We end up watching Inside the Actor's Studio rather regularly, since it comes on Bravo Mondays after The West Wing, which is perhaps the only real addiction my non-smoking, non-gambing, never-even-been-tipsy husband has ever had. He leaves his body in the ass-groove on the couch and goes to live with CJ and Josh for a couple of hours a week, and that satisfies him for another 7 days or so.
I have mixed feelings about ITAS - on one hand, it's more tiresome celebrity worship dressed up as culture and education; on the other hand, it's occasionally educated people talking about ideas without shouting, so we'd want to encourage that, right?
Even when I have no interest in the guest, I'm always riveted by the questions at the end - the Bernard Pivot questions. Since everyone knows what they'll be asked, they have plenty of time to think up sparklingly clever and self-aggrandizing answers, AND YET I feel like the answers they give are (I think unintentionally) incredibly revealing.
So tonight Dan Castelanetta - Homer Simpson - was asked "if heaven is real, what do you hope to hear God say when you arrive?"
And he replied "'Eh! What were you so worried about?'"
Monday, October 23, 2006
Friday, October 13, 2006
I did it -
the thing that good hosts and good cooks never do. I invited someone for dinner, and prepared a recipe I had never made before. From a magazine. Can you imagine?
In fact, I've never made a pork dish before. At all. I had to ask our guest how to tell when pork is cooked. (Luckily, he knew.)
I also bought a $10 bottle of wine based soley on the recommendation of a liquor store employee who admitted that she had never tasted it, and in fact, didn't like wine much. It had a pretty label.
Everything was absolutely excellent.
The dinner:
Pork Chops with Sweet-Potato Salad
The wine:
According to the terribly exciting Red White and Rose list of great wines under $10 (I just found this site while looking for an image of the wine label! I really am terribly excited! We may spend the next several months in a mild, delicious haze! You should be really nice to me and see if you can't get invited over! The house smells a little like cats, but I figure enough 'great wine under $10' will probably mitigate...)
)
In fact, I've never made a pork dish before. At all. I had to ask our guest how to tell when pork is cooked. (Luckily, he knew.)
I also bought a $10 bottle of wine based soley on the recommendation of a liquor store employee who admitted that she had never tasted it, and in fact, didn't like wine much. It had a pretty label.
Everything was absolutely excellent.
The dinner:
Pork Chops with Sweet-Potato Salad
The wine:
According to the terribly exciting Red White and Rose list of great wines under $10 (I just found this site while looking for an image of the wine label! I really am terribly excited! We may spend the next several months in a mild, delicious haze! You should be really nice to me and see if you can't get invited over! The house smells a little like cats, but I figure enough 'great wine under $10' will probably mitigate...)
)
Promessa Rosso Salento ... a blend of 85% Negroamaro and 15% Primitivo. This very spicy, rich wine has notes of plum, violets, anise, tobacco, and licorice. The tannins compliment the spicy nature of the wine.
Price and quality earn this wine one star (out of a possible three.)
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Words Fail, and things get interesting.
Just saw Little Miss Sunshine, which is an very rewarding film, mainly about the limitations of language.
Please note: If you happen to be going through any sort of personal rough patch – family bickering, career disappointment, parent/child sadness, romantic loss – I might suggest that you wait for the video. This may not be the ideal film for you to see.
(On ‘date night.’)
(I’m just sayin’.)
But if you brave it, if you can hang in through some undeniably uncomfortable moments, you may have a fairly lovely and cathartic experience. It’s a bit like Napoleon Dynamite – words fail, and that’s when things get really interesting. There are no weak performances; Steve Carrell especially distinguishes himself, and especially with his physical work; it’s really excellent.
I’ve also been watching Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip, which I have begun to suspect is not excellent. I wanted very much to like it – I’m fond of Sorkin, my INSANE LOVE of Sports Night is well-documented. This show has theatre history jokes. Fatty Arbuckle jokes. (And not the obvious ones!) Gilbert and Sullivan parodies!
Really, I am the target market for this show. Me personally.
