It's....almost May?

One of my three readers actually posted to ask why I haven't posted since February. Ack! Is it really almost May?! Looking at the calendar, I find that it is too true.

What have I been up to? Let's see...working, taking care of the kiddos, thinking about planning a wedding next year, thinking about buying a house next year, writing, worrying about not exercising, launching a new grantwriting business on the side...you know, just your typical Diva Mommy activities! D. participated in this project at Vanderbilt with Judy Chicago, which opened on April 21. If you live in Music City, go see it! It's open until May 13. His project is entitled "100 Women." If you look closely, you'll see my name and my daughter's name on the wall he painted. It's a very cool piece, and he worked so hard on it. I'm very proud of him! The picture below is of Darling Daughter at the opening listening to Judy Chicago speak. She (DD) was tired and hungry, but held it together for the sake of art.


Oh, and Steely Dan goes on tour this summer...and they're coming to Music City...yessss! I'm so there. Finally downloaded "Morph the Cat," and I like it. Of course, as I said to a friend, it would take a whole lot to make me *not* like anything by DF--he'd have to put out a record full of screeching ala Yoko Ono for me to not like it (note to self: record? Yoko Ono? you're showing your age, Diva).

Tagged and Dangerous

Okay, I got tagged by yelhsacrow, so here goes:

The Rule of Four

Four jobs I've had:

1. Food Stamp Lady in Denton, TX
2. Picture ID taker at the University of Southern Mississippi (my first real job!)
3. Polymer Science grantwriter
4. 4th grade teacher

Four movies I can watch over and over:

1. Gone with the Wind
2. The Goodbye Girl
3. Bridget Jones' Diary (only the first one!)
4. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Four places I have lived:

1. McComb, MS
2. Denton, TX
3. Aberdeen, Scotland
4. Nashville, TN

Four TV shows I love to watch:

1. Survivor!
2. America's Next Top Model
3. The Weather Channel (is that a show? More like a state of mind!)
4. Sex and the City

Four places I have been on vacation:

1. Stavanger, Norway
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Disney World
4. Lake Tahoe, NV/CA

Four of my favorite dishes:

1. Beans and Three from Calypso Cafe (favorite sides: bean and corn salad, corn muffins, house salad)
2. Artichoke and Spinach Lasagna
3. Fried Green Tomatoes
4. My grandmother's peach cobbler

Websites I visit daily:

1. My Yahoo
2. Celebrity Baby Blog
3. Salon.com
4. New York Times.com

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. In a cozy B&B in Scotland
2. At home reading a great book
3. Skiing in Lake Tahoe
4. Dancing around my living room with my kids

I'm not going to tag anyone else, since I don't know more bloggers. So, let the tagging stop here!

Survivor...Again and Again and Again

Survivor Panama: Exile Island starts on Thursday, and not a moment too soon! This one ought to be good...4 tribes divided up by age and gender (initially, at least). Should be some other shake-ups as well, in terms of the rules. Needless to say, I can't wait! There's just so much entertainment that American Idol can provide (usually not too much after the horrible, wonderful, fugalicious audition rounds).

The post in which I eagerly anticipate Donald Fagen's new CD!

Just heard Donald Fagen's new song, H Gang, on XM Cafe yesterday and went to search for news on the new CD. It's dropping in March! Cool! Off to search for more news about the CD....

The post in which I apologize to my 2 readers for no posts in forever and try to remember all of the movies I saw over the holidays

First, apologies to A. and K., my only two readers, for not posting in a while.

Second, I spent the majority of my time over the holidays (when kids were gone to their dad's) watching movies. Really. Oh, and eating cookies and chocolate (which explains my fervent attendance at the gym this past week). Let me see if I can remember all of the movies I saw (theater movies first):

The Squid and The Whale: from Noah Baumbach, who co-wrote the screenplay to My Life Aquatic with Wes Anderson. Great performances from Jeff Daniels (who knew?) and Laura Linney (as usual--she always brings her A-game...when is she going to get an Oscar?). Kid to watch: Owen Kline (son of Phoebe Cates and Kevin Kline)...much better than that "I see dead people" kid or the freakishly-ET-looking Dakota Fanning. Scene between him and Jeff Daniels when they are playing ping-pong is priceless, my brother.

