August 11, 2007
Getting to know you...
It seems that that whole 5 questions interview thing is going around again, and I'm a sucker for not having to think about what to talk about, so I'm doing it. In fact, I requested questions from two people, and if you request questions from me and then do it yourself, I'll probably ask for some in return.
Here's how it goes:
1. Leave me a comment and I respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.
2. Update your website or blog or LJ or whatever with the answers to the questions.
3. Include this explanation and when others comment asking to be asked, you in turn ask them five questions.
**REMINDER: This isn't LJ--if you comment asking for questions, you won't get an email in response when I answer you, you'll have to remember to check back here.
And here are Amanda's questions for me:
1) When an artifact from your childhood (like a certain type of toy, or a television or book series) enjoys a resurgence in popularity, does it make you feel happy and nostalgic or angry and nostalgic? Why?
2) Are you still pursuing rabbinical school? If so, how is that coming along? If not, why did you decide to put that goal on the backburner?
3) I just read on your deliciously.org 'blog that you are a Harry Potter fan. What is your opinion of the last book? What, if anything, would you have changed about the outcome?
4) If you had to change your name, what alternate name would you select? Do you feel intimately connected to your name?
5) What cancelled television program do you wish could be revived (or, if you'd rather, would have lasted longer in the first place)?
Answers after the cut, and yes, obviously, #3 will have spoilers for Harry Potter. Answers to Carly's questions coming in a post soon.
1) When an artifact from your childhood (like a certain type of toy, or a television or book series) enjoys a resurgence in popularity, does it make you feel happy and nostalgic or angry and nostalgic? Why?
This may make me a horrible person, but I usually feel angry. It's the same feeling I get when someone tells me that they're a fan of Rent but I find out they've never seen the play or they didn't see it for the first time until years after I did. I don't really do anything with Rent anymore, but did they sleep out on the sidewalk every Tuesday for an entire summer to see the show? No, I don't think so. Bite me. Anyway, my point is, I get very possessive. I end up feeling like the kids who get to enjoy it now Just Don't Get what it really is all about. Plus, all too often, it's altered to be rereleased, which I just can't stand.
2) Are you still pursuing rabbinical school? If so, how is that coming along? If not, why did you decide to put that goal on the backburner?
Carly asked me this too, so I know it must be glaringly obvious that I haven't talked about it in awhile. There are basically two answers to this question. The first answer is that I'm not pursuing anything except breathing right now. I am currently deep in the trenches of figuring out if I can ever work, if I can ever be a parent, if I can ever be anything other than a resource draining lump. And if I sound depressed there, it's because I am. I'm really pretty unhappy about where I'm at on this whole journey and issue but basically... I have no plans or lack of plans.
The second answer is... IF I got to a place where I feel like I can work and I do decide to pursue a career path... The rabbinate is still really really appealing to me. I feel like the actual schooling is a terrific fit for me. I also feel like I really don't want to live in Philly for six years, and having lived somewhere I was miserable last year and now being back here, I'm not sure I'd give up six years living somewhere else for anything. I might. I really don't know. But that leads me to the last issue... I had forgotten, while I was in Oberlin, just HOW much I hate the Jewish community in the Twin Cities. Being back here, Judaism has been much less a part of my life, even internally. I don't like the community or the synagogues or the people I'd be working with. And if I want to live here long term (which... I think we do), there's really no point in being a rabbi because I would never want to work in this community. Right now for me, Judaism is really... whatever the opposite of salient is.
So in sum? I have no idea. It's not off the list of possibilities, it's still the thing I would most like to do. But it's not likely.
3) I just read on your deliciously.org 'blog that you are a Harry Potter fan. What is your opinion of the last book? What, if anything, would you have changed about the outcome?
