Nip/Tuck-Another Guilty Pleasure

Does anyone watch Nip/Tuck? This is my second year really getting into the show, and it's alot of good dirty fun. Dark to be sure, but fun.I love Julian McMahon.

Post Show Blahs

Ok, I'm happy that Lauren gets to go to Paris (natch) but enduring that post show, especially with Ian teasing me the entire half hour, was like getting a tooth pulled, I thought we were going to find out something salacious, all Lauren's 'big' announcment is that there's more of The Hills in Paris...oy.

My Guilty Pleasure of the last two days...The Hills

I sort of watched absentmindedly this year's season, but then the other night I watched Lauren's recap from her perspective from the past three years, and I kind of liked it; she definitely made some bad choices, and that's part of the (guilty) appeal, I guess. So tonight I'm watching the season finale. And I don't know if anyone caught a spoof of that dumb-as-a-brick post Audrina and her bf of one second, Justin, done by James Franco and the girl from That 70s show, that was funny!

Holiday Meme

A Holiday Meme

Scary, Roe, many of my answers are exactly the same, so those I left as is!

1.) Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate... no question.

2.) Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa wraps them very nicely at first, and then it becomes a mission to just get the damned things covered in paper of some sort.

3.) Colored lights on tree/house or white? Colored!

4.) Do you hang mistletoe? No, but then again, I don't need mistletoe as motivation to smooch loved ones!

5.) When do you put your decorations up? About a week or so before Christmas, we go with Ian's parents to buy our trees! Nothing beats the smell of a fresh tree in the home.

6.) What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? I'm a traditionalist; turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing... it's Thanksgiving part deux.

7.) Favorite Christmas memory as a child? Getting a hand-held Casio synthesizer from my grandad that I'd wanted.

8.) When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I still believe!

9.) Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Usually we do a gift swap Christmas Eve with my mother in law's side of the family, so a little bit.

10.) How do you decorate your Christmas tree? My favorite ones are these pewter ornaments we received from Ian's Uncle Peter & Aunt Patti years ago, with the story of "T'was the Night Before Christmas,"on them, along with any ornaments Amanda made.

11.) Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love snow, dread the slush that follows shortly thereafter.

12.) Can you ice skate? I haven't since high school. I still love roller-skating, though!

13.) Do you remember your favorite gift? I'd have to say the keyboard was great, along with 2XL! (Now I'm really dating myself, a la 8 track tapes!) And Atari, of course! I spent many blizzard days playing Berzerk!

14.) What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being surrounded by family and friends. It's like the one time a year you can tell your friends how much you love them without sounding sappy.

15.) What is your favorite holiday desert? All desserts are fair game here, pumpkin, apple pie, cheese cake, pecan pie, pudding pie, anything with a buttery crust!

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Decorating our tree and drinking hot chocolate with tunes on; going to the holiday shows at school; our Pizza w/Santa event at school, where Ian and his brother have helped Santa over the years. This gets me every time.

17.) What tops your tree? Actually on a mission this year to get something new in the star family. I think.

18.) Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving!

19.) What is your favorite Christmas Song? Everytime I hear the Peanuts' gang sing "Christmas Time Is Here" I get weepy.

21.) Favorite Christmas Movie? "A Christmas Carol," probably with Albert Finney best, with Patrick Stewart is good also. I've also seen live w/Frank Langella and others, love to read it, pretty much any version.

22.) What do you leave for Santa? Cookies & milk.