Pride and Prejudice: Gorgeous movie with the gorgeous Keira Knightley. Oh, and Donald Sutherland and Judi Dench are in it, too. The last scene reminded me of the last scene in Sixteen Candles, though (not that there's anything wrong with that!).

Fun with Dick and Jane: Went to see this with D and his son (son's choice). I really like the new Tea Leoni wild-psychotic-mom character that she's got going (see Spanglish). And it had the best quality of a Jim Carrey movie--the fact that Jim Carrey playing Jim Carrey did not bug me to death (as he usually does).

Syriana: This movie had "Terribly Important" written all over it, but it was much like Traffic without the drugs. I like the plumper, older George Clooney. And who knew that Jeffrey Wright (see Broken Flowers) could play such a good straight man? He's my new favorite "actor who is so good, but never gets noticed" (former favorites: Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Don Cheadle, and that other guy from Boogie Nights. Basically, the whole Boogie Nights cast, but that's another post for another time).

Brokeback Mountain: Brilliant. My best movie of 2005. Here's a better review than I could ever write myself.

Memoirs of a Geisha: Beautiful to look at, delightful to hold, but if it's broken, I've been sold (a bill of goods). An entertaining book, but the movie dragged on, and on, and on. So much more could've been done with this movie.

Movies I saw on DVD or at D's house on cable:

Mystery Men: I kept saying to myself, "why did I never see this movie?" It was hilarious and had all of my favorite people in it (Ben Stiller, Jeanene Garofalo, PeeWee Herman). I liked it enough to consider it for my very-exclusive DVD collection (I think I own 10 DVDs, tops).

Liar, Liar: As you know, Jim Carrey playing Jim Carrey usually bugs me to death. But, D. insisted that we watch this movie, and it was pretty good. I do like Jim Carrey better when he is playing someone else (like in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)

The Warriors: This was a DVD that belonged to D's teenaged son that we watched. The most remarkable thing about it was that Michael Beck (of Xanadu fame) was in it, along with James Remar (best known for his role as Richard the Rich Guy who broke Samantha's heart on Sex in the City--until she fell in love with Smith, that is. Best decision she ever made.). This movie had that gritty, late 70s, one-day-I'm-wearing-legwarmers-and-rollerskating-with-Olivia-Newton-John and-one-day-I'm- kicking-butts-and-taking-names kind of feel to it.

parts of Bad Boys 2: I never saw this whole movie, but I saw about 60% of it. Gabrielle Union is cute, Will Smith is funny (though it was bizarre imagining him as the Fresh Prince while he's shooting all of those people) didn't like all of the violence. Which is why I didn't see all of it.

Movies I saw for the second time (or umpteenth time):

Kinsey: Same reaction as before. Went on a bit too long, and Laura Linney was the best thing about the movie.

Bridget Jones' Diary: A movie I actually own on VHS. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. D and I watched this at my house the night I made him vegetable lasagna. We both laughed like we'd never seen it before.

Bottle Rocket: Owen and Luke Wilson's tour de force (directed by Wes Anderson). They will never make a movie this funny and this quirky and this heartwarming ever again. Plus, it was shot in Austin, TX and I recognize some of the location sets. Favorite line: "They'll never catch me, because I'm f***ing innocent!"

So, there you have it, folks (all 2 of you). My Life in Movies, or something like it. Kids are now back, school's in session, and I'll be lucky if I get to the theaters to see anything but Hoodwinked in the next month or so. But there's always Netflix!

Update: forgot about seeing (for the 2nd time) Love Actually (liked it just as much the 2nd time).

What Would Jesus Smell Like?

Longer post later, but for now this will have to do.

Praise Jesus!

Open the box!

My friend, K., mentioned a music website called Pandora, and I created an account today. What a cool site! And it's free (at least for now). Check it out, and let me know what you think!

