Almost caught up on my Thurs night season premieres...this is what I watched on my sister's DVR...
1/2 of Ugly Betty..or maybe 1/3...I'm starting to grow apathetic toward that show.
My Name is Earl-- I thought he got married at the end of last season..when did he get the divorce in?? I don't REALLY give a rat's arse, but I was perplexed. I 'spose it's too bad.. Alyssa Milano coulda used the steady work..
The Office-- That proposal was the most romantic thing. It made me mew verklemptishly. It was actually sort of a twitterpated-verklempt hybrid which is a damned complex feeling to impart via mewing. It was a rather nuanced mew. I just love John Krasinski. If I were to read one day that he's dating one of the Pussycat Dolls or a Victoria's Secret model, I would have to...I dunno...just show him the error of his ways , I suppose (Annie Wilkes style).
For some unfathomable reason, Laura failed to DVR Grey's Anatomy. I hafta catch that...sooner rather than later would be preferable.
Friday, September 26, 2008
You carried the watermelon--advance 5 spaces
I saw this at Borders and did a double take. It's a damn good thing I wasn't savoring one of their delightful cafe beverages at the moment, as I would've certainly done a spit take, spewing skim mocha latte all over the stupid thing and then I woulda had to buy it!! (Is there really any store that stands by the you break-it-you-buy-it motto? Was there any store that ever did? I have always half-suspected that that was a phony-baloney store law made up by the U.S. Mommy's Union as a means of keeping their kids' grubby mitts off of everything in the store. But really, I've never had the guts to see if my suspicion was right or not. Which is not to say I've never broken anything in a store. I sure as hell haven't owned up to it....
But ANYWHOOO...back to this wackadoo game... I love Johnny & Baby and their epic saga as much as the next chick, but c'mon folks--really? So that scraping noise was us hitting the very bottom of the ol' idea barrel, eh??
I guess it's not really crazy to base a board game on a movie. I mean, it ain't no thing when I see a High School Musical Game being sold at WalMart--it barely registers. But, y'see any girl from grade 2 through their tween years is just gaga for that HSM shit, soo, that's just good capitalism. But is there really a big demand for Dirty Dancing merchandise, 20+ years after the film's release?? If there is such a demand, I'd be shocked. Possibly it's an underground movement...
Hey, not that I'd ever play anything so foolish but...I would totally kick everyone's ass at this game. No...scratch that..a more ferocious triumph...I would kick everyone's asses and then do the pachanga on their sad, defeated asses!! Yes indeedy.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
P.O.S. ride
My car keeps doing this thing where I start it up and then if I drive it a little ways (less than a mile) and then stop (like at the STOP sign at the end of my road for instance) it will SHUT DOWN. It restarts without any problem and then after I get going for a bit, it doesn't do it anymore (at subsequent stops--traffic lights & such..). It did it 3 times at lunch today. When I got to the end of the parking lot, turning out onto the street, and then twice in the fucking Taco Bell drive-thru.
Y'see the symptom itself is damned vexing (obviously), but what makes it even more maddening is that this only happens periodically. I'll have it happen once, and then for the rest of the week, or even for 2 weeks after, it'll run perfectly. And so then the breakdown seems like a fluke, and this works well with my natural tendency to take a "ignore-it-and-it-will-go-away" approach to issues. But then, invariably, it will happen AGAIN, the bastard will have itself a G.D. relapse and I'm all " Arrgh, there's no way around it...there is some kinda PROBLEM with this shitheap."
I mean I should just deduce from the way the thing often sounds (note the word "often"..the audible symptoms are periodic also) that it has sickly innards.
The f-er chirps like Chitty Chitty Bang when I start it up, and then after shutting it down, it ticks and pings for a good 5 minutes afterward like the Griswolds' Family Truckster. (That's the Wagon Queen Family Truckster, to be entirely accurate)
I'm so glad Heroes is back!! Seems like it's been on hiatus for YEARS. In fact, I'm questioning how well I recollect the last episode of last season. I thought we had wound up with Clare thinking her dad was dead. But when HRG came home, she was all "Oh, Dad you're home!" but not "HOLY SHIT--You're ALIVE???" Relieved, but not amazed, y'know? What did I miss?? WTF??
I was glad to see Elle back. She's all at a loss now that she's been canned, but really, considering the bosslady, she's just lucky she didn't get killed or imprisoned. I thought that was amazingly magnanimous of Mama Petrelli...and then seconds later she starts cooing over Sylar & petting him and I'm ALL sorts of perplexed by that 180. Oh, and speaking of Sy...my hands-down fave moment of the 2parter season premier was when Clare asked Sylar if he was going to eat her brain and he goes "It's YOUR BRAIN, Clare. That's disgusting." that made me chortle.
Curious about that dude that Peter is stuck inside...what was he in the Company hoosegow for? What's his power? He looks like your run-of-the-mill Crip to me, I dunno. Also, if the Freaky Friday laws of soul swappage are to be observed, ya gotsta wonder where that guy's sould wound up. Is it sharing space with Sweet Pete's soul? Or did FuturePete stash it in an empty mayo jar for safekeeping??
During the recap/countdown show, I caught a glimpse of the dude that plays Mohinder (I was only 1/2 paying attention to that) and I thought he looked rather fetching. That slicked-back 'do doesn't work on just anybody, but it looked good on him. And the suit was fly. But then, watching the premier eps, I was reminded what a drip I think Mohinder is. I thought he might be slightly more interesting with powers, but he had to be all dorkily overeager about it. Ah, well, I suppose the acquisition of superpowers is perfectly adequate reason for overeagerness. But I just can't stomach Mohinder for some reason. I was briefly intrigued when it showed he'd developed some kinda hyper-libido (that tramp had just been waiting for that,hadn't she? That was a very ravage-ready outfit she had on.. I don't like her either..they're the perfect couple) But soon after he's all "Yeee-ikes!! What-is-HAPPENING-to-MEEE??" and ripping molty carbuncles off his back (and a loser again)
That roadrunner character (the thief whom Hiro tailed to France-- so unimpressive, I cannot be bothered to recall the character's name) was too cartoony..even for a cartoonish show like Heroes. I hope she doesn't have a big part in this Season.
I hope they don't waste a ton of time getting Parkman out of the desert. Granted, I adore Parkman (probably ties w/ Sweet Pete for title of my 2nd fave character) and I'm SO in favor of him getting more screen time. However, if Hiro's adventures in 16th ce. Japan are any indication, than heroes transporting into fantastical realms= SNOOZZZZE.
I was glad to see Elle back. She's all at a loss now that she's been canned, but really, considering the bosslady, she's just lucky she didn't get killed or imprisoned. I thought that was amazingly magnanimous of Mama Petrelli...and then seconds later she starts cooing over Sylar & petting him and I'm ALL sorts of perplexed by that 180. Oh, and speaking of Sy...my hands-down fave moment of the 2parter season premier was when Clare asked Sylar if he was going to eat her brain and he goes "It's YOUR BRAIN, Clare. That's disgusting." that made me chortle.
Curious about that dude that Peter is stuck inside...what was he in the Company hoosegow for? What's his power? He looks like your run-of-the-mill Crip to me, I dunno. Also, if the Freaky Friday laws of soul swappage are to be observed, ya gotsta wonder where that guy's sould wound up. Is it sharing space with Sweet Pete's soul? Or did FuturePete stash it in an empty mayo jar for safekeeping??
During the recap/countdown show, I caught a glimpse of the dude that plays Mohinder (I was only 1/2 paying attention to that) and I thought he looked rather fetching. That slicked-back 'do doesn't work on just anybody, but it looked good on him. And the suit was fly. But then, watching the premier eps, I was reminded what a drip I think Mohinder is. I thought he might be slightly more interesting with powers, but he had to be all dorkily overeager about it. Ah, well, I suppose the acquisition of superpowers is perfectly adequate reason for overeagerness. But I just can't stomach Mohinder for some reason. I was briefly intrigued when it showed he'd developed some kinda hyper-libido (that tramp had just been waiting for that,hadn't she? That was a very ravage-ready outfit she had on.. I don't like her either..they're the perfect couple) But soon after he's all "Yeee-ikes!! What-is-HAPPENING-to-MEEE??" and ripping molty carbuncles off his back (and a loser again)
That roadrunner character (the thief whom Hiro tailed to France-- so unimpressive, I cannot be bothered to recall the character's name) was too cartoony..even for a cartoonish show like Heroes. I hope she doesn't have a big part in this Season.
I hope they don't waste a ton of time getting Parkman out of the desert. Granted, I adore Parkman (probably ties w/ Sweet Pete for title of my 2nd fave character) and I'm SO in favor of him getting more screen time. However, if Hiro's adventures in 16th ce. Japan are any indication, than heroes transporting into fantastical realms= SNOOZZZZE.
you have GOT to be shitting me!!
Wow.. this news item really threw me for a loopedy loop!! I expect the AP report to come in any moment now:"BREAKING NEWS: This just in- sources confirm that yes, a bear does in fact shit in the woods".
Thursday, September 18, 2008
back on the horse
I'm a neglectful shit. Forgive me.
'Kay , some random shit...sundry thoughts & transpirings (don't expect coherence, 'cuz I'm DAMNED RUSTY)--
Got my nails did. ..not so remarkable maybe. But for the first time ever, I shelled out for some upkeep. Yep..I got a fill 2 weeks after I got my nails done initially. Yippy effing skippy, right? Yeah, I realize that is how MOST gals do it. But I've always just gotten gels put on once (often coinciding with me being in somebody-er-other's wedding ..ha haa) and then I just try to MacGuyver the maintenance myself (filling the gap with clear polish & then painting over the whole mess) and let 'em grow out for a while until I finally pry 'em off myself after approx a month.
I may even pay for another fill in about a week. I think I gotta find somewhere else to get 'em done though. I mean, a fill is cheaper than the original job, but still, methinks I could be getting a better deal than a $35 fill.
I finished reading Smilla's Sense of Snow and overall, I recommend it. I had trouble with it at times because it got very sciencey and those parts bored me and made me feel stupid at the same time (neither of which do I enjoy) I guess the reason I overall recommend it is because the main character is a very unique one...worth meeting, so to speak. I just finished up (last night) a novel called A House and its Head (by Ivy Compton- Burnett) and that one was..eehhh. The following is how I summed it up on BookCrossing-
"This book was --for the most part--lots and lots of dialogue. Prim quibbling like "Oh should I have called her by her Christian name? I *do*hope I wasn't being too forward. Do you think it unseemly of me, cousin?" Not a direct quote there, but the book is full of blather just like that. Odd thing is, I usually go for that stuff. Austen, Bronte, Gaskell-- I'm always gleefully devouring books like that. I can't really pinpoint why it didn't engage me in this book. Perhaps there was just too much of it? I kept reading, well, mostly just because I try to be conscientious about finishing the books I start no matter how much of a chore they become (so that I'm at least conscientious in *one* area of my life). Oh, and also the blurb on the back promises "sexual passion" Ummm, not so much. OK, there was passion goin' on,but it was way subtextual. This snooze of a book coulda benefitted from being a smidge more explicit about it, knowwhatimean??Now I would have rated this lower than a 4, except that 3/4 of the way thru, the book delivers a sort of a judo chop to the throat that wakes you up and renders the book memorable. I presume spoilers are verboten, so I'll just say that one of the characters does a baaaad, BAD thing and what got me was not the act, but how it was so nonchalantly woven into the story. It made me do this WTF?? style double take, during the sort of novel in which you don't generally do WTF?? double takes. I was all "HUH? Did she really do what I think she did? And why is everybody acting like it was a bit of foolish caprice?" Seriously, this is a JAIL-WORTHY OFFENSE and her family acts as if she left her best parasol out in the rain. It's bizarro."
Yep, I've long been intrigued by BookCrossing.com, but have been reluctant to try it out. Mostly it's that I'm too possessive about my books and it's hard for me to part with 'em. But of course, that's not the case with ALL the books I've acquired--there are certainly books I've read and been quite disappointed with, and feel confident I shall never revisit their pages again. But with those disappointing books, I always feel like I ought to try to dump those off with some used book store and recoup at least some of my wasted moolah . But all that said, I really AM attracted to the Book Crossing concept... connecting with random strangers via intinerent books... very neat. And the fact is, I usually don't revisit books, even the ones I like, and I HAVEN'T been schlepping any books to the used book stores, so why not give it a shot?? I thought I'd start out with "A House and its Head"--and if that yields any interesting results, I'll put some other books out there. None of the books that I ADORE, of course. .. but any reads ranging from horrid up to pretty good are fair game,I think. But anyways, at this point I'm just starting out, I created my account just this afternoon, and I've just registered that 1 book (getting the BC ID# & writing the initial review) I'm pondering where I should leave it...I might ask my coworkers for suggestions in tomorrow's daily email.
I just started reading Embers. I may keep you posted on whether I LOOOVE that one (or if I'm sending it off into the wild with a BC ID# label on it)...but no promises. Once season premieres kick off next week, I may just ditch this whole reading kick I've been on...
I saw on IMDB that cutie James Marsden turns 35 today. Which struck me as a major coinky-dink since I kinda watched 27 Dresses on my iPod last night. By "kinda" I mean I fast forwarded through all the bits with her boss & sister and just watched the cute parts with K-Heigl & Marsden. (Ohh..speaking of Heigl..she's now shooting a romantic comedy w/ Gerard Butler. I am rather stoked. I could so go for GB in a rom-com, and yes there was PS I Love You but I think I've previously mentioned that I can't watch that horse-tastic Hillary Swank in anything.)
I kinda wanna see this movie.
Okay...I shall post again soon. Hopefully I'll be able to yarf up something a bit more substantial..
'Kay , some random shit...sundry thoughts & transpirings (don't expect coherence, 'cuz I'm DAMNED RUSTY)--
Got my nails did. ..not so remarkable maybe. But for the first time ever, I shelled out for some upkeep. Yep..I got a fill 2 weeks after I got my nails done initially. Yippy effing skippy, right? Yeah, I realize that is how MOST gals do it. But I've always just gotten gels put on once (often coinciding with me being in somebody-er-other's wedding ..ha haa) and then I just try to MacGuyver the maintenance myself (filling the gap with clear polish & then painting over the whole mess) and let 'em grow out for a while until I finally pry 'em off myself after approx a month.
