Herbed

About a month ago, Jess bought a white plaster planter shaped like a lion off of eBay, which (in case she’s reading this site) I totally, totally love, despite any earlier comments I may have inadvertently made to the contrary.

Anyway, it became pretty clear that the planter looked naked without a plant, so, also about a month back, we headed down to the Chelsea Garden Center, which actually isn’t in Chelsea, but in a strange shed of a building way, way out in the westernmost reaches of the Garment District. And, while we were there buying a small Dragon’s Blood tree (which, sadly, is far less Harry Potter than the name might imply) it also occurred to me, looking at the bags of potting soil, that I hadn’t repotted my little jade tree in the five or six years I’d been living in New York.

The jade tree came from a clipping of a much larger jade tree in the atrium of my parent’s house in California, which in turn came from a clipping of another much larger jade tree in the atrium of the house of my mother’s graduate advisor at Stanford. And, given its long and illustrious lineage, I figured my jade plant was well worth a bag of potting soil. So, I bought one, and handily replanted the jade.

After which, I was still left with 95% of a very large bag of planting mix. I discovered at about the same time that I had left a clove of garlic on our counter long enough (about this, I am not proud) that it had actually started to sprout. So, I took a couple of plastic containers, filled them with the leftover mix, and planted three of the sprouting cloves.

And, lo and behold, they started to grow. Excited about this – as it brought back happy memories of the farm on my elementary school (which is a whole other blog-able set of stories, actually) – I then headed onto Amazon, and purchased an herb garden planting kit, hoping to round out the blossoming garlics with oregano, basil, rosemary, dill, and anything else that might thrive at windowsill.

And though we still need to find another, hopefully non-lion (not that I don’t love, love, love that lion if you’re still reading Jess!) planter to contain it all, and though it still has a bit more growing to do before the tiny plants would well handle the hop into new plantered soil, my little garden is growing. Bolstered by the jade’s strong example, I don’t doubt it will continue to thrive.

Which, until the spring comes and I can once again wander through Central Park, is as close to pretending I live somewhere far greener and more temperate than this city that I can get.

herbs.jpg

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Pooled

Despite an Academy Awards full of relatively few surprises (though, Melissa Etheridge? Melissa Etheridge!?!?), this year’s Cyan Oscar Pool contestants were all over the map.

At the top of the heap was, well, me. I submitted an entry to test out the system before linking it, and my own guesses were closer to right than any of you suckers. And while that probably means I’m justified in running a movie company, it also violates what the fine print would say about no employee entries, if this competition had fine print.

So, tossing me out of the race, and knocking off just a couple more right answers, we get our first eligible winner, “Dahlia Thompso”, which I think actually may be Dahlia Thompson typing too fast to include the trailing letter n. If so, Mrs. T, please weigh in to claim your prize.

And then, at the other end of the spectrum, is our fabled ‘booby prize’, is a tie between Kelly Jeide and Christine, who, wisely, went last-nameless. If either Kelly or Christine care to own up, there are DVD prize packs headed their ways as well; heaven knows they need some good movies.

[For these three ladies, and for anyone else feeling the need to weigh in on Oscars, self-aggrandizement, etc., email is newman [at] cyanpictures.com]

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Film Pimping

While most of Cyan’s efforts these days are on the distribution side, we also have a thumb in the production pie. Witness Premium, an urban comedy in which Cyan invested, that opens tomorrow in select Southern markets.

We’re not distributing the film ourselves, and, to be frank, it’s not as near and dear to our hearts as Cyan’s next releases (for the record: Naming Number Two, which hits theaters Mother’s Day weekend, and Speed & Angels, which should follow shortly thereafter in mid June). But, if you live in in Georgia, North Carolina or Virginia, and you don’t have any other plans, check it out. It’s sure as hell better than The Number 23, or anything else opening wide this weekend.

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Doggy Style

When I was about twelve years old, on the way back from a weekend of skiing, my family stopped at a pet shop in Calaveras County, and bought a puppy.

My brother and I were, of course, ecstatic. But, within a week or two, it became immensely clear that my father – allergic both to the dog, and to everything the dog would roll around in outside in our backyard – couldn’t live in the same house without becoming a blearily red-eyed, constantly sneezing and coughing histaminic mess.

