Friday, March 30, 2007
I think I'm overdoing it a bit...
..with the footnotes. It's an ideal device for a tangent-prone writer like myself, but still, I think I've gone a bit footnotes cuckoo.
3/28 Top Design
I forgot to mention last week how relieved I was that Top Design seems to be over their team challenge kick at last.
And now—allow me to dispense with a painful admission re: this most recent episode. I SOOO dug Carisa’s air-inspired hotel suite. That divider was killer and the whole room had a really retro sensibility that I appreciate*. Now it pains me to concede that because I think Carisa is an insufferable bitch (that, I reiterate, in case you were not already aware of my Top Design stance…in case you’d not done the required reading, y’know) And its not just my own indiscriminate cattiness that makes me hate her, it appears on the show that she is universally disliked. In fact, it would not shock me if carpenter Carl nail gunned her down. But (in all fairness) let us not lose sight of the fact that I loved her work this episode. I liked it so much, in fact, that if she had won this challenge, I would not have been pissed off.
But that’s not how it played out…MATT won and of course that didn’t piss me off. Matt’s mah boy and his suite was terrific too. If you are in need of a visual aide...you can check out all four rooms here. (my picture posting skills are inexplicably lacking as of late)
And the bottom 2 – Goil & Andrea--were justly on the chopping block. Overall,I thought Andrea’s suite was worse, but Goil’s was pretty offputting too, mostly on account of his choice in statuary. AAAAGH!! Maybe it’s just me, but I thought that bronze statue was just creepy. I would never stay in a suite that housed that. I’ll bet you could feel its eyes on you when you’re in bed, and the thing looks too heavy to turn around to face the wall.
And so it was buh-bye Goil… which seemingly negates my theory that he is the judges' pet. But I think that I was right but maybe G just fell out of favor when they saw him devolving into this whiny-arse Jan Brady person. Well, he's still a fave of Todd Oldham, anyhow. I took a glance at Todd's blog on the Bravo site and saw where he was gushing about how "magical" Goil is. Too bad for G that Todd's just this non-threatening sensai type figure / bland host on the show and not a judge. They could never let him be a judge...he is too thoroughly benevolent...like the design world's Mr Rogers. "Hello Neighbor! Tell me about this paint color you've chosen!!"
OOOHH the melodrama of Goil's exit!! I am a big proponent of the graceful defeat, and I like to see on these shows...be it Top Design or Project Runway or what have you**...losers who display a little spine and keep their chin up. Well NOT Goil. He was a weepy mess --no shocker there. But what of that remark of his, something to the effect of, "I feel like I was the only designer here who consistently put my heart into EVERY challenge!!" Say whaaa? Oh, no you didn't hyper little goiter-boil! I imagine some of your competitors might take umbrage*** at that statement!!
You know who left very gracefully?? Erik. He showed MUCHO poise. I wish he'd get a second chance (y'know- like they gave to that no talent nutjob Vincent on the last season of Project Runway) because I liked his work (especially on that yard sale challenge) I would've liked to have seen him in the final 3 w/ Matty. Ultimately, I want Matt to win, although I do hope victory doesn't make him go all Sebelia and ditch his darling young family.
*I am so fond of a li'l retro flava, that I actually like some of the rooms featured on this web page. No joke!!! Some of that stuff is terrif!!
**I wanted to say "Star Search" at this juncture, but that's not quite au courant now, is it? I only WISH that was still on the air!
***Umbrage, umbrage, umbrage...just pointing out another vocab coup!
And now—allow me to dispense with a painful admission re: this most recent episode. I SOOO dug Carisa’s air-inspired hotel suite. That divider was killer and the whole room had a really retro sensibility that I appreciate*. Now it pains me to concede that because I think Carisa is an insufferable bitch (that, I reiterate, in case you were not already aware of my Top Design stance…in case you’d not done the required reading, y’know) And its not just my own indiscriminate cattiness that makes me hate her, it appears on the show that she is universally disliked. In fact, it would not shock me if carpenter Carl nail gunned her down. But (in all fairness) let us not lose sight of the fact that I loved her work this episode. I liked it so much, in fact, that if she had won this challenge, I would not have been pissed off.
But that’s not how it played out…MATT won and of course that didn’t piss me off. Matt’s mah boy and his suite was terrific too. If you are in need of a visual aide...you can check out all four rooms here. (my picture posting skills are inexplicably lacking as of late)
And the bottom 2 – Goil & Andrea--were justly on the chopping block. Overall,I thought Andrea’s suite was worse, but Goil’s was pretty offputting too, mostly on account of his choice in statuary. AAAAGH!! Maybe it’s just me, but I thought that bronze statue was just creepy. I would never stay in a suite that housed that. I’ll bet you could feel its eyes on you when you’re in bed, and the thing looks too heavy to turn around to face the wall.
And so it was buh-bye Goil… which seemingly negates my theory that he is the judges' pet. But I think that I was right but maybe G just fell out of favor when they saw him devolving into this whiny-arse Jan Brady person. Well, he's still a fave of Todd Oldham, anyhow. I took a glance at Todd's blog on the Bravo site and saw where he was gushing about how "magical" Goil is. Too bad for G that Todd's just this non-threatening sensai type figure / bland host on the show and not a judge. They could never let him be a judge...he is too thoroughly benevolent...like the design world's Mr Rogers. "Hello Neighbor! Tell me about this paint color you've chosen!!"
OOOHH the melodrama of Goil's exit!! I am a big proponent of the graceful defeat, and I like to see on these shows...be it Top Design or Project Runway or what have you**...losers who display a little spine and keep their chin up. Well NOT Goil. He was a weepy mess --no shocker there. But what of that remark of his, something to the effect of, "I feel like I was the only designer here who consistently put my heart into EVERY challenge!!" Say whaaa? Oh, no you didn't hyper little goiter-boil! I imagine some of your competitors might take umbrage*** at that statement!!
You know who left very gracefully?? Erik. He showed MUCHO poise. I wish he'd get a second chance (y'know- like they gave to that no talent nutjob Vincent on the last season of Project Runway) because I liked his work (especially on that yard sale challenge) I would've liked to have seen him in the final 3 w/ Matty. Ultimately, I want Matt to win, although I do hope victory doesn't make him go all Sebelia and ditch his darling young family.
*I am so fond of a li'l retro flava, that I actually like some of the rooms featured on this web page. No joke!!! Some of that stuff is terrif!!
**I wanted to say "Star Search" at this juncture, but that's not quite au courant now, is it? I only WISH that was still on the air!
***Umbrage, umbrage, umbrage...just pointing out another vocab coup!
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Tutti Fruity, The Lost Jewels of Nabooti
CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE books are back!! Are you not mightily stoked, fellow adventurers? As soon as I learned today about the CYOA resurrection, I became sorta fixated on acquiring some. And I SHALL. Oh yes. I shall. I just gotta pick which exciting titles to purchase. ("The Lost Jewels of Nabooti" is one of the options...in case that subject line was confounding ya) Ostensibly,** I will be buying these books for my niece but... y'know...if any CYOA books found their way into el bano de mi hermana...well, that would be convenient. I am often stinking it up in there and I would like some other reads than Cottage Living for a change, eh?
I had better make up my mind and make my purchase ASAP because this maybe a short-lived revival, since the Vermont based publisher that is re-issuing these seems to be pretty hard up for moolah, as evidenced by their ridiculous efforts to sue Daimler-Chrysler.
Well first off, lemme say that words cannot express how tremendous this swell of pride is that overtakes me when I think that CYOA is being resurrected right here in my home state. YAAAAAY, VT!! Buuuuut, that said, this lawsuit is pretty tacky. I am no professional legal counsel (though I am a DAMNED good amateur fake lawyer) but I say they should totally take Jeep up on the offer to give them a link on their website.
If you....