I may even pay for another fill in about a week. I think I gotta find somewhere else to get 'em done though. I mean, a fill is cheaper than the original job, but still, methinks I could be getting a better deal than a $35 fill.
I finished reading Smilla's Sense of Snow and overall, I recommend it. I had trouble with it at times because it got very sciencey and those parts bored me and made me feel stupid at the same time (neither of which do I enjoy) I guess the reason I overall recommend it is because the main character is a very unique one...worth meeting, so to speak. I just finished up (last night) a novel called A House and its Head (by Ivy Compton- Burnett) and that one was..eehhh. The following is how I summed it up on BookCrossing-
"This book was --for the most part--lots and lots of dialogue. Prim quibbling like "Oh should I have called her by her Christian name? I *do*hope I wasn't being too forward. Do you think it unseemly of me, cousin?" Not a direct quote there, but the book is full of blather just like that. Odd thing is, I usually go for that stuff. Austen, Bronte, Gaskell-- I'm always gleefully devouring books like that. I can't really pinpoint why it didn't engage me in this book. Perhaps there was just too much of it? I kept reading, well, mostly just because I try to be conscientious about finishing the books I start no matter how much of a chore they become (so that I'm at least conscientious in *one* area of my life). Oh, and also the blurb on the back promises "sexual passion" Ummm, not so much. OK, there was passion goin' on,but it was way subtextual. This snooze of a book coulda benefitted from being a smidge more explicit about it, knowwhatimean??Now I would have rated this lower than a 4, except that 3/4 of the way thru, the book delivers a sort of a judo chop to the throat that wakes you up and renders the book memorable. I presume spoilers are verboten, so I'll just say that one of the characters does a baaaad, BAD thing and what got me was not the act, but how it was so nonchalantly woven into the story. It made me do this WTF?? style double take, during the sort of novel in which you don't generally do WTF?? double takes. I was all "HUH? Did she really do what I think she did? And why is everybody acting like it was a bit of foolish caprice?" Seriously, this is a JAIL-WORTHY OFFENSE and her family acts as if she left her best parasol out in the rain. It's bizarro."
Yep, I've long been intrigued by BookCrossing.com, but have been reluctant to try it out. Mostly it's that I'm too possessive about my books and it's hard for me to part with 'em. But of course, that's not the case with ALL the books I've acquired--there are certainly books I've read and been quite disappointed with, and feel confident I shall never revisit their pages again. But with those disappointing books, I always feel like I ought to try to dump those off with some used book store and recoup at least some of my wasted moolah . But all that said, I really AM attracted to the Book Crossing concept... connecting with random strangers via intinerent books... very neat. And the fact is, I usually don't revisit books, even the ones I like, and I HAVEN'T been schlepping any books to the used book stores, so why not give it a shot?? I thought I'd start out with "A House and its Head"--and if that yields any interesting results, I'll put some other books out there. None of the books that I ADORE, of course. .. but any reads ranging from horrid up to pretty good are fair game,I think. But anyways, at this point I'm just starting out, I created my account just this afternoon, and I've just registered that 1 book (getting the BC ID# & writing the initial review) I'm pondering where I should leave it...I might ask my coworkers for suggestions in tomorrow's daily email.
I just started reading Embers. I may keep you posted on whether I LOOOVE that one (or if I'm sending it off into the wild with a BC ID# label on it)...but no promises. Once season premieres kick off next week, I may just ditch this whole reading kick I've been on...
I saw on IMDB that cutie James Marsden turns 35 today. Which struck me as a major coinky-dink since I kinda watched 27 Dresses on my iPod last night. By "kinda" I mean I fast forwarded through all the bits with her boss & sister and just watched the cute parts with K-Heigl & Marsden. (Ohh..speaking of Heigl..she's now shooting a romantic comedy w/ Gerard Butler. I am rather stoked. I could so go for GB in a rom-com, and yes there was PS I Love You but I think I've previously mentioned that I can't watch that horse-tastic Hillary Swank in anything.)
I kinda wanna see this movie.
Okay...I shall post again soon. Hopefully I'll be able to yarf up something a bit more substantial..
Saturday, September 06, 2008
other miscellaneous oddments...
my kneepits are still scabby. They've healed somewhat. But they're still scabby. Ick.
I had a vague-ish hankerin' for a salty-type snack which morphed into a very specific craving for Cheez-its . Lemme ramble off on a side tangent for a spell: have there been empirical studies to determine whether Cheez-its or Cheese Nips are the superior cheezy snack cracker? I think I've pondered it aloud before (ok, wait...I KNOW I have) and the resounding concensus was that Cheez-its are a faaar finer product. But hearsay is hardly as gratifying as knowledge gleaned from a controlled scientific experiment! Am I right? Let's hit the lab-ORA-tory, amigos!!
Seriously, I would hasten to the lab right this moment if I had either Cheez-its OR Cheese Nips around, but sadly I DO NOT. Which is why I ended up trying to quell my cravings with Cheetos instead. Granted, it was the crunchy type of Cheetos, which I do prefer over the poofy style, but still, it was a piss poor substitute, man. Most dissatisfying.
In other promising "coming attractions" news --on the small-screen, this time: The Mentalist. I may just tune in to this one. Oh, I have very shallow reasons ( 'tis on account of that FINE Simon Baker) so I'm prone to tuning into the pilot and then forgetting about it entirely. So the thing better be f-ing GOOD in order to make it into the ranks of my must-watch shows. Speaking of my MUST WATCH elite...when is Heroes coming back again? I'm stoked for that...and I will be some miffed if I miss the season premiere.
Oh yeah--I missed the season 2 premiere of Top Design (not as big a deal as Heroes by any means.. though I did wanna catch it) That kinda pissed me off.
Speaking of Bravo... I'm all up to date on my Project Runway now. Stella Z was terrif for comic relief, but it was high time she got sent packing. She was the most one-note designer ever on PR. Makes me think she only made it on there because of her over-the-top, "Leathah-lovin'"persona. I gotta hand it to her though-- I thought she showed a very commendable sangfroid when she got booted. The same can NOT be said for that Weepy McBoo-frickity-Hoohoo from last week's show. UGH! Cowboy the fuck up, Keithy!
I'm very pleased that Leanne won 2 in a row. She is definitely emerging as a fave of mine. Also, I've been pretty impressed with most everything Jerrell has done (well, not so much his design in episode 8, but everything else) Kenley is beginning to really grate on my nerves. I don't really have any qualms about her designs, but she's been annoying as all hell lately. And Joe is too cocky. Poor Blayne has the entire comic-relief burden on his shoulders now that Stella's history. I'll be glad when that bitch Terri is gone. I wouldn't mind Suede being a finalist (it seems I'm now desensitized to his idiotic talking-about-himself- in-the-3rd-person habit. His new gimmick seems to be paying homage to a different dead relative in every damn ep) or Korto (she's a cool shit...she makes clothes I would actually wear...although I didn't think her seat belt coat was quite as big a deal as the judges made it out to be) Yep, I was just going thru portfolios on the Bravo site & I think that Leanne is my #1 fave.
Switching mediums--
books I've read lately--
I Know this Much is True-- a compelling & emotional read ...even if it did seem like it coulda been pared down a smidge. I mean, the book never dragged, really, but it was GI-FREAKEN'-NORMOUS. Lamb could've left some bits out here and there and it still would've been very comprehensive
The Accidental Tourist-- Charlene lent me this after spotting it on my "Must Read Books List" (posted a few weeks back) It was very good. I now am wanting to see the 1988 movie. I kinda wished the book delved into the Julian-Rose relationship more , but I see how that wouldn't have made sense, since the story is told from Macon's POV (so of course his sister's romance is going to be relegated to sub-plot status). So, ideally, Tyler would write a whole other book and do the story from Rose's POV. The Rose character had a lot of promise, I thought, so I think that book would be a good read. Unfortunately, it looks like Anne Tyler keeps churning out original novels pretty regularly (so it will remain unwritten)
Thus Adonis was Murdered-- It started out slow for me, but once it "grabbed me" I polished it off pretty quickly. It was very witty.
Now I'm reading Smilla's Sense of Snow. Jury's still out on this one... only on page 51 at this point. Will keep you posted (unless I actually come up with an idea for a decent post but uhh, don't hold yer breath, eh?)
I had a vague-ish hankerin' for a salty-type snack which morphed into a very specific craving for Cheez-its . Lemme ramble off on a side tangent for a spell: have there been empirical studies to determine whether Cheez-its or Cheese Nips are the superior cheezy snack cracker? I think I've pondered it aloud before (ok, wait...I KNOW I have) and the resounding concensus was that Cheez-its are a faaar finer product. But hearsay is hardly as gratifying as knowledge gleaned from a controlled scientific experiment! Am I right? Let's hit the lab-ORA-tory, amigos!!
Seriously, I would hasten to the lab right this moment if I had either Cheez-its OR Cheese Nips around, but sadly I DO NOT. Which is why I ended up trying to quell my cravings with Cheetos instead. Granted, it was the crunchy type of Cheetos, which I do prefer over the poofy style, but still, it was a piss poor substitute, man. Most dissatisfying.
In other promising "coming attractions" news --on the small-screen, this time: The Mentalist. I may just tune in to this one. Oh, I have very shallow reasons ( 'tis on account of that FINE Simon Baker) so I'm prone to tuning into the pilot and then forgetting about it entirely. So the thing better be f-ing GOOD in order to make it into the ranks of my must-watch shows. Speaking of my MUST WATCH elite...when is Heroes coming back again? I'm stoked for that...and I will be some miffed if I miss the season premiere.
Oh yeah--I missed the season 2 premiere of Top Design (not as big a deal as Heroes by any means.. though I did wanna catch it) That kinda pissed me off.
Speaking of Bravo... I'm all up to date on my Project Runway now. Stella Z was terrif for comic relief, but it was high time she got sent packing. She was the most one-note designer ever on PR. Makes me think she only made it on there because of her over-the-top, "Leathah-lovin'"persona. I gotta hand it to her though-- I thought she showed a very commendable sangfroid when she got booted. The same can NOT be said for that Weepy McBoo-frickity-Hoohoo from last week's show. UGH! Cowboy the fuck up, Keithy!
I'm very pleased that Leanne won 2 in a row. She is definitely emerging as a fave of mine. Also, I've been pretty impressed with most everything Jerrell has done (well, not so much his design in episode 8, but everything else) Kenley is beginning to really grate on my nerves. I don't really have any qualms about her designs, but she's been annoying as all hell lately. And Joe is too cocky. Poor Blayne has the entire comic-relief burden on his shoulders now that Stella's history. I'll be glad when that bitch Terri is gone. I wouldn't mind Suede being a finalist (it seems I'm now desensitized to his idiotic talking-about-himself- in-the-3rd-person habit. His new gimmick seems to be paying homage to a different dead relative in every damn ep) or Korto (she's a cool shit...she makes clothes I would actually wear...although I didn't think her seat belt coat was quite as big a deal as the judges made it out to be) Yep, I was just going thru portfolios on the Bravo site & I think that Leanne is my #1 fave.
Switching mediums--
books I've read lately--
I Know this Much is True-- a compelling & emotional read ...even if it did seem like it coulda been pared down a smidge. I mean, the book never dragged, really, but it was GI-FREAKEN'-NORMOUS. Lamb could've left some bits out here and there and it still would've been very comprehensive
The Accidental Tourist-- Charlene lent me this after spotting it on my "Must Read Books List" (posted a few weeks back) It was very good. I now am wanting to see the 1988 movie. I kinda wished the book delved into the Julian-Rose relationship more , but I see how that wouldn't have made sense, since the story is told from Macon's POV (so of course his sister's romance is going to be relegated to sub-plot status). So, ideally, Tyler would write a whole other book and do the story from Rose's POV. The Rose character had a lot of promise, I thought, so I think that book would be a good read. Unfortunately, it looks like Anne Tyler keeps churning out original novels pretty regularly (so it will remain unwritten)
Thus Adonis was Murdered-- It started out slow for me, but once it "grabbed me" I polished it off pretty quickly. It was very witty.
Now I'm reading Smilla's Sense of Snow. Jury's still out on this one... only on page 51 at this point. Will keep you posted (unless I actually come up with an idea for a decent post but uhh, don't hold yer breath, eh?)
Friday, September 05, 2008
movie blather
I was looking at the latest additions to the Worst Previews website and the 2 standouts are--
Management--I am so not a Jennifer Anniston fan. But her working with Steve Zahn might kinda win me over to her side. MAYBE. We shall see... It's weird-- she worked with Clive Owen (in Derailed) and that didn't render me a fanniston...in fact, it made me kinda HATE her. But that's because I love Clive in a more ardent, lustful way than I love Steve Zahn. Steve Zahn is just adorable and I'm glad to see him get a starring role--any starring role.
Passengers-- I do like Ann Hathaway. And I think Patrick Wilson is foxy in a fresh, understated kinda way. Looks interesting.
I also want to see Burn After Reading (I heart the Coen bros...although No Country For Old Men wasn't really my bag. It was decent, but lacking in that nutty Coens' humor that I so adore)
I kind of want to see The Women. Actually, ideally, what I'd wanna do is see the 1939 original (a flick I've always wanted to see, incidentally,but have never gotten around to it) and then see the new one--see if they did a-ok or if they committed total sacrilege.
Other cinematic blatherings--
Last weekend I went to a TRIPLE FEATURE at the drive-in. 3 movies for $7. I was thrilled!! And I brought snacks from home. When you factor that into the bargain equation, I couldn't afford not to have gone, ya see? I saw--
Space Chimps- ZZZzzzz...not seeing a lot of promotion for this animated feature (yes,it's in theaters now as a matter of fact)are ya? Probably that right there is the studio's admission that this is total dreck. My speaker was broken and I didn't even bother to relocate or turn on my car radio so's I could properly hear it--that's how much I gave a rat's ass. But you know, as faintly as I could hear it, I was able to pick out the voice talents of Patrick Warburton. D-list or no, that guy works his ever-lovin' TAIL OFF, does he not? Oh, he does--there's no debatin' it. His live action resume is not so staggering, but dude is the ubiquitous go-to guy for voicing any & all animated beefy meathead characters. I bet Warburton has GOGMAGOGICAL ASSLOADS of money. Niiice. In a waay off to the side note-- I miss that show "Less Than Perfect" Aside from that weird fuck Andy Dick and the totally mediocre Sherri Shepard, the cast was awesome. Hello--Eric Fucking Roberts!! Sara Rue is totally charming. Oh, and I rather liked that dude that played her b.f. Charlie for a season.
