Complex Explosion of Flavor Without the Burn

My sister came over last night and as always we had a great time. The combination of my sleep deprivation and her elation that she is on summer break, certainly made us one giggly bunch. We gorged ourselves on sushi at one of my favorite local haunts Takemura and found ourselves laughing uncontrollably at some of the silliest things. My favorite was her comment (above) which she made while comparing sushi to Mexican Food (apparently Mexican food is a complex explosion of flavor WITH burn). I told her it sounded like a hemorrhoid commercial or some other weird itch cream, and of course, we laughed about it all the way back to my apartment.

After the giggles had subsided, we decided to watch a movie and settled on a film entitled Everything is Illuminated. I must say it was a very touching film. I had always wanted to see it since I read the book about 5 years ago. The film was pure quality - the cinemotagraphy, the acting, the screenplay adaptation - everything. Hats off to Liev Schrieber, the director and one of my favorite actors since seeing him in the title role of Henry V at Shakespeare in the Park.

So, before I continue, I need to provide you with a bit of background info. In a former life I was a "non-profiteer", where I worked with a lot of Eastern European college students. This job afforded me the invaluable opportunity to travel all over the world, but I always looked forward to my trips to Eastern Europe more than any other region. Since then, that part of the world and it's rich cultures has always had a very special place in my heart.

Hence, it was no surprise to me that my favorite character in the movie was the Ukrainian protagonist, Alex. My sister and I were both enamored of the actor, but we had never seen him before (the actor was clearly a native Ukrainian and sported the sexiest accent). We had to learn more about this enigmatic and strangely attractive person. I promptly booted up my computer (during the film, much to my sister's annoyance) and IMDBed and ran a bunch of google searches to learn more.

The lanky actor's name is Eugene Hutz, and I must say he is one cool cat (pictured here). I'd love to meet this guy. Everything is Illuminated was his first film appearance, and the NYC resident is actually the lead singer of a gypsy punk band called Gogol Bordello. So of course, off to ITunes I went to see if I could get a sneak peak at some of his music, and I really liked it. They also have a myspace page, so if you are at all curious, you should check out their tunes. They really are a complex explosion of flavor without the burn.

Start Wearing Purple.