The times are, I hope, a'changin'. I think that there is going to be a not-too-distant mecca when gas-guzzling vehicles are frowned upon, and the government will take responsibility for irresponsible environmental policies and corporate incentives that produce the same. Here is an article the likes of which we will be seeing a lot of in the coming days...if we're lucky: Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him - New York Times

I always talk about Oprah in January, a sure sign that I am in a slump and feeling woeful...but I've maintained a no-watch policy from day one of her nationally syndicated, hugely successful, major barometer of nationals moods talk show. But I do read the magazine. Don't buy it, mind you, but I read it. And I like it. And I think it helps me. And now: my daughter has picked her subject for her Black History Month report. GUESS WHO?

Yeah, I've seen this phenomenon....I actually believed that most of the kids (much younger than me) were letting their friends hear the concert, and of course some are taking pix...of each other no less....but I digress. Stereogum's commenters reveal that sometimes the effect is lovely - as in U2's shows when the uberglows of cell phones look like so many stars in the stadium seating. BUT I WOULDN'T KNOW AS I MISSED THIS TOUR. AGAIN.

But again I digress. I was annoyed as fuck by the cell phone calls and picture taking and this old bag would like to see them banned from all shows. Who's with me?

I ain't sophi-ti-cated or nothin' but I know whats I likes. So here is a great tip for my legions of reading faithful. I enjoyed a bottle with my neighbor, a great appreciator of wine who had a recent switch to vodka (it wasn't my fault! Ok, yes it was). Peppery, yummy, dare I say even tobaccoey? It was not fruity nor a bit presumptious. I loved it and will happily shell out the ungodly sum it costs to get some more.

Party season is almost over... and I couldn't be happier. It has been suggested that I throw a party - but I don't feel like shelling out the cash and the energy. Ideas?

You all know how much seeing a Beyonce video in the mornings can just start your day off the right way...there is a newish one out and her milkshake is better than mine and yours (click on "Check on It" to view). I'm really not a lesbian, though I would play one on tv, and I am a big fan of gay marriage, too - just a big fan of marriage in general.

In my own marriage, my lesbianistic tendencies were challenged last night. Whilst watching my show, I mentioned to my husband that Evangeline Lily has joined the short but distinctive lists of folks for whom, should they visit our fair town, be available, and want me, he should step aside. He countered with a calm and thoughtful, "Actually, I think we could just all live together and make the thing work just fine." O.K.!

Have I mentioned my yoga class? It has been mentally beneficial and somewhat physically so...I definitely have more upper-body strength, though I continue to laugh inside every time the instructor calmly tells us to put our hand, leg, foot, or hip somewhere crazy. I'm getting a little less shocked after 5 months with this woman, but not much.

This woman is just lovely. I have such a crush on her -she's so pretty and lithe, and she tells me to calm my mind and be in the moment and not judge my own practice. I can't do or not do any of those things without her. I've seen her in the real world twice and once she jokingly? accused me of stalking her. I laughed maniacally as of course I would love to stalk her!!! But I won't. She needs to keep learning and growing as an instructor and I would be an annoyance.

The employees at my health club where I take yoga are evil and mean, and a woman at class today accused me of crowding her (one cannot scowl or even yell "BITCH" at a complaining fellow classmate - that is wayyyy too much negative energy in the room). Still, I look forward to seeing my instructor each time and I feel a bit lost without yoga at least once a week. How lucky am I that I can do yoga...and breathe and laugh and have sex and eat good food and see sunshine and pretty clouds and be with people I love. Lucky, appreciative and aware. That's me.

My seven year-old loves it.... it seemed like a skewed, freaky thing - very Todd Solondz but without feces and incest (although there seemed to be some tension between Kip and Rico).

She's pretty hip, this daughter o' mine, but I have kind of a weird feeling after seeing this flick.

I do like one thing about the Yankees, and it is their hair and beard policy. What self-respecting baseball fan among us likes to see long locks cascading out of a cap? Who needs a five o'clock shadow peeking our from the shadow of the brim? It impedes my viewing enjoyment, though apparently not some players' games.

You say "action figure", I say"doll".

Finally, a quiz that speaks to me.

John Lennon was only FORTY when he was gunned down by the obsessed lunatic dude....that was a rude awakening for me. Part of the freakishness of getting older is watching those around you age. Especially children growing up - to not see a certain child for a while and then BAM, they are pre-teen or dating or married - both surreal and annoying. My husband has a hard time aging out of his sports potential. He is soon going to be too old to go to The Show, although maybe not quite yet. At any rate, John Lennon's death is something I remember. I heard about it in my eighth grade locker room that was fetid with new adolesence and blinding with orange polyester gym suits. The impact of his death only hits me with sadness now, now that I am approaching 40. Here's an mp3 to console you and me both.

