RIP Lucy

I was saddened to hear today of the passing of Lucy Vodden, who lost her battle with lupus at the age of 46.

I wrote about her, and the song she inspired, in a previous post.

Film Club #0

I recently joined two (count 'em) book clubs and decided to invite you to read along. Well, now I've joined a film club! Our first meeting was tonight. We saw the Jane Campion film Bright Star about John Keats (he is my favorite poet!) and Fanny Brawne (my favorite poet's girlfriend).

I'd like to invite you to join the film club as well. One week from today (on October 2nd) I will post my thoughts about the film here on the blog. That gives you a week to see the movie! If you do, be sure to leave any comments!

Once again, that's

Film Club #1: Bright Star

October 2, 2009

The Emmys 2009

My fingers are crossed for Flight of the Conchords...

Good evening. I am blogging live during the Emmys tonight (That is, on the west coast). I've never blogged live before!

I will update this blog entry during commercial breaks. Feel free to leave any comments!

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• NPH is wearing a white jacket and singing.
• Yay! for Joan from Mad Men!
• Man, Kevin Kline is looking old.
• Catch Me if You Can is coming to Broadway?
• Why are people always making fun of LOST for not really having a theme song?
• Jon Hamm in a tux!!
• Lady Blazers!
• Vanessa Williams won't wear stupid glasses. That was actually probably a good idea.
• I'm not a big fan of Kristen Chenowith, but I liked Pushing Daisies. Actually, I'm not sure that I really liked Pushing Daisies, but I watched it. I like Lee Pace, but mostly from The Fall and that show about the talking statues at Niagara Falls.

More to come after the commercial break!

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• Go Flight of the Conchords for writing... (fingers crossed)...
• Dang.
• Why are awards shows still doing things with the internet as if the internet is new and it's cutting edge to show YouTube videos and have online polls?
• Go Jack McBrayer...
• Dang again. What is up with Ducky's weird stripy vest?

I didn't have a favorite in the first category, but I'm 0 for 2 so far. How are your favorites doing?

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• Justin Timberlake wears glasses? (I like his white tie).
• I like Christina Applegate, even though I never watched her show.
• Sarah Silverman has a mustache.
• And Toni Collette won. (At least it wasn't that chick from Weeds).
• What is up with the weird names those kids from Gossip Girl have?
• FotC loses again :(

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• Rob Lowe would have been on Grey's Anatomy instead of the guy from the pizza-delivery- boy-turns-gigolo movie from the 80's?
• Go Jemaine... (my mom wants Jim Parsons to win)
• And Alec Baldwin wins. Sorry, Mom.
• Kathy Griffin!! :)
• Go Heidi Klum...
• and it's Jeff Probst. I seem to be bad luck.

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• I was hoping Project Runway would win, but my mom likes The Amazing Race. She just called me. She has never heard of Mad Men (!)
• I liked Little Dorritt.
• Was that a clip from Wallander I just saw?
• What ARE half these mini-series/movies?
• I just added Grey Gardens to my Netflix queue.
• That reminds me, it's my sister's birthday. Happy birthday, Sis!

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• I like Brendan Gleeson just fine, but you know I was pulling for Wallander and Kenny B.
• You know what hurts? Practicing guitar all day and then cutting a peach. (That doesn't have anything to do with the Emmys, but I'm eating a peach).
• Go Andrew Davies!...
• Yay! Someone I know won something... but he is not there. Dang.
• People who actually know anything about Dr. Horrible, was that funny?
• Congrats to Jessica Lange for not wearing one of those horrible long-sleeved gowns that some older ladies wear (I'm looking at you, Glenn Close).
• Drew Barrymore is so cute and I love that she's dating the Mac guy.

