movies movies movies

Movies I've watched recently...

The Beautician and the Beast- put this DVD in a few nights back (yeeeah, I own it on DVD) because I was trying to resist popping in yet another period drama/romance literary adaptation type movie...I get carried away with those. I think I've watched my DVDs of Northanger Abbey & Persuasion (the 2007 BBC productions) at least a dozen times each. Anyways, I was trying to ween myself off of that type fare but still wanted a romance. So I went with this. It is just as vapid as you're supposing, but it's an enjoyable enough way to wile away 102 minutes. It's The Nanny comes to Eastern Europe. Better than The Nanny, really, as there's not that wretched theme song, and Timothy Dalton is far more attractive than that Maxwell Sheffield fellah. Is it an indication of how thoroughly warped I am, that I find Fran Drescher charming? If I could vote for NY state senators, she'd SOO have my vote.

The Wedding Date-- this was on TNT the other night and I watched it even having missed the beginning, which is a big thing for me. This is a formulaic bit of the usual rom-com fluff, but enjoyable pretty much due to both the leads being quite likable. I do think that the relationship was a bit underdeveloped...and the movie has a very short run time so they really could've afforded to tack on a few extra scenes and flesh the story out a smidge. However, my primary response to this flick...what I think every time I watch it really, (I have the DVD) is...DAAAMN that Dermot Mulroney is a FINE looking specimen!!! (I can't help how superficial I am...oh, perhaps I can try...maybe that'll be a resolution for '09??)

Mamma Mia!-- A very frothy good time, as any production founded on the canon of ABBA should be. But oh!!--one bit that was certainly NOT a good time for me--listening to Pierce Brosnan sing. I would not have held it against the director if she had opted to have someone else sing his songs and dub them in. I know that's generally considered a cheap, Milli Vanilliesque move or whatev, but I think an exception should definitely definitely be made in Pierce Brosnan's case. Oy. It's a good thing he's pretty.

Last night, I stopped at Hollywood Video, a place I have managed to avoid for months and months and months now. I shun it because I never wind up renting there, I am too enticed by their pre-viewed DVD sales. I thought I was strong enough to go in there, pick up some used PS2 games for my bro-in-law (his birthday's this Monday) and leave with just those PS2 games. But my spending willpower is always very feeble so near to payday. The siren song of the pre-viewed DVDs overtook me yet AGAIN. So I bought: The Fall Nim's Island Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day & There Will Be Blood
I've only watched 2 of these so far...

Last night, I was in the mood for lighter fare, so I watched Nim's. Jodie Foster was actually quite likable in this whereas I usually find her inexplicably offputting. And I would think...it seems to me , anyhow...that just the proximity to Gerard Butler would switch her back into hetero mode. And she was not just working with him, they had, like, 3/4 of a scene where they mimed romantic bliss. So, I don't see how it could be avoided, in that case.

Tonight I watched There Will Be Blood. I really liked it. It was, overall, a dark movie, but I found myself laughing quite a bit throughout the flick. Not just laughing, but talking to the screen too. If you can't just shut up and watch, you have to emit a gasp or an appalled "You bastard!" --that's the mark of quality cinema right there. It was odd...this main character progresses from rather crooked to balls-to-the-wall EVIL (as well as totally loco)..and still I found myself "rooting" for him. Well, for the most of the movie anyways . When he gets in the argument with the adult HW...well that was what finally turned me , made me at last judge the character unredeemable. I probably was predisposed to root for Plainview because he was portrayed by Daniel Day Lewis...whom I adore. He's just an AMAZING actor. I'm inclined to think the Academy Award he got for this (his second, I believe) was totally merited (I can't say that 100% not having seen the performances he was up against...but I'm like 99.9% sure he was the rightful victor) Oh, and I think it a major oversight that Paul Dano wasn't nominated for Best Supporting Actor for this flick. It woulda been easy to be overshadowed by Lewis, but Dano really impressed me.

My New Year's Eve was decent (if unspectacular). First thing, my coworker Eileen asked me to go to Margarita's with her friend & her. It wound up being her friend Kristen (whom I'd known from my brief GDT career) Kristen's friend Deb, and Deb's friend whose name I can't remember, but probably her countenance will be seared on my memory forever because her dark eye makeup was alarmingly excessive. And it's not as if she was some Goth broad, either. She was preppy (if we must resort to generalistic labels)but apparently woefully mistaught when it comes to cosmetics. Well, whatever, let's just call her "Rocky" shall we? To make a short story inordinately long, there were 5 of us for dinner, and I'm only passingly acquainted with one of them.

