UK Prep Post #3

Forecast for London: snow tonight, 60 by the weekend? (That's like 11 Celcius or something - I really need to brush up on the metric).

Packing: tricky (see above)

Dollar's exchange rate: woeful

Theatre tickets: SCORED!
Woot!

Children's ipods: loaded. With a lot of nonsense. Super Bowl highlights? Old No Doubt albums? And Spongebob.

Cat: taken care of, thanks to the kindness of friends and neighbors. Will she die? Stay tuned.

Marital relations: a bit strained....but sure to stabilize once we get on the plane.

Fears of jet lag being a major issue: high

Ear plugs for plane: purchased (see above)

Anti-anxiety drugs for plane: none! Bad decision? Stay tuned.

And off we go. Pix and deets upon our return. Oh, and don't even try to break into our house. Our neighbors are super nosy.

Happy Easter 2008

My Easter playlist:

Sunday Morning - No Doubt

Spring Released - Grant-Lee Philips

Jesus of Suburbia - Green Day

Sundays (live) - Lucinda Williams

Cross Bones Style - Cat Power

Birds of Springtime Gone By - Joe Lovano

April Chimes - Grant-Lee Phillips (I know. Twice. But at least I didn't also include "Lily-A-Passion")

Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most - Rickie Lee Jones

Jesus Etc. - Wilco

Don't do Sadness/Blue Wind - Spring Awakening Cast

Messiah, Part II, No. 44 "Hallelujah Chorus" - London Philharmonic

Jesus Walks - Kanye West

March 19, 2008

My happiness is overshadowed, and has been for five years.

Careening Towards 40: Part 2 in a (increasingly limited) Series

I've gotten the following comments on the news that I was turning 40.

"Really? I thought you were wayyyy older than that." (you have to know her)

"Seriously, I took you for no older than 38." (Dude. At least 37?)

"I thought you were in your mid-to-late 30s" (.....)

"When you get a blow-out, you look 35, max." (Right???)


So I am beginning the evening of my last night in the 30s. I'm overwhelmed when I think of all that happened in the last ten years. Not necessarily in a good way. My 20s were a period of intense emotional and personal growth, but a hell of a lot of creativity and fun. That cannot be said of this decade. I know that I am entering the age of more loss - but perhaps more wisdom, patience, and acceptance. I've gotten nothing but positive reviews on the 5th decade.

I'm thinking I'll age gracefully, but with an edge. Kinda cranky, but still lovish. No gray hair, but plenty of wrinkles. Indie rock, but slow jazz on weekends. Same as ever, only better.

The green grits went over much better than the burned heat-shaped pancakes.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Careening Towards 40: First in a (limited) Series

Last night, at a Board meeting for a sweet, tiny non-profit, I was asked to give the fundraising report. I had been pleased that my Board appeal for donations had been met earlier in the night by one member plunking down a $100 bill on the table, so I thanked him first thing -

- by saying, "That's awesome that (name) gave a G-spot".

Obviously, I meant C-note.

Children were present.

I had two vodka tonics after arriving home.

Music Monday

My husband likey VW.

I have only had ears for Handel of late, but I have checked into the Yeasayer. What say you?

We've prayed for rain (literally - they keep doing that in church, which....well, whatever. I don't know that God is like Santa...but maybe so. We don't know, so what's the harm in asking is I suppose the thinking.) Now we're getting it, and apparently massive storms, and 50 mph wind gusts, and freezing temps.

I'm sending my husband and daughter to VIRGINIA to a soccer tourney, whilst my son and I stay here to play HIS game (that will be rained out for sure). I hate dividing the family. I hate thinking of my people spending that money to stay in a hotel room just to hang out with the other soccer parents and not play.

I'm not worried, though! In case you were wondering!!

To take my mind off my troubles, I accepted an invitation from a new friend to watch LOST on her HDTV with TiVO or DVR or some other initial. She lived in Switzerland, and so her advance praise of her own coffee-making skillz lived up to the hype, and I think I pleased her with a scone treat.
Besides being a very fun morning, did LOST not rock your world? JEEZ! I was very pleased, scared, amazed, and confused. Who's on the boat? It could be Michael...is that the conventional thinking? Who else isn't dead? Not that being dead matters at all.

As for the HDTV....Juliet was smokin' in her swimsuit scene and Claire's skin is really nice. I appreciated Ben's facial expressions even more than usual, and Hawaii....well, you know how I feel about that place.

Time for a new telly, honey!

You know, you think you're going to have a nice evening of a beer, some ACC bball, maybe a movie from Netflix, maybe even some nookie. And then you realize that the project is due tomorrow and the child did ask you to help, and it will be soooo much easier to do the hard part when he's asleep, and so you cut a bunch of letters out of tin foil and glue them to fleece-covered boards and take little breaks to play online Scrabble and finish off all the Yuengling. Suddenly, it's 11:00 and all bets are off. On to tomorrow.

UK Prep Post #2

I've enjoyed renting Anthony Bourdain's show "No Reservations". He's bad-ass and too cool and sometimes annoying, but the show itself is interesting and sometimes truly edgy. My children like it a lot, and I think it is fun that we actually have to censor scenes from them sometimes.

The ad for the new season has caught a lot of hype, even from Tony himself. He does look a bit predatory.


