an original and unpredictable show.

okay, this is what happens when you watch too much SVU.

me: you missed the crime!!

B: hahhhahahahhaa oh no.

how will I ever follow the plot.

9:10 PM me: oh, i think this is the one where the victim gets upset.

B: is it the one where stabler gets angry at the criminal?

9:11 PM me: oh, i think it's the one where olivia gets personally involved.

B: or the one where Olivia is the only one who truly understands the pain the victim is feeling.

me: wait, OR it's the one where stabler gets in trouble.

B: wait, we're both wrong. it's the one where cragen is there for expositional purposes only.

9:12 PM me: i think this is the one that's really informative about the different viewpoints about a controversial issue.

B: hold on... it's the one with the deli.

me: HAHAHAHA, it's the one with the unrelated creepy guy!

B: ah, now I remember, it's the one with the convenient unrelated - I swear to God I was just typing that.

yeah, we went on for the whole episode. it's possible. this show is awesome.

currently watching the SNL clip whatever show that's on. um, does everyone remember the "lazy sunday" skit? some of the cast members are saying it's the first thing they saw on youtube, ever. is that right? i have reflected before that college would have been a lot different with youtube. [insert short wikipedia research period.] youtube happened in february 2005, and this short was in december 2005. iiiinteresting. i'm so into recent history.

OMG DICK IN A BOX. wait. they can't say "dick" at this hour? hahahaha. did they not say it originally? that part i don't remember. they're saying lorne told them to bleep it because it was the christmas episode and a lot of kids would be watching.

note: the other awesome thing about this show is the 20-second clips of the musical guests.

aww, pilot episodes.

okay, this made me kind of emotional. [and has everyone seen this site? quotations and tv? bets found it. she loves it.]

but maybe just because i kind of think that friends is real life.

i'm just saying.

okay, so yes, i'm watching the marriage ref. fine. whatever. but POINTS for madonna on this one, with the couple with the pet lizard.

madonna: i think the lizard's very phallic.
larry davis: what do you mean?
madonna: i'm just saying.

because, excellent use of the "i'm just saying" - avoid explaining! put it out there! nice.

i've been told that my writing about television shows that i don't watch a lot of it. [i think i do, but only crime drama.] then, today, i was reading a magazine and got all rage-y about the AIRBRUSHING. and the EXPENSIVE CLOTHES. i feel like i'm in some sort of movie in which i'm suddenly put into pop culture and am all, "what is this television you speak of?"

but i don't know why. i mean, i watch tv. maybe i read too many blogs?

i'm just saying.

television commentary, with some bonus rage.

so, i'm sure you all watched NCIS on tuesday, considering that it's television's number one drama. i know, i have such good taste in tv, right? [or, i have the same taste in tv as a lot of other people, which is not quite the same thing.] and i'm sure you're all familiar with the trope in which gibbs is so badass that he leaves his door unlocked, and people are always showing up in his house at all hours.

so, in this episode, we meet a new ladyfriend for gibbs, who then is sitting on his couch when he gets home. and they predictably argue. with a predictable amount of UST.

gibbs: you get five requests [to represent pro-bono cases] a week, and you only seem to pick the ones that bring you face-to-face with me.
ladyfriend: are you really that conceited?
gibbs: you're standing in my house!

hahaaa. good one, gibbs. currently, i'm watching the episode where ziva kills ari for gibbs, and it's all intense. and kate's funeral, where everyone has their kate memories. and abby wears that lacy-black-umbrella getup she always wears to funerals. question - is abby mainstream enough that i can dress like her for halloween without people asking me if i'm some kind of goth doctor?

now i switched to svu. an episode i'm pretty sure i haven't seen, and olivia's hair looks good! very promising. haha, eliot's all, "she seems like my daughter. a normal high school kid." your daughter who is ALWAYS IN TROUBLE for DRAMATIC PURPOSES? sure, she's normal. and - oh, crap. this is the one where the guy is leading the double life. he's not in the congo for work for months at a time! he's his own daughter's boyfriend's father, too! that's why they never want to hang out with other parents!