I say "my coworker Eileen" and not "my friend Eileen" because, well, although I get along with Eileen well enough I have yet to decide if she really merits entree into my entourage. She's very nice, but kind of uptight seeming. She gets too agitated over her stupid peon job (and I just can't relate to anyone who's not a fellow slacker, I suppose). I am compelled to brand her geeky, but that feels mean (but yeeah, she kinda is) But [to be fair & balanced] here's a compliment-- I was SHOCKED to find out, on her birthday back in November, that she is 46. She looks a good 10 yrs younger than that. However... do you know anybody that makes you think " What a prime candidate for one of those makeover shows!! She is what such shows were invented for!" You're thinking "SANDRA!" aren't ya? Au contraire, smartass. I know how to dress and preen, I just choose--more often than not--to not divest the time & effort . But Eileen truly is ideal makeover material. She's got a good foundation-- tall, good figure, blond hair. But she dresses horribly. With Lasik, a good hairstyle, new wardrobe and just a dusting of makeup, she'd be a KO.. ..and probably look 15 years younger than she really is.
Sorry..I hadn't intended to embark on this big Eileen tangent. But I just gotta add that one of the perils of being a super nice person (such as Eileen) is that you are not very discriminating in the company you keep. You wind up hanging out with...ehhh..not exceptionally interesting or witty types, no one who's overly fun, sort of bland type people...who are all exceedingly kind and sweet and nice. Well, that seems to be (upon first impression) the friends that Eileen has. Not really my crowd, I'm afraid. (ohh...I am so aware of my mile-wide catty bitch streak right now!!) Anyways, dinner was okay. My fajitas were good (everyone else got salads...booo.) and I got 2 of my fave Margarita's margaritas (the Lime-in-the-Coconut Margarita) so it wasn't a total loss.

Then I went to my sister's. I don't know if it was the margaritas or the subsequent champagne or if it was working all day beforehand, but it was all I could do to stay up to midnight. I made it though...just barely.

New Year's Day I lazed around at my sister's and cat napped, played Guitar Hero (I am improving!), went sliding, and then in the evening, the kids, Laura, Greg & I went bowling & went out for Chinese buffet. I should always bowl with the guard rails up. Usually I am against it--feels like cheating to me. But it's good for the kiddies and I didn't argue this time....and bowled a personal best. I can't divulge the exact score (I do recall what it was) because even if a personal best, it's shamefully bad.

Oh and then I went home and watched Mamma Mia! I'd had it on my iPod for a while but I was saving it..for a special occasion maybe?? I suppose New Year's Day qualifies. Anyways, I had wanted to see it in the theater this summer but didn't...methinks I shall save my impressions of the flick for my next post...

upper lippy locks of love

In one of my new duties at work, I have to order and manage the office & medical supplies. In this job, I have somehow become right hand to Larry, our agency's Facility Czar (I'm drawing a big ol' BLANK on just what his job title is...it definitely involves the word "facility" or perhaps "facilities". "Czar" is not actually part of it, I don't think) Anyways...the one thing I know for certain about Larry is that his whole head looks wrong without a moustache. I didn't realize he was so very much, so incontrovertibly a moustache man until he just this past weekend shaved it off. And this would be fine by me and merely a source for much catty commentary if I didn't have to confer with the dude so frequently. It is all I can do not to stare at the foreign expanse of facial real estate where the moustache once thrived...oh, and there is a red nick there, just to make things extra awkward por moi. It's either a nick or like, a shaving bump..I'm not sure, as I have managed not to gaze at it for a prolonged period of time (although, I think I instead I have my eyes darting constantly about the room like I'm coming down off of a crack high or something)





This has inspired in me much moustachioed meditations...there are definitely guys who should have moustaches. For instance, I quite prefer Alex Trebek pre-shave. Oh, and Tom Selleck is a perfect poster boy for the better-WITH-stache club. I always thought Magnum PI was the foxiest mo-fo to don a Hawaiian shirt, but then the first time I saw Selleck sans 'stache I was like "BleeeeeEECH! Who is this bushy eyebrowed monster??" Anyways, why then is it unprecedented (or, to the best of my knowledge, it's unprecedented) for makeover shows to put fake moustaches on their male subjects? I think that majority of makeover show subjects (would "beneficiaries" be a better term than "subjects"? ) are still women. But, in recent years makeover shows have gotten more equal opportunity...particularly due to the influence of QE for theStraight Guy. So surely, some of these men beneficiaries in these makeovers might be improved by a moustache. If anything, the trend seems to be to get these fellahs as clean shaven as possible. I think on QE it was so that Kyan could get 3 minutes to show off his prowess with a straight razor (ironic? haa ha) OK, I'm not saying it should be "moustaches for all" but definitely for the Trebek types or the Sellecks. Oh-- and have you ever seen Sam Elliot without his moustache? It's an absolute travesty. Like a de-horned unicorn .