D2 Spotting in NYC

Oh Roe, where were you when I needed you today? I was way over on the West Side for an interview, slowly walking back crosstown and who do I see walking along Seventh and 58th but Simon Le Bon! He was very slim, wearing bright green pants, a dark jacket, with a shorter, modest looking woman (some assistant, I guess), looking a little confused. He was carrying a Build A Bear Bag with a smaller Henri Bendel bag inside. I wrestled with my inner 12 year old and decided I couldn't let the opportunity pass with out saying something. I watched him go into a camera store, briefly looked around and when he came out I went "Hi Simon!" and he turned around without missing a beat to say 'allo!" I went on to say I've been a longtime fan, how it's good to see them back in New York and that I'm looking forward to the new album (guess I'm dating myself with THAT comment). He was smiling and said "Oh that's very kind of you," and patted me on my arm, because I was too stupefied to offer a handshake. Then we nodded and went about our ways. Then I walked a few blocks giggling like an idiot. It was a good day. Now if only I could bump into John...

Saturday Afternoon

Ian and I went to see Dan in Real Life on Saturday, and it was such a hilarious pleasure, at the same time sad. I love Steve Carell and the career he has carved for himself. Some critics had issues with the 'perfectness' of the family-Ian and I were grateful that (for once) the family portrayed was-functional! The cast is excellent-my lovely dream alter ego, Juliette Binoche,whom I have admired for years, as his love interest; Emily Blunt in a small but sexy, hilarious cameo; Dane Cook, as Dan's younger brother; and Dianne Wiest and John Mahoney as Dan's parents.

Crunch Time

Tonight Amanda, her bffl Nora, her mom and I went to an Open House at Brooklyn Tech (this year will mark my 20th anniversary) and didn't get back until after 1030pm or so. It was as great as I'd remembered, except that many of the old teachers were retired now, but the spirit was still apparent in all the students. The school now offers some new majors, too, like law and medicine. We've also been to Molloy and St. Francis Prep. She has the specialized hs exam this Saturday and her TACHS exam Nov. 10. Basketball practice tomorrow and a game on Sunday. I'm wiped!

Empty Spaces

So, Monday I decided to take a day to clear my head, walking for hours from the 20s down to SoHo, and back up again, it was a sunny day and I felt like walking. In my travels I noted that not 1 but three of my haunts are now gone, no mas:

Tower Records (this may have disappeared earlier, but I'd forgotten)
Dallas Texas BBQon 8th Street and Fifth Avenue-this wrecked me the most-i know it's silly-it's a bbq joint-but I have SO many memories in that place-ate there my first day at my first job at Postermat when I was 16 (well actually I took it to go and ate it in Washington Square Park); clung to the toilet once after too many champagne glasses at a nearby art show during my early college days; Ian suffering from an attack of sun poisoning in the basement, slapping cream on his itching back, as Marc and I then rushed him over to St. Vincent's Hospital...countless meals there with my mom, sometimes also with my grandmother...dinner with Ian's cousin after catching her in a show at the Papp Theatre, to a recent dinner with Chris and Lauren on their first meeting with Dan and Marty from WOW...
and Tennessee Mountain-the least important on the list, used to frequent there during my Union days...once had lunch alongside David Krumholtz (Numbers).


At work yesterday, I called home to check messages and heard a message I'd been expecting for some time but was saddened to hear-my childhood best friend's father passed away the day before, after a nasty fight with intestinal cancer. He'd had surgery several years earlier, but it returned with a fatal vengence. I was happy to visit him a few weeks back, made him laugh, as we recalled some silly stories of yore, once he took my friend and I to Atlantic City for her 21st birthday in a stretch limo. I remember him cooking curry in the house as a child. Until the next life, Victor, you are loved and missed...the other odd little detail in this is that his passing is one day after my father's, Oct. 14, making it five years. I love and miss you, daddy.

New Radiohead Tracks On Oct. 10

Can't wait! I'm curious to see what this experiment holds, this could revolutionize the whole music industry...I love 'em.

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1666973,00.html

My blog look du jour

This is my look of the moment, I have to see how long I'll keep it. I love the colors and the pic...Ian helped me with this. Strangely though, I do not have the guts to write Media Whore on top of a photo of Paris, that I love (even though we had a really cool font chosen). So, I have to see if I'll change the name of the blog to say something else, change the picture, even though I love Paris, or maybe leave as is, with no Media Whore on it.