What’s good: well, the fact that there’s a show on TV that wants to make a non-dirty Fatty Arbuckle reference. The female characters seem smart, and when male characters who treat them otherwise, it’s evidence of untrustworthy character and bad judgment.
But by far the best thing – here’s the best thing about Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin understands something important.
He understands that work is more fun than fun.
This is the best thing about Sports Night, and it’s by far the best thing about this latest show. It’s a beautiful artistic tribute to adrenaline, to that moment when you’re working hard and surrounded by stimulating people who really care about what you’re doing and you are fairly confident but if we’re really honest NOT REALLY 100% SURE WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE NEXT 60 SECONDS….dude, that’s when you know you’re alive. Seriously.
When Sports Night was on broadcast, I used to cry every week as I watched it. Because someone got it.
So that’s good.
Here’s what, so far, seems pretty bad – one of the characters is a comedian and a Christian, not to mention a beautiful smart woman and a romantic lead. So far, I kinda like her, and I like that various men admire/love her. But honestly – I am in the God industry, and I don’t have as many conversations about Christianity in a week as this woman does. It is too early, for me at least, to tell how this peculiar bit of writing is going to work out.
And here’s what’s really bad already. The show is about the producers, and production, of a late-night sketch comedy show on a broadcast network. (But not Saturday Night Live! And you can tell its not about SNL, because people refer to SNL, to actual events in SNL history, by name. Matthew Perry’s character namechecked Wayne’s World on Monday. SNL is the competition for the show-within-a-show.)
If you’re going to have a show about a comedy show, and you’re going to make the very risky decision to include parts of the comedy show in the script….honestly, it has to be funny.
The parts where the producers are arguing about ratings are funny. The parts where the comedy writers are struggling to write jokes are funny.
The parts where the comedians are telling jokes on TV should be at least a little funny.
If they’re not, then nothing else makes sense. All the talk about the ratings, the focus groups, the switchboard lighting up, even the long (long long) montage of the studio audience laughing and applauding…complete nonsense.
Please note: If you happen to be going through any sort of personal rough patch – family bickering, career disappointment, parent/child sadness, romantic loss – I might suggest that you wait for the video. This may not be the ideal film for you to see.
(On ‘date night.’)
(I’m just sayin’.)
But if you brave it, if you can hang in through some undeniably uncomfortable moments, you may have a fairly lovely and cathartic experience. It’s a bit like Napoleon Dynamite – words fail, and that’s when things get really interesting. There are no weak performances; Steve Carrell especially distinguishes himself, and especially with his physical work; it’s really excellent.
I’ve also been watching Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip, which I have begun to suspect is not excellent. I wanted very much to like it – I’m fond of Sorkin, my INSANE LOVE of Sports Night is well-documented. This show has theatre history jokes. Fatty Arbuckle jokes. (And not the obvious ones!) Gilbert and Sullivan parodies!
Really, I am the target market for this show. Me personally.
What’s good: well, the fact that there’s a show on TV that wants to make a non-dirty Fatty Arbuckle reference. The female characters seem smart, and when male characters who treat them otherwise, it’s evidence of untrustworthy character and bad judgment.
But by far the best thing – here’s the best thing about Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin understands something important.
He understands that work is more fun than fun.
This is the best thing about Sports Night, and it’s by far the best thing about this latest show. It’s a beautiful artistic tribute to adrenaline, to that moment when you’re working hard and surrounded by stimulating people who really care about what you’re doing and you are fairly confident but if we’re really honest NOT REALLY 100% SURE WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN IN THE NEXT 60 SECONDS….dude, that’s when you know you’re alive. Seriously.
When Sports Night was on broadcast, I used to cry every week as I watched it. Because someone got it.
So that’s good.
Here’s what, so far, seems pretty bad – one of the characters is a comedian and a Christian, not to mention a beautiful smart woman and a romantic lead. So far, I kinda like her, and I like that various men admire/love her. But honestly – I am in the God industry, and I don’t have as many conversations about Christianity in a week as this woman does. It is too early, for me at least, to tell how this peculiar bit of writing is going to work out.