So if some broad was on a makeover show with some pitiable short haircut (the Dorothy Hamill perhaps) the hair gurus would outfit her with some extensions, yes? So why not makeover guys with fake 'staches? Is there some tacit stigma attached to fake moustaches? Are they considered too costumey? I mean, why don't male celebrities accessorize with them in the way that starlets clip on extensions when they need a glam red carpet coiff?

pachalafaka--they whisper it all over Turkey

Hello again turkeyjerkies. A thousand &one pardons for my negligence. Lemme get you up to speed. Shouldn't take long...

Christmas was really nice. Seems like for the month of December I was a bit stressed that I wasn't going to be able to get everything done that I wanted to do. I got my cards out a smidge later than I usually do--usually I have 'em mailed around the 14th or 15th but this year I got 'em out on the 19th (with the exception of 3 folks I couldn't get addresses for) and I was a bit relieved after that. And then I finally finished my Christmas shopping practically right at the last minute (12/21) and after that was done, I chillaxed and commenced to fully enjoy the holiday season. There were a few craft projects I never got around to, but oh well. And then Christmas seemed lovely..but it was over too quickly.

I really did well, loot-wise, this Christmas. I don't want to be a total mercenary, but I confess I do take joy in being spoilt....a bit. ..on occasion. It's not as if it's S.O.P. in my life, okay? That sort of reminds me of a quote I read on my desk calendar (if I might digress momentarily..) according to my Schott's Miscellany desk calendar (excellent desk calendar; I plan on hunting one down for 2009) Charlie Chaplin said "The saddest thing I can imagine is to get used to luxury" I think that's interesting in that it sheds a lot of light on what a sicko masochist Chaplin truly was. Ha, ha. Just kidding. I recognize the nobility of that POV, but I can't quite relate. Isn't he being a smidge hyperbolic with that one? Sure, I would definitely say that there are perils to becoming accustomed to luxury. But the saddest thing? Obviously CC had never listened to Terry Jacks' Seasons in the Sun. I don't even get to the end of the first line of the first verse before hitting >> on my iPod. Why in hell did I ever download that song to begin with??
Anyways, I'm not so much into self-denial as ol' Charlie was, and therefore I rather liked all the stuff I got for Christmas. Lemme see...some highlights-- I scored some cash, some gift cards (iTunes, Price Chopper, BK, Luxury Nails, Molly's restaurant) got a super nice bracelet from my sister. And the DVD of A Christmas Story (although it pains me to be trite, it really is my most favoritest Christmas flick. And it was sucky to own it on VHS. Now I just need someone to find me the Peewee's Playhouse Christmas Special on DVD and my holiday movie marathon is perfecto!!) She also got me a jumbo box of Nerds (white,red, &green for the season). For the third year in a row. It's an established holiday tradition now, I suppose (which is fine by me, as I love me some Nerds).

One of the more peculiar gifts I got was a kimono. A friend of mine made me this cotton kimono in this cute floral print. I wasn't sure how to react to it initially-- it was unexpected. But really I've grown very fond of the thing. I find that slumming around in such an exotic and costumey sort of robe is much more gratifying than schlumping around in your run-of-the-mill terry dealies. In fact, it feels much more like swanning around. And although the primary intransitive verb definition of "swanning" just means "to wander aimlessly or idly; to dally"; it connotes something quite elegant, does it not?

Am definitely keeping my to' up green terry dealie for when I color my hair though.

Happy Holidayzzz Mutha %$#@

Oddly, I've been in the mood (musically, that is) to listen to either holiday music (I just -- last weekend--put all my Christmas songs back on to my iPod. It took FOREVVVVVER. I have about 130 holiday tunes and it was too dang labor intensive. I think I'll just leave 'em on there) or RAP. I just bought Sugarhill Gang's Apache & Shimmy Shimmy Ya by ODB (inspired by the VH1* top 100 HipHop Songs countdown I watched a coupla weeks back) Also I bought Get Back by Ludacris (inspired by the end credits of Tropic Thunder ). Incidentally, I've found that Get Back is just the ULTIMATE song for the commute home after a vexing day at work where everyone's been a pain in your ass.

Oh, there's some changes on the job front to share (when I feel like typing it out, that is...I gotsta jet now. I want to finish off my Christmas cards) and the 50%possibility of a move in my 6-12 month forecast. Full 411 to follow. . .

