Thanks to everyone who read and commented on my comments, and thanks, Gil, for yours.
John Gallagher and I rang in New Year's Eve last night (we might make this a tradition!) with a viewing of "Imaginarium" at the Landmark Cinema downtown on East Houston Street. Beforehand, we met for a wonderful, comfy supper at
Supper, a place I know I'll return to, hopefully with Brokies. Yummy food, simply served up, and as John says, the perfect place to escape from a wintry Manhattan night.
The 7:00 movie was about 3/4 full, but there was a long line for the next showing. I was glad to see it again and fill in some of the plot details I'd missed the first time around. John liked it (he said something like "it was really lovely and really a mess"), and I hope he'll write his impressions here. I heard a man say on the way out "I really liked that."
Afterwards we crossed over Houston to have Australian coffee at the Tuck Shop (Gil will remember this place). The laid-back guys in charge of the kitchen apologized for having no desserts, and no decaf either, so John went for the real coffee and I had an Aussie beer while we watched them make meat pies (they smelled great). Still hankering for a nosh and wanting to stretch out such a nice evening, we stopped on the way to the subway at
Cafe Mogador, an old hangout of John's, which is really charming. John had a cheese plate and a glass of port (his first indulgence in the grape in four fuckin years), and I had crispy baklava and green tea infused with mint, served in a beautiful silver Moroccan teapot.
Just as we reached the parting of our ways at the L train, it struck midnight, so we celebrated the arrival of December 31, 2009. Til next year, John!