Tag Archives: Lois + Fred

Connected

Happy New year to one and all, excepting spammers and haters. I do get a lot of spam that does not make it to the comments. Usually it’s mostly from Russia and almost always written on gobbledygook. So my good wishes for them are non-existent.

Last night was off to a wobbly start. First off I started drinking around 4:00, hitting the Bushmills which made writing fun. Don’t know if it made reading as enjoyable as writing but it wasn’t my concern last night.

I expected Bill to be home around 6:00 but I didn’t hear from him until around 8:00 by which time I was quite buzzed and hungry and borderline cranky. Still I got my act together and headed out to meet Bill at Arthur’s Steakhouse.

I was a bit annoyed with the fact that Bill never called to let me know what was going on on his end. I got over it as I inhaled my steak and potatoes. I had two pints, Bill couldn’t finish his, he said it tasted funny and I tasted it and it seemed fine. After he ate he felt queasy and ran to the bathroom. Nothing happened but he did feel a bit odd he said.

We headed back home and he promptly lay down for a little a while. I enjoyed my La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero and had some more whiskey. After an hour or so of Beatles Christmas messages I woke Bill up to see if he still wanted to go to Rand and Lisa’s as we had planned.

He said he was even though I did give him a few chances to back out. The walk from Park Avenue to Bloomfield Street was mostly quiet in the bone chilling cold. I was slightly inebriated so I wasn’t feeling much of anything weather-wise.

Made it Chez Rigoux-Hoppe safe and sound and climbed the two flights of stairs to their abode. Lois and Fred as well as John Figueroa and his wife Arianna and their daughter Luna were throughout the apartment.

Lois and Bill

Lois and Bill

Rand was staving off a cold and doing an admirable job at that. Lot’s of snacks and we got there in time to help hand out champagne before the midnight hour. Lot’s a laughs and chit chat ensued. I continued drinking with some Guinness I brought. Bill had another pint for himself.

Rand with his pots and pans at midnight

Ran with his pots and pans at midnight

We all settled down after the clanging of pots and pans on the fire escape and watched the Steven Colbert Christmas Special that I had recorded for myself but let it erase itself on the DVR. Good thing that Rand saved it.

Everyone loved it of course, how could they not. Both Rand and I were somewhat surprised at how agreeable it was for Elvis Costello to dress up as a Jack in the Box as well as other things. I think Elvis had fallen out of favor with Rand as well as myself.

John Fig

John Fig

And the version of What’s So Funny (About Peace, Love and Understanding) with Willie Nelson, Feist, John Legend and Toby Keith as well as a grizzly bear was outstanding.

Gigglepuss and Me

Gigglepuss and Me

The party wound down after that, with everyone heading to their respective homes and leaving Rand and Lisa with the brownies.

El Jefe and Lady Gigglepuss

El Jefe and Lady Gigglepuss

Slept really well, nice to have Bill in bed again. How I missed his snoring. I was up and out on the street at 10:00, getting bagels and newspapers. That was the last of the outside world that I saw for the day. It was enough.

Bill eventually got out of bed and we had a great time together. He even went the distance and finally was able to hook my computer up to the wireless network so once again, I am back on my own computer.

A major accomplishment for which I merely sat on the couch reading and making some hot chocolate. A very nice way to start the new year.

And I once again wish each of you a very Happy New Year!

Me with my La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero for New Years Eve

Me with my La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero for New Years Eve

Bill sleeping off his queasiness

Bill sleeping off his queasiness

New year's Bill

New year's Bill

Bye Bye Love

Jeez this bug that I have just won’t go away. Been feeling it since about last Monday and here it is almost a week later and after spending just a few hours outside I’m tired. Last night after I watched The Mayor of Sunset Strip, I watched Stardust starring Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfieffer. To quote Juan, I was whelmed.

Not over or under, but simply whelmed. Enough that I couldn’t be bothered to turn off the dvd. It was ok, but overall a disappointment. Hard to believe that was Sienna Miller, who looked so much like Edie Sedgwick in Factory Girl, in this she was far from it. My brother Frank liked the movie.

He just told me as I called to wish him a happy birthday. He seemed to have just an average day for his birthday which is how it goes sometimes. Plus since he works for the board of elections he had to work today, on a Sunday which didn’t make him happy at all.

After Stardust, came Saturday Night Live. That wasn’t as good as it had been the past episodes this season. And with Sarah Palin on the show I think I threw up in my mouth a little. I just don’t like her. At all. Josh Brolin was good but when he first came out for the monologue he looked like Butch Patrick. I don’t find him attractive though I know people that do.

Andy Samberg was a disappointment as well. His scene with Mark Wahlberg was a bit off. Wahlberg knew his lines, but Samberg seemed riveted to the cue cards. Or maybe he was acting as if he was terrified of Mark Wahlberg, who I though was one of the funniest spots on the show.

Kristen Wig. I like her but perhaps she is funnier in small doses. Like Lewis Black, who is funny for five minutes a month on the Daily Show, but not strong enough for an hour long special on HBO.

Adele was the musical guest and she was ok. She seemed like another singer from the Amy Winehouse/Duffy genre. It’s not bad but really not enough to distinguish from other female R&B stylists.

Amy Poeler has only a few more weeks before she leaves the show and gives birth. She’ll be missed, especially on Weekend Update where she was the funniest thing on that whole spot. I went to bed at 12:45, just couldn’t risk seeing Sarah Palin at the end of the show.

Woke up feeling ok, went out for foodstuffs and the paper. After breakfast I watched a documentary called Champion on Danny Trejo, an actor you’ve probably seen in some movies. He had a hard life, a junkie at 13, life in San Quentin followed. Now he has a successful career in movies and also counsels younger people encouraging them to stay of of jail and off drugs and booze.

Somehow that wound up in my Netflix queue. It wasn’t that bad a documentary but then again it wasn’t that good. I watched the BBC and a rally in North Carolina for Obama. The big news today was Colin Powell supporting Obama. Is Colin Powell still relevant? After the WMD’s fiasco at the UN, who really cares what Colin Powell has to say?

McCrazy of course mentioned that he has a former secretary of state backing him, Henry Kissinger. I suppose for some, having a war criminal back you is quite the feather in the cap. I don’t think Kissinger can leave the country lest he be arrested for the bombing of Cambodia and Laos all those years ago and tried in the Hague. But then again McCrazy has G. Gordon Liddy’s backing so maybe he wants the backing of the tarnished and tattered Nixon crew.

I walked around Hoboken and saw Rand and Lisa at their Gate Sale and then visited Fred and Lois at their sale. Then I walked downtown to the Neumann Leathers Building and stopped by Tim Daly’s studio where I talked with Sheilah Scully who just so happens to be Tim’s wife. Came home, made a nice penne, pesto and chicken dinner and now I’m tired.

I spent all day wondering who Joe Gideon was, and now that I just watched the ending of the Simpsons with a Fosse character in it I realized Joe Gideon was played by Robert Schneider in Bob Fosse’s loosely autobiographical All That Jazz. Now I can go to bed.