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• I like the (pink?) dress the lady from Fringe is wearing.
• Great. Now Grey Gardens is going to have "long wait" next to it on Netflix.
• Oh! The director of GG is wearing the white knot! :)
• Are only two miniseries nominated? Anyway, Little Dorritt won. Way to kick the butt of that other mini series.
• I have a Halloween wig that looks EXACTLY like the hair of that blonde from that show about the nerds. Just FYI.
• The Conan writer's facebook ignore thing was funny! The Billy Crystal thing was cute, too.
• Go Kiv and Jorm!...
• and SNL does not win. So so far Andrew Davies won for writing Little Dorritt, and Little Dorritt won and that's about it for my picks.

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• Go "Carol Brown"!!!!! She needs to take that Emmy right onto the bus out of town!...
• Man! I just can't win. Just for the record, Flight of the Conchords is an awesome show and The Lonely Island guys rock.
• That new Ricky Gervais movie actually looks watchable. I vote for Ricky Gervais as best dressed, by the way!
• I just saw Mindy Kaling! You look great, Mindy! I love your blog.
• I can't still vote for Breakthrough Performance of the Year because I live on the west coast and the voting is already closed. Also, the show is taped here on the west coast. Where Hollywood is. I'm just saying.

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• I haven't finished watching the last season of Lost yet, so I hope they don't show any spoilers.
• Go John Slattery...
• Well, Michael Emmerson is cool, too. I'm happy for him. He seems like a genuine guy.
• I like Rose Byrne. You don't need an Emmy, Rose, you were in Marie Antoinette!
• Ah, Sarah McLachlan is singing... it makes me want to donate to the ASPCA.
• I'm not going to make a list of dead people I like, but McGoohan was just the coolest.

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• Did I mention I'm on the west coast?
• OK, Stephen Moyer vs. David Boreanaz? Chime in in the comments.
• Those Mad Men writers who started making out were funny.
• The best hair tonight goes to Johnny Slat.
• Ooh, Simon Baker is in The Affair of the Necklace? I've had that in my Netflix cue for... well, for as long as I've had Netflix. I hear it's terrible.
• Did you know that Marishka Hargatay used to do those creepy little girl beauty pageants ala Toddlers and Tiaras when she was a kid? Also, I don't know how to spell Marishka Hargatay.
• Go Elizabeth Moss...
• And, of course, Miss Moss loses to Glenn Close's long-sleeved dress.
• I have to go to bed in 18 minutes.

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• Dana Delaney is wearing Justin Timberlake's glasses.
• I love Jon Hamm, Hugh Laurie, and Michael C. Hall...
• So, of course, Bryan Cranston wins.
• The final two awards are here!
• So, the nominees for Best Comedy Series are: 30 Rock, Entourage, Family Guy, Flight of the Conchords, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, and Weeds (in bold are the shows I like).
• The winner is 30 Rock. I was rooting for FotC. They didn't win anything tonight, but they may have won something at the Schmemmys, I'll have to look it up online. Isn't the internet great? They should mention it more on awards shows.

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• Sigourney Weaver looks great.
• The Drama nominees are: Big Love, Breaking Bad, Damages, Dexter, House, Lost, and Mad Men (I like the ones in bold).
• The winner is Mad Men! Christina Hendricks, I love you! Everyone looks great. Mad Men really is a fantastic show - I'll have to get my mom to start watching it.
• And it's only 3 minutes past my bed time.

Thanks for hanging in there with me for my first live blog. I enjoyed watching the Emmys with you!

Watching: The Emmys

I'll be blogging live during the Emmys tonight.

If you want to watch with me, keep in mind that I am on the west coast! Or you can always stop by later for a recap!

See you on the red carpet!

MGMT

As I mentioned in this post, I'm trying to like Phoenix (I have their appearance on Conan Tivo'd). Meanwhile, I still love MGMT.

Oracular Spectacular is an amazing record. (Yes, I listen to records). I recently ordered Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix LP because of MGMT. I love the MGMT record so much and it makes me love MGMT so much, that having the vinyl Phoenix must win me over!