..Accept Jeep's offer to link to your website on their insanely high traffic website...go to page 32
..Persist in following through with a totally futile and mildly absurd lawsuit...go to page 45
..drop the lawsuit reluctantly and--crushed by failure-- take a mini-sabbatical from publishing in order to stay home, eat lots of Mrs T Perogis, not change out of your pajamas, watch all 3 seasons of Just the Ten of Us on DVD and write a dozen or so creepy fan letters to Rick Springfield....go to page 54
HAAA , HA HAAA I know what you're thinking, jerkies, but I WOULD SO turn to pg 32!!
**This is just to say that I ADORE the word "ostensibly"
I had better make up my mind and make my purchase ASAP because this maybe a short-lived revival, since the Vermont based publisher that is re-issuing these seems to be pretty hard up for moolah, as evidenced by their ridiculous efforts to sue Daimler-Chrysler.
Well first off, lemme say that words cannot express how tremendous this swell of pride is that overtakes me when I think that CYOA is being resurrected right here in my home state. YAAAAAY, VT!! Buuuuut, that said, this lawsuit is pretty tacky. I am no professional legal counsel (though I am a DAMNED good amateur fake lawyer) but I say they should totally take Jeep up on the offer to give them a link on their website.
If you....
..Accept Jeep's offer to link to your website on their insanely high traffic website...go to page 32
..Persist in following through with a totally futile and mildly absurd lawsuit...go to page 45
..drop the lawsuit reluctantly and--crushed by failure-- take a mini-sabbatical from publishing in order to stay home, eat lots of Mrs T Perogis, not change out of your pajamas, watch all 3 seasons of Just the Ten of Us on DVD and write a dozen or so creepy fan letters to Rick Springfield....go to page 54
HAAA , HA HAAA I know what you're thinking, jerkies, but I WOULD SO turn to pg 32!!
**This is just to say that I ADORE the word "ostensibly"
grisly news item
THIS bit of news from Down Under (ha ha haa) inspired the below chat....
Now you may have noticed Ms. Robin being conspicuously absent from that conversation. It is most assuredly NOT because I didn't want her to know. Actually, she is quite high up on my list of people to inform whenever I hear of ANY amusingly icky occurrence such as that. But she took off early today. I know what yer thinkin'-- that luckyass sleestack!! I knooow, riiight?
Well I made sure I gave her a hard time about it though...
Now you may have noticed Ms. Robin being conspicuously absent from that conversation. It is most assuredly NOT because I didn't want her to know. Actually, she is quite high up on my list of people to inform whenever I hear of ANY amusingly icky occurrence such as that. But she took off early today. I know what yer thinkin'-- that luckyass sleestack!! I knooow, riiight?
Well I made sure I gave her a hard time about it though...
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
small talk
I am not a fan of conventional small talk. I say "conventional" small talk because "small talk" is widely defined as "casual or trivial conversation" and I would NEVER contend that I am against trivial conversation. NEVER! Triviality is my bread & butter!! Well, not really, as that sort of implies that I make $$ from it which I don't. Let's say instead, that I THRIVE on trivial, superficial, chatter. But what it lacks in pith it needs to compensate for in wit, absurdity, or interestingness (which is not a word but I was unable to find a suitable word meaning that)
So, I have a strong distaste for trite talk, then. I was a bit irked by this exchange from Monday, so irked, that I pretty much remember verbatim. It went down like so---
SETTING: Late morning on Monday. I am walking past the cafeteria and Scott is in the cafeteria, perusing the vending machine offerings. I am hoping to slink quietly past the cafeteria and into the ladies room without being seen in order to avoid the obligatory small talk exchange. This is not to be the case. I am spotted.
Scott (boisterously loud, shouting): HOW’S SANDRA TODAY??
Me/Sandra: Eehhh. Not too bad for a Monday, I guess.
Scott (still very boisterous, not so shouty): Well, you never know!!
Me/Sandra (near-shout,with fake boisterousness): YEP!!!
Now, was that not insipid repartee? It only marginally made sense. "Well you never know" I think is meant to mean he's presuming that I lack psychic powers (I do...so, he would be right..) and therefore any unexpected turn of events could come to pass that would , at the very least, turn my frown upside down. Sort of a feeble, sound-bite-sized pep talk? Whatev. I should have left it at "Well, you never know" but at that point, Scott's chipper amiability was making me feel like I should make some sort of effort at cheer, as I was coming off like a real slug (Well I AM very sluggish in the mornings...especially so on a Monday morning. So yeah, I was already aware of my own sluggishness, but I was cool with it as long as I was solitarily sluggish but now I was being pulled into conversation, and imposing my sluggishness on others. I don't wanna bring anybody down!!) So I was trying to impart an enthusiasm that I did not feel and I'm never very good at that. Hence the awkward wrap up.
I don't know what the whole point of sharing that anti-anecdote was. It was a bit similar to those idiotic spreads in US Weekly that proclaim "Stars--They're Just Like Us!!!" (accompanying photos of celebs buying groceries or, on a banner week, picking their nose in traffic). So, perhaps my post title should read "Charming Gorgeous Genius Sandras-- They're Socially Awkward Too!" Naaah. Too wordy.
I suppose it's terribly dysfunctional for me to wish that people would just NOT talk to me in the morning?
So, I have a strong distaste for trite talk, then. I was a bit irked by this exchange from Monday, so irked, that I pretty much remember verbatim. It went down like so---
SETTING: Late morning on Monday. I am walking past the cafeteria and Scott is in the cafeteria, perusing the vending machine offerings. I am hoping to slink quietly past the cafeteria and into the ladies room without being seen in order to avoid the obligatory small talk exchange. This is not to be the case. I am spotted.
Scott (boisterously loud, shouting): HOW’S SANDRA TODAY??
Me/Sandra: Eehhh. Not too bad for a Monday, I guess.
Scott (still very boisterous, not so shouty): Well, you never know!!
Me/Sandra (near-shout,with fake boisterousness): YEP!!!
Now, was that not insipid repartee? It only marginally made sense. "Well you never know" I think is meant to mean he's presuming that I lack psychic powers (I do...so, he would be right..) and therefore any unexpected turn of events could come to pass that would , at the very least, turn my frown upside down. Sort of a feeble, sound-bite-sized pep talk? Whatev. I should have left it at "Well, you never know" but at that point, Scott's chipper amiability was making me feel like I should make some sort of effort at cheer, as I was coming off like a real slug (Well I AM very sluggish in the mornings...especially so on a Monday morning. So yeah, I was already aware of my own sluggishness, but I was cool with it as long as I was solitarily sluggish but now I was being pulled into conversation, and imposing my sluggishness on others. I don't wanna bring anybody down!!) So I was trying to impart an enthusiasm that I did not feel and I'm never very good at that. Hence the awkward wrap up.
I don't know what the whole point of sharing that anti-anecdote was. It was a bit similar to those idiotic spreads in US Weekly that proclaim "Stars--They're Just Like Us!!!" (accompanying photos of celebs buying groceries or, on a banner week, picking their nose in traffic). So, perhaps my post title should read "Charming Gorgeous Genius Sandras-- They're Socially Awkward Too!" Naaah. Too wordy.
I suppose it's terribly dysfunctional for me to wish that people would just NOT talk to me in the morning?
Monday, March 26, 2007
my first ever post w/ a footnote!
I had a good time Friday night when the gang went out to Margaritas. My only gripe was that I got a coupla coconut 'ritas in me and got primed for more carousing but then... our li'l dinner soiree broke up at 8:30pm and there was no carousing to be had. All my amigas were headed home to attend to their dogs and/or boyfriends and I, wanting to hit the bars but incapable of doing so sans posse, wiled away an hour at Borders and then went home and watched Timeline. It was a somewhat glum cap on an overall fun evening. I mean there are worse ways to cap off a fun evening...say, getting in a head on collision with a semi on your way home...so now I'm even thinking "somewhat glum" is too strongly negative. A bittersweet ending to a fun evening...maybe that's what I meant.