Did anyone go over to TMZ or on Superficial to see Danny Bonaduce throw Johnny Fairplay (a Survivor runner up) literally over his head...I mean the guy had it coming, don't get me wrong, but it makes for interesting entertainment...I think his front teeth got knocked out.

Pushing Daisies

I was excited to hear that this show is from the same person who did Dead Like Me (Amanda's favorite show) and Heroes, Bryan Fuller (apparently he did stuff back in the day too for Deep Space Nine, probably my favorite of the Star Trek shows.) Stylistically, it takes liberal doses from one of my favorite movies, Amelie, so I sure don't have a problem with that. I loved in the pilot how two of the main characters, who could not touch each other, held their own hands behind their backs, pretending to hold the other's. I thought is was very funny and romantic.

Customizing Templates

Does anyone know how to do this? Ian is offering to cheat and help me out, I've been trying on my own...I've seen a million other blogs on Blogspot with customized fonts, layouts, etc, other than the basic 20 or so layouts they offer. I switched my layout to another, but it's temporary. Lots of other stuff I want to do here, have to figure it out.

Eastern Promises

Talk about edge-of-your-seat flicks. This was an excellent, tense film from beginning to end. Viggo Mortensen completely immerses himself in this character, or as Ian put it, really (literally) throws himself into the role. Not for the faint of heart. Definitely worth seeing if you get a chance. Story resolved bit different than I expected it to, but that's ok, still good ending.

A Trip to the Library

I went to the Forest Hills library today, which had been closed for some time for renovations, to get a book for one of Amanda's assignments. It now has a room of computers for internet access, new floors, DVDS are now on alphabatized shelves, but more interestingly, you can now check out your own books-slip your card in a slot, and place your items on a small surface-all at one time, that scans em in, print out your receipt, and that's it. Bags are free now, too! If this is ancient news, and I've just been out of the loop, I apologize.

On the way out, I saw a book called "Life on the "Refrigerator Door: Notes Between a Mother and Daughter." I liked the premise, so I took it. I didn't think to thumb through the book-it is entirely comprised of refrigerator notes. I was skeptical that the book could offer much, but a very short read away, it made me cry. I realized that the brevity of the writing suits it, kind of like the situations life can throw, sometimes there's no time to react.

Gossip Girl

Did anyone catch it? I admit with shame that I did, strictly out of curiosity for the hype, (I am the media whore, after all) and I love the song that they kept playing in the commercial, "Something to Believe In" by Aqualung.

So, aside from the fact that it's not my age range, and I never ran with the rich or popular crowd (more Freaks and Geeks), Serena is sort of a likeable character, made a mistake, tried to clean up her act and is back in town. She has a streak of being genuine, amidst all the phonies. The phantom Gossip Girl that narrates I can do without, EXTREMELY annoying. Lose her! Let the characters gossip. Then again, I guess that would mean losing the show's premise, and deviate from the books the show is based on.

I know some critics are talking about how shocking it is to see sex and drugs, in a high school scenario, on tv, but I remember sitting in a class once in junior or senior year and a group of the popular/druggie kids giggling, having a discussion about who gave who crabs. This stuff goes on, not only at the rich uptown schools.


There's a cute guy, Dan, who played the 'geek' guy in "John Tucker Must Die" (I thought was way cuter than John Tucker, anyway), except this time he's got really short hair instead of his curly locks.

There's a despicable character who tries to date rape or screw anything that walks, including a 14 year old girl, that was disgusting. Luckily her brother Dan and Serena come to the rescue.


Anyway, don't expect substance here. I don't think I'll watch that closely, but it can't be worse than watching 'reality' television on VH1 or anything...