And here’s what’s really bad already. The show is about the producers, and production, of a late-night sketch comedy show on a broadcast network. (But not Saturday Night Live! And you can tell its not about SNL, because people refer to SNL, to actual events in SNL history, by name. Matthew Perry’s character namechecked Wayne’s World on Monday. SNL is the competition for the show-within-a-show.)
If you’re going to have a show about a comedy show, and you’re going to make the very risky decision to include parts of the comedy show in the script….honestly, it has to be funny.
The parts where the producers are arguing about ratings are funny. The parts where the comedy writers are struggling to write jokes are funny.
The parts where the comedians are telling jokes on TV should be at least a little funny.
If they’re not, then nothing else makes sense. All the talk about the ratings, the focus groups, the switchboard lighting up, even the long (long long) montage of the studio audience laughing and applauding…complete nonsense.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Devotional Object
Man, all I can say is, thank God for Oxy-clean.
A couple of months ago, Husband bought a gigantic tub of this stuff, at which I scoffed. "Pshaw!" I guffed,"Isn't that the stuff in the (ugh) infomercial?" (I pride myself on my sales resistance; it makes me feel entirely superior to Husband, who, though kind and quite hot, has very little.)
He was right about this stuff, though - it's brilliant! It has saved us at least a gazillion dollars in professional cleaning and new clothes, as I have undertaken "Project Closet".
I was getting quite sick of my closet; sick, mostly, of opening it and finding nothing to wear. I knew for sure that I had bought clothes, over the years, that were attractive and fit well and went together into outfits. And yet, for the last several months, I've been throwing open the closet doors every morning, re-creasing my already-creased brow, heaving a sigh, and reaching for the same pair of jeans and dodgy black t-shirt.
And feeling more and more dowdy, as if having the World's Cutest Baby back in December had stolen my mojo.
And feeling really really fat. Now, I've been fat all my life, and, with some exceptions, I haven't really minded it much. I've always been healthy, had many more cute days than hideous ones, and it doesn't seem to have ruined my social or romantic life.
However, I am used to seeing myself in a certain shape. You know, round. I am quite used to being round. But since having the kid, things seem to have...shifted. Interestingly, they've shifted UP. Didn't see that coming, did you? Me either, believe me. But my roundess has shifted up, forming a mound above my belt that was never there before my pregnancy.
So, to recap: though I am 20 pounds lighter than I was pre-pregnancy, I look about as pregnant now as I did this time last year. At the start of my 3rd trimester. All my clothes still fit, technically, but they look entirely different. And by different, of course, I mean crappy. I've been walking around in jeans, black loafers, and something from my large collection of completely plain black t-shirts. Since about March. No jewelry to speak of(Grabby Baby), no accessories, my usual home haircut.
Why on earth would I feel dowdy?
So last Saturday, I flung open my closet doors and took out everything. I sorted through it all, even shoes, even those 200 wire hangers that say "we love our customers smileyface smileyface". I dispensed with a small pile of unflattering things, traded the very summery fluttery things for the turtlenecks and wooly tweedy things. I filed the cotton t-shirts in the drawer with my shorts and sports bras. I hung everything by type and then color.
And ended up with the spotty pile.
You know that pile of clothes, the ones that looked fine when you hung them in the closet but have apparently developed a weird dark spot (or 6) while hanging there?
Honestly, my life must be pretty uncomplicated, because the mysterious appearance of the weird dark spot is one of the most supremely frustrating things in my life.
I ruthlessly threw all the spotty things, all the mysterious things into one pile, the greying shirts, that camisoles with the little bits of soy sauce. There are some shirts in this pile that I absolutely love, some that are practically brand new.
I am rehabbing the clothes. I am completely committed to tossing whatever doesn't come clean, so that whenever I reach into my closet, I'll come up with something that fits and flatters and is decent enough to wear in public and are, you know..clean. Undamaged.
The first round - the white shirts - was a raging success. Everything from the first round has survived to return to the closet! Because of Oxy-Clean! Last week, I wore two white shirts that I haven't worn in months! Because of Oxy-Clean!