Pineapple Express-- Loved this movie. Seth Rogen is damned adorable & funny as hell. James Franco is fiiine & surprisingly funny as hell. But that said, it seemed to me that Danny McBride stole the damn show. The fight scenes with Red were the funniest scenes in the whole movie. Love how they called "time-out" HAA. In fact the movie mighta actually been wrecked for me if they'd opted to kill off Red. It was a good call-- letting him live (despite 5 or 6 gun shot wounds!! He's like 50 Cent!!)
Step Brothers-- This was good. I didn't like it quite as much as PE though. I love John C Reilly...dude is super talented and underrated. It's odd though-- I just saw this last weekend, and I do recall enjoying it....but... I only remember 1 part that I particularly liked. That was at the end (**SPOILER ALERT**) (NOT REALLY)when they got the boat in the tree given to them. And they popped their heads up w/ the pirate hats on and one of 'em sez ( I can't recall which one) "Hustlers!! How thoughtful!!" I think I liked that line best of all....it really amused the hell outta me
Tonight I watched the movie Army of Darkness. It's tres cheeztastic, but I do adore Bruce Campbell. It kinda bums me out though how the dude has aged-well..uhhh..not so well. I watched a coupla episodes of USA's "Burn Notice" (which is doing fairly well in the ratings, but I don't really believe anyone is watching it. Oh..the lead dude in that is pretty appealing though)and he looks older than 50 yrs old, I hate to say. 50 is supposed to be the new 40,especially in H'wood I would think. I would think a 50 yr old *actor* is gonna wanna aim for mid to late 30s, really. Bruce looks 55. I still love him though. But that's just moi. I happen to be loyal like that.
The female lead in Army... is named Sheila. That mildly irked me. Not that I have any problems with that name. Well I do have 1 prob. Sort of an involuntary musical tic. Every time I hear "Sheila", I am powerfully compelled to sing "Oh! Oh, Sheeeila" --you know that song (year:1985, artist: Ready for the World) . So I can't say I don't have a problem with Sheila, but I certainly don't dislike the name. My gripe is that Army of Darkness is set in the Middle Ages and I feel pretty certain there were no Sheilas in that time period. Not that I've researched it or anything..just seems to me to be a much more modern name. I would guess that the earliest instances of "Sheila " date back to...ohhh...1850 at the earliest.
But I hath digressed mightily..Army of Darkness reminds me that I want to see Campbell in Bubba Ho Tep. I get the feeling I won't rent it, but one day I'll just see it in a store and--BLAMMO! -- one impulse buy later, it will be mine. Possibly the same thing will happen with The Fall... a movie I'd wanted to see but it never made it to theaters in my vicinity. It looks really interesting and different and I happen to dig Lee Pace. (Y'see "really interesting" & "different" aren't big enough enticements to me...generally I need to be smitten w/ the lead actor also) Weird thing about that flick (aside from the premise) it was just in theaters not too long ago & is coming to DVD this Tues Sept 9th, but IMDB gives it a 2006 release date. Well, there musta been some distribution snafu-- IMDB is never wrong.
Management--I am so not a Jennifer Anniston fan. But her working with Steve Zahn might kinda win me over to her side. MAYBE. We shall see... It's weird-- she worked with Clive Owen (in Derailed) and that didn't render me a fanniston...in fact, it made me kinda HATE her. But that's because I love Clive in a more ardent, lustful way than I love Steve Zahn. Steve Zahn is just adorable and I'm glad to see him get a starring role--any starring role.
Passengers-- I do like Ann Hathaway. And I think Patrick Wilson is foxy in a fresh, understated kinda way. Looks interesting.
I also want to see Burn After Reading (I heart the Coen bros...although No Country For Old Men wasn't really my bag. It was decent, but lacking in that nutty Coens' humor that I so adore)
I kind of want to see The Women. Actually, ideally, what I'd wanna do is see the 1939 original (a flick I've always wanted to see, incidentally,but have never gotten around to it) and then see the new one--see if they did a-ok or if they committed total sacrilege.
Other cinematic blatherings--
Last weekend I went to a TRIPLE FEATURE at the drive-in. 3 movies for $7. I was thrilled!! And I brought snacks from home. When you factor that into the bargain equation, I couldn't afford not to have gone, ya see? I saw--
Space Chimps- ZZZzzzz...not seeing a lot of promotion for this animated feature (yes,it's in theaters now as a matter of fact)are ya? Probably that right there is the studio's admission that this is total dreck. My speaker was broken and I didn't even bother to relocate or turn on my car radio so's I could properly hear it--that's how much I gave a rat's ass. But you know, as faintly as I could hear it, I was able to pick out the voice talents of Patrick Warburton. D-list or no, that guy works his ever-lovin' TAIL OFF, does he not? Oh, he does--there's no debatin' it. His live action resume is not so staggering, but dude is the ubiquitous go-to guy for voicing any & all animated beefy meathead characters. I bet Warburton has GOGMAGOGICAL ASSLOADS of money. Niiice. In a waay off to the side note-- I miss that show "Less Than Perfect" Aside from that weird fuck Andy Dick and the totally mediocre Sherri Shepard, the cast was awesome. Hello--Eric Fucking Roberts!! Sara Rue is totally charming. Oh, and I rather liked that dude that played her b.f. Charlie for a season.
Pineapple Express-- Loved this movie. Seth Rogen is damned adorable & funny as hell. James Franco is fiiine & surprisingly funny as hell. But that said, it seemed to me that Danny McBride stole the damn show. The fight scenes with Red were the funniest scenes in the whole movie. Love how they called "time-out" HAA. In fact the movie mighta actually been wrecked for me if they'd opted to kill off Red. It was a good call-- letting him live (despite 5 or 6 gun shot wounds!! He's like 50 Cent!!)
Step Brothers-- This was good. I didn't like it quite as much as PE though. I love John C Reilly...dude is super talented and underrated. It's odd though-- I just saw this last weekend, and I do recall enjoying it....but... I only remember 1 part that I particularly liked. That was at the end (**SPOILER ALERT**) (NOT REALLY)when they got the boat in the tree given to them. And they popped their heads up w/ the pirate hats on and one of 'em sez ( I can't recall which one) "Hustlers!! How thoughtful!!" I think I liked that line best of all....it really amused the hell outta me
Tonight I watched the movie Army of Darkness. It's tres cheeztastic, but I do adore Bruce Campbell. It kinda bums me out though how the dude has aged-well..uhhh..not so well. I watched a coupla episodes of USA's "Burn Notice" (which is doing fairly well in the ratings, but I don't really believe anyone is watching it. Oh..the lead dude in that is pretty appealing though)and he looks older than 50 yrs old, I hate to say. 50 is supposed to be the new 40,especially in H'wood I would think. I would think a 50 yr old *actor* is gonna wanna aim for mid to late 30s, really. Bruce looks 55. I still love him though. But that's just moi. I happen to be loyal like that.
The female lead in Army... is named Sheila. That mildly irked me. Not that I have any problems with that name. Well I do have 1 prob. Sort of an involuntary musical tic. Every time I hear "Sheila", I am powerfully compelled to sing "Oh! Oh, Sheeeila" --you know that song (year:1985, artist: Ready for the World) . So I can't say I don't have a problem with Sheila, but I certainly don't dislike the name. My gripe is that Army of Darkness is set in the Middle Ages and I feel pretty certain there were no Sheilas in that time period. Not that I've researched it or anything..just seems to me to be a much more modern name. I would guess that the earliest instances of "Sheila " date back to...ohhh...1850 at the earliest.
But I hath digressed mightily..Army of Darkness reminds me that I want to see Campbell in Bubba Ho Tep. I get the feeling I won't rent it, but one day I'll just see it in a store and--BLAMMO! -- one impulse buy later, it will be mine. Possibly the same thing will happen with The Fall... a movie I'd wanted to see but it never made it to theaters in my vicinity. It looks really interesting and different and I happen to dig Lee Pace. (Y'see "really interesting" & "different" aren't big enough enticements to me...generally I need to be smitten w/ the lead actor also) Weird thing about that flick (aside from the premise) it was just in theaters not too long ago & is coming to DVD this Tues Sept 9th, but IMDB gives it a 2006 release date. Well, there musta been some distribution snafu-- IMDB is never wrong.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
HBO woes
..or rather lack of HBO woes. I was already lamenting my not having HBO on account o' Flight of the Conchords.
Now this impending new series--TrueBlood--has piqued my interest. Looks good, eh?
I must say, Anna Paquin has turned into somewhat of a bombshell. I am a bit irked that she crossed over unto the blond side (traitor!) and I can't help my kneejerk reaction to that: that Anna has therefore become flooz-ified. I realize that's unfair of me.
Now this impending new series--TrueBlood--has piqued my interest. Looks good, eh?
I must say, Anna Paquin has turned into somewhat of a bombshell. I am a bit irked that she crossed over unto the blond side (traitor!) and I can't help my kneejerk reaction to that: that Anna has therefore become flooz-ified. I realize that's unfair of me.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Ways I am like Chris Farley..
3 things--
1)Lately I have been very stiff-kneed when I first rise (after sitting for a while) and walk. This is on account of the horrendous sunburn I got at the beach last weekend (otherwise it was a terrif weekend-- too far in the rearview to bother to recap now but...I had a great, great time... and I like things that are great--hey! Good things are fantaaastic...but I parenthetically digress) Anyways, due to my 1/2 assed sunscreen application technique, I got a bitch of a burn. It got me mid back & on the backs of my legs --burned thusly due to a long spell where I was lying on my stomach in my swimsuit--engrossed in I Know This Much is True (since finished) Anyways, while my back & backs of my thighs are healing all right (and I managed to slather some screen on my calves, so those are fine) MY KNEEPITS ARE SCABBY. Disgusting and ouchy and I've no one to blame but my stupido self!!
So my crusty kneepits don't bother me much while I'm sitting for a spell or after I've been walking a while. But they pain me as I sit down, and then they're ouchy for a minute or so when I first start in walking . So I've been walking all jerky and stiffly, and of course I cannot see myself doing it, but I imagine I look a lot like Matt Foley, motivational speaker (the classic van-dweller Chris Farley brought to life on SNL)
2)I am thoroughly unimpressed with my reviewing skills. Whenever I try to write about some movie/TV show / song I'm enthused about, I discover I have nothing substantial to say.. ever. It always amounts to me saying "I HIGHLY recommend blah-blah-blah" and/or "Blahdee-blah-blah is AWESOME" although oftentimes I'll hit the ol' thesaurus and dig up a synonym for "awesome". This makes me feel very ineffectual. And it makes me feel like Chris Farley as host of the Chris Farley Show. 'M-m-member that? Yeah. That was awesome.
3)And the last way I relate to Chris Farley is when I try on a shirt or jacket that's too small for me, it always makes me wanna sing "Faaat guy in a little coooooaat..Faaat guy in a little coooooaat!"
Well, maybe not *always*but at least 80% of the time.
Now, this doesn't really pertain to the post motif, but I've always, always loved this skit and since I'm going all embed-crrrraazy, why the hell not??
1)Lately I have been very stiff-kneed when I first rise (after sitting for a while) and walk. This is on account of the horrendous sunburn I got at the beach last weekend (otherwise it was a terrif weekend-- too far in the rearview to bother to recap now but...I had a great, great time... and I like things that are great--hey! Good things are fantaaastic...but I parenthetically digress) Anyways, due to my 1/2 assed sunscreen application technique, I got a bitch of a burn. It got me mid back & on the backs of my legs --burned thusly due to a long spell where I was lying on my stomach in my swimsuit--engrossed in I Know This Much is True (since finished) Anyways, while my back & backs of my thighs are healing all right (and I managed to slather some screen on my calves, so those are fine) MY KNEEPITS ARE SCABBY. Disgusting and ouchy and I've no one to blame but my stupido self!!
So my crusty kneepits don't bother me much while I'm sitting for a spell or after I've been walking a while. But they pain me as I sit down, and then they're ouchy for a minute or so when I first start in walking . So I've been walking all jerky and stiffly, and of course I cannot see myself doing it, but I imagine I look a lot like Matt Foley, motivational speaker (the classic van-dweller Chris Farley brought to life on SNL)
2)I am thoroughly unimpressed with my reviewing skills. Whenever I try to write about some movie/TV show / song I'm enthused about, I discover I have nothing substantial to say.. ever. It always amounts to me saying "I HIGHLY recommend blah-blah-blah" and/or "Blahdee-blah-blah is AWESOME" although oftentimes I'll hit the ol' thesaurus and dig up a synonym for "awesome". This makes me feel very ineffectual. And it makes me feel like Chris Farley as host of the Chris Farley Show. 'M-m-member that? Yeah. That was awesome.
3)And the last way I relate to Chris Farley is when I try on a shirt or jacket that's too small for me, it always makes me wanna sing "Faaat guy in a little coooooaat..Faaat guy in a little coooooaat!"
Well, maybe not *always*but at least 80% of the time.
Now, this doesn't really pertain to the post motif, but I've always, always loved this skit and since I'm going all embed-crrrraazy, why the hell not??
Happy 50th you Massive Wackadoo
Today is Michael Jackson's 50th birthday. Uhh, happy birthday, you.
I certainly could not--with any sincerity--serenade the dude with a chorus of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" , as MJ is a pitiable melange of sick and sad that is miiiiles away from "jolly good" And yet, on the other hand, I still am glad the guy oozed outta Momma Jackson on this day 1/2 a century ago. I LOVE MJ's early stuff--anything pre-nineties. Sketchy character or no, there's many an exquisite jam that I am grateful to Michael for. And let's not forget the MOONWALK
In fact, this b-day of his happens to coincide with an MJ kick I've been on. Well, it's really half a kick, to be precise. Lately, I'm only in the mood to hear some Beastie Boys or some Michael Jackson. I have both on my iPod, but it's just my habit to leave the thing shuffling through my whole music library and I'll just skip any songs I can't bear to hear. Therefore, I hadn't been indulging this kick until tonight, when I listened to MJ--at top volume--all the way home. Es muy bueno.
