Can yoooo diggg iiiiiitt?

Today at work, the girl next to me asked me where I lived. I said "Hell's Kitchen, on 45th Street" and we talked about different neighborhoods. She's from Bensonhurst, which she said was near Coney Island. I said that I go to Coney Island in the summer sometimes, and that the movie The Warriors partly takes place there. She didn't know the movie, so I told her it's more of a guy's movie, a cult classic, and started outlining the plot for her. "And the main guy, this messianic kind of leader, gets assassinated at the meeting and everyone thinks this one gang did it, and they have to fight their way back home through enemy territory 'aaaaall the way back to Coney Island.'" The mail guy, this big guy with dreads, heard the last sentence as he walked by and said "The Warriors." She said "you know the movie?" He and I started talking about it and comparing our favorite gangs (I told him mine was the Lizzies and quoted my favorite line with that up-and-down delivery: "We know all about the Warriors. They're a heavy outfit"). Then a partner--about 55, in a 3-piece suit, balding, makes a wad of money--said "did you know that movie is based on a classical military text, Anabasis?" I started laughing--it seems EVERY guy loves this movie! We all started talking about the movie, and I said how I loved how the Furies ran with such perfect technique, as though the track team decided to form a gang. "How did the Warriors ever escape these guys???"

The Warriors, bringing guys together since 1979. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Wine Nirvana

Sunday was my friend Ryan's birthday, and last night a friend of his hosted a wine-tasting party to celebrate. This party was amazing--the sheer amount of labor that the host put into it was remarkable. The host, Charlie (Charles?), had pulled 7 bottles of wine from his collection and gave us extensive, detailed instructions on how to appreciate it. We drank 3 whites, 3 reds and one dessert. But before drinking, he taught us how to identify odors and how when you know what's in a wine, you can "zero in" on it better. He actually passed around 4-5 covered containers of foods that we had to try to identify by odor alone. He explained about how to swirl it around in the glass, and why that's important. Then we started drankin', and he would pass around small plates of cheeses and meats, including lamb, chicken and beef that he'd cooked himself. The whole thing was incredible, one of the best parties I've ever been to. (And the CHEESE--my God, I've NEVER had such good cheese, ever. Oh my God. It was like a religious experience. The buttery yumminess of this one brie...)