"Saturn on a line, a sun afire on strings and wires to spin above my head and make it right. But anytime you like, you can catch a sight of angel eyes all emptiness and infinite. And I dream of Michelangelo when I'm lying in my bed, I see God upon the ceiling, I see angels overhead. And he seems so close as he reaches out his hand, but we are never quite as close as we are led to understand." ~counting crows

I've been busy lately, so I don't really have much time to write; this is just going to be a random, poorly organized assortment of stuff.

1. Yesterday I went to the Braves/Mets game. The game sucked. Chipper was out, so I was really disappointed not to see him play. Yunel Escobar was also out, so the Braves were missing two of their best players. Chipper currently has the best batting average in major league baseball, which is a huge deal, and I feel like the Braves would have won if he had been there. Alas, they lost 4-3. I was bummed. But, even though the game sucked, the experience was fun because I was there with three lovely friends. It was good to spend time with them, and it was a nice day for a baseball game.

2. I saw the Broadway production of The Country Girl last night. It stars Frances McDormand, Morgan Freeman, and Peter Gallagher and is directed by Mike Nichols. With huge names like those, you would expect it to be fabulous. I was not expecting it to be fabulous, however, because I had read reactions to early preview performances. My expectations were so low that I actually wasn't disappointed by it. Peter Gallagher definitely was the high point for me. He gave such a strong, energized performance; he lit up the stage. Frances McDormand's performance was a little off. The script and the direction seemed to be large contributors to my problems with her character, though. Morgan Freeman was underwhelming and probably miscast. I was glad to see it simply because you don't get many opportunities to see such legends onstage live. I adore Frances McDormand; she's one of the most talented actors alive. I also adore Peter Gallagher and have since long before The O.C. (although that show further cemented my feelings for him). And Morgan Freeman is wonderful. So even though it wasn't a great production, I was glad I got to see it.

3. Brothers and Sisters: does anyone else see sharks? Because I do. They played Counting Crows during tonight's episode, which almost made up for what I was dreading they would do (and actually went through with tonight). I'm sorry, but throwing in a surprise sister last season and then yanking her sisterhood away this season is jumping the shark.

4. I admit it: I grew addicted to Big Brother this season. The finale was tonight, and Adam won. I wanted to win out of the final 2, so I was happy. He seems like a good guy.

5. Tomorrow I'm going to the premiere of Made of Honor, and I'm very excited. I won tickets. It's at the Ziegfeld, and we also get to go to an after-party. Look out, McDreamy, here I come.

"Wait there, I'll be right back down in Times Square. It's a heart attack, all the feeling that makes you feel so new." ~ben kweller

I had a fun evening last night. I went to see Les Liasons Dangereuses on Broadway, starring Laura Linney and Ben Daniels. Laura Linney is one of my absolute favorite actresses; I think she really is one of the most talented actors alive, so I was thrilled to see her on stage in person. She really was amazing. One of the highlights of the evening, though, was convincing Ben Daniels that I was not his groupie. I attended the HipTix after-party for the show, and some of the cast showed up. I hung out with Nic and two guys I had sat next to during the show. One of the guys, Frank, was very friendly and outgoing. He had a conversation with Ben Daniels at the bar, and later we all rode down in the elevator together (me and Nicole, the two guys, and Ben Daniels, the star of the show). Here's the conversation:
Frank: This girl is your groupie, you know (speaking to Ben Daniels).
Me: No, no, I'm not a groupie. But I loved the show, and you were great.
Frank: Claire wants to be an understudy in your show.
Me: Well, I'd settle for being a standby.
Ben Daniels (laughing): Is that so? Well, thank you.
The conversation continued (after all, we had 5 flights to ride down as well as the time spent waiting for the elevator together), but that was the meat of it. Mr. Daniels seemed very nice and was luckily not freaked out by Frank's assertion that I was his (Mr. Daniel's) groupie. It was pretty cool.

"Baby, baby, baby, baby, aw, come on, what's wrong? It's a radiation vibe I'm grooving on. Don't it make you want to get some sun? Shine on, shine on, shine on, shine, on." ~fountains of wayne

Spring break is finally here and I am SO excited. I'm not doing anything especially exciting, but I really, really need a break to just veg. This was a long week.

Tomorrow Nic and I are going to a (free) Regina Spektor concert in Brooklyn. I love Regina Spektor. So that'll be cool. And then I'm heading home. On Tuesday my mom and I will head up to Chatham and have lunch with my cousin and her mom, and it will be nice to see them (I haven't seen them since Thanksgiving). Kara graduated from college in December. On Thursday I'll head back to the city to see Les Liasons Dangereuses on Broadway with the fantabulous Laura Linney, whom I adore. So it should be a good week free of sixth graders.