This is all the Michael Jackson on my iPod--
DON'T STOP 'TIL YA GET ENOUGH--That " OOoo!"--great opening. I cannot stop my bum from wiggling when I hear this song. I suppose that makes it " bum-wigglin' good",yes?
ROCK WITH YOU-- raaaad.
BILLIE JEAN-- As much as I dig this song, it mildly perturbs me that all versions of this song's lyrics transcribe that line as "the kid is not my son" When he CLEARLY says "chid". CLEARLY. Why not be faithful to what he actually sings, eh? So what if "chid" isn't an actual, bona fide word??
BEAT IT-- Ok, a "Beat It" memory from the not-too-distant past... I was blasting this out on the deck at the tail end of this year's July 4th party and my sister and I cut the deck lighting and had a lightsabre fight to this song. So I know--from actual firsthand experience--that it's a great song for choreographing your light sabre battles to. I lament the fact that it wasn't out in time to make it into Star Wars or Empire or Jedi. Sure, it coulda been used in one of the later prequels, but I do NOT lament its omission from those, as I don't really care for those flicks. The only reason I ever sat through any of them was to ogle Ewen MacGregor. The fact that he retains his appeal when sporting that space-mullet and ratty bathrobe is quite a testament to his mighty, mighty hotness, methinks. But I have veered off topic. In summation: Beat It is an awesome song, whether being used for choreographed combat or not. A good half of its awesomeness..maybe even 3/4 of its awesomeness I attribute to Eddie VanHalen and that killer guitar accompaniment. Oh, and Laura and I didn't really have light sabers...we were whipping each other with these necklaces--
..opened up for fighting..just like the ones Skeletor here is holding. Looks like he lost his makeshift light saber battle, eh??
THRILLER-- another case of MJ making a KICK ASS guest star choice. The song is overall good, but without a doubt, the reason I wanna hear it every dang October is the wonderful Vincent Price soliloquy at the end. And the maniacal laugh. God love Vincent Price and his crazy-ass cackling!! Have I mentioned previously how much I dig Vinny Price? I feel like I must have, at some point. I know I posted a Microsoft Paint masterpiece with him in it..
I JUST CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU-- Err..actually, I can't say why I put this one on here. I'm not all that keen on it.
BAD-- It's okay. Acceptable to use in choreographed combat if you're burnt out on "Beat It" My fave thing about the tune in how it's peppered with continual "Shamm-moah"s. Like it's some involuntary verbal tic. Makes me think of the incredible Sham-wow space age technology chamois (which any of my sweet readers are welcome to purchase for me)
SMOOTH CRIMINAL-- love this one. I also have the very good Alien Ant Farm remake.
DIRTY DIANA-- that very cool & space-agey opening reminds me a bit of "Beat It" (although this one winds up being too slow paced for glo-necklace fights) Also it's kinda similar to Thriller in that the final verse gets kind of nightmarish. I mean, he's fleeing to the phone, she's wrenching the phone away from him. Something about it is very dramatic. He makes ol' Di seem like a predatory monster and not the mere horny groupie that she is. It seems a bit hypberbolic to me, but possibly MJ really would be that terrified in a situation like that (with a woman)
BLACK OR WHITE--Meehhh. 'Sokay. See comments on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You". Ditto that.
PYT-- EXCELLENT jam. I was astonished that this wasn't on my Greatest Hits CD (where I'd ripped the bulk of this MJ stuff from). Well I guess that's because the one I have is Number Ones and so I presume that somehow PYT didn't quite reach that high in the charts. But that's confounding. There's a lot of MJ's shittier stuff on here--ie: "Man In the Mirror" or eww, friggen' "You Are Not Alone" that snoozer where he's all half-nakey & recreating Maxfield Parrish art in the video with then-wife Lisa Marie. *Shudder* It makes no sense--the tastes of the masses.
Featuring Michael Jackson--
SAY, SAY, SAY-- Excellent. And even though I judge this to be superior to the other McCartney -Jacko collab- "The Girl is Mine" I still kinda wanna get "The Girl is Mine" on the iPod.
I ALWAYS FEEL LIKE SOMEBODY'S WATCHING ME--(THIS link is a *must-follow* ) I adore this song. I like how Rockwell isn't all "Colt 45 smooooth" like many of his Jheri-curl contemporaries. (yikesies..was that racist? A smidgen? I think it mighta been...) and was actually a black nerd (like Cameo or Urkel)
STATE OF SHOCK (Jackson 5 w/ Mick Jagger)-- excellent song. The breathy part at the very end has always skeeved me out a little, but aside from that I heartily enjoy this one.
I certainly could not--with any sincerity--serenade the dude with a chorus of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" , as MJ is a pitiable melange of sick and sad that is miiiiles away from "jolly good" And yet, on the other hand, I still am glad the guy oozed outta Momma Jackson on this day 1/2 a century ago. I LOVE MJ's early stuff--anything pre-nineties. Sketchy character or no, there's many an exquisite jam that I am grateful to Michael for. And let's not forget the MOONWALK
In fact, this b-day of his happens to coincide with an MJ kick I've been on. Well, it's really half a kick, to be precise. Lately, I'm only in the mood to hear some Beastie Boys or some Michael Jackson. I have both on my iPod, but it's just my habit to leave the thing shuffling through my whole music library and I'll just skip any songs I can't bear to hear. Therefore, I hadn't been indulging this kick until tonight, when I listened to MJ--at top volume--all the way home. Es muy bueno.
This is all the Michael Jackson on my iPod--
DON'T STOP 'TIL YA GET ENOUGH--That " OOoo!"--great opening. I cannot stop my bum from wiggling when I hear this song. I suppose that makes it " bum-wigglin' good",yes?
ROCK WITH YOU-- raaaad.
BILLIE JEAN-- As much as I dig this song, it mildly perturbs me that all versions of this song's lyrics transcribe that line as "the kid is not my son" When he CLEARLY says "chid". CLEARLY. Why not be faithful to what he actually sings, eh? So what if "chid" isn't an actual, bona fide word??
BEAT IT-- Ok, a "Beat It" memory from the not-too-distant past... I was blasting this out on the deck at the tail end of this year's July 4th party and my sister and I cut the deck lighting and had a lightsabre fight to this song. So I know--from actual firsthand experience--that it's a great song for choreographing your light sabre battles to. I lament the fact that it wasn't out in time to make it into Star Wars or Empire or Jedi. Sure, it coulda been used in one of the later prequels, but I do NOT lament its omission from those, as I don't really care for those flicks. The only reason I ever sat through any of them was to ogle Ewen MacGregor. The fact that he retains his appeal when sporting that space-mullet and ratty bathrobe is quite a testament to his mighty, mighty hotness, methinks. But I have veered off topic. In summation: Beat It is an awesome song, whether being used for choreographed combat or not. A good half of its awesomeness..maybe even 3/4 of its awesomeness I attribute to Eddie VanHalen and that killer guitar accompaniment. Oh, and Laura and I didn't really have light sabers...we were whipping each other with these necklaces--
..opened up for fighting..just like the ones Skeletor here is holding. Looks like he lost his makeshift light saber battle, eh??
THRILLER-- another case of MJ making a KICK ASS guest star choice. The song is overall good, but without a doubt, the reason I wanna hear it every dang October is the wonderful Vincent Price soliloquy at the end. And the maniacal laugh. God love Vincent Price and his crazy-ass cackling!! Have I mentioned previously how much I dig Vinny Price? I feel like I must have, at some point. I know I posted a Microsoft Paint masterpiece with him in it..
I JUST CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU-- Err..actually, I can't say why I put this one on here. I'm not all that keen on it.
BAD-- It's okay. Acceptable to use in choreographed combat if you're burnt out on "Beat It" My fave thing about the tune in how it's peppered with continual "Shamm-moah"s. Like it's some involuntary verbal tic. Makes me think of the incredible Sham-wow space age technology chamois (which any of my sweet readers are welcome to purchase for me)
SMOOTH CRIMINAL-- love this one. I also have the very good Alien Ant Farm remake.
DIRTY DIANA-- that very cool & space-agey opening reminds me a bit of "Beat It" (although this one winds up being too slow paced for glo-necklace fights) Also it's kinda similar to Thriller in that the final verse gets kind of nightmarish. I mean, he's fleeing to the phone, she's wrenching the phone away from him. Something about it is very dramatic. He makes ol' Di seem like a predatory monster and not the mere horny groupie that she is. It seems a bit hypberbolic to me, but possibly MJ really would be that terrified in a situation like that (with a woman)
BLACK OR WHITE--Meehhh. 'Sokay. See comments on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You". Ditto that.
PYT-- EXCELLENT jam. I was astonished that this wasn't on my Greatest Hits CD (where I'd ripped the bulk of this MJ stuff from). Well I guess that's because the one I have is Number Ones and so I presume that somehow PYT didn't quite reach that high in the charts. But that's confounding. There's a lot of MJ's shittier stuff on here--ie: "Man In the Mirror" or eww, friggen' "You Are Not Alone" that snoozer where he's all half-nakey & recreating Maxfield Parrish art in the video with then-wife Lisa Marie. *Shudder* It makes no sense--the tastes of the masses.
Featuring Michael Jackson--
SAY, SAY, SAY-- Excellent. And even though I judge this to be superior to the other McCartney -Jacko collab- "The Girl is Mine" I still kinda wanna get "The Girl is Mine" on the iPod.
I ALWAYS FEEL LIKE SOMEBODY'S WATCHING ME--(THIS link is a *must-follow* ) I adore this song. I like how Rockwell isn't all "Colt 45 smooooth" like many of his Jheri-curl contemporaries. (yikesies..was that racist? A smidgen? I think it mighta been...) and was actually a black nerd (like Cameo or Urkel)
STATE OF SHOCK (Jackson 5 w/ Mick Jagger)-- excellent song. The breathy part at the very end has always skeeved me out a little, but aside from that I heartily enjoy this one.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
This is the post that never ends...it just goes ON and ON my frieeends..
I'm training this chick at work to do my job. Not to take over my job, necessarily, but just so there will be extra people to cover the front desk if I am n/a. Dottie is always willing to pitch in but she only works part time (8am-1:30pm Mon-Thurs) so her availability is a tad limited. And the schedulers out back are all trained to do it, but they always act so fucking PUT UPON when they sub for me, I hate it. You know I realize that they're busy back there, in fact I concede that they are VERY VERY busy. But you don't have to be a bitch to me, a'ight? Regardless of your hectic schedule, I like to take my 1/2 hour lunch break and enjoy the occasional piss mmm-kay?
Anyways, aforesaid "chick" --Ellie-- is a home health aide who threw her back out and though she is on the mend, she has been relegated to office duty for a few weeks (basically until her doc gives her the green light) So we are finding uses for her in the office. Once she's totally healed, she's not apt to be in the office much for covering my future absences (oh, yeah,she only says about 50x a day how she absolutely CAN NOT WAIT to get back "in the field") but her office duty happened to coincide with a Friday (this Fri, 8/22) where I wanted to get out @ noon and nobody wanted to cover for me (as per usual!! You see how these mid-afternoon job interviews have been a bitch to finagle?? And here I have another tenatively scheduled for 8/29!! AAargh!) So anyways, in the long run, this training is all for naught, but who cares??I am stoked to have my 1/2 day off on Fri, and it's been nice this week to be able to perambulate about the office for a change. Well, it's not that I can't leave my chair at all, but usually I have to stay pretty much in the vicinity of that phone. Within earshot, I should say. And if I am faxing some orders out I have to listen for the phone and be ready to bolt when I hear it. It's not like if I miss a call,it will kick over to someone else's line (that would be sweet!! ) but if I don't get it, it rings and rings and rings and rings until the caller gives up (or keels over! Agh!) And honestly, it's not a sympathy for the patients/callers that drives me to be so damned conscientious. 'Cause when I miss a call (it has happened--on rare occasion) my thought is not "Oh that poor caller!!" I think "Fuck! My ass is grass!" Oddly, I always presume these dropped calls are people for Cathy (Cathy is the area director whom I am not all that fond of...more on that in a bit) and these people (when they at last get through to Cathy) are going to be all "Is there something the matter with your phone system? I called earlier and it rang and rang and rang and NO ONE ANSWERED." with their voices all tinged with this fake concern but their essential message is really"Get your employees in line, for fuck's sake"
Okay a tangent about Cathy (before I meander back towards my point). I have 2 bosses: Cathy & Shawna. Shawna is --no question about it-- a cool shit. She interviewed & chose to hire me (and I gave such a lousy interview too--had strep that day. So perhaps I feel somewhat indebted to her, too??) and she's very down-to-earth and nice. Cathy..well, I wanted to like Cathy because she's technically friendly to me and I have an intrinsic yen to give peoples the benny of the doubt whenever possible. But for some elusive reason, I just can't quite bring myself to give C the "seal of approval". Even though she says things that are friendly-like, there is ever-present something very cold-fishesque in her demeanor. I think she may be a Replicant.
I did realize today why it rankles me to have Cathy tell me to do something or to tell me how I should do something. Well, you'd think it was the fact that she is a representative of "The Man" and I happen to have a strong anti-TheMan streak embedded in me. But that is NOT it. When Shawna instructs me on something, I don't mind it in the least. In fact, I am such a total peon & universal lackey that everybody's always telling me to do something...and I take it all in stride, mostly. But when Cathy tells me what to do or how she'd like me to do something.. she WINCES. And it's not an "I'm uncomfortable about being authoritative" sort of wince. Oh no. It's like a facial "Comprende?" A nonverbal "Are you getting this?" It's really patronizing. And really, it's gotta be really patronizing for me to find it patronizing. I'm someone who never knows when I'm being patronized. For instance, back in my TDC days when we were miffed by some mandate that came down from on high, I'd just be doing some generalized grumbling (y'know, along the lines of "Aw, SCREW THE MAN, maaan!") but Lisa would always be all righteous indignation and say "Hmph! That is so patronizing!!" To which I'd invariably respond "Patronizing? Huh? Really??"