Wifey, if you're reading this, just skip to the next question. Basically I feel like JK Rowling set herself up for failure. There's no way she could have pleased me. I feel like Harry should have died. However, if he had, I'd have been pissed as hell. I do feel, though, that at the very least he should have been the one to deliver the curse that killed Voldemort, but what can ya do? I feel like the pacing of the book was really bad. I missed that heart attack-y feeling from book six. I thought the ENTIRE plot about the Hallows was unnecessary and served absolutely zero purpose. I hated the exposition scene with Dumbledore in "King's Cross" and I didn't really care for the Snape/Lily chapter. I loved Ron and Hermione and seeing some growth in them. I love love love love Neville, and almost as much, I love Luna. I loved Kreacher. I loved HOW Ron and Hermione finally got together. I wanted a lot more Snape. I never liked him, in any book, but I wanted more. I was really underwhelmed, and I don't even like action books. That said? I don't think she could have written anything that I would have liked and I don't think any outcome would have satisfied me (although it's very hard to believe it was a truly horrific war with so few deaths). I wouldn't mind nixing that terrible epilogue. And I just have to say, best part of the WHOLE book was Molly coming at Bellatrix and calling her a bitch. It's really sad, though, when the death I was most upset about was Dobby's, when I hated him so much all along.
4) If you had to change your name, what alternate name would you select? Do you feel intimately connected to your name?
I do feel intimately connected to my name. There are times as a kid where I wished I had the last name Rozenberg (my mom's maiden name) instead of Feldman, and I collect long lists of names that I love, but I've never wished I had an actual different name. I used to want something more unique, but I couldn't tell you what, because to me, I am Rebecca. However, I was almost named Rivkah Michal (reev-kah mee-chal, ch being that hard h sound), which is my Hebrew name, and I would be content with that as my name too. That's not really a change, though, is it? There are names I love, but none of them are ME.
5) What cancelled television program do you wish could be revived (or, if you'd rather, would have lasted longer in the first place)?
There are two-- My So-Called Life and Popular. MSCL had so much to offer and I think it was going to go places that teen shows at the time hadn't gone (and maybe still haven't?). It deserved a longer life. I think it could have made a real impact, bigger than it did. Popular was just hilarious and clever and entertaining and I would love to see more.
Posted to Books & Hardly Working & Jew-mania & Mental Health & Mindless Entertainment & Miscellaneous & Nostalgia at 12:27 PM | Comments (3)
April 22, 2007
Deja Vu
Dear girl standing in a parking space with a guitar yelling at people who try to park there because you're reserving it by standing there, talking about foreshadowing and organic clothing,
Your Blackberry negates the rest of your message.
By the way, when did this become Oberlin?
No love,
Rebecca
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 12:10 PM | Comments (1)
January 09, 2007
Welcome to 2007!
Last night I was watching the Cosby show (and yes I did just start my first journal entry in months with 'last night I was watching the Cosby show') and I was half asleep when I heard Bill Cosby say, "Bennington is the most expensive college in the country right now!" Right away, I snapped to attention, because I have interest in both 1) Bennington, 2) the cost of college, both of those for reasons it would take me way too long to describe.
Anyway, I'm not going to describe the whole scene on the show, but one thing did literally make me say, "OUCH!" out loud. Following saying that Bennington was the most expensive college in the country, they added that the cost of tuition plus room and board was $17,000. That was the MOST expensive college in the country.
Okay, so that episode originally aired in September 1987, but still. Wow.
Because I'm both insane and a nerd, today I decided to compare that to the current most expensive college, George Washington University. Their tuition plus room and board? $49,290. That's almost enough for three full years at Bennington in 2007. And just for curiosity's sake, Bennington, which is 7th most expensive this year, now costs $43,070. And by the way, Oberlin only missed making the top 10 list (which is based on tuition only) by $914. That's just... Great.
Basically, what this tells me, is that my children better be interested in going to trade school. Hope they all want to be mechanics!
Posted to Mindless Entertainment & Miscellaneous & Oberlin at 02:03 PM | Comments (6)
October 19, 2006
back in the swing of things
I think it's pretty clear that I'm rather mentally unbalanced. I'm cool with that.
I think it's also pretty clear that I have very strange goals and attempt feats that no other normal human would do. Like reading every single BSC book in order. Well, it's been almost three months since I finished doing that, and I figure it's time to indulge in some more of my insanity.