(Thanks, K.!)

New year

Now that all of my reality TV shows are over for the season, I'm feeling like I need to turn back to writing more about poetry, books, music...other art forms! TV is so addictive that way...visual crack or somesuch.

Anyway, my family celebrates our holiday early, so I've already gotten my presents, the tree's needles are falling, and I'm reflecting on the past year. 2005 was a good one for me...lots of life lessons learned, some harder than others. I feel blessed in so many ways, but always see room for improvement (the human condition, I suppose). One of my wishes for this next year is to try and take more time to just "be"...a difficult concept for me, at best. I'm a do-er and a move-er and find it difficult to just sit and be. But that will be my project this year...find more ways to "be."

As usual, I have a Christmas Break Movie Orgy planned...there are about 8 movies that are playing right now (or opening soon) that I want to see. I don't think I mentioned that the kids, D., and I saw The Chronicles of Narnia a few weeks back. I thought it was fabulous...the kid actors were all spot on. My kids and I have been reading the books, so it was fun to see the characters come to life on the big screen. The movie got a big thumbs up from all of us.

So, I'll post some movie reviews soon...The Squid and the Whale is the first on my list to see.

What I'm reading right now:

• Surrealist Love Poems, ed. Mary Ann Caws
• Elegy on Toy Piano, Dean Young

What I'm listening to obsessively these days:

• Live, Erykah Badu
• Katy Lied, Steely Dan
• "Brighter Than Sunshine," Aqualung

What I'm dancing around the house to these days:

• "Feel Good, Inc.," Gorillaz
• "Beverly Hills," Weezer

Happy 2006!

Danni, the nice one, is the Sole Survivor!

Nice girls do finish first! At least, sometimes on Survivor. :-)

So, I was wrong about Rafe going first; it was Lydia instead. But, that made sense. Even though I really liked Lydia and really respected her game, she was definitely not a physical player. I couldn't even imagine her lasting for long at all in that final immunity challenge.

I have to say that I was a bit shocked when Danni chose Steph over Rafe in the final 2, but again, it definitely made sense for Danni (she had a much better shot at the $1 million with Steph by her side). Plus it made for a MUCH more interesting final Tribal Council, though I thought Judd would go off even more on her. I did like his "well, you'll be starving for my vote!" comment.

So, another Survivor season is over, sigh. I suppose I'll have to pick up a book and actually READ over the Xmas break now! ;-)

Shoutout to my Survivor phone buddy, JM! You rock! :-)

Automotive Tiki Idol!

So, Cindy thought she could break that car curse. She even turned down giving 4 cars away to her tribemates as a talisman against the car curse. She flagrantly flaunted the car curse at Tribal Council. Didn't you ever watch the Brady Bunch episode in Hawaii, Cindy? Don't you know that you can't tempt the Tiki Gods that way? The tribe has spoken...buh-bye, Cindy.

In ANTM news, the bland midwestern looking girl won. Blah, blah, blah...Kim should've won. When does American Idol start again?

At least we have the Survivor finale to look forward to on Sunday! My sentimental favorite is Danni, just because I like her. I don't think she necessarily "deserves" to win, but she is the finalist who I'd most like to go have a drink with. But, Lydia has been my pick from way back...she's a stealth player who has flown under the radar somehow even with a clear target on her back from week 2. Go, Lydia! She's the real gamer of the bunch. Rafe is like Ian from last season, but with more of a Jesus complex. Steph is just so....Steph. I loved her last season, but she's hard to even like this time around. So, my pick is Lydia (she'll get the "sympathy" vote, much like Sandra from the Pearl Islands season). I think it will be Rafe out first, then Danni, and Steph and Lydia will be in the final 2. But, we'll see what happens, my little chickadees!

PS--I just read my older post about my final 4 being Steph, Rafe, Lydia, and Gary. I was 3 for 4...whoo-hoo!

Who's your daddy now, Judd?