Anyways, back to Ellie. She's a nice lady. Not terribly bright, but I bet she's excellent at her job (her usual job I mean) because she's very kind-hearted. She seems to be terrified of the computer. So, thus far, I've totally avoided training her on any of the tasks I do on the computer (there are quite a lot) because it's been a big enough struggle just to get her comfortable on the phones (I did notice her chill-laxing somewhat today though) I didn't want to even get into the data entry and scheduling stuff I do because she doesn't even seem to have the basic PC skills foundation to start with, and it's not as if she's going to be doing this months down the road. Ultimately her office stint is going to be short-lived, and so I think it'll be fine to train her half-assedly. I guess I just mean to point out that I'm being deliberately and strategically half-assed about this and not just naturally half assed.
Anyways because I've had Ellie on the phone lately, I've been able to walk around the office, with no need to come running out of the kitchen midway thru making a cup o' joe (due to the phone ringing) and stuff like that.
And so...I was able today to permit myself the luxury of a workplace bowel movement. I pretty much am an "out of the closet pooper" (check out this must read glossary ) although this bathroom at the new gig is certainly more of a test of my excretory bravado (2 single seater bathrooms in the whole office vs. my last workplace that had 5 or more multi-stall BRs) Anyways, I didn't just perpetrate any average #2 today.. I had TORRENTIAL MUDBUTT. I couldn't even tell you why -- I had this utterly terrible veggie lasagna for lunch (picked it up @ Brownsville General Store yesterday-presumed it had to be good on account of said store making such delish sammis). But I only had like 3 bites of that (due to its grodiness). Ultimately, my lunch was a Hershey bar and a can of Coke. Hersheys don't usually give me the Hershey squirts. Well, nevertheless, I exited the bathroom marvelling to myself that my pants actually fit looser.
A few moments later, I heard somebody walking past the cubicle row behind me say "Uugh the bathroom STINKS!!" For a fleeting moment, I was pretty embarrassed. But then I sez to meself"Ehh, fuck it. Everybody poops!" A pretty inspired and mightily convincing argument, I must say, and I totally talked myself out of being embarrassed. But I also briefly had this impulse (an impulse I did *NOT* act on. I repeat , I did NOT do this!) to just maliciously try and make things awkward for that person via hollering out a full confession-- "Oh Gaaawd YES. I just had HORRIBLE DIARRHEA." You would have to say "diarrhea" and eschew any cutesy euphemisms if you really wanted to make the person really feel bad. You see, you can't come off like you're being at all flippant, you have to seem seriously tormented by your rascally bowels, and seem maybe like you have an awful medical condition. OK, so perhaps I entertained this notion longer than just "briefly". But let me re-reiterate: I did NOT actually do that.
Many other things happened between 8am & 4:30pm today but none were as interesting as my poop.
After work, I met up with Heather for dinner. I had told Dad I was coming to help with the basement cleaning again, but still , 'twas I who suggested dinner out to H. I called him beforehand to let him know I'd be delayed and why. He didn't outright say he was peeved, but I could tell. He said "OK, just try and be here before dark. I want to be able to see when I work on your car" (See, aside from me working in the basement, tonight he was going to look over my car--add oil, check tires etc. & just be sure it was copacetic for the long-ish trek to MA this weekend) But it wasn't so much that comment that tipped me off, it was that exaggerated nasal breathing he does when he's vexed. That's his tell. So maybe I sorta half renegged on what I promised, but I'm not sorry and I don't even care that he was miffed! Because I feel like I'm always on call for the 'rents. My social life is really not as hoppin' as it should be for someone my age. I don't blame that on them...it's my fault and no one else's. But really, if I get an opportunity to commiserate w/ friends, I feel I need to make time for that--if I want my sorry sitch to change at all. Besides, it's not as if I totally left 'em high & dry--I compromised.
I ordered a ribs & steak combo at Chili's and it was decent. Ah well, the steak was nothin' to blog about, but the ribs were delish. I got the Brown Sugar Chili Rub kind. It's too bad that I get ribs so often at Chili's that I know which style is my fave. I'm not usually the type of person that has a "regular" order at any eatery...in fact, just the opposite, I generally go to great pains to always order something different than I got the last time. So I dunno what's with me--but the last 3 times I've gone to Chili's for dinner I've gotten ribs. It's gotta stop. It's not that the ribs aren't good. Therein lies the prob. Y'see there's never a doggy bag for the next day's lunch when I get ribs. Doesn't even matter if I'm full from the apps, I always finish my ribs. It's like some matter of principal with me? Perhaps not..it's not as if I think about it.. it's just that I so dig 'em that when I get them I go all "rib-mad" and lose all sense of portion control. It's something akin to when I attack a pint o' Ben &Jerry's-- don't stop until ya hit cardboard, baby! (incidentally, that is why I think those wee, 3.6 oz cups of Ben & Jerry's are so effing INGENIOUS)
Then Heather got me to go to Best Buy because she wanted to salivate over the laptops. Since I happen to be dreaming of a spiffy new laptop myself, it didn't take much coercion to get me to go & co-salivate. Some stuff about Best Buy: they remodeled our local store and I had been there once since the remodel, it's been some time since that visit and so I kinda forgot the remodel. They have these big circular banners suspended from the ceiling indicating what merchandise is where, ie: over in the northwest corner of the store are refrigerators and stoves, so above these hangs a blue banner proclaiming "Kitchen appliances". That was purely an illustrative example there, I can't rightly recall if the banner says "Kitchen Appliances" or the more specific " Refrigerators & Stoves" and I don't remember in what region of the store these things are in (even though I was there just a few hours ago) But I noted how the Best Buy folks put on all these banners the Espanol translation just under the English. Because Spanish people would never surmise what sort of product was under the "mp3 & iPod" banner if that banner didn't also read "mp3 y iPod". Ha..I'm just jesting. I have no problem with stores catering to shoppers of any nationality. Although, y'know, I know quite a bit of Espanol and it would be a nice change of pace to be able to pick up a bit of conversational Dutch while out shopping. Don't you think so, eh?? Really, I was just wishing that Best Buy would put that kind of attention to detail into their bathrooms. I visited their new & improved Ladies' Room (minor mudbutt relapse) where NONE of the stalls had locks on them. Well I don't need to tell you that that could lead to a dreaded turd burglar situation, and those are most unsettling. (Please re-access the glossary if you are at all perplexed) Luckily, no such nightmare transpired.
So at Best Buy I went a li'l hog wild spending after Heather left me. Oh noo, I didn't get a laptop. It was more of a "small-ticket item" spree. I bought an Entertainment Weekly, and also an InStyle. I have repeatedly admitted that InStyle magazine is nothing but a thick stack of ads and have sworn off buying it...and repeatedly broken my own boycott vows. This time I was lured in by the cover's exclamation: "What's YOUR Fashion Style? Take Our Quiz!" To which I replied "Heeeey, this reminds me: I ADORE MAGAZINE QUIZZES! Yes please and merci beaucoup!" Do they make a magazine that is just cover-to-cover quizzes? I don't think there is such a 'zine. There sure as hell ought to be!!
Also I bought the DVD "Summer Magic" for my nieces. Yes it IS for my nieces! (Even though I do like that Hayley Mills) It's a "just-because gift" for 'em. So probably I shoulda bought a "just-because" gift for Seth, but I didn't. The sooner them young 'uns learn that life just AIN'T fair the better...that's what I say. Oh FINE. Alright, I'll say that "Summer Magic" is for all 4 of them. I'm fairly certain Seth will hate it though.
And I bought "Batman: the movie" Not the Michael Keaton/Val Kilmer/George Clooney OR Christian Bale one. I got my very fave-- the spectacularly cheezy '66 flick w/ Adam West & Burt Ward (which you'd know by now if you'd tapped that link....JILL) Yep it's for me, not the kids. I used to have it but it got busted.
As I was checking out, I had this sudden burst of loquaciousness and I started blathering on to the Best Buy cashier about how the original Batman series would be excellent to own on DVD and there must be some sort of studio legal battle over it or else it woulda certainly been released by now. Now this is the dweeby Best Buy clerk who is constantly chatting people up and is just waaaay excessively friendly and normally I will bypass an aisle if I see him in it just avoid him asking me if he can help me find anything and potentially parlaying that into a 5 min one-sided convo. And all the time I am doing this blathering, my inner Sandra is saying "What THE HELL are you doing? I sure hope he doesn't think I'm flirting with him. I sure hope nobody in line thinks I'm flirting with him..." Tres snobby, right? I dunno, I'm the one all jazzed up about BATMAN, so it's possible I'm the bigger dweeb here. Maybe we're MFEO, us 2. I fucking hope not. Doesn't really matter, because I'm waaay too much of an uppity bitch to ever explore that scenario...
Drove through Plainfield on my way home after Best Buy. I know I've kvetched before (recently, actually) about what an exercise in tedium that is. (yep, was recent. it was just last week) I was complaining about it to Dottie and she didn't quite get why I was so vexed. She thinks it's me being impatient. "It's not a very big town" she sez"Are you some kinda leadfoot" I'm not! Not in the slightest! My average pace is: the speed limit--5mph over. Practically a geriatric driver, no? (sans that tendency to plow into busy farmer's markets ) But even though I often drive the speed limit, I have a tough time sticking to Plainfield's 30mph speed limit. And I'm not merely irked that they have this speed limit, but they're super anal about it too! They're always po-po lurking at the edge of town, waiting to ambush you. They have newly set up one of those digital "Your Speed Is:" signs that broadcasts your speed as you approach it. (Gary Gulman had a pretty funny bit about those signs, if I recall correctly) And this is the worst bit, I think-- when you drive into Plainfield the welcome sign says "WELCOME TO PLAINFIELD. PLEASE DRIVE SLOWLY." No " Enjoy your stay?" No "Thanks for stoppin' by, folks?" I think they're giving off a very shitty 1st impression. Hey, welcome to our town, a collective of naggy old farts. I can't decide if the majority of Plainfield's populace is naggy old farts or if it's families w/ young children who are particularly prone to darting unexpectedly into traffic. Seriously, the way they obsess over speed--well first off, it doesn't jive all that well with New Hampshire's very sexy "Live Free Or Die" credo--but also it makes it seem like they're reacting to some horrific rash of vehicular manslaughter or something. But I don't think anything like that ever went down there. It's redunkulous.
During this drive, Sinatra was crooning "Strangers in the Night" courtesy of my iPod. "Strangers.." is really not a fave of mine (out of Sinatra's songs) and I suspect the whole reason I imported that onto my pod was because of that part where Frankie breaks out w/ the "Doobie Doobie Dooo" I was disappointed tonight, to listen to the "Strangers in the Night" version that I've got (hadn't played that one in some time) and realize that Sinatra only "Doobie Doobie Doos" 1.5 times in my version. I swear I've heard him do that song and he draws that part out a bit. It sort of reminds me of my discontent with 50Cents's masterwork "In Da Club", how I love that song but find it would be sooo much better with an extra refrain of "Go shawty, ish yo birfday" thrown in. Is it weird for me to mention 50 Cent & Sinatra in the same paragraph? Hmm, y'know, on further reflection, I think IT IS NOT, because both gents are/were *extreme* bad asses what with their mafia ties (Frank) and 3, 4 dozen bullet wounds ($0.50) and all that. Perhaps if Frankie had lived on into the 21st century & had cranked out another "Duets" album, perhaps Fiddy would've been on there.
I like that "Dooby dooby doo" for its own merits, but also it triggers a late 90s memory for me. Remember those bizarro Bud Ice commercials with the penguins? I found 'em fairly amusing (and VERY odd) but I remember 'em fondly because I remember how my college amiga Pam used to just LOVE those commercials and she would do imitations of that psycho penguin...
Anyways, aforesaid "chick" --Ellie-- is a home health aide who threw her back out and though she is on the mend, she has been relegated to office duty for a few weeks (basically until her doc gives her the green light) So we are finding uses for her in the office. Once she's totally healed, she's not apt to be in the office much for covering my future absences (oh, yeah,she only says about 50x a day how she absolutely CAN NOT WAIT to get back "in the field") but her office duty happened to coincide with a Friday (this Fri, 8/22) where I wanted to get out @ noon and nobody wanted to cover for me (as per usual!! You see how these mid-afternoon job interviews have been a bitch to finagle?? And here I have another tenatively scheduled for 8/29!! AAargh!) So anyways, in the long run, this training is all for naught, but who cares??I am stoked to have my 1/2 day off on Fri, and it's been nice this week to be able to perambulate about the office for a change. Well, it's not that I can't leave my chair at all, but usually I have to stay pretty much in the vicinity of that phone. Within earshot, I should say. And if I am faxing some orders out I have to listen for the phone and be ready to bolt when I hear it. It's not like if I miss a call,it will kick over to someone else's line (that would be sweet!! ) but if I don't get it, it rings and rings and rings and rings until the caller gives up (or keels over! Agh!) And honestly, it's not a sympathy for the patients/callers that drives me to be so damned conscientious. 'Cause when I miss a call (it has happened--on rare occasion) my thought is not "Oh that poor caller!!" I think "Fuck! My ass is grass!" Oddly, I always presume these dropped calls are people for Cathy (Cathy is the area director whom I am not all that fond of...more on that in a bit) and these people (when they at last get through to Cathy) are going to be all "Is there something the matter with your phone system? I called earlier and it rang and rang and rang and NO ONE ANSWERED." with their voices all tinged with this fake concern but their essential message is really"Get your employees in line, for fuck's sake"
Okay a tangent about Cathy (before I meander back towards my point). I have 2 bosses: Cathy & Shawna. Shawna is --no question about it-- a cool shit. She interviewed & chose to hire me (and I gave such a lousy interview too--had strep that day. So perhaps I feel somewhat indebted to her, too??) and she's very down-to-earth and nice. Cathy..well, I wanted to like Cathy because she's technically friendly to me and I have an intrinsic yen to give peoples the benny of the doubt whenever possible. But for some elusive reason, I just can't quite bring myself to give C the "seal of approval". Even though she says things that are friendly-like, there is ever-present something very cold-fishesque in her demeanor. I think she may be a Replicant.
