ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

So now then. Here we are. One year and 8,000 hits later and I'm still writing this damn blog. It sure has been interesting. This blog has provided a great deal of fun and insight as well as distraction to my life (not to mention some pretty wacky drama on occasion), and I'm glad more often than not people enjoy the posts.
A lot has changed in the last year, B"H. Unfortunately a lot hasn't. I broke up with a girl exactly two days after the infamous (pitiful?) first post last March, and have had only one relationship that I would barely consider significant since. Otherwise it's been a handful of shiduch dates and one bummer of a crush I'll get to in a bit. Though things are definitely in turmoil in my life right now, one major difference in my life right now is that I'm substantially spiritually stronger now, and G-d willing I'll stay that way. I've made some new great friends and parted ways with some not-so-great friends. Such is life.
When I started this blog it was all about that awful breakup I had about a year and half ago. It was one of the two most painful things I've ever had to go through in my life. Not trying to be dramatic there, just honest. Anyone who's ever had a broken heart knows how difficult it is, and how time is really the only cure. I have no idea where she is in life (despite a false accusation last June), engaged, married, happy, sad, NY, NJ, FL,Israel..? Don't know. But I do wish her the best and a life time of health and happiness. I often wondered how I would know for sure that I had managed to move on (even though we all know a small piece of you never really lets go) ? I felt detached from everything that had happened, had dated other girls, and made zero effort to contact her in over a year. The evidence seemed to be building up, but then came the case breaker.
About two months ago I saw a girl I knew of from college eating in a bagel store near work. She would always be there on the same day at the same time, as would I. Finally after a month of being a pathetic loser I finally worked up the courage to talk to her. It went ok. I was nervous, a tad charming, but managed to break the ice. I figured next time I'd just ask her out. Now I really liked this girl, she was completely striking, yet cute, came off as being sharp yet sweet, and she was the first girl in almost four years that really excited me (other than the Ex obviously). I really couldn't wait to see her again. As my continuously crappy luck with the ladies would have it I'm still waiting. About two days after I finally talked to her the bagel place went out of business!! The king of all bummers.
Now I did everything I could think of to try to get in touch with her. I'm pretty confident I asked everyone I knew if they knew her. With a few exceptions of "of her" not one person did.
I thought I had found her email off of Only Simchas, so I wrote her a very innocent email, but got no response (and I dafka asked for one just so I could be sure I at least got her). When we spoke she mentioned where she works- which happened to be Right next door to where a good friend of mine lives, so I had an excuse to be there (even if its only four blocks from the office). There was only one thing left to do. I went down there. I worked up a shocking amount of courage and finally got the guts to walk into the hospital where she works..... but went into the wrong building (apparently there's more than one radiology department). The determined Romeo in me was spent for the day so I came back two days later. I went to the right building but she didn't come to work that day. So I went back the next day with a not to leave for her, but she had switched her shift and had left, and I couldn't leave a note they oddly said. I finally went down one last time today but she was no where to be found, and I think I have to finally give up :( Too much time has passed for her to remember a brief chat in a bagel store a month ago. Hopefully Hashem will allow for another chance encounter, but I feel like I did do all that I could to find her (without being a stalker), so I can't be upset with myself. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know.The other silver lining, that really sums up the whole post, is that going all out to try and make this happen really made me see that I had come quite a long way in the last year. It was exciting to be excited in that way again. But I'm still frickin bummed out. Damn you Bagel Bites!!!!

Seven Types of Magnificence

Last April I wrote a blog about a fantastic novel called the "The Book of Joe" by Jonathan Tropper, and said that it was the best non-Stephen King book I had read in my life. It's no secret that I adore the works of Mr. King, and that he is perhaps responsible for my love of literature. In fact the only book(s) I would call an "experience" to read would be his Dark Tower saga (particularly book IV)....until now. I recently had the good fortune to come across a novel in Barnes and Nobles by Australian Yid Elliot Perlman called "Seven Types of Ambiguity". I had never heard of it, and the only reason I bought it was because the brief plot summary seemed appealing to me. I figured "What the hell? Could be OK". Of course I was wrong. I didn't think that the novel would be utterly brilliant and even life altering, but by the time I was 30 pages into the book I knew that I was on the verge of discovering something truly special. And by the time I came to the novels satisfying conclusion I couldn't deny the fact that I had just read the best book I had ever read (with the lone debatable exception of "DT IV: Wizard and Glass",but the two books are so different it would be a waste of time to even bother comparing).