The Glass Castle

For those that love memoirs, Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle is an amazing read. She has been a gossip columnist on !E and a contributor to MSNBC, just recently resigned to continue with her writing. The book is an account of her childhood (she is one of four) with brilliant but troubled parents-her mother an artist and her dad, a genius at math and engineering, but a drunk. Neither can hold down a job. They live in the dessert, in Vegas, Phoenix, and Virginia in shacks, shantytowns-in some places with no plumbing. They give their children so much yet so little at the same time. One Christmas when they were little, they didn't have any money, so their dad gave them each a star; Jeannette chose a planet, Venus. Years later, their dad steals money three of the kids had been saving to move to New York, to go out and get drunk. I strongly recommend reading this book. Walls' pluckiness will make you laugh your ass off and her candor will make you cry at the same time.

The Two Coreys

I never thought I'd say this, but I watched A&E's bio on Corey Haim and Corey Feldman and now I've been watching the series, The Two Coreys, and I have to say it's very endearing, not to mention hilarious. I used to think they were so obnoxious in their heyday, but now I find them kind of cool.

Maine

While Stacey and Adam made a romantic rendezvous in Jamaica, we took a more family-friendly but still fun trip with the 'rents to New Harbor, Maine. We shared a house with them on the water and brought along one of Amanda's buddies. Here they are looking angelic on a Puffin watch cruise. It was really nice, actually, they shopped (of course), went to the beach, and learned how to play gin and eat lobster. It's nice once in a while to forget what day or time it is.

Unabashed Francophile

I wanted to encourage you to take a peek at some of the photography I found at this blog I added a link to at right, Paris Et Environs, by this guy Jimmy, some if it is just stunning. I recently went to see the movie about Edith Piaf's life, La Vie En Rose, which was amazing and SO sad...just made me reminisce about Paris, I guess...

I'm also adding a few pix from our trip to Paris in 2002, I can't get over how small Amanda is here (specifically at Versailles in first two)...sigh...have to go back...








It's a rare day I nail it, and while it is blurry, it's still one of my favorite, endearing photos of Ian and Amanda together...




one of my favorites of Ian...

Go, Lady Jokers!

Here's a pic of Amanda and some of her teammates from her awesome basketball team, Lady Jokers! We've done lots of travelling this year, and came in third in our division at the Junior Nationals at Hershey, where this was taken. One night I had five girls sleeping in my room! Now we're off to a 10 game round of tournaments that will be played at Christ the King. We also got to go to Hershey Park, our first time and enjoyed some fireworks. What a great place! Reasonable, too. We went for the sunset admission, 5-10pm, got on everything, for $24. I've got a fireworks pic too that I'll post shortly.

Girls' Investment Club

Hey All,

I was watching The View this morning, and thought these guys had a great concept,

www.chickslayingnesteggs.com

It's a pool of women that invest $50 each a month, and 4x a year (to accrue a chunk of cash to invest) they buy/sell stocks.

What do you think? Maybe we could start something like that, doesn't seem too painful on the pocketbook, could be fun and profitable for us all (as an aside to all our own personal 401K stuff). We'd need to so some research. Let me know if there's interest.

Highlights of our Lives

I was watching the series finale of Gilmore Girls tonight, where Rory got to meet her idol, Christiane Amanpour. This was a wonderful episode through and through, tying up the ends, and rather than an overly written script, let crucial moments shine with few or no words, like Lorelai by Rory's bedside the night before she leaves to report on Obama's campaign trail. Or the loving exchange between Rory and her best friend Lane, or the moment when Lorelai realizes all Luke did to help make Rory's bon voyage party come to fruition.

Then, something better happened. I went online and found out one of my good buddies from college is now a doctor. I still can't believe it. I was explaining the final process to Amanda, how Chris gave a dissertation, was questioned for an hour, then was asked to leave the room for a bit, and when he went back inside, his peers gave him the title of Dr. What a wondrous moment.