oh, svu. so out of plots. hahaha, and i love how the one wife is so delusional. olivia's talking to her like, "lady, your double-life-leading husband was NEVER planning to run away to cuba with you. and this concerned look means that i'm secretly judging you."

okay, on with the tv commentary. i love valentine's day, right? but i'm currently snarking the hallmark commercial in which the kid is reading the pre-recorded book. it's like, listen to a recording of a parent reading this book about love! it's cute. maybe your parent is far away. [dad always traveled a lot when we were kids, and he was the best at reading books, so i totally get it.] but then the camera pans, and the parents are just hanging out downstairs. while the kid listens to a recording of one of them? so, as i said, i am currently snarking about this.

i got some sort of free consumer reports health magazine in the mail. the headline is literally "how to keep your heart healthy with pistachio nuts." i'm guessing it's by eating them.

and, because i will not let you go without some feminist rage - a woman from an older generation tasted something one of my friends had baked, and she LITERALLY SAID, "this is so good! now you're ready to get married. maybe i'll set you up with one of my sons." i mean, glad that the days when people thought of women as housekeepers for their husbands is over, right? GAHHH.

Dating without judging?

I was struck by this comment on today's Harpyness post "Huh, So You're Gay Again?"

I feel like anyone who questions someone else’s sexuality just needs a big cool glass of mind your own beeswax. No one but you needs to “understand” who or why you date. Blah, the judginess of the world is getting on my last nerve this week.

I think because I read Jezebel's pro/con on More to Love, including this comment.

My bf always tells me that guys are just lying when they say they don't like bigger girls. They don't want to be "that guy" in their group of friends and be made fun of for not only being into skinny girls. He used to be that guy when he was younger, but now he just tells them that they don't know what they're missing.

Maybe the judginess of the world is also getting on my last nerve this week. Maybe I'm reading too many blogs. And definitely, that thing that happens to me whereby everything I hear seems to surround the same topic. ("Whereby"? Did that work?) But yes, let's allow people to date whomever they'd like to date. And let's NOT have a show about fat girls who, clearly, are all desperate to date - so it's a good thing they found the one guy who thinks they're attractive. Grrrr. (Also, "real women" is derogatory. There are lots of different ways to be a woman. Or a human being.)

Also, I need a tag for my hatred of Mr. Darcy.

If you like him, read this comic. If you hate him, read this one.

[FORMAL BLOG CORRECTION: I got too excited and am embarrassed to admit that the second comic is not, in fact, about Mr. Darcy at all. UNLESS THERE IS A HIDDEN MR. DARCY SUBTEXT. And I think there may be. Betsy would also like me to add that the Bronte sisters hated Jane Austen, or something? Whatever.]

profanity warning.

so i saw a guy on the street with a fuck you, you fucking fuck T-SHIRT on. [i think the appropriate response is, "what a badass." or something.] at first i thought, "hey! he's quoting the sidewalk!" but then, i realized it might be, you know, a thing.

after some research, i discovered it's a quotation.

A more succinct example of the flexibility the word is its use as almost every word in a sentence. The phrase "Fuck you, you fucking fuck!" is a memorable quote from the movie Blue Velvet from 1986, and is still used today as heard in Strapping Young Lad's "You Suck" from their 2006 album The New Black. Another example is, "Fuck the fucking fuckers!"

and i also learned many other things. wikipedia is so weird.

also, on friends, when ross tells isabella rossellini he's a big fan of hers, he goes "blue velvet! woohoo!" i'm just saying.

[is this what people mean when they say my blog is difficult to understand?]

in which one of FRB's favorite shows is threatened, and it makes her snarky.

dear nbc, if you take chris and mariska off SVU - i don't even KNOW.