At any rate, his London travels aired in February and I missed it, of course. Probably won't be able to Netflix it before we go. But I did read about his picks here.

Prince Harry is such a bad-ass. I really admire his military training, his openness about his family, his hard-partying lifestyle, and now his dangerous service. The rest of you men out there ought to pay attention -- he's making you look soft!

Meanwhile, we ladies have to start polishing, shining, and scrubbing. The competition for attentions will be fierce in coming days.

UK Prep Post #1

I cannot do anything remotely as thorough nor interesting as Melz' Oscar recap, so read hers.

There was competition for my attention on Sunday night, anyway. My friend AV was in the same camp. Apparently, when she came to bed late, her husband asked "what happened?". AV replied, "Oh, Miss Eliza Bennett came to her senses and she and Mr. Darcy declared their love!".

Clooney is not as interesting when he has his cocktail waitress with him. The dresses didn't even rock me. If I had to pick a fave or two I might chose this one, this one, this one, this one, or maybe even this one though SOMEBODY needs to get some stage training if she is going to be an Oscar presenter.

The only time I felt anything akin to happiness during the parts of the broadcast that I watched was when Glenn and Marketa won. The audience was so clearly behind them, too. Melz did acknowledge, and I agree, that James McAvoy's brogue was just as thick as Glenn's. And twice as fine!

For Sunday's movie minute, I'll review the movie I just paid $18 to see, and that was "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert" in Disney Digital 3D. Now, I am too cheap to purchase via Fandango ($4 in service charges is 1/5 of a bottle of vodka saved), so we went a few minutes early and hoped for the best this afternoon. I was worried...., but we went to a run-down, out-of-the-way theatre so as to not run into anyone we know, and it paid off. My daughter and I shared the theatre with...


....no one.

Which was fun as hell. We had much commentary, and no one cared that I had a bit of a stomach issue and thus some gassy emissions. The previews were frequent and some in 3D, , and the concert itself was pleasant. I don't understand the appeal of the Jonas Brothers, but then again, who could have explained, circa 1976, my obsession with Donny Osmond? My daughter doesn't really love them anyway. She really loves Miley, and wants to meet her now, and it breaks my heart. Because she has nothing in common with Miley, meeting stars is really not that fun (believe me), and it is likely never to happen. Normal reaction to her first concert, though...I completely understand and remember that very feeling after my first show. (Even though mine was live, I'm pretty sure the ticket cost was less than this movie we just saw). (I did wear a similar style of glasses in both shows, though).

Anyway, the movie is fun, they show a few backstage moments, and I do believe that Miley actually sings for more than 60% of her show. I like most of the songs, I sang along, and like I said, my daughter left questioning the big issues of fame, famous friends, and a career in carefully choreographed pop stardom. A successful afternoon I would say.

For Friday's movie minute, I thought I would focus on Michel Gondry. I enjoy his films and think he is somewhat of a skewed Hollywood type since his direction doesn't fit one specific mold. And now my minute is about up. So read the following:

The Onion's AV Club article with references to YouTube and Dan Clowes (those two seem like a great match to me).

I'm sure you've seen this article - and either identified with it or been angered. The sentence that interests me most is not about sitting Shiva, but this said of those with Obama Comedown Syndrome (OCS):

"A sense of ennui began to creep through the nation’s Ian McEwan-centered book clubs."

Ahem.

My favorite Lost quote from the hype on Season Four:

Then Ben grabs a gun and tries to shoot Charlotte himself and suddenly all bets are off. Locke is especially furious, because he is the only one allowed to murder rescuers in cold blood. So he turns the gun on Ben, and just as he's about to kill him, Ben offers to tell him ANYTHING, ANYTHING! He has information! Hilariously, Locke turns into an addled online fan of the show and sputters, "What is the monster? The black smoke monster?" Ben, speaking for the writers, has no idea.
- from nymag.com

New York also agrees with me and my husband that the last episode, though focused on my erstwhile favorite Sayid, was not that great. Still, not that great for "Lost" is still pretty damned great.....

....proving to me that tv can be as fun as movies and books, but not all that often. I'm also not as well versed as some of my friends...haven't done the research, anyway.

Over here during Flu Fun 2008, we've seen "Hairspray" twice, "Sense and Sensibility", "The Simpsons Movie" (highly inappropriate for the children but highly HI-larious) Wake Forest BEAT DUKE, lots of "baby shows", we've accidentally chipped a golf ball right at the cat, and fought about science fair projects. I also was able to read "On Chesil Beach", Ian McEwan's latest. Whilst I agree with at least one reviewer (reviews read AFTER I finished the novel, thank you very much) that the two characters are wholly unlikeable and not fleshed out fully, I also think there IS a larger theme in the book. The theme of English repressiveness and the stoic nature of its people and governement, versus the rock and roll it produced and the freedom of the 60s. In my view, one character is one English type and another character the other. The book has comedy and edginess but ultimately it is horrible and sad, and made me cry (just like Emma Thompson in "Sense and Sensibility")...and for a book to do that means I must have found it very fine indeed.

Seen @ mamapop.com

Who is R.G.? Do you think the writers (now employed once again!!) were thinking of this guy?

Here's my Valentine's gift to you - enjoy.

Wouldn't you know that REM is playing in London the very day we travel there? Ah well, maybe I'll bump into Mike Mills in Brixton.