Thank God for these times. Even though they are not mine, I certainly can share in the thrill of accomplishment for another, real or virtual, as'my Rory' has grown up. I have moments like this with Amanda all the time, when she writes a great paper (she now wants to be an author), makes a wicked lay up, or does a kind deed, like treating a friend who is being shunned by others in her class as a friend, because she has some seriously scary issues at her door. I'm trying to figure out what might happen when the girl comes over on Friday. I hope to find the right words, or right way to be. If I do, that'll make my day, and hopefully hers.

GG Fest?

Amanda was suggesting we get a group of us to do a GG Marathon one day, what do you think? We'd have to pick our faves of each season to condense...

GG Blues

"It can't be ending!"
That was Amanda as she and I curled up on the couch in sandwich fashion to watch tonight's episode, on edge when we saw Logan go to propose...I can't believe I've watched Rory graduate high school and college, I was just as teary eyed when her grandparents sang to her, or when Paris hugged her on graduation day. Tonight's episode was great, dammit!

GG Going!

I just read in the Post today that GG's series finale is May 15! Contracts hadn't been going well with the girls, I think they're relieved that it's going to end, although now I'm dying to see how it's going to all wind up, and feel a little bit sad that one more thing I've enjoyed with my kid (and my friends) is going to end.

GG Back in Fine Form

I have to say I thought this week's episode was one of the best I'd seen in a while. I was sort of dreading it at first because I'm against the whole Logan proposal thing, but that was just a small part of it. I love that Rory's finally facing some realistic hardships as school comes to an end; I really want her to strike out on her own, as our present day version of Mary Tyler Moore. I know Logan is trying so hard, but...clearly Lorelai seems freaked out. But the other story lines with Lane and Zach and the chemistry that is still there between Lorelai and Luke...I got a little queasy when I heard what she was singing at karaoke, I just knew he was going to walk in!

Longing to return to Paris

I've been watching the 1,000 Places To See Before You Die series on the Travel Channel, and the most recent one was on France. I have to return to Paris to visit Montmartre; it's the one spot I didn't get to see that was the main location in Amelie, on of my most favorite films ever. My neighbor recently went there and I asked her to go to a store we went to on the Left Bank to get me a couple of things, I was so excited when she returned.

WE Channel Should be ME Channel (but not about me personally)

In a rare moment of downtime, I sat on my couch and did a little channel surfing. I stumbled onto the WE Channel, which was showing back to back episodes of a program called The Secret Lives of Women...sounded intriguing enough.

The first one was on swingers-all women were in charge of coordinating the swap parties, all from California. Strangely enough, the men had hardly any say in this show. The second one was on the porn industry-almost all California (one married actress was from Long Island, who seemed genuinely sad at the fact that she never made it as a ballerina, with children, seemed to have the most remotely 'normal' life...given the fact that she's in porn)...the next one was on plastic surgery addicts, from , you guessed it, California...one poor guy was selling his famly's dream home to pay for his wife's obscene plastic surgery bills...the next one was on shopaholics, women who aren't working or who are hardly working filing bankruptcy and racking up thousands in debt while shopping, for many items they don't even use once.


This was like watching a train wreck. I couldn't stop watching it, but these women's selfish appetite for destruction was disgusting. They were all so self-absorbed. I thought the show might suggest how these women are empowered, but they are truly the weakest links, and their husbands/partners aren't far behind, bankrolling their vices.

"Talk Radio" Disappoints-Schreiber Shines

I managed to get tickets through work to see Liev Schreiber in "Talk Radio" on Broadway tonight, an old Eric Bogosian film from the 80s that was directed by Oliver Stone. Now, I never saw the original, and loving Liev Schreiber, I was pretty confident that this was going to be fantastic. It's a story about a radio shock jock talk show personality that is on the verge of going into national syndication, and is told that on this night to spice his show up a bit to impress the big bosses.

Let me preface what I say next by saying that Schreiber is and continues to be one of the best actors of this generation. I saw him in a production of Harold Pinter's "Betrayal" with Juliette Binoche a couple of years ago, he's been in many films (I got a kick out of him in "Daytrippers"), and most recently he did a stint on CSI. The guy gives 110%, and so did the rest of the cast. He was living/breathing (and chainsmoking) this character. The set was perfect. And on this night, a special treat-standing by us on our way into the theater, together, were Stockard Channing and Dana Delaney (Rizzo and the China Beach chick). They're tiny! We had great orchestra seats, too.

