Mets Tickets $3.50 for 50th Anniversary of Shea Stadium

When: The games on Friday April 18th (7:10pm), Saturday April 19th (7:10pm) and Sunday April 20th (1:10pm).

The Mets host the Braves this weekend at Citi Field and in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Shea Stadium, the prices are what they were in 1964. For $3.50 get a ticket in the Promenade Outfield and for $19.64 sit in a baseline box seat.

With service charges and all, the $3.50 tickets are actually $10.25 for one ticket and the $19.64 tickets are actually $28.14 for one ticket (which is still pretty amazing). You can reserve tickets here.

Rocky The Musical on Broadway

My brother Gary often says that I give everything a good review. He has compared it to when Homer becomes a food critic.

But you know that's not true. I can hate just as strongly as I can love. But that being said - this musical is probably THE BEST THING YOU CAN SEE ON BROADWAY RIGHT NOW.

Really. And I was honestly not expecting this good a time. It totally won me over mid-way through. At intermission, I was all, "Yeah, I get it. It's okay." And then the second act happened and suddenly my face was no longer part of my body - because it was blown away. 

Did I like the movie Rocky? I did, it's a great movie. Am I crazy in love with that movie? No. I have other loves. And that's fine, calm down. My point is that you can still love this production. And if you see it and don't love it? That's... weird. I'll have no idea how to carry on a conversation with you because it was fantastic and should be enjoyed by everyone who sees it.

The sets were better than any I've ever seen on any stage - and maybe that seems abnormal to note, but you'll understand that more if you get a look at them. They're impeccable. The music? Meh. The music really wasn't anything special. And honestly, the fact that the songs weren't great and yet I still had a fun time should speak volumes. Definitely go see this. There are things I want to tell you specifically about why it was so originally well done, but if you're actually considering seeing it then I don't want to be the one to ruin certain cool things that happen when watching. It was such a great time. Go.

You can purchase tickets here. 

IHOP National (Free) Pancake Day

From 7am until 10pm today, IHOP is giving out stacks of free, buttermilk pancakes at all their locations. As you may recall, I'm personally not that into pancakes - but promotional free food? Big fan. 

Fury of the Day - The Academy Awards

It hards to pinpoint exactly why I hate the Academy Awards, but here are a few of the major reasons why I do and why you should, too.

• The red carpet. I get it - people look great, so let's look at them. And good for them! But that's not what this carpet is for - if you've ever actually sat through this awful "pre-show" with a group of people, you are definitely going to hear the likes of, "Fuck, she looks horrible. Look at that hair! That's disgusting," amongst the people you're watching with. Why is this? I don't know, we're all especially mean to people we don't know who have fame and money? And we think we have the RIGHT to criticize these people? That's what I assume, anyway. Which is obviously fucked up.
• The "interviewers" on the red carpet. I hate these people because they're asking questions that absolutely no one gives a fuck about. "Who are you wearing?" Is it just me or does the answer to that question affect me IN NO FUCKING WAY WHATSOEVER? The questions, the answers - I hate them all. And I know that some people watch these "interviews" to see if so-and-so is going to be likable  or a dick, so we can all talk about it later. But the thing is - WE DON'T KNOW THESE PEOPLE. STOP ACTING LIKE WE SHOULD CARE ABOUT WHO THEY ARE AS HUMANS FOR THE THIRTY SECONDS WE'RE SEEING THEM SPEAK. 
• If a certain movie wins, does that make it a better movie? No, of course not. We know this fact already. But the thing is - WE SHOULDN'T CARE WHAT WINS AND WHAT DOESN'T. I think it's pretty clear that we all have pretty differing tastes and so maybe it isn't a crazy idea to each seek out and find our own "best picture" on our own terms. And a small side note: if you only see a movie because it won some award? Go fuck yourself. You're such a huge part of this problem, I have nothing to say to you. 
• Acting doesn't deserve awards. I'm not sorry. It just doesn't. Seeing some great performance doesn't have the ability to wow me for days, maybe that's just me. Even if it did, do these actors deserve this ridiculously lofty, self-centered treatment for the rest of my goddam life? I don't get why we're supposed to pretend as if these people are changing all of our lives. It's art, I get it. But how the hell did acting get so far above any other kind of expressive art?
• The "speeches". I put that in quotations because these are not speeches anymore. I don't know if they ever were, to be honest. These are now thank you acknowledgments. If you look up what the fucking word 'speech' means - it's a goddam "spoken expression of ideas and opinions." If you manage to win an award and go up to that podium, granted, other people helped you get there. But the other fucking billion percent of people who are watching you up there don't really give a fuck about those thanked people. It would make so much more sense to say something that would maybe, I don't know, inspire the tons of people giving you their attention at that moment in time? Or say something that shows how happy you are! Share something insightful to help express your gratitude! Say SOMETHING that makes you human for a minute and that can be shared amongst your "fans" and audience. And what I really don't get? These people who love watching the Oscars - aren't they pissed with all the thanking they have to hear? Do they ENJOY this part?! What the fuck are they getting out of this?! WHY ARE YOU WATCHING THIS SO INTENTLY?! 
• The length of the whole thing. I've said this before,and I'll say it again. This entire awards ceremony feels like thousands of rich, entitled, (dominantly) white people jacking each other off continuously for about four hours intercut with commercial breaks for us to casually bask in their supreme greatness - and we, the viewers, are all supposed to lovingly froth at the mouth and collectively watch every fucking second of it, and then talk about it endlessly the next day to one another. WHAT IS HAPPENING?! HOW IS THIS THE WORLD?!
• The fact that these shit shows are televised is the part that makes me over-the-top mad. If they weren't broadcasted to us at all? Who knows how I might feel in that case. 