Timeline, let me forewarn you, is a pungent turd of a movie. I am very glad that I bought a used copy for pequeno dinero ($2.99 to be specific) . I bought it expressly for a Gerard Butler fix and in that capacity, it was worth 3 bucks. But Ger was the ONLY redeeming thing in that flick. And it was Ger in medieval threads for much of the movie, which I found especially redeeming. But other than that-- bah. Definitely skippable. I don't wanna say Paul Walker CAN'T act...being present-tensed, that judgement may be unfair of me. I do try to give the benefit of the doubt, you know. It's quite possible that the chap's improved since 2003. But watching him in Timeline...even a big benefit-of-the-doubt proponent like myself couldn't help but pan his performance. He made me feel like I was watching a sci-fi prequel to Meet The Deedles , it was like he was playing the exact same guy. Which is to say it was, uhhh, less than nuanced, fairly amateurish work.**
One action flick that I should definitely invest in--used or new-- is Reign of Fire. Now I'm usually not an action movie buff, but I do make exceptions when I find one or more of the leads exceptionally alluring. Now you'll recall, a while back , that I prophesied that a movie starring Christian Bale, Clive Owen & Gerard Butler would be THE GREATEST CINEMATIC ENDEAVOR OF ALL TIME. Well, I don't think I used that exact phrase, but I did get all schmoopy over the hypothetical notion of it. Ideally, that movie would be a musical (old hat for Bale & Butler, Clive is the only one who would require training) but with such casting I could never be obstinate about genre. Minor quibble. Anyhow, Reign of Fire is 1 fox shy of being the greatest cinematic endeavor of all time.
...with both Christian Bale & Gerard Butler starring. And everybody all handsomely gritty and in post apocolyptic future threads which, in this film's vision, do not differ greatly from medieval threads. So, bonus there. Oh, and Matthew McConaughey is in there too, and he ain't too shabby. File him under "bonus" also. But the pisser of it is , Gerard Butler has only a minor presence in the flick, actually if I recall correctly ( I have seen it, I rented it 4 or 5 years ago when it first came out ) he gets bumped off fairly early on in the story. Damned flying dragons!!
**I was just going to leave my criticism at the Deedles comparison, but then thought better of it. I mean, if anybody were to read that, and hadn't seen Meet The Deedles, and couldn't ascertain exactly what I meant by that jab, if they grew so curious that they had to rent or, god forbid, BUY Meet The Deedles in order to compare, well, I couldn't live with the guilt. I would feel personally responsible for 2 hours of that poor schmoes life gone irretrievably to waste. Hence the quickie descriptive addendum.
Timeline, let me forewarn you, is a pungent turd of a movie. I am very glad that I bought a used copy for pequeno dinero ($2.99 to be specific) . I bought it expressly for a Gerard Butler fix and in that capacity, it was worth 3 bucks. But Ger was the ONLY redeeming thing in that flick. And it was Ger in medieval threads for much of the movie, which I found especially redeeming. But other than that-- bah. Definitely skippable. I don't wanna say Paul Walker CAN'T act...being present-tensed, that judgement may be unfair of me. I do try to give the benefit of the doubt, you know. It's quite possible that the chap's improved since 2003. But watching him in Timeline...even a big benefit-of-the-doubt proponent like myself couldn't help but pan his performance. He made me feel like I was watching a sci-fi prequel to Meet The Deedles , it was like he was playing the exact same guy. Which is to say it was, uhhh, less than nuanced, fairly amateurish work.**
One action flick that I should definitely invest in--used or new-- is Reign of Fire. Now I'm usually not an action movie buff, but I do make exceptions when I find one or more of the leads exceptionally alluring. Now you'll recall, a while back , that I prophesied that a movie starring Christian Bale, Clive Owen & Gerard Butler would be THE GREATEST CINEMATIC ENDEAVOR OF ALL TIME. Well, I don't think I used that exact phrase, but I did get all schmoopy over the hypothetical notion of it. Ideally, that movie would be a musical (old hat for Bale & Butler, Clive is the only one who would require training) but with such casting I could never be obstinate about genre. Minor quibble. Anyhow, Reign of Fire is 1 fox shy of being the greatest cinematic endeavor of all time.
...with both Christian Bale & Gerard Butler starring. And everybody all handsomely gritty and in post apocolyptic future threads which, in this film's vision, do not differ greatly from medieval threads. So, bonus there. Oh, and Matthew McConaughey is in there too, and he ain't too shabby. File him under "bonus" also. But the pisser of it is , Gerard Butler has only a minor presence in the flick, actually if I recall correctly ( I have seen it, I rented it 4 or 5 years ago when it first came out ) he gets bumped off fairly early on in the story. Damned flying dragons!!
**I was just going to leave my criticism at the Deedles comparison, but then thought better of it. I mean, if anybody were to read that, and hadn't seen Meet The Deedles, and couldn't ascertain exactly what I meant by that jab, if they grew so curious that they had to rent or, god forbid, BUY Meet The Deedles in order to compare, well, I couldn't live with the guilt. I would feel personally responsible for 2 hours of that poor schmoes life gone irretrievably to waste. Hence the quickie descriptive addendum.
Monday morning fun
My car wouldn't start this morning. It would turn over but it wouldn't "catch". I guess the lucky part about it is that I'd stayed over at my folks' (laundry day went into OT) and I was able to borrow their car and get to work (relatively) on time. But that's just me "glad-gaming" the situation, trying to take the high road, and all the while eyeballing this inviting miasmic swamp of self-pity that I would like to sink into and wallow about in for a spell. No..no! Self-pitying & griping-BAD. Polly-anna--GOOD.
But DAAAAMN IT! Allow me just the briefest of detours from the high road, wouldja? I just hafta say how I WISH I was obscenely rich. I wish I had that disgusting sort of lifestyle where if one of my fleet of cars didn't start in the morning, well I would just take my Jag instead of the Mercedes, and one of the staff might call out "And what about the Mercedes , ma'am? Shall I ring for a tow truck?" and I would say "FUCK THAT! Dump a load of mulch in there, we're turning it into a planter!" Nawww, just kidding. I would not be THAT ridiculous if I were rich. But maybe I'd say " Oh THAT. I'd nearly forgot. Well whatev. If you want to deal with the hassle of getting it fixed, Jeeves, you can HAVE the damn car! Ciao!"
But such is not my lot in life and I AM fairly vexed about my vehicular woes, but trying to be a good sport/not stress about it. I do like everything happening at the apropos time (ie: breakfast food only in the a.m., Christmas carols only between 11/15--1/6, etc) and I suppose a Monday morning is the absolute perfect time for my car to crap out on me. And crap out on me all suddenly & inexplicably like too. Terrif. My dad asked me if I'd had trouble with it and I said it had been running absolutely fine, but then he gave me a bit of a doubting expression, as if to infer that maybe I'd been an inattentive owner, hadn't been "listening" to my car and missed some vital clues. It HAS been running fine damn it!!
Oy vey. I should've had some beers at lunch, methinks.
Friday, March 23, 2007
retail quandary -- UPDATE
So I caved and bought the Coty powder. No oversized poofy powderpuff as yet, but I continue that search. In the interim, I shall apply with my large powder brush. Wearing said powder today and am pleased.
I'm sure y'all are immensely grateful for the update... the suspense, I am sure, was driving you bonkers.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
of composers and colonists...
Tuesday night TV is DULLSVILLE these days, maaaan. So it follows that I couldn't find anything satisfactory on the telly last night. And so I wound up watching Terence Malick's "The New World". I definitely liked it, although I suspect you shouldn't take my word for it. Christian Bale played John Rolfe, so right there that makes me wildly biased. I'm trying to hypothesize-- in an alternate universe..."The New World" as a totally Christian Bale free flick.... would I have said I liked it? I really am not sure.
What I do know is that Q'Orianka Kilcher (who played Pocahontas/Rebecca) is definitely in the running for the title "Luckiest 14 Yr old Girl of all Time". Not that she's 14 anymore, but she was when she filmed this and on this shoot, her first really notable acting gig, she got to kiss Colin Farrell and CHRISTIAN BALE. Q'Orianka must be Esperanto for "INSANELY good karma" or something along those lines. I'm not usually much of a Colin Farrell fan either, but he looked pretty damn good in The New World. He should play Capt John Smith in EVERY movie....as opposed to like, doing more movies where he's shut up in a phone booth with greasy hair.