Anyway, the show's true detriment lies in that this character is supposed to thrive on provoking others when discussing current events. But mentions of George Bush as president, nuclear war, "Big Brother" or even the "punk" teen listener character that is brought onto his show pulled Ian and I right out of it. I felt Schreiber's character's impact could have been tenfold if they rewrote it with current events-God-there's such a cornucopia to choose from-the war in Iraq, 9/11 and post 9/11 climate, the internet, Katrina; that to keep 'true' to the original timeline of when this story was written seems false. I guess it was intentional, but it didnt'help here.

There were timeless issues touched upon-racism, how some people are media-loving whores but have no sense or care of current events, love, but not nearly enough. And this is where the show lost its magic for me. I had been so psyched to see it and it was such a highbrow crowd that for a second I thought there was something wrong with me that I wasn't blown away when it ended. Then the whole train ride home Ian and I were in total agreement about it.

Alas, we still had a great night out, even found a great N'awlins cuisine place on Ninth that didn't break the bank called Delta Grill.

Like Fine Wine...

Christian Bale just keeps getting better with age. This is from the cover of the new GQ.

Snapshot

My daughter was playing with the camera when a friend was over and I just thought this was a really cool photo. Sigh. It all goes so fast.

Britney's Bald!

Alright, I was sure my daughter misheard or saw a doctored image when she called me en route to a birthday party to tell me that Britney Spears shaved her head, but apparently not. Check out AOL or The Superficial and you'll see the photo.

Feeling Nostalgic

Eighties have been back for some time now...clothes, music, and that suits me fine. Now there's talk of Van Halen coming back together and doing a 40-date tour! http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003537232

Anyway, been enjoying to listening to Old Duran Duran on the ipod, and I must say the quality of the music is so much better than yesteryear, I popped my Rio CD into the computer to convert to MP3 files, and there's just all these little subtle sounds in the music I didn't really hear before. It's really nice.

Having been shacked up at home most of a week with the cough/cold from hell, I forced myself out to go dancing (briefly )on Friday night with Ian-I didn't drink, I just wanted to shake this thing out of my system, and went to Culture Club again...as we got by the club I heard blasting U2's "I Will Follow." and then when we got inside it was Blondie. It was a fun night.

On one of my bored days, I was Googling for Duran images and came upon this site, www.duranduranunseen.com. Enjoy!

Tearfest

I've been home the past two nights with a heinous cold, so perhaps I'm a little vulnerable to winter/sunlight depravity, but I bawled like a baby watching Gilmore Girls when Luke spoke out at his trial about why he wants to be in April's life. Then I bawled again when I heard Lorelai's character reference letter. Then I bawled yet again watching an excellent episode of House, where House is kept 'in a room' with a rape victim, while Dr. Cameron stays with a terminally ill man. My daughter asks for how I'm doing. Oh boy, here we go again.

As I Get Older...

I find that there are certain things in life that you just can't scrimp on....


Good coffee...as the saying goes, life is too short for bad coffee..
Butter...good butter can either make or ruin whatever it is on...
A good bag...I found 'the bag' today...I looked so long and hard for the right size and color (blood red, not that pink red you see all over)...but it is beautiful!
Wine...it doesn't have to be expensive so much, but my days of coolers are over!

I know there's more to add to this list that I'm blanking on, feel free to add your comments.

A-E-AEIOU-U-AND SOMETIMES Y!

God, this is the best song! It took forever to find. I kept thinking it was by Ebn Ozn, but that is a different song. The classic version (well better version) that I love is by Freeze. Lovin' having my iPod back again.

The holidays are over (thank God!) and now it is time to seek out music.