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Keeping Busy During the Long Weekend

I don't know about you but by the time I made it to last Thursday morning, I was so ready for the long weekend. The true "holiday season" hasn't even started and I'm ready for a break. Looks like I'll need to pace myself. Anyway, this weekend, in between plenty of couch time, we found all kinds of things to do—some worth the time and some not.

Thursday afternoon, the boyfriend and I caught an afternoon showing on Bobby, the new film by Emilio Estevez that tells the story of 22 people who were at LA's Ambassador Hotel on the day RFK was assassinated. The cast is definitely star-studded. In addition to Estevez, the cast list includes Sharon Stone, Demi Moore, Elijah Wood, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Martin Sheen, Harry Belefonte, Lindsay Lohan (yes, even Lindsay Lohan), Laurence Fishburne, and Freddy Rodriguez (of Six Feet Under Fame). While Stone and Moore both give great performances and Lindsay Lohan proves that she can act, even if she can't sing, the story is far too convoluted and difficult to follow for this to be the big hit that many thought it could be.

Thanksgiving was a quite day at home. In the morning, I hit Fort Greene Park with one of our dogs, Zoe. That was the extent of the day's physical activity. That night, though, we braved the icy rain for an outstanding Thanksgiving dinner at Wallse, one of my favorite holiday dinner spots. Since Dave made the reservation a couple weeks ago, I had been mentioning our plan to friends. Considering the restuarant has been open on its quiet corner in the West Village for a few years now, I was shocked by the number of people who hadn't even heard the restaurants name, let alone darkened its door. All I can say is plan a dinner there asap. It is a wonderful experience from beginning to end.

Friday was a bit of a wash since we spent it traveling back and forth between our vet dealing with a small medical emergency for our other dog, Angus. He is fine now and recovering nicely, but that night we couldn't stand to leave him by himself all groggy on pain medication.

Even though we live in Brooklyn, until Saturday neither of us had been to the Brooklyn Museum. The Annie Liebovitz exhibit running late January gave us a good excuse to make the trip. Obviously we weren't the only people who had this idea. Even when we arrived not long after noon (the museum opens at 11am on Saturdays) there was a healthy line to get in. Having be a big fan of Liebovitz's work for a long time, I was excited to see he photos up close and personal. Strangely, the exhibit is a mix of her personal and professional work. As she puts it, "I don't have two lives. This is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it." Whatever. The combination of the two made the exhibit a bit confusion and hard to follow. And the museum could manage the flow of people much better so that it is easier to see and enjoy the exhibit. If you decide to give the museum a try (and judge for yourself) you can also catch "Looking Back From Ground Zero," an engaging exhibition of works from the permanent collection that includes paintings, photographs, prints, and drawings of the Lower Manhattan area around the World Trade Center site before, as well as after 9/11, and an installation of the hyper-real sculputure of Ron Mueck.

Then Saturday night, we join a full house of fans for a showing of For Your Consideration. Continuing the theme of the day, though, the film didn't deliver on its positive hype. I'm still a huge fan of Christopher Guest and what has become his house ensemble of actors but this isn't their best film.

Bond is Still the Winner in My Book

It was a close race at the box office but it looks like Happy Feat beat out the smokin' hot new 007, Daniel Craig, by just over $1.5 million to take the number one box office spot in the US this week. But, you never know. Things could change once the actual numbers are in tomorrow.

Not to worry, though. This showing, which puts Casino Royale in the number two opening weekend position in the Bond franchise, proves that Craig can carry a film. The penguins may be cute, but Bond has a great looking lead, a hot new bond girl and international intrigue on its side.

Long Live Jackie Woodman

If you haven't been watching IFC's excellent new show The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman, all I can say is your bad.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. It is a great reason to fire up your DVR on Friday nights. This week's season finale, which found Jackie on a designer drug bender pledging her allegiance to a right-wing radio host, didn't disappoint. In fact, it was my favorite episode of the season. Catch the replays this week!

Five quick Laura Kightlinger talking points:

1) Born June 13, 1969 in Jamestown, New York.