Yet a source close to the matter said talks stalled when the duo -- who, like in their previous negotiations, are banding together -- attempted to go after back-end profits, a perk that's almost never granted in the L&O universe (although exceptions were made for Vincent D'Onofrio and Chris Noth).

how does that mean "hardly ever"? i mean, vincent makes the show. CI is totally different without his weird sideways lean and randomly punctuated speech. [i would make fun of him so bad, if we were friends.] and chris noth is a BIG star. [hehe.] and i defy you to got to itunes, download "doubt," and tell me the show would survive without either eliot or olivia.

also, from a commenter: "I'm angry at their lack of gratitude for what they have! Any one I know would love to earn 7 million a year." well. do you know any television actors? right. i feel like it's a different issue. as a teacher, i earn whatever. in a different position, i'd expect to earn something different. and if the network [are we really calling NBC "the peacock," btw? it sounds very gossip girl. "uh-oh, peacock. could this be the end of uncontrollable sexual tension on SVU?"] is making a ton of money off their performance, they can either make a ton of money, or the network can. that's how the economy works, right? we all make different amounts? because we're actually NOT communists?

[too conservative? i guess i'm just saying that pay disparity between people with different jobs is a bigger problem than these guys, and probably not solved by their lack of contract negotiations.]

what's with the snark lately, FRB? i don't know. i will let commenters use "i feel" statements, especially in this economy. sigh.

a popular and important tv show.

NOBODY TOLD ME THAT DOMINIC WEST IS ON THE WIRE.

that is, nobody except kelly kapoor. [okayyyy, i know her real name. it is mindy kaling.]


well helloooo, smiley mccrinklyeyes. hey, look over here! remember when you were in all those movies we studied in shakespeare and film class? those were some good times.

i know the wire is supposed to be all serious and all. i've never watched it, and really, i feel a little jerkish being flip about cute boys in a show that's about some things that are really, seriously, both bad and true. but this is the viewpoint i was missing on the wire, as a tv show. [if you're into hetero-normativity and gender roles.]

Are you seriously not watching this show yet? Haven’t your most insufferable male friends told you this is the best thing since “The Shield”? (but girls, unlike the very good but bafflingly hot-guy-free “The Shield”, this show features dreamboat and Mona Lisa Smile alum Dominic “Black Irish, Super Babe” West).

and i promise that, if and when i watch this show, i will think of all sorts of serious things and not just dominic west.

fyi, shane west is not on the wire. i hate nicholas sparks because of one time when he was mean to my friend. ["you want to be a writer? my advice to you is to sell out and write what people want. it's the only way to be successful."] and also, blarrghhh to all his books. but my roommate in college watched a walk to remember one night, and i was all scornful for approximately two seconds before i cried and cried. and fell a little bit in love with shane west, who is older than he looks.

classy.

b: i read in an etiquette book that a gentleman should get in the cab first and scootch over - you know, so the lady doesn't have to scootch over in a dress.
j: haha, yeah, but what if the guy leaves before the girl gets in?
b: well, then you know he's just not that into you.
everyone: [general merriment]
cab driver: you laugh, but that actually happens...

NICE. [i also like to preface things like this with, "if you're into gender roles..."]

at a recent fancypants dinner, i ordered a gin gimlet, which is delicious and very, very classy. then a guy in our group [who hadn't heard my order] said, "you know what drink is classy? the gimlet." i was like, yessss. fooled them again.

i've mentioned before that it's weird to read articles about things we do - including this one that calls us all out on our facebook habit.

you all know, though, that i ALWAYS agree with the pope. okay, not really, but i like to hear him out - especially this time. sure, facebook's not the best, but i think it's a representation of something good [our desire for human community] and not something bad [gossip, or whatever]. like any form of communication or community, it has a light and a dark side. right?

on the oscars:
i love marisa tomei's dress and amy adams' necklace.
cried a little at shirley maclain's intro of anne hathaway. what is WITH these intros? they're so sweet and heartfelt. i notice, for the first time this year, how much these people consider each other a community. i love how anne cried, and how happy she was when kate winslet won. she is a classy, classy girl. [betcha she drinks gimlets.]