*minor VH1 related tangent I must interject here... I recently watched an eppy of "Best Week Ever" after somewhat of a hiatus (used to watch it faithfully) What's with it becoming the Paul F Thompkins Show? The best part about that show was that if some of the jokes fell a li'l flat there was some variety--cut to another comic to pick up the comedic slack, y'know. I suppose I could comprehend the change better if Thompkins was markedly the funniest dude on there, bar none. But that's not the case. Furthermore, I don't see any of these BWE panellist getting OTHER work. What-- is Christian Finnegan now hosting some game show I don't know about? What the deuce?

sicky sick illy ill

I have had two people tell me today that I look pale and one person tell me I look “pekid”. Which amounts to me being nervous that I’m going to succumb to a swoon—or worse—at any moment. Especially that “pekid” comment. “Pale “ can be purely cosmetic—and positive, even—noting that I’ve got that Rose McGowan porcelain doll chic happenin’. But “pekid” is never good.

I thought maybe I was affected by skipping lunch today and I took tah rummaging about in my bottom righthand desk drawer for some sustenance (‘cause yeeeah—I’m underfed—that’s my problem) and I tore into this Sunbelt Fudge Dipped Coconut Granola bar I’d had in there since Monday. Thems GOOD. I was sorta shocked by that, because they’re just 25 cents, which is redonkulously cheap and according to the often accurate you-get-whatcha-pay-for theorem, they should be disgusting. You can’t even get those Wrigley’s gum 5pc packs for a quarter anymore.

Nostalgic tangent time. . .

Back when I was in college, there was this dive in W Rutland (on old Rte 4, I believe it was located) and their signs advertised hamburgers for 15 cents. I was always quite curious about that place and what other <$1 fare they offered. But I never stopped in, mostly because of the hygienically sketchy look of its exterior, but also in part due to the aforesaid you-get-whatcha-pay-for mentality. I wonder if that place is still there? Ten years ago, it looked like a good huff and a puff would reduce it to rubble so… doubtful that it’s still there.

Got to paint a 3

Sadly, character actor Paul Benedict was found dead on Monday. He was 70. To most of the world he was the British neighbor dude on the Jeffersons, but I'll always remember him for his numerical masterpieces...




Maaaaaaad skillz!! He could paint numbers like a mo-f0, eh? I loved this guy.

The sleep timer

...is one of the most brilliant inventions ever. I use it constantly-- on my TV, on my iPod...

I really wish they could put a sleep timer feature on a PC. I very easily lose track of time when I'm online. I will tell myself "I'm just going to browse around the internets for an hour", but I get sucked into these tangents and before I know it, I look down at the taskbar clock and 2 1/2 HOURS have sped by. Tempus fugit, indeed. But see, if I had me a PC outfitted with a sleep timer, I could say "I'm just going to browse around the internets for an hour" and make that a FIRM hour.

So ,I'm left to rely on good ol' fashioned WILLPOWER and that's never proven exceedingly reliable for yours truly. As it happens, I'm just now taking a break from a bad mammajamma of a tangent (I don't know if "tangent" is the right word...that makes it seem as if it's a verbal thing and it's not really) where I am poring over the Lifetime network's directory of Lifetime Original Movies. Only looking at the Christmas ones, mind you. I'm a sucker for cheezy holiday TV. The big purveyors of this being : Lifetime, ABC Family, the Hallmark Channel, and possibly Oxygen. I can't decide if Lifetime or ABC Fam is my favorite. I watched a bizarro one last year where Jamie Gertz & Dylan Walsh (I heart Dylan Walsh) are an estranged married couple who go snowmobiling out in the middle of absolute nowhere and get stranded like absolute jackasses. Based on a true story (to some degree) . I'm trying to find that one in the Lifetime cannon. Also last year I had kinda been keen on seeing "Christmas Caper" with Shannon Doherty, but I missed it. Wonder if that is a Lifetime one (and if I can catch it this year). Oh, and since I've already launched well off on this topic and exposed myself as a total schmendrick, I may as well proceed to confess that I not only watched & enjoyed Holiday in Handcuffs the other weekend, but I actually DVRed it. Y'know even though I hated that Sabrina show, I always find Melissa Joan Hart to be quite endearing in her dorkiness. And I thought I wouldn't be able to stomach a flick with Mario Lopez as the lead. He's easy enough on the ol' retinas alright, but his acting is generally sorta crappish. It wasn't any better for Holiday in Handcuffs, but crappish acting seemed ok for this kinda fare.

Gettin' in the Christmas spirit

I'm getting a very sllowwww start to my Christmas shopping. I think part of the reason my Christmas shopping is gaining momentum oh-so gradually is because last year at this time I was making quite a bit more $$. The nutty thing is that I work a lot harder in this new job... and get paid less. Where is the justice?? I need a new gig. One where I work less and get paid more. Y'know I just heard they're in dire need of female airport security at the little rinkydink airport in Lebanon. And that the gig comes with beaucoup bennies. I don't think I could do that gig though, dammit. But really I have *got* to find something else if I can. Working for a nonprofit org is a tot-step away from volunteering for a living.