So I'm watching every single episode of Xena, plus all bonus features (including watching episodes a second time with commentary, when applicable). In order.
Actually, even though I don't think there's a single episode of Xena that I haven't seen at least 3 times, I've never seen the series in order. I didn't start watching until the fourth season, and I never caught it in complete reruns on TV. My senior year of college, when I completed my collection of every episode on VHS, I watched most of them again, but not in any sort of order. Now I've got the first four seasons on DVD and am working on the last two, and I'm loving the bonus features. So I have to do it in order, starting from the beginning.
This is a totally new feat for me. A new, pointless, stupid, mind-numbing feat. But if it means I no longer spend my days watching Full House and Boy Meets World on mute just to have movement on the TV screen, I'll take it.
And in a few months, y'all can call me even crazier. Because either I'll have lost my marbles searching out subtext, or I'll fancy myself a pre-common-era sword-bearing superhero with a hottie sidekick. EIther way, no good can come of this.
But I have to try.
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 02:39 AM | Comments (5)
September 14, 2006
Apparently the deaths of thousands doesn't affect me, but a Bronx accent cracks me up
I am a HUGE fan of commentary on DVDs. HUGE. I love it. Often times I like it better than the movie itself. I've watched my favorite movie with commentary (it has two commentary tracks--like heaven!) more often than I've watched the movie itself.
Today I was in the mood for a good cry, so I rented Beaches and Titanic. Yes, Titanic. Sue me, I wanted to cry. Unfortunately, I'm heartless and didn't cry at all, unless you count getting a little choked up about the elderly couple who stayed in their bed to drown and Hillary's funeral.
But after I finished Beaches, I did discover that there is director commentary on that disc. At first I was reluctant to watch it. I prefer commentaries with more than one person, as well as commentaries that are done around the same time the movie is filmed. But I ended up starting it, and OH WOW is it hilarious!
You MUST watch this commentary if you have the opportunity. Garry Marshall is one hilarious guy. I've only made it a half hour in, but I've been cracking up.
If you need more convincing, I'll give you the following gems (but please imagine them in his voice, or it counts for nothing):
"We established they're ethnic!"
and, even better
"Beaches, originally, nobody wanted to make it. They said who cares about a friendship among two girls. Boy friendships are great! Let's do that macho stuff. Do buddy pictures! But there were no buddy-ette pictures about two girls who were friends. I think girls' friendships are just fascinating. Boys you know, they argue, they fight, and then don't talk to each other for 30 years. Girls, somehow they say the worst things to each other and then an hour later they go shopping! Girls' friendships are very odd."
and one more, for the road
"The biggest problem a director has in this kind of a film when you have two leading ladies is not the acting. They're both wonderful actors. And it's not even the scenes, or the comedy. The biggest thing is the hair! The hair alone, you could have shot two other films in the time we waited for them to get their hair done."
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 06:17 PM | Comments (3)
September 07, 2006
Good lesbians cut their hair; mediocre lesbians just watch talk shows
I've been watching The View this week. Previous to this week, you could not have paid me to watch this show. I didn't like a single host, and their entire "we're so sex and the city but inferior to them" vibe is totally not for me. But I really don't find Ellen Degeneres funny, and I've felt like a traitor to lesbians everywhere by not watching her show, so I figured this was my chance to redeem myself, now that Rosie is on The View.
Oh. My. God.
First of all, these women could not coordinate themselves well enough to ask good questions if their lives depended on it. And I don't think it's because of Rosie, because it seems to be Miss RightWing (aka Elizabeth) who generally veers off topic (she somehow got from the death of Steven Irwin to the tragedy of 9/11 in one short sentence), although Joy is occasionally responsible as well.
Second, they all yip and talk over each other. Now, I understand that this is how women really interact. I know that from my own friendships and I know it from Psychology of Gender, where I learned that the most pronounced difference between men and women is that women use interruption to show understanding and support while men use it to vie for power and control of the conversation (and I won't even go into my personal experience with that). But even if that's normal, that does not make for a fun talk show at all.