And I'm only singling out the Academy Awards because they're happening this weekend - ALL awards shows for television/movies/music are equally terrible. I only wish that they would stop airing them for us to see. All of these shows are wasting our time and their time so equally. Please stop watching, you're better than that.

Hitchcock at Film Forum in NYC

Film Forum in New York is showing a crazy amount of Hitchcock films from Friday, February 21st through to Thursday, March 27th, which is all well and good, yes. But tonight, for their showings of North By Northwest and Blackmail - there's going to be "live piano accompaniment".

And I'm sorry, but does that not sound incredible? Such a neat idea. Definitely going. Tickets are $13. The full schedule can be found on their website. 

The Peninsula Winter Drinks Deal

You'll really only care about this post if you live near NYC and go out drinking. Oh, and if you like to get fancy often.

The bar at The Clement at The Peninsula hotel (at 55th & Fifth) has a winter cocktail menu in accordance with the temperature outside right now. So basically, the colder it gets - the cheaper the drinks get. For every degree below 25, the price will drop a dollar. If the temperature reaches zero degrees, you’ll get free petit fours to accompany the free drinks.

I'm obviously going to go because I've always wanted a reason to see that hotel because it's gorgeous from photos and the some-day-dream of mine is to stay there a night solely to have use of their indoor rooftop pool. It looks nuts. The drink promotion lasts until February 28th, 2014.

Gary & Amanda's Baby Shower

At some point in your life, you're going to throw someone a baby shower. Here's how I did it!

Sample invitation

In my opinion, the best invitations are available on Etsy. I went with Olive Berry Paper and they came out adorable. To be accurate, the shower was supposed to be based on a woodland theme, but came out much more owl-y (but WHO minded? No one!) (I know, booooo, I'm sorry about that.) Honestly, my main goal for the event was to have it not be lame. I hate baby games. I hate large groups of adults playing games. No one needs any of it. I just wanted to have a simple time, with edible food, based around things that that the couple (my brother and sister-in-law) would enjoy.

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Bread basket

This was the bread basket - the bread was from Cobs Bread and you need to eat some of this bread if you live anywhere near Toronto or Mississauga. This stuff tastes nuts. I'm forever thankful to Marla for turning me onto it. The little mushrooms are just mozzarella sticks with grape tomato halves on top in a sea of arugula. I would've wanted to spread that all over the table, but arugula is pricey. 

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Owl cheese

This is the owl cheese that I made with my patient and loving niece Tianna. There's an instructional blog post about how to make one here. 

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Poutine cups

I wish I'd taken proper photos of these guys, but this is the only one that exists. These are the mini poutine cups I assembled. These were not difficult at all - I just got the jars from the dollar store (three for a dollar), bought the Wendy's fries and gravy individually that morning (no way was I gonna make that myself, plus it was the couple's favourite fast food poutine) and got the cheese curds from the grocery store. Easy peasy. I got the idea for this when I saw this site while I was searching for baby shower ideas. And fries are always better than vegetables. 