But I digress. I have made a smidge of progress in my Christmas shopping. I think I want to buy my Dad the Shamwow. OK, partly because I'm damned curious about it, I admit. But if it works anything like it's supposed to my Dad would be thrilled with such a product.

Also, I want to get my sister these candles. I am inclined to get her all 3...I sure do wish they came in a set.

I've also got a lot of great Christmas cards. I think that's what's put me in the holiday mood the mostest. I found a surprisingly awesome variety box at Kmart that features Norman Rockwell & JC Lyendecker illustrations--classic stuff. I love it. A box of 28 too!! I was so impressed.

I posted this Family Guy clip last year, but the vid I embedded then won't play anymore. I imagine it was on YouTube and then yanked off due to rights violation or some such hooey. Anyways, I gotsta proffer this nugget of holiday cheer again...

Thanksgiving 2008

I think the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade just may be my favorite part of Thanksgiving. With the midday gorging being a close second fave. Anyways, I watched a good deal of the parade before I at last relented and started in washing the dishes that I had let set in the sink overnight (from prepping veggies & Green Goddess dip & devilled eggs the night before) Anyways, I was sorta peripherally keeping an eye on the parade, when the sudden, jarring, seemingly arbitrary appearance of RICK ASTLEY had me abandoning the sink and standing bewilderedly in front of the TV with my dish soapy hands held up in front of me ( y’know, pre-surgery doc style) He was on the Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends float “singing” Never Gonna Give You Up and I was genuinely puzzled (albeit DELIGHTED… I do so enjoy that Rick Astley) It seemed to me SO outta left field that it took on a sort of miraculous & surreal quality.

So yeah, I was “Rickrolled”. And it just astounds me that I had never heard of this phenomenon until I did a li’l Wikipedia perusal this afternoon. It’s odd and trivial and just the sorta thing that I would know all about. But I didn’t!! Curses!

Lemme see… other things about my Thanksgiving…
I pigged out royally.
I kicked arse at Scrabble.
I went through the 2600+ songs in the iTunes library I share w/ Laura and weeded out all the Raffi & the Jonas Bros (& other such undesirables).

Going back to work on the day after a holiday completely blows the big euphonium. I gotta use up some of my small stash of ETO for Dec 26 (awww yeahhh..Boxing Day mah bitches!!)

Nice chair. . .FOR ME TO POOP ON!!

I SOO don’t wanna be here today. The only thing that will spare me from harboring lasting resentment against the organization is if I’m able to fit in a goodly amount of slacking off time. If I were an employer, I would absolutely allot time for my employees to slack off. I think I would give them a whole hour (in addition to the lunch hour... something like a ½ hr a.m. block of downtime, lunch hour, ½ hr afternoon block of downtime) Of course, I’m sure any company I was heading up would be of the creative sort…a sort of place where slacking off could be construed as constructive & crucial to production. Also I’m sure any company I was heading up would tank in a fairly short amount of time. It’s quite unbecoming to be self-deprecating, I realize, but I’m just not business-minded, is all. I have plenty other redeeming qualities. Truly, I do…

I have been preoccupying my mid—late morning hours with pondering what to get for lunch. Can you believe I didn’t score any leftovers from my sister’s yesterday?? Pfff! I suppose I’m not *entitled*. I have no legal claim on the leftovers (don’t need Starr Jones to tell me that). But I was expecting a li’l somethin’-somethin’. A smallish doggie bag. A pittance, if you will. But I gots nothin’ . … therefore I’ve been perusing the online menu for 99. Nothing therein is particularly enticing to me, but I’m still hooked on the notion of 99 takeout because it’s within walking distance.

Have I mentioned they’re remodeling our offices? I moved into my new, improved work station on Nov 17th. I got a new desk as well as this swanky new light blue office chair that I realized this morning already has a stain on it. A small stain that—I regret to report-- resembles a poop stain. Why, oh, WHY did they hafta order light blue chairs?? Oh and no , to the best of my knowledge, I did not poop my pants at work. I do believe that I would notice and subsequently remember pooping my pants at work. I think it’s dirt. Surely, it’s from my mindless habit of sitting with my right foot tucked underneath me. So it may really be a poop stain if I’d tromped thru dog dookie on one of my lunch break walks. If I had the privacy of a cubicle, I might cop a squat & sniff the seat of my chair but our office is very open plan and I don’t fancy anyone &everyone seeing me do that, y’know?