Tonight's Survivor episode was the BEST this season! I love it when they blindside people, and it's even better when they blindside someone I DETEST! I had hopes that Judd was going down, but I was worried that they might be teasing us and Lydia would go home instead, but NO! Steph switched sides at the last minute and cast the deciding vote for Judd. Yahoo!

It may have been the biggest betrayal ever since Kelly/Sue from the first season. Should make for an interesting final tribal council if Steph makes it that far (which I think she just might now).

Also, we are saddened in our house by the elimination of Kim and Jayla on ANTM. We're still watching, but we aren't as excited as we were before. We're rooting for Nic now, only because we have to root for SOMEONE. Sheesh.

Survivor/ANTM Update

And for the reality TV fans, an update:

Ding, dong....Jamie's gone! In a bit of excellent play by the remaining Survivors, they crossed tribal lines to vote Jamie off. I love when this happens! And Bobby Jon's gone, too, so I'm doubly happy. I'm now rooting for Gary (who would've thought he'd end up being the underdog at the beginning? He seemed to have many advantages back then). And I told you that Lydia was a stealth player! Watch out for her....and for Rafe. My final four now is looking to be Lydia, Rafe, Steph, and Gary. That would be awesome! We'll see how it all plays out...

And for ANTM, ding, dong, Lisa's gone! I mean, that bit with the adult diapers? Hello? I did like her spunky attitude, but she quickly went psycho on us. We're rooting for Kim in our house...go, Kim!

The map of missing things

Saw Laurie Anderson this past week--it was mesmerizing. Got to meet her at a reception the day before her show--she was very personable and interested in everything. I want to be her when I grow up!

Catching up....Chicken Little was enjoyed by all ages. Loved the disco/dance hits (Spice Girls, Gloria Gaynor, etc.). I'm seriously behind on my movie-watching...hope to catch up over the Xmas holidays. Got 3 new CDs in the mail this weekend: a Chet Baker compilation, a jazz chillout compilation (with an awesome cover of the Doors "Light My Fire" by Julie London), and the Erykah Badu Live CD (finally!). Also, got a CD for my daughter for Xmas, but can't tell you what it is yet. Gotta get on top of the Xmas shopping as we are celebrating our holidays early this year.

Off to the land of my birth (MS) this holiday week. Will post any interesting pictures later.

These are the people in my NotRepublican neighborhood

Okay, big disappointment in our household last night...America's Next Top Model went with one of those "let's recap the season so far because we're too lazy to show a real episode, shall we?" shows. I hope we get a new episode next week. But, we have Survivor to look forward to tonight, my little Tribal Council buddies! And it's merge-time--hurrah! Now, I can finally get all of their names straight. I'm amazed that Steph and Bobby Jon are still in the game. I've done a complete 180 on Steph...she was my favorite player last time, but I'm tired of her whole martyr-schtick. And Bobby Jon...puh-leaze! Why do they always have to find the Southerner with the worst accent ever? Really, we don't all talk like that!

For your liberal viewing pleasure today...a little Sesame Street flashback, starring Rov-er, Big Bird Bush, and the other NotRepublicans. Not for the children! (Source: Poplicks.com)

Movie updates: we're going to see Chicken Little this weekend--my son insists that we see it the day it comes out. I'll post a review later.

More Joyce! And a movie review

Here's more about Joyce, our favorite single-monikered singing sensation (scroll down past all of the hoo-ha about Cameron Crowe to get to the good part). Who knew I was tapping into the Joyce Fever that is sweeping the nation with my last post?

Joyce Update #2: And yet still even more about Joyce (click on her picture to the left under the heading "Nice Ladies," and then on her album cover). You can even listen to a snippet of one of her songs at this website, aptly titled "I Get All Excited" (not to be confused with Rick Springfield's "I Get Excited" or the Pointer Sisters' "I'm So Excited). Help, Joyce is taking over my life!

