Category: entertainment

And The Emmy Goes To…

The coolest thing about the Emmy nomination list for this year is that the nominations aren’t dominated by crap actors who people think are “due”, and there is a good collection of non-network shows and actors nominated. The fact that most of the cast of Six Feet Under was nominated, plus Michael Chiklis (who’s show I haven’t seen, but man, has FX ever gotten a nomination for anything?). It’s a good sign I think that at least the Emmy’s can grow up.

Robin, What Happened?

Thanks to TiVo, these observations are all about a week old:

  • Because I couldn’t sleep last night, I started watching the Robin Williams special that ran on HBO Sunday. Is it just me, or has Robin completely lost it? Other than the AOL Time Warner stock joke at the beginning, he just wasn’t funny. Maybe it was live, and he was nervous or something, but his normal manic style seemed forced and unnatural. He was trying to be spontaneously unsponteneous, and it just sucked. Poor Robin, he was so much funnier when he was coked up.

  • The last episode of The Real World: Chicago sucked. Everyone tried to be forgiving and philosophical which made for crappy TV. The reunion was even lamer. For all the fights and cattiness this season, it sure did fizzle out there at the end.

There, that’s it. It’s back to hell for me. See you when I get released.

Bagpipe + Tribal = ??

So, let’s say there was this bus crash. Two buses, one carrying Ladysmith Black Mambazzo and another carrying The Chieftains collide, spewing band members, instruments and voice all over the landscape. That’s pretty much what Afro Celt Sound System sounds like. I was a little wary at first, but my friend assured me I’d like them. And, what do you know, I do! It’s definitely a weird combination, but it works.

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Categorized as music

We’re making marshmallows tonight! I

We’re making marshmallows tonight! I am so excited. The recipe looks really simple and if we get brave we may try making chocolate ones as well. Then tomorrow, it’s over to my parents’ house for the big barbecue and s’mores for dessert.

In other insane the-end-must-be-near news, Jen and I beat her parents at pinochle!! To set this up for you, her parents have been married for almost three decades, and have been pinochle partners the whole time. Jen and I have been together for almost six years, and only play pinochle when we’re around them. So, this was a momentous occasion. It was unbelievable. Helped by my double-run in spades and dumb luck, we pulled off a herioc victory and exulted much into the night.

After winning, we promptly dropped the next two games in our usual “not a bang, but a whimper” fashion.

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Categorized as cooking

Jen and I watched Married

Jen and I watched Married in America on A&E yesterday. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a documentary by Michael Apted of 9 couples about to get married. It followed them through the final days of preparation, up to the wedding, and in a couple cases, a few days after the wedding. Now, that wouldn’t be so interesting except that they’re going to follow up with the couple every 18 months (Mr. Apted also did the amazing 7up series of films).

It was striking how different each of the couples were, yet how familiar their problems were. Jen and I sat there saying, “They’ll make it,” and “Oh, they definitely won’t.” We ended up staying up until 1 in the morning talking about all of our married friends and how we see a lot of the problems we saw in the couples in the film in our friends. We also talked about how extremely lucky we are. We’ve been married for four and a half years (exactly 4.5 years yesterday), and while we’ve had our problems, we’ve figured them out and moved on. Some of the couples seemed to hold on to the little problems and bring them up in the interviews, which wasn’t a good sign.

I think my favorite thing about the documentary was they didn’t choose all well-off white-toothed yuppie couples, like you see in A Wedding Story. They ran the gamut, and that was great to see. They had:

  • the lower middle class interracial couple from Long Island: who I think will make it, they just have it together

  • the Southern fratboy/sorority girl couple: who I guarantee will not make it

  • the mixed-faith Filipino Christian/New Jersey Jewish Guy: who I don’t think will make it, but I’m not betting against them

  • the yuppies: who I’m not sure about

  • the Southern African American couple: I’m not so sure about them either… he’s got mother issues, but they seem together enough to make it as long as he doesn’t wig out when he realizes it

  • The recovering alchoholics / ex-con: Surprisingly, I think they’ll make it in their own way. They hit rock bottom, and are hanging in there. I think they have a great shot at it.