I'm soaking the brown shirts right now.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Now this is a church service:
Go read this, about a presentation that the Ikon community did at Greenbelt (what's Greenbelt?) this summer.
If you scroll down through the comments, there's a brief description of the service from Pete, and also the text of the short 'sermon' by Ian Paisley. You can read that first and then read the main entry, which talks about some of the motivations/goals/thinking behind the design of the service.
Sometimes the work I do - liturgy, the alleged 'work of the people', thinking about my own and hearing about others' - gives me room spins. I once wrote in my journal that people seem to expect God to affirm what they're doing by making them feel solid, grounded and comfortable...but in my experience, it felt more like standing up in the back of a moving pickup truck. Offroad.
Honestly - despite what I say, I have not loved every second of my job.
But right now, I love my job.
If you scroll down through the comments, there's a brief description of the service from Pete, and also the text of the short 'sermon' by Ian Paisley. You can read that first and then read the main entry, which talks about some of the motivations/goals/thinking behind the design of the service.
Sometimes the work I do - liturgy, the alleged 'work of the people', thinking about my own and hearing about others' - gives me room spins. I once wrote in my journal that people seem to expect God to affirm what they're doing by making them feel solid, grounded and comfortable...but in my experience, it felt more like standing up in the back of a moving pickup truck. Offroad.
Honestly - despite what I say, I have not loved every second of my job.
But right now, I love my job.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
How am I?
Let me tell you how I am.
I have a head cold and my period at the same time.
Every time I sneeze, I have to do laundry.
That's how I am.
I have a head cold and my period at the same time.
Every time I sneeze, I have to do laundry.
That's how I am.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
liveblogging the project -
Laura:
Good Lord! Laura has gone from hmm, these tailored pants are a bit tight to DUDE look at that extremely PREGNANT woman.
I do admire her designs (plus she endeared herself to me - this is kind of counterintuitive - when someone expressed shock that she was having a 6th child, and she said she'd just 'throw it on the pile with the other 5.'
Kayne:
I feel protective about Kayne - a little like I did about Andrae. I want to smack people when they say mean things about his dresses.
His evening dress came out fabulous! I ADORE the assymetrical corset lacing! (I wonder if it was on purpose.)
Jeffrey:
Oh, just shut up. In the dictionary, beside the word 'tiresome', there is a picture of you.
Michael:
My choice to win. (Not too brave a prediction - it's kind of obvious.)
You'll notice, when Jeffery and Laura are standing in the corner of the work room, analytically abusing the other designers and coldly dissing everyone - including one another - like they're the cool kids in the cafeteria....Michael just keeps draping. Even Vincent and Uli are cracking on the other designers! I'm sure the producers encourage them to, but that's just vulgar.
Michael's dress for this challenge came out excellent, (The judges do not agree!) but I kind of assumed it would (which is the trouble with having distinguished yourself already.)
Plus he just said he was 'sweatin' like a whore in church'!! Extra points from me for that.
Vincent:
I'm very fond of Vincent. His dress looks nice, but I think he'll be out this week, on account of all the glue holding the gown together.
Uli:
all her dresses look alike. I'm bored. Though I must give props to her plus-sized outfit from 2 weeks ago.
I'll publish this now before the winner is announced...
Good Lord! Laura has gone from hmm, these tailored pants are a bit tight to DUDE look at that extremely PREGNANT woman.
I do admire her designs (plus she endeared herself to me - this is kind of counterintuitive - when someone expressed shock that she was having a 6th child, and she said she'd just 'throw it on the pile with the other 5.'
Kayne:
I feel protective about Kayne - a little like I did about Andrae. I want to smack people when they say mean things about his dresses.
His evening dress came out fabulous! I ADORE the assymetrical corset lacing! (I wonder if it was on purpose.)
Jeffrey:
Oh, just shut up. In the dictionary, beside the word 'tiresome', there is a picture of you.
Michael:
My choice to win. (Not too brave a prediction - it's kind of obvious.)