"well, it's not a shampoo bottle now!" - kate winslet. omg, and getting her dad to whistle from the audience. [this is a little bit of a liveblog.]
sean penn DOES lose himself in every role. it's so true!

grey's! crossover! drama!

so, you all already know that i love to liveblog. it makes me feel like a real blogger.

first, for those of you who haven't watched grey's since 2005, my official recap.

okay, so our favorite interns are now in charge of interns. mostly they are mean and the interns are stupid. you may have heard that izzie's been seeing (and having sex with) dead denny, because she's about to die. she sort of knows she's about to die, but now thinks she isn't, or whatever. george is the only one who notices, even though she's dating alex, who looooooves her. [sadly for me, because i love HIM. also sad for me that he's fictional, and probably not that good for me, in the end.] george has no other story lines, really. christina is dating this army doctor, and every time they look at each other there's this weird piano music because it's romantic or whatever, but another woman just showed up! dun dun DUNNN. derek is going to propose to meredith, and everyone knows it! except meredith, since this is the only piece of gossip that has ever stayed away from the person it's about. he almost [and by that i mean, abc hates me] did it last time, except addison called because her brother has a brain parasite and only derek can fix it [and abc loves me again, because i love addison]. also, if you didn't know, addison works with taye diggs, so there's that. and derek's going to have to go there and save a baby? whatever. meredith's little sister is an intern and broke sloan's penis while they were having sex in the on-call room [obvi], so they realized that they really like spending time together even when they're not having sex in the on-call room. he's better now. back on the horse. derek doesn't want them to date, but i kind of forgot because it's boring. also meredith has this weird friend who is also an intern. callie was dating hahn [the mean heart surgeon from another hospital, if you remember - burke hated her] and it was exciting, but then hahn left all of a sudden randomly, BUT now this peeds surgeon kissed her, so she's a lesbian again! yay. [we were worried that they were phasing the lesbian thing out. i'm just saying.] bailey still rocks at life, and the chief wants to promote her. she's emotionally involved with dying kids. also her marriage is over or something.

LET THE LIVEBLOG BEGIN. welcome to my living room, with very blogging-supportive friends.

yay! it's addison! ooooh, long hug there for derek. she's arrived with her brother, who needs surgery for his brain parasite. derek's the only one who can do it, obviously, because that's what happens on this show. no wonder he's arrogant, right?

heyyy, alex. thanks for the sleeveless shirt, costume people. friends and i wonder if he's gained weight... and izzie can't see, or whatever. the scissors are right in front of her, and she can't see them? a metaphor? [we're clever with the metaphors.]

scary music. addison is just jumping right into the stress.

yeah, you'd better be worried that addison's in the hospital, mere. apparently derek didn't let her know? we're all practicing saying "neurosystopsychosis" or whatever archer [addison's brother] has.

i don't believe derek didn't tell what'shername [addison's bff] that he's proposing to meredith. like, right away. he's told EVERYONE ELSE.

callie looks like she's gained weight, too. is there something wrong with my TV?

while i was getting the door, we found out that army doctor was previously engaged! sorry i missed it. i know you all care, a lot.

awww, talking about old times. addison's all crying and derek's all intense. it's kind of jarring, because there was no "previously on," addison's there and she and derek and the private practice people are all stressy, and everyone else is acting all normal. turns out it's because no one even knows anything's going on. everyone's all "addison's here? huh."