March 21st I noticed today, is the birthdate of quite a lot of composers--
Hermann Finck-- German composer-- born 3/21/1527: I confess--never heard of him & I've no idea what he's composed. That said, I have great respect for the guy just the same. I mean, he was a composer in 1527-- immediately that makes him a sort of pioneer in my mind. It couldn't have been easy to pursue creative endeavors in the 16th century, there were lots of chamber pots to empty, and you know, mundane duties like that and certainly people had to be focused on not coming down with a fatal plague or something like that. Life spans were about 50% shorter than today's, so that puts some pretty sucky time constraints on your genius right there.
Johann Sebastian Bach - German composer-- born 3/21/1685: One of the big names... of course I've heard of him. I'd like to think he owes part of his success to Mr. Finck's pioneering in Germanic musicology over a century prior (I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. You know this by now, right??)
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky--Russian composer--born 3/21/1839: In homage to Mussorgsky, I downloaded his terrific Night on Bald Mountain today. You can too, if you go here (it's free!)
Kevin Federline-- American "composer", world renowned skeez, mooch extraordinaire--born 3/21/1978: I realize it seems absurd to class K-Fed with these great men, with a man, for instance, "whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity" (wikipedia's take on Bach, there). But let us give credit where credit is due, okay? If it weren't for Federline, then I wouldn't know any Portugese....
What I do know is that Q'Orianka Kilcher (who played Pocahontas/Rebecca) is definitely in the running for the title "Luckiest 14 Yr old Girl of all Time". Not that she's 14 anymore, but she was when she filmed this and on this shoot, her first really notable acting gig, she got to kiss Colin Farrell and CHRISTIAN BALE. Q'Orianka must be Esperanto for "INSANELY good karma" or something along those lines. I'm not usually much of a Colin Farrell fan either, but he looked pretty damn good in The New World. He should play Capt John Smith in EVERY movie....as opposed to like, doing more movies where he's shut up in a phone booth with greasy hair.
March 21st I noticed today, is the birthdate of quite a lot of composers--
Hermann Finck-- German composer-- born 3/21/1527: I confess--never heard of him & I've no idea what he's composed. That said, I have great respect for the guy just the same. I mean, he was a composer in 1527-- immediately that makes him a sort of pioneer in my mind. It couldn't have been easy to pursue creative endeavors in the 16th century, there were lots of chamber pots to empty, and you know, mundane duties like that and certainly people had to be focused on not coming down with a fatal plague or something like that. Life spans were about 50% shorter than today's, so that puts some pretty sucky time constraints on your genius right there.
Johann Sebastian Bach - German composer-- born 3/21/1685: One of the big names... of course I've heard of him. I'd like to think he owes part of his success to Mr. Finck's pioneering in Germanic musicology over a century prior (I don't know what the hell I'm talking about. You know this by now, right??)
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky--Russian composer--born 3/21/1839: In homage to Mussorgsky, I downloaded his terrific Night on Bald Mountain today. You can too, if you go here (it's free!)
Kevin Federline-- American "composer", world renowned skeez, mooch extraordinaire--born 3/21/1978: I realize it seems absurd to class K-Fed with these great men, with a man, for instance, "whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity" (wikipedia's take on Bach, there). But let us give credit where credit is due, okay? If it weren't for Federline, then I wouldn't know any Portugese....
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
GRRR! BLAST!!DAGFUCKINGNABBIT!!
!!!OTHER EXCLAMATIONS THAT CONVEY AGGRAVATION HERE!!!
Tech difficulties. Damn you Blogger. Trust, amigos, that I am not intending to post pictures of little red Xs. I'll see if I can get this fixed in the a.m.
Later gators...
Tech difficulties. Damn you Blogger. Trust, amigos, that I am not intending to post pictures of little red Xs. I'll see if I can get this fixed in the a.m.
Later gators...
chitty chatty bang BANG!!
Yep, another one o' these...
Not sure why I keep posting IMs... I suppose it's because I enjoy the chats and hate to think of them dissipating into the ether forever come 5pm. Yeah, sometimes it seems the departmental rapport is the chief benefit to having this particular job...that and the occasional free tee shirt. It sure as hell ain't the pay...
ANY WHOOO... a few key points that will make this chat clearer--
1. it all started because Mags sent out an email to all of us about something Lisa did wrong. Her subject line for the thing was "Here's Why We need to Tell it like it is" And that bothered me on a few different levels. The most vexing thing was that arbitrary and grammatically whack capitalization in the subject line. Grammatic carelessness always irks me but I find it particularly bothersome when a supervisor, who gets more $$$ than I do, displays the writing savvy of a 7th grader. AAArgh!! I would much rather have people "shout" at me in all caps than To have them Type like This.
Also the concept of us "telling it like it is" is just plain ridiculous. We are encouraged on a daily basis to NOT tell it like it is. Robin and I were laughing about this " telling it like it is" notion and talking about all the chaos that would ensue if we simply stopped lying to customers.
2. I had boiled dinner leftovers for lunch.. . my sister's this time not the stuff I got from Lisa. Lisa's set better with me than Laura's did. Probably you can surmise from some of my yuckily graphic remarks (sorry...'tis just how I roll, amigos) that today's leftovers uhhh..disagreed with me.
3. Laurel/ L-dub has an amazing talent for these tremendous "valley rattler" belches. Which is interesting, because she's just a wisp of a gal..oh well, that's understating things. .L-dub makes Nicole Richie look like a heifer. It's been my experience that skinny girls will often surprise you with the most promising belching skills. I tell Laurel her belches are endearing. And honestly they do not gross me out like they would if erupting from somebody else's gullet. And usually after each belch, (while 9/10 of the office recoils in horror) I will respond "Awwwww.."
4. Robin is presently doing this 3day diet thingie that J-Beau did a while back. He printed the "plan" out for her and this is the 2nd time she's done it. She lost 5lbs when she did it before, but I can't see how such a thing would play out in the long-run. I mean, you can't do it forever, y'know? Such a horrid exercise in self-denial too...
5. We are going out to Margarita's on Friday night. This Mexican restaurant has you fill out your name, address, phone# & b-day on a card, and every month they do a drawing of customers w/ b-days for that month and whomever's slip they pick gets a coupon for a free entree. Well, Robin got picked, which inspired her to propose the field trip. But I'm arguing against her construing it as her birthday celebration. Now I am all for extending holidays (yeah, it's cool w/ birthdays as well as national holidays) but her birthday was on MARCH 7. I'm sorry, kidd-o, but there's got to be a statute of limitations on this shit. I gave you a card & gift back on 3/7 AND you're getting a free meal. I ain't buying you no damn mango-rita. Also, let us not forget that **I** am the center of the universe.
6. Although I do adore Lisa (and she is so kind to me...nicer than I deserve, I'm sure) it's a well-established fact that she is a big dork. This is not a secret I'm hiding from her. I have let her know on numerous occasions. It is also well-established that I consider her dorkiness one of her unique charms. In short , it only serves to further endear her to me (similar to a colossal L-dub belch) However, this fondness for dorkery does NOT necessarily extend to friends of my friends. Savvy? I met this Penny chick once and she nearly bored me into a coma. Plus, if just one out of the office clicque brings an "outsider" , well, I'm sorry to be pessimistic but that WILL f*** up our energy. I will try and be open minded...we shall see...
Oh, and one particular facet of Lisa's dorkery is this hobby of hers of making novelty cakes and cookies and, most famously, gingerbread houses. That hobby, in & of itself , is not dorky, but she is so apt to drone on and on and on about that stuff that it can wear on you. Most definitely! Robin & I will privately lay wagers, when Lisa makes a new friend, on how long it will take her to bring the conversation around to gingerbread houses and/or kooky cakes and then promptly dazzle aforementioned new comrade with a slide show of her masterworks (a Microsoft Office Picture Viewer file she has on her PC. Yep, that's right. I WISH I was kidding) She usually will fit this in within the 1st 2 hours of acquaintance... I think her best time is like, 30 min.
