while, ate at Bobby Flay's "Bar Americain," meandered to the Schoenfeld Theater, immediately got in and seated, saw the play "A Steady Rain," starring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, nearly bid $7000 for their sweaty t-shirts after the show (for charity of course), realized we couldn't catch the 10:17 train so hit a bar, caught the 11:12 train back to the car, and drove home, arriving back in Binghamton around 3am.
It was exhausting. And loads of fun.
The trip to NYC was interesting for a variety of reasons. First, the catchphrase of the car trip was "Pay No Attention To My Tongue." No explanation needed. Then we hit the train. This is the first time I've ever been on a train, which confounded Patricia to the point where she actually didn't know now to respond. I got the blank open-mouthed stare. On the train, we saw an old, ruined building on an island just off the tracks, which was the highlight of the train trip, not even superceded by the man wearing a hospital gown and plastic bracelet who kept asking everyone for spare change. The general opinion was that the people seated next to us on the train wanted to kill us because we wouldn't shut up. We wanted to kill the couple two seats in front of us that really should have gotten a room.
We hit Grand Central, which I've never been in either. Very cool. Why do we not make buildings like this anymore? We had a few spare minutes, so we wandered in the general direction of "Bar Americain," by way of Rockefeller Center. The tree is up, but covered with scaffolding as they decorate it. I was also accosted, a man asking me for change. Twice. We hit the restaurant a little early, but were seated right away.
And then the judges of Top Chef emerged from deep within us. We ordered. I got a few appetizers--pumpkin soup and johnny cakes with pull porked and cranberry sauce--and a side of Brooklyn hash browns. The pumpkin soup was excellent, as well as the hash browns. The johnny cakes were a huge disappointment because every bite tasted solely of cranberry sauce. I never tasted pork or the johnny cakes. *sigh* We also ordered an appetizer to share, a bacon pizza that was good although the taste of the cheese tasted off to me with all of the others flavors. However, Patricia's chicken was good, as well as Tom's salmon. And his sweet potato gratin was excellent. I liked the mayo that they provided for the fries that Patricia ordered, but the fries were . . . well, fries. Nothing special. We hit the desserts (chocolate cream pie for me, and blackberry souffle for Tom; Patricia scrounged from us) which were to die for, and then it was time to head to the theater.
Stuffed, we hit the street, meandered down to the theater, catching the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building along the way, as well as Bryant Park. When we reached the theater, they were letting the line in to be seated, so we found our seats and then waited impatiently for the show to start. We were reminded repeatedly to shut off our cell phones and that no pictures were allowed AT ALL. We chatted with the woman seated next to me, who'd come up from Virginia and said she didn't care what the show was about, she wanted to see Hugh and Daniel and she'd brought her binoculars, which she then produced. We then discussed the bare-chested high-points of numerous movies for both men. We also noted that the audience was definitely skewed toward the younger age group, and that there were quite a few women present.
And then the show started. It was a good show. I got caught up in it, in the two characters, in the story and the relationship between the two cops and how it was changing. Very good writing. I know that they're getting slammed by the critics and I'm not sure why. I thought it was a great play. I haven't seen many, but the writing was great and both actors were good. I thought Daniel Craig was better in his role than Hugh Jackman, but Hugh was great as well.
When the show ended, they thanked us all, saying that this was the first show they'd gotten through where no cell phone had gone off. (I doubt this, but I know that the cell phones have been a huge issue at this show.) And then they auctioned off their t-shirts. The maximum of any previous show was $11,000 for both shirts, signed and dated. I nearly bid on the shirts when it reached $7,000, simply because it was obvious that one of the bidders was willing to go much higher, but someone else beat me to it. It then became a bidding war between the two, reaching $11,000. At that point, Hugh and Daniel made an offer: They give each bidder two shirts, signed and dated, for $10,000 each. So our show hit a new high for the "Broadway Cares" charity last night. They had signed playbills for $60, signed posters for $300, and you could get a signed picture with them backstage for $2000. I should have gone for the picture backstage. It would have been a cool reminder of the whole experience. Instead, I went a got a key chain handcuffs souvenir and donated some money to the general pot.
We'd missed the train back so had an hour to kill, which we did by drinking. Then we caught the train, picked up the car, and I made a valiant effort to keep Patricia awake on the drive home, although I wasn't that successful. She stayed awake, but I hit points where I was seriously trying to nod off. She and Tom dropped me off at about 3am and I immediately crashed. BUT, I woke up around 7:30am and didn't feel like I'd fall back asleep right away, so I went to the gym like I usually do on Saturday morning. Yes, on about 4 hours of sleep, I spent 2.5 hours at the gym.
But it felt good, especially considering how much I ate the night before. *grin*
It was exhausting. And loads of fun.
The trip to NYC was interesting for a variety of reasons. First, the catchphrase of the car trip was "Pay No Attention To My Tongue." No explanation needed. Then we hit the train. This is the first time I've ever been on a train, which confounded Patricia to the point where she actually didn't know now to respond. I got the blank open-mouthed stare. On the train, we saw an old, ruined building on an island just off the tracks, which was the highlight of the train trip, not even superceded by the man wearing a hospital gown and plastic bracelet who kept asking everyone for spare change. The general opinion was that the people seated next to us on the train wanted to kill us because we wouldn't shut up. We wanted to kill the couple two seats in front of us that really should have gotten a room.