You'll notice, when Jeffery and Laura are standing in the corner of the work room, analytically abusing the other designers and coldly dissing everyone - including one another - like they're the cool kids in the cafeteria....Michael just keeps draping. Even Vincent and Uli are cracking on the other designers! I'm sure the producers encourage them to, but that's just vulgar.
Michael's dress for this challenge came out excellent, (The judges do not agree!) but I kind of assumed it would (which is the trouble with having distinguished yourself already.)
Plus he just said he was 'sweatin' like a whore in church'!! Extra points from me for that.
Vincent:
I'm very fond of Vincent. His dress looks nice, but I think he'll be out this week, on account of all the glue holding the gown together.
Uli:
all her dresses look alike. I'm bored. Though I must give props to her plus-sized outfit from 2 weeks ago.
I'll publish this now before the winner is announced...
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
blog title envy
But when you're a middle-aged woman who just got six hours of sleep because it's obviously Catastrophe Week at your church and you didn't get the memo with the dates, and your have purple rings under your eyes and your hair is flat and greasy because you just didn't think it was worth the fifteen minutes it would take to wash and blow dry it, you don't want your fun, diversionary beauty magazines to just LIE to you and tell you that this fresh-scrubbed "look" is flattering. Or that it's even a "look." Most of all, you don't want these fun, diversionary magazines to LIE EVEN MORE and list fourteen products that, if you purchase them, will help you achieve this "look," when you know very well that all it really requires in real life is a tub of Vaseline, a set of lights, a genius photographer, and a professional art editor.
Why didn't I think of this?
Beauty Tips for Ministers.
His death is especially tragic when you consider how many people there are on TV who deserve to be attacked by stingrays.
The Crocodile Hunter's death - very shocking. Trust Harry to say the only thing left worth saying.
Harry is also the author of a blog post titled:
"People who like football should be put in boxes and bulldozed into the sea". He doesn't write nearly often enough.
vialaid off dad.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Thursday, August 31, 2006
These Go to 11.
ten notes to myself (and you)
1. www.xmarkjenkinsx.com
2. I get headachey at my computer at work. I think I need to get my eyes checked.
3. I need to figure out what kind of glasses look cool - and will continue to look cool for several years. If indeed it is time for me to get glasses.
4. I must have done all right with the sermon last week, because the boss had me prepare something - a little half-a-sermon thath follows on what he'll be saying - for this week.
5. I think that Chuck Levin's would be a great setting for a reality show.
6. I am so exhilerated by what we are doing at work that I had to go outside and hop around and squeal for several minutes today.
7. This house looks like raging crap. Someone should clean it up.
8. How is it possible that I lost weight while I was pregnant and have gained it since? This is a mystery, and blows.
9. I want to figure out how to post 'behind the cut', as we used to say over at Live Journal; then I could let you all see the text of my sermon without creating the world's most ridiculously long blogger page. So if anyone knows the code for this, please tell me.
10. To heck with this - I'm going to bed.
Bonus: 11. When I say that a certain thing that happens around our house is "driving me crazy", this is NOT a figure of speech. I actually mean that it is effecting my (already rather sketchy) mental health.
1. www.xmarkjenkinsx.com
2. I get headachey at my computer at work. I think I need to get my eyes checked.
3. I need to figure out what kind of glasses look cool - and will continue to look cool for several years. If indeed it is time for me to get glasses.
4. I must have done all right with the sermon last week, because the boss had me prepare something - a little half-a-sermon thath follows on what he'll be saying - for this week.
5. I think that Chuck Levin's would be a great setting for a reality show.
6. I am so exhilerated by what we are doing at work that I had to go outside and hop around and squeal for several minutes today.
7. This house looks like raging crap. Someone should clean it up.
8. How is it possible that I lost weight while I was pregnant and have gained it since? This is a mystery, and blows.
9. I want to figure out how to post 'behind the cut', as we used to say over at Live Journal; then I could let you all see the text of my sermon without creating the world's most ridiculously long blogger page. So if anyone knows the code for this, please tell me.