I feel like she needs her own public access TV show.
Anyways, her friend Penny is very much like that, except I don't think it will be cute when she does it. Sorry, Penny.
6. At the end of the chat there, where I'm placing a pretend order, it's because Laurel was on the phone w/ someone named Sandra. She kept saying Sandra over and over (probably she hadn't jotted her name down & it was her way to remember it) so I was answering her.
Not sure why I keep posting IMs... I suppose it's because I enjoy the chats and hate to think of them dissipating into the ether forever come 5pm. Yeah, sometimes it seems the departmental rapport is the chief benefit to having this particular job...that and the occasional free tee shirt. It sure as hell ain't the pay...
ANY WHOOO... a few key points that will make this chat clearer--
1. it all started because Mags sent out an email to all of us about something Lisa did wrong. Her subject line for the thing was "Here's Why We need to Tell it like it is" And that bothered me on a few different levels. The most vexing thing was that arbitrary and grammatically whack capitalization in the subject line. Grammatic carelessness always irks me but I find it particularly bothersome when a supervisor, who gets more $$$ than I do, displays the writing savvy of a 7th grader. AAArgh!! I would much rather have people "shout" at me in all caps than To have them Type like This.
Also the concept of us "telling it like it is" is just plain ridiculous. We are encouraged on a daily basis to NOT tell it like it is. Robin and I were laughing about this " telling it like it is" notion and talking about all the chaos that would ensue if we simply stopped lying to customers.
2. I had boiled dinner leftovers for lunch.. . my sister's this time not the stuff I got from Lisa. Lisa's set better with me than Laura's did. Probably you can surmise from some of my yuckily graphic remarks (sorry...'tis just how I roll, amigos) that today's leftovers uhhh..disagreed with me.
3. Laurel/ L-dub has an amazing talent for these tremendous "valley rattler" belches. Which is interesting, because she's just a wisp of a gal..oh well, that's understating things. .L-dub makes Nicole Richie look like a heifer. It's been my experience that skinny girls will often surprise you with the most promising belching skills. I tell Laurel her belches are endearing. And honestly they do not gross me out like they would if erupting from somebody else's gullet. And usually after each belch, (while 9/10 of the office recoils in horror) I will respond "Awwwww.."
4. Robin is presently doing this 3day diet thingie that J-Beau did a while back. He printed the "plan" out for her and this is the 2nd time she's done it. She lost 5lbs when she did it before, but I can't see how such a thing would play out in the long-run. I mean, you can't do it forever, y'know? Such a horrid exercise in self-denial too...
5. We are going out to Margarita's on Friday night. This Mexican restaurant has you fill out your name, address, phone# & b-day on a card, and every month they do a drawing of customers w/ b-days for that month and whomever's slip they pick gets a coupon for a free entree. Well, Robin got picked, which inspired her to propose the field trip. But I'm arguing against her construing it as her birthday celebration. Now I am all for extending holidays (yeah, it's cool w/ birthdays as well as national holidays) but her birthday was on MARCH 7. I'm sorry, kidd-o, but there's got to be a statute of limitations on this shit. I gave you a card & gift back on 3/7 AND you're getting a free meal. I ain't buying you no damn mango-rita. Also, let us not forget that **I** am the center of the universe.
6. Although I do adore Lisa (and she is so kind to me...nicer than I deserve, I'm sure) it's a well-established fact that she is a big dork. This is not a secret I'm hiding from her. I have let her know on numerous occasions. It is also well-established that I consider her dorkiness one of her unique charms. In short , it only serves to further endear her to me (similar to a colossal L-dub belch) However, this fondness for dorkery does NOT necessarily extend to friends of my friends. Savvy? I met this Penny chick once and she nearly bored me into a coma. Plus, if just one out of the office clicque brings an "outsider" , well, I'm sorry to be pessimistic but that WILL f*** up our energy. I will try and be open minded...we shall see...
Oh, and one particular facet of Lisa's dorkery is this hobby of hers of making novelty cakes and cookies and, most famously, gingerbread houses. That hobby, in & of itself , is not dorky, but she is so apt to drone on and on and on about that stuff that it can wear on you. Most definitely! Robin & I will privately lay wagers, when Lisa makes a new friend, on how long it will take her to bring the conversation around to gingerbread houses and/or kooky cakes and then promptly dazzle aforementioned new comrade with a slide show of her masterworks (a Microsoft Office Picture Viewer file she has on her PC. Yep, that's right. I WISH I was kidding) She usually will fit this in within the 1st 2 hours of acquaintance... I think her best time is like, 30 min.
I feel like she needs her own public access TV show.
Anyways, her friend Penny is very much like that, except I don't think it will be cute when she does it. Sorry, Penny.
6. At the end of the chat there, where I'm placing a pretend order, it's because Laurel was on the phone w/ someone named Sandra. She kept saying Sandra over and over (probably she hadn't jotted her name down & it was her way to remember it) so I was answering her.
retail quandary
I was shopping in Kmart last night (I seem to gravitate towards the K on Mon nights, don't I? it seems to me that I do) and was greatly tempted to buy this Coty Airspun loose powder. I was, as usual, heavily influenced by the fact that it was on sale. One thing I like about Kmart sales (or Walmart sales, for that matter) if I may briefly digress, is that unlike values you find while grocery shopping, K/Walmart sales are open to EVERYONE and not just people who carry a particular store card. That always galls me, in the grocery store, where signage will read: " SALE! $2.50 " but then if you're looking closely, you'll see below it, "with AdvatEdge card reg price $2.99" And I don't have any cards. I don't believe in it. I feel like the mere fact of my patronizing their grocery store should render me eligible for ANY and ALL bargains therein. What do you want ,Price Chopper, my blood-scrawled pledge of loyalty, avowing that I don't 2 time you with Shaws? Well, I DO, and I'm certain I would still two-time you if I had a Price Chopper card, only in that scenario I would have a Shaws card coexisting in my purse with my AdvantEdge card. My acceptance of a card would never insure my loyalty (and is that not the point, from the corporate viewpoint?) it would only draw me into the wicked card-ocracy and I would start accruing cards all over town. Maybe I would have an ounce of store-loyalty, however, if you consistently had great bargains that were OPEN TO EVERYBODY and and you didn’t coerce me into cluttering my purse with extraneous plastic. So, you’d think not having a store card anywhere, I'd lose out on a lot of savings. But I don't think I do, because 9 times outta 10 the cashier will end up swiping that card they keep at every register for just such a case as mine. It's like the "goodwill" card. Half the time they look VERY put out for you making them dig out the goodwill card. But I figure, if I aggravate enough cashiers ,and cause them to grumble "why the (*&%$ do we even bother issuing these cards??" I might start some sort of grass roots revolution in the supermarket industry that will topple cardocracy once and for all.
Speaking of toppling and revolutions and the like, has it ever occurred to anyone else that Vladimir Lenin looked an awful lot like Kurtwood "Red Foreman" Smith? Or rather, I should say, Kurtwood Smith looks like Lenin. He just guest starred on the show House (Smith...obviously) and in that role he sported these li'l frameless specs and a goatee and that's when it occurred to me. Consequently I was amused by the notion of Red Foreman as Vladimir Lenin. Imagine that one.. he'd always be all "Tolstoy, you DUMBASS!!" and stuff.
Well, it made me chortle anyhow.