Third, I just don't care. I'm not a talk show kind of girl. I don't care about 95% of the celebrities on these shows and I'll get my news elsewhere, thanks.
But the fourth... Rosie. Oh Rosie. I hate to say a bad word about someone I love so much. But she just seems to be putting on a face. I suppose there's no way she wouldn't seem that way, given how openly grumpy she's been over the last few years. She's still very entertaining, and her open "I will tolerate you, but just barely" attitude toward Elizabeth is mildly entertaining, but the whole thing is still a little disappointing. She's certainly gotten better already than she was the first day, though.
Still, I'm sure I'll continue to watch. I owe it to Rosie. And even though I hate talk shows, you can bet I'll be checking out Megan Mullally's when it starts too.
After all, since I won't cut my hair short again, I have to do SOMETHING to prove that I'm a good lesbian.
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 10:26 AM | Comments (3)
August 25, 2006
Torture, angsty theater kid style
In the last 24 hours, I've completely fallen in love with the cast recording of the Off-Broadway (Lippa) version of the musical The Wild Party. I had never heard it before, but I've been listening to it on repeat for the last seven hours or so (yes, I'm serious). I absolutely love it. I was so disappointed when I realized that it's no longer playing anywhere. I do love Idina Menzel despite my disinterest in Wicked, and the music is so much fun. Finding out that it's six years old and that it's essentially dead is the equivalent of finding out that they no longer make my favorite tennis shoes.
But there's one thing that makes it even worse--I'm 99% sure that when it was playing here in Minneapolis, Lauren wanted to go see it and I had no idea what it was so I brushed it off.
Oops.
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 01:33 AM | Comments (4)
July 26, 2006
Project Runway, what is up?
What in the holy hell?
(I'm putting this under a cut for spoiler purposes, even though I really don't want to. I'm nice like that.)
Tonight's Project Runway was a huge letdown. First of all, Michael's work was overlooked for the third week in a row. Not cool yo, not cool. He has some amazing ideas. Second, neither Crazy #1 or Crazy #2 were kicked off tonight. Two crazy people whose clothing you couldn't pay me to wear, and yet they remain on the show. And third, Katy was aufed.
Let me set aside for a moment that I know Katy from high school and that I always thought she was a pretty cool person. Let me set aside that Brad met her at the premiere party and loves her so much. Let's talk exclusively about her work.
I love it. If you look at the portfolio on her website, she has some terrific stuff. I liked her dress tonight. It was wearable and very pretty and simple. Would I have liked it more with a hoodie over it? Yes, I think so. But that alone shouldn't have made the difference, in my opionion. The doggie hoodie was freaking ADORABLE and although I detest clothing on dogs, I want that dog and that hoodie RIGHT NOW.
In fact, Katy, can I hire you to make one of those for my dog?
I also loved her work the first week. I wish they would have shown more of the dress without the jacket/hoodie/sleeveless thing over it, but what I saw, I loved.
I had every expectation that Katy would make it several weeks more in this competition, and I was seriously excited about that. Am I tad more pissed about this than I would have been had I not already known Katy? Probably, yeah. But no matter what, I would be, and am, really annoyed that several terrible designs and designers remained and a really talented person left.
I forgot how much I hate that aspect of reality shows. Bleh.
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 11:29 PM | Comments (1)
July 13, 2006
I may not be cool, but I have cool friends
Season 3 of Project Runway premiered last night, and I was totally glued to the TV. It's completely different watching a reality show when someone you know--even vaguely--is on. Even the migraine that I haven't been able to shake for two days seemed unimportant compared to paying Very Close Attention to my damn TV.
I'm not even going to mention my feelings about the outcome of the show. I'm more than a little confused, which I guess is only proof that I'm no fashion designer. All I'll say is that there were quite a few things I liked, and I have high hopes that season 3 will be better than season 2 (even if no one can touch my love for Jay and all of season 1). And I was disappointed how little I saw of Katy's dress, but glad to see that I liked what they did show, which was no surprise since I really like the stuff in her portfolio on her website.
