Category Archives: Downtown

Eraserhead

Last weekend I saw Eraserhead (1977, David Lynch) at the UW Cinematheque. It was a full house. Several things about the movie struck me. The first thing I noticed was the doors. It seemed to me that there were a lot of doors closing, or that the focus was often on that. Strange thing to notice. The second thing was the noise. It was constant noise which was a big part of the movie.

I must be honest. I did not like it right after it finished. In fact when the screen cut to black and the silence washed over me I felt relieved. But in the few days since it has grown on me. I won’t be re-watching the movie soon but I will probably view it again in the future. The main character – Henry – has such a distinctive hair style. I wonder how much of the low budget went to that!

Afterwards I ate at Paul’s Pelmeni. It was delicious as usual. Give it a chance if you are downtown. And it seems other people are getting hip to the jive – see this article in the Isthmus.

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Taste Of Madison Canopies

I was at the farmer’s market before the Taste of Madison last weekend. All of the restaurants and such were set up and waiting for the start. I noticed something unusual about it. Can you see it?

Taste of Madison Canopies

Taste of Madison Canopies

No? What about here?

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Taste of Madison Canopies 2

Nearly all of the canopies are either red, white, or blue. I only see one (in the lower picture) that has any other color in it. Is this normal? Do canopy makers not sell any other colors or do people only buy red, white or blue? I thought I would share.

Movie and a Dinner

Last night I went out. The UW Cinematheque was screening “The Producers”. I had never seen it before but have only heard good things about it.

The movie exceeded expectations. Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel were hilarious. I cannot imagine how it would have been received in 1968. It crossed so many lines but still managed to be funny. Almost every line was memorable. Laughing at the jokes with the rest of the audience is more satisfying then laughing alone on my couch.

Before the film started they showed a trailer for a movie called “Skatetown USA“. It is hard for me to believe that at some point in time someone thought this was a good movie to make. It apparently was the film debut of Patrick Swayze.

After dinner it was time to eat. I cycled from Union South (where the movie was) to downtown to find some food. I ended up going to Paul’s Pel’meni. It is the little place on Gorham with the “Gorham Dumplings” sign in the window. It was my second time there and I like the place a lot. It is simple, the food is good and the service is good. For a half order of dumplings is $4.5 and only a buck more for a soda. And they have Sun Drop. I will be returning again.

If you really like pel’meni but can’t always get downtown you can buy frozen pel’meni at Intermarket which is a Russian grocery store on Old Middleton near Knoche’s Food Store. Lots of interesting things there.

The best part about my evening was the biking. I haven’t biked at night in a long time. It is much different than biking during the day. Looking at Google maps it looks like I biked 13 miles for my dinner and a movie. I was tired but it was great exercise. And for The Producers and pel’meni I would do it again.