"does the blonde have no idea what's going on?" yeah, i don't know what's up with sadie. she is apparently stupid all of a sudden, instead of just - edgy, or whatever she was supposed to be before.

ooookay, so addison's all thinking about derek. not just her brother. shoot. [later edit: i think the thing that's bothering me about this whole storyline is i didn't think addison was still in love with derek. or hung up on him. or whatever. since she never thinks of him on her new spinoff show, right? pip, you watch it...]

taye diggs: "i don't even know why i'm here."
us: "because you're HOTT!"
ARE HE AND BAILEY GOING TO HOOK UP?! omg omg omg.

derek used to play the guitar, blah blah blah. i smell a guitar storyline. hahaha, "ask owen if he ever played the guitar!"

hahahaha, i loooove lexy. "maybe a little dirtily." hehe. she's cute.

army doctor's ex-fiancee is a teacher, if you couldn't tell by her cardiganish blazer and, like, head band. she's been praying for him to come home safely, becasue she thought he was still in iraq. well, your prayers worked, stereotypical teacher lady! army doctor's back!

addison never prays - or DOES SHE? ohhh, i LOVE the "i don't know how to pray" storyline. AND I LOVE CALLIE'S PRAYER. a friend comments that she's trying to tell addison to talk to God as a friend. nice!

more people saying that addison doesn't pray. hmm. derek uses the "miracle" word. taye diggs is the real miracle as he asks derek a kind of obvious question, yeah? i hate that. it's like, all you needed is an old friend to come in and say something completely normal to make you think outside the box! even though you're, like, a world-class neurosurgeon. blargh.

seriously, WHAT is with sadie? new storyline, eh?

this acting is all weird. i'm not ready for these dramatic shifts. DRAMAAAA. "you're a COWARD." way to call a dying man a coward, there, dere.

bailey, i love you. "well, i'm not GOING to smile right NOW." man, what must it be like to be flirted with by taye diggs? siiigh.

blah blah blah blah, elementary school teachers are so sensitive. whatever.

fancy surgery on archer, with a suction thingy. what if they suction out his brain? i'm just asking. derek's really eating up the attention from addison. hahaha, callie - "um, mark's good at talking about himself."

hey, teacher lady DOES have nice clothes. because she's spoiled, apparently. but i did notice.

this whole going straight from the patient almost dying to interns running down the hallway for a fun sparkly game is not awesome. i can't get behind it. and i'm so scared about izzie. she has no depth perception, or something?

oooh, teacher lady's all MAD NOW.

oh, i like this song. what is it? oh, ingrid michaelson - "winter song." oh, i already like this song. i think i already downloaded it. after hearing it on tv. oops.

is george seriously the first person to notice that sadie sucks? or that izzie's dying? yeah, you know who should have a blog? george. and he should call it "everyone's heading for disaster and i'm the only one who knows it."

oooooh, addison is going to blow this whole sloane/lexy story WIDE OPEN. [pause to watch.] OH SNAP, SLOANE! threw derek under the BUS! nice reflexes.

yeah, i'd agree with meredith. just because you don't want to sleep your way through europe doesn't exactly mean you've had the life sucked out of you, sadie. sheesh.

celebrating successful surgery by drinking at joe's. more old times. this is AWKWARD. don't sing the love song derek wrote for his ex-wife. don't. really, don't. friends add: "or until sloane sleeps with sheeeeeee." nice.

wow, nothing happened with all my favorite characters on grey's. and now they're going back to private practice. why are they getting drunk? and why aren't they with archer? why isn't meredith with derek? [oh, wait. we're still at seattle grace for the time being. don't worry.]

hahahaha, gratuitous recap. let's all talk about all our relationships and issues. in detail. in case you've never seen private practice before.

whatever, is there an epidemic of parents abandoning their children with what'shisname [nice doctor]? because this seriously happened LAST EPISODE. [oh, they found her. but still.]

yeah, addison. rockstar with the babies. she knows what's up. [this is referring to the pregnant woman with the brain aneurism. in seattle.]

i'm oddly interested in this crazy mom story [back in LA]. she's going a good job. the actress, i mean. i also feel like we read a lot of post-partum depression literature in high school. is that weird? but i digress.

