Random Musings

Do you want to see Helen Mirren in a bikini? THE ANSWER IS, YES, YOU DO. Good gravy! Like the Fug Girls, I, too am in love.

Do you want to see "The Dark Knight"? I do, and yet am scared, and yet if I can sit through most of "Children of Men" (a recent rental) I think I can. Reviews of interest here, here, and here (though I truly hate our paper's reviewer at the moment. Why all the Will Smith hate, Craig Lindsey???)

The Olympics always tire me out. One more thing to do, and one more excuse to not exercise - instead, I watch fiercely competitive, passionate people in amazing shape go out and do dramatic physical feats whilst sitting on my ass. Still, one is inspired by Dana Torres, if only because she is 41 and a mom. I don't believe the doping semi-hype. I think she just rocks.

The New Yorker, my only source of cultural reference for many years and a magazine I've subscribed to since I was less than 30, is getting some major criticism over this week's cover. My copy hasn't come yet. My newspaper columnist friend has weighed in, and my mother-in-law left a message this morning bemoaning the offensiveness of the cover and her desire to quit her subscription in protest. Anywho, the artwork seems to be in bad taste, but I would agree that perhaps it might have gone a bit under the radar had Obama's campaign not brought it up at all. We'll see how I feel when I hold the issue in my hands.

We're gone for a week. The cat is well cared-for, we have folks staying in our house whilst we are gone so don't even think about it, and there is rain forecast for my new plantings. Goodbye, and good luck.

MORE Happiness! Rocky rocky!

The album is due September 13.

Another Reason to be Happy

I found, via about four other websites, a treatise on How to Be Happy.

See #1. And my own personal fave would be #3, but you probably know that about me.

During this session of Camp Grandma, we've had three delish dinners and feel very much at ease with one another. It's crazy how you forget a lot about the person you are married to when you run a cab service/diner/laundromat.

We had tasty but surprisingly expensive Indian food from our fave place in town. UTI, I know you react badly when spicy food is introduced, but I don't care. Chicken Tikka Masala forever! That night we watched "Juno", which I had already seen. I repeat that the supporting players damn near outshine the cute and perky Ellen Page.

The second night was the big night out. I rested all day hoping to be up for it, put on a newish frock, and we went downtown. We checked in on my hubby's new building, then went to Fins. Thank God my boss had given me a gift certificate for my birthday. Sheesh, was it pricey - but worth every penny. The atmosphere is so chic, the service so unobtrusive, the food so ridic....and me, just in from Chi-town and New York! I daresay we had my fave meal EVER in the Triangle that night. We went to The Mint for dessert, which was fun and bar-hoppish, but I wish we'd stayed at Fins, in retrospect. I did enjoy my lemon verbena creme brulee but the green tea biscotti tasted a bit like seaweed.

Oh, so what did we have at Fins: the Thai snapper for him, the mango-salad Sea Bass deal for me, the hot pot appetizer selection of a Thai soup with shrimps. GOOD FREAKING TIMES.

Last night we had to go to a soccer meeting for my daughter's team, which was crazy, but it made us feel like we deserved another expensive night out. We went back to a tried and true place, Margaux's, which has been around since we got married in '92. They even had vintage menu items from '92 as choices! I got another great piece of fish but wow, was it filling with a She-Crab bisque surrounding it. My husband got duck. I love duck. I love all the cute animals.

So today I'm hopin' and prayin' he comes home from work early and we can go see "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and laugh and relive our Hawaii trip, and then get a LIGHT dinner with NO alcohol (eesh I'm a bit hungover from a very tobacco-y Zin last night).

I promise to get back to bitter, angry, and edgy posting next week sometime.

Because I am a nice wife, I will occasionally jazz up our Netflix queue with a boy movie, especially after a slew of costume dramas. I was very, very brave last week to watch, in its entirety, ""I Am Legend".

I didn't expect to completely adore it.


Will Smith is a pretty thing to see. I've always liked him, despite the Scientology rumours and his way of naming children. He and his wife seem on equal footing, they work well with the ex-wife apparently, and I love that a black man in Hollywood gets the recognition and money that white actors have claimed for so long. I mean, look at them!

But. To single-handedly carry along a plot line - and a crazy one at that - for at least an hour of a major film. That is something that few have done - Tom Hanks comes to mind. I remember a New York friend telling me, after seeing "I Am Legend" in the theatre, that she wished she "hadn't seen my city in that state". I can understand - the shots of Manhattan completely uninhabited, wild, and decaying are amazing and horrible. Still, one can't take their eyes off of Will Smith. He's believeable as a military medical genius, he's believable as a survivorist, he's believable as someone whose sense of self is slipping away.

That said, the movie falls off at the end. The questions of faith and science are nice touches (a la "Lost), and without spoiling it for you I can reveal that other characters appear in various states of humanity. The way the movie MIGHT have ended, however, is highly preferable.

Take some time, if you've seen "I Am Legend", and watch the alternate ending. I believe this was how the movie should have finished. Now to read the books!

Camp Grandma

My children are on their second jaunt to "Camp Grandma". The first occurred during my jet-setting. (In the space of four months I went to London, Atlanta, Chicago, and New York. Who you calling BORING, huh???) Yesterday, the urchins left with their grandparents for a brief trip - we'll see them Friday afternoon. One would have thought that they were being shipped to the country for their safety. I'm not complaining: I can't remember a time, even during the sweet toddler years, that I've felt such affection and attention from them. I also can't help but wonder if I'm raising them to be too dependent on me and their dad. Of course I want them to fly....but my gut tells me that they need stability and assurance at this point, so I am encouraging and push a bit, but also return their love.

The minute they left I was expected at a staff retreat. We sat outside in the hot. Still, there was a breeze, it was poolside at a lovely in-town home with a gorgeously landscaped yard, and there was lemonade and watermelon along with catty asides and frustrations (and occasional problem-solving, too).

So obviously when that was over, I left and fled to the gym since I never get to go during the summer. No parking! ANYWHERE! WTF?????


Then, I went home thinking I'd go for a walk -- the temp had cooled. But there was nausea, and pain, and I spent the rest of our first night of alone time in a fetal position waiting for my doctor to call in a round of antibiotics. My dear husband drove me to an all-night pharmacy at 11 p.m. I fell asleep in the car waiting for him and promptly had a nightmare that I was driving and the brakes went out. Honey, if you're reading, I promise we will go out tonight to somewhere more fun, and possibly less expensive than the Cipro was!