I don't think I ever shared these videos I took at my last Counting Crows concert. So here they are. I used iDVD to make a really cool DVD of the concert. I heart my Mac.
Unfortunately I only got clips of the songs. Goodnight Elisabeth was over 17 minutes long and Round Here was over 12 minutes long. My camera only records 3 minutes at a time and does not have nearly enough memory to hold a bunch of videos. So these are excerpts. Mostly of alternates, because that's what I love most about their live shows.

Goodnight Elisabeth pt1:

Goodnight Elisabeth2:

Round Here pt1:

Round Here pt2:

Los Angeles pt1:

Los Angeles pt2:

Holiday in Spain:

"She lives alone on her private archipelago, with the palm trees and her seashells. Plays in the waves all day, she's scared of dying and she wants to keep it that way. She sends a boat out on the sea with a little note for me. It says, 'Why are all the girls so hungry?' Says, 'Why are all the girls so hungry? Why are all the boys so lonely?'" ~sordid humor

Today sucked. I had to deal with so much crap. I had a pretty good week, but it ended on a bad note. That happens a lot. I hate Fridays at school.

I went to a couple movie screenings, which made it a good week. On Monday I saw Wild Child, starring Emma Roberts. It's a pre-teen/teen movie, but it was kind of cute. They only admitted girls ages 14-24, so it was a fun audience. It doesn't come out until the end of August so it was a rough cut. For some reason Emma Roberts reminded me of Willa Holland (who was fabulous on The O.C.).

On Wednesday I saw a (very) advanced screening of the movie Tropic Thunder (which also comes out at the end of August). Philip Seymour Hoffman was sitting in front of me and when the movie ended I heard him sum it up very well. Direct quote from him: "I just don't know what to say. Oh. My. God." It was absolutely hilarious. It was directed by Ben Stiller and stars Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey, and Nick Nolte, among others. Tom Cruise totally steals the show; I can't even tell you how funny he is. I know a lot of people have a problem with Tom Cruise, but I've always enjoyed him as an actor. And Robert Downey Jr. is completely unrecognizable as a black man. Seriously. The screening was cool because they only let in 30 "normal" people (luckily I got there early) and reserved the rest for special movie people. In the audience I saw Ben Stiller, Jerry Stiller, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Peter Dinklage, Larry David, and some other famous people I recognized but couldn't name. I LOVE Philip Seymour Hoffman, I think he's one of the best actors alive, so it was cool to sit behind him (luckily I was actually a little to his right and behind him, because he's tall and has a big head). I enjoyed watching his reactions to the movie. So it was a fun evening.

This weekend I'm staying with my cousins while my aunt and uncle are at the Master's tournament. I'll be there for three nights. They live in a great apartment in Chelsea. My cousins are a freshman and a senior in high school, so my "babysitting" job isn't like babysitting at all. I'm excited to hang out with them. I love my cousins. Bess and I always have fun together. She's 14 going on 30. I've blogged about her before. She's quite a character.

"And you realized your fantasies are dressed up in travesties. Enjoy yourself with no regrets, uh uh. Everybody here comes from somewhere that they would just as soon forget and disguise." ~r.e.m.

Last week Nicole and I went to a screening of the movie Street Kings. It was so bad it was good. We couldn't stop laughing at the terrible dialogue. And the costumes. I don't know what Keanu Reeves, Forrest Whitaker (an Oscar winner), and Hugh Laurie (who got a laugh as he first appeared by peeking out from behind a hospital curtain) were thinking when they accepted their roles. It was pretty gruesome, too. I guess it wasn't completely awful, but it was not something I would pay money to see.

Yesterday I took the third test I need for my NY state teaching license. There were some difficult questions, so I'm a little worried about how I did. I think I did well on the essay, though, so hopefully that will boost my score. I was nervous about the last two tests (which I took in February) but I passed those easily, so I probably shouldn't be concerned about this one (watch me fail it now).

Nic and I got tickets to see R.E.M., The National, and Modest Mouse perform at Madison Square Garden in June. I cannot wait. The National is one of my absolute favorite bands in the world (probably in my top 3). I've seen The National and Modest Mouse live before and they're both fantastic. I've never been to an R.E.M. concert before, so I'm super-excited about that because they're supposed to be fabulous live. Not only that, they're such an important band. They marked the beginning of alternative rock and have had such a large influence on other great bands. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, in their first year of eligibility. Their newest album, Accelerate, was released last week and is their best album in about a decade. I think it may even be their best album ever. I love it. So I am so psyched to see them live.

Now I have to get back to planning and grading. I have a lot to do today. I'll leave you with R.E.M. performing the first single from their new album, called "Supernatural Superserious," on The Colbert Report. It is such a fantastic song.