OHHH, bailey. way to tell what'shername that archer's an ass. [later edit: i don't get why she's so pissy about this all of a sudden.]

is there something medically wrong with taye diggs? well, there's nothing medically wrong with your HOTNESS.

oh, i SO miss when addison and alex were working together. awww. talk to addison, alex! talk to her! be self-aware! joke about how you made out once! i would seriously watch a whole show of this. they're so good together.

back in LA, every time that baby comes on screen, i go "babababa!" or, whatever. it's hard to type. but the baby's cute as hell.

bailey is jeal-OUS. or something. seriously, why's she so pissy with what'shername?

okay, WHEN will these doctors stop suggesting random procedures in front of the patient. HONESTLY. it's a bad idea. it's always a bad idea. we all know this.

okay, is meredith not on the show anymore? we're just asking.

taye diggs, while you're lying there on oxygen, could you flex? thanks. [seriously, i think those were his directions.] "i'm a MAN! i'm a MAN with asthma. so HA!"

"this is not about you. this is not about us." wait - your patient's story directly mirrors your personal life? this is UNPRECEDENTED. oh, doctor shows.

archer: "i could die any minute."
my friends: "then DIE already." yeah, he's an extra-ass now.

oh, so bailey's actually still married. huh. so that's going to be okay, and all? too bad about not hooking up with taye diggs, though.

next time, on crossover 3 of 3:
mere's actually in it, apparently.
the wife or the baby. you must choose!
A CHAIN OF EVENTS NO ONE CAN STOP.
PUNCHING!!! YELLING!! and, some quiet mean talking.

no proposal? izzie not dying yet? wtf.

--

you all know that i'll defend grey's until the end. but i feel like the writing is... slipping... a little...

for a more pitiless review, try TWoP.

"in the he said, she said sometimes there's some poetry..."

"I didn't join Facebook, after all, to be anonymous, incurious or left alone." you know how i feel about the article that starts snarky and becomes poignant. yeah. it's something like blogging, too. or twittering. it's like, people are kind of scornful and all, "why would you want to read someone's random thoughts and activites?" but it's kind of beautiful, in the end, to see into people's lives. [i know, i know. sometimes.]

also, this:
b: anything happen while i was gone, except things on the internet?
k: hahaha, SO much on the internet! but not much else.

and also: "When you get out front with the "meta" what's left to say??" [says a commenter.]

today i got a good laugh by saying, "i will now use something a student said to tell a funny, poignant story with a point." do i do that too much?

saw he's just not that into you last night. didn't like it as much as i thought i would. everyone was very cute and mostly very funny. [except jennifer aniston was NOT rachel green. i thought i loved jen. i think i just love rachel.] i appreciated how some women were not that into men, too, and all this advice stuff happened, and some people ended up in relationships and some didn't. but i feel like it wasn't really long enough for all the stories they tried to put into it, and then it wrapped up really fast. so obviously it seemed unrealistic when people fell in and out of love in like thirty seconds.

but here's my real problem - TWO of the previews before the movie were about crazy obsessive women. i was not amused. one is with sandra bullock, and it's one of those "sandra bullock is awkward" movies, i guess? only she, like, follows this guy she's met once all across the country. then he finds out she's some kind of free spirit. i mean, an OBSESSIVE free spirit. and one is called "obsession" and is about this girl who's all going after her boss and then all this weird shit happens and it gets super, super scary.

wings = hope.

"sure they're messy, but so is democracy."

commonweal again, i know. but it's good. kaveny is brilliant and LOVES colbert.

this is like the rant i have about huck finn being the great american novel. it's a mess. it's a story about thinking your prejudices are right, and then being transformed - almost. it ends unrealistically happily, and as the reader you're like, "wait, that would never happen. nothing's that good." but we're trying...

yup, just in time for the super bowl. and all this talk about whether we like the super bowl [actually, kind of a sweet piece about sports and family, and even baseball] makes me think of a time we all sat down to watch the super bowl with a huuuuge bowl of delicious snack mix. the snack mix was gone before the first quarter was over - at which point my little brother [age 3] goes, "what happened to the SUPER BOWL?!"

priorities in order, folks. stay tuned for my favorite commercials as i root against the steelers.

jezebel keeps making my computer freeze up. WTF, jezebel and your multimedia.