  • The Latino Couple: They’re definitely not going to make it. I didn’t watch the whole thing, but he’s on a major rebound, and she’s not handling it all that well.

  • The Irish Catholic Cop / Columbian first generation American: They were the cutest couple, and after the first couple I listed, I think they have the best chance of making it. They logical and together, but you can tell they have a deep affection for each other, and their families. They’re on the same path, which I think is probably the most important part.

  • The Lesbian Couple: I feel bad, but man, this couple could not have been more of a stereotype. Let’s see, one lady has a she-mullet and is a corrections officer. The other is a P.E. teacher!! They both play softball, dress alike and are a butch as they wanna be. Do I think they’ll make it? Yeah, they remind me of my old boss in Tucson and her partner. Steady, unflappable and determined. I think they’ll have a long, uneventful, happy life together. I almost wish they would have chosen a couple that didn’t quite fit so snugly into the assumptions everyone has about lesbian couples.

The film’s very well done and if it’s on again, I would heartily recommend it. If you’re married, it’s a great jumping off point for discussion, and I think Jen and I both saw pieces of ourselves in most of the couples (me, I feel I’m just like Toni, but that’s a whole different story).

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Categorized as politics, tv

Things I Learned In The Hall On The Way To The Bathroom

Things I learned in the hall on the way to the bathroom:

  • Marshmallows originally came from the root of a plant called, oddly enough, the marsh mallow.
  • Instead of using marsh mallow to make them now, our modern marshmallows are made with gelatin.
  • It is very easy to make homemade marshmallows. I will, of course, try to get my hands on the recipe and post it for your mallow-making pleasure.
  • The ancient Egyptians made marshmallows, as did the Native Americans (although they usually made Fluff instead of cutting them up.
  • Homemade marshmallows are bouncier and fluffier than those stale marshmallows you buy in the store (I know, because I got to eat one).

My post about the whole

My post about the whole CIA thing yesterday was a little disjointed, mostly because I was upset about work, and just couldn’t handle any more bad news. I need to go back and read 1984, but doesn’t this all strike you as being vaguely familiar? Jen and I went and saw Sum of All Fears on Saturday. The movie made me angry. I couldn’t suspend my disbelief enough to think that a president would fold under the pressure so quickly and go nuclear (or as GW says, nucular) without at least first getting communication with the folks on the ground and figuring out what was going on.

And then, I read that George W. Bush has signed an executive order making it clear he wants to “remove” a head of state. I didn’t think you needed an executive order for that sort of thing, especially if the CIA is going to be carrying it out. It just seems like a plot point in a bad Tom Clancy book, or even worse, a bad Tom Clancy movie.

He Shoots, He Scores!! I

He Shoots, He Scores!!

I took my little brother (ok, he’s not that little anymore, but I’m still bigger and older) to the Thrift Store so he could look for a new monitor (in my day, there were no computer parts in thrift stores, just crap). While he was testing, I wandered the store looking for anything to keep my interest. I stumbled into a pile of CD’s, covered in dust and under some magazines. I had hit it – the Thrift Store Motherload. My other brother and I used to wander the pawn shops and thrift stores of Mississippi in search of the fabled Motherload – that secret stash of amazing music (or comic books at the time) that the owner is oblivious to the value of. We found many. I am sorely out of practice, and haven’t gone out looking for the sweet vein of value in a long time.

But here, I had stumbled into it. I got:

  • Orbital – Sides: It has one of the greatest “I’m a spy” songs ever on it.
  • Loop Guru – Amrita: Not sure what it is, but it was stuck between Orbital and…
  • Jesus Jones – Doubt: Who doesn’t need a copy of Right Here, Right Now? I have no idea when it will come in useful, but I know it will pay off one day.
  • Orb – Orbus Terrarum: The Orb are the same group that did the Little Fluffy Clouds song from the VW commercial.
  • Live! In Concert: An Alligator Records collection of live stuff. It has a bunch of stuff from the amazing Koko Taylor who I saw live a couple times in Tucson.

It was a small vein, but it was just enough of a reminder to bring back all those memories of muggy summer days in our crappy Cavalier, wandering the countryside in search of cheap treasures.

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Categorized as music