Wow...that was the tangent that WOULD NOT DIE. Back to the powder.... I was also dazzled by the display.. the signage was very deco and featured a drawing of this 30s era beauty applying with this oversized powder puff. And that was the clincher--the powder puff. I did not want this Coty airspun powder without the ideal applicator. I have large powder brushes , also these coaster sized velour lily pad-esque dealies that are for powder. But neither of those are adequate, in my mind. I need to have the foofy, poofy, oversized powder puff (an item which is NOT to be found anywhere in Kmart). The bigger the better...maybe one of thems that you'd see in like a clown routine that will cover your entire face with one pat. To make matters worse, those are powder puffs all over the powder container--and just the sort that I require. Yeah, it's not patterned with exotic albino pears, like I'd thought at first glance. Wow,that's really anticlimactic after being waylaid for a 3000 word tangent on Lenin & my dissatisfaction with grocery stores. Not worth mentioning , really, but seeing as I've committed to this line of rambling, I may as well summate -- I want to buy Coty Airspun Powder but find myself unable to do so until after I have obtained a large-ish and sufficiently poofy powder puff. And once I've got that, I will acquire the powder (and I feel sure the Kmart sale will be over by that time).
So...BLAH...there you have it. Fin.
Monday, March 19, 2007
ERIN GO BRAGH!!
I am very glum to see St Patrick's Day pass us by. I am exceedingly fond of that holiday. I am only 1/4 Irish but I think it's one of my finer quarters. I extended St Pat's this year so it took up the whole weekend--wearing my St Pat's finery on Fri, more green garb on Sat & a St Patty's party (where I ingested a good deal of Irish beer) and then listening to the Cheiftains at my sister's yesterday where we had a big corned beef & cabbage feed. MMMMmmm. But even after all that St Pattying, I could still go for some more. I suppose that part of the reason that I adore St P's Day so, is that the nearest preceding holiday is Valentine's Day...which is a sadistic bitch of a holiday for us singletons. Well there is President's Day in the meantime there, which is neither sadistic nor a bitch, but really, who gives a toss about President's Day unless they're buying a car???
I think we oughtta get the entire month of March designated "Irish Appreciation Month" Or would "Ireland Appreciation Month" be a more proper phrasing? I will have to get that point nailed down before I fire off my letter to Congress.
My sister sent me home last night with a buttload of boiled dinner leftovers that I brought in for lunch today. And then I get in here this a.m. and mi amiga/ officemate Lisa had brought me in a plate of her boiled dinner leftovers PLUS a St Patty's cupcake PLUS a hunk of homemade Irish soda bread (incidentally, I picked up some Irish soda bread @ Price Chopper for Sat's party...didn't want to be bothered w/ making anything. It was VERY good..I heartily recommend. At least I can recommend the white variety with raisins... Laura made Brown Irish Soda Bread for yesterday's dinner and it was very heavy and kinda plain) They so good to me. Although I think Lisa more so because she is not bound by the laws of nature to take care of me. Methinks I may have to by extra Mother's Day gifts this year.
I think we oughtta get the entire month of March designated "Irish Appreciation Month" Or would "Ireland Appreciation Month" be a more proper phrasing? I will have to get that point nailed down before I fire off my letter to Congress.
My sister sent me home last night with a buttload of boiled dinner leftovers that I brought in for lunch today. And then I get in here this a.m. and mi amiga/ officemate Lisa had brought me in a plate of her boiled dinner leftovers PLUS a St Patty's cupcake PLUS a hunk of homemade Irish soda bread (incidentally, I picked up some Irish soda bread @ Price Chopper for Sat's party...didn't want to be bothered w/ making anything. It was VERY good..I heartily recommend. At least I can recommend the white variety with raisins... Laura made Brown Irish Soda Bread for yesterday's dinner and it was very heavy and kinda plain) They so good to me. Although I think Lisa more so because she is not bound by the laws of nature to take care of me. Methinks I may have to by extra Mother's Day gifts this year.
So yeah, courtesy of Lisa, I had a magnificent lunch today-- corned beef, potato, carrots, turnip and a few beets. The beets are a novel twist on boiled dinner --to me anyhow-- but were very yummy. Same thing for lunch tomorrow... different chef, sans beets.
One would think that if you had boiled dinner everyday, you'd get sick to death of it, and probably develop a tremendous hankerin' for pizza. But I can't imagine it...getting sick of boiled dinner that is (I mean, the pizza jones I can most definitely relate to ... I could go for pizza just about anytime...a fact which does not, however, negate or decrease my love of boiled dinner)
I don't know why I got to thinking about The Prisoner -- oh hells yeah, now I remember, it was because today is Patrick "Number Six" McGoohan's 79th birthday (because not a single celeb birthday goes by without my knowing it...well maybe a few...but really, they'd have to be like, sub-Z list celeb) Anyways, the DVD set of this show has caught my eye whilest Borders browsing before and it kinda intrigued me. Six's 79th got me musing over it again today, and because it was oddly slow around here today (not that I'd complain about that!) I was reading all about it online.
Briefest of overviews-- it was this cult British series that ran for 17 episodes (in 1967 in the UK, aired in 1968 over here) where this spy guy quits his job over an unspecified "issue of conscience" and soon thereafter is drugged and taken to "The Village" --a prison dressed up to look like a resort town, where everyone is monitored by secret cameras and addressed by a number (no one has a name...not even the main character). Oh...and possibly the most enticing bit-- there are "Rovers" , big white weather balloons that beset would-be escapees and smash them to death and/or into submission. Does that not sound like TOTALLY my cup of tea?? If you're shaking your head "no" then you don't know me at all, fool!!
I'm puzzled though... if this show ran for just 17 episodes...what the HELL is up with this??
Yeah, I was contemplating purchase of the series on Amazon...but I was displeased at the enormity of the DVD set.
Sure...it's swell of them to put them in those space-saving slim cases, but couldn't they have fit 17 episodes on fewer than 10 DVDs?? C'mon!! That's like (typing fingers pause suddenly & hover uncertainly in the air above keys, brow furrows, tongue pokes out of corner of mouth in unseemly show of concentration as blogger tries to do simple math in her head) a maximum of 17 hours of TV...ummm uhhh..let's say an approximate 4 hr capacity on your average DVD. They should be able to do it in 4 DVDs but if they did the double-sided disc thing they could get it onto 2 discs. Then you could have the thing in one case, a regular size DVD case, but still it'd spare you from the storage quandary of having the colossal brick of slim cases in your DVD library.
Ehhh, I still might buy it. Amazon's price is about half of what I saw it selling at Borders for and I love a bargain like Gargamel hates Smurfs. Like Garfield loves lasagna. Oy. Like, like...Sonny loves Cocoa Puffs. Nope.. no, I'm sorry! Lame, lame, LAME-ASS! There must be something wrong with the simile synapsis in my brain. I keep firing off duds. I give up.
Friday, March 16, 2007
no time for love dr jones...
and no time to post...it's really snowing out there!!! Motherfucker!! On St Pat's Eve? I am mightily miffed.
Nothing much to post, I only wanted to share my severe disappointment with the Precipitation Gods. I thought we had commenced the lamby part of March already!!! Grrr..
Nothing much to post, I only wanted to share my severe disappointment with the Precipitation Gods. I thought we had commenced the lamby part of March already!!! Grrr..
Thursday, March 15, 2007
BEWAAAAARE THE IDES OF MARCH
Come March 15 every year, I like nothing better than warning people "Bewaaaaare the ides of March!!" in the most ominous voice I can manage.
But, curious cat that I am, I like to know the backstory behind the catchphrase. So I've read up on the execution of Caesar. So should you. Check out this schpiel on the ides of March.
The most interesting new bit of info I gleaned from this was---
But, curious cat that I am, I like to know the backstory behind the catchphrase. So I've read up on the execution of Caesar. So should you. Check out this schpiel on the ides of March.
The most interesting new bit of info I gleaned from this was---
"One other omen was that Caesar's wife had a dream, the night before Caesar was killed, that he was lying on the ground dead and she begged him to not go to the Senate that day and Caesar agreed. But later Caesar decided to go when he told a member of the senate to inform everyone he wasn't going and the senator said, "Would you like me to tell them that their Caesar couldn't meet today because his wife had a bad dream?" "
Now I remember that from the Shakespeare play (and more clearly from the 1953 movie made from the Shakespeare play) but I thought that was a li'l fictional embellishment courtesy of the bard. It seemed to me to be just a little device in the play to work Calpurnia into the action...add a dash of romance y'know? But when mentioning this, the article cites it as being from " the most detailed account of Caesar's assassination, written by Nicolas of Damascus,a few years after the event and likely based on eyewitness reports" And granted, wikipedia is not 100% reliable, but still, this ups the probability that it actually DID happen (the bit about Calpurnia's dream)?? So, while the Ides of March still should be observed with reverent caution, one could also definitely argue that the chief lesson to be taken from Caesar's sad demise is that it is BAD NEWS to go back on a promise to your wife. Even if it gets you picked on by your buddies. Do NOT dismiss her concerns as silly or trifling, or you will wind up sorry in a MAJOR WAY, buck-o.
relieved to be back at work??