Caesar Salad Bites

I love the idea of cleanly eating a Caesar salad, so obviously I really wanted to do these.  You can find the recipe here. And I don't have a photo of it, but the world's best spinach and artichoke dip exists here and needs to be eaten by everyone alive. Some other things that were served that I, unfortunately, don't have photos of are the wraps that I ordered from Whole Foods (which were surprisingly really good - the blackened chicken salad one especially), my sister-in-law Cindy's amazing stuffed mushrooms, this pasta salad (just add pasta to the recipe) and lychees that came in a can (Who the hell knew they came in cans?! That's amazing.) - and now here are the desserts:

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Acorn Cookies

Again, not the greatest photo, but here's what they sort of looked like. 

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Strawberries w/ Cool Whip and Nutella

Owl Sugar Cookies

And of course I didn't make these owl cookies - look at them! They're perfect! I bought them off Etsy. 

Cake!

And this gorgeous cake was made by the beautiful Laurie. Look at this cake! YOU can't make a cake like this! Obviously it was delicious. 

All in all, not very stressful to plan. Party Pail had pretty much all the decorations I needed, with numerous dollar store runs as well. These owl frames were in the favor boxes, alongside a small satchel of cookies and cream Hershey's kisses. 

And while it's too time consuming to list every song that I had on the playlist that I had on in the background, here's one that's just perfect for a baby shower.

(I apologize that some of the photographs aren't better, my focus was elsewhere. Won't happen again.)

Nathan at Caroline's

Do you see that? DO YOU? Yeah, he's gonna be at Caroline's. Do you understand how good that is? Just incase you don't, let me assure you that it's a big deal. Way too proud of this man. If you're in NYC, there is no reason for you not to be here Wednesday night (November 13th). 

You can get tickets here (and they're $5.50 each if you use the access code BREAKOUT). 

Movie Wardrobe Sale - Toronto - October 19th, 2013

If you've ever gone to (and enjoyed) The Clothing Show in Toronto, well, this is WORLDS better. I know that because I've gone. Years ago, I went and bought myself a robe that was used in the movie Jeepers Creepers 2. I love this robe and I use it daily. Partially because it's a fantastic robe and partially because it's famous. 

When: Saturday, October 19th, 2013 - from 9am until 5pm

Where: Pinewood Toronto Studios, 225 Commissioners Street

Tickets are $5.

GO! 

Woody Allen at The Carlyle Hotel

Note: This post will only please you if you have ever given a shit about Woody Allen's mousey little face.  

From September 9th until December 16, 2013, Woody Allen & The Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band will play at The Carlyle Café every Monday night at 8:45pm. 

Does that seem insane to you? It shouldn't because he's been doing it every autumn for years now. Is this something you should go to? Heavens, yes.  

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This was something that I'd wanted to see in New York for eons. Why did it take me so long to finally go? Well, because of money. Anytime I'd come into a little bit of cash, I usually tend to throw that away on beautiful steaks and/or frivolous items that I'll never need. 

And then one beautiful day, my boyfriend Nathan told me that he was taking me to see the Wood as my Christmas present. (Also note: I had never mentioned to Nathan how much of a dream this was of mine. So when I lunged at him and asked, "How could you possibly know that this would be the best gift of all time!? I never mentioned it before! How could you know!?" - he responded with, "You talk about this man a LOT.")  

So we finally went one lovely December evening in 2012 and since it started at 8:45pm, I wanted to get there for 3:00pm. Seriously. We were getting bar seats, and those are first-come, first-served so I really wanted to make sure we were there as soon as possible. We, of course, were the first ones there - but people did start to trickle in by 4:00pm. So... if you're intending on sitting at the bar? Get there when I did.  

Anyway, the wait was fine and even a little fun since I was anticipating the evening so much (also, we saw Mick Jagger walk through the lobby, which was something), we ate dinner at the bar which was ridiculously good, of course - and the show? Man. Perfect. The music was good and it was the neatest thing in the world to see that man bust out a clarinet. He seemed to enjoy the hell out of it, too. Definitely something I'll remember for the rest of my life. I love that man. (That above photo of him is so blurry and not-good because I didn't take a lot of photos since it was just so nice to actually be there.) 

Anyway, this isn't even a great story to read or anything - I get that. But if you've ever had any doubts about going to see this, please just do it. Or talk about this man endlessly to your better half until they take you to go see him. 

The tickets are $195 per person for a real fancy/good table, $145 per person if you want to sit at a table and $100 per person + $25 drink min if you want to sit at the bar (which is extremely limited seating). Go here for more information on online reservations.