10. To heck with this - I'm going to bed.
Bonus: 11. When I say that a certain thing that happens around our house is "driving me crazy", this is NOT a figure of speech. I actually mean that it is effecting my (already rather sketchy) mental health.
Monday, August 28, 2006
How did it go?
Well, a lot better than this.
via Ship of Fools, the excellent british church humor site. A significant source of infantile giggling.
In fact, my sermon went just about perfectly - I could not possibly have had a better experience on my first (only?) try at preaching.
via Ship of Fools, the excellent british church humor site. A significant source of infantile giggling.
In fact, my sermon went just about perfectly - I could not possibly have had a better experience on my first (only?) try at preaching.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
This made me LOL
Which reminds me of the story of this evangelist who came up to someone and said,
"Have you heard about Jesus?"
And the guy replied
"Oh no . . . what's He done now?"
from tall skinny
Thursday, August 24, 2006
How do you keep blog readers in suspense?
Sorry.
Because I'm preaching the sermon on Sunday, that's why.
Because I'm preaching the sermon on Sunday, that's why.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
My Hair, again,
Yep, changed it again.
I buzzed and bleached last month, as I mentioned in an earlier post. I picked up July's Vogue a few days later, which showed Stella Tenant, looking super-fabulous and hip, with close-cropped hair aggressively peroxided and dark-rooted.
Again and again, I showed this photo to my hair, trying trying trying to convince it to behave and lay properly and look fashion-forward. With about a pound of product, it would occasionally comply. Most days, though, the combination of platinum, roots and shortness just looked unhygienic and possibly crazy.
Oh, how I wanted to like this haircut. Oh, how I wanted this haircut to be the answer, to become my signature style. So easy to maintain! So fabulously minimalist and European! The people in Vogue look great with dark roots! Linda Evangelista! Debby Harry!
Not me. It is not to be.
So I calmed it down with some dark golden blonde dye, something that bridges the gap between my medium-brown natural color and the 40-power rocker-girl white-blonde that I keep coming back to, again and again, for the last 26 years. I'm sure I'll be back to it again, but not just now.
And do you know why? Do you know why I am trying to look a little less crazy and a little less dirty?
I'll tell you tomorrow.
I buzzed and bleached last month, as I mentioned in an earlier post. I picked up July's Vogue a few days later, which showed Stella Tenant, looking super-fabulous and hip, with close-cropped hair aggressively peroxided and dark-rooted.
Again and again, I showed this photo to my hair, trying trying trying to convince it to behave and lay properly and look fashion-forward. With about a pound of product, it would occasionally comply. Most days, though, the combination of platinum, roots and shortness just looked unhygienic and possibly crazy.
Oh, how I wanted to like this haircut. Oh, how I wanted this haircut to be the answer, to become my signature style. So easy to maintain! So fabulously minimalist and European! The people in Vogue look great with dark roots! Linda Evangelista! Debby Harry!
Not me. It is not to be.
So I calmed it down with some dark golden blonde dye, something that bridges the gap between my medium-brown natural color and the 40-power rocker-girl white-blonde that I keep coming back to, again and again, for the last 26 years. I'm sure I'll be back to it again, but not just now.
And do you know why? Do you know why I am trying to look a little less crazy and a little less dirty?
I'll tell you tomorrow.
Our new filing system
I was looking for the orange roughy in the freezer.
Interestingly, it was behind the orange sherbert.
Interestingly, it was behind the orange sherbert.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
August 11, 2003
...now I'm a Live Journal user. This seems auspicious, although I can think of no logical reason why. But I'm staking my claim in cyberspace.
...My official cry to the universe: the ovulation window is opening soon! I need DNA! DNA, and some new cargo pants.
I missed my blog-aversary. I had thought it was August 22, but I was mistaken.
I got cargo pants later that month, which I still wear. The DNA took a little longer, but, as we all know now, I ended up with precisely what I needed.
So, what do I want to universe to know I need today? Well, my official cry to the universe, three years and 9 days later: I need cash. Babysitting is kicking our ass. Cash, and also sleep.
I'll let you know how it turns out.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Monday, August 14, 2006
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