Seems utterly impossible but it's so true. Amazing , huh?
I took yesterday off for a doctor's appointment. It was just a standard physical (complete with dreaded cooter check up) but due to a raging case of doctor-phobia on my part it was loooooong overdue. Last time I had gone to the doc's was 2001. I know, I know! It's awful. It's deplorable! Look, I've already given myself a stern lecture on the subject (followed up by a stern pep talk that resulted in this recent appointment) so don't look at me like that. As of yesterday, I am back on the medical diligence wagon, okay?
Gawd, I HATE being responsible. On to more pleasant subjects...
Very glad that Matt won this past Top Design challenge. I was glad because Matt has emerged as my numero uno fave and so obviously I like to see him win one. But I was also stoked for Matt's win, because Carisa so COMPLETELY tried to hog all of the glory, and seemed to really think she deserved it. Take THAT, beeeeyotch.
So what does Matty get?? One whole extra hour of time for his next project-- yippy freakin' skippy! I realize probably every extra second helps, but still...WHY are they being so stingy with the rewards on this show?? I don't even think they gave Matty immunity with this win. What the hell??? He should've gotten his extra hour, immunity, and a check for 10k...and that last one just as reward for his working with Carisa and Michael and not maiming or killing either. Better yet-- a 20k check if he had killed off one of 'em. Just kidding. But truly, I find both Carisa and Michael INSANELY irksome, so I was incapable of taking sides during their many squabbles. And yet, squabbles aside, they did manage to put together the better room. Yeah, I saw how the other team's room was all conceptual, & clever, jam packed with ideas and all that happy horseyshit, but bottom line is that I would rather have partied in the Carisa-Matt-Michael room. Damn your lofty ideas Goil & Andrea, it's all about what's condusive to the WANG CHUNG. Knowwhatimean, baby?
Tues night I was unhappy with the offerings on the telly, so I watched a BBC miniseries I 'd recently bought. It's North & South ( do note that I am referring to a 2004 BBC mini and NOT the one that was big in the 80s with Patrick "Johnny Castle" Swayze as a Confederate soldier. NOT that one. Nooo, nooo nooo!!) and it's a 4 part miniseries based on an Elizabeth Gaskell novel. Thing is, watching only one installment of a BBC miniseries is like eating just 1 chip...utterly unthinkable!! For me anyways. So I watched the whole damn miniseries. It was muy muy bueno. Excellent if you like that sort of 19th ce. Brit romance kind of thing (surely y'all have ascertained by now--I DO).
And I was a total shameless sap when I watched the thing, too. I shouldn't confess that, but there you have it. Like, I rewatched the final scene in the train station 3 or 4 times. And there's this other scene, where Margaret is leaving town, presumably FOREVER, and John goes out to the stoop and watches her carriage as it goes off and he's all emotional, but not all tears & snot about it, (ick!) rather , he's trying to stifle it but not concealing it all that well. You know the way-- all manly-like. And he's watching the carriage depart, and he says quietly-"Look back! Look back at me" And--JINKIES-- I was insta-goo. It reduced me to joining in with the movie's dialogue , which I know is terribly dumb but sometimes I just can't help it, like in this case when I hollered "LOOK BACK AT HIM DAMN IT!!"
Anyways, in summation: SUCH a good flick. (siiiiiigh )
I took yesterday off for a doctor's appointment. It was just a standard physical (complete with dreaded cooter check up) but due to a raging case of doctor-phobia on my part it was loooooong overdue. Last time I had gone to the doc's was 2001. I know, I know! It's awful. It's deplorable! Look, I've already given myself a stern lecture on the subject (followed up by a stern pep talk that resulted in this recent appointment) so don't look at me like that. As of yesterday, I am back on the medical diligence wagon, okay?
Gawd, I HATE being responsible. On to more pleasant subjects...
Very glad that Matt won this past Top Design challenge. I was glad because Matt has emerged as my numero uno fave and so obviously I like to see him win one. But I was also stoked for Matt's win, because Carisa so COMPLETELY tried to hog all of the glory, and seemed to really think she deserved it. Take THAT, beeeeyotch.
So what does Matty get?? One whole extra hour of time for his next project-- yippy freakin' skippy! I realize probably every extra second helps, but still...WHY are they being so stingy with the rewards on this show?? I don't even think they gave Matty immunity with this win. What the hell??? He should've gotten his extra hour, immunity, and a check for 10k...and that last one just as reward for his working with Carisa and Michael and not maiming or killing either. Better yet-- a 20k check if he had killed off one of 'em. Just kidding. But truly, I find both Carisa and Michael INSANELY irksome, so I was incapable of taking sides during their many squabbles. And yet, squabbles aside, they did manage to put together the better room. Yeah, I saw how the other team's room was all conceptual, & clever, jam packed with ideas and all that happy horseyshit, but bottom line is that I would rather have partied in the Carisa-Matt-Michael room. Damn your lofty ideas Goil & Andrea, it's all about what's condusive to the WANG CHUNG. Knowwhatimean, baby?
Tues night I was unhappy with the offerings on the telly, so I watched a BBC miniseries I 'd recently bought. It's North & South ( do note that I am referring to a 2004 BBC mini and NOT the one that was big in the 80s with Patrick "Johnny Castle" Swayze as a Confederate soldier. NOT that one. Nooo, nooo nooo!!) and it's a 4 part miniseries based on an Elizabeth Gaskell novel. Thing is, watching only one installment of a BBC miniseries is like eating just 1 chip...utterly unthinkable!! For me anyways. So I watched the whole damn miniseries. It was muy muy bueno. Excellent if you like that sort of 19th ce. Brit romance kind of thing (surely y'all have ascertained by now--I DO).
And I was a total shameless sap when I watched the thing, too. I shouldn't confess that, but there you have it. Like, I rewatched the final scene in the train station 3 or 4 times. And there's this other scene, where Margaret is leaving town, presumably FOREVER, and John goes out to the stoop and watches her carriage as it goes off and he's all emotional, but not all tears & snot about it, (ick!) rather , he's trying to stifle it but not concealing it all that well. You know the way-- all manly-like. And he's watching the carriage depart, and he says quietly-"Look back! Look back at me" And--JINKIES-- I was insta-goo. It reduced me to joining in with the movie's dialogue , which I know is terribly dumb but sometimes I just can't help it, like in this case when I hollered "LOOK BACK AT HIM DAMN IT!!"
Anyways, in summation: SUCH a good flick. (siiiiiigh )
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
you'll come for the sammiches, stay for the previewed DVDs
At lunch time I popped in to Foodstop to obtain some midday comestibles and they had this big tub of previewed DVDs for $5 a pop. So OF COURSE I had to buy some. I restrained myself and bought just 2 of 'em. Hey, that IS restraint for me. (I mean this weekend I went looking for one CD --The Lovin' Spoonful's Greatest Hits and wound up w/ that and 3 more -- Joe Cocker's Greatest Hits, Led Zeppelin II, & the soundtrack for "O Brother Where Art Thou?" so, y'know, as you can see there self-restraint doesn't come naturally to me). I ended up buying: Altoid Mango Sours, 1 Liter of Diet Coke, curly/spicy fries, Silent Hill, Stay , & a turkey-cucumber sammich on wheat.