2) Kightlinger worked as a writer and consulting producer on Will & Grace, and had a recurring guest role on the series as Shelia, a nurse in the fertility clinic.

3) In 1999 she released Quick Shots of False Hope, a collection of short autobiographical stories.

4) She dated comedian Jack Black for several years.

5) She attended Emerson College.

I Don't Feel Like Dancing...

Too bad the Scissor Sisters' new CD isn't coming out until September 26. The first single, "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'," from their sophomore disc Ta-Dah is so catchy I can't stop listening to it. I can't wait to get my hands on the whole CD.

With Scissor Sisters on my mind, I found a delicious layout of SS frontman Jake Shears in a recent issue of BUTT magazine. If, like me, you hadn't heard about Butt before, check out the September issue of OUT for a little history behind this super cool pocket-sized, quarterly magazine published out of The Netherlands.

A Reason to Fire Up the DVR on Friday Night

Friday night isn't a bit TV night for me, but this week I checked out the frist episode of the IFC's new show, The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman. Just when you thought you seen all the we-are-gonna-make-it-in-LA shows you could take, current faves including Entourage aside, in steps Laura Kightlinger of Will & Grace fame, with this quirky, dark, clever show.

The Perfect Brunch

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The longer I live in Fort Greene, the less frequently I make my way over to the Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens/Boerum Hill area. My bad. Thankfully today I was able to break out of my Fort Greene-centric world to try the brunch at Frankie's 457 on Court Street.

A very in-the-know friend had recently recommended that I try their location on the Lower East Side for dinner. I'll save that for another time. But today I had the best brunch at the Cobble Hill location. The menu is very straightforward but includes all the things you want for brunch: delicious omelettes, fluffy scrambled eggs, crusty french toast made from real French bread, tangy OJ and more.  As if the great food  and company of good friends weren't enough, the dining room is so welcoming you could easily just sit and chat all afternoon. The next time you are looking for a new brunch spot, check it out.

Last Night On Commercial Street

I've been talking about her for a couple days now. And Tuesday night we finally caught Lea Delaria's show here in P-town. The Vixen, the venue where her show is running, has a very comfortable front bar room with comfy couches, two pool tables, and a juke box with everything from Melissa Ethridge and Janet Jackson to Heart and  classic Dolly Parton. We chilled there for about an hour before the show. My friends that I am staying here with met two great women from Chicago, the city they all hail from too, one of whom is a member of Bound Stems, a cool Chicago-based band that you can catch at the Mercury Lounge in NYC on August 30.  We ended up spending the rest of the evening with them, but I digress.

The performance room, which doubles as a dance bar after the show each night, is very nicely outfitted with a bar that runs about half the length of the room and plenty of well-spaced seating whether you get one of the tables on the floor or a space on the banquettes that line the two walls. We settled in with some cocktails and waited for Lea to take the stage. Backed by a killer trio of musicians, she turned it on and gave a knock out performance. As Lea put it, she is part Broadway diva, part stand up and part jazz singer. And all of her talents were on display in her set. She shows how she really had total control of the stage and is able to do free form comedy as she plays off of the crowd's energy. After the show, Lea signed copies of the Grammy nominated CD of the Actor's Fund of America Benefit Recording of Hair and posed for photos with fans. If you are coming to P-town through Labor Day, I highly recommend it. It is $20 very well spent.

After the show we made our way around town and hit a couple of the local watering holes. Around 1:30 as we were finishing our slices outside Spiritus, the place to see and be seen after the bars, one of my favorite writer/monologist/performers, Mike Albo, walked by with a friend. Another brush with fame and the week isn't over yet.

Kiki & Herb: We Has Risen!

And we thought that after Carnegie Hall we would never hear from downtown darlings Kiki & Herb again.

After years of performing at place like Fez (may it rest in peace), the Cherry Lane Theater and the the Bank Street Theater, Kiki & Herb built themselves into an institution.  Now in August, following the close of Sarah Jones' hit show Bridge & Tunnel, Justin Bond and Kenny Mellman--aka Kiki and Herb--will star on Broadway for a limited engagement at the Helen Hayes Theatre.