"the pressure of language..."

so i casually read the freakonomics blog, a lot. and the other day, i casually read this article about giffen goods, i guess, and tangetially related to prostitutes and rice. and then i read feministing, and oops - i was supposed to be outraged.

interesting comments, though - i think the one i linked just now is getting right to the point. like, yes, insensitive turn of phrase. but not blatant assholery. and also, they're economists. they're the ones who [in their book, summarzied here] attribute the drop in crime in new york in the early 1990s to the drop in unwanted pregnancies after roe v. wade passed in 1972. because potential criminals aren't being born. i mean, what? i feel like that's a bigger threat to human dignity [of course, feministing doesn't get to that, but that's another post] than conjecture about the economics of the sex trade. but they go ahead and make that point, because it's supported by statistics and they're in the "hey, sorry, but we think this is causal." [that word is so awkward.] and, also, i think they're basically good people who make up statistics about college students and sweatpants. so that's why this debate was so interesting to me, i think. because i actually like the guys on the other side of the outrage, and that's not usually how i feel in this kind of situation.

i think what i originally wanted to blog about was how the language we use can change our entire meaning. how it carries implications we don't always anticipate. and how the blogosphere is CRAZY. comments are crazy. and i feel pretty open-minded [who knows what other people think of me, but i try], but i read a lot of fury out there on issues i didn't anticipate.

my employee handbook actually says something like, "communicate in person whenever possible to avoid being misunderstood." which, you know, seems sort of cumbersome in the modern world. but, point well-taken - no matter how clearly i write, how well can all of you really understand what i mean? and how many people are getting angry right now?

only semi-related - has everyone seen the multigrain cheerios commercial where the guy asks the girl if she's trying to lose weight [because she's eating mgc]? and she's all "do i look like i need to lose weight?" ahh, yes. i always try to fit the comeback, "ARE YOU CALLING ME FAT?" into conversations in which it doesn't belong. people get pretty awkward when i do that.

my current jam [and title of this post] is "the cool, cool river" by paul simon. rhythm of the saints, first of all, is an under-appreciated album. and this song is probably my favorite little-known song. give it a listen.

"i believe in the future we shall suffer no more. maybe not in my lifetime, but in yours, i feel sure..."

sigh. at present, through a glass, darkly. but then, face to face. i love that, really, that passage is about being understood...

it's a christmas miracle!

highlight of my christmas, i think, was our family video gchat with our faraway family members. seeing my 91-year-old grandma [in her christmas sweater, of course] say, "well, isn't that wonderful!" into a webcam from a thousand miles away - yeah, that's pretty great. oh, the future.

also pretty great - deciding we were too full from appetizers [an all-day event, as those of you who know my brothers already know] to eat the turkey and sitting on the couch watching NCIS instead.

yeah, NCIS. i'm totally hooked. remember everything you loved [and hated] about JAG? now, throw in every crime show convention, multiply all that by a hundred, and add lots and lots of flirting. among every possible permutation of characters. and that, my friends, is NCIS. i hated the first five episodes i saw, but episodes six through twenty were gooooood. and there's a marathon on tomorrow...

[later note: best full episode player ever.]

"i want to change the world. instead, i sleep."

i have a list on my computer of songs i can't find on itunes. then i check itunes periodically to see if they're available yet. tonight, i downloaded "keep breathing" by ingrid michaelson [yes, my favorite genre of music is "songs i heard on grey's"] and the title of this post is an actual line from the song. shoot. a little close to home, there, ingrid.

song's good, though. sort of the opposite of "world on fire," but i like it.

cursing, acting cool. winning friends and influencing people.

written on the door of the bathroom at the bar last night, each line in different handwriting:

TRUST
issues
yes.
but it's ok.

nice, hmm? mutual support, in the ladies' room. i like it.

in contrast, written into the cement on the sidewalk on the way to my apartment from the train:

FUCK YOU
YOU FUCKING
FUCK.

i'm always like, well... if that's how you feel...