I've liked MGMT for a while, ever since I first heard "Time to Pretend" on the radio. It was not like anything on the radio. It was not like any other song I had ever heard. And I don't mean that in the way that "Fireflies" by Owl City or "Handlebars" by the Flobots are unlike any song on the radio - I mean it in a good way. How could you not like the frank tune about guys who just can't help becoming rock stars, marrying models, divorcing models, finding other models to marry, and dying in a pool of their own vomit? (What else can they do? Get jobs in offices and wake up for the morning commute)?

After hearing "TtP" on the radio I turned to YouTube for more info. and ending up loving another MGMT song, "Kids." About a month after that, "Kids" started playing on the radio, and it still hasn't stopped. I must admit that I like "Kids" sightly less after hearing it every day on the radio for the past several months, but there is no quashing my love for MGMT in general.

Their record is excellent. Put a little something in your coffee and have a listening party in your own home at night! Dance around and sing along to "Electric Feel." After all, you're in the prime of your life!

When I discovered that Paul McCartney likes MGMT and that they would open for him on a few tour dates and that he was interested in working with them in some kind of Fireman capacity - I was thrilled! Go MGMT!

Ras Trent

This is the fifth in a series of blog entries about songs picked at random from my itunes library. For the post on the last song, "Hole to Feed" go (here). For "Every Little Thing" go (here). For "No Surprises" go (here). For "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (Love Version)" go (here).

"Ras Trent" is a song by the Lonely Island, a group made up of Andy Samburg (from Saturday Night Live) and SNL writers Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer. Go to their Blogger blog (here). I like them. I went to see Nick and Norah's Something or Other Playlist in the theatre because Andy made a 3o second cameo as a rapist homeless guy.

"Ras Trent," like many of the Lonely Island songs, was featured as a Digital Short video on SNL. It was funny at the time but the odd thing is, it's still really funny. I haven't gotten over it yet (unlike "D in a box"). It's also cool to sing to in the car, if no one is around. It will make you feel like a boss.

The song is sung by Andy in the guise of a white college guy who thinks he is Rastafarian. His roommate is a ball head (have you ever noticed how they suck?), his parents are bomboclats, he watches Murder She Wrote and has rollerskates, etc.

My favorite lines include (but are not necessarily limited to):

"Oh hot stepper/You do so many dutty crimes/plus you're fully skylarking all the time"

"Are you there, Jah? It's me, Ras Trent"

and the gem,

"Me toil part-time at Jah Cold Stone Creamery"

Ah, college.

Book Club #0

Would you like to join a book club?

Well, now you can join mine and you don't even have to live in L.A.!

I recently joined a book club. When I told my friends at work about it, they wanted to start a book club, too (which I also joined). So now I'm in two book clubs. I plan to post an entry for each book club book here the day before my meetings. If you want to join, just read the book and check out my blog on the right date! Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.

The following are the first two selections + dates:

Erased by Jim Krusoe (Monday, October 6th)

Sophie's World by Jostein Gaardner (Monday, October 13)

Happy Reading!

Followers of my Blog: Wear Sunscreen

In honor of Baz Luhrmann's birthday...

Remember ten years ago?

Swing dancing was big thanks to Brian Setzer and khakis? JFK Jr.'s tragic passing? The debut of The Matrix, SpongeBob Squarepants, and Napster?

Well, 1999 was also the year of Sunscreen. I don't mean the product you put on your skin to protect you from the sun (that was supposedly developed by a chemist in 1938) but the hit song, "Everybody's Free (to Wear Sunscreen)" credited to Australian director Baz Luhrmann (he of Romeo+Juliet and Moulin Rouge fame). It was played on the radio non-stop for a time when I was in college - Everyone in the car would stop talking and listen to the entire song. It was timely. It was apropos. It was weird.