We hit Grand Central, which I've never been in either. Very cool. Why do we not make buildings like this anymore? We had a few spare minutes, so we wandered in the general direction of "Bar Americain," by way of Rockefeller Center. The tree is up, but covered with scaffolding as they decorate it. I was also accosted, a man asking me for change. Twice. We hit the restaurant a little early, but were seated right away.
And then the judges of Top Chef emerged from deep within us. We ordered. I got a few appetizers--pumpkin soup and johnny cakes with pull porked and cranberry sauce--and a side of Brooklyn hash browns. The pumpkin soup was excellent, as well as the hash browns. The johnny cakes were a huge disappointment because every bite tasted solely of cranberry sauce. I never tasted pork or the johnny cakes. *sigh* We also ordered an appetizer to share, a bacon pizza that was good although the taste of the cheese tasted off to me with all of the others flavors. However, Patricia's chicken was good, as well as Tom's salmon. And his sweet potato gratin was excellent. I liked the mayo that they provided for the fries that Patricia ordered, but the fries were . . . well, fries. Nothing special. We hit the desserts (chocolate cream pie for me, and blackberry souffle for Tom; Patricia scrounged from us) which were to die for, and then it was time to head to the theater.
Stuffed, we hit the street, meandered down to the theater, catching the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building along the way, as well as Bryant Park. When we reached the theater, they were letting the line in to be seated, so we found our seats and then waited impatiently for the show to start. We were reminded repeatedly to shut off our cell phones and that no pictures were allowed AT ALL. We chatted with the woman seated next to me, who'd come up from Virginia and said she didn't care what the show was about, she wanted to see Hugh and Daniel and she'd brought her binoculars, which she then produced. We then discussed the bare-chested high-points of numerous movies for both men. We also noted that the audience was definitely skewed toward the younger age group, and that there were quite a few women present.
And then the show started. It was a good show. I got caught up in it, in the two characters, in the story and the relationship between the two cops and how it was changing. Very good writing. I know that they're getting slammed by the critics and I'm not sure why. I thought it was a great play. I haven't seen many, but the writing was great and both actors were good. I thought Daniel Craig was better in his role than Hugh Jackman, but Hugh was great as well.
When the show ended, they thanked us all, saying that this was the first show they'd gotten through where no cell phone had gone off. (I doubt this, but I know that the cell phones have been a huge issue at this show.) And then they auctioned off their t-shirts. The maximum of any previous show was $11,000 for both shirts, signed and dated. I nearly bid on the shirts when it reached $7,000, simply because it was obvious that one of the bidders was willing to go much higher, but someone else beat me to it. It then became a bidding war between the two, reaching $11,000. At that point, Hugh and Daniel made an offer: They give each bidder two shirts, signed and dated, for $10,000 each. So our show hit a new high for the "Broadway Cares" charity last night. They had signed playbills for $60, signed posters for $300, and you could get a signed picture with them backstage for $2000. I should have gone for the picture backstage. It would have been a cool reminder of the whole experience. Instead, I went a got a key chain handcuffs souvenir and donated some money to the general pot.
We'd missed the train back so had an hour to kill, which we did by drinking. Then we caught the train, picked up the car, and I made a valiant effort to keep Patricia awake on the drive home, although I wasn't that successful. She stayed awake, but I hit points where I was seriously trying to nod off. She and Tom dropped me off at about 3am and I immediately crashed. BUT, I woke up around 7:30am and didn't feel like I'd fall back asleep right away, so I went to the gym like I usually do on Saturday morning. Yes, on about 4 hours of sleep, I spent 2.5 hours at the gym.
But it felt good, especially considering how much I ate the night before. *grin*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-11-21 11:53 pm (UTC)That got a blank open-mouthed stare at the computer screen from me as well.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 12:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 02:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 03:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-21 11:59 pm (UTC)Ah, that's a great place. Brings back memories of the National Model UN Conference back in college, which took place at the Grand Hyatt.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 12:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 12:07 am (UTC)That would be because people like you don't take the train...
xx
no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 12:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 12:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 12:48 am (UTC)It was built at the heyday of rail traffic in the U.S., and was the largest of its time (still is, BTW). It has all that Antebellum ambiance that you don't see much of anymore. (The rail geek in me is trying to break out and start babbling about other union terminals, but I'm keeping it back with a stick.)
no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 02:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 04:01 am (UTC)That was very nearly the fate of many a Union Station in the 70's, including my local one, Cincinnati Union Terminal with its Art Deco design and murals. (If you've ever seen the 'Hall of Justice' from the Superfriends cartoon in the 70's-80's, you've seen the front of CUT; it was used by Hanna Barbera as a model.) Some terminals adapted to the changing times, some converted to something else (CUT is now the home of the Cincinnati Museum Center) and some were torn down.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 12:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 12:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 12:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 12:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 12:36 am (UTC)Was the signed picture a Polaroid or something? Still, to get that close ...
no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 03:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 02:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 03:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 03:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 02:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 03:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 07:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 03:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 11:18 am (UTC)I loooooove trains. I think it was the best part of life while I was still able to work 9-5 hours; though there was something like a 1 1/2hr commute each way, it was my favorite time of the day. (though I absolutely detest sitting backwards on it; it's very disorienting to me if I have to do that).
no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 07:24 pm (UTC)I love riding trains -- I hate flying.
I love the subway too, but not for, um, comfort.
Love, C.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 11:12 pm (UTC)The ruined castle in the Hudson is very cool. I read an article about it once, but forget where.
Have you ever been on a subway? That's a train.