anyway, hadn't been to this particular bar since i started this post [quoted below]. and, coincidentally, just found it.

bitter, bitter debate at the bar this weekend over whether snuffleupagus is real or imaginary. turns out there's a whole story about how only big bird can see him and no one believes he exists [imaginary friend, guys!], but then big bird proves he's real after all. so i think i was RIGHT. that he's imaginary. ha.

impressed a stranger last night by ordering the dogfish head 90 minute IPA. thanks, beer club. you know how you always want to have those things that you can order, or listen to, or read, or casually drop in conversation so that people will think you're cool? YEAH, you do. don't lie.

things this makes me think of...
1. my favorite episode of friends ["the one with the embryos," which i've apparently already blogged about], the one where the girls lose the apartment in the trivia game with the boys.

ross: rachel claims that THIS is her favorite movie.
chandler: dangerous liasons.
ross: her ACTUAL favorite movie is...
joey: [points at rachel] weekend at bernie's!

2. my favorite band. and being called out for liking them. i don't even care. COUNTING CROWS RULE ALL.
3. the other day, at trader joe's, the checkout guy was all, "you listening to any good music?" because i was doing my new favorite thing where i put my headphones inside my scarf so they're conveniently close to my head, even when i'm not listening to them. and instead of being all cool and starting a conversation about something cool, i decided to tell the TRUTH. ah, the truth.

tjcg: you listening to any good music?
b: um... ahh... actually, the prairie home companion podcast... [shut up. it is FUNNY. and no, i am not 55 years old.]
tjcg: [all polite] oh, yeah? what is that?
b: it's like, garrison keillor... it's a radio show on npr... and he has, like, a funny monologue...
tjcg: isn't there a movie about it? what's the movie about, then?
b: [blanking] i think it's about... making the show, or something...

seriously, one of the MOST awkward conversations i've ever had. especially since i've SEEN the movie. and i can tell you that it's about the variety show "a prairie home companion," on npr. and the podcast is garrison keillor's "news from lake wobegon," in which he uses dry humor and makes fun of people who live in the northern midwest.

i think it was so awkward because i immediately wished i had lied. and said i was listening to... hmm. any ideas?

dan's so pretty. and spunky.

for those of you watching gossip girl right now...

b: why's she lying?
k: she's not. she's just... a bad actress.

and "i carried the garment bag" = "i carried a watermelon"? was that intentional? because i LOVE it.

it's the FUTURE.

you know what i love, on friends? [you're all like, "besides EVERYTHING?"] i love it when someone is all indignant, like, "WHAT?!" about something someone else says, and phoebe just repeats what the first person said. louder. it's so awesome.

on further reflection, this is when i usually decide that my obsession is out of hand. "oh, it's so funny when phoebe does that!" as if she's a real person, or something. in college, there was a billboard for hacienda that said "monica and chandler shouldn't be your only friends." and i was always like, HEY. too close to home, guys.

at the apple store... thanks, apple store guys...

b: [holds out vintage ipod mini, sadly]
asg: oh, you need support. [well, i did.]

basg: well, how big's your hard drive now?
b: forty gig...
basg: oh. wow.
b: well, at the time, you could pick forty or eighty. and back then, i thought - who could EVER need EIGHTY gig of hard drive?!
basg: well, the future you, apparently!

[that was BEARDED apple store guy. beards are back! especially in the apple store!]

also, hey, let's live like presidents! becauuuuuse, you know, presidents have their own cologne and shopping sprees and jewels and things. although, here's the problem with the fake news - i clicked on this because the podcast said that the package includes a PUPPY. and i was like, a puppy! wow! but, no.

first post in forever, and it's random and trivial? well, yes.

hope?

courtesy of smiller, life imitates art in the parallels between the current campaign and seasons 6 and 7 of the west wing. but, i mean, vinick was originally supposed to win until john spenser died and we were all so sad [or not - apparently this is one of those "the characters choose their own destiny" kind of things that margaret hates, according to the west wing writers. scroll up from the link].