I miss my jaw harp. I never figured out how to really play it and now the thing is MIA. I'm real tempted to buy another one. What's the worse that could happen..that soon after replacing the missing harp, I find the original one (that seems to happen to me A LOT when I replace lost items). Well, in that scenario, I would hand over my old jaw harp to a friend (after boiling in diluted bleach or somehow purifying the thing, if the recipient in question was one of my more fastidious pals) and then we could both learn the jaw harp. Thereafter, we could rock out....in epic musical camaraderie... a-settin' in rocking chairs on a porch somewhere ...possibly at a Cracker Barrel as we do a 5 state concert tour of Cracker Barrel restaurants. Yeee HA.

I thought of this tonight because I was doing some online browsing (I hope to find some sweet Xmas gifts online this year) and one of the sites I hit was the VT Country Store. Their TOYS section has a musical instrument subsection and they offered a jaw harp on there. Oh, also they had this that caught my eye--





I'm all for old timey instrumentation, but even I am not jackass enough to pay $20. for a slab of corrugated metal. That's flippin' reDONKulous, maaan!!

small, odd, vexations & misc. notes

D'ya ever feel like your tongue just doesn't fit right inside your mouth? My tongue just could NOT get comfy today.

Another thing that irks me.... I think this irks me more than it does most people. I really hate "toast tracks " in the butter. Technically these would be toast crumbs left in the stick of butter in the butter dish... but I have long called them "toast tracks". I want to slather my toast with PRISTINE butter, not butter full of crumbs from godknows whose toast from who-the-flip knows when??

The butter rant makes me think of a poem I read the other night. That's right. I'm not a complete cultural heathen. I sometimes read poetry, dammit.

Anyways, I think this A.A. Milne ditty is utterly charming...

Perhaps I shall write a sequel epic poem...telling of a lovely Empress and her reactions to toast tracks in her butter...

TV blather

Sheepish confession: Between my regular TV addictions, I have taken to watching the Disney channel again. Particularly The Wizards of Waverly Place or Hannah Montana or Life With Derek. That last one, because all the people on that show are so charmingly Canadian. Yeah, so I happen to know the show is made in Canada, but I swear even without knowing that...you'd be able to tell. They really do exude this distinct Canadian je ne sais pas I can't fully define. For one, they seem more wholesome. And they really do say "about" funnily. Or at least the younger bro on the "Derek" show does anyhow.

Anyways, speaking of TV... my Thurs night line up consists of: Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy & then It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I still do love The Office, but I usually catch up with it online over the weekend. I know I can watch Grey's online too, but watching it Thurs gives me a more balanced night of couch spuddery (comedy-drama-comedy vs. comedy-comedy-comedy) So...WHAT THE FLIP is wrong with Izzy anyways?? I swear they are building up to a brain tumor and that is going to be a godawful DRAG of a storyline. Still, I'd be miffed if they were just making her go plain ol' nuts too. The only palatable way out of this Denny foolishness---in my opinion-- is to pull a Dallas circa 1986 (the show, dummy, not the city) and make it all a nasty dream. Conversely , what was good in this episode was that Sloane got the opportunity to be a bit more than set dressing. Don't get me wrong... he is a fuckingGORGEOUS bit of set dressing, but there is more to him than just his uber fine exterior. He is my absolute FAVE Gray's character and I've been saying for aaaages that the dude needs more of a storyline. However, I didn' t like his comment that he'd been contemplating a dalliance with "Little Gray". I do NOT sanction that pairing!! Y'know I always thought a Sloane-Izzy coupling would be just capital. You've got the whole bad boy-goody 2 shoes girl dynamic in play there. And , okay, YES, Little Gray is a goodie 2 shoes also, but she's also a tremendous dweeb. I like her well enough, but she's SO not worthy. But Izzy has got her thing right now with Karev , and that's a pretty decent pairing . Plus she's apparently bat guano loco at present...so... not the best timing to launch a Sloane-Izzie storyline. I think it'd be fine for Sloane to bide his time with Callie. Maybe even have an ill-fated fling with that new blonde Aussie psycho. The only other Gray's romance worth mention (since Derek + Mer= ZZzzzz) is the burgeoning Hunt- Yang pairing. Not everyone liked Hunt's weird inarticulate frustration combined with sudden maulings but I gotta say...I'm a fan. It is weird. But hot& weird. And this week in particular he kind of shrugged off his oddball aura and was really rather adorable in that stoop scene near the show's end. " I think you're BEAUTIFUL." Simultaneously heart-melting and twitterpating...I loved it.