I went to see Prime this past weekend, but I can only give you half a movie review, since I only saw half the movie! It was the strangest thing ever...halfway through the movie in a crucial exchange between Uma Thurman (love interest girl) and the guy (some TV star guy who I've never seen before), they start talking in digitized robot voices. For a second, I thought, "Now this is an interesting transition/effect!" But after another second, it became clear that it was a movie malfunction. I left the theater, told the management about the problem, got my raincheck for another movie, got my daughter and her friend out of the arcade (they had seen The Fog, surprisingly rated PG-13, which they proclaimed to be scary but not too gross). So, I saw most of the movie for free, and I'll get it on Netflix so that I can see the ending. What I did see was okay...the scenes with Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep (plays her therapist) were the best. I didn't really buy the romance between Uma and the TV guy.

Next movie I can't wait to see: Capote. Love, love, love me some Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

Top 10 Worst Album Covers of All-Time

Shout out to DT for this one.

I have one word for you: Joyce.

Karma's a B****, isn't it Karl?

I'm not the only liberal actually delighting in the travails of Karl, Scooter, Dick and the rest of the Bushie gang, am I? Hah, take that, Rovey! What a difference a year makes...

Update: A friend of mine is having a Karl Rove/Scooter Libby cocktail contest. So, submit your recipes and we'll see how creative you can get!

Update #2: Buh-bye, Scooter. Et tu, Karl?

Bad TV confessions

Some people are addicted to crack, or sex, or shoes, but I am addicted to bad TV (esp. bad reality TV). VH1 is my main supplier (The Surreal Life, Breaking Bonaduce, My Fair Brady, countless Bands Reunited and Behind the Musics). And the cream of the crop is, of course, Survivor. Thursday nights from 7-8pm are holy times in my house.

But, there is a new kid on the block, one that I am almost ashamed to admit that I love...America's Next Top Model. There I've said it. But, who wouldn't love Tyra Banks' over-the-top elimination voice? ("8 beautiful girls stand before me....but only 7...can go on...to compete....for the title...of...America's...Next....Top...Model!") And the clothes! And the cat fights! And the fabulously retouched photos! I am ashamed to say that even my 7 year old son is addicted to it. I am saving for his future therapy as we speak.

Top 30

So, my friend William (who likes to catalogue things) has been asking a group of his friends to name their top 20 all-time pop songs. Of course, I couldn't just pick 20, so here's my list of Top 30. I interpreted his instructions to mean "popular songs"--no album cuts, only songs that made a 'chart' of some sort, and songs that are important to me (not picking based on cultural importance or anything like that). It's my personal list (in no particular order) submitted for your perusal:

1. Let’s Get it On—Marvin Gaye

2. Stayin’ Alive—Bee Gees

3. Hello, It’s Me—Todd Rundgren

4. Happy Together—The Turtles

5. Hey, Jude--Beatles

6. Suspicious Minds—Elvis Presley

7. Bohemian Rhapsody--Queen

8. Little Red Corvette or Purple Rain--Prince

9. Express Yourself--Madonna

10. Dancing Queen--ABBA

11. Every Little Thing She Does is Magic—The Police

12. Tempted--Squeeze

13. Rock With You—Michael Jackson

14. Superstition—Stevie Wonder

15. Brick House--Commodores

16. That’s the Way of the World—Earth, Wind, and Fire

17. God Only Knows—Beach Boys

18. You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman—Aretha Franklin

19. Peg—Steely Dan

20. Let’s Dance—David Bowie

21. Alison—Elvis Costello

22. Blue Monday—New Order

23. Hot Fun in the Summertime—Sly and the Family Stone

24. Sara Smile—Hall and Oates

25. The Boys are Back in Town—Thin Lizzy

26. Photograph—Def Leppard

27. This Charming Man—The Smiths

28. Talk of the Town—The Pretenders

29. Fly Like an Eagle—Steve Miller Band

30. Avalon—Roxy Music

For those who want to play along, check out Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs and submit your own list!

And a movie that everyone should see

The 40-Year Old Virgin. I'm not joking. I was heaving with laughter after the first 20 seconds of the movie. Seriously, this movie is now the standard by which all comedies will henceforth be judged by me. You will thank me later.