Category Archives: Books, Movies, TV & Music

While I was wasting some time online earlier today, I found this article about weird treatments for acne. Of course, I am all about using natural products when possible, but uh… nightengale droppings? Yeah, I think I’ll pass on that one. It made me think of a tidbit I learned in the 4th grade on one of our many field trips to Old Sturbridge Village. In colonial times, people would rub ear wax on the lips to keep them from chapping. All together now: Ewww! Aren’t you glad we now have Blistex? I know I am.

Ew, the humidity today is nasty! Kinda makes me wish an Ice Road Truckers marathon was on. The freezing temps they were dealing with might help me keep things in perspective. I was really glad they brought it back for a second season. Though I don’t find it quite as interesting as last year’s, it’s still enjoyable. When I was watching the new episode on Sunday night (where Alex looked down and missed the sign for Aput and basically got lost), I wondered if it was possible for the drivers to use GPS systems. I wouldn’t think that the extreme cold would interefere, but maybe it does? Seems like it would be a good safety measure in such a desolate area. I have to say that those guys have one job I could never even consider. I squirm in my chair just watching the show — forget about actually being in the truck!

Even though I know who won the current season of “Top Chef,” I still want to catch the last episode and I keep missing it. Last night was no exception. I saw that Bravo was running a bunch of the episodes and then I got distracted by something else and forgot to tune in when the last episode re-ran. I’ve really enjoyed this season a lot. One of the reasons was because a woman I worked with at the Dorset Theatre Festival years ago had a cameo on it! Did you see the Second City episode? The girl that read off everything at the end is my friend Amanda! It was really cool seeing her on television. I’ve also enjoyed learning about Chicago restaurants. I was there many years ago, briefly, for a trade show and I’ve always wanted to go back. Someday I’ll be able to pull out the Chicago travel guides and plan a trip, but not now. At any rate, hopefully I’ll see the finale at some point! I’m curious how it all plays out. I’ve avoided reading any Top Chef-related blogs because I don’t want to know all the details, LOL!

A few months ago, I was reading Amy’s blog and took a look at her sidebar, which listed a few books she’d recently read. One title grabbed my attention: The Chardonnay Charade. I looked it up and found out that it was the second book in a mystery series located at a Virginia winery. Wine! Mystery! Yes! I quickly found a copy of the first book in the series, The Merlot Murders, and ordered it (love Paperback Swap!). It was a fun, quick read. I review it over on my wine blog if you are interested. I’m looking forward to picking up the next book in the series. Great, easy reading.

I’d love to know who writes spam — you know, the junk you get a million times a day in your e-mail? Seems the most popular topics are weight loss pills and erectile dysfunction treatments, but I have also noticed quite a few cheap gas scams lately. I haven’t gotten too many where the body of the e-mail seems to contain a bizarre attempt at a first novel. That was pretty popular for a while. If nothing else, a lot of the subject lines give me a good laugh.

I know, I know! How could I have possibly waited until Thursday to write about it? Well, it’s been a busy week, I guess. But yes we finally saw Rent on Sunday night. I was so sad when the news came out that it was closing in June, and I couldn’t believe that after all these years, after seeing pretty much everything else of interest on Broadway, we might miss this just because we took for granted that it would be around for a while. And it was. Twelve years! I remember the first time I heard the music, in my friend Justin’s dorm room, fall 1996. I fell in love with it instantly. We tried to rush tickets to a Boston perfomance that December, but didn’t have any luck.

The show was as amazing as I’d hoped, and more emotionally-charged than I could imagine. I found myself in tears through most of the second act. I loved it, and so did Drew, which surprised me a bit (he doesn’t often get into the “rock” type of musicals). Truthfully, I prefer plays (not musicals) in general, but this hit me at exactly the right time and I’m glad I can say I saw it on Broadway during its original run. We bought an autographed Playbill (proceeds to to various charities), too.

If you’re thinking about seeing Rent at all before June 1, you absolutely should. I was afraid that after all these years, after all the hype, and after the hundreds of times I’ve listened to the music it wouldn’t meet my expectations, and it did. By far one of the best shows I’ve seen on Broadway!

As you all know, I really, really, really don’t like anything even vaguely resembling “reality TV.” But as with everything in life, there is an exception to the rule, and my exception is “Top Chef” (much to my husband’s chagrin — he hates it). I caught the premiere and I’m curious to see where this season goes. I have my favorites already, but that can change and usually does 🙂 From the first moment of the show I could just tell that Nimma was the one getting kicked off. She didn’t seem confident and doesn’t have a ton of experience, and while I’m sure she has cooking talent… she needed to be a bit more agressive. So, my favorites are: Zoi, Stephanie, Richard (hello – sausage and peach pizza? I have to try that), and Spike. There’s something about Spike that I really like, though I can’t be sure what exactly yet.

WTF with Ryan who didn’t know how to make a classic chicken piccatta? That’s one of my “go to” dishes. I could make that in my sleep!

Who else is watching?

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow! I am finally, finally going to see “Rent” on Broadway! You might remember that this was my Valentine’s Day gift from Drew. Originally we were going to stay overnight in the city and wander around on Monday, but unfortunately due to work that isn’t going to happen; we had to cancel our hotel. Oh well. Maybe we’ll be able to do an overnight in the city during the summer. Nevertheless, we’ll have the afternoon to walk around, then we’ll get dinner before the show which starts at 7PM. I still can’t believe it’s closing in just a couple months! At least I’m finally getting around to seeing it. I will be sure to let you know how amazing it was, don’t worry!

If you like zombies, you might like this film my friend Shaw made. Shaw and I go way back to like 7th or 8th grade. The film, “Two Minutes To Midnight” is actually very cool. Shaw and his friend entered it in George Romero’s Diary of the Dead contest. Please check out the Diary of the Dead film page on MySpace and give their film a boo-ya vote. If they win, their movie will be included on the DVD release of Diary of the Dead. Come on – it’s not like they’re asking for business funding, just for a vote! Help ’em out! Sure it would be cool for them, but it would also be cool for me. ‘Cuz me and Shaw? We go way back!

Though they are the same thing, it seems that “snowthrower” is the lesser recognized term for that wonderful machine that helps clear the white stuff from your driveway. A quick Google search turned up around 200,000 results for “snowthrower” and about 894,000 for “snowblower.” Interesting: Even when you use the keyword “snowblower” Sears seems to call the machines “Snow Throwers.” Lowes also seems to favor “Snow Thrower.” Toro, a manufacturer, uses both terms on its site, and so does Northern Tool. We could also get into whether or not one word or two is correct, but really — let’s not split hairs over this, right? So I am curious… what do you call it?