Heroes blather

Who else thought the Elle/Sylar face off on Heroes was hot?? I mean, killing a gal's father is quite a doozy of a romantic roadblock but Elle seemed to get over it rather quickly. Yes, she got over it after firing a coupla hundred lightning bolts at the fellah, but still!! Daddy-killing is the sort of faux pas that should really result in a lengthier grudge--am I right? Nevertheless, it was still pretty hubba-hubba. And Sylar is seeming strangely attractive to me this season. Well clearly he has a sweet bod--that's pretty evident during the Elle confrontation scene. But from the neck up I'm finding him fetching too, but can't really pinpoint why. I mean, none of those features are aesthetically pleasing in any classic sense of aesthetic pleasantry. And the eyebrows should be a source of much distraction. But they're not . (Sadly, I can't say the same about Nathan Petrelli...my sis likes him. It's way shallow of me , but I just cannot get over his megalithic chin...or jaw...it's kind of the jaw region as well. Really, his whole head is a bit Easter Islandy and it freaks me out)

Conversely, Parkman and Daphne have more or less pledged their love and they have all the chemistry of.. .of...uhh...white paper plates and cotton balls. Ok, so my arsenal of chem-knowledge is tres miniscule (practically nonexistant) but it seems a decent bet that those two elements aren't apt to catalyze any dramatic chemical reactions of note. I just think this particular romantic storyline looks to be LAME and I blame the dame. This Daphne falls in love faster than she runs but she doesn't do it very convincingly. I can't decide if this actress is lacking that mysterious "it factor" that endears her to the viewer, or if she simply is a shitty actress(possibly both). Anyways, it's too bad, because Parkman's mah boy and he deserves some love. Other than that non-trad fam love he had going on with the whole My 2 Dads set up --him, Molly, Mohinder. Who the hell is watching that child anyways??

I really miss...

PacMan Pasta with meatballs. Maan, that was the best thing to have for lunch EVER!! As you may have surmised, I ate a good deal of PacMan Pasta as a wee Sanny. That kinda stuff stays with ya(well, stays with me anyways) I mean, everytime I walk past the Chef Boyardee offerings in my local supermarket I feel a pang of sadness over the extinction of Pac Man Pasta. EVERY. TIME. For reals, yo. And logically, I do realize that Dora Pasta with Meatballs is quite possibly the same EXACT thing just with Dora shapes, but I can't bring myself to buy that stuff. In my heart, I just feel it couldn't measure up, y'know?

Maybe I should create a petition.

Have to add..

That I'm kind of in love with Ghost of the Doll now. Add it to my links side bar or no? Passing fancy or fixed fixation? I must contemplate this...

audience participation please..

I find iTunes to be really easy to use, but it's not all it could be. I really love shopping Amazon on account o' the browsing capabilities. iTunes is so simple to *buy* from, but mere browsing isn't so great. The big advantage to Amazon is the WISH LIST. I love the wish list. iTunes should sooo let users compile wish lists. And while they're improving, I think it would also be rad of them (and rather ground-breaking,really) if they offered full minute music preview snippets. A lot of songs you really can't get the gist of in a measly 30 seconds.
See, if I had a wish list, I mighta remembered that I wanted to buy George Harrison's "Got my Mind Set on You" I know it's a cheezy song, but I so dig it. Remember this---???---




Bravo--amazing space-age special effects in play here! Where is he -- in the Disneyland Haunted Mansion ?? I kid! I kid! I love this song, really. And the vid is a fond memory. I think it was the squirrel playing air sax with a pipe that stuck in my nog the most vividly. Love that. None of the squirrels at my house are so amusing.

So I'm suddenly inspired to posit a poll-esque query to y'all (what few of you comprises "y'all" anyway). It's not going to be a full-on poll, because I want you to tax your own memories and give me answers rather that respond to a bunch of voting options thunk up by moi. Anyways, the aforementioned query:

What is the most memorable music video from the 80s?? ( put your answers in the comments per favor)

I think an obvious answer would be "Thriller" and I don't really mean one that was ubiquitous like that,or iconic , not necessarily. I mean something that stuck in your own mental craw, personally memorable, not culturally memorable. Dig? Of course, that might still be Thriller. Thriller was a biggie for me...not so much because of the actual video, but because my Thriller ViewMaster reel was 1 of my 2 favorite reels. Yep, pretty much when I got out the ol ' VM, I was reeling thru Thriller or 1976 King Kong. I had lotsa other reels-- Tom & Jerry, Huggabunch,--oooh, quick side tangent...check this shit out.. I owned the one they call "Tickles" here but I think I called her Bitchface and her illegitimate babe I called Allistair. Hey, I had nothin' against him. Not his fault that he is harlot-born.
But I digress. Wooah do I digress..back to videos.

Most memorable 80s vid for me ( I am soon going to divulge MY answer to the poll-esque query, I urge you to right now scrawl down your answer lest you be influenced..) is , hands down, Genesis 's Land of Confusion . Oh, not only do we got ugly puppets, you have singing navels & drowning in bed . If that stuff is not branded on your memory then it's because the trauma made you suppress it. Yeah..ok.. I suppose grandiose claims like that warrant an embed...

web meanderings...