I did realize today why it rankles me to have Cathy tell me to do something or to tell me how I should do something. Well, you'd think it was the fact that she is a representative of "The Man" and I happen to have a strong anti-TheMan streak embedded in me. But that is NOT it. When Shawna instructs me on something, I don't mind it in the least. In fact, I am such a total peon & universal lackey that everybody's always telling me to do something...and I take it all in stride, mostly. But when Cathy tells me what to do or how she'd like me to do something.. she WINCES. And it's not an "I'm uncomfortable about being authoritative" sort of wince. Oh no. It's like a facial "Comprende?" A nonverbal "Are you getting this?" It's really patronizing. And really, it's gotta be really patronizing for me to find it patronizing. I'm someone who never knows when I'm being patronized. For instance, back in my TDC days when we were miffed by some mandate that came down from on high, I'd just be doing some generalized grumbling (y'know, along the lines of "Aw, SCREW THE MAN, maaan!") but Lisa would always be all righteous indignation and say "Hmph! That is so patronizing!!" To which I'd invariably respond "Patronizing? Huh? Really??"
Anyways, back to Ellie. She's a nice lady. Not terribly bright, but I bet she's excellent at her job (her usual job I mean) because she's very kind-hearted. She seems to be terrified of the computer. So, thus far, I've totally avoided training her on any of the tasks I do on the computer (there are quite a lot) because it's been a big enough struggle just to get her comfortable on the phones (I did notice her chill-laxing somewhat today though) I didn't want to even get into the data entry and scheduling stuff I do because she doesn't even seem to have the basic PC skills foundation to start with, and it's not as if she's going to be doing this months down the road. Ultimately her office stint is going to be short-lived, and so I think it'll be fine to train her half-assedly. I guess I just mean to point out that I'm being deliberately and strategically half-assed about this and not just naturally half assed.
Anyways because I've had Ellie on the phone lately, I've been able to walk around the office, with no need to come running out of the kitchen midway thru making a cup o' joe (due to the phone ringing) and stuff like that.
And so...I was able today to permit myself the luxury of a workplace bowel movement. I pretty much am an "out of the closet pooper" (check out this must read glossary ) although this bathroom at the new gig is certainly more of a test of my excretory bravado (2 single seater bathrooms in the whole office vs. my last workplace that had 5 or more multi-stall BRs) Anyways, I didn't just perpetrate any average #2 today.. I had TORRENTIAL MUDBUTT. I couldn't even tell you why -- I had this utterly terrible veggie lasagna for lunch (picked it up @ Brownsville General Store yesterday-presumed it had to be good on account of said store making such delish sammis). But I only had like 3 bites of that (due to its grodiness). Ultimately, my lunch was a Hershey bar and a can of Coke. Hersheys don't usually give me the Hershey squirts. Well, nevertheless, I exited the bathroom marvelling to myself that my pants actually fit looser.
A few moments later, I heard somebody walking past the cubicle row behind me say "Uugh the bathroom STINKS!!" For a fleeting moment, I was pretty embarrassed. But then I sez to meself"Ehh, fuck it. Everybody poops!" A pretty inspired and mightily convincing argument, I must say, and I totally talked myself out of being embarrassed. But I also briefly had this impulse (an impulse I did *NOT* act on. I repeat , I did NOT do this!) to just maliciously try and make things awkward for that person via hollering out a full confession-- "Oh Gaaawd YES. I just had HORRIBLE DIARRHEA." You would have to say "diarrhea" and eschew any cutesy euphemisms if you really wanted to make the person really feel bad. You see, you can't come off like you're being at all flippant, you have to seem seriously tormented by your rascally bowels, and seem maybe like you have an awful medical condition. OK, so perhaps I entertained this notion longer than just "briefly". But let me re-reiterate: I did NOT actually do that.
Many other things happened between 8am & 4:30pm today but none were as interesting as my poop.
After work, I met up with Heather for dinner. I had told Dad I was coming to help with the basement cleaning again, but still , 'twas I who suggested dinner out to H. I called him beforehand to let him know I'd be delayed and why. He didn't outright say he was peeved, but I could tell. He said "OK, just try and be here before dark. I want to be able to see when I work on your car" (See, aside from me working in the basement, tonight he was going to look over my car--add oil, check tires etc. & just be sure it was copacetic for the long-ish trek to MA this weekend) But it wasn't so much that comment that tipped me off, it was that exaggerated nasal breathing he does when he's vexed. That's his tell. So maybe I sorta half renegged on what I promised, but I'm not sorry and I don't even care that he was miffed! Because I feel like I'm always on call for the 'rents. My social life is really not as hoppin' as it should be for someone my age. I don't blame that on them...it's my fault and no one else's. But really, if I get an opportunity to commiserate w/ friends, I feel I need to make time for that--if I want my sorry sitch to change at all. Besides, it's not as if I totally left 'em high & dry--I compromised.
I ordered a ribs & steak combo at Chili's and it was decent. Ah well, the steak was nothin' to blog about, but the ribs were delish. I got the Brown Sugar Chili Rub kind. It's too bad that I get ribs so often at Chili's that I know which style is my fave. I'm not usually the type of person that has a "regular" order at any eatery...in fact, just the opposite, I generally go to great pains to always order something different than I got the last time. So I dunno what's with me--but the last 3 times I've gone to Chili's for dinner I've gotten ribs. It's gotta stop. It's not that the ribs aren't good. Therein lies the prob. Y'see there's never a doggy bag for the next day's lunch when I get ribs. Doesn't even matter if I'm full from the apps, I always finish my ribs. It's like some matter of principal with me? Perhaps not..it's not as if I think about it.. it's just that I so dig 'em that when I get them I go all "rib-mad" and lose all sense of portion control. It's something akin to when I attack a pint o' Ben &Jerry's-- don't stop until ya hit cardboard, baby! (incidentally, that is why I think those wee, 3.6 oz cups of Ben & Jerry's are so effing INGENIOUS)
Then Heather got me to go to Best Buy because she wanted to salivate over the laptops. Since I happen to be dreaming of a spiffy new laptop myself, it didn't take much coercion to get me to go & co-salivate. Some stuff about Best Buy: they remodeled our local store and I had been there once since the remodel, it's been some time since that visit and so I kinda forgot the remodel. They have these big circular banners suspended from the ceiling indicating what merchandise is where, ie: over in the northwest corner of the store are refrigerators and stoves, so above these hangs a blue banner proclaiming "Kitchen appliances". That was purely an illustrative example there, I can't rightly recall if the banner says "Kitchen Appliances" or the more specific " Refrigerators & Stoves" and I don't remember in what region of the store these things are in (even though I was there just a few hours ago) But I noted how the Best Buy folks put on all these banners the Espanol translation just under the English. Because Spanish people would never surmise what sort of product was under the "mp3 & iPod" banner if that banner didn't also read "mp3 y iPod". Ha..I'm just jesting. I have no problem with stores catering to shoppers of any nationality. Although, y'know, I know quite a bit of Espanol and it would be a nice change of pace to be able to pick up a bit of conversational Dutch while out shopping. Don't you think so, eh?? Really, I was just wishing that Best Buy would put that kind of attention to detail into their bathrooms. I visited their new & improved Ladies' Room (minor mudbutt relapse) where NONE of the stalls had locks on them. Well I don't need to tell you that that could lead to a dreaded turd burglar situation, and those are most unsettling. (Please re-access the glossary if you are at all perplexed) Luckily, no such nightmare transpired.
So at Best Buy I went a li'l hog wild spending after Heather left me. Oh noo, I didn't get a laptop. It was more of a "small-ticket item" spree. I bought an Entertainment Weekly, and also an InStyle. I have repeatedly admitted that InStyle magazine is nothing but a thick stack of ads and have sworn off buying it...and repeatedly broken my own boycott vows. This time I was lured in by the cover's exclamation: "What's YOUR Fashion Style? Take Our Quiz!" To which I replied "Heeeey, this reminds me: I ADORE MAGAZINE QUIZZES! Yes please and merci beaucoup!" Do they make a magazine that is just cover-to-cover quizzes? I don't think there is such a 'zine. There sure as hell ought to be!!
Also I bought the DVD "Summer Magic" for my nieces. Yes it IS for my nieces! (Even though I do like that Hayley Mills) It's a "just-because gift" for 'em. So probably I shoulda bought a "just-because" gift for Seth, but I didn't. The sooner them young 'uns learn that life just AIN'T fair the better...that's what I say. Oh FINE. Alright, I'll say that "Summer Magic" is for all 4 of them. I'm fairly certain Seth will hate it though.
And I bought "Batman: the movie" Not the Michael Keaton/Val Kilmer/George Clooney OR Christian Bale one. I got my very fave-- the spectacularly cheezy '66 flick w/ Adam West & Burt Ward (which you'd know by now if you'd tapped that link....JILL) Yep it's for me, not the kids. I used to have it but it got busted.
As I was checking out, I had this sudden burst of loquaciousness and I started blathering on to the Best Buy cashier about how the original Batman series would be excellent to own on DVD and there must be some sort of studio legal battle over it or else it woulda certainly been released by now. Now this is the dweeby Best Buy clerk who is constantly chatting people up and is just waaaay excessively friendly and normally I will bypass an aisle if I see him in it just avoid him asking me if he can help me find anything and potentially parlaying that into a 5 min one-sided convo. And all the time I am doing this blathering, my inner Sandra is saying "What THE HELL are you doing? I sure hope he doesn't think I'm flirting with him. I sure hope nobody in line thinks I'm flirting with him..." Tres snobby, right? I dunno, I'm the one all jazzed up about BATMAN, so it's possible I'm the bigger dweeb here. Maybe we're MFEO, us 2. I fucking hope not. Doesn't really matter, because I'm waaay too much of an uppity bitch to ever explore that scenario...
Drove through Plainfield on my way home after Best Buy. I know I've kvetched before (recently, actually) about what an exercise in tedium that is. (yep, was recent. it was just last week) I was complaining about it to Dottie and she didn't quite get why I was so vexed. She thinks it's me being impatient. "It's not a very big town" she sez"Are you some kinda leadfoot" I'm not! Not in the slightest! My average pace is: the speed limit--5mph over. Practically a geriatric driver, no? (sans that tendency to plow into busy farmer's markets ) But even though I often drive the speed limit, I have a tough time sticking to Plainfield's 30mph speed limit. And I'm not merely irked that they have this speed limit, but they're super anal about it too! They're always po-po lurking at the edge of town, waiting to ambush you. They have newly set up one of those digital "Your Speed Is:" signs that broadcasts your speed as you approach it. (Gary Gulman had a pretty funny bit about those signs, if I recall correctly) And this is the worst bit, I think-- when you drive into Plainfield the welcome sign says "WELCOME TO PLAINFIELD. PLEASE DRIVE SLOWLY." No " Enjoy your stay?" No "Thanks for stoppin' by, folks?" I think they're giving off a very shitty 1st impression. Hey, welcome to our town, a collective of naggy old farts. I can't decide if the majority of Plainfield's populace is naggy old farts or if it's families w/ young children who are particularly prone to darting unexpectedly into traffic. Seriously, the way they obsess over speed--well first off, it doesn't jive all that well with New Hampshire's very sexy "Live Free Or Die" credo--but also it makes it seem like they're reacting to some horrific rash of vehicular manslaughter or something. But I don't think anything like that ever went down there. It's redunkulous.
During this drive, Sinatra was crooning "Strangers in the Night" courtesy of my iPod. "Strangers.." is really not a fave of mine (out of Sinatra's songs) and I suspect the whole reason I imported that onto my pod was because of that part where Frankie breaks out w/ the "Doobie Doobie Dooo" I was disappointed tonight, to listen to the "Strangers in the Night" version that I've got (hadn't played that one in some time) and realize that Sinatra only "Doobie Doobie Doos" 1.5 times in my version. I swear I've heard him do that song and he draws that part out a bit. It sort of reminds me of my discontent with 50Cents's masterwork "In Da Club", how I love that song but find it would be sooo much better with an extra refrain of "Go shawty, ish yo birfday" thrown in. Is it weird for me to mention 50 Cent & Sinatra in the same paragraph? Hmm, y'know, on further reflection, I think IT IS NOT, because both gents are/were *extreme* bad asses what with their mafia ties (Frank) and 3, 4 dozen bullet wounds ($0.50) and all that. Perhaps if Frankie had lived on into the 21st century & had cranked out another "Duets" album, perhaps Fiddy would've been on there.
I like that "Dooby dooby doo" for its own merits, but also it triggers a late 90s memory for me. Remember those bizarro Bud Ice commercials with the penguins? I found 'em fairly amusing (and VERY odd) but I remember 'em fondly because I remember how my college amiga Pam used to just LOVE those commercials and she would do imitations of that psycho penguin...
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
diversions
This site is pretty cool. I think I've seen it before( the "classic edition" anyhow) but I haven't visited in quite sometime and they've upgraded lots.
Speaking of diversions, it's been forevah since I've played MASH on PlayMash.com. I might play a round or 2 before I shut the 'puter down. (if that site is even still operational)
Speaking of diversions, it's been forevah since I've played MASH on PlayMash.com. I might play a round or 2 before I shut the 'puter down. (if that site is even still operational)
UGH.
My father has decided we need to do a thorough hoe-out of the basement. I certainly agree this is warranted and yet I don't want to help out. I am willing to go in and do the work solo, or ideally, alongside Laura. I have gone so far as to appeal to him that I'd like to work in solitude, just explaining vaguely that I just happen to work better alone. What I can't stand (but can't bring myself to tell him) is how he continually runs his big yapper. If he could keep his dialogue 100% factual and nix the editorializing, than he just might be tolerable to work with. He says he wants to clean out, yet he has to make this big to do when you tell him that Box X is all stuff to junk. "This? You want to throw out this? Why, I bet it was never even worn" Oh, a specific gem from tonight-- "You sure you don't want this Hard Rock Cafe shirt? Boy, that's a nice one. 'Genuine Hard Rock Cafe Apparel'. Bet that cost some. Was that your Hard Rock Cafe shirt? That's a nice one. 'Genuine Hard Rock Cafe Apparel' .." No, I'm not repeating myself... I'm authentically transcribing his ramblings. He must have read that tag 3 or 4 times and said the phrase "Hard Rock Cafe" 100 times. Except he was pronouncing it "Cuff-FAY" which really rankled me. But I was pretty repetitive myself, I confess. I was all: "Nope" "No thanks" "NOIDON'TWANT IT" "I don't want that ugly shirt. I hate it. NOTHANKYOU"
Oooh, I should take it easy on mi padre. He's an old feller and I should cut him some slack. But to cut myself some slack...I think one would have to be superhuman not to be irked by him. Empirically, he just IS irksome. And I manage to suppress like, 95% of my irritation...