While we briefly contemplated getting rid of our father (an option for which my brother and I heavily lobbied), in the end, it was the dog that went, handed off to a happy family with kids my brother and I esteemed as far, far luckier than we. And ever since, my brother and I have both coveted the dogs of others and badly wanted ones of our own.

I’m reminded of this each time I head up – as this weekend – to visit Jess’ family in Boston. Her parents own a Portuguese Water Dog, Pablo, who’s less than a year old, sweet tempered, and exceedingly cute. At the end of each visit, Jess and I return to New York determined to get a dog.

By now, however, it’s not the dictates of cruel parents, but of equally cruel landlords that prevent dog ownership – our building, like many in New York, doesn’t allow pets. But, as we’re likely to move regardless once our lease ends at the end of the year, Jess and I have put ‘dog friendly’ atop the list of requirements for potential apartments.

So, still, a bit of waiting. But I don’t much mind. After fifteen years with my eyes on the furry prize, I’m sure I can hold out puppy-less for a bit longer yet.

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To Do: Sleep

“You must sleep some time between lunch and dinner, and no half-way measures. Take off your clothes and get into bed. That’s what I always do. Don’t think you will be doing less work because you sleep during the day. That’s a foolish notion held by people who have no imagination. You will be able to accomplish more. You get two days in one – well, at least one and a half, I’m sure. When the war started, I had to sleep during the day because that was the only way I could cope with my responsibilities.”
– Winston Churchill

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Cupid

Despite her protestations that – beyond even its apparent commercialization – Valentine’s Day is a Christian Pagan holiday in which a couple of Jewish kids such as ourselves have no part, and despite her having to live with me (which, honestly, I couldn’t imagine doing either) for the past month or two, Jess has nonetheless agreed to be my Valentine.

On our evening docket: a play, a home cooked dinner, and perhaps some serious floor scrubbing (both of us being just OCD enough to consider that an oddly delightful and gratifying pursuit). All of which sounds just perfect to me, and reminds me of some great advice I once received: the secret to a happy relationship is less finding someone with no baggage, and more finding someone with whom your own makes a nicely matched set.

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Oscar, Oscar

Yes, I know I’m supposed to be writing about web sites right now. But, as we did it last year, and as we wanted to do it again, I’m taking a quick break to announce the now Second Annual Cyan Pictures Oscar Pool. Weigh in with your predictions, and the closest guess will win a care package of DVDs of Cyan’s next five releases.

[Also, please use your full name at the bottom of the form; we aren’t collecting email addresses, so will instead be announcing the winner’s name the day after the Oscars at cyanpictures.com and here at self-aggrandizement.com.]

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Web Week: Online Eats

[Okay, so it’s going to be less like ‘Web Week’ and more like like ‘Web Two or Three Weeks’. Whatever. I have more sites to share, and I’m not stopping just because my lack of blogging time has made the series title increasingly inaccurate.]

If you live in New York City, you doubtless already use Menu Pages. The idea is simple: restaurant menus, online. The execution, however, is astounding: the site has a menu for every single New York restaurant I’ve tried, and that includes all of the high-end, not a chance they would hand out paper copies or publish their menus online themselves sort of places. I’m not sure how they do it, I’m not sure how they make money, and I don’t really care.

Of late, they’ve expanded to a handful of other cities, and it seems they’re hoping to target even more. And while, from what I hear from my far-flung contacts, the site hasn’t sunk in roots quite so deep in those additional locations, I suspect it’s only a matter of time.

Slightly newer, though equally on the rise, and targeting a more national audience (albeit a handful of cities at a time) from the get-go is SeamlessWeb, a web-based food delivery service. Like MenuPages, however, it’s not the idea but the execution that makes this site stand out. Unlike the countless others I’ve seen in the space in years past, this one actually, consistently works.

Their listing of restaurants is growing fast (and already surprisingly complete here in New York), their site is easy to use, and their process (which, for example, generates an email only after the restaurant has confirmed the order themselves) is well designed to ensure reliability.

Best of all, the site solves the two biggest pains of delivery: they accept credit cards (rather than just wads of cash) at all of the restaurants, and they understand exactly what you want to order (even with customization of individual items) without your yelling into the phone to make yourself heard over restaurant din.

Toss in OpenTable for web-based reservations (especially at tough-to-book restaurants, as Maitre d’s often lie about booking to make hot spots seem even hotter), and you’ve got the restaurant site trifecta. Foodies of the web, place your bets.

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