I was reminded of this spoken word tune today and, while I'm not going to re-print the entire speech (which is available, among other places, here and has its own Wikipedia entry - of course - here) I will print all the advice that consists of only one word. Pay attention, class of '99:

Sing.

Floss.

Stretch.

Travel.

There you have it. Want to listen to a version of the song? You can get the 2007 "remix" on itunes from the Romeo+Juliet soundtrack. If you can find it, the original radio edit is much better (Ah, for the days of Napster...)

I may not believe that growing up in Northern California has made me soft...

...but trust me on the sunscreen.

I Want to Like Phoenix

Phoenix is an alternative rock band from France (they sing in English).

Their website is We Are Phoenix.

I want to like them. They sound like such a cool band. I like the story of their rise to success (their songs more or less don't get played on the radio in France because of laws restricting the amount of non-French music on the air). They were cool in the interview I heard on the radio this morning - they have cute accents. So, I'm trying to like their songs, but I keep not paying attention when they are on.

Can you force yourself to be a fan of a certain band and their music?

Things I Said Today...

"Is anyone else here confused about the Duck situation?"

More Bento

Last week, I posted about bento. Bento is a Japanese style lunch packed in boxes. I often bring a bento style lunch with me to work (above is a picture of my lunch wrapped in a Japanese furoshiki - you can use a scarf or handkerchief).

I recently discovered the site I Love Obento (here) which has tons of cute bento boxes you can look at or buy (I haven't bought anything there, though).

Despite how much I love bento, I don't use a bento box. First of all, Japanese bento boxes tend to be small, leaving you hungry after lunch. Also, bento boxes can be hard to clean every day, especially if you don't have or dishwasher, or you do but do not run it every night. I have found a much better alternative - GladWare containers.

GladWare containers are reusable/disposable tupperware-like containers with lids. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can be mixed and matched easily. I like to use the small round containers with the screw-on lids and the small square containers, mostly.

Yesterday I brought some leftovers for my lunch. I had salad, pasta (it was gnocchi) and garlic bread for dinner - saving some of the pasta and half of the salad for my lunch. I put the salad (with a little container for the dressing) in the square container, and some of the pasta into the small round container. I stacked the round container on top of the square one, put a plastic fork with them, and wrapped it all in my furoshiki. Then I put it all in the fridge.

At lunch, I put the container of pasta (with the lid half-off/half-on) in the microwave at work for a few minutes, put the dressing on the salad, and my lunch was ready! I even used the furoshiki as a cloth to put on my desk so I wouldn't make am mess.

The best part is, after lunch I cleaned out the containers, wrapped them up again, and took them home to use for my next lunch. If I were to accidentally forget to wash them out, though, for say, a few weeks - I could always dispose of the containers instead of having to face what has been growing inside - you can't do that with your expensive Hello Kitty imported bento.

I may not be using an authentic bento box, but my furoshiki is cute and everyone admires my Japanese style lunches. It also makes lunch fun and cute! The best part is, I can almost always use leftovers, so I don't have to cook or buy special food just for my lunch - or eat the food from the cafeteria!

Things I Don't Want to Buy From Urban Outfitters

WWPJD?

To be fair, here is a list of things I do not want to buy from my favorite shopping website - Urban Outfitters.

#1 Pocket Jesus

Colorful, but no. (see the picture, above). They don't sell this anymore.

#2 Vinyl Record Frame, Box, Coasters, Bowls, etc.

Records are for listening to, not for making picture frames, random boxes, and dishes out of. The coasters are a little bit cool, though.

#3 Shoe Form Hook

This is like something off a serial killer's wall. They don't sell this anymore, but here is a hand version.

#4 Bacon Floss

It's bacon flavored/scented dental floss. Yuck. It is also available in cupcake flavor, which is still not OK.

#5 The Dirty Mug

You need to see the picture. I work hard to keep my mug from looking like this.

#6 Brass Pencil Can

It is a can. It costs twenty dollars.

#7 Poo Log

No.