One might read "Ambiguity" and the first adjective that comes to mind might be "thought- provoking". Another might say "suspenseful". Yet another might say "touching". "Emotional", "witty", "disturbing", "intense", "illuminating", "powerful" etc... any, and all of these descriptions would be 100% correct. The novel is that damn good, and it packs that strong of a punch.

I'm sure you are wondering what it's about. Well it's a bit complicated but I'll do my best to give a brief summary. The story is told in seven parts with 7 different narrators, each with his/her own story that parleys into the main tale of the book. The protagonist is a handsome, 32-year-old out of work teacher named Simon. Simon was dumped by Anna 10-years-ago. He still hasn't gotten over her. Anna is married to a man named Joe, and they have a son named Sam who has a very unlikely encounter with Simon one day. Joe sees a kindly, morose prostitute named Angelique once a week. Angela (her real name) is madly in love with Simon. Simons father pays for him to start seeing a therapist, Alex. Soon Alex and Simon become best friends instead of doctor-patient. Angela also becomes friends with Alex. Joe is working on a major deal at work involving the restructuring of National Healthcare in Australia. Alex is the most vocal opponent of this switch in the media, and could be a major thorn for Joe. And to top it all off Simon decides to kidnap Sam one day.
It's similar to "Magnolia" and "Crash"without the race themes and the frogs. I'm sure from my gushing you can tell how much I loved this novel and I do hope you read it as well. It was the second time in my life that I can call reading a book an experience (sorry Ms. Rowling). I took my time with the novel, in order to absorb the sensationalism of it. And the month I spent reading it will be specially bookmarked in my life.

Now there is one big problem with reading a book as amazing as "Ambiguity" : it ruins the enjoyment level and appreciation of subsequent novels read in the near future. A friend of mine, my mother, and my sister have all been ooohing and ahhhhing over Jodi Picoult recently, particularly the novel "My Sister's Keeper", so I gave it a gander...even if it is a bit of chic-book. Now this novel tells an excellent story, and for the most part is well written (my main critiques on Picoult is that some of her metaphors and analogies are contrived and lame, and like Perlman she keeps switching narration, but she also switches the font with the narrator, which I think is highly unnecessary. Give the reader more credit, and give the book more class. Going to italics is fine, but keep the same font.) But as good as "Keeper" may be, it is completely out of "Ambiguity's" league. It's almost like comparing Shakespeare to Dan Brown. Both are popular writers, both tell engaging stories, but c'mon...
Perhaps had I not been graced with Perlman's novel I would be holding Picoult on a higher madreygah (though for the record I think Troppers novels are sharper, and clearly she's no King). But as it is she had the unfortunate luck of being the girl who followed Brian Regan (or perhaps Jerry Seinfeld for the comic impaired out there) in front of a sold out crowd at Caroline's. One could do a lot worse than "My Sister's Keeper", but no better than "Seven Types of Ambiguity".

JUSTICE!!!

I've never been happier to be wrong!!!! Brokeback Mountain lost Best Picture to Crash, and deservedly so. Crash was a superior film in every single way, and didn't rely on a gimmick and social/political pressure to lead towards the podium. It truly was the best movie of the five nominated. I really don't have much else to say other than that I screamed "YESSSS!!!" when Jack announced that Crash had one. For me, this replaces Roman Polanski and Adrian Brody winning their respective Oscars for The Pianist as the most joyful suprise in Academy history. It's just so relieving and reaffirming that the film that basically bullied its way towards Oscar gold, was finally deflated by a far superior peer. Again I'm not anti-gay cowboys, I'm anti false realizations of merit. BRAVO, CRASH, BRAVO!!

And just for the hell of it, here are MY TOP 10 FILMS OF 2005:

10. Sin City
9. King Kong
8. Munich
7. The Constant Gardener
6. The Ushpizin
5. Batman Begins
4. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
3. Wedding Crashers
2. Crash
1. A History of Violence