Instead of talking about the show itself, I'm going to talk about my friend Brad, from Oberlin, and his celebrity connections. I think anyone who knows me can attest to my disinterest in the entire concept of celebrity, the theories about putting people on pedastals, and most celebrities themselves. To this day, the only person I've ever cared about meeting was Amy Wynn Pastor, and that's because she's hot and ridiculously nice and my one true soulmate. Brad, however, has made quite the hobby of meeting and taking pictures of celebrities. Cool for him. I've never cared that much.
Until now.
He went to the Project Runway premiere party on Tuesday. I couldn't be more jealous. He took a ton of pictures, including a very cute one of Katy and himself together. Best of all, he took this picture of Katy and sent it to me.
Now I can pretend that I'm cool enough to hang out with Project Runway folk too. Right?
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 11:33 AM | Comments (7)
June 28, 2006
GO ARTS HIGH!
OH MY GOODNESS!!!
I just saw a commercial for the new season of Project Runway, so I decided to go check out the website for it. I was looking at the designers and saw, "Hey, that girl's from Minnesota." So I clicked on her and HOLY FREAKING COW, I WENT TO HIGH SCHOOL WITH HER. We weren't friends, and since I sort of hid in the corners, she probably doesn't know who I am, but I definitely know who she is. She was a media major at the arts high school, and she always seemed very nice.
Everyone go check out Katherine Gerdes and root for her when the show starts.
Posted to Mindless Entertainment & Nostalgia at 11:38 AM | Comments (7)
May 30, 2006
That girl who flew in her poor friends to see how rich she was now really WAS awful
I just had a very surreal experience.
I was flipping channels and noticed that Anderson Cooper is filling in for Regis on the Regis and Kelly show, and I found that amusing enough that I decided to stop and watch the intro to the show. At first, it was pretty normal... And then Anderson and Kelly started talking about the show My Super Sweet Sixteen.
And Anderson started recapping the episodes for Kelly.
What?
Now, I don't know that much about Anderson Cooper. I've seen a few minutes of his show here and there. I've seen him on other people's talk shows. I have a general feeling for who he is. So maybe it's not that bizarre that he would know details about various episodes of My Super Sweet Sixteen, but it sure struck me as completely odd.
Some days, I wonder if I woke up in a parallel universe, or if it's really still 1997 and I'm dreaming all of this... The world is just too weird to be real. But I don't think my brain could have made this world up.
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 09:19 AM | Comments (3)
February 24, 2006
I shouldn't be allowed near the television
Oh no. I stopped watching the Real World way back after New Orleans. After all, it exists solely to provide new people to do the Challenge, right? But I just watched the casting special for the new season starting next week and there are two Jews and gay boy from Minneapolis on this season. How do they expect me to pass that up?
Crap. Like my brain isn't rotted enough already.
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 12:25 PM | Comments (2)
February 21, 2006
In so many ways...
Does anyone else think that S*a*s*h*a C*o*h*e*n has a serious R*o*r*y G*i*l*m*o*r*e vibe going on?
(this entry edited to add little asterisks because it gets a TON of spam comments... here's hoping this fixes it!)
(and... no change. so I'm closing comments.)
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 10:57 PM | Comments (4)
February 20, 2006
Wow, I saw a quality movie!
Believe it or not, Lauren and I went out on Saturday night. Not only that, but we saw a movie in the theater. Not only that, but the movie did not star Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff, or Amanda Bynes. In fact, the movie was so outside of what I usually see in the theater that I'm not entirely sure I can file this under "mindless entertainment." We saw Mrs. Henderson Presents, which we happened to stumble upon while looking for some excuse, any excuse, to leave Oberlin for the night.
Honestly, Friday night was really bad here. It was almost a repeat of the previous weekend, when we were kept up until 5 am by the insanity here. It was so bad that at 2 am on Saturday, I was trying to book myself a plane ticket back to Minneapolis for that THAT DAY just so that I could get a break from this place. Then I remembered that my parents were leaving for Maui the next day, so I had to nix that one...
