Sounds, Sights, Gustatory Delights..etc..

I spotted that the public library I frequent had Season 1 of True Blood available to check out. I had been intrigued by that show but sadly lacking in the premium cable channels. HBO has had a quite a recent history of unattainable programming that I covet : Rome , Deadwood, Flight of the Concords (happy epilogue:I did wind up getting both seasons of FotC. *Terrific* stuff) True Blood, Eastbound& Down, Boardwalk Empire. OK, well I call it “unattainable”when I really mean not freely attainable. Uggh..y’know, entertainment pickin’s be getting pretty slim for cheapskates like me. Soon all I will have to watch will be town meetings on public access.

But anyway, I took out all 5 discs of Season 1, and was stoked to delve into the series from its beginning. Anyone who knows me knows I like to take in things ab ovo.

I TORE through those discs and then I was like—DAAAAAMMIT—my library only has that one season!! I pondered initiating my very first interlibrary loan transaction but opted not to. My burgeoning True Blood addiction demanded more instant gratification. Said addiction was so powerful that it trumped my pennypinchery and I went to a movie rental place and started renting subsequent seasons. You read right—a movie rental place not an online streaming site or a Red Box kiosk. How surprisingly old timey, eh? This place opened up back in April and I went in shortly thereafter out of curiosity. I almost felt like I was on an archaeological expedition of sorts. They had some special going, so I signed up for a membership card& rented 3 DVDs at that time, but after returning those 3, I hadn’t been back there. Until now, that is. While I did have to expend some moolah, it was a fairly shrewd way to go. I looked at True Blood on iTunes and it was quite pricey. Seems to me that all their TV /movie offerings are. This shop, MGM (not named for the studio, actually. Stands for “Movies-Games-Music”) has specials everyday, has a *ton* of TV shows in stock (including seasons 1-4 of True Blood) and all the rentals you get for 5days.

Ok, I didn’t plan to spin such a tangent there, but I think I was trying to point out that it can pay to be a bit anachronistic sometimes.

I’m 2 episodes into Season 4 now, and have come to suspect that, while I rather LOVE the show, my addiction is actually an Alexander Skarsgard addiction. Oh. My. Homina, homina, homina. WORD... he is the ULTIMATE. I always imagined that if I met a celeb IRL, (I have, actually, but ‘twas long ago and underwhelming. Full list of celebrity encounters available upon request ) my sangfroid would be unwavering and they would be quite charmed by my uncommon poise. But I tell ya, if I saw Alexander Skarsgard buying socks at Kohl's, fuck sangfroid, I would drop to one knee and propose marriage before introductions. Hey, it could happen. Kohl's is the #1 clothing retailer in the nation. (No b.s., that. I think I picked that up from some Forbes.com slideshow)

So that’s about all I’m watching right now. As a longtime Project Runway devotee, I did commence ta watchin’ the Season 10 premiere last Thursday, but I fell asleep 1/3 of the way through.

Seen a coupla movies . . .

"Brave" made me a little weepy (if you saw it, you can probably guess the part that got my eyes leakin’). I rented "The Artist", at long last, and enjoyed it lots. Even though I appreciated the li’l experiment of doing a silent movie in the modern age, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to, y’know, get into it. But Dujardin really reels you in. He deserved that Oscar. I did discover that when watching a silent movie I’m uncontrollably compelled to provide dialogue from time to time. Just at moments where I think it’s really warranted.

Thanks to my coworker Paul, I have knocked one song off my impossible wish list of tune-age (these are songs I want that are nowhere to be found on iTunes nor are they downloadable from  Amazon...necessitating a bothersome CD purchase) He had this CD that had the Sublime cover of the Hong Kong Phooey theme song that I'd been raving about.  He brought it into work and I imported the whole album into my iTunes library.  It's--overall--pretty dope. Ramones doing the Spiderman theme and Sponge's take on "Go Speed Racer Go"  are both stand-outs.

I'm still desperate to get this loco cover by the Cramps--

And of course, for a long time now, the top 20 or so spots on my Impossible Tune-age list are taken up by AC/DC songs.  I effing adore AC/DC, but I am still peeved as hell at their iTunes resistance.  Plus they throw in an added degree of difficulty by not having any sort of Greatest Hits compilation CD. So there's approx 20 of their songs I want, but they're all dispersed amongst different albums.  I think I read that the band's feeling is that they want their fans to experience an album in its entirety, and not just pick & choose scraps of it.  I think that mindset is not uncommon among artists, but geeeeeeez. Can they not empathize with the average music consumer and see how fucking annoying  that is?

Not long ago, my friend Paula posted on her FB wall "Going on an iTunes spree. Suggestions?"  I made with the suggestions ASAP since, as you've surely surmised I don't need much cajoling to get me to dictate to people what their tastes should be. Yeah, I realize it's a bit obnoxious, but it can't be helped.  There are just a chosen few of us that are cosmically preordained to be THE Arbiters of Fine Taste. Myself, GOOP-y Gwyneth Paltrow, Fred Savage, a handful of others that wish to remain nameless...it's our calling.

So my suggestions--

Hunhh..shit..I just realized, whilest screen cappin' that, that I had a duplicate in there (8 ,10)  Ok, so I will give you a new #8 of "Lights Out, Words Gone" by Bombay Bicycle Club.  That's a lovely, lovely song.

I'm just about outta steam, but I did imply "gustatory delights" would be provided, didn't I?  Recently I tried out BK's Southwestern Breakfast Burrito and I liked it a lot.  I kinda prefer the picante sauce that McDonalds doles out with their b-fast burritos, but otherwise the BK one is superior.  They throw a hash brown over the top of the fillings and that adds this nice mystery-crispy factor.  Oh, except I just obliterated all the mystery for you. My bad.  It's bigger and more caloric and probably fattier than the McD equivalent,  but what's the point of having a wee skimpy breakfast burrito that is so unfullfilling that you wind up eating quadruple the lunch? I try to eat inverted triangle style-- a bigger breakfast, scale down your lunch some, and then do a small dinner.   Oh, and pathetically, I am in a position  these days to offhandedly know that the BK burrito is only 4 Weight Watchers Points more than the McDonalds one.  (So far, everything's going in the right direction, lbs-wise (though ever so gradually) but I was thinking about how if an investigator were to "profile " me now, utilizing my Bing search history, he/she would conclude that I am incredibly, unbearably,banal. "Carbohydrates in Orangina" "What is the points value of a Twizzler?"  Oy vey...)

Hmm..I feel like I've disappointed in the "gustatory delights" initiative.  It's just that it's too highbrow a term for BK fare. Perhaps it escaped your notice but IT RHYMED, ok? Cut me some freeeakin' slack!!

Here's a visual reiteration of an earlier point...

I should've embedded a video, but it was tough enough deciding on 1 pic. But, truly, a video would've been better. You need to behold his movement & mannerisms to get the Optimum MMmm--MMmm- MMM!