"My blue Manhattan, she's angry like a child, but how sweet. Fire and rain on the street. It's you against me most days, it's me against you, doll." ~ryan adams

On Sunday TV on the Radio played a free concert at McCarren Pool, so of course I went. I thought the rain would deter other people from going, and I'm sure it did deter some people, but there was still a huge crowd. I guess when a band as popular as TVOTR is playing for free, a little rain (or a lot of rain) isn't going to stop music fans. I got there really early, though, and ended up in the front row. I was extremely lucky. The stage was covered, and the awning extended enough so that the people standing in the front row were mostly covered by it, so I didn't get too wet. And the rain stopped around the time that TVOTR went onstage. There's a good review with tons of fabulous pictures here. It was a really good concert.

I've been waiting for the movie Stardust to come out for a very, very, long time, so I searched around online and found a bunch of contests offering tickets to free advance screenings of the movie. And I won one of them! So Nic and I are seeing it tomorrow night. I'll post a review afterwards. It opens in theaters on August 10th, so mark your calendars. I'm so excited. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a huge Claire Danes fan (it is probably most obvious from the fact that my blog is named after her amazing tv show). She has a pretty cool name, too. ;-) When you throw Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert DeNiro into the mix, you've got a pretty great cast. And it looks like a great story.

"If I could open my arms and span the length of the isle of Manhattan, I'd bring it to where you are, making a lake of the East River and Hudson. If I could open my mouth wide enough for a marching band to march out, they would make your name sing and bend through alleys and bounce off all the buildings." ~death cab for cutie

It's so incredibly hot in my apartment that I don't like spending any more time there than I have to. I've been pretty successful at finding stuff to do. Yesterday afternoon I walked down to a free outdoor concert at the East River Amphitheater. Three bands played and they were pretty good. It was a nice venue, too. The stage is right in front of the East River, so you can watch all the boats go by as you listen to the music. I also sat outside yesterday and reread the first Harry Potter book. It didn't take me very long. I think I'll move on to #2 today. I'm planning on going through them all in a row now that they're all out.

Last night Christin, her sister, and I went to this really cool dueling piano bar called Sweet Caroline's. It was so much fun; Christin and I both said we wanted to go back there again. They played some great songs and the whole crowd got really into it. I learned that Long Island Iced Teas are very dangerous, though. While I was there I was great. I ended up standing on top of my chair singing along at the top of my lungs (many other people were doing the same), and I had a blast. But when I got home I didn't feel so great. Anyway, I definitely want to go back.

"Oh we're just people-watching on Third and St. Marks..." ~joe purdy

I live about fifty feet away from the intersection of Third and St. Marks. It definitely is a good place to people-watch. St. Marks is such an awesome street. Have I mentioned that I'm in love with my neighborhood?? Living in Greenwich Village is amazing.

I've been trying to take advantage of living in the city as much as possible. Last night I went to this awesome (free) event in Central Park. Two of my favorite authors read from their most recent novels and then participated in a round table discussion. Jennifer Egan read first, from The Keep. I've read all of Jennifer Egan's novels (she's only written three) and I absolutely love her. I think The Keep is my favorite of the three. It was so cool to hear the words of the novel coming directly out of her mouth. I wrote a little bit about the book here. Then Marisha Pessl read from her debut novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics. I was so excited to hear her read and speak because this novel blew me away. If you haven't read it, go do so now. Seriously. I think it's brilliant. The New York Times (among many other publications) named it one of the ten best books of 2006. Pessl is especially skilled at creating dynamic, interesting, realistic characters, and I love her use of allusions. The book is filled with "thousands" of references (according to amazon.com) that are wonderfully woven into the text. During the discussion she talked about outlining the plot on an Excel spreadsheet before she started writing, which I thought was so interesting (and necessary for her novel, because there's a lot going on and she had to keep track of what Blue knew at what time). Listening to Pessl read was such an enjoyable experience. She's very dramatic. At one point during the discussion after the readings she mentioned that she was in plays, and it didn't surprise me at all because she seems like a natural-born actress. She did different voices for the different characters and was very theatrical. When I was reading the book I found it hilarious at times, and it was even more funny listening to Pessl read it out loud. So I'm very glad that I had the chance to hear those two brilliant women speak. I highly recommend both of their works.

"It's a strange thing, but when you are dreading something, and would give anything to slow down time, it has a disobliging habit of speeding up." ~j.k. rowling

This post is about Harry Potter. There are no spoilers in the main post; I just talk about the series in general. I'll write about book 7 in the comments section, so DO NOT CLICK ON THE COMMENTS SECTION IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE FINAL BOOK.

Harry Potter is over. I can't quite believe it. After ten years, the story is complete. I have nothing to look forward to anymore. It's an incredibly sad, empty feeling. It didn't take me too long (less than a day) to read the last book, but I tried to savor it as I read. I was torn as I got towards the end; I wanted to know what would happen, but I didn't want it to end. And now it has.

The Harry Potter series is a phenomenon unlike anything else the literary world has seen. Its mass appeal is unprecedented. It got so many people excited about reading who ordinarily wouldn't have voluntarily picked up a book, and I think that's fantastic. It appealed to all ages as well. I know both kids and adults who couldn't wait for July 21st so they could drop everything else and read. As I was reading, I stopped to wonder how many people were reading the same book as I was at that very moment. I'm sure there were millions of us. That's such a cool feeling.

I know that future generations will continue to read the series, but it won't be the same for them as it was for those of us who read the books as they were released. For me, much of the excitement came from the anticipation. A book would be released, I would read it in a day, and would then eagerly wait for the next book to be written and published. Everyone was in the same boat, so we could speculate together and analyze the details of the books in order to make predictions. Harry Potter brought people together like no other work of fiction has, at least in my lifetime.

So thank you to J.K. Rowling for creating that magical world and allowing so many of us to escape to it.

Go on to the comments section if you want to know what I thought of book 7.

"New York City, such a beautiful disease. New York City, such a beautiful, such a beautiful disease." ~norah jones

Last night I had a great dinner with my new friend Jenny. She's from Melbourne and she just arrived in NYC a couple of weeks ago. We walked around the Village and ended up at a nice restaurant where we sat outside on the patio. There was a breeze blowing and it was a perfect night to be outside. We ate and talked for two hours. I guess we're in somewhat similar situations, both being new residents of the city, and we had a lot to talk about. I had fun. And I love living in Greenwich VIllage; there are so many good restaurants to choose from, there are always lots of people walking around, and it just has a really cool atmosphere.

I'm going home for the weekend. Kim, Elizabeth, and I are seeing Hairspray (the movie) on Friday night. I absolutely cannot wait; I'm a big fan of the musical. I saw it on Broadway with the original cast and loved it. It's such a fun show. And the movie is supposedly fantastic. On Saturday we're going to Six Flags. I haven't been there for awhile, so I'm excited about that as well. I'm sacrificing some precious Harry Potter reading time to go; now I won't be able to start it until Saturday night. I'll read quickly. I don't want to be spoiled before I finish it. Supposedly the ending is leaked online already, but I'm staying far away from that info.