Instead, Lauren and I decided to spend Saturday night away from campus and to stay out as late as humanly possible if you're in rural Ohio and don't like bars or clubs. Or the after-club crowd at Denny's. So we went to dinner, which was pretty bad, but at least my meal was free because our waitress was really sweet and noticed that I barely touched it. We killed an hour and a half at Borders, which was surprisingly packed. In fact, the entire area was surprisingly packed, considering that the wind chill was about 5 degrees and we were at an outdoor mall... Anyway, after listening to a lot of teenagers mock gay people and discuss how un-American it is to adopt children from other countries, we headed over to the movie theater.
We knew virtually nothing about the movie going into it. We saw Judi Dench's name, decided it looked better than anything else playing, and chose it. It turned out to be based on the true story of a widow who bought a theater in London in the 1930s and ended up having nude women on stage in an effort to do something different. The first half of the movie was hilarious. And then suddenly, it was 1940 and it was World War 2. The rest was good, but having no idea what we were in for, it was kind of surprising. I'm really glad we saw it. I already added it to our Netflix queue, since I can't stand only seeing movies I like once.
Since then, I've done very little. I'm taking a break from working on my dollhouse, and I can't bring myself to study for tomorrow's Hebrew quiz. Dishes need to be done, but I'm seriously uninterested. I think I'm going to go read...
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 12:25 PM | Comments (1)
January 25, 2006
Leslie Grossman + lesbian movie = great happiness for me!
I just got the best mindless entertainment related news of the year: Jamie Babbit, who I have to love because of her involvement in both Popular and Gilmore Girls, not to mention But I'm a Cheerleader, is directing a lesbian movie called The Itty Bitty Titty Committee. And best of all, the cast will include not only Carly Pope, but also my VERY FAVORITE comedic actress, Leslie Grossman, both of whom were in Popular.
This is so exciting I don't know what to do with myself. Seriously. I'm so excited that I came thisclose to applying to be on the film's crew.
Now I only hope that Leslie Grossman's part is big -- but the good news is that with Jamie Babbit directing, even if her part is small, it should at least be funny.
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 06:04 PM | Comments (3)
January 20, 2006
This is a much better way to choose baby names than looking through a book.
I've decided that if we have a son, we're naming him after that disgustingly cute little boy on the Disney World commercial who says, "We're too excited to sleep!"
If anyone can find out that little boy's name, I'll either pay you big bucks or make you our son's godparent.
Posted to Mindless Entertainment & Nesting at 11:04 PM | Comments (0)
December 04, 2005
Yes, I watch a lot of TV at night. But during the day the TV is off. I should get some credit for that.
The extent of my excitement about tomorrow's premiere of The Gauntlet and Wednesday's premiere of Project Runway season 2 is frightening. We're even having people over for the latter. This is all almost enough to make up for America's Next Top Model ending this week, although if the outcome is what I hear it is, I'm not sure Project Runway will be enough to console me.
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)
November 17, 2005
Look, I'm gonna leave the house!
I'm seeing Harry Potter 4 at midnight tonight. Lauren and I are going with her coworker Sherri and her husband Nick. Considering that I like Harry Potter but am not a fanatic and considering that Sherri has never even read the books (something I plan to have words with her about tonight while we're sitting in the theater for an hour and a half before the movie starts), and considering that the nearest theater with a midnight showing is over a half hour away, it's sort of weird that we're doing this. My theory is that we're people who usually go to bed by 10 or 11 pm, so it feels like we're doing something special by staying up until 3:30 am. It makes me feel so YOUNG. (ha)
Speaking of which, I should go take a nap. I should also go try to find a summary of the 4th book online, because everything before book 5 is fuzzy in my mind.
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 01:59 PM | Comments (2)
September 27, 2005
Here goes another entry about TV shows...
Prior to the start of the fall season, I decided to watch CBS's new show Out of Practice based on three draws:
1) Mr. Harrison John from Popular is the main character (even though they claim his name is Ben on this show).