Oooh, I should take it easy on mi padre. He's an old feller and I should cut him some slack. But to cut myself some slack...I think one would have to be superhuman not to be irked by him. Empirically, he just IS irksome. And I manage to suppress like, 95% of my irritation...
End of Summer Reading List
I know one is supposed to compile a books-to-
read list at the start of the summer (in anticipation for all the languid beach days to come) but I've just come up with one. It's just as well I create the list now, I suppose, we haven't had all that much beach weather this summer anyways. Although, I am hoping we'll have some sunny days this weekend when Rox & I go down to the beach in Narragansett.
But it was not my impending beach weekend that compelled me to whip up this list. Rather, all these titles are culled from 501 Must Read Books, which I own (courtesy of the Borders Bargain Books section) and was flipping through and thought, "Hmm, I wonder how many of these 501 I really am SERIOUSLY interested in reading??"
And so this list came to be. And since, I can't just be clear and black& white about things, I had to subclassify into "must reads" and "MUST must reads". Can't ever be simple, you know.
And why am I jotting them down here? Well, partly so I won't lose the list (after taking the trouble to pore over that whole book and compile this) but mostly so's I have a post to proffer. I have been very shabbily delinquent these days...
MUST READ BOOKS (*denotes a MUST MUST)
--CHILDREN'S BOOKS--
1.The Wonderful Wizard of Oz/ L Frank Baum
*2.The Last Unicorn/ Peter Beagle *
3. The Wind in the Willows / Kenneth Grahame
4.Emil & the Detectives /Erich Kastner
5.The Complete Nonsense Books /Edward Lear
*6.Nobody's Boy /Hector Malot*
*7.Five Children & It /E. Nesbit*
*8.The War of the Buttons /Louis Pergoud*
9.The Little Prince /Antoine De SaintExupery
10.Mary Poppins / PL Travers
--CLASSIC FICTION --
*11.Lady Audley's Secret /Mary Elizabeth Braddon*
*12.The Man Who Was Thursday /GK Chesterton*
13.The Moonstone /Wilkie Collins
14.Heart of Darkness /Joseph Conrad
15.Crime & Punishment /Dostoyevsky
16. Madame Bovary /Flaubert
17.Jude the Obscure /Thomas Hardy
*18.Three Men in a Boat /Jerome K. Jerome*
*19.Bliss (& other stories / Katherine Mansfield*
20. A Sicilian Romance /Anne Radcliffe
21. Dracula /Bram Stoker
22. Frankenstein / Mary Shelley
23. The Picture of Dorian Gray /Oscar Wilde
--HISTORY--
24.Flesh in the Age of Reason/ Roy Porter
--MEMOIRS--
25.Aubrey's Brief Lives / John Aubrey
*26.My Left Foot /Christy Brown*
*27.84 Charing Cross Rd /Helene Hanff*
*28.The Pursuit of Love /Nancy Mitford*
--MODERN FICTION--
*29.Take a Girl Like You/ Kingsley Amis*
30.If on a Winter's Night a Traveller /Italo Calvino
*31.The Sound and the Fury /William Faulkner*
*32.Ulysses/ James Joyce*
33.The Executioner's Song /Norman Mailer
*34. Embers/ Sandor Marai*
35.The Third Policeman /Flann O'Brien
36. Gormenghast /Mervyn Peake
37. The Human Stain /Philip Roth
*38.Bonjour Tristesse /Francoise Sagan*
39. Last Exit to Brooklyn /Hubert Selby
40.The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie /Muriel Sparks
41. Sophie's Choice /William Styron
42. Felicia's Journey /William Trevor
43. The Accidental Tourist /Anne Tyler
*44. Couples /John Updike*
45.The Group /Mary McCarthy
--SCI-FI--
46.The Stepford Wives /Ira Levin
*47.1984 /George Orwell*
48. The Island of Dr Moreau /HG Wells
49. The Day of the Triffids /John Wyndham
--THRILLERS--
*50. Thus Adonis Was Murdered /Sarah Caudwell*
*51.The Moving Toyshop /Edmund Crispin*
52.Rose at Ten /Marco Denevi
*53.Death in the wrong Room /Anthony Gilbert*
54.Suicide Excepted /Cyril Hare
*55.Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow /Peter Hoeg*
*56. How Like an Angel /Margaret Millar*
57.The Man Who Killed Himself /Julian Symon
*58.The Bride Wore Black/ Cornell Woolrich*
--TRAVEL--
59. A Rose for Winter /Laurie Lee
*60. Cruise of the Snark /Jack London*
*61.Into the Heart of Borneo /Ray O'Hanlon*
*62. Travels with Charley: In Search of America /John Steinbeck*
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anybody want to start a book club?? I've got about 700 more pages to go on Wally Lamb's I Know This Much is True and then I'll commence on any book you say, eh??
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
(farm) STAND in the place where you liiive...
Stopped at a farm stand the other day and found that it was totally unmanned. There were produce prices on a dry erase board, a tied up dog, a cat snoozing in a cardboard box lid, a moneybox with a smattering of change in it, but not a person in sight. Now I paid the sign-decreed price for my corn, I assure you. But I fear there are some around that are not quite so ethical as I. See, the "honor system" appeals to the idealist part of me. And yet, the cynic in me thinks it may be folly to run your business that-away.
In related news, the idealist in me just LOVES peanut butter, while my inner cynic craves chocolate all the time. That is why when I eat a Reese's Peanut Butter cup, I feel the gratification all over my entire soul. But I suppose I've wandered off topic a bit...
In related news, the idealist in me just LOVES peanut butter, while my inner cynic craves chocolate all the time. That is why when I eat a Reese's Peanut Butter cup, I feel the gratification all over my entire soul. But I suppose I've wandered off topic a bit...
Beware of Shamwow imposters!!
This bit of cautionary advice was delivered SOO damn emphatically in this infomercial I watched from last night that it made me think that an imposter Shamwow is not only inferior product (thus just being merely disappointing) but that possibly a faux Shamwow would actually be DETRIMENTAL TO ONE'S HEALTH & WELL BEING.
Yep, I could not sleep last night and wound up watching the Shamwow! infomercial at 4am. That guy that does the infomercial sure was somethin' ...an infomercial personality without equal, I daresay. He sez, "It's made in Germany and YOU KNOW Germans make good stuff". That bit particularly amused me. He wore a head set as he talked (y'know, a Britney Spears in concert/ working the drive thru sort of set) as if there was this unspoken tease: call right now to order your Shamwow and *I* just might answer your call. It was all I could do to restrain myself.
Seriously though, I want one of them Shamwows. If it works as promised, that thing could substantially improve the quality of my life , I think.
Yep, I could not sleep last night and wound up watching the Shamwow! infomercial at 4am. That guy that does the infomercial sure was somethin' ...an infomercial personality without equal, I daresay. He sez, "It's made in Germany and YOU KNOW Germans make good stuff". That bit particularly amused me. He wore a head set as he talked (y'know, a Britney Spears in concert/ working the drive thru sort of set) as if there was this unspoken tease: call right now to order your Shamwow and *I* just might answer your call. It was all I could do to restrain myself.
Seriously though, I want one of them Shamwows. If it works as promised, that thing could substantially improve the quality of my life , I think.
Stuff about Today--addendum
Confession: I am very pleased with myself for using the phrases "Be that as it may" and "It does not signify" (even if the latter is so outdated as to be nonsensical nowadays...I think it has a nice JaneAusteny flavor to it)
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Stuff about Today
Not an extraordinary day in Sannypantsville, but I'm going to review it in EXCRUCRIATING detail just the same. Not in order to be sadistic!! It's just that it's been such a posting draught these days, I feel I need to "prime the pump" so to speak. Ooh GOLLY that sounded somewhat naughty. I assure you, I did not mean it in a naughty way.
Everyday in my daily announcements & roll call email I try to include something funny / interesting. I manage this about 3 outta 5 days (not the daily email , it's just the funny/interesting bit that I don't always accomplish) because some days I'm just too swamped/frazzled/in a hurry (or all of the above) to scrounge anything up. So far this week I'm doing well. Yesterday I informed one & all that on Aug11 1992, the ginormous Mall of America opened up in Bloomington, MN. (I added: "So celebrate by making a thoroughly frivolous purchase today--I know I will!!") And I provided a link to the Mall of America website. Consequently, I was pretty hung up on that site yesterday a.m. It's FAB. It's like shopping the Mall of America without all the debt and bothersome walking. Nooo, no, it's not THAT good, I'd still fancy a trip to MN just to hit up this legend. But the site is pretty rad. You can look at the restaurants / storefronts. I was most interested in looking at the eateries. Good food is --of course--crucial when I dine out, but I'm also keen to find a place with the right atmosphere. Tucci Benuch sounds good (they need to post some better photos though) & The Bubba Gump Shrimp co. looks neat. Those are 2 standouts from the restaurants I did check out, but I didn't look at 'em all (I was AT WORK, for Pete's Dragon's sake!!)
Oh, and you linkaphobic link-skippahs (you knows who you are) don't know what you're missing!! You shall never experience thrills of virtual-vicarious shopping like this anywhere else!!
I thought it was odd, that with all the many & varied amenities that the MOA has to offer, they don't have an attached hotel. They don't appear to anyhow. Oh, I know there are probably beaucoup hotels in the neighborhood, but still, how handy would it be to have your hotel within or attached to the MOA?? Shop for a few hours, go back to your room and take a nap, shop for several more hours, go back to your room for a smaller siesta and a shower to wash the shopping stink off ya, then dinner at Bubba Gumps!! Sweet right? I don't understand why they'd just rely on area hotels for their shoppers and not have one of their own...did they think it would be too much? Not f-ing likely--this is a mall with AN AMUSEMENT PARK in the middle of it.
Today's nugget of interest was that Aug 12th is commonly known in England as "The Glorious Twelfth" thus called because it is the first day of the season for hunting ptarmigan & red grouse. ("It's a bad day to be a ptarmigan, folks.." I proclaimed) From what I've read , grouse is more popular game. But I am just fixated on the ptarmigan aspect of the thing, you know. Obviously because of the great comic potential the word "ptarmigan" innately holds. I know how to properly say it , and yet I am strongly compelled to pronounce that silent p.
In a quasi-related story, I saw some partridges this weekend at my folk's house. Alas, I was unarmed or else I coulda supped on wild game. Hmm well..I suppose I could have judo-chopped them to death...
This girl Eileen that I work with confided to me that she had a miserable weekend because her bf of 4yrs dumped her. I spoke some words of encouragement, but inwardly this made me rather glum as this was the first I'd heard of her b.f. and,well, to put it bluntly, if a dweeb like Eileen can have a boyfriend for 4years then well, oh god there has to be some sort of curse that an angry fairy put on me when I was a baby!! There is just NO other sensible explanation!!
That kind of reaction--my assessing someone else's sad situation and instantly taking an "Ok, well now how does this relate to ME??" approach--well it just goes to show you that Eileen probably should not be confiding in me. Oh that and the fact that I'm writing about her private shit on my blog. Y'know, in lieu of having my own private shit to broadcast.
This afternoon this really nice coworker of mine (I know, I know they're ALL so g-d nice..) Denise brought in an old copy of "The Rules" for Eileen that she'd picked up for her at a 2nd hand bookstore. We were congregated around my desk laughing about it. I was particularly amused by some book jacket hype that promised that "The Rules will help you to become 'a creature like no other'" Hmm. Is that what I need?? GODZILLA was a creature like no other....
The rest of the workday was pretty uneventful. After work I went to The Dollar Tree --I bought candy for my desk at work. ( I'll suck up a bit... but not in excess of $1 per bag worth of sucking up ) My candy choices: Ferrara Pan Assorted Fruit Sours (Lemonheads, Grapeheads, etc) Bit O' Honeys, & some kinda mini lollipops (brand name/ maker escapes me right now). I went to Borders and resisted buying 2 novels (which I felt I HAD TO on account of a Buy 1 get the 2nd 1/2 Price *on select titles sale they had goin' on). I always consider book purchases exempt from being coded as "Naughty Spending" because the mental/intellectual gain to be had by reading trumps any financial frivolity I may be guilty of. But this afternoon I was thinking this was a bit of a cop-out and thinking that perhaps I should start patronizing a library (considered this right there in Borders--can you believe the SACRILIGE??) Still, I ended up buying Schott's Almanac (justified it as a "for work" buy...for use in my daily emails) and a sheet of that fancy Paperchase brand wrapping paper (SOOO not a good value) for to wrap up my Aunt 'Rainey's b-day goods. And after that, I went to Price Chopper. I had this sudden sensation, this neat feeling of having all my shit together...but it was on a very microcosmic scope, as this was just on account of my finally having a Price Chopper card & my remembering to fetch my reusable grocery sack from my car..y'see I have had 2 bags (not canvas ones...think they're some vinyl weave or something..got 'em originally at Price Chopper actually) tucked into my behind-the-driver's-seat pocket for months , intending to use them everytime I hit the grocery store--in an effort to be greener. Anways this was the very first time I remembered to use them. As for the card thing...I know I have railed in the past about how wicked grocery stores are in how they try to force you to have their card...but yeah, I now have a Price Chopper card of my own...although I didn't get it thru any machinations of my own. My Dad had always had one but I think it musta gone through the wash one too many times because the thing more or less disintegrated. So for years, they were looking it up from his license. But the last time he went to PC, the cashier was not having it. Sick of typing in license #s I suppose...anyways, she insisted on filling out a replacement app. for him and gave him replacements on the spot. Yep, that's plural : replacements. They gave him 2 wallet cards and 2 mini key ring tag style cards. Perhaps they looked at him and presumed he was a guy that lost stuff all the time. And they would be CORRECTAMUNDO in that presumption. Be that as it may, Dad told me he didn't require that many Price Chopper cards and I could take me one. I like the ones that go on your keys.