While the verdict is still pending for the 2 movies, I can attest that Altoid Mango Sours are utterly stupendous. If you like mango, you will like Altoid Mango Sours. I know that sounds trite and somewhat idiotic, but that is the chief asset of these little candies--they taste exactly like the fruit they are supposed to (after a initial shock of sourness). I mean, I like cherry flavored candies, or strawberry flavored, but not much of it really tastes like the real thing does it? I would say that's true about most fruit flavored candy.... banana Runts for instance..I don't know what they taste like but it's not banana. But the Altoids folks (Callard & Bowser, if my Altoids tin is to be believed) have really nailed the mango flavor. Phenomenal.
I watched the premier of The Riches last night. I've always liked Minnie Driver so I kinda watched it in support of her getting work, FINALLY. Of course, she has had work, but she hasn't had a starring film role that I can think of since 2000 or thereabouts. This is not counting straight-to-video fare (which, in terms of career indicators, does not count for all that much). So a lead role on an FX (especially with FX putting out notably higher qual stuff for the past 5yrs) drama is a big score for her. The whole conning their way into the upper crust premise is the basis of the show, but I find myself more intrigued by the unexpected "refugees- from-a-bizarro-Irish-gypsy-cult" subplot. I guess they're Irish Travelers, I should say. I had used "gypsy" generally speaking, not to be confused with Gypsy gypsies, as in Esmerelda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I guess "gypsy " is considered an offensive term....although when I hear the word it just immediately evokes thoughts of Stevie Nicks & that Fleetwood Mac song...and I cannot conceive of how being associated with Stevie Nicks would upset anybody. But anyhow... back to The Riches ....one of my first impressions (upon hearing the cast list...before viewing the pilot) was that Minnie Driver & Eddie Izzard would be a weird couple. I was wondering how that would play out, and was thinking it would be interesting to see Eddie play a straight guy. Well, y'know , come to find out (I did a spot of IMDB digging this a.m.) and according to all reports, he IS straight. No wondering he portrayed it with such surprising conviction. Hey, y'know, I'm a chick that casually tosses off uncouth terms like "gypsy" so I guess it logically follows that I would presume that ALL tranvestites are gay. Rather, narrow-minded of me in retrospect, I think. But you've got to cut me some slack...I didn't grow up in the most metropolitan / diverse region of the world...and I do aspire to be more open-minded than I naturally am...
I kind of dug The Riches -- thought Minnie & Eddie were individually compelling as well as poignant as a couple. I don't know if I liked it so much that will fully fill the Monday night void destined to be in my heart until April 23rd, but I did like it. I will tune in next Monday.
While the verdict is still pending for the 2 movies, I can attest that Altoid Mango Sours are utterly stupendous. If you like mango, you will like Altoid Mango Sours. I know that sounds trite and somewhat idiotic, but that is the chief asset of these little candies--they taste exactly like the fruit they are supposed to (after a initial shock of sourness). I mean, I like cherry flavored candies, or strawberry flavored, but not much of it really tastes like the real thing does it? I would say that's true about most fruit flavored candy.... banana Runts for instance..I don't know what they taste like but it's not banana. But the Altoids folks (Callard & Bowser, if my Altoids tin is to be believed) have really nailed the mango flavor. Phenomenal.
I watched the premier of The Riches last night. I've always liked Minnie Driver so I kinda watched it in support of her getting work, FINALLY. Of course, she has had work, but she hasn't had a starring film role that I can think of since 2000 or thereabouts. This is not counting straight-to-video fare (which, in terms of career indicators, does not count for all that much). So a lead role on an FX (especially with FX putting out notably higher qual stuff for the past 5yrs) drama is a big score for her. The whole conning their way into the upper crust premise is the basis of the show, but I find myself more intrigued by the unexpected "refugees- from-a-bizarro-Irish-gypsy-cult" subplot. I guess they're Irish Travelers, I should say. I had used "gypsy" generally speaking, not to be confused with Gypsy gypsies, as in Esmerelda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I guess "gypsy " is considered an offensive term....although when I hear the word it just immediately evokes thoughts of Stevie Nicks & that Fleetwood Mac song...and I cannot conceive of how being associated with Stevie Nicks would upset anybody. But anyhow... back to The Riches ....one of my first impressions (upon hearing the cast list...before viewing the pilot) was that Minnie Driver & Eddie Izzard would be a weird couple. I was wondering how that would play out, and was thinking it would be interesting to see Eddie play a straight guy. Well, y'know , come to find out (I did a spot of IMDB digging this a.m.) and according to all reports, he IS straight. No wondering he portrayed it with such surprising conviction. Hey, y'know, I'm a chick that casually tosses off uncouth terms like "gypsy" so I guess it logically follows that I would presume that ALL tranvestites are gay. Rather, narrow-minded of me in retrospect, I think. But you've got to cut me some slack...I didn't grow up in the most metropolitan / diverse region of the world...and I do aspire to be more open-minded than I naturally am...
I kind of dug The Riches -- thought Minnie & Eddie were individually compelling as well as poignant as a couple. I don't know if I liked it so much that will fully fill the Monday night void destined to be in my heart until April 23rd, but I did like it. I will tune in next Monday.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Tudor revival
During my daily perusal of IMDB, I spotted this upcoming show all about the Tudors, a drama seemingly based on a very randy and young and foxy Henry VIII. I do believe that Henry VIII was quite randy, and that's putting it mildly. But I also feel pretty sure that he was a gross old lech. I believe that he was every bit as corpulent and unappealing as he was domineering and randy. But luckily Showtime has dropped the "corpulent & unappealing" part of it, casting Jonathan Rhys Meyers...
Well I did not bring up "The Tudors" just as an excuse to post some kinda JRM collage (dude, I find his name waaay too cumbersome to bother to type out) Rather, I wanted to kvetch about this being totally the kind of show that I could get into but airing on SHOWTIME. Drat, damn , and dang it all!! Not sure when it premieres--just sometime in '07. I'd just as soon not know, because getting Showtime is not an option for me. Even if I did pay for cable and could add channels to my line-up, I suppose it wouldn't be prudent to add a new channel purely because of one show.
I'm actually reading a book about English kings & queens. It spans from Alfred the Great (871 A.D.--899 A.D.) through present day. I'm not really up to the Tudor dynasty yet... I'm still in the Middle Ages. I think that, more than any biographical info, I am most thrilled by these kooky Old English names. Alfred had older bros named Ethelbald and Ethelbert and he married a lady named Ealhswith.
Here's one of the promotional posters...it's not my cropping that cut the ladies' heads off, that's how the photo really is. Henry is saying here, "I am not concerned with your countenances, wenches. It is solely your bodice-smooshed bosoms I require...encircling me....as I ponder critical matters of state." Y'see he's doing the thinking steeple with his fingers...that means he's not just doing an idle sultry stare, he's really got something on his mind. Something about the bosom wench at far left's body language suggests that she may not be 100% keen on being exploited for her rack...looks like she may want a shawl or somethin'...
But don't despair wenches!! The fine king is not above flaunting his own wares...
Now I wonder if this one (below )was JRM's shot with which to say "This may be a drama, folks, but that sure as hell don't mean that I've slacked off in my gym regiment!!"
It's kind of a silly picture. I won't begrudge him those nice biceps, but still, it's silly. Who is he mad at??
Well I did not bring up "The Tudors" just as an excuse to post some kinda JRM collage (dude, I find his name waaay too cumbersome to bother to type out) Rather, I wanted to kvetch about this being totally the kind of show that I could get into but airing on SHOWTIME. Drat, damn , and dang it all!! Not sure when it premieres--just sometime in '07. I'd just as soon not know, because getting Showtime is not an option for me. Even if I did pay for cable and could add channels to my line-up, I suppose it wouldn't be prudent to add a new channel purely because of one show.
I'm actually reading a book about English kings & queens. It spans from Alfred the Great (871 A.D.--899 A.D.) through present day. I'm not really up to the Tudor dynasty yet... I'm still in the Middle Ages. I think that, more than any biographical info, I am most thrilled by these kooky Old English names. Alfred had older bros named Ethelbald and Ethelbert and he married a lady named Ealhswith.
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