2) Stockard Channing, my very first celebrity crush, is the mommy.
3) Harrison John no longer has a lesbian mom, but he does have a lesbian sister.
Despite the fact that the show is not that great, after seeing two episodes, I'm firmly committed to it for one reason only. The lesbian sister is actually a LESBIAN. I mean, it's true that she hasn't dated or kissed a woman yet, but actually, the whole family is kind of single, so it works. However, they keep proving her lesbionic-ness (yes, that's a word) with jokes that are, in my personal uptight view, quite explicit.
Example #1:
Oliver: Seriously, Regina, you need to get out. You're bored. You're between girlfriends.
Regina: Trust me, if I were between girlfriends, I wouldn't be bored.
In last night's episode, the dad's girlfriend came in wearing lingerie and as she left to change, she said she would need help with the buckles... And the lesbian sister jumped up and offered to be of service. Regina may not be making out with women, but she's being explicit about being a lesbian as well as checking out the same women as her brother.
I don't know about anyone else, but I think this is new. This seems like a big change to me. Then again, I rarely watch sitcoms, so maybe this kind of stuff has been going on for awhile and I just didn't realize it. But either way, I'm really enjoying it.
Yea lesbians on TV!
Now I'm going to go listen to all the podcasts I subscribed to this week. Beginning with the Gay Parenting Podcast. Because I haven't talked enough about my nesting instinct lately.
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)
September 14, 2005
Lauren is asleep now. I guess it's bedtime.
Tonight has been sort of the epitome of what I consider the mindless entertainment portion of my life. I will bullet point, so as not to bore with endless paragraphs.
How does an evening get better than that? Tomorrow we have So You Think You Can Dance, which is also good. Next week we have America's Next Top Model. Also, a new season of Starting Over begins Monday (I guess I'll have to break my no-TV-during-the-day rule). When oh when will season 2 of Project Runway start?
I am a TV-aholic. You shouldn't complain, because it keeps me distracted, and then I don't bother people as much.
Oh yeah, and today I also went to Hebrew class, did all my Hebrew homework, created a spreadsheet for all our September expenses, learned how to type in Hebrew, found out which of the books on my amazon.com wishlist were available at the Oberlin library, and tidied up a little. So I'm not so worthless after all.
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 12:27 AM | Comments (3)
September 07, 2005
Purim + Christopher Guest = massive amounts of love
Lauren just alerted me to this, to be released on January 20th.
In the words of Michelle Elizabeth Tanner, "Happy birthday to ME!"
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 10:38 AM | Comments (1)
September 03, 2005
See? I don't ONLY like brunettes.
It's official. I have a big giant crush on Maggie from Big Brother. I want to have her babies. I want to be her best friend. Maggie, will you marry me?
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 08:28 PM | Comments (0)
I think I dreamt about royal flushes last night
Oh my god, I'm a poker addict.
I started watching Celebrity Poker Showdown with my dad about a year ago. Actually, I think the first time may have been the night before my wedding. Whatever the date, I was escaping a family celebration in the community room of my parents' condo by spending a little time in their home, and that's what my dad was watching. I like my daddy-daughter bonding time, and I admit that I get a little thrill out of feeling like one of the guys sometimes. I was one of the guys in high school, but since then, I've somehow become a GIRL again.
So anyway, it all started out innocently enough. I watched with my dad, asking the appropriate questions about what the HELL was going on. It was my first exposure to Texas Hold 'Em, and, to be honest, the first time in years that I didn't cry when I heard the word poker. As a kid, I learned how to play 5 Card Stud, but panicked whenever I was forced to make a decision about betting. That was way too much pressure. This was much simpler; all I had to do was WATCH famous people play poker. And the entire concept of community cards sits very well with my obsession with fairness.
Fast forward to maybe February... By then, I was pausing for up to ten minutes on Bravo whenever I was channel surfing, but I was still plagued with the sense that I'd never ever understand how to play. The show was amusing enough, though, that my interest remained.