So it seems like my not having a Price Chopper card for so many years had LOTS to do with my innate tendency to procrastinate, and maybe only a little to do with the principle of the thing. Because when there was a card up for grabs...I didn't hesitate to grab it. But for the record..I still think they're bullshit.
Anyways, I had felt this happy surge of having my shit together style contentedness. Though I reflected that if I really had ALL my shit together for a prolonged period of time ...I probably couldn't bear it. It would be too much of a good thing. The emotional equivalent of staring at the sun.
I bought at Price Chopper: 2 fillets of tillapia, a bag of little potatoes of varying hues, a small tub of Reduced Fat Philadelphia cream cheese, 1 onion bagel, a bag of brussels sprouts, 1 bulb of garlic. There were, amongst my purchases, no savings exclusive to AdvantEdge card members. It does not signify. I had it at the ready, and that is what counts.
I took 12A through Plainfield on the way back. Has anyone else out there driven through Plainfield, NH?? Holla, dawgs! It is really, really, really, seriously, awfully excruciating. Like, more so than the present post, even. You come down off this hill, then it's a straight shot through this sleepy little town with NOTHING IN IT. Nary a stoplight. And the speed limit is 30mph. And for some reason, it feels slower than when I'm going 25mph through Windsor ...I guess because I can see the point to that..there's traffic, and traffic lights, pedestrians, etc. It's really hard for me to maintain 30mph in Plainfield...I actually set my cruise control. And it feels like my car is just going to putt-putt-putt to a stop and commence snoozing. And then, when I reach that 40mph speed limit sign at the edge of town, I get all inordinately euphoric ("Oh FRABJOUS DAY!! Callooo! Callay!!") And I zipped away rocking out to Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man", a gem in the Diamond catalog (haa! SO punny!) that does not get its due, I feel.
Another song I heard on the road this evening was "Ebony & Ivory". That's a great sing along song...though I was a little sheepish when I pulled into the road and was in the middle of a full, fervent belt-out of said song and there was this couple walking their dog and looking at me like I was a grade-A wackadoo. I turned down the volume (on me & the stereo) quite a bit. There are some songs you feel cool about blasting as you cruise around town, and others ehh...not so much.
But still I love "Ebony & Ivory" . Aside, from its excellent singalongability properties, I also like that it makes me think of black & white cookies and Joe Piscopo. Black & white cookies are not only delicious (but don't get them at Shaw's ...my local Shaws makes lousy b&w cookies...and that's probably the same with all Shaws bakeries, the whole chain-wide) but they also pack a very wise message about racial harmony that you don't see in most baked goods. As for the Joe Piscopo connection, I am thinking specifically of THIS...(the best thing the guy has ever done..embedded below is 3.5 minutes that encapsule the very pinnacle of Piscopo's career)
Everyday in my daily announcements & roll call email I try to include something funny / interesting. I manage this about 3 outta 5 days (not the daily email , it's just the funny/interesting bit that I don't always accomplish) because some days I'm just too swamped/frazzled/in a hurry (or all of the above) to scrounge anything up. So far this week I'm doing well. Yesterday I informed one & all that on Aug11 1992, the ginormous Mall of America opened up in Bloomington, MN. (I added: "So celebrate by making a thoroughly frivolous purchase today--I know I will!!") And I provided a link to the Mall of America website. Consequently, I was pretty hung up on that site yesterday a.m. It's FAB. It's like shopping the Mall of America without all the debt and bothersome walking. Nooo, no, it's not THAT good, I'd still fancy a trip to MN just to hit up this legend. But the site is pretty rad. You can look at the restaurants / storefronts. I was most interested in looking at the eateries. Good food is --of course--crucial when I dine out, but I'm also keen to find a place with the right atmosphere. Tucci Benuch sounds good (they need to post some better photos though) & The Bubba Gump Shrimp co. looks neat. Those are 2 standouts from the restaurants I did check out, but I didn't look at 'em all (I was AT WORK, for Pete's Dragon's sake!!)
Oh, and you linkaphobic link-skippahs (you knows who you are) don't know what you're missing!! You shall never experience thrills of virtual-vicarious shopping like this anywhere else!!
I thought it was odd, that with all the many & varied amenities that the MOA has to offer, they don't have an attached hotel. They don't appear to anyhow. Oh, I know there are probably beaucoup hotels in the neighborhood, but still, how handy would it be to have your hotel within or attached to the MOA?? Shop for a few hours, go back to your room and take a nap, shop for several more hours, go back to your room for a smaller siesta and a shower to wash the shopping stink off ya, then dinner at Bubba Gumps!! Sweet right? I don't understand why they'd just rely on area hotels for their shoppers and not have one of their own...did they think it would be too much? Not f-ing likely--this is a mall with AN AMUSEMENT PARK in the middle of it.
Today's nugget of interest was that Aug 12th is commonly known in England as "The Glorious Twelfth" thus called because it is the first day of the season for hunting ptarmigan & red grouse. ("It's a bad day to be a ptarmigan, folks.." I proclaimed) From what I've read , grouse is more popular game. But I am just fixated on the ptarmigan aspect of the thing, you know. Obviously because of the great comic potential the word "ptarmigan" innately holds. I know how to properly say it , and yet I am strongly compelled to pronounce that silent p.
In a quasi-related story, I saw some partridges this weekend at my folk's house. Alas, I was unarmed or else I coulda supped on wild game. Hmm well..I suppose I could have judo-chopped them to death...
This girl Eileen that I work with confided to me that she had a miserable weekend because her bf of 4yrs dumped her. I spoke some words of encouragement, but inwardly this made me rather glum as this was the first I'd heard of her b.f. and,well, to put it bluntly, if a dweeb like Eileen can have a boyfriend for 4years then well, oh god there has to be some sort of curse that an angry fairy put on me when I was a baby!! There is just NO other sensible explanation!!
That kind of reaction--my assessing someone else's sad situation and instantly taking an "Ok, well now how does this relate to ME??" approach--well it just goes to show you that Eileen probably should not be confiding in me. Oh that and the fact that I'm writing about her private shit on my blog. Y'know, in lieu of having my own private shit to broadcast.
This afternoon this really nice coworker of mine (I know, I know they're ALL so g-d nice..) Denise brought in an old copy of "The Rules" for Eileen that she'd picked up for her at a 2nd hand bookstore. We were congregated around my desk laughing about it. I was particularly amused by some book jacket hype that promised that "The Rules will help you to become 'a creature like no other'" Hmm. Is that what I need?? GODZILLA was a creature like no other....
The rest of the workday was pretty uneventful. After work I went to The Dollar Tree --I bought candy for my desk at work. ( I'll suck up a bit... but not in excess of $1 per bag worth of sucking up ) My candy choices: Ferrara Pan Assorted Fruit Sours (Lemonheads, Grapeheads, etc) Bit O' Honeys, & some kinda mini lollipops (brand name/ maker escapes me right now). I went to Borders and resisted buying 2 novels (which I felt I HAD TO on account of a Buy 1 get the 2nd 1/2 Price *on select titles sale they had goin' on). I always consider book purchases exempt from being coded as "Naughty Spending" because the mental/intellectual gain to be had by reading trumps any financial frivolity I may be guilty of. But this afternoon I was thinking this was a bit of a cop-out and thinking that perhaps I should start patronizing a library (considered this right there in Borders--can you believe the SACRILIGE??) Still, I ended up buying Schott's Almanac (justified it as a "for work" buy...for use in my daily emails) and a sheet of that fancy Paperchase brand wrapping paper (SOOO not a good value) for to wrap up my Aunt 'Rainey's b-day goods. And after that, I went to Price Chopper. I had this sudden sensation, this neat feeling of having all my shit together...but it was on a very microcosmic scope, as this was just on account of my finally having a Price Chopper card & my remembering to fetch my reusable grocery sack from my car..y'see I have had 2 bags (not canvas ones...think they're some vinyl weave or something..got 'em originally at Price Chopper actually) tucked into my behind-the-driver's-seat pocket for months , intending to use them everytime I hit the grocery store--in an effort to be greener. Anways this was the very first time I remembered to use them. As for the card thing...I know I have railed in the past about how wicked grocery stores are in how they try to force you to have their card...but yeah, I now have a Price Chopper card of my own...although I didn't get it thru any machinations of my own. My Dad had always had one but I think it musta gone through the wash one too many times because the thing more or less disintegrated. So for years, they were looking it up from his license. But the last time he went to PC, the cashier was not having it. Sick of typing in license #s I suppose...anyways, she insisted on filling out a replacement app. for him and gave him replacements on the spot. Yep, that's plural : replacements. They gave him 2 wallet cards and 2 mini key ring tag style cards. Perhaps they looked at him and presumed he was a guy that lost stuff all the time. And they would be CORRECTAMUNDO in that presumption. Be that as it may, Dad told me he didn't require that many Price Chopper cards and I could take me one. I like the ones that go on your keys.
So it seems like my not having a Price Chopper card for so many years had LOTS to do with my innate tendency to procrastinate, and maybe only a little to do with the principle of the thing. Because when there was a card up for grabs...I didn't hesitate to grab it. But for the record..I still think they're bullshit.
Anyways, I had felt this happy surge of having my shit together style contentedness. Though I reflected that if I really had ALL my shit together for a prolonged period of time ...I probably couldn't bear it. It would be too much of a good thing. The emotional equivalent of staring at the sun.
I bought at Price Chopper: 2 fillets of tillapia, a bag of little potatoes of varying hues, a small tub of Reduced Fat Philadelphia cream cheese, 1 onion bagel, a bag of brussels sprouts, 1 bulb of garlic. There were, amongst my purchases, no savings exclusive to AdvantEdge card members. It does not signify. I had it at the ready, and that is what counts.
I took 12A through Plainfield on the way back. Has anyone else out there driven through Plainfield, NH?? Holla, dawgs! It is really, really, really, seriously, awfully excruciating. Like, more so than the present post, even. You come down off this hill, then it's a straight shot through this sleepy little town with NOTHING IN IT. Nary a stoplight. And the speed limit is 30mph. And for some reason, it feels slower than when I'm going 25mph through Windsor ...I guess because I can see the point to that..there's traffic, and traffic lights, pedestrians, etc. It's really hard for me to maintain 30mph in Plainfield...I actually set my cruise control. And it feels like my car is just going to putt-putt-putt to a stop and commence snoozing. And then, when I reach that 40mph speed limit sign at the edge of town, I get all inordinately euphoric ("Oh FRABJOUS DAY!! Callooo! Callay!!") And I zipped away rocking out to Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man", a gem in the Diamond catalog (haa! SO punny!) that does not get its due, I feel.
Another song I heard on the road this evening was "Ebony & Ivory". That's a great sing along song...though I was a little sheepish when I pulled into the road and was in the middle of a full, fervent belt-out of said song and there was this couple walking their dog and looking at me like I was a grade-A wackadoo. I turned down the volume (on me & the stereo) quite a bit. There are some songs you feel cool about blasting as you cruise around town, and others ehh...not so much.
But still I love "Ebony & Ivory" . Aside, from its excellent singalongability properties, I also like that it makes me think of black & white cookies and Joe Piscopo. Black & white cookies are not only delicious (but don't get them at Shaw's ...my local Shaws makes lousy b&w cookies...and that's probably the same with all Shaws bakeries, the whole chain-wide) but they also pack a very wise message about racial harmony that you don't see in most baked goods. As for the Joe Piscopo connection, I am thinking specifically of THIS...(the best thing the guy has ever done..embedded below is 3.5 minutes that encapsule the very pinnacle of Piscopo's career)
See more funny videos at Funny or Die
Friday, August 08, 2008
more LCS ranting...
I am mighty disappointed with the denoument of LCS. It was horrifically, grievously, grossly, chronically unjust and unfair. However, methinks I ought not gripe about it since I didn’t bother to vote. And yet…and yet… I am so perturbed I can’t suppress my gripes!!
Iliza Schlesinger won. I’m used to my fave comic never winning (as that has been the pattern over LCS’s 6 season run) but this marks the first season that I’ve really HATED the pick for LCS victor. Wellll, I did think Dat Phan was seriously lame, but I only ½ watched season 1 and wasn’t really invested in LCS yet.
Bellamy was very quick to proclaim (after the announcement of the winner) “Our first female winner!!” Whoop-de-f*cking-dooo. It bugs me that after all the stellar female comics to take the LCS stage—this is the one that triumphs. It’s NOT who I want representing our gender!! She’s such a lowbrow fratgirl—I can’t stand her.
It is some consolation to me that another unwavering trend in LCS history thus far is that the LCS winner does NOT (contrary to what one might expect) go on to greater fame. Every season, the winner wins varying amounts of loot and a “development deal” with NBC, and then you never see them again (or you rarely see them anyhow). It really seems like there might be a fine-print clause in said development deal stating that if the comics project moves from "development" to "production" status, that is grounds for instant revocation of the deal. So, hurrah for you, Schlesinger...go ahead and fade back into obscurity now, per favor...
Iliza Schlesinger won. I’m used to my fave comic never winning (as that has been the pattern over LCS’s 6 season run) but this marks the first season that I’ve really HATED the pick for LCS victor. Wellll, I did think Dat Phan was seriously lame, but I only ½ watched season 1 and wasn’t really invested in LCS yet.
Bellamy was very quick to proclaim (after the announcement of the winner) “Our first female winner!!” Whoop-de-f*cking-dooo. It bugs me that after all the stellar female comics to take the LCS stage—this is the one that triumphs. It’s NOT who I want representing our gender!! She’s such a lowbrow fratgirl—I can’t stand her.
It is some consolation to me that another unwavering trend in LCS history thus far is that the LCS winner does NOT (contrary to what one might expect) go on to greater fame. Every season, the winner wins varying amounts of loot and a “development deal” with NBC, and then you never see them again (or you rarely see them anyhow). It really seems like there might be a fine-print clause in said development deal stating that if the comics project moves from "development" to "production" status, that is grounds for instant revocation of the deal. So, hurrah for you, Schlesinger...go ahead and fade back into obscurity now, per favor...
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