Some terrif new sites I've stumbled on to as of late--

The Book of Threes website is kinda neat-o. I'll tell ya why I was looking there... Our office is currently undergoing some renovations, and when all is done, we will have 3 conference rooms. And my boss sent out this email that they were fielding suggestions for names for the conference rooms. See, naturally I'm wanting to mine literature or mythology for some quirky yet meaningful set of names. For instance-- Mazaru, Mizaru, & Mikazaru sort of appealled to me. But none of my suggestions were practically viable , so I kept 'em to myself. Cathy (bosslady) proffered a suggestion of her own-- it was The Connecticuit River Room, The Ottaquechee Room, and. . .and...oh, I don't recall the third option, they were all united by this regional geography motif..possibly it was The Ascutney Mountain Room. One of the other managers emailed some feedback immediately-- countering that "Ottaquechee" is too hard to spell. Accordingly, she misspelled it in that very email. Well, I don't think "Ottaquechee" is all that difficult a word, but that's neither here nor there, really. I find that whole notion repugnant-- avoiding words because they're not easily spelled. Still, upon further contemplation, I feel like neither mine nor Cathy's ideas would do. The reason being that my names make the conference rooms sound like interesting places. Cathy's names are swank sounding. I haven't seen the new rooms,but I feel pretty certain that they're doing them on the cheapy-cheap and they're going to be as corporate cookie cutter as it gets. So, 'tis only fair to avoid names that cruelly raise one's expectations. Probably Conference Room A, Conference Room B, & Conference Room C are the only really suitable options.

Speaking of corporate interiors... have I ever before raved about how much I dig the looks of Frank Lloyd Wright's Johnson Wax Building in Racine , WI?? (I may have...I sometimes feel like I repeat myself incessantly in this blog) . That looks like a really rad place to work. Of course, there doesn't seem to be a whole hell of a lot of privacy, what with a huge bullpen with no cubicle walls.

Oh yeah, the other site I discovered: Plaid Stallions. No drawn out explanation required on that one. Sites like that are just naturally my bag, y'know?

Tonight I called Laura and learned that my niece Lucy has pneumonia. I was kinda wary of inhaling her icky sick germs, but I could keep myself from stopping in to see how the wee muffin was doing. She looked a bit pale and run down, but ,on a positive note, she seemed to be in good spirits--being silly, laughing at TV, eating. Laura said she was much improved over last night & earlier in the day.


While visiting the li'l patient, I was treated to my very first episode of Yo Gabba Gabba! I'd seen some merchandise in stores (Brobee dolls in Newbury Comics, etc) but didn't know what the toys were from. Tonight I was enlightened and must confess I'm now kind of smitten with the show. Well this probably comes as no shock to those of you who knew me in my Bananas in Pajamas phase (didn't you watch that avec moi, Jilly?) and/or throughout my BooBahs kick.

It's driving me nuts though that I found the Snacky Snack song insanely catchy and had resolved to sing it whenever I consumed snackies from here on out forevermore...(well, no, just on occasion) but damned if I can't remember it at all!! So maybe "catchy" is a poor adjective choice in this instance, as I believe that catchy things, by nature, are supposed to adhere to one's consciousness. Am I right on that? So perhaps the Snacky Snack song wasn't all that catchy but I did like it. It's good, I assure you. I've searched all over them internets and I can't find it anywhere. DAGNABBIT ALL TO HELL!!



I had the same exact thing happen with a birthday song I heard the animatronic Chuck E. Cheese band perform (the last time I went to Chuck E. Cheese, that is, that band was not appearing on Yo Gabba Gabba. Although, Elijah Wood did show up to demonstrate an innovative new dance move). It's too damn bad, as I'd meant to store it up in me noggin for my next birthday serenade opportunity,--a most welcome alternative,as the ol' "Happy Birthday" is tremendously played out.


In totally unrelated news, when I walked to Shaw's today on my lunch break, I strolled the "SHOP THE WORLD" aisle for about 10 minutes and didn't buy anything. I love that aisle. It kinda seems like, at this juncture of my life anyways, that's the closest I'm going to get to international travel. Siiiigh. It's really the Irish/ British subsection of the aisle that I zoned in on. Perhaps it's that those are the only nations represented in "SHOP THE WORLD" that I would truly like to travel to. I've been to Mexico . And I feel fully indifferent toward the whole Asian continent . Meh. It's really Europe I long to see.


All that blathering just to simply state that I enjoy the "SHOP THE WORLD" aisle at Shaws. Oh,but I would certainly be remiss if I didn't sniggerly mention that I saw and inspected a can of... .

Haaa! That was the hardiest har har I had all day!! How could I NOT wanna go to the UK?? Such yuks...