Skip ahead to April. By that time, I was actually watching entire episodes by myself and fully understanding what the hell was going on. I knew enough to understand when someone had a good hand, but I was still muddy on some of the finer points. I started making Lauren watch the show, and she didn't try to murder me in my sleep because of that, which only reinforced my interest.
And for the last month, I've been here in Oberlin with very little to do. Celebrity Poker Showdown (still the only poker show I can watch -- the pros are BORING) is on every day, and any time it's an episode that I haven't seen, I watch it. I started visiting some websites that explained which hands were good to call before the flop and which were garbage. I started feeling comfortable using the word "flop" ("turn" and "river" still give me the shakes; I hate lingo) and actually found myself watching episodes of the show and yelling at the TV like I do when I watch baseball or soccer.
A few days ago, I decided I was ready. I started simply, on Yahoo games. Free, no downloading involved, and clearly for beginners. After playing there for two days, I was annoyed. People never stay for more than one hand and no one knew what they were doing. I decided to take a chance. I DOWNLOADED some poker software, the one recommended by my new god, Phil Gordon. I even have a page bookmarked in my main favorites folder (an honor held only by pages accessed daily, like the weather and my bank's website) on strategies for winning.
And so the last several days have found me sitting endlessly at the computer playing Texas Hold 'Em on the Full Tilt Poker software. I'm not bad! I got myself up from the starting $1000 to $5000 in two days playing with low limits, and that's even WITH my completely inability to fold a hand before the flop and my tendency to play two pair till the end every time.
And I can't stop. Thank goodness I'm smart enough to never EVER play with real money (we can only afford free pastimes, remember?). Because I'm ridicuous. I love this stupid game. Maybe more than I love hot women. Less than I love babies, but more than hot women.
And that's a lot.
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 01:48 PM | Comments (3)
August 13, 2005
As long as I'm going to talk TV, I may as well get it all out in one entry
Yaya from Top Model was on The Cut (aka the worst reality show in existance) last night. Each contestant was to choose a photographer and a model and set up a shoot, and one of the most annoying people on the show chose Yaya as her model. I don't know why things like that crack me up, but they do. The part that amused me most, though, was that Princess clearly knew who Yaya was, but there was no actual reference to Yaya's reality star status.
Between this and the marathons of Top Model on VH1 last weekend, I'm hoping they start a new season soon, because I'm getting ansty for some bad fashion TV. It wouldn't hurt if Bravo would start up the 2nd season of Project Runway, either.
And as long as we're talking about my addiction to really low quality entertainment, I need to talk about Big Brother for a second. This is one show that I follow pretty religiously, and I even visit a fan site fairly regularly to read about the stuff that happens on the live feeds that's not aired on the show. It's come to my attention that every single fan of the entire show hates the one person who I actually like. Why does everyone hate Maggie so much? She seems to be the only person who has a good heart, also has good strategy, and is actually nice to everyone else (and it doesn't hurt that I think she's cute). I wish she and Rachel had ended up on the same side, but since they didn't, I'll be cheering Maggie Ausburn on. I like her. So there.
Now I'm going to go watch D.E.B.S. with Angela Robinson's commentary and ogle Jordana Brewster.
Posted to Mindless Entertainment at 10:01 AM | Comments (3)
July 12, 2005
this apartment is like an invitation for stubbed toes
Moving sucks. And don't let anyone tell you anything different.
Our house is a war zone full of boxes and piles and stacks and bins of giveaways and bags of trash. We've barely made a dent in the packing, because how does one decide what to pack in which boxes and which items to pack two weeks in advance versus two days in advance and how heavy should the boxes be? On top of this, every single person in the state of Minnesota has requested to see us before we leave, and there just isn't time. Especially since I'm busy copying every videotape we own onto DVD. I don't know why we're bothering, since after copying them, I'll never want to watch them again.
I did, however, manage to squeeze in two viewings of D.E.B.S., which may be the best movie of all time. Please find yourself a copy and see it.
Posted to Mindless Entertainment & Miscellaneous at 11:00 PM | Comments (1)