John Lennon - God

The publishers of "Goodnight, Moon", a book our family has collectivley memorized after many sweetly sleepy readings, have decided to alter a picture of the illustrator to take a cigarette out of his hand. Registration required, but here's a silly take on the silly move by Harper's....Goodbye, Moon - New York Times.

Speaking of vices, I came out of the prison cell also known as our state-run ABC store today....nothing warm or friendly in that place, just older men in red vests giving you the eye and rows of carefully lined up bad and uninteresting licquors.....and was given the disbelieving head shake by a guy with a graying beard outside the store. Whether he was unhappy about the alcohol or by my personal self purchasing it, I'll never know, but he put the voodoo on me. After I got home I opened the car door and my bottle of Stoli's fell out and crashed...vodka spilled down my driveway, mingling with leafy drainage water. Shit, dude! Why'd you have to pick ME?

It's almost our anniversary - what a fun start to the holiday season in 2002! Suprisingly, pictures of my decimated minivan are not featured on this site; perhaps their camera guy couldn't get to our house due to the spider webs of power lines blocking our driveway.

I sometimes think that if that whole event had not happened, Casa Whilst would be in much better financial shape. If my husband's car had been hit, we would be golden. He'd be in some spiffy low-mileage deal that would not now be 10 years old and my car would be almost paid off and a year younger than my current Honda. (And don't forget that my children's windows would be rolling down).

But life hands you lemons and sometimes there's no freaking power with which to make lemonade, and that's ok, because there are other times when a fire glows, everyone is at home, and there's some classic t.v. moment going down.

Fa la la la laaaa, la la la LA!

Rick Springfield is set to return to General Hospital, reprising his role as Dr. Noah Drake. I will not lie: I watched this show as a teen. Everyone else was doing it, there was a character with the same name as me (and it wasn't Bobbie Spencer, there's your hint), and of course, he of "Jesse's Girl" was on the show. I was totally hot for Rick Springfield, I loved his music, and I kept on with the show for him. I don't have too many embarrassing musical vignettes in my history but pining to go see Rick in concert might count as a slight one. Buying that first Mariah Carey album was another, but she had some pipes! As for Rick, I was young and you must admit he was (and is!) attractive. "Jesse's Girl" has a nice hook - as I recall the rest of the album didn't fare quite as well. I remember many a school bus ride through the dilapidated streets of midtown Macon, GA bouncing in the seats with my best friend, squealing like what we were: teenaged girls on the cusp of our sexual awakening. Luckily, we both moved on to another, more musically hip crush not long after.

(did I mention they might be really adorable in black patent?)

If I had a dime for the number of pages I've read from Berenstain Bears books, I'd be - well, I'd have enough to get those new Danskos I'd like to have. So it is with sadness and a dread of telling my children that I report, many hours after you yourself have heard it, that Mr. Berenstain (aka Papa Bear?) has died. Our childhood heroes pass on and it makes us feel older, and we wonder who will take up the mantle. And maybe no one will, so we will weep the harder.

I promise to stop talking about it soon! (Spoiler alert!)

But you gotta love Dan Radcliffe's iTunes playlist!

Hope Thre's Someone.....Antony & the Johns
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels).....Arcade Fire
Man Ray.....The Futureheads
Carrion.....British Sea Power
Buddy Holly....Weezer
Music When the Lights Go Out.....The Libertines
Gouge Away.....The Pixies
Me Ves y Sufres....Hope of the States
What I'm Looking For....Brendan Benson
Boredom (live).....Buzzcocks

Very British but with some appropriate Yank music (and Canadian) thrown in! Old school (good old school even!) mixed with some new buzz bands (British Sea Power and Hope of the States may never be very big but he may have picked a winner with the Futureheads).

Dan, should you ever read this, I'm so proud of you, hon. You have clearly been studying hard, working hard, and listening hard. I hope music offers you a complete release from the pressures of being Harry.

So many things have changed my life temporarily...I throw that phrase around a lot, "it changed my life", but if you can't change what good are you? I had a wonderful, affirming, renewing trip to the city. I think it did my entire family a world of good. And of course I saw GOF and loved it. Maybe even liked it better than the book - the sense of bittersweet endings was so lovingly illustrated in the movie. And as scary as the graveyard scene was in the book I think I was not prepared for the full-on force of malevolence that is my boy Ralph Fiennes. So there's a mini-review for you - of something that didn't change my life for good but made it